Guild Wars 2

John Smith.4610:

A minor distribution breakdown.

Did someone really expect something different than a Pareto heavy-tail distribution?

~MRA

Winneh.2064:

On a sidenote: RamonDomke, German Community Manager, answered in the german thread about this problem. He encouraged us to collect evidence (screens, Vids) and write tickets (title: “WvW Griefplay”) including exact time, date and place so they can look into it. They do not support that kind of behaviour but want to make sure, the accused ppl do this deliberately before they take any action (Banning the person).

Sounds like a step in the right direction, lets see when/if they actually do something now.

True, but it already sounded that way three weeks ago when Ramon was closing the first thread discussing the problem. Due to his encouragement, a number of players did submit tickets and provided proof. Those were the tickets to which ANet responded that we have to respect the “different playstyles” (roughly translated from German). It is unclear whether ANet took any steps after our first reports three weeks ago, but it is pretty clear that the problem still prevails.

~MRA

Winneh.2064:

Thanks Aurora for capping our Keeps in EB!
We can actually build siegeweapons again, makes WvW much more fun!

Our annoying server-troll built tons of rams again so we were capped for quite some time – sucks tbh!

Actually, yes, thank you AG, this was kind of a relief.

Furthermore, kudos to you guys for upgrading the walls of Ogrewatch right under our nose while were sieging it. It kittened us off just as much as I assume you intended. Also, you displayed some great map awareness this morning, and it was almost impossible to catch you off guard. You seem to have your spies everywhere. Grats to the guilds pulling that off.

~MRA

Cactus.2710:

You mean like they confirmed the map population cap numbers after several hundred forum posts asking for it?? What were those numbers again?

Those numbers have actually been known well before this forum has been started. They aimed for at least 500 players per map, one third per server, so the cap should be somewhere around 130-140 players per server. However, I assume they tweak this number regularly as they update the engine to guarantee server performance, so I guess it will be hard to state a precise and universally correct number.

Cactus.2710:

Or maybe like they confirmed the actual (I mean ACTUAL) despawn times for various siege in different situations after several hundred posts pointing out that 30 minutes isn’t the number??

Yes, I remember that well. They answered the question on the first page of this thread. Although I think their system might be bugged, since I regularly perceive a different behavior than the intended 30 minutes.

Cactus.2710:

Or maybe you mean how the most detailed prefaces for the upcoming WvW patch have been somewhere on these official forums instead of contained within interviews hosted by third party fan sites?

I am pretty sure they they will post the update notes first in this forum, as they always have. I am sure that there will also be a fancy webpage. But this is future stuff, and I am pretty sure they haven’t fixed all the details yet. So what details you are actually missing?

Cactus.2710:

Got it … my mistake.

No problem, you are welcome. I am here to help.

~MRA

Cactus.2710:

salluks.6017:

.. an official confirmation would be appreciated.

Good luck with that. And if they do confirm anything, it will probably be on some social networking site you never heard of instead of their own official forums.

Yeah, right, after all, they did not confirm anything about the past ratings in this forum, beside the actual formula and parameters, a link to the documentation of the system, weekly updated scores, and a lengthy post by designer Habib Loew explaining the whole system. So, given that history, you better expect nothing from ANet.

\sarcasm.

~MRA

PS: It is weekend inn the U.S., so I would not expect any official information before Monday.

flowjob.7934:

Very very low Aurora. You are only good at PvD, you don’t deserve the 2nd place.

By the very definition, whoever has the necessary points also deserves the second place. And so does AG in this week. You cannot argue with that.

If the Auroras found a strategy to beat us then this only means we have to get better and counter their strategy.

To our opponents: It has been fun fighting you, and thank you for the many badges you so kindly provided. Since we meet again, I’d say the final words on the T4 ranking have yet to be spoken …

~MRA

John Smith.4610:

The price changes pretty often, how would I have time to post on the forums?

This must obviously be your special supervillain super-power.

