Curse

Stolen Souls · Apr 28, 2009, 01:12 PM // 13:12

Equipment Pack: *** (3/5)
Extra storage is always good. But the accessible pack only has 5 slots, not enough for my characters' armor and weapons (-1), and the others are way overpriced (-1). Make the bigger ones just a BIT more reasonable and it'll be great.

Xunlai Storage: *** (3/5)
Way overpriced (-1). I'd rather just buy a new mule account. Free pane is very nice, but for now is an extreme hassle to get (-1). They should have prepared for the flood of traffic they had to have known was coming.

Zaishen Challenge Quests: **** (4/5)
Very nice, since it gives me a reason to go back to those old areas again. It's fun to see which mission and bounty will be next. However...old content is still old content (-1).

Zaishen Coins: *** (3/5)
Very nice but...the rewards could have been a bit more...interesting (Scroll of Hero's Insight?...no thanks...) (-1). The few interesting rewards are overpriced (-1).

Zaishen Menagerie: ***** (5/5)
One of my favorite parts of the update (when was the last time we got a new outpost in an update?). Gives me a reason to charm animals (something I would not have considered doing otherwise).

Nicolas the Traveler: ***** (5/5)
Very well-thought out, great rewards. Best part of the update.

Hall of Monuments: now account wide: ***** (5/5)
Finally!

New character customisation: ** (2/5)
Something players have wanted for so long. However, I think it's kinda corny that they use it as a money-maker (-1), but whatever. The fact that they split it into regular makeover and extreme makeover seems redundant (-1). Name change is WAY overpriced (-1).

Miscellanious *** (2/5)
Other bugs/glitches can still be fixed (-1). No skill rebalance/update (-2). Honestly, I would have preferred a big skill update to a lot of the stuff that was added...especially the overpriced money-sappers.

Final rating: 32/45 stars.

Conclusion:
A decent update with some interesting additions. Some of the things they added certainly will add more playability for some people. New minis, tonics, and goodies are always nice. Some of the additions though, seem a little corny...like the money-sappers (seems like one last-ditch effort to suck some money from a game nearing the end of its life). A big skill update would have been nice (though I understand it was not possible)...hopefully we'll get one in the future. But yeah...all in all a good update.

HawkofStorms · Apr 28, 2009, 01:19 PM // 13:19

I love how this thread is full of subjectivity. People are letting their bias show through with these rankings. A.net offered some of the most desired features every (more storage, more character customization, and name changes all had their own 60+ page long threads in Sardelac) and of course some portions of the community complain (like they always do about everything).

Stolen Souls · Apr 28, 2009, 01:24 PM // 13:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkofStorms

I love how this thread is full of subjectivity. People are letting their bias show through with these rankings. A.net offered some of the most desired features every (more storage, more character customization, and name changes all had their own 60+ page long threads in Sardelac) and of course some portions of the community complain (like they always do about everything).

Well, it's kinda hard to give a personal rating to something without being a bit subjective.

And to be fair, you are complaining in that post. Would you prefer if we all gave 5/5 to everything? xD

Apollo Smile · Apr 28, 2009, 01:31 PM // 13:31

Equipment Pack: **** (4/5)
Very handy but too expensive.

Xunlai Storage: ***** (5/5)
Got it within the first 15 minutes of the update going live (I keep track of my account information). Free storage appreciated.

Zaishen Challenge Quests: **** (4/5)
Brought PUGs back, and more rewards is always good. Onward to new quests, next!

Zaishen Coins: **** (4/5)
More stuff to unlock is always good, but again the prices are too steep.

Zaishen Menagerie: **** (5/5)
Best part of the update. The island is gorgeous, and I love collecting the various animals.

Nicolas the Traveler: ***** (5/5)
I love how he moves to a different area. He has some wonderful goodies as well.

Hall of Monuments: now account wide: ***** (5/5)
Expected, but awesome nontheless. I can finally organize my Honor Monument!

New character customisation: **** (4/5)
I've no qualms with the face/hair/sex change, but the name change is too expensive.

Miscellanious **** (4/5)
I love how ArenaNet is introducing content that promotes people logging in every day. Also Nicholas in pre searing was a great early addition.

My final rating: 39/45 stars or 4.2/5.

