Guild Wars 2

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

this is all working as intended because they want new players to buy experience boosters in the gem store.

New players aren’t the ones who seem to have a problem with it.

Okay people are saying that it was used in Guild Wars 1…I’m sure it was used in other games before that but…

I just put taxi into the Guild Wars 1 wiki and Ferry came up. Everyone there used Ferry for the few places you needed Ferries.

Everything else, as far as I remember, was a run.

Zoso.8279:

Taxi was originally a GW1 term. People would taxi alts or new players through the different maps for a fee. I enjoyed the taxi because it was a cool service players gave. Made the world feel a bit more alive for me.

I don’t remember anyone say taxi in GW 1. I remember the Ferry and I remember runs…but I don’t really remember anyone using Taxi.

Could be an age thing though. lol

I’ve leveled two characters to max level since the NPE. The only thing I don’t like is the trait system, but even on my mesmer, I had no trouble leveling. None at all.

I’m not sure what’s supposed to be a nightmare about it.

I think the OP is right. Drytop and The Silverwastes will end up just like Orr.

Fun, challenging zones that people are playing the way they were designed to be played.

As opposed to overcrowded farm fests.

The funny bit is that the OP sees a problem in this. Working as intended.

It’s like asking how there can be a Final Fantasy 2 when the first one was supposed to be the FINAL fantasy. It’s a series name. Things change.

No business in their right mind would change the name of an IP just because the IP has shifted directions. There’s too much money involved in building a name to suddenly change names.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Vayne.8563:

slamfunction.7462:

I say go play it. You’re wasting your time here, unless you’re a brand new player. I’m not saying that to be mean, but if yer lookin for any kind of change or reaction here, just stop, because they don’t care. If you have a level 80, then you’re just not in their target demographic. They’ve proven that.

Because we didn’t just get another level 80 zone, with a new living story that people seem quite pleased with….oh wait…

Calling this shoe boxes zones is all nice and fancy, but he got a point and I think you know that too. Most effort seems to be put into the experience of new players, while challenging content for high level players is hard to find.

In fact, I think long time players that have been sticking around this long are just happy about any new bits of content the game has to offer. Like some plant in a dessert being happy about the few little drops of rain every now and then.

The other game offers a ton of content in a single blow (expansion), which is the way that I personally prefer it. It doesn’t feel artificially streched, discontinued and seperated, it feels like being in a world, immersive, with freedom to do stuff when I want. The story is not time gated, the quests are not time gated, the world is not time gated.

This is the biggest flaw with GW2 and the LS, it breaks immersion non-stop.

He doesn’t have a point.

There have been dozens of updates, and one of them had stuff for new players, maybe two. If you list all the updates from launch you’d see it.

The new player stuff got complained about by veteran players, but if you say we haven’t gotten two zones and a bunch of stories since July…I don’t know what to say. That’s all level 80 stuff.

You may not like it, but the vast majority of the updates have been for us. People are just entitled.

slamfunction.7462:

I say go play it. You’re wasting your time here, unless you’re a brand new player. I’m not saying that to be mean, but if yer lookin for any kind of change or reaction here, just stop, because they don’t care. If you have a level 80, then you’re just not in their target demographic. They’ve proven that.

Because we didn’t just get another level 80 zone, with a new living story that people seem quite pleased with….oh wait…

kitten .9460:

Vayne.8563:

kitten .9460:

Vayne.8563:

That’s my opinion.

100% irrelevant, I don’t see your point considering the discussion at hand about how much WoW owns GW2 in content.

I think you should stop correcting people for no reason except that you disagree with what they have to say. This is a line from the OP.

“Does Anet want to compete or not?”

My post was DIRECTLY on topic with that. I said exactly how Anet is going to compete. you may not agree, and you may not like what I have to say, but it’s for more no topic than you telling me I’m off topic.

Maybe you should have quoted the correct person, the question was “how can they compete with that”.

You then go on to say irrelevant things like people hate WoW and the subscription and how ANet is going to compete by doing absolutely nothing (lmao what?)

It’s how they can compete. They’re competing BY being something that a lot of people don’t like. I’m not even sure what you’re talking about anymore.

Edit: Anyway the person I quoted said this: How can they even compete with something like that.

It’s directly answering the question. Give it up and admit it. You lost the argument. You’re so quick to jump on what I say, you can’t even admit I’m on topic when clearly I am.

kitten .9460:

Vayne.8563:

That’s my opinion.

100% irrelevant, I don’t see your point considering the discussion at hand about how much WoW owns GW2 in content.

I think you should stop correcting people for no reason except that you disagree with what they have to say. This is a line from the OP.

“Does Anet want to compete or not?”

