Guild Wars 2

Forum bug.

darkm.4839:

Dual.8953:

Celtic Lady.3729:

Vayne.8563:

Frankly I think that anyone who thinks the zone is too difficult, should avoid it and go play in the old zones, which are very very easy.

This is such a lazy man’s argument and gets trotted out blithely any time a discussion of balancing the HoT content comes up.

Many people bought this game based on the content available – core Tyria maps were a huge part of this – so it set the tone for the game, and people based their decisions to buy largely on it. This is simply logical sense.

Then the content and the maps change significantly and people express their concerns about it. And they’re told not to expect to be able to play any of it or even bothering to buy new content or expansions. They’re told to just keep playing content they’ve done over and over without expecting anything new. This is ridiculous.

When you spend your money using the evidence available and see a game and say, “Hey, this game is fun and terrific for my playstyle,” it isn’t exactly surprising if they would like to have some new content in line with what they based their buying decision on in the first place. This doesn’t make them bad people or stupid people.

They certainly deserve some respect and not the cesspool ideology of “go find a real game to play” and “stop being a stupid, worthless noob,” “L2P,” etc. ad nauseum the kind of stupid, pointless things people say because they need to feel superior to anyone disagreeing with them.

And what of those of us who like the difficulty? Are you suggesting we should stand idly by and let those with grievances suck the fun out of the new zones, reducing them to a bland husk, of more enemies who are trivially easy to ignore?
This is a problem where either one group needs to up their game, or the other will find the content dull.
Players can improve their skills, lowering one’s skills is significantly harder.

You’re going to have raids. That was the promised challenging content. The base maps in the expansion shouldn’t be that challenging for the average player. If you re-read my post you’ll see that I said exactly this.

So you want to take away what we have now and lock us up in some dungeon that may or may not be accessible at all times, just so the bar can be lowered to include those that don’t know they can dodge roll? Or if not that point where is the lowest common denominator? How low shall they go?
(On that note, what is the average player even? I mean I consider myself pretty average. I have friends who hardly understand traits and I haven’t seen them complain about difficulty.)

Dual.8953:

So you want to take away what we have now and lock us up in some dungeon

I admit there are several forum users I would LOVE to lock up in a dungeon.

Probably shouldn’t have said that out loud, though.

Memories of all the people that claimed this game would be dead within a year at launch flood my mind.

DarcShriek.5829:

Memories of all the people that claimed this game would be dead within a year at launch flood my mind.

You bother to think about those people?

Test.8734:

• GW2 became free to play, and we know that no MMORPG went free to play when its previous business model was being a success. This is a big hint that GW2 wasn’t being that successful as Buy to Play.

I don’t know if five and a half million subscriptions was enough to make buy to play work for them, but it’s hard to argue that those kind of numbers weren’t successful on at least some level. As far as I know, WoW is the only other MMO to ever get numbers that high.

I dunno, it sounds like the two guys who left for Amazon got recruited out, and people in general start looking for new challenges after 3-5 years. They were working on GW2 for about what 5 years before release? It’s been 3 years since then? I think a certain level of turn-over is to be expected, even in a healthy company. Not saying I disagree, but I don’t see the sky falling, either.

Personally, I think the game’s a little too good to go offline; there’s enough people who want to play, and their system is dynamic enough, that they should be able to keep the old content alive as long as people want to play.

Is WoW the only MMO out there that hasn’t gone F2P? I don’t mean free to play to 20 or whatever. I mean, free to play the whole game.

GW2’s F2P seems more restrictive than any I’ve experienced so far.

Divine Flavor.2016:

I dunno, it sounds like the two guys who left for Amazon got recruited out, and people in general start looking for new challenges after 3-5 years. They were working on GW2 for about what 5 years before release? It’s been 3 years since then? I think a certain level of turn-over is to be expected, even in a healthy company. Not saying I disagree, but I don’t see the sky falling, either.

Personally, I think the game’s a little too good to go offline; there’s enough people who want to play, and their system is dynamic enough, that they should be able to keep the old content alive as long as people want to play.

Yeah, people can leave even a good company for many reasons. Perhaps they want a different location, or the new job has better advancement opportunities, the person just wants a new challenge(like you said)

Divine Flavor.2016:

Test.8734:

• GW2 became free to play, and we know that no MMORPG went free to play when its previous business model was being a success. This is a big hint that GW2 wasn’t being that successful as Buy to Play.

I don’t know if five and a half million subscriptions was enough to make buy to play work for them, but it’s hard to argue that those kind of numbers weren’t successful on at least some level. As far as I know, WoW is the only other MMO to ever get numbers that high.

Wildstar has felt pretty unrestricted to me, a few others on Steam also.

As for Anet, the end games has always been about skins, just so happens most people are happy with cosmetic upgrades in games costing cash. They’ve lucked out on that one and I expect lots of gem store items this year and we won’t bat an eye.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Vayne.8563:

Frankly I think that anyone who thinks the zone is too difficult, should avoid it and go play in the old zones, which are very very easy.

This is such a lazy man’s argument and gets trotted out blithely any time a discussion of balancing the HoT content comes up.

Many people bought this game based on the content available – core Tyria maps were a huge part of this – so it set the tone for the game, and people based their decisions to buy largely on it. This is simply logical sense.

Then the content and the maps change significantly and people express their concerns about it. And they’re told not to expect to be able to play any of it or even bothering to buy new content or expansions. They’re told to just keep playing content they’ve done over and over without expecting anything new. This is ridiculous.

When you spend your money using the evidence available and see a game and say, “Hey, this game is fun and terrific for my playstyle,” it isn’t exactly surprising if they would like to have some new content in line with what they based their buying decision on in the first place. This doesn’t make them bad people or stupid people.

