Guild Wars 2

Out of curiosity.

If one cannot work toward rewards/items in game how do all of the rares, exotics, legendaries, and ascended items make it into the game ?

Currently the vast majority of gear skins are drops in game. In my opinion Anet has reserved some of the least attractive options for the gemstore.

Buying items with gold is just a means of shortening the time spent working for items yourself. I could do the same in GW1. I had terrible luck getting items that I wanted to drop so I farmed close to a hundred stacks of ectos and could then buy the items I wanted.

The differences in GW2 are:

1) items are not generally tied to specific content so working towards a specific item can be more time consuming as the drop table is truly enormous.

2) one can work toward the items they want without being restricted to one, or a few, specific pieces of content.

3) one can more readily bypass the “working toward,”’part by choosing to spend real money. I say more readily because this was possible in GW1 as well.

Personally I like a mix. Getting that cool skin drop from completing a piece of challenging content can be very nice. Being able to get what you want by playing content that you like rather than working on content that you don’t is similarly very nice. I do think that the balance between these two could use some adjusting in GW2.

Hmm, must be an odd numbered Friday.

Devildoc.6721:

Similar to world bosses. I mean they’re difficult content for most people, on a daily timer so you can’t just farm them over and over, and here you are giving out greens and blues for them. I’d say the difficulty is as much as boss meta events probably more considering you can’t just hammer 1 while afk during a JP.

I’ve seen people claim that they park characters at the end of JPs just to claim rewards daily. Not sure that is more difficult than auto-attacking during a meta event.

dlonie.6547:

Ashen.2907:

Please do not allow the community to select these specialists. Be as objective as possible and select candidates that meet your criteria.

Are you referring to my post? Because from your reply, I think I may have not been clear:

ArenaNet would objectively create a short list of the candidates that met the criteria. If there was more than one valid candidate for an area, then we could elect the specialist (from ArenaNet’s list).

I wasn’t referring to your post specifically but your sugestion would be a reasonable middle ground betweenplayer selection and Anet selection. I would still much rather not have direct player input into this process however.

Please do not allow the community to select these specialists. Be as objective as possible and select candidates that meet your criteria.

I admire the sentiment and applaud the engagement ehind this thread, but I really think that it should be closed. It really does seem likely to be a toxicity magnet aimed at named individual forumites.

Quite possibly the worst analogy I’ve ever seen.

IllegalChocolate.6938:

I will state that there is still team work involved in many of the execute strats that are used heavily in content. Team blast stacks of might, vuln, fury, with quickness que in deep freeze ice bow with everyone doing a “synergistic” kill combo is still considered team work. It is an offensive team spike.

Note that he didn’t say that there was no teamwork, just that there was no need for it. Teamwork of the sort you reference speeds things up but is generally not necessary to complete content.

Astral Projections.7320:

“•must live in the USA and be age 18 or older, for legal reasons”

I can see the age 18 part but; there are US laws restricting who a company can have as a Forum Specialist on a privately run forum to only United States residents? That’s hard to believe.

Unless there are really laws against it, this is something ANet should reconsider as this part doesn’t make sense to me.

In some countries a volunteer of this sort would be considered, by law, to be an employee of the company requiring adherence to local labor regulations.

“This situation registers at 1.7 Vaynes according to our equipment.”

“Holy cow, anything over 1.2 Vaynes can be lethal to anyone with a weak heart. We better do some revamping…NOW!”

Dictionary definitions are not objective. Often times they are determined by a consensus of opinion among employees or associates of a corporation or other organization based on perceptions of current common use.

Context is extremely important to word definition due to frequent use of words to have meaning or nuance specific to a given subculture or endeavor.

This is not to say that dictionary definitions are not important. They provide a, mostly, solid baseline for communicating in a given language, but claiming that their contents are objective is incorrect.

Changing their minds is not what made for it being a lie. Claiming that they never expected for something that they previously said that they did expect did.

1) We intend X
2) We have changed our mind and no longer expect X

Is very different from:

1) We expect X
2) We never expected X

quaniesan.8497:

Superior Sigil of Real Rangers:

Active pets suffer an heart attack and die tragically and permanently. The Ranger has +15% attack speed, range and damage.

I’d pay for that.

DarcShriek.5829:

Xenon.4537:

Nevets Crimsonwing.5271:

Andred.1087:

They can release any content through the Living Story, which they’ve been doing for a while now.

They have not shown they can release any content through the Living Story. That’s the problem.

