Guild Wars 2

Stephane Lo Presti.7258:

Hi,

Just a quick clarification about the initial video: this is a preview of the September 2014 Feature Pack collection and it shows rewards that are unique to the collection feature, but they’re not precursors. These rewards are the named exotics that drop from Champion loot bags.

I’d like to add that I would also like to know what Anet is working on long term. We are all old enough to listen politely and contain our expectations. But, Anet also has to keep communication open to us. Anet, please tell us what you are doing. And then keep us updated on how it is going.

For example, Anet could report: “Working on the ninth class, the third heavy class. We’re currently working on weapons and attacks. This class should be out before the end of 2014.” And later, they could say: “Redesigning the utilities for the ninth class, suffering some setbacks. It may arrive later than 2014.” And later: “Animation is doing a great job on the attacks for the ninth class. This class is expected out in 2015.”

Zoso.8279:

I dont understand how someone can say they give up on CDI but still want to make change.

It’s more like a cry for help I guess- same as it happened with the commander tag prices and colors a week ago.

Zoso.8279:

OP says commander CDI was a fail but most people who helped Dry Top CDI loved how much their input was used. Can we be honest for a second?

I can only say what I heard about the commander system CDI. There were many good ideas to make the system better and more interesting, but the only thing that we got out of that whole CDI were colorful commander tags.

Zoso.8279:

And I don’t mean to be rude but it seems like the only person that can be honest here is you and the group of people that you represent that are “afraid” to speak up. ( They don’t stop speaking and making arguments based on what only they want or give value )

Based on the replies that I got on the forum I can see why people are afraid and skeptical to even engage in an argument about this kind of things.

The topic was supposed to bring up an actual issue, which many players are aware of, but the white knights turned it in another one of their agendas. At this rate, you’ll have to start defending ANET from yourself since by protecting it so much, you don’t allow others to voice their opinion but rather start insulting and patronizing them.

Does ANET listen?

If you want to know the answer to that question, then ask yourself, “Is Skyhammer still in soloq?”

That map’s existence in soloq pretty much sums up ANET’s listening skills.

That was a really good post. Some things that were written in it have been laying on my mind for quite some time. That was the reason why I took a pause on that game as I’m not that big of a plot fan and I ran out of pvp ideas. I got bored. Perhaps it is time that the game’s developers focus also on keeping the old players
on-board aswell as getting new players in the game.
That was a good post with a good point.

I want More races, more classes, more weapons.( polearms…nunchucks…three-section-staff!!!..a girl can dream right?)

The thing is, as long as Anet is in love with Living story, I sincerely doubt I will ever see any of that. And it seems that not only are they in love with living story, but they want us all so gaga over it, that we do not notice, that two years after launch, and no “traditional” expansion is in sight.

Traditional expansions excite the player-base. It brings new players In, and old players back. as long as they keep the level cap at 80, … there is No " level" creep.

The thing is,…. maybe many players are content with living story after having given up on traditional expansions… maybe many players rather have free Living story, than a paid expansion.

I myself, if given the option…." We can give you living story for 6 months…or…Hold back on living story, so you get less updates…but at the end of 6 months you get a full traditional paid-for expansion that includes… about 30 % to 40 % current map size worth of new maps…. 2 New Professions, 1 2 new playable races (quaggan and Skritt!!!)… and 8 new weapons…some two hand, some 1 hand, some offhand, along with … new skills… "

I know I would go for the second option, and i feel so would a large segment of the player-base. Then again…Anet must know better,…. they are adamant about Living Story being an adequate replacement to The " traditional paid-for expansion".

lol why is forty five, fifty censored?

The reason Anet’s original policy of announcing what they were working on backfired… is that they announced about 2 things every six months… as if those things were close to completion. Hell, they even put “by the end of this year” as an estimate. And then said nothing more until very strongly pressed months into the next year.

If something is being worked on, but is in a sufficiently preliminary stage of development as to be iffy, then an announcement that says precisely that would generate significantly lesser levels of expectation. If something is announced as being worked on and then scrapped, a note to that effect in the next announcement (or reasonably soon, anyway) would stop people from wondering about it (which would have fixed most of the angst about precursor crafting, for instance).

Make announcements honestly and in a relatively low-key way, and players will respond well, even if the developments don’t come to fruition. Imo. I could be wrong.

