Forerunner
Member
The outfit is decent, it was free so can't really complain.
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Guild Wars 2 |OT5| We've got fun and games
- Thread starter Retro
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Looks great
I mean, besides paying for it, the only other fair option to unlock the content (otherwise the not totally gone but casual players would never log in until the end) would be some sort of time gating system; and at that point that's what you're doing by acquiring gold anyway, since you can convert it to gems.
hockeypuck
Member
I think Anet has done a reasonable job of trying to update the more casual players with email updates, including for LS. I just logged into my Outlook account that I use for GW2 and there are monthly emails about additions and "hey, come check out the new story!" type stuff. I found the "Gates of Maguuma" email from 7/1/14 that links to the GW2 webpage that specifically informs players about the cost of episodes if not unlocked within 2 weeks.
I think usea's criticism about paying for past episodes is fair, but he's criticizing a decision on monetary implementation. It's not a communication issue.
I see no issues with how Anet communicates with its playerbase about upcoming changes. Responding to critiques is another story, but I'm not talking about that. I see that their emails have been consistently sent on a monthly basis.
I forgot I was being silly with my outfit dye channels so this is what showed up when I went to try it out;
Pink. Nightmare.
UltimateIke
Member
Looks like you've accepted and all that, so you should be set!
Looks like Ike got you. Push 'G' to open the Guild Panel, and click 'Accept' and then click 'Represent.'
Edit: Beaten so hard, somebody call the cops.
Forerunner
Member
I forgot I was being silly with my outfit dye channels so this is what showed up when I went to try it out;
Pink. Nightmare.
You should keep that!
I.e what more can be done? They sent out lots of emails with regard to new episodes... they were straight-up bi-weekly when appropriate
it's a little hard to digest that this methodology of content delivery, at the pace they've been providing it, is a "moneygrab." As an active player of the game I've experienced all LS releases thus far for free. Even if I hadn't been an active player, had I wanted to simply unlock the episodes for future play, logging in once at any point within each two-week period isn't all that onerous a request. Even failing that, I could still experience them for free after the fact by grouping up with a friend to pull me into the instances. Even outside of that, huge chunks of the content added in with Living Story releases were permanent content available to all players at any time even if they didn't unlock the relevant episodes, including the full zones of Southsun Cove, Dry Top and The Silverwastes, the Not So Secret jumping puzzle in Gendarren, the Vinewrath wand Triple Wurm world boss fights, the redesigned Tequatl fight, the LS season 1 fractals and fractal bosses, the redesigned Lion's Arch and its scavenger hunt and jumping puzzle, and I'm probably forgetting a couple other things too. Plus of course all the feature additions and QoL changes that came with the Feature Packs were simply added for all players for free.
I think it's best to compare apples to apples when possible and consider their model as it compares to other MMOs. Even The Secret World, which has (well, had until today at least) the same basic B2P model as Guild Wars 2 simply charges players outright for its most recent content releases while occasionally consolidating previous ones into packs: http://store.steampowered.com/dlc/215280/
NormalFish
Banned
Honestly I don't think emails are a very effective way to communicate with a ~16-24 demographic, silly as that sounds. But you guys are right that ANet does attempt to communicate these things to their playerbase.
16-24 year olds play MOBAs now, not MMOs (for the most part). You have Twitter, Facebook, their website, and emails for communication outside the game. Not really sure where else you could put information out there.
Kos Luftar
Member
You suggested an app on phones, but don't most people who have smart phones also have access to their emails, which pretty much covers the 16-24 demographic.
Guild Missions in 1 hour!
For our new / returning players, Guild Missions are a type of special guild-activated event that rewards a unique currency, Guild Commendations. While we determine which type of mission we start, which specific mission we get is randomized. Because of this, we can't guarantee which level range our missions will fall into.
Don't feel bad if you can't make it to missions, however; we've been running them twice weekly for two years now and we won't be stopping any time soon. You'll be able to come along on missions soon enough (and they're getting overhauled in 54 days anyways!)
I haven't changed it, so... I guess I will!
For a while there, they were also sending pretty elaborate items (I don't think 'swag' is sufficient, some of that stuff looked pretty expensive) to gaming sites just to bribe them into getting the word out. Expensive stuff, like hand-carved metronomes, pocketwatches...
Short of dropping leaflets I dunno what else they could do.
For our new / returning players, Guild Missions are a type of special guild-activated event that rewards a unique currency, Guild Commendations. While we determine which type of mission we start, which specific mission we get is randomized. Because of this, we can't guarantee which level range our missions will fall into.
Don't feel bad if you can't make it to missions, however; we've been running them twice weekly for two years now and we won't be stopping any time soon. You'll be able to come along on missions soon enough (and they're getting overhauled in 54 days anyways!)
I haven't changed it, so... I guess I will!
For a while there, they were also sending pretty elaborate items (I don't think 'swag' is sufficient, some of that stuff looked pretty expensive) to gaming sites just to bribe them into getting the word out. Expensive stuff, like hand-carved metronomes, pocketwatches...
