Guild Wars 2

I agree with you there… no worries.

Andraus.3874:

Sorin is saying you’re proposed design in recording someone looting a few exotics and a precursor is really not an experimental design at all. There’s YouTube videos of guys pulling back to back precursors out of the forge but that doesn’t mean anything is broken.

It becomes increasing unrealistic as the streak continues. I can accept two precursors as a random event, but if someone demonstrates the ability to do it consistently then it at least raises the suspicion that there is a problem. This would be enough to cause the devs to investigate the situation, you don’t have to do their work for them. But you do have to convince them there’s more to it than bad memories and jealousy.

For example, it’s absolutely possible for the same person to win the Powerball Lottery jackpot for four drawings in a row. But if it happened you can be sure that he is going to be turned upside down and inside out by authorities investigating whether or not the results of the lottery were manipulated. Even if there is no evidence the system was tampered with, they can’t just let it go without an investigation.

Essence Snow.3194:

tolunart.2095:

Essence Snow.3194:

This is a perfect example of what the person you quoted was referring to.

I call ’em as I see ’em.

So do I. That’s why I made a preemptive note about it. It’s fun to see things come to fruition.

Were you under the impression that your comment would surprise me?

FearSeven.6357:

I wonder what theories these people conjure if they play a game of dice.

“No, it’s not fair, I’m from the 90’s and gravity works different on 90’s kids, therefore my changes of throwing sixes are lower. I have a friend from the 90’s who has the same experiences and his dad is from the 60’s and he always throws six. No you can’t disprove it, and it’s in the realm of possibilities, therefore I’m right.”

I used to play tabletop RPGs, D&D, Shadowrun, Vampire, etc. and people have even worse superstitions about their dice. Some only used specific dice for specific rolls because “this one rolls high, that one rolls low” and so on. It never works out when you ask them to prove it, but they won’t give up their beliefs.

I argued up down and sideways with someone once about character stat generation. He claimed he “always” gets bad rolls for character stats and wanted to assign points instead. I had him roll ten characters’ stats and they were perfectly normal and expected numbers, nothing too awesome nothing totally useless. He claimed that the rolls were good because they didn’t count, if he was really rolling up a character he would get bad rolls.

That’s all that’s happening here, which is why no one can actually post evidence that what they say is true. Whenever you get someone to actually try to demonstrate his fantastic/awful luck, they can’t do it.

Essence Snow.3194:

This is a perfect example of what the person you quoted was referring to.

I call ’em as I see ’em.

Sorin.4310:

The loot disparity is, quite literally, supposed to happen between different accounts. So what are you documenting? That it works?

That there is a consistent difference in loot drops between those accounts. Saying “he gets better loot than me,” is meaningless. Show me. More importantly, show the devs.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

It seems this ‘issue’ has come up this week over the Portal drops.

The expected outcome (from ArenaNet) is surely the majority of players will not receive a Portal (it would be an Open Beta, rather than a Closed Beta, were that not the case), and that is what is seen in threads. The absence of Portal drops. If most posts were about getting a drop, then we would surely have some questions about RNG being ‘borked’, no?

Of course it is.

Posting during their spare time takes very little effort and they were going to complain about something anyway. And there is a chance, however small, that if they raise a big enough stink about it that Anet will placate them with a piece of candy… er, a free pass to the beta… to shut them up.

Crimson Clouds.4853:

Except that a screenshot of your bags doesn’t document how much you’ve killed, what level and a lot of other variables. X player could report they got much better loot than Y player, but this was because X was tagging more foes in a specified time period.

Video capturing would be the best method, currently. It would be a very lengthy process of transcribing all data from the video though.

I’ve already mentioned this twice. In a perfect world, there would be a community made overlay for GW2 that recorded all of this data, and then can be collated and analysed. This would mean minimal effort for the user (bar uploading data) and no interruption to game-play.

When many players were posting claims that ecto salvaging was broken, some person or persons stepped forward with real data from a sufficiently large sample of salvages to suggest there may be some truth to the claims. Devs investigated, a bug was found and the bug was squashed.