Vayne.8563:

Nerelith.7360:

laokoko.7403:

AlphaNeonic.1925:

Vayne.8563:

This game has all kinds of players who want all kinds of things. I’m pretty sure most players never post on the forums. I’m pretty sure Anet uses metrics of what people actually do in game to figure out what they need to do next.

Say you have 100 people who love pizza. You don’t have pizza to give them at the moment, so you offer them apples and bread. 70% of the people chose apples over bread. They must love bread. We’ll have bread from now on.

That’s basically what’s going on with the game right now. Their metrics may show every one gobbling up Living Story like it’s their favorite thing ever, but if it’s the only new content available, competing with content that’s 2 years old… it’s not an accurate measure of what players want.

I don’t know why they don’t use the in game survey system that we had in beta. People actually playing the game could give quick surveys on the content they want to see next.

well, I think there is a market for everything. Those people who want pizza should go to pizza hut. Those people want bread or apple can stick with whatever Anet is still feeding them.

Maybe Anet chef just isn’t good at making pizza, so instead of competing in the pizza market, they do what they are good at, which is making salad and bread.

To stretch the metaphor a bit. I would Not mind ggoing to Pizza Hut for pizza since I know that Anet cannot make good pizza. The problem is….

They don’t have Garlic Bread, they don’t have rye…they don’t have Black Bread, they do Not have Unleavened Bread. They have thite bread.

They only have vinegar and olive oil for the salad, and the salad is …lettuce, tomato… and occasionally, a pickle… and olives.

If you aren’t gonna compete at making Pizza cause your pizza sucks…. you should be good at bread and salads….

But..they aren’t. they are just…so so. The sad part is, they had potential for better bread and salad. But, they seem to be stuck On giving customers…" just enough" to keep them coming back. Sometimes if customers notice… they don’t come back.

But bread isn’t features people are asking for and calling it bread doesn’t make it easier or faster to create and put into the game.

People think this should have all been done now. Anet should stop everything else and do X. Well that’s not how it works in the real world.

For example, Anet announced for the feature patch they’ve redone stuff to give you higher frame rate in big battles in WvW and at meta events. I think most people want that. That’s one project I don’t want to have people taken off. Those people are now freed up to do something else.

If only it was bread.

I don’t go to Taco Bell for cakes, I don’t go to Pizza Hut for Lobster and Sirloin.

I don’t want Pizza, I just want more varieties of bread and salad, if that is what Anet says it is good at. If it’s not good at Pizza fine, don’t make pizza. I can go to pizza Hut for pizza. I come to Olive Garden, I expect good and different types of salad, and bread.

Two years post launch, I see a lot of white bread. Where’s the rye???

Vayne.8563:

This game has all kinds of players who want all kinds of things. I’m pretty sure most players never post on the forums. I’m pretty sure Anet uses metrics of what people actually do in game to figure out what they need to do next.

Say you have 100 people who love pizza. You don’t have pizza to give them at the moment, so you offer them apples and bread. 70% of the people chose apples over bread. They must love bread. We’ll have bread from now on.

That’s basically what’s going on with the game right now. Their metrics may show every one gobbling up Living Story like it’s their favorite thing ever, but if it’s the only new content available, competing with content that’s 2 years old… it’s not an accurate measure of what players want.

I don’t know why they don’t use the in game survey system that we had in beta. People actually playing the game could give quick surveys on the content they want to see next.

Zanshin.5379:

That’s the thing. The game is full of potential. The living world is full of potential. But that’s just it: potential. After 2 years we know that there is so much that could be done but ArenaNet is refusing to do it. I don’t think it’s a money problem because they keep releasing (lackluster) content. It’s just not the content we want.

I want to thank ArenaNet for finally showing that they are not willing to do what they need to do. At least I can move on.

