Guild Wars 2

Here’s a rough draft I came up for a cosmetic update to the posts on the forums.

The picture will be selected based on the character you last played (1st slot on login)
The account medals are self explanatory
The Achievement Points are self explanatory

In terms of memory, It could be applied based on every post.
Whenever someone hits submit it does a quick query and grabs
the needed information from the server and applies the correct
information to the post.

This is just something I think will help improve the quality of the threads
by putting a characters face to each post as well as their qualifications.
Even though a lot of those things don’t mean much…. It would be better
to know that advice in PvP is coming from someone who’s a dragon then
a person who is a rabbit and may not have played any pvp games.

Opinions? Concerns?

They can’t even fix the search function and it seems they can’t even remove the broken search box from the forum for some reason. I don’t see the changes you suggested happening until and unless they go with new forum software.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Forum-s-search-feature-doesn-t-work-A-tip/first#post4612877

JustTrogdor.7892:

They can’t even fix the search function and it seems they can’t even remove the broken search box from the forum for some reason. I don’t see the changes you suggested happening until and unless they go with new forum software.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Forum-s-search-feature-doesn-t-work-A-tip/first#post4612877

Aside from road blocks relating to anets technical issues, what is your general opinion on the suggestion?

Wolfey.3407:

Aside from road blocks relating to anets technical issues, what is your general opinion on the suggestion?

I tend to disagree. A forum avatar is one thing. I don’t think people should be judged on the forum based on achievement points and other criteria. While I can see your intention where in it would be nice to know if Bob.1234 giving you advice on PvP has a decent PvP track record, I don’t find it necessary. Much like achievement points, there are a lot of people that don’t have a ton of achievement points but they do know a lot about the game and often give great advice/feedback. They just play less but also follow the game closely and are very knowledgeable. I think anytime you get into accomplishment measuring contests in a forum it will just lead to more toxicity.

This is the same reason I don’t support the upcoming forum specialist program. The posters I’m guessing have probably applied have a history of coming off as condescending know it alls that think they are never wrong. I think they only volunteered because if accepted it will make them feel even more important to have that special tile by their name. Let’s face it, the job itself isn’t very appealing, basically doing a bunch of work for Anet for free, but hey you get a special title.

If I were going to add one thing under a poster’s name it would be last login date. This would expose the, “I quit 6 months ago and hate this game people,” that actually still play and for those that are honest it would show this as well. Do you want to take the opinion on the current living story episode from someone that hasn’t logged in for 3 months seriously? That makes more sense to me.

I don’t think it would be a good idea.

It’s similar to the system many forums have where it shows the date you joined and your post count below your name. Yes it can be informative but it also tends to give certain individuals the impression that they can dismiss anything posted by anyone with a lower post count, even if they’re completely right or stating a valid opinion. Or even insult someone for daring to express an opinion when they’re “unqualified” to do so.

On a good forum it just gives the moderators a whole other category of problems to deal with. On a bad forum the mods encourage it and the situation gets worse.

I’d have no problem with this except for the random nature of avatar faces you’d get. I have 13 80’s and while Donari is often in my first slot, especially while I do a lot of Silverwastes with my time, he isn’t always. I think it might be somewhat confusing if you’re trying to pick out posts by a person via quick visual cues and every time you look they have a different face to the left of their post. Also, would the avatar have to be refreshed each time someone views the post, possibly changing it to a more recently played alt, or would it be “set” at the time of the posting? You use ranks as an example, what if someone posted something cogent 4 months ago, that still gets referenced; they are now a high rank, but weren’t at the time. So people go to look at the linked post and say “that guy has no standing, I won’t heed this post.”

Just pointing out some possible flaws. I’m all for something to jazz up posts and make it faster to scan down to the next one in the thread by someone who interests you.

edit: Now others have posted other flaws that I see as real concerns. I was just focusing on the pretty picture part, mostly

JustTrogdor.7892:

Wolfey.3407:

Aside from road blocks relating to anets technical issues, what is your general opinion on the suggestion?

I tend to disagree. A forum avatar is one thing. I don’t think people should be judged on the forum based on achievement points and other criteria. While I can see your intention where in it would be nice to know if Bob.1234 giving you advice on PvP has a decent PvP track record, I don’t find it necessary. Much like achievement points, there are a lot of people that don’t have a ton of achievement points but they do know a lot about the game and often give great advice/feedback. They just play less but also follow the game closely and are very knowledgeable. I think anytime you get into accomplishment measuring contests in a forum it will just lead to more toxicity.
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If I were going to add one thing under a poster’s name it would be last login date. This would expose the, “I quit 6 months ago and hate this game people,” that actually still play and for those that are honest it would show this as well. Do you want to take the opinion on the current living story episode from someone that hasn’t logged in for 3 months seriously? That makes more sense to me.

Wouldn’t last log in follow the same issue of pvp rank?
“I quit 6 months ago and hate this game people,”
“i quit playing pvp 6 months ago and hate pvp”

Donari.5237:

I’d have no problem with this except for the random nature of avatar faces you’d get. I have 13 80’s and while Donari is often in my first slot, especially while I do a lot of Silverwastes with my time, he isn’t always. I think it might be somewhat confusing if you’re trying to pick out posts by a person via quick visual cues and every time you look they have a different face to the left of their post. Also, would the avatar have to be refreshed each time someone views the post, possibly changing it to a more recently played alt, or would it be “set” at the time of the posting? You use ranks as an example, what if someone posted something cogent 4 months ago, that still gets referenced; they are now a high rank, but weren’t at the time. So people go to look at the linked post and say “that guy has no standing, I won’t heed this post.”

