Letter to GW team - my thoughts

Yes, this was slightly inspired by Penny Arcade.

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To Guild Wars,

I'm a little nervous about writing to you like this. I always thought that we could just talk things out but--well, I'm getting ahead of myself. I wanted to write to you, so that you could understand how I feel without us getting into another fight. I just wanna say a few things, if that's ok with you, and I hope you can hear what I'm saying without feeling hurt or attacked.

See, these past months with you have been awesome. My family really likes you--even my children, a five-year-old boy who says "Daddy, daddy, are you going to Ascalon?", and then I reply "No, I have to help a guildie through Thirsty River"... and my little girl, two-and-a-half years old, who comments in her sweet voice "Daddy healed! Good monk daddy." Even the kids love you, ya know?

Because of you, I met some amazing people. I've become fast friends with a student in Wisconsin--my family sent him cookies for his birthday two months ago while his parents were away. Also, next month we'll be having some guildies over for dinner from Ohio. I already vaguely knew one of them from another message board, but Guild Wars allowed me to meet his gaming friends from his engineering classes, and now we've formed our own independent circle. None of these friendships would have been possible without you.

It's just that... well, sometimes I just don't feel like you're listening, not really. Our relationship was founded on communication. You've made the point over and over again, that you care about my wants and my needs. This is part of what made us work so well together, I think.

The problem is, I'm not convinced that you really do; or, at least, you don't treat me like you used to. Nowadays, it seems like the ways you exclude me range from the mundane to blatantly inconsiderate. You whisper to me sweet assurances that you'll make everything alright, but... can I really trust you?

Problems like the recent mask event only serve to illustrate my worries. You knew that I, being the young stud that I am, would be in the middle of my college finals and writing multiple 5- and 10-page papers. You made the event as a special surprise thank you gift to Guild Wars fans for their support, and then gave me from 3am early Thursday until 3am early Friday to get the fangs for my character. Never mind that I had to collect a relatively large number of fangs, and that I had multiple characters I wanted to do this on. Oh, and I guess you just forgot that I had classes that morning, and work that afternoon, and then a group meeting for one of my classes scheduled for that evening. Do you just want me to drop all my plans, so that I can with you whenever you get one of your whims? Are you trying to punish me for having an outside life, forcing me to choose between you and my committments? I really appreciate these parties and games of yours, I really do... it's just, you don't give me enough time to prepare for them. I miss out and feel left out, while you come away thinking I didn't appreciate all your hard work.

I really want things to get better between us. I remember when we first saw the chilly landscapes of the Shiverpeaks together... and do you recall the picture I took when we took out our first dragon? And how excited we were when we finally faced PREZ for the first time in the Hall of Heroes? Man... I was so happy then...

But now, it's like I can't trust you... I feel like you're not talking to me while you work things out. GW, we entered into this together, and you know I want to see you succeed. I want to be there with you, so... talk to me, let me know what you're thinking. After celebrating the communication in our relationship, don't shut us out. We know you've done a few things wrong, but we're partners... aren't we? Then let's work together and find a solution to these things when they appear! And if you're going to reject what seems like a good solution, please at least let us know why, clearly. Don't hide behind that businesstalk of yours.... we love you, so let's be open with one another. For instance, the delay in Alliance chat--you came right out and told us that there was a bug, and you would have it fixed in a few days. THAT'S what I'm talking about: open, honest, accepting responsibility, and timely.

Look, GW... I'm not going to abandon you now. We're partners, and that means something to me--and I hope it means something to you, too. I just think that we need to communicate better if this is going to work. I'm seeing other people getting frustrated with you as well, and some walking out on you. I don't want to be one of those people, but... I just want to know that you really care about me the same way I care about you, right?

Signed,
Daniel Highwind [MEEP] Mo/Me
~ Redly ~

/double sign to your letter

seek professional help bro. really, i think you need it.

i'm sorry to hear about the problems you've been having with gw lately. it's always tough when problems arise once the honeymoon phase ends. but i'm glad that you're trying to open up communications to work things out together.

best of luck to you and your relationship.

