Guild Wars 2

Sir Roland Karloseth.3798:

I dunno. I used to adore this game, but now I can’t even bring myself to stay logged in for more than half an hour a week. And that breaks my heart because this game used to be so good. For discussions sake, I guess… does anyone else remotely feel this way?

Don’t worry, you’re certainly not the only one that feels this way. There are quite a few posts on the subject of GW2’s “Living World” where plenty of people express similar feelings to yours.

They are, of course, shouted down by people who like this approach, and mostly ignored by ANet, but you’re certainly welcome to express your feelings. For all the good it will do.

Note that although ANet has commented that they have heard our feedback in regards to temporary content and has said that going forward they will concentrate on “more” permanent content, no one really knows what that means. Also, to my knowledge, ANet hasn’t commented much (if at all) on the subject of people being unhappy with the rapid release of these events except to say that they are “committed” to providing these on a two-week release schedule.

Whether you like it or not. (I don’t)

Vayne.8563:

Anet has said from the beginning they would never do this again. The reason given was that when Factions came out, it divided the playerbase. They won’t do that again.

And content that disappears completely so that some players have rewards and achievements from it while other players are forever denied the chance to get them doesn’t divide the playerbase?

At least GW1 players had the option to buy Factions at a later date and play it whenever they wanted.

BobbyStein.2315:

We’re committed to releasing Living World updates every two weeks. As always, thanks for the feedback.

And I’m committed to not spending another dime on this game until you guys acknowledge that many of us do not want rapid-fire content shoved down our throats every two weeks.

Seriously, it is so frustrating to see you guys stubbornly clinging to this idea that nobody asked for in the first place while simultaneously sticking your fingers in your ears and humming loud enough so that you can continue to ignore the feedback from those of us who hate this kind of release schedule.

Slow it down.

I completely agree, Kebtiz, but I don’t really think ANet is hearing us on this one.

I don’t see the problem with giving a player the ability to select a difficulty level for certain content (especially time-limited events). Players who want high difficulty can choose the hardest mode, while others can still play at their level.

It gives everyone what they want. Why would anyone object to that?

fellyn.5083:

So far that scenario has only happened once and that’s okay. But if they keep doing it every 2 weeks, making content that they expect only a small portion of people to be able to complete then we’re gonna have some problems.

I recall them saying the same thing about the Clock Tower event (that they only expected a small percentage of players to be able to complete it), so make that at least twice.

And frankly, we don’t really know what their expectations are when they release content unless they tell us. Who knows how many times, when designing content, someone on the team may have pointed out that something might be too difficult for many players only to be overruled by devs who really don’t care about that particular demographic? This dev team seems aggressively devoted to designing content that they know many players will be frustrated with, all in the name of providing a “challenge”.

This whole debate is fuzzy because no one will ever agree on what “casual” and “hardcore” mean. That said, there are gamers who play games because they enjoy challenging (i.e. difficult) content, and then there are players who game because they want to have simple, escapist, non-frustrating fun.

I am of the latter group. I don’t play games to be stressed, angry, and frustrated. I don’t believe something has to be difficult in order to enjoy it. If the story is good, and the characters are interesting, and the mechanics and world are fun and engaging, I will enjoy it.

Unfortunately, this type of gameplay is not very well supported in GW2. I was extremely frustrated when I encountered Doc Howler in my personal story and, upon researching this story step, found quotes from the devs saying that they intended the personal story to be challenging (i.e. difficult). I stopped doing the personal story right then. Frustrating =/= fun.

Then there was the Mad King, with a frustrating jumping puzzle just to get to him in order to fight him, only to have him teleport away so you can jump some more. And the Clock Tower, which the devs said they expected only a small percentage of players to complete. Then a whole lot of temporary content that they expected me to complete on a stress-inducing timer because Dwayna forbid I be allowed to relax and have fun at my own pace. And now the Gauntlet.

So what does that leave me? Running around the world completing reknown hearts (which you only get credit for once) and hoping a random event pops up that I can complete. Oh, and crafting, I suppose, if one has enough money.

