Guild Wars 2

Svarty.8019:

I haven’t seen Magic Find on utilities before. Maybe they think it’ll be popular (hence the 78c minimum sell price), but since Magic Find is such an unknown, purposefully obscured factor, I suspect people won’t bother.

You mean other than every serious farmer?

They are the only utility I’ll be running from now on, except in dungeon runs (where you have to be a team player).

Curtis Johnson.8456:

Just a quick update for our SSOM owners.. We’ll be improving the per use cost of the Silver-fed Salvage-O-Matic in one of the upcoming releases. Stay tuned.

I hope by “improving” you mean “decreasing”

:P

Dreamslayer.7659:

The progressive tax rate in the US applies to income earned through wages which is how most of the middle class earn money.

The wealthy generally become wealthy through other mechanism which are taxed quite differently.

It is not a stretch at all to say that the progressive tax system is what keeps the middle class from becoming wealthy.

Now you can argue about whether this was the intent or just an effect but it’s been understood to be this way for most a century so we can surmise that this effect is acceptable to the people who write the tax code.

All in all, I agree with your post. I just wanted to add some clarification on two items (not necessarily directed towards you, but at the thread in general):

1. The US tax code was created about 100 years ago. It’s been amended a few times, but the basic structure is still designed around the idea that everyone is making their money off of wages. It is an antique, which is why it is having such significant negative impacts on the middle class.

2. The wealthy let their money work for them in the various markets (similar to the Trading Post in GW2). We’ve experimented with different tax rates on “capital gains” (the profit you make when selling stocks, bonds, and property) and found that if you set the rate too high (high being relative to potential profit margins), trading volume disappears and tax revenue actually declines.

If the OP’s suggestion were to be implemented, we’d see less trading overall as the players simply avoided trading into the higher brackets which would cause an increase in money supply inflation.

The goal of the Trading Post is two-fold:
A. To allow players to convert any/all items they don’t want into currency that they do want.
B. To remove currency from the game in order to limit the rate of inflation.

Any suggestion that runs counter to these goals is not going to gain any traction.

If you’d asked earlier, my advice would have been “sell everything you find until you can buy the Precursor, then work on the Gifts”.

Psychologically, it is a lot easier to stomach farming when the hard part (Precursor) is already done. Getting the Gifts is the easiest part of the process (except maybe the one that uses Silver Doubloons).

Yoroiookami.3485:

Oh boy. I only found 5 so far. I guess my chances are pretty slim against people who actually spend money on those.

Well, good luck!

On the flip side, the people who actually spend money on them keep the lights on so that the rest of us can play for free. Not a bad trade off, in my book.

You can get them from opening the Trick or Treat bags, though the rate is pretty low (about 1 in 100 bags).

The trading post isn’t “regulated” because it isn’t creating anything.

All it is doing is allowing players to trade their unwanted items for a wanted currency.

This suggestion would only hurt the economy in general and would not achieve any of the goals of the suggestion.

Once again, progressive taxes are used in the real world to fund social assistance programs. We argue that the negative impact on the economy is worth it in exchange for preventing starvation, death by exposure, etc. amongst the poorest members of society. We have no such programs in this game, primarily because permanent death is not a factor, thus there is no need for a progressive tax.

259 Bags:

2,627 Pieces of Candy Corn
325 Nougat Centers
301 Chattering Skulls
351 Plastic Fangs
71 Masterwork Essence of Luck
15 Rare Essence of Luck
20 Exotic Essence of Luck
1 Recipe: Major Sigil of the Night
2 Old Pillowcases
1 Mini Gwynefyrdd
1 Mini Zuzu, Cat of Darkness
8 Limited-Use Scarecrow Finishers
10 Limited-Use Mad King Finishers
26 Flasks of Pumpkin Oil
17 Lumps of Crystallized Nougat
29 Sharpening Skulls
4 Shiny Foil Candy Wrappers
66 Empyreal Fragments
39 Dragonite Ore
~52 Piles of Bloodstone Dust (had a stack that it combined with)
3 Bottles of Batwing Brew
3 Minor Potions of Halloween Slaying
3 Candy Corn Tonics
10 Vials of Maize Balm
3 Plastic Spider Tonics
19 Rotten Eggs
8 Toilet Paper
21 Bowls of Candy Corn Custard
10 Glazed Pear Tarts
17 Pieces of Candy Corn Almond Brittle
21 Strawberry Ghosts
12 Spicy Pumpkin Cookies
15 Glazed Peach Tarts

