Best and Worst Decisions Anet has made?

With path of fire launching soon and S4 in development, what do you think are the best and worst decisions anet has made in gw2's growth? Give the team an idea of what you loved and hated.

Best for me:-Introduction of collections - this was a great foundation system thats been developed and used well both to introduce new content and revive old-Gliding-Big meta event chains that tell a story - They help you feel connected to the world alot more and its much better than wandering around aimlessly hope to stumble across 1 random event-Hidden secrets, hilarious ambient dialogue and Lord faren.

Worst for me:-Removal of the dungeon team and TA FW/UP - although im happy with fractals as the future now, leaving existing dungeon to rot, and removing them is terrible imo

• Living story season 1 being temporary - Pretty sure Anet knows they did bad here but I wish they would bring it back
• Outfits not being mix and match - for a game all about cosmetics, its so boring
• Story being too human focused - Other races exist. Story inconsistencies are becoming too huge for other races, especially in S3 (how taimi talks to asura, shining blade ect)

Turning a game that required intelligence and strategy into a OHKO 1,000 APM visual noise fiesta. I miss Guild Wars 1's slower pace and greater emphasis on knowledge over twitch play, and had I known the series would eventually turn into Metal Slug Tyria, I wouldn't have invested nearly as much time and money in it (PoF is my final Anet purchase): if I wanted to play Crash Bandicoot or Dark Souls, I would play them instead. Refusing to add color blind mode or better visualization options would be a close second. There's no excuse in 2017, especially when indie developers with 1/10th of the budget can pull it off.

Best would be the Festival of the Four Winds. I loved that content and haven't felt as engaged since. I'd love to be able to play Aspect Arena just one more time before I quit.

i think im already done with the GW series, so no PoF for me..(5years wating this game to get decent, while its getting dumber and dumber)

Game is to basic, it offer nothing more than ktrain for events of WvW ktrain for the rewards tracks...

To much emphasys on gimmicks/rotations to help the bad players, while they dont need understanding on what htye are doing(even i have won matches while tappig randomly, since build was extremelly easy for damage output w/o team needed), low team effort gameplay etc...To much flashy skills spamThe balance is awfull due its pve game, and pvp is just there cause well ... a mmo needs pvp.PVE is extremelly dullCrafting system.... its the worse crafting system i have saw in a mmo....

They murdered pvp on their own game long time ago.... cause its a pve class design system and balance cant touch it... (<-big failure here)

Its a bad game with good graphics... I have losted faith and respect for this company workers...

Best was probably adding wardrobe to storage instead of limiting it to pvp lobby.

Worst was NPE, only topped by the introduction of free lv80 booster to new players a few months later.

Worst, to me, is their decision to be totally fine with dungeons being "abandonware"....

The vast majority of the decisions post beta have been pretty bad IMO. They are beyond numbering at this point. Luckily the core game is sufficiently good to offset most of the truly mind-boggling develeopments since launch.

On the other hand I do feel that the increased mob difficulty in HoT was a solid decision.

Worst decision: requiring a different (but identical) event/accomplishment to unlock each & every major trait. So bad that they completely reversed it.

Second worst: gating so much of HoT behind timed metas, instead of following the Silverwastes model (no specific timer, gated areas can be unlocked independent of the meta). Again, so bad that they reverted it as much as possible.

Best: gliding, gliding to core Tyria, adding true auto-looting to the game (finally!), salvage all, the wardrobe.

Biggest (positive) surprises: I was against raids & mounts. Raids turned out to be a major success, in that they appealed to gamers that were looking for challenges and some (like me) that thought they'd never be interested. Similarly, I thought mounts would be "just another WoW" feature that is more a burden; so far, they look like a lot of fun.

Best: The Wardrobe system.Worst: Abandonment of dungeons.

Best

• The intensity of the HoT maps. They were super unique, and something I've never seen in an MMO, let alone a video game in general. I loved it, especially with the gliding. Tangled Depths can DIAF though.

