GuildCast 28: ArenaNet Changes The Guild Wars 2 Dye System

Written by: (@jarimor) | June 23, 2012 11:00 am
256 Comments

The boards are on fire!

In a range of lovely shades of orange no less. Controversy erupted when it was announced by ArenaNet‘s Crystin Cox that if you want all 400 unlockable dyes for every character, you will have to do that for each character separately. No longer will dyes be unlocked by account.

Does this make you howl with many shades of crimson rage?

Jason Winter broke out the detective hat — hopefully a deerstalker — to examine the KDB Daewoo Securities June report which speculated about the expected sales and revenue of Guild Wars 2. Does over 3 million sound reasonable for North America and Europe for 2012? Is pre-Thanksgiving the time frame you would expect for launch?

And is the release date announcement truly “imminent”?

Among the viewer questions is one on video that has to be seen to be believed. Actually, I saw it, I still don’t believe it.

Coming to terms with this and other mushroom-related madness are GAMEBREAKER’s Gary Gannon and Scott Hawkes, as well as Massively‘s Elisabeth Cardy and Richie “Bogotter” Procopio, for another mind-warping edition of GuildCast.

 

GuildCast 28: ArenaNet Changes The Guild Wars 2 Dye System
  • Jason edwards

    Ah man no  Ed Park!! who is gonna give that sycophant Scott Hawkes a run for his money.

  • http://twitter.com/Naqaj Naqaj

    That Bruce Thackerey Banner is pure genious!

  • http://www.facebook.com/wFlett William Flett

    Warrior:
    Dark Blue with Green accents
    (or a Light Pink to Dark Purple full-body gradient)

    Guardian:
    Neapolitan Ice cream
    (plenty of other things were tried, none really felt right)

  • http://www.facebook.com/daniel.beverly Daniel Beverly

    I like the Dye system the way it is, I dont mind it being character bound.

  • Camzillasmom

    Gary looks like DiCaprio in the Aviator. Haha! Should have gone the actor route.

  • Victoria collon

    i love the new colour system ;)

  • mcsumo

    Was a very entertaining episode.

    Scott you are so right about football. The americans don’t even kick the ball 99% of the time in their game, how can it be football?

    Dyes; I just can’t understand why some people are so upset. If I was playing ‘Sparkle Pony Dress-up Wars’ then maybe not having every colour available could be an issue. But this is a combat based MMO, we already have more colour customisation than any other game I have played, plus we can get more easily, from drops, without spending a penny.

    Elisabeth’s question was a good one. But the best answer I think is a question….How is this different to current ‘end game raid’ systems? I have seen numbers banied about, that only 5% of all WoW players actually do the raiding end game. That means there are millions of people who don’t care for it. I am sure there are many who do raid, who don’t enjoy it but feel they have to in order to gear up and join their friends. If you don’t enjoy 1 dungeon, you are not forced to do that one. With gear tiers you HAVE to do each tier until you have the required equipment. Plus the ‘social contract’ involved in raiding guilds means you have to keep doing it, until your whole raid team is sufficiently geared, whether you enjoy it or not. Crazy madness!

    Loved the after show talk about names for this show. The boys were all cracking up and Elisabeth’s ‘not amused’ was the funniest thing. :p

    On the more detailed/geeky show, I think I would like to see that. But whilst I love Gary, Scott, Liz and Richie. I think another cast would maybe be better for it. Something like Mike S. MikeB, Lore and Ed, would be ideally suited to that sort of nitty gritty, class mechanics kind of talk.

    Sorry long essay, could continue but won’t. Love you guys, (so much so I have signed up for repeating donation) keep up the great work!

    • mcsumo

       LOL Just watching again and forgot to mention the ‘…all 12 of my guardians line’, that was brilliant, Elisabeth! I really did laugh out loud.

      aaand re thanksgiving; Korean investment firm talking about a korean company, could mean that korean thanksgiving is the one they mean?

      God such a good show I could be here all day! :o

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      Lol, the term Soccer was coined by the British and pre-dated the term Football by about 18 years.   It only turn to football when Soccer became popular with the British lower and middle class.

      One of WoW success stories is how Blizzard solved the Gear Tier system.  You can level a new character any way you want, PVP, questing, crafting, doesn’t matter. Play the way you want.   If you then want the final tier of PVE gear; you run a few quests, run a few regular level dungeons and the latest heroic dungeons and you are ready to compete for final tier gear. You do not have to run every tier of raiding to play the final tier.  

      It will be interesting to see how the Guildcast show handles PVP once the game is released and what the show will the show look six months after GW2 release. 

      • ScottHawkes

        The game was called “Association Football”. When “Rugby Football” was later created, Rugby players nicknamed football “soccer” through the bastardization of “association”. When Rugby Football was adapted in America, the Rugby name was dropped to simply football.
        Football was first, Association Football.

        • Old Ben

          The Football Association (and the term “association football”) was actually created about 30 years after the invention of rugby, and partly as a response to it (because rugby rules allowed running with the ball, while traditional football rules did not – although some variations allowed handling the ball while standing still).

          Anyway, the term “soccer” certainly doesn’t pre-date the term “football”. “Soccer” started appearing in the late 1880s, while “football” had been used for at least five centuries to describe a number of similar games that had been played for over two thousand years. At the same time (late 1800s), rugby was known as “rugger”, and the term “football” (or “footer”) on its own almost invariably referred to association football.

  • http://www.facebook.com/daniel.beverly Daniel Beverly

    I’m saying over 3.12 million sales!

  • http://twitter.com/NitroNbg Nemanja Stosic

    Richie finally solved the cube ;)
    On-topic: good show

  • Evaldas Raišutis

    Those new videos with home cities are now public.

  • http://twitter.com/gNoviere Noviere

    If getting specific dyes via the mystic forge is implemented in a player-friendly manner, I’m fine with the change. Heck, I won’t ever need to buy a dye pack.

  • mattm131

    I never really got into messing with the dyes that much, but I like their decision. It may help to add more diverse looking characters in the game. Being able to use an unlocked dye as much as you want is great!

  • http://www.facebook.com/daniel.beverly Daniel Beverly

    I have that Batman shirt Elisabeth.

  • http://www.facebook.com/daniel.beverly Daniel Beverly

    Why not make each dungeon have their own token currency that you can only turn in for that dungeons gear. That way there is incentive to re-run that dungeon.

    • http://www.facebook.com/pedro.ducos Pedro Ducos

      That is the way it currently works, each individual dungeon gives tokens that are specific for the armor of that dungeon. The reason is that dungeon armor should be a prestige item.

  • http://www.facebook.com/daniel.beverly Daniel Beverly

    There would be gear tuned for each class and you could pick your favorite.

  • Caverock

    Would like dyes account bound! I am a person that has regular black/lime green colours or black/red.

  • pandora005

    So the dye system changed. Big deal. Who cares? At the rate at which they drop you should have a decent selection after a month of playing. Your eyes wouldnt notice the difference between two kinda similar colors on a character anyways.
    Calm down and rage more about the trait tier system limitation instead.

  • http://www.facebook.com/MakeitsoGW Makeitso GW

    During BWE2 I was the only player I saw who used different bright colors for every slot.  I was quite the Harlequin Necro!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R35J5EUERGS3E6JRIQMBCDTRRY Nathan I

    Account based dyes would be nice but not necessary for me, and I’m a raging altaholic, who plans on having at least 10 characters. Plus dyes are purely cosmetic so for me personally they can do whatever they want.

  • http://twitter.com/Patrikules Patrick Hargan

    I don’t mind that the dyes aren’t account bound… I DO mind that i can’t dye my undies…. or maybe change my undies to a teddy… is that weird?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001268512245 Stuart Serc

    Thats so not what i meant, just when ever the cash shop is brought up everyone goes mad stating it should be cosmetic only… Well yeah thats good but some of the other Items they sell is not cosmetic… anyway just hoped the load Pay to Win noise dont overrun the game I wont even make it to 80 and enjoyed jumping puzzles more (ressing orb thing was great as i died a lot no XP though :( )

    But still thanks for answering, I have no idea what some of those items are that you mentioned I’ve not spent vast amounts of time in the Beta weekend (Single Parent+40 hour week, (some life)) oh and I’m not unhappy I like the way they do the gem shop its a great balance as is but looks like there will be loads more to be added in the future just wondered what would be added other than cosmetic (cheaper res orbs) – as for dyes I’ve never used the system after first character i just clicked next i think the monical would be cool ;) .

     since i started watching GuildCast I’ve learnt so much and also how little I know about the game shame i have to wait until the next BWE to try out the new stuff lol.Loved the show :) and thanks > I have Netflix :P – England :D

  • falknerblitz

    Just to note – Q3 would be July, Aug, Sept. Also as this is a Korean investment firm covering a Korean company (NCsoft) they probably mean Korean Thanksgiving, which is Sept 30 this year. Sooooo GW2 before end of September ;)

    • QSatu

      I agree with this. Later on there will be a lot big games releases as every year. September is a good time to release a mmo imo.

  • Caverock

    Lol i was the one that asked him to fix the rubik’s cube, because it was bugging me! Ty Richie! I posted it on his last youtube vid on his bogotter channel (tyria tales vid about the trait system changes). 

  • http://twitter.com/MarkDanielNeale Mark Neale

    Regarding Dyes:

    For me, don’t really care which way they want to go.

    However, if I went to their cash shop and saw the dye pack for all characters, account wide, I’d be, “cool, take my money.” – Done.

    But if I saw it was something I had to buy for each of my characters, I’d be, “no… no ArenaNet you aren’t going to get my money. Let me google what combinations of things I need for the dye I want and I’ll go unlock them on all my characters without spending a dime.”

    So for me, personally, they would make more money off of me if things were account wide. To each their own though, this is just me.

  • http://twitter.com/Tr0nc3k Tadej Tr0n Lasic

    This was already known during BWE #2. Not news.

  • David Winner

    I’m fine with character based dyes. I am not ok with character bound gemshop. I paid for it, if I have duplicates, I should be able to give it to my alts.

