Curse

Kaleban · Aug 08, 2012, 07:08 PM // 19:08

A weird title I know, but this idea includes a few different rationales.

Here's the thing, when GW2 goes live at the end of the month, there will likely be a large exodus of GW1 players, causing the game to be even more empty than normal.

Now some of us may continue to play GW1, because of the HoM, or just liking the environment and gameplay.

With the dearth of players, the GW1 economy is going to go all out of whack. For example, right now you can acquire sweets and alcohol for around 120g per point. For those that stay in GW1, these types of items, along with everything from crafting mats to weapons will see a marked decrease in supply, which may or may not be commensurate with the decrease in demand. Suffice to say, I predict that demand will outstrip supply more than it does now, and the price of everything will skyrocket.

To alleviate this issue, along with making it easier for returning or even new GW1 players to get a good start on their HoM (and especially for consumable based titles), here is what I propose (and remember this is all after GW2 goes live):

1. Probably the most grind required title is the Lucky/Unlucky combo. To that effect, leave the Shing Jea Boardwalk permanently open allowing players to relatively quickly grind out these two titles on Nine Rings.

2. ALL droppable items from ALL events can always drop from any mob. This means that post GW2 launch, any random mob can drop a four leaf clover, a ghost in the box, a bottle of grog, etc., etc. The events themselves, such as Halloween and Christmas still occur as normal, but just allow mobs to drop the full spectrum of "festive" items for the Sweet/Drunkard/Party title grind.

3. ALL weekend events are "turned on" permanently. So at any time you will always be able to get double Luxon/Kurzick, double EoTN ranks, double Balthazar, tournament reward points, gladiator, fame, etc., etc. Since the PvP titles are the most difficult to accumulate, and probably more so post GW2 launch with the lack of players (HA for example is already quite dead) I don't see the problem with making it easier for those who stay and play and for those who are new to at least be rewarded if and when they can get a group together. By keeping the entire spectrum of weekend events always "on" this relieves the onus on ANet to worry about updating the login message as well as making sure the right event is working.

I don't think any of this is too controversial, and may even serve to keep interest in GW1, along with the shop and microtransactions alive because people will still play.

[edit] 4. May be overkill with the above, but remove loot scaling entirely so each mob killed sees an explosion of item drops. It would be like the Cow Level all the time!

[edit2] 5. To help with PvPing, why not allow players the option to fight bots in the various PvP arenas when there are no other players available? I realize this comes closer to PvE, but if ANet got some Unreal Tournament AI for the bots, it would still be fun. Its going to be difficult to predict the state of GW1's economy post GW2 release, but I can't even imagine what the PvP side of GW1 will look like at the end of the month.

carnage-runner · Aug 08, 2012, 07:25 PM // 19:25

I'm totally ok with this. This would be hilarious and I'd love to see the outcome. I think people would play just to play. It would also give me a chance to finish off a few titles. Though, I have a more reasonable proposal. Have your weekend rewards changed. Have it so that each weekend is a different set of rewards. 1 weekend is Double rep points (Lux/Kurz/EotN/SS/LB/Luck/Unluck[maybe treasure wisdom to make that more you know.. good..]), have another weekend as PVP only, then another one with all the drops (festival, double greens, etc.) Once a month, for a week, open up the boardwalk and all the other festival events. This way it's not too easy, but decidedly easier than how it is now. Meh...
It won't happen, but it would be kinda fun.

**cosyfiep** · Aug 08, 2012, 07:25 PM // 19:25

/not signed
most people already have their titles, those that dont can go thru the same grind the rest of us did (halloween and wintersday are right around the corner)....why should 'new' players get everything handed to them on a silver platter when those of us who have been around for years had to sit thru 9 rings, do nic runs, etc for the goodies?
and
for the 'reward' you get in gw2, I dont think its worth it.

Kaleban · Aug 08, 2012, 07:45 PM // 19:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosyfiep

/not signed
most people already have their titles, those that dont can go thru the same grind the rest of us did (halloween and wintersday are right around the corner)....why should 'new' players get everything handed to them on a silver platter when those of us who have been around for years had to sit thru 9 rings, do nic runs, etc for the goodies?
and
for the 'reward' you get in gw2, I dont think its worth it.

