sanguinesquirrel

@edgecrusherO0
While he doesn't deserve it, I doubt that will lead to any form of press boycott any time soon. At least, not unless Mr. Smart threatens to sue someone for bad coverage again...

Seriously, though. I'm certain Justin is more than capable of stating it, but the stance Massively has always taken in the past is that they, as something sort of like journalistic professionals, attempt to maintain a neutral stance in the field. While editorializing is a minor crime of commission, knowingly failing to report anything at all would be an unforgivable crime of omission. If something is stated, you and I may have an informed opinion, but if nothing at all is mentioned, we are relegated to ignorance.

@pancho72
Absolutely.

What is interesting is that the current school of game design - or the one responsible for the current generation of MMOs - disagrees with you. Most level-based advancement in MMOs is consciously designed to make use of an operant condition technique usually referred to as a reinforcement schedule. In the truly successful MMOs of our day, additional schedules are added by weighted drop tables for gear, tiered reputation and cash grind. The end goal is to make sure that you're always no more two hours away from *some* unambiguously positive reinforcement.

@Malagarr
That's...unexpected.

While I cannot speak for your experiences, the conclusion is a bit of a head scratcher. In playing GW for almost 7 years, I've found the majority of players I've pugged with or shot the breeze with in town to be in the 20-30 range who picked up a subscriptionless game due to erratic work schedules and childcare requirements.

I suppose it is all anecdotal, either way. A few bad apples can always ruin the bunch.

@Lilkitten
I can second this for the most part. GW1 does have elements that are a few years behind. Overall, it uses them significantly better than most. Aesthetically, it compares favorably with mmos that have come out in the past couple years, especially the Nightfall and Eye of the North addons.

@Saker
Betas are apparently, to quote the vernacular, srs bsns.

@Fakeassname
Partly, but it is also likely that their licensing agreement with Games Workshop might complicate or prohibit it.

@DarkWalker
Exactly. In recent memory, Bioware claimed SWTOR would be "the greatest and most ambitious achievements in video game history," and has not only made some promises to fans, but also guaranteed everything short of the moon and stars to their publisher and investors. Regardless of what you think about this game, some pretty unreasonable and unattainable expectations have been set.

Where were subscription numbers a month and a half ago? Hovering under 2 million. Where are they now? Hovering under 2 million. The main goal here is to assuage investor worries that they are unable to continue the growth road-map put forward. If even a few thousand new subscriptions show up because of this, it is just icing. The real thing to avoid is any more stock fluctuations.

@Lowangel

I would've thought castration was a better term. Sure, everything else functions (mostly), but for some people all the fun is now gone.

@Skyewauker

It might also have to do with how empty GDC was this year. Some neat ideas, but nothing that really popped.

@eLdritchZ
This is something that surprised me about the original. Part of their design doctrine is to build for the average system *at the time development starts*. Guild Wars 1 was made with dialup connections and 800 MHz processors in mind, for example.