  • Brandon Marshall

    The problem I have with the new dye system is if it was account wide I would make getting all or most dyes some sort of goal eventually, but with it being character only i’ll ignore it for the most part

  • http://twitter.com/Dan_Fix Dan Fix

    Great show guys and Gal. In my opinion it’s not so much about the dye being character bound or untradeable as it is random. Over the last BWE I purchased ten dye packs. By the tenth pack I was getting some of the common dies in triplicate.

    Where this will not be a problem at the start, how far down the road will it be where this starts to become a problem? I can see a year from now spending money on dye and not needing half the colors because all of your alts having those colors too. Yes there is the mystic forge but then you devalue the dye because it will now take three of your purchased dies to make one in the forge. This is my only real issue with the dye system.

    There is an easy solution though. Take any two of the three restrictions on dies and use them.

    Rare + Random but account wide.

    Account Wide + Rare but not random.

    Random + Account wide but sellable.

    For me personally; this will be the only solution to what is now a fairly controversial topic.

    • Arkanthos

      Why would you devalue te dye with the mystic forge, when you use the random dyes to unlock specific dyes there? You just add to thew value.

  • http://twitter.com/namredne Neo the Hacker

    What people complain about if they have something perfect…

  • http://www.facebook.com/liam.williams.184881 Liam Williams

    That poster is fantastic! Though I cant help but feel we should get Gary Gannon’s face in place of Bruce Willis’ as Gary can clearly pull of the long hair as we have seen before hahaa, best poster so far!!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

    MMO Game of the Year Folks right here!

  • H S

    I loved my Butternut with red-brown trim on my thief. If  Ihave to buy 400 dyes to get that combo, I will

  • http://twitter.com/namredne Neo the Hacker

    I guess the sales have crashed due to the fact that the shops have run out of PrePurchase packs. Only way to get them is vie the official website now.

    • QSatu

       You can always pre-order. they give the same bonuses as pre-purchases now.

      • http://twitter.com/crimsonrellik Skot Roberts

        This is a false statement

        • QSatu

          Ok. Amazon pre-orders give the same bonuses. I don’t know if all of them work the same way.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Willi-Enderle/1668850948 Willi Enderle

    amazing job on the banner :)

    • Calvin Lee

       LOL I was going to post the same thing

      • http://twitter.com/DontCallMeDaz Not Daz

        I’ll third that. Classy banner and another cracking episode.

        Oh, and COME ON ENGLAND!!!

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=711260186 Abdiel De La Paz

          Ill 4th that! Awesome Bruce Willis!

        • ScottHawkes

           Oh yes!

  • Avan Gore

    I say 10 million.

  • http://twitter.com/chumppi chumppi, Riku M.

    I’m good that they’re going this route. It’s either this or pay2win. This is far better.

  • Cirdi

    I will just do what is necessary to unlock black on my main character and that will be it.  The dye unlocks being char only doesn’t bother me.

  • 7BitBrian

    Brownies…

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000267765226 Vegas Steve

    All this to-do about dyes is just silly.  People are wound up about this game and are grabbing onto anything for discussion/outrage.  Once it launches, all this stuff will just go away.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Quinn/504633100 Jason Quinn

       couldn’t have said it better

  • http://twitter.com/Hoigwai Hoigwai

    The dyes are fine, considering how easy it is to obtain them I don’t have any issue with it.

  • JJGlyph

    Oh, man. That Dye Hard banner slayed me. Think I hurt myself a bit after reading “brought to you by Netflix”.

    • ScottHawkes

       Brilliant isn’t it. Our resident graphics genius Tom put it together.

      • Old Ben

        Should be “Dye Hard 400″, though. ;-)

  • http://twitter.com/RussellGusto Russell Hunt

    Good show! 

  • http://twitter.com/crocodilius ryan phillips

    ROOOOOONEYYYYYYYY!

    • ScottHawkes

       GET IN THERE!

  • ako_mmo

    Leave dye as it is, add an account wide achievement for dye collection for the people who need all 400, add a gem store item (priced similar to a dye pack charge) that lets you open up a colour one one character that you already have on another character – like tomes in gw. Sorted. Hmm, they should give me a job.

    • Bart De Vos

      You can already do this, unused collors can be traded between characters on the same account, they just can only be used on one.

      • ako_mmo

        Thanks for reply but that’s not quite what I meant.

        Example: I have black dye on my main character but no duplicate and want black dye on my alt. So I buy a gem store item on the alt that when used lets me unlock a single dye on the alt that the main has.

        It’s how skill tomes work in guild wars 1.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Quinn/504633100 Jason Quinn

     In addition to colours I’d like to see/hope some of the dyes are textures or patterns, like stripes or something.

    • Old Ben

      The patterns are part of the base armor’s design. If you have armor with stripes, that means two colors, so a single dye could never control both. Instead, you’ll have half the stripes controlled by dye #1 and the other half controlled by dye #2.

      What dyes can (and probably do) have is multiple _channels_. What this means is that a dye can affect not only the hue of a specific part of your armor but also its glossiness, reflectivity and bumpiness. This means you can have dyes that make your armor “glossy blue”, “metallic blue”, “rough blue”, and so on. Same hue, but different surface effects.

      I’m not 100% sure if GW2′s “dye engine” supports those three channels, but since they have 400 different dyes, I’m pretty confident they can affect more than just the hue.

  • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

    When I speak with former GW1 players, the all say the same thing.  After a few months it is nearly impossible to get guidies to run harder higher level content.  If you don’t PVP in GW2 or want to sidekick down with lower level characters, you get bored and have nothing to do.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1260066056 Steven Diaz

      Every post I see that you make is bashing GW2.  I don’t mind if someone is bashing with constructive criticism but you’re just being a troll at this point.  You click on a GW2 PODCAST just to bash the game.  The truth is that you’re the only one that’s heard that. In GW1, I played for years and never had any issues finding anyone to PUG with.  I know too many people that spent every living moment playing GW1.  Heck, just last year I was playing to unlock achievements for GW2 and I had ZERO problems finding others to play with.  The game might not be flooded with others but it has people playing this late in the game.  Don’t spread misinformation, it’s not appropriate. In the end it only makes you look bad and from what I’ve seen in other posts, you’re doing a mighty fine job of doing that.

  • http://www.facebook.com/nina.visaya Nina Ann Visaya

    First, it doesn’t bother me that the dyes are only going to be character bound. Second, I want the game to be ready when it’s released but, I agree with not wanting to play 4 or 5 more betas. I do hope they let us play the asura or sylvari next beta because I want to experience something new. Btw, I love the banner too.

  • http://twitter.com/dryiggles Jeremiah Yip

    At first was really disappointed with the dye changes, but after considering it.  I feel like it is good change for keeping the game to produce more content with what they make with the gem shop.

    ___

    I also feel wanted to answer @elixabethclaire:twitter question and I feel like the token system is ideal.  I feel like if people really enjoy the dungeon they will keep running it after getting the gear they want.

    It is the same as for getting gear you want from that dungeon to drop.  Either way you will keep running it cause its fun or you won’t after you gotten the items you wanted.  As long as they have a diverse amount of dungeons there will always be content for everyone to do.

    ___

    Love the remix GW2 MikeB/NegPH did.  Should totally make it the new intro song for Guildcast. :D

  • integerx

    I personally like the new dye system. I agree that I really don’t want that many more BWEs. I am tired of playing and knowing that whatever I do isn’t permanent.

    That GW2 remix should totally be the theme song for GuildCast. Awesome remix.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jade.hayes.96 Jade Hayes

    Actually , the dye system makes sense, the dyes are random , so the more dyes you unlock on a character the more ” doubles ” (colors you already have) you’ll get. So you can pass them to your other characters . By the time you unlock all dyes on 1 char, you’ll have at least other 2 with half dyes unlocked .

    • Old Ben

      > By the time you unlock all dyes on 1 char, you’ll have
      > at least other 2 with half dyes unlocked.

      Which goes completely against what Crystin Cox stated about dyes “reflecting the progression of each character”.

  • Andres Blanco

    poeple over react so much, they seem to forget the game is ment to be played and enjoyed not to mindlessly grind every tiny little thing to the fullest, and I am a completionist I know I’ll strive to get every achievement but as long as i’m having fun with it… the dyes will come as I do everything else so why even bother with it?

  • http://www.facebook.com/toph1980 Christopher Fischer

    Epic poster FTW

  • Gonçalo Faria

    I think when i do averything in pve i will just play pvp       

  • LazyMustard

    Having paid a huge amount of attention to the thread in question during beta, I can tell you, the largest problem people had wasn’t necessarily that the dyes were locked out from account, though that IS what ignited the conversation.  If you read through the pages and pages of posts, the largest issue at hand was the lottery nature of the system and the fact that the dyes are locked to you, especially in the store.  SOME of this was eliminated when shortly after, and in a different thread, it was announced that they were going to allow you to craft the specific dye you want through the mystic forge.  Ultimately, the only real issue left at hand is the combination of the lottery setup on the Store, and that those dyes are locked to you, potentially wasting some cash that you’ve spent.  A minor change, (allowing hue or color selection on the store, OR unlocking the store bought dyes so that they can be traded or sold on the AH Or some other change that I’m unable to think of) would fix the problem and eliminate it almost completely.  I think then that people would be mostly happy with the current system.

    Mostly, people just hate the idea of spending any amount of real money, and not getting anything out of it.

  • JJGlyph

    MikeBs song is awesome when you check it out on YouTube^^ Sounds distorted over the stream xD

  • EndrzGame

    I really don’t have a problem with the dyes at all. It’s a total NON-issue for me.
    Great show as always guys! Really liked your discussion on Elizabeth’s stealth question. =P

    P.S.
    MikeB’s remix was pretty damn good. THAT should be the Guild Cast intro/outro theme. 

    • ScottHawkes

       Thanks Endrz, sounds like a good idea to me.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Sardella/1422784105 John Sardella

    Where can I submit my viewer questions for the next guildcast? Just wondering. It’s going to be a video.