It was not a record of millions of salvages, nor was it absolute proof of a problem, but it was sufficient to cause John Smith to investigate, using tools that can perform millions of salvages and analyze the data. Without numbers, he has no reason to stop what he is working on and perform rng testing every time someone throws a fit on the forums.

This is not a court of law, and the loot system is not on trial for murder. Something along the lines of “here’s a video of me looting three exotics and a precursor in an hour, stuff like this shouldn’t be happening,” is enough to raise suspicion that something is wrong, where statements like “my buddy gets exotics ALL THE TIME, this shouldn’t be happening,” does not.

If the loot disparity between different accounts that are online at the same time and in the same place is real, as people have been claiming, it is not that hard to document a few examples of this happening.

Crimson Clouds.4853:

But it seems like we’re all repeating ourselves. Why is there another thread about this, again?

Because yolo, of course.

It shouldn’t be too disruptive to take a screen shot of every loot screen, then go back later to catalog the drops, some players have been documenting every drop, salvage, boss chest, whatever for months or even years.

Or set up some kind of recording software to document everything you do and post the footage on Youtube or something. Not sure how that works because I personally have no interest in doing this, but thousands of people have done it already so it must be possible.

Andraus.3874:

This possible issue isn’t outside the realm of possibility. With that being said, some responses in this thread are on the verge of being rude. Dissenters of this thread have nothing to lose if this issue would be investigated. Well nothing to lose besides their ego trip by “proving” everyone else is wrong.

It doesn’t matter what any player thinks, if Essence or anyone else wants the devs to investigate then he has to demonstrate there is a problem… not prove his case like it was a murder trial but just post convincing enough numbers to make someone say “okay, that seems too consistent for a sufficiently random system, we’ll look into it.”

What has been posted so far is a repeat of many, many threads that have already been dismissed by the devs as being insufficient evidence of a problem. Someone needs to go beyond what has already been said in order to reach that point where they will consider action.

Otherwise, it’s just a small child saying “gimme a piece of candy… gimme a piece of candy… gimme a piece of candy…” out of the belief that Mama will eventually give in just to shut him up.

Astralporing.1957:

No, i actually mean that such difference is quite probable within a probabilistic system. Even assuming he plays both accounts equally (which i bet he isn’t).

Not saying that I agree with the assertion – quite the opposite, I don’t recall seeing any numbers, despite the claim that loot is “drastically better” and easy to predict. I just mean that JS once said he would investigate similar claims if a plausible argument were made to show some kind of evidence of a problem. Despite repeated protests by several individuals, no such evidence was ever submitted.

So if someone wants to post verifiable numbers instead of feelings and “this guy in my guild gets soooo many precursor drops” stories, the discussion can move forward. Evasions and protests that it’s too hard to come up with the numbers is just noise.

Astralporing.1957:

…

It doesn’t need to be exact because his claim isn’t exact. His claim is only ‘I get more/better loot when playing on one than the other’. All he needs to show is a marked disparity of loot drops doing his normal play.

Gaussian distribution again. Him getting exactly the same drop rate on both accounts would actually be more suspicious.

Just to be devil’s advocate here, this is his claim:

“Here’s my issue: My newer account gets drastically better loot. My main account hardly ever gets exotics while my new account gets them frequently. I had always had suspicion that certain players had better drops on average than other. In my guild and ally guilds we know which players will consistently get better drops. It’s so predictable it’s not funny. But, as all that was second hand I couldn’t ever really experience it for myself. Well, now I have.”

So if we establish some basic threshold for “drastically better” such as, Account B gets 2x as many exotics over a month than Account A, then actually documenting the drops via video capture or screenshot would easily establish his claim is plausible, at least to the point where it could convince JS or another dev to run some simulations and see if there is anything going on.

Of course, if “twice as many” means two exotic drops in one month, it just means that Essence is prone to hyperbolic bragging.

