River Valley.2396

Most people who watch streamers do it for the streamers, not the game. There is some cross-pollination/promotion but I believe/hope Anet are smart enough not to hitch their trailer to that particular dataset.

Expansion only maps and playlists are a thing in other games; would that work here? Who knows? I do think that Anet should think about doing "split" expansions, but they'll be more expensive to make. Not only as they'll need to two different teams working on it at the same time, but also because they will have to take more time developing it in order for the quality on all parts of the expansion are level. They have the data on how engaged the pvp crowd is and who among those are owners of the expansions, so they can figure out if it's worth it from there. But both sides of the equation will need to be top notch in order for it to work, otherwise you'll have each side blaming the other as to why X is not as good as before. I'm purely a PVE player, but they need to give the PVP crowd something and the best way to do that is to do split expansions.

That's an unfortunate thing to know as I prep to go through the rest of the content I have. At least I'll be prepared. Again, I'm not playing an MMO for the story but since it's there I'd like it to work on a more solid and cohesive manner (as the medium and genre allow it). That can mean Marvel quips, even if I am not a fan, but to me the issue is more than that. Other games (and books/films/shows) are able to juggle tone and their narratives well. I like using "Hardcore Henry" as an example as that film is not trying to be an art film, but it understands what it is and does it justice. A thing doesn't have to be narrative/atmosphere focused in order to pull off those elements of the whole package.

When I first played GW2 I liked the fact that the MC didn't seem as special for the most part (I'm sure that'll change once I get to the rest of the story), so I was happy that it was a story about many peoples coming together to stand up to evil instead about a chosen one. Going through the personal story now (many many many moons after release) with one of my alts I'm reminded of how lighthearted and goofy it can be. I bought GW2 because I was interested in the concept of their mmo design and the absolutely GORGEOUS art. Once I was in the game I was impressed by the environmental storytelling. There are places where you can see (or at least imagine) things that happened in that map's past that had emotional weight and stakes. And while I'm not the biggest fan of the silly vibe it has sometimes, I enjoy it during holiday events as those aren't supposed to be taken seriously. Regardless, the main story paths also sharing that lack of stakes and goofiness is a disappointment. I don't play mmos for the storytelling, nor do I believe that "dark = better" but GW2 wants to have weight and stakes but so far it misses that goal. It's not the acting, nor even the actual dialog. It's more complicated than that, as a lot of the writing within it makes the world look like a literal theme park. A small, undefended farm constantly under siege from a band of bandits that live inside a cave, not even a two minute walk away, and there's no casualties? Renown heart quests bring down the whole atmosphere to a silly level as scenarios like the above replay ad-infinitum. There are parts of the world and the game's story where it feels like a theme park narratively, and that's not good.

So you're saying real world taxes are also a gold sink designed to keep the economy in check? (Yes I read the rest of OP's post, I found it too funny not to point it out.) I wonder if this observation got me on a blacklist for this year's taxes. Hm.

They actually do show up as "Arenanet". Also OP sounds underage, which opens up another can of worms as they shouldn't have their parents' CC, even if their parents are that cool about it. Maybe OP's father learned an important lesson. Others have said it before but tell your father to call his bank and nuke his cards.

My opinion is next to useless as I don't watch streamers but. If I watch a video about video games it'll be because of one of the following: A) Looking up gameplay before making a purchase, B) A youtuber I already follow making a video essay, C) Video essay about something that interests me for some reason (IE got clickbaited), D) Random meme videos about funny things happening IN SPITE of the game ("GIVE EM STEEL LADS, GIVE EM STEEL!"). Really, the simple answer is for Anet to make content that gets people theory crafting and talking about lore. PVP always pulls eyes onto videos. Blow some money into a trailer with CGI for a major expansion. Lure streamers by doing promos and whatnot. Player housing technically fits into D above, but D requires the algorithm to get my attention so it's not a viable strategy. Unless they want to the uploader to go viral in a decade. But personally, if I was some big shot producer at Anet or their parent company I'd tell Anet to focus on intriguing bread and butter experiences; design is king in video games. Then I'd ask the marketing people to try to use the gem shop to get some dumb funny things out of it, like asking people to show their cosmetics or whatnot. Basically, I'd give the marketing people a headache as I'd just tell them to go strike gold with whatever's at hand. Main point, though, is design. There's a reason why Soulsborne games get constant coverage.

I know this might be less than helpful, but have you tried purchasing the gems directly through the use of a credit card, instead of your steam wallet? There have been times where some storefronts are particular about things like these and I've fixed it by doing the equivalent of throwing a credit card at the person behind a cash register (please don't do that).

As far as the original post, this isn't that bad considering what happens in other games. I remember during my Destiny days how often I saw people selling carries on Trials of Osiris (basically a different kind of top level pvp). Which was ridiculous as it's a 3v3 elimination mode. It takes some brass to both sell and buy those. I bet there were a lot of unhappy customers. It's still bad, don't get me wrong. Just because it happens elsewhere doesn't make it good, but it's one of those things any game with any sort of multiplayer will have. I understand where OP comes from as I tended to avoid making LFGs for most games I played (GW2 included), and it took a bit to get over that. Sometimes you have to create some runs to get some runs. My recent personal experience compromises of a small sample size but it went mostly well; only one group didn't actually read the LFG and we ran a story mode for no reason at all (I should have said something); and one group of rushers that I joined (would have helped if they had said they were speedrunning it on the LFG, cause it went poorly and I almost quit). Raids, and any other similar type of end-game content, are better done with guilds. There's more transparency, and the run's goals and "vibe" are known ahead of time. If I ever get into doing GW2 raids (which I doubt I'll ever do cause I'm more interested in other parts of the game) it'll be with a guild. Too many egos getting together in time consuming, challenging content is always something that will create silly drama. Just look at this thread. Moral of the story: put yourself out there, maybe join a guild, have some patience, ignore bad actors, think about your endgame goals, and enjoy your time. I don't know why raids are dead in GW2 (I've been away for close to a decade), but once I saw that Heart of Thorns was coming out and there seemed to be a focus on this newfangled "Living World" stuff, I pretty much believed raids were never going to be a big draw as in other mmos. GW2, to me, was always around pseudo dynamic open world content, pvp, and the exploration of a gorgeous "themepark" mmo world.

You haven't lived until you've gone hunting and snagged some prey by setting it on fire with a torch.