Guild Wars 2

I’m am worried about the direction of GW2.

Over the 3 months since release I have seen a steady stream of patches and updates that do little to nothing for the long term development of the game and it’s community. This has me worried that what we’re seeing is a “Churn and Burn” policy from our game developers.
The constant content push, month after month, for new content instead of a focus on game stability and playability. The steady nerfs to the economy, drop rates and general wealth generation. The lack of genuine communication and any real QA from the development team.
All these issues are leading me to believe the the games designers are pushing for higher profits rather then the vibrant, progressive community all the current customers were hoping for when they purchased the game.

But these are just my observations. As erroneous as they may seem, I’m happy to discuss so…

Fire away

I wonder why you think a vibrant community gets in the way of higher profit. Happy costumer = spending costumer.

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

I wonder why you think a vibrant community gets in the way of higher profit. Happy costumer = spending costumer.

That’s the point of a Churn and Burn policy Tosha. It focuses on raw profit over a shorter time scale.

Snores.7806:

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

I wonder why you think a vibrant community gets in the way of higher profit. Happy costumer = spending costumer.

That’s the point of a Churn and Burn policy Tosha. It focuses on raw profit over a shorter time scale.

Since I’m a complete newbie when it comes to economics and business models… care to elaborate why something like that would be a good idea for an MMO company?

[/quote]

Since I’m a complete newbie when it comes to economics and business models… care to elaborate why something like that would be a good idea for an MMO company? [/quote]

Take a solid brand with a good reputation, publicly owned and dependant on share price for company value. Develop and market a new product with high monetization and profit prospects to an existing customer base while touting it’s endless virtues.
Release said product to high sales and international acclaim. Budget in bare bones development after release while cutting costs/maintenance over the lifespan of the product. On a short term scale this will usually be only 12 months.
Increase the absolute monetization of the product over a 12 month period while aggressively marketing said product to as many new customer bases a possible. Pull all funding and development after 12 months and reap whatever profits are left in the product while the company moves on to newer developments.

Churn and Burn

Thanks for the explanation.

I can see how this works for Call of Duty for example. But for an MMO, that is supposed to be long-term enjoyment, this would be shooting themselves in the foot. No one would ever buy something from them again. Ever.

I honestly think Anet isnt stupid enough to choose a course like that. Which brings me to my second question: why do you think anet would choose a course like this?

Snores.7806:

I’m am worried about the direction of GW2.

…patches and updates that do little to nothing for the long term development of the game and it’s community….
… constant content push […] for new content instead of a focus on game stability and playability. The steady nerfs to the economy, drop rates and general wealth generation. The lack of genuine communication and any real QA from the development team.

Dude, I don’t know what you’re seeing or what your experience is, but I can tell you in 30 years of gaming:

• I’ve rarely seen a game release solid new content this reliably or this often;
• I’ve never seen a game team of this size answer questions so frankly and fully in so many different places; and
• with the notable exception of EVE Online, I’ve never seen a game take such a serious and professional approach to managing its economy.

I’m ignoring, obviously, Lost Shores, which had just a ton of problems which the dev team have never fully addressed. And the game’s not perfect, obviously, because otherwise everyone everywhere would play it and I’d never need any other game ever again. But beyond that – man, if you find a game that does all these things BETTER, be sure to tell me what it is, and what I need to smoke in order to play it.

Tosha apart from the Call of duty series, there are games such as Football Manager that utilizes such a policy

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

Thanks for the explanation.

I can see how this works for Call of Duty for example. But for an MMO, that is supposed to be long-term enjoyment, this would be shooting themselves in the foot. No one would ever buy something from them again. Ever.

I honestly think Anet isnt stupid enough to choose a course like that. Which brings me to my second question: why do you think anet would choose a course like this?

Which AAA MMO have you participated in for the last 5 tears has given you “long term enjoyment” ? Swtor ? DCUO ? LotRO ? AoC? WAR ?

I can’t name a single one apart from WoW and EVE, and they’ve been going for 10 yrs. MMO companies have discovered that the easy bucks are based around hype and a quick turnaround

Hehe, I’ve only played GW1 extensively. I ragequitted AoC because of the bugs, and WoW was just plain boring for me. And GW1 doesnt really count as an MMO according to most people, so I guess you can say “none”.

so eh, my questions aren’t meant to be eye-opening-rhetorical questions, I am honestly an MMO-and-economics-noob

Snores i used to be a 3-4yrs LOTRO player and stopped right after warner bros took over and wrecked the game the reason is obvious
1. Cash shop
2. profit only
3. Gear-Checks in dungeons

GregT.4702:

Snores.7806:

I’m am worried about the direction of GW2.