My post was DIRECTLY on topic with that. I said exactly how Anet is going to compete. you may not agree, and you may not like what I have to say, but it’s for more no topic than you telling me I’m off topic.

kitten .9460:

Vayne.8563:

aspirine.6852:

How can they even compete with something like that.

Until WoW is free to play, a lot of people won’t play it, period. But that aside, do you realize how many people simply don’t like WoW..

You say this all the time but it has no relevance to the discussion. We are comparing content here, your blind hate towards WoW and its subscription model is not needed Mr. ANet #1 fanboy

If we compare players then WoW has about 10x what GW2 has, don’t even try telling me 3mill still play GW2. Blizz has the numbers to back their game, the proof is in the pudding! The xpac is only going to expand that number.

I say this all the time because it’s true. A lot of people hate WoW. The are probably more people who have left WOW never to look back than are currently playing. But even in the beginning a lot of people simply didn’t like it.

So you’ve got two things. Some people won’t play a sub game period and some people don’t like that style of game. It’s completely 100% irrelevant that some do.

I mean a whole lot of people watch Big Brother, but that’s not going to stop other shows from doing business. A whole lot of people eat at McDonalds, but there are plenty of steak houses still doing business.

You seem to think I’m saying Guild Wars 2 will be as popular as WoW, which I’ve never said. I’m saying there are ENOUGH people that don’t like WoW who simply won’t play it, no matter what….enough people who like Guild Wars 2.

That’s my opinion.

aspirine.6852:

How can they even compete with something like that.

Until WoW is free to play, a lot of people won’t play it, period. But that aside, do you realize how many people simply don’t like WoW.

If WoW was free to play and the expansion was free, a lot of people would have no interest in it, BECAUSE it’s WOW. There are entire websites devoted to the hatred of WoW.

Guild Wars 2 will compete by not being WoW. That’s how they compete. They don’t need millions and millions of players. They’re not trying to compete with WoW.

Anet is playing it’s own game and Guild Wars 2 has been successful in it’s own right. Keep in mind MoP came out just after Guild Wars 2.

And you know, a small percentage of the playerbase might well go play the WoW expansion for a couple of months, just like some people left to play ESO or Wildstar.

But many of them came back.

How can Anet compete? By playing their own game…and not being baited into WoW’s game.

True story. I agree.

KarlaGrey.5903:

Not quite – GW in its heydays was ALL about the pvp, with the pve designed in a way to facilitate access and minimize grind that all other games required at the time (in particular, the req to gear grind to stay viable). However given its overall great design, the pve too was easily able to hold its own and provided one with plenty of things to go for. Granted, there were issues (some of which were addressed by the pve-pvp skill split and level-fielding all equip in pvp), but they were handled in a manner much better than here. And much faster, too.

The game had captured that ‘it’, but alas the continuation gave in to mediocrity and went the WoW-way.

Like I had said in the past, catering to the lowest common denominator is the lazy man’s way to game design. While GW was special and genuinely showed how much true innovation and thinking out of the box can do, GW2 just opted to be another of those generic grindy games that leave no real lasting impression on a player which exprienced that ‘it’. It’s just another pve game.

Just because you say something, doesn’t make it truth. Sure your opinion is that catering to the lowest common denominator is lazy. So it’s lazy to want to increase your market share I guess. So noted.

Guild Wars 1 was more of a niche game than Guild Wars 2, for a lot of reasons. Anet and NcSoft wanted to improve their business. So they appealed to a wider audience. I don’t see anything lazy about it.

And there are other factors. You can’t introduce an MMO that’s completely different on all fronts, because the public won’t accept it. You have to pick and choose what you’re keeping and what you’re leaving behind. Anet discussed not having levels at all and they discussed having infinite levels.

In the end, that might have been better, but there’s no real way to know. It’s very easy to second guess stuff when it’s not your investment on the line.

But I don’t actually think there’s anything lazy about this game. I think you have unrealistic expectations, and since you feel burned, you want to attack the game at every opportunity.

Which isn’t particularly hurting the game. The game is doing fine. It will continue to do fine.

Innovation is all well and nice, but it also has to be tempered, because people won’t jump from one format to another….they need stepping stones. WoW’s success insured the next game to affect the industry on a larger scale was going to be something that was only a half step, or maybe a quarter step.

I think Anet’s design decisions were deliberate, trying to figure out just how much innovation the average MMO player could deal with.

KarlaGrey.5903:

Vayne.8563:

But you know, it doesn’t matter what anyone says to you because you’ve been banging the same drum for two years.

Obviously you can’t find another game to play that’s more entertaining than these forums. Probably says something about the industry as a whole.

Nothing really changed in those 2 years, however, so why would one suddenly have to change their approach?

Worry not, however, for I have a pretty good game to play during my free time, and I’m sure you must have noticed I only really post during week days, mostly also because it helps me work on my English skillz (9) title!

