State of the Game Letter

Gaile Gray

Gaile Gray

ArenaNet

Join Date: Feb 2005

Please share your thoughts. We are listening and we want to hear what you have to say.

Damon Windwalker

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jun 2005

The Wandering Gits

I think one of the biggest questions on everyone's mind is - what is the direction to which the game is heading?

PvPers seem upset that their needs aren't being met (Not a PvPer - so I don't know...). PvEers (like myself) tend to see that the majority of changes being made seem to be geared toward (or because of) PvP play, and feel ignored (as well as negatively impacted). So where is the focus? If balance between the 2 is the focus, do you ever think it can realistically eb accomplished, considering the difference in goals, priorities, and needs?

Gedscho

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2005

the Zen Men

Mo/W

hmmm. i am through with the storyline, and still training for pvp.
somehow i am bit bored by this great game. i know, i could go pvp and feel the fun again, but i know i am not ready.
some sort of areas that help my pvp training would be fun. yes, against the ai.

i am glad the euro lags got that much better.

euro favour is still a problem, because i am not tomb ready

still: GREAT game.

DAMN i am the second one to reply... there goes my 15minutes-of-fame

MSecorsky

MSecorsky

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

So Cal

The Sinister Vanguard

Me/

Looks to me like a significant number of ... issues ... that people have been voicing are being addressed in the near future.

Thanks Gaile, kudos to all.

Can I have a Gold cookie of Fortitude?

bobrath

bobrath

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2005

Texas

Scouts of Tyria

Its still trying to figure out what it is. Lots of folks aren't sure if a strategy is a balance issue or will be defeated by the next FOTM. Definite concern over what a new to GW player's experience is and how it differs from those that came in at release and those that have been in since Alpha/Beta.

Anticipation for the big summer update, but also more anticipation for the mini updates that seem to fix jsut enough to make us want more, but not enough to make us happy... course when are we ever happy?

BurningPants

BurningPants

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jul 2005

That Other Guild [Tog]

EDIT: Whoops didn't even answer the question.

More guild hall features...for the love of god, more guild hall features please.

Kaylee Ann

Banned

Join Date: May 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaile Gray
Please share your thoughts. We are listening and we want to hear what you have to say.
Read the thread:
"Ask GW Game Designer James Phinney a few questions!"

That is all that needs to be said in this thread....

Teh Azman

Teh Azman

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

I Used Charm Animal On Your [MOM]

Me/R

PvP I've had my share of fun with, and I've been through the PvE part twice. The only thing I'm concerned with at the moment what will happen to the Underworld? It has become a mess considering monks can now solo it and the price of ectoplasm has become completely unrealistic.

nohooiam

nohooiam

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2005

Forsaken Sanctuary

Mo/Me

1. please improve the trading system.

2. please institute a system in which missions can still be finished when party members drop.

3. please balance some skills.

Sarus

Sarus

Ministry of Technology

Join Date: Feb 2005

Washington D.C.

Idiot Savants

Mo/

I have put together thread which attempts to consolidate the communities most pressing concerns into a concise and easy to read format for your reading pleasure. I'm just finishing up my morning update on that thread (should be done in the next 30 minutes and yes I know it's 2 pm in the afternoon eastern time but I was up late last night playing GW hehe).

I think it would be great if the state of the game letter addressed some of the issues brought up in the thread both PvP and PvE oriented.

Without further ado here is the thread

--> http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=41469

Oh hmm .. I didn't even notice the state of the game letter was already up. I guess the fact that observor mode is still alive is nice. I would have liked to see more mentioning guild management/features as I truly feel that's an incredibly important part of the game (being that it's called Guild Wars and all).

Arthur Eld

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jun 2005

The Heathenreel

Me/E

I would like to see Guild Halls be more than...nothing. My guildmates and I busted our butts for an entire weekend straight to get enough money for a sigil, and now that we have the hall...that's just about it. Sure, we can do GvG, but I'd like to see implementation of things in the hall to give you a reason to visit it. NPC's, trophies, decorations, player housing...obviously you can't just slap that stuff in, but guild halls just seem worthless at this point of time. Thanks for listening!

