Guild Wars 2

Or this thread being closed, too. Thread merging, I can understand. This is ridiculous.

I’m actually quite livid. I went from angry, to furious. They spent the entire last week throwing every single thread into one “thread-osaur,” and now, without a single response, closed the thread.

11,000+ responses. And the only response other than Chris’s mediocre denial is a thread closure. I no longer have words for how disgusted I am.

I’ve been watching the gem prices recently, too. I actually have a very different take.

Look at GW2Spidy again. Select the 1 month view. From November 2nd to November 12th, gem prices are flat — extremely stable.

Take a look at November 13. That’s the beginning of the rise. It’s been rising since then. November 13 is also the date of Linsey’s post on Ascended gear.

Let’s go back to the climb in prices starting on November 13. There could be two explanations for this:

(1) Players started buying gems with in-game gold in anticipation of the Lost Shores release. Supply stays the same. Demand increases. Prices rise.

(2) Players angered by Linsey’s post on ascended gear stopped buying gems with real money. Supply dwindles. Demand remains the same. Prices rise.

I take the second view for two reasons:

(a) Players already knew when Lost Shores would be released. Having a sudden rise on the 13th and NOT having it be a result of Linsey’s post would make the timing coincidence. And you know what they say about coincidences.

(b) There is simply not that many things to buy on the BLTC that is anything of value, really. Character slots, bank slots. What else? Those idiotic chests? This event is indisputably worse in terms of items you can buy. Even minipets are stuck as a RNG reward in a chest that is widely touted by players as an obvious, moneygrabbing scheme.

Yet gem prices continue to skyrocket. Again, I ask. What are they spending that many gems on?

I go with the theory that supply is far, far down, and demand hovers around normal.

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet. Massively’s new Podcast covers this issue, and pretty much says my exact thoughts.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/11/20/massively-speaking-episode-225-twas-the-week-before-thanksgivi/

+1 subscriber for that particular Podcast, and -1 happy paying customer for GW2. All those hundreds of dollars I spent on the BLTC? I’m sitting down and debating over asking for a gem refund.

I don’t wish to quit GW2. I really don’t. However, it seems that the only way I can get even a tiny message to ArenaNet is through money. It’s slowly becoming a matter of principles versus passing entertainment. I have a rather full life, and plenty of other diversions to fill my time. Principles, I must stand by.

I will not support a company as disrespectful of my time and loyalty as a customer.

These chests are despicable to me. It’s one of the main reasons that I refuse to play any Nexon games. The entire purpose of chests is to hit that point where you’re addicted enough to keep spending, but not yet hopeless enough to completely despair and walk off.

In other words, if you weren’t hooked on gambling before, the model is to get you hooked now.

Here’s a somewhat relevant article that someone linked:

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/05/gacha-watch-japan-social-games/

Don’t treat me like a rat in a cage, squeezing every last cent out of me through psychology, and perhaps I’ll actually willingly spend more money. This whole chest system is rotten. Absolutely rotten.

(Standard disclaimer: I have never bought any of these chests, and have never bought any keys. I never will. On the other hand, I loved the town clothes so much that I bought three. THREE. Have your monetization producer think on that.)

Yes — I think an entire overflow crashed.

LadyMurasaki.5024:

US Server just started. Rather empty.

/Join LadyMurasaki.5024 and please leave group once you can get in!

Thanks Lady Murasaki. You just helped my friend get in!

ASP.8093:

I’ll throw in my own little bit here…

I’ve looked at a lot of the previews and spoilers for what we’re getting.
It looks pretty awesome. I like the fractal mini-dungeons idea. I like the changes to existing dungeon drops. I like the new Apothecary gear type. I’m ecstatic about having my personal story finally unbugged. I question some of the balance changes but, overall, they are a step in the right direction. And I’m sure the fancy weekend event will be fine.

Buuuut… ascended items. Just look at ‘em. A significant stat boost over exotic, even just from rings; and — and this is the stated goal of introducing these things, in order to give you more timesinks while you pursue the game’s ultimate timesink — you have to grind your butt off for them. 90 hours, 40 hours, even 20 hours just to get a single piece of max-gear jewelry is way too much. And then every few months, they promise to introduce a couple of new slots so we can grind for those, too. That’s absolutely killing my enthusiasm for the new stuff, and really the whole game.

I was more likely to actually pursue a legendary before I found out about ascended gear, because it was a thing you could do just for kicks. I was more likely to do Fractals repetitively before I found out about ascended gear, because I figured the gameplay would be fun in its own right. I was more likely to spend money in the cash shop and buy expansions before I found out about ascended gear, because I felt like I was free to do whatever I wanted in this game. Now, I really, really don’t.

