Guild Wars 2

Skan.5301:

Vayne.8563:

Skan.5301:

Vayne.8563:

A couple of screen shots from just this minute

Which is the drop date of a holiday update.

Try harder.

People have posted other pictures from other times. You can’t have it both ways.

No one plays the game…it’s dead…except when new content comes out, which happens very two weeks. So every two weeks the game isn’t dead. Which means the game isn’t dead.

There are plenty of people playing the new content…that’s why Anet keeps making more new content. If people didn’t log in to play it…you’d see it go away pretty fast.

First, I never said it was dead. I said some servers were dead, not the game. I’m on a T1 server. When I see 5 people in LA on my server, that’s when I’ll say it’s dead.

Second, I said 2 – 3 days on average after a patch drops, the populations dwindle.

And third, ANet makes the content, but there’s an underlying cause to why. But that’s not the topic of this thread.

Keep trying.

I don’t have to try. I’ll take a picture in another week and it’ll look much the same. You don’t personally like the game. You’ve said so. You have something against the game. So you come here to make the game look worse than it is. The old expression is misery loves company.

Plain and simple, you’re filtering your perception through a viewpoint that surely most people must see what you see. I don’t think most people think deeply enough about their gaming experience to make the kinds of distinctions that you do…or that I do for that matter.

The game has lots of traffic a week after new content comes out…which is only week before new content comes out again.

Now that the negative faction has had their say, let me give you the other side of the story OP.

Particularly for a person who doesn’t like traditional MMOs (like me), this game is a godsend.

Is it perfect? Not by a long shot. There are plenty of flaws in the game. And with all those flaws, even after a year, it’s still more fun for me than any other MMO I’ve played.

Don’t let the naysayers get you down.

Skan.5301:

Vayne.8563:

A couple of screen shots from just this minute

Which is the drop date of a holiday update.

Try harder.

People have posted other pictures from other times. You can’t have it both ways.

No one plays the game…it’s dead…except when new content comes out, which happens very two weeks. So every two weeks the game isn’t dead. Which means the game isn’t dead.

There are plenty of people playing the new content…that’s why Anet keeps making more new content. If people didn’t log in to play it…you’d see it go away pretty fast.

I get +1s just because of my sunny disposition and absolute adoration of my forum peers (coughs).

Young Somalia.1706:

Guild Wars had a following.

Look where it ended up

Where, exactly, did it end up? One of the better selling multiplayer fantasy games of all time? I don’t know that I’d mind ending up there.

Nah, I think the OP is right in that it needs to be made more clear how much time is left for a given achievement.

People don’t like temporary content to begin with. At least make it crystal clear just how temporary the content is.

This isn’t a failure on the OP’s part, it’s a failure on Anet’s part.

A couple of screen shots from just this minute on an Overflow in LA.

Edit: A screen shot anyway. The second didn’t display. lol

Young Somalia.1706:

Hmm what an absolute shock. At the time of LS-every-2-weeks announcement, a handful of people demanding something sustainable were shouted down by the majority of content locusts, some of whom are now becoming fed up and switching sides.

Who would have thought…?

-_-

The living story still seems to have a following…just saying.

GSSBlunaspike.4153:

Vayne.8563:

Here’s the problem.

Let’s say you have 8 dungeons, fractals, SPvP, and WvW. That’s a whole lot of people NOT in the open world. You could have 1000 people online on a server, and if 200 of them are in WvW and 300 of them are scattered among the other stuff you’d only have 500.

Then you have stuff like the Fire elemental, the Shadow Behemoth the Shatterer. These are places where people gather.

Most servers, for example, have a Queensdale champ train? Why? No idea, really but they do.

At the end of the day, the world really is a big place. I’m not sure how many people you’d have to have to see people all the time.

It seems like this would be easy to solve though. Maybe let players that choose it goto overflow servers by default. They don’t have to title it overflow, but the technology is already there. That way players that want could essentially play with other people even if they are on one of the less populated servers.

Of course that might also hurt on transfer payments too, so it isn’t likely to happen. I think it’s very similar to the “mega server” that ESO will be using.

I liked the idea that someone suggested (I don’t remember who), with servers only for WvW, but everything else was a single server that spawned overflows.

And the main or first overflow would be no different than the other overflows….sort of the way outposts were handled in GW 1.

Provost.6210:

Ascended weapons and armours were the perfect opportunity for ArenaNet to redeem themselves. It could have been that you can’t craft these without specific components from certain dungeons or meta events, like needing a dragon’s tooth for an ascended weapon with zerker stats and having to do Shatterer, Jormag, or Teq to get a chance of it dropping. Other weapons could have needed a lost artifact you could only reclaim from Ascalon Catacombs or Sorrow’s Embrace or Arah (all set in historic sites; the tombs of kings, first dwarven foundry, and the ancient capital of Orr respectively), perhaps initiating the creation of new paths to bring new life to the dungeons (paths, perhaps, that are only open to people who have completed all the other paths of the dungeon). Even other weapons could have required learning the recipe from a tome that only comes from farmable chests in certain areas associated with Inquest or Flame Legion.

While I would have personally liked this better, I’m not sure that WvW players who hate PvE in the first place would necessarily like it better. I’m not sure people who hate doing dungeons and would be forced to do specific dungeons would like it better.

I, on the other hand, would like it better. I don’t know that I’d be in the majority though.

Skan.5301:

2 out of 3 of the GW developers left over ideas on how to proceed with GW2. Guess who and what the idea was and you’ll have the answer as to why GW2 is currently like this.

Evidence of this? Oh you mean two of the three FOUNDERS left. Founders aren’t necessarily the only devs. Have you looked at what those founders are doing now?

