Guild Wars 2

Roven Leafsong.8917:

……………I wonder if we need to start using better terminology for games. The lineage that includes EQ, WoW, Rift, GW2 and so on should really be given its own sub-genre of massively-multiplayer online, separate to gameplay that is completely different like EVE, Wurm (and hopefully other persistent worlds that I can’t think of right now). I know we have themepark and sandbox, but I don’t think they are very helpful in terms of what actual gameplay is available. They seem to me more like opposite ends of the freedom spectrum than descriptive of gameplay (and one seems to be a subset of the other in terms of features – a sandbox can include all the features of a themepark, but a themepark can’t include all the features of a sandbox).

That would be a great project. The success of the terminology would depend on the terms being genuinely descriptive.(duh?) I would start by looking at how much of a game depends on combat as a story/progression driver for other mechanics such as crafting.

ColinJohanson.2394:

It’s worth noting, while they said we’re not working on new versions of the home maps currently, they didn’t say anything about new maps in general…..

Also I’ll throw out that the work our WvW guys are doing on culling and progression systems are extremely large, these are feature systems unto themselves. For example a lot of the culling work requires re-building almost entirely the way our game compiles, loads, and handles assets in general. For many companies, this task could literally years, we’re trying to pull it off in a matter of months, these guys are rock stars.

I know some of you got the impression there isn’t much development going on here, but I was to clarify you couldn’t be more wrong. There is a boat load of very serious WvW being done, much of it they discussed in this interview. Major features require many month long projects, our hope is you’ll start seeing the major fruits of those labors starting in our February update.

You’ll hear more details from our WvW team once stuff gets closer to finalized and tested, but we think you’re going to be thrilled with the stuff that’s coming. As an old DAoC fan, I’m freaking stoked about what these guys are doing.

Thank you for taking time on Christmas Eve to respond, but I must worn you that doing so reveals your inner nerd. If I may, as developers you live and work the paradox of set-up, reveal, and prestige. As players we live and play the very same paradox.

Happy Holidays players and builders

Raeyne,
I like where you are headed with using titles as indicators of roles/skills. My input would be this:

The roles must must echo the narrative of Tyrian war-gaming. Perhaps real world 17-18th century battlefield mechanics may offer suggestions in particular, but I think any real world doctrine of military deployment using ranks as signifiers of specialty could be used to develop one for Tyria.

While not brimming over with details, I still enjoyed seeing the people behind the scenes. I hope Habib Leow doesn’t mind my quoting him in my signature, but I find his statement poignant.
Yes culling creates the most ludonarrative dissonance, its waveform is causing all kinds of cresting, and minimizing it will help a lot. However, from the description of the causes, the developers may never be able to eliminate culling completely; especially since the more fun WvW is the more risk of culling.
Could a culling rate meter be developed? Something similar to a ping/fps rate meter. A culling rate meter would allow players to take responsibility for their pillar of the paradox.
The PvE:PvP:WvW culture cresting is tougher….
My instincts tell me that evolving a more dynamic rear echelon, supply line doctrine could help align wave forms.

it looks like the puppy is jealous of your toy, maybe he/she needs a quaggan with a squeeky toy!

FacesOfMu.3561:

…….I posit that if the games are not offering as much to learn now as they did when we were newbs to MMOs and we had this whole realm of gaming to experience and understand, then generally people will feel greater disappointment as each game released within it’s generation has less for us to learn. This isn’t to say we don’t have a lot of fun and cherish some fantastic minutes, hours, or days of playing pleasure. We are just growing up.

While the increased maturity level of the player does affect what we take/learn from an mmo, it also affects what players bring to an mmo. You could easily expand your metaphor of education to describe an mmo world as a school and the players as matriculating students. Have no doubt that a concurrent player base is as indispensable to the business success of an mmo as enrolled students are to an institution of higher learning. Sounds obvious at first glance, but when we look closer at the metaphor, we start to see overlaps. Consider the dynamic of legacy enrollment at colleges and universities. Parents that attended the University of Skinner are now deciding where to send their children. Under that intense scrutiny, a mmo offering a curriculum that can be put down without causing a student anxiety shines. As students we need to appreciate the paradox that forces upon a developer.

FacesofMu, great post, thank you. I agree, the relationship between game developer and game consumer is not unique in the business world. I think you describe most people’s relationship with the music industry.

