Curse

esthetic · Jul 01, 2009, 02:21 PM // 14:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by persuadu

I think this is like the 3rd time this has been said, and I am hoping someone from ANET reads this and perhaps comments on it.

Wouldnt it be easier and make everyone happier if they just gave everyone 100 points NOW instead of waiting for them to figure out who gets what? Easier for ANET, they're happier. No more waiting for us, We're happier. WOULD ANYONE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS?

Regina, its a simple fix to a very complex issue and from a customer service standpoint it is your best option. Can you please comment on this?

That is if you can actually get the "system" to distribute pts. As my prior post suggested the problem is the ability to get out pts. They can not do so.

My personal interest in this is that my guild and I host a monthly tournament in the lower level arena's and use the XTH reward pts for Keys as a prize. Without the XTH up in June we cancelled the event this month... Its been about five months since we started and we hoped it would go further but IDK if XTH is down more than a month we will lose interest from the participants (we had like 12 the first month and about 30 the last month) and our event may die >.<

Tender Wolf · Jul 01, 2009, 04:31 PM // 16:31

persuado: I completely agree. Just give us 100 points, it would be easier than making us have to wait even longer. They should probably revert to the old system too since it didn't give us this many problems to my knowledge.

At the very least we should get like triple points just for going through all this like that time they accidentally gave us double.

Sorry if I came off as a little cross but yesterday was a day from hell here. Lots of real life things going on and this isn't helping; every time I see a post from Regina I'm hoping/expecting it's to say the problem is fixed already and it's always the same working on it speech. So I lost it. Maybe there shouldn't be any posts until it's fixed; same with in-game updates (that includes skill balances or whatever).

Gun Pierson · Jul 01, 2009, 04:58 PM // 16:58

Seriously, for all the things that can be improved, you choose to complain about XTH. Oh wait, they are improving it. It is down for an extended maintenance which is actually a GOOD thing, because it wasn't working as intended.

I have multiple accounts too, bought the extra ones for z-keys, so what. There are at least two ways to look at this and I chose to be patient and understanding on the matter. Ofcourse it's a bummer, but if we get a stable system in return so be it, even if it takes time. We played years without XTH. We paid a service to play on their servers with their software, which we still can.

At the same time I look at Anet. Can you pretty please, with sugar on top, fix the thing properly this time. (notice that was not a question and even if you think it is, it's a retorical one)

And for those who still can't read: They still have the list, but the system is down as in no points can be distributed at this time. So forget all the ideas like 100 points for everyone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tender Wolf

At the very least we should get like triple points just for going through all this like that time they accidentally gave us double.

Why not ask Anet for an extra 1000k while you're at it. I see a lot of greed and laziness on these boards. "Remember, it's the thought that counts." -Nicholas

And while I typed this post, a real life friend called me on the phone to ask if XTH is alrdy up, no kidding. The irony.

Tender Wolf · Jul 01, 2009, 05:13 PM // 17:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gun Pierson

Why not ask Anet for an extra 1000k while you're at it. I see a lot of greed and laziness on these boards. "Remember, it's the thought that counts." -Nicholas

And while I typed this post, a real life friend called me on the phone to ask if XTH is alrdy up, no kidding. The irony.

An extra 1000k would be nice, since not all of us are "1337 farmers".

And lol at real life friend.

While some are choosing to be patient like yourself the majority of the community is frustrated that it's broken now, more so than it has been before. Your real life friend is proof of that.

Hellscream The Evil · Jul 01, 2009, 05:18 PM // 17:18

what? only 100 points?? i usually gain about 150-180 points every month! :P
250 would be nice

mrvrod · Jul 01, 2009, 05:28 PM // 17:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crom Bocca

Yeah because your auto mechanic gives you free stuff where you can whine about, right?

Read my post at the top of page 10, if you're still confused about free/paid for, then I can't help you.

