Curse

Aniewiel · Aug 06, 2005, 09:12 PM // 21:12

Thanks, Gaile for your thoughts. I've been sitting here all day trying to sort out what I wanted to say about the FF and SotG. Like Sagius, I don't have a problem with generalities. I think that, actually, quite a bit of information was given in the FF and I agree with you 100% that the needs of the developers and the testing that MUST go into new content are paramount to ANet. If ANet sent out a buggy, half-finished update, the hue and cry would be long and loud....not that that's anything unusual.

The gaming business generally, and the MMO side, specifically, are cutthroat. I can understand completely why ANet -wouldn't- toss out specifics, though I beg to differ with people saying nothing new was given out.

ANet and its employees have been taking it in the shorts for weeks now. You have all handled yourselves with grace and aplomb. You all must truly wear Underworld armor on a daily basis to continue to take the personal and corporate assaults that you do.

Thanks again, Gaile. I look forward to the updates coming later this month.

Shadow_Avenger · Aug 06, 2005, 09:14 PM // 21:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sagius Truthbarron

I don't understand what's wrong with you people. He says that you'll be getting all these interface updates and skill and balance updates and guild updates FOR FREE, when most games would make you buy an expansion pack (Yes, even Blizzard games) for them.

Duck and Dodge? What? They gave all the answers you could possibly want. They can't just toss off the top of their hat what day it will all be done. Can the company that you work for do that all the time, espcially on large scale projects? I doubt it.

5 years ago when people didn't have PS2, GameCubes, xbox's and PC's where for the wealth then sure games designers could get away with it, but to day with the sheer amount of competition in the industry, it simply doesn't happen, the point is, you either market your game as a One off, don't host servers and hope people by the expansions because they enjoyed your first game or you host servers actively seekout the market and make your game as competitive as possible, and that means having a user friendly interface, having features that are standard far in other MMOG with RP, taking the best that other games have and adding them to your own. Gamebalance is addressed and updated in every game you buy that has good enough sales as companies want to continue selling the game with good sales and launch a expansion to capitalise on the games success. Just because some games only get 1 update doesn't mean that a game with 500 updates is better, in fact I would say that a game that needs 500 updates actually either extremely buggy and out of balance. Fortunately GW is neither in a major way. You don't pay a monthly so updates are a bonus, but some of the updates could simply be argued that they where an over sight and should have been included in the original game.
One could even argue that all the Free updates are actually the stuff that the devs wanted to include in the original game on release, but did not have , a/ enough time, b/ didn't have the funds to do so. Hence the game was actually released in a basic functional for without whistles and bells, then with the money coming in they where then able to add the extras. You could even argue that the retail is actually a polished Beta that we actually paid for, which will be finished before they release the next expansion.

Tactical-Dillusions · Aug 06, 2005, 09:21 PM // 21:21

Or you could argue that every single patch which we have had streamed to us has been purley at the request/complaint/best wishes of the playerbase.

Sagius Truthbarron · Aug 06, 2005, 09:29 PM // 21:29

That has nothing to do with what I'm saying. What I was getting at was, they will obviously release these updates at some time. You should not be so hastey, becuase they could just sit back and legaly not release them at all if they wanted to, yet they are

By the way, there have been alot of unfinished games released lately. Take, for example, Knights of the Old Republic 2. A game released with an improvised ending that was never patched into the game

waldemar · Aug 06, 2005, 09:29 PM // 21:29

Hmm wtf happened?!

I mean really.....

They pick the LAMEST questions, Phinney gave the LAMEST responses I've ever heard.

Well guess what, I"m tired of this. I understand that this is "free" which I really don't agree with since the game was bugged from the beginning and did not have nearly 1/2 of the features promised. So the $50 I paid for this game....is that free?!?

Secondly, if you decided to innovate something such as not charge people $15 a month to play, that is a GREAT idea, however you have to make sure you can actually uphold your promises, which is not happening right now..

Anet quickly realized that WOW, that's why they charge $15 a month for games like these.......

So all serious development stopped, we're getting weak bug-fixes and empty promises.

So here's a lame response from me, a consumer:

Q: Dear consumer, so when are you planning to buy the next chapter of the award winning Guild Wars?

Consumer: Oh well that's all been discussed in the past. I'm definetly working on it and I think sometime in the near future.

Aracos79 · Aug 06, 2005, 09:30 PM // 21:30

You know, I just realized the uselessness of most of the stuff being said about the game and ANet here, myself included. So here's my New (school) Year's resolution:

No more complaining... just play the game. I'm going to take ANet at their word when they say they are trying, and just leave it at that.

Besides, I've still got things on my shopping list. Only 65 more shards to go until I can buy my first set of Fissure armor. Anyone need a tank or a smiting ele for their Fissure group?

