Guild Wars 2

I… must… buy… 10… of… these……..

<3

JBDanger.2603:

Gaile Gray.6029:

gidorah.4960:

aren’t we past the point where them being aware of the issue is enough? they should have addressed this a week ago and the silence seems to be creating problems? don’t you think instead of you someone who does have the knowledge and expertise should be here?

No, not at all. This is the Account Issues Sub-Forum, and posting on the subject of dissatisfaction with a design decision is quite off topic. I thanked everyone for his or her good manners earlier, and you will note that I asked them to post elsewhere. (The forum people tell me that posting in the Guild Wars 2 Discussion or Black Lion Trading Company sub-forum would be a good choice.)

So no, this thread isn’t where we’ll be discussing the matter, where previous content in this post was more related to an actual account issue (or the perception of one) and was appropriate for this forum.

So couldnt you move this thread into the proper sub forum instead of making them create a whole new thread only to get overlooked for another week? Why make them jump through hoops when all you have to do is a few simple clicks? Sounds like a good business practice to me. They create a problem and wont discuss it because its in the wrong sub forum? What a joke! Wait, whos the OP that started this thread in the wrong subforum? Guess us players need to quit discussing it here then!

This thread was to discuss something completely different, hence the suggestion to go to the General or Trading forums. Perhaps you should read the first page, and see that this thread was derailed.

CC Danicia.1394:

I love this thread. +1

Danica, don’t just +1 this thread, but also confirm if we’re on the right track or not.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Scarlet = Permanent Content? Answer: No.
Scarlet = Permanent Failure? Answer: Yes.

You have to learn to ask the correct questions. As Scarlet is the main actor of the LS (Trahearne 2.0 so to say), she will be moving on with the story arc and so she will this time with the next update soon.

Maybe Trahearne and Scarlet will have a child, Scarhearne, that would be as useless as his parents and still the main character of the plot of GW2. Who knows…

If you’re calling Scarlet “Trahearne 2.0”, the fact that he never died means she’ll probably be around for ever and ever!

If you want Map Completion in WvW, and I’m on the opposing server, you need to get by me if you want the POI. Unfortunately for you, every red name tag I see is like a walking loot bag. Same goes for me when I get run over by the enemy Invaders.

I would suggest you make some WvW friends, and ask them to run with you. Otherwise, talk with a Commander and ask him to take the zerg to certain POIs that you need.

mtpelion.4562:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

There were districts in GW1 because everyone played on the same server (technically). Once you left town, or switched maps, all those were instanced (on different servers). GW2 has to have separate servers, because this is a true MMORPG. Each map is an open world. When that maps is filled, a new one is created by means of our current Overflow system. If the map isn’t filled, you can guest to another server that has more population in your time zone. You get 2 guest passes per 24 hours. I suggest visiting Black Gate, since they have the most coverage around the clock.

Right, and that’s why they should just merge the maps cross server. Right now we, the players, are forced to manually merge ourselves via guesting. They need to look into automating the process since your “server” is only relevant to WvW and the Guild bank.

Again, you can’t just merge all servers into the same PvE map. You create a lot of issues with all players trying to congregate to the same map that holds 100 to 150 players max. If a large guild were to try and go to a map that’s already half filled, you get the same results, which is being pushed to Overflow. But there are a couple of differences here: 1) Merged PvE maps would more likely fill faster, leaving organized parties to have to be burdened with map separation more of often. 2) All that additional coding by the Devs would be a waste of time if people just kept getting kicked into Overflows once maps fill.

Let’s lay it out. Say they created Districts for Queensdale, and that there’s new content there. Guild X has 50 members trying to get into a map. As they log in, some are placed into QD1, some are in QD2, and the rest are in QD3. Because maps are merged across servers, you already have ten Queensdale Districts spawned within minutes. Members of Guild X wants to be put into the same map, so they attempt to taxi on each other, but all fail. Reason being, each map is already hard capped. Now Guild X has to leave the map to try and create an empty District. Again, since all servers are merged, people are flooding the map. There are now 25 QDs made, and Guild X members are still trying to get into the same map.

The situation above is extreme, but presents the problem at hand: Each map is filled quicker, reducing the chances of organized groups joining the same map. With the current system, the expansion of new “District” maps are slowed, since each server goes to their main first, and Overflows are generated only when the previous map is filled. Highly active servers push Overflows quicker yes, but less active servers never fill their mains.

By having merged PvE maps, you spread the problems of large, active servers to the low/medium ones. At least with the current system, organize guilds can guest to get away from their full maps, and solo players can guest to join those other server’s filled maps. It’s not the perfect solution, rather one that’s a bit inconvenient but works.

When Scarlet becomes our ally, she could assist Evon with overhauling the TP interface, giving it a more crisp look.

IndigoSundown.5419:

No offense, Smooth Penguin, but I think you derailed your own thread by bringing Carbine into the picture. You might have had more responses to your actual topic – housing – if you’d left that out. While it may be possible for ANet could learn something from another company’s work, there does not need to be collaboration between the companies for that to happen.

That said, customizable player housing would provide “something to do” for a sub-set of the GW2 player-base. As such, it would probably be a good thing as long as the population that wants it is big enough to justify the resources used.

