Guild Wars 2

goldenwing.8473:

Shonie.5297:

Pockets.3201:

You know, I have to wonder if they’ll tack on the guild merit requirements to every guild thing they add after this to keep them “useful”.

Small guilds will love it if guild halls come out and we can’t build them due to not having enough people to run the merit missions.

One would then wonder why such a small group requires a guild hall. It would be like building a YMCA for a family of 4.
Maybe you can build a guild tent or something =)

I realize this is off-topic, but I wanted to respond:

Our 4 person guild, back in DAoC, had a mansion, 2 houses and a cottage. These were outdoor buildings in a large neighborhood (think zone).

The mansion became the place for us to house our trophies, have a place to call “home away from home”, a place to “hearthstone” to, a place to store items the in guild vault for sharing and a place to offer some of top tier gear for fellow players to purchase (and sometimes bargained for when they couldn’t afford to pay the full price). Between the mansion and the houses, we provided crafting stations, merchants and teleport NPCs for the neighborhood.

We often had folks come by to just hang out and talk.

The memorable one was the night a young man in another guild in our alliance found out his mother had cancer. He lived in England, we were in Northern CA.

He didn’t just want to “talk” via an impersonal chat channel, he wanted, using his character to actually “be” there “face to face” with someone he knew cared, someone who was his mother’s age, someone he called “mom” in game, so he didn’t feel so alone.

We sat side by side in the small homey cottage and chatted for a while.

There were other incidents in game where someone’s friend had passed, or they just wanted a quiet place to hang out, or wanted some advice.

Although many players for years after housing went in DAoC talked about how it damaged community, I always remember that particular incident and was glad there was a “safe” place for my young friend to go.

Back on topic:

Yes, the only chat channels in GW2 are guild and map.

There is no housing. No place to go and visit.

I’d be hesitant to join a large guild where I would lose the ability to have personal conversations with those I care about.

Agreed! I’m not sure why we get the snarkiness of, ‘Your itty bitty guild can have a shack. Tee. Hee.’ We had a little guild on LOTRO, with a fully stocked kin house (and I really liked the instance items you can put in as trophies, but they never offered enough of those, sadly, what with becoming so store-focused)

No one ‘needs’ a guild hall. No one ‘needs’ a game. It’s part of the overall experience, like player housing, MOUNTS (ahem – if you put mounts in your artwork, some might start hoping for usable mounts in game)

I don’t see a ‘needs of the many’ vs ‘few’ here. I see no reason why we can’t have both. Little guilds having halls – and missions – does not undercut what a large guild gets. (unless they just want to be super-exclusive, in which case, they shouldn’t get anything, & should be sent to their rooms)

So (this is to Fab) – were the missions fun? I mean, did you think they were worth striving to open?

The point isn’t about his sense of departure importance. The point is how people react, what it says about them.

No – wait. That wasn’t actually my point. It’s late – I’m tired. The point was, it’s so predictable! Someone makes the exit speech. Ya, I don’t know why they bother. When I leave a game, it’s not like a stick around to file a report. It’s just that – I’d like to be surprised by something other than the repetitive & obvious replies.

See, good effort! And yes, agreed. If he’s not doing anything with it, why let it rot away in an unused bag?

Aw, poor rangers & engineers! Sounds pretty accurate, though!

Raehvyn.4530:

Man, I regret coming back to the forums. Enjoy being kitten in the threads, I guess.

Same!

I guess if you want to be ridiculed & eviscerated, you go to a gaming forum & announce that you’re leaving. It’s like blood in the water. I mean, if you want to invariably see the very next poster say, “Can I haz ur stuff?” this is a certain way to do that. It’s just one of those guarantees in life.

Since I tire of reading that – not just for lacking in originality, but because it’s cheap & easy, how about, “Sorry to hear that. Good luck wherever you go.”

Well, flip is good. /faint

Well, if they want to earn a triple bonus, they’ll make little Quaggan dolls because I’d be ordering them by the crate load.

