Guild Wars 2

Gaile Gray.6029:

Here’s an update:

We’re sorry for any confusion related to the in-game mail messaging and want to let you know the dev team is aware that all in-game mails from another account presently display this warning, even if they come from an ArenaNet employee account.

Thanks for the update.

Lady Elvea.2847:

IKR?

My personal rule is that, as a female with video game physiology, I should try picturing myself wearing it. If I can’t picture myself in it, in public, without getting harrassed, then it’s not a good style for my characters to wear. Surprisingly many options in GW2 fail this test. That’s part taste, part lack in variety. A lot of the slightly less skimpy outfits somehow also fall into the dull range, and some of those that cover more skin come with convenient circle designs to overly accentuate certain bodyparts anyway as a form of decoration.

That doesn’t mean those armours are bad per se, or should go, just that the existing armours aren’t as diverse, creative or appealing as they could be.

I’m fine with other people wearing them. I mean, if I eyeroll at my screen or use it as a secret age/gender indication… who’ll know but me?

Maybe I should do a GW2 fashion police blog while we wait for that hawt half-naked male armour to appear in game. >.>

Not gonna lie, I’m a male and I like skimpy female armor. I also like tasteful-but-aesthetically-pleasing armor as well though. Or what one might call “sexy.”

And I like BA-looking male armor, too.

For me, the bottom line is more of an artistic one. I like stuff that is pleasing to the eye most of all. Sometimes I care more about the feel of my character’s presentation and sometimes I care more about the look itself.

Maybe you should lol. Sounds like fun.

Kuldebar.1897:

but surely you can see how EotM has impacted the WvW experience as a whole?

Honestly? I’m straight up ignorant in that aspect. I just haven’t been around long enough to see it one way or another. I also play on a lower-end-pop server and have never seriously stepped in WvW, outside of doing map completion stuff.

And if I’m being totally honest, I don’t want to lose the fun that I get out of doing EotM.

That said, if WvW needs some improvements, I’m 100% for it. I can’t say much though because I don’t know what to recommend.

Kuldebar.1897:

Labjax.2465:

I have leveled numerous characters a LOT in EotM

It is what is is, certainly, but it absolutely must be something of a particular nature or quality. After all, you yourself chose to level “numerous characters” via EotM; why was that?

Is there something that EotM offers you that good old regular WvW Maps don’t?

Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town…

I aint denying that’s the preferred way to use EotM (that and karma). Or that those ways may not have been originally envisioned.

But it seems straight up dishonest for people to act like it’s some kind of community-wide issue.

Opinion and discussion I take no issue with. Alarmist lobbying I do.

Lithril Ashwalker.6230:

It’s ruining the map and the community.

I think what you meant is, “It’s not what I want it to be.”

I have leveled numerous characters a LOT in EotM and I rarely see conflict in terms of goals. Most of the time people get along famously and enjoy themselves.

Maybe it’s just my server, but the toxicity is so little as to be almost nonexistent from where I’m standing.

Crovax.7854:

What rubs me the wrong way is that this looks like a confirmation by an Anet official that this is exactly the kind of player they want to appeal to…

I’d just love a clarification if this is the route this game will take from now on (/since a few patches ago) or if we can expect some changes and additions that aren’t targetted at people who are overwhelmed by bank space (what?!).

You’re asking a leading question though. Any yes or no answer to the question implies that Anet only cares about one demographic, which would make no sense for any MMO ever made. They are (especially these days) trying to appeal to lots of different demographics all at once.

The leveling experience is clearly supposed to be about retaining new players and getting them to become a more permanent part of the community. Whether those people start out as semi-noob or full-noob isn’t as relevant as you think; some people learn quickly with the right kind of motivation and environment for it.

And some of the people who are “experienced” at MMOs… well, they kinda suck.

Malediktus.9250:

Anet doesnt want to make new sets every few months, so they made the requirements high enough that they will only have to make these 2 sets for the lifetime of the game. Learn to deal with it already or act as if they werent there.

That’s not how the universe works man. “Either it’s one set every few months or one set for the lifetime of the game!”

I think most people will be acting as if it isn’t there for years to come. And in a twisted sort of way, I would find it amusing if no one ever got a full set before the game dies.

Lady Elvea.2847:

That way we can all dress in a style we’re comfortable with and still have pretty armour to look at. Currently the choices for women are mainly “mostly naked” or “wearing a garbage bag”, and those for men mostly “covered in something nondescript” or “metal, metal EVERYWHERE”.

Skimpy, attractive male armour would be a good start.

Thank you for saying this. I really believe the part I bolded here is what’s most vital; that we can dress as we want, depending on our preferences.

