Guild Wars 2

Celestina.2894:

darkace.8925:

- DE 2.0 sucking all of the air out of the room
– “Collect 150 drill fragments from the rubble in Lion’s Arch” achievement
– a whole lot of bugs
– “new items in the cash shop!”.

^Lots of posts like this no matter what

I tell you what, if you can find anything in the track record ArenaNet has established for themselves that shows my expectations to be unreasonable I’ll sincerely apologize for upsetting your sensibilities.

lordkrall.7241:

You mean there were no victories, just like in the real world?

I don’t know what “real world” you’re referring to, but in the actual real world people win and lose all the time.

lordkrall.7241:

This isn’t a fairy tale, stuff doesn’t end well just because we happen to defeat an enemy.

If it’s not a fairy tale then why did every named protagonist live happily ever after? For whom did it not end well? The antagonist? The nameless NPCs? The statue in Lion’s Arch? Let me tell you, my heart bleeds for all those nameless NPCs and the statue in Lion’s Arch.

- DE 2.0 sucking all of the air out of the room
– “Collect 150 drill fragments from the rubble in Lion’s Arch” achievement
– a whole lot of bugs
– “new items in the cash shop!”.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

pdavis.8031:

It was free!!! ’Nuff said.

This

If you guys are saying we got what we paid for, I’ll agree wholeheartedly.

The waste of resources on temporary content and the amazing lack of polish in Season 1 thoroughly impressed me, just not in a good way.

JustTrogdor.7892:

I’m not a big fan of player housing simply because I don’t care to see resources dedicated to it at this time when there is so much more that needs to be done.

Yeah, it’d be just awful if they diverted resources away from “New Items in the Cash Shop!” The dip in quality this game would suffer if such a thing were to happen…

JustTrogdor.7892:

While some may like player housing I don’t see the point. So you get your little house, decorate it, basically play a dumbed down version of The Sims, then what?

By that logic I’m guessing you’ve never used a Transmutation Stone or a dye to change your character’s opinion. Right?

pdavis.8031:

So the chances of a new race are equal to the drop rate of a precurser? hmmm interesting :P

No, that would imply there’s at least some chance, no matter how small. The chances of us getting a new race are equal to the chances we’ll get precursor crafting in 2013, as originally promised.

Donutdude.9582:

Whilst I did love the massive amount of content in Guild Wars, I’m really enjoying the Living Story approach to Guild Wars 2 so, for now, I am against expansion packs.

You know what I enjoy? New regions to explore, new skills to experiment with, new classes to learn, new races to experience, and all of it with a high degree of polish. You know what the Living Story hasn’t delivered? None of the above.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

They announced (and assured us) 2 weeks ago that the new CDI would commence last week.

No CDI and no word about why, when or where…………

Add that to the long list of things they’ve failed to deliver on.

Beldin.5498:

To buy traits you need to pay money and skill points now.

And of course ArenaNet continuously nerfs our ability to make gold at a reasonable pace. I’m not saying they’re trying to strong-arm us into buying gems to convert to gold by any means necessary, but…well, there it is.

Belenwyn.8674:

The first problem is that nearly each single player seems to have his own imagination what an expansion has to include.

Whatever you think an expansion should or should not include, I think virtually everyone will agree it should contain 1. permanent content and 2. polished content. The vast majority of Season 1 content was neither.

Azhure.1857:

darkace.8925:

Let’s not pretend those are the only two options. I’d posit that the nerfs were done to slow people’s gold-to-gem conversion, not to combat inflation. But even if they were, there’s a lot more that could be done than just A or B.

I wasn’t pretending, tyvfm. Next time you post maybe you could share your other brilliant ideas with the rest of us, the lowly ignorant masses that we are.

I did post a solution. In fact, I posted it in the very post you’re quoting, you just chose to edit it out of your reply. So if you’re ignorant (your words, not mine) it’s because you’re choosing to ignore the enlightenment others so freely offer you. But I’ll humor you all the same.

You state that inflation is a problem. You then state that over-farming is the cause of the problem. You finally state that the only solutions to the problem are either to nerf farming/loot or increase farming/loot. I said decreasing the need for gold decreases the over-farming problem. If the most desirable items were account bound and obtained through quests, scavenger hunts, crafting, etc rather than purchased off the Trading Post or the gem shop the need to farm gold would be greatly alleviated, and you wouldn’t have to resort to nerfing or increasing farming/loot for that.

