Open letter to Arenanet- Regarding PVE focus.

Please pay careful attention to the following quotes:

What *I* get from those quotes is that Arenanet's STATED original intention was to make it so Factions was more PVE oriented than prophecies. OR at the very least, that the whole thing about pvp being "stimulated" in prophecies would not happen in factions. Yet reality shows us a different situation entirely. Everything that is posted on its website at the "state of the game" is pvp. All they talk about is championships. Faction was made harder to obtain thru pve. PVP still controls access to UW and Fow and favor in general. Also, before, all we had to defend the idea that pvp gets more attention were a few forum posters. Now we have a reviewer from a major mage magazine saying:
So maybe its time to either start acting upon what was said (that pve would get more love), or coming out clear and stating that the focus of the game is pvp? Maybe its time to make ammends to the idea that even a game mag is saying pve is underwhelming, and modify it so that it isnt, or sell the game as a pvp only game? I think it's time to be clear about this, the people that bought the game deserve an answer. It's kind of frustrating to see *only* pvp news on the official website when I didnt buy the game for that,or have a game that has less pve content than prophecies using space of the world for pvp missions no one plays (are literally ghost cities).

What I want is an answer, that is not the usual "we don't favor either". Because if that's the answer, then Factions really needs a shift in attention to pve, it's not just the usual bunch of forum posters saying it, now you got a game mag reviewer, as well.

So I'm confused as to how come the quotes before the game didn't come to reflect the reality in the game?

And a question to my fellow gamers and GW owners, do you honestly think that those quotes came to reflect the real situation of Factions? If not, please do tell in this thread.

Well you don't have to PvP in factions thats the purpose of the repeatable faction quests

They're just defending themselves from attacks implying that they only care about PvP content. They've struck a pretty decent balance, in my opinion.

Factions is, if anything, dominated by PvE content. (Granted, it's not particularly appealing PvE content, but still it's what makes up the majority of the game.)

What did PvP get? Four new guild halls and a new style of PvP that is (currently) less fun than pulling teeth.

I think that chapter 3 will answer all of this....either it will go more towards the pvp and loose all pve players or they will hear us pve'ers and get some more content for us (those of us who either are not good enough to pvp, dont want to pvp, or just didnt buy the game to do pvp, etc)......I will wait to make my determination with chapter 3 (which I might add, I will NOT pre-order no matter what they offer me...nor will I get the CE for it!)
so only time will tell..................

What sort of PvE information do you want to put on the main site? "Hey guys, here are the people who beat the missions today!"

-list

Or, better yet, "X player made 45 droknar's runs yesterday! Amazing!"

As far as PvP being the focus of the game... yeah. I play more PvE than PvP too, but GW has ultimately come out as a PvP focused game. This isn't new news.

Instead of complaining about "There's no PvE news on the main site!" focus on some of your other complaints: PvE faction nerfs, the horrible (IMO) favor system, the elite missions, et cetera.

Theres more that PvP got, such as 300 new skills and alliance battles. However, I agree PvE seems more "dominant" at least on forums.

The skills are hardly limited to PvP, and I already mentioned ABs.

cmn...

so you call the 300 skills only for PvP?? so in PvE you don't use any skills??

While PvE news isn't nearly as publicly dynamic as PvP news there are still a lot of things that could go there that would be fun for PvE players, even if it were just fluff. With that said, I think the biggest reason there isn't more PvE information on the main site is so that sites like this and the wiki and so on, can pick up that portion of it and remain vibrant and relevant.

