I was throwing rares into the Mystic Forge to complete a daily and wound up with Zap.
That and 50g put The Lover in my hands.
Now I’m the most glorious norn man-queen in the history of ever.
I don’t HATE the character as a villain… if for any reason than there hasn’t really been enough opportunity to judge. I’m content to let that story play out and see where it goes before I say, “She sucks.”
I WOULD like to say though… uhh… I bought this game to fight dragons, not touched Sylvari. It would be kinda nice to go back to those big things that are supposedly tearing the world a new one.
Or… and I know this is a CRAZY idea…
You don’t worry about some silly achievement that is no longer around, and relax.
No, Teqautl is not difficult in the grand scheme of things. It just requires willing participants, coordination, and communication. Which I think was (and still is) lacking on a good many servers… and contrary to claims of “low population” the issue is far more the latter two than the first.
Yep. Let’s disable guesting.
Then you can kitten about how Arena.net is AGAIN doing a 180 on their initial promise to you.
Makes sense.
I think it’s a test as to just how hard the other dragon bosses should be tuned.
Your kill doesn’t count because some BG was there and they no doubt brought their dev friend to press the I-win button for ya.
/tinfoil hat
The time =/= money only because right now, people are camping in Overflows for hours doing nothing and waiting.
The fight itself is only around 20 minutes. I think once the population settles down that the reward will better match the time spent.
They’re good points, to be sure… I’m just not convinced they are as bad as the OP is claiming. There ARE limitations to what a developer can do… in this case, Overflow is their answer to crowded zones. I’m not sure there IS an answer that would appease every player.
Time gating is another issue that there’s no real solution for. If there was no time gating, you’d just have an entirely different group of people griping because they’re being left behind and that Guild Wars 2 is no longer casual friendly because of it.
The disconnects are a problem with EVERY game, and you’re not going to find ANY online game that will abolish that problem in its entirety. You might as well be shaking your fist at the sun for rising in the morning.
The others are personal opinion, of which ya know… that’s just your opinion, man. Not that they aren’t valid, but other than “It’s fine to me”, what can be said in rebuttal?
Coming from someone who really couldn’t care less about the loot, yeah… I like what I saw. Tequatl isn’t just stacking and damage. If that was the case, you’d have a lot more kills. It requires coordination, communication and/or experience.
I mean, if you think this is impossible… man… clearly you don’t remember MMO fights that would take even top guilds WEEKS to successfully down. This is difficult only to those who don’t know how to work together.
(edited by chemiclord.3978)
It’s interesting. Probably not very useful when it comes down to the fact that most of the people I know who enjoy the game have stopped posting here altogether, because they’ve been attacked by people who don’t enjoy the game.
That argument can go both ways. Even when players have valid criticisms like this gear grind one, they are attacked.
It depends on what you define as a “valid” criticism.
For example, “I’m afraid that this Ascended thing is really the tip of the iceberg. Because the sort of players that this is supposed to appeal to AREN’T going to be satisfied with just one tier of vertical progression. What happens when they’ve got all of that, and want something more to grind and be more powerful? How can I be confident this really IS the end of the line?” That’s a valid criticism. I certainly hope that people aren’t attacked for that.
Now on the other hand, “ANET lied to me! This is a slap in the face! It’s a gear treadmill! 500 ore is too grindy! I’ll never find a group again because they’ll demand I link my Ascended that I don’t have!!!!111!!! ANET doesn’t listen! They hate their customers!” That’s NOT a valid criticism, and frankly, if someone gets attacked for jumping to conclusions and being a whiny brat… sorry, that’s on them, really.
The problem with SWTOR and GW2 to me is they overhyped it so people expected to much. My lesson for future developers is let the game do the talking, stop over hyping your product.
The problem is that the market is littered with failed MMOs (and games) that DIDN’T hype themselves, and never got off the ground because no one bought them. An example I like to use is Mirror’s Edge. Dice really didn’t push too hard marketing that game, they wanted the gameplay to speak for itself.
