Guild Wars 2

Solori.6025:

Iason Evan.3806:

ArenaNet has set precedent before by offering long betas.

When?

Cause the last closed beta/stress test was only a day for a few short hours.
So when did this happen?

Feel free to learn here. In the last significant beta we had – the GW2 beta – we had Beta Weekend Events. Which, if the name doesn’t give you enough of a hint, lasted for the entire weekend as mentioned in the wiki:

Beta weekend events ran between noon Pacific time on the designated Friday and ended at 11:59 p.m. Pacific on the following Sunday

So yep, that is when it happened. ArenaNet set a precedent to having betas during whole weekends, and in fact that’s how most of the GW2 beta test was done.

See, people KNOW better, instead of using their own ignorance to assume the players are to blame. This is 100% ArenaNet’s fault.

DeT M.4319:

How You can be sure that its Male Or Female based armor?

Because the armor available to asura and charr is armor that was originally intended to be worn by male humans, and then ported to the asura and the charr.

It’s not armor designed for an unissex look; it’s literally male based armor. Made, quite often, to look masculine and not to look well on a woman, be that woman a human, a charr or an asura.

That’s just how ArenaNet rocks.

To the OP: ArenaNet already said, a long time ago, that they don’t really care. They said they won’t fix the issues with Charr and Asura armor because few people play as either of those two races.

(Maybe few people play as them because of the armor issues? Nah, I guess that’s too complex.)

So you have three options:

1. Continue with your asura character, knowing you are playing a second rate race.

2. Delete your character and make a human or a sylvari, knowing you would then be playing a race ArenaNet cares about.

3. Stop playing a game from a developer that just stops caring about players who fall in a minority like this.

lordkrall.7241:

You mean exactly like they are doing according to the very second post in this thread?

Not something “they are doing”, something they have promised to do eventually. I guess the playerbase is now smart enough to not blindly believe in ArenaNet’s promises. Most of the playerbase, anyway Until ArenaNet actually implements something that works, players are right to complain, no matter what ArenaNet says.

lordkrall.7241:

In that case, the thread should have ended with that, which it clearly didn’t.

What, so you wanted a topic criticizing ArenaNet to stop and just vanish? Oh look, what a surprise!!!

It’s very hard to feel hype for HoT. Look at what ArenaNet says:

“Hey guys, we will revamp how traits work so we clean up the mess we made in our previous revamp! Now you won’t have to grind (as much) to unlock traits, but we will reduce how many traits we have and decimate build variety! Aren’t you happy?”

“Hey guys! Since you all like Silverwastes (and of course that’s because you love playing the same event over and over, not because it’s one of the most profitable things in the game), we will make the entire expansion like it! Be ready to grind the same thing over and over while fighting the same three of four enemy models!”

“Hey guys! We will make great additions to the professions through specializations! Here, the Chronomancer is great, isn’kitten It’s so great, in fact, that we will take a break in our next specialization and just allow the guardian to be a second-rate ranger! But look, it has no pet so it’s already on top of rangers, right? LOOOOL!”

Not to mention the whole beta access thing. They offer a reward for grinding the Silverwastes (and I’m sure they will use the number of people playing there as a sign of how successful the Silverwastes “design” has been), making it clear that they want grinders to test HoT; and they do that without even telling people when the beta would be or how long it would last.

With that kind of attitude to their customers, who can really feel hyped about anything made by ArenaNet?

Draghmar.2594:

That’s why in GW2 they try to make everything they can to make game as simple as possible with illusion that we have mane possibilities.

True.

Before release, ArenaNet said: “Hey guys, we couldn’t balance all the options in the original Guild Wars, so you will have less options. You will have no dual professions, you won’t be able to equip skills in whatever way you want, and you will have a lot less skills, but we will balance the game a lot better!”

Result: the game is an imbalanced mess in which you either don’t play in a group or you follow the meta. That, after three years of barely any skill or trait, so they have had plenty of time to make balance better.

So now, ArenaNet says: “Hey guys, we couldn’t balance all the options in Guild Wars 2, so you will have less options. You will have less traits and less variations, but we will balance the game a lot better!”

I can’t help but think if the issue is that we have been given too many options… Or if the issue is internal to ArenaNet.

lordkrall.7241:

There were very little actual choices in GW1. Either you played the going meta-build or you basically didn’t play. No one would take anyone that didn’t play meta. Simple as that.

I take it you never played GW1. What you described is exactly how GW2 works. If you are trying to play group PvE (aka dungeons), no one takes anyone that doesn’t play meta.

