Guild Wars 2

Simzani.4318:

It’s true that MMO’s launch unfinished and have to finish the game live. Even with that, much smaller teams catch up and push new contents at same time, and do it better, faster and less buggy than gw2. Arenanet is a shame in the amount of development done since launch. The only other exemple I have that made so few content and work is warhammer online. They are a big team, so they have huge problems in their way of work.

I take it your referring to the problem where throwing people at a software project only makes it a more time consuming to produce. Something that is referred to in this book “The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering.” I feel that there is either a gross negligence in management (via communication with so many different teams) for how many people they have (close to 400 people now) at A-net, or the engine itself is terrible to work with.

A couple of things I keep in mind from time to time. One is Arena Net was founded by Jeff Strain, Patrick Wyatt, and Mike O’Brien. However as Guild Wars 2 was in development both Patrick and Jeff left the company. They both now work on the same projects (State of Decay: eventually turn it into an MMO zombie project) at Undead Labs The company also has other former Arena Net staff members as well. For instance James Phinney who used to be Arena Net’s Design Director. I believe it was Chris Whiteside who took over that position who is actually ironically enough is leading the CDI projects.

Two the engine itself is still a heavily modified version of the GW1 engine. However if the problem is truly the engine itself, then why can Josh Foreman get a project like SAB done almost by himself within a few months? Hence why he has been called away to so many different projects now (Triple Trouble and cleaning up Dry Top’s pre-launch design issues). I surprised they have not given him a higher position. Yet how long did it take to get the LFG tool into the game, or even the Trading Post to get completely refurbished?

Arena Net constantly tells us there are problems with the engine, but they get very cryptic about each one before they divulge into any real details. How many different alternative PvP modes received the boot because of design problems and why? Arena Net’s generic answer: “quite a few.” No reasoning beyond that? Arena Net: “they just did not work for our vision of PvP.” You know if communication is this bad for us, then how bad do you think it is internally?

MatthewMedina.5419:

I want to clarify one point I’ve been seeing expressed. This is one type of retention. There’s another type of retention where new players try the game and churn out before they even get to the point where they’re seeing the potential the game has to offer. Yes, a certain amount of people will just do that; they’ll log in to see what it’s about, have their curiosity satisfied, and move on. But we were seeing a lot of places where people who would otherwise have become active users were churning out prematurely because of the issues that we’re addressing with the NPE.

As Colin stated above, we can’t talk in detail about the ongoing development to drive retention for our veteran players, but I just wanted to make the point that the NPE was deliberately designed to address the early game retention issues, and ensure that Guild Wars 2 can benefit from a strong and steady influx of new players into the game.

Oh Mathew, if you thought people were turned off by the leveling system that got universal praise from critics and fans alike. I beg to differ. Remember when Colin talked about how dynamic combat would be where you would not rely on auto attacks most of the time (swing a sword again and again). That still happens. Or when dynamic event were suppose to ever changing. Guess how fast those chain quest regurgitate after you just completed them? Or if all progress would stops because they are still buggy.

How about all the enemies who were built to be HP sponges that pose no threat. Or better yet the hard content that was upped by artificial tacky difficulty content (health sponge and timer related). Furthermore quite of few of these events and hearts provided crud for rewards. Keep everything to a universal boring method, and never spicing it up with different dynamic rewards. You know like certain unique material/skin rewards are guaranteed (not RNG) rewarded to those who complete certain events.

The AI constantly fight against itself to understand it’s own environment (instead of taking advantage of it). Let’s not forget about all those collisions environment issues that instead of fixing you made it harder to range the target. However you can still attack certain said targets by standing on a 5 foot boulder with certain weapons, but they can’t attack you. Also how about that stubborn policy Arena Net has about the Ranger pet about not being able to be stowed permeability (with all of these AI problems). At least give them that until the rest of this mess is cleared up.

The lack diversity in game modes for PvP and that of the different location for WvW (not the same borderland copy & pasted two more times over). As of a matter of fact some those players left because it took you so long to fix things like the trading post or even getting out the looking for group tool. Since they should have been done a few months after the release. Or better yet not to release the game until it was done; which even include that Zhaitan fight. Which was stated by CJ was rushed for the release of the game. Guess how many new people simply skipped through to the end with YouTube, just to see that anticlimactic fight that has been forever immortalize on the internet now. It does not help that I can say, “it’s still like that two years latter.”

I could go on about the real problems, but I would digress for a long time. The leveling system honestly was not one of them. It feels like all that was done to give the excuse there was a problem with the leveling system, because how well the game was received in China (compared to other countries). So it was just copy and pasted to us. Instead of any major tweaking whatsoever. Also Colin please stop saying “we release or talk about thing when we believe they are (close to being) ready.” Since this was clearly one of many updates that clearly was not ready to be released. It’s half finished and buggy. Which is something you even state yourself about this refurbished leveling system. It just makes you look like a hypocrite.

Mike’s video’s have always been pretty insightful even with his banter and sarcasm. Honestly ever since he dropped off doing jumping videos with Wooden Potatoes, he has been my like mind in what I think of the game now. I still can’t believe he’s lasted this long going through all of this junk Arena Net has spit out for the last two years. I guess playing Dark Souls has allowed him to do this well enough.

