Thank you ArenaNet, for the last 10 years!

[Kye.5240]

I want to start this by just saying thank you ArenaNet. Sincerely, for everything you have done for this game. I have been playing Guild Wars since 2007 when my age was still in the single digits. You've brought me closer to family and helped me make new friends. I've spent thousands of hours of my life and money out of my wallet in both Guild Wars 1 and Guild Wars 2 over the last one and a half decades. I love the games. I love the art style. I love the creativity and the liveliness of the world. I love the story, and frankly I've been so spoiled by GW that it made very other MMO I tried just make me like GW more. Be it for the amazing combat system, or the unique questing mechanics. I know you've all hit hard times in the past, what with having to drop so many employees, dealing with twitter mishaps, and more recently the balance catastrophe that left warriors 6 feet under for a good month or so. We all make mistakes, we all have down time, but we all recover, hopefully.


From one of thousands of players, and a Guild Wars 2 veteran player, thank you for the last 10 years of fun. I have been so excited for the decade anniversary. 10 years! Thousands of hours! I was so hyped for what the game would do to celebrate this! The steam launch came as a surprise for me. What a great day to do it. The giveaways, the front page twitch streams. You did a great job! It's so cool to see all these new people coming into the game 😄


(TL:DR at the bottom of this)


I just can't help but feel a little forgotten. Like this 'celebration' felt more like a slap in the face. I was so excited for the 10th year birthday presents. I was so hyped to see what we'd get. Only to find out that not only did we not get anything of consequence, the 'repeatable' gift from the tenth year presents are 2 hour buffs. TEN YEARS for a 2 hour buff. All of the previous gifts had amazing things in them! The ascended amulet with the unique infusion, the reusable food buff that I can drop for everyone while commanding, the (frankly amazing) chair so I can show off my fashion even more, the mail carrier. And while every year didn't have something as cool as these, they always brought up the slack with the dye packs, backpack skins, or other unique items that were only in these birthday presents. I don't think of myself as a collector by any means, but the dye packs were a fantastic idea! I loved them, and I know many others did too.


And then there is the 10th year birthday presents. A whole decade! And... there is nothing, except the single time dye pack, in this present that is not obtainable by some other means. The Decade anniversary achievement box gives you your (yearly) dye. So following the trend from last year, a wardrobe unlock and the 2 weapon packs. The Luminescent ones are really cool, they stand up to black lion skins and I use them quite often. I do very much enjoy them! I've almost got the full set now and was so excited to see what's next. So I take a look at the Dragon Decade Weapon Pack. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. With all of the weapon skins in the game, these ones, while the design is great, no fault to the designer or artist that designed them, are just.. lack luster? I felt... let down. They just took my hopes and dreams and threw them in the corner. I tried to pick them up, someone worked hard on these. Maybe I can make use of them.
The birthday booster, tp to friend, spirit shards, birthday card, and black lion statue that make up the repeatable portion is.. weak to say the least. Most people who get to their 10 year birthday (probably) don't have any use for any of these anymore. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I saw that was all that was in there. "But wait!" I told myself,  "What is this Proof of Legend? That sounds really cool, and it's a call back to the first game. Oh it's for a vender. I wonder what the vender will offer." So I waited for the patch, clinging to my hope.


Then the patch came around, and the Proof of Legend turned out to be a single use currency for a skin that anyone can obtain. It didn't sit right, so I went to look at the vender, and I see the utility, food and banner offered for them. "Oh man, do we get to choose one for infinite use?" I excitedly did the Decades achievements, working my way through the armor set to get to my new infinite utility. It didn't take long, and I enjoy playing the game. (Not looking at you PvP, my last match was in 2017 for a reason) I got all the way through the skins, and got the utility.... only to find out, it's a single use item.  Those hopes and dreams that were in the corner? Officially stepped on and chucked in the garbage. Every single thing I had been hyped for, every single thing that I was excited for this year, turned out to be a huge disappointment. It hurt.


Then I saw that I had gotten another decade's dragon chest from this achievement. Meaning the two I got previous, aren't exclusive to the 10 year birthday present. Anyone, no matter how long they've been playing, can get these skins. That hurt. I had thought it was just the armor. Meaning nothing in the 10 year birthday present is exclusive for those of us who've been around. Barring the title, there is no item I can boast around to show my pride for the game.


But hold on, we still have twitch drops. And that free mount skin they mentioned! And they've done the supply drops and sales for previous years! Surely there is still some hope!


The twitch drops were really cool, I will admit. A free makeover kit is always useful, so thank you! And the outfit box was nice, though the skins there are fairly outdated. I get it though, you've got to make money on the new stuff  ;). I've got that saved away for when I may want to pick something. This brought my hopes up for the free mount skins. If they're giving away these outfits, surely we'll see something cool for the free skins.


Then today, I get to see the free mount select license. The tweet shows several skins I really want! Especially the synergetics hoverbike skimmer skin! Man it's so cool! I log in to get the voucher, and then can't find it. That's odd. Jump back to twitter and notice "We are looking into the question of what mount skins are available now!"
"Oh cool", I think "So maybe they just didn't include it accidently." I apparently never learn. Only a few minutes later is it revealed that, no, you can't get those skins shown, just the ones available in the selection licenses. Once again, a really cool promo that.. just seems to lie to my face. It felt bad.


What did I get, as a veteran player, out of this 10th anniversary celebration? A helm skin I already had (purple mask from twitch drop that's 5+ years old), account items I already had (makeover kits, tps, boosters, transmutation charges), weapon skins that anyone can get, mount skins that anyone can get, an armor set that anyone can get (that looks pixelated on Norn and Charr), and my choice of  3 temporary buffs that are only available with a limited currency that you have to wait TEN YEARS to get???


