Anet back in Silent Mode

[Astralporing.1957]

Case in point: the announcement about the next week festival. Absolute minimum info they could give - they haven't even told us when it will end.

[Etria.3642]

And nothing at all about Season 5.

[Luthan.5236]

While I agree that the communication style of ArenaNet is very bad ... I think new festival event during summer is just the right thing. So people can get ready for more story content after their holidays - if this starts a bit later.

Personally I don't care about games like FFXIV that I'd probably play just 6-12 months until completely deleeting it.

But have you ever considered that there might be tons of new or returning players - not complaining in the forums - that still play a lot and buy stuff? Only ArenaNet knows the data about this. If they feel they don't need new story content now then it is their decision.

And I guess with the game being a few years old now it might not be weird to have a lot of players that have played less than 2-3 years - not having maxed out most of the important stuff ... not even needing more story. While long time players or hardcore players (that did everything - but in a short amount of time) might ask permanently for new stuff making it seem like they are the only voice at the forums ... they might be a smaller amount of the players. Making it a better strategy to wait. We don't know that.

[Pifil.5193]

@Astralporing.1957 said:Case in point: the announcement about the next week festival. Absolute minimum info they could give - they haven't even told us when it will end.

I took it to mean no LS5 in August as the festival will probably be 3 weeks like the last time probably followed by another bonus week so that's August taken up.

[KryTiKaL.3125]

@"Luthan.5236" said:While I agree that the communication style of ArenaNet is very bad ... I think new festival event during summer is just the right thing. So people can get ready for more story content after their holidays - if this starts a bit later.

Personally I don't care about games like FFXIV that I'd probably play just 6-12 months until completely deleeting it.

But have you ever considered that there might be tons of new or returning players - not complaining in the forums - that still play a lot and buy stuff? Only ArenaNet knows the data about this. If they feel they don't need new story content now then it is their decision.

And I guess with the game being a few years old now it might not be weird to have a lot of players that have played less than 2-3 years - not having maxed out most of the important stuff ... not even needing more story. While long time players or hardcore players (that did everything - but in a short amount of time) might ask permanently for new stuff making it seem like they are the only voice at the forums ... they might be a smaller amount of the players. Making it a better strategy to wait. We don't know that.

But then those new players, at least a portion of them, inevitably get to the same point as the longer time players and the hardcore ones and it just cycles right back into these discussions.

However, like its been repeated multiple times now, this isn't even something just about the LW season 5 information, it is about communication on ANets part just in general and wide ranging across the game. Also "a few years old" is grossly downplaying the games age. Its nearly 7 years old now, and there are a plethora of things that have remained unfixed in this span of time as well as QoL, function and accessibility options that have been asked for repeatedly that they haven't even hinted at adding; with the exception of Build Templates and we haven't heard anything about those since they initially posted about them. By QoL, function and accessibility options I mean basic things these days like colorblind settings.

Also its already been said that these concerns are echoed not just on the forums but have been talked about in game and on reddit as well. Its hardly "isolated" to a specific outlet. They also do boast, what, 11 million accounts registered to the game yet conveniently don't mention active accounts? I won't say the game is dying population wise, it isn't just like all the people back around 3 to 4 years ago with the "WoW is dead" comments. No it wasn't, never was, but there was a definite distaste for the state of that game and people were vocal about it, they just vocalized it in the complete wrong way. The same is true for GW2 at this point, I won't go so far as to try and "doomsay" thats not what discussions like these are even about, just because they are negative about the game doesn't make them a "doomsayer" thread; this is criticism and at this point in time its appropriate criticism, based on observation and experiences over the years, that needs to be talked about and ANet needs to take into consideration. How they have done things in recent years is not cutting it now, they have fallen into a pattern that they don't seem to want to get out of (that we've seen anyway) and it does not seem like it is an acceptable pattern that the community will tolerate anymore due to circumstances that have occurred this year. The layoffs were one thing, but we also found out that much of the focus had apparently been shifted away from GW2 and many of the devs we saw early on in GW2's life, that we hadn't seen for a while, were apparently on these now defunct projects and are back on GW2. It stands to reason that the community now won't accept how ANet has been doing things because of this knowledge that was revealed.

[zealex.9410]

@Dami.5046 said:Look on their career page. One did catch my eye. One that needs console experience.CONSOLE.