The game pretty much flopped at launch. I’m actually amazed EA is letting them make a sequel, considering how much that company values sales out of the gate.
Consumers WANT to get hyped up. They WANT to be riled up and excited, and frankly, when it comes to pre-release, you better go big… because otherwise it won’t matter if you do a 180 later. Customers won’t give you the chance.
I think they’re just intimidated by all the vitriol and I honestly can’t blame them.
But just because we’re on here critiquing your work doesn’t mean we want to bite your heads off. We, like you, just want a better game. And some things aren’t working out at the moment.
Some want that. Most of them, I’m sure.
There’s others that simply want to see the world burn. A dev response in most of these threads would do nothing but incite more hate and venom.
On GW2 release some dungeons were harder than now.
People now cry for content being too easy but when it is hard they cry it’s too hard.
I think it’s more when content is hard, a group cries that it’s too hard. When it’s easy, an entirely different group cries that it’s too easy.
You’d THINK that each group would be able to say, “Ya know, not EVERYTHING can be for me,” but nope. If every update doesn’t give them they specifically want, then the whole game is terrible, Arena.net isn’t listening, and they’re gonna quit, kitten it!
Does trying from 4PM to 10PM and getting into fights with the guild due to people quitting it count? Does feeling sorry for the last remaining warriors count?
Ya know, I DO feel for ya, actually. You’ve been giving it your best shot. I haven’t seen Phase 2 yet, nor gotten into my home server zone, for what its worth.
I just… geez… it’s barely been 24 hours, ya know? Can we have this sort of challenging content for a little bit before we start crying “nerf?” I have no doubt it WILL be dampened eventually, for what it’s worth, and I guess I don’t have a problem with that at the end of the day. But, come on, can we just let it be for now?
(This wasn’t specifically targeted at you for the record.)
The problem I’m seeing with this is that Arena.net is clearly trying to make when these world events happen on a more predictable pattern across all servers and overflows, rather than having players bouncing around the map going, “Is [x] up yet?”
Hence we see the timers. If a server pokes at Tequatl for 65 minutes (just as an example), then it completely throws those timers out of whack.
Now, there certainly can be some discussion about how long that timer should be, but I think for those practical purposes, the timer isn’t going to go away.
Well, there goes the claim that lower population servers have no chance.
I wonder what the next excuse… I mean complaint… I mean… REASON for hopelessness will be?
put something where it doesn’t belong, everyone can agree on that.
I can’t agree on that… so I guess your argument is invalid. It’s right where it belongs. Don’t like it? Don’t do it.
Yeah, I get the feeling that the people who are praising this are clueless in regards to the technical issues it brings. Sure, it would be cool in an ideal world but this isn’t an ideal world. When designing content you have to design it around the limitations of the players.
Fixed that for ya.
Well, I suspect that once Claw gets IT’S rework, you’ll probably need all 30 of those minutes.
But now we get to the question… what WOULD be “worth it” in terms of rewards?
I think that’s fair, Ohoni. I know some servers may lack the people or teamwork needed to complete the event in the needed time. Yes, if the timer was removed, I’m betting it’ll make all these complaints go away.
Again, it’s an excellent suggestion.
I still think the timer is more for making sure all the servers (and overflows) are on the event at the same time and not overlapping. I don’t know if 15 minutes is necessary (I don’t see why it can’t be 30), but it seems to me like Arena.net wants to keep a tight schedule of appearances and downtime.
I’m saying it’s okay to make them more complex, but don’t ruin it by thinking more hp equals more difficulty. If an open-world boss is going to take a long time to kill because he has a needlessly large HP pool (ie Maw is a lvl10 boss, he does not need a HP pool that soaks 5mins of damage), then it becomes tedious which in turns makes it boring. you can dance around all you want during the fight, but you do just as much damage AAing in one spot.