Not sure how I derailed this thread, when I’m trying to suggest the customized housing used in WildStar could give some direction to housing in GW2. It’s the opposite actually, since other housing suggestions are just “give us housing”, and nothing more. Now that another game produced by NCSoft has a nice looking system, and the fact that cross game promotions can happen, I’m hoping something could be done for GW2.

To be fair, the game is still in beta. But the bottom line is, both are part of NCSoft. It wouldn’t hurt to see if one aspect of the other game could be sometime used as a blueprint for GW2. The only thing player housing would be good for is your own, personal likes. It doesn’t affect your game or story. It’s just additional fluff that I’m willing to spend Gems on.

mtpelion.4562:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

You can turn in your sprockets to Evon at the Black Lion Trading Company. However… be careful, it’s hard to win on the TP. I’ll sell my sprockets for 1 copper less than you, and ruin your profit margins. My Trading Wars rank is roughly around Dolyak level.

If I horde my sprockets I can be the Sprocket King. Once I link my sprocket collection in map chat everyone else will despair and stop playing, thus making me the winner of GW2!

I accept your challenge. I’ll buy out all sprockets in the game, and control the prices. I’ll never let you win this game!!! You may be Sprocket King, but you’ll never come close to the Emperor Penguin.

The current plan allow you to bring your PvE gear skins into SPvp. And there’s probably going to be a major overhaul to the rewards system, which is why Glory is being removed.

mtpelion.4562:

dAcIaW.5107:

Guild Wars 2 wasn’t a P2W game before, but now it is, since this item gives you a clear advantage over someone who doesn’t have it. If a person with the pick and a person without the pick mine a rock the person with the pick suddenly has gained extra wealth that the one without a pick has not. He paid for the pick and he is now further ahead because of it.

Oh man! No wonder I can’t seem to win this game. I don’t have any sprockets! I better start getting as many sprockets as I can so I can win.

Where do I turn in my sprockets to beat everyone?

You can turn in your sprockets to Evon at the Black Lion Trading Company. However… be careful, it’s hard to win on the TP. I’ll sell my sprockets for 1 copper less than you, and ruin your profit margins. My Trading Wars rank is roughly around Dolyak level.

Cletus Van Damme.2795:

mtpelion.4562:

urzen.7096:

Id rather it be done automatically. Anyone on any server who enters a zone all go on to same layer. When it fills up, create a new layer and do the same thing. Allow players to change layers, join their friends, guild, groups in other layers, etc. Same thing as other games already have. Other than WvW, servers are a useless distinction. Market is integrated. Dungeons are integrated, you can guest from layer to layer. Just take the final step and merge PVE altogether.

I agree. Just make the maps function the same way that the cities worked in GW1. There really is no downside to that format.

That’d be a cool feature.

There were districts in GW1 because everyone played on the same server (technically). Once you left town, or switched maps, all those were instanced (on different servers). GW2 has to have separate servers, because this is a true MMORPG. Each map is an open world. When that maps is filled, a new one is created by means of our current Overflow system. If the map isn’t filled, you can guest to another server that has more population in your time zone. You get 2 guest passes per 24 hours. I suggest visiting Black Gate, since they have the most coverage around the clock.

Since a majority of European nations require American to be taught as a secondary language, I think everyone should be fine if they speak that in game.

I think you should consider the problems with your ISP. If everyone else can access the game just fine, then there’s no problem on Anet’s end.

urzen.7096:

Id rather it be done automatically. Anyone on any server who enters a zone all go on to same layer. When it fills up, create a new layer and do the same thing. Allow players to change layers, join their friends, guild, groups in other layers, etc. Same thing as other games already have. Other than WvW, servers are a useless distinction. Market is integrated. Dungeons are integrated, you can guest from layer to layer. Just take the final step and merge PVE altogether.

I figured I’d quote myself, since my answer is relevant to your idea. You might have missed it above.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

No. Each server has it’s own map. It makes no sense to have shared maps, because then it causes more problems when you have 100,000 people trying to get into the same map that only holds 150.

If one server decides to PvE less, then you have to make the decision to leave, or gather people to do PvE with you. That’s how you solve your problem.

dAcIaW.5107:

Guild Wars 2 wasn’t a P2W game before, but now it is, since this item gives you a clear advantage over someone who doesn’t have it. If a person with the pick and a person without the pick mine a rock the person with the pick suddenly has gained extra wealth that the one without a pick has not. He paid for the pick and he is now further ahead because of it.

Wrong my friend. GW2 has never been a P2W game. You’re making the same mistake as the other people. The Watchwork pick comes close to being a P2W item, but it doesn’t cross that line, since the new pick gives no statistical advantages over another player. My merchant bought Orichalcum pick give me a chance at bonus Orichalcum ore. Bottom line, a player is at a disadvantage (money wise) when using the Watchwork pick, since it costs more to use (Gold to Gems, or real money) over just buying a merchant pick. Why? The amount of money it takes to buy the Gem Store item does not justify this as a way to profit in the game. This item is a Convenience item, nothing more.

And again, P2W games rely on microtransactions made with real money. Since you can convert in game currency to virtual store currency, thus never having to spend any real money on this game, this automatically excludes GW2 from falling into the P2W category.

tl;dr – all P2W arguments automatically get dismissed

Penguin.5197:

Back on topic its obvious ellen is an elder dragon. Tats why Scarlet needs to attack l.a and defeat her before its too late!