I get irritated with the people who act like how others dress is going to destroy their gameplay experience. As if they are the center of the MMO universe.

GOSU.9574:

“This message is NOT from the government and could contain a BOMB!”

I think that is a very good analogy.

LOL, this made me smile.

But I see the reason for confusion and I had an inkling it’d be a problem the moment I saw the note about it. Although I understand why Anet is doing it, it sounds like it’s as heavy-handed-looking as the note would make it seem.

I got an idea though: When someone makes a new character, send them an automated Anet-officially-stamped mail welcoming them to the game. That way people will be exposed to what official looks like in a very immediate and real way, and will know what to look for. You can even put info about what official will look like in that very same mail.

Well if we’re talking about overwhelm, part of the issue I can see immediately from your anecdote is that players are forced to confront certain features very quickly. For example, if you kill a lot of mobs and loot them, you’re quickly going to have your inventory filling up, maybe even to full.

You are then pretty much forced to deal with how to manage your inventory space, which is relatively simple in most games; junk loot gets sold to a vendor and you can often sell extraneous pieces of gear too.

But in GW2, you have salvaging, which is way more beneficial in the long-term than selling the gear you loot and doing so introduces you to two more systems – essences of luck and crafting materials (and their storage).

True story, when I first started playing, I was putting my essences of luck in the bank because I thought they were some kind of crafting material that you use for crafting cool stuff and I was all like, “Yeah, I’m thinking ahead and will have them readily available.” And, uh, I thought that the collectibles area was somewhere that you collect things for an achievement or something lol (though that has changed now, so it doesn’t matter).

Also, I agree with those who are criticizing the new weapon skill unlock system. Although it’s neat and all for spacing out exposure to skills, it all goes to hell in a handbasket when you equip a different weapon. I remember learning skills from different weapons by unlocking them and it gave me a stronger sense of what kind of stuff the weapon can do.

Now I have to stop and read over everything with a new weapon or just mash buttons at random. The previous system wasn’t perfect though; I will never forget painstakingly trying to unlock elementalist staff water skills at a low level. WTB deeps…

I don’t see why not. I think it should be fair game for both character genders.

I would really appreciate it if I could get more of a variety of female armor that wasn’t skimpy.

I don’t even understand where this comes from with GW2. This game is so unbelievably tame when it comes to skimpy armor. If you want to see real skimpy, go check out Tera for a day. Or go play Rift, where you can turn off all your armor in wardrobe and run around in underwear.

There is always going to be a vocal minority that wants extremely difficult content in every game. The problem is, this same minority tends to slam through challenging content like a truck and then get bored while waiting for more “hard content.”

Granted, in the case of GW2, even the most difficult fights (see: Wurm) are pretty low on the totem pole as far as “challenging MMOs” go.

I like challenging stuff, but I don’t see GW2 ever becoming a game where truly difficult content is worth the investment. Coming from other, more complex games, I am endlessly surprised to see how little is actually required of you here.

I think that ultimately if you give players the tools to challenge themselves, they will find a way. You just gotta make it feel optional, so as not to scare away the other people. And I feel like the game already has some content like that. WvW, for example, may look like zerg smash on the surface, but I’m pretty sure you would feel otherwise if you hung out with a strong WvW guild for a day.

fellyn.5083:

When a group of people feel like they have a right to lock down a piece of content to suit their desire then you know something is wrong and needs to change.

And yet, if that “desire” fits with the perceived “intended design” of the content, then suddenly everybody is a-ok with locking down the content.

The problem, as I’ve said before, is ultimately conflicting gameplay goals with a clear “winner” and “loser.” These events are the perfect place to spawn such conflict because they are binary “complete” (1) or “fail” (0). There is no in-between where players can find compromise.

Which would be fine if all of the events were most beneficial when completed, but that obviously isn’t the case.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Duping!!?! ~gasp!~ Oh, sorry, different type, gotcha.

Things aren’t going to change overnight, but we are making a concerted effort to improve communications. Not every thread gets — or realistically can get — a reply. That is driven not so much by a particular topic but more critically by sheer volume. And yes, not every question can be answered, but maybe it just can’t be answered in the short term, or maybe it’s taken under consideration for a more focused means of communication, such as a CDI, or maybe you’ll see an answer in the Update Notes. And sure, I guess some questions will go unanswered, too, but not for lack of effort or interest.

The truth is, you’re noticing, or I hope you’re noticing: We’re actively taking steps to be more communicative and involved, and we’ll continue to do so as time passes.

LOL, if I could be duped in that way, the world would have to put my clones in a cage or something and let them duke it out. It would be the most boring fight though. Like a bunch of animals circling each other constantly and snarling occasionally, but never actually attacking.