My take on the leveling system (along with the trait unlock system) is I will not make another character. Unless we get another class or race. Which is great reasoning because even though Arena Net say they will, we all know they won’t for the foreseeable future. I love how they took something that was so critically acclaimed for it’s leveling system then flipped it on it’s side. All because players were completing stuff way too fast. I guess this was a system truly 2 years in the making. Especially if you go all the way back to ascended items being introduced to the game. Where even ascended crafting would supposedly have you explore more of those dead zones for their crafting materials.

The more I see these refurbished system go into place, the more I fear what is coming for future reward systems. Where they completely change Legendary crafting where you have to buy gem store items to complete them. Just because they want you to use every part of the game. Also thank goodness the backlash for the ViP system they did for China was the one thing that was left out of this copy and paste trash.

I agree with Konig on this issue. Why take something out that has already been established and not explain why (in depth) it was taken out. If it was mechanical gameplay issues that caused the story to drag there, then why not just take everything out even the Zhaitan fight. Zhaitan’s final battle is probably the one thing that stands out more of being incomplete then anything else in the story. It is the testament to Arena Net’s principle design that has not been refurbished in the last two years. Rush everything out the door and never check for problems. If it become too much of an issue remove it latter, but don’t tell anyone why (or give cryptic explanations).

I actually have been wondering what they are going to do for those events. Are they going to continue the living story Season 2, all the while a new Halloween chapter appears along with Wintersday? Also where are they going to take place? Will it still be in LA or another city? Considering LA’s current state I doubt they can just switch back to the old version for these events. The other question is Reaper’s Rumble coming back this Halloween?

Stephane Lo Presti.7258:

Hi Maxwell,

The big issue for us to add Season 1 to the Story Journal is that Season 1 was not built the same way that Season 2 was. I can’t really share details but this means that we can’t simply retrofit the story steps into the Story Journal and we’re going to need to rework Season 1 into a format that fits the Story Journal. As we’ve said, we really want all players to be able to experience as much of the Living World as possible at one point, but I don’t have more details to give you, including a possible timeline.

Thanks for sharing your perspective!

Are you guys going to come out with a directors cut version that will solve all the continuity and pacing issues in season 1? Or will that probably be after you guys finish your other long term special projects?

Yeah, the sarcasm is heavy here. Honestly if they gave mini’s the small change of staying out even with death or map change, then why not add a randomize check-box for finishers?

Hey Ms. Crytin Cox, I think it’s time you talk to us about your method in pricing for items like this in the store. Instead of community management, marketing, or any other team besides the monetization team explain this type of price point to us. Help us understand your madness, besides the motto “there’s a sucker born every minute .”

Think of the feature pack as they are trying to fix things that should have been fixed before the game was released. So that way by feature pack 28 and the Zhaitan fight finally being fix, we will be officially out of beta.

wwwes.1398:

Sindex.9520:

Please don’t do that. Don’t create a hype, if there is none. It’s bad enough that we have had a fair share of disappointments with certain developers own dubious hype. Like the Final Rest mysterious drop location, or what we got in the Thaumanova Reactor fractal.

I think he was just being silly. He was asked whether there are hidden recipes that haven’t been found, and he said, yes, which of course there would be. There has never been a better spot I can think of in any game to hide easter eggs.

Either that or precursor forging has existed for the last year and we just aren’t smart enough to have unlocked it. That’s why they won’t tell us, they’re disappointed in us. :-(

I hope that’s the case, but you know people are going to take john’s words a bit more literal. When they get there and they find something verily minuscule it will create a backlash like always.

John Smith.4610:

Wanze.8410:

John Smith.4610:

Wanze.8410:

Are there still Mystic Forge Recipes/items that havent been discovered yet that are not recipe sheets for food feasts/pots/trays or recipe sheets for satchels/boxes of armor?

Does Zommoros still have some secrets up his djinny sleeve?

Yes.

Is it Mounts?

It’s the Christmas present you always wanted, but never received.

Please don’t do that. Don’t create a hype, if there is none. It’s bad enough that we have had a fair share of disappointments with certain developers own dubious hype. Like the Final Rest mysterious drop location, or what we got in the Thaumanova Reactor fractal.

laokoko.7403:

So you’re saying Anet do what best for their game company like they are suppose to…

…with rose tinted glasses? Yes, they are.

I wonder if Mordremoth is going to use the Ley Line’s magic as a catalyst to not only grow more powerful, but create an unstable chain reaction that will wreck Tyria’s foundation. Leveling the playing field and getting rid of any opposition in one single stroke. I also have a feeling we are going to learn more about the past ancient confrontation with the Elder Dragons.

If this is the mid season break coming up and it’s correct they are coming back sometime in the fall, then it probably means we have 4 episodes left. Considering we still have Halloween and Wintersday which both last about a month themselves. That is not even including a feature patch if we do get one. However maybe it will give them ample time to plan out season 3 for next year. I still have to see how season 2 ends to really judge the content we get compared to season 1.

EDIT: On a side note someone needs to ask at gamescom if Reaper’s Rumble is coming back this Halloween. Also why it never returned last year.

