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Storybooks

Hi Regina,

Appologies if this has already been mentioned but please can I request that we add some sort of storage for storybooks? Since the game is starting to get quite an abundance of storybooks I think that it would be appropriate to have some sort of librarian NPC or additional inventory slot to handle all the books (mainly story books, but tomes could potentially be included also).

Currently, I run characters of every class, and my inventory is starting to get clogged with books to such an extent that I don't play half the characters that I would like to because I wouldn't want to miss out on the potential book rewards with them and I don't get a book because space is at a premium with so many characters.

I think this would be a useful feature to all players of Guildwars.

Many Thanks! Yu Takami 19:48, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

Hi there. The team is aware of the storage issues with the Storybooks. I will pass along your feedback. --Regina Buenaobra 20:54, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

Just making them work like the EotN ones, being able to make th missions and completing the books by paying gold, should be more than enough to solve the problem. MithTalk 21:13, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

another one if you go make those bags make them account based^^, sort of new bag which can be opend on all characters and only the books can go in it. Mindbag XD 145.53.242.142 21:51, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

GW Encyclopedia. A single book that has the pages of every book, and when you have completed a section, the appropriate pages are just blanked. While it would make all other vcurrent books worthless, it would certianly solve the space issue. — Wolf 21:54, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

Or a bookbinder.145.53.242.142 21:59, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps add a library section to your Guild Hall or Hall of Monuments? Totally pointless suggestion here but it'd sure fill up fast what with all these books I'm stockpiling! ;) I'm all for some sort of book storage. -- Elv 22:33, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

The books already work like Mithran suggested - you can play through the missions without the books and then add the pages by paying gold (10 gold per page). The players are confused because this only applies to missions played after the update, not retroactively (which IMO is a more important problem, but still...). Here it was mentioned that a book may hold at most 18 pages or items, so maybe a book holding all the other books inside of it? Erasculio 13:27, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

Add a book-ONLY Backpack per character. Make it cost like 15k Gold per backpack. Another money sink! 203.160.168.116 18:10, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

I second the Book only pack. And I'd have no problem with Paying to add the pages later if I didn't have 12 characters 10 of which are PVE that is 100 books to keep track of. I'd even pay 1.5 plat per Character to have _something_ to put all those books in. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:64.148.245.255 (talk).

I think a book satchel could fit into the lore...and is needed too. I think I have about...8 or 9 books on me now (Dungeon, HM Dugeon, HM EoTN, HM storybooks, etc.). But hey! My warrior didn't look too smart before, maybe all these books will increase his energy. -Warior Kronos 03:32, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

If not his enemy, at least his brawn from all that weight-lifting. Books are heavy! ;) -- Elv 14:18, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but there IS a storage for the books...because you can retroactively add pages, meaning the pages are actually stored on the storybook NPC's. 145.94.74.23 08:33, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Not true. If you're short on space in your inventory and drop/delete your book, you'll have to start from scratch.

Storytellers cannot add pages that were previously completed in a previous book. Probably to avoid exploits like people transferring a complete book to a mule, then purchasing another complete one and taking original one from the mule, ending up with multiples copies of completed books for beating the game once. --NIN37 16:13, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

What I meant was: don't get a book (at all), do all the missions, get a book, fill it and turn it in again. That would save you 1 inventory slot all the time except for the 45 seconds it would take you to fill said book. And guess what? It works for ALL books. 145.94.74.23 08:32, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Mini Ursula

Please, please, please, can you make it so that we have a somewhat reasonable chance to attain the Mini Polar Bear this year? With cherries and chocolate syrup on top? And even SPRINKLES and REAL whipped cream!!! :D --Kokuou 03:09, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

The Miniature Polar Bear will return, and the drop rate is going to be the same as last year. --Regina Buenaobra 19:27, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Heh, oh well. It was worth a try ;). I did make a pretty penny with the candy cane shards I got, so if nothing, at least I'll be a little richer. Thanks for the update anyway, Regina. :D --Kokuou 23:43, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Same drop rate!?!? Great. 2 more people will get one then. GG! Can't believe you people want players to grind the snowman cave the entire wintersday event. *cough*fail*cough* Sjeng 06:31, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Didn't you know it was a reward for the players that love to grind and farm? I hope you realise by now that this game, contrary to popular believe, isn't for the casual player. --Lady Rhonwyn 07:12, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

You don't NEED a mini polar, you can get one by luck and get rich, there always have to be something rare in a game. 217.123.100.238 07:22, 9 December 2008 (UTC)::

Aw, this is sad news indeed, and the Wintersday celebrations will no doubt suffer from everyone farming that cave in stead of just goofing around. --Lensor (talk) 08:26, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Not really, if you're a type of player who prefers to do something than goof around, you won't goof around even if there isn't a special drop to farm for. Similarly, if you're a player who prefer to goof around than do some serious farming, then you won't do any farming. And if they're just gonna make it less rare, might as well ask them to just make it such that it randomly drops from any kill. Makes it a whole lot simpler. -- ab.er.rant 08:29, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

The extreme value of the mini is sufficient incentive to farm even for people who don't usually farm as much. The promise of more or less unimaginable wealth will do that to a lot of people. Also, I would imagine it be easier to change a value (drop rate) than to make it a random drop, and also it has lore value to make it drop in the Wintersday cave in stead of from raptor farming. --Lensor (talk) 08:38, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