/applaud
Great letter. Nice way to make your point, rather than just complaining. ^_^
On the other hand...
Now, the best-written thing I've seen in months has to do with Guild Wars.
And I've seen lots of well-written things in the past few months. For example, Herbert, Heinlein...

REHAB PLEASE. >_<

both hilarious and striking home!

Amen brother! I like how you don't just whine about things.
/applaud

All that for a chicken head? Perspective ftw.

*applauds her husband* I never can get enough of letters like this, lol! Great job love!

What he had to say was a lot more pleasant that what I said lol >_< Soooo frustrated!

I told him to email them with the number to the EBGames headquarters so that they could tell them what the heck is going on cause all we keep getting about our CEs is "I have no clue!"

/signs the letter as well
Lady Eviance [MEEP]

You always have to put such a dramatic spin on things Sir. Well done.

And MSecorsky? Only one point was about the Tengu Mask. Unless that was the only part you read, which I can understand, you missed a bunch of other very valid points.

/sign

Buttercup Warmaster [MEEP]

A breath of fresh air. So nice to see a post that is well thought out, and well written.

/signed

Quite simply one of the best posts I have ever read. Now watch Anet completely ignore it. Apart from the usual PR flap.


/signed.

That was definitely the most heart warming post I have ever read on this site. Relationships are always tough, and don't all those dr phil guys say communication is the key to a good relationship?

/signed with both hands and both feet

Excellent letter...I hope they listen, considering you went to the effort to put your complaint so thoughtfully

*nods* I was reading through the 32(?) page thread about the collector's edition. I ordered mine from EB Games, and now suddenly it seems neither me, nor my wife and her brother, will get to play for a long time to come? The lady at the 1-800 number from the website told me June 30th. -_-;

Anyway, I was reading the thread, and I realized... there are so many people who are whining and shouting; and there are also many who seem to be defending ANet/NCSoft/whoever to the death.

In a relationship, throwing a tantrum everytime the other makes an error is abusive; and making excuses constantly for the Partner Who Can Do No Wrong is unhealthy, labeled as enabling or delusional.

All things in moderation, my gaming brethren (.... and.. sistren?). We shouldn't forget what a joy Guild Wars is to play, but neither should we sit back and let these Really Horrid Errors go unchecked. After all, we ARE partners in this... in teh strictest business sense, they want us to buy their product, and we want them to make the product we want. Moreover, I believe Gaile and the GW team when they talk about really wanting us to enjoy the game.

To that end, I think we should make our opinions known, and be free to criticize them; but from what I've read in most of the threads here, even the more intelligent people seem to resort to an angry sort of flaming. People, imagine that a few of the devs are your siblings or classmates. I highly doubt you'd display nearly as much rage as you do now.

And who knows? Maybe by recognizing the good as well, they might not be so afraid to hold an open dialogue in the threads. I mean, I know I called out the ArenaNet rep who posted on the 20th in the Factions Collector's Edition thread and then never replied.... but at the same time, have you people READ that thread? My gawd, I'm not sure ~I'd~ reply in that thread if I was from ArenaNet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are owed a better explanation, I think. I can hazard several guesses on where and how the supply chain broke down (business major FTW!), and it's not like this is a brand spanking new company full of uninformed industry n00bs. There really isn't any excuse for the Collector's misinformation. The pre-order fiasco I could understand--it was a bit different, compared to how other pre-orders are handled. And underestimating the amount of Collector's Editions to produce--dude, do you really think ANet would toy with their consumers, pissing off the people who bring them the most profit, not too mention word-of-mouth advertising?

But, when EB Games and Gamespot remove the item from their entire system (my preorder at EB Games is for a random number without an associated game; it confused the cashiers so badly).... when a Best Buy employee reads the notes in their system and declares that, "Yes, we're going to have it, according to the system.... and the date that we are going to have it is.... Never.... um".... and these errors occured after the two previously mentioned screwups...

... I think we do deserve better. Not because ANet/NCSoft owes us anything per se.... but because, as I wrote, we've been approached from the GW Devteam as being partners, active participants in the development process.

