Guild Wars 2

Hi,

We have a very productive thread going on right now that is gathering feedback from WvW players. Let’s keep the conversation focused and productive by gathering feedback in that thread.

Rising Dusk.2408:

I’m not sure where this was posted on Reddit, but anyone can claim something is written by an ANet employee. Always make sure to check for the ANet flair on Reddit or a reference to one such post on an official ANet communication channel before buying into anything that people claim is said by ANet.

Very sage advice, RD. Thanks!

We probably can’t find every post that’s made on the forums in order to validate “Yes, we said that” or “Nope, that’s bogus.” So it’s good for forum members — here or elsewhere — to be a little skeptical about “Anet statements” until they can actually see it on our official website or forum or get a link to a genuine (and proven/flagged) post by an ArenaNet Team member.

This is not our statement. Absolute and completely not from us.

Thorfinnr Sleggja.1209:

~snip~

To me, this kind of atmosphere is what this game has been about, all the way back to GW1.

I so agree with you!

Liewec.2896:

1. remove skyhammer from unranked.
2. buff lords in foefire to compensate for years of power creep.
3. Remove skyhammer from unranked.
4. reintroduce the 8v8 we had early on in the game.
5. REMOVE SKYHAMMER FROM UNRANKED.

Liewec — you lost 2 of your 5 top suggestions with the redundancy. I’d suggest you have more to share and could use the 5 to better avail, but hey, whatever floats your boat!

Excellent initiative, Cyanon! I will be tracking this thread, too!

(Just to be clear, “Top ##” posts aren’t the be-all and end-all of commentary about any form of gameplay. Noted and acknowledged. But they do make up part of a conversation, and they can be helpful, overall.)

Thanks to those who have been contributing!

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Gaile Gray.6029:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Gaile Gray.6029:

Qugi.2653:

Maybe dumb question but why not here on official forum? I am sure you wait for that question.

The formatting on reddit makes an AMA work better in that system. No preference, just a matter of functionality for this sort of short-term project.

Is there any way it can be transcribed to a forum post when it’s done (even locked, I’m fine with)? It’s just that I’m not a Reddit user, and I also like the layout of these forums much more than Reddit.

~EW

I could try to do that, sure, but it wouldn’t be able to happen today. I like the idea, or maybe a “highlight reel.”

You rock, Gaile! Thank you.

~EW

So sorry that I didn’t share this earlier, but there is an excellent player-prepared synopsis here.

Thanks. I mean that: Thanks. The variety of and the thought behind the suggestions — whether details are expressed in this thread or stated as a synopsis of other shared comments or written elsewhere in the forums — really will help the team.

KalasDelRio — As you could tell from Mike O’Brien’s comments in the AMA last week — synopsis here — there will be more communication and more meaningful communication. Yes, I believe there will be discussions with forum members as changes are being contemplated, although of course that will come from someone actively involved with the development of WvW.

Sviel — I would recommend hope. Yes, I’m naturally an optimist, but I believe there is true cause for hope, too.

iZakari — Agree, except “constant” and “continuously” may be difficult. If someone is talking about the game, they can’t be developing the game, and we all agree development is key. I’m thinking “frequent” or “regular” have a nice ring to them. Agree?

Baldrick — current information gathering enhances what the devs already have gleaned from their own gameplay, observation, tester input, and forum commentary. It’s not a new initiative. Devs are assigned to WvW, you can be assured of that. (Just as you can be assured that no one has ever spoken for me but me. I’m the same person who joined ArenaNet in 2000, and I’m the only one who uses this name. Whatcha think, I’m a made-up identity, a la Betty Crocker? )

Loosmater — Thanks for the faith. I will try to live up to that. I won’t be the person making the changes — and the devs of course are the important element of all this — but I will endeavour to help with the comms side of things!

xXBAKESXx.6731:

Yo,

Since that update yesterday my client is trying to download over 30k files, i left it downlaoding today as I have slow internet and I’ve downloaded 1.6gb and still 28k files to go, this is the patch size? or something gone wrong?

It seems odd that it would take so long, but of course I don’t know the details of your ISP and download speeds.

You could simply close the client and re-open it. There would be no risk in doing that, because the system is designed to intuitively “know” which files you have and which you need. This means you won’t start all over again. Restarting could help and wouldn’t hurt, is my thought here.

