Guild Wars 2

Anet wouldn’t touch me with a 20 foot pole. I’m far too contraversial. Not to mention the fact that people ignore the negative stuff I’ve said, and just focus on the positive. But I have said negative stuff. I don’t like the way the new trait system was handled, for example.

No one here is being paid for being a fan, any more than a fan of a sports team that defends their team is being paid. Because you don’t have to pay people to be fans of something.

I really enjoy my time in Tyria. I have fun here. I have a great guild. Of course I’m going to defend it.

Why should anyone have to pay me for that.

A level gate does not teach player systems. What it does is that it gives you more time to adjust to the systems you have before you get new systems.

If you had one ball and had to throw it up and down and catch it in one hand. That’s easy. When I through in a second ball, it becomes harder to keep going. When you throw in a third, it becomes harder.

Throwing lots of ideas at someone all at once, for most people anyway, insures they’ll miss some of it. My wife insists she can multitask and do stuff while watching TV, but then she misses stuff because she’s not watching carefully and she has to ask me why something happened.

The more you hit someone with the more there’s a chance something goes away.

So map markers are now revealed more slowly. You can learn a few, more are added, you can learn a few more.

Weapon skills, you get one and use it. You really get to know what it does, because it’s all you have. When you get the second if you’re anything like me you read it. But you don’t have five to read and remember. For a while you’re using only 2. You already know the first one. Now you learn the first and second and theoretically know them both when the third one hits.

But that’s one place I think Anet dropped the ball here. Because all the other weapons, whether you’ve used them or not, all become unlocked as you level. Which means you’re learning more at once. Of course by that point you should have the basics of the game down and maybe you’ll retain more about the five skills.

It’s not true for everyone, of course, but for most people, we can’t focus on everything all at once.

culturespy.1324:

Vayne.8563:

Just whisper yourself. It works.

That’s what I do now, but it’s a bit inconvenient. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the only way to begin a whisper with yourself is to /w and then type your own name.

Yep, but you can type your shortest character name. I have a character named Thrist so it’s quite easy to whisper myself. Doesn’t matter what character you’re on, use your shortest name. It’s not perfect but it saves a bit of time.

SephiSlash.6780:

papryk.6273:

Vayne will find an excuse for everything…

You have to remember “Vayne” is just a name on the account, the underpaid interns that run the astroturfing from there probably shuffle every few hours.

I hope you all get breaks and are paid a decent wage.

LMAO! Because my writing style is so vague.

I don’t need a decent wage, thanks. Cause I’m retired. But it’s nice that you have so much free time you think about me. I think that’s sweet.

And it STILL doesn’t change the fact that was I said was correct.

Just whisper yourself. It works.

duckideva.6358:

Na, I’ve been talking to some ex-ncsoft guys.

If the rumors are to be believed, this is all coming from ncsoft, who want the game to be more like the Korean grinders. Those games make a lot of money for their primary single-voice shareholder: Nexon. Nexon bought a 15% share of the company, making them a huge, huge, huge voice in the boardroom. Nexon was the originator of the the pay to win model, and still escrows billions of fiat currency in it’s NX currency.

Anet is small fish compared to the sharks in the pool where they swim. If the directions are coming from nexon and ncsoft to make the game match what the Korean and Chinese markets expect from an MMO; then there is nothing Anet can do about it.

I mean, look at what happened with Garriot and Tabula Rasa. Sure, ncsoft eventually had to pay him 30 million dollars because of their fraud, but in the mean time, a game idea with great potential was destroyed by a company that wanted it to be a different sort of game.

Or ncsoft and City of Heros. My point being, if ncsoft has decided that GW2 is going to the pay to win model whether the players and developers like it or not, then that’s the direction the game is going to go, and there’s not a kitten thing that the devs at Anet can do to stop it.

This is my theory, and I stand by it.

Being 15% of the share holder doesn’t actually entitled you to anything, unless you can somehow prove that Nexon execs have a seat on the board.

Because stockholders don’t make decisions, board members do. They sit in a room and make decisions and every quarter give a report to the stock holders.

So if there’s no one from Nexon on the board, I’m not sure what kind of power you think they have.

skullmount.1758:

papryk.6273:

Vayne will find an excuse for everything…

Yup, looks like.