On a side note, I can agree with the industry comment to an extent, but alas GW2 is just as guilty in that regard, and I came to the realization that the game can only really be appreciated by those who weren’t magnificently ‘spoiled’ by the original.

I played the original too, and I was “spoiled” by it. I really enjoyed it. This is a different game. I knew it would be a different game coming in, because I know two things.

You can’t make an open world MMO the same was a lobby game, and two, you can’t make a game that appeals to a broader base of people without making compromises. I expected that before hand.

I’ve played a lot of MMOs and the more streamlined they become, the more people tend to be interested in them.

And STILL this game does a lot of things better than the rest of the industry, something you neglect to take into account.

You’re mad that vertical progression was introduced two years ago…but since then, more vertical progression hasn’t been introduced.

The whole slippery slope, gear grind doom and gloom speak from back then did not eventuate. Most MMOs have had four tiers of gear in this time frame.

I think there will be an expansion. I believe it will be released when it makes good business sense to release it.

I don’t think the game needs fixing…I think the genre needs fixing. The fact that people bought what WoW and WoW clones were selling makes me shake my head in disbelief. If you want a classic MMO, there are plenty of them out there. This one is what it is.

And for many of us, that’s why we’re here.

KarlaGrey.5903:

Vayne.8563:

Korossive.7085:

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

…

One might think the only reason you came here was to stir the pot.

Stirred > stagnant.
Stagnant pots rot.

Stagnant feedback means we approve the LS excuse to a neglected world, and not all of us do. The link I posted, sheds ArenaNet-ignored light on world neglect, and not a single “we are/aren’t aware of any of these” affirmation could you find there. Some posters gave up on this conduct, others still try to jump the hoops.

Stirring the pot is an expression. Feel free to look it up.

Taking expressions literally doesn’t help anyone.

Haha, you know quite well what he meant, no need to pretend otherwise.

But yea, as people have said times and again, this is why one cannot hold a normal conversation, much less an argumented discussion with you, because it is not something you’d be even remotely interested in.

Also, oopsie on the wallet thing, I figured it had to be recent, given how much mention it’d get whenever people asked about recent positive changes.
Guess the picture might be somewhat skewed due to the few and far inbetween syndrome~

It works both ways. I knew what he meant…but he also knew what I meant and chose to ignore that. How come you’re not admonishing him? Biased much?

There are plenty of recent positive changes too, as I said the last update has gotten a lot of positive attention and that’s as recent as you get. And a lot of people loved the wardrobe, which is indeed this year.

But you know, it doesn’t matter what anyone says to you because you’ve been banging the same drum for two years.

Obviously you can’t find another game to play that’s more entertaining than these forums. Probably says something about the industry as a whole.

In case you haven’t seen OP, the response to this update has been overwhelmingly positive. Even these forums seem to have lost some of their bite.

I’m pretty sure someone must have liked this update.

Rip Van Winkle.4859:

Vayne.8563:

Rip Van Winkle.4859:

I am new here but Leveling is way to easy. I have never played a game that you could stay in a low level area and gain levels. To me it feels like a cheap way to play. I think it is a bad idea all the way around. I would like to see them make it so this level scaling nonsense was gone. That would make it so you had to move map to keep getting XP to level.

This game was advertised with level scaling as a feature and I think you’ll find most people like it. Here’s the problem.

In most MMOs, everyone stays in the final zones, because there’s no reason to go anywhere else. That means the game is increasingly empty. Why go back to a 40 or 50th level zone. There’s no reward. Nothing is doable there.

In this system you can still take your 20th level character into a 25 level area if you want, but everyone gets a choice.

Your way, only you get a choice.

This way is better. Much better.

Do you know how many times in other games I tried to level with friend and we had to sink up and wait for each other to log in, and then you’d play the character, get too far ahead and couldn’t hang with them?

Do you know how many times in other games I started an alt just to level with a friend?

I don’t have to do that anymore.

I am happy for you that you like the way it is. Again I think it is poor game design. That is my opinion. I have played different games on line and off line for many years. This is the first like this I have played. Yes I know how it was advertised I tried it and don’t like it this way. But then there are always people that will. To me it feels dumb-ed down.

It is dumbed down.

We’ve had threads about taking out downscaling before, and the overwhelming response to those threads have been that most people like it.

That’s my experience on these forums.

I’ve played lots of MMOs too and thought most of them sucked. I’m glad this game is different. It’s why I’m here.

Rip Van Winkle.4859:

I am new here but Leveling is way to easy. I have never played a game that you could stay in a low level area and gain levels. To me it feels like a cheap way to play. I think it is a bad idea all the way around. I would like to see them make it so this level scaling nonsense was gone. That would make it so you had to move map to keep getting XP to level.

