Guild Wars 2

Sky.7610:

This is NOT a bug. The TP only list the cheapest 20 prices(or a number similar to it).

For example, if there are 30 of the same item on the TP, each with 1c apart in price, only the cheapest 20prices will show and the most expensive 10 will not.

This is what I was getting at, but I don’t know the limit for sales shown. But you can clearly see this with something like Unidentified dyes, no way is there only 1073 in stock acrossed every server.

38585 available. http://www.gw2spidy.com/item/20323
And yet as you can see below 2926 are available for purchase. Thousands possible millions of transactions are occurring every second. Playing the TP is a play at your own risk game.

Dezarys.1372:

Geotherma.2395:

I’m curious at the “bought (all)” comment. Not many things on TP aside from legendarys have so few available that you can buy (all).

Yeah, nobody is understanding this part.

The availability listed 182 available. So by purchasing 182 of that item we “bought all” of that available item.

The TP does not list every item sometimes. If you click buy all ectoplasm you will probably count a few thousand, when clearly there is wayyy more than that. It only shows up to a certain amount, check BLT chests to see what i mean, or simply list the item and people can help further.

2,777,233 in buy all option. But 2,922,119 are available. This specific item is sold in huge quantities so I imagine they are grouped better than say ectos or armor which may have 100’s of sellers at different prices.

I’m curious at the “bought (all)” comment. Not many things on TP aside from legendarys have so few available that you can buy (all).

Also the TP is cross server, meaning every server is using the TP at once. You can check http://www.gw2spidy.com/ to see the rates and things. As well as more information on individual items.

Still recruiting, made some changes to ranks and influence info on the website. I can list how we use influence here so people can see.

I’ve been doing some math and planning and have come up with a buff/banner schedule that I hope will benefit everyone. I’ve planned this around the fact that most players will probably be playing weekends but does not mean this cannot change with time or vary to a certain degree. Heres what i have so far:

Note that (all) these will be paid for by me, not the influenced gained. If you wish to contribute to the guild bank for these that is entirely OPTIONAL. I can easily pay for this amount of influence weekly. And those wishing to buy influence from the vendor are free to do so, but again this is entirely OPTIONAL.

Once a day-
10% Gathering banner
10% Magic Find Banner
5% Karma Banner
5% XP banner

Every Friday-
10% Magic Find Guild Buff (3 days)
10% Gathering Guild Buff (48 hours)

Every Saturday-
5% Kill XP Guild Buff (24 hours)

*Now some of these will last into Sunday, possibly Monday. And often times they may overlap. So hopefully you will be able to enjoy various mixes on the weekends (Fri-Sun) that can benefit everyone.

During the week, or on planned days-
I will be activating the 15% Karma Guild Buff (24 hours), and will be giving out a few free Karma foods to those wishing to gain extra Karma or open Karma items. I will also drop a Karma banner during these times.

Every month I also will probably be throwing events or gatherings which would include banners, possibly guild banquets, event boxes, and food trays. I will be supporting these events, those wishing to attend will be able to see the event dates on this website. So make sure you keep watching for updates and info .

The other influence gain will be used for some influence boost and working towards mission unlocking/tier unlocking.

Old Bones.5140:

Ya, should have used search button…

Probably :P But still, not everyone reads that forum. Like I said would have been better to make it an announcement. Although players should mostly know to be careful with phishing etc, but some people aren’t as tech/web/computer savvy as others. So its good that they remind people to be safe.

You can report it but I believe there is a post about it from anet already. I think though it would have been better if the web team made it a notice you had to click to read rather than a hidden thread in a sub forum.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/account/Email-from-ArenaNet-Please-read

Everflame.1305:

Okay, I have to admit I’m a little surprised this thread is still around. I just want to
Clarify one thing….I never once considered the story method “cheating.” I, perhaps naively, assumed that since it was still In the game seven months after launch and most players seemed to know about it, it was a viable option. Clearly I was wrong. However, this doesn’t change the fact that I think it’s a ludicrous amount of work for a little achievement that doesn’t even grant a title. Grinding just to say you’ve done something is dumb.

Legendary Weapons. Just sayen :P

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/BL-S-Kits-vs-Master-Kits-Results-Ectos/first

I just started my own guild and can see that there are many people already in a guild or guilds. It seems like once you enter game your almost guaranteed to become a guild member or play solo until you do.

In my guild I don’t require 100% rep. I understand that some people have close friends or long time acquaintances with whom they do certain aspects like WVW,dungeons,spvp etc with. I don’t expect them to be on and repping 100% of the time, just that they try and be a part of the guild so that it is active.Things like bounty’s and missions will come in time, but for now I have no problem with people repping another guild so they can do content they enjoy. A guild is a community, some more close than others. Some people irl have certain bars they like, maybe they have a bartender friend or favorite drink. Maybe those people check out other bars for variety and come back. The point is Guild Wars 2 is very much about community as most games are, and your right to join several communities.

Some of the problems I often see are:

One side- Guild Leaders demanding 100% rep. The only reason I ever see the point of this is if your members are focused on 1-2 aspects of the game, ie WVW. If that is all you ever do then sure advertise it as such. But if you are multi-functional, you sound just silly asking for people to rep you 100%. Because they have needs and wants and they deserve to fulfill those. If you can’t offer that they will find others who can, but this does not always mean they will leave or never rep you.

Other side- Guild members using 5 guilds as a LFG. This is frustrating to see, as you do not just want a large guild with 200 non repping people just using you for LFG UNLESS that is the sole purpose of the guild. Yes it is a benefit that large guilds can be used for LFG for dungeons and whatnot, but it isn’t right to take up space in a maxed guild if you rep for 5 seconds a day.

Balance- There needs to be a balance between the guilds you rep, the guild masters understanding, and the cohesion of the guilds. The fact that many people have many different desires means that you could be all over the place. I wouldn’t recommend that a multi aspect player join 5 multi aspect guilds unless you can frequent them often. Guild Masters need to clearly lay out their plans and expectations BEFORE they invite you. No one should ever be told they got kicked because they weren’t repping, without that person knowing that was a rule. Even so, you could take the time to talk to them and explain, and see if you can come to an agreement. Because EVERY person matters in the game no matter the level, gear, skill, style. Every person is part of the world and has some kind of impact in one way or another, and that makes them important.

