Time-Gating?

Time-Gating?

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Posted by: Phenn.5167

Phenn.5167

(Since there’s no “general discussion” forum, I’m posting this here.)

I hesitate to post this topic, simply because I really enjoy GW2. It’s a pleasant break from the traditional MMO in some ways, and preserves some good things as well. I have contentedly played since Beta.

But with recent patches and Living World updates, I’m getting more and more frustrated with the addition of time-gating to nearly every aspect of the game.

For example:
1. Dungeons rewards have been time-gated.
2. Crafting leveling (also affecting those who want to level their toons with crafting) is now time-gated.
3. Living Story is time-gated.
4. Super Adventure Box is now time-gated.
5. Resource gathering is time-gated (not just farming nodes now…).
6. Dailies and monthlies are time-gated.
7. Zone meta-event rewards are time-gated.

Now, I’m the first to admit that within the spectrum of the whole game, these individual time-gates are not game-breaking. What bothers me is the pattern that seems to be developing. As more and more of the game becomes time-gated across accounts, there’s less incentive for me to play.

At the moment, the most effective way to play GW2 seems to be a few hours a day, every day. If you choose to do otherwise (for those of us who can only play on weekends, etc.) you end up at an increasingly-growing disadvantage.

It’s starting to have a Farmville-esque flavor.

Maybe I’m donning a tinfoil hat, but I’m curious to know the goal of the preponderance of time-gating. I’m unsure I like the direction it’s headed.

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Posted by: Shiren.9532

Shiren.9532

The devs want to push the “daily log in” metrics. They have boasted that figure in interviews and press releases. They use it as a way to measure the success of the game. ArenaNet as company seem to value everything with quantitative measurements and not qualitative measurements. They seem to think the healthiest thing for the game is to push a two week Living Story cycle which pushes out lots of hoops to jump through to keep players returning regularly (in interviews they boasted that this improves the number of people logging in regularly , seemingly how they measure a healthy community) but they also heavily push the time gated stuff. This prevents you from progressing too much in one day but also discourages you from being away for several days. It’s not designed around what gives the player a better experience or freedom of choice, it’s designed around what creates the most regular recurring log ins. It doesn’t matter to them if those players would be happier without time gates and daily hoops, they can say to their investors, producers and marketing team that they have players playing every day. That’s the priority.

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Posted by: Phenn.5167

Phenn.5167

The devs want to push the “daily log in” metrics. They have boasted that figure in interviews and press releases.

~snip~

It doesn’t matter to them if those players would be happier without time gates and daily hoops, they can say to their investors, producers and marketing team that they have players playing every day. That’s the priority.

That’s what I was afraid of.

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Posted by: Miragee.3604

Miragee.3604

What Shiren said. Time-gating is a really, really ugly method to keep people playing. Especially in the way it’s implemented. It takes every the freedom to chose what you want to play and when you want it to play. And that’s horrible.
I hoped for a lot of things to get better in this game since release. But instead of depth, challenge and good stories we got filler/fake content via achievements and time gates for everything.
As soon as heir is an alternative (beside GW1) I will leave this game with a big sigh.

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Posted by: thefinnster.7105

thefinnster.7105

for me all this time gating and daily rewards is becomeing increaseingly frustrateing i feel like arena net is controling what i do in the game and i have no real freedom to actualy enjoy the game or do the things id like to do. soon as i log on i have to do my dailys witch usualy takes me an hour or two and than i have to go make my charged quartz bar arange my dungeon runs refine my ascended mats kill my world bosses blah blah the list of daily time gated activites is getting out of hand

stop trying to control us and lets us progress at a rate that matches the effort we put in to the game if i go out and famr the rescources to do more than 1 combine towards my ascended weapon each day then i deserve the right to make that combine

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Posted by: Spoonification.4087

Spoonification.4087

While I largely agree with the sentiment of time-gated content being detrimental, I think in some areas it’s understandable. Being able to do tomorrow’s daily achievement, today, wouldn’t make a lot of sense; same thing with the monthly. And the living story wouldn’t be time gated if it weren’t for the fact that LS content is temporary only…but that’s a subject for a different topic.