They certainly deserve some respect and not the cesspool ideology of “go find a real game to play” and “stop being a stupid, worthless noob,” “L2P,” etc. ad nauseum the kind of stupid, pointless things people say because they need to feel superior to anyone disagreeing with them.

It’s not a lazy man’s argument. It’s an argument to say that they made a game intentionally harder, based on the way that some people wanted harder content. They’ve already nerfed several hero point.s They can’t make every area of the game for everyone. It’s not possible. End game content really is meant, sometimes, to be end game content.

And I’m pretty sure that anyone paying attention would have known it was supposed to be harder. That said, it’s really not that much harder. It means learning some things to get through it. For example, if there’s a sniper and you take him out faster, then you have a better chance of survival, because the snipers will kill you fast. But they also die very quickly.

The problem is if you make an expansion with end game content too easy, then everyone gets through it in a few days, and everyone says the expansion sucks. Right now, you have a small minority of people who are saying this. And it is a small minority right now.

I have an ultra casual guild, and it is ultra casual. I only have a single person right now who feels the content is too hard and they can’t get through it, and this is a person who hardly ever has time to play.

If they make the game for that person, the game becomes unplayably boring for alot of other people. Even Orr was nerfed to make it easier. Some people, many even, preferred it before the nerf.

HoT is four end game zones. It does what Eye of the North does. It adds harder, more challenging, end game content to the game…and progress as well.

If you’re trying to solo it you have to be smarter, but in fact, if you belong to a guild, or even if you have one or two friends to play with, the zone isn’t that hard.

Yes, you may have to adjust your play style.

Asking for a zone to be nerfed is far more lazy than saying people need to be reasonable about their expectations. There aren’t that many people by percentage that can’t do this content. But there are people who try a couple of times, don’t really figure anything about and get frustrated.

Divine Flavor.2016:

I don’t know if five and a half million subscriptions was enough to make buy to play work for them, but it’s hard to argue that those kind of numbers weren’t successful on at least some level. As far as I know, WoW is the only other MMO to ever get numbers that high.

Half a million subscriptions would be more than enough to make GW2 a big success… But GW2 does not have subscriptions

We know the GW2 earnings. Notice how, no matter how many players bought the game, its earnings in the graphic I linked earlier were less than those of Blade & Soul (which has not even been released in the West yet) and very close to those of Aion (which has had a very poor reception around here).

Celtic Lady.3729:

Is WoW the only MMO out there that hasn’t gone F2P? I don’t mean free to play to 20 or whatever. I mean, free to play the whole game.

GW2’s F2P seems more restrictive than any I’ve experienced so far.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn still has a monthly fee.

And try playing The Old Republic for something even more restrictive than GW2.

Vayne.8563:

Asking for a zone to be nerfed is far more lazy than saying people need to be reasonable about their expectations.

Not really. Victim-blaming is, after all, the laziest possible approach to a given problem. Which pretty much describes the attitude of some people, who claim that nothing in the game is wrong and that it’s always the players’ fault that anything, from the smallest thing to the biggest outcry, appears to be wrong.

It’s rather obvious that, in an expansion for GW2, players would have expected content similar to that of GW2. To make HoT something so different that many players – for example, the one you were quoting (and not imaginary people like “everyone in my guild”) – do not enjoy it is completely on ArenaNet. They should have clarified it before the expansion was avaliable for sale, and the fact that some players weren’t aware of it is prood that ArenaNet wasn’t clear enough.

Test.8734:

Not really. Victim-blaming is, after all, the laziest possible approach to a given problem. Which pretty much describes the attitude of some people, who claim that nothing in the game is wrong and that it’s always the players’ fault that anything, from the smallest thing to the biggest outcry, appears to be wrong.

It’s rather obvious that, in an expansion for GW2, players would have expected content similar to that of GW2. To make HoT something so different that many players – for example, the one you were quoting (and not imaginary people like “everyone in my guild”) – do not enjoy it is completely on ArenaNet. They should have clarified it before the expansion was avaliable for sale, and the fact that some players weren’t aware of it is prood that ArenaNet wasn’t clear enough.

There aren’t any victims here to, “victim blame.”

The expansion was described as being more challenging.

Anet should have been more clear prior to putting the expansion on the market.

Players should probably not buy products before there is even a release date let alone description of what the content would contain to any degree of detail.

No amount of clarity will ensure that everyone will be aware.

Death Prosecutor.8713:

Osu, I’m missing 57 hero points after “adjustment”. Had 263, but ended up with 206 . TY Gaiyl Gray!l

You should have only ended up with 13, which is the 263 you had, minus the 250 to unlock the Elite Spec…or you had already spent some HP on the Elite Spec, but not completely unlocked it yet. which required 57 HP, and left you with 206…it’s simple math, but then most people can’t do simple math anymore.

Zaklex.6308:

Death Prosecutor.8713:

Osu, I’m missing 57 hero points after “adjustment”. Had 263, but ended up with 206 . TY Gaiyl Gray!l

You should have only ended up with 13, which is the 263 you had, minus the 250 to unlock the Elite Spec…or you had already spent some HP on the Elite Spec, but not completely unlocked it yet. which required 57 HP, and left you with 206…it’s simple math, but then most people can’t do simple math anymore.

Since you get refunded all the hero points when they reset the line and this player had 263 and after getting all refunded they somehow got 206 so how is that not a 57 hp missing kind of thing mate?

You clearly dont read what this player is saying.

I also worry about GW2’s future. To add to the OP’s list:

1. John Ryan, one of the lead story writers on Guild Wars 2 has left to work on Destiny in the past February:
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2015/02/13/guild-wars-2-writer-leaves-to-work-on-destiny

2. I preordered HOT at Bestbuy Canada, but nothing was shipped before or on the launch day. A week later, Bestbuy Canada contacted me to say that they could not fulfill the order. They didn’t explicitly state the reason, but I think it’s probably because they decided not to get the stock when they found that there were not enough preorders. So far no retailer in Canada is selling HOT.

