Guild Wars 2

Posted by: Ashabhi.1365

Ashabhi.1365

It is…it really is… Regardless of what the haters say, it is still the best MMO on the market right now.

Cheers!

Level 80 Elementalist

GW2 is awesome.

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: xephire.8324

xephire.8324

In light of all the negative threads,GW2 is awesome!! ^^.

Transfered Worlds: Everything in Guild Undone?

Posted by: Gaile Gray

Gaile Gray

ArenaNet Communications Manager

When you transfer, you transfer as an individual, an account holder. You do not/cannot transfer a guild. Your guild achievements, wealth, and attainments are all on your home world. You can transfer back now or at any time and have all that you worked for, just as you can now make more attainments and acquire more wealth to keep on a new home world. This system is designed to allow guilds more options.

I’m sorry that it was not clear to you, but yes, sometimes (often) you do need to ask questions before you make a decision and the information is available in several places.

Gaile Gray
Communications Manager
Guild & Fansite Relations; In-Game Events
ArenaNet

Seven ideas in one post

in Suggestions

Posted by: LeeroyNimoy.1864

LeeroyNimoy.1864

I’ve been moving about these forums for about a month or so now, and have presented a few ideas of my own along the way. I wanted to throw several ideas in one place while I was here today, so here go:

Reload UI
I see the need for a Reload UI (user interface) function from time to time. There was a short-lived bug where all my ambient and combat sound would mute itself after talking to a scout. This would fix itself if I took a waypoint, portal or viewed a vista. Which means, each time the UI was refreshed, it fixed. So having some kind of built-in functionality for this would be a great thing. Even if it’s a key-command like in Star Wars, it would be beneficial.

Emotes
I miss some of the more interesting emotes from GW1 and other MMOs. Where are the silly flirts, the jokes, the world’s smalled violins? We need more interesting things like this, I think. I would say even take it a step further and give us not just gender and race specific jokes/flirts, but maybe add one or two professions specific as well. Little, interesting and sometimes quirky things like this add to the game without needing a whole lot of work. It’s something we can all enjoy in the game without the need to have new armor or major content. There are countless other emotes that could be added, but I’m trying to give a brief synopsis on each of these, so I’ll rely on replies to add to each of these headings.

Skins
I know this has been brought up in other threads, but I’ll throw it out anyway. Some of the skins out there (holiday, gem-bought, living world, etc.) would be better recieved if we could equip them via a drop-down menu like the titles. Personally, I woudl be fine with having to use a transmute token each time I change if it meant I didn’t have to split the items or stand losing it each time I swapped. The money could still be made in the gem store with the transmute tokens, perhaps more since peopel wouldn’t have such a high need for the splitters. The math is a little fuzzy, but it has potential to add up in AreaNet’s favor on that front, at least. Generally this idea is brought forth as something for only backpieces, and I think I’m fine with that as well.

Dyes
I’d like to see some of the rarer dyes be account-learned. I know this mess with the market for them on the TP, but it isn’t like AreaNet doesn’t send out new dyes periodically. I would be okay with seeing new dyes two to five times a year. I would even be okay with splitting dyes into categories; PvE, PvP and town.

Weapon Dye
To piggy-back off the last idea and off a few posts I’ve seen around, I think weapon dyes would be interesting. I don’t want to color the blade, and particular sets and things maybe shouldn’t be dye-able. That being said, it would be pretty cool if I could change the hilt, staff, shaft, stock or frame to match my armor. Nothing too intricate, just a system like what we already have in place for the armor (materials, surfaces, shine, sheen, etc.).

Mounts
Don’t worry, I’m not asking for WoW mounts. I love my Mole Machine, and my Norn looks super funny on the Broom . . . I want more! I wouldn’t begin to know what all to add, but new cosmetic mounts would be simply amazing! As a guy who doesn’t get into the “digital RP” scene, but still loves to personalize my character, these things are both wonderful and hilarious!