230 bags:

51 Dragonite Ore
6 Shiny Foil Candy Wrappers
303 Chattering Skulls
18 Strawberry Ghosts
258 Nougat Centers
12 Spicy Pumpkin Cookies
222 Plastic Fangs
54 Masterwork Essence of Luck
17 Bowls of Candy Corn Custard
27 Flasks of Pumpkin Oil
5 Glazed Peach Tarts
35 Piles of Bloodstone Dust
8 Vials of Maize Balm
15 Glazed Pear Tarts
21 Rotten Eggs
55 Empyreal Fragments
2,240 Pieces of Candy Corn
12 Rare Essence of Luck
8 Bottles of Batwing Brew
14 Exotic Essence of Luck
10 Pieces of Candy Corn Almond Brittle
23 Sharpening Skulls
1 Limited-Use Scarecrow Finisher
2 Limited-Use Mad King Finisher
8 Toilet Paper
17 Lumps of Crystallized Nougat
3 Minor Potions of Halloween Slaying
3 Concentrating Halloween Tonics

Cuddy.6247

Deleting characters with items that people were unaware were on them is quite the same issue. It’s haste and everyone who legitimately views that there are any isolated instances of player-fault that shouldn’t fall within the norm of customer service are too far up their own kitten to be dealt with.

The fact that you typed in the name of your character is PROOF that you INTENDED to delete that character.

That’s why this is not the same thing. There is no proof that this player intended to destroy a Precursor by forging it (especially since no SANE person WOULD intentionally destroy a Precursor by forging it).

Guhracie.3419:

I’m just telling you what the economist says.

He said virtually no DR… and he wasn’t clear with regard to whether he was speaking in terms of overall or on a player by player basis (i.e. if DR kicks in for only the top 1% of farmers, that would be virtually no DR but would be a significant impact on those players).

He also made those comments before the Maize Balm was added, so his statement doesn’t necessarily apply here. There could very well be some harsh DR on those.

Cuddy.6247:

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

Cuddy.6247:

fellyn.5083:

Paradox.1380:

Goodluck. I know from personal experience that GW2 Customer Support is one of the best in this industry. They are super awesome. I really hope they can help you!

@fellyn: They can confirm it. Everything is in their knowledge. They can see if you forged, sold, destroyed, or got anything in the game. The game logs every. single. thing. that happens to everyone.

Doesn’t change the fact that it shouldn’t be reimbursed when he did it to himself.

I can understand if there was a glitch or something that resulted in it disappearing from his inventory but that isn’t the case.

I agree that the OP shouldn’t be reimbursed. It would be a real kitten move by CS to all of the people they said “nope” to when it involved different circumstances. Any mistakes or faults of the player should be considered separately from glitches – all or nothing. I don’t like the idea that there are double standards when it comes to restoring deleted items that resulted from haste.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

If I recall correctly, I’ve seen situations where Anet gives refunds on items (especially gem store items) if the item was accidentally lost when a character was deleted, etc

Sure as kitten never happened for me on the character I accidentally deleted that had some infinite gathering tools. They told me tough luck and closed the ticket. Which is perfectly reasonable, it’s their policy – I have no problems with an enforced policy, just when CS decides to practice double standards for some reason.

I would understand your frustration in that situation, but don’t you think it’s a bit cynical to expect other players to be punished for something that happened to you? On the contrary, I think it’s a failing on Anet’s part and that it is something they should address, even if it means reevaluation or tweaking their policy. It’s certainly in Anet’s best interests to support those who financially support them and I can’t see how or why it should be any other way, especially if Anet wants to retain the trust and loyalty of their consumer base.