Why should it bother 'old' players who have moved on to GW2 and don't care about the state of the game in GW1? Seems quite childish and selfish, especially when you consider, as I layed out in my OP, that with a good chunk of the playerbase migrating to GW2, it will be that much more difficult to PvP in GW1 for example, or buy consumables from other players.

Plus, there are some who may choose to stick with GW1, just as a bunch of people who tried D3 went back to D2.

I will never understand the mindset of some people who enjoy exclusionary tactics for their own e-peen reasons. There's nothing wrong with leaving the Boardwalk open for example, since the same amount of time spent sitting on a ring will have to be endured by a new player, just in a condensed overall timeframe. And ANet has already set these kinds of precedents with the revamp to the Survivor title and the changes to Pre-Searing with the LDoA title.

And with the exodus of players, it will be MORE difficult for players to achieve the same things 'old' players did, lesser overall playerbase means fewer players farming ectos, festive items, etc. which means new players will have to pay exorbitant prices for the things 'old' players got cheaply and easily.

Captain Bulldozer · Aug 08, 2012, 08:31 PM // 20:31

I think your suggestion is pretty extreme. However, you do perhaps have a point about certain things being more rare in game. It still remains to be seen just how hard it will be to max titles like Sweet Tooth after the release of GW2. Rather than what you propose, I'd be more in favor of simply increasing the drop rates during the regular events. Making the bonus to reputation permanent is completely unnecessary, as all the rep titles (with the possible exception of Kurzick/Luxon) are easy to do without any special weekend bonuses. Leaving the Boardwalk on full time doesn't make much sense either... those titles actualy grant in game advantages that existing veteran players have never gotten due to the difficulty of leveling up lucky/unlucky. So, over all I have to say /notsigned.

Kaleban · Aug 08, 2012, 09:04 PM // 21:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain Bulldozer

I think your suggestion is pretty extreme. However, you do perhaps have a point about certain things being more rare in game. It still remains to be seen just how hard it will be to max titles like Sweet Tooth after the release of GW2. Rather than what you propose, I'd be more in favor of simply increasing the drop rates during the regular events. Making the bonus to reputation permanent is completely unnecessary, as all the rep titles (with the possible exception of Kurzick/Luxon) are easy to do without any special weekend bonuses. Leaving the Boardwalk on full time doesn't make much sense either... those titles actualy grant in game advantages that existing veteran players have never gotten due to the difficulty of leveling up lucky/unlucky. So, over all I have to say /notsigned.

All the counter arguments assume that the GW1 population is static, and that the game itself will be "live" for another 7 to 8 years. If either proposition is false (which is likely) then "accelerated" acquisition of titles including the Lucky/Unlucky titles is not only a good idea, it is fairness incarnate!

The ingame advantage of Lucky/Unlucky isn't that high, and assumes all players are chestrunning all the time, which they are not. It also doesn't make sense for new players, having no access to cheap lockpicks and an abysmal post GW2 economy to have to slog through the same trials as old players.

Just to re-cap, old players are moving on to GW2, so the argument that its unfair is stupidly pointless because they're gone and have no further effect or influence on the GW1 world. Its like me complaining that I don't own the American railroad system because I wasn't around to compete with the Rockefellers. The idea that new players have to have the same challenges is fine, if you take into account the fact that what old players took for granted (pre-loot scaling, ecto prices in the sub 5k range, speed clearing with full human teams, etc., etc.) will not be generally available to new players. Therefore for new players to have the same access as old players and to be completely fair, the game world and its economy would have to be modified to account for the barren nature of a scarce player environment.