Town Clothes
I’d like to see more town clothes introduced, and not just for gems. I think cultural outfits would be prudent, just like we already have armor. I would like to see a handful of crafted things, as well. The really great stuff like sunglasses and toys and the best outfits can stay in the gem shop, that only makes sense. But let my tailor have a special set that only tailors can make, same for armorsmith and leatherworker. Maybe some town accessories that can only be made by a cook or an artificer. Things like this are, again, small and still add a lot of wonder and detail to the game.

Everything I posted (save the reload ui) are customization options. They hold nothing on the game itself or the way people play, but it’s important. Customization is key to immersion, and immerssion is key to keeping RPGers tapped into a game. Allowing for things like this would make a huge difference without requiring a huge amount of work on AreaNet’s part.

Ability is what you can do; Motivation is how much you do; Attitude is how well you do it.
My idea compilation thread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Seven-ideas-in-one-post/first#post3038023

Dishonor BROKE the GAME constructive fix

in PvP

Posted by: Justin ODell.9517

Justin ODell.9517

PvP Server Programmer

So what would you like to see?

A “ready” button that appears before the match is created, and if someone doesn’t hit it within some time-window the match is aborted and both teams are returned to the queue? Perhaps the non-responding players kick out of the team, or kicked out of the entire queue?

One way would be to check your heartbeat every so often with a “are you still here” button, but that would be kind of annoying. It also doesn’t address the players who leave because they don’t like the team they are paired with.

We could just ramp up the dishonor system.

I know the team has their own thoughts on this, but I’d really like to see if someone here can come up with something awesome.

Server Programmer (sPvP)
Isle of Janthir: Flux, Latch, Aegir

Can you add a new WvW Currency plz

in WvW

Posted by: ColinJohanson.2394

ColinJohanson.2394

Game Director

Our goal is to have less currencies in the game, not more

WvW PLAYER CAPACITY Please.

in WvW

Posted by: Johje Holan.4607

Johje Holan.4607

Nuzt.7894:
So have we ever determined if one server can cause a Que for the others ? As in, the limit is 300 one server could have 200 leaving the other two with only 100 to split between them ?

Each server has its own queue and its own limit and it is the same limit for every server. If every server is queued, then everyone has the same number of people on the map. So no, one server cannot cause a queue for another.

WvW PLAYER CAPACITY Please.

in WvW

Posted by: DevonCarver.5370

DevonCarver.5370

WvW Coordinator

Zepher.7803:
I don’t want conjecture or “player tests” I want actual Official Responses.

and I would like everyone to plead in this post for the dev’s to answer.

Can we please have the actual numbers regarding WvW Server capacity limits.

What is the ACTUAL maximum allowed number of players per server?.
Does it change depending on the 3 servers in a matchup?
Does it change during the night/day?

Thanks

While we won’t give exact numbers, I can answer the last 2.
No, No. The numbers are the same at all time and for all matchups.

Preseason Sale: World Transfers-no discount?

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Gaile Gray

Gaile Gray

ArenaNet Communications Manager

Inculpatus cedo.9234:
Medium – Free
High – 800
Very High – 1800

They probably should have included the price of transferring to a Very High population server, just to make sure there was no confusion.

Let’s be clear. This is the precise and full announcement of this sale:

Until the day before the inaugural World vs. World Season, we’re reducing the prices for moving to a new home server! Transfers to a Medium population world are free, and moving to a High population server has been discounted to just 800 gems – but only until October 17!

You can transfer worlds using the World Selection button on your character selection screen.

How is this unclear? Do you think it should have said “there is no sale for the very high servers?” If so, why? It’s clear enough, I think in what it says, which equates to the following:

Medium = Part of the special — free
High = Part of the special — 800 (reduced cost)
Very High = NOT part of the special, so the normal cost (which happens to be 1800 gems)

Gaile Gray
Communications Manager
Guild & Fansite Relations; In-Game Events
ArenaNet

(edited 2013-10-18 17:04:05 by Gaile Gray.6029)

Instant Trait Reset?

Posted by: Redenaz.8631

I’ll grant that not having a system where you spend points, and then are asked to confirm (which would avoid misclicks,) can be problematic. I think the trait lines are spread enough apart, graphically, that this should rarely be a problem, but, hey, people are going to occasionally misread things at a glance, and I’m sure I’ve done dumber things now and then, so I think some better menu work could be done here.

