Guild Wars 2

This is a copy-paste of my thread from the Fractured! subforum, since that has now already been archived along with some of the older content updates. I did not find that it ran its course, so here it is again. Seeing that almost every patch, including the current Wintersday brings the usual confusion of “How long does this content last???”, i find that the topic is very relevant, even outside the context of Fractured! itself.

Some people argue that since the achievements mentioned a fortnight! , that makes it obvious that they would be around for two weeks. The fact that Boss Week was around for more than a week makes that point moot for me.

Relevant threads:
Old thread
Paying for Fractals: 1 2 3
Threads asking when the achievements go away: 1 2 3 4
Other requests to bring back Fractured!: 1 2

Original Post
One of the main things I have played for in this game is achievements. I don’t grind dailies or care much about the amount of AP I have. What I care about is actual achievements, of which most have been temporary. And that is okay. Since the Living Story was introduced we have relied on a pattern that achievements were available to do for two patches (~1 month).

I might have missed some information this time, but apparently Fractured! for some unexplainable reason, did not follow this pattern. What I love to have achieved is now gone.

5 hours ago I could say “I have done EVERY living story achievement.” No exception. Every achievement of every release. I carved a load of pumpkins last year at halloween. I murdered those Karka. I beat up Mai Trin flawlessly without getting hit by the cannons. I beat Liadri. I beat her again by throwing 8 orbs at her. I killed 225 dolyaks and 225 sentries to get all 19 WvW achievements. I did 50 merc camps, learning the pattern and timers of the camps. I could go on and on, you get the idea. I was proud, and being able to say “I did everything” was what really kept me going.

This might be my own fault, the info was probably available somewhere. But in any event my achievement hunt is probably over. For me the fun is gone because I will never be able to make the same statement again. But hey, I really want to keep enjoying this game as much as I’ve done so far, so I lose nothing by asking:

Can you please bring back the Fractured! achievements for another 14 days? And for the future, would there be any chance you could add a timer to temporary achievement sets, like you have with dailies, to show us how long we have left?

- A sad Treeline.

Edit: Attached a picture of my accomplishments to visualize how a simple achievement can result in a bad day.

Not happening. It was advertised as “Fortnight” = 14 days

Malediktus.9250:

Not happening. It was advertised as “Fortnight” = 14 days

Boss Week.

Treeline.3865:

Malediktus.9250:

Not happening. It was advertised as “Fortnight” = 14 days

Boss Week.

Which they’ve learned from. Hence the use of “Fortnight.”

+1’d. This is very inconsistent with other Living Story releases, which required FAR less time to complete. and even if they were any hard to complete, they lasted 4 weeks. I got mine, so I don’t benefit personally, but I know how much of a luck-based deal it was.

TriggerSad.2597:

Treeline.3865:

Boss Week.

Which they’ve learned from. Hence the use of “Fortnight.”

Maybe they have. I hope so. But ultimately, how would you know? If weeks can be two weeks, then fortnights can be months. Without a timer or an official end date (just like release date), how do you really know? You simply can’t. And even though the Fractured subforum had plenty of requests to know how long it would be around for, no official answer was given.

As far as the old thread went in the short time it was available, it seems several other forum users made the same mistake by assuming that achievements as RNG based as these would be around for more than two weeks. Luckily I was certain that it would last for the usual 4 weeks, given the nature of the achievement, so I did not spend time grinding them. I only did ~8 sets of Fractals to miss Snowblind. For others, it seems they have spent those two weeks grinding Fractals to make it in time for an actual fortnight, yet getting slapped around by RNG to still miss one Fractal – Heck, there were threads on the forum going “WTB <Fractal>, 5G”. That’s desperation.

Whether people just misunderstood like I did, two weeks were ultimately still way too short for the set of achievements that followed.

TriggerSad.2597:

Treeline.3865:

Malediktus.9250:

Not happening. It was advertised as “Fortnight” = 14 days

Boss Week.

Which they’ve learned from. Hence the use of “Fortnight.”