It seems that you can read my mind totally agreed. I just can’t stand how they are wasting that potential

So, about Season 1, I got a guy who I like who can summarize my thoughts about the content we got:

Blade Syphon.4325:

Or they could leave the content there permanent, scrap the entire notion that Living Story = Content must be removed, and give players more things to do than they can shake a stick at.
It’s actually painful at how fast people are to defend Anet’s idea that their Living Story concept of adding temporary content is somehow innovative and, even worst, a good, cool idea.
Yes, sometimes MMO Developers do remove content from the game when they feel it fits the storyline, but never to the extent that Anet does with each passing update. Think about it, if Anet actually left in the content (barring holidays, obviously) instead of constantly removing it, by now we would have had over a dozen new story missions, two full fledged new dungeons, a third mini-dungeon, an additional scalable dungeon with the Queen’s Jubilee, an entirely new meta-game they could have continued to add to with the Queen’s Gauntlet and Super Adventure Box, and an entirely new zone in the form of the Zepyhr Sanctum along with the Challenge Mission it came with. Not to mention the various new PvP modes/Activities they’ve added over the year as well that are no longer in the game.
Instead…we have Fractals of the Mist, WvW changes, a completely dead zone, a handful of rotating activities, and a revamped world boss no one does anymore.
Remind me again why the latter is better than the former?

But now, let’s talk about your post, and dissect it for the misinformed booty that it is.
You do have SOME good points.

• So, we get Southsun Cove, which is a bare and barren wasteland that no one really visits unless it’s for Karka Queen.
• We FINALLY get Dry Top a year or so later, which actually is a step in the right direction that has a mechanic that’ll HOPEFULLY make it replayable in the future, and once it is complete.
• We get Edge of the Mists, which is fine, as well; it’s basically a glorified karma train and helps newbies into WvW.

But here’s where you start to falter.

• Two new PvP maps? Yeah, that’s bull. What, Skyhammer and freaking Courtyard? Do you seriously count a map that’s locked behind the Custom Arena Kit and NEVER see unless we cough up the coin?
• Wardrobe? Sure, and then they took away town clothes, toys, and other cool stuff that people would’ve actually paid for off of the gemstore. In their place, we get outfits, lazy armor copouts that can’t be actual armor because “then they’d have to design them with clipping in mind.” As if THAT’s ever stopped them before. Arena Net messed up, and they know it, because they had to give out tons and tons of gem refunds.
• Trait system revamp? Because you ALL know how much we wanted this. If I’m leveling a warrior, I now need to go to an area that’s ten levels ahead of me to do an event, JUST to get my adept trait?
• “But still, one new dungeon?” Which dungeon? You mean the AetherPATH that we got, and the one no one even does anymore?
• New fractals? WOW, the recycling of content that should’ve been permanently in the game in the first place is now available in FoTM, because you all know how much the majority of players love the poorly constructed Fractals.
• SAB? Ha ha. You’re funny.
• Story wise, we’ve been getting a lot of content? You mean our linear campaign of finding out what else Scarlet was responsible for, with lore inaccuracies and TIRING cliches?
• New skins? You mean the ones that find us running across the same landscapes, grinding the same events, and goldfarming for? Reusing content is not new content, friend. It gives the illusion of it.

It’s not a matter of being greedy. It’s about ANet insisting that every decision they make is a godsend, about how “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” about how they rarely admit responsibility for poor decisions or mess ups with mass bannings, about how they do not value consumer input at all.

Arena Net, you play OUR game, the way WE want you to.™

Ashen.2907:

Nerelith.7360:

phys.7689:

Immensus.9732:

To all players: don`t be greedy. The content you are getting every 6 months is equal to a full expansion in other MMOs. New areas? EOTM, Southsun Cove, Dry Top (and 2 pvp maps) . New features? Wardrobe, Traits, New armors/weapons. New content? this is kinda lacking but still, 1 new dungeon, dungeons paths, fractals, SAB. AND ABOVE ALL, Story wise: we are getting roughly 1-2 hours of story play every 2 weeks, lets do the math, on average we get 1.5 hours SO… 1.5H every 2 weeks on a 6(?) month Season = 18 Hours of story, that is equal to a 60$ worth new Single player RPG story amount, the only difference is that you getting it for free, and you getting it 2-3 times per year. Thats a lot of effort, i my self can be disappointed sometimes with some features that we havent got yet that i think are essential if you want to make your MMO competitive, like Housing, Dueling, more legendaries etc. but we got to think that the Devs are people too and there have limitations on how much they can produce. The only thing that they should probably do from their perspective is become more open to the players and start talking about things on development more often and with honesty.

you have low standards
this is what ffxiv gets about every 3 months, NON EXPANSION
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/c96b9e090eb60d1ebd1b89e20e582d59335acd84

this is what = a gw1 campaign
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_Factions

ffxi expansion
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Treasures_of_Aht_Urhgan

btw 18 hours for a single player rpg is really bad, generally they used to aim for 40 hours, but that has increased recently, with stuff like skyrim dark souls, etc.

im not saying they have done nothing, but they are not even close to an expansions worth of content from the expansions i am used to.

