How happy are you with Guild Wars 2 right now?

[TheLastNobody.8319]

Unhappy, hadn’t played the game in months, friends almost bring me back into it after I started playing another game, was impressed.

 

Then the scourge bug fixes coupled with what they did to Reaper killed my enjoyment for my main, necromancer. Tried playing as a rev or engi, did enjoy it but couldn’t quite hook me. Then this whole mount debacle, the heavy cash shop emphasis, and all the timegates I keep running into pushed me out again. My friends soon stopped afterwards because after getting the griffon, they found they had nothing left they actually wanted to do.

[Ohoni.6057]

> @TexZero.7910 said:

> > @Chickenooble.5014 said:

> > > @TexZero.7910 said:

> > > They did drop the ball twice. For any game to retain players they need to have content in the game that is desirable and obtainable. PoF and HoT failed on this big time.

> > > Not only did that fail the apparent reasons given why we can't have nice things is it takes too long to create "Armor" yet they clearly had enough time and team resources to make 36 mount skins. Let that one sink in. We cannot have content because 36 skins are more important than the game itself.

> > >

> > > That right there is the problem. They have the most horribly imbalanced workload and artist staffing i've seen to date. Instead of taking half of those resources and putting them to the game they let 100% of that go to marketing. Let's hope that PR was worth the hit shall we.

> > I think there is a fundamental difference in the process of creating a new mount or glider vs. a new armor. A mount or skin is universal for all character types in the game -- male and female. To make a single mount skin it requires some texture mapping on an existing model. Other mount skins may tweak the mount or glider model, but that model is the same for all races and genders.

> >

> > An armor type is different. A single armor has multiple models it needs to function for; different races move and behave differently. Humans don't run on all four, Norn isn't ratty little big-headed things, Charr have tails, and so on. Then the male and female armor are different.

> >

> > So, yea, maybe the team that made 30 different mounts could've made some more armor... but then that armor would manifest itself as an Outfit. And we get outfits pretty regularly I feel. Have you been buying them?

> >

> >

>

> Missing the point. We have all these artist making "stuff" and yet how much of that "stuff" could have been rewards for playing the game. It doesn't matter what said stuff is, armor glider, mount etc...

>

> We can't have nice things yet somehow we have all these resources dedicate to the store when if half of that went into the game you'd see player retention increase and you'd see an overall positive feel in the community and more willingness to purchase because there's more choice.

>

 

But who would pay all those artists making that "stuff?"

[TexZero.7910]

> @Ohoni.6057 said:

> > @TexZero.7910 said:

> > > @Chickenooble.5014 said:

> > > > @TexZero.7910 said:

> > > > They did drop the ball twice. For any game to retain players they need to have content in the game that is desirable and obtainable. PoF and HoT failed on this big time.

> > > > Not only did that fail the apparent reasons given why we can't have nice things is it takes too long to create "Armor" yet they clearly had enough time and team resources to make 36 mount skins. Let that one sink in. We cannot have content because 36 skins are more important than the game itself.

> > > >

> > > > That right there is the problem. They have the most horribly imbalanced workload and artist staffing i've seen to date. Instead of taking half of those resources and putting them to the game they let 100% of that go to marketing. Let's hope that PR was worth the hit shall we.

> > > I think there is a fundamental difference in the process of creating a new mount or glider vs. a new armor. A mount or skin is universal for all character types in the game -- male and female. To make a single mount skin it requires some texture mapping on an existing model. Other mount skins may tweak the mount or glider model, but that model is the same for all races and genders.

> > >

> > > An armor type is different. A single armor has multiple models it needs to function for; different races move and behave differently. Humans don't run on all four, Norn isn't ratty little big-headed things, Charr have tails, and so on. Then the male and female armor are different.

> > >

> > > So, yea, maybe the team that made 30 different mounts could've made some more armor... but then that armor would manifest itself as an Outfit. And we get outfits pretty regularly I feel. Have you been buying them?

> > >

> > >

> >

> > Missing the point. We have all these artist making "stuff" and yet how much of that "stuff" could have been rewards for playing the game. It doesn't matter what said stuff is, armor glider, mount etc...

