Communications Manager
Guild & Fansite Relations; In-Game Events
ArenaNet
Hey there,
Here are a few tidbits from the team:
- A lot of newer players had trouble with the interface. That doesn’t apply to you, you’re veterans who have been around the conversion block a time or two. But newer players will benefit from the updated system.
- The goal was to make the Gem Store more like other shopping experiences, and if you think about it, there is more of that feel to it now.
- You may be surprised to know this (I know I was) but very few people bought gems at smaller denominations than the first one offered in the new system. That’s not to say they never did, nor that there wouldn’t be the desire to do so. But overall, the current options were selected based on player purchases in the past.
- The team is going to listen to your feedback and, if and when it’s practical and desirable, they can look towards adjusting the new system to better meet your needs.
So please keep your thoughts coming on the new system. Feel free to make suggestions but please, keeping them constructive would be very much appreciated.
And yet in the history of this forum there has never been a post saying “the gem exchange interface is confusing me as a new player” or anything similar.
Really? You’re 100% certain there’s never been such a post? Good for you, then! 
Concerns of this nature come in via tickets, when someone takes the wrong step, buys too many times, isn’t able to process the acquistion or exchange, etc. By the time someone’s on the forums, they’re usually comfortable with the systems.
Immediately before this patch: 10g = 70 gems.
Immediately after this patch: 10g = 57 gems (going off the 400 gem exchange rate).
They tampered with prices to make gems more expensive at exactly the same time as they removed the price history and made 400 gems the lowest increment you can buy in. Did anyone else see this? No other holiday event has had that big a fluctuation before.
Hey Tulki,
I wanted you to know I went immediately to see if I could get an answer on this, and don’t worry, there was no “stealth nerfing” of gem costs.
What happened is a common occurrence with new builds: A whole lot of people made exchanges when the new build went live. And as you know the conversions are market driven.
So that’s why you saw the seeming discrepancy in the exchange rate. All is well, and it will continue to ebb and flow according to the volume of exchanges, as always.
Hey there,
Here are a few tidbits from the team:
So please keep your thoughts coming on the new system. Feel free to make suggestions but please, keeping them constructive would be very much appreciated.
Hi guys, I just saw it too. We’re looking into it.
edit 3 (in story form): Lemark wasn’t much of a haggler. the merchant had taken almost every copper he owned, but it was worth it. He was positive this time, no more fakes, no more copies, forgeries or lies, this was it. He could feel it, sinister…ghostly, it felt weird to hold, but he didn’t care, his journey was one quarter complete.
edit 3 (in story form): Lemark wasn’t much of a haggler. the merchant had taken almost every copper he owned, but it was worth it. He was positive this time, no more fakes, no more copies, forgeries or lies, this was it. He could feel it, sinister…ghostly, it felt weird to hold, but he didn’t care, his journey was one quarter complete.
We will have a few in house so I can let you know how it works out once we get them set up.
Thanks JustTrogdor.
We’ve identified a number of serious issues some of which were introduced into the 9/9 build and have code changes on the way to address them. We don’t expect it to fix everyone’s performance problems but we certainly hope it will help the majority of you on this thread. I will follow up when the code changes go live and hope that you guys will report back as to whether they are making a difference or not.
Fixes have gone live. Please report back if it affects any of the issues you guys are experiencing.
10 minutes. 
10/21/14 – October 21 (Halloween) Release Notes
Release Notes:
Halloween
Blood and Madness
Blood and Madness, our annual Halloween festival, returns for two weeks of ghoulish capers, spooky fights, and maddening fun!
Magister Tassi’s instruments are picking up unusual energy readings. It appears that the Mad King isn’t the only being capable of breaking through the barrier between realms—prepare to face the son of King Oswald Thorn, Bloody Prince Edrick!
Gather together with the citizens of Lion’s Arch to enjoy another year of tricks, treats, and terrible jokes.
Story
Lion’s Arch
Open World
Mad Realm
Rewards
Daily Achievements
Achievements
BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH
World Polish
General
Items
Profession Skills
Racial Skills
Elementalist
Engineer
Guardian
Mesmer
Necromancer
Ranger
Thief
Structured Player vs. Player
Skyhammer
World vs. World
BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE
New Items and Promotions
Improvements
New Currency Exchange UI:
The Currency Exchange UI has been overhauled to be quicker to use and easier to understand.