  • http://twitter.com/MeagerGames Meager Games

    They took our money in April, I really do not think they are going to release the game in November or December. That’s 7 months?!? That would be totally detrimental to the game.
    I am going to say the end of August for a release. That’s the last month of the 3rd quarter. Id say 1 or 2 more BWEs. When the last BWE hits they are going to do head start right after.

  • mitchell aufiero

    Where’s Taugrim?

  • James Lecouffe

    When you start making fun of fans for whats important to us only makes me stop watching. You can disagree with me but dumb move making fun of your followers and fans. I dont like the change to the dye system just because I liked the idea of being able to (as a reward of playing forever and having unlocked 400 dyes) make a new char look the way I want right off the bat. I dont care of easy or hard it is to collect the dyes. 

    • ScottHawkes

       James, I’m not intending to insult, I’m doing some gentle ribbing, I make fun of my own obsessions on a weekly basis (daily actually but you don’t get to see those).

  • Sklys

    1. As stated before about dye set up. If you bye a dye, you get the color you want, if dye drop it
    can be any color. There will be folks that will get all 400 colors, just for the shake of doing it.
    2.As stated before on the Asura. A-Net loves to play mind games and are doing so now. The
    video has been out for a long time about the city.
    3. Agree with you folks 1 or 2 more beta would be enough, folks would still be up for the launch
    and not bured out. Date as a guess would be  (if two more betas) Sep/Oct.
    4. Dungeons. Would like to see part one of a dungeon be playable by one person or once in other
    folks can join you. Beats standing around looking for folks to go with you. Part two is different, there you will need a group. For the token system, it is fine as long as later they add more stuff
    to get with them.
    5. The video questions that were ask were anul IMO.

  • Old Ben

    I’m fine with dyes being bound to characters, not so fine with the (nonsensical) justification given by Ms. Cox that it was “to tie dyes to each character’s progression” – as if you couldn’t send dyes to a level 1 alt that never left the starting zones.

    I also think it’s a mistake (in financial terms) to sell only “random” dye packs; I think people would be willing to pay a _lot_ more if they could pick specific dyes. Maybe they’ll end up having both (ex., a pack of 5 random dyes for $1 or a specific dye for $10).

    • http://twitter.com/MarkDanielNeale Mark Neale

      I don’t know about other people, but I would pay $50 to unlock an entire specific colour range account wide, but wouldn’t pay anything for random dyes. Nor would I pay for specific dyes if they were not account wide. If ANet keeps it this way, they have lost potential money from me. 

      I am sure that there are people out there who would pay for random dyes that are only for their character only though, so losing my money may not be a loss for ANet overall.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NOWUW5FFH35ICWA6NIQFSRJFL4 johnn

       I’m not as fine with character-bound dyes, but her “justification” really was BS. As much as I disagree with the Gamebreaker crew on this issue, even THEY saw that this move was purely a financial move. No one even talked about how the change was supposed to be about “character progression” because that’s pretty clearly just bad PR for a financial move.

      How does a color represent progression when they’re random? Like you said, you can send dyes to a level 1 alt.

      So although I love ANet, really dislike the decision and like it even less because they weren’t bold enough to say “hey, this is for financial reasons” but instead made up some bad “justification.”

  • CCLemon77

    Amazing you guys could talk so much about Dyes! hahah

    Anyways, I think the achievement for unlocking all 400 (whether pay or play) is that once you unlock all 400, only THEN will all the dyes be unlocked on account basis.  That would be an appropriate achievement.

    • Old Ben

      That would kind of “punish” people who leveled two (or more) characters at the same time, though, since they would be under pressure to send all dyes to a single character, so they could unlock all 400 on that character ASAP.

      I expect there will be some achievement (ex., “dye hard”) when you unlock all dyes and possibly (*) another (“dye hardcore”) if you manage to do it without buying any dyes from the shop.

      (*) That could reduce their sales, though, so I wouldn’t count on it.

      • CCLemon77

         They’ll eventually unlock all 400 on at least one character if they ‘really’ want to.  The benefit is, once it’s done, it’s done.  Personally I don’t believe most would have a problem committing the unlocking of all dyes on once character for the benefit of all current and future characters on the account.
        As Spock said, “The needs of they many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.”

  • InWaves257

    just to let you know as it is a Korean Document Korean Thanks Giving is September 30th 

  • http://twitter.com/last_twilite Twi

    If developers decided to change something for the betterment of the game, I’m all for it. This is not a big deal to me even though I am the sort that will enjoy playing with dyes on all my characters. I don’t mind working for the pretty :P

    Also, I agree with Elix, the tail end of the Dragon kinda sucks. My opinion is purely selfish, if it’s released December 31, I will be disappointed because I want to play asap. But I can also see how it would cause some people to lose a little faith and feel that ANet’s goal vs reality is a little displaced.

    First time I heard the Guildwars mix, I wasn’t so sure… it’s growing on me though.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/Z36GPOU3Q2QIQYBIDVNQAVGNGE Raul

    at least 50 of those 400 dyes should be shades grey. 

  • CCLemon77

    Guild Necessity:
    Agree with Scott on this one.  But this game is NOT an Everquest.  Will there be end-game content that requires guilds and special coordination in order to defeat an encounter?
    Would we have raid encounters like Plane of Fear, Plane of Air(PoP Expansion), Plane of Earth(PoP Expansion and a major challenge for guilds in EQ).

    I would love to see these types of encounters in GW2.  Will it be there?

    • ScottHawkes

       Not sure if we will see those sort of encounters (though I wouldn’t say no! Temple of Veeshan ftw) but I certainly would like complex, tough ones that make guilds thrive.

  • dawolv

    So I’m thinking:
    If they hold back Asura and Sylvari until release, won’t that just make the starter Areas in the tarnished coast explode at release?
    I mean, there will still be some people that are sticking with their Charr Humans and Norn, but I bet there will be many players going like “I’ve already seen their stuff, so I’m gonna roll a plant guy”.
    I think we should get that out of the way in the BWE. We’re gonna see it sooner or later. If you don’t want to spoil it for you, just don’t go there…

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/WUO7JRPFS2K52LUXIY2LLJ4TSU Sean

    Guild Wars 2 not launching until the second half of 2012? I was sure it would be launching in the first half of 2012. :(

    What’s my time machine good for now?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Schirf/1083275070 Paul Schirf

    Love the show.   The dye thing is a non-issue for me, and I am a fashion conscious alt-o-holic.  My prediction is a July BWE that includes Asura, an August BWE with Sylvestri, and a September release date.   I agree that 2 BWEs is about the limit before hype-level declines. 

    I typically avoid cults and mushrooms, but I am starting a “Cult of the Mushroom ” guild next BWE in honor of this Guildcast.  What [] tag should I use?

    • http://www.facebook.com/michael.miyasato Michael Miyasato

      STINK

  • TomVeneration

    Another great episode!

  • TomVeneration

    I’m glad you liked it. 

    I may release the full poster design later this week, we’ll see what time allows.

    • ScottHawkes

       I may beg. Again.

  • http://www.facebook.com/elias.rowan Elias Rowan

    Dye system: People are freaking out because they need SOMETHING to freak out about. There’s too much positivity surrounding the game. People haven’t had enough OMG UR GONNA RUIN IT drama. Seriously. Dyes? If that’s the thing getting the loudest complaints, I’m not worried about the game surviving the drama lol.

    Release date: Take your time ANet! (but hurry up!) Remember, some of you guys had the press betas before the BWEs started – so your ahead of the majority on danger of beta burnout. But I totally agree that more than 1 or 2 more will be pushing it.

    I agree with Elisabeth that holding back at least one of the races for release would be great.

    It’s Aliens.

    New dungeons and events as end game. Love it.

    I am probably an odd man out but here goes my take on “why keep running the dungeons?”:I never ran dungeons because I wanted the one piece of better gear. It was a nice reward – but I ran the dungeons to get better at running the dungeons. To work out better strategies on pulls, etc. etc. It was only with my last year in WoW that that changed. Because the dungeons were so trivial. Sam path every single time. Same scenario every single time. Once you have it beat, you have it beat and the only reason to go back IS for the gear. Boring. The dungeons in GW2, from what I’ve seen, offer a hell of a lot more challenge. Where-in it is an ACTUAL challenge to complete a dungeon and stay alive. I’ll run myself silly working out how to do “this section” even better. Or what if we go this way instead of that way or this order instead of that order. By the time I get tired of it, well that’s where adding new ones in come in. At least that’s my hope. No I don’t want to have to run the dungeon because “awesomeitem3″ has a 1 in 3million chance to drop.

    Mike B – NOICE!!!!

  • http://twitter.com/i_became_val Val

    love the show…though all of the co-hosts seemed a wee bit stressed, or…something. gary totally carried this episode…in fact, all i kept thinking through most of the episode was…”lighten up guys!”  lol.  still, good stuff…keep up the good work & take care of yourselves.

    • ScottHawkes

       The football has me on edge.

      • EndrzGame

         Soccer

  • http://twitter.com/i_became_val Val

    p.s. i want a jesus mini-pet!!!! 

    • http://twitter.com/Dan_Fix Dan Fix

       Buddy Christ Minis

    • Old Ben

      Arena Net actually blocks the name “Jesus” in GW2, although I believe they have a Spanish version, and “Jesus” is a pretty common name in Spain. I wonder if they also block “Joseph Smith”, “Xenu” or “Flying Spaghetti Monster”…

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000231773413 André Calheiros

    I say what i say on all sites, the new dye system is done wrong, they should make one (or more) of the 3:
    -Tradable dyes after opened (getting a repeated dye and being able to do nothing else than trash/npc it isn’t fun)
    -Non repeated dyes, so that once you had a dye you wouldn’t get it again on the same character (same as previous, this would be the best for unlockers and personally my favourite)
    -Account wide or transferable on character delete (go back to the old one, must say i loved it since i love costumizing my character, i found myself sometimes getting 2 or 3 of same dye for miing with other tones in gw1)

    • http://twitter.com/elixabethclaire Elisabeth Claire

       If you get the same dye twice on the same character, you can transfer it to another character via your bank. :) In fact, you can transfer any dye (before you use it) to other characters via bank.