More gold sinks could reduce the amount of gold in the economy. Suppose player housing were introduced, and the upgrades and/or maitenance of said housing was paid in gold. Now gold is being taken out of the economy in both large chunks (for the house and upgrades) and on a regular basis (for the services and consumables) without resorting to nerfing or increasing farming/loot.

So there you go, there’s two potential solutions to the problem of inflation. You said the only solutions were A or B, and I’ve just given you C and D. And E could be all of the above, if you want another option. There are more, but I think the two I’ve given you are sufficient enough to underscore my statement that there are more options to combat inflation than the nefing or increasing of farming/loot.

Azhure.1857:

Its becoming increasingly difficult to buy items because of constant inflation. With gold flooding the market, the value of that gold lowers, making items more expensive over time. It is not the gem store that has done this. Its over farming. How is ArenaNet supposed to solve this problem?

The whole reason people over-farm is to buy stuff from the cash shop. ANet floods the cash shop with new, desirable items. People farm endless to convert gold into gems to buy said describable items. ANet could easily solve the problem by having some of the items account bound rewards from in-game content. They won’t, but they could.

Azhure.1857:

Nerf farming/loot or increase farming options/loot gain? Which do you really think is better. If we were to go with the latter option, or even stay current with the same model we have been running with for the last year, just imagine how much items would cost in another 2 years. DUSK may end up costing more than Twilight is today, t6 mats will be 1g+ each, etc etc. It would be an ever increasing nightmare.

Let’s not pretend those are the only two options. I’d posit that the nerfs were done to slow people’s gold-to-gem conversion, not to combat inflation. But even if they were, there’s a lot more that could be done than just A or B.

A lot of people in this thread seem to be (willingly) missing the point. Or perhaps I am. TC isn’t complaining that the game has been made more difficult, he’s complaining that earning gold – and by extension, the ability to purchase items – has been made more difficult.

It’s not like these changes have been made so that the skilled among us must accomplish X, Y, and Z to earn the cool new armor just added to the game, because new armor and weapons are rarely added to the game as rewards. Instead they’re slapped in the gem shop to be obtained with cash or gold. And changes have been made to make it harder to earn gold. Ergo it’s harder to get new items without the game actually being more difficult.

This thread isn’t about the game difficulty, it’s about “wallet fishing”.

A R W E N.6895:

Yay, new permanent content.

But but, now lets all hope that this new permanent content is high quality permanent content.

Given their track record and their insistence on keeping the two week release schedule, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Celestina.2894:

It seems to be their way of making a payed expansion without actually forcing everyone to pay.

It’s a potentially nice compromise really. Monetizing the story is not new, and honestly, people have been asking for a payed expansion for months now.

We haven’t been asking for a paid expansion, we’ve been asking for content matching the quality and scope delivered through a paid expansion. We’re willing to pay for that quality and scope, but we’re certainly not adverse to getting it for free, either. The problem is the Living Story has yet to deliver anything approaching the quality or scope of what we’re asking for.

HyruleanHyroe.1473:

These posts make me sad. :’(

I feel like I’m the only one left who loves the game. Stick to your guns, Anet! I’m sure season 2 will be awesome!

Which guns are you asking them to stick to, the original “we’re going to revolutionize the genre” guns or the post-release “we sold our ideals down the river and just want to milk as much money from you guys as we can” guns?

1. Lots of filler content (press F to do X)
2. Lots of zerg content (run with a blob of players and mash 1 until your fingers bleed)
3. “New Items in the Gem Shop!”
4. A half-finished new zone (no vistas, etc.)
5. Lots of bugs.
6. “New Items in the Gem Shop!”
7. A long, tedious grind to get anything worth having.
8. A lack of voice acting for my characters.
9. “New Items in the Gem Shop!”
10. Nothing remotely close to “an expansion worth of content”.

lordkrall.7241:

ArenaNet have heard SOME players don’t like Living Story.
ArenaNet have ALSO heard some players liking Living Story.
So which group should they listen to? The group that shouts the loudest at the forums or the actual metrics that they have that shows how many people actually do said content?

