Guild Wars 2

A question for the devs;

Would it be possible to just keep the town-clothes window in addition to the new wardrobe? Allow me to elaborate what I’m thinking. We already have the town clothes system in place, with the items functioning as we bought them. Looking at the notes, it seems to be that outfits and tonics are the features people have the most problems with, whereas the armor skins like fuzzy animal hats that can function with armor are generally accepted by the community. However, the outfits and tonics would be impossible to mix and match due to seaming and design issues.

Would it be possible to simply leave the town clothes that would become outfits or tonics as town clothes in the town clothes panel, as they were? With mixing and matching, but only with other town clothes? I mean theoretically, they could be toggled to work in combat as a replacement visual to your armor, but still be programmed to work only with other town clothes in the town clothes panel to prevent the seam and armor weight design issues.

I don’t know if this would be possible as well, but perhaps the town clothes you were going to make into armor skins anyway could be able to function as armor and town clothes, and thus interact with both? That way, you at least get to have a few items that are guaranteed to work with combat, but don’t lose their interactivity with other previously purchased town clothes. The same could work with toys, where they function both within costume brawl and combat.

I make this suggestion about keeping the town clothes tab in addition to the wardrobe because the community has expressed that they feel their purchase has been disrespected, but there’s really no way to fix some of the clothes they possess. Gem refunds on tonics wouldn’t necessarily lead players to want to buy anything with said gems, or purchase gems in the future. However, keeping the the town clothes tab wouldn’t necessarily do the game any harm, and would leave them to interact only with other town clothes, but interchangeable and dyable, out of respect for the initial purchase.

The only other solution I could think of to appease the people who wrote on the 15 pages of this thread is to promise to completely remake all the town clothes as interchangeable armor skins, designed slightly differently for the different armor weights, which would be a huge undertaking. However, that would secure future player investment in gem store items. I think the main problem arising from this is that players don’t feel safe or content to purchase in the gem store anymore, and that’s not good. Thus, I implore you to maybe reconsider whether you want to take away the town clothes tab altogether, or simply change how it functions.

Anet, you sold us specific items with specific functions and features. Upon the purchase of town clothes, it was understood that they were interchangeable and dyeable. I understand technically it was the gems that were sold to the costumer, but it could be argued that this was actually a currency conversion, as the digital currency “gems” has been used to purchase “goods,” in this instance, town clothes. The gems were often used by customers to purchase a specific product offered – a product that has been reduced to tonics, which the player did not purchase, and may have had no interest in purchasing. This is really, really disrespectful to your costumers.

In fact, this arguably could be a major conflict for consumer protection. Many US states have passed legislation to protect consumers, such as the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which specifically states “A person engages in a deceptive trade practice when, in the course of his or her business, vocation, or occupation, the person: … represents that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality, or grade or that goods are a particular style or model, if they are of another (Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, 815 ILCS 510/2, from Ch. 121 1/2, par. 312.)”

However, I do understand that you are protected under your own user agreement. “SUBJECT TO SECTION 12©, ANY SERVICE, CONTENT OR SOFTWARE FROM NCSOFT, ANY THIRD-PARTIES UNDER AGREEMENT WITH NCSOFT, ANY PARENT, SUBSIDIARY OR AFFILIATE OF NCSOFT, OR ANY EMPLOYEE, AGENT, SUPPLIER, LICENSEE, CUSTOMER, DISTRIBUTOR, SHAREHOLDER, DIRECTOR OR OFFICER OF ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IS PROVIDED AT YOUR OWN RISK ON AN “AS AVAILABLE,” “AS IS” BASIS IN ITS CURRENT CONDITION AND WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATION, GUARANTEE, OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO SERVICE, SUPPORT, INDEMNITY, ERROR FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED OPERATION, UPDATES, CORRECTION OF DEFECTS, OR THAT IT IS FREE FROM DEFECTS OR VIRUSES OR HARMFUL COMPONENTS OF ANY FORM WHATSOEVER. (Guild Wars 2 User Agreement, Section 12, paragraph a).”

Even if you are protected by a user agreement, that does not mean you’ve not been deceptive. Anet, your costumers paid for a specific, well defined product, town clothing, some of which have been owned for over a year. You gave no warning that they would no longer exist, change in nature, or be converted into another item (tonics). They were understood to be interchangeable items. In fact, you put many on sale recently, not informing buyers that the items they were purchasing would soon not be of the nature the costumer was led to believe. Even if legal, it’s unethical, and how a company respects its client purchases says a lot about how successful they will be.

