Guild Wars 2

Designated Area dueling almost defeats the purpose. People costume brawl all over the place and I haven’t heard a complaint about that. I want to be able to duel wherever I happen to be with my friends/party/guild. It’s the best time killer and great practice. If anything, restrict it from certain areas, but it really needs to be implemented and needs to be allowed almost everywhere.

DUELING, ADD, YES, PLZ. They gave us costume brawl, but no duels!? Madness. Most people want duels. There’s no reason it shouldn’t be added to the game on account of the few people that are bothered far too easily.

They did better with the southsun patch than with the molten, for sure, since you can farm the crates. Nonetheless, it is far from ideal. I really hope they are going to come up with a less stressful and gambling prone system. I quit the game for a while over the molten weapon skins being impossible to get (even with spending a fortune), but with the improvements made with this patch, I’m hoping for the best in the future.

I keep hoping if we blow up the forums with requests for dueling, they’ll implement it. 2 things this game NEEDS, is dueling and Guild vs. Guild, especially something similar to what Runes of Magic has with Siege War. That would be amazing in the hands of ArenaNet.

Mourningcry.9428:

This is an inaccurate depiction of the Black Lion Chest.

I’ve not been arguing about the BLC. That isn’t my point. It would be totally cool if they want to sell a gambling box that might offer you some cash shop items at a cheaper price if you’re lucky. It’s the fact that you can only get the items this way that I am debating about. I’m done debating that subject, so I won’t respond about that anymore.

Ursan.7846:

Sure. This still doesn’t mean they “lied” like you try to claim in your original post.

It’s okay to not like the gambling nature of these boxes. I don’t like them myself. However, going around demanding apologies because they “Lied” in your mind is exceeding silly. Because they didn’t.

This is getting ridiculous. I’m going to make this even more clear, one last time, and then I’m done. I really don’t care what you think, but I want ArenaNet to straighten up, so I’d rather you not convince people of false things.

People are able to spend vast amount of real-life money and in-game gold without receiving the item they intent to purchase. Let’s look at this model in the most simplistic way it can be viewed. SPEND MONEY, DON’T GET ITEM. That model is absolutely the reality of the item shop for some people. Whether it is luck is irrelevant. You could only try to argue that what they claimed istrue if you are lucky, but there is no reason their statements should be taken that way. In other words, you would be trying to twist the circumstance into making gambling ok. ArenaNet added in CHANCE to a promised model of PAY-GET. Now you keep using the word GET in your responses to defend them, even though so many people did not GET the weapon skin they attempted to purchase. One more time, are players able to PAY MONEY, GET ITEM. No, they are not. If you want to argue that, ask the people who spent over $100 and have no weapon skin. That makes the promised model a lie. I’m done. ArenaNet, I love your game. Please get this right so I can give you money and feel good about your awesome game.

Ursan.7846:

Feel free to twist their words and get angry at your own interpretation of what they said. But just going by what they said, no, they definitely did not lie. Using real money or with in-game money, you are purchasing the same chance at getting these Fused Skins. What you’re having a problem is that you are purchasing a chance, instead of a guarenteed item. But no where does Anet mentions this, and the first portion (real money vs in-game gold) is what the quotes you provided mainly touches upon.

It’s a shame that you can rationalize in your mind what you have stated. Let me try to make it more clear. If you WANT a THING, you can GET the THING, by PURCHASING that THING. You do not find the word CHANCE in that statement. If you did, you would be presenting a different model: If you WANT a THING, you MIGHT GET the THING by PURCHASING a CHANGE at getting that THING. ArenaNet probably uses this same kind of mental gymnastics to justify their behavior.

It’s amazing to me with with all of the threads about this and all the people posting on them that aNet isn’t responding. ArenaNet, you lied about your ethical approach to micro-transactions. You owe us an apology.

I left the game over this. Here’s my argument from another thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/Gem-store-gambling/page/3#post1734039

Let’s overwhelm the forums with talk of this and make this game everything it can be. Guild Wars 2 is too good to be degraded by such nonsense.