I am a casual. This game is obviously not for me. I advise anyone who doesn’t enjoy frustration as a part of gameplay to give GW2 a pass.

Players who enjoy the difficult content: You may now brandish the pitchforks, torches, and insults as always.

AnarchyMike.2597:

Guess we’re entitled then. At the end of the day I have the mini and people who suck dont.

And this pretty much sums up the attitude of those who want hard content. It’s not about the challenge. It’s not about the achievement. It’s about being able to tell other people that they suck. Congratulations. That’s definitely a great way to foster a community. /sarcasm

Do you see this, ANet devs? This is what happens when you insist on creating content that “isn’t meant for everyone”. The people who get left out are upset, and the people who the content was meant for get to sneer and jeer at them. Good going.

If one-shot mechanics are so awesome, why not give players the choice about whether or not they are down-leveled in a low-level PvE zone so we can run around one-shotting things too?

For that matter, why not have all PvP players just keep their normal level, so the level 80’s can one-shot all the lowbies?

I mean, it’s super-fun, right?

Kuzzi.2198:

touché

Lol! You took that well. I salute you, sir. :-)

Kuzzi.2198:

Please, next time say it how it really is: “I like being handed things for free, so … "

Yeah, but if we all had to “say it how it really is”, the other side of the argument would have to start off with: “I like using video game achievements to make me feel superior to others, so…”

Nick.6972:

Gate Of Madness was easy, especially with the heroes.

If I’m not mistaken, Gates of Madness was fairly difficult at first, until — based on player feedback — it was nerfed. I believe the nerf had something to do with making the environmental effects less damaging. Perhaps someone else can verify this?

Make of that what you will…

TheOneNOnlyGeneralBama.9586:

You’re completely selfish if you want this nerfed just because you can’t complete it

Oh really?

TheOneNOnlyGeneralBama.9586:

TLDR : Nerf thief down ground . They OP too strong for normal classes we need balance.

TheOneNOnlyGeneralBama.9586:

Lol you whining cause you no longer have perma Sbs , get over it. That nerf was long overdue

So I guess it’s fine when you call for nerfs, but it’s selfish when other people do it? Interesting.

Erasculio.2914:

Sure. Right where it questions if the developers can actually defeat her, thus deserving to get the achievement. Next question?

Right, of course. Because questioning whether or not someone can do something is exactly the same as whether or not they deserve to be recognized for it. Totes.

I think we’re done here.

Erasculio.2914:

Ironic to read that in a topic asking how “others” – the developers – got the “achievement” of defeating Liandri, and if they are “deserving” of that.

Huh. That was quite a stretch. I hope you didn’t injure anything.

Here’s the OP, in case you’ve forgotten it:

Kronus.6048:

So apparently the new content might go this way from now on, so I would be more than happy to see devs doing this content themselves with a video attached. It would be very nice to know how fun they found it after finishing it, assuming they can do it, preferably with a Charr/Norn and one of the underpowered classes like ranger

While I grant you that this specific post does concern itself with whether or not the devs can beat Liandri, I see nothing in there about whether or not they “deserve” it.

Perhaps you’d care to point it out?

Erasculio.2914:

Thinking you are in a vacuum, and the playstyle and opinions of everyone else playing the game wouldn’t have any effect on GW2, is being rather naive.

And obsessing about the achievements of others— and whether or not you think they deserve them — is downright unhealthy.

Erasculio.2914:

Why are you complaining? Is it because you think this is bad for the game? Or because you are used to achieving everything merely by playing a lot, and now you see a situation in which that doesn’t work?

Why on Earth would anyone care how someone else achieves something? It has no effect on anyone else’s gaming experience. None.

Unless, of course, one’s gaming experience is highly dependent upon “bragging rights” and feeling superior to other players. Which I always thought was more of a PvP thing, to be honest.

Nokaru.7831:

So, why is it acceptable to exclude one group (people who seek challenge) but not another group (those who don’t)?

It isn’t. I think what these events need is a normal mode/hard mode choice. That might make everyone happy.

fellyn.5083:

I don’t play games to be frustrated. I play games for fun and to escape from stress. Not to be more stressed.

