Guild Wars Update - Nov 10 and Nov 11

calamitykell

Banned

Join Date: Aug 2005

N.Y.C.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Banebow
*snip*
Nicely said. Calm, polite, and suggestive. I give you... a chocolate chip cookie.

calamitykell

Banned

Join Date: Aug 2005

N.Y.C.

Quote:
Originally Posted by id0l
It's "buggered" mesmers (they have AoE you know), possibly necro's (Wells, other skills that target multiple enemies; although I can't confirm as I just started a necro), Rangers (Ignite Arrows, and yes traps are screwed), Water ele AoE, and I think Air Ele might have some AoE skills as well.

It screwed up alot more than you think.
Hmm, I don't think so.

Mesmer AoE skills: Chaos Storm. Yeah, Mesmers are really hit hard by this update.

Necro: I'm unsure how wells are affected myself, so I cannot agree or disagree.

Rangers: I've seen a lot of posts in this thread say Ignite Arrows is not affected. Traps are? That should be fixed. As I understand the wording, they avoid AoE Spells. Cyclone Axe, Traps, Ignite Arrows are not spells.

Water Ele: lol, just about every Water AoE is a cripple/snare. Water Ele's aren't affected by this. What are the monsters going to do? Run from a Deep Freeze? GOOD LUCK, lol

Air Ele: The only Air AoE I know of by memory (never played Air) is Whirlwind. Which is a PBAoE KD (Point-Blank Area of Effect Knockdown.) Are they going to run away while they're knocked down?

So no, it didn't screw up a lot more than I think. I know how some things work.

I will wait for verification on Necro Wells, though.


edit: I'm off to bed. To all those whom agree/disagree with my point of view, have a good night. There's no personal angst on my part <3 (just knee-jerk reactions, heh, sorry )

Adraeus

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

LLJK

R/Mo

Hrm, I discontinued playing Guild Wars slightly before the guild of 100 or so members that I was in moved to another game, due to boredom. There are many other former players who quit Guild Wars for similar reasons. What ArenaNet seems to be doing is trying to entice formers players to return and to keep players playing. I'm all for that since I still have Guild Wars installed and ready-to-go, but I don't expect this game to be fun again soon.

Grammar

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Banebow's comments bring up an interesting question:

Do monsters still preemtively flee from one-shot AOEs (like Fireball)?

I know they did when the update was first implemented, but Banebow makes it sound like maybe ANet has scaled that back a bit.

FeuerFrei

FeuerFrei

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2005

In the middle of WWIII

Airreon Grievers[AG]

R/Mo

wow...4 days and 63 pages alr...

Quote:" well, i read gaile's statement..it sounds reasonable to me..but at least it might good to put in some delay before the monster runs off when they are being nuked??? "

Isnt there a delay implemented alr in the Nov 11th update...its about 1 - 2 secs, when they get hit...not very sure

nimloth32

nimloth32

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2005

Celestial Order

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Memphis
Hey if you enjoy playing missions over and over again because another player gets your team killed, you're a damn sight more patient than many of us are.
A great number of PUGS even as far as Thunderhead Keep still haven't gotten to grips with calling targets yet.
I agree with you. Guild Wars gameplay is not easy to adapt to. I know that repeating a mission will eventually get you accustomed to the gameplay. However, for some impatient players, it will kill them because imagine if i spends 2~5 hours repeating thunderhead keep 10 times, i will really get frustrated. Implementation of teamplay is good in this game. However, over stressing it will kill the game. Anet should consider that the players come from all over the world and for those players, communcation is a problem that leads to problem in teamplay. As a result, the leader of the team might not give an instruction to the team member in time when a situation occurs. Hence, increasing monster AI even worsen the situation especially for the noobs. Anet should consider that without new players there are no Guild Wars. Players take time to adapt to gameplay. If a new player has to repeat a mission/quest several times even at presear, he/she will probably quit the game in frustration and hence get a bad impression of it. This will bring negative publicity to the game. I would prefer Guild Wars to be a game that is easily adapt to and fun to play. Call me a noob if you want.

Even there is a delay, it is not yet effective enough for a AoE spell to work yet.

Lugosi

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Mar 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by twicky_kid
this game has a directional goal. when the invisimonk came it destroyed everything they had planned. now they had to focus on fixing a huge problem that many people liked. so do you let it slide and let the problem eventually kill the game before its time or do you fix it and piss some or majority of you players off?
The way I see it at the moment is, that the invisimonk was a major problem because he was a farming build, so farming was the problem.
Why was it a problem? Because it would cause prices to skyrocket.
But why would prices skyrocket? In my opinion because of the introduction of traders who base their stock on the supply from players, who sold their drops to them (runes/dyes/etc).

Now you say that this was needed for a balanced economy, sort of "you can only get out what you put in". But then again, the drops that players get in the explorable areas or missions seem to come out of nowhere too, there wasn't another player who put an armor with a superior rune inside of the chest before you opened it.