Short of dropping leaflets I dunno what else they could do.
weird moment for me because for so much of my gaming life I've been at the ready to respond to statements like this is as a representative of that demographic. But I'm out of it now. I'm an old undesirable non-core gamer now. My voice has no meaning and the world hath turned to grey.
NormalFish
Banned
Well regardless of the reason, do you folks think that the casual GW2 player is fully aware of the way the living story functions and unlocks? Because while everyone in this thread probably knows, it's something rather specific to the game, and I'm not sure a true casual player would be effectively made aware of the systems at play and how they should behave within those systems. But perhaps I'm being overly pessimistic.
Life goes on, friendweird moment for me because for so much of my gaming life I've been at the ready to respond to statements like this is as a representative of that demographic. But I'm out of it now. I'm an old undesirable non-core gamer now. My voice has no meaning and the world hath turned to grey.
Horatorobor
Member
I want to start playing again, haven't played in 6-7 months what's changed?
I know two "casual" players. One is a game reviewer so he mostly plays other games. Very little time for MMOs. The other is a father of five with a full time job who also reviews game and plays Destiny (how the hell...?) so he pretty much never has time to play. They knew from mail and twitter. The first guy got most of the episodes by just logging in even tho he wasn't playing for months before the updates. He missed one by being too busy to think about it but didn't care.
The father didn't care at all. He just plays whenever he likes and doesn't care about "missing out" on stuff. He knows he can see the story with me if he ever wants to or just buy them like a DLC pack if he feels like it. He doesn't see a problem with them being like a series on TV. Either you watch it on TV when it happens or you buy the box when it's all over.
If you're that casual, to the point of unistalling the game and don't check for any kind of updates... then you most likely don't actually care too much that you're missing things like LS2. And as said, the story is still free as long as you have a friend with it. Those types ofd casuals don't usually go for the cheevos and such.
I really don't mean to derail all the talk about the new stuff. I'm not trying to say the game sucks or the content model sucks. I'm just surprised to see people praising it, since my experience was somewhat negative. I suspect that there's a lot of people out there who feel similarly left out by it.
It's essentially impossible to unlock living story through gems via gold without being a hardcore player. If you can afford to buy 1600 gems with gold, then you almost certainly have it already just from logging in. Casual players etc cannot afford the hundreds of gold it would cost. It can be easy to forget the wealth disparity in this game.
My ex plays the game still, has an 80 ranger, and has 10g. She's working on getting exotic gear. Basically only has time to do dailies and a few world bosses, a few times a week. She got a crafting discipline to 400 recently. It took her all the money she earned in a month. Neither of us will ever see any LS2 content. And we play way more than a lot of people out there.
If LS is so easy to get, then they should just give it away to everybody. I mean they'll have it anyway right? The reason they don't is because some people will pay real money for it. The others will just be left out.
I can't speak for everybody out there, but I don't read marketing emails from companies period, much less games I'm not playing. When's the last time you read emails about aion or hearthstone or whatever?
Arguing that it's free for everybody or easy to get is just untrue imo. It's content for players who have been keeping up with the game for years, and nobody else. It's the holiday content model, with more important rewards and the option to buy it for real money if you missed it. It works well for a game with a real money store and no sub, because you want players coming back as much as possible. It's not for people who don't log in often.
Sorry again if this seems like I'm trolling the game or whatever. Obviously I like this game a lot. I just think this is an area they could improve on. I mean, from a purely player-centric perspective anyway. Maybe not from the perspective of anet.
It's essentially impossible to unlock living story through gems via gold without being a hardcore player. If you can afford to buy 1600 gems with gold, then you almost certainly have it already just from logging in. Casual players etc cannot afford the hundreds of gold it would cost. It can be easy to forget the wealth disparity in this game.
My ex plays the game still, has an 80 ranger, and has 10g. She's working on getting exotic gear. Basically only has time to do dailies and a few world bosses, a few times a week. She got a crafting discipline to 400 recently. It took her all the money she earned in a month. Neither of us will ever see any LS2 content. And we play way more than a lot of people out there.
If LS is so easy to get, then they should just give it away to everybody. I mean they'll have it anyway right? The reason they don't is because some people will pay real money for it. The others will just be left out.
I can't speak for everybody out there, but I don't read marketing emails from companies period, much less games I'm not playing. When's the last time you read emails about aion or hearthstone or whatever?
Arguing that it's free for everybody or easy to get is just untrue imo. It's content for players who have been keeping up with the game for years, and nobody else. It's the holiday content model, with more important rewards and the option to buy it for real money if you missed it. It works well for a game with a real money store and no sub, because you want players coming back as much as possible. It's not for people who don't log in often.
Sorry again if this seems like I'm trolling the game or whatever. Obviously I like this game a lot. I just think this is an area they could improve on. I mean, from a purely player-centric perspective anyway. Maybe not from the perspective of anet.
