Feedback talk:Regina Buenaobra/Archive Community and Website/Dec 2009

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Fansites and gold selling

I seem to recall a long time ago that you said the reason that Guildwiki was no long listed as a fansite was because it contained gold selling ads. I also recall complaints over Guild Wars Guru's status as an elite fansite while it contained malware. Now interestingly Guildwiki no longer contains any advertising for gold selling, but I understand that someone from there would have to reapply for it to regain its former status as a fansite. I am not sure about the status of Guild Wars Guru in terms of malware, but what I do know is that they now advertise in game gold for purchase. I thought you might like to be informed of this. Misery 10:41, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

I lol'd Lilondra 11:09, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

That happens all the time. GWG's excuse is that they don't have direct control over which adds are displayed, so whenever there's a new add offering in-game gold, they have to talk to the company producing the adds as ask them to remove said adds from the rotation. Stands within reason that the way to permanently fix this would be by changing to another adds company, one that didn't ever display gold selling adds, but GWG has never done that (probably because they would get less money that way, and we all know how greed is a good incentive).

It's the exact same situation GuildWiki was in, though. I don't understand why GuildWiki was removed from the fansite list and GWG wasn't (and isn't), given how they're under the same circunstances. GuildWiki has been free of gold adds far longer than GWG, too. Erasculio 11:22, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Because the old wiki is renundant in anets eyes and GWG is a medium where anet staff actually do stuff.Like tell people they weren't having another party but were actually thinking how to fix the game and ... well yh Lilondra 11:24, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

On a side note: Mozzilla firefox has an AdBlock plugin which is very useful to block unvanted popups, advertisements and the like. --Boro 13:02, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

i lol'd TWO times --ilr 21:42, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, Misery. I am in regular contact with the GW Guru admins about issues that arise on the site. --Regina Buenaobra 00:29, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Misery, you can contact me over on Guru. I'm more then happy to get them removed. We haven't had a complaint about any such ads for well over a year now. It's not often I view the site as a user who is not logged in, so I don't frequently see the in post ads. In fact, I'm surprised to even see google ads in our rotation. I'll see what I can do about it. Inde 04:12, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Christmas card

I have just received one, with lots of signatures. Didn't know you were doing that this year too. Should I send one back? XD MithTalk 16:56, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

They do it every year, but only a few people get them. Karate Jesus 16:58, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Adrin and I got one too, thank you guys that was very nice of you.--*Yasmin Parvaneh* 16:59, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

I have never gotten one :(. Didn't even know about it. Would be cool tho, could add it to my autograph collection or my birthday/greeting cards. Qaletaqa Hania 17:37, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Ive given them more than $400 and I have never recieved one. Way to show the people you care. Drogo Boffin 17:38, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure about Mith, but I know Yasmin and Adrin know some members of ArenaNet staff rather well, so... — Jon Lupen 17:41, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Someone has a case of the Mondays! -- FreedomBound 17:42, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Afaik, all of the TK should have gotten one and a few random others. I don't understand the QQ for not getting one though. What does it matter? It's a Christmas card.....it's not like it has money in it. Karate Jesus 18:49, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

This humble UK player got one this morning too, and I have no connection to the ANet staff :) --BramStoker (talk, contribs) 22:59, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

We're really happy that people enjoyed the cards. :-)

The recipients of the cards include our fan site admins, the Test Krewe, but the vast majority of them are players who have no connection to us apart from the fact that they play the game. Also, if we don't have a player's address, or if they do not opt in to receiving info from us, we cannot send them a card. :-) --Regina Buenaobra 02:29, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

I guess PvX doesn't count as a fan site then ;D Karate Jesus 02:31, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Wintersday Contest 2009 Eligilibity

Hi Regina, Gaile told me to ask you about this. I was also wondering what's the deal with Australian residents? Some contests exclude entries from Australia (they are not listed in the Eligibility (locations)), but others include them. Some contests even have Australian winners, even though the rules for that specific contest does not include Australia in eligible locations (such as the Halloween Art Contest (2008)). I would really like to enter the 2009 Wintersday contest, but Australia is not listed as eligible, and it would be a shame to enter only to be disqualified. Thanks. ~Celestia 03:03, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

