It’s clear that quite a lot of you would like to have greater flexibility in using the Currency Exchange. Our intention when we designed the new interface was to streamline large volume purchases, which make up the majority of transactions.
In light of your feedback, we will update the Currency Exchange so that you can decide how you want to use it. We will keep the new streamlined system and also offer a new “Custom” button on the panel that you can use to exchange any increment of gems or gold.
We anticipate rolling this out soon. Stay tuned!
~~~~~
Sorry for the delay in posting this, but out of respect to our international community, we wanted to be able to post in several forums at once.
I’m sure others have already said it, but please pass along our gratitude for listening to the community. I mean, honestly, as much of a furor as this was, I’m sure it wouldn’t have hit your bottom line too hard to just tell us to deal with it. While I don’t necessarily agree with all the decisions y’all have made, gestures like this go a long way to giving me confidence that you guys aren’t going to run this game into the ground.
And Gaile, thanks for acting as a liaison. Even if it’s your job, you still have to take the brunt of the community’s frustration, and that can’t be easy. I doubt you hear enough how valuable you are to keeping things level-headed, so thanks.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
Curious…where are all of the people that blindly defend the questional decisions and direction of this game? Even they must be like “Wow…can’t really defend it here..”
At least a couple of them have posted in this thread, basically saying exactly that.
I mean, I’m usually willing to at least try to understand the reasoning behind Anet’s decisions (even if I don’t agree with it) and explain it to my friends. For the most part, I love GW2. I think from a game design perspective, it’s well executed and it feels good, which is hard to pull off. So, even when Anet makes what I consider a foolish decision, I try to wrap my head around and figure out what they must be trying to do (even if it’s not how I would have done it).
This time, though, I’ve got nothing. Like, I’m willing to believe that it’s like Gaile said and that they didn’t see a majority of users making Gold -> Gem conversions of under 400 Gems. But--as I said elsewhere in this behemoth of a thread—I have to wonder if they bothered to look at which users were in that minority, because I’d be willing to bet money most of the small transactions were being carried out by users who were also making real money purchases of gems and using the Gold -> Gem conversions to make up the difference.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
NCSoft looked at the data and saw that the benefit to their bottom line for transactions that were less than 400 gems wasn’t worth keeping those transactions around. They don’t particularly care about upsetting the players who deal in amounts that are less than 400 gems because those players are a minority who aren’t contributing to profitability. They also don’t really care about Gold to Gem converters as those people aren’t spending cash. It’s a decision that I would probably also make in my own business (depending on the numbers).
The thing is, I’d like to know what portion of paying customers were making the small transactions. Like, considering the odd-ball gem costs on the Gem Store, it seems to me that the big Gold → Gem conversions would be people farming/flipping/etc. and then buying things with their gold, while the small conversions are some mix of people socking away a little at a time and people who want to round out the gems they bought with real money.
If we assume that the majority of players aren’t buying gems with real money, this would also account for why the majority of Gold → Gem conversions are for 400+ gems: only a minority needs the gems in small denominations (to round out their 800 gem increment purchases); the rest are buying gems in large chunks with gold.
I guess I’m just wondering if Anet has the ability to analyze the overall spending habits of people who convert, and if they bothered.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
It doesnt matter if the update is for 6 year olds, hell even two year olds, as long as new players like it (which Anet specifically says it is for) then you really shouldnt care. In case you don’t realize this is an MMORPG, that means long leveling process, items and skills you are supposed to get over a LONG period of time, things you do over a LONG period of time. You arent supposed to be repeating the leveling process so many times, and if you do it sure as hell won’t be as satisfying as the first time. Those who do, do it to try out a new class at end game and for the personal story, which you can do at level 80 once you use the tomes and scrolls.
You know, Ragion, if I wanted an MMO experience like other MMOs out there, I’d be playing those other MMOs. “This change makes it more like other titles in the genre” is not a good argument for altering what makes your game stand out. And when your game is the “fastest-selling MMO ever”, you shouldn’t need to make changes like that, because your formula clearly worked well enough to be an advertising talking point for the better part of a year.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
This may have already been answered, however I don’t have the necessary spare time to read every comment at the moment. I have a question with armor purchased through the store (i.e. Phoenix Armor in my case) I have the outfit on my Necromancer and on my ele. Will any form of a refund or even so much as an exchanged be offered to players who spent money on acquiring these outfits for multiple characters? If not I will be very dissatisfied seeing as it is essentially going to be entirely wasted on my ele alt when I could have bought her something else that would at least be new.
~Note: If there isn’t any plan to do this at the moment please take this into consideration. Even if its only a 50% refund or an exchange for another set of store armor I would be happy. I just don’t want to lose 800 gems on nothing.
