December Status Updates

Mooooore dartboard buffs please! I need some new elites to cap on some unplayed characters!

My favorite part about her updates yesterday was that she skipped over the XTH topic. /sigh. Why do I even care any more?

They're just going to fck up this stuff too :/

can we get an update or status report on the XTH please? its been 7 months and NOTHING new where it stands. at least come out and say something about it, like it won't come back or it still might.

So what the update is basically saying is that there's really no new content, and apart from some Wintersday stuff won't be any new content. and Linsey is drawing up a list for NEXT year. Umm.. sort out this years list first would be better..

And whilst I'm posting thanks for the news on the XTH.. Oh wait, there wasn't any..

I'm not at all impressed with an information update as ANet has yet to keep their word. For example, they start off by saying quarterly updates, stick to the first, skip the second because they are too busy, by the time the third comes around, they decide that there are no longer going to be quarterly updates. Skill updates start out monthly, then they can't cope with it, so they switch to bi-monthly and miss the first one. XTH goes down, they say it'll be no more than a month, we are approaching the 1 year mark (not that I care, it should stay down).

Basically, they have yet to follow up on their "updates", and all of this "oh, well this is what we are going to do... when we get to it" stuff should just be left out and ignored because it doesn't emphasize anything, and I really don't know why they are looking towards '10 when they aren't up to date with '09. I'm not trying to be dick or a pessimist, but what they say does not influence or change what they do and honestly I'm quite surprised at how many people still have faith in ANet.

/endrant

Why do I get the feeling that that there isn't going to be a skill update this week and it will somehow end up being pushed into next year? Even if there is I also find it concerning that the test crew is vetting it, from what I've gathered it's mostly PvE players that love the sort of shit anet has done to ruin PvP.

You feel that way because you know Wintersday is coming, and that you also know there will be a big chance that the skill update will be pushed back because they were too busy working on the wintersday stuff.(i thought they automated it so they have to spend less time on it?)

Whats more important, a event that happens will happen once a year or updates that improve the gameplay value of the game, you decide which one has the bigger chance of keeping players playing the game.

There will be a skill update, but it won`t be something that will hold your breath. Probably a few skills will be changed and that`s the best word i can find - fixed: NO, improved:NO, balanced:NO.

ANet is unaware that the way they end with GW1 is the way they`ll start with GW2.

Another thing that i want to share as my personal opinion. PvE will always stay before PvP. Most of the players are PvE "monsters" and they want their brand new armor, their weapon skins and all the loot that you can think of. They pay the money for the game and i bet that they are the dominating part of the GW society. (1)The players that play PvP and try to create the meta (not follow it) are less then 1000. If you are in ANets shoes which side will you choose?

PS1: I can think of 4 nicknames that fit here .

I loved the new trailer Regina! The graphics make cod6 look like a children's colouring book.

I seriously doubt there will be a skill update before next year. If there is, it'll be SF, and a small handful of other dartboard nerfs.

Not that I've come to expect anything less than massive, season-long delays.

I will say that the trailer looks awesome. A rather good look at things to come.

Shadow Form "Smiter's Boon(PvP)"-like nerf.
kkthxbai

I will start by thanking Regina for sharing us this information. Now, time for a healthy dose of criticism on this.

For what it's worth, this is good news. It took you long enough though. The *few proposed changes* sound a bit disappointing in number. I hope you realize that after 3 months of waiting you can't get away with a skill balance that only has a "few changes". A major skill update, with changes to farming skills, and a complete overhaul of PvP/GvG meta is needed. You need to get this done before the end of the year. Don't get me started on what happens if you don't.

Live Team is preparing Wintersday content.
As some posters already mentioned, wasn't this supposed to become automated? I understand that you are also looking to add new content, but keep in mind that it is unacceptable to spend your time between holidays just by preparing for the next one.

Linsey is looking forward to 2010 in terms of what she would like to do for content updates.
This is probably as vague and ambiguous as things can get. And that's bad. If by *looking forward*, you are saying nothing's going to happen this year, and she's already planning/brainstorming for the next, then you need to get your priorities straight. There are several bugs and issues that have been lying around for 2 or more months now, most of them caused by big updates like these. XTH, and leftover issues from last Henchmen AI update (is something EVER going to happen to the henchies at Tombs of Primeval Kings?)just to name a few. At this point, new content is likely to bring only more problems into the game. You're better off fixing the existing problems before creating more.

The customer support team continues to work with individual players on hacked accounts. Gaile Gray recently updated this thread with more information.
The fact that you are referring to the problem as something happening to *individual players* looks a lot like denial of said problem. I'm lucky to have not had my account hacked, but I will speak for those who did. Customer support replies, asking question along the lines of "Do you have anti-viral software installed? Have you told your password to anyone?" are getting ridiculous. We have all seen that GW Login security and NCSoft account security can be improved. Changing the account name from an e-mail address to something else is just a start. Adding another authentication step during login and password changing would be helpful. And who's to say the problem is not simply the security of the GW account servers?

