I used a basic item transmutation with my slingshot (had it on a crappy bow, ust an item transmutation stone to transfer the skin on a better bow), and it totally worked. 
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‘Tis the season of giving, so how is festive spirit ruined when there is a lot of giving away involved? That’s why I choose to give my monthly budget for this game to charity instead. Not a significant amount, but I did my best.
That was very festive of you, and actually a really good idea. Thanks for sharing. No matter the amount, I’m positive those less fortunate will be thankful you did.
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I’m pretty dumbfounded by this decision as well. Not only is it extremely taxing on the player to feel so controlled by such a silly system (’Here’s a costume! Can’t wear it when you want though, give us money!’), but it’s also a terrible way to collect profit from the equipment being sold in the cash shop!
I would’ve bought so many costumes already if I could have worn them outside of ‘town clothes.’
They really should adjust this, but we’ll see what Arena Net chooses to do with their game.
Great article, thanks for sharing.
I really hope ArenaNet reads this article and fine tune their very unique game features. This can only better an already fun game.
To the OP, really you pointed out most of the main issues I have with Guild Wars 2. Thanks for making this thread. However, I don’t believe this game feels like a F2P game at all.
Guild Wars 2 is living in this very grey area of the MMO genre. It has the polish of an AAA MMO, but it’s quite obivious they’re trying to get as much money as they can through their Cash Shop. I was never under the impression GW2 wasn’t going to pump some muscle into their cash shop, but I did expect for them to act just as they are acting now.
Guild Wars 2 is a constant game of Balance. They may put up extremely rare RNG items in their cash shop chests, but they also offer plenty of items in game as well. So in regards to their cash shop, I think they’re getting it right. They may lean more towards revenue than quality for their players at times, but I see them adjusting their methods very often (compare the halloween event with the wintersday event).
When it comes to rewards, I completely agree the payoff doesn’t equal the work / time put into the effort. I apologize if this may come off offensive, but in all honesty… I just don’t think ANet has many good ideas on lengthening the lifespam of their playerbase.
The easiest, and cheapest way to keep your players playing is to introduce RNG. Players will throw themselves at a brick wall for years over this system (just look at any major MMO out there……). However, many players are getting very tired of this system.
A good solution would be to toss in some speed bumps through leveling. Make personal story quests required to level past those levels. Force players to take a break from grinding XP. Spread out the weapons through the levels, and make players do quests to unlock those weapons for their class. Attach quests to the elite skills.
This is a more costly fix to lengthening the player’s experience than RNG, and that’s why you don’t see more of it.
Either way, I’m starting to enjoy the game again. I definitely feel in a year ANet will find their groove, and have a great balance between making profit, and making fun for their players.
I would have liked for this bag to be upgraded, but meh that’s fine. The bag wasn’t even the focal point of the event, the toys were. So I’m cool with the crappy stats.
I just wanted to “pop” in and say that I understand how important this is to you all, and I agree that the slingshot sounds really cool when it’s fired. Unfortunately, the root of the issue is not just a mere oversight but rather a technical issue that has to do with the differences between these two weapon types. When we discovered the issue we made the determination that it was better to have the pop gun without the pop sound than not have it all.
In this case, I’m sure we want to solve this problem for other cases in the future so I would say chances are very good that this will be fixed. I just can’t say exactly when it will be fixed though. It probably won’t happen before the holiday is over.
I can’t tell you enough how muc I appreciate the response, and knowing this will be fixed. So take your time.
I understand how this may seem like such a small matter in comparison to other issues with this game, but PLEASE devs… I implore you, add the pop noise to the skin!
It would make this skin so much better! I will buy your item transmutations to keep this skin if you do this, and I’m sure others would as well!
Please please please
!!!
Totally need to adjust this skin!
Soooo sad the skin doesn’t replicate the noise! That’s the whole reason I bought the skin. Was super sad to realize the noise wasn’t held over.
Please add the pop noise to the pop gun! Whole reason to have this skin in the first place!!!
Wow great video! Thanks so much for sharing
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well the medium armor complaint has been goin on from start >>
and ye bugs are still high on the complaint list but it just icks alot of people in a game where cosmetics is everything the armor just lacks alot of itUnderstood mate – just pisses me off the amount of whining people do – if they aren’t happy go back to that hold-your-hand-baby-mode-ez crap game.