But in all seriousness, yeah, I see where you’re coming from and I am noticing something. The ideal that I hope for in terms of dev communication is never going to be achieved cause it’s just an ideal, but I can see what looks like improvement and I’m happy to see it.

Johnny and Guhracie: I don’t know what to tell you, honestly. Maybe you’re right and Fractal stuff is getting ignored. Maybe you’re misinterpreting the situation. Either way, I can’t tell. There are potential subtleties going on there that I’ve missed and I can’t discern on peoples’ word alone.

Basically, I can’t say anything more on that situation without being more informed. I wish you luck with the future of Fractals though. That’s all I can do.

It’s an interesting situation with mind puzzles, that’s for sure. I’m one of those people who enjoy them thoroughly, but if there is a greater goal than puzzle completion that is overriding it (and/or I feel like there is no clear way for me to solve the puzzle without looking for answers) then I will turn to guides and such.

I think the hard part of making puzzles is that they really are their own kind of gameplay and a good puzzle requires more than just “something difficult to solve” – it requires giving players the tools to feel like they’re capable of solving the puzzle.

That said, there are great puzzle “templates” that the devs could “steal” from. I have seen examples of them in others games; stuff like the kind where you have one empty space and you have to maneuver around a bunch of objects, until they are all in the right spot. These are the kind of puzzles that aren’t just brainy but are also difficult to execute. One nice thing in that way is that even with a guide, you can’t just get the answer instantly. You have to follow a lot of careful steps.

Like a Rubik’s Cube, for example. Even with a guide, it still takes time.

JohnnySupernova.9182:

fractal playerbase is still waiting for anet to answer what the hell is up with the drop rates. and the fractal playerbase is still waiting for anet to explain just what happened to leaderboards and the fractal weapon box (and evidently, the fractal tonic)

i guess you’ve only been here for a few months, but basically, anet’s got a big history of screwing around with the players, and a few red posts on the forums wont change that

wake me up when they say something actually concrete about anything beyond “we’ll look into it maybe it’s not off the table”

It sounds to me like there are a lot of areas that don’t get solid dev communication. I understand it being frustrating and I don’t mean that in a placating way. I’ve been there.

It just sounds more like priority struggles on their part than intentionally screwing around with players (which they would gain nothing from).

Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Maybe you fractal folks should bring that stuff up a bit more. That is, if you don’t already have active threads on the issues you’re seeing.

KarlaGrey.5903:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea6UuRTjkKs

Tl;dr: You want to have challenging rather than punishing bosses. Of any sort.

^Yes, yes, and yes.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Here a thought to adress the huge number of players participating in the meta-event boss battles. Make them more punishing while giving better rewards for the people who make it to the end.

You can’t come back from a defeat. Once you’re dead you have to leave the map or stay on the ground (defeated) until the battle is over. No ressing allowed due to the condition “strain”.

Imagine you start with a huge amount of players and the boss does this one well telegraphed but deadly attack. 20 players go down at once, the boss scales down to the number of players still alive but there will be another of that attack.

(The dead player will get a smaller reward chest sent to him once the battle is over, even if he is in another map.)

It sounds like what you’re pining for is an honest-to-god raid. Which doesn’t fit into the framework for “open world” in quite the way you’re imagining.

Restricting peoples’ ability to “zerg” a boss is something that works in an instance because you can put up walls and such (e.g. if you die and come back, you won’t be able to go past X wall to attack boss until after the fight is resolved). A buff that constrains people won’t work because then it counts people who aren’t involved in the fight as well (and are tragically on the map at the wrong time). I suppose you could do it by proximity, but it really comes down to being extra work for something unnecessary.

GW2 is already designed around ease of rezzing, especially if someone is not fully dead. Restricting that for no other reason than “arbitrary difficulty” goes against the fundamentals of the game’s design. The existing design encourages people to lend each other a hand. The system you’re proposing would encourage an “every man for himself” attitude; why help my fellow player when I can focus 100% on my own survival and get more rewards?

Raids are cool and all, but let’s accept that open world is a somewhat different beast, with its own structure for how to impose difficulty. The wurm-head-timer design, for example, does a good job of requiring coordination, without stepping on the toes of how the game works.

Kuldebar.1897:

Great post, by the way.

I won’t pretend to know the answer, I can only give my assessment that something is very wrong with WvW in general that is particularly noticeable when you look at EotM.

Thanks.

Kuldebar.1897:

Yes, and those types of swings in a game have happened before as the Dev’s Pendulum Hammer swings from one extreme to another.

There’s nothing wrong with players choosing an oasis over a desert. That EotM WvW has more mass appeal then regular WvW is entirely rational.