It's Christmas and people go grind to get rich, makes no sense. Whats Christmas all about? Getting rich lolz (rolls eyesXD)145.53.242.142 08:49, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

They already did random drops from everything before (eg. Golden Egg), so it's not all that difficult either. But my original implication for simple actually applies to the players. It makes it easier for players to get things from just random killing (or random killing Wintersday-only foes, hmm....). Lore-wise, well, yeah, it makes sense to drop there. -- ab.er.rant 08:55, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Shame the drop rate won't be better... even if it were doubled it'd still be extremely low. I survived 2008 without a Polar Bear, though, so if I don't get one in 2009 I suppose I won't lose sleep over it. I'd enjoy getting one for cuteness value alone, so I'll definitely be farming! And hey, if I don't get one, at least I'll have more Sweet Tooth points by the end of the event. :D -- Elv 09:54, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

You won't get everything for free, y'know. Sometimes you have to you know, put some effort in? If you really want that mini, you'll farm for it, otherwise, stop complaining. Boo-fucking-hoo. -- Mini Me 10:35, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

That is like the worst argument ever. It is not about getting stuff "for free", it is about the unwiseness of introducing an extremely valuable farmable/grindable item, make it only available under a short period of time, and have that time coincide with the very period when the community should in stead be encouraged to celebrate and have fun. Sure people can skip the farming, and many will, but that does not change the fact that the MPB is an incentive to grind through Wintersday. Kinda like offering people the chance to get 1 million dollars if they work through Christmas. Sure, it is anyone's choice to say no, but it is really an offer that should be made in the first place? --Lensor (talk) 10:53, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Farming for a Mini? Absurd.--65.23.199.100 11:42, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Make it appear also in Christmas presents and done. MithTalk 15:13, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

I'm just happy we get another chance to get one, anyways the rarity makes it more exciting when we do actually get one(ok so maybe the "when" is more of an "if") but I guess that adds to the excitemen of the hunt. I know I would want one reguardless of its value, and at least people know about em in advance this yeah so im sure a lot more will be farmed. --O Frost O 15:37, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Rule of thumb here, is don't farm it unless the farm also fulfills other needs too, otherwise you might be sorely disappointed. Some people farmed the bear a ridiculous amount of time last year and didn't get it. Sure it makes it expensive, but it's a big gamble. -- Alaris 15:51, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Farmed it like 500times or more last year, in that time i could have had much ecto by farming ecto^^, didnt get a polar bear. 145.53.242.142 17:11, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Regina, please ask the programmers what is the exact drop rate of this mini? A lot of us want to know if we should have fun trying to farm one or if it is a complete waste of time and it is better to save up a few thousand ectos and buy one and spend the festival doing other things. Thank you in advance for the information.

We are not going to disclose the drop rate. It's really up to your personal preferences and goals on whether you think it is "a complete waste of time" to run this over and over to have a chance of obtaining this item. --Regina Buenaobra 01:14, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Nice to know there is a chance to get one.Shame not many will Frozenwind 01:56, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

I expect there will be lots. Last year people didn't really know about them, so not a great deal of farming was done. Now there will be lots of people farming for them, and then moaning that they're not worth millions anymore. Sadie2k 03:32, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

People were still farming the chest for the other items when they didn't know about the bear. The people who want it for the sake of selling would farm regardless of droprate. But if you want one for yourself, farm the entire duration event and still don't get it, there's no denying that you wasted your time. The other items are no consolation. 66.190.15.232 09:47, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

But still farming raptors gives more event items over time^^, and since we now know it people will overfarm there and there will be not 1/2 bears this year but i guess 15-40 atleast so prices will drop. 145.53.242.142 11:15, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

I won't farm it. The amount of time it requires you to get equals the amount of time required to learn how to draw and animate it with c++. I have a life. Boro 13:32, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Is lottery a waste of time and money? Not if you win, right? Point is, it's a personal choice whether you farm the bear, but don't expect to come out a winner. If you want a sure win, then farm the raptors. -- Alaris 14:57, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

I wasn't aware you needed to dedicate 10-15 minutes of festival time for each lottery ticket you wanted to buy. 66.190.15.232 23:57, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Something that seems interesting...and disturbing

Quote from Regina Buenaobra, The replacement manager to anet after Gaile Gray recieved a new position.

