[Misleading] Free Special Mount Selection License [Merged]

[Ashen.2907]

I wonder how many people complaining about this mistake, I mean "false advertising," would have not logged into their account to claim the free mount skin had the messaging been correct. "Oh hell no, its not the 2000k gems skin? I will be damned before I will click on that button to get it for free!!!"

 

For what it is worth, this does not constitute false advertising (at least not in the USA).

[Cthulithid.7624]

The original intent of this post was more to make sure ANET was aware there was a miscommunication/misleading post regarding the mount skins. At this point it has been addressed - albeit to a level that some are unhappy with the result - and this is expected because you cannot make 100% of the people happy all the time.

I think in this case, they did what they could with the situation to resolve it.

I work in the gaming industry, I have for as many years as ANET has been in business. This isn't stupidity, it isn't malice, it isn't bait and switch. It was an accident, potentially caused by a change of direction in the free gift. Honestly, it happens. It happens at all companies, and this was just an error made in front of the public. If you even knew 5% of the things I've seen in this industry...you wouldn't really bat an eye at this one.

I feel for the social media person, as they're probably kicking their selves in the butt over it, even if it wasn't their fault in the first place. Game companies have SO MANY moving parts, its easy for mistakes to happen, and in the grand scheme - this is minor. We should cut them a break, they did what they could to address it openly and honestly. That is all we can hope for in this scenario.

My advice for you - Enjoy your free gift, play the game, and continue to be the awesome community we have seen here for years.

[Astralporing.1957]

59 minutes ago, Sobx.1758 said:

Advertising for what? For a free giveaway you had to do nothing for and just got it by default anyways? What did you lose here due to that "false advertising"?

Trust in Anet. Something they've been working very hard recently trying to rebuild.

[Astralporing.1957]

1 minute ago, Cthulithid.7624 said:

I work in the gaming industry, I have for as many years as ANET has been in business. This isn't stupidity, it isn't malice, it isn't bait and switch. It was an accident, potentially caused by a change of direction in the free gift. Honestly, it happens. It happens at all companies, and this was just an error made in front of the public.

Fun fact - somehow all those errors always work by them overstating stuff, never the other way around.

[DarcShriek.5829]

Ok, how many people here would not have bought the FREE mount skin if they had known there was no premium mount skins?

 

srsly, this place is addicted to drama.

Edited August 30, 2022 by DarcShriek.5829

[godfat.2604]

False advertisement was already deleted from Twitter so I think we can shrug it off and move on. The video was showing the following mount skins could be picked for free, which was false:

* Gallant Lightbearer Raptor Skin
* Nightfang Griffon Skin
* Royal Anubis Jackal Skin
* Synergetics Hoverbike Skimmer Skin

I didn’t bother to backup the video, but it’s definitely wrong, and if you read the thread on Twitter, you can see a lot of people got very confused as why they can’t find them from the license, and a follow up investigation tweet from Anet also led to more confusion that some people thought they’re going to fix the license, instead of correcting the wrong video. It also gave a lot of people anxiety that they’ve already picked one, if they fix the license, can they re-pick?

I know those skins were quite different from the “licensed” ones, and given the leak the item was already discovered a week ago, it’s not going to happen that they can change the in-game item quickly (it’s not going to be wise to do that either, for a lot of good reasons). But I did see people not really paying attention to all those details, got quite confused and disappointed, and nervous about picking too fast. Some people didn’t even know there are premium skins.

Of course people will complain about everything, but this one was a clear mistake (they corrected this by deleting the tweet), and I think complains were certainly valid. They do need to do better for marketing on social media (at least for this one). It’ll reach much more audiences outside of more hardcore players on this forum. Impressions are important.

[Sobx.1758]

16 minutes ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Trust in Anet. Something they've been working very hard recently trying to rebuild.

According to your frequent posts, you couldn't lose what you already didn't have, so again, in reality what exactly did you lose?

And that "trust" is lost why? Because you got to pick one of 180 skins instead of one of 200? Woah. Playerbase in shambles. Free stuff was not free stuff enough.

14 minutes ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Fun fact - somehow all those errors always work by them overstating stuff, never the other way around.

This just in: specific claims are harder to make than the broad ones. Most time miscommunication happens, it's because it's not specific enough. And I don't see how this somehow "worked for them". They didn't gain anything from that. They still gave out a lot of skins to the players. Players not willing to pay for skins (or even just more expensive skins) still won't do it just like they didn't before.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[CrashTestAuto.9108]

The thing that bothers me a little is that it's been very difficult to get hyped for the anniversary, because while everything has been "nice", it's all been either below expected based on historical precedent, or below explicitly advertised.