Test.8734:

Divine Flavor.2016:

I don’t know if five and a half million subscriptions was enough to make buy to play work for them, but it’s hard to argue that those kind of numbers weren’t successful on at least some level. As far as I know, WoW is the only other MMO to ever get numbers that high.

Half a million subscriptions would be more than enough to make GW2 a big success… But GW2 does not have subscriptions

We know the GW2 earnings. Notice how, no matter how many players bought the game, its earnings in the graphic I linked earlier were less than those of Blade & Soul (which has not even been released in the West yet) and very close to those of Aion (which has had a very poor reception around here).

Celtic Lady.3729:

Is WoW the only MMO out there that hasn’t gone F2P? I don’t mean free to play to 20 or whatever. I mean, free to play the whole game.

GW2’s F2P seems more restrictive than any I’ve experienced so far.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn still has a monthly fee.

And try playing The Old Republic for something even more restrictive than GW2.

Vayne.8563:

Asking for a zone to be nerfed is far more lazy than saying people need to be reasonable about their expectations.

Not really. Victim-blaming is, after all, the laziest possible approach to a given problem. Which pretty much describes the attitude of some people, who claim that nothing in the game is wrong and that it’s always the players’ fault that anything, from the smallest thing to the biggest outcry, appears to be wrong.

It’s rather obvious that, in an expansion for GW2, players would have expected content similar to that of GW2. To make HoT something so different that many players – for example, the one you were quoting (and not imaginary people like “everyone in my guild”) – do not enjoy it is completely on ArenaNet. They should have clarified it before the expansion was avaliable for sale, and the fact that some players weren’t aware of it is prood that ArenaNet wasn’t clear enough.

I tip my tin foil hat to you, sir. It’s clearly obvious the game is failing miserably since launch. /sarcasm

I’m 99% positive since launch GW2 has been doing fine. Megaservers were yes, to fix some low population realms, but also to deal with the fact that the leveling experienced was heavily kitten by no players being around and the fact that guesting was a thing. The reception for HoT has also been overwhelmingly positive.

The game going free to play probably wasn’t because the game was struggling financially either but to encourage new players to come in and play right as the expansion was launching. That way they could just buy HoT and get the base game for free. You also do realize that most of GW2’s income is from the gem store post launch of expansions/release, right? Meaning box sales are less than you would think. Also why is NCsoft not publishing GW2 a bad thing? If anything more of the money goes to the devs I would assume.

Also, three people left the company. Okay. That happens. Just because people leave to pursue other jobs doesn’t mean that the company was dying. I don’t get why people equate: “Oh this guy went to work for Amazon OH EM GEE THE GAME IS A BIG FAILURE. SEE ANET IS DOING IT WRONG” You want to see people leaving the company which was a direct correlation of the its game dying? Look at Wildstar. They had to lay off devs from the team.

You’re just spouting doom and gloom.

Linken.6345:

Zaklex.6308:

Death Prosecutor.8713:

Osu, I’m missing 57 hero points after “adjustment”. Had 263, but ended up with 206 . TY Gaiyl Gray!l

You should have only ended up with 13, which is the 263 you had, minus the 250 to unlock the Elite Spec…or you had already spent some HP on the Elite Spec, but not completely unlocked it yet. which required 57 HP, and left you with 206…it’s simple math, but then most people can’t do simple math anymore.

Since you get refunded all the hero points when they reset the line and this player had 263 and after getting all refunded they somehow got 206 so how is that not a 57 hp missing kind of thing mate?

You clearly don’t read what this player is saying.

I read what he was saying, you didn’t read what I was saying…if you exceed the 250 threshold, then the Elite Spec gets fully unlocked for you, if you had already begun to unlock the Elite. In other words, ArenaNet finished what you started when they reduced the cost from 400 to 250 if you had already exceeded the 250 threshold. We are missing two key components of that persons information: 1. had they already started to unlock the Elite Spec, and 2. how many points had they already spent if they did start to unlock it…that’s what my answer was based on…which in hindsight is pure speculation on my part.

Really now? A doom thread like this when the game’s expansion is not even one month old, wow.

Yes Arenanet has a ton of things to fix. However, by no means would I worry about the future of GW2 until HoT is at least out for one quarter (3 months old).

wtf..

some people really need google up what the word “grinding” actually means. is that some sort of a new hype or something to call everything you do in a game a grind? lvl 1-80? grind! buying armor in the trading post? grind! like for real..

There is NO GRIND in the game unless YOU decide to do the same thing non stop. beside that you cant even “grind” the new hero points as they are mostly jumping puzzles to solve and stuff. but if you want to call jumping puzzles and stuff a grind fine! but dare you going to COF then to farm your masteries up.

listen guys. listen carefully.. this right now could be the answer to all of your problems…
gw2 is an mmorpg..an mmorpg is made to be played over a long period, not just 2 days. you ever thought about that your idea on having everything in one day so you need “need” to grind for it ..never was how gw2 was meant to be played? like if you would just play it like an mmorpg and accept long time goals.. then there wouldnt even be grinds in the entire game! why do you do the same stuff over and over again if its not fun to you with a game you play to have fun in the first place? why not just get 3 hero points.. do something else. then go outside for an hour and come back and continue with whatever you feel like doing.

jesus christ.. some people really shouldnt be allowed to play games online or use forums to cry around

SoftLight.2175:

some people really shouldnt be allowed to play games online or use forums to cry around

I don’t get why everyone that has a different opinion than you is a crybaby…but whatever…

Ofc anything is personal so it’s honest you don’t like how things are done in HoT but here’s the thing.