My question is why would ANet introduce the “oasis” into the game that had previously been focused on the the “desert”?

This goes way beyond badges, I’m talking about time spent in EotM, minute by minute, is more rewarding on every level than the standard WvW Maps.

It makes complete sense, take a look at the maps, there’s your answer.

ANet can continually rearrange the carrots and the sticks, players will adjust accordingly but that doesn’t solve the underlying problem. Adding another WvW Map to the mix was a mistake; here’s a thought: fix the original WvW Experience.

I personally believe the WvW Maps are the problem and should be completely rebuilt from the ground up.

• The WvW are too large, essentially players, even large groups of players can roam without opposition for prolonged stretches of time.

• Too many capture points, means that capture points are not valued. Oversaturation!

• Bring back WvW Relevance to the Realms, make WvW matter, remember Orbs of Power? I refuse to believe that ANet couldn’t fix the issues.

• There’s entirely too much flipping going on, talk about a way that cheapens the victories? Well, making victories meaningless is a good way to do that and that’s what the current WvW accomplishes.

• The Maps are generic clones and there’s no sense of ownership or identity.

Rewards are just the flavor syrup on top of the pile…it’s what that "pile’ actually consists of that truly matters.

Not to say rewards aren’t important, but if they are the only thing making the content palatable to players…well that’s a fundamental problem.

I hear what you’re saying. I guess what I’m a bit confused about is, “Are most WvW players [I am mostly thinking of the ones who get into WvW guilds and play it more than any other content in the game] concerned about the WvW rewards?”

I mean, if WvW is fundamentally broken (which I’m not convinced about) then I can see why it would need an overhaul. But I’m not sure I see the connection between EotM’s “oasis” status vs. WvW being a desert. In terms of rewards I can get that and I can theorize as to why: Maybe they wanted it to be worth spending time in and felt they could make it more appealing than what had been before (e.g. “a second try”).

I don’t know. That’s just off the top of my head. If we take the reward thing out of the picture though, isn’t WvW actually a way better template for strong WvW play than EotM?

I guess that’s the part I don’t understand. If we’re talking about pure WvW play on its own merits, I am under the impression that the pre-EotM maps are way better for it.

JohnnySupernova.9182:

Arena net has some of the worst communication out of any game company I can think of. When they’re not giving crappy non-answers and ignoring problems, they’re outright lying to the playerbase.

you really wont see a change in communication. Josh foreman got yelled at for communicating TOO MUCH. Even if anyone at anet WANTED to communicate, they wont be able to because the higher ups deemed it bad for business.

I’ve only been around for a few months, but in that time, I’ve seen them not only make an effort to communicate more, but Gaile now has the title “ArenaNet Forum Communications Team Lead” and has been posting in several threads.

If that’s non-answers and outright lying, then consider me fully duped.

I’m not convinced that tweaking champ bags is going to get the obsessive farmer to step back from what he’s doing and take a breather. I think that as long as there are items in the game that center around getting absurd amounts of currency to acquire them, people are going to obsess over how much currency they have and how fast they can get it.

Legendaries, ascended items, BL weapons, etc… there’s a laundry list of stupid expensive stuff that can get people in the obsessive-currency-farming mindset.

But it’s never as simple as “making acquisition easier” or “making acquisition through some kind of hoop instead of currency” because both run the risk of leaving you with a playerbase that gets everything too fast and then feels like there is nothing left to do.

Gear acquisition is a kind of content, let’s face it. And the problem with it is that it’s not only incredibly easy to treat it as a fundamental part of an entertaining MMO, but it’s also a race track with a finish line. Unlike some forms of gameplay, where the goalposts are set by competition and can move dynamically (e.g. structured PvP, dungeon speed clears, etc.) gear acquisition has a clear beginning and end.

And I can say from experience that when someone becomes singularly focused on gear acquisition as the ultimate goal, it’s only a matter of time until he either burns out or hits the finish line and leaves the track. Honestly, MMOs in general need to rethink the enabling of a mindset that has such a clear finish line.

You should save up and buy one. I know it feels like a horrible way to do it because the huge price is sitting right in front of you, but statistically, you probably spend less gold than with toilet gambling.

Once upon a time, I played a game that had an item similar to precursors. It was highly sought after and probably about as rare as precursors would be if you couldn’t get them through the mystic forge.

Over the course of something like 1-2 years (the time is a blur now) I looted 4-5 of them. I was ridiculously lucky.

I know the temptation to forge your gold away. I’ve done it myself and as it is like gambling, there is that notion in your brain that says, “This time will be the one. No wait, this time.” It’s all bs that your mind creates and a distorted use of “hope” at that.