 

10th Anniversary Gift: Fairly lukewarm, and the "exclusive" weapon became not exclusive almost immediately.  Subjective opinion - it's not as good as 8th year.

Decade of the Dragon: The achievements are pretty dull, and it's a skin set rather than an armour set (with hints at legendary through item names).  Not as good as e.g. Return To (obviously a high bar, but the advertising was pretty hype).

Anniversary sales:  Currently so little that people don't know if they've started.  No four week drop package as previous years.

Mount license:  Very nice, but was advertised as much better than that.

 

Again, I think all of these things are nice.  And free.  My point is that for some reason they're either not as good as last year (which is odd for year 10), or the marketing actively led people to expect more.  This feels like a missed opportunity to get everyone excited and celebrating.

 

[yoni.7015]

10 minutes ago, CrashTestAuto.9108 said:

 

Decade of the Dragon: The achievements are pretty dull, and it's a skin set rather than an armour set (with hints at legendary through item names). 

 

Did you really think that we will get a legendary armor because of the name proof of legends? Then why do the legendary bandit executioners and the legendary bloodstone-crazed Moa don’t drop legendaries? I mean it’s in their names. 

Edited August 31, 2022 by yoni.7015

[Labjax.2465]

13 minutes ago, CrashTestAuto.9108 said:

The thing that bothers me a little is that it's been very difficult to get hyped for the anniversary, because while everything has been "nice", it's all been either below expected based on historical precedent, or below explicitly advertised.

 

10th Anniversary Gift: Fairly lukewarm, and the "exclusive" weapon became not exclusive almost immediately.  Subjective opinion - it's not as good as 8th year.

Decade of the Dragon: The achievements are pretty dull, and it's a skin set rather than an armour set (with hints at legendary through item names).  Not as good as e.g. Return To (obviously a high bar, but the advertising was pretty hype).

Anniversary sales:  Currently so little that people don't know if they've started.  No four week drop package as previous years.

Mount license:  Very nice, but was advertised as much better than that.

 

Again, I think all of these things are nice.  And free.  My point is that for some reason they're either not as good as last year (which is odd for year 10), or the marketing actively led people to expect more.  This feels like a missed opportunity to get everyone excited and celebrating.

 

I would say it's kinda like the vibes of a student who put off a paper til the last 24 hours and is pulling an all-nighter to get it written. And they manage to get it done, it's actually not that bad of a paper in the end, but it feels very rushed and unpolished, and you can tell the student has the potential in them to deliver much better if they'd just started sooner.

In this case, we know the studio can do better, or at least has been able to do better in the past. But for some reason, they are missing the mark. The end result being unpolished and expectations not being managed well. I mean, to add another example of "advertised as better than that," they more than once called the decade set "armor" when it is only armor appearance, aka: a skin. It wouldn't be a big ask in managing expectations for them to have said "an armor skin." Some of us lowered our expectations and figured it would be just a skin, but you shouldn't have to set your expectations low because the studio left ??? in their wake.

Stuff like this really has me wondering how many people they have working there anymore. Like is it time management issues? Is it because someone is being asked to do the jobs of 5 people and can't possibly specialize to manage it all effectively?

"There are lots of moving parts" as some might pull out as an explanation doesn't explain a lack of attention to detail. Detail issues more suggests time is not being managed well, that people are being rushed and don't have time to iterate on anything.

[CrashTestAuto.9108]

28 minutes ago, yoni.7015 said:

Did you really think that we will get a legendary armor because of the name proof of legends? Then why do the legendary bandit executioners and the legendary bloodstone-crazed Moa don’t drop legendaries? I mean it’s in their names. 

I didn't expect it.  However, between ANet saying it was Armour (not skin), the precedent of Aurene's Amulet, the fact we're arguably missing an open world PvE Legendary Armour, it being the 10 year anniversary, AND the word "Legend" in the items, I think it was a reasonable thing to get slightly hopeful for.

 

The problem isn't "It wasn't legendary armour".  The problem is that the hype train was set at "Armour, with a cool set of achievements, and maybe an ever so slight possibility of legendary", and the reality was way below that, even if a nice free addition.

[yoni.7015]

1 minute ago, CrashTestAuto.9108 said:

I didn't expect it.  However, between ANet saying it was Armour (not skin), the precedent of Aurene's Amulet, the fact we're arguably missing an open world PvE Legendary Armour, it being the 10 year anniversary, AND the word "Legend" in the items, I think it was a reasonable thing to get slightly hopeful for.

 

The problem isn't "It wasn't legendary armour".  The problem is that the hype train was set at "Armour, with a cool set of achievements, and maybe an ever so slight possibility of legendary", and the reality was way below that, even if a nice free addition.