Khisanth.2948:

Deedrick.4372:

Even if you don’t have hot, your still downloading the same things.

Change your streaming settings to “On Demand” …

Good suggestion here that could help.

RlyOsim — You’re right, of course. But, too, collective desires can change over time, can shift, can be better defined or reprioritized. I think it’s helpful — and thanks for participating — to get a view in the here-and-now.

Peazomanco — I see what you did there.

Loosmaster.8263:

The key to what you do is you forward the information or flag the threads and you let us know you did it.

I did it.

Subversion — to address you concern. This thread is merely an overview, one thread, one set of opinions. As I mentioned, it’s good to link to the “meatier” threads, or to include more details from those threads. This isn’t the be-all and end-all, by any means — you and I agree on that! This is merely a place where I think we could provide a synopsis of ideas with relevant details through links to the many other valuable threads on the subject of WvW.

No worries, I hope, now that I’ve made that clear? Thanks for posting.

briggah.7910:

Since a lot already touched on what most want so I’m not going to repeat those and I can’t really think of anything else right now besides this:

Updated gear stats from WvW vendors. Lots of different gear stats have been added to this game over time and currently there is no way of getting them in WvW.

I don’t know. I think your stating your thoughts would be good. Yes, the suggestions may have been said previously, but your noting your preferences in whatever order you wish, and perhaps replacing one of the other ones you like for your own suggestion, would be valuable.

Gwaihir — are these in ranked order? Just wondering.

Loosmaster.8263:

This was started 30 days ago. If you would have popped in here and said “I’m watching you”, you would have a lot more input.

Yes, and I’m sorry that I did not. I’m here now, and obviously familiar enough with the comments to appraise the value… ~she says, looking around guiltily.~

You’ve been around a while and you know that sometimes, when I post comments like “Keep the ideas coming” people think I’m on auto-pilot, and that I’m not actually assessing a thread for value. But hey, I do, and I believe this one has potential!

Dusty Moon.4382:

Gaile – one thing you can say about WvW players is they are passionate about this game. It would be ashame to lose that passion.

Totally agree! WvW is a marvelous system, and we love that people love it and that they want to help us make it better.

Dusty Moon.4382:

Can you even give us any inklings about what is planned and when?

I don’t have that information at hand, and I’m sorry for that. However, I believe it’s real clear from the conversation last Friday that this is subject is important to us and we are going to be listening to what you have to say.

Stand The Wall.6987:

Gaile Gray.6029:

unconstructive, non-contributory comments.

lol im so guilty. i cant help myself sometimes, sorry.
you forgive me though, right?
hah, anyways, cheers gaile and i hope some of our comments get heard at least.
or mike could just put me in charge of the wvw team with no oversight ;D
alright alright.

All is forgiven. As we were saying just now, passion can result in impassioned speech. I know it — you know it — it’s ok. But, really, to keep on track we did a little clean-up, because it’s way better to read 30 or 50 constructive posts than have to weed through 80 or 100 with a 50% value rate. (Oh, btw: your post was just fine and I liked that you shared those ideas!)

I have been tracking this thread with a lot of hope, thinking that this is a good premise for a conversation, something I could spotlight for the dev team. Forum members like Dayra, Stand The Wall, Dusty Moon, Norbe, and several others have made a solid effort over a few weeks to contribute constructive ideas. Thank you!

I believe this is can continue to be a very productive exercise, even if the moderators had to do some “housekeeping” to remove the unconstructive, non-contributory comments.

So please post constructively to share your thoughts on this subject. If there’s an off-topic or a unconstructive post, please flag it so we can keep the thread on track. The substantive ideas shared so far are good and we’d welcome more. If you want to share greater details or link to other threads — that would be fine, too. This thread in no way replaces other constructive commentary on the subject of WvW, but it could be one valuable high-level gathering point for feedback that helps in the overall review of the subject.

TL;dr: Please post on topic and let’s make this really useful!

I feel bad about this thread… and a little guilty, too. I posted to encourage everyone to share their art, but I didn’t make it clear that if you have something to share, it’s best to share it in a new thread on this sub-forum, rather than in this thread.

I am so sorry for this! I haven’t looked back at this, and I hope that everyone who shared in this thread will share in a separate, new thread in this forum, so that all our forum members can see your great work.

I already can spot a few pieces we may need to feature in future Community Showcase Live shows (like April and after, since the art is already selected for this month’s show.)