I say this as someone who has also had one of my report tickets refused.

Not cynical, only fair. If an incident such as this was responded to with favor to the OP, I would encourage and advise anyone who was told no to use is this as a precedent to re-open their tickets and get their lost items back that they accidentally deleted in haste. He didn’t lose it by some glitch where it went into the forge magically, he just clicked in haste and it happened. There was nothing, nothing, server-side that went wrong. A good customer service just can’t have double standards, it’s not the way things work – no two ways around it.

Difference: Deleting Exotics requires you to type the full name of the item. Forging Exotics has no warning whatsoever.

This wouldn’t be a double standard, it would be a separate issue.

Dante.1763:

yes they should be taxed slightly more. maybe not 30% but more than the current.

Why?

We’ve got a “progressive” tax here in the US. The goal is not to “punish” the wealthy, but to generate tax revenue in order to pay for social welfare programs.

As there is no need to generate funding for such programs in Tyria, there is no reason to implement a progressive tax either, other than to “punish” players for successful trading.

If you’re of age, I found that having a drink or two calmed the nerves enough so as to make the Clocktower simple.

It’s also how I beat Liadri…

The maps are always “empty” until I turn on my commander tag.

I would argue that a double click is an input, not an action. Therefore, creating a double click macro is still a single input that does a single action.

I don’t personally use any macros, since ArenaNet’s policy is too vague for my taste.

Just throwing out a perfectly legitimate definition of terms that supports the use of such a macro.

Either Bow or Greatsword would be superior to Axe, unless you are hitting 3 enemies.

Eroiqua.5891:

Iris Ng.9845:

mtpelion.4562:

Precise suggests a jumping puzzle. Scientific suggests Asura.

I’m thinking http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Professor_Portmatt%27s_Lab is involved.
Or http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hexfoundry_Unhinged

I tried the Portmatt. There is nothing unusual about the rewards here

The thing about Portmatt’s Lab, however, is that if you use the “wrong” coordinates you wind up in other places. What if something was added at one of those other coordinates?

Excellent point.

skullmount.1758:

Malchior.5042:

Item 4 has not been referenced yet in any way. If people want to try and guess, go ahead, but we have no clues for Item 4 yet.

Other than that its something somewhere south of LA

And that a big battle is not involved, but rather something precise and scientific.

Is everyone done with Guild Wars 2?

No.

Precise suggests a jumping puzzle. Scientific suggests Asura.

I’m thinking http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Professor_Portmatt%27s_Lab is involved.
Or http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hexfoundry_Unhinged

Ranger Longbow did not get a “huge DPS boost”.

Overall DPS increased about 1-2%. Rangers got BURST added to Rapid Fire which makes it useful OUTSIDE of PvE (WvW, PvP).

The same limitation that made Longbow bad for dungeons before (needing to be at max range) still exists.

Gibson.4036:

mtpelion.4562:

If you’ve “quit” (i.e. no intention of returning), then guess what? Your opinions on the game direction are no longer relevant.

Isn’t the implication usually “I quit, but I hope some day the game changes enough to make me want to come back”?

In which case, the opinions are still relevant.

If you’ve been ticked off enough to actually quit a game, the likelihood of that relationship being ever salvaged is next to zero. MMOs are a relationship (scary, isn’t it?). If you quit one, you’ll fill that void with another one (or something else) and will stop thinking about that “game I used to play” now that your time is filled with a newer/better/more to my taste game.

I can certainly understand why ArenaNet would have considered such a restriction, and why it ultimately wasn’t feasible.

The concept of forum access “expiring” if you don’t log in for an extended period of time is the NORM in online gaming, primarily since people who no longer play the game rarely have anything valuable to add as their game experience is frozen in the past and therefore not up to date with the game as it exists now.

