I knew what to expect because F2P models are designed to make the player nickle and dime themselves to death by bleeding RL money into the game to get even the most basic needed things such has storage space. This is one of the biggest reasons I prefer the games with the monthly 15$ (average) fee. Those games are based on customer service models while F2P are based on the customer serving the game company. In my opinion, F2P game models are destroying the MMO market. They certainly have no real motivation to invest much of their profits into maintaining a high quality game nor do they plan on having a long term commitment. The whole model is build to extract as much initial profit in the first year (maybe two) as possible from the players while the “newness factor” is in play. After that, they coast adding a little tweak here and there to content but really not making any serious investment of time or resources which would cut into that first year profit margin. I am talking about the business model in general. Whether or not someone applies this to GW2 is entirely up to them.
Make a badge vendor to buy or make awesome shiny things.
Create world invasions that reward said badges.
Invasions happen “x” amount of times in “y” amount of zones. Can be any zone.
Every zone can now be used again for new content. Invasions that could happen:
- invasion of svanir in the shiverpeaks
- centaur tribes unite and launch a desparate assault
- flame legion tries to expand
- zhaitan marches his armies from orr across Tyria
If you fail a zone it could continue into another, world domination could arise.
In other words, similar to Rift. :P They already stol…erm…adopted… the open grouping idea from Rift. I enjoy RIft a lot and don’t mind paying the 15$ a month for it. Frankly, I find in general the games with monthly fees offer the player base a LOT more for their buck than the F2P models who’s sole purpose is to make it so the players nickel and dime themselves to death by bleeding RL cash into the game company to have things like storage space, etc.
Well, I am NOT a level 80. I’m 54-ish as of this post. And…yes, I am already finding myself getting bored. So it’s not just the obvious lack of engaging end game content at play, although it certainly is a valid point.
Oh yeah…a griefing video being put on the forums, bragged about and praised. And people wonder why the community in GW2 has gone to kitten. There is nothing remotely funny about this and I hope your account is suspended or banned.
I enjoy jumping puzzles to an extent. They can be fun and they provide some much needed relief from all the failed parts of the game (WvW, Orr). I am worried about the way this game is slowly turning into some Super Mario with a sword game, though. That’s really not what it was advertised as, and if it had been advertised as such, I would not have bought it. I’d rather see some more genre specific end game content than a bunch more jumping puzzles.
Agreed and I feel like there has been a bit of a bait-and-switch between what the game was touted as being…and what it really is. Yes, the puzzles are optional and as such I’ll do those I find fun and ignore those I don’t. I don’t mind that they exist within the game but the fact that they are are not just the occasional aside thrown in but an actual “content” feature is off putting. The lack of proper and engaging content that is simply beefed up via time sync things like jumping puzzles etc isn’t how the game was presented. If I wanted to play a platform game, I would have purchased one. I don’t play them for a reason. I thought I was purchasing an MMO fantasy game with a focus on personal character growth and storyline within a fantasy environment. This fulfills that advertised game play only in the most technical definition, imo and experience. I rather get the impression they attempted to…borrow…all the successful feature of all the game that came before them (open grouping from Rift, for example) and lump them all together in a mash then sell this regurgitated content as some sort of new concept that is unique to them. It’s not. What is unique to GW is the lack of a gear grind and I applaud them on that. Sadly, actual innovative content is what was played up and not delivered.
I hope you dont aproch all life’s chalanges like this (in life there is no restart.)
I hope you understand there is a rather important distinction between a game and real life and there is a natural difference in expectations between the two. Many, obviously don’t seem to have that distinction because they rage hard about it being potentially changed in any way, even when most of the propositions would NOT effect them or the challenge -they- enjoy while still making it more accessible to others who enjoy a lesser degree of challenge (again, in a game which is supposed to be entertaining and/or “fun”). I have to wonder which group is placing a false or unhealthy value on this puzzle or any game content for that matter…this who want to have it be as enjoyable as possible for the majority of players or those who freak out about the very idea that it be changed in any way to be inclusive of others even if it doesn’t directly effect the level of challenge they themselves enjoy? Hmmm? Which group seems more unhealthily focused?
