Introducing the Systems Team

[Derigar.7810]

I hope you guys are still answering questions!

1. Do you guys ever consider a whole new category of rewards? It has often been mentioned by the community that it is hard to feel rewarded in this game, except for the occasional rare drop when raiding or when getting an extremely rare precursor. If no, why not? If yes, will we see some of it this year?
2. How are you planning on making future elite specialisations equally exciting and viable to all the current base professions and elite specialisations that exist already?
3. Are you open to introducing more new boons and conditions?
4. We've seen plenty of unique buffs in past elite specialisations, such as Alacrity (before it was given to Renevants), Grace of the Land, Renegade utility skills, Scourge barriers, etc... But will we ever see unique debuffs or condition effects specific to new elite specialisations? A new Necromancer elite specialisation with a unique condition only applied by it would be extremely interesting to see and play with.
5. Are we ever going to see more horizontal character customizations? Before Heart of Thorns, there was a "leak" of a "Dragon Crystal" system that would require players to collect Crystals all over the world, that could be slotted into a new interface that would give unique changes such as changing your Light fields into Fire fields, or changing the way the Retaliation boon would work. Something like this would open up a lot of new and exciting builds and would offer a whole new plethora of possible rewards. It would probably be a development nightmare, but could you ever see something like this come into the game? If no, why not?
6. Will the next expansion be a pure content expansion, more like Path of Fire, or will it also see some new systems introduced into the game, such as Hearth of Thorns, or will it be a bit of both?
7. Would you guys consider making a single underwater raiding encounter (which would spark an entirely new underwater meta)? Yes, no and why?
8. How often do you guys prank each other in the office?Thanks so much for this! Wish we could get an e-mail about this since I don't often check the forums. (I found out via reddit, so I'm glad I was not too late to submit some questions!)

[Eddbopkins.2630]

omg steps...steps in the right direction. Looking foward to a better gameplay experience...keep up the good work.

[Makarow.3028]

Where is a Guild content team?

[Obtena.7952]

Though I'm not behind the scenes, it doesn't occur to me that the problem with 'balancing' was related to people not talking to each other; it's related to Anet not setting expectations with it's players. As you might know, players bring a different idea about what is 'balanced' with them from other MMO's. While I'm aware that Anet has purposefully delivered game concepts that affect what is needed for balance, it's abundantly clear that many others haven't made this connection, still bringing their 'WOW-clone' baggage along with them.

Anet, for the benefit of yourselves and the players,you should provide some definitive statements about what the intentions are for class 'balance', especially in PVE and what you think about the current state PVE class balance in the game.

[DragoTheWise.7256]

Greetings! Niffty Post! I do hope that this cohesion will bring things together that may otherwise get lost in communication. Here's hoping this helps the team simply some processes to help content creation as a whole!Also, while I do not play Rev much, it is nice to see some changes come to the Herald spec to make it more active in play.

Are there any other plans to do a pass on other elite specs that could use the same kind of love? I main engi, and Scrapper comes to mind especially the issues revolving around gyros. Perhaps a pass on some of the summon type skills? Turrets and Necro minions haven't been touched in a long while.

Thanks again and hope to see some good work out of this team soon :)

[Blanche Neige.7241]

@Gaile Gray.6029 said:'allo, Tyrians,

The Systems team mashes together the Skills and Balance, Player versus Player, World versus World, and Rewards Teams.

I'm very afraid that with this, the balance of skills will again be done with only regards to PvP and WvW, and that those changes will badly affect PvE skills.

[Sir Vincent III.1286]

Where is the Quality of Life team?

The team the will focus on polishing skills and be fixing long-standing issues like Shadowstep pathing, Scorpion Wire pathing, No path/invisible walls pathing error, etc.

[Opopanax.1803]

I appreciate this move! Thanks so much for trying to get balance and systems moving better.

And a big thanks you for Irenio posting here and answering a couple questions! Even knowing you are listening helps me know the game is moving forward. Thanks again!

ps- Looking forward to seeing Warrior OH Mace 5 getting some ground targeting so it is 200% more usable, hehe.

[ReaverKane.7598]

@Gaile Gray.6029 is the current events team still separate or was it aggregated to the systems team as well? I'm assuming they're still their own thing?

[Gaile Gray.6029]

@ReaverKane.7598 said:@Gaile Gray.6029 is the current events team still separate or was it aggregated to the systems team as well? I'm assuming they're still their own thing?

You are correct: While they work closely with the Systems Team, CAT folks are not part of that team.