Well, a skin is useful for everyone while many players that have all legendary items would have no use for an armor. 
with the emboldened raid mode there is no need for an open world legendary armor anymore. 

[Labjax.2465]

11 minutes ago, CrashTestAuto.9108 said:

I didn't expect it.  However, between ANet saying it was Armour (not skin), the precedent of Aurene's Amulet, the fact we're arguably missing an open world PvE Legendary Armour, it being the 10 year anniversary, AND the word "Legend" in the items, I think it was a reasonable thing to get slightly hopeful for.

 

The problem isn't "It wasn't legendary armour".  The problem is that the hype train was set at "Armour, with a cool set of achievements, and maybe an ever so slight possibility of legendary", and the reality was way below that, even if a nice free addition.

Well said. And I don't think it's asking a lot for them to have managed expectations better in their presentation of it. I get that some people in marketing probably think it's their job to fluff up the mundane and make it sound more special, but that doesn't have to mean sending expectations off in a different direction than the reality. It just means presenting stuff in a way that highlights its value. Something like: "You can earn a whole heavy-styled armor skin that can be worn on any armor weight, just by doing a number of events in different zones, doing some specific world bosses, and playing WvW and PvP, as well as earn a uniquely-styled anniversary cape for completing every one of these objectives. The armor skin pieces will be acquired through a 10th anniversary-specific currency called Proofs of Legend, themed after the GW1 10th anniversary namesake." I think that's a lot more clear, while still focusing on the positives and the hype of it. Wording may be a bit overly casual, but I wrote that in prob like 5-10 minutes. Granted I have some writing practice, but point being, it's really not that much work.

[Astralporing.1957]

10 hours ago, Sobx.1758 said:

This just in: specific claims are harder to make than the broad ones. Most time miscommunication happens, it's because it's not specific enough.

Sure, but the miscommunication can as easily happen when communicating things to people that announce stuff, as it can when communicating things to people that will implement said stuff. And yet when it happens, it is always the marketing that gets the bad info, and it is always an info that overstates what Anet is offering compared to what they're actually offering. It's never the other way around.

The situation where marketing got the correct info and prepared the ad saying that we'll be receiving  a choice from "a careful selection of some pre-EoD mount skins", and the people implementing it got the message of "all pre-EoD skins" and implement it that way? Theoretically that should be equally possible. And yet situation like that never happens.

10 hours ago, Sobx.1758 said:

And I don't see how this somehow "worked for them".

I know that properly parsing syntax can be complicated sometimes, but you might want to reread what i actually wrote instead of quoting things i did not say.

[Ashantara.8731]

Mistakes happen. I don't see what the outrage is all about when the license's preview shows you exactly what the available skins are.

"Misleading advertisement" would have meant you didn't get what you bargained for -- since it's for free and you can see what you get beforehand, there really is no need to storm the barricades.

Also, the Twitter post (or at least the picture) has been removed by now, so all's good.
 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Ashantara.8731

[Gibson.4036]

4 hours ago, Labjax.2465 said:

I would say it's kinda like the vibes of a student who put off a paper til the last 24 hours and is pulling an all-nighter to get it written. And they manage to get it done, it's actually not that bad of a paper in the end, but it feels very rushed and unpolished, and you can tell the student has the potential in them to deliver much better if they'd just started sooner.

In this case, we know the studio can do better, or at least has been able to do better in the past. But for some reason, they are missing the mark. The end result being unpolished and expectations not being managed well. I mean, to add another example of "advertised as better than that," they more than once called the decade set "armor" when it is only armor appearance, aka: a skin. It wouldn't be a big ask in managing expectations for them to have said "an armor skin." Some of us lowered our expectations and figured it would be just a skin, but you shouldn't have to set your expectations low because the studio left ??? in their wake.

Stuff like this really has me wondering how many people they have working there anymore. Like is it time management issues? Is it because someone is being asked to do the jobs of 5 people and can't possibly specialize to manage it all effectively?

"There are lots of moving parts" as some might pull out as an explanation doesn't explain a lack of attention to detail. Detail issues more suggests time is not being managed well, that people are being rushed and don't have time to iterate on anything.

As someone who works for a small, but often overly ambitious organization, I agree.

Add to that the fairly recent blog post where they felt the need to let us know that they are focused on providing work-life balance to their staff.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Gibson.4036

[Doo Lally.8594]

Just want to say thank you to Anet for the wonderful, and thoughtful, free gift of the Mount license.

 

Personally, I appreciated it very much.

[Witch of Doom.5739]

8 hours ago, CrashTestAuto.9108 said:

The thing that bothers me a little is that it's been very difficult to get hyped for the anniversary, because while everything has been "nice", it's all been either below expected based on historical precedent, or below explicitly advertised.

