Guild Wars 2

Swagger.1459:

Pretty sure you missed my reply to you…

Sorry about that. In response to your previous post, I know of no other game that has openly homosexual lifestyle themes in a main story line and a transgender NPC. I see GW2 as groundbreaking in many ways.

Now as for storytelling, my suggestion would be just to add Sya to the cast. It’s my personal, selfish suggestion that we make a hero out of her as a way to empower transgender players. Either way, it’s a subtle way to “educate” the masses on different lifestyles. It’s not enough to have parents have to sit down with kids to explain why a video game adding these characters in. But it’s enough make their existence known.

And to be honest, if GW2 utilized real life religions in game, I’d be the first to ask if they could add a Muslim hero to the main cast (if one didin’t already exist).

BrotherBelial.3094:

If we are gong for inclusions why is there not a black person, or any other ethnic groups?

Queen Jenna can be considered “black”.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

I find the resistance to this rather humorous . . . given the majority of ‘women’ in-game tend to be played by men. . . .

I make female human toons because I like to look at them. That doesn’t make me transgender in any way.

Dante.1508:

1 and 2 are meaningless, if they have a game that is used by Russian customers they must follow Russian laws..

No actually. Russian laws have no affect on how American companies operate. The only time they apply is when the company has a presence within Russian borders. The most they can do is block their own retailers from carrying the game. Same with China. Due to a partnership with a Chinese company, GW2 had to change things to become compliant with Chinese law. That doesn’t stop it’s citizens from purchasing NA or EU versions of GW2 and playing on our uncensored servers.

There’s a lot of people who misunderstand what I’m suggesting. I’ll break it down:

• I’m not asking for any type of forced sexual preference based story. I’m just asking that a NPC, who happens to be transgender, be included in our party. Yes I’d personally want to see Sya made into a hero, but I think it’d be a nice gesture to the LGBT community to have an even more diverse cast in GW2.

• Anet’s writers are top notch. They’re able to include homosexual characters into the Living Story without having an agenda pushed. That’s what I’d like for Sya as well.

• Yes I push for social justice in real life. Everyone deserves to be treated equally with respect. The way you do that is to show different lifestyles as normal, everyday occurrences. That’s how you break barriers in society. As an example in real life, my Muslim friends avoid going outside when someone in the news does a terrible thing in the name of their religion. People make incorrect assumptions that the whole religion thinks the same, where in fact only a small radical few ruins the image for the whole. How you combat this is through education. Call it propaganda if you will, but unless someone’s willing to address the fallacies, the masses will keep thinking the assumptions are real.

• As a compromise to my position, I would be happy if Anet made a side quest that involved Sya. Completely optional, non-forced story. Maybe like for the next Greatsword Legendary journey.

TL;DR – Inclusion doesn’t have to be forced. The mere existence of a transgender NPC in the main story is all that I suggest.

Squee, I agree that pushing a topic can the opposite effect of what the intention was. Seeing Sya without having to question her purpose would be good, because at that point they’d be integrated into society. Unfortunately, the transgender community hasn’t enjoyed the movement that gay/lesbians have had, which is why I’m suggesting stories featuring Sya. As I previously stated, doing so would be more of a nod to her existence that anything. It’s my own personal wish to see her as a hero though. If Anet’s writers would consider my idea, I’m sure they could write her in without having to “shove” her identity issue down our throats.

Speaking in general terms, when a group of people feel society looks down upon them, it’s good to do something nice for them. History has looked down upon many groups. Women. Muslims. Blacks. Asians. Gay. It took years for women to earn the right to vote. It took years for the homosexual lifestyle to become something that people shouldn’t fear. Heck, my distant family was locked up because they were Japanese Americans when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Tolerance isn’t something that can be taught overnite. It takes time, and a good companies like Anet, to champion change.

Just use LFG – World Bosses. If you know what you’re doing, you don’t need to be on voice comms. Just did it last nite on a pug group because I just to happened to be on the same map when they organized.

I only play on it when EBG has a 300 man queue, or when I need a cheap WP to LA. When Alpine comes back, we’ll have some good times on the BLs.

ronpierce.2760:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/TY-Anet-for-Transgender-NPC/first

Why are you remaking this thread? Is it specifically to push the main character thing…? Because please, no.

Edit:
Also https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Time-for-Transgender-NPCs/first#post5123822

You seem pretty fixated on this idea… o.O

I am. My friends deserve a world where they can feel as I feel. Freedom from the hate and bigotry simply because they’re different. In order to change minds, you have to incorporate these themes into everyday stories. Slowly, over time, people become accepting. My game and lesbian friends have come a long way in society because people stood up for them over the years.

CindyKa.6137:

Why should someones sexual orientation be the center point of a story?

It’s not sexual orientation, but rather sexual identity. A Transgender NPC story doesn’t need romance (though I personally think that wouldn’t be a bad thing). Simply having them exist is a big first step towards acceptance. The NPC in Lion’s Arch was a good step, but the next step should be to make Sya a hero that helps you on your quest.

RoseofGilead.8907:

The penguin likes to make provocative topics every once in a while just because. So, keep that in mind before taking anything in this thread TOO seriously.

