Guild Wars 2

Vayne.8563:

But you’re also making the assumption that all casual players are cut from the same cloth. I can assure you they’re not. Some casual players like the stuff introduced in HoT. Some are still working on collections or achievements, or a legendary weapon.

One casual player in my guild refuses to buy mats on the trading post and simple gathers all the time on multiple toons to get the mats she needs for a legendary. She thinks somehow buying them is cheating. I don’t get it myself, but you know, to each his/her own.

Casual people may not raid, but some casuals do enjoy WvW occassionally (or Edge of the Mists) and they can enjoy that more now with more going on there. And yes, there are casual PvPers too, that can still PvP and enjoy changes there.

And on top of that there are plenty of little new events and achievements for casuals to bang away at.

Sure it’s not new zones. Sure it’s not the living story, which is coming.

But to say that there’s nothing at all for casuals to do…well there’s plenty of casuals in my guild who are here since launch that still have stuff to do simply because they haven’t even gotten to everything yet.

Some of them have only recently discovered fractals now that they’re so much easier and they do those for the first time.

Well I’m a realist and i can say with all certainty our guild has dwindled and we were 300 plus strong. You can defend the path they’ve taken and many have but lets be realistic the hardcore they spent weeks and months developing has always in every MMO had a minority of players using that content. If they would have spent all their time developing the same type of content that got people here in the 1st place we would be much better off. Anyone online can make a case for any point they choose but this is pretty bloody inescapable, the majority of players bought the game to play what was advertised and they didn’t sign up for developer of the day content.
Had this game stayed it’s course we would likely be deep into the 2nd expansion and had a sheep ton more area to explore, quests and bosses to go up against and a whole lot more players still playing.
One important thing to remember Vayne is this, you may still have the same amount of players in your guild, though i seriously doubt that but i have no way of knowing, but I’ve watched ours dwindle in half due to the course management took the game in. That is infuriating and was totally unnecessary had they stuck to the original manifest and concept i doubt highly most who stepped into this 3 years ago under it’s premise would have bolted. Raids have not worked in over a decade, certainly not for the majority of games produced, and that along with many other things should have been left where they belong. I guarantee for every raid player there are a hundred who only long for the content that made GW2 so appealing in the 1st place.

This is the absolute wrong approach, and a ridiculous statement to make during an interview. What it translates to for most is that we will likely see 3 to 4 chapters of the LS which based on this is another year of thumb twiddling, and that is somehow supposed to keep us here? Stop with the kitten ed raid / fractal content that a very small minority plays and concentrate on real out world content. Push out world content and do it immediately, stop tweaking builds to satisfy one section of players and put all your resources into content before it’s too bloody late!

Also while I’m here, where the heck is Mike O in all this, where’s the I’ll communicate more than ever before mantra you spewed after CJ left? I am so sick and tired of the absolute failure on Anet’s part to keep their base involved in the game’s future and the overall abysmal pace of development due to jumbled priorities and lack of direction. I only hope somebody at NCSoft sees how pathetically under staffed this game is and how starved for content the player base is that they actually start to shake things up! Content folks, content for all is what the player base wants…more and more kitten ed content! It is just that bloody simple!!!!

Vayne.8563:

Think of it this way. For years they’ve focused on us and the hard core guys have gotten nothing. Content takes time to make. So they are filling in the blanks now. But next month, most likely. the LS begins again, a new fractal is coming, it just can’t all be done at once.

Although i agree content takes time their pace is abysmal. I can list a slew of MMO’s that push out 10 times the content we’ve seen from Anet on a far more regular basis. They need NCSoft to come to the table and start supporting them with the proper amount of development staff they currently extend to their other titles. That and only that will save the game long term. Frankly by now we should have seen multiple new races, lands and classes and the fact that isn’t happening speaks volumes.

As far as the casual v hardcore, it is crystal clear which group has not been served well just by logging in to a declining population and lack of guild members being active. It’s about time they stop deluding themselves and start pushing the content out because if they don’t this will fade into the night for a great many players.