Actually, I would prefer if they dropped the whole 2 week rush charade schedule thing altogether for one large patch once or twice a year. While we have other filler (non crucial plot driven) content like the normal festivals or other side actives. Even as small as getting something old from GW1 back into GW2. Remember the bottle of grogg on talk like a pirate day? Those small events were fine on their own, while most of big epic stuff would be left for year to pass. We all don’t have a short attention span; we have other things to do while we wait. Quality over quantity will make the content less forgettable.

Well you have to remember Arena Nets writing technique “out with old in with the new even if it’s terribly executed.” Hence why I asked about Kiel, because it would be predictable for Magnus to tell her to go due to that hindsight.

Yeah, this entire episode was rushed filler compared to the level of quality on the last two episodes. It still feels like the Pale Tree is keeping so much information away from us; especially when she did her checking of what we knew compared to herself. I really don’t like that idea at this point because it’s like someone else pointed out: it feels like someone has the idiot ball here. Either the Pale Tree is acting ignorant on purpose about her knowledge of Mordremoth or it’s really poor writing. I am hoping the next episode she does reveal some more information on Mordremoth before things get worse. Otherwise there is going to be more angst against the Sylvari. For keeping vital information away from the people that need it.

The other portions of us getting the leaders together is in the writers eye’s an excuse based on that it technically never happened during the PS. The leaders of the 5 major races of Tyria don’t seem to back the Pact, because of their own personal issues. If they do then it must be in a verily arbitrary way.

Now thinking for a moment on Trahearne mail. I still have this feeling that Trahearne is going to introduce a new character that will replace him for every dragon we fight. Basically there is other experts on each of the Elder Dragons that have been brought onto the pact themselves. As a matter of fact I believe we probably might be meet “E” in the next episode. Of course that’s my speculation on what might happen next. Also if “E” turns out to be another Sylvari then I beg of the writers not to screw up “E” with another bad personalty defect. It’s not cute or unique it’s just obnoxious.

On one final note I know that Captain Kiel is extremely busy, but should someone from the Captain Council be invited to this little shindig just for the sake of some representation?

Short answer probably not. Unless they eventually get their own zone. The Toxic Alliance just as the Aetherblade pirates and the Molten Alliance are still in existence, because of things working behind the scenes apparently.

Angel.4918:

I believe Matthew was alluding to the fact that we didn’t detail out any specific leaders, other than the characters you met in the weapons factory.

So, I will say this. We have been going on the premise that the groups working with Scarlet are not the main population, but splinter groups. It’s not “The Nightmare Court” who has allied with the krait, but a sub-group of them. Faolain, for example, is not allied with either the krait or Scarlet. We have not publicly detailed out who each of these groups is or who their leaders are because we didn’t think that was something the average citizen of Tyria would know. If you’re really dying to know the answer, I can look it up in the next couple days and post something about it. But, they won’t be characters you’ve met before.

First of all of this indicated there are still leaders of each of these major alliances we have yet to meet. Even after Scarlet death they may be still around with their own working agendas.

Angel McCoy.1832:

4. Why do her alliances…continue working with her?

Each has its own reason.

Krait: They’ve been warped by Scarlet and the Nightmare Court. By the end, the scenario had changed. Scarlet proved she could bring back a prophet to their satisfaction (whether it was actually a prophet or not, no one really knows, but the toxic krait believe it was). And they can’t exactly go join other normal krait. How do you think regular xenophobic krait would feel about these toxic ones?

Dredge: They want power and magic. This group of dredge see an opportunity to add magic to their repertoire. Given their history, this would be a huge feather in their caps. Besides, how often do you get the opportunity to atomize a city like Lion’s Arch? Now that’s fun!

Flame Legion: They want technology and power. This group of FL is taking a huge risk. If they can go home with awesome swag, then they’ll be welcomed, but if they can’t, then they’re likely to be killed the moment they arrive. A large body count (especially the charr and human ones) along with whatever weapons technology they manage to acquire is an inspiring reward for them. And, they get to say they helped bring down Lion’s Arch. They hope to be lauded as heroes when they return to the FL.

You will, of course, have noticed that the three alliances don’t work in very close proximity to one another. There’s a reason for this.

You’ll also have noticed that Scarlet was extremely elusive in the tower of nightmares. Can you imagine why?

I’m quoiting this vital information about the alliances because it’s found outside of the game. You need a good amount of guesswork to figure out this stuff out. Ambiguous indeed. However some of this information about why they still continue work with Scarlet, seems to also imply that this is how it would work without Scarlet being around. These splinter factions simply can’t go back now to what they did before signing up with Scarlet.

Believe me I am not happy with this either, but whatever let them to create more throw away lore. Or in their words, “malleable explanations of what might have happened.” Because you know we will never meet these leaders. Since loose ends and having overly ambiguous plot lines seems to mean your an artistic prodigy within Arena Net own hallowed halls.

Both those characters including Belinda did not get enough time for me to get too attached to them. I feel more emphatic towards Marjory Delaqua loss (like someone else pointed out). Honestly the memorable deaths so far in GW2 have been Agent Tybalt Leftpaw, Magister Sieran, Warmaster Forgal Kernsson, Agent Zott, and Lionguard Apatia. Everything else seems to be a bit too rushed when getting to their deaths which makes it feel more impersonal. Though the symbolism with strangulation due to Mordremoth vines is a very dark conveyance of the dragons true nature. Probably even more powerful then Zhaitan “bring out your dead” methodology.