Thanks for the support, guys.

grayskull, you are right in that it would be better if there was information available regarding the chances to get the items, but this would not get ArenaNet off the hook as far as carrying out the business dishonestly. To keep true to their word, players must be able to purchase items, not just gamble on them and possibly win. To that end, there is an obvious solution that should work. They could guarantee the item will drop from a chest at a certain cap, let’s say even 100. In other words, you get a weapon skin ticket buy purchasing 100 keys (and then opening 100 chests), and there is a slight chance of getting it early or getting more than one along the way. On this model, the most unlucky people could get a skin for every 100 chests and luckier people will get several additional tickets along the way. This should help justify a high price on the ticket (the purchase of 100 chests), since you get other rewards and a chance at extra desired weapon skins (or just getting them for much cheaper…say 1st chest you open). This makes gambling secondary to the actual agreement – that the player spends a certain amount of money in return for a certain product. I would gladly keep earning in game gold to trade for gems as well and buy whatever gems I can afford in order to keep trying for the weapon skin until I get it at 100 chests opened. That would possibly be $100 per skin, but at least it is honest.

I have posted about this on other similar topics. I’ll add to the conversation wherever I can because I want ArenaNet to keep their word so I can return to GW2. I have loved this game more than any other in my life, but I have now quit the game. I followed the development of this game and possibly read every blog ArenaNet put out regarding it. I spread so much hype about this game and this company. Several friends bought it just because of my sharing on and on about it. One of the most important aspects to me was ArenaNet’s statements regarding micro-transactions. I will structure this as a formal argument to make it very clear why ArenaNet has acted in a morally reprehensible way and therefore lost my patronage until such time as this such gambling is done away with and an apology issued.

1. ArenaNet stated that micro-transactions would allow players to purchase additional content such as cosmetic and convenience items. Here are quotes to make the meaning of this premise VERY clear.

“If you want something, whether it’s an in-game item or a microtransaction, you ultimately have two ways to get it: you can play to earn gold or you can use money to buy gems. We think that’s important, because it lets more players participate on a level playing field, whether they use their free time or their disposable income to do it.”

—(I’m not positive on the source of this one…ignore it if you have doubts)

“Punch number two is that there’s now an equivalence between time and money. If I’m a player who can play the game a lot and there’s something I want, I don’t need to pay for it. If I’m a player who can’t play the game a lot, but I want things in the game also, I can spend money on microtransactions.”

—ArenaNet President, Mike O’Brien

One really important thing to note is, we don’t ever sell anything in there that makes your character more powerful. That’s really important to us.

We like to do the – we like to call it the Is it Evil? test. Every micro-transaction that we do in the game, we have everyone in the company look at it and say Is it Evil? Is it really something we should be selling?

Generally, the stuff in our store is purely cosmetic; it’s bonus stuff, it’s extra stuff you can get if you want to, but it’s not stuff you have to buy to play the game.

—Colin Johanson

It is now important to carefully examine all of these statements. There is a very clear, common element. ArenaNet stated that player would be able to BUY this additional content. It is stated three different ways above and the meaning of each is certainly that a player can trade real life money (or some amount of gold) for some item. There is no logical way to interject that these words can be taken to imply gambling. This would suggest that ArenaNet stated that players could trade gems for the CHANCE at getting items. This was not stated. One last time: ArenaNet stated that players could GET cosmetic items if they wanted to, via money or a gold equivalent.

2. Fused Weapon Skins (as well as any other RnG or gamble-like prize) bring about a situation where the player can spend real life money (or gold equivalent) in exchange for NOTHING. If one would counter-argue that each chest will offer some rewards, I would reply that this also falls outside the terms of premise 1, in that ArenaNet stated that the player could GET the items that they were willing to trade money for. This gamble forces the player to get undesired items in an attempt to trade for the item he truly wants to purchase. There is no logical way this scenario can be derived from ArenaNet’s statements as I have quoted above. It is also important to note the completeness of ArenaNet’s statements. There is no mention that SOME items will be for purchase and some for a gamble. The clear meaning of ArenaNet’s statements is that ALL micro-transaction items should be obtainable via real life money (or gold equivalent). The conclusion for premise 2 is that in regards to certain items, players are NOT able to trade real life money for a desired micro-transaction purchase.

ArenaNet stated that player could purchase additional content with real life money (or gold equivalent (premise 1). Players are not able to purchase all additional content with real life money (premise 2). Conclusion: ArenaNet lied.