In GW1? You can play whatever you wanted. Even if you didn’t find a party to play with you (which wasn’t much of an issue, considering how the GW1 dungeon community was far less based on speed runs than the GW2 dungeon community), you could simply play with your heroes and beat whatever content you were against. There’s not a single ounce of truth in saying “Either you played the going meta-build or you basically didn’t play” regarding GW1. Regarding GW2, though…

Khisanth.2948:

Something to consider …
They consider the Silverwastes/Dry Top experiment to be a success. Enough to give old zones a similar system. There is a pretty good chance it will still be about farming.

True:

1) ArenaNet considers the Silverwastes a success. Even though it’s an incredibly badly designed area, with copy-and-paste events repeating over and over and with a massive lack of polish.

2) ArenaNet already said with all the letters that HoT will be based on Silverwastes-like maps.

3) ArenaNet wanted beta testers to come from the pool of Silverwasters grinders.

So, OP, if you don’t like grinding, I guess the “all new, all different” GW2 isn’t for you.

The irony here is that the “success” of Silverwastes isn’t because it’s well developed (it isn’t). It’s just because it’s a world event-like thing that repeats over and over. If ArenaNet made it so the Breach only happened three times a day and were limited to being looted once per day, but made the Shadow Behemoth repeteable once every 30 minutes and with no limits on how often it could be looted, the Silverwastes would be empty and Queensdale would be eternally full of people.

Nike.2631:

“I want them to do things at a time that’s convenient to me, rather than to them.”

Not trying to do something that is convenient to the customers isn’t exactly the best way for a company to be successful now, is it?

Crossflip.4390:

I assume every race will eventually get the spotlight in some upcoming xpac/update, probably against their own dragon.

When? It took ArenaNet 3 years to make the Sylvari based expansion. How long until they make a Charr based one? 12 years? Are they even going to be around by then?

ArenaNet mentioned they will not fix the (many) issues with Charr and Asura armor because few people play as them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they simply go over those two races and instead decide to focus on the Norn and the humans for the next content updates (assuming those will happen within our lifetimes).

Liquified.7153:

Seems like community is dead lol

ArenaNet is going to make massive changes to how character progression and build making works. It looks like some characters will lose things we have acquired in the new system.

It’s better, then, to not play right now, and wait for the changes to be implemented first. Then not only you won’t run the risk of unlocking a lot of stuff only to see it gone when the patch hits, but also you won’t have to learn a different system all over again.

Devildoc.6721:

People would have had a lot less frustration in farming had they known it really wasn’t going to be worth the effort.

They would also have farmed less, and that’s the opposite of what ArenaNet wanted.

It was a very vague promise to lure people into playing the Silverwastes more. I don’t even want to think what ArenaNet is making with the numbers they got from this (“See NCSoft, we got X players playing in a single map! Look how healthy our game is!!!”; “See guys, people just love playing in the Silverwastes, no matter how repetitive and grind-based it is, so we should make all future content like that!”, and so on). But it was a bait and people took a bite.

Not telling people everything wasn’t an accident. ArenaNet knew exactly what they were doing.

Vayne.8563:

I think people have a right to be angry about this. The whole participating in a beta thing has no detail. People don’t all know to expect limited times. Many people would have expected more.

Dear ArenaNet, if Vayne is saying people have a right to be angry about something you did, you really know you have massively screwed something.

Ralanost.8913:

I hate when MMORPGs mess with old content to keep it up with the current story. It messes with the old story. Like going through the personal story on a new character and Lion’s Arch is wrecked before Scarlet ever showed up. It’s stupid and inconsistent. Just leave it alone and make new content. Leave old content alone.

Interestingly enough, the Living World was supposed to be all about changing the world. See the destruction of Lion’s Arch fountain a billion times, the Tower of Nightmares, the new Teq, and so on.

Until ArenaNet decided it didn’t work, and tried using the Season 2 model.

Until ArenaNet decided that also didn’t work, and tried using the “season 3 in a box” HoT model.

Is it me, or do we see a pattern here? Does anyone else think that HoT also will not work?

Smooth Penguin.5294:

• Guardians will have a Ranger secondary by way of Longbow and Traps.
• Necro will have Warrior secondary by way of Greatsword and Shouts/Stances (/speculations).
• Mesmers will have Chronomancer secondary (GW:Utopia canceled class).

I think that’s more a matter of the Chronomancer being well designed, and the Hunter being badly designed.