What I'm trying to say is: If the traders had sold their items at a fixed price, with an unlimited storage (mabe the one where all the drops come from anyway?) the problem of farmers wouldn't have been such a big problem, especially if each player really has the same chances to get the drops he needs without having to go out farming by himself for an eternity.
"The farmer wants 90k for a superior absorption? Well look, the trader offers it for 10k only, as usual".
or
"The farmer wants 40k for a superior vigor? Over the last two missions 5 out of our 8-man team got one - 40k is ridiculous"
But that's just how I see it, which could of course be wrong.

Quote:
Originally Posted by twicky_kid
i'm happy they took a stand. before now they have been bending to the player's will and now they are trying to get back on track with orginal goal. only the devs know what that is and for us to find out later. one thing i really love is they not only say no they enforce it unlike other games have (D2).
I wouldn't really call the "nerf this" and "nerf that" that was going on before this update "bending to the players". But if, as you wrote, the Invisimonk already was a "problem" three weeks after release, and if, as Gaile wrote, the AI was too stupid from the start, they shouldn't have "danced around the hot pudding" for 7 months. They've been aware of these problems all the time, yet failed to give the player-base any hint that the way they were playing the game was sooner or later to be obsolete by finally addressing some issues.

Quote:
Originally Posted by twicky_kid
play the game and enjoy it. if you don't enjoy it give it a break for a while and come back. if you don't want to come back you can always sell your account for time spent and give someone else a shot at the game.
Trust me, I'm trying to enjoy it.
I'm not directly hit by the update, but a lot of the friends that I play with are. Friends who also don't farm, who just recently started to play, and who (their luck) picked to be the now so infamous fire-elementalist, now more or less stuck somewhere in a later mission because nobody wants them in a party anymore.

Grammar

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

I've got the same question as FeuerFrei.

ANet further tweaked the monster and henchie AI on the 11th after changing it on the 10th.

Anyone know exactly what was tweaked on the 11th?

Aeon_Xin

Banned

Join Date: Nov 2005

E/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by Guardian of the Light
ok I've calmed down from my last post and well I've relized why people are so mad at this update.

Farming was one of the only money makers that each profession had a version of (yes I HAVE seen one for each profession) solo farming. People are mad because something that they have depended on to get gold is now gone .

This may set a chain reaction that may hurt the Guild Wars Community.

Loss of Farming---> Less Money for Runners and increase in difficulty to sell weapons---> Decrease in Chapter 2 Buyers due to members thinking too hard to get gold----> Decrease in Anet Funds---> Sale un-avaible to cover cost of server maintainment cost---> Servers in Guild Wars being shutdown leaving the shutdown of Guild Wars Forever

Sure step 3 and beyond may be a bit exagerated but certainly Step 2 is definitely going to happen.


Anet Plz give us back farming or give us something to get money by.
I think you got it perfect, perfectly backwards.

Economics.
Farming = more money.

More money = less value.(more coins to do same thing)
More money again = lesser value.
Repeat untill you reach present day.

EAsier running, = less challenge = less runners needed(or more runners working, either way) = cheaper travel.
____________
Items.
Items are a diffeerent problem altogether.
Due to advancement in story line, going to ascalon and being with noobs is nearing time travel.
That is one problem the game kinda let slip past.
Maybe split it up a little more like the searing did. Let characters move back and forth, to help level, do missed quests, but only merchant in their current far reaching major town.

The money making on items is people that sell them to people that can't yet get them. If you restrict weapon sales as stated above, why buy it when you can go farm/collector/craft one that you can build yourself for use to get by with untill you find that fancy schmancy gold one.

That would limit weapon buying on ebay quite well, and ensure players advance at a more even speed.

Anyone buying ebay coins would soon find themselves with more money than they could possibly need that early. Like having it presearing.

Fantus

Fantus

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yamat
Ok then, so you obviously have no idea about economics. More money in the system = inflation. People solo-ing high level areas brings more gold into the economy.
And YOUR little mistake is to look exclusively on the money market when making that statement. Which is why I think it's clueless. Hint: There is a goods market in GW, too (actually, more than one). Another hint: Farmers do increase supply with that they do. An increase in supply means that prices are going DOWN and not up.

Some evidence: The Ecto price DOUBLED since Anet was halfway successful in making UW soloing less effective than it was before. The SHARD prices remained almost constant. Funny, isn't it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yamat
If people were in a group, that money is shared, and inflation is slower (since individual buying power increases slower). If many people are solo-ing, individual buying power increases quickly and rapid inflation results.
Nope. Farming drives up the demand side (prices would go up) and increases the SUPPLY side as well (prices would go down). You have to look at BOTH effects to judge in the impact on the economy. The total effect of farming on prices is somewhat neutral, probably. At least economics is way more complicated then your oversimplified post would indicate.

Mimi Miyagi

Mimi Miyagi

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Port Orchard, WA

The Second Foundation: [TSF]

Quote:
Originally Posted by calamitykell
Hmm, I don't think so.

Mesmer AoE skills: Chaos Storm. Yeah, Mesmers are really hit hard by this update.