Okay… mathematically they have released some content. It’s just not enough to satisfy most people. In today’s gaming culture, most gamers want a large, substantial package of content they can consume in a matter of days or weeks. GW2 is trying to drip feed us a couple hours of content at a time. It’s like they have a bag of Skittles and we only get to eat 1 Skittle every 2 weeks. Where is our steak dinner? We need some meat and potatoes.

I’m interested in what numbers you have that say most people aren’t satisfied. You have none, your statement is false.

Where are your numbers to show that his statement is false ?

If you had said, “unsupported,” you would have been correct but none of us have the data to prove or disprove his statement. He could be right, he could be wrong, none of us have the data to prove either position.

ntx.2976:

Ever since you opened the door to macro’s being used for music instruments I personally haven’t taken my instruments out. Much to my sadness now that playing an instrument has no musical significance I would love to be able to block some of the macro instrument players just on the basis that I dont really feel like listening to the fake stuff, I can just listen to a mp3 file of something if i want to hear a recorded song in a low quality environment. Is extending the block feature into also removing instrument sounds from specific players a possibility ?

Honest question here:

Did you support the idea of allowing players to block instrument sounds from specific players before macros ?

Orpheal.8263:

@ Crimson

Thank you for your comment. It gave me alot of food for thought about which will answer later.
About the complains about the used pop culture references, I absolutely see no problem with that.
GW2 already has alot of different pop culoture references from other real world mythologies.
So I kind of find it really weird here, that all those people which complain here now about those pop culture references don’t find them ok suddenly, only because they come from mostly from the japare anese/chinese/korean whatever region (you get the idea), when there exists even a whole playable race, that is being named after a japanese pop culture referance name – namely the ASURA

If people really have that much personal problems with asian pop culture references beign used for names and so on, I’m sure, these kind of people are really unhappy about the existance of the Asura right???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asura_%28Buddhism%29

All the other races also have tons of such references.
Caladbolg for example and the Sylvari are alot based on Celtic/Gaelic/Irish pop culture references and their race name also is a no brainer and in case of their personal story it has lots of links to the arthurian legends
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caladbolg

The Norn are from feet to nose referenced from old germanic/norse mythological history.
The Charr have alot of romanian pop culture references, thinks like Gladium for example, Tribune and so on …

So I really don’t get it, what for problems people have here with pop culture and mythological references being used to spice up a bit just a race concept with some terms, that they might know maybe (many won’t), other than maybe just personally don’t liking those references, but that is not my problem, its yours !

A couple of minor corrections:

Asura is originally a Hindu/Indian reference. Even the link you provide indicates that the Japanese version is a derivation of the much older Hindu.

The Charr are Roman influenced not Romanian.

A core business philosophy of MMO’s is that developers want players to become invested in the game. They want us to emotionally connect with and buy into the world that they have created so that we continue to play and to pay over an extended period of time. They do not want us to buy the box, play for 40, 60, 80 hours and then move on to another game without a backward glance as we might do with a single player game.

It is not at all unreasonable for a player to want to have a sense of the direction the developers will be taking the game in order to invest themselves in the game and its future. If a developer wants players to stay for the ride, make the game a second home of sorts, then its a good idea to give an idea of what the ride will entail.

ANet is no different than any other MMO developer in this regard. Redesigning aspects of the game to increase retention demonstrates that they seek the same thing that every other MMO does…players invested in the game.

Yoroiookami.3485:

Ashen.2907:

The paragraph where you mention, “it,” already being in game focused exclusively on game mechanics. My apologies for not realizing that you meant real world couples when you spoke of game mechanics.

As to the real world couples aspect…

I know. I play with my wife. We met in GW1. We had an in game ceremony for our guild and alliance. We exchanged quest tokens <silver ring> And oaths In our guild hall with guildies and alliance members present. We then hosted a variety of party games with prizes for attendees.

We didn’t need Anet to sanction or reward us for our commitment to each other.

This is not about fear of marriage or anything of the sort. Its about not providing game mechanical benefits for taking a partner. Unless those same benefits are made available without the romantic prerequisite they are not appropriate.

Again, as a reminder, I support the idea of in game marriage, but only so long as it does not affect game mechanics.

Yes, you don’t really need anything to roleplay. I just think dresses, rings and stuff like that would be nice to have. If you don’t think that benefits to people who are (essentially) in groups are fair, then why do guilds even exist? Guilds give plenty of much larger benefits, allow you to share with a bigger group and yet everyone is perfectly okay with it. I’m proposing a small in-game sharing system between a hubby and wife. I don’t see how is that so unfair. It gives you a reason to marry is what it does and I don’t even view it as something negative.