This game was advertised with level scaling as a feature and I think you’ll find most people like it. Here’s the problem.

In most MMOs, everyone stays in the final zones, because there’s no reason to go anywhere else. That means the game is increasingly empty. Why go back to a 40 or 50th level zone. There’s no reward. Nothing is doable there.

In this system you can still take your 20th level character into a 25 level area if you want, but everyone gets a choice.

Your way, only you get a choice.

This way is better. Much better.

Do you know how many times in other games I tried to level with friend and we had to sink up and wait for each other to log in, and then you’d play the character, get too far ahead and couldn’t hang with them?

Do you know how many times in other games I started an alt just to level with a friend?

I don’t have to do that anymore.

Allisa Wonderland.8192:

Any time you say “a lot of people” you’re projecting,

I expect you know this by now. It’s like fox news when they use “some people say.” Its crap used to direct the view toward their point view.

You have been active in the forum since launch, and i have been watching.. I expect you you step up your game.

Have you read the yourlogicalfallicyis.com poster?

My son snows it, and he’s only 8.

You are a chanpion for the players of guild wars 2 , and as such I expect you to provide arguements at this level.

Before you defend your ego stance, take a breath… Then speak from your personal frame of reference.

Please accept that I am speaking with support of this. You have the experience,use it with credibility,

Vayne.8563:

[quote=4548741;Allisa Wonderland.8192:

You’re not alone. A lot of people had problems figuring out the zone’s layout. If you message me in game, I’ll show you around (assuming I’m not doing something with the guild).

You’re projecting again, Vayne… but thanks for the offer to help people

How am I projecting? I’ve helped a lot of people who had trouble navigating the zone to learn the layout.

A lot doesn’t mean most. People have had problems. What’s so hard to understand?

[/quote]

Okay I’ve helped at least a dozen people through that zone that had problems with it. If I happen to randomly find a dozen people, it’s got to be a lot of people If a hundred people have problems with it that’s a lot. Are you assuming that the dozen people I’ve helped through it are all the people. It’s not projecting.

I come into a thread where someone is asking for help and a bunch of completely unsympathetic posters basically ridicule them. Since I’ve had to help other people through, it’s quite logical that I didn’t get them all. It is a lot of people.

It’s not three people. I’ve had to help more than that.

I don’t think the NPE was meant to actually teach the player how to play the game in the sense that you’re thinking. I’m thinking it’s doing something different.

It’s made to teach the player what to expect and what not to expect here. That is to say, it’s showing hearts and events are something important and key to the game. It’s showing the personal story, which only appears every ten levels isn’t the whole or main game.

And it does prevent information overload which is a real problem for some people.

No matter what you do there will always be players who don’t care about builds or don’t want to bother with them and nothing any company will do will change that. But giving people an indication of what the game is about, that’s important.

Allisa Wonderland.8192:

Vayne.8563:

You’re not alone. A lot of people had problems figuring out the zone’s layout. If you message me in game, I’ll show you around (assuming I’m not doing something with the guild).

You’re projecting again, Vayne… but thanks for the offer to help people

How am I projecting? I’ve helped a lot of people who had trouble navigating the zone to learn the layout.

A lot doesn’t mean most. People have had problems. What’s so hard to understand?

You’re not alone. A lot of people had problems figuring out the zone’s layout. If you message me in game, I’ll show you around (assuming I’m not doing something with the guild).

The changes to the personal story don’t start until the level 70 personal story. Everything prior to that is fine.

I like how the OP pulls percentages out of the air. Where do you get the 99% of us comment from. Since the changes to it, I’m not even sure 50% care about it, let alone 99%.

How about we speak for ourselves. I know quite a few people who like the game better with the NPE. Certainly enough people to make me doubt that 99% of the people are bored by it.

The collectors edition was always a limited edition…which is what makes it a collectors edition. I don’t think any stores at this point would have a copy in stock.

duckideva.6358:

Wandered away a month or so ago, just came back to unlock the story chapter and see if they’d even bothered to reply to the thread.

All I’m asking, after months of trying to get a response is this: Are there changes on the development schedule, or are you just waiting for the storm to die down?

I have to tell ya, I miss Guild Wars, but I’m an altoholic, and I cannot, simply cannot face doing this absurd song and dance to trait another character. And i realize that my little gem card a month is a pittance in the grand scheme, but I cannot be the only old-timer who has stopped playing and stopped buying gem cards.

I just want to know if there’s any chance at all that you’re going to do something so that customers who bought character slots aren’t faced with these Sisyphean tasks over and over and over again.

Because it’s just breaking my heart that I can’t experience this gorgeous game the way I want to experience it, but instead must follow someone else’s plan for my play time. And I’d just as soon not play your way, but would like to go back to the game’s ideal state of being able to play my way.

