Curse

melissa b · Jun 05, 2011, 04:24 AM // 04:24

Every wand, staff and focus in the game should be obtainable with all attribute possibilities, especially in this case as its a new release and people have been asking for that so long.

Elnino · Jun 05, 2011, 04:37 AM // 04:37

Yet again. No love for wands, staves and foci.

Master Ketsu · Jun 05, 2011, 05:20 AM // 05:20

Really only two decent changes here:

AB Spies = Great change. Probably the best thing in this update. It's been months since I saw AB this active and the ability to switch sides means less one sided matches. I actually had two 450 - 500 matches in a row. Before it was always a Luxon > Kurzick curbstomp.

And the second is...erm...uhmmm...

DERP

Well gratz anet out of all the things you did at least one thing was good this time!

Swingline · Jun 05, 2011, 05:29 AM // 05:29

The AB spy/Imperial Faction were the best parts of the update but... No random map rotations for AB, No increase to faction in AB to match JQ/FA, No bug fixes for FA and they came close to fixing RA but instead of title points they put in cash rewards. Also codex can still go burn in hell.

Great Job Anet!

/end sarcasm

thedukesd · Jun 05, 2011, 08:01 AM // 08:01

Hopefully this will put an end to my frustration on wining 4 games in ra and losing in the 5th (before it was extremely annoying to lose in the game where you actually get points).

There is still to work in pvp area but well hopefully this will not be the last pvp update (not related to skills).

@Swingline pve players are used with cash rewards, so I kinda think the cash reward is an attempt to get some pve players to pvp.

Mishi · Jun 05, 2011, 10:21 AM // 10:21

"Still, we hope this bonus, coupled with a new system that's less irritating, will please veterans and newcomers alike"

really had to laugh when i read that, the glad title is a joke now and they still didnt bring ta/hb back, how could any "veteran" be possibly happy about this update

makosi · Jun 05, 2011, 10:27 AM // 10:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deviant

There is a significant amount of testing and development to "improve" PvP gameplay, and it takes time as there are limited amounts of both in any given update. Keep in mind that the time they spend is split with PvE and events/holidays. It sounds smart to say "fix the game", but in reality it's a process that won't happen overnight.

A lot of these changes didn't require much testing and only a small amount of development time. It rewards people already playing and attracts some players that may have stopped or are currently solely PvE. To me it's a win-win even if it, like anything, is imperfect.

They're not going, "Well, we have out PvP rewards. Let's call it a day." There are more updates coming out and future improvements. That approach is something they could have taken months/years ago, and just focused all their time and resources on GW2. Obviously less people are working on GW1 today than use to, but the effort is still there.

Their poor staff allocation is not my problem and not at all within my control. The bare minimum I'm requesting is fixes for bugs which have been there for several years.

There's a cop-out excuse for everything wrong with their game and rather than the problems being attributed to the developers, it's somehow, bizarrely, the playerbase that takes the wrap.

If you report someone for verbal abuse, it's your own fault for not pre-emptively using the ignore feature of for having the filter off. Trust me. The leecher system was completely delegated to a player-policed format which many players won't use or don't know how to use. The /stuck bug which has been there since 2005 has been addressed merely by adding a clumsy command so as to delegate the problem to the player.

As for testing, it takes time and effort, I'm sure, but that isn't a problem I can fix. Whatever happened to their free labour test krewe?

My gripe in a nutshell is: if you want to incentivise a playstyle then sort the associated problems with it, but don't just go around adding new stuff. It's laziness.

Keyez · Jun 05, 2011, 12:03 PM // 12:03

AB update was definitely great, I've seen SO MANY PEOPLE changing guilds and leaving friends just to max the titles.

The PVP rewards were decent, but the question now is whether they will stand the test of time. Many believe PVP (particularly GVG) will die down again within a week.

A bit longer in codex, until everyone gets their titles for HoM.

RA still seems to be as dead as of recent times. I would like to know though, do the points increment in RA. Say on the second win, you get 1 point, 3rd win-2 points, 4 wins-3 points? I haven't been active enough to try it.

However I do believe these updates were too little too late.

Verene · Jun 05, 2011, 02:48 PM // 14:48

No, you start getting increased points after five wins, I believe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mishi

"Still, we hope this bonus, coupled with a new system that's less irritating, will please veterans and newcomers alike"

really had to laugh when i read that, the glad title is a joke now and they still didnt bring ta/hb back, how could any "veteran" be possibly happy about this update

Oh please, it's no more of a joke than it was before. Do you really think that winning in RA actually took skill? It was luck more than anything - luck that your team was half-decent, or that the ones you were facing weren't.

All it does is make it so that if you don't make it to five wins in a row, your time wasn't completely wasted.

fowlero · Jun 05, 2011, 03:38 PM // 15:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keyez

RA still seems to be as dead as of recent times. I would like to know though, do the points increment in RA. Say on the second win, you get 1 point, 3rd win-2 points, 4 wins-3 points? I haven't been active enough to try it..

I'm not entirely sure how it scales but i believe you get 100 points for a 25 streak.

Also sadly i believe your probably right, i'm feeling slightly more optimistic but i don't think activity will sustain longer than the month.

So much stuff still needs nerfing, whilst initially the activity is overcoming this i think it'll overshadow it after the monthly.

Enjoying it while it lasts though, getting ladder matches any time of day is a very nice change, and AB is very playable again

Mishi · Jun 05, 2011, 03:48 PM // 15:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Verene

Oh please, it's no more of a joke than it was before. Do you really think that winning in RA actually took skill?

winning in TA actually took skill yea

Bysheon · Jun 05, 2011, 04:30 PM // 16:30

This update was very decent.

