Ask GW Game Designer James Phinney a few questions!

Are the glitches at the outposts intentional and will they be fixed? For example, the two glitches at Lion's Arch; the cage near the rune trader and the place near the docks where players can get into the water. Also, the glitch at Granite Citadel where players can go out beyond the portal.

Was Lomar's Pass meant to be a passage for getting the best armor early for "rushers" when GW was being developed? Because I have seen players low as level 4 at Southern Shiverpeaks. Totally ridiculous.

Is ArenaNet developing any methods to prevent certain players who decide to go on a "free ride" during missions? These are the players that join a group and go afk from the get-go of a mission.

Will a voting system ever be implemented?

Will roleplaying ever be implemented? Since there has been much talk about a marriage system within the GW community.

Will ArenaNet modify the amount of rare drops? I've been playing GW since it's release in April 2005, I have only gotten one very rare 5:1 vampiric bow and one superior vigor rune. I have done a few Fissure of Woe runs and gotten pathetic drops. Not one shard or rare drop.

How come the 15k armor has the exact stats as the 1.5k armor? In my opinion, something that costs 15k should at least give a little more bonus than just its looks.

I'm going to ask you the question I ask everyone:




Can I have a monkey(In game or otherwise)?

^^^

Seconded!

For emphasis. I think this is an important design element that should be taken into serious consideration. Also, will this take the form of some persistant areas where we can actually interact (positively/negatively) other players?

Related to this, will you therefore take out or at least minimize collision detection in some way, even if you must keep the linearity of the story/quests? I hate being "stuck on a blade of grass"

Also, as asked before, how will ANet improve on character customization for us true RPGers?

Finally, (as asked before), will PvP take the form of more epic type battles in the future? I think a lot of fans want to see this materialize.

Thanks,

-Ashraven

Will there be large scale battles and auction houses?

Will the way of finding groups for quests or pvp play be improved/changed? Right now it consists of people flooding chat with "LFG <char type> <mission/quest>". And as far as pvp, it takes far too long to gather a group together.

Does GW plan on implementing a system, so that if a player is put on the ignore list, ALL of his chat(general, trade, whispers, ect.)will be blocked? When I put a player on ignore for racist, rude, or spamming reasons, it is quite disheartening to know that only his/her whispers will be blocked, not the stuff in general chat. This would also allow people to get ride of the trade spammers in general chat. If this is included, will our ignore lists size be increased?

Is there currently a system in place that rewards those playing through the storyline with better drops than those who go back to farm receive? I continue to read complaints from farmers about places being "nerfed" and yet I continually find that I am receiving more rares than I was before, and I am doing nothing but playing through the story.

Thank you,

Matt

Finally, we may get some answers and serious feedback other than "we're working on it".

1) Why can't ArenaNet stop the botters or make them obsolete without hurting the "farming" community who they claim to not be a problem?

2) What has been done to stop the botters? It seems like "nerfing" areas is the only thing they can think of...this upsets alot of people.

3) Why can't ArenaNet share their future plans with us?
For example, there are several topics on the forum in which several people suggested a housing system or a mining/crafting "hobby".
Chances are that ArenaNet has seen these ideas but they never share their views on them with us...why?

4) A vast amount of the PvE players tend to be "MMORPG" orientated and find the end-game to have nothing left for them. Does ArenaNet have any plans to increase replayability, IE, a PvE arena in which they hold out against constant waves of enemies and receive recognition for surviving X number of attacks?

5) Will there be a new continent or a new planet to explore in future expansions?

6) When will the much spoken auction house be implemented?

7) Does ArenaNet have plans for very large deathmatch arenas, possibly with dozens of players at a time, in which a player can solo PvP?

8) Has their been any change with regard to the level cap being raised in the future?

9) Some people seek grind but others are totally the opposite. Do you plan on taking measure to cater for both groups?

10) Why can't the "end-game" provide a permanent MMORPG style type of environment in which players have unlimited replayability?
This would stop many players from leaving until the next expansions arrive.

I'm really looking forward to guild practices, for example having 2 people run a team with hechies while 8 others can run a build to practice, letting people practice guild battles without putting the rating on the line for potentially bad players. Unrated random guild battles could also accomplish this. When will either of these features be implemented?

Great game, I love it!