I doubt it will be, because you’re still getting what you paid for. You paid for the skins and they’re still going to be on the gear you have them on. The fact that you now can apply it to other sets does not erase the functionality you already got out of buying and applying it twice, especially since that application was “free” from the perspective of the new system.
I mean, I’m not Anet, but that’s the sort of reasoning I can see them applying.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
Then they should make ALL of them into outfits and make ALL the outfits refundable. Personally I would ask a refund, but I want to keep the clothes in the (silly, I know, but hope is the last thing one loses) hope that in the future they make them mix-and-match-able again.
If it makes you feel better, Sonia, I’m probably going to wind up doing the same thing. Maybe I’ll get a refund on duplicate tonics, but otherwise we’ll wind up in similar boats. :P
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
Heavens hear you. They didn’t give even a hint about this in all their later replies, it seemed as they weren’t going to change anything. Hope they continue reading this thread and decide to find at least a middle point to solve this.
It’s a way back, but Curtis did explicitly say that we’d be “surprised” at the number of skins that made the cut to be armor skins. Since there’s no reason to refer to the outfits as “surprising” since we already know what those are, that suggests to me that at least some of the town clothes skins are making the jump to armor in spite of what the FAQ says.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
The problem is all retired town clothes such as the hoodies fall into that category. Remember which ones they are: Hoodies (they have already said those will be converted into tonics), Cherry Blossom, ruffled and country lace shirt, vests, cargos and riding pants… All of them retired, all of them using chest/leg slots… Sounds quite clear they will return as tonics, when they perfectly can make them into outfits too (after all they’re going to make them into outfit-tonics, which sounds really silly to me)
The FAQ was also written before this thread really picked up. Probably before the first post even went up. Odds are good that they’ve since revisited their plans and are trying to at least come up with a stopgap solution with the time and limitations they have to work with, and I won’t be surprised if “outfits instead of tonics” isn’t at least on the table.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
That should include all the shirts and pants. It makes sense because they’re the ones which would have technical issues to be mixed with armor. That’s why they say they will add “complimentary extra clothes” so we don’t look naked when using them. And that’s why I suggested they can, then, easily convert them into outfits too.
I think Videoboy was specifically referring to the “surprising” number of skins that will apparently be usable after the switch as not-tonics. We’ll probably have to wait and see on that front.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
Second of all, you can also do costume brawl in any type of outfit, INCLUDING Town Clothes (depending on the toy/weapon). You can also use skills, environmental weapons/bundles, conjured weapons, and kits in town clothes as well as armor. If these animations already call upon the mesh, then wouldn’t there already have to be something detecting which mesh the character is using?
There probably is. But, there’s a difference between “combat” and “non-combat” mode. The animations might work, but they aren’t working in conjunction with damage dealing.
If I had to take a complete guess, I’d wager that combat logic is controlled by a specific system that only operates when the player is taking or dealing damage. That subsystem is probably not designed to deal with the town mesh, meaning it doesn’t know where to place objects on the player model. If that’s how it works, then it’s likely that modifying it to work with the town mesh isn’t just a matter of transposing some code, but of reconsidering a lot of assumptions about what the engine will and will not do. And changing those assumptions probably requires redoing logic in other places.
I’m not saying that’s definitely the case, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s pretty much a problem of having to rebuild a solid chunk of the game’s backend to make it work.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
Yes wearable in combat. There will be no non-combat equipment anymore, unless you count tonics.
EDIT: Ah-ha! It suddenly dawned on my that there was a line about it in the FAQ
Some promotional town clothing, such as the Dragon Emblem T-shirt and retired town clothes such as the hoodies, will become endless tonics which allow you to continue to wear the clothing in non-combat situations.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
As always we ask you to try out the new system of customization and see what’s available to you. I think many people will be surprised by how many pieces have become armor compatible. We hope the benefits to the outfit system and wardrobe in terms of future support and additions will be clear, and you can look forward to more new outfits coming very soon.
So, does the bolded part mean that certain town clothes will be making the switch? I’m guessing that you weren’t more specific because some details are still being hashed out.
Regardless, Curtis, I appreciate your openness in addressing the community’s concerns. Even if I’m going to miss my rather dapper gentlenorn, I’m sure he’ll manage to find his way…
At least he gets to keep his hat and his mustache.
Attachments:
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
Anet posted the absolutes, not I, I’m simply making their position (and how it effects us) clear. Should they return to revise their stance on the matter, I will happily stand down, rather I truly wish they would… but this is Anet we’re talking about.
[…]not unless they break bread and make it mixable later down the road, which they have no inclination of doing.
I was specifically referring to that. Anet hasn’t shown an inclination to cut one way or another. They’re probably still trying to figure out what their options are. By saying something like that, you make it sound as though you anticipate them refusing to do anything, which is not how we keep a healthy dialogue with them open.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
Should I go back and count how many different posters are upset with this poorly preformed transition? I don’t even need to count the number of people okay with it, no one is, not even you, not unless they break bread and make it mixable later down the road, which they have no inclination of doing.
