Showing Posts For Argel.8274:
Right you are. I thought I was posting in the Invasion Zones thread. Sorry about that. This thread seems more promising.
With an answer from anet like that, back to Skyrim I guess. The disdain anet has for players, especially casual players that just cannot play and grind all the time is astounding. Or it would be if I had not seen those 1year numbers. So many players, that casual and even semi-casual players are likely not part of their core market anymore. These past two events have been very grind heavy. Not a good sign.
The mistake anet made was saying everything in the HE is included in the DDE. They should have kept it separate (like the Bonus Missions, the summing stone for < lvl 20 characters, etc. in GW1). Then they could offer current players (regular or DDE) the option to buy [insert more appropriate name here (such as Starter Pack)]. I don’t even know how a marketing blunder like this even happened — it’s not like this is some new genre or anet’s first game, etc.
Overall, I think anet could please everyone, if they made the effort. If they stopped removing new content, then the only issue becomes if it is possible for someone to catch up with the aggressive release schedule. On the other hand, that might allow players to focus on what was added that they like (e.g. JPs).
The GW2 model is not worse than a sub model. In sub model: if I don’t want to play, I feel like I wasted money. In GW2 model: if I don’t want to play I don’t play.
It’s worse if I end up spending more each month that I would with a subscription. And with the increased pressure to play every two weeks now…. Maybe they should offer a season pass that gives access to all of the special items/skins added temporarily in LW.
So don’t spend that much if you don’t want to. I prefer the option to spend only if I want to buy extras rather than to rent the game month to month.
And pressure? Over a video game? I like the game, but if I miss something it’s not a big deal. I realize that others’ mileage varies, but I wonder if the degree of rage I see over this issue is a function of taking games too seriously.
And that may be what I do. But that means that anet is alienating part of its player base, and it’s certainly valid for me to let them know about it (especially given how much I have spent on gems).
8We were specifically talking about the Living Story and what they are trying to accomplish with it.
No, I was discussing LW in general, not just the story aspect. And so far, the story itself does even qualify as lackluster. Ditto for most of the new content. Labyrinthine Cliffs has been an improvement, though I’d like to see a lot more of it. But will the Cliffs even be accessible after the event I over?
Regardless, anet should be focusing on ways for new players (or players taking a break) to catch up on what has changed. Then you get your evolving world without alienating portions of the player base.
They are trying to create a LIVING world. You know, like how the real world works.
Is that the best you can really do? As others have pointed out, the existing maps are for the most part static, save for repeatable events like veteran monsters spawning, bandit raids repeating, etc. And why is it we cannot kill other players in PvE, kill NPCs, etc.? How is that like how the real world works??
GW2 is supposed to be casual gamer friendly and heavy on cooperative play. It’s flat out not designed for anything like the real world. Trying to make a game behave like the real world requires a completely different approach from the ground up. The most obvious example is EVE Online:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/10/28/eve-evolved-top-ten-ganks-scams-heists-and-
events/
If you want a real world like experience, then you are playing the wrong game.
And as a side note, one of the original big selling points of the games was “play they way you want to play”. The whole LW adding and the removing content is anathema to that. And like I said above, it should be obvious the real goal has been to sell more gems.
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This seems way too quick and why do they have 4 separate teams working on content that will be gone in a little while? This game isn’t that old yet so why not work on polishing and refining what you have and adding more permanent content along with a few temp things?
If you read some of the interviews anet is planning on using LW to add new content instead of expansion packs. They will probably do one eventually (how else do you do Cantha or Elona any justice?), but figure on expansion packs being few and far between (and significantly delayed).
The GW2 model is not worse than a sub model. In sub model: if I don’t want to play, I feel like I wasted money. In GW2 model: if I don’t want to play I don’t play.
It’s worse if I end up spending more each month that I would with a subscription. And with the increased pressure to play every two weeks now…. Maybe they should offer a season pass that gives access to all of the special items/skins added temporarily in LW.
By the way, I do not recall saying I did not want new content. It’s the pacing/lack of permanency that’s the problem. If all of the new content added so far remained, then there is no problem. And holiday events should reappear with the old content and the new content.
Edit1: And the Zephyr — anet should either say they are hanging around to make repairs or replinsh stocks, and just leave it there for a while. Or have them travel elsewhere for a month and then return a month later. That could be a good teaser for Cantha and Elona, or any other areas they might want to add in later (specifically, they could add new ingredients and recipes indicative of where they just came from, and maybe some new skins, etc.). I’d also like to see an official aspect based JP (and keep the race).