We are not going to disclose the drop rate. It's really up to your personal preferences and goals on whether you think it is "a complete waste of time" to run this over and over to have a chance of obtaining this item. --Regina Buenaobra 01:14, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Regina, my question is, if you are so diligently agreeing that in game terms "Farming" is what we must do for this then why are you guys nerfing everything. The game is being ruined minute by minute every update that I download. Shadow form now lasts to where its almost impossible to maintain. The skills are given to us to use and I don't agree they should be changed. Urgoz used to be farmed at one time and it was nerfed as well making it where the starter foes don't drop. Loot scaling come into play and I, as an experienced programmer do not believe that you guys are being honest with us about the loot scaling. You say rare materials are exempt from loot scaling by yet mathematically they are. Before loot scaling I got anywhere from 2-3 ecto per run. Now I am lucky to get 1 in 3 runs. I believe that ectoplasms for example, in the UW have a % to drop based on the % of other items that drop. So therefore white items being on the loot scaling system is lowering the % that an ecto drops thus making ectos being affected by the loot scaling system. Foes in the UW (mindblade spectres) were also nerfed due to people farming it. Well to be honest with all this nerfing going on, after I have already beat all 4 of the games, got 11 maxed titles (so far) I think I deserve to be able to farm for items as I see fit without the worry of everything being nerfed under my feet. After this past nerf where the refugees in amatz basin only give 1 point of faction instead of 25 I got scared. I already had some friends say they ain't even gonna bother buying GW2 because of this non sense. You guys nerf skills but yet there's still a bunch of bots running out of bergen hot springs to farm for dead bows. One of the things that ticks me off the most after watching the press conference deal on youtube, you guys don't even play this damn game and yet you do this. Heck that one guys is a big fan of your competition, "World of Warcraft." What sense does that make. You guys are killing this game so please stop. I understand why, but im just letting you know that a lot of people are getting upset. The day it was nerfed I couldn't go to a single town without seeing someone being ticked about it. It shouldn't matter how fast they can do the runs. Sometimes just being able to do it isn't good enough. --Cynmod

The GW Live Team is aware of your concerns, and I will relay your specific feedback to them. Please read the latest Developer Update for more information on the reasoning behind the recent changes. Thank you. --Regina Buenaobra 22:03, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Usually, I stay off these pro-farm/anti-farm arguments, however, recently, I have found myself wondering if it was maybe now the time to change to another, lot less farm intensive game, or at least one with a much more balanced title system (LotRo for those who are wondering)... the reason? I am trying to advance my titles to R6, yes, "those" titles, the ones that "no one forces you to do them", the ones that require an insane amount of playtime (either to FARM for faction, to FARM missions to fill books, to FARM for consumables, or to find chests) and/or ingame money (which in turn requires an insane amount of playtime to FARM to get the money to pay for keys or lockpicks)... and I now realize I've been doing that for approximately 1 year already (started after finalizing the other titles) and that I have had really really little advancement in those titles, probably because, hey like most people, I actually work during daytime and can only play 2~4 hours a day during working days (playtime almost entirely spent in one of the FARMING variants because of those stupid titles). Of course, due to the lack of new content when everything, from mission to dungeon to book filling to vainquishing, is just a variant of FARM nowadays, I have nothing left to do and stupid me, I actually WANT to achieve those goals. I could quit as some will suggest, it would be some kind of personal failure not to be able to achieve those goals I set to myself (some as early as when Factions came out), and, when you leave the game, you leave your guildies, alliance members and friends and they are sad because you are not playing anymore... well, a whole social structure built around the game crumbles then…

Actually, doing the titles has now become a burden and it's not really an enjoyment anymore (even if I play with friends and pals). Every PvE week-ends, I am stuck in front of my PC trying to get the maximum candy, alcohol, gold items, tonic, <whatever is supposed to drop that week-end>... despite all the anti-farm features and skill nerfs ArenaNet has put in place... and I have started to find ArenaNet's policy quite strange actually: on one hand they give us goals to achieve on the long run (and long SHOULD NOT mean "infinitely long") plus some time periods where we get small % of chance (0.3% * 2 of chance to get a gold is still ridiculously small by the way) to speed up the process and on the other hand they starve us by making everything much much much harder do achieve for those long terms goals... effectively transforming something that should only take few months to achieve into something that takes YEARS to achieve! Who’s to blame? The bots and the 7/7 24/24 farmers of course who provoke all theses (non-GvG related) nerfes but the game designers as well who decided a long time ago that someone needed to spend 10000 minutes drunk to achieve a record (for example)… and they did quite a BAD job!

Few monthes ago, the French government, on the wake of the rise of obesity and other modern social illnesses, was launching an advertising campaign against modern addictions (that is sects, gambling, sex, food, etc...) and, as the most known MMORPG in the western world, WoW was chosen to represent the online gaming panel... with someone testifying about getting fired from his job, just to be able to play WoW all-day long. Well, lately I've been thinking more and more that Guild Wars should have been chosen for that instead (not that I plan to get fired anytime soon ;) )!

Wintersday is coming, and you know what ? I'll be farming again and again and again during the whole period to get those precious candy canes, alcohols, etc... to try to advance those titles at bit, and I know already that I won't get enough to even advance those title 1/5 of their bars... If I get the rare miniature, I'll be happy (I'll be VERY VERY happy actually), but I guess I won't have one and I may not even notice it as I'll be focused doing something else: FARMING, FARMING, FARMING, FARMING and FARMING again just for those damn title! And it will not be enjoyable at all…

Jaxom 23:03, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Dude/Dudette I couldn't have said it better myself and I do quite agree. You will probly never find anyone that agrees more than I to what you said. For the devs to want to stop or slow down the farming, that's what this game is 100% based on. I enjoyed this game thoroughly before all the nerfs. I say put it all back to the way it was. Fix urgoz where the pop ups in the beginning drop loot. Take out loot scaling. Put shadow form back the way it was when everyone was happy. Fix UW to where you can farm again. If farming over and over (It's really up to your personal preferences and goals on whether you think it is "a complete waste of time" to run this over and over) isn't a complete waste of time then why would we want to do it? And why does it matter to others if we max our titles in 2 days or 2 years? Fix everything right and may all those that are peeved over this crap follow along. --Cynmod