Necro: I'm unsure how wells are affected myself, so I cannot agree or disagree.

Rangers: I've seen a lot of posts in this thread say Ignite Arrows is not affected. Traps are? That should be fixed. As I understand the wording, they avoid AoE Spells. Cyclone Axe, Traps, Ignite Arrows are not spells.

Water Ele: lol, just about every Water AoE is a cripple/snare. Water Ele's aren't affected by this. What are the monsters going to do? Run from a Deep Freeze? GOOD LUCK, lol

Air Ele: The only Air AoE I know of by memory (never played Air) is Whirlwind. Which is a PBAoE KD (Point-Blank Area of Effect Knockdown.) Are they going to run away while they're knocked down?

So no, it didn't screw up a lot more than I think. I know how some things work.

I will wait for verification on Necro Wells, though.


edit: I'm off to bed. To all those whom agree/disagree with my point of view, have a good night. There's no personal angst on my part <3 (just knee-jerk reactions, heh, sorry )
It's not *just* specific skills being nerfed that have caused problems. The game is designed for elementalists to do the heavy damage that warriors and rangers can't generate on their own. Once you bork a major part of the gameplay by neutering an entire skill line, then the whole thing is whacked.

In that wonderful aspect of "balance" that everyone keeps harping about, ANet just unbalanced it in hopes of screwing over the solo farmers. Ummm...good job?

nimloth32

nimloth32

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2005

Celestial Order

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adraeus
Hrm, I discontinued playing Guild Wars slightly before the guild of 100 or so members that I was in moved to another game, due to boredom. There are many other former players who quit Guild Wars for similar reasons. What ArenaNet seems to be doing is trying to entice formers players to return and to keep players playing. I'm all for that since I still have Guild Wars installed and ready-to-go, but I don't expect this game to be fun again soon.
I think nerfing is not a good way to get the old players back. Increased content is one of good alternative like number of maps. If you nerf, you might not get the old players and has a higher risk to lose more players PERMANENTLY. sorry for double post.

Lugosi

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Mar 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yamat
Ok, I'll start with the economy. It's messed up. Big time. And the game has only been out for 6 months. Why? Because of the Invinci-monk and solo-ing. The fact that it's messed up isn't something players need to complain about. ANet watch and can see it.
Ok, while you typed this I already wrote something else, stating my point of view on the economy-problems.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yamat
Because solo-ing is so rampant, bots have hit hard. Another thing ANet is watching.

Lastly, AI. Everyone has complained about henchie AI from day 1. Many people have said the PvE game is too easy. Since I'm sure henchies and monsters are using the same AI engine/rules, an increase in the AI for one crosses over to the other. The result is that henchies finally get out of AoE, and so do the monsters. Gaile hints at other AI fixes coming, and I'm pleased to hear it. Maybe next Alesia will remember she's a healing monk.
Which makes me wonder if there is really no way for ANet to implement a routine that checks if some bot-program is playing the game or actually a real player with his mouse and his keyboard.

The henchmen...yes, I wrote something about how they need to "adapt" earlier, talking about the Ele-henchman and the Mesmer.
I also stated in an earlier post how in my opinion the complaints about the game being "too easy" more than likely came up.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yamat
People hate change. Always have, always will, even if ultimately they will benefit from it.
...which I still have to see with the recent changes.

nimloth32

nimloth32

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2005

Celestial Order

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Grammar
I've got the same question as FeuerFrei.

ANet further tweaked the monster and henchie AI on the 11th after changing it on the 10th.

Anyone know exactly what was tweaked on the 11th?
There is suppose to a delay in the time monster running off and when a spell is casted.

Aeon_Xin

Banned

Join Date: Nov 2005

E/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mimi Miyagi
It's not *just* specific skills being nerfed that have caused problems. The game is designed for elementalists to do the heavy damage that warriors and rangers can't generate on their own. Once you bork a major part of the gameplay by neutering an entire skill line, then the whole thing is whacked.

In that wonderful aspect of "balance" that everyone keeps harping about, ANet just unbalanced it in hopes of screwing over the solo farmers. Ummm...good job?
There are a plethora of ways to play, not just tank, aoe damage, and healer.
That's early mmorpg teamwork, and GW wants to push the envelope, and stray away from that.

I'm not saying that aoe's shouldn't work, or that this patch was good.
Just saying that GW realized, maybe too late, that it made a game that already existed in ways of fighting, and wants to reverse that so that it's not the same as 20 other games out there, everyone taking the decoy/damage/healer road.

Phoenix Ex

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

Mo/R

Well...what I have observed so far after this update is that groups are even less creative than before. Now instead of "2 warriors, 2 nuker, 2 monks and TWO MORE", it is now "2 warriors, 2 monks and the rest are all damage classes", I don't even see battery necros as much any more as they all switch to minion master or "echo spiteful spirit". I don't see an increase in Earth/Water/Air ele and see a decrease in the ele population in general. Forcing people to change all of a sudden after over 4 months after release obviously ain't going to please alot of people since they spend time creating their characters, especially considering the high number of casual players in this game that don't play alot.