How, exactly, is what I said incorrect.

People love using words like excuse, because it makes someone who’s correct look wrong. What I said is accurate. Not being able to gather for your first hour isn’t likely to much affect your game…and you can gather if you know how.

Not sure how anyone can misconstrue that as an excuse.

NNYinsanenature.5684:

Kinda silly how they removed harvesting nodes for low level players. “Hey you like xp for doing almost anything? Lets take away one source for you.”

They didn’t remove nodes, they took nodes off the map. Essentially low level players can start harvesting them immediately if they know how. If not, probably an hour after they start playing.

Maybe it’s me but I’m not seeing a big deal here. Are you saying not harvesting copper and softwood for the first hour is going to prevent them from getting a legendary?

Anet doesn’t administer the chinese version of a game. They’re not directly in control of it. By chinese law, all video game companies have to have a chinese company at the head of it, who understand what can and can’t be done there.

Anet has licensed out the game to it’s Chinese partner, who makes changes to the game, with Anet’s help, but they’re making that game for that market.

That’s why when you look at the NcSoft quarterly report, China sales aren’t counted in sales at all, but in royalties.

Lévis.5489:

I don’t trust Anet on their words. They already said that the NA version won’t be like the Chinese version. Now, the game is level gated like the Chinese version. Flip Flop, Flip Flop.

Repeating the same falsehood doesn’t make it true. Can you show me where Anet said this?

To my knowledge Anet has only ever said we won’t have the VIP here, nothing at all about the rest of the client. Three people have said it, and no one has been able to provide the quote. Can you?

Pifil.5193:

Vayne.8563:

Reyouka.7039:

….. Rangers can’t actually control their pets, one of the main draws of the class, until level 24. Are you freaking kittenting me?

That’s not true. I control my pet on my ranger and I’m not level 24. From where are you getting your information?

From the chart posted, I assume, according to that F3 (recall) would unlock at level 22 and F4 (swap pets) would unlock at level 24, I’m hoping that is not the case with Rangers.

I’m on a newly created ranger right now. I have all function skills unlocked. I’m level 17. The F2 skill was the last one to be unlocked several levels ago. And that was unlocked alone.

I’m going to go level a new ranger and see when it unlocks. I’m thinking around level 5, which takes maybe 20 minutes?

Nick.6972:

So what happens when these players come to the game, slowly learn all the mechanics, and then discover there’s nothing to do at level 80? Maybe there should be a tutorial on that too? Perhaps once you hit max level Trading Post pops up with gem store sales?

I have plenty to do. Maybe the game isn’t going in the direction you’d like it to. But some people do like how it’s going.

I guess us achievement guys got it made, huh?

Straylight.7529:

Constantine.7812:

Kestrelle.8165:

Putting all these “important” features into the game must have taken thousands of hours – good thing that no one wanted guild capes, or a new profession or an expansion or dungeon paths or precusor scavenger hunt…

I cant understand this move either. They are wasting so much time on such a useless changes. Things just went from bad to worse. After two years, i think i can safely say, they wont focus on important things for sure. So much time wasted on this crap omg.

Exactly. And after the feedback regarding living story season 2 and the Dry Top map have been so suprisingly positive, why not do more of that? But no, let’s take a 3 month break and “fix” things that aren’t broken. Arenanets resource management is really messed up. And that’s putting it mildly.

What makes you think they’re not doing more of that? People amaze me.

We got Drytop in July. July. Two months ago.

They have more stuff planned which we’ll obviously get. It’s not like this was the only thing Anet did. This was already made for the Chinese update which launched months ago, way before Drytop.

What makes you think this is it?

This is a content patch that they give us when they take a break from content patches. They also gave us a new marketplace, which some seem to like. They gave up account bound commander tags, which I like (at the very least), they gave us better frame rate (which I love), they gave us improvements to the megaserver (which I haven’t tested) and more.

But we focus on the negative always, because we’re human. I guess I should be used to it. lol

You can actually turn off the tracker. There’s an option. How’s that for freedom. People who like it can use it, people who don’t can turn it off.

Lodius.5392:

Exactly… I’d rather pay $15 a month and get a game where I feel like the creators care about me and my experience.

I don’t want to spend a years worth of monthly subscription fees in 1 month!

