shrew.3059

Duelists as a marginalised community; this thread never stops giving. Not only that, we’ve already started gatekeeping the imaginary Duelist sanctuary.

I think the problem is that you want a cashless route to rewards ANet could charge cash for. They need that cash to run the game, so if they give you what you ask, you are costing them money, not making them money. If the argument is that giving you a cashless route would inspire you (or someone else) to spend the equivalent amount of money at some time in the future, then it may be worth it, but I assume they have run the numbers and assessed how many rewards to paywall.

So you’ve decided that no matter what I say, I cannot have a valid opinion on any change that would limit my options. No Thief can ever have an opinion because they are automatically biased. You, however, are free to have opinions on whatever profession you desire without such a burden. You’ve set the terms of discussion so as to preclude any possibility of disagreement, so I can only conclude you don’t want a discussion but to (figuratively) hear the sound of your own voice.

For the record, I don’t run a stealth build when I roam, but I must be still be biased because I disagree with you. I’ll just show myself out then and you can continue preaching to the choir.

I’m not dismissing them, but I didn’t pile on in a “nerf Engineer” thread so maybe that’s why I didn’t mention them. Also, Engineers are definitely desirable in zerg gameplay, which you have repeatedly glossed over because you seem more interested in nerfing Thieves. I also have an Engineer, by the way, and I remember when we had to play piano just to scrape by. Engineers are fine now, but keep acting like Warriors and Thieves are the problem.

I suspect that these threads aren’t created because people forgot, but because they are upset they didn’t get what they wanted. I’m guessing ANet is in the unfavourable position of not being able to reveal more about Cantha without spoilers, so they are pushing what they can. For every complaint, that complainer would probably be silent if they had been given their little cookie, “meaningful content” or not.

Company tries to sell you a new fridge with 25% more storage space but you would rather have a fridge with a built-in toaster because more space doesn’t sound exciting. Fishing is lame because it doesn’t sound as big or innovative as a new raid in marketing material. It’s the same gripe that’s been occurring in the smartphone space for years; people would rather have an unnecessary form factor change than an incremental under-the-hood upgrade because the new shape feels like it’s a bigger feature. A numerical increase in some functionality is boring! They ignore the fact that after the novelty wears off, the boring feature is probably the one they’ll appreciate more. I’ve never been in a raid, and I don’t begrudge anyone who has or wants more. But for those saying that raids are critical for EoD’s success, consider how many people there are like me who would never access the new raids but will fish. Not a sexy feature perhaps, but for us, a sexy feature we never experience is no feature at all.

I can’t say for sure because I haven’t done the appropriate market analysis myself, but I wonder if WoW’s recent missteps are more responsible for that renaissance. I’m not sure swinging the game towards their aesthetic demographic would help GW2 since that’s not likely why those players migrated en masse.

Get out of here with your examples! More feelings and citations from family members, please.

Except that Engineers have pretty good utility in all game modes. But sure, Thieves and Warrior need to trade off.

Thank you for this! Interesting perspective. I felt Nightfall (and PoF to a lesser extent) attempted a blending of African cultures, but managed to create some meaningful subdivisions that allowed those different cultures to shine. Not being as familiar with East Asian history, I didn’t detect the same aesthetic vision for Cantha but I wonder what it would have been like.

Nope, it does not make sense. But here we are.

Agreed. I actually like some of the fan created especs even if I know they won’t be made. Seeing fan creativity is awesome. If those creators raged that ANet didn’t adopt their ideas, that would be less awesome. My biggest pet peeves: 1. “If you knew anything about the game, you’d know X is good/bad.” 2. “You have no credibility if you think X is good/bad.” 3. “Many people agree with me that X is good/bad.” 4. “Popular MMO Y has X feature, so GW2 will die if it doesn’t get X.”

Ummm, Warriors have been successively hobbled to the point where I feel sorry for them, even as a Thief. But I’m sure you’re equally critical of professions like Guard, Necro, and Rev who all need buffs, right?

“It’s worth it if I like it” seems to be the theme of this thread. Which is actually a fine basis for purchasing decisions. If it’s not worth it to you, don’t buy it. It’s not a great basis for a general critique. But the fact that it’s worth it to others doesn’t make them crazy/stupid, and it certainly doesn’t make ANet lazy. If it’s worth it to enough people, ANet has made a good business call, your decision notwithstanding. Calling them a company lazy isn’t likely to get them to give more stuff for the same price; people can share their opinions, but should vote with their wallet if they feel so strongly.

