Guild Wars 2

Bitter Harvest Story Step consistently crashes at the helix. Reporting for a Radeon and an NVIDIA based system (both Windows 10) with up to date drivers. Graphics settings set at auto-detected and lowest performance.

Was able to make significant progress (up to the last group of mordrem on the helix) only to have game crash on engaging the mordrem (shortly after taking down the vinewall).

No one has said this up to this point so I will: data is neutral; data is neither good nor bad. Data merely encourages informed decision-making. With this in mind, more information (data) could only be a good thing.

Yes, sometimes our reactions to data are severe (“I’m sorry, you have cancer” is terrible news but it still helps you make informed decisions). And it’s also true that data can be misinterpreted but at least that encourages discourse on the topic to which the data is relevant.

From my vantage point, there is no harm in publishing some kind of statistic regarding the effectiveness/efficiency of a server.

Actually, I don’t know that we even need to worry about AFK’ers. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter:

1) It’s probably reasonable to assume the AFK’ers across all servers is relatively equal. (And, even if it isn’t, the difference is probably not statistically significant.)
2) Any efforts to track their time (via substitution or any other calculations) seem unnecessary if my first point is at all accurate.
3) This complicates the request for publishing player hours. I can appreciate a specific request (in fact, personally I prefer specificity), however, ANet is more likely (even if it’s unlikely to begin with) to do something that’s easier rather than something that may require the construction/implementation of any kind of calculations.

I think emphasizing the points in your TL;DR, beporter, is more important than trying to control for all the variables. I say, let’s try to get our foot in the door before we get the door slammed in our face.

Alright, a lot of good points (and counter-points) here.

I agree with beporter: I would like to see more stats. One of the phrases that comes up in my line of work is “data-based decision making.” It’s a fairly straightforward phrase but I like the idea that decisions are made with intention and direction based on evidence. What beporter seems to be suggesting is a greater transparency with this data if ANet does already have access to such things (I have a hard time imagining they don’t).

Without getting hung up on semantics, I like the idea of having a metric that can be used to inform the efficiency of a server’s performance. In addition, I think there are many aspects of this metric that are in line with ANet’s overall MMO philosophy.

1.) Reinforcing sense of community (by providing evidence to support server training camps for WvW)
2.) Keeping things balanced (this data would give no one server an advantage; if anything, it may only escalate the overall quality of play. . .yes, there’s a counterpoint there, too)
3.) Trying to make things easy (ANet has made a lot of changes to get rid of “grinding.” Another aspect of my profession is trying to state things positively. Rather than “get rid of the grind,” I say, “make things easier”)

I would love to hear ANet’s stance on this matter. (Even if it’s only, “we acknowledge this request and we’re looking into it.”)