We’ve done them – I think that’s the one that made me cry. I’m thinking more of the story Arah, though, where she just kind of jokes about it with Eir. But it wasn’t anything that terrible – just I wanted more sit down on couch & talk to therapist stuff. But that’s probably not all that game-ish.

I’m not entirely sure what you mean, Svetli, or what punting mounts are. (except I kind of like the sound of it) but I don’t care about what other people get in games. I do care about content. I do not understand, at all, why my enjoyment of a game should be linked to how much more I have than another person. I like it because it’s fun, satisfying, interesting, challenging. I like it because it’s one special way that I can spend time with family & friends, who are often far flung in life, and share something special.

I’ve leveled 6 to max & geared them all very well, & we do instances & fractals regularly. I’m pretty sure I play as much as anyone. At this point, I was very happy to hear about something new we could do together. Not all of us like dungeons – not many of us are interested in running them over & over. I do one, and think, “Well, that’s done!” But Guild Missions sounded fun, until I realized they sound like GW2’s version of a raid. I thought they’d be missions such as races, some kind of guild quests.

We are not asking for an easy, casual mission. We are asking for Guild Missions that are accessible to small guilds. This, "you all just want to get things now & easily’ is getting old. It’s a blatant diversion from what people have said over & over & over again.

eta: Ok, I think you meant spending time? Months? I thought you were talking about mount rewards. (which, incidentally, I would welcome in this game) Anyway – we’ve been here since beta. We’ve geared all our main characters well. I don’t see the difference between your time commitment & mine.

Avatar.1923:

quaggan backpacks are for girls, or guys who want a girly character.

the color wont change that fact

Ya, tell that to the huge Norn Warrior I just saw with his little Quaggan backpack. Whoever the guy is, I love him.

Oh, fair enough. I have to admit, I get mad at her for blaming Eir. I was hoping at the end, she’d have a psychological insight moment & realize it’s herself she blames. She was too glib there, I thought. Still, it’s actually one my favorite Felicia Day performances. Caithe is the one that annoyed me – she just talks too much & with very little humor. However, in the last Sylvari story I did, I really liked her – she had some humor there.

Sovta.4719:

stobie.2134:

If you help a guild that you don’t belong to, you get normal event rewards (karma, I guess, a little money) – but you don’t get anything related to the missions. I rather like that idea, though – and it seems like it would be easy to add in. If you help another guild do its mission, you get some commendation for yourself, & possibly something for your own guild. (I can see why they wouldn’t do that part, though)

That seems like a reasonable solution, & a lot more inspiration for little guilds to ask around & band together for missions.

This would be nice, also with some notice when you are on map with guild mission, i would really like to do them even with no reward. (FotM already bored me to death, and i can do other dungeons even with rares on guardian)

I had the same reaction to fotm – thinking, “HOW many more times do I have to do this?” It might be nice to have area pop ups like, “Guild X could use some help with… Bounty Y,” that kind of thing. But I do think they should allow for at least one – commendation or whatever – if you participate to help others.

You hate ZOJJA? Wow. Well, to each his own.
/backs away slowly

Oh ugh! I hadn’t thought of that! You can’t create your own channels, can you? So you’d have to be in party chat, or on vent, or something. I guess you could turn off guild chat, but that kind of defeats the point if you want to know what’s going on.

The trouble with chat, for me, is that it’s like a tv in a restaurant. I WILL look at it. And because of that, I’ve endured any amount of horrible conversations in old guilds. There was one woman who reported daily on her affairs – and of course, someone HAD to encourage her, & to issue much sympathy for the sorrows of her life. Then there are the health problems, and any amount of other personal issues that I do not want to know. There are people who just have to talk about politics, religion, and things even darker, such as reality tv… There’s language that’s bound to offend someone…

Anyway – that’s all well & fine, & for the most part, it seems that guild chatter happens between the core of the guild, who often actually know each other. I just – I don’t think we should forget why a lot of us want to stay small & private.