Giving up one inventory slot of the item is pretty negligible burden, at least if you’ve bought/crafted reasonably large containers. I know this as someone who is constantly hauling around tons of crap (town clothes, alternate armor for looks, LS items like the Flames of Kryta, etc.) I haven’t bought any extra bag slots, but I rarely run out of room unless I A) haven’t been salvaging/selling stuff, or B ) I try to open a bunch of bonus chests (Tequatl) and containers (Champion Loot Bags) at the same time.

I think the idea is to not use multiples of these things every day, or even to play every day. If we imagine a gamer who has enough time to do more than two significantly-different game types in a day (enough to use more than one retrait item,) and then repeat that on a daily basis, they probably aren’t feeling the time pinch enough to want to pay for that little convenience. The target demographic probably doesn’t have that much time, which is why they’d rather shell out $0.75 instead of warp to Lion’s Arch and back in the first place. Even if they did land in some middle ground where they want to retrait a lot, but are also pinched for time, the cost of the retrait item might discourage them from using it a lot…which keeps their way of playing the game not that different from how everyone else plays the game, with their traits changing at a very limited frequency.

Am I saying it’s a good deal? For the vast majority of people, I should think, and this includes myself, it’s just not worth it. That’s okay, I think; convenience items like these aren’t meant to appeal to everyone. If they did, and non-cosmetic for-cash items were powerful enough or cheap enough, they’d run the risk of becoming explicitly or implicitly necessary, and the game model would suffer for it. If you think a real money purchase is useless, and so you don’t buy them, but someone else does for the sake of that very minor convenience, the system is working correctly. I know people are frequently scornful of freemium features, but there’s a difference between Plants vs. Zombies 2 does microtransactions and how Candy Crush Saga does them.

I disagree, however, and this might be what really rankles people about the retrait item, with the idea that retraiting should be much more freely accessible than it is. While I like the idea of saving build templates, for use in different content “modes,” (PvE, WvW, dungeons, fractals, etc.,) I also like the idea of giving trait decisions weight by requiring a generally minor amount of hassle to change them. It favors those who come prepared, while encouraging players to deal with unfavorable surprises in a way other than changing yet another dial on their character, on top of equipment, skills, and major traits. That inconvenience, at its effect on how people play, is not an inherently bad thing or bad game design.

I’m not sure people’s problem with the retrait item is what it does (which is comparable to convenience items we’ve had since launch,) but rather that it doubles down on an existing system some players dislike, and apparently precludes the replacement of that system with one more similar to GW1. How many people thought replacing the current trait system was on the the table before? I won’t say it was never going to happen, but it was clearly a conscious decision on the part of the design team to make it less flexible, and the introduction of a the retrait item, a full year after launch, just seems to establish their commitment to the system, bringing it in line with half a dozen other systems with convenience items tied to them. The difference between them and it, however, is that the retrait item wasn’t available at launch (unlike armor repair cans,) which suggests it wasn’t factored into the design decision in the first place.

~The Storyteller – Elementalist – Jade Quarry~

Instant Trait Reset?

Posted by: Redenaz.8631

Newman.6847:
Apart from the fact it’s way too expensive to be useful […]

Not if you’re a well-payed professional who makes $45+ an hour, or even $22.5/hour under certain circumstances. Then the time saved might be worth it to you. If you’re evaluating convenience items based on their cost in gold, it’s a safe bet that you’re not their target demographic in the first place.

Newman.6847:
Good design = option to have several preset builds we can swap out when ooc, perhaps for a small fee if they insist.

Bad design = 1 use consumable item that we have to buy, and then manually reset traits that we have to remember every time, while our dungeon party patiently waits.

I hope not many people buy these, maybe that’ll force them to implement a proper way of resetting traits on the fly.

They have never seemed to want to allow people to reset traits on the fly, or at least that sure didn’t sound like the plan back in February 2012:

Re-Specializing

After a character has spent their trait points, they can visit a trainer to reset their traits and refund their previously spent points for a small fee.

We realized that an important part of building a character is some sense of permanence. With this new system, you are flexible enough to change if you really want to, but you should still feel like the choices you made matter while you are out adventuring or slogging your way through a dungeon. In competitive PvP, you have a separately saved trait build and can respec free of charge.