RoyHarmon.5398:

Maybe this question will be addressed in this week’s “Points of Interest.”

Oh goody then we get this information outside of the game, which means according to Bobby Stein:

BobbyStein.2315:

Unless we’ve built content around something, it’s usually considered malleable from a design and lore standpoint. Occasionally we decide to go in a different direction months or years after the first ideas are documented or even talked about externally. In some cases that means what one member of staff says in an interview can change when it comes time to building a release. It’s part of our iterative process.
In short, go by what’s in the game.

So unless it’s implemented in game the explanation would not stand according to it’s own writer, because it can be easily changed latter on.

In game there was only one previous mention of the mysterious sixth elder dragons name. Which was in CoE, but it was indirectly through a combat chat log (Teeth of Mordremoth). Everything else about Mordremoth has been strictly been ambiguous until recently. So unless our characters have picked up on mutant known as Deadpool specific power to break the 4th wall, then there is literally no explanation of how our character got that name. In all honesty the majority of the narrative for season 2 is going pretty well compared to season 1. As a matter of fact some of this crucial information about Scarlet should have been there at the very beginning. However I want to know how this slipped up. Since apparently the writers, game director, QA team, testers, and 300 plus employs did not pick up on this mistake? Really? If this could have happened in the middle or in the end it would have been a little bit more forgivable. Yet at the very beginning of episode 2 this happens?

No light bulb went off indicating a massive plot hole. This could have been easily fixed by the end of last episode. You know how? The Scarlet hologram could have mentioned the name of Mordremoth or even a secret book you found afterward. Or have us go to the Priory to seek some ancient knowledge that eventually lead to uncovering the name via Steward Gixx and Ogden Stonehealer. I mean they literally keep books on everything as the late Magister Sieran has exclaimed through the personal story. Or even have us go to CoE and do some sleuthing. Maybe even end up interrogating an inquest member to find out the name of Mordremoth.

The writers have talked about how ambiguity is a good thing, and let you interpret things as you will by leaving massive chunks of the story out of the game. Nevertheless this is the most blatant plot hole out of all the other plot holes that have been left untouched since Guild Wars 1.

Erukk.1408:

Scarlet was born with those abilities and the thirst for knowledge. Ever since she came out of her pod, her mind had a greater understanding and fascination with the interconnectedness of all things. It was why she was so good with engineering. She saw, or at least tried to see, the whole picture when it came to something and not just the individual parts.

Maybe using the term of knowledge was a bad choice words. It could be the desires of one person, which are then twisted and enhanced to Mordremoth needs. Scarlet wanted to achieve the ultimate technological breakthrough, and Aerin desired to understand the Zephyrites power. Both by any means necessary; once they were under Mordremoth influence.

However if Mordremoth can increase their intelligence tenfold like Scarlet or maybe…..

Does anyone remember Sylar from that TV show Heroes (a old NBC show about super genetic humans)? What if Mordremoth gives then the power of intuitive aptitude, but it creates them to go bonkers at the same time? All the while he keeps an open link with his victims just like the corrupted minions of the other Elder Dragons. Yet these victims would have small residue of free will, so they can seem normal from time to time. So like Mordremoth instead of a magical consumption need, he bestows upon his victims the need to consume knowledge. If they don’t get what they want it drives them to the point of homicidal tendencies.

Well it looks like with season 2 some of this question might be getting answered faster then I thought they would. Also I found it interesting that the dragons might once again be connected to something bigger. Hope is a slightly different twist then the Abaddon connection plot that happens throughout the first 3 campaigns of Guild Wars.

I am wondering now if Mordremoth can easily psychologically influence the Soundless? That would make for a dangerous situation for the whole of the Sylvari race if that is true. However it does make me ponder why does Mordremoth simply target the Nightmare Court instead?

Stooperdale.3560:

That’s all meant to be in the personal story chapters. You are certainly shown that the minor races will be corrupted or driven out if nobody can kill an elder dragon that’s far away behind a veritable horde of minions. The stories are shown in the open world events too, with the Kodan for example, and I don’t think it needs you to look for it to see it.

Yes, I understand that. However I think there need to be more escalation triggered by Zhaitan demise. Things still continue to get worse before they get better. What I mean is the living story continues to flesh out what we already know, and continues to evolve the common problems. For instance we see new Primordus destroyer minions in Orr scavenging for left overs. Or they straight out attack some of the major cites beyond just Lion’s Arch. Imagine the Nightmare Tower and then replace it with a Destroyer hive you have to take down. Which afterward creates a new dragon champion event. That finally leads us with a hole to explore the depths of Tyria. As one dragon falls the others start improving themselves over the power (magic) vacuum that’s left over.

I kind of want to get this out of the way before Season 2 kicks off for next week. Elder Dragons, we have a good general understanding of their beings. However as we now continue down the path of possibly slaying each and everyone of them, there need to be more details about them as time goes on. The living story could possibly be the best vehicle to deliver this, if it continues to change the world the way it does. All the while making us understand why letting them live on a daily basis decreases our chances of successfully eliminating them for good. The threat should be ever evolving as time lingers on. It’s not about: “we kill one and the other fall like dominoes.” As Trahearne would lead us to believe. Never underestimate your opponent otherwise they will get the better of you.