Neural.1824:

Actually, the forums represent such a small slice of the games population, that they don’t even have to care if things are blowing up here. If that were the case, they’d be introducing Cantha in the expansion (based on the number of replies and activity that the Cantha thread had over the past 2 years).

Also, 96.3% of the changes made to the game would have been reversed within two weeks, and there would be a permanent staff member who did nothing but post apologies on behalf of the devs.

TheFool.4589:

I agree, I too believe rng is extremely broken, but those of us who believe this HAVE to give and show proof. This means snapping a pic after every kill/world boss BEFORE actually taking the loot into inventory.

What we should do is conduct a small experiment. For example 5-10 people will record their experiences fighting the same world boss. Will do this for a week everyday at the same time. And just do a small comparison between accounts. Of coarse we would need the participation of 5 “young” accounts and 5 “old” ones. All data will need to be recorded and time stamped. If anyone’s down to try this, I suggest you get a team together to help prove or disprove RNGs flaws.

Recorded and taking a small dip of info from this can shine some light on what direction this is truly going. Will it conclude anything? No. But it IS a start in finding out what’s going on.

This is what I meant. It doesn’t have to be 100 level 53 warriors each carrying exactly 12g 15s with the same equipment and traits killing the same creatures in unison like some insane multiboxer… just get records of drops from 10-20 accounts over a period of time and see if one or two accounts consistently get the same results that set that account apart from the others.

Of course, I believe that the truth behind this “bug” hunt is a combination of poor memory, human nature and opportunistic trolling. In those cases I can understand why one would be reluctant to attempt such a project: fear that you’ll look foolish if it turns out your drops are pretty consistently average after all, or in the case of trolling the posters already know they’re just making this stuff up and don’t want to admit it.

Andraus.3874:

People there is no possible way for us to collect data to test this because of multiple confounding variables. So stop suggesting that. It’s not possible and any data we would get would not be valid nor reliable to actually draw any conclusions. Please read my other posts on this page (pg 3) if you don’t understand how this is impossible to test. If you seriously figure out a way to test this with taking into account every variable please let me know.

This has already been addressed back in the old Black Lion forum, and Essence knows this because he was around when John Smith said “give me enough information to theoretically indicate something is wrong and I’ll investigate.” It’s happened at least twice before on the forums, players were posting “something is wrong with X” and the devs weren’t concerned until someone said “here’s some numbers…” and they investigated the issue and fixed the problems.

Track every drop and record the contents of every loot bag for a month. Get a handful of other players to go around with you, doing the same content at the same time, and record their drops too. If you can show that “the guildie who trips over a Dusk every three steps” really does get proportionally more loot than seems normal, or that you get hit with DR faster/longer than other players doing the same content, then you have an argument.

That won’t happen, though, because the devs can check the game logs and see what you were really doing during those times and what loot actually dropped. If you giving them kitten data they will know it.

The same threads have been going on for years, with many of the same names behind them, and never once have they produced any real data more meaningful than “this feels wrong.” Twice, someone stepped forward and produced data and the reaction of the devs was immediate and meaningful.

Until you produce some data more concrete than feelings and second- and third-hand loot bragging (guildie can buy a precursor or even just post the chat code and pretend he just got it, that doesn’t mean anything unless he has video of opening the loot chest) then nothing is going to happen.

Gibson.4036:

tolunart.2095:

The major difference between an MMO and a single player game, and the reason why I started playing MMOs in the first place, is that the game changes over time.

There are different kinds of changes. An MMO can change because new stuff is added that shakes things up, or an MMO can change because old things are dismantled and replaced with something else.

Sometimes you’re going to be part of that majority that like whatever they changed/kept, and sometimes you’re going to be one of the few who are disappointed that something was/was not changed.

True. And as customers, we should express our views whichever side we end up on. A complaining customer is better than a former customer.

Both kinds of changes are common in MMOs, and both can be good or bad from an individual’s point of view. By signing up to play an MMO, you are accepting that these things will happen occasionally, and generally speaking you don’t get to choose what changes happen to the game, only your reaction to those changes.