I also find it a bit humorous when people claim they stopped playing x months ago but still log in to the forums to complain about the game. I’ve quit a few MMOs in my time, and the day I stopped playing was always the same day as the one I stopped reading/posting on the forums (I didn’t even leave the obligatory “I’m quitting” post). If you’ve “quit” (i.e. no intention of returning), then guess what? Your opinions on the game direction are no longer relevant.

Huh… I read the item description and immediately sold/deleted those balm things as they sounded like useless clutter (like all the other costumes/box of fun/etc. junk).

If they can be used to generate loot, I may have to give them a try now.

Greetings, time traveler! You’ve arrived in 2014!

Unfortunately, expansions in this day and age are a bygone thing of yore. We still pine for them due to nostalgia, but game publishers have learned that they can make substantially more money doing substantially less work and with substantially less risk by simply nickel and diming the market with DLC.

If it is an expansion you seek, I suggest you return to your original timeline. Here, we just read about them in history books.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

John Smith.4610:

edit 5:
Lemark was in high spirits, it had been a productive week. After a series of failures his luck had turned. He stared at his own reflection in the item, such a trivial thing by itself, but with many, there was power. Zomorros knew it as well, Lemark had seen the desire in his eyes before, this was one of his favorites.

So now we have:

1. An expensive “ghastly” item.
2. A cyllindrical item that’s sealed.
3. A heritage-but-common item that gives a reflection. (at least, I presume the “series of failures” nods back to the failed thievery attempt)

I’m guessing:

1. Eldritch Scroll (ghastly, expensive with 50 skill points)
2. Elonian Wine (cyndrical, sealed)
3. Bloodstone Dust/Brick (“such a trivial thing by itself, but with many, there was power” – most likely not shard, since it’s not trivial by itself and not entirely common)

John clarified that he’s only tipped us onto 2 of the items, so the description for item #3 is part of either #1 or #2

phys.7689:

mtpelion.4562:

phys.7689:

which means there is generally a very strong separation of powers. If ncsoft was running the day to day or development it wouldnt be a subsidiary.

Subsidiaries do what they are told. The day to day operations are managed in-house, but their activities are directed by the parent company.

Additionally, anything to do with monetization is 100% NCSoft-driven.

Basically, NCSoft says “make and maintain this game”, and ArenaNet does so. If NCSoft then says “We need you to make more money off of gem conversions, set a minimum price”, ArenaNet does so.

ncsoft probably says, i better see your earnings go up this quarter, and arenanet has to figure and develop how its done. The fact that ncsoft wanted an expansion year one, and anet went a different path suggests they dont have iron control.

The fact that they had a different path early on and are now failing to meet revenue standards may suggest that iron control is happening now (hence the recent updates that have gotten so many people riled up). Just food for thought. You’d obviously have to be working in one of the two to know what’s really going on, at which point your NDA would prevent you from talking about it.

SundayTrash.9562:

For a game that pride itself for not having a gear treadmill, and that ur end game was suppose to play dress up. Why is majority of the skin lock behind gem store.

Hit “O”.
Go to Currency Exchange.
Convert Gold into Gems.
Gem Store Lock Removed.

phys.7689:

which means there is generally a very strong separation of powers. If ncsoft was running the day to day or development it wouldnt be a subsidiary.

Subsidiaries do what they are told. The day to day operations are managed in-house, but their activities are directed by the parent company.

Additionally, anything to do with monetization is 100% NCSoft-driven.

Basically, NCSoft says “make and maintain this game”, and ArenaNet does so. If NCSoft then says “We need you to make more money off of gem conversions, set a minimum price”, ArenaNet does so.

DeWolfe.2174:

Nothing should ever be exclusive.

I’m OK with a trinket type thing being exclusive, like a “Halloween 2014” balloon you can whip out whenever you want to prove you were there, but weapons, armor, and recipes should always return, especially in a game with a wardrobe.

ArenaNet is a game developer. NCSoft is their parent company, a publisher.

Game developers are Gamers. They like the same things you and I do.
Publishers are corporate suit types. They like money.