For one thing, Jeff Strain left Anet and was working for NcSoft directly before he ended up leaving NCsoft, so I’m not even sure that what you’re saying makes any sense.

Then he went to design a zombie MMO for consoles.

What evidence do you have that the two founders left because they didn’t like the direction the game was going in?

Here’s the problem.

Let’s say you have 8 dungeons, fractals, SPvP, and WvW. That’s a whole lot of people NOT in the open world. You could have 1000 people online on a server, and if 200 of them are in WvW and 300 of them are scattered among the other stuff you’d only have 500.

Then you have stuff like the Fire elemental, the Shadow Behemoth the Shatterer. These are places where people gather.

Most servers, for example, have a Queensdale champ train? Why? No idea, really but they do.

At the end of the day, the world really is a big place. I’m not sure how many people you’d have to have to see people all the time.

Teege.4623:

Welcome. I remember that feeling when I first started. It’s long gone, but I have the memories. You’ll see in due time. Welcome again.

I’m playing as long as you and I still enjoy the game.

GoldenTruth.2853:

Vayne.8563:

While I can sympathize with you, there are usually two patches, and the second patch is usually only around until the next one. It’s been like this for a long time.

You had SAB for a month, but the Boss week achievements didn’t stay around as long, during the SAB month. It’s been going on for a long time now.

I, at least, was aware of how long the achievements would be around for.

What Anet needs to do on temporary achievements, I think, is to have a countdown timer on the meta screen or something like that.

At least all the other achievements and the mini can still be attained.

Well the TA path would fit into being the 1st patch (even though Halloween is staying for 1 month instead).

Like you said countdown timer would be nice (though they cant be specific about when next patch hits).

Not in my way of thinking. The first patch usually occurs early in the month, the second later in the month. SAB was clearly the first patch…because boss week before that was the short one.

Volrath.1473:

I hope all 3 of you ppl that liked this patch have fun with each other.
the rest of us will be playing something else.

Oh that explains all the overflow servers. LMAO!

While I can sympathize with you, there are usually two patches, and the second patch is usually only around until the next one. It’s been like this for a long time.

You had SAB for a month, but the Boss week achievements didn’t stay around as long, during the SAB month. It’s been going on for a long time now.

I, at least, was aware of how long the achievements would be around for.

What Anet needs to do on temporary achievements, I think, is to have a countdown timer on the meta screen or something like that.

At least all the other achievements and the mini can still be attained.

Ichishi.9613:

I understand that everyone wants money. The question is about why someone as good as creators of GW1 decided to buy people with cheap marketing instead of quality and advanced community.
You know for example in GW1 even armor clipping between different sets was getting fixed… While in GW2 even mechanics are not anywhere near being in place. Not even to mention the outstanding (even though DX9) graphics… with eye-bleeding animations and skins.
I do feel this game going wrong way when my guildies tell me that hair clipping during any movement and 1 meter long daggers held at the very tip of handle is normal.

Guild Wars 1 had exactly 1 race. That’s 1 set of fixes for everyone. There’s no way you can compare that with races that have different body types and styles. That’s why games that have a single race find it easier to fix clipping than games that have multiple races. The more varied the races, the harder it will be to fix clipping issues (or the more work it will be at any rate).

NightDreaming.8670:

Vayne, yes of course there was a level of grind, but are you really comparing those in GW1 with the ‘achievements’ in GW2 or the acquisition of legendary items? They are worlds apart. On top of that is the soulbound mechanic which means you can’t choose to play for gold and buy your way through, you actually have to go do it. Personally I believe allowing different paths to achieve the same goal is a good idea.

I agree with you. I also think there should be different paths to the same goal. But you have to remember, there were stupid grinds in Guild Wars 1. Legendary Defender of Ascalon where you had to death level…which was silly.

But a lot of those titles and achievements were also achievable with no skill at all. You could get most missions and dungeons run for a relatively modest fee. You could leech points in the case of Asuran rep. You could get Legendary Survivor by facing Kilroy in a weekend. It was all just silly.

I’m not saying the achievements in this game are perfect or even good. I’m just saying that glorifying Guild Wars 1 when there was plenty of grind there isn’t going to change this game at all.

If you don’t like something in this game, don’t like it. But to say it wasn’t like this in Guild Wars 1….even if it was true (and in some cases it’s not), it’s not a strong argument for change.

A strong argument for change is some people don’t enjoy crafting. Some people don’t want to run fractals for an ascended back piece.

Those are good arguments.

Might be damage control. Every time a new patch comes out, there’s usually a kittenstorm of the forums. By releasing at the same time, a percentage of people will choose to be in game instead of on the forums.

You can toggle the rotation on and off, it’s always been there…it’s an option on the side.

NightDreaming.8670:

Who remembers “Adam and the Ants”? They started as a hard core punk band who betrayed their cult following by going mainstream for the money. That’s what happened with GW. The original GW1 much-stated core philosophy was ‘community play’ and ‘no grind’. Then came hero’s then came grinding.

Guys… ANET is a business and it’s in it for the money… Period… Get over it.

The GW1 hero’s meant anyone could do almost everything solo, the GW2 blandness between classes mean anyone can do GW2 alone, and the grinding meant more people staying for longer. It’s all about the money. So if you have any complaints / suggestions, make them useful in the context of ANET being a business.

But it’s not all bad. I used to watch with awe as GodlikeSatan solo’d the toughest dungeons in GW1. Now I watch Strife and team. But for the mere mortals among us we still have to join a group to do a dungeon, and that was not the case in the last years of GW1 with hero’s. So ANET have reintroduced something they lost in GW1. We’ll done ANET.

