New Designer, Updates, PvP, XTH, and more! courtesy of Linsey Murdock

It was never 6 millions of people, not even 6 millions of accounts.

BRING IT ON!!!
sounds cool^^
but i havent read about anything uwsc/SF nerf + dungeons SC, still good stuff!!

Uh, have you never played any other game? Tons of games follow the pattern of a $50 dollar game with free online play (including the company from which many of ANet's founders came from, Blizzard). Also, only 5 million copies of all the GW games were sold, and how can you even begin to quantify how many customers "have something good to say about Anet"?

ANet is not revolutionary, and neither is being open about what they plan to do for the game-- In most other online franchises it's expected.

I like everything about this. More open communication. Sealed deck. Henchie tweaks. New festival content. Testing before skill updates.

Win all around!!!

hahaha - sync promoting ftw

Hoping new AT schedule works out, really hoping. Why not just tell us the times right now?
New anything map is good, maybe.

'... Shooting for a skill balance every other month instead of every month... Skill balance updates take a surprising amount of development time...'
It doesn't help skill balancing efforts when there are random insane buffs to skills every 6 months that you'll work on for 6+ months to figure out what's wrong and still have the problem exist until you tweak the cost to ridiculous levels instead of reworking the functionality. Now it sort of looks like it'll take twice as long to 'repair' things. Not liking the message here.

Just keep Xunlai Tournament House down and put more time into figuring out pvp imbalances since no one takes suggestions over there. No loss in losing this.

HB had/has a long list of stuff everyone griefed over with entry level players to top players participating in. HB really isn't a great format to start with but keep it in game long enough and people will play it. Won't be sad to see it go.
TA could be re-worked but it's always easier to tear down and rebuild things. So I guess Sealed Deck is its replacement. I'm not reading too much into Sealed Deck but not hoping for much out of it.

Except you may have missed this bit:

The only reasons I've heard so far are server processing power and dispersion of playerbase, however these are pretty damn weak excuses. Surely just leaving the formats as is requires far less effort than removing them entirely? Hell, just get rid of the HB MAT and ladder if it's that much of an issue.

But most of them do not host the majority of game servers. Counterstrike, Quake, UT et. al. generally just run the matchmaking/indexing server, the actual gaming happens on privately owned servers unrelated to the company. Many RTS's such as starcraft operate on a peer-peer model, meaning no game server is needed beyond matchmaking. The need for company-run game servers is primarily to keep persistent/progressive character data intact. Diablo 2 is one of very few games in a similar mold to GW.

You're right. Battle.net's servers are hosted by AT&T and ad supported, though. I don't know to whom or even if ANet farms out its servers to.

upon first reading this i liked what i heard but the more i think about it the more i think it's a very very bad update.

primarily based upon the following logic: when people cry about SF and speed clearing i despise it because i enjoy that playstyle and don't want some shithead to tell me how to play the game just cause they suck at it or are too morally superior to "abuse" it themselves.

you remove HB and TA, what the hell do you expect people who base their "niche" playstyle around those gametypes to do? it's completely unfair to those who enjoy doing it. i personally dont really care BUT i think it's dumb on your part, anet, to simply discard your "ascalon academy" cadets.


here's what i dont get:

so youre admitting you created something that had flaws from the start and neglected it. players have even given you suggestions on what is wrong/how to fix it. but instead of fixing it you're deleting it becauseeee

oh ok. which makes sense until you read

orlly? so you're slowing down updates to free up time to commit to shit that desperately needs fixing and new content implementation...like this one?

nice joke.

i hope i'm not the only one who sees the contradictions here.

and then we get to this comment...

wasnt a bad meta the same problem with HB? weren't they both fairly popular upon respective releases but got stale over time and repetition?

here's my point, and why i'm against this idea. you're saying this shit is screwed up and this is why it's screwed. you're also saying youre going to take more time with your updates to make them better, more thorough, and bigger. the freed up time will also allow you to create new stuff, tackle bigger projects/problems, etc. BUT you won't use this free time to fix the problems youve already identified with 2 gametypes (and i'm pretty sure all pvp meta is semi-degenerate at this point).