Mind = blown

Septemptus.7164:

Great. Now I know why you don’t see any of my points.
You are so fixed on being offended in ANet place that you fail to see the facts.

Also you wouldn’t be fair enough to check if I was only attacking ANet. No, you will accuse me and dismiss tens of posts that I contributed in CDI (that had nothing attacking in them) to help shape future of this game with many people on this forum. Or maybe I spoke in other posts that did not criticize ANet? Well I did. You didn’t bother to check. Why? It goes well with your point of view. So I guess I can’t speak my mind when I see something wrong…
I find you the one that are very good with accusing.

Anyway I will say it again.
Giving 1 player advantage (even that lousy 1c) over those who don’t have that is P2Win. If you need it to be big and flashy and you fail to see the point to that, well…
Flippers are the richest people in GW2 and most of them earn 1-10c per item, depending what they flip. So that really means that 1c is worthless income.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1citm3/60000_uses_before_the_molten_alliance_pick_is/
“Currently it costs over 24g to buy 800 gems. The description of the pick says it’s the same as an orichalcum pick, which sell for 4s. Therefore you could buy at least 600 orichalcum picks for the same price, and at 100 uses each that comes to 60,000 uses. So extrapolating further, if you only mined for your daily, you would need to mine 7 nodes a day [7 nodes X 3 uses per node=21 uses per day] and your MA pick would be profitable in 2857 days, or 7.8 years, if you don’t mine more than that each day.”

You weren’t able to earn money on unlimited tools since it would take too much time.
Yet now you get extra 8c per node. What will be next? 10c? 20c? 1s?
How much does it have to be before you realize it is an advantage over other people?

The only fact that’s being failed to see is that GW2 is not a P2W game. Any and all your attempts to slander Anet with your interpretations of the term “P2W” go nowhere. Until you actually play a P2W game, you have no standing to use that term with GW2. And to be sure you understand this, the fact that you accuse GW2 of being P2W shows that you’ve never played any of those types of games.

I’ve already explained what a Pay 2 Win game is. You keep thinking that a 20% chance to get a few items is game breaking in some way. Here’s another fact: I make more from killing one enemy in Cursed Shores. I get a Blue Item that’s worth ~3 Silver on the TP, with a chance to get a Rare or even Exotic item. So I kill 30 Risen in CS, with a 20% chance of getting any type of drop (30 × .2 = 6 drops). The least my drops would be worth is 18 Silver, with a max of 500+ Gold if I get a Precusor. If I extrapolate those numbers, in 7.8 years, I’ll have made more money than someone using a Watchwork pick. Going further, I can safely say that killing enemies gives me an advantage over those who use a Gem Store item to mine nodes.

tl;dr – Guild Wars 2 is not a P2W game.

I just woke up from a nap, and had the most wonderful idea for Anet. Since both Anet and Carbine Studios are part of the NCSoft family of companies, maybe we can get your sister company to assist the GW2 with housing and customizations!

A few days ago, I was watching the Dev Speak segment, and got a glimpse of the mother of all epicness: customization of near everything! Homes, armors, mounts, etc. Now I realize that GW2 and WildStar have completely different engines, but years back, there was sister company collaborations. GW1 and Aion had a small cross game promotion, where you bought Aion, and got a code for wings for your GW1 character.

For GW2, I know there won’t be mounts, and the armor customizations are limited, but there’s still one area that’s untouched: Player Housing! This idea has been teased for a while, and perhaps an Anet and Carbine Studios Dev team could make it a reality. Our home instance is just that, an instance outside of the normal game. If that single instance could be modified to allow for the building of our own personal housing, that would be game changing. Not just for RPers, but for all players who immerse themselves into their character’s world.

Please consider this idea for future reference. Or if this is impossible, I’ll take Cantha as a consolation prize.

Tentonhammr.7849:

If it ends up being cheaper to buy a precursor than to craft one, Anet will have missed the mark on this entirely. The entire point of this should be to offer a time investment alternative to the straight up gold/rng grind that currently dominates precursor aquisition. It makes no sense to introduce precursor crafting if its just a bunch of kitten you can buy off the tp and combine together, unless this route ends up being dirt cheap (which we all know it wouldn’t be, and SHOULDN’T be).

It needs to be a quest of some kind, where time and effort are the dominant resource requirement. Some straight gold investment should be expected and would be reasonable, but all gold would defeat the purpose. Something along the lines of the personal story, but hopefully more interesting.

Also, (as much as I would love it to be) it won’t be a pure dungeon grind. Just imagine the QQ’ing….

Precursors aren’t meant to be easy to get. So if it weren’t cheaper just to buy one from the TP, then that means it wouldn’t be done right.

Vizier.3164:

The solution is simple, really.

Lets say i wanna do map completion in Queensdale FA. and it has less then 10 ppl on it.
The game then gives me a popup “this map appears to be empty, do you want to guest free of charge to EBay Yes/No?” or whatever server that has about 10ppl in the map.
And then as soon as the player number on EBay hits 25-30 players, the Guests that come in are stopped, and a new server is picked.

So that way, if a guild happens to do guild missions or w/e, they still have 120slots left to fill.