Personally, I hate the blandness between classes so that any class can do anything apart from dungeons. Hey, ANET, if dungeons do have to be done in teams then add specialist skills that only work with balanced teams.

Personally, I hate the real-money gouging that is sometimes so painfully obvious – anyone finished SAB without an infinite coin? But thats life and thats business.

Personally, there’s a number of things I hate about GW2. But I’m still playing the game, and so are you…

If you don’t think there was grind in Guild Wars 1, you must have not played for very long. There was no grind FOR BIS gear.

Most of the quotes people bring up about grind don’t have anything about BIS gear in them.

I think you and I must have been playing a different game if you thought there was no grind in Guild Wars 1.

If nothing else grind for Luxon/Kurzick points, Lightbringer, the lucky title track and the wisdom title track (all of which granted in game benefits) were long, hard roads.

Conncept.7638:

AntiGw.9367:

Conncept.7638:

AntiGw.9367:

They already know all that.

Apparently not

Actually they do. People need to stop posting links to basic knowledge like it’s some kind of revelation.

Read the most recently sticky’d thread at the top of the page, in which a developer blatantly states that they accept no critique that isn’t said prettily enough and later on state they accept no critique against their pre-existing design goals.

I’m currently in art school, already have some professional work under my belt, and second generation in the industry. The best mentors and teachers I’ve had, that anyone has ever had, have been harsh. And none of them have tip-toed around my preexisting biases for my work. Because if they weren’t harsh, and they didn’t challenge what I thought, their critique would be worthless.

The guidelines they have set on their acceptance of critique equate to accepting no critique at all.

Yep, I read the sticky thread. I agree with the premise.

I used to write professionally, and I had ideas that I wanted to get out there. Period. You could critique those ideas from today till next thursday and if the core premise of what I was doing changed. the entire project changed. Could it be done? Sure. Would I be willing to do it. No.

We’re not talking about editing a few words, or deleting a paragraph. We’re talking about a core principle. Let’s say I was writing a romance and an editor said, this would be much more entertaining with a murder in it. Well yeah, maybe, but I’m not writing a murder. That’s why core principles shouldn’t be messed with.

As for the other, they didn’t say anything about “pretty enough” they said abuse won’t be tolerated…and it shouldn’t be.

DeWolfe.2174:

What strikes me as a bit funny is, those that posted defensively, obviously didn’t understand the link. That link isn’t negative, it’s pointing out healthy and positive ways to cope with criticism. I found this post as doing the Dev’s and the Moderators a service.

Let’s not derail this thread.

Wait a second.

You don’t think it’s at all offensive that to make the assumption that Anet needs to learn this?

This is a professional company. They’ve made mistakes but I’ve yet to find an MMO developer that hasn’t made mistakes. Even companies that are fan oriented and have good communication make mistakes.

If anyone went to any professional developer and said, look, you need to see this video on how to take criticism…well I don’t really see how that wouldn’t be considered at the very least condescending…if not outright insulting.

Ision.3207:

Jack of Tears.9458:

Ision.3207:

Dev 1: Hey Boss, check out the great idea by a forum poster we just suspended for 3 days … it’s a great idea!

Boss: Oh hell yeah – put that one in right away, and also add a Gem store option so we can make a few bucks. And btw Dev1, forget 3 days, make it a 7 day suspension.

Sorry, this whole thing is a hallucination made to validate a kind of bad behavior. Nobody does this. Instead they skip the angry, poisonous post and read the exact same suggestion from someone else what took the time to make the suggestion in a constructive way. Trying to convince people it’s okay to be mean doesn’t make it okay to be mean. When you attack people, the first thing they do is stop listening … but if you say things in a reasonable way – even if it’s an angry but reasonable way – it’ll get allot further.

Okie Dokie, if you say so – LOL.

Actually he’s right. There’s no excuse for people to be deliberately insulting or abusive to people.

coglin.1867:

The statement was not meant to be taken literally, it was an intended gross over exaggeration intended to mock the OPs gross exaggeration in claiming at lest 50% of all GW2 players came from GW1.

It does suggest much though, to see several of you ignore one lie, to bash another. Seems everyone is perfectly fine supporting fiction when it falls on their side of the line, but are zealots when it comes to condemning the other.

I say this all the time, and there’s an element of truth to it. I often fight an exaggeration with an exaggeration…people are always willing to call me on it.

If someone says the game is dying, I say it’s prospering. Everyone is willing to let the first person go without a word of admonition even though there’s no evidence either way, but when I reply with a contrary position, people are quick to jump on me.

Black Teagan.9215:

Its very sad that a company, like ANet, block or bann people, only because they cant accept, that not all what they do is right or understandable (, especially if those people give good (or better) suggestions).
No wonder, why I’m blocked on YT by ANet.

Please ANet, stop to avoid critique and censore the community.
We all want to improve our game.

This would make a lot more sense of most forums posts weren’t negative. Since most are negative, I would have to question the fact that Anet simply censors posts. I am one of the people who defend the game more than most, and I get infractions quite frequently and often my posts are removed.

/conspiracy theory

Lafiel.9372:

AntiGw.9367:

Lafiel.9372:

AntiGw.9367:

Lafiel.9372:

I don’t know about that but a lot of the time people express their reasons at the same time as writing their abusive post. However abusive it may be, the reasons should be considered professionally without being thrown into the trash because they were not written constructively. Like I said, some people just don’t have patience left. Ever been jerked around by customer support so much that you just get reallllly realllly kitten ed off? Try ringing your internet service provider? “yes sir, we have put that order in for you, a technician is scheduled to come to your place in the next 2-3 days”, ring back 4 days later, new guy says, there is no such order placed under your account. Ha ha ha…

You get what i’m saying? I don’t promote abusive feedback, I’m just saying, don’t ignore it, don’t fight it, extract what’s useful and move on.