Colin did say they were working on something for altoholics…but that’s all that was said.

Guild Wars 1 didn’t give infinite content for free and Guild Wars 2 isn’t going to give infinite content for free. But it’s free if you’ve been paying attention and logging in.

If that’s a problem for you, don’t play. But it’s not reasonable to expect free stuff forever.

I think that all guilds except for the biggest have trouble recruiting and that it’s a full time job.

My guild is pretty successful and it’s also a non-100% rep guild.

We have a hundred people or so that are on every week at least and many who are on each day. Most of them rep.

We run three events a week in order to keep people vested in the guild. 2 are guild missions but one is a community night.

The thing is, a lot of the time it’s about the guild leader. I’m there a lot…and I do mean a lot. There are actually five guild leaders in the guild and four of us are on daily….almost all the time.

By making the guild fun and entertaining and by being helpful, we attract the kind of people we want to attract.

I don’t really want a huge guild with a hundred people on at the same time. I want a group of 20 or 30 that’s always around, and then a cast of people who move through it.

It’s constant work but with so many leaders the work gets split.

skullmount.1758:

Vayne.8563:

skullmount.1758:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

I would start here:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/

They have trailers and summaries of all the story that has unfolded over the last year.

We are in the middle of season 2 of the living story right now. You can purchase the episodes you missed for a few hundred gems, or just read the summaries and jump right in. As long as you log in while an episode is live you get it for free.

The biggest thing is there are 2 new maps now, LA was destroyed (but is slowly rebuilding), lots of balance changes, megaservers, new leveling experience, some new traits, and lots of new weapons and a new armor set.

Alot of gemstore armors and weapons.
Non gemstore, we got 1 outfit (Hexed, during Halloween. I don’t think you can get it anymore), a single piece of a 2 new armor sets (currently, with rest of set(s) released piecemeal with rest of LS season2, so at least 10-11 more weeks to get full set) (one is really only a reskin of the other), one new weapon set (amberite, though no aquatic weapons), and a bunch of ‘new’ backpiece skins (that were originally released in China).

Except for the Glorious Armor set you mean.

True, forgot about that one. Knew I missed one. PvP tracks take me forever to finish.

Yeah I just got one of the chest pieces so far. I’ve started on the matching legs.

Triumpf.9075:

I used to play Eve and they have everyone on one server – with NO lag. And their servers are in England so the large server-lag thing is a myth, unless the software is bloated and not efficient.

Server lag isn’t a myth. It’s not even close to a myth.

Ships aren’t characters. All games have different servers setups, and space has a lot less detail and it a lot easier to render than a forest.

People do slow down, frame rate gets less, in crowds of people.

skullmount.1758:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

I would start here:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/

They have trailers and summaries of all the story that has unfolded over the last year.

We are in the middle of season 2 of the living story right now. You can purchase the episodes you missed for a few hundred gems, or just read the summaries and jump right in. As long as you log in while an episode is live you get it for free.

The biggest thing is there are 2 new maps now, LA was destroyed (but is slowly rebuilding), lots of balance changes, megaservers, new leveling experience, some new traits, and lots of new weapons and a new armor set.

Alot of gemstore armors and weapons.
Non gemstore, we got 1 outfit (Hexed, during Halloween. I don’t think you can get it anymore), a single piece of a 2 new armor sets (currently, with rest of set(s) released piecemeal with rest of LS season2, so at least 10-11 more weeks to get full set) (one is really only a reskin of the other), one new weapon set (amberite, though no aquatic weapons), and a bunch of ‘new’ backpiece skins (that were originally released in China).

Except for the Glorious Armor set you mean.

Larger servers would mean more lag, and more importantly, even more trivialized events than currently exist.

I don’t think more people on a server is the answer.

Korossive.7085:

Vayne.8563:

Korossive.7085:

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

…

One might think the only reason you came here was to stir the pot.

Stirred > stagnant.
Stagnant pots rot.

Stagnant feedback means we approve the LS excuse to a neglected world, and not all of us do. The link I posted, sheds ArenaNet-ignored light on world neglect, and not a single “we are/aren’t aware of any of these” affirmation could you find there. Some posters gave up on this conduct, others still try to jump the hoops.

Stirring the pot is an expression. Feel free to look it up.

Taking expressions literally doesn’t help anyone.

Oh but the phrase was successful on both fronts.

Have you read the paragraph?

Sure, but stirring the pot means instigating. There’s nothing positive associated with it, no matter how much you’d like to associate that stuff with it.

There’s constructive criticism, and then there are people who either want to troll or they want to see the game fail because they feel disenfranchised or because they like another game.

It’s not an all or nothing thing. There are plenty of complaints I don’t comment on at all. And then there are one line sarcastic pot shots that add nothing to the conversation.

