Guild Wars 2

After all the critique which quite often involves people that have outright claimed that they haven’t played for months or even have the game installed I was thinking about the question in the title.

Would it be possible to only allow active accounts (such as having been logged on the last x days/week) to write on the forums? Everyone would still be able to read of course, but I have a feeling it might create a better environment for everyone here if you actually had to actively play the game in order to join in on the discussions.

As seen with the NPE change there were massive amounts of hatred posted, quite much of it from people that didn’t even try it before (either due to not wanting to start over or due to not actually playing anymore).

Any thoughts about this?

(Oh I know people will hate this thread, if only on principle because I created it, but thought it was worth a shot to see what people thought about it.)

Bellizare.5816:

Yep, just another nail in the old coffin.

Going to be great for those who enjoy solo play.

Must be one of the largest coffins ever created, seeing as they apparently have put nails in it with every single release since the game launched according to some people on these forums.

Vlad Morbius.1759:

Of course people have had issue with that as well, i think this is just a sum reaction to all the unwanted changes and the purported reasoning behind them. I don’t think treating your player base like they are imbeciles helped them at all and the complete lack of real communication for a very long time just added to the vitriol. There’s an old saying, don’t kitten on my cupcake and call it frosting, and that’s exactly what happened yesterday with this change, so hence the reaction.

Oh? I can’t remember pages upon pages of raging about the fact that you can’t spend exactly what you want or get the exact amount of gems you want with real money. But I suppose I might have missed it.

enaz.3489:

I think it is ridiculous to have to buy 400 gems at a time! They should have left it the way it was.

To be fair I have been “forced” to buy at least 800 gems every time I have wanted to buy gems since release. And yet no one seems to have had any issue with that.

Oh haven’t you heard? Next year the game will have been dead and closed down for over 3 years!

ipan.4356:

Please, just move on to a new game.

Please take your own advice and stop posting on the forums since you quite clearly have no sort of interest in the game?

Malediktus.9250:

Dont get me wrong I spent 100s of real money on this game this year, but this lottery idea is even worse than Black Lion Chests.

So it is okay to have something that require gems for a chance to get it but it is not okay to have a chance to get something with in-game drops?

Malediktus.9250:

This lottery is a horrible cash grab idea.

Yeah.. except for the small fact that you don’t have to pay anything for a chance to win.

Did you have the same problem with the original release of the skins?

chemiclord.3978:

While I am all for a dial back on the incendiary rage, they aren’t going to close this forum for any reason than a lack of activity.

To be fair they did close down the Match-Up threads in WvW for exactly this reason (but for the abuse towards other players and servers rather than the company) so it is not really something unheard of.

Vlad Morbius.1759:

Does the game dyeing due to poor decisions not cross peoples minds at all, or the lack of feedback to the concerns voiced?

The game is not close do dying. Nor will this change kill it. The vast majority of the players probably don’t even know/care about this change nor what is happening (or not happening) on the forums.

The thing is if people keep abusing the devs and the company they might simply decide that it is not worth posting at all or even have a forum for anything other than supports (as in Guild Wars 1). Which could quite easily mean that they would just close them down.

Vlad Morbius.1759:

The vast majority are not abusing but are asking for updates. There are good and bad on both sides, people who spew venom and those who defend poor decisions. They have the feedback they need, a response is being asked for so now the ball is squarely in their court wouldn’t you say?

Sure a response would be nice, but when people are abusive like they are in here I don’t really think anyone at ArenaNet is all that interested in actually giving a response.

People also have to keep in mind that things takes time. They need to make decisions and such before giving an actual response.

If people really want a response, maybe they should start by understanding that the red posters are actual people as well?

Fernling.1729:

Haven’t you noticed, it’s the only way for them to acknowledge the playerbase’s concerns.

I suppose potentially losing the forums altogether (or at least any sort of employee interaction) does not cross peoples minds at all then?

Do people really think that abusing the company and more specifically their employees will help?

Shadowheart.2940:

Mystic Coin maybe? They’re considered part of Zommoro’s favorite trades aren’t they?

Indeed.

So that is three possibilities. Wine, Crystal, Coin.
Which reflects the most? ^^

Edit 5 makes me think about either Elonian Wine or Crystals.

The text on the Crystals is: “Zommoros loves crystals”

tigirius.9014:

I’ve got a suggestion for them. How about fixing things that are REALLY broken in the game and have been for years now.

Do you really think that they took people away from trying to fix those things for this change?
Do you even think they would need more than a days work (at most) to make these changes?

