Guild Wars 2

So, basically adding exactly what people have been demanding since release. Lets see how long it takes before people complain about them spending time on useless stuff that no-one cares about

azzy.6485:

champion box weapons 1 year ago, ascended armor (UGLY!) 9 months ago, fossil weapons a few months ago….that’s it – now how many armor sets and RNG chest weapon sets have been added to the store? about 5x as many. This is the issue…it should be 75% IN GAME, 25% in store – yet is is the opposite. I should also mention that 95% of all good looking medium armor for females is from the store unless you are a norn or human…then it’s 80%. I think what upsets me the most is the only armor sets that have been added in game in TWO YEARS have been the hideous ascended sets… oh, unless you tPvP in the official tourney’s which many people don’t.

Even if it would be 99% cash shop the statement about EVERYTHING being added via the cash-shop is 100% incorrect, which was what I was pointing out.

You also have to keep in mind that looks are rather personal. Some people find the Ascended set much better looking than any gem-store skin and so on.

Why would anyone wait for CONTENT in a FEATURE patch? They made it rather clear that there is a rather big difference between the two, which is also the very reason why they have split them up.

bri.2359:

So many things still broken since launch, and they spend resources on something like this …. sigh

This will not keep the vets I know playing. On the contrary, it will drive them away that much sooner!

What a waste …

What makes you think that the people that worked on this system are the same people that would work on fixing broken things?

Romek.4201:

its not about the cashshop is bad its is about EVERYTHING they release is only cashshop

Yeah.. except the fact that it isn’t.
We got multiple new skins released in-game. Champion box weapons and Ascended sets for one.

We also have gotten loads of new stuff overall that have nothing at all to do with the cash shop, such as new maps, new events, new dungeon, new systems and so on.

GOSU.9574:

I think you missed the part where there is no Guild Wars in this Guild Wars sequel.

I think you missed the part where there were no Guild Wars in the first Guild Wars game either.

I find it much more humorous that the OP seems to be one of those people that have been demanding that GW2 should become more like GW1 since more or less release.

Hm?
I am rather sure that my Sylvari have access to a Copper, Silver, Gold, Sprocket, Quartz, Candycorn, Aspen, Gummo and Tukawa nodes.
And a skill point.

Well based on these forums the life-span of the game was passed about two years ago.

But yeah, I doubt it will die in the near future. It were “supposed” to die both with the release of ESO and Wildstar and yet it is still very much alive, so I doubt any of the coming MMOs will do much either.

kokiman.2364:

So basically what the squad function already provides
“join Squad X for x”

“join Squad Y for y”

Except for the fact that if you join a squad you can no longer see the position of other squads. Squads also have a limited number of spots, and getting people to join the right squad would still be much simpler when the squads have different colors as opposed to looking exactly the same.

Pugs usually don’t join squads anyway for that matter, and as such having color coded commanders would make it quite a bit simpler for them to join the right group as well.

kokiman.2364:

How is it actually useful?

“Only guild X follow Yellow tag!”
“Pugs follow Blue tag!”
“Camp-flippers follow Red tag!”

Sure people will still do a bit what they want. But it is quite a bit easier than having every commander having the same color.

And how would you suggest they fix it?
If it is so easy you would have a couple of examples on how to fix it, right?

They actually DID change the match-up at least once after release, and yet the issue still seems to exist, so I would love to hear your solution for it.
As long as people are not forced to join certain servers or forced to WvW, there can never really be complete balance.

You also seem to have rather little knowledge of WvW when you claim that 3 colors (I am assuming you are talking about Commander Tags) is not useful.
It is actually very useful for organized WvW-play.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Well they’ve had over 2 years already. That’s enough time to develop two expansions, or one really big one. That’s how it worked with GW1. Right after Prophecies, they started working on Factions, and then Nightfall, and then Eye of the North.

Instead they chose to develop the Living Story, which has been of very mixed quality, and is a lot of content that is temporary. They could have used that time to expand the game with permanent content.

And how would they have survived until now without the gem-store then?

Comparing it to GW1 isn’t really fair.
Firstly the game is much more advanced and thus most likely takes way more time to develop. Secondly they have a much higher amount of employees, and as such they need to pay way more wages.