Bug Fixes
MAC BETA CLIENT
(edited by Mark Katzbach.9084)
Hey folks,
Just wanted to give you a heads up that the Halloween release will be available shortly. Thanks for your patience while we made our final checks. See you in game.
YES! IT’S FINALLY LIVE!
Signed yours sincerely, Oswald.
Liar. (Unless on EU. I don’t know about EU.)
I guess someone didn’t read the signature..
(HINT: King Oswald “Mad King” Thorn)…
Evil. Pure evil. 
Those who post “it’s live” in advance of the build will be banished to an ant hill in the Maguuma Wastes, with a large batch of complimentary live fire ants.
(edited by Gaile Gray.6029)
I’m fairly certain that this issue will be entirely fixed in an upcoming release. Please report back if this is still happening after our next game update.
I’ve uploaded a new version of this that includes all the verses. Sorry for the wait, but doing it today seems appropriate. Enjoy!
https://soundcloud.com/arenanet/the-tale-of-the-mad-king-thorn
ANet released an announcement that said they will cancel the release if there are any more forum posting asking when the release will happen.
Hey now, that is not true. 
Just want to point out that, as forum members said, we generally don’t have a set time for updates. So we ask for your patience but you can rest assured that the build is in very final states of preparation and it will be along just as soon as possible.
Awww, c’mon. Let’s cut him some slack. Whiteside is doing pretty good on four hours of sleep a night. Besides, isn’t that how they spell it in England to?
I see what you did there!!
Chris
I get this all the time. They are very mean to me.
Chris
I’m so sorry, Chris. I would hug you, but I blame you for anything that was ever wrong with the game by default.
And that is how it should be. I completely understand.
Note they are all laughing at me now!!!
Chris
Give us names! I’ll use my Quaggan tonic to hit them :O
Flannum! He is the worst!
Chris
I get this all the time. They are very mean to me.
Chris
Note they are all laughing at me now!!!
Chris
Happy Holidays to you to.
…
Me to!
…
I am looking forward to getting into the action with everyone to.
…Chris
Chris, you’re killing me. “Too.” “Too.” :-P
My English has always been bad (-: Folks get annoyed at it here too (-: (Note: I just had to ask for the right ‘To/Too’ then by the way)
Chris
Oh…Chris…
If you know in your head that you could swap “to/too” for “also” or “as well” then the one you want is “too”. And just in case – “two” is the number.
Hope this clears it up.
Happy Halloween patch!
That is what the guys and girls in the room just explained to me (-:
Chris
/sighs in relief as others point out the error over which she was gritting her teeth
But Chris at least uses capital letters. The one thing that drove me nuts about my supervisor was her emails with no caps, very little punctuation, and lots of “u” instead of “you.” She’s a lawyer! We’re all lawyers! I don’t mind casual typing in forums and personal emails (much) but for official emails about legal matters? /tears out hair
And, to not totally derail, I am psyched to see the next LS chapters. The Machine was such a wonderful surprise I’m eager to see what other mind-blowing things the LS can bring.
Right I promise to you that I will do my best to improve.
Chris
Happy Holidays to you to.
…
Me to!
…
I am looking forward to getting into the action with everyone to.
…Chris
Chris, you’re killing me. “Too.” “Too.” :-P
My English has always been bad (-: Folks get annoyed at it here too (-: (Note: I just had to ask for the right ‘To/Too’ then by the way)
Chris
On the Ready UP last friday there was a part of video where devs where speaking about their expirience during this project etc etc
when/where can we see that full video? Really looking forward for it and i didn’t understood from the boys in video when it’s gonna happen.
Thanks in advarance
The full video is still in production. We will get it up and released once it’s ready. We had a number of developers from the program show up to speak about their experiences on camera.
The Adopt-a-Dev program is a voluntary program. The developers who participate do so in their own free time and they choose from the guilds who apply to the program. If you want to see more developers participating in the lower tiers, then encourage more of the lower-tiered guilds to apply.
The adopt a dev program seems like a good thing and its nice to see developers get out into the community.
The bigger issue, however, comes when you tout the program as a development tool or aid. If that is the intent, then effort should be made to make sure you’re getting a full and fair picture of WvW – not just the situations on the higher tier servers.