**cosyfiep** · Aug 08, 2012, 09:20 PM // 21:20

its not for me e-peen, I just want to continue to play gw...I dont want it dumped to a state of 'its all for gw2' idea---gw1 is a GOOD game on its own. There is no reason to push people to play another game by making everything easy, heck why not just add a 50/50 item in the cash shop and be done with it?
the Hom was made to give something to those old veteran guildwars players for their time spent playing.
I have no plans to move on to gw2, and will continue to play guildwars....having additional junk drop just so people can get something for another game?????

also many of us OLD players did NOT get things cheaply nor easily---I sat thru every event for my alcohol, sweet and party points, I NEVER bought ANY from another player, I played during events for drops, that was the way the game was supposed to be played. I never got fow armor (its ughly as bleep), and the FEW ectos I have came from my OWN trips to the uw. New players can get sweets and alcohol from the merchants or wait for events that drop them (or farm the dungeon that drops them)...just like some of us old timers did.

I have no problems with leaving the broadwalk open a weekend each month (was suggested many times over many years).
and if they wanted to give all the new players a quick way to get those titles--why not a week before the sequel have a huge party where things like those 50pt sweets and party points drop??? a big send off for those quitting the game and moving to a totally new one? (since as you mentioned NO ONE will be playing guildwars come september)

Kaleban · Aug 08, 2012, 09:44 PM // 21:44

I didn't say no one, what I said is that its probable there will be a sizable reduction in the player base, meaning that the economy as it is now will probably be flipped on its head.

Not to mention the state of PvP with even fewer players than there are now. Lets say a new player who buys GW1 in September would like to HA and max out his Fame, how exactly will he go about that? With a scarce player environment, thats content many may NEVER see.

I do have a question though. Why is it so important to you that any new players experience the exact same level of hardship/difficulty that you did, if its not for your e-peen and enjoying exclusionary play practices?

Obviously you're not involved in ANet's design philosophy meetings, because several aspects of the game that have been changed have served to make the game MORE accessible and easy as the game has aged and new players have flowed in. The changes to Survivor and LDoA titles, or the introduction of PvE skills are perfect examples.

Again, it makes no logical or rational sense to deny new players the ability to acquire titles and in game wealth at the same rate as old players, however with the lack of a reliable trading environment due to a low player count, that is unlikely to happen both from a trading standpoint AND the ability to complete high end PvE and PvP content with human players.

Ayuhmii Shanbwa · Aug 08, 2012, 11:17 PM // 23:17

sry cosyfiep, but thats overreacting, the "we had to do it a harder way, so they should too" and if you dont like the drops, then dont pick em up

then these drops dont make the game itself easier, so no harm to players who stay in GW, like myself
and since the game is already boring "community wise", i think this would be nice to feed players some stuff they can use and/or sell (and buy if they dont wanna farm, or always have full bags)

actually, i prefer using sugary stuff with boosts to get sweet tooth over spamming intown sugary stuff, same with clovers, as i'd like to get lucky maxed one day with just using those

anyway, it wont hurt the game, and its the same as 7 hero, as people will first DOOOOM (thats how people call it sometimes) over it, then after a while, they can enjoy it alot
and 7 hero was a much bigger change (as it actually was a whole game change, not just drops)

also, its not just cuz of GW2 that people leave, its also cuz there will be more newer games and people get tired of old games one day, and need a big break from it
no matter what game, not just GW has that

i keep playing GW, and as long as anet gets profit (which sometimes gets better by changing and giving stuff) they wont shut it down, so making people happy in GW would do alot to their resources which they can use for GW and GW2

some people dont like changes, but they will either get over it, or have to live with it by not using it at all
i bet there's some people who dont even use heroes (or 7 heroes), cuz they prefer hench or NOT using heroes cuz they had bad times with it, or any other reason they have

as long as changes wont harm the ways we can play GW, its not gonna destroy the game or such, thats just a fact
it may change some community stuff, but thats up to the ones playing the game

**cosyfiep** · Aug 08, 2012, 11:24 PM // 23:24

alternatively it makes no sense to hand people things on a silver platter....why should new people get everything EASY when the rest of us PLAYED THE GAME as it was intended...kind of like BUYING gold to get your points....

anets 'design philosophy' came into being when they were working on gw2 and knew that many players would stay with gw even after release, so they wanted to make the game more solo-player friendly, and obviously you are not involved in those meeting either---we can only speculate as to their reasonings on many things.

yes, pvp will be even more difficult to get anywhere (not that is its much better right now with the elitists over there----)....BUT it will also give those of us pvp-noobs a chance to play pvp with out being told we are (insert bad descriptive word here). which would be a chance that hasnt existed since guildwars came out!

as for the economy.....it was shot many many years ago (kind of like the real economy)...having to use sites like ours or spamming in kamadan all day long just arent very good ways of making an economy work.

