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Heart of Bitterness
Tuesday, November 10th, 2015 10:06So, I mentioned prior that Heart of Thorns expansion was utterly unplayable for me due to technological reasons. However, as I read more, and as I listen to woodenpotatoes' experiences in Heart of Thorns, I've come to the conclusion that the entire new expansion just left a very bitter taste in my mouth. The kind of bitter taste that makes me go "I don't want to support this company."
Reason the first: The new guild system that rolled out with HoT made me very, very angry. Now, I never expected a small guild to be able to compete with a big guild. I never expected a small guild to be able to have access to all the amnesties of a big guild. But prior to HoT, and thus is a function of the core/vanilla GW2, small guilds were able to build up influence and purchase bonuses simply by playing the game. A guild of two was able to pretty much have access to everything that didn't require guild missions. And that was fine. We had a similar but slightly less powerful versions of buffs that the bigger guilds had. We were able to build up our guild bank. Etc. Etc. With the new expansion, everything about a guild is tied to the guild hall, a feature that is only available with HoT purchase, and is not doable with at least three people. So, goodbye micro guilds. Goodbye guild members who may have not purchased HoT. Purchased HoT but is in a two person guild? No guild hall or any of the previous buffs for you. Have a large guild but didn't purchase HoT? No guild hall or any of the previous buffs for you. In short, the game is literally taking away original mechanics that were available in the vanilla game, and putting it behind a purchase *plus* body count wall.
Reason the second: The new HoT maps are absolutely unfriendly to casual players. And by casual, I mean people who just wanna kill some time having fun with friends. I have never met a single hero challenge in the vanilla game that I wasn't able to do by myself on an Engineer (y'know, the most weakass profession in the game). And yet, there are hero points that require no less than three people to complete successfully in the new maps - not because my computer can't render that area worth shit, but because that's just how the game was balanced. That's bull. What is someone on an empty map supposed to do? People say taxi, yet I've looked up the LFG tool and there are rarely taxis into an active HoT map. And without the ability to select an active map to jump into, you're pretty much stuck with no way to complete anything unless you can rally up enough friends, and who's got time for that when you're a casual player? There's definitely a sense of being left behind if you can't keep up and that just makes me so, so frustrated.
Reason the third: Game pricing point was the same as a full game, despite HoT being an expansion. This is just wrong. An expansion should never, ever cost the same as a full game. Some argue that it's because the expansion contains the core game, but that only means those who have already purchased the core game should get the expansion at a reduced price. Otherwise, you're making your veteran players, y'know, the ones who stuck with you and are loyal, pay more than the new players. Some argue that you've already got to play the game for 3 years, but here's the problem: GW2 IS NOT A SUBSCRIPTION GAME. So you should not have to pay for the game again just to play the expansion. Oh, but the core is free to play now, is the other argument I see. WRONG AGAIN. A veteran who paid and a f2p player have very different limitations. This is has a very limited f2p experience, and requires payment for the full game access. HOWEVER. Veterans who have already paid for the core game are still paying the same as new players for the expansion. Thus, the model is simply making the veteran player pay twice. It's a shady, shady business practice and people who keep defending these business decisions are what's wrong with the game industry.
Reason the fourth: The story is shittier than ever. To be fair, I was never that invested in the story of Guild Wars. However, I have grown attached to the Asura race and for the most part, I still get a little squee when I see Ogden from GW1. But between the killing of Eir, Faolain, and Trehearn, I'm seriously questioning just how much the writers give a shit about their writing. For example, Master Togo of GW1 didn't die until the very end; Rurik died earlier, but later comes back to haunt you; no major characters died in Nightfall or EotN; it shows that the writers understood that character death isn't some cheap shock plot trick, it's something that has to be taken very seriously and only used when the plot deems no other way out. Yet, in an expansion of merely 4 maps, three major characters are killed off in quick succession. These aren't some one-off NPCs, they are core characters in a major part of the GW2 story, and yet they're just tossed aside to make room for...what? Canach, Laranthir, and Bram? Fuck that shit. (And I don't even like Eir, Faolain, and Trehearn that much.) This has got to be the most irresponsible writing to date in GW history. WTF.