There’s nothing wrong with discussions about tolerance and acceptance. It’s only provocative because people are scared of it. When I campaigned for Barack Obama in 2007, I felt I did my part to spread the acceptance that an African American man could become the most powerful man in the world.

Edit – Let’s get back on topic. I love Anet, and even though I haven’t been happy with them for a few months, this game is my home away from home. As such, I feel the need to suggest things that could prove beneficial to the needs of a minority.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Where some see pioneering, I see pandering. DE2 is full of it. I don’t look for life lessons from a video game. Soul-less, pixillated non persons in a fake world with none of the struggles people in RL have to face. It is phony, feel good crap that accomplishes nothing.

That soul-less pixel you speak of was put in place by a real transgender Anet Dev, with real issues that she deals with on a daily basis. So be careful when you go out making such claims, especially when you’ve never walked a day in their shoes.

And no, she didn’t go out and shout to the world that an NPC is now transgender. I did that. I brought it to the forefront because I applaud her spirit and bravery to have to face a world that’s still not wholly accepting her as who she is. And it wasn’t to put her on a pedestal to worship, but rather to give a champion to LGBT’s struggles and give hope by showing people do care about them.

Palador.2170:

As it is now, Sya is treated as just another person in Lion’s Arch. She has conversations with NPCs, and even a short one with you if you try to talk to her. But… she’s treated as a normal person. She’s just a person where we know a bit of her history, just like that charr with Scarlet’s rattle. (You know the one. “Curse that Scarlet!”)

But the player’s party is NOT normal people. They stand out. They do the exceptional. They are, by definition, abnormal. To add someone to that group simply because of their gender identity is to say that this one thing is enough for them to be considered abnormal. I’m pretty sure that’s not the way we want to go.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

I’m quite aware of what’s going on in Russia. But consider this:

1) Anet is an American company. Russian laws do not have any effect or enforcement.
1a) That wouldn’t be the case of Anet had an office in Russia. Thank goodness their data servers aren’t there.
2) GW2 already has homosexual storylines (i.e. Jory and Kas). They kissed as part of the end scene to the Living Story.

If the content of GW2 goes past whatever line the Russian government has drawn, they can stop the sale of the game there and instruct all ISPs to block access to the connections needed to play the game. And just like that, they can’t play any more.

Hey now. Being exceptional isn’t a bad thing. Having a Transgender NPC become exceptional would be a great way to embrace diversity. It’s not so much having the NPC as being portrayed as “normal” in the background, but rather shattering the stigma that a Transgender person, or any LGBT person is abnormal in society. We treat Jory and Kas the same as Braham and Taimi, all equals. Why can’t we do the same for Sya?

As for Russia, they’ll do what they do. That’s why America is land of the free, and home to the brave.

Sartharina.3542:

Mystic Coins don’t have a ‘Drop Rate’. But they do have sources. And we’ve lost SIGNIFICANT sources of them over the years, especially in the months before and after HoT’s release as they’ve restructured reward systems. They used to be 2s apiece because they were more readily available from daily and monthy rewards (Supply has been slashed by over 70%, so don’t tell me “Drop rate hasn’t been reduced”). They’ve also more than doubled the number of sinks for mystic coins (Not counting the four new legendaries). You seem to be under the delusion that they’ve kept the sources and sinks the same, when they haven’t.

Also – Your comparison of a “Parent and Child” relationship is idiotic and offensive.

By Drop Rate, I meant generated sources. You can still get 20 per month simply by logging into the game. And since they’re sellable, you can always purchase more. The Mystic Forge daily also rewards them.

As for sinks, yes there are a lot more sinks. Nothing wrong with that. Whenever new content comes out, there’s always a shock to the market. Mystic Coins just so happened to be in that shockwave. But then it’s still the player’s choice to pursue things that require Mystic Coins. I’m one of those players. Only difference is that I planned ahead. It’s a risk, since anything can happen in the market. My T5 and T6 mat values were devalued to the point where it’s a waste of my inventory space to hold them all.

As for my “Parent and Child” example, how is this offensive to you? We, as players, have a relationship with Anet. We agreed to their rules, and we get to enjoy their game. Just like when I lived in my parent’s home all those years ago. When my dad wouldn’t give me something, I would go to my mom and get it. When that stopped, I threw a fit because I felt Entitled to whatever it was that I used to want. The concept here is the same. You don’t want to change policies to benefit the players’ desires, when it could lead to negative outcomes in the future.

An Anet GM publicly asked on Reddit on which person might be leaking info. It’s safe to say that we’ll never know at this point.

laurenk_GW2:

If any of my full time paid testers (not raid alpha testers, etc) are selling information I’d want to know about it.

