User talk:Regina Buenaobra/Journal/Archive Apr-Jun 2008

Re:Journal - 30 May 2008

I know you've been in your position for awhile now Regina but welcome! Not changing your armour until after the Maguuma Jungle is going to be a bit tricky but I wish you all the best (well, at least I did, but I'm also poor because of buying new armour sets all the time D:). Regarding the potential purpose for your guild, my current guild is similar to that in which we're basically a guild to help newbies out get a foothold in Guild Wars. Once they think they're ready for the big leagues (if they're PvP focused) or they simply want to branch off on their own, we let them go with no bad feelings :). Like you, I'm a bit stubborn when it comes to accepting monetary aid from people and prefer working at it myself - it always feels better when you've earned something thanks to the time and effort you put in the game! If you need any help in-game (although you most likely won't) contact me (IGN: Marc Grahamsworth) --Rambutaan 00:25, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Editing Help

Help:Editing ;) (the MetaWiki links go into further detail) -- Brains12 \ Talk 01:42, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Lay out of your page

I already really like the lay out of your page :). So it might be difficult to use wiki, i can't escape the impression you will learn it more quickly then me. Silencio 02:12, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

LOL, that and the fact she's using the ever fabulous Emily Dahl's user page as a template. That's not meant as an insult by the way Regina, your page does look fab, if i were to remake my userpage i would certainly be using Emily's template! -- Salome 23:53, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

And I got mine from Regina :P. I started with my wiki page yesterday, here and there some adjustements but all is goeing well. And all I knew was basic HTML :/. I guess it's pretty easy to learn or i'm a quick learner. Mostly I just copy and paste stuff and see if it works and if it doesn't I try and make adjustements so it does work. I learn faster with copy pasting stuff and adjusting it then starting from scratch. All the help pages i've read on wiki pages, and stuff are unorganized and confusing for me. I'm probably more comfortable trying to learn how to program then trying to make my own wiki page because for me it seems there is alot more structure in programming. Qaletaqa 01:09, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

carps

Are you sometimes using anagrams for swearwords in order to try dodging violation of policies as well? :P (yet i doubt that this even works, as it could still cause to offend other users. Well, but at least you could fool censoring programs with that.)—ZerphaThe Improver 02:40, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

I really like seafood. --Regina Buenaobra 03:13, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

oh, right...i didn't notice this word has an actual meaning.^^' —ZerphaThe Improver 10:03, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Carps are good imho! Also Zerpha, last i checked the polices, even if it were an anagram, one is allowed to swear if they wish as long as it isn't at someone as the policy for no profanity was shot down and burned ages ago. -- Salome 23:56, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

When I was a kid, I'd find giant carps swimming around in our stream (I grew up on a farm). I had no clue how fish that big could get there. Mom told me that fishermen would catch them and then release them on our property because they didn't want to eat them. I guess they taste bad? Seems odd since flounder and catfish are super tasty, and they're bottom feeders too. And that was my completely random thought for the day. -- Emily Diehl (talk) 21:23, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

And carp is often used in place of crap in forums and other places that might have word filters, incidently. josəph 12:16, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Still waiting for Information

Why has there been no information regarding the the "alleged" rule changes that allowed Staff members to be present in the Monthly's teams (one of which was ultimately the winning Guild). A Guild that "funnily enough" was heavily promoting Guild Cafe's rawr Cup? hmm? What is the point in making rules if they're going to be arbitarily changed WITHOUT Official publication? Whats the explanation for the action? It's a point of Order but an important one. You break the rules covertly once...whats to stop it happening again? Where are the assurances its a cock up that wont happen again. Please put this one to rest.Zilken 04:05, 20 April 2008 (UTC) 04:04, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

• Staff members do not participate in tournament matches.
• Membership in a guild by a staff member has no effect on tournament results, since staff members do not play in tournaments.
• Membership in a guild by a staff member may be needed for technical reasons, to streamline the administration of a tournament, and for organizational purposes. There are commands in-game that may be required for organized tournament play, which can only be carried out by someone with GM capability. Unfortunately, the rules were not updated in a timely manner.
• ArenaNet is sensitive to player concerns about this rules issue, so in the lead-up to the final automated tournament, occurring at the end of April, the employees who were members of these guilds have now left those guilds.
• In the future, ArenaNet will ensure that rules are clarified and updated in a timely manner to prevent such misunderstandings in the future.

--Regina Buenaobra 20:24, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Thank you :) Zilken 18:05, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Rockband

Woo! It's fun =)--DNA 02:55, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

It sure is ;) Best game ever (after GW1 and GW2, that is)! \o/ --Julien Crevits 08:46, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Oh heck yes it is :) -- Emily Diehl (talk) 21:20, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

And as soon as the word Rock Band pops up, the usual suspects are there XD --Martin Kerstein (talk) 13:12, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Here in England we are still waiting for it to come out next month. the funny thing is how we get the privelidge of paying more than DOUBLE (from $170 -> £180) for a 7 month old game. but then what did we expect, its EA lol. would love to be playing it myself >.< Charr Axxxe Fiend 09:35, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I wish you could play a keyboard on it. 129.82.65.126 06:32, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Meh, I lik Guitar hero more. The songs are harder, and better. Fun to sing for it tho, I suck at drums -_-. I failed a song on easy...--The Gates Assassin 06:07, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

So I wonder if the guy I rolled on my first try at Guitar Hero still hurts (though I did have some good Frets on Fire experience :P) --Akaraxle 19:22, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

As Requested: More Detail - 24 April 2008

thanks for the addional info i for one am looking forward to pax and seeing you guys there again. (i wasn't the OP on guru)75.172.43.176 07:43, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, as well. Of course, I only caught it now because admins won't put a nice way to check dev journals, but I do appreciate your journal updates. --Ravious 09:58, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Second Profession.

Monk sure is a nice second profession while starting. -- Silverleaf 15:52, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Personally, I would go for Necro, they have some degree of self heal and their skills dovetail nicely with mesmers at lower attribute levels. It also offers more options than monk. Ele is ok, but works better with higher levels, so you may find it ineffectual at the start. Shan 19:52, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

I say Necromancer or Elementalist. There is some good synergy between Mesmers and Necromancers, but personally, I feel that a fast-casting nuker will be much more useful in literally owning everything.  :-) - † Lord Xivor † 12:39, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

It's obviously popular to go with a necro as your secondary. I can't give you a good recommendation because I don't spend enough time on my mesmer to have a solid opinion. I CAN however put some materials toward that armor, if you need it. Just tell me material you are short on, I probably have a stack.Blackie ewilson92 22:44, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Nice choice :). -- Silverleaf 08:06, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Thinking About In-Game Chat

Hey Regina, I've just read your journal and I would like to comment on this. As a big fan of GW over the past 34 months, I was delighted every time I could meet Gaile in game during an Q&A session. Even though I'm active on her talk pages, and read up upon every single GW news item, an in game meeting is different. It's a way more personal contact which a lot of people love. Gaile was awesome at these meetings, but that isn't the reason why you should do it as well. It gives the CM a more 'human' perspective. While indeed a lot of people kept spamming the same old questions if their would be a hairdresser soon or not and when/if there is going to be a GW2 open beta, a lot of people enjoyed the more casual chat about George, her cat or the funny comments she made. The time and patience Gaile put in these Q&A moments, made me respect her a lot more as a person. Every player with common sense knows you can't answer all questions, players with the same questions could be addressed to read the wiki more (I don't mind setting up a page with the most common Q&A directed to you, if you wanted to). Gaile never really announced news either, before it was released on gw.com or gww, but she gave small hints to watch out for a change soon to come. Now these hints are precious for someone who would like to stay up to date on everything that happens in the GW universe. I have added your name already in my friends list, checking if you would do those sessions as well, and when I saw your name online, I spoke to you.. Just to find out it was Martin the German CM who had reserved your name a while ago. He is a very friendly dude, and we had a small conversation and he told me to re-add your name to my friends list. Anyway, I can't express how valuable these in game Q&A's are for a great bunch of people and I would like to ask you to consider to hold them as well. Greetz -- (Tribina / talk) 08:46, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

What happened with that is that somone had taken that name right after the announcement was made. Then Martin had the support team step in and recover the name for my use. He created a character with my name on his account to reserve until I could get my work account set up and have it moved over there. A character with name is now under my control. --Regina Buenaobra 22:45, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

I don't think those kind of visits are worth the time and stress. Gaile had to have her finger on the ban button and even then those visits were often crowded with all kinds of idiots. There is only a small number of people that actually get some entertainment out of it. After all, there only fit so many people in a district. And the last months the value of those chats got only less, because Gaile didn't have anything to share with us anymore. I, and probably many people with me, just stopped caring about them because it wasn't interesting at all anymore. Also the vague hints at times did more harm then good. I remember enough times people thought Gaile had said A, invoking a 30 page thread, only to find out she had meant B.

I think a blog like journal like the one you are doing is far more valuable and far more useful. You can use that to talk about your cat (as example), so people still get an idea about the person behind the job. But then without the wave of idiots that came with the chats. Dutchsmurf 12:26, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

I believe that they are fun, but the time vs. effect ratio is small (as you noted). If you replaced that time with updating your journal, giving us dev updates, etc. I think that would be much more worthwhile. Will CM Chat be missed... probably a little yeah, but I think if you left it as Gaile's special thing it will be alright. I (and probably much of the GW community) would rather have *honest* updates as to what is being discussed, updated, etc. as a way to "chat" with the community. For instance, I think the "UB is being discussed, and devs take opposing views is a good start." The community needs to know this, and that it isn't just "working as intended." Sure we would probably rather actually hear the views, but I think you are making good headway. --Ravious 02:05, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

/agree with ravious i made a post asking you about how you guys were going to react with the community and if there was a chance that you guys would take on a system like blizzard is using to talk about current happenings with starcraft 2, and do the "batch system" like them for gw2. didnt get an answer but if you guys just keep us updated i think a lot of love would come your way.75.165.97.72 08:28, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

I want to second ravious. Writing in your journal, giving dev updates and asking question on the forums, maybe even limited discussion about some special issues would be much better. Ingame appearances and misinterpretations often started rumors, and 10 fat wammos sitting on your avatar is something Gaile could probably stand, but for sure not everyone. The downside is that only people on the Wiki or Forums could reach you or ask you questions, or make any statements. But they care for the game, and very casual players probably do not know what to say at all if they meet someone they do not know that turns out to be ANet's CM. --Longasc 11:45, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

I strongly advice against no virtual representation of a CC. I agree that the traditional way Gaile Grey used to visit players had its downsides. Its concept was based on a smaller community and fewer players. And many individual players used to display less than favourable comments and behaviour on these events. Those individuals do not represent the more than 3 million active players (guessing) that love the game for all it's graphical en challanging aspects and have respect for the kind of attention she represented. Just to see she was online gave a "they care enough to have a representative in-game" feeling. I miss that.

It doesn't have to be an regular availability in Lion Arch or a very high demanding and labour intensive shoot-the-questions hour. But being a CC gives the unique ability to represent the company and create a far more desireable personal interaction with it's players than any forum can. Many do not even read the forums. Comprehension about the long lines of text is notable misinterpeted more often than understood. While statistics can apply to both the forum readers and the in-game players i agree on a previous statement. It does uplift Morale.