~MRA

Ghost.2079:

It seems to go against the scaling nature that has been built into a lot of GW2. You add in a cool new content system for guilds, but it is gated to a high level. We all know you and the rest of the staff have been hearing this over and over – just hope you’ll do something about it. Releasing it as-is also goes against other additions ANet provides. It’s not scaled. It is a way to “get something” but to do that you must be in a larger guild. There is no scaling in a system that dun dun duuuun provides possible precursors and that is the failure of this content system. You as a company had to know there was going to be a lot of backlash with this particular addition.

“Just join a big guild” is not a solution, ANet.

Oh, come on. You could make the exact same arguments against dungeons. They do not scale, they force you to be of a certain level, and solo players are screwed. Or are you going to tell them to “Just join a 5 man pug”?

I find the given reason (viable gameplay options for all different kinds of players) perfectly valid.

~MRA

Rengaru.4730:

“Hold on to your points, seize theirs. DO I HAVE TO DRAW YOU A PICTURE”

I can’t tell you how much I miss that line… he is much more boring now.

~MRA

Hmmm … I did actually have to look up “Harlem Shake” at wikipedia to learn why I was supposed to find this video funny …

Maybe I have become immune to internet memes?

~MRA

PS, what actually made me laugh out loud: A wikipedia entry that is several pages long, has over 70 references, and starts with the words “The Harlem Shake is an Internet meme that went viral on YouTube in early February 2013 …”

PPS: The in-game video was nicely done.

Riselight.3695:

Srsly, RS… I already disliked you for using dishonorable ways to fight, but this… this is just pathetic. Using tons of Golems and other (superior) siege, as an attempt to gain some points? It doesn’t make you any better, and other worlds just start looking down on you….
I’ll say it again: Pathetic

Seriously, Riselight, I don’t have the slightest clue which incident you are referring to, but I fail to see how using the tools of WvW in their intended way can be seen as either dishonorable or pathetic. If you are facing defeat in a fight, learn from it, grow stronger, devise a counter-strategy, and you may be the victor next time.

So what’s all the hate good for? Other worlds, I do still like you. (Here, have a daisy.)

~MRA

Evan Lesh.3295:

You’re right that we do have a lot of currencies. We certainly know we could improve the experience here

Just make all currency-like tokens collectibles that can be sent to the bank account, just as you recently did with the Mystic Coins, and I am happy.

~MRA

Caid.4932:

Good luck anyway and remember that the score =/= fun

Thanks, and I am well aware of that.

Osicat.4139:

Well tbh al guilds who participated in the battleplan in last Gandara guild TS meeting know we planned to go full force agressive last night with XxX, Dius Judge MM www etc.

Kudos. As far as I can tell, your planning did pay off quite well so far. A 10k lead at this point of the week is impressive.

~MRA

Caid.4932:

Whats going on why is gandara winning? Its not the middle of the week yet : /
confused
This is some dirty trick to lull us into a false sense of security isn’t it >:(
Well it wont work. We’re on to you

Well, I am a little bit surprised, too. I have not been around at reset but I got up pretty early this morning just to learn that the Riverside WvW community somehow (incidently?) almost unanimously decided to stay in bed this Saturday morning. In the Eternal Battlegrounds, we were outnumbered almost the entire morning and there has not been a queue on EB until the late afternoon, which is quite unusual for Riverside. In that shape we are actually no serious opponent.

While it is true that there has been some disruptive agitation by individuals from our own server against Riverside again this morning, the disruption is nowhere as extensive as it has been last week and can not be taken as an excuse for anything. It seems that we simply had a rather bad start into the weekend, while the Gandaran forces were strong and organized enough to take advantage of that fact.

Keep up the good fighting. There is still plenty of the weekend left, so lets see whether we can regain our strength.

~MRA

Caid.4932:

While the point has been beaten to death and with it being valentines day its not the best representation of how the match has gone heres some screens of our points over the day. All times are GMT

Actually, looking at the screens makes me wish there would be some kind of in-game replay function for WvW, were you could watch the capture point evolution through the past week. (You know, good old Civ style, if you are ancient enough to know what I mean.)

Anyways, thanks for the week, it was a nice fight. See you in the field.

