Curse

Studio Ghibli · Feb 25, 2006, 02:57 AM // 02:57

Strobo,

I think Anet's realized the light-heartedness of this situation. Their involvement in no way implies they were trying to "minimize" or "contain" the "issue."

I, along with a number of other people, have been having a good laugh about this all day. I -really- doubt anyone on the monk side is seriously trying to change the world, let alone enforce some change on the game.

Have a good time? Sure.

Spread a little awareness? Hopefully.

Throw up red flags at Anet where they had to loose the dogs?

I doubt it.

Cause a few laughs at Anet?

Probably!

Lady Lozza · Feb 25, 2006, 03:04 AM // 03:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Str0b0

While I admire the developer's quick response and the fact that they are so hands on with the game the bottom line is they shouldn't have had to come on at all. They shouldn't have had to get involved with this stupidity. That is one thing I can say about ANet and the Guild Wars staff in particular. They have got to be one of the best with customer service and player attention in the industry. Still I would also like to point out that this situation could end up harming that great record as well. Honestly they were cool a bout it this time but if they continuely have to get online to handle BS like this then the end result is going to be a Boy Who Cried Wolf situation where they will end up having too many of these petty situations on their hands to get to the important stuff, or they will have to set up a strict prioritization routine in order to distinguish issues of merit versus this pathetic attention getting ploy. Anytime you have to institue a protocol then you automatically add to the time required to handle any given situation simply because you have to use the protocol to assess the situation which in turn takes time. I'm glad everyone was amused by this but honestly I think this whole debacle just cheapened the entire game. If this sort of crap continues I'm honestly thinking about going up to Gamestop and seeing if I can get my money back on my Factions pre order because if this sort of BS is the trend now then I can only imagine it's going to get worse when the new expansion hits.

I certainly don't agree with you. By do what they did they have recognised a valid concern in the general gaming community. They have given the hint that maybe some players will want to rethink their strategy. Of course I think the main offenders probably missed the not so subtle hint, but nonetheless, I think people will become a little more aware of the fact that monk abuse is a problem in game. Furthermore they seemed to suggest that quitting was completely a feasible, and LOGICAL, option. I have never done it before (yes threatened but never gone through with it) because I always feel guilty, especially if there is only ONE bad egg in the group. Quitting will hopefully show people that monks are serious about not putting up with the BS that we have had to put up with for a very long time.
This has been a VALID problem for a VERY LONG time. And Anet's actions have plenty of good, and no harm.

LOL - I'm in agreement with TPAM - Anet has no doubt had a very good laugh about this.

Esprit · Feb 25, 2006, 03:06 AM // 03:06

In all honesty, the devs showing up only soothed the masses. As soon as they left or went afk, the same stuff that's been going on all day, started again.

Gaile attempted to divert attention to Lion's Arch, but that was overwhelmed quickly.

Gaile typed out a few lines for Warriors to not rush ahead, but it should have been applied to everyone.

Oh well, we did get some more info on Factions, so I do not complain.

D.E.V.i.A.N.C.E · Feb 25, 2006, 03:18 AM // 03:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mellia Darkstar

Let's see what happend today that didnt affect anyone else's gameplay :
Can't get in group wiht all the spamming
Monks bitching when being invited when you didnt know if he was on strike or not
Monks joining fight to rage quit
Monks joining to quit during mission
Alot of bad language, rude bahavior, screaming, yelling and agains spamming
Monks, at one point eles, asking money to join a party.

Why I don't think this strike was the best idea to get a message sent out? hmm Do i really need to explain? All this had happened today and we all know why it happened.

bandwagon jumpers and extremists... alot of people jump on opertuinities to gain wealth by explioting others, and then theres the extreme end of this protest where some guy becomes a dick with no purpose other than to hurt others. probly for pleasure...

We dont need generalzations of all Mo/--'s

but indeed not everyone wants to be civilized in an internet game community.