Personally, I like the idea of running around in my town clothes, guns ablaze. However, I don’t like the idea of items I specifically purchased to be interchangeable no longer being interchangeable, and tonics are a poor substitute. Gem refunds are also poor condolences, as many people used gems only to buy town clothing. Would it really be so much to ask that you find the models for the town clothing and set them to skins that can be applied to specific parts of an armor set, much like the current skins? Or at least provide a clear explanation as to why it would be impossible, even given time? As a forewarning, clipping is not a fair excuse, as the game is already littered with clipping issues.

If you want your customers to respect you, and continue to feel safe to buy in the gem store with trust that the content they purchase and its qualities will be preserved, please take the time to address this issue in a way that doesn’t brush under the rug the concerns of the player community.

I haven’t seen her yet in-game, but I’ve seen the picture. At first, I was like “Woah, what’s wrong with her face?” But then, taking another gander, I realized the only thing that really bothered me was that light wasn’t bouncing off her eyes, giving them an incredibly flat look. A little more of a smile might help, too. Also, to those angry about her being young and cutesy, think of Tybalt. He was adorable, and not at all a stereotypical charr character. Yet, he’s one of the most memorable characters in the game.

Dear Arenanet,
There is a serious flaw in the system put in place to block other players. That is, blocked players can still hear and see you, and you remain on their contact list. I’m the leader of a small guild, and have learned that two of my members have been verbally harassed in a graphic sexual manner by other players. The content of the harassment involved threats of kitten them, and was extremely explicit. This game is a T rated game, meaning that this shouldn’t even be an issue, and the dialogue was in the say channel for all to hear. This apparently has happened to them more than once, but this particular occasion was three days ago. They reported this to the game mods and the leader of the players’ guild, with screens, in an attempt to have someone take care of it, and so far it has not been addressed. I understand that addressing so many report can take a while, but in the mean time, the players have continued to stalk them. My argument, thus, is that another player shoulder not be allowed any interaction with those who block them outside of perhaps pvp and wvw zones. They should not be allowed to have said person in their contact list in an effort to remember his or her name, hear said person’s dialogue, see the other person, or interact with the other person in any manner. Some form of moderation should also be in place to observe areas and prevent such things from happing. There should be a notification that someone received a report and is reviewing it. The blocking system needs to be overhauled to protect players from stalking and harassment. Reports on such matters should also be dealt with much more swiftly and severely. My guild members are disturbed by what has transgressed, and I’m very disappointed in the lack of response by management. The game is great, but this needs to be addressed.

EDIT:
If anyone would like to further address the issue, there is a thread restating this argument here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Better-Blocking-and-Harassment-Prevention

Thank you.

Dear Arenanet,

There is a serious flaw in the system put in place to block other players. That is, blocked players can still hear and see you, and you remain on their contact list. I’m the leader of a small guild, and have learned that two of my members have been verbally harassed in a graphic sexual manner by other players. The content of the harassment involved threats of kitten them, and was extremely explicit. This game is a T rated game, meaning that this shouldn’t even be an issue, and the dialogue was in the say channel for all to hear. This apparently has happened to them more than once, but this particular occasion was three days ago. They reported this to the game mods and the leader of the players’ guild, with screens, in an attempt to have someone take care of it, and so far it has not been addressed. I understand that addressing so many report can take a while, but in the mean time, the players have continued to stalk them. My argument, thus, is that another player shoulder not be allowed any interaction with those who block them outside of perhaps pvp and wvw zones. They should not be allowed to have said person in their contact list in an effort to remember his or her name, hear said person’s dialogue, see the other person, or interact with the other person in any manner. Some form of moderation should also be in place to observe areas and prevent such from happing. There should be a notification that someone received a report and is reviewing it. The blocking system needs to be overhauled to protect players from stalking and harassment. Reports on such matters should also be dealt with much more swiftly and severely. My guild members are disturbed by what has transgressed, and I’m very disappointed in the lack of response by management.