There, I fixed it.

Guesting already exists, and there’s no cost…

The Wurm separates the boys from the men!

Septemptus.7164:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Sorry mate, but you have absolutely no idea what Pay 2 Win is. P2W means you “pay” to have an advantage over other players. So say Anet offered a Mega Legendary Greatsword that could be wielded by one hand. Say this sword can only be purchased via Gems obtained with real money (no Gem exchanges allowed). Then take two of these uber swords into PvP, and you then have “Pay 2 Win”. Why? Because you “paid” money to have a statistical advantage over a “non-paying” player.

Being able to get a couple of extra sprockets from mining does not come close to “winning”. I’ve said that it comes close, but it doesn’t cross that line.

Well, for me You are the one who doesn’t get one thing.
P2Win isn’t about the scale but the fact.

If you get ANY advantage with gem store it’s still an advantage and it’s P2Win for me.
If you need such an obvious advantage like wilding greatsword by 1 hand to make you believe that you are threated better… That’s just the fact that you choose to dismiss little stuff.

Yet as it was stated:

No. I still don’t think you understand the problem with the situation, even though it is pretty clear in my opinion. The new pickaxe vs ANY other pickaxe will yield additional sprockets, which translates to additional income. Players who buy the new pickaxe will get more income from the same effort than the others. This is the definition of pay to win.
It’s not that the complainers want the new tool, it’s that if they don’t get it they will not have equal chances in terms of earning gold to those that bought it.

Thats the point. Gem store makes chances not equal across the game in terms of gathering gold (not to mention crashing economy around sprockets).

You have no idea what Pay 2 Win is. Please understand this. Your assume your understand it, because in your mind, you’ve connected that term with the negativity surrounding it. You then took that negativity, and connected it to your dislike that your current infinite tool is not as good as the new one. At this point, A + B does not equal C.

Pay 2 Win games are those where “PAYing” customers have an advantage over non-paying ones. If I spend $50 on an awesome epic weapon that guarantees 100% critical attacks forever, that’s P2W. If I spend $100 on a better weapon that gives 100% critical attacks + life steal, that means my weapon is better than someone who spent $50, that’s P2W. Having an infinite tool that gives me a 20% change to get a couple of extra items is NOT P2W.

It seems that you just want to find an excuse to attack Anet. Most people understand that GW2 is not a P2W game. But here’s something else. Even if (and that’s a big if) the new Watchwork pick was P2W in another game, technically it can’t be P2W in GW2, because you can get Gems without spending any real money. Gold exchanges to Gems prevent anyone ever trying to call GW2 a Pay 2 Win game. P2W games require spending real money. If there’s a way to obtain virtual game currency without spending money, then it’s not in the P2W category.

DeShadowWolf.6854:

When you find yourself saying something along the lines of: “They’re the same, except for the differences,” you are probably doing something wrong.

Nice try, but you need to not only read what I posted, but understand it as well. I said “Both are functionally the same, only one has a minor improvement.” That means both the old and new tool has infinite usage. To make it more simple, that means you can use both for ever and ever and ever on all ore types. So as you can see, they’re both the same in that regards.

I think you’re making a similar mistake that a lot of other people are making. There’s a difference between needing the new Watchwork pick, and wanting it. If you have the Molten pick already, you don’t “need” to have the Watchwork one, since they both work the same. You “want” it.

DarksunG.9537:

BobbyStein.2315:

DarksunG.9537:

But telling us we can’t have any opinion on what we’ve played over the past year is totally unfair. I’m not sure it even makes logical sense.

When did I ever say you can’t have an opinion? I’m just asking that people reserve judgment on the next release until they’ve played it and absorbed the story components.

But the post you responded to had nothing to do with what he thought about the next release. It was about “The problem with the Scarlet Story is that Anet thinks they’ve made this grand mystery that’s gotten the players talking.” That post had zero to do about the next release but was about how everything up to it hasn’t worked. It’s a valid point because it showed the posters current experiences & how so far all the “tie-ins” have been unsatisfying.

I’ve enjoyed the LS so far. There’s room for me to theory craft on what made Scarlet evil, who the new enemy might be, etc. Sure it would have been better to explain how she made all these alliances possible, but I understand that there’s only so much story space for the writers to use. Too much story would dilute everything, since you sometimes create more questions than answers.

Just realize that most complaints so far are like reading a book only 3/4 of the way through, and assuming how the climax comes in the final few pages. I’m still holding onto hope that Scarlet becomes our ally, and is a permanent NPC going forward. I won’t know until a few months from now.

timidobserver.7925:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Since Scarlet is touching different aspects of the game (PvE and WvW), could that be a precursor for her being around long after Season 1 of the LS? I would hope so, since I’m pulling for her to become one of our NPC allies in the future. You know, to fight the real enemy – Ellen Kiel.

I always heard the rumors if the rare player that likes Scarlet, but I’ve never managed to spot one before. I feel like I am watching animal planet or something and they have just introduced us to a new rare species.

You must observe Penguin in his natural habitat… in front of a TV watching MLP. Only then will you realize his quirky preferences.

