Rasimir.6239

There was a developer comment recently on the question of why there are no collection achievements for some weapon sets (like Heroic Dragonsblood or Astral&Stellar). I can't seem to find it now, but if I recall correctly the answer was that they did not want to introduce collections for the more (time and resource) expensive weapons so people would not feel forced to grind the sets but rather could pick and choose the weapons/skins they actually wanted to use. To me the cost of those weapons is fine, even though I only have 2+2 so far, staff and scepter, but if I found I wanted the skin on another character, then coming up with the resources for another couple of weapons should be ok, despite the fact that I have not once taken part in the Palawadan events yet (I just don't enjoy those kinds of huge, timed events, but fortunately the episode meta achievement was doable without playing the Palawadan events at all ;) ). The game needs goals for those who enjoy spending lots of time and resources on exclusive stuff, and skins are a good way to offer that kind of goal. As such I can live with the fact that there will be extremely expensive/time intensive skins a few times a year. If you want them all, be prepared to spend the time and resources, or just go for the ones you actually want to use, and leave the rest as long-term (as in: years) project. Who knows, one day you might find you have enough resources for another one without the need to grind at all (that's how I got my astral and stellar scepters, with materials gathered over time from story and map exploration).

Could your problem possibly be less a problem of incentive and more a problem of just not having enough friends that enjoy the game (or maybe you yourself not enjoying it as much as you think)?

Park a character at the gates of Arah if you have one "to spare" and check occasionally for the defense event, and you should soon get one that spawns the wizard. I think I took part in three or four events that way until I got mine done (a while ago).

Face it: retaining veterans in any game is always a lot more expensive than attracting new players. New players have a wealth of stuff ahead of them, while veterans have "been there, done that". As such, giving veterans an extra bonus that is kept from new players who participate in the same content is a very dangerous thing, as it'll likely do a lot more damage to new player retention (who end up feeling second class for not being rewarded the same when doing the same) than it helps with veteran player retention (who likely already have more stuff than they know what to do with). A continuous reward system with at best a slight increase for experienced players (e.g. more pips for higher wvw rank or buffs from omni potion for fractal veterans) is really the most balanced way to reward veterans while not making newer/less experienced players feel like 2nd class citizens at the same time. Anything more than that will quickly backfire in a way that is neither healthy for the game nor for its players. Additionally, a lot of the rewards you propose are restricted to specific content for the very purpose of incentivicing players to play that content, not to short-cut to the rewardes by grinding generic event a, b, and c. It's in nobody's best interest to have people grind Silverwastes RIBA or Istan farm trains even more because it turns out doing those events and killing the champs that turn up not only already gives the best gold to time ration but also showers people in prestige coins on top of it. There's no way that would make the game feel more alive or "veterans" feel more inclined to spend money on this game. It would on the other hand take a way a lot of incentive of dabbling in different areas of the game. Why should I try to look for a raid group if I could get all of the raid rewards I'd ever want from gathering prestige coins while doing other stuff? Why ever set a foot into pvp again if I could get all of my pvp rewards from prestige coins I picked up in pve? Signeda 6-year 30k ap veteran with most stuff on your list already checked and enough resources stored to get the rest (mainly the legendary backpieces, why get them when I don't even use my Ad Infinitum?) done on a moment's notice

Opening and exploring maps with different characters can also be a good source of experience, as every piece of map exploration does give experience. Most helpful for me (especially during the early HoT days when you needed certain masteries to continue the expansion story) was changing from the story character to another one for a while and just not worry about the mastery. I could be sure the experience would accumulate while I was enjoying something else :) .

Does Rage count as a "better drop" (the harpoon gun precursor currently worth about 32 gold)? Does Sam reset the counter (a regular exotic that is part of a collection, currently worth above 300 gold)? What about the person above that said they'd much rather have an ascended chest than a precursor? How does "better drops" work for them? I don't think a "mercy rule" is as easy as you make it out to be. This game's reward and economy system heavily relies on the fact that people will get a lot of little bits of loot that add up, rather than the all-or-nothing reward systems we're used to from other games. Personally I very much appreciate this, as it means I'll be pretty much guaranteed to progress towards whatever goals I have, no matter what I do and how good/bad my luck at looting is. As such, getting a lot of drops that can be salvaged into materials and traded for other materials I need to reach my goals is a lot preferable to me to dropping a 30 gold exotic every once in a blue moon. A guaranteed exotic/precursor drop would either lead to the loot pool for those guarantees dropping in value quickly (after all, there are a ton of players playing, all of which would get those guaranteed drops either naturally or through the mercy rule) or the amount of gameplay needed to reach the guarantee threshold would be so large that it would be negligible for most people except for those dedicated to farming a lot (and those already have a good chance at dropping "something of value" the regular way).