For season 2 I am greatly looking forward to seeing Mordemoth rise. It provides a few things we never got to see first hand in game, because all of the other known Elder Dragons have previously risen. The mystery of Mordemoth power, corruption, and it’s minions will play a massive role in season 2. Nevertheless what are other thing we can learn from Mordemoth awakening or even from Zhaitan demise.

Perhaps there is something that eventually connects all of the Elder Dragons together beyond just their inherent abilities we see on a common basis. What about their corruption itself? Does it mutate and find a new host to start the process all over again? How did the Elder Dragons evolve into the beings they are today? Were they simple dragons of nature and after feeding/using too much power they became the corrupted entity’s that currently occupy Tyria? Or could they be an experiment gone wrong by one of the ancient precursor races from Tyria, to control (or bottleneck) certain natural magics? When one Elder Dragon dies do the other dragons grow in their power? Perhaps they can even learn from the other fallen dragons mistakes. Building immunity to the tactics and weapons used to bring down the previous dragon. Are there more elder dragons in Tyria beyond the ones we know about. Is Zhaitan the only Elder Dragons to be slain for as long as they have existed?

As time passes I hope small plot chunks start to answer some of these question. It would definitely create a more engrossing story for the players. Then simply mix and matching enemies color palettes.

On a that last (or kind of a side) note I was reading this article about “five plot devices that hurt you writing. .” Interesting read; I have to say. Hopefully the next few living story seasons will try to consciously avoid these, when trying to delivering crucial plot details to the players.

Tanith.5264:

I’m deeply suspicious of Aerin. He keeps babbling about wanting to “help”. But not sure how the community will react to yet another Sylvari villain, so in a way I hope there’s more to it than that.

Yeah, they honestly don’t need another sylvari main character thrown at us right now. Still getting over Scarlet’s reign of stereotypical 5 year old megalomania cartoon character traits. Hopefully they don’t write her back in as a vengeful sentient AI construct hologram that possess all of her memories. Also dreading the return of the ever lack of personality and the exposition king Trahearne. However there seems to be a certain biased for this race within the writing team. I don’t mind some of the ones that are already exist in game (besides Trahearne), and hopefully we get more character development time with them. Instead of creating another neurotic sylvari NPC. They really need to stop driving this race into the ground. Where it becomes embarrassing to even play as one.

I never did enjoy how both Trahearne’s or Scarlet were delivered to us. So much opportunity wasted with these two. One was suppose to be a well renowned scholar of orr turning into a reluctant war general against zhaitan’s corruption. The other was suppose to be a gifted intellectual prodigy gone insane with her need to satisfied her own curiosity at whatever the cost. Both of them seemed like they understood their core class motivation (necromancer & engineer). However after that they were all over the place and their character transitions and in your face character stereotypes. Trahearne was the unfeeling nerco that spent his time as the exposition king of the century. Scarlet was just a stereotypical megalomaniac with such wonderful lines such as “die, die, die ,die…” Why do I have a feeling that both these characters were made by the same person.

somsom.5201:

This seems like a VERY poor way to make money.

Why not put your effort into releasing an expansion, rather than hoping that people will spend 200 gems per “chapter” of a missed LS season? I mean, there can’t be that many people who will be willing to do that(not to mention just purchasing via gold).

This seems like an implementation we’ve seen before and ANet has backtracked time and time again on it. I’ve no doubt that they will again change their implementation to just give the LS unlocks regardless if you logged in or not(so save your gems/gold).

tl;dr: Focus on an expansion instead of hoping for people to shell out gems for (imo) substandard content.

PS: your TV show analogy doesn’t work, as I can set my DVR to record while I’m away(or watch whenever I want with HBOgo etc.).

It’s a compromise for those who wanted the permanent content and those who like the temporary stuff. Or should I say those who wanted interesting well rounded content. Next to those who enjoyed the half broken 2 week rushed content who are that unquestionably loyal, and don’t care about quality over quantity. Which exactly is the same reason why the Zhaitan fight is still a rushed half baked piece of garbage today. It’s the hallmark achievement for everyone who plays this game to see how Arena Net still takes care of their products even by today’s standards. The only difference between then and now it’s on a two week schedule rotation so hopefully you miss their mistakes, and get the tail end of it. Since we still have many people loyal enough to overlook those mistakes made by Arena Net. They buy Black Lion Key’s by the dozens on a daily basis, for their dire support for the abysmal RNG system over any real meaningful quality control.

I think they need to change the healing particle effect. It’s easy to miss where/when the healing turret is on her, because there is already 10+ mesemer with great swords attacking her. Probably change it to an orange glow with massive cross healing symbols coming out of it.

Yeah, almost forgot about the material sink option.

The best way is to get festival tokens from aspect arena then go back and pay the 20 silver to get them from the gauntlet merchant (5 tickets a piece). Unless you have a fantastic organized group/map for boss blitz (a dime a dozen) then that’s the best way you can get them so far. Otherwise everything else is pretty much bang your head away grind.