1) MetaEvents – People wanted things to play, that have some kind of story, that makes progression: meta-chain maps are a spectacular way to do so, you can fill this with some many things, events, achievements…no surprise Dry Top and Silverwastes were enjoyed so much. With HoT they took it to the next level and is nicely done. Chains are fun, you really feel you are working towards a goal. I really like this. Again, you might not, and it’s fine.

2) Exploration – I don’t know the people concept of exploration but to me is running around try to find curious spots, get in difficult places to get and overall “master” the zone. Now in core tyria this task is too much easy..maps are flat and it’s not that difficult to get anywhere. Vertical exploration + Masteries to unlock abilities is, again, a great wat to explore, gives you progression and a real feel of discovery, like old Castelvania/Metroid/Zelda games. Anet said many times they were gonna to add this kind of exploration and they delivered. Not disappointed. I have real reasons to stick on a map, do events, explore and rexplore once i’ve unlocked a new ability.

3) Grind (especially masteries) – It always boils down to what you consider grind. Grind is usually work towards a goal in a boring, repetitive way: kill the same mob, do the same event non stop, etc etc. Now, masteries DO take lot of exp/time to finish. THey are supposed to. They are, in the end, end-game progression. What’s the point of an expansion if you haven’t anything to work towards? How could you sustain the gameplay? You know why you hardly replay a single player game? After the story, you have no real point to play again, except, guess what, something like restart at higher difficulty (goal) complete all achievements (goal), get all the possible items (goal). Goal goal goal. Progression progression progression. Is the only way to keep doing something. Like when you go to gym…you keep going because your making progressions. Progression is the fuel of our life.
So if you take away progression (even making it too fast) will leave you with not many things to do. On the specific matter, I consider myself almost “hardcore” player in the intention, but unfortunately I have “casual” time slots available (due to work/sport/social life): after a week i’d say I’ve cumulated…24h of gameplay? I’ve fineshed the story and almost unlocked all the “ability” masteries (except ley-line gliding), finished fractal masteries in core tyria and other minor stuffs.
24h where i’ve never “grinded”, just explored every map, done meta events 4-5 times per map, done adventures, had fun. Guess i’m no where near halfway? So far time/cost this expansion is WELL worth, EXTREMELY worth if you consider this expansion was all about gameplay changes like masteries, traits&elite specs, raids, fractal rework and not too much about content (this was stated by anet). Even so, it’s still worth.

tl;dr;
A game needs progression, HoT gave progression in a meaningful way. Don’t rush it, enjoy it.

Divine Flavor.2016:

I dunno, it sounds like the two guys who left for Amazon got recruited out, and people in general start looking for new challenges after 3-5 years. They were working on GW2 for about what 5 years before release? It’s been 3 years since then? I think a certain level of turn-over is to be expected, even in a healthy company. Not saying I disagree, but I don’t see the sky falling, either.

Yeah, this strikes me as a fairly normal employee turnover rate. People leave jobs for all kinds of professional and personal reasons that have nothing to do with the health of the company. Three or four people leaving for other opportunities over the course of a year really isn’t shocking.

Having employees — even key employees — poached by Amazon isn’t exactly a sign of trouble. Amazon is making a play in the game development space, and if they want someone, they possess the wherewithal to make offers people can’t refuse and few competitors can match. If anything, it’s a testament to the talent at ArenaNet, because Amazon is rather picky about who they hire.

I think ArenaNet was reasonably clear that Heart of Thorns was intended to offer greater challenge, and it does. I suppose they could have explained that in greater detail before release, but I don’t think it is fair to suggest they were out to mislead anyone.

As for how hard the level of challenge should be, every player has a different preference, and ArenaNet must ultimately choose between setting the bell curve to satisfy the most players, or losing money.

Though they are quite sensitive to player feedback, the squabbling in the forums won’t change the cold, hard business realities that must drive those decisions. Player comments do have some influence, but the big questions will ultimately be decided by ArenaNet’s core principles, strategic vision, in-game data and revenue.

Otherwise, there really will be reason to worry about the future of Guild Wars 2.

Majic.4801:

Having employees — even key employees — poached by Amazon isn’t exactly a sign of trouble. Amazon is making a play in the game development space, and if they want someone, they possess the wherewithal to make offers people can’t refuse and few competitors can match. If anything, it’s a testament to the talent at ArenaNet, because Amazon is rather picky about who they hire.

I think ArenaNet was reasonably clear that Heart of Thorns was intended to offer greater challenge, and it does. I suppose they could have explained that in greater detail before release, but I don’t think it is fair to suggest they were out to mislead anyone.

As for how hard the level of challenge should be, every player has a different preference, and ArenaNet must ultimately choose between setting the bell curve to satisfy the most players, or losing money.

Though they are quite sensitive to player feedback, the squabbling in the forums won’t change the cold, hard business realities that must drive those decisions. Player comments do have some influence, but the big questions will ultimately be decided by ArenaNet’s core principles, strategic vision, in-game data and revenue.

Otherwise, there really will be reason to worry about the future of Guild Wars 2.

KEY personal Arent important in computer business?
this the business, where they are MOST important, sometimes one person can
make or break a huge investment of time and money
HoT is a fine example of that

battledrone.8315:

KEY personal Arent important in computer business?
this the business, where they are MOST important, sometimes one person can
make or break a huge investment of time and money
HoT is a fine example of that

Of course they’re important. That’s why companies like Amazon are willing to poach them in the first place.

Not being able to outbid Amazon, however, isn’t necessarily a sign of trouble, and it’s common in the software business for talented people to switch companies to pursue career advancement. Indeed, the opposite is uncommon.

There may well be other factors in play, including factors worthy of worrying about, but absent more details that aren’t likely to be forthcoming, assuming the worst is no more enlightening than assuming the best.

Extremely difficult ? Are you trying to let auto-attack while watching YouTube ?
Central Tyria is boringly easy, maybe it crippled your ability to play with a bit of challenge.