How about they apply their own standards to the Living Story? Metrics are great for telling you how many people are doing the content, but they don’t tell you if they’re actually enjoying it. Yes, there is a difference. Yes, that difference does matter.

Since the Living Story is now confirmed to be the only thing we’ve got to look forward to, the first release of Season 2 – and each release thereafter – had better blow me away in terms of quality or this two month hiatus I’ve been on will become an indefinite one. I’m sure the number of customers gained in China more than offsets lonely ol’ me; but it’s not about punishing ArenaNet for releasing sub par content so much as it is about me finding a better game to spend my time and money on. And it’s a shame I feel that way, considering how highly I thought of this game the months before and after its release.

Nick.6972:

Rezz.8019:

What is the point of expansion….

It’s like movie sequels. No quality but just there to make extra money. I prefer it the way it is now without any expansions or anything like that.

Living Story is exactly what you described and worse.

Much worse. The content released via Living Story is of significantly lower quality and contains significantly more bugs than that released via expansion.

lordkrall.7241:

It is always better to get them as balanced as possible before adding more variables.

Pie in the sky sure tastes great, doesn’kitten The chances of attaining perfect balance in any MMO is virtually nil. And those chances are even smaller for Guild Wars 2, considering how little priority the developers have placed on balance.

lordkrall.7241:

They have added rather much real content since release, but for some reason people seems to ignore that.
But I suppose Fractals, new dungeon path, Southsun and Edge of the Mists (to name a few) doesn’t count for some reason?

This game is almost two years old, and the amount of permanent content added to this point is nothing short of woefully underwhelming. It’s not that the content you mentioned doesn’t count, it’s that it doesn’t add up to much when counted.

Steel Fenrir.2791:

Could they bring back Ree to the writing team? It feels like they are trying hard to become “Bioware”. Do you guys think that’s the “in” thing right now? Do you seriously think Dragon Age or even Mass Effect writing is good? Dragon Age story sucks. It’s as tasteless as watery soup. That goes for Mass Effect as well. They did have some interesting parts. The lore was interesting as well, but their execution was bland. The overall general feel, it’s like a short story stretched out to cover a novel. Don’t emulate them. Be real. Don’t put firstworldproblems into the game as well. Who the kitten cares about lesbo/gay BS? You want to be political? Then cover sexual violence, massacre, and torture into your story. Now that’s some Game of Thrones political fantasy realism right there. And don’t give me that black and white propaganda bullkitten we see in TV.

I’d personally love to see ArenaNet emulate BioWare’s writing. What’ we’ve been given so far is a soulless player character shuffling mindlessly from one hackneyed story to the next.

Vennyman.7521:

Right, and I don’t doubt for a minute that they’re developing something as we speak.

Really? I’ll be the first to admit my view towards this company is a bit on the cynical side, but I find it hard to believe that anyone thinks ArenaNet isn’t currently putting the vast majority of their resources into the Chinese release of this game.

lordkrall.7241:

SkiTz.4590:

People only did it the first few days of release, max. Just to get achievement points or w/e flavor of the month skin.

You mean basically more or less exactly like expansions and such as well?
People run the content a few days and then they leave it alone for a year or so until the next expansion is released.

So you’re saying temporary content is “more or less exactly like” permanent content? If I create a new character in just about any other MMO ever made tomorrow I can still experience all the expansion content. If I create a new character for this game today I’ll never be able to experience all the Living Story content I missed. I don’t know about you, but to me that’s not even close to “exactly the same”.

So we’ve been sitting around for a while wondering what comes next. I mean, we’re more than four months into 2014 and we haven’t heard an update on all the stuff we were supposed to get in 2013, we don’t have an outlook on what’s in store for 2014, we haven’t heard anything on the state of the game…we’re just twisting in the wind. I get that the developers are focused on the Chinese release, but that doesn’t absolve them of the deafening silence we’ve been treated to for some time now. To be honest, I’m starting to feel a little neglected, a little unappreciated.

ITT: features packages, balance updates, and bug fixes count as content. /smh

lordkrall.7241:

They have never claimed there would be no grind.
They have claimed there would be no REQUIRED grind. Which is still very much true. You can experience every single piece of content in the game without ever grinding anything.

