Anet have made some bad choices lately. This is not one of them (imo).
They need new customers to replace those who left. I got the digital deluxe but they should definately try to grab more potential cashshop victims since a few os us are not spending any more money there.
Offers/deals are fine: Instead of wasting money on useless GW2 lotto-key’s I got Skyrim and all DLC for less than €40 tonight and I am perfectly fine with that – Even if they have it for €20 tomorrow because I wanted it tonight.
If they patch in geargrind (in Skyrim, GW2 is already a lost cause) tomorrow I will just mod their “protruding female bodyparts” off and still enjoy that I got what I considered a good deal when I clicked the “Pay” button.
As for “you are not playing, why post”: Downloading… But still plan to take a look at GW2 a few weeks from now :-)
1. Who here, still come to forums but play the game much less?
I do.
2. When did you start playing less?
Last week.
3. Why / What caused the decline in time spent
The introduction of “Ascended” gear and the PR-runaround instead of a straight “Yes” or “No” to the question: Is ascended items the end of “gear progression” in GW2?
Crushed?
Nope. First and foremost: This is a computer game. Last week I might have cared a little, while not being “crushed” but post ascended… Not worth thinking about.
For all we know, we might get a chance of a legendary from the next round of “Lucky Dip Lion Keys” available for a new low/discounted price in the gem store.
None of the above.
Will probably work a bit on map completion every once in a while when I log in.
Not bothering with grinding ascended gear so I will just wait for the expansion that adds new levels and “Mystic” and “Heavenly” gear.
Very nice post OP.
Your last paragraph really put things in perspective.
vertical progress or horizontal progress
Well 7+ years of business with horizontal progression in GW shows that horizontal can work just fine.
In all cases: A playerbase that feel grateful and know they can trust the developer is a good starting point. As long as you maintain that trust you can pretty much go left/right, horizontal/vertical and still be successful, key point being: Maintain trust!
Without the trust any model will be a lot harder to make successful.
Worst case: Break previously established trust, split your community in two factions that sceam at eachother while you still avoid giving clear answers on future plans (progression in character levels + further stat-level increases) = Your business is now officially playing in “hardcore” mode.
LOL, some of you are so dramatical.
…
If you don’t like progression and time sink, MMO’s are clearly not for you.
Nice observation Sherlock… Did you also consider the fact that many of us came (with reservations) to GW2 because “someone” promised that this would not be a “traditional” MMORPG in the sense that getting to max would not require grind, the rarest items would be unique in apperence, not stats and that the game would not have a treadmill?
Actually I wonder how you landed here? Oh, I also wonder why anyone calls a gear treadmill “progression”? (To me the concept is an epitome of de-evolution, not progress)
Waiting for the inevitable: “No need to freak out. It is only slightly increased lag.”
Guess the servers have feelings too. They hate the update and went on strike :-)
So me and my friend were talking on the IRC and he came up with a great idea. We both really liked Ascended Gear / Infusions for PvE so we though it should extend to other areas of the game.
-The Idea-
Add vertical progression / ascended gear infusions to cooking. Basically, have recipes give higher debuffs the harder they are and require you do do a bunch of easier dishes to get infusions for ascended cooking utensils so you can do harder dishes.
Lets call this defuff “Tasteless” and you need infused ascended cooking utensils in order to ignore it. The more you have, the more stacks of tasteless you ignore. If you don’t have any infusions to counter it and try to do a hard recipe your food gives you a green tinge and has reduced effectiveness.I feel like we need clear progression on cooking recipes as I have no motivation to do them without it.
Please limit feedback to constructive only.
Absolutely love this. Adding visual effects seems very fitting.
Utensils (or rather the lack of) must be an oversight on Anets part. Definately a must.
Lower tier utensils should be craftable. Exotic and higher levels should be craftable only with items from the gemstore. About 5000 gems for legendary pot seems fair.
Great idea.
This idea could also be used for adding some much needed progression in crafting. Think an infusion called “quality-control”: If your QC infusion level is to low you may (unknowingly) create lemon versions. These would break/backfire when you use/equip them.
This would even create extra content on the trader whenever someone buys crafted items. But hey – Even more progression: A trade infusion! Think: “Dealspotter”… At max. level dealspotter you would never risk buying a lemon.
Now we even have synergies… And the best part is that it would be a lot of content+progression while it would only “slightly” change the game.
Go go go Anet please.
This whole QQ thing is the most funniest thing Ive seen in any MMO to date and Ive played or atleast tried them all. I can’t believe how people are crying about getting new gear.
Never have I witnessed people so scared of other people wanting to progress and having different gear. Its almost like.. OMG he grinded so hard for a legendary hes an elitist! the game is broken now! c’mon people Man up, this is an MMO.
Well you should have stayed with them and left this single one for the rest of us. Oh right – Thats not the way gamehoppers work.
Loved the “Man up” remark though – I guess MMO’s are about 90% “manly” :-)
Really really disappointed. After 7+ years I never expected THIS from Anet.
Instantly lost all incentive to even play this weekend.
2%, 4%? I don’t care! Lies are lies.
Was fun while it lasted but time will tell if Anet painted themselves into a corner by turning their game into yet another gearbased treadmill.
The only difference between the ‘challenge’ of doing it in a solo instance vs. a shared instance is blocked view!
Difficulty of the jumps/timing is exactly the same.
I could live with a more or less blocked view if my avatar was in the same position relative to my screen all the time: But the shoddy camera control in GW2 also messes up that.
I eventually gave up playing my melee char in GW2 because I was forced to play blindfolded because of the inability to turn off unwanted effects.
I am not going to spend a lot of time trying to adapt to the shortcomings of GW2’s flawed/lacking view options: I prefer having fun with something else instead.
Nevermind the loot, I can live without that, but the puzzle seemed somewhat fun the first few tries until I realized I was battling bad design and not just a puzzle.