Expressing an opinion is fine, collecting feedback about changes is an important part of planning the future of the game, and unpopular changes can be adjusted or reversed. But not without good reason. The forums are a collecting point for disappointed customers and experienced players who are already used to doing things a certain way. Their complaints do not reflect how many players enjoy the new content or changes to existing systems, and tend towards extremes of entitlement and hyperbole.

The devs have access to far more detailed information about how people play the game than any player, no matter how many “me too” posts you point to or how many guildies quit the game because “they changed it now it sucks.” Real data guides their actions, not hyperbolic complaints from someone who is personally affected by the latest updates and assumes that he speaks for the player base in general.

The major difference between an MMO and a single player game, and the reason why I started playing MMOs in the first place, is that the game changes over time. SPGs can have a few bugfixes and a little DLC to add to the experience, but unless there is a significant number of player-created addons like Baldur’s Gate or Skyrim has had over the years, most SPGs eventually run out of interesting things to do.

The downside is that not all changes to an MMO are going to be to your liking. It’s in the devs’ best interest to make changes that keep their players happy, but every change they make is going to make some aspect of the game unfun for someone. And every part of the game they leave alone is also making the game unfun for someone, there is simply no way to please everyone. So they try to make sure that the game is as fun as possible for the greatest number of people.

Sometimes you’re going to be part of that majority that like whatever they changed/kept, and sometimes you’re going to be one of the few who are disappointed that something was/was not changed.

Zoid.2568:

The formulation and grammar in that text is so kittening bad it’s embarassing. Do they really think they can trick people with a text like that?

99.5% of recipients will delete the email without a second thought. When several million people receive the same email, the remaining .5% is a pretty big number.

If you make money from it, no.

Arkinos.7245:

I personally think Anet doesnt care about conditions.
Its completely impossible for them not to be able to come up with a solution for 3 years if they even care a little bit.

Conditions are fine, players just don’t like the way they work. Each damage type is a single “pool” instead of tracking each damage source. It’s fine when you solo or the party is designed to make use of one or two condition builds. When there’s a zerg of 100 players attacking the same target, it’s like each toon has a quiver of endless arrows but only one bow for everyone. You get one “shot” then have to hand the bow to someone else and wait for it to come around again for the next shot.

Encounters like world bosses couldn’t be done with conditions the way the players want them to work. With 500 damage sources ticking every second, either the boss would die instantly or the game would crash from trying to track all that data. The only way to solve this dilemma is to rewrite how the game works – maybe they can devote the resources to do this when coding the expansion, but I doubt it.

Likewise the zerker stats thing, the game wasn’t designed for a “tank” to stand there absorbing massive amounts of damage without difficulty. Armor doesn’t reduce damage enough and healers can’t replace hp fast enough, so you can’t take more than two or three hits at best. For those with fast reflexes, dodging out of the way means you never take damage because you never get hit. Combined with the highest damage output, tank and spank is replaced by hit and run. Those who can’t dodge fast enough end up dying a lot.

It’s simply a matter of the intentions of the devs vs. the expectations of the players. It was not designed as a traditional trinity-based MMO, and doesn’t play like it. But most of the early players wanted traditional MMO gameplay and the devs tried to retrofit the game to suit them. But you can’t do that with a game that’s already 99.9% finished, you have to trash 80% of the work you have already done and redo it to traditional MMO standards.

TheKid.5174:

“Unique” doesn’t mean anything to me… i sent a ticket , lets see what they can do..

They should label it “Highlander” instead, then everyone who sees it will chant “there can only be one!”

I’ve heard that song before. It always ends the same way.

It was started by John Smith as an offshoot of a discussion in another thread in the Black Lion Trading Post forum. When they closed that forum it got moved to General Discussion, not sure what happened to the original thread. JS was pretty active in “his” forum but not sure if he can keep up with BLTP related posts in general, it moves a lot faster.

thefantasticg.3984:

tolunart.2095:

Jerus.4350:

Curious, where do you get your information?

