Well...I kind of feel they did. Back at Games-com 2010 when we first heard about heart-quests they were introduced as a way to lead players around the map, to help them find the events. That all sounds fine, but my problem is that hearts are everywhere while events are not. At least that's my impression from playing the BWE's. I feel there should be alot of different events happening in an area and only a few hearts to help players who need it. In reality there are a lot of hearts in any given area and the same few repeating events. I would have liked if they had cut out many of those hearts and put those resources into making the event system much more diverse.

To me hearts feel very much like your boring standard mmo-quest, while events are fun as they evolve and players band together for a common goal. But my experience from playing the BWE maps running around looking for content, there was always plenty af hearts to keep you busy, but the events could be few and far between. And the few that did happen were usually the same repeating. You can't roam too far as you can only fight mobs 3-4 levels above you. I atleast found myself grabbing all the xp I could get so I could move on to a new area, which meant doing the hearts. So while hearts are meant to be optional they are really not in my experience, as events only give so much xp.

Arenanet have said a few times that you can play the game the way you want to. You can just do personal story, events or explore. But in reality I find you have to do it all to get the xp you need. And I don't really mind those three things, but I do mind the hearts. Especially as I don't think the event system is all it could/should have been. In many areas there are not enough events and they often feel linear and not very dynamic. Some events are great as they branch and have a real effect on the world for a time, but imo they are just very few.

We have only seen a few of the beginning maps and I hope events will dominate the maps much more later on. That hearts are only Arenanets way of easing new players into the game and there will be fewer as we progress. I mean, if we see the same heart/event ratio in Orr I will be a bit disappointed, like there is some wasted potential with the event system. But we'll see soon enough.

I am torn on this one. I personally feel they did waste resources implamenting the heart system, but I can understand why they did it. There is a large population of players out there that have come to expect hand holding in MMOs. If you just dump them in a huge map and tell them to go explore it can overwhelm. My guess is that ANet did not want to put them in, but did it to appease a wider segment of player base. They are afterall in this to make money. 

I think the hearts system is well done, just unnecessary for my personal playing style. If it stems some complaints from the masses I can live with it though.

I think that for people like you, it may have been a waste of resources. But I also think there are a lot of people that actually enjoy renown quests and there are likely a lot of people that would feel lost without them. According to them, like you said, it was a reaction to heavy feedback they got.

From your perspective, it might feel like it was a waste of resources. Just like to me, the personal stories seem like a waste of resources. I'll bet there are quite a few people that actually enjoy those little stories to help make them feel more connected to the world though.

I have a feeling there will be less heart quest as we progress across Tyria.

Originally posted by colddog04

I think that for people like you, it may have been a waste of resources. But I also think there are a lot of people that actually enjoy renown quests and there are likely a lot of people that would feel lost without them. According to them, like you said, it was a reaction to heavy feedback they got.

 

From your perspective, it might feel like it was a waste of resources. Just like to me, the personal stories seem like a waste of resources. I'll bet there are quite a bit of people that actually enjoy those little stories to help make them feel more connected to the world though.

I dunno guys i sure do loves the personal karma currency and the heart tasks as well, to bad they are not repeatable dailys..

Ultimately, you have to just embrace the fact the game is meant for a lot of different people and play style. Guild Wars 2, as much as it appeals to you, is not taylor made to appeal just to you and utilize resources just to make you happy. Just because it's a feature within Guild Wars 2, doesn't mean you have to do it. They give you a lot of options in the game, and you casn steer clear of anything you don't like and still find a healthy and speedy form of leveling. A lot of people will do them and a lot of people like them, so it's not a wasted resource at all.

Originally posted by atziluth

I am torn on this one. I personally feel they did waste resources implamenting the heart system, but I can understand why they did it. There is a large population of players out there that have come to expect hand holding in MMOs. If you just dump them in a huge map and tell them to go explore it can overwhelm. My guess is that ANet did not want to put them in, but did it to appease a wider segment of player base. They are afterall in this to make money. 

I think the hearts system is well done, just unnecessary for my personal playing style. If it stems some complaints from the masses I can live with it though.

I wish there was a way to turn them off on your map so you don't have to see them. It would be good for us that would rather explore and find things and those that enjoy the hand holding could use the hearts...win..win for us all.

I feel the need to mention I love feeding cows.