The little guy- Large guilds seem to start lacking in the area of catering to “most” instead of catering to certain individuals. Of course everyone knows you can’t please everyone, but you can sure try to have something for everyone (not including 1 aspect guilds) if you want to survive as a guild. You can balance Buffs, missions, banners, and events if you truly take the time to do so. Why expect everyone at the bounty mission if in 3 months you have had no guild buffs for people who are leveling, gathering, crafting, opening karma etc etc? No members should not be there solely for buffs, the core of a guild is its community. But it shows that you are doing your best to provide “something” for everyone. As your guilds needs change you need to refocus and ensure you are going the right direction and are paying proper service to those who helped you become what you are. Do not use people for influence, do not use people as a sort of interest bearing influence account. As they give to you, give back.

I’m always spending cash, gems, gold on throwing events for the server not just my guild. I know not everyone can do this, but I can so i do. I think it brings people together and adds a little fun to maybe a mundane moment between Maw or shatterer or whatever else. I invest time and money into this game because developers invested time and money into bringing out a pretty great game. At its core as with every MMO is the community, and we as guild leaders, as people should recognize that. Without people, without members, without community this is nothing more than an RPG with an occasional co-op. We need to support those we can, encourage others to do so, and our guilds should be a place where players feel welcome and important. So much so that all of Tyria feels this way, like we all belong to something.

Home World: Northern Shiverpeaks NSP
Guild Name: [TOP] Titans of Promethea
Guild Website: everyonesgrudge.enjin.com/top AD FREE
In-Game Contact: Geotherma, Synnsation
Focus: PVE/PVP/WVW/ Guild-Server Events
Quick Notes:
Website for guild: everyonesgrudge.enjin.com/top
Main website which includes multigaming community everyonesgrudge.enjin.com
Includes GW2, Aion, Elder Scrolls Online, FFXIV, Steam Games

Website Stuff-
Mumble-One click access from website
Forums-Web/Mobile versions available
Unique themes for every game listed
Dragon timer built into website
Chat
Overwolf in game app
Galleries
Shout box
RSS feeds for GW2 Twitter,Forums,Official site (and others on respective pages)
Daily timer (counts down to time left to complete daily)
Clock

In game guild-
Ranks
Tier IV in every category except PVP (working on this)
Bounty training missions opened and stacked
Buffs
Banners
Friendly members, looking to grow.

If I had a million gold I would buy out every one of 1 item. Then completely change the price, just so the threads about market manipulation could be true for a week or so. And it would probably be ectos, since that would cover other threads as well. And then i would come back here and be like “Your welcome”, and wait for the hate mail :P

Sophie Lone.8576:

Hello, just a quick question about the status of NSP atm. I used to play guild wars a ton and was the leader of Tots which had about 430 members at its peak but then I had to leave the game for personal reasons and the guild fell apart. Anyway I will be playing the game again starting next month and was just wondering how the population of NSP is at the moment compared to other servers and where it shines. I plan to make another guild on NSP or join an active one and just want to know what its like atm. Thanks for your time.

Right now the server is in Very High status. There seem to be plenty of people, though the maw timer and other changes have made people spread out a bit rather then be bunched up on one event. I believe that some people may be in the middle of midterms/finals as far as college, and anticipation of the new mmos is pretty high. But overall it seems busy, perhaps not as crazy as some of the RP servers who seem to have a crazy large population of active people. WvW has been ok as far as I can tell. The guild missions have had an affect as well, making it harder for some small guilds to accomplish thus pushing some to larger guilds. Which of course makes it harder for people like me to even start one even though I’ve pushed the tiers quite a ways.

Update: In may I will be adding influence via NPC and work on getting PVP rank to V. We are starting out small but hoping to grow fast. Check out the website for the guild page or just to check out our multigaming site everyonesgrudge.enjin.com. The direct link to the guild page is everyonesgrudge.enjin.com/top

Yramrag.3026:

Here’s mine

Head: Thief starter hood
Shoulder: Crafted Emblazoned
Chest: Shiro’s Coat
Glove: Nika’s Gloves
Leggings: Duelist Pants
Boots: Whisper Boots
Dye: Celestial + Midnight Sky

Thanks now I have to go play Assassins creed III..

Hello all! Some of you might know me from the forums or game. In the game you may have seen my banners dropped down just about everywhere with the TOP tag. I first started the guild for bank space and to create events for the community on NSP. Well now I’d like to take a stab at making it an actual guild. Titans of Promethea, is the name of the guild (was made by me for personal use), and is a social (currently) guild wishing to build more depth and active members. Most, well all, the influence I have gained has been poured in with gold over the length that i have had the guild and has gotten me to at least tier III in PVP and tier IV in everything else. But I hope to build this quickly with new members adding influence and making the guild a truly active and fun place to be. Now some of you from forums know me from threads like:

The valentines event I made:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/fangen/Valentines-Event-2-8-2-9-2-10-NSP-US/first#post1406792

The work I did in trying to figure out salvage rates:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/BL-S-Kits-vs-Master-Kits-Results-Ectos/first

Or maybe my more joke like posts:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Save-the-Moa-joke-Video/first#post1642240

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Laurels-at-Bed-Bath-and-Beyond/first#post1470437

Or my suggestions posts:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Aura-around-different-rarity-icons/first#post1612212

Now I try to be a helpful member of the community not just on forums but in game as well. I love helping people and supporting the game by providing events, ideas, and answers to questions I might be able to help with. I posted these links to give people an idea of who the guild master is. Now I ask very little of members joining and respect the real world time that comes before the game. I hope to develop an amazing guild with amazing members who are part of all aspects of the game. I welcome anyone to check out the guild site: http://everyonesgrudge.enjin.com/top and to mail or message me any questions you might have.

Some quick benefits members get:
Enjin App from Enjin. An overlay app that has tons of cool features including chat.
Mumble server. Free server for all members to use with 1 click access from the website.

Access to the main site everyonesgrudge.enjin.com which has several pages dedicated to MMO games each with unique themes and RSS feeds and so much more.

Dragon timer on page.

Members of TOP get a specific TOP tag on the forums and website.
Chat, Forums, links, videos, pics, the list goes on and on.

There is a ton more but I don’t want to force people to read even more walls of text, so check it out or message me with any questions. Thank you all for your time

Ursan.7846:

It’s actually a really interesting statement, the whole “GW2 has limited skills” argument.

I don’t see it as a case. Take for examples Warriors. They have 4 2-hand weapons, 3 main-hand weapons, and 5 off-hand weapons. That is a total of 19 possible weapon combinations that you can hold. (4 + 3*5). With weapon swapping, that is a total of 342 possible weapon combinations you can have (19 * 18).

So there’s really no lack of choices. What’s the problem? When’s the last time you’ve seen a S/S Warrior? Or a Mace/Warhorn Warrior? Heck just a non-GS Warrior really.