With this update some people are happy, but it also pissed off the players with little time, the hardcore players who spent alot of time to get expensive gears, players who like to watch "firework", alot of henchie users, and lastly farmers. While I don't mind more dynamic AI, they shouldn't have implemented it so late in the game that it screws up the economy (ecto is 16k+ now) and invalidates so many people's time spent on getting gears, skills, and runes.

id0l

id0l

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jul 2005

Austin, Texas, ya'll.

A/D

Quote:
Originally Posted by calamitykell
Hmm, I don't think so.
Mesmer AoE skills: Chaos Storm. Yeah, Mesmers are really hit hard by this update.
How about Chaos Storm, Energy Surge, Panic, Shatter Hex, Signet of Weariness, and Cry of Frustration.

Quote:
Originally Posted by calamitykell
Rangers: I've seen a lot of posts in this thread say Ignite Arrows is not affected. Traps are? That should be fixed. As I understand the wording, they avoid AoE Spells. Cyclone Axe, Traps, Ignite Arrows are not spells.
Ignite arrows sure was affected, but I don't know if the little "fix" yesterday corrected that or not.

Quote:
Originally Posted by calamitykell
Water Ele: lol, just about every Water AoE is a cripple/snare. Water Ele's aren't affected by this. What are the monsters going to do? Run from a Deep Freeze? GOOD LUCK, lol

Air Ele: The only Air AoE I know of by memory (never played Air) is Whirlwind. Which is a PBAoE KD (Point-Blank Area of Effect Knockdown.) Are they going to run away while they're knocked down?
Air: Chain Lightning, Lightning Touch, Thunderclap, and Whirlwind.
Earth: Aftershock, Crystal Wave, Earthquake, Eruption, and Grasping Earth.
Water: Deep Freeze, Frozen Burst, and Maelstrom.
Fire: I think you can figure these out.

Regardless if they are slowed or knocked down, it is still AoE and enemies still run like pansies.

Quote:
Originally Posted by calamitykell
So no, it didn't screw up a lot more than I think.
You sure about that now?

I even left out most of the AoE that doesn't inflict direct damage (don't know if these are affected either). Also, some of these I listed may have already been fixed/tweaked so that mobs don't run like pansies from them, but I can't test most of them myself.

Antc

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Nov 2005

NorthWest Gamers Organisation

W/Mo

Gaile says monsters should have more brains....thats fair enough, but if they're gonna have more brains why do they need 9+ levels and up to 3 times the hit damage as human players?
And i'm so sick of reading posts that say ' if a firestorm was cast on you, would you stand in it?' - the answer to that is YES!! if i'm attacking a monk or an ele in PvP/GvG, providing its not knocking me down i'm gonna kill that person before i have any intention of moving - i can self heal my warrior to an extent, and my monks can top it up, theres no way a firestorm (even one at 18 fire hitting me for 3o+ points each hit) is gonna make me run away unless i'm almost dead!!

Mimi Miyagi

Mimi Miyagi

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Port Orchard, WA

The Second Foundation: [TSF]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aeon_Xin
There are a plethora of ways to play, not just tank, aoe damage, and healer.
That's early mmorpg teamwork, and GW wants to push the envelope, and stray away from that.

I'm not saying that aoe's shouldn't work, or that this patch was good.
Just saying that GW realized, maybe too late, that it made a game that already existed in ways of fighting, and wants to reverse that so that it's not the same as 20 other games out there, everyone taking the decoy/damage/healer road.
Has nothing to do with what I wrote. Game was "balanced" with the status quo - ANet nerfs an entire line of skills rendering them useless, game is no longer "balanced".

If they want to push the envelope, don't create a game with spells called "fireball", professions called "warriors" and clothing called "armor". Go play Anarcy Online, or something.

Phoenix Ex

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

Mo/R

Ya...quite a bit of AOE spells other than all the commonly used ones are affected, even those that are only used because of the effect it cause when monsters stands in it (Maelstrom, Chaos Storm).

Another problem that people don't realize is that the AOE causes the monsters to switch target and potentially go after your monks. Considering in late game the monster are lvl 24+ with extremely high hp ,ridiculous damage and unlimited energy, it get's incredibly difficult to do later missions unless AOE spells are completely ignored. Yes, snares can be used, but chances are these late game monsters are NOT dead when the snare wears off, and still chase the casters. This needs to be balanced for the update to be worthwhile.

This update also causes quite a bit of internal unbalances: balthazar's aua overshadowed by symbol of wrath despite the +20 energy cost, Fireball doing more damage than fire storm for less cast time, less rechange and less energy...etc.

Alderman Sweet

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

W/E

This whole thing is really about a player-driven economy and how bots take advantage of it. Anet's reason for not creating an inflexible, monolithic economy (the sort you have in single-player RPGs) is that such a system would not be fun . . . or exciting . . . or something. So instead they keep messing around with anti-bot remedies. This is like making a boat and drilling holes in it -- and then making modifications to the holes, hoping that your inferior holes will eventually become improved holes. I cannot understand why they don't get rid of the mutating economy. It adds nothing but chaos.