Guilds have no ability to bypass item restrictions such as account bound.

If you need a game mechanical reason for the marriage then you shouldnt be getting married.

As mentioned previously I fully support the idea of wedding formal wear, titles, new ascended “wedding rings,” and so on.

There is nothing to prevent a married couple from having their own two person guild with a guild bank to share between them.

Aren’t the Kodan already kind of a zen focused race ?

I am not opposed to the basic idea presented by the OP but it seems to have a bit too much overlap with existing races IMO. Cat-like is somewhat Charrish. Zen focused is similar to the Kodan IMO.

My suggestion to the OP would be to try to de-emphasize the areas of overlap with existing races and focus on what makes the race different. Also give the race a distinctive interaction hook. Asura are mad scientists, Norn are a valhalla seeking vikings (with a touch of greek hero hubris tossed in), etc.

A hook needs to be very distinctive and immediately recognizable to differentiate members of one race from another and very much needs to go beyond the visual.

Nice start though.

The paragraph where you mention, “it,” already being in game focused exclusively on game mechanics. My apologies for not realizing that you meant real world couples when you spoke of game mechanics.

As to the real world couples aspect…

I know. I play with my wife. We met in GW1. We had an in game ceremony for our guild and alliance. We exchanged quest tokens <silver ring> And oaths In our guild hall with guildies and alliance members present. We then hosted a variety of party games with prizes for attendees.

We didn’t need Anet to sanction or reward us for our commitment to each other.

This is not about fear of marriage or anything of the sort. Its about not providing game mechanical benefits for taking a partner. Unless those same benefits are made available without the romantic prerequisite they are not appropriate.

Again, as a reminder, I support the idea of in game marriage, but only so long as it does not affect game mechanics.

Yoroiookami.3485:

narwhalsbend.7059:

According to lore, male rangers must become paragons after marriage.
Therefore, marriage will never be in-game as there are no more paragons in Tyria.

That’s pretty cool. What are paragons?

Vermillion Hawk.9037:

Only if I get to write up a pre-digi-nuptial agreement that will entitle me to a monthly lump sum of my partner’s earnings post-divorce. Oh, and joint custody with limited supervised visitation of my partner’s Legendary. If you’re going to add marriage, add it with warts and all. All you kids seem to want is realism. Well, welcome to the real world.

Realism? No, I just wanted to introduce a fun mechanic that is in other MMORPGs.

Ashen.2907:

So with shared crafting mats what happens when partner X gathered the materials but partner Y crafted the item in the case of a, “divorce?”

I am all for including marriage in game but am opposed to in game benefits associated with it. A title, sure. A new ascended ring called a wedding band available for laurels or in the gem-store, sure. A craftable (or gemstore purchased) wedding/formal wear outfit, sure.

All of the game mechanical benefits….absolutely opposed.

The same thing that happens when you’re in a guild with someone you can’t trust? I understand some of you guys’s arguments, but these just don’t make sense. It’s already in-game, I just want to make account bound items shareable between two players in a special bank tab. Unless you put something there knowing the consequences, your stuff is safe.

Arikyali.5804:

One word as to why it’s best to avoid this altogether: Drama.

Let’s avoid that as much as possible.

So far all the drama I see is in this topic. People seem to be really negative about something that is already in the game. Without stuff like ceremonies and rings. Which makes no sense, I might add…

Oxidia.8103:

Why do people have need to implement these…..these…..nonsense in this game? There is about 1500 things to fix, and your great idea is: lul lezs hav weddings and free bank slots? And what, if you divorce wife gets half of your stuff???? Then we will need 2 more classes: a priest ( to marry ofc ) and lawyer (i’m allready seeing the elites on that one) and a judge can be npc.

Funalicius.

Edit: what if a person you marry is a dude in real life but plays female, does he still get half of the stuff?

Another “let’s only focus on the most important things, don’t you dare have other ideas” argument. Brilliant. You have opened my eyes.

“Already in game ?”

No, sharing account bound items across multiple accounts is not already in the game. Nor are any of the other game mechanical benefits you are seeking. The majority of what you are looking for in the opening post is not currently in game. You are not just asking for a ceremony and a pair of rings. I commented in support of that approach to in game marriage in the post you quoted. You are seeking in game mechanical advantages over other players. If the relationship itself, or your partner, were what mattered then you wouldn’t need in game mechanical advantages over non-married individuals.

Vayne.8563:

Some of us are all dragoned out in fact. After Rift, Skyrim, Dragon Age, and every other stupid game that focuses on dragons, dragons were the one design decision I never liked. I don’t find them interesting and I’m sure there are others like me.