That’s just it. The expansions you and I are used to. We used to demand and expect more from publishers. Now it seems we have a Lot of players that do not really understand what an expansion is. Let alone what an expansion is supposed to have.

An expansion expands how we play. It is not Just new maps, new quests, new dungeons.

Most expansions I have played included , new classes, new skills, new Mobs, ….

The closest things that for me qualify as expansion like… are the new trait system, because you can swap out traits on the fly for free, and the wardrobe. which Includes account bound dyes.

Aside from that… I really do not see any new permanent content that is " expansion-like." In 2 years even WoW added more. WoW is better at providing expansions than Gw2. Think about that for a Moment. let it sink in. World of Warcraft….. better.

I agree.

I do think that the living world has the potential to compare reasonably with a traditional MMO expansion, but I do not think it is there yet.

Very much this. The last boss fight is a great example of what can be done. That fight is fun.

Immensus.9732:

The content you are getting every 6 months is equal to a full expansion in other MMOs.

No it’s not. And I was legitimately disappointed by your lacking usage of buzzwords like “entitled” or “toxic”.

Fun fact: People feel bored and unsatisfied and are looking for reasons why they’re bored.
They come to the conclusion that there is not enough to do out there in Tyria. “Proving them wrong” wont change their feeling of being bored.

Karma should have a dominant role in the game’s reward structure.

I propose that continued development in Gw2 place a large emphasis on karma based rewards. I feel significant development of karma based rewards will result in a large amounts of currently stale content to become relevant again. These points are based off of my personal opinion that this game’s core experience is actually it’s leveling experience. I wanted to brainstorm some ideas which would bring the “magic” of the leveling experience back to max level players.

Karma as we currently experience it:
1. Karma is account bound and is mostly disconnected from the gold economy.
2. Karma is a reward for most activities and is already integrated deeply into the game.
3. Karma has limited uses for a max level player, and the emphasis shifts over to gold for progression.
4. Karma is a currency reward which allows players to choose how they wish to be further rewarded.

Considering these points, here are a few of my thoughts regarding karma as it relates to Gw2’s reward structure.

1. Karma currently does not have enough uses at max level. The leveling experience places much emphasis on the acquisition of karma, but the need for karma as it relates to progression falls off at max level (outside of legendary weapons). I think the gear changes on the temple vendors were a step in the right direction and I would like to see more of that sort of thing but with the addition of location relevant cosmetic items (more on this later).

2. There should be more of a connection between dynamic events/hearts/map completion and equipment/skins/cosmetic rewards. The game already provides karma as a reward in all the right places; there should be more of a direct connection between completing all of these activities (even events in low level zones) to interesting item acquisition. This game’s leveling experience makes up much of the core game play and should provide a sense of progression at 80. Speaking personally, I would say that I desire to spend more time in all of the game’s leveling zones but I am missing much of the fun as it relates to a relevant reward. I enjoy Orr/Frostgorge/Dry-Top but I would like the other zones to be more relevant.

3. Region specific armor and weapons should be implemented in most of the zones. First of all, we need more armor skins in the game that don’t come from the gem store. Having region specific weapon and armor skins on karma vendors in each zone would be awesome. You could have a Shiverpeaks armor and weapon set, as well as a Krytan, ect. These items would be found only on vendors in their respective areas.

4. Dry top currency (geodes) could serve as a model for other zones. I propose introducing other unique region specific currencies in addition to karma to ensure that people who want a Shiverpeak’s weapon/armor set actually spend time in Shiverpeak zones. We already have a currency for the Maguma jungle zones.

5. Vendors for special karma rewards (weapon and armor skins) should be accessed only under certain conditions. An example of this might be placing certain vendors with location specific cosmetic items behind certain barriers like meta events or even in WVW at the center of the castle in Eternal Battlegrounds. Again, I would also recommend the use of a region or activity specific currency.

6. People currently only farm dynamic events which involve champions or several packs of monsters. The main reward in these situations is never actually coming from the events themselves but from monster loot. I would like to shift the general incentive to do an event to the event itself.

7. Most things should be purchasable with karma since most activities reward it. What if things like Cultural Armor Skins, Crafting tools and reagents, Transmutation charges, ect. could be purchased with varying amounts of karma?

