Holy crap, content!

I like treasures. I think that the reward in many areas of the game are way too little for the effort spent (hello, dungeons). I actually want the game to be "more about loot", if anything to keep the attention of players so that I don't have to H/h all the time.

What I DON'T agree with is artificially making something "rare" just to make it valuable. I want the loot system to be like buying gadgets in real life, when there's a continuous update of new items in various areas that has high value, but then devalues (by farming or time, doesn't matter to me) so everyone else can play with it. It doesn't even have to be anything special, Anet could have just taken a page out of the Apple handbook..."Silver Phoenix Blade", the 2nd generation of GPB, "Bronze Phoenix Blade", the 3rd generation of GPB, etc....and people would LOVE it.

That won't do. I'm afraid. That would just make impossible to get some items for some people. I mean, get them by themselves. And since GW doesn't have a real trade system (Yes, you can trade, but not by using an ingame system, all you can do is go to some place and shout, or depend on external systems) so forcing anyone to purchase something from someone else is not an option unless they add such a system.

People want items to stay rare forever, and that can only be done if items are removed from the market in a constant manner.

If people don't have to customize their elemental sword top use it, they won't do it, just in case they want to sell it later.
That's why I think customization should be reworked, to work also for offhands (reducing their stats when not customized so they become just like the PvP-created versions when customized, i.e.: Shield 13, armor when not customized, 16 armor when customized, offhand 10 energy when not customized, 12 energy when customized), or even make requirement irrelevant when not customized, using an uncustomized weapon was like have 0 at the attribute of the item.
Basically, PvP would suffer no change, and PvE would have to customize not only their melee weapons, but also offhand, removing more items from the market and protecting more item rarity.
That may look like a nuisance, but it's only a nuisance for those that want to sell the items, not for that that want to use the items, and also keep rare items rare, since the market won't be filled by them. Wat to use it? You have to remove it from the market. Want to farm them it to sell it? You still can, but the one that buys it from you to use it will have to customize it, so the final user removes it from the market.
Making it different for staves would be nice too. Affecting the base HSR to have +4% chance when customized (+20% of the original max 20% for a max of 24% when customized), for example. That's almost 1 faster recharged skill for every 4, instead for every 5, so a mere +4% is a bit more than it may seem to non-mathematical minds.
I would keep the 20% damage for wands for people that still want that damage for wanding, since they are a one-handed weapon, and players would get an extra customization 'bonus' in the offhand.

I listened to the TenTonHammer PodCast last night and Linsey was saying that they are still gonna release new content in the form of these quests for the SB/WM stuff. I find it amusing that all we got were some dialogues and mini pets and yet we still couldn't get an update. The new content will be cool to see for sure. It is my firm belief however that the devs thought that LAST years birthday celebration was to be the last meaningful birthday before GW2 was released due to how much content we got. Now I wonder if we will even see a beta by the end of this year. Funny how I was wondering the same thing this time last year as well.

laughinggabe.jpg

What part of "Linsey has been ill so the content update was delayed" amuses you? Are health problems amusing to you? Just wondering.

I loved proph personally, also loved exploring the crystal desert for hours. Just the whole vast wasteland looking like it goes on forever excited me.

3 days sick = 3 days delay......
5th birthday was a huge failure....

Alot of this sounds reasonable but not realistic. If everyone had to customize weapons to use them to their current state it would lead to 1 of 3 options. 1. People only buy rare items and customize them leaving no market for anything without a favorable skin, much like now. 2. Destroying the market for rare skinned items because they cost to much extra to get the same affect and the marketable amount wouldnt change at all. or 3. People just use the new lowered damage of the item to save money which is what most likely would happen.
I just dont see forced customization as a good alternative. I liked the opportunity when i was a lower level to customize my weapon that i might never use after level 20 or so to give a lil extra damage and it was something i knew id never be selling. But to make me customize my shield sets to 1 character to get their real effect and not be able to switch them around(much like i do now with my vs/tormy) would just make any investment a fail investment. dont know if this is a proper response but your idea is /notsigned in my mind.

While I disagree with your customization change, I think you hit the nail on the head in the beginning.

I would like to see a better trade system other than you have to buy it from some stranger. While guru is doing a fantastic job keeping up with current prices, I still wish we had special trader NPCs where we could also buy those things we want even if they charge a little more than the market value. A green trader would be awesome.

Speaking of trading features, I know this wont be implemented in GW1, I would like to have a mailbox feature in GW2. So if a friend of mine wants an item that just dropped for me, I can put it in his mailbox so he can get it next time he signs on. It could even be modified to automatically trade gold/items to an in game name for a specific item/gold so you dont have to meet to trade with someone. Or you could just use it to send someone a message.

I think trader NPCs are a great way of regulating value, since anything that can be bought/sold from an NPC will generally be traded between players at, more or less, the average of the buy/sell values at an NPC.