I strongly suggest a review of the traditional way of being a GM in-game and find a better and more effective way to interact with players in-game. Random play in teams of 4, 8 or 12? Go on bug or skill experimental travels with those that took time and effort to bring it to attention? Many many ideas about that can bring back the feeling Gaile Grey brought to the game. It is about global interaction on a personal level with an imaginary world available without borders and not with personal gain as a first priority.

Leaving the game due to individual behaviour of a non-liked nature would not be the best choice in my opinion. Not for players and not for the company Guild wars. -- Silverleaf 14:27, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

There are a lot of good points raised here, as well as on the GWO forums. I'm not totally ruling out in-game visits, since they seem to have a lot of social value to a large number of players. Part of me wonders whether this expectation is because that's what Gaile did and they expect the same of me. I think by now most of the people on the wiki know that she and I have different interaction styles. I'd like to note that the other CMs do not have the sort of large scale in-game meet and greets on the same level as Gaile had, which were subsequently reported upon and posted all over the fan forums. As a pure information source, the in-game chats are unwieldy. For the social aspect, they're fantastic and can be a lot of fun. --Regina Buenaobra 22:45, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

If you do decide to forgo in-game chats, you might want to make it clear to the community at large (who may or may not read the Wiki) about the ways in which you wish to be contacted, and for what reasons - be they through the forums, email, your talk pages, in-game IM, etc. I think that level of openness will lessen the blow of thinking, "We'll never see her in game, how will she know what we want?" I also think it might be a good idea to show up at various community events to reinforce the fun social aspect of the job, if that's something you're interested in. People really seem to enjoy that.207.191.205.18 18:47, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

My opinion is that it was a kind of scavenger hunt when Gaile came on and me and my guildies would search for her. Granted, when we got there finally, there would be people swarming the area.. some not being the most intelligent.. But it was fun having her answer questions and such, but being as you aren't Gaile, the journal may work out better ^_^ Lance 20:38, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

For me and I'm sure many other people the in game visits from Gaile were a huge part of my Guild Wars experience when the campaigns were still being released. When she was online I enjoyed finding the district and visiting her and it made festivals a little more special. When campaigns were launched I looked forward to seeing Gaile visit the starting town and join in on the fun. I miss Gaile and her visits and I'm sure even though many people were rude during her visits she doesn't regret them one bit. I think something like that is great to make the game a little more special and can't think of a reason not to do it. Another point is if you went to them you saw loud and clear the most demanded features from the game - hairdressers, pet stables, auction house, name changes etc etc. I would be shocked if these features or an alternative weren't included in GW2 because Gaile was able to see so many people wanted them and it was their first question. Her visits really forged a sense of community in GW and were a great addition. 122.104.167.139 13:02, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Thing about most people that used to look for Gaile is that they didn't necessarily want to ask her stuff about the game, they most just wanted to chat. If you look at some of the full chat logs some people have put up, most of it was just little question. Of course, there was always the hairdresser question, but people used to ask her about her minis, her bow collection, etc. I know when I met her, which was only twice to my disappointment, the first time being for only about 2 minutes, and the 2nd being during her going-away party, for a little longer, I didn't really care about the game info she had, I just wanted to know if she was still going to be collecting or getting on the game at all. So the in-game chats aren't only about how much info you can dish out at once, they're mostly used to get friendly with the player base. Going into a chat with no information at all is a bad thing though, because there are always the people that only care about what's next and what's new. Wow, that was probably the biggest thing I've ever written on the Wiki, and I hardly said anything you didn't already know! --Shinigami King 05:53, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Community Manager and Official Stuff

Well, here's my two cents, for what it's worth:

As far as efficiency goes for reaching a large number of players and getting adequate feedback, in game meetings are very inefficient. You can not reach large numbers of players directly, due to the weakness in communication methods and furthermore, it's just not feasible to answer everyone's questions who would see you.

However, we also have the flip side of that. Many games, whether this one or others, appreciate seeing actual people from the developing corporation in game. Not only does this show that they are willing to spend time in game, attempting to ask questions, but it also is more so a community morale thing. People see GMs in game they go "Wow, a GM! I can tell them some things I like, don't like, or just chat". It brings the developer closer to the consumer, which is always a plus.

Now, I know what you're thinking about that last comment: "But taking mails and such does directly interact with the consumer..." But, it's different to interact with them on some physical / graphical plane (such as in game, etc) than text. In the end, the choice is up to you.

Personally, successful advents often come from being able to run amongst players. Also, even though they may pummel you with questions, there's no reason you cannot be selective. That's the way development works, after all. Also, as far as keeping your personal "game time" out of professional time, I completely understand. However, I pretty sure you already have one, but if you don't, asking for or getting an account that is solely for GMing may not be a bad idea, that way you could just have a face for others to look for in game.

Overall, it's really just good PR, LOL. Anyhow, a pleasure to meet you. If you want, look me up in game sometime. Name's Davnian Siscus (or any of the other Siscus clan).

Thanks for your time.

Davnian Siscus 00:19, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

What I like the Community Manager to do

I saw your last comment about the Gaile Gray chats in your journal and how chaotic they are. I agree with you on this. The best bit that I enjoy is how Gaile (and other Staff) used the forums. This is a much easier was of communicating and is very easy to follow with the GuildWars guru tracker on their forums. Just my opinion and reasons why I like forum activity over the previous in game chats. Keep up the good work. --TigerWolf 08:48, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

except that then information is only spread to those who use the forums, which is less than a 10th of the community. Visits, although chaotic and not the most effective method of communication, were still good as it let people who would never have interaction with the CM, meet the CM and hear what they had to say. It also made people feel like they were being noticed. However I do accept that the spam was excessive and every time Gaile appeared it would be same old spam like "can we have mounts.....", "can we get a bigger lvl cap.....", "can we have an auction house...." over and over again, which would greatly annoy those of us who actually bothered to keep up with anet's announcements. I still think that for moral boosting it does more good than harm, but I concede its not a good method of getting info out to the community at large. -- 82.46.237.197 10:17, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

You do realize that the amount of people that ever visited a Gaile chat is far lower then the amount of people visiting the forums right? So for morale boosting it hardly has any effect on the 98+% of the playerbase who misses out. 81.68.117.156 12:55, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

except that many people then relayed what Gaile said to their alliance, thus morale boosting that way as well. -- Salome 12:04, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Agree. -- Silverleaf 18:17, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

I really enjoyed the questions and answer sessions that where posted on various community websites, like there was a competition to find the best questions and then they where submitted to be answered. --TigerWolf 02:40, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

People relaying what she said only had value if she actually had something to say, which was almost never. I don't really see why it is a boost to the morale anyway. A community GM getting spammed by all kind of people isn't my idea of a morale boost. I just fail to see a benefit for the visits. The point made earlier that it allows people who don't read the forums to have contact with the GM is far from true, because if you don't read the forums/website, you have no idea who Regina is anyway. Just like it is often the same people showing up.

In my opinion it is a waste of time. Time that could have been used to reach more people by making more forum posts. I think 1 post on Guru does more good then 1 hour of chatting ingame. If only because you reach a far larger number of players with that post, but also because in a forum post you can actually make a statement of more then one sentence. Dutchsmurf 12:35, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

I think a Community Coordinator well trained and experienced will find the perfect mediator between being an in-game representative effectively (new-style) and a forum representative at the same time. I myself prefer receiving communication via official channels. Roaming Forums as a player is not in my "view". Information found is shared and translated to my alliance. And for a lot of players Gaile brought a valuable message. Not always what we liked to hear but valuable non the less.-- Silverleaf 15:39, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Regarding receiving communication via official channels, someone on GWO suggested a blog as a means for staff to communicate with the community. The journal on my profile isn't really a blog and it's kind of hard to find. What do you think about having a blog on the Guild Wars website, where devs and/or CMs would post information or whatever? If you like that idea, what sort of stuff would you like to see in a blog? --Regina Buenaobra 17:58, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

I think a blog would be much preferable. Of course #1 is GW2 info. =) But, I personally would really like some insight into the design process. What was considered, what didn't work, what worked better than expected? Etc. Almost like a weekly team update, but not quite that. --Ravious 18:15, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

I agree with Ravious. Any insight we can get into the design and development of the game would be really cool. Even a sort of "day in the life of" segment where we get to see the day-to-day happenings of ArenaNet staff would be intriguing. And, of course, GW2 info is always welcome! But yes - a more "official" blog would be fantastic.207.191.205.18 19:24, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

A blog would be great. As long as it is regularly (once a week?) updated. And then the main site is the logical place to put it of course. Dutchsmurf 22:35, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

Hmmm...A blog would certainly increase traffic to the Guild Wars website..that's good. If it is regular, easy to find, FAST(er)!!, accessable for all browser/computer variations, the official source & trustworthy.... reliability and fixed times the community can count on new blog entry's...yup.. that could work :).

Content? I would love to get to know more about the art (rejected or in-progress), GW2 definitly, teasers, what the cause was for this weeks lag, honest mistakes, how its made, accidental updates, what idea's where picked up from forums and are under review by the dev team, insights into how to implement an idea into the game from initial drawing till actually seeing it in game.... hints on more to come...how to make interaction between NPC's, creatures and characters work (all without disclosing company secrets), statistics, how many active players world wide, spotlights on employees with highly specialized tasks (if the specific employee agrees), interaction between departments, answers on long ago asked questions....I Love this game!! So many curiosity's.

-- Silverleaf 23:06, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

highly agree with silverleaf.

Suggestions on meeting with players

Hello Regina, you definitely don't know me, but I have some suggestions on meeting with players in-game. I know, I'm not a CM, but I hope my input is good.

First, I would visit the leaders and members of the "big" guilds in Guild Wars, like [KISS] or [LaZy]. It could allow you to get good opinions without the strain of people who are too bored to do anything but shout in local chat.

Second, I would make appearances in places like Kamadan, Kaineng or Lion's Arch at prescheduled times in rarely used districts. This would allow less yelling in chat, because the majority of people there have questions and you could just GM-burninate annoying people. :) The times could be announced on your page so anyone with a question could come for a Q&A session.

Finally, I still think it's very important for you to meet with players in-game. For instance, why not drop in on the Gate of Anguish? I'm sure there are Ursans who have good suggestions...I hope...

Anyway, I hope my input is good and I'm really excited to have a new Community Manager.

71.192.171.162 23:27, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Re: In-Game Chat and Other Communication Methods

Forum posts - A forum that will be reliable and official. Not scattered around the world but one location where communicators for guilds, alliances and friends (websites) can copy information from to inform others.

In-game chats - I am glad you support the social aspect!! Review the traditional method for a more personal and effective way of communicating in-game.

News Posts - Where?

Game Updates - I like the wiki medium as my primairy source.

Dev Updates - Yes.

Blogging - Yes.

One source, One location, 5 links for more information. (I open one page from an official source and all is there.