…patches and updates that do little to nothing for the long term development of the game and it’s community….
… constant content push […] for new content instead of a focus on game stability and playability. The steady nerfs to the economy, drop rates and general wealth generation. The lack of genuine communication and any real QA from the development team.

Dude, I don’t know what you’re seeing or what your experience is, but I can tell you in 30 years of gaming:

• I’ve rarely seen a game release solid new content this reliably or this often;
• I’ve never seen a game team of this size answer questions so frankly and fully in so many different places; and
• with the notable exception of EVE Online, I’ve never seen a game take such a serious and professional approach to managing its economy.

I’m ignoring, obviously, Lost Shores, which had just a ton of problems which the dev team have never fully addressed. And the game’s not perfect, obviously, because otherwise everyone everywhere would play it and I’d never need any other game ever again. But beyond that – man, if you find a game that does all these things BETTER, be sure to tell me what it is, and what I need to smoke in order to play it.

• Solid content is a relative term. I’ve seen naught but seasonal content, which seems to be mostly gambling and skins, and Lost Shores. Which you’ve already mentioned.
• And where would all those frank answers be exactly? I’ve seen the MMA which seemed to be a lot of PR speak and “Moving forward”
• Having a bid/buyout function doesn’t make your economy, and GW2 has nowhere near the sandbox based, player driven economy of Eve Online . Have you seen what the economy has been doing in the last month ? The Economy is driven by the company and the drop rates they allow. Try not to kid yourself into thinking that the GW2 economy is by any means “Serious”

Snores.7806:

I’m am worried about the direction of GW2.

Over the 3 months since release I have seen a steady stream of patches and updates that do little to nothing for the long term development of the game and it’s community. This has me worried that what we’re seeing is a “Churn and Burn” policy from our game developers.
The constant content push, month after month, for new content instead of a focus on game stability and playability. The steady nerfs to the economy, drop rates and general wealth generation. The lack of genuine communication and any real QA from the development team.
All these issues are leading me to believe the the games designers are pushing for higher profits rather then the vibrant, progressive community all the current customers were hoping for when they purchased the game.

But these are just my observations. As erroneous as they may seem, I’m happy to discuss so…

Fire away

I disagree for starters such a practice wouldnt work in a buy to play business model! the cash shop sales is a fraction of the box sales so the primary business motivator is customer retintion and making customers happy in order to convince them to buy the expansion when it comes out primarily.

That being said you’re also contradicting yourself. nerfing isnt done for some sadisitic purpose, its done to ensure the health of the economy in the long run! Lost shores was also geared at the long term improvement of the game! the new southern cove is a canvas where more events can be added and more so in the fractal of the mists!

Not sure where you got the idea of lack of communication! they’re actually quite communicative in my opinion not that common that developers get this involved with the community in my experiance!

Gnatoay.7581:

1. Cash shop
2. profit only
3. Gear-Checks in dungeons

Remind you of anything??

Galen Grey.4709:

Snores.7806:

I’m am worried about the direction of GW2.

Over the 3 months since release I have seen a steady stream of patches and updates that do little to nothing for the long term development of the game and it’s community. This has me worried that what we’re seeing is a “Churn and Burn” policy from our game developers.
The constant content push, month after month, for new content instead of a focus on game stability and playability. The steady nerfs to the economy, drop rates and general wealth generation. The lack of genuine communication and any real QA from the development team.
All these issues are leading me to believe the the games designers are pushing for higher profits rather then the vibrant, progressive community all the current customers were hoping for when they purchased the game.

But these are just my observations. As erroneous as they may seem, I’m happy to discuss so…

Fire away

I disagree for starters such a practice wouldnt work in a buy to play business model! the cash shop sales is a fraction of the box sales so the primary business motivator is customer retintion and making customers happy in order to convince them to buy the expansion when it comes out primarily.

That being said you’re also contradicting yourself. nerfing isnt done for some sadisitic purpose, its done to ensure the health of the economy in the long run! Lost shores was also geared at the long term improvement of the game! the new southern cove is a canvas where more events can be added and more so in the fractal of the mists!

Not sure where you got the idea of lack of communication! they’re actually quite communicative in my opinion not that common that developers get this involved with the community in my experiance!