I think it’s pretty clear that retrait items weren’t part of the plan back when the trait system was designed; whether or not it’s a good idea to allow people to bypass this design decision with an item, that’s a very small concession, while “swapping preset builds out of combat” would require a pretty dramatic shift in design direction. It’s not a clean cut “quality of life” change, it’s a specific decision about how the feel of the game and how much weight build choices have.

Which, in light of that, how terrible would the reaction be if they actually did introduce the ability to retrait anywhere for a one-time gem purchase? Then it would go from occasionally-used shortcut by the convenience item market (who, I cannot repeat this enough, buy this for cash, not gold,) to an expected, possibly even required (by elite dungeon runners, for example,) purchase, either through gold or cash. The limited usefulness of this item is what makes it an acceptable cash purchase, since it appeals to a relatively narrow portion of the playerbase, without the rest feeling like they need it or that it would be a good value for them.

~The Storyteller – Elementalist – Jade Quarry~

(edited 2013-10-08 00:15:28 by Redenaz.8631)

Collaborative Development

in CDI

Posted by: CC Danicia.1394

CC Danicia.1394

Community Coordinator

nethykins.7986:
Also, how can you be reading all our feedback if mods can change what we say, whenever and to whatever?

The only time the Moderation Team edits a post is to remove profanity or comments which violate the Forum Code of Conduct.

New Hair Cool but Disappointed ^^;

in Sylvari

Posted by: Kristen Perry.5260

Kristen Perry.5260

Heyo everyone!

Just wanted to pop by and let everyone know I am still forum lurking, like I mentioned on the livestream a bit ago. I’m glad everyone seems to like the fiddle fern hair and I am reading feedback for the flower hair. The reasons for its dye layout have all been listed above (Electro and Arrow Storm, you guys get +1 internets!).

I tried to explain this in the livestream, but I don’t think I adequately got the entire point out. By having it behave so naturally, it does take up a dye channel, so I have to be creative in coming up with ways to make the design feel full. The bringing in of secondary skintones helps with that a lot. But until you guys pointed it out, I didn’t even see the “bald” sorta thing, it just looked like a swept-back hair to me. Still does, but I get where you guys are coming from and will keep this in mind for the future.

Personally the flower hair is my favorite because of the flip and I had a lot of fun with the petals. It was my “Mary Tyler Moore” homage and if anyone was particularly astute, you’d see it was in the upper left corner of the sketches in the livestream. ;}

Oh and incidentally, because I’ve seen it mentioned—the hairs were all made new for the release. The sketches were over a year old. I wanted to enthuse that many of the things you guys had on your wishlist were the same I had on mine!

Thanks for the constructive feedback!

Bored of Hairstyles.

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Kristen Perry.5260

Kristen Perry.5260

Ah, now that the livestream and hair release is out, I can get more in-depth with those designs and follow up on some of the topics I’ve seen brought up here. I can’t talk about everything, of course, but I’ll do my best. For some varied responses:

To answer a persistent query: the beards aren’t something we can make mix and match for the sylvari. On the texture template, the varied ear choices take up that particular slot. So this means that any beards or whatnot have to be built with which face it’s designed. If anyone has a particular design to suggest, I’ll give it a good thinking. No promises, as I’m also restricted to the face area on the template. So a big bushy beard probably can’t happen without voodoo and mai tais.

Trehearne’s design was asked about somewhere. Yes, I did his design. (I know how poplar he is. Heh.) He’s based off of devil’s claw thorns. The shapes of those pods are pretty awesome looking (and they’re not leaf based… wanted some material variety). I wanted to make a cool brooding face that swept forward rather than back with its structures. I thought the pocks in the pods were awesome glow points. And now that I type that again, I remind myself to use more fun patterns with face glows. It’s just that it’s so satisfying to have glow coming from in between layers! An addiction, I know… ;}

Yes, I agree that a lot of leaf shapes are oval. With the fern hair and pinecone, I was trying to address some of this by introducing new shapes. Even the flower hair is really new, as we didn’t have both leaves and petal as a mixed material. I’ve been trying to ponder maple leaves, but they don’t particularly play nice as sparse shapes (you guys tend to like full designs). They prefer to be in clumps. That’s hard to do without looking like a raked pile of leaves. Still chewing on it, though.