so instead you'll remove them. you'll implement a new arena. i'm all for new content BUT you're throwing away loyal players (if they're still hb/ta'ing regularly now then they're either dumb or devout) in favor of adding something for those of us that aren't leaving (yet). is this not counter intuitive business sense?

the major thing that concerns me though, and i do hope it's not an omen of sorts, is this :

aha coil I agree with you! their a way more HBers than Anet fails to realize

I wrote this in one of the threads in HB forum
Thier is quite a large community of HBers most of which have spent hundreds of hours on the format. The thing about HB is it is complex but once you figure it all out you are addicted. So even if the fan base isn't very big they are all very very devoted to HB and all they wanted was a few skill touch ups and Anet just neglected us so we had to do rediculous things like changing accnt names and screwing up MaTs to finally get them to do something and Anet finally takes a look after 2 years and just decides to delete it.

The difference between HB and a farming build is most of the people who HB it is the only part of the game they play, while a farming build you remove it and their are just so many other ways to farm while their is no alternative to HB. Everyone who HBs does it because you A) don't have to deal with bad teammatesB) you don't have to sit for an hour making a group, you can just log in and just play C) It is pretty competitive with tournaments and rankings and their is no alternative to any of that. But thats probably the best example of how we feel unless you were to compare HB to just all of PvE and if Anet just removed PvE, how would you all feel?

exactly bro. wasnt trying to relate pve to pvp or 1 niche to another but trying to illustrate that no one should attempt to dictate how another person can play with the game given to them. and, as another has posted before, a lack/deletion of content is a loss for all of us as consumers and a retarded business move on their part.

Pretty sure the novelty of the PvErs excited about Sealed Deck is gonna wear off once they realise they will still get beaten, even more so infact than HB or TA since no chance to lame the opposition.

I'll give it a month before its deader than TA and HB put together.

I bet most TAers and HBers are going to quit when the formats get deleted that'll leave Sealed Deck with a bunch of PvErs playing it once a month for a refreshment from getting an ecto. Oh well enjoy.

Well, when regarding the fact how delicately Smiter's Boon was adjusted, I think we can all count on Arena.net curing another disease by killing the patient.

A lot of people have been asking what sealed deck is, and nobody has really answered the question yet (or worse yet given wrong/bad answers).

The idea of sealed deck is both teams get a random set of skills (both good and bad skills) to make builds with. Then they put their builds up against other teams who have different random skills. The teams do not have the same set of skills. The appeal of the format is in the fact that you have no idea what you are going to get, you must be creative making your builds, and then you have no idea what you are going to be fighting against. It has a chance to be a welcome format for all the people who don't play PvP because they complain about cookie cutter builds or elitists forcing them to play a certain build.

The only question I have is how Anet is going to implement the format. Will there be tournaments where each team gets a random deck at the beginning and plays the tournament with it? Will it be like TA where a team enters, gets a random deck, and plays with it until they lose? I'd like to hear how this format will be done. I also question how they are going to "randomize" the skills the teams get.

Also, people defending HB make no sense. The format is BROKEN...this is a FACT. The format is so broken that Anet is even ADMITTING they can no longer fix it. I would much rather them spend time on a format that has more future potential in getting more people to play PvP.

The people defending TA have a better argument. We never really saw what TA was capable of because it never meant anything. The only reason to go there was for the title or faction which is usually easier to get in RA farms anyways. If TA had a ladder of some sort we would be able to judge.

I'm pretty sure the main problem with TA was that the game was never balanced around it.

As I said earlier in the thread, sealed deck doesn't look good on paper, and it's certainly no substitute for a structured format like TA. The randomization element is going to be very difficult to tune, and the setup will almost certainly be tedious for players due to frequent changing of builds. In any case, the implementation is going to be challenging, but we'll see if Anet has any good ideas.

I question the likely efficacy of a few of the projects (e.g. henchman), but overall I'm impressed with immensity and boldness of the coming changes.