Borealis · Aug 06, 2005, 09:42 PM // 21:42

There was nothing in that fansite thing that we didn't already know, if it was something we didn't know it was very very minimal. Of all the hundreds or thousands of questions they probably got what do they do? Repeat 90% of whats already been said.

They didn't even take a stab at one single hard hitting question. That was a duck and dodge, get people all excited about maybe getting some good info into the future and the we get THAT? Next time if thats what we're going to get they should go home early on friday.

StandardAI · Aug 06, 2005, 09:44 PM // 21:44

I really like the second question and answer, We need tomb maps to be balanced, and I think that's what the question was getting at, and phinney answers with "Oh well we're increasing the diversity in arena maps!" You sure can tell that the hardcore PVP crowd is cared about by arenanet.

Sagius Truthbarron · Aug 06, 2005, 09:51 PM // 21:51

I think many people misunderstand that SURROW'S FURNACE and GRENTH'S FOOTPRINTS are the free updates. Sure, the interface upgrades are free but they are patches, correct me if I'm wrong.

Sorrow's Furnace and Grenth's Footprints were not meant to be included in the original game.

Zaklex · Aug 06, 2005, 09:56 PM // 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sagius Truthbarron

I think many people misunderstand that SURROW'S FURNACE and GRENTH'S FOOTPRINTS are the free updates. Sure, the interface upgrades are free but they are patches, correct me if I'm wrong.

Sorrow's Furnace and Grenth's Footprints were not meant to be included in the original game.

Ok, I'll take a stab at it, the game was released with an UI that worked, didn't have many bugs(that I'm aware of). So now they decide that it needs a facelift, an improvement(i.e. upgrade). If you aren't sure those changes are upgrades then you need to learn the definition of upgrade.

Winterclaw · Aug 06, 2005, 09:59 PM // 21:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

I'm glad that many of you enjoyed the Fansite Friday interview, and sorry that some of you did not. The questions were compilations because so many of the fansites sent related questions, and choosing one "hard hitting" question at the expense of 10 related questions didn't appear to be a good or equitable choice. As a gamer I'd rather have more information than paragraphs on somebody else's idea of the perfect question, but obviously others feel differently.

Gaile, the questions were okay, but I think people where hoping for a little more. It seems like the 3 question got the most answered.

Quote:

The interview wasn't intended to be a "Let's tell players all about upcoming new content." Do you see that from other companies? Honestly? I can't think of a studio that gives an outline of chapter and verse in their upcoming products; it would be sort of foolish to do so. We'll talk about it in a general sense, and we'll give information as we are able, but putting everything on a platter really isn't in our best interest.

Again, I don't think people were wanting or expecting to see the whole platter. But a little more communication would be nice. I remember testing several games and we never really knew what the developers were doing next, what ideas they were and weren't listening to, what was being worked on, etc. Then when an update came out and it fixed a few things and didn't touch what people said needed to be altered, people were left in the dark why. So it gets really fusterating espically when you can't tell if the devs are too busy to reply, too tight-lipped about things, or if your suggestions were falling on deaf ears.

This isn't excatly a "we can help you thing", it's more of a "what's up" thing.

Take the Droknar Rushers. For people that want to PvP in the earlier arenas like Yak's and Ascalon, these people are a major headache. How would you like to be a newbie first PC, and you go into the ascalon arena and you meet a warrior with 1.5K armor that you can't do any damage to and a monk that does 40 damage a second to you thanks to zealot's fire and Balth's aura? You get killed by a monk in about 5-7 seconds. That'd fusterate anyone. I'm sure it might also give people second thoughts about playing the game, espically if they don't know if it's a high priority fix or not. See what I mean about wanting to know "what's up"?

Rieselle · Aug 07, 2005, 03:00 AM // 03:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

The interview wasn't intended to be a "Let's tell players all about upcoming new content." Do you see that from other companies? Honestly? I can't think of a studio that gives an outline of chapter and verse in their upcoming products;

What made the "ask a dev" thing exciting was that it seemed like the chance to get into the devs' heads, to engage in a sort of personal conversation with them about the things that we currently debating about.
I guess a lot of us were secretly hoping for some answers that will settle a few long-running arguments here in the forums

Instead we got a "here's some stuff coming soon", which really belongs in the State Of Game letter, or as part of a "upcoming updates" sort of thing.

I dearly hope that we get more similar sessions tho. As they run out of press releases we might start getting some juicier responses

Drakron · Aug 07, 2005, 03:18 AM // 03:18

You will never see that, games today are driven by hype.

Interplay logo was "by gamers for gamers" and Interplay is no more, destroyed by a incompetent CEO that never understand what that logo meant.