I really don’t think I’m alone here. There are games that taught millions of players to expect and appreciate this freedom, to look upon it as the triumph of good design over “Skinner-box” mechanics. Guild Wars 1 was at the forefront of this. Anet guys totally went to conferences and threw down the gauntlet challenging other developers to follow suit. What happened?

“Ascended” gear, as implemented, is the last thing that the game needs. Instead of making the Fractals an interesting addition to a big varied set of activities, you’re driving everything else into obsolescence.

5000 DO NOT WANT cat macros.

This is incredibly well said. I agree on all of the above counts. Repeating a dungeon because I chose to, versus feeling like it’s necessary completely transforms the experience.

I played games with gear treadmills all my life. Sure, you say that I have a choice in pursuing maximum gear. But no one ever, ever wants to feel lesser, weaker, more inadequate. Almost all of us are driven to try to climb. We all want to be the best, and in some corner of our minds, there is a little voice urging us to keep running, running, running towards that height. In some senses, we’re more like those rats in the maze than we’d like to believe.

I didn’t want to be a rat anymore, and so I quit those games. Please don’t make me quit you, too, ArenaNet.

+ another 10,000 DO NOT WANT cat memes.

Talloc.6835:

http://i.imgur.com/BeyFB.png

Good lord.

Please tell me that’s Photoshopped…

My friends have been bugging me to play MoP all this time. I’ve always said no. GW2 was a lasting game for me. It had a type of permanence that none of the other games — WoW, Aion, Tera, SWTOR — had.

That sense of permanence arose from the freedom that you, ArenaNet, gave me. I could what I wanted — not what I felt like I should do to chase an ever-elusive climbing number. For the first time, I was free. I made my own choices. I can’t tell you how empowering it felt to make my first set of exotic gear, and to think, “I am done!”

It was addictive enough that I rushed a second character to max. That same rush — the same euphoria of possibilities was there just as the first. For you see, each character I brought to max, each character I geared in what I thought was permanent, enduring armor, opened a new world of possibilities.

The game didn’t end for me. It finally began.

I know this is only the preference of one player. But I know myself the best, and can be most qualified to explain only my own feelings. And for me, the moment of being “done” was not a death, but a host of doors opening. Which build shall I try? How many possibilities are ahead of me? Which weapons feel fluid, natural, like water shifting past the shore?

For you see, the leveling and gearing was simply a pre-requisite. A necessary evil.

With one patch, you’ve just taken away my primary reason for playing GW2. You’ve made my necessary evil permanent.

There is a long list of games offering gear progression. In fact, one in particular that I’ve never thought I’d want again has a long and storied history of such progression. WoW has the system down admirably. They’re stable, adept, and after so many years, very, very experienced in providing for progression-minded players.

If I must deal with such a necessary evil, I’d pick WoW. ArenaNet, how can I plead with you to shine in your own right? For in being niche, rebellious, you’ll shine like a single star that shook, and continues to shake the preconceptions of the game development world.

In becoming like the rest, you’ll simply be a dimmer, lesser version of an aging red giant. However bright you gleam, it would only be as a sad echo eclipsed by that different, brilliant star. No amount of waiting for the giant to decline will help. In that orbit, none will notice your spark.

Please reconsider.

Hydrophidian.4319:

Einlanzer.1627:

Great post

Thanks.

Regardless, it’s actually a good thing that it’s happening because it will cause Anet to stop and think very seriously about what it is they are doing, and for the time being I retain some confidence they will make the right decisions.

I’m inclined to agree. The statement from Chris Whiteside has gone a long way in alleviating my own concerns. It’s actually just the sort of message that probably should’ve prefaced the content announcement. Oh well. Live and learn, I guess.

But yah, the community reaction should still be telling.

Hydrophidian, great posts. You said everything I’ve wanted to say — only with much more calm and grace.

I’m currently in a wait-and-see hold. If ascended is the last tier, then that’s alright. I can live with that, albeit still with a lingering fear of future “betrayal.” But I can tell myself with a straight face that the game and the studio I’ve loved hasn’t transformed into something that I can’t recognize, or can bear to look at.

Much like you, I’m waiting, watching, and hoping.

I don’t normally post in the forum, but I had to log in and throw my opinion into the hat on the tiny, tiny chance that it would actually make a difference.

I’m horribly, horribly disappointed. GW1 and — up until this moment — GW2, stood as a bright pinpoint of light in the philosophy of quality over quantity, excellence, and respect for its players’ time.

I was an original GW1 alpha tester for Prophecies. I devoted large swaths of my youth to moderating large fansite communities. All these years since, I’ve held you in the highest regard. ArenaNet, I’ve never been so disappointed in you.