Saying Something Nice to the Devs.

[Gebnar.6251]

Hi ANet! I'm a 2nd-time returning player. I played in Beta and on release, I came back briefly for POF release, and I'm back again now.

 

I love this game. I'm not going to pretend everything is peachy perfect, but there's a lot of good here. I personally like the living world stories. I like that I don't have to pay a subscription so I can take breaks and return with total freedom.

 

My only real points of complaint are the fomo-exploiting shop design, and the way currency exchange is handled - things the devs clearly have no authority over whatsoever.

 

To the actual devs: I appreciate all your hard work! This kind of a project is far more challenging than mod people realize. I know there's a lot of vocal negativity lately - and maybe some of it is indeed warranted. But you need to know that many players greatly appreciate your hard work, and enjoy all the wonderful content you've given your such freedom to play with. Please don't give up on this community. The positive elements here may not be as vocal, but we certainly exist!

 

So, to conclude this poor, rambling, nonsense post: Thank you devs for all you do! You have my support going forward. Please don't give up on this game or it's community!

[Linken.6345]

Well sadly as you say the devs have as much control on fomo-exploiting shop design as they do if they should give up on the game or not.

[Alyster.9470]

We came to the point where people feel the need of making a thread for saying something "nice". This negativity will not go away until ANet makes some real talk, their total silence and dodging every criticism is just making it worse. I enjoy the game a lot right now, its not "content drought" that will make me quit the game, its their attitude.

[GummyBearSummoner.7941]

Lol yeah there’s nothing nice to be said.

[Gebnar.6251]

Yes, let's just overwhelm the studio with toxic attitudes, to the point that the people actually doing the work feel like nothing they can do is ever going to be good enough. This way, all the senior devs and designers that we actually had respect for will look for work elsewhere.

 

And let's not forget to drown every single attempt at studio communication in negativity and disrespect. Otherwise they might get the broken idea that talking to their community could be a way to generate goodwill.

 

Being toxic to the people actually working on your game is definitely the only effective means of communicating your frustration with the capitalist assholes actually hurting it...

 

Oh right - I almost forgot! If there's ever a reason for someone in this community to find enjoyment in the game or to encourage it's further development you gotta stamp them out right away. Wouldn't want anyone trying to build a bigger, happier community that might actually be able to keep the game alive in the future.

 

Much better to chase away everyone who's got even a tiny ray of hope. That way the studio won't have any reason to support the game any more and we can all wish for the days when "maintenance mode" was a bad-taste falsehood...

[Linken.6345]

There is a big diffrence bettwen toxicity and criticism.

For example strike missions is a good concept if we can get them faster then fractals and raids.

But why hide 1 yellow+1green some exp and karma behind gold when all else can be gotten with bronze star and max masteries?

Why not go the full way and have 1-4 people carry the rest without having to worry about timer at all.

Edit

Dont get me wrong I like being able to go in with a 2k tempest staying in water and healing the people enough to just get what I need.

 

[Gebnar.6251]

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for constructive criticism. And I wouldn't begin to argue that the studio has "done nothing wrong". But as someone who's been on the other side of this dynamic, I know just how disheartening these forums would be to anyone working on this game. I also know how motivating and inspiring it can be to hear from even a tiny minority that your work is appreciated.

 

There's a lot of real toxicity mixed in with the criticism here. I thought I'd throw out a few nice words on the off chance it made some frustrated devs day a bit better. My post got kitten responses. I figured all the kittens could enjoy a taste of their attitude.

 

I don't need this bs in my life. If this keeps being my experience here, I'll eventually leave. As will many others who would have supported this game. Keep up the toxicity long enough and this community will chase away too many for the game to stay financially viable.

 

The finishing blow in this game's future won't come from the studio, the economy, or the technology. It'll come from the community's toxic heart. I hate the saying, but I think it applies here: "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

 

If you're critical - that's great. Coat your criticism with some positivity. There's plenty of silver lining to go around.

 

For perspective: There's no way I'd be playing gw2 now if I had come to these forums to find out about it. If you want your community to go in a better direction, BE that better direction...

