Guild Wars 2

Why should we (ArenaNet) care:

• For starters while the population is made of players they are first and foremost consumers. They will play whatever they are content with and carry their buying power with them in that regards. If you alienate the majority or even a noticeable margin of your player base without any sort of formal answer you are effectively jeopardizing a majority or noticeable amount of your revenue. The best way for you (ArenaNet) to get the best RoI is by keeping your direction, planning, and ideas out in the open and very forthcoming to your consumers. The minute you (ArenaNet) treat consumers like cattle that can be corralled into any shape or fashion is the minute you’re likely to lose that valuable RoI.

• Aside from losing consumers you’re damaging any future legacy your brand name might have. I am a Marketing & Brand Developer. I work in progressing my brand’s name and making sure that it’s outlook in the future is improved. By jeopardizing your brand’s image you are liable to lose any future chance of new consumers or old consumers giving you a second chance.

• Potential lawsuits. I don’t advocate this, but let’s face it. The world today has become something of a frenzy in the courts. The issue is if you (ArenaNet) keep going down this road and direction without any regard to consumers you are putting yourself at risk. There are already precedents for virtual items that are owned by the company still being ruled in favor of the plaintiff (the player who lost said virtual property by whatever means). But more importantly, by putting out a manifesto, selling the product as such and along the lines of the manifesto puts you at an even greater risk. A number of states have what is known as Deceptive Trade & Practices Acts which you would do well to be wary of. Here are a few snippets from Texas’ said DTPA

• The underlying purpose of this Act is to protect consumers against false, misleading, and deceptive business practices, unconscionable actions, and breaches of warranty and to provide efficient and economical procedures to secure such protection. This Act is intended to be liberally construed and applied. A consumer is defined as one who seeks or acquires by purchase or lease any goods or services.

• …Seller takes advantage of “consumers” lack of knowledge, ability, experience, or capacity to a grossly unfair degree.

• …Representing that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality or grade, or that goods are of a particular style or model, if they are of another.

• …Fitness: Good can do what the sales person said it would do.

Let me please re-iterate that I am not condoning or advocating this kind of response, however it would be naive to think that this type of stuff doesn’t happen. People make ridiculous claims all the time that jeopardize companies and make them question why they even stay open to do business with such issues.

Sum It Up:

All this is conjecture and way overboard. It is based on a pre-tense of what could happen if ArenaNet keeps going down this road. Which I believe is something the majority (even upset consumers) don’t think ArenaNet intended (or intends) to do. But the last couple of weeks on the forums and in the game have been a melee and a constant bickering (even I have contributed to that).

So again, can we PLEASE have a formal statement from ArenaNet, regardless of direction of decision?

TLDR: Invest in the time to read and understand rather than looking for the shortened Cliff’s notes version. If this is too much to ask, just move along, thanks!

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As the title states, I would implore ArenaNet to give us a ‘sum up’ of all their discussions back in the Dev’s room; ie: any discussions as to the state of affairs from recent events, a change of direction?, a misunderstanding, etc. etc.

I ask this because I believe by being silent or relying on week old vague and circular statements they are doing more damage than any sort of good.

Since the announcement of Lost Shores & Ascended Gear we’ve had the following happen:

• A large (primarily negative – I think most would agree) outcry of people on the forums in regards to Ascended Gear and power creep / gear treadmill. This did receive a very vague answer from one of the Devs, but was never followed up on.

• A large (primarily negative) number of threads on the forums (myself included) in regards to poor implementation of last weekend’s event. Moderators merged threads and eventually locked it, however no formal response from a Dev

• A (possibly misunderstood / mistakenly identified) change in the direction that the game was originally shown to consumers. This includes the so hotly discussed manifesto that many point to as guidelines for the game

• A noticeable change in the economy due to a spike in precursor sales due to the event – another hotly contested forum topic (if it’s not locked immediately)

• A large amount of posts by moderators being locked, merged, deleted / logging infractions against – due to posts not being ‘constructive criticism’ or ‘overly negative’.

I’m sure there is plenty more items I’ve missed, but I want to address these issues primarily:

I believe (and this is my opinion as a paid consumer) that it serves no purpose in being silent in regards to these issues. A statement that says “We’re looking into it” does not put the masses at ease. And in all honesty, you’ll never be able to quell all the masses, but you can at least address the majority.

If, for example, you (ArenaNet) were to announce formally that the game was indeed changing directions and stated your reasons as such, while many consumers would be upset (understandably) or even saddened, they would respect the fact that you addressed the issue directly. Again, simply stating “We appreciate everyone’s input, we’re reading it, looking into it” is a response that offers no actual information to the consumer and if anything it puts them even less at ease. By stating you’re looking into it means eventually you’re going to provide an answer. Some of the posts saying “You’ll look into it” have gone by the way side since, leaving many consumers questioning why you even made the post initially.

If you (ArenaNet) stated at length how this was a misunderstanding and pointed out directly to your manifesto or whatever you use as guidelines now and outlined them in a detailed fashion, just as you would in a Dev meeting), I think it would again put many consumers at ease.

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