Guild Wars 2

It’s going to be lordkrall isn’t_it?

With my 42 infractions it sure as hell won’t be me.

Gab Superstar.4059:

It’s going to be lordkrall isn’t_it?

I’m pretty much certain he’s not American.

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

Gab Superstar.4059:

It’s going to be lordkrall isn’t_it?

I’m pretty much certain he’s not American.

What a shame, I am sure lordkrall would be the best choice for this position.

Given the nature of the position and the feedback from the other forum specialists, I think either krall or coglin would be the ideal choice, as long as they promise to report on progress on a weekly basis, including feedback from Anet on all reports and progress towards resolving issues:-)

Good Luck to everybody’s who applied!

Baldrick.8967:

Given the nature of the position and the feedback from the other forum specialists, I think either krall or coglin would be the ideal choice, as long as they promise to report on progress on a weekly basis, including feedback from Anet on all reports and progress towards resolving issues:-)

Is this a joke?

I think forum specialist should be somebody with zerg, guild and roaming experience, who played on servers of diferent tiers with more than 1 profession. Maybe have eu and na experience.

McWolfy.5924:

I think forum specialist should be somebody with zerg, guild and roaming experience, who played on servers of diferent tiers with more than 1 profession. Maybe have eu and na experience.

good luck finding someone with all of that

i go for variety more than most and i only meet 4/7 of those -.-

insanemaniac.2456:

McWolfy.5924:

I think forum specialist should be somebody with zerg, guild and roaming experience, who played on servers of diferent tiers with more than 1 profession. Maybe have eu and na experience.

good luck finding someone with all of that

i go for variety more than most and i only meet 4/7 of those -.-

I have all of those \o/ still wouldn’t be a good FSP though.

Honestly just find someone that is definitely active, that is in general accepted by the community as a good representative through his/her actions meeting requirements (aka not someone with a low rank that has only played on tarnished coast or anvil rock – ps sorry to EU) that can communicate with people and accept there will be haters and they will be targeted by having this position.

Do we have a specialist yet?

Tseikk.9032:

Do we have a specialist yet?

They have been selected, emails were sent out yesterday.

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Tseikk.9032:

Do we have a specialist yet?

They have been selected, emails were sent out yesterday.

How do you know?

Orochimaru.4730:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Tseikk.9032:

Do we have a specialist yet?

They have been selected, emails were sent out yesterday.

How do you know?

I applied, and recieved this email. http://i.imgur.com/OV0rcV7.png

I’m sad I did not get the title, but I am sure who ever they selected is up for the task.

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Orochimaru.4730:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Tseikk.9032:

Do we have a specialist yet?

They have been selected, emails were sent out yesterday.

How do you know?

I applied, and recieved this email. http://i.imgur.com/OV0rcV7.png

I’m sad I did not get the title, but I am sure who ever they selected is up for the task.

Alt account? Cos even you only have a total of 11 posts in 5 months. The only difference is that at least you posted in the WvW forums section

Again I have 4 pages worth of posts in 3 months, again mostly in WvW, and again I do not meet the requirements to apply.

The fact that Gaile said she would keep your application on record yet again signals bad tidings for us, the WvW community. We need someone who is active both in game and in forums!

I think instead of the mods telling us what is good for us they should hold an election, people who want to be FS can apply and then let the players decide who they want.

Orochimaru.4730:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Orochimaru.4730:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Tseikk.9032:

Do we have a specialist yet?

They have been selected, emails were sent out yesterday.

How do you know?

I applied, and recieved this email. http://i.imgur.com/OV0rcV7.png

I’m sad I did not get the title, but I am sure who ever they selected is up for the task.

Alt account? Cos even you only have a total of 11 posts in 5 months. The only difference is that at least you posted in the WvW forums section

Again I have 4 pages worth of posts in 3 months, again mostly in WvW, and again I do not meet the requirements to apply.

The fact that Gaile said she would keep your application on record yet again signals bad tidings for us, the WvW community. We need someone who is active both in game and in forums!

I think instead of the mods telling us what is good for us they should hold an election, people who want to be FS can apply and then let the players decide who they want.