I stopped playing back in the summer because it was clear that the combination of a "trader" economy and obsidian armor would perpetuate the farming bot problem, as well as Anet's attempts to improve the holes in the boat, and that these improvements would always feed back into a flawed system. If the game is about skill and teamwork, with a level cap of 20 to encourage this approach, why on earth would you try to sustain so many absurd economic distractions? Beats me.

Ileania

Ileania

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Nov 2005

Fist Of The Dawn

N/Me

@ Phoenix Ex post
very true, like they said there is still some things to be fixed. Im just looking at this as a refreashing change in the game... I have 3 characters now and get bored every now and then, this should also make those in my 50+ guild that have no clue in PVP learn a bit from PVE. Weve been using practice GVGs but I find this to be a great way to get them prepared.

Blossom

Blossom

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Oct 2005

E/Mo

OK, lets say I completely support the update.I agree fully that this is how monsters should be reacting and yes this is great! But I have other issue. Farming. Now don't flame me cause maybe you don't do it for the same reason I do. I want to have all my chars having all the skills. And leveling up is rather slow proces if you're not a farmer. And second I'd like to have ecto armor on them some day. Are you really sure that things like that could be done without huge amounts of cash and exp? One more thing since I'm sure Arena will see this...

Have you considered making Crafters in some remote areas like FoW or UW or SF and have them Craft Weapons with bonuses, and weapon upgrades. But the level of item you can craft should depend on your exp. so if you have 500.000 you could make sword that is +15% <50% and have Sundering 7/10, but when you reach 600.000 you can craft 20%<50% or 15%>50% and 10/10. Look all the numbers are crap I just slapped them but the idea I think is right. You could have player unlock upgrades that he wants so he can't have them all but again he won't have them unlocked for PvP if he buys them.

That would make new players free to play and never be affraid that they will be dwarfed by old farmer McRourey.

Now do the flaming...

Ileania

Ileania

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Nov 2005

Fist Of The Dawn

N/Me

thats sounds like a decent idea only then ppl would be farming for XP for those items to sell to other players...unless its customized...
I too farm but for completly differant reasons, my guild uses farming as a way to improve teamwork instead of kill kill money kill drops kill.... although all of these are a plus it puts us all in one area calling targets and working together... so yes this does effect me in some part... but I feel it is for the better... this will make my guild stronger and we will be forced to think things through rather than KILL KILL KILL .... like some of my newer players have been trying... they havent nurfed nething just made it differant...

id0l

id0l

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jul 2005

Austin, Texas, ya'll.

A/D

I farm too. Wanna know why? Because it costs over a million gold (easily) to get fissure armor. Something you CANNOT, I repeat, CANNOT get without farming.

An no, I don't solo the UW. I could have, and could be very very rich by now, but dang, it's even more boring than farming Griffons.

Thank god I collected my final ectos one day before this patch came out (ectos are already 17k+ and going to go higher).

Memphis

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

UK

Natis Ignigena

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Banebow

The farmers. Let me say that I had finaly decided to get fissure armor. So, I started farming griffons. This is no longer as viable a process for income, and so my obsidian armor is once again a distant goal. Am I disappointed? Of course. Am I bitter at ANet for it? That depends on their next move, which I will come to in a moment. It is a team game, and it should not be possible to take down 30+ enemies of a higher level than yourself all at once, alone.

What I would dearly like to see ANet do next. (please keep in mind that this is what I wish to see, not what will happen or what may be best for the game)
Remove farming. Farming is based on time, and in a game of skill it has no place. WoW will provide you with all the farming you can possibly desire, and I would prefer if this game moved as far away from it as possible. This can be done by first removing the capability of monks to solo areas. The skills rend enchantments and lingering curse exist for a reason. Make use of them (and not with the laughably weak UW monsters) This would also increase the overall difficulty of areas, because of monsters that can remove enchantments.

(in relation to my part about bitterness towards ANet above.)
Increase the drop rate of ectoplasms and obsidian shards in underworld and fissure of woe, or remove items such as obsidian armor. Such armor is impossible to attain without extensive farming or through pure luck with a drop. Farming removed means that the only way to attain obsidian armor would be through pure luck with an item drop. Then you would have to find a player with a stockpile of gold from the "old days" and sell it to him or her. As time passes, fewer of these players will need or want any items, and so you will find obsidian armor literally beyond reach for everyone except the folks who have it already. With solo ability gone, players will either team up or not go down. Unless I am mistaken, the reduction of drops was because of the solo builds, correct? If you are removing them, then increase the drop rate back to what it was.

I am of the belief that this is a team-based game. Whether my team is myself and seven henchmen or myself and seven guild mates, the ability to solo monsters of the same level as yourself is not only detrimental to the game, it encourages farming and loot hoarding. With an increase in drop rates, but a block to farming, loot hoarders could still hoard, if they so chose, team players might actualy be able to find groups, and the game would become a much better thing than it is now.