A ton of stuff has happened, some of it well received, some if it not so much. But telling you in advance would be pretty hard. There are at two new zones, Drytop and the Silverwastes, Living Story Season 2 started (and is up to like chapter 5), there’s a new player experience, new trait system (which alot of people find frustrating so don’t delete your old characters).

The megaserver was instituted so even mid level zones will have people in them. Collections were adding to the game.

And a bunch of other stuff. Hop in and find yourself a good helpful guild. That’s my advice.

Korossive.7085:

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

…

One might think the only reason you came here was to stir the pot.

Stirred > stagnant.
Stagnant pots rot.

Stagnant feedback means we approve the LS excuse to a neglected world, and not all of us do. The link I posted, sheds ArenaNet-ignored light on world neglect, and not a single “we are/aren’t aware of any of these” affirmation could you find there. Some posters gave up on this conduct, others still try to jump the hoops.

Stirring the pot is an expression. Feel free to look it up.

Taking expressions literally doesn’t help anyone.

KarlaGrey.5903:

See, the wallet is one solid positive change which was not implemented at anyone’s expense (to my knowledge, at least).
New maps are also positive, yes, but seemingly only as long as they aren’t pvp maps (see the hate against Skyhammer for reference).
WvW hasn’t really received much love outside some bedcrumbs, and the colour option of commander tags, but I suppose the acc-bound change was also good (though only really affects a certain portion of players).

But if the changes which are, for the most part, universally regarded as good (e.g. the opposite of how the change to gem purchasing was universally hated) only amount to a handful, I’d probably be a tid bit worried, had I still played.

And, of course, I also gotta stir the pot a bit, so people don’t forget the pestering issues which might very well sink into oblivion unresolved due to the current festive mood.
Let’s see first if they wil actually follow up – in full – on their promise regarding the gem purchase and make it customizable both ways.

In case you haven’t noticed, the response to this patch has been overwhelmingly positive. The negatives have been mostly minor.

And yes, even the wallet people complained about…not many, but some.

KarlaGrey.5903:

Vayne.8563:

There’s things that are good mentioned in this thread already.

Edit: For example, in this thread I already said how much I like the megaserver.

YOU might like it, but whether the positives actually outweight/justify the negatives such as the destruction of RPing, great hindrance to grouping up, facilitation of zerging etc. is a different question. The negative impacts aren’t as innocent and insignificant as many people like to pretend, but they ’don’t listen either’ until changes will be introduced that will greately affect their own playstyle.

I’ve spoted a lot of negative changes and changes for the sake of changes, and illusions of changes (toolkit fixes), but I honestly missed changes which, for the most part, would be regarded as positive.

Who knows, they might add a raid you will ‘feel forced to complete’, but will not be able to do so because reasons. Perhaps then you will see things in a different light (still rather unlikely, though).

I don’t know. A whole lot of people seem to like the new zone. There are always, and I mean always, multiple overflows in EotM so someone likes it. The account wallet was almost universally liked. A lot of people liked Drytop. I’m pretty sure most people like the WvW specializations, the account bound points you get, the account bound commander tags and the colors.

There are some features without even trying.

You don’t like the game and haven’t posted anything constructive or positive since November of the year it launched. One might think the only reason you came here was to stir the pot.

KarlaGrey.5903:

wwwes.1398:

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

fellyn.5083:

It’s easy for me. The negatives outweigh the positives. Therefor, not a good year for GW2.

What positives?

Another constructive comment I see.

Do you really expect people to believe absolutely nothing positive has been done with this game at all period? Nothing?

This is precisely the reason why it’s hard to take anything you say seriously. I’m in this thread saying this is a mixed year. I can only assume you’re not even playing the game.

It’s always fun to go back and look at negative people’s posts to see if they started out positive and how long it took for them to get that way. With all respect to KarlaGray, the reason I personally can’t take them seriously is because their negativity began from the first post they made… in November 2012.

And it’s always fun to see people deploy ad hominems to dodge such a simple straightforward question. Then again, not being able or choosing not to answer is an answer in itself.

I don’t bother answering you, because you don’t listen. There’s things that are good mentioned in this thread already.

Edit: For example, in this thread I already said how much I like the megaserver.

wwwes.1398:

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

fellyn.5083:

It’s easy for me. The negatives outweigh the positives. Therefor, not a good year for GW2.

What positives?

Another constructive comment I see.

Do you really expect people to believe absolutely nothing positive has been done with this game at all period? Nothing?

This is precisely the reason why it’s hard to take anything you say seriously. I’m in this thread saying this is a mixed year. I can only assume you’re not even playing the game.