[Linken.6345]

Well for every forum warrior there is more like 100 or 1000 other just playing the game not setting their feet in the forums.

 

Alot of the frustrations come down to people not feeling heard have you ever seen them address much of the criticism.

Last time I can recall was the heart of thorns expansion not includeing character slot for the new profession.

And even then it only was given to preorders. ( I bought both for my friend and me 1 day before the release still only I got the extra slot)

[Randulf.7614]

> @"Gebnar.6251" said:

> Don't get me wrong - I'm all for constructive criticism. And I wouldn't begin to argue that the studio has "done nothing wrong". But as someone who's been on the other side of this dynamic, I know just how disheartening these forums would be to anyone working on this game. I also know how motivating and inspiring it can be to hear from even a tiny minority that your work is appreciated.

>

> There's a lot of real toxicity mixed in with the criticism here. I thought I'd throw out a few nice words on the off chance it made some frustrated devs day a bit better. My post got kitten responses. I figured all the kittens could enjoy a taste of their attitude.

>

> I don't need this bs in my life. If this keeps being my experience here, I'll eventually leave. As will many others who would have supported this game. Keep up the toxicity long enough and this community will chase away too many for the game to stay financially viable.

>

> The finishing blow in this game's future won't come from the studio, the economy, or the technology. It'll come from the community's toxic heart. I hate the saying, but I think it applies here: "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

>

> If you're critical - that's great. Coat your criticism with some positivity. There's plenty of silver lining to go around.

>

> For perspective: There's no way I'd be playing gw2 now if I had come to these forums to find out about it. If you want your community to go in a better direction, BE that better direction...

 

Whilst you are partly right, this is just part of modern life under the internet where people can say what they want safely hidden behind their keyboard and monitor without the responsibility of being in a genuine conversation.

 

Will toxicity kill the game? No not really - if that were true we would have no games left. GW2 community is nowhere near as bad as most I’ve seen and most people are mature enough to gloss problematic posts. The devs should by now too.

 

There is no doubt the devs work hard and believe in their work. I dint think really anyone genuinely hates on the main devs and if they do they aren’t included in this community anyway.

 

There is leadership, direction and communication issues that seems clear to me at least, but despite any criticism I put out, I am ultimately appreciative of a great game. I just want it to be better

[Random Wax Orc.7695]

Dear Dev, I can't help but read your name as Stephanie, but I know you are okay with it, because there is no "i" in Stephane. Sorry anyway.

[DietPepsi.4371]

People's attitudes here and on Reddit definitely constitute toxicity, as not all criticising Anet are constructive about it. Non-constructive criticism is useless. All it does it lower morale. Not all Anet employees can be held accountable for the actions of other members of the company, nor are they represented by company as a whole, and devs working at Anet probably sign a NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) when they get the job, meaning they can't just talk about anything related to the game whenever they want, and breaching the terms of the contract can lead to job termination. You can't blame an artist, for example, if someone from communications, or upper management decides not to talk. You can't blame the PvP balance team if there's a game breaking bug in a PvE map.

 

So yes, despite my qualms with certain aspects of the game, I am appreciative of all the hard work that goes into this game. It would benefit the individuals working in this company, that are not in control of areas or aspects being criticised, and areas irrelevant to them, to ignore toxicity and general disdain towards all employees of the company, as they should not feel guilt or responsibility for issues that are not a part of their tasking.

 

And to those whom are in control of areas being criticised, please ignore the non-constructive criticism and toxicity. Please continue to look for the constructive criticism, which there is, as that's the only way the game is going to get better, and know that there are people whom do actually understand the work that goes in, that not every decision works out, and appreciate when you get it right. Unfortunately, with any big company, people stop seeing you as a human, and just see the logo.

 

To the artists, programmers, sound designers, mixed devs, writers, accountants, marketers, music composers, map designers, balance team, animators, VO, etc... whom work on this game, whom work hard to bring this game to life; thank you. If you didn't work had on this game, I wouldn't have been playing it for 7 years.

[Sinistra.4190]

Just wanna say thank you to all the people who've made this amazing game. I don't care much what others say, I still get plenty of enjoyment out of this game and it's thanks to this game I found my passion in illustration again. <3

 

Thank you!