The days of "by gamers for gamers" are gone, these days are "by money for money".

Gaile Gray · Aug 07, 2005, 06:13 AM // 06:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakron

You will never see that, games today are driven by hype. Interplay logo was "by gamers for gamers" and Interplay is no more, destroyed by a incompetent CEO that never understand what that logo meant. The days of "by gamers for gamers" are gone, these days are "by money for money".

Which is why ArenaNet is charging a monthly fee for their game, like every other online game.

Oh wait...

Mariena Feladon · Aug 07, 2005, 06:36 AM // 06:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by James

There will also be a whole lot of services available to you and your guild mates inside the hall itself.

A whole lot of services available? Such as....?

Quote:

Originally Posted by James

I'm sure you'll see guild practice areas and ways to upgrade your guild and guild hall in the future,

Ways to upgrade your guild and guild hall? Such as.....?

Quote:

Originally Posted by James

but the next major guild feature to be added will most likely be the guild vault. I'm optimistic that we'll be able to make that available before the release of Chapter 2.

James is optimistic that they'll be able to make the guild storage feature available within 6 months? Seriously?

Excuse my sarcasm. I just wish they'd be a *little* bit more specific.

Takkun · Aug 07, 2005, 06:48 AM // 06:48

Daaaang! Drakon got burned!!!

Unless of course you take into consideration how many people have bought guild wars only due to the fact that it wasn't pay per month... so even though this game can be considered a game by the players for the players, it can also be interpreted as a game which was insidiously commercialized.

I am not even sure why this game would ever become pay per month... but that just my opinion.... Except that they are holding everyone's accounts on one big server in order to prevent certain types of hacking. Plus im pretty sure the server isn't as expensive as the WoW servers since those have to deal with a lot more players fighting within one area and yet doesn't have as much lag as in guild wars...

Can neone tell me why people think they are getting a deal buying this game?

Kali Ma · Aug 07, 2005, 06:56 AM // 06:56

Gaile... in my opinion, the economy is the #1 most serious issue. I'd been gone for the last couple of weeks, and upon logging back in this weekend with my new character, was so utterly discouraged and disappointed that I didn't even want to play and almost unistalled the game altogether. It's really a shame because I used to love this game... but it's getting hard to maintain that feeling.

I guess for me, the biggest thing I'd like to hear about is what, if anything, Anet has planned to fix the GW economy? This new ascended content stuff is great of course... but it doesn't really help out new players/characters early in the game that are flat broke with prices for everything climbing through the roof, while the traders won't offer anything worthwhile in exchange and the drops don't give us anything worth selling.

It's like Anet is encouraging players to farm, bot and buy off of ebay, rather than the other way around. I just don't get what's going on at all.

RMThompson · Aug 07, 2005, 07:01 AM // 07:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

Which is why ArenaNet is charging a monthly fee for their game, like every other online game.

Oh wait...

Trust me, I love the fact that Guild Wars has no monthly fee, but don't pretend that you are NOT making money! The idea of two updates a year for 50 bucks each is about the same!

Makkert · Aug 07, 2005, 11:05 AM // 11:05

Allright,

time for my view on this matter:
- The info is great. All the remarks made sound great and indeed prove that ANet listens to community. For the simple reason that all points i've read somewhere on forum also. But to me, this is no news. I'd just like to point it out again to the notorious forumposters that seem to drink acid for breakfast.

- The info is blunt. It is vague. Now the details can't be reviewed for obvious reasons. But I got the feeling this was a sort of overview of things to come till chapter 2. It makes me wonder: so what could i expect next week/month/2th month/year? I find it hard to find an order in this, some sort of ETA. It feels like a mist is drawn up, leaving us guessing if our problems will be addressed next week or next year...

Quote:

The ladder will be set up with three-month seasons. Between ladder resets, we want to minimize balance changes, in order to keep things fair for those who are active in ladder play

as a long time Magic the Gathering player, i recognise this structure. It has the plusside of knowing when to expect changes. There is one big disadvantage: if the environment gets 'broken' in the start of the cycle, then gamers will have 3 months of a non fun environment. ...

Drakron · Aug 07, 2005, 01:46 PM // 13:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

Which is why ArenaNet is charging a monthly fee for their game, like every other online game.

Oh wait...

NwN (for example) is completly free, some years ago we got the "multiplayer crazy" were if a game did not had some type of multiplayer then it was not worth players time ... as absurd it might be that reasoning multiplayer options are common in today games because its expected.

The gaming industry is moved by fads as all other industries.

Guild Wars not having a monthly fee is part of the game stategy to attract players that are inclined to play a online game but not willing to pay a fee, the fact that "no fee EVER" was one of the most advertised parts of Guild Wars says a lot.