Then what, a huge revolution that will change everything? Dream on… No i am not negative but realistic.

Orochimaru.4730:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Orochimaru.4730:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Tseikk.9032:

Do we have a specialist yet?

They have been selected, emails were sent out yesterday.

How do you know?

I applied, and recieved this email. http://i.imgur.com/OV0rcV7.png

I’m sad I did not get the title, but I am sure who ever they selected is up for the task.

Alt account? Cos even you only have a total of 11 posts in 5 months. The only difference is that at least you posted in the WvW forums section

Again I have 4 pages worth of posts in 3 months, again mostly in WvW, and again I do not meet the requirements to apply.

The fact that Gaile said she would keep your application on record yet again signals bad tidings for us, the WvW community. We need someone who is active both in game and in forums!

I think instead of the mods telling us what is good for us they should hold an election, people who want to be FS can apply and then let the players decide who they want.

Lack of posts is a terrible argument. Its like saying “we prefer you have atleast 3-5 years experience for this entry level job”. The fact is you have no idea how I would have done the job, having 10000 posts does not make you qualified, it only makes your opinions known. The position requires being able to parse information, not post a silly opinion or “My Top 5 Fixes For WvW”, none of which are actually feasible. You think the people who lurk instead of posting are less capable of doing the job?

So congratulations on having 4 pages of posts, it means literally nothing other than you post a lot. If someone had 4 pages of “terrible” (ie, doesnt align with your beliefs on WvW fixes), who you still approve of them?

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Orochimaru.4730:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Orochimaru.4730:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Tseikk.9032:

Do we have a specialist yet?

They have been selected, emails were sent out yesterday.

How do you know?

I applied, and recieved this email. http://i.imgur.com/OV0rcV7.png

I’m sad I did not get the title, but I am sure who ever they selected is up for the task.

Alt account? Cos even you only have a total of 11 posts in 5 months. The only difference is that at least you posted in the WvW forums section

Again I have 4 pages worth of posts in 3 months, again mostly in WvW, and again I do not meet the requirements to apply.

The fact that Gaile said she would keep your application on record yet again signals bad tidings for us, the WvW community. We need someone who is active both in game and in forums!

I think instead of the mods telling us what is good for us they should hold an election, people who want to be FS can apply and then let the players decide who they want.

Lack of posts is a terrible argument. Its like saying “we prefer you have atleast 3-5 years experience for this entry level job”. The fact is you have no idea how I would have done the job, having 10000 posts does not make you qualified, it only makes your opinions known. The position requires being able to parse information, not post a silly opinion or “My Top 5 Fixes For WvW”, none of which are actually feasible. You think the people who lurk instead of posting are less capable of doing the job?

So congratulations on having 4 pages of posts, it means literally nothing other than you post a lot. If someone had 4 pages of “terrible” (ie, doesnt align with your beliefs on WvW fixes), who you still approve of them?

Yes, I strongly believe a worthy WvW specialist should have 100+ good posts in the WvW subforum.

But we all know the forum specialists are just a ploy to lull the masses, so who cares who becomes one.

Malediktus.9250:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Orochimaru.4730:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Orochimaru.4730:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Tseikk.9032:

Do we have a specialist yet?

They have been selected, emails were sent out yesterday.

How do you know?

I applied, and recieved this email. http://i.imgur.com/OV0rcV7.png

I’m sad I did not get the title, but I am sure who ever they selected is up for the task.

Alt account? Cos even you only have a total of 11 posts in 5 months. The only difference is that at least you posted in the WvW forums section

Again I have 4 pages worth of posts in 3 months, again mostly in WvW, and again I do not meet the requirements to apply.

The fact that Gaile said she would keep your application on record yet again signals bad tidings for us, the WvW community. We need someone who is active both in game and in forums!

I think instead of the mods telling us what is good for us they should hold an election, people who want to be FS can apply and then let the players decide who they want.

Lack of posts is a terrible argument. Its like saying “we prefer you have atleast 3-5 years experience for this entry level job”. The fact is you have no idea how I would have done the job, having 10000 posts does not make you qualified, it only makes your opinions known. The position requires being able to parse information, not post a silly opinion or “My Top 5 Fixes For WvW”, none of which are actually feasible. You think the people who lurk instead of posting are less capable of doing the job?

