Dev Update: Ranks & Elite Mission

While I think Anet might have handled some of this a bit better, what I don't get is how anyone can assume that they planned on having the elite mission ready on release. PC Ganer said the game will include an elite mission.. and it will. Any mistake in assuming that it would have it AT release is purely in the hands of the people that made an invalid assumption because it is something the WANTED to believe.

Gaile already said that they didn't intend to for the elite to be ready right now, and yet so many of you once again assume that she is lying about it or somesuch. Do any of you know what Anet's development/release schedule is beyond a new chapter every six months? I sure don't. I personally have not went to their offices and perused the books or boards or whatever and saw anything contrary to the statements Gaile has made about these issues. I highly doubt anyone else around here has either.

So what it really boils down to is that many, many people made wrong assumptions and rather than accepting that fact, they look for someone... anyone else that they can to point fingers at and complain to to justify their "self-righteous" anger. If it isn't Gaile or Anet in general, then it is those of us that tell them to be patient

Has our culture devolved so far into the need for instant gratification that we, as a whole, suddenly have no patience or understanding for anything that doesn't work the way we thought it should or want it to, regardless of reasoning or facts?

Anet's only fault in this really is that they either didn't anticipate or give a high enough regard to the potential reactions of the people playing their game. I suppose they could have hoped for a more mature reaction. Too bad they haven't gotten much of one. Anyhow, I'd be willing to bet that the next time they will either not say anything at all about elite missions, which will cause even more whining about them not promising one, or they'll simply make more clear ahead of time what exactly you'll get on release.

As far as the title thing goes.. oh well.. I guess my need to have max everything right this instant isn't such a personal need. I'll get it when I get it and no amount of complaining will make it come one instant sooner. I play the game to play it and enjoy it, not to max everything out just as fast as possible and rage like a spoiled brat the instant anything hold me up. My 13-year old plays with more maturity and patience than some of the people I've seen post here. I'm also glad that at least Anet isn't as petty and vindictive as some of their playerbase has turned out to be, otherwise they could hold out just to spite us all.

What I find far more disturbing is that our culture seems to have completely embraced the phenomenon of software hitting the market incomplete and bugged.

If this is a fact, quote the source where you got this information.

Again, give me a factual reference. You are just spouting off what your views are. Do you realize how many people pay monthly subscription fees to other MMOs? WoW is coming out with another expansion, Funcom (Anarchy Online) is making the Age of Conan, Everquest has a 2nd series out...if they were hurting, they would have already went out of business. Guild Wars is not a substitute for many of these games beause although GW offers a great deal of content, by no means does it measure up to several of the other games out there. In AO you level up to 220....I've played for almost a year now & still haven't gotten there & I game on average, about 2-5 hours 4-6 days or more a week. Please don't pass off your opinions/views as facts, especially with no factual data to support them.


Wow, i'm suprised they haven't made you the new CEO, you have it all figured out don't you?

The only way they will get end game content like other MMO's is to allow multiple teams to enter certain areas, minimize or prevent use of henchies/heros, and have large raid areas where you can get some 'really' nice loot. Large raids are pretty much end game content in most MMO's.


In my opinion, GW does well where other MMOs fall off because it can be much simpler to play. The learning curve in this game is shorter & getting gear is not the most important thing. You can easily get gear from collectors & crafters that are reasonable in price & quality. The only thing that I see as a problem is that in the last 2 chapters, there are way too few skill quests for people to do. One you cap out at 1k per skill, they start getting expensive for the casual player if you like to change your build much. I would have made it where skills in lower areas are always a low price & then the better skills as you progress gradually go up in price, but each skill vendor would have a set price for the skills they train.

I do feel that any time a software company will not be able to deliver the content that is supposed to be included, there should be some notification prior to or on release of the software. When it comes to software, you can sort of plan the time it takes to code & make the game, but what you can't predict are the bugs & problems that will arise & require work arounds or changes. I'm happy that NF was released & I'm just hoping that they will slow down the releases in the future a little to enable them to do a more thorough job on future chapters. If this is the trend & they keep the 6 month schedule, you can anticipate either less content, or perhaps even a higher priced game due to them having to hire even more staff to develop the needed content.

Something else I wouldn't even mind seeing is smaller 'booster' releases that are cheaper.....perhaps make some nice high level areas that tie in with GWP & GWF in some way and release them for $5-15 U.S. (not good on currency conversions for you other gamers). Sort of something like FoW....Things like this will keep the older chapters a little fresher. I doubt this will happen, but for all intents & purposes, I think it would probably do well.

So tempers are pretty flared up in here!

I can understand and relate to both sides of the argument.
Here are my points for this scenario.

1) Anet should have had the common courtesy to announce this problem immediately with an appology, but they could still have touted all the existing content.

2) Anet was liekly not given a choice on whether or not to release their product finished or not. This decision would have come from higher up the chain, and would have been a bottom-line/deadline decision.

