Curse

Leslie · Jan 03, 2008, 09:46 PM // 21:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by pygar

This is the Idea that wins again and again over this whole polar bear fiasco.... If it was something people could accomplish, like say by completing all of the wintersday quests or something, people wouldnt be anywhere near as cheezed about the deal as they are now.

yeah, in another thread i wrote something about a quest line where, after defeating ursula the white (for grenth) dwayna could have a quest where you have to retrieve ursula's bell, then take it into the lair of grentches and fight your way through them for some kind of item that would be required in the resurrection of Ursula as the mini (tonic of grenth or some name appropriate), then who knows what from there. Either way i thought that up off the top of my head so i'm sure Anet could have quite easily have came up with something compelling, challenging and engaging to do with this new minitaure, but alas it was not to be so. Oh well, who knows what they plan to do with it next wintersday? they could very well take our opinions into account and act upon them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SerenitySilverstar

No, they'd be cheesed that's it would be too damn easy to obtain and they wouldn't be able to make any money off it.

Anet: Damned if they do, damned if they don't. Poor buggers.

not necessarily; obtaining the black moa chick took a lot of complicated steps and a lot of time had to be invested. I can't remember all of the steps, but I do know one had to complete all of sorrow's furnace and have access to final assault, defeat zho for her book, get quite far into all of the campaigns to have access to all of the materials required for the incubation kit. It was definitely really interesting and a lot of steps were involved. They could probably have came up with something similar with the bear.

Leslie · Jan 03, 2008, 09:50 PM // 21:50

edit: sorry double post :x

pygar · Jan 03, 2008, 09:56 PM // 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by SerenitySilverstar

No, they'd be cheesed that's it would be too damn easy to obtain and they wouldn't be able to make any money off it.

Anet: Damned if they do, damned if they don't. Poor buggers.

This is also true

EDIT: Another quick ray of sunshine for those feeling left in the dark over the polar bear, for those that have been around that long, 3rd year B-day presintz are looming around the corner..... another way the Bear may be available in the future.

Shayne Hawke · Jan 03, 2008, 10:00 PM // 22:00

Well-written, but this looks like just another "pleaz give moar time 4 bear pet" thread.

Devs are playing a new game: GW2. Stop worrying about Wintersday, because there's a whole load of other things that you can do in GW that don't need it.

KiyaKoreena · Jan 03, 2008, 10:12 PM // 22:12

I think most people are ticked about the Polar Bear because having it as a drop from the chest made them figure "If I do this enough times I should be able to get one". 100+ runs and no bear=Angry. People spent hours farming the quest on a shred of hope that the more they tried that it should eventually happen. At least with the contests drawn outside of the game you knew there were only so many to be given out or that whoever did the best job at something got rewarded. This seemed to be a false hope crapshoot.

Cherrie · Jan 03, 2008, 10:22 PM // 22:22

Very well written, you grabbed many points I was too lazy to write down myself...

I'd like to share my insight on some of them:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mork from Ork

I believe the developers have lost their sense of community with the guild wars players.

I agree with you... I usually play with my close friends, sometimes we spend hours upon hours in GW just slacking around.. Thats why I haven't done the Rift quests much - they were all solo quests! In an online game!
I understand that some mini-games are cool, but since EotN launched, I have a nasty feeling that only things Devs have left to offer are: more titles and more mini-solo-games. Brawling, Norn tournaments, Polymock, Bonus mission pack, now Wintersday quests... they are all solo! And I must say thats the reason I have done them all once to check them out/unlock skills and never again, I'd rather do anything else with my friends than solo quests...

Quote:

Their PR representative was lied to and consequently gave the community false information. ... Yet the mini for this wintersday was placed in a quest that forced you to do it solo and placed in such small numbers that it was guaranteed to cause frustration and jeaolousy.