It makes no sense not to reveal the drop rates. It allows people to budget their time and say, it drops 1/100 so I need to do it 100 times and each time takes so long. If you want to stop the bots and automated people, add in random things that will make using bots impossible.--129.21.100.156 23:52, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

I don't care about the drop rates. I don't care how many times I do a run. I should be able to do the run as many times as I feel fit or until I get bored. But the drop rates since loot scaling has been changed. And we are not being told the truth about it because I would almost bet on it that gold items and other rare mats are being affected and I dont care what anyone says about it. And its not about the bots. Its about the nerfs. Fix the nerfs. --Cynmod

A 1/100 droprate (= 1%) does not mean that you need to do it 100 times, btw. Ecto have droprates of 1...5% from various creatures, yet you will usually get at least one during a trip to UW, and in the old days you could even get like 10 or something. (Even more if you head to Chaos Planes.) You usually get an ecto before killing 100 creatures... Vili 05:07, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Stop crying QQ Mini Me 13:34, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

@Vili, 1% drop rate for mini is the drop rate from the end chest. So yes, you need on average to do it 100 times at 1% drop rate to get it. Unlike ectos that can drop from every monster on the way.

@the rest, the mini bear is highly optional, so I personally have no issue with it being that rare. R6 KoaBD should be difficult, but I'd be happier if it could be completed entirely using relatively short difficult tasks like MotN and Guardian. Or perhaps some type of synergy after reaching 25 titles, where consumables-based titles can be gained faster (like a bonus to title points). -- Alaris 14:58, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Vili is right, just because there's a 1% chance of something dropping, it doesn't mean it will drop once in every hundred runs (in theory it should, but in actuality not really, because each opening is independent from the previous, so you have a 1 in 100 chance of getting it each time)) ~PheNaxKian Talk 16:19, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

On average, you'll need 100 runs. Which means you might need less, true, but you also might need more. If you do the run 100 times, you have 36.6% chance of not getting a bear. Make that 13.4% if you run it 200 times. That's assuming 1% drop rate. Also, I thought it was important to point out that drop rate per monster and per chest are different things... one counts a whole dungeon as a single try, whereas the other counts each monster killed as its own try. -- Alaris 16:39, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

I was just nitpicking at the statement that "you need 100 runs" because, although we all know droprates imply averages, it was not explicitly stated and thus factually incorrect. I'm O/C about those types of things. Vili 16:42, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

omg! you people are completely missing the whole point of this talk. The point was that everything you do in the game as far as titles is Farming but they are nerfing the skills that allows us to farm. --Cynmod

I wasn't aware that ANet nerfed anything of importance lately, unless you're talking about Shadow Form, which ought to be removed from the game outright (or made to PvP version at least). It's true that many titles are grind/farm-based. What is the problem with that? Titles are completely optional. I consider many of them to be "a complete waste of time", in fact. In other news: 55 and 600-based builds continue to be perfectly viable. The update also gave you a new farming skill: Hundred Blades. Vili 16:39, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

I had mentioned many instances that were nerfed. Not just shadow form. How about fixing the so called loot scaling and drop rate. Everything has been affected and we were told different. Im talking about since I started playing 2 years ago. Some I can say fine on cause it really needed fixed but to nerf something just cause someone is doing something too fast for them is kinda pathetic. I can see a grind. That's fine. But for example, 10 mil faction for each side?? That's rediculous after the recent amatz basin nerf. Maybe people want to do the challenge for the faction but now get punished for it cause its too fast for the devs. Maybe not everyone wants to vanquish area for the faction. Or maybe they don't want to do urgoz for the faction. There's tons more than just shadow form. Take shadow form out of the equation completely and I can still name a handful of things that was nerfed by people that don't play this game so how in the hell is that fair? --Cynmod

You're wrong and dumb. Go away. Mini Me 18:16, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

As I have already relayed Cynmod's feedback, I am closing this topic. --Regina Buenaobra 19:12, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Storybooks lack of retroactivity

Hi there. Would it be possible for you to get an official response or make an official response after consulting on the fact that those of us who have already done the missions can't buy pages for the new books? I think you've said you thought it was about the money but I've read comments suggesting that the money could be taken out or the cost for getting pages be increased or something.

At the moment ANet has been silent on why it didn't let us get the faction, XP, LB/sunspear points, etc. Personally I don't see why it would be a problem to help people max their titles if they've already done all the work. Seems unfair otherwise to make people do the missions for the 11th time. Thanks. 146.80.9.64 13:13, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

Because these books are "a new feature" and to claim the "new reward" added by them you need to beat the game "one more"? :P

Don't get me wrong, I myself had already beaten all the games (and was halfway through Hard Mode) when these books were added.

Having to redo all the missions will really take some time, but at least we don't have to do the bonus (get Master's Reward), so just rush through the missions. :P

Let's see... Skills get rebalanced from time to time... Maybe beating a mission two years ago was not the same experience as beating the mission now?

I am NOT saying that older players who managed to beat the game without newer/pve skills, consumables, wiki articles, etc are IN ANY WAY better/worse than newer players; I'm just saying that gameplay has changed a lot during all this time, so having beaten the game or being just starting it should not interfere with these books: to get full benefit from them, go beat the game (another time?). :P

Yeah, sorry, guess you would want an official answer from an ANet staff. My bad, feel free to ignore my comments. :D --NIN37 14:32, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

I would like ye old official word too.

