PvP: Current Projects Status Update - Guild Wars Guru archive powered by Guild Wars Legacy

Regina Buenaobra

ArenaNet

Join Date: Apr 2008

Me/

07 Oct 2009 at 16:35 - 1

Hey, all:

I've put a new post up on my wiki page:

Quote:

As a follow-up to my previous update-y post here, Linsey has outlined more details about what the Live Team is currently working on:

* The Henchmen project: Robert has done a major pass on all the PvE Henchmen, changing many of their builds and polishing their stats to a glossy shine. Only some minor AI tweaks remain. Live Team collectively managed to get through the 30k+ PvP Henchmen submissions and picked 40 builds to be used on release. Robert is working with Joe now to make sure the AI knows how to handle the builds. Linsey and Robert are working with me to get in touch with all the winners, nail down (appropriate, in-character) names for the Henchmen. The last bit of fun is going to be digging up cool models to use for them all once we have the names.

* PvP Skins: The work on this is done. Joe miraculously resolved the two "show-stopping" graphics bugs with the EotN skins, implemented the price reductions and added support for ZCoins.

* Sync-ing Random Arena: The GW2 Programming Team had been playing a bunch of GW PvP lately during their lunch breaks and on the weekend. During one play session, the room got into a lively discussion about Sync'ing Random Arena. Next thing Linsey knows, one of the members of the GW2 Programming Team was telling her that he'd found a way to put everyone into the same bucket so that Sync'ing won't be so easy. We decided to push it live as soon as possible and we put it up on September 1st.

* (TA + HB)^Sealed = WIN!: This project has taken a little bit longer than we had expected. Joe needed to pretty much start from scratch in order for Sealed to be robust enough to handle Live conditions as a full format. That's bumped a couple things from this build back on the waiting list. At this point, Joe is working with QA to get the last remains of TA and HB removed and QA has begun their first test pass on the new Sealed format. Sealed has all its basic functionality there now, it just needs to get through the testing/bug fixing phase and on to the final polish.

* GvG Tiebreaker: We've read through lots of feedback, distilling it down to key points and proposals, but other than that, the project has been mostly put on hold. There are so many different opinions about how we should deal with this that it would be best to wait until the Test Krewe is in place anyway so that we have a way to test each approach. Linsey prefers this one to be really solid before we put it out. That means iteration and a lot of testing, which takes a lot of time and people.

* Bug Fixes for Fort Aspenwood and Jade Quarry: These have mostly been put on hold for now since they're primarily code issues.

* New HoH map: As we said before, "we’ll probably wait until the Test Krewe is in place" and that's what's happening.

* New Schedule for Automated Tournaments: The last status update from QA was that they were doing their test pass and this was pretty much just a matter of Izzy pulling the trigger.

* The Next Skill Balance: We have not started production on this yet. Linsey won't be free to think about it until Halloween is set, but James and Robert have been brewing some ideas already. We'll let you know when this project gets further underway.

* Halloween: As I mentioned a couple posts ago on this page, Linsey has been itching do something new for Halloween. She didn't want to just put in a few more terrible jokes. It’s been on her mind a lot and ideas have been percolating and for months on sleepless nights and in daydreams abound. The last couple weeks, in between scrambling around working on PvP stuff, she's been developing something fairly ambitious. She isn't sure yet if we’ll be able to pull it all off, but regardless, we'll probably manage to get at least a little shiny and new in for this year’s celebration.

zelgadissan

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2008

The Warrior Priests [WP]

Me/Rt

07 Oct 2009 at 16:39 - 2

Thanks for the update, Regina. I, for one, appreciate information being passed along, even if it's not necessarily what people are wanting to hear - for example, things like the HoH map being put on hold.

In before flames for delays/henchmen/godknowswhatelse.

Black Metal

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2009

N/

07 Oct 2009 at 16:40 - 3

"* New Schedule for Automated Tournaments: The last status update from QA was that they were doing their test pass and this was pretty much just a matter of Izzy pulling the trigger."

PLEASE tell me this means the XTH is going up. If not, that's a very glaring ommission.

No news of a second quarterly content update? If so it would seem that the 3 quarterly content updates for 2009 fell well short with 1.