So right now I have a lot of bitterness towards this new expansion, everything from the meta to the business practice to the execution. The only real way I have of protesting this is to not play. To use my refusal to purchase or play or in anyway giving Anet an asset they can use to promote this shit until they change their ways.
/angry
Reason the first: The new guild system that rolled out with HoT made me very, very angry. Now, I never expected a small guild to be able to compete with a big guild. I never expected a small guild to be able to have access to all the amnesties of a big guild. But prior to HoT, and thus is a function of the core/vanilla GW2, small guilds were able to build up influence and purchase bonuses simply by playing the game. A guild of two was able to pretty much have access to everything that didn't require guild missions. And that was fine. We had a similar but slightly less powerful versions of buffs that the bigger guilds had. We were able to build up our guild bank. Etc. Etc. With the new expansion, everything about a guild is tied to the guild hall, a feature that is only available with HoT purchase, and is not doable with at least three people. So, goodbye micro guilds. Goodbye guild members who may have not purchased HoT. Purchased HoT but is in a two person guild? No guild hall or any of the previous buffs for you. Have a large guild but didn't purchase HoT? No guild hall or any of the previous buffs for you. In short, the game is literally taking away original mechanics that were available in the vanilla game, and putting it behind a purchase *plus* body count wall.
Reason the second: The new HoT maps are absolutely unfriendly to casual players. And by casual, I mean people who just wanna kill some time having fun with friends. I have never met a single hero challenge in the vanilla game that I wasn't able to do by myself on an Engineer (y'know, the most weakass profession in the game). And yet, there are hero points that require no less than three people to complete successfully in the new maps - not because my computer can't render that area worth shit, but because that's just how the game was balanced. That's bull. What is someone on an empty map supposed to do? People say taxi, yet I've looked up the LFG tool and there are rarely taxis into an active HoT map. And without the ability to select an active map to jump into, you're pretty much stuck with no way to complete anything unless you can rally up enough friends, and who's got time for that when you're a casual player? There's definitely a sense of being left behind if you can't keep up and that just makes me so, so frustrated.
Reason the third: Game pricing point was the same as a full game, despite HoT being an expansion. This is just wrong. An expansion should never, ever cost the same as a full game. Some argue that it's because the expansion contains the core game, but that only means those who have already purchased the core game should get the expansion at a reduced price. Otherwise, you're making your veteran players, y'know, the ones who stuck with you and are loyal, pay more than the new players. Some argue that you've already got to play the game for 3 years, but here's the problem: GW2 IS NOT A SUBSCRIPTION GAME. So you should not have to pay for the game again just to play the expansion. Oh, but the core is free to play now, is the other argument I see. WRONG AGAIN. A veteran who paid and a f2p player have very different limitations. This is has a very limited f2p experience, and requires payment for the full game access. HOWEVER. Veterans who have already paid for the core game are still paying the same as new players for the expansion. Thus, the model is simply making the veteran player pay twice. It's a shady, shady business practice and people who keep defending these business decisions are what's wrong with the game industry.
Reason the fourth: The story is shittier than ever. To be fair, I was never that invested in the story of Guild Wars. However, I have grown attached to the Asura race and for the most part, I still get a little squee when I see Ogden from GW1. But between the killing of Eir, Faolain, and Trehearn, I'm seriously questioning just how much the writers give a shit about their writing. For example, Master Togo of GW1 didn't die until the very end; Rurik died earlier, but later comes back to haunt you; no major characters died in Nightfall or EotN; it shows that the writers understood that character death isn't some cheap shock plot trick, it's something that has to be taken very seriously and only used when the plot deems no other way out. Yet, in an expansion of merely 4 maps, three major characters are killed off in quick succession. These aren't some one-off NPCs, they are core characters in a major part of the GW2 story, and yet they're just tossed aside to make room for...what? Canach, Laranthir, and Bram? Fuck that shit. (And I don't even like Eir, Faolain, and Trehearn that much.) This has got to be the most irresponsible writing to date in GW history. WTF.
So right now I have a lot of bitterness towards this new expansion, everything from the meta to the business practice to the execution. The only real way I have of protesting this is to not play. To use my refusal to purchase or play or in anyway giving Anet an asset they can use to promote this shit until they change their ways.
/angry
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