Other textures I’d like to play with are long grasses, curly vines, weathered leaves and more flowers. The flower hair design was changed up for the male and female versions: I know it’d be a shame if the strapping young lads were denied flowers! However, the blossom design alone really wouldn’t sit well on them. So I thought the more tarzan/rockstar bud design solved that issue… still a flower, but tailored for him. ;}

I see mentions of fruits and nuts. This is a new category of material that I’ve been pondering and haven’t quite settled with it. While the visual idea is lovely, I’ve always pictured the sylvari to be the fruits of the Pale Tree. For fruits to have fruits of their own… not sure that works just yet. It may be a matter of weighing anatomy righteousness against the fashion notion that most people won’t care and just want the cool factor. Hehehe, oh you guys! One day you’re in, the next day you’re out, eh?

Oh yes, curls. I had an old Shirley Temple design way back before the redesign. It was on my character panel for PAX a few years ago. So many possibilities with this… and the cloth physics should prove quite fun! …Or a nightmare with the collapsing polies during jumping animations. Ah, such is art.

Finally, out of curiosity… Zeefa, could you be more specific? I know you wanted a short mohawk from a previous post, but what about the new hairs didn’t work for you and what kind of hairs are more interesting to you? I can’t promise it’ll get made, but I always try to take feedback into account.

Keep up the great posts and sketches, guys! I love seeing what you guys do and it’s always a great window into some of what sylvari players want.

(edited 2013-10-09 05:38:54 by Kristen Perry.5260)

Spvp QoL, Monetization, Barrier of entry

in PvP

Posted by: Kline.9561

Kline.9561

infantrydiv.1620:
Oh dear, that sounds expensive…

well in my opinion if Anet is able to get SPVP in a healthier state

they should release a free to play client for just the MISTS

this will give a new wave of players to SPVP which it direly needs,
while also giving the option to “Free2play” players to purchase the full client of the game. or use the cash to purchase pvp items

thus generating more sales and giving more incentives for Anet to forward resources to the spvp team.

another reason that would be a good idea is because. more players mean more people watching tournaments and more Stream/twitch channels which will help the game self promote Spvp. and overall more people to make friends with and to play with(shorter ques)

And before says my build doesn’t work, when Ele’s get nerfed it will be -Schwahrheit

(edited 2013-10-05 05:24:11 by Kline.9561)

Guild leader

Posted by: Gaile Gray

Gaile Gray

ArenaNet Communications Manager

Astral Projections.7320:
Unfortunately, no. At this time there is no way to promote or change the leadership. You now have 1 real choice. That is to make another guild and keep the other as a secondary guild, maybe for storage only.

It’s possible that at some time they will put in the Guild Wars 1 feature where leaders are replaced if inactive for a specified period of time but it is unknown when or if they will do this.

In the future you may wish to have a second person as a co-leader, so this can’t happen. Of course this can come with its own set of problems if people quarrel.

This is accurate.

Gaile Gray
Communications Manager
Guild & Fansite Relations; In-Game Events
ArenaNet

Is precursor crafting going to happen or not?

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/looking-ahead-guild-wars-2-in-2013/

Posted by: ColinJohanson.2394

ColinJohanson.2394

Game Director

You will absolutely see a way to create a precursor available in the future. As detailed in our plans for the second half of the year here:

As mentioned at the end of the blog, as always things are subject to change as test and prepare various systems. Most of the stuff covered in the blog you’ve already seen implemented, or steps towards being implemented, however the precursor building (and corresponding additional legendary items) is the one highest at risk to not make it this year.

It is still something we absolutely plan to do!

Instant Trait Reset?

Posted by: Ayrilana.1396

Ayrilana.1396

I’m still confused about what the big deal is. It’s no different than the other convenience items such as the craft station, bank, merchant, and trading post consumables. If you don’t like it then just don’t buy it.

Instant Trait Reset?