TPMN.1483:

~~~ snip ~~~

I’m quite aware of what’s going on in Russia. But consider this:

1) Anet is an American company. Russian laws do not have any effect or enforcement.
1a) That wouldn’t be the case of Anet had an office in Russia. Thank goodness their data servers aren’t there.
2) GW2 already has homosexual storylines (i.e. Jory and Kas). They kissed as part of the end scene to the Living Story.

There can exist a balance between story arcs and NPCs. By putting Sya front and center of a Living Story, you don’t risking things from becoming too confusing. In past stories, other main NPCs went off to do other things, like Taimi being absent while she did research. Anet has some of the best writers in the industry, and I have faith in them being able to manage multiple storylines in the same arc.

Sartharina.3542:

… we need fewer human characters in GW2 in general, and more charr.

How about a transgender charr NPC then?

Talonblaze.3175:

Making any character a major face runs the risk of getting the same hatred as Trahearne and others along those lines.

I think the hatred comes from the fact that Trahearne took credit for all of our hard work.

Sorry it took so long to respond to comments here. As I pointed out in my OP, too many rewards help players feed good in the short term, but does long term damage to the overall game. I believe Anet has noticed this, and recently disabled some of the rewards for being too generous in HoT. For places like AB and TD, I’m drowning in keys and high level mats (i.e. Ley Line Sparks). Plus, with the additional keys for doing the meta and more chest spawns, loot has been crazy.

Now lets look at ultra rare rewards that are being reintroduced to the game. Ghastly Grinning Shield, once the pinnacle status symbol of skins, lost a lot of it’s value. This happened last year too, with things like the Monocle being brought back into the loot table.

Sindex brought up Mystic Coins. I understand there was some complaints about the price being so high (42s as of the moment of my post). But that’s just Supply and Demand working. The drop rate of these game wide haven’t changed, only the need for them. I bought a bunch when they were 2s each because I might need them for future Legendary crafting. Now that everyone doing it for the same reasons, I honestly don’t think there’s a need for John to step in and fix it. Increasing the drop rate to satisfy the population isn’t the right mindset to have. For example, once a parent starts to give their child everything they want, the child begins to expect it. Later, when the parent doesn’t give in, the child rages.

Evan Lesh.3295:

Interest in polls for PvP is noted.

But do we really need a poll to know that Solo Queue player matchups are the #1 issue that needs fixing?

Tyler Bearce.3427:

Skill lag is a perpetual battle. By far the biggest contributors is large scale combat involving high target player skills. Of course high target skills are exactly the preferred skills to use in WvW. This starts to become especially true as skills start activating faster and doing more things on each activation: traits/runes/sigils/food/quickness/alacrity etc. So we continue to make optimizations skills and combat, but there’s no single big offender, it’s a combination of thousands of smaller parts.

Tyler, if you were to optimize the overall game code, wouldn’t that a positive effect downstream on all other aspects of the game? It would put less strain on server CPUs, and lead to less melting of motherboards.

Greetings all. There are those who may not be aware of this, but Anet is one of the most LGBT friendly game companies in existence. Not only do they have a bunch of openly transgender people employed in development and music composition, but they are the first to incorporate homosexual relationships in GW lore, and had the first same-sex kiss in the main story line of a top MMO. To add to this, GW2 also features the first transgender NPC mesmer in Lion’s Arch!

Being a pioneer in gaming, I think it’s time for Anet to once again push the envelope further towards equality for all. I believe the time is right for Aid Worker Sya to join our heroes in the next Living Story arc. What better way to teach acceptance and tolerance than to put a transgender character front and center in a main story? The story could detail the struggles that a transgender person in the world of Tyria, why Symon became Sya, and how she overcomes adversity in the face of Elder Dragon threats. Dare I suggest that Sya be the one to deal the killing blow to the Elder Dragon in the next expansion?

As a straight liberal male, I salute Anet for all they’ve done to connect with all types of players. Good job MO and Colin (if you still lurk our forums)!

Look at it this way, Bloodstone Dust once filled accounts because it dropped so much. With the buff Anet put into rewards across the board, I’m afraid a lot of things will turn into wasted inventory space.

And by the way, it’s not just the market that concerns me. I’m also worried that I’m going to run out of things to do, since a lot of my goals require items that drop a lot more frequently now.

I hear you mate, but while it’s beneficial to you, multiplied by the thousands of players getting too many rewards, and there runs the risk of not only crashing the market, but also inflation and the ever scary “running out of things to do/collect”.

I have a suggestion for the next phase to the WvW linking. I think that T1 and T2 should be exempt from any linkage. If you consolidate T3 and below, I think we’d have the perfect balance in server population. I say this because with two of the best servers in NA (TC and Maguuma) facing each other, queues have been crazy.

Oh, and TC’s been getting double teamed again. Even more reason for me to get into the map quicker.

A majority of players seem to be happy with the direction Anet took to reverse a lot of negative feelings the community has had. Short term, this was good, because even hardcore fanboy players like myself were getting tired of the game. But in Anet’s haste to bring back hope to us, I think they made a mistake with the gamble that was taken. I’m wondering if there are too many rewards in game now?