As for the GW1 model: I am rather sure that they actually started with Factions (and potentially even Nightfall) before Prophecies were even released. You also have to keep in mind that the plan was to have a new campaign (not expansion) every six months. A goal they only ever managed to fulfill ONE out of three times.

Would you really have preferred if they had released a grand total of nothing at all until an expansion was ready (which would most likely take years, no matter how many people you threw at it)? The fact still remains that they would still have to pay their employees during the time it took to develop it, and as such they would need some sort of income during that time.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Nothing, but my point was that the Gem Store has contaminated the reward system.

The bigger issue here is that each BLC could have been an actual reward. Instead, it is a placeholder for a reward, that I will not be cashing in.

I don’t think it’s quite that simple. I think a lot of players might agree that the game lacks good rewards, and I’m saying that the Gem Store is the cause.

There are more game-affecting items in the store now, than there ever were in GW1. The various boosters come to mind, but worse are the instant-teleport-to-home instance items. The ore-node for your home instance, the airship tickets, the dyes that you now have to buy (they were removed as drops, and many dyes can not be crafted). The toys that give you fun skills to use in PVE, the musical instruments.

Basically everything that’s really fun about the game, has been locked in the store. If all these items were obtainable in the game itself, the game would be so much more rewarding, and there would be a lot more to do.

I don’t agree. I can quite easily get everything I want in-game by simply playing. The gem store have no bearing at all on my enjoyment of feel of rewards.

Yes a lot of people might agree with that. But at the same time a lot of people might not. And I rather sure that many of those that do agree, does not blame the gem store for it.

Probably, but in GW1 we had the ability to outright buy every single skill in the game, instead of unlocking them. Which gave a massive advantage to PvP-players.
The Mercenary Heroes also made it possible to create more or less completely invincible AI-controlled teams, which was a very large advantage that was completely unobtainable without paying real money.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

And this is simply not true. They could release an expansion, and continue to pay for their development that way.

And how do you suggest they paid all their 300+ employees during those years it takes to develop the expansion?

So… what in the gem store is necessary in order to play the game?

If you have issues with BLCs simply throw them away when you get them. It is not really that hard. I also seem to recall them lowering the drop rate quite a bit, so it should be even less of an issue nowadays.

I have gotten plenty of rewards in-game, while none in the gem-store. But I suppose that is all a matter of opinion. In my eyes, getting something for doing something is a reward. Simply buying something is not.

I get that you dislike the gemstore (you have been complaining about it since before release I seem to recall) but you are making it more of an issue than it actually is. It is fully possible to experience and enjoy the game and completely ignore the gem-store. But you prefer to see the gem-store in everything and thus it creates and issue for you.

And the fact remains. Without the gem-store we would most likely have much of a game left to play now. At least we doesn’t (as of yet) have pure OP and/or gamechanging things in the store, as we had in GW1.

You are a week or something too late, this have been discussed to death already.

The thread will most likely also get removed, seeing as we don’t really have much business discussing the inner workings of the company.

Based on the information we got from the people themselves, it does seem somewhat likely that at least Kate left because she wanted to try something new, which is not really that unusual, especially not when it comes to somewhat young people.

People leave and/or get fired all the time, I don’t really see what is so special about this (except the fact that it happened to coincide with people assuming things based on an single interview).

Keep in mind that the ascended chests were added quite some time after ranks. So counting all ranks (unless you started WvW after the chests were added) gives a rather incorrect view.

Nike.2631:

I still just want to know what percentage of the active player-base Arena think’s time spent on guilds-only content serves. Not saying it shouldn’t be done, just would like to have a better grasp of the context and return-on-investment.

I don’t think Arena have any issues finding out exactly what percentage of the active player-base is doing guild-only content serves.

People have been asking for more guild-stuff since release, so I don’t really see why it would be an issue with them focusing a bit on it now.

Malkavian.3751:

I just logged in for the first time in over a year. I saw a new zone had opened up, and that past story was available (at-least S2)

I then saw it would cost me money to access old content everyone else received for free, then promptly uninstalled. It went against everything I thought GW2 was. I would just pay for a subscription game if I was interested in something like this.