That said, I shall theory craft. At the end of the LS Season 1, we’ll see that Scarlet is actually being controlled by a powerful being (maybe a Dragon?). The heroes will then attempt to save her, releasing her from the bondage of evil. That’s when Ellen Kiel will emerge as our TRUE nemesis.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!

I’m getting paid next week. I must get all my friends this finisher!

DCM.3654:

No. I still don’t think you understand the problem with the situation, even though it is pretty clear in my opinion. The new pickaxe vs ANY other pickaxe will yield additional sprockets, which translates to additional income. Players who buy the new pickaxe will get more income from the same effort than the others. This is the definition of pay to win.
It’s not that the complainers want the new tool, it’s that if they don’t get it they will not have equal chances in terms of earning gold to those that bought it. Also while the new pick can be bought using ingame gold, I think is is safe to assume that the average player doesn’t have 90g lying in their banks just to buy a gathering item for one of their characters, and so the great majority of the new pick owners will have paid real money for it.

You don’t seem to have a full grasp of what Pay 2 Win is. Allow me to quote myself to help you understand that this isn’t what you think it is:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Sorry mate, but you have absolutely no idea what Pay 2 Win is. P2W means you “pay” to have an advantage over other players. So say Anet offered a Mega Legendary Greatsword that could be wielded by one hand. Say this sword can only be purchased via Gems obtained with real money (no Gem exchanges allowed). Then take two of these uber swords into PvP, and you then have “Pay 2 Win”. Why? Because you “paid” money to have a statistical advantage over a “non-paying” player.

Being able to get a couple of extra sprockets from mining does not come close to “winning”. I’ve said that it comes close, but it doesn’t cross that line.

To add, there’s no advantage over other players by having a 20% chance to get a few extra sprockets.

mtpelion.4562:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

But then you get the question of “fairness”. If two servers are “high population”, but one PvEs more and one WvWs more, which measurement are you using to determine the free transfers? If you’re trying to satisfy PvE players, WvW will complain, and vice versa. Why should Anet offer the service for only one type of player?

Example: Offering the free transfer option to servers with low active PvE players, but has active WvW players, only invites bandwagoning to more successful WvW League servers. Those WvW players will take advantage of the transfer to go to a Tier 1 server, thus creating more problems for servers like Black Gate, who have queues hours long.

Going back on this, you make mention that you feel less people online is like a downward spiral. What if the servers are highly populated, but a majority of the players log in on an opposite time zone than you? If you live in North America, what’s to say the server you’re on has more Australians?

High pop servers wouldn’t get free transfers, only low pop servers. That’s the only fair way to do it because that’s the only objective criteria available. They also won’t be able to transfer to a high pop server for free, only to a medium pop. If you’re really concerned about WvW Tiers, then you could specify that you can’t use a free transfer to go to a Tier 1 server.

I don’t have feelings, I have data. Devona’s Rest is dead at any time of day. We peak in population during the hours of 7-9 EST. For reference, here is our WvW ranking:
https://leaderboards.guildwars2.com/en/na/wvw
Dead last since November.

Fact is, some servers are dying because ArenaNet opened enough to handle LAUNCH level active player volume. Now that those peaks are long gone, it is time for them to consolidate the dying servers before they lose players who want to play but can’t.

Forgive me on this, but I’m at work and can’t check in game populations ATM. But I thought all servers were “High” or “Very High” population currently. Now as for your rank in WvW, that’s not a clear indication for the general health of your server overall. It could just mean that your server has players who care to PvE more than WvW.

Take a step back and think about this situation. If a low population server was given free transfer to leave, wouldn’t that be an invitation to kill off the server? An alternate to this would be to offer “Very High” or “Full” servers a free transfer downward. But this brings more problems, because if you keep allowing players to transfer for free, it changes the dynamics of each Tier.

As an example, look at rise and fall of Kaineng. They rose quickly, then imploded due to server transfers. This could happen to Devona’s Rest too if there were free transfers, and I don’t think this type of stability issues is something Anet encourages. Part of the cost/fee for transferring is to provide Anet with Gem income. But that’s secondary to keeping the cost/fee high enough to discourage server hopping. If you want to move, there’s a price you have to pay. Then, you have real consequences for the decision you and/or your guild makes. If you can afford to pay the Gems, then by all means do so. But a majority of players (I assume) would hesitate to transfer unless there’s a very good reason to.

Buttercup.5871:

Smooth, are you gonna say that too when they start selling stuff like an ect-o-matic, or a darkgl-o-bmatic? Heck, when that happens, they’ll probably forget to replace the icon at first. This whole thing is an embarrassment to this company that was actually doing really well. They were worth defending.

It’s essentially two problems: 1) customers believe they were given false expectations (they paid 10 euros for kittening pixels for crying our loud!) and 2) it opens Pandora’s box of cash grabs.

The rest of your post was talk about assumed items that may never exist, so I’ll address the only thing that’s tangible: the previous tools

There are no problems, except for the ones you make up on your own. Please provide me the quote from a Dev, or wording within the game that states they would never release new Gem Store gathering tools. Until you can provide this to me, all your complaints amount to shouting “the sky is falling”.

You paid Gems for a tool that you can use indefinitely. Either you paid real money for the Gems, or exchanged in game Gold for it. But what truly matters is that you can still use it. The functions of all infinite gathering tools is that you can use if forever on anything.