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

I’m with you with the love for Anet and “our” game. Do you really think this was a good move for their business? Just look at all the rage, not only here but in countless other fan-forums too. They won’t make money that way, they will lose customers.

I think the change itself is rather good, but they need to fix the amounts and potentially also add the ability to add custom numbers. But the thinking behind the change as such is good in my eyes.

The thing about this situation is that it will rage like mad for a couple of days and then it will blow over, just like all the other times.

Doll Mistress.9267:

You fail to understand 1 simple thing…. The people who are complaining were spending money, therefore the company WAS making money.

Oh? I keep seeing people in this thread that have claimed multiple times that they would never spend any money on the game outside of the original purchase. The thing is that those people that mainly spent actual money on gems are not really that effected by this change.

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

I don’t like the change at all, but I am much more offended by them trying to pass it off as a usability improvement.

But it IS a usability improvement. Sure it needs some polishing and more options but claiming that it does not make it easier to use would be rather silly.

khani.4786:

Do you like the new system? If so, why?

As I have stated multiple times in this very thread (funny how people always seems to refer to my posts but they quite often don’t actually read them) I do not like the change in it current version.

The idea behind the change is great, but they should have either had lower increments or allowed custom values.

Ankushp.7245:

These attempts to increase your revenues from the game are soo irritating……..first you (Anet) ended the key runs in the previous update……..and now this…….and all in the name of “simplifying”

Yes how dare a company (whose first and foremost purpose is to make money) dare try to make money?

Jacobbs.9468:

maybe people come back because they think to themselves “let’s see if ANet got it right this time” only to be disappointed time and time again?

Which would suggest that they turned up with every update, and yet they only turn up with updates that have controversial changes.

Nevets Crimsonwing.5271:

Why funny? These people clearly have a passion for the game or they wouldn’t even bother. I think it’s kind of sad… they want the game to go in a good direction and may even want to give anet money, which is why they stick around despite what are arguably terrible changes.

But that is just the thing. They aren’t sticking around. They are coming back as soon as there is a new big thing to hate. When there are no new things to hate on they are very quiet and you more or less never see them post anything at all. But as soon as something controversial turns up they start posting like mad.

Nevets Crimsonwing.5271:

Just because people still post on the forums doesn’t mean they haven’t quit.

Oh, I know. I just find it funny how they always turn up when it comes to controversial changes and threads like these.

It is also rather funny with these threads since they bring back all those people that shouted about how they quit several months if not years ago.

I suppose that shows that some people are simply complaining for the sake of complaining.

Just to make it clear (as I have done earlier but people seem to ignore it because I am not raging) I do not like the new chance as it currently stands.

Vayne.8563:

I’m certainly not okay with this. I won’t spend a red cent on it. In fact, I’m not spending anything on the cash shop this month because of it.

I will hand in any wrapper I get dropped in the game… but the whole thing leaves me feeling quite blah.

Why?

How is this worse than the first time around where you could ONLY get a chance on it by using the gem store?

Hoaxintelligence.4628:

Man i dont have enough time to farm like others do.
I gave 10 scraps to the skrit and it taked decates for me.
Now I speak to other guildies, who spend 10,20,50euro for these scraps.
Is it weird that Im feeling out of luck now?
Is this fair?

That is not how random chance works.

You can put in a single wrapper and still win while someone who put in 10 000 wrappers might not win.

Mr Snotty Pants.3980:

She’s the public face of what looks like an attempt to swindle folks out of cash. Not an enviable position.

Where do people come up with all this kitten?

A rather interesting thing I have wondered about since the start of this thread is how many of the people in this thread actually used the Gold to Gem system.
I have seen rather many posts that starts with something along the lines of: “I don’t use this thing…”

khani.4786:

and how do we know exactly how this “lottery” is going to work? What if one person puts in a HUGE number of these wrappers. Will they be “chosen” more than once? Will it be a fair drawing?

I have 0 hope that I’ll see a winning ticket. I found 14 wrappers last night in treat bags and will continue to put them in as I find them, but with no trust in this company anymore, and no trust in the RNG system…nope, no hope.

And is it 1000 people getting selected or will it be 6 people getting 100s of each? That part is very unclear.

Every entry has a specific number, if you add 100 entries and three of those numbers are chosen you simply get three winnings.

Isn’t that how all raffles with multiple amounts of entries work?

The surest/fastest way is to buy them from the gem store.

The cheapest way is to simply play and open ToT bags.

fellyn.5083:

Assuming that they do drop from mobs. The whole gem thing has soured me from even bothering to log in since the update.

