Curse

Red · Apr 28, 2006, 08:19 PM // 20:19

Yes, this was slightly inspired by Penny Arcade.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To Guild Wars,

I'm a little nervous about writing to you like this. I always thought that we could just talk things out but--well, I'm getting ahead of myself. I wanted to write to you, so that you could understand how I feel without us getting into another fight. I just wanna say a few things, if that's ok with you, and I hope you can hear what I'm saying without feeling hurt or attacked.

See, these past months with you have been awesome. My family really likes you--even my children, a five-year-old boy who says "Daddy, daddy, are you going to Ascalon?", and then I reply "No, I have to help a guildie through Thirsty River"... and my little girl, two-and-a-half years old, who comments in her sweet voice "Daddy healed! Good monk daddy." Even the kids love you, ya know?

Because of you, I met some amazing people. I've become fast friends with a student in Wisconsin--my family sent him cookies for his birthday two months ago while his parents were away. Also, next month we'll be having some guildies over for dinner from Ohio. I already vaguely knew one of them from another message board, but Guild Wars allowed me to meet his gaming friends from his engineering classes, and now we've formed our own independent circle. None of these friendships would have been possible without you.

It's just that... well, sometimes I just don't feel like you're listening, not really. Our relationship was founded on communication. You've made the point over and over again, that you care about my wants and my needs. This is part of what made us work so well together, I think.

The problem is, I'm not convinced that you really do; or, at least, you don't treat me like you used to. Nowadays, it seems like the ways you exclude me range from the mundane to blatantly inconsiderate. You whisper to me sweet assurances that you'll make everything alright, but... can I really trust you?

Problems like the recent mask event only serve to illustrate my worries. You knew that I, being the young stud that I am, would be in the middle of my college finals and writing multiple 5- and 10-page papers. You made the event as a special surprise thank you gift to Guild Wars fans for their support, and then gave me from 3am early Thursday until 3am early Friday to get the fangs for my character. Never mind that I had to collect a relatively large number of fangs, and that I had multiple characters I wanted to do this on. Oh, and I guess you just forgot that I had classes that morning, and work that afternoon, and then a group meeting for one of my classes scheduled for that evening. Do you just want me to drop all my plans, so that I can with you whenever you get one of your whims? Are you trying to punish me for having an outside life, forcing me to choose between you and my committments? I really appreciate these parties and games of yours, I really do... it's just, you don't give me enough time to prepare for them. I miss out and feel left out, while you come away thinking I didn't appreciate all your hard work.

I really want things to get better between us. I remember when we first saw the chilly landscapes of the Shiverpeaks together... and do you recall the picture I took when we took out our first dragon? And how excited we were when we finally faced PREZ for the first time in the Hall of Heroes? Man... I was so happy then...

But now, it's like I can't trust you... I feel like you're not talking to me while you work things out. GW, we entered into this together, and you know I want to see you succeed. I want to be there with you, so... talk to me, let me know what you're thinking. After celebrating the communication in our relationship, don't shut us out. We know you've done a few things wrong, but we're partners... aren't we? Then let's work together and find a solution to these things when they appear! And if you're going to reject what seems like a good solution, please at least let us know why, clearly. Don't hide behind that businesstalk of yours.... we love you, so let's be open with one another. For instance, the delay in Alliance chat--you came right out and told us that there was a bug, and you would have it fixed in a few days. THAT'S what I'm talking about: open, honest, accepting responsibility, and timely.

Look, GW... I'm not going to abandon you now. We're partners, and that means something to me--and I hope it means something to you, too. I just think that we need to communicate better if this is going to work. I'm seeing other people getting frustrated with you as well, and some walking out on you. I don't want to be one of those people, but... I just want to know that you really care about me the same way I care about you, right?

Signed,
Daniel Highwind [MEEP] Mo/Me
~ Redly ~

actionjack · Apr 28, 2006, 08:24 PM // 20:24

/double sign to your letter

rancidgoat · Apr 28, 2006, 08:25 PM // 20:25

seek professional help bro. really, i think you need it.

striderkaaru · Apr 28, 2006, 08:33 PM // 20:33

i'm sorry to hear about the problems you've been having with gw lately. it's always tough when problems arise once the honeymoon phase ends. but i'm glad that you're trying to open up communications to work things out together.

best of luck to you and your relationship.

Ninetail Trickster · Apr 28, 2006, 08:39 PM // 20:39

/applaud
Great letter. Nice way to make your point, rather than just complaining. ^_^
On the other hand...
Now, the best-written thing I've seen in months has to do with Guild Wars.
And I've seen lots of well-written things in the past few months. For example, Herbert, Heinlein...

REHAB PLEASE. >_<

hidden_agenda · Apr 28, 2006, 08:43 PM // 20:43

both hilarious and striking home!

benmanhaha · Apr 28, 2006, 08:53 PM // 20:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by hidden_agenda

both hilarious and striking home!

Amen brother! I like how you don't just whine about things.
/applaud

MSecorsky · Apr 28, 2006, 08:54 PM // 20:54

All that for a chicken head? Perspective ftw.

Eviance · Apr 28, 2006, 09:14 PM // 21:14

*applauds her husband* I never can get enough of letters like this, lol! Great job love!

What he had to say was a lot more pleasant that what I said lol >_< Soooo frustrated!

I told him to email them with the number to the EBGames headquarters so that they could tell them what the heck is going on cause all we keep getting about our CEs is "I have no clue!"

/signs the letter as well
Lady Eviance [MEEP]

talzek · Apr 28, 2006, 09:20 PM // 21:20

You always have to put such a dramatic spin on things Sir. Well done.