Also, if world events weren’t a once daily thing, can you imagine how many players would simply farm them all day? There’d be little reason not to just jump on a train of world events.

But as I said, I dislike time gating as much as the next guy. If it weren’t for ascended materials being time gated, I’d probably have a weapon by now.

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Posted by: Myst Dawnbringer.9138

Myst Dawnbringer.9138

Time gating or cool downs and account binding it all is just so boring. But I’m not in that much of a hurry to get everything, once you get all the stuff you want it gets boring.

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Posted by: Nilkemia.8507

Nilkemia.8507

This time gating gimmick has to be one of the worst ideas they’ve ever come up with.

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Posted by: Aeolus.3615

Aeolus.3615

This time gating gimmick has to be one of the worst ideas they’ve ever come up with.

I bet was NCSOFT.

1st April joke, when gw2 receives a “balance” update.

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Posted by: Charak.9761

Charak.9761

Seems like a chore now, everything is a flipping checklist now:

1. Get my Charged Quartz
2. Mine home node
3. Do Every World Boss
4. Do 6 levels of SAB to get enough Baubles
5. Do fractal dailies
6. Do some jumping puzzles, fragments T_T
7. Make my 2 daily crafting

This leaves no room for spvp, dungeons, wvwvw. It’s killing the game for me now. The crafting shoved me furthur away from my precursor as well.

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Posted by: Noxxagt.8695

Noxxagt.8695

really feeling the sentiments expressed in this thread, the time gating and a lot of the farm heavy events that made doing anything other than farming a ghost town (dungeons, world events, even wvw) over the last month have really hurt the game.

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Posted by: Gibson.4036

Gibson.4036

Wholeheartedly agreed!

The time-gating is slowly sucking the fun out of the game. I have a big enough to-do list in real life, I don’t need one in game.

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Posted by: Cactus.2710

Cactus.2710

Time gating is just one of the more annoying ways that ANet has backpedaled on just about every major promise they made to us back before launch. If you were here then you know what I mean.

D/D Thief who prefers mobility to stealth … so yeah, I die a lot
Stormbluff Isle [AoD]

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Posted by: Dahkeus.8243

Dahkeus.8243

Yea, I gotta agree with this. It’s pretty disheartening to feel like you have to log on every day, just as it is to feel like you’ve run out of things to do because you have to wait on a time gate.

Honestly, I really just wish they would add some good quality permanent dungeons.

+1 here from another weekend warrior.

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Posted by: Lord Kuru.3685

Lord Kuru.3685

Also, time gating fools a LOT of players into thinking there’s more content than there actually is. So Anet can get away with creating less real content, so there’s less work for them, so they require fewer employees.

In the words of Gordon Ramsay: They’ve just given up, haven’t they?

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Posted by: Noxxagt.8695

Noxxagt.8695

yes +1 more for more dungeons!

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Posted by: kitanas.3596

kitanas.3596

I would just like to ask a question here.

can you name an MMO that doesn’t rely on time gating?

Time Gating exists because there is a type of player, commonly called a “content locust”, who will burn though content at the fastest possible speed and then call (loudly) for more.

This isn’t necessarily a defense of a-net, more-so an explanation as t why I think Time Gating was Implemented.

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Posted by: Phenn.5167

Phenn.5167

I understand it in SOME content, but the sheer pervasiveness of it in nearly every activity in the game has become irritating.

Additionally, forcing every casual player (the purported target audience of GW2) to suffer because of a hard-core minority seems fishy.

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Posted by: Cuchullain.3104

Cuchullain.3104

I would just like to ask a question here.

can you name an MMO that doesn’t rely on time gating?

Time Gating exists because there is a type of player, commonly called a “content locust”, who will burn though content at the fastest possible speed and then call (loudly) for more.

This isn’t necessarily a defense of a-net, more-so an explanation as t why I think Time Gating was Implemented.