I feel like if you're not following the game on Twitter, Facebook or Reddit, reading a forum like GAF, ignoring articles on gaming sites and not getting the e-mails they send every update, you probably don't have much interest in the game to begin with and you pretty much have to have actively blocked / avoided those sources to not know something has been going on.
I don't see how anyone can be realistically upset about it retroactively when they spend a huge amount of time communicating in all but the most obscure channels.
Here's a quick list, but you've missed about two updates a month. No Living Story chapters though, unfortunately.
- Vinewrath (Silverwastes boss)
- Rebuilt Lion's Arch
- Massive balance update with a new Trait system (specializations) and skill unlock process (training).
- Condition updates (many conditions now stack, stack size was increased to 1500, etc.)
- Camera improvements
- Streaming client
- Personal Story update / changes (Final Chapter is now soloable, for example)
Hope you're MikeDip.7013, cuz I just invited them =)
I can't offer an actual list like other people who are more experienced, but I've been back since mid june and it's fantastic.
Made my character all pink for Valentine's Day. Found that it was so much easier to keep track of my character on screen that I kept it.
weird moment for me because for so much of my gaming life I've been at the ready to respond to statements like this is as a representative of that demographic. But I'm out of it now. I'm an old undesirable non-core gamer now. My voice has no meaning and the world hath turned to grey.
Didn't you leave this demographic a long time ago? I thought you were closer to my age.
Kos Luftar
Member
I predict, Ike wining the lottery tonight.
They obviously need to make some money back when making that much content, so of course they will sell it too.
The comparison I made with TV shows is something Anet themselves have said about the LS updates.
I mean, in Sweden they send "Game of Thrones", "Sherlock", "Bron" and some other huge shows on the free TV channel SVT. So those shows are free for me as long as I watch the episode within a week of them airing it. That doesn't mean they can just show them forever for free for everyone. How would they make money back? (I know they get some money from the TV channels but that doesn't apply to Anet so whatevs). If I don't have time to see GoT that specific week, I miss the free episode. I'll have to buy the box or a month of HBO Nordic and watch it there instead. Very much like the LS.
Dyes are all in game and costumes it really depends on what it is as some are only available at certain times of year like holidays. Some might be in game and some gem store.
The Wardrobe is like a skin collection; any time you soulbind a piece of equipment (equip it, salvage it, etc.) it's added to your Wardrobe, and you can then apply it to any other item of the same type and weight later. Changing the skin of an item requires a Transmutation Charge; you can buy them from the gem store or pick up 6 quickly by 100% Map Completing all 5 racial cities and Lion's Arch.
Dyes are account-wide and unlocked by using an "Unidentified Dye". They're given out as rewards or can be bought on the Trading Post. You can also buy identified dyes if you're looking for specific colors. You start with a nice set of basic dyes though.
Outfits are all-in-one costumes. You can buy them from the Gem Store or get them during holidays, occasionally.
I'll bet you'll have at the very least Icing Dye before the night is over ^^
White and Celestial dye (Which is like a super bright white) are both fairly expensive. I would look at Fog, Icing, Mithril and any of the "_____ Ice" dyes. Those are fairly bright but much cheaper.
Celestial, along with Abyss and all of the "Shadow ____" Dyes tend to be so dramatic color-wise that they wash a lot of the detail out of the armor, so it's not always ideal anyways.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
did a new build just come out? how come I'm downloading the patch slow?
Core game is now Free, you've got a lot of people downloading it tonight.
Maybe try closing it and reopening? I just downloaded it in 5 seconds.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
The vast majority of my guild is made up of casuals. Anyone who didn't unlock LS episodes just plopped down the $10 or whatever for them if they were bothered. Maybe its just my perception but usually the people complaining the loudest about the gem store/prices are the ones playing eight hours a day. Really casual players don't seem too bothered about most things.
I'm holding off to hear more details about Raids and Legendary armors. I'd guess there will be other ways to get the precursors, at least at some point. Its hard to see them walling it off to only a tiny segment of the player base. Although I suspect these Elite instances will be difficult up until people figure out what to do, then they'll become youtube videos with shitty music.
Its interesting the party size is smaller than Urgoz/Deep. Video looked like it was a series of boss fights moreso than waves of enemies. Might need to rewatch. Either way, I hope UW and FoW make it back someday.
I'm holding off to hear more details about Raids and Legendary armors. I'd guess there will be other ways to get the precursors, at least at some point. Its hard to see them walling it off to only a tiny segment of the player base. Although I suspect these Elite instances will be difficult up until people figure out what to do, then they'll become youtube videos with shitty music.
Its interesting the party size is smaller than Urgoz/Deep. Video looked like it was a series of boss fights moreso than waves of enemies. Might need to rewatch. Either way, I hope UW and FoW make it back someday.
And heroes. TimeTravelingKossPls
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Internet Provider problems?
Nah net is super fast.
I guess too many people are downloading just like Retro said. I'll try later afternoon then.
You underestimate my love of angelic things
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