And MSecorsky? Only one point was about the Tengu Mask. Unless that was the only part you read, which I can understand, you missed a bunch of other very valid points.

/sign

Buttercup Warmaster [MEEP]

quickmonty · Apr 28, 2006, 09:34 PM // 21:34

A breath of fresh air. So nice to see a post that is well thought out, and well written.

/signed

Andy_M · Apr 28, 2006, 10:06 PM // 22:06

Quite simply one of the best posts I have ever read. Now watch Anet completely ignore it. Apart from the usual PR flap.

/signed.

Big Tony · Apr 28, 2006, 10:19 PM // 22:19

That was definitely the most heart warming post I have ever read on this site. Relationships are always tough, and don't all those dr phil guys say communication is the key to a good relationship?

/signed with both hands and both feet

Cottage Pie · Apr 28, 2006, 11:55 PM // 23:55

Excellent letter...I hope they listen, considering you went to the effort to put your complaint so thoughtfully

Red · Apr 29, 2006, 02:45 AM // 02:45

*nods* I was reading through the 32(?) page thread about the collector's edition. I ordered mine from EB Games, and now suddenly it seems neither me, nor my wife and her brother, will get to play for a long time to come? The lady at the 1-800 number from the website told me June 30th. -_-;

Anyway, I was reading the thread, and I realized... there are so many people who are whining and shouting; and there are also many who seem to be defending ANet/NCSoft/whoever to the death.

In a relationship, throwing a tantrum everytime the other makes an error is abusive; and making excuses constantly for the Partner Who Can Do No Wrong is unhealthy, labeled as enabling or delusional.

All things in moderation, my gaming brethren (.... and.. sistren?). We shouldn't forget what a joy Guild Wars is to play, but neither should we sit back and let these Really Horrid Errors go unchecked. After all, we ARE partners in this... in teh strictest business sense, they want us to buy their product, and we want them to make the product we want. Moreover, I believe Gaile and the GW team when they talk about really wanting us to enjoy the game.

To that end, I think we should make our opinions known, and be free to criticize them; but from what I've read in most of the threads here, even the more intelligent people seem to resort to an angry sort of flaming. People, imagine that a few of the devs are your siblings or classmates. I highly doubt you'd display nearly as much rage as you do now.

And who knows? Maybe by recognizing the good as well, they might not be so afraid to hold an open dialogue in the threads. I mean, I know I called out the ArenaNet rep who posted on the 20th in the Factions Collector's Edition thread and then never replied.... but at the same time, have you people READ that thread? My gawd, I'm not sure ~I'd~ reply in that thread if I was from ArenaNet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are owed a better explanation, I think. I can hazard several guesses on where and how the supply chain broke down (business major FTW!), and it's not like this is a brand spanking new company full of uninformed industry n00bs. There really isn't any excuse for the Collector's misinformation. The pre-order fiasco I could understand--it was a bit different, compared to how other pre-orders are handled. And underestimating the amount of Collector's Editions to produce--dude, do you really think ANet would toy with their consumers, pissing off the people who bring them the most profit, not too mention word-of-mouth advertising?

But, when EB Games and Gamespot remove the item from their entire system (my preorder at EB Games is for a random number without an associated game; it confused the cashiers so badly).... when a Best Buy employee reads the notes in their system and declares that, "Yes, we're going to have it, according to the system.... and the date that we are going to have it is.... Never.... um".... and these errors occured after the two previously mentioned screwups...

... I think we do deserve better. Not because ANet/NCSoft owes us anything per se.... but because, as I wrote, we've been approached from the GW Devteam as being partners, active participants in the development process.

Well, to be quite honest, I feel very, very, very excluded. Not only did the system fall apart, but I feel like we've been told to "shut up and sit down while Daddy fixes this darn machine". That sort of attitude isn't good for a personal relationship, and it's definitely not good for the sort of connection the GW team seems to want to have with us.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy_M

Quite simply one of the best posts I have ever read. Now watch Anet completely ignore it. Apart from the usual PR flap.

Thanks, man.... and, well, to be honest, I kind of expect them to. First of all, what with all the whining going on, I'm not so sure that they'd even WANT to check the boards right now. But, ya know what? I think if even a few of them read this without replying, I'd just hope that they come away with this message:

We appreciate what you do, GW team.
We think you need to clean up your act, and clue us in more--if not outright make us part of the solution.
But, through all of that, we consider your brainchild a success, and we appreciate ya.

Signed,
Daniel Highwind [MEEP] Mo/Me
~ Redly ~

Cador · Apr 29, 2006, 04:23 AM // 04:23

I personally love A-Net. Look at Creative assemblies TW games then you can complain.

Stolen Souls · Apr 29, 2006, 04:31 AM // 04:31

*nods*

Very cool post. Nice to see something intelligent posted every now and then.

Phoenix Avenger · Apr 29, 2006, 04:44 AM // 04:44

you are 1337 Mr. OP

and I just wish they would make /bug work again. I am finding so many bugs in the game but i just dont want to submit 20 different bug reports to NCsoft/anet. it would be so much easier if we could just have that command back again...

shezbian · Apr 29, 2006, 04:52 AM // 04:52

I right now am HIGHLY dissapointed with Factions...
It just doesn't have the innovative feel Prophecies had.
It seems like they thought of some weird asian theme, slapped up some new maps, got some new skills and decided to name a new game. Pathetic IMO

sumasage · Apr 29, 2006, 07:33 AM // 07:33

i'm a bit disapointed with faction as well. Some of the skills are the same..well atleast the one for monk. e.g. Heal Other = Jamie's Gaze. Missions and quests are long with endless mobs