I didn’t bother even trying this particular jumping puzzle do to the number of bugs and other issues associated with it. There is no shame whatsoever in trying and not succeeding or deciding certain aspects of the game are not for you at any given time for -any- personal reason. Please keep your perspective. This is a video game. Nothing more. “Success” here in anything amounts to…nothing. It doesn’t make you a better human being, more worthy of respect from others who do or don’t play it, it adds absolutely nothing to your real life. Failing to accomplish any of the material in any video game certainly doesn’t mean the opposite of the list above and anyone who builds their self-worth on such a flimsy and shallow foundation is eventually in for a rude awakening. Sadly there are so many who are doing exactly this. Don’t allow yourself to be one of them.
You’re value and worth come from the fact that you are alive, you are able to effect the real world around you for better or worse, you have the power to build up or tear down those you encounter and so forth. Absolutely everything else is trivial. You’re value is innate. It can never be taken away by anyone for any reason and certainly not by something as immaterial as a video game. Your value and worth are a constant no matter what others say or think. In all the history of all the universe for all time, you are absolutely unique, a one of a kind priceless work of art. Don’t give your personal power away to anyone and especially not to a pretend pixelated world in a video game.
I am not saying this is happening here, but…I have known of people who will make a bunch of characters using very popular names so the name is “taken” and can’t be used. Then they “sell the name” for RL money on various sites to people who are ummm….retentive… about getting the exact name they want or life is over. Saw it happen in WoW, EverQuest2, Rift and other games.
Hopefully, it will be available next year without all the bugs etc -and- be changed to a soloable puzzle as was originally intended by the designer rather than grouped. Then, if I’m still playing the game (doubtful) I might bother with it.
PLEASE NOTE: I am NOT talking about changing it’s difficulty level.
That would be a confusing hoot in PvP, ROFLOL, because so many people can peg your class right off the get by what you’re wearing and act accordingly. I can just see it now, a warrior get confused for an elementalist or some such because they are wearing a dress rather than metal armor. Bahahahahahahaha.
I’ve noted the thinning of players in zones as well and it’s for zones of various levels up through level 54-ish which is my highest level toon. I can’t say as I’m surprised.
Reddit is a tacky site to use in my opinion and GW2 has it’s own website. Why not make use of it?
I use both. There is a much larger level of vocal freedom on reddit that one very much does not have here, imo. By that I mean the freedom to say something which, in our opinion, needs to be addressed by AN without fear that your post will go poof and you’ll be given “points” for “not being constructive”. Don’t get me wrong, this is AN’s site therefore they can moderate it as they please legally. I just happen to value a higher level of freedom of speech before the heavy hand of moderation is felt. Not to tolerate flame wars but not quite as…draconian…either. TO that end, I read comments on reddit because there is information etc given there that would never be allowed here. To each their own.
Inflammatory and whiny posts tend to get deleted the most often, because they don’t want every thread to devolve into a flame war between Rangers that don’t play the profession anymore but still want to cry about Rangers and current Ranger players.
I love the terms “whiny” and “inflammatory” since they are completely subjective and therefore prone to accidental or deliberate abuse. Just an opinion of the potential of using such things when moderating and not remotely an accusation that the do, in fact, occur.
90% of my posts get removed because i tell people how bad the ranger class is.
Many others get their posts deleted to.
If it’s about ranger beeing broken, or the upcoming patch that will flop, they delete your post.