I can understand your frustration, especially with how aggressive these forums have become, but please try to understand many of us are here to share our opinions. Although some may come off worse than others, in the end ArenaNet will make the game they want to make.
Those of us that do not agree with their changes will stop playing on our own, while others will want to come here, and express their opinions. In the end, it all comes from a place of concern (or else why even come here in the first place? Lol).
There will always be problems to fix in any game, but especially with MMO’s the team will always have to push forward. If they didn’t, we’d never see new content lol.
Although the equipment in this game overall is very pleasing, there just isn’t a lot of variety. I don’t think this is a huge fault on the art team. Personally, I didn’t even realize a few armor sets were available until 5-7 levels after the fact. Sure this could be my fault, but when armor isn’t properly spread through out the game a player can assume there’s just really not a lot of armor accessible.
This was just my personal gripe though.
don’t you dare forgetting the other ‘’ medium’’ armor class from gw 1
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Dervish_armor
Lol! You caught me! I was holding off on showing that equipment, because I have a feeling they’ll be adding Dervish to the game later.
I doubt they’ll be adding my favorite class (and main), Ritualist, though. So I wanted to share my deep love for my elegant class. <3
Lol @Ahlen,
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! I’m cherry picking my favorite armor designs. Those definitely weren’t the community’s favorite picks.
The first one looks pretty good, but the second one is like…they just stuck spikes on it for no reason.
Guild Wars 1 had far more subtle assassin armor than the second image I posted, and I really wanted to show the range between the two.
The way I look at equipment is as a whole. Generally I think to myself, which emotion is this equipment evoking?
The attached blades screamed dangerous, to me. Also the armor begged the question, Want to catch me? Then try and touch me! The design may be a little too heavy handed for some players. I loved it.
You should check out the armors though, they’re very interesting works of art if anything else.
Assassin
Ranger
Ritualist (My personal favorite series of armor <3)
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Lol @Ahlen,
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! I’m cherry picking my favorite armor designs. Those definitely weren’t the community’s favorite picks. 
Attachments:
I’m interested in this as well. Considering I paid for digital deluxe for full price, and just a few months have gone by with it now being free with purchase… just a little upsetting.
Sure, I should have waited. I did expect the price to drop eventually. I just didn’t expect the price to not only drop this soon, but also an exclusive item bundled with a package I previously purchased.
Oh well, if this is how ANet wants to do business, teaches me as a consumer to be smarter with my $$$ next time. : /
Look at it this way. Because you purchased early you were able to get the special GW2 baseball cap, the halloween witch hat, and the halloween devil horns. People who purchase now for the promo will only have a wizard hat. Seems like you made a smart decision to me, unless you value the appearance of wizard hats so much that it is worth more than the 3 other items.
That’s a really positive way to look at things. Thanks for your non-aggressive post. It’s nice to see people on the forums can still be civil to one another instead of blindly throwing punches.
I still don’t think 3 hats is really worth $20, but I did have a lot of fun at launch. I’d feel a lot better if ANet had waited a little while longer before they introduced this promo, but hey I’m not working there so I really don’t know what they have planned for the future.
Things avoided with a test server.
I can understand why ANet hasn’t implemented a test server yet. Look how much trouble they have running the servers they do have! I honestly feel that they just do not have enough time to invest in developing, testing, fixing, testing, fixing, testing, then implement on a test server, player test, fix, player test, fix… you get the idea.
I’d be extremely surprised if they didn’t implement a test server after about a year though. They just need time to get into the groove of things, and fix what they have first.
Someone invite a friend to buy gw2 and get us screenshots of the pwnty hat?
Lol, I tried to google for an image, but nothing is posted yet. If it’s different than the Halloween hat, I really think this could be an easy fix. Just offer it for free in the Black Lion store for a short period of time.
Of course, if ArenaNet wants to keep this exclusive then yeah, that kind of stinks lol.
Oh well
Looks like the witch hat to me, just renamed.
I got one from Halloween.
The icon looks the same, but I haven’t seen any in game screenshots.
Not for sure if this is a first craft or not, but either way great achievement!
Congratulations.
So much wonderful feedback in this thread. Great posts everyone!
I’m not going to say I’ve ‘quit,’ Guild Wars 2, because really I’m just taking a break.
