Guild Wars 2

Keep in mind people are also back in school….like actual school.

I also strongly feel that people are burnt out on the “Living Story” and after they used guides to get through the SAB, they saw it as a nice opportunity to take a break.

That said, I agree with you. The way to encourage players back into the SAB is to not limit their ability to play it. Sure, people love the SAB, but they have to weigh the fun factor, with the need to grind in the rest of the game.

Allowing players to get the best of both worlds would go a long way. They WANT to play the SAB, but they need to walk away from 2-4 hours of gameplay with more than just a few Baubles that can’t be spent on anything other than a few weapons.

ANet, I am speaking directly to you here.

You need to review your policies when it comes to dev/player interaction. You need to understand that the communication that Josh has provided has brought this community together more than any other devs have.

It has also created player understanding and loyalty that is a very rare thing to see in this game. I understand that this level of communication makes other devs look like lazy sods, but this is why you need to put someone on the payroll like Josh who has the passion and drive to communicate with the players in an honest and open way.

We’re not morons you know. We understand the difference between promises and discussion. We understand that when someone is talking to us with transparency and honesty, that is it a conversation. ANet policy to beat around the bush with vague statements, or smoke-and-mirrors, does nothing but infuriate the community.

I’ll now refer you to a post I made a while ago about transparency. I just hope in the end you see what value employees like Josh have for your company, and start encouraging them, instead of silencing them.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Why-can-t-we-be-friends/

RyuDragnier.9476:

To add to my earlier statement, BUY THE 9 HEALTH POTIONS BEFORE YOU UPGRADE. The second you upgrade, they all turn from 9 one-heart potions into 9 two-heart potions. And again, not being able to pay 25 baubles for a single one…I worry about you newer generation of gamers, always wanting things handed to you…

Newer generation of gamer….is that what I am?

That is a neat little trick (one I figured out before reading your post), but I’m not sure how that helps long term. Eventually you’re going to have to replace the potions at 25 baubles each.

Either way, I’m not sure why you feel the need to insult people.

That does seem a bit steep for sure. I agree with many that a 15 baubles would make much more sense.

Hey Josh,

My girlfriend and I spent the night going though the SAB and at one point I said, “You know, this is actually quite pleasant.”

The changes you’ve made have really toned down how erratic it was. For the first time since version 1.0, my girlfriend and I were able to traverse the rapids without coming away feeling frustrated and cranky.

We went through “infantile mode” a few times for achievements, but more and more we found ourselves skipping the rainbow clouds and attempting the content. I think that speaks a lot to how these changes and the SAB in general are coming together.

I know a lot of people are coming out of the woodwork and accusing you of “dumbing it down”, but I think Word 2 feels much more in line with what it should. It is really starting to feel like a perfect and reasonable continuation of Word 1.

I just wanted to say great work, and thanks so much for taking the time to understand, explain, and act. It really makes a huge difference as a player to have a dev who takes the time to be genuine and honest. I know the SAB still has some rough spots, but as a result of your transparent responses, and your dedication, I will support this project in any way I can.

Well done, sir!

Josh,

Please don’t mind some of the rabble-rousers in this thread. I read the patch notes and I think you’ve made the right call.

I’m about to head in and give it a go. I’ll report back, but based on what I’ve seen, and what others are saying, you dun good.

Thank you for being awesome!

So, let me get this straight.

Some players, who played through TM (most with online guides I would bet), are now upset because a few changes (bugs, bad mechanics) are have now made it super easy.

Does this not sound like faulty logic to you?

What it says to me is that after you learned to solve TM, the only difficult parts were inconstant bugs and bad mechanics. That doesn’t sound like planned difficulty to me. To me, it sounds like some players were gaining advantage over others based on latency and computer speed.

I understand if these issues made it harder overall, that is the entire reason they were changed in the first place. What I don’t understand is how you can justify complaining when those same issues were making it unplayable for others?

You are not the only one gaming here. Others are struggling with variables that can make or break the gaming experience. We need GW2 content to be designed so ALL players can succeed with work, not just those with great connections/computers.

We saw the same issue in the Queens Gauntlet. The entire map was designed in a way that penalized users with PC’s/connections that weren’t ideal. There were bugs that at first advantaged some players, and later screwed everyone. They never fixed the countless bugs there, and so many players were unable to participate.

I’m sorry, but some of you need to try and see this from a big picture perspective. You are not the only one in this game, and if they continue to make inaccessible content, then you’ll find you have a very lonely game, and no one to even complain to.

Wowzers, the hypocrisy by some of you astounds me.

You didn’t seem to have a problem that you could purchase Queens Gauntlet tickets, instead of farm them. I see a lot of you running around out there with infinite mining/salvaging tools.

Look, either way it doesn’t really matter, for two main reasons.

1. These tools don’t allow anyone to just win. You still have to go out and perform the same actions you would otherwise.

2. There is no win in GW2. I’m sorry to break it to you, but we’re not competing here. There is no race to the end of the game, no prize for levelling up first.