Fiddle Irk.9710:

I honestly don’t think the people that mainline pve have ANY right to complain what-so-ever. Yes I play pve, (no it’s not my main objective as I tend to prefer the pvp potential this game COULD be) but I am PvX with a pvp preference. So looking at things from a pvx point of view, …PvE (lore and story-line) is hands downed catered to. The PvE of this game consumes a VAST majority of anet’s dev’ time far over PvP ( WvW a far distant third and I feel bad for the few dev’s working on it ‘cuz they get all the **it without any praise for their efforts) Yet Anet is still hoping to make it’s game into an E-sports staple. They can’t because of how much effort they have to put into appeasing the PvE enthusiasts. SO for god’s sake, cut them some slack on their “timeline” we’ll all keep farming for the stuff we need regardless of when “next chapter” comes out because no one could possibly get all the stuff needed for the next “shiny” faster than they can create it!

Not everyone is happy to jump into the collect all you need for the next shiny because that’s all that is available crowd. The absolute snails pace at which content is released including the limited and mostly dysfunctional HoT expansion is a joke. If they want GW2 to have a future they best step it up and add a sheep ton more development because the tiny pr moves and PvP tournament busy work will simply not keep it alive. This was the best MMO on line but is slowly degrading and the lack of real volume of PvE content is a serious bloody issue. I have barely logged in and most of our guild is the same, we simple can’t keep grinding out the same bloody boring content.
Now we have to contend with the summer vacations, etc. and this game has had nothing of consequence PvE wise since the HoT fix patch and release of all world gliding,and guess what…it shows.
We need some follow up communication, plans for the future and a clear end point for when the next….“Real” expansion of content and story line lands. Don’t for a minute think that they have nothing to worry about because MMO’s are on the decline because many players have jumped to moba’s, rpg’s and other game styles due to shear boredom.
We gave them money supported them now it’s time to give the majority what they want, PvE content with a purpose, deep story line and a real reason to stay not artificial gem store fluff!

Grats, i can’t even finish the quest to the new legendary because it’s tied to a broken quest. I guess we are meant to rely on the whim of the loot gods since a planned path isn’t possible.

It wasn’t an explanation it was a way to shrug off any real discussion. I’ve said it over and over again, they did the easiest thing they could do and offered nothing in return and all for one game play style, total BS!

Bhawb.7408:

Ariurotl.3718:

My power Reaper got an almost pure buff, I’m not even joking.

The issue isn’t that we didn’t get some buffs, its that the changes make very little sense. They don’t really address the issues, they’re just haphazard changes to try to fix Reaper being at least perceived as OP (I’m not sure if it is or isn’t), and Core Necro being terrible.

A thousand times this, they seriously need to bone up on their balance team, and for the love of all that is holy separate PvP and PvE!!!!! Ruined an otherwise great patch for me anyway.

Everything was great until I saw my Reaper getting trashed again for PvP. Why do you people constantly have to kill PvE skills to balance PvP, why not split the skills, you’ve done it in the past. Infuriating. The patch as a whole was great but once again your balance team is just not up to snuff!

Reaper for me, it kept me here and nothing else has captured my interest. That said if they nerf it into the ground for PvP in the April balance attempt I will be completely done with the game at that point. I love GW2 but i have only tolerated HoT as long as i have because of this elite build, if it’s tampered with because of PvP or WvW it will end my time with this game until it’s fixed..

Have no interest whatsoever and frankly if it’s raid related it’s another chunk of content meant for the minority and all the more reason this game is losing ground and players. If this was a portal to the Tengu area then maybe some real excitement would be warranted!

Frankly i think people who start these threads beating this dead horse along with those that start ones about DPS meters should have their posting permissions removed. Start searching and you’ll find everything that can be argued has been. This game will not ever have a true trinity now should it ever and that is that. Been that way since day one so not sure why you bought it in the first place.

Screwing PvE over for PvP & WvW what else? Seriously that’s been happening since day 1 and without separating PvE out it will remain the same thing every balance change.

Just curious if there may be a bug, i just salvaged a level 80 rare torch with a BL kit and got 1 piece of elder wood….no sigil nothing, just 1 piece of wood. Anyone else seeing strange results when salvaging?