*go back to farming smokescale*

Gaaroth.2567:

tl;dr;
A game needs progression, HoT gave progression in a meaningful way. Don’t rush it, enjoy it.

I like HoT but I have to take issue with this sweeping statement and the one in your signature. I don’t need either a “game” or “progression”. I can set my own goals. I don’t need to be given them. All the developers need to do is make a convincing world and I’ll do the rest for myself.

I have 4 issues with HoT expansion.

1. The new map meta events can require too many players to complete. I think there is only allowed 150 people per map instance and this simply isn’t enough to actually complete the event. The 150 can include people who are just wondering around, doing the story or crafting. The map limit needs to be increased.

2. For Rangers, why lock some pets behind a 2 hour quest string? That quest is extra difficult because of the limited number of players allowed on the map instance.

3. The new maps themselves are confusing. The mini-map and main map are useless because they arent adapted to the multi-level maps, unlike regular maps like The Grove which is more adapted. Maybe this template can be used on the new maps. I spend most of my time trying to find a place, wondering around and having to kill the same mobs over and over just to survive.

4. The Mastery system. Why as this system got a 2-step lock situation going on. You earn mastery points quite easily. That’s not really the issue. But you have to grind exp all the time. This wouldn’t be a big issue if you could change what your researching and it allowed your current exp progress to swap over if you changed masteries part way through. Instead you’re having to start from 0 if you realise you started the wrong mastery. This can happen doing the story as it belated tells you what mastery you should be doing.

Overall, I think HoT is good. But could do with tweaking. Oh I haven’t even mentioned the revenant bugs in this post. But hopefully all these issues will be tweaked in the future.

Majic.4801:

battledrone.8315:

KEY personal Arent important in computer business?
this the business, where they are MOST important, sometimes one person can
make or break a huge investment of time and money
HoT is a fine example of that

Of course they’re important. That’s why companies like Amazon are willing to poach them in the first place.

Not being able to outbid Amazon, however, isn’t necessarily a sign of trouble, and it’s common in the software business for talented people to switch companies to pursue career advancement. Indeed, the opposite is uncommon.

There may well be other factors in play, including factors worthy of worrying about, but absent more details that aren’t likely to be forthcoming, assuming the worst is no more enlightening than assuming the best.

so, they lost some important persons..but still, you claim, that it isnt a problem?
that would only be true, if they magically conjured some new workers , with the exact same skills, but for a smaller wage

Test.8734:

Divine Flavor.2016:

I don’t know if five and a half million subscriptions was enough to make buy to play work for them, but it’s hard to argue that those kind of numbers weren’t successful on at least some level. As far as I know, WoW is the only other MMO to ever get numbers that high.

Half a million subscriptions would be more than enough to make GW2 a big success… But GW2 does not have subscriptions

We know the GW2 earnings. Notice how, no matter how many players bought the game, its earnings in the graphic I linked earlier were less than those of Blade & Soul (which has not even been released in the West yet) and very close to those of Aion (which has had a very poor reception around here).

Celtic Lady.3729:

Is WoW the only MMO out there that hasn’t gone F2P? I don’t mean free to play to 20 or whatever. I mean, free to play the whole game.

GW2’s F2P seems more restrictive than any I’ve experienced so far.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn still has a monthly fee.

And try playing The Old Republic for something even more restrictive than GW2.

Vayne.8563:

Asking for a zone to be nerfed is far more lazy than saying people need to be reasonable about their expectations.

Not really. Victim-blaming is, after all, the laziest possible approach to a given problem. Which pretty much describes the attitude of some people, who claim that nothing in the game is wrong and that it’s always the players’ fault that anything, from the smallest thing to the biggest outcry, appears to be wrong.

It’s rather obvious that, in an expansion for GW2, players would have expected content similar to that of GW2. To make HoT something so different that many players – for example, the one you were quoting (and not imaginary people like “everyone in my guild”) – do not enjoy it is completely on ArenaNet. They should have clarified it before the expansion was avaliable for sale, and the fact that some players weren’t aware of it is prood that ArenaNet wasn’t clear enough.

Anet made the challenging content statement as part of the core announcement of HoT. Anyone who paid any attention would have realized the game would be harder, and end game content.

It was said numerous times in numerous interviews.

This is from the HoT website:

“The jungle represents a challenge for you to overcome. Creatures within it use our new advanced AI, making the fights you encounter harder, giving you the opportunity to work with your friends and put your abilities to the test in battling Mordremoth’s forces and the deadly inhabitants of the jungle. As you progress your Masteries, you’ll find new ways to move through the map and unlock areas you couldn’t reach previously, as well as new ways to overcome your foes.”

Saying that people are victims of making assumptions because they didn’t even do basic research is pretty silly if you ask me.

battledrone.8315:

so, they lost some important persons..but still, you claim, that it isnt a problem?
that would only be true, if they magically conjured some new workers , with the exact same skills, but for a smaller wage

Look, no one is irreplaceable in a company. It sounds harsh to say, but that’s just reality. Yes, having key employees leave is a loss, but having new employees coming in with fresh ideas and skills can also be a gain.

Most people aren’t going to stay with the same company for their whole career. Companies adapt. Having employees move on to new challenges is not necessarily a bad thing, nor is having new blood coming in and seeing the project with new eyes… in fact, it’s a lot better than having employees stick around past the point of caring just to hold onto a job.

Actually I think losing key persons to Amazon could potentially be a big deal. When key persons leave a highly successful gaming company, they often start their own gaming companies to work on something new, or at the very least, join a different gaming company. Joining Amazon seems to suggest that some key persons really needed a way out of Anet in a hurry. Of course, these are just some observations for your reference only.

Vayne.8563:

Anet made the challenging content statement as part of the core announcement of HoT. Anyone who paid any attention would have realized the game would be harder, and end game content.

It was said numerous times in numerous interviews.