Well, to be quite honest, I feel very, very, very excluded. Not only did the system fall apart, but I feel like we've been told to "shut up and sit down while Daddy fixes this darn machine". That sort of attitude isn't good for a personal relationship, and it's definitely not good for the sort of connection the GW team seems to want to have with us.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy_M Quite simply one of the best posts I have ever read. Now watch Anet completely ignore it. Apart from the usual PR flap.

Thanks, man.... and, well, to be honest, I kind of expect them to. First of all, what with all the whining going on, I'm not so sure that they'd even WANT to check the boards right now. But, ya know what? I think if even a few of them read this without replying, I'd just hope that they come away with this message:

We appreciate what you do, GW team.
We think you need to clean up your act, and clue us in more--if not outright make us part of the solution.
But, through all of that, we consider your brainchild a success, and we appreciate ya.

Signed,
Daniel Highwind [MEEP] Mo/Me
~ Redly ~

I personally love A-Net. Look at Creative assemblies TW games then you can complain.

*nods*

Very cool post. Nice to see something intelligent posted every now and then.

you are 1337 Mr. OP

and I just wish they would make /bug work again. I am finding so many bugs in the game but i just dont want to submit 20 different bug reports to NCsoft/anet. it would be so much easier if we could just have that command back again...

I right now am HIGHLY dissapointed with Factions...
It just doesn't have the innovative feel Prophecies had.
It seems like they thought of some weird asian theme, slapped up some new maps, got some new skills and decided to name a new game. Pathetic IMO

i'm a bit disapointed with faction as well. Some of the skills are the same..well atleast the one for monk. e.g. Heal Other = Jamie's Gaze. Missions and quests are long with endless mobs

signing again for the great use of words.

Hope A.net will hear the voice of the common players.

/signed

/bug was arguably the most important command in the game. I am almost always finding bugs/glitches, and never report them because I have had a lot of shit with emailing them.

Good stuff. Gets the point across and is mildly hilarious to boot.

/signed

LMAO.

Sure, maybe things could be worse. But I don't think that should be an excuse for not trying to improve.

/Signed

OP thank you for making a nice post stating your issue without say this sux's, etc etc. Myself - At work most of the event, had to work the next day.

Also agree with the /bug command - it was so handy, espically for "terrain" glitches because it repored your exact pos on the map to.

/sign hope someone on the dev team reads this

I feel nub! I have seen the reference OP twice..... What does that stand for?

Yes... I didn't see any FAQ that lists these references, so... what does it mean to be called Mr. OP? And, where exactly did RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE come from? o_O

Edit: Oh, look, I'm an actual citizen now. I feel so honoured.

OP = Original Post (or the writer is the Original Poster)

In the spirit of working as a team to resolve the biggest issue brought up in the thread: "Where is my CE". I propose ANet issue temporary CE acess keys. The keys can be purchase for a refundable sum of money. The key could have an expiration date of June 30 (or something like a couple weeks after everyone should have their CE delivered). If the real CE Access key is not entered before the expiration date, the money will be kept by ANet. If a Key is entered, the money is refunded to the user's credit card. It may not provide the people who ordered the CE with the extra goodies, but it at least gets them game access.

Now I am not a programmer or accountant, so I really have no idea how feasible this is. But it should really help some of the hard feelings out there right now...

And for the record, I did NOT order the CE, so this is not to benefit me or someone I know.

(Thanks I feel slightly less nub now XD)
Yeah I think this was the biggest issue..... I mean even right now my biggest fear is that my CE will make it to the store and be sold to someone who didn't do a Pre Order - I mean as it was Redly, Krionn, and myself had to drive a friggen hour just to GET the pre order of the CE >_<

We are just amazed at the lack of information that all of the companies have.... Every place we call goes:

What game? Never heard of it...

Pre Order... I don't have a clue

OH I know what you are talking about but have no idea when we will get it or if we will even get it.

Yeah I heard about that, any idea what thats about?

There is no such thing as a Factions Pre order

I didn't know they were making a CE! COOL but we don't have it and won't get it.