Thank you! +1

CryxTryx.9208:

The mini? Are you serious? Who cares about the mini, I’ve never once activated any mini that I’ve recieved, and I only have them from completing achievments.

Give the mini to everyone, take it away entirely, I don’t care, I will still be spending all month trying to beat this chick.

I may have given you the wrong impression. I only mentioned the mini in response to another poster mentioning it. Like you, I don’t actually care about the mini, either.

For me, this is just about striking a balance between your need to have a challenge, and my need to have less frustrating content.

Navzar.2938:

As for the rest of your post, that makes me ask a simple question. Would you be more okay with this if it weren’t part of the living story?

Probably. I think the triple-whammy of difficult + grindy (for tickets) + temporary content is particularly unpleasant.

Basically, as long as every LS event isn’t geared towards making sure players find it “challenging”, I think a balance could be found. I’ve played MMO’s for many years now, and I have long ago accepted the fact that there will always be content I’m not skilled enough to do. As long as I’m not made to feel as though I don’t deserve stuff in the game because I’m not as skilled as other players, it’s really no big deal.

To each their own.

Excalibur.9748:

It’s not JUST any mini, it’s THE mini. Besides, you have like a month to get this mini if you really want it.

But I thought it wasn’t about the mini. I thought it was just about being able to enjoy difficult content. Which is it?

Let’s say we made Liadri’s difficulty even harder, but we gave other players an alternative, easier way to obtain the mini. Would you be happy with that?

Basically, I’m asking which is more important to people who want difficult content:

1. The content itself, and the challenge of completing it;
OR
2. Making sure that your rewards for challenging content are exclusive to you and that no one else can have them.

Somoe.3621:

It’s just a couple achievement points and a mini pet, so what if you’re not skilled enough to get it?

Yes, but on the other hand, it’s just a couple achievement points and a mini pet, so what if other players have them, too?

Somoe.3621:

I’m not trying to be a jerk or anything, but your post honestly just made you come across as really selfish. :/

Because wanting other people not to be able to have the same shinies you have isn’t selfish?

Excalibur.9748:

it wouldn’t be fun for anyone.

You are making the assumption that what you find fun or not is the same for everyone. That is most definitely not the case. However:

Excalibur.9748:

the final boss of the tournament should be hard, don’t you agree. what’s the point of making the final boss ez mode? that would just be a joke of a tournament.

I think the final boss of a tournament should be hardER, yes. But the spike in difficulty that is being discussed here seems a bit beyond that. And why does it have to come down to anything that is not quite as hard as you would like it to be is “ez mode”?

Again, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have your massively difficult bosses. I just don’t think that everything that is released needs to be geared towards players who want a “challenge”. Some of us don’t want a challenge. We just want to have low-key, stress-free fun. And there is nothing wrong with wanting that.

I just think there’s a balance between the two types of content that ANet does not seem to be aware of.

Excalibur.9748:

well considering, i spent 4 gold, with 50+ tries, and tons of time theorycrafting a variety of builds…. if think if anyone wants the mini they have to work for it, like I did. It wouldn’t be fun if everyone could just ez-mode through it.

So…do I understand correctly that whether or not you have fun completing content is determined by whether or not other people were able to complete it?

That’s just…not something I understand.

Navzar.2938:

Making it everything beatable by everyone would be alienating players who like difficult content.

First, full disclosure: I don’t like difficult content. I play MMO’s to be an escape from the real world, to relax, and to have fun. Frustrating content is the opposite of that for me.

That said, I’m not suggesting that players that enjoy difficult content should be left out. I’m fine with having things in the game that are too hard for me to complete. I just won’t play that stuff. No biggie. I want you to enjoy the game, too.

However, players with a higher level of skill are — obviously — not the majority of players. They are a smaller — and yes, more elite — group of people. But I feel that the devs are so often talking about making sure that content is “challenging” that they seem to be in fact catering to your play style to an unnecessary degree. Note: this is my opinion. I am not claiming it to be fact.

