Guild Wars 2

My guildie, and personal friend, received an “Anet GW2 Survey” on Dec 11th, and, he asked me about it.

He probably hasn’t logged on more than twice in the last year. He does not own HoT. He has only one character with 50% map completion. And, he is raising kids, has completely lost interest in the game, and it is likely that he is completely done with the game. Yet, Anet wants to know; “what he can suggest to improve the game”.

Yet, myself, and another guildie, who have every profession, all level 80’s, legendaries, multiple map completions, and have thousands of hours of game play, are trying to be heard. We can offer legitimate feedback. And, we have not been given the opportunity to take any such survey. Go figure.

I would ask; how is Anet issuing these surveys? Which, are clearly thus far, not going to everyone. Based purely on the fact that they don’t play anymore in an effort to get them back? Completely random? Weekly? Monthly? The fact that they didn’t buy HoT?

Is it even legit, or is it a Phishing scam? Looks legit to us from the sender.

I don’t see any evidence of any such surveys here on the forums, nor, on an internet search.

I have read thousands of upset voices here, all trying to be heard. Now, I’ve gotten wind of a survey being sent out via e-mail, which offers a glimmer of hope, that someone actually wants to listen. But, from what I can see, it has only gotten sent to a guild member who has no clue about the game, and doesn’t care about it anymore anyway.

Shouldn’t a survey for improvement be sent to everyone? Or, if limited, or, if dealt over time, shouldn’t your computers at least search out the most active players, with the higher ranks, and higher hours of current game play in different categories? Or, the longest standing, currently played accounts? If it truly is a random survey, that certainly makes no sense at all, given the current climate! Let’s ask the people who don’t even play it anymore?

Either we have to wait our turn, and we will all get our chance. Or this may indeed take on a “No end to bad decisions” persona. I’ll not judge until I hear more. But, it doesn’t look good so far… I’d also like to know what is in it, but, I’m certain that my guildie won’t even take the time to find out…

Here’s what it says:

>>>
We’d love your feedback.

As we develop Guild Wars 2, it is critical for us to understand our players and their experiences. As such, we’d like to hear from you. We have decided to conduct a survey about the preferences of our playerbase regarding some very early ideas for potential features that may or may not be considered for development.

This survey will take approximately 15 minutes and is easiest to take on a desktop or laptop computer, not on a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet.

The unique link below will take you directly to the survey.

Take Survey

Please be assured that details of your survey will remain strictly confidential and will not be communicated to any other party or used for any sales purposes.

The survey will only be available for a limited time, so please respond at your earliest convenience. Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

- The Guild Wars 2 Team
<<<

….So, I would inquire. Who is actually getting these? Not me, and I’ve waited a week, just to make sure, before posting this question.

It’s probably going out to inactive accounts. And if that is true, then technically it’s not going to players of GW2 and the very first sentence is funny.

Maybe in this case they want to hear why someone stopped playing. Surveys do look at various questions and this one might not be best suited for active players.

I too received this email and I am definitely an active, although propably casual, player. Therefore I would say it is random. ^^

Interesting.

I guess anyone seeing this here on the forums, who gets one, would have to be considered active, as inactive or uninterested players are certainly not going be browsing the forums.

An open survey link, to all that would be willing to take the survey, would clearly seem to be the best way to get the best input from current players. As only current players would see it, and only the most avid players would actually partake in it. So, perhaps you are correct, and less active players may indeed be the target.

…Undeniably, any current survey that is randomly spit-balling for possible future changes, also solicits the rhetoric… What happened to the here and now issues? That would still seem to be the logical priority… Ima still let this one unfold here. ..

I am not allowed to talk about the content of the survey, but it did adress current and possible future themes. And I suppose they send it to a random proportion of the player population to ensure that not only a certain part of the players is addressed and they get the best overview over all types of players.

I play on a regular basis and got one of these survey emails. The first question asked my age range, so I entered the info and the next thing on my screen is ‘thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.’
So, either my age range will help improve the game somehow, or (signs point to) input from my age bracket isn’t needed. Which is unfortunate, but it’s better than wasting my time.

Meridian.4983:

I play on a regular basis and got one of these survey emails. The first question asked my age range, so I entered the info and the next thing on my screen is ‘thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.’
So, either my age range will help improve the game somehow, or (signs point to) input from my age bracket isn’t needed. Which is unfortunate, but it’s better than wasting my time.

Yeah, some surveys do that. They are typically looking for, hoping for, honest answers from whatever demographic has the most spending power.

The email itself has no NDA but the survey does, in no uncertain terms. So if you want to know if it’s “legit” no one who follows the rules can tell you.

Meridian, maybe you hit a bug? Though I could see them sending out a survey to a wide range of random people, to help avoid initial selection bias (eg towards those that already like the game as it is), but then filtering those to a desired demographic. I’m 50 years old so if they are looking for those with spending power I’m sure they assume me more likely to fit their criteria …

I think they specifically go to people who are inactive or have rarely logged in. I got one sent to the email address I use for my free account about 2 months after I forgot the password and stopped logging in.

That one was about 50/50 questions about what they could do to make the game better and questions about why I’d stopped playing, what they could do that might entice me back, whether promotional material would make me want to play etc. I answered it but made sure to also state that the main reason I’d stopped playing was that was a free account I made to test out the limitations and I have another one which I play regularly.

I seem to remember they did something similar while working on the September 2014 Feature Pack which overhauled a lot of the low level areas and other stuff for newbies. I guess they think they can get feedback from current players through the forums, Reddit, and being able to see what we’re doing in-game, but other than the occasional rage-quit thread (which is often not even from someone who’s quitting) they can’t get feedback from people who have left, and knowing what you’re doing wrong (from people who disliked it enough to actually stop) is at least as important as knowing what you’re doing right.

Edit: Also that survey prompted me to finally go through the password recovery process and play my free account again, so maybe they have an ulterior motive too.

The selection process looks random, i had to ask my guildmates if anyone else recently received a survey or if it was even legit. Only 1 other person had, and we both checked the validity.

The survey is…an interesting one. The kicker being that they don’t want people discussing the details of it.

TexZero.7910:

The selection process looks random, i had to ask my guildmates if anyone else recently received a survey or if it was even legit. Only 1 other person had, and we both checked the validity.

The survey is…an interesting one. The kicker being that they don’t want people discussing the details of it.

If it’s the same survey I did my guess is it’s because a lot of it is about things they might add/remove/change in future and the don’t want anyone spreading rumours that they have promised to do any of it.