I've had one drop from the labyrinth chest in the Silverwastes earlier this year, after playing for almost 10k hour. Fortunately for me it was the only one I ever really wanted to have, the precursor to the minstrel (focus). More fortunate, thanks to playing a long time I even had enough resources to craft it into its legendary form the same night despite it being one of the rare days where the trading post was down all evening. That said, my other legendaries (Ad Infinitum, Kudzu, and Nevermore) were all crafted from scratch, including precursors, and it was a much more memorable, enjoyable, and satisfying experience. I love my minstrel, but if I ever were to craft another gen1 legendary I'd prefer to craft the precursor from scratch rather than dropping/forging/buying it.

Ofc the content is just a few days old now and the data will likely change over time with more players obtaining the regular scarf, which if true would indicate to me that more players who play a lot preferred the more challenging content while more of the infrequent players preferred the more casual content, which would be less surprising . . .But why should I do 15 laps on 5 races in a day or two when I can just do a lap or two on whatever map I am on for the daily bronze/silver/gold chests and get my scarf in a couple of weeks that way? I still think your interpretation of those numbers is majorly flawed. Plus I seriously doubt it's in ANet's best interest to concentrate their development on the needs of those that rush through new content/achievements early (and then complain that there's nothing to do). A good mix is in order, but the new content is meant to entertain people for a good while, and those numbers you quote do nothing to convince me that ANet is better off developing for the people that are done with the content in a matter of hours. I think the argument that players wouldn't care about running fifteen laps bc they'll probably run fifteen laps eventually anyway would actually support the theory that they are not especially interested in the reward for doing so . . .Wanting a reward and wanting it NOW are two very different things. Patience is a virtue not to be overlooked. Seems the challenge was the much more effective motivator in this case then . . .You keep insisting that the first day numbers are any kind of indicator, while willfully ignoring the fact that a large part of this game's playerbase leads lives that don't even permit that much gametime a day, much less spend all of it on just one specific aspect of the game. Face it: a lot of people play this game because (unlike many others) it allows goals to be reached without having to no-life every content that is released. How many people complete new challenges on the first day has no connection to how many people enjoy the more relaxed aspects and goals of new content. You seem to misunderstand what is being discussed. I am not comparing the number of ppl who have achieved each goal to the total number of players, I am comparing the number of ppl who have completed one goal to the number who have completed the other. The ppl who completed either goal could have used the same time to complete the other instead. The fact that the more difficult goal has been completed more frequently is a strong indicator that the challenge of that goal is more appealing. Why is that uncomfortable for you . . ?The challenge of that goal is more appealing to the small subset of the playerbase who have already concentrated on the new content challenges. That's not uncomfortable for me. It's a conclusion based on a small, biased subset of the playerbase. You try to make it sound like that conclusion is applicable to the whole playerbase. I simply pointed out that your conclusion is not universally valid.

Ofc the content is just a few days old now and the data will likely change over time with more players obtaining the regular scarf, which if true would indicate to me that more players who play a lot preferred the more challenging content while more of the infrequent players preferred the more casual content, which would be less surprising . . .But why should I do 15 laps on 5 races in a day or two when I can just do a lap or two on whatever map I am on for the daily bronze/silver/gold chests and get my scarf in a couple of weeks that way? I still think your interpretation of those numbers is majorly flawed. Plus I seriously doubt it's in ANet's best interest to concentrate their development on the needs of those that rush through new content/achievements early (and then complain that there's nothing to do). A good mix is in order, but the new content is meant to entertain people for a good while, and those numbers you quote do nothing to convince me that ANet is better off developing for the people that are done with the content in a matter of hours. I think the argument that players wouldn't care about running fifteen laps bc they'll probably run fifteen laps eventually anyway would actually support the theory that they are not especially interested in the reward for doing so . . .Wanting a reward and wanting it NOW are two very different things. Patience is a virtue not to be overlooked. Seems the challenge was the much more effective motivator in this case then . . .You keep insisting that the first day numbers are any kind of indicator, while willfully ignoring the fact that a large part of this game's playerbase leads lives that don't even permit that much gametime a day, much less spend all of it on just one specific aspect of the game.Face it: a lot of people play this game because (unlike many others) it allows goals to be reached without having to no-life every content that is released. How many people complete new challenges on the first day has no connection to how many people enjoy the more relaxed aspects and goals of new content.

