New Players Can't Catch Up to Birthdays

[Iggystlev.7203]

This sounds obvious. But what I am really getting at is that GW2 is still rewarding people just because they purchased the game over a decade ago, even if they are not playing and have not played for the last 10 years. A new player who found the game recently has no hope to get to the same reward level as their friends who found the game earlier. Some of these rewards are locked behind the calendar year 2034 for them.

It is fun to get rewards for birthdays, and I am not saying people should not get birthday presents. But maybe these exclusive items should not be locked behind having done something in the long long ago so they can incentivize new players too.

[Zohane.7208]

32 minutes ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

This sounds obvious. But what I am really getting at is that GW2 is still rewarding people just because they purchased the game over a decade ago, even if they are not playing and have not played for the last 10 years. A new player who found the game recently has no hope to get to the same reward level as their friends who found the game earlier. Some of these rewards are locked behind the calendar year 2034 for them.

It is fun to get rewards for birthdays, and I am not saying people should not get birthday presents. But maybe these exclusive items should not be locked behind having done something in the long long ago so they can incentivize new players too.

An analogy: My brother was born 3 years before me, it's not fair that he got to do all the fun things 3 years before me.

[Freya.9075]

I really want the bubblegum dye, but I understand why they want them exclusive to birthdays. Until I unlock it one day (if I do) I’ll just use other dyes. It’s a way to thank veterans for supporting the game in its earlier days. The content in these gifts do not give anyone an advantage and is purely cosmetic. 

[Biziut.3594]

41 minutes ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

This sounds obvious. But what I am really getting at is that GW2 is still rewarding people just because they purchased the game over a decade ago, even if they are not playing and have not played for the last 10 years. A new player who found the game recently has no hope to get to the same reward level as their friends who found the game earlier. Some of these rewards are locked behind the calendar year 2034 for them.

It is fun to get rewards for birthdays, and I am not saying people should not get birthday presents. But maybe these exclusive items should not be locked behind having done something in the long long ago so they can incentivize new players too.

Well. It's a way to reward players for their long term dedication. It may be flawed by, how you noticed, someone not playing at all and still getting them. But all in all this presents aren't that much of a deal anyway. It's just some dyes you can buy from tp, one armor and weapon set of skins, one novelity and one infusion. Thats it I think. You don't need this at all to enjoy the game and play it's content. So I don't think it should be changed in any way.

Edit: oh theres also unending tray of "poor people food" and six exclusive to birthday dyes. Still imo dedicated players deserves this bit of respect at the very least. As I said above, it's not a big deal and you can play the game to it's fullest without it.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Biziut.3594

[Astralporing.1957]

39 minutes ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

This sounds obvious. But what I am really getting at is that GW2 is still rewarding people just because they purchased the game over a decade ago, even if they are not playing and have not played for the last 10 years. A new player who found the game recently has no hope to get to the same reward level as their friends who found the game earlier. Some of these rewards are locked behind the calendar year 2034 for them.

It is fun to get rewards for birthdays, and I am not saying people should not get birthday presents. But maybe these exclusive items should not be locked behind having done something in the long long ago so they can incentivize new players too.

What they incentivize is longterm participation. Either staying with the game longterm, or at least returning to it every now and then. I mean, sure, technically you don't have to play or return to the game in order to accumulate those rewards, but you won't actually receive them until you do return anyway. Notice, also, that there's a cap on the unique birthday rewards - from 10th birthday forward the reward just keeps repeating, adding nothing new. It's like with AP rewards and daily/monthly AP cap - you won't be able to immediately catch up, but any reward veteran player can obtain, a new player will eventually get to at some point.

Ease of catching up for new players is important, of course, but so is rewarding veterans for sticking with the game (and, usually, for paying premium for any new expansion, instead of getting it for massive discount years later). Any MMORPG will have design like that - and as far as the genre goes, GW2 is actually quite decent at balancing both sides.

[Zebulous.2934]

This isn't a competition.
Just keep your password in a safe place before you take a break from the game, come back, open presents.
imo, the best gifts are year 2 and year 7. 
The 8th year reward isn't an infusion, enrichments only fit on amulets.  The birthday enrichment has the same stats as the karma enrichment sold at the laural vendor.  The birthday version does have a little firework visual when you sheath and unsheath your weapon I suppose.

[Luthan.5236]

I think the recent birthday gift was a bit underwhelming for people that wanted "more". But making it possible to slowly fade out the big rewards and letting people just finish the skin sets. (Which still will take some time.) It is possible to catch up ... but will take long - similar with the 1000 AP for the festivals (20 years x 50 AP per annual).

This is not really needed to play most of the game. Mainly if you care about maxing skins and achievements (AP) - and I stopped doing that years ago. Makes it less painful than trying to hard all the time for every little thing - when you notice that probably nobody got everything. (That would require people to grind out all the game modes.)

[Andy.5981]

This thread reminds me of how upset I was when I was born, that I didn't immediately get my driving licence and was able to go down the pub for a pint..... so unfair that I had to wait 17 or 18 years for that to happen.

[Danikat.8537]

I think this is why Anet stopped doing new exclusive items after the 10th birthday, and made it possible for everyone to get the armour set from the achievements, leaving only the weapons as a birthday gift. If the 10th year is the last one with something unique that means everyone will be able to catch up eventually. 10 years is still a long time, but at least it's not constantly increasing.

[Lucy.3728]

3 hours ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

A new player who found the game recently has no hope to get to the same reward level as their friends who found the game earlier.

Yes.

And you got to life with that.