> >

> > We can't have nice things yet somehow we have all these resources dedicate to the store when if half of that went into the game you'd see player retention increase and you'd see an overall positive feel in the community and more willingness to purchase because there's more choice.

> >

>

> But who would pay all those artists making that "stuff?"

 

Probably the parent company that just made 42 million on sales for an expansion ?

[Chickenooble.5014]

> @TexZero.7910 said:

> Missing the point. We have all these artist making "stuff" and yet how much of that "stuff" could have been rewards for playing the game. It doesn't matter what said stuff is, armor glider, mount etc...

>

First and foremost, ArenaNet is a company that has a better understanding of their market and business model than you do. Know how I know? Because they see the numbers after every business decision they make where we only have speculation. They know what drives cash-shop sales, which types of outfits and gliders sell the best, and what content the players prefer based on the number of things done in the game. They have metrics on all that information and they make decisions based on that --

not whether or not you're going to cry about it. They release content to the gem store because it earns more money for the company than it does to provide in-game "stuff" that you want. Their resources have to find ways to produce micro-transaction content that players want to buy with gems.

>... you'd see player retention increase and you'd see an overall positive feel in the community and more willingness to purchase because there's more choice.

You have no idea what causes players to leave or stick around. Don't even pretend you do. Also, how do you say, "more willingness to purchase because there's more choice" when you're complaining about people developing content for a cash shop -- providing options for actual purchase?

[TexZero.7910]

> @Chickenooble.5014 said:

> > @TexZero.7910 said:

> > Missing the point. We have all these artist making "stuff" and yet how much of that "stuff" could have been rewards for playing the game. It doesn't matter what said stuff is, armor glider, mount etc...

> >

> First and foremost, ArenaNet is a company that has a better understanding of their market and business model than you do. Know how I know? Because they see the numbers after every business decision they make where we only have speculation. They know what drives cash-shop sales, which types of outfits and gliders sell the best, and what content the players prefer based on the number of things done in the game. They have metrics on all that information and they make decisions based on that --

> not whether or not you're going to cry about it. They release content to the gem store because it earns more money for the company than it does to provide in-game "stuff" that you want. Their resources have to find ways to produce micro-transaction content that players want to buy with gems.

> >... you'd see player retention increase and you'd see an overall positive feel in the community and more willingness to purchase because there's more choice.

> You have no idea what causes players to leave or stick around. Don't even pretend you do. Also, how do you say, "more willingness to purchase because there's more choice" when you're complaining about people developing content for a cash shop -- providing options for actual purchase?

 

Yes, i have no idea how a functioning game works. Clearly people will stick around and play content that is un-rewarding (see HoT).

 

Yes, i clearly have no idea that less players = less income (see HoT again).

 

You can balance both gemstore content releases and have decent in game rewards (see GW2's competition in FF14) they somehow manage to have mounts not only in game but in the store and it doesnt seem to cause them any problems. Inbefore but that's a sub based game....Yes it's a sub based game with micro transactions and yet they seemingly are able to have content in the game and cosmetics in the store....really makes you wonder how Anet cannot do the same, cause it sure as heck isn't the 10$ a month fee when people spend more than that alone on these skins.

[Pockethole.5031]

Things that could be better in overall scale are small, I don't know any better game with good systems such as this.

What I would like to have more:

-Different soundtracks.

-Character creation code, where your character model is saved into a code you can copy paste to a file. Wildstar uses this.

-More customisation, at least for norn/human ears, perhaps tattoos, piercings, visible accessories.

-Actual housing (unfortunately Wildstar wins completely on this part)

 

That's about it, nothing else comes to mind. I'm satisfied... gem store is gem store, it's what runs the game and I'm forgiving in this case - I've seen much worse.

[Chickenooble.5014]

> @TexZero.7910 said:

>

> Yes, i have no idea how a functioning game works. Clearly people will stick around and play content that is un-rewarding (see HoT).

>

> Yes, i clearly have no idea that less players = less income (see HoT again).