Zahr Dalsk

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Aug 2007

Canada

07 Oct 2009 at 16:43 - 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

* The Henchmen project: Robert has done a major pass on all the PvE Henchmen, changing many of their builds and polishing their stats to a glossy shine.

Awesome, if the new builds are actually good. Of course, considering how worthless they currently are, odds are this is an improvement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

* PvP Skins: The work on this is done. Joe miraculously resolved the two "show-stopping" graphics bugs with the EotN skins, implemented the price reductions and added support for ZCoins.

We can get PvP skins for zaishen coins? That's great, as long as it's not unreasonably costly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

Bug Fixes for Fort Aspenwood and Jade Quarry: These have mostly been put on hold for now since they're primarily code issues.

It'd be nice to see shrine NPC's move quickly out of AoE.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

The Next Skill Balance: We have not started production on this yet. Linsey won't be free to think about it until Halloween is set, but James and Robert have been brewing some ideas already. We'll let you know when this project gets further underway.

I hope we see some interesting changes, such as large buffs/reworks to much of the Ritualist and Mesmer skills. (And attribute lines. I'd like to see Spawning's current effects dropped and replaced with something useful, such as energy regen / energy gain on summoning a creature / spell cost reduction / something like that.)

Zodiac Meteor

Imma Firin Mah Rojway!

Join Date: Aug 2008

At the Mac Store laughing at people that walk out with anything.

E/Mo

07 Oct 2009 at 16:43 - 5

Thy thanks the Regina.

Beware Linsey, Halloween does not like poor work.

slowerpoke

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2007

Cuba

07 Oct 2009 at 16:50 - 6

PvE henchmen are being updated?

the XTH, which is missing from the summary, what's the reason the last set of undistributed points not being given out yet? xth front end doesn't need to be working for that.

Xenex Xclame

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2006

DPX

R/

07 Oct 2009 at 16:58 - 7

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

* The Next Skill Balance: We have not started production on this yet. Linsey won't be free to think about it until Halloween is set, but James and Robert have been brewing some ideas already. We'll let you know when this project gets further underway.

So we didnt get any skill updates this (passed) month,the one we got was from the month before,it was late because they were sick,we got no 1 month ahead of time preview.You guys didnt start on the skill updates, and our next update will be 4 months after the last one?Seeing as you will need 2 months to make it.

If this is the way its gonna be I rather have the old way of getting updates,broken and stupid,but still update.

Eragon Zarroc

Atra estern?? ono thelduin

Join Date: Jan 2008

Madness Incarnate

[Duo]

W/P

07 Oct 2009 at 17:00 - 8

soooo, since a few of these depend on the test krewe being put into place, any updates on how that is going with the review of submissions and what not? ;-)

Regina Buenaobra

ArenaNet

Join Date: Apr 2008

Me/

07 Oct 2009 at 17:11 - 9

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eragon Zarroc

soooo, since a few of these depend on the test krewe being put into place, any updates on how that is going with the review of submissions and what not? ;-)

We've narrowed the list from a few thousand applicants to a size that is more manageable. The shortlist has been circulated, and we are waiting for internal feedback on that list. Each applicant had to submit a short statement about why they wanted to volunteer for this, and I believe several folks are taking another look, a closer look, at those statements.

Chthon

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Apr 2007

07 Oct 2009 at 17:18 - 10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

* Sync-ing Random Arena: The GW2 Programming Team had been playing a bunch of GW PvP lately during their lunch breaks and on the weekend. During one play session, the room got into a lively discussion about Sync'ing Random Arena. Next thing Linsey knows, one of the members of the GW2 Programming Team was telling her that he'd found a way to put everyone into the same bucket so that Sync'ing won't be so easy. We decided to push it live as soon as possible and we put it up on September 1st.

In case you managed to miss it, the so-called fix made synching marginally harder, but failed to fix the problem.

For Linsey's benefit, a better solution, in addition to throwing everyone in the same bucket, is to implement a short random waiting period between when the player presses "enter" and when they are thrown into the queue. (From the player's side, it looks like a 30 to 30+X sec timer instead of the current 30 sec timer.)

Fril Estelin

So Serious...