I don't think taht Gaile actually lied, she simply wasn't informed about the new mini... Imho the problem with Mini Polar Bear is that it was given an extremly low drop rate in a quest that wasn't so much popular in the community and left for players to "discover" withing the 1 days of the event... This is the major fail, imho... Noone knew it existed!
Again, I totally agree with you that the best way to add new minis to game is the Mini Moa-like one: a quest (but not a solo one!!!) to work for your mini. I don't like the idea of items that are as rare as 1 per 1m of players... I don't even see much sense in that; and I don't like the idea of those items being randomly dropped, because this randomnes means that the highest chance to get one of them goes for farmers, not for casual players. Quest makes them not as common as the Piggy (tho again, I don't see whats wrong with minis and all other items being common..) but still aviable to all who are willing to work for them!
On the side, I miust say Mini Moa is my favourite minipet because it has a story of it's own; the story from following Zho's Journal combined with how me and my friend were gathering all that's necessary, and those moments of fun are so precious to us!

Quote:

the attitude was, “let’s get this over with so we can get on with GW2.”

Again, I must agree... All GWEN is in my eyes is cutting of cupons from GW before GW2 is ready... GWEN is not only a half-product assambled from leftovers from abandoned Utopia, it's a product that changes GW principles!
GW used to a a game where skill>time; NO grind was necessary to play, there was no difference between characters being a year old and new, few-months old ones, which was awesome! Gwen, with the introduction of a massive ammount of PvE skills with efficency based on grind titles changed that totally... A character that was played more simply became better (f.e. look at Ursan teams in DoA...)!
What's more, GWEN enforces players to choose a primary, which imho is one of the greatest mistakes ANet ever made... as one of my friends put it, "I used to have 8 fully unlocked characters (meaning lvl 20, many skills and elites unlocked, one or more campaigns completed, others underway) - now I'll have only one..." I don't have to explain that for him the possibility of playing all of them w/o being forced to focus on one only was one of the greatest features in GW... He quit GW now...

Jongo River · Jan 03, 2008, 10:23 PM // 22:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by KiyaKoreena

I think most people are ticked about the Polar Bear because having it as a drop from the chest made them figure "If I do this enough times I should be able to get one". 100+ runs and no bear=Angry. People spent hours farming the quest on a shred of hope that the more they tried that it should eventually happen. At least with the contests drawn outside of the game you knew there were only so many to be given out or that whoever did the best job at something got rewarded. This seemed to be a false hope crapshoot.

Yep, I spent the day on it. I'd previously chosen not farm this wintersday, because I'm really not interested in the consumables, but the pet discovery got me going... alas, a wasted day.

Leslie · Jan 04, 2008, 01:09 AM // 01:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cherrie

Again, I totally agree with you that the best way to add new minis to game is the Mini Moa-like one: a quest (but not a solo one!!!) to work for your mini. I don't like the idea of items that are as rare as 1 per 1m of players... I don't even see much sense in that; and I don't like the idea of those items being randomly dropped, because this randomnes means that the highest chance to get one of them goes for farmers, not for casual players. Quest makes them not as common as the Piggy (tho again, I don't see whats wrong with minis and all other items being common..) but still aviable to all who are willing to work for them!
On the side, I miust say Mini Moa is my favourite minipet because it has a story of it's own; the story from following Zho's Journal combined with how me and my friend were gathering all that's necessary, and those moments of fun are so precious to us!

QFT, had a lot of fun going after the black moa chick with my girlfriend

Hyper Cutter · Jan 04, 2008, 02:35 AM // 02:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by SerenitySilverstar

No, they'd be cheesed that's it would be too damn easy to obtain and they wouldn't be able to make any money off it.

I'd much rather have that than another Asian minipet debacle...

mcsumo · Jan 04, 2008, 03:11 AM // 03:11

IMO it is another ridiculous step in the wrong direction. They should be encouraging teamwork and community spirit. Instead they reward a solo quest on the basis of pure luck.

Somebody who is a total ass-hat playing for 1 month and thinks WoW is better and abuses people left right and centre could wander into that quest and get it first time.

Then someone else who loves this game, helps people out as much as he can, plays with 'the right spirit' all the time and dedicates a great deal of time and money to supporting Anet. hears about this and knows he can never .... EVER afford yet another thing. (I am the second example BTW

).

Why do Anet keep finding ways to make me feel more and more alienated and excluded?