Gamble some imaginary gold away for fun if you want, but if you’re super serious about getting your precursor, just save up. I know it’ll hurt to hear that after all the gold you’ve spent unsuccessfully, but you’ll ultimately be much happier with a situation that you can control than a situation that you can’t control.

Kuldebar.1897:

I can only speak to my experience, here’s what I’ve noticed in “regular” WvW experince as compared to the EotM experience:

• In regular WvW, longer periods of time are required between rewarding events like capture points, etc.

• Acquisition of loot is just hands down more rewarding in EoTM, loot bags, armor, coin, badges, etc. at a much higher frequency

• WvW Ranking is faster in EotM, for the above stated reasons: EotM is like regular WvW but minus all the empty map space and much better rewards more often.

See, the question that comes to mind for me is, a) what’s the actual issue here? b) if there is an issue, what is the best approach to fix it?

I mean, if they nerf EotM rewards significantly, it may become a largely dead map. I don’t see it making WvW more attractive to play – I’m pretty sure the majority of EotM players use it to farm 1) karma or 2) XP. They get quite a few badges in the process, but so what? I have used EotM a lot for leveling and end up spending badges on level 80 exotics to gear out my new character.

I guess what I’m saying concerning badges is, what exactly is there to spend badges on that is even worth being concerned about a disparity? The gift maybe?

If they bump up WvW rewards, then yay, WvW players are now getting equal stuff, I guess. But now we hit another potential problem. If they make WvW too attractive to the reward-seeking player by bumping up its rewards, then you will probably see more uplevel deadweight running around WvW, begging everyone to do whatever strategy nets the most experience and rewards.

Is that something that would really mix well?

And there is a third option that comes to mind, too. They could try to make the reward gain equal on paper. But it’s never going to be completely equal because – as far as I know – the way people play WvW is fundamentally different to EotM. With one, the goal is to win. With the other (for the most part), the goal is to maximize rewards.

Kuldebar.1897:

ANet didn’t do anything to WvW?

Come on now, they did by creating EotM in the very way you just described, it’s a matter of balance…or in this case imbalanced design.

Same way that opening up a Super Walmart next door to a Mom & Pop Grocery Store will defintely “do something”!

But this is worse because ANet implementation is “competing” with itself, and Players won’t jump through three hoops when they can get the same (or better rewards) by just jumping through one hoop.

I am under the impression, from what others have said, that WvW actually has similar reward structure to EotM, but a large part of why people don’t get the same rewards is because they aren’t playing it in the same way. Is that not true?

kokiman.2364:

Everything she says is ruined by her last statement “it’s just kittening videogames” this is such a stupid argument.

Except that it’s not an argument……..

It’s just a reminder for us all to come back down to reality and remember that at the end of the day, video games are not life-and-death. They’re just entertainment.

Dayra.7405:

Why do you think you earned a reward for being away?

Why do you think you earned a reward, if you do not inform yourself about the conditions of it ahead of time?

Why do you think you earn a reward for being to lazy or busy to take it?

I think, if you aren’t able or willing to spend 6min (1 for taking the reward, 5 to make 5 events) per week in WvW you are did not earned a reward.

Well considering that you can go do 5 objectives in EotM and then go talk to an NPC at the end of the week, I’d hardly call the current system “earning the reward.” The only significant requirement is being available to log into the game at some point during the “pickup” phase.

I don’t have any problem with the reward being easy to obtain – because its easiness benefits me – but I am saddened to see people missing rewards, who probably invested way more actual game time into the tournament than I have.

DonQuack.9025:

1.a. Pre homeschool anxiety attacks largely used as an excuse
1.b. Homeschooled – anxiety attacks
2. Join army- anxious
3. The infantry doesnt give a **** about anxiety. “Smells like weakness” iirc I was told. *
4. No time to have anxiety attacks.
5.Present day- No anxiety attacks

*atleast where I was stationed and when I was in.

Crooklyn in the house as they say.

I guess I can see why you think the way you do, then. Just keep in mind that not all problems are the same for each person. In other words, what got you past anxiety won’t necessarily work for the next guy.

cheshirefox.7026:

pretty sure most of the in game reports get sent directly to a virtual paper shredder

That would be tragic.

If it’s going to get shredded, it should get sent to a real paper shredder, so someone can have the joy of shredding things.

DonQuack.9025:

http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/browse-career-and-job-categories/combat/indirect-fire-infantryman.html

I guess i forgot to put in “fire”. its 242am

I think I am in the same time zone as you lol. So maybe it’s just the hour, but I guess I’m not making the connection between your thing about 11c and being homeschooled because of some kind of attacks.