To be entirely fair, the ability to make complex arguments that draw conclusions from both qualitative and quantitative data is a hard one to acquire. To express it concisely and persuasively is also difficult. These are professional skills people spend many years perfecting. Nobody expects a full commercial/technical accounting of your preferences and desires. The moment you start acting like your argument is a well-sourced, infallible fortress of logic and truth, you’re raising the bar for yourself. Unless you’ve got the skill and data to back it up, why make your life more difficult? Would these forums be more interesting if people got into really technical debates about the price elasticity of Bag Slots? Probably not. So let’s not pretend we’re anything more than amateurs sharing our mutual love of GW2. If you’ve got hard data to share, go for it. A spouse’s vague related experience doesn’t count, and if you had professional experience in these matters, you’d understand why.

I feel like you might not understand what an ad hominem attack is. I know throwing around logical fallacies is the way people defend themselves on the internet, but assume your interlocutors are familiar enough with the terms to know when you’re misusing them. Making a claim about the nature of your argument is not the same as invalidating it on that basis. I can say your argument comes off as whiny and entitled but claim it fails as an argument because it doesn’t sufficiently support itself. Two different things. You claim to understand how the expansion will perform in the market without supporting this in any concrete way. If you had to formally present your argument to anyone with business or development experience, would they take you seriously? And before you argue “it’s just a forum, my arguments don’t need to meet that standard”, might I suggest you make more reasonable and provable arguments for the current format.

If you present a detailed market analysis, and a development plan to achieve your goals within a budget and that market, maybe you’d be taken seriously. I don’t think it’s worth your time to do any of that, by the way. I’ve done both professionally and nothing I’ve seen here amounts to anything even close to the sort of qualitative or quantitative evidence required to support the argument. Doesn’t necessarily mean you’re wrong, but no one here has any duty to take you seriously if you keep arguing from ignorance. You’re effectively shouting into an operating theatre about how you’d perform the surgery because you’ve watched every episode of House.

1. It’s one thing to make suggestions, or indulge in a little speculation or wishlisting. It’s even alright to be a little disappointed when those things don’t come to pass. It’s the height of immaturity to throw a textual fit and blame the developers for their failure to follow your suggestions or meet your particular expectations. 2. Those who disagree with these sorts of diatribes aren’t necessarily “white knights” or “fanboys/girls”; they aren’t even necessarily getting 100% of what they wished for either. Consider the fact that they might realise you have to meet entertainment where it is, rather than where you would put it. They are also willing to wait how things pan out because they’ve seen enough cycles of panic and hysteria to know that the sky is rarely falling. 3. It’s okay to not like something. It’s okay to wish the things you do like were slightly different. It’s also okay to just play a different game if it fulfils your desires more closely. Certainly easier than trying to change another game into your fantasy hybrid. 4. People need to stop pretending they have expertise they don’t. I read a lot of claims about what the market wants, or what this/that choice will do to player numbers, or the consequence of giving Eles a hammer, how lazy this/that feature is. How many of these people have actual MMOs design experience? How many have project managed software of this size? Performed a market analysis? Prepared a budget or business model? You might think playing MMOs for years entitles you to speak in these subjects, but it doesn’t. These are hard tasks even when you’ve trained for them. You can have tons of opinions on what you’d prefer, or what you think works or doesn’t mechanically, but unless you have any business or relevant software experience, don’t pretend like ANet has to listen to you. They’d be insane to take the advice of a random internet person with no proven business/design experience. Again, I’m not saying you need specific expertise to have an opinion on what espec you’d like, but you probably need one to determine what your game needs to succeed in the market. All of this to say: you have a perspective to share, and that’s great! But share it within the bounds of your expertise and don’t overreach by claiming you are the only one who can save GW2. Imagine someone coming into your office and raving about how badly you’re doing your job, and tossing a napkin on your desk labelled “Plans to save this company”. Would you take that person seriously? Stick to sharing your experience, and either trust ANet will do their best with that. Which, as it turns out, is the reality anyway; people like me are just generously wasting our time reminding you of it.

You’re right, because there is nothing constructive I could say. These forums treat the developers like their job is to fulfil their fantasies, like they have intimate knowledge of their constraints and plans. And frankly, it comes off as whiny and entitled. It’s one thing to say “I would like…” and another to say “This game is a failure unless I get…” But you do you.

Sounds like you should build your own game, rather than expecting ANet to do it for you. But if your husband agrees, I guess nothing else needs to be said.

I read just fine, I just happen to think the argument itself is a pretty good example of lacklustre content. Is EoD the first expansion to reuse animations for especs? Would new animations suddenly make the especs respectable content? Are novel animations something you are really going to care about in 3 years? I’m curious what percentage of people calling out laziness on these forums have extensive project management experience and what percentage of those have the requisite knowledge of ANet’s resources and timelines to make an assessment of the effort they’ve put in. If you’re going to complain, put some effort into the arguments. Talk about lazy.

Yep. We’ve gotten so used to the especs we don’t even consider them content anymore. This is textbook entitlement.

“Other professions” are always the problem in PvE/PvP/WvW, haven’t you heard?

So par for the course on these forums?