We released an awesome (IMO) new Guild Wars 2 trailer today. This is a project that has been in the works for months, so it's really gratifying for all the teams to be able to read your positive reactions and constructive criticism..
That's cool and all, but we have Guild Wars 2 Guru for that. This is not GW2Guru. And, more importantly, this has nothing to do with what the GW1 Team is or should be doing.

We're aware that a lot of people will be on holiday or won't be able to play at the time when the mAT would normally be scheduled. So, this month's Automated Tournament will take place on the weekend of December 19, and you will need 15 QPs to qualify for it. The new Map Rotation will go live early next week.
That's some good news for those subject to this. It shows that some good decisions and actions don't have to take over 9000 months.

So, all in all, to summarize:
What are you saying you have been doing?

• Prepare for wintersday.
• Get Test Crew going.
• Move December mAT.

What else would we like to hear from you?

• If the release of the next Skill balance/update is going to be in 2009.
• How big it is.
• Anything else you'd like to share on this subject (more = better).
• If XTH is ever going to be back (If it is not, don't be afraid to say so, we won't hate you for that).
• If the Tournament Reward Points of the month it crashed are ever going to be distributed (again, if they're not, we won't hate you for saying so).
• What other preventive actions the Support team has been taking against hacked accounts other than answering player's e-mail.
• An official statement on the recent lagspikes and connectivity issues, mostly happening in Western Europe.

I hope you're joking. There are holiday or other major events every two months or so. Having a bunch of people log in to afk the same old games, farm some quest, collect their hats, etc. doesn't keep the game any more alive per se.

It really annoys me that the PvE side of the game is apparently entitled to 98% of the remaining staff resources. For instance, last double HA weekend happened to coincide with a PvE update and 3 times during that weekend, runs were ruined by small bug updates. But skill updates, oh we can only have those once every two months if that. I wouldn't even care if it were not for needed fixes to idiotic skill buffs.

Lol you seem to have missed my point.Let me put it another way, which is better,which is better skill updates that increase the funfactor of the game and are more beneficial to the long term life of the game or themed events that people just afk to get points or afk to get hats.

GW used to be good because it had good balance of skills,it was one of the great things you could advertise about the game, you dont see anyone telling their friend,Hey! come play guildwars you get cool hats!

About skill updates in respect to changes regarding farming

They can do whatever they want to SF... IMO, they should never have implemented a single God Mode like skill to the game. But I would have a big problem if they went after 600/Smite and 55 builds in some respects. These builds, particularly 600/Smite, takes a combination of several skills and players in order to create a single tank.

600/Smite for example usually (for the basic version) needs a combination or 9-11 skills to operate correctly. So you can't run this alone since you can only have 8 skills on your bar. So this forces you to take an extra person (or hero) in order to run the build. 55 needs about 5-6 skills to operate its build... and though 1 person can run this, it still takes up over half the bar just to survive. These two variations of farm are nothing compared to SF.

For SF, all you need is yourself and 3 skills. You don’t normally need other people, and you don’t need a ton of skills. And that one SF skill, take the same roles of about 4 skills on the 600 bar. Which is why IMO, SF needs to be removed in some respects from this game or should never have been implemented. Yes it’s subject to AoE, Touch and Signet Skills... but 1 Skill to prevent about 80% of all skills in this game from effecting you… just doesn't seem right to me.

All I am asking is for ANET to serious look at SF in comparison to other farm builds... and that the other builds are not as much of a problem then SF builds are.

you're trolling right? or are you incredibley stupid?

Sorry, misinterpreted your post as a defense of events over real updates.

FYI, the last two skill updates created broken skills (which some were later nerfed) and fixed some of the broken skills that were a result of prior big updates.

I'd personally take the hat

please, I'm begging you not to turn this thread into ANOTHER SF bashing thread.... Im soooo sick of reading about how much everyone loves/hates SF.

Note I am not... I am talking about Skill Update for Farming in general... and asking ANET to look at other farming builds in comparison to SF... not just about SF itself. Please read the entire post...

I'm pretty concerned about the skill update myself.

When is it coming? I don't care about exact dates but this year? next year?

How big is it? Should we exect a few changes to key farming skills, and a few dartboard changes? Because a lot of people will be angry. I believe most people are thinking that we should expect LARGER skill updates now that it is bimonthly, and since it's already been delayed, anything less will be a big dissappointment.

A few other skills definitely and finally need looked at (like ER for one), and we'd definitely like to see more changes to obsolete Elite Skills. I for one hope that promise hasn't dissipated with only a few updates. You guys were getting good at that, but there's still a good number out there that need looking at.

When is it coming? Hmmmmmm, they promised SF would be nerfed this year. Ohhh, well you decide
But dartboard changes? HELL NO!
You won't be disappointed is all I'm allowed to say. But honestly, I love what is being looked into. This will shake up the metagame in my opinion.

Augh, NDA sucks

I don't give a rats arse about the fecking meta.. Yet another example of a minority dictating what the majority should be doing..

Because you = Majority amirite?

Even if the people wanting a skill balance are a minority (let's say 25%, assuming the other 75% doesn't care), it's still definitely worth issuing an update for, especially since the last one was three months ago.