I don’t usually like to get into majority vs minority discussions, because I feel as though everyone should be able to enjoy what they like, whether they are in the minority or not. Still, when it comes to events and Living Story stuff, it doesn’t feel as if ANet is even considering the lower end of the player skill scale, except to give them grindy “wear out your F-key on this for a while” tasks.

So yes, I do consider the needs of players who like “challenging” content. But I don’t often feel that the reverse is true. It seems as if the more skilled players are often dismissive and rude to any suggestion that would entail them not having stuff that makes them stand out from the crowd. I understand the desire to have something to show off a higher skill level in order to stand out from the unwashed masses, but sometimes this need seems…a little intense.

It feels like it’s sometimes more about needing to feel elite and special than it does about liking difficult content.

Excalibur.9748:

Nerfing liadri would just be ANET caving into the majority and making all content accessible to everyone again.

Honestly, what is the big deal that some people have with needing the game content to not be accessible to everyone?

It seems as if the same people that are so fond of pointing out that frustrated players don’t need the achievements and/or rewards from certain content are always forgetting that they also don’t need to feel like an uber-special-crystalline-snowflake because they have something that someone else doesn’t.

No specific suggestions for other champions, but I wanted to say that I really enjoyed your videos. Your style of narration is really friendly and attitude-free, and it makes it obvious that you really are doing these videos to help people rather than just to show off and say “Look at me, noobz!”.

So…great job, and keep it up, Skylent. :-)

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Thanks for the feedback everyone and please keep it coming. Personally, I find that one of the hardest parts of being a desginer on GW2 Live is coming to terms with the fact that not every update will please every player.

For what it’s worth, Anthony, I feel bad that much of the work you and your teams are doing is not appreciated by some of us, even though I fall into that category myself. On a purely emotional level, I know that you folks are working hard to deliver content that will please your players.

And I want to like this stuff, I swear, but it feels like you guys are insisting that I play it when you want me to, rather than when it is convenient and enjoyable for me to play. I just cannot understand why this seemed like a good idea. Honestly, barring annual holiday events, any content released that has an expiration date is always going to get an automatic pass from me.

I can certainly understand your frustration that the 40 or so permanent events that were added around Halloween did not get much player feedback. I believe that the random nature of these events makes it somewhat difficult for players to be able to experience the content in the first place. If it does not pop when you are in the area, you miss out.

I honesty feel that you guys need to focus more on putting the choice of when to play content back into the players’ hands. I, personally, need content that I can decide to play exactly when I want to. That’s why I enjoy the renown hearts more than the dynamic events. I don’t have to wait for them to appear, and I don’t have to feel rushed to complete them before they are taken away.

I don’t know. I’m just really frustrated and disillusioned at the moment. But despite that, I truly do appreciate your taking the time to post your thoughts.

Sarie.1630:

When the Jubilee is over, patience will be wearing thin, my friend.

^^^^This.^^^^

Sarie.1630:

I would like to think ANet will deliver some great, permanent additions to the game as your post implies, but for now I will have to remain skeptical.

^^^^This also.^^^^

Seems like most of the information coming from ANet is about what they want to do, or would like to do, or are really really just about to do, just you wait and see.

Please, guys, enough already. Let’s see some action to back up those pretty words. I’m not thrilled that we’ve spent the whole year watching you folks develop your portfolio of temporary content, rotating mini-games and once-a-year events. We have to rush to finish the temporary content on your schedule, then we have to turn around and wait for the rotating content…again, on your schedule.

TL;DR: I have never felt my gaming schedule so dictated by game developers in my life. I don’t like it. If it doesn’t stop soon, I will find another game that doesn’t make me feel so frustrated.

I actually liked SAB. I didn’t get much of a chance to play it before it vanished in a puff of disappointment (temporary, grr) but the content itself was pretty solid.

It’s hard to disagree with “we need new content”, but I do disagree with the claim that SAB wasn’t well-liked. I’m interested to see where it’s going. That is, if I can ever muster up enough desire to log back in.

