ArenaNet holds frank Reddit debate on Guild Wars 2 loot-grind

The no-gear-grind philosophy of Guild Wars 2 has been called into question, so developer ArenaNet has responded on Reddit.

Brief recap: a brand new Ascended armour type statistically more powerful than other end-game armours has been added to the game. ArenaNet said hardcore players needed more to do and more progression to chase. But the Guild Wars 2 community interpreted this as signs of an end-game gear grind - a mechanic ArenaNet chastised in the lead up to Guild Wars 2's launch. Did ArenaNet contradict itself?

"I hope we've been clear that GW2 is not a game with virtually no stat progression in it like GW1 was," ArenaNet co-founder and boss Mike O'Brien wrote on Reddit. "That's why GW2 shipped with a higher level cap, and with a hard separation between PVE and PVP.

"In GW1 we never advanced the level cap through four campaigns/expansions. The game design didn't allow for it. But GW2 was designed without those restrictions, and we've always expected that we will someday raise the level cap in GW2."

I put that last part in bold because it's the first I've heard of plans to increase the Guild Wars 2 level cap.

"That's why we've always said that GW2 rewards players through both progression and collection," O'Brien went on, "whereas GW1 primarily rewarded through collection. Presumably players aren't shocked that GW2 rewards through progression, since it has a level 80 cap.

"I would ask you to judge us by details and not by making slippery-slope arguments."
Mike O'Brien
"I wonder if the core sentiment is more this: It's only been two-and-a-half months! We don't even all have Exotics yet, and already you're introducing another tier. Is this the start of a power progression curve that I'll never be able to keep up with?

"I certainly appreciate that worry," he wrote. "I myself don't want a constant struggle, as exists in some other gw2 gold games, to keep my equipment viable. Then we're left with a balancing act: some progression is OK, but pushing players onto gear treadmill isn't OK and isn't what the game is about.

"So I would ask you to judge us," he concluded, "by details, and not by making slippery-slope arguments. We introduced a ton of new content in November, and the sum total of new progression rewards we added to go with it provided a 5-10 per cent stat increase in two of 12 slots. I hope you'll agree that that kind of very shallow and gradual progression does not force people onto a gear treadmill."

O'Brien said it was "important" for Guild Wars 2 to have that kind of "gradual" progression. And although "we made some mistakes with the way we introduced Ascended gear", he added, "I don't think they invalidate the fundamental concept that GW2 can have gradual stat progression without being a gear treadmill game".


So what "mistakes" were made with the introduction to Ascended gear?
Studio design director Chris Whiteside said "we did not intend for the information to come out this way, referencing a jumped-the-gun article on MMORPG.com [thanks Sirrush on Twitter].

Bizarrely, ArenaNet was apparently "acutely aware of what the reaction was going to be". "Yes, the response was definitively expected," Chris Whiteside admitted. So, err, why do it?

The first revelation was that "in retrospect it would have been better to have included Ascended gear at launch", wrote Whiteside. As we know, Ascended gear was designed to sit between Exotic and Legendary items. "It was not specifically designed before launch," Whiteside added. "However, the concept of progression rewards with a shallow curve bridging other rewards was." The whole debate about a new tier of armour being added post-launch to placate goalless hardcore players would have been avoided, too.

The second revelation or declaration, if you like, is that "we have no intention of adding a new rarity gear such as Ascended".

"Instead and as we evolve," Whiteside wrote, "the game's existing rarities will evolve over time. However, these will not be common occurrences. For example, full Ascended gear will be introduced over a long period of time ["throughout next year" he said later] and will be earned through lots of different parts/activities of the buy guild wars 2 gold game."

On a time-frame for rarity evolution he said: "The opportunity to enhance existing tiers of loot will not be through a regular cadence of monthly updates instead it is more likely to come from expansions or very big drops of content."

"We have never said there would be no vertical progression."
Chris Whiteside
Whiteside also reiterated that "it is absolutely not intended that Ascended will make a discernible difference in world versus world [battles]", but said players in these server-versus-server-versus-server battles will be able to acquire Ascended items "within that area of the game soon".

On the general topic of vertical progression - i.e. going upwards in power rather than sideways or horizontal: being as powerful but different - Whiteside said Guild Wars 2 has it and "we do intend to keep moving forward with this philosophy".

"We have never said there would be no vertical progression," he wrote. "We do intend to focus on horizontal but we will have vertical progression moving forward with the focus on zero grind and a very low power curve.