Heibi.4251:

Here are some of the ideas and suggestions that have been lost in all the screaming and yelling:
1. Make the HoT precursors drop from mobs in the HoT areas like the old versions did in Tyria. RNG baby. – Creating the legendary adventure is one of the primary things delaying them. Everything must work and be there.

2. Create Skin Recipes for the new legendaries. Sell them at vendors in the HoT area for a large sum in the zone currency. Then make and old legendary and skin it.

3. Unlock Legendary Armor from the Raid and make them obtainable outside of raids. That’s 18 legendaries available to make. See #1 for how to get them. Though they still have to create the legendary armor. Also make the recipe simple, like old legendaries. No adventure involved, except for dungeons and such.

4. Hire 6 new people so that you don’t have to scrap the project. Borrow against a bankable asset if you have to.

5 : put one precursor as reward of entering legendary division during a PvP season (ofc still non-tradable). Legendary people deserve legendary weapons.

I’ll keep updating as I find/see them.

Like them all, and yes it got lost in the rabble from all these corporate lawyers discussing their strategy to sue Anet over this mess LOL!

One I’d like to add is a possible suggestion would be to put one in a cairn somewhere in Tyria and slowly release photos of clues as to where it would be located.

Heibi.4251:

Here are some of the ideas and suggestions that have been lost in all the screaming and yelling:
1. Make the HoT precursors drop from mobs in the HoT areas like the old versions did in Tyria. RNG baby. – Creating the legendary adventure is one of the primary things delaying them. Everything must work and be there.
2. Create Skin Recipes for the new legendaries. Sell them at vendors in the HoT area for a large sum in the zone currency. Then make and old legendary and skin it.
3. Unlock Legendary Armor from the Raid and make them obtainable outside of raids. That’s 18 legendaries available to make. See #1 for how to get them. Though they still have to create the legendary armor. Also make the recipe simple, like old legendaries. No adventure involved, except for dungeons and such.

That’s the 3 I’ve seen, as there is just too much venom in this thread to read every complaint, threat, and scream.

Let’s be constructive and a little more mature. Sure be upset/angry/disappointed. But be constructive in your response.

Exactly what should be discussed at this point. This is a done deal so at least if they decide they can offer them in another way they can at the very least salvage the actual skins and such and wether it be though RNG or through other means like major dynamic events etc.

This has been discussed to death and they have firmly said NO! I think anyone who makes these posts should be banned from the forums because frankly it is a bloody waste of time beating the same dead horse. Do a bloody history check, there is nothing anyone could add to this topic that hasn’t been regurgitated to the nth degree!

Verdant is fun, unfortunately Auric Basin is always empty and I’d love to do more of it on alts there just really isn’t anyone there. DS is a royal pain and hit and miss so unless they change that who knows if it will get any better.

I won’t diminish the opinions of those who wanted legendary weapons, I could care less myself but that said it is all about setting dangerous precedence. If you don’t say anything when something like this happens then it can become an established practice which in the end hurts all areas of the game ultimately hurting every GW2 player. Now from what I have read in Mo’s comments it seems they are committed to shipping good quality product and no longer promising things up front. This in itself can be problematic because people need some information to go on or they get distracted by other things and move on, what should happen is the director needs to know his personnel’s capabilities down to the last detail so when they say they can do something they have a pretty darn good idea it will happen, clearly that is missing right now.
If I were Mike this is where I’d start and then look at what I know to be a 99% sure case thing they are developing and give that info to the player base keeping the rest quiet until it lands because it is far easier to look good when you provide more than expected but things turn pretty ugly pretty fast if you under deliver.

Also let’s keep things in perspective, we all know that it makes zero sense to strive to complete something they know people won’t be happy with anyway, so what’s the point. In the end they need to stop the bleeding and the only sure fire way to do that is provide heaps of interesting good quality content, now this will depend on what is really shipped not what they perceive to be heaps of content. The one life lesson I’ve never seen fail is that perception matters regardless of whether the customer is right or wrong it’s how you are perceived. HoT was not a lot of content, they knew it and tried to dress it up to look like it was more than it really was but in the end that blew up in their face and even Mike knows it. What’s funny is you could see it in the faces of those who were present during the live unveiling of the actual HoT expansion, everyone was waiting for the big thing to drop and sadly it never did.