How does time-gated grinding constitute “content?”

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Posted by: Cactus.2710

Cactus.2710

I would just like to ask a question here.

can you name an MMO that doesn’t rely on time gating?

Time Gating exists because there is a type of player, commonly called a “content locust”, who will burn though content at the fastest possible speed and then call (loudly) for more.

This isn’t necessarily a defense of a-net, more-so an explanation as t why I think Time Gating was Implemented.

If you think time-gating is content, you’re exactly the kind of player that ANet thinks we all are.

D/D Thief who prefers mobility to stealth … so yeah, I die a lot
Stormbluff Isle [AoD]

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Posted by: Elusive.9481

Elusive.9481

I agree with everything said here. It’s a DAILY grind. And you have to catch the LS content (which I won’t tear apart here) in 2 weeks before it changes to something else. Lame. Sure, I can take a week off or so, but miss out on a huge chunk of achievement points from a practically mandated activity thrown in your face that is, frankly, content I’d rather avoid.

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Posted by: Firefly.5982

Firefly.5982

Time Gating is being implemented to force players to log on daily so that it appears as if the game has a huge amount of people playing every day. Don’t try and fool anybody into thinking any other way, because that’s the sad truth.

I wasn’t looking forward to this update and now seeing how the whole ascended crafting works I am so sick of it. Why not make it so that the days you miss logging on, you can still craft your time gated mats?!

Don’t log on for 14 days, still be able to craft 14 days worth of time gated mats once you log on again. That way, every player can craft the same amount of mats in the same time. That would be fair. But no. You have to log on every day to be allowed to craft that days mats. Sickening.

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Posted by: Otherian.6580

Otherian.6580

Imo the problem here is that not every activity gives the same amount of gold / reward and therefore they time-gate them so you can’t just farm one thing all day because it’s the one who brings the most (FZ-W1 / W2 Farm | Boss-Farm | SAB Farm… …). You complained about how nothing else is time-effectiv compared to XYZ Farm. Now you complain that you can’t do it more than once a day…
Think about it.

~just my 2 cents~
PS: Sorry for bad english.

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Posted by: Tigera.2916

Tigera.2916

I would just like to ask a question here.

can you name an MMO that doesn’t rely on time gating?

Time Gating exists because there is a type of player, commonly called a “content locust”, who will burn though content at the fastest possible speed and then call (loudly) for more.

This isn’t necessarily a defense of a-net, more-so an explanation as t why I think Time Gating was Implemented.

If you think time-gating is content, you’re exactly the kind of player that ANet thinks we all are.

How does time-gated grinding constitute “content?”

Time-gating isn’t content… it’s a way to stop the locusts from burning through the new content incredibly quickly and demanding more, just as Kitanas said. (and very vocally more, at that…)

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Posted by: Nilkemia.8507

Nilkemia.8507

Doesn’t change the fact that time-gating on this scale is stupid. If they want to burn through content that fast, let them. At least you could do things at your leisure before. Now my time on the game is managing a daily checklist. I hate that.

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Posted by: Varielle.9074

Varielle.9074

The devs want to push the “daily log in” metrics. They have boasted that figure in interviews and press releases.

~snip~

It doesn’t matter to them if those players would be happier without time gates and daily hoops, they can say to their investors, producers and marketing team that they have players playing every day. That’s the priority.

That’s what I was afraid of.

Same here…. won’t be long before I get burnt out and can’t be bothered to log in

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Posted by: Ulti.6730

Ulti.6730

Though I agree time gating can lead to a check list type of play. You also have to remember you don’t have to do it. Hell if I feel like going to war in WvW or Spvp, I don’t care about doing dailies, I go WvW. No one makes us do dailies and things like that, in reality if not for the need if laurels you don’t even need to do it just because it’s available. That’s like grinding 9999999 gold in final fantasy or something for no reason :p

Ultiimate- Guardian – Borlis Pass

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Posted by: BilboBaggins.5620

BilboBaggins.5620

I would just like to ask a question here.

can you name an MMO that doesn’t rely on time gating?

