April Update: the Long Term

I dont care about this, I care about the NEXT update, August?

1. 8/10-Good fun with random people or guildies, but some of the rewards seem a little off base.
2. 7/10- Not a big pet guy, but it wasn't a bad thing.
3. 9/10-I enjoyed using the makeover credits, which in my opinion were reasonably priced at $2 a credit, but the extreme makeovers seemed a bit much just to change your gender. Plus, most of my male character's names wouldn't look to good on a female, and I'm not paying $15 bucks just to change my character's name.
4. 3/10-See the end of #3
5. 6/10- I would have bought all of the tabs for five dollars each, but never $10 each. I understand that Anet needs money, and I'm happy to throw it their way, but I need to to feel like a worthwhile purchase.
6. 10/10- Something to look forward to every week.
7. 10/10- It's what I've wanted it to be in the first place.
8. 8/10- In my opinion, they shouldn't require as many zcoins, but that's just because I don't really have a main character to focus on.

I hope the next content update surpasses the quality of the April one.

Z quest was fun at first but it is stupid now. I mean come on ANEt has been repeating the same quests and mission over and over

All hail Linsey. I don't have sufficient data to know whether or not I want her designing a game from the ground up, but I can say this: give the girl a set of fixed objectives and a team to manage, and she will exceed expectations. That's a great employee right there.

i guess it was nice and all but compared to what im seeing of aion on the beta weekends.... playing guild wars is like entering a pro auto race with a pinto.

its just slightly different stuff in the same old style. granted i did the new stuff for a week or two while doing other things in game... but thats it.


when i picked up factions i read about alliance battles and was extremely disappointed with what it really was. i havent played wow at all, but it seems like it used to have world pvp and aion has it done better apparently.


it was a good update and all... but it seems like something that should have been in the game a long long time ago.

And yet some of them have still yet to appear, yes I'm looking at Imperial Sanctum, and A Time For Heroes, and I'm sure there's a couple others as well.

I don't mind them repeating, because usually by the time they come around again, some more of my toons are in a position to take the Z-Mission.

1. Zaishen quests, bounties, and battles rewarding z-coins
I like it a lot, fun to go to old forgotten areas in the game, and often with pugs. I am busy earning my third heavy bag from pve alone. Just too bad the quests are getting repeated.

2. Zaishen menagerie

Im almost done getting a complete collection of lvl20 pets, looking forward to take a walk in the zoo. But my main is a nec, and my ranger isnt using pets much. I wish for a small pets boost, improving them a bit, making beastmaster worth it. Not too big ofc, not too unbalanced.
3. Makeover and Extreme Makeover Credits for purchase
Its nice to have them, i might buy a makeover some day.
4. Name changes for purchase
Not going to pay for that option, I'd rather just delete and remake the char (wont happen with my GWAMM char ofc)
5. Free in-game storage tab, with the option to buy more tabs
Much appreciated although I wholehartedly hated the shop for a while for making it so troublesome to acquire.
6. Nicholas the Traveler and his gifts
Fun addition. Its a challenge to figure out the best ways to farm for these items. I love the myst tonics.
7. Account-wide Hall of Monuments setting Nice enough but i already have my titles on 1 char, the rest have no maxed titles at all lol.
8. Cheap 5-slot equipment pack, with the option to earn others
Very useful, saves room in storage and ordinary bags.

All in all 8/10.

1. Zaishen quests, bounties, and battles rewarding z-coins
for a awhile i did it grindly(new word) to get 2 heavy packs which i sold, but now i only do easy ones or ones that give me title points i need.

2. Zaishen menagerie
its cute. did the got them all thing now only use on each char for the hom

3. Makeover and Extreme Makeover Credits for purchase
make it free or ingame money then i think this is a good idea

4. Name changes for purchase
same answer as 3

5. Free in-game storage tab, with the option to buy more tabs
got free tabs not buying more if i did i rather buy a char slot then i will have more space then a tab

6. Nicholas the Traveler and his gifts
My very favorite. thought i wish the old bugger give me minis ;_;

7. Account-wide Hall of Monuments setting
umm okay this does nothing for me expect make me want more armor that i dont need.

8. Cheap 5-slot equipment pack, with the option to earn others
pfft 2.5k for a 5 slot thing? got a few then stopped to expensive for a 5 slotter. go go mule para!

over all aug. updates better be good >>

Zaishen Menagerie was epic fail. Pokemons FTL.
Haven't been there since my first visit which was at the day it was released.

It mostly works for me.
I don't do the Zaishen quests every day and the pre-searing huntsman is another neglected feature.
But I haven't missed a week of the traveller yet.
And last week he gave me the one item I wanted the most. [<3 My Gwen Doll.]
The account wide HoM is something I tend to overlook, I don't spend much time there anyway. xD
The menegerie is nice, personally I don't use it much.
Overall, there's some things that could be done differently.
[Gender change + Name change pack. >__o¿]
But it works well enough for now. :]

1. Zwhat? People "discussing" Zthings all over the forums. Some like, some hate. I have not found anything "Z" in this game.
2. See 1
3. Why?
4. Why?
5. "Jump thru hoops to get your free storage tab." "Oh, so sorry, your account tied to another account." "What you talking about? This is only account I have." " Prove it." "After 4 years and a couple of moves, you say prove it. Forget it, lived this long without, will continue to."
6. Now I have a character supporting her own habits in pre.
7. Benefit?
8. Would prefer to have had a "closet" in HoM, than having to carry all my armor around. So I just delete what I am not wearing, except head pieces, once dedicated.