[Hashberry.4510]

> @"Gebnar.6251" said:

> Yes, let's just overwhelm the studio with toxic attitudes, to the point that the people actually doing the work feel like nothing they can do is ever going to be good enough. This way, all the senior devs and designers that we actually had respect for will look for work elsewhere.

>

> And let's not forget to drown every single attempt at studio communication in negativity and disrespect. Otherwise they might get the broken idea that talking to their community could be a way to generate goodwill.

>

> Being toxic to the people actually working on your game is definitely the only effective means of communicating your frustration with the capitalist kitten actually hurting it...

>

> Oh right - I almost forgot! If there's ever a reason for someone in this community to find enjoyment in the game or to encourage it's further development you gotta stamp them out right away. Wouldn't want anyone trying to build a bigger, happier community that might actually be able to keep the game alive in the future.

>

> Much better to chase away everyone who's got even a tiny ray of hope. That way the studio won't have any reason to support the game any more and we can all wish for the days when "maintenance mode" was a bad-taste falsehood...

 

How silly. These folks have better info on whether to stay or go; I doubt any are foolish enough to pay attention to these forums.

[ugrakarma.9416]

Asking for positivity is just putting more spotlight on negativity.

Sorry "well intended" guys but u are just making the problem worse by creating buzz.

 

[Greg.7086]

 

 

 

> @"Hashberry.4510" said:

>

> How silly. These folks have better info on whether to stay or go; I doubt any are foolish enough to pay attention to these forums.

 

Yes I think as professionals they wouldn't be that bothered. It's just an occupational hazard of the gaming industry.

 

 

[Arden.7480]

GW2 is indeed heading to a place of stagnation, there is very little to look forward to. With that we all agree, but GW2 deserves a good death if eventually comes.

 

We can hope, but the Announcement on Aug. 30 didn't assure safety of GW2 on the market, since then people are being not toxic, but realizing that GW2 is not a really visionary game anymore.

 

I agree with that, what is now happening with GW2 is very sad, bad news coming so often, I don't think Mike Z's "we aren't done" means another 7 fat years, but maybe 1 or 2.

 

They will eventually release the final expansion and we will say good bye to the best MMORPG in the history that wasted its chance unfortunately...

 

Still I love this game and all the people working on GW2, but I am not blind to see that it's going to be a very bittersweet 2020 for GW2...

[ugrakarma.9416]

i had a good "statical" perception, the idea of GW2 is dying cuz theres no expansion is just a forum bubble created after the end of LS4. Weirdly was just after Anet reduced the dificult of skycale collection, i wonder if theres some relation...,

 

but to guys like me, It was no surprise that there would be no expansion simply because Anet herself had given this road map many months earlier that there would be no expansion but they will jump into LS5 instead. But even so, suddenly, a few weeks later after the nerf on the difficulty of Skycale's collection, many players ignoring Anet's warnings started this snowball crying that there would be no expansion, perhaps i guess was a error nerf the skycale timegated stuff. Surely this all cry is created by **early rushers**,....

 

but Anet had they they fault on this for creating too much hype on things that later turn out to be not so impactful, most recent example was the LS5 EP01 the "essences" thing or even the Bonerskinner, when Anet do this, the negativity snowball grows exponentially. They also addicted the playerbase on the hype of elite specs, thats just childsh toys, or basically colorful versions of already implemented mechanics.

[ugrakarma.9416]

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/65268/redbull-article

 

> Mike Zadorojny.7058Mike

> January 8, 2019

>

> Is it?

>

> Regarding moving from Season 4 to Season 5, we announced this in the 6th Anniversary Celebration Video. We talked about wanting to release expansion level stories and features over the **next couple years**. Our goal is to create powerful moments like the final instance of this episode that are a culmination of multiple departments and raise the bar for what it means to be a Guild Wars 2 experience.