They do. Or well, they drop from the Trick or Treat bags which drops from mobs.

I got four of them within an hour of play yesterday.

Yes, how dare they do exactly what they told us they would do?

Seasonal events in the Guild Wars series have always been more or less the same year after year.

Wintersday 2012 was more or less identical to Wintersday 2013 in GW2 as well.

As for one time events: They removed those simply because it didn’t work.
Mainly due to extreme lags but also due to the fact that some people would be unable to actually do them due to time-zone differences.

kins.3294:

What the hell are you on?

http://dulfy.net/2012/10/28/gw2-halloween-ascent-to-madness-act-3-dungeon-guide/

I dont know if you played during that halloween but all skins were obtainable through that chest at the end of the dungeon.

Not as far as I remember, nor according to the Wiki.
You could get the crafted skins yes, but not the BLC ones such as the Greatsaw and the like.

flyinpiranha.2580:

You are aware that forums and support are part of the development propcess right? Customer feedback and all that right? They have people that should be providing feedback.

This is the greediest move I have seen. They took away the dollar menu but still sell the same stuff.

Aye, and that is handled by the people like Gaile and then forwarded to the developers. Simple as that. A programmer for example is usually not a person that would focus on customer relations after all.

If this is the greediest move you have seen you have seen very little.

kins.3294:

Since you fail to be able to use google I will post this for you

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mad_King_Chest

And how did you get all those boosters and tonics without Black Lion Chests…?

Blude.6812:

And BTW sure is funny that no DEV has added a comment, I guess they knew that this would not go over well.

You are aware that the devs are working with developing the game rather than commenting on forums right?

fellyn.5083:

There was a person earlier in the thread that was sure it was bugged. Not sure if that counts or not.

I was that person and I never said I was sure it was bugged. I simply suggested that it might not be working fully as intended. I never claimed that it was the case, just suggesting that it MIGHT be the case.

Koviko.3248:

I was formerly a defender of Anet for their weird, irrational decisions as of late. But this one screams of nothing but greed.

How?
Did they somehow remove the ability to buy gems with gold?

I have the best solution for this whole “issue”! Lets simply remove gold to gems altogether then we would never have this discussion. Keep in mind that people are already shouting that ArenaNet is greedy and only does this to force people to buy gems with real money. So why not actually do exactly what people claim and outright remove the ability to get gems via gold?

I keep seeing people shout about how this is milking people out of money and I really don’t see how that really makes any kind of sense.
The prices for gems are still exactly the same as they were back at release.

The fact remains that they don’t even have to have the gold to gem transfer in the first place. If they really wanted to milk the players they would remove it completely, which they quite clearly haven’t done.

Koviko.3248:

Every time they make a bad decision, we have to get up in arms or they won’t do anything about it.

Oh I don’t know.
Have this community ever tried to not start raging the same second something is announced/released?

I wonder how long it will take before ArenaNet simply decides to shut down the forums altogether. Every single thing ever done in the game is just met with massive rage and hatred here and very little constructive and useful comments.
Might be a better idea to just shut them down and spend the time and resources on the actual game rather than having to wade through all the kitten here.

Why are people shouting about having to go via the gem store to win?

In fact it is LESS of having to go to the gem store now than it was back then, because back then you HAD to open Black Lion Chests in order for a shot at them. Now you just need to play regularly and have a rather high chance to get the items needed to barter for it.

fellyn.5083:

And yet in the history of this forum there has never been a post saying “the gem exchange interface is confusing me as a new player” or anything similar.

I have actually seen quite many posts wondering about the gem to gold exchange and how it works.

And keep in mind that these forums are most likely not the only place where ArenaNet gathers information nor does the vast majority of new players use these forums.

I am quite certain I have seen player since release claim the exact same thing about the NA/EU servers and yet here we still are.

fellyn.5083:

It’s working as intended. There’s no way it’s a bug.

How is it no way it’s a bug? It is fully possible that it could be missing a part of the trading and so on.

I am not saying that it must be a bug, but it is quite silly that the forums explode every single time something is changed without even thinking about if it is actually working as intended or not.

I am thinking this might actually be a bug. It feels a bit random to have 400 gems as minimum when there are gem-store items that costs much less. 100 gems seems more likely. So I would wait with all the raging (meh who am I kidding?) until we actually know if this is working as intended.

For the record I don’t like the current version of the change either.

On November 4th, just as they said in the Ready Up.

Oh, the OP actually changed his post.

The original thread was why there was a difference in cost per gem between the different choices.

Taxes.
Simple as that.