Observation and common sense.

And, apparently, pulling a lot of it out of your backside in your above posts.

Lot of what you mention is assumptions… And, as you say, pure speculation so it doesn’t have any real value.

Of course, because Anet makes a profit by ignoring what their customers want, just like any good business does.

Jerus.4350:

I can agree with you there. My whole point was simply that I’m very curious as to their analysis on dungeons, what the metrics are and how they read them.

A lot of people are, but Anet does not share that information. So all we can do is work backwards from the results (what makes it into the live version of the game) and speculate about what led to that decision.

Jerus.4350:

Your last sentence seems to assume that you feel ANet has properly analyzed the data. I simply don’t believe ANet has a brain at the top, some of the devs, sure, the management… well some of the moves they’ve made coupled with comments on things like glassdoor, well… I don’t believe they know what they’re doing.

Management never knows what they’re doing. Read the newspaper comic strip “Dilbert” for the most intelligent commentary on the business world.

Regardless, the point is that Anet staff has to focus on the best use of their limited resources. Their decisions may not be the best possible use of those resources, and they may not be how you would use those resources, but the decisions have been made.

Jerus.4350:

Curious, where do you get your information?

Observation and common sense. Imagine you run a snack foods company, and you have developed a new product that comes in three flavors. You test the market by producing 100,000 boxes of each flavor and seeing how they sell after a month.

Flavor A sells out in two weeks.
Flavor B sells out just before the end of the month.
Flavor C sells 25,000 boxes and you’re left with 75% of the product unsold.

The smart thing to do would be to concentrate on flavors A and B but discontinue flavor C because it didn’t sell well. Of course there are going to be a few thousand people who liked flavor C and will be disappointed when they can’t get any more. But from a business point of view, it doesn’t make sense to support a product that has 1/4 the sales of other products and doesn’t make a profit.

So, if the Living Story is popular Anet continues developing the Living Story.
If PVP is popular Anet continues developing PVP.
If dungeons are popular Anet continues developing dungeons.

Anet has not continued developing dungeons, therefore they are not as popular as other parts of the game. Anet does not release the kind of data you are asking about to the public, but they collect the data and use it internally to make decisions. You can get a general idea of what the data tells them by considering their actions in the long term.

Lord Kuru.3685:

tolunart.2095:

Among those who run dungeons with any real frequency, most are speedrunners who are only interested in completing the path as quickly as possible and collecting as much loot as possible.

That’s a result of not having new dungeon content. Running the same dungeons for over two years, who’s going to run them anymore but for the loot?

A while back they revised one of the dungeons and added a new path, redistributed the rewards and so on… I don’t remember the exact changes because personally I couldn’t care less about dungeons, but I remember they worked on it for a bit.

I’m sure they collected data about how players reacted to the changes. And after analyzing the data they realized that dungeons were a waste of time and resources and gave up on revisiting old dungeons or creating new ones.

It’s a bit of a catch-22, if players don’t run the dungeons the devs aren’t going to waste their efforts creating new dungeons, and without new dungeons players aren’t motivated to run the dungeons. When you are working with limited resources you have to focus your efforts on the things that will produce the best results, and dungeons just won’t do that.

ghost.3208:

Like someone above said, it seems like regarding dungeons the game is complete for them.

They are ignored by the vast majority of players. Among those who run dungeons with any real frequency, most are speedrunners who are only interested in completing the path as quickly as possible and collecting as much loot as possible.

So, why waste time and money developing content almost no one will see, and those who will see will not care about?

Behellagh.1468:

Okay then. My one problem with how mods work here is they rarely moderate threads, they simply lock and/or delete threads. There are times I’ve seen you Gaile step in to yank on the reigns and try to break up a snip fest between two players or try to steer a thread back on topic but I never see that happen with black label moderators. It’s the difference between a police officer telling a loiterer to move along Vs shooting him with a TASER and hauling their butt downtown. The former is good policing IMO while the later is overreacting.