Dude, Video’s being pretty reasonable. The fact is, they’ve got at least three-four months of work into this system and three weeks is not enough time to fix it. Yeah, it hits a lot of us (a solid chunk of Tarnished Coast and Piken Square for starters), and they need to address that in a way that restores our faith in the system…
…But, until they do or do not, you should probably cool off these absolute statements. Neither you nor I have any indication of what Anet’s going to do about this, and any statement to the contrary just comes across as needlessly hostile. Everyone affected is unhappy about it in some capacity, but there’s a right and a wrong way to voice that frustration and you’re flirting with the wrong way.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
I think I speak for all players when I say we’d rather have town clothes not work in combat then the ability to mix and match removed. This ‘trade off’ of yours is a deal breaker.
While I’m in your court on the town clothes issue, we do need to remember that a lot of players are very excited about the outfit thing (myself included to an extent, although the loss of mix-and-match has soured my excitement a bit). Insisting Anet deny them their new toy rather than take away ours isn’t any better than the current situation.
I didn’t say a word about the new skin system, give us that but allow us to switch back to town clothes as we used to.
That’s not how it read. It sounded to me like you were saying “I’d rather not have the outfit system at all rather than give up the town clothes.” Sorry for the confusion.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
Sorry about the mix-and-match. Converting things to be armor and combat compatible did come with some trade-offs. For the most part we tried to favor mixing with armor slots and skins (a lot more possible combinations). Hopefully we’ll see more consistently usable customization now that part of it isn’t hidden in town clothes that get turned off every fight. Outfits come as a set and equip as a set with the added benefit of not costing charges or requiring items to apply onto additional characters.
I think I speak for all players when I say we’d rather have town clothes not work in combat then the ability to mix and match removed. This ‘trade off’ of yours is a deal breaker.
While I’m in your court on the town clothes issue, we do need to remember that a lot of players are very excited about the outfit thing (myself included to an extent, although the loss of mix-and-match has soured my excitement a bit). Insisting Anet deny them their new toy rather than take away ours isn’t any better than the current situation.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
I’m not sure how many of you have read the countless threads asking for a Wardrobe, but this feature update is giving almost everything that has been asked for since launch. The Town Clothes change is a small price to pay for all of that. I’m super excited to finally be able to have my Elementalist fight in her Bloody Prince Costume.
I think I’d prefer that they release the Wardrobe as planned, but let everyone know that their main goal for the next wardrobe enhancement/expansion is to improve the Town Clothes to function as single skins that are capable of Mix-and-Match. They could even replace a few pieces at time with each two-week update, until they were caught up.
Also, I think the Charges provided by Stones and Crystals should be altered. 1 Stone should equal 1 charge and 1 Crystal should be worth 3 charges. It seems odd that transmuting Level 79 and under items is suddenly going to triple in cost.
While some people are clamoring for a delay on the wardrobe, I think most of us are excited about the possibilities. I know that part of the reason I’ve held off on updating most of my 80s to exotic armor has been an unwillingness to pay for the crystals it would take to actually put them in a look I found pleasing. For that alone, this update has me pumped.
Really, what I’m hoping for is assurance that some form of mix-and-match for town clothes will return in the future. If this is in the form of a delay on removing non-combat clothes from the game, that would be ideal, but I can live with sticking tonics in my bank if that means down the line they’ll become clothes again.
Also, I agree 100% with the conversion business on the transmutation stuff. I understand why they’re devaluing the stones so much, but the crystals should probably be worth a lot more than one charge.
There is no reason for this change to the town clothes, it unnecessarily restricts the use of both outfits and the clothes that will become tonics. You won’t have the option to mix & match, I have Devil horns, the pirate outfit and the witches broom equipped on my main I will no longer be able to do that.
Just make them all skins with no armor restrictions since the current town clothes can be used by everyone and are largely gem store only.
I seriously hope that FAQ was released when they released the blog post. If they released that FAQ just an hour or two ago, then it shows they are ignoring us completely and are going ahead with their plans without giving us any thought.
It’s been out since yesterday. Someone posted it back on, like, page 6 or so.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
Sorry about the mix-and-match. Converting things to be armor and combat compatible did come with some trade-offs. For the most part we tried to favor mixing with armor slots and skins (a lot more possible combinations). Hopefully we’ll see more consistently usable customization now that part of it isn’t hidden in town clothes that get turned off every fight. Outfits come as a set and equip as a set with the added benefit of not costing charges or requiring items to apply onto additional characters.
But we didn’t mind the fact that town clothing couldn’t be used in combat!