The typical player will not either. If this is the market ANET is chasing then they need a new marketing group.

I’ve paid $15 a month for many MMOs in the past and never once really felt the creators cared about me.

You don’t see complaints on every single MMORPG forum? Some are even worse than this (though maybe not today lol).

hydeaut.1758:

Vayne.8563:

Once you’re used to events and stuff like that, you won’t likely need the arrow as much because you’ll have some idea of what the game is about. In fact, you might even see the arrow when trying to make decisions about what to do. Me, I’ll just turn it off.

That´s not really the point. The point is, that you have to find your own “endgame” in GW 2 which will be very different from leveling up to 80. And if he even doesn´t have the iniative to find out how to level up, how can he be expected to change his gameplay at 80 and find himself something to do?

There won´t be ingame-links popping up for an event-timer or for Dulfy when he stands in Lion Arch, wondering what he could do.

In the end there will be another ex-player saying “there´s no endgame in GW2” – while the forced changes have a good chance to disgust old players and new more engaged players.

There’s a difference between learning how to play and playing your own end game. Once he learned the game, he’d be in the guild and do whatever anyone else was doing. Trust me, the last thing this guy cares about is an end game.

Reyouka.7039:

….. Rangers can’t actually control their pets, one of the main draws of the class, until level 24. Are you freaking kittenting me?

That’s not true. I control my pet on my ranger and I’m not level 24. From where are you getting your information?

Templar.4512:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

MikaHR.1978:

Vayne.8563:

MikaHR.1978:

Does it REALLY matter how ANet sells the stuff from cash shop?

Golem banker – already in shop
Black Lion traders – already in shop
Additional bags
Ressurection
…….
Almost everything IS already in shop.

So whats the big deal in putting it in one 30 days bundle and calling it “VIP status”

Please elaborate (for those who go even so far as “leaving the game” if this makes it in)

So will you still be playing if the VIP comes in?

I dont really care. Its standard practice to bundle items and sell them. Its not like gem shop doesnt have bundled items from launch.

Is it name that offends people “VIP status”?

What if they call it “monthly convenience bundle”? MCBundle ;P

The VIP system in china includes things such as:

Free precursors
The ability to trade more than 5 items a day (everyone else gets restricted)
A temporary 50% dmg booster
The ability to instantly port around the map (meaning if you don’t pay for that you will never get to an event in time again, no karma or gold for you)
40-50% discounts on gem store items which have increased prices

If you don’t pay for VIP the game is gutted and unplayable. They offer convenience for the VIP players by removing it from all the other players.

And if you don’t think they’d do that, just look at SAB. you used to be able to easily get continue coins by a dozen different methods… one day the infinite continue coin gets put in the gem store and 99% of those methods are nerfed out of the game. Buy it or suffer was the message.

So, a VIP system really does exist in China? Any confirmation that it’s coming here?

It exists in China. Anet said it was only for China, not for the US.

Alasia.9502:

When I can do the story like it used to be without worrying about my level?

In some ways you always had to worry about your level, but from the other direction. Now, when it unlocks, you can do the entire arc at once. I find it better for me, and in fact, used to do that anyway. But I paid the price by doing it by having crappy rewards.

butch.8136:

CyClotroniC.4957:

Then wouldn’t it be better to make this system as a first-character-progression only? I mean think about it. If you have learnt the mechanics already, why teach it again?

This is the one and only issue. This system is meant for new players not alts.

Atm they forced a tutorial experience upon every player. If they can bypass this, all current complaints would go away.

Lv40/60 scrolls have been data-mined before. It would be the easiest solution, though I don’t know if it would be better than letting the two systems coexist.

They’ve also said they’re working on fixing some issues that causes the new player experience to carry over to alts…not that anyone cares they said it. lol

Templar.4512:

butch.8136:

Snowmoon.1758:

omg….even Vayne given up hope.

Unless a red post comes in here and confirms we are not getting this VIP crap, this will definitely be rolled out sooner or later.

Man….its kindda hard to see the game self-destruct like that.

They’ve commented on it before. You want them to comment on it every week?

So is this real or not?

It’s not real.

hydeaut.1758:

Vayne.8563:

He wanted to know what he was supposed to be doing and the game doesn’t tell him.

The first important question here is:

if the new system would have been already in place and would have held his hand till 80 – what would he have done after that?