"Please understand that we see the community as a 'whole' and therefore are not intending to design again for one specific type of player over another. This is a misconception and one that is not promoted by the team. We will continue to develop the game for the community as a whole, offering gameplay that caters to lots of different types of players in a unified approach that will evolve over time based on feedback and the direction the team as a whole wants to take.

"Personally," he added, "I do not feel that the latest changes are against what we said in the manifesto. I do however feel that we do have to be very careful in regard to progression design turning into grind and I believe there are some instances of this kind of grind that pre-date the launch of the game. It is for this reason that we are looking to revamp some aspects of the game whilst connecting other parts increase the overall experience of fun in our progression mechanics."

Concluding, Chris Whiteside described all of this as "an exciting problem, but one that has been poorly communicated and handled". On the flip-side, the debate "helps us to answer and navigate larger questions we have in terms of the direction of the game moving forward", he said.

Whether or not you're appeased by ArenaNet's reaction here, at least you got one. It's uncommon in the world of MMOs for developers to frankly address the community's questions in this way, let alone pledge to do something differently because of them.

This is not Guild Wars 1 and was never intended to be, but what Guild Wars 2 was meant to be was different - different to other MMOs. Its test will be how well it resists the dangling carrots used to elongate those other worlds: the level-cap raises, the additional progression paths (PVP ranks) and the ever-more-powerful-loot grind. Perhaps such mechanics are unavoidable.

Question is: do you trust ArenaNet?

Guild Wars 2 Designer Explains Itemization Changes

The Lost Shores are feeling a little less lost this morning.

Yesterday, along with the lifting of the press embargo on the event, ArenaNet fleshed out the Lost Shores content page with a new video and some other details about the upcoming patch. We learned about a new dungeon, a new PvP map and perhaps most interestingly a new level of gear rarity dubbed "Ascended" gear, slightly more powerful than Exotic gear.

It's this last item that caused no small amount of confusion and concern in the buy Guild Wars 2 gold player community. So, late last night, ArenaNet designer Linsey Murdock took to the Guild Wars 2 blog to offer some clarification on exactly what players can expect from these Ascended items.

Many players were questioning why a new level of itemization was needed so soon in the game's life-cycle, and if this move represents the emergence of the oft-maligned "gear treadmill,", and in true ArenaNet fashion, Murdock addressed exactly that:

"As we watch Guild Wars 2 mature in its Live environment, we have found that our most dedicated players were achieving their set of Exotic gear and hitting “the Legendary wall.” We designed the process of getting Legendary gear to be a long term goal, but players were ready to start on that path much sooner than we expected and were becoming frustrated with a lack of personal progression. Our desire is to create a game that is more inclusive for hardcore and casual players alike, but we don’t want to overlook the basic need for players to feel like they are progressing and growing even after hitting max level. Adding item progression is a delicate process normally undertaken in an expansion, but we feel it’s important to strive to satisfy the basic needs of our players sooner rather than later."

This Ascended gear, however, is only one piece of the puzzle. Along with it, ArenaNet is adding a new condition - Agony. This new condition will be of critical importance for players planning to tackle the new dungeon, Fractals of the Mists. It seems enemies there will make judicious use of it, requiring players to have this "Agony resistance" of Ascended items to make real progress. How do you build this resistance? Through Infusions, of course! Another new system being added to the gw2 gold game:

"There are multiple types of Infusions and Infusion slots. In November, we’ll introduce Offensive, Defensive, and Omni Infusions of Fine rarity from new Mystic Forge recipes. Infusion upgrade types must be paired with their like slot, with the exception of the rare and versatile Omni Infusions which can be slotted into any type of Infusion slot. For now, Infusions slots can only be found in gear of a new rarity type: Ascended."

But what about Legendary items? Stat-wise, those were on-par with Exotics. What of them? To those of you who already worked your tushes off to acquire a Legendary item, there's no need to fret. Your stats will be bumped up to be in line with Ascended items.

There's a lot to take in with these new changes, and the community is currently well on the task of discussing it. Head over to the Guild Wars 2 blog for the full read, and please let us know what you think here. This is an important milestone in the future of the game!

Guild Wars 2: connection problems when final event - ArenaNet promises redress for Disconnects

At the conclusion of the event, "Lost Coast" quite a few players of Guild Wars had 2 problems with the connection. Who suffered in the fight against the Ancient Karka under Connection Problems missed his reward, the promises ArenaNet reparation. At a suitable solution is still being worked.