Join Date: Jan 2007

London

Nerfs Are [WHAK]

E/

07 Oct 2009 at 17:24 - 11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenex Xclame

So we didnt get any skill updates this (passed) month,the one we got was from the month before,it was late because they were sick,we got no 1 month ahead of time preview.You guys didnt start on the skill updates, and our next update will be 4 months after the last one?Seeing as you will need 2 months to make it.

If this is the way its gonna be I rather have the old way of getting updates,broken and stupid,but still update.

When Linsey published her mammoth devnote on August 28, announcing these big projects (all worked on in parallel), she also asked for the community's support and understanding:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linsey

A New Approach

I know this is a lot of information to take in, and it comes in a package that is sort of unusual in the game industry. At the beginning of the year, we spoke about wanting to be more open about what we’re working on and set this as a high priority in the months that followed. We had a lot of plans for how to accomplish this, but as they say, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.”

We’ve decided to try a slightly different approach, starting with this post. As you can see, we are relaxing our stance on talking about projects that are in progress and projects that are just getting going. We’ve launched Facebook and Twitter pages to give you quick updates on what we are up to. Taking a less formal approach like this will work easier with our fast-paced schedule and will hopefully increase the flow of information to you.

This degree of transparency is unusual for large game companies, being more common to smaller studios and indie projects. We’ll be sharing information and offering insights into the development process that the public normally doesn’t have access to for AAA games. This kind of stuff goes on behind the scenes anyway; we’re just pulling the curtain back to show you the process. To make this new approach successful, our community needs to meet us halfway. We all have to be on the same side here.

So, in return for this openness, we expect you, our community, to be understanding when projects that we have discussed may be canceled or changed, or a project or build is delayed. We want you to have ambitious expectations for us, but to understand that there are always limitations. Everyone has to deal with finite resources, competing priorities, and unexpected complications, and we’re no different. By embracing this reality, we can work together to bridge the gap between development and community for the betterment of the game.

I’m looking forward to chatting about my work openly, but as always please keep in mind that there will be lulls in activity from time to time.

I guess integrating Robert into the Live Team also takes some time and the H1N1 virus outbreak took its tall.

]HM[ Sabre Wolf

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2006

USA

Servants of Fortuna

W/

07 Oct 2009 at 17:43 - 12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

We've narrowed the list from a few thousand applicants to a size that is more manageable. The shortlist has been circulated, and we are waiting for internal feedback on that list. Each applicant had to submit a short statement about why they wanted to volunteer for this, and I believe several folks are taking another look, a closer look, at those statements.

Well its very nice that everyone is still working on it

... and most of the player opinion changes for PvP will be on hold till a player controled tester crew is made. Looking forward to new maps and stuff. Repurposing HB maps for HA would be kinda sick/twisted!

Henchie PvE update is much needed and I will be glad to see it. And given your statement about Halloween and Lindsey's statement on her blog about work load... I am assumeing no Skill Update this month at all, and just AI skills updates? That too bad considering I know Lindsey address the Perma UWSC issue all the way back at PAX and still cant get the time to tackle it...

R_Frost

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2006

California

Me/

07 Oct 2009 at 18:01 - 13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

The Henchmen project: Robert has done a major pass on all the PvE Henchmen, changing many of their builds and polishing their stats to a glossy shine. Only some minor AI tweaks remain.:

as much as it would probably cause a big uproar like the PvP henchman thread, it would be nice to get a heads up on the build changes planned before they put the updates in the game. just to get an idea what in the future.

Kook~NBK~

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2005

A little chalet outside Drok's

Natural Born Killaz

07 Oct 2009 at 18:19 - 14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zodiac Meteor

Thy thanks the Regina.

Beware Linsey, MAD KING THORN does not like poor work.

Fixed it for you.

Neo Nugget

Site Contributor

Join Date: Jan 2006

R/

07 Oct 2009 at 18:26 - 15

Quote:

* Halloween: As I mentioned a couple posts ago on this page, Linsey has been itching do something new for Halloween. She didn't want to just put in a few more terrible jokes. It’s been on her mind a lot and ideas have been percolating and for months on sleepless nights and in daydreams abound. The last couple weeks, in between scrambling around working on PvP stuff, she's been developing something fairly ambitious. She isn't sure yet if we’ll be able to pull it all off, but regardless, we'll probably manage to get at least a little shiny and new in for this year’s celebration.

