Guild Wars 2

Came back today after about a year maybe less, started to do the aftermath achievements, had gotten 6 or 7/12 about 2 hours trying to figure out where to go and waiting on the spawns, my pc crashes and game updates….. Log in can’t finish the achievements I had started so I just wasted 2 hrs for nothing?

Granted my mmorpg experience is limited to WoW, GW, Rift and SWTOR but only time I’ve seen reward content ended like that was 3 times in WOW in 6 years ( sunwell open, scourge event and the troll event for cata?) holiday events in GW, surely if they attach achievements and rewards the content should be able to be completed anytime? Would be like if blizzard added a raid for ( insert how long these things last) and then remove it.

Just had to vent, as doing something that was decent( I enjoyed the solo instance) and soloing the worm thing, but to end up with not being able to finish is like a slap to the face.

You came back at the wrong time.

The living world content gives you like more than a month to complete. You just happened to come back on three last few hours it was open.

I can see why it sucks to get hit like that but this content has been live longer than most of the living story content.

Well, yeah. For the 100th time: deadlines for content (and achievements) should be communicated in game (on the achievement pages).

We all know when the month ends (thanks for the timer anyway…) but we typically only guess (among the forum population) when a living story chapter ends. ANet used to write this in the patch notes, but don’t seem to bother with even that anymore. And the non-forum population… doesn’t have even that, and is completely screwed.

How hard can it be?

I agree with Pixelpumpkin. I think there should be something in game that tells you when the LS content will end. Personally I never know, so sometimes that does stop me from even trying the content.

ETA: sorry OP, that stinks.

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Well, yeah. For the 100th time: deadlines for content (and achievements) should be communicated in game (on the achievement pages).

….

How hard can it be?

Considering that they don’t know the specific time that a new update will get pushed… how would you like them to go about it?

option 1: they use their best estimate. problem case: patch goes up an hour early, ppl complained that they were promised more time.

option 2: set a hard time for achievement to end, regardless of when patch gets pushed. problem case: “I couldn’t finish the achievement in time but the patch isn’t even live yet, come on you owe me more time!”

any other ideas?

GrandmaFunk.3052:

any other ideas?

Yes. They could do away with the ridiculous notion of temporary content altogether. That would fix the issue quite nicely.

GrandmaFunk.3052:

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Well, yeah. For the 100th time: deadlines for content (and achievements) should be communicated in game (on the achievement pages).

….

How hard can it be?

Considering that they don’t know the specific time that a new update will get pushed… how would you like them to go about it?

option 1: they use their best estimate. problem case: patch goes up an hour early, ppl complained that they were promised more time.

option 2: set a hard time for achievement to end, regardless of when patch gets pushed. problem case: “I couldn’t finish the achievement in time but the patch isn’t even live yet, come on you owe me more time!”

any other ideas?

I’m talking about the date, not counting down the minutes on patch day.

ANet knows exactly whether the living story achievements will be available for 2 weeks, 4 weeks or 7 weeks. But try as we might on the forums, we can’t get them to reply to the threads asking this.

I’m making sure to complete all LS achievements (as long as I still care) in the first 2 weeks if I don’t want to risk it. Then half the time this is 2 weeks of stress, followed by 2 weeks of utter boredom. People who don’t frequent the forums have even less information.

minbariguy.7504:

Yes. They could do away with the ridiculous notion of temporary content altogether. That would fix the issue quite nicely.

much like burning a house down fixes the squeaky door hinge issue.

GrandmaFunk.3052:

minbariguy.7504:

Yes. They could do away with the ridiculous notion of temporary content altogether. That would fix the issue quite nicely.

much like burning a house down fixes the squeaky door hinge issue.

OR how about no added temporary content and instead you can pay another $30 for content to which can be finished in about 10 hours….

Hows that to your liking eh?……………………………………………………..

GrandmaFunk.3052:

minbariguy.7504:

Yes. They could do away with the ridiculous notion of temporary content altogether. That would fix the issue quite nicely.

much like burning a house down fixes the squeaky door hinge issue.

A house so many people don’t want to live in anymore, for which burning it down might be worth the insurance money (i.e. the players’ good will.)

But then, who am I kidding? If they did that and then announced they would push all work instead of temporary content to get Cantha access people would start complaining it wasn’t Elona.

Don’t worry, mate. Happily, this LS bullkitten is getting some cut pretty soon.