There is only more grind, and less grind. And honestly, I don’t care what twisted logic you use, or how “l33t” you think you are, I don’t personally feel like spending my time in GW2 grinding out continue coins. The SAB is only here a month, if I can purchase a coin that allows me more time to enjoy it, and less time grinding trash mobs, then awesome.

I was playing the SAB today and I realized that I really don’t like how the in game (inside the SAB) weapons work.

The reason is because they’re inconsistent, unresponsive, and unintuitive. When I am dealing with enemies that jump out and attack me, I need my weapons to be quickly accessible, and to react when I need them to.

Here are a few examples:

You are running over a bridge and suddenly you are attacked by an assassin. The enemy is at range, so it makes sense to quickly fire a few quick slingshot rounds at it. The problem is that the weapons move around and require multiple keyboard presses.

Another example are the bombs. I need to be able to quickly access my bombs for clearing out troublesome monkeys, but I have to press 3, then 2 to throw it. It’s worse if I’m the type of player that uses mouse clicks.

As well, many of the weapons are slow to react. The worst is the “push hand” in which it is very frustrating to time with anything coming at you because of it’s wind up. The shovel is also another one of the items that, because of the cool down make missing a dig site, or finding new ones a bit of a chore.

I think it would be better if the weapon/skill bar stuck to the traditional GW2 design. One set of weapons stay on the main bar, and the alternates can be accessed using the ` key.

Any thoughts, folks?

NightZero.9425:

Josh,

I know it has been asked before, likely many times and probably in this thread as well but can we please get a counter for the achievements that require counts? Example, collecting all the baubles on a level or defeating all the assassins? It really sucks to think you got everything but never know until you finish and finding out you missed 1 or 2 or 20 but never knowing. Please!

This is really the worst achievement ever.

No counter, no indication of how many need to be collected, no way of knowing you failed until you’ve finished the world.

It is meant to encourage exploration, but without a guide, most people have little to no chance to complete it. I won’t even attempt it in World 2 without a guide…no way, no how.

Which totally sucks, because I realize I’m screwing myself out of exploring the awesome world, but I just don’t have the time to dedicate to running the world countless times, hoping this time will be the time I happened to get them all.

Solutions:

1. (ideal) A counter that shows how many are left to get.
2. The Achievement description mentions how many are out there.
3. Josh just tells us on the forums.

Ok, ok!

So my girlfriend and I were just chatting, and she messed up and said, “George” instead of Josh….eh….EH!!!

Now….I had to post this, I just had to.

After playing the Rapids level……“What is this, George Forman’s: Super Adventure Boxing?!”

Hur, hur, hur!!

Josh Foreman.8250:

Electro.4173:

Just that it’d be a nice convenience and its a shame it can’t be done, if I’m indeed reading into that correctly.

You’re reading it right. Can’t be done. Wish it could be.

In sanctum sprint when you fall off and die, you’re teleported a few steps back from there. Why can’t this same mechanic be implemented here?

Josh Foreman.8250:

The design intent was NOT to make Normal Mode as hard as it is. There are a combination of factors that are making it so, and we’re currently working on a fix. We want W2 Normal Mode to be slightly more challenging than W1. There are several obvious difficulty spikes that we are addressing by adding check points, removing the buggy waterspouts, making dart traps easier to spot, removing some of them, etc.

Josh, you’re as awesome as always. I hope you’re able to find the right balance now.

Josh Foreman.8250:

All the complaints about the randomness of the rapids, floaty platforming, camera issues, etc. are things I would literally pay a thousand dollars to fix. Maybe even two. I’d cut my salary if we had a way to fix them. We hate them as much as you do. We simply accept the pain of these engine limitations because we feel like the overall content is worth it. I totally understand if other’s find them too annoying to be able to enjoy the content.

This is why I have a very strong opinion that there should be multiple ways of accomplishing the goal when mechanics with known issues are introduced. No one should be punished for not having the ideal setup.

Imagine if we took this attitude towards disabled people. Telling a paraplegic that we understand if not having a wheelchair ramp is too annoying, but it would have messed with the esthetics of our storefront.

If you know that the engine has limitations, then either use them very, very sparingly, or offer alternatives. The SAB has many, many different paths a player can take, what is one more? Who cares if it is a 10 min journey around the back of a mountain, its going to be a lot less frustrating than having a twirly flower toss you back to square one to the point of rage quitting.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Though most of the warranted complaints are just a limitation of what we can and can’t do with our engine. (Like making the dart traps knock back instead of kill. That was our initial intent, but there’s no way to make it work.)

Forgive my ignorance here, but I don’t understand this. There are multiple instances of where the game outside of SAB uses mechanics that would work just fine. For example, the water spouts are buggy, but in the Vexx’s LAN jumping puzzle there are platforms that fade in and out causing the player to fall. Why not just place one of these at the top of a water spout animation, and fade it out at the same time the animation ends?

