What is happening to this community?

Alright. So factions comes out and it seems that everyone is on one end of the emotional spectrum or the other. People are either loving it or utterly hating it. These boards have been lit ablaze with people asking for everything to be changed back to the way it was before. The well polished missions without any bugs, the "better" economy, etc.

I really think that this community collectively needs to step back and take a breather. The game just released. It will have bugs, I have full faith that ANet will deal with the most important ones first and then work their way down to the smaller ones. Things just need some time to be fixed. I understand that mission bugs are frustrating and stuff but report them and I am sure they will be fixed.

Furthermore, the issue with the economy is just a temporary thing. Stuff will even out in due time. Materials will no longer be so scarce and item prices will begin to stabalize.

I have just kind of felt bad for ANet so far. This community has been very harsh so far with all of the "problems." I understand that people were upset about the release of the CE, and who wants to play a game with bugs after they just spent 50$ on it. ANet is trying to get stuff done, I am sure of it. Just give them some time and tone down the hostility around here. They have made a great game for us and a great expansion.

/rant over

Thank you ANet.

So true

People aren't good with change; it's human nature.

Some of the changes are really bad. Not bugs, but things that were changed that benefit nobody. I don't need to itemize; there are plenty of threads.

Some of the changes are really good. I love going to my Guild Hall for 1-stop shopping. It's convenient, and makes the Guild Hall feel like a home, finally. No more hunting down guildies (what town? what district?) to trade stuff. One click and you're there.

I admit that I'm not enjoying Factions as much as I enjoyed Prophecies. That may change once I get out of the ghetto. That place is maddening. It's our punishment for running to Sanctum Cay and skipping 100% of Maguuma. The community will always be divided on some points, but in a month or two there will be less bickering.

Cmon guys! Let apathy set in! Seriously, calm down, factions is fun, go ahead and play it.

the only problem are the pvers. get the pvpers to stop whining about rank and let pvers try pvp and the game will be a better place.

Lot of bugs need fixing, but that's not cause the scrap the whole project...

Anyhow, I was arguing with a pvper in my guild and they were angry at me because "pvers don't care about what pvpers want'. The ironic thing was, the argument was about a potential guild split, and the thing that pvpers want that pvers won't listen to is... guilds without pvers.

Yes, we would love to hear your opinion on how you don't want us around, thanks. In the interest of fairness, we will agree that our own worth is less than yours. See? We're listening!

Well, you can understand about the bugs!.. people MUST make comment about them otherwise they never get sorted.

The economy, yea I agree with that.. but I dont see many rage posts about that, in fact im certain Farmers everwhere are living in paradise atm

The only subject which really dominates is about 12vs12, which has always had its strong feelings and opinions, which is understandable, communication is the key to victory, and well, you cant communicate with your full team..so..

I think its a bit too early to start putting down the community for expressing their opinions.

Just let it flow. I posted something somewhere that somehow got deleted.

I wont complain tho.... It was true^^

Factions rules^^

On the small scale, there are problems. On the larger scale, Factions is great. So are you Confucious, or Zhuangzi?

I like factions, I love the cities and I love everything about it. All games will have bugs, so just hold your horses for a little bit. If you are still playing Guild Wars, you obviously enjoy it as much as anyone else, your just hard to please.

Some people had high expectations, and were let down, others had no expectations and are thrilled. Personally, Anet had a year to work this, maybe more, and it still isnt totally right. I firmly believe in not marketing something that is not ready. Anet wont see my $50 till this game is in better shape. Even then they might not see it cause of all the crossover issues and the fact that people beat the game in under 20 hours.

exactly, go with the flow...and stop complaining about Vizunah Square

I'll bet most of the complaining is coming from people who came in to GW later than others. By the time they started most of the bugs had been ironed out and the economy was stable. They didn't have to go through any growing pains with the initial relese of GW. With any new software release, you're going to have bugs and stability issues. With one of this magnitude, you can count on having some issues. ANet has proven that they listen to the community over and over again. I'm confident they'll work out any issues. But, I'd give them an A+ on the release so far.

LordMahal - If you refuse to buy a game that got beat in under 20 hours.. does that mean you never bought the priginal game? Because iirc there were a number of people who beat the original storyline in under 20 hours as well.. or maybe it was ~30 hours. but still.. fact is people rushed through the storyline and got finished in like a day or less.