I think to avoid confusion, I should lock this thread and again, please, everyone share in a new thread!!

Heads up! The next CSL will be aired on Wednesday, March 16th, at Noon Pacific. We have art of all kinds for you, including audio, video, drawings, cosplay, figures, and other tasty treats!

I hope you will be able to join Lizzie and me on the March 16th! If not, tune in later to the on-demand version on Twitch or after we post the show on YouTube! (I’ll add a link here later.)

I love this! I am a major fan of Legos…even after untold times of stepping on them in the dark!

This is really creative work, Brigs! (Love the story, too. )

Oh hey, how big is that figure? It’s hard to tell scale, but at any size, it’s great!

Hello,

This thread disappeared for a short while. I’m checking with the moderation team to find out if a concern arose that prompted its removal, but I don’t see a thing wrong with it, so I have placed or replaced it here in the Players Helping Players Sub-forum. If we need to close it for some unforeseen reason, I will post to keep y’all informed.

A few notes:

• The Players Helping Players area is the proper sub-forum for this project, so please don’t ask us to move it to another sub-forum, or post in another sub-forum about this project.
• This is a very nice initiative, but I would suggest that those who are gift recipients not “go back to the well” repeatedly. “Thanks for the gift(s), please give me more” is a little OTT, doncha think?
• What would be super sweet is to see this become a sharing project on a reciprocal level. For instance, someone sends you some dyes you’re seeking, and you turn around and offer someone else a few mats. That sort of thing is the best level of community generosity and we love to see it!
• Remember that this is a player-driven project, so if there are issues, they need to be settled between the two parties directly. I truly do not foresee issues arising, but it’s just a good thing to be aware that CS or other folks couldn’t get involved in mediation, should the need arise.

Thanks for reading!

The programming team is doing a little clean-up today. This probably won’t impact your account at all, but we wanted to post, anyway, for those few who may see the effects.

Some buy orders that were placed between launch and the end of October 2015 are going to be cancelled and the currency involved refunded to the player. Only orders that are below vendor value and therefore are impossible to complete will be impacted. Everyone involved will be refunded all “escrowed” currency in relation to these bids, and of course they are welcome to place a new order if desired. Currency from cancelled orders will appear in the trading post pickup as usual.

Guys — the moderator team asked me to take a look at the thread, as they were concerned that the discussion was veering off into a completely new tangent. I agree with them. I think this thread has housed some good and meaningful discussion, but at this time we will be closing it, with thanks to those who participated.

Walder.6524:

Is it necessary to weapon swap much in casual PvE? I’d prefer to stick with longbow if it’s viable.

You absolutely can do that. I like the swapping, but I don’t think it’s essential. (I just like turning the baddies green, I think. )

Congratz, Mal — that’s very impressive!

qbalrog.8017:

I have to say that acknowledging some of the obvious shortcomings goes a long way for making me happy as a player. Even acknowledging that some things won’t come out as quickly as they want helps by setting expectations.

Put another way, I know it takes time to make changes and roll out content, I just want to know they intend to make changes that address what I don’t like about HoT. Until now, there was little reason to hope things would improve.

From a marketing point of view, this sort of communication should have happened much earlier as it would have helped stem the bleeding but better late than never. (And I’m sure there is some behind the scenes stuff that affected the timing and the personnel changes).

I have hope for the game again, and am much more willing to give it time to sort itself out while playing, which includes a willingness to buy gems again.

I’m glad that you got value from the AMA, and that it helped answer some of the questions that you had. I also really appreciate the acknowledgment you made that changes can’t all happen overnight. It would be nice, but it wouldn’t be possible. Yet the first part — of saying we’re aware and are or will be working on something — is really valuable.

This level of communication is, in my opinion, really, really good. I anticipate we’ll be doing more of this in the future, which makes me want to break into a happy dance.

pelle ossa.9705:

Gaile Gray.6029:

ArenaNet President Mike O’Brien is conducting an AMA on Reddit this afternoon. Please join this thread and ask your questions!

i think that do an ama like this every 3-4 months would will be very great ^^

I’ll be happy to share that idea with Mike and the team. Thanks for the suggestion.

Burtnik.5218:

I guess ama is done.

Still going on.

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Gaile Gray.6029:

Qugi.2653:

Maybe dumb question but why not here on official forum? I am sure you wait for that question.