Although, it was funny seeing retroactive alligence points rewarded for work already done but having them put on at the same time was just a slap in the face of the work done... you reward the player for playing the game, and then in the same breath punish them for playing the game... and even funnier still when in the same sentence prior work already done for the mission was not reward. And please don't use the economy as reasoning, Arenanet's track record at doing whats in the best interest of the economy/game is not that great, let us not go back into the Ursan incident, the EOTN consumables, the on-going saga of Shadowform etc and so on --000.00.00.00 17:28, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

The reasoning behind the Storybooks not being retroactive was because the suddent influx of large amounts of gold would cause a lot of inflation in the in-game economy. Players have had years to complete this content. If we had made the Storybooks retroactive, we would have thousands of people suddenly receiving scores of platinum each (from multiple) characters when they received their rewards. --Regina Buenaobra 23:15, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

I don't think the gold is the main issue, its the allegiance points. You might want to consider a compromise by giving us the points and not the gold. --92.235.60.31 00:22, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

giggles at inflation as the main reasoning Yes, and deflation is such a wonderful thing. [looks at his collection of Destroyer Weapons in disgusted] "I remember when you guys were actually worth something ... there there... it'll be over soon" --000.00.00.00 00:43, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

it dosnt even give you that much gold. the amount of gold that it gives you is very very small. compared to the amount of work you do to fill in a book. 75.165.123.205 21:27, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

Still... everyone who wants a full book will have to put the same amount of effort (beat all the missions).

Newer players will be able to fill the book at the first time they're beating the missions (less boring than having to redo everything), while older players will be able to do the missions on any order (they've already unlocked all the required Outposts) and might already know how to do them faster than newbies (many missions can be ran faster by doing things out or order, like clearing mob before talking to NPC - or even ignoring the NPC at all). Also, books do not need Bonus/Master's Reward, so it might be even easier for older players than first-time ones.

Yes, it is a pain to have to do all the missions once again. But new players aren't get "favored" by the books: everyone who wants a full book have to start working on it from scratch. --NIN37 22:06, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

Just the title points, not the gold neither the Faction, would be more than enough. It's true that we made those missions over two years, but it's as true as that we did those missions.MithTalk 22:50, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

Regina, hi there. You said The reasoning behind the Storybooks not being retroactive was because the suddent influx of large amounts of gold would cause a lot of inflation in the in-game economy.

But didn't 146.80.9.64 at the start say I think you've said you thought it was about the money but I've read comments suggesting that the money could be taken out or the cost for getting pages be increased or something.

From what I can see you've ignored what 146.80.9.64 said in regards to removing the money reward to stop economic problems but allowing faction, XP and the rest. Can you please consider this again because I came here hoping for a full answer. 78.149.180.35 23:33, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

I do believe that making NPC offer different rewards for same input based on when requirements were fulfilled would be a bit harder than making every player having to do all the missions (again)...

I don't want to be mean, but 1 week after that huge update, I'm almost done with both Prophecies and Factions books. Haven't touched Nightfall's book, cause I can't use the Normal Mode one (and I'm not not willing to do Hard Mode just now).

Seriously. That Kurzick/Luxon Faction cap raise and that bonus Faction/Reputation points were one thing (one time rewards), so it had to be retroactive (otherwise players who had done those 1-time quests would lose this bonus). These books (repeatable/farmable deeds) are another story. I'm not saying people who already got Legendary Guardian are lazy for not wanting to beat the whole game once more, but, since November 13th, everyone who wants to take full benefit from those books will need to beat the whole game once again. Once more, those books are not needed to advance in the storyline, so they themselves are already bonus features for anyone still playing the game.

Don't take me wrong... I know how boring/tedious/annoying it can be to have to redo all the missions. I understand that redoing them on Hard Mode is even less encouraging (mainly those tricky ones where you have to somehow cheat the game so your party won't get wiped too fast or those time consuming keep suicidal NPC alive for the whole mission while he runs around aggroing every single mob). But books were added after said game update, and, like I said, everyone (old & new players) will have to start from the beginning if they want to make full use of that new item.

Sure, players who already advanced into Max Title rank might feel a bit discouraged for not getting enough/any bonus for already getting some/most of those useless PvE-titles, but those titles themselves are already just cosmetical (excluding Lucky/Treasure Hunter and reputation/faction titles, PvE titles add nothing to the game: you get no bonus for Vanquishing the game nor Exploring the entire continent or capturing all Elite skills). You don't get cheaper wares for having Vanquished the game, you don't get thougher Armor for Guarding/Protecting the continent, you don't get prettier Weapon for charting the world, you don't get stronger skill for hunting down Bosses and learning their abilities. You just get a little text you can show people in Outposts to tell them you've done those tasks and how awesome you are. In my opinion, Books aren't the problem. What sadden older players is the lack of a "real reward" for getting most PvE-Titles, and working on them just to get more maxed titles was very boring, so now they're upset cause new players will have an extra (and profitable) incentive to work on those old/tiring/annoying/time-consuming/useless titles those older players had put so much effort to get with no bonus feature what-so-ever.

Just my two cents...

Yay for endless post mode! hope I didn't make many typos. :P --NIN37 01:34, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

tl;dr.