If you help a guild that you don’t belong to, you get normal event rewards (karma, I guess, a little money) – but you don’t get anything related to the missions. I rather like that idea, though – and it seems like it would be easy to add in. If you help another guild do its mission, you get some commendation for yourself, & possibly something for your own guild. (I can see why they wouldn’t do that part, though)

That seems like a reasonable solution, & a lot more inspiration for little guilds to ask around & band together for missions.

Asura are the #1 best thing in the game! It pains me that anyone could think ill of them. What’s next, anti-Quaggan sentiment?

I’ve done most of the personal storylines now. The humans are sadly – not terribly personal. The Charr was interesting (I only did one of those) but I couldn’t ‘connect’ with her. The Norn was – well, better than human, but I haven’t accepted their voices. (though sometimes, she’s good – my daughter’s Norn woman had some great lines later on) I’ve had 2 Sylvari (males only for the voice – he is wonderful) & those are actually really good (especially the shield/night ones)

But the Asura – you almost can’t go wrong with their stories. (dynamics/infinity being THE best, but the valet golem is a close 2nd) Both male & female are wonderful. (I now have 4, 3 of which are 80 – the male Asura is probably my favorite voice actor, though the Sylvari male is pretty close)

Asura have no faults – obviously, this topic is an error in perception.

Tybalt was my favorite, too, but I liked the Priory/Vigil ones (my male Asura both had to be Vigil – they just did) Trahearne – he was ok when you meet him in the Sylvari stories – I liked him ok at first, on my mesmer. But geez, by the end I wanted to hit him, too.

As for Logan, he pains me, but I find him likable. I do spend a lot of time shouting, JENNAH! when he’s around, especially after the CM story mode. And I want Jennah to marry the mustache twirling evil minister guy, just to break up this nauseating non-romance, that has reached almost Twilight levels of irritation. (I can too easily see them in a field of fake flowers, staring at each other, mumbling a bit, & otherwise saying NOTHING)

Would it make any sense to add some kind of ‘help out our guild & get perks for your own’ type system? Say a little guilds launches a mission, then invites anyone to join them – and rather than getting the same old reward as a regular event, they, too, share the guild mission rewards? I know that would undercut the recruitment factor of missions, but that wasn’t really the point, anyway. It would introduce people without being a ‘grow my guild’ thing.

That seems really easy – anyone who tags this bounty gets the same loot. That sounds – incredibly simple, & means 2 incredibly enterprising people could run around inspiring action all over. (I picture some Asura-like couple in a 2 person guild doing this, of course, rubbing their hands together) Then you wouldn’t have to scale the bounties or anything – small guilds would still have to unlock everything (I still think it might be wise to lower the research unlock requirements, but either way – it’s possible, given time & effort)

It could also be that the starting guild gets the GUILD perks – but anyone who helps gets the commendations. It wouldn’t make sense to get everything, because whoever funded the unlocks probably warrants that much bonus. But basically – give everyone, even those not in a guild, a reason to participate & bump up the ‘feel good, everyone helps’ attitude that had made this game special thus far.

Wait – are they doing that? Recovering health when we stealth to go cnd? That would explain a lot! I don’t mind the return to aggro – but come on! That’s part of the class skill!

I’m seeing the little star guys all over, but no one seemed to be out looking for them, & no one asked for help, so I never saw how the fights went.

Oh, great! I was just thinking maybe our small guild COULD do them! But no, it’s a glitch. Figures.

I should backtrack a bit about the gear thing. I really don’t mind the Ascended level stuff. I noticed early on here that opening a huge chest to get a blue scepter isn’t all that fun. I mean, I like loot – it’s like opening a package on a holiday. I don’t want this game to go the total-gear, all time, of other mmos, but getting stuff is fun. Having new gear to work for is fun. We did hotw a bunch of times for what I considered pretty armor, with just 4 of us, and we’d never have done that without the lure of loot. So that’s ok. I think the whole Guild Mission thing has just set me looking to find fault everywhere. Just – don’t go too far down the road to a gear-based game.