OH and the best was when we called the store where we ordered the preorder CE, and they say they never had any! Or rather that in their computer its just a number now and they don't know what that number stands for....


We live in a big city so to have to go to a little BFE town nearly an hour away to order it, only to be hit with the knowledge that we might be screwed either way...

Yeah I think my husband made a great letter (love the links to), but I think I would have been cussing up a storm >_< (and actually have cussed up a storm to my husband about it). And with each post about it or comment from them just makes me even more angry..... I mean what was the point of a pre order?!?! I thought it was to let them know how many to send out and to where!?!?! Just how did it all go so wrong!?!?!?

OK my 2-cent on this matter first of all I would like to say that that is a nice peace of work.
I am a former SWG player; actually still have account open but not playing anymore. I spent over a month looking for a game that had the same complexity or similar to the old SWG. Well GW is not that complex but has many options and various ways that you could play this game. I personally think Arena NEt is by far one of the best out the5re in the MMO world at the moment. We don’t pay a monthly feed and we still get support, look at SOE u pay and not support that is y people are leaving their game.
I would love for Anet to stay that way and take a look at the thing that post say. I miss all the festivity as well due to that I am in the navy and I had duty on the tegun day I personally thought that should it been longer, Hell I preorder the game like everyone else why cant I get the same treatment. Anyway Anet keep been honest with your player base and stay straight with us we will support you 100% as long as u stay that way.
Thanks

It's good to know there are still some great gamers out there that apperiacte what Arena net is doing yet still trying to make a great game even better!

I completely agree on how they did lie saying how friendships are important on Guild wars yet funnly enough there is no message telling you if one of your friends have logged on

And as for the Event hats, yeah I think its lame some people can't go to it but then again you gotta give the Koren's that play this game non stop somthing to look forward to :joke:

I think to improve the games overal feel of friendlyness (if thats even a word)
is to uncustomise the hats i mean they wouldn't be that expensive surly like
1k or two and im sure if you have a very nice mate im sure someone will give you one, which will feel alot more heart warming than waiting for one. And as for friends online why havn't they put a little message saying "Tien ak has logged on" when ever a friend logs on? I've missed so many friends online just the fact i didn't know they were online

ok now thats out the way just like to say what a fine job their doing I mean this game is free of charge which rules! plus its not as if its a bugdet game it has one of the best graphics (MMORPG wise) i've seen. And how about the new armour shops how you can choose what look you want and the stats (which was my idea check this forum ) so they do listen to us but only things that are worth while and would effect as a whole eg my idea of picking and armor look and stats, as everyone would be able to pick what they want everyone happy.

They did the most spectacular job with Prophecies, but after that... It just went downhill...

And recently what hurt me most was the fact that Gaile snickered at those that didn't get their mask - because they refused to communicate fully. Laughing at us cause we have a life... her life is GW and as so she should learn to represent and not snub those that keep her in her job.

I just get even more angry when I come to these forums and see another underdog getting walked on - or more discrimination - more glitches and bugs that haven't been fixed even if they have been that way for weeks - or the worst of all idiocy!

I cannot stand idiots, so when Gaile responds to our anger about the tengu mask of: Well the guy in town did a count down didn't you see it?

No Gaile I was busy getting my freakin fangs! We all cannot be as lucky as you to get ours thrown at us!

(It's stupid comments like that, that bug me....) Or like in another thread where I read about the 12v12 and a monk saying that he/she hated the way it used to be because she had a hard time finding the 4members she went in with to heal them.... WTF???? Aren't you in a TWELVE member team!?!? DuduDUH! I told him/her "If ya wanna play a 4man team, go to TA!"
And it seems the more I watch Carlos Mencia the more I hate stupid people... It makes me want to wack them a couple of times with a baseball bat and go: DO YOU LISTEN TO YOURSELF WHEN YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH!?!?!

Yes I bitch and complain and I have been very sarcastic in my posts, especially when dealing with idiotic remarks >_< Heck I can almost see myself getting banned for half the crap I write (which is why I deleted a post for the first time last night... or rather edited it a third time for content >_>).