Str0b0 · Feb 25, 2006, 03:24 AM // 03:24

Whether ANet is taking this situation seriously or not I for one find it disgusting. In fact I find several areas of this game underpoliced by the developers. The fact of the matter is the person in charge of balance in the game should be more concerned about second party item sales than popping in to "have a few laughs" with a group of idiot monk players. God knows even BNet punished people for this sort of infraction with account banning and then the ever popular Ruststorm to get rid of duped items and other illegal goodies. I'd be happier if they took a more aggressive stance against the sort of crap that cheapens the game instead of laughing it up. Why should I continue to pay their salaries with my consumer dollars if they aren't going to actually police their own virtual world with any sort of efficiency. Honestly it wouldn't be that difficultwhere gold is concerned. Items perhaps but gold would be easy. I'm assuming, like most online games these days, that all the information regarding individual characters and the accounts they are linked to is held in a database. That means that attributes associated with that character would have have their own fields within the database. Ok well if the field associated with the gold held on a particular character linked to a particular account suddenly jumps up by 500K or more then it's painfully obvious that they bought that gold from a second party site particularly if their fields regarding inventory , storage and equipment don't change. All it would take is a simple database query running at a regular interval, say every hour or so, so as not to take up too many server resources. While this wouldn't nab them all it would get most of them and it would help identify the accounts used by second party gold sellers and allow them to be banned. Items are a trickier situation and I suppose we'll just have to suffer through that.

EDIT: If Anet would give me one good reason why they are letting so much of this junk slide and not acting, just one good reason, I'd reconsider my stance but as it is now it seems to me that if they have enough time to come in and yuck it up with some stupid strike then they have enough time to do some real work on the balance of the game.

XvArchonvX · Feb 25, 2006, 03:28 AM // 03:28

My guildmate (Eremis Nightfall) cracked me up when he told me about a new skill they should make for monks. He said it should be called 'Monk Frenzy' when used it will make all nearby monks stand around uselessly feeling unapreciated.

Wessels · Feb 25, 2006, 03:29 AM // 03:29

Quote:

I certainly don't agree with you. By do what they did they have recognised a valid concern in the general gaming community. They have given the hint that maybe some players will want to rethink their strategy. Of course I think the main offenders probably missed the not so subtle hint, but nonetheless, I think people will become a little more aware of the fact that monk abuse is a problem in game. Furthermore they seemed to suggest that quitting was completely a feasible, and LOGICAL, option. I have never done it before (yes threatened but never gone through with it) because I always feel guilty, especially if there is only ONE bad egg in the group. Quitting will hopefully show people that monks are serious about not putting up with the BS that we have had to put up with for a very long time.
This has been a VALID problem for a VERY LONG time. And Anet's actions have plenty of good, and no harm.

Agreed . I wouldn't go as far as to go on strike or whatever , but it is annoying how many insults get thrown at the monk ( there are folks starting a monk actually deleting it after a while due to the amount of insults ). I doubt the same can be said for any other class . Having said that : I stopped doing any mission from desert onward with PUGs ( in part for the reason stated ) and do those with guildies only . One might say this is wrong , but playing a game is about having fun and getting abused and insulted constantly is not my idea of fun.

Juicey Shake · Feb 25, 2006, 03:33 AM // 03:33

I got into d1 at around 2 pm PST[pretty easily], grouped with 7 wammos and took them to piken square. We then had tea and cookies, and I went on my monk-ish ways.

AeroLion · Feb 25, 2006, 03:36 AM // 03:36

Str0b0, you are exactly what is wrong with this game. Lighten the heck up. If Anet people want to take a break and come interact/fool around with people that play their game, then all the better. At least then you know that those in charge actually do enjoy Guild Wars since it *is* a game and the whole point of it, no matter what anyone says, is to have *fun!*

Lazarus · Feb 25, 2006, 03:40 AM // 03:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by XvArchonvX

Lazarus, I bet you never thought this would turn out as big as it did, hehe.

- Lugh Kavanagh

As I said before, it's been the most fun I have ever had in this game. My monk was the first character I ever made for GW during the first week of the game, and I have played him for most of game time.

At first I thought this would only last a few hours and disapate once people had blown off some steam. I knew it had potential when it went past 3 PM EST though. A few of the monks that had been in there all day were still keeping things going so I took some time off from the picket line.

I came back just in time to see Isaiah (a fellow monk BTW). He said "It's not every day a group of people gather at a remote outpost and start screaming." I guess he is working really hard of the up coming rebalance and wanted to blow some steam too. Lord knows he has the right. He wanted to know our favorite monk skill and secondary class, then he organized some synced dancing and played follow the leader.