Why would anyone spend time extracting stuff from rants, when there are plenty of perfectly well-written posts to read? Time is a limited commodity.

By saying that, you’re being selective with your feedback. If you select only good specimens out of a random sample size, then it’s not going to be very valid is it? Also, there could be extremely good reasoning beneath the fury of a poster (since there was obviously enough reason for him to be so angry about it in the first place). To shake them off as the angry spoiled child is not professional at all. All feedback should be considered critically and fairly.

Personally, when I receive feedback on anything, sure i’m happy when it’s all rainbows and praises, but what i’m really interested in is the flaws! If someone went so far as to be angry about my work, then I really want to understand what caused such fury. Is it something reasonable? is so, how can I rectify it. By ignoring that feedback because it was abusive, you’re losing out on KEY information that could have made your game better.

You misunderstood what Chris Whiteside said they pay little attention to. There’s a big difference between a post that is simply angry, and a rant.

There’s rarely anything of value in rants, and you are never missing any KEY information that can’t be found simultaneously in a nearby well-written post. Simply put, if there’s a legitimate problem, someone will spend time to make a decent post about it.

Both of you are making the assumption that abusive, disrespectful post have nothing to learn from.

Nope. I’m making the assumption that abusive and disrespectful posts are simply bad, and should be given all the consideration they’re do. If a problem is important, someone reasonable will also post on it.

Three are thousands of posts. The hundreds that are rude can be ignored, because there will still be hundreds left to learn from.

Lafiel.9372:

Vayne.8563:

Lafiel.9372:

That’s why I thought when that Anet guy posted a post basically saying if you’re not positive (attitude) with your feedback, we’re not going to look into it, it felt extremely extremely unprofessional. Sure, you’re not obliged to reply to negative feedback but you, as a company, as a professional, should be able to look past the negative aspects and extract the useful information from it and move on. To ignore negative feedback is ignoring feedback completely because you can’t always sugarcoat everything in life. When I get manuscripts back, the comments surely aren’t sweetened up, they dont’ go … oh yea… great job… but u know that one part, you should kinda change it to maybe this…not saying it’s bad and all but… They straight up say, this feels unfinished or irrelevant. Most of the time they even speak their mind about how they felt this piece of work was compiled if it was particularly displeasing. How do I deal with it?, I read through all the feedback critically, make the changes that I agree in accordance to the reviewers suggestions and become a more experienced researcher for it.

Sure some people are kinder than others, I find it hard to give negative feedback to someone directly, even if it is on paper, but not everyone is made like that. Some people have been through this over and over again and they’ve got no more patience left to sugarcoat everything. Obviously, in this scenario, perhaps many players feel they’ve experienced this kind of poor experience from other games and have been just about fed up with it, some people are just plain overreacting. But to simply ask for only constructive feedback just shows how thin your skin is.

He didn’t say if you’re not positive with your feedback we won’t look into it. He said that if you’re abusive with your feedback we’re not going to be less likely to pay attention to you, which is pretty much common sense.

I used to run a business. One customer comes in nice and friendly, asks me if I can get to his computer soon because he uses it for work. Another person comes in and rudely suggests that we shouldn’t be lazy and we should fix his machine ASAP. Which of those machines do you think will get fixed first.

He wasn’t saying don’t offer valid criticism. He was saying don’t be rude and obnoxious. There’s a big, big difference.

I quote “we pay little, to no, attention to posts that are disrespectful to other members of our community or our development team”. That doesn’t sound anything like they’re less likely to pay attention to you. That sounds more like if you don’t sugarcoat your feedback, we will “pay little to no attention to” that post.

Also, in your business, if you fixed the other guy who asked nicely over another who was in front on his queue (if he was), then that is pretty bad business practice lol.

Right…key word…disrepectful.

So calling Anet liars…that’s disrespectful. Saying that a mistake has been made (as I said about the Karma nerf) isn’t disrespectful.

It’s one thing to be personal and insulting and another to critique the game. I’m not sure some people know the difference.

Lafiel.9372:

That’s why I thought when that Anet guy posted a post basically saying if you’re not positive (attitude) with your feedback, we’re not going to look into it, it felt extremely extremely unprofessional. Sure, you’re not obliged to reply to negative feedback but you, as a company, as a professional, should be able to look past the negative aspects and extract the useful information from it and move on. To ignore negative feedback is ignoring feedback completely because you can’t always sugarcoat everything in life. When I get manuscripts back, the comments surely aren’t sweetened up, they dont’ go … oh yea… great job… but u know that one part, you should kinda change it to maybe this…not saying it’s bad and all but… They straight up say, this feels unfinished or irrelevant. Most of the time they even speak their mind about how they felt this piece of work was compiled if it was particularly displeasing. How do I deal with it?, I read through all the feedback critically, make the changes that I agree in accordance to the reviewers suggestions and become a more experienced researcher for it.

Sure some people are kinder than others, I find it hard to give negative feedback to someone directly, even if it is on paper, but not everyone is made like that. Some people have been through this over and over again and they’ve got no more patience left to sugarcoat everything. Obviously, in this scenario, perhaps many players feel they’ve experienced this kind of poor experience from other games and have been just about fed up with it, some people are just plain overreacting. But to simply ask for only constructive feedback just shows how thin your skin is.