It doesn’t matter how much you and I and ArenaNet like something, if NCSoft says “No”, it will not happen.

ArenaNet listens. It is NCSoft who is ignoring you.

Apolo.5942:

It is ridiculous that people give Anet a pass by blaming NCSoft, if your car broke down and Chevi would tell you, we would like to fix it, but GM wont let us. Would you give them a pass?.

NCsoft is Anet problem, not our.

If you are at McDonald’s, and you noticed that they no longer had a Value Menu, would you:

A. Be a dumb jerk who angrily yells at the cashier or
B. Contact the Store Manager/Owner/Corporate office?

Expecting exclusive content from an annual, recurring holiday event was your first mistake.

lordkrall.7241:

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.

And since this is related to monetization, you can bet that the developers will then have to run the idea by NCSoft, who will laugh at them and tell them to get back to work.

I’ve been following Gaile’s posts for a long time now (GW1! whoo hoo!) and I can tell by the tone that this is not something ArenaNet has any say in.

I can see the issue from all three sides:

Players want options, and having an option, even if they almost never used it, taken away leads to instant anger.

NCSoft looked at the data and saw that the benefit to their bottom line for transactions that were less than 400 gems wasn’t worth keeping those transactions around. They don’t particularly care about upsetting the players who deal in amounts that are less than 400 gems because those players are a minority who aren’t contributing to profitability. They also don’t really care about Gold to Gem converters as those people aren’t spending cash. It’s a decision that I would probably also make in my own business (depending on the numbers).

ArenaNet gets stuck having to “defend” the actions they were told to take to the angry players.

Rage.9723:

I am not a big fan of the mystic forge for precursors as it is all RNG.

Well, it is the main source of them so you can either forge them yourself, or pay others to forge them for you.

No one can force you to leave a map, other than ArenaNet.

Karizee.8076:

I’ve made 7 precursor in the forge using the random rare weapons method. The whole concept behind it is we know on average that you get 1 exotic every 5 tries and that the exotic has a small chance to be a precursor. Sell the exotics! (I also sell the expensive rares that I get rather than throwing them back in).

By throwing in an armor piece, you get a chance for the result to be armor. So if you get an exotic armor, that’s taking away one of your small precursor chances. Personally I would not do it.

I only do mixed groups with 3 pieces of armor and 1 weapon, as weapons are more valuable to group together. If I’ve got 2-3 weapons left over, I’ll usually just save them for my next forging batch, unless I have a ton of armor to use up.

The smart way to do it is to do as many all weapon forges as you can, then do any remaining weapons you have left over with the armor pieces.

All weapon forges have a better chance at a precursor, since they can only return a weapon, but a mixed group still has a chance at a precursor so doing them won’t hurt you (assuming you don’t have enough weapons left to do an all weapon forge).

Sephas.8793:

mtpelion.4562:

Zomaarwat.3912:

I usually forge greens that aren’t light armour.

This. All blue and green gear is either silk or rares. When you look at them like this, you realize that there is no “junk”.

I salvage everything lately. With the price of silk, and other mats needed for Ascended gear, it’s all useful.

I’m sitting on several thousand Mithril Ingots and Elder Wood Planks right now, so I’m not salvaging anything that gives those ores or logs.

Zomaarwat.3912:

I usually forge greens that aren’t light armour.

This. All blue and green gear is either silk or rares. When you look at them like this, you realize that there is no “junk”.

I almost always manage to get all three bags (plus the Grub bag) and I’m almost always without a party.

Perhaps you aren’t contributing enough damage? Most World Boss events should be done in Berserker gear, as there is no reason not to.

Essence Snow.3194:

Curbing the faucets would be more detrimental as rewards are already seen as substandard by most who profit from them.

Using a “progressive” tax system would result in one of two situations:

1. Income threshold set low-medium: Tax on significant portion of player base results in overall trading volume decreasing to the point where gold sink no longer functions. Inflation rampant.