Are there any plans to add to the functionality of the Guild Halls (i.e. Houses, storage etc)?

What is Arena net doing to improve communication with players?

What is Arena net doing to recover from the shortfall in Korean players?

What action, if any, is being taken to help the Casual player adapt easier to PVP?

What action, if any, is being done to address skills that might still need balancing?

What action, if any, is Anet researching to expand the current functionality of PVP Play?

Does Anet plan on implementing new skills for the current classes?

Does Anet plan on implementing new items for the current classes?

Will Anet keep the current drop rate as is, or is this being investigated on a daily basis?

1) With the release of the highly expected Sorrow's Furnace update, will there be also a release of fun easter eggs also? (Such as the writing inside Mhenlo's clothes.)

2) Is there a fix of hit detection on the way? Kinda buggers me when a Minotaur on a bone bridge above me can beat the living crud out of me while I cannot attack without having to run all the way around to fight back?

3) Any major skill updates on the way to boost the usefulness of the least used skills? (Such as decreasing the recharge time of Purge Conditions to 15 seconds instead of 30, but increasing the cost to 10?)

4) I previously submitted this question to the support board, but did not get an exact response. Will there be any graphical updates/tweaks available to those with lower end video cards so we also can view things such as Boss Auras (or even just a texture color change for that boss) so they appear different other than just their names?

Will we ever learn what happened to Gwen? Will new clues be in the new Chapter? Or even Gwen herself?

Is Anet planning on nerfing the Rangers, as they always do, whenever the Rangers find yet another way to own the competition (using NR)?

First, just wanted to say I love this game!


1. Will there be more features for guilds (e.g. guild storage, scrimages, customized guild halls, toggle for capes -- at least in PvE or towns, larger "guild wars", etc)?

2. Will there be better support for communicating with friends/guild members (e.g. listing current area/town, in-game "mail" system for leaving messages, etc)?

3. Will you ever have one central, "official" forum instead of leaving it spread out over all the fansites?

4. Will anything be done with Europe's problem of not getting favor much? (I ask out of concern for fairness)

5. Will there be more side activities to keep PvE'ers interested/around after they beat the game multiple times?

6. Will there be a more robust in-game trading system -- like a trade window where all players can list their items and filter for the types they want? Right now it's difficult at best to find the items you want, because you have to happen to be in the right district at the right time, or you have to use an outside source to setup trades.

7. Are you considering setting a flat price for dyes? Right now it is absolutely outrageous -- at last check, black dye was going for around 23k. I cannot fathom the justification for any single, one-time use dye to cost that much.

8. Is the economy going to be fixed so that it actually follows some sort of logic?

9. Will more room be added to storage and backpacks/belts/bags?

10. Will runes ever be made stackable in inventory? (<--I don't mean on armor... I mean will we be able to stack them like iron ingots or bolts of cloth)

• How much time do you and other developers play Guild Wars?
• What is the most difficult design decision you've faced while developing Guild Wars?
• Did you discover any unique design challenges while developing Guild Wars? How did you solve them?
• How do you balance the multiple goals of having a skill based PvP system while allowing for some luck and chaotic fun? How often should the better team win?
• How much should certain team builds counter other teams in PvP? To what extent should team builds have nemesis teams that can defeat them, even when played by somewhat less skilled players?
• How much of the skill in PvP should be determined by team build (before the battle begins), vs. execution of that build against a random variety of teams (once the battle starts, including teamwork)?
• What parts or aspects of Guild Wars do you enjoy the most, as a player?

I hope other people add questions they sincerely want the answers to. It's quite obvious many (though certainly not all) questions posted already are just statements of opinion or feature requests in disguise. This is fine, but the answer to, "Can we toggle off capes someday?" is going to become public knowledge in the long run no matter what Mr. Phinney says. I humbly suggest asking some more questions we'll never get answers to otherwise.


Thank you, Mr. James Phinney, and Arena Net, for taking the time to answer questions.

TOTALLY agree here. I read through the entire thread, and besides the collective outcry for NR balancing, these are definately the best questions so far. PvE would be 100x better with features like those.