Te fact that they got layoffs and their other projects got cancelled doesnt mean they gave up on working on other stuff.

[Magnus Godrik.5841]

I agree anet silent policy is dumb in so many ways. Me being a customer feels that this just seems to put the game in that dead mentality. Even if they tease these stupid chairs that they drop weekly would add a little excitement. If thier were planning on pushing me away, then yes they have succeeded. I drop next to nothing on gems anymore because i just feel im wasting my money at this point. But hey ill save hundreds this year so thank you, i guess.

[KryTiKaL.3125]

And today folks we get this;https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/harness-the-power-of-legendary-upgrades/

Yet another update with content that is revealed to us a week before it goes live. Which means that any feedback given about its implementation or function between now and then will not be heeded as its already a "finished" release. People are already seeing numerous problems with not just the time sink but also the cost of just one of the upgrades. The amount of gold or time you would spend getting all that you need for just 6 Runes is double the cost of getting an Infinite Upgrade Extractor which essentially serves a similar function already.

This is why ANet needs to communicate better with the community and not constantly go with this "Hey! Surprise!" approach to content releases. This stuff is releasing in a week and from past experience, and observation, they won't change anything about it within that span of time. I also suspect they won't do anything about it within a reasonable time frame even after its release nor would they even communicate that to us to begin with as it won't be something that will affect their gem sales; like how it would have affected Skyscale skin sales should people have elected not to even bother unlocking the Skyscale due to the time gating that they didn't want to bother with.

[Erasculio.2914]

@"KryTiKaL.3125" said:This is why ANet needs to communicate better with the community and not constantly go with this "Hey! Surprise!" approach to content releases. This stuff is releasing in a week and from past experience, and observation, they won't change anything about it within that span of time. I also suspect they won't do anything about it within a reasonable time frame even after its release

It's very likely that they won't reduce the thing's cost after release in order to not enrage the players who already paid full cost.

So this is definitely the kind of thing they should talk about, and gather feedback for, before release, not after.

The only logical conclusion here is that they don't care about player feedback on this subject. Which is sad - it looks like they don't want to speak to us, and now they also don't want to listen to us?

[Tekneeq.4302]

maybe theyre taking their time working on updates, maybe they dont wanna release anything they dont feel is as good as they could have done it.. id rather someone take their time and get it right than rush and get it wrong

[KryTiKaL.3125]

@"Tekneeq.4302" said:maybe theyre taking their time working on updates, maybe they dont wanna release anything they dont feel is as good as they could have done it.. id rather someone take their time and get it right than rush and get it wrong

And yet again....missed the point entirely.

This isn't about anyone asking them to rush content releases, this isn't about wanting the content releases more frequently. This is about how they communicate with us as a community for this game, how they present information to us and inform us of upcoming content like the Legendary Upgrades that are releasing. I can't recall seeing or hearing anything about them, as in how they function and how they will be implemented, between the time they were announced and now and yet the community is already seeing problems with their implementation, both in the time you'd need to spend getting them and the cost in gold that you might spend.

The excuse of "maybe they don't wanna release anything they dont feel is as good as they could have done it" doesn't hold up here because if they had, at any point, kept the community informed of the process and gotten and heeded feedback then the content they want to release could potentially be made and implemented much better.

Its already been repeated multiple times now in this very thread that this isn't about asking them to be faster or asking them to have more frequent content releases, this is about how atrocious ANets approach to communicating with us as a community is. They tell us next to nothing and for some reason think its okay to just go "Surprise!" when they are going to release something and then just, seemingly, do nothing to address any problems it might have after it releases. There are still bugs in this game that have gone ignored for years, there are still accessibility options that have yet to be even talked about despite this game being 7 years old, balance patches just make everything progressively worse, and so on.

[zealex.9410]

@"Tekneeq.4302" said:maybe theyre taking their time working on updates, maybe they dont wanna release anything they dont feel is as good as they could have done it.. id rather someone take their time and get it right than rush and get it wrong

Long live a lich was delayed a month to "get it right"

[lightinthedark.2596]

I mean there is a difference between promising the earth and saying diddly squat. I don't know why they can't put out a common sense approach roadmap and let the playerbase know their plans. They have used the excuse before that, Oh we don't want to promise you guys too much incase stuff doesn't make the cut. But frankly, I'd prefer that than NOTHING. People are likely to be much more forgiving if Anet are honest and say well we tried to do this by a certain date but it's been delayed. Frankly, I have so little desire to log in these days because it "feels" like the game is going into limp mode.