Are any efforts underway to track the remaining population of spiders?

Could a consumable be used to mitigate Agony for avatars being advanced the furthest? Granted a low fractaled avatar is already receiving a benefit, but that benefit can and will affect party success rate. Consider the 2-21-21-21-53 as an axle and wheel assembly; the high and low the wheels and the mids the axle. To spin we need grease and the 2 needs the most.
Possible considerations for the consumable:
available within dungeon only?
cost of consumable to ascended gear ratio?
consumable effects based on comparative difference in actual and proposed fracting levels?

Please apply metafunphysics.

Hecksa.7140:

Would have been nice to have a team though…maybe I could do the fun creative composing side, and other people could do the mindless repetitive part. Sounds like a plan to me.

Your request for elves will be taken under advisement by the Supranational Mad Scientist Syndicate.

More seriously…more instruments and more dancers would open up many possibilities for machinima artists and performers. If the stewards of Tyria introduced more musical mechanicals, would a primer explaining the real world challenges of IPR and fan generated content be useful?

Some may call me a dreamer, but I see a very productive trajectory for Tyrian musicians and performers. Apply the concept of PvP as an esport to this discussion.

gahahawa
/happy clapping
/stomp
/stomp
/clap

MithranArkanere.8957:

Nah, it’s not the rythm. It’s the lag. You have to ‘calibrate’ during the first song, checking the timing that gets you the hit.

LOL sounds like a rhythm to me!

crystalpink.2487:

Katz.5143:

sings…Killing me softly with his song……

More like “killing me surely with his bells” lol

even more like “killing me surlily with his bells”

wait is this a round?

Negrul.5423:

I wonder if you’ve noticed that there is a chat channel used specifically for finding groups (it’s the Lion’s Arch map chat) or perhaps I misunderstand the meaning of a “chat channel dedicated”

Given the experience with having to spam a specific map chat just to find a group, I would say “no” to a “dedicated chat channel”.

Lion’s Arch map chat is certainly used for finding groups but is far from specifically used for just that function. Any zone’s map channel is there for anyone and everyone to use for whatever they choose (within reason). If I understand the sentiment of your second paragraph, I agree that using an instanced zone’s map channel to find groups is inefficient. What I am describing would be similar to a trade channel that covered multiple zones. Yes there would be issues with this, especially the risk non-dungeon crawlers would use it as a communication tool. But what I am interested in, is a LFG tool that doesn’t simply pluck people out of the world and put them together. A LFG tool that allows discussion without being chained to a specific place.

Hope my description makes sense and it certainly does not claim to be perfect.

crystalpink.2487:

LameFox.6349:

lol. New report option: can’t carry a tune.

Rofl.

Either that or “Incapable of playing choir bells in proper tunes” xD

We need GMs who have studied music theory, Arena Net has created a monster.

I read the title as though you wanted to use a bell to kill people to a festival-ly morbid tune. I think the bell ringing being the only tune to play is part of the annoyance. Fire fighters did not accidentally put bells on their trucks. I played LOTRO for a while and music works in an mmo. If the developers needed to see that demonstrated, I think they have, I hope they have.

In the meantime snowballs
we need to say something

Your position, that this is a serious complaint, can not be defended. I am unanimous in this.

Dungeon finders can be so tricky and players have so seemingly diametrically opposed camps. One side thinks a dungeon finder hinders dungeon crawling culture, the other that it would help. Perhaps what dungeon crawlers need is just better ways to chat while out in the world.
Would a chat channel dedicated to dungeon crawling be useful?
If such a channel existed what should be it’s range:map, server, game?
If such a channel existed would non crawler’s be able to learn that polite LFGs in general are not the same as WTSs?

I would continue this discussion

as of yesterday, Zommoros was still taking donations and the crier is still there, so perhaps Lyn’s selection will be evolving.

I hope so, her efforts to help the dragon displaced could yield so much mmo fruit

the dragons are thoroughly confused by princess magic!
Charge!

ZOMZelda! That’s no snowball that’s a spacestation!

Music is some of the best math out there.

I too stumble on the bell curve keying but that only makes me listen in wonder to someone who rides that bell curve as though it where a roller coaster.

If musical instruments persist, please add a stage, lighters, beach balls and some hootin’ and hollerin’.