I have a sour taste in my mouth with how ArenaNet handled this whole situation. However, I honestly couldn’t think of a better way to have handled the community’s outcry myself. So in the end I don’t necessarily hold them entirely accountable.
They posted a long detailed response to the fans, and answered honestly in the reddit Q/A.
This very much seems to be what ArenaNet wants to do with their game. The difference between other game corporations, and ArenaNet is ArenaNet can be incredibly stubborn. They’re going to do what they want with this game after all is said and done. I can really respect that attitude even if it does tick me off.
My break is caused by a few factors though, and I can’t attribute my pause entirely towards the introduction of ascended gear.
- I really dislike how imbalanced the classes are atm. (Some classes are fun to play while others are just a chore, or feel terribly ineffective)
- I absolutly abhor how they’ve taken out skill capping from Guild Wars 1. (In all honesty going out, and hunting dozens of skills in GW1 kept me playing that game for a very long time. That was my personal horizontal progression.)
- I’ve grown very tired of reading nerf nerf nerf! from patch notes instead of balancing skills, or just down right fixing them.
- The amount of work I put into this game doesn’t equal the reward I’m given.
Sure the ascended armor really left a sting, and especially a few comments on the Q/A. Yet, ultimately what’s driven me away from this game is the nagging feeling Arena Net aren’t managing Guild Wars 2’s priorities properly.
Just my opinion though.
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I love it when us nerds start to dissect our nerdy lores! Thanks for bringing this up OP, and ignore all the ‘then don’t come!’ people. They just don’t have the imagination (*cough*nerdiness*cough*) to delve into the lore and pick it apart.
So, I’m having really mixed feelings with ArenaNet still, but I’m going to take an appropriate look at this lore wise.
Honestly, I have no idea what they’re doing with this event, but did you give a thought to maybe this is a play off of Nightmare before Christmas?
Maybe this Asuran fellow spent his whole life studying Wintersday from years past, and didn’t feel it was good enough for the people of Tyria. So, instead of waiting on grouchy Grenth or dainty Dwayna; He’s going to take over Wintersday to do it right!
I also think you’re onto something with those toys. Remember how the toys in Nightmare before Christmas ended up? Never watched the movie? Well needless to say you leave toy making to the real toy makers.
Who knows! Maybe we’ll have to defend the cities from this crazy blimp in the sky!
(Also, I believe the airship is believable in regards to size and power. I think it’s more of a floating airship, not a giant robot flying through the air.)
We’ll have to see on Wintersday!
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However, I have not seen really anyone say; “These dungeons aren’t fun.” Then again, maybe I missed those posts.
They are fun the first couple of times you do them, because you are still learning how the complete them. After that, they are woefully repetitive.
Lol well there goes my argument. XD
Generally, I really don’t have a strong opinion on the matter. I do tend to lean towards the side of posters stating how ArenaNet has tweaked their design against their original statements. Yet even with that small bias I don’t necessarily think the gear itself is inherently bad for the community, or good for the community. That will only take time to tell.
The whole reason why I wanted to post on your thread is mainly I haven’t seen people saying the dungeons themselves are bad. On the contrary I’ve seen a pretty unanimous discussion that the dungeon is extremely fun.
The arguments I have seen are mainly on the issue of progression gear wise, and people not being able to find groups. I’ve yet to even attempt this content so I cannot post my opinion on this issue.
However, I have not seen really anyone say; “These dungeons aren’t fun.” Then again, maybe I missed those posts.
Thank you so much Roven Leafsong,
I’m sure I’m probably upsetting someone for constantly posting these thank you’s, but I can’t help to do so.
You’ve risen such great points, and I can only hope the developers are keeping an open ear as well as an open mind.
Hey there Kingfisher,
If you’ll read the rest of my post, you’ll find that I really discovered the problem I had with the game. Thanks for the suggestions.
@ Skyrant Kangaroomouse,
Thanks so much for the thoughtful post.
I believe this is really the core problem with the majority of games I’ve played recently. There’s this HUGE lack of communication between developers and players.
(Like the video I posted states) The developers come in from the mechanics point of view, then build up to to the overall Aesthetic of the game. Players go backwards, we start with the Aesthetic while working backwards to the mechanics. The problem I’ve noticed game developers tend to have is the whole cannot see the forest for all the trees. They’re not seeing the big picture together.