The dart traps…well, I spend 90% of my time in GW2 getting knocked back by something or rather. There must be a mechanic available that allows this. In fact, I just remember playing 200000 rounds of some Living Story mini game where characters could knock me back with a force field. I know there are many examples of where knock back mechanics are used in the game, why can’t these be applied here?

I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job or anything, but other than those super annoying twirling flowers, and bouncy mushrooms, I don’t see any mechanics that aren’t part of the normal game.

Either way, aside from the Bauble achievements being super annoying (yes, I’ll complain about this until its given a proper counter, or until you at least just tell us how many baubles we need to find), I think these changes will be great. I started working my way through again, but I haven had a giant chunk of time to dedicate to the 2+ hours it seems to be taking people.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Hm. That makes me sad panda because of how hard I worked to make sure I was introducing the elements in gradual stages.

First rapid you see is off to the side. Second can be crossed by a bridge. NPC gives you hint about rapids. THEN you actually have to navigate rapids.

First piranha pool kills you if you jump in it. Next ones have the piranha jumping out. THEN you have to clobber the ones that land on the ground.

First dart trap is on a very simple piece of architecture, very close to a check point. Second one also close to a check point in a slightly more complex area, etc.

First push block goes from A to B allows you access to higher area. Next one lets you jump over darts. Next ones are a dependency puzzle to block darts.

Etc.

I think you did just fine here. I think the issue is that players are dealing with a bunch of other things as well. They’re falling, getting attacked, missing jumps, going the wrong way, having to star over, etc.

If I had to make a suggestion, it would be to introduce a new mechanic, then allow the player to play that mechanic a while before introducing a new element. For example, in World 1, you introduced leaves and lillypads that disappear when you step on them. The player has a lot of opportunity to practice these mechanics before they reach zone 2, where falling from one can mean death in green goop.

In Rapids, players are required to learn new mechanics at almost every turn, add that to the glitchy and unforgiving rapids, and players can suddenly feel like learning/practicing comes at a heafty price.

I wouldn’t be too kitten yourself, I think the issue here is more the limitations of the engine more than your level design.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Yeah, I remember Lisa was looking into a way to do this. I can’t remember why it didn’t happen. I’m assuming because it would require programming support we don’t have available to our team right now. I’ll follow up with her.

Well, at the very least the achievement description could tell players how many they’re supposed to be looking for. It’s not ideal, but at least we could count on a notepad as we go.

If there were no way of programming this, at least we could map out each location as we go. Right now its blind. Did I miss one, or two, or twenty?

Josh Foreman.8250:

I’m not sure how to do that without completely trivializing the cool mechanics. I wish we had a lag detector that could activate draw bridges! I’ll roll your idea around in my noodle for a while.

The problem of course, is that cool mechanics are only cool if they work. It’s kinda like designing websites in Flash. Sure you can make them look amazing and do all this fancy stuff, but if your audience can’t view the content, then its useless.

Say you have path one with all the fancy stuff, and path two, which is longer, but more straight forward, then it would allow for a wider range of latency. Players who don’t have issues, will more than likely choose the more direct, and fun path. whereas those who are experiencing issues, have an alternative to wasting coins as they hope for a smooth moment, or a lucky glitch.

In the end, what path a player chooses really shouldn’t matter as long as the overall experience is positive.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Clearly you haven’t tried Tribulation Mode, or that would be a WTF Josh?!!!!11 list.

Oh….we tried for a good hour.

We gave up counting in there. Really…exploding flowers? Geez!

Yes, it was very cool!

I liked that this wasn’t plastered all over the “coming soon” page. It’s nice to actually see a story unfold without ANet telling me the entire plot beforehand.

Hello Josh….we meet again!

Before I get into some of my thoughts on SAB 2.0, I would like to take a moment to remind you (and everyone), that you are by far the most amazing designer ANet has. No other dev stands by their work, or interacts with the players like you, and I think this is reflected in the popularity of the SAB.

I’m going to try and break this down and keep it as short and sweet as possible.

1. Bauble Counter/Kill all/Destroy All

Many mentioned this in 1.0. We now have achievements that require players to kill/find/destroy an undetermined number of things, but absolutely no way of knowing ones progress.

For those of us who want so badly to explore the SAB and find all the cool secrets, it can be super frustrating to have no way of tracking progress. With the length you’ve made some of the worlds, missing a single bauble, or assassin (and not know how many), and only finding out at the end is ridiculous.

All this means is that we are forced to use online “cheats” to get the achievements. This takes out most of the fun of exploration, and pretty much just makes it a chore.

2. Time vs. Difficulty

While I do agree with many that the difficulty from world to world does seem to be a tad inconsistent, I am not actually opposed to really challenging content. The problem, is when that content is only available for a limited time.

I want to experience every nook and cranny of the worlds you’ve created. I want to challenge myself to find all the secrets, and to try all the modes. I want to learn the worlds and figure out how to experience them with your vision. The problem is that SAB (and GW2) are not the only things going on in my life.