That's not sarcasm.  I genuinely did. :x

I like doing things like that.  I know.  I'm such a freak. :c

ArenaNet... Sorry Colin Johansson said himself... The only reason they implemented Renown Heart was to provide that traditional questing for the gamers who enjoy that and also to provide a 'sense of direction' for new players and those who require it etc.

They created Renown hearts because of the players, it was never part of the original game design.

Originally posted by Meowhead

I feel the need to mention I love feeding cows.

That's not sarcasm.  I genuinely did. :x

I like doing things like that.  I know.  I'm such a freak. :c

No reason to believe that you are any more of a freak than any other person around here. 

ppl complain about everything.

Hearts and events add more variety to questing. 

Events are on a timer. Sometimes ppl would also wish to take on a traditional quest doing at their own pace. Get it? Variety. Options.

Originally posted by Cetra

ppl complain about everything.

Hearts and events add more variety to questing. 

Events are on a timer. Sometimes ppl would also wish to take on a traditional quest doing at their own pace. Get it? Variety. Options.

Variation is not enough reason otherwise they would allow certain server to have Open PvP for the sake of variation and options. 

Originally posted by TwoThreeFour

Originally posted by Cetra

ppl complain about everything.

Hearts and events add more variety to questing. 

Events are on a timer. Sometimes ppl would also wish to take on a traditional quest doing at their own pace. Get it? Variety. Options.

Variation is not enough reason otherwise they would allow certain server to have Open PvP for the sake of variation and options. 

Variation is not enough reason, otherwise they would allow pink elephants as mounts and have birthday parties for the president every 3rd tuesday.

Originally posted by TwoThreeFour

Originally posted by Cetra

ppl complain about everything.

Hearts and events add more variety to questing. 

Events are on a timer. Sometimes ppl would also wish to take on a traditional quest doing at their own pace. Get it? Variety. Options.

Variation is not enough reason otherwise they would allow certain server to have Open PvP for the sake of variation and options. 

How about implementing sex and prositituon for variety too? Maybe you should stop tossing my words on anything.

An MMO cant survive on just Timer Events. There has to be some alternate form of traditional questing. 

If you cant offer any useful or constructive comments, dont.

I can certainly understand that there might be many traditional mmo-players who enjoy the hearts. When I call out the hearts, it's because it was a system that was tacked unto the event-system, to compliment it, a bit later in the game development. But perhaps it has evolved into its own seperate system now of more traditional quests.

But I'm still left with the feeling that perhaps Arenanet are trying to do too many things in GW2. That in the end it will be a game of half-baked features, that are not quite what they could have been. Perhaps they should have narrowed their focus and done a few things really, really well. But I guess when you want to appeal to the masses you spread out and do it all.

Originally posted by Leonona

I can certainly understand that there might be many traditional mmo-players who enjoy the hearts. When I call out the hearts, it's because it was a system that was tacked unto the event-system, to compliment it, a bit later in the game development. But perhaps it has evolved into its own seperate system now of more traditional quests.

But I'm still left with the feeling that perhaps Arenanet are trying to do too many things in GW2. That in the end it will be a game of half-baked features, that are not quite what they could have been. Perhaps they should have narrowed their focus and done a few things really, really well. But I guess when you want to appeal to the masses you spread out and do it all.

Sometimes I wonder what the difference is between "appealing to the masses" and "listening to community feedback" from early beta.

I dont like combat system nor the quest system in GW2 but I like the fact they made a game that is different from other games,not saying it is a sucsess or fail but litle bit different.

Originally posted by Cetra

Originally posted by TwoThreeFour

Originally posted by Cetra

ppl complain about everything.

Hearts and events add more variety to questing. 

Events are on a timer. Sometimes ppl would also wish to take on a traditional quest doing at their own pace. Get it? Variety. Options.

Variation is not enough reason otherwise they would allow certain server to have Open PvP for the sake of variation and options. 

How about implementing sex and prositituon for variety too? Maybe you should stop tossing my words on anything.

An MMO cant survive on just Timer Events. There has to be some alternate form of traditional questing. 

If you cant offer any useful or constructive comments, dont.

You are reinforcing my point that variation alone is not enough reason. It is an oversimplification to imply that since hearts and events add more variety to questing, they are not a waste of resources.

Whether or not a comment is useful or constructive depends on who/what the target is. Something that is useful for a person does not necessarely have to be useful for another one.

I'll also point out that it is your belief that a MMO can't survive without an alternate form of traditional questing. Any MMORTS and MMOFPS give clear examples of cases where your written belief does not hold.