He didn’t say if you’re not positive with your feedback we won’t look into it. He said that if you’re abusive with your feedback we’re not going to be less likely to pay attention to you, which is pretty much common sense.

I used to run a business. One customer comes in nice and friendly, asks me if I can get to his computer soon because he uses it for work. Another person comes in and rudely suggests that we shouldn’t be lazy and we should fix his machine ASAP. Which of those machines do you think will get fixed first.

He wasn’t saying don’t offer valid criticism. He was saying don’t be rude and obnoxious. There’s a big, big difference.

Knote.2904:

LinkR.6190:

Here’s my rebuttal: http://www.empoweringparents.com/arguing-with-your-opinionated-child.php

It’s all in the delivery. If you can’t make your point in an adult, educated manner, then Anet is more often then not just going to ignore it. Acting like a child and throwing a tantrum when things don’t go your way is no way to win any arguments. The problem here is that a very large portion of the forum community can not produce an intelligent critique without sounding like an entitled child.

You are correct; praise can be just as harmful as a toxic post, but that does not mean that Anet cherry picks all forms of the prior and lumps all critiques into the latter.

Also, Just because your complaint is not directly addressed does NOT and I can’t stress this enough here, NOT mean they are not listening. There are things going on behind the scenes that we have no idea about. They try to keep us in the loop as best as they can, but they can’t inform us about every single meeting they have with their staff over how the game will develop. Such a task would require more manpower then necessary and would only slow down their own process ultimately damaging the game in the long run.

I’ve seen very few posts that don’t have valid criticism.

There have been heated posts by players (who probably in the moment were irritated because they just experienced the situation and are now posting about it), who have had very valid criticism and even suggestions despite the post itself being slightly hostile.

I understand wanting to encourage well behaved posts/criticism, but you shouldn’t just brush off and completely ignore criticism like that.

Unless the post is completely useless and pathetic like “KITTEN YOU ANET KITTEN KITTEN KITTEN R-kitten KITTEN BALANCE ISSUE KITTEN!”, then Mod’s should just warn/infract and edit posts to tone it down instead of just deleting them outright.

TBH, the most useless posts I see in a lot of threads with valid criticism are people who only come to post to instigate a flame war.

Example :

Irritated Player “This is ridiculous, I got an Ascended weapon drop, but the stat/weapon type is completely useless for me and it’s soulbound, are you kidding me Anet? Why can’t we just choose the weapon type, or stat type, or atleast make it account bound? How hard is that???” (Heated, but valid criticism/suggestion)

Derailer “Wow first world problems much? Get over it, you can craft the weapon you want, Anet is teh awesomes.” (Useless post)

Cue the rage post bickering

Better yet :

Ex-Derailer “That would be frustrating, but it’s not that big of a deal, you can always craft the weapon you want. I personally don’t think they should let you choose the weapon type, but maybe the stat type or make it account bound.” (Much better)

By giving a single valid example, doesn’t mean all, or even the bulk of examples are valid.

You should try the profession forums to see some spectacularly bad suggestions.

I’ve also seen suggestions that all server transfers should be free…but when we had free server transfers, the WvW people were completely up in arms.

I’ve seen suggestions the game should be made harder and others that the game should be made easier. Are both suggestions valid?

I’ve seen suggestions that Anet needs to introduce raids, more gear grind and mounts…is all of that valid.

Most suggestions are just opinions…often from people who have never designed a game in their lives. Professional game developers often do things for reasons, such as the overall good of the game, or to make the game sustainable financially. I’m pretty sure the average forum poster is only looking at the game from their point of view. My profession is underpowered, my profession is OP.

All criticism isn’t going to be valid, because different factions of people can’t even agree on basic things.

Leablo.2651:

Vayne.8563:

It’s just that some people only want to focus on what isn’t right.

Which is exactly what the article points out as being the only useful feedback.

I was going to post a link to it myself because, like I’m sure so many others felt as they were reading it, it was perfectly applicable to GW2. Almost as if Mr. Koster was addressing Anet directly. (He’s also an MMO dev.)

Over the past couple of months my personal opinion of the game has plummeted. I used to be the type of player doing dailies every day and finishing monthlies in the first week, and now I find it a struggle to want to log in (last month I’m not sure I got any of the monthly achievements). I’m 2/10 on the Twilight Assault one, after 2 weeks. It’s just not worth it anymore to keep up. The idea of having to earn BiS gear through one of the worst parts of the game (crafting) utterly disgusts me. And meanwhile Anet continues to push temporary content/events/achievements over letting players approach the game on their own schedule, while continuing to decrease the rewards for playing. Each new ‘reward’ in fact feels like a penalty as it’s something that you either have to keep paying to use (transmutation) or to keep in storage (bank slots). They even nerfed karma which was already next to useless, and at the same time they continually introduce new item-based currencies. This game does not respect my time or inventory space. This is why I stopped playing other MMOs. Sad to see GW degenerating into just another one.

The achievements for Twilight Arbor are actually permanent. You’d miss 25 achievement points and a back item (because you don’t have enough back items), if you don’t get the temporary meta. However, all the achievements remain in the game and if you get them, you get a mini. It’s called a compromise and it’s a pretty good one.

Those who want to keep up can, those who don’t can still do all the achievements. You can find them in the dungeon section.

The problem is, people are not realisitic in their expectations. They think everything can be done now. They think implementing their ideas won’t lead to a sea of complaints from other people. It’s not realistic.

To be sure there are some very good suggestions in these forums. But there are also some terrible ones.

Anet has responded to criticism in the past. I’m not sure why anyone thinks they think they’re somehow above criticism.