Time Gating exists because there is a type of player, commonly called a “content locust”, who will burn though content at the fastest possible speed and then call (loudly) for more.

This isn’t necessarily a defense of a-net, more-so an explanation as t why I think Time Gating was Implemented.

Then let them burn through the content and leave. They’re going to leave when the next big MMO releases anyway.

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Posted by: Katz.5143

Katz.5143

I don’t mind time gating for max level armor. I do mind it on things such as collecting items in short term content.

Take the scenario of two people playing the exact same total amount of time in the game. One logs on every day for a little time and collects items such as baubles or something equivalent in other content. The other can’t do that but has one weekend day to devote to the game. I think the guy on the one weekend day should be able to collect items all day if he wants. If it is gated at once per day then he may decide to just forget it because he can’t really collect enough to make enough progress to obtain items.

Perhaps they could have a total weekly limit that applies. Then you obtain the items by acquiring some each day or all in one sitting.

It’s a kitten conspiracy. Kittens gonna be kittens. All is vain!

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Posted by: Phenn.5167

Phenn.5167

Though I agree time gating can lead to a check list type of play. You also have to remember you don’t have to do it. Hell if I feel like going to war in WvW or Spvp, I don’t care about doing dailies, I go WvW. No one makes us do dailies and things like that, in reality if not for the need if laurels you don’t even need to do it just because it’s available. That’s like grinding 9999999 gold in final fantasy or something for no reason :p

And I was totally fine when it was JUST dailies. I’d go and do something else—like dungeons. And then they were time-gated. So I’d do something else—like world events. They’re time-gated. And then I’d go do something else—like crafting. Time-gated. LS content? Time-gated.

My point in posting originally was simply this: I am perfectly fine with well-thought-out and well-placed time-gating. I’m NOT okay with every aspect of the game being time-gated leaving only PvP or WvW left without.

What happens when they time-gate entrance to WvW? It’s the pattern I dislike.

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Posted by: darkace.8925

darkace.8925

I think those of us who loathe time gating are just going to have to accept that the developers are no longer making this game for us. They’ve shifted their target demographic from one group of players to the extreme opposite. It’s unfortunate, too, because I really don’t think the game can appeal to the two groups at same time…the difference in what each wants are just too vast.

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Posted by: SoPP.7034

SoPP.7034

+1 to this thread.

Instead of engaging content we get treadmills, grinds, buggy gated temporary content……
The focus on LS and AP has made me start to resent this game.

A warrior, a guardian, and an elementalist walk into an open field…
The Warrior turns to the guardian and says, “Did you hear something?”
Guardian replies, “No, but how’d the elementalist die?”

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Posted by: Gibson.4036

Gibson.4036

can you name an MMO that doesn’t rely on time gating?

This was supposed to be the “MMO for people who don’t like MMOs.”

Time Gating exists because there is a type of player, commonly called a “content locust”, who will burn though content at the fastest possible speed and then call (loudly) for more.

Will it work? Or will the locusts simply move to the next shiny new game as soon as it launches?

This isn’t necessarily a defense of a-net, more-so an explanation as t why I think Time Gating was Implemented.

I think you’re right. Question is, will it be good for the game in the long run?

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Posted by: Pack Hunter.6103

Pack Hunter.6103

I play a few hours a day, almost everyday. I dont bother with most of the “time gated” stuff because it’s not fun. If I get 4/5 dailies fin stuff I find fun I’ll go do something I don’t normally do, get the fifth and go back to having fun. If this “time gating” really bothers you(and some of you sound really upset), then go do something fun, even if it’s NOT guild wars. Because that’s what this is about, having fun.
Now I don’t really like the idea if time gating either but they have their reasons and purposes

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Posted by: ShiningMassXAcc.4735

ShiningMassXAcc.4735

This is a good watch on the idea of the ‘skinner box’. You may find it relevant here.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/the-skinner-box