If the leveling process has to be dumbed down so much (which I even doubt) how shall those players be kept ingame at 80? Is the next step dumbing down “endgame”-experience for level 80?

The second important question:

why is there no option to turn the “newb-mode” off for older or more experienced new players?

Another question is how unattracting this system could be for the main-target group. I for example was almost disgusted how simple ESO was, barely a vanilla-UI, no real weapon-skills, pressing 1 ftw.

It’s not that simple. If he had an arrow and nothing else, he’d have followed it. Once that arrow showed him events and hearts, he’d have eventually gotten it. It might have taken him 20 levels, who knows, but there was something guiding him. He wouldn’t have felt lost.

Different people have different needs. Some people really do want to be led around by the nose. I don’t. I hate that. This game does too much of that for me. But I can see both sides. I can see why someone would want direction.

Once you’re used to events and stuff like that, you won’t likely need the arrow as much because you’ll have some idea of what the game is about. In fact, you might even see the arrow when trying to make decisions about what to do. Me, I’ll just turn it off.

stof.9341:

At which level can you ask your pet to stop attacking?

Five. Which comes very fast.

Osiris.9217:

So if you love MMORPGs, you should check out Guild Wars 2. But if you hate traditional MMORPGs, then you should really check out Guild Wars 2. Because, like Guild Wars before it, GW2 doesn’t fall into the traps of traditional MMORPGs. It doesn’t suck your life away and force you onto a grinding treadmill;(it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun rather than just having fun;) and of course, it doesn’t have a monthly fee. -Mike O’Brien
[https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-design-manifesto/]

Grinding is a term used in video gaming to describe the process of engaging in repetitive tasks during video games.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grinding_]

Grinding is the act of playing in a repetitive, unexciting, or otherwise un-enjoyable fashion in order to make faster progress.
[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1583/rethinking_the_mmo.php?page=3]

Seems to me that Kythan Myr.4719 was not as incorrect as you try to make them appear to be Vayne.

The main definition is what I was quoting. Which is, get this, the main definition. The paragraph explains exactly what Colin is talking about, further emphasized by him directly explaining it several times at shows around that time.

He’s wrong to bring up a 4 year old video out of context, end story.

sharkstein.2109:

By the Five, I love Charleston Chew.1209’s clever responses so much! The way he retaliates with his salty, zealous fanboyism to anything that remotely threatens his GW2 is priceless. I hope you and your likeminded peers continue to play this game for years to come, you deserve it.

We do deserve to play a game we’re enjoying. Thanks. I agree.

Snowmoon.1758:

omg….even Vayne given up hope.

Unless a red post comes in here and confirms we are not getting this VIP crap, this will definitely be rolled out sooner or later.

Man….its kindda hard to see the game self-destruct like that.

I haven’t given up hope. You read me wrong.

I see a whole bunch of people who left the game coming back here and complaining. I see a lot of people jumping on band wagons, in some cases not even understanding what they’re complaining about or complaining about stuff this is factually untrue.

If the game gets that bad a rep., people are going to leave and if people leave and there aren’t enough players, any company would be smart to bring in something like free to play with a VIP.

The problem as I see it are the people who want the game to be something it’s not. It’s not going to help the game, but it can hurt the game.

The game isn’t going to change into what these people magically want. Not happening. So they leave. But they don’t just leave. They leave and stay on the forums. Eventually there are more of them than there are of me. I mean a lot more.

Does that affect Anet’s bottom line? Eventually I would imagine it will. When that happens is Anet going to bring in a VIP program? I would. I’d save my business.

And if and when that happens (I don’t expect it any time soon), it’ll be like every other change Anet has made. A reaction to a shifting situation.

wiredrawn.7298:

Vayne.8563:

wiredrawn.7298:

Vayne.8563:

Kamui.4038:

What complete nonsense. Were these “thousands of testers” 6 year old children or people that drool and still need to wear diapers? I’ve never, ever, EVER seen players struggle to grasp the fundamentals of this game or even most other ones, and GW2 happens to be one of the easiest MMOs to get into and that’s even comparing it to some of the earliest ones.

This is a major upset. Either they are lying or they tested people with less than 70 IQ, and I’m serious about that.