Edit2: And that just shows how this LW things is BS and how the real focus is on gems first and foremost. Some major missed opportunities here (like, trading vessels bringing trade goods in from different ports, etc. that would imply a Living World).
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The other problem they have is how overpriced the gem store is at US $0.0125 per gem. So e.g. each kite is $6.25. Transmutation Crystals are $2.50 for 5.
In Steam’s insane pricing summer sale Skyrim Legendary was going for roughly $35.
Meanwhile, in GW2 that would get you 2800 gems. As an example, say you want all three aspect backslot skins but do not have time to farm/grind for the fortune scraps. Instead, you could buy the Kite Fortunes at 400 gems for 25. Do that 5 times ($25) and that should net you enough to buy all three aspects and a rare (yellow) backslot item to slap each one on.
Pretty huge disparity there, and that’s overlooking games like Witcher 2 that were under $5 (or classics like System Shock 2 that were cheaper than that). It’s encore day, by the way, so games like the new Tomb Raider, Dishonered, Bioshock Infite, etc. are all under $30 (some closer to 10).
But it’s unfair to compare the cost of gems to sale prices, right? Except that the kites were just added to the gem store while the Steam sale was already in progress!! So that’s $6.25 (500 gems) for a kite that doesn’t do anything beyond cosmetics vs. picking up games like Witcher 2. Or for two kites (let’s say you got one for want the other two), and then we’re looking at $12.50, which covers Tomb Raider, Dishonored, The Walking Dead, Fallout New Vegas, and more!!
The Steam summer sale just made the disparity in value painfully obvious. And let’s face it, casual players are the ones who will be buying gems, since they are the ones that do not have enough time to be hardcore players. So anet is pushing casual players away because they either have to pay real money to get access to some of the “here today, gone tomorrow” cool skins, etc. introduced in LW content or forget about it. Either way, that’s not going to create any “warm and fuzzy, anet cares about me” type feelings.
If hardcore gamers are spending more than casual players on gems, then telling casual players they should go off and e.g. play Skyrim is I suppose legit. But if casual gamers are the ones spending more (or if it’s about equal, or even a third), then driving away casual players takes revenue away from the game. LW fatigue…..
These cursed monthly updates that invariably always end up adding new content and then taking too much of it away afterwards make me feel like I need to hop in every month to make sure I do not miss out on something cool.
That is exactly the point.
How do you expect ArenaNet to keep people playing the game?
No, it’s not the point. Anet was doing good with the GW1 model. And if I am not playing as often, then their hardware requirements go down, so they can save money that way. They do not necessarily need a ton of people playing. In fact, technically, the only ones they need playing are the ones buying lots of gems. The point of not having a monthly subscription fee is I should not feel like I have to keep playing every month to avoid feeling like I am missing out. Yes, they will introduce new content that will stay, but there will always be special reward/event items that will go away. So lets say I take a Skyrim break for 3 months. Knowing I missed out on some presumably cool skins, gem stores items, etc., will I really want to came back to GW2 after that?
Anet is pushing gems and the gem store way too hard. They are making lots of money off it now, but at the cost of burnout down the road. I’m not the only one feeling Living World fatigue.
And what happened to playing the way I want to? It has morphed into play the Living World events now lest I miss out on the items that go away when the event ends. Some will still be available at the trading post, but look at how much the dyes from F&F are going for. Or the monocles. Of course, making them a rare drop in a dungeon that many hate to play guarantees high prices, which translates to people buying gems….
And your logic is severely flawed. How about Anet makes the game FUN enough for me to WANT to play, instead of constantly pushing out weak, unpolished content with some cool items available for only a short period of time, which puts PRESSURE on me to play.
It’s a game. It’s supposed to be fun. Anet’s LW strategy is seriously hampering my enjoyment of the game. You talked about keeping players, but how does Anet keep players in the long run when Living World fatigue is already starting to seep in. Isn’t it better to have me take a 3 month break playing Skyrim, maybe hopping in once in a while to see how things are going with the guild, etc. vs. me never coming back? Or coming back 8-10 months from now? Or now that everyone is bailing on subscription fees, maybe I decide to check out some of the other games instead and get around to coming back to GW2 in a year or two?
Not to mention the event-only items that anyone hopping into the game for the first time will miss out on. Or even storylines missed out on. In GW1 you missed out on the festival hats/costumes and had to get up to speed on which skills were nerfed/altered/buffed. But for the most part, it was just the fesitivals thay you missed out on.