The contest rules were created by our lawyer, and while we have included Australian participants in some contests in the past, there are legal reasons for why we do not include Australian participant in this current contest. Our lawyer is already out of the office on vacation, so I cannot get an immediate answer to you. As far as I know, when we have to exclude countries or territories from contests, the reasons generally have to do with the laws governing contests in those territories. As for why there have been changes in accepting Australian participants, it might have to do with changes in those laws. --Regina Buenaobra 20:27, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Okay, thank you for the response Regina. ~Celestia 13:35, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Contest Question

Just something I was wondering, but I noticed that Anet's doing the art contest again for Wintersday. All well and good, but need that be the only creativity-based contest you all ever have? What about a writing contest as well (which, imo, would have been a much better way of determining who would write the GW novels, but that's another topic)? I understand it's too late for this Wintersday, but maybe next year. Or maybe during one of the other festivals. I've thought of a few basic guidelines, too:

1. 2000 words or less (the limit's, of course, adjustable as you all see fit).

2. Must be about an original character or characters within the GW game world (like our own characters, not npcs like Mhenlo, Rurik, Gwen, etc.)

3. Must have something to do with Wintersday (or whatever festival the contest happens to be around)

I hope you guys at Anet can do something like this sometime. I'm sure it would interest people and be a lot of fun. :) ----Nathe 16:36, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

writing contest could take ages with all that reading InfestedHydralisk 18:11, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, it could be troublesome, but seeing as I have no artistic talent but I'm a decent writer, I'd enjoy seeing something like this. --Kyoshi (Talk) 19:32, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

A contest like this would be one of the most resource-intensive contest we've ever run. If we had 500 people each submit 2000 word stories, it would take a very, very long time for a panel of judges to read them, create a shortlist of possible winners, and then decide on a winner. What you're asking for is incredibly time-consuming, and would have a significant impact on workflow. I'm not saying that such a contest would be impossible. I'm just saying that it would be difficult to implement because of the amount of resources and time it would take. --Regina Buenaobra 20:10, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

I understand, yet there was, in fact, such a contest over on a German GW site, as I recall. Had to be in German, but they did have it. And the word limit can be less, whatever's workable. Maybe put a limit on how many entries will be accepted as well so as not to hit your guys' workflow too hard. Maybe just the first 100 submissions or something, I don't know. Or less. Again, the numbers are completely adjustable. --Nathe 20:46, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

She practically said "No", a writing contest won't be implemented, the resources can be used for much better things. We just had a hench skill bar contest, and it was actually constructive for the game. ---Chaos- (moo) -- 11:18, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

She said unlikely, not impossible. That's very different from "no." Please pay more attention when reading. --Nathe 13:58, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Guild Wars 2: the next trailer

Can we have a trailer of stuff we DON'T know for the next one: like the professions/classes, the combat etc. We've known about the races for how long now? So, guys, what do you wanna see? >:) ~~000.00.00.00~~ 19:56, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Foodfight at ANet headquarters cafeteria. NuVII 20:25, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Um. No. :-) But maybe one day I'll take a picture of the white board in the lunch room. There's a regular fun / goofy theme posted and artists draw stuff in line with the them. Apart from that, the lunchroom is a standard lunch room. =) --Regina Buenaobra 00:14, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Uh, we had already been told that we would receive more information about the races this year, and that gameplay information is coming early next year (source). Erasculio 20:48, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm just puttin' out there Null, but... It's entirely possible that racial bonuses could have a bigger effect than Primary professions do. Consider the idea that armor values won't be limited by Class and that there will be more coding effort put into hit-detection and skill activation governed by movement. And then consider the negative ripple effects that class modifiers like Expertise and SoulReaping had in the past. If ya look at it that way, then we might have just gotten some interesting information that's actually "newer" than just knowing which classes they have planned. --ilr 22:44, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Nonetheless, I'd say the only useful (ie, non-basicly-already-known-lore) information about the races from the recent video would be that golems are probably a big deal( its the main focus of a lot of asuran clips besides their architecture), we saw charr shoot guns, and we can speculate about what the asura may be like based off of the college names we heard. Otherwise, not much. A bit of interesting proffession info though- in 1 or 2 places, we've seen duel wielding of dagger-like weapons, and I believe it is stated that Caithe wields here "blades" which often refer to daggers in gw. So an assassin-like class may be in. I'm guessing something along the rogue lines, if they're going for something different than the sin my guess is they are the melee version of the ranger. Can't wait for some real combat info next year. Underated 23:50, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Surprise, surprise... no one believes me. Refer to the gw2 talk page in a couple hours, maybe I can change atleast a few minds on this one... --ilr 23:59, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't 'not' believe you. I'm just not really speculating whether proffessions or races will be more influential on gameplay. Because quite frankly, I think it could go either way. I'm not knocking your idea though. Underated 01:53, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Ever consider that Anet is trying to reach out to someone besides their current players? Any newcomers to the Guild Wars franchise will be turned on by one thing within the first few seconds-How well the game looks. Any pertinent gameplay information will be released starting 2010, but until then, just try to closely examine the new trailer. Doing so can reveal several gameplay aspects have been confirmed.--Malchior Devenholm 05:04, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