Porkchop Sandwhiches

Porkchop Sandwhiches

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2005

Fishing Village in Wizard's Folly

R/

The state of the game?

I know it may seem like this is an odd thing to say from the forums, but I think it's fine. You guys definatly are far more hands on with the games players than any other game I have seen and played (ahem, the EverQuests) and I think you actually listen to what we have to say. I enjoy a mix of both PvP and PvE, which is what this game is. I've been playing since a week after lauch and haven't stopped yet.

But, that's just me

EF2NYD

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2005

Need a weapons upgrade trader maybe

Drakron

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

http://www.guildwars.com/news/gameupdates.html

State of the Game – 4 August 2005

And since I rather not recive another warning I keep my thoughts to myself.

Dan Mega

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2005

Chicago

R/N

Leave Nature's Renewal alone. Just because some people aren't good enough at the game to beat it doesn't mean it needs to be nerfed.

Charrbane

Charrbane

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2005

Canada

W/E

I sure wish there was some kind of auction house / bazaar dealie.

Porkchop Sandwhiches

Porkchop Sandwhiches

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2005

Fishing Village in Wizard's Folly

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Drakron
http://www.guildwars.com/news/gameupdates.html

State of the Game – 4 August 2005

And since I rather not recive another warning I keep my thoughts to myself.
Blah a link to that before I yapped on would have been helpful.

BrandonIT

BrandonIT

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

Dallas, TX

Tribal Instincts

R/E

First off, before I start, I think you guys and gals are doing a great job with Guild Wars and I'm very pleased. You deserve credit for what you've accomplished so far, and from the letter, what you plan to do. Now, with the kudos out of the way, on to the gripes.

I'm glad to see Observer Mode getting officially acknowledged again as on the way, but we need a way to practice our skills in intra-guild or organized small pick-up battles.

I'm afraid that Observer Mode is going to be like watching American football on television. It's a lot of fun, but without some play-by-play announcing or replay ability, it does little to help for actual 'improving' or 'studying', analyzing strategies, etc.

Personally, I don't enjoy PvP in random PUG's in Shiverpeak or Ascalon because every match is a different group of people with different experience levels. This makes it difficult to actually 'learn' because each match is so completely different. Some are relative new to the entire PvP system, some come in ready to call targets and organize rez order and interrupts.

It's very frustrating to me trying to learn the concepts and strategies of PvP, which can differ drastically from their PvE equivalents, in such a random and chaotic environment.

(Don't even ask me to start on Droknar's armor and Elites in the Ascalon Arena however.)

It would be great to see our Guild Halls be used as practice areas for intra-guild matches. It would be greater to allow for spectators inside the Halls to watch this combat right in front of them, and thus be able to comment and coach. I'd like to be able to practice my PvP "non-skillz" with a chosen group of people in a place where we can actually study and learn, and be taught. The Guild Halls are great meeting places but could be so much more.

Observer mode is a great start. I hope it gets even better. Keep up the good work!

Sagius Truthbarron

Sagius Truthbarron

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

Animal Factory [ZoO]

A/

I can't wait untill Observer mode. ^^

I think it's right of him to encourage monthly PvP themes rather than to tear them down. I think it's a good idea what hes talking about in that instance.

Sunrazor

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2005

I’d played this game every day since it came out. I’m mostly a PVE person. Off-hand, I feel that the biggest problem that the game has is the difficulty in getting into PVP, more on that shortly.

I now have 95% of my elite skills unlocked, and 90% of my total skills unlocked. I have got to say, I find going out and tracking down elites to be one of the most fun things to do in the game (provided that the boss spawns – when the boss doesn’t spawn, to have spent over an hour trudging through a high level area to no effect is really annoying). For me, my roadblock now is that I need skill points in order to gain more skills. That means that I have to go farming or into the Underworld/Fissure to get experience. I’d love to be able to take henchmen into the Underworld or Fissure, but that’s currently not really possible. So, given the difficulty in finding a decent PUG and the fact that they can’t be entered at all times, I end up doing a lot of farming. Mostly troll farming northwest of Droknar’s Forge. I don’t like being forced to farm in order to get skill points. On the other hand, it has led to me getting enough gold to buy five complete sets of 15k armor with full runes. I personally don’t find it to be grind to be unlocking skills, but I do find it to be grind to be unlocking skill points.