Content is exactly what they need and they would have been way ahead of the curve had they not spent so much time wasted on reworking existing systems like traits, beginner areas and the like. that was a colossal waste of good development time which could have been spent doing what they needed to do like build more content like expansions. Their constant tweaking of things nobody thought was necessary to fix is what caused them to be in this mess, not including the rush to get this out in china.

Refocus and go back to your roots and build content people ask for and you’ll be just fine.

This situation reminds me so much of Asheron’s Call, when they made the decision to stop making monthly patches they had done for almost a decade to pour all their resources into their expansion, within months they lost most of their player base. The more things change the more they stay the same.

All the wasted efforts and development time in designing new game mechanics instead of focusing on what people actually asked for over and over again. Bet you’re regretting those choices now. Should have stuck with what made you great instead of listening to a director who was bored of the same old and you wouldn’t be in this shape today. Can you just imagine how well GW2 would be doing right now if you’d have stuck to the format of GW and pumped out expansions c/w races, classes, armor, dungeons, all the things people enjoyed to begin with, well you best put the peddle to the metal and get everyone churning out content because after this your time will be short.

So, many people enjoyed doing them and it didn’t cause any harm so why bother even putting time towards it? I’ll tell you why, stingy, that’s why.

This came to light on the Reddit boards a week or so ago and it was something a lot of people enjoyed doing instead of the ones that were posted, why were they removed? Are you people so hell bent on crushing things anyone finds enjoyable that you need to kill it outright? Were the half dozen extra pieces of salvage material going to completely throw the economy out of whack? Even if it was a bug surely to kitten everyone who posted positives about being able to do them would be enough to just leave it. Wow, just wow, this is really low truly!

Pure Heart.1456:

Ranger — assault rifle, works like Long bow but with a longer burst and wide bullet spray, oh and 1 shot-kill damage yeeeharr!!!

Actually along the vein I’d like the sniper rifle that you find in various areas of Ascalon. The range is amazing and yes I know it wouldn’t be fair but it would be a ton of fun!

maddoctor.2738:

This is how I expect it to work, and given how Ascended worked, first through fractals, then guild missions, dailies, crafting, drops etc there is reason to believe that’s what they will do with Legendary Armor. I wouldn’t expect them to say it though, until the time is right, which means at least until we are able to craft it.Fingers crossed

I on the other hand would expect them to say that is their intent, if for no other reason than to assure those who are opposed to this whole methodology that this will become available other than through raiding. What do they have to lose long term that they are not at risk losing now?
Like many others I have logged in far less and with far less motivation lately than at any other time since the launch and much of it has to do with not liking the direction of things in HoT, this being one of the things I disliked the most. I hate the whole raiding special snowflake crap and all the nasty bs elitism it fosters. Anet needs to get back to the way they were and stop gating things period.

Only if the main features are clearly outlined in advance, too many shady things happened with the last one and I’m not talking about spoiling content, the whole mastery costs for example. Also if it is back to their core values regarding no grind and a lot of content for everyone then yes I will buy it.

Blockhead Magee.3092:

Totally incorrect. Not even close to reality.

Well that’s a valid rebuttal if I’ve ever seen one. Why even waste the time to log in to say anything, really? It’s reality and it hurts to hear it.

So let me see if I have this down; Anet has always claimed that making armor is far more developer intensive than making outfits so they pour developer time into making raids which are played by 5% of the population and then pour more into armor that will only be used by 5% of said player base. Time well spent I’d say lol!

Locking anything considered the best option into any one type of content is just flat out bad design. Every top tier item that is in the game should be made available in all formats, dungeons, fractals, pve, pvp, wvw, crafting that’s just bloody logical and any counter argument is just elitism pure and simple. Top tier items should be a reward for playing the game not for playing one particular way that’s just divisive nonsense. The main fear raiders have always had is that if the rewards weren’t there then people wouldn’t do the content to get them well by conclusion it means they don’t like doing that type of content or they would acquire it that way.