Worst

• The fact we haven't gotten any good PVE siege maps. I want an entire map where the enemy takes your bases, and we take theirs. We've gotten "okay" ones. But I'd like to see something on the scale of WvW, with massive sieges, and fun scripted events, and such things as that. Not just defending some small camp from the most annoying mobs known to mankind. I want to see awesome siege weapons on both sides, and armies marching across the map, etc.

Top 3 Best

1. Jumping Puzzles
2. Glider & Masteries
3. Living Story & Zones

Top 3 Worst

1. Didn't fix WvW lag since game release.
2. Legendary equipment not tradable ( which means accessories, armors and weapons )
3. Conditions

Yea I liked dungeons too

Worst:

• Abandoning dungeons
• Abandoning sPvP after their attempt at eSports failed
• Abandoning WvW
• No updates/ additions to world events
• Refusing to balance PvP and PvE separately
• Taking months between balance patches, often making things worse when they do release balance patches
• Allowing builds such as Ventari Rev to go unhindered for months
• Refusing to update/ optimize their engine
• Stating that updating/ overhauling GW2's graphics would be "too much work"
• Ignoring issues with existing content in favor of pushing new content
• Removing Thumbs Down

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

• Worst decision: requiring a different (but identical) event/accomplishment to unlock each & every major trait. So bad that they completely reversed it.

Oh man. I had completely forgotten about that. That really was the worst, I feel.

Best for me would be -

The introduction of gliding, that was a really creative decision that gave lots of freedom and made travelling really enjoyable in a unique way. It also allowed for more verticality in maps which is something I also really thought was a good addition, allowing for more complex and interesting map designs that other MMOs.

Switching to the format of LS2 & LS3 where they made episodes available to buy (and with the option via in game gold!) if you missed them was a brilliant decision! I missed parts of LS1 so it really hurts me that LS1 wasn't designed in such a way to allow for that, as I would buy it immediately!

As for worst -

The lack of design balance, and the focus on designing more and more gimmicks and over the top glowing flashy junk. Such as ridiculous armour skins with massive pointy/pokey out bits, the fact everything must have a particle effect or aura on it, items with stupid noises on them, and most recently, ridiculously oversized glowing gliders that block your view if someone deploys one in front of you! (Went to East Octovine the other day, someone deployed a meteor glider in front of me and I actually couldn't see the Octovine or my ground aoe for the bombs!).

Now I know that technically can't be classed as a bad decision as it's more of a personal dislike. And people do buy all that junk, which gives Anet money, which means more funds to put back into other areas of the game. But I think it's a disappointing decision that Anet aren't also designing and offering more neutral and less obtrusive looking armours, skins etc for those of use who don't like all the bling on the new stuff they keep churning out.

Tonics - I absolutely hate some of these with a passion, specifically I think it was a bad decision to make tonics that turn people into giant frogs, triple the size of a char or norn, or turn into a massive glowing flying thing. These sort of things end up just being used by people to troll squads, and often block/heavily impair the view of other players giving them a worse game experience. Honestly these sort of tonics should never have been introduced imo.

Finally town clothes, I didn't like the decision having these made into tonics. And I don't like the decision that they haven't since been made available as outfits (even if we have to buy them off the gemstore), and that Anet haven't decided to make a few new ones to sell.

The NPE, most specifically the trait overhaul, was so terrible they had to overhaul the entire trait system again. That it even passed common sense and made it into the game still baffles me to this day. The new system is still, imo, worse than the old system that gave you much more freedom where you wanted to put your points and didn't make skill challenges seem to obsolete. All that system really needed was to be able to freely respec.Anet has a knack for trying to change things that didn't really need changing, doing such a poor job they have to spend even more effort fixing the "fix".

Abandoning old concepts is also pretty high up on the list. Abandoning of dungeons, abandoning the concept of "bring the player, not the class", abandoning the idea of cosmetics being the "end game" goal by releasing barely any new armor sets over the past 3 years, abandoning Tyria.

The best thing? Finally giving up on their pipe dream of making GW2 an e-sport. Closely followed by finally dropping the stuborn attitude of refusing to balance gamemodes that are entirely incomperable, seperately and finally at least trying a bit.

I just thought of my "best thing":

Changing the respec system from having to go to a specific NPC and paying a fee for a one-time respec, to respecing anywhere and anytime - for free.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

• Worst decision: requiring a different (but identical) event/accomplishment to unlock each & every major trait. So bad that they completely reversed it.