GrandmaFunk.3052:

minbariguy.7504:

Yes. They could do away with the ridiculous notion of temporary content altogether. That would fix the issue quite nicely.

much like burning a house down fixes the squeaky door hinge issue.

So we at least agree that Living Story’s temporary content is as annoying as a squeaky door hinge? I’m cool with that. ;-)

minbariguy.7504:

GrandmaFunk.3052:

any other ideas?

Yes. They could do away with the ridiculous notion of temporary content altogether. That would fix the issue quite nicely.

It wouldn’t fix the problem for living world stuff because a lot of living world stuff can’t really be soloed and if the bulk of the population is doing the new stuff, the five guys that need to catch up will die of frustration rather than finish the content.

Like TA aetherblade path…hardly ever done anymore…but it’s still in game. It’s hard to find a group for it.

Other games leave content in that sits ignored for months at a time because no one wants to do it. What makes you think this game would be any different?

Vayne.8563:

It wouldn’t fix the problem for living world stuff because a lot of living world stuff can’t really be soloed and if the bulk of the population is doing the new stuff, the five guys that need to catch up will die of frustration rather than finish the content.

Like TA aetherblade path…hardly ever done anymore…but it’s still in game. It’s hard to find a group for it.

Other games leave content in that sits ignored for months at a time because no one wants to do it. What makes you think this game would be any different?

I honestly think players are more comforted with the IDEA that content is there that they can play more than actually PLAYING that content.

ozmaniandevil.6805:

I agree with Pixelpumpkin. I think there should be something in game that tells you when the LS content will end. Personally I never know, so sometimes that does stop me from even trying the content.

ETA: sorry OP, that stinks.

This game is in desperate need of an in-game calendar. It could list the start and end dates for LS releases as well as the recurring holiday events.

chemiclord.3978:

Vayne.8563:

It wouldn’t fix the problem for living world stuff because a lot of living world stuff can’t really be soloed and if the bulk of the population is doing the new stuff, the five guys that need to catch up will die of frustration rather than finish the content.

Like TA aetherblade path…hardly ever done anymore…but it’s still in game. It’s hard to find a group for it.

Other games leave content in that sits ignored for months at a time because no one wants to do it. What makes you think this game would be any different?

I honestly think players are more comforted with the IDEA that content is there that they can play more than actually PLAYING that content.

Give this man a degree in social anthropology, with an emphasis on gamer populations. +1

The solution?
Get rid of achievements.
Maybe then people will realise they’re doing the same thing over and over again for no important reason and realise that the amount of quality content that gets released in these updates is laughably small.

Mungrul.9358:

The solution?
Get rid of achievements.
Maybe then people will realise they’re doing the same thing over and over again for no important reason and realise that the amount of quality content that gets released in these updates is laughably small.

Kind of like the two phases of both War in Kryta and Winds of Change.

Vayne.8563:

minbariguy.7504:

GrandmaFunk.3052:

any other ideas?

Yes. They could do away with the ridiculous notion of temporary content altogether. That would fix the issue quite nicely.

It wouldn’t fix the problem for living world stuff because a lot of living world stuff can’t really be soloed and if the bulk of the population is doing the new stuff, the five guys that need to catch up will die of frustration rather than finish the content.

Like TA aetherblade path…hardly ever done anymore…but it’s still in game. It’s hard to find a group for it.

Other games leave content in that sits ignored for months at a time because no one wants to do it. What makes you think this game would be any different?

Whether any given instance is being played is really a separate question from whether the living world should be delivered as permanent content or temporary content that comes and goes in an episodic manner. I would study an unplayed dungeon from the question why is instance X regularly played and Y sits unplayed—what makes X an interesting and engaging instance to play.

The living story has been delivered to date under an episodic TV model where the world basically resets with each release and we have a new adventure that goes away after we experience it.

The alternative would be a model of an evolving living world that remains permanent as it evolves. This is a lot like the effects of an expansion. New zones appear, there is new story content, etc. etc. Basically think expansion but one that is delivered slowly and naturally over time. Essentially the “new” content would be sitting there just as the current 1-80 content is sitting there. All the achievement associated with the new content would be there for players to pick up when they decided to play the content.

Personally, this is the model I would prefer. Ultimately, it’s up to the developers to decide what is the best way to manage this game over time.