What makes you think you’re still playing in a B2P game? Because you bought the box set?
I bought the box set too and judging by the game developments over the last 3 months I’m believing I’ve opted into some strange F2P model where they charge you an entry fee

Oh, what content do you need to pay extra for before you can play it then? Must have missed something.

Au contraire, the cash shop doesnt offer me anything I want. So even if I want to buy gems, I wouldnt know what to do with them.

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

Oh, what content do you need to pay extra for before you can play it then? Must have missed something.

Au contraire, the cash shop doesnt offer me anything I want. So even if I want to buy gems, I wouldnt know what to do with them.

Theres not a F2P game on the market that demands I pay extra before I can play it. But then I havn’t played everything.

What happens if you’d like more Bank space? Or you have 5 toons and would like to roll another ? Or maybe you’d like a semi-decent armor skin and didn’t want to grind 40 dungeons to get it ?

shrug I bought my extra bank space with ingame gold converted to gems. And the armor skins in the shop aren’t that great. But still, all those things you mentioned are not needed to play. They are cosmetic at best, plus all of it can be bought with ingame gold.
Unlike for example AoC at the moment, where you cannot play certain classes unless you pay a sub fee, or SWTOR where you cannot finish certain quests unless you pay for it.

So who paid for your gems so you could convert them with in game gold ?
And I paid for AoC and Swtor, and I managed to lvl a max toon on both

The point of the original post is not where the game is now (though I’ll admit I’m not happy with the current state of affairs), the point was where the game was at release… and where is it heading ?

Snores.7806:

Galen Grey.4709:

Snores.7806:

I’m am worried about the direction of GW2.

Over the 3 months since release I have seen a steady stream of patches and updates that do little to nothing for the long term development of the game and it’s community. This has me worried that what we’re seeing is a “Churn and Burn” policy from our game developers.
The constant content push, month after month, for new content instead of a focus on game stability and playability. The steady nerfs to the economy, drop rates and general wealth generation. The lack of genuine communication and any real QA from the development team.
All these issues are leading me to believe the the games designers are pushing for higher profits rather then the vibrant, progressive community all the current customers were hoping for when they purchased the game.

But these are just my observations. As erroneous as they may seem, I’m happy to discuss so…

Fire away

I disagree for starters such a practice wouldnt work in a buy to play business model! the cash shop sales is a fraction of the box sales so the primary business motivator is customer retintion and making customers happy in order to convince them to buy the expansion when it comes out primarily.

That being said you’re also contradicting yourself. nerfing isnt done for some sadisitic purpose, its done to ensure the health of the economy in the long run! Lost shores was also geared at the long term improvement of the game! the new southern cove is a canvas where more events can be added and more so in the fractal of the mists!

Not sure where you got the idea of lack of communication! they’re actually quite communicative in my opinion not that common that developers get this involved with the community in my experiance!

What makes you think you’re still playing in a B2P game? Because you bought the box set?
I bought the box set too and judging by the game developments over the last 3 months I’m believing I’ve opted into some strange F2P model where they charge you an entry fee

Hi,
i understand where you are coming from; like 2 different editions of the game and its barely even 4months.
where as the supposed “subscription” are meant to least for about a year

Snores.7806:

What happens if you’d like more Bank space? Or you have 5 toons and would like to roll another ? Or maybe you’d like a semi-decent armor skin and didn’t want to grind 40 dungeons to get it ?

So you are unsatisfied with getting 5 Characters to level 80 (which is hundreds of hours of playtime), along with two different PVP modes to keep you occupied for the 50$ you paid

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

Thanks for the explanation.

I can see how this works for Call of Duty for example. But for an MMO, that is supposed to be long-term enjoyment, this would be shooting themselves in the foot. No one would ever buy something from them again. Ever.

I honestly think Anet isnt stupid enough to choose a course like that. Which brings me to my second question: why do you think anet would choose a course like this?

Year end is near. Most companies are preparing to close their account book and everyone is trying to score high before the book is closed.

This year’s account book is also a report card to seek continual or new investor funding for next year. I can understand the ‘mad rush’ which we see recently in the launch of new content to attract more customers. While appreciative of the business pressure of retaining or attracting additional investor funding, it is still no excuse at all to roll out something that pissed off the customers, whether it is a perceived betrayal of their initial manifesto or buggy product.

Just my personal speculation of what goes behind the corporate scene.