Edit: I say 'yet another' because of so many other things but in this context. Why does somebody picking the right magazine off of the shelf, mean they deserve more money in game than I will ever see. Or (unlikely as it is that they would keep it) a minipet that I would love to proudly display. They make it harder and harder to earn decent money by playing the game normally, then put in more and more items that are super rare and you need to be incredibly lucky to get. They must want us all to power trade/scam/ebay.

Well sorry that aint why i bought the game. In fact I can't even remember why I did.

I know I keep saying this in other threads....but if I (a fairly level headed older player) am feeling like this and maybe about not playing much more/ buying GW2, then how many have they already pushed away?

Vilaptca · Jan 04, 2008, 03:45 AM // 03:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haijiibirdhead

Aerian go away or stay on topic. This is about Wintersday last I checked, not the general state of complaints on this site. Or for you to derrive satisfaction from putting down so called "whiners". This is about Wintersday.

The sad thing is, is that the topic isn't about Wintersday. The title is.

The OP is full of off-topic rants that have nothing to do with his first few paragraphs about Wintersday. Which is why this thread is full of so much crap right now. Everybody technically is on-topic because the actual topic is more like 6 topics.

Operative 14 · Jan 04, 2008, 04:22 AM // 04:22

I have to say, the OP shares my thoughts almost perfectly.

EotN, while an enjoyable game to play through, seemed unfinished. And it certainly did not seem grand enough to finish the GW1 epic and provide an end to our characters. The title requirements and skills only served to alienate me, as well as apperently a lot of other people in the community.

The Mini Polar Bear, while I would have enjoyed selling one for a couple billion gold, I don't care too much about. I didn't even find out about their official existance until reading this topic. However, I do agree with the OP that it should have been provided by a long quest chain centered around wintersday instead of endless farming in a dungeon somewhere.
I have a collection of about 12 or so minis, most of them cheaper ones that I bought becuase I like them. However, my most valued minis are my Mini Moa and my Mini Pig. Not becuase they are rare, or particularly spectacular, but becuase of the fun I had in obtaining them. I had a great time collecting the items for the Moa, and I relish the small sense of community I felt when the player base first discovered them and were working out how to hatch them. The most fun I had over the past year was joining a PUG for Sorrows Furnace to go hatch my moa egg. I had a great time attending CNY, and loved the delightful bonus of getting my little piggy. I hope that in the future, if they do decided to add more minis, they make them part of quests and accomplishments, and not grind or blind luck.

The community itself I have noticed has been declining. I have been a frequent visitor of GWGuru since November '06, and the complaints I've seen have shifted from being about various game mechanics, such as what skill needs to be nerfed or buffed, to the feeling that Arenanet has shifted away from the community and it completely engrosed in producing GW2. And that what major updates we have had for the game seem to be centered around individualistic and grind based play, and not really providing a situation for the community to interact.

Arenanet has a great product in GW, and I'm glad my friend introduced me to it. However, I do think this topic brings up some good points about what the present situation is like.

Striken7 · Jan 04, 2008, 07:07 AM // 07:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vilaptca

Honestly, nobody was lied to here... She didn't tell us there was no mini polar bear, she said she didn't know.

You. Are. Wrong. At least do some research before showing blind loyalty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerian_Skybane

...ANet is generally good about communicating with us...

Damn some people need to wake up.

GW was a good game made by a bad game company, and now that they have messed it up beyond repair, they've jumped ship. This past Wintersday is an example of this, exactly as the OP said in his post. Yes, the OP listed a few more examples, but honestly could have listed many others.

I suppose then you'd have more then "6 topics" in that case, and I'm afraid some people wouldn't be able to count that high in order to make their useless posts.

Vilaptca · Jan 04, 2008, 08:03 AM // 08:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Striken7

You. Are. Wrong. At least do some research before showing blind loyalty.

Where is your research smarty pants.

Quote:

Gaile knows nothing of the Polar Bear pet rumor.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Gaile/Frog_Talk/20071226

I didn't realize sticking up for the truth was blind loyalty. Is it my fault other people can't read. We seem to have a large problem with reading this Wintersday, specifically in the hat region.

Numa Pompilius · Jan 04, 2008, 09:16 AM // 09:16

Meh.

What the OP wants to say is that he felt this wintersday was similar to the other wintersdays he's experienced, and so didn't do much for his excitement.