And I know for sure there are tons of people who would welcome an expansion set in Elona or dare I say Cantha, even if there wasn’t a dragon in sight.

Agreed. Dragons are a bit overdone in fantasy games. I don’t mind them in GW2 but I they are not a check in the plus column for me either.

Filaha.1678:

Ashen.2907:

Not at all. I am not expressing an opinion here.

So your claim is that it is fact that the items are not overpriced because they’re making maximum profit based on people who would buy the items?

Fair enough, then I assume you have evidence that they’re making maximum profit off of the current price:consumer ratio. Please present this evidence.

Ashen.2907:

What one person might choose to call a cash grab another might point out is a company producing a product that people might choose to purchase.

Something is not overpriced if its current pricing…

The if is important there.

I do not know what method(s) anet is using to test their pricing but I am sure…or at least I hope…they are doing so rather than just picking a number out of the air and running with it. It is entirely possible that lowering their prices would generate enough of a unit sales increase to more than offset the per unit loss in revenue. If so then the current prices would be considered overpriced. In theory gemstore items could even be underpriced. Its possible, at least in theory, that some of the items would see a revenue increase through price increases.

Please note that I am not arguing whether or not items are currently overpriced but rather that we, without access to numbers that only Anet has, do not know. Hence the if in my sentence.

Palador.2170:

The arguments over price are interesting, but I think they’re missing something important: Fun factor.

Have you ever had to do a double take in GW2 because you saw someone wearing a really awesome armor? Or come across someone with a musical instrument that not only knows how to play it, but is doing so well? What about a “How to Dance” group having some fun? These are moments where someone else spending money in the gem store makes your game play more enjoyable.

This is an important concept, that person A can make the game better for person B by spending gems. On these items, ANet wants to keep the price lower, so the game becomes richer by having them around. How much lower? Hard to say, but setting the price for maximum financial gain on that item may not be the best plan in the long run.

Okay, back to your discussion.

Agreed.

This point is part of the maximum financial gain determination and is an example of why marketing can be as much an art form as a science because intuition can play such an important role in this aspect.

Filaha.1678:

So you’re saying that your opinion is greater than that of countless other people?

Not at all. I am not expressing an opinion here.

Filaha.1678:

That’s a very poor definition, though.

It is the definition.

Filaha.1678:

Would people pay $10.00 for a mining pick? Yes.
Would people pay $5.00 for a mining pick? Yes, but probably more would.
Would people pay $15.00 for a mining pick? Probably yes, but probably less would.

So according to your logic, all three of those prices would be “correctly priced”, despite the fact that one is cheaper and one is more expensive than the average?

Not my logic. For what it is worth any price will be both too high, too low, and just right depending on the individual consumer. Since this is so subjective for the consumer the only objective way to determine the correct price for anything is maximum revenue/profit generation. If the mining pick would generate more revenue at $5 than at any of the other price points then the others would be overpriced. If the $15 mining pick generates more revenue than would be the case at the other price points then it is the correct price.

Filaha.1678:

When 2 million people buy your game but you give preference in special items to those who can afford or are willing to keep paying more, then there’s problems.

The only way this could be avoided would be for everything to be free after the initial purchase. Even a sub fee violates this principle as those who can afford the box cost, but not the sub fee, will get less than those who can afford to pay more every month.

Filaha.1678:

IMO, the best way to go is subscription with everything in the game accessible to all without someone needing to pay even further. If your money is coming from subscriptions, you can’t just rely on making a pretty outfit or flashy tool or shiny shinies to get you money. You have to make a product worth paying for. You have to make sure your customers are happy. Something ArenaNet is failing to do by not even giving a hint as to what big things they’re working on that apparently require hundreds of people all being excited and worky when apparently the living story only requires about 20 and that’s really all we’re getting for content.

I still think that BtP with cash shop has potential as a business model but Anet’s handling of it has definitely eroded my belief. I do not have a problem with paying a subscription, but also have no doubt that even sub games will generally have cash shops going forward.

I tend to agree with you on this with the possible exception of the fact that what is, “worth paying for,” is very subjective. I see a lot of potential in a cash shop with large numbers of items that each appeal to different individuals/play styles/etc in order to, hopefully, have something for everyone. I enjoyed knowing that my gold purchases (before I decided that the game was no longer “worth” my money) might very well be helping someone who could not otherwise afford something from the gemstore to be able to buy that special thing they wanted so much.

