Far too many negative threads

I fall back on the saying "those who enjoy the game are currently playing it." This is quite true. Moreover I think that for every new GW release/major update we have the whiners hit the forums first while the rest of the people are actually having fun playing. Eventually, most have finished and drift back on to the forums. In effect, we have a "spike" of negativity at each release.

That's how I see it.

I fall back on the saying "those who enjoy the game are currently playing it."

I agree that too much negativity is a bad thing, but (maybe unfortunately) everyone is entitled to their opinion as long as it is backed up by sufficient reasoning. We try to get the "OMG NERF" threads as quickly as they appear and we try to merge threads that are about the same thing, but a lot of people just enjoy complaining it seems.

So yes, the same dead horse should be beaten in the same topic, and that's what we try to do. Each topic that offers constructive feedback on a new idea, however, seems fine with me, as constructive criticism can often lead to improvements.

Also, tell your friend to look through the threads as well. For every complaint you can find at least one well-reasoned argument against that complaint. It's just that not a lot of people make "[game mechanic] is the best!" because it's hard to offer ideas for improvement if something is viewed as perfect already. I completely agree. No one is going to come onto one of the largest forums about guild wars and be like "omg the game is perfect". People love to point out flaws about, well anything. Mostly out of boredom. If something is too difficult or they have trouble thinking their way around an obstacle, a lot of players are bound to come complain about it. Sometimes other players will come and agree with them, and generally someone plays the devil's advocate, and someone plays the troll.

I remember my days on a magic: the gathering forum, and it was basically the same. People would complain that a card was too powerful, others would come and get pointers about their deck, and others would post really unconstructive topics.

The rules are slightly different though. Because this is a video game with live updates, instead of using skills at hand to counter a particular build, they can cry for a nerf instead of using the brain I know they have (we're on a video game forum for chrissakes, we're all pretty nerdy).

Furthermore, a lot of the main repeated threads I see on guru are things that can be of a legitimate concern but have yet to change (see: storage, auction house). Because there are elements of the game that aren't as good as other games and have yet to be improved, people generally complain in the hopes that someone will hear them and take note and eventually implement a desired feature.

As a fansite, I really think there should be a balance maintained in the site with both the positive and negative threads. I disagree. The purpose of this website is to serve the community, not show a nice face to prospective players. Your idea sounds like extreme censorship to me. There will be negative unconstructive topics, those will probably be closed. There will be negative topics with merit, those should remain open regardless of the impression they give.

When people are satisfied, they tend not to make any topics at all rather than ones filled with glowing praise. That kind of thing is reserved for shills and fanbois. I'd be worried if I started to see a lot of topics that praised ANet and GW. Perhaps you should show your friend some other official forums for established games. Try WoW, SWG and EQ2 forums.

As already observed previously there seems to be a wideranging disquiet, as noted by Inde ages back, across all the GW forums. Perhaps instead of yet another "stfu" type of post, which is what the OP is really trying to say Yeah putting words in my mouth just to take yet another potshot.

And one more thing Fallot. Just because some people choose not to complain all the time and choose to make topics with glowing praise, does not make them "shills" and "fanbois" I admit that was an unfair comment to make. If I saw a large amount of such threads I'd be worried though, perhaps its the skeptic in me

I didn't get that impression from your post. What if all you see are negative threads with valid concerns ? Would there be any need to enforce some kind of balance there ? If the answer is yes I disagree with you. If the threads aren't just rants and arent duplicate threads of existing threads, I have no problem with it.The problem is when there's a million threads of the same topic (negative or not). For example, the A.I. complaint has been beaten to death by tons of different threads. Do we really need that?

But as I said before, the mods seem to be getting a handle on closing the redundant negative threads now.

. I've seen far far too much complaint threads in this forum. Like this?

And also, negative threads HELP ANET more than positive threads. They can see where they need improvement and what doesn't.

Like this?

And also, negative threads HELP ANET more than positive threads. They can see where they need improvement and what doesn't. Nonconstructive complaints doesn't help anyone.

85% of negative threads here are whining and griefing. Yet many of them never get closed for some unknown reason.

*que Inde*