So, if the intent is just to get devs out into the community and mingling, that’s fine. If it is to help gather information about WvW, then I think you have to be mindful to ensure youre not focusing on one or two servers more than any others.
Hopefully, more devs will decide to look at the lower tiers next time (and I know that there are several lower tier server guilds that applied and weren’t chosen this past time around). That said, if the majority of developers are interested in playing on only the top tier servers, then that alone is indicative of the population issues we on the lower tiers are very much aware of.
I will make sure to stress the importance of spreading out among all the tiers when this comes around again. But, neither I nor John can force their decisions in a voluntary program.
I did, however, want to clear up the misconception that nobody was playing on the lower tiers during this past tournamnet, because I know for a fact that some were and brought back feedback that directly relates to the experiences on the lower end.
We understand and have seen the feedback regarding the proposed white swords change and the team is discussing that feedback.
The Adopt-a-Dev program is a voluntary program. The developers who participate do so in their own free time and they choose from the guilds who apply to the program. If you want to see more developers participating in the lower tiers, then encourage more of the lower-tiered guilds to apply.
In case anyone wants to try to find the item without spoilers and just hints I’ll be keep a locked copy of the thread here where I’ll post the hints:
“Zommoros let me in on the fact that he expects to have an item he’s never had before to trade with tomorrow.
Edit 1: I’ll be checking for discovery and giving hints every once in awhile. First one is free
The item has nothing to do with minis."
edit 2 is referencing this thread existing.
(edited by John Smith.4610)
Edit 1: I’ll be checking for discovery and giving hints every once in awhile. First one is free
The item has nothing to do with minis.
API talks to some of the same back end servers, but the public API frontend you hit is totally separate from game systems.
Ya know, I quoted a couple of Monty Python Holy Grail lines on the first page since they summed up this thread so well. Our feels are all over the place based on speculation. We do that a lot. Myself included.
However, The Holidays are a good time to stop for a minute and count our blessings. I’d like to shake hands and give a Big Hug to the folks at ArenaNet who make the game more than just a bunch of binaries.
Gaile – The Spice Cake was wonderful and so are you.
Chris – Yur a good sport. Glad I don’t have yur job.
John Smith – Stable. How do you put out so much work without being twins?!?
Jon Peters – You finally proved to me that balance is more than nerfs. Yum, Crow.
Colin – So, yur the one doing all the heavy lifting huh?
Mike – They’re gone. It’s safe to come put from under the desk now.
Devs – Repeat after me: “Bring me your Problems, not your Solutions.”I’ve played every day since Pre to the tune of about 3,500 hours. Uh… at 60 bucks that works out to about 1.7c per hour. Best money I spent in a long time.
Happy Holidays to you to.
Chris
Worse that a wasted chance: because all the devs adopted themselves to T1, we’re now going to have white swords removed. We would have been better off without the adopt-a-dev.
The bolded section is blatantly false. We had developers spread across all of the leagues. Don’t mistake your guild not getting a developer to mean there were no developers on your tier. If you want a developer in your guild, just apply again next time. The program was very positively received by our developers, so many of them are likely to participate again.
I want trebuchet launched Asuran Special Forces so bad…..
Chris
Off topic I know, I know.. Ashes on my head.
I give to ye: Shakes & Fidget – Gnomination (Sorry can’t find the english version, it disappeared after they ran in some trouble with the publisher)
Back to lurking.
. (-;
Chris
At the heart, there’s 3 basic options:
1. Mostly RNG
2. No RNG
3. Hyrbid RNG (where most games are)starter concepts for cons of each system:
1. Many players can feel like they have “bad luck”, in fact players with standard to pretty good luck are still likely to feel bad because of how humans interpret data.
2. A completely predictable experience lacks moments when something fantastic happens.
3. You run the risk of getting the cons of both systems without very precise design
An important question may be to ask if a model is still a good concept and a great implementation just needs to be focused on or if the model doesn’t work fundamentally.
I really have to comment on leading in both this post and the OP. By all means post, but please, please, please leave the leading biases out if the intent is to have a productive honest discussion.
edit……I’ll give you an example of what I am referring
Which would you rather have
1) A savory treat which leaves you wanting more
2)A sweet treat which puts on the pounds
3)A sour treat which tests your bravadoThe biases are in the 2nd and 3rd. The former being negative and the latter being positive. Given this leading most are apt to choose option 3 and less likely to admit to 2.