Stop using that word that no one uses. O_o

Just look at it this way: It was going to happen sooner or later. At some point, something was going to happen where you weren’t going to be able to complete all the living story achievements for that release in time. Maybe you’d be away on a trip, maybe your internet would go down, maybe an achievement would be too difficult for you to complete in time. Just know that, whatever the reason, it was inevitable. Makes it easier to swallow that way.

For someone that cares about these AP you kind of took your time on doing them….I mean the title of them should have been more than incentive to get it done within two weeks.

Protoavis.9107:

For someone that cares about these AP you kind of took your time on doing them….I mean the title of them should have been more than incentive to get it done within two weeks.

While I disagree with bringing it back and people QQing about it, in fairness to their argument, a lot of it was RNG. I didn’t get a chance to do the Volcanic achievement even though I ran a LOT of fractals those two weeks. As a matter of fact, I haven’t played volcanic at all since the patch.

I sympathise with the OP, but chances are they won’t be available again (unless ANet brings it back for a “re-run”, like what they did with SAB World 1 and Boss Week). I see no reason we couldn’t have Fractured back as a “filler” Living Story in between updates though.

I’d also like WvW Season 1 to become available again up until Season 2 is released. (I don’t even mind missing out on the chest or title. I just want the APs. XD)

All the content introduced in fractal fortnight is STILL in the game. All you’re complaining about is 5 or 10 ap points. Let it go, allright?

I am also OCD/OCPD about collecting and accomplishments but this might be the game that breaks me. I’ve found it impossible to have fun and keep the play for all mentality.

Also, I was under the assumption that WvW achievements were coming back, just as they said “a permanent addition.” I still want the chance at that very wide ranging sounding title and chest.

Cliff.8679:

Just look at it this way: It was going to happen sooner or later. At some point, something was going to happen where you weren’t going to be able to complete all the living story achievements for that release in time. Maybe you’d be away on a trip, maybe your internet would go down, maybe an achievement would be too difficult for you to complete in time. Just know that, whatever the reason, it was inevitable. Makes it easier to swallow that way.

You may be right. But all of your examples trace back to one thing. That I was away. MY net was down. That I wasn’t skilled enough.
And that is exactly how it should be. If I don’t get something completed, it should be MY fault. And hey, it kind of was, I chose to ignore “Fortnight”, given that “Boss Week” didn’t mean anything either. But I find that the lack of communication is NOT my fault, therefore the complaint.
I can swallow it, no problem, but ultimately that also makes me care less for the game. (No that is not an “I quit” threat) But for now I still care that the game is handled the right way. New content is what keeps old players like me going. And while not everyone care about one achievement, everyone has something they care about.

This time it was the achievement hunters. Several players missed one or more of the achievements because they shared my misunderstanding. Taking away someones complete collection of achievements like that takes away a lot of trust as well.

Becka Williams.4978:

All the content introduced in fractal fortnight is STILL in the game. All you’re complaining about is 5 or 10 ap points. Let it go, allright?

I’m not complaining about 5 or 10 achievement points, and if you had read the actual post, you would have seen why as well, but hey, let me explain again.

It’s not about achievement points for me. I could not care less about them. I have 12.600 something, I’m not on the leaderboards and I don’t really do dailies unless they drop into my lap. But for players who are competing on the leaderboards, sure! 5-10 achievement points could mean the difference between being number 1 or 2. But not because of their skill, because of RNG this time. That is one complaint. RNG on achievement points are not OK.

What I am complaining about is that for the first time they have made achievements that were not possible to obtain given a reasonable amount of playtime. So far, every update, every single patch with every single achievement has been obtainable. Some has been difficult, some tricky, boring, grindy, you get the idea. But they could all be obtained with reasonable play.

TL;DR just for you. The achievements was RNG and could not be done with reasonable play by all players + There were no communication what so ever as to how long the content lasted. Not in game, not on the forums, not on the release page, not on facebook. Only hint was “Fortnight” which after “Boss Week” means nothing.

Luckily enough for me, this happend to me on last year’s Halloween event (I think it was that event). Before I had gathered all achievements, as I like to have seen/ done all, but since then I’ve been able to play more casually. No need to try to get all done, as it simply isn’t possible anymore. It annoyed me for a while.

