The Tyrian Chronicle: Unpopular Choices in the Name of New Players .

I had originally intended to write a completely different article for this week. It was going to be light hearted and fun. But then I learned about Gemgate and I felt my love for Guild Wars 2 take another hit. Since the release of Guild Wars 2 in China earlier this year Arenanet has made one bad choice after another, all in the name of new players.

In case you missed it I’ll go into a little bit of detail about Gemgate before I continue on. When the Halloween event was patched in Arenanet also introduced a new user interface for converting gems into gold and gold into gems. Previously you could buy any number of each you wanted simply by typing the number into the square provided. It also included a chart of recent conversion trends. This allowed you to see the best times of day for converting and which days were best. But, if Arenanet was to be believed this was too complicated. New players were getting confused because typing a number in is so much harder than pushing a button. What do we have now instead?

That. An overly simplistic UI that even my cat could use. You may notice that a few things are missing. First, they did away with the chart. Now I will admit looking at the chart can be somewhat of a headache. But I like to think of it as an advanced feature. Not something everyone has to use but useful information for people who know how to use it. The next thing you may notice is missing is the ability to buy gems in amounts that aren’t predefined. This of course annoyed a lot of people because what costs 400 gems? Nothing. So you either end up with gems left over or you find that you didn’t get enough gems for something you want and need to get more. Which then still results in leftover gems. It’s a cheap grab at money that previously Arenanet had been applauded for not doing. But, perhaps the most damning thing to come from Gemgate wasn’t the insanely unpopular change. It was the reports that the conversion rates were altered heavily in Arenanet’s favor when the change took place. Now, this is of course something that we would be able to confirm or debunk if that handy little chart were still in place. But as Arenanet got rid of it we don’t know either way for sure. So it is that doubt that will burn inside us.

Thankfully because of player feedback and press attention reaching all the way up to Kotaku (who was the first I saw to call it Gemgate) Arenanet has said they would make some changes. The only change announced so far is reintroducing custom amounts you want to exchange. Players have also asked for clarification on if the chart would be returning as well. All of this goes to show that having a loud, unified voice can do a lot of good and developers do listen. Unfortunately for the time being we are stuck with the terrible user interface.

This is just one many changes like it that have been made recently. All of these changes have been extremely unpopular with veteran players, and all of them have been done to improve the new player experience. Even before these changes were put into place Guild Wars 2 was considered an extremely casual game. It’s a great game for anyone new to MMOs to jump into to get an idea of how they go. But you can imagine the eyebrow raising and laughs directed towards Arenanet when they first announced that players were finding the start of the game too confusing. Yes, again, I will admit that very first moment when you get out into the world and aren’t immediately pushed in any direction can be a bit daunting. So many choices, where do you start!? But you quickly get the idea behind the game; jump in and see where you go. To help simplify the game even further level gates were introduced. These level gates meant that not everything would be available from the first moment you log in and would instead need to get a bit of experience under your belt. As an example players aren’t introduced to WvW until level 18. It’s presented as a reward. In other words, you have to earn access to WvW. Now, yes they’ve also created a back door. You can still enter through Lion’s Arch or if you happen to know the hotkey for entry. Other things like weapon swapping, downed state and even diving were subjected to this gated experience.

The other major change that was unpopular was a change to the flow of the personal story. Parts of the story were moved so that in Arenanet’s mind they made more sense. Unfortunately it made no sense to the players and seems to have been poorly executed. The moves don’t make sense and as it stands the story doesn’t either. For instance in Orr, previously it was a death march towards Arah. It was a linear story that had you travel across the island in a fashion that made sense. But now you’re jumping back and forth all over the place. The flow is just dead.

At this time the wardrobe system was also given an overhaul. Again, another unpopular choice was made. Town clothes were transformed so that they weren’t something you could mix and match anymore. Keep in mind, these are the items that people paid real money for. Arenanet did offer refunds for people who didn’t like the change. I really wish I had taken it. I don’t use them anymore. In fact I hate them. They’re dead to me. I had an adorable outfit for the most adorable Asura that has ever been made. And now, I’ll never be able to see her in it again.

When these changes were introduced it was pointed out on the forums that Arenanet had said veteran players wouldn’t be impacted by the new player experience at all. And yes, this is true. If your character is level 80 and has completed the living story. Oh and you have no other characters. But if you do have alts or haven’t completed the living story you’re stuck with the new player experience. I’m afraid that the way Arenanet is going all they’re going to have left are those new players. Which for a two year old game isn’t a good place to be in. The best developers test ideas with their players before introducing anything that radically changes things. Hopefully Arenanet will learn that soon.