At yesterday's final of the event, "Lost Coast", there were some problems for quite a few players who ensured frustration. Some Guild Wars fans have reported bugs and disconnects. Especially after the three-hour battle against the creatures of the sea were client problems and not a cause for excitement obtained prey for many players of Guild Wars 2 At ArenaNet, Guild Wars makers now want to find a solution to reward those players who suffered from the problems mentioned above.

All gw2 gold players who suffered towards the end of the one-time events with connection problems and received no reward for fighting the Ancients Karka should get your reward afterwards. However, there is no immediate solution by ArenaNet. "We will offer a solution, so that players who took part in the event will receive their rewards, but we only have to implement, so it is not happening today. Keep an eye on the forum and our other channels, we will let you know second, if we "have the solution ready to Martin Kerstein on the official forums for Guild Wars More information about ArenaNet can be found on MMO of our topics page to Guild Wars 2.

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Guild Wars 2: An Epic One-Time Event

Guild Wars 2 has brought serveral funny event in this big update, and from the official news that there are an Epic One-Time Event, have a look at it.

Quote

All hands on deck! This is it: the final battle against the fierce Ancient Karka on the brand-new Southsun Cove map. Only the combined might of the heroes of Tyria has any hope against a creature this powerful, which means we need you!  This once-in-a-lifetime event takes place NOW on November 18—don’t miss it.

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GW2: Item spiral or not? - Ramon Domke on Ascended Armor

With the upcoming big November update will include ArenaNet The first Ascended items in Guild Wars 2, integrate the care for heated discussions. After Studio Director Chris Whiteside yesterday already declared that they wanted to generate any item spiral, and the German Community Manager Ramon Domke was now once again a player on some issues.

No item spiral in sight?
As part of its response Domke says that he can not say that 100% will come to the Ascended items never something even higher. The threat of a spiral of Item Community Manager does not in and cites as an example of Guild Wars 1:

Even if e.g. in Guild Wars 1 never Substantial changes were made, so are still with green objects (in later chapters) weapon combinations become possible, which would be Prophecies times been in the form can not be reached (15-power rod as an example) - and yet it is are not really. around a spiral Item
He also stressed that they would make the adjustments so that they would come to both new and existing content to bear. Existing dungeons through the new items would not be superfluous. "And this applies not only to the unique nature of the exotic armor design that you only get in each dungeon," said Domke.

There was talk in this case is not of item progression, but of "features that enable a progression, without the need to introduce a new animal resistant objects must". Such a possibility for progression put the new state "torment" is the new dungeon of fog fractals:

The dungeon has no end! However, it is becoming increasingly difficult. Through the agony we introduce you in this dungeon a hurdle that you either skillful play or the right equipment - and then later with both - must overcome in order to move forward. The whole dungeon is designed for you to have something where you can see as a rehearsed group "how far you are Beat" - without that be the goal "to complete the dungeon" is.
Ascended armor as a stopgap
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In yesterday's post said Whiteside, they wanted to offer a meaningful character development of exotic weapons to legendary without the gaping between a massive gap. Regarding the statement said Domke, this gap had the time or form of appropriation.
The exotic equipment for players should be a short-term goal, however, the legendary weapons were intended as a long term goal. New Ascended objects are now thought intended as a medium-term target for the way because not initially a complete set is available.

About raising the values ​​one could have different opinions, which will also already discussed diligently. This is clear also in the team not gone unnoticed, he hoped, however, "that ye may know that the" fog of fractals "and the Ascended objects arise as a matching mechanism sense."

Gecraftete armor and trailers
On the question of a player, whether the new item level all plugged in gecraftete Armor efforts were in vain, Domke also stated that it is also the trades, especially in this case, look at the jewelers. This is not necessarily directly in the forthcoming update of the case, "but also the crafting is important core element of the gw2 gold game and should not vorbleiben outside."

Also Trischmiede, ruby, sapphire and emerald pendants are loud Domke still have their niche and maybe even afford better services than initially items with infusion slot. Especially in the "agony" but this area would have increasingly less important. In MMOs - whether with or without item spiral - but it will always happen that items are in high demand for some time, with an update at some point but then lose its value.

All responses from the original Domke you can read on page 2 of this article!

Guild Wars 2 Diorama competition results announced

Guild Wars 2 Halloween has ended perfectly , at the same time we organized community diorama game also came down the curtain. We have an eye-opener at this game, because we received a lot of impressive works. You know, it is really difficult to select one of the best works as all the works are so great!