Again, all complainers are making the following mistake: They think they need the new tool, when in fact they just want it.

As for a real world example: A child at the supermarket crying for candy. The child doesn’t need the candy, but merely wants it.

mtpelion.4562:

The first problem is that the server population is based on number of characters created, not on number of players currently logged in. My server, Devona’s Rest, can’t muster more than 25 players for anything (not even the Queensdale Champ train). I’d be surprised if Lion’s Arch ever peaks above 40 players at any given time. Yet it is listed as a “Very High” population server. The server originally had a lot of players, but is now dead thanks to the addition of the ability to transfer to other servers.

Anyone who has ever played an MMO knows how this works, as players leave the server voluntarily, the ones who are left behind are forced to make a decision:
1. Do I pay MORE money just to play the game I already paid for with other people (as intended)?
2. Do I stop playing since there is no one left to play with?
3. Do I continue to log in for an hour a day, play around for a bit, then log out because no one is online?

No matter how these questions are answered, the result is less people online which causes more people to ask these questions. It’s a downward spiral.

Personally, I think it is incredibly unreasonable for ArenaNet to charge people to move from a dead server to a live one. At a bare minimum, they should offer free transfers from the least active servers to some medium ones. Failing that, merging servers should be their top priority in order to keep the game from dying.

But then you get the question of “fairness”. If two servers are “high population”, but one PvEs more and one WvWs more, which measurement are you using to determine the free transfers? If you’re trying to satisfy PvE players, WvW will complain, and vice versa. Why should Anet offer the service for only one type of player?

Example: Offering the free transfer option to servers with low active PvE players, but has active WvW players, only invites bandwagoning to more successful WvW League servers. Those WvW players will take advantage of the transfer to go to a Tier 1 server, thus creating more problems for servers like Black Gate, who have queues hours long.

Going back on this, you make mention that you feel less people online is like a downward spiral. What if the servers are highly populated, but a majority of the players log in on an opposite time zone than you? If you live in North America, what’s to say the server you’re on has more Australians?

The “journey” to crafting a Precursor will be a much bigger task than just running Dungeons. I anticipate that it’ll be cheaper to just buy one from the TP, than to make one.

My OCDs compel me to solve this riddle. But there’s not enough time in the day to bathe, feed myself, and WvW in addition to deciphering codes. I’ll have to give up one of those so I have more time…

There’s no such thing as griefing when it comes to entering PvP zones. Just like when PvE players entered Obsidian Sanctum. Don’t expect me to just let you walk by, simply because you want an achievement. It’s a part of WvW, and you’re free to attack me, just as I’m free to attack you.

SirMoogie.9263:

urzen.7096:

Then come up with a solution of your own to deal with 5 servers having 10 people each a normal flow who cant see each other and therefore fail an event independently. All Im seeing is excuses from you.

Merging those 50 people onto one flow so they can help each other seems like common sense.

Arena Net seems to at the very least have this on their mind. In the recent CDI Colin made specific mention of underflow worlds.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/CDI-Character-Progression-Horizontal/3468774

While he makes mention of Underflows, you have to consider the problems I stated. You merge people from different servers into a single map, you have the positive outcome of a more populated map. But when more people log in on off-hours, and they want to play with their friends in the same map, you get the problem of trying to fit more people into a map that’s full of people from multiple servers.

How do you prioritize who can get in the Underflow? Is it first come, first serve? Do you kick solo players so that parties or guilds can be together? At what point does the Underflow stop pulling from different servers? If a single server has enough people on the same map, are they kicked back to main? What if the Underflow is filled to max capacity, do the left overs get pushed into a new, empty Underflow?

Septemptus.7164:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

TooBz.3065:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

While I agree that the new pick is walking a thin line, there’s no real disrespect in the Gem Store. All items are meant for conveniences, and require no real world money to purchase. Getting mad that a current item is better than your previously purchased one, is like getting mad at Toyota because their new 2014 Corolla is better than your 2010 one. It’s just silly.

Or because the 2014 Corolla made in January is better than the 2014 Corolla made in August.

Edit: Changed the month for accuracy

If you like the newer model over the older one, simply buy the new one. Both are functionally the same, only one has a minor improvement.

I think that you miss the point.
1st). adding drop like this is just wrong on economy and for all previous users.
2nd). you sell one car and buy newer with few extra $… Oh wait, you can only destroy the pick… GREAT.
3rd). How long will people be slapped in the face? For me in real world unsatisfied customers leave the shop. In this case it has to go with whole game, but as I stated I already am taking it personally and look for place when I won’t fell as ANet shop made me feel.

No, the points are here:

1) I agree that the new pick mechanics are not good. But on that note, we don’t know if these mechanics already existed, but were never publicized. With this, I’m talking about mining and getting bonus ores from the node. We’re not sure if the sprockets just replace the bonus ore you inherently have a chance to get.

2) Your dissatisfaction is based on your misunderstanding of how the Gem Store works. They offered an infinite mining tool once, and you expect another one to never come out? Even with the bonus sprockets you might get, it still doesn’t change the fact that your old tools still work. New tool has a new skin, and enhanced features. If you like it, buy it.

