Curse

slowerpoke · Nov 21, 2008, 07:17 PM // 19:17

From here

Quote:

[Dev Update] - 21 November 2008

We would like to follow up on several points from last week’s title balance build that have been heavily discussed. We are continuing to monitor the effects of this build and plan to make adjustments as we move forward.

Storybook Storage

The addition of seven new Storybooks is putting a lot of pressure on player inventories.

We are aware that inventory space was already at a premium and that the new Storybooks only add to this issue. Prior to adding this feature, we did look into adding a Storybook tab to the Xunlai storage boxes. However, when we looked at available server space, we found that this was not feasible. To increase player storage by adding new tabs, we would have needed to expand our existing server space or purchase additional servers. We are actively exploring alternative ways to relieve inventory pressure and would like to reassure players that this is an issue very much on our minds.

Storybook Retroactivity

Storybook NPCs allow players to purchase the pages of missions completed without having the book in inventory. However, we decided not to allow players to purchase the pages of missions that were completed prior to the update. This was a difficult decision to make, but an important one.

We monitor the economy closely and found a significant fluctuation in how much gold players had on average after the addition of the M.O.X. quests (which give a 10 platinum reward). If we allowed players to purchase those pages, any character that had completed all three campaigns in Normal Mode would be receiving 18 platinum and 42,750 gold for Hard Mode completion for a grand total of 60,750 gold. In light of how much the economy was affected by just 10 platinum, the inflation caused by giving out 60 platinum per character was too significant for us to allow.

Luxon and Kurzick Faction Points

With the increased rewards to Luxon and Kurzick missions, we decided to retroactively award faction to players for missions completed prior to the build. This faction was credited to players as they logged in with each character that had completed these missions, which meant that large chunks of both types of faction were received at once. As players went to turn in their newly received faction, they were losing faction from the opposing side due to the conflict between the Luxons and the Kurzicks. This meant that players would not necessarily get the full benefit for the faction they earned depending on the order in which they logged in with characters and turned in faction.

In most cases, the trade-offs when turning in Luxon and Kurzick faction points are just a part of aligning with one of two warring factions. In hindsight, with this set of retroactive rewards, we should have done a better job accounting for characters who had completed both campaigns, and for accounts with multiple characters who had completed different campaigns. Unfortunately, now that this has gone Live, we don't believe there is a fair or reasonable way for us to change this, so the issue will not be addressed further.

tl;dr not changing anything

BenjZee · Nov 21, 2008, 07:21 PM // 19:21

im fine with that.
the whole retroactive topic makes me sad, its more hassle than its worth to give us free stuff.
i dont see why people don't just do one book at a time anyway

Little Shenanigan · Nov 21, 2008, 07:26 PM // 19:26

well.....at least they are looking into a soultion for book storages...

Kattar · Nov 21, 2008, 07:32 PM // 19:32

Got excited there for a sec. Thought it was something to do with HoM.

Anyway, ty for the link.

Stuart444 · Nov 21, 2008, 07:34 PM // 19:34

tbf, at least they learned something from the M.O.X quests and based their decision on that.

That is all I am saying on this incase this thread becomes another thread similar to this one

Fril Estelin · Nov 21, 2008, 07:35 PM // 19:35

Anet is listening to the passionate debates on fansites (or the wiki discussion pages only maybe?), I think it's 2 good moves during the last 2 weeks, the update and explaining the design decisions behind it.

EDIT: they actually haven't looked at the problem of retroactively granting factions for protectors and guardians, maybe they don't want to spend the resources, or haven't heard about that on fansite discussion threads?

GG to all the Anet GW1 team.

Abedeus · Nov 21, 2008, 07:36 PM // 19:36

tl;dr

What economy.
Shadow Form
What economy.
Shadow Form
What economy.
Shadow Form

Retroactive books with faction only are still not answered. Faction in title doesn't affect eco...pfft..nom..hehe...y.

They just chose the easiest problem to answer and the least requested one.

lishi · Nov 21, 2008, 07:43 PM // 19:43

I'm not so sold about the server space issue, we are in 2008 now computer storage are in term of GB or terabyte i dont believe they cannot spare few byte.

Rocky Raccoon · Nov 21, 2008, 07:44 PM // 19:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abedeus

tl;dr

What economy.
Shadow Form
What economy.
Shadow Form
What economy.
Shadow Form

Retroactive books with faction only are still not answered. Faction in title doesn't affect eco...pfft..nom..hehe...y.

They just chose the easiest problem to answer and the least requested one.

It seems that some people will always have to have something to bitch about. They have made a decision about their game, like it or not you have to accept that. Join the majority of players who just want to play and have a good time.

