Guild Wars 2

Nope. I’ve played GW2 since Pre every day and the last year or so has been one of disappointments and rage rants. Oddly, that is not what I play a game for.

Things that I like and keep me playing

o The look of the game. Kudos to the Art Group

o Combat is easy to learn and hard to master

o Both the Economic and Customer support are Stellar

Things that are really wearing thin

o Living Story: Love the idea, hate the implementation. Even at it’s best it has all the depth of a mud puddle. It’s time for Anet to face facts, if Living Story was gonna work it woulda worked by now.

o These tiny Content and Feature patches. I swear from my side it looks like Anet is putting more effort into the PR side of the drop rather than the actual content. I feel punished every time I get excited for a release only to find the hype was badly distorted when compared to the actual delivered content. SouthSun Solo “Dungeon” anyone?

o Wordsmith Releases. It’s a Feature Patch, Content Patch or a Balance Patch or maybe some combination of all of the above. As a System Engineer living in Silicon Valley who has successfully managed many projects; this type of splitting frog hairs is typical of a team in way over it’s head. Get back to the basics: A patch is a patch.

o Development Priorities. For two years now players have asked for A and the Devs proudly march out B. To make it worse B is not only something didn’t ask for but it also breaks many players Characters play style. This is wrong on so many levels.

o The CDI’s. Walls and Walls of TL;DR text and few changes. Given the consistent outcry of the community the problems are well documented. They are not a tool for gathering requirements but rather come off as a ploy to calm the masses.

o Balance Team. Why do we even have a Balance Team? Why do they always seem to take the easy way out and nerf the players? Why does Game Balance always seem to be something that happens to us rather than for us? This is a sure way to annoy the customers yet they keep going back to that Well. Again, this is not something we’ve asked for.

In closing, Guild War 2 is a good game that could be a great game but not with the direction they are currently headed.

I’ve given up the LS segment “Cornered” as well. It’s not that I’m unable to do it with my Longbow Ranger. In fact, I’ve done the stoopid &^%4 thing twice. Both times I got D/C’d due to DDOS attacks before the NPC’s finish talking. Moreover, it’s a slog of a fight full of pointless Aspect Jumping and getting bounced around like a tennis ball. I’ve gone back to complete it only to find myself gritting my teeth at the start of the fight when suddenly I start thinking “Why am I doing this? This should be fun not a wall between me and more fun stuff.”

Then I go run Plinx for the millionth time. Again. That’s something the LS team need to own. I’m a hardcore player that wants more PvE solo content but finds Living Story S2 so obnoxious I’m actively avoiding it now.

Living Story: Love the Idea; Hate the Implementation. Again.

Mr Whiteside -

Well, After my question about the actual impact of the CDI’s it looks like several items have actually been implemented! Wonderful, I love being wrong at times. I have a couple suggestions that might make things make the next steps forward a bit easier on everyone.

o Please don’t feel the need to write a monograph wall-o-text review of the CDI accomplishments. I think a short bullet chart showing the implemented changes should be enough. Personally, I’m convinced based solely on the community response.

o I’m not sure I’d start another CDI based on my perception of your team’s current workload. Rather, I’d dust off the old summaries from prior events and somehow (magic?) give us a broad brush view of where we are and where we’re headed. The root cause of our problems is when, in the absence of information, we players begin to speculate wildly about the future.

In closing, I’d like to offer an apology for suggesting the Devs are off in a field picking flowers. That was untoward and I’m sure not the case. As a Systems Engineer living in the Silicon Valley my pressures are not your pressures; my methods are not yours.

All the best to you and yours

-M

Mr. Whiteside –
I have a simple question for you. Can you (or anyone) point to anything that’s been actually implemented from a CDI? Or anything that’s actually been done based on player feedback rather than the Devs “We know what’s best” attitude? Anet seems to toss out a lot of smoke and mirrors about The Game is being guided by player input but when push comes to shove it’s still the Devs working on things we didn’t ask for and problems noted by the community continue to be ignored.

Recently, there was an interview on a web site with two Devs that continued to state “We decided… We think… We know…” None of which had anything to do with concerns of the community but rather arbitrary areas the Devs wanted to work on.

Another simple question: Who’s running this railroad? It honestly looks like each Dev is allowed to wander about picking the flowers that look pretty to them rather than a focused effort by dedicated professionals serving a loyal community.

Nice work if you can get it I guess…

-M

I’ve always wondered what drives the Gold to Gems conversion rate? I remember someone (you?) stating it started with a large pool of Gems and no Gold. Now, almost two years later it would seem to have changed to the other way around.

I would expect when we spend our converted Gems at the gem store they go to Bit Heaven and now are out of circulation. So, where do new Gems come from that affect the conversion rate? If players convert Gem into Gold that adds back into the pool right?

Not complaining at all. In fact, the Gold to Gem exchange has always seemed more than fair as a concept regardless of the exchange rate or other white noise in the system. As a player I commend both you and Anet for supporting the Exchange. But I am curious under what conditions does the Gem Pool expand?

