Here are a few questions:
Are you stating 329 players or 329 characters? I'm curious how many are duplicate counts that inflate your totals.
How often does your guild kick players for inactivity? Depending on how often your guild kicks players for inactivity, this would influence your login rates.
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Also, "Weekly Active Users" could mean quite a few things.
1.) Unique logins per week.
2.) Unique character logins.
3.) Logins in total.
We do know that roughly 1.5 hours a week per "active user" seems low. For every person that plays for 30 hours a week, there are 20 others that are just hopping on to see if their friends are on and then logging off.
1. In GW2 your account joins a guild, your characters represent guilds. So no matter what character I'm on, it still appears under the same account. If it was characters joining I'm sure the number would be inflated by a factor of 5-10x at least. You can see this on the Leaderboards if you login and set the parameters to guild.
https://leaderboards.guildwars2.com/en/na/achievements
2. No idea.
Valar morghulis
My part in this story has been decided. And I will play it well.
You want to know the reason they do new events every 2 weeks? Every new event puts new items into the Lockboxes/Keys that must be purchased. Having the events last only 2 weeks makes those items more exclusive/desirable and makes those interested want to buy as many boxes as possible before the event is over.
The content is just a money grab like any other F2P MMORPG (like Tera's horrible events with nothing but Lockboxes/RNG everywhere). They always make it possible to get the boxes/keys without paying a dime just as an arguing point but they make it so incredibly difficult that it's really not viable (even in GW2 farming Gold to convert into Gems is SO much harder than just spending a few bucks, you'll never get the items you want simply from farming Gold).
I've pretty much decided that ANY game that lets you buy boxes/keys from a cash shop is an immediate DNP (Do Not Play) from me. They always design content around them as a cash grab which doesn't make for a good game IMO.
Last edited by Maconi; 2013-07-28 at 06:00 PM.
Lol. I haven't bought any of those boxes yet (and don't plan to) yet I have all kinds of unique skins and rare items, including the legendary dagger Incinerator. I haven't bought gems to convert to gold either since gold is ridiculously easy to make and things are so cheap with the worldwide trading post.
But I admit, free content patches every two weeks is addictive
Valar morghulis
You know ... if you can't control yourself, it can be an issue for you. I haven't bought a single key. When I buy something I buy gems to increase bank, inventory, permanent stuff like that and that is to thank Anet for their work. Not to mention I don't really want anything in the boxes besides transmorg stones I have stacks of just from free keys. So yeah ... your reason does not sound too valid to me, sry. And gold behing hard to farm ... wow.
My part in this story has been decided. And I will play it well.
ExceptYou want to know the reason they do new events every 2 weeks? Every new event puts new items into the Lockboxes/Keys that must be purchased. Having the events last only 2 weeks makes those items more exclusive/desirable and makes those interested want to buy as many boxes as possible before the event is over
1) This is the first time in months they put something back into the black lion chests
2) These are staying forever
3) You can do the candidate trials to get the weapons so you don't have to use keys
4) You can buy them from other players
And P2P isn't a money grab? I mean you are paying for the game monthly that's literally a money grab and key farming in this game is really easy but since you don't seem to play to the point of knowing you wouldn't know that. Not to mention WoW the most popular P2P MMO has had a cash shop for years which is very clearly a money grab, great logic for you.The content is just a money grab like any other F2P MMORPG (like Tera's horrible events with nothing but Lockboxes/RNG everywhere). They always make it possible to get the boxes/keys without paying a dime just as an arguing point but they make it so incredibly difficult that it's really not viable (even in GW2 farming Gold to convert into Gems is SO much harder than just spending a few bucks, you'll never get the items you want simply from farming Gold).
Rift does not design content around the cash shop, GW2 does not design content around the cash shop, TERA, NWO, etc. Weapon skins and other cosmetics are not content fyi.I've pretty much decided that ANY game that lets you buy boxes/keys from a cash shop is an immediate DNP (Do Not Play) from me. They always design content around them as a cash grab which doesn't make for a good game IMO.
If you wanted the items in the lockboxes you'd be spending more than the $15 a month, which goes towards developing real content vs cheap temporary content with the goal of lockbox purchases (why else put even more dev power behind the temporary content rather than permanent content? because that's how they make the $$$ to sustain the game).