And developers saying, “We never said…” is hardly new, nor does it mean there hasn’t been a major shift. I remember when LOTRO introduced stat armor – which caused justifiable anger. They’d said they’d never do this – you could find videos proving this. But it doesn’t matter. “We never said,” can be followed with, “that’s not what we meant,” or, “By ‘never,’ we didn’t mean, ’never ever.”

Things change – visions change. But this is a pretty important vision change, & I think a lot of people have stayed around with the assumption that the core values remain. (like ‘the store will never offer items that compete with player crafting…’)

Reaver.9256:

stobie.2134:

Reaver.9256:

Fiddlestyx.9714:

Reaver.9256:

That’s the major problem they face. You think it’s getting worse and worse while I think it’s getting better and better. They have to figure out a way to please us both.

That’s the problem though. I bought the game based on the manifesto. You obviously didn’t.

Nope I didn’t. They’ve also never lied to me. I knew vertical progression was in the day the game was announced in pc gamer years and years ago.

So, basically, you just wanted a newer, shinier WoW. I listened to what they said describing their vision. If you just ‘knew’ from the announcement that this wasn’t true, then you weren’t listening – you were just assuming their vision was a lie.

Nope I wanted GW2. I knew from what they said that they wouldn’t be following GW1 in terms of how limited it was. Also since GW1 had vertical progression it wasn’t hard to figure out that GW2 would expand on that.

The difference here is, I was listening to what they actually said. And I listened carefully. I’d vowed to never, ever touch another mmo again, because of tedious grinds, a Lord of the Flies environment, & a system totally based on gear. I didn’t join this game without hearing directly what they planned. This was true for everyone who joined with me – no more mmos, but ‘this one says it’s different.’

Now, I’m not entirely surprised to see them turning this way. It seemed obvious that a mmo generation raised on gear over skill, and on horrific player behavior would be pushing for this ‘better & better’ game you describe. From the attitudes I’m seeing in game, some people desperately wanted gear that would set them apart – and above – other players. I’m not surprised, but I am sorry.

This has nothing to do with GW1 for me – I downloaded it on Steam when this one was in beta just to see what it was, so I had no strong impression either way. This has to do with the direction they’re taking, & if they’re going to the gear-progression, raid styled missions, or not. If they are, it’s going back to the mmo style I fled from, & I’d like to know it before I invest any more time here.

What I want from a ‘community’ in game is the same thing I want in real life. I want it to be well run, polite, positive – but while others view a guild as that larger community, I view it as an inner circle – family, friends, and those with whom you feel a personal level of comfort. That’s 2 concepts of guilds – one is a city view, one is a small tribe, & one is a small neighborhood. The problem here is, we’re about to be ‘big city or nothing,’ or band together every little tribe until we have the power of a city – this, from people such as myself who are playing with people I know, friends & family who live far away – and for whom an mmo is a personal social experience. When your daughter is living on the other side of the country, it means a lot to be running around together in a game like this. When you have friends in other countries, suddenly, you’re in the same place. Yes, we could all be merged into big guilds – but why? So we have to party up just to talk? So a few hours reserved for each other is now taken up by the needs of a guild? There are a lot of small guilds made up of personal friends, who speak openly, without having to restrain themselves lest someone in city-guild land be offended. I’m pretty sure personal groups talk about personal issues, and things like politics, religion, & sports (I’d almost rather hear the first 2…) That’s a level of comfort that is not possible, & shouldn’t be, in a large guild. For me, it’s the difference between having people over, who I know, & having to go out to some public event, where you have to be on your best behavior. Some people love that – a lot of people don’t. But this mission thing has made a big shove toward making people do this, or stop playing.

Guild missions would have been great for us – something to do besides instances. I think a lot of us were looking forward to them, only to find its reserved for what will now be the elites of our various servers. Not good. Not good at all.

Reaver.9256:

Fiddlestyx.9714:

Reaver.9256:

That’s the major problem they face. You think it’s getting worse and worse while I think it’s getting better and better. They have to figure out a way to please us both.

That’s the problem though. I bought the game based on the manifesto. You obviously didn’t.