It is winter where I am and there is snow on the ground. I have a cat who spends as much time as he can outside except for winter. When there is snow on the ground he walks with such awkward distaste for the snow. Every step is placed with an “ewwww”. OP this thread made me picture a Charr behaving the same way, thank you.

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Best solution would be to make them unbound. This way players can trade or sell the ones they already have and don’t get ripped off if they release a mini-pack or something else along those lines.

Any other solution would be wasted money to all those who already gambled for them. Only logical solution would be to make them able to be traded.

I agree, making them unbound gives players and developers the most freedom by providing stable negotiating positions to each and projecting growth is more easily done and has a higher chance of successful iteration.

I honestly don’t think making all minis trade-able would upset cash-shop profits. The distinction between gems, Tyrian gold, and cash doesn’t really exist and artificially buttressing walls between the currencies may actually be costing the developers funds. Consider all the collectors who would buy gems for gold so they could participate in the collecting game/culture. Consider how the trader game/culture overlaps the mini collector game/culture. Yes, the gems-shop may see fewer $200 purchases but they will likely be replaced by smaller purchases totaling more.

Merry Wintersday everyone, peer review twinkles!

Premise

The real world fishing story tells the Tyrian Fishing story tells the metaphysics allowing the engine to be fueled by client storying. Refer to Dipplenixx’s Trionic Field Stabilization Epicilator Manual (volumes 1,5, 6-9) and apply strategic MAPM resonance tuning to the following capacitors:

The Tyrian Fisherperson Tfishes because Tfishing is fun. thinks challenging is fun. thinks tyria is worthwhile

The Tyrian fish does not want to be dragged out of the water and hero-handled because that is not fun. The Tyrian fish is fighting for its life and deserves a fighting chance so Tfish AI will require a measure of sentience spin-up.

The Tyrian Fishing Gear catalog can be theoretically generated using a CabellaCompiler 9000 scripted into the existing gear acquisition engine.

The Skill Bar would be a combination of the pole, reel and bait and translate the following action stories: cast, set hook, line out (LO), line in (LI), use lure, rod angle (RA), capture Tfish, dispatch Tfish, release Tfish

The Fight Ergonomics simulator will be tuned using the following values:
Tyrian fish have a low health pool that starts draining when they are hooked
your challenge is to retrieve the Tfish using skills 1-5 (gear based) and the right mouse button to control rod angle
if the Tfish dies prior to capture you lose the Tfish

Experimental modelling: WARNING: may cause lucid Tfishing!

The Tfisherperson finds and approaches the Tfish, chooses positioning, engages F5 stance equipping item from hero hobby slot…
<Fine Medium Weight Pole, Rare Spin-casting reel, 10 lbs test, Exotic silver minnow lure>
then ground target casts near Tfish, waits, waits, uses lure skill….
The Tfish is attracted to the bait, approaches to investigate….
The Tfisherperson tempts the Tfish and Tfate, uses lure skill…
<gate chance for tfish strike>
Tfish strikes!
Tfisherperson attempts to set the hook….
<gate chance for hook-set>
tfish fight on!
<Mathing……LI:LO:RA:tfish attributes:the works>
The Tfisherperson captures a living and struggling 15 pound Sockeye Salmon
<gate demand for tfish>
The Tyrian fisherperson Tyria fishes because Tyrian fishing is fun, thinks challenging is fun, thinks tyria is worthwhile…..
The Tyrian fish is released

The Local Tyrian Fishing Guide could be sourced to share fish tales, local fish news, offer gear crafting recipes, sell bait, give directions to instanced fishing holes

The BLTP can incorporate fishing story progression into existing production architecture:
tournament tickets (open world and instanced competitive fishing), costumes, progression buffs,

Thank you for your time, any and all peer review will be useful

edited for content

let’s hope that was just someone’s nightmare being projected

You brilliant madhatter!
As much as I want to discuss word counting and weighting
As much as I want to snoop your kitchen
More so I want more tea and cake
I will bring my own place setting

innovation and peer review force strategic play
If on Tyria as it is on Earth, we tell a story of leavers and takers, predator and prey, hook or by crook
if in redacting, too many left over parts, stories with lower denominators are missing
charr are 100000/9000
armor is 100000/10
eternal alchemy is 100000/3.14

During the 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the “Great Race of Mercy”, 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs relayed diphtheria antitoxin 674 miles (1,085 km) by dog sled across the U.S. territory of Alaska in five and a half days, saving the small city of Nome and the surrounding communities from an incipient epidemic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1925_serum_run_to_Nome

I keep looking for an mmo that tells a great story for each sled team member: sled, musher, wheel dog, team dog, swing dog, lead dog.

tangible way to measure ‘pulling your weight’
something to distract you from for the kitten clinging to the dog in front of you
a well reasoned world
world rational path-finding progression
any path becomes worn and full of dropped kittens, new cities worth saving

First, I have to point out a forum rarity, peer review leading to better understanding.

