Changes to Istan Meta Farming (Discussion)

[Etterwyn.5263]

@unrivalled.7952 said:Finally... Maybe now TP will work faster, cuz servers wont be overloaded by istan farmers

The TP took a dump the day the sigil/rune update was released. It's still not right.

[SpinDashMaster.5680]

Yeah, I'm out too. I enjoyed commanding Istan for the time that I did, and even purchased both sets of commander tags just to help accelerate the community here. But this is just a slap in the face to the people who really work hard to earn their gold here.

No one was cheating/exploting.

No one broke TOS.

No one AFK'd for their money.

Yet, here we are. I'm gonna log in, raid, and log right back out of here. There's no reason to keep trying to bring hundreds of people together, in an active, successful, team effort after this.

I devoted a lot of time to learning to command that farm. And the way I do it takes a lot of communication between all its participants and yields results that scale with the effort put in by everyone. All that is gone now.

[Blocki.4931]

@"DiogoSilva.7089" said:

@"Blocki.4931" said:Why would anybody stay after they got their chests?

They won't stay. But people log in at different hours, and Istan will remain as the best farm in the game, so the map will still be populated. If anything, it'll be less a lag fest.

Istan isn't even the best farm right now for gold, I doubt that changing it to a "once and you're done" does anything for that. Other LS maps have metas like this. They are dead. Hell, Kourna of all maps is the most active when it comes to this. If there aren't many people who stay for the next cycle the next batch of people wanting to farm their meta will have to create their own group, every time. The map was already limping before, but this will get it one step closer to true death.

I stand by it. This is too late. I enjoy that in the future economy will be less flooded, making each meta run more worthwhile on top of these "base gear reward" increases. Playerbase is far too split for this to really matter though.

Actually I've changed my mind. I will look forward to this since I am already cashing in on having many alt accounts, completely absolving my need of actually having to do these metas.

[SpinDashMaster.5680]

I wouldn't say that the map was limping before. It had 3 active communities farming it around the clock. If you didn't see a group in LFG at any given time, it would be because the two squads working together and multimapping are full, not because the zone is vacant. I know this because I personally farmed Istan that way and my squad (as well as the one who would duo with me) couldn't keep LFG posted for longer than 20-30 seconds, because we'd reach 50/50 that quickly.

And the reason you wouldn't see us, is that the map we were on would be full to the brim with followers!

[Abelisk.4527]

I'm fine with the changes! I would only ever do one GH/Palawadan run anyway. And with the rate per hour increasing it'll be a nice daily for people to do.

Though, this will just encourage players to spam Silverwastes. Good for Preserved Queen Bee I guess, since more people will likely farm there again, but kinda missing the point where Anet doesn't want players to make it a "all-day playstyle", they'll turn to something else. For example I used to PVP all day, so the wording should have been something else. HOWEVER, Anet did say "goal" in this section so maybe Silverwastes and other farms will become a daily thing?

Nevertheless Istan has undoubtedly left its presence on the economy by cheaping T6 mats; with this change it'll being the price back up along with weapons. That's a good thing--it makes drops feel more rewarding.

[Microsoft Chad.9462]

Istan farming made the game enjoyable again for me, I am not looking to be forced to run old meta's which I have for years already.

[Ashen.2907]

@Gambino.2109 said:All I'm seeing here is... oh it's not for me.. so sure ruin it for everyone else that enjoys it.

Then you are not looking.

Can't say that I really cared for the Istan farm, but then again massive zerg play doesn't interest me on any map. That said, disincentivizing content seems only a step away from content removal when speaking of large scale events and the like. I am not fond at all of content removal (I still miss my favorite dungeon path).

[SpinDashMaster.5680]

Also to those who don't play istan farm and are coming in here claiming they're happy about the change; implore me.

What makes this map a mindless zerg to you, compared to, say, Silverwastes?

Have you ever played with one of my squads or in one of three communities that knew how to multimap it? (Because I know that if you have, you'd never call it mindless again)

Are you aware of the type of effort it takes to farm Istan at the level we did it on? (Commanders who multimap undergo lots of stress and multitasking to keep things smooth! And they're not alone in the burden; the zerglings have to divide and handle tasks assigned to them rather than just running around in one big clump.)

[Microsoft Chad.9462]

Honestly i've never had so much fun meeting other farmers than in any other game, istan nerf kills that for everyone who enjoys it. I truly hope this gets reversed, the other content needs to be revised, it's not right to slash the community who supports the game and enjoys this activity in it.