Guys all it takes is a little common sense from yourself and GW to make this fun and enjoyable - but sooooo many of you are found lacking that it just makes me sad.

I don't have a degree in college and barely made it through Highschool (was bored, they weren't teaching anything new)... But even I can see flaws in some of these posts, heck there are a few in my husbands but not worth heckling over.... Or rather they have been heckled at by those who did NOT fully read or have the common sense to understand the post.... But these others in other threads that I have seen.... Lord good luck in life and a job and anything else, cause I can't make sense of you here if you cannot make sense of yourself....

Good Grief, I am almost scared to see what happens if some of you actually THINK (yes I know that is a big word and it hurts ya wittle head) before ya post!

I mean yes my posts are confusing sometimes, especially if I get ahead of myself and use to much internet slang, but at least I can admit to my post being stupid, will appologize to my readers and try to make it more intellegent.

IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR!?!?!

Oye I think I need a perkaset - Please ignore and endure grammatical errors as well as hidious spelling mishaps.



Case in point of stupidity - sir this was an excellent idea and I applaud you! Supposedly this idea was implimented and we are allowed access keys of the heavens and such for those of us who pre-ordered...

So then we are all YAY! FINALLY THE STUPIDITY IS OVER! We call the main headquarters for EBgames and talk to the man in chaaaaaaarge...

He says and I quote: "Those keys are only for those who pre ordered the regular Factions edition and not the CE."


Again folks this is stupidity at it's finest moment - for me in the background yells: OMFG ARE YOU A MORON DON'T YOU KNOW THAT IT'S THE CE THAT IS LACKING AND NOT THE REGULAR!!!!!

Husband/Redly is already off the phone... Me: Why the hell didn't you tell them they were idiots!?!?!?
Redly: Dear it is not my fault that AGAIN GW fails to communicate properly.

Me = 7 kinds of pissed!

Just leave me alone in a room with Gaile, EBgames, any of the GW devs or heck anyone else with a stupid comment... just please give me someone with half a brain so I can go at them with all my common sense and leave them in the wake of my awesome wrath going... "Oh hell, that was too simple, why didn't I think of that"

But ya know... all joking aside, even if that did happen (the part about leaving me in a room with them) I don't think it would matter, cause its obvious when people think that they are right they refuse to look at a bigger picture...

I just want the stupidity to end and some intellegent ideas to start pouring forth!

(Some ideas I have seen were awesome! and others... laughable -_- and surely the case of someone not thinking before they said something)

"Signet of Approval"

The OP was indeed very well thought out, and frankly, though not address it directly; the post really reflects the feelings the "common player" is feeling right now.

It isn't really at all about one thing or another. It's that sense that A.Net is starting to not listen. The "common players" are bcoming concerned, and as much as we'd like to whole heartedly say everything will be alright, we're not sure, considering what we're seeing in the way of communication at the moment.

I hope things improve, A.Net hasn't failed me yet, they've always pulled the fat from the fire in time to reinvigorate my faith in them, I hope they do so this time, and fix the plethera of problems the community has with Factions, or the process of getting Factions or the CE, or anything in general.

I agree with some of the proberlems you mentioned yes there way to many morans paticualy on this forum. -_-

I've posted about two ideas on this site one got accepted and im not sure what happened to the other, one was that every char had the abilty to pick what armor he had, so first the look and then the armor I got so many "RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOn noob OMG /notsign SHIT IDEA BLAH BLAH" but guess what got put into factions yup my idea ha ha ha take that dumb ass nerds ^^

My other idea im still heckling over, its so hard to come up with a good idea and have a resonable grown up chat so you can share ideas and ok some peoples ideas are dumb like one for example was not to let high levels into the start of cantha "the monstary bit" she complaied that they were selling high level items and it was pissing her off, now ok thats fair enough but she didn't think what if I just bought the game and I already had a lvl 20 char and like exploring? after a few nerds yelled and screamed at her (being the jerks they are) some one who is a true player told her nicely the facts and why I can't and was fair in his judgement.