The clock is ticking

I really hope they will be able to pull off some really cool new ideas for Halloween to make it feel at least somewhat new again.

dsielschott

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2007

KURZ

W/Mo

07 Oct 2009 at 18:30 - 16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Metal

"*

No news of a second quarterly content update? If so it would seem that the 3 quarterly content updates for 2009 fell well short with 1.

{rant....sorry}
In my field not hitting deadlines means people get fired...and people that will make a deadline get hired......telling the client (the players) that they will get "X" and "Y" and then not delivering makes them upset and makes them go to someone else(a different game) and that costs you a lot of money, your credibility and reputation.....sad to see that the live crew cant comprehend a deadline.... even if there are hiccups that make it more difficult to hit a deadline, figure out a way to do it, o lets say by making it mandatory 60 hour weeks(they are crap but gets the job done) or just say--- "you will not be getting "X" or "Y", we screwed up"---

now along with all of these updates I totally understand putting some of them on hold till you get the test crew going because that just makes sense then we(the players) cant complain about the way an update changes things because "we"(being the players) basically said what to do
{end rant}

I would just like to see a realistic time frame on updates, i think I read about most of them not coming in 2009, which I am ok with if this is the true time frame to expect new content.

I am looking forward to halloween, cant wait to see all of the new stuff... i take screenshots every year of the new layouts and decorations that are put up

Jensy

Site Contributor

Join Date: Apr 2007

Phoenix, Arizona

Blinkie Ponie Armie [bpa]

N/Mo

07 Oct 2009 at 18:36 - 17

Thanks for the update, Regina. I will be honest here and say that I appreciate *your* honesty in regards to what's being worked on, and what isn't. And hey, my henchman info was sent in and ready to go; everyone else needs to send theirs in. DO IT NOW!

Okay, okay, and the thought of anything new at Halloween is making me happy

Minami

Site Contributor

Join Date: Jul 2008

Dallas, TX. USA

Not in any guild at the moment

N/

07 Oct 2009 at 18:46 - 18

Thanks for the update Regina! ^_^

upier

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Done.

[JUNK]

07 Oct 2009 at 18:46 - 19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

* The Henchmen project: Robert has done a major pass on all the PvE Henchmen, changing many of their builds and polishing their stats to a glossy shine. Only some minor AI tweaks remain. Live Team collectively managed to get through the 30k+ PvP Henchmen submissions and picked 40 builds to be used on release. Robert is working with Joe now to make sure the AI knows how to handle the builds. Linsey and Robert are working with me to get in touch with all the winners, nail down (appropriate, in-character) names for the Henchmen. The last bit of fun is going to be digging up cool models to use for them all once we have the names.

First of all - WHAT PvE hench?!?!??!
And could you PLEASE look into full hero PvE parties rather than hench?

And why the heck are Linsey and Robert hunting down people?!?
Priorities please!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

* Bug Fixes for Fort Aspenwood and Jade Quarry: These have mostly been put on hold for now since they're primarily code issues.

There is no "bug" in Kurzick monks being as insanely overpowered as they are. That's just bad design.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

* The Next Skill Balance: We have not started production on this yet. Linsey won't be free to think about it until Halloween is set, but James and Robert have been brewing some ideas already. We'll let you know when this project gets further underway.

Priorities once again.
In a game with NO new content, skill balances are one of those rare things that keep the game fresh.
More love for it please!

Zahr Dalsk

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Aug 2007

Canada

07 Oct 2009 at 18:54 - 20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regina Buenaobra

And could you PLEASE look into full hero PvE parties rather than hench?

THIS.

Does ArenaNet not understand how many people want it? Roughly 80% of PvE players, if I remember the numbers correctly.

Targren

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2007

Primeval Warlords[wuw]

R/

07 Oct 2009 at 18:58 - 21

Quote:

Originally Posted by upier

Priorities once again.
In a game with NO new content, skill balances are one of those rare things that keep the game fresh.
More love for it please!

Was with you until this.