      • CCLemon77

         That’s great, until you run out of characters.  Are the dyes trade able on the market?

        • Arkanthos

           No atleast not yet, but you can use them in the mystic forge to unlock rarer dyes:)

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Smith/100000531128393 Ian Smith

         huh, I totally didn’t even think about that.  So while it becomes soulbound after discovering what it is, I can still throw it in my bank with the toon that discovered and pull it out with another toon to use?  Sounds great to me. :)

  • Johan Andersson

    About the Dye-system: Doesn’t interest me at all! Sorry, but I think there is more to this game then fancy armor. 
    However, it starts to disturb me that Anet is not releasing the game. Elixabeth is right: Anet IS killing the hype, and they are getting the paying costumers to lose interest in the game. If they continue like this the game gonna end up like swtor just after release, and nobody wants that.

    • http://twitter.com/elixabethclaire Elisabeth Claire

       Did I say killing the hype? I hope not; I meant that the hype is in danger of decreasing drastically if they go more than another 2 or so bwes.

      • CCLemon77

         I agree with you.  The last thing this game needs is to be dragged on.  I understand they want to release the best game possible.  That’s in the interest of  everyone.  Though it gets to a point where it starts to become counter-productive.  Considering they have a very very effective patching system, once they got the core starting zones’ content and game systems nailed down, they can patch away to play catch up (if need be) in the higher level content areas.  Those who like power-leveling to lvl 80 in 4 days will be our in game beta testers. haha

      • CCLemon77

         I agree with you.  The last thing this game needs is to be dragged on.  I understand they want to release the best game possible.  That’s in the interest of  everyone.  Though it gets to a point where it starts to become counter-productive.  Considering they have a very very effective patching system, once they got the core starting zones’ content and game systems nailed down, they can patch away to play catch up (if need be) in the higher level content areas.  Those who like power-leveling to lvl 80 in 4 days will be our in game beta testers. haha

      • Old Ben

        Would that be due to the number of beta events or just the time?

        In other words, if the game comes out in late September, would they be better off doing just two beta events (5 weeks apart), or adding more events between now and release?

        Personally, I think the ideal interval (for optimal media coverage) is three weeks between events. And I also think they need at least two BWEs to fully test the starting areas for the last two races. 

        So, if the next BWE doesn’t have at least one of the new races, I suspect there will be at least three before release, possibly more.

        • ScottHawkes

           I’d say it’s the number of beta events for me, as I mentioned the lack of permanence when playing a beta in regards to an MMO can really undermine the overall experience. I just don’t want another five lots of the same bitty experience.

          • Old Ben

            The only place where I see permanence being relevant for testing is in WvW. A lot of people tend to play mainly on weekends anyway, so having frequent BWEs would be almost like releasing the game early, except they’d automatically be “excused” for any bugs. BTW, is Gmail out of beta yet? ;-)

            Anyway, your message to Arena Net is clear: Even if the game isn’t released until December, don’t invite Scott to any BWEs after July. :-P

          • ScottHawkes

             As ever Ben you debate marvelously. I think permanence is also an issue in regards to leveling your character in PvE. Of course, I’ll participate in BWEs, but if we’re looking at half a dozen of them or so before launch, I still think it will have diminishing returns in regards to the positive buzz that ArenaNet has stated is one of the outcomes wanted from beta.

          • Old Ben

            > Of course, I’ll participate in BWEs

            No, no, you won’t. Too late. Your guardian shall hang from the gates of Darkhaven’s keep and everyone who passes by shall set fire to it.

            So… not much difference there. ;-)

          • Chesman71

            I see what your saying Scott and mostly agree. We all know that our characters are going to get wiped at launch, but at least they’re not wiping them between BWEs!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1053227096 Nathan Stoddard

    I dont get it…this is not new news?

    • Arkanthos

       Live in the present please:)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1053227096 Nathan Stoddard

    Hey lets make a show “when realy theirs nothing to talk about” :l

    • CCLemon77

       I think Gary and cast did their best to give us some information to talk about.  There just hasn’t been a lot of new things coming out of ArenaNet since last week.

      Scott raises a good point about guilds.  As a guild player raider myself, I am a bit concerned about how the game will accommodate guild gameplay content (besides WvWvW).

      Some of my friends are skecptical about the whole ‘FUN’ factor and if it’s just a sugarcoating to disguise that the game really does have gear progressing elements to it.
      That the game isn’t all that dissimilar to other MMOs.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1298938653 Micah L Patterson

    I think the dye system is perfect the way it is.  They have to make money, they’re a company.  I just hope they add name tags for the colorblind.

    • http://www.facebook.com/william.aart William Aart

      They do not make money if people are afraid to risk their money for a chance to get unusable dyes. They should make it less risky.

      • ssbobbyh

         You mean like turning useless dyes and items into specific dyes that you DO want using the Mystic Forge and recipes?

        …they did that.

  • http://twitter.com/Shiandi_85 Helen Pomfret

    I’m probably one of those crazy people Scott mentioned :P But in all honesty I am fine with the changes in all, my only concern is the when purchasing a random dye pack from the cash shop how many dyes are going to be unusable because i’ve already unlocked them? The last beta wkend I think i bought about 4 packs, and just from those I got about 3 or 4 that I couldn’t use on the one character but could use on my others. when I get a more varied dye collection on a character am I going to be buying a dye pack and not getting any I can use and just wasting however much real life money I paid for them? If anything I think this is going to put me off buying them from the cash shop and just focus on making them in game, which I feel bad about because yes I want to support Arena Net, but I don’t earn enough to be throwing money away on something like dye packs that might not give me any new dyes. If it was account bound however there would be a lot less of a chance of a dye pack not giving me anything.

    • ScottHawkes

      Thank you for taking my tone as it was meant Helen: me just having a laugh. I mean it’s not like I’m a crazy obsessive about anything. *coughguardianarmorsmithcough* In regards to the dyes that you get that are not useful to you at a certain point, then you could use them in the Mystic Forge perhaps to get the ones you want (either directly or by making the dyes which are part of the recipe for what you want).

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HX3XEUVA7ZYXZCND45YCO5OVQE Stock

    You missed the HUGE point with this podcast, all of you. They are now SELLING the game and paying for full, and there is no NEED to change the dyes for sake of game play. Big difference when you are taking people’s cash in advance.

    That is the big crux of the whole issue. If you are still going to change things of expectations for the game don’t friggin’ pre-sell the game. ANet chose to pre-sell it, now they themselves put the commitment to deliver what is last published.

    As an aside, they STILL haven’t clarified the move to character based and are STILL selling it as account based. They have had plenty of opportunity to clarify this for pre-purchases.

    • http://www.kaiketsu.enjin.com/ Corey Jenkins

       I don’t think them changing the dye system after they have sold the game is going to be the deal breaker for people. Yes some people might not agree with it, but I would honestly laugh if anyone changed their mind about the game just for that reason. About them changing stuff after selling the game, that’s kind of the nature of MMORPGS my friend. they are constantly changing, with patches, updates etc. You see this from every MMO on the market basically, thats what beta testing is for especially. WoW makes HUGE changes to the way the game can play during each expansion, but that’s pretty natural for an MMO to do. Going back to Guild Wars though, the dye system change was not a HUGE gamebreaking change. It has no effect on your skill level, class mechanics, or core game play mechanics. Regardless if you taste like a skittle or an M&M, you still have the same potential to get roffled and eaten by a dragon. I do think that If they wait too long, the hype could die down, but to me that’s a compeltely seperate issue. Many people who bought the game were going to anyway, so why not buy it now and get access to the betas so you know what to expect not to mention the extra launch items you get.

      • http://www.facebook.com/william.aart William Aart

        Most people probably won’t quit GW2 because of the dye system and if they do than that would be childish. The main concern is that people won’t buy cash shop dyes because of the chance to obtain unusable dyes. This wouldn’t be a problem  if you could trade them with other players for dyes you do not have but you are unable to do so. Personally I do not mind if they are not account bound but I won’t buy dyes with real life money if they are random.

    • http://twitter.com/Shiandi_85 Helen Pomfret

      Yea this is real money, not everyone can afford to bye stuff off the gem store all the time, so if I do have spare cash lying around and want to buy a dye pack, I’m going to hold back now because I run the risk of spending my money, buying a dye pack and not getting anything from it. If it was account based then I would be more inclined to buy a pack and see what I get, because you never know i might get a colour I really wanted for a different character, now however I’m more likely to stick with crafting it instead.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1103680651 Dave Jeannotte

      I can’t see anyone actually getting that bent out of shape over the dye change, but you could probably use that as an argument for a refund if you wanted to.  I’d guess it’s possible that a VERY small percentage of people who pre-purchased the game would think that this was a “gamebreaking” (no pun intended) change.

  • Old Ben

    I’m not crazy about getting tokens instead of actual items simply because it feels less realistic.

    I’d be fine with some NPC at the end of the dungeon giving you a choice of items (as a reward for defeating the bad guys), but the idea that the bosses carry around some tokens and drop those (instead of dropping the armor and weapons they were actually using) feels artificial and silly.

  • Sharuko

    Looks like Gary totally lost his passion for GW2, very quickly.  I remember how happy he was about it at the beginning.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PG4DRLIEDYPSF3YKJW6ZW7UVYM aj

       Guy, go back and watch the very first Twimmo and tell me what you think. I feel Gary is being more “Neutral” to appease people that harped on him for not saying anything negative for a while on Guildcast.

      Damn guy is damned if he do and damned if he don’t.

      Also, Suguii (sp) tried to take over your troll spot in the live chat during Guildcast and it is just not the same without you, Sharuko. Come back to us.

      • Sharuko

        No offense when the “super fans” of the game like it less and feel less hyped the more they play it even if it is just beta is not a good sign for the game.  But you can keep believing otherwise.  That is the last I will say on the subject.