Thats a true gammer not somone that screams at people who aren't thinking straight or some one who's new at the game. A Gamer should understand certainly in this game that this is a Team Game and we should all try to get along, as some of our ideas get put into the game and even tho we might not like certain peoples ideas but if you have a good opioin on why you don't like it and maybe try and find a way round how you may like it.

rant over, but going on to the whole hat event things yeah I do think its aboslutly stupid that they are customised as its not fair on other players...however I think they relise that now as there was anouther event after that one were if you been playing Guild wars since day 1 you get a 'mini pet' now what that is, is you have a small creature in your inventory who follows you around in exploreable areas. The great thing is, is that people can sell em so everyone can have one ok their pricey 100k+ecto but give a few weeks people get fed up and desprite for cash and you'll see em for 10-50k, hopefully from now on Arena net have relised that people actually really want these little trinkets and want to share em.

Im now going to make a Post were people can post every bug they found in the game so people if want to complain do it there and i'll post em on every offical and elite web site

PS sorry if it doesn't make sense in places just I can't be arsed to spell check

hehe I think you did just fine...

I used to be a true Gamer in the sense I would talk calmly to people and in some cases where I know its just a silly misunderstanding I can still help to make people see the light. I did this in a PC thread.

But more and more ingame and on the board I run into people who don't care for others feelings or people that like I said, fail to read before they post or worse yet think before they post... I've made a couple and had to edit them down for "content" >_>

I see my errors and try to correct them for the good of humanity. It's like the guy who told me and my husband to get a life after you let his minions eat us in Thirsty after he got his cap - it was cruel and uncalled for! And people like that and scammers shouldn't be allowed to play!

I have had to kick people from our guild for just being too stupid for me to handle. I am the head officer, Redly is our guild leader - I help and raise our new members, I teach them and train them to be the best they can be. We tell them that no question is noob except for questions ya don't ask!

But then I run across new members that want to do a mission and ask in chat - I respond - wait 10mins - they ask again - I repond (again) - 10mins more - they bitch cause they got no response to which I tell them - Hey idiot if you cannot be bothered to read guild chat then I can't be bothered to respond!

Again later they spam chat and then throw a fit cause no one responded when several people did! Finally we call a meeting and they are given a warning - they usually get upset and leave. The idiocy started with the first guild that Redly/Krionn (my real life brother/myself were in... They still blame my brother for the guild falling apart when it was the boyfriend girlfriend that ran the guild who couldn't stop fighting long enough to pay attention to its members... When they would fight the members would get the brunt of it -_- The saddest part is they were real life friends *sighs*

In the end its just a game - if someone doesnt like the use of a certain skill fine! They don't have to use it! but don't ruin it for the rest of the community!
Selfish stupid people are what makes me so incredibly mad.... There is NOTHING in this world other than someone hurting my family that makes me more angry than stupid people!

I admit to being stupid at times myself and am willing to blush and confess my idiocy for the sake of humanity and bettering myself... I just wish others could do the same!


(YAY FOR MORE RAMBLING! >_> I truly am a nice person once ya get to know me X'D )

Sounds like you got yourself a good guild there something i want to turn my guild into one day...

Plus I agree with people being heartless on guild wars but that happens loads on online games like one game called Battle field 2 were you have a huge war against each other and get in tanks and planes...well to the point people on that go mental for littlist things like kill you just to get in a plane somthing like that.

Thought guild wars is one of the top dick head player list...

Also I didn't understand what you ment on my topic as the nerds closed it down before I could reply I've noticed also with this forum as well that just beacuse near my name I got 'town dewler' I get flammed at every topic I post even the good ones...but yeah im not flaming simply looking for answers but why was my idea wrong?

QFT to the OP. But i tend to be more agressive in my view but that just me Kudos to Anet for Guildwars, without it i wouldnt have found the friends i did but Factions so far has been dissappointing along with the points made regards to the events and changes.

Mr T agrees.

24 hours was more than enough for the Tengu mask, I got a tengu mask on all 4 of my PvE charas, and had over 1500 Fangs to spare, so i managed to get some guildies masks also :/

Dunno what ppl's problem is..