Let’s take a look at rarity, and why it’s good for MMOs. Rarity in items creates two things: 1) Desire, and 2) Long term goals. When a player wants something that is rare, a choice is made to pursue the item or not. Depending on the desire of the individual player, a goal is made it obtain it. Goals are key to the longevity of games. It keeps players playing by putting a carrot on a stick. Some players need this carrot, or they lose interest in the game. This leads to a healthy game, because player population is a visible metric that others use to justify if GW2 is worth their time. Lots of players online = popular game = worth playing.

Some rare things are so hard to get, that it requires a lot of time and effort to obtain (i.e. Ex Machina title). To get this, you need to grind for a lot of lower level rewards, and a healthy dose of RNG for the rare Reclaimed Metal Plates. Some players at end game who have done next to everything available had something long term to work for. With the latest update, Reclaimed Metal Plates are now a guaranteed drop from map metas, and other required mats like ley crystals and airship parts seemed to have increase 10 fold. Something that I expected me to take months to obtain, now can be completed in a few days of farming. That’s not the only rare things to get a buff in drop rates. Ascended gear and mats drops a lot more frequently. Exotic drops seems to have increase as well. Super rare skins were added back to the drop table, which wrecked havoc on investments.

There are some who argue that they deserve these rewards, that they feel Entitled to having goodies rained upon then from the heavens. But there needs to be a balance in the frequency of the rewards. Anet’s well intentions of increasing output might have unforeseen consequences. Short term, a lot of players are back online, happy with full inventory bags worth of stuff. Getting a lot of rewards feels good, but in a few short days, we’ve seen how the market responded. Prices are dropping on a lot of goods, making things a lot cheaper to buy and less profitable to sell. Once players start completing their shopping lists of things they’ve wanted, we’re gonna be right back where we started, starving for new content to keep busy. MO already canceled the rest of the Legendary weapons, so that’s a long term goal put on hold. New Living Story arcs will keep some players busy, but Anet needs to remember how fast we can eat up content. If the next expansion isn’t Cantha, the Devs are gonna have to work hard to bring out new content in short intervals.

GW2 is one of the best designed MMOs. I just hope Anet management can right the ship, refocus, and bring back some of the magic I lost for this game. Reconsidering reward levels would be a good start.

X T D.6458:

It is not, far as I know against any rules in the ToS. And I am guessing you might not be aware of the current situation going on in t2.

No I read Panda’s post. That’s what made me want to play again. But dang, them fights are rough. TC zergs are holding our own in the 2 v 1, but it’s impossible to sustain. We’re in EBG, then hear the Desert BL Keep is being ganked, then once we leave to defend, we lose both Towers around EBG Keep. We return to see enemy players /laughing at us. It’s disheartening.

I’m on TC, and have been away from the game mode for a long long time. With the new action picking up in the BLs, I decided to log in and start playing again. But something really got to me. TC is being double teamed constantly to the point where it’s not fair. Enemy blobs ignore each other, and hyper focus us. When we go for Towers, one side of the opposition actually helps to defend the other team’s stuff.

This brings me to the obvious question, is it against the ToS to coordinate attacks on a single server? We have former TC guilds keeping players on TC so they can follow our Commanders. I’ve even heard of complaints that former TC guilds are going around and wasting supply.

DGraves.3720:

Scenario: You are within a team and one of the players just auto-attacks the whole time. They have no downtime and 100% critical strike from being in the team but all they do is stay alive (whatever that entails) and press “1”.

How do you feel about this player in general?
How do you feel about this player if you lose the encounter?
How do you feel about this player if you win the encounter?

That’s how I beat all the World Bosses, and how I fight in WvW zergs. And since I’m a Thief, I can stealth away when the zerg I’m in explodes. So to answer your questions:

1) This player is legit
2) It’s usually other players dying that cost us encounters, be it PvP, WvW, or PvE.
3) Pressing 1, but playing smart while doing so is the mark of a seasoned pro.

Thanks for the feedback. I didn’t know GW2 could use multiple cores. From previous threads, people were saying that it’s a single core game. I’ll look for the i5/i7 HQ chips when I’m selecting the laptop.

If by “Travel Items” you mean mounts, then yes we need them. Here’s how it could work:

Dolyak mount – slower speed, but high attack power
Moa mount – fast travel speed, lower attack power
Charr mount – most balanced option with mid level speed and power

And as in real life, you need to feed your mounts, so that could allow Anet to introduce a new craft profession – The Farmer. The Gem Store can sell feed that you can plant in your home instance, and tend like Farmville. You need to water crops and harvest items, and then use your Cooking profession to create Mount Food. Don’t forget to purchase your Mount Stable for 1,000 Gems!

I’m in the market for a new gaming laptop. I’ve heard that the better GPU, price-wise, is a Geforce GTX 965M, but we all know that GW2 is more processor heavy. So while I’m getting a decent graphics card in my laptop, what Intel CPU is the best for this game? I’ve been told that i7s aren’t that great, since GW2 can’t use those to their full potential. So should I instead stick to newer gen i5?

I’m a bit of a noob when it comes to PC specs, so I’d like to get other players’ opinions before investing in a new laptop.

These last few days have been hard on me. I, like many other self proclaimed White Knights, love this game and constantly defending Anet decisions because there’s always been a logical rhyme and reason. On controversial topics like RNG, I defend the system because it’s a necessary evil to help balance rewards. On the Trading Post, I support John Smith in his never ending quest to balance a dynamic economy to avoid out of control inflation. Gem Store monetization of item skin? I support Anet’s microtransaction focus to keep this game subscription free. Been playing Guild Wars since August 2005 as my first and only MMO franchise up to today.