As much as I feel for you Treeline, it did say a fortnight may it have been enough time or not. Though it truly could have been communicated better (via timer) the excuse that the Bossweek lasted longer than a week doesn’t really count imo.

I must agree with Mike. While I do sympathize, and completely understand, please know missing a minor event, or any event for that matter, won’t kill you. Again, I do understand this, as I’m something of a compulsive myself.

But, it’s still just a game, and there will be other events in the future. Please don’t take it to heart, and know that more than a few of us skipped or missed it as well.

Still . . . you never know. These prior event may one day return. . . .

Obviously it is not going to kill anyone. No game will kill anyone. But everyone has preferences, something they look to achieve in games. That is how many people chose their games. Some people wants to be on the top of a leaderboard. Some people want to reach level 80. Some wants their server to be the top of WvW.

For me? I want a game where I can say “I did it all”. I might not be the best player or the one with most achievement points. I’m a completionist. I want to have done it all, given that I have the skill to do so.

So yes. It is just a game. And I can always try finding another game where I can “get it all done”. But for now, I really care about this game. But what keeps me going is the sense of having done everything. I love logging in every patch to get it all done, so I can go back to saying “Still did it all. Throw more at me!”. For now I have no goal. Whether I’m missing 1 or 50 achievements does not matter to me. So I hope for this to go through, and that Anet will give a clearer indication in the future as to how long we have to do stuff, as long as they keep insisting on temporary content.

I really don’t see an issue with there being a timer on these achievements like with Dailies. Transparency for players is something that should be a high priority, especially with things like this.

Honestly? You’re overreacting. And . . . you’re placing too much importance into the trivialities of a video game. So, with respect, let me be blunt: No one cares that you ‘did it all’ in a video game . . . except you. But, if bragging rights in Guild Wars are that important to you, far be it from us to coax you off that ledge.

You go right ahead and leap.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

No one cares that you ‘did it all’ in a video game . . . except you.

And oddly enough that’s all I need to keep going or stop playing.
You don’t need to take me off any pedistal. I’m right here on the ground with you, and I’m not trying to brag.
As for overreacting? No. I’m not overreacting. There is no Caps Lock, no spamming, no multiple postings etc. What you probably meant in your attempt to rake me down from somewhere that I’m not, was that I care too much. And yes sir, I do. I care so much for the game that I spent over 2.800 hours on the game. If that offends you, then I am very sorry.

You didn’t offend me. Getting offended on a discussion board is pointless. But, I do hope you know I posted what I did to make you realize how silly, if not obsessive compulsive, you’re being. Again, it’s just a video game.

Please come back to Earth.

While I love me some Guild Wars too, missing an achievement or some content in something that probably won’t, or shouldn’t, be a blip in your life in say another ten years, should put it into perspective.

Enjoy the game. Enjoy your life. And don’t sweat the little things. Life is way too short to put such priorities into something that should be no more than light entertainment.

Happy Holidays.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

You didn’t offend me. Getting offended on a discussion board is pointless. But, I do hope you know I posted what I did to make you realize how silly, if not obsessive compulsive, you’re being. Again, it’s just a video game.

Please come back to Earth.

While I love me some Guild Wars too, missing an achievement or some content in something that probably won’t, or shouldn’t, be a blip in your life in say another ten years, should put it into perspective.

Enjoy the game. Enjoy your life. And don’t sweat the little things. Life is way too short to put such priorities into something that should be no more than light entertainment.

Happy Holidays.

My wrong on jumping to that conclusion.

But honestly, it is all a matter of what you care about. You may not care about achievements. You may not even care much for the game. But whatever you do care about “back on Earth”, wouldn’t you go as “far” as to create a topic about it, if something bothered you? While it won’t be a “blip” in my life in 10 years, if it could improve my experience with the game for however long I will play it, then I will happily spend an hour on the Forum, trying to do that. Assuming just 2 hours of play every day (~2½ day a month), 1 hour on the Forum is not much to pay, if that could result in me being happy with the game for longer.

Happy holidays to you as well.

This thread is essentially the same as the other one in the Fractured subforum. Your purpose in this thread, which you bolded, is to bring back the Fractured living story in some matter. This is beyond the scope of the Wintersday subforum.