Thanks John, you do a stellar job keeping the economy humming along and show your commitment to fair play with posting in threads like this. Much applause.

-M

Let’s start with the basics:

o Make sure V-Sync is turned off (kind of a CRT relic anyway)

o Update Flash Player, Shockwave and Java (I know. Do it anyway.)

o Use 337.88 drivers with a Clean install (Might have to use a driver cleaner)

o Set drivers to “Let the 3D application decide” (tweak it after your system is stable)

o Never set FXAA on in the drivers (Kills the frame rates)

-M

Very very disappointed. Here’s why:

o Starts with a Jumping Puzzle
Because who doesn’t like Jumping Puzzle’s? Almost everybody. Sure it was easy but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

o Pitch Black Areas
No. Just No.

o Arcade Games
Honest I thought I was getting an RPG not a massive collection of Whack-A-Mole, Run-With-A-Kit games. Felt totally out of context and had all the depth of a Mud Puddle.

o Too much “My Little Pony”
Or maybe it was more of a “Rainbow Brite” vibe but I have to ask…what age range are you shooting for? The 6 to 8 year olds?

Between this lame drop and getting my Longbow Ranger nerfed every other week I have to wonder how much longer this game is gonna last?

I give John Smith a big Two Thumbs Up for the overall management of the Guild Wars economy. This includes the current topic of possible Inflation in-game. As a long time player of many games over the years Guild Wars is the only one where Game Gold continues to hold any value. That his reply “If you think inflation is a major issue in Guild Wars 2, you should do more research on MMO economies and general economics.” ruffled feathers of a few speaks more to the few than to John.

That he has spent the time to reply to this and other topics speaks for itself when it comes to Community Involvement.

It would make me feel a little like I got taken. But I’d go for it if I got to pick the name at random and dups were allowed.

Thinking about it more Guilds might like having the ability to name stuff anyway. Like “<Guild’s> PileDriver”

An excellent idea OP. Certainly better than living with my LongBow_of_AnnoyingName

Tal San – Longbow Ranger. Nevermore – Pet Raven

-M

Yeah, I was also surprised to only see the 10 options listed and thought there was a problem with scroll down. I realized it was a game change and one that was a huge step backwards for my gaming fun. I’ve always looked forward to the reset to see where and what the dailies took me. While I’ve been able to cobble together 5 PVE it feels very boxed in rather than a new adventure to enjoy.

Two thumbs down, three if I had them

-M

Meh, to be honest maybe a little more while I try to figure out what the ^%&* just happened. Let’s face it…the game was really stale and while some of this seems just whack (Default Hero Page(Wardrobe (Sigil combos))) for the most part it’s been the Wild Ride we were promised. Other than the stoopid Named_Bow_of_Annoyance thing on my longbow and the dmg nerf was more than I expected nothing is of major concern.

On the plus side there were some tweaks I made to my main which has been kinda fun so far. The overall game play feels different too. Mostly a good different.

Mostly.

-M

Guild Wars Support has, is and will always be the Best in the Business. It is my only wish that you would know that there are players like myself out here that appreciate all your hard work. Remember it when seeming to drown in the constant stream of complaints that is the role of support.

All the best to you and yours…

-M

After reading through the thread I’d like us to calmly take a step back and consider a graphic that clearly shows the whole Trading Post in-game issue.

I’m pretty sure I remember someone reading they would have the name of the top slotted sigil. Which I took to mean the names would not change as we’re getting a second slot below the existing one.

-M

Thinking Grawl were just really really happy humans the first time I saw them. “Hey look! That guys is so up he’s actually skipping!”

-M

If you care enough to criticize then you should care enough to complement.

and we do

-M

Absolutely brilliant. Much applause to all!

John, your link doesn’t work due to it due to some kinda bad header. If you copy paste this you’ll see the posting.

ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH05/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=NCSOFT&cws=1&rid=1518

Too bad my background is all in Computer Science it sounds like a fun job.

1. Ranger
2. Elementalist
3. Necromancer

I have also been having problems with my GXT 760 under Win 7 sp1. I’ve found many things that seem to help but three items stand out:

o Installing the 332.21 drivers helped greatly.

o Start with setting the drivers to “Let the 3D Application decide.”

o Make sure V-Sync is turned off both in game and at the driver level.

Hope these ideas improve your performance and allow more enjoyment from the game.

I’m mostly interested if “Two Handed Weapons get two slots” applies to Bows? They are two handed after all and that could maybe fix some of the Bows problems. Maybe.

Uh, what about fixing Rune of the Ranger #6 to be something useful? That might be a Buff…maybe.

I’m in wait and see mode personally

Oh, did anyone say when this is gonna drop?

I was having the same problems as described in this and other threads. After trying all the standard fixes I downloaded and re-installed Adobe Flash and Shockwave along with a new Java runtime. Since then I have played the game all day without a single crash.
I’m using an Nvidia GTX 760 with the 331.93 drivers…

Hope this helps
-M