Guild Wars 2

This one is a bit of of left-field, but just bear with me on this.

In my mind at least, there comes a time when you can only bear to look upon so much negativity and angst upon a certain entity (Anet’s policy being the case).

What would happen if the forums suddenly went silent?

Would Anet even bat an eyelid at the very thought of no one piking up at the first minor concern about the game? I’d guess they would have less to worry about because no one would be complaining. Would it be presumptuous that an inverse-logic would take place and that all was right in GW2? I see over 1300 pages in the General Discussion forum alone, and I guarantee 95% of it is complaining, ideas gone by the wayside or just toxic backlash based on something wrong with the game.

But in my mind, that’s the very crux of the problem — this is why we post on these forums, because we care about the game, where Anet (or indeed, its policy) seemingly does not care about its players.

We want it to be as good as it can possibly be; we want to get excited about something that’s coming up, something that we’ve been looking forward to, not just what the devs think is what we want, only to have us whinge about how it was all done wrong and that they should have talked to us (be more transparent) in the first instance.

We don’t want to see the game fail. But I feel this is the direction it’s heading, the less we know about what’s in the works. I don’t understand Anet’s “mushroom” policy (being kept in the dark and fed on sh*t); it doesn’t help them, it doesn’t work for me or indeed any of us players in the long run.

It does make me think, however… since their hands are so bound by the very ‘red tape’ their policy has created, that they can’t talk about anything in the works… what would happen if they were stonewalled in return? If we told them nothing about the game, would they incorrectly assume everything was hunky-dory?

But we know this isn’t the case. We only voice ourselves because we care and want to see this game become something much better than it currently is – something it was destined to be but just isn’t.

Communication is reciprocal. You made a game for us, we play it. We find something wrong with it, we tell you. You tell us it’ll be fixed. It never gets fixed. More of these problems add up, the same “we’ll fix it and then release a big patch” attitude comes along, where you’ve not fixed the problem but made it worse. Time goes by, the fix still isn’t in and people are getting antsy about the progress of the game. What will be fixed? What will be added? Where’s the content? And we find ourselves exactly where we are right now, where this stagnancy has amounted to nothing more than mockery, contempt and seething toxicity. Fair dues, I applaud your recent efforts of communication, but we’re still no further along the lines of proper communication (again, the policy).

So again, I ask you, what would happen if we told you nothing about what we experience in the game?

Walk a mile in our shoes.

They would emit a huge sigh of relief, pat themselves on the back and go home early because clearly nothing is wrong and everyone is happy.

Or tear apart the system to debug just in case something went wrong. A whole day and nobody complaining? That’d be . . .

. . . impossible.

Here’s the thing…..it isn’t failing.

It didn’t fail with the uproar over Ascended, “Anet is turning GW2 into a WoW clone!!!”.

It didn’t fail because of the Living World/Story.

It didn’t fail with the umpteenth balance patch to (insert profession here).

They read the forums, they institute changes (not always logical changes, granted), they actively ask for our feedback. Believe it or not, they care about the game more than we do.

I’m not saying not to give feedback. Be constructive, realistic, clear, and concise.

Feedback doesn’t always need to be validated.

killcannon.2576:

Here’s the thing…..it isn’t failing.

It didn’t fail with the uproar over Ascended, “Anet is turning GW2 into a WoW clone!!!”.

It didn’t fail because of the Living World/Story.

Au contraire!

Ascended Tier was the very first piece of the sky to fall, followed by Fractal reset, Trait Acquisition changes and Level Progression changes…quite a few chunks there coming down.

(Please remember that in the original Chicken Little story…Chicken Little dies horribly)

But if the sky falling is far too dramatic for you, let’s go with the proverbial black-eye; by every account the announcement of Ascended Tier was a black-eye for ANet.

It was something that sprung out of nowhere on the community just two months after the game’s release and it effectively ended the honeymoon period for the GW2.

But the hits have just kept on coming after that and ANet has never adequately addressed the number one issue on the forums from 2012: the post 80 experience.

There were plenty of options:

- Elite Trait Capture system

- New Weapon/Profession combinations

- Possible Cross Profession Trait Line Hybrids

- More attention to WvW improvements

- More Dungeons

- More World Boss Events on Random Timers

- A Guild versus Guild System

- More Unique Skins tied to New Events, Dungeons or Challenges

- Comprehensive Legendary system that includes Armor

These are some of things that could have quieted the forums to some degree, yet ANet decided to yank out existing/working systems in the game and reinvent the wheel.

The leveling progression to 80 was one of the most praised elements that GW2 had to offer and in one fell swoop it was radically altered. Attributes now arrive in uneven chunks, causing peaks and valleys of power. The whole ebb and flow of the game changed, not just for the first few levels but all the way to 80.

Compounding it further was a Trait System that got nearly everything wrong.
A particular task to unlock a Trait is required to be completed, or alternatively pay the vendor for the unlock; doesn’t sound too bad…

But the relatively hefty sum of skill points and coin to unlock particular traits can be a damper on many a player. (43 Gold + 360 Skill Points for all 65 traits)

If you can’t afford the vendor, than unlocking Traits for the appropriate level will often require you to travel to Zone Maps that may be 10+ levels or more higher than your current level. (The Tasks have no logical connection to the Trait it unlocks.)

Lastly, some Tasks are tied to either bugged, difficult group, WvW or Jumping Puzzle events.

So, yes, eventually when Chicken Little stops breathing, it will get quiet.

If you believe they are ignoring everyone despite the obvious examples of content originating in these forums plus them stateing that yes they read and try to fit things that match their goals into this game, I don’t know what to say. You will not accept what is in front of you.

It’s not them ignoring us that’s the issue — it’s their policy preventing us from proper communication with them.

Communicating is always a two-way street, and it doesn’t help if one lane is intentionally blocked. Block both lanes and nothing goes anywhere.

So then you have to ask yourself in this destructive cycle – who is helping whom?

GW1 didn’t have an official forum at all. Developers still managed to be aware of players thoughts and opinions and factored them in to changes or ignored them as they felt was appropriate.

Danikat.8537:

GW1 didn’t have an official forum at all. Developers still managed to be aware of players thoughts and opinions and factored them in to changes or ignored them as they felt was appropriate.

I was a moderator on GWGuru in those days, ANet was very good at interfacing publicly (largely thanks to Gaile Gray’s involvement) via multiple higher profile fan sites. I recall there were about 10-12 sites regularly seeing an ANet presence.

It worked.

Curiously, it’s been a detriment that ANet ever got into the “official” forum business. I’m sure control was the attractive idea, but it has chilled open and honest and intentional communication between devs and players.