[alberte.2685]

I now know that GW2 has a "reward design team". FOTM, RAID, PVP and WVW have good rewards, but the rewards for PVE maps are very bad.Share some Chinese servers:1, PVE rewards monotonous is unattractive, and the number of PVE players is greatly reduced. If part of the POF version of the mount skin is PVE, maybe the situation will be much better.2, China's RAID culture is very strict, if you want to enter the RAID, you must go online on time every day for 5 days a week, just like the military on time, otherwise you can not enter RAID. This has caused most players to not enter RAID at all, and there is nothing to do, and then they are attracted to other games and never come back.3, China's server mall price collapse, gliding wing skin only 2 dollars, a set of black lion weapons skin 3 dollars, set 3 dollars.The current charging model is difficult to communicate in China, and the attractive rewards are almost all in the mall. At the same time, the price of the mall is very cheap, and almost no one is willing to buy it. On the other hand, the reward of PVE is very bad, the player feels I left when I was bored.Due to the mechanism of gold coin gem exchange and the large number of AFK players, Chinese publishers simply cannot make money by operating GW2.4，A large number of players will buy gold coins and mall props through intermediate merchants every week. This is almost a habit. Middlemen can make a lot of money. They collect materials through AI, sell them into gold coins, and then sell gold coins to players.GW2 rewards can almost be bought in gold coins, which is almost designed for middlemen. It is difficult for players to collect enough materials through PVE, and it is difficult for operators to get enough income.

question:

1. Will the new team rebalance the relationship between PVE rewards and gem store(add PVE special skin rewards?)2, can add a low difficulty RAID (can not get the legendary armor) to increase the number of players in the Chinese server.

[ZeftheWicked.3076]

@"alberte.2685" said:I now know that GW2 has a "reward design team". FOTM, RAID, PVP and WVW have good rewards, but the rewards for PVE maps are very bad.Share some Chinese servers:1, PVE rewards monotonous is unattractive, and the number of PVE players is greatly reduced. If part of the POF version of the mount skin is PVE, maybe the situation will be much better.2, China's RAID culture is very strict, if you want to enter the RAID, you must go online on time every day for 5 days a week, just like the military on time, otherwise you can not enter RAID. This has caused most players to not enter RAID at all, and there is nothing to do, and then they are attracted to other games and never come back.3, China's server mall price collapse, gliding wing skin only 2 dollars, a set of black lion weapons skin 3 dollars, set 3 dollars.The current charging model is difficult to communicate in China, and the attractive rewards are almost all in the mall. At the same time, the price of the mall is very cheap, and almost no one is willing to buy it. On the other hand, the reward of PVE is very bad, the player feels I left when I was bored.Due to the mechanism of gold coin gem exchange and the large number of AFK players, Chinese publishers simply cannot make money by operating GW2.4，A large number of players will buy gold coins and mall props through intermediate merchants every week. This is almost a habit. Middlemen can make a lot of money. They collect materials through AI, sell them into gold coins, and then sell gold coins to players.GW2 rewards can almost be bought in gold coins, which is almost designed for middlemen. It is difficult for players to collect enough materials through PVE, and it is difficult for operators to get enough income.

question:

1. Will the new team rebalance the relationship between PVE rewards and gem store(add PVE special skin rewards?)2, can add a low difficulty RAID (can not get the legendary armor) to increase the number of players in the Chinese server.

That's some interesting feedback, albeit bit vague. Can you answer me (am just a player) some additional questions?

1. How are their PvE rewards worse compared to others (assuming here in the west our PvE population looks just fine)?
2. RAID culture is set by the players, or is it that their version of GW2 allows raiding only at specific times?
3. That's some really surprising news. 3 dollars for a set of black lion skins...you mean things we get with Black Lion Claim tickets like Desert King set, or Inquest MKII sets to name the recent ones? And is 3 dollars per piece or 3 for full set?

[HeadCrowned.6834]

Why aren't these types of announcements on the homepage instead of somewhere in a hidden forum topic?

[DanteZero.9736]

With the formation of the systems design team, will we see the current balance schedule operate at the current rate at the current scale, or will we see alterations to the rate/scale (as in the amount of changes and the frequency of these changes)?

[Red Haired Savage.5430]

@Gaile Gray.6029 said:

@ReaverKane.7598 said:@Gaile Gray.6029 is the current events team still separate or was it aggregated to the systems team as well? I'm assuming they're still their own thing?

You are correct: While they work closely with the Systems Team, CAT folks are not part of that team.

Still haven't forgiven them for wrecking Ascalon huh?

[Balmung.7804]

I think it's really cool to have this synergy between teams, it always helps to improve GW2. Now my suggestion is: Need to improve the GW2 API, we have DX9 (very old) and a support for the DX10 (not very good). The game has a very good graphic, and no matter how you use a super PC game you can not extract the best capacity of the game. A DX11 or 12 would make the GW2 much lighter and faster.

Long live Tyria!

[Biff.5312]

The only comment I have on any of these topics really is that pvp rewards track seems out of whack to me. You can top the game in every category, yet if your team loses you get almost no progression on the reward track. There needs to be more consideration for what you contributed and not just whether you won. A losing streak can make it take FOREVER to get to the rewards, which are not fantastic to begin with.

[alberte.2685]

@Biff.5312 said:The only comment I have on any of these topics really is that pvp rewards track seems out of whack to me. You can top the game in every category, yet if your team loses you get almost no progression on the reward track. There needs to be more consideration for what you contributed and not just whether you won. A losing streak can make it take FOREVER to get to the rewards, which are not fantastic to begin with.