OMG, finally Sealed Play in game. I've been waiting 4 years for this every since I read about the first Sealed Play matches.

Thank You Linsey and Live Team, good luck with the next update

TBH I still think they are working on pve missions to sell us, although it might not be ready until christmas. They just aren't talking about it yet.

No chance for any PvE missions, really, who would work on them? The people who would do that are doing GW2 now.

I'm just not sure if adding more festival content is a good thing when they last just a few days. I'd rather see them work on more permanent things. Like more Sealed Deck awesomeness, or adding Vanq ZQuests for PvE.

ok this bothers me, i made a post and now it's gone. I know it was made because I edited it twice to make addendums and made sure they were there and yes they were for this thread. But now my post isn't even there anymore O_o

are mods allowed to just delete whole posts without reason? I didn't curse or insult anyone. I mostly said this update is lame X3 Fail update is fail!

give us something to really sink our teeth into, like a new elite area along the lines of FoW/UW... but with skills that go through shadow form and take away enchantments (for you farming monks and rits!)

And who wants MORE festival content? you can only access it a few days... the stuff we have is fine... just change the hats, change whatever animal year it is for cantha festival for celestial mini, and everyone will be happy.

I agree with this. it seems to me that alot of Pve people are excited at a new chance to get into something pvp wise and i also cannot say thats bad.

But you cant deny this fact.

It may be a new format, But if you arnt into/good at the pvp side of the game you wont get far.

lols.

TA gone = Good

RA 100 Wins= Better

HB gone= Best.

^This

12chars

Those of you laughing about PvEers being excited about Sealed Deck have completely missed the point. People get better at things by doing them. Ergo, getting a lot of people who would otherwise not PvP at all into a PvP format perceived to have low bars to entry results in a lot of new people learning PvP. I don't see how this could be anything but good.

Good. They should just do away with XTH while they're at it. People shouldn't be getting keys for doing absolutely nothing. As for HB and TA, I don't really care. I don't like HB anyway and only do it for the 6k faction quest.

Does this mean all PvP areas are unlocked sence no wins needed to get to Halls?

Skins will be nice.

Sealed Deck, how do they determine the skills? I am thinking, monk for an example, lets face it, some of the skills for monks are not great, but I understand that it the point.

Do they choose the skills or is it setup to pick from all the skills from that one class?

Warriors using healing signet wile they get pounded by wurm spawn, and continue to do so after you tell them to stop it.

Brilliant news. Sealed Deck, new HoH map and skill updates WE get to help with? Seems to good to be true.

The problem here is that getting better at SD means just one thing - you get better at SD. You don't get better at "PvP".
At best it's going to be the new RA.



Still, the thing that surprises me the most is the insane support in this thread. The guys from A.Net state that they realised that they can't do everything that needs to be done, so to fix that - they just reduced the number of things that need to be done.
And everyone is applauding their brilliance!

Learning SD is learning PvP; by your argument, GvGers and HAers are learning GvG and HA, respectively, instead of "PvP". While each format obviously has its nuances, beginning players can pick up general "PvP" skill from any competitive format. There's a lot of basic understanding and execution to learn before the format details even become a factor.

As for support, I don't think it's misplaced. Anet has limited resources, and it's about time that everyone faced that reality. After all, we've already seen the alternative.

good luck with the project ! ^^ maybe i'm just rubbish at HB but i hope it's easier for newer players to get into (I'm afraid of losing 1,000 reputaion/points if i go into ranked matches, but in non-ranked matches you get people with a much higher rank than you).
least new stuff will be fun to try out!

There is a slight difference in which PvP mode you play.
Gameplay modes that provide a fairly easy way of entry achieve that by keeping the level of skill in those areas at low levels. Compare RA and GvG.
So if SD will offer an easy entry, that means that the people that play it will not be able to learn much from it. I don't see it being anything other than a new RA. And the people who then want to try out other PvP modes, will still have the same issues they have now.
That's why I feel that these players will learn to play SD and not PvP.