Filaha.1678:

No I didn’t. You’re the only one that mentioned maximum accessibility, so I’ll thank you to not project your own wording as my argument. What I said was a ratio at which they could still turn a profit while making it more accessible.

Filaha.1678:

maximum profit over accessibility to customers? Right?

My apologies. It seemed that this statement referenced maximum for both sides of the equation. It was not my intention to strawman you.

I do wish to apologize for being excessively confrontational in the course of this debate. I meant no offense and wish you a happy Thanksgiving.

flyingcats.6194:

Thanks for the feedback. In that case, I think I’ll just be giving all of this stuff away for free.

Thats the way to go.

Help out others who are just starting the path toward GWAMM or just enjoying the game itself.

Shortly before GW2 launch I gave away the majority of my GW1 wealth stockpile. Since the launch I’ve helped a few people get at least a solid start on earning the HOM skins and the like.

Mavis.1463:

Ashen.2907:

Mavis.1463:

This is a forum, a forum is a place to express opinions and thought, not circlejerk about how great the game is when there are nasty issues with it.

So people whose thoughts and opinions are that the game is great are not included in the, “this is a place to express,” part of your quote ? Is it only people who agree with your opinions and thoughts that are to be allowed to express themselves without being insulted ?

Don’t put words in my mouth, I never said that.

When you state that forums are for people to express their thoughts and opinions but that those who think the game is great are just sitting around circle-kittening, yes you did say that.

Filaha.1678:

Ashen.2907:

Producing a non-necessity product and selling it for a price that customers are willing to pay is not a cash grab

I don’t think you know what a cash grab is.

See, there’s a difference between “what customers are willing to pay” and “higher than what customers are willing to pay but it’s okay because less customers, albeit some, will still pay it”.

the company even allows players to get the product at reduced or no real world cost via gold/gem conversion.

Allowing players to create their own real world money discounts, up to and including 100%, is hardly a cash grab.

No, they essentially don’t. The gems in the market do not come out of nowhere. They’re put there by people buying them and then trading them for gold. If people stopped buying them, then nobody would be able to trade gold for them either.

So they’re not allowing players to create their own real world money discounts. Somebody is still paying 100% of the price. Gold trade just displaces who.

There is no such thing. If people are willing to pay it then it is the correct price.

Okay, you keep telling yourself that to defend ArenaNet. I can open up pretty much any video game forum and ask a question about if games that charge to even do anything productive in them are perfectly fine because some people are willing to pay for them and get a hundred responses that that’s crap. Why would I trust you over them?

I am not defending Anet. I am however debunking claims that have no merit. It doesn’t matter how many people on how many forums you ask (there are forums out there for people who think the earth is flat). If people are willing to pay a certain price for a non-necessity then it is correctly priced.

Question for you:

What is the correct price for something ?

You mentioned maximum accessibility for customers….which of course requires that an item be free. Is that your definition ?

Filaha.1678:

Mo Mo.1947:

You guys want to feel respected? You want to feel like your voice is heard? Dish out!

I do. I’ve probably spent enough on gems that I could have subscribed to a subscription-based game until the day that game closes down.

I still feel like I’m not respected and ignored.

Any other advice?

QFT.

A little over a grand for me.

Tachenon.5270:

You guys left out the most heartbreaking Disney movie of all: John Carter. They didn’t just kill off a character, they killed the possibility of anybody ever doing another John Carter movie ever again (and maybe doing it right next time). And they did it on the 100th anniversary of the first novel in the series, A Princess of Mars.

Welcome, Edgar Rice Burroughs fans, to the Wonderful World of Face Slappage!

Absolutely. Biggest movie disappointment of all time for me (only Starship Troopers comes even close).

So with shared crafting mats what happens when partner X gathered the materials but partner Y crafted the item in the case of a, “divorce?”

I am all for including marriage in game but am opposed to in game benefits associated with it. A title, sure. A new ascended ring called a wedding band available for laurels or in the gem-store, sure. A craftable (or gemstore purchased) wedding/formal wear outfit, sure.

All of the game mechanical benefits….absolutely opposed.

Mavis.1463:

This is a forum, a forum is a place to express opinions and thought, not circlejerk about how great the game is when there are nasty issues with it.

So people whose thoughts and opinions are that the game is great are not included in the, “this is a place to express,” part of your quote ? Is it only people who agree with your opinions and thoughts that are to be allowed to express themselves without being insulted ?

This is what I get for editing with multiple windows open.