Not relate to the wintersday although I feel for OP.
Imo, every LS should last at least a month.

Ayrilana.1396:

This thread is essentially the same as the other one in the Fractured subforum. Your purpose in this thread, which you bolded, is to bring back the Fractured living story in some matter. This is beyond the scope of the Wintersday subforum.

It is the same, and it is meant to be the same
Wintersday is no exception to the problem, but at least there are not many threads, since this patch got an official answer. Fractured! subforum was not as lucky. And to be honest, it should not even be on the forum. It should be in the game.

Thread 1 , 2

Treeline.3865:

Ayrilana.1396:

This thread is essentially the same as the other one in the Fractured subforum. Your purpose in this thread, which you bolded, is to bring back the Fractured living story in some matter. This is beyond the scope of the Wintersday subforum.

It is the same, and it is meant to be the same
Wintersday is no exception to the problem, but at least there are not many threads, since this patch got an official answer. Fractured! subforum was not as lucky. And to be honest, it should not even be on the forum. It should be in the game.

Thread 1 , 2

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/rules

Do not cross post. Post your message once in the appropriate sub-forum and nowhere else; otherwise it will be locked or removed without warning.

Ayrilana.1396:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/rules

Do not cross post. Post your message once in the appropriate sub-forum and nowhere else; otherwise it will be locked or removed without warning.

The subforum does no longer exist.

Treeline.3865:

Ayrilana.1396:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/rules

Do not cross post. Post your message once in the appropriate sub-forum and nowhere else; otherwise it will be locked or removed without warning.

The subforum does no longer exist.

It does, it’s in the archive and already had an identical thread about this. Asking for the Fractured living story to come back in the Wintersday forum is not the correct way to approach this. A more suitable place would be the suggestions subforum.

This tread is no different than if I were to create one about how Evon should have won so we could get the Abaddon fractal. It just does not belong in this subforum.

Ayrilana.1396:

Treeline.3865:

Ayrilana.1396:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/rules

Do not cross post. Post your message once in the appropriate sub-forum and nowhere else; otherwise it will be locked or removed without warning.

The subforum does no longer exist.

It does, it’s in the archive and already had an identical thread about this. Asking for the Fractured living story to come back in the Wintersday forum is not the correct way to approach this. A more suitable place would be the suggestions subforum.

This tread is no different than if I were to create one about how Evon should have won so we could get the Abaddon fractal. It just does not belong in this subforum.

I justify the thread by the fact that it happens every single patch. The relevant subforum gets a bunch of “When does it end?” threads, and no one really knows anything. As I said and linked, Wintersday was not an exception, but luckily got an actual answer. But don’t worry, Anet will delete this thread if that’s what they think should be done.

If you knew Anet forum mods would delete this thread, why post it in the first place? That’s an infraction waiting to happen.

Treeline.3865:

Ayrilana.1396:

Treeline.3865:

Ayrilana.1396:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/rules

Do not cross post. Post your message once in the appropriate sub-forum and nowhere else; otherwise it will be locked or removed without warning.

The subforum does no longer exist.

It does, it’s in the archive and already had an identical thread about this. Asking for the Fractured living story to come back in the Wintersday forum is not the correct way to approach this. A more suitable place would be the suggestions subforum.

This tread is no different than if I were to create one about how Evon should have won so we could get the Abaddon fractal. It just does not belong in this subforum.

I justify the thread by the fact that it happens every single patch. The relevant subforum gets a bunch of “When does it end?” threads, and no one really knows anything. As I said and linked, Wintersday was not an exception, but luckily got an actual answer. But don’t worry, Anet will delete this thread if that’s what they think should be done.

No. This thread is about making the fractured living story achievements come back. The bit about how long living stories last was just added in an attempt to make it relevant to this living story which unfortunately did not work as the overall intent of the post was about bring back the fractured living story achievements. Just look at the title you gave the thread.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

If you knew Anet forum mods would delete this thread, why post it in the first place? That’s an infraction waiting to happen.

Don’t put words onto me. I did not state that I believed they would take it down. I only stated that if that’s what they wanted to do, obviously they would do it.