-A. Banebow
Fantastic post.
If these indeed were the changes made (or at least made clear that these will be the changes to come), then I don't think there would be half the uproar we've had over this.

If farming has to go then so be it. But if the only means to aquire the more desired items in the game is removed, then another way has to be implemented. Sadly this has not been done and I fear that it won't be done any time soon.

15k and Fissure armour is there to keep people playing the PvE game. ANet must know that a great majority of players simply want to build up thier characters and aquire the best items for them. Aquisition is one of the most basic things that drives people and placing 15k and Fissure armour in the game is only going to make people want it. I always believed it was a play option to keep PvE'ers playing even after all missions and quests are done. Without it, those who don't like PvP would have nothing left to aquire and no real reason to amass play time anymore.

It's an element obviously added to attract people who would otherwise not bother with the game at all, past the missions and storyline at least, however it isn't supported well enough. It's been mentioned countless times that without solo farming nobody will amass the materials and 75k in cash for the stuff. Solo farming is consistantly nerfed with almost every recent update, however yet they still leave the base means there to do it.

Why is this though?

As you rightly mention, the lvl 18 Dying Nightmares in UnderWorld are a laughable addition to the mobs and a simple change to their numbers and level will instantly stop UW farmers dead in their tracks. Or better yet a dreaded cap on the number of people needed to enter UW. Job done and biscuits all round at Anet towers.

However it seems to me these Nightmares are only there to curb bots and people tearing through UW up to the smites and starting over. It could still easily be done (and can still be done) by any alert player who knew how to react to them, it just takes longer. This has to be intentional.
I mean, why not make the Dyings lvl 26 like everything else in there and simply have them flatten any solo monks that were previously killing them with a single hit of Zealots Fire?
Gaile says herself in plain text that UW never was and should not be a solo area. So why is it still? Now that's a question I'd really like ANet to anwser.

Not to mention that something as age old as UW farming and Henchman AI has been an issue since we can all remember, yet ANet choose to instead focus on this AI update of theirs as the solution.

It seems to me Anet can't really make their mind up what type of game they really want. I couldn't agree more that if they don't want solo play and farmers, then they should just get rid of it. They will also of course have to remove the incentives to do it and make items and armour more accessible to all players. Drops also will need a drastic increase.
However this hasn't happened because Anet know that UW farming is still possible. Maybe they even want farming possible so they don't lose all the PvE customers who do like amassing wealth and saving for their Fissure, as they know they'll make a beeline straight for another game.

What really grinds my gears thoughy is that they just don't seem to know what they are doing and keep shoving these nonsensical updates down our throats with no clear explanation as to why.
Farming is possible. UW is still possible and after numerous farming nerfs, we're still doing it. It CAN be stopped in any number of ways (vary the mobs, limit the party size, make it so more than 1 or 2 superior runes cannot stack - I mean come off it, what else do you want your health at 55 points for?) yet none of this has even been attempted yet. This is a company that made a game with hundreds of balanced skills, varied missons, hundreds of quests, endless dialogue and some of the best visuals in this genre of game. I think they can stop a player killing Aatxes if they really wanted to.

I'm moving away from my rant regarding the update specifically for now (sigh of relief heard ), but I'd now, if possible, like to focus on the following and more specific question... If we're not meant to farm, why can we still do it?

Sooner or later Anet are going to have to come clean about what game they want and pick a direction and stick to it. In the meantime stop all of the on-a-whim nerfing and balance altering to make farming harder, yet still make it possible so maybe people won't flee like rats from a sinking ship.
The constant changes to what we know and love are just getting too much for some of us for a game that many claim to not even be an MMORPG.
Yes the game is meant to 'evolve' and the updates do help with that, but there's also a substantial amount of mind changing as to what we can and cannot do with nothing ever really set in stone.

So if they want an Online RPG that people play for months on end ala WoW, then it will NEED the incentives. It will need 15k, Fissure and it will need the grind of farming to get these items to keep people interested. However this needs to be a reasonable and achievable goal and the current drop system for a party of 8 people just doesn't cater for it.

I don't think it's even occurred to ANet that maybe a reason people are getting so infuriated and stressed with their updates is that they're simply failing to make it clear what kind of game this is going to be in the future and if we're really safe devoting our time and money to it.

Antc

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Nov 2005

NorthWest Gamers Organisation

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by id0l
I farm too. Wanna know why? Because it costs over a million gold (easily) to get fissure armor. Something you CANNOT, I repeat, CANNOT get without farming.
Oh c'mon id0l, theres always another way to get fissure armour....u just have to go to UW to get ecto, with a 1 in 4 chance of getting one drop u only have to make a maximum of 420 UW runs, then u just go off to FoW and do the same...then just take the ecto and shards along with yr 60k....oh no wait...how are we supposed to get 60k now farming is nerfed??? lol

Phoenix Ex

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

Mo/R

Unfortunately...this update really came at the wrong time. After a large majority of average players starts to turn to farming for fow armor and the likes because of the drop nerfs, after a large amount of hardcore players spent a fortune for a specific class/skill set. And after so many updates that coinincidentally nerfs most of the skills required for UW soloing, despite its original intention of pvp balance. All these combined are not going to create many forgiving players that thinks that this update is actually for new challenges. If anet is smart skill rebalanced and economy fixes needs to come QUICK before all the players still 50/50 about this patch leaves.