Nexon owns 14.7% of NCSoft. Nexon installed Crystin Cox as “Monetization Producer” to protect their investment. Googling both of these names shows some really bad decisions that are starting to creep their way into GW2. Oh, it will look great on a corporate account book in the short term, but none of it will be good for the longevity of this game. Honestly, based on these two names alone, I predict this game gonna tank within a year. Yeah, it will still be “around”, but people will remember it as “that game”, and the majority of people won’t touch it even if they were being paid to play it.

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

Oh, what content do you need to pay extra for before you can play it then? Must have missed something.

Au contraire, the cash shop doesnt offer me anything I want. So even if I want to buy gems, I wouldnt know what to do with them.

paid tournaments!? of course you can get tickets by winning free tournaments (theoretically possible) and grinding daylies:) it is a fine line anet is crossing… im wondering whats next? will it cost to rent a room in pvp? how much? of course you will also have freedom to do 100 other things to get your room, but if you dnt feel like it, gem shop!

Snores.7806:

Galen Grey.4709:

Snores.7806:

I’m am worried about the direction of GW2.

Over the 3 months since release I have seen a steady stream of patches and updates that do little to nothing for the long term development of the game and it’s community. This has me worried that what we’re seeing is a “Churn and Burn” policy from our game developers.
The constant content push, month after month, for new content instead of a focus on game stability and playability. The steady nerfs to the economy, drop rates and general wealth generation. The lack of genuine communication and any real QA from the development team.
All these issues are leading me to believe the the games designers are pushing for higher profits rather then the vibrant, progressive community all the current customers were hoping for when they purchased the game.

But these are just my observations. As erroneous as they may seem, I’m happy to discuss so…

Fire away

I disagree for starters such a practice wouldnt work in a buy to play business model! the cash shop sales is a fraction of the box sales so the primary business motivator is customer retintion and making customers happy in order to convince them to buy the expansion when it comes out primarily.

That being said you’re also contradicting yourself. nerfing isnt done for some sadisitic purpose, its done to ensure the health of the economy in the long run! Lost shores was also geared at the long term improvement of the game! the new southern cove is a canvas where more events can be added and more so in the fractal of the mists!

Not sure where you got the idea of lack of communication! they’re actually quite communicative in my opinion not that common that developers get this involved with the community in my experiance!

What makes you think you’re still playing in a B2P game? Because you bought the box set?
I bought the box set too and judging by the game developments over the last 3 months I’m believing I’ve opted into some strange F2P model where they charge you an entry fee

and the fact their will be paid expansions and the fact everything in the cash shop is 100% optional and the fact that even if you want stuff off the cash shop you can also do it using in game currency

but more then that the fact that in the quaterly financial review NCsoft reported 2m box sales and $14m I believe in cash shop review!
even if we consider everyone bought the basic version and paid in dollars thats
close to $120m from box sales compared to $14m in cash shop

doubt they will be willing to sacrifice the big income over the smaller income!

what makes you think this is no longer a b2p game?

Snores.7806:

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

Oh, what content do you need to pay extra for before you can play it then? Must have missed something.

Au contraire, the cash shop doesnt offer me anything I want. So even if I want to buy gems, I wouldnt know what to do with them.

Theres not a F2P game on the market that demands I pay extra before I can play it. But then I havn’t played everything.

What happens if you’d like more Bank space? Or you have 5 toons and would like to roll another ? Or maybe you’d like a semi-decent armor skin and didn’t want to grind 40 dungeons to get it ?

There are! quite a few f2p games sell quest packs, access to dungeons or zones ! but not all of them

Its up to you! you can either pay real money and buy gems or pay in game money and buy gems! not many f2P games give you that flexibility! in case of the dungeon skin you have no option but to play the dungeon, you cant buy that with gold so you cant convert real money to gems in order to sell it and buy the skin with that money I am afraid!

but anyhow even if you could all of that is entirely optional! why is it wrong! Gw1 sold bank space as well, sold costumes as well do you feel its not buy to play either?

Worst yet even some Pay to play games sell stuff to players! WoW and The secret world being some good example! they’re free to play now as well just because they sell stuff to players?

Snores.7806:

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

Thanks for the explanation.

I can see how this works for Call of Duty for example. But for an MMO, that is supposed to be long-term enjoyment, this would be shooting themselves in the foot. No one would ever buy something from them again. Ever.

I honestly think Anet isnt stupid enough to choose a course like that. Which brings me to my second question: why do you think anet would choose a course like this?