[ilMasa.2546]

4 hours ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

This sounds obvious. But what I am really getting at is that GW2 is still rewarding people just because they purchased the game over a decade ago, even if they are not playing and have not played for the last 10 years. A new player who found the game recently has no hope to get to the same reward level as their friends who found the game earlier. Some of these rewards are locked behind the calendar year 2034 for them.

It is fun to get rewards for birthdays, and I am not saying people should not get birthday presents. But maybe these exclusive items should not be locked behind having done something in the long long ago so they can incentivize new players too.

I dont care. Gw2 was released 10 yearso ago: you didnt know?! your problem,DEAL WITH IT.

" i dIdNt't KnOW bITcoin 10 yEaRs aGo, i wAnT tO bE a miLliOnAiR asWelL "  

https://imgflip.com/i/89z2i1

Edited December 20, 2023 by ilMasa.2546

[Iggystlev.7203]

3 hours ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Ease of catching up for new players is important, of course, but so is rewarding veterans for sticking with the game (and, usually, for paying premium for any new expansion, instead of getting it for massive discount years later). Any MMORPG will have design like that - and as far as the genre goes, GW2 is actually quite decent at balancing both sides.

I could understand it better if these birthday rewards were being used to incentivize early purchase of the expansions or something. But the way they are now they are not really incentivizing anything anymore.

The wizards vault solves this well, where the current rewards are cheaper but the older rewards are still accessible. So new players can "catch up" on the wizards vault but the old players still get rewarded because they were able to buy the same rewards cheaper.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Trying to get the worst take of 2023 huh? 

[Tiamat.8254]

Have you considered creating a time machine to rectify this oversight by the gw2 team?

[Farohna.6247]

5 hours ago, Zohane.7208 said:

An analogy: My brother was born 3 years before me, it's not fair that he got to do all the fun things 3 years before me.

Well poo you missed out on three years worth of cake!   

OP....oh sugar honey iced tea, what a frivolous worry.  That's like the pinnacle of FOMO.  It's a reward for playing that long.....I haven't played that long either, oh well.   I won't get a cherry vanilla dye for another five years....gosh....and oddly I don't feel slighted.  Were you that kid who was mad when other kids got presents on their birthdays?  You were weren't you?  The one scowling with a party hat on.  

I'm sure it would be nice for some of the players who have multiple characters with many birthdays to be able to sell excess dyes, minis, etc. But then someone would complain there is nothing special for veteran's birthdays.  

[Pridedemon.3041]

Getting items that are no longer available are always considered prestige and shows dedication and/or to show this or that guy was there at the beginning.

The people who got Black Ahn'qiraj mount in WoW are extremely rare and that accounts now have a value in thousands of dollars because it is no longer attainable. When i see a toon in WoW with Hand of Adal title i know this guy was there during Burning crusade and is a veteran. All mmo's reward long term commitment, this is literally the soul of mmo's.

I really wanna play FFIV because i always hear my friends talking about that but i don't because i know i can never compete now with characters that were made a decade ago.
You can't expect playing a year ago and then complain that your toons can't match in prestige to other characters who were their when the game launched in beta more then 10 years ago.
Note, you are still talking about presgite not actual power level or gear.

[kharmin.7683]

1 hour ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

I could understand it better if these birthday rewards were being used to incentivize early purchase of the expansions or something. But the way they are now they are not really incentivizing anything anymore.

 

Then, why is this an issue?

[Bladestrom.6425]

1 hour ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

I could understand it better if these birthday rewards were being used to incentivize early purchase of the expansions or something. But the way they are now they are not really incentivizing anything anymore.

The wizards vault solves this well, where the current rewards are cheaper but the older rewards are still accessible. So new players can "catch up" on the wizards vault but the old players still get rewarded because they were able to buy the same rewards cheaper.

its not an incentive, its a celebration of long term participation.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Bladestrom.6425

[DeanBB.4268]

"Warning: New GW2 players will expire in 5 years and never receive later birthday gifts."

[Blude.6812]

Nothing to worry about, mostly junk and useless stuff after playing for a while.

[robertthebard.8150]

So, I want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly:  It will take a new player exactly the same amount of time to earn a birthday present as it took a veteran player to earn the same gift, and this is somehow a problem?

[Teknomancer.4895]

Grand total over the life of the game: a couple of barely-useful cake toys and a handful of dyes, plus some boosters and RNG junk usually found in BL chests.

Honestly the only thing even worth notice is the 24-hour birthday booster, and you get those starting with your first birthday.  🤷‍♂️

[Elricht Kaltwind.8796]

Correct. People who started the game 11 years ago have items that people who just started this year can't get. 

I'm not sure why people act like they're entitled to special rewards without having actually met the conditions for those rewards.

[Sigmoid.7082]

21 minutes ago, Elricht Kaltwind.8796 said:

Correct. People who started the game 11 years ago have items that people who just started this year can't get. 

I'm not sure why people act like they're entitled to special rewards without having actually met the conditions for those rewards.

Because to some the game is fundamentally broken the second there is something that they want that they, for whatever the reason may be, can't get and thus needs to be fixed.

[IAmNotMatthew.1058]

I think people should be allowed to get 10-11 years worth of birthday gifts in exchange for a debuff on their accounts that they are limited to core professions for 3 years, can't use mounts for 5 years, have no access to Fractals for a year, no access to any of the gold and material farms the game currently offers them while also removing all the easy gear options Anet added over the years. All while being locked out of any Living World and Expansion content for a certain time until it would "release", like in the past.
Then 10-11 years later that debuff will be removed.

That should be a fair exchange I suppose.