So what’s going on that frustrates hardcore fans like me? The direction of this game, and the decisions that are being made behind the scenes. So many players feel like Heart of Thorns is incomplete as a “proper” expansion. Mike O’Brien took offense to this because, and I will agree, that HoT did have a lot of content and updates. The problem here is the perception of what an expansion should be. When comparing it to GW1, our expansions were an entire game in and of itself. Cantha and Elona were so large, that it could have been played by itself without the core GW1. I mapped every single pixel on every corner of Tyria, and I can attest that size matters. It had it’s own starter areas, own classes, and specific storylines that fit into the whole GW Universe lore. HoT, even with all the updates, bells, and whistles, “felt” smaller because there’s only a few new maps added. Technically they were big maps because of the Z-axis allowing for height in the game, but players’s perception will still be biased towards how much of the Tyria world was added. People like that_shaman could correct me if I’m wrong here, but the areas opened up by HoT in the world would have been like GW1 offering an expansion that opened up the Ring of Fire area.

With Colin at the helm, GW2 Hype Train felt like it was still going in a good direction, albeit a slow chug up the mountain. With change of leadership comes change of style. That’s not to say MO is bad at this job. He was one of the creators of ArenaNet, and a game designer by trade. I still love the guy for what he’s done for the MMO industry. But in terms of management, there’s one thing you don’t want to do, no matter what industry you’re in. You don’t want to make decisions that you know will upset a large portion of your loyal customer base. Don’t make promises, then walk back on them in order to refocus and redirect goals. As a manager myself (non-game industry), it’s really hard to grasp how 6 extra devs will make that much of a difference in the overall direction of Living World releases. I’ve heard there’s at least 200 others constantly working on other projects.

My opinion is that Colin should be brought back on a part-time basis. Allow him to consult from home so he can not only focus on his family, but provide direction that all us players have come to respect. I’m not saying I don’t respect MO, but as a matter of style, we prefer Colin. Either way, I’ll still play this game. How happy I’ll be is yet to be seen.

MACs are great machines for designing, but were not meant for playing games. I would highly recommend purchasing a PC with Windows 7 Pro if you want to play games in the best quality.

This thread displeases me. The only way I can be satisfied is if those 6 devs are moved into the development of Cantha.

Morfedel.4165:

/15 charrs

That Commander’s name is Xushin. His zergs were a thing of beauty.

Running out of things to do in game, so I’ve been playing through alt toon storylines. As I’m selecting which Order I want my toon to be a part of, I’m reminded about the mentors – Tybalt, Sieran, and Kernsson. Then it reminded me about how everyone loves Tybalt more than the others.

What gives? I just don’t understand it. They all guide you as a recruit when you’re first introduced. You go off on missions specific to your Order. And at the end, they all perish the same way. What makes Tybalt so much better? Heck, Sieran had a much quirkier, more likeable personality. Is it because she’s a sylvari? Was Kernsson just too macho to care about? Tybalt was a disgrace to the Iron Legion, yet he’s loved. Anet even made him a Mist Champion.

Maybe he just had a cute face? Like a puppy given a new ball to play with. That’s the only thing I can think of.

Has anyone wondered why there’s no physical differences between male and female asura? Their body types are all the same. The only real differences is in the hair style and the rare Gem Store Outfit that isn’t unisex. For humans, there are clear differences. Take the swimsuit versions of Lord Faren and Kasmeer. Why can’t asura look like this? If humans, norn, and sylvari can enjoy revealing swimsuits, asura and even charr should enjoy it as well. There needs to be some balance in looks.

They should just monetize SAB and sell a personal portal for 4,000 Gems. I would gladly pay for unlimited access.

95% of my matches, I Solo Queue. In the glorious random matchmaking algorithm of SPvP, I get teammates from all across the spectrum. Good ones. Bad ones. Guild teams. Trolls. Players without HoT. Players experimenting with builds. Players who confuse which color team they’re on. Everything. And I’m ok with that. Up until this season…

This season has been interesting, for lack of a better word. Amber, Emerald, and Saph tiers were ok, because even if you had a bad team, you were saved by tier locks. Once you get to Ruby, all you can do it hope and pray you don’t get rolled bad players. I’ve been stuck in the 1st tier because I’m winning and losing at basically the same rate. And no, it’s not a matter of L2P, because one person can’t carry 4 others making bad decisions.

The current match making needs to improve a bit. But that’s not how you can make immediate improvements. What we need is a button that players can click to say “I don’t want to team with this individual anymore”. Like a personal teammate dislike button. There are 2 ways this could work:

• 1) Right clicking on a teammate would give an option to prevent them from being place on your team in all future matches. This would give players the power to stay away from trolls or AFKers who cause loses. One of the side effects to this is that if all players add too many other players to their personal “dislike list”, that could create major problems for Anet’s pug RNG. To balance this, there would be a limit to how many players one can select to not team with.