>

> You can balance both gemstore content releases and have decent in game rewards (see GW2's competition in FF14) they somehow manage to have mounts not only in game but in the store and it doesnt seem to cause them any problems. Inbefore but that's a sub based game....Yes it's a sub based game with micro transactions and yet they seemingly are able to have content in the game and cosmetics in the store....really makes you wonder how Anet cannot do the same, cause it sure as heck isn't the 10$ a month fee when people spend more than that alone on these skins.

 

I'll take issue with two of your points: 1) The revenue stream of both GW2 and FFIV and 2) the assertion that FFIV has more content (which I assume you mean is earned in-game).

 

First, you're saying that a game with two revenue streams (monthly subscriptions and cash shops) has more resources to provide more content while questioning why ArenaNet can't do the same. The subscription fee from the entire FFIV player base, I would think, is rather substantial and can't be discounted. Yes, people buy stuff in the GW2 cash shop; that's true. People also buy stuff in the other cash shop. So really one game should have higher revenues to produce more content (or higher quality content and more fluff) than others.

 

Is that reality? I don't know. I never played FFIV. I did look at their release schedule and in nearly the same time that GW2 has been around, FFVI has had two expansions with only a few content drops in between them. We've had three living story seasons, with over three dozen of the episodes giving all-new story content. Eight of them produced full maps full of enjoyable content (my opinion, of course). Many of those living story releases had a whole set of achievements that could be earned and, through those, special skins and features. Additionally, we have new legendaries weapons and armors (earned through completing the living story, fractal and raid content). All the while, ArenaNet releases content to the cash shop that you can purchase using in-game currency. They're not even greedy about that.

 

So, yea, while you're saying Guild Wars could be giving you in-game content and items to be earned through playing... after some examination, they have been. I guess the content (which is a lot, actually) isn't what you want? What parallel "earned in-game" content would make you happy?

[Teofa Tsavo.9863]

> @Chickenooble.5014 said:

> > @TexZero.7910 said:

> > Missing the point. We have all these artist making "stuff" and yet how much of that "stuff" could have been rewards for playing the game. It doesn't matter what said stuff is, armor glider, mount etc...

> >

> First and foremost, ArenaNet is a company that has a better understanding of their market and business model than you do. Know how I know? Because they see the numbers after every business decision they make where we only have speculation. They know what drives cash-shop sales, which types of outfits and gliders sell the best, and what content the players prefer based on the number of things done in the game. They have metrics on all that information and they make decisions based on that --

> not whether or not you're going to cry about it. They release content to the gem store because it earns more money for the company than it does to provide in-game "stuff" that you want. Their resources have to find ways to produce micro-transaction content that players want to buy with gems.

> >... you'd see player retention increase and you'd see an overall positive feel in the community and more willingness to purchase because there's more choice.

> You have no idea what causes players to leave or stick around. Don't even pretend you do. Also, how do you say, "more willingness to purchase because there's more choice" when you're complaining about people developing content for a cash shop -- providing options for actual purchase?

 

How does a company judge a successful offering when a RNG loot box with 30 skins being sold has no way to track which skins were popular and drove the sales? They don't, they had a pretty good idea prior to offering. Your statement of them knowing what sells the best makes it worse, as that means they knowingly loaded up an RNG box with lower effort/desired skins to drive sales income from unwanted items as players attempt to receive the desired item. Exactly what a BL Chest does. I agree that they did know, and that makes how they implemented the offering far worse.

 

 

[Chickenooble.5014]

> @"Teofa Tsavo.9863" said:

> > @Chickenooble.5014 said:

> > > @TexZero.7910 said:

> > > Missing the point. We have all these artist making "stuff" and yet how much of that "stuff" could have been rewards for playing the game. It doesn't matter what said stuff is, armor glider, mount etc...

> > >

> > First and foremost, ArenaNet is a company that has a better understanding of their market and business model than you do. Know how I know? Because they see the numbers after every business decision they make where we only have speculation. They know what drives cash-shop sales, which types of outfits and gliders sell the best, and what content the players prefer based on the number of things done in the game. They have metrics on all that information and they make decisions based on that --

> > not whether or not you're going to cry about it. They release content to the gem store because it earns more money for the company than it does to provide in-game "stuff" that you want. Their resources have to find ways to produce micro-transaction content that players want to buy with gems.