The problem is that I don't see a change.
The only difference is that they now admitted to not having the resources to pull everything off - so instead of them saying that we'll get something, but then won't, they'll just flat out tell us from the start that we won't get something.
We don't need a new way of sharing the lacking improvements.
We need the improvements to NOT be lacking. And outside of hiring a new guy, BUT still telling us that this won't be sufficient for the improvements to not be lacking, they aren't doing that.

Well, if you put it in terms of "learning more", then certainly, SD is unlikely to teach as much as GvG. However, none of these PvEers would have played GvG to begin with - and many would not have even PvPed to begin with - so if any of these players can pick up even basic PvP aptitude (which can be learned even in RA), I think SD will have been worthwhile. At the very least, SD will allow an organized team, which makes voicechat and team tactics a possibility - perhaps RA's largest deficiency. In short, I don't think it's meaningful to draw an arbitrary line and declare that only formats above the line are "teaching PvP"; the PvP skillset is sufficiently broad that some of it can be picked up anywhere. If nothing else, simply shifting more casual PvE players to a more competitive mindset would be a victory in-and-of-itself. Much of the tension between the two major GW communities is rooted in lack of mutual respect, which is itself rooted in lack of understanding. Having everyone at least dabble in everything should encourage people to see things in less black-and-white, PvE-vs-PvP, zero-sum-game terms.

I still think you're giving them too little credit for their update goals. They simply don't have the resources to do everything they want/need to do, so they'll do what they can. While you might consider such improvements to be "lacking", it is obviously far preferable to no improvement at all - which would not be unreasonable for a 4-year-old game with no subscription-based funding. If they don't have the resources for a less-lacking improvement, what do you expect them to do?

Frankly, I don't know enough about their design process (or codebase, for that matter), to accurately gauge what can be accomplished with the resources that they have - I'm just going to have to trust them when they say that this is the most they can do for now. All I ask is that, if they're going to do something, that they do it correctly.

I would prefer one working toy than two broken toys.
Whilst I doubt SD will be anything extraordinary, it may prove more interesting than TA and HB. I also doubt it's going to be a working toy, but it may work better than TA and HB.

We have RA, JQ, FA, AB, hell even the XTH(!!) and the accompanying ZQuests. We already have a decent selection of modes that try to encourage players to try out PvP.
The problem is that some people just don't want to.

And the people that do try it out - will still be at an disadvantage because they are still in the kiddie-pool. That is if they try to move to the big boys league.

I don't have issues with introducing a new mode.
I just don't feel that, given what we are seeing in the game these days, it will have this immensely positive effect outside of this given mode that people think it might have.


What I am getting at is that we are currently ALREADY getting updates that try to fix the game. The problem is that the updates aren't good enough due to A.Net lacking the resources for an overhaul of the game that the game actually needs.
And now, A.Net is acknowledging this problem.
But they are doing JUST that. They aren't fixing it. They are just admitting that there is a problem. Or even worse - they are actually telling us that they know there is a problem BUT they WON'T fix it!
And people are applauding them for it.

I think its more that people are applauding that Linsey would finally tell us detailed stuff even if its just her hopes and wishes and failed promises. At the very least she is telling us why.

What, four years of crickets chirping from anet's CR team aren't enough for you?

As I've stated upthread, I'm not that excited about SD; my assessment of it is similar to yours - but it doesn't matter what I'm excited about, or what you're excited about. If it gets more people to PvP that otherwise wouldn't have, and if just a fraction of those people stick with it (or "convert", or what have you), that's better than the status quo. No matter how well it's designed, the only way a competitive game will matter is if you can get a significant number of people to play it. This is the same problem that has been facing competitive fighting games for many years.

Short of throwing more resources at the problem - which may or may not be feasible, based on information I'm not privy to - I don't see what else they can do. Whether they deserve genuine applause or /golfclap, well, that's something that I admittedly don't care much about :P.

wow, that was a lot of different, things. its good that you guys are starting to trust us a bit, with the notes before the updates and actually telling us a bit about what your gonna do. I dont do TA and HB so i dont care one way or the other, it will be interesting to see how the sealed deck thing will turn out. Way to go Lindsay