[Arden.7480]

> @"ugrakarma.9416" said:

> i had a good "statical" perception, the idea of GW2 is dying cuz theres no expansion is just a forum bubble created after the end of LS4. Weirdly was just after Anet reduced the dificult of skycale collection, i wonder if theres some relation...,

>

> but to guys like me, It was no surprise that there would be no expansion simply because Anet herself had given this road map many months earlier that there would be no expansion but they will jump into LS5 instead. But even so, suddenly, a few weeks later after the nerf on the difficulty of Skycale's collection, many players ignoring Anet's warnings started this snowball crying that there would be no expansion, perhaps i guess was a error nerf the skycale timegated stuff. Surely this all cry is created by **early rushers**,....

>

> but Anet had they they fault on this for creating too much hype on things that later turn out to be not so impactful, most recent example was the LS5 EP01 the "essences" thing or even the Bonerskinner, when Anet do this, the negativity snowball grows exponentially. They also addicted the playerbase on the hype of elite specs, thats just childsh toys, or basically colorful versions of already implemented mechanics.

 

People are so desperate, they will ask for anything, but no matter what they get, it won't make anything better, the issue aren't expansion level features which can as well never be released, but real MMORPG content like raids and fractals, instanced content.

 

Also we are in the place that we got nothing essential to look forward to.

 

Ask yourself what are you looking forward to in GW2? There essentially nothing new coming, the Saga is even worse than Season 4, at least it had a raid and a fractal, but the rebranded Season 5 will get nothing like this in months - this is very bad and very concerning.

 

I play this game to have fun with others, but for a long time GW2 forces me to play alone the story instances.

 

WoW has scenarios which you play with others and main story you play for yourself. GW2 is missing MMO component in every single possible way.

 

It's so sad that now I have to pray to gods for people to do random events anywhere, people don't feel any urge to make a dynamic event just for fun, it all must be FARM.

 

Truth is GW2 is basically a meaningless farm, because raids or higher fractals don't get enough recognition or have equally good rewards for getting the same amount of gold doing T4 in an hour, as if you would farm Silverwastes for 8 hours. Imagine all the LFG parties.

 

The same with Raids, for doing a single wing, you would get the same amount of gold as if you farmed Saw for 12 hours - meaningful content is only then if you feel rewarded for doing what you like.

 

Farming SW for hours every day is in my opinion the greatest sickness of this game, it becomes a job.

 

Attracting people with rewards make a content repeatable and people return every day to get big fat rewards for doing something fun and meaningful.

 

GW2 is basically a farm wars and it should not be, it destroys the Anet's value - Strive for fun.

[Arden.7480]

So basically if you make the content you love today, you know you get a nice rewards, you get gold for that and loot, you know you will get the same amount of rewards every day, because that's what make games fun, you get in, do something profitable because it's fun, and there is no need to run RIBA 24/7, instead everone would do raids, fractals, dungeons, and if people get more gold.

 

If GW2 would truly strive for the fun, this would be the GW2 before HoT.

 

Now we have a different game that basically has only one similarity: the name. It's not what it used to be, I could do daily fractals every day, and have profit and fun. That's what GW2 used to be, it's not anymore

[Dante.1508]

Guildwars 1 was awesome.

[titje.2745]

delete post

[Kaliwenda.3428]

> @"Random Wax Orc.7695" said:

> Dear Dev, I can't help but read your name as Stephanie, but I know you are okay with it, because there is no "i" in Stephane. Sorry anyway.

 

I do that same thing! It took a long time for me to realize my mistake.

[Hannelore.8153]

Thanks for Heart of Thorns. we tore ArenaNet apart at the time for it but honestly, it ended up being the best part of the game.

 

Also I love Tangled Depths.

[TwoGhosts.6790]

Yeah, HoT was the best PvE content they released I think (story and final boss aside). Unfortunately it also began the power creep that has plagued other parts the game ever since.

I've had SO much fun playing this game over the last 7 years, and there is so much to admire in it's execution (most notably in the environment design and music), but sadly things have been slipping more and more recently. And the templates BS is just a shameful situation.

I'm still playing, but I'm disappointed at the moment.

But yeah, in the spirit of the OP, thank you for creating a game that has been a part of my life like no other.

Please don't fuck it up.