Also (I can speak from experience for Tera at least) every single event that Tera has is based around the lockboxes. Christmas? We've put weapon/armor skins in the lockboxes, along with Alkahest/Enigmatic Scrolls to enchant all your gear with! Try your luck! Halloween? Same deal. St. Patrick's Day? Same deal.
I will say that GW2 does much better than Tera in that respect though. Tera barely does anything other than make some themed items and put them in lockboxes. There really isn't that much content developed for the events. You really only know it's event time because your screen flashes a big overlay message when someone hits the jackpot and gets a rare item from a lockbox.
You're right that in that I haven't tried GW2 in a while though. Mostly because I was starting to get the same vibe and have had enough of that type of development. I don't want every single event in the game to be centered around a few half-hearted pieces of content with a focus on getting items from lockboxes.
It's not like I can unsub though (one positive GW2 has). I'll just wait it out a few more months and see if they change direction or put even more focus on the lockbox stuff. I put so much work into my Warrior (getting most of my legendary stuff, 100% world completion, etc.) that I'd love to come back (I like the art and the feel of the game).
I had thought WildStar was going to outshine GW2 since it's promising real end-game content along with having a similar combat system, but after having played the beta recently the movement/combat/animations/UI/etc. are all just a mess. It's really nowhere near the quality of GW2. If only there was more (permanent/non-event) content.
Last edited by Maconi; 2013-07-28 at 07:45 PM.
I can't remember any event that was centered around getting an item from a lockbox
More permanent stuff is going to be added to GW2. First of all two dungeons that were introduced through living story as temporary dungeons are coming back in a permanent form within fractals of the mists. Also after this current patch a few mini games that were introduced as temporary content will be on a permanent rotation. Then there will be future content that hasn't been released yet which will have some permanent content, but what content and how much remains to be seen, we'll just have to wait and see.
Sorry Tera burned you, but GW2 isn't Tera.
The lockboxes don't really have that much. The Halloween event had some skins in the lockboxes, and that was indeed irksome, but I mean, people sell them on the TP, so that wasn't the only outlet.
You also get keys at certain quest-levels. Some people would run a character to level 10, delete, run another up, delete and repeat. I can't personally imagine doing that for the chest keys, but hey...
The current system they've been using and which works well for me, personally, is to have a Lesser Box and a Greater Box. The LB's are world drops, frequent enough and contain some item with a chance at a skin. The Greater Box is a purchase thing and has a much better chance at a skin.
The exchange rate for gold/gems is getting higher and higher as folks get more gold to use it. It's still manageable though, IMO. I've used conversion to get an extra character slot and some other minor items. (Drill bits for everyone!)
Some of the stuff is straight up purchase (aetherblade armor), some of it is Chests (charr backpacks and weapon tickets), a lot of it is available in game though. If you focus only on a certain item, you'll miss out on the plethora of items that are actually rewards for game activities.You're right that in that I haven't tried GW2 in a while though. Mostly because I was starting to get the same vibe and have had enough of that type of development. I don't want every single event in the game to be centered around a few half-hearted pieces of content with a focus on getting items from lockboxes.
The good/bad of it is that GW2/ Anet are still learning. Sure, maybe they should have done some figuring over the 4-5 years the game was in development, but meh, we're here now. They say they may not do expansions, but that's not a sure thing. They came up with living world on a longer schedule and saw the complaints, so changed things up and have changed things a few times. People want permenant content, so they're keeping that in mind.It's not like I can unsub though (one positive GW2 has). I'll just wait it out a few more months and see if they change direction or put even more focus on the lockbox stuff. I put so much work into my Warrior (getting most of my legendary stuff, 100% world completion, etc.) that I'd love to come back (I like the art and the feel of the game).
I had thought WildStar was going to outshine GW2 since it's promising real end-game content along with having a similar combat system, but after having played the beta recently the movement/combat/animations/UI/etc. are all just a mess. It's really nowhere near the quality of GW2. If only there was more (permanent/non-event) content.
From what I understand, the setup is that there will be a continuing story, with some recurring events/ locations. (Halloween/ Wintersday/ Dragonbash events, Southsun Cove/ Super Adventure Box/ Bazaar locations) These events will change some things and add some things. It's still evolving.
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When challenging a Kzin, a simple scream of rage is sufficient. You scream and you leap.
Originally Posted by George CarlinOriginally Posted by Douglas Adams
When challenging a Kzin, a simple scream of rage is sufficient. You scream and you leap.
Originally Posted by George CarlinOriginally Posted by Douglas Adams