Both the OP and this post are reiterations of what’s been said already, I’m not adding new or personal content to the discussion yet.
If there’s not an asura-firing catapult designed for, I mean, by Councilor Phlunt . . . there is no justice.
I want trebuchet launched Asuran Special Forces so bad…..
Chris
Zommoros let me in on the fact that he expects to have an item he’s never had before to trade with tomorrow.
Edit 1: I’ll be checking for discovery and giving hints every once in awhile. First one is free
The item has nothing to do with minis.
edit 2: This was a reference to the spoiler free thread that’s locked in this forum.
edit 3 (in story form): Lemark wasn’t much of a haggler. the merchant had taken almost every copper he owned, but it was worth it. He was positive this time, no more fakes, no more copies, forgeries or lies, this was it. He could feel it, sinister…ghostly, it felt weird to hold, but he didn’t care, his journey was one quarter complete.
3.5-4 Story continues:
(2 days later)
Lemark sprinted down the alleyway, an endeavor likely to leave one examining refuse closer than generally preferable, but this wasn’t his first time. He slowed for a moment to glance behind him, merchants still chasing with guards closely behind them. He was surprised they hadn’t given up, they must be very sensitive about their heritage here, the item itself was a bit too everyday to inspire this kind of rage. “Two more blocks”, he thought to himself, double-checking the sealed, cylindrical case he carried. His attempted thievery had failed, for today, but he wasn’t going to lose what he had to the muddy waters of the bay.
edit 5:
Lemark was in high spirits, it had been a productive week. After a series of failures his luck had turned. He stared at his own reflection in the item, such a trivial thing by itself, but with many, there was power. Zomorros knew it as well, Lemark had seen the desire in his eyes before, this was one of his favorites.
Out of story hint: I’ve only referenced 2 of the components so far.
edit 6:
Lemark sat back against the rocky wall, brackish water rained down from one geyser or another. “What am I even doing here?” he thought for the thousandth time. He was exhausted, bloody and sore. “One of these alien curs is going to kill me before I’m done with this”, he grumbled to himself as he stood up and stretched. He needed a drink, but the day hadn’t grown cold yet, he still had time. His resolve hardened, one more attempt, he stared at yet another dulled blade, one more chance for results…this wasn’t going to be fun.
edit 7:
Lemark rested his back against the rocky wall.
“Deja vu,” he thought wearily. Even the thought had grown tiresome.
Two months he’d been here. Two whole months of combat. He had almost died so often that the novelty was wearing off.
“What does it say about a person when your imminent death is an uninteresting topic for pondering,” he thought to himself.
He was tired of everything – this place, the clinking noises he made everywhere he went, the shelled beasts, and especially tired of the never-ending bloodshed.
He leaned his head back, closed his eyes and tried to imagine being back home.
Instead he saw the smug face of Zomorros.
He had almost forgotten his hate for the being. It was exactly what he needed – a reminder of why he was here.
A slight rumbling forced his attention back to reality as one of the creatures noticed his intrusion. He stared directly at the charging beast. If he had to, he would wipe this entire species off the face of the planet.
edit 8:
Lemark stared at his arms, at the half healed wounds that would soon serve as a permanent reminder of his last several months. Despite that he felt invigorated. All of that was behind him. He had gotten further than anyone else before – or so he supposed.
The final piece would be the hardest. He doubted he would have to fight some great monster, that wasn’t Zomorros’s style. He would have to do something harder; this journey wouldn’t end in a tremendous final battle. The ending would be more precise, more…scientific. He had only a single clue, contractually obligated from his last deal with the pseudo-deity.
He stood up from his table in the heart of Lion’s Arch and turned south.
edit 8.5:
A Sylvari scientist, not what Lemark expected. He should have learned by now that there was nothing ordinary here.
Despite the science, this was a nice respite, he could get used to this. Something here was harmonious and relaxing, was that part of the plan?
A shriek echo’d all around. Lemark was surprised, he still hadn’t learned. Nothing about this place was ordinary.
(edited by John Smith.4610)
I think they’re going to muck it up and do something stupid with the LS ending.
Well that would be consistent with the entirety of the LS so far, so.. why not!
I think they’re going to muck it up and do something stupid with the LS ending.
