Originally posted by SoMuchMass

Forget looking for dungeon, I am looking for Eric Flannum.

We need to get to the bottom of this.  Something suspicious is going on. lol

My Google skills aren't helping.

Communication was lost July '12.

He stopped communicating because the marketing is over, the game is out and it is selling.   That is not at all uncommon in the industry; you hear a lot from certain people leading up to a game's release and then you never hear from them again until the next game is being hyped.

He still works at ArenaNet according to his LinkedIn profile.  Most of the folks in the industry do a VERY good job of keeping their profile up to date, in fact we often know about job changes because of LinkedIn days before there is any official announcement.

This is not a "new" definition that has been tricked onto people by developers.  The debate over what is and is not pay to win has been going on ever since the free to play games with cash shops have existed.    It is a difference of opinion by the player base, plain and simple, and has always existed.

Personally I find the debate stupid because all MMOs are pay to win as far as I'm concerned.   Time is money and people with nothing better to do but play games 24-7 have an advantage in all MMOs, hence they are paying (with time) to win.    That's my view on it.  

Of course, these are the very same people that get so upset when cash shops let other people bypass that time.   Yah, your currency (time) is somehow more legit than someone else's money?  Stop playing games all the time and get a freaking job.    

Originally posted by Kleptobrainiac
The right sandbox hasn't come along yet. When it does, it will dwarf the numbers of any theme park mmo. Why, you ask? Because people will live in the game. A theme park is a nice place to visit. A sandbox is a better place to live.

Theme park games are on there last leg as we speak. WoW was the beginning & the end. Hybrids will reign next as the transition continues. The end game is sandbox.

Welcome to the future.

You're mistake is in thinking that a game where "people will live in it" will be a great success.  It will not.   To be a great success, in terms of number of players playing y our game you need to attract the masses, not just the hardcore never-log-out-except to sleep people.    The masses have busy lives, they need games they can pick up and play for short play sessions in between all of the other things they have going on.  

A game where the appeal is that it is not a game, but a place you live, is not a game that is convenient for that group of people.   And guess what, most people fall into that category.

I'm not saying a game such as you describe isn't appealing, I'm just saying you are being very naive if you think it would dwarf the numbers of any theme park mmo.   You are ascribing what you want in this type of game to "the masses"...the masses are not the same as you (or me).  The very fact that we are here in MMORPG.com posting indicates that we are far more engrossed in the gaming experience then "the masses".   

I think the issue with sandbox game popularity is that the audience is too fragmented.    

I love sandbox games, for example, but in the MMO space most sandbox games include free-for-all PvP, which I hate.  Therefore I have not played any of them.   I am not a unique individual at all, which means there's surely quite a lot of other MMO players who like sandboxes but who haven't played (or played for long) the sandbox games we have gotten.    

I know a lot of sandbox players think that free-for-all open world PvP is absolutely required for a game to be considered a sandbox, but it turns of more people than it attracts, and hence you see those types of games struggle to stay afloat.  Even Eve has areas where the PvP isn't a factor and if you have ever played that game you know that those areas are pretty crowded.  Their numbers would not be nearly as good without it.

Other fragmentation in the player base surely exists around other aspects of what is or is not in any given game.    I think this is the reason why no sandbox game has pulled down numbers like the most popular Theme park games; not because the concept of a sandbox is not as popular as Theme Park.

I voted no.

I'm a huge TES fan, having played every game all the way back to the Arena when it was first released.   But I didn't vote no because I'm one of those fans that is all up and arms about how they didn't make ESO enough like the TES single player games.

I voted no because the game is not going to do well enough to remain subscription based.  It is just a fact of the current market, very few MMOs pull it off and I don't see anything "special enough" about this one that it will be one of those.   So, I see no point in spending monthly money on a game that will, eventually, not have a sub.  I can wait.

If what we had seen so far about this game was knock-your-socks-off incredible and crazy different from what has been done before, I'd have voted yes.  But it is not.  It is just another pretty standard MMO set in TES universe.   That last part is enough to make me want to play the game, but the first part is enough for me to be unwilling to pay monthly in order to do so.

Originally posted by delete5230

I don't blame the posters I blame Developers....People here are crying out with hopes of changing the crap we have now...The problem is posting here on mmorpg.com is worthless. No feedback is getting to developers and they would not care anyway if it did.

Don't blame the developers either.  It does not matter if the feedback reaches devlopers or not (I imagine in many cases it certainly does).    The publishers/investors are the ones that need to listen.    