Nope I didn’t. They’ve also never lied to me. I knew vertical progression was in the day the game was announced in pc gamer years and years ago.

So, basically, you just wanted a newer, shinier WoW. I listened to what they said describing their vision. If you just ‘knew’ from the announcement that this wasn’t true, then you weren’t listening – you were just assuming their vision was a lie.

Growing pains, I hope, & perhaps an identity crisis. They were so strong pre-release, about being skill based, open for everyone, a positive environment. I actually got weepy (but I tend to do that) when I first saw everyone rushing to rez a downed player. Sharing loot/gathering nodes – that was such a great change. I played a little swtor, & realized – ugh! I just took someone’s kill, because I’m so used to the GW2 system now. (and trying to dodge – it’s just sad)

You can’t please everyone. You really shouldn’t try. If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll be nothing special to anyone. There’s a niceness in this game lacking – sorely lacking – in others. Others delight in the weird cruel stuff, & I’m sure that suits a lot of people. But it didn’t suit everyone, certainly. There’s a pleasant lack of cruelty in the stories, a pleasant lack of ‘jerk as hero,’ and I don’t think our culture & world really needs much encouragement to forget just plain ‘nice’ now. So I wish Anet would remember that, maybe listen to their own pre-release video & remember what lured so many of us in. It wasn’t the pretty graphics, & it certainly wasn’t to revisit the same old mmo mechanics in a cuter setting.

Jornophelanthas.1475:

As a member of a tiny guild (3-4 active members out of 10-12 total), I have had a talk with my guildleader, and we decided to try an experiment.

We are going to upgrade the guild in order to unlock guild bounties, spending gold if necessary to acquire the needed Influence. Once Guild Bounties are unlocked, we will start Bounty Missions on a regular basis, and we will post announcements on our game server that anyone who wants to get the rewards can become members of our guild for the duration of the bounty, for a small fee (perhaps 1 silver). At the end of the mission, all temporary members will be removed from the guild.

The participation fee is intended to earn back (over time) our investment in buying the influence in the first place. In return, we would be providing a service to the players on our server who would otherwise have no access to guild missions, giving them a chance to experience this content, and to acquire Guild Commendations and other rewards.

Any opinions on whether you believe this experiment could work?

I’d thought of doing something like that – I don’t think I’d charge, though. It just doesn’t seem friendly. I’d aim for others in the same situation we are – perhaps it could be reciprocal – we’ll put an alt in their guild for a mission (we all have several well geared 80s, so that’s easy enough) and work together that way.

I’m not interested in merging. Our guild is family/friends, & that’s why we’re playing in the first place. We’re certainly not playing for ascended gear.

I hope no one said large guilds = quality! Ugh – I remember my daughter trying to explain to the main hunter in a wow guild, which had done all content, that she could control her pet. And trying to explain to another hunter that misdirecting to the mage for one specific fight did NOT mean you misdirect to the mage for every single mob throughout the raid… (the mage was too dead, too often, to explain other than by screaming & crying) No, my experiences with big guilds proved quite the opposite.

I’m fine with having some content aimed at large groups – I think it undercuts the essence of the game, but if Guild Missions had a tier for small groups, I wouldn’t give it much further thought. If I hadn’t seen some really disturbing chat in game, I wouldn’t think of it more than, ‘So I guess missions are out.’ But the dynamics have changed so much, so fast, that I think it’s worth protesting – though from the deafening silence, I’ve come to assume this policy is now written in stone.

Possibly I wasn’t clear enough. Sigh. Giving large guilds this much power, and this much advantage, allows for abuse. I, personally, haven’t seen much to like, but I certainly did not say they’re all ‘evil.’ I have said several times that a large group works for some people, as a matter of taste & comfort. It’s so irritating to have my words twisted about to mean something I didn’t say, didn’t intend, & don’t actually believe! I mean, what’s the point? Is it so hard to grasp another person’s meaning?

Yet I’ve been hearing that the bounty missions take at least 20 people. That’s not my version of a small guild.

marnick.4305:

I think the community agrees that Trahearne going postal at the earliest occasion (march) would be good for the game right?