~MRA

Parthis.2091:

The night-capping complaints are becoming an embarrassment to your forces chaps.

There was approximately one guy complaining about night-capping. And I don’t see many players agreeing with him. I think the embarrassment is manageable.

~MRA

flowjob.7934:

Gandara only wins because of nightcapping. Nice job, you are so epic … NOT!

Nightcapping is a valid strategy, and Riverside has a night-shift, too. If your opponent outnumbers you at off-times, adapt your strategy to counter that. If you cannot adapt, your opponents success is well deserved.

~MRA

Esprit Dumort.3109:

I figured the ram builder(s) were griefing, but I have yet to hear it’s because of someone on our (Gandara) server switching servers. At least I hope it’s not.

From all I know neither Gandara nor Abaddon’s is to blame. The griefer seems to be a very sad sad sad individual from our own server who seems to be on his or her self-righteous mission for revenge, or who is maybe just doing sabotage for fun.

It is really shocking to see what devastating impact the foul play of just one (or a small group of) antisocial individual(s) can have on a server’s morale. For days the map chat in the Eternal Battlegrounds has been flooded with lamentations about the “Flammenbock-Idiot”, spirits have been low, and people were giving up on serious play for this match-up because we could neither play a proper offense or defense with the number of siege weapons at maximum.

I hope my fellow Riversiders will keep an eye open and report such misconduct to the ANet support (attach a screenshot showing the culprit red-handed, will ya?) And I also hope that ANet will act swift an decisively against such greifers.

My apologies to our honorable opponents, but at least to some degree, Riverside is currently unable to give you the fight you deserve.

~MRA

flowjob.7934:

Gandara don’t deserve the 1st place.

By the very definition, the server that scores the most points also deserves the 1st place. You cannot argue with that.

Gandara (or “the Gandhis”, as we love to call ‘em) has their play style, Riverside has theirs, and so as Abaddon’s. If you disagree with another server ending up in front of your’s, fight harder.

BTW, it seems that Gandara and Riverside will meet again in the next matchup. So Riverside better starts developing a strategy against Gandara’s mid-week second wind.

~MRA

Churchill.8714:

Just because you want to have a personal metric of reward that goes against the specific metric the OP was discussing, doesn’t give you a valid complaint.

You’re just disagreeing to disagree.

My opinion is just as much an opinion as is the OP’s. I am pretty sure we are even in the validity of our opinions.

Of course, if you rather don’t want to hear that there are people who are actually enjoying the game and who do not think everything is fubar, I can just shut up.

~MRA

Eclipses.7152:

To each their own, though I don’t know how you can possibly disagree that there is a lack of rewards in WvW vs other game types not that the devs have almost completely disregarded WvW.

Oh, that is easy: I measure reward in games in ‘fun’ (a term I used three times in my post, as I just notice), and not in green, yellow, orange or even purple color coded virtual items.

Plus, working in software development myself, I know what a complicated task building such systems can be. Therefore, I am patient with the developers.

~MRA

Eclipses.7152:

TL;DR:

1. Commander is an absolute mess
2. The roles/rewards/recognition of Guilds in a game called ‘Guild Wars’ is lacking
3. WvW has devolved into ZvZ (ZergvZerg)
4. The lack of Rewards/Progression/Depth/Consequence
5. The devs, their implementation of and lack of commitment to Wvw

Funny thing: I have only read your tl;dr and I already know that I disagree with each and every of your five points.

WvW is a hellova lot of fun for me already in its current, partially flawed form. Can’t wait for the March update.

Anyways, have fun discussing your points.

~MRA

I like the viewpoint of the OP, but I still think WvW isn’t all Zerg v Zerg. Sure, the Zerg is maybe the most visible (and even largest by sheer numbers) active group in WvW. It is just such an easy starting point for “random” players that do not care that much for “structured WvW”.

But you do also need your fair share of Protoss players, i.e., smaller, highly specialized guild squads that disrupt enemy supply lines, protect their own, create diversions, or just harass lost zerglings. And you also need your Terrans, that are building siege and are upgrading bases to build a strong defense. Of course, thier deeds are not as visible as the next Zerg bashing at a door, but they are just as important.