Just wondering but does arenanet even recogniz that NR is too powerful? I dont remember them ever syaing, "yea, we know, just wait we'll fix it." With this many players (ab)using NR, and this many people screaming that it is ruining their beloved guild wars, you'd think that they'd have fixed it sooner. If ANYTHING gets changed in the next patch, it HAS to be NR.

As stated by Gaile in a previous interview, Anet is planning on developing a better trading system whether it comes in the form of an auction house or not. Is there any eta as to when development of this will begin, when we can hope to see it implemented, and will it or will it not be a part of a paid expansion?

Secondly, the communities at large and the player base you have devloped have grown an 'expectation' as to weekly updates. Although incorrect on our assumptions, would Anet be able to work to improve its communication between Anet and the communitites, by implementing more news on the GW website? (although you have information daily developer news is more sought after, look at other MMO's websites)

There has been a large outcry from the players, based on community feedback from various forums, about the lack of communication between ArenaNet and the players themselves. Are there any plans to implement an in-game news feature with more detailed information about updates/patches/exploits?

Are there anyplans to introduce scaling difficulty areas that will adjust spawn size , creature levels and loot drops in accordance to the level of the player, and the party size?

Will there be any form of crafting introducrd into guildwars in the future in accordance to the proposed auction facilities in development?

More quest, more quests and more quest, simple ones, there are lots of areas in GW at the present time which although pretty to look at are devoid of anything to do bar kill creatures in a meaningless fashion, are there plans to add quest to these areas, an example would be the Anvil in northern shiverpeaks, very nice area, but nothing to do there but kill, perhaps the dwarves need assistance triming the number of Mino's or eliminating a nest of frost dryders. Will there be more quests similar to these, maybe even repeatable ones for higher level players that reward xp on completion seeing as the creatures often don't?

Is there any chance of a min xp cap being introduced so that if the average player is going back to areas that spawn level 15< creatures after ascention actually receive xp, as if you die in these areas you cannot reduce your death pen no matter how many you kill?

Is the publics reaction to the game Guild Wars what was expected, and has the public reaction forced you to rethink you original game plan, i.e. Is PvE more popular than you expected, which would you say the general public wants more of to substain a growth in guild wars?

Pets pets pets.

1.) What sort of improvements are in the making for pet skills? (Lets face it, beastmasters get the short end of the stick in the long run.) More than likely for PVE.

2.) From what I heard, your pet does not appear with you when you fight your doppleganger, though I have yet to test this, if this is true, will you be looking to fix this, and will the doppleganger have some wierd fiendish dopplepet with him as well?

3.) Will the moss spider ever become tameable?

4.) What are you to do about this rumored untameable pet called the fern lizard?

Will there be new meele classes like rouges or lancers?

Will dwarves, chaar, or mursaat be new playable races in the next expansion packs?

The guild halls seem to be good for nothing besides GvG. Will there be guild minigames or guild celebrations?

If you make large scale battles in gigantic battlefields, like 16vs16 or 32vs 32, will there be any faster way to get to the enemy, like mounts or speed boosts in battle?

Has there ever been any consideration for a universe cross-over between another NCSoft Title and Guild Wars? What I mean is, like a warp in the Rift appears and something comes through, from say, Lineage II or something like that?

The WaW system does not work, what are the plans to fix it ?


Do you still plan to have PvP elements (and vice versa) affecting PvE elements of the game ? The main example is the Favour needed to gain access to certain areas of the game, is this going to be changed at all ?

My first thought when I saw this thread was that question excatly.

I would gladly pay a reasonable amount of money to buy more slots for characters. I have three level 20 PvE characters and leave open one slot for PvP characters (you know, in case at 3 in the morning I happen to come up with some insane idea for a build, it's nice to have the slot). I really want to be able to finally make the Necro I've always wanted to play around with, but I don't want to have to buy a new account and unlock everything all over again just for one or two more characters.

Please?

Also, has anyone there throw around the idea of sharing skill points between characters? One of mine has more than she needs, while another which suffered from a secondary class change needs lots more. I always thought it would be a great way to help get skill points and keep down on the "grind".


Oh! And before I forget will we see the continuation of Gwen's tale?

Is Anet looking into any sort of greifer/afker removal system for groups when your'e out in a mission or quest? And if so, can you tell us anything about it?

Any plans to provide updated PvP "ready-made" toons?