Ofc the content is just a few days old now and the data will likely change over time with more players obtaining the regular scarf, which if true would indicate to me that more players who play a lot preferred the more challenging content while more of the infrequent players preferred the more casual content, which would be less surprising . . .But why should I do 15 laps on 5 races in a day or two when I can just do a lap or two on whatever map I am on for the daily bronze/silver/gold chests and get my scarf in a couple of weeks that way? I still think your interpretation of those numbers is majorly flawed. Plus I seriously doubt it's in ANet's best interest to concentrate their development on the needs of those that rush through new content/achievements early (and then complain that there's nothing to do). A good mix is in order, but the new content is meant to entertain people for a good while, and those numbers you quote do nothing to convince me that ANet is better off developing for the people that are done with the content in a matter of hours. its funny that you write that since its the people who do NOT rush though content complaining here. not gold on the track in the first day? a failure!My comment wasn't aimed at the opening post of this thread but specifically made to challenge the assumption that the current numbers allegedly show that players are more interested in challenging than participation content (their words, not mine). I still believe your reasoning is faulty. There are many more people out there neither rushing nor complaing.

Ofc the content is just a few days old now and the data will likely change over time with more players obtaining the regular scarf, which if true would indicate to me that more players who play a lot preferred the more challenging content while more of the infrequent players preferred the more casual content, which would be less surprising . . .But why should I do 15 laps on 5 races in a day or two when I can just do a lap or two on whatever map I am on for the daily bronze/silver/gold chests and get my scarf in a couple of weeks that way? I still think your interpretation of those numbers is majorly flawed. Plus I seriously doubt it's in ANet's best interest to concentrate their development on the needs of those that rush through new content/achievements early (and then complain that there's nothing to do). A good mix is in order, but the new content is meant to entertain people for a good while, and those numbers you quote do nothing to convince me that ANet is better off developing for the people that are done with the content in a matter of hours. I think the argument that players wouldn't care about running fifteen laps bc they'll probably run fifteen laps eventually anyway would actually support the theory that they are not especially interested in the reward for doing so . . .Wanting a reward and wanting it NOW are two very different things. Patience is a virtue not to be overlooked.

Ofc the content is just a few days old now and the data will likely change over time with more players obtaining the regular scarf, which if true would indicate to me that more players who play a lot preferred the more challenging content while more of the infrequent players preferred the more casual content, which would be less surprising . . .But why should I do 15 laps on 5 races in a day or two when I can just do a lap or two on whatever map I am on for the daily bronze/silver/gold chests and get my scarf in a couple of weeks that way? I still think your interpretation of those numbers is majorly flawed.Plus I seriously doubt it's in ANet's best interest to concentrate their development on the needs of those that rush through new content/achievements early (and then complain that there's nothing to do). A good mix is in order, but the new content is meant to entertain people for a good while, and those numbers you quote do nothing to convince me that ANet is better off developing for the people that are done with the content in a matter of hours.

Gather it then and remove the collision? Obviously.As far as I'm aware gathered tree stumps have the same collision as full saplings.

Personally I'm hoping to get that scarf (the regular one, not the gold one), but can't devote a lot of time to racing for the simple fact that every track with a chance to get stuck on something will make me violently sick. I made it through the dailies for the first couple of days by timing the offending races (Maelstrom and Brisban for days 1+2) so that I had a few hours to lie down afterwards, and I'm not exaggerating. If I wasn't hoping for the scarf and some of those tonics I wouldn't have tried at all. Beetle races are fun, but for those of us that tend towards motion sickness every time the flow of movement breaks the fun has to be carefully enjoyed in small time frames.

Painfully farmed all of the t3 and t4 dust needed to craft Nevermore, then accidentally hit "craft all" on the gift of dust and ended up with four of those (instead of the two I needed) and not enough dust to craft the gift of energy.