I think the major problem that rubbed me the wrong way with that instance, was Ellen Kiel drab line delivery. Ellen Kiel sounded like she reading off a script (it felt both forced and unnatural). Furthermore it actually sounded so bizarre that I actually thought they changed her voice actress.

rhodoc.2381:

You will make gazzilions of money from China release yet you dont hire enough people for it. That sounds wrong

I actually get what your saying. Your talking about the fact that if the China release will bring in a strong potential revenue stream. Why did they have to send some of the main development team from the States over to China to wrap it up? Taking away some the initial development power that could be spent on other things.

Well actually there were still some people at Arena Net that never went overseas (like Mathew explained in his post.). They continue developing there “special projects” GW2 along with season 2 stuff. Plus it’s usually the team leads who jump flight anyways; so their input on certain projects have already been set in motion prior to them leaving. So it does not really hinder their development cycle. I think Arena Net somewhere of 350+ people. Compared to when they first started which was well below a hundred.

Furthermore I think Arena Net (and NCsoft) does not want to have a repeat of past mistakes. A third party company called “The9” originally handled the Guild Wars 1 operation for China. Which inevitably fell through after some time. They eventually had to pull the plug on the China client for GW1. I believe after this happened we got the Panda pet for the Ranger within GW1. It originally was suppose to come with the Factions release. That happened because “China did not allow depictions of a dead dead member of an endanger species.” Kind of like the whole politically correct thing that had to with them ripping out the Cantha District from Divinity’s Reach (Podcast time from: 1:44:20 to: 1:47:10).

BobbyStein.2315:

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

On Reddit some guys who followed the chinese stream (where Ree was interviewed) posted that Ree Soesbee would be the new writer for the upcoming Living Story Season.

Can someone confirm this? This would be huge for me personally, I absolutely LOVE her work.

I hate to burst your bubble, but I think some overzealous fans misinterpreted the announcements from China. Ree did not work on the Festival of the Four Winds content. I can’t comment on what she’s been working on lately, or on any unannounced future releases.

It’s great to see so many fans of hers express support, though. I’m sure she’ll be excited to know you’re looking forward to whatever she’s involved with.

Wait a tick; you said the same thing 8 months ago that both Ree and Jeff were working on a separate project.

BobbyStein.2315:

I can’t comment on what Ree and Jeff are working on, but I can say that I’m ultimately responsible for the quality of the Living World story. I don’t imagine we’ll please everyone with our new direction, but that’s true of any story. That stated, I encourage people to leave their feedback. Just please be respectful.

That is either a long hiatus period, or something else that is pretty major.

Behellagh.1468:

Buttercup.5871:

I’m more concerned with the singling out of Anet employees in a thread I created. If there’s going to be more of that I would ask the moderators to please close my thread or purge it.

This comes from the Nexon controlling NCSOFT who told ArenaNet to hire the employee in question conspiracy theory.

Of course it’s all Tin Foil hat territory simply because someone wants something for free and it isn’t.

Actually that conspiracy theory I could care less about, because it was a rather “minute” stock exchange between those two companies. NCsoft has not merged with Nexon in any way shape or form. Hence why I never cited it. I mentioned Nexon and Disney Interactive because they both have been known for their questionable business practices in the past. Arena Net has not crossed a major threshold yet of constantly selling pure pay to win items. However small disreputable business practices tend to snowball if they continued to be ignored by the consumers. Especially as the company in question grows exponentially with new hire ins and looses some of it’s original employs. EA games believe it or not used to be a fantastic company until they lost their sense of direction and diluted their fair business practices.

As for talking about one person within a company for conducting unhinged business practices compared to objectifying the entire company. We have a few bad apples in the game industry that still mentioned every now and then by the news media. CEO Robert Kotick from Activation gets singled out all the time for not knowing his products and being ruthless business tyrant (see: controversies). Or how about a developer like Richard Garriott, known for his beloved MMO franchise Ultima Online. He worked on a little project called Tabula Rasa for NCsoft, and stated in an interview that “Guild Wars has a failed business model.” Though he denies ever making that comment; even if he latter stated “most video game designers suck!.” Back in 2009 he sued NCsoft over falsifying the reasons why he left the company. He did end up winning that case. Eventually Richard supposedly went into “talks” with EA, but of course one of their executives said that never happened. That’s why his newest game was done through a Kickstarter program. No conspiracy theories there.

Not to mention we talk about certain people within Arena Net all the time. A majority of them have been in the public spotlight before and still are. Or even talk to us here on the forums. So why would you think talking about an employ from A-net, that leads a specific team would be taboo? I can understand if it was on the grounds of personal threats or borderline sexual harassment. However why is it wrong to criticize someone business practices or design principles? In stark contrast to just constantly praising the company/person for everything they accomplish. That sounds more like biased censorship to me.

Anyways that is as far as I will go with that. Going any further will throw off the entire thread completely. Also going back to the topic at hand. It seems both facebook and reddit top comments on the subject seem to concur that taking these weapons skins off is a dreadful idea. Not to mention the feedback seems to echo in favor of them changing the black lion scarps/tickets system into something that is a bit more obtainable then it currently stands. It would probably drive better key sales.

Uruz Six.6594:

Rym.1469:

Seriously, where did GW1 story developers go ? I miss them!

… Who wants to tell him that they’re still here?

Not really all of them. A good chunk of the founders of Arena-Net have moved onto Undead Labs (State of Deacay (trying to evolve it into a MMO with Microsoft help)). Also as much as they promoted they have hired people, they have also gotten rid of a few familiar faces over time.

