Showing Posts For Bastion the Wayward.3651:
Thank you Exemplar and MajorMelchett for explicitly covering the salient points of the topic.
I had a post that recapped each of these key elements, but it was deleted (I presume it was mod activity and not a glitch, most likely due to calling out AbsintheMinded for the specious nature of his/her posts).
This change has negatively impacted the player experience for many of us. The update notes do not provide a palatable rationale for the implementation, giving the impression of being inapt or misleading. It has been met with critical feedback consisting of hundreds of posts across multiple threads. Anet’s unresponsiveness on the matter has compounded the negative sentiment. This seems rather disingenuous in light of the following statement:
“Community is an essential part of every online game. As our Global Brand Manager Chris Lye likes to say, ‘We’re not a video game company, we’re a community building company. We just happen to have one of the coolest ways to build a community, which is through a video game.’ Community is at the heart of all of us here at ArenaNet; it was at the core of the philosophy of Guild Wars from the beginning. And, like ArenaNet is innovating and changing the genre by thinking boldly (and going boldly where no game development studio has gone before), we’re always coming up with new ways to work together with all of our passionate fans out there.”
(http://www.arena.net/blog/building-community)
Maybe I’m missing something, but there seems to be a lack of interactivity between Anet and the community.
The recent updates to the ranger’s shortbow and the guardian’s greatsword were met with a significant outpouring of feedback (hundreds of posts across a multitude of threads). The update notes were either inapt, or misleading, since the explanations didn’t line up with the resulting changes.
The community’s feedback was met with… nothing? There doesn’t appear to be any response from Anet, which has compounded the critical sentiments already brewing. There has been no attempt at elaborating, placating, rebutting, dismissing, or any other form of dialogue with the community. This seems rather disingenuous coming from the company that stated:
“Community is an essential part of every online game. As our Global Brand Manager Chris Lye likes to say, ‘We’re not a video game company, we’re a community building company. We just happen to have one of the coolest ways to build a community, which is through a video game.’ Community is at the heart of all of us here at ArenaNet; it was at the core of the philosophy of Guild Wars from the beginning. And, like ArenaNet is innovating and changing the genre by thinking boldly (and going boldly where no game development studio has gone before), we’re always coming up with new ways to work together with all of our passionate fans out there.”
(http://www.arena.net/blog/building-community)
What changed between then and now?
Irrespective of the change affecting you or not, the response (or lack thereof) by Arenanet sets a precedent that will affect you. When the issue at hand becomes something that does motivate you to provide feedback, do you really want to face this kind of response?
Was this a rhetorical question? Because, to be honest, yes. I do want to face this kind of response. I prefer ANet’s silence on this matter. I’d rather they not come wading in to the hundreds of angry, combative and largely irrational posts and try to throw the community a bone.
I don’t want an ANet representative to come and apologize or offer some lettered explanation every time they nerf our class. Nerfs and buffs are part of the lifecycle of MMOs, and they change the metagame. We’re the Guardian forums, so part of what we do is discuss the metagame and come to terms with the metagame on our own.
Given that a third of the hundreds of responses you cite are actually inflammatory threads declaring the downfall of Guardians, the downfall of Greatswords, the downfall of GW2 and the incompetence of ANet—no, I definitely don’t need a community representative to come down here and talk to us. That’s not good ‘customer service,’ it’s just us being spoiled and indignant.
You and Guanglai Kangyi seem fixated on the term “nerf.” This is missing the point.
Please re-read the thread before adding your flippant dismissals. The disdain with which you respond to the concerns of your fellow community members has been rather apparent across the threads pertaining to this issue, and your penchant for talking past your peers adds little to a meaningful dialogue.
The significant outpouring of feedback regarding this issue should serve as an impetus for acknowledgment from Arenanet. If you don’t understand how that relates to customer service, then I don’t think you really grasp the meaning of the term.
…snip
…let’s face it, it pretty much still plays exactly the same anyway, it’s nothing to get into a huff about.
While not directed singularly at you, can we please avoid introducing more flippancy into this discussion?
The issue at this point doesn’t revolve around whether this is a nerf, whether someone is whining, or someone else isn’t whining enough, or whether anyone needs to just suck it up.
The issue is that the change, regardless of it’s nature, has incited negative feedback numbering hundreds of posts across numerous threads on the official forum, and Arenanet hasn’t deigned to so much as acknowledge their customers.
Irrespective of the change affecting you or not, the response (or lack thereof) by Arenanet sets a precedent that will affect you. When the issue at hand becomes something that does motivate you to provide feedback, do you really want to face this kind of response?
For those of you who have been engaging in a meaningful dialogue in this thread and others, I just want to say thank you for your contribution. I appreciate knowing that I’m not alone in my reaction.
… Arenanet’s ability to remain aloof in spite of hundreds of posts on the topic of the greatsword update, and a rather vocal outcry by their paying customers.
Forgive me my ire, but regardless of whether the change directly impacted your play experience, is it not disingenuous for this company to preach a different way of handling customer service, only to act in a manner that reeks of neglect? It leaves the same bad taste as some of the poorer periods of GW1 (the paragon nerfs, the shadowform/ursan destruction of the economy, the neglect of elementalists after the hardmode update, et al.). These occasions incited an outcry that warranted a response, and were met with tacit dismissal for far too long.
I have been trying to appreciate what Arenanet has done with GW2, being that it is a marvelous enterprise, but I am having a hard time staying positive while they can’t be bothered to so much as acknowledge the discontent that this change has wrought.
I apologize for the screed, as I’m sure many of you are tired of hearing about this, but I don’t care to see this topic fall to the wayside. Arenanet’s customers deserve better than this.