So you would have preferred to not be able to access it at all? Because that was the case before they added the new system.

If you login during the time an episode is active (usually two weeks) you unlock it for free. If you don’t, you can pay 200 gems in order to unlock it accountwide for ever.

If you don’t want to pay, you can join someone else that have the episode unlocked and do it that way.

And if you did turn in that player for scamming. Absolutely nothing would happen. Seeing as there is no kind of scamming involved.
They are telling us exactly what you get and what it will cost.

Brother Grimm.5176:

My question is why are those with lots of Mystic kits even considering this item? Why concern yourself with it at all?

Because they need something to complain about of course. Just ignoring stuff that you dislike is apparently impossible on these forums ^^

Guhracie.3419:

No. Why would you perpetuate this myth? As it says in the description of the item itself, it has the exact same effectiveness as an ori pick, with the additional chance to drop sprockets.

You might have missed the little question marks behind my sentences, which would suggest that it were questions (if the wording was not clear enough).

I am aware that it have the same effectiveness, but getting multiple ores per hit does, as far as I know, have a grand total of nothing to do with the quality of the pick. I don’t remember getting any of those with regular picks, but I am getting it quite often with my Molten, hence my question if that was also the case with the Watchwork one, or if it gained the Sprockets instead of those.

Wasn’t the ability to get multiple ores per “hit” replaced with the Sprocket drop? Or can just till get lets say 2 irons from one hit?

I keep wondering why people are so surprised with these changes, seeing as they OUTRIGHT STATED back around China release that these things would be added to the EU/NA version of the game at some time in the future.

A scam would require them to not actually tell you what it is and does.
And yet it is very clear exactly what it is and what it does, and as such it is not a scam.

One could of course question if people would have been willing to stick to and wait for the game those extra years that it might have taken to implement all those things in a good way.

People were being rather impatient already a year before release.

To be fair even if it was read as the name of the Egyptian Goddess it would be against the rules, since that would be using a religious figure

Or maybe it was supposed to be permanent, but people simply didn’t care about it enough to warrant continued development?

Geikamir.6329:

The issue is that they don’t want to make promises they can’t keep, but the question is WHY can’t they keep them?

Firstly they never actually promise anything, even if people take everything they say as promises.

As for them not keeping said non-existent promises:
Development is not just pressing a button and stuff works. It takes time and resources, and it is very unusual for it to work completely the first time around (or at all based on the concept) and as such it can take much longer than planned and/or simply not work at all.

narwhalsbend.7059:

No, but it wasn’t just “Abbadon is evil we must kill him!” Varesh was the big bad for most of Nightfall until you got through the Desolation.

And yet she was very much diminished as a big bad the moment Abaddon turned up and basically took credit for everything that ever happened in Prophecies, Faction and Nightfall.

I don’t really see how that is any better than the current Elder Dragon story in GW2. Quite the opposite in fact.

In order to make a server better you often have to work towards it rather than demanding that others do it for you.
If you want active WvW, you should try and recruit people to WvW.

Have you seen what happens on these forums if something that have been announced is ever changed even in the slightest way?

This is the issue with datamining.
People assume that everything found in the dat-file is actually something that will be added to the game.
This have been shown to be incorrect multiple times.

Unless it is announced by ArenaNet themselves, it is not official and should not be considered legit information. Simple as that.

narwhalsbend.7059:

Dragons were a lazy ploy in the writing anyway. I want the writers that worked on GW1.

Ah you mean the good old evil god is behind everything was better? ^^

Astral Projections.7320:

How about an account bound permanent Golem banker? I would definitely buy one of them. As a convenience item it’s even better than the permanent harvesting tools.

There already are permanent banking item http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Permanent_Bank_Access_Contract

1: Anet chooses.

Shakkara.2641:

I was pretty shocked to see they only have ~50 people… I thought Anet had like 300 people and had expectations for new features based on a 300 man strong team. Makes me appreciate the things that they do manage to pull off much more though, but also makes me a bit worried about the future.