Also he's upset because he was unable to get hold of one rare drop which probably was intended from the start to be a very rare drop.

Personally I think this wintersday was the best to date, yet weak because...
1) Server crash and rollback upon start of event. Not really ANets fault, but not pretty either. I lost about an hour of gaming.
2) Nothing was done with the showdown between Grenth and Dwayna beyond a game of nine-rings. Uninspired, IMO.
3) Removing collectors before the collectable drops had stopped dropping. Yes, they did do that; the gift giver & wraith disappeared at 9 o clock CET, while I was in The Strength of Snow, so I could neither cash in my CCshards or get the quest reward for completing the quest. The collectors should've been left in place for a few days.

Still, this wintersday was better organized than the previous ones, and although information can still be improved, it was better than it has been for previous events.
I especially remember the first one, when the finale was between 9 in the evening New Years Eve and 9 in the morning on New Years Day (CET), and ANet didn't give out any official information about when or where or how, all information was by rumor and word-of-mouth between players, which at least in europe didn't work. At all. I didn't get any hats that time.

**cosyfiep** · Jan 04, 2008, 09:50 AM // 09:50

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...239459&page=11

see gailes post #205....she was quite aware that there was a polar bear mini---the thing she didnt know (so she says) its that it was implemented.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Gaile/Frog_Talk/20071226

says she knows nothing about it.

put the evidence in anyway you want....

Fril Estelin · Jan 04, 2008, 10:04 AM // 10:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosyfiep

see gailes post #205....she was quite aware that there was a polar bear mini---the thing she didnt know (so she says) its that it was activated.

Minor but important correction above. The implementation is more than an year old and some players probably already spotted this a while ago according to Gaile's statement. She simply didn't know it was activated for this Wintersday until someone exposed the situation on GWG.

Three Legged · Jan 05, 2008, 05:55 AM // 05:55

I loved this wintersday event, the quests, and such were great. The only thing i thought sucked was the crazy lag, and the fact i didnt find out about that mini polar bear til literally hours before event ended

. I mean, the chances of geating one is probably 1:1,000,000 ... but the point is, I wouldn't be complaining even if i had spent all wintersday event trying. I just wish I had known lol, it was a tad bit discrete. Would have been better to have even announced "a new mini will be added" , as vague as that is.
I'm not out to have these polar bears made super easy to obtain, cus i know what that would do to their current values (and how p*ssed their current owners would be). Just a little heads up would be cool.
A good example would have to be the miniature roller beatle. atleast they had said ingame "top 100 scores will get a prize" .

Bryant Again · Jan 05, 2008, 06:08 AM // 06:08

Pretty well written, but edgy in some parts as others have pointed out.

In terms of the "rushed fell of GW:EN", I'll have to second that. The armors are okay I guess, but still a bit disappointing for a lot. The thing that irks me the most are the dungeons. The fact that they would reuse the same areas was pretty depressing.

genofreek · Jan 05, 2008, 06:38 AM // 06:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cherrie

I usually play with my close friends, sometimes we spend hours upon hours in GW just slacking around.. Thats why I haven't done the Rift quests much - they were all solo quests! In an online game!
I understand that some mini-games are cool, but since EotN launched, I have a nasty feeling that only things Devs have left to offer are: more titles and more mini-solo-games. Brawling, Norn tournaments, Polymock, Bonus mission pack, now Wintersday quests... they are all solo! And I must say thats the reason I have done them all once to check them out/unlock skills and never again, I'd rather do anything else with my friends than solo quests...

With you 100%. I'm no farmer, but I enjoy a bit of soloing now and then, just proving I can work with my build and do it. I've won most of the solo quests in GW:EN... but most of the time, and especially during special events, I wanna be with my friends. I did a little of the Rift Warden stuff, but it was halfassed because I wasn't having much fun by myself. I quit those after maybe one playthrough.

I like the new mini, but I'm not much of a bear fan so I don't really care one way or the other. I'd like to see a quest like the moa chick one -- there's no denying that that was a great idea -- but if one doesn't appear I won't QQ in Sardelac over it.

I guess Wintersday this year was less magical. Recycled quests, interesting headgear, the general brattiness of the community... oh well. What can ya do?