I understand this. Outside of Tequatl, none of the world bosses are particularly harder. Most of them have maybe one (or two) slightly tweaked wrinkles, but otherwise, it’s just a matter of more health and a timer.
I know SOME of the world bosses will get a rework, but I don’t know about these low level ones.
the problem with your logic is that you wont be able to complete it either and therefore i bet you wont even try it after a week of too because “theres no point” or “time wasting”.
the problem with your logic is that its undoable in any overflow because guess what people are not that organized as you think, so you either land in a main server or say goodbye about defeating Tequatl.
and i do like hardcore content im a proud owner of Liadri mini and Tribu sab skin so… am i Elite enough for you now?
We’ll see. I think you underestimate the number of people in this game who like difficult content. I’m willing to take that chance. If you think it’s too hard, don’t go to Sparkfly when you see the warning pop up.
And I’m glad for you. I really didn’t have the time for Liadri and never liked SAB to begin with. I didn’t demand either be nerfed or removed though. Just wasn’t my cup o’ tea.
This is, and I want to keep it that way.
So you’re argument is I like this so please don’t touch it, and other people must suck because they can’t complete it? No other inputs there?
There really isn’t much to add that hasn’t been added already.
You either like the challenge or you don’t. I, for one, LIKE the addition of difficult content. The failure rate and rewards (or lack thereof) don’t bother me at all. I want this content to stay because of that.
So, yeah, hearing people stomping and pitching a fit on the forums not even one day in about how its “impossible” and “too hard” makes me snarl. You don’t like it? Don’t do it… leave the spot open in Sparkfly for me.
There is definitely something wrong.
Yeah. The players who need to L2P.
The content is great. I don’t want it nerfed in the slightest.
So what is Blackgate doing to get their dps high enough? The servers I have been on only get like 10-20% off of him and they are not very organized.
You’ve answered your own question.
Organization is the key.
I suspect the timers are SUPPOSED to be so that all servers (and overflows) can be coordinated together rather than being staggered all over the clock.
I’m not sure if that even works, or if its even necessary, though.
…I hadn’t even noticed
Agreed. Now I that do, I find I still really don’t care.
That’s odd… because I read Colin’s statement, and that last line is EXACTLY how I interpreted it. Exotics proved to be “too easy” to obtain, and so they felt they needed to add in a “bridge” tier that doesn’t take as long as a legendary, but at least more than drop 6 gold in the TP and have BiS.
I guess I really don’t get the hangup and insistence that Arena.net somehow “lied”; even if it somehow WAS provable. Does it really matter if they meant their initial manifesto or not at this point? The 180 happened regardless of intent. The “damage” is done regardless.
No, they are saying that something changed between the time they made the initial statements and the ones they are making now. At some point, they determined their initial manifesto wasn’t getting the player base they needed to do the things they wanted to do financially. The motivations for that decision outside of a general increase the player base remain unclear.
I do believe they fully meant their initial manifesto. And, for whatever reason, realized they were going to have to back down off that manifesto to some extent (the degree of which is clearly up for debate). Personally, if their original goals weren’t enough… I’d rather them do a 180 than stick to their guns and fail.
They evidently decided (why, I’m not sure), that their hardcore GW1 playerbase alone wasn’t enough to support the game they wanted it supported. They clearly felt they had to do more and cater to a larger audience.
(edited by chemiclord.3978)
And yet, here you are.
If you’ve moved on… why are you still here?
What is really needed, of course, is for devs to be communicative AND actually do something about what they hear. We don’t get either from ANet, and for you to admit that better dialog wouldn’t actually change anything is kind of an indictment all it’s own.
Because I actually disagree that “do what I want and what I say” is even a good thing half the time. I’m going to be bluntly honest, most “fan suggestions” are TERRIBLE, and given from a very limited perspective, with little understanding of what it would actually take to implement that feedback, or the greater impact it would have on the rest of the game.