-- Silverleaf 11:58, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

I think one of the reasons why the game updates and the news work so well is because of the RSS Feed. I know I rarely bother to go on the official website anymore, but I do have a RSS Reader that brings me the information on a timely fashion. If you could get the Dev Updates on a RSS Feed, that would improve their visibility (at least to me). As for blogging, I'm all for it. You could even put a RSS Feed on there and then link the appropriate source of news (game update, dev update, news, post in forums, etc.) in a post each time there is something relevant to add (and then you don't need to keep the news and the game updates feeds, just the blog feed). I don't know if you want to modify yet again your mode of communication for GW, but it might be worth a second look for GW2. Zahra 16:25, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

RSS Feed? What is that? Anyway's, i don't use that. Neither does my alliance. -- Silverleaf 16:57, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

RSS feed is just a help, nothing that changes the content really. It works a bit like a wiki watchlist, you get a ping or a notification in some way every time a page is updated. - anja 17:02, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

That's technology. Where to RSS Feed to/from. Still strongly suggest a single official & trustworthy location. -- Silverleaf 18:29, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Wiki watchlist is a somewhat flawed analogy, as it requires you going to a certain webpage to view it, and it can only watch pages on the same site. It might be easier to think of it as e-mail: when there's an update to a page, the RSS feed generates a new message (which, depending on the RSS feed, might be the whole update or a summary with a link to the full update). You set your RSS reader (many browsers, including Opera, Firefox, and IE7 have one built-in, and there are plenty of stand-alone RSS readers out there) to check the feeds you like (for example I have feeds for GW.com news and game updates, a number of friends' blogs, and about a dozen webcomics in my reader), and it notifies you when one of them has an update. Long story short: RSS feeds are wonderful and I don't know how I ever got by without them. - Tanetris 21:17, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

This was not a subject RSS Feed though :). It's about Regina's latest journal entry. -- Silverleaf 21:58, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Would it be that problematic to start a new thing for messages on the wiki? It would benefit from the whole article database (so you can easily refer to other pages) and as the wiki is used by many people and also used as a information source on most fansites (for example because of the Fansites), I think it would be good to start it here instead of using another external resource. As we are opening the ArenaNet namespace a ArenaNet:Developer blog or something like this would work fine. poke | talk 17:42, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

News Posts currently live here. You can subscribe to the RSS feed using an RSS reader. News Posts appear on the front page of the official Guild Wars site. News Posts, and everything that goes on the Guild Wars site, are localized into the various language groups that Guild Wars supports on the web.

Another source of news that I forgot to mention was Community News. Currently, for the English language site, there is no RSS feed for Community News. We are working on getting this implemented soon. The EU Guild Wars site does have an RSS feed for Community News, however. --Regina Buenaobra 18:40, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

You mention several sources Regina (welcome back from your weekend). I trust in your ability's to find a better, single and trustworthy source to inform the Community. -- Silverleaf 06:23, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Dev Blog Suggestions - 21 May 2008

List your top three ideas (in bullet points) of what you would like to see in a developer blog here. I would like to emphasize that the dev blog is at the idea stage right now, and nothing is carved into stone. Another point I'd like to highlight is that detailed GW2 information is likely to be extremely sparse or non-existent in a dev blog, at least initially. So with that in mind, please post your feedback in this space. Thanks! --Regina Buenaobra 01:08, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

• When is the beta?--Pyron Sy 01:11, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

omg & wtf -- Inspired to ____ 01:17, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

How about:

• Recent programming challenge you have overcome.
• Something you would like to be able to do, but haven't figured out how.
• What has you most excited about playing GW2

Thanks, Regina. -- Inspired to ____ 01:17, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

I think a dev blog would be a very good thing to add, as an example take a look Bethesdas blog [1]. This is basically a combination of game related news, the views/interviews from various staff members on any number of topics. Players do like to read what the devs are interested in, what motivates and influences them. It could also be a good place to centralise news and things like dev annoucements or network developments. So in summary, I think it could include:

• Game related news
• Insight behind the development process (eg via staff interviews/meet the team member sort of thing/what they actually think about)
• News related to GW or topics of interest.

On the subject of GW2, while the final release date is far off, even a single screenshot goes a long way, and would generate alot of interest/speculation/debate from the playerbase. Some small details released every month would give players something to think about and build excitement in the new game.

--92.235.8.13 04:14, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

• Preview of incoming features. This is very tricky - something that has been set may be changed before the feature itself is applied. I do believe minor things would be possible, though. For example, before a skill balance update, to tell us about one single skill that is going to be changed and the reason behind the change (something that, IMO, would be easier than the latest Dev Update we got, listing all those skill balances). Before the update that introduced the Zaishen title, only a screenshot of a rank 1 emote, without any more explanation, to keep players guessing (a mystery once in a while is cool :D). Before the update that introduced the end game area for Prophecies, a hint about one of the NPCs we meet at said end game, etc...
• I agree with the idea above, about giving us insight on the development process. For example, months after the release of Factions & Nightfall, some Arena Net artists posted concept art from those games at a forum dedicated to art - one of those pictures by itself would be a cool entry, but the explanation behind it (where the inspiration for it came from, why it was changed before being applied to the game, etc) would be something very interesting to read. Likewise, the inspiration (or hidden meaning) behind a quest (like some of the small comments made by John Stumme on this very wiki), and etc would make for very interesting entries. All of this about past things - not GW2, but rather Factions, Nightfall, GW:EN and maybe Prophecies.
• Just random cool things that happened in the Arena Net studio. Minor but cool things, even if they don't have anything to do with the game - to let we know more about the people behind the game. Like, maybe it was someone's birthday and that person got a surprise party, or there was a new movie released that a lot of people liked and talked about it a lot in the office, and so on. Real "blog-like" stuff :D Erasculio 05:13, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

RE: Dev Blog Suggestions - 21 May 2008;

• Developments Guild Wars (Prophesies, Factions, Nightfall, GW:EN, Unsolved "puzzles")
• Developments towards Guild Wars 2 (How its made, teasers, Screenshots, drawings, rejected features and why?)
• Company & Departmental relations of a functional nature. (Decision Process for Beta's, Procedures, Quality Control, Defragmentation of information, Global Equality Player Programms)

-- Silverleaf 10:43, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

• Hall of Monument - Right now this is frustrating, as we haven't got a clear answer on what we need to do in order to qualify for this legacy. I do not care what the legacy is, at this point, I just want to know if there will be degrees of decking out your hall, what those are, or if there will be a simple treshold you need to step over. Also, for certain if these will be for a specific name only, or account-wide.
• Solo vs. Grouping - Guild Wars is a wonderful game where you can do almost everything yourself, hero/henching. Sure you might not be able to visit and enjoy a handful of elite areas on your own (except for farming specific parts of the underworld etc), but those are very few and isolated and in no way do they hamper your power in any way (no skills, no better armours or weapons etc is taken away by not being able to go there). All this, making it possible to enjoy almost the entire game solo, if you so desire, being able to get max-rated equipment without being forced to gather a full human party ... will it be possible in Guild Wars 2? Don't get me wrong, I love playing with people, I just hate being forced to all the time.
• Instancing - I'd like more information about how this would work. How it differs from our current game and most importantly, how it will impact questing and missions.

Kherec 10:45, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

• Features currently being worked on (either new features or changes to existing features), how its going, what problems the devs are having, what decisions still need to be made etc.
• Insight into recent changes (skills, mechanics & features). I always liked reading the explanations of skill balances, even if I didnt agree with them.
• What izzy is currently looking at in both pve and pvp

NO gw2 info :) This is just a personal preference but I want to experience the same feeling of awe that I experienced 3 years ago when entering gw for the first time, knowing absolutely nothing about it. - Terra Atomos

My top 3:

• Game mechanics (is z-ax only used for jumping? I think not ^^)
• Storyline (not the actual storyline, bit bits and pieces to tease us, like the story of the dragon attacking the bridge)
• Timeline (what are you working on, is it visual yet, what is the expected date of release etc)

grtz -- (Tribina / talk) 12:08, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

My three are:

• Thoughts on the design process on a personal basis - from all team members. What was their goal for that piece of content/mechanic/etc.? What outside influences shifted their decisions? What would have been awesome but simply not doable, and what were the contraining factors (I think this one is paramount to learning your community)?
• "Guest Speaker" - I would hope that most A.Net team members would like to share stuff as much as the few faces we get here on the wiki. Maybe each week or twice a week a team member writes a few paragraphs on who they are, what they do, etc. I remember all the new faces I "met" in the Nightfall CE DVD, and I thought it was really cool.
• State of the Industry - This one would take balls by A.Net, but for them to comment on what you guys see happening in the game industry and the MMO industry AND how it affected some decisions? --Ravious 12:57, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

-DoomGiverIV

-I want to know a time line for the Guild Wars 2 beta ive been a long time fan of Guild Wars and if the Guild Wars 2 beta is a closed beta i want to be able to have a chance at getting a key un-like previous betas i wanted to take part in only to here a beta was released after all the keys were given out.

-I want more information on what things we can expect to receive for our Guild Wars 2 characters from the individual achievements from the hall of monuments because alot of the different achievements require a huge investment in time and the more i know the more im whiling to try and get certain titles because of the rewards i will get in the next game.

-Finally just anything you care to discuss about Guild Wars 2: gameplay mechanics, story, screenshots, video, anything to keep us the fans interested in the game until its released. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:DoomGiverIV (talk).

teg:

-I would like to get informations about the basically Changes between GW1 and GW2.

-Housing.

-at least one in-game screenshot or the like to see, what we may expect. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:85.233.19.79 (talk).

FabzZz:

- I want to know if there'll be a kind of RvR system in pvp?

- will all classes be available to play from the beginning, because I don't want to loose the ritualist!

- horses or other animals to ride? not to move from one point to another but for battle?!

I think everyone wants to SEE something, but I would imagine the rendering isn't up to snuff yet. In that case, showing off some concept art would be best, methinks. We all already know some of the environments and monsters. Even seeing some updated artwork of them would be great. It also gives us a flavor of what Anet is aiming for, without being "binding." Patrickvp 02:25, 25 May 2008 (UTC)patrickvp

Oh yeah, and any info about involvement in PAX would be nice. Might we be seeing something there?

• For every now and then a little Lore column, where the writers can explain their inspirations for certain characters or species. (Mursaat, Seers, The Forgotten, etc.) However, also explain some of the parts that can be answered. Where were the Margonite settlements for example or were the Gates of Heaven on Tyria? Why did the humans appear on Cantha prior to the appearance of humans on Tyria and Elona. That would be absolutely wonderful.
• Have a contacts section on it, so that you can, well, contact some of the people willing to contribute to the blog. Like the writers mentioned. That way you could ask questions and see their responses, make suggestions and see what their view is on it, or send theories on lore-bits and see if they can confirm bits of it.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Gmr Leon 19:01, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

RE Dev Blog Suggestions - 21 May 2008. My thoughts on the matter:

• Discussion of problems team is/has been wrestling with. Not necessarily any proposed solutions (you won't want to imply something as 'fact' when you may need to change it later), but it is interesting hearing the dev's views on what worked, what didn't, and what they are finding hard to get right. For instance, the evolving nature of missions (i.e. mission critical NPCs in prophecies to self-resing NPCs + player res points in GWEN).
• Spotlight on very specific features/functions/decisions. When you can release information, explain why you are chosing to do things in that manner. When you can't release information, discuss specific issues of GW1 or GW:EN. For instance, spotlight on Ursans blessing - what was the dev's intentions, how did technical constraints limit what you could do with that original intention, and how has it panned out - does it still serve its original purpose or has it had unintended consequences. On second thought discussing Ursan's specifically might just fan the forum flames, but you get the idea - a very focused discussion of a feature or function from concept through to implementation and the limitions imposed by technical cosntraints.
• Commentary on current hot topics, and how the players are shaping the direction of Guild Wars. Responding to player complains may be dangerous (in that it may provoke additional 'hostile' comments), but may reassure others or provide a different point of view for them to consider. Alternatively, discussing why the game is changing may head-off certain misunderstandings. For instance, discuss how player demand has encouraged addition of long-term goals for late-game players (i.e. hard/time consuming titles), and how you then tried to address the dissatisfaction amongst players who didn't have the time to achieve such objectives but still wanted to 'do it all'. It would be interesting to hear how the devs have been responding to player demands, and what decisions, though made with good intentions, were misinterpreted by players or caused problems. Jbuk 22:18, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

Hello Seattle, this is the vote of the German jury. The Wartower community sends the following results. Roughly 140 people answered your original question. Basically they take any information and hate surprises. All questions were assigned a category to increase clearness (and prevent me from having to translate 140 answers).

