The new forums are a step back

The Guild Wars 2 official forums have always been kind of archaic in comparison to most forums you can find online, but these new forums have managed to go even lower with many of the most basic features.

• Useful, Thumbs Up, and Thumbs Down should be anonymous. Making them public only encourages grudges, circlejerks, and self-censorship. Not to say the icons of those who voted start filling the screen pretty quickly, and they're incredibly annoying.
• Being unable to edit your posts whenever you want is really distasteful. There's plenty of threads where editing the original body or the messages is mandatory to keep the conversation updated. Is there any logic reason for this?
• Locking forum functionalities behind badges only encourages artificial behavior in order to farm more badges and unlock said features. The main goal of the forum should be discussion, not achievement farming and spamming to get points.
• Multiple readability problems. There's a lot of empty vertical white space between the posts, and the bodies themselves are far too wide, which makes you lose the line you were reading easily. The artwork at the sides is distracting and moves focus away from the conversation. The font is too large, too. Forums should be functional rather than pretty.
• User name is placed between each post, which makes it obtrusive. It should be placed to the left, along the avatar.
• The report/useful/etc options under each message should have a font smaller than that of the body of the messages, and be located to a side where they don't get mixed with the conversation.
• A night mode is almost mandatory, and pretty much zero-effort to implement.
• Pointless to introduce an avatar system, if the options are so limited. We need more images to choose from.
• Direct links to the wiki don't work anymore, and you get an external link warning.

Overall, I feel like the forums got prettier, but more annoying to use in many ways. I'm sure there's more problems out there, so feel free to post them in this thread.

So yeah, I don't like the new forums.

Also, you can't post images directly to threads anymore. External linking (with it's multistep hassle) to a picture you can't see (VERY ABUSABLE) is not an equivalent, or viable.

I agree on all points. +1

Gotta agree here. +1

I agree, especially if there are certain features, etc. locked behind badges. We have enough time gated, achievement locked things in the game. The forum doesn't need to be a copy of that. I mean seriously, what next? Gems for forum privileges?

I have to agree with OP's points. Although, it musta been tricky to make something with waaaaay too much white space and look cluttered at the same time.

Sheesh.

I would not say its a step back, but i do agree with some of your points made.And you made your feedback.

I disagree on that the font is to large. I think that might be your browser settings, not the forum settings. The current font size is i belie the standard side used in programs like word. Which is easy to read without having to squint.I don't find the artwork distracting, in fact if it wasn't there. it would be a lot of empty space.A night mode would be a great QOL for people with visual disabilities. But there ARE browser addons that do the same thing.For this same reason i think buttons should not be smaller at all, since smaller text makes it harder to read.

I do agree that locking forum functions behind ranks will get people to act artificial but only in the beginning, since the recruit functions are pretty limited.

I think you didn't read the topic about forum functionality right since we are able to edit our posts. it just has a time window which is linked to rank.

I also agree on the "Helpful" "thumbs up" "thumbs down" should be anonymous . because of the very fact that theres a "thumbs down" option at all. Yes it works on reddit, but on reddit down voting is anonymous.

So this is my feedback. Feel free to merge with other feedback topics.

I agree that there are many improvements that can be made to the new forums, but I wouldn't necessarily call the change a backwards step.

I take the fact that we have the new forums as a sign that ANet finally have a forum platform that they can more easily adapt and modify and hopefully will be able to improve on going forward.

Having said that, the mobile version looks awful and is missing functionality. I had to go to the full site to be able to set my avatar for instance.

I think making them public discourages trolls who'd rather remain anonymous and toxic

The good that it brings far outweighs the bad if a person is just going around and down-voting as many topics as possible then they should be brought into the light. Same for a person who is just upvoting their own posts with Alts. If you wish to down vote a comment then you must firmly dislike the post and if you like a topic you should be able to proudly show your support of it.

As for being unable to edit whenever you want that too is a move to lower toxic behavior as you need to be sure of what you post and if your called out a person can't edit a topic and pretend it never happened. Posts have meaning after all and the constant changing your posts can completely disrupt the flow of a forum. If a topic needs to be changed then that means the current topic is over and the post can be closed and archived thus stopping bloated posts. A new ammended topic can get a fresh positive start and if a post would be too much work then the topic isn't that important to be kept going through edits in the first place.