It’s no secret that you’re addressing mostly roleplayers in this thread. Town clothing is, as the name implies, used primarily in towns and defended settlements, and that is where most of the people who use it spend their time. They might wear their combat armour when they want to travel, or they could even hire guards to accompany them keep the beasts of the wild away.
I, for one, adore the fact that skins are now account-wide, reusable, and generally much easier to access, not to mention all the improvements made to the dye system.
But I don’t know if this is a trade-off I would have consented to if given the option.
The extra time to obtain additional skins, the inventory space required to house them, and the cost to buy dyes for every character would have been negligible to me at the side of roleplay customisation options, as that’s primarily what I play for.
Everything I work for on the PvP and PvE side of things contributes to things I want for my alts when I’m roleplaying, so you can probably understand why I and so many others feel slightly shunted by this.
Can I just sign this? Because this is pretty much everything that still bugs me about all this.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
Outfits can still be dyed, They will have up to 4 dye channels depending on the outfit.
Sorry about the mix-and-match. Converting things to be armor and combat compatible did come with some trade-offs. For the most part we tried to favor mixing with armor slots and skins (a lot more possible combinations). Hopefully we’ll see more consistently usable customization now that part of it isn’t hidden in town clothes that get turned off every fight. Outfits come as a set and equip as a set with the added benefit of not costing charges or requiring items to apply onto additional characters.
As the day’s gone on, it was starting to dawn on me that combat animations were the real issue here, and I’m glad to have some confirmation.
While I know you guys are doing tonics right now, is there a chance that, in the future, some sort of compromise or revised town clothes system can come back? A lot of us in the role-play community really have enjoyed the ability to heavily customize our “civilian” look.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
A little added note here, Outfits will still respect the ‘hide helm’ toggle so you can absolutely wear Wintersday or Mad King outfit without the hat or pumpkin.
This alleviates some of my concerns as a role-player, at least, since it means I can at least stick my heavy armor characters in an outfit and have them unhatted, rather than try to justify why someone would go to a bar in a few dozen pounds of metal. It’s still not ideal, but I’m glad you guys at least realize that not everyone likes the headgear.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
First of all, I would like to make it clear that I am mostly pumped about this change. I tend to prefer the simpler-looking armors, and being able to put them over level 80 gear without needing to either put out real money or a ton of gold is going to be fantastic. The fact that you’re combining it with account-wide dyes is just the icing on a delicious cake.
However, I don’t understand why you can’t just incorporate individual clothing pieces into this same skin system. You’re clearly not concerned about covering up armor, since the outfits thing is also happening. And you’re obviously okay with us having access to the appearance, since this tonic thing is happening.
This update is a strong blow in favor of improving customization across the board. So, why reduce the customization options in one corner of the game?
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
Some basic clothing items that are no longer available for purchase will be converted into endless tonics.
I wish they’d go into a bit more detail here. I bought some clothing items explicitly to mix and match them, and I’m going to be kind of annoyed if I lose those appearances because I can only wear the pants or the shirt.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
As far as the event in terms of doing the event(this has nothing to do with lag or connection issues) I liked it, having to defeat wave after countless wave of monsters, having Champs and Vets running us into the ground, having the dead(or downed) everywhere and rushing to help them up because we NEEDED them, not just because some of us are nice. And then the chest at the end, made it worth it in my eyes since I was able to get some pieces I needed for my legendary(along with that 20 slot bag but I think everyone got one of those).
This was pretty much my experience. As a mid-level character, I wound up with some pretty sweet gear that’ll make my life easier for the next chunk of levelling.
I personally would LOVE to see more events like this, providing that A-net can figure out what their issue is with server lag and connection in events like this. Only thing I wonder is why if WvWvW can have pretty much the exact same playing conditions(with people all logging into WvWvW), as we had in the event today, why can’t whatever is being done in WvWvW server sided be applied to all maps and zones? Again, this is not constructed to be a flaming post, just to relay my thoughts to A-net.
I’m also hoping that’s the case. Personally, I suspect part of the motivation for doing the Halloween and Lost Shores events so early in the game’s life is to get data points so that they know how to make these events run more smoothly in the future.
Overall, though, I agree with your take on the whole thing.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
As someone who got screwed out of some of the loot (and possibly credit for the quest itself—I wasn’t paying attention to be honest), had problems with my friends getting booted throughout, and got killed multiple times by things that I didn’t even see…
That was still awesome. Yes, a lot of problems. But given the sheer amount of stuff happening, that went about as well as I’d expect. And, hopefully, ANet got enough data to make the next time they try something like this even more awesome and less glitchy.
The Tyria Wildlife Fund: Having absolutely nothing to do with the Cyborg Moa Incident since 1325 AE.
… Yes, we know that it happened in 1326 AE. We had that little to do with it. We swear.