• Game Mechanics: 160 Points

All aspects one can imagine were asked. Which features will GW2 have? Which features will be continued/discontinued, which will be taken from other games?

• Hall of Monuments: 40 Points

Details on the rewards veterans gain in GW2.

• Visual Stuff: 29 Points

Screenshots, drawings, videos, anything.

• Lore: 25 Points
• Hardware Requirements: 15 Points
• Business model: 10 Points

not just f2p, but also questions alluding to expansions, episodic content, microtransactions, etc.

• Reassurance: 10 Points

Anything not related to game mechanics or business model, e.g. will the servers be shutdown, will events continue and other questions veterans might consider already answered.

• Release Date: 7 Points
• Private/Office Life: 6 Points

"The fabulous life of... Arenanet"

• Graveyard of Design: 5 Points

Things we will never see.

• Technology: 3 Points

Behind the scenes at the server farm.

--4thvariety 06:42, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm as interested in getting GW2 news as everyone else, but I'm sure you guys are well aware of what people want (everything) and what you can deliver there. What I'd like to see from a thing like this is how the backend goes together. I read a very interesting interview once about when they were starting GW and how they even had to learn to use SQL.

I'd like to see more along those lines, how they're storing the massive amounts of data involved in a game like this, how they solved new problems that they hadn't had in the original, how they took advantage of the fact that they're starting over to do things that they wished they had done in the original.

I'd like to see some about how the game world is put together - how does an explorable area (for example) go from...whatever it comes from...into being where we can interact with it?

purple llama 04:48, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

I may be late, but I thought I would add my own small input. I think the greatest thing that the dev blog can give the community and ANet is to put a human face on design and development. This means that a significant part of it should be personal, regular, human trivia. Funny things that happened at the office. I just went to see this movie and it rotted. I'm following this technology and it's way cool. Whatever. With this kind of a background, you can add in the greater community-wide issues: We're struggling with this design decision because... We're tackling a set of bugs in this area, so we can get take care of this seemingly disparate set of issues. We've got a big deadline we're trying to hit at this point, but it looks like it's going to push. I understand the thinking about managing expectations, creating anticipation, etc... On the other hand there's a lot to be said for engaging the community through transparency. I think of Open Source Software and Apple as examples of the two extremes. Both have inspired fervent fan-bases, but through different approaches. If you go for a development blog, you'd probably best study what is working in the open source community and transparency. 192.112.251.48 16:12, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

My 2 cents: I think you're absolutely right about Gaile's in-game talks. They were at times counter productive, and made me embarrassed for Gaile quite often, with the immaturity levels presented there. That said, I think it was something that took some bravery on Gaile's part because it's not often that you see a game's CM actually in-game talking with the community. It was something many players got VERY excited about, and it added a whole new level to the community/developer relations. Even if she didn't have any new information every single time, it was an event that quite literally became legendary in itself.

As far as a developer blog, it's something that is long overdue. ArenaNet certainly needs a dev blog (with RSS!). I really enjoy reading your work journal here, and I think getting more involved in the community through a regularly-updated blog is a positive step for ANY developer. Just look at Tami Baribeau's Dev Blog for Metaplace. It's a work of art, and it keeps people excited about what's to come. I completely understand the secrecy needed in a new project (things can change at any time from now until launch), but there's a whole lot of info out there on GW2 that most players don't even realize. We have a wiki page here with bulleted points and links to other sources, but you can't really expect people to come find the info if they really want to know about it. You need to bring it out to the masses. Shawn 22:25, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

Here's my top three, not necessarily in any order:

• Basic game mechanics/features (This includes professions, whether it be giving us just one new profession or simply telling us which ones from GW1 have gotten the axe.)
• CONCEPT ART. This is probably the biggest one I like, as it keeps me guessing and gets my creative juices flowing as to what the lore might be like, versus just spitting out the lore at us.
• Things being considered as HoM rewards. Sora267 22:36, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

Hope I'm not too late been doing a bit of traveling this summer but here are my Top 3 Developer Blog Idea's:

• HoM Info: Are there special effects or benefits? Will more weapons be addable in the future to HoM? or is it only going to render a title in GW2? Will it be interactive? Is HoM the only means to transfer anything?
• New Visual Aspects: Are casters going to have more then 2 casting styles? New graphics and backgrounds in the works, maybe even some new effects as well.
• Even just some tidbits of what they do daily: Fun facts or whatever else fills there day

I think its a great idea to have GW info on the actual GW website again, it will certainly be accessed by alot more people --O Frost O File:O Frost O Sig.GIF 21:11, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

• Race relations: How do people plan to handle interactions between humans and charr in the game, are there other race competitions going on?

• Sylavri background: Where do they live, what are their outposts like, government, lifestyle, etc.

• How skill balancing is done: Do people use lots of statistics, internal testing, etc. Tambora 00:06, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

I personally just want more sensible awnsers to the questions. For example, why do you say the beta has been put back so that players are "absolutely blown away by the game the first time they experience it". To me thats absoloutly ridiculous as the whole point of a beta is to get more people to test out the game, say what they think, what can be added, are there any bugs etc. A beta is not to try out the game - thats called a demo.--Neyon 18:13, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Re: Guild Purpose

A controled environment that is like an "Virtual Board Room" with temporary guests. You have my vote on that one! -- Silverleaf 11:53, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Wouldn't mind having a conversation about the game there with you (as a temporarily guest) ;-) -- (Tribina / talk) 13:21, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

I third this. would give you a controlled environment to poll users in where you can avoid being spammed as you can just uninvite anyone acting like a wally. Only problem you might have is the expense of guest invites. With no way to generate anything on the live server. I know its only 100g but it would quickly mount up. Maybe an understanding that if you're chosen to attend one of these that you foot your own guest invite bill, thus avoiding any financial drain on yourself. -- Salome 01:43, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Using a controlled environment to poll users is something that should be avoided at all costs. While I'm all for using that guild for general chatting and global discussions, using it for polling is asking for problems. Even if it doesn't really happen, people will still think that the few people invited are deciding on the future of GW. With the current hostile community, anything like that is better avoided. So using it for fun and parties, yes. Using it for communicating or polling, no.

And then there is other point, how are you going to decide who gets an invite and who doesn't? Dutchsmurf 17:43, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

I am adamantly against Regina using a guild hall for in-game discussions. This screams trouble for Regina and the community. Uninvited players would complain about not getting their voices heard and that Regina is playing favorites when selecting certain users to join her hall. Even if she'd use the guild for fun or party purposes people would still complain. Its best to stick to having chats in public areas where everyone can try to attend or to simply to stop doing the online chats all together.-- Marisa 21:50, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

It's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place -- People feeling left out, while Regina handpicks people she wants to talk to and in the end we're left with the opinions of an extremely small group. The worst of both worlds ... Kherec 22:35, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

it may be a better idea to have a set amount of questions that you gather from the community via feedback here or on a forum. so then when in game you are just responding to those questions. or have it be so when you come in game you are only there to greet people and party. 75.165.102.213 23:19, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

I agree that it might be a bad idea to use the Guildhall for talks, people are extremely whiney - you'd probably get some negativity from it. If you want to do more controlled chats, why not host them in more un-used outposts or ones nearer to the end of the game, rather than Kamadan or LA. Meeting with people in the ember light camp or the gate of secrets, for instance, would probably mean you end up speaking to more mature players, and possibly less of them. Sure, there is still the problem that not everyone will be able to include themselves in the talks like with the guildhall idea - but atleast the oppertunity will be there for them, and really... if somebody hasnt gotten very far into a campaign anyway, they probably arnt a serious enough GW player to be too bother by missing out. The only problem with this idea is that, ofcourse, PvP players may be just as involved in Gw development but not have the means to get there since they dont play PvE. Though having said this, that problem must already be occuring, but to a lesser extent - and people do not seem THAT bothered by it. On the flip side, its always nice to encourage players to go to all those unused outposts isnt it? Aurious mines, anyone?

As for the guild you have, I really cant see a very practical use that people wouldnt bitch about because they are missing out. Maybe it would just be nice to get it full with Anet employees, and kinda have an Anet guild. I doubt you'd be able to do much, but it would certainly be cool..

Ps sorry I think I messed up signing somehow.Tauntedflail 12:44, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Okay to answer a few points. @ the person who didnt sign, holding them anywhere in game won't matter as the district will be flooded in short order due to alliance chat and people telling people where regina is. Also progress in game does not maturity make. Some of the biggest muppets ive met in game have been in DoA. @ Tauntedflail, their already are several anet guilds and regina probably has her primary account in one of them already. @ all the nay sayers, I agree people are gonna moan and bitch if she uses her guild for smaller more controlled discussions, however if regina doesn't have public chats, people are going to moan and bitch just as much and if she does have public chats, people that get in the district are going to moan and bitch about things while those who weren't able to cause its full will moan and bitch because they can't gain access. Simply put people are always going to moan and bitch in some form or another no matter what she does. At least with the guild idea she doesn't have to be spammed to death with moaning and that maybe something beneficial might come of it. As public chats have 0 positive impact as 20% of people there are just their to be numpties. another 70% ask questions about things which if they checked the wiki properly they would have an answer to (e.g. mounts and hair dresser etc..), another 5% just stand about being afk or spamming emotes, leaving the 5% with actual concerns and original ideas to get lost in the deluge of garbage which is spammed. In a more controlled environment, more progressive discourse might be engaged in which could actually give Regina proper feedback added to that of the feedback she gets from the wiki and forums. I'm not saying that she should invite the same group of people over and over again, but from her time on this wiki and from her time on the other forums she knows which users can discuss things with some semblance of maturity without just taking the time to vent their spleen and moan about everything. -- Salome 13:03, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

I wholly disagree with the guild for pet players. I don't mean the last sentence to be an attack on anybody, but that is the way it will seem. If you want an "elite" group of people as a sounding board, re-open or enlarge alpha test forums. On the note of controlled responses, I think you should check out what the LOTRO devs do on their forums. They ask three very specific questions each week, and have a thread solely for answering those questions. I think that would be much more beneficial to all involved than a few players in a guild hall. --Ravious 16:38, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

My single problem with those opposed to this is that, in a very large sense while online forums are open, etc, the community would still need to be reached at large. By the display of those who signed on this post alone and on most posts found here, it's clear to deduce who will contribute most on those forums, which is still not very representative of the whole. Yes, there are tons of people on forums everyday, but most posts are by a select few, just as with those postings here on the wiki. The problem here is not necessarily reaching everyone, but reaching a select few who are, more or less, randomly chosen and who can represent new insights and such for each meeting or posting. Personally, I am for in game meetings and the use of a guildhall for such, as long as different people were asked and chosen each time to share their thoughts and experiences about Guild Wars. Yes, there would be bitching and moaning, but the same happens on forums as well. Forums, more or less, present the illusion of people being able to comment, while most people really don't because they are either timid or never check them. In the end, either would probably work fine, but I don't see as much variety being offered in the forum system, as most posts will still be by a select few. Davnian Siscus 17:58, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

==> Another topic way out of context.