Personally i liked what I saw of faction's.. now waiting for my copy of the CE to come in. Using the time to map Tyria with my Mesmer and work on getting the mapping title! hehe But your right in that people had very high expectations of Faction's.. and are dissapointed it doesn't mean them. This is the bane of generally all high expectation movies/games/etc .. they never quite met what ppl expected and so a lot of people are unhappy (just look at the flak SW1 got.. hehehehehe).

And generally unhappy customer's speak the loadest - that's why you'll tend to see more ppl bringing up things they dislike than ppl bringing up things they like..

I grew up on games that boasted 100+hours to beat... since that time crap like Final Fantasy (anything after 3) went to, ooohhhhhh special cut scenes and things that reduced the game play time to 20-30 hours. Honestly, I picked up GW without knowing what the time it takes to get through it is. But, we all learn, as I did with FF, and now Factions. 20 hours isnt worth $50. Put them both out, in a CE one box set, $50, then Im game. I also have seen things about Factions that I like, and a lot that I dont. The biggest dislike is $50 for something I can finish on a rainy day.

You finished FF7, FF8, FF9, and FF10 each in 20 hours???? Jeebus Christ! Do you take time to actually enjoy a game?

Anyways, I personally think that my $50 on Factions was very well spent. You have to remember that GW is about sooooo much more than just the story line. Ya, I could sit down and do a marathon session and get to the end of the game in a very long day, but I find so much more to do in the game.

I know that it takes a LOT longer to finish Factions if you find and do ALL the quests that are out there. The people who rushed only did the Primary story line. Most of the side quests are given by NPC out of the towns and in your instances.

So much more to do than just the primary storyline. Theres exploring, collecting, crafting, buying, selling, trading, Arenas, Guild battles, 12v12, scrimmages, Elite Skill Capturing, Alliance Battles, Tombs, Hall of Heros, Fissure of Woe, Underworld, Sorrows Furnace and on and on and on. My /age says i have played the first GW for onver 600+ hours and I have never been in HoH, never cleared the FoW, never cleared the Underworld, Have to finish Final Assault in SF, need to do Titans Source without people leaving ( )

So there is a lot that both GW:P and GW:F has to offer for your $50.00. So pay up! You won't be disappointed!

i guess it is due to the fact that people have high expectation on the game..in fact, their expectation is TOO high, and when GW:F is released, they get disappointed if things do not go as they expected..i too believe that GW:F is a great expansion to the original GW nevertheless..however, buggy henchmen, mission, quests ruined it and the alliances battle as well..it takes time to anet to fix the bugs and imbalance..as well as the problem of CE production..

in future, i really hope that anet learn from the mistake..it is due to the fact that MMO is a really competitive industry..any mistake can lead to fatal error including a bad update..

and lol, many ppl have complained about the little content that GW offers..they forgot that they are not paying any online fees and for $50 this is a great game..provided with good support and stuff..and over the time, the content will eventually add up as you purchased more..

complaining is human nature.

So is fanboy/girl-ism.

Im happy and disappointed in factions at the same time. Although right now im feeling overwhelmed with all the stuff to do. x_x

LOL,

what exactly does this non-specific drivel actually mean?

"beat the game" ?

how exactly do you "beat the game" ?..

You formed a guild and got to the number one guild spot in under 20 hours?

dont think so..

You completed every mission perfectly?.. all bonus's all the map explored, all the side quests completed, Kurzicks AND Luxons??

dont think so..

Did you 'beat' the game in under 20 hours with all 8 proffesions?..

dont think so..

LOL... anyone who says they 'Beat the game in under 20 hours' are just kidding themselves and I would expect more from good guru posters to belive this absoloute twaddle.

I played Prophecies for over 12 months and still havnt completed absoloutly everything with my 3 characters

With Factions there is NO "beating the game" at all!.. this isnt Sonic the Hedgehog!

Im finding it much more enjoyable now that im out of the maze-like shanty town areas. Although im really not liking the fact that im gonna have to redo it all again on other characters, some of those needed back and forth quests REALLY tried my patience. Something about having a sword weilding fantasy like character running around an urban scenario seemed odd, I kept looking for a mac-10 or a handgun ROFL

I personally, am enjoying this game. I think the scenery and the textures are great. The new weapon skins rock, imo as well as the new armors. I am totally loving the degree of finesse the assasin takes to play well. and I could go on, but you get the picture, I am satisfied with the game. That being said, I also am under no delusions about the bugs and foibles of the game so far. I however don't let that affect my enjoyment of this diversion from life.