Sirendor.1394:

Vayne.8563:

Relentliss.2170:

Galen Grey.4709:

Smith.1826:

Galen Grey.4709:

You can plug in any MMO you choose, i dont mean to pick on WoW only mentioned WoW specifically cause you mentioned it first.

I brought it up when you said “most MMOs only allow you to do dungeons and raids”, which I disagreed with, insinuating that you may want to look into exactly what content exists with most other MMOs, and pointing at WoW as the easiest example. The burden of proof lies with you.

Like I said WoW is not one of the games I play So I have no idea first hand what the end game consists. According to WoW players though it still fits the bill:
http://www.wowwiki.com/End-game

Is there anything that the above link neglects to mention?

Smith.1826:

It certainly isn’t, but repeating that year old content today a second time doesn’t hold much interest, either – hence my introduction into this thread in reply to BlueZone’s post. You may want to read up on that again.

All those dungeon paths I’ve completed – numerous times – nearly a year ago, so I have no interest in replaying them. I earned map completion on one character and 70% on another, so I have no interest in going back to the world: I’ve already played all of it. So these new rewards are grindy as hell.

It might help to know that if given the choice to having to grind new content for a month or grind any of the old content for a month, I’d choose neither. If I HAD to choose, I’d rather a “new reward” come attached with new content, not a “new reward” attached to old content. In that case, I’d make some progress towards that reward.

I am sorry but if you find playing content a 2nd time grindy MMOs might not be the genre for you cause once you hit max level I know of no MMO that gives a stream of fresh content to play. The closest is once again Gw2 that pumps out new content every 2 weeks.

At the end of the day its a question of tastes. You prefer to repeat something new 25 times in a row, I prefer to have a thousand things and I can choose 25 items of them to repeat a 2nd time.

I, and many others, don’t consider what they pump out every 2 weeks content.

I, and many others do consider what they pump out every 2 weeks content. The new dungeon path, for example, is as good as any dungeon path in the game…to me and many like me.

Evidence…? I believe your “many others” number less than the “many others” that dislike Living story.

I don’t actually need evidence of many others. There are many others even in these forums who have said they enjoy the living story. It’s probably not 50/50 but it’s also probably not far from it.

Why should I offer evidence to something that is self-evident for anyone who has paid attention to the conversations about it on these forums.

Some people do and some people don’t. I didn’t say most, I said many. The statement stands. Feel free to offer contrary evidence if you have any.

Avatara.1042:

Clovers are not needed for ascended weapons.

They did go a bit too far. At the very least they need to adjust the prices of most karma items, i.e all pre-80 ones.

Yep, I meant legendary. Sorry about that.

Conner.4702:

Vayne.8563:

Relentliss.2170:

Vayne.8563:

I don’t think Anet is sitting there preening their feathers thinking about how great they are. I think Anet is scared to say stuff because the community is so rabid. Which is very different than someone who doesn’t listen to criticism.

When you burn away all the good will you built up from your previous game in record time and blatantly lie about the game, I guess you should expect criticism.

When the fanbase can’t see the difference between a lie and a change of direction based on observation and necessity, the fanbase is rabid.

Some of us understand why certain changes were made, whether we like it or not.

-

“People who tell you you’re awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is. Especially watch out for the ones who tell you that nobody understands your genius.

That is you, whether you see it or not that quote is you to the letter.

Why do some people, including you, ignore the stuff that I say is wrong with the game?

xephire.8324:

Arena net can’t handle anything right.

I’d question the accuracy of this statement. They’ve probably handled hundreds of things right. It’s just that some people only want to focus on what isn’t right.

Relentliss.2170:

Vayne.8563:

I don’t think Anet is sitting there preening their feathers thinking about how great they are. I think Anet is scared to say stuff because the community is so rabid. Which is very different than someone who doesn’t listen to criticism.

When you burn away all the good will you built up from your previous game in record time and blatantly lie about the game, I guess you should expect criticism.

When the fanbase can’t see the difference between a lie and a change of direction based on observation and necessity, the fanbase is rabid.

Some of us understand why certain changes were made, whether we like it or not.

The OP is making the assumption Anet doesn’t understand criticism. It boggles the mind how the OP has come to this conclusion.

By the same token, not every bit of criticism is valid or even accurate. Sorting out the valid criticism from people who don’t really have a clue is an important part of the job.

I don’t think Anet is sitting there preening their feathers thinking about how great they are. I think Anet is scared to say stuff because the community is so rabid. Which is very different than someone who doesn’t listen to criticism.

While I still personally have over 2 million karma, I think Anet has gone too far in limiting karma. People who can’t play as often but do want an ascended weapon are struggling to get enough karma just to get obsidian shards to put in the mystic forge for clovers.

Those who got that done fast have a huge advantage.

I’m not saying karma wasn’t given too freely before. It probably needed a nerf….just not the degree of nerf it was given.

Dante.1508:

Atlas.9704:

christiniae.7834:

And yes, I did want GW1 with better graphics! I miss that game but I can’t go back.

You can’t physically log back into GW1? Or is this more of an emotional thing due to completing the stories and such?

The one thing that stops me logging into GW1 in 2013 isn’t the graphics or the jumping, its the lack of populations, people moved on, not just to Guildwars 2 and to pass the really hard content playing Guildwars 1 entails you need a population, henchmen don’t cut it, sorry.

Would i like a Guildwars 1 with Guildwars 2 graphics and some mechanics added, hell yes, i don’t even care about jumping honestly.

The things most people forget here is the times, when GW1 sold 3-6 million copies it was going head to head with WoW at a time when WoW was super popular, it was the juggernaut at the time, and Guildwars 1 was the only real MMO of the day that was competing with it..