A timer has already been suggested but no official response about it. Pixelpumpkin was the one who suggested it and I wanted to give them credit for the idea. I personally feel a timer wouldn’t be feasible but they should just but the date range of end date below the title.

I doubt they would ever bring back a living story. This would set a precedent and then people would demand/expect it for every living story.

Ayrilana.1396:

No. This thread is about making the fractured living story achievements come back. The bit about how long living stories last was just added in an attempt to make it relevant to this living story which unfortunately did not work as the overall intent of the post was about bring back the fractured living story achievements. Just look at the title you gave the thread.

How would I even argue against that? I made point A, B and C, but because A lead to B and C, A must be everything I care about. What kind of argument is that?

Sure! I want Fractured! back. That does not mean that I want it to happen again the next time, and the next after that, hence my suggestions.

My title is due to the 45 character limit, but hey, if you give me a way to circumvent the 45 character limit to write “Please give back Fractured, 14 days was not enough, and announce end dates of temporary content”, then I will do it.

Honestly? It is not your place to decide what peoples intents are. I did not add in the suggestions for kicks and fun.

It’s not my place which is true however it doesn’t change the fact you’re posting about bringing back a previous living story within a subforum for the current one. You only briefly mentioned the living story dates where 98% of your post was about bringing fractured living story achievements back. Adding one little sentence does not make it relevant to the subforum.

Perhaps if your post was primarily about living story updates, and you used fractured living story as a short example, then yes I could see a relevance but it would be moved to the suggestions forum.

Got all achievements in less that the fortnight, Didn’t even do all that many fractals just ran them with guildies. You had a fortnight to do them, not Anets fault you didn’t take the opportunity to do it whilest they were around. The content was aptly named “fortnight” that might have been just a little clue as to how long the content would be around.

VaaCrow.3076:

Got all achievements in less that the fortnight, Didn’t even do all that many fractals just ran them with guildies. You had a fortnight to do them, not Anets fault you didn’t take the opportunity to do it whilest they were around. The content was aptly named “fortnight” that might have been just a little clue as to how long the content would be around.

If you read thoroughly I have answered all your statements, but hey, I will go over it again, briefly.

Fortnight? Boss Week.
Do them while they were around? Some people did more than one set a day without getting all Fractals.
Not Anet’s fault I didn’t do them? No. As I said, the misunderstanding may be my fault, but it sure was not very visible either that they would go away when they did.

Ayrilana.1396:

It’s not my place which is true however it doesn’t change the fact you’re posting about bringing back a previous living story within a subforum for the current one. You only briefly mentioned the living story dates where 98% of your post was about bringing fractured living story achievements back. Adding one little sentence does not make it relevant to the subforum.

Perhaps if your post was primarily about living story updates, and you used fractured living story as a short example, then yes I could see a relevance but it would be moved to the suggestions forum.

Sounds like handing in a paper. What you wanted to say might have taken 5 lines, but since it had to be 3 pages+ you added a few pages of filler.

Seriously though, let’s take a look at how the original post is built up, since you seem to care a great deal about it.

-> Short intro about myself vs the game up until Fractured!.
-> Personal concrete problem & Cause. (Fractured is gone, lack of info and/or misunderstanding)
-> Effect & Result (TL;DR, I got sad)
-> Solution & Prevention

As you can see, the problem is encountered in the Fractured! patch. The cause, effect, result and prevention however all applies to Wintersday and all future temporary releases.

I hope that clarifies it for you.

They clarified the boss week living story duration though. Living stories have also never lasted only a week. The only time a living story has last longer than 2 weeks is if it continues on with the next living story (e.g. The nightmare tree living stories). Holiday living stories tend to fall outside of the norm and can last longer.

Treeline.3865:

Ayrilana.1396:

It’s not my place which is true however it doesn’t change the fact you’re posting about bringing back a previous living story within a subforum for the current one. You only briefly mentioned the living story dates where 98% of your post was about bringing fractured living story achievements back. Adding one little sentence does not make it relevant to the subforum.

Perhaps if your post was primarily about living story updates, and you used fractured living story as a short example, then yes I could see a relevance but it would be moved to the suggestions forum.

