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We Hate Old Players, or RIP B2P
NonToxic
Member UncommonPosts: 2
I
loved the idea of Buy-2-Play. It worked for GW1, I bought a butt load
of those expansions and was rarely disappointed. However, the new era
of B2P, at least as it has been presented by GW2, looks to be
dangerous. Nowhere have I ever felt so thoroughly LOATHED as a
veteran player as I have with GW2.
In
a way, I understand. Though I doubt this is the case, if the gemstore
wasn't printing $$$ (doubt) and if the game wasn't selling new copies
(doubt) I could totally understand the
need to ship purchases to fresh faces. Hell, I understand even
putting a lot of effort into shipping to new faces, its a business.
What I don't understand is why it feels like that's ALL they do.
Quickly, let's revamp the new player experience, taking shit out of zones and changing the way levelling up works...again. Hey, let's rework the dailies for the fifth time and take away monthlies. Let's have promotions in the gemstore constantly for 'account bumps' and xp boosting junk. Let's shower all new players in Tomes and Writs of xp so they can rocket to 80 straight through the 'new player experience' we just spent so much time redoing. There's a philosophy that goes right over my head.
UGH, you veteran players are still whining about bugs? Forget about that, make a new character and level it to 80. Forget about the dungeons you run on your level 80, and how bugs still exist there and they haven't changed or been added to (save for aetherjunk), make a new character! Forget about WvW, covered in a thick layer of dev dust after being largely ignored, just fill your new Daily and log off! There's no problems in GW2 as long as you play it the way it was intended to be played. Oh, you already paid us $60? Well, then you played. Thanks! Wanna play again? Pay $60 for HoT!
The achievements I had access to as a veteran player are worth peanuts compared to HoT's new dumping of AP.
'AP doesn't matter!'
Yeah,
if that was true it wouldn't exist, let alone be displayed publicly
in-game. So it burns me that Fire and Frost along with the retired
achieves and other things a newbie can't get are worth 10% of what
the new crap is. Where's the sense of accomplishment I could get by
being a vet in other games? My primary purpose here is to explain
event mechanics to newbies, who still don't have a clue how to play
despite the constantly 'revamped' newbie experience. I don't have
much of anything a new player can't get. I have some dead currencies
in the bank and a couple of titles from the stupid WvW seasons.
This is why I'm skeptical of the future of B2P. Clearly, the way to extract money out of this game is to bring newbies in at retail price, or so management thinks. It didn't make fiscal sense, I assume, to add any real end-game content or fix up that which you already had. Without subscribers to appease, there's no incentive to grow the game, add new things, fix what's fucked. Without new copies sold, there's no money to make new hats to put in the gemstore, so we instead get an alternating series of crap that brings in newbies or sells a hat. If you aren't a newbie or don't want the hat, get the fuck out of our game.
Comments
People want/ed more for nothing and now they pay more for less, quite ironic.
The TLDR of OP post: "GW2 is too friendly to new players. Loads of rumbling about something that might make sense to someone maybe".
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
I thought the TLDR was "I don't feel like a special snowflake because new players aren't jealous of my old crap"
I could be wrong. Maybe we could get a poll going...
All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
I don't hate much, but I hate Apple© with a passion. If Steve Jobs was alive, I would punch him in the face.
In all fairness though, achievements do not matter. At least the one that ANet rewards you with. Now if they had an achievement for Giganticus Lupicus solo, that would've worth something. Oh well...that's rather long topic.
Of course I need to feel like a special snowflake! It's the only reason I would keep playing. If I don't get new dungeons, the only conceivable reason to keep doing the old dungeons is for luxury rewards or special titles or ANYTHING like that. None exist, Dungeon Master can be grabbed in a week. If they don't fix WvW matchups, massive lag in big fights, server crashes, then the titles are the only reason to play the mode (WvW loot table sucks), or special snowflakes. Which is where it gets hilarious, because since HoT they dropped all the requirements for those titles by tens of thousands.
If I don't get new shit to play, the value of gold keeps going down, and AP doesn't matter, why log in?
The reward for being a veteran player in GW2 is that you are constantly swarmed by newbies. Newbies who, despite being the focus of the work Anet does, still aren't any better off (ok, so most of them actually have aquabreathers equipped now). They still don't know dodging, so you get a constant barrage of 'omg this is too hard!' and 'res plz wtf' at Golem Mk II. They still don't know pvp, and despite all the focus on a new player experience, there's diddly squat to help a new player learn in pvp. There exists the same training golems that have been there for ages, that only serve the purpose of dps checks that newbies won't ever do. Dungeons hit an 'easy' point before HoT, where almost all the people playing them knew how the dungeon worked and could avoid getting wiped. Not anymore! A fresh set of players dies to Subject Alpha.
'You're a vet, teach them!' Well yeah, but I've been doing that. I'm putting in my fucking teacher's hours here and I've got no special snowflakes to show for it. Hell, everybody else gets an apple mentor tag and I don't get shit. I'm shoveling newbie all goddamn day and I don't get any snowflakes. Starting to feel me?
Every old guild has their stuff taken away with HoT and locked behind some grinds and the $60 HoT purchase (guild hall is third in the list of guild upgrades, behind repair anvil and outfitter). Now, even to be as passively helpful to the community as I was pre-HoT with banners and puzzles and etc, I gotta farm guild upgrades and buy an expansion. Reward for being a vet? Stuff repossessed and locked behind HoT.
Reward for knowing how to get through the fractals? Teach newbies, for less rewards (because the 'better' rewards were taken out and locked behind Fractal Masteries, which I would have to pay $60 for). Where are the new fractals? I understand how new dungeons might be a daunting task, but new fractals? They don't have to make any sense in canon, they don't need to be huge, that was the whole beauty of the design!
For all the condescending special snowflake crap, you are partially right. In lieu of new stuff to do, in lieu of GvG or WvW battles that matter, without new goals to pursue (even precursor collections are behind HoT's $60) I had better get some goddamn snowflakes. The alternative is that I play something else. I'm treated like a f2p when I bought the game, and I like to think, made it better through my community participation. I'm grouchy now; two years ago I was leading sing-a-longs in Lion's Arch.
I think it is more rewarding here than other MMOs I have played. In EQ2 (which I played a fair bit), you still had more and less experienced players. But if having better gear was the main deciding factor of success, it didn't matter too much. You only needed people not to screw up too bad. When running fractals in GW2, I really value people who are genuinely good at the game.
I agree that there is a lack of a specialised reward for your time though. Some people play tons of fractals, some people do lots of WvW, some run Arah (dungeons) efficiently. You can't tell them apart at all though. The rewards in GW2 have been very general. I'd like to see more unique stuff - perhaps chains of achievements that you progress through, specialised around these pockets of content.
As to payment models ,you get what you pay for,that is an old saying that still holds true to this day.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
What I meant is that in a game with no (or very little) gear progression, small differences in skill are more noticable. In EQ2 it was a much less transparent thing, as gear could easily skew it both ways.
@NonToxic - welp I guess this game wasn't made for you then. I play Gw2 to pass the time and have fun while at it. I like running dungeons without being rewarded for every sword swing that I made. I love chatting with people and acting silly in the game. And when shit hits the fan the good players start to shine really really bright compared to new players.
And if you really want a legitimate title, get rank 80 at pvp and get all pvp class achievements.