Curse

A11Eur0 · Dec 10, 2008, 06:47 PM // 18:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tullzinski

The only chest that will provide the Miniature Polar Bear is the Wintersday Chest, and that will be gone very soon, likely sometime tonight. Will it return during Wintersday 2008? That's pretty likely.

Um....what? Where is it right now?

Tullzinski · Dec 10, 2008, 06:49 PM // 18:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by maraxusofk

anet did not HAVE to add the minipet to the game. they thought it would be a cool lil random extra to add to the chest. lil did they know the gw community is a childish bunch of whiners who think everything should be easily gotten, which for some reason wasnt evident when a metric ton of ppl clamored for inscriptions.

the community, rather than seeing as a nice lil bonus to the chest whos main farm is for holiday items, now thinks the only purpose of the quest chest is to farm for the mini.

you mean communisty, you forgot the s.

Fril Estelin · Dec 10, 2008, 06:50 PM // 18:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by nkuvu

Oh, and for those comparing a Ferrari to the chance of a minipet... you're making a horrid comparison. All else being equal (which it never is in the real world, of course), if you work long enough, you'll be able to afford a Ferrari. There's no such guarantee for a mini polar bear.

True that it wasn't the best comparison, but in the same spirit you can change "getting the ferrary" to "winning at the national lottery". It's mainly luck, plus a little bit of perseverance, and it's "something special". People should stop complaining and either playing the game or playing another one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zwei2stein

I can sooo imagine big "Mini Bear Drops" counter LCD in anet office with some caffeine-boosted dev staring at it and holding his finger on emergency server shutdown button ready to press it should counter be closing to some dangerously high number. Like 10.

HawkofStorms · Dec 10, 2008, 06:51 PM // 18:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmakinen

Because the way it was implemented is pure evil.

Because GW is serious businez.

I'm sorry, but anybody who uses hyperboles like "raped", "evil", "satanic", "communist", "ruined", etc when refering to A.net should be instantly ignored.

tmakinen · Dec 10, 2008, 06:52 PM // 18:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by maraxusofk

the gw community is a childish bunch of whiners who think everything should be easily gotten

Um. No. Maybe a PvP analogue would fly better. Let's say that when farming Zaishen Challenge, once in a million matches a random player is awarded the grand price which consists of immediately maxing all PvP-related titles and enough reward points to unlock/buy whatever there is.

Now a random scrub who thinks that Mending is the best thing since sliced bread happens to get the reward. PvP players who express their dismay on ANet for creating a dragon emoting wammo are just a childish bunch of whiners who think that everything should be easily gotten, amirite?

Tullzinski · Dec 10, 2008, 06:52 PM // 18:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by A11Eur0

Um....what? Where is it right now?

Sorry A11euro, that was a cut and paste from last year by Gaile Gray, the chest is not available yet. It will become available when the rift warden appears in Kamadan and Lions Arch upon the start of the wintersday festival.

Sorry for the mixup.

tmakinen · Dec 10, 2008, 06:57 PM // 18:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkofStorms

I'm sorry, but anybody who uses hyperboles like "raped", "evil", "satanic", "communist", "ruined", etc when refering to A.net should be instantly ignored.

OCD is not a laughing matter. Although my original statement was a tongue-in-cheek figure of speech, the issue is extremely irresponsible conduct on behalf of ANet (and no, not every person is capable of taking full responsibility of their actions, that's the whole point of OCD. Rewarding such behavior should be considered very carefully).

Fril Estelin · Dec 10, 2008, 06:59 PM // 18:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmakinen

I don't care about the damned mini, I'm questioning the sanity of the developer who thought that it was a great addition to the game.

When you design a landscape, you usually don't create it completely flat. Places of altitude and underground give a relief that people appreciate, although not that many will climb to the highest ground.

My point being that you also need relief in an MMO game, the drawback is that it can become difficult to manage the depression that people can feel from the height.

IMHO such rare minis should be customised and dedicated when the player find them. Because at the moment such rare stuff becomes sellable, greed transforms the problem of relief into one of "inaccessibility".

Closer to your point, I don't think Wintersday should be more about co-op than the rest of the year. I'd much rather prefer the game to be co-op to a certain level all year around, rather than not being so co-op except during holiday events. Wintersday is a theme, like Halloween. Although the spirit of Wintersday would like people to share and give

.

Tullzinski · Dec 10, 2008, 07:16 PM // 19:16

Polar Bear Hat!!!!!

upier · Dec 10, 2008, 07:19 PM // 19:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gli

You may not be aware of this, so I'll clue you in: people pay significant amounts of money for Ferrari's. That's why Ferrari makes cars: to make money.