Agreed that on the website all they talk about is PvP, but what do you want them to say about PvE? Things happen in PvP all the time, like gaining favour and the GWWC. But whats there to say about PvE? Nothing other then updates really.

not this again... bleth
IMHO Anet made this game particularly oriented towards PvP. Why do i say this?
1: there are a variety of places throughout the game to engage in 4v4, 8v8, and now 12v12 (RA, TA, HoH, GvG, Alliance battling)
2: PvE customization is very shallow. Do u see any other races other than human? Do you see professions or crafting mechanics? do you see any mines, trees, plants, corpses etc one can use during the game? didnt think so
3: there is no reward for beating the game! all you get is some more quests. and what after that? YOU MOVE TO PVP
4: all PvE is there for is to gather skills crucial to play in PvP. Ask most people out there and they will tell you that they started the game in Old Ascalon City, and are now budding ranked players in the HoH and top 100 guilds.
5: there is nothing to advertise about PvE because anyone can do it. Granted the AHEM...low IQ people may not complete them, but an average player can complete the missions and quests with mild difficulty

In conclusion, Anet purposefully made this game to be PvP oriented, with the multitude of maps, array of battle arenas, ways of recognition, and lack of customization or personality. If you play some of their other games such as City of Villains, City of Heroes, Lineage II, etc, you will find they are quite highly based upon PvE.

IG Shika Xblade if you wanna talk some more or if u wanna bash me just say hi and ill iggy you.

Give me an example of an interesting PvE recap.

Yet PvP is a far more intrisicate part of Factions than Prophecis.

Don't confuse Arena Net with NCSoft.

If Anet concentrated on one side they would lose 1/3ish of their customers (1/3 PvE 1/3 PvP 1/3 both numbers are probably different but you get the point). They don't want to lose customers.

If you ask me about this whole PvP vs PVE thing sounds like:

PvE guy: ANET PAY ATTENSION TO ME. I KNOW YOU LOVE ME MORE.

PvP guy: NO PAY ATTENSION TO ME GUILD WARS IS A PVP GAME!!!

Anet: ......

Guy 1 who does both: You guys are both idiots

Guy 2 who does both: I agree

PvE guy: NO PAY ATTENSION TO ME. ITS AN RPG GAME.

PvP guy: NO ITS GUILD WARS NOT MONSTER VS HUMAN WARS!!!

PvP guy 2: Stop making me look bad

PvP guy 3: Why are you agreeing with them hurry up and play IWAY with me

PvE guy: STOP FAVORING PVP AND PAY ATTENSION TO ME

PvP guy: NO YOU MAKE TOO MUCH PVE STUFF PAY ATTENSION TO ME

PvE guy 2: Come on can we stop complaining and play

PvE guy 3: SHUT UP MESMER NOOB

Anet: .......

Me: ............can't we settle this in peace

PvP guy and PvE guy: NEVER

i wouldnt call it intricate, it is simply more tied into the PVE, now instead of killing anouther team of four in the TA for no apparent reason, your the luxons vs the kurzics, theres more of a story behind it

and this is a bad thing exactly how?

intricate would imply you were forced to PvP , but realistically its quicker to gain faction via the quests than the 12V12


I play both PvE and PvP, and i can vouch that both communitys gained a fairly even slice, if not a slight tilt towards the PvE community

They walk a fine line trying to keep evreyone happy, or lose a large part of their customer base with future chapters. Obviously, not all of us are pleased with Anets "shotgun" approach. I read the "give it a try" propaganda and bought Factions. I am having fun, but not as much as I had hoped for. I personally feel that Anet fell far short of thier promises and that Factions doesn't compare with Prophecies. That said, I'm not sure if I will be adding anymore gold to Anet's coffers.

Factions did nothing for PvP. Alliance battles are a joke and the rewards for them are an even bigger joke.

Focusing on PvE will kill this game eventually, because the PvE is sub-par to any other MMO on the market and will be sub-par because of the instances and the need to balance the game towards "skill not time spent" (yeah I know GW is a "CORPG", STFU already).

Instead of a good competitive game Anet is focusing on creating poor man's World of Warcraft. It may sell good for some time but eventually even the 14 year old fanbois will realise that new chapters offer only new locations and new weapon skins while still having the same old, mind-numbingly boring PvE crap.

I have to admit... the alliance battles and Fort Aspenwood are drawing this PvEr more and more to the PvP side of things...

Dudes... it's freaking fun. Organized chaos with a side of wtf.