In my opinion, only a server who has healthy balance of Zerg, Protoss, and Terran players is able to succeed in the higher brackets.

~MRA

Nemesys.7251:

this is why river prefer stay in a keep

Funny enough, your little movies can’t be seen in Germany due to YouTube’s music licensing restrictions.

~MRA

Oozo.7856:

If you read back through all of my comments in this post you will see that I have already acknowlegded that.

Sorry, I didn’t read the whole thread. (I have given up reading whole threads in this forum.) I just noticed you updating your post with so much enthusiasm, so I merely wanted to drop a friendly reminder. No offense intended.

Oozo.7856:

If you were a developer, would you take a look at this poll and decide

If I were a software developer (fun fact: I am, but not with ANet) I would do my own research on how my product is doing.

Forum post or email complaints may be useful for a number of things (such as giving players a legit place to vent, and learning whether your communication strategy is working as intended) but they are most certainly not representative. That’s all I wanted to say.

~MRA

SoulstitchMMO.1396:

Do you still have server pride?

I am dying regularly for server Riverside [DE], since the betas.

Always have, always will.

~MRA

SniffyCube.6107:

…

You labeled your post for Q&A mode. So … what is your question?

~MRA

Oozo.7856:

Need a bigger sample!

You do not only need a big sample, you do also need an unbiased sample.

Unfortunately, this is something that is virtually impossible to achieve by advertising a poll in a forum that is not a representative sample of the whole player base.

So, please, take your result with a grain salt.

~MRA

Iruwen.3164:

Still no timestamps in the devtracker Thanks for the other fixes and additions though,

Still no timestamps anywhere where they are needed.

I still find it one of the most frustrating aspects of this forum that you have to click on each thread individually to learn when it was last updated. (Well, this, and the fact that you can still not “jump to first dev post” from the OP of a thread.)

But anyways, please keep on upgrading the forum.

~MRA

Grim West.3194:

If you know of a better way to get the devs to listen to our concerns, please enlighten us.

I may not be wise enough to enlighten anybody, but from my experience posting in a web forum has approximately zero impact on the direction of a multi-million dollar software project. Companies and developers are far more willing to listen to monthly sales figures and market research data, or, in some rare occasions, to their artistic vision.

I could spend all day in a Call of Duty forum explaining to everybody in all detail why I think that their game sucks kittens, but I assume this to be a waste of time.

~MRA

Grim West.3194:

Pretty much have zero interest in GW2 or it’s expansion.

No offense, but you are well aware of the irony of posting such a statement in a forum whose sole topic is GW2, and in a thread that is dedicated to its potential expansion, are you?

~MRA

Gehenna.3625:

The problem is solved for now, but Anet already said there will be more content that will require infusions. The longer you say “just don’t play that content” the more content will be unavailable to a player. That is not a realistic point of view.

Anet just need to state clearly there is a treadmill started and people need to either accept that or not.

They already did give a clear and precise statement in the Reddit AMA right after the introduction of Ascended gear, but people tend to ignore it.

The agony resistance gear treadmill is for people who ENJOY a treadmill. Those players have a right to get some love from ANet, too. So, yes, I agree that ANet will give them another occasional treadmill in the future. Just as they occasionally release content for PvEers, for WvWers, for sPvPers, daisy pluckers, and so on. That’s just the way ANet wants their game to be, so we better get used to it (or play something different).

However, from all we know, and given all that content ANet has released since launch, I really cannot understand that people still come to the conclusion that, suddenly, ANet would start to ignore all of their customers beside “small customer group X” and only release content for that particular group in the future, when they can make much more money if they wouldn’t.

MRA.4758:

Now, can someone please proceed and close this thread, since it is as non-constructive as its 157.623 clones before? Thanks.

I still stand to my statement.