ANet is starting to win me back a little with their talk of listening to our feedback that we want more permanent content, but so far jumping puzzles and dungeons are not doing it for me (though I do understand that others like them, so I’m not suggesting that this sort of content shouldn’t be worked on!). Personally, I’d like to see more renown hearts and dynamic events, or even some solo-friendly permanent content.

Edit to say: Yes, I do understand that jumping puzzles are solo-friendly. I just despise them with a passion I normally reserve for the truly terrible things in life, like violent crime or reality television.

BigMoser.8790:

I did forget to mention that it should be permanent content

Then yeah, that would be kinda like finding a cool Easter egg. Someone would stumble upon it, and then word of it would start spreading through the community like wildfire.

Beautiful, cleansing, wildfire from the heavens that smites your enemies and turns them into piles of ash and bone, purifying their wicked…

Oh. Sorry. I got distracted. Fire is pretty.

BigMoser.8790:

Would you guys like it if there was a LS content where they didn’t give you any information beforehand?

Not if any part of it was temporary content. “Secret” and “limited time” would really would annoy me greatly.

But if they put in something secret that you could play through no matter when you became aware of it, sure, that’d be kinda fun.

From a recent interview with Game Director Colin Johanson on USGamer.net:

“I would say that guild features in general are all really important to us. But people who can work on those features are the same people who are involved in a couple other very specific projects and so we only have a few of ‘em who really can work on the player and guild account databases. We’re waiting for them to finish other stuff before we can do a lot of guild-related projects. So we do have a few things in the pipeline already for guilds that are coming. As I’ve outlined in my blog post last week, I think that there’s a lot of the high level stuff that we need to finish to get the core of the game where we really want it to be. When that’s done, I think we’ll turn our eye to sort of the next round of features and a lot of those certainly are guild related things among, you know, other types of content and expanding out experiences for players and looking beyond the regions we have.”

Sounds like they plan on working on guild stuff, but it’s not going to be happening super soon.

Full article (posted 2 days ago) can be found here:

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/colin-johanson-talks-dungeons-dragons-and-chairs

Xzaander.4123:

Then maybe YOU can take the time with sculpting, modeling, UV mapping, texturing and coding all these assets. FOR EVERY SINGLE UPDATE

No? I though so…

That would be a compelling argument if they were not already spending time creating assets that they then delete from the game. What’s the difference?

I despise dueling and in games that feature it, I always have duels set to auto-decline.

That said, I can think of no good reason to deny duels to people who enjoy them. It doesn’t affect me in the slightest. And in over 15 years of playing MMOs, I can count on one hand the number of times a dueler said something to me about declining his request, and they all went on ignore. Problem solved.

Besides, duels are occasionally fun to watch. Sometimes its cool when you’re walking through the city and suddenly a fight breaks out. I mean, as much as the “Living World” concept has been shoved down my throat… aren’t street fights something that happens in a Living World?

BobbyStein.2315:

The stories are connected. You’ll find out more later this year.

It is a shame that these connections won’t matter to anyone who missed the earlier parts of the story (or who is new to the game) due to the temporary nature of Living World.

Honestly, it’s like trying to read a book with someone breathing down your neck ripping out chapters if you aren’t reading fast enough. Pretty soon you just put the book down and walk away.

Ecole.2349:

[SNIP] … and stop sounding like a kitten entitled child

All he did was give his opinion on something game-related, not launch a personal attack insulting another player using profanity that had to be censored by the forum filter. He’s really not the one who should reconsider what he “sounds like”.

I happen to agree with him. I know lots of people like the temporary nature of much of the Living World content. But lots of people don’t, and they have every right to say so without being personally attacked. So, in your own words:

Ecole.2349:

please get over yourself.

AntiGw.9367:

“That’s your opinion.” = “Arena.net thinks otherwise.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, make your own!” = “You are here to play Arena.net’s game, with Arena.net’s rules. The LS is part of their design plan.”

Know what else is part of their design plan? Official forums, where they specifically seek and welcome player feedback on their game.