Fril Estelin · Jul 01, 2009, 05:36 PM // 17:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tender Wolf

While some are choosing to be patient like yourself the majority of the community is frustrated that it's broken now

The "majority" of this "majority" (disregarding completely the ridiculous of these flimsy notions) chose to not do like the minority we can see in this thread. Whinning will get you nothing, ask for an update and if there's one, you shall get it. I bet Regina will announce it's up as soon as it is, so there's no point adding more expectations to your impatience, is there?

Gun Pierson · Jul 01, 2009, 09:34 PM // 21:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tender Wolf

...since not all of us are "1337 farmers".

Your real life friend is proof of that.

You don't need to be a '1337 farmer' to play this game, that's the beauty of GW. There are no better weapons and armors etc., only different skins. But we know better than that, people want the cool stuff.

Lets skip the hypocricy, we (the players who participate) all bought or buy game gold in the form of XTH predictions. It's Anet's legal alternative to Ebay and the extra money goes in their pocket. If this is a good or bad thing is another debate.

My friend prooved he's impatient, that's all.

@Fril: You may be right about Anet outsourcing the system.

Amnel Ithtirsol · Jul 02, 2009, 05:15 AM // 05:15

LOL at the brokenness that is the XTH

I know for a fact that the so-called 'distribution' of points was nothing more than an uninformed thumb-suck by a trained monkey with a hat full of random player accounts.

Why?

Oh, 'maybe' because the (new and improved, cough*) site was so slow that some people couldn't make their predictions. At all!

But... (and this is hilarious, trust me) as it turns out some of those same people received nice juicy amounts of reward points! How about that!

I really feel sorry for everyone who received no points at all. I feel even more sorry for everyone who thinks that this will get fixed and that the true points will be distributed because, people, if you sit down and think about this you'll also come to realize that Arenanet cannot fix this and they cannot distribute the points because there was an apocalyptic screw-up with the prediction records. It either never went into the database correctly in the first place or it got corrupted somehow after the fact. Who knows...

...and they will never tell. If there is one thing that Anet does REALLY well then it is keeping secrets.

MisterT69 · Jul 02, 2009, 05:27 AM // 05:27

Wouldn't it just be better if A-net were to drop the xunlai house altogether and get to work on updates that'll help keep current players interested and the ones who left because of the xunlai fiasco to return. All I'm seeing is a bunch of wasted time over something not really that important, omg a few keys a month, big deal. If dropping the xunlai house means better productivity/content in game, I'm all for dropping it.

Just my opinion, but if you're whining over free money... get a job :P

Cacheelma · Jul 02, 2009, 05:38 AM // 05:38

MisterT69, you're basically asking for something that will help keep current players interested and the ones who left to return, and it should be BETTER THAN THE XTH?

Wake up. Quickly.

They can't even manage to get this simple feature RIGHT FOR A MONTH. How can you expect anything more from them?

tuna-fish_sushi · Jul 02, 2009, 05:53 AM // 05:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterT69

Just my opinion, but if you're whining over free money... get a job :P

Oh and while we are taking out stuff in that game that is free lets take out the Zaishen Menagerie, and Lina[Protection Henchmen], and Sorrow's Furnace, and Icy Dragon Sword, and Nicolas, and more random stuff not specifically listed on the box, all because its free and nothing says I'm entitled to it.

If they have a record of who gets what points I'm sure they can at least distribute them. People bought accounts just for the Xunlai House and if it actually worked well I'm sure those People (cough *me* cough) may buy more.

Oh and by the way, I do have a job. Which probably is the reason I love free stuff anywhere I can get it. ><

spinnaker · Jul 02, 2009, 06:03 AM // 06:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterT69

...Just my opinion, but if you're whining over free money... get a job :P

If you think carefully about it, its is not free money, its an ingame service. Tell me do you really think A-Net designed the XTH and title, without knowing that people will go out and buy more accounts @ $14.99, to get more keys? It was just another form of a micro transaction.