I’ve seen many messages from “black label” mods saying “please keep the discussion respectful and on topic” or words to that effect. They don’t only lock and delete threads, that is a last resort for any discussion that is not either troll-bait or against the rules to begin with.

Vayne.8563:

But that’s it exactly. Most traditional MMO players have a bevy of choices if that’s the style of game they want. That’s particularly not the style of game I want, which is why I’m here.

I really hope that this game doesn’t end up like every other game out there, because the only reason I’m here is because I like this game better than those games. It’s one of the few alternatives out there.

That has always baffled me, it’s as though they would rather force the game to be something else than find a game that is already giving players what they are looking for. And when I suggest they go to a different game that offers something closer to what they are looking for, I am the one who is somehow betraying the game by daring to suggest that there is a better choice out there.

It’s like… I’m hungry, so I wander into a Chinese restaurant. But I don’t like Chinese, so I tell them to make me a pizza. The restaurant staff won’t make me a pizza because they aren’t an Italian restaurant. So the best thing to do is to yell at them until they make me a pizza because I’m the customer and it doesn’t matter what the staff wants, their job is to give me what I want.

It seems to me it would be a lot easier and less frustrating to ask if there’s an Italian restaurant nearby.

Vayne.8563:

What some see as a problem, I see as a design decision.
.

Psychology also plays a role. It’s well known that the design of a classic MMO involves the “Skinner Box” – the company wants the players of the MMO to stay subbed as long as possible so they set up the game to offer the reward periodically to keep players repeating the content while the devs prepare the next installment of content.

Players don’t run dungeons and raids because they love to play “jump out of the red circle,” they do it because there’s LOOT in it. The best loot typically comes at the end, so you have to fight your way to the last boss to get it. If the good stuff came with the first or second boss then a lot of players will go that far and quit. Like when daily/weekly quests require players to kill a boss partway through a dungeon, groups will form until they complete the quest, then fall apart. Because the focus isn’t on enjoying the dungeon they’ve already run through 100 times, the focus is on the reward that comes with completing the daily/weekly.

Anet has tried to shift the focus from the loot to the experience, but with only partial success. Most traditional MMO players remain focused on their Skinner Box Loot, and get upset if they keep pushing the button without getting a big enough reward to keep them interested. It’s the reason why saving up their pennies to buy a precursor from the TP is seen as unrewarding, and why Anet’s plan for “precursor crafting” would likely get the same reaction. They are not interested in a progress bar with a precursor at the end, they want the endorphin rush that comes from opening a chest and seeing DUSK appear.

Are you saying rhetorical questions don’t exist for the sole purpose of annoying the kitten out me? Mind blown.

Astral Projections.7320:

If there are parts of this that is set in stone before it is even implemented because lawyers, then that severely narrows the range of what we can suggest, even if it’s something that seems to be a particular problem in spite of being specifically clarified.

Well, moving on, as Trahearne would say (and hopefully not the next part where he says, “this won’t end well,”) we know we can suggest that they not have an tag that others can see, I’m not sure what else we can suggest. Hopefully someone else can think of something. :/

I think some people are confusing “expressing an opinion” with “making a decision.” We, the players, have no part in the decision-making process. The decisions have already been made and the plans are in motion. That doesn’t stop Anet from asking “what do you think of this?” and collecting feedback to be discussed later.

But no, the plans that have already been made are not going to be changed because a handful of players don’t like them.

Vayne.8563:

And to think I posed that as a rhetorical question. lol

Rhetorical questions have always bothered me. If I ask a question, it’s because I have a question I want answered. If I already knew the answer, I’d make a statement instead, not a question. Know what I mean?

JustTrogdor.7892:

tolunart.2095:

I’ve only skimmed over most of the posts in this thread, because frankly I’ve already considered and discarded the possibility of applying. .

tolunart.2095:

I’m sure I don’t have to recommend that you do not apply, you don’t seem to have a handle on this whole “volunteer” thing.