Dustfinger.9510:

Konig Des Todes.2086:

@Dustfinger: I would take in-game dialogue over old blog posts and interviews any day. They’re more recent and more canonical, being from the game and all and not an outside source. And currently, in-game sources state that they have wood instead of bone. It’s probably not a perfect endoskeleton – or rather, endoskeleton replica – but it is wood that’s used to support and shape the mass of the sylvari body (the skeleton’s purpose).

Quite possible. In that case the ingame and out game sources wouldn’t have to be in conflict.

Sylvari botanical anatomy could certainly provide limitless combinations of woody core structure supporting winding tendrils, leaves, stems etc.
Begs the question of how durable they are and how they heal. The strength potential of their anatomy is quite high, as is their healing factor.

OP, I would accept any story of Sylvari skin from hard as heartwood to as soft as petals.

Curuniel,
I intended no facetious disrespect to Tyrian lore or lore-ist. Please assign any debt of misunderstanding to asperger. Being understood here is worth a second effort since here is where we build canons.
Tyrian isn’t real just wants to be be and with the help of Tyrians can become ever realer
questions i want to answer because complex model building is fun returning run
Science and technology DO follow a trajectory: from fire to the moon! Scitech progresses as Lifetech by innovation and peer review. Magitech has no peers and in the very near future would naturally spread. Perhaps not TV but certainly mobile phones (chat channel canon?).
what is magic is better asked as what have the Asurans learned about Eternal Alchemy, apparently quite a bit
I know Tyria 250 years ago and (250 years changes a magic). Tyrians possessed much more magic than they do today. Consider the nuance of spells and dual professions, they didn’t even need a weapon to wield magic. Consider how not having an auto-attack changes the nature of magitech.
how does a farmer use bash and smash, the skills of a hoe, to farm?
(i try and i get bashed and smashed not mash)
This is where technical response to the topic ends and the original prose becomes philosophical
is the bash and smash within me? Somehow after brilliant story telling, (i was offered a choice of boots as Ceera wept). The effects of Pixeltech, the lore of servers and rewards, changed that moment
perhaps bold to offer but consider offering:
Nothing (A chance to make a hero’s life worth millions is a treasure)
The chain from which the locket hangs
Whizlets, small flash-bangs of Tonn’s design
anyway I digress
is it in the stuff since (i have no way to use my hands)

More violets, less violence! If the rest of the races could just still for a minute the Sylvari could finish taking control of their dreams.

Tyrian isn’t real
just wants to be be

questions i want to answer
what is magic
(250 years changes a magic)
how does a farmer use bash and smash
(i try and i
get bashed and smashed not mash)
is the bash and smash within me
(i was offered a choice of boots as Ceera wept)
is it in the stuff
(i have no way to use my hands)

forrae.6708:

thought it meant a real life wizard hat.
that would have been a million times better.

didn’t want a real wizard hat then
would settle for a hat in a pack later

hello
I am a Tyrian
I was kung-kittenkicked about the place
often and by many

phototed.6192:

Igneel.2618:

I want to tell about the Risen. They’re ‘zombies’ yes, but not that type of undead we see on Resident Evil, for example. They are not mindless or stupid like that, like they think only ‘Braaaain XQ_’ all the time. During the Story you will encounter Risen very intelligent and tryckery, they even can talk. So.. yep, they are a powerful race of undead under Zhaitan control, note some moron-zombie XD

Still a really boring and overly powerful enemy to fight.