Chronomancers got a shield, a weapon that isn’t strongly linked to any specific profession. They also got wells, but the definition of a “well” is something incredibly vague – what is it? An AoE effect that pulses? A lot of skills that AoE effects that pulse and they are not wells (including the mesmers themselves). Which means, the Chronomancers are able to use mechanics seen in other professions while keeping their own identity.

Hunters, in other hand, got a bow, a weapon that is strongly linked, thematically, to rangers. They also got traps, a skill type that is also strongly linked to rangers (despite not being exclusive to them). Traps are also far narrower a concept than wells – wells have a vague definition, but traps do not.

The result is that the Hunters feel like a Ranger rip off. Even the name, when you ignore the dragon-“high level” stuff, is basically a rip off – “hunter” is used in MMORPGs as the name of the archetype rangers belong to (just as “rogue” is used in MMORPGs as the name of the archetype thieves belong to).

We know Necromancers will get a greatsword. Many people speculate that they will also get shouts, and that the unique skill mechanic will be adapted so it powers an attack skill, much like adrenaline for Warriors. While it’s mostly speculation, it suggests that the Necromancer specialization will also be a poor warrior’s rip off, instead of being something with its own identity.

I hope the guy who designed the Chronomancer has worked on more specializations. But it feels like ArenaNet has revealed the best as the first one.

lordkrall.7241:

It is simply not feasible for a company of ArenaNets size and resources to focus on both and expansion and other content at the same time.
It is simply one or the other.

It’s interesting to see that the much smaller ArenaNet of GW1 could, in fact, work on both a full new campaign (which was much, MUCH bigger than the Season 3 “expansion” we will get) while working on other content. Heh, they could even work on GW1 content while working on GW2.

It’s probably a sign that the new, bigger ArenaNet can work on two things – but they have chosen to work on HoT and the Gem Store instead of focusing on adding more content to the current game.

DarkOcean.8746:

Let us not forget that ANet has had a very large and secret project brewing in the background for years.

Do people really still believe in that? The state of the expansion is a clear sign that they haven’t been working on it “for years”.

ToenailsofGlory.8217:

I might be missing something here, but I think just throwing in more stuff onto the profession mechanics isn’t a good way to go about this.

In Buy to Play games, the developers are tempted to add a lot of power creep, so players feel like they need to buy the newest content or be left behind in the power curve.

In Free to Play games, the developers usually leave content out of the game so it can be sold for (overpriced) prices in the game store.

It’s interesting, isn’kitten , that GW2 suffers the ills of both Buy to Play and Free to Play games?

MiniEquine.6014:

You’re complaining about the virtue actives? From what they showed us so far, the new virtue active effects are superior to the ones we currently have.

Irrelevant. Doesn’t matter if they’re better or worse, it’s bad design to replace what the profession has instead of adding to it. Unlike the Chronomancer’s new mechanics, which add to the mesmer, instead of replacing what it can do.

Paragon.

Spear-using ranged sustained DPS and support, using burning attacks and chants (shouts that pulse) and refrains (effects that trigger when a boon ends/is removed) to help the party from back/middle line.

1) The name.

“Chronomancer” is a name with some GW1 history. It also alludes at some of the abilities the Mesmers have today, showing how the specialization is a refinement of the currently existing profession.

Dragonhunter, in other hand, is a joke. All our characters are Dragon hunters. One could say, “but all our characters are defending something, so we’re all guardians too!”, but the thing is: the Guardian is more focused and more suited for defense, and actually guarding something, than the other professions. The Dragonhunter, in other hand, is as suited to killing dragons as everyone else.

It’s obvious ArenaNet originally planned on calling the specialization just “Hunter”, but gave up when they realize how that name makes obvious how much of a ranger rip off the “Dragonhunter” really is.

2) The Chronomancer gets new abilities, such as alacrity and the new F5 skill, but they don’t replace anything. The Chronomancer only adds abilities to the mesmers, instead of removing them.

Meanwhile, the Hunter’s virtues actually replace the existing ones. The passive effects will be kept the same, but a Hunter loses the Justice active effect Guardians have, with said effect being replaced by the new ones. Which means, the Hunter doesn’t really add anything to the Guardian, only replaces things.

3) The Chronomancer is not a necromancer. They get access to wells, sure, but a “well” is something very vaguely defined in the game. Is a well an area of effect skill that pulsates? Arguably, that would mean Null Field (which happens to be a Mesmer skill) is a well too.