Suggestion: do away with skill points and raise the gold cost of buying skills, make it possible to buy skill points, give skill points for completing the bonus missions, add quests that give skill points, increase the number of skill points gained on leveling up after 20 (so when you loop past 20 the first time you get two skill points, you get three the next time you loop around, etc), or otherwise make it easier to get skill points.


At this point, I have almost all my skills, weapon upgrades, runes, etc unlocked at fairly high levels. But getting into PVP other than Random Arena is still a problem. I’m not a member of a PVP oriented guild, and so I’m not getting any help there. Since about 60% of my interest is PVE and I have friends in my Guild, leaving it is not an option. But I want to go for Hall of Heroes, without spending 30-45 minutes trying to join a group or waiting for everyone in the group to decide that they’re ready. That’s my biggest frustration right now: I want to do PVP, not spend a half an hour waiting for the group to get whatever the leader considers a perfect mix.

Suggestion: Allow for somewhat random teaming in HoH to go against the organized teams. Yes, I realize that they’d be less competitive, but they’d also be a quick and easy way to get in and start fighting. Set things up so that players who try to join get put in a queue. The first six non-monks and the first two monks in the queue get thrown on a team together and get sent in the direction of HoH. At worst, it’s free faction for organized teams, and no worse than the average random pick-up group – and a lot less frustrating to join.


I know that a lot of serious PVP players are complaining that they have to do PVE to get skills. My thought is that while faction rewards should become a bit cheaper, that making it really easy to get skills and items through PVP is a kick in the face to PVE people who’ve spent in some cases hundreds of hours getting the skills and items that they’re looking for.

Suggestion: Update the character templates on a weekly basis. Every week, lose the three or four least used templates, replace them with archetypical examples of builds seeing common use in HoH. Allow the Minor version of the runes that they use in those builds and 75% strength versions of the weapon upgrades used to be available in the same way that the skills are available. That way it’ll be easier to pick up the game and start playing competitively in PVP out of the box, but it won’t make PVE completely irrelevant to PVP.



A lot on the economy from me soon.

SOT

SOT

Banned

Join Date: May 2005

East Texas

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sagius Truthbarron
Galie Gray is a spammer ;p
She works at Arenanet you dolt

Personally the only thing I do not see that I would like to see is larger party otions for instanced zones in quest and mission moments.

4 robot npcs on the Althea's Ashes quest is kinda...moot

Sagius Truthbarron

Sagius Truthbarron

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

Animal Factory [ZoO]

A/

Quote:
Originally Posted by SOT
She works at Arenanet you dolt

Personally the only thing I do not see that I would like to see is larger party otions for instanced zones in quest and mission moments.

4 robot npcs on the Althea's Ashes quest is kinda...moot
Shese talking about the State of the Game that was released today, not fansite Friday.

Hookecho

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

The Red States

The Runners Academy

W/Mo

My concern is that in your efforts to curb the Bots, you will end up driving honest players away. Not all of us are into the PvP thing. But as things stand right now, with the nerfs (and yes....you keep saying that the drops have not changed....but we play the game everyday.....we can see that it has) to drops and the Economy that bacially supports high $$ guilds that got in and made a ton of money early, before all the nerfs, that they are now for the most part controling the entire trading economy.....I thought the goal was to "Eliminate" the grind......but so far with the state the game is in...the grind is trippled....because drops have gone belly up. I made 6 UW runs last night.....other than a lot of Demonic remains and gold.....I got.....wait for it.....1 15-22 flambrege, 1 blue 16-33 Rams hammer (colored blue with no extras.....just blue)....and a few items that I would expect to drop outside the gate at Ascalon City. Yes something is wrong....even if you wont see or admit it.

And before I get flamed for not "playing the Game"...I have, I'm on my 2nd account because I wanted a primary in each skill group. I have encourgaed others to get GW, even my old Flight sim buddies, I have a guildie that has his 2 kids gaming with him. There is nothing like hearing the glee of a 9 year old when she drop that metorshower at the perfect time.....she just bubbles happiness on Vent.....nothing beats that.