I can raise no objections to that. It might even make me like him. Well, not really. But it would please me. Just so long as there’s no evil Quaggan. Some things are sacred.

Why would smaller guilds complain if it’s scaled, & therefore, the same difficulty as large guilds face?

Oh, yes. When I fiddle around on other games, I’m even more impressed with just how GOOD this one looks, from the characters to the world, to the actual art hanging on walls. Amazing.

eta: And if the world had the misfortune to have as me as a mod, I would last about 20 seconds before insulting someone’s mother, questioning their soul (or lack thereof) and then tearing out mine – or someone else’s – hair. I still remember when some Blizzard moderator went rather nuts & I was SOOO there with him! It can’t be easy – we are, after all, an emotional species, and we should be – but who wants a robot, anyway?

I was sorry that I’d made a few hundred omnon pies for my guild recently, that’s for sure. Still, a pie is a pie. It just can’t save me anymore. But I didn’t feel entirely happy with relying on food – though then again, what’s the point of food otherwise? My warrior always seemed so much stronger than all my others, I suspect he’ll survive.

Elementalists – it grieves me not to zap like sparkly lightning over great distances, frequently, but there have been worse nerfs.

Thief – I can still escape if I need to – not sure about dropping threat in an instance, though, since I usually use another character in those. That didn’t seem all that huge to me – plus, some things used to reset when I stealthed, & that was annoying. (it has ruined my ability to run through irritating parts of orr, pop refuge, & run on – I’m not thrilled about that, but again, there have been worse class setbacks)

Ranger… I’m just surprised there was no buff. My ranger feels considerably weaker than the others. Honestly, I wish the pet was traited, or a utility, & I could be a straight archer – there are just so many annoying issues with the pets. Or I could be like a necromancer, & choose NOT to have it out. (such as when I was doing that annoying dredge puzzle, and my pet, stowed, popped out & aggroed some event champion below – so it took me about 20 minutes to shoot it from the puzzle just so I could hop to the next level.) Anyway – I’m surprised rangers weren’t buffed. Just flat damage! And let me trade in that pet for sharper arrows!

I like my mesmer, my guardian, & my warrior best lately (the mesmer being my first) – and they’re all really strong right now. (I would never pick my guardian for damage, though – more for usefulness & being so tough.) But I still find the engineer most interesting. I hope they perk up a bit (and my ranger, too). My thief is flawless dodging underwater – I know others hated the dodge daily but I loved it. I still pick it if it’s up. But she does seem kind of fragile otherwise. I’d love my ranger to get some kind of damage buff, and the pet is actually quite annoying in instances (it’s not like you can get it to dodge or avoid aoe all that easily – well, by the time I pull it back, it’s already dead, & I’m sure I could be quicker, but I’m usually busy saving myself) Anyway – when they say rangers need buffs, they’re not kidding.

The only downside I see with warriors is that so many people have them.

And it should be noted that this topic could be a lot worse. As for this being ‘the worst ever,’ – that can only be stated by someone who has never read a gaming forum before, however long they say they’ve played. The standard ‘w/e gaming company fails’ has barely shown itself here. The personal attacks on developers – non-existent. (and I’m referring to this particular topic – there’s nothing that could make me read the entirety of this forum)

Also, if we’re going to get into ‘attitudes,’ I’m pretty sure the ‘code’ stuff had to be considered offensive. This, incidentally, is the type of thing I don’t feel inclined to endure in a large guild, which has sought out members for quantity. If someone said something like that to me in person, I’d be gone so fast – there’s no reason to put up with it in a game. There’s certainly no reason to reward it with extra-special events.

That sounds fun! Except I’d want a Quaggan Alliance, with homage paid at least monthly to the Quaggan (being a symbol of all that is good & round & mostly blue) People would have to sign allegiance to the Quaggan, sworn on as defenders.

Weren’t guilds in some other mmo based on race? LOTRO, maybe? (like you’d be a Hobbit themed guild) That would be easy enough here.

