New Players Can't Catch Up to Birthdays

[Super Hayes.6890]

I would sell you the bubble gum dye if I could 🤣😒

[Neferpitouh.4356]

The one thing bothers me with birthday rewards are either birthday cake needs to be obtainable for everyone, with a cost attached to it instead of being a freebie as it is on birthday rewards, considering how universally good it is or else we need legendary foods in the game already.

[IAmNotMatthew.1058]

2 minutes ago, Neferpitouh.4356 said:

The one thing bothers me with birthday rewards are either birthday cake needs to be obtainable for everyone, with a cost attached to it instead of being a freebie as it is on birthday rewards, considering how universally good it is or else we need legendary foods in the game already.

Oyster Soup. Comes with different extras, but it works just like the cake, it even gives higher attributes.

[Farohna.6247]

1 hour ago, robertthebard.8150 said:

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?

But I want it noooooowwwwwwww, mom 😆

[Neferpitouh.4356]

14 minutes ago, IAmNotMatthew.1058 said:

Oyster Soup. Comes with different extras, but it works just like the cake, it even gives higher attributes.

Except it isn't infinite and you need to keep recrafting as you run out of them.

[DarcShriek.5829]

8 hours ago, Zebulous.2934 said:

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.

It is a competition and I'm winning!

[IAmNotMatthew.1058]

1 hour ago, Neferpitouh.4356 said:

Except it isn't infinite and you need to keep recrafting as you run out of them.

An hour ago you said this:

1 hour ago, Neferpitouh.4356 said:

The one thing bothers me with birthday rewards are either birthday cake needs to be obtainable for everyone, with a cost attached to it instead of being a freebie as it is on birthday rewards, considering how universally good it is or else we need legendary foods in the game already.

It's obtainable by everyone, it's like the birthday cake, wasn't that what you're looking for?

Also, the birthday cakes also have cost attached to them, to buy them on other characters they cost like 30k Karma and 5 gold. 

[Neferpitouh.4356]

18 minutes ago, IAmNotMatthew.1058 said:

An hour ago you said this:

It's obtainable by everyone, it's like the birthday cake, wasn't that what you're looking for?

Also, the birthday cakes also have cost attached to them, to buy them on other characters they cost like 30k Karma and 5 gold. 

It is not like birthday cake, as I said, birthday cake has infinite uses.

[Danikat.8537]

The birthday cake only actually takes 2 years to get - the feast version is identical to the one from the Birthday Blaster (aka cake gun). Also you can always ask if anyone around you has it.

[IAmNotMatthew.1058]

5 minutes ago, Neferpitouh.4356 said:

It is not like birthday cake, as I said, birthday cake has infinite uses.

Higher stat boost, twice the duration, extra buffs the cake doesn't have and the issue is that it's.. not infinite uses? That's your cost, having to craft it for each use.

[Blockhead Magee.3092]

4 hours 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.

This thread and your response pretty mimics the recurring 'gift of battle' threads over in the wvw section: "I want it but I don't want to do the thing that everyone else had to to get it."      

 

[Ashen.2907]

4 hours ago, Neferpitouh.4356 said:

The one thing bothers me with birthday rewards are either birthday cake needs to be obtainable for everyone, with a cost attached to it instead of being a freebie as it is on birthday rewards, considering how universally good it is or else we need legendary foods in the game already.

The birthday cake is available to everyone. One merely needs to pay the same price that everyone else does.

[Iggystlev.7203]

2 hours ago, Blockhead Magee.3092 said:

This thread and your response pretty mimics the recurring 'gift of battle' threads over in the wvw section: "I want it but I don't want to do the thing that everyone else had to to get it."      

 

My point is that there isn't anything you can do. A new player, no matter what they do, will never catch up to an old player who is currently doing nothing.

[Linken.6345]

17 minutes ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

My point is that there isn't anything you can do. A new player, no matter what they do, will never catch up to an old player who is currently doing nothing.

And everyone else is saying that this is not a problem it took those old players years to get the stuff so it should be the same for new players its a characters birthday reward after all.

So there should not be a catch up mechanic in this specific case.