I actually liked going around to unlock traits.But I understand that it did more harm than good to high end content and new people trying to join in.

Best: Taking a major redo pass over HoT and changing a lot of the stuff that made it excessively grindy, gated, and player-unfriendly.
Best: Autoloot and gliding in both core + HoT and wvw

Worst: Wings. So much visual clutter and most of them just look so out of place.2nd worst: Dungeon abandonment.Maybe not worst, but a pet peeve: Proliferation of quickness boon and ability to be shared and extended with boon duration. It went from a long cooldown buff to use sparingly in the right situation to something that could be sustained for flat-out power creep.

@Shirlias.8104 said:Top 3 Worst

2. Legendary equipment not tradable ( which means accessories, armors and weapons )

I consider it a good thing that the newer Legendaries are not tradable. I'd almost write it into the worst column that Gen 1 are tradable.

Worst:Not added optional dueling in open world for better world and player interaction

Best:I am really happy with GW2. There is a lot that I really like.

• Exploring the world is fun, especially the complex HoT maps
• JPs are great. Frustrating, but great xD
• all the achievements even though some I will never get
• I love gliding, and hopefully mounts will be equally nice
• I love the mastery point system. AUTO-LOOT! WOOHOO!
• Fashion Wars. I am a huge Fan of all the armor, outfits and weapons.(but I too wish we could mix and match them more and I wish we could dye weapons too). The Wardrobe is really cool.
• All the hidden secrets and easter eggs.
• Meta Event Chains
• The voices of the characters. I love the voice of my female human

Worst:

• Living Story Season 1 is not available anymore
• killing Treahearne ;_; I am one of the few players that really liked him :< Can we switch and kill Braham instead, please? :P
• No new dungeons? :<

Worst: The entire New Player Experience, but especially gutting the 1-15 areas, most especially Metrica Province.Worst: Getting their WvW feedback from a "secret" non-diverse group of players that represented only their own interests.Worst: Ascended gear.Worst: Dumping the dungeon team.Worst: Town clothes tonics.Worst: Forcibly taking the original light flamekissed armor from people who purchased it.Worst: Neutering item sounds.Worst: Nerfing Ranger short bow to 900 range.Best: Gliding.Best: Gliding in WvW.Best: WvW polls.Best: The Greatsaw, the single best item in any game ever. Hopefully with sliders implemented, it will get its original sounds back and be restored to its full awesomeness.Best: The Dreamer, whose neighing uniponies make me smile every time I use it.Best: Asura female voice acting, which makes me smile every time I hear it.Best: Metrica Province before it was destroyed by the New Player Experience.Best: Moving ascended trinket and back acquisition to the open world.

WvW feels like its always lagging way behind in getting any Anet love. IMO its an unfortunate decision to not put more resources into it..Decision about how the stories are written.... its low the quality, but, I've learned to live with how convoluted and weak it is.Lastly on the negative side, I have serious trepidation over the new item id methodology coming our way. I'll leave the final review once PoF goes live. I don't know why this decision was made beyond forcing everyone to do something that will only benefit people who hoard or have poor inventory management skills. Make it optional!!

On the plus side whomever decided to implement the wardrobe change and expanded storage were right on the money - I hope they earned a bonus!I do appreciate more lands to explore in PVE which the living stories gave. Big thumbs up for those!The cadence of living story releases feels right to me. Props for that.

While I would not be against killing Braham (kill him in a ritual to bring Eir back to life and lets forget Braham ever existed please), I must vehemently disagree with you there - killing Trahearne was way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more satisfying than killing Mordy. That leafy Mary Sue had it long coming for reducing my Norn to a side-character in his own Legend...!

New player experience and the content guide is their biggest failure imo.

Its where freedom got streamlined for the sake of players who are unable to explore. Achievements tied to events and big flashy messahes across the screen instead of elegance and detail.

I sometimes feel they ditched their strong unique MMO points because they were impractal to develop or needed such a new way of thinking that the developers themselves couldnt handle it. (Which in a way means that it might have been for the better)