Let's see, 8 items with 1 that I use. So I guess 1 of 8.

1. Meh, at least it makes people want to PvP in JQ/FA. Too bad it attracts a lot of scrubs.
2. Ugh, went there only once, never used it again.
3. I'm happy with how my characters look.
4. Same.
5. Yeeeaaah... free storage tab was okay, but character slots cost less than additional tabs and give more storage space.
6. I go to him once in a full moon, when I'm bored as hell.
7. Not a title grinder, sorry.
8. Meh.

So, mixed reviews so far; although people acknowledge that some of the update did appeal to them, did meet expectations...although the paid content seemed overpriced, or downright unneeded.

Several people have already mentioned this, then: What could August bring, based on this? Can we guess at the ways we'll be invited to replay the games some more? (The retroactive Factions and Heroes of Tyria books haven't really done it for me...).

For instance, the Zaishen Menagerie is a small composite of all of the areas in the games--all the habitats for the critters--stitched together. Is this a preview of how a small team with very limited resources might design a new quest or mission area (by taking already-extant map, rotating it, and piecing it together with other ones (lookin' at you' dungeons)?

Is it possible that some kind of other enticements are needed to replay the content?

For those of you not thrilled with the Z-coins and their rewards, what could induce you to redo missions, quests, and dungeons?

If you're not into the stylists and name changes, is there some other cosmetic content that you would either quest for or pay for? (I, for instance, would like characters to be able to wear the armor skins of other classes).

If not into Nicholas and his travels: would you work toward other rewards? He is, after all, easing the COST of grinding for the sweet, party, and drunk titles, by providing those things to us.

I'm genuinely curious how we see this progressing. Feel free to include other updates recently as evidence, if you like.

apart from his random schedule, nicholas isnt exactly an evolution of gameplay. now gw has its own source of 'collect 5 batwings' like every other mmo. id say that was a step backwards.

I can't really speak for the good of the game. As for me, zquests started out interesting then got boring. I did enough of them to get each of my toons a 10 or 15 slot bag, and unlock the moss spider. Now I don't bother looking at whats there anymore. I keep some pvp zquests on the toon most likely to do that pvp but it doesn't actually make me do anything new.

I liked the menagerie. Added every pet there. Never visited it again. Did not get any makeovers, although it is a good idea for people desperate to change things.

I like the free tab, and the option to purchase more. I intended not to, but ended up buying 2 more because I'm compelled to keep every collectible item I get now. I like the idea of nicholas, and that he makes people farm in areas they never farm in. It spreads people out around all the games. I don't particularly like how rare the minis he gives out are, it seems like we should be getting at least 1-3 a month new in game based on how many accounts get things, but I never see any for sale or hear of any dropping.

Imho account wide hom is the best part of the update. I can finally display my ldoa and survivor in the hall of my gwamm, although I'm the only person who will ever see it.

1) Eh. I would've preferred some actual new content instead of doing--once again--the same quests I had already done over and over again, but this time with some coins as a reward. The Z-coin prizes aren't worth it to me; they're too expensive and I don't care for them, either. The only thing I do appreciate, however, the amount of people that are available for PuGging at the targetted Z-areas. I wish it was like that throughout the whole game again, lol.

2) Eh. It's great that it's there. I always wanted to be able to keep and switch my pets around without completely losing them entirely, so cheers. I haven't actually really used it yet, and I'm not a Pokemon trainer, so I don't spend all my time trying to fill it up or anything.

3, 4, 5) Again, great that it's there (even though I am more of a get-it-right-the-first-time, if not then delete-sort of person) for those "just in case" sort of things, but I don't like the way its implemented. It's expensive, why couldn't it use in-game gold?; I haven't used it yet.

6) The same with number one. Rehashing old content and calling it "new". Can't be bothered.

7) THANK you!! That really should've been there from the start.

8) Same with 3, 4, 5. Good that they give you extra options that really aren't that necessary; the way they went about it is less-than-stellarly.

In the end, I feel as if the April Update was just...I don't know. Not that great. It looked like they just needed some way to keep people in the game, so they dangled a little carrot in front of them: added some more grind and some new pointless things to "collect", and called it a day. It didn't really make any major change of the way I play or feel the game, nor do I feel it really brought anything new to the table for me. Rehashed old stuff; I'm still bored and ultimately don't play anymore.

Wondering what they're going to do for the next one, though.

From the way Regina has been wording her statements on her wiki talk page I wouldn't hold my breath. It looks like it's going to get pushed back.

Also, in the following quote the Dev Team promised more communication between them and players before content updates.....and considering that we've heard nothing, I'm assuming there will be nothing.

So, again.....don't hold your breath.

There's still at least 2-3 weeks before the next scheduled update is released, plenty of time for them to come out and officially make a statement. TBH the XTH would be on the bottom of my priority list, considering it offers nothing in the way of added or improved content within GW.

2-3 weeks is not the equivalent of the promised "months" ahead of time, but you could be right. I still highly doubt it though.

Charging what, $15 for a name change and $10 for some appearance changes, was the stupidest idea ever.

I mean really, THAT MUCH? Hell, I'd be confused if they had made it more than $5, but $15 and $10? What a joke.