Posted by: Redenaz.8631

Mikuchan.7261:
70 gems for skipping a few load screens (4?) and a max of like 8-10 s wp cost and the 3-ish s it costs to retrait?
70 gems are worthlike what? 3-4 gold?

If using a retrait item saves you one minute of hassle, and you buy them in the 5-pack ($0.75 for each item,) that’s on par with working a single minute at a job that pays $45/hour. That’s a very high wage if a player is a student or just starting out, but if that’s the case, convenience items aren’t targeted at that player in the first place, who likely has more time to spare than money. Convenience items are targeted at busy professionals don’t have a lot of time to spare, and are happy to spend some change if it’ll help them make the most of their limited gaming time. That’s why convenience items are a terrible deal if you’re trading gold for them; if you have time to farm enough gold for that, you can probably spare a couple minutes to make a run to the bank/skill trainer/trading post/armor repair/etc.

If using a retrait stone saves you two minutes (which it might, if you’re in, say, a jumping puzzle, instanced area, a crowded server before a big event, etc.) then the wage at which which an equivalent amount of time spent working (two minutes) pays enough to cover the item ($0.75) drops by half, down to $22.5 . That’s not minimum wage, but that’s not outlandish, either, if you’re a young professional.

If anyone would like to see my more thorough write-up, with the math shown and more analysis, let me know. I was going to post it, but it’s, well, a little exhausting if you’re not interested in this kind of thing.

~The Storyteller – Elementalist – Jade Quarry~

(edited 2013-10-07 06:10:09 by Redenaz.8631)

Instant Trait Reset?

Posted by: Redenaz.8631

Right. I like a lot of games that are low on filler (Braid, LIMBO— Okay, I have a thing for 2D platformers,) but when I power-leveled my third character through crafting, I found it less satisfying than I did playing the other two straight. With alt #4, I’m more or less using crafting as a leveling supplement to get me from one story step to the next if I’ve completed an area but can’t yet hack it in the next-tiered area.

I’ll try not to say too much more on the ups and downs of XP in RPGs, however, since I’m going to start to go off-topic if I do.

In the case of retrait items, I feel I’m actually happier being (gently) locked into my build. I can still change weapons and major traits on a situational basis, but if I wander into a situation where my current traits aren’t optimal, I’m discouraged from resetting them. I just have to cope the best I can, which creates a very organic added challenge/drama to gameplay.

I get why people who do a lot more varied content than I do, like those who switch between PvE and WvW, might want a template system, just like people don’t use the same template for PvP as they do for anything else. WvW can be awkward that way at times, in it’s unusual middle ground.

~The Storyteller – Elementalist – Jade Quarry~

Issues with character art, weapons, or armor?

in Bugs: Game, Forum, Website

Posted by: Josh Davis.6015

Josh Davis.6015

Please post them in this thread if you come across any sort of bug that fits in the following categories:

- Armor/clothing art issues (textures, placement, clipping…)
- Weapon art issues (textures, placement, effects, clipping…)
- Character model issues (textures, effects…)

General Guidelines:
-Take a screenshot of the issue
-Take a screenshot of your equipment on the Hero Panel (H)
- List your Race, Sex and Class
- Be as descriptive as possible
-Take a screenshot

—If the issue relates to clothing/armor/weapons—
- List the names of every piece of armor/clothing/weapon equipped (this includes the level requirement) when you encountered the issue
- If you can, list where you acquired the item (which NPC, what map location, which dungeon, etc…)

Note on clipping issues: While we understand the desire to have all clipping issues resolved, the way our items are designed sometimes causes some small issues that cannot be fixed easily. We’re looking for severe clipping (like your shield is impaling you or your daggers are completely hidden by your coat.) Things like hair clipping or minor clipping of weapons into armor are sometimes unavoidable.

Please attach the screenshots to your forum post rather than hosting it elsewhere.
If you have a video of the issue, please upload those to YouTube (unlisted) and link that along with your other bug information here.

For more Bugging Best Practices, see this thread.