For those of us that just want to go out and beat the heck out of a mob or do other stuff in the PvE side....the game that we fell for 2 months ago (or more for many) is slowly....drip....drip.....being siponed away from us, leaving not a heck of a lot to keep us here and excited about the future of the series.

I have no desire to get into the PvP side....really. If I feel the need to put my skills and knowledge up against someone, I strap on my P51D, log on to Hyperlobby and get in the air playing the IL2 series. Everyone plays the game to suit them....but when they ar prevented from even trying to think outside the box.....and every time they do....it gets nerfed? People go find something else to do.

So in summary, right now the Haves keep having, the Have Nots....are never going to get there or they will go Ebay, really....thats the way the game is heading.

Of course, thats just my opinion.....your mileage may vary.

Diomedes

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2005

Blue Island (think Chicago)

Me/N

Quote:
With this in mind, we have been testing a variety of playbalance adjustments internally for some weeks now.
****
In other words, you will be able to get Faction, XP and rare items more quickly.
Sounds like everything I want is being considered. Thank you for posting the state of the game letter. It's great to hear what ANet is thinking.

-Diomedes

SOT

SOT

Banned

Join Date: May 2005

East Texas

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sagius Truthbarron
Shese talking about the State of the Game that was released today, not fansite Friday.
Neither am I

ImBobNewbie

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

TX

[NES] Nintendo Powered

E/Mo

As with most players who were done with the rp aspect of the game a while ago, I jumped into pvp. Although it is interesting, I find it ridiculous that it usually takes 30 - 60 minutes to put together a decent / organized team for Tomb or GvG. I have never had to spend so much time idling and waiting for action in any other game.

Solution: Adding character slots could feasibly reduce the waiting time. Logically, if people have more slots (esp. for pvp), they will be more likely to have or be able to create a character which complements the build that is being used.

asdar

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

Well, I don't think this thread has any real direction so I'm going to throw something specific out there. If you haven't read Sarus Thread please do. That's got specific's and it's well moderated even though I don't agree with all he's said.

Instead of saying what random thing you want or insults say what you have an issue with. Not what could be better but what's so bad that it'll make you quit type of thing.

For me the two issues I have are:

1. Nature's renewal ruins the Tombs play. You cannot make it go away except by using the same strategy. There's never been a strategy that is as dominant in the Tombs except for the Monk Balthazar's strat that got nerfed to a reasonable level. Spikers/smiters/necro pets/conditions and even all the way back to War/Mo's all had counters to them within any build but not NR. Even without it affecting hex's it would be too strong, any ranger with no skill other than NR and Oath shot can come into the Tombs and you have to play their game to win and that's a no enchantment, no hex based style of play. The games too simplistic as it is without stripping two of the biggest skill lines out of HoH play.

2. The lack of challenging content in PvE. I hesitate to add this because they do have free content coming this month. I think even a casual player that bought the game when it came out could easily have completed every mission and quest with his first character. I'm somewhere in between hard core and casual and I've completed three. UW and fissure are great but they're dependent on favor and there's only two of them. More missions would be nice, but for me at least I hope they have some recurring content like UW/FoW.

Red Sonya

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2005

I think the game is going in the right direction Gaile, I'm enjoying it so far for the most part, but, of course there is always room for improvement. Some suggestions might be to randomize more things in the zones like placements of chests so they aren't in the same spot everytime. Maybe even randomize mobs and have more traveling mobs that overlap other mob groups for more "surprise encounters". I think more "surprises" when playing the PVE game brings about more excitment and challenge to the game. Have more things like those Shadows that come up out of the ground. I'd even like to see something like my entire group finding itself incircled by a horde of mobs that come up out of the ground or through the walls.

My really only complaint is the Droknar's runs that just about everyone is doing now (because many have to to be competitive in the lower level arenas.) Running in general I don't have a problem with how people want to play the PVE portion of the game, would like to see more balance brought to the Ascalon and Yaks Bend arenas though. Requiring that a player be Ascended to enter Lornar's Pass would most likely quicken the pace at which lower level arenas would become more balanced again, although high level and elite skills would be the next issue there.