OK, so, in short, instead of retroactive books, I guess a little (one time) bonus for people who managed to get Guardian/Protector titles (both for players who already got those titles and for players who are still starting the game) could be an easier approach: if money influx would be a problem, give no money for this. Just something more useful than just a little text beyond their name. :P --NIN37 01:40, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

My main concern regarding the lack of retroactivity is something that unfortunately today's Developer Update didn't address. I understand the concern about adding that much gold in the economy, and I agree it would be bad; but the reason players are complaining isn't the gold (as far as I can see), rather the faction points. Would it have been possible to retroactively give the faction points but not the gold? Was this option not feasible (for whatever reason)? Or hasn't this idea been considered at all? Erasculio 21:35, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

But what would happen if they did so now? The people who completed the missions between the update and now would get the reward too (essentially double the reward). That would be unfair too. So they can't change that anymore (a.k.a. the cat's out of the bag) Also, unlike the missions, where you can only gain a bonus the first time you complete them, you don't actually miss out on anything. You wouldn't have been able to complete the missions again for the first time, so they gave you the rewards. It's different with storybooks, both the type of reward and the way you can get it. Otherwise, there'd be no reason why they shouldn't retroactively add the rewards for vanquishing too. And for any bounties that have been doubled. And for any double-weekends you might have missed. 145.94.74.23 08:26, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

bool ProtTyriaRewarded = False;

if (protector_tyria AND !ProtTyriaRewarded)

{

Gold=gold+500;

cout << Gordon Ecker[Tyrian Loremaster] gave you 500 gold for fulfilling the Flameseeker prophecies. To be properly rewarded,

bring a book with you next time.";

ProtTyriaRewarded = True;

}

so hard? Borotvaltgandalf 07:00, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Probably not, but that was not my point. My point was, that it is most likely that they don't have any data on WHEN people completed those titles, and if they added such a code now, they wouldn't be able to exclude people who got them after the update. No amount of coding can create information you don't have. 145.94.74.23 08:29, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Clarification on Snowball ATS

I've started to put together a list of people to form a guild for the new Snowball ATS, and I'd like a few clarifications if possible.

• Do we even need a guild?
• Do guild members need to be in the guild for so long before the tournament begins?
• What is required to enter the tournament (# of guild members, guests, etc; tournament tokens)?
• Will this function similarly to the current ATS: play rounds for qualifier points and then play in an end-of-season tournament?
• What kinds of rewards can we expect per win? Will there be Gamer points or not?

I've never actually run a guild or participated in an ATS before, so if general rules apply, point those out. Otherwise, "ATS-style" sounds like it leaves room for differences between this and the true ATS. Shayne Hawke 16:46, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

The requirements for the Snowball ATS are the same as for the regular ATS. You need to be in a guild. You need to be in a guild for at least 14 days. You are required to have at least 4 guild members. There is no entry fee. The Snowball tournaments will play like monthly tournaments. For rewards, you get the standard rewards you get from Snow Arena + Tournament Reward Points: Balthazar faction, Candy Cane Shards, Tournament Reward Points, Gamer Points. --Regina Buenaobra 18:52, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Is it possible that the requirement for being in a guild for XX days could be waived for this ATS, or at least brought down to a smaller number? Many of my friends wanted to do this, but we're in all different guilds, and switching now into a new guild sounds like it wouldn't allow us to play in the ATS together until after December is over. Shayne Hawke 22:32, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

i second shayne's request for xx days requirement to be waived. i also suggest that gamer pts be increased for the ats as compared to standard snowball arena if that's not already implemented. it might go some ways towards alleviating the syncing that inevitably goes on during these events. --VVong|BA 23:17, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately, making those changes would have needed a huge amount of work by the server programmers, because those ATS requirements are hard-coded. This means that unfortunately the guild that signs up to the ATS must have at least 4 members who have been in the guild for 14 days. The design team knows that this really sucks for people who don't meet those requirements, and they're sorry that they can't participate. --Regina Buenaobra 23:28, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Well, that's a shame. Thanks for clearing all of that up, I'll be getting in contact with my friends to tell them that the plan probably won't follow through. Shayne Hawke 00:39, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

any chance the gamer pts might be increased? --VVong|BA 00:58, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

That's not a shame, its bogus. The programmers are writing a new game type, with new rewards and a new place to enter it from (the guild hall, no previous 'mini games' have been entered through the guild hall.) I think the programmers just never considered how many people play this game on a regular basis and don't stick with one guild, or even have a guild. And now they're just getting lazy towards the end of it and not trying to work around. Hero Battles doesn't require you to be in the same guild for 14 days for the automated tournament, isn't that an automated tournament? I'm extremely surprised there aren't more angry posts about this. The people I am in a guild with aren't the people i play mini games or pvp with. Why punish a majority of the GW population. 2cents 67.167.231.167 21:07, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Since you are not an Anet programmer, I wouldn't make judgements on whether a format change is easy or not. If the classes for snowball tournaments are tied into the classes for regular ATS, then separating them and creating new classes would be significant work. --JonTheMon 21:20, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

IP, i'm sure plenty of ppl aren't happy about it. i'm one of those ppl. but anet's already come out and told u why they couldn't do it. they also told u they know it sucks and they're sorry. what more do u want? it's a holiday minigame and they only have so many resources they can throw at this. we'll just have to content ourselves w/ the regular snowball fight. --VVong|BA 21:36, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