I tend to equate GW2 storytelling with certain cartoons. Pirates of Darkwater, Masters of the Universe, GI Joe, and so on. Not exactly the most nuanced stories you’ll ever encounter but they can be fun. Would story with more depth, nuanced characters, and so on be a nice change of pace ? Of course, but Vayne has a solid point that games such as this have to appeal to those who are not serious readers for whom such would go right over their heads.

My only major gripes with the story in GW2 are:

How did I supposedly become the leader of this new group of characters (Marjory, etc) ?

Why are characters that I do not really know or care for (some of whom I actively dislike) being referred to as my friends

Why am I not allowed to kill Trahearne when he continuously uses his AOE cone knockback skill to interfere with my efforts to dispatch servants of the dragon. He is clearly working for the other side and summary execution of traitors during a time of war seems reasonable to me.

Why am I being greeted as an old comrade by characters before I meet them for the first time ?

Filaha.1678:

pdavis.8031:

claims that anything and everything added to the gem store is nothing more then a shameless money grubbing tactic

Actually, this is more realistic than otherwise, if for no other reason than due to pricing. I mean, look at things like the silver-fed salvage kit. When it first came out, math was done the day of to show that it cost more per salvage to use that by a significant degree than just buying the kits (and even more significant if you used the 250-use kits), in addition to the up-front gem cost. There have been bundles of items which have mathematically been rip-offs. Belinda’s Greatsword, for example, could have been inserted into the game as an acquirable item, but was instead a cash shop item despite having already been modeled for the main game (unless it was modeled for the cash shop originally and inserted into the story as a carrot on a stick). And then for the Hallowe’en event, the only “new” things we got acquirable in-game and not through the gem store were reskins of things that already exist. The outfit was one of the Hallowe’en outfits that have been out for at least a year, except with a hat and beads. The minis were reskinned already-existing minis.

And even with the things you have to pay for, they slack. Human females (at least) do not have a butt underneath the Magitech armor skirt. I assume it was because it was easier to just get rid of the butt entirely rather than figure out a way to not make it clip, but that’s just lazy. Then there’s the Count/Noble (whatever it is) outfit from Hallowe’en that just has a big black void underneath the skirt for no reason. AFAIK, it’s the only skirt in the entire game that just deletes your legs. And despite paying $10 to unlock skins (obviously not counting outfits) you then have to pay more (or waste time doing city map completion on fresh characters) to use them more than once.

And how about the price point? Mine-r-tron is the “low, low” price of 1000 gems. That’s $12.50. Getting a full set of -tron items at that price point would be $37.50. Add in the backpack and you could buy a different game.

So realistically? Yes. The gem store is a huge cash grab with overpriced items and too much focus.

Its not realistic to claim that PvP and WvW are so dead as to might as well not exist, and any attempts by the devs to do anything with PvP/WvW are just pitiful and hopeless attempts to revive a game mode that is so far dead it might as well be a Risen minion of Zhiatan.

I don’t know about PvP, but depending on your server, that claim about WvW isn’t very unrealistic.

What one person might choose to call a cash grab another might point out is a company producing a product that people might choose to purchase.

Something is not overpriced if its current pricing is allowing it to produce target, or best, revenue For example:

A) Company prices X at $10 per unit. It then sells 1000 units for a total revenue of $10,000.
B) Company prices X at $5 per unit. It then sells 1500 units for a total revenue of $7,500.

In this example B would be under-priced. A might be over-priced as it is entirely possible that X would produce more revenue through proportionally greater unit sales at a middle ground price point.

The point is that by definition nothing is over-priced if the current price allows for appropriate levels of unit sales. Sure individual players might consider $10 for X to be beyond what they are willing to spend, but by that logic everything ever produced would have to be free in order to not be considered overpriced.

If lowering the individual prices would, with any degree of certainty, produce greater revenue the company would do so. They are in this to make money.

rhael.6317:

I’m here because my guild of 200+ active players is now about 5. They have moved to other MMOs, console games, what-have-you. I usually stay out of forum threads because I find arguing on the Internet to be the least productive thing I could possibly waste my time doing. The experience of this specific thread, when taken as a single narrative, is telling.

I just sat down and read this thread from start to present. There is such … animus. Resentment. Frustration. There are hundreds of people trying to say “we do not feel respected.” There are a bunch of illogical things and ad hominem stuff, which I simply read and moved on. As a former community manager for a different software company, I appreciate the difficulty of the position Gaile is in, and am glad a few folks are at least trying to spare her from their venting. She personally assisted our gaming community a few times in GW1 and with a delicate problem after GW2’s launch, so I wanted to publicly affirm I have deep respect for her efforts in what others have pointed out is a “no win” situation.

