Friday, August 31, 2012

GW2 Concerns




Still enjoying Guild Wars 2, how about everyone else? Today I wanted to touch on some of the topics that are not as positive as my last few have been. Last night was the first time Dire and I were not able to group, at all. We kept getting put in different overflow zones. It's always a whole lot more fun when we can play together, we both really look forward to it all day. With the down leveling process I can always join up with him but it doesn't matter if the option to join him isn't there. I really wish the developers would get this fixed.

Mail was down for quite awhile too, finally it is fixed again but the auction system is still not working. No word on it, that I have heard, then again maybe I am not looking in the right places which brings me to my next topic.

The fact that the forums are not up still, bothers me a bit. I've read that the team is using Reddit and twitter for news. My question is this- What is wrong with your own official website for news? If I wasn't a blogger I'd have no clue to check those places. I don't check twitter often enough to keep up with what is going on and Reddit... I really wish these companies would utilize their own forums and websites instead of doing what is 'trendy' at the moment. You know, where people are actually going to go look. [Edit- As I finished this post I see they just added information about heading to Reddit for news.]

Then there's the new wave of bans with an exploit, once again news is on Reddit. I've also read about making public examples of players who exploit, though not sure of the exact details on this. While I very much respect that the company wants to be taken seriously and that they take these actions seriously, I think that this is still between the customers and the company, not for everyone to rubberneck over, like a bad train wreck, take it to your own forums at least... I suppose they have to be up first to be able to do that. Those things concern me.

I hope within the next few weeks the forums will be working, the auction system gets fixed, and the overflow/join party problem is solved. I am glad there isn't a queue, we can at least play, but I just want to spend a little time playing with Dire.

Other than that we're really excited about the game. I'm not picking it apart but I am concerned about those topics. I do have other slight concerns, as the population moves ahead and the lower levels thin out, some of the more fun, yet harder, content doesn't seem like it will be seen by those lagging behind or trying the game a little late. For instance, last night I spawned some giant troll which was a 'boss' type mob, nobody was around though. This was prime time too, I just went on my way, after waiting a bit, to see if anyone would mosey over, nobody ever did. I hope to see some incentive for people to go back, maybe something like Rift's instant adventure mechanic, might help those who are still behind, or in a less popular part of a map, as the game population moves forward.

Another thing I'd like to see is an actual trade window, currently you sell stuff through mail and there is no C.O.D. option, just have to hope you're not getting someone who isn't trustworthy. Thus far Dire has had good luck selling that way, I haven't even bothered. I'd like to see mounts too. Why? Just because I want them. I'd like to travel around on a mount instead of mapping all over. I can do that on foot but a mount would just be more fun.

And how is the digital download sold-out? Last night the option to purchase the game on the official website was removed. Glad we didn't wait a few to think it over, I'd hate to drive all over Houston trying to find a box. Seriously. [Edit-] FB update below:

Ensuring the best possible play experience for our fans is our highest priority. We’ve said before that we would be willing to temporarily disable first-party digital sales if we felt our high player concurrency may compromise player experiences. We have now reached that point.

Effective immediately we have disabled sales via buy.guildwars2.com. To be clear, box and digital sales are still available via our retail partners. We are tracking our concurrency closely while expanding our infrastructure. We’ll re-enable first-party digital sales as soon as we feel that we can do so safely. ~RB2


But as I said, I'm not downing the game, I absolutely love it, we both do. I just have a few concerns I'd like to see addressed. I'm working on crafting finally, I like it a lot and love that you gain experience for it. I'm currently sitting halfway through 18 on my ranger, enjoying the ride. This is the first time in ages that I've loved being surrounded by massive amounts of strangers. It really makes things more fun to have more people around- The more the merrier. Loving our time in GW2, now if only we could meet up every time we log in together, Dire and I. I still need a guild but I hear that there are still many issues with that, maybe things will smooth out within a month. Here's to hoping it is soon! All in all I'm very glad we're playing.
See you in Tyria!







2 comments:

  1. I imagine you've seen it by now, but Heartless has the ArenaNet State of the Game post here http://www.heartlessgamer.com/

    Mail is working this morning - it wasn't bugged, they switched it off because of an exploit. Guilds seem to be fixed although I haven't tried inviting anyone today :P .

    Reddit I agree is a little bit of a cliquey choice, but in the UK Twitter is mainstream for communication. Most businesses use it as a primary channel now, hardly surprising since smart-phone ownership here well exceeds 50% of the entire population.

    The alternative to Overflow is not playing at all or the opening of many servers that will have to be merged when populations settle out. Rift did both and I prefer this, even though like you and Dire, Mrs Bhagpuss and I struggled to keep characters together last night. At least we could play and plan.

    Turning the tap off for digital downloads just shows how many people want to jump in. I imagine server hardware is being prepared to accommodate them right now. Nothing like a bit of a shortage to take desirability up a notch, too, of course.

    In the end, all these are things that will be forgotten in a week or two whereas we'll be playing for years. On balance I'd still say it's on the smooth side as MMO launches go.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I agree, playing is better than sitting in a queue. I just hope to see it resolved fairly soon. If they want to be competitive and start out on a good foot they need to get on the ball in the early stages of the game IMO.

      I also think it has been a fairly smooth launch, I do hope to see better communication and support in the future though. From what I've read here and there it seems a bit lacking.

      Delete

Search

Blogroll

Blog Archive