It is a good thing you didn’t apply because this is the type of response we defiantly don’t need from the forum specialists with their special tags.

I agree, which is pretty much the reason why I’m not interested in their special tags.

It’s a simple formula, money from gemstore sales is used to develop the game in general, along with more gemstore items to continue encouraging gemstore sales.

Money from subscriptions is used to develop new dungeons and expand the selection of dungeon related items. So convince your friends to subscribe to the game and their sub money will be used to develop new dungeon content.

munkiman.3068:

So, looking at it doesn’t explain time, it does explain what is expected. It be totally equal to i need a “forum admin”, great, now what?

People already dedicate time to this forum, that’s it…

An FS is not a paid employee, they can make no demands of his time because he is doing everything on a volunteer basis. But the act of applying to be an FS would imply that the person is willing to make at least some small investment of his time.

I’m sure I don’t have to recommend that you do not apply, you don’t seem to have a handle on this whole “volunteer” thing.

munkiman.3068:

The question was “what kind of things Arena expected from a specialist” I mean come on there has to be some kind of expectations. Nothing is outlined in any of those posts. Sure you can exit, but why not be informed prior to signing up. Isn’t this an Arena flaw to begin with?

I’ve only skimmed over most of the posts in this thread, because frankly I’ve already considered and discarded the possibility of applying. But I had no problem understanding what being an FS involved or what is expected from them. Nothing is unclear, so I’m not sure why you are having trouble understanding it.

munkiman.3068:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

munkiman.3068:

Please tell people why they should do this?

Because they want to. They want to take the responsibility for distilling opinions regarding their area of specialization and pass it along. They want to be asked questions about something they know a lot about. They want to show that players can indeed make a difference in the game.

That is why they should do this.

Wanting to and getting something useful out of it are concepts that should have been taken into account before the announcement. And, why can’t you do this right now, without a title, without anything special?

The point of this feedback is whether or not these specialist should get something “special” on the forums… Least i thought that’s were it was going. Right this very second, if you are absolutely just like everyone else giving feedback (some very extensive), why do you need a title? What does it do FOR YOU? Does it enhance your resume? to be an unofficial volunteer?

I give feedback, i play the game randomly. is my feedback more or less important than yours? Assuming you were assigned a forum specialist? If so, Why? What makes you better at guardian/ele/necro/mesmer than me? Do you know the code? are you privy to changes?

Not sure what you’re going on about here… maybe a language/cultural difference, but generally the point of volunteering for something like this is to give something, not to get something. You volunteer because you want to help make the community better, to help others, not because you get a bribe or reward for volunteering.

munkiman.3068:

I’m sure you have applicants, many i’d bet, but some of us are kind of rational, we should be able to decide if spending this kind of time is worth it.

I assume that if a person decided that it was not worth “spending this kind of time,” that person would… not apply to be a FS?

Further, if someone did apply and became an FS, if he later decided not to spend that kind of time at it, he could voluntarily exit the program. It’s not like they’re going to lock you in a small room with a cot, a desk and a computer.

Ashen.2907:

Not what she said.

We, “feel that Anet doesnt look any more,” is very different than, “Anet doesnt look any more.”

Anet should create an automated posting bot called AnetSnowflake that will post a random message in every active thread every 48 hours. Something on the order of “You have such wonderful ideas! The devs really appreciate your comments and will get to work on this right away.”

That way everyone can feel like someone appreciates them.

Accounts cannot be transferred.

Third Eye.6718:

Yep fair enough Wanze, I wish you well in your experiment : ).

In regards to good (i.e. desirable) skins price manipulation, flipping items whereby prices become inflated or simply buying out all stock is what I deem a form of manipulation. Likewise, Anet limiting availability or methods of attainment is another way…

These are just a given to me (no John Smith confirmation required) and what I’m pointing to in that when implemented in imbalanced ways can create negative roll on effects both in game and for the people playing. Cheers.