Tyla · Nov 21, 2008, 07:46 PM // 19:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Risky Ranger

It seems that some people will always have to have something to bitch about. They have made a decision about their game, like it or not you have to accept that. Join the majority of players who just want to play and have a good time.

I'm still having a good time, but it's still meh.

Stuart444 · Nov 21, 2008, 07:47 PM // 19:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by lishi

I'm not so sold about the server space issue, we are in 2008 now computer storage are in term of GB or terabyte i dont believe they cannot spare few byte.

besides the fact that they may have had the same servers since GW started (3+ years) since I don't know if they have ever upgraded them. This is a F2P game so the server space issue may be possible and they may not have the funds to expand them at the moment (I am saying may since this is all just speculation for now)

Abedeus · Nov 21, 2008, 07:47 PM // 19:47

It just doesn't make ANY sense. They made Luxon/Kurzick faction retroactive, yet left the Book faction NON retroactive.

What's the difference between Faction A and Faction A'?

blackknight1337 · Nov 21, 2008, 07:50 PM // 19:50

To start, I'd like to thank Anet for giving out an explanation. At least this means they are paying attention.

That said, there are a couple of rather funny points to make.

Quote:

We are aware that inventory space was already at a premium and that the new Storybooks only add to this issue. Prior to adding this feature, we did look into adding a Storybook tab to the Xunlai storage boxes. However, when we looked at available server space, we found that this was not feasible. To increase player storage by adding new tabs, we would have needed to expand our existing server space or purchase additional servers. We are actively exploring alternative ways to relieve inventory pressure and would like to reassure players that this is an issue very much on our minds.

Ok, so you can't really do anything, but you are still trying. Will be interesting to see if anything ever comes of this.

Storybook NPCs allow players to purchase the pages of missions completed without having the book in inventory. However, we decided not to allow players to purchase the pages of missions that were completed prior to the update. This was a difficult decision to make, but an important one.

Quote:

We monitor the economy closely and found a significant fluctuation in how much gold players had on average after the addition of the M.O.X. quests (which give a 10 platinum reward). If we allowed players to purchase those pages, any character that had completed all three campaigns in Normal Mode would be receiving 18 platinum and 42,750 gold for Hard Mode completion for a grand total of 60,750 gold. In light of how much the economy was affected by just 10 platinum, the inflation caused by giving out 60 platinum per character was too significant for us to allow.

First of all, I'd like to point out that most of us who had Legendary Guardian already simply wanted the faction. 60k cash is nice, but most of us don't really care about the money that much. The least you could have done was give us the 120k faction and be done with it.

The other point which I find comical is this: Allowing 60k cash to those who have already completed the missions is too much for you to allow, yet allowing 60k for each and every other person to do it from now on is not?

And furthermore, you introduce billions of gold into the economy each month through tournament reward points, yet you are worried about handing out 60k cash to people for doing 100times the work. It takes me 5 min to do predictions, and I usually make 300k a month from 2 accounts. The hypocrisy here is astounding.

And finally, just cause its needed.

Rhamia Darigaz · Nov 21, 2008, 07:52 PM // 19:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Risky Ranger

Join the majority of players who just want to play and have a good time.

if i play guild wars with one hand, and then play with two hands, will i be having twice as much fun?

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackknight1337

The other point which I find comical is this: Allowing 60k cash to those who have already completed the missions is too much for you to allow, yet allowing 60k for each and every other person to do it from now on is not?

the 60k that they get from now on will take time away from farming, so it's not like it's some additional income that will cause major inflation

Shadowhaze · Nov 21, 2008, 08:06 PM // 20:06

Well an explanation is nice anyway.

HawkofStorms · Nov 21, 2008, 08:09 PM // 20:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fril Estelin

Anet is listening to the passionate debates on fansites (or the wiki discussion pages only maybe?), I think it's 2 good moves during the last 2 weeks, the update and explaining the design decisions behind it.

EDIT: they actually haven't looked at the problem of retroactively granting factions for protectors and guardians, maybe they don't want to spend the resources, or haven't heard about that on fansite discussion threads?

GG to all the Anet GW1 team.

True that. A.net PR rep's have traditionally been pretty below average. A few weeks ago, EVERYBODY on guru was asking for Regina's head on a platter. The fact that Lindsey was doing a better job communicating with us then her was a bad sign. Now at least, she's actually started to post stuff and do her job. A.net's staff have picked up a lot of slack over the past week or two in terms of being responsive to us.

I still think Galie (who I never had a problem with, everybody always misquoted her which lead to confusion, which was why everybody hated her for "breaking her word" when she never promised anything in the first place) did a better job then the current A.net employees at this. Still, big thumbs up for moving in the right dirrection.