What I am not enjoying is all the immature ranting and negativity, its a game ppl, move on.

My 2 cents.

Thank you

Yeah, I'm enjoying the new content despite the bugs and poor design of some missions/quests and areas. I think people need to talk about the bugs--otherwise Anet may not be aware of them.

As far as it being buggy on release and so to cut Anet some slack, yes and no. They had a beta and a preview weekend. From that, some of the bugs could have been fixed. They're also a business. As gamers, we're sometimes too forgiving of buggy games on release. I'm willing to accept that, on release, there will be some kinks to work out, but some of the more major problems, like the very poor henchmen AI, should never have seen the light of day.

/signed

The people who are loving this game aren't on the forums.... they're playing the game. That is why we see no positive feedback really.

Personally, I feel that Factions is a dramatic improvement to an already outstanding game.

"let pvers try pvp"

Umm, no. PvP is not for me.

I am a pure PvE'r and I have said the same BUT

I have to say getting that little "nudge" to try PvP oriented missions turned out to be way more fun than I expected...I loved Vizunah Square and went back to help others - it made me see how fighting in the Tombs can seem monotonous.

Next time I think I'm getting a little bored with the game, I will participate more in the PvP challenges - A great way to try PvP without the heavy one vs. one pressure...

I have tried PVP its ok, I do enjoy it on occasion. But I am not big on it. I personally think that there should be no ready made PVP characters. I think all characters should be built through the campaign. But I aint in charge and PVP people enjoy it the way it is. Good for them.

But the PVE aspect should be relished, if someone beat the game in 20 hours good for them, I really doubt they got ever skill for every profession (thats part of it)

Now the one thing I really dislike is I miss the mission then the bonus aspect. I really enjoyed finding the bonuses or doing them. It felt like an accomplishment. I still dont understand the Foriegn Quarter/ local quarter thing, I tried that quest a few times and menloh kept getting stuck. I will go back to it later, I am currently going after my Tyrian defender title.
(anyone got a link as to the local and foriegn explanation of the same towns?)

Foriegn=Tyrian
Local=Canthan

Basically, It's where the players end up story wise, the tyrians come into the foriegn quarter with mhenlo to join up with togo, and canthans come in through the local quarter with Togo to meet the tyrian lot.

what games were you playing that took 100+ hours to beat!?

Can't speak for him, but I'll bet I've played Baldur's Gate 2 for more than 100 hours and I've never bothered to go through the end yet.

Speaking of which, between the incessant immaturity and addiction of PvP (I don't think I've gone into an RA in weeks when some moron didn't draw a phallus or breasts on the map, and I've NEVER been in HA where the team wasn't confusing the current match with a real life or death struggle) and the repetition of the "talk, carry, kill" PvE campaign, I've actually picked up Baldur's Gate yet again.

As something of an outsider looking in, I can tell you this about the Guild Wars "Community": I've found that it houses some of the most unpleasant people I've ever seen online. I don't think it has anything to do with Factions. The Factions problems just caused a flare up. Maybe before you look for things like bugs to blame for the abrasiveness of the community, you should consider looking at how you normally act anyway.

Ok I realize this is totally off topic, but I completely agree with the above statement. I have overheard/read more racial slurs and immature name calling/mud slinging in this game then any other. I sort of chalk it up to the fact that there is no monthly fee, so kids can get the game and not have to have a credit card. Then, boom they start feeling RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOy with the anonimity of a character to let their immaturity loose with seemingly no repercussions at all.

That being said, I have not let these small minded people ruin my game playing, I just /ignore them, and go on playing. I do wish there were a few more stringent rules regarding racial slurs and outright bigotry, but there are not, to my knowledge.

Faction release is unfortunately not smooth at all. There are some problems ( like bugs, gameplay change, AI, CE delay, Head Start Event...) that annoy gamers. But I think many people are complaining too much, or they play through game for a short time and exaggerate in some problems.

When playing in Tyria, people say that pve is too easy, only THK is harder and need better team work. But then in Faction, after a few first missions ( like Vizunah) they say that missions are too hard. Those are first times we do this mission, so of course we can't finish it in only first try. We will get used to it and find it easy when we know more about path, mobs, and their skills.