With Guildwars 2 it popped at a relatively dead period of the MMO genre, even WoW had had it’s time, so obviously everyone and their dog was hyped for it, it was the biggest hyped MMO..

Still 7 times the Guildwars 1 accounts, nope not a hope, last i read GW2 had 3mill accounts, GW1 doubled that at least.

I keep saying this and people keep ignoring it. Guild Wars 1 wasn’t going head to head with WoW and it was most certainly not an MMO. It has a different player base, looking for a different game and, more importantly, it had NO MONTHLY FEE.

We know from experience there are many people who adamantly refuse to pay a monthly fee, period. So for multiplayer fantasy games that were free to play when Guild Wars 1 launched, there was precisely one choice.

Even if you’ve closed the dialogue, you can buyback if you’re still in the zone. Once you change zones, though, you’re out of luck.

Obsidian.1328:

Vayne.8563:

I have over 12,000 myself.

You need to put this as your signature.

Your posts make so much more sense now.

Right, I enjoy the game, so I play it a lot. That makes a lot of sense. I agree.

haviz.1340:

Mathias.9657:

I doubt most pve players even know hiding energy exists or even bothered having an energy set on hand. It’s easier to fail running a staff 100% of the time and blame faulty mechanics because onoez where did my energy go, mobs must be OP, terrible design! I better keep spamming protective spirit

GW1 was just too hard for the layman that’s why it wasn’t as popular and why GW2 is total faceroll. Gamers these days… it’s not even a matter of being casual or not, everything has to be so accessible and easy a new born could do it.

Heh, I guess I expect too much from gamers.

It’s not just the gamers though.

When I started playing games, there are a handful of games I was interested in at any one time. There weren’t so many competing for my attention. They could be deeper games, because for a game to be successful it didn’t need millions of copies sold.

So I had six, maybe seven games all up that were worth playing at any one time. Console games back then…they were a joke. It was a computer game or nothing. I mean yah, you know, coleco vision and intellivision were fun and all, but you didn’t get the old games like Temple of Apshai on them, or the Infocom games.

Today, the competition not only for games, but entertainment generally is different. You can stream a zillion different tv series and movies. You can play a ton of free to play stuff. There’s just too much variety out there.

Gamers that play a game long enough to really get into it, to the degree I used to be able to, are few and far between, because there’s always another game to try.

If a game is to be successful today, you have to make it easy for people to come back to it. And again, what can you do about it?

Zephaust Zenith.8376:

Vayne.8563:

OP, you’re better off logging in and checking out the game yourself. Most game forums are filled with dissatisfied people complaining. There are those of us here who enjoy playing the game.

Whether you’ll enjoy it or not you probably won’t find out by reading the forums though.

Pretentious much ?
What about those who enjoy playing the game and are dissatisfied with some of it ?

Anyway, regarding OP, a few posts above describe some of the major changes to the game since you last played so they should get you started on things to look out for, just don’t neglect forums as a source of positive and negative information even when not looking for those, since both are useful in their own ways.

Nothing to do with pretention at all. A simple statement of fact. Nothing I said even implies all complaints are invalid…nor does it imply that some people like the game and have issues with it. Whatever you’ve read into what I wrote is your own thoughts and feelings super-imposed on my words.

I’m simply saying people come here to complain. It’s pretty obvious if you look at the threads. How does this make me pretentious?

Am I wrong to say that the only way anyone will really know is to log in?

Mathias.9657:

haviz.1340:

Tiger Ashante.1792:

When u went to do DoA HM for eg, it was all about energy management and yes there was skill involved but not when you went to City of Torqua, where every enemy had 100% energy denial, which ended up in constant wipes coz monks couldn’t heal/rez you couldn’t use ur skills etc.

I would rather have long CD on some skills b/c it still means i have other skills available for use as opposed to none when u run out of energy.

I didn’t play gw1 pve but usually people were hiding (or at least should be hiding) energy through different weapon sets in gvg/ha.

I doubt most pve players even know hiding energy exists or even bothered having an energy set on hand. It’s easier to fail running a staff 100% of the time and blame faulty mechanics because onoez where did my energy go, mobs must be OP, terrible design! I better keep spamming protective spirit

GW1 was just too hard for the layman that’s why it wasn’t as popular and why GW2 is total faceroll. Gamers these days… it’s not even a matter of being casual or not, everything has to be so accessible and easy a new born could do it.

Leaving the blatant exaageration aside, I pretty much agree with this. Guild Wars 1 was too hard for the “masses”. That’s why Anet changed it. Too many people saw all those skills, tried to make builds, failed miserably, didn’t even know about PvX wiki, and just left the game.

One of the many differences between us is that I accept that any major MMO, due to the investment involved in producing one, is going to be rather easy from now on. To get something that really makes you think and sweat, you’ll probably need a single player niche game that needs far less money to operate.

I don’t think we’ll be seeing many MMOs that push players to think the way Guild Wars 1 did.

Am I happy about that? Not really.

But I understand why it is this way and can’t really see what can be done about it.

TooBz.3065:

Yaki.9563:

The weapon doesn’t make that much difference. The only reason you “need” one is for fractals, but they haven’t even opened 50+ yet.

We don’t Almost no one plays this game to feel mediocre. Everyone Almost everyone wants BiS gear. If they didn’t there would be no reason to add this stuff.

Edited: edit to avoid stupid pedantic arguments.

Stupid pedantic argument incoming. lol

I don’t disagree that no one plays this game to feel mediocre. I do disagree that most people feel mediocre if they don’t have an ascended weapon.