It’s always fun to go back and look at negative people’s posts to see if they started out positive and how long it took for them to get that way. With all respect to KarlaGray, the reason I personally can’t take them seriously is because their negativity began from the first post they made… in November 2012.

I simply object to offensive one liners that add nothing to a conversation at all. They’re simply attempting to bait people.

KarlaGrey.5903:

fellyn.5083:

It’s easy for me. The negatives outweigh the positives. Therefor, not a good year for GW2.

What positives?

Another constructive comment I see.

Do you really expect people to believe absolutely nothing positive has been done with this game at all period? Nothing?

This is precisely the reason why it’s hard to take anything you say seriously. I’m in this thread saying this is a mixed year. I can only assume you’re not even playing the game.

Kamui.4038:

Etien.4601:

Korossive.7085:

Etien.4601:

Just keep up the pace and good work like this into 2015

What pace? this?

… am I missing something?

Obviously. If you think inside the box like some of the forum posters here, I blieve you are missing the big picture. The additions we have this year are way way way better than last year’s. So for me and my guild mates it’s something.

He just posted the big picture; apparently you’re the one missing it.

The big picture is it’s hard to make an MMO the accomodates everyone and Anet is always in the middle. If it’s too hard, X people get disenfranchised, if there’s not enough content with good enough rewards Y people get disenfranchised, if the farming isn’t up to par, Z people get disenfranchised.

You can’t really make a game that’s easy and challenging, with and without farmers. There are people who love story and people who don’t care about story at all. There are people who are totally into mechanics and people who could care less about mechanics. Anet isn’t going to keep everyone, because there are people that are very much in the their own niche.

But there are also a whole lot of people, like me, in the middle. I don’t mind hard content but I don’t want to do it all the time. I don’t really care too much if hard content is added. I want to play with people, and social and have fun. New zone is great for that. Drytop worked for that too.

I don’t need percusors every two minutes as long as I feel I’m making progress toward something. Collections and achievments work for that.

You might thing I’m a minority, but I’m not really that sure. I think a lot of people fall in between the huge vocal populations who want very specific stuff.

That, to me, is the big picture.

The small picture is fringe groups feeling disenfranchised with a game that couldn’t possibly be what they wanted without alienating a bunch of other people and groups.

Chameleon Dude.1564:

There were definitely many redeeming updates this year, but I really wouldn’t call this a good year. The things that I see day to day are: megaservers, NPE and dwindling guilds/friends lists. No, this isn’t everything – but they affect me much more than the occasional well-written piece of story or interesting new zone we’ve been getting. I like Dry Top, Silverwastes and a lot of the new story, I like it a lot! But if my friends have been scared away from the game… I have no one to enjoy them with.

I’m not so sure most people would consider the megaserver a negative thing. More than anything that’s probably saved the game for me. The megaserver was the highlight of my year, personally.

Etien.4601:

Vayne.8563:

I don’t know that I’d say this is a good year for Anet. I think it’s been a turbulent year. I think that there are plenty of unfair comments on the forums but plenty of fair ones too. The game has made progress…and yes I’ve liked both new zones, but there’s plenty that requires attention that hasn’t received attention.

In short, I’m still enjoying the game, but just as I don’t really kow tow to the doom and gloom crowd, I don’t think it’s really fair to say this has been a good year for Anet.

I’m hoping next year will be a better year though.

If Anet can avoid some of the stumbles it’s made this year, next year might well be better.

You know I agree with everything you say.
For the guy above you well.. I play since bwe and as I agree with you too I must say I find lots of the problems mentioned and not being adressed as disturbing. I do want things to get done and fixed, don’t get me wrong. As owner of cyber caffe for 14 years yes this is my first game. No need to be an ahole.
With this thread I just wanted to put the hate and loathing aside and say how much better this year is compared to 2013.
And nobody can deny that.

See, I’m not so sure that’s true, because there are people who preferred LS Season 1 to LS Season 2. They’re very different. Imagine how you’d feel if you preferred the first season to the second. Both have advantages.

And yes, I’m all for bringing some balance to the forums, so good job on that count at least. While many of the complaints are legitimate, having so many complaints in one place gives the wrong idea of the game to people who haven’t been involved.

To be sure some people just don’t like the game…but that doesn’t make it bad.

I don’t know that I’d say this is a good year for Anet. I think it’s been a turbulent year. I think that there are plenty of unfair comments on the forums but plenty of fair ones too. The game has made progress…and yes I’ve liked both new zones, but there’s plenty that requires attention that hasn’t received attention.

In short, I’m still enjoying the game, but just as I don’t really kow tow to the doom and gloom crowd, I don’t think it’s really fair to say this has been a good year for Anet.

I’m hoping next year will be a better year though.

If Anet can avoid some of the stumbles it’s made this year, next year might well be better.