A few angry threads cropping up is not always a cause for action; ALL the threads cropping up being angry? Map chats being filled with upset players? That definitely is.

Your testers were ignoramuses or nonexistent. The experiment has failed, that is all there is to it.

I’ve seen people fail to get this game, even a couple of smarter people. It’s designed for explorers, not follow the arrrows type. After years of being conditioned to follow an arrow, they end up thinking the only quest in the game is the personal story.

It’s not that rare to see a post where someone says I must not be leveling fast enough because I’m not up to my next personal story quest, what have I done wrong.

And if you see a few posts like that, you certainly know people who don’t come to forums are experiencing that too.

But is that cause to restrict weapons/utilities and traits from them? And do they immediately stop and not continue playing because they don’t have the recommended level?

I can understand they could be thinking they missed some quests or something, but the hearts are all over the place and so are the map markers for points of interest and vistas, not to mention in-game chat .. but to assume they don’t understand the basics of the game is insulting really, how did they get through the first story mission then if they didn’t understand skills/abilities etc?

You seem to think most people like and use map chat. I haven’t found that to be true. I think an awful lot of people solo MMOs as ridiculous as that might seem to us.

I also think that not everyone has the same level of understanding as others. As I’ve said in other places, I have a friend that was fine in DDO and even Guild Wars 1, but Guild Wars 2 confused him. A lot of it was lack of direction.

He wanted to know what he was supposed to be doing and the game doesn’t tell him.

Honestly I blame WoW clones for dumbing down the genre and training and entire generation of people how not to think.

Yes, this was my point, direction, even though on the right side of the screen it shows you heart quests and random popup events it doesn’t make them look like quests, also nearby vistas and points of interest don’t show. But as a solo player myself, especially in a game I’ve put money into how could I not at least google or ask in game I understand not holding conversations in game, but a simple, what quests should I do at level 10 would suffice. But if you have experience with friends running into these issues at least it helps me begin to understand where the problem lies.

They really only needed to amplify local activity notifications and make them look more like quests and include basic directions or a map indicator, similar to the green star for personal story but maybe instead a different color to those events, the one closest to them being the one indicated on the map perhaps.

I just think it’s sad now though that these same people will find those experiences harder now that they have less available to them and less customizations to play around with to aliviate boredom from wandering around lost.

One story Colin told early on involved a test player playing the game for the first time. He ran right by a burning house, without stopping. A dev asked him, why did you run past that house. The reply was, because I didn’t have a quest to go in there.

Some people really are conditioned by other games and can’t think outside the box. That’s why tutorials like this exist.

I tend to ignore these types of tutorials because I prefer to explore, but I recognize I’m not indicative of the majority. In fact, if a game was made that I liked best, I’m probably one of the few who would play it.

wiredrawn.7298:

Vayne.8563:

Kamui.4038:

What complete nonsense. Were these “thousands of testers” 6 year old children or people that drool and still need to wear diapers? I’ve never, ever, EVER seen players struggle to grasp the fundamentals of this game or even most other ones, and GW2 happens to be one of the easiest MMOs to get into and that’s even comparing it to some of the earliest ones.

This is a major upset. Either they are lying or they tested people with less than 70 IQ, and I’m serious about that.

A few angry threads cropping up is not always a cause for action; ALL the threads cropping up being angry? Map chats being filled with upset players? That definitely is.

Your testers were ignoramuses or nonexistent. The experiment has failed, that is all there is to it.

I’ve seen people fail to get this game, even a couple of smarter people. It’s designed for explorers, not follow the arrrows type. After years of being conditioned to follow an arrow, they end up thinking the only quest in the game is the personal story.

It’s not that rare to see a post where someone says I must not be leveling fast enough because I’m not up to my next personal story quest, what have I done wrong.

And if you see a few posts like that, you certainly know people who don’t come to forums are experiencing that too.

But is that cause to restrict weapons/utilities and traits from them? And do they immediately stop and not continue playing because they don’t have the recommended level?

I can understand they could be thinking they missed some quests or something, but the hearts are all over the place and so are the map markers for points of interest and vistas, not to mention in-game chat .. but to assume they don’t understand the basics of the game is insulting really, how did they get through the first story mission then if they didn’t understand skills/abilities etc?