I wouldn't be so much against it, but, for the statements "let people play how they want to play", but, understand when people are allowed to bypass the content of the game to get to the higher level content and higher level skills and elite skills, then they are pratically "forcing" everyone else to follow "their" path to be "competitive" against them. Is this the correct way it should be? Seems like there was even something in the EULA concerning the DISRUPTION of the FUN of OTHER PLAYERS". I clearly see these runs that bring high level gear/skills into lower level arenas as a "disruption to the fun of other players".

Definitely need some automated Trading system. I grew accustom to the auction machine in Star Wars Galaxies and coming back to the stone age of trading goods by mouth is kinda hard to get into anymore. It's just chaotic trying to sell goods on the trade channels of districts 1 and 2 in Ascalon where the majority appear to be selling and heh I'm not even sure there's an abundance of buyers on these two districts from all the spam selling.

Now I'm a big fan of trying to do most everything with "henchies". I think I recently read that henchies are no longer allowed in UW/FOW. I don't know the reason for this, (because of bots?), but, I would greatly appreciate being able to goto those areas with a henchie group, I'd even pay the full price for admission. I've been able to do missions with henchies that others say are impossible and that is my challenge from the game I enjoy. Just like in PVP, it takes "strategy & tactics" to complete a mission or a zone with "henchies" and I've found I can do very well, (long time strategy and tactics games player since the days of Avalon Hill and SPI.)

One of my biggest suggestions and I think would make people happy and certainly bring more PVE players to the PVP world is allowing the trading of faction points for gold, what do you think about this?

Oh Oh Oh, Would like to see a "weaponsmith merchant" in the PVP areas so one can customize weapons that the PVE players give to their PVP characters. For that extra 20% dmg bonus.

My overall opinion is that the state of the game is and will get better over time. Nothing is perfect out of the box and I didn't expect that, but, I must say I like your style of talking to the community and at least listening, though I don't expect you to implement "everyones" needs or wants, I'm sure you will come up with the best solutions for the community as a "whole" and not just individualistic minded.

Sarus

Sarus

Ministry of Technology

Join Date: Feb 2005

Washington D.C.

Idiot Savants

Mo/

Quote:
If you haven't read Sarus Thread please do. That's got specific's and it's well moderated even though I don't agree with all he's said.
I don't necessarily agree with it all either It's supposed to be a consolidation of the communities ideas not just my own grand diabolical scheme to turn GW into a flight simulator.

Of course I'll admit that there are certain "community" ideas that I'm not putting in there because they are

A) Ridiculous
or
B) Have not been thought out well at all.

Quote:
I wouldn't be so much against it, but, for the statements "let people play how they want to play", but, understand when people are allowed to bypass the content of the game to get to the higher level content and higher level skills and elite skills, then they are pratically "forcing" everyone else to follow "their" path to be "competitive" against them. Is this the correct way it should be?
How does getting run to Droknar's force you to do the same? The only valid argument I can think of is that people use their droknars armor in the low level arenas. This is more of problem with the low level arenas than a problem with droknar runners. If anything you should be allowed to wear armor that is only available prior to yaks bend in the lower level arenas. It's as simple as that. I really think it's neat that all these "taxi" services have sprung up and that they provide nice way for people to make money and for players to interact.

Kishin

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

The Twilight Vanguard [TTV]

R/

I don't see how a repetititon of stuff already said consolidated into a 'letter' got to be delayed as long as it did.

I didn't really garner anything from reading that at all.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Linkie
That's basically short for what the letter said.
Quoted for truth.

I'll wait and see how what's been talked about plays out, but the letter itself was really not informative in the slightest.

Tactical-Dillusions

Tactical-Dillusions

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

Grimsby, UK

R/

Firstly Gaile, read the email i sent which was intended for you and your colleagues at [email protected] (did you get it? )
__________________________________________________ _____

Secondly, a few suggestions which i and many others would like.

Auction system.
Player housing...something to aim for and a gold sink.
Storage expansion.
Guild hall upgrades.
Mining, crafting etc - something to do - replayability.
Skill points shared accross all character slots - PLEASE! It's done with fame, rank, faction (all pvp!!) and shared skill points being denied is another kick in the teeth for PvE players IMO.
I want to be able to get skill points with my farmer and buy the skills with my new character as soon as i see them at the trainer...not have to grind him up.