This is from the HoT website:

“The jungle represents a challenge for you to overcome. Creatures within it use our new advanced AI, making the fights you encounter harder, giving you the opportunity to work with your friends and put your abilities to the test in battling Mordremoth’s forces and the deadly inhabitants of the jungle. As you progress your Masteries, you’ll find new ways to move through the map and unlock areas you couldn’t reach previously, as well as new ways to overcome your foes.”

Saying that people are victims of making assumptions because they didn’t even do basic research is pretty silly if you ask me.

This is still a very vague explanation on which to base a purchase or a decision. “Challenging content” doesn’t necessarily mean you’d automatically assume certain things would be changed from what came before or be so challenging you wouldn’t want to buy it at all. So, it’s also kind of stupid to expect people to have known just from this that it would or wouldn’t be content they’d overall like.

Pre-purchases could have been avoided and that would have helped, but more detail ahead of time would also have been nice.

MyriadStars.5679:

Joining Amazon seems to suggest that some key persons really needed a way out of Anet in a hurry.

I would have to disagree with that. Those Amazon jobs are highly sought after and competitive, and are generally well-compensated. It’s not like they left to go wait tables or something; they left for what is by industry standards a prime job that doesn’t come around every day. If they didn’t jump on that type of offer, they might never get the opportunity again.

The following article makes sense:
“2015 is the year that we stop preordering video games once and for all”
http://bgr.com/2015/01/12/stop-preordering-video-games/

I am no elitist, OP, but can guarantee you the HoT overworld map isn’t THAT hard. Please DO NOT ask ANet to nerf it, I implore of you. If you want I can play with you, but believe me, it’s not that hard, you just need practice (and no, I am NOT calling you a “bad player” just because you don’t play all day.)

Practice, practice, practice (and experiment with builds)-also, you DO NOT need to use Berserker’s gear just because many people use it as the supposed “pro” gear (in case that’s being a problem for you.) It’s good, and you can survive in it, but the maps are indeed harder than “regular” Tyria, so you’ll have to stay on your toes more than usual. That is not a bad thing, as Berserker’s-and any other non defensive stats combo-are supposed to be high risk, high reward. Use whatever gear works for you and helps you clear content and have fun at the same time.

I frankly doubt that ANet will make the raids super inaccessible-they will most likely be difficult, but doable for “casuals” that play well and are prepared/figure out what to do. You can be one of those-it’s not in ANet’s best interest to make Raids uber-“hardcore” only, though I suspect there will be a steep learning curve once they start becoming available.

Again, to ANet, please DO NOT nerf HoT maps-they are working fine, and are also not too difficult. Orr has never recovered from its strongest nerf some time ago. You don’t need to be “hardcore” to have a good, fun time with challenging encounters in any HoT maps.

Anakita Snakecharm.4360:

MyriadStars.5679:

Joining Amazon seems to suggest that some key persons really needed a way out of Anet in a hurry.

I would have to disagree with that. Those Amazon jobs are highly sought after and competitive, and are generally well-compensated. It’s not like they left to go wait tables or something; they left for what is by industry standards a prime job that doesn’t come around every day. If they didn’t jump on that type of offer, they might never get the opportunity again.

No disrespect to Amazon, but it’s a lot easier to get an offer from Amazon than from many other places, e.g., Google/twitter/facebook/Microsoft, just to name a few. This true for many new grads, and should also be true for people who are key persons in a highly successful gaming company.

So, leveling is fine. But playing the new content is grindy. Makes no sense.

battledrone.8315:

Majic.4801:

Having employees — even key employees — poached by Amazon isn’t exactly a sign of trouble. Amazon is making a play in the game development space, and if they want someone, they possess the wherewithal to make offers people can’t refuse and few competitors can match. If anything, it’s a testament to the talent at ArenaNet, because Amazon is rather picky about who they hire.

I think ArenaNet was reasonably clear that Heart of Thorns was intended to offer greater challenge, and it does. I suppose they could have explained that in greater detail before release, but I don’t think it is fair to suggest they were out to mislead anyone.

As for how hard the level of challenge should be, every player has a different preference, and ArenaNet must ultimately choose between setting the bell curve to satisfy the most players, or losing money.

Though they are quite sensitive to player feedback, the squabbling in the forums won’t change the cold, hard business realities that must drive those decisions. Player comments do have some influence, but the big questions will ultimately be decided by ArenaNet’s core principles, strategic vision, in-game data and revenue.

Otherwise, there really will be reason to worry about the future of Guild Wars 2.

KEY personal Arent important in computer business?
this the business, where they are MOST important, sometimes one person can
make or break a huge investment of time and money
HoT is a fine example of that

I work in the gaming industry. It’s not unusual for the industry to “realign the deck chairs” every couple of years. It’s a small industry so it’s easy to get to know the big players. The fun part of the trade shows is to see who’s working where now. Anyone with any kind of experience is bombarded with offers. Turnover is no big deal as long as overall moral is fine.

On approaching GW2 post-HoT a bit differently:

Though I roam solo quite a bit, I imagine ANet had in mind people playing in groups a lot, even as map explorers. I am an introvert, and DO solo, but I appreciate this “urgent” need for people to work together to reach goals on a perilous land (or vines, whatever.) You don’t even need to chat a lot, but all company is welcome.

In short, old Tyria (pre-HoT) was a sort of mere training grounds for this (far easier, less need to pay attention to even one’s build) but it doesn’t mean it’s terribly difficult if you prepare yourself for the challenges ahead. Don’t be afraid of asking for help-I know that if someone on map needed and consequently asked for assistance, I would likely help them get wherever they need to go… or die together in the attempt. :P

darkm.4839:

Canakun.8031:

tl;dr the content you consider to be grind is the content i consider to be meaningful gameplay.
maybe you feel like you’re grinding because you’re not having fun, in which case: stop playing the game if it’s not fun to you.