That's true... several members of my City of Heroes guild have said they plan to play Gw2 after seeing the trailers even though they didn't play Gw1 with me. --ilr 07:59, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

So basically they go for anything that is pretty looking? Previously Unsigned 10:48, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Why not? I am personally buying the game because of the sparkly thunderballs in the trailer. Pika Fan 10:51, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

+1. Of course, the gameplay is the most important part but I don't buy games with graphics like shit, you do? -- Cyan 11:08, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes, why yes I DO! You would get used to "bad" graphics and in a way, I like the nostalgia that they have. Then again when you played most of GW on basically everything low you forget about graphics in general. Previously Unsigned 23:42, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

"So basically they go for anything that is pretty looking?" -- well yah, that is actually the DEFINITION of a loyal CoH/CO customer... not to mention a buncha other games out there that I can't think of right now but I'm sure others could. --ilr 11:19, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Well... skill animations. I want to see lots of skill animations. Shiny sparkles all over the place. GWO skill animations are not very... how could I say it... you cast a firestrom, and you don't see a firestrom, you see a few vertical lines falling down, and you know enemies are inside the AoE thanks to the damage numbers. Only wells and wards have definite borders. But I don't mean exactly that, but things like water that looks like water, not like blueish light, and fire that looks like fire, not like orange-ish light, and things like cracking ground when you use an earth spell, not just a little dust that is hard to see. MithTalk 14:38, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

(Reset indent) There are some that are pretty cool. Thunderclap, for instance, and most of the Air Magic line (among others of course). But I agree, would like to see more over-the-top animations. --Kyoshi (Talk) 19:34, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

I agree! There are a few that are pretty sexy (Crippling Sweep, Twisting Fangs, Mend Condition, RoJ, MHS, Searing Flames, and Chain Lightning come to mind), but the vast majority of skills are extremely lackluster. is for Raine, etc. 03:39, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

One could also argue that the lackluster ones make the sexy ones that much more lustrous, but we still want more sexy ones anyway. --Kyoshi (Talk) 06:50, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

I think part of the reason GW1 skills don't look that over the top is because there are so many of them (can you imagine coming up with crazy super animations for 1300+ skills?). Since they've told us there will be fewer skills in GW2, it would make sense they spend more time on the animations for them. As I pointed out in the discussion on the GW2 talk page, at 2:06 of the new video there's what looks like a lightning storm aoe skill animation going on. It looks pretty cool, I think, though I would also bear in mind that, with a year or so to go before the game comes out, aesthetics and skill animation can change pretty drastically. Just look at the early videos of GW1 and you'll see what I mean. (Satanael | talk) 18:09, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, that makes sense. --Kyoshi (Talk) 15:31, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Holiday Card

I would like to thank the entire Arenanet staff for the holiday card that you sent out. Stay safe through the entire Holiday Season. Toffin 02:16, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

I got one today :), was sent to me on 10 December got it on 22 December :D. Thanks, I now have my all-time favourite wallpaper as a christmas card. -- Qaletaqa Hania 09:24, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

We're so glad they got to you safely, and that you enjoyed them. The cards were a huge team effort and it always makes us so happy to receive all the excited messages after players get the cards. It really makes our day. --Regina Buenaobra 19:27, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes, the Christmas Card was a very nice suprise.. Thank you all again..MystiLefemEle 03:46, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

I loved the card and thought it was a very nice gesture, even with real signatures  :) Salvorin Fex 06:28, 3 January 2010 (UTC)Salvorin Fex

I have to echo the above sentiments! The card was very much appreciated!!! I was feeling a bit low this holiday season but the card actually cheered me up, so thank you anet peeps, it meant alot to me. :) -- Salome 01:47, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Happy Wintersday!