Plus, the Chronomancer’s wells aren’t the same as the necromancer wells – they have been adapted into the Chronomancer’s theme, with unique effects that keep it obvious the specialization is its own entity.

Meanwhile, Hunters are just Rangers rip offs. The bow, by itself, doesn’t mean anything; but even the announcement video shows how the Hunter is similar to the Ranger, down to having a skill that looks almost exactly like Barrage. Traps also happen to be a Ranger skill type, and not only one that is far from being popular, but also one that is about to be nerfed (traps will need a delay after being placed before they trigger).

4) In the end, the main difference between Chronomancers and Hunters is: Chronomancers are a great, well designed specialization that fit within the Mesmer lore and help to refine the profession. Hunters are a big piece of multiple kittens, and shouldn’t be anywhere close to being associated to Guardians.

The thought process behind this specialization’s name is obvious.

Dev1: “So, what weapon for the guardian spec?”

Dev2: “What about a bow?”

Dev1: “Like a Ranger?”

Most of the room: “YEAH!”

Dev2: “We could give them traps, too!”

Dev1: “Ok, what do we name it?”

Sarcastic Dev: “Ranger?”

Dev with Sarcasm Flying Way Past His Head: “Yea… No, Ranger is taken. How about Hunter, then? It’s a lot like Ranger!”

Entire room (Sarcastic Dev has rolled his eyes and left): “YEAH!”

Dev1: “Guys, we have to be more subtle, or people will think the Guardian spec is just a Ranger rip off. Hunter is too close.”

Dev2: “How about then… Dragonhunter?”

Room: “PERFECT!”

Dev1: “Great! So dragonhunter it is!”

Siva Mira.3546:

It will price the same as a new game. Anet maybe a nice guy but they don’t operate base on Fan-letter papers.

Considering how HoT isn’t a “new game”, rather an overhyped way of releasing Living World season 3 masquerading as DLC, pricing it as a new game can lead to less people buying it. Which would, ironically enough, require ArenaNet to operate based on fan-letter papers if they don’t want to close.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

Will there be an open beta (maybe with the purchased (pre-ordered) key?)

I’m not sure. ArenaNet’s message this time was clear: “We only want you in our beta if you are a grinder willing to farm the same few repetitive events over and over”. It stands to reason that, if that’s the kind of player they want in HoT, they wouldn’t be fond of what the other players would say after experimenting the expansion.

States.6387:

Such as allowing us to restat the ones we possess?

They should. And they also have no reason not to. We know they can do it, because they have done so before.

Unless ArenaNet wants to slap their players’ faces, they have to do this. And if they want to slap our faces, well, we can always answer with our wallets.

daviesforu.6291:

What do you guys think?

So this is basically one more “raid plz!” topic, right?

Considering the current technology in the game, I don’t think that would be even possible right now. And the lack of new dungeons in HoT show how ArenaNet is focusing more on open world content, not instanced content.

Or if the rumors about the necromancer specialization being called “Reaper” are true, and the scythe in the icons is there as a symbol of the name.

In the Chronomancer interview, ArenaNet mentioned how they’re using old mesmer skill icons as placeholders for the Chronomancer skills.

And, guess what that_shaman has datamined from GW2?

Old skin icons from GW1 which are now being used in the newer game.

Enjoy speculating about which skills and which specializations those icons could be for.

pdavis.8031:

How do we know that condition duration isn’t going to be tied into a new trait?
We do know that some traits will be removed, others added, and some changed.

So you still don’t understand the most basic point of this discussion, that stats are going to be removed from traits? Despite how it has been said over and over and over?

Well, I’ll repeat for you: stats are going to be removed from traits.

So no, condition damage or duration or power or precision won’t be “tied into a new trait”. We know that because ArenaNet has spoken about it, and it has been heavily discussed in the forum and read by those who were paying attention.

Considering how that’s the exact reason why people are asking for a gear respec, what do you think you have been talking about in this topic?

Aidan Savage.2078:

Test.8734:

snipped because my reply boils down to one thing below

Anet hasnt stated the exact specifics to what they’re adding/changing to armor stats. Cart goes after the horse, not before it. Flip a kitten after you know more.

Maybe they’re making condi duration a derivative of condi damage (sorta like crit damage is a derivative of ferocity now)? Who knows. Sit tight and watch.

Yes, it’s definitely wiser to wait until after they have implemented the change and people have already began selling and buying gear in order to adapt, and THEN ask for a gear respec, than asking for one right now.