I’d like to brainstorm with the forum community on how the plot of GW2 could have been better. Please present your opinion carefully and constructively. No “Trahearne should die” or “I love Tybalt” comments, please. Of course you can bring these characters up, but do so logically. Let’s have a well-sculpted commentary with solid arguments and a “this is the problem and why but here’s how we could improve” attitude. I’ll begin, I guess, since I started the thread.

Frankly, I was disappointed by the execution of the game’s “branching.” GW2 has a relatively linear plot, regardless of advertisement and pick-your-mission interludes. However, that’s not a horrible thing. Portal, Psychonauts, Final Fantasy, and many more games have demonstrated the powerfulness of the linear plot even in gaming. Linear plots can be grande, and branching plots, while fun, take years to construct and are incredibly expensive.

However, I think ArenaNet’s “pseudo-branching” was a poor decision, as the many alternate mini-missions felt disjointed and pointless, and the money spent producing so many of them could have gone elsewhere. The developers should simply have cut down on the unimportant choices and created several more game-changing decisions akin to choosing your order, were they going to branch at all. I feel like branches should leave an actual mark on the plot, and cause one to wonder what would have happened if the other option had been taken. The branches in Guild Wars, outside of race and order, were exactly the opposite.

I also feel like re-occuring characters in personal story missions would have been preferable. I frankly felt a little overwhelmed by how many characters I had to meet, and the majority of them were purposeless and active for only one or two missions, if that. Fewer, more compelling and re-occuring characters like the mentors and racial friends would have been preferable to the vast array of pointless strangers that gobble up screen-time.

asimo.6354:

So I will admit that I didn’t read all 5 pages of this thread since it’s a lot but I wanted to basically say a lot of the Trahearne hate is completly unwarranted if you pay attention to the actual dialouge.

Then why is there a 5-page complaint thread? If you liked Trahearne, good for you, but you can’t say everyone else is being unreasonable or skipped the story. It’s not even Trahearne himself that’s the problem, but how he was written in, and how the story was constructed. People like the main character being the main character in a story, and supporting characters being supporting characters. What if, halfway through The Lion King, Simba was completely thrown out the window and the movie revolved around Zazu? I don’t know about you, but I’d walk out of the theatre, even though Zazu is one of my favorite characters. Why? Because the story was about Simba. It doesn’t matter if Scar is still defeated at the end under Zazu’s brave but humble leadership with the support of all the powerful lionesses and Simba as his right hand man, because we wanted to watch Simba develop and grow and come into his character, not a supporting character. When you start GW2, your player character is placed in the position of the main character, regardless of how many other beloved characters are introduced. ANet replacing the main character once his or her crafted and flourishing story finally starts the race towards the climax is frankly just poor writing.

Okay, here’s my proposal:

Since there’s no way they can undo what has already been done, ANet needs to work with what they have. So what do you do when the personal story is over, and no one is satisfied? Release expansion content! The way I see it, Trahearne is in the perfect position to be a super villain. He’s disliked by most of the player base, and for good reason. He’s in a position of power. He’s well liked by the npcs. He’s got the Disney villain thing going on with his voice. He’s got the undying trust of everyone. He’s shuffled your character underfoot, and has taken your credit and respect.

If Trahearne was a villain, it would mean you would have a reason to be “the hero” again. It wouldn’t even need to start all at once. Your character could notice slow changes in Trahearne’s character – the Pale Tree could show concern. There could be a whole campaign against your character by Trahearne’s loyals when you refuse to be his yes-man, and old friends could reappear out of the woodwork to offer their support. Hell, for all I care, your mentor could miraculously still be alive. The orders could, at some point, gain independence again, while the Pact could remain Trahearne’s army. Destiny’s Edge could be your best friend.

Even if this isn’t a route ANet would be willing to take (which I think would be a waste of a good super-villian archetype), something has to be done with Trahearne. It doesn’t really matter if he turns into a baddy or just takes a back seat and lets you have your adventure. The big problem is that the bonds and choices you’ve made are pointless, and you’re overshadowed by a twig with a title and not much else. I would really like to see the story go on with Trahearne included in some manner because it would be incredibly obnoxious if all your side-kicking didn’t amount to anything at all, but he doesn’t need to be the hero – the player does. As the PC, I want to feel like I am the star. I don’t want a npc to take over my story and treat me like a henchman – if anything, I want npcs to be my henchmen. If I pay 60 bucks for a rpg, mmo or not, then I darn sure better be the main character.