We appreciate everyone’s help with these issues. Thank you!

aka Grouch

(edited 2013-09-03 18:53:57 by Moderator)

Skyhammer, Skyhammer and... Skyhammer?

in PvP

Posted by: Allie Murdock

Allie Murdock

Community Coordinator

So, our programmer looked into it and says that Skyhammer is actually one of the least played maps in the last 7 days. Looks like you guys just hit random.

Instant Trait Reset?

Posted by: Redenaz.8631

RLHawk.3290:
If your argument is not against any of that and is instead simply that you should be able to re-trait from anywhere regardless, then that’s not really a complaint about the item, but rather a complaint about how traits/builds work.
I think wanting to re-trait any time freely is a valid suggestion and I can kinda see both sides of it myself. On the one hand, I feel like your traits are your build, and should maybe be even more locked in, since skills are what you can freely change about. On the other hand, since it is such a minor deal to change your build, why not just make it no deal at all? But to me, that’s not really related to having this item in the game

It gets to one a question that I feel is at the heart of video games: How much filler/slow-down is fun?

Take XP boosters. Everyone likes to get XP and everyone likes to level up, so it’s easy to understand people liking XP boosters, whether paid for or free. That’s why you occasionally earn them in game, they’re in the birthday chest, etc. If you pay for boosters, you’re objectively leveling up faster than other players…but are you having more fun? If you’re having more fun, shouldn’t the game company just boost XP for everyone, so everyone has more fun?

That sounds reasonable; there’s a reason “grind” has such negative connotations. A cynical onlooker would say that every non-boosted player is being slowed down in order to encourage players to buy boosters. That’s one of the major frequent criticisms of free to play games and of cash stores, even in non-free games like GW2, so it’s a warranted concern. No one likes to have their time wasted.

That said, up until the recent addition of the retrait item, there wasn’t any way for the developer to make money off the inconvenience of resetting traits, so it doesn’t seem likely that the system was developed with the cash shop in mind.

Was it just a poor design decision to make players hunt down trait trainers, or does that inconvenience serve another purpose, like strengthening player-build identities and giving a sense of weight to decisions and the trait system?

I don’t think either way of handling traits (free and convenient, nominal fee and slightly inconvenient) is inherently better than the other. They both have their pros and cons, and will appeal to different people. Obviously, someone, or rather multiple people, designing the game thought the pros were worth the cons here, because they went with the system we have. There’s definitely going to be a portion of the player base who disagrees, but they can’t please everyone.

~The Storyteller – Elementalist – Jade Quarry~

Trait reset per Gem Shop

Posted by: SeeRower.3852

SeeRower.3852

Yeah Convenience does justify it all.

Every single item on the gem store is for convenience. They are all items we can easily do without. Your example of fast travel is, imo, invalid. Had Anet not Advertised that fast travel will be a feature and then attached a gem price to it, so you can make use of the convenience, I personally wouldn’t have an issue.

Also I don’t remember anything about the game being cosmetic progression orientated. Got a source for that? I know that they said it won’t be be gear orientated, but that, to me, doesn’t mean it’ll me cosmetically orientated, it just means that at top tier gear doesn’t mean squat, it all comes down to how well you lay out your build and you skill in playing it.

On the note of feeling that we need to fork out gems to have fun; huh? How does that even make sense? I don’t see anything in the gem store is a necessity for fun?

Trait reset per Gem Shop

Posted by: SeeRower.3852

SeeRower.3852

Again this is all for convenience. And what monetization are you referring to? I have not spent a cent of RL money on the gem store, all my gems I got from trading gold. That said, this has nothing to do with templates, the trait reset stones don’t let you save a certain trait setup, they just let you reset your traits on the fly. If you don’t like the item then don’t buy it, Anet isn’t cramming it down your throat.

Trait reset per Gem Shop

Posted by: SeeRower.3852

SeeRower.3852

Lol, just Lol.

I seriously don’t see how people can be kicking up such a * storm over this item. It’s there for convenience sake, nothing more. The ~8s (incl WP costs) you pay to retrait is bloody minimal, sure it’s a slight hindrance and that’s why the retrait item was introduced. I for one couldn’t be kitten d to buy it.

One the note of “Pay to Win,” pls show me one item currently in the gem store that falls into this category.

Instant Trait Reset?

Posted by: Redenaz.8631