You seem to think most people like and use map chat. I haven’t found that to be true. I think an awful lot of people solo MMOs as ridiculous as that might seem to us.

I also think that not everyone has the same level of understanding as others. As I’ve said in other places, I have a friend that was fine in DDO and even Guild Wars 1, but Guild Wars 2 confused him. A lot of it was lack of direction.

He wanted to know what he was supposed to be doing and the game doesn’t tell him.

Honestly I blame WoW clones for dumbing down the genre and training and entire generation of people how not to think.

MikaHR.1978:

Does it REALLY matter how ANet sells the stuff from cash shop?

Golem banker – already in shop
Black Lion traders – already in shop
Additional bags
Ressurection
…….
Almost everything IS already in shop.

So whats the big deal in putting it in one 30 days bundle and calling it “VIP status”

Please elaborate (for those who go even so far as “leaving the game” if this makes it in)

So will you still be playing if the VIP comes in?

nexusone.2367:

What could’ve been done is.

- Make a survey
- Post the link to it on the forum / send it via ingame mail
- See what the people who actually play the game have to say about it

I’m pretty sure it would’ve looked different

It would have definitely looked different but there’s still a problem with this.

This patch wasn’t made for people who play the game…at least the part of the patch people are complaining most about. It was made for people who don’t.

Kamui.4038:

What complete nonsense. Were these “thousands of testers” 6 year old children or people that drool and still need to wear diapers? I’ve never, ever, EVER seen players struggle to grasp the fundamentals of this game or even most other ones, and GW2 happens to be one of the easiest MMOs to get into and that’s even comparing it to some of the earliest ones.

This is a major upset. Either they are lying or they tested people with less than 70 IQ, and I’m serious about that.

A few angry threads cropping up is not always a cause for action; ALL the threads cropping up being angry? Map chats being filled with upset players? That definitely is.

Your testers were ignoramuses or nonexistent. The experiment has failed, that is all there is to it.

I’ve seen people fail to get this game, even a couple of smarter people. It’s designed for explorers, not follow the arrrows type. After years of being conditioned to follow an arrow, they end up thinking the only quest in the game is the personal story.

It’s not that rare to see a post where someone says I must not be leveling fast enough because I’m not up to my next personal story quest, what have I done wrong.

And if you see a few posts like that, you certainly know people who don’t come to forums are experiencing that too.

Lishtenbird.2814:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

You might try reading the Dev tracker.

What Dev Tracker says about the leveling changes is that they’re honestly proud of the work their team have done.

And rightly so. Because they have to worry about more than just us.

I managed a store and if someone came to me with concerns about my employees, I’d listen to them, and then generally defend my employees.

I wouldn’t necessarily say the customer was wrong, but the fact is, many times what the customer was complaining about wasn’t the fault of the employee. On a more important note, what if Chris didn’t defend the employee.

How would a customer feel if I said, look, I know Richie is a problem but he’s the best I can get?

As soon as you start blaming your employees people will start calling for heads, and that helps no one. Particularly if employees aren’t at fault. WHere does the fault lie? Management? Miscommunication? Sabotage even? No one really knows.

But yes, when employees see a manager stand up for them, in increases their loyalty to the company.

And you know, like it or not, Anet worked really kitten this patch and if I were an employee, I’d feel shattered. The fact is, just as a decency thing, I’d support an employee and if they did something wrong, I’d talk to them in private later. No one really deserves levels of ridicule and hate that are being poured on Anet employees right now.

laokoko.7403:

I honestly doubt there are “that many” that likes the change.

I know a bunch of people isn’t bothered by the patch, or say it isn’t so bad, but there are “almost” no one liking it.

Obviously there are a few people that say they like it, but it is very rare. I’d like to see the poll on reddit though, can’t find it.

Moved a lot since the beginning, but here’s the link:

http://strawpoll.me/2537863/r

Thorin.9624:

Vayne quit playing the game just after launch and plays forum warrior . Good evening Vayne! But in all seriousness there are a few that like the leveling system, only the 6 know why they like it, but they do. It would be nice if there was an explanation given on why they changed things as much as they did and just who they were trying to satisfy. It would also be nice if the company will take the negative feedback that is spreading rapidly throughout the gaming world and do something constructive with it like fix their mistakes.

I want to see what the bugs are. Regina posted that some of the first character experience is showing up in alts and they don’t know why.