Perkunas · Aug 08, 2012, 11:45 PM // 23:45

I can see opening the game up some, but not too much. Don't give everything in a week or two that was otherwise obtained in months.

Undoing the loot scaling would be fine. Restore 600/smite. Increase drop/salvage rates of rare materials, especially the various gems. Give all NPC traders "unlimited" supplies with fixed prices (fixed at the prices when implemented).

The weekend specials, rotate daily(?). Use "sign posts" like the "Z" posts to see what the daily is.

Another thought;
Reduce the districts, American, European, Asian, International to one or two more centralized district(s). Perhaps with fewer districts, people could interact more, maybe, making it possible to generate an occasional PvP match.

Open the game a bit, but don't open the floodgates.

ultimak719 · Aug 08, 2012, 11:52 PM // 23:52

I like the idea of condensing the weekend events. Like a loot weekend a rep weekend, a pvp weekend, etc. But I think undoing the loot scaling would be too much. This would make everything easier for those returning for just some fun, helps people wanting to finish up titles for hom and would honestly hep to keep the few people who still play happy. Condensing the servers also seems like a good idea too.

akelarumi · Aug 09, 2012, 12:30 AM // 00:30

Hmmmmm

I think this idea would make GW1 go dead earlier then later. The great power behind GW1 has been the titles and achievements (as far as I know nobody in the world got all titles max+50/50. So that would include the pvp-titles at max as well as the lucky/unlucky ones). The main content including elite zones can be done in 1 months if your play with realy experienced players that want to take you with them and get to that point.

So the interest in GW1 (beside the social interaction) is mostly title based. I have been alright (though agregated) by the way they made titles easier to make gw2 more interested for people. And even though I will be mostly playing GW2, I hope that GW1 will be activly enough to last for atleast several years and open for me to return and have fun when im bound to my crappy laptop.

So cause I strongly believe your measures are going to be counterproductive I say /notsigned

tagus · Aug 09, 2012, 04:11 AM // 04:11

I think it's a great idea.

People put too much stock in their accomplishments in MMO's... I've seen this same scenario play out in other MMO's I've been obsessed with when I was younger. As time moves on, older players don't want to continue grinding to keep up with the newest and best things, so they tend to put their value on things they've already accomplished... and lament the ease with which those same accomplishments can now be had by newer players. There's nothing wrong with that mentality necessarily, but when games get old and remain time consuming, they stagnate and people lose interest in them.

Long story short, nobody's going to want to grind away in GW1 once GW2 is released. The only reason people will be playing GW1 after the end of this month is purely for the love of the game, which isn't going to diminish if game accomplishments become less of a hassle.

Lordkrall · Aug 09, 2012, 06:22 AM // 06:22

So you more or less want the birthday event that we had earlier this year to be permanent?

I would say no.

If people want stuff they will simply have to work for it. Like the rest of us (keep in mind that I am not at 50/50 in HoM not even close)

Captain Bulldozer · Aug 09, 2012, 07:11 AM // 07:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaleban

All the counter arguments assume that the GW1 population is static, and that the game itself will be "live" for another 7 to 8 years. If either proposition is false (which is likely) then "accelerated" acquisition of titles including the Lucky/Unlucky titles is not only a good idea, it is fairness incarnate!