To say I am disappointed is an understatement. Will I stop playing the game because of this? No, probably not. I do love the game. I enjoy the community, and I want to still have hope, as naive as it is. But to say that I felt anything other than disappointment at this 10th year celebration would be lying. I don't like feeling like this. I don't like feeling forgotten. I still haven't seen ANY anniversary sales, no supply drops. No unique items offered for those of us who have been with you through thick and thin. It's a bit demoralizing as a long time player, even more so than what you did to Primordus.


I know complaining here won't get anything to happen. I know people are going to respond and be like 'lol sad you got free items scrub, oh woe is you', and I don't care. I'm putting this out there in an honest post in hopes that someone at Arenanet sees this to know that this year's 'celebration' felt anything but. I won't ask you to change it, what's done is done, but I can ask for something perhaps a bit better next year, because I can't seem to learn. Please Arenanet, take a look at next year's birthday presents, and make it something to remember, not something that's used and forgotten 2 hours later, or skins that will never be equal to black lion skins or legendries. 11 years is a long time to get a 'gold star' and a pat on the back. I had hoped for so little, and got less. Maybe an infinite utility in the future? Even an infinite guild banner would be appreciated. Both of these would be useful for open world groups I lead.


But truly, honestly, thank you for the 10 years so far, even if this anniversary was disappointing. Here's to hoping next year's celebration is better 🙂
And to those of you that I know are inevitably going to comment 'complaining here won't make a difference, go home' or 'be happy with what you've got' or 'isn't free stuff good enough?'
If you had dedicated thousands of hours of your time and thousands of dollars out of your wallet towards something that gave you a cool sticker for being there for TEN YEARS, wouldn't you be disappointed too?


TL:DR cause this is long, sorry:
As a veteran player I feel forgotten this year. Nothing in the 10th year birthday present is unique and the free stuff given out were aimed more for beginning players via the steam release than at those of us who have been around for a while. The skins given out are pixelated on large character models and the decade weapons are on par with rares you'd find out in the world that don't really look all that unique or eye catching. And to top it off, the mounts advertised for the mount adoption license weren't even available for free. This 10th anniversary celebration felt like a punch to the gut.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Kye.5240
updated title

[pallas.8150]

I'm a 10th year player (literally turn 10 today in GW2).

I'm glad they tried to be inclusive and provide content for ALL players for this. We still get 'things' on this birthday year. It might now be as unique as previous years (many are just item carry overs from previous years), but it is still there.

The level of odd entitlement is just baffling around here.

 

[Randulf.7614]

That was quite the rollercoaster post..

To be honest, I’m perfectly fine with what we got as a player since day one. I’ve played games like Lotro which have been going on longer. I’m pretty certain all we got was a new portrait border.

At least here we got new skins, new achievements, new birthday gifts, a free mount skin, a steam release to bring new players, free stuff through Twitch and logins. I haven’t participated much at all, but to be honest all I can think we are missing is more in game community/dev celebrations. I haven’t paid attention to see if that has happened, but a firework display with a dev in each starter city would have been cool.

Otherwise, there’s certainly no gut punch. Seems like a decent enough anniversary and as a veteran player, I don’t feel forgotten even though things have been skewed more towards steam players recently. The rest of us werent left out

Also, the missing skins are being looked into I believe, so that might work itself out

Edited August 30, 2022 by Randulf.7614

[Kye.5240]

1 hour ago, pallas.8150 said:

I'm a 10th year player (literally turn 10 today in GW2).

I'm glad they tried to be inclusive and provide content for ALL players for this. We still get 'things' on this birthday year. It might now be as unique as previous years (many are just item carry overs from previous years), but it is still there.

 

I appreciate the involvement for sure for new players! I definitely don't think they should remove that aspect. Overall it just seemed to be lacking something unique for those who have been around. Something that won't be missed. Similar to the birthday cake food from last year. There are better buffs out there, so it's not like it's required for some content, but it's useful for the convenience. 
 

Quote

The level of odd entitlement is just baffling around here.

Comparative to previous years, for such a 'big celebration' it's just over all lack luster (in my opinion) and felt like a punch in the gut (for me) given all the hype and excitement they built around it, to simply get things to add to the stacks of things I already had. Compared to things they've done previously, this year is (in my opinion) ranked the worst. Which isn't want you want for such a milestone. (again, in my opinion) Or in some cases, skins (the mask) that I've already had for years. When your employer giving you a 'best employee' mug when you've been there for a decade, while the previous years they gave you things you'd actually use (say a $200 gift card or something), it hits differently.
That's also why I started the way I did. I do love this game. All of the work and love and care that goes into it is amazing, the new players coming in from steam are fantastic. All I ask is for something a little better than a 2 hour buff for 87660 hours(10 years) of time.

  

56 minutes ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Also, the missing skins are being looked into I believe, so that might work itself out

They deleted the original post, so the skins they showed will not be added.

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by Kye.5240
added tweets

[Ashen.2907]

Four weapon skins, a unique dye, a wardrobe unlock, a celebration that allows access to another weapon unlock and a complete armor set as well as a free mount skin...

What were you expecting, a ferrari?

 

Edit: Almost forgot the cape(s). So 15 unlocks (16 if you count the cape as 2)....and that is somehow a disappointment...

Edited August 30, 2022 by Ashen.2907

[Kye.5240]

2 minutes ago, Ashen.2907 said:

Four weapon skins, a unique dye, a wardrobe unlock, a celebration that allows access to another weapon unlock and a complete armor set as well as a free mount skin...

What were you expecting, a ferrari?

 

 

2 hours ago, Kye.5240 said:

I know people are going to respond and be like 'lol sad you got free items scrub, oh woe is you'

Well I thought that'd take a bit longer. Thanks for proving my point 😄