• Any player has the right to a guild. Settled!
• Regina isn't the kind of person (as far as i can deduct from her personal communications) to have "pet" players. Settled?
• Neither is this about a "fixed" player selection or permanent membership. Settled?

The reason for the guild is stated by her as can be read in her Journal. The question is: input if the guild could be a environment for in-game player feedback?

This would be "Guests" and membership expires after specific time stated.

She would control the questions and the invites. And get a more effective way of in-game communication and player feedback.

Trust her on this a little?

If it goes out-of-control after a decent period of trail-and-(maybe) error she will communicate it doesn't work to her and our content.

--Silverleaf 18:10, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

@ Salome i think the main reason why people keep bring up "(e.g. mounts and hair dresser etc..)" is because they want them and anet for the most part hasnt done much of anything in that regard to provide, also that sort of stuff will be ask until they say 'we love how guild was1 is now and are not going to make anymore changes to it, also go play guild wars2' like i stated before i think set questions or finding out what the most popular questions are and then coming in game and answering only those questions would be the best kind of like what Ravious said, blizzard is doing the same sort of thing with starcraft2 which is getting me and my friends super excited for that game and is having us think and guess what kind of fun we will have i sort of wish we could have the same thing go on with guild wars 2. 75.165.102.213 10:12, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

But IP, it's been answered over and over. Mounts = No, hair dresser = focused on gw2 so no. The list continues of pointless questions that if the person checked Gailes chat archive, they would find answers too before spamming local chat. @ Silverleaf completely agree with your points! -- Salome 11:39, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm curious as to how the players would get selected. If the criteria of a player pool is just from the Wiki, then there's really no need: those who frequent the Wiki already give lots of input every day. Just post up a discussion topic and watch it fly. If the criteria is members of a certain forum, you broaden the pool a little, but it's still a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the people who play Guild Wars. I'm not really sure how it would be possible to "reach the community at large" with this. I can also see it as a breeding ground for jealousy and mean-spirited reactions by those who don't get "picked" by Regina (and think they should). The GW community has an unsightly number of prima donnas who would not be shy about letting it known on their respective forums that they were not "selected" for this 'prestigious' position. Now, if it were more of a sign-up to be rotated in and out on a regular basis, that would be another story altogether, I think. 12.15.103.87 13:37, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

No, it's not settled, Silverleaf. I was being a little facetious with "pet players," but how can you possibly do it without others thinking that. At least how Gaile did it everybody had a chance until the district filled up. This way you would have to leave your guild (something many players won't do anyway), get invited into Regina's guild, and be there at an appointed time. How many more hoops would you have to jump through, pet? Plus, for Regina to be fair about it and not have true pet players, she would waste so much valuable time picking from a pool of applicants, seeing how many chats people have attended, etc., when I personally would rather have that time be used on ways to reach the entire community... like an A.Net blog. Bottom line for me: in-game communication is absolutely not necessary, and is further in my opinion a counterintuitive way to receive feedback. --Ravious 16:21, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

@ Salome again. last time i checked gailes archives are 5-8 pages long..... and i highly dought that anyone is going to come on here and look though them. also saying they are working on guild wars2 is a stupid excuse. and on top of that i was quoting you who was saying a few topics i wasnt saying oh i want these things though i would.75.165.102.213 19:35, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

I know you were just using my examples back to me but I was also giving you the answers to these. Also working on GW2 is perfectly valid explanation. Not one i like much but as their income is nearly completely from new sales then I can understand their focus being on upcoming products rather than already released products. Especially products which have been given a death sentence. -- Salome 20:11, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

A guest invite is just that. No need to leave your guild. -- Silverleaf 20:24, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

I think that everyone is making very sweeping judgments about the community here. I suppose when we're saying 'the guild wars community is very spitefull bla bla bla We are positioning ourselves away from those people? The point is, If Regina were to sign on to Guildwars one day, go to a random outpost, in a random district, and ask players if they would like to come for a party/chat/whatever in her guildhall, without telling anyone before hand - it would still be just about as fair to players if she had announced she'd be somewhere at a certain time. It's still first come first served, since the district would fill up. In which case, I really doubt everyone would fuss and complain to the extent which is being made out here. and you can turn around and say 'Its not fair because the people who have real suggestions wont put them foward' But seriously, A) Whenever Gaile did a public chat almost always nothing big was ever announced was it? B) How likely was it that YOUR suggestion got through to Gaile in a room flooded with chat? And further more those talks where ARCHIVED, so no-one who really wants to know was missing out anyway. In using the Guildhall idea Regina can have a calmer chat with a larg(ish) number of players, who not only suggest things - but would give eachother positive negative feedback. The idea of this is to bring the community to the developers.. and maybe get a few suggestions about how the community thinks Anet are doing while they're at it. The guildhall idea would be far more representative, far more controled, and as long as the method of getting players remains sporadic - just as fair. Hope I dont sign wrong again.... Tauntedflail

"Representative." Another sugar-coated word for "pet players." How would you possibly get a method of getting players that is sporadic and fair without using hours of Regina's time or another dev's time? How would a fair sampling of the Guild Wars populating still not flood the chat? Do you expect a nice moderated tea party, which will use more time if people have to raise their hands. I apologize if I come off as abrasive, but I am vehemently against this suggestion. --Ravious 13:51, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm with Ravious; there have to be better ways of getting player information than this one. The benefits don't necessarily outweigh the costs here. Unless Regina does come right out and say she will hand-pick the people whose suggestions and questions are "good enough" to be heard in a private board-room-style setting. (And then what happens to the players who feel as though their ideas and questions WERE good enough, but didn't get picked?) It's messy at best.12.15.103.87 15:34, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

this just popped into my head but if she dose do this idea it will end with 90% of the community saying she and anet is/are elitist but that is kind of already evident with them naming random bosses after random players, it would have been one thing if they would have just keept it people who work for anet.75.165.102.213 20:53, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

I feel that you're missing the point, Ravious. Just stop for a second and actually read what I said before deciding that you are against the idea. Regina could easily go into any district, of any place, and ask a couple of players if they would like to go to her guild hall for a while. Nothing says that this MUST be so that she can reveal new information, and nothing says that players MUST put foward their suggestions for guild wars. Anet are finding other ways of doing these things, (i.e the wiki suggestions pages and the possible developers blog). The main benefit of doing this guildhall idea is that it brings the community to the developers - just as the the district chats did, but without MUCH of the headache. And so what if during any guild hall sessions Regina holds someone puts foward a suggestion? Or she reveals some information? This is hardly unfair to other players, since if they desperatly have a suggestion they also have ways of getting it out there (with the suggestion pages..) especially when you compare the guildhall idea to the only current alternative, going into a random place and doing it. I have no idea why you make out it would be difficult for Regina to randomly select some players. It really isnt that hard, or time consuming. None of this 'pet players' stuff either. Tauntedflail

[reset indent] Well in reality here is what would happen if she took such a random approach. Either 1) it would be so random the chance of her getting quality feedback would be minimal because she would be as likely to scoop up a gold-farmer, a guy coming back from a 6-month hiatus, and an 10-year old, as she would getting a person who can provide quality feedback, or 2) more likely, she will call out for guest invites and the ripples will go through alliance and guild chats, people will flock to the district she is in, where she will be bombarded with whining, and then she will have to choose a "lucky" few, leaving the rest of the people jaded as 75.165.102.213 suggest above. Not only is she damned if she does, damned if she doesn't, but the possibility of quality feedback seems very slight.
Like I stated above, and I will reiterate in a different way, if Regina had infinite time and could exist in multiple places at once, I would say go for it, but the negatives far outweigh any possible positives in light of ALL the other unattempted and attemped ways A.Net could receive feedback. --Ravious 11:54, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I think you have a point about the difficulty in sampling people fairly and quickly. But dont forget, Anet are already looking into different ways to inform the community and take suggestions from them, something like this is simply to close the gap between the develpers and the community, it should be mostly for social purposes, nothing more. Tauntedflail

I agree with Tauntedflail. Also on a side note, when it all comes down to it, people are going to moan either way. Regina has a guild, she is a guild leader and thus by that, she can invite who she wants, when she wants, regardless of who is going to bitch and moan about it. Ravious you're last statement although it makes sense, seems to contradict yourself. On one side you want it to be representational and yet on the other you seem to want the choosing to be elitist in some way. You state quite clearly that she could "scoop up a gold-farmer, a guy coming back from a 6-month hiatus, and an 10-year old", if she does, I' don't see why this would bother you on the fact that that would just make it representational of the player base and therefore no "pet players". Honestly I think we're over complicating this, Regina just wants a wee place where she can talk to more than 7 people at a time without being bombarded by spam. The best way to accomplish this is through guest guild invites. Also in regards to anet being elitist statement, Anet have always singled out guilds and people who contribute to the community to a greater degree than would be expected of that person/guild. I don't see why this is a bad thing. This is one of the few thing's which really annoys me with the internet and MMO communities, people confuse everyone being treated the same, as being treated fairly. If someone get's recognised or rewarded in some way for what they've done, people will always moan about not getting it too, regardless of how much more time and effort the person being recognised put into the game. It's all "Help, I'm being oppressed!", just cause anet doesn't go "well done on your 1 hour a week farming" to those who QQ. If someone works their arse off to make the world of guildwars a better place, then why shouldn't they get more recognition for that than your random casual player who logs on for an hour, once a week? I don't see anything wrong with guildwars being ran as a meritocracy, where you get out from it what you're willing to contribute to the community as a whole. That's how this wiki is run. If you only run about and farm for an hour, or work on your own titles, then that's great and I hope you enjoy yourself, but that isn't worthy of note or comment. The people anet have mentioned in the game and the guilds/alliances they have recognized, are people/guilds who have done alot to structure the community that is GW today and thus they deserve that recognition, where as a guild with 10 semi active casual players, who are on once in a blue moon, probably don't. Thus why shouldn't regina just choose the people she feels she can communicate with on the same level based on what she's experienced from their ability to hold a reasoned debate with her, rather than spamming her and fame emoting everywhere? -- Salome 12:58, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

I didn't suggest either, I am fighting two fronts here between your "pet player" meritocracy and the suggested random guesting. And I mean this as a constructive criticism, but being a wiki most of your points are surely lost in that wall of text. If you want your thoughts to come across clearer either learn to bold/underline or more preferably condense your ideas. --Ravious 17:33, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Of course you could just work on your reading comprehension. To condense to 5 points:

1) meritocracy doesn't = pet players.

2) you contradict yourself with saying that you dont want pet players but then also saying that it would be bad if people questioned could be gold farmers etc... thus saying that certain players should be chosen based on some variable,thus again we come back to pet players.

3) peeps on internet QQ about everything.

4) Regina, as a GL, can invite who she wishes to her guild.

5) this isnt proposed as the only method of player communication, just an added line of it.