Conclusion:
A worthy effort from the Live Team (and the others who took the time to help)! ArenaNet is on the right track with encouraging more active play. The optional microtransactions don't bother me in the least.

immortius · Apr 28, 2009, 01:49 PM // 13:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkofStorms

I love how this thread is full of subjectivity.

Subjective opinions? Whoda thunk it?

Yol · Apr 28, 2009, 01:54 PM // 13:54

Equipment Pack: **** (4/5)
Very handy but too expensive for the 20 slot bag. Was expecting a model based on the bags+rune of holding, but this model works fine.

Xunlai Storage: ***** (5/5) for the purchased storage. I don't mind paying for the convenience......BUT I give the free pane 0/5. Why, why, why link with ncsoft website? Still haven't got my problem with phantom account linkage sorted with support.....just stick it in the in-game store

.

Zaishen Challenge Quests: **** (4/5)
Haven't done them yet, but I like the idea. PUGing making a comeback is also good to hear.

Zaishen Coins: **** (4/5)
Could do with a tweak regarding conversion factors and the amount given as quest rewards perhaps.

Zaishen Menagerie: **** (4/5)
Nice. Not completely useful for me as a player (until perhaps tweaking pet skills/usage), but can't complain really.

Nicolas the Traveler: ***** (5/5)
Can't fault it in any way. A great example about how a complete lack of info from ANet can turn out for the players?

Hall of Monuments: **** (4/5)
Should have been like this from the release of EotN. My only gripe is the minipet display. We wanted to choose which ones to display, and yet we are still tied as to which ones we can display at any one time. Restricting to 1st, 2nd yr etc doesn't help if I want to only display my gold and green minipets...

New character customisation: ***** (5/5)
Don't really need it myself, but it's good to see something implemented that has been called for for a long time.

In general, I'm happy with the update and appreciate the work that Linsey and co. have done. Disappointed with the ridiculous implementation of the free storage pane and the restrictions on the minipet display. Looking forward to the next big update.

Apollo Smile · Apr 28, 2009, 01:55 PM // 13:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkofStorms

I love how this thread is full of subjectivity. People are letting their bias show through with these rankings. A.net offered some of the most desired features every (more storage, more character customization, and name changes all had their own 60+ page long threads in Sardelac) and of course some portions of the community complain (like they always do about everything).

Thats alright. A personal review is personal views. Note how I gave the the free storage a 5/5. I personally had no problems with it. It isn't my problem if others can't keep track of their account information.

jray14 · Apr 28, 2009, 02:02 PM // 14:02

Equipment Pack: ** (2/5)
Love the extra storage, but -1 star for insane grind and -2 stars for not being upgradable.

Xunlai Storage: ***** (5/5)
I don't mind paying for this. Gotta help fund GW2 development somehow

.

Zaishen Challenge Quests: *** (3/5)
Love the PUG 2.0 effect! But -2 stars for inability to choose which quest to cash in when multiple rewards are pending.

Zaishen Coins: ** (2/5)
Non-tradability is what's driving PUG 2.0 (otherwise everyone would just wait around to buy them with zkeys). -1 star for ridiculous prices for all non-equipment-pack items and -2 stars for the fact that once all the hard-cores get heavy packs for all their chars, they'll start selling them, and PUGs will again disappear.

Zaishen Menagerie: ***** (5/5)
Great concept, great implementation, reasonable RL cost to unlock all the commons.

Nicolas the Traveler: ***** (5/5)
Nice thing to look forward to each week.

Hall of Monuments: now account wide: ***** (5/5)
Personally I don't pay any attention to the HoM, but 5 stars for giving so many players what they wanted.

New character customisation: ***** (5/5)
I won't use this, but I admire the fulfillment of a major request. I don't mind the cost for features like this that don't affect strategic gameplay.

Miscellaneous *** (3/5)
-1 star for not making runes / tomes / max mods / max inscriptions / etc. stackable or special storage for books/dyes. -1 star for no book storage: with Z quests, I now have all 12 books on each char since I'm bouncing around so much and would otherwise forget to transfer the relevant books from the mules.

My final rating: 35/45 stars or 3.8/5.