I made no such assumption. Assuming the population would be static would be foolish, since the population has already declined a huge amount in recent years. Whether or not guild wars 2 is releasing in a few weeks wouldn't change the fact that the game has not had any serious new content for 5 years. As for the game being live for another few year... who knows? People are still playing Diablo 2 and Everquest... so I could see GW staying open for a while yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaleban

The ingame advantage of Lucky/Unlucky isn't that high, and assumes all players are chestrunning all the time, which they are not. It also doesn't make sense for new players, having no access to cheap lockpicks and an abysmal post GW2 economy to have to slog through the same trials as old players.

Even if the game population should drop significantly, people will still own towns and outposts in Factions, which is where the cheap lockpicks come from. They will still be easily available. The advantages of lucky/unlucky are strong even if people aren't chest running all the time as they offer significant advantages to the INDIVIDUAL player (which just emphasizes the effect on the economy, which presumably is the only concern you have).

In general, I'm in favor of making some parts of the game easier when the population drops below a certain level. Things like DoA and UW perhaps could be made more friendly to hero parties, since groups will be harder to come by. End chest drops could be increased somewhat to help the rare materials flowing in. However, I'm simply not in favor of the massive "easy mode" you're proposing.

Think about it. The boardwalk has been open just a few times PER YEAR for the last 6 years. You're proposing making it open 365 times per year. That's more than its been open in the entire history of guild wars by a factor of like 20! Getting reputation titles is quite easy now and in no way depends on the number of players in the game (with the possible exception of always Kurzick/Luxon, which I have always maintained is too hard). Like many others I too saved up my festival drops (farming like crazy) to get my titles. over the years it has been made easier and easier to get these titles. If a-net sees fit to increase the drop rate during festivals I'd be ok with that, but once again your suggestion is quite excessive. You seem to want to be able to suddenly get GWAMM and 50/50 in a month which is completely nonsensical. So once again:

/notsigned to your suggestions (though I'd be ok with SOME adjustments if the live-team sees fit).

Gill Halendt · Aug 09, 2012, 07:13 AM // 07:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by akelarumi

So cause I strongly believe your measures are going to be counterproductive I say /notsigned

Agree.

The game in its current state ain't interesting enough to allow this and would get boring quickly. Once titles/accomplishments are completed, there would be no reason beyond nostalgia/love to stay.

So, well, if people feel a special bond with the game, they will stay regardless.

Winner · Aug 09, 2012, 07:37 AM // 07:37

/notsigned
Probably the worst suggestion I've ever seen.
There is one big flaw in your way of thinking. That is the assumption that people will actually move to GW 2. I asked tons of OLD and ACTIVE players and NONE of them likes nor wants to get GW 2.
Although it shares the name with guild wars, GW 2 has nothing to do with it. You could also say: "people will quit GW to move on the next WoW expansion." It just makes no sense at all.

Game is supposed to be played. You're not supposed to be lazy and do nothing and get all the rewards (whic his what you're suggesting in your post). If you ever really wanted those titles (pve or pvp) you would've already worked hard to get them. I'm just tired of all those lazy people who just say: "Oh this is too hard, no one wants to help me so I won't do it." If you simply play and love and enjoy the game you'll eventually EARN all your titles and have fun doing so. There is no need to make anything easier than it already is.
My point is simple: just play and enjoy the game.

Bristlebane · Aug 09, 2012, 08:28 AM // 08:28

Even though I bought GW2, I'm still gonna stay in GW1, and I do not like your suggestion.. it's way overkill !

It's ok to ease up on the titles a bit though, but not so extremely as you suggest.

Wielder Of Magic · Aug 09, 2012, 09:40 AM // 09:40

As always its the same people that come in threads like this crying about how they want everything in the game for free.
How predictable.
People that will play GW for the love of GW won't give a shit about the titles, they will simply play for the story.
Those that DO play for titles will be dedicated enough to put some effort into them, so the title feels like an achievement.
These two groups will be the ( and already are ) majority of the GW playerbase.
The crybabies on these forums are ( thankfully ) a minority.
In the end you just want the same titles as others, but you do not want to put the same amount of time and dedication into it as others did.
So is it anything more then jealousy over our pixels combined with lazyness?
Either go play the game if you want the titles, relax if you don't care about them, or simply shut up if you just want an easy GWAMM button to press.

/not signed