So congratulations on having 4 pages of posts, it means literally nothing other than you post a lot. If someone had 4 pages of “terrible” (ie, doesnt align with your beliefs on WvW fixes), who you still approve of them?

Yes, I strongly believe a worthy WvW specialist should have 100+ good posts in the WvW subforum.

But we all know the forum specialists are just a ploy to lull the masses, so who cares who becomes one.

But what constitutes a good post? If I post a terrible idea, but have reasons behind it is it a good post and should be included into the feedback? Or is “Wheres our GvG ANET?” a good post because it fits the circlejerk here? Why 100 posts? Someone with 99 not qualified?

This subforum is/has been dead for sometime now anyway, so there’s nothing to post about and the forum even crucified the last guy who tried to ask for feedback.

And I love the logic, “If you are going to do it, we want these qualification, but it doesn’t matter because the position is fake”, so then why care about the requirements? You can’t impose and complain about arbitrary qualifications then complain at the same position for which you made those arbitrary qualifications.

insanemaniac.2456:

McWolfy.5924:

I think forum specialist should be somebody with zerg, guild and roaming experience, who played on servers of diferent tiers with more than 1 profession. Maybe have eu and na experience.

good luck finding someone with all of that

i go for variety more than most and i only meet 4/7 of those -.-

I meet all of those and I wasn’t chosen ;o

Considering we’ve had the same complaints for a very long time about wvw, I’m not sure what news could be brought to the people at Anet. I think it would be a lot more exciting to be a forum specialist once HoT is released, and the forum specialist term is 6 months. Good luck next time, to all who applied and congrats to whoever was chosen this round.

Let’s all agree that the posters on the official forums usually know NOTHING about WvW compared to the GW2WvW kittenposters.

So this is a well intended effort but useless in the end.

Forum specialists. lol.

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

Lack of posts is a terrible argument.
The position requires being able to parse information

Is it? Then how does one prove to be active on the forums?
Same with in-game activity, people complained about Marmatt’s stats.

Yes an EOTM K-Trainer could have high stats as well, but that is why it would be better to allow the community to decide.

But one things for sure, we need someone who’s active on both.

I nominate Second Child

Active WvW player, active forum user and level headed for 3 years now.

Qugi.2653:

Gaile any news on this? It’s been over a month and still no forum specialists.

According to this you already picked two people:

DoctorWunderbar.5037:

I applied, and recieved this email. http://i.imgur.com/OV0rcV7.png

I’m guessing they picked two specialists, but didnt enable it in their forum profiles or told them about it.

That way Anet can say, hey you already got two specialists, stop pestering us!

They have picked two, and they are so special it’s a secret!

Baldrick.8967:

They have picked two, and they are so special it’s a secret!

with the way the last one was treated, thats prolly for the best x_X

insanemaniac.2456:

Baldrick.8967:

They have picked two, and they are so special it’s a secret!

with the way the last one was treated, thats prolly for the best x_X

I’d agree, but I guess it would signal the end of even a pretense of listening to the players or having feedback (or even the mythical ‘wvw dev team’).

My collection of thoughts on what is appropriate for a WvW forum specialist is someone who posts “regularly enough” in the WvW forum to have a solid understanding of what the community is talking about, and who shows engagement with the community on topics that matter to them. Beyond that, I’d expect them to be well-spoken and effective at distilling a massive number of opinions down into a cogent argument for a specific change or improvement or even nerf.

I’d also expect a WvW forum specialist to have some measure of experience in WvW, obviously. I don’t think this needs to involve guild vs. guild at all, however, because so long as they understand the underpinnings of WvW and show engagement with those players who do GvG regularly, that would enable them to effectively communicate opinions to ANet. I would say that someone who is rank 300 or so would be fine as a specialist. They don’t have to have played thousands of hours in the format to represent the WvW forum effectively. Being casual is not a problem for effectively performing the role; the only real need here is to have thick enough skin to deal with player-driven toxicity.