Mine as well. Apparently saying anything negative about the class or how AN handles something, even when you point out it’s just an opinion, is “not being constructive” which is the excu…errr…reason I was given for having comments poofed, and even given a short suspension. I wonder how long this will stay up or how long I’ll be punished for commenting on it? :P
Clock tower is the only thing besides game world detail that I can praise Anet for. Catering to 0 attention span and spoon feeding 10 year olds on every single blasted step isn’t the way you make history. Ever wondered why everyone loved vanilla WoW… even though it was buggy even though some classes weren’t even finished when it went live… even when all the filler quests were 1. fetch x of y from z and then bring it back. and 2. kill x y times and report back. It wasn’t those parts… it was the fact that game had content that was reserved for the ones that were willing to get 40 people to work as a team. it was that carrot that was always there luring people. its a fact that most team content was fun and required some ability to work as a team… no naxx didn’t require “m@d sk1llz” it required patience. I was full time college student with 3 hours of travel 1 way… and I still managed. And in the end you were rewarded for that work. I could walk into av and faceroll entire raid by myself. To get there I had to deal with 4 hours of sleep for 5 days a week. was it a good idea… no. did i enjoy every last second of it… hell yeah.
This xbox generation is so kitten used to getting spoon fed same crap over and over and over again and you still want moar. I’m baffled how some garbage like “modern” warfare #91231122321415151 is still called by some “game of the year” seriously? Don’t you have like 20-50 reskins of same shooter with same mechanics as it is?
How about you all relax take a chill pill and actually break a sweat. Try to learn the route and decide on best path. Yes there is actually more then 1 way for quiet a few jumps. Is the reward itself good? Its garbage… you need to cough up on casino if you want something good here. But it was still satisfying to finish clock tower on necromancer that can’t get any speed buffs. And yes I raged like a boss for those first 30 minutes.
Sad.
I’ve never seen so many people base their value and self worth on something entirely fake as many do on their “accomplishments” within a pixelated fantasy world. Comments which talk about it like it’s their responsibility or a “job” rather than a frivolous piece of entertainment…a game. It’s mind boggling. Talking about the participation in the game as “making history”, “break a sweat” as an example. WoW and every game like it (including this one) will be a cloudy distant memory months after it poofs into nothingness which it is bound to do. At least for those whose lives are built upon the foundations of real life achievements such education, career, family, community altruism, good citizenship, etc. a game, any game of this nature is just not that high on their priority list. Then they get snobbily labeled as “casuals” like it’s a dirty word and a disgrace. The anger and rage expressed by some over the very thought that their little pixelated worlds might undergo change and possibly upset the ever-so-fragile ego they’ve built for themselves upon it threatens them and they lash out calling people names like “10 year olds” and disparaging those from a generation younger or more than themselves simply for having the audacity to view a game as ….something to be done for fun, not to be taken oh-so-seriously….and not place so much importance on the the praise or recognition of others based on being able to win a battle against a cartoon character with their own cartoon character.
“How about you all relax and take a chill pill…”. “Physician, heal thyself” is the quote that comes to my mind in response.
When we get to the point in our hearts and minds where we place so much of our personal validation on the foundation of achievements of cartoon characters in a fantasy land and actually react possessively and protectively of it against any change which would upset that pixelated foundation of self-worth, even if that change means being more inclusive of others in the REAL WORLD and in our real community, society and world one who just want to play a game, then I can only shake my head in sadness for those individuals. They’ve built their house of self worth and sense of accomplishment on pixelated cartoon sand in a non-existent fantasy world doomed to disappear eventually. Then they are left frantically scrambling for the next game in which they can build a false sense of accomplishment at the expense of achieving real accomplishments in the real world.
IN answer to the OP’s question: I’m honestly finding it harder each day to be excited about this game. It’s kind of a bummer too because I was really looking forward to it, enjoyed beta testing it, etc. I’m becoming skeptical so I’ll wait and see what the patch brings.
I skipped basically everything. Anything I got was by accident. The only thing I deliberately did was mine candy corn to sell on the TP while the prices and demand were still good.
Any designer who admits to designing a “holiday” event so difficult they estimate only about 5% of the people will be able to do it has deliberately alienated a majority of their core player base only 2 months after game launch.
Where are you getting this 5% figure?
In my experience from talking in public channels, most people have completed it, and only a few haven’t.
I hope you are not basing your figures on the number of complaints on the forums because only a tiny minority of players bother to use forums, and the majority of those only use them to complain.
It’s a quote from Josh himself (he designed the puzzle) saying he only expected approximately 5% of the people to make it to the top. There’s a link to it buried somewhere in this topic thread.