If grinding away is your idea of meaningful gameplay, then fine. It’s not to me, and it’s not to a lot of people. Which is why they made Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 with a “no grind” philosophy. Which frustrates me that they keep adding meta-events with rewards that require you to grind those meta-events. It wouldn’t be a problem if it were a map or two out of 5 or 6 maps. But it’s every map. 3 of 3 maps. A disappointingly small amount of maps, all of which are grindy in nature.

I don’t have fun grinding meta-events. I have stopped playing, but I do love and enjoy Guild Wars 2 in its core. Hence my thread giving my opinion and criticism of the content provided.

like i JUST said in the message you JUST quoted, your subjective view that this content is grind doesn’t apply to my subjective view of the content. stop trying to apply your standards on to everybody else.

Vayne.8563:

Saying that people are victims of making assumptions because they didn’t even do basic research is pretty silly if you ask me.

Saying that people are to blame because they expected an expansion to be more of the game they were playing is what I would call pretty silly, if you ask me.

The fact many players did not understand how hard HoT would be is proof of how poorly ArenaNet communicated it. Which really, is only fitting to how poorly they have talked about HoT – they began selling the game (and not even just a preorder, rather asking the full price) before even announcing a release window, much less a release date. A lot of the information they gave about the game was only made available after presale had been going on.

A lot of information, for the records, including the quote you claim people should have read before buying the game, despite how ArenaNet was already asking people to buy the game by then.

So yeah, if you want to say it’s the players fault for not reading something that was not up while ArenaNet was asking them to buy the game, I’ll have to just point and laugh, Vayne. It’s obvious to anyone without an agenda that this is completely, unequivocally ArenaNet’s fault.

Bowdon.1948:

I have 4 issues with HoT expansion.

~Snip~

2. For Rangers, why lock some pets behind a 2 hour quest string? That quest is extra difficult because of the limited number of players allowed on the map instance.

3. The new maps themselves are confusing. The mini-map and main map are useless because they aren’t adapted to the multi-level maps, unlike regular maps like The Grove which is more adapted. Maybe this template can be used on the new maps. I spend most of my time trying to find a place, wondering around and having to kill the same mobs over and over just to survive.

~Snip~

Overall, I think HoT is good. But could do with tweaking. Oh I haven’t even mentioned the revenant bugs in this post. But hopefully all these issues will be tweaked in the future.

On point #2: I’m going to respond to these two points specifically…first, I just did the Dragon Stand Meta last night, and it in no shape or form took us 2 hours to complete, we were done somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour, from beginning to end. That 2 hours window is how long the map is open, and when we did it we had a little more than 30 minutes remaining on the timer before the map closed(some time had already passed by before we even started), some people wanted to try the Meta again, but there wasn’t enough time.

On point #3: The mini-map follows the main maps just fine, but then again, you have to know how to read a map to begin with. I have had zero problems using the mini-map to navigate any of the HoT zones, only zooming out to see what points I’m missing and the general direction. Perhaps it’s hard for you to see the up and down arrows that show which direction paths go in. but the mini-maps themselves are all based on the surface of the zone, with upper or lower areas represented by an arrow/ramp either pointing up or down, but then again…I’m very good at reading maps in general.

P.S. – As for those employees that left ArenaNet, I would bet it’s safe to presume they didn’t have significant involvement in HoT development, which is one reason they left ArenaNet(Eric Flannum left basically for a promotion, which would not have been forthcoming had he stayed at ArenaNet as you can’t get promoted to a position that is already filled).

Test.8734:

Vayne.8563:

Saying that people are victims of making assumptions because they didn’t even do basic research is pretty silly if you ask me.

Saying that people are to blame because they expected an expansion to be more of the game they were playing is what I would call pretty silly, if you ask me.

The fact many players did not understand how hard HoT would be is proof of how poorly ArenaNet communicated it. Which really, is only fitting to how poorly they have talked about HoT – they began selling the game (and not even just a preorder, rather asking the full price) before even announcing a release window, much less a release date. A lot of the information they gave about the game was only made available after presale had been going on.

A lot of information, for the records, including the quote you claim people should have read before buying the game, despite how ArenaNet was already asking people to buy the game by then.

So yeah, if you want to say it’s the players fault for not reading something that was not up while ArenaNet was asking them to buy the game, I’ll have to just point and laugh, Vayne. It’s obvious to anyone without an agenda that this is completely, unequivocally ArenaNet’s fault.

Test, you’re a little off base, since the announcement at PaxSouth it has been known that HoT wouldn’t be like Core Tyria…if everyone had paid attention to what ArenaNet was saying, but they didn’t. Like the amount of HP needed to unlock the Elite Spec, it was known that it was going to require a lot of HP(since they told people that listened to earn as many HP before the change was made to SP to HP). No, this lays entirely at the players own feet for not digesting all of the provided information.

Test.8734:

The fact many players did not understand how hard HoT would be is proof of how poorly ArenaNet communicated it. Which really, is only fitting to how poorly they have talked about HoT – they began selling the game (and not even just a preorder, rather asking the full price) before even announcing a release window, much less a release date. A lot of the information they gave about the game was only made available after presale had been going on.

I’ve never before been so thoroughly informed about an MMO-expansion than HoT. There has been information on every major feature on an almost weekly basis since the announcement back in January. They even have their own show -Ready Up.

Test.8734:

(and not even just a preorder, rather asking the full price)

This makes no sense. A preorder is a preorder. It’s one additonal option on how to purchase a game. Nothing more, nothing less. And of course it’s full price. Did you expect it to be half the price?

Test.8734:

So yeah, if you want to say it’s the players fault for not reading something that was not up while ArenaNet was asking them to buy the game

Of course it’s the players job. I always inform myself before I make a purchase. If I find the information lacking then I don’t preorder. You act like people were forced to preorder and it’s all Arenanet’s fault for making you preorder their game. And there was plenty of information. You simply decided to omit that to suit your argument.