There we go,is that short enough for you? Hate to take out minutes from you're obvious busy schedule, saving lives and righting wrongs on the internet etc... -- Salome 18:18, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

@Salome its funny coming from you of all people. you are in one of the bigger guilds in the game of corse you have no problem with anet having its elitism twords thous guilds.75.165.102.213 20:06, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

also @ Salome, or you could take my advice and also apply it to your lawyer training... to help the world's wrongs, et al. ;) --Ravious 02:04, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

@Salome: You stated, Thus why shouldn't Regina just choose the people she feels she can communicate with on the same level based on what she's experienced from their ability to hold a reasoned debate with her, rather than spamming her and fame emoting everywhere? Doesn't the Wiki already serve a very similar function? I understand that real-time chat can be superior in some aspects, but the Wiki is already a place where people who are more involved in the community have a chance to engage in debate and dialog. Reducing the pool from "Wikians" and "Forumers" to "Regina's Elect" implies that there are some topics that can't be discussed on the wiki and therefore must be more private for "privileged" players. Whether or not that's the reality of the situation is irrelevant: that's the message that 90% of the rest of the community is going to get. Gaile was lambasted by the PvP community for failing to address their needs and being too "PvE-focused." I'd hate for Regina to receive any similar stigmas, as so far she has done an excellent job of going out of her way to avoid them. 12.15.103.87 16:36, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

It is a fantasy to think that people just need to ask the magic question in a more private area of the game and suddenly Regina can tell us something that she knew but did not say before. Information cleared for general distribution gets distributed, it is as easy as that. In that regard, a permanent platform, such as this blog, is better suited to spread news than a chat people might miss. Same goes for collecting information. One district is limited and random, fansites are better even if they are very hardcore, ingame votes could rule supreme if they existed. E.g.: have a polling NSC appear next to the UW, FOW or Mallyx chest asking the players whether or not that was really so hard, or what they thought was the main problem. Each account gets to answer this only once. Same if you complete a title and erect a statue in the HoM. More basic questions can be asked more publicly in LA or Kamadan. That should take care of all the information flow in both directions. What question do I have? Who do I want to ask? How do I reach that person? The love triangle for getting quality answers.--4thvariety 06:23, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

I'd like to add something about this discussion. Indeed, there should be no privileged positions given out to players by Regina or other Anet associates when it comes to discussing with Regina in-game (like getting a guest invite to her guild hall). BUT.....in the public districts, spam and ridiculous comments are blocking the reading Regina is doing about the important stuff. Chat lines are scrolling up so fast that people will barely be able to read it (if noticing it at all!). It would be a good idea to have Regina guest invite people who whisper her with questions to her guild hall, talk about their questions there with those people and then heading towards the public districts after some thinking of herself about the subjects, to discuss it with the whole community. That way no one is singled out, everyone can talk to Regina without having to struggle through all the disruptive chat, and every question and/or problem presented to regina is brought into the open, public channels. Impossible to whine about that, unless you want Regina's and Anet's time solely for yourself or YOUR problem, without wanting to spend any time or effort in getting it to them.

About the elitist status some guilds and players get....people (and groups of people like guilds and alliances) should be rewarded for efforts they have made towards improving the community and game. It's impossible to reward everyone for what they have done and also impossible to track the exact efforts, especially due to guilds and alliance having changes like leaving/joining guilds and members. The Effort/Reward system on itself is a good thing though. It might look a bit too much elitist to some, but hey.....it's a game. If someone thinks they deserve credit for their efforts and haven't got it.....tell Anet about it and they will reward you if the effort you claim really holds ground (lots of people claim to have done things or have achieved something which they never did or never put any effort into). I will never ask for acknowledgement of anything I might have achieved in the game (in service of the community or for anything else) since I know for myself what I have done and your own conscience is reward enough, right? Being elitist is not wrong, just the fact that a lot of players push it into other people's faces is the thing which is wrong about most elitists. Anet is doing a good job there (the winner of a (highly rated) tournament should not go unannounced, don't you think?) and of course there's always someone to moan or whine about. There's always someone not content with what happens around, such is life, but it's the way that people behave because of it, that makes it stand out and whips up discussions about how good/bad elitism is or that people might feel left out with the solutions presented. Try to work towards solutions instead of trying to create problems everywhere, people. ;) Juriaan Cuthalion 00:53, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Too realy big things Anet is missing.

i am not 100% sure this is where i should post this but i think it fits because of whom Regina is. the two big things i think anet is missing is 1. a Forum. going to fan sites is cool and all but if you guys had a forum people could post easy to answer support questions, you guys could get feed back that you want and also have it structured in such a way. 2. a Anet Podcast, or even video cast ( i think video cast seeing it is the year 2008 a video camera isnt that hard to come by.) but here would be a way where you (regina) could do some interviews about things in the game like lore and skill balance, and get furniture ideas out, and could relay give us a vital look into how some decisions are made at anet. maybe i am off base on this idea but yet again i was visting blizzard and saw that they had that stuff and wished that you guys did to. 75.165.102.213 09:10, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

A podcast or video-cast is a great idea, I think, but I also believe ANet is justified in NOT having official forums. The fansites do a more than adequate job, and ANet doesn't have the resources to devote to moderating an official forum full time. I'd rather they spent their money on paying developers and community managers than on what amounts to an army of online babysitters. Incidentally, Warhamer Online, another high-profile MMO, will also not have official forums, for many of the same reasons ArenaNet has eschewed the idea. It's a good idea in theory, but like Auction Houses and Hairdressers, it's been both asked for and shot down before, and we will probably never see it. (But a dev podcast, like a dev blog, would rock my socks.) Edit: Forgot to sign... again.... /sigh 12.15.103.87 16:47, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Take a look at the StarCraft II official forum and you'll see why it's great that Arena Net does not have anything even close to that. It's just a waste of manpower, especially knowing that the community is willing to perform such job itself. Erasculio 13:27, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

The official forums versus fansites / no official forums is a contentious one, and both have their pros and cons. I doubt that we will be wavering from our position of not having official forums in the near future. The video idea is a good one, however getting other people to agree and support it is another matter. Our PR and Marketing divisions are focused on other projects right now. On the positive side, a developer blog is probably a lot more likely because the production times for written posts are not as long as for video or audio. --Regina Buenaobra 19:39, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Official forums in general seem to be quite bad (not even just for computer games). there are a number of reasons people think this is the case, but going by the trend having official guild wars forums seems like an overall bad idea.Tambora 01:43, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

i think if they had it open ended and for the most part let the community run it like they are for this wiki i think it would run just fine, a forum that is. but the key to a successful forum is being super organized.75.165.115.252 21:41, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

Way to collect the news

Guild Wars Newsreader

http://qanar.ulyssis.be/programs/GWNewsReader.jar

All Guild Wars news collected in one place. This program reads the developer notes and in-game announcement from the wiki. It also reads the news and game-updates from the RSS feed. You can dynamicly choose which items you want to see and if theres a link in the article you can click on it to open that link in your browser.

Update notes:

Version 0.1

• First draft, includes the RSS feeds

Version 0.2

• Small bug fixes
• Adds link usability

Version 0.3

• Small bug fixes
• Adds developer notes
• Adds Ingame announcement screen

This program is very beta, I'm not responsible for any damage to your computer system. It was tested by people in the GWO alliance and on the GWO forum.

(Qanar | talk) 19:57, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

It is a great idea, but personally I don't like to download programs from the internet because they might contain keyloggers etc (not saying your program does). I use igoogle to collect all the news on one page, RSS from GW, NCSoft and several big gaming sites with RSS feed. igoogle is handy because you can create your own look for that page (google home page) and add anything you want, like a count down option (let the release date for gw2 come!^^), to do list etc. Grtz -- (Tribina / talk) 09:05, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Great stuff, but I agree with Tribina. If you could get a server to run the code, that would definitely rock the required amount. Just with all the hacks and stuff going on... people are leery. --Ravious 20:09, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Good plan but indeed do not want any possible add-on to endanger my account. Allthough [GWO] has a good reputation it still basically is a third-party-program and the use is prohibited by the User Agreement. -- Silverleaf 08:38, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

@Silverleaf: Errr... this is third-party program, but it is not a add-on. Afaik that rule only counts for software that directly interacts with Guild Wars, which this obviously doesn't. The program only interacts with websites, not the game (Ingame announcement is parsed from this wiki). Offcourse because of that fact the program has to download information (websites) from the internet. If you don't trust it you can make a rule for it in your firewall that the program can't upload data to the web (which it doesn't do anyway).

@Ravious: I could try and make it into a applet, but that would basicly be the same .jar running, except now it would run on a website instead of you starting it from your computer. Then again... I saw applet's that can scan your hard-drive, so it wouldn't make a difference.

80.201.180.175 09:50, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Wasn't logged in :( (Qanar | talk) 09:51, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Hmmm..got me there :). Now if it where a verified programme offered by Anet or NcSoft...i would use it. But why need a 3rd pp? Communication Control is a essential part of doing effective bussiness and there are people who studied and appointed to do just that. Bring a Single-point-of-communication! --Silverleaf 10:28, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Actually everything is bundled at ArenaNet:Portal. (Qanar | talk) 15:38, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Bundled is not a Single Point of Communication. If that is not understood then i can not make the point!. -- Silverleaf 06:00, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Re: Blog update 10th June

Personally I think that holding ingame chats with the community more regularly is a very good idea, even if you don't always have things to reveal about the game. If you hold it more, people wouldnt get used to the idea that you're only there to supply information - which is good if you ask me. Also its good to feel as though the developers are close, I don't know about other mediums - this wiki seems good enough. Just my two cents. Tauntedflail 20:05, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

fixed times for in game chat sessions would be great, on the other hand, as you might have noticed, as soon as Gaile came online in LA, max 10 minutes after that the district was full. And she did come unexpected.. What I think will happen is that whenever you make an appointment in LA dis 1 international at 8pm whatever timezone, the district will be full before you arrive there. Of course being a GM will let you enter the district.. But I think you'll find a lot of AFK campers there.. Anyway, I still like the idea a lot, and I would like to help moderating these sessions as well, as long as they are hold at a reasonable time for the European timezones. thumbs up! -- (Tribina / talk) 20:23, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

I'll throw it out again as an "Other" and leave in-game chat suggestions to others. I think A.Net should do something like Turbine does for LOTRO Clicky-Clicky. It is a simple way of making the players feel heard on a narrow, narrow point tailored to help the devs, and sometimes just be fun. An upgrade to such a process would be you commenting on the feedback from the devs on the feedback from the threads. --Ravious 20:30, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

I agree with Tribina - the amount of possible grief in fixed time sessions is huge, considering how griefers and AFK campers and etc would have plenty of time to prepare. I doubt the community would be able to moderate such encounters without at least one GM, and there's always the problem of both Regina and the GM not being able to enter a full district.

Besides, as far as interacting with the community goes, I believe those who would be able to find out the scheduled time are the same who would have other ways to interact with Regina - after all, those who seek information here and on the comunity forums may speak with the Arena Net staff on these same forums and here as well.

IMO, it would be a good idea to keep other plans for interacting with the community (I'm hoping for the Developer Blog myself, even if it has zero Guild Wars 2 information) and to try a single in-game visit with fixed time. If that one works, maybe a monthly schedule could be tried. Erasculio 21:29, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Dont see the point of In-game chats. If you cant tell us anything we want to know about, whats the point? The truth of the matter is thats its a total spamfest, the same questions are asked in every visit, Gaile spent her time collecting gifts from other players while ignoring most of the questions. What really needs to change is not the feedback from the players to the devs, but devs to the players. That blog idea is one way things could be improved, we need more communication from them, not less.