The fewer nerfs, the better, please.

snaek

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2006

N/

07 Oct 2009 at 18:59 - 22

thanks for the update, although would it be possible to get approximate etas? it seems like the henchie project is the closest to completion, however i doubt we will see you try to rush that in before the halloween update. moreso because november is the next planned skill balance and you have not even started that yet. does this mean the henchie update will be pushed back to mid/late november? not sure where sd would fit into this timeline. are you still trying to aim for simultaneous releases in one big update?

it appears to me we will have another month of rr, and possibly another hb mat. i find it amusing how at the start of september people were commander 0 and are now climbing past commander 4/5+. i'm not sure how healthy it is for people to be making 4 mil a month through exploiting the hb zq--thats even worse than xth. i think the sooner hb is removed the better, even if sd won't be released until a later time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by targren

The fewer nerfs, the better, please.

i disagree. i think frequent smaller tweaks are better than sporadic drastic skill "balances". anet seems to be more inclined to provide "meta shakeups" rather than actually trying to maintain balance.

Hollygen

Core Guru

Join Date: Feb 2007

UK

Blinkie Ponie Armie [bpa]

R/

07 Oct 2009 at 19:02 - 23

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsielschott

{rant....sorry}
In my field not hitting deadlines means people get fired...

But this isn't your field. ANet don't need to provide any additional content. We already have the game we paid for, and i don't know about you but I've certainly got my money's worth out of it and more.

Any additional content is a bonus. We do not know the specific deadlines, it is true, and in all honesty we only have a passing idea of what the actual projects are they're working on, but we have a better idea than you get from so many other game development houses.

Were I a customer who had commssioned their work, then yes I would be more concerned about deadlines, but I'm not, and neither are any of the rest of us. The Live team are providing us with content we are not paying for, yet more and more I'm seeing whining entitlmentality of the vocal minority.

I am personally greatly impressed with the effort the Live team are putting in to add to 4 year old game. I am also pleased to see the updates on their plans for the future of GW1, such as Regina's update at the start of this post, and Linsey's updates in the past.

Thank you Live Team, and the CMs for making us pretty stuff, for keeping us updated and informed on what's going on, and for coping with the the GW community in what must seem such a thankless task

Targren

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2007

Primeval Warlords[wuw]

R/

07 Oct 2009 at 19:08 - 24

Quote:

Originally Posted by snaek

i disagree. i think frequent smaller tweaks are better than sporadic drastic skill "balances". anet seems to be more inclined to provide "meta shakeups" rather than actually trying to maintain balance.

Nerfs suck whether rolled out little by little or tearing the band-aid off.

Gift3d

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2007

Las Vegas

Enraged Whiny Carebears [oR]

W/E

07 Oct 2009 at 19:28 - 25

Sounds like all good news to me. Thanks for posting the update here.

upier

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Done.

[JUNK]

07 Oct 2009 at 19:32 - 26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Targren

Was with you until this.
The fewer nerfs, the better, please.

It's not just nerfs. If they took their time and did things right, rather than leaving balance to be one of those things that just happens when they have a few moments to spare, they could have taken all the crappy skills that do not see use and made them into decent options on the basis of what is working in this game.
Seriously, who is going to be running Symbols Of Inspiration? Or Persistence of Memory?!

And the problem is that because they do not take enough time to balance the skills they just have the time to do the things that are needed the most - which means trashing the things that are trashing the game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hollygen

But this isn't your field. ANet don't need to provide any additional content. We already have the game we paid for, and i don't know about you but I've certainly got my money's worth out of it and more.

Any additional content is a bonus. We do not know the specific deadlines, it is true, and in all honesty we only have a passing idea of what the actual projects are they're working on, but we have a better idea than you get from so many other game development houses.

Were I a customer who had commssioned their work, then yes I would be more concerned about deadlines, but I'm not, and neither are any of the rest of us. The Live team are providing us with content we are not paying for, yet more and more I'm seeing whining entitlmentality of the vocal minority.

I am personally greatly impressed with the effort the Live team are putting in to add to 4 year old game. I am also pleased to see the updates on their plans for the future of GW1, such as Regina's update at the start of this post, and Linsey's updates in the past.