The formatting on reddit makes an AMA work better in that system. No preference, just a matter of functionality for this sort of short-term project.

Is there any way it can be transcribed to a forum post when it’s done (even locked, I’m fine with)? It’s just that I’m not a Reddit user, and I also like the layout of these forums much more than Reddit.

~EW

I could try to do that, sure, but it wouldn’t be able to happen today. I like the idea, or maybe a “highlight reel.”

Qugi.2653:

Maybe dumb question but why not here on official forum? I am sure you wait for that question.

The formatting on reddit makes an AMA work better in that system. No preference, just a matter of functionality for this sort of short-term project.

ArenaNet President Mike O’Brien is conducting an AMA on Reddit this afternoon. Please join this thread and ask your questions!

I sounds to me as if this isn’t specifically a Shatterer program, but one related to launchers. Would you agree? If so, you and we can change the title and I’ll be happy to pass this concern along, as well.

I wanted to add a small note. I play Ranger and I love the profession! The combination of ranged and tank attack is great. I have a pet and I dual-bow, and while that’s not considered the best or most powerful option (yes, DPS experts, I know, I know ) I do love it! The Ranger — maybe with one bow, maybe with two — coupled with a pet, seems like a good option for you so I’m glad you’re checking it out.

There are a lot of options and customizations for playing a Ranger, but there’s one setting that might help you a lot: auto-attack. You set auto-attack by mousing over the skill and then clicking CTRL and Mouse Button 2. (That’s the one on the right for me, depends on the mouse). You can try it out and if it’s not for you, disable with the same process. I only have a few of my skills on Auto-Attack, but it could be quite useful, and you might want to play with that option for your attacks.

All the best — I hope you have a blast in the game! And our forum members, as you can see, are a helpful lot, so don’t hesitate to ask more questions if they arise.

Arikyali.5804:

Have you guys realized you can never really quit this game? You’re stuck with it forever.

D:

Ah, there they are: The person who says "You think you can quit “Outside” but we know you’ll be back."

Sphinx.8014:

Finally a game were the Oceanic population doesn’t complain about severe lag though.

The challenge I see for Oceanic players is your region has some miiighty unusual mobs! I mean bouncy things with pouches! Dogs in mean-dog disguises! Who knows what skills to use on them?

I have to admit, I like those small tree-bound mobs, and I’m glad they’re ambient creatures. I vote that no one takes out those adorable Ko’alaa Furry Beasts or Kee’Weee Longbeaks!

ShiningSquirrel — you are not infracted. This is exactly what you were told, and exactly what happened:

“The thread " Recent interactions with support" was moved from the Guild Wars 2 Discussion sub-forum because it was a better fit for the Account & Technical Support sub-forum.”

The thread then was moved. No points, no penalty — just keeping things on topic where the topic best fits. The subject was support. The moderator felt it was best expressed in the support sub-forums. Makes sense to me!

Edit to add: It was very kind of you to post that, and I admit I blanched when I saw the content and read that you believed it was infracted. I hope all is forgiven with this explanation, and thank you for the post!

As I have said, until the sun went down, forum members are welcome to discuss or ask questions about individual issues, infractions, etc., as they relate to their forum accounts. Please drop us a line if you want to discuss.

Seriously unlocked this time. ~blush~

Ayrilana.1396:

Odd that he gets notifications like that when I normally get something like the following:

Your post in (thread name) was removed because it quoted a post that was deleted by a moderator. This notification is intended only to inform you of why your post was removed. The removal does not result in any points of penalties and does not affect your forum account in any way.

That’s all that’s in the message. Why the difference?

It’s a procedural difference. There are two ways to remove a post, and although the core messaging is the same, there is other messaging around it in the one case, as you saw in JaFW’s example. Both result in removal; both result in appropriate core messaging as long as the moderator is sure to write it; both would not give points, as you can see. However, the message that JaFW received is actually the result of use of the better procedure because it retains more information in case of an appeal or questions.

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

insanemaniac.2456:

Neural.1824:

You didn’t just remove the offensive word post, Gaile, you infracted half the thread for it.

This forum software writes “kitten” all over half of creation at even the slightest hint of potential vulgarity, yet somehow a word got through that is so “highly offensive” that you have to punish 4 people merely for the sin of quoting it?