3) You’re making a mistake between “wanting” the new item, and “needing” the new item.

urzen.7096:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

urzen.7096:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

urzen.7096:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

urzen.7096:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

I’m not sure you understand how the servers work. Each world server can only contain a finite amount of players (say 10,000). If the server is full or close to it, that means it has close to the maximum number of players allowed.

Going on, not all players on your specific server might want to do a particular event. So if there’s 10,000 people living on your server, and they all want to do Queensdale, or SPvP, or even WvW, then you have the following choices:

1) Transfer to another server that has similar interests as you

or

2) Convince people on your server to have similar interests as you

Youre missing the point. Theres no reason to separate players on to different servers in terms of PVE. Overflows are proof of that. Merge the normal channels as well, problem solved.

No. Each server has it’s own map. It makes no sense to have shared maps, because then it causes more problems when you have 100,000 people trying to get into the same map that only holds 150.

If one server decides to PvE less, then you have to make the decision to leave, or gather people to do PvE with you. That’s how you solve your problem.

Why is that a problem? Keep creating layers.

That’s what Overflows are for. I think you don’t realize that the basis of your whole idea is already implemented.

That’s what I said! Its already implemented, so now copy that mechanic onto non overflows. Put everyone from every server onto one map. And when that fills up, create a new map. And when that fills up, create a new map.

No. Each map only has space for a finite amount of players. By having every server go into the same map, you basically have 100,000 people trying to get into a map that holds 150. This creates problems, as players might not ever be able to play with their friends or guildies.

urzen.7096:

People in groups or guilds would automatically go on the same layer as their group or guild. That’s how other games do it.

Also no. If a map reaches the 150 player maximum, how would their group get in? Kick a solo player out? This idea creates more problems, and fixes none.

Then come up with a solution of your own to deal with 5 servers having 10 people each a normal flow who cant see each other and therefore fail an event independently. All Im seeing is excuses from you.

Merging those 50 people onto one flow so they can help each other seems like common sense.

You still don’t get it. You CANNOT expect to merge servers into a single map, and expect that to fix anything. As I said, you are CREATING PROBLEMS with this idea. In my posts above, I laid out the problems clear as day. You have a situation where maps have a finite amount of space. Meaning, there’s a limit. If multiple guilds from multiple servers decide to play on the same map, and end up reaching the maximum amount of people allowed, the excess is pushed into an Overflow faster than if it were just a single server.

There’s nothing wrong with the current setup. The issues you’re dealing with isn’t one for Anet to fix, but rather the players on your server to decide on. If they don’t want to PvE with you, I’m sorry. Transfer out or guest somewhere else.

If you still don’t understand this, let me use a real world example. Justin Bieber is coming to your town to do a concert. You really really really want to go see him, but because no one else buys tickets, he cancels the concert. On the flip side, the city next to yours sells out, and he decides to have his concert there. Question: Do you blame Bieber for canceling his concert? Or do you blame your neighbors for not having the same interest in music as you?

IndigoSundown.5419:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

IndigoSundown.5419:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

What if I have no friends or guild? How am I supposed to do Elite Instanced content?

One might make the same point about Teq or Wurm. The answer for those events is that not all content has to be accessible with no effort to all players.

That’s where you’re wrong. Tequatl and the Mega Wurm is available for ALL players. It may be made for the Hardcore players, but that doesn’t mean Casuals are blocked from participating should they choose to do so. Thus the reason such content is made in the Open World.

Key words, “with no effort.” I cannot “get a group” for Teq or Wurm without effort. This effort involves guesting, manipulating overflows and waiting for an inordinate amount of time. Getting a group for a dungeon is much easier.

Don’t tell that to the pugs that TTS runs with daily for Teq and Wurm on Overflows.

As I said, anyone can participate. We don’t kick people out because they’re not good enough. We take the time to teach. If we fail, people learn quickly why, and we keep trying.

Sauzo.6821:

~~snip~~

Sorry mate, but you have absolutely no idea what Pay 2 Win is. P2W means you “pay” to have an advantage over other players. So say Anet offered a Mega Legendary Greatsword that could be wielded by one hand. Say this sword can only be purchased via Gems obtained with real money (no Gem exchanges allowed). Then take two of these uber swords into PvP, and you then have “Pay 2 Win”. Why? Because you “paid” money to have a statistical advantage over a “non-paying” player.

Being able to get a couple of extra sprockets from mining does not come close to “winning”. I’ve said that it comes close, but it doesn’t cross that line.

Scarlet doesn’t mess with Mr. E, so don’t worry about the Black Lion Trading Company.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

What if I have no friends or guild? How am I supposed to do Elite Instanced content?

One might make the same point about Teq or Wurm. The answer for those events is that not all content has to be accessible with no effort to all players.

That’s where you’re wrong. Tequatl and the Mega Wurm is available for ALL players. It may be made for the Hardcore players, but that doesn’t mean Casuals are blocked from participating should they choose to do so. Thus the reason such content is made in the Open World.

But once we save her from her madness, we could put to good use an ally with a genius such as hers. I’m telling you now, Kiel is the bigger threat.

urzen.7096:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

urzen.7096:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

urzen.7096:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

I’m not sure you understand how the servers work. Each world server can only contain a finite amount of players (say 10,000). If the server is full or close to it, that means it has close to the maximum number of players allowed.