~MRA

Patrikan Habaton.2548:

I ever since was a defender that gw2 is not that kind of game, since fractals were released I told ppl that it’s not since you don’t need any ar to get to lvl 80 (I’m there so don’t argue about that if it’s possible or not ) But after the update the game changed to what the dev stated now. I really think this is a bad direction the game takes and I’m as a former gw1 fan dissapointed and afraid that it goes in this direction.

You don’t enjoy the agony resistance treadmill of the fractals? Then just don’t visits fractals of level 10 and beyond, and enjoy the plenty of gaming content that GW2 has to offer and that is completely unrelated to agony resistance, instead.

Problem solved, you are welcome.

Now, can someone please proceed and close this thread, since it is as non-constructive as its 157.623 clones before? Thanks.

~MRA

maddoctor.2738:

NCSoft is known for releasing false reports…. If NCSoft reports were true GW2 would had been released as far back as 2008 (If I’m not mistaken)

Well, I’d guess you are mistaken.

I don’t know of the NCSoft reports from that time, but the 2008 date was mentioned initially in the same magazine interview when they announced Eye of the North, back in 2007. I have to look for the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of “beta for GW2 starts in 2008”. As we all know, ANet did miss that date by some days, as they were happily “iterating” their game.

Nevertheless, I doubt that you will find the same bold claim in the actual earnings conference call. Companies are a obliged by law to tell the truth to their investors. If they had misled investors, they would have get sued for that.

~MRA

Morrigan.2809:

I also seem to recall that someone said somewhere they were not even working on an expansion yet? Sorry I have no idea where I saw any of this otherwise I would link it.- maybe the Reddit AMA?

I do recall that statement as well (and I have no source, either).

However, one has to understand that “not working on” is frequently used by ANet in the sense of “nobody is currently writing and committing source code”. As in the case of the precursor scavenger hunt, it might still mean that someone is currently designing that content in a conceptual stage.

~MRA

fractal.7039:

NCSoft released their earning report and conference call. The plans for GW2 include a release in China and an expansion in 2013. That confirms the 2013 target date for an Expansion….

Given the popularity of the game, an expansion approximately one year into the game is kind of very likely. But a conference call isn’t exactly an announcement of a release date. If I am not mistaken, “2013” in that fiscal context may be as late as Q1 2014.

fractal.7039:

what could it possible be?

Well, I have this character slot reserved since release for my beloved Tengu guardian …

~MRA

Luchifer.8026:

750gold? man/guyz what the heck are you thinking? what made you rise it from 550 to 750 gold in 1 night?

I’d assume it was something similar to “Hey, this item is so popular, I bet someone is willing to pay 750g for it.”

~MRA

Jierdan.4012:

How can i attach?

I you do not already see an attachment field below your message text field, click on the “more posting & formatting options” button below to find it.

~MRA

Zach.2618:

when i bought the game 2 weeks ago 100 gems were about 1g, and now its 2g:O yes :O.. i mean will prices keep increasing? aren’t the devs doing anything about it? g isn’t getting any easier to earn, and if any case its getting harder.. so maybe in a few months 100 gems would be 10g?

The gem prices are not even close to being skyrocketing as you seem to believe. Please take a look at the actual figures.

The gem prices has risen steadily in the time after launch since in-game coin was scarce at first. Since around mid December, the gem price has become kind of stable somewhere between 1g50s and 2g. The occasional spike&drop you see in the chart can be pretty well explained by ANet announcing something or adding new items to the gem store.

tl;dr: Don’t worry, have fun.

~MRA

John Smith.4610:

Abstracts are tiny, but summaries are not. In this case it’s the type of summary that details your plans for your research, not the summary afterwards.

Just to add that comment: You shouldn’t regard this terminology as universal for scholarly publications. The usage of “abstract”, “summary”, “extended abstract”, “short paper”, etc. varies greatly from discipline to discipline (and sometimes even within a discipline).

~MRA

Smooth Penguin.5294:

People in the forums tend to be like Skritt.

New thread? Ooohh …. shiny!