And I’m amazed by the technical achievement as well. For a team to create something that scripting wise is really difficult to get right on such short notice is amazing. It is a risky concept, but it is balanced to perfection!
Yep, they got it right including the camera bugs, the falling thru platforms, the cut scene keeping people lagged at the end just long enough so that they fail before they start, the getting hung up on graphic edges, the bouncing off the face of the broken clock face, the random ports out…yep….balanced to utter perfection.
Any designer who admits to designing a “holiday” event so difficult they estimate only about 5% of the people will be able to do it has deliberately alienated a majority of their core player base only 2 months after game launch. This does not, in my opinion, bode well for future holiday events being any more inclusive or the level of care and/or respect for the player base in general. This is just this player’s opinion and I accept that it will not be shared by everyone. I respect others’ right to differ as opinions are just that…and opinion…and one is no better or worse than another since they are always totally subjective.
It is my fervent hope the designers have learned from this fiasco and will consider being MUCH more inclusive of the majority of players in upcoming holiday events. As the winter holidays are just around the corner, time will tell.
I was generally unimpressed. There wasn’t enough direction and/or information to guide players as to what was available and where. It was buggy. They didn’t think it through as far as forcing the clock tower puzzle to be grouped, obviously didn’t test it much if at all considering all the bug issues, camera problems, etc. As usual those who exploited the event like the chests got to keep their farmed/exploited gains while everyone suffered with the nerf bat that followed again indicating that didn’t think it through. It didn’t take a gaming genius to know the farming/exploits would happen, or that people would deliberately grief others in the jumping puzzle, etc. The amount of mats needed to make anything actually worthwhile were atrocious. Having players invest purchasing power for temporary costumes rather than permanent ones. The event had tremendous potential. Too bad it was squandered on rushed work, poor and buggy design, and the implementation of a puzzle admittedly deliberately designed to to be failed by the majority of players in what is supposed to be a “holiday” event. As you asked what people think, this is my opinion. I am fully aware other opinions will differ and no one opinion is better or worse than any other as they are indeed, entirely subjective.
Yea, I need a subscription. Not a game where the economy is driven by a stupid Cash Shop.
hehehehe, yup. IN MMO’s where one pays $15/month (average) you end up with MUCH more bang in game for your buck and you are much less likely to nickle and dime yourself to death in real money. I MUCH prefer an MMO with a monthly fee at the current rates than the F2P models. Just my opinion. Others with vary.
Once you start a gear progression chain, it’s a never ending sink hole where eventually all new content is focused ONLY on gear grinding and hard core raiding which leaves out a very large portion of players who have these things called “lives”. Gear grinding and the content released focused on gear grinding only serves hard core players and hard core raiding guild. To be in one of those is a job with very little forgiveness for those with real lives outside of the game. Additionally, the gear grinding does, in and of itself, become exceedingly boring.
I stand by my “no”.
Having said that, they -do- need to do something to keep the game alive for those who have reached the level cap. As I understand it, there is a content in the works. Keep in mind, the game is only 2 months old. Those persons who either deliberately rushed to end game -or- who reached end game because they had more time to devote to playing than others must now be patient and wait for new content patches. To expect this so soon after release is a bit much. However, it does show poor design, imo, that they didn’t have the foresight to have some type of engaging material for end game players right at release.
This is a perfect example of why not taking time to “smell the flowers or enjoy the journey” ends up biting one in the behind.
I especially hate it when the soul bound item has zero to do with my class but would have been perfect for an alt. Even worse are the rare times when I can’t even salvage the danged thing for mats. :P
Im sorry this upsets you, but this very post is likely going to cause some people in game to add you just because they know it really bothers you…
Which to me is the perfect argument for being able to control who is or is not on the list. Some of the people on the list may be completely innocent and blocking them uncalled for while others, as you point out, will do so simply to grief you.
I agree with the OP. We should have complete and utter control of these things without having to block everyone by default simply because they are on the following list.
Very much agree! Preview mode on gear items being sold n the TP are totally necessary. I wouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t working on something of that nature already.