The part I let best is the multitude of faction farming nerfs that we've seen in the past couple weeks in an attempt to force pve players to pvp to make a decent amount of faction. It's absolutely ridiculous.

"Oh noes, players can make faction faster doing pve and no one wants to do the alliance battles that we so heavily marketed, lets nerf the pve farming and basically force them into alliance battles, even though they suck ass!"

How is that forcing PvErs to Allience? PvErs gain Faction at about the same time as PvPers who do participate in 12v12. Boo-hoo, cry me a frikken river.

Now there's actually a chance that mabey a PvP focused Allience guild can win a town.

Ok everyone place your bets on how long this thread will last. 100g on 3 pages.

Last time I checked, you only had to get 10k Faction to finish the storyline, which was easily obtainable through quest. If you think that Faction is accumulating slowly then maybe it's meant to accumulate like that...

What's wrong with this thread ? You get angsty from reading critical opinions about your fave game/company ?

If I were running the dev team for Guild Wars, I'd probably switch the focus a little to one side or the other with each chapter, but keep it as balanced to the middle as possible over the long haul.

On that notion, if Prof was a little too PvP, then factions a little too PvE, chapter 3 should be a swing back to PvP, and chapter 4 a swing to PvE, etc...

Keep it fresh, and give each crowd their own special treatment each time. Perfect balance is impossible - someone will always find it unfair. So be intentionally favoring, just slightly, and switch it each time.

One glaring thing in this thread:

PvE players feel they got the short end of the stick in Factions.
PvP players feel they got little-to-no stick at all in Factions.


What does this tell you, ArenaNet?

Like Mesmers, I think it's best to pick a direction and excel, than try to be great at different things at the same time, otherwise you'll be mediocre in each. Though I would not consider GW mediocre at all, continuing this split-focus may just get you there faster than anyone dreamed.

Actually, most players that play both agree that PvE got more from factions than PvP did.

This is not a PvE vs PvP thread. Back to the topic:

The Opp showed some promises made by Arenanet and promises are there to be kept. Its good to remind a company of this. Many players are still waiting for the promised (PvE) improvements of Aliances. Lots of them already purchased the game, others wait until promises come true. What will happen to this world if huge game companies won't keep their promises?? Of course they Will! But they need some reminders... Now and than. Thats why its good to keep posting threads like this!

I specified my comments toward this thread, not all players in general.

this game is pvp based everyone knows it. people say no it is not do the repeatable quests over and over and over and over again but thats not the point. gaile said herself that we would be more satisfied with the pve part of factions compared to phrophecies BIG LIE. i asked gaille a question about pvp that went like this"gaille will there ever be a tombs type area to gain fame for lower rank people" her responce "if you have no pvp experience why pvp". this to me makes me want to beleive that they don t care about anything but the pvp base people they have now keeping there game going. so what did they do to try and get more they created factions which anyone can tell you is also pvp based. resoning behind this is simple. what did they give pve people? titles- wow big whoop most of the titles you cannot get because of the fact you cannot access all parts of the game if you are from a different game. new pets -wow big whoop the pets suck what like 6 pets loooool. hmmm what else did we get ummmmm nothing. dont say armor because every game should have armor. dont say new professions every new game should have them. elite missions loooool mainlly for pvp people.(even though now some guilds are letting people in for free.) new weapons wow every new game should have them. new skills wow everygame should have them. do you see the pattern here. hopefully with chapter 3 they realise that they f-ed up. when i buy a rpg game it is for the rpg not the lil side chit . i care less for pvp i care less for meaningless titles i care about the game play. and as a customer with an opinion which people who flame others forget this i have a right to voice my opinion. i have a right to say i bought a rpg game that did not live up to it s hype. i bought a rpg game that the game play SUCKED. when i can beat a rpg game in 1 day 1DAY! that means to me you did not put a whole lot of thought into the game itself but more time into pvp. reasoning lol-go to jade quarry go to aspenwood the actuall game play of what you do there is fun as hell and takes some thought even guild alliance battles is fun as hell and takes some thought. i know everyone has said that they are through if anet releases a game in 6 months they will not buy it. me because of chapter 1 i am willing to chalk this up to good ole stupidity on there part and will give them a chance. but BUT if chapter 3 is a lame flop just like this i will never buy gw again. if it is a flop it will make me feel that they don t care about there consumers and even though the game is free that all they care about is the all mighty dollar. and please PLEASE do not sit there and tell me well they need money for this or that. if they needed money they would have you pay for gameplay a monthlly fee and this has not happend yet. so don t sit there and say that anet needs money for anything. get your chit together and make a game that is worth it do not make a game that blows a@@ from day one and exspect people to continue to play it.

