Curse

Sub Frost · Feb 08, 2008, 02:18 PM // 14:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Free Runner

Your right Gaile hasnt said anything about...oh wait.

Don't really keep track of what Gaile say's, but thanks for pointing it to my attention.

Nothing more to add here.

RhanoctJocosa · Feb 08, 2008, 02:19 PM // 14:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

I think people are missing the most important thing about the minipig trade in:

WHY?

Why does ANet suddenly care that the minipig was the most common minipet, and that it was very cheap (typically selling for 1-2K)?

I can see three possible reasons:

1) Server load. During events ANets servers get bogged down, and a big part of that load is all the hundreds of minipets. By draining the most common minipet off the market, they may be hoping to lower server load during the event.
2) There is some in-game problem with the minipet. Something about it which somehow is a problem to gameplay. Broken textures, overly complex model slowing peoples graphics down... anything.
3) Some player has asked ANet to make the pig rarer, and hence more expensive.

If the reason turns out to be 3), that is a problem, because then ANet has helped someone play the in-game market.

That would be similar to what happened in EVE, where employees helped a particular corporation gain unfair advantages.

1) no 2) no 3) no

Numa Pompilius · Feb 08, 2008, 02:22 PM // 14:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by RhanoctJocosa

1) no 2) no 3) no

OK, so why do you think that ANet wanted to make the minipig rarer?

Cacheelma · Feb 08, 2008, 02:24 PM // 14:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterPatricko

The Furious Pumpkin Crown and the Pumpkin Crown are basically the same. They'll probably just do that again. That doesn't invalidate my point. ANet would not do something that excludes new players completely.

They are different. And that's the whole point.

This Lion Mask is an exact copy of its real-world counterpart. I can't imagine Anet making any variations to it. And Gaile's saying "Same as last year" this time around doesn't give much hope either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

OK, so why do you think that ANet wanted to make the minipig rarer?

I'd say they're being short-sighted as they usually are. They might've thought that since they gave out tons of minipigs last year, people would've hold on to them hopelessly for years and by providing a means to get rid of the pigs for something else now would be a good thing. Hah, how considerate of them.

This goes to show how they're so out of touch with us than we can imagine. Hadn't Gaile told them anything useful at all? For example about how Gaile herself encouraged people who got many pigs to give them to other players who were missing out last year? We did just that (not because she told us to, but because it's a nice thing to do and better than throw the pigs away due to limited storage), how they expect us to have "more than 2 and less than 12" pigs now is beyond me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vl Vl D

Lunar Fortunes have a chance at dropping a pig and I beleave they increased the chance greatly this year but at the end of the day its just pixels.

Lunar Fortune [Year of the Pig] (which can only be obtained last year) you mean.

Vl Vl D · Feb 08, 2008, 02:28 PM // 14:28

Lunar Fortunes have a chance at dropping a pig and I beleave they increased the chance greatly this year but at the end of the day its just pixels.

Cacheelma · Feb 08, 2008, 02:50 PM // 14:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

I find it impossible to believe they didn't realize that most people had given away, sold, or destroyed their surplus pigs by now, and that introducing a "minipig-sink" would raise the price of the pig, benefitting hoarders and speculators.

Guess you weren't here when Anet disabled hardmode access from challenge missions, including Remains of Sahlahja. An act that prevented people from farming LB and Sunspear points in nearby explorable area. Guess what Andrew Patrick came in and said after an uproar:

"Oh sorry, we didn't know you guys use hardmode for farming there. We will re-enable it" or something along that line. Hah, LB farming (with "Show of Force" quest I think) was very popular back then. And they didn't know about it. Take that however you will.

Link: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...48&postcount=8

zwei2stein · Feb 08, 2008, 03:04 PM // 15:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cacheelma

Guess you weren't here when Anet disabled hardmode access from challenge missions, including Remains of Sahlahja. An act that prevented people from farming LB and Sunspear points in nearby explorable area. Guess what Andrew Patrick came in and said after an uproar:

"Oh sorry, we didn't know you guys use hardmode for farming there. We will re-enable it" or something along that line. Hah, LB farming (with "Show of Force" quest I think) was very popular back then. And they didn't know about it. Take that however you will.

Link: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...48&postcount=8

Not to mention that disabling HM in arborstone made it impossible to gain Vanquisher for Cantha.

But its old new and was fixed, so noone really cares, right?.

Id rather people held things anet botched and didnt fix rather than things they did fix asap.

lakatz · Feb 08, 2008, 03:17 PM // 15:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterPatricko

Well, here's a thought:

There will be a way to get more pigs this festival.
I guarantee it...

This is the Year of the Rat, not the Pig... so no pigs this year.