Of course through out the day I saw too many people get nasty about the whole deal. I say CHILL OUT! It's game, and if you are not having fun you are not playingit right.

Laz

Bodhisativa · Feb 25, 2006, 03:40 AM // 03:40

Let's all remember a couple of basics here, we all love this game and although it snowballed out of sheer curosity, this isn't about classes, it's about respect. Our beloved community thrives on courtesy, and when discriminatory, hateful, derogotory, slanderous, or rude comments and behaviour enter into the game, we all suffer. I support this strike in all it's nonsense and absurdity merely because we all need to respect each other more both in game and out.

Str0b0 · Feb 25, 2006, 03:45 AM // 03:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by AeroLion

Str0b0, you are exactly what is wrong with this game. Lighten the heck up. If Anet people want to take a break and come interact/fool around with people that play their game, then all the better. At least then you know that those in charge actually do enjoy Guild Wars since it *is* a game and the whole point of it, no matter what anyone says, is to have *fun!*

Well that is certainly your opinion and you are entitled to it. I don't agree with you. In fact I think people like me are the only ones that hold true to the way the game is supposed to be played, without all the ridiculous BS and all the cheating and all the imbalance. It's people like me who defend the party monk when they are catching hell from some incautious warrior who drew entirely too much aggro down on themselves, at least until this whole fiasco. It's people like me that would love to just have fun if it weren't for everyone else out acting the fool. Now I'm all for the Arena Net people enjoying the fruits of their labor but don't come into the game in official capacity just go goof off. If those two reported to me trust me there would be some ass chewing involved if I found out they goofed off when they were supposed to be on the job. Trust me I'm not just ranting here. I've rattled off about twenty e-mails to various industry publications and to A Net themselves regarding the issues I've brought up here. While you may say myself and people like me are responsible for making the game unfun at least we have the backbone and the gumption to actually try to institute change through proper channels instead of staging some goofy in game strike or just pissing and moaning about it on a forum.

EDIT: Ok strike the A Net E-mail. They apparently want to make themselves difficult to get in touch with so guess what? I'm actually going to write snail mail. That's right snail mail.

SisterMercy · Feb 25, 2006, 03:46 AM // 03:46

Lighten up. It's all meant in good fun. And maybe the occasional "Mesmer foes = monks 'not doing their job'" and other things back & forth made people think a little, on occasion. It was also a good way to burn off frustration. I know one W/Mo and I were trading off jabs for a good while, letting off steam and both having a good time.

Quote:

Me: [Rambo W/Mo: "OMG, UR so n00b! *ping* *ping* *ping* 'Rambo W/Mo is dead!' *ping* *ping* *ping*"]

He: [Sob sob, look at Sister crying all the way to the bank!]

Me: [Rambo W/Mo: "I'm wielding a Big Stick of Thumping and a Handful of Poo! Leeeeeeeeeeerrroooooooyyy 4ever!!!!"]

He: [Yeah, I'll just draw a few mesmers on you and see how you like it.]

Don't worry, we were sending smilie whispers too. No feelings were harmed in the making of this exchange.

GW hasn't had an "event" for a little while. Okay, only a month and a half. But that's no reason why we can't have a little spontaneous whimsy.

Jenosavel · Feb 25, 2006, 03:59 AM // 03:59

St0b0, I think you might be forgetting that as a community relations person, it's Gaile's job to be perusing the forums, randomly hopping in game, and generally making sure she knows what's happening in the player community. What happened today was the last thing from her goofing off.

It's no new thing for monks complain about abuse, especially in THK, so when it all finally culminated in today's little display (which we all should have seen coming, steam needed to be let off one way or another, no matter how seriously you take things) it would only make sense for her to respond to it. I really can't remember the last time we saw Izzy make an appearance like he did today, so you're going to have a real hard time convincing me that he has a problem of goofing off when he should be working.

ANet cares about their customers and their game so much that they have a dedicated section of personel to make in-game appearances. Try not to get up-in-arms when they show up in-game over even small disturbances. It's their job: what else would you have them do? Randomly jump into instances to make sure everyone's behaving and swing the old ban-stick?