It’s probably why it’s a good idea to try to jump from an airplane and see if you die, because if that happens, then you know it may be a good idea to bring a parachute next time, right?

/sarcasm

Listen, stop cuddling ArenaNet like they are a bunch of babies. If they have somehow a magic fix to this issue that solves all issues with gear changes after the trait overhaul, great. Then all the complaining about it would have been meaningless, and we would have only wasted our time. If, in other hand, ArenaNet has not thought about what they are going to break with the trait change (just like they have not thought about many of the many, many things previous patchs have broken), then a gear respec is something we know they can do, and so far no one has given a reason as to why that would hurt the game.

ArenaNet doesn’t really need you to tell people they cannot do something. ArenaNet doesn’t need you to tell players they won’t give a gear respec option. ArenaNet is not a baby that is going to cry because the mean players are asking for a very reasonable solution for an issue, and you are not their baby sitter.

Rauderi.8706:

Then I suggest planning ahead. You know the change is coming. Prepare your T6 materials and Ascended crafting materials now.

What about everyone who got their ascended armors and weapons before the change was announced, based on how the game works right now? Should they be punished because they didn’t predict ArenaNet would make such a big change? Or could ArenaNet simply fix the issue by giving people a gear respec?

pdavis.8031:

I don’t see what the issue is.

It’s good you understand that.

Let me say it slowly: people who like to play smart plan their builds. Which means, when people pick the stats they want to have, they do so considering the stats they get with the combination of gear and traits.

So if someone is making a build focusing on Power, Precision, Condition Damage and Condition Duration… With the gear options we currently have, that player would get gear focusing on Power, Precision and Condition Damage. What about condition duration? The player would get it from traits, and thus finish his build.

Now, stats are being removed from traits.

So, our example would get more Power, more Precision and more Condition Damage from his gear. Yay? No, irrelevant. What about the condition duration that came from the traits? Is there any gear that has the combination of condition duration + power + precision, or condition duration + power + condition damage, or condition duration + precision + condition damage?

Wow, look at that! No, there isn’t!

Which means, the stats combination that player had, the stats combination the player had planned, and the stats combination the player build his gear and his trait around – don’t exist anymore.

So, the player’s build has been invalidated. The gear he had no longer leads to the result he had.

Do you understand now, finally, why are there so many players asking for a chance to change the stats on their gear now?

And, for the records, do you have any even half good reason as to why ArenaNet shouldn’t allow people to change the stats of their items?

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

For general purpose though, there is no reason to give everyone a free stat reroll. Its just not needed.

You have no reason for ArenaNet to not give everyone a free stat reroll. And you are ignoring how people build with the stats from their own traits in mind, not only stats from gear.

Zaklex.6308:

As Lanfear and pdavis have noted above, there’s absolutely no reason to allow anyone to re-select stats for their gear. NO stat options are being removed from the game with HoT as MF was before,

They are.

Right now, we can do gear + stats from traits. Due to how gear selection is limited, there aren’t ways to convert all possible stats options from traits to gear. With the removal of stats from traits, we have lost stats combinations that are not possible with the gear we have right now.

Ergo, and rather obviously for anyone who has thought about this issue for more than half a second, there are plenty of good reasons for ArenaNet to allow people to change the stats of their gear.

It’s kinda amazing that so many people are asking for that right now and yet a few haven’t even tried to understand where that plea is coming from.

In fact, and rather obviously as well, there is no good reason for ArenaNet to not allow people to change the stats of their gear when this hit. Honestly, what do you think they would lose by doing that? Why are you even against the idea in the first place?

heartless.6803:

Is going to be new dungeons added with HoT that the new legendaries will require tokens from

There will be no new dungeon in HoT.

And for the records, we won’t get a full set of legendaries either. ArenaNet will release the expansion with only a few legendaries, and one day (zzzz…..) they will release more.

RollFzzlbeef.4092:

WHY is this a thing?
Seriously, this is worse than charr clipping on gemstore outfits.

Why are you surprised? Didn’t you see the massive clipping on the 600 gem fan focus skin? You can check it here. That’s the kind of quality control we should expect from ArenaNet, it seems.

Brother Grimm.5176:

I’m guessing $29.99 USD.

Some signs suggest that ArenaNet is somewhat desperate for money, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to charge twice that amount. The amazing thing is that some people would be gullible enough to actually buy the expansion at the 60.00 price point; which is pretty much what new, AAA, full content games are selling at.

warduke.1780:

When HoT arrives and huge, sweeping changes are made to core aspects of the game that will make some of our alts unplayable, will we be able to get a gold refund for the gear that will now be useless?