3) The advertisement material and game manuals are almost always produced months in advance of the release of the product by a department that only keeps in loose contact with the actual state of the game leading up to release. Simply adding a single sentance to a manual or removing one would have set the product back by weeks if not months and would have cost a fortune in discarded materials. This is because those game manuals take weeks if not months to get back from the printer and so they have to be written and designed long before they are printed and they need to be printed before the game can be shipped. So removing a single line from the manual talking about a feature that was not yet implemented would have delayed the entire game by weeks or months.

4) I wont argue whether you bought the right to play this content, because such arguments get bogged down in the legal mumbo-jumbo of the EULA. The fact is that in the world of Software you get what they give you and nothing more.

5) As stated above, the simple sad fact is that this is simply the state of things in software. I for one blame broadband internet. Before there was highspeed internet, it was not practical to release an unfinished product because a company would then have to send out thousands if not millions of diskettes with patches on them. Since the advent of Broadband, its totally okay to release an unfinished product that needs a 500mb patch just to work as advertised.

6) Given all of the above, I am happy with Nightfall. The included content works with very few bugs, and continued support seems virtually garaunteed. More content is on the way including not jsut the missing content but bonus content, no doubt included as a pacifier and a thanks for our "patience"...which is funny given the lack of patience displayed in this forum by most.

Finally,
Those who are whining have a right to be upset, even if it's unbecomming, and pointless.
Those who are being patient and accepting will be rewarded by lower stress during the wait, and time spent enjoying the game rather than complaining about it.

Just my Two cents.

Wow, the out-of-game community is almost as bad as in the in-game community in this game.

All communities have their good and bad examples...

I for one think GW has an overall better community than most other MMOs...I dont let the Ragers and Noobs and Whiners bother me.

Well the simple fact is there was supposed to be an elite mission upon relese of NF. Sure the game is better but ive beat the game with 2 chars and am bored with it. The only reason people didnt completely stop playing guild wars after that abortion known as factions was the elites, now anet screws us over with the elite on NF. Hmm how many customers are you losing now? That combined with the AI update that makes farming crappy as hell.

Wow...how many hours a day did you play to accomplish that?!? You should try spending more time in the big room with the blue ceiling...

Whoa? You mean like outside? I've heard that's pretty dangerous? No?

the game had been out 2 weeks sorry that you suck so bad and cant beat it

I think people are pretty passionate about this game and when sites like these become stagnent, then there would be a real problem. Many of the features advertised on the box aren't even in the game yet and when Gaile comes on a site like this and talks about free updates and features already promised, as if they were giving us something that wasn't advertised to already be there, it can only mean to ruffle a few more feathers. Yes, she did mention that they would be adding more then mentioned, but honestly there have been many promises of long standing (granted possibly difficult to implement) features that have not come through yet either. That makes it tough to believe that they are either capable or able to offer even more "unmentioned" features beyond the ones they have continual said they were commited to bringing out (i.e. reconnects, guild storage, auctions, etc.). I'm personally not demanding anything, just pointing out the issue at hand. The game as it sits offers plenty, IMO, but don't forget, it's the community that describes and molds these games to be popular, outstanding titles.

All in all I'm very greatful for a-nets effort with the game. I'm not particularly peeved about content, moreso about false advertising and lack of information on release. This is what becomes a typical practice when companies get larger. Regardless, the playing community, when disatisfied will simply take thier dollars elsewhere, as we can be a pretty critical bunch.

First, you never answered my question...heh.

Second, I only play about an hour or two a day because work and life get in the way...On my days off I can usually squeeze about 4 hours out of a day if I am lucky...I'm not always lucky. So skill is not a factor, only time is. Two weeks almost...13 days to be precise. If you have completely beaten the game, which you claim to as you are bored, there should be roughly 80 hours of content... 80/13 = ~6.15 hours per day...

Sorry, I dont have that kind of time, I have a house, two cars, two dogs, a wife and a full time job that demand that I not spend 6+ hours a day on a video game...

Now if you just meant that you played through skipping every unnecessary quest and just driving through the missions to reach then end...well then you've hardly exhausted the game's playability and if you are bored you are just ripping yourself off by not playing the entire game...myself, for $50 a game, I intend to do every single quest with every single class and see every single pixel of content.

This game will continue to entertain me long after the Elite has come out because I use entertainment for entertainment, and not as a substitute for a life...

I kept playing Factions because it was fun.

Please, Midnight Caretaker, whine more. That's apparently all you do in any thread you post in, and it's very entertaining.

wow u must really be slow. i've finished nightfall in about 8 hours (with my cathan monk). i just did the primary quests, no side quests. if i would of played with real ppl, i'm sure it woulda taken about 6 hours. frankly the part that that took me most time was getting the damned sunspear points which i didn't enjoy at all. afterwards the game started to be fun

that being said, it's quite disappointing to not have an elite mission after completing the game. and it's even more upsetting that we were not notifyed about this delay untill ppl wasted their time "looking for the mission".