I’d be happy with just a loose Alliance, under some shared banner of theme & intent, though. Anything is better than having a few huge guilds dominating each server, allowed into content no one else sees, & harassing others in map chat. That’s… so not good.

thisolderhead.5127:

Movie critics that feel the director has personally slighted them generally won’t cast the film in an accurate light. Small issues that the viewers might not even notice become enraging to the critic, why doesn’t the audience hate the director’s consistent failure as much as they should – the critic has explained clearly to them all why…

Critical success and economic success are not as linked as one might think.

It’s almost like you’ve seen Transformers 3!

thisolderhead.5127:

stobie.2134:

So are we only sane when we’re in the middle, accepting everything? I must have launched from Completely Sane to Outright Nuts in a day. Good going, me.

Well no… but there is ten shades of brown crazy most people could progress through and still not make it to the lofty heights required to earnestly attempt to single handedly save the game (add trumpets now).

That’s ever so slightly depressing. Not much can lure me back to any gaming forum, but sooner or later, you have some question, want to find out more about something, & end up here. (I always regret this – I regret it now, & I’m pretty sure it won’t last) And if something in the game takes a turn that really bothers a person, it seems only – human – to try to do something about it. Every so often, it works. I don’t expect it, but if it means enough, it seems apathetic not to try. If I came here & found I was the only one bothered by something, I’d figure my issue didn’t warrant any attention, but if others are saying the same thing, I’d take some time to follow it up. I’m not sure why anyone would want to discourage that. Changes in games ruin games, for some. (For instance, I would say x-server lfg ruined wow for me, though some clearly don’t mind being abused by random strangers in anonymous runs. I knew nothing would change that – it was obviously set in stone, but some of these issues, here, seem like things that could be altered for the better.)

So are we only sane when we’re in the middle, accepting everything? I must have launched from Completely Sane to Outright Nuts in a day. Good going, me.

One really easy fix would be to allow us to open any of the categories – not just Art of War. The races sound pretty reasonable, for instance. I don’t expect them to design new content & I’d assume that scaling content isn’t just a flip of the switch, but opening up the other categories might be easy. (unless they’re not ready yet, hence the Art of War first decision – in which case, I wish they’d just say that’s it)

Formal Guild Alliances probably need a lot of work (though it seems like they could model it on whatever existed in GW1) Just for an easy fix, either let people open other categories, pop in an easier mission (which risks being exploited by larger guilds, I suppose – unless it’s rewards for, say, 5 people only), or at the very least, drop the ‘research unlock’ from A of W & let us get to work negotiating with guilds that aren’t completely obnoxious. That said, I’m not looking forward to that. Seeing guilds trying to recruit now is painful – people are being such twits. It’s like they opened a floodgate which let latent Twitdom explode.

Spekingur.1062:

After reading through this thread once again all I get from it is that the commentors in large guilds also seem to be rather large kittens. This makes me even less likely to join a large guild.

There has been a tendency to reinforce my worst held suspicions, & perpetuate a stereotype that doesn’t exactly engender sympathy.

Kuzzi.2198:

Astralporing.1957:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

How, exactly, do you fix that?

And don’t take the easy way out and say “roll it all back / take out the guild missions”. Solve the problem as it lies.

Releasing a watered down bounty mission “tier 0” at AoW level 4 (or even 3), with only one bounty, reduced merit gain, drop rate and only 1 commendation would be a good start. Preferably followed by watered down versions of other missions at other level 4’s (some would be easy. “tier 0” puzzle would likely take some time).
Small guilds would have something to occupy them while waiting for the bigger missions unlocks. It would stop the perception of being gated from content (which is the main reason of hemorrhaging players to the bigger guilds). It would force big guilds to adopt again a nicer attitude, because their potential (and current) members would have other options and could simply go elsewhere.

I think this is a reasonable solution. I don’t think there is a need to lower the requirements for the missions because in my opinion the influence is not the problem, but making easier versions of missions for smaller guilds to be able to complete would definitely be a good thing.