As far as these interviews go, I can tell there is a different story going on in the writers heads then what is actually being directed/implemented into the game. Perhaps it’s the games director screwing it up. However I am not overly optimistic for season 2. Either it be someone within the community hyping it up or Arena Net themselves; I lower my expectations accordingly, so I don’t completely give up on the game entirely. Like so many people prior.

I actually enjoyed a few of the releases that have not been heavily story driven and are more of a side plot. For instance both Super Adventure Box and Bazaar of the Four Winds (minus the political BS that happened) were very engrossing in their own ways. I am waiting for the inevitable Jar Jar Binks character archetype to show up soon then everyone will say A-net has officially jumped the shark. You think Trahearne or Scarlet was bad? Wait till next season when we bring you a Sylvari that can break dance and used derogatory terms; just like in certain Michael Bay movies you have become accustom to.

Lord Kuru.3685:

It’s interesting how people try to shift the blame to outside parties: “oh, they hired this one person from Nexon who’s doing XXX,” or: “it must be NCSoft who’s forcing them to do XXX.”

A person or individual is always shaped by their individual experiences, and it’s that experience which usually lands them that particular job. It’s been well known that for awhile the former employment history that Ms. Cox held. Furthermore she is the Monetization Lead at Arena Net, to which she makes conscious decisions how the gem store should be handled. She has not given a single new interview (that I am aware of) since the game has launch. Which of course was about making the dye system non-account bound originally just before launch. So what happened to have that change occur within this new system in the last feature patch? Probably because they make more money off those exclusive gem store RNG dyes then the actual dyes in game.

So these are some of the business decisions went passed her:
1. Rich Dragon Coffer that contained a stat alerting food recipe: Dragon’s Revelry Starcake.
2. The Infinite Coin for Super Adventure Box.
3. The human culture tier 3 Flamekissed armor which was latter turned into Feathered armor.
4. The Watchwork mining pick.

Some of these decisions including this recent one can and have been alleviated before. However they are never discussed by the one person who can easily put their foot down on these business proposition.

On a side note do you remember the trouble Eve Online got into with that leaked e-mail. It was basically about how the company does not listen to their player base negative feedback when it comes to their cash shop. Instead they watch the sales numbers first. While Arena Net has gone back and fixed a few of these mistakes. Nevertheless this recent decision to get rid of these weapons seems to be a conscious decision to create artificial scarcity for no reason at all. It’s certainly not what any of the GW2 players have asked for. These weapon skins will always exist in the games code. So why get rid of the one of the only ways to generate new skins? Only because they are not driving a huge profit with key sales. Once everyone has used all those skins currently out there, there will be no other way to get them. Unless they decide to reintroduce them again. Probably for 10 tickets and then proceed to call it a temporary sale.

I am not asking for Ms. Cox to stand down, but actually stand up. There are ways to make your customer base feel blissful and satisfied while increasing your profit margins. A person who did not feel jaded over their purchase is going to keep coming back to you. As well as tell other people that your company is fair and honest, with their microtransaction system compared to the competition. Arena Net already does a decent job at it but there is always room for improvement.

I’m curious if Crystin Cox former employment (disney & nexon) constantly has her walking this edge of the line, by creating artificial demand within video game. Instead of making the customers happy with guaranteed scraps in the BLC. Trying to test tube sales numbers like a bean accountant is not going to help either. It’s why some of routine customers are not biting into the RNG weapon skin pyramid scheme. Heck, if they guarantee the scraps I would not mind buying them; even if they removed the key farm from the personal story.

Dynamic events was originally going to be major feature of Guild Wars 2 that would revolutionize the whole MMO experience. So let’s talk about how the system holds up today. First of all I would recommend you watch this video from the GDC in 2010 on describing the dynamic event system, before the game was released. The video still holds up to what currently happens in the game today, since nothing has drastically changed in the last few years (the new LS events being one of the few exceptions).

If we took the final encounter events with Scarlet as the best new example of what could be done with the rest of the game. Would it fit the rest of game events to make them better or worse? What would it take to make events feel more “dynamic;” where by repeating them would not be akin to a typical bland routine? Do the rewards (or enjoyment level) of completing an event currently feel balanced to you?

To me personally I think there needs to be more randomness in these events. They are way too linear in their current formulaic layout. Events should not as much reset, as they should cycle to the next random level of the same encounter. Yes, you can be successful in defeating the centaurs for the millionth of time, but they should learn as well. Creating a distraction for our heroes (falsified kidnapping, or a devastating supernatural sandstorm). Perhaps they start sending in stealth/undercover assassin/mercenaries (players have to uncover) to kill several VIP’s, to spread unwanted chaos among the town denizens.

Scaling up the encounter could also have random elements attached. Next time you face that boss it could different set of passive area of effect abilities to make it difficult to kill. Like the gambits from queen gauntlet or the fractals mistlock instabilities could trigger randomly within the event area. Or perhaps you don’t fight the Megadestroyer, but Primordius dragon champion. Based on how many randomly successful times the Megadestroyer has been slain. Which in turn also means better rewards for event chain becoming more layered in it’s difficulty/complexity.

