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MMO players come in all levels of ability. We all have our own take on what parts of a game are “too hard” or “too easy.” What's difficult to understand for one person is ridiculously simple for another, to the point that the latter person will make fun of the former for his lack of understanding. I like to think that I'm reasonably tolerant of new players and am willing to help them along, but even I have my limits as to how much I'm willing to put up with folks who don't seem to have the capacity to learn some of the most basic aspects of a game.
Read more of Jason Winter's Guild Wars 2: A Call for More Transparency.
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We're all for games making money, we're all for games getting new players but we're not for secretive back room deals or the direction of these games being dictated solely by new players and what they'd like at the expense of the veteran community and we're also not tolerant of the shareholders driving the development direction rather than the creative team which was obvious what happened with gemgate.
The latest thing is their CDI for raiding. Their sister company just learned the hard way that the 1% shouldn't be catered to because they are never satisfied. The CDIs should have been about the series of problems this game still suffers from in PVE looooooooong before they get to the part where they wanna attract what's left of the 1% crowd from Carbine.
So that being said they need CDIs about condition stacking, class imbalance in PVE (including missing skills like the removal of a key condition removal skill from Kit Refinement for example), the precursor scavenger hunt, the rewards revamp, and the lack of their own trinity (CC, and support being useless in PVE as roles comparitively).
HAHA GOODLUCK!
-all jokes aside they do exceptional updates in the game, not to my liking- but exceptional!- and that says alot more than 'words' and ideas and concepts 'soon' - Anet do deliver.
This sums up the problem, Anet listen, they react and invest - and then they get silly comments like 'driving a wedge...'. This is the language of the self entitled 'veteran'. Not someone who genuinely wants to collaborate.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
Their problem is not changing the game or trying to address its flaws, so already they got mumbles in the corners. So when they make a very obvious foot error, players go sour, not as much about the actual change but also because of general dissapointment.
The 400 gem change can not be supported by any logic other than the attemp to force more money out of the cash shop, and their feeble attemp to explain it really just ads to the problem. One thing is trying to squeeze more profit out, but when at the same time adding insult to players intelligence, they are just shaking the hornet nest.
They did not make it easier for new players, they did not change anything, you still need to find the same tabs/menus ingame as before, the only change is limiting to batches of 400. You could even argue it is harder to understand why you can only trade 400 and not any number, because it is currency in nature. When caught with the hand in the cookie jar, either you apologize and reverse, or you stick to the lie and try to ride it out.. Just like politics
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
I can't say I'm a big fan of the shady moves ArenaNet has been pulling, but I can count them on a long list of companies that pull similar crap on their customers.
I prefer the GW2 and ArenaNet of pre-launch, when they appeared more transparent, innovative, and had a better vision (remember that manifesto?). Nowadays they are very 'closed doors' in terms of communication, very non-innovative (I mean, raids, really?), and the game has been lacking a unified direction or road map since launch.
Yet they are still a successful company. I attribute this primarily to the fact their core game, the one they shipped with, is pretty darn solid. It has some of the best tab targeting based combat in the industry, and the game looks and feels well done and you can tell a lot of effort went into it. They managed to build a big community pre-launch that has managed to weather a lot of blows (even the major server merges, I mean, mega server stuff).
Now I just got the feeling that they are slowly swapping out their core player base that got them where they are for the Farmville generation of gamers (why else dumb everything down?), and trying to push the game into areas it was never intended to be (e-sports PvP), nor does ArenaNet have the commitment to see it through (hardly any balance updates or content additions for PvP/WvW).
Despite my ramblings, I'm still part of the problem. I'll still log in on the 4th to see what they did with the living story stuff, because I still like the core game, but down inside I know none of the big problems will be looked into anytime soon.
its gotta be Ncsoft as carbine also has fallen into these practices.
Anybody who has played the game for any length, or left for greener pastures, knows fully well that ANET has had a fundamental shift in how they operate for about a year and a half. Well, actually just about 2 years now. No matter how loud the community gets over there, how detailed the feedback, or the degree of persistence to simply get them to communicate about basic things, Mike, Colin and Chris seem to have blinders on and their fingers in their ears. For instance, the mind-boggling continuation of the Trait re-vamp saga that they simply refuse to communicate about.