I can understand the zombie type very well
they are a very dangerous group
but they are just no fun
the fights become work a marathon
perhaps the npcs need to be busier
or willing to accept different buffs offered by us

gate kept by space time again
save the kittens

cdunning.6815:

Dead, you bring up a good point. while it’s worth it to some (like myself), it’s not for you, and that’s ok. I wish there was a way to identify this difference before entering an instance as to avoid conflict.

we could call this the paradox of group inspecting
how much can we ask:
armor, build, speed clear, widget, voice, experience, class

before we lose the benefits of asking
we develop the language on our own already
do we need a way to translate to each better?
certainly yes, author
I read your story as I am here and I am a hero hero kill the monies bags
would that be
45 % fist
35 % crown
20% heart
.14% for spice

O : pool of potential becalmed
G: old in the pool
G: rrrr spent my jumping as norn but such is lack of choice matters krinkled
C: ould try another till
R: eading is metafunphysica

Of course I’m human!

I agree with the general tone of this thread. The story of Asuran Gate travel is confusing and that confusion is being translated as angst and las du monde.

How I comprehend the story so far:
Resources must be spent to transmit players from one gate to another.
The resources required increase as distance between gates increases.
The resources required increase as the levelmass of players increases.

This is the story of real world travel, especially if you consider your local postal service as being a travel agent. Since we are mirroring a real world story, can we look to real world solutions?

Local Public Transport and daily, weekly, monthly travel passes

Sounds like we are looking for a way to negotiate with Asurans. Yes we are that brave or bored. Each of us has a different Asuran Gate Travel story but we only can interact with the AGT story the same way every other player does…“exact change please”

Would this adaption to the story work?

Daily, Weekly, Monthly travel passes that would entitle the holder to unlimited gate travel for the duration of the pass. These passes could also be giftable. A story-line explaining how Asuran gates worked would be fun, teach about Asuran culture, and could even be used to introduce the passes.

peer review please

Dynamic Emote Event Scaling

player1 /dance
collapse local dance wave
player2 /dance *
check for local dance wave collapsings
gate sync probability
return of localized yes
attempt localized dance wave collapse phenomama
offer dance text
promote wave variant
player 3 /roar
offer dance roar text
promote wave variant
attempt localized dance wave roar wave collapse phenomamasofat

backslash parse
our language base
hype us to us

the following is not part of the poem

metafunphysics
we heart, fist, crown us
often returned

masquerade balled
mistletoe for kissing
gift box for travel help
snowball for yeah what, meet me here

be kind rewind
and tell the story backwards

Max Lexandre.6279:

Idea for The Orders, make quests! I mean order should have sense after endgame, give us quests like the old MMO style, events are 1 thing that happens in a limited area in a limited space of time. Quests for do things arround Tyria would make players at endgame go explore the PVE maps again, and the DEVs can manage alot of things to do in thoose quests.

Also Story Should be extended in this monthly events, there should be a small storyline for we still write our legend even after we defeated zhaitan!

That way I guess it will fill some of the what’s missing at endgame.

Tyria faces constant war. Thousands, millions have been displaced by the dragon’s corruption. Are they starving? Do they need clothes and shelter? Where are the orphans, who is tasked with helping them? There are so many ways to be a Tyrian hero, yet all we can do is separate heads from shoulders.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I’d start brainstorming ideas but there’s two catches:

1 – I’d rather save the effort for my D&D campaign.
2 – ArenaNet cannot use anything we post here.

1. D&D has a lot to offer, and having a place to pour your creativity into is a creators mission

2 . Could you be more specific? The IPR math of derivative art is a bit boogled, but does the boogled sign actually read ‘boogled to death’? I would hate to know that being a creative fan force is wasted boogle.

When illuminated by the light of IPR the acronym of ‘OP’ becomes boogle-shimmered.

OP, I like the ideas, even more the intent to write OUR story.

Account.9832:

Gurpsmeister.9068:

The price is exactly the same as it was when the game launched. Ten US dollars for 800.

This.

I get the feeling that some people think that paying $60 for a game somehow entitles them to infinite updates and access to 100% of all extra content, forever, for free.

Surely you knew what you were buying when you bought the game, right? There were plenty of reviews saying how many character slots it included, how big the base inventory was, and so on. If you play enough to justify more, then surely spending $10 or $15 a month (which adds up to 30-50 cents a day) is a pretty good deal, as far as forms of entertainment are concerned.

A different issue is the pricing of some of the items. For example, I find that 250 gems (a little over $3) for a haircut is extremely high, and have no intention of ever buying one of those “kits” (how boring is that, by the way? Instead of a barber at each city, maybe with its own original hairstyles, etc., we waited 4 months and got a piece of recycled UI – so much for “putting the RPG in MMORPG”).