Are you suggesting that no one should ever express dissatisfaction with any aspect of the game simply because the way ANet implemented it was “part of their design plan”? Can you honestly say you have never made a post on these forums expressing unhappiness with the way something was implemented? And if you have made such posts, why is it okay for you to do so, but when someone else does the same thing you respond with “because that’s the way ANet wants it”?

generalraccoon.3857:

thats kinda like hardcore mode in the Diablo series. u think they should have that as an option for gw? i mean for all u know, the realist entusiast might actually love having this mode, Anet could even tag achievements to it…

You’re right, of course; there probably would be some people that would like it. The same kind of people that enjoy going to the dentist for long, slow root canals. :-P

Personally, I wouldn’t mind if perma-death were an option. I wouldn’t choose it, mind you. But I’m all in favor of having choices. For example, the choice of when I complete Living World story content. Which, at the moment is very limited. Being temporary and all.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Living Story is meant to bring a little bit of realism to Tyria.

Hey, you know what else would bring a little bit of realism? Perma-death. If your character dies, it’s gone. Say goodbye to all your stuff. Roll up a new character. Start over.

How’s that sound? Real enough for ya?

Pointy.9308:

So what is the problem? Ohh, here it is…I WANT EVERYTHING AND I WANT IT NOW FOR KITTENS SAKE AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! I WANT ALL THE SKINS AND ALL THE ACHIEVEMENTS AND I WANT TO GRIND THE ONE SAME THING EVERY DAY OVER AND OVER AGAIN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

Actually, it would be the ones in favor of temporary content who want everything “NOW FOR KITTENS SAKE”. Those of us who want permanent content want to do everything at a reasonable pace and not be hurried along. We don’t want everything now. We want to do it later , when our schedules allow. That’s the entire point.

In fact, my characterization of people demanding that content be temporary is kind of similar to what you wrote above, except it goes like: .I WANT EVERYTHING AND I WANT IT NOW FOR KITTENS SAKE AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! I WANT ALL THE SKINS AND ALL THE ACHIEVEMENTS AND I DON’T WANT ANYONE ELSE TO BE ABLE TO GET THEM BECAUSE I DON’T FEEL LIKE A SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE UNLESS I HAVE STUFF THAT SOMEONE ELSE CAN’T GET! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

Pointy.9308:

Molten dungeon was great and I would love to replay it but it was destroyed as part of the story.

Yeah, just as Orr was supposedly cleansed as part of the story, but the zone is still teeming with undead. What’s your point?

Pointy.9308:

I know that one of the reasons behind having permanent content is to be able to repeat it or get to it when you want but some things are not ment to be permant and/or are not ment to be for everyone.

Hey, that ought to be ANet’s marketing slogan for the Living World. Let’s try it out:

• “GW2’s LIVING WORLD: Not meant for everyone”

Gosh, does that ever sound enticing. /sarcasm

Vayne.8563:

The question is, and has always been, how many people will leave the game because of temporary content and how many would leave the game long term if it was all permanent.

I think you’re right on track with this statement. It really will have to be a numbers game. I know that I’m one who hasn’t logged into the game in quite some time and feel actively pushed away from this game because of the Living World temporary content. I’m not a completionist, just a slow and casual explorer, and feeling rushed to complete content on a deadline completely ruins it for me.

Vayne.8563:

I personally think more people will leave the game due to the latter than the former…and Anet has a vested interest in how many will leave the game.

Well I’m only one person, and if it turns out that I’m in the minority here and the vast majority of players really do want this temporary content, then I will just have to accept that and move on. No need for an excess of drama, I’ll simply find a game more to my liking, is all.

Vayne.8563:

Temporary content to casual players (not completionists) means that when they do log in there’s always something new to do.

But the content doesn’t have to be temporary to to accomplish this.

I honestly don’t understand how, if ANet sticks to its 2-week content release schedule, there won’t always be something new for you to do whether the previous release is removed from the game or not. If you want something new to do, then do the new stuff. Problem sorted.

Why must someone else be denied the opportunity to complete content at their own pace in order for some people to enjoy the game? Does it really suck all the fun out of playing new chapters to know that someone else may be doing an earlier one?

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Considering we blew up the dungeon at the end of it, how would it’s remaining in the world not be a direct contradiction to the story component it added?

