Public relations nightmare!

Who else thinks that Gaile will earn her money tomorrow when the masses wake up and see the new and improved drop rate? I for one don't think it will stay this way. This is the most fired up I have seen people since they changed how mob AI worked ( the nerf that really hurt 55 monking). I just don't know why Gaile and Anet said they were not against farming, but rather encouraged it as a valid form of game play. That is talking out of both sides of your mouth, since they continue to nerf it. This game is quickly changing from the game i fell in love with 21 months ago. I can't wait to see what happens next.

I'm really interested to see how they're going to respond :P

I am unsure what you're talking about. Overall, I see a nearly universal outpouring of appreciation for the update. I wonder if you're talking about a scaled drop rate. Guild Wars is a game that is clearly and fairly designed to support the social aspects of gameplay. Isn't it appropriate to support group play by increasing the amount of loot so that players get their fair share? I don't see it "disadvantaging" farmers so much as making things more fair for everyone.

Now, I saw this line when the notes were being circulated, and figured farmers would rejoice:

• Repeated map entry no longer reduces loot.

Isn't that message strongly in support of the notion that if you choose to farm, you'll have the freedom to do so?

It's obvious they lied, I remember that post well.

EDIT: Rejoice with the fact that we now get a 1/8 chance to get a green drop? Getting a green drop is almost impossible with an 8 man group even on the weekends where the drop rates are increased. I sometimes solo farm totem axes and a few other things in order to buy my characters 15k armor and my heroes stuff. On the average totem axe run I get 2 axes, now I will have to got out 8 more times just to get those same 2 axes.
I have about 12 ectos and 20 shards and I planned to get FOW armor, with the current system only the people that are already rich will ever get it.
And the loot for an 8 man team is NOT any different than it was before the update, in fact it don't seem to be quite as good.

The point that everyone is making is the 1/8 drop rate for solo farmers, that is what has everyone in a tizzy. Plz read the other post concerning this, most people i have talked to and read comments from were not happy.

I dont think soloing makes it unfair for everyone. Its sad that people who whine because they cant solo or don't wanna put the effot in, people who actually do it gets the unfair update. Yes, theirs bots and it sucks but anet can try to fix that. To do this to all solo farmers who do it fairly is bleh.
and why should we just be happy with the loot things and doesn't make up for it in imo.

so... anti farm code down... yet drop rate down too....

some people don't want to spend 2 hours trying to organize and find a group... when you get an hour or two every day or so to play... 15k armor here i come.

yay "making it fair for everyone"

Gaile - that has no bearing on this - farmers are aware of that restriction already and work around it.
They rotate farm spots even between chapters to look like a normal player.
It was like it wasnt' there for them.

Are you seriously saying that full groups of 8 people will actually farm together the same map/place again and again and again. It won't happen.

Repeated map entry doesn't come near to negating the loot division ratio drop.

Simple math 1/8 <<<<<<< 1/1

Damn it - Anet gave many of us a reason to hate this update, I'm not even a farmer and I feel screwed over because sometimes I like to up the challenge by bringing less hero'es, henchies, PUG people in a group - now theres absolutely 0% advantage in doing that.
Why bother to make it even harder for yourself for no reward....

And not a whisper about this before the update..... gg - I know in your heart of hearts you knew there would be a reaction like this.

i just dont understand the way of thinking at anet. they see their customers quietly enjoying themselves doing things the game allows but the developers didnt quite expect and they say "hey we didn't design this game for that" and they nerf it, irregardless of the fact that people were, like i said, enjoying it.

so while we have the freedom to continue doing so, it just isnt worth it anymore. and this applies to farming as well as fun builds in pve and pvp. everything basically.

at any rate, i wish them good luck at taking a really good game and killing it. kinda sad. i did like it a lot but everyone has their limits, mine was realized a while back.

i hope you guys don't go back to blizzard. im having fun there. don't want your dirty hands touching that game.

First of all, I can solo and I don't think it's too much of an effort, I just don't like to do it. As a person who enjoys doing missions with others and running quests, I've always felt VERY left out of the swing of things because it seems like only farmers can get high-end items and armor. They're the only ones who could afford it, and only because they got the drops of the entire group whenever they went out and killed things. Sure, I could do that too, but I don't like to. I LIKE the social aspect of the game, and it just seemed so unfair that playing the game like it was meant to be played yielded less drops than playing it alone.

You know, it's sad to see that so many people play this game just for the loot and money.... what about the actual challenge of the game? Playing alone is fun, when you're trying to test your skills against the environment. Reducing that challenge's worth to how much loot you get just seems silly and pointless.
And hey, you can still solo. Now you'll just be getting the same amount of drops as the rest of us.

I think this update is just great. Thank you so much Anet, and Gaile, I'm with you guys on this one.

Personally I think nerfering solo farming is a good thing, because it goes against the idea of an online game, but I feel that Anet should have done more to premote team farming (e.g increasing the loot for each human in your team) this would work better for casual players who could play the game without worrying if he will have the money for armor.

Overrall, good update.

Explain why you need 15k armor.

I had no problem acquiring maximum armor with standard gameplay.

Explain why its in the game if not to attain? Sorry if this sounds like a flame but thats a completely illogical post and is just screaming for a response.

Because 15k armor is there and because after you complete the game it gives you something to work for. It keeps the game fun to try and get fancy armor.

This does beg the question; where exactly are you looking?

Personally I'm a big fan of the update. It is a drastic step against botting which unnaturally drives prices upwards, and encourages team play. Although I use encourage loosely, it more.. reduces the discouragement.

However I think I'm fairly safe in saying that this update has gone down badly amongst a large proportion of players. I certainly wouldn't be so bold as to say there was a 'nearly universal outpouring of appreciation'. It seems to me to be close to the opposite.

Well done glossing over the real issue. Playing with a group smaller than the maximum allowed in the zone = reduced number of drops. Trying to put a spin on it that implies you increased drops for larger teams just wont fly, and simply isn't the case.

You don't think that a solo farmer getting 1/8th of the usual drops from an 8 man zone is something of a 'disadvantage'?

I don't understand why they didnt just make it so that for each player on your list, the drop rates increase by x% instead of punishing those of us that do like to reduce the number of players. Everyone could have been happy.

The core problem with the solo farm nerf is that now the game goes from only solo farmers being able to buy Fissure armor, to nobody being able to buy Fissure armor.

The core cause of this problem is no Auction House in Guild Wars, hence solo farming was the only viable way to make money in Guild Wars. Now there is no viable way to make money in Guild Wars.

Putting in an Auction House would alleviate a good portion of the problem, but with no Auction House, solo farming was/is necessary.

I love the social aspect of this game also. I love getting into guild grps and what not. But sometimes I dont have the time to get a group together.
And soloing for me was part of the game to do as to fill in the time. I can only do missions and quests for so long.
everyone i have talked to about this update is complaining about it. Getting gold and loot is a big part of this game because its how you aquire the amor and weapons that you might want not everything should be easy to aquire.
Just because you might choose not do it then dont whine because someone else wants to.

Beats me. I dunno. Something to waste excessive amounts of money on? In every case, YOU DO NOT NEED IT.

But it takes time to get it. It's only for older characters and FOW gear is for those who where in the game from the start. Not something meant for newly rolled ones. Play the game.See it as a virtual adventuring world instead of a pile of numbers to increase. If you want numers, go earn some cash in real life.That's actually more useful.