Conclusion:
Delighted at the boost to PUGs from Z quests. New daily things to look forward to. Nice to have extra storage but would have preferred special kinds of storage rather than simply more of the same.

lewis91 · Apr 28, 2009, 02:03 PM // 14:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stolen Souls

(seems like one last-ditch effort to suck some money from a game nearing the end of its life)

They just announced 6mil account sales. I think theyre doing pretty good, but im just gonna give an overal out of 5.

I think ima give it a 3/5 some interesting additions, but over priced, why pay $9.99 when i can buy that for a storage account? And abit too much grind added.

Oh yeah nicholas the traveler <3, great idea, love to look forward to some funky new pressies each week.

EPO Bot · Apr 28, 2009, 02:25 PM // 14:25

Equipment Pack: **** (4/5)
One off for being restricted to weapons and armor.

Xunlai Storage: *** (4/5)
I already had more then enough storage, and the community needs to let go of the something for nothing mentality.But the free pane is really nice. Still, the NC account mess is iritating.

Zaishen Challenge Quests: **** (5/5)
The game lives again. You want new content? Wait for GW2.

Zaishen Coins: *** (4/5)
I love them. People need to remember that you get zoins COMBINED with quest rewards, faction and the drops you get in pve games.

Zaishen Menagerie: **** (3/5)
It's pretty, but i wont use it much.

Nicolas the Traveler: ***** (5/5)
If you don't like him, you suck.

Hall of Monuments: now account wide: ***** (5/5)
The HoM is completely fixed. No one thanks Anet for it but that's what you can expect of this community.

New character customisation: **** (3/5)
I don't need em, but if you want an unique looking character i guess it nice. Name changes kinda blow for their price tough.

Miscellanious *** (4/5)
It revitalized the pug scene, something i never tought possible.

RavenGT · Apr 28, 2009, 02:29 PM // 14:29

Anet puts in a ton of hard work into giving what the community wants, and the community says thanks with a bunch of 2/5 ratings. Great.

Zinger314 · Apr 28, 2009, 02:35 PM // 14:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by RavenGT

Anet puts in a ton of hard work into giving what the community wants, and the community says thanks with a bunch of 2/5 ratings. Great.

No one asked for Zaishen Coin grind of microtransactions.

As far as I know.

Apollo Smile · Apr 28, 2009, 02:39 PM // 14:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by RavenGT

Anet puts in a ton of hard work into giving what the community wants, and the community says thanks with a bunch of 2/5 ratings. Great.

Keep in mind Guru doesn't (thankfully) represent the entire community. Not everyone whio plays Guild Wars is bitter and ungrateful.

Red Sonya · Apr 28, 2009, 02:43 PM // 14:43

Equipment Pack: ** (2/5)
This could have been an instant 5/5 stars, but they loose three for the grind involved.

Xunlai Storage: * (1/5)
They loose 3 stars because you have to buy them. They loose another star because the free one we got (thanks Anet!) was linked to the hassle of going through the NCSoft site (which was not ready to deal with this) and NCaccounts.

Zaishen Challenge Quests: ** (2/5)
It's a nice addition as it concentrates the playerbase more, but the fact that it's all repeating old content will cost them 3 stars.

Zaishen Coins: * (1/5)
They loose a star because of the bug that you can't put them in storage. This should have been tested and fixed.
The rewards are not spectacular (except for the equipment pack which should not be linked to grind because they have nothing else people would play for) and you need to pay lots of coins. For example 30 copper zoins for one sparkler. This costs them a second star. 7500 coins for a 20 slot equipment pack is totally stupid and rediculous when the 15 slot one is only 2500gp. That's all the 20 slot should have been.

Zaishen Menagerie: ** (2/5)
Well worked out, but the grind involved to unlock stuff with zoins will cost them a star. I don't care about pets anyways childsplay toys really.

Nicolas the Traveler: * (1/5)
Great game design, but, of course flawed implementation 15 linens this week?!! You know how much it costs to make 1 linen? and you get some crappy champagne poppers and firewords for them? lol What's it gonna be next week 15 ectos? lmfao

Hall of Monuments: now account wide: * (1/5)
A long awaited feature I never really cared about and something else making everything easier for the noobs and casual players.

New character customisation: * (1/5)
Also features that the players were asking for. They loose four stars because they're not free.

Miscellanious *** (3/5)
I'm sure they can fix more bugs and glitches so here goes a star. Also the greased mini came with a bug now, this costs them another star.