 

10th Anniversary Gift: Fairly lukewarm, and the "exclusive" weapon became not exclusive almost immediately.  Subjective opinion - it's not as good as 8th year.

Decade of the Dragon: The achievements are pretty dull, and it's a skin set rather than an armour set (with hints at legendary through item names).  Not as good as e.g. Return To (obviously a high bar, but the advertising was pretty hype).

Anniversary sales:  Currently so little that people don't know if they've started.  No four week drop package as previous years.

Mount license:  Very nice, but was advertised as much better than that.

 

Again, I think all of these things are nice.  And free.  My point is that for some reason they're either not as good as last year (which is odd for year 10), or the marketing actively led people to expect more.  This feels like a missed opportunity to get everyone excited and celebrating.

 

I agree with you.  The anniversary gifts for accounts and characters have been pretty low bar the last couple of years.  I think we're starting to see the tattered edges and worn cuffs of a 10-year-old game.  I love GW2 and have for 10 years, but my mood lately is "uninspired."

[Ashen.2907]

1 hour ago, Witch of Doom.5739 said:

I agree with you.  The anniversary gifts for accounts and characters have been pretty low bar the last couple of years.  I think we're starting to see the tattered edges and worn cuffs of a 10-year-old game.  I love GW2 and have for 10 years, but my mood lately is "uninspired."

As part of the anniversary celebration this year I got (only counting unlocks here but of course there were boosters, karma, BLk, total makeover kit, bonfire, etc as well).

5 weapon skins

A guaranteed wardrobe unlock

A rare dye selection

six armor piece skins

(soon if I can match my play schedule to the world boss timer) two cape skins

A mount skin

 

So 16 unlocks plus all of the minor bits.

No past birthday, that I recall, included as much. What year gave more than 16 unlocks?

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Ashen.2907

[Silent.6137]

3 minutes ago, Ashen.2907 said:

So 16 unlocks plus all of the minor bits.

No past birthday, that I recall, included as much. What year gave more than 16 unlocks?

Everyone remembers the good old times when we used to get tons of stuffs. Only problem is our memories are not as good as we believe them to be. Also, we want more and more free items each time.

At least for me anyways.

[Xanadrine.4352]

i think my biggest gripe is its locked to pof only accounts. this is an opportunity for people to get a skin and maybe go out and get the pof/hot bundle thats 29 bucks!  I remember getting mount adoption licenses for mounts i had not even unlocked it made me want to go get them.  But i think all the accounts should get the skin and if they cant use it so they will either buy the expansion or not.  

[Farohna.6247]

23 hours ago, Sobx.1758 said:

Advertising for what? For a free giveaway you had to do nothing for and just got it by default anyways? What did you lose here due to that "false advertising"?

Probably one of those kids who the thought they were getting an xbox and someone put socks in the box instead, and still angry ever since.

Seriously, it was a mistake, some of you are just unhappy people looking for anything to worry over.  I'm saddened that it stresses you so much.

 

[Astralporing.1957]

36 minutes ago, Farohna.6247 said:

Probably one of those kids who the thought they were getting an xbox and someone put socks in the box instead, and still angry ever since.

Seriously, if you promised your kid an xbox for birthday, and when the day arrived gave them a pair of socks in a box, i can only feel for the kid. And if you think that telling the kid that they should not complain, because the socks were free is going to make it any better, think again.

[Farohna.6247]

3 minutes ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Seriously, if you promised your kid an xbox for birthday, and when the day arrived gave them a pair of socks in a box, i can only feel for the kid. And if you think that telling the kid that they should not complain, because the socks were free is going to make it any better, think again.

I agree, it's not funny and probably traumatic.  However, I don't think as the majority of players are grown adults that they would get their hopes up to that extent.   I would hope they would wait and see.  Very seldom are the more expensive items given away for anything, so instead of a 2000 gem skin you get a 1600 or less.  It's still not one you paid extra for even if it's not the one you hoped for.  And after a week of uncertainty on whether there would even be anything, while I feel bad that someone is disappointed, there could have been nothing.  After all, most people don't give out gifts on their birthday.

 

[Sobx.1758]

1 hour ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Seriously, if you promised your kid an xbox for birthday, and when the day arrived gave them a pair of socks in a box, i can only feel for the kid. And if you think that telling the kid that they should not complain, because the socks were free is going to make it any better, think again.

That's right, because when you compare 1600 mounts skins with 1200 mount skins it totally is the equivalent of comparing xbox to a pair of socks. 🙄

What you did in your post can't be even called a comparison, at this point it's just desperation.