Now let's see who has won the praise! Thank you for everyone participate in the gw2 gold game, as well as providing a reward NVIDIA and SteelSeries!

Grand Prize: Italian Manuel works

First prize: USA Koreena Anchalis works

Second prize: Poland Elenem works

The third prize Gallery: Ryan C works

Guild Wars 2 The Lost Shores: Pre-Event Discoveries

With the Lost Shores over a week away until the grand reveal, I’ve compiled a whole host of teasers, hints and theory craft from various sources, for your reading pleasure.

The original post at here:

Whales and Dolphins!

Surrounded by NPC’s throwing water buckets over the poor creatures, beached whales have begun to appear on shorelines across Tyria. You can find one of the giant creatures on the beach in Lion’s Arch.  The most obvious question: why are they fleeing the ocean?

Ships, Ships, Ships!

There are four new ships being around Lions Arch (Harbor Waypoint, Claw Island Portage Waypoint and Sanctum Harbor Bay).  It should be noted that one of the ships is underwater, while a second has a distinct symbol.  To me, the symbol looks almost tentacle-like.

Posters Everywhere!

Four posters have appeared on message boards around Lion’s Arch.  These were originally translated by Ashodin and the high resolution posters by Ralmante. The language used on the posters is New Krytan, the language of Tyria.

Poster 1:

Beware Flesh-eating swarms

Lion’s Arch Authorities are diligently combating an unstoppable onslaught of flesh-eating swarms. We apologize for the inconvenience. We ask that, for your own safety, to stand close and to let our professionals die horribly so that you may continue to live. If you rank yourself among the righteous then by all means assist in the extermination process. We are certain that somewhere, someone at some time will be grateful for your heroic, if not pointless, sacrifice.

Poster 2:

Warning

Dangerous sea monsters

Lion’s Arch Authorities kindly remind all visitors that sea monsters have rendered our beaches unsafe for the general public. Should you choose to ignore this warning then upon your inevitable, grisly demise members of our local pirate population will insure the fair division of your remaining, worldly possessions. Despite your potential horrible end, find comfort in the knowledge that you will soon no longer care and that you will have made a generous contribution to those who, ironically, have more respect of the rules than you do.

Poster 3:

Avast! Ahoy all ye landlubbers!

The hardworking members of the consortium are proud to announce the upcoming unveiling of your dream vacation! coming soon we will open the gate – the asura gate – connecting Lion’s Arch to a veritable tropical paradise of magnificent proportions!

swim in the radiant waters*!

relax on the beach*!

dance the night away*!

Prepare to hoist your jolly roger and to embark on a most majestic adventure with your favorite band of salty dogs!

Arr You Ready?

*Towels not included. The consortium cannot be held responsible for aquatic-related and rythmic-related injuries(or other injuries related to misadventure or otherwise general buffonery). Our medical staff will be on-call to happily ignore your needs should they inevitable arise.

Poster 4: 

DANGER

Enter at your own risk

Lion’s Arch Authorities cannot be held responsible for missing/stolen/damaged and/or devoured appendages, small children, dinghies, fruit baskets, skritt, pumpkin flavored marshmellows, spoons, goofy hats, ascalonian salads, pocket watches, earrings, in-laws, spirits of the wild, eye patches, war machines, seraph, rhubarb pies, mystical artifacts of unquestionable power, mystical artifacts of questionable power, seeing-eye squirrels and carp."

Asura Gate and House

Close to the Claw Island Portage Waypoint is a new house with an Asura Gate nearby.  Tying in nicely to poster 3, I expect this to be the main entrance point to the Lost Shores.

Sea Monster

Could this piece of concept art have anything to do with the strange happenings, rather than a dragon?

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Bless us subjugates video

MMORPG running Unreal Engine 3 jaw we landed without any problems.

It is a fact, MMORPGs can be beautiful. Age of Conan, Aion or even the recent Guild Wars 2 have shown that online gambling could rhyme with rich graphics.
Offering ten races gw2 gold players, each with its own domain, you can browse Bless the kingdoms of Hierapolis and Cosmopolis, engaged in a war without thank you to the following religious and philosophical differences.

A team of 150 people working on the game since 2009, which is felt when you see the quality of the cutscenes (made with the game engine) listed below. It is hoped that the in-game graphics are up to the task, but it gives us at least very eager to learn more about the game.