Just pointing out some possible flaws. I’m all for something to jazz up posts and make it faster to scan down to the next one in the thread by someone who interests you.

edit: Now others have posted other flaws that I see as real concerns. I was just focusing on the pretty picture part, mostly

It would be like LDAP if you’ve ever used that system.
It will automatically update the information on all of your posts upon
accessing that page.

Danikat.8537:

I don’t think it would be a good idea.

It’s similar to the system many forums have where it shows the date you joined and your post count below your name. Yes it can be informative but it also tends to give certain individuals the impression that they can dismiss anything posted by anyone with a lower post count, even if they’re completely right or stating a valid opinion. Or even insult someone for daring to express an opinion when they’re “unqualified” to do so.

On a good forum it just gives the moderators a whole other category of problems to deal with. On a bad forum the mods encourage it and the situation gets worse.

Some valid points; however, nothing stops anyone from reading your past posts in your forum profile. For the most part, everyone knows who the main posters are within their perspective Sub forums .

How about your gear gets automatically displayed in the dungeon forums?

Just kidding.

Wolfey.3407:

Wouldn’t last log in follow the same issue of pvp rank?
“I quit 6 months ago and hate this game people,”
“i quit playing pvp 6 months ago and hate pvp”

By that I mean, there are a several posters I have seen here that often post how they hate the game and quit X amount of time ago. They keep making that a point whenever they post about a certain issue. Out of curiosity I followed a few of them only to see them online almost every time I am in game. For some reason they try to give their posts more weight by saying they quit when they really did not. It would instill some measure of honesty in forum posters in regards to their current experience with the game. Also, like my other example, if Bob.1234 posts, “This current living story, update, whatever, is terrible” but you see they have not logged since the update it would make it easier to see they are just bashing without having actually experienced it themselves.

I don’t see where that would equate to PvP rank necessarily given what I described.

JustTrogdor.7892:

Wolfey.3407:

Wouldn’t last log in follow the same issue of pvp rank?
“I quit 6 months ago and hate this game people,”
“i quit playing pvp 6 months ago and hate pvp”

By that I mean, there are a several posters I have seen here that often post how they hate the game and quit X amount of months ago. They keep making that a point whenever they posted about a certain issue. Out of curiosity I followed a few of them only to see them online almost every time I am in game. For some reason they try to give their posts more weight by saying they quit when they really did not. It would instill some measure of honesty in forum posters in regards to their current experience with the game. Also, like my other example, if Bob.1234 posts, “This current living story, update, whatever, is terrible” but you see they have not logged since the update it would make it easier to see they are just bashing without having actually experienced it themselves.

I don’t see where that would equate to PvP rank necessarily given what I described.

Valid point, going off of the PvP example,
If Billy.6666 is talking trash and giving bad pvp advice but hes a bunny then you can sort of see whats going on…If he claimed he quit the game 6 months ago or quit pvp 6 months ago then you have validation to prove that bill is just being a troll. (If you pvp even a little bit you wouldn’t be a bunny after a year and a half of the game being out, even under the old rank system) This would fall under the same thing with: Deer, Dolyak and Wolf. For the most part, if he pvpd a lot before quitting the game or pvp 6 months ago, he should have had his rank auto-adjusted to Phoenix or Dragon. Which will give his complaints a little more validation since he played the game mode but will reduce his complain a little since he has not pvpd in a while which in conjunction with your suggestion of a last login date will prove that Billy.6666 if he is a dragon is complaining for the sake of complaining.

It is a nice suggestion however it will definitely create a reason for alot of drama in different threads. People will start bashing eachother based on achievements in-game and the forum community will be divided into, at least, a vet club and a newbie club.

nGumball.1283:

It is a nice suggestion however it will definitely create a reason for alot of drama in different threads. People will start bashing eachother based on achievements in-game and the forum community will be divided into, at least, a vet club and a newbie club.

A valid point; however, you have that issue as it is. It’s mostly in the content of peoples posts and their lack of knowledge on a certain subject.

An Example I can give is based on a complain a player had about the wintersday series one minis (toly soldier etc) being gem store only. If that player was not a newbie, (s)he would know that those minis were craft-able as well in Wintersday I & Wintersday II

Wolfey.3407:

Valid point, going off of the PvP example,
If Billy.6666 is talking trash and giving bad pvp advice but hes a bunny then you can sort of see whats going on…If he claimed he quit the game 6 months ago or quit pvp 6 months ago then you have validation to prove that bill is just being a troll. (If you pvp even a little bit you wouldn’t be a bunny after a year and a half of the game being out, even under the old rank system) This would fall under the same thing with: Deer, Dolyak and Wolf. For the most part, if he pvpd a lot before quitting the game or pvp 6 months ago, he should have had his rank auto-adjusted to Phoenix or Dragon. Which will give his complaints a little more validation since he played the game mode but will reduce his complain a little since he has not pvpd in a while which in conjunction with your suggestion of a last login date will prove that Billy.6666 if he is a dragon is complaining for the sake of complaining.

Please forgive me because I don’t PvP myself. I tried it once, moaed and then killed someone and got cursed out for the moa. That was enough for me. I do however follow the PvP forum as I find it rather entertaining. It appears to me that the PvP forum community does a pretty good job of policing their own forum. If Joe.1234 talks a lot of garbage or gives really bad advice they are usually corrected by others rather quickly.

I just don’t feel there is a need to add, for lack of a better term, a kitten measuring contest to the forum. (Note I typed kitten and not the curse word )