I very much agree with the above point that the Chinese server even has several players entering PVP for pure reward. They use AI to participate in PVP. Although each one will lose, they will still get rewards. Their contribution is 0%, and 100% defeat. . A lot of PVP players complained.

[DeceiverX.8361]

Huh.

Well, one can hope this will enable for professions to finally see some much-needed reworks and a clearer vision of the game created like what we saw at launch.

I think a lot of this communication needed to exist prior to implementation of HoT, however. Design-wise, a lot of the elite specs are just impossible to manage between modes not because of numbers but because of their entire underlying concepts. The PoF specs are especially guilty of this.

I want to be optimistic, but there's a LOT of work to do - and a lot of revisiting ideals of the game from several years ago - before my mind is going to really change on the matter. It's hard not to be a pessimist after multiple years of a dog-and-pony show.

[OutOfOrder.3719]

Alert to the new Systems team!

You are making the biggest mistake in removing leadership titles from Ranked PvP games.

You are punishing all the players who actively play and try to improve.

Instead of addressing the real problem, you need to permanently ban Win trading accounts after repeat offenses.

It's not to late to reverse this action before it reduces the PvP player base even more.

At least give us 1 more season to try to get these titles. Do not just remove them without a Warning. It's extremely unfair and upsetting to your dedicated PvP fan base.

When you take something away, it only makes sense to replace it with something else.

This is probably the biggest mistake that you will make that will effectively kill this game mode for dedicated and competitive players in Ranked play.

Please reconsider this action , before it is too late.

I will still play this game for the love of the game, but I will definitely play ranked PvP considerably less.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

@HeadCrowned.6834 said:Why aren't these types of announcements on the homepage instead of somewhere in a hidden forum topic?

It's hardly hidden when it's on the front page of the most visited subforum, and with dev replies, in the carousel at the top of the main page. This has had nearly 2,100 views, and more than 70 comments. I don't think anyone is missing it. ;)

But for your info, there are a few reasons that we went forum post instead of a blog for this one:

• A forum post, by its very nature, encourages conversation.
• The forum post leads to a forum conversation, in the August AFC. That seemed to lend it a natural synergy.
• Blog posts take longer to get from composition to publication, due to a variety of reasons.
• It just felt right here. :)

[JustTrogdor.7892]

@Gaile Gray.6029 said:

@"HeadCrowned.6834" said:Why aren't these types of announcements on the homepage instead of somewhere in a hidden forum topic?

It's hardly hidden when it's on the front page of the most visited subforum,

and with dev replies, in the carousel at the top of every page

.

Looks like the carousel ate most of the posts again by the way. It's only showing 4 posts at the moment. Maybe it is my browser or ad blocker but the carousel also only shows for me at the top of the main forum page and not every page.

[Ben K.6238]

@alberte.2685 said:I very much agree with the above point that the Chinese server even has several players entering PVP for pure reward. They use AI to participate in PVP. Although each one will lose, they will still get rewards. Their contribution is 0%, and 100% defeat. . A lot of PVP players complained.

This matter is something that only Kongzhong would be able to address directly. Arenanet is not responsible for addressing the use of bots, or purchasable items and pricing policies, on the Chinese servers; I believe this is due to the terms of their contract.

[Razakin.5386]

@OutOfOrder.3719 said:Alert to the new Systems team!

You are making the biggest mistake in removing leadership titles from Ranked PvP games.

You are punishing all the players who actively play and try to improve.

Instead of addressing the real problem, you need to permanently ban Win trading accounts after repeat offenses.

It's not to late to reverse this action before it reduces the PvP player base even more.

At least give us 1 more season to try to get these titles. Do not just remove them without a Warning. It's extremely unfair and upsetting to your dedicated PvP fan base.

When you take something away, it only makes sense to replace it with something else.

This is probably the biggest mistake that you will make that will effectively kill this game mode for dedicated and competitive players in Ranked play.

Please reconsider this action , before it is too late.

I will still play this game for the love of the game, but I will definitely play ranked PvP considerably less.

After multiple offenses? Its the best thing they can do and should have done it sooner. Are you a wintrader or user there of? Its about the only reason a lot of ppl are complaining about losing them. There are other rewards that make ranked worth playing. Not much but still so much better without wintraders

[Gaile Gray.6029]

@JustTrogdor.7892 said:

@Gaile Gray.6029 said:

@"HeadCrowned.6834" said:Why aren't these types of announcements on the homepage instead of somewhere in a hidden forum topic?

It's hardly hidden when it's on the front page of the most visited subforum,

and with dev replies, in the carousel at the top of every page

.

Looks like the carousel ate most of the posts again by the way

. It's only showing 4 posts at the moment. Maybe it is my browser or ad blocker but the carousel also only shows for me at the top of the main forum page and not every page.

On for goodness sake! Thanks for letting me know, I've relayed the note to Vanilla. We were supposed to have some improvements in early July, and I did expand the number displayed, but clearly more work is required.

And yes, the carousel is not on every page. I actually paused as I was writing that but forgot to amend. Corrected in my post now. Thanks.