That’s the spirit!
. (-:
Chris
Lets all make fun of Palador instead of the “story”, Woooo!
Not making fun of Palador at all. He has been a good contributor on the forums and I have read many of his ideas and discussions on CDI. It’s a friendly dig.
Chris
::nods::
What I’m actually worried about is that they’ll have something set up that sounds outstanding to them, but when it hits live and we get a chance to play through it, either unforeseen problems or just seeing things from a different point of view than the devs that worked on it will cause it to be less than well received.
Take the part of Season 2 where they used a lot of open world events. Seemed good on paper, and I’m sure they worked well on their test sever. But when a ton of players hit, things went wrong and opinions soured quickly.
This is going to be the end of Season Two LS. I don’t worry about them saying “It’s the big climax, let’s do something boring and lame.” What I worry about is them saying “Let’s do something huge and awesome”, and then the game itself failing them when the time comes. It’ll be a bad decision to have done things that way, but only in hindsight and it’s not something they can live in fear of.
Agreed. We have to work darn hard!
Chris
I think they’re going to muck it up and do something stupid with the LS ending.
That’s the spirit!
. (-:
Chris
Well, as much as I won’t get my hopes up, prove him wrong with the content.
Exactly. We are doing our very best to do just that.
Chris
Remember, when you’re experience these spikes, please do a pathping to the server’s IP address. This gives us more information on the issue, and where packet loss is happening.
1. In-game, type: “/ip” to get the IP address of the game server
2. Open a command prompt by pressing: [WindowsKey] + R -> type: “cmd.exe” -> Hit the [Enter] key
3. Type: “pathping <game server IP>” -> Hit the [Enter] key
The idea is to discuss RNG as a concept inside of games and reward systems. I think more discussion will lead to better understanding of the problems current systems may have, and the pros and cons of other possible systems.
John, could you give us a bit direction here? I’m not quite sure what specifics we could/should discuss… it seems pretty one-sided that many think RNG is bad and tokens could work.
At the heart, there’s 3 basic options:
1. Mostly RNG
2. No RNG
3. Hyrbid RNG (where most games are)
starter concepts for cons of each system:
1. Many players can feel like they have “bad luck”, in fact players with standard to pretty good luck are still likely to feel bad because of how humans interpret data.
2. A completely predictable experience lacks moments when something fantastic happens.
3. You run the risk of getting the cons of both systems without very precise design
An important question may be to ask if a model is still a good concept and a great implementation just needs to be focused on or if the model doesn’t work fundamentally.
Happy Holidays Chris and Gaile! Your replies to this thread really made me smile and looking forward to see His Majesty Oswald Thorn again!
Why did the Seer chase after the Eidolon?
. (-:.
I am looking forward to getting into the action with everyone to.
Chris
P.S: And Happy Holidays to you to Titus and everyone.
Now now…Let’s not Bicker and Argue over who killed who… This is a Happy Occasion!
We want… another Shrubbery! Alongside this one perhaps a little lower to get a level effect, and a path!
Whiteside, “Your Mother was a Hamster and your Father smelled of Elderberries!”
English K-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-niggit
. (-:
Chris
I’m not opposed to this, but it’s not high on our priority list for the APIs at the moment.
xD sorry. What would be a more democratic delay between each request?
No no, I’m thrilled that you can grab it that fast.
Oh, lord, now we hear from the Krait Komponent?
Pffft on “upstanding citizens!” 
I’m sorry you got that impression, Faux. And I can tell you — hand on heart — that we absolutely love holidays and love that our players enjoy them, too. They’re not an interruption — they’re a valued part of the game! I don’t see the wording as you do, but I just want you to know we’re delighted to bring this wonderful tradition into the game during Halloween and Wintersday, and we’re looking forward to playing it ourselves!
I was in Kessex Hills last night and I just peeked in now. I didn’t see any of that nonsense going on, but hey, I’m sure it happens. When it does, click the name of the person or the char itself, then right click on that char’s image to get options that include “Report.” Click “Report” and choose “Verbal abuse.” A GM will see your report right away and investigate it as soon as possible. This is for name calling, aggressive or offensive, comments, etc.
As in many cases, issues can crop up not with what is being said, but how it’s being said. If someone is being abusive, please report him or her to help make the game better for everyone. Thanks!
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