Smooth Penguin.5294:

So I propose a challenge to prove the crowds wrong, but I need John Smith’s help. If you would be so kind as to add 2,000 Gold to my bank account, I’ll go out and prove that I won’t be able to manipulation the market as I please. This would be strictly for research purposes. In return for this, I’ll be giving Anet valuable research information, as well as solid evidence that manipulating the market isn’t as prevalent as one might believe. I won’t enjoy this one bit, but I’m willing to sacrifice my time for the betterment of the GW2 community.

I suggest you propose for the Snaff grant which is funded by the colleges of Rata Sum. They should fund such kind of research, and as far as I have heard they are looking for new applicants since the recent grant holder wasn’t doing research at all and rather traveled the continent on some fancy adventure, instead.

~MRA

Visiroth.5914:

EA dumped 200-300 million on launching TOR and its post-launch performance was disappointing to them. Or how about TSW that couldn’t even meet sales expectations? FF14 delayed subscription fees for over a year because of horrible reception. Getting accurate market research and following it can’t be as easy as it sounds.

Sure. Having your data and interpreting it correctly are not the same thing. And even if you do, they are no guarantee for nothing. And don’t get me started on finding the right questions to ask in your surveys in the first place, there are so many things you can do wrong.

The post I was replying to questioned whether ANet does actually have a certain kind of statistic or whether John Smith was pulling numbers out of his kitten. (You know, forum style.) I was mere pointing out that there is reason to assume that ANet has, indeeed, lots of data at their hand.

~MRA

Nsain.7531:

15%? Where is that number coming from? A poll of what sample size? Most people seem to enjoy actually playing the game and enjoying content. Not sitting in LA hoarding gold to screw up the market even more. I.E. the hilarious precursor market, yeah, that seems legit.

ANet would be the first company to build a multi million dollar product without doing some market research first. Although I don’t know the answers to your questions, I would guess that somebody at ANet has some pretty substantial numbers on what players tend to like and dislikle.

Also, I don’t remember John Smith stating that those 15% do exclusively play the market and nothing else, as you assume.

~MRA

Erasculio.2914:

The price of all tier 6 crafting materials and of ectoplasm spiked on january 17th

Hmmm …. a sudden shift in the market prizes in the wake of ANet releasing their agenda for the next quarterly period …

Nah, this cannot be related. Who has ever heard of a market that jumps the gun or is acting unexpected just because of some news item. This must clearly be the vile deeds of the scary market-manipulating boogie man, there is no other explanation.

~MRA

XGhoul.7426:

Rob just add a 15 second res timer (similar to spvp) and it will solve problems for the casuals/people that don’t have a static group.

Add a 15 second res timer and your average party will almost instantly go “Why bother rezzing you, you will respawn in 15 seconds anyway.”

There is obviously stuff that needs to be fixed (dead player not getting loot, dead in a non-rezzable location, …) but, all in all, I appreciate the new mechanic.

~MRA

NeHoMaR.9812:

Whats up with the original plan of two weeks matches?

This plan has been discarded some while ago, when almost everybody agreed that one week fights were the right thing to do (not to long, can start right at the beginning of the weekend, etc.). I tend to agree.

~MRA

Darkness.5410:

Please do not fix this bug. It doesn’t harm the game and is more fun than annoying.

VakarisJ.5619:

This “bug” is entertaining, it should not be fixed.

While I understand the entertainment aspect of this bug, animations are part of the gameplay mechanic and ANet has pretty much no choice but fixing it.

Animations communicate what you are doing (or what you are doing next), and a player who has learned to read your animations should be able to rely on them communicating correctly.

~MRA

Robert Hrouda.1327:

Latinkuro.9420:

Give us options, say, display account name only for all characters of the same account or display chosen nickname for all characters of this account.

2. I’m a bit confused still about what you are implying with this and how it effects boss re-designs. Could you elaborate some more?

I think it doesn’t relate to the boss redesign at all, but, in my opinion, it is reasonable UI feature request.

~MRA

Seriously, guys, some of you must be a real pain for your parents on Christmas Eve.

Patience is a virtue.

~MRA

Since 17:00 UTC today I am able to play again without any error.

I don’t think I will ever learn what happened.

~MRA