Regarding the Gemgate scandal: the only reason why ANET made changes and offered discussion about it was because of bad publicity from a couple of major gaming sites. Until the press picked the story up, they ignored the community rage and refused to answer for the changes. Even then, their explanation was thin at best, and condescending at worst.
Do you really want more transparency?
Do you really want to know what goes on in those back room meetings?
CM: The players really want (example).
Suit 1: Cool, how can we go about monetizing it?
Suit 2: We could take out (integral feature) and charge them for it.
Suit 1: That might work, how much money will that make us?
Suit 2: (Amount)
Suit 1: That's not enough, you need to come up with something better.
Suit 2: Well we could also remove (feature), (feature), and (feature).
Suit 1: Now that I like, I take it this won't need any new software or people to complete.
Suit 2: Nope, costs will be low and we'll make a fortune.
Suit 1: Do it!
They were a really nice an open company, until the community broke their backs with the vileness that is the internet and gaming community. Every choice they made, no matter what it was, was wrong and there were a 100 reasons why. No one was happy about anything, and it was pure toxic. They seem defensive and in hiding? Because they are. They hiding from the community because they're scared of any decision they make reaping the backlash of the haters, and they know they can't trust that information, but also don't know that it's wrong, so they're defensive.
That Gem thing was a bad call, and it really shouldn't have taken that much effort to realize it was a bad choice. And that is also the problem. They don't have any structure in place to work with the community so that they can actually make the changes they want/need, and have those changes actually be vetted by the same people they're making them for. They are primarily just throwing changes at the wall and seeing what sticks.
Are you joking lol? This has nothing to do with the community. The community has to be loud and vile now because ANet doesn't listen to their players any other way! They wouldn't have listened to the community if a couple sites hadn't picked up the story to begin with!
ANet has completely changed. I know because I saw how they were with GW1 and now I see how they are with GW2. They've vastly changed to what appears to be a greedy stance now where they try to milk players as much as possible. Living story rewards revolve around RNG and the cash shop lockboxes.
They don't add any meaningful updates, like ever (compared to GW1 which is absolutely huge in world and quests).
I'm sorry, but ANet went from an awesome company with GW1 to a greed mongering corporate company with GW2. The blindness of some surprises me. The difference between the two games should be evidence enough, or so I'd think.
Smile
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
The backlash they got was mostly because of the manifesto video. If they had kept it a bit under the control and not go over the top with promises things would be different.
But still Anet is one of the most active company when it comes to communicating with the player base.
Solo player spotted. Maybe you should consider another genre.
Seriously, I won't go into specifics why but Gw1 and Gw2 are COMPLETELY different. The only thing in common is the lore and that's not 100% accurate. Gw1 was more solo friendly, while Gw2 is more open world, more group oriented game. You should realize that the stuff they produced in Gw1 in terms of content will NEVER work in Gw2 and that is a fact. Gw1 was relying heavily on phasing based on story progression - that shit simply can't fly in Gw2, you feel me?
Now, go back to your single player game or whatever it is you play and makes you happy. I don't even see why are you questioning ANet's openness when I'm 200% sure that you don't even play the game and even less care about its update. You and some people like you are just here to spread hate and troll people who actually like this game. Cut it out.
Manifesto this manifesto that whaa whaa whaa. Shit happens, face it. Microsoft releases an update and suddenly most of the PCs around the world get BSOD, its not the end of the world. They dropped the ball on the manifesto for some part, but you can't deny the achievements they made with Gw2 and the end result of what Gw2 is. The game is perfect. If you don't agree with that, maybe its not your cup of tea, go spread your hate elsewhere. Because ANet is one of the most hard-working dev teams in this business and if i was working there, I'd be seriously offended by your attitude because they are human and they are busting their asses day in and day out and you complain about pixels as if it is the end of the world.
They are always removing good ideas. Remember when the changed champs for vets. Now people have less to do. Instead of dumbing down the game to settle the fighting over who was going to kill which champ all they had to do was increase the spawn rate, this way if somebody did kill out of turn that train group did not have to wait 10 minutes to continue the path.