DonQuack.9025:

11c- Indirect infantryman- mortar man- queen of battle

I’m not sure I follow. You were the indirect target of a mortar attack? Is that what you’re saying? :S

DonQuack.9025:

Dont see much difference in " Pvpers typically act like terrible human beings" and “All pvpers are terrible human beings” One suggests most and the other states most but then again I dont use most punctuation.

Man… with the semantics. What I said was that they have a reputation for it, not that they typically act like that. Notoriety is a kind of reputation.

DonQuack.9025:

Unfortunately 11c happened. I was home schooled because of my attacks.

Also I didnt say anywhere how he should get better.
He made poor excuses for his behaviour. I offered the well know alt-f4 rather than afking.
he indirectly insulted me. I directly confronted him with my opinion.

Also I routinely tell sick people get over it already. and you know what. It works.

I think you mean to make a better comparison. Perhaps use kitten. sick is quite a general term.

What is 11c?

Arikyali.5804:

Jeez, thanks for painting every PvPer in a bad light. You make us all sound like we’re bloodthristy elitists. Not every PvPer deserves that bad rep.

Imagine if this was a fractal or dungeon, and he couldn’t leave. PvE players would have acted the same way. Everyone is human and makes mistakes.

Nah, don’t take it personally. I said “PvPers are notorious for acting like terrible human beings,” not “all PvPers are terrible human beings.” I figured the rest of it was clearly in reference to the ones who behavior poorly.

If it wasn’t clear, then hopefully it is now. You can safely assume that unless I’ve completely lost my mind, you will never find me putting down an entire group in a prejudiced way.

Could be a bug. Might be worth inquiring about in the bug forum.

DonQuack.9025:

I wish i had anxiety attacks so I could blame things on it and get instant sympathy. Unfortunately 11c happened.

Cant leave a ranked match? alt-f4 called. Call me mean if you want but come come now.

" because they WASTE time and money like everyone else who plays video games on a fake world that gets you know where and teaches you nothing in life and they just happen to be better at it lol."

Insulted quite a few people there with no regards to their circumstances because you are instantly more important. pls.

met my gf of 5 years in gw1 that fake world. Got my first taste of leading numerous groups by being a guild leader. Learned quite a bit of Russian in that fake world where no one learns anything. Met some of my best and closest friends who have flown around the world to meet and laugh in person in these games that get me nowhere.

be a victim more.

dont even get me started on the people who I have met who use mmo’s to become more social, get over anxiety, learn. bad anxiety and hops on forums and makes a rage post threatening to quit? yea sure. thats real common with bad anxiety.

He felt attacked, so he attacked back. Rather than confronting the people directly (which would take a lot of courage under high anxiety stress) he did it indirectly on the forums. It actually makes a lot of psychological sense if you understand how anxiety works.

And by the way, no you don’t wish you had anxiety attacks. There is no comfort in “being a victim” when one has bad anxiety – it’s about as comforting as the fleeting sense of self-worth that a bully gets from putting someone else down. The way you are talking about anxiety is a bit like telling a sick person to just “generate the right anti-bodies and get over it already.”

Vayne.8563:

The need for constant communication from developers here is really over the top.

I don’t think it’s quite like that. I have been on the forums the past few months a ton (way more than I’d ever like to be on an internet forum, but that’s beside the point) and I get this overall vibe that communication is kind of sporadic, even after their efforts to communicate more. Like it sort of happens in weird bursts.

Some dev here and there will really go above and beyond, but then 90% of other areas of discussion will get left with not a single bite. Mind you, when I say “areas,” I’m not talking about threads. I am grounded in reality enough to know that if they attempted to respond to every thread, they would never get their jobs done.

But it doesn’t quite feel like every major facet of the game is getting communication. I mean, depending on how “majorly” we define that language, the number of topics could be relatively small.

And don’t get me wrong. I figure they’re going through a lot of workplace restructuring / priority shifting right now and are still getting a handle on this whole “sincerely making an effort to communicate more” thing. I’ve seen progress, even if it looks sporadic.

But I can see why someone would get a “feast or famine” vibe from the way it’s been handled so far. It doesn’t really bother me – I’m giving it time – but I can understand where the guy is coming from.

PvPers are notorious for acting like terrible human beings. I know it’s hard when you feel like everyone is looking at you and putting pressure on you. The reality is that most of the time, you are putting more pressure on yourself than they ever could.

The truth is, they want to win and they want to win really badly. It doesn’t excuse their actions, but it’s why they are so quick to judge people who might hurt their chances of winning.

In other words, it’s not you, it’s them. Keep in perspective the fact that most of the time, these people are not trying to hurt you, but rather they’re trying to protect their own desires and are reacting out of fear.