> > >... you'd see player retention increase and you'd see an overall positive feel in the community and more willingness to purchase because there's more choice.

> > You have no idea what causes players to leave or stick around. Don't even pretend you do. Also, how do you say, "more willingness to purchase because there's more choice" when you're complaining about people developing content for a cash shop -- providing options for actual purchase?

>

> How does a company judge a successful offering when a RNG loot box with 30 skins being sold has no way to track which skins were popular and drove the sales? They don't, they had a pretty good idea prior to offering. Your statement of them knowing what sells the best makes it worse, as that means they knowingly loaded up an RNG box with lower effort/desired skins to drive sales income from unwanted items as players attempt to receive the desired item. Exactly what a BL Chest does. I agree that they did know, and that makes how they implemented the offering far worse.

You're saying that from the position that offering optional content at a reduced rate for the randomness of it all is a problem. Personally, I had no problem with it. I bought a few skins and was pretty pleased with what I got.

 

[Drae.3189]

I'm mostly happy, but the amount of gambling for stuff in this expansion is frustrating. Superior Runes of Holding to get the larger backpacks were, early on, not on the TP or really expensive. I spent over 200g and thousands of ecto's to get not even one.... Now they sell for 15g on the TP. I feel ripped off and will not gamble in GW2 ever again. I've bought about 5 keys since launch and will not be purchasing or playing any gambling games. Gold and gems in this game are hard fought or expensive for most of the playerbase, having content/skins locked behind having us gamble it away is frustrating.

[SyllyReth.2495]

I've actually really enjoyed the story, but I could get that from recaps or novelizations (which would be an amazing addition to the franchise). I was even happy with the implementation of mounts - to a point - and this is after fighting against mounts for so long. Introducing them as skills was great - UNTIL I saw that they were instantly implemented in the rest of the game, as well. If that was going to be the case, we should have gotten traditional mounts that weren't linked to masteries or skills.

 

The way the gem shop is going is extremely disheartening, but I suppose it shows where the priority of the teams will be from here on out. I can't say I'm happy with that, and I'm extremely wary about where this path is going to lead. Many of us have decried the RNG for other rewards time and time again, and this just proves that they aren't really receptive to anything we have to say about that. It's sad to see, honestly.

[Flauvious.6195]

Balance in this game is a joke, and I don't understand why. Anet will go over and above to create beautiful new zones, mounts with fantastic animations that must have taken hundreds of hours to perfect, tons of skins and even an in depth story (for an mmo.)

 

But for some reason they can't go in and change a few numbers around every few weeks to balance classes. Instead they go 6 months in between a minor update that fixes nothing.

[Ben K.6238]

The mount skin distribution model is a total non-issue for me and I've lost all sympathy for its detractors after reading the same fatuous and ridiculous takes on the situation posted over and over again.

 

There are issues with the game that are actually real problems; things that make the game less fun to play. All of the PvP game modes have moved away from a state where skill had any significant role in fighting another player, towards a state where your build pre-determines the outcome, assuming no players make a string of major mistakes. The conquest PvP game mode is just as unappealing now as it was when the game launched 5 years ago. WvW has been stuck with the same big-Conquest-with-walls game mode for the whole time, which has never functioned very well due to coverage disparities. No WvW content has been launched that isn't chained to the same doomed formula - which prevents it from ever being competitive.

 

PvE appears to be the only part of this game that's working, and thankfully that seems to be working really well at the moment with a few minor niggles - mainly viability of playing old group content, and railroaded story content that doesn't give much opportunity to explore side-stories/back-stories of NPCs (forgive my directional confusion), or provide any feeling that the race and factions you chose are important to your character's identity.

 

I'm surprised to see the LS4 episodes arriving so quickly, and am hopeful (again) that they'll address some of those PvE story issues. Maybe?

[Ohoni.6057]

> @TexZero.7910 said:

> > @Ohoni.6057 said:

> > But who would pay all those artists making that "stuff?"

>

> Probably the parent company that just made 42 million on sales for an expansion ?