An example I like to use is one that flittered through the Ranger forums, suggesting that the LB traited range be increased to 1800 to give LB more viability… then that forum got enraged when the ranger dev outright slapped it down, citing how it would break several PvE encounters and require considerable remaking to take that added range into account, not to mention the huge imbalance it would cause in PvP formats.
It was a terrible idea, would have been absolutely stupid and potentially gamebreaking to implement, yet the rage from the fans in that subforum was incendiary. Some fans cannot be appeased, and frankly, a developer shouldn’t even try.
Running dungeons, I find SB to be a bit more useful because dungeons tend to have close confines that make it difficult to get ideal LB range.
In open world PvE… it depends, as part of a large group with multiple mobs, I like longbow. By myself, I prefer SB.
Not going anywhere for a while?
Try Colossus, then Dredge, then Grawl.
And the Devs still respond in spite of that and, in general, the responses show a level of appreciation of those efforts.
The point I’m trying to make is that dev involvement in official forums really doesn’t do much to reduce the “toxicity” of said forums. It makes a twisted sense; if you’re so incensed that you’re venting on the forums, it’s not like a few words from a developer is going to make you say, “Oh. Well, that’s all right then.”
Would it be NICE to have Arena.net engage in more open dialogue? Of course… but let’s not pretend it would change much.
If it seems perfect this way then clearly there’s something wrong with the company considering the amount of complaints on the forum about how the game’s hardly changed at all in the past year.
Really? Because the thrust I get from forum sentiment is that the game has changed far too MUCH over the past year.
Toxicity may be an issue, but I have to mention that Riot, the developer of game whose target demographic is widely considered to be the most toxic of gamers, is able to be maintain a high level of transparency and communication with their players. It astounds me how little communication there is between the GW2 devs and their playerbase when one of the things that sold me on this franchise was a playerbase that’s considered to be more mature than the norm.
I think “toxicity” is being used as a relative term. If I were to do a count, I see far more posts attacking the those “toxic” players (not just their opinions) who dislike ascended gear than ones who provide thoughtful counterarguments. This was case during prelaunch as well, when those idiot no nothing players who criticized the story and its delivery were downvoted into oblivion on Reddit. I wonder, what’s the consensus on the story now? If its true people see what they want to see, and then I think everyone should take a step back count their own sins before judging others. Remember, matters of perception are wholly relative.
And yet Riot’s official forums are largely a cesspool of spite and venom filled with players venting angrily about [x] or [y], even WITH Riot’s transparency and communication.
It’s just how these things are. Satisfied customers will rarely go out of their way to log into the forums and say “Smashing job, fellas! Keep it up!” The sort of people who WILL go to those lengths are the sort that want an outlet for their displeasure.
(edited by chemiclord.3978)
There is a difference between dissatisfied customers voicing their concerns and or complaints; and angry customers venting their rage (whether it’s rational or not… but usually not).
These forums (just like all official forums for kitten near everything really) have both in spades, and the best thing you can do is ignore the latter and try to engage the former. Sadly, most companies that operate such forums don’t even deign to try… Arena.net is (perhaps sadly) better than most when it comes to official forum response.
I concur with a lot of the sentiment that the temporary content just doesn’t give that feeling of “awesome” when it’s completed. There’s not much meat to it, and it’s gone in a couple weeks.
Arena.net REALLY needs to start moving with their PERMANENT content now that they claim they’ve built up their seasonal rotation content this first year. The Living Story is fine and all, and it DOES give a good sense that Tyria isn’t a static lifeless experience… but there really needs to be something longer lasting as well, and it really needs to start coming soon.
If it was some small thing that would be understandable This is definitely not small. This was one of the major selling points of GW2.
If Tesla motors promised an electric car with leather seats, but delivered an electric car with synthetic leather seats that would be bad, but perhaps understandable if their costs turned out to be higher than expected. If they delivered a car with a gas engine then you would be really kitten ed no matter what their excuses were. That’s what happened here with Anet.