Considering that even my fairly short, mostly casual friend list has at least 12 people on it raiding weekly with different raid groups/communities (EU only) I challenge your assumption as wildly innacurate. I do however see that many of them semi-pug by asking around among friends (considering how often I as a person not regularly raiding get asked to fill in with this or that raid group) rather than putting their run on lfg if they are a few people short, so I'm definitely not convinced that few groups on lfg (which could also just mean that the groups that do go up on lfg are filled quickly) mean few people raiding.

Q: why do players do world bosses?A: I don't I do join in events I stumble upon during normal play, and very rarely this includes a world boss, but it could just as well be any other event on the map.

As I said before, I can see luck used for new skins (like the yearly new years back pieces that require luck to upgrade), minis or guild hall decorations (more recipes that use those new years lamps), but nothing that gives another material advantage. The goal here is to remove the billions and trillions of Luck that Gw2 players have.Minis and guildhall deco will not do that.People will not waste it on that. To the advantage thing.I can somewhat understand it. The longer Anet wait with a solution, the harder it gets. The players wont stop hoarding it. Because we know, some day, Anet HAS to find an answer to this problem. Until then, We wait. And the answer anet say to us could be -why are you saving luck just delete it. Answer: Chance. They COULD create a Luck Sink.They COULD create none. Hoarding it doenst hurt as much as loosing potential money/valuables. A chance of making a good profit is ok for a minor inconvenience.So what is it? A problem or a minor inconvenience?

As I said before, I can see luck used for new skins (like the yearly new years back pieces that require luck to upgrade), minis or guild hall decorations (more recipes that use those new years lamps), but nothing that gives another material advantage.

Its almost 2019. If you have not your 300% yet you are ether a Casual or new.Anet throws out Luck like Candy on Halloween.People with a lot of playtime and/or spending a good bit of time farming Istan/Silverwastes/AB probably have, but I suspect you are seriously overestimating the amount of people who play like that. I know I've been playing for 6 years, closing in on 10k hours in game, with a variety of interests (pretty much everything except pvp, hardcore pve farming or world boss trains), salvaging most if not all blues and greens I find, and I'm just closing in on 250% magic find. Many of my friends with similar playtime are considerably below 300%, too. It doesn't really matter whether you got to 300% buying blues and greens or ecto salvaging. If you've spent time and/or resources pushing your magic find, then your reward is the benefit you gain from said magic find. It's not much different from people reaching the daily achievement cap, or people with playstyles that give them more bloodstone dust/empyrial fragments/dragonite ore than the daily eaters can consume, or people farming specific maps to the point where they run into diminishing returns: rewards in this game are not linear, but (hard or soft) capped to encourage people to really play what they enjoy rather than "optimizing" their playtime to maximize rewards, often at the cost of enjoyment. It's a fine line ANet has to work on, to keep the game rewarding enough to satisfy many, while trying to avoid the "reward above enjoyment" focus most similar games on the market fall prey to to keep people logging in. It's also one of the primary reasons why I play GW2 rather than other games on the market. One day I will get to 300% magic find. In a way I am actually looking forward to it, as that will be the point when spending luck on any of the other sinks (crafting, decorations, guild advancement) will be pure fun instead of a trade-off against personal benefit. It will take a bit of getting used to, just like reaching the daily achievement cap took a bit of getting used to, but nevertheless to me those hard caps are a strong point of this game, as they keep the game balance tilted towards "play what you enjoy" and play a part in avoiding the feeling of falling behind if you don't do x, y or z the way similar games do. As such, I hope ANet will not implement additional sinks of luck that give personal/account benefits. If they do see the need to add more sinks for luck, cosmetics like skins, minis or guild decorations should be the way to go.

Making exclusive and account-bound chest items tradeable player to player is not likely to happen, as that would directly contradict the account-bound status. Sure "giving them as gift" sounds great at first, but essentially that would create a market for exclusive items that can only be traded outside of the trading post. I'll "gift" this blc exclusive skin to you if you "gift" me 10k gold ... I don't think anyone of us wants to go there, least of all ANet. Suddenly you have a market of highly sought-after goods without any of the securities the trading post offers, either to the buyer/seller or to the in-game economy as a whole.

Oh, and thanks for motivating me to look these up (I only had a very faint memory of a guild emblem back item skin). I just realized there's also a backpack that would go well with one of my characters (who is also using the guild chest piece), I need to go and get that one :) .