Steeldragon.7308:

Vayne.8563:

rapthorne.7345:

As a new player myself (relatively, been around a few months now and still learning the ins and outs) I have absolutely no regrets with regards to my investment in GW2. The community is probably the friendliest I’ve ever seen (bar some pvp elitist ragers and one or two forum members, but that happens everywhere) and the game is engaging enough to be played for hours on end, on top of casual enough to just log in and bugger about if you want.

The best part about pve in GW2 is that reaching cap level isn’t a horrifically boring grind. It can be done casually (real world casually, not WoW’s definition of casual) in a few weeks and you can go at your own pace due to the awesome scaled exp system (the game scales your level down in pve relative to the zone you’re in, granting you exp appropriate for your actual level when participating in events)

Yeah I know what you mean. Some guy from the forums even messaged me in game and blocked me when I disagreed with him. It was clear he didn’t understand a word I said. It’s funny how people get aggressive because you don’t agree with their expert opinions.

But over all, yeah the community is pretty good.

I had a guy from the forums too who messaged me in game who apparently adds “fan boys” to his list. I wonder if its the same guy? Huh. Either way, I don’t care I’m just playing a game and having fun is all.

LMAO! That’s funny as hell. You know, I’m sure the guy’s not a bad guy or anything. He probably just feels strongly about what he feels strongly about. But yeah, what can you do?

rapthorne.7345:

As a new player myself (relatively, been around a few months now and still learning the ins and outs) I have absolutely no regrets with regards to my investment in GW2. The community is probably the friendliest I’ve ever seen (bar some pvp elitist ragers and one or two forum members, but that happens everywhere) and the game is engaging enough to be played for hours on end, on top of casual enough to just log in and bugger about if you want.

The best part about pve in GW2 is that reaching cap level isn’t a horrifically boring grind. It can be done casually (real world casually, not WoW’s definition of casual) in a few weeks and you can go at your own pace due to the awesome scaled exp system (the game scales your level down in pve relative to the zone you’re in, granting you exp appropriate for your actual level when participating in events)

Yeah I know what you mean. Some guy from the forums even messaged me in game and blocked me when I disagreed with him. It was clear he didn’t understand a word I said. It’s funny how people get aggressive because you don’t agree with their opinions.

But over all, yeah the community is pretty good.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Vayne.8563:

It’s about the audience you’re writing for. I’ve used this analogy before, but for the most part, game writers are like people who work on stage. Everything has to be exaagerated, and everything has to be repeated, because tons of people have no clue about nuance and don’t know how to read. They can’t just say something, they pretty much have to hit you over the head with it…particularly if you need to get it to understand something.

Also known as most of the critical reviews which hated “The Producers: The Stageplay: The Film” as I call it. It was performed as if it were using the same stage directions only to cameras.

Edit: I should have mentioned the reason stage needs to be exaggerated is because audience members can be far away with no close ups. They can’t see the detail so you have to enlarge it…so to speak.

Also known as the reason the Phantom mask originally was much larger and the makeup that much more notable under the mask than it should be. Fortunately, the original mask interfered with the actor’s delivery so they halved it . . . and now that mask is iconic.

A lot of people will, erroneously, think that people are writing badly. In reality they’re writing exactly what they’re trying to write, or at least something very close to what they’re trying to write.

Sorry, I need to throw a flag down on this play. There’s writing with repeated reiterations, re-references, and beating the player over the head with what happened five minutes ago due to not knowing how long the player had set the game down for . . .

And then there’s bad writing, period. Badly presented characters, plots where the writers forget to give the bulk of the information necessary to understand things (or do it in channels not everyone will notice), characters making decisions which are simply against common sense . . . and most of all, dialogue which doesn’t flow naturally.

There’s the crux of my complaints about the writing in Tyria for both eras: when it comes to the main attraction, it feels not as well-crafted as the side-quests which happen around the main attraction . . . or disconnected from it. This really started to become apparent in the middle-to-late bits of Living Story Season 1, to where it was a personal mantra “they could have done so much better if they’d set this up ahead of time”.

. . . and that’s evidenced in how they’re proceeding through Season 2. It is flowing better due to having things in place to move from (the break for the holiday event just passed and coming up notwithstanding) and having the information there to work from. It’s making a better cohesive story than Season 1, and is pulling together tighter for it.

(It still has issues with the dialogue, and there are still moments which make me want to go “this is almost the dumbest thing you could be doing right now” . . .)

The dumbest thing you can be doing right now might have nothing to do with the writing. I’m not so sure you understand how the writing in those scenes happens, but it’s often not the writers calling the shots. You can call it bad writing, but more likely it’s bad direction. Writers can only do what they’re allowed to do in these circumstances.

I’ve ghost written a couple of things in the past and believe me, I’m glad my name isn’t on most of it.