Suggestions for further improving PvP on all levels directly or indirectly, not mentioning skill balance:

Important and obvious
- Reintroduce Team Arena.
- Unlock skills, insignias, runes and inscriptions for PvP characters (or at the very least for one character or profession per account).
- Improve the servers (especially in regards to ping).

Minor suggestions (or with less consensus)
- Introduce in-game online and offline messages i.e. letters.
- Reintroduce Hero Battles.
- Disable <9 req items in PvP for PvP characters.
- Remove the flux effect.
- Introduce a guild "zaishen chest" for money and items in guild hall.

Several of these suggestions are easy to quickly implement and I think an overwhelming majority of players would agree with most of them. PvE would also be improved (letters, guild chest and ping).

Verene · Jun 05, 2011, 04:50 PM // 16:50

Quote:

- Unlock skills, insignias, runes and inscriptions for PvP characters (or at the very least for one character or profession per account).

Umm...that stuff is already unlockable/unlocked. Everything you unlock through PvE or with Balth faction is available for every PvP character on that account.

Unless there's something else you mean by that, but I don't really know what.

Xenomortis · Jun 05, 2011, 04:54 PM // 16:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Verene

Umm...that stuff is already unlockable/unlocked. Everything you unlock through PvE or with Balth faction is available for every PvP character on that account.

Not necessarily, playing through PvE doesn't unlock everything for you unless you specifically work for it. I've been playing for nearly 47 months and I've still got stuff locked.
And of course it's impossible to create an immediately competitive alt-account for PvP without spending a ton of cash.

It's all unlockable, but I never understood why A.Net made it so not everything was immediately unlocked.

*lemming* · Jun 05, 2011, 09:13 PM // 21:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Verene

Oh please, it's no more of a joke than it was before. Do you really think that winning in RA actually took skill?

Yes. Over time, better players win more matches and go on longer streaks than worse players.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Verene

Umm...that stuff is already unlockable/unlocked. Everything you unlock through PvE or with Balth faction is available for every PvP character on that account.

Unless there's something else you mean by that, but I don't really know what.

What percentage of all unlocks do you really get from playing through the game normally? It might be higher than it used to be, since you need to unlock skills for hero usage now too, but it's still a reasonably significant obstacle to getting into PvP straight from PvE.

awry · Jun 06, 2011, 03:06 AM // 03:06

Wow, i want to come back into gw just to see what the hell is going on. I got mixed feelings about the glad title, feels like gw has morphed a lot. I'm not sure what I'll find when i log back on after i dl it again. Ah guild wars, I don't know how to quit you.

Verene · Jun 06, 2011, 03:23 AM // 03:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemming

Yes. Over time, better players win more matches and go on longer streaks than worse players.

What percentage of all unlocks do you really get from playing through the game normally? It might be higher than it used to be, since you need to unlock skills for hero usage now too, but it's still a reasonably significant obstacle to getting into PvP straight from PvE.

And yet still team makeup is generally going to be a deciding factor more than anything else. Even a good player is going to lose more often than not if the team is terrible. That's the main reason why I find RA frustrating (not that I think I'm good and being held back by others, because I'm really not, but because it's such a crapshoot).

Honestly, I don't know, as I'm one of those "get every skill ever" people, so between playing PvE and using faction, I have just about every skill unlocked on my account. I do have nearly every rune/insignia/inscription unlocked, and I really don't farm, so I'd say that you probably can unlock a decent percentage of things just playing PvE. Of course, you don't need everything, of course, and I'd say that unlocking max weapon mods and inscriptions is more time-consuming than skills.

*lemming* · Jun 06, 2011, 04:05 AM // 04:05

In an individual instance, perhaps. That kind of thing evens out considerably over time, though. If you're good enough, you'll be carrying your random teams to wins that a replacement-level player would never have gotten.

As for unlocks, in my experiences trying to get new players to GvG/HA, there's invariably people who don't have the right skills or equipment. You can't assume that they'll be able to run whatever you need them to, which is a pretty big deal. This can be mitigated somewhat by scheduling your activity, I suppose, but that's heavily dependent on how much interest there is. It's something they'll actively need to work on; if they're only looking to play one of the organized formats as an experiment, it's kind of a turn-off.

In other news, judging from ladder history, guilds at the bottom of the ladder are already being used to sync, presumably for boxes. I'm curious to see if Anet is planning on dealing with them.

Draak Calinca · Jun 06, 2011, 02:51 PM // 14:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bysheon

This update was very decent.

Suggestions for further improving PvP on all levels directly or indirectly, not mentioning skill balance:

Important and obvious
- Reintroduce Team Arena.
- Unlock skills, insignias, runes and inscriptions for PvP characters (or at the very least for one character or profession per account).
- Improve the servers (especially in regards to ping).

Minor suggestions (or with less consensus)
- Introduce in-game online and offline messages i.e. letters.
- Reintroduce Hero Battles.
- Disable <9 req items in PvP for PvP characters.
- Remove the flux effect.
- Introduce a guild "zaishen chest" for money and items in guild hall.

Several of these suggestions are easy to quickly implement and I think an overwhelming majority of players would agree with most of them. PvE would also be improved (letters, guild chest and ping).

hero battles too please

Frank Dudenstein · Jun 06, 2011, 05:17 PM // 17:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draak Calinca

hero battles too please

Another plea for a return of Hero battles. Just disable /resign and GG.