MMO Week in Review: Panda express

@BigAndShiny
To clarify: Sure, gold selling was going on before/ in every MMO, but by making it official, many more people will do it.

@BigAndShiny

It seems like the more we hear about Guild Wars 2, the less it's becoming the savior of the MMO world. I never subscribed to that way of thinking, but I bet we hear a lot less "WAIT UNTIL GW2" the closer we get to release and when it launches, we'll hear "WAIT UNTIL (next big game)".

I'll still be buying it, but after that comes out, I think it will be the first time in a few years that I don't have an MMO on the horizon I'm looking forward to. Heck, I can't even think of many games I'm looking forward to at this point.

@BigAndShiny
I'm not thrilled with it either, but as details come out it's really not that bad. It looks like they've at least thought through the potential impact on the game certain things could have and added checks and balances (the gold gem trading interface makes the system look like it'd be hard to abuse, for instance), and from reports coming out of beta leaks, most of what's in the shop has already changed and/or is also available through drops in the world. ArenaNet's been good about listening to the fans when it comes to even trivial stuff in GW2, and they're generally not afraid to change things if they don't work, so if any of that stuff turns out to be unpopular or game-impacting in a significant way, I'm confident that it'll get axed.

I'm still not going to use any of this crap, and I wish they'd never put it in, but as long as they make it ignorable I can't really complain.

@KvanCetre
That's the way it is with everything that changes from a hypothetical to a reality. Once something actually exists where people can see it, it has a 99.9% chance of no longer being the perfect game for each individual person who has been envisioning it. The people who are looking for the perfect game will indeed abandon GW2 and possibly even become hostile toward it, and go on to project onto another unreleased title.

I maintain that if GW2 does well, it will set a new standard, but in a lot of ways it and the other upcoming/recently released MMOs already have. It is not, however, going to change the genre overnight upon release and upend every other MMO on the market. Despite making fun of "WoW killer" talk, it feels like deep down a lot of us still use that as our standard of measurement for a successful game.

@Irem Only thing I could complain about is the Charr chef hat doesn't seem to look like the asura chef hat. The Charr need a beret! Charr engineers need a giant, cartoonish stogie, but that is pushing it.

@BigAndShiny Well, more people would be using the official, supported means of gold selling. I can't imagine why anyone would buy gold from those North Korean/Chinese prison farms. They'd need to be selling gold cheaper than you can buy gems from arenanet. Even if you don't care about exploiting people it isn't worth the hassle.

@BigAndShiny

Your thinking is in the minority, worrying about what other people do, worrying about what the grass looks like on the otherside of that closed cement wall only makes you appear to be a lookylou or as stated before, a busy body that cannot mind their own lane and worry about themselves and not what the person standing next to them is doing.

Kids do this, we teach them not to do it, though some still grow up to display this niche behaviour.

There is a solution to make your voice heard. Contact the game company directly, petition a newspaper or lawyer and let them know what your intent is and why and what type of result you are seeking, and lastly, simply do not give this company your money, and if you can stop your friends from buying it, then more power to you.

The thing to remember is this, you do not run the game, you do not control the lives of others, you need to stop worrying about the next person and what they are doing, it will make you grow old before your time.

@BigAndShiny

What a complete let down. I was invited to play in this weeks beta but decided to pass. I dont like Cash shops, I rather pay a monlthy sub. They even sent out an email to all us beta testers this weekend:

Hello valiant testers!



The weekend BETA event has been in full-swing for just over 24 hours now, and we’ve seen thousands of people roaming the lands of Tyria, battling in the arena of PvP, and fighting for their home world in WvW! If you haven’t already, NOW is the time to join us in the largest Guild Wars 2 Beta test to date!



For this beta event only, we have provided everyone with a special offer in the Gem Store! We offer you this weekend opportunity to pick up $25 USD worth of gems for FREE! While you will be asked to provide your credit card information, this is to help us test the brand new billing system we’ll be using when the game goes live. To do this, a standard authorization charge of one dollar (plus tax) will be placed on your card, though it will be refunded within a week depending on your bank’s processing speed. As these gems are free, this is one of the most valuable contributions you can make to this Beta test this weekend. Not only does this help us test the systems that will eventually handle all of these purchases, but will help us get a feeling for what items and services we can offer that players are interested in. YOU can help us define the very future of the Guild Wars 2 gem store!



To receive these gems, you must visit the gem store by pressing [O], or clicking the diamond icon in your top-left icon bar. From the Commerce panel, you can then select “Get More Gems” from the bottom of the left-hand menu and follow the steps from there. Your gems will immediately be added to your account, which you can spend at the Gem Store for items, costumes, and other useful treats!

@Irem

"...possibly even become hostile toward it" would be a HUGE understatement. But I appreciate you being light hearted about it, and giving people the benefit of the doubt.

Put me in the camp that hasn't been mired with unrealistic expectations. I'm looking forward to playing it, but I don't expect it to hold my interests any longer than the original guildwars did (a month or so here and there with each worthwile content drop for the first 2 years)

oakley sunglasses 25

---- http://www.polarized-sell.com --

oakley polarized
Wow! This site:

@BigAndShiny

How is this different from CoX? They put out packages and expansions you have to pay for all the time. Oh, it is different in one way, you can't buy things in the CoX cash shop with in-game currency. It's more like PLEX than anything and people don't complain about PLEX.

There's nothing in the leak that says, "buy this and win"

The Resurrection Orb is a little troubling but the boosts and even the loot bundles are nothing to worry about without knowing how rare these things are. Even the Resurrection Orb might be a mild convenience depending on how death works in the game. Even these things are overpowered and necessary, if I'm paying $15 a month, or less, for these things and the game mechanics are fantastic, it's still worth the cost.

@Irem yes, the bodies are great, curvy and not all barbie-like which is what you normally get from WoW. I think the faces are a bit creepy though.

@Dunraven GW2 might not kill WoW but it will put a big dent in ToR and Rift. Not to mention the other p2p MMOs still out there.

@Reservoir Even if that is the case, (I don't think it will be at least not long-term) that is a good thing how? The more compition the better as it gives players more choice and makes developers work harder to earn your attenion and money.

@Reservoir I doubt that....it is for all intensive purposes a Facebook game with a cash shop (with some atrocious voice acting thrown in) A lot of the Zealots have already quietly walked away from their messiah. GW2 will be the game that folks play along with whatever they are paying for rather than instead of...I just don't see it doing as well as GW 1 to be honest.

@Dunraven You can't pay to win a skill based game because you can't buy skill. At best you can skip to the end, which is beneficial for people with more time than money and of zero consequence to those of us planning to spend only time apart from the purchase of the game itself. Also, to what Facebook game is GW2 comparable?

Maybe I just have low standards. All I look for in a game is the ability to look how I want, play how I want and have fun in a beautiful action based fantasy game along side my friends. Can't think of a single game that fits the bill aside from GW2.

Also, I doubt that many people have "walked away" from the game considering it hasn't even been released yet, and those that claim to obviously haven't gone quietly, or else how would you even know?

Lots of people whine and complain whether it's because the game hasn't come out when they wanted or they didn't get into beta or w/e else, yet I still seem them hanging around to whine and complain and I anticipate seeing them at launch and thereafter as well.