Ellix Cantero

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2005

If you guys want anet to take you seriously you should probably stop trying to justify farming and try to find ways the updates affected normal PvE.

Memphis

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

UK

Natis Ignigena

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by calamitykell
Nicely said. Calm, polite, and suggestive. I give you... a chocolate chip cookie.
But yet what does he get for his trouble from you? Spam.

This is not intended as a flame in any way so please don't take it as such but yes, sometimes the only way to actually get a reaction from people and find out what others really do think, is to mouth off a bit and make yourself heard. His post was nothing short of stellar and you didn't even extend the coutesy of saying if you even agree with him or not.

Phoenix Ex

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

Mo/R

In my opinions, there are two types of farmers. One is the ones who farm then quickly sell off whatever they don't need at a reasonable price. These types of farmer help new players get gears easier. Then there are those who farm then hoard all the rare items and sell for extremely high prices. These are what drives the price up. Unfortunately, with drops nerfed so much, more and more farmers changes to the "extreme greed" mode and all the non-trader stuff are inflating because of that. That's why drops need to improve quick!

Yamat

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jun 2005

San Diego, USA

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fantus
And YOUR little mistake is to look exclusively on the money market when making that statement. Which is why I think it's clueless. Hint: There is a goods market in GW, too (actually, more than one). Another hint: Farmers do increase supply with that they do. An increase in supply means that prices are going DOWN and not up.

Some evidence: The Ecto price DOUBLED since Anet was halfway successful in making UW soloing less effective than it was before. The SHARD prices remained almost constant. Funny, isn't it.

Nope. Farming drives up the demand side (prices would go up) and increases the SUPPLY side as well (prices would go down). You have to look at BOTH effects to judge in the impact on the economy. The total effect of farming on prices is somewhat neutral, probably. At least economics is way more complicated then your oversimplified post would indicate.
This is so, so wrong. Farming does not drive up demand. That's like saying if I build a million Ferraris more people will buy them. And the goods market is nothing in comparison to the amount of gold coming into to the economy. That's why gold is sold on eBay, not items. In other games you usually get the items being sold on eBay as well...

Case in point, if an invinci-monk goes on a smites run, he may bring back 1-2 ectos... may... and may bring back one item that he will sell to another player, again 'may'. He will definitely make 2k-5k in gold though.

When did ecto double in price? After the last invinci-monk nerf (change to prot bond) the price rose, fell, then settled at 11k. Before that it had risen to 17k. Shards weren't as drammatic, but went to 7k then came back down to 3.5k, but they're easier to get since they drop frequently in FoW.

Items do not drive an economy... buying power does. That's why the most fundamental way to affect inflation in the real world is to mess with interest rates, because it alters a persons buying power.

FeuerFrei

FeuerFrei

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2005

In the middle of WWIII

Airreon Grievers[AG]

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ellix Cantero
If you guys want anet to take you seriously you should probably stop trying to justify farming and try to find ways the updates affected normal PvE.
i agree

Memphis

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

UK

Natis Ignigena

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ellix Cantero
If you guys want anet to take you seriously you should probably stop trying to justify farming and try to find ways the updates affected normal PvE.
Due to Fissure armour and it's ridiculous cost for purchase, farming IS part of normal PvE.

Yamat

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jun 2005

San Diego, USA

But you don't need Fissure armor... it's there for hardcore gamers, and for the hardcore gamer, getting the money for it is not a big deal.

Memphis

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

UK

Natis Ignigena

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yamat
But you don't need Fissure armor... it's there for hardcore gamers, and for the hardcore gamer, getting the money for it is not a big deal.
Now you're telling me what kind of gamer I am too :E

I like to think I'm a dedicated GW player (for PvE at least), however I don't consider myself at all to be 'hardcore'.
I've played with my guildmates since beta. I now have 2 accounts, 8 characters (although one's about to be killed off for that necesarry pvp slot ) 6 of those with at least one set of the 15k armour that I like, green weapons or max weapons with the necessary damage modifiers, all runes unlocked, almost all skills for every profession and every mission in the game completed.

Fissure is practically all I have left to do and farming the gear and helping and playing with guildies (who some have become friends to me, not just guild members) is what's keeping me on until the expansion surfaces. I want to keep playing. I want to get my fissure armour. What's so not normal about that?

Fissure has been part of the game since forever now and it's perfectly viable for a new player to log on, see it and want it from day one. They may choose to gear their entire game towards it but it's their choice to do so.

In the words of Kuato: Open your mind....