        • CCLemon77

          This is like this in every game forums I’ve been on before a game releases.  There are vehement fanboys who lack all ability for impartiality and objectivity.  If you find something in the game you don’t like or believe it’s a weakness and could be improved, you suddenly have all these insecure twits descending down upon you.  You’re simply trying to put forth your feedback in the vain to simply help the game be the best it can be.  Yet you’re attacked because people think you’re insulting them when you’re only providing feedback on the game.

          I think these guys do a pretty good job of staying keeping it real.  Though sometimes I think they slip and let the hype get to them.  We’re only human.

          There needs to be a list of concerns presented and hashed out.  I know people are concerned about how guilds work and their purpose in GW2.  I’m sure there’s others too one can find on game forums.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Robert-Burns/1797676865 Robert Burns

    Antique gold was one of my favorite colors on my guardian,that plus ebony makes an awesome poor/hedge knight look on my chain mail.( yeah,I’m still looking for different armor,found scale armor gloves karma vendor at the end of beta.)

  • http://www.facebook.com/lucaslopera2 Lucas Lopera

    use mikeb remix for the intro

  • Tyler Woidan

    That -pH remix… DANG that’s good stuff! Very well done Mike and Josh (not Lore)!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=506728308 Julian F’n Mugnieco

    LET ME DYE MY WEAPONS Dx

  • NightLord_001

    One of my main peeves about the dye system is they say it denotes character “progress.” That alone isn’t a big deal, but when you can buy random “progress” from the cash shop, I take issue. While it does not give you a mechanical advantage, being able to dump cash into any kind of progress sounds wrong to me, and seems to violate the company’s own views on what is ok in the shop.

    • ScottHawkes

      Having a pet is progress if you want to collect pets. In that regard defining progress as any forward step towards something you want means you can’t have anything in a cash shop. As long as you gain no overbearing power in direct relation to other players then I don’t see the items in the cash shop as a problem.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NOWUW5FFH35ICWA6NIQFSRJFL4 johnn

         I don’t think the cash shop dyes is the issue regarding “progress,” it’s the fact that colors and progress don’t line up. I’m not going to see someone with a black dye and think “man, he must be progressed in dye collecting” OR “man, he must be progressed in the game” because dyes are random, and what’s stopping him from sending a duplicate from his main to his alt?

        • http://twitter.com/Mantose Leo P

          Because once you know what color a dye is you cant trade it, so you can only trade unopened dyes.

          Atleast that is how it was last beta weekend.

  • Ravrohan De’Ashallanset

    About the dyes.  I could live with the current system if not for a couple things.  You find a dye in a random drop, great, it’s unidentified.  Not much of a problem in itself, you can at this point sell it on the market or id it and use it.  The problem I have is that once the item is id’d, only that character can use it.  It can’t be sold on the market which is fine, but it can’t be given to another character either.  

    If the system were to allow us to share the unused but identified dye with an account character, I wouldn’t have any problems with this method.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Smith/100000531128393 Ian Smith

       Yeah, that is kinda annoying but it’s my understanding you can use id’d dyes in the Mystic Forge to make other dyes and perhaps even other items.  So you may at the least be able to find others.

  • http://twitter.com/Rin_Lunasong Amy Dooley

    The phrase Don’t Drink the Koolaid is now Don’t eat the Mushroom from Gary’s Stink.

    • ScottHawkes

       Always good advice to follow.

  • Christian Messmer

    Thought you guys might find this interesting.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AST-FZb9Q0E

  • http://twitter.com/kubes3 kubes

    new trend….doing pod-cast when you’re high on mushrooms^.

    the coolest.

  • http://www.facebook.com/mikpet3 Miki Petersen

    On dyes:
    There are so few things to actually keep you playing after you have max gear (easy as far as I understand) that there HAVE to be something to do after.
    I think small things, like having to unlock dyes, will help keeping people interested.
    Personally though, each of my characters will probably only need between 2 to 10 different colors, so it’s not a big deal for me.

    • ScottHawkes

       I agree Miki, I think it’s one of those additional goals that are nice to have along the way.

    • Old Ben

      > There are so few things to actually
      > keep you playing after you have max gear

      The things that keep you playing after you have “max gear” are exactly the same ones that kept you playing before you had “max gear”.

      If your only (or even your main) motivation to play the game is maximizing your gear stats, GW2 is probably the wrong game for you.

  • http://twitter.com/RustamovEldar Eldar Rustamov

    50:48
    You can simply change your status awayonlineinvisible(“guardian anonymity”) by just clickin on friend-list button. And choose what you want, Scott :)

    • ScottHawkes

       I learn something new every day! Thanks Eldar.

      • Old Ben

        They really need to separate the account id from each character’s id. I don’t necessarily want everyone in every guild that I join with every one of my characters to know what my account is or which other characters I play.

        This is one area where Arena Net can definitely learn from Blizzard. 

        • ScottHawkes

           Yeah that is something that I’m wary about too.

  • Lauren Pagan

    The way she described dyes makes perfect sense. Remember, there is no “gear treadmill” in GW2 according to the devs. You don’t grind for stats anymore, instead a big part of the “end game” is hunting down items for cosmetic reasons. And dyes fall right into that category.

    The way she explained it is perfect: these are end-game progression items for your CHARACTER. Emphasis on single character, not the account. Asking for dyes being account bound in GW2 is like asking for all gear to be account bound, and all transmutation stones able to be used multiple times across all characters, and to allow me to transmute plate gear onto my cloth gear. It never ends.

    Basically they have to draw a line somewhere and since they want cosmetics to be a big part of the progression of your character, their choice makes sense.

    Also as pointed out, being able to use a dye as many times as you want once you have it is awesome.

    And I bet you anything you can mix dyes in the Mystic Forge (red+blue=purple anyone? Yes I know it takes 4 items… just pointing out how it can make sense). So with that, it takes a lot of the “random” out of getting dyes.

    Anyway, I had no trouble finding dyes and I like the system a lot. I don’t mind them being character specific.

    • Old Ben

      > The way she described dyes makes perfect sense.

      No, it doesn’t.

      > The way she explained it is perfect 

      Maybe from a marketing point of view. But not from a “telling the truth” point of view.

      > these are end-game progression items for your CHARACTER.
      > Emphasis on single character, not the account.

      Yes… and yet, you can send all your unidentified dyes (or dyes bought at the gem shop) to a level 1 character.

      In other words, you can easily have more dyes on your level 1 alt (that never left the starting area) than on your main character. Which means the dyes are not actually “tied to the character’s progression”. Which means Ms. Cox is either a bit thick (and didn’t realize that) or knows she’s lying.

      Dyes are bound to a single character because that’s a way to make people obtain each dye multiple times, which means more opportunities for Arena Net to make some money by selling dyes at the gem shop. Which is fine (dyes are pretty much the definition of “cosmetic items”). But lying about their motivation isn’t. 

      > Asking for dyes being account bound in GW2 is like
      > asking for all gear to be account bound

      And if we let gays get married, soon men will be marrying dogs!

      Arena Net never said anything about gear being account bound. But they specifically said dyes would be unlocked for the whole account, and usable on any character. If they hadn’t said that, no one would have a problem with the current system. The issue is the backpedaling (and the fact that they kept quiet about the change, and the fact that they’re coming up with nonsensical justifications for it instead of being honest).

      In any case, the main problem people have with dyes isn’t what they bind to; it’s the fact that the gem shop only sells packs of _random_ dyes. Most people won’t spend real money on an unknown item, so Arena Net is kind of shooting itself on the foot there.

      > red+blue=purple anyone?

      They removed dye mixing from the game before the betas, so I doubt they’ll be adding it back. You will be able to feed dyes to the Mystic Forge and get other dyes back, but they won’t just be an average of the ones you feed it. Most combinations will probably return a random dye.

    • Jay

       You bring up a lot of good points… The dye change isn’t a… gamebreaker.

      Sorry, had to do it ;)

  • steven via

    Players need to earn the armor dyes. If not then it becomes a slippery slope to justify all things (armor, weapons,achievements) should just be account bound. 

    Better yet, let’s level one toon to 80 then all subsequent toons should sutomatically be 80 because it is account bound. 

    No big deal………

    Message to all the lazy WOW players that are used to Blizzards easy mode. Please stay in WOW. Youe”me first” mentality ruined WOW and now you want to bring that over into GW2..

    No thanks. 

    • Old Ben

      > Players need to earn the armor dyes.

      So you don’t think Arena Net should sell them at the cash shop? What are they supposed to sell there, then, if even dyes (which are a purely cosmetic items) must be “earned”…?

      > If not then it becomes a slippery slope to justify all things (armor,
      > weapons,achievements) should just be account bound. 

      And if they let gays marry each other, soon men will be marrying dogs!

      BTW, some achievements are account-based, and I suspect there will be some account-bound pieces of armor too (as there are in WoW, for example).

      > Better yet, let’s level one toon to 80 then all subsequent toons
      > should sutomatically be 80 because it is account bound. 

      Or even do something crazy like make your very first toon level 80 as soon as he goes into a PvP area. Crazy, right? I mean, they would never do something like that!

      I’d be absolutely fine with letting people create level 80 characters. It would hardly make any difference; they’d still get downleveled to the area they were in. If there’s one game where the starting level of your character matters very little, it’s GW2. 

      > Message to all the lazy WOW players
      > that are used to Blizzards easy mode.

      Message to anyone who thinks that they are proving they’re not “lazy” by playing a game: You’re doing it wrong. People play games to have fun. If your sense of self-worth comes from playing a game, being lazy is the least of your problems.

  • http://twitter.com/DaPhoolz Rp TheFoolz

    there’re many reasons for me that I’d still run the dungeon even if I had all the items from there.
    Unless i really busy with something else or really hate the particular dungeon.

    btw Doctor Who make me missed this Guildcast episode live :P .

  • Alex Handy

    Because of the white knight music in the back ground I’m not sure if this was supposed to be satire or not. In case he was serious, he’s pretty dense. The 5 character slot argument is silly. There’s no reason why you couldn’t buy character slots with gems by the time you’ve maxed out 5 characters. The gaming industry is an industry. They want to make money. Providing players with the opportunity to acquire things from the cash shop without spending real money is win-win. Some people get their items with irl money for convenience and other people aren’t forced to spend extra cash and get the goods through playing the game. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/ruven.sama Ruven Sama

    Video question. 