I know that there are a number of people in the WvW forum who meet that criteria and who are also located in the US. I hope that they’ve submitted applications, and I hope we hear more soon about who they are. For those who doubt that ANet listens and who doubt that the forum specialist program is working, I can safely assure you that such preoccupations are unfounded. I know ANet actively reviews and makes changes based on our reports.

I don’t think you should have to be super experienced in order to do the job well. If you are, you may have a biased opinion on what WvW needs. My understanding of the Specialist is to take PLAYER feedback, good or bad, to Anet directly. That to me says as long as you frequent the forums, you can do what ArenaNet is looking for.

Heh, truth is one people started commenting on people’s wvw rank, I thought it was pretty funny, since I thought it was regarded as pretty pointless since you can so easily inflate it by karma training whatever?

If we wanted an expert opinion, I would say qualifications are more needed, but as the role seems to require more of an impartial “reporting” stance, it’s really not necessary unless they are too divorced from the content at large. (Say, they only EOTM’d) This game has many casual players, and their experience is still relevant to the game as a whole as long as they can take in the comments and feedback from more experienced players. So that being said, I am with coglin here.

I honestly don’t see why you’d need any more than 100 world ranks to note population imbalances, blobs, pirate ships, full servers, crappy rewards, toxic chat, and the lack of incentive to defend. That’s like 30-50 hours of exposure, and I mean people play entire games in that time.These things are pretty obvious and I know a lot of people that probably don’t even have 300 ranks that know this because they log on every week or so. And judging people by AP/kills is nearly as absurd. I’m sure anyone can just grab their guardian and bloat that number fast. Now obviously such a person wouldn’t be in a position to make changes to wvw, but at least they can comprehend people that do.

That being said, I think in order to display one’s experience, they really need to bring up the situation on wherever they play, regardless if its how their group guild runs, or how the server’s pug blob is going, or the general state of their defense. Actually specific stuff, as well as the dynamics of the matchup that’s going on beyond a generic “omg they’re blobbing us 2:1”. That I feel, a lot of people, even so called “veterans” aren’t capable of doing in a more objective fashion and if one can’t do that, then perhaps they aren’t as invested in wvw as they may think to be able to understand other people’s sentiments, or they have some work to do. An understanding of these things is far more important than whatever arbitrary numbers one can throw around (and probably disagree on anyways). Though I suppose the lack of concrete stats in this game that actually mean anything is sort of distressing too. The only objective measures I can think about are people that win pvp tournaments and dungeon speedclears.

The reason I bring up the last point is the ability to filter out opinions that may be too biased or um… lacking in knowledge of mechanics itself. So, I would still concede you need to understand what you are reading to some degree, but that’s what discussion is for in the first place.

Welcome to the fold, you two! I’d continue the discussion I was having above, but it seems a little irrelevant now. Looking forward to your work!

I hope they have alt accounts on servers lower than JQ and SBI.

Hi, guys!

Here’s my stats, since I know you’ll ask:

WvW rank: 1444 / 48k+ kills
11,449 hours played in game, 7k+ of them on my elementalist

So… let’s see, some history. I have been on Jade Quarry since the first beta. My old GW1 guild that I moved to GW2 with loved the JQ game format so much in GW1 that we decided we had to move there. I honestly had no plans to WvW, and I was terrified of the concept at launch. However… I went in to map in September 2012, and the rest was history. I was hooked. Now, going on 3 years later, I still love it. I still play everyday.

I do have an alt account that I can move around as needed. I have numerous friends in T2 right now, most whom were on JQ previously, who are brilliant resources for what’s going on in that tier. That said, it’s nothing like being there myself to check it out, which I will do. If there’s somewhere you think I should check out first, let me know in the comments.

My first report on WvW went out last week, and focused on the topics that were recently introduced. Namely: Auto-upgrades, WvW ability points and the removal of guard stacks. My second report will be going out this week, and I’m keeping my eye on several threads at the moment. I hope to gather as much feedback from you guys as possible.

One thing that helps me out is if feedback (good and bad) is kept in one thread. Don’t worry about your comment being lost in the fold, as I read every thread from first to last page.

Anyway, that’s all for now!

All I’ve taken from that is:

zhonnika.1784:

My first report on WvW went out last week,

And you did not consult anyone by creating a new thread to get the latest opinions from the community….