[Obtena.7952]

@"KryTiKaL.3125" said:And today folks we get this;https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/harness-the-power-of-legendary-upgrades/

Yet another update with content that is revealed to us a week before it goes live. Which means that any feedback given about its implementation or function between now and then will not be heeded as its already a "finished" release.

That should be a REALLY good hint to you as to what feedback is going to get listened to and what isn't. Bottomline is that game development isn't a vote from the players. In fact, I can rarely recall at time in any game where it has been. Not sure why some people have an expectation for GW2 that is different than how anet operates ... wishful thinking.

[keenedge.9675]

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:You have to understand that we criticize because we want things to improve, not because of hate or malice or spite, its because this game is important to us.

I think this statement is a tactic to then call foul and 'legitmately' put righteous indignation into play. Reddit uses this tactic often as well as the forums.

As said, above - the Gw2 business is their business.

The upcoming 4 winds festival, we all know it's coming and will last roughly 3 weeks.

They 'politely' let you know so that you weren't caught off-guard for the BIG market changes. (read the wiki, festivals are by definition recurring)

[KryTiKaL.3125]

@Obtena.7952 said:

@"KryTiKaL.3125" said:And today folks we get this;

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/harness-the-power-of-legendary-upgrades/

Yet another update with content that is revealed to us a

week

before it goes live. Which means that any feedback given about its implementation or function between now and then will not be heeded as its already a "finished" release.

That should be a REALLY good hint to you as to what feedback is going to get listened to and what isn't. Bottomline is that game development isn't a vote from the players. In fact, I can rarely recall at time in any game where it has been. Not sure why some people have an expectation for GW2 that is different than how anet operates ... wishful thinking.

Because there are games that grow and become much more successful because of heeding community feedback. Listening to the community that plays your game shouldn't be considered a detriment, not all suggestions made in response to getting eyes on how the game works are terrible. There have been examples given numerous times, often the same ones, yet apparently those have been ignored. I can't recall you actually responding to such mentions either, as they have been made after having quoted one of your responses in this thread or at the very least made easily viewable by you should you ever check this thread. You do get notifications when you're quoted or mentioned.

Warframe and Path of Exile are two examples of games whose companies have listened to and heeded community feedback and both games have grown and improved because of it. Acting like the idea of heeding and listening to community feedback is a detriment, or that it simply doesn't happen to the benefit of a live service game like GW2, and many others, shouldn't be something that is just accepted or even encouraged.

I'm not sure as to why you take the stance that you do, I also don't know why you advocate for this willingness to just let things stand as they are when, at the very least, enough people are recognizing it as a problem and it feels as if each time ANet "acts" it only furthers to prove the points being made.

[Obtena.7952]

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:And today folks we get this;

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/harness-the-power-of-legendary-upgrades/

Yet another update with content that is revealed to us a

week

before it goes live. Which means that any feedback given about its implementation or function between now and then will not be heeded as its already a "finished" release.

That should be a REALLY good hint to you as to what feedback is going to get listened to and what isn't. Bottomline is that game development isn't a vote from the players. In fact, I can rarely recall at time in any game where it has been. Not sure why some people have an expectation for GW2 that is different than how anet operates ... wishful thinking.

Because there are games that grow and become much more successful because of heeding community feedback.

Yes, and Anet does do that. They just don't do it for all parts of the game. No game does ... and for good reason too. Don't pretend that because you don't think Anet communicates enough or well, they don't do it at all... that's disingenuous.

Even if Anet did reach out and communicate legendary runes/sigils and ask for community feedback ... what do you think would have happened? I can already tell you that would have been a pure clown show. They would have had hundreds of ideas and they would have to pick from a few ... and then people would have STILL complained they didn't get listen to AND accused Anet of having a communication that's just for show.

The whole premise that 100's of clueless players are going to meaningfully contribute to the game development through communication is ridiculous. That's a completely unmanagable process. It's ridiculous to have 100 professionals contribute to a development like that ... and you want to open it up to players? I don't think you understand things; that's simply not feasible in the professional world and would be even less so through a forum from the screaming mob.