[Mahou.3924]

As someone who finds every form of gold farming by doing the same things over and over and over and over and over and over terribly boring, and thus has never done it, I'm to noone's surprise indifferrent about it, BUT I agree with Ashen.2907's sentiment that desincentivizing content (too much) will eventually lead to another "dead" map; be it for reward-driven players or the geniune ones who enjoy the meta itself.

[Jura.2170]

I don't like the change. I only started farming Istan for the first time a few hours ago, and it's already being nerfed

If people don't like doing other map metas like ab, td, ds, because they already have enough map currencies, they're not going to go back to them

They'll just stop playing the game or play less often

[Avelynn.2691]

It's good when MMOs have options. Even with Istan being profitable, like everything else with GW2 nothing is required. Personally I have never bothered with it but being around the zone I am well aware that there have been communities created around this. Why would you want to disrupt that? Now if this change was to balance Istan to make way for other similar farming methods, I would understand, but I see no new alternatives being introduced. Not to mention, there might be unintended economy shifts as a result cough runes/sigils being mega expensive cause of the rarity of charms cough

Do you know what happens when a developer dictates how players should play the game? Modern World of Warcraft. There's a reason why I'm playing this game over that one. GW2 is an escape from the streamlined nature that many other MMOs have fallen into.

Instead, how about some changes that'll directly improve the overall game experience? What about adding a built-in equipment/build save feature so people don't have to resort to ArcDPS, a third-party program? Or more visual cues for existing PvE content instead of having TACO trivialise Sabetha? What about a UI flash whenever the CC bar appears so more people notice it? Still plenty of room for that.

[TexZero.7910]

It's a good move about 6 months too late.

Now they just need to hit Silverwaste again too.

[Ayrilana.1396]

Awesome. My materials will eventually be worth what they used to be.

[SpinDashMaster.5680]

Also the amount they're increasing the loot isn't going to incentivize doing GH at all. That meta will die.

The organized communities I have previously mentioned, as well as myself, can all trigger AND complete 5-8 GH events within a 70-minute time frame (the time after palawadan ends [Reset+2x+1 : 20] until 15 minutes before the next palawadan begins [Reset + 2x : 30]).

The new GH limit dictates exactly one per day. They would have to make the loot 6.5 times better than it was to make up for someone playing through a single meta cycle, once per day, or they still lose!

Palawadan's change, however, makes sense for the person only playing there once a day.

My problem is with the interference with those willing to farm here. People have the option to go farm Silverwastes, but they choose to come here because it's fun, not because it's more profitable. Technically, Silverwastes is the more profitable farm, even with all the effort in Istan.

These upcoming changes pull a rug out from under player's feet, including players like me who found a place to spend their time in the game: helping other players get the resources they need to take their first big steps in this game, by working hard for it and not waiting for handouts.

[Danikat.8537]

Is anyone really surprised they're doing this? It's been widely known since not long after the map was introduced that the Istan farm was flooding the market with items and materials and causing the price on all kinds of things to drop almost to vendor value...which in turn made farming anywhere else less desirable and pushed even more people into the Istan farm. People have been talking on this forum for months at least about 'when' it gets nerfed - not if but when, because we all knew it was coming. Just like Auric Basin.

[Brandorf.1385]

Personally I enjoyed the meta event a lot as I don't have to go braindead like I felt in SW. It made me really like playing the game to me, another layer. I did SW for a few weeks and just got sick of it. With Istan I felt I could actually play the game and not feel like a chore. So this bums me out a lot. Guess it's time to move on again.

[Aaralyna.3104]

If you would repeat this meta (for fun and not cash farm purposes) you will still get some loot and karma right (from mobs)? Or at least I may hope. When I do these metas in Istan I rarely do it for cash (if i make 5 gold this way its a lot lol but same applies for SW for me). I do them for fun tho. But if theres zero reward upon doing them a second time, I would have to drop a fun meta for something else I guess.

[BrikoX.8156]

So now ANet probably gonna get their wish that players login, do daily bullshit, buy mount skins, then log off. Good job ANet.

[SpinDashMaster.5680]

@Danikat.8537 said:Is anyone really surprised they're doing this? It's been widely known since not long after the map was introduced that the Istan farm was flooding the market with items and materials and causing the price on all kinds of things to drop almost to vendor value...which in turn made farming anywhere else less desirable and pushed even more people into the Istan farm. People have been talking on this forum for months at least about 'when' it gets nerfed - not if but when, because we all knew it was coming. Just like Auric Basin.