Reading through random thread is one thing, but you wont get all the info. Bes thing to do is follow the CDI structure, ask which topic ppl want to discuss, then get people to vote on one, then create a new thread about it so players can post all their views into it rather than what they normally post, which isnt always the full picture.

I was indeed working with the current opinions of the community at the time. A good portion of the comments were made within 1-2 days of my report, including those that were made while I was writing it up. Of course now, a week later, there are plenty of new opinions on the subjects I covered, perhaps this is a better time to see where the community stands and if any new opinions/concerns have been brought to light.

Well, I look forward to be working with you. zhonnika., I think it’s a good idea to have 2 folks for these matters.

Well for now all I’ll say is at least these two players actually spend time in WvW and in the WvW forums; even though they are both in the gold league.

So they should know what to expect and can handle it already.

But just remember a lot of players were not happy when all the Adopt-A-Dev scheme got was white swords and PPK, things many did not want or ask for originally based on the responses on the forums. Let’s hope we get something we want out of this.

Oh and good luck.

Zhonnika if possible try to get an impression of EU also. I’ve been on NA, and it has a different spirit somehow. More balanced, and slightly more organized imo (could have changed ofc over the year). This was SoR (when at their best)and FA. However EU doesnt compare, especially with the downfall of t1 competition (Vizunah square downfall etc). It is my feeling Anet knows to few about EU state of matchups/server populations/differences), and I hope you guys can change that. It would satisfy me a lot if even thoug limited to NA only Forum specialists, that some insights of EU state of gameplay (mostly matchups and balance ofc) could be written to them.

NA seems to like ppt a bit more then EU also. PPT battles where very hot (and still seem so with the continuous pretty close BG/TC/JQ matchups), and exciting back then. EU seems more fight focussed. Often, people don’t care about loosing stuff (even waypointed keeps), because Gvg or big random open field fights interests them a little more. This give another dimension to matchups, and in a lesser way balance. Since 90% (just a guess) of Anet plays NA servers, and forum specialist is also NA, this is my biggest concern (that EU playstyle/balance/matchups will get almost no attention and won’t be used as feedback for future changes).

Welcome to our two new specialists, who judging by their post history and personal histories fit the bill. Good choices- just remember to join an EU server too with that alt account (or ask Anet to provide a couple that you can log into on various EU servers), as we do tend to have different playstyles and input from seeing it is always better than second hand.

Good luck in your new roles.

Orochimaru.4730:

Well for now all I’ll say is at least these two players actually spend time in WvW and in the WvW forums; even though they are both in the gold league.

So they should know what to expect and can handle it already.

But just remember a lot of players were not happy when all the Adopt-A-Dev scheme got was white swords and PPK, things many did not want or ask for originally based on the responses on the forums. Let’s hope we get something we want out of this.

Oh and good luck.

SBI is in silver league (un)fortunately. Due to the many unstable tiers it has passed through, we have seen a lot of what is wrong with wvw, from both ends of being the server with too much coverage and being the server with no coverage. I would go as far to argue that most NA silver servers are quite familiar with this with the infamous t3 meat grinder. It’s just kinda hard to explain to a newcomer when they go on about “how can this possibly happen, and will things be better next week?”

And yea, I would agree with you that it does feel like a game of telephone and some of the changes just do not correspond with what I see is posted on the forums. So I can try to do something in getting the sentiments around here across— at least I’m definitely aware of many issues that annoy and frustrate people at the time.

Although speaking of no white swords and PPK, it seems like PPK was well received and white swords much more mixed. At the very least if Arenanet would run more trials like that it would be a far more effective way to get ideas across as opposed to pulling the rug underneath us with permanent changes of which there’s little forewarning, of which I feel the stability changes and guard stack removal are, regardless of their actual merit.

I will definitely check out EU! Where would EU players suggest that I visit first? Also, remember I am a little lowbie so that I can move this account around without killing myself in gems.

Depends.

Do you speak German, french or Spanish? Then a national server might be worth trying … On MOS you can tell by the little flags. Blue solid flags are English/international servers. It’s a very different style of play in EU. I quite enjoy it.