Meanwhile, another thread is allowed to stand with a title change, even though you know as well as I do that if it had be me that posted the thread, I’d have gotten in trouble for it.

you do not accumulate infraction points for posts deleted because of quoting an infracted/deleted post unless something is naughty about your post too. theyre simply deleted, and a notification spams your inbox.

Unfortunately this is not always true.

That is generally true. It is rare for someone to receive points for quoting a removed post. In those cases, it’s most likely that they are receiving points not for the removal but for what they said below the quoted content.

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Conncept.7638:

…snip…

Treat others as you would wish to be treated. If you wish to be insulted, insult others. If you wish to have fingers pointed at you, point fingers at others. If you wish to have a rational discussion, then discuss things rationally.

It’s not always going to work because you are the only person you have control over, but it’s a start. Getting angry and rage-posting isn’t going to help anyone.

~EW

I would go with the first sentence and call it good: Treat others as you would wish to be treated. That says it all.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Gaile. Do you think y’all can look at the auto messages from moderators, rethink the word infraction and not use it when it’s only thread clean up. To you it may mean action taken. To me it means the account was disciplined. So seeing a message that the account was infracted is confusing as it can mean nothing happened or it can mean your account was disciplined and it can take several readings through the message to parse it out.

I would dearly love to do that. When I became team lead, that was my very first “ask.” But the darn things are “hard coded” and cannot be amended. I truly and intensely dislike the use of “infracted” when we’re talking about something that may be just a heads up. Heck, that kitteny message may appear even if we simply move a thread from one sub-forum to another!

Sorry, I vent. :-/

TL;dr: The messaging is poor and we can’t change it, I wish with all my heart that we could, but we’re stuck with those auto-messages at this time. We do our best to write personal and very clear messaging in the body, though.

Edit to add: Yes, I did write kitten, as in small cat.

Roxanne.6140:

What if whatever the OP posted was indeed so ridiculous that it makes whatever logical response to it seem sarcastic. Maybe OP posted, oh I want to PvP in the blighting towers in dragon stand. How do you respond to that kind of post in a way that is not sarcastic nor derogatory. I’ll slap myself if I needed to respond to such posts in a sugary coated politically correct response like honey dear you know killing players during a boss fight is just not civil or sweetie pls leave ppl alone in ‘x’ and ‘x’ situation because it is rude.

If you think something is illogical, there’s no reason not to say that. Straight up: “I think this is illogical because [reasons].” Or even “This idea doesn’t make sense to me because it seems illogical.” The first is better than the second, but both state an honestly-held opinion and that’s ok.

Now, “This idea is illogical and your mother should be ashamed of giving birth to you” crosses the line, obviously. “Your suggestions are absurd” or “…dumb” or “…shockingly stupid” aren’t right.

I’m not suggesting political correctness, I’m requesting simple human respect. I happen to believe that anyone who’s smart enough to play our game and smart enough to join our forum community is smart enough to state an opinion without a flame. I hope you agree.

Conncept: Thank you for reposting.

Those who quoted: Please read the message that you were sent. You did not receive points or penalty. The term “infracted” only means that action was taken. But as you were told by the human being who wrote the message to you, the post was removed as a “housekeeping” measure, and there was no impact on your forum account whatsoever.

About moderation:

I don’t believe our moderators ever “turn a blind eye” on infractable offenses. They try to be evenhanded, fair, and reasonable when reviewing and, when necessary, moderating posts. The team is greatly assisted by player reports, so if you see issues, please report them. If you have questions, you also can flag the post to ask the question. Please report wisely and fairly and not in reaction to a difference of opinion or a case of personal antipathy.

I review each and every appeal that comes in. I may not personally handle each one, but I see every one. And believe me, proper moderation is a very important subject to me and to us as a company. We’re more than willing to fix, adjust, amend, or adapt, when there is reason to do so.

When a moderator errs, we address it. We might remove or lower points or reinstate a post. But the number of reversals is relatively small, and an appeal does not not necessarily result in change. In most cases, the original action was correct, although you or others may disagree with the decision.

Claims of inaccurate moderation on the forums generally are wrong. People forget, or misrepresent, what they said. Or, they may disagree that what they posted deserved removal or points, and they blame the moderators first and ask questions later.