I realize this may not be in your control, but I feel that if the SAB isn’t going to be permanent, this needs to be considered.

3. Fighting The Game

When SAB 1.0 was released many players expressed their frustration and concern with certain mechanics. The jumping mushrooms, and the rapids level were two specific areas where players with higher latency were experiencing issues.

What we have now, is an extended version of that, with even more mechanics. I would personally have shorter (punchier) levels that require a few difficult jumps, than a long level filled with interesting mechanics that fail multiple times if my latency isn’t perfect.

I realize that you have a difficult situation in which you want to make interesting levels, but are constantly dealing with varying levels of latency/lag. My advice is try and design multiple solutions whenever you add in a mechanic that could fail.

If I can take a longer route, but bypass potential issues, at least I have a fighting chance. The SAB is difficult enough without having to deal with fighting the game.

As with SAB 1.0, I have a few nitpicks, but all n’ all I find it to be some of, if not the best content available in SW2. It sucks to see so many people having so much difficulty this time round.

My girlfriend and I actually have a piece of paper on our desk with a “WTH Josh?!” tally for every time we curse your name. So far we have well over 30 ticks (most are with a smile). I want to thank you again for being so open and involved in the process.

….well played.

Ferik.3127:

It makes us feel that this villain would have her/his influence and we’d better be on our toes.

The Illusive Man from Mass Effect is a “smexy” example for this.

Alright, I know I shouldn’t be expecting Mass Effect quality of writing in a MMO, but, but….is it really too much to ask for a top-class story in a top-class game?

Being “sexy” means you’re influential?

What about being the leader of a huge army? Or being intelligent and scrupulous?

I’m still not seeing what being “smexy” has anything to do with this. I think any leader, or villain should be judged on their character, not their looks.

ANet tracks which maps we’ve done (They need to for the Achievement), yet doesn’t display this to the user.

Poor UI design, plain and simple.

Hey Folks,

It’s math time yay!

Let us take a look at the current Living Story, and see what we see.

Facts:

- Released on August 20th, 2013 – Ends September 3rd, 2013 (15 days)
- 17 Achievements required (Clockwork Chaos)
- 6 Achievements in Vorpp’s
- Invasion Canceller Time 40 min + time for selling/repairing/etc (60min)

So, lets look at this for a moment.

You need to stop 13 invasions on different maps. Each invasion takes roughy 60 minutes to complete.

= 13 hours

If you then factor in other things such as dailies, monthlies, the other achievements, etc. we are looking at something like 1.5 hours per day.

= 22.5 hours

Still with me?

Ok, so if you’re like me, and the maps you needed to complete the achievements didn’t come up in the rotation, there is a possibility that you’ll spend an extra few hours (in my case 6 hours, I took the day off to finish the achievements). Lets say… 3 hours.

= 25.5 hours (estimated)

We are looking at somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20 – 30 hours to complete this portion of the Living Story, in 15 days. This equals almost 2 hours of gameplay every single day to complete this.

Now, what happens if you’re like me and you have other matters to attend to (I’m going to the UK for 4 days), such as work, family, sports, other games, etc? Lets be generous and say that the average person can play for a total of 10 days.

This means that the average player would have to spend 2.5 hours per day in game to complete all the current Living Story achievements, and other day to day achievements. This didn’t account for anyone who is still working on the last Living Story release, but for the sake of argument, we’ll leave that out.

So, 2.5 hours a day, for 10 days…or 25.5 hours.

According to an article on Forbes, the average American working a part-time job, works about 33 hours a week.

This means, that Guild Wars 2 is designed in a way that requires players (if they feel the desire to complete the achievements and get new gear), to play about as much time as a part time employee would work. Does this seem right to you?

I understand the desire for “more content” but what ANet seems to be completely oblivious, or simply doesn’t care about the time requirement to grind out these achievements. There HAS to be a better way to extend content for those who want, but not punish those without large amounts of free time.

Thoughts?

A whip.

Search pixelpumpkin’s posts for a detailed thread.

Not sure why “sexy” is a requirement. Nor, do I see why it should be the first requirement in a villain.

I have about a billion more things to say, but I am so glad this conversation is happening. We often only hear about this from one perspective which often skews the perceptions many have.

I hope ANet allows this conversation to continue, and I encourage everyone to speak their mind, no matter what your viewpoint. Equality means we consider both genders.

I plan on writing a longer post, but the gist of it is.

I want realistic characters of varying degrees that fit within the context of the story. I don’t need everything to be artificially balanced, or limited by sensitivities, its long as the characters are real, and they make sense in context, then awesome.

More later.

Overflow is terrible due to the fact that getting disconnected often means you lose your place, and often get separated from friends.

I’m typing on my iPad, so I’ll keep this very brief.

