I wasn’t sure how to get this to you (ArenaNet) but I felt something public would be nice, so here goes.
When a player doesn’t like something about a game, or where they have noticed something they believe to be a problem for many players, then inevitably a forum like this will be used by those players to discuss and express their opinions on what’s bad with a game and how it should be fixed. Just like real world politics, pressure groups are an important part of making things change, though not all pressure groups have a point agreed on by a lot of people or convey it in an appropriate way.
Of course, the percentage of posters on here compared to the entire population of GW2 is likely small and while there will obviously be some people that dislike something but choose not to express it on here it IS logical to assume that the majority of posts here will be either neutral or negative in tone and I hope you (ArenaNet) know that the majority of players are enjoying the game and understandably won’t take 5-10 minutes to write a “I like this game!” post on here – why should they? They have a great game to play!
Well I’d like to write that post because I know that when I’ve run hobby groups (big and small) in the past then I learned it was very difficult to make everyone happy and that taking complaints on how I ran things from even just a few people was really painful and upsetting in one instance. Sure, I had to compromise in places because I wasn’t always right, but it was easy for me to get reassurance from other members and my committee that I was doing the right thing overall. Being a company then obviously it can be much harder to adequately keep in touch with your entire fan base and even harder still to get reassurance when forums like this are usually used for criticism (some constructive, some not). So here’s my message:
I personally love your game, I was a dedicated GW1 player (though I wouldn’t term myself a fanboy) and went into GW2 with high expectations given all the hype. Even if GW2 had been a disaster then I would still have played because in a games market where triple A titles are churned out using the same old mechanics then I was so impressed that you chose to not just remake the old game and try something different instead. There’re greedy companies out there that haven’t budged an inch to make a difference to the genre they make games for and it makes me pretty angry that their talent and money is going to waste – this only makes me all the more impressed with what you’ve made.
Having played almost all aspects of your game (WvW, PvE, sPvP though not tPvP) then I’ve had, and will continue to have, a fantastic time. I’ve never felt like I’m constantly being Mesmer portal ninja-ed in WvW, I’ve only been burst assassin-ed once or twice in sPvP, the builds that have thrashed me in sPvP I have understood and respected what they did and tried to find a way round it, the PvE has been wonderful and I eagerly await all your content updates, even if they take time to develop.
I understand the game isn’t perfect, there’re a few things I have thought of that I would like, but I’m having such a great time already then obviously none of those things are desperate enough in my mind to significantly impact my enjoyment. I believe I represent your “average Joe, normal gamer” and I’m having a great time.
My only regret (though not your fault at all) is that unfortunately my PC died of age and I can’t afford to replace it and the borrowed laptop on which I type this can’t run GW2 (I tried on min everything, it almost blew up :-O). So I play GW2 on my boyfriend’s super PC whenever I get the opportunity and I love every second of it. Sadly it means I’ll probably have to miss out on the event this weekend, but I’m ok with that because I’m sure it won’t be the last or the best of things to come :-)
I’m sure you know all this already, but what I want to say is, please keep going. Through all the complaints of stuff you haven’t done yet or stuff players want to see done because X, Y or Z is broken without it, I know you guys have the experience and dedication to continue making this an even better game in all aspects of it’s game play.
Please, please keep going.
Owen