New event "The Lost Shores" of Guild Wars 2

After the success of the event of the Mad King, for the period of Halloween, ArenaNet does not rest.

On November 15, will start a new event, as announced on the website. Entitled "The Lost Shores", still do not have much information on it, except that it will be repeated ever again, unlike Halloween event that takes place once a year instead.

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There’s been a lot of madness going on in Tyria. But, perhaps even as you read this, it is coming to an end. The Halloween event for Guild Wars 2 reached its final phase today. What were the highlights? Did you go slaughtering with abandon in the Labyrinth? How many keyboards did you destroy in a fit of anger when running the Clocktower? The GuildCast crew tell us what their experiences have been and just how this first seasonal event for GW2 ranks alongside other MMOs. The rumor is that a big update is arriving on November 15. Can the source be trusted? And if so what does the information enclosed in the leak really mean? Is there a complete new addition coming to PvE? What landmass could soon be opened up for exploration? We ponder the possibilities. From November 1, free transfers are limited to once a week. Have people been server hopping? We talk at the reasons behind the restriction and whether it fixes the underlying problem. What is certainly an overlying problem is that guesting is not in the game yet. It is apparently coming soon, but with it coming much later than expected, what issues has it caused to the player base? The gamers four letter word “bots” has been a thorny issue and ArenaNet appears to be responding stridently. Has the dev team really “got this”? We talk about the prevalence of an issue that is of great concern to many. That’s a whole lot to of content to take care of but we still manage to squeeze in your viewer questions. Richie Procopio is unable to be with us due to the malevolent Sandy this week, best wishes to @bogotter! In his stead is GAMEBREAKER’s ever convivial Jason Winter along with Gary Gannon, ZAM’s Scott Hawkes and Massively‘s Elisabeth Cardy for a fright inducing episode of GuildCast!

There’s been a lot of madness going on in Tyria.

But, perhaps even as you read this, it is coming to an end.

The Halloween event for Guild Wars 2 reached its final phase today. What were the highlights? Did you go slaughtering with abandon in the Labyrinth? How many keyboards did you destroy in a fit of anger when running the Clocktower?

The GuildCast crew tell us what their experiences have been and just how this first seasonal event for GW2ranks alongside other MMOs.

The rumor is that a big update is arriving on November 15. Can the source be trusted? And if so what does the information enclosed in the leak really mean?

Is there a complete new addition coming to PvE? What landmass could soon be opened up for exploration? We ponder the possibilities.

From November 1, free transfers are limited to once a week. Have people been server hopping? We talk at the reasons behind the restriction and whether it fixes the underlying problem.

What is certainly an overlying problem is that guesting is not in the game yet. It is apparently coming soon, but with it coming much later than expected, what issues has it caused to the gw2 gold player base?

The gamers four letter word “bots” has been a thorny issue and ArenaNet appears to be responding stridently. Has the dev team really “got this”? We talk about the prevalence of an issue that is of great concern to many.

That’s a whole lot to of content to take care of but we still manage to squeeze in your viewer questions.

Richie Procopio is unable to be with us due to the malevolent Sandy this week, best wishes to @bogotter!

In his stead is GAMEBREAKER’s ever convivial Jason Winter along with Gary Gannon, ZAM’s Scott Hawkesand Massively‘s Elisabeth Cardy for a fright inducing episode of GuildCast!

Guild Wars 2: Shadow of the Mad King Act 4 Starts Tomorrow

ArenaNet’s Martin Kerstein has given an update on the fourth and final act of Guild Wars 2′s Shadow of the Mad King Halloween event.  This last phase will deploy through an update tomorrow morning at 9am Pacitic Time and remain available until the net update.

When this fourth act goes live, gw2 gold players will no longer have access to the Ascend to Madness dungeon from Act 3.  A party for Mad King will be held in Lion’s Arch once the update goes live.

From the GW2 forums:

We want to give you a heads up about Phase 4 of the Halloween event. Phase 4 will start at 9:00 AM PDT/16:00 GMT on October 31, and will run until we publish a new build on November 1 (which will be sometime after Noon PDT/19:00 GMT).

Once Phase 4 starts, the Ascent to Madness dungeon will no longer be available – but you will still be able to enter the Mad King’s realm, including the Labyrinth, the Clocktower, Reaper’s Rumble and Lunatic Inquisition.

Also make sure that you will “Attend the Party” in Lion’s Arch once Phase 4 starts, and do not worry: It is a non-stop party, so swing by any time you want!<source>

Happy Halloween.

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