Lugosi

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Mar 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phoenix Ex
In my opinions, there are two types of farmers. One is the ones who farm then quickly sell off whatever they don't need at a reasonable price. These types of farmer help new players get gears easier. Then there are those who farm then hoard all the rare items and sell for extremely high prices. These are what drives the price up. Unfortunately, with drops nerfed so much, more and more farmers changes to the "extreme greed" mode and all the non-trader stuff are inflating because of that. That's why drops need to improve quick!
I'd like to add that then there are also those who do some occasional "semi-farming" in groups of two or three because they heard that armors with runes drop in a certain area, Or those who go into an area with as few henchmen as necessary, exploring "still cloudy" areas on the map, hoping that way they'll get some better drops than in a full team and getting some still needed skillpoints (whereby I don't know if that would fall into the category "farming")

Being mainly (not only) a PvE-player myself, who by now has played three characters through the game (without taking advantage of the nowadays so popular "runs") I still haven't found all the runes that I'd like to have for my characters. I didn't get anything higher than for example a minor healing rune for my healing monk yet, not anything higher than minor divine favor, I found *one whole* superior rune for my necromancer and also *one whole* superior rune for my warrior. What dropped like crazy for me though were mostly ranger-runes. So yes, even though I don't have a primary ranger I probably have most of the ranger-runes unlocked while the ones that I would actually find useful are still to be found by me.

The sad thing is, that even if I bought these runes from the runetrader (which I already did, due to the lack of them dropping) they aren't unlocked for PvP. So what options do I have, as a PvE-player, to unlock my missing runes...

a) buying unidentified runes for horrendous prices (to eventually find out that the purchased rune, once identified, wasn't the one I wanted)
This seems to be a big market for farmers though, due to the problems of many people to actually find the runes that they'd need/want on their own.

b) hoping that ANet improves the drops of runes significantly
If after the recent patches drops did indeed improve I hope that also goes for runes

c) jumping over my own shadow and becoming heavily involved in PvP to be able to unlock the runes with faction - which still wouldn't give me for example a real Superior Vigor (that I also never found but would like to apply to pretty much each of my characters).

So here's just an idea:
Looking back at (now don't moan please) Diablo 2 I remember there was always somebody who would sell unidentified things to the players. Not for little money, but affordable with the money that one made during normal gameplay.

How about the implementation of something like this?
A trader that sells unidentified upgrades and runes, not stating what the item will be once you identify it. Unidentified bowgrips, unidentified hammerhafts, unidentified runes (sorted by professions and by level). Since the Vigor isn't for a specific profession it would have to be camouflaged, means: If you buy a rune for a certain profession it could still turn out to be a vigor in the end.

In my opinion this would be just one more step towards eliminating any kind of farming for profit, and would also raise the chances of players to finally get the runes they need.

Edit: This was mainly to show that there are different approaches to make farming and farmers unnecessary. It still wouldn't address ecto/shard/<enter favorite rare crafting material> drops/prices, but it would be a start.

nimloth32

nimloth32

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2005

Celestial Order

W/Mo

ok, my final word on the update. I give a situation like this:

I went for 'villiany of galrath', a quest. When the enemy attacks, we managed to hold off the enemy well (the enemy is tengu, which do terrible dmg to me (i am a healer by the way)) with the warrior tank in front and elementalist, monk (me), and necro stand at the back casting spell. Then, when the elementalist start to cast AoE spell, everything went hazard. The tengu scattered and most of them swarm the elementalist, necro and me. Imagine me, a monk vs 3 tengu. I think u guys should probably know the rest.

Well, as gaile states, there are going to be a number of positive update. Lets looks forward to it then. Cheers.

Tactical-Dillusions

Tactical-Dillusions

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

Grimsby, UK

R/

I'm starting to feel a bit worried.

What tweaks can we expect to see in the future?

Casters not casting when backfire is used on them?
Enemies stop attacking when empathy is cast on them?
Monsters going AROUND traps to avoid them?
Enemies not using skills when hit by diversion?
Monks ALWAYS being the primary target in PvE...just like in PvP?
The last monster running a marathon around the desert because he wants to drag it out as long as possible...hoping that we get bored?
All monsters carrying a res signet? OMFG!

I remember when Gaile voiced support for farming. Why the policy change?

Fantus

Fantus

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yamat
This is so, so wrong. Farming does not drive up demand. That's like saying if I build a million Ferraris more people will buy them.
HAHAHAHAHA

BUILDING Ferraris is altering the SUPPLY side, not the demand side...

If every people had one million dollars in their bank, DEMAND for Ferraris DEFINITELY would go up.

People usually farm because they want to BUY stuff. Which OF COURSE means that the DEMAND will GO UP. Farming ALSO means that ITEMS and MATERIALS are brought into the economy meaning that the SUPPLY side will GO UP as well - thus NEGATING the negative effect the increased influx of money otherwise would have on the economy.

Do I really have to quote basic literature on economics to make you actually believe things that you learn in the first 5 minutes when studying economics?