2. Skill balance ; Please do not kitten everyone in PvE for WvW or PvP! Nothing worst than having one game play style which by the way is the most populated while balancing another, if need be take the time and separate the skills! I do not want my Necro / Reaper to be thrown into the kitten ed toilet bowl again, we spent 3 years floating there and it sucked large! I can’t stress this enough, I’d rather play with the devil i know than revert to the quagmire we spent years in!!!!

I think there was no harm in adding raids other than the development lost in other areas, that being the case I don’t think it should continue to be a focus going forward at least not regularly especially considering the small percentage of people that play raids compared to the overall community base. Hell I’d have rather seen a new race than raids come in with HoT but now that they are done introducing new systems (their own words) they can concentrate on adding a lot more content, raid should be part of it but only based on the % of players that use it.

I hate seeing posts like this because in the end we may be doing well in PvP but I can tell you outright it is not the case in PvE, there are many things we lack in that respect. It pretty much is going to set us up to be nerfed back to the stone age because PvP’er’s are the worst bunch of whiners in gaming.

Anet needs to stop screwing around and split these skills, they’ve done it in the past and it needs to happen again because we don’t deserve being pushed back into the toilet because of one play type again, we were there for 3 years.

Stop nerfing for the sake of PvP! Why can’t they just admit it would be better for everyone involved if they just separated the kitten ed skills? So sick of this kitten and no doubt we’ll see more as this next season of PvP rolls on.

Either a set you can dye or a set of black bat wings, not overly fond of the brown coloured wings.
Also why not do each of the dragons, a set of purple bone wings would look cool.

Michael Henninger.7451:

On the other hand when this happens – An account buys something worthless for a large sum – it is almost always RMT activity but it still falls on mine and Chris’ teams to investigate the account before removing the gold.

I reported this weeks ago and never received a reply on whether this was or wasn’t RMT. Something seemed fishy when greens and blues on the TP were going for 100’s and sometimes 1000’s of gold. When I asked people who play the TP regularly they said it was doubtful and more likely the items were no longer available in game which didn’t wash with me to be honest. I see these kinds of things on the TP every day so either they aren’t being followed up on or there is a lot more to it. To me it is clearly trading gold and it is rampant.

Vayne.8563:

A lot of people play games to cut down on stress. I know I do. The last thing I need during my day is more stress. So relaxing is good.

The argument that people that play harder deserve better rewards is really the question. If you and I buy tickets to the same movie, and you’re a hard core fan and I’m a casual viewer, we get the same experience. Games aren’t like that, but I’m not sure they shouldn’t be. Or rather, competitive games aren’t like that. I didn’t buy this game to be competitive. I bought this for the cooperative PvE experience.

The angst and anger over getting harder content done, and people blaming other people is the reason I didn’t raid in other games. It just seemed like something I’d rather not be involved with. If I wanted arguments I’d remarry my ex-wife.

No, I much prefer to relax and enjoy myself while playing. This game gave me that more in the past than it does now.

I completely agree, and if you read C.J. state of the game up date one particular section of his comments captures this in a nutshell;
"2016 is the year where we’ll be focusing on the parts of Guild Wars 2 that have been most successful and giving our full attention to those areas by adding depth to them. This means a focus on new content and polish for our existing, successful parts of the game. "

To me this should have continued to be their main focus all along, sure some things like Elite specs and better AI were a must but at the end of it all I think continuing to strive to create content that made them initially successful is the best route forward. In the end I believe they recognized that as well and it will be their primary focus going forward. Many have said it in many ways, this isn’t and should never become another WoW the gaming world doesn’t need that and as far as hardcore content being the most important to focus on, well that’s just rubbish and a lesson they learned firsthand with Wildstar.

This game was made for causal gamers for the most part and in the end it’s what set them apart of the rest of the MMO world, I think they just got caught up in the frenzy of trying to capture it all, well even WoW hasn’t done that and never could that’s why GW2 caught on in the 1st place. I encourage Anet to go back to their roots in many areas and if they do it will only continue to grow, if not they will see a dwindling population because like it or not hardcore gamers and elitists are the real dyeing breed of the gaming world and even Blizzard has recognized that fact.

Anet stick to what got you there, you and the original visionaries had the right formula and you need to dust off the cobwebs of your manifesto and refocus going forward. I look forward to the next expansion and the quarterly content updates.