The leveling experience we’re seeing might not be what we’re supposed to be seeing. At least that’s what she said.

Let’s wait to see what the bugs are, before we get the pitchforks. Some of the gating is apparently supposed to be only for new characters.

Several people have said they liked it. There was even a thread someone made who specifically said they like it.

More telling is a poll on reddit, where a bunch of people responded. 75% didn’t like it (roughly) and 25% did like it. So it’s hard to say no one likes it.

I mostly like it, but it needs some adjustment.

Edit: I wasn’t going to post this, but I didn’t want to disappoint Hybrid.

They said there were bugs for multiple character players, and that they’re working on fixing them. Let’s not over-react until we see what the experience is like on second characters.

weskay.9217:

When is the reset button being pressed? Most of the “features” associated with this patch was a mistake. You even have PC Gamer criticizing it.

Please stop spreading misinformation. PC Gamer didn’t criticize it. PC gamer commented on the fan reaction to the patch and in that same article said that he hadn’t tried it yet. Reporting on fan reaction is not the same thing as criticizing the patch.

La Goanna.8142:

Vegeta.2563:

Its never going to happen so not like it matters.

From that_Shaman’s latest datamine on reddit:

“teleport to friend”
“waypoint unlock”

Under the “Beam Me Up!” description.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2fxoo3/datamining_upcoming_features_from_the_feature_pack/

They lied about bringing Chinese level gating to our servers, what makes you think they won’t do the same here?

I’ve seen this repeated 2-3 times now, that Anet somehow, somewhere said they couldn’t bring level gating to our servers. I defy you to produce a quote.

The quote I’m sure you’re thinking of is where Anet said that the VIP system wouldn’t be coming over. I’ve never seen a quote that said anything about anything else.

It makes massive sense for them to synchronize the patches from a programming point of view, certainly.

Kythan Myr.4719:

Vayne.8563:

I love how people keep bringing up a four year old video (four years!) and still not understand what Colin is talking about.

Taking lines from the middle of a paragraph out of context in the process and trying to make it say something other than it was intended to say.

Well, actually sir I did quote most of the paragraph. I only left out the final sentence, because I liked ending on the No one finds it fun. The last sentence being: “We want to change the way that people view combat.”

Still don’t see how it is out of context. Because the new locks to weapons, skills, traits, changes to mobs, events, and personal story are all very much combat related. It is all very much a new grind introduced with the appearance of being more “user-friendly”. Which is what he was referring too as being different with this game orignally. Which, indeed, it was when I began playing 2 years ago.

So yes, even tho it was four whole years ago, and yes I excluded that wee little bit of sentence from the entire paragraph, it is still relevant. If you have a vision to do something different, and you make a “manifesto” ( a declaration of claim, a mission) you should stick with it.

This whole paragraph starts and ends with combat and uses the word grind in its most traditional sense.

That is to say, Anet doesn’t believe in grinding for levels. That’s the original definition of grind, it’s supported in Wikipedia if you search on grind video games, and that’s what he’s talking about, which is why he mentions combat.

In many old MMOs there weren’t enough quests or things to do to level you and you had to kill stuff repeatedly until you got high enough to go to the next quest hub. That was grinding back in the day and from the context it’s what he’s talking about.

He’s talking about getting through leveling to get to raiding, not going through a level 1-15 tutorial.

Everything in Guild Wars 2 still gives experience. You can still go to PvP at level 2 or WvW or EoTM and level if you want. You can still craft. You don’t have to grind by doing one thing. That’s what he’s talking about.

The fact that stuff unlocks as you level as part of some new teaching process is not what he’s talking about. That’s why I say it’s out of context.

Simonoly.4352:

Suggestion – when starting a new character, players should be able to choose whether this new character has ‘Beginner’ or ‘Veteran’ status. A Beginner status character has the new level gated system, whereas a Veteran status character has no such level gating, other than the restrictions that were already present before the feature patch.

Actually the first character should not have that choice, but all subsequent characters should.