8. Gold should be reserved as a secondary currency for use with trading post. I am not an economist, and so I am not sure how to keep gold’s value tied to something but I do believe that it should be disconnected from karma, and that karma should remain disconnected from the gem store. We need more items only obtainable by playing the game itself.

That’s it for now. Much of these suggestions come from what I would personally like to see while I wait for expansion content. What do you guys think?

26 August announcement: “September 2014 Feature Pack: Improvements Galore”. The improvements listed are:

- Dungeon Instance Owner
- Crafting UI changes
- Performance updates

Don’t get wrong, these three under the hood improvements are great and all, and I appreciate that a lot of work went into them, but why galore? Could you elaborate?
The word “galore” makes me feel there’s something substantial I’m missing?

Well played Geikamir. Well played. Laughed as well.

OmaiGodman.2098:

I think one of the reasons Anet doesn’t make future announcements anymore is because as soon as they say “we’re working on X” or “we’re looking into the possibility of Y” half a year later people will start complaining “you promised us X and Y, where are they?”

And isn’t that normal? I don’t see the issue here.

U know the community wants X…….u promise to give X….u make X your priority and u deliver it when u say…not replace X with Y and expect the community to feel good about the replacement while indefinitely postpone X.

A company that promises a car and delivers a bike postponing indefinitely the car, seems like a serious company to u? To me it doesn’t. So them loosing our trust after numerous similar situations is only natural.

The sentiment of having to know “what they plan on doing” is exactly because they didn’t give us what we want (or be years late…i mean seriously…WvW feature pack 3 new colors hard to add bro..took 2 years). It’s like wanting to verify they actually put our needs/demands/requests on their list. That’s the whole source of the problem.

If i knew that what i want would definitely come in the promised timeframe or atleast see work done on it, i would never even think of their roadmap.

I dont get the silence when a major competitor (blizz) is doing everything they can to show gamers what they DO have in the pipe so to speak to keep customers, is it because anet actually have nothing in the pot to show ?

Flytrap.8075:

By keeping radio silence, they let each player individually build up their own hype and expectations. I wonder what they’re working on… I mean, as far as we know, it could literally be anything.

And that’s the point.

It all makes sense now. Guild Wars 2 development is basically RNG. Everyone gambles their time (and money on gems) hoping on hope that the thing they want most (S.A.B., Dungeons, Expansion) is being worked on. You pour hundreds of comments into any outlet that will listen. You make posts and posts of complaints and requests and criticisms all over these forums and reddit. You keep investing time into the game, thinking that the content you want MIGHT be coming. Anet didn’t say it wasn’t!

They just can’t talk about it right now.

The curtain has to come down guys. For as many people that will hang around waiting, many more are leaving because they’re not being told what’s going on. Tell people what you’re working on and start listening to what they want to see.

Boneheart.3561:

No I don’t. Surprise me.

Spoilers for Feature Patch February 2015:

• Introduced Green and Pink as Commander tag color choices.

• Cleared up numerous tooltips.

Linnael.1069:

I’ve certainly never seen the entire front two pages be flooded with posts insinuating that ANet does nothing at all with their time. I’ve never seen a wholesale crash of player confidence. I’ve never seen anything warrant a flood of dev responses, a return of the CDI, and a bunch of game designer posts regarding high level company policy.

After two years of blog posts, dev updates, and what-have-you from ANet, it’s pretty clear at this point that their main tool is the classic carrot on the stick. Sure, O’Brien can say that they don’t want to string players along, but that’s exactly what they’re doing by refusing to release development details on new content and committing to a timetable.

Imagine that tomorrow, they change their policy and announce everything they have in the pipeline and what you can expect for the next year to come. What if it’s not good enough? What if it’s just more of the same Living Story and Gem Store updates? I know I’d be gone for good.

By keeping radio silence, they let each player individually build up their own hype and expectations. I wonder what they’re working on… I mean, as far as we know, it could literally be anything.

And that’s the point.

lordkrall.7241:

Have you seen what happens on these forums if something that have been announced is ever changed even in the slightest way?

I’ve certainly never seen the entire front two pages be flooded with posts insinuating that ANet does nothing at all with their time. I’ve never seen a wholesale crash of player confidence. I’ve never seen anything warrant a flood of dev responses, a return of the CDI, and a bunch of game designer posts regarding high level company policy.