 

But those sales went into the cost of making PoF, the costs of the upcoming LWs4 content, and the development costs on xpac 3. There would not be enough to also fun having all the gem store items be released for free. Like it or not, the gem store is a part of their business model, and that will never change. Where we can have a productive dialog is in *how* the gem store items are sold, under what conditions.

 

>You can balance both gemstore content releases and have decent in game rewards (see GW2's competition in FF14)

 

Doesn't FF14 have a monthly fee?

 

>Yes it's a sub based game with micro transactions and yet they seemingly are able to have content in the game and cosmetics in the store....

 

Yes, THAT IS WHAT THE SUBSCRIPTION PAYS FOR.

 

You can't get that without also having the monthly fee, and I think a lot more players would prefer gem store microtransactions to a mandatory monthly fee.

 

>really makes you wonder how Anet cannot do the same,

 

**Because ANet is not charging a monthly fee.**

 

[Ellisande.5218]

There are so many things that grind my gears.

[Nemesis.2019]

Unhappy, PoF launched with a ton of bugs and vast majority haven't been fixed, game is a mess right now, sometimes on my mount and it just randomly dismounts, the currently GFX bug that follows you around in WvW makes WvW an awful experience, my WvW play time has been cut by 90%..

[Vayne.8563]

> @Djinn.9245 said:

> > @Vayne.8563 said:

> > > @TexZero.7910 said:

> > > > @Vayne.8563 said:

> > > > And we didn't get glider skins by playing the game either. So?

> > >

> > > So Anet dropped the ball twice ?

> > >

> > > I mean what more do you want to say about it. There's a distinct lack of long term goals, be it Armor/Skins etc... that can be earned via playing.

> > > At the end of the day, it's a game. The shop being poorly utilized to ship content that could be put into the game doesn't excuse the game having a very poorly managed endgame.

> >

> > No they didn't drop the ball twice. They did what they were doing to keep the doors open.

>

> I have seen no sign that GW2's doors are in threat of closing. No sign that the desperate measure of swindling their own customers is necessary - not that I think that it should ever be done if a company has any morals.

 

But sales have been steadily declining for a long time. It's not just about making enough profit to keep doors open, which is what laymen think business is about. It's about meeting internal expectations whether you make money or not. NcSoft closed down City of Heroes, even though it was making money. The question is if the resources your spending have enough return on investment to keep the company moving forward. And we simply don't know what that ROI level is. So whether you've seen signs or not isn't really relevant, because neither one of us know.

 

But we do know that income is down generally and after five years it's unlikely to go up. People complained HoT was too expensive for what was offered so Anet offered the new expansion much cheaper. Helped us, but doesn't help the bottom line of the game. I don't believe that this company is any worse than any of the other MMO companies. Companies that charge a sub and have a cash shop. Pay to win companies. Making an MMO is hard. Titan was cancalled. Everquest Next was cancelled. It's just easier to make mobile games because the ROI is insane and yes, this is what computer games need to compete with.

 

Your OPINION on what's moral is just that. Your opinion. It's not factually immoral to sell mount skins for $5 each, even if they are RNG.

[Nuka Cola.8520]

If i had to rate it, i'd give a 5/10. Barely enjoyable because i have nothing to do but wvw roaming. If its too zergy or a ghost town, there's nothing to do in the whole game. Logging out is all you can do.

[TexZero.7910]

> @Ohoni.6057 said:

> > @TexZero.7910 said:

> > > @Ohoni.6057 said:

> > > But who would pay all those artists making that "stuff?"

> >

> > Probably the parent company that just made 42 million on sales for an expansion ?

>

> But those sales went into the cost of making PoF, the costs of the upcoming LWs4 content, and the development costs on xpac 3. There would not be enough to also fun having all the gem store items be released for free. Like it or not, the gem store is a part of their business model, and that will never change. Where we can have a productive dialog is in *how* the gem store items are sold, under what conditions.

>

> >You can balance both gemstore content releases and have decent in game rewards (see GW2's competition in FF14)

>

> Doesn't FF14 have a monthly fee?

