Anyways, my thoughts are we should ban GW2. Now I know this sounds harsh, but I promise you that this won't be another "OMG Anet SUXORS I H8 ANET" threads. At least not by my doing. Below are the reasons that I have come up with why we should ban GW2, and why GW1 is in such a bad shape:
1) Ultimate Goal of Anet: Simply put, their goal is the same as every other company that makes video games: to make money. Some might say that the true goal of a company is to deliver a great product, get good reviews, have great PR, etc, etc. While that may be true, all those only contribute to spreading the word about a product so more people will buy it (hence earning the company more money). While I DO NOT expect this to be any different for Anet, I do expect them to take care of their current customers. The game as it is is broken. Skills/builds are overpowered, ectos (which were once the basis for trading) have gone out of wack, Elite areas are overfarmed, cheaters and scammers run abound without any sort of restriction, and worst of all, updates are few and far between (where as before the were quick and simple, except for some cases: I'll get to that later). Now, the counter-argument for that is that Anet is busy using all their resources on GW2, and doesn't have any time/money/people for GW1. I call shens on that. Guild Wars made astounding sales. This is shown anytime you walk into Kamadan and have 5+ districts at any given time. Or when you go to any major town for a holiday, and there are 100+ full districts. I read somewhere that GW1 has "one programmer, and he is knee deep" in coding problems. My question is, why not hire a few more programmers? They wouldn't have to be super-experienced, all they would be doing is modifying the code from time to time to fit the needs of the players. And the money is obviously there, as shown by above reasons. This would help to dramatically fix Guild Wars, and keep the fanbase happy with it.
2) Shadow Form: Come on, you had to have seen this coming

3) Ursan Blessing: The other skills that has a serious love/hate relationship for players. Whether you like it or not, use it or not, Ursan has made a mockery of Elite areas in the game. Full Ursans plus two monks can run through any area, no problem? There are only 4 skills, no synergy between them, but none needed? Class does not matter, nor does skill level, skills obtained, awesome build combos, attribute point distribution, weapon sets, or pretty much anything else that was previously needed by groups doing these areas? Armor buffs, health buffs, and enerfy buffs (yes I consider it an energy buff, seeing as you have -2 regen but a perpetual essence bond cast on you, plus no side effect from zealous weapons)? Sounds broken to me. And yet, Anet hasn't even thought about changing a thing on it. Why? Because even if Proph, Factions, and NF are done making sales, EotN is not. And by making Ursan THE single skill required (and yes I mean required, PuG's are non-existant in Elite areas, you HAVE to be r8-10 Norn to get in) they are forcing players who haven't bought the expansion to buy it, or lose out on the longevity of the game. That, along with the Perma-sin buff/nerf to make solo farming the Elites pretty much useless (no point, you can make more money elsewhere with Ursan), they have essentially locked you into buying the game, or missing out on the games you have already purchased.
4) Lack of updates: I have already talked about this, I know, but there is more to it. If Anet has the money and resources to keep GW1 afloat, why don't they? Well, why would they? Wouldn't it be smarter, financially, to slowly kill of the original to the point where it is unplayable, which in turn forces players to buy the new game (GW2)? And yes, I realize that "there are other games" out there. Diablo 3, Ragnarok Online, and the ever-powerful WoW will be strong contenders for my playing time. But that's the thing: none of those games are Guild Wars. Guild Wars is unique: it's what drew us to the game in the first place. And as stated again, Anet isn't depending on keeping their customers happy: they are depending on you making the initial sale, after they why would they care? WoW and other subscription based services HAVE to keep their game running strong and smooth, else they will lose people's monthly business. Now, the argument being that "you get what you pay for" is semi-valid here. You get free monthly service, you're gonna get crap. Problem is, Anet has shown that they are more than capable at keeping the game running smoothly (ie, back in the day). It is another thing that made us want to go from Proph to Factions, and from Factions to NF. Their customer service was great, in game bugs were fixed quickly, everything went smoothly. As soon as Nightfall numbers dropped, so did the "love" we got from Anet. EotN didn't really matter, because it was forced on us anyways. Besides Ursan, look at how many builds have been nerfed by updates, but "saved" by EotN only skills. A small, debatable point, I know, but a point nontheless.
5) Lack of difficulty: HM is a breeze with certain builds. Ursan kills all. There is no difficulty left in GW. Why would anyone want to play a game that is that easy?
5) Lack of GW2 news: While some consider this no means to get angry about, I do. We have heard nothing about GW2 since the original announcement. Why is that? Because Anet wants us to keep our focus on the horrible shape that GW is in right now. They want us to keep getting more and more frustrated with the donwfall of our beloved game, so when GW2 does come out, it will be our savior. If they gave us news now, that gives the illusion that it is close to coming out, alot of people would probably stop playing GW, and they would forget how bad of a game it has become (compared to where it was a few years back). Like I said before, Anet depends on that initial spike of sales to make their money, not long-term commitments.
Those are my above reasons on why I believe that us, the dedicated, loyal fanbase of GW, should propose a boycott on GW2. In my eyes, Anet purposefully let the game destroy itself by introducing overpowered skills and builds, and did nothing to stop the destruction they caused. They do no listen to the players anymore, and are trying to keep us starved for a good game just enough so that we will be hungry enough for GW2 when it comes out, but not so hungry that we move to another game. Even if there is no subscription based reason for them to care about what I, or any other player thinks, I still payed good money for a game that was well-maintained and balanced. The level of friendly PR, customer service, and quick updates is what made me decide to buy Factions and NF, thinking that Anet truly did care for their customers. I feel a little betrayed, like Anet was laughing up their sleeves the whole time. If there was absolutely nothing Anet could do to stop the mayhem in GW, I would be more understanding. But by sitting on their hands and doing nothing, after all this time (look how long it took to nerf SF, when it was clearly having a devastating impact on the economy), it clearly shows that Anet does not care about the you and I, the customers. I say if they want our GW2 dollars so bad, we make them earn it. Boycott GW2. Hit Anet where it hurts. Maybe then they will do something about GW1 as it is. If we don't, what's to stop them from doing the same thing to GW2? Boycotting GW1 isn't only pointless, it's counterproductive. Anet has the money from GW1, and boycotting at this point would be pretty stupid.
P.S. Now that ectos are crap value, I'm waiting for Z-keys to start dropping in EotN....
Also, No I will not stop playing the game because I have a problem with it, developers should be held responsible for their game quality. This is not a QQ thread, I posted my ideas logically with reasons for all of the above points. And, no, you cannot have my stuff if I quit.
Mods please do not close, I wish to see if there is any basis for a boycott, or if I will be standing alone. If it becomes a flame pit, do what you will