Test.8734:

It’s obvious to anyone without an agenda that this is completely, unequivocally ArenaNet’s fault.

Straylight.7529:

Test.8734:

(and not even just a preorder, rather asking the full price)

This makes no sense. A preorder is a preorder. It’s one additonal option on how to purchase a game. Nothing more, nothing less. And of course it’s full price. Did you expect it to be half the price?

Yeah, because no one has ever said that “Pre-purchase means you buy the game for the full amount. Pre-order means you put some money down towards the full cost”.

And of course, ArenaNet has never made a preorder available to GW players, ever.

I would kindly suggest trying to find better places where to do your research than YouTube. Because, if you haven’t noticed, some people here know what they’re talking about.

Straylight.7529:

There has been information on every major feature on an almost weekly basis since the announcement back in January.

Really? So when did ArenaNet tell people about the paragraph Vayne quoted, on how HoT would be almost entirely challenging content? When did they tell people about the cost of unlocking the elite specializations? When did they tell people about the number of maps available in HoT?

Was any of that in January?

Oh look, it wasn’t! What a surprise! Nor was it in February. Or March! Or April. Or May. June…? Nope.

Meanwhile, they have known for a long time now how few maps HoT would have. They didn’t decide the amount of hero points required to unlock the elite specializations two days before release. ArenaNet knew players wouldn’t be happy with those announcements and so they chose to only release them nearly the very end of the pre-launch period, after months of telling players to prepurchase quickly or lose the opportunity of getting a new character slot.

This was very obviously a way to fool people into buying the game as quickly as possible, with the least information – oh sorry, I guess some people think talking about hylek actually matter, so I’ll rephrase it: with the least relevant information – as possible.

Test.8734:

Straylight.7529:

Test.8734:

(and not even just a preorder, rather asking the full price)

This makes no sense. A preorder is a preorder. It’s one additonal option on how to purchase a game. Nothing more, nothing less. And of course it’s full price. Did you expect it to be half the price?

Yeah, because no one has ever said that “Pre-purchase means you buy the game for the full amount. Pre-order means you put some money down towards the full cost”.

And of course, ArenaNet has never made a preorder available to GW players, ever.

I would kindly suggest trying to find better places where to do your research than YouTube. Because, if you haven’t noticed, some people here know what they’re talking about.

Straylight.7529:

There has been information on every major feature on an almost weekly basis since the announcement back in January.

Really? So when did ArenaNet tell people about the paragraph Vayne quoted, on how HoT would be almost entirely challenging content? When did they tell people about the cost of unlocking the elite specializations? When did they tell people about the number of maps available in HoT?

Was any of that in January?

Oh look, it wasn’t! What a surprise! Nor was it in February. Or March! Or April. Or May. June…? Nope.

Meanwhile, they have known for a long time now how few maps HoT would have. They didn’t decide the amount of hero points required to unlock the elite specializations two days before release. ArenaNet knew players wouldn’t be happy with those announcements and so they chose to only release them nearly the very end of the pre-launch period, after months of telling players to prepurchase quickly or lose the opportunity of getting a new character slot.

This was very obviously a way to fool people into buying the game as quickly as possible, with the least information – oh sorry, I guess some people think talking about hylek actually matter, so I’ll rephrase it: with the least relevant information – as possible.

The announcement at PAX that Heart of Thorns was going to be an expansion, back in January, stated that the content in HoT was going to be different than the core game and would be challenging.

Bonanzas.4735:

Total grindfest. Was excited to use my new elites specs until I realized I had to grind the hero points to use those too. Way to go A Net. After months of getting excited to use the Dare Devil, Dragon Hunter and Druid I have to grind xp in the same old specs from 3 years running just to play the new classes. Even funnier is how the first zone all these events are going on just makes it super overwhelming. It’s as if A Net jam packed too much into one zone. Complete chaos.

I don’t even know what to say.

Ok here is the thing.
You go into a completely unknown area with totally unknown creatures and tribes.
Now Mr. Superman comes and says… Well i already know all of the languages and behaviors of total unknown races and environments……

Does that sound right to you ?
HoT is all about a journey into an unknown Jungle where you have to adapt
to everything else around you. Including talking to frogs.

I am extremely happy with the outcome of HoT and have to gratulate A-Net.
The only mistake they did is to cater to people like you before.
It’s people like you why they removed feeding cows, because you couldn’t find the buckets to feed them.

If all that is to difficult and involves too much of a learning curve you better look somewhere else.
GW2 will be like that for a long time

MyriadStars.5679:

Anakita Snakecharm.4360:

MyriadStars.5679:

Joining Amazon seems to suggest that some key persons really needed a way out of Anet in a hurry.

I would have to disagree with that. Those Amazon jobs are highly sought after and competitive, and are generally well-compensated. It’s not like they left to go wait tables or something; they left for what is by industry standards a prime job that doesn’t come around every day. If they didn’t jump on that type of offer, they might never get the opportunity again.

No disrespect to Amazon, but it’s a lot easier to get an offer from Amazon than from many other places, e.g., Google/twitter/facebook/Microsoft, just to name a few. This true for many new grads, and should also be true for people who are key persons in a highly successful gaming company.

Thats a really silly thing to say, it is entirely dependent on what the position is… Graduate requirement of the company (and thus its intake each year and ease of getting that position) isn’t a reflection on how covetted and difficult to get other company positions are. Just think about it for a few seconds, large companies don’t suddenly have rubbish board of directors positions xD

Expansions are supposed to add endgame content, not more nub stuff. It’d be nice, but it’s kinda not how it works.

Besides, didn’t your moms ever tell you not to go into the jungle alone? It’s dangerous in there!