  • robotadventures
  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NOWUW5FFH35ICWA6NIQFSRJFL4 johnn

    I’m not a fan of the changes and I’m not even a major dye collector: even the starter dyes are fine for me, honestly.

    What rubs me the wrong way is the fact that they went back on their word, and tried to make a weird justification for it that was BS.

    The point about how the blog post about account-bound dyes from 2010 is liable to change was a bad one. The removal of energy was a GAMEPLAY issue. It changed how the GAMEPLAY worked, and improved the game. This ISN’T a gameplay change, it’s a change PURELY for financial motive. The GCast crew didn’t even talk about how this might be “character progression,” even THEY knew this was for financial gain.

    Also, the point about the completionist: just because I like to complete things doesn’t mean doing it multiple times is fun or even what I want to do. I love getting achievements, doesn’t mean I’m raring to go get them multiple times on all my alts. In fact, I’d HATE it if I had to get achievements multiple times on the same alts.

    The way the GCast crew is talking, it seems like the change from account-bound dyes to character-bound dyes is a GOOD thing. So, does that mean WoW’s addition of account-bound mounts and achievements is a bad thing? I don’t see people complaining about that change.

    • http://twitter.com/Mantose Leo P

      You are right … a-net should just give up on the idea of making money and go bankrupt.

      Or would you rather they put in more time wasting features and gear treadmills, then just charge us monthly…

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NOWUW5FFH35ICWA6NIQFSRJFL4 johnn

         So why did they need to say that they were account-bound in the first place? In 2010 did ANET not know they’d need something to put in the cash shop?

        And where, exactly, in my post did I say it was bad it was in the cash shop? I said my problem was they went back on their word, and they made up some bad justification.

        • http://twitter.com/Mantose Leo P

          What about the healing and mana potions that were taking out of the cash shop when they got rid of energy? Are you upset about that too? They went back on their word in that case as well. Or is it ok because they potentially make less money in this instance?

          Its an ongoing process, they first thought account bound would be convenient then they changed their minds and decided to make them character bound for another form of character progression. Not everything stays the same as originally planned. Things pop up, changing the original way they thought about it.

           They have changed many other things. You are just upset because this time it involves a way for them to potentially make more money…. you think they work for free? They need to make money somehow …  and somehow because of a post of wishful thinking 2 years ago , what they said needs to be set in stone? Did they sign some sort of contract with the public saying whatever they say can not be changed ever?

           

  • NightLord_001

    fun fact about cults : every current religion is technically a cult

    (given that no current religion is the ‘original’ necesitates that all are new in some sense of the word)

    • Old Ben

      Anything that involves rituals is a cult. It doesn’t even have to be of the supernatural variety.

      • Chesman71

        So when the army raises and salutes the flag it makes them a cult?

        • Old Ben

          If saluting the flag was the fundamental point of the organization and what brought people to the army, it would. But it isn’t, so while the act of saluting the flag is an example of a flag cult, that cult doesn’t define the army as a whole.

          • Chesman71

            None of that made very much sense. You said that anything involving rituals is a cult. I disagree and provide an example of the army. I could have just as easily have used Japanese businesses that ritually exercise before starting work.

          • Old Ben

            A routine and a ritual are different things. Maybe that’s what’s confusing you?

            A ritual is something performed for its symbolic value, typically as a way of honoring or venerating something or someone. 

            Daily exercise has a purpose in itself (improving health and mood, etc.). It’s a routine.

            Singing the company anthem would be an example of a ritual (part of a cult of that company). Daily exercise is simply a routine (unless those involved give it some sort of symbolic meaning, in which case it could indeed be considered a ritual, and even part of a cult – a physical fitness cult, a health cult, etc., depending on their specific motivation).

            Saluting the flag, as I mentioned before, is indeed a ritual (because it’s symbolic). It’s part of a cult of patriotism, or a cult of the flag itself. But it’s not the defining feature of the army, so it doesn’t “make the army into a cult”.

            The army (like several other organizations) does make use of rituals to brainwash and condition its members, but its fundamental purpose (and the reason why people join it) is not veneration itself.

          • Chesman71

            Ritual:

            adj.1. Associated with or performed according to a rite or ritual: a priest’s ritual garments; a ritual sacrifice.2. Being part of an established routine: a ritual glass of milk before bed.

          • Old Ben

            Ritual (noun): A set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including by a religious community. The term usually refers to actions which are stylized, excluding actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers. [...] Many activities that are ostensibly performed for concrete purposes, such as jury trials, execution of criminals, and scientific symposia, are loaded with purely symbolic actions prescribed by regulations or tradition, and thus partly ritualistic in nature.

            See? I can cut & paste too.

          • Chesman71

            OK, we seem to have strayed from the original point. Let me get this right.  
            This started with you saying “Anything that involves rituals is a cult”.
            I disagree and cited the army as an example.
            We both seem to agree that:
            1. The army salutes the flag.
            2. Saluting the flag is a ritual.
            3. The army is not a cult.
            But this is all just unbridled pedantry and it’s really not all that important.

          • Old Ben

            As I mentioned before, while saluting the flag is a ritual (a symbolic sequence of actions), and part of a cult of patriotism, that is not the fundamental reason for the army’s existence, nor is it limited to the army. 

            Lots of people follow a cult of patriotism that revolves around such rituals (saluting the flag, raising the flag, wearing flag pins, folding the flag in certain way, etc.). It doesn’t make their jobs into cults (even if they start every work day by saluting the flag); the cult is the veneration of the flag (or the veneration of the motherland, symbolically represented through the veneration of the flag), it’s not the rest of their job.

            It’s not so much pedantry as metalinguistics. People tend to use the word “cult” in its religious sense (which generally boils down to “any religion other than mine”), but a cult doesn’t have to be about something supernatural. It just means active veneration of something or someone, and the way that manifests itself is through its associated rituals. 

          • Chesman71

            OK, I can agree with all of that. And I was saying that I was the pedant, not you, by pulling you up on the “anything involving rituals is a cult” thing.

            I would still maintain that, if a cult can be defined as the active veneration of something or someone, then it doesn’t follow that it has to involve rituals. But that’s just my pedantry talking.

          • Chesman71

            Never mind; I got that last bit backwards. 

          • Old Ben

            Well, I guess that would depend on your definition of “ritual”. As Humpty-Dumpty said, “when I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less”.

            My definition is of a set of actions performed for their symbolism, typically as a way to affirm your veneration (respect, worship, etc.) of something (or someone). If a cult didn’t have any specific actions associated with it, then how would you identify it? 

          • Chesman71

            Let me preface this by saying that I got it backwards in my last comment. Anything that involves rituals is a cult doesn’t mean that all cults involve rituals. However, you asked if a cult didn’t have any specific actions associated with it, then how would you identify it?

            I am Scottish. I would like to think that I’m patriotic. I am proud to be Scottish so I suppose I belong to a cult of patriotism.  I don’t think I’ve ever performed any ritual specifically designed to affirm my veneration of Scotland. I’ve never waved a Saltire (not that I can remember anyway). I eat haggis on Burns night, but that’s to celebrate the birthday of Robert Burns.  I celebrate Hogmannay, but that’s to celebrate the bringing in of the new year. I have worn a kilt at a wedding, maybe that counts.

            I’ve gotten over my pedantry from earlier. Let’s both agree that we are two pedants who like a good debate.  This is supposed to be a GW2 discussion and we’ve argued over the definition of rituals and cults, and I’ve to get up for work in around 6 hours from now.

            I humbly concede defeat at the hands of a skilled debater and look forward to round two another day.  Good night, good sir.

          • Old Ben

            > I am proud to be Scottish so I suppose I belong to a cult of patriotism.

            Not if you don’t do anything about it. Being “proud” of something that isn’t even a personal achievement (*) simply means “not being ashamed of it”. I would set the bar for a “cult” somewhat higher than that. 

            (*) I’m assuming that you’ve always been Scottish, of course.

            >  I have worn a kilt at a wedding, maybe that counts.

            Well, if you always wear kilts at weddings (and / or other events) as a way to affirm your scottishness and your love of Scotland, then I guess that would constitute a ritual (and part of a cult of patriotism). But I think it’s more likely that you just used the fact that you are Scottish to justify wearing a kilt, because you thought it looked cool.

            > I humbly concede defeat 

            It’s not really about defeat, it’s just about figuring out what you mean (and I guess you figuring out what I mean).

            If my use of the word “ritual” wasn’t clear (which I’m perfectly willing to accept, since some people use it in a more generic or figurative sense, just as people often use “theory” to mean “conjecture”, and so on), I’ll replace it with “set of symbolic actions performed routinely as a way to affirm one’s veneration of a specific thing”.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      Cults arise spontaneously around novel beliefs and practices.  Most modern cult references regard the “Cult of Personality,”   Jim Jones, Charles Manson,  David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite

  • http://www.facebook.com/kelli.garman Kelli Garman

    Where would one find Mike B’s Guild wars 2 Remix? the one that is at the end of this video?

  • http://www.facebook.com/michael.whyte.750 Michael Whyte

    Made it 4 minutes. The fanboi’ism took its toll. Aaaaand I’m out…

  • Kodachikuno

    Wow.. GW plays cry more than ME players. upset about.. Dyes…. I thought this was a PvP centric game..

    • Old Ben

      >  I thought this was a PvP centric game.

      You thought wrong. GW2 doesn’t even have open-world PvP, and all its major innovations (downleveling, dynamic events, etc.) are in PvE.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/ITHF7XKYGVXFAPCDMDJTKHLBBU Lian Wan

        So I guess you consider being able to do PvP right after character creation to be unimportant/common place thing? I can’t claim to have broad knowledge of games but I don’t remember seeing this mentioned for any other game.