Overall I'm not impressed with this update. It was more of a marketing ploy than an update. Pay us for this, pay us for that, pay pay pay and when you get done paying that pay more. lol It will take forever to get the 20 slot equipment pack and $40 for 80 extra storage slots is rediculous when you can get well over 1300 just buying a couple of chapters bundled for $20

Test Me · Apr 28, 2009, 02:49 PM // 14:49

Equipment Pack: **** (5/5)
Great addition. Stop complaining about the grind, because it's not really the case. I spend 2h-3h online each day, did the quests on multiple toons and have 1/4 of what i need for the big bag. And it was what? A couple of days since the zcoins were introduced? So it's going to take what to get it... some 2 weeks of zquests. I don't find that grind. Specially since zquests vary so much.

Xunlai Storage: *** (5/5)
I bought them all and got on the NC site to get the free one with absolutely no issue.

Zaishen Challenge Quests: **** (5/5)
The greatest thing ever! I just love the fresh breeze they bring to the game. I puged for the first time in ... years?

Zaishen Coins: *** (4/5)
Rewards could've been better, I agree. And the chest bug is a bug, will be fixed.

Zaishen Menagerie: **** (4/5)
I like it as well. It's cool, but 4 because it's useless. What are pets used for? Nothing

But still I like to be able to change to any pet I charmed before.

Again it's not a zcoin grind, just go charm whatever you want and level it. Or go the zcoin path. I believe the zcoin path is much better than what we used to do to level dire pets.

Nicolas the Traveler: ***** (5/5)
Just awesome.

Hall of Monuments: now account wide: ***** (4/5)
Wish I could list pets here too, so they go somehow to GW2 (like heroes).

Wish the HoM would act as a *wardrobe*. Once I display an armor, to be able to throw it from my inventory and then come back and "dress" it on again if I want to.

New character customisation: **** (4/5)
Indeed they should've been free, or partially free. I don't understand why a name change is so much more expensive than a makeup kit

Nor do I understand why there is a difference between "extreme" makeup kit and normal.

And in the end why is the extreme makeup kit *not* including a name change??? Seems silly not to that that.

Miscellanious *** N/A
What miscellanea?

My final rating: 4.6/5 - great!

Verene · Apr 28, 2009, 03:00 PM // 15:00

I'll go through and rate everything later, but can I give those in the community whining about the zcoin bug a 0/5 for reading comprehension? Linsey said that the bug did not exist on the test servers and that it didn't pop-up until the update was made live. I've seen this posted everywhere - including in this very thread.

It's rather difficult to fix a bug during testing if the bug never occurred during testing.

Shadowspawn X · Apr 28, 2009, 03:03 PM // 15:03

Equipment Pack: *** (5/5)
The equipment packs are great extra free slots for all your toons is always good. Many players QQ about the grind for the largest ultimate 20 slot bag while ignoring a 10 slot bag is a measly 1 gold zcoin and a 15 slot bag is a casually obtainable 5 gold zcoins. Gotta love how every one is has an entitlement complex that they should get the largest possible bag for little or nothing. Let the power grinders have their reward imo.

Xunlai Storage: *** (4/5)
A free slot for everyone is ftw. I took a star off for making the purchasble slots visable but disabled. That showed a lack of class on Anet's part. My opinion is the purchasable slots are unnecessary and the storage is not needed by a majority of players since they have long ago finished the campaigns. The storage is excessive and should be priced excessively as well.

Zaishen Challenge Quests: **** (5/5)
The Zquests are great. It really breathed life into old content.

Zaishen Coins: ***(5/5)
These are great and should be linked to more items such as armor and consumables. I like the concept of achievement based purchasing power. The ebayers and idiots with 20 accounts farming XTH zkeys can't pose with their ill gotten phat loot with these types of mechanics in the game. Should have been done a long time ago. Better late than never.

Zaishen Menagerie: *****(3/5)
Love the Menagerie its very nicely implemented. Lose two stars for the pet unlock pack. WTF is Anet doing selling skins? Be a gamer and unlock your own damn skins.

Nicolas the Traveler: *****(5/5)
Nice addition. No further comments.

Hall of Monuments: now account wide: *****(1/5)
This punished players of multiple characters. A player with five legendary guardians now gets the same benefits as a player with one legendary guardian. Because duplicate achievements are canceled out. This really needs to be revisited.