The least ArenaNet should do is allow us to repick the stats of our gear. Just like people can do all the time with legendary items, and just like ArenaNet did when they removed magic find gear from the game.

They pretty much have no real reason to not do that.

If they don’t announce it, simply vote with your wallet. Don’t buy HoT or gems until ArenaNet implements it.

It would be better, by now, if ArenaNet just removed Death Shroud.

Players: “Necromancers don’t have any useful way to grant stability!”

ArenaNet: “Because necromancers already have Death Shroud, with Death Shroud AND that they would never die!!!”

Players: “Necromancers can’t use utility or healing or elite skills with their profession mechanic!”

ArenaNet: “Because necromancers already have Death Shroud, with Death Shroud AND that they would never die!!!”

Players: “The life stealing traits are too weak! They barely make a difference!”

ArenaNet: “Because necromancers already have Death Shroud, with Death Shroud AND that they would never die!!!”

Players: “We can’t heal decently in Death Shroud! If a party member uses regeneration on us, nothing happens!”

ArenaNet: “Because necromancers already have Death Shroud, with Death Shroud AND that they would never die!!!”

And so on and so on.

ArenaNet is probably afraid of what would happen if necromancers were more resilient in PvP (because LOL esports and etc). However, Death Shroud is far from being as useful as ArenaNet thinks it is.

Group play in PvE in GW2 is very degenerate – the “might plus stack plus spam DPS” meta is rather poor. Necromancers don’t go anywhere close to that meta, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but they still need a big change in order to feel useful and desirable in PvE.

DevilLordLaser.8619:

And people are taking the dual-classing comment too literally. The Chronomancer uses Wells because ArenaNet wanted giant clocks on the ground that pulse effects, and using an existing skill classification allows for more potential rune/sigil synergy in the future. The Chronomancer is only superficially an Me/N, and trying to treat it like a particularly fruity Necromancer is going to get Chronomancers killed.

Honestly? Give up. We still get people saying every profession is a hybrid of ritualist plus something else even when said profession is nothing like the ritualist at all (with the exception of the engineers, which are exactly what ritualists were, and the reason why we won’t have any kind of ritualist hybrid in GW2). We will have people saying that specializations are an hybrid of two professions even if it becomes (more) obvious that they are nowhere close to being such thing.

pdavis.8031:

and putting them back together with their interpretation as to how they have lied, and are basically dishonest.

The OP is just trying to stir upon dissent and nothing more.

The interesting thing is that nowhere in the OP here it’s stated that ArenaNet has lied.

So tell me: after reading it, have you, by yourself, reached the conclusion that ArenaNet has lied and been dishonest?

Or are you just trying to stir upon dissent and nothing more?

Galeskyring.9617:

Test.8734:

Galeskyring.9617:

I for one like it, with or without the dragon, its got a nice dangly tassel and animates an open/close when drawn or stowed.

Too bad it has horrible clipping. Take a look at dulfy’s video. Unless you have an Asura, expect to see the 600 Gem skin clipping horribly with your character’s leg.

1: nothing is perfect

Not having such a massive clipping issue in something we have to buy with a no small amount of gems isn’t exactly being “perfect”. It’s the least ArenaNet should have done.

More importantly, it’s rather clear that ArenaNet is measuring success through metrics. Do you guys remember:

• When ArenaNet was asked if they were ever going to fix Char and Asura bad armor textures? And ArenaNet said they wouldn’t, because very few people play as one of those races? Is that measuring the success of the Char and Asura based on how fun they are, or based on metrics?

• When ArenaNet asked a designer to overhaul the Ascalon Catacombs dungeon so less people would farm there? And when the dungeon was changed, and less people farmed there, and thus (obviously) less people played there, that designer was fired? Was that measuring the success of the dungeon based on how fun it is, or on metrics of how many people played it?

• When ArenaNet introduced log in rewards? Were those introduced because they make the game more fun? Or because they were meant to increase the number of unique log ins each day, which is an important metric?

• When ArenaNet asked people to grind the Silvewastes and Dry Top for beta access? Was that because grinding for a lot of time knowing most players would not get a portal is fun? Or because ArenaNet wanted to have metrics showing a lot of people playing on those two maps?

So, how do you guys think ArenaNet measures success today? Based on how fun GW2 is?

Galeskyring.9617:

I for one like it, with or without the dragon, its got a nice dangly tassel and animates an open/close when drawn or stowed.