Going on, not all players on your specific server might want to do a particular event. So if there’s 10,000 people living on your server, and they all want to do Queensdale, or SPvP, or even WvW, then you have the following choices:

1) Transfer to another server that has similar interests as you

or

2) Convince people on your server to have similar interests as you

Youre missing the point. Theres no reason to separate players on to different servers in terms of PVE. Overflows are proof of that. Merge the normal channels as well, problem solved.

No. Each server has it’s own map. It makes no sense to have shared maps, because then it causes more problems when you have 100,000 people trying to get into the same map that only holds 150.

If one server decides to PvE less, then you have to make the decision to leave, or gather people to do PvE with you. That’s how you solve your problem.

Why is that a problem? Keep creating layers.

That’s what Overflows are for. I think you don’t realize that the basis of your whole idea is already implemented.

That’s what I said! Its already implemented, so now copy that mechanic onto non overflows. Put everyone from every server onto one map. And when that fills up, create a new map. And when that fills up, create a new map.

No. Each map only has space for a finite amount of players. By having every server go into the same map, you basically have 100,000 people trying to get into a map that holds 150. This creates problems, as players might not ever be able to play with their friends or guildies.

urzen.7096:

People in groups or guilds would automatically go on the same layer as their group or guild. That’s how other games do it.

Also no. If a map reaches the 150 player maximum, how would their group get in? Kick a solo player out? This idea creates more problems, and fixes none.

As an example of the hardcore events being doable, Deso and BG servers have defeated the new Mega Wurm. TTS (which is serverless due to our members being from all over) came close. The mechanics are there. People just need to learn them, and at the same time, know how to play as a group.

Everything in this game, no matter how difficult, can be completed. Just some things take a lot longer.

stale.9785:

There’s another thread calling for a combination of making the bosses in question somewhat more open world friendly, (100+ people fully geared with consumable is NOT friendly) while adding instanced modes for them that require significantly more coordination. Possibly making them guild missions instead of flat instances (though I see making them like dungeons, but for ~50 people a very do-able thing)

The new Wurm wasn’t meant to be friendly…

Since Scarlet is touching different aspects of the game (PvE and WvW), could that be a precursor for her being around long after Season 1 of the LS? I would hope so, since I’m pulling for her to become one of our NPC allies in the future. You know, to fight the real enemy – Ellen Kiel.

Aren’t all server high population already?

Anet released the new content for the elite hardcore crowd. That means the achievements were geared towards them. But that doesn’t mean the Casual player can’t participate. Our groups are very open to help new players with Teq or the Wurm. We teach them what to do, and they end up succeeding. All achievements are “achievable”. What matters is individual and group skill.

Also, each server has their own PvE zones. Your suggestion for a shared map is bad. Because a map can only hold a finite amount of players, you create endless problems if you have 100,000 players trying to get into a map that hold only 150. Shared PvE zones would mean players from one server might realistically never play with their friends or guildies on the same popular map. If you want to play somewhere else, you can guest to that server. If the server maps are full, you have shared Overflows. The current system, while inconvenient at times, is the best option.

What if I have no friends or guild? How am I supposed to do Elite Instanced content?

Sauzo.6821:

You are missing the point. The sprockets alone mean jack. Again it’s the fact that the pick is the beginning of a P2W system. To start with Anet offered the molten trio set 1-2 months ago for 2850 gems knowing that this new pick was going to be released. So in essence they were just cash grabbing with that molten set to customers which is just insulting. Now with the new pick, there is a clearly an advantage with it however small, it is still an advantage. So next they can make a new axe and harvesting tool and then maybe a new kit better than BL ones and sell those on the cash grab store too. After that offer better boosters or new ranks of class skills and then hell why stop there. Maybe offer legendary quality weapons for sale. See what’s happening? Anet has opened the door to the start of a P2W system with this pick and I’m sure the gap between players will increase. So soon it will be “Oh you don’t have the new set of higher tiered skills? Sorry we don’t feel like carrying you in this dungeon. /kick” So while you are most certainly right that a pick that offers a few sprockets is hardly something to get bent over, the idea behind it and direction it looks like Anet is going coupled with like I said the pure cash grab of offering an “obsolete” tool set 1-2 months ago and then this new one in such a short span is starting to show Anets true colors and definitely isn’t going to instill any form of trust to them from their customers.

The fallacies are strong in this one. Allow me to pick this apart (pun intended):

1) The new pick is not P2W by any means. It walks a fine line, but it’s by no means “winning” if I have it over another player.

2) How do you go from “new pick is P2W” to “Oh you don’t have the new set of higher tiered skills”?

3) Please tell me where Anet said that they would never release another infinite tool? A majority of the player based correctly assumed a long time ago that there would be new types in the future. The Molten pick matched up with the Living Story at the time. The Watchwork pick matches up with the Scarlet LS now. AS time goes on, more themed tools will come out.

4) The old infinite tools still work. I can still mine Orichalcum nodes for ever and ever without buying a new tool.

5) Lastly, there’s a difference between wanting the new pick, and needing the new pick. Most complainers merely want the new one. This pattern will occur each time a new tool is released.

6) Adding to my point #1, GW2 is not P2W. Most complainers throwing around that term have no idea what it means. They only want to connect the negative aspect of that term to the game, because they’re upset.