Did you visit Orr after it was supposedly cleansed? Notice much of a change? How is that not a direct contradiction of an already existing story component?

And heck, what about the Dynamic Events that keep repeating and repeating as though we didn’t just take care of that exact problem an hour ago?

Considering all the other ways that the world contradicts itself already, I just don’t think it makes sense for people to insist that Living World content has to be temporary.

ColinJohanson.2394:

[SNIP]…we’ve heard folks feedback on this and will be doing a much larger mix of permanent, recurring (content that can occur again in the future), and more world impacting releases as it relates to living world in the second half of the year. There will still absolutely be some amount of temporary, in particular story-driven moments to help drive the narrative forward.

Colin, I hear you saying that there will be more permanent content, but the impression I’ve been getting from the information flowing from you guys — and correct me if I’m wrong-- is that the main focus going forward is still going to be temporary content that we have to play when you guys want us to… or not at all.

When you say “some amount” of temporary content, are you saying that there will be occasional temporary stuff, or are you saying that every two-weeks we will still be getting temporary content despite the feedback you mentioned had been heard?

Galen Grey.4709:

I dont understand why people dont think this is an awesome idea provided they make it work.

Honestly, it’s because some of us don’t think they are making it work. When an expansion is released for any other MMO, they don’t remove content and achievements after a certain number of weeks and then say, “Oops, sorry, you’re too late; we took it out of the game.”

I actually do like the general idea of adding story content every 2 to 4 weeks that builds a continuing story. A Living World storyline that you can play through on your own schedule without it being pulled out from underneath you would be fantastic. But that isn’t what they’re doing. They are intentionally creating content on a timer so that we have to play on their schedule or miss out. That’s a total deal-breaker for me.

Okay, here’s the problem I have with Living World vs Expansions:

Living World takes one of the crappiest parts of Real Life — the fact that we often miss out on fun things due to other commitments — and puts it front and center as though it was a cool new feature.

Remember that time you and your friends were going to go on Spring Break together, but you came down with the flu all week and had to stay home and miss the fun? Or that time everyone was going out to that awesome new nightclub, but you had to work so you missed out? Or you couldn’t be there for a friend’s birthday party because you had other commitments? Living World is like someone thought of all those crappy moments and said, “Hey, let’s put that in our game! What fun! It’ll be great!”

You know what else would be like real life? How about if our characters get sick from time to time, and their stats drop and they can only walk instead of run? How about if our characters all had to pay rent or property taxes? Or had to eat food daily or die? All these things would make the world seem more “real”, but who would want them?

Living World has completely driven me away from GW2. Expansions present content you can do at your own pace and complete whenever you like. Living World, on the other hand, is a constant reminder that although we all paid our money, only some of us get to be lucky enough to experience certain limited-time content. That’s not fair. And one can justifiably counter by saying that Life isn’t fair, either, and I will agree.

But why on Earth would you want your game to reflect that?

My problem with Living World is not just that so much of the content generated is temporary (though I do appreciate that they are looking for more of it to be permanent now); it is that, by creating so many limited-time events, I feel as though I am being pushed to play the game on ArenaNet’s schedule rather than my own.

I hate that.

The occasional limited-time event is cool, but a continuous stream of them creates a sense of tension that, frankly, is unpleasant to me. I feel as though the game has morphed into a perpetually urgent “To Do” list.

I play games at a slow pace. If something frustrates me, I will take a break, do something else, and come back to it later. Few things spoil my gaming experience like being forced to make a choice between doing content NOW (when I may not feel like it) or missing out on it completely. I realize that some people love the Living World. That’s fine. I, however, do not. My dislike for the feeling of unnecessary urgency it creates is such that I haven’t logged in for any length of time in over a month. It has pretty much destroyed any desire I had to play.

So yeah. That’s my feedback. It’s looking like GW2 is simply not the game for me. I’ll keep checking back to see how things are shaping up, but I can’t see spending any length of time in a game that simply isn’t fun to me anymore.

Mellony.4851:

…Dr. Howler still seems a bit overpowered in general.

You are certainly not the only one who feels this way.