        • Old Ben

          You can PvP right after character creation in WoW or Eve Online, for example. I don’t think any games with open-world PvP have a level restriction (although some games effectively make you go through a “training” area at the start, so you may have gained a few levels by the time you have access to PvP).

          • http://twitter.com/Mantose Leo P

            because pvp from level 1 in games like WoW and Eve are actually viable options?

            Compare those games to GW2 where you can pvp from level 2 with either a fighting chance (WvW which by the way is pretty much world pvp from other games, sort of) or on an even level chance (structured pvp(except player skill level)).

            Only game that comes close that I can think of off the top of my head is SWtor which from what I hear is pretty even up til players got to 50 and top notch pvp gear…  I am unsure how it is currently since they have had a few patches since the guy I knew played it and my experience with it was only in beta.

            I wouldnt say GW2 was pvp centric but I get the feeling its the only part of the game that will give it longevity. I feel I will probably be playing pvp in gw2 long after I finish everything I want in pve.

          • Old Ben

            > because pvp from level 1 in games like WoW
            > and Eve are actually viable options?

            Why shouldn’t it be “viable”? You can find level 1-10 characters dueling outside Orgrimmar and Stormwind on pretty much any server. And, until the release of Cataclysm, making level 1 twinks (that could easily take on level 20 characters in “normal” gear) was a reasonably popular hobby.

            > Compare those games to GW2 

            As mentioned above, GW2 doesn’t have open world PvP (and .

            > where you can pvp from level 2

            All PvP in GW2 is between level 80 characters. WvW doesn’t upgrade your gear but it does upgrade your level (and all your level-dependent stats).

            > I wouldnt say GW2 was pvp centric

            There you go, then.

          • http://twitter.com/Mantose Leo P

            Its not a viable option for everyone to pvp from level 1 in almost any mmo. Not like it is for gw2

            gw2 has open world pvp , its called wvw. Its just not exaclty the same as other games… but at the end of the day you can pvp against anyone in any number anywhere in the large zones.

            Whats the difference between WvW and open world pvp in WoW…  both have npc’s both have questing. Both have pvp.

            umm not sure why you had to point out all guys are level 80 in pvp… pretty sure that is common knowledge for anyone that knows anything about gw2.

            You are missing the point about the pvp centric part but thats ok.

          • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

            GW2 does not have World PVP.   While I enjoy GW2 WvW, its not the same.

            World PvP refers to PvP gameplay that takes place anywhere in the world.  GW2 PVP only occurs in designated areas.

            Saying GW2 has PVP at level 1 is somewhat misleading. GW2 has a bolster mechanic that completely changes your character. You are not really PVPing at level 1.   It somewhat  breaks immersion when when your character plays differently from PVE and PVP.  

          • Old Ben

            > Its not a viable option for everyone to pvp
            > level 1 in almost any mmo.

            Again, you can find plenty of low-level characters dueling outside the capitals in pretty much any WoW server. And, in PvP servers, it’s common to see players of the opposing faction attack starting areas and cities (where low-level players are also present).

            In Eve, it’s quite common for players to create or jump into low-level clones just to perform suicide attacks, or to PvP without risk of losing any expensive ships and upgrades.

            > Not like it is for gw2
            And, again, in GW2 you can’t PvP at all at level 1. All PvP currently available in GW2 takes place between level 80 characters. 

            > not sure why you had to point out all guys are
            > level 80 in pvp… pretty sure that is common
            > knowledge

            Yeah, I though so too, but since you keep talking about “PvP at level 1″ in GW2, I guess it isn’t.

            > Whats the difference between WvW and
            > open world pvp in WoW… 

            The fact that all players are of the same level, the fact that you cannot fight players who are on your shard, the fact that players who don’t specifically go into WvW or sPvP cannot attack or be attacked by any other player… shall I go on?

            Do you seriously not understand the differences between a PvP server in WoW (or Eve) and the way PvP works in GW2…?

            No one is saying one is “better” than the other, but do you really not understand the difference…?

          • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

            As much as I like GW2 WvW, its not World PVP.

  • HappyHansel

    What talented person made the artwork for this Dye Harder episode? Your artist deserves a round of canned applause. Although “Dye Hard with a Tub” was actually a Bergman film.

  • Marcela Carbo

    I have not read all the comments. During the beta weekend one of of my characters received a duplicate of a color she already had. The newly dropped dye became an account item. I have not heard any commentary on this. I was surprised and found it to be a positive.

    • Jamie Weston

      If this is true, I very much welcome the news! Duplicates being character bound would be a terrible idea. 
      Even if the first of each colour were character bound, the ability to pass duplicates to alts would be awesome.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/ITHF7XKYGVXFAPCDMDJTKHLBBU Lian Wan

        I don’t think it has to be duplicates for that to happen. I’ll check on Wednesday. Pretty sure the dyes I got said account bound rather than soul bound. So you should be able to choose which character you unlock for on every dye drop. The only part I don’t like about this is that I’ll have to go through every character to check who doesn’t have it unlocked.

        I guess I’ll use a spreadsheet -_-

  • Krzysztof Kotarba

    I want real pure black dye… about rest I dont give a crap… I hope AN will fix thief class, it’s very slow not responsive and feels clunky for a class that should be fast and agile

  • http://www.facebook.com/jason.ackerman.96 Jason Ackerman

    Sooo tired of people complaining about the game not being perfect right at the end of the beta weekends.  THIS….IS….A….BETA.  Give them time.  It will be fine-tooned.

  • http://twitter.com/Vazzaroth Josh Hagood

    It would be nice if we could unlock, say 100 shades that are relatively common/basic and those unlock across account (For alts) then the specific weird shades were rare and per character (To keep them rare-seeming and make you more unique)

    Also, Scott is spot-on about Competitions being that way due to the challenge/journey/Bragging rights.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000267765226 Vegas Steve

    Big deal on the dyes.  There are plenty of colors available at character creation and the drops seemed pretty often as well.  It’s a heck of a lot better than the GW1 ‘use once and it’s gone’ sort of thing.

  • http://twitter.com/Waswat Edin Besic

    At least it is not as bad as the World of Tanks ‘dye’ system. Where:

    1) have to buy a dye (skin) PER tank
    2) can only buy dyes with RL money
    3) when you remove a dye you have to buy it again to put it up again
    4) when the dye changes drastically to make it seem more ‘historically accurate’, but becomes aesthetically displeasing, you cannnot request a refund.

  • Odeezee

    LMAO, grats on the movie promo for Dye Hard: Dye Harder. props!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Smith/100000531128393 Ian Smith

    @Gamebreaker:disqus

    Is there anyway you can work on when the commercial breaks take place?  It’s annoying that they just seem to break into the middle of conversations.  :(

    May want to preview video questions before putting them on show. Though, it was pretty funny despite being off the wall.

  • http://www.facebook.com/omniara2011 Kyle Ivester

    FOOTBALL

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      Soccor

  • lumpygravy2

    What a bunch of sad brown-noser ‘journalists’.  They want to suck up so much to GW2 company that when faced with a major screw of by the company they scramble to apologize for it and make fun of anyone who finds fault with it.  Toadies.
     

    • http://www.kaiketsu.enjin.com/ Corey Jenkins

       lol^ this guy…how did they majorly screw anything up? and i don’t recall any of them apologizing for anything. A net is actually a pretty good company, and just because their not being overly criticle doesn’t mean they are sucking up to them. Might want to get your facts straight sir.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      I’m actually finding the Guidcast crew is starting to get more balanced. They actually addressed, “How repeatable is the GW2 content?”

    • SiderFace

      I don’t think you have any idea how an operation like Gamebreaker makes its money.  ”Brown-nosing” Arenanet is not a means to greater profit or accomplishment for them.

      If you disagree with their analysis of GW2, then I suspect you won’t be playing it because you would disagree.  You would go find better game mechanics and MMO play from another game.  Enjoy those other games… wait…  you’ll be playing GW2… because you probably DO agree with their analysis.  It is currently superior to anything else out there in almost all aspects of MMO gaming.

      Here is where you respond with a casual lie to exploit the anonymity of the internet.

      • Old Ben

        I doubt anyone at GBTV would sell off (when they act like fanboys it’s because they’re genuine fanboys), but brown-nosing often improves your chances of being invited to closed betas, being given exclusive interviews, or being paid for ad placement. 

        That’s why Gamespot lives on and Old Man Murray doesn’t. Then again, the OMM writers ended up at Valve writing for Half-Life and Portal, so at least a few companies still value intelligence, honesty and wit above rimming technique.

        • ScottHawkes

           Want to know how many exclusives of one kind or another I’ve been personally offered? 0. Nil. Nada. Zilch.
          It’s my opinion, I’ve been critical of certain aspects but generally I’m enthusiastic about the game content so far.
          “brown nosers” and “toadies” give me a break.

          • Old Ben

            > Want to know how many exclusives of one kind or another
            > I’ve been personally offered? 0. Nil. Nada. Zilch.

            That’s a bit harsh of your wife (ba-dum-pschh).

            Seriously, though, with all the sites willing to kiss ass, I guess it’s “logical” (from a capitalistic point of view) for publishers to prioritize those. They fund them through ad placement and, in exchange for that, get more free advertising disguised as reviews.

            And most readers are too dumb to spot the obvious connection (and conflict of interests).

            I remember someone telling me that they trusted the reviews in Gamespot more than some other site (which was more independent and more critical) because Gamespot had ads on its website, which made it look “more professional”.

            Yeah, for a certain meaning of “professional”…

    • Josh Barnhill

      It’s understandable to get angry about things you may see on the surface as negative, but you should seriously consider the overall impact of the change before you fly off the handle. These people have actually put some thought into it rather than just raging over it, because it’s their job.

      I agree with their assessment, that it isn’t such a big deal, because it isn’t such a big deal. For whatever reason, dyes seem to be popular, and if it can bring an amount of funding to ANet, especially if you can still find them in the game world and get them for free if you want to, then they should do it. They’re not running a subscription service and this is an easy way to monetize a purely cosmetic thing. Who really cares if all of your characters don’t get to use them immediately? Just figure out how to get the ones you want for your character, then do that.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jesper-Søegaard/100003300546857 Jesper Søegaard

    Scott is right, its Football!!! not bloody Soccer.