Eh? Maybe I didn't explain myself. But it's not like that.
1. Why buy only rare items? If you have to customize an item, you will think twice when the item is rare. "Do I really want to use it? Do I want to save it for later use?". People would thing of it less when the item is not rare and just get it and use it. By keeping items rare over more time, they would lose value much slower, thus making the less rare items more of an option.
2. If people want something, they'll pay for it. Market is never destroyed. People still go buy Obsidian armors, and you can't sell armors afterwards. So, as long as any character has something they want but can't get it by themselves, it is very likely that they will try yo buy it. And were is demand, offer raises sooner or later. And when you have both Offer and Demand, you have a market.
3. That's why I added the 'non-requirement' part, and changes for offhands and caster items. If the damage goes from "15-22" to "7-13", the shield form 16 to 8 and the foci from 12 to 6 ot 3 will you still keep the non-customized one? No you don't. If the 'light' uncustomization measure doesn't work, you go hardcore.

Of course people would complain, as people complain about taxes. But some annoying things are actually good in the long term. They are a few, but they do exist.

The problem with customization is that it is customized to that char. and can not be used by another one.

There are several weapons I have that I use on several different chars.

If you could use your customized weapons account wide, I would then likely customize my weapons

It wasn't a huge failure, but it was a let down. The mistake was that they hyped it up (viral campaign and all) but they didn't staff their team with enough people and when one person got ill it all went downhill.

That wasn't a wise staffing decision on ANet's part and was definitively unprofessional. Maybe it can happen that the liquor store at the corner of the street gets closed a couple of days if the *only* person working there gets ill, but I guess we're all expecting ANet to do better than that.

I think the hype and the campaign might have hurt them more than if they said nothing. People came back willing to follow the campaign and check the new content and nothing happened. Even if they will be one week later, those people already left and some likely not return again even if they ran another viral campaign as they lost some of their credibility.

(Not to mention they did release costumes on time so people might even think "they won't release any content they're just begging for money with some silly microtransaction for an armor skin").

I read in some interview that if they would do things differently they would have made sure to have a live team for GW1 from day 1. Well I think they should get a grip and finally properly staff the GW1 live team.

To conclude, I for one think that ANet will not learn their lesson and will not live up to their promise (maintain GW1 for as long as it's being played). They are already failing that promise and GW2 is not even out yet. When GW2 will finally be out and they will have to focus on maintaining GW2, working on a new campaign for GW2... GW1 will definitively not have any room in the picture.

To really improve this they need to get out of the silly excuse: "we would rather our employees work on GW2 than maintain GW1". That simple excuse uncovers their true thinking (they want to do little to no maintenance work on GW1). If they really wanted to live up to their promise than the issue would have been moot to begin with: we need more people working for GW1 - hire them, we need more people working for GW2 - hire them, GW1 is a priority of its own - manage its resources independently of GW2. There shouldn't be a competition in between the two projects, unless you prioritize one against the other which means GW1 live will always be understaffed and fail.

So yeah, I don't buy their intent to support GW1 for as long as it gets played as they are not fully committed to it even now, when GW2 is not even out and GW1 is their only game running in full production. Also this sets a precedent for them doing the exact same with GW2 while working on the next campaign.

^ this. The general feel in-game, on the wikis, and here seem to be incredibly negative, whereas even a month ago it was entirely different.

We're fickle, that's a given. But with the current climate of late skill updates and ho-hum, boring anniversaries, who could really blame any of us?

Oh, yea, and botters rule GW at the moment. That hasn't helped.

They're not willing to fully commit on maintaining/doing much for GW1. They never were.

Don't get me wrong I think the current team of 2-3(?) people they have now is doing an awesome job. But I remember last year Linsey saying she had to work nonstop to get the update done by 4th bday out. That points to the same issue, ANet is not willing to fully commit enough resources for GW1. "Throw them some scraps and bones... that'll do it."

On the other hand they're already playing GW2 internally... so can you blame their lack of enthusiasm about the crappy old GW1 they don't want to hear anymore about?

This echos my sentiments, and it was mentioned in the podcast that the War in Kryta campaign will run for 1 more month, which means there isn't a planned fifth anniversary content update in the first place.

Test me said it well (2 posts above, wont quote its too long). Guildwars is currently a live game with no one (basically) supporting it (come on 4 or 5 people you dont call support or development anymore)....and everyone is 'oh and ahh' over a game that has been in production for FIVE years now with only a tiny bit of information given about it ....and the way they are releasing said tidbits lead me to believe that it will be quite some more time before said game hits the beta even (if they release one profession a month...that puts us past xmas for the beta----).

Lack of enthusiasm from them....lack of trust from me (at least) that they will do what they say in any kind of 'timely' fashion. (they have a long history of this too mind you).

I forgot that. Most people agree with that, and I do think so too.
Zaishen coins are, in some way 'customized to the account'. If that could be transferred to customized items, that would be really great.

I could see this working in a guild hall. Nifty concept!