Marriage counselors will tell you that the fastest way to destroy a relationship is by building resentment. The most effective way to generate resentment is through non-communication. The most passionate supporters of this game are right here, in the forums, trying to elucidate their frustrations and disappointments. The resentment is even stronger because not so long ago, the community was told (paraphrasing): “we know we need to communicate better and we will improve.”

Promoting Gaile to interact with forum users was a great first step. Now, to the management team at Anet, give her the tools to do the job effectively.

I was a product manager for a different software company with a similarly-sized user base that was just as demanding of information about updates. They also had an incessant wellspring of cool ideas (some practical, most not), and our management team worked for years to figure out how to balance being competitive in the marketplace, not over-promising, and never under-delivering. And fantastically, other companies had already solved this problem! And existing GW2 customers have been asking for it; cautionary roadmaps and development progress updates.

On a two week sprint cycle, I was able to author blog posts monthly to keep my customers up to speed on what cool things were in the pipeline. These included feature overviews and video demonstrations, even with code still in production. It is not risky. We were publicly-held and our customers and shareholders were delighted to have access to and input in the process. Customers were also able to react early when something was clearly going to miss the mark, so we had the information immediately available to pivot. (I don’t know if your team follows Lean, but it’d be the same in most Agile environments).

Our end result is that our stagnant subscriber base grew by just over 125% in the first year after moving to this method of customer interaction. The second year saw nearly 200% growth.

It only takes a few hours of competitive analysis to demonstrate the successes of game development houses that are effective in this area. In this thread, some great examples have already been pointed out by unhappy, passionate users.

Any organization can choose transparency and customer collaboration. It takes courage at the executive level to make it happen, but myself and thousands of forum posts are (electronically) screaming at you guys to take that step. You will be rewarded with happy players, a vibrant and dynamic community of supporters, and increased sales through the cash shop and people pushing their friends to return because the environment has returned to the health and excitement present pre-launch.

Very well said.

There are statements in this thread to ethe effect of, “no one claims that Anet isn’t working on stuff.” The reality is that there have been such claims made on these forums. There have been claims that Anet is too lazy to work on anything and the like. These are the people at whom Vayne seems to be aiming this thread.

Is Anet working on stuff ? It would be foolish to assume otherwise. Does it matter if they are working on stuff if that stuff doesn’t make it to live because of the company’s production model ? Not really.

Ultimately working on stuff is not the same as producing results. I think that Anet’s results have very much been a mixed bag. Recent, “additions,” to the game seem to remove entirely too much in my opinion. Others are flawed to a degree as to make me wonder how on earth a professional could have thought they were a good idea. Fixes to these problems seem somewhat slow to come.

Still I think that the living story concept has a lot of merit.

I am afraid that I have to disagree with the OP’s portrayal of what he/she considers, “adult,” storytelling. The specific example given is pretty much the opposite of mature or adult in my opinion. It does very much coincide with common young adult angst driven melodrama however.

Vayne.8563:

How do you know an overwhelming amount of players used them in Guild Wars 1?

Alright then lets apply the same logic to truly universal elements in GW1.

100% of all players in GW1 had a fully customizable skill bar…and yet that is not present in GW2.

Every single player who played beyond the tutorial in GW1 had both a primary and secondary profession on their character.

So 100% of all players used those and yet Anet chose not to include them in GW2. Not being included in GW2 is not at all an indication that something was unused by the majority of players in GW1.

Hyper Cutter.9376:

Behellagh.1468:

Sadly there is no way to avoid the majority of it if you are a vet.

Yes there is, it’s called a level 20 scroll.

Which is skipping the game (at least in part). Not all that different from saying that a vet can easily avoid the NPE in GW2…by not playing GW2.

Rauderi.8706:

I sometimes hold myself back during events so that other people can tag mobs in low-level zones.

Yeah, I’ve taken the approach of waiting until mobs are half health or so before starting to attack.

I like the idea of downscaling so that all content is (in theory) available for play at max level. I do wish that the system worked better.

Then again I understand the concerns raised by Sorudo as well. I think that this is one of those kitten ed if you do and kitten ed if you don’t situations.

I do not think that free for all open world PvP is a good idea here. I would not be opposed to a optional open world dueling system, with opt out as the default setting, but am not particularly fond of that either.