1k on closed.

IMHO, they included a whole bunch of PvE content that has a definite PvP feel to it. The impression I got when first starting out a PvE character in factions was that A-Net was trying to force the PvP on PvE only players.

With Prophecies, I think there's a more defined line between the two types of game play.

Without paragraphs it is painful on the eye to read, and so gets ignored.

I have no idea what you wrote up there, and zero intention of finding out until you break it up into smaller chunks. Something close to proper grammar is needed in order to be legible..

I might agree or disagree with it and you. I have no idea and it is just too hard for me to learn one way or the other.

Use the return key Jeebus! Or at least use capitol letter Woly HELL!


Here let me fix it!

this game is pvp based everyone knows it.

people say no it is not do the repeatable quests over and over and over and over again but thats not the point. gaile said herself that we would be more satisfied with the pve part of factions compared to phrophecies BIG LIE.

i asked gaille a question about pvp that went like this"gaille will there ever be a tombs type area to gain fame for lower rank people" her responce "if you have no pvp experience why pvp". this to me makes me want to beleive that they don t care about anything but the pvp base people they have now keeping there game going.

so what did they do to try and get more they created factions which anyone can tell you is also pvp based. resoning behind this is simple. what did they give pve people? titles- wow big whoop most of the titles you cannot get because of the fact you cannot access all parts of the game if you are from a different game. new pets -wow big whoop the pets suck what like 6 pets loooool.

hmmm what else did we get ummmmm nothing. dont say armor because every game should have armor. dont say new professions every new game should have them. elite missions loooool mainlly for pvp people.(even though now some guilds are letting people in for free.) new weapons wow every new game should have them. new skills wow everygame should have them.

do you see the pattern here. hopefully with chapter 3 they realise that they f-ed up. when i buy a rpg game it is for the rpg not the lil side chit . i care less for pvp i care less for meaningless titles i care about the game play. and as a customer with an opinion which people who flame others forget this i have a right to voice my opinion.

i have a right to say i bought a rpg game that did not live up to it s hype. i bought a rpg game that the game play SUCKED. when i can beat a rpg game in 1 day 1DAY! that means to me you did not put a whole lot of thought into the game itself but more time into pvp.

reasoning lol-go to jade quarry go to aspenwood the actuall game play of what you do there is fun as hell and takes some thought even guild alliance battles is fun as hell and takes some thought. i know everyone has said that they are through if anet releases a game in 6 months they will not buy it.

me because of chapter 1 i am willing to chalk this up to good ole stupidity on there part and will give them a chance. but BUT if chapter 3 is a lame flop just like this i will never buy gw again. if it is a flop it will make me feel that they don t care about there consumers and even though the game is free that all they care about is the all mighty dollar.

and please PLEASE do not sit there and tell me well they need money for this or that. if they needed money they would have you pay for gameplay a monthlly fee and this has not happend yet.

so don t sit there and say that anet needs money for anything. get your chit together and make a game that is worth it do not make a game that blows a@@ from day one and exspect people to continue to play it.

Okay for a serious post:

I like Factions. I think Many promises were kept...and many were cast aside....

I feel they made a game that would help PvPers go through as quickly as possible so tyhey could get back to PvPing....

Hence the HURRY UP! style of every mission and quest.