I think a more accurate analogy would be Tesla motors promised you an electric car, but then later discovered it was insufficient for many drivers, and so they replaced your car, free of charge I might add, to one that has a gas engine IN ADDITION to the electric one you originally purchased.
And now you’re complaining because the gas engine gives you a higher top speed.
Colin has to hedge his statements with a million qualifiers because Arena.net’s learned that if they make a statement without such qualifiers and discover later that their plans and design have to change that all of you will log in, screaming like spoiled children that were to “lied to” and “betrayed” and “slapped in the face.”
They’re kitten ed if they do, kitten ed if they don’t with some of you, I swear.
For a year now every mini has been obtainable via gameplay. All of a sudden that’s not true any more and it sucks pretty hard. I really don’t understand this decision at all and I really wish someone from PR would realize that is does cause alienation in it’s users. It certainly makes me not want to spend any more money on minis.
That’s odd, because I can understand it quite clearly.
Companies have been offering exclusive trinkets and knick-knacks for years to encourage people to attend conventions. It’s part advertising, and ironically enough, part gift as a thank you for fans that attend.
That you are feeling “alienated”, or somehow dismissed or insulted because of an “empty space” in your collections tab, I’m really not sure is something Arena.net can allow themselves to worry about.
Honestly, if that’s all it took to completely ruin your fun, something tells me it was only a matter of WHEN you would feel this way rather than IF. You would have found something to be bitterly upset about.
Right, because there was no one like that who ever played Guild Wars 1.
In the rose-tinted GW1 they wistfully remember there wasn’t.
Well there is… and there isn’t.
Even with a team in all berserker’s gear, there ARE support traits and skills that are used, and control skills can be handy except on bosses (as Defiant makes them largely immune).
What we are seeing here isn’t particularly unusual for an MMO. Classes will have preferred stats on gear; it’s pretty much inevitable. The problem is that due to the nature of this game, pretty much every class prefers the same stats.
I would definitely buff the effects of toughness considerably, especially for melee characters… yes, you do less damage (or crit less), but it also allows you to stay on the offensive rather than having to dodge (and stop DPS in the meantime).
I’d have no problem with toughness and/or vitality allowing you to survive some of those “one-hit kill” mechanics that would wipe a berserker geared toon.
And then lie and pretend that 180 was in fact their plan from the very start?
That could be a consequence of mis-interpretation really, or some really poor wording. For example, I read that “from the very start” quote as they were TALKING about another level of gear, but wasn’t something they were committed to at the time of release.
But I am clearly a minority in that interpretation. If the actual intent was to insinuate that Ascended was meant from the start… then yeah, SOMEONE is lying there.
Regardless, lie or not, a game company altering their initial vision is HARDLY unique, and is really kinda SOP when dealing with MMOs. If you wanted to hold any MMO company’s feet to the fire when their product didn’t mesh with their original vision, well… the burn ward would be packed to overflowing.
Circumstances change, your target audience changes… any number of reasons, really. I’d honestly prefer a game that is willing to say, "Alright, this isn’t meeting what we need, we’re going to have to change, " rather than going out of business because they were static to their original vision.
(edited by chemiclord.3978)
(Some less scrupulous critics might, of course, conclude that Colin was just lying! But I’ll be more charitable and attribute it to gross incompetence.)
Or, could it be possible that maybe (just maybe), their plan at the start wasn’t working to keep the player base they felt they needed… and so they had to cave a little on their original intentions?
I’m sorry, but what’s your point? Assuming he’s overreacting, that doesn’t change the fact that what ArenaNet did with Mr Sparkles is unfair to many players, and ruined their fun, overreaction or not. This is a game, it’s meant to be fun.
The point is that it’s an overreaction, and Anet should not start catering to overreactions. I’m sorry it ruined your “fun”, but them’s the breaks.