Keep calm and do your thing. It’s all you can do. If that’s not enough for others, then too bad. You will never win everyone’s approval.

HHR LostProphet.4801:

Don’t talk about it, they’ll just nerf it…

Nah, the last thing they need right now is to aggravate people more concerning the leveling experience.

It’s what I’ve found, yes. That is, as long as I can find a good ktrain that isn’t getting derailed by too much fighting or defending. The rate (when it’s good) is 2-3 times faster than the pace I had doing mapping and such.

Crysto.7089:

Labjax.2465:

Crysto.7089:

If I really thought they were such amazing ideas, I’d probably just do it anyway and face the consequences or find a way to get it done (volunteer to be the fall man to your boss should it come to it etc.). If the ideas don’t stick and I thought they were so great then its not somewhere I’d be able to work anyway knowing that it could be better. I’d find somewhere else that shared my goals/vision.

You would, or you have done so in the past? Cause it’s easy to talk big about such things when it’s not your paycheck on the line.

If you think that’s talking big then I pity you. That’s like a major principle to living any sort of satisfying life. That’s like saying I can breath is talking big.

And interestingly, you didn’t answer the question. It’s great to have principles, but unless you’re talking from direct experience, you should keep in mind that standing up for all of those pretty principles takes a lot more courage than your imagination can come up with.

Crysto.7089:

If I really thought they were such amazing ideas, I’d probably just do it anyway and face the consequences or find a way to get it done (volunteer to be the fall man to your boss should it come to it etc.). If the ideas don’t stick and I thought they were so great then its not somewhere I’d be able to work anyway knowing that it could be better. I’d find somewhere else that shared my goals/vision.

You would, or you have done so in the past? Cause it’s easy to talk big about such things when it’s not your paycheck on the line.

weston.3457:

is there any way to do more than one attachment per post =.=

There is actually. Once you have one attachment in the “browse” box, hit Preview. It will Preview the post with your new attachment and blank out the attachment box in the process, so you can add another. Repeat as many times as needed.

fellyn.5083:

Yes, but why is it causing that behavior? Because people think they should be allowed to farm unhindered what is not meant to be farmed and that they and only they have the right to be there. And that they have the right to tell others who want to play the game as it’s designed that they need to go elsewhere.

Granted that the event reward mechanisms are badly designed but that’s besides the point.

It’s simply players thinking they are entitled to more than they actually are.

The worst part is that there are a lot of good non fail loot trains running in various areas of the game. These are endorsed by anet and by design. But the farmers at Coiled Watch, by their own admission say it’s not good enough and think they deserve more.

If you compare the “fail trains” to other things like “champ trains,” you can see that the driving force behind the toxicity is conflicting goals. Some champ trains are largely untouched by toxic attitudes because for the most part, people can all agree that killing champs as they spawn is the best way to get loot.

Some champ trains have had problems though (people killing champs out of order, etc.) and what is the issue in those instances? Once again, conflicting goals.

People get upset when their goals are derailed. Regardless of whether they feel entitled to reaching those goals, it’s still going to be upsetting. It’s pretty much that simple. The difference in vocal reaction (getting upset with another person vs. getting frustrated with the situation) is largely a matter of maturity.

fellyn.5083:

Point is that people keep saying the fail train farm play style, using the term extremely losely here, falls under the play your way mantra and that anet doesn’t care if people do it or not. Yet all evidence points to the contrary.

Well like I said, evidence points to the contrary because it’s something that is spawning the same kind of toxic behavior every time. Remove the toxic behavior from the equation and they might react differently.

fellyn.5083:

And yet they continually nerf events that are being fail train farmed.

Yeah, because those events are continually spawning the same kind of toxicity. I’m not sure what your point is with this statement.

fellyn.5083:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Actually, it is just as acceptable to let an event fail, as it is to complete said event, according to this Dev post:

There are really two sides to this, and when it comes down to it, you are both right – and you are both wrong. Both sides have the right to complete the task that they set out to do (completing or not completing).

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/About-that-blix-exploit/page/5#post4318436

What isn’t acceptable is any harassment or toxicity that might ensue when the two sides find themselves at odds.

You forgot the rest of what he said:

Challenging another player’s play style is the issue here, and since this revolved around an event that was designed to be completed, it is being changed so that the original design of the event can be carried out.

But nice job trimming down the quote to suite your agenda.

Well yeah, basically what Chris is saying there is that they wouldn’t much care about the original design intentions, if it wasn’t for the conflict that was happening. But because conflict was happening, they decided the direction they should fix it in is to corral the event back to its original intentions.