Let the snowballs fly and may the Fruitcakes and Eggnogs be with you =) -- Cyan 12:07, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Happy Christmas :) --Nick123 14:34, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Merry Wintresday! -- Large 15:36, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

As the login changes have shut my kids account off. I do not feel inclined to wish A-net anything pleasant. --Karia 15:43, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Huh? ^--Unendingfear File:User Unendingfear Crane eats peanut.jpg 16:32, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

It was a change designed to benefit the whole community, especially since the recent surge in account hacks. There's no need to be such a downer. Honestly, you (or your kids) should be able to remember at least one character name. If not, contact support and they'll help you out. Happy Wintersday! Shadow Runner 16:47, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

I'll wish them a happy Winter's Day for you Karia! HAPPY HOLIDAYS ANET!! You guys all get a big <3 Harold Ramis from me!--*Yasmin Parvaneh* 20:48, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, all! I hope you all have a lovely holiday, wherever you are, and however you celebrate (if you celebrate). =). Me, I'll be holing up in a fortified location, with other uninfected, watching zombie films and eating canned goods for Zombie Yule. ;-) --Regina Buenaobra 19:22, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Arena Net Feedback/Suggestions Advice

Is there any chance of getting someone at Arena Net to write a short article/story/FAQ giving advice to people on effective ways to give feedback?

How people should structure feedback, what kinds of things they should include, how long it should be, where it should be done, how important input from other players is, how specific feedback should be.

Just give a general idea of what kinds of things developers or you yourself look for when going through player feedback. Giving an idea of what kinds of things we shouldn't do would also be helpful.

I figure you guys have been doing this long enough that you know which posts/topics/suggestions you find more helpful and which ones you don't. It would be great if you could share that with us. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.110.89.46 (talk).

The answer to your question is "Common Sense". Use "Common Sense" it will make life a whole lot easier. Im also pretty sure there is something that tells you where to add your feedback. Drogo Boffin 09:23, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

Except that common sense is something that unfortunately seems to elude a lot of people. So having such guidelines spelled out would be a good thing. --Nathe 16:21, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

You read most of the suggestions and tell me they wouldn't have been helped by some kind of guidelines. Effective communication is a skill which rises above common sense. Just like there are helpful bug reports and unhelpful bug reports, there are probably more efficient ways to give feedback/suggestions when compared with others.

I think I've read a couple times now that the wiki is not as useful as forum for feedback, but when posting on forums I feel like people go about it the wrong way and it turns into "your idea sucks, I don't want to dual wield so your idea sucks". There probably isn't a perfect formula, but general guide lines could help people serious about trying to give feed back which is constructive, well thought out and inclusive of other players. 58.110.89.46 21:18, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

The wiki community developed the Feedback namespace at the urging of the ArenaNet team and created a well organized, relatively easy to use structure for both users and the developers. It is categorized at multiple levels, and can cover just about any topic game related, website related, etc. that people could come up with. It is the only legal place for the community to provide ArenaNet with feedback that can be used due to the special licensing that was put in place. To use it, simply register an account here, and go to Feedback:Getting started, read the rules and instructions, and go from there. -- Wyn talk 17:34, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Wyn is correct. The Feedback Portal is the only legal place to provide feedback for us, however that doesn't mean that suggestion or feedback forums are not needed. On the contrary, forums can provide a place for suggestions to get refined, critiqued (constructively), and discussed in-depth. I see feedback and suggestion forums as complementary to the Feedback Portal.

In terms of how to structure suggestions, I'll have to gather my thoughts about this one, as there are good ways to structure and post suggestions/feedback, and there are ways that will make it more difficult for developers to understand your feedback. --Regina Buenaobra 01:31, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

I've found that developers value clear, well-written, and concise feedback. The quicker you can get to your point while still conveying everything you want in a clear fashion, the better.

• Be concise. Use bullet points or short paragraphs.
• Help others understand your train of thought or why you think a something should be changed. Take readers through the steps of your reasoning.
• If you have a problem with a current issue, state what the issue is. And then go through the steps of what about those current issues are unsatisfactory.

--Regina Buenaobra 02:05, 28 January 2010 (UTC)