The part about 50 people I don’t really understand. You are aware that the reviews is not something that everyone in the company does, right?

Do you really think that every single one of those 300 are programmers? They have 300+ employees overall. That includes ALL employees, including moderators, cleaning staff, cooks, upper management and so on, not just programmers.

You get champion bags.
Those contain Dust.

The price for gem-store item will and should never be catered towards the gold to gem trade, and as such there is no real reason to lower the prices due to that.

Jandopo.2107:

Mr. Whiteside, I have a question.

Do you remember the Commander CDI 1 year ago? Why we got only 3 more colors out of it? I love the idea of CDI, but after this I wonder if the community’s time and effort are wasted…

Or maybe the big improvements to the commander system are yet to come?

Do you?

The main things that came out of that CDI was different colors for tags and account-bound tags.

Both which we are getting now.

But… but… Doctor Who

dlonie.6547:

They don’t specifically say “new dungeons”, but at 5:45 in the video he can summarized as saying “Dungeons are what they are, and they won’t change anytime soon. Outside of small quality of life improvements, we’re leaving dungeons alone.”

Indeed, and from my point of view that simply states that they won’t do anything to the EXISTING dungeons. Most likely due to the fact that they spend loads of time and resources on the Aetherpath which people more or less doesn’t bother doing.

billykwong.3742:

Not very likely with the lazy attitude they were showing by telling us that TA aetherpath was too much work. Usually if someone knows they have a big surprise, they will smile and maybe even give out a hint because they are excited about it. You can tell the devs have nothing from their response…

But was it too much work or was it simply that it felt like too much work because how little people wanted to play it? That can make a rather massive difference. Even something that takes a month to create can be considered too much work when not appreciated after all.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Then ANet would say “oh, we may do a new dungeon in the future” – telling us it may come, but when… no one knows, even ANet. But they didn’t even bother to tell us that.

And have to have the constant questions every single week about when the new dungeon is being added? Or the fact that people will take that may as an absolute promise that means that if they don’t release a new dungeon within a year people will claim that they have lied and that they are the worst people ever?

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

They rather want to do small changes.
They found that Aetherpath already took enough time, so a whole new path will probably take even longer.

I’d say it’s pretty clear.

But did they actually ever mention new dungeons at all?
Maybe they don’t want to do major changes to the other dungeons BECAUSE they are putting their resources into new dungeon(s)?

It is also fully possible that it could be harder to build something as a part of something that already exists compared to something that is completely new and as such have no actual limitations.

The point still remains that they never actually mentioned anything at all about new dungeons, and as such it is rather silly that people are claiming that they did say that.

Can someone please quote me the exact line that says that there will be no new dungeons?
Based on what I heard (and understood) they talk about changing stuffs on EXISTING dungeons. But as far as I heard there is not even a mentioning of NEW dungeons. So would love for someone to quote the exact line.

I have watched the part several times now. And as far as I understand it they don’t really say anything about new dungeons, but rather about big changes to the EXISTING dungeons, like the one in TA.
Maybe I am missing something but from what I understand new dungeons weren’t really mentioned at all.

Slowpokeking.8720:

Really? Can’t they just change on event?

Of course they can. But if they do they would either have to change every single event as well, or end up with kittening up the whole schedule.

Ayrilana.1396:

I’m confused now. So SAB was not added because it doesn’t fit within the current living story narrative. However, WvW tournament does? Huh?

WvW Tournament doesn’t take place in the “real world”. From a Lore point of view it is exactly the same as every other WvW match-up.

SAB on the other hand is a specific thing added into the “real world” and as such it would effect the real life of the population of Tyria. It also does have a story behind it (learning people stuff, give people something to do while recovering from Molten Alliance and so on).
Right now on the other hand, Tyria is under a rather intense attack which can apparently strike more or less anywhere (and it is especially active in the area close to Rata Sum) which would make running such a thing rather silly.

This thread is a great example as to why the devs might be unwilling to communicate.

As soon as anyone with a red post name says something the flood-gates open and the thread is usually either derailed, turns to posts about how it is not enough and that it is too late anyway or simply contains abuse and/or claims that the only thing the thread is, is PR and lies.