    GL against Italy later Scott, you gonna need it ^^

    My Country (DK) ended up in the Death group along side Germany, Holland and Portugal, but we did ok, as in we didn’t finish last… cough*Oranje*Cough : P

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      Soccer

      • http://www.facebook.com/rimvydas.zilevicius Rimvydas Zilevicius

        Football!!!!!!!!!!

      • Josh Barnhill

         I agree. I’m American and what we call football doesn’t deserve the name. You barely use your feet. Give football back its name, please, and call futbol americano something else. Since the object of the game is to take the ball back to the opponent’s base, it should really be called baseball.

    • http://twitter.com/RichieProcopio Richie Procopio

      Anyone else see the world “country” and “DK” together and immediately think: “Donkey Kong Coutnry?!?!”  OK…so I’m the only one.

  • http://twitter.com/Draemador Brad Boivin

    You should use the new song as the theme for Guild Cast.  Stop using the generic song.

  • Revanhavoc

    I think the impatience of Scott in particular reminds me of the same feeling I had about SWTOR over a year ago.

    Game developers take note: Never, ever, ever, ever listen to the fanboys and fangirls who are pushing you to release your game.

    This group of fans, the Larry and Justin of SWTOR the Scott and Elix of GW2, they will stay with your game during the launch period, despite problems that may crop up, even if the game is unfinished visavie SWTOR.

    Do not be persuaded against your better judgement into thinking “Oh this game is ready according to our most diehard fans who have forgone any sense of actual critical assesment at this point (I can attest to this from my own past SWTOR fanboism) and just want the damn game in their hands after all the long years of waiting!”

    This is the wrong strategy! You MUST keep your game back as long as it takes until it’s ready. Let the voices of your fans be like the chanting fans in a sports arena; let them drown each other out until it is nothing more than a dull roar.

    Trust me from my experience with SWTOR, your game will benefit from patience, not impatience or silly talk of more beta testing being a “detriment” to those who are impatiently awaiting the launch of their pr-ordered game.

    One man’s detriment is another man’s development process, I suppose.

    • Chesman71

      As much as I must admit to being a bit of a fan-boy, and REALLY REALLY want the game released NOW, I have to say you’re probably right.

      • http://twitter.com/elixabethclaire Elisabeth Claire

         We’re not hand-waving the development process and saying “what we see looks good, put the @#$@#% game out” — we’re saying that releasing too late is as dangerous as releasing too early. It’s a fine balance, and I still think that ANet will strike it, but it’s starting to become more of a concern.

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1103680651 Dave Jeannotte

           With 2 of the 5 races still untested in BWE events, it makes you think there will be more than a couple more events before release.  Sure, the content we haven’t seen yet is being internally tested… but will THAT be enough? 

          Sometimes I miss the days when games just “came out”.  It was nice to not have EVERYTHING spoiled before you were actually supposed to experience it.  But with how fickle today’s audience is about everything having to be “perfect/bug-free” (which no matter how long you stay in development it never is), it almost seems like a Catch-22… damned if you release “too soon” and damned if you wait too long.

          • P V

            The BWE events for the last 2 races are trivial. I don’t have access to the Alpha build but I am sure that they are being tested. That they choose to not put them in the “demo” BWE event prolly is due to some savvy marketing people whom have a good idea on how to keep the media “hype” going and still showing that there is something new before “release”. 

          • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1103680651 Dave Jeannotte

             I agree… I’d much prefer that they actually NOT show everything to customers before the game launches.  If I never see the last 2 races before that happens I’ll actually be happy/surprised. 

            I’ll be the first to admit that I have pretty limited experience with ArenaNet.  Most of my MMO company experience has been 8+ years of WoW/Blizzard (done with that finally, thankfully).  The extensive nature of their customer beta testing just had me assume (perhaps falsely) that MMO game companies have little faith in internal testing.  I’ll be glad to be proved wrong, and have a product that doesn’t have an excessive amount of bugs at launch. Some bugs are of course expected, I’m a realist not a perfectionist.

          • Old Ben

            > I’d much prefer that they actually NOT
            > show everything to customers before
            > the game launches.

            How many areas or dungeons above level 35 have you seen? 

            > MMO game companies have little
            > faith in internal testing.

            You can’t fully test a game designed for thousands of people with a dozen internal testers. It’s not just a matter of balance (which requires tons of statistical data); even some bugs simply won’t show up until there are enough players in a certain area or using a certain game element (auction house, overload servers, etc.) in “unforeseen” ways.

          • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1103680651 Dave Jeannotte

            - “How many areas or dungeons above level 35 have you seen? ”

            None yet… but how many more beta weekends are we going to have? 

            No one wants a buggy game, that’s a given.  I don’t usually (if ever) do pre-orders for games, and GW2 is the first one I’ve ever heard of that did an actual pre-purchase.  Maybe that’s why it seems a large number of people are more antsy than usual.

        • Old Ben

          There will be coverage when they launch, regardless of how late it is.

          I agree the attention they get from the BWEs suffers from diminishing returns, though, especially if they don’t have anything new to show.

          But if they introduce the asura in BWE3, a new dungeon in BWE5 and the sylvari in BWE6, they can easily keep this going (with a good level of coverage) for another four or five months. 

          And if that’s how long it takes for them to finish the level 35-80 zones, raids, dungeons, etc., fine by me. I’d rather have the game ready now, but since it clearly isn’t, I’ll take a late release of a polished game over an early release of something rushed. 

          Arena Net isn’t as afraid to change things as Blizzard, but when something is born crooked it usually takes much longer to fix than if they just delay its release a bit.

  • http://twitter.com/K0_tY Samuel Koty Kotula

    Elizabeth looks lovely as always :3

  • Camzillasmom

    Since Football is part of this as well!

    Go England! Italy is about to kick your ass but we all know you can do better – I hope. Cheers!

  • Diequex

    I doubt the new dye system model is what irked people (and for the few that really do mind it that much, really?). Seems more like the fact that something apparently ‘set in stone’ was changed might lead to other things being added to the cash shop/changed that might hinder…players in some way or another.

    I personally dgaf. Game has been a blast in Beta and A-Net seems like a very customer friendly company. Personally not all that fussed or worried

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1103680651 Dave Jeannotte

       Totally agree with you.  If people are getting irked about something that was stated TWO years ago, they need to realize that things are going to change before the game goes live.  Heck, they change from beta weekend to beta weekend.  For an MMO that has NO subscription fee they have to make money somehow to keep adding new content and this will give them something to add to the cash shop.

      I’ve also had a blast in the BWE events.  It’s great to have to re-learn how to play an MMO that’s not exactly like every other MMO currently available.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Bowden/1032878942 Bill Bowden

    Is that a picture of Bruce Willis with long hair?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1103680651 Dave Jeannotte

    You’d would have had a valid arguement… but GW2 has NO subscription fee.  How long have you been playing WoW.   People that have been playing since launch have spent $1200+ in subscription fees alone.  Can you spend that much in the GW2 cash shop in 7+ years.  Possibly… I’m sure ArenaNet wouldn’t mind if you did.  Will you?  I won’t. Not even close.  I’ll only pay for content that I’ll ACTUALLY use/play.

    THAT is the big difference between a cash shop game and a sub game, imo.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1103680651 Dave Jeannotte

    You’d would have had a valid arguement… but GW2 has NO subscription fee.  How long have you been playing WoW.   People that have been playing since launch have spent $1200+ in subscription fees alone.  Can you spend that much in the GW2 cash shop in 7+ years.  Possibly… I’m sure ArenaNet wouldn’t mind if you did.  Will you?  I won’t. Not even close.  I’ll only pay for content that I’ll ACTUALLY use/play.

    THAT is the big difference between a cash shop game and a sub game, imo.

  • Joseph Winn

    In the recent stress test, I went into the dungeon inside Eternal Battlegrounds. While I was in there, I ran into some hostile players from another server. Naturally, I began fighting them. After killing them a few times, one of them sent me a party invite. I was a bit confused at first, but accepted the invite. When I accepted the invite, I appeared in their party, and I could see their natural levels and names. We were still red to each other, but could talk and see each other’s names. They then asked me to stop killing them.

    Do you think this is a bug or is this something ANet intended for the mini-dungeon? Do they plan to have the option for cross-world help inside the dungeon? There’s a lot of hijinx that could occur from this.

  • DoctorOverlord

    Good episode.    I liked the dye discussion.   I wasn’t sure about it being character based but at least I can understand the reasoning behind it.   And it is better than the one-shot dyes of GW1.  

    Also I like Mike B’s stuff but Jeremy Soule is the only one who can do Jeremy Soule :)  Still interesting to see the creative remix.  

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
Take a Poll

What Is Your Most Anticipated MMO?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
Monday
6 pst

The Republic

Star Wars The Old Republic

Tuesday
9:30 pst

After Dark

Live Call In Show

n/a

Monty's Minute

Have Questions? He Has Answers

Wednesday
3 pst

OMGLOL

League Of Legends Drama

6 pst

Guildcast

Guild Wars 2

8 pst

Klaus & Squirrel

Gameplay Duo

Thursday
8 pst

Legendary

World of WarCraft

Friday
3 pst

TWIMMO

This Week In MMO



TOP GAMES
Guild Wars 2 MMO News
Guild Wars 2
Genre: MMORPG Fantasy
Developer: Arenanet
Metacritic Score: 90
The Elder Scrolls Online MMORPG News
The Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: MMORPG Fantasy
Developer: Zenimax
Metacritic Score: n/a
World of Warcraft MMO News
World of Warcraft
Genre: MMORPG Fantasy
Developer: Blizzard
Metacritic Score: 82
SWTOR MMO News
Star Wars the Old Republic
Genre: MMORPG SciFi
Developer: Bioware
Metacritic Score: 85
League of Legends News
League of Legends
Genre: MOBA
Developer: Riot
Metacritic Score: 78