What I feel:
1. I can’t stand all the spoilers and walk-throughs on this, and other sites.
2. I don’t want to have to feel I need to use guilds/spoilers to complete content.
3. The official announcements spoil half the fun by outlining most of the details
4. There is no sense of spontaneity in the Living Story.

Reality:
1. The time requirement for the Living Story can be high
2. I can’t afford to risk not using online guides because I can’t risk missing rewards/AP
3. Map chat is not spoiler free, but has no filter system for other important info
4. ANet is feature/gear focused, not fun focused.

In the end, when you shotgun blast content, players will struggle with finding a balance between fun, and speed. Most players that have played the Living Story releases have learned that you can’t risk taking your time.

When dailies, dungeons, crafting, monthlies, personal story, legendaries, jumping puzzles, socializing, etc, all have to fight for time, many players simply don’t have a choice. They must maximize the little time they have, so they basically cut corners.

In the end, you don’t feel accomplished, or really had all that much fun, but you continue the grind.

colesy.8490:

The point is that people spent money on these skins thinking they would remain exclusive. People also complained about RNG coffers, ANet give us an alternative now to the limited-time only RNG and people … complain. I don’t understand what I’m missing here.

I think you’re missing the point of why people are complaining. You’ve stated and compared the two, but fail to see why each group took issue. To put it a other way, try focusing on the complaint, not the fact they’re complaining.

skullmount.1758:

Have any of you beaten the funhouse thing? Maybe it needs to be used after that?

If that is the case, why is it not in the item description? I just don’t think it’s working as intended.

I hate when this happens. My girlfriend and I weren’t able to play together for many of the invasions. I thought they had fixed this issue?

ANet…if players are in a party, put them in the same overflow…of that overflow can’t accommodate the entire party, move them to a new overflow. This can’t be that hard to understand.

I got one for free, it did nothing. I purchased one for 75s, and it did nothing.

It is broken.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Sure. However, things like this happen every day in real life. You go out and buy a new washing machine/dryer set and spend $3000, only to find out its on sale or clearance the next week or the week after and you could have gotten it for $1000 if you had simply waited. It happens. It sucks, but that’s just how things work. That’s how businesses work, and how they make money.

That is why many reputable businesses offer buyer protection plans and/or return policies.

This isn’t about an item going on sale though. It is about being told these items were rare, which drove up the perceived value for some. The fact that they were advertised as rare, means many people spent much more than they otherwise would have.

Again, good job making them available, but as we’ve seen many times by ANet

- mini pets
- molten mining pick
- weapons

When they say something is limited edition, that is really not true. So, for me, the lesson learned is that ANet will say anything to sell more gems, which means I think it is a much safer bet to not purchase items from the gem store when they first go up. Wait for them to go on sale, or show up on the trading post.

arjeidi.2690:

For the people who are upset (not just disappointed, but upset), I wonder whether they felt they wanted the skin, or just wanted to be “exclusive” and be envied?

That is part of playing an MMO. Many players pride themselves on looking visually different from other players. It is important that they have hear that makes them unique, and work very hard to do this.

I don’t this as something to look down on. If we all look the same, what is the point of getting gear?

colesy.8490:

Good lord. People whine about RNG and refer to the game as RNGwars or the company as CasinoNet, and then when they give us a non-RNG way of getting skins, people whine.

What the hell is wrong with people in this game? I got five jade tickets (used 3, banked 2) and I don’t give a kitten if other people can get the skins I got. Oh boohoo it’s “not as exclusive” anymore, cry me a river.

There it is…no, over there, argh…turn around, there…..there…..nope…..the point, you missed it.

Perhaps we should look at this another way.

Lets say that you went online and found a limited edition movie prop from your favourite movie. The owner tells you that they are going to sell tickets for a chance to win it.

You dig into your bank account and buy $200 worth of tickets. Luck wasn’t on your side today, so you buy another $200 more. A few days later UPS knocks on your door and delivers a package, and a smile beams across your face as you know exactly what it is.

A few weeks later you’re surfing the web and notice that the movie prop you purchased is now being sold on Ebay for $29.99.

Would you not feel a tad cranky?

Look, I understand that those of you who were unlucky the first round are super happy that you now have the chance to buy these weapons. I’ll admit myself that I’m happy to have the chance as well.

But this isn’t about getting a weapon, or not getting a weapon. It’s about principal and expectation. ANet sold us on the idea that these were limited edition weapons. They encouraged many of us to spend way more than we otherwise would have, by telling us they are rare, and they are only available for a limited time.

Had we all known that a few months later we could pick them up for 20 – 40g, I’m sure most of us wouldn’t have put in so much effort.

All I’m saying is that I don’t care which way ANet decides to conduct business. Just don’t sell me on the idea that something is rare so I’ll spend money, and then change it after. What that will do is cause me to lose trust in the company. It will teach me that it is risky to spend money on this game because I never know if I’m getting the best deal or not.