I prefer instanced arena style PvP where all participants are there at that moment for the specific purpose of participating in a PvP match.

sorudo.9054:

the one thing i DON’T like about GW2 is exactly what the OP sees as a good thing, scaling.
i don’t want my lvl 60 character to feel like a starter character, it needs to feel like i actually am stronger then the rest.
overleveling is a part of a level system such as this, scaling ppl down diminishes the joy and reason of levels and shows that they can just as much remove levels and start using a non-level system.

i rather overlevel then be kicked down just because i am in a lower level area, i think that’s one of the reasons why GW2 feels so empty and distant compare to, let’s say, SW:ToR.
i level to become more powerful, if i reach a certain level it needs to matter.

When I take my level 80s to low level zones they one or two shot everything. I generally don’t need to dodge or use my self heal,. I can aggro far more foes than was the case when my characters were at level for the zone. In every way my character is much more powerful than was the case at level for these zones. I feel bad when dailies put me in events in low level zones because 80s are so much more powerful than lower level characters that its not uncommon to see lower level characters struggle to participate.

It really feels as if the only way max level characters in low level zones could be more powerful relative to the local mobs than is already the case would be for the mobs to faint and die just from looking at the characters.

Its been approximately eight months in the real world since the destruction of LA. Tyria uses a 2 real world hour day/night cycle. This means that eight months in the real world is approximately 96 months in game.

So it has been approximately eight years in game since LA was all but destroyed by Scarlet.

GreenAlien.5623:

No, and why do you? If you buy a 100 gems instantly, the system doesnt care about people who exchange gems for gold after you. It would only matter if you buy em over a time period. I’m still talking about the starting post., where Rash complains about the price difference between buying gems for one gold, and buying gems for a 100 gold.

Because it seemed you were implying that the supply of gems was static (unless Anet artificially added more).

My trading gold for gems does not necessarily mean that the next time the cost will be higher because there are now fewer gems. It is entirely possible that if I trade gold for gems there will be more gems on the market after that transaction than before.

Filaha.1678:

Still better than farming and grinding for months to get a legendary and end up doing 0 more damage than I did with the ascended weapon I crafted.

To each their own. I would find the gear progression alternative to be awful.

GreenAlien.5623:

The exchange rate depends on people selling gems, so that others can buy them. It is possible that anet supplies some artifically if there is more demand than supply, but the prices dont change for fun.

Are you taking into consideration that people buy gems with real money in order to trade for gold as well ?

Ragnarox.9601:

slamfunction.7462:

But the argument is illogical to begin with. GW2 is F2P game with starving devs, while FFXIV is a monthly sub with plenty of resources to craft awesome content. Its like comparing a Smart car to a Nissan 370Z. ROFL

GW2 ss p2p. Plus they made 400-500m pure profit from selling this game (50m from gem store maybe). So if you cant make new dungeons and stuff for 400-500m well then its clearly you dont care bout future of the game and interested only in profit.

Care to share the source on that $500 million profit from initial sales claim?

If we assume 5 million unit sales. Perhaps at an average cost of $70 each. That is $350 million. Revenue not profit.

Now 350 employees. Im sure that the team size varied over the course of the 5 year development period but its the only number we have so lets run with it. The average game dev salary in the region where Anet is located is in the $70k range. Not all of those 350 employees will make that much so lets knock that down to 60k. The cost to employ (payroll taxes, benefits, etc) is as much as 1.3 times base salary so we are back up to $78k for each employee. $78k x 350 employees x 5 years = $136.5 million dollars.

136.5 million in payroll alone on an initial sales revenue of 350 million. Where does your $500m profit come from?

Radiobiology.6185:

Olba.5376:

So… your solution to MF is to nerf the percentage and make it apply to chests?

MF not applying to chests was obviously intended. Heck, people are already going totally bonkers over farming champion chests. If MF affected them in any way, it’d just make the brainless drones even more effective, which is exactly what we don’t want.

Also, you do not need to “better” reward older player in comparison to newer ones. That makes no kittening sense. If anything, the newer players should be the ones getting the better rewards, because they have nothing. The older players, on the other hand, have months, maybe even years of gameplay behind them, which already puts them on a higher ground in terms of in-game wealth.

Why is it strange that older players should get better rewards? It works the same way in real life, in a job for example, older and more experienced workers get a higher salary. Giving a higher or even equal salary to someone new doesnt make any sense at all.

A veteran already does get better rewards. His character is better geared than a novice and so kills mobs faster. He has more magic find, knows the farms better, has more level 80s for variety of farming options, has access to more buffs, and so on.

The real world job analogy does not apply here because we pay to play the game, its not a job that Anet pays us to perform.

Because character performance improvement at level 80 is (was) supposed to be about player skill improvement.