I’m tempted to give up on this game because I see no sign the Anet cares about trying to make the game fun. The focus seems to be putting pressure on players to avoid missing out on items along with a lot of mediocre new content. And this 2 week release cycle is even more depressing. I thought they were actually starting to get on target with the Labyrinthine Cliffs, which imo is some of the best new content. Instead, are we to expect more lightweight stuff added to LA, etc.?
I would much rather see a longer release cycle that culminates in a new area complete with vistas, heart quests, etc. Bigger than Sothsun Cove and Labyrinthine cliffs (but not ridiculously large either). And then maybe stretch out some lightweight events, mini-plots, etc. in the current new area while we wait for the next new area to be released (sure beats running around LA all the time).
Ask yourself this — do you want a game where the new content is geared towards making the game fun to play for veteran players, casual players, and new players alike, or do you want a game where the actual focus is pushing gems and the gem store hard with hit-or-miss content that in the long run detracts from the game? Because the latter imo is what we currently have.
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Not to mention the items in the gem store only available for a short time. And the cool looking skins that are part of the temporary content. A lot to miss out on if you are new to the game or take a break from it. And with a 2 week release schedule, taking a two week vacation means you just missed out on something….
Perhaps I’m being cynical, but I think a lot of this is geared towards encouraging players to buy gems. Either for gem store items or to convert to gold to buy items going for insane amounts of gold (such as the monocle that occasionally dropped in the AR dungeon). Same reason dyes are account bound…..
One of the advantages of Guild Wars was supposed to be no monthly fee. As in, I do not have to feel guilty if I take a break. For example, when Oblivion came out I took a 3 month break from GW1.
These cursed monthly updates that invariably always end up adding new content and then taking too much of it away afterwards make me feel like I need to hop in every month to make sure I do not miss out on something cool.
And now you plan to do a release every two weeks?? That’s way to much. I’m ready to just bail right now.
Your idea of a living word screws over anyone who comes to the game later on and anyone who takes a break from the game. If you created a system where say if I took a 3 month break, I could work through the living world changes that occurred during that time period (sort of like story mode) such that I did not feel like I was missing out or feel pressured to play the game all of the time then that would be a huge step in the right direction.
I actually thought (and still do think) that you should switch to a 2 or 3 month release cycle, where you added significant amounts of new content such as a new fully explorable (including hearts, vistas, etc.). And less pressure/more time for casual players to complete quests and achievements. (e.g. finale events tha run for 2-3 weeks instead of 1). And no superfluous things like moa races that do not even provide a place to view the entire track. That stays but the much more interesting zephyr sprint will disappear shortly. Brilliant….
So anyway, I actually thought you should be expanding things out and reducing pressure, especially on casual players like myself to play the darned game all of the time. Instead, you go the opposite direction. Every two weeks means more pressure, adding stupid things to existing maps e.g. Dragon Bash was tolerable but Sky Pirates was a joke. I could not have cared less about the achievements and the AR dungeon was so not-fun that it was very hard to get a group together to go do it. Which of course also resulted in driving monocle prices so far up that it might as well not be obtainable.
With the huge sale going on with Steam, I’m ready to just quit on GW2 and play other stuff. As far as I am concerned, this silly Living World idea is killing any fun in playing GW2 at this point. I cannot stress enough that I do NOT want to feel pressured to play the game (again, no subscription fee is suppose to be a plus, but you have negated it with the LW updates) and I want to be able to take a break, hop in, and not feel like I missed out on a bunch of stuff that was added then removed. Imagine missing out on the dragon wings, or the special crafting tools temporarily added to the gem store.
As things stand, the 2 week release schedule alone is driving me away, and I figure if I do take a break from the game then why would I ever want to return, knowing that I will have missed out on a ton of content and items that were added and then taken away.
If you really want to continue down this LW path, then at least work on a way for return and casual players to have a chance to catch up on the changes (again, do something like story mode).
I am so very disappointed in the direction GW2 is goung in right now. You had so many great things implemented, but the LW is destroying the fun factor.
I just picked a bunch of games up in the Steam sales (including Skyrim). Tell me, why should I continue to play GW2 instead of playing Skyrim over the next few months? Or reading more fantasy novels (reading the Malazan books right now)? Or getting back into watching Anime more often? Or return to console gaming on the PS3. Or play Skyrim until the PS4 launches? The pressure to play GW2 so that I do not miss out is sucking the fun out of the game for me.