I dunno, I’m sure not many of you care. I guess I’m just a little surprised considering the uproar at how much money/gold people spent to get these weapons, only to see people shrug it off now.

marnick.4305:

I’ve been a gamer since I first saw a brand spanking new 386 back when I was 4 years old. It’s actually the first memory I have. I don’t mean this as an insult but I’ve probably got more time played than you’ve lived. I dialed back quite a bit after getting a job, but gaming is still my primary hobby for almost a quarter century now.

Nope, got ya beat. Tandy 1000.

marnick.4305:

For sake of argument, could I please ask your age?

You could…..but age doesn’t make arguments more, or less relevant.

I have to say, I’m super happy to finally be able to see your bright shining faces in game, however…..what I really need to see are the enemies.

One of the biggest issues for me in this game has been enemies not loading. Now that culling is turned off, do enemies load (even if they’re only basic models), or is it limited to players?

If it does just affect players, I would like to see an option to apply this to enemies. I NEED to see enemies.

marnick.4305:

Agree. Communication nor rollback happens in other games. A.net apparently cares enough to give people a chance at increased karma. That’s a first in MMO gaming.

I’m not sure you’ve played a lot of games. I don’t mean this as an insult, but that is a wildly inaccurate statement.

marnick.4305:

I have yet to run into crucial issues. Maybe I’m too smart for these issues to bother me.

I’ll ignore your little jab at anyone who it may bother (and refrain from reversing that). There have been many issues that have caused some to become wealthy, while others can’t even complete the content (AKA The Candidate Trials).

I’m happy you haven’t run into crucial issues, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

marnick.4305:

MMOs have these kinds of small issues. I kinda like them. Gives flavor. I don’t think the latest living story has more of those than any other content update in any other MMO game.

Sigh….What? You fall from a Jumping Puzzle which causes your account to be suspended for a few days and you, what…clap your hands and say, “Spicy!” and bound away happy?

Also, what other games do is not relevant. The, “Ya, well they do it too, so that makes it ok!” argument really isn’t very good.

marnick.4305:

And yet, lots of updates generate more money than few ones that don’t have those minor typos. These are not real issues. The content more or less works as intended. For games, that’s enough.

More or less huh? ANet…give this person a job!

marnick.4305:

Ocarina of Time has been in development for almost 10 years. Despite being considered the best game ever made, it still has tons and tons of minor and major bugs. Who cares.

I’ll go out on a limb here…and say….oh, the people who play Ocarina of Time.

+1

I like culling off a great deal, but seeing a sea of turquoise names on the horizon is ugly and annoying. I turned them off for a reason.

P.S. Culling the players was never really my issue, I need to see enemies….

I have to say I’m a little cranky at the choice to make the Jade weapons sellable. I was given the impression that these were limited, and hard to obtain. This impression lead me to spending a LOT of in game gold to get the weapons I wanted.

While I would have rather just purchased them on the trading post, and while I rather buying Coffers didn’t cost me a LOT of gold, I was at least happy because in the end I got what I wanted.

Now, suddenly, without warning they’re available on the trading post. The pistols that I ended up getting are now only 20 something gold each…..a LOT cheaper than what the total number of coffers it took me to get those.

And what about those who spend hundreds of real money to get a ticket? A few months later, they’re suddenly on the TP for a fraction of the cost?

Look, I’m happy you can buy them now (I’m gonna get the shield I couldn’t get), but this kind of “bait n’ switch” is pretty poor form in my opinion.

So, what is the solution? Simple:

1. Sell them straight out on the TP for gems
2. Sell a chance to get “scraps” or “tickets” from chests (RNG, but maybe cheaper)
3. Randomly drop them (tickets) in open world
4. Keep them off the TP as sellable items so the value stays high.

Anyway…I found this to be a bit of a “up yours” to all that purchased coffers with real money, and/or more gold than they should have.

marnick.4305:

1/ the karma change is minor. Such things usually don’t get communicated in other games. A.net reverting this is the exception to the rule. Don’t complain.

What is minor depends on your goals. For those who were holding stacks and stacks of Karma with the idea of trading it all in (for legendaries, armour, etc), it can be very annoying to have a miscommunication mess with that.

In this case, while it may be “minor” it is still not very professional. While I’m happy they were so quick to roll it back, it is something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

marnick.4305:

2/ typos and minor glitches happen in other games too. Check the GW1 wiki with random pages. There’s quite some with bugs, anomalies and other weird stuff. Some of that hasn’t been fixed since launch.

Yes, and we expect these things. The problem is when you add these issue with time sensitive content. What is a minor inconvenience normally, can become a game changing issue for someone trying to complete a task, or spend real money.

marnick.4305:

3/ a trend? You never played GW1 right? “Fixed miscellaneous crash bugs” was part of every update, even years into the game.

I’m not sure what GW1 has to do with this. My point is that the faster you pump out content, the less time you have to test it. So if they’re going to pump it out, they need to put more resources into testing.

marnick.4305:

And you’re kinda right. This is complex software. But it’s not critical software. No human lifes are at stake. Pushing content makes people more happy than delaying polished content. This content has to be quick, whether it’s done well are bonus points but by no means necessary. That’s what hotfixes are for.