The complain about perfect, rare items dropped so easily is not true. Item drop rate is actually higher than Chapter 1, but not "so easily" to get them. I and my guildies play since Head Start and we got only few gold items, but high require or even not max damage.

The most problems that people complain about are bugs in missions, quests and the change of Alliance Battle since FPE. But they can be fixed easily after ANet take feedbacks from communities. And if the majority agree about the old AB system, and ANet find it better, they will change it. ANet always listens to the community, so I'm sure that they will improve it soon. The game released only 1 week, so just calm down and give them more time.

It's a new game. There are bound to be a few bugs. And beings bugs they can't be predicted, kind of like when you get a flat tyre. As for the economy, I find the people moaning are the greedy ones who think they should be able to sell items for stupid prices.

/Singed

I think that C1 was so refined/polished, then launch a new game that's bound to have issue, and tweaks as time goes on.

I'd argue the opposite. So I guess I'm the Ying to your Yang.

I don't know what all the big fuss is all about. I my Guild Wars: Factions

I'm going to address some things in your post. I've worked in game delvelopment on and off over the years from way back during the Nintendo 8bit game days to a few years ago, I've also created and sold a CCG, so I do understand about game design and the design process.

People are angry because Factions has more obvious bugs then Prophecies did. The bugs are obvious enough that you fail missions due to them, thus wasting the time a player has invested and the player feels cheated that this has happened. People expected better of Anet.

The shipping of CE was not Anet's fault and they have done what they could but this adds to the frustration that loyal fans are feeling about the game.

As to the economy, I feel that Anet is on the correct path as prices will start to even out and we should see a ceasation of stupid levels of gold for a mod that is only +1 better then another mod.

The bots in Elona's reach are a problem though and should be dealt with. Anet just needs to sit and watch how the people path over and over to see they are being botted. It is 100% the same every time. A real player farming that area will not do what the bots do.

Now that being said, all these issues lead up to what people feel is Anet dropping the ball in crucial game areas and thus they lose faith in Anet's stellar record with prophecies. What this tells me is that Anet is cranking these new chapters way too fast and their QC process needs work or just more testing then they did. IF Anet fails to do this for chapter 3 and we see similar broken quest issues among other things that kill the feeling of adventure / exploration in the game then they will lose a very large amount of business, even if the game is free to play.

That is something that they should heed and do something about with all due haste. All you have to do is take a look at verant/soe and see what angry players do to the longevity of a game. Just look at how SoE handled expansion with their "we'll just patch it later" attitude and you'll see how this could end up for Anet. Many people abandoned SoE games and won't buy their products again.

IF Anet needs to hire more people then they should do that, If they need to take 9 months before releasing a chapter then they should do that too. This industry is built on a rock solid reputation and fans who were rabidly loyal will turn on you if they feel they have been cheated by a poor release. They work hard for their money and are angry when it is spent on something that should be good but in their eyes is not.

The cost of everything for living is on the rise so money becomes more important to everyone and there is an underlying current of anger in the general consumer base due to things like gas selling for over 3 dollars a gallon when only a few years ago it was half that. This underlying anger continues to build and it looks for an outlet. A product that is meant to be an escape and downtime enjoyment that frustrates people will be the target of that anger.

The above is my impression of what I've seen of people in general and things I've witnessed in the past and currently.

Imaginos

Being that GW: Prophecies was my 1st MMORPG, I found it to be a great game and experience, all the complaints notwithstanding.
I'm finding Factions (what I've played so far) to be equally as good (again, all complaints notwithstanding), perhaps because I better know what I'm doing (lol). The bugs havent bothered me so much, and I like the fact that ANET can make the patches to fix the problems when reported. I still go out and do the quests, missions, explore, join PUGs....
It's probably because I'm NOT trying to finish the game in record time, and I dont feel the need to try and farm from one end of Cantha to the other endlessly. I don't feel the need to be the richest person ever to play the game (because, please, REMEMBER, it IS A GAME!!!).
Yes, I was one of the many who pre-ordered the Collector's Edition, and I too was pretty disappointed that it didn't come out on time, but nothing that I've seen so far is gonna make the world end tomorrow...
Play the game. Enjoy it for what it is (IMO); a GREAT online game...

I just wish I had more time to play! My Necro is still exploring the starter island!

/agreed

Local Chat: off

Problem Solved! :D

at least we get the birthday mini pet! I can't wait one more month