So, how exactly does this relate to the rarity of these mini-bears? Because I don't see it. Are you suggesting that people pay ANet significant amounts of money to receive rare minipets? Because that's the only way your fabulous Ferrari analogy would work.

This.

Ferrari:
It costs money to produce the item.
That involves time, materials, workforce and let's not forget you are also paying for the brand. This applies to EVERY Ferrari created. It costs a certain amount of money to distribute each item.

A mini:
It costs money to produce the item.
That applies to the FIRST mini. Any additional minis are free. The distribution costs equal the cost of distributing the first mini.

A.Net decided that they will cater the wishes of a small group. This practice in question isn't anything special. We have special weekends, special drops, ... - and they serve a purpose. They are designed to encourage the players to purchase additional products from A.Net. And in that sense the bear could fit the same purpose.
IF the drop-rate wasn't so low that you have a better chance of just buying the bear rather then purchasing C1/C3 and GWEN. Which means, rationally looking, the mini will not have a significant impact on additional sales.

At the same time - they decided to not cater the wishes of a MUCH bigger group. The fact that they didn't cater the wishes of a bigger groups, on it's own, means nothing. Sometimes pissing off people is needed. One nerfs Ursan, one nerfs SF, ... It's for the better of the game. Which means - keeping the number of bears so low must be for the better of the game. And for this to be better for the game - this means that the positive effect must be able to negate the negative effect of such a decision.
The negative effect in this case is potentially enraging the community. If we look at this closer - we see that this negative effect is actually quite predictable. The same shit-storm happened last year and the same shit-storm happens EACH and EVERY time they make such a decision.

Which means that A.Net decided to cater the wishes of a certain group of players that want this item, not because they would appreciate their work (well at least not primarily, because one would still be able to appreciate this work even if everyone had had it), but because other people do not have the item in question and at the same time being fully aware that what they will do will evoke a massive shit-storm in doing so.
So, what is the positive effect, that is, not only able to negate but surpass, this shit-storm?

Yes, at the end it's just a mini. But with each decision where the positive effect isn't able to outweigh the negative one (or so it seems) - they are making me want to support the franchise and them less and less. And it's starting to show. The only reason why I have GWEN is because it was a gift. I otherwise wouldn't have purchased it.

Stupid Shizno · Dec 10, 2008, 07:24 PM // 19:24

or maybe anet was like hey guys, lets change the regluar bear to a white one add a fruity looking bell and call it an xmas polar bear for wintersday?

GREAT IDEA OMG GG!!!

WAIT!! OMG!! LETS HAVE IT DROP FROM A CHEST TOO!

OMG THEY WILL BE SO EXCITED WHEN THEY GET THIS!

that sounds more like anet to me

IlikeGW · Dec 10, 2008, 07:38 PM // 19:38

The best way to handle this is simple. Don't reinstall/play the game for the jillionth version of the same old Wintersday.

Come look at the boards after at the 10,000 people mad they wasted their holidays farming for nothing. Laugh at them. Farmers are stupid scum no better than people who live their lives in a casino. Don't fall for it, just laugh at them and Anet for this being the best they can make of themselves anymore.

beanerman_99 · Dec 10, 2008, 07:49 PM // 19:49

It is hard to believe the amount of whining about the drop rate on the mini polar bear going on in this thread. I do not see any need nor do I see any basis for this whining.

You want to whine about drop rates on items go play any Blizzard game. That should shut you up. Blizzard is the King of extremely low drop rates on special items. Don't think so? Did anyone actually ever get a rare rune to drop in Diablo 2 above a Sol rune? Not many did. The only way any high end runes became available was due to dupers. How about unique armor and weapons? Same. SoJ's? Same. Dupers made them available to the masses.

The bad thing is is that those items actually affected gameplay!. If you got a super rare item it really did give you a huge advantage over other players. Which led to outcrys and eventually hacking and duping.

One great thing about Guild Wars is that any item that can affect gameplay and give the player any kind of advantage are readily available to all players!

This stupid mini has NO affect on gameplay, only a players pocket book. And guess what, you could have a MILLION ectos and it not going to give you ANY advantage in the game over me, who has no ectos.

Anet has no obligation to anyone to increase the drop rate on this minipet, or any other item in the game. Would I like to see more white dyes drop for me? Sure, cause I like the way it dyes my gear. But Anet does not have to increase the rate just because I want it to be so.

trankle · Dec 10, 2008, 07:59 PM // 19:59

Here's the solution:

1. Anet gives every player present at the Wintersday finale one Mini Polar Bear. This makes amends with players who have undergone the apparent emotional stress that stems from not having a teddy bear. It also eliminates any sort of incentive to spend time solo-farming during the event for a unique reward, which should in turn let more people spend time doing community activities without freaking about whether they should be farming for elusive bears.