Which AAA MMO have you participated in for the last 5 tears has given you “long term enjoyment” ? Swtor ? DCUO ? LotRO ? AoC? WAR ?

I can’t name a single one apart from WoW and EVE, and they’ve been going for 10 yrs. MMO companies have discovered that the easy bucks are based around hype and a quick turnaround

and that’s why ArenaNet is still hosting Guild Wars 1 servers. Because they’re all about the profit.

I did not see how Guild Wars 2 is monetized. So far I’ve not spent a single cent on gems and it did not cripple my experience in this game at all. I was able to enjoy all the content offered by the patches and now am waiting for Wintersday. I’ve even see bug fixes (my level 45 story that was broken got fixed).

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

Oh, what content do you need to pay extra for before you can play it then? Must have missed something.

Au contraire, the cash shop doesnt offer me anything I want. So even if I want to buy gems, I wouldnt know what to do with them.

paid tournaments!? of course you can get tickets by winning free tournaments (theoretically possible) and grinding daylies:) it is a fine line anet is crossing… im wondering whats next? will it cost to rent a room in pvp? how much? of course you will also have freedom to do 100 other things to get your room, but if you dnt feel like it, gem shop!

If you level your PvP standing you get tournament tickets. I already have an odd amount of them stacked on my bank. So essentially you need to play PvP to get into tournaments. That’s exactly how it should be.

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

Oh, what content do you need to pay extra for before you can play it then? Must have missed something.

Au contraire, the cash shop doesnt offer me anything I want. So even if I want to buy gems, I wouldnt know what to do with them.

paid tournaments!? of course you can get tickets by winning free tournaments (theoretically possible) and grinding daylies:) it is a fine line anet is crossing… im wondering whats next? will it cost to rent a room in pvp? how much? of course you will also have freedom to do 100 other things to get your room, but if you dnt feel like it, gem shop!

so essentailly what you’re saying is making stuff optional and / or aquirable in other ways not just using money isnt enough for you? its still greedy / a fine line easily crossed?

What else do you want them to do ? any example of a cash shop in any game thats better then this?

Snores.7806:

So who paid for your in game gold so you could convert it to gems ?

This is a real question? This is meant to be taken seriously?

I bought two bank expansions with gold I earned from doing events and exploration. I did not pay a third party for them, nor did I play the market, NOR did I have to do an immense amount of grinding. I have enough Gems for another character slot if I need it, but given Wintersday is around the corner I might just use them then.

In short? I worked for my gold to transform them into gems. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Snores.7806:

I’m am worried about the direction of GW2.

Over the 3 months since release I have seen a steady stream of patches and updates that do little to nothing for the long term development of the game and it’s community. This has me worried that what we’re seeing is a "Churn and Burn" policy from our game developers.
The constant content push, month after month, for new content instead of a focus on game stability and playability. The steady nerfs to the economy, drop rates and general wealth generation. The lack of genuine communication and any real QA from the development team.
All these issues are leading me to believe the the games designers are pushing for higher profits rather then the vibrant, progressive community all the current customers were hoping for when they purchased the game.

But these are just my observations. As erroneous as they may seem, I’m happy to discuss so...

Fire away

WoW yah think??? This IS a corporation after all and taking NCsoft’s/ANet’s previously crappy track record, are you REALLY all that surprised?? They’re really trying to emulate EA, "The Kiss of Death," and we know what kind of craptastic company that is....

I just got an email today… offering me free play time to come back to WoW. It’s patching right now. I was so excited about GW2, but the latest updates ruined it for me.

sonicsix.5713:

I just got an email today… offering me free play time to come back to WoW. It’s patching right now. I was so excited about GW2, but the latest updates ruined it for me.

which part exactly? the inclusion of a completely optional new gear tier you can ignore and just still play all of the game?

And you’re going back to WoW because it doesnt have that?

I am confused!

I think the developers are walking a fine line (and going it rather well). On the one hand, the company needs revenue to pay for servers / bandwidth, etc. On the other hand, their people who play the game the most likely do not have a lot of disposable income (people still in school).

By making everything obtainable in game (but not easily) the developers provide a way for people with lots of time and less cash to fully participate (farming). However, by providing the gem store, they enable individuals with more cash and less time to participate (buying gems).

Further, the system is designed to be more or less self regulating. That is, the if more people obtain items through farming (using the servers with out paying for their upkeep), the gem to gold exchange rate encourages people with less time to purchase gems to “keep up” (resulting in income that can be used to maintain the servers).