Back when Guild Wars 2 released, Mike O’Brien charged me with a task: Review the cries of ‘foul play’ and “unfair CS actions” and “improper ‘bans’” and see if CS is making errors in blocking accounts as a result of offensive in-game chat. So say someone posted “I only called someone a chicken and I was banned!” I pulled up chat logs and spotted a string of swear words that would make a sailor blush. (Sorry, sailors, not impugning your characters here — <3 ya all! ) The end result is the forum thread with claims that CS was banning people unjustly became one of the most amusing forum threads ever, and in 99.9% of cases, the cries of injustice were 100% wrong.

If you have an issue with the moderation of a post that you made, then write us at Forums@Arena.Net. But if your intention is to discuss why [that forum member] was not infracted and you were, let’s not even go there. Worry about you and how your issue was addressed, your posts were appraised. I promise you we will in turn look at your situation and do our best to address any errors in how the post was handled.

What to do about [that forum member]? Report them and let the team do their jobs. We want to do the right thing, so please trust that we will look into the matter with care and with our forum culture as a focus. (What you might say on Forum X may not be right here, and vice-versa.) We may view what you reported differently than you would like, but a review of any value starts not with throwing around accusations but with a report, and it continues with letting an unbiased judge review the entire situation. Every forum member deserves a fair shake, and we try to give it with an eye to keeping the place pleasant for everyone.

Oh, last bit: For goodness sake, don’t try the “abuse by report” game, where you’re angry at the mod team and file a bunch of bogus reports, or where you don’t like another forum member and hope—in a throwback to preschool—that you can “get them in trouble with the teacher.”

KKaelyn.5904:

First off sorry for the misused word at the top, somehow it got auto corrected and I did not catch it.

Ah, thank you for that clarification. I was confused, too.

Palador.2170:

Gaile Gray.6029:

I don’t often get into moderation policies,

Perhaps it’s time you start doing so. I mean, if you’re not dealing with this, then who is?

Perhaps that was poorly phrased, and if so, I’m sorry. What I meant is I don’t often “get into” as in “discuss” or “outline” or “relay policy to forum members through a forum post.”

I get into the actual review and enactment of moderator policy on a daily basis. Thanks.

Well, this was unfortunate. We just had to remove several posts. Please please read carefully if you’re going to quote someone! We just removed a post that contained a really offensive word. We also had to remove three posts that quoted that post, because that resulted in Offensive Word times 4.

We’re not trying to squelch the discussion, but we’re not going to leave up a word that is truly offensive, by pretty much anyone’s measure… or at least the measure of people who appreciate the effort to keep the forums clean. I will try to get the word added to the filter, but at the present time, removal is our only viable option.

By the way: Moderators and administrators don’t randomly go into posts to remove an offensive word. Doing that could raise a whole lot of concerns, even tin-foil-hat theories that “the mods changed my text!” So each post pretty much lives or dies on its own content. (Note: We will alter a post if it contains personally-identifiable info, but that’s about it for moderator edits.)

I talked to JAFW and they were ok with me changing the title a bit so that, if someone just glanced, this wouldn’t look like the run-of-the-mill “I’m quitting” thread. Not that we see those or anything…

Anyway, reopened with an author-approved title change.

pelle ossa.9705:

Gaile Gray.6029:

One suggestion: Before posting it’s best to look for an existing thread so that you can expand upon posted ideas, or add your input for changes.

Gaile have you ever tried to do a research in this forum?

Yes, but not recently. We occasionally use third-party companies who specialize in surveys and have the technology and the know-how to conduct them with accuracy to gather input from players. Forum surveys may be something we look into in the future.

reikken.4961:

Oh yeah, that’s another very good point.
Tell your website guy to replace the search bar with a link to google. Or at the very least remove it. As it is, it serves ONLY to mislead people.

We can’t make changes to the UI because it’s hard coded. (Something we’ve mentioned before, but not recently.) So unfortunately, the non-functional-and-nearly-useless search bar will be with us for the foreseeable future. Sorry about that! I suggest that people see this linked thread to learn about a potential work-around for searching.

insanemaniac.2456:

gaile has outlined well what to post, but not so much what not to post. the problem is when this:

“I don’t like this because [reasons]”

becomes instead:

+/- a few kittens, paragraphs, and typos:

“i kittening hate this kittening kitten kitten [censor dodge] cuz [dev] is a kittening kittenty piece of [censor dodge] and anet needs to kittening fire some kittenes and spend money on [something full of kittens] instead”

which is obviously garbage and gets deleted, but is reposted, deleted again, and then the OP complains that anet deletes negative feedback and the mods are fascists in a 3rd repost resulting in a 3rd infraction, prolly a ban, and deleted again.

and yes, people do this. over 3 years, ive watched and laughed and had tons of “this thread was moved to subforum trashcan” notifications and laughed again.

keep it civil and your criticism wont be deleted. but the people who need to understand this walk into the forum angry with no posting history and post vitriol without ever reading the forums or code of conduct or even taking a look at whats on the front page of the relevant sub and get kicked out with a ban.