As for being in a guild yourself, why? Guildwars isnt a single player game, you should join a guild with people in it, maybe a dev guild so you can talk to your work colleagues in-game and avoid any conflict of interests. --92.235.8.13 21:48, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Be there for the players! -- Silverleaf 06:21, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

It is only a matter of established rules. If the visits have rules, then fewer players can ignore them or QQ.

• If Regina announced her visits, then the logging problem might be eliminated. On the other hand, more people would come in advance or grief; that is true. A solution to this would be to somehow make Regina's voice be heard across all districts. What if her dev-chat power could send the message into all international districts at once? (compare Title message in the Temple of Ages) It does not matter if you are in district 3, you will still hear her.

• Using the public chat for asking questions will be banned. All questions are to be entered into the party search. One can't spam there, everybody gets one question (or message) that has to be concise and the party search works across all districts. So any question will reach destination Regina, even if some are in dis-3 again. If your question is already in the party search, why not "join that party" to give the question "weight" so to speak.

• All answers should be structured in a fashion that they can be understood without knowing the question. No more "yes that's a good idea X R0xx0R X" (150 people wondering what "that" is while digging in the spamchat for Roxxor's question). Instead: Flying Zombie Pets are a good idea. This type of answer can be collected easily and just dumped as dialog into a "witness" NPC. A living archive of answers in the game to hopefully combat question entropy in the long run.

• Pre-Released rules should also include a range of viable topics and no-go zones. There is personal stuff (do you wear funny hats on Tuesdays?), Arenanet stuff (how much coffee was spilled today?), game related questions falling under NDAs, affirmation questions (no, GW2 will not charge monthly)and an endless barrage of skills to be buffed or nerfed. Many question are also typical research questions that can't be answered right off the bat (e.g. why and for whom was Ursan designed? why is there no Elite-Mending skill? How come the AI behaves like this?). I don't know how realistic it is for Regina to collect public statements about the insight of design decisions, but in the absence of answers people will just speculate and accept that as their truth (which is a problem if they feel a decision was consciously made to hurt them).

• Apart from that, it will be like standing in an auditorium with 500 raging people who just won't shut up. Not the best place for two-way communication and far away from a small personal chat with anybody. I'd also like to take the chance and crush that idea of community talks being idyllic chats in fairy land where everybody is happy and the fact that one person is talking to many is not an issue. The community chats I witnessed were more like press conferences with 1000 clones of Hunter S. Thompson on drugs being the only attendance.--4thvariety 08:02, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

I think it would be nice if you held a chat WHEN enough information has been compiled to actually have an in-depth discussion. I also think it would be nice if you could use some GM command, whenever you state something that is a complete informative statement, so that everyone in the game would be able to read it. Kind-of like during the festivals when the emperor would call everyone to the monastery. I think you should have control of when EVERYONE hears it, though, so that we all don't get a bunch of,"lol, yes." and ,"That's great! Thank You!". But we do get to hear things like, "The Guild Wars 2 public beta test will be open for a limited sign-up on (whatever date) at www.guildwars.com."Blackie ewilson92 15:07, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

On a side note, the best way to fing out about the Guild Wars 2 beta would be by signing up for the newsletter. The beta will be widely publicized to the community before it happens. It's not going to be secret or hidden away. --Regina Buenaobra 01:40, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Be there for the players! Don't stand around.. Play...pug...listen...enjoy GW...learn...inform....find weird things together with players...see problems ingame pointed out by players...spend time in-game...travel through the game and meet the community. Not disguised and hidden in-game auditers/questionaires. Show that you are in-game and become the entity that people can trust. And then start to communicate! Instead the stop-the-burning/crash reactive actions. The best way to reach players is to be atleast where they are....in-game!! -- Silverleaf 10:15, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Great idea in theory, but I am not sure Regina's work schedule allows for it. And I know Gaile held chats in her free time, but Regina is more likely to want to be on her main, where all of those things already happen, I am sure, with the only difference being that people don't know it's her. And that's probably for the better, if she wants a to get a real pulse on the game as it stands right now.24.116.45.1 13:59, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[reset indent] Oooh sounds like possibly a return of the beta weekend events. Those were fan-f-n-tastic. I remember the whole month revolved around it. Good, good times. Ha ha, man I also remember being bored and people discussing the Build # of the client because you could keep updating the client and just watch the title screen. --Ravious 17:28, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

i have signed up for this newsletter and correct me if i am wrong but everytime i have gotten one witch is like once in a blue moon, i have already gotten the information from the main guild wars website. are you guys planing on useing this a lot more? another though would be for you guys to post a little summery of what you guys have posted on the new blog page75.165.115.252 21:45, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

Link to Open Letter

Hi Regina,

As I can't access your discussion page directly from work, I have posted a link to an open letter to ANET [2] here, hope you don't mind.

regards

Spangly--62.171.194.4 15:10, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Transparency - 17 June 2008

Call me crazy, but I would actually like a weekly update such as the one Regina used on her example. That's actually more than what I was expecting to know (I thought we would get only "the team is still working on GW2"). And regarding transparency, I'm still hoping for something like a Dev Blog. Of course, this would be tricky as it would still be distracting part of the team from their main work (GW2). I don't know if that would be viable, but entries once for each two weeks with input (again, nothing about GW2, just GW1) from a different Arena Net employer each time (in order to avoid taking too much time from one person) would be great. I'm happy with the overall transparency we have - we are getting a lot of details about some things (why the Zaishen title was introduced, different reasonings behind UB, etc) and this journal is a nice way to have some insight into Arena Net. But the feeling I have is that the more Arena Net says, the more a few players will twist ANet's words in order to demand something. Erasculio 00:57, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

You're crazy, Erasculio. But I agree with every single one of your points, from actually enjoying a weekly update like the one Regina described to your fears that anything ANet says can (and will) be used against them in the court of forums and wiki. I'm still pulling for the Dev Blog. Antialias02 05:56, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

So here are my thoughts:

• I think that (and you are doing this so not really a suggestion) saying that X is being discussed helps a lot. Even if the devs can't tell us the arguments. I thought your last post on UB (where you brought up Izzy) was darn near perfect on this end.
• I think that the tight lips on GW2 hurts the tempo of the current GW community. I have a feeling that the brass doesn't want some of the ideas getting stolen and there are arguments on both sides to that effect, which I won't repeat here. However, there has to be some "safe" items to disclose. Are you guys really just saving it all to sell for another GW2 magazine extravaganza?
• Which leads me to, the founders and people that can speak need to have face with the community more often, and not through capitalistic interviews. The dev blog is fantastic, and I want to see the words of Phinney, Grubb, Strain, etc.

--Ravious 11:57, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

I fully agree with you Ravious. The tools are there Anet, now just pick them up and use them. --Wolf 14:44, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

I don't think it's a matter of having ideas stolen at all. I think it's a matter of managing expectations. ArenaNet doesn't want to promise something that doesn't make it into the final game. "We'll understand!" you say, but a lot of gamers won't understand, and they will take the devs to task for it. Antialias02 16:43, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

@ Antialias02 Well then Anet has put themselves in a Loose/Loose situation don't you think? I don't know about you, but I think the vast majority of Guild Wars players are rather intelegent folks, and even more so for the few of us that migrate over to the wiki.

Which is the lesser of the two evils? A large portion of your player base starving of lack of information, or a few people who had thier hearts broken because something didn;t make it to concept art to game or changed in the proccess. Starving players of information is destroying their interest in GW2, that goes far enough and you will have a large portion of people that WILL NOT mak eit back for GW2. Say you show a peice of concept art of some armor style, and it doesn;t make it to the game, sure people will be disapointed, but are they gunna quite the game or not buy it? NO! If my expectations are let down because somethign i saw in some concept art/screenshot or was told about didn't make it to the game, I WILL get over it at some point, and it WILL NOT keep me from buying/playing GW2. HOWEVER, on the flipside, starving us of information WILL kill our interest in the game. So no, Silence is not the answer. You can mend a broken heart, but you cannont revive dead interest, not with any amount of rez signets. So now you have a choice, break the hearts fo a few, or murder the interest in many. I garrentee you, if ntohign new has shown up by the end PAX this year, my interest in GW2 might be dead forever. Don't let me down guys, I'm still rootin for ya. --Wolf 18:26, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

I bet very few people remember that Gayala Hatchery missions was supposed to be PvPvE. --Ravious 19:05, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Realy? It was? I don't remember, thats for sure. --Wolf 19:20, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

They also gave us tons more about Factions and NF long before the beta than we are getting about GW2. --Wolf 19:22, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

You can give any kinds of rationalization you want, but I disagree with you. It is much easier to bring back interest in a game that has gone under the radar (see: Spore, Duke Nukem Forever, etc.) than it is to quell angry players who have been promised things that haven't been delivered (see: Ursan's Blessing). Most GW players *are* intelligent folks, but they are also *passionate* folks who let you know (very loudly) what they think. ArenaNet has virtually always delivered what they say they will, but the timetable sometimes changes for it, and people get upset. If they can't deliver, people get upset. If they can't give out any information, people clearly get upset. I agree with you on one point only: it DOES appear to be a lose/lose situation. You can't make everybody happy all the time, and ANet knows it. Let them do their thing, but don't try to give them an ultimatum ("If there's no GW2 info at PAX, I quit forever!") , because it won't work. If you do, the only person, ultimately, who will end up disappointed is you. Now, I do believe there will be info at PAX, but that's clearly an unofficial sentiment. I want GW2 info just as much as you do - don't get me wrong - I just understand what it's like to be on a software development team. Antialias02 22:12, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm not trying to give an ultimatum, I was statign that my interest can only hold out so long, I'm sorry if that came out the wrong way. And on another note, I too knwo what its like to be on a software dev team. I can also say from this that it is easier to keep someone distracted with tid-bits and teasers of stuff that they want more of, then to qwell angry mobs while you fix what they are so upset about. The two best options I see for Anet is to either deal with Ursan in anyway and fast, or distract us with something else. doing niether has had very negative effects. And yes, I also know they are infact looking into a way to deal with Ursan, but we are just now learning this, when people have been complaining for months. Anet said it themselves that you can't please everyone, but pleasing no-one is not an option. I have said this before, but I'm gunna say it again. "One side will relieve the other. If you focus more on fixing GW1, then they will understand if GW2 or any information takes a while to get to us, But on the flip side, if we are getting GW2 stuff, it cements it in our minds, that yes, you are in fact super hard at work on GW2 and don't have much time for GW1 atm." --Wolf 23:32, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, I have spent several hours a day for several days now giving suggestions, asking questions, giving input, and over-all trying to help the situation on both sides, but so far, all of my efforts were in vain. With that I take my leave of the wiki for a while until something else happens, I will be checking my talk page from time to time tho. Best of luck to you all and Goodbye. --Wolf out. 13:47, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Re: Journal 17 June 2008

As they day has gone by, some of my ideas and what I have said have sifted through my head a couple times and I did some thinking on it. First off, if I'm causing any trouble in the community or over at Anet (God forbid), please let me know in some way or another. Trouble is the last thing I want to be. Anyway, back to what this post is about.