To each his own, but I am not ok with being lied to. I invested in this game specifically because I believed in ArenaNet’s heart and honesty. I got others involved and have been a good and appreciate customer for them. I now regret the thousands of hours and hundreds of dollars I have given to this company. I desperately hope they see the error they have made and publicly apologize. If they are willing to change this behavior, I will gladly rejoin this community and my passionate support for the company.

Vayne.8563:

I guess everyone must draw their own moral line in the sand, but it seems particularly inane to me to quit a game because I can’t have the skin I want without gambling.

You’re being harsh for the sake of it. My argument is clearly not as you stated it. I didn’t quit because I can’t have the skin I want. I quit because ArenaNet promised the option to purchase things that are cosmetic, but instead is giving us the option to gamble (NOT PURCHASE) them. I’m not sure where to find the original articles now, but here’s an article quoting them. http://guildwars2community.com/guildwars2/arenanet-on-not-being-evil-with-micro-tractions-and-my-thoughts/

The fair handling of the gem shop was a huge determining factor for me to play the game. Do you see any thing in those quotes that would lead you to believe you would be gambling on things? The idea presented is that you can pay for things if you want. Not gamble for things if you want and possibly get them. Lying is immoral, and there you have it.

LtTiger.4568:

As long as people are buying keys, using money and so on, they’ll keep it as it is..

I am really hoping that this won’t be true. This game has really meant a lot to me. My wife and I really believed in ArenaNet; the creativity, the talent, the heart. I think of all the conversations I’ve had about how awesome GW2 is and just feel betrayed. It’s just a game, but there are real people that gave real promises and broke them. My wife and I invested thousands of hours and hundreds of dollars into this, and now we must gamble for the things we want? After posting my previous comment on this thread, I realized that ArenaNet had already lost me. I logged in to play and just couldn’t stand investing any more of my life into it. I really want to wake up tomorrow and find the staff apologizing and doing away with gambling. People aren’t usually that good, especially when money is involved. Gosh, ArenaNet staff, I love you, my friends love you, and you have a ton of gaming fanatics that love you. Make a good decision. I believe you’ll benefit from it. I’ll come back to gw2 with all of the passion I’ve always had and you’ll have a supporter for a long time to come.

I really love this game.. I’ve been playing since beta and I do like to spend money in the gem store to support the game. That said, this gambling aspect goes against the values aNet seemed to stand for. What happened to “Is it evil?”. It is hypothetically possible that someone could spend $1000 and not get a fused weapon skin. Extremely unlikely, but possible. What if it were even $100? Would it be “evil”, as the reference states, to charge $100 for a weapon skin? I think so. Yet, it’s much worse than that. What about charging $100 for NO weapon skin. That’s what this situation really is for some people. I saved up 85g to craft a Firebringer that I finally got last week. I like the fused sword more, but there’s just no way I can justify spending a potentially infinite amount of money to get it. I’d rather have a monthly fee and be able to get the content. This is just ridiculous, aNet. I’m really disappointed. I hope the staff reads these posts and gets things straight. I’m starting to think I wasted a lot of time and money investing in this game. I hope I get proven wrong in the future. A lot of people, like myself, will get tired of seeing this over time, and you’ll lose us (or already have). Please, please, please, get this right. This game is too good.

Dueling ought to be added for many of the reasons mentioned above. The block option is obviously a must as well as punishment if someone harasses another player about not accepting requests (just like any verbal abuse/spam). Regarding locations, I think it would be very unfair to isolate duels to arenas or certain areas. We all share the open world. I love people and I love working with them toward the completion of events in the world. For me, dueling encourages camaraderie, as we sharpen our skills together and better understand the playstyle of those around us. I understand that others will not want to participate in this, but the idea that the sight of it in the open world is offensive to some….that is just sillyness and selfishness. If I don’t like seeing people fight mobs in the open world, should that be taken out just because I say it should? Of course not! It’s all of our world, and it should accommodate all of us well. Another point of argument is that in previous games, I most often dueled with my party members when someone went afk and we were waiting around. This could obviously happen anywhere in the world (or in any instance/dungeon). In my mind, “adding dueling” to the game implies having that fun activity to take a few minutes up when we have minutes to spare (anywhere it happens). Sure, I’d take any kind of dueling over no kind at all, but I’d feel a little cheated.