I think Arena Net has failed to grasp the concept of micro transactions, or to blend the gem economy properly into the game. The lack of (gem-based) vendors in cities is really hard to understand. It’s as if they didn’t know what their financial model was going to be while the game was being developed (and haven’t even managed to throw in some in the 4 months since launch).

If there were actual barbershops / salons at the major cities, where the NPC charged (for example) 15 gems for a haircut, 15 for colouring and 15 for a change to the beard / horns / accessories, people would be using it on an almost daily basis, trying out new looks to match their new armour, etc..

As it is, most people I know say they’ll just wait until they’re fed up with the way their character looks (if they ever do), and then get a single “full makeover kit” (only about $1 more) and keep that look for the following year or so.

But hey, the “gem economy” was born crooked in the first place (Mike O’Brien said before launch that players would be able to trade gems and gold directly with each other, but then Arena Net decided to become “the official gold seller” instead), so my hopes aren’t very high that they’ll suddenly figure it out. Should have spent more time studying Steam and the Mann Co. Store.

I bought all my gem shop items and slots with real money ($250 or so, including the game itself). Not going to spend another cent, though; the direction taken by the Lost Shores patch felt like a betrayal and makes me think that GW2 lacks a strong designer at the helm. Maybe the game’s original vision came from the guys who left to form Undead Labs, or maybe there was some internal reshuffling after launch that led to the current schizophrenic design. Either way, it’s going to take at least three months “on the right track” (hopefully starting with the Wintersday patch, and necessarily including the ability for players to trade gems directly with each other) to make me reach for the credit card again.

If I may…
Though a lack of strong designer navigator may be the forest, I think the trees are too little/indistinct lore.
Even though everyone posting here is debating supposed economics using mathing, we are really debating what economic lore tells the most accurate story. Since the story is about our wallets, we tend to make OUR wallets the star of the story. But what is the Tyrian lore? What is gem lore? What is BLTP lore? I think if we had the big story, we could braid all of our wallet stories together with it.

I keep seeing these 2 positions:

Goldsinks suck

Nothing in the gem store

The following question is a balloon requiring the hot-air of a vocal minority for lift.

Would you spend Tyrian gold on this gem shop item?

Name of Item:
“I am great at making gold, have plenty to spend, and I like Tyria”

Description:
scalable emote based on the PvP rank emotes from GW1 (aka Specto Petronus)
designed specifically as a Tyrian gold sink, the more gold you sink into it the more emote you get
the global community cost of way points goes down as Economic Heroes progress their emote

I came up with a Charr insult to a human

“You are child of the one that got away”

they used to eat humans!

I learned about Lyssa as a godpeople
coda critique fails in
i don’t know you
but type facing is not
echoing the portrait

I want to turn the page and learn more nicely done

TooBz.3065:

I think the developers are walking a fine line (and going it rather well). On the one hand, the company needs revenue to pay for servers / bandwidth, etc. On the other hand, their people who play the game the most likely do not have a lot of disposable income (people still in school).

By making everything obtainable in game (but not easily) the developers provide a way for people with lots of time and less cash to fully participate (farming). However, by providing the gem store, they enable individuals with more cash and less time to participate (buying gems).

Further, the system is designed to be more or less self regulating. That is, the if more people obtain items through farming (using the servers with out paying for their upkeep), the gem to gold exchange rate encourages people with less time to purchase gems to “keep up” (resulting in income that can be used to maintain the servers).

Personally, I like this system much more than having sponsored drops like the “7-Up Sword of Refreshing”

Quick Digression:

Galen Grey.4709:

sonicsix.5713:

I just got an email today… offering me free play time to come back to WoW. It’s patching right now. I was so excited about GW2, but the latest updates ruined it for me.

which part exactly? the inclusion of a completely optional new gear tier you can ignore and just still play all of the game?

And you’re going back to WoW because it doesnt have that?

I am confused!

For now you can ignore the new tier. However, I don’t think you can ignore it indefinitely. Remember leveling up and having a weapon that was 5 levels too low? The game became much easier when you obtained a properly leveled weapon .

I think once ascended weapons and gear comes out it will be the same.