I kind of wonder how Josh is doing on the project altogether. Considering of what happened during world 2 release. I wonder if he’s going to be overly cautious about how he makes world 3 and 4. If I had a tip for him it would be get everyone to test world 3 internally and externally (via: closed sessions). Do what Valve software does when it comes to testing their ip’s.

Well I did end up getting The Hunter, though it was in my PvP locker. It’s the only precursor I have ever gotten since the first day I started playing actually. So when the update came out I was amazed I had it, but I could do nothing with it.

You would have thought for those shrine events being successful, A-net would have designed an alternate way to get those traits (besides paying out in gold & skill points). Like getting it at the uncontested shrine through a special NPC, or on successful defense of the shrine from being retaken. Thus people would not have to be waiting around for the whole thing to reset in few day’s; when no one was paying attention. Clearly someone on the design team is not thinking ahead, when it comes to foreseeable problems.

Xenigma.4305:

Can confirm that it was pretty heartbreaking that the only presence GW2 had at PAX East was a sign in the Westin hotel next door indicating there was a GW2 press room. I’m not going to say they needed a booth, nor do I disagree with NCSoft spending their resources on promoting Wildstar (which had a HUGE presence at the show). It’s just odd that they have a major gameplay patch landing days after the show and the next season of Living Story presumably coming very soon and the only thing they did to promote that was an off-site, closed-off press meeting room.

By comparison, The Old Republic at the very least had a meet-up for fans to promote their upcoming player housing expansion, allow some developer/fan interaction, and generally foster ongoing community for their aging MMO. GW2 could have easily a similar sort of event, or possibly a panel to raise awareness for the game (ex: a living story panel about season one and what’s next), and instead we got pretty much nothing. Not that I was really expecting something to begin with, but it’d be nice to at least see them try.

I hope that none of people went into that room and had a verbal NDA attached to information that community itself is 90% aware of already. Only to have everyone release the same non-exclusive info on all the gaming news media outlets tomorrow.

So we are just getting a fancier automatic merger sever system. There is a couple of thing I kind of wish that would be accounted for if they did this. One being your friends list and the other of you being within a particular commander driven squad. Also it would make this even better if they had the Guild Alliance system they had from GW 1. Speaking of GW 1 I think having the ability to manually select your server is still a good idea. If they had both systems it would probably be fantastic.

This new system works better for them, because it puts less of a workload on their servers. For us it depends on how and if the algorithm(s) actually works like it should. Personally I never been a fan of automatic sever systems, but if the designers got it at least 80% right (with glitches/bugs included) the first time then it should not be that bad. If not then it will be a nightmare for the community.

John Smith.4610:

The mystic forge changes are a work in progress. What I will promise is that when it is done you will like it much better than you do now.

You mean your going to add gigantic flashing lights, bells, and whistles you see from an overzealous slot machine. However when you get nothing you will hear Nelson from the Simpsons speak his famous line (“ha-ha”).

All joking aside I hope it bring someone like me (who looks upon that bloody thing with discontent) to actually use it beyond the fixed recipes.

I also think nerf’ing events rewards is the wrong direction to go. I understand the nerf to champ loot box gold; since it is over and beyond event rewards in the first place (for less time/effort). Event rewards are good for only a few of reasons which induces: finishing a renown heart faster, some decent consumables, un-contesting a dungeon, and precursor to meta event(s). Even the karma gain has been nerfed to be nil and void. While I see they are making sprawling changes to make things more rewarding for alts and taking out other gold sinks. I doubt even then people would be farming smaller events for anything then what have mentioned before.

Sometimes even with certain events like un-contesting CoE there is always a problem, Where 1-2 people will work on the entire meta event up until the champion shows up. Then a few more people actually show up for the kill. Usually people will get into CoE by looking on what server is already un-contested, and then guest to that particular server. It actually drives me up the wall, because I will be that one person who actually opens CoE by doing the event as a whole. However I can see why people don’t do these events because they complain it’s due to the fact it’s unrewarding to do so.

While it seems two gold sinks have been removed (armor repairs & trait resets) there is still the waypoint costs. Including the cost of scaling of it by level and distance. Believe it or not there is people who will literally ignore certain events that are called out in map chat, because those events are already less rewarding if you waypoint to that location. It also keep people from exploring to witness a good majority of these in game events. Since more productive time can be spent anywhere else within the game for better rewards.

In the end I know they are working on a better reward system. I also hope they are still working to improve the scaling system for some of these events. As well as making the dynamic event system feel more ever-changing by implementing some interesting RNG triggers into them. However in my own personal opinion dynamic event rewards should not be touched, until they are overhauled to make them more engaging/rewarding.

I was kind of wondering if the skritt scavenger finisher got scrapped. That one I was really looking forward to getting.

The whole 3 blogs post over “Facilitating Friendly Play” has me feeling a bit uneasy actually. It will either be nothing spectacular. For instance it would be them talking about better communication options among the player base within the game. Or they will start featuring a demerit system in game for people who make other people life miserable. Of course it would end up being abused because the system is deeply flawed when it comes out. Which then would take a year to actually fix. By the that time there would be only one person left in GW2. Why 3 blogs for one system? Two words: damage control. I hope I am wrong though and none of that comes to pass. Hopefully it’s something totally different. Perhaps a reworking of how the karma system works.