Too bad it has horrible clipping. Take a look at dulfy’s video. Unless you have an Asura, expect to see the 600 Gem skin clipping horribly with your character’s leg.

More or less three years ago, during the GW2 hype, ArenaNet released an article called: “Is it Fun? Colin Johanson on How ArenaNet Measures Success”. The message behind the article was that, in a MMORPG without monthly fees like GW2, the common MMO strategy of measuring success through subscriptions would not work; which means ArenaNet was free to measure success by how they wanted, and they chose to measure it on the game being fun or not. This would, thus, allow ArenaNet to make many design decisions that would promove fun.

You can read the article right here; and do take a look, it’s interesting.

I would like to take a look back on that article, and see how much of it still applies to the game today. First taking a look at the bullet points:

• “Fun impacts loot collection. The rarest items in the game are not more powerful than other items, so you don’t need them to be the best.”

And now we have ascended gear, which is far from being common and is definitely grindy; and legendaries being at the level of ascended, so they are indeed more powerful than most of the stuff in the game.

• “Fun impacts decisions. Every time you finish a dungeon you get tokens you can trade in for reward items that you want, rather than having a small chance of getting it as a drop, because it’s more fun to always get rewarded for finishing with something you want to have!”

So, how many of those who spent a lot of time farming the Silverwastes for a beta portal got one? Not many? Maybe because they had a small chance of getting it as a drop. Wouldn’t it be more fun to always get rewareded for finishing with something you want to have?

• “Fun impacts development. Explorable dungeons have multiple paths you can take and random events. Because of this you don’t feel like you need to play the same dungeon over and over again if you want to chase the prestigious rewards at the end, but can instead mix up that experience to keep it fresh and fun.”

Did any dungeon added after release have multiple paths? No? Oh well.

Were those chasing portal keys feeling like they needed to play the same two maps over and over agains if they wanted to chase the reward at the end? Yes? Oh well.

• “Fun impacts customization. The event and personal story systems allow you to get a sense of customization from your characters.”

ArenaNet said they will remove the branching personal storyline from future storyline content, just like what we got in the Living World season 2. Linearity is the name of the game now, it appears.

• “Fun impacts gameplay. The pursuit of fun in content led us to make many gameplay decisions, including:Everyone who helps kill a creature gets experience and loot, so you’re not competing with other players; everyone gets rewarded for events with karma they can spend to buy rewards they want, rather than get a random roll of stuff they might not want; content scales in difficulty, so if more people show up, there is still stuff for you to do”

If there are too many players hitting an enemy, you risk not dealing enough damage and thus not getting experience and loot, meaning you are often competing with other players. Karma, awarded for events, is basically useless; the desirable drops at those which are random and often are not something players want (see the spoons at Teq, while people are farming it for the ascended weapons). Content scales in difficulty rather poorly, so large zergs just spam 111 and win the game.

So, yep, that article clearly holds rather nicely after all those years.

lordkrall.7241:

What fueled Prophecies?

(…)

Not to mention the fact that they did add a cash shop (that only accepted real money) which included more or less power-buying and such, rather soon after release.

Yeah, that cash shop? It was only added to the game after the second campaign, which was a massive injection of content unlike what we got in GW2. Funny to see how the original business model was not only enough to keep the original game going but also fuel an entire second campaign, while we get a fraction of that in GW2.

And if you think selling character slots means “power-buying and such”, I’m sure you must be aghast at GW2’s Gem Store

Draknar.5748:

I don’t think you understand how a Buy-to-Play game works….

Or do you believe box sales alone would be enough to keep this game running for potentially over a decade?

You didn’t play the original Guild Wars, did you? Guess what fueled Guild Wars: Prophecies while ArenaNet worked on the next campaign?

Dawdler.8521:

Both Dry Top and Silverwaste is a “new generation” of the GW2 maps, having more involvement than any other map. IMO they are what GW2 advertised even before release but failed to truly deliver

I think it’s actually the opposite of everything GW2 advertised before release. They’re repetitive, grind-based maps in which players lack agency and with a strong lack of polish (geodes and crests are new currencies and yet cannot be added to the wallet, despite how the wallet was created exactly to hold currencies).

The “it’s your story” thing from before release? Not really, Dry Top will continue repeating over and over no matter what you do. “We don’t want players to grind”? Apparently it’s all they want players to do, since there’s little else to do at both Dry Top and Silverwastes. “Fun, unique events”? Silverwastes is basically a copy-paste of the same fortress in four different places of the map, with the same couple events repeating over and over until a Breach happens.