Studio Ghibli · Feb 25, 2006, 04:13 AM // 04:13

Strobo,

This is what you've said:

"You're allowed to have fun, though only the way I'm having fun."

Seriously. Lighten up.

What's your problem with THK?

Someone decided to be a goof, and people like me decided to join in. I had fun doing it. My friends had fun doing it. If me having fun with the game I purchased is a problem with you, maybe you need to write another letter or ten to your official channels.

Well, that, or enjoy the game with us.

SisterMercy · Feb 25, 2006, 04:13 AM // 04:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenosavel

... It's their job: what else would you have them do? Randomly jump into instances to make sure everyone's behaving and swing the old ban-stick?

Well, there were a few calls to nerf Gaile, but I'm sure it was just a spelling mistake....

Str0b0 · Feb 25, 2006, 04:15 AM // 04:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenosavel

Try not to get up-in-arms when they show up in-game over even small disturbances. It's their job: what else would you have them do? Randomly jump into instances to make sure everyone's behaving and swing the old ban-stick?

Honestly I think a little judicious banning here and there and some suprise visits to monitor the game icognito would be just the thing to put some people in line. Still that's my opinion and obviously not everyone agrees with me here which is your right. I'll respect the opinion of everyone on here but respecting that opinion does not mean I have to agree with it. Point of fact is I don't. Still I'm handling it my way which is to try to write informed responses and to avoid abusive name calling and other cheap tactics. I'm writing to A Net about some of my grievances and I can only hope they get back to me. I'm writing to some game magazines to maybe stimulate some thought. Honestly each time something this unique is done in the gaming industry it's a test bed for future applications. Hopefully this will allow them to better plan for some of these things. While they certainly can't cater to everyone, too many cooks and all that, if a large enough segment of gamers voice similar opinions maybe things will get fixed. Still if no one ever complained about things then nothing would ever change. So like me or hate me at least I am a catalyst for change which in and of itself can be good or bad. Only time will tell.

maina · Feb 25, 2006, 04:33 AM // 04:33

Both the Monk strike and this forum are what I love about this game. My girlfriend was sad she missed it with her monk (she was at work). Though she has never had the problems that seem to be causing this strike.

I don't see monks, I see players. If he/she is a bad monk, but a good player, the'll get better. If that person is a great monk but a bad player, they are still going to ruin my enjoyment. Doesn't matter the class, the person behind the class (or lack of) does. I will always remember I sucked WAY worse as an ele when I started than now, so can others. If the player is fun to play with, I don't care if I'm party chatting while face down in dirt.

Few Rants and I'm done.

--Respect-- I beleave everyone gets some, the rest is earned or lost by actions. I hold this true for myself as well as EVERYONE who is not me.

--I'm always an Ele, if I die I don't blame the monk ever. I usually blame the designer of the armor.

--Monk, if I die, don't blame me right away, it could be the way the armor doesn't cover even a quarter of me.

--If I advertise for a batt necro, it's not always for you.

--If aggro breaks and everything is attacking me, don't call me a noob for running out of your range. You want me to bring them to you?

--You need a recharge, I need a recharge! I'll never rush a fellow caster. (mez included)

--I play with people, not with classes. Monks get the same respect in my groups as anyone else.

I guess I'm sorry that some people have had the bad experiences that caused them to strike (the non-flameing trolls, and wannabes, that is). Believe it or not there are lots of us out there who have nothing to do with all this.

Monks or any other class, You have my respect until YOU do something to lose it, not your class, or build (to much), or skill as a player. Only you the person.

I support the strike I guess, only in so much as, people need more "nice" and more "respect" in and out of their lives.

thanks for your time,

maina

Isildur The Paladin · Feb 25, 2006, 04:47 AM // 04:47

Some people even got banned for the strike

General Typhus · Feb 25, 2006, 04:51 AM // 04:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isildur The Paladin

Some people even got banned for the strike

I'm glad to hear that.

This is so utterly childish that I can'tcomprehend who masterminded it. Probably a few ranting of guildies that snowballed into this.

I hope the strike is supressed with suspensions. This will only further tarnish monks' reputations.