No, but money is. When you involve real money, these things become a lot more of an issue. I personally don’t see the appeal of quantity over quality. Sure, it’s “something” to do, but it can be a frustrating experience.

marnick.4305:

What are you complaining about really … minor issues getting hotfixed if crucial or ignored when irrelevant.

Would you like to discuss all the issues that never get hotfixed in Living Story updates? Or about the ones that do, that leave players totally screwed?

I think she is another example of ANet not understanding how to make proper boss fights (or are limited to what they can do).

Everyone is required to spread out and fight multiple enemies for almost a half hour or so, and then the final boss shows up, and stands in one spot to get pummelled by the zerg.

What is even more strange is that the teleports all over the map during the main fight, which is cool, and then stands around waiting to get hit at the end.

What I think SHOULD have happened is that while players are fighting the waves of enemies, Scarlet is teleporting randomly around the map to help where there are biggers zergs. Her attack should penalize large groups with a really strong attack.

This would force players to spread out a bit, which would make fighting the enemies all that much harder. As she ports, players can attack her, which slowly take down her HP. Players however need to make a choice, do they focus on Scarlet and take out her HP (making her harder to kill at the end), or leave her alone, and kill enemies (which you need to kill, so she’ll come at the end).

Once the players kill all the enemies, she spawns and starts to fight. However, she’s smart. If too many players zerg her, she’ll teleport between a few different places on the map. This gives players a chance to get out of combat, and “chase” her down.

Eventually, she gets too weak and has to make a final stand. She does this by throwing a last ditch effort of enemies at players keeping everyone busy while others show up. Eventually, players overwhelm the enemies and take out Scarlet (who at the end could blast everyone away in a big LoTR style boom allowing her to get away).

Everyone who participates in attacking Scarlet at least once gets the chest regardless of where they are on the map (as long as they’ve done decent damage.)

To me, this would make the fight much more amazing, dynamic, and help to break up the zergs a bit. I would like to see the game punish and spread out zergs more. Boss fights in open world should not just sit in one place and allow 50+ people to create a giant mess of FX and bodies.

I dunno, it’s one idea. I would like to hear yours.

From my perspective, the Living Story releases appear to be getting progressively more buggy, and sloppy.

In this current release (Clockwork Chaos), we have already seen the following bugs/mistakes.

- Mini Watchknight disappearing
- Portal devices not working
- Dailies on login screen not displaying correctly
- Culling description mistake
- Scarlet following/harassing some players
- Parties being spit up into different overflows
- “Fixed an issue which caused Vorpp to play his completion line incorrectly.”
- Temporarily reverted karma consumables to their previous values.
- Corrected character model options text to no longer specify WvW only.
- Fixed various crash bugs.

..and probably more (I’m tired of looking).

Now, I realize that bugs are inevitable when dealing with complex software, but there has to be a point when you just have to say, “Something isn’t working.!”

Even if we put the bugs aside for a moment, the amount of sloppy mistakes in this release is really odd. From incorrect descriptions, to completely forgetting to inform the community of a major change to Karma, resulting in a roll-back for the entire thing, these types of mistakes are something I expect to see when things are being rushed.

I’ve made a few posts about this since the Living Story started, and it still doesn’t seem to be improving. What is worse, is when these bugs go ignored for the entire event causing issues for everyone, or worse, are “fixed” leaving all the players who didn’t rush to the content with often a harder time (with no compensation, or roll-back).

There needs to be a point when ANet realizes that you can have things quick, or you can have things done well. If they want to continue the “quick fire” Living Story, then I feel they really need to dedicate more time into quality control and testing.

Anyway, I am curious to hear your thoughts on the bugs, and whether they’ve affected you or not.

Bovinity.8610:

I absolutely agree that fighting the camera and oddly-colored floor make some of these fights much more annoying than they should be.

However, I flatly reject the idea that any of the fights are “luck based”. They all have extremely predictable, consistent mechanics that are countered by knowledge of the fight.

For me, the “luck” has always come in the form of getting good FPS, having the camera behave, having the boss / effects load, having targeting work, having my skills work, and getting a good start to a one shot kill.

I’ve spent 30+ tickets on the fire boss (Salsa, or whatever his name is), and only twice has everything aligned and I was able to get him down to a sliver of energy (I haven’t beat him yet).

This has also been the case in the other fights as well. Whenever the game behaves, the boss fights become quite doable, but add in the extra “challenge” and it is a very, very, frustrating experience.

Astral Projections.7320:

Fantastic Timez.3641:

Thank you all so much for your comments, responses, enquiries and support. I have enough responses to stop now. If I am able to (although I can’t promise) I’ll bring the results back so you can have a look. Again, thank you for your support. My research would not be possible without your help.

You got 9 responses and that was enough responses for your research? O.o

Yes, lets hope you were gathering data from other sources. 9 responses a sample size does not make.