They have added rather much real content since release, but for some reason people seems to ignore that.
But I suppose Fractals, new dungeon path, Southsun and Edge of the Mists (to name a few) doesn’t count for some reason?

You can’t really blame the game for a bunch of elitists either. It is the players, not the game that creates elitism. And that will happen in every game that require some sort of skill and/or gear.

So you’re just pretending the whole “we don’t make grindy games, we leave grind to the other MMOs” thing was never said? Yeah, I’m not surprised.

Today is May 1. 2014 is 33% in the books, and I don’t think we’ve heard a peep about the precursor crafting/scavenger hunt we were supposed to get back in 2013. Have I missed any announcement? Or has there just been nothing said?

There is no payoff with the Living Story. It’s ALWAYS going to be more of the same. Think of the Living Story like a crappy anime that never goes anywhere, even when it’s going somewhere. It goes on and on and on, with more filler than actual content. And finally, after a great length of time spent doing nothing, the climax arrives just in time to wash, rinse, and repeat. Ain’t it grand?

I’ve all but given up on this game because the developers put far too much effort into “wallet fishing” and not enough into making the high quality content I signed up for.

Kurodius.7463:

You were never forced to participate in the Living Story, you could have easily made the choice to ignore a patch, as I have a number of times.

When every resource the developers have go into the Living Story, the choices for someone who doesn’t enjoy it are A. ignore it and keep doing the same old same old until boredom and stagnation drive you away from the game or B. preempt the boredom and quite now.

Strictly speaking where food is concerned, I’d like to see Condition Duration/Power and Condition Duration/Precision foods added to the game.

BobbyStein.2315:

Part of the development process is prioritization, so I’d like to know what you feel are the highest impact items you think would improve our storytelling delivery. What are your top three requests?

1. Presentation
Everything we need to know regarding the plot, back story, and characters should always be presented in game. And it needs to be presented in a natural, organic manner. Letters delivered to our in-boxes isn’t exactly compelling exposition.

2. Pacing
If we’re only getting bite-sized story progression once every two weeks, we’re going to lose focus, and possibly interest, on the plot. If it takes us six month to learn who the villain is and another six months to learn their plan, that’s a lot of time spent going nowhere.

3. Make it Personal
My biggest complaint is that my character is essentially a background character with regards to the world of Tyria. There’s nothing to make it personal. I don’t like being a silent protagonist. I don’t like having no impact. I’m essentially an errand boy in the Living Story. I go here, kill this; go there, kill that. But that’s it. The “you saved the day”s showered upon me are empty attempts to make me feel involved, but it doesn’t work.

I’d like to see the Living Story deliver content of the same quality as the Personal Story. And right now, the two week release schedule means too many corners are cut. If the two week release schedule doesn’t allow enough time to hire the voice actors to give voice to our characters, then adjust the release schedule. If the two week release schedule doesn’t afford the writers enough time to personalize the story with different races and/or personalities (an untapped potential), then adjust the release schedule.

I’ll bet every gold coin, orichalcum ingot, ancient lumber plank, and bolt of gossamar I own the next dragon is handled by the Living Story rather than Personal Stories? Why? Grab a seat and I’ll tell you.

First, it’s much easier to write a story that revolves around NPCs than it is PCs. The developers don’t have to worry about player interaction; they can simply write the story as if the players are bystanders rather than players. They can also save a lot of money by not giving PCs spoken lines. Right now every line of dialogue for PCs requires a ten voice actors. That’s in addition to any NPCs that have spoken lines. Delivering the story through the LS requires just the NPCs.

Second is the money. The Living Story is used to keep players logging in at least once every two weeks. There’s a reason each LS chapter is temporary, and there’s a reason the rewards (skins, mini-pets, achievement points) are temporary too. They want you logging in as often as possible. Why? “New Items in the Gem Shop!” The LS is a tool to keep players logging in more often, increasing the likelihood of them spending money in the cash shop.

So I’m afraid anyone hoping the next story is Personal, rather than Living, is in for a disappointment. It’s just not going to happen. Sorry.