Stop The Storm · Jul 02, 2009, 07:08 AM // 07:08

since the xunlai predictions have been about i have never had the correct amount of points given to me. ever.

now, ive been predicting for a good number of months now, back in 2008. Its taken this long for anet to say, ya know, i think we better sort this out.

I sincerely hope whoever is responsible for this HUGE f*ck up is in no way related to Guildwars 2.

Absolute shambles.

funway ftw · Jul 02, 2009, 10:04 AM // 10:04

nobody is annoyed @ anet for fixing a flawed system they designed! They are annoyed it was flawed for so long then the new improved super flawed system was released thats what people are annoyed about. An update that was reported to be better but was somehow stupendeously worse. So bad its had to be withdrawn for a rebuild. Anet knows it but i can guarantee you they know there is nothing they can say. they wont admit incompetence as it will reflect directly to gws2. The point is that people took part in predictions on the understanding they will receive theyre rewards for the time they spent researching and putting on the predictions only to have it delayed once, Then delivered? lmao yeah nice joke!!!! then completely removed with no actual time frame of when people can get the points and compounded the problem by making it so there was no predictions for another month thus resulting in peoples points/keys being removed again. Most people here appear to have had enough and if people only play gws because they get points every month then thats theyre perogetive its not for anyone else to say how others should play the game (some people dont like endless grinding) anet put this feature in the game to encourage people to buy more accounts to use it (a master stroke i might add) and when they did they removed the feature and now expect people not to be pissed again its just lol nice joke.

peole want time frames everyone i know/work with/work for has deadlines and timeframes if your programmers cant give them to you get new programmers period bacause it seems like they are all on holidays and maybe regina/lindsay and co are the same person with an old vic20 comp and dial up internet just trying to hold off a wave of discontent until they can release the new underdeveloped flawed and mostly broken system that will be gws2.......

Fril Estelin · Jul 02, 2009, 10:44 AM // 10:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by funway ftw

The point is that people took part in predictions on the understanding they will receive theyre rewards for the time they spent researching and putting on the predictions only to have it delayed once,

Don't overgeneralise. I bet a majority of XTH voters didn't observe a single game. I'd be interested to know how many use the "Random" button.

The XTH phenomenon suffers from the "gambling" addictive side-effect that people become mad for petty things. GW is supposed to be a game we play, XTH was "supposed" to create enthusiasm for PvP (and, yes, probably more sales). All it did is create expectations way beyond what GW is about, fun. Some are greedy, some are impatient. Hopefully not the majority, only the vocal/visible part of XTH voters.

Many, many players get "free" zkeys in the sense of minimal effort required. And there's a sense of entitlement, things are due to XTH voters from Anet. And people will show the bills for accounts where they don't even play (I have much more fun using my alt account for Nicholas' gifts and enjoying once more the storylines). The PvP players that play the mATs do deserve their RPs, we're just surfing on a phenomenon that Anet created with unintended consequences.

Maybe you worked hard to make good predictions, but let's not end up with a false impression that XTH is hard work. It's much harder to actually play the game. XTH is a gambling game, and I now somewhat wish that it was not invented.

Tender Wolf · Jul 02, 2009, 03:05 PM // 15:05

LithiumPicnic, Amnel, and Stop the Storm: I completely agree with what you guys are saying. It's nice that someone stepped up and confirmed how easy it would be to fix this and that it's not getting done. I hope the people working on Guild Wars 2 don't pull this crap or they're going to be disappointed with their lack of business. Some people have even said to wait two weeks after the game is released as opposed to the day it's released to see if it gets screwed up.

ANet is the best provider I've had for a no monthly fee MMORPG. They've been fine until this new Xunlai system in my eyes (and my fiance's). Now, as everyone can see, practically everyone is losing or has lost faith in ANet and isn't even going to buy Guild Wars 2. And that sucks for people like me who are going to buy and play it regardless since at least it'll be something to do.