If the majority were in charge then everything would go to utter chaos. Regretfully, the minority that got into the Test Krewe will not be able to represent the majority, but atleast it's a step in the right direction with anet/customer relations.

I'm honestly welcoming the skill update. And admittingly, grasping at straws because Anet is so disappointing with keeping their word on what they're doing or when they'll do it.

You're just afraid Izzy is going to beat you down.

I'd be interested in seeing what the devs come up with, but tbh nerfing things that have been around since the game began because of a minority (guru trolls say), have been QQ'ing for it, just smacks of doing it for LOL's and a waving a big FU to the hardcore players (and no, I'm not hardcore, just fed up of everything I try to do, being nerfed left right and centre).

Well I'm certainly not in the minority, so if what's left is the majority, guilty as charged. And I'm afraid your number are so hopelessly wrong as to be laughable. More like 1% (at VERY MOST 2%), and 99%. Don't try to paint a false picture that PvP is as healthy and active as you think it is, when pretty much 99% of players knows it isn't, and no amount of updates is going to make PvP attractive again.

if we had the majority way the game would be in a terribly state.

Until you can back up your statements with carefully measured statistics, your percentages are just as hopelessly wrong and laughable as mine are. Even more so because I'm not trying to state mine as fact. Also, even if it was only 1% in favor of skill updates, and 99% who doesn't care, it would still be an update that's worthwhile. Why? Because in that case there is 0% actually against the skill update. I'm guessing the group in favor of skill updates is definitely larger than the group against skill updates, with the majority being the group who doesn't care.

I also never said anything about PvP, neither it's healthiness or it's activity. I am not sure if you are assuming that I'm a PvP-er, but I can assure you that I'm not. I'm PvX, and I think PvE needs a skill update just as much as PvP does at this point. You are stating PvP isn't active and healthy, but even so, it's still healthy and active enough (just take a look at wherever the daily zquest is, and when there are double pvp reward point weekends). As you can probably understand, the PvP aspect of GW is much more concentrated around a smaller area. Therefore, while it may be a minority, it's definitely not dead, or dying as fast as you think it is. Skill balances are there not so much to improve PvP, but to refresh it as a way of maintenance, and keep it alive and interesting.

Yes, without skill balances, PvP will die. Yes, PvP is probably a minority. No, that doesn't mean PvP isn't allowed to stay alive. Don't be so terrified that PvP-orientated skill-updates impact PvE. It's what the PvE/PvP skill split is for, after all. And if in the end the updates do impact PvE, that's not the PvP community's fault. It's ArenaNET who decides split a skill or not when it gets nerfed.

It's all too easy to blame minorities for whatever happened to the majority. Over the course of history many people did, and we all know the results, don't we?

As long as 'shake up the metagame' doesn't mean we can no longer solo-farm, and that elite areas like UW won't take hours to complete , then I'm fine with it.

The waiting is killing me

So are you insinuating that there will be a skill update? If so then what's with all the secrecy? Linsey did promise that they would reveal the skill updates ahead of time to get feedback did she not?

Hey ANet! We you first made this game, the attention was to be focused on PvP, was it not? After all, the name of the game is Guild Wars. Certainly guilds would not include AI monsters. But yet you strayed away from them, and favored more towards PvE, because there is more money you can get from them. But we know how that went... Please realize what you can and cant follow threw on because saying something will happen and then nothing, just hurts your business.

Btw, QPs lowered, date unchanged.

/agree.

Regina suggestion of a "few proposed changes" doesn't quite describe it. The Test Krewe was created to give balanced feedback to precisely change skills instead of the "dartboard" approach as you call it. We are working hard, trust me.

Yes, there will be a skill update. That has already been stated, several times. It's not a secret. What will be changed exactly, is for the time being.

In regards to revealing prior to going live, I'm sure Linsey will keep her word. We have a lot of work to do before we get to that point though, and we want to make sure that all the proposed changes are welcomed by both the PvE and PvP communities.

Patience is a virtue people!

You can either have a bad skill update really fast, or a precise, elegant, and thought out skill update in due course. Choose!

Well - looking forward to seeing teh meta shaken up, and people relying on god mode a lot less. Happy to wait a bit longer for quality though. Let's face it though - the QQ is still going to be long and painful so you have a (mostly) thankless task.

Gogogo SF nerf plox .

glad to hear that the test krewe is doing the work on the skill updates (as opposed to the old dart board approach)....makes me happy that things will be well thought out and TESTED before they go live (for a change).

^^ Which has been said with every other update released by Anet.

"Was it tested? Urgh, yeh so sure..."

ROFLMAO!!

If minority rules, game sucks for majority.

If majority rules, game sucks for minority.

Hypocrisy and believing you know whats best for others who don't agree with you are laughable at best, downright insane at worst.

Gimme bad skill update please.

Human beings have an intrinsic bias of thinking that "majority" thinks or does what they tend to do themselves. Hardly ever it is true. There were countless experiments proving how much people can be wrong with such statements. Unless you provide any reliable data I would say you exaggerate.

Eh, I'm sure some ridiculously overpowered thing will slip through us eventually =w=