Personally, I like this system much more than having sponsored drops like the “7-Up Sword of Refreshing”

Quick Digression:

Galen Grey.4709:

sonicsix.5713:

I just got an email today… offering me free play time to come back to WoW. It’s patching right now. I was so excited about GW2, but the latest updates ruined it for me.

which part exactly? the inclusion of a completely optional new gear tier you can ignore and just still play all of the game?

And you’re going back to WoW because it doesnt have that?

I am confused!

For now you can ignore the new tier. However, I don’t think you can ignore it indefinitely. Remember leveling up and having a weapon that was 5 levels too low? The game became much easier when you obtained a properly leveled weapon .

I think once ascended weapons and gear comes out it will be the same.

The progression goes like this. People complain that there’s nothing to do -> new gear tier is added -> some people get the gear -> those people complain the game is too easy -> new content is added or difficulty is raised. At which point you can’t ignore the gear anymore.

tl;dr: paying for the servers to run the game without a subscription is difficult.

Hardcore gear-grinders generally don’t want to gear-grind in a pay-to-win cash shop game. Casuals generally do not want to play in a game where they can never keep up or reach equality via playing casually. WvW players don’t want to have to PvE grind anything. Who is this system serving? It is only serving to completely monetize the GW2 system, anchored by the ridiculously low amount of silver one earns while playing the game. You’ve been wondering why it is so low? This is why. And if you sPvP players think you are immune to this, how long do you think you have before Crystin figures out a way to make you pony up?

I think A-Net is doing a really bad job with Monetizing their gem shop.

On one hand, you see all those slight changes which lead me to think that they want us to buy gems to convert to gold so we can buy ingame equipment (which is a really bad thing)

On the other hand there are the contents of the gem shop itself which are very bland and boring in my opinion.

I do not care for boosts or the random chests (I despise random so I would never support random casino style chests and the likes in any game)

There are some costumes but not really a good choice and nothing that really strikes me as “I want that”

Why does A-Net not work more on the gemstore side and implement more Costumes? I couldnt care less for the next iteration of the Black Lion Chest, but I would love to see some really nice Weapon Skins, Armor Skins and Town clothes. especially Town Clothes.

Snores.7806:

Which AAA MMO have you participated in for the last 5 tears has given you “long term enjoyment” ? Swtor ? DCUO ? LotRO ? AoC? WAR ?

I can’t name a single one apart from WoW and EVE,

DDO and CoH does/did for me. FWIW.

Eldiora:
“On the other hand there are the contents of the gem shop itself which are very bland and boring in my opinion.”

I agree, it’s pretty barren.

edjahman.9104:

Hardcore gear-grinders generally don’t want to gear-grind in a pay-to-win cash shop game.

1. Do you know what kind of game is pay to win? Have you ever played one?! Because I assure you Guild Wars 2 is far from it.
2. “Hardcore gear grinders don’t want to gear grind” contradicting yourself much?

edjahman.9104:

Casuals generally do not want to play in a game where they can never keep up or reach equality via playing casually.

Having in mind how fast it is to level in this game and how easy it is to amass the right amount of money and items for good gear (I was able to gear me, my alt and my bf in exotics in 2 days. I’m a hardcore player, but really once you reach level 400 crafting all you need is only a bit of money for ectos. 10 – 15 gold to gear up one char in gear that will serve its purpose, if you don’t spend a lot and collect materials, you can have 10G at level 80) I wouldn’t say that this game is really bad for casuals. Especially when some casuals quite recently made topics in this forum about how they love the game, because even if they switch it on only for 30 minutes they can feel like they have achieved something.

edjahman.9104:

WvW players don’t want to have to PvE grind anything. Who is this system serving? It is only serving to completely monetize the GW2 system, anchored by the ridiculously low amount of silver one earns while playing the game. You’ve been wondering why it is so low? This is why. And if you sPvP players think you are immune to this, how long do you think you have before Crystin figures out a way to make you pony up?

And they don’t have to. You get quite okay drops in WvW, plus there are nodes and ingredients in it. Not the tier 6 ones, but gold and silvers sells quite well.

edjahman.9104:

Who is this system serving? It is only serving to completely monetize the GW2 system, anchored by the ridiculously low amount of silver one earns while playing the game.

1. Okay. How come am I able to get everything I need from the game while not grinding or buying gems and how come you feel unable to?