Sadly, most of the time when players state what is wrong with a game it’s very difficult to point out where in the mechanics is the fault. What may seem to be the obvious problem to players, might actually not even relate to the mechanic we blame. Unfortunately, this results in game fixes that either cause more trouble, or just bad designs in general.
In the case of Guild Wars 2, I feel this game had the absolute best intentions with very poor implementation. Hopefully through this thread the developers can take this constructive criticism, and see where some of their systems need tweaking while others need reinforcement.
Only time will tell, and hopefully during that time we, as gamers, will be able to better communicate our feedback in a more positive way not only towards each other, but to the developers.
your first mistake is thinking there is no trinity or “no role’s” to play ((come on im a warrior with a Healer/saport build.))
this game may not have the holy Trinity but i will be kitten if it dosnt have role’s that need to be filled
((bet you didnt know we call a defensive build in this game a Bunker insted of a Tank and i bet you dont know why))
Hello there UnderdogSMO, and thanks for your response!
I’m fully aware that there are roles to be filled in this game. However, I feel that you’re missing my point.
Warrior is probably the most effective class in guild wars 2, right beside Guardian. Although the developers were very successful in bridging the gaps between Tank – DPS – Healers with this class there are many more classes in this game that weren’t as successful.
This creates a rift between players (such as yourself and I), and often just a mess of arguments that the development team really have to work hard at trying to pull constructive information to improve on their game.
There will always be exceptions to issues with anything you discuss. Yet that does not necessarily mean there isn’t a problem that should be addressed.
In any case, I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying Warrior, and thanks for the post.
EDIT: I’ve added this post in my original post, because I feel people may be misunderstanding the spirit of my discussion. So if you read my OP, and are reading the replies, feel free to skip this one and save some time.
Great, now it’s gonna be a grindfest with a holy trinity in it.
Lol, I really don’t think you understood my post.
I am not saying:
- Getting rid of the trinity system is a bad idea.
What I am saying is:
- ArenaNet’s mechanics of getting rid of the trinity system didn’t translate well into Guild Wars 2.
That’s not to say we should have a trinity system. That is saying maybe the developers should take a look at their system, and find ways to improve upon it so the game doesn’t feel like a ‘zergfest’ at times.
Also those were only examples to start a discussion. There are plenty of other issues that may have been poorly implemented, and I truly believe discussing these features will help improve this game.
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I watched the video and it was very helpful to get some insights on the lower levels of game design. Thanks for the link btw. I usually am at a higher level in thinking about game genre, i.e., arpg=smash monsters/find awesome loot. But that definition really incorporates a collection of underlying elements that combine to create my experience. I’m sure there are aspects of GW2 that could use some polishing to better integrate and produce the intended effect. Sadly, because of the Ascended gear uproar I’ve been side-tracked into thinking about the consequences of deviation from the manifesto. It might have been better for Anet to work on refinement and evolution rather than scraping the manifesto and heading in another direction. They now have so many dynamics and countervailing forces at work it’s going to take a miracle to get things sorted out. It feels like a game that was guided by a great vision go to one where they are making it up as they go along. Given the situation, I don’t even know where to begin in a discussion like this.
Thanks Raine for your post! I’m really happy you enjoyed the video as well.
I completely understand your stance on this issue. At the very least the point you brought up with not even knowing where to begin in a discussion like this. However, that’s really a great thing!
I feel when we, as consumers, are left a little speechless when being presented with a problem, it’s really an opportunity for us to think. When I first watched that video, the entire time I was thinking Guild Wars 2. Even when I posted this thread I often paused not really knowing where to start.
I don’t believe this points towards the game having too many problems to fix, but instead I felt I was being put in a position of developer not player. Perhaps this stance on Guild Wars 2 can really help players provide great feedback that will resonate in the developers of Arenanet.
Thanks for the posts everyone!
Although I understand there are a plethora of issues many people feel are harming their enjoyment of Guild Wars 2; I think it could be much more constructive for the development team to hear how these problems may be affected from mechanics being poorly translated into actual game play.
As an example:
- Fixing profession bugs could equal ArenaNet attempting to stretch certain job classes to far, and too thin. Poorly designed job classes without a lot of depth often results in more issues to fix than enjoyment for the players. A big example I’ve seen of this would be the engineer class.