So I disagree with the first two points as I doubt they'd increase toxic behavior but have the opposite effect as for everything else I'd say I agree with you

Agreed. As a guild leader, I want a signature in my posts that lists contact information. Now I have to get enough "thumbs-ups" to get a rank before I can have a signature? Let us have signatures, and please get rid of this "rank" gating stuff on feature use. (or please explain to us why it's there).

Personally, I don't care about the up-votes of posts, and I don't want to see the avatars. Please give me an option to omit this.

There is too much vertical white space in almost everything -- the space between lines of text, the space between posts, etc. And that "stylized" broken horizontal line is distracting -- please just draw a solid line.

Please let me edit my posts, as I need to, not based on some time-gate or ranking system. If someone points out an error to me, especially when I post information about my guild, I need to fix that post, not make a followup.

I agree with previous posts on the new layout compared to the old layout.

Now that you have this new, nifty forum system, can Anet please require its use by Anet employees and stop posting relevant game information to twitter, reddit, and facebook, and give us a single place to come for information? PLEASE?!?!?!?!?

It seems to me that the look/behavior of the forums has changed from something that was a functional resource to something that has become more of a form of social media. Sorry, but I don't like it. I come to these forums for helpful information, not for a "social experience."

All in all, I think the new forums are a step backward from a functional usability point of view. On the plus side, I do like not having to keep logging in over and over. But given the way things behave with the new forums, overall, I'm feeling less inclined to use them, at present.

I truly hope Anet is reading all these feedback posts and will seriously consider making some adjustments to the new behavior and look-and-feel of the new forums.

It is sad that i have to fully agree to every single point OP makesI think he/she made a very good list of what is wrong with new forums atm and i just hope that Anet takes good notice of OPs post and tries to use the constructive criticism for improvements :)

Most of the design changes just seem to be completely unnecessary ... and the few true functional improvements could have been done with the old, well working design too i think

There are 2 changes that the i like though:1) Working search function2) easy 1-click use of bold, italic, etc......but then again it seems like they have removed the underlined function for no reason? (or at least didnt include it in the easy 1-click menu like the others)

@Doam.8305 said:

The good that it brings far outweighs the bad if a person is just going around and down-voting as many topics as possible then they should be brought into the light. Same for a person who is just upvoting their own posts with Alts. If you wish to down vote a comment then you must firmly dislike the post and if you like a topic you should be able to proudly show your support of it.

Gonna disagree here. On the World of tanks forum(i know, gonna mention another game here) people farmed downvotes, would post things to earn downvotes etc. Getting enough of those would get you banned over there, your post deleted etc. It didnt matter though, and that place was insanely toxic.

Its nice to have for Anets side of things because they can actually see the numbers of people who disagree/agree with the post, but they could do that anyways without making it available to the public.

Visually one thing that bothers me right off the bat are all the badges under people's posts. They are too big and very distracting from the content of the forums.

Just noticed, you can't remove posts either. Got a duplicate post in another thread, and I can't do anything about it.

Also, you can't tell clearly if you already voted a post or not. The text and the icon don't change after you vote, and you have to unvote and vote again to check if you voted, or look for your avatar in the list of voters. Really inconvenient.

@DBZVelena.5186 said:I think you didn't read the topic about forum functionality right since we are able to edit our posts. it just has a time window which is linked to rank.

I can't edit the body of the original post anymore. How does that make any sense to anyone?

I think it's a bit of a shame that profiles can't be fleshed out. Maybe this is also hidden behind "forum rank" or a planned feature for later.

I didn't use the previous forums because it was generally hard to read and navigate there. I know GW2 has always been white with splashes of colour but I would also like to see some sort of dark mode or whatever.

Maybe look at the WoW forums - they might not be perfect but they have features that I am sure a lot of people would like.

@Lonami.2987 said:I can't edit the body of the original post anymore. How does that make any sense to anyone?

Inb4 we have to pay gems to edit forum posts.

My major issue right now, having not spent much time on the new forum, is with the spacing issue. It is way too spread out and toss in the multiple sticky threads it is a scrolling mess. Since I can't upload a picture in the new forum, picture 1 is the old general forum view and 2 is the new one.

Picture 1:
https://imgur.com/3bhFC00

Picture 2:

https://imgur.com/u5YsYIY

The new forum format is way too spread out for my liking. When I first saw it I wasn't even sure I was on a forum but was looking at a bunch of notices from Anet. I understand that avatars and the other new flair take up space, but I really hope Anet can clean this up a bit and make it more condensed. Personally I could do without avatars all together. It isn't like we can have custom ones anyway (that whole security issue of uploading images Gaile mentioned) so all they really are is like flair in Reddit only larger and taking up more space. Perhaps I'm just too used to the old forum.

