Curse

IlikeGW · Aug 23, 2005, 01:24 AM // 01:24

"If you have suggestions for Guild Wars, we ask that you share them on one of our fansite forums. Forums are read daily, and ideas will be seen by the development team."

^ This is all I can find that relates to contacting them that isn't for tech support. If you want to delete this you'd better give me an email address for them first, because they say to use the fansites to speak to them (even though fansites edit, delete and censor complaints which is horribly unfair)

An Open Letter To ArenaNet:

Dear Sirs and Madams:

I first became interested in your game during the E3 event of 2004. What a novel marketing idea, to allow gamers INSIDE a game in development still for the first time live over the net, at an event that all we usually get is crappy screens and shaky cam videos out of. I was impressed at both this move, and the quality of the game. Sure it had a lot of rough edges (that I whole heartedly assumed would be polished to perfection in a release state) but I felt above all, this game was aiming to be fun. And in the early ease of switching between gameplay types, solo, pve, pvp... it WAS a ball. I enjoyed most everything about early versions of the game, but in particular PVP and the interviews given that collaborated exactly what I enjoyed about the game, had me jazzed.

GW was going to be a new phenom, I was sure of it. It already held up to being as engaging as any multiplayer game out there. I enjoyed it more than any FPS, strategy, team, or combined genre experience multiplayer game. And the early foundations and effort put into making it good are self evident even today.

What is baffling is what happened at release. A nightmarish system that means to get just skills for all classes each individual player has to spend potentially more than 600 real hours. What could have been the world's new favorite multiplayer game died within weeks of the backstabbing burden imposed by release. This could be no mere miscalculation... you don't go from saying skill over hours played... to requiring hundreds of forced hours fed ex'ing and such. The most likely scenario is that you came to realize PVP was not going to be affordable, and killed it silently. After all you're hosting it all yourself, and to have say 50,000 pvpers on constantly was probably too much money.

Whatever the reasons, the game is nothing short of a colossal heartbreak for me. To be a huge fan from E3 to release, then watch the very principles of the game broken... but the worst of it all... to have no acknowledgment WHY you fundamentally reversed the entire direction and guiding principle of the game... makes me feel horrible. It makes me feel like I'm dealing with dishonesty.

I notice your PVP Extreme event for this weekend. Three days of increased faction. Why three days? This is what stabs your customers in the heart. We trust you to be doing a positive thing for us and then you do it in a way that seems totally orientated towards your own, unstated, agenda. I'm tired of it. You've had every day since release to make amends to those you solicited the dollars from who bought the game for PVP. You haven't, and you've continually made excuses, even been antagonistic! Forget it. I can play a number of multiplayer games right now that are fun, gratifying, ENTERTAINING, and not grind and imbalance. I wish future GW players and Anet luck in finding the fun in this game, and heavily advise Anet to put it in the game if they want a future and to stop being a company based on perpetual marketing tricks. But I'm through getting "owned" by this company. Back to games that are fun, right now.

Aniewiel · Aug 23, 2005, 01:27 AM // 01:27

And this is a suggestion?

Quote:

Sardelac Sanitarium
For those in the Sanitarium, a fine line seperates genius and madness. Game Suggestions

Why not send this via email to ANet? Better chance of being read.

/closed