Kythan Myr.4719:

Peow peow.2189:

can alts not require level gating?
completely ridiculous as this is to support new players

They should bring back the old system and call it “Hard Mode”

Remember this: “‘Wow, that’s incredible. I’ve never seen anything like that.’ In most games, you go out, and you have really fun tasks, occasionally, that you get to do, and the rest of the game is this boring grind to get to the fun stuff. ‘I swung a sword. I swung a sword again. Hey! I swung it again.’ That’s great. We just don’t want players to grind in Guild Wars 2. No one enjoys that. No one finds it fun.” ~Colin Johanson from the GW2 Manifesto

Well, he kinda did honor his word, after we swung the sword now we get to wait 3 whole levels before we can swing it again. Otherwise it would have been too confusing.

I love how people keep bringing up a four year old video (four years!) and still not understand what Colin is talking about.

Taking lines from the middle of a paragraph out of context in the process and trying to make it say something other than it was intended to say.

Fernling.1729:

Vayne.8563:

I’m pretty much convinced that if Anet brought the VIP membership here, half the game’s population would just walk. Straight away.

Which doesn’t mean the game would necessarily be less profitable.

What do you think would happen to the game if it went F2P with a vip type membership? I could only imagine that it would do very well.

It probably would do well. But it would lose a whole lot of people that currently play in the process.

I’m not honestly sure what I would do at that point.

On one hand, I have plenty of disposable income and could easily afford the money. On the other hand, I would probably have problems with the direction of the game. I’d definitely be disquieted by it.

Shrugs.

What will be will be.

Except that the player retention they’re probably focused on is the player retention from free weekends, which has nothing to do with end game.

I’m sure that you’re right as far as people leaving the game when they run out of stuff to do. But that is a different retention rate then I think Anet was focused on.

I think they weren’t getting enough new players to stay from free weekends, which is possibly why they hardly run them.

I’m pretty much convinced that if Anet brought the VIP membership here, half the game’s population would just walk. Straight away.

Which doesn’t mean the game would necessarily be less profitable.

Good review of the new system. I think this is fair. I think some of it needs to be reworked.

Swizzle.7982:

But salvaging isn’t unlocked until level 6!

I salvage at level 2. Salvaging isn’t announced until level 6.

Vix.6730:

Vayne.8563:

Vix.6730:

Vayne.8563:

All this patch did was change 1-15 zones to tutorial zones, so people can relax into a character. They’ve greatly increased the speed of leveling. It took me an hour or so to get to level 7. So level 1-15 you level through super fast (or use a 20th level scroll if you have to) and most of the major unlocking is done.

But what this has done is given people more information about what happens when they level.

Anyone who doesn’t think this was necessary hasn’t spent much time on player helping players forums.

Valid points if this was the year 2012.

Valid points for now. No MMO can survive without new blood. All MMOs have natural attrition and lose people over time. If they can’t replace those people, they die.

Anet needs to find a way to get more players into the game. I strongly suspect the free weekends have been failures, or they’d have had more of them. So they want to increase the odds that someone will stay who’s never played the game.

This is a business decision, not one meant to kitten off players. Most of the leveling experience is going to be better, but the first 15 levels sorta suck.

You’re contradicting yourself. On one hand you say MMO’s need new blood and this was a business decision, and the other you say the first 15 levels will now kinda suck? The first 15 levels were some of the game’s strengths. Seems to me this release will be putting off more new players.

Not a contradiction at all.

The first 15 levels suck for an experienced player, or at least they’re more limited. You also get through them in under an hour, or I did anyway.

I didn’t actually say they’d suck for a new player learning the game who never experienced any of it.

Zyrhan.3180:

Great. This is even worse.

So an experienced player trying to clear maps on a new alt has to blindly run around looking for POIs and Vistas until they unlock the ability to make them visible on the map?

And a new player can run into vistas and PoIs and activate them without any indication of what they are, what they mean, why they aren’t on the map, and whether that’s something they’re supposed to be doing until they unlock the ability to make them visible on the map?

Perfect. So it inconveniences veterans and confuses newbies. A+.

A new player wouldn’t necessarily expect them to be on the map. They’d see something, interact with it, it would pop up, they’d say cool.

For experienced players by the time you’re high enough level to finish the zone, they’re unlocked anyway. I played a new character for half an hour and they were unlocked. It took me an hour to unlock skill points though.

I sympathize OP, I loved that event too. But everyone else I know hated it with a passion and couldn’t wait to get it out of the way.

Bunch of visigoths I swear. lol