Yes. This.

People are free to say “I really don’t like this design” but not “I really don’t like this design, the designer, their significant other, or their little dog, too.”

;)

Let me see if I can address these:

Naurgalen.2374:

Gaile, while I totally undertand the fact that devs cant post in every thread or even read them all I think that A-Net can really improve in the communication with the player base with just little things. For example:

- It would be nice if the forum/page was treated as the official and main way to communicate info: it really feels strange when you must search for bits of info abut the game in reddit, you tube, twitter, articles on other web pagest etc… instead of the main official page.

I think I understand this concern: You don’t want to miss info, you want to know what we’ve shared. This is something our Communications Team — which includes people who focus on forums, social media, and public relations — can discuss. There’s synergy now; for example, I might make a forum post that another team member shares on social media (with a link to the thread). But I take on board your opinion that our players may have to visit multiple sites to get info. Sometimes this is good — an exclusive press interview with new details of the game is always cool! — but we can discuss ways in which to share info about external items so that even more people benefit from them.

Naurgalen.2374:

- Explaining balance changes would help A LOT to calm down people. Because even if you dont like why the dev did something to your class at least you can understand it and even give better feedback about it. Most competitive games are doing this allready: dota, lol, hearthstone, starcraft…. it doesnt matter the genre and it doesnt takes devs that HUGE amount of time.

I will pass this along. We had a lot of balance threads a few months ago. Maybe it’s something that can happen again, if time allows. I can see the benefit of it, and I hope that the forum community will enjoy them and the opportunity to provide constructive feedback if such posts are offered.

Naurgalen.2374:

- I really loved when some dev posted what where the main goals and improvement for the next few months-year. Yes I know that there are still things from the expansion missing, but I doubt that its the only thing you guys are doing. (or at least I hope that xD)

I think the first Quarterly Update was marvelous, and I’m looking forward to our next one. In the meantime, we do share info on a regular basis on our website, and we’ll keep doing that in the future.

First, to address what I feel is the reason for this thread. I agree that posting an opinion as an opinion, not fact, is the correct thing to do. I also agree that making sweeping statements isn’t appropriate, for each of us players represents ourselves, not the community at large.

Saying “I don’t like this and others agree” is different than “Everyone agrees…” or “We feel…” I sense that’s the point the OP is trying to make, and I concur: Each forum member is an individual and should post in ways that reflect that, not adopting the mantle of spokesperson for the entire community.

Except… The title is “Egocentrism” and the heading on the OP is “Ethnocentrism.” KKaelyn — can you fix that, please?

FlamingFoxx.1305:

TexZero.7910:

Asrat.2645:

Giving feedback, even purely negative feedback is fine. Even centering that feedback exclusively around your own opinion is ok, since, if a sufficient amount of people give their personal opinion, the whole will be a good average of what the players actually want.

As i’ve found out numerous times, the mods disagree with the negative feedback. You’re more likely to be infracted for having a post with negative feedback than one that brown noses.

The forum code of conduct states that all criticisms need to be constructive. If a criticism is constructive and is phrased to be clearly recognised as such then the mods shouldn’t have a leg to stand on in the event of an infraction/removal. Any non-constructive criticism they’re technically in the right to infract people for or remove for the forums.

Thank you for saying this. I don’t often get into moderation policies, but this seems a good time to say something on that subject. Negative feedback — “I don’t like this” — generally is not removed, but sadly, it contributes next to nothing to a discussion. “I don’t like this because [reasons]” is better. Best of all is a post like this: “I don’t like this because [reasons] and I think it would be improved by [suggestions].” That last example is the gold standard of forum posts, when expressed without expletives, name-calling, and other anti-social content, of course. Most forum members — the vast majority — understand this, and they post accordingly.