2. Income threshold set high: Tax on insignificant number of accounts, adds no value in terms of inflation control, but does cause significant price increases on high end goods in order to get around taxes while remaining profitable.

In both cases, you’ve only succeeding in hurting the general economy (as all “progressive” tax systems do when you strip away the “funding welfare” aspect of them).

EDIT: Yes, adding more items to offset the reduced gold would be a good approach.

From an inflation perspective, it would make more sense to simply add harsher diminishing returns on raw gold generation (dungeon rewards, mob drops, event coin, selling things to vendors, etc.) rather than increase the TP taxes on a minority of users.

Honestly, I think simply cutting the cooldowns by 5-10 seconds each would vastly improve the effectiveness of Guardian shield skills in PvP/WvW. As a support weapon, it is mostly pointless in PvE.

I’ve got a few thousand Heavy Moldy Bags logged. 0 Giant Eyes.

I did have 2 of them drop for me from mobs over the lifetime of my account.

List of Weapon Traits, by Weapon:

Longbow
Piercing Arrows
Eagle Eye
Read the Wind
Quick Draw

Axe
Honed Axes
Off-Hand Training

Greatsword
Martial Mastery
Two-Handed Training

Harpoon Gun
Eagle Eye
Read the Wind

Shortbow
Piercing Arrows
Quick Draw

Spear
Martial Mastery
Two-Handed Training

Dagger
Off-Hand Training

Sword
Martial Mastery

Torch
Off-Hand Training

Warhorn
Off-Hand Training

Gee, do you think that maybe the reason that there are so many Rangers using Longbows has anything to do with the fact that we have twice as many Longbow traits as any other weapon? I mean, it certainly gives the impression that maybe the Longbow is an important weapon, since it is listed so many times in the traits. Also, the description of the class as an “unparalleled archer” might contribute to that as well.

I’d wager that the majority of people who created Rangers did so to play an archer. Now that the longbow has been fixed so that it is useable, you’re going to see a LOT of Rangers dusting off their old bows and fighting from range.

Iason Evan.3806:

Sariel V.7024:

Iason Evan.3806:

The Mystic Forge needs to kick out items that are equal to or above the level of the items you put in.

The current state of the Mystic Forge is like Elementalists at game launch. Players think it sucks and don’t bother to explore it for its potential, because it doesn’t appear to be immediately rewarding. The saddest thing is…. well, that would be telling, and I’ve learned to keep my secrets.

Players that know what they are doing will still do well with it, and might even do it a little more cheaply than before the change since they can act on current player prejudice.

Your reply to me has zero to do with what I was talking about. All I am saying is that a good start would be if you throw all level 75 items in for example, all items that Zommoros gives you back would be level 75 or higher. That is how it used to be. It was changed. It’s a bad change and I am expressing my opinion on it. You commenting that you have unlocked the secrets of the Mystic Forge has nothing to do with what I was talking about. More so because of the condescending nature of your comment.

That was actually a good change. It opened up a lot more access to different skins, many of which are more valuable than the level 80 items that you used to get.

When you consider that it in no way reduces your ability to forge for a precursor, it is an overall OK change.

You’re getting your money’s worth?

Khisanth.2948:

In what way does it make a huge difference?

At around 90%-100% rares actually started dropping … rarely. Feels like this should have been the baseline to begin with.

At around 200% … nothing really changed. Rares are still dropping rarely.

500% was interesting during the Southsun event but that was skewed by more focused farming efforts. Continued farming at the same locations after the event ended and the 500% was no longer accessible seems to indicate that those items simply had higher base rates.

Exotic drops are still mostly non-existent. When they do “drop” it is usually from champion boxes or world boss chests. Neither of those are supposed to be affected by MF.

What is your definiteion of “huge”?

If you buy one lottery ticket and I buy two lottery tickets, I’ve got twice as many chances to win the lottery as you do. Percentwise, that’s huge. Since we’re dealing with a lottery though, the odds of either of us winning is still incredibly small.

Huge is a relative term.