The ArenaNet team has been keeping this game working without any mass money intake since Agust 31st, 2007. They make money off of the few new people who buy accounts and some of the perks from the in-game store. Their resources are obviously spread thin, given that they're developing an entire new game, it's really not that hard to understand why they can't make everything perfect for you. — Skakid 21:55, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Anet is also counting on a large amnt of very bored, jaded and generally unhappy gw players to jump at the chance to buy gw2... if they try this in dragon arena without giving us enough time to induct a few choice friends into the guild i'll be selling my account and throwing my pc through an anet office window. seriously this move really hurt me, i've been busting my *** for long enough on this title and was overjoyed at the prospect of playing in an enviroment not filled with hardcore synchers and noobs beyond help.well, i guess i'll have to resign myself to another wintersday of beating my fists on the wall between snowball rounds 88.71.22.139 02:41, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

the new summoning stones and tonics question

will the frosty and mischievous summoning stones and tonics be available from a collector or from monster drop or from Wintersday gifts?--Dark Paladin X 23:36, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Here ya go. --Regina Buenaobra 23:46, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Wintersday Summoning Stones

Will the summoning stones for winterday be limited(like the Golem ones from the M.O.X quests) or will it be possible to gain as many as we want of them through things like wintersday Gifts, or from Collectors?(marsc 18:19, 14 December 2008 (UTC))

Will we be able to craft them or will they be a quest reward or will they drop from the snowman chest after we defeat Freezie?(The6thkarni 6:59, 14 December 2008 (UTC))

I was about to ask the game question. Also, is the new Frosty and Mischievous Tonics and Summoning Stones will be available from collectors or not?--Dark Paladin X 16:06, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Marcsc: The summoning stones are a quest reward. If you want additional seasonal summoning stones, they will be available from a crafter. New tonics and summoning stones are not available from collectors.

The6thkarni: They do not drop from the snowman chest.

Dark Paladin X: The two new tonics and two new summoning stones both come from quests in the Eye of the North. Tonics can also be found as random drops in the world and summoning stones can be crafted in the Eye of the North. --Regina Buenaobra 23:45, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Ok i prolly wont geta response till wintersday but do we know what mats beside granite? Coal for snowmen?(The6thkarni 6:16, 17 December 2008 (UTC))

Question Does A Net Prefer us to grind?

Ok why did they nerf Shadowform and not Obsidian Flesh, or the 55. is it because we shouldn't be able to farm anything quickly I want to grind for months and pay 100k plus 50 ectos for a torment weapon. everytime we have to grind too much! i work 40 hours a week i dont have the luxory of playing all day like jobless bums or kids who only have to go to school! When ursan was going it was cheap and affordable to players to get things like hero armor not ectos. Why in a million years did they mess it up, raptor farm to many sin tomes, bones, or glacial stones nothing fast about them farms ectos didn't drop that much since they changed it the first time!The Thing is you only think about the idiots in UW and FOW and not about new players who could use farms like those to make money! In Fact Kill Terra Tanks they can clear a portion of UW and thats way to fast! i mean 3 - 6 hours hours for uw, fow, doa, urgoz and the deep completion is truly the way to go! Pm me in Guild Wars Allanon The Shade --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:The6thkarni (talk).

Obsidian Flesh only prevents spells, it doesn't make physical attacks miss. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 02:18, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Maybe they want the challenging areas to actually be a challenge instead of another mindless farm? The areas are called elite for a reason: they are meant for the elite, not idiots and new players. — Teh Uber Pwnzer 03:12, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Funny Guys, but your not getting to the real point here and its grinding, high prices, players forced to go to bots and money for item sites here, to enjoy a great game! Now was it bad that ambraces where duped! Answer: Yes! The focus i've seen is to keep us playing more and more to get the same drops sins just made it fast, was this bad for in game economy I don't think so ecto has been staying above 4k and tomes where plentiful and sins could run to places all over. No sin i know did doa urgoz or the deep maybe underworld but it was for sure not as fast as before the first nerf I'm just saying the reason they did it was bogus because it was fine, and definitly not too fast. [[User:The6thkarni](talk).

First of all, your jobless bum and kids that only go to school comment was seriously way out of line. You need to grow up and get away from the elementary name calling. I happen to be a disabled jobless bum and I am going to school. So in essence I could take offense to your name calling but luckily I don't get offended that easily. Torment weapons or armbraces haven't been 100k plus 50 ecto for quite sometime, they lean closer to the +10-20 side. But anyway, there are other means of getting ectos besides just the perma sin. You could 55/600 uw or just farm the gold to buy ecto. After the first nerf of SF the killing was a little slower so if you had the time to do that then you have the time to farm by other means. Anet can adjust the skills as they see fit and obviously they seen it fit to adjust SF a little more since it was quite easily maintained. And as it is now it is still maintainable but you have to actually pay attention.(opsie forgot to sign. I blame it on the pain meds I'm on!)--BabyJ 19:04, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Farming is the root of the problem described in the beginning of this section. If Shadow Form farm never existed, if any way of farming never existed, then we wouldn't have players with 100k + 50 ectos pushing all prices up. The most lucrative it is to farm, the bigger the difference between how much gold someone who doesn't grind have and someone who farms all the time has. Nerfing Shadow Form farming, and any other kind of farming, is a way to decrease such difference and thus prevent people who grind from having 100 times or 50 times more gold than someone who doesn't grind, thus trying to keep the prices a bit lower. If you don't want to grind, you should be happy with this nerf. Erasculio 17:34, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