Our moderators don’t go through the forums looking for posts to remove. Their job is to try to keep things on an even keel, to maintain an acceptable climate so that everyone feels comfortable posting and/or reading. Our objective is to retain as much as possible while keeping threads on topic and acceptable (not offensive) to forum members, which include members, readers, and devs.

To be clear, “unconstructive” and “negative” are not the same thing, and no one is asked to post only positive posts; they are asked to post constructive posts.

The Forum Code of Conduct is very long. I hope to rewrite it soon. But in the meantime, this sums up our philosophy:

• Keep it clean
• Keep it civil
• Stay on topic
• Be responsible
• Share your knowledge
• Report posts for removal if they violate these standards

For all the words that follow in that document , the core value is this simple: The forum is a place for civil conversation between people with a common interest.

TheBravery.9615:

Gaile Gray.6029:

You asked for feedback and here are things you should know:

• In GW2 Forum culture, CDIs are initiated by a developer and are placed in the CDI Sub-forum. Yours are player-created threads that offer suggestions. Creating such threads is fine, but the term “CDI” should not be used for this or future threads, polls, surveys, etc., to avoid confusion or concerns about misrepresentation of the content.
• The threads have been renamed to retain the Suggestions tag that you kindly used.
• Please rename your personal polls or surveys to remove the “CDI” nomenclature.
• Please do not make staff call-outs. (See the Forum Code of Conduct if you have questions.)

Thanks for understanding.

Thanks for posting in here, it’s good to know a staff member opened this thread.

I’m in class right now, but I’ll make the changes you pointed out as soon as I can.

You’ve put a lot of thought and work into this, and I love how you’re seeking opinions from other players, too. I think it’ll be a really solid thread with some great information. I really encourage you to keep going with it!!

You asked for feedback and here are things you should know:

• In GW2 Forum culture, CDIs are initiated by a developer and are placed in the CDI Sub-forum. Yours are player-created threads that offer suggestions. Creating such threads is fine, but the term “CDI” should not be used for this or future threads, polls, surveys, etc., to avoid confusion or concerns about misrepresentation of the content.
• The threads have been renamed to retain the Suggestions tag that you kindly used.
• Please rename your personal polls or surveys to remove the “CDI” nomenclature.
• Please do not make staff call-outs. (See the Forum Code of Conduct if you have questions.)

Thanks for understanding.

TheBravery.9615:

Did they read my CDI thread(s)?

There are a few issues that, unfortunately, I need to point out:

• The threads you tagged as CDI’s are misnamed. In GW2 Forum culture, CDIs would be initiated by a developer and would be placed in the CDI Sub-forum.
• The moderators have renamed the thread(s) to the suggestions themes that truly represent what they are, and they should be just fine.
• Please rename your personal polls to remove the “CDI” nomenclature.
• Please, as outlined in the Forum Code of Conduct, don’t make staff call-outs for specific team members to read your thread.
• Thank you very much for using the [Suggestion] tag — that’s very helpful.

In answer to your question, while I don’t watch over every dev shoulder, I do know most suggestion threads are read.

Alekt — To answer your questions: In my opinion, different devs look for different things. I do agree with what I believe you’re stating, that balance improvements are an essential element of the update process. I can’t say they are the most important element, particularly since a game bug could benefit every single player in the game. But yes, balance is very important, I agree with you. I’m glad you posted your insights.

Wolfric — You would be surprised how much our developers are able to accomplish in a single day. They read, analyze, review, and discuss many threads. At the core you can be sure that we are well aware that good ideas come from players. In fact, we say that often — with 100% conviction — and I said that in this very thread!

Wing — We have a huge game with a lot of elements: PvP, PvE, WvW, Raids, Dungeons, Fractals… you know what I mean. From what I’ve observed, there is no lack of attention given to the professions, although I do understand that someone might feel an urgency in relation to their profession of preference and I take on board that with Season 2 underway, that sense of urgency may increase. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

MadRabbit — The OP posted to ask a reasonable question and unfortunately was met with aggression, allegation, insult, argument, and a series of untruths from a single forum member. I stand behind the moderators’ decision to remove those comments in order to keep the thread on topic and to give a real response, not a flame.

In the future, if you could please refer questions about moderation to Forums@Arena.Net it would allow forum members (which includes the devs who are reading players’ questions and input) to better focus on the topic at hand. Thanks for understanding.