[Heibi.4251]

24 minutes ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

My point is that there isn't anything you can do. A new player, no matter what they do, will never catch up to an old player who is currently doing nothing.

You can keep playing the game and eventually you'll reach10 years. I've been playing since GW1 beta. You'll never catch up in years played. But the whole point is, this is one of those "why can't I have it for free without having to put in the time?" threads.  It's like in the military.  He's a general who has been in the service for 25 years? Why can't I, who has only been in the service for 1 year, be a general?  Please just accept that there are people who have played longer and EARNED the privilege that comes with playing the game much longer than you. You'll get all the rewards they've gotten once you reach each stage they had to. Not to mention that people like myself have 10s of thousands of hours invested in the game. 27k+ for me. Just play the game and don't worry about what others have. EARN them.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Heibi.4251

[Surelia.2651]

7 hours ago, IAmNotMatthew.1058 said:

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.

 mic drop brilliant 😆

[Iggystlev.7203]

27 minutes ago, Heibi.4251 said:

You can keep playing the game and eventually you'll reach10 years. I've been playing since GW1 beta. You'll never catch up in years played. But the whole point is, this is one of those "why can't I have it for free without having to put in the time?" threads.  It's like in the military.  He's a general who has been in the service for 25 years? Why can't I, who has only been in the service for 1 year, be a general?  Please just accept that there are people who have played longer and EARNED the privilege that comes with playing the game much longer than you. You'll get all the rewards they've gotten once you reach each stage they had to. Not to mention that people like myself have 10s of thousands of hours invested in the game. 27k+ for me. Just play the game and don't worry about what others have. EARN them.

If birthday gifts were by hours played this would be a different conversation.
To use your analogy: Nobody made general by dropping out of basic 25 years ago

[Yttris.2945]

Conversely, I have seen more than a few players who bought the game at the start. Played for a bit then left for other games. Log back on years later to get "Decade's Devotion" titles. This is what I thought this thread was QQ'ing about. Guess I was wrong.

Troll emote me, kids.

[Randulf.7614]

Birthday rewards are quite common in MMOs. They reward longevity and loyalty with non-essential cosmetic items. There's no advantage, no "catching up"

GW2 is carrying on a tradition it began with GW1. It wasn't an issue there, it's not an issue here either

[kharmin.7683]

2 hours ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

My point is that there isn't anything you can do. A new player, no matter what they do, will never catch up to an old player who is currently doing nothing.

Working as intended.

[firedragon.8953]

This is such a weird complaint. It's like everyone wants their cake served on a silver plater all at once, right now! I get it, I get it! I had to wait 2 years before I got my own cake set and all my friends had theirs. But when I finally got it, oh boy, I was happy! Until then, I just ate everyone else's cake. Cake is suppose to be shared anyway. If everyone brought their own cake, what kind of party would that be? haha

If it's any consolation, birthday gifts have gotten progressively worse after the 9th birthday (with the cake). The 11th birthday doesn't even have a title... So yeah, maybe Anet sympathizes with you OP. 

[SuavePuppy.2809]

10 hours ago, Neferpitouh.4356 said:

Except it isn't infinite and you need to keep recrafting as you run out of them.

Oh the humanity

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

18 hours ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

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.

Would that still be the case 10 years from now?  There's only so much AA that can be attained in a season.

[Iggystlev.7203]

23 minutes ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Would that still be the case 10 years from now?  There's only so much AA that can be attained in a season.

Absolutely.

Each season you are able to earn more than enough AA to buy all of the current exclusive skins. All the extra AA you earn can be used on the more expensive old rewards. You wont necessarily catch up in a single season, and nobody is saying you should. Eventually, you would indeed catch up.

[kiroho.4738]

23 hours ago, Iggystlev.7203 said:

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 mean, that's the point. With this birthday gifts Anet want to thank the players for supporting the game for so long / so early.
It's a "thank you", nothing else. You can't thank someone for supporting the game for 10 years that joined the game 2 weeks ago.

Also: You don't really "get behind with rewards" when starting later.
Birthday gifts are mostly skins/dyes and gimmicks lick the birthday blaster.
You won't miss any content/gameplay or other important stuff when not having them.