$8.50 is not reasonable when you consider the cost of developing this and frankly it just showcases the greed this company has because they know it’s a QoL that many people would want and could have easily included it into the expansion pack. Expect more of the same in the future based on how many people paid the price without question.

The price is too high and what bothers me most is that it is a substantial QoL that dropped a couple months after the expansion came out. It is very suspicious timing in my book and just another way to squeeze dollars out of their player base but I expected this kind of thing once I saw C.Cox associated with the game.
They need to take a step back on their whole pricing structure, some of the things lately cost more than a monthly subscription to online games which just seems a tad out of whack.

Key things that make me happy;

- we can focus entirely on polishing the systems we have and continuing to add new content via live updates and our next EXPANSION
-Your glider will work in any open-world map or city in Central Tyria once you’ve earned this Mastery ability
-Shatterer mustering a new Branded army
-Participation for events is getting an update!
-new optional key bindings for action camera, snap ground targeting, and autotargeting
-return of our Living World updates and the story picking back up

TheNecrosanct.4028:

Yep. And that’s exactly it. A marketing strategy, nothing more. I wonder what story explanation they are going to give for suddenly everyone in Tyria being able to glide. In flat lands (barring mountains and structures). Probably there’s not going to be any story explanation (and yes, as a lore person that matters to me). Gliding in Magus Falls makes perfect sense. Outside of money, gliding in Central Tyria makes no sense to me. But it was to be expected, with the general response to gliding (I think it’s awesome too, but I’ve always said I hope they never implement it in Central Tyria).

How can it not make sense, your character develops a mastery skill which includes gliding but when you return to the other areas of Tyria you suddenly forget how to glide….that doesn’t make sense. That logic would mean you wouldn’t be able to use your elite specification either which is absurd. It’s a learned skill which was needed in the jungle that you take back to central Tyria with you, it is in no way shape or form lore breaking.

WHEN?? So stoked for this, i can’t wait to float around Timberline Falls!!!

My largest concern has always been balance that is modeled around one particular type of gameplay which is why I want to stress how critical this is and as mentioned previously it can’t be rushed. I have always been of the mind that the balance between PvP and PvE be separated because it isn’t always feasible to balance in one without being very detrimental to the other.

Actually completed mine on Saturday and had a lot of fun doing it. Surprisingly it went rather well and there was mostly positive help in map chat. However I tried the Ley line lanes in tangled depths and it failed and wow what a toxic mess of folks there, may have just been the map I was on but I left thinking it would be a long time before I bother with that again.

Adding difficult content isn’t the issue…adding that content constrained by timers is a problem for many. I have no problem at all with challenging content but gating and locking stuff behind timers is just a pathetic way of trying to stretch content out, simple as that.
As far as grinding, even though as of today it is not forced, the acceptance of this behavior could and very likely will lead to forced grind as time goes on, because it is the cheapest and easiest way to make content. Once again it’s a sad and simplistic way of trying to stretch out content value and nobody is fooled by that, you’ve only replaced the carrot with the need for 10,000 carrots.

Not everything needs to be group oriented, even in MMO’s the most successful have had a balanced approach. Throw in more solo content with each expansion and stuff that actually is fun to repeat, believe me when I say that adventures is not it for many, many players. It needs to be linked to story and lore.

If they want to be honest with themselves all they need to do is look at their numbers and the drop in active players being logged into the game that pretty much spells it out. Not every complaint is baseless and trying to make them seem that way is not a healthy approach to the games success either, nor is burying your head in the sand or trying to protect yourself through some absurd pretense of an information embargo policy. That is a cop out pure and simple and it only breeds contempt. Like I’ve been saying for a very long time address the concerns honestly and openly, dismiss those that are not reality and make plans to fix those that are. Instead they choose to wear rose colored glasses and pretend everything is all right, well we will see how successful that approach is long term.

What irritates me is that I have played enough to get experience for 3 more masteries but lack the actual mastery points because I have no luck in the adventures. I frankly can’t attempt the bug one anymore because it makes me motion sick so I need to move on. I’ve tried to get the one in the pit but it is never available due to meta’s running.