• 2) Selecting the option to dislike someone wouldn’t completely remove that player from being randomly placed on your team. Instead, it would work like a reverse magic find modifier. There would just be a higher chance you wouldn’t be on the same team with that person. This route would be much easier on Anet, as it wouldn’t affect the matchmaking algorithm as severely as a permanent removal in example #1.

RNG will always be RNG for Solo Queuers. I’ll continue to pray for good groups to pick me up out of the pits of Ruby, or I’ll have to pay ESL teams to carry my unlucky butt to Diamond.

I casually play the Outside TP, and I do quite well. I usually flip currencies, and have some long term speculations. It makes up for the poor pay working for the guild Government [USA].

It’s that time again in America. Once again, we get to vote on who will be the next leader of the Free World. Since we Americans are all in a frenzy with elections coming up, perhaps it’s time for Anet to give the great Evon Gnashblade another shot at the Captain’s Council?

We can all agree that Kiel hasn’t lived up to expectations. Yes she did offer a temporary discount to WP costs (which probably helped her cheat win last time), but she’s also partly responsible for Lion’s Arch destruction. Had Evon been on the Captain’s Council seat, he would have had anti-aircraft turrets positioned to protect the innocent women and children from Scarlet’s attack.

The time has come Anet. Let us players put our voices to a vote. Impeach Ellen Kiel, and bring forth a new election!

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I swear Anet said that this season, Solo Queue players would be matched up against other Solo Queue players, and Pre-Mades would be matched up against other groups. If that’s the case, then was it just a fluke or RNG that prompted my random group to face an organized group the other day?

TexZero.7910:

I’m sorry i personally don’t consider playing the trading post as part of the game.

Here’s where the problem is. In the grand scheme of things, your personal opinion doesn’t matter in this case. Anet considers the TP as much as part of this game as E-Sports PvP, Fractals, Living Story, and Raids.

TexZero.7910:

In this instance that did not happen. Point is it still can happen and that should never be the case.

The Trading Post is so dynamic, that it’s been proven next to impossible for any one person or group of people to effectively manipulate anything. So to correct your post, it did not happen, and will not happen.

TexZero.7910:

Anything that is currently hindered by time-gating as a means of use or acquisition.

Thick Leather, could be one of those things if the entire supply had been purchased out.

I find it hard to believe you cannot understand this.

I’m not sure you fully understand how the supply of certain items in this game works. If Thick Leather were to be completely bought out, there’d be a vacuum of competition, because I’d just unload my supply into the TP, thus making a huge profit. Others would be doing the same. Before Wanze, there was a player named Vol that was another expert in markets. I believe he said he had hundreds of thousands of Thick Leather in his pick up tab of the TP. Then you have your regular PvE player base who easily can get Thick Leather by salvaging drops. The massive influx of competition would stabilize the prices over time. The only people who would be hurt are the impatient ones who would be willing to pay top dollar on panic buying.

If you buy four of those, you can start your own personal guild!

ham.8209:

that information on who i work for is top secret information and not even who

i work for knows that information .

I can confirm that I work for the government. And from this thread, I can tell you probably don’t have any security clearance, so just let us know what type of job you have that gives you such expertise in the subject of game populations.

ham.8209:

i gave my proof take it or leave it .

What proof did you give other than a screen shot? Your OP makes it sound like you’re saying the game is dying, then give data on WvW activity. Yes WvW is in a freefall. Anyone can see that. But these players can simply be playing PvE, which is what HoT is full of ATM.

Edit – I’m one of those players who used to play WvW a lot. Now I only do dailies in WvW if at all. Doesn’t mean I left the game. I’m doing a lot of PvE and PvP now.

Hello all. For background, I’d like to point out that I’m a PvP casual. After 3 years, I’m only Rank 76 as my gaming focus has been mostly PvE and WvW. With WvW falling apart on TC for the past few months (another story altogether), I find myself doing more PvE and PvP.

With doing a lot more PvP and refining my gameplay, I’m noticing a very sad scenario. This PvP matchmaking seems to be quite off. The more I lose, the more my MMR goes down I assume. So then I also assume that the MMR system takes “pity” on me, and puts me together with higher rated players in hopes of achieving balance to game play. Fair enough. Win more, you get a handicap by being auto matched with lower rated players. Lose more, and you get a bonus by being auto matched with better players. On paper, this seems to work well.

Why is this sad? Because the system seems to penalize winning. As a casual Solo Que player, I’m moving up divisions much slower, because just as I’m about to cross that tier threshold, I’m teamed with a lot of weak players, causing me to lose up to 2 pips. By the grace of the Six, I made it as far as Sapphire. At the end of matches, I view the details, and I see that a bunch of Emerald/Sapphires are teamed together to face all Rubies. Is this really working as intended when you win a match or even have a hot streak of 2 match wins?

As with other threads here and on Reddit, players have abused this system to gain division ranks much faster than normal. Lose on purpose when at the bottom of each tier, tank MMR, and get a lot easier matches. GM Chris has stated that he’ll go after players who abuse this. But honestly, how is Anet supposed to differentiate between players who lose on purpose, from those who are just having a bad match? Game logs will show only so much. Numbers won’t show a player running head first into a bunch of opponents and dying, unless GMs have an actual replay mechanic at their disposal. But even then, who has the time to watch dozens of matches and police the individuals who appear to be tanking?