Let us kill those horrible whiptails with meteor shower...just don't let advanced skills into junior arenas (?). I have millions of skill points yet unlocking the skills for my elementalist wouldn't really be unlocking them would it? I would have to GRIND the character through the tragically linear path AGAIN, even after already buying them with another character.
__________________________________________________ _____

Thirdly...state of the game.

It's great when you play it first time round but the second time it gets tedious...not to mention the third and fourth time.
People are bored...there's no replayability.

The nerfing is seriously p*****g people off. My friend told me today that he is leaving because of it. I don't know why i even tried talking him into staying...maybe because he's the only friend i've got who hasn't been offline for two months.
You say farming is OK, but your actions speak louder than words. If you think "Featherfist drops a rare scroll of beserkers insight" is some sort of prize....[insert flame here].
Seriously Gaile...don't be afraid to add some fun into guild wars PvE. You folks at ArenaNet are acting like you have no ideas left...expand your staff and kick out some awesome expansions or something.
Stop the nerfing...**** ebay and stop being so paranoid. The bots will evolve, you can't beat them (obviously).
Instead, concentrate on returning the fun...before you lose more players.

Give us the drops and watch the prices crumble. Do you really think people would buy from a scumbag on Ebay if they knew they could get X weapon from John Doe ingame for 1000 "pretend" gold?

The economy is all whacked but i remember when dye could be bought from the trader at a reasonable price and runes were actually something worth salvaging from the armour.
Now it's not even worth salvaging. I would rather use my expert salvage kit on something useful.



I remember Primal Rage on the Sega...that was fun. I also remember when Guild Wars was fun....they were the days.

cynhounds

cynhounds

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

Sweet Hillsides

Dragons Family (DF)

R/Mo

I have no experience playing online games; Guild Wars was a first for me. My husband installed it on my computer (he'd disappeared into the office about a month before when it was released, I could barely pry him out while he was playing GW), and told me to try it.

I did. And I love it, I am totally hooked. The only quibble I have is that I really wish I had somewhere besides those precious storage slots to put my armor sets. I hate throwing good stuff like that away.

The graphics are beautiful, I never thought I would be so into killing dwarves, and I can't wait for the update.

Orochim4ru

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2005

mustache riders

I'm very excited about the accelerated XP and rare drops. I believe its the only feasible way to discourage botting. If no one needs to get 100plat, then no one will buy it off ebay. Observer mode is another such benefit that i would be very happy with.

I was not all that thrilled by the lack of a dev reply to the NR problem, but that's the only thing i wasn't enthused by. For everything else, i feel the letter covers where the game should be headed.

Divinitys Creature

Divinitys Creature

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2005

Somewhere between the Real World and Tyria ;P

The Gothic Embrace [Goth]

*PHEW* well now we have the state of the game letter we can breathe a sigh of relief we know what's in the works now.

Ascended content - accelerated xp quests new mobs, items.
This sound like it really could help PvEers gain skills faster and enjoy themselves more. Hopefully it will be challenging enough to keep them occupied. Also the XP quests could give PvPers who like to PvE sometime another option to gather skill points with.

Faction, xp and rares increase
This sounds good for the same reason as above. Hopefully this time the faction fix will be significant and high enough to make it possible to unlock all skills in a reasonable time (100 hours for all skills - reasons given in suggestions thread).

Gaile, please make sure personally that they make this fix to faction just right so we don't need to ask for it to be fixed again. If they are in doubt, please ask them to err on the side of too much faction rather than too little.

Play balance adjustments - PvP maps fixing, GvG stagnation
Now this is another important area. James seemed to understand the problems we are facing with the current cliche builds, I just hope he knows about it in enough detail from the forums in order to fix things right. Ask us directly if there is a specific point you want more input on. Fixing the PvP maps...YAY! We really needed that because the camping for an hour in Tombs is not fun and neither is the design of HOH - suggests have already been made on that. Fixing GvG stagnation and publishing a schedule - helps us decide whether we want to stay in the game and then to plan out our time - sounds like a good move.