Gamdara shot up to second place this week from fifth. It’s likely on the bandwagon train, which means growing pains. I know Piken has gotten at least a dozen guilds the past week and the natives are already getting anxious, lol.

So EU looks to be in for a shuffle, which will make things interesting.

Don’t forget silver and bronze league EU too. Some really great fights there as well cos EU spread out to keep things relatively competitive.

Good luck guys. Two specialists are definitely better than one for WvW.

Congrats you two, Best of Luck!! You will need it lol.

Congratulations and good luck zhonnika and ArchonWing.

zhonnika.1784:

I will definitely check out EU! Where would EU players suggest that I visit first? Also, remember I am a little lowbie so that I can move this account around without killing myself in gems.

I’d start with the lower tiers. Vabbi would be a good place to start. Talk to the guys in PIST who recently moved there from SFR. I’m sure their experience being in the #1 server and now in the bronze league would provide a lot of great feedback.

ArchonWing.9480:

Although speaking of no white swords and PPK, it seems like PPK was well received and white swords much more mixed. At the very least if Arenanet would run more trials like that it would be a far more effective way to get ideas across as opposed to pulling the rug underneath us with permanent changes of which there’s little forewarning, of which I feel the stability changes and guard stack removal are, regardless of their actual merit.

Remember that no-white-swords was not originally a trial. It was simply announced as a permanent change. Only when the forums exploded in anger did it become a trial.

Also, remember that when they did turn no-white-swords into a trial, they said they would try out tweaks in WvW for short periods of time to test how they would play out. Between no-white-swords and now, how many such tweaks where trialed? Zero.

Seems it was all lip service. Perhaps you can push for more in-game testing?

zhonnika.1784:

I will definitely check out EU! Where would EU players suggest that I visit first? Also, remember I am a little lowbie so that I can move this account around without killing myself in gems.

I would recommend Gunnar’s Hold.

It’s stuck in the middle of silver league and is now almost always fighting 2 german servers.
If you dont know the infamy of german servers, then Gunnar’s is where you’ll find out.
It’s the perfect place to see how quantity is better than quality in WvW. And how avoiding fights (by the german servers) shows that the scoring mechanism is just messed up.
And they cannot get out of it seeing as they have 3 german, 1 French and 1 Spanish servers above them, and 3 german and 1 French below. All of whom play the well organised, highly unskilled method of zerg PvD and running away when they see the enemy “zerg” of 25, even though they outman them 3-1.

ArchonWing.9480:

Although speaking of no white swords and PPK, it seems like PPK was well received and white swords much more mixed.

That’s why I said originally. Although I am not a fan of PPK myself as it allows players with spy accounts to just kill each other, and we even had people posting videos of guild members on rival servers just running back from spawn to allow themselves to be killed; it was beneficial to those servers who like fights rather than PvD.
But my point from that was that we got something no-one asked for, and when I asked where they got the idea from, they didnt reply. Of all the problem WvW has, the devs somehow managed to grasp those two things from nowhere and claim we all wanted it.

Remember how EOTM was supposed to be the WvW feature testing ground, how one thing many want from EOTM is to have tower champs to become stronger the more players there are attacking it? We still dont have that.
And EOTM has become such a Ktrain that even Anet knew they cant use it for WvW testing and that’s why they had to do the white sword removal and PPL in actual WvW matchups.

Thanks Lord Kuru (I didn’t know the white swords thing was gonna be permanent) and Orochimaru. I think that’s a good way of summing up what I’d be considering pulling the rug from underneath us, so yes, this is definitely going into whatever report I end up sending. The state of feature testing has been disappointing, to put it nicely.

So again, I think a big issue here is not just the quality of a change, so don’t take it as people saying any of the design decisions are right or wrong; in fact we’re not even at that stage yet. It’s really the method it is deployed. I’m sure a lot of you have many, many examples, since I have quite a few in my head itself.

Of course, I do not want to be too harsh towards our developers; I think their intentions are good and they certainly have an concept of how the game should play but do take these things into consideration when it comes to providing proper testing grounds. It would avoid angering a lot of dedicated wvw fans that would gladly lend a hand to testing whatever they come up with.