Game designers understand that not everything they do is going to end up being used as they envisioned it. I doubt EotM was imagined as a karma train, but there is no reason for them to change it at this point because for the most part, people are in agreement about how the map is best utilized. It has become a unique piece of content through community choices.

ShinjoNaomi.1896:

Labjax.2465:

No game can match the sheer imaginative power of a hyped-up target demographic.

/thread

No game.
No movie.
No book series.
No television show.

/NOTHING/ can ever live up to the sheer imaginative power of a hyped-up target demographic.
It’s the society we live in.

Yup. Fact is, we’re better at imagining stuff than our human capabilities are at actually creating stuff.

Faereilos.5106:

Greefa and friends don’t complete the Breaking the Ice event, which is actually the part needed for LS. It’s difficult to tell if they are genuinely trying to help or trying to get a negative reaction from farmers. I feel like it’s the latter in this case. They stand around and mock everyone via chat or emotes. They never announce in map chat that hey, if you need LS come and get it now…

You’re right that mass reporting is an issue and probably the wrong thing to do, but what do you expect from a group of players whose farming are constantly being interrupted by trolls with no lives? Farmers aren’t failing Coiled to troll people doing LS – it’s just an unfortunate side-effect and a result of poor planning on ANet’s part. I’m also wondering why they haven’t fixed it by now, considering how quickly they fixed Blix, an event that doesn’t block story progress if failed.

Well considering how much “Greefa” sounds like “griefer,” he’s either one of the most unfortunately named people or is an appallingly obvious troll. From what you’re describing, I imagine it’s the latter.

No game can match the sheer imaginative power of a hyped-up target demographic.

/thread

Serophous.9085:

Labjax.2465:

Serophous.9085:

I got my friend to try a trial. And he had a few complaints.

Wanted more character customization
Didn’t like starting armor, so now he runs around with NO armor…
And wanted a hyena pet. So I had to guide a level 10 through a level 40 zone for a tamable hyena….(to the people that helped, ty.)

I haven’t heard any complaints so far about the system.

Your friend sounds like a riot.

Yeah, unfortunately he chose the wrong server, so if he does get the game, I’ll have to do it again….

Lol, ouch.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Actually, it is just as acceptable to let an event fail, as it is to complete said event, according to this Dev post:

There are really two sides to this, and when it comes down to it, you are both right – and you are both wrong. Both sides have the right to complete the task that they set out to do (completing or not completing).

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/About-that-blix-exploit/page/5#post4318436

What isn’t acceptable is any harassment or toxicity that might ensue when the two sides find themselves at odds.

Thanks for that.

Anyway, Serophous, you are missing the point. “Laws” have very little to do with people intentionally causing pain to one another. In real life, for example, there are plenty of ways to be mean that aren’t technically against the law.

I’ll give you an example because analogies are fun: Driving at or slightly below the speed limit is what you’re legally supposed to do. In fact, I often drive that way. My reasons for doing so have nothing to do with getting on the nerves of drivers who want to get somewhere fast, but my actions can plausibly annoy other drivers.

Am I in the wrong in the eyes of the law and morally? Of course not. I am following the law and I am doing so with good intentions. I’m doing no wrong by law or by ethics.

If, on the other hand, I’m driving at or below the speed limit during rush hour with the sole intention to aggravate other drivers and take joy at the thought of their road rage, then: Am I in the wrong in the eyes of the law? Well, technically, no. I’m following the law and there’s nothing wrong with that. Am I in the wrong ethically? Of course! I am trying to cause others pain for no other reason than my own pleasure – I think 99% of people would agree that that’s ethically wrong!

So there’s the distinction for you, Serophous. Again, it is not the action itself that is trolling in this instance. It’s the intention behind the action and it’s a complicated situation precisely because you cannot know other peoples’ intentions concretely through observation of a single action alone.

Serophous.9085:

You can see it as trolling, but again, events are made to be completed. As long as it is done legitly, the event should be won. If anything, the farmers would be considered ‘trolls’ for denying the core function of the game. I know most people don’t want to hear that, and I know people want to farm, but when you are going against game design, you are wrong.

I’m having deja vu again. I said this during the Blix fiasco and I’ll say it again now: Trolling is all about intent. Sometimes people think someone is trolling when that person is just being genuine. Sometimes people think someone is trolling and (surprise surprise) that person is trolling.

Let’s set aside this technical nonsense about the “core function of the game” for a moment and admit that some people will take advantage of situations to purposefully irritate other people. Acting verbally abusive toward other people is never justified – nor is repeatedly trying to ruin others’ day.

That’s the hard truth of the matter. Not some nonsense about how certain kinds of behavior are justified because “two wrongs make a right.”

Play me out, Neo.