Also, the private sPvP arenas are not a sufficient solution at all, as your sPvP gear is different. I want to duel with my regular world character just like I do in WvW (where I rarely get to fight just one person). So, when I do fight one person in WvW on my build that is made for fighting in groups, it is very difficult to learn what to do with no way of practicing other than luckily stumbling across a lonesome invader.

aNet, PLEASE add 1v1 dueling option for anywhere in the world and instances.

Check out this fan art weapon set. Everyone throw a fit so that aNet will give us weapons that looks like this!

http://3bepob.deviantart.com/art/Daynight-Weapon-Set-Guild-Wars-2-Fan-Art-279299723

Yeah, it’s definitely still a problem. AOE loot would be boss. That would really help with the WvW issue of not seeing a bag pop-up and running off from it, also.

Weapon dyes, please!!!!! It’s really lame that I can dye my armor and have a really good looking red/black theme, but then have my mystic sword with a mismatched blue handle.

There are definitely some challenges, but I think someone could come up with a solution. Maybe at least they could be instanced – stationary above Lion’s Arch and then used in that island (as in the above idea). I think there could be a really cool story element to that. Maybe the island has some kind of epic need for a fleet of airships in the story and the same work on that could be re-used for a WvW map?

I super agree. I’m almost interacting with NPC’s while trying to loot. So frustrating. I think it would be most ideal if auto-loot literally auto-looted – no need to hit “F”. This would also solve the WvW issue of not seeing bags while focusing on combat.

I posted on the other similar topic…I wanted to post here also to show my support for this subject. We at least need a different build for WvW and PvE.

Yes please. As a thief, I actually like 4 total kits for different scenarios, so I’m having to carry around extra weapons and my traits aren’t optimal for the other sets. I’d at least like a different spec for WvW and PvE.

I totally agree!

I’d like an actual house to fully customize, add furniture to, etc. I think a lot could be done there and could help ArenaNet make more money, too. I’d definitely throw in $20+ dollars to pick out a house style and add decor. I loved that feature in Runes of Magic. The game was mostly terrible, but my house was awesome. The guild halls were really cool, too.

Edit – I forgot to mention that the Runes of Magic house was instanced. You would go to the housemaids and either enter your house, a friends house (from a list), or type a name to see if theirs is open to the public. You could get housemaids and train them to offer buffs and put full sets of gear on them for display (or storage). It was really well done.

I have found myself wanting to zoom out further, but that may cause issues with pvp. I think they wanted to limit your view so that you had to be more aware. Being able to see behind you really changes things.

Zooming the camera all the way in to 1st person view – I think that is a very good feature to be added.

I think mounts may work a bit differently, but it can probably be done. Minimum level 80 is pretty obvious….probably even 100% map completion. If they were very pricey, this would help deal with the money sink issue. A note on that – even with mounts, we’d still be using waypoints…just a bit less. I think mounts could be in WvW, but should offer NO speed bonus (just visual). In the normal world, maybe the mounts offer a small % increase speed and otherwise are just as fast as the hero normally is. On my thief, I run 25% faster already because of my signet. If my mount added 5%, this certainly shouldn’t stop me from dismounting to join events, revive players, etc.

I think the addition of mounts is totally feasible if planned well. My ideas may not be the way, but I bet there is one.

On the beta forums, someone posted a suggestion for the implementation of guild halls as AIRSHIPS that we could pilot around the world. That is a mindblown freakin’ great concept. I also did a search on the current forums and someone else requested something like that for WvW. I can see how that would really throw things off in that scenario, though the idea has potential. Maybe there could be future maps with that feature? I really hope to see something like this in a future expansion.

Guild Wars People! If you want to see this happen, comment it up! If everyone likes the idea, ArenaNet may, ya know, make airships. Epic.

I think it’s great the there aren’t addons for the sake of preserving balance in the gameplay. There are some difficulties there that I’d like to see overcome. An old game I used to play had an addon that would allow you to preview any item in the game. Currently, we aren’t even able to preview items from the Trading Post. Maybe an item search/preview could be added to the Hero Menu and also add previewing to the Trading Post?