As it is now the only plus I have seen with the new forum is that the search function works. That is really a major plus and the only really down side I saw from the old forum.

I'm no mod, but...if you have feedback to give, there is a specific thread dedicated to giving it here: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/269/feedback-new-forums#latest

Please use that instead of clogging the general discussion, as a courtesy.

It all looks great to me to be honest. Nice design and all.

But a voting system.. really?

Well good luck with that ... o.O

There is FEEDBACK: New Forums thread already!

@JustTrogdor.7892 said:My major issue right now, having not spent much time on the new forum, is with the spacing issue. It is way too spread out and toss in the multiple sticky threads it is a scrolling mess. Since I can't upload a picture in the new forum, picture 1 is the old general forum view and 2 is the new one.

Picture 1:

https://imgur.com/3bhFC00

Picture 2:

https://imgur.com/u5YsYIY

The new forum format is way too spread out for my liking. When I first saw it I wasn't even sure I was on a forum but was looking at a bunch of notices from Anet. I understand that avatars and the other new flair take up space, but I really hope Anet can clean this up a bit and make it more condensed. Personally I could do without avatars all together. It isn't like we can have custom ones anyway (that whole security issue of uploading images Gaile mentioned) so all they really are is like flair in Reddit only larger and taking up more space. Perhaps I'm just too used to the old forum.

As it is now the only plus I have seen with the new forum is that the search function works. That is really a major plus and the only really down side I saw from the old forum.

I completely agree. I would even go as far as saying picture 1 is what I associate with a designers work, picture 2 is what I associate with a designers work when his or her boss is shoving needless clutter and bad ideas down their throat. But I'm sure this works great on mobiles and those avatar thumbs up icons are like emojis riiiiight? and emojis are great when spammed across your screen.

I Don't understand the forum modifications. I felt like the old system was much neater, less visually cluttered, more intelligible, and concisely designed. What's the point of having a bunch of icons, thumbs up rating systems, and badges or rankings when all that does is promote competition and bureaucracy in an environment that should be devoid of those two things. I don't find the forum changes at all constructive or beneficial in comparison. I'd rather a complete reversion to the old forum design.

Will have to agree with the points made. +1

@Lonami.2987 said:The Guild Wars 2 official forums have always been kind of archaic in comparison to most forums you can find online, but these new forums have managed to go even lower with many of the most basic features.

• Useful, Thumbs Up, and Thumbs Down should be anonymous. Making them public only encourages grudges, circlejerks, and self-censorship. Not to say the icons of those who voted start filling the screen pretty quickly, and they're incredibly annoying.
• Being unable to edit your posts whenever you want is really distasteful. There's plenty of threads where editing the original body or the messages is mandatory to keep the conversation updated. Is there any logic reason for this?
• Locking forum functionalities behind badges only encourages artificial behavior in order to farm more badges and unlock said features. The main goal of the forum should be discussion, not achievement farming and spamming to get points.
• Multiple readability problems. There's a lot of empty vertical white space between the posts, and the bodies themselves are far too wide, which makes you lose the line you were reading easily. The artwork at the sides is distracting and moves focus away from the conversation. The font is too large, too. Forums should be functional rather than pretty.
• User name is placed between each post, which makes it obtrusive. It should be placed to the left, along the avatar.
• The report/useful/etc options under each message should have a font smaller than that of the body of the messages, and be located to a side where they don't get mixed with the conversation.
• A night mode is almost mandatory, and pretty much zero-effort to implement.
• Pointless to introduce an avatar system, if the options are so limited. We need more images to choose from.
• Direct links to the wiki don't work anymore, and you get an external link warning.

Overall, I feel like the forums got prettier, but more annoying to use in many ways. I'm sure there's more problems out there, so feel free to post them in this thread.

So yeah, I don't like the new forums.

I want to thumbs down this guy, but I'm scared of what he'll do to me. :/

the whole rank and badge system is an awful gimmick in every awful forum that does it. E-peen fights is all it is. I figured they would redesign the forum after what ever they created for the gem store. (Remember guys, you can buy gems, incase you forgot)

Its for sure more mobile friendly. The popularity garbage is not needed though.