The experience is enough of a grind especially considering DR, that we shouldn’t even need the mastery points in the first place but if you’re determined to keep them try adding more in normal content rather than forcing people into these terrible little mini games.

Why not upgrade the current ones that are veterans into champions once you’ve completed them once they become more difficult to do again?

DiogoSilva.7089:

Heart of Maguuma

• Add additional mastery points to several maguuma achievements so that players are not pressured to do the mini-game adventures if they don’t like them.
• Make adventures always available whenever it is possible.

This one is by far the most important to me besides the current meta timers. I currently have 3 tiers of mastery upgrades done as far as experience goes and not enough mastery points to apply them. I don’t know why but I have tried some of the adventures multiple times and can’t seem to get to silver. I think I’ve had 19 bugs about 20 times so far which is exasperating not to mention makes me motion sick after 2 or 3 attempts.
There should be way more ways to earn these points as I’ve said the experience portion is enough of a grind already especially with diminishing returns.

We have a fairly large guild 300 + and the daily representation has been down almost 50%. I too hope that some things change like I said I loved the game if I hadn’t I would never have purchased the deluxe expansion and a 2nd account without knowing what we were in store for in HoT. I and many others are not happy with a lot of the elements in the expansion and all we’ve asked for is some kind of response or direction going forward. I get that they don’t discuss new projects but let’s be frank here this is content already in game what the hell is the harm of coming to the boards and sharing their thoughts and opinions with their player base.

No answers of consequence, all we ever get is comments on fluff topics it’s infuriating and quite disappointing, not to say very unprofessional. Anyway I’ll play when I feel like it but I’m to the point now months in I don’t really care what happens because I’m out looking for other things to occupy my time and spend my money on.

Vayne.8563:

Well, you’ve ignored some honest discussion at least. That is to say there’s information out there you’ve ignored. Take hearts.

Hearts were never even meant to be in the game at all. They were only added last minute to show people were dynamic events were. Even in end game zones like Orr there are no hearts. Nor are there any in South Sun or Dry Top or the Silverwastes. There won’t be any more hearts, because hearts were added to train people to stay in the areas were dynamic events are. That’s all they were ever there for. It’s communication. You may not like what it says, but those are the essential facts on the situation. Anet isn’t talking about it now because they’ve said this already.

Also Anet has said straight out that dynamic events, not hearts, were the center and focus of this game. They’ve been saying it since launch. I’m not sure why this should come as a surprise to you.

Maps not being populated is simply not true. Because I’m in those zones every single day and those maps are populated. Now you may get on an ocassional unpopulated map, and you can then use the LFG tool to look for an active map. So your starting premise about those maps being unpopulated is simply in error. No real reason for Anet to discuss this.

Guild items are costly. They’re meant to be a long term goal. Anet said straight out they wanted something for guilds to work toward long term. That’s the reason they were put this way. See, that to me, is communication. You may not like what Anet is saying, but they did in fact say this.

There’s nothing really to discuss here. Anet has made decision you don’t like. You don’t like the monetization system. That’s the business plan. The developers don’t really decide that stuff, the suits do. The suits aren’t going to come talk to us, because we’re not stock holders in NcSoft, at least I’m not. But there are other people to answer to besides just us.

At any rate, I can guarantee you the cash shop in this game is less intrusive than just about all other MMOs that don’t charage a monthly fee.

By all means, vote with your wallet. It’s what you should do. But at the end of the day, Anet knows if their formula is working or not, and they’re going to stick to it if it is. What if Anet came here and said, look this is what we’re doing, tough nuts. Not like that.

You don’t want an honest discussion. You want them to change what they’re doing. Well so do a lot of people.

The problem is not everyone wants stuff changed in the same direction.

Granted I know hearts are a thing of the past but that was more of a short form for saying not enough of the new content is designed for solo players and that is something I greatly miss in HoT

Maps not being populated…now who isn’t being honest? I am not the only one who hates this whole taxi scenario and more than that why can’t they just have it set so you immediately log onto a map that is closest to being full so we don’t have maps with 5 or 6 players where you can be booted from losing all your progress. I see you didn’t bother to respond to that particular section of the post either since I’m sure you have been hit by this once or twice yourself and you know it’s a poor design flaw.