And this isn’t just some casual’s rant about PvP. For those who know me, I’m one of the whitest of knights for this game. I crusade against Entitlement in the former BLTC forums, and now in the General forums. To conclude this thread, I’d like to offer a suggestion. For the next PvP season, Anet should only match players against others in their own division up to Sapphire. MMR be kitten ed. That means Amber will never fight anyone higher, unless that person is partied with higher ranked people. Once a player hits Ruby, then they can be match against other Rubies up to Legendary. The assumption here is that they’re good enough to where skill differences between Ruby and Legendary are minor (except for the hardcore pro competitors).

Bruno.3812:

Exactly.

All rewards should be available through how you like to play. If traders only like to trade but want mastery points from achievements, then their gameplay, which is earning gold, should allow them to buy the achievements (and mastery points) they want.

Ohoni’s ideas solve a lot of gameplay problems when properly implemented.

I never thought I see the day when Ohoni’s suggestions would benefit the wealthy. It should be put in the game as soon as possible.

I would suggest the Mithril market. You should go out and buy as much Mithril as you can afford, because there are players who use it to craft a lot of Rare weapons. Watch the prices over a few days, and when you see it go low enough, grab it, and then sell for higher.

Ohoni.6057:

If a player in PvP wins more matches because he’s a more skilled player, then fair enough.

How is this any different from TP players? Is it because you’re only envious of the amount of Gold one can make, and not how many games one wins in PvP?

Ohoni.6057:

I just want to have fun AND be able to afford nice things.

Then I think it’s time you start learning how to make money in this game, using existing mechanics.

Ohoni.6057:

But they MUST be considered as such in terms of reward fairness.

Fallacy. When you discuss fairness, you need to use examples from the same subject matter. Your arguments are like saying “It’s not fair that Pele is such a good football player, because then the New York Yankees don’t have a chance to win.”

Ohoni.6057:

but I simply do not believe, on a fundamental level, that adventure game players should need to understand market economics in order to do well at the adventure game.

Skill at playing the markets should not determine your overall success at GW2.

From my personal experience, I don’t see how playing the TP allows you to beat Mordremoth. Unless you’re not judging success on who can complete the Living World storyline, but rather who has the fanciest outfit.

Ohoni.6057:

It just sounds like you want the prestigious PvP wings without putting any effort into the PvP part of it then.

Yes, ideally.

Entitlement is not a valid reason for Anet to make changes. If you want something that’s easy, the Shadow Behemoth still spawns on a regular cycle. And the easier something is, the less rewards you get.

Ohoni.6057:

And yet Legendary weapons, acknowledged by most as being one of the highest long term goals in the game, are determined almost entirely by gold.

It’s impossible to get new Legendary with Gold. You actually have to play the game! Getting the Gift of Maguuma Mastery is both time consuming and challenging.

Ohoni.6057:

Just because a homeless person is not entitled to food or housing, it’s still nice to give it to him anyway.

You realize that we’re talking about a game, and not real life implications of a human being’s health and safety, right? So why should it matter to you if Wanze has more Gold than you?

Ohoni.6057:

“there are no losers in voluntary trade, only winners?”

Capitalism is a beautiful thing. Unless you live in a country that doesn’t have freedoms such as running your own business.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

3: Gating exclusive rewards behind challenging content further alienates your playerbase

This is another worry I have with Raids, and that is that exclusive rewards like legendary armor will be unattainable by a vast majority of players because of the difficulty of Raids and the inconvenience of forming Raid groups.

Unlike legendary weapons, which can be acquired regardless of what game modes you play, legendary armor will seemingly be a Raid only affair. Not only do I feel this is unfair for players who might not enjoy Raids, but I also believe it hurts the “play how you want” policy that ANet has been punting for years and yet have somehow completely ignored as they’ve further developed the game.

Before I respond, I’d like to point out that I haven’t beaten the Raids yet.

Now then, gating exclusive content behind challenging content is perfectly fine. Legendary armor was meant to be hard to get. Meaning, a vast majority of the player population will never get it, and that’s working as intended. That’s not to speak negative on the skill levels of an individual, but rather how hard the challenge ahead is.

As for your little dig at “play how you want”, Raids don’t prevent you from playing the game. You can play Raids any way you like. Doesn’t mean you’ll be successful. If you want the exclusive rewards at the end of a successful Raid, you need to earn it.

Finally, don’t count out Anet just yet. I’m sure there’ll be more challenging solo content in the future. Liadri was a good challenge when the Queen’s Gauntlet is around. I’m hopeful there’ll be more like that.

Tigaseye.2047:

Whether you realise it, or not, we’re going around in circles here.

Oh and trust me, I don’t need a “101” on anything, from you, TYVM.

Actually, we’re not running in circles. I’m stating facts, and you respond with opinions. I’m willing to teach you about how things work, so feel free to PM me, and I’ll link you to my previous posts.

Ohoni.6057:

(and yes, for the context of this discussion, TP profits DO count as “rewards,” however much the flipper insist otherwise).

TP profits counting as rewards is as valid a statement as a janitor making the same salary of the CEO because “balance and equality”.

Ohoni.6057:

True, but in a game, players should be entitled to a general sense of fairness, that while you have to work for what you get, every other player is expected to work just as hard for what he gets.