The problem isn’t lack of variety, the problem is the lack of viability. Most of the possible Warrior weapon combos just fail at things required in the meta-game of PvP currently (Bunkering/Bursting/Roaming). Which hamstrings the variability and limits Warriors to a few specific builds.

People say how GW2’s skillbar limits options. I don’t see it like that at all. Each classes (save Engi/Eles perhaps, but that’s a whole different discussion). Have quite a wide pool of pre-set skill combos to choose from. The problem lies in the fact that all this variability is USELESS when only a few of them is truly useful.

Then there is the flipside argument of course, whether these builds are truly useless, or just because players just haven’t given them a fair chance? The evolving meta is the crux of the argument when people resist big sweeping balance changes.

EDIT: oh, that’s 342 combinations with just weapon skills. When you add in the healing (3), utility (20) and elite (3) skills, you get a TON more combinations of skills. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation yields a total of 21,053,520 possible skill permutations. That is variability folks, most of it useless. And this isn’t even talking about traits.

You do have a point that there are a ton of skills and combos available for warriors. I would say though that they are lackluster. I feel that the basic skills, take axe/axe for example, are too simple. Some people may not use a combination simply because to them it is boring. Now I’m not saying they should change all the skills to be cool but there are some things that could be done to make them more interesting to use.

Probably a simpler answer. Add skill animations, like for axe 1 skill. If you are dual wielding why not hit with both axes (visually only). It doesn’t have to do more damage, just simply look more aesthetically pleasing. Or those chains you see, add some more that basically do the same thing but have more animations. If I can hit skill 1 5 times it would be cool to see 5 different animations. Then I hit 4 and maybe the first time is the skill stated and it swaps over to version 2. So the next time you hit 4 it looks different. I think aesthetics are important in game skills especially when there is so few of them for some classes.

Granted I have my own way of playing I like axe/axe warrior with rifle as swap. But after 80 levels of tediously using these skills they become severely lackluster and bland. I really think much could be done to all the classes and skills to make every class more interesting to play. Because we don’t want everyone going mesmer “because they are cool”. I think the bias to “cool” is creating a problem with determining what classes are rising and falling. Because while they may generate numbers on whos play what style of build for each class, hoe many people are simply choosing just build/class A because it is more “exciting” aesthetically to them. Clearly we could all have the same skills (see SaB) and if player A had a cooler looking skill 1, player B would want that instead. Even given the fact that they are completely identical. Not to say everyone plays like this but I feel there are several. If you have been there you can post here too, I’m sure many people said “warrior.. hmm 5 skills.. these are kinda boring.. I’ll go try this class instead.”

What, if any, weapons do you believe are being under utilized by other players? And how would you go about changing them?

Also for those who really hate the idea of being stuck with 5-10 base skills, what do you think they could add/change while keeping balance in mind.

Sorry, forgot to add this video as well for explanation. http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/balancing-for-skill

I know there is always the question in game forums about balance. Some people think a class or classes should get a nerf and some think a class or classes should get a boost. It is never an easy thing as any developer, designer, or anyone who knows the game industry can tell you. But there are certain times the call for nerfing or buffing is just a rant on some particular aspect they dislike. This works beyond classes and can be various parts of the game. A food change can affect a class, a class change can affect a style of play and so on and so on. I just wanted to create a post and see where people currently stand on Balance in Guild Wars 2. To alleviate some ill conceptions about what balance is and is not I’ve found and interesting web clip that can answer some questions and enlighten those who wish to view it. http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/perfect-imbalance

Now for the discussion- What do you find in game that is most unbalanced in your opinion, and very importantly what do you think can help to fix it? Please take a moment to watch the short vid, and reply with constructive responses. Thanks

Scala.1340:

I’ve played two characters up to level 5 or so. Others to level 2. I wasn’t really getting into any of them.

For the elementalist, I did a bit of the story.

You can’t base a game off of 5 levels.. You experienced about .001% of the content.

zargnath.9524:

Dim.5720:

Guys, how do you get such clean looking screenshots?

If you bring up the options and go to controls. Somewhere under User Interface or something alike there should be an option that is called Show/Hide UI. I belive the default setting is ctrl+shift+H but I’m not 100% sure about that part.

Changed mine to f12 :P whata silly complex way to hide UI. Shame on devs shame :P

Nappychappy.7046:

Geotherma.2395:

killcannon.2576:

RebelYell.7132:

WoW had an unstable launch because more people were playing it AT LAUNCH, than what Ultima Online and EverQuest had at their peaks COMBINED. In the minds of many, World of Warcraft created the MMORPG genre. Including many suits at NCsoft and Nexon, shamefully.

By googling for 15 seconds: WoW had about 200,000 accounts created at launch, Everquest peaked at 450,000 accounts. You were saying?

Dear god I wasn’t going to post but “World of Warcraft created the MMORPG genre” wtf… who taught you this troll sentence, they need to be shot…

They made it mainstream, which made mmorpgs what they are today.

There were many before them which ushered in the genre. MUDS before those, and many other styles which really brought about the genre. people seem to think WoW made MMO, and it didn’t. It may have structured things in a way that many copy, but in no way invented the idea. Many..Many games came before it, and many will come after. Not many developers even care to try and emulate it anymore because they are smarter than that. Publishers however have yet to break free from it. GW2 is a start, and it is still young. Developing, programming and designing is not easy. And even after it is all done you still have bugs and things you can’t find unless you have stressed out the game with millions of players and millions of people doing billions of things every day. You fix and adjust, just as any business model would. I just find statements like that appalling… seriously. WoW is not a template, people need to learn history. And mainstream isn’t always a good thing, sometimes being on the fringe is far more entertaining and rewarding. Look at music, movies, books. being a blockbuster doesn’t make you good, nor does it guarantee your fame or success forever. Someone will outdo someone else, and the chain continues.

killcannon.2576:

RebelYell.7132:

WoW had an unstable launch because more people were playing it AT LAUNCH, than what Ultima Online and EverQuest had at their peaks COMBINED. In the minds of many, World of Warcraft created the MMORPG genre. Including many suits at NCsoft and Nexon, shamefully.

By googling for 15 seconds: WoW had about 200,000 accounts created at launch, Everquest peaked at 450,000 accounts. You were saying?

Dear god I wasn’t going to post but “World of Warcraft created the MMORPG genre” wtf… who taught you this troll sentence, they need to be shot…

Mix and match was with Hoelbrek? I think.. I’ll have to check and edit this when i get on. But here is what 1 of my characters has.