>

> >Yes it's a sub based game with micro transactions and yet they seemingly are able to have content in the game and cosmetics in the store....

>

> Yes, THAT IS WHAT THE SUBSCRIPTION PAYS FOR.

>

> You can't get that without also having the monthly fee, and I think a lot more players would prefer gem store microtransactions to a mandatory monthly fee.

>

> >really makes you wonder how Anet cannot do the same,

>

> **Because ANet is not charging a monthly fee.**

>

 

Yeah, no you see that's your guys misunderstanding. Assuming the "cost of PoF" was anywhere near 42mil to begin with. Here's a hint, it wasnt.

Anet and Games at large make more money from micro-transactions than they ever will off sub fees. Especially when your options for GEMS are 5/10/15, a single purchase once a week from any person covers the same cost as a sub, now keep in mind they have bi-weekly sales.

 

Now then try and explain away why that game understands that A) you need in game rewards and B.) can still have a functioning store.

I'll wait. Cause the answer really isn't the sub fee. I'll even give you a giant hint 1.0

[Lunateric.3708]

Mostly happy about things in the game but two things really annoyed me recently:

 

* Balance pacing is excruciatingly slow and often does nothing for most classes. You could say for example the only big enough change we had this time around was the removal of GotL.

* The mount skin thing and the subsequent response.

 

[Ohoni.6057]

> @Vayne.8563 said:

> NcSoft closed down City of Heroes, even though it was making money. The question is if the resources your spending have enough return on investment to keep the company moving forward. And we simply don't know what that ROI level is. So whether you've seen signs or not isn't really relevant, because neither one of us know.

 

But it's worth keeping in mind that NCSoft is ANet's publisher, they do not own the game. They did own City of Heroes. So NCSoft made a business decision to shut City of Heroes down, one which the developers did not agree to. They cannot do that to GW2, so the only way GW2 would shut down is if ANet had nothing better to do with their time. Short of the entire studio collapsing, I doubt GW2 will die until they at least come out with some other, more immediately successful property. Unless there have been some horrible mismanagement issues behind the scenes, the most likely worst case scenario over the next couple years would be that they'd halt future development of this game and just let it coast, but even Wildstar hasn't been quite that dire. And it's Wildstar.

 

>Making an MMO is hard. Titan was cancalled. Everquest Next was cancelled. It's just easier to make mobile games because the ROI is insane and yes, this is what computer games need to compete with.

 

Somewhat true. Currently, you'll never beat some gacha mobile game on profits, that much is true. As gamers, our only hope is game developers with SOULS, ones that would put player engagement over maximum profits, making *enough* profits to pay everyone and further develop the game, but not gouging players for every penny just because the whales will put up with it.

 

> @TexZero.7910 said:

> Yeah, no you see that's your guys misunderstanding. Assuming the "cost of PoF" was anywhere near 42mil to begin with. Here's a hint, it wasnt.

 

Spreadsheets?

 

>Anet and Games at large make more money from micro-transactions than they ever will off sub fees. Especially when your options for GEMS are 5/10/15, a single purchase once a week from any person covers the same cost as a sub, now keep in mind they have bi-weekly sales.

 

Sure, but most people don't make a single purchase per week. I certainly don't. Yes, overall the gem store purchases balance out against subs because some people pay nothing into the gem store while others pay 2-3 times what a sub would be, but that requires that the gem store have items worth purchasing, and you keep saying that they should remove items from the gem store to give players for free.

 

>Now then try and explain away why that game understands that A) you need in game rewards and B.) can still have a functioning store.

>I'll wait. Cause the answer really isn't the sub fee. I'll even give you a giant hint 1.0

 

FF14 funds the things they put in their cash shop off of profits made in the cash shop. They fun things that they put into the game for free off of the subscription. You can't just subtract the subscription fee entirely and expect an equal amount of content. Instead of hassling GW2 for putting gem store stuff in their gem store, maybe hassle FF14 for having both a gem store AND a sub fee in 2017.

[Svarty.8019]

Powercreep. OP PoF Elites. Ridiculous new powers plus an endless cavalcade of nerfs for my favourite playstyle.

What a freaking mess!