All MMOs have grind, it is a fact. Some people really like the grind and some don't, the thing is Guild Wars is open to everyone grind or no grind. The no grinding players have access to the story line and can easily get stuff by just playing through the story. Most of the titles are story based titles. For the people who like grind, there are a few titles and the HoM, but these are extra and don't affect your skills or play ability. I personally hate the grind and like the story oriented play. But you need the grind other wise the people who play a lot will get bored and leave making for a very empty game. If you really hate grinding that much then you shouldn't play GW or any MMO, go play a Stratagy game or a FPS if you want a clear stop and start point for goals in game. That is what makes MMOs so great, you can play any way you want and it brings many different types of people togeather. --129.21.100.156 21:12, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

"All MMOs have grind" - and people used to say that all FPS had a bad story until Half Life came along, that all strategy games couldn't be balanced if you had more than two factions with different units until StarCraft showed them wrong, etc. The current MMORPGs have been copying the flaws of each other and happen to be filled with grind; it doesn't mean the flaws of some games within a genre are flaws of the genre (and didn't you say you have the grind as well? Does that mean you shouldn't play GW, too?). Erasculio 21:47, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Now Now Boys be nice okay. Okay this section was about the reasoning behind the nerf. I quote "All the adjustments we have made to this style of farming have aimed to slow players down but not eliminate it as a viable farming option." Now this is what I'm talking about. This nerf wasn't aimed to fix economy or eliminate it as a farming style just slow it down, But in my personal opinion that's bull and it wasn't the fastest. I can still farm with my sin but here's the deal the reasoning doesn't justify this nerf. There's tons of farms just as quick as the perma sin. -the6thkarni 6:49:59, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

You have already answered your own question. The Dev Update gives you the reason behind the change to Shadow Form, but you have chosen not to believe what has been written. --Regina Buenaobra 21:18, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Can you imagin how much the price of Voltiac Spear's, Amethyst Aegis's and Stormbows are going to be increased! No one is going to have the money to buy them except for the really rich guys who sit like 10 hours a day playing. That means the really cool stuff are only for the ones who are too addicted and cant stop. It should be a balance. This nerf has made evrybody in GW EXTREMELY angry(if you go to ToA, Zin ku or Chantry u will see). Its what everybody liked in guildwars a build that worked for everything, running, farming and playing(yes you could play with SF). So please change back Shadow Form!

PS:Can you please answer on this Regina, to show us that ure watching and to show us what you think.Simpaklimp 15:09, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

First: No build should be good for everything. That's against the whole skill balance ideas of GW (which were not always taken considered of).

Second: The power of doing UW with relative ease in HM and in 15-20 minutes while players were practically soloing smaller areas of UW actually overshadowed ALL builds in existence. It could have overshadowed URSAN!!!

Actually there are many concerns about GW. First is NPC-s not moving out from AoE in PvP, turning jade quarry into a Capfest, AB into capway vs capway, HM Slavers into SH-joke. HM is ridiculous. Bosses dealing double damage is ridiculous. And bosses in HM dealing 300%damage with a single attack+damage to lower level players means it's a mistake that ruined PVE. EoTN was announced to be a challenge to good players with LvL 20 access only. Then PvE only skills, Consets and ridiculous monster skills sucked it all. So all I ask you to think about how powerful was shadow form (it's to Simpaklimp) And I ask You (Arenanet) to rethink PvE (and PvP because Rspike is still uberly powerful in HA) Boro 16:51, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

I take offense to your assumption that because you work 40 hours a week you work more than "kids in school". I am currently in high school, and work 50 hours a week in school, plus about 25 hours a week of homework. And I still get time to make plenty of money on GW. It's not about grind - thats one of the least mentally straining ways of making money, but with a little smarts, its not hard to fnd quciker ways. (No I don't mean scamming!) Ashes Of Doom 23:39, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

To Put it Simple and Blunt for the morons! Shadow Form Wasn't fast, just popular! And baby J didn't mean to offend you, your disabled not a bum! but Ashes you a moron buddy! Grow some thicker hides before you read something and start popping off [[User:The6thkarni](talk21:47, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

I'm not offended, with what I've been through it would take a little more than that to offend me. And you are right, the solo SF farm was a tad slow, but it can still be done. Now a team being able to clear UW in 20 minutes, give or take a few, is a problem. Which I am sure this nerf to SF was meant to hit. Only now if the runners are not sin primary they will need cons plus candy to keep SF up, so that puts a hamper on E/A's. With the trend of skill nerfs to slow down a farm it usually hurts other kinds of farms, thats just the way it is and has been for a while.--BabyJ 14:33, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Please avoid violations of GWW:NPA. I understand that it may just be the way you speak, but no one likes being called a moron. Maybe simply refer to me as someone who doesnt share your views. Not everyone who thinks differently to you is stupid. Ashes Of Doom 14:56, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

you have chosen not to believe what has been written.

Maybe that's because 99% of what anet says is wrong and/or untruthful. ~Shard 05:21, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

The6thkarni: The designers wanted to bring Shadow Form farming more in line with other builds. This was addressed in the Developer Update. --Regina Buenaobra 19:27, 17 December 2008 (UTC)