Time out.

Auric Basin is not an equivalent comparison.

The multimapping Octovine meta was problematic and deserved to be nerfed. That was a problem with people going to instances and getting credit for something they didn't participate in, then repeating ad nauseam until time was up. There was no effort whatsoever in that farm.

Istan is totally different. When you change maps, you have to start from ground zero and work, hard. Ususally, the Mordant Crescent Forces bar is full or near full, meaning you'd have to send your squad (2 squads working together) out and handle separate taskes in four to five different places simultaneously; the fifth being the occasional Corpse Caravan that takes an additional 5-6 people to break off and do, while keeping enough people in their respective assignments.

All of that, just so you can bust your hump doing GH again and rushing to complete it so you can get to the next map and repeat the hardcore, speedy cycle once again. And if you didn't squeeze in that last bar-break with every ounce of your strength before 2x:30, then RIP your 100 people just lost lots of loot.

Unlike AB, players were working really, really, really hard for their money. Therefore, AB should not be used as any comparison at all to higher-level Istan farming.

[Klypto.1703]

Basically they want this map to become dead like all the other PoF maps. The reason players liked doing this map besides the loot is the fact it wasn't completely cutting you off for rewards if you wanted to play it more than one time. That is one reason for it being dead if you can only run something once per character or account its not going to get organized to the point that its playable in this manner. It's prolly time to just let this game go now its run its course for me since this meta/map was the only thing to be interested in especially after this last episode this was the final nail to the coffin for gw2.

[Sylvari.2953]

As a meta event farmer, the funny thing is that I'm so rich that nowadays I only do Istan farm because I have lots of fun chatting with the regulars in the squad. In the past 1 year I've made like 50+ friends in Istan alone. I will miss it. I guess I'll do Istan once and spam SW like I did for 3 years in the past. I'm pretty sure some of my friends will join me in SW but things won't be the same.

I really wish we had more options for profitable and fun meta events, there are many that are simply not worth the effort, they should improve/adjust them, like Serpents' Ire is still a mess. I definitely don't want to farm 5-man instances with grumpy elitists, I prefer my crazy open world squads, we are fun and chill.

[Hybarf Tics.2048]

Way to go Anet one more example about how you can totally crap the game.Here's why I say this there isn't a big number of replay able map in this game, congrats you just killed another map.One of the main reasons aside from fun to do metas is to gather money and mats so we can craft legendary armors and weapons.Speaking of mats you're asking for more and more mats for crafting since the 2nd generation. Keep imposing on us more & more farming and shutting down metas.is the same as asking us to go frack ourselves and go play other games well I've already started. In conclusion you've convinced me that Xiuquatl is my last legendary I will ever create for 2 reasons, 1 you're now asking for an unreasonable amount of T5 & T6, 2 the way you manage our maps you will end up killing the little fun we have left in this game. From now on no meta, no daily no raids no fractals, only storylines and expansion. Way to go Anet for giving me the final push.March 15th The Division 2 here I come. :/

[Skotlex.7580]

There's a significant amount of players in GW2. Enough that I'd hazard a guess and state that very few, if any, of the Istan metas will have a lack of players after this change. What will change is that people will no longer remain in the map farming all day long rotating between akili, books and the great hall.

What worries me is that these kind of farmers, who just go after the gold, will not stop their habits by shutting down the meta this way, they will just go to the next most lucrative farm. As far as I know, that would be RIBA silverwastes. What will ANet do then? Nerf that map as well? Will said players move then next to something else, like how once we had frostgorge sound champion trains?

Well, perhaps ANet just doesn't want the current most profitable farms, and is just going after that.

If they would increase meta rewards, but make it so they only apply once a day, I would be fine with that. Though there are many, many metas that would require said change and... well, these kind of changes makes GW2 an even more casual game, so casual, that farming is prohibited. :(

[SpinDashMaster.5680]

And yeah just in case I didn't make this clear enough on behalf of the silent majority: There's a lot of us who rely on that map for having something common we can all do together, that doesn't have the barrier-to-entry stigma that raids and fractals have. People could literally come as they are, have fun, socialize, and fill their pockets while doing it. It was an everybody-wins thing, where the more we worked together, the more everyone won.

If anyone here seriously agrees with this change, I strongly encourage you to look at the hundreds of players (and possibly thousands of newer ones) who are likely to lose the communities they couldn't find elsewhere in GW2.

Soon, they'll all be disgruntled.

Do you really want to shake your lower-end player base like this?