JeniM · Feb 08, 2008, 03:19 PM // 15:19

Perfect time for Anet to introduce a Mini-holder like the festival hats guy otherwise theres going to be as much of an uproar as when they stabbed us in the back over the "bonus" mission pack

GrimEye · Feb 08, 2008, 03:27 PM // 15:27

Actually, the mini-pig woe is the excitement for the novelty, people getting excited from speculation. I gave 2 pigs away because it was a hassle to sell it and filling up my storage then. Now I regret doing that.

But I wont pay ridiculous prices for the pigs, I'll just wait a few months for the novelty to die down and buy whatever they get in exchange for their pigs.

Hmm, another speculation: what would ANET do with a mini moa chick? Will it remain a baby chick? Or will ANET allow it to grow?

Hmmm.

My take.

Oukanna · Feb 08, 2008, 03:44 PM // 15:44

Well i used up all 58 of my lunar fortunes earlier and got no piggie ^_^ though they were last years xDDD
It did say somewhere you have a chance of getting the "special prize" through opening drops etc, so having multiple pigs isnt just the only way its just one way. Dont panick too much just go farm lots lol

Qwertyfied · Feb 08, 2008, 04:00 PM // 16:00

Everlasting Pig Tonic ? Just thought of that since when the Celestial Pig last year didnt recieve any meals, we all got turned into pigs. So they could make a tonic to do that, just a guess anyway.

Celestial_Kitsune · Feb 08, 2008, 04:14 PM // 16:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qwertyfied

Everlasting Pig Tonic ? Just thought of that since when the Celestial Pig last year didnt recieve any meals, we all got turned into pigs. So they could make a tonic to do that, just a guess anyway.

My guess is that at the finale a "volatile" present is a Celestial Tonic that turns you into a celestial animal of the month you created your character.

Lonesamurai · Feb 08, 2008, 04:20 PM // 16:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial_Kitsune

My guess is that at the finale a "volatile" present is a Celestial Tonic that turns you into a celestial animal of the month you created your character.

Month?

Its the celestial animal of the "Year" you were born... sothat doesn't work

Numa Pompilius · Feb 08, 2008, 04:20 PM // 16:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Swift

Minipigs at less than 2k each are a hindrance to that goal as it means that players can have a minipet with little work.

The problem with that theory is that there are other minipets in that pricerange - e.g. trolls and devourers. If they wanted to get rid of cheap minipets they could have made a collector which accepted, say, any five minipets in exchange for the new minipet - but they specifically targeted minipigs.

Also, for at least two weeks I've been seeing people offering to buy any and all minipets for 1K. At the time I thought they were just poor players looking for any minipet they could afford, but now I think they were speculators with inside info.

Skyy High · Feb 08, 2008, 04:21 PM // 16:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Swift

Actually, i don't think it is malice or stupidity - laziness perhaps.

Any game must have things to work for in order to keep people playing. For whatever reason, ANet has decided mini pets and titles are to be those goals (probably because they are the easiest to implement). Minipigs at less than 2k each are a hindrance to that goal as it means that players can have a minipet with little work. I think it is a really really really bad decision on their part to put so much emphasis on mini-pets which have nothing to do with the game itself other than showing how much money you earned to buy one. But that appears to be the direction they have decided to go.

In the end I think it is a decision that is going to bite them in the rear end. Who is really going to want to buy GW2 when GW1 has become a game about collecting useless little pets?

Mini pets are one of the many gold sinks you have available to you. That's not what the game is about, that's what you choose to do with all the money you get from playing the game. And never fear, there's still mini devourers going for 1-2k, so their cunning plot to suck the world dry of cheap minis has failed.

Mordakai · Feb 08, 2008, 04:51 PM // 16:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyy High

Mini pets are one of the many gold sinks you have available to you. That's not what the game is about, that's what you choose to do with all the money you get from playing the game. And never fear, there's still mini devourers going for 1-2k, so their cunning plot to suck the world dry of cheap minis has failed.

For the last time, mini-pets are not a "gold sink."

A gold sink removes gold from the game. (ie, 40k armor is a gold sink)

Buying and selling mini-pets just moves money from one player to another.

Celestial_Kitsune · Feb 08, 2008, 05:22 PM // 17:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lonesamurai

Month?

Its the celestial animal of the "Year" you were born... sothat doesn't work

Oh really? Take a look at that then :P

On the second thought I don't think Celestial Pig would be that generous :P Possibly, Celestial Pig Tonic only.

Shanaeri Rynale · Feb 08, 2008, 05:30 PM // 17:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial_Kitsune

My guess is that at the finale a "volatile" present is a Celestial Tonic that turns you into a celestial animal of the month you created your character.

Could well be...

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...&postcount=183

Cacheelma · Feb 08, 2008, 05:32 PM // 17:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial_Kitsune

Oh really? Take a look at that then :P

Where exactly does that info come from though? I've never heard of such thing. And in Asia, it's either Year of the "rat, rabbit, pig, dog, etc etc" or Gemini for June, Virgo for September, etc etc.