Thank you Live Team, and the CMs for making us pretty stuff, for keeping us updated and informed on what's going on, and for coping with the the GW community in what must seem such a thankless task

See, the thing with pretty much any product is that you dump it as soon as something better comes along. So if A.Net stops supporting GW, even the die-hard fans might notice something better or at least interesting.
And that means that A.Net will have to work harder to revive the interest in these people once GW2 comes out. So it makes much more sense to keep us interested rather than losing us and then TRYING to win us over again.

They aren't updating this game out of the kindness of their heart.
They are doing this so that it's easier for them to take our money once they have a new product to sell.

garethporlest18

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2006

[HiDe]

W/

07 Oct 2009 at 19:43 - 27

Happy to hear about the Halloween. Can't wait to see what'll happen. Waiting for Sealed Deck as well.

I Angra I

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Feb 2007

Napa, CA

Inadequately Equipped [GeAr]

R/N

07 Oct 2009 at 19:59 - 28

Quote:

PvP Skins: The work on this is done. Joe miraculously resolved the two "show-stopping" graphics bugs with the EotN skins, implemented the price reductions and added support for ZCoins.

I swear to god if nothing else is ever fixed in this game from here on out, I don't even care, as long as I can buy EotN armor with RPs. ^__________^

Winterclaw

Wark!!!

Join Date: May 2005

Florida

W/

07 Oct 2009 at 20:13 - 29

1. If there are going to be full hero parties, I'd really like to see the old henchmen converted into heroes.

2. What philosophy are your guys using for redesigning the henchmen? Are you looking at them individually or trying to keep them synergetic with each other? For example if in GWEN talon or Devona is given hundred blades and whirlwind (one could hope) then Eve should have MoP and maybe SoH should be on Mhenlo (or the warrior henchmen if the builds allow for it). Of course a dedicated smiting henchmen might even be better.

Divine Ashes

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2006

Chicago

LFG

R/

07 Oct 2009 at 20:14 - 30

Quote:

Originally Posted by upier

There is no "bug" in Kurzick monks being as insanely overpowered as they are. That's just bad design.

There are quite a few bugs besides NPCs not responding to AoE quick enough (if that IS even a bug). Turtles and juggies sometimes freeze up, not making the trips to the mines when they should. This requires the quarry to be given away and regained to make the juggie/turtle functional again. There is also a glitch making the yellow quarry "easier" to uphold for the kuricks. The luxon longbow shrine above the path where the yellow juggernaut walks do not target the juggie as he passes, instead only attacking the juggie if aggroed by a different player. This is not true of the kurzick longbows above the turtle's path to the yellow quarry, who will attack the turtle unprovoked by anything else. (this is probably due to the size of the turtle, but a very slight change to the path of the juggie could allow for aggro of the longbows). I guess you could chalk up the latter bug to bad design, but it is something easily fixable.

Otherwise, I for one appreciate the updates. It's good to know Sealed Deck is in its testing stages...crossing my fingers for a release soon! I just ask that we be made aware in advance of when SD will be implemented, and not have it sprung upon us. This is so we can know when it is necessary to farm those final commander points

.

Also, it's great that PvE henchies are being reconfigured skill and attribute-wise. Although I wouldn't see that as a big priority nor something that was incessantly clamored for by the community, I guess it's still a nice surprise change.

Darcy

Never Too Old

Join Date: Jul 2006

Rhode Island where there are no GW contests

Order of First

W/R

07 Oct 2009 at 20:15 - 31

Thanks for the update, Regina.

@Live Team - As my main PvP is FA & JQ, I am disappointed that the bugs aren't being worked on by someone. They just keep getting worse. Lately I even see jugs and turtles going the wrong way carrying jade, only to turn around at the halfway point and go back.

Lifestyle

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2009

R/Mo

07 Oct 2009 at 20:20 - 32

To all of you saying no nerfs, just buff: This was what made the pvp-meta into the crappy thing it is now. This is the essence of power-creep. Anet needs to scale certain skills down again, to make everything manageable. If they keep buffing skills, it would only bring more broken combos to the game, and only promote gimmicks like blood spam and ranger spike.

Don't get me wrong, of course there are skills that need to be buffed, but broken skills take priority over underused skills.