As far as guild items, there is nothing wrong with long term goals but it doesn’t all have to be focused around extreme amounts of value and certainly not every aspect of crafting has to be a royal pain in the butt or so bloody costly. It is absurd to think of how little one get actually make do to the amount of raw materials or the amount of gold needed to purchase them, and heaven forbid you want more than one item within a month if you don’t have deep pockets!

I completely understand the need behind monetization but to be honest it is way over the top and it wasn’t anywhere near this the first 3 years the game was around so yes I have a problem with the current balance of pay to get items vs. what was actually added to the $100.00 version of the expansion I purchased.

Now let’s touch on the items you didn’t care to touch on like the length of meta timers, or is this something you don’t like either but won’t speak up for fear it will actually clash with your all is well image? Is this another imagined issue Anet doesn’t need to deal with or are the hundreds of voices complaining here and on Reddit just being unreasonable? What about the constant DR in areas we actually do enjoy playing in which by the way kicks in prior to people even having the time to complete metas, is that acceptable or do you consider that a non-issue when it comes to “play the way you like”.
I’m tired of the whole ideology the game was built on being thrown aside and yes I think I should question those things as should you. I don’t want this game to fail but I do want them to take notice of what is or isn’t working and frankly unless they are honest and discuss these points we have no idea if it is falling on deaf ears. I doubt that is the case at the grass roots level and the fact is they don’t have the ability to challenge it at a higher level from what I’ve read but if this doesn’t change it can greatly affect the game long term.
Since there is no communication I have no choice but to speak with my wallet and yes I’m aware of the double edged sword and the irony of that statement but if you have a better idea many would love to hear it.

Vayne.8563:

Actually they have talked about Fractals and they have talked about WvW, at least say they know know the problems but the solution is complex and it’s taking longer than they thought.

I’ve already changed certain other problems and another dev addressed the problems with the collections.

So they have communicated some stuff. People just conveniently ignore them. I’ll see you when you get back from Black Desert I suspect that game is going to suffer badly in the west.

Both those issues i have no interest in, as i posted in another thread these are the hot button topics i’d like to see discussed;
- not enough mastery points available in content that interests me
- everything in HoT is tied to a dynamic event and group oriented, no hearts
- meta events timers are way too long
- maps are not populated enough to complete the larger events
- every item to craft is incredibly expensive and time consuming
- too much focus on the gem store not enough on in game weapons and armor
- monetization is way too prominent and many items are priced too high or bundled
- leaving a map destroys all your work and progression
- guild items are incredibly costly
- very little encouragement to participate in content you enjoy due to DR

Now as far as Black Desert, you may well be right but the point I’m making is i will continue to put money elsewhere until i see some real honest discussion about these topics and I’m certain I am not the only one doing so.

Vayne.8563:

Honest is a code word for I don’t like it. It’s honest if you don’t like it.

There are some of us who honestly like it though. That’s honest too.

Not that there aren’t flaws in HoT, because there are, but there’s a lot of really good stuff too…for people who share my play style at any rate.

That may likely be the case I know I’m really enjoying my Reaper but that said they have yet to discuss any fixes or potential changes for the areas that are flawed. We haven’t had any real feedback of consequence at all on many areas that have been posted regularly since launch, very discouraging. Perhaps they are meeting to review all of these things who really knows because there is no communication and one can’t help but feel like they have their money now so too bad so sad.

As far as honesty goes, I will be giving them until December 16th to at least share their plans on how they are going to fix some of these concerns and if by then we hear nothing or if I’m not happy with their direction I will put my allotted gem money into Black Desert and their beta.

There doesn’t seem to be anyone willing to discuss anything of consequence right now, it’s infuriating. I’ve tried to get a response on numerous issues all to no avail. I’m not sure if everyone is away or if their plan is to just ignore everyone and everything until it blows over?

You are likely correct but my intention was just to get some discussion started with Anet, frankly they could pick any of these issues and it would be welcomed. I truly believe that the future of the game’s health is at stake right now and some of these major areas of concern should be addressed by management to at least give people the confidence that they acknowledged some things seriously missed their mark.