Edge of Destiny is probably the worst written novel I’ve ever encountered.

do them proper. I’m glad we’re finally going to get a chance to explore more of Tyria, as I’ve been clamoring for new zones for a while now. But I’d rather you not bother if you’re not going to do them right. I’m talking vistas, points of interest, things to do, places to see…the works. What I don’t want is a small or empty zone where there’s nothing to but form a giant blob of players and zerg around the map hours on end. God knows you’ve done more than enough to appease the farmers, it’s about time us explorers get some.

I do think it’s bad that we’re 1/4 of the way to 2015, and we haven’t heard a word on the features that were supposed to be implemented in 2013.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Hybarf Tics.2048:

~~~snip ~~~

My server’s full of people at all hours. Perhaps you mistook your server’s players transferring out as a sign they quit?

You’d be amazed how many people used to say this very thing in defense of TOR right until that ship disappeared beneath the waves. I’m not saying GW2 is sinking; I’m saying the “my server is full of people” anecdote doesn’t prove the opposite.

lordkrall.7241:

darkace.8925:

Every single game – every last one of them – is competing with Guild Wars 2.

Not directly.

Yes, directly. Every hour and every dollar gamers invest in other games is time and money that otherwise could have been spent directly supporting Guild Wars 2.

Beldin.5498:

darkace.8925:

Thaddeus.4891:

Wildstar is a WoW 2.0…

This is a statement made in ignorance. It’s as if you don’t know anything at all about the game.

It looks a lot like WoW, the so called endgame will be heavy raiding, and it even was made by developers that made WoW. So for me that sounds very much like WoW 2.00.

Does WoW have active dodging? Or jumping puzzles? Or player housing? One could just as easily make the argument that Wildstar has more in common with Guild Wars 2 than it does WoW.

And for the record, stagnation – not competition – is what will kill this game.

Thaddeus.4891:

Wildstar is a WoW 2.0…

This is a statement made in ignorance. It’s as if you don’t know anything at all about the game.

lordkrall.7241:

As for the other two, both of them have subscriptions, and is built completely different than GW2 so I wouldn’t say they were even direct competitors.

Every single game – every last one of them – is competing with Guild Wars 2.

Nyel.1843:

I highly support number 1 but it will not happen I think. The transition with the personal story could be very tricky.

Why is it tricky? Simply reset the personal story for every race-changed character. I don’t see the problem.

Kalavier.1097:

A: She’s 13.

That didn’t keep her from fighting Scarlet’s Marionette.

Kalavier.1097:

B: She’s disabled and can’t walk much at all

That didn’t keep her from fighting Scarlet’s Marionette.

Kalavier.1097:

WHY should she be in a major battleground where the enemy takes no prisoners and could disable her golem?

The same reason she was fighting Scarlet’s Marionette.
__________________________________________

The real reason, I suspect, is whomever does her voice was unavailable when ArenaNet was piecing all this together.

Have our standards really sunk so low we’re now thanking the developers for finally fixing bugs 7 days into content that’s only available for 14?

Jski.6180:

Because they have been fooled into thinking LS is a product of the game being B2P but in truth its a product of a persistent world the way most games are trying to go. So in there minds throwing money at something will fix there problems with the game. The truth is they just simply want a treadmill to give them something to do.

There have been plenty of legitimate criticisms leveled against the Living Story in this tread and plenty others like it. That you decided to go strawman on strongly indicates you have no actual counter to the points you’re ignoring.

There’s a host of reasons want a traditional expansion, but ultimately the Living Story’s inability to deliver quality content is the only one that matters. The Living Story has been little more than a year of lackluster content. The quality of the content hasn’t been up to par. The story has been disjointed. The level of substance has largely been filler. The level of polish has been downright embarrassing at times. Very little of it has had a lasting impact on the game (as opposed to the lore). And there’s been virtually nothing added that expands the game. It’s all been a redecorating of the same room with the same furniture and an occasional new coat of paint on the walls.

Edit: And if you don’t acknowledge the truth in what I’ve said, then you’re not being objective about the Living Story.

Eleir.9325:

Did Living Story Hold Back Guild Wars 2?

Absolutely. I don’t understand how anyone could argue otherwise.

Killface.1896:

They are making so many event each month we cant expect them all to be bug free on release,just keep up the good work Anet cant wait for that dragon in the end of scarlet instance

Only incredibly low standards or exceptional fanaticism would lead a person to praise someone for doing such a poor job as ArenaNet has done with the Living Story.