Fantastic, Fantastic Timez; fantastic times indeed!

Before I start I just want to express how nice it is to see studies about video games directed towards the other gender (that isn’t about violence). I really hope that the purpose of this study is “on the level” and my contribution doesn’t further skew an already distorted and misrepresented community.

That being said, lets begin.

1. What is your age and gender?

35, Male

2. For how long have you been playing Guild Wars 2 and other MMORPGs?

I have been playing Guild Wars 2 from the first day the game launched. I have currently put in somewhere between 900 – 950 hours.

I have been playing MMORPGs since about 2006, starting with World of Warcraft (which I played about 200 hours). Since then I have dabbled in various MMOs such as:

- Lord of the Rings Online
- Second Life
- Star Trek Online
- Star Wars Universe

3. What are your character’s race, profession and personal story and what are your reasons for choosing them?

My main character is a human thief. I can’t actually remember my personal story in game, but the one in my head is that I am NOT a hero despite what the game wants me to be.

The main reason I chose the human thief is because based on other MMOs and similar type games, I have found it most enjoyable to play that type character. The ability to be quick, agile, and adaptive really appeals to me.

The reason I chose a human male is because I tend to connect more with that race of character than some of the other fantasy based ones.

4. What are the things you enjoy doing the most with your character?

Since day one, my goal has always been to explore the game with my girlfriend. Jumping puzzkitten ss fights, exploring, socializing, fractals/dungeons, and the Living Story/events are all parts of the game that I(we) enjoy most.

5. What aspects of your character would you consider masculine, if any?

Hmmm, well. I suppose my character has what would be considered masculine features such as stubble, and short, spiked hair. From a character perspective, the animations, voice, and body type are what I would say fall into what is typically considered masculine traits.

That said, I’m currently wearing a pink and red outfit to match my little Quaggan pirate girl, which many wouldn’t say is very masculine (I was called a gay pirate), but I think I’m pretty badkitten looking!

6. Are there things in the game you would like to do with your character but are unable to? Can you give some examples?

There are. Some, I would say are just practical things like:

- Sitting in chairs
- Dancing manually, or with a variety of moves
- Wear different underpants
- Use a whip
- Wear a fedora
- Wear any hat while retaining my own hair
- Wear hairstyles that are more “classic”
- Emote more
- Shake hands with people

There are some things that I wish I could do to make my character more how I see them.

- Voice options (pitch, inflection, etc)
- Body type options that aren’t muscular and “heroic” (e.g. Chubby, skinny, short)
- Average beard length (not the super beard)
- I wish I had more control over the face so I didn’t have to look like either a super model, or a super scruff ugly guy.

I hope that helps.

Where will be be able to see the study?

Tried 20 times and can’t beat him. I understand HOW to beat him, but I can’t

Can anyone give me an idea of what build you used to beat him?

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

Do people really find such difficult bosses a rewarding challenge? Honestly, I am curious.

I actually do!

What I don’t find rewarding is fighting the game in addition to fighting the boss.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

What it comes down to is that these inconveniences are a type of gate that was put there intentionally. Needed a ticket to get in. Having to wait in a queue. These things slow down your retry attempts. WPing and running back if no one is around, or willing to rez you. My guess is that the last one I mentioned is a penalty, in a way, to motivate you to not fail the next time. As spending lots of money to re-equip your character, that’s just part of the process of finding the right strategy and setup to succeed.

I’m not sure I would agree.

I am motivated enough without having to fight the game. I want to experience the content and it’s awesome that it is difficult, but I am finding some of these bosses difficult not because of the mechanics, but because of everything surrounding them.

I know how to beat this boss, I’ve tried 20 times now, and almost every time I am faced with a different set of game issues that cause me to die. If I can’t beat him because the fire doesn’t load, the enemy doesn’t load, the FPS is too low, the game lags, the camera zooms, or the AoE circles are too hidden in the floor, then I would call it unfair, or at least poorly designed.

Limiting my ability to replay the fight fast, is just one more factor that makes this a horrible experience.

Bovinity.8610:

I just did it a few more times for “fun” and there seem to be AoE circles, but they seem to blend in with the floor. Doesn’t really matter either way, I can’t last long enough to beat him past the first round.

Lies, you can do eet! (Motivational Tony Little image goes here.)

I can’t. I just used up my 20th ticket on him.

I think I’ll stand a better chance playing Megaman 1 with one hand, and covering the TV screen with silly string.

Bovinity.8610:

I am positive I could beat this boss, but due to the camera, lack of effects loading, no circles showing on the floor, enemy not loading, FPS drops, and time wasted setting up the fight again, I can’t justify trying anymore.

There are no “AE Circles” on Salazan. Really, he just puts a ring around you and sends ground-fireballs at you.

I just did it a few more times for “fun” and there seem to be AoE circles, but they seem to blend in with the floor. Doesn’t really matter either way, I can’t last long enough to beat him past the first round.