This sort of thing doesn’t actually happen. It has been demonstrated (by JS) that even the highest demanded items like precursors are produced and sold too quickly for an individual or small group to control the market. The only items that even could be manipulated are those that are no longer produced at all, such as the first Halloween themed weapons, and there are enough of those still in players’ banks that any attempt to manipulate the market will quickly be overwhelmed as other speculators undercut the manipulator. If they don’t, Anet can easily step in and stop the manipulation by reintroducing the items, since they control the means of production.

As for Anet deliberately manipulating the markets, it only happens in the interest of the player base as a whole, and to improve the game experience overall. In-game wealth is meaningless to the devs, and no one in his right mind is going to risk his job by setting up a situation where some players have a great advantage or disadvantage compared to other players. Those who are stupid enough to try won’t be around long.

What happens is that there are many different kinds of players and Anet tries to put some content into the game for everyone. There are items that can be bought on the TP that probably shouldn’t be, and items that can’t be bought but should be, but overall the complaints come from those who want an item that was not intended for their playstyle.

Zok.4956:

GW2 is still a MMO-game and not a slot-machine, at its core.

Of course not, it’s a Skinner Box. Wait, that’s pretty much the same as a slot machine…

Kruhljak.2705:

I wish they’d flush and refund all those ancient underbids already. This confuses so many people.

They have no effect on the game or players at all, and it will take time and money away from other projects to purge them, as well as opening the way for bugs. There’s no reason to do this when there are other, more important issues to address.

The content locusts moved on several new game releases ago. There are always high profile releases coming “someday” that will blow away everything that is already running, until open beta happens and people start realizing that it’s just more of what we already have.

Hopes for ESO are transferred to Wildstar and then to Everquest Next. Hopes for Archeage are transferred to Black Desert. By the time these are released there will be the next big things announced, and people will say, sure EQN sucks, but wait until “New MMO” is released…

sorudo.9054:

and so what if it’s black desert, it at least has the things Anet promised ppl and looking good doing it.
my only grip is open PvP but i am sure they’ll make a flag system for that, no game like that survives for long with open PvP without lock.

Unreleased MMOs are always better than what’s already up and running, until they are released.

“Archeage is going to kill this game, everyone’s going to leave to play that instead…”

“Wildstar is going to kill this game, everyone’s going to leave to play that instead…”

“Guild Wars 2 is going to kill this game, everyone’s going to leave to play that instead…”

“SWTOR is going to kill this game, everyone’s going to leave to play that instead…”

Only the names change.

Tigerius, you sure think a lot of yourself, posting an “I quit… a year from now” message. I’m sure the devs will be relieved that you’re giving them another 13 months to realize that you know more about the game than they do.

LS 2 finale: “Ok, all the dragons are dead, you can go home now.”

Servers shut down a week later.

In other news, a hobbit riding on the back of a giant eagle caused a volcanic eruption that destroyed Mordor. From an interview with Gandalf the Gray, “clever little man, why didn’t I think of that?”

insanemaniac.2456:

Gaile Gray.6029:

These qualities means they won’t have a “speckled history” of a large number of forum infractions, suspensions, or what-have-you’s.

it doesnt necessarily. look at my infraction history. i know perfectly well how to engage with people fairly and how to help people out with detailed explanations and all that good stuff. but in the past i havent respected stupidity and willful ignorance, among other things, and thats led to me having a rich infraction history because i see a lot of it going on around here (especially on the part of the community) and choose to speak my mind.

When given the authority to speak for Anet in an official or semi-official capacity, it’s important that the individual behaves in a professional and polite manner. They look at an applicant’s infraction history because someone who behaves as you or I is likely to eventually get fed up with being polite and say “stop being such an idiot!” or something. This makes Anet look bad, since someone who speaks for them is being rude to their customers. Such individuals are not going to be chosen for the position even if you promise it won’t happen again.

And with this line in your signature: “head here to discuss wvw without fear of infractions” and a link to another site, I have to doubt your sincerity in promising to represent Anet in a polite and professional manner.