I don’t even think BIS gear is on most people’s radar. Most people are still trying to figure out how to dodge. lol

Relentliss.2170:

Galen Grey.4709:

Smith.1826:

Galen Grey.4709:

You can plug in any MMO you choose, i dont mean to pick on WoW only mentioned WoW specifically cause you mentioned it first.

I brought it up when you said “most MMOs only allow you to do dungeons and raids”, which I disagreed with, insinuating that you may want to look into exactly what content exists with most other MMOs, and pointing at WoW as the easiest example. The burden of proof lies with you.

Like I said WoW is not one of the games I play So I have no idea first hand what the end game consists. According to WoW players though it still fits the bill:
http://www.wowwiki.com/End-game

Is there anything that the above link neglects to mention?

Smith.1826:

It certainly isn’t, but repeating that year old content today a second time doesn’t hold much interest, either – hence my introduction into this thread in reply to BlueZone’s post. You may want to read up on that again.

All those dungeon paths I’ve completed – numerous times – nearly a year ago, so I have no interest in replaying them. I earned map completion on one character and 70% on another, so I have no interest in going back to the world: I’ve already played all of it. So these new rewards are grindy as hell.

It might help to know that if given the choice to having to grind new content for a month or grind any of the old content for a month, I’d choose neither. If I HAD to choose, I’d rather a “new reward” come attached with new content, not a “new reward” attached to old content. In that case, I’d make some progress towards that reward.

I am sorry but if you find playing content a 2nd time grindy MMOs might not be the genre for you cause once you hit max level I know of no MMO that gives a stream of fresh content to play. The closest is once again Gw2 that pumps out new content every 2 weeks.

At the end of the day its a question of tastes. You prefer to repeat something new 25 times in a row, I prefer to have a thousand things and I can choose 25 items of them to repeat a 2nd time.

I, and many others, don’t consider what they pump out every 2 weeks content.

I, and many others do consider what they pump out every 2 weeks content. The new dungeon path, for example, is as good as any dungeon path in the game…to me and many like me.

Khal Drogo.9631:

Vayne.8563:

MikaHR.1978:

Gnat.9405:

when you take the game for what it is

This was used for every failed game since WoW.

When i hear this phrase i know things have gone south.

“It was supposed to be a great game, but if you take it for what it is itll be fine”

And what it is? Medicore, not really good, not all bad, but yeah. And then they wonder why 90% of people quit the game in 1-3 months. Becasue, you know, “if you take it for what it is” lol

I’ve heard the very same thing said about every successful game when someone complained about it, including WoW.

I used to complain about WoW and my friend would say, take it for what it is. It’s such a natural response.

Are you suggesting that WoW is failing because someone said that about WoW?

Guild Wars 2 isn’t other games. It’s what it is. Some people like what it is. If ENOUGH people like what it is, it will be successful. Of course those people who like it are going to say take it as it is…not because it’s mediocre, but because they don’t want the changes you want.

Since I am quoting Vayne I can be reasonably sure I won’t be infracted. So here goes …

The difference between WoW and GW2 in their respective heydays? About 7 million people in my estimation.

Yep, I’d say a lot more than 7 million people. I’m not really sure what your point is.

WoW launched when it competed with a tiny handful of games, many of which were niche. None of the companies had Blizzard’s advertising dollars to play with. No one knows what would have happened if WoW launched now.

That game was in the right place at the right time, with a boatload of money behind it. I don’t know how you can compare.

It’s like expecting a scifi series coming out today to gain a following the size of the original Star Trek. Tiny budget and relatively low production values aside, it came out at a time when there were no serious science fiction series on television with a continuing cast of characters. Most people watching that today for the first time are like meh. Me, I think it’s great because I was there.

There have certainly been better scifi tv series since then, but none have had the impact of Star Trek. Doesn’t make it any better than subsequent series.

Smith.1826:

Vayne.8563:

It’s interesting..because my understanding of energy management when it was first introduced in MMOs was for developers to slow down the game, so their servers could keep up with all the calculations. It DID add more depth to the game as an affect effect, but the main reason it was used was to slow down skill usage, so that there would be less lag.

Today servers can handle more, so it’s not as necessary.

Ow, my brain. I need a source for this so I can properly dissect it’s contents.

What do you mean by “not as necessary”, by the way?

Also, I thought that the GCD was the major player with assisting and balancing lag.

GCD also played a part of course, but the less system calls you handled the better you performed. Very often different programming problems are attacked from different angles.

The articles I read on this were written years ago, but I’m sure you can dig some of them up. Me….I’m too lazy.

Clark Skinner.4902:

Achievement point hunting that hardcore is concerning. It’s the opposite of living life to the fullest. So much work, doing repetitive, boring activities for a number to get higher in a video game. They day they stop playing, all of that will be for nothing. No one in the real world will care, you don’t get paid a salary for doing that work, and in your deathbed, you would think “Instead of living, I spent a year busting my rear for nothing”.

In the future, I imagine there being a medical diagnosis for the extreme cases of video game obsessiveness, and some kind of treatment. I’d hate for someone I care about to be caught up in that.

There’s an old saying….no one ever went to the grave wishing they’d spent more time at the office.

A lot of people confuse working with real life.

While I agree that that many points is obssessive, no one knows the circumstances people live in and its probably better not to make judgements about it.

I have over 12,000 myself.

OP, you’re better off logging in and checking out the game yourself. Most game forums are filled with dissatisfied people complaining. There are those of us here who enjoy playing the game.

Whether you’ll enjoy it or not you probably won’t find out by reading the forums though.