As a community of Guild Wars 2 let’s try looking at how these problems in game could be a product of great ideas on paper, bad ideas in game!
In any case, everyone’s points are really insightful to Guild Wars 2, and I sincerely hope the Developers are listening.
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I certainly agree that there are thins ANet could be doing to make the game more enjoyable, particularly getting to your second point. I don’t really see support or condition as viable options in PvE, and they certainly should be.
If it weren’t for the whole Ascended Gear debacle, I wouldn’t be all that worried about the future of the game. I found the precedent set by GW1 to be that eventually everything sorts itself out. I agree that there are a lot of things I don’t particularly want to be doing, but eventually there will be enough content to content myself with
Thanks for your response.
I think I’m in a very similar boat as you’re in. Personally, (and here comes the pitchforks comment.. Lol) I really -really- didn’t like GW1 Proph. Generally I felt my character was weak, the content progression was too slow, and I just really didn’t like any of the classes.
It wasn’t until Nightfall that I really felt ANet got into the rhythm of things. That’s a very similar view I have with GW2. I have a feeling after a few years this game will really be fine tuned and fun for everyone.
Hey there,
Personally when I log into Guild Wars 2, I stay in for about 10 mins then I just log off. I’ve no desire to really do anything in the game. Now this doesn’t have anything to do with the whole Ascended Gear system, or how there is now a rift between players because of fractal staging, or whatever else is happening in the game. I just don’t find the game fun, like at all.
I really couldn’t put my finger on exactly what was even wrong with the game. There are builds to differentiate my character. The art style is pleasing. There’s content to finish. There are people running around, and chatting. There’s pretty much every core feature a successful MMO needs.
So why do I, and so many other people end up not logging in to play this game?
Well, I was recently given this very delightful short (9mins) video that really put so much into perspective for me on game design.
(clicky – http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uepAJ-rqJKA#! The makers of this video have posted no opinion towards GW2, and the mechanics within the game. This is just a general video on Aesthetics of a Game.)
Really, I think I’ve found the reason (for me at least) why I feel Guild Wars 2 just isn’t standing up against other MMO’s I’ve played, and enjoyed.
Guild Wars 2 game mechanics do not match the overall aesthetic of the game. In other words, how the game plays doesn’t exactly equal the intended game environment we’re all experiencing.
Here are a couple examples:
- Lots of content equals not a lot of in game balance for the player. Often this game feels like a chore. Just running through one zone to another can demonstrate how monsters, events, and quests can be overwhelming. Not only do zones feel over crowded at times, but newer content often feels at odds with the older content.
- Getting rid of the trinity system equals everyone doing the same thing, but on a level of effective to not very effective. Getting rid of the trinity was supposed to offer open doors to all jobs, but as many of us have noticed this system really put job classes in a position where we’re all basically DPS. This is reflected with how events, dungeons, anything involved in a group feels more like a ‘zergfest’ than an actual strategic group effort. Not to mention with everyone basically becoming dps, the sad base foundation of damage per second is the fact that there will always be jobs that can do this more effectively than others.
Now this thread isn’t a hate on Guild Wars 2, and I don’t intend on promoting negativity towards this title. Really, I want to offer another way to look at what’s really causing problems between Players and Developers in this game in hopes these issues can be fixed.
What are some issues you feel as a player in Guild Wars 2’s game mechanics really reflect poorly in the game itself? Or if you feel I’m totally off my rocker on this issue, why so?
Thanks for reading.
EDIT:
I’m going to quote one of my posts in hopes of a little clarification on this thread for posters, and readers.
Great, now it’s gonna be a grindfest with a holy trinity in it.
Lol, I really don’t think you understood my post.
I am not saying:
- Getting rid of the trinity system is a bad idea.
What I am saying is:
- ArenaNet’s mechanics of getting rid of the trinity system didn’t translate well into Guild Wars 2.
That’s not to say we should have a trinity system. That is saying maybe the developers should take a look at their system, and find ways to improve upon it so the game doesn’t feel like a ‘zergfest’ at times.
Also those were only examples to start a discussion. There are plenty of other issues that may have been poorly implemented, and I truly believe discussing these features will help improve this game.
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