It’s probably the new direction GW2 will go, but it, just like the beta, is clear with the message “if you are not a grinder, don’t bother coming here”.

ROMzombie.5196:

So, as my request to go along with the new trait/skill system, could you please look at giving every Soulbound Exotic/Ascended item a free single stat-combination choice?

That’s the minimum they should do, and we know they have the technology for that (they did it when they removed magic find gear).

If ArenaNet doesn’t announce doing exactly that soon, I think we will need to vote with our wallet. I suggest not buying HoT (or gems) until they fix it.

heartless.6803:

Which is still better then inviting a random account that doesn’t even have an 80 and can’t even test anything.

False. People are not using their characters to beta test, so the fact that you have a character at level 80 or not does not mean you won’t be able to play in the HoT beta. So claiming that a “random account” without a 80 “can’t even test anything” is factually wrong.

Meanwhile, the current system doesn’t even ask if people want to join the beta or not. I hope I get an invite just so I can post a video of trashing it and laugh at how ArenaNet isn’t interested in knowing if those getting the portal want it or not.

Ithilwen.1529:

If I wanted to be a zerg zombie, I’d play WvW. Should it turn out that HoT is mainly about massive zergs, I will have to consider not buying it.

Honestly, that’s the kind of direction ArenaNet has been talking about. Open world, zerg-based repetitive content… That’s what Silverwastes is, and it’s likely what HoT will be as well.

ezd.6359:

Last two weeks i wasted ~2400 gold in MF. I craft rare items, sell exotics. So last two weeks i got 0 precursors. With normal rates should be ~3-4, expected to get at least 1… BUT ZERO!

Nice, the “they nerfed ecto salvage rate!” topic returns with a new skin.

You do realize that you are far more likely to get a precursor if you use exotics in the forge instead of rares, right?

lordkrall.7241:

Of course not, but it might very well be up for a weekend or even a full week or two.

And do you know why all you can do is say what “might” be, instead of what will be?

Because this guy is right:

mulzi.8273:

i have no issue with the way they are controlling access to the beta. However, I wish they would provide full disclosure on what will be in the beta to everyone, even if its just a write up.

ArenaNet is (again) having horrible communication. They told people how to get access to the beta, but they haven’t announced when will the beta be, or what kind of content it will have, or any other relevant information.

What if someone spends a lot of time grinding for access (because that’s effectively the only way to get access, by grinding), and the beta happens to be in a day in which said someone is busy? Whose fault do you think that would be?

ArenaNet should at least have told us when is the beta going to be, and what content it will feature. But no, they didn’t manage to do even that.

Mightybird.6034:

why does gw2 feel like a grindy f2p?

The original Guild Wars made money mostly through selling new campaigns. Much like a book (in the meaning that you read a book, and if you enjoyed it you will likely buy the sequel), ArenaNet used to make content that would be fun for players, so, when players were done with it, they would wait for the next chapter of the game. The original Guild Wars didn’t get microtransactions until late in its life, and those were never the focus.

GW2 is the opposite. We do pay to buy the game, but ArenaNet’s focus is on the Gem Store. Which means, instead of focusing on fun content, ArenaNet cares about artificially increasing the game’s life by encouraging repetition (read: grind) and by encouraging daily log-ins (the dailies, now the log-in rewards) in order to increase player exposure to the Gem Store and hopefully have people buy stuff from it.

Since F2P games usually rely on the same strategy, it’s to be expected that GW2 would feel like it were F2P.

The main change, I think, is that now people are willing to pay more for less. Back in the days of the original Guild Wars – which, remember, was released more or less when WoW was first released, so pay to play and grind were not as widespread and F2P games were very rare – we didn’t have so many people willing to pay for subpar content that they don’t even enjoy but that gives them a shiny reward. Now, well…

lordkrall.7241:

So… signing up on a mailing list is less of an RNG?
At least with this system it guarantees that people that get invited are at least playing the game.

It guarantees that people who grind a lot get invited. It doesn’t guarantee even that those who get the invite are interested in the beta at all, unlike what would happen if people added their names to a list.

Besides, who are you to say that the feedback from someone who’s playing the game right now is more valuable than the feedback of an old player who decided to ask for an invite and is willing to return to the game for the beta?

“We don’t want players to grind!

But oh, if you want to get access to beta, you better grind a lot!"

That’s ArenaNet these days, I guess. It really shows us what kind of players they’re making HoT for.