User talk:Gaile Gray/Archive Misplaced Articles and So Forth

/March 2007 /April 2007 /May 2007

This Misplaced Articles and So Forth category contains game-related questions or comments placed on the discussion pages of User: Gaile Gray. More relevant discussion of these topics can be found on the discussion pages for each specific topic.

Elite skills on henchmen
Gaile, do you know why a number of henchmen in Nightfall (Odurra, Aidan and Gehraz) do not have an elite skill? As far as I can see, every other level 20 henchman in all chapters has one. See List of Prophecies henchmen, List of Factions henchmen and List of Nightfall henchmen for a comprehensive overview of all henchmen. -- (CoRrRan / talk) 07:04, 18 May 2007 (EDT)


 * I've also noticed that none of the henchmen in Istan get elites in hard mode, including those who get elites elsewhere such as Herta and Kihm. --Valshia 19:18, 18 May 2007 (EDT)


 * You guys may be asking the wrong question and maybe in the wrong place. I doubt Gaile could answer this without asking lots of questions of her fellow staff memebers but I also think that it's possible the henchmen have an Elite skill but just don't use it (possible but not necessarily true).  As I'm guessing what her response would be I say: You should post on a fan forum and/or report it. --[[Image:VallenIconwhitesmall.JPG]]  Vallen Frostweaver  08:47, 21 May 2007 (EDT)
 * AFAIK, 1 single internal e-mail would be sufficient. But perhaps you're right about mailing support, although I dislike their automated response system. And regarding the fan-forums: I know that if I post it there, it'll get lost in the void of all the clutter posts by the spam-happy's there. -- [[Image:User Corrran sig.png|CoRrRan]] (CoRrRan / talk) 09:33, 21 May 2007 (EDT)
 * With regret, we will not be reading the Wiki for bug reports except for reports about issues with the Wiki itself. Nor will we be able to answer questions, comments, or concerns about issue reports. For instance, "I wrote Support about my account, here's the problem" or "The armour on the warrior has clipping" are two strong examples of concerns with which we just can't engage in this space. The best place to send your reports or get answers to your questions is Support, and the next best place is the fan forums. Using the forums assures that everyone can search for the subject, get the info (perhaps the very answer to the question they have) and it assures that no one is distanced from an answer due to the fact that it appears on one dev's personal wiki discussion page. :) --Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 17:34, 21 May 2007 (EDT)
 * Thanks for answering. *off to e-mailing support then* (Although this could be a 'feature by design' instead of a bug.) -- [[Image:User Corrran sig.png|CoRrRan]] (CoRrRan / talk) 19:03, 21 May 2007 (EDT)
 * For anyone interested: Talk:List of Nightfall henchmen. -- [[Image:User Corrran sig.png|CoRrRan]] (CoRrRan / talk) 11:00, 22 May 2007 (EDT)

No new caracterslots in GW:EN
Ive heard that we arent gonna get more caracter slots in GW:EN wich i think is really sad cause i have 7 pve caracters and 1 pvp and cant make all professions without deleting another one. so far we've gotten 2 additional slots each campaign we buy but a-net have sayed that "with no new professions we dont need more caracter slots". But i need more caracter slots to make caracters and still keep my old ones (wich ive spent a lot of time on). Can you talk to the developer crew and try to tell then that it is a BAD idea to not make more caracter slots in the next campaign so people like me can still continue to enjoy the rollplay, at the same time as playing with friends in pvp. (i know you can buy more slots in the gw store, but i dont have a credit card so i cant do that) Dumazzz 13:45, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * It would be a shame if they didnt, maybe just 1 charr slot?( I too want to buy extra, but the store doesnt have any paying options for the Benelux) ~ Kurd [[Image:Kurdsig.png]]13:56, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * While it sucks that you can't buy new character slots because of where you live, new slots wouldn't make sense for GW:EN as there isn't supposed to be any low level content. Everything will be geared towards level 20.  --Rainith 14:06, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * I think it could make sense. While this "Everything will be geared towards level 20," is true.  It is also true that GW:EN will require at least 1 campaign and all of the existing campaigns have content for characters < level 20.  Plus, since a character slot isn't tied to a campaign per se (until you make a char in one and select one) adding character slots would be feasible.  You just wouldn't have an added panel in the campaign selection screen of character creation.  Lojiin 15:13, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * Perhaps, they could offer 1 addition character slot as a pre-order incentive just as they did with GW:Nightfall (at least here). -Spot 15:51, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * Or they could just add Paypal to the store :P ~ Kurd [[Image:Kurdsig.png]]16:38, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * If the store accepts credit card payments (Visa, MasterCard, etc...) then it doesn't matter what currency the transaction is in, the credit card company will convert the funds for you (they may charge you an additional fee, I don't recall). This has always been my experience anyway and I've bought things from all over Europe as well as from Japan and Australia with my US credit cards.  --Rainith 17:04, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * No, the issue is that some people (not me) do not have credit cards : they may have debit cards only (which cannot be used for Internet purchases) or no card at all (by choice, or maybe because they do not match banking requirements or maybe just because they do not have the legal age yet). This is not that uncommon in Europe and I know at least one people in Canada who cannot buy additional char slots for this very same reason. I understand they do not want to offer new slots with this one which is fine with me (I can buy some more slots as I have a