The progression goes like this. People complain that there’s nothing to do -> new gear tier is added -> some people get the gear -> those people complain the game is too easy -> new content is added or difficulty is raised. At which point you can’t ignore the gear anymore.

tl;dr: paying for the servers to run the game without a subscription is difficult.

You describe very well this fact:

no matter what mechanics/physics/hooptydoopty mathing we apply
what matters are the people building the game
the builders have no choice but to be a spider
charlotte was a nice spider

forgive me but I am posting without reading every post, I stopped after page 1
based on page 1 GregT gets my vote

we can argue forever about what we and this forum can’t do
wish we could peer review about what we and this forum can do
fan content is the lore pearl for the fan forum story

Silentstorm.7531:

Rin.1046:

Here are the things that I enjoyed reading about the most:

- The gating caused by FotM was not intentional and they will be looking at ways to ressolve this.
– Grinding overall will be looked at and efforts will be made to reduce, if not eliminate it. Anet wants you to have fun while attaining your gear, whatever part of the game you enjoy playing, and will be finding ways to achieve this. They made a few mistakes in the November content patch, but they are working on fixing this.
– Ascended gear will be the last tier they add for the foreseeable future.
– Ascended gear, and I assume infusions as well, will be attainable from many areas of the game, not just FotM.
– Ascended and Legendary gear will have the same stats.
– Vertical progression will mainly be in the form of higher grade infusions (If I understood this correctly, someone may want to clarify this).
– Stat increases on armour and weapons will most likely only occur when the level cap is raised, which is to be expected IMO.

All of these things have made me a happy Tyrian.

Thing is we all knew that already. But I guess they had to say it again for the drama mommas.

As a Tyrian myself, I enjoyed watching the discussion that you very succinctly paraphrased. However, I watch with the expectations inherent of being ‘Just Friends’.

Arenanet did not accidentally offer us a manifesto. Tyrians did not accidentally test their reading comprehension skills when using the manifesto as justification to support Arenanet. A Tyrian’s bewildered “Wait, what?” is not the call of the crying momma. It is the rational call of anyone who recognized the manifesto for what it declared: “We are Arenanet, trust us and hold us accountable”

Mr. Whiteside, Mr O’Brien, thank you for talking to us as Tyrians. Clear answers are very valuable and mia culpas very expensive. The former can payoff the latter, coming and going (couldn’t anything be described using the metaphor of economics?).

If you are serious about evolving how Tyrians discuss Tyria, we will need to discuss theses questions:

What does it mean to be Tyrian?
Do Tyrians deserve a new manifesto?
Do Tyrians deserve a constitution, expecting and accepting the fullness of the metaphor?

This is not a game. This is an online world we entrust with our children.

i make no claim as to my ability to deliver this story ;p

I have a story to tell

a singular sandcastle builder, all the sandcastle builders, the castles, a desperate ocean and the stuff

it has a happy ending reached after heroics

i am a fresh from the box storyteller
returns to the following valuations would do me so much good

I = is this the right place?
am = would you hear the story
Tyrian = dancinlikeamofrobro
ifnotforthesquigglesmorestars

Astraea.6075:

Asilion.9213:

I’m no economics major but I’ve been acknowledged for grasping the fundamentals in academics.

Curious as to what the exchange rate for Gems > Gold was at launch? Was it more abysmal than 58 silver (current rate?) If so I can’t imagine, say (2.7x is current inflation of Gold > Gems since I last bought them) paying $10 for 800 Gems = 1g 72s back when Gems were 29s per 100. That is, if people are using Gold to buy Gems more than using Gems to buy Gold causing the cost to rise, then by the dev’s claim the opposing exchange would improve by a similar (if not symmetrical) rate.

If Gems cost 2.7x more now, you should be getting 2.7x more Gold per 100 Gems exchanged, and if you’re not, then there is indeed inflation which will cause both exchange rates to become unreasonable and economically unsound in the future.

Looking at http://www.gw2spidy.com/gem and taking the earliest available data point and comparing agains the most recent data point, I get the following:

Buying gems: initial rate – 28s09c; current rate – 88s70c; change = 315.77%
Selling gems: initial rate – 20s33c; current rate – 64s08c; change = 315.20%

So both rates are changing at very similar rates and the difference could possibly be explained by the fact that exchange has to round to the nearest copper.

Thank you, very well understood and presented and a difficult story to tell