Sounds like handing in a paper. What you wanted to say might have taken 5 lines, but since it had to be 3 pages+ you added a few pages of filler.

Seriously though, let’s take a look at how the original post is built up, since you seem to care a great deal about it.

-> Short intro about myself vs the game up until Fractured!.
-> Personal concrete problem & Cause. (Fractured is gone, lack of info and/or misunderstanding)
-> Effect & Result (TL;DR, I got sad)
-> Solution & Prevention

As you can see, the problem is encountered in the Fractured! patch. The cause, effect, result and prevention however all applies to Wintersday and all future temporary releases.

I hope that clarifies it for you.

Still doesn’t change what I saw. All of those points you made in the OP were used to argue for the Fractured living story to be brought back. The fact that this thread is now in the living story general subforum is evidence that it did not belong in the Wintersday subforum.

Since you brought up the paper analogy, the conclusion summaries and recaps the main argument. Your conclusion, which was in bold, was about bringing the fractured living story back. Nowhere at the end of your post did you mention including a date range or timer.

This happened to me too. I did fractals almost every day during the event (sometimes twice a day) and that’s a long time in fractals. I didn’t get the Molten Facility once. I was lucky that the achievement stuck around after the event ended and the very first fractal run I did after the event had Molten Facility (which strangely counted for the achievement despite the time expiring).

Personally I’d prefer it if RNG things like this (which can be very time intense – it wasn’t uncommon to spend 2+ hours in a single FotM run with the quality of players at the time and now you can’t reset to choose the fractal seeing as they are tiered) not be part of Living Story achievements. I can understand it as a long term achievement, but a two week window is too much.

Ayrilana.1396:

Still doesn’t change what I saw. All of those points you made in the OP were used to argue for the Fractured living story to be brought back. The fact that this thread is now in the living story general subforum is evidence that it did not belong in the Wintersday subforum.

Since you brought up the paper analogy, the conclusion summaries and recaps the main argument. Your conclusion, which was in bold, was about bringing the fractured living story back. Nowhere at the end of your post did you mention including a date range or timer.

The entire point, which you somehow keep missing, is the short section in bold, and had more to it than bringing the Fractured! release back.
In the end, if you can not see that, then I’m simply sorry I could not phrase it better, which is where I will stop arguing over semantics.

The Living World subforum is actually a nice switch, I did not consider that. And you’re welcome to interpret that however you like. My logic says that it was moved to Living World because it applies to more than Fractured! or Wintersday. If it had only been seen as a Fractured! thing, it would probably have been deleted or moved to suggestions as you said.

Have a nice holiday.

The content still exists. You can still “do it all”. Or does it only count if there’s an achievement point behind it?

How about “fortnight twofold”? Would that solve the problem?

I used to get annoyed at the temporary rush rush of the living story (or world?) also. Now I don’t care. Eventually you probably won’t care either. It will loosen your ties to the game, but that is probably a good thing. Games shouldn’t be very important to us anyway.

So as not to repeat myself:
Please Bring Back-Fractured Achievements!

OP represents my point of view perfectly, however for me, this is the last poor design decision that I am willing to tolerate. I invested a ridiculous amount of time and effort so I could say that I had 100% of all temp achievements (working on 100% PvE). To have that taken away (after trying for hours and hours to get the one fractal I needed) is not acceptable. Since the patch I have signed in once a day to see if Fractured! has been put back in, but otherwise I am done with GW2. I would probably be less upset if the many threads on this topic in the Fractured! forum had not been completely ignored.

The content, aka the thing that is actually important, is still there. The only thing you are missing is 5 achievement points and a meaningless box that no one other than you can see. You can already say “You’ve done everything” even without a simple achievement to prove it.

If there was a five point achievement that said donate 1000 gold to ho-ho-tron would you still do it?

The achievements for fractured are still in.

Check the achievement tab for Fractals and you will see them.

I’ve skipped a few of the later responses, so forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but the big flaw in your initial assessment that Fractured would last longer is the premise that previous releases have lasted for a month. Some releases have only lasted for a fortnight.

That said, it would be nice to have an in-game timer for LS releases, although it is probably not feasible to add one that is accurate to the hour or minute of the patch that removes the associated LS content.