[removed due to already being asked ^^] DQ

Cape Questions:
When will there be toggable capes? Also when will there be toggable helmets?

When can capes not be a requirement for getting a guild hall?

When will guilds with capes have the option of having no cape at all (going from having capes to not having capes)?

When will we get personal capes so we don’t see a ton of one man guilds just so everyone has the cape he wants?

When will we get full length capes?

Will there ever be an alternative to capes?


Non-cape questions:
The female elementalists’ starting armor is one of the best looking in the game, for people that don't have it anymore or would want a more protective version of it will they ever have that option?

When can we see a conclusion to the Gwen quest? Also will any more “unlisted” quests ever be put into the game?

What are Anet’s plans to deal with rushers that are in the Ascalon and Yak’s Bend arenas?

Right now, the cost to get a weapon, shield, or artifact from another player is quite prohibitive and it isn’t easy for a more casual player to get the type of weapon he’s looking for to drop, are there any plans to do something about this? Will there ever be a “weapons” trader for example?

When can we get to see some more character slots as four isn’t enough for everyone?

When will we get the option to preview armors and dyes before buying them/using them?

When are those lazy armor crafters going to start providing the materials themselves? They should be making enough money to do so?

Will there ever be the option of being able to craft armors without the need for killing monsters to get materials?

Can armors have a second area to be colored? For some armors, coloring them doesn’t always stand out with the options we are given.

Instead of collecting/buying dyes and experimenting with them ourselves, could there be a second type of dye trader that works like the guild cape guy? IE you choose what your armor looks like and then you pay him.

Will mixing dyes ever produce a dye with multiple uses? IE I mix blue, green, green, and silver, I should get something that I can use 4 times.

Will duel wielding ever be put in?

Mobs seem to have unlimited energy, will this ever be changed?

In the next expansion/pay expansion will there be more avatar customization options?

When will you make it so that monk primaries can be red heads?

When will you give monks and mesmers some better hairdos?

Can face/hair/hair color options not be limited by class?

When will Devona be seen using a sword ingame like she did in the movie/lore?

Can we get customizable henchmen, maybe one per PC?

Will there be henchmen commands?

Will there be more dance options or an option for a class to use another class’s dance?

EDIT: Will there ever be an auction house or consigner added to the game?

Are we ever going to find out what happens to Gwen ?

Does Anet accept the NPC trader pricing algorithms were changed in the July 13th patch and that they are...

a) broken. In which case can we expect a fix soon

or

b) working as intended. In which case could you explain what was intended because I can see no rational explanation for the way buy and sell prices relate and change over time.

are there gonna be new races implented in the next chapter (like dwarves or mursaat) they could be implented easy atleast the mursaat they come from another world who knws what happens there

Can we get skill bar macros (Maybe 4 slots just like the weapon macros but for alternate skill layouts)

Can we get a "vote to boot" option to kick a griefer team mate?

Will you ever balance Nature's Renewal so it doesn't make Hydromancy an entirely useless skill line, along with any other hex/enchantment based build?

Assuming Guild Wars succeeds beyond your and your company's wildest dreams, where do you see the game in five years?

Do you see the faction system as continuing to be a supplement to unlocking through PvE, or do you plan for it to eventually become an alternative?

When the game was in its beta stage you mentioned that due to your streaming technology it would be possible for you to run special events as desired. Are there any plans in the works to do something like that?

Will we ever have more than 4 character slots?

As they are right now, pets definitely have issues. While the beastmaster skillset has some definite strong points, most of those benefits are negated by the Pet AI, which in some ways is even worse than the wetbrained henchman AI. Are there any plans improve pet intelligence so that they're more useful? Such as the often asked-for idea of pet commands("attack at will", "defend me", "follow without attacking", etc)? Also, can we expect to see greater distinctions between different kinds of pets? Say, slightly different AI patterns where one pet type(say, a cat-type pet) is more likely to attack at will, whereas another type(say, a wolf or bird) is more likely to stay near its master and defend. Are these improvements we can look forward to seeing in the near future?

I got a question that has been avoided and never seen in a chat with the makers. Will we ever go above level 20? cause its making me not want to play anymore.

Will Guild Capes be made toggleable?

Does Anet/NCSoft perceive GW to be mainly a PvP based game?

What role does PvE play in GW's future?