Arkantos · Nov 21, 2008, 08:15 PM // 20:15

Quote:

Storybook Storage

The addition of seven new Storybooks is putting a lot of pressure on player inventories.

We are aware that inventory space was already at a premium and that the new Storybooks only add to this issue. Prior to adding this feature, we did look into adding a Storybook tab to the Xunlai storage boxes. However, when we looked at available server space, we found that this was not feasible. To increase player storage by adding new tabs, we would have needed to expand our existing server space or purchase additional servers. We are actively exploring alternative ways to relieve inventory pressure and would like to reassure players that this is an issue very much on our minds.

Glad to see this concerned ANet. Hopefully they can find a viable option.

Quote:

Storybook Retroactivity

Storybook NPCs allow players to purchase the pages of missions completed without having the book in inventory. However, we decided not to allow players to purchase the pages of missions that were completed prior to the update. This was a difficult decision to make, but an important one.

We monitor the economy closely and found a significant fluctuation in how much gold players had on average after the addition of the M.O.X. quests (which give a 10 platinum reward). If we allowed players to purchase those pages, any character that had completed all three campaigns in Normal Mode would be receiving 18 platinum and 42,750 gold for Hard Mode completion for a grand total of 60,750 gold. In light of how much the economy was affected by just 10 platinum, the inflation caused by giving out 60 platinum per character was too significant for us to allow.

To be honest, I think the majority of people who want the books retroactive don't really care about the gold. We want the faction, we want the reputation points. Give us that and the experience, leave out the gold. The Guild Wars "economy" won't suffer, and people will be able to get the other rewards. You wanted to reduce grind, and this is going to give a lot of people a lot less grind. I see no reason not to give us the faction/rep points.

Quote:

Luxon and Kurzick Faction Points

With the increased rewards to Luxon and Kurzick missions, we decided to retroactively award faction to players for missions completed prior to the build. This faction was credited to players as they logged in with each character that had completed these missions, which meant that large chunks of both types of faction were received at once. As players went to turn in their newly received faction, they were losing faction from the opposing side due to the conflict between the Luxons and the Kurzicks. This meant that players would not necessarily get the full benefit for the faction they earned depending on the order in which they logged in with characters and turned in faction.

In most cases, the trade-offs when turning in Luxon and Kurzick faction points are just a part of aligning with one of two warring factions. In hindsight, with this set of retroactive rewards, we should have done a better job accounting for characters who had completed both campaigns, and for accounts with multiple characters who had completed different campaigns. Unfortunately, now that this has gone Live, we don't believe there is a fair or reasonable way for us to change this, so the issue will not be addressed further.

I honestly thought you weren't going to address this at all. You admitted you guys made a mistake, and there's nothing that can be done now. While that does suck, thank you for admitting your mistake.

Martin Firestorm · Nov 21, 2008, 08:19 PM // 20:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkofStorms

I still think Galie...did a better job then the current A.net employees at this.

Maybe, but tbf she had a lot more to talk about.

englitdaudelin · Nov 21, 2008, 08:23 PM // 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by lishi

I'm not so sold about the server space issue, we are in 2008 now computer storage are in term of GB or terabyte i dont believe they cannot spare few byte.

Someone said it before--I, at least, don't know much about the kind of servers GW has, and the kind of space they can spare. The storage vault probably has its own spaces, somehow, as do our backpacks...and jamming in the books, as designed, are probably more than a few bytes...

I don't disagree with the decision to NOT allow retroactivity on storybook. In another thread, there were guesses about the number of people still playing the game--I think the ballparks were 650,000--1 million live players left (not neccessarily regular, but vaguely active...)...

How many of them gamble on the Xunlai house? Lots, sure. As many as have finished a campaign multiple times on multiple characters? I doubt it.

Had the books been retroactive, assuming 60k per character for the three campaigns, I could have made about 200k total, for my account, for the five characters that have completed things...and I'm SURE I'm at the low end of the spectrum.

Imagine what Kamadan would have looked like, if people could have just logged in, paid for pages, and collected. Imagine the swings in ecto and obsidian prices, or the swings in armbrace prices. The swings in prices for minipets, for unid. weapons, for tonics and cons sets and low-end greens and golds. And once everyone's pimped out in FoW / Destroyer Gauntlets or Chaos Gloves, toting spears or eternal blades... what's left for the player?

Nope, not complaining about that. And as Rhamia said...it'll take some time to earn that 60k...it will trickle slowly into the "economy" (such as it is), not flooding the market dramatically, in huge chunks.

dilan155 · Nov 21, 2008, 08:23 PM // 20:23

hey atleast there finally listening to us, and fro those who say do one book at a time, why should we? a person may get bored by one campaign and might decide to switch around thats not a bad thing, so quit QQing.