Observer Mode
Good idea making it for Tombs and GvG. Perhaps an option to not participate if you don't want your build stolen. Actually this is really important, especially at high level PvP. I am all for the sharing of builds to enhance PvP for everyone but making top level builds is very hard indeed. So either an option to opt out, or selected clips of the action - to give you at least some time to enjoy a new found elite build


There were some things James did not detail.

Trading System
Now I know Gaile mentioned a trading system before but we haven't had any specific details on this. Hopefully this will come soon also as the unsettled economy is causing distress to the PvEers.

Specific Nerfs
Hopefully Nature's Renewal will be nerfed and fertile seasons. James did mention the spirit spamming and other cliche builds. I hope this is done well, fingers crossed. Also bot banning and control must be done in a way that doesn't make it hard for players to collect items so they can eventually afford things like fissure armor without resorting to buying gold off Ebay. The letter implied this is the intention.

Overall I think this is a good letter, in the way the letter before the faction patch was a good letter - we know what is going to happen, and that something is *actually going to happen*.

Whatever I said is just the impression I get from reading the letter. We don't know many specifics as to how they plan to make GvG more active and when these changes are going to take place. Also I have to agree with quite a few of Tactical Dillusions points, specifically the skill point sharing, guild hall improvements and making PvE more replayable.


www.guildkarma.com
NOW RECRUITING
PvP rewards wrong (need increase) by a factor of 16+ or 8+ since patch
WTB: 450 SKILL POINTS/ 9 MILLION EXP AND A WAY TO GET 1 MILLION GP | OR 630,000 FACTION

Borealis

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2005

Black Rose Gaming

Mo/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tactical-Dillusions
Firstly Gaile, read the email i sent which was intended for you and your colleagues at [email protected] (did you get it? )
__________________________________________________ _____

Secondly, a few suggestions which i and many others would like.

Auction system.
Player housing...something to aim for and a gold sink.
Storage expansion.
Guild hall upgrades.
Mining, crafting etc - something to do - replayability.
Skill points shared accross all character slots - PLEASE! It's done with fame, rank, faction (all pvp!!) and shared skill points being denied is another kick in the teeth for PvE players IMO.
I want to be able to get skill points with my farmer and buy the skills with my new character as soon as i see them at the trainer...not have to grind him up.

Let us kill those horrible whiptails with meteor shower...just don't let advanced skills into junior arenas (?). I have millions of skill points yet unlocking the skills for my elementalist wouldn't really be unlocking them would it? I would have to GRIND the character through the tragically linear path AGAIN, even after already buying them with another character.
__________________________________________________ _____

Thirdly...state of the game.

It's great when you play it first time round but the second time it gets tedious...not to mention the third and fourth time.
People are bored...there's no replayability.

The nerfing is seriously p*****g people off. My friend told me today that he is leaving because of it. I don't know why i even tried talking him into staying...maybe because he's the only friend i've got who hasn't been offline for two months.
You say farming is OK, but your actions speak louder than words. If you think "Featherfist drops a rare scroll of beserkers insight" is some sort of prize....[insert flame here].
Seriously Gaile...don't be afraid to add some fun into guild wars PvE. You folks at ArenaNet are acting like you have no ideas left...expand your staff and kick out some awesome expansions or something.
Stop the nerfing...**** ebay and stop being so paranoid. The bots will evolve, you can't beat them (obviously).
Instead, concentrate on returning the fun...before you lose more players.

Give us the drops and watch the prices crumble. Do you really think people would buy from a scumbag on Ebay if they knew they could get X weapon from John Doe ingame for 1000 "pretend" gold?

The economy is all whacked but i remember when dye could be bought from the trader at a reasonable price and runes were actually something worth salvaging from the armour.
Now it's not even worth salvaging. I would rather use my expert salvage kit on something useful.



I remember Primal Rage on the Sega...that was fun. I also remember when Guild Wars was fun....they were the days.
QFT....every....single....word

Red Locust

Red Locust

Site Contributor

Join Date: May 2005

It all sounds great, provided they deliver what was promised in that letter. We'll have to wait and see, I suppose. It's looking good, though.