Drew.1865:

Jski.6180:

Drew.1865:

Yes it’s doing well and is a beautiful game that’s designed very bad. Once you get past the beauty and see how shallow the game really it’s just like any other game based on gambling.

So is every other mmorpg that has ever been made. If RNG is your problem you should give up on online games because they all have some type of RNG to them.

Every other mmo doesn’t do what Anet has done to loot in this game and anyone who played this in beta til now knows loot in this game has been nerfed into the ground.

Every MMO doesn’t change loot? Like um.. Aion? I have no problem with loot.

Ze Dos Cavalos.6132:

People already ask for 3k+ AP for some dungeons.
And i like those requests, because when i pug i want a exp team not a team full of noobs.

AP are importante when you pug, when i see people with 5k AP in my group i know nothing will be wrong.
But yeah the leaderboards are going to be useless, but who cares anyway? i dont.

Lol, yes. Because someone who salvaged 999999999999999999 items is definitely an elite player. …. AP is meaningless, I probably have 3k doing nothing but leveling in game and wandering around randomly. And admittedly I am terrible at dungeons and never do them. I know people with 10k who also have been to <10 dungeons or <10 spvp matches or never go to wvw. Hell I’m even a commander. because I lead people in WvW? Nope, cause I wanted to have the title just because. Status means nothing in this game. Actions speak louder than words, or AP for that matter.

Drew.1865:

Brehus.1258:

I believe GW2 would be doing even better if more people could actually run the game.
If you don’t have a high end processor that is super OCed the game just doesn’t run that great.

The game is a piece of art visually and it makes my friends iMac overheat and puts a strain on my MacBook pro but my mother’s dell run’s it very well but does get hot to the touch playing it.

They will optimize the engine in time but you will need a computer that can run this game if you plan on playing future mmos.

Great point.

clay.7849:

Geotherma.2395:

clay.7849:

Geotherma.2395:

And an aside- For a “bad game” that has become the fastest selling MMO of all time, it isn’t doing too bad. Even if “some” people consider it a WoW clone.

Still, for all the people that said they needed to make it less like GW1 to really be profitable, it hasn’t been as profitable as the entire GW1 franchise yet. So, until then…

Comparing a 7 year old game to a 7 month ish old game is a little silly though, can’t you agree?

Not really, considering the fact that every GW2 apologist makes the argument that a game like GW1 wouldn’t be able to survive in today’s market. Seems like just as silly of a statement to me.

Sorry, you are having decent discourse and I’m really acting like the jerk here. Please forgive me. I just think that the whole things is silly. GW1 wasn’t even an MMO and yet, they made GW2 more like the traditional MMO and less like the exciting, team oriented combat game that GW1 was and excelled at. If the two were even close to being similar, I would be fine. But, they aren’t, and I feel duped as a consumer. That is all.

I completely understand. I’m by no means some white knight or fan boy saying they are the best thing evarr. I believe publishers take much away from developers and designers, one of the worst of those things is “time”. But now it is too late to shut down and rework concepts that didn’t work well. And the game is already made, so instead of installing within the game they are forced to add on top. One thing i often wonder is how different this game would be had Arenanet have gotten the 60+m to create it solely by themselves without the restrictions of a big wig publisher.

Brehus.1258:

I believe GW2 would be doing even better if more people could actually run the game.
If you don’t have a high end processor that is super OCed the game just doesn’t run that great.

My wife has a Dell from 2005 dual core.. with a maybe 100 dollar card.. And 3 whopping GB of ram. How dumbed down can they make a game tech wise lol.

clay.7849:

Geotherma.2395:

Neither game is perfect, all games have flaws, but to degrade the incredible steps forward Arenanet has made is just silly. And down right rude.

Except, they took a philosophy of change and innovation and went back on their word and took on a new philosophy of profit and poor design.

Changing an initial design =/= giving up or killing the game. If you are referring to the gem store, very little there is even worth getting for anything but fun factor or convenience. Clearly they are one of the few companies not rushing to free to play like everyone else. But to keep that momentum up they need to balance profit and content and time. Some people make it seem as though that task is as simple as making chocolate milk. Well it isn’t. It takes time, and pre production can only go so far. Gamers themselves change and decide the fate of the game. Without us there is no game, but because of us sometimes changes need to be made. We have to understand that fact whether or not we like it or the change itself. you can criticize every action they take or look at it as a whole. Focusing on one factor of anything leaves so much room for doubt, ignorance, and lack of understanding. Constructive feedback, suggestions, additions are what they look to find in their gamers. We are at the heart and core of the game, and they get that. You want something to change? Fight for it, don’t just argue it away and throw anger at those who actually care about bringing a quality product. Publishers aside, Arenanet is doing what it can with what it has. And that is the best they can offer.

clay.7849:

Geotherma.2395:

And an aside- For a “bad game” that has become the fastest selling MMO of all time, it isn’t doing too bad. Even if “some” people consider it a WoW clone.

Still, for all the people that said they needed to make it less like GW1 to really be profitable, it hasn’t been as profitable as the entire GW1 franchise yet. So, until then…

Comparing a 7 year old game to a 7 month ish old game is a little silly though, can’t you agree?

clay.7849:

Geotherma.2395:

Would you apply this to anything else? Would you say Guild Wars 1 was named as such even though the fact is that many devs and designers had a part in World of Warcraft? They build up their name, they realized something worked and they continued on with it. This is a huge practice among publishers and develpers. often times publishers who even hear a dev mention “new idea” instantly dismiss it. Because they know what has sold is what should sell. Is this always true or good? Nope. It’s a great idea to step away from the norm and be different. Look at portal and some other niche type games. Look at it on paper and tell me that it sounded like a good idea. These people didn’t just profit, they excelled at what they had done. Plenty of other examples: Minecraft, the original Final Fantasy series, and so many more I’d actually have to look up. They (Arenanet) took a safe route but at the same time they learned from mistakes and fixed those. Then added their own finesse to the game and style.

Except that GW1 was a success and it was different. GW2 is just a really bad WoW clone with a couple new twists and really inferior content. Sadly, they took a step backwards, not forward.