At the same time, it would keep us bigger guilds happy because our content wouldn’t get easier.

That sounds perfect, though I would prefer a mission aimed at small groups (say 5) be just as hard. I don’t think small guilds are looking for easy – just do-able.

I know what I’d do! I’d look for the simplest step I could take, without disrupting my company’s larger vision, to fix what may be an unexpectedly negative result. I’d put them on the table, so to speak, & go over potential downfalls, then implement the easiest.

I’d acknowledge that the success of a small guild has nothing to do with the satisfaction of a large guild. IOW, letting small guilds in on guild missions doesn’t hurt a large guild’s ability to entertain themselves in large mass missions.

Biggest problem – besides how hard it is to unlock the first mission, and that this first unlock is in a weird spot, is that the missions can only be accomplished by large groups. Options would help. Small guilds can’t do a raid sized mission – why not give some they can do?

Put the first unlock in one of the other categories, where the missions sound easier to accomplish. (races, puzzles, etc) Give an easier bounty that can only be done by a small group. (5 man)

This does not sound that hard to fix. Big Guilds have something to work on together – what more do they need? Why does it matter to them if small guilds get something, too?

No, & I’m not saying it’s their job. But a game does set the environment, & this is a step in the wrong direction.

Daily Dodger was a great tutorial for ‘get on your thief, get a spear, & go underwater.’ I had my dodge daily done once in 4 kills.

eta: Btw, no thief/spear/dodge nerfs, please. Thanks!

I did feel that my little warrior could heal himself awfully well when ‘full with pie,’ so I’m not surprised that there came the ‘Infamous Pie Nerf of ’13.’ I was disheartened to see that everyone basically had to be berserker/dps, and not use any defense or shouts, etc. (I liked my asuran’s polite shouts – it was the prime reason to make a male Asura)

I hope this means they’re edging us out of pure dps, all the time. That was boring – it really was.

I fully expect that people already high in fractals, with perfect gear, can get by as full dps – but it’s nice to have another option. I have to admit – I like our groups best when the warrior has some defense, and he was awfully good, despite what I’ve read, at keeping our fragile little thief alive.

We started our guild on the first day – but I, brilliantly, spent all sorts of influence on weird things – banners & such – and of course, it never occurred to me to go in AofW, since none of us really pvp-ed much. I actually HAD gotten up to 2 or 3 when one person started doing some wvw, but there’s a long way to go.

Either way, I can do that, and I don’t really mind the wait for unlocks. (I don’t think this is the best plan, but… I can do it.) What I do mind is the shift in community, and the inability for any small guild options once we get the missions open. That’s a problem.

We could certainly ask if anyone would like to help us out – we could offer to let them join the guild for the mission. That’s the only way to do it, should we go ahead with the unlocks. (and right now, no one in the guild thinks it’s worth doing) Guild Alliances – assuming they were ‘official,’ would be better, if they allowed both guilds to share the rewards. That would be an acceptable solution, actually – let guilds formally ally for the sake of these missions. Not sure why they didn’t do this – I believe they had something similar in GW1.

Hm – I’m actually surprised at the lack of the usual ‘gaming company failz’ type posts here. That kind of thing is why I generally avoid forums of any kind. Huge generalizations, personal attacks against the developers – that kind of abuse shouldn’t be tolerated at all.

However, this particular issue deserves attention. For me, it’s approaching a ‘leave’ situation, mostly because of the negative impact on community. (this is bad in so many ways. For instance, big guilds no longer have to provide incentive or be welcoming to new members. Instead, they can CHARGE – and apparently, are doing so.)

I suspect the developers wanted to do something for guilds – and that’s great. Guild missions are a great idea. But, clearly, they had no conception of the negative impact on smaller guilds. That’s understandable – a good idea undercut by an oversight, basically. But it comes off as trying to force us into big guilds – entirely. And that is not going to happen. Past experience in mmo environments has taught a lot of people VERY well. No game is worth the abuse I’m seeing just in map chat, & certainly, here on these forums.