First of all FexFX, why dont you get to playing the game you hardly get a chance to play instead of flaming people on posts. By the way you are quite possibly the most anal person Ive seen on these forums I say 2 weeks and you come back with 13 days then do some math to figure out how much time I play, come on. Since you were being so anal isnt it 13 days some number of hours, minutes and seconds since the game came out. Do your math again and tell me how much i play and be wrong again. I play about 4 hours a day

Secondly, no i did not go and play noob island with a lv 20 char, waste of time in my opinion, and i dont do a quest that gets me no closer to beating the game unless its along the way

Good for you and the 50 bucks you spent on a game that did not deliver what was promised. Did you buy your house with out windows and say thats fine or maybe a 3 legged dog and say yay.

Thanks for the update on your home life by the way as if anyone cared if you have dogs. If it was to try and gloat Ive got you beat and I still beat the game 2 times

Amen.

Although I do play quite a bit, I still make time to go out in the 'big room' & have a life. One of the reasons I've delved into gaming is that my other hobbies are by far, much more expensive. Before I was a game junkie, I was a speed junkie. Buying a game now & then is way cheaper than buying parts for my hot rod. I came to a point where I needed to stop spending & start paying off stuff so I can get ahead in RL....the good thing is, I can delve into a game & get some really good entertainment that ends up being very cheap in comparison to what I might be doing otherwise.

One thing I'd like to know is, do all you people complaining about titles have ALL the titles for the other chapters you own? If not, go get them, because you really shouldn't be worried about these if you haven't gotten those.

So you started the game with a level 20 character, and ran through to the end in 8 hours...wow...
how much longer might it have taken with a brand new character and trying every quest and maybe enjoying the scenery a bit more?

I must be old because I just cant understand the point of burning through a game like that!

I remember when Quake II came out and various people were bragging about how fast they beat the game and then were competing to see who could beat it the fastest...

Even back then I thought...wow they are cheating themselves!

Yes it is possible to beat Quake II in 2 hours...but where is the fun?

Yes it is possible to beat Nightfall in 6 hours...but you miss about 80% of the content...

And you complain about a failure to include what will probably ammount to 1/40th of the total content? And that number might be too high even!

Go play the rest of the game. Do every fed ex quest. Read all of the text. Enjoy the scenery! If you are bored after 8 hours...That's just unfortunate for you and no game will ever satisfy you for long.

I strongly agree games should be about having fun. Not taking over real life!

Anyone else see the contradiction?

If you didn't do ALL the quests, you didn't finish the game. If you didn't get ALL titles, you didn't finish the game. These are things that are still left for you to do, thus the game not being finished. Opening up/finishing all the Primary missions does not equate to finishing the game. If there are still green exclamation marks floating about...you have more quests to do, more xp to gain, more rewards/skill points to get. Did you unlock all the skills? Cap all the elites? Yep, you guessed it, still not finished.

Thanks just a strange comment. Do you have a 3 legged dog btw?

So Allience, you spent $50 on a 8 hour game. Do you screw yourself over like that on a regular basis?

Play the game how you want, but it seems like you're ripping yourself off when you play like that. Why are people so concerned with playing elite missions? Is it about getting green items to sell as someone mentioned previously?

Personally, I have yet to play an elite mission. I'm still playing my favorite Tyrian and Canthan missions though I own Nightfall (I still haven't found a mission more fun than monking Thunderhead Keep pugs ).

First, not a contest, you lose.
Second, You didn't answer so I used the calculator on my desktop.
Third, I am at work and cant play right now (that whole life thing) I just happen to be on a break and thought I'd drop by the forum.
Fourth four hours a day...wow...lets see, assuming you have a job (and are not a child) you likely spend 1 hour a day getting ready for and traveling to work, 9 hours a day at work, .5 hours getting home(at least) and 8 hours sleeping(if you are lucky)...that leaves 5.5 hours of free time a day after all is said and done...if you really play 4 hours a day, and think your life beats mine...man your lucky wife (assuming you have one) must be overjoyed with the 1.5 hours you spend with her a day!

And your point is, what? If articles in magazines and the bloody game manual clearly mean diddly-squat, you think that vague statement that really says nothing at all is proof of... What exactly?

Sadly I do read what she writes, most often with extreme bemusement.

Oh puhlease, if I wanted to sue Anet I'd be talking to a lawyer, not wasting my time here.

RIF.

If you think they do that out of their love for you or anyone else who isn't a dead president, you are sadly and truly deluded.

Oh, I dunno, maybe it helps to sell copies of the game? Could be...

Please tell me you're kidding. If Guild Wars went to a pay-to-play model it would evaporate virtually overnight.

Wait... Let me see if I get this right... Anet releases a game. People play game. People look for expected features. People can't find expected features. People ask "Where's the expected features?" and get silence for an answer. Nine days later, someone from Anet gets around to saying "Opps, those features aren't in the game yet". And you want to tout Anet's communication skills?!?

Amazing.

I see little evidence that either occurs.

AMEN BROTHER!
Can I get a Hallelujah!?

My point exactly!

Couldn't have said it better myself, even though I tried!!!

And awwwwww...poor doggy!

Sorry, but this needs to be closed now. It's deteriorated into insults and flaming (and a 3 legged dog).