As for this stupid idea of groups of 400, it really is one of the stupidest ideas, if you want gems to buy something but don't have enough gold, then you forget the idea, lose some interest in the game because you can't do something on the spur of the moment, even though you had enough gold to actually do it. After the happens a few times, I wonder how long even more players will be leaving the game.
EDIT: I made this post before going in to the game, I see at the bottom of the window there is a button that you can click on to go and specify a specific amount rather than being stuck with lumps of 400. Kind of makes this whole thread irrelevant.
Avid MMORPG gamer here as evdienced from my many posts on MMORPG.COM (like the logic that you use on a site that caters to MMORPGs... Kinda hard to take "single player" being thrown at someone when they are posting on a site dedicated to MMORPGs even a bit seriously lol). Anyways, you seem to be quite the blind fanboy. "The game is perfect." I mean really? That is blind worship. GW2 hasn't had any meaningful content added in how long? If you honestly don't see how living story revolves around the cash shop updates and lock-boxes you are blind.
I've played both GW1 and GW2, and while GW1 was an instanced game it still wasn't a "single player" game, so no clue what nonsense you are spouting. Group content in GW1 was some of the best content I've ever played. Also you realize that technically GW2 is made up of sections of "instanced" zones? How else do you think you are suddenly put in a queue in a separate instance when the main instance is overflowed with players? Maybe you should know a bit more about the game you play before spouting nonsense.
Anyone who played GW1 and then GW2 can see a difference in content updates. It has nothing to do with hate. It's just that freaking obvious. ANet changed. And not for the better.
Smile
Yeah, me too, I have been banned a few times for speaking out!
I concur. This article was written for a reason, not a deadline. I enjoy.
Yes, self-proclaimed MMORPG gamer. And am I truly blind? Living world season 1 was okay for the ACTIVE PLAYER BASE. Season two is the answer to the pleading of more permanent content. I know its been 4 weeks without update (or 5, i dont really count them) but it takes WoW an year to release content, so that's that.
I don't know how you came up with "living story revolves around the cash shop updates and lock-boxes". I've spent exactly 0 gold and 0$ trying to obtain living world stuff. They are not necessary and certainly not game breaking or whatever you can come up with to hate against bunch of SKINS. Maybe we play Gw2 for different reasons I wouldn't know.
Gw2 is made up of sections of instanced zone that it is true however you are never solo and you are never bound to your party and certainly you don't change the surroundings as you would in Gw1. Maybe you like the idea of phasing. I don't. Because phasing games tend to be more solo oriented, another great example is TESO. Im sure it has ton of group content, the main game is solo though. Just like Gw1
Also for your last paragraph, at its worst, Gw2 is more successful than Gw1 has ever been - #DealWithIt. What that means is that more people prefer Gw2 compared to Gw1 whether you like it or not. As I said, maybe Gw2 is not your cup of tea.
Anet never listened to the community from the beginning. All microtransaction games are designed around a target audience. If the audience doesn't like something, then they change it to improve their experience. It doesn't matter how much the new change breaks the current play style of the game, since their view is that the current implementation is incorrect.
SOE uses the same design philosphy. If the reader ignores the gender issues in the article it pretty much tells the whole story why SOE made the NGE for SWG, and shows why SOE has been irrelevant in the MMORPG industry for the last 10 years.
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LaralynMcWilliams/20141030/229072/Shes_Not_Playing_It_Wrong.php
Trying to force players to buy gems only in "blocks" of currency is an attempt to sell more gems than the buyer would have bought originally.
I'm guessing that Anet are trying to increase their "per player" Cash Shop spend. The underlying reasons for that could be varied, but it doesn't bode well for the future. If it was simple greed, they may let it go for a while, but if there is a real need to increase revenue, they will think up some other plans.
its funny to see all the gw2 "players" here raging about something that not exist anymore
Anet milking players with every update? these cash shop items are 100% optional you dont need anything from cash shop to enjoy all the game, theres no content blocked that req you to buy something from store
the gold>gem window was remade (in few days after of change) there is option for custom gem buy but all the "trolls" didnt bother to check
as for listening to community they do listen to suggestion
but if some guy write something like "this suk change it back" he will be ignored