2. Anet puts one "Rare Mini Polar Bear", which has the exact same skin as the Mini Polar Bear, in a random Wintersday gift during each scheduled finale, globally. This introduces a very small number of rare minis into the economy, which is apparently very important to Anet. They should still command huge piles of ecto, as players are willing to buy anything that is rare, even if it is rare only in name. Players who don't engage in high-end power trading shouldn't give a rip, as they have a bear that is visually and functionally identical.

3. Players who said they wanted a bear for its companionship and lovability, but really wanted to become super-rich, will have to suck it. I'm guessing there are more than a few of these guys out there. Oh well.

Tullzinski · Dec 10, 2008, 08:12 PM // 20:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by beanerman_99

You want to whine about drop rates on items go play any Blizzard game. That should shut you up. Blizzard is the King of extremely low drop rates on special items. Don't think so? Did anyone actually ever get a rare rune to drop in Diablo 2 above a Sol rune? Not many did. The only way any high end runes became available was due to dupers. How about unique armor and weapons? Same. SoJ's? Same. Dupers made them available to the masses.

Farmed the living crap out of mephisto for my Ethereal Arkaine's Valor, I did manage a ZOD but that took forever.... ahhhh memories, then everyone got banned for the map program....

Shadowmoon · Dec 10, 2008, 08:22 PM // 20:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by trankle

Here's the solution:

1. Anet gives every player present at the Wintersday finale one Mini Polar Bear. This makes amends with players who have undergone the apparent emotional stress that stems from not having a teddy bear. It also eliminates any sort of incentive to spend time solo-farming during the event for a unique reward, which should in turn let more people spend time doing community activities without freaking about whether they should be farming for elusive bears.

Nice false dichotomy, that i all i see in this thread, people want a sane drop rate, and people interpret that as they want /polar bear command take spawn as many bears as you want.
I have no problem with there being rare mini pet out there, but they should be earned. Even mini mania which was a lottery, the highest mini was a vizu. This is a lottery for the rarest mini pet except for kanaxai depending on how many actually drop this year. Honestly i understand it should be a rare drop, like 1/1000 drop percent so it still has some value, which is much higher than it was last year.

SerenitySilverstar · Dec 10, 2008, 08:44 PM // 20:44

Shadowmoon, I think you missed Trankle's sarcasm there...

Bug John · Dec 10, 2008, 10:10 PM // 22:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Todeshand_

You didn't create it. So why do you complain that creating it was nonsense? Only 0.000001% of People drive a Ferrari, so, what's the point of creating them?

To give rich guys something that makes them feel special. So - why do you complain about them getting their special cookie?

rofl, don't try to make analogies with real life, PLEASE

when you buy a ferrari, the ferrari group gets richer

when you buy a mini polar bear in game, anet's employees don't get anything

so, yes, creating a mini that drops 3 times a year was a complete waste of dev's time

maraxusofk made me laugh too, whining about whiners, how funny... more seriously, don't caricature what is said here, most people don't want it easy to obtain, just a more reasonable droprate

rare minipets were introduced to reward special achievements (tourneys, rollerbeetle top100...), then they were turned into lottery prizes, and now the rarest minipet in game rewards pure luck after completing one of the easiest pve quests ever

Improvavel · Dec 10, 2008, 10:32 PM // 22:32

All this come down to general human lack of freedom - specially freedom to think.

People don't think, don't know how to think and don't want to.

So their way of knowing if they like something is that thing being rare, hard to ger and expensive.

I always said elemental swords were absolute crap. Sold a few for a few hundred thousands of platinum. Then they are all common, suddenly no one likes them anymore...

AKB48 · Dec 11, 2008, 12:10 AM // 00:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by maraxusofk

anet did not HAVE to add the minipet to the game. they thought it would be a cool lil random extra to add to the chest. lil did they know the gw community is a childish bunch of whiners who think everything should be easily gotten, which for some reason wasnt evident when a metric ton of ppl clamored for inscriptions.

the community, rather than seeing as a nice lil bonus to the chest whos main farm is for holiday items, now thinks the only purpose of the quest chest is to farm for the mini.

Well gamers are greedy unless you haven't learned that from your 2 years of GW lol.

The thing with the minis is almost like you(Anet) giving a wolf(us gamers) your finger in hopes of him sparing your arm. Not gonna happen.

Anet did the right thing by keeping the drop rate the same, otherwise they might as well as to give everyone who done the quest a mini polar bear. You want a bear? You get a bear, Merry Christmas Gamers!!!
[IMG][/IMG]