I Angra I

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Feb 2007

Napa, CA

Inadequately Equipped [GeAr]

R/N

07 Oct 2009 at 20:24 - 33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lifestyle

To all of you saying no nerfs, just buff: This was what made the pvp-meta into the crappy thing it is now. This is the essence of power-creep. Anet needs to scale certain skills down again, to make everything manageable. If they keep buffing skills, it would only bring more broken combos to the game, and only promote gimmicks like blood spam and ranger spike.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Game_updates/20081211

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Game_updates/20080807

IrishX

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2008

W/

07 Oct 2009 at 20:27 - 34

I'm not a huge fan of Anet, but many of you are insane. You really are grasping at straws if you're bitching about the number of "big content" updates. They stated that it was their goal to get them out quarterly, but they never promised it (as far as I know). If you have a problem with nerfs, you really need to learn how to balance things. Right now, almost every aspect of the game is overpowered to different levels and pretty much EVERYTHING needs to be toned down. If you really need something to complain about, complain about the lack of skill balances, and, when they do come, they do not address many of the problems at hand.

/rant

Hells Fury

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2009

W/D

07 Oct 2009 at 20:36 - 35

From this, i figured that Joe is "da man" there.

HawkofStorms

Hall Hero

Join Date: Aug 2005

E/

07 Oct 2009 at 20:47 - 36

Keep in mind that Halloween this month falls on a Saturday. Which is awesome. Plenty of time to catch the mad king during the middle of the day and then hit the bars at night.

Karate Jesus

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2008

Texas

Reign of Judgment [RoJ]

Me/

07 Oct 2009 at 20:49 - 37

Well, as nice as it is to actually get an update on what I'm officially calling the "Shitlist" now, I'm having a hard time understanding something and maybe you guys can help me with it.

I'm assuming that unless the GWLT took the summer off, some of this would have been worked on since April....considering that was the last time we got any "real" update. So, although I understand you guys having to put a few things on the back burner, I don't get how we haven't seen any "real" progress up until this point.

I mean...sure, I know you guys were sick, and there was PAX, etc. But what about all those months of nothing? What was done during that time?

Also, the XTH leaves a HUGE hole in your list....and it bugs me that it still hasn't been addressed.

FoxBat

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2006

Amazon Basin [AB]

Mo/Me

07 Oct 2009 at 20:50 - 38

I'm betting reworked henchmen are the "bone" all you "full hero" people are being thrown. You're getting it because you whined for full heroes, but that's all your getting.

Darth The Xx

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2008

Sen'jin Village

The Infamous Cake Bandits [cake]

Mo/W

07 Oct 2009 at 20:53 - 39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zahr Dalsk

THIS.

Does ArenaNet not understand how many people want it? Roughly 80% of PvE players, if I remember the numbers correctly.

I'm sure 80% of players would want a free stack of ectos as well

Bob Slydell

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2007

07 Oct 2009 at 20:54 - 40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zahr Dalsk

THIS.

Does ArenaNet not understand how many people want it? Roughly 80% of PvE players, if I remember the numbers correctly.

I second this as well, would be a great implementation than having them spend time going around and "polishing" the PvE henchmen's skills and attributes. As far as i'm concerned, I've been using henchmen for 3.5+ years in GW and never had a single problem. And I swear if any players QQ's about it and says it dumb or pointless they should go jump off of a cliff. We can have full AI parties now and stomp on things in PvE, adding heroes wouldn't make a difference.

**Time Spent checking over PvE Hench.....probably hours.

**Time Spent moving hero party cap from 3 to amounts up to and including 7...probably minutes

It just seems like they wan't to make PvE easier.. but allowing more heroes would fix that... it would even allow us to level our nightfall heroes when we start, cause lord knows how hard it is to have to play with certian heroes for some missions or so and then need dunkoro for the docks when his level sucks. It's out in other NF missions too...it would just make more sense to let us keep all our heroes or a vast majority of them..on a par.

Anyways, Thanks for the update Regina, Shows us that you guys still care about this old game, which really matters a lot to us.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FoxBat

I'm betting reworked henchmen are the "bone" all you "full hero" people are being thrown. You're getting it because you whined for full heroes, but that's all your getting.

Yeah :P we whined... btw how do you keep all of your required heroes on a par with levels starting out in NF only being able to use 3 at a time? Do share please, thanks.