I realize now how many and what kinds of problems devs posting stuff out there on the forums could create, and that telling us what the teams are working on for GW2 wouldn't real help in any way. I guess what you told us earlier about Ursan about hits the mark, Just a simple, Hey, we know this is a problem, the devs have started to take a look, and here are a few steps that we are about to take to begin solving to problem, and maybe down the road, possibly letting us in on some of their possible solutions. If that (I'm gunna quote you as I'm having trouble putting it in better words) "would require approval from particular people at ArenaNet and before that, a lot of discussion", and the possibilty of leaks, ect, then maybe just tell us they have a few solutions to try, and later that they have come to a conclusion that they are finalizing.

If that is too much to ask or something I should not be asking for, then I'm being too demanding, and I will happily go back to playing GW some more, posting any game suggestions that come to mind, and droppin you any game-related questions, rootin for the devs, and waiting for GW2 while pondering how awsome it's going to be.

On a final note, if I am at any point, out of line, or causing trouble, don't be afriad to let me know. I don't want to be that guy. Thanks for your time and keep up the good work Regina. --Wolf 01:35, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Hi, Wolf: You aren't causing trouble. You and everyone else on here are just expressing their views. If updates like that are useful, I'll continue to give them. But sometimes there isn't movement, week-to-week, on particular issues because the developers have other responsibilities as well. Everyone here has multiple projects going on at the same time, and sometimes a project comes up that needs immediate attention. --Regina Buenaobra 20:45, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Didn't you get the memo? Wolf left the wiki for a while. --68.226.78.185 16:04, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

sorry wolf this is sort of unrelated to what you said but is some what in response to the same journal entry. i for one don't understand why gw2 needs to be so hush hush. i know i am starting to sound like a broken record but, for example sake Blizzard, has been posting these responses to questions that are being raised about starcraft2 and what people know about the game so far, now that game is still in its alpha stage and yet they are letting us in on information. when they first announced starcraft2 they talked about a lot of units and showed us a lot of units via game play video that since the release of that video they have cut them completely from the game. and that is wildly accepted and it isn't that big of a deal. now do you guys really think people are going to get supper excited for stuff even if you tell us before hand that everything is subject to change? or is it that guild wars2 isn't going to be all that good. and i for one don't see that many games out there that are trying to beat you guys at your game. you could say wow but everyone knows that guild wars isn't anything like wow and the main thing about guild wars has been skill>time and for the most part i dont think you guys are going to be making huge steps twords game innovations via game mechanics mainly because there wasn't any in guild wars. one complaint i hear from my friends about guild wars 1 is that the pve part of it is really boring.... so i guess my question is why are you guys keeping things soo quite about guildwars2? and in response about you giving us updates about what everyone is doing you could just give us feedback about stuff you guys are working on for guildwars1 if you are not ready to talk about guild was2 for what ever reason. i know that pax is coming up soon so i think you guys are going to say something new about guildwars2 in August or July. and if you dont then pax i think for you guys will be quite lame. and also if some sort of info about guild wars2 isnt realcsed soon you guys wont be able to keep peoples intrest for ever.75.165.115.252 04:23, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Pick a better example than Starcraft II for your example would ya? Starcraft II has been in development since 2003 and sure it was announced after GW2 but it must have been considerably further through its development cycle when it was announced. Guild Wars 2 has been in development since maybe 2006? Perhaps the problem is they announced GW2 too soon, but they had to let us know why Guild Wars 1 became dead in the water suddenly.

I think they just don't want to damage their game by giving us information which isn't going to be true in a years time because they haven't thought it through yet? Or that boring information might be just as damaging to player anticipation as no information at all? I'm happy to wait for decent information when it arrives. You know something with solid foundation in design decisions - not some wiffle which has us all second guessing and wondering on whether they're making WoW2 or Gw2. Which is basically all we have at the moment. ;)

Furthermore they never designed GW to hold interest forever. They said in the press for Guild Wars 1 that they though it was more natural for players to want to switch games and come back to games at will rather than being held down by a subscription fee. I happen to agree with them and view the intervening years between EotN and GW2 as an opportunity to play other games for a while. :)

I'm 100% on keeping good information flowing about GW1, and I think Regina is doing an A1 job of communicating to the Devs and more importantly communicating back to us. She's come across as professional and I genuinely feel, more than with Gaile, if there is information to be had you've got it already or know when it's coming. I value that. I think the problem is that she says something here on wiki (or elsewhere for that matter) her information doesn't have fantastic visibility so it can pass through unremarked. I'm looking forward to the HoM information next week. --Aspectacle 05:23, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Really, ArenaNet probably wouldn't have even mentioned GW2 yet if they didn't have to basically drop GW1 cold to work on it. I realize we probably can't say it's "early" in the development process anymore, but it's so far from complete that ANet would be setting us up for inevitable disappointment by saying much more than they have right now. My opinion is that the less we hear, the better. One could make the case that we will let our imaginations run wild and then be disappointed by whatever ArenaNet happens to produce. I maintain that, while there's a lot I'd love to see in GW2, our expectations will be controlled by then, as the game won't release without a beta, some screenshots, and a lot of advertising. There is a great bit of suspense right now regarding GW2 in the minds of the players, but I don't think that going another month with no news is going to kill it for us. Even if we had to wait until November to hear anything (which I don't think will be the case), I think we'd all survive. Antialias02 06:03, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

@ Aspectacle use less emotes plz.... any how they said that there would be a beta at the aft part of this year if there confidant enough to state that then they should be in alpha right now. i never said anything about gw1 keeping your interest and i for one would play other games regardless of subscription and i do play other games regardless of subscription i would also like to point out that i never said anything about it. i just said that unless they say something about guild wars 2 soon people will lose interest and i simi already have with the way they are handling guild wars right now. ie down the road when guild was 2 is out are they going to drop everything and move on to gw3 or another title? also at the earliest of when they started to make gw2 was when they came out with night fall why i say this is because originally there were 2 teams working on guild wars one team made ph and night fall the other made factions and what is now gwen. yes starcraft2 was in development longer and had more stuff done but if they are wiping out this game as quickly as they say ie beta end of this year start of next. then they should have something. also they wont have enough money to keep going which leads me on to the point of they should make simple changes and additions to guild wars so they can get that money they need to make gw2 good. i know there is more i wanted to say but i am le tired and am going to fire ze missles.75.165.115.252 08:59, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Quite simply put, pretty much everyone I know (and my next statement includes myself) would be jazzed about GW2 for ATLEAST another MONTH if we were given ANYTHING GW2 related, a screenshot, a peice of concept art, a paragraph or two of lore. SOMETHING. If you wanna give us something that is not potentialy damaging, look back at the stuff you hav already given us for GW2. In the PC Gammer GW2 announcement article, we got some concept art for environments, and even a VERY EARLY environment screenshot. Honestly, I think you had all the stuff and workings to keep us interested, you just gave it all out at once. For example, Dawn of War II, It has been announce, and so far, all they have given us are some super basics about how the game is gunna play, a teaser trailer and 30 seocnds of gameplay. they spaced all the out withing a decent ammount of tiem of eachother, and it keeps me waiting. If they juts thrown it all out there to begin with, I owuldn;t be quite as interested at the moment about it. I know something that owuld realy get people going and still manage expectations, give us some concept art for the dragons! We already know they are there, why not get a peek at them? I know, like myself, most people would not be disappointed if you showed us an idea for a dragon and it completely changed. HECK! The devs already put several in FULL VIEW in EotN, Drakkar lake, look under the lake, I can pretty much see the ENTIRE dragon. People are loosing interest in GW2, I know mine isnt as strong as it was even a month ago, but if you give people something, ANYTHING GW2 related, they will be THRILLED! If you keep feeding us GW2 stuff, like a peice of concept art a week or something, You keep people interested in GW2, and thier minds slightly off GW1. I'm confident that if you keep people excited about GW2, they will be more forgiving for some blunders with GW1, and understanding of time delays. We, the players, atre starving in two ways, from lack of new stuff about GW2 (It just has to be NEW! Not special in any way) and from being upset about the directions GW1 is taking. Feed them in one of the two areas you got happy players. One side will releave the other. If you focus more on fixing GW1, then they will understand if GW2 or any information takes a while to get to us, But ont he flip side, if we are getting GW2 stuff, it cements it in our minds, that yes, you are infact super hard at work on GW2 and don;t have much time for GW1 atm. I hope it doesn't sound too demanding for me to say that for the longest time, we have been running off only your work that people are in a worl frenzy over GW2, but thats not good enough for the players, they want some PROOF, something to sink their teeth into. Regina, I know you can come up with something, Your doin a good job and taking a lot of heat for things that don't involve you in anyway. Hang in there. --Wolf 14:23, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

[reset indent] "One side will relieve the other. If you focus more on fixing GW1, then they will understand if GW2 or any information takes a while to get to us, But on the flip side, if we are getting GW2 stuff, it cements it in our minds, that yes, you are in fact super hard at work on GW2 and don't have much time for GW1 atm." I think this sums it up perfectly. Right now for GW2 all we have is that press junkit approach over a year old... If the brass understand this balance, then yay. --Ravious 14:37, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Since GW2 is currently going full steam ahead and leaving GW1 in the dust for the moment, I would say your safest bet would be something GW2 related. --Wolf 14:48, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

one quick point i would like to make is that C&C Red alert 3 has had better coverage and info put out about it then gw2. and i think one of the biggest questions now is why is it that nothing about guild wars 2 can be shared right now? one other small note aside from the gw2 wiki, it dosnt even have its own website saying the very basics like lore and already released screen shots. www.guildwars2.com just redirects you to www.guildwars.com 75.165.115.252 01:37, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, I have spent several hours a day for several days now giving suggestions, asking questions, giving input, and over-all trying to help the situation on both sides, but so far, all of my efforts were in vain. With that I take my leave of the wiki for a while until something else happens, I will be checking my talk page from time to time tho. Best of luck to you all and Goodbye. --Wolf out. 13:47, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Re: Dance Comparison Videos?

Not me but did you check out the YouTube[3] collection? Might be there. --Silverleaf 18:15, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

The wiki dance article has animated images of the dances, and also links to most of the originals. When you click the thumbnailed image, you'll have to click the redirect link manually as image redirects are broken at the moment (Emily's working on that). -- Brains12 \ talk 18:15, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Hi Regina, I found this video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYNewkyIYA4 - this is "The Last Dance" from t1mm0y and the w2fcrew and contains some dance scenes and shows the corresponding guildwars dances. Unfortunately it doesn't show all dances, but I found this thread in the german wartower forums where they also discuss about where the guild wars dances come from: http://gw.buffed.de/forum/showthread.php?t=145200 - hope I could help :) --Daspete89 18:39, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, everyone. I knew I could count on the wiki collective. --Regina Buenaobra 20:35, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

We are The Borg, what do ya expect? lolz --63.113.14.26 21:00, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

LazyWiki ftw. It's scary the power there is in numbers here.Antialias02 01:46, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

You all are awesome. A friend of mine saw the WoW dance video comparisons and was wondering whether there were similar videos (showing original dances) for GW. --Regina Buenaobra 16:45, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

I think this is a better realm life movie of the monk female dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFHpcpwfIQE she makes the flip and ends sitting on knees as shown in animated gif. Maybe someone adds it to dance page...bye bye Didis

(Added from main page)Yes There is on Youtube I'm at work Atm and can't get to it I'll post a link to it tonight-The New Bp

(Added from main page)The Video is on You Tube i cant get it now however i will get it tonight for u :) Dazedpiggie 19:16, 2 July 2008 (UTC)The New Bp Media:Example.ogg