[minion.1987]

haven't played since last month don't see much reason to as a lot of it's boring even the expansion sounds boring.

[Sir Vincent III.1286]

All I have to say is, the addition of the mounts had increased my enjoyment of the game by 100% for each of my 12 characters.

[Phoebe Ascension.8437]

There's still a lot of good doing on. Benjamin Karek for instance rocks! (give him a raise, loosing that guy, may truly kill gw2, hard to find as good ppl as him); Why? He talks more then anyone to people, shows time and time again, that he's super enthousiastic about the game, plays it, knows the issues, and is a fan off his own game. And he includes that to customers as well, a rarity in gw2. Kenna for wvw is similar, but talks less, and has to few manpower. I hated the ogrewatch fix, i though 'omg this ugly rock is gonna be here forever'. luckely they fixed it (though red is to much punished now, but I think she has it in her to fix it). As a mount sceptic, while i still think they were better off out of the game, they were much small then expected (why do twitch people zoom so much in!, they gave me wrong conclusion), so less obtrusive, and the looks/animations/feel where done better then expected.

 

Springer kills core gw2 fun though. Alll casual (but fun) vista's mean nothing anymore.

 

The overal design of PoF was very good. I just misses meta's, and more special places with a story. The corsair hideout in gw1 had a huge story! why not now? Why not make a treasure labyrint in it? There's chances missed.

 

Balance team still sucks, they don't (enough) play/love their own game. That's a big issue in gw2's activity imo. For instance scourge to strong in wvw, but to weak in pve (split for god sake! give a certain skill 3x condi aplicaiton in pve, fixed for raids, fixed for pvp). Spellbreaker combines way to much things into one class (including high burst). Design is good, but another profession (like ele) should have gotten the way it works.

 

But what mounts (after at least 50% of the forum community said no, on old forums) proved to me is that Anet has a bigger push then ever by shareholders. And that worries me. They used to be stubborn and stand their ground 'we do it our way'. The decline (wich almost all mmo) have, should be expected, and not be 'panicked' about. Mounts would not have been here without shareholder pressure.

 

What bothers me? Anet openly being lazy. 'This or that costs to much manpower, making expansion is better with this manpower'. I don't (fully) agree. I understand making something is more efficient then fixing something. But that fix might make players so much more happy. Nikon camera's last years barely improved, (especially ergonomically), but still there are difference and the ppl like it. Finetuning like that gets harder every time. But people still are happier, cause it sits very good in hand. Anet forgets that about bugs, problems, inconsitancies in the game. The most time breaking ones you can forget to fix. But some really need fixing. For instance, (i don't care to win or loose, but i c are to keep commuities on all server alive), that wvw population estimates are drastically bugged, way off, and not correct, killing some communities by unfair transfer locks. Anet can intervene. But they are lazy (it seems - especially after so often using words 'manpower better > way). Fixing this will make everyone happy (including the enemies you know better fights). Lot of stuff in pve too. Dungeons is content, and makes people happy (i mean it), revitalize it somehow? I mean loot is ok, but another incentive would be great.

 

Colin Johansson still no successor? would really help if it did.

 

It also made me not buy ultimate edition. I keep by my word if Anet does 20-40% better then expected (wich is the average factor to keep me in game), i buy ultimate version of next expansion. But you gotta listen... a bit. And mostly show incentive. If you don't know how to like your own game Mike O'brien look at Benjamin Karek.

 

Ps major fail: POF campaign by twitch ppl. That was like wtf? It was chaotic, it felt like both giving them candy, and yourself time (and money), and being to scared to talk about it. While i 'm not against them (they are fine inclusion), you are the main event.

 

Also next elite specs need an insane amount of creativity and work. Pof ones are very bland. All profs suddenly got condi dps spec (even those who shouldnt thematically like firebrand). So all got a power build, condi build, and almost all have some kind of support now. There's not much left. Thief already shows signs of what happens: a very niche elite spec (deadeye) with limited practical use. This time (and actually rebalancing old ones) will need a lot of work, and actually listing to feedback from players with good arguments. This will be a big point in my ultimate vs base version decision.