[KryTiKaL.3125]

@Obtena.7952 said:

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:And today folks we get this;

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/harness-the-power-of-legendary-upgrades/

Yet another update with content that is revealed to us a

week

before it goes live. Which means that any feedback given about its implementation or function between now and then will not be heeded as its already a "finished" release.

That should be a REALLY good hint to you as to what feedback is going to get listened to and what isn't. Bottomline is that game development isn't a vote from the players. In fact, I can rarely recall at time in any game where it has been. Not sure why some people have an expectation for GW2 that is different than how anet operates ... wishful thinking.

Because there are games that grow and become much more successful because of heeding community feedback.

Yes, and Anet does do that. They just don't do it for the development part of the game. No game does ... and for good reason too.

They don't...again you are ignoring important parts of what I'm saying. There are already examples of companies doing as such, Bungie has made more positive inroads of communication with its community for Destiny 2, especially so after their call for them to be more transparent about the game and changes coming its way. Changes that were also requested by their community and as such it seems to be getting much better received lately, especially with their move away from Activision.

Can you honestly, actually, deny that ANets approach to communicating with us as a community needs to improve?

@keenedge.9675 said:

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:You have to understand that we criticize

because

we want things to improve, not because of hate or malice or spite, its because this game is important to us.

I think this statement is a tactic to then call foul and 'legitmately' put righteous indignation into play. Reddit uses this tactic often as well as the forums.

As said, above - the Gw2 business is their business.

The upcoming 4 winds festival, we all know it's coming and will last roughly 3 weeks.

They 'politely' let you know so that you weren't caught off-guard for the BIG market changes. (read the wiki, festivals are by definition recurring)

I am not a redditor so I can't speak to their motives, but only to mine. Its not a tactic, its a statement. Its an explanation due to the reactions criticism seems to get, just in general, from those on the internet and especially here for GW2. That it is assumed to be malicious, that there is ill will behind it. I was elaborating that it is not the case, because that is apparently something that people must be reminded of these days.

GW2 is ANets business but keep in mind that this game, as do many others, evolve beyond just that. People have experiences, make friends and involve themselves in such a way on these kinds of games that its much more than just a business. It becomes important to them because of these things. Also...just because it is their game doesn't make them infallible. If they make a mistake, or mistakes, they should at the very least be able to own up to them, to acknowledge them and try to improve and change and if that needs to come from the community criticizing them and making them aware then all the more reason that it is important for them to pay attention to those words.

Everyone needs at least one friend that does that for them, to call them out. Honestly it is no different here and we have seen the proof of how important that can be elsewhere in the gaming industry.

[Obtena.7952]

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:Can you honestly, actually, deny that ANets approach to communicating with us as a community needs to improve?

Yes I actually can, because Anet communicating with me is NOT why I play this game. I don't need constant reassurance from Anet that they are still behind the scenes doing stuff to compel me to log in, have fun and come back the next day. They could LITERALLY stop telling me development stuff and it wouldn't affect my gaming at all. I would see the patch notes, and that's all. I would log in and see whatever new things they put in the game, and not knowing about them months in advance wouldn't change that.

Fortunately for all you other people, Anet isn't like that at all, so you do get ideas of what's happening in the future. If communication is a primary reason that compels you to log in and play, you should seriously re-evaluate your gaming priorities.

[KryTiKaL.3125]

@Obtena.7952 said:

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:Can you honestly, actually, deny that ANets approach to communicating with us as a community needs to improve?

Yes I actually can, because Anet communicating with me is NOT why I play this game. I don't need constant reassurance from Anet that they are still behind the scenes doing stuff to compel me to log in, have fun and come back the next day.

If communication is a primary reason that compels you to log in and play, you should seriously re-evaluate your gaming priorities.

It isn't why I play the game either, but I still view it as a problem on the whole. It doesn't inspire confidence in ANet for the future, nor for the present.

One can still play a game, enjoy a game, yet find faults and areas in need of improvement and criticize them for it. So no, my reasons for playing the game are not contingent upon how well they communicate with the community, but my willingness to suggest this game to others and have faith in a company that I have been rather faithful to for 14 or so years now...that I can say is a different story.