Dangerously close to a WoW clone suggestion for my taste because once these level 80’s -have- this better gear they will complain they don’t have enough challenging content all over again. Then what do we have….WoW, where it’s all a big treadmill of grinding uber gear then having to put out content that supports not only that uber gear but even harder content with even more uber gear and then it’s all about the gear race and unless you have it, you’re utterly screwed to be able to play the newly released content chains.
In my opinion titles don’t feel important because they -aren’t- important. At least, they aren’t important to anyone else but the person who has one. The title is a personal reward. I don’t know of any mature player that goes “ooOOoooo, that player has X title. I’m so humbled and unworthy of them!” It’s strictly supposed to be for the players own satisfaction not to stand in the middle of the market in the hopes others pay homage. :P
But hey, as long as titles come with the ability to toggle them off so I’m not forced to see them on anyone else or myself…it’s all good. Then everyone is happy. I have name plates turned off because I want to see the game not everyone’s name, guild, and title….even my own, if it comes to it.
AS long as there is a toggle where I don’t have to see my game view cluttered with them, I’m all for it. I don’t want to be forced to see my own nameplate, etc either.
LOL! Good luck with that one, Bunzy. Go ahead and roll a baby Mesmer. If you have an insta-80 you wouldn’t learned how to play it well anyway since that’s what happens as you level up. Besides, if you’ve logged into the game anyway, you might as well give it a go!
Doesn’t take more than a day to learn the fundamentals for any profession, really. Very poor argument in general since sPvP is based around having instant lvl 80 characters so eventually you will master the professions involved.
Hmmm, don’t see where the OP specified sPvP.
I can learn the fundamentals (ie “basics”) of any class too but that doesn’t mean I’ll be able to play it well at higher levels when that added knowledge and understanding of how the nuances work together, when certain things should and should not be used etc. come into play depending on situation and so forth. When I learned the “fundamentals” of mathematics I didn’t then start doing advanced math theory either.
Considering with the tiniest bit of imagination one can pretty much have any first name within the naming guides they want by using a unique last name….I fail to see the big deal. Just make a character and get on with it.
I was chatting with someone the other day and they had brought 15 guildies from WoW over to GW2 but many had already left because there is no raiding. Tho I disagree with this thinking, I can certainly understand it.
I only really played WoW for, maybe, a year and then some. It was long enough to max out characters of every roll and to do quite a bit of raiding with all of them. While raids can be fun I had come to a point when I realized the game wasn’t fun anymore. It was a numbers game, not an adventure.
So if you come into GW2 with a WoW outlook, it can be an adjustment. You’re used to power leveling thru repetitive and often empty, old content to get to the “fun”. You can’t look at this game that way. It actually is fun and full from lvl 1. I’ve only been playing a few weeks but still haven’t maxed my main and am in no hurry to do so.
If I had any advice for people who are used to WoW it would be to forget about power leveling and try and remember that getting there really is half the fun.
Well stated and very true. I recognize that for some people trying to see how fast they can cap level is fun for them, a mini contest or race they set for themselves which is perfectly fine if that’s what they wish to do.
Having said that, you are completely correct that this is so -not- WoW and that is, imo, a very very good thing. I certainly do not want to see it turn into a WoW lookalike at end game either where it’s all about having to have the best gear and be in a hard core raiding guild, where raiding is a responsibility akin to a job, in order to obtain said gear and without it you can’t even dream of doing “X” content or surviving “X” zones in new content patches, etc. If it ever becomes that kind of game, I’ll immediately do what I did when that became all there was to end game content in WoW…log off and never go back.
If it ever turns into a must have (and therefore grind and be a part of a hard core guild) the bestest most uberest gear just to step foot in this or that zone or do this or that content a la WoW…I will that very day log off permanently. That was one of the main reasons I left WoW and never looked back.
I guess I’m not as addicted to titles as most. I don’t even have player names etc turned on because it just mucks up my view of things. I honestly don’t care about who has what “title”. I’m not in awe of them nor do I feel any overwhelming desire to have any up on my character to elicit the awe of others.