2. You do realize that the way the economy works if it started raining gold the prices would simply increase, right? Look at Diablo III economy.

edjahman.9104:

And if you sPvP players think you are immune to this, how long do you think you have before Crystin figures out a way to make you pony up?

Well having in mind that in SPvP you are using SPvP gear with the opportunity to get skins, but not actual gear with advantage, there’s not really a way for sPvP to be damaged.

I wonder if the monetizing advisor from nexon still works with gw2. You know the one that is partly responsible for the change to dyes from account wide to character based in bwe2→3. Would you be suprised?

I’m am worried about the direction of the gaming community.
Its just been 3 months and the players have asked for more and more to the point of getting me to ask do these ppl do any thing else but play this game? The worst thing is that this community keep asking for new content nearly endless but once they get it and ways to keep ppl active (mind you this is JUST 3 MONTHS) they complain that they must WORK for this and DO THING being the very thing they asked for. I think the gaming community is losing its mind at this point.
Just flipping your argument and post but take a step back it just been 3 months they should be trying to make sure the game works 100% way before adding in long term content that how all mmo are.

Honestly, I’ve seen a lot of people asking for bugfixes not new content. There’s even thread floating around asking for that.

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

I wonder why you think a vibrant community gets in the way of higher profit. Happy costumer = spending costumer.

It does when they’re on a Scorched Earth style campaign of making the game more grindy and less fun, constantly. Constant drop rate nerfs, additions of super super super super grindy content etc.

Their current direction seems to be “Make the game so painful to play that everyone is forced to buy gems to actually meet even the smallest of goals in the game.”

Given that their strategy seems to be to make actually playing the game so unrewarding that you have no other option than to buy gems for gold, I do think it conflicts with having a good community (or any community, for that matter).

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Snores.7806:

So who paid for your in game gold so you could convert it to gems ?

This is a real question? This is meant to be taken seriously?

I bought two bank expansions with gold I earned from doing events and exploration. I did not pay a third party for them, nor did I play the market, NOR did I have to do an immense amount of grinding. I have enough Gems for another character slot if I need it, but given Wintersday is around the corner I might just use them then.

In short? I worked for my gold to transform them into gems. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sorry Tobias got that question round the wrong way, have edited it for greater understanding.
The point I was trying to make was that another had to have purchased the gems for you to buy them with in game gold.
And did you purchase said gems when they were only 20s/100, or when they more the quadrupled in price after the stealth loot nerf and the introduction of the hellish gring that is Ascended gear ?

@Mirta
At the moment you are the top of the food chain. A hardcore player with established 80s and money in the bank. Not trying to take away from your achievements but tH majority of that success would have come before the income nerfs.
What chance does a new player now have to try and get to a lvl playing field? How much more difficult do you think it is now then 3 months ago ?
Those that have played since release and pushed through the content early have a distinct advantage over those players now entering the game. How much worse is that gap going to become over the next 3 months?

Snores.7806:

@Mirta
At the moment you are the top of the food chain. A hardcore player with established 80s and money in the bank. Not trying to take away from your achievements but tH majority of that success would have come before the income nerfs.
What chance does a new player now have to try and get to a lvl playing field? How much more difficult do you think it is now then 3 months ago ?
Those that have played since release and pushed through the content early have a distinct advantage over those players now entering the game. How much worse is that gap going to become over the next 3 months?

well I only started playing a month ago so lol?
I’m also leveling 2 alts, without using my 80s money and I could say that so far I’m not getting worse drops. Later with the top tier of gear being ascended, newbies will actually be the ones winning, because people with 80s right now already spent money on their exotics and will be spending the same amount again for the ascendeds if they feel like it. Newbies coming in later will only be making the top tier – ascendeds, not spending anything on exotics and saving money like veterans couldn’t have.
Really it’s all a point of perspective. I can say that right now the game, for me is not worse than it was a month ago, so I don’t see the advantage being that big on either side.

Snores.7806:

@Mirta
At the moment you are the top of the food chain. A hardcore player with established 80s and money in the bank. Not trying to take away from your achievements but tH majority of that success would have come before the income nerfs.
What chance does a new player now have to try and get to a lvl playing field? How much more difficult do you think it is now then 3 months ago ?
Those that have played since release and pushed through the content early have a distinct advantage over those players now entering the game. How much worse is that gap going to become over the next 3 months?

Agree.
Just think about the bank slots, for example.