New character customization: ****
No comment because barbie dress up is not my thing. If anything thing it fails on implementation because perma-pre toons can't use the feature(how are they going to get to GToB?).

Empress Amarox · Apr 28, 2009, 03:12 PM // 15:12

Equipment Pack: * (1/5)
They really dropped the bomb on this one. They hyped it up for months and months and then they want us to grind for months just to get one bag? Give me a break. This could have easily been 5/5 if they just would have done it right without the grind -- where's that speech about GW not being about grind, again? They really screwed us over with this one. Even the tiny 5 slot one is a ridiculous price, that's just a slap in the face. The only reason they even get 1 star is because they did actually make them.

Xunlai Storage: * (1/5)
So, they hype it up for months, only to let us know that that the storage update isn't actually going to be free, nah.. We gotta pay $9.99 for each f'ing pane... LOL! Yeah right. Not only this, but then they have some promotion to make us jump through ridiculous hoops for no reason, just to get a free one... Come on, this could've been better. We can't even get these in-game by any means whatsoever, not what I had in mind when I purchased Guild Wars.

Zaishen Challenge Quests: **** (4/5)
Sure, they're awesome. Nice faction rewards along with them too. They lose a star cause it's the same crap recycled.

Zaishen Coins: x (0/5)
Okay, this is just stupid. 7500 coins for a heavy bag? No way. And the amount of grind to get tomes and crap? Forget that.... No way am I doing that. Really screwed the pooch on this one. The rewards for the amount of grind sucks ass.

Zaishen Menagerie: ***** (5/5)
It's great, nothing's wrong with it.

Nicolas the Traveler: ***** (5/5)
New way to work on the elusive titles, not bad.

Hall of Monuments now account wide: ***** (5/5)
Eh, whatever. I don't care about this either way. Maybe I'll care when they can prove GW2 isn't just vaporware. They get 5 stars just because they actually did it. It's 100% useless though.

New character customization: *** (3/5)
I'm on the fence with this one... I really love the options we have now, but they really messed up big time when they made it so that the options were only purchasable and couldn't be obtained via legitimate play any way whatsoever.

Miscellaneous --- (-3/5)
What else did they do? They've been banning the wrong people for months now, becoming name nazis, puritan activists and being some huge cockteases with GW2.. Telling us not f all, but bringing it up anyway just to mess with us. I am not happy with them right now.

My final rating: 22/45 stars or crappy.

Conclusion:
More than I expected, but pulled off worse than anyone could have imagined (then again, I prepared myself to be let down beyond anyone's wildest dreams.. I was just let down).

Chico · Apr 28, 2009, 03:13 PM // 15:13

Equipment Pack: * (1/5)
Excellent feature ruined by grind requirements. By the time I get one I won't need it anymore!!

Xunlai Storage: * (1/5)
Seriously, make it bigger or remove/lower the price tag. A somewhat fair price would be $10 for the amount of slots that you get with a new character. Mules/extra accounts are still the best storage available.

Zaishen Challenge Quests: *** (3/5)
Keeps people interested in common goals. Final Reward shouldn't be the equipment packs, that's why they loose 2 points here.

Zaishen Coins: * (1/5)
New stuff tied to new currency... Lame.

Zaishen Menagerie: **** (2/5)
They care this much about beastmasters or people into the 'gotta have them all' thing?

Nicolas the Traveler: ***** (5/5)

Hall of Monuments: now account wide: ***** (5/5)

New character customisation: **** (3/5)
High price. Otherwise good. Would be a 5 star if it wasn't tied to money (all except name change of course), would be a 4 if price was lower.

Miscellaneous N/A
No skill balance? I thought skill balance wasn't the live's team job.

Still wanted
* Stackable runes
* Stackable inscriptions
* Increased capacity to materials in materials tab
* 3+ heroes (even if only 3 can be controlled and the rest behave as henchies with custom armor custom weapons and custom skillbars)

* Drop statistics (percentages, totals, etc), wouldn't that be nice? Display them in a new window or just have a /command to display current stats in chat window.

Emperial Navarator · Apr 28, 2009, 03:14 PM // 15:14

Free Storage Pane 0/5

Still didn't get it...