Algren Cole

Algren Cole

Banned

Join Date: Jun 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tactical-Dillusions

The economy is all whacked but i remember when dye could be bought from the trader at a reasonable price and runes were actually something worth salvaging from the armour.
Now it's not even worth salvaging. I would rather use my expert salvage kit on something useful.
rofl...this is a great point....I hope someone other than myself reads this!



I'd just like to point out that minor runes sell to the trader for 25 gold....salvaging it out of the armor costs you 16 gold....you make a whopping 9 gold off a minor rune. This definately needs to be fixed...that's completely asinine.

Dax

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

As far as the state of the game is concerned I've almost stopped playing completely. As I see it the game has no real RPG value. Players are too concerned with rushing through the game to get the best gear, PvP and making lots of gold. There is no real economy or role playing. If I were to make suggestions for myself they would be:

1. Make an effort to close all the exploits (including low level people getting rushed)
2. Level requirements for Armor & weapons
3. Make a auction house
4. Create a dependancy between players for things other than high end items. Perhaps making farmers farm raw materials to the folks who don't like to farm by forcing to wear level specific armor.
5. Greater variety of armor styles

Winterclaw

Winterclaw

Wark!!!

Join Date: May 2005

Florida

W/

State of Character Customization
In the terms of skills, character customization is pretty good, meaning that you usually have a fair number of skills to choose from to make them stand out.

Visually though, I'd say character customization is barely passing. Two of the classes, monks and mesmers have horrible options all around when it comes to face/hair. I also don't know how many times I've heard that people can't stand the male warriors faces either. Most classes have a good number of natural hair colors, but if you want something else, your only option is being a necro main or elementalist main. So I guess I'd suggest that face look and hair color not be limited to class.

Armor wise, most classes are okay, but part of me wants to say don't link what your armor looks like to class either or even like the bonuses with the armor. I will say that'd it be nice if the starter female elementalist armor graphics would be used again, which would go in hand with my last point. I also think some of the coloring options are bad. For male ascalon armor, you can only color the shoulder pad. For some armors, you can only color the trim. It'd be nice if there was an A color area for the bulk of the armor and a B color area for trim or extras. It would also be nice if there were a dye preview and an armor preview. Some people spend a lot of money on the 15K armors and feel like they've gotten burned when they see what they are wearing. I got the 1.5K plate chest for my male warrior and scrapped it as soon as I had 1.5K for the wyvern's armor. I've also heard that necro scars and monk tattoos don't always color as they should. It'd be nice if that were corrected.


State of PvE and Economy
Not too many complaints. It'd be nicer if you could get some better and more frequent drops and a little more gold. The item economy is over inflated and while the elite farmers are raking in the gold, the casual people are not. Even worse is if you take henchies, they'll reduce the drops you get. So if you don't have a ton of time to farm and you bring henchmen along, you aren't going to get far. Other than that, PvE is okay for the most part.

For the missions, I'd say the case is a little worse. Some classes tend to get ignored pretty much. People will rarely go into a mission without one and later 2-3 monks. Some missions practically require you to bring a nuker along.

State of PvP
Overall it’s okay. The first concern I have about it is that you need to do quite a lot to unlock a single skill, and that’s if you are good. The bigger problem is with rushers, people with skills and items from the Droknar’s Forge area, in the ascalon and yaks arenas. The only good chance you have of fighting them is if you rush yourself. Now you might have a good weapon from another character and that helps a little, but weapons have skill requirements meaning yes you can do a little damage, but you are pretty much a one trick pony. Anyways, rushers have pretty much kept me from going to the mentioned arenas and you shouldn’t go to the LA arena unless you are level 20.

So PvP is good for everyone with the max level and the best weapons and armor, and not so good for everyone else.

Esprit

Esprit

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

Dvd Forums [DVDF]

E/

Quote:
In coming updates, you should expect a significant increase in the rate of item unlocking and skill acquisition through both PvE and PvP. In other words, you will be able to get Faction, XP and rare items more quickly.
That should stop about 90% of all the complaining that is going on.

I am glad you are going to be addressing these issues in the near future. I just hope that when you implement these changes that the botting problems get dealt with at the same time. It would be no good if bots could attain rare items faster and starve the economy of the nice items.

Thanks for keeping us updated. Your feedback to the community has been outstanding so far.