GW2 has its good points, ANet has its good points, but I wouldn't do them the disrespect of ignoring things that seem to clearly need improvement, that many in the community also seem to agree need improvement. I'd rather not be the type to just stick their head in the sand and say nothing when I see something is a problem. Everyone has their own opinions, and they are full within their rights to disagree with what is being suggested here but I still have yet to see a strong argument against the points being made that would convince myself and others otherwise of our opinions.

[Obtena.7952]

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:Can you honestly, actually, deny that ANets approach to communicating with us as a community needs to improve?

Yes I actually can, because Anet communicating with me is NOT why I play this game. I don't need constant reassurance from Anet that they are still behind the scenes doing stuff to compel me to log in, have fun and come back the next day.

If communication is a primary reason that compels you to log in and play, you should seriously re-evaluate your gaming priorities.

It isn't why I play the game either, but I still view it as a problem on the whole. It doesn't inspire confidence in ANet for the future, nor for the present.

What should inspire confidence in you isn't what they tell you they are doing ... it's what they have done and how the game has faired so far.

Sure, criticize when it's warranted ... and be HONEST and REASONABLE about it.

[KryTiKaL.3125]

@Obtena.7952 said:

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:Can you honestly, actually, deny that ANets approach to communicating with us as a community needs to improve?

Yes I actually can, because Anet communicating with me is NOT why I play this game. I don't need constant reassurance from Anet that they are still behind the scenes doing stuff to compel me to log in, have fun and come back the next day.

If communication is a primary reason that compels you to log in and play, you should seriously re-evaluate your gaming priorities.

It isn't why I play the game either, but I still view it as a problem on the whole. It doesn't inspire confidence in ANet for the future, nor for the present.

What should inspire confidence in you isn't what they tell you they are doing ... it's what they have done and how the game has faired so far.

Sure, criticize when it's warranted ... and be HONEST and REASONABLE about it.

And I feel that it is reasonable to suggest that their communication has not been adequate recently.

Sure the game has faired fine, barring problems over the years that have yet to be addressed and seeing how things like balance changes are going. The past speaks of many things, but the present speaks more. In fact it is much of the past that warrants a reconsideration of the present.

Balance is a relative nightmare, I believe you can speak to that as much as others considering how I have seen you, in the past, dislike things done to Berserker in particular and I can't imagine many of their other changes recently are much different. We see them notify us of upcoming balance changes but we don't see them change or adjust anything that might be very much over tuned or "broken", or just plain horrible, until months later if said issues even get addressed at all.

We also get updates, like this upcoming Legendary Upgrades one, that we get notified about only a week prior and people already see issues in its implementation yet due to recent circumstances, and past experiences, they lack confidence in ANet to actually address them between now and the release of that content, nonetheless even afterwards.

[Erasculio.2914]

@Obtena.7952 said:Sure, criticize when it's warranted ... and be HONEST and REASONABLE about it.So are you saying most people in this topic are not honest or reasonable?

[Obtena.7952]

@Erasculio.2914 said:

@"Obtena.7952" said:Sure, criticize when it's warranted ... and be HONEST and REASONABLE about it.So are you saying most people in this topic are not honest or reasonable?

Would that touch a nerve? Too close to the truth?

Honestly, I don't believe that communication compels anyone to log in and enjoy a game, so when I hear someone say Anet "needs to" communicate better, I'm calling BS on that. There isn't a need there, other than players who have convinced themselves communication is some really important aspect of enjoying a game.

Would it be nice? Sure ... would it fix all kinds of problems people have with the game? No, it really wouldn't. It would likely just result in people hearing more things they don't like and give them a false sense that they have some voice in how the game is developed.

The feedback happens after you experience the game, not months before. SO the idea that Anet telling us what they are doing for the future so we can 'feedback' to them on the development is just a thinly veiled ruse indicating there isn't any trust in Anet doing what you think players all want from them. The irony is that more communication there wouldn't address that, because everyone wants different things and Anet can't customize the game to everything that everyone wants it to be.

[Erasculio.2914]

@Obtena.7952 said:Would that touch a nerve? Too close to the truth?Not really, I just wonder if that would be honest or reasonable itself.

@Obtena.7952 said:Honestly, I don't believe that communication compels anyone to log in and enjoy a gameHas anyone here said that communication compels them to log in and enjoy the game?