Some of use like to actualy STOP and LOOK at the levels but nope GOTTA HURRY the EMPOROR will DIE...this is just BS.....

You shell out $50 for Factions.

What you receive for both PvE and PvP:
-Two new professions
-Around 300 skills, which start out locked for your account

What PvE gets:
-The land of Cantha (new areas to explore and quests to complete)
-24 (not sure of the exact number) new missions, including challenge missions, elite missions, and competitive missions.

What PvP gets:
-Alliance Battles. Requires alliance leaders to own Factions, then they have to PvE until they can side with a faction. And the mode only affects PvE stuff: the Canthan map line and your faction points for the Luxons or Kurzicks.

Grey Area for PvP:
-Canthan guild halls. But couldn't you technically get a Canthan hall without buying Factions?

All in all, what did your $50 get you? Would you say that getting 300 locked skills for your account is worth the $50 price tag normally reserved for a full non-expansion game? Not I. But that's the extent of what PvP-only players get.

Basically, you're paying for the Canthan campaign. You also get a PvP mode which is tied in very tightly with the PvE map and economy (since faction points can be traded for materials), and since it's a nice casual mode with little emphasis on optimized builds and straight-up combat, it's a nice mode for non-competitive Factions players to play.

Not that there's anything inherently wrong with charging full-price for new campaigns. It's just that PvP-only players will start feeling stiffed after shelling out $50 every six months just to play the same game with 300 new skills to unlock.

Which means that you can't just enjoy PvP to your heart's content with each new chapter - to get the most from your money every six months, you need to go through the campaigns you paid for.

Personally, I pve when I'm bored and my guild isn't GvGing. Random arenas and Alliance Battles are too mind-numbing to be worth the effort anymore really, and I play a warrior mostly now in PvE so its a lot of c-space, use adrenal skills.

Factions was worth it for the assassin - god is it fun to play. Aura of Displacement is one of the best skills in GvG right now, because good positional pressure makes up for quite a few mismatches. Case in point is ritual spike (we were playing against [ACME] )- the warriors split off and pressure their base while our r/rt with shelter falls back with a monk and a emo earth guy into our own base. I even err7ed (damn you comcast why must my cable modem randomly die so often) and we still won (granted all I really would do that match was cast ob flame and ward vs foes).

Anyhow my 2 cents is that assassin is worth the $50 for factions from a PvP perspective.

Oh? How many new professions can they introduce for you to PvP with and still have it remain balanced? How many combinations of damage-dealing, healing, conditions, etc. etc. can they add for new skills before it either becomes unbalanced, or just a pile of the same skills but with different names? Will some new little maps and guild halls be sufficient, or will they just be "same thing, different scenery?"

However, if they work at improving the RP elements, they don't need so many new skills and changes to the system. If they can deliver games with engaging stories, immersive environments, and enjoyable quests and missions, they don't need to introduce so many new skills and professions to get people to buy it.

I'm sure they don't want to lose their PvP playerbase, and I'm sure that's a large one, but I think that aspect is inherently limited. Maybe by the time they exhaust their PvP options, the whole Guild Wars engine will be exhausted, and everyone will move on, I don't know. But I think that the PvE aspect has a lot more potential to last.

I've said it before, I don't mind saying it again: the PvE in Factions is pants. It is among the most shallow and annoying cRPG'ing I've done since Neverwinter Nights: Original Campaign (although NWN:OC, and Dungeon Lords, are admittedly infinitely worse).
There is no story worth speaking of, the (several hundred) quests are all annoying and boring back-and-forth fedexing, the missions are OK but don't make any sense and often force grouping and/or PvP. And everything is obviously designed solely to slow the player down, so it'll take longer to complete the game.

I've not even completed the Factions storyline, and I'm already back adventuring in Tyria again. Factions is just too annoying.

QFT.

Get a char to LA, get armour, skills (if minion master only) and bugger off back to Tyria. That about sums it up. Don't get me started on fedex missions, bloody closed gates.....