Who says Wanze isn’t working hard? If you’re suggesting that your gameplay takes more skill, or more hard work than him, why not take the easy route and play the TP?

Ohoni.6057:

So if a 15% tax is great, then wouldn’t a 20 or 25% tax on those who bring in hundreds of gold per month be even better! Think of all the gold sunk!

Speaking on fairness, I would be ok with this if it applied to every single player, and not the top 1% that you seem to have such a hatred for.

Ohoni.6057:

I would like to be able to compete with him by merely playing the non-TP portions of the game. That’s all I’m asking, for the other aspects of the game to have profit potential competitive with the TP.

/sigh You can’t. Rewards from playing the game (i.e. quests, FotM, Dungeons, etc) are not the same as TP profits. Stop with this comparison because I know you understand that it’s completely different. We’ve explained it to you for years, so there’s no excuse for you to not know.

Ohoni.6057:

Again, it absolutely MUST be compared to rewards from other areas of the game.

Nope. See above.

Ohoni.6057:

Pure communism

There are no social classes in this game. There are no TP Barons, or laborers. There are players. Some players are smarter than others, thus they earn more in-game currency. Just as some PvP players are more skilled than others, so they win $100,000 tournaments.

Ohoni.6057:

Give or take. It’s hardly a “demand” though, I’m in no position to issue ultimatums, it’s just what I believe would be healthier for the game overall.

The Soviet Union thought the same with their government. Where are they now? And why do you think the Unite States is the largest economy in the world? Because Capitalism works.

Tigaseye.2047:

No, it’s not a “big difference”.

You don’t seem to understand this. What’s good for one doesn’t mean it’s good for the other. Allowing all players to be happy by asking for handouts has a high negative impact for the game as a whole.

Tigaseye.2047:

I’m just saying that, if people are unhappy with the amount of gold they can make, by playing the parts of the game they enjoy, some (or all) of them might decide to leave, sooner or later.

You’re not Entitled to making all the Gold you want. Anet provides you with entertainment value, and it’s up to you to play how you want to have fun. If “fun” means having a lot of Gold, then you need to learn how to use existing mechanics to achieve your goals. Asking for handouts because you don’t want to use those existing mechanics properly is not a viable suggestion.

Tigaseye.2047:

No, I don’t particularly enjoy ripping people off on the TP, as it happens, but I know for a fact I’m not alone in that.

It’s not a rip off if a player feels my prices are acceptable. If they don’t like the prices, they’re free to post Buy Offers. I think you misunderstand how the Trading Post works, which is why we have threads popping up all the time asking how some players make profits.

Tigaseye.2047:

If I’m not having fun, I just leave games, sooner or later

And if you leave, your account will still be here. Do note that if you leave, you’ll fall farther behind in terms of wealth.

Tigaseye.2047:

For example, if they wanted, they could bring in a swingeing income tax and/or a capital gains tax and/or tax you on your entire in-game capital.

There’s already a 15% tax that acts as a Gold Sink, which means it destroys Gold. And that means the Gold no longer exists in game for other players to use.

Tigaseye.2047:

That’s called redistributing wealth, as I’m sure you know.

And as I’ve said before, you’re not Entitled to the Gold people like Wanze makes because you’re not putting in the same efforts as he is on the Trading Post. You’re more than free to compete with him.

Tigaseye.2047:

I know Anet already take a small cut, with the TP fees, but they could do far more to very successful TP players, than that, if they liked.

I think I need to make time to post a Trading Post 101 thread to explain how it works.

Tigaseye.2047:

Either way, there need to be far more ways than one to make decent gold than just playing the TP.

Again, making money on the TP cannot be compared to rewards from in-game. Until you understand the difference, your arguments will always be flawed.

Tigaseye.2047:

He just morally objects to the idea of a few people becoming very rich, ingame, while others either can’t, or don’t want to, do what it takes to follow suit.

It seems you’re a student of Marxian Economics. Are you afraid that the players who farm and sell their items on the TP are being harmed by TP players who buy and then resell their products? The thing is, you can’t use the labor theory of value in relation to the Trading Post. We’re not paying player farmers a wage for the output they produce. Rather, we’re paying them the price of their goods that they’ve decided on. This is Capitalism at it’s finest. They labored for 2 hours to sell me a stack of Mithril, and I paid them the price they asked.

Tigaseye.2047:

This is a game.

It’s a game to you, but a business to NCSoft. Big difference.

Tigaseye.2047:

People have to enjoy themselves, at least somewhat, to want to keep playing it.

GW2 had a big increase of players when HoT went live. That seems to say people are enjoying the new content.

Tigaseye.2047:

If people actively dislike standing around in LA, flipping things on the TP, they will not continue to play for long, if that is the only well-paid option.

False. That’s only how you feel.

Tigaseye.2047:

Now, as far as I see it, Anet have three possible solutions:

1. Make other, more popular, activities (ideally, all of them) more rewarding – not, necessarily, quite as rewarding as flipping the TP can be, but at least almost.

You’re not Entitled to making as much money as a TP player, as you can’t compare other activities to TP trading. Scroll up in this thread for an explanation as to why there’s a difference. Your whole argument fails because you’re comparing apples to an airplane.

Tigaseye.2047:

2. Limit the amount people can make by playing the TP, in some way.

3. A little of both of the above.

Anet will never do this to a Free Market.

Tigaseye.2047:

If enough people are unhappy, they will just leave.

GW2 has no subscription fees. They’re free to come back at anytime. Anet will never delete their accounts, items, or progression unless specifically asked to.