Fuz.5621:

Snores.7806:

@Mirta
At the moment you are the top of the food chain. A hardcore player with established 80s and money in the bank. Not trying to take away from your achievements but tH majority of that success would have come before the income nerfs.
What chance does a new player now have to try and get to a lvl playing field? How much more difficult do you think it is now then 3 months ago ?
Those that have played since release and pushed through the content early have a distinct advantage over those players now entering the game. How much worse is that gap going to become over the next 3 months?

Agree.
Just think about the bank slots, for example.

well recently my boyfriend found a lucky night when 100 gems cost 50 silver. I, myself, am still using the regular bank slots, so in all those regards I’m as much on top of a food chain as a new player is.

Mirta.5029:

Snores.7806:

@Mirta
At the moment you are the top of the food chain. A hardcore player with established 80s and money in the bank. Not trying to take away from your achievements but tH majority of that success would have come before the income nerfs.
What chance does a new player now have to try and get to a lvl playing field? How much more difficult do you think it is now then 3 months ago ?
Those that have played since release and pushed through the content early have a distinct advantage over those players now entering the game. How much worse is that gap going to become over the next 3 months?

well I only started playing a month ago so lol?
I’m also leveling 2 alts, without using my 80s money and I could say that so far I’m not getting worse drops. Later with the top tier of gear being ascended, newbies will actually be the ones winning, because people with 80s right now already spent money on their exotics and will be spending the same amount again for the ascendeds if they feel like it. Newbies coming in later will only be making the top tier – ascendeds, not spending anything on exotics and saving money like veterans couldn’t have.
Really it’s all a point of perspective. I can say that right now the game, for me is not worse than it was a month ago, so I don’t see the advantage being that big on either side.

lol, yep you’re definitely a hardcore player. I’ve been playing since pre-release and I only got my Guardian to 80 two weeks ago.
Maybe the problem isn’t the game after all but my decidedly casual playstyle. It just seems that every week that I log on the goalposts have moved that little bit further away.
And though I can see where you’re coming from with your reasoning behind the game getting easier for new players, it doesnt really stand up to analysis. When a new player finally gets there toon to 80 they are going to be competing with you for the availble gear and materials on the TP. Exotic and Ascended/Legendary gear all come from the same material pool.
In the end these are just my observations based on my playstyle and what I want from my game. It’s a pity as I was hoping GW2 would be “the one”

Galen Grey.4709:

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

Oh, what content do you need to pay extra for before you can play it then? Must have missed something.

Au contraire, the cash shop doesnt offer me anything I want. So even if I want to buy gems, I wouldnt know what to do with them.

paid tournaments!? of course you can get tickets by winning free tournaments (theoretically possible) and grinding daylies:) it is a fine line anet is crossing… im wondering whats next? will it cost to rent a room in pvp? how much? of course you will also have freedom to do 100 other things to get your room, but if you dnt feel like it, gem shop!

so essentailly what you’re saying is making stuff optional and / or aquirable in other ways not just using money isnt enough for you? its still greedy / a fine line easily crossed?

What else do you want them to do ? any example of a cash shop in any game thats better then this?

it is the thing of balance between grinding and paying… do you think things are balanced? pls enlighten me since im not into paid, does each member of team have to pay 5 tickets or 5 tickets for the whole team? is it balanced?

and saying that this game has better game shop than others is ridiculous since this game is buy to play, and game shop is for “cosmetics only”. so you can not compare it to free to play games that make money in game shop only. now how exactly is paying to play tournament cosmetic? i am talking about principle. this is pvp part of the game, basically paying to even play. again i understand that i can also grind my way into paid tournaments, but what do you thin anets real reason behind this system is? dividing pro from casual or money? i mean really… there are much better ways of dividing those two groups, and since their paid system did exactly the opposite, anet is gonna put ranking now as it should have from start… but does that mean paid tournaments are going out? it remains to be seen.

at leas when they put ranking system, pro are gonna grind tickets in free tournaments but with paid environment, which means there are gonna be even less good teams out there that can get their hands on tickets. are they gonna buy them in game shop? yeah, right. so there we go with the “lets make money by selling tickets so people can play the game they already bought as buy to play” disguised in “we want to separate pro players from the casual players” idea.

an this is only pvp which is more vulnerable since less people play it. and if you go to pve part of the forum, there is a lot going on there also on this pay to win or whatnot subject…

but yeah, maybe im just paranoid since our pay to win is much better than some other games have it:P

What’s wrong with people buying tournament tickets? As long as there is a way to earn them some other way via steady progression.