You can only play through the game so many times before it becomes a big yawn. And not everyone wants to grind through PVP with noob teams (which happens to me 95% of the time). The XTH is the only source of income for some people in this game, as they either can't farm because of a nerfed build, or they don't have time, and now it's been taken away for something so simple. All I can say is gg and epic fail.

esthetic · Jul 02, 2009, 04:31 PM // 16:31

Well, regardless of how difficult something like XTH reward pts. calculation and distribution maybe, it was a "MISTAKE" of a nature and extent that is not easily excusable in the business world. They are paid professionals and they are expected not to make such blunders and such blunders often cause loss of contracts or employment.

To some of you (this includes ANET and its employees)XTH reward pts. is a small part of the game and you do not understand what the big deal is. Well it has been pointed out here before but, I will endeavor again to explain. XTH prediction rewards was intentionally or not an incentive for people to buy ADDITIONAL accounts, and people did buy them. Now in essence people have paid real money for XTH predictions. It has not delivered as promised and was a defective product. In the simplest terms you buy something and its broken and then taken away from you without assurance as to what was wrong with it (aside from that its broke) how and when it is going to be fixed(aside from a "team" is working on it and we will let you know when its ready). Well what do you expect people to do? QQ and/or demand their money back. It is simple as that.

nkuvu · Jul 02, 2009, 04:34 PM // 16:34

I'm a software developer with about eight years of experience. So what I say must automatically be true, right?

Not only is this not a verifiable statement (although I assure you that I am a developer), it means nothing in terms of what I know of ArenaNet code. For the record, I've been working on embedded systems, which is low level code that most people don't even think about. Specifically, the majority of the time I've been working, it's been on a digital controller for a jet engine.

So... what do I know about web programming and database work? Almost nothing. But I'm a developer! I must know my stuff and I can easily assess the complexity of the problem without knowing a thing about the setup!

At my company, we're currently working on a relatively simple task. It has taken over six months just because of the quantity of work involved. It's not rocket science, but it does take time. We originally estimated that it would take a few weeks. But oh hey, as we go through this, we're finding more and more problems that people have been overlooking for years (the software we're working on has been in development for almost a decade, which includes updating it to put onto other planes).

Experience as a developer does not automatically make you an expert on all things computer related, sorry.

LithiumPicnic · Jul 02, 2009, 06:09 PM // 18:09

With my regards to my statement to a 10year old designing the database:
ANYBODY, thats got ANY experiance with SQL, will know that storing data as a BLOB is an EPICLY bad idea! PERIOD! No comment needed! Guaranteed: All this hold-ups and design difficulties, they've put upon themselves with bad design!
See the following as reference regarding them as storing data as BLOBS:
http://www.dbms2.com/2007/06/09/the-...of-guild-wars/
Whatever the comments on the site's side, its very difficult auditing data while using that design. Think about the duping scandal, and A-Net inability to "track" the guilty. Normaly it's a piece of cake. Now this ties up well with the SAME difficulties they experience with XTH, and its distribution. Anyway...

My QQ was out of 27 months of frustration, seeing failure followed by failure from the game designers. Every xth distribution is faulty, PvE/PvP skill update fail, April update coming out april 31'st/28th Bday weekend (1month late) etc, etc, etc... Should I even continue? Oh wait: GW2 beta was "said" to be released Q4 2008.
See:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2
and
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158151
I haven't even seen a screen-shot.

Even taking into consideration that is a Free to play game, I've eventualy come to the conclusion that they're just not capable of meeting the standard(s) that we as gamers expect. A-Net is entering "Blizard" teritory with GW2 (more traditional persistent world MMO), and with Blizard's "new" product looming round 'n about the same launch time (2011 give or take a year) who do you think is gonig to come out on top? A company with ZERO credibility and/or deliveribility, or "TEH Blizard"?

My patience has run out, slate me as much as you wan't - its not just about xth, that was just the last straw. In the end: its a huge pity, GREAT game with poor dev & administration! My condolences to Regina, who's got to face the music from us and the other communities. Thats about it!

GL - HF