And ultimately to get them to listen we, as gamers, need to show them that taking a risk in the MMO space actually can make them a worthwhile profit.  

So, coming full circle, it actually is the posters (or more accurately, the collective spending habits of all MMO gamers) that is at fault.

I think the problem is that these type of games have become popular.   More people playing (a whole lot more people) means a lot more assholes.  

 I know the reason I am much more hesitant to reach out to befriend folks now then I was 10-15 years ago is because 9 out of 10 times when I do, the person is a self-centered, egomaniacal, ass-hat.   10-15 years ago it was the opposite, 9 out of 10 people were decent and friendly.

Online gaming has gone from being a small market with a tight-knit community to a mass-market filled with the common folks.   And the simple fact is that common folks are selfish and mean.

Originally posted by Speire
If a game wants to continue itself, ithere has to be an open world mmo, mounts, houses, guild castles towers, political system, conquer system. We can see this only in UO and that game died in 2003.

So obviously it doesn't help a game continue itself after all?  Or did you just mean "for a little while longer" rather than indefinitely?  In which case, aren't you splitting hairs on what the meaning of "continue itself" is?

Y'all are missing what is probably the KEY reason. 

The game has had a lot more problems after launch than they originally anticipated and their support staff has been doing a HORRIBLE job of keeping up with things.  Some people are not getting tickets resolved for days!  That's horrible, no matter how you cut it.    

Mind you, I have not had a single issue that required a ticket since I started playing at 9:00 p.m. on Friday of headstart.   But I also am not  so much of a rabid fan that I can't see how many other people are having major problems and waiting a very long time for resolution.

That little tidbit is delicately nestled in the statement they released in way that doesn't draw much attention.  They said that they need to increase their support staff.   And I would bet that it is the #1 reason they halted sales.   It takes time to staff up for support.  (Alternatively, they might not be increasing staff too much, and just trying to work out the issues).

At launch, problems with support like they have been having can snowball and drive the game's chance of long term success right down the drain.  We have seen it before with other MMOs.   I think Arena Net is smart enough to realize this and they are trying to limit the impact of their current support limitations by reducing sales in the short term, giving them time to either work out the biggest bugs and/or increase their support staff.

Seems like a smart move to me.

Crafted orange stuff looks like ass.  Go after the good looking dungeon stuff.

That will take you a while.

Originally posted by Elikal

Originally posted by Calerxes

Originally posted by ulula
30 slot for 600 gems

 

Bingo. 

I wonder, is that 600 gems for 30 slots PER character or game-wide?

The bank itself is shared between all characters...what do you think the answer to that is?  

Hint, there is only ONE possible answer.

To the original poster.   Making alts for storage space is actually more cost-efficient than expanding the bank if all that you need is more space.  Of course, it is also less convenient.  But, if you just need "more space" that's a cheaper alternative.

Originally posted by modus
Considering Trading Outpost has been down for maintenance for days with no real information giving other than we are working on it , I am guessing that dungeons will take months or years.

Okay, now I understand when people get frustrated with things not working at launch.  I really do understand.

But...read what you wrote.   I mean, seriously....read what you wrote and tell me that doesn't just sound ridiculous.  "months or years" is a really long time not to fix a problem.  Do you really, really believe yourself?

I'm sitting at something like 14% total for map completion.  6 zones cleared plus about 2/3 rd of another.  The first 6 were the 5 racial cities plus Lion's Arch though...which means I haven't actually cleared even one adventuring zone. 

The Black Citadel, imo, was a total P.i.t.A!  

Having a blast so far!  Full map exploration is my primary focus for fun, initially, in every MMO I have played.  Great that GW2 makes it an actual trackable goal.

Very nice, thank you for sharing.

I am going to download and install them now.

Originally posted by dbgager
Well maybe I will install the Betas. But  the very word Beta means these drivers are still in a testing phase..and can have issues.

The 304.79 beta drivers from Nvidia.com work splendidly, you have nothing to worry about.

Do NOT, however, go for the leaked 305.67 beta drivers which can be downloaded from other various websites.  Myself, and others, have had issues with them. 

Which drivers are you using?

I was experiencing occasional "jerkiness" even when framerates were good when using the 305.67 beta drivers from guru 3d.

Switching to the 304.79 beta drivers from Nvidia.com resolved all problems (and also pushed my average fps up by about 15-20)