I think that is an opinion though. One could argue that any game made after the launch of WoW is a WoW clone. But it would be an assumption, an incorrect one. They are not trying to be WoW. By now developers and publishers should have learned that trying to be a clone will only result in failure. WoW is a successful game, whether it is a standard for all MMO’s remains to be seen. But I highly doubt any designer, developer, publisher sets out to make or sell a game that mimics blizzards piece of the pie. Instead, smart companies are working around Blizzard, to make games that are amazing while stepping away from the norms of MMORPG’s. I could list the vast differences on teh two games but i won’t. A simple google or youtube video would be just as fruitless to listen to for those who are stuck in one opinion. Neither game is perfect, all games have flaws, but to degrade the incredible steps forward Arenanet has made is just silly. And down right rude. Like comparing a 68 Corvette to a Monster truck. Two entirely different roads these people are traveling, whether or not people can see that is a different story.

And an aside- For a “bad game” that has become the fastest selling MMO of all time, it isn’t doing too bad. Even if “some” people consider it a WoW clone.

clay.7849:

Geotherma.2395:

Sicktanick.4369:

Lol what? Did you even play the first game? So you are basically saying they made a completely different game and slapped the guild wars title on it…..lol

Sounds like D3 and I hope it goes down that road lol

Devs have reiterated this point in post..after post.. after post…. It is from LORE.

Because to say otherwise would be to point out that guild are worthless in GW2. So, yea, they are covering their kitten

Face it, this game was made to capitalize on the success of GW1 and make some quick money. The only reason they kept the name was because the name would sell better than something different.

Lore really has nothing to do with it.

Would you apply this to anything else? Would you say Guild Wars 1 was named as such even though the fact is that many devs and designers had a part in World of Warcraft? They build up their name, they realized something worked and they continued on with it. This is a huge practice among publishers and develpers. often times publishers who even hear a dev mention “new idea” instantly dismiss it. Because they know what has sold is what should sell. Is this always true or good? Nope. It’s a great idea to step away from the norm and be different. Look at portal and some other niche type games. Look at it on paper and tell me that it sounded like a good idea. These people didn’t just profit, they excelled at what they had done. Plenty of other examples: Minecraft, the original Final Fantasy series, and so many more I’d actually have to look up. They (Arenanet) took a safe route but at the same time they learned from mistakes and fixed those. Then added their own finesse to the game and style.

So you may not have your “guild wars” quite yet. Big deal. They will capitalize on what has worked and continue to hopefully surprise us with things never done before. Check out metrics in gaming, it is interesting stuff to learn. The simplest thing i can say about them is that they only measure how well something worked not how well it will work. So that’s what they go off of, too many risks too many changes can be a bad thing. Balancing risk with cost and time is never easy but don’t expect GW2 to become an HD copy of GW1. It simply won’t happen. But this doesn’t rule out the fact that they could add features you have seen and loved before.

The lore transfers into this game, hence the “2” in the title. However it isn’t a clone of the first because they didn’t want people to simply leave GW1 for the “better version”. Much like FFXIV didn’t want to replace FFXI.

On multiple guilds-
In FFXI you could have several linkshells, and they had specific purposes. Maybe you had a social, event, group linkshell stack. And you participated in each on your own time. Well Guilds work the same, most people have 2-3 for this exact reason. Also it allows for player to experience creating a guild, maybe you have a friend who wants to be a dungeon leader. Why does he have to leave the social guild for something that isn’t happening 100% of the time?

In my guild we have people whos focus is pve, pvp, wvw etc. Some of them even have guilds they rep for certain things. But they come back because we are their home. This doesn’t mean they do those things solely with those guilds either. It just allows for variation in play, and the ability to broaden our social links to areas where other players may be interested.

Sicktanick.4369:

Lol what? Did you even play the first game? So you are basically saying they made a completely different game and slapped the guild wars title on it…..lol

Sounds like D3 and I hope it goes down that road lol

Devs have reiterated this point in post..after post.. after post…. It is from LORE.

Daywolf.2630:

Preparing for the coming zombie apocalypse…
Though I fear it’s too late, can’t stock up on fresh twinkies for much needed food buffs

What a sad sad day that was…

Orc Slayer.2780:

Geotherma.2395:

I tend to get bored with the game as well, but it is my own fault. I’ve played it to death so to speak. And what I would really find interesting: Living Story, Being a Guild Master, and other things are beyond my grasp. the reason is school and family. I’d have to devote a serious amount of time to actually being active instead of logging in killing stuff afk for a bit repeat lol. I probably play more than the average person, and this has made me a bit bored but again that is my fault. There is many other things I’d like to enjoy but just can’t right now. But this doesn’t mean at some other time I won’t dive into the content. 1125 Hours 3 months.

dude that’s an average of 12 hrs a day….. school = 15-35 hrs a week depending on level and the average person sleeps for eight hours…. so you play 12 hrs, sleep for eight hours and go to school for 4 hours… on average

Sound right. minus the sleep thing, closer to 6 hours.

I tend to get bored with the game as well, but it is my own fault. I’ve played it to death so to speak. And what I would really find interesting: Living Story, Being a Guild Master, and other things are beyond my grasp. the reason is school and family. I’d have to devote a serious amount of time to actually being active instead of logging in killing stuff afk for a bit repeat lol. I probably play more than the average person, and this has made me a bit bored but again that is my fault. There is many other things I’d like to enjoy but just can’t right now. But this doesn’t mean at some other time I won’t dive into the content. 1125 Hours 3 months.

HardRider.2980:

It happens.. Thing is – this doesn’t stop you accessing it by visiting the Guild banks in major cities.

But maybe that is the point. It is much easier for GM’s to watch ONE area for RMT activity rather than watch TONS of areas for RMT. Basically now they can sit in the main cities watching chat logs/mail logs etc. I would guess if this is the reason they did it (for the rmt) then it makes sense why.

Nappychappy.7046:

Vayne.8563:

Nappychappy.7046:

Behellagh.1468:

Nappychappy.7046:

The linear paths and excessive hand-holding ANet does is killing gw2 slowly. People will go on about entitlement, but really it’s more about the control of dedication, prolonging content via gating. ANet wants to be know for breaking molds and I am sure they’d love to take the crown from WoW, but unless they give more power to the player with dedication and shinies, I don’t see them ever getting close.

I am not talking about box sale numbers here, but active players and the state of the game.

*edit, power to the player (not meaning stats) though, cosmedics are not much of a reward honestly, especially the way loot is done in this game.

What linear path? I chose my own way around Tyria and had a blast doing it. I wasn’t forced to run dungeons or do my “personal story”. Nobody forced me to go left or right when I come to a fork in the road. If I wasn’t cutting across the map. Guides may have told me what is in a particular area but I rarely if ever did what they suggested. I explored the world and did events or hearts or skill challenges in whatever order I felt like.

Bah! Linear path, right.

Not linear eh? Start zone >next > next > next… Ignore the all paths you want, but playing the game on course is linear by design, both leveling and story leads to Orr. Running in circles all day doesn’t change a thing.

This depends on how you play the game. Do you know why this game is not linear to me?

Because I can stay in Wayfarer foothills and NEVER leave it if I choose, and get all the way to level 80. Not too many games offer this sort of thing. I can get to level 50 and decide you know, I quite like this zone, I’m going to come back to it when I’m 80. Most games don’t offer that kind of choice.

It’s not linear because there are not only five starting zones, but multiple ways to get to Orr. You can get all the way to Orr without ever setting foot in Timberline Falls, or Mount Maelstrom. You can get there without ever setting foot in Sparkfly Swamp.

You can do high level content in Orr or Frostgorge or even Sunset Cove if you have a mind to.

So no, the game isn’t linear. The story is linear, but you know. stories are. I read books all the time and they’re all linear, in that page 300 comes after page 250. That’s what makes it a story.

But the rest of the game. Being able to jump into PvP as a level 80 character at level 2….not linear. Being able to WvW from almost any level, not linear. Being able to go back to any zone to level, not linear.

If you don’t play the type of game I do and all you want to do is farm high level areas, of course you’ll find the game linear. I just wonder if you realize how many people don’t want to do that.

Zone > Zone > Zone. Nah not linear at all.. I mean you can make a new character and go anywhere in the game as level 1 right?

I think you are confusing zones in a generic way and calling it linear. Going from level 1 area to level 35 area, then killing a boss in level 15 area is not linear. The very definition is hard to find physically in game:
“a (1) : of, relating to, resembling, or having a graph that is a line and especially a straight line : straight (2) : involving a single dimension”

The story yes, it is a story, kind of hard to have a non linear story as a whole. In the game you cannot go to level 80 area as level 1 (pve) you will die. You however CAN got o Orr at 80 and farm, drop by shiverpeaks and kill a level 15 boss for rare loot. That there is anti linear to me. You can pick an entire trait line and play 1 straight way, go retrain and start all over. Not linear. Simply stating zone>zone>zone, does not argue in your favor anything relevant. It is only a hasty reply with no further input or discussion. So, to fill in the lack of discussion you are having, why not tell us what you would do to make the game less linear in your eyes.

“Tangential learning is the process by which people will self-educate if a topic is exposed to them in a context that they already enjoy. For example, after playing a music-based video game, some people may be motivated to learn how to play a real instrument, or after watching a TV show that references Faust and Lovecraft, some people may be inspired to read the original work. Self-education can be improved with systematization. According to experts in natural learning, self-oriented learning training has proven to be an effective tool for assisting independent learners with the natural phases of learning.”

http://tinyurl.com/brsxpfd

I’m curious if any players have found things in GW2 that made them stop and think: “Is this based of a real thing?”

Is there a time (other than other player discussion) that the game itself taught you something you would have possibly not learned had you not played it? And at what point, if any, have you every looked up something to see what it was referenced. And if you did look it up did you learn and retain any knowledge from it. I’m only asking because I’m genuinely curious on how much the devs put into the game that players pick up on that references real world situations places or things. And Arenanet people are welcome as always to point out anything specific they did on purpose or think we might find interesting. I love learning little tidbits in game, I understand it isn’t an educational game. However I feel like if I can acquire zero real life knowledge from a game, I find it less appealing. Simply learning game mechanics or story just doesn’t feel as rewarding to me. Looking up “Moa” or “Norn” online after encountering them, lead to interesting discoveries. So I’m curious if anyone else has done this.

I think the overproduced RPG aspect of MMORPG has really burned players out. Everyone isn’t expecting a WoW 2, they are expecting something worth playing with or in addition to what they already love. People have enveloped themselves both physically and socially into these games. Those companies who seek to tear people away from games that hold a firm position in the lives of gamers will find failure at every turn. It is in the best interests, and clearly something Arenanet understands, to allow gamers flexibility. They don’t want you to leave your friends in WoW, they don’t want you to abandon your pvp buddies in Aion. They want you to play the game and enjoy it, knowing full well that your friends here, and your friends there, will welcome you back every time you switch.

Designers and big wigs that attempt to grab players from other games are missing the point. The purpose of most games is to get our time, and our time is a limited thing. How does one go about tearing a gamers hours between two games? the answer is, they don’t. Players aren’t one cloned type of people, we love role playing and can love shooting our enemies or mind blowing puzzles as well. While developers try to incorporate all that into one game, it doesn’t make that game the end all win all of MMO’s. Very much so it makes that game scattered, and often players spend more time trying to find out where they fit in than actually playing. In the coming months and even years you will see ideas that push the envelope of gaming. What you won’t see is the next big WOW Killer. Because simply put it doesn’t exist. WoW is a great game to some people, as are many other MMO’s. But it has become a world where we are split apart enjoying different things. And until developers learn to bring us together rather than pull us away, no MMO will be truly revolutionary.

So can we tell if GW2 is dying/succeeding? In most cases the answer is no. Tons of people playing today doesn’t mean it is doing good tomorrow. Tons of subs doesn’t make a game good either. People need to stop thinking in terms of what is better than something else, and simply what is enjoyable period. Do you like WoW? Great, so do tons of other people. How about EVE, FFXI, FFXIV, TESO, DESTINY? Yes? Great! Now where are we going with this? Well none of those games are going to be the end, none of them will be the game that gets you, me, or anyone else to leave everything we love. None of them will pull us away from our friends, at least not forever. We build bonds in these games, friendships, some that go beyond casual. It is time we stop asking if a game is alive or dying, and start asking why aren’t the AAA games working together? We aren’t basement dwelling balls of slime, hiding away from the world like some portray us to be. We are living breathing, thinking people. And we don’t log on to make your game seem alive. We log on because we enjoy your game, we enjoy the community. If we don’t then we simply wouldn’t. The entire discussion is great, but in the end I think we are all thinking inside the box (pun intended). All games are alive, all games have some part of our limited time. So why not stop asking if we are playing a dead or alive game, and start asking how we can enjoy more games more often.

Less forcing players to log in to keep the world alive, less forcing people to play “X” game. Give us a reason to play this AND other games, not toss the cake in front of us to pull us away from what we also enjoy. I think Arenanet gets this, I think most publishers do not. Which is why the very few make amazing games we keep coming back to. While others are like sweet treats we like now, but walk away from later. Look at minecraft, indie game, not everyone loves. Amazing graphics? Not really. Best story line ever? Nope. Will some people go play it along with their other online games? Yep. Some people get it and some people don’t. You will never be able to judge life of MMO’s in the same light as people once used to. We are no longer playing Amazing games VS crappy games. We are playing many great games with bright futures. While this is a great topic of discussion, there is no clear answer. Those who argue yes or no, are lacking the depth of the conversation, and the depth of themselves. We are not pigeons pecking at a red button for food. We choose to have options, choose to have a choice in the first place.

SadieDeAtreia.8912:

In my opinion, true exploits are bugs that players pick up and abuse for personal gain. They know what they are doing so they deserve the ban.

But there are also things that can happen in other parts of the game that are not necessarily bugs.
For example: The quest/process expects steps X, Y and Z. In that order. It was tested as such and passed the test. But a player (by chance perhaps) fails at step Y and because of this has to start again at X. But, step X takes 15 minutes to complete and has a certain reward associated to completing it… lets say, 30s plus drops, for example. Hmmm, this is not a bug in the truest sense of the term, it’s a different process flow which may not have been picked up by the testers. And, doing it will nett you just about as much as CoF P1… So you’re not magically going to get super-rich by doing this for a few hours.

The problem here, and reason why I agree with OP, is that you are not even allowed to talk about something like this on the official forums. It’s not always as black and white like the candy machine example. And this, I think, is the concern.

But you can ask other players. You have plenty of choices to try before every having to send that email.

Players
Guild
Google.
Wiki

It isn’t always black and white you’re right. But grey areas often remain grey areas until someone of superiority says that grey is now black. When they do so if you continue, you do so at your own risk. Taking players threads on “Banned no reason” at face value, can only lead to improper information gathering on what the true story is. There is always 2 sides to every story, sometimes party A likes to make party B look like the bad guy to get support. Support that isn’t always deserved.

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

Geotherma.2395:

Step 1: Can you apply ethics to it.
You did very little work, and yet huge reward. Is this common, or is this luck? Search for an answer.

This is subjective in a game like GW2. There are too many variables to properly judge this.

Secondly, because ANet doesn’t release details on exploits, I will more often than not find no information, thus leaving it in my hands to judge whether it is common, or luck.

Geotherma.2395:

Step 2: Does it seem too easy?
A 10 second email will let you know if it is ok or not ok, and that email is your protection that you did not know.

Again, this is subjective. What is easy for some, is hard for others. I may follow 50 players up an alternate jumping puzzle route, seems easy for some, but still seems hard for me, yet I used an unknown exploit.

“10 second email” to whom? So if I send off emails to ANet, an never get a reply that is my defence? That’s not a very good strategy in my opinion. I would rather they tell me exactly what is an exploit so I can avoid it and not have to defend myself against my own ignorance.

Geotherma.2395:

Step 3: Did you keep doing it, knowing that it seemed fishy and unfair?
If yes, prepare for Gailes banhammer.
If no, then good job, wait for that reply.

Again, you’re speaking as though the average player is somehow able to figure this out. If I saw 8-bit chests popping up and wasn’t aware it was an exploit (due to many factors), then of course I would keep doing it. Why wouldn’t I?

I’m not going to stop doing something I don’t believe is wrong. It may seem “fishy” but because my threshold of what constitutes “fishy” is different, I run the risk of misjudging.

ANet should just tell me and eliminate the chance I may have misjudged.

Geotherma.2395:

tldr: KISS:Keep it simple stupid. Rewards are called rewards because they are earned. If it took nothing to earn, or required spamming some button/item/place/thing, it probably is not legit. When in doubt, email it out.

PS: if you have an example of other MMO’s who deal with exploits differently pelase list. Or have ideas that have worked in other MMO’s please list. Otherwise, the franchise, the MMO world, and devs are working as intended.

That statement is a fallacy. It is what everyone is doing, so it’s working as intended is a lazy argument in my opinion. I’m not trying to sound insulting, but that’s the old, “If everyone was jumping off a bridge…” argument.

I’m sure it’s working as intended, but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s working the best it can be.

But I’m seeing more people throwing the flame ball at Arenanet with no backing of suggestions or constructive feedback. Too often do members of the community use forums as a way to attack the game, the devs, other players, or whatever they feel like at the time.

As for the statement that they never reply, where is the proof of this? Is it in threads that say “I got banned for no reason”? because those are about as legit as the guy selling Nikee shoes in the back alley. I understand where you are coming from, but if after all these years no one has come up with a better system maybe this is what they have right now. Will it always be the sole way to deal with things? Probably not. But to assume we have no appeal process, no way of talking to the company about something we feel strongly about, well that just feels wrong. They give us outlets and functions to go about playing the game. We play it under the sole assumption that we won’t get in trouble so long as we try to be good and use commons sense. When common sense fails us we may get a warning, it doesn’t matter what that warning says. Some of the actions you did in area X are against the rules, you should have an idea what was fishy there. And you can almost always overturn a decision if it was made in haste or was done without proper evaluation. I’ve dealt with this personally and it has come back in my favor 3 times. Do I hate arenanet for being strict and infracting or taking action? Definitely not. But i took the offer to appeal, and came out on top. We all make mistakes and the appeal process is there for that exact reason. People need to just know to use is. For everything else fall back on common sense until you are told your common sense was wrong. Then it becomes more than common sense, it becomes fact. Also Google is there for a reason, you can find just about anything there. If someone has done it, there’s a good chance it is online. A little research can go a long way.

Currently in my opinion no. I bought it, I can admit that. Do I regret it? No, it was cheap and gave me an outline. But really you can play the game a week and know most the things listed. You can explore the wiki or /wiki function in game to understand most things. The guide might be more for someone who:

A: Doesn’t have much time to play and wants a quick starter guide.
B: Doesn’t mind spending a few bucks on a tutorial.

And who knows, maybe someday they will have their own magazine, it wouldn’t be the first MMO to do it. And as Tondrin said, it is outdated now and could use some work. Perhaps it was more of an afterthought than something they wanted to delve into.

killcannon.2576:

Geotherma.2395:

Because MMO’s are too darn gloomy and serious. A change in pace is nice. Also, suspense keeps you stuck to your screen as does fear. What happens to people who can only be logged in 30 minutes – 1 hour a day? you expect to keep their attention with horror and drama and dark seeded stories? Not gonna happen. If you want drama or fear or mind bending stories, well that is what consoles are for. You should be able to be crazy about your game no matter your tastes. If you aren’t there is something else out there for you. Go to CNN and read the top 20 stories, now do that every day for a year. Follow whats going on in the world and tell me you don’t want to log in and hear some asura say “who would want anything that gives you harpys anyway”. I think it is about time the goofy theme entered the MMO world, aside from goofy graphics (won’t mention names…). GJ to Arenanet getting it. And a veteran thanks them for creating something I can drift away to and laugh with. Real life has enough problems, why live in 2 worlds full of them.

I can’t believe you just told someone to go to consoles for deeper gameplay.

I did. :P
My reason is because MMO’s require time to experience true immersion. In a console game there IS an end. An MMO, not so much. You won’t get the kind of story or in depth feel in an mmo that you can in a console or pc game, or heck even a movie. MMO’s try to emit this feeling but it is never easy. GW2 does a great job with story, but you really need to work for it and there will always be more to come. What I was trying to say is that the darkness, the depressing drama stories, are usually found in NON-MMO games. the deep ones at least. There are plenty of mmos that have dark or dramatic stories yes, but they are far overplayed and uninteresting because of that fact. Look at wildstar, I can’t for a second take that game seriously. But it looks pretty fun ^^ Even with the announcer in the background making it sound epic and super important, I know I’ll feel like a 5 year old playing it. And thats not such a bad thing sometimes. FUN is what MMO’s are missing, most times FUN is incorporated in events rather than storyline. In consoles or PC games that are not MMO, the focus is on the story, to get you into it and get you to the final result. In an mmo, there really isn’t a clear ending, as expansions and addons come out to keep the playability strong. The point of an MMo world is to be just that, a world. And you live there, with others, every day. Point of non mmo’s, beat the game-play the sequal-enjoy the experience until it is over.

I don’t feel players of MMO’s should ever feel like they need to reach the end of the story, the end of the game. I feel that they should feel ups and downs and development without constantly having to be depressed or sad or angry. They should feel that just playing the game, logging in and seeing the life of the game, that is the immersion people want. And humor is something that most mmo’s don’t use enough for that purpose.

“In-game Infractions
The following will result in either a temporary account suspension or permanent account termination, depending upon the severity of the matter:

Abusing game exploits
Advertising cheats, hacks, or exploits
Using, developing, releasing, or promoting a “bot,” cheat, or exploit program."

General outlines. If you are making bank on something you will/should get a warning. Now if you are sitting there spamming something that is clearly fishy for hours, days, weeks. You deserve the ban. You can always email and request an appeal. If you weren’t in the wrong, or not too far into the wrong, you could probably get back in. They take these on case by case basis. So all your information will be gathered and documented and analyzed. Usually the truth prevails, whether or not it is in your favor is a different story.

Because MMO’s are too darn gloomy and serious. A change in pace is nice. Also, suspense keeps you stuck to your screen as does fear. What happens to people who can only be logged in 30 minutes – 1 hour a day? you expect to keep their attention with horror and drama and dark seeded stories? Not gonna happen. If you want drama or fear or mind bending stories, well that is what consoles are for. You should be able to be crazy about your game no matter your tastes. If you aren’t there is something else out there for you. Go to CNN and read the top 20 stories, now do that every day for a year. Follow whats going on in the world and tell me you don’t want to log in and hear some asura say “who would want anything that gives you harpys anyway”. I think it is about time the goofy theme entered the MMO world, aside from goofy graphics (won’t mention names…). GJ to Arenanet getting it. And a veteran thanks them for creating something I can drift away to and laugh with. Real life has enough problems, why live in 2 worlds full of them.

I just wanted to stop in and say that the game is dead. I logged in and there is no one there whatsoever. I encourage everyone posting/reading on forums to log in and see for yourself. it is completely empty, but all 10k+ of you should log and in see for yourself. I’ll be waiting, and the 10k of us online will be able to see no one is there. That will be our proof.

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

Geotherma.2395:

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Context matters here Geotherma. In a fantasy game where crazy stuff happens all the time, random drops happen from every creature, and there are achievements for drinking 100,000 bottles of wine, it seems kinda hard to tell what is too good to be true.

What about those who happened to get 3 – 5 tickets for the new weapons? That seems too good to be true to me, are they doing an exploit? What about those who make enough gold to buy the best weapon in game, that seems too good to be true to me, are they using exploits?

Too good to be true means nothing without context, especially when not everything is so obvious as you make it out to be.

I can agree with context. But, crazy stuff is perspective. If you paid for 3 keys and get 3 tickets, or 5 tickets, how is that an exploit? If you have a feeling after reading how others spent $300, then send an email. Dear Arenanet, I have gotten a ton of tickets, it feels a little too good to be true. So I STOPPED doing this and emailed to protect myself." Is that hard? Nope. Anyone can do it. And we can’t judge people on what they can afford, because that is our opinion and perception on what can be achieved in what amount of time. Whether our knowledge be limited or vast doesn’t really matter here. What does is that we understand that mechanics that seem funky, out of place, or get us something that feels generally way too easy, is probably not good. If you play the game for 20 hours you have an idea of how hard things are. If you walk to maw and click ore and you click again and get more ore, well do you keep going? Sure, it could just be a bonus or something. Whether or not you know about those bonuses doesn’t matter. But now you click 8 times, more ore? Something is funny. Bam, in comes email (because forum posting this exploit is against the rules. And besides, why put others in harms way?). So then you have your shield, soft as it may be, it is there. And you have proof that you contacted them and asked. Things don’t have to be obvious to be figured out. I’d like to assume the general gaming population has a decent amount of intelligence.

Does X give you X every time? Does X give you 10000000X’s every time? have you asked people if this happened to them? When in doubt assume it might not be ok if you are getting a reward for doing something entirely too simple. This isn’t farmville, if you click something and it allows you to get something other players take months/years to get, that seems fishy. If you hopping up a mountain, and somehow get rewards others are down below fighting for, probably a fishy scenario.

Step 1: Can you apply ethics to it.
You did very little work, and yet huge reward. Is this common, or is this luck? Search for an answer.

Step 2: Does it seem too easy?
A 10 second email will let you know if it is ok or not ok, and that email is your protection that you did not know.

Step 3: Did you keep doing it, knowing that it seemed fishy and unfair?
If yes, prepare for Gailes banhammer.
If no, then good job, wait for that reply.

tldr: KISS:Keep it simple stupid. Rewards are called rewards because they are earned. If it took nothing to earn, or required spamming some button/item/place/thing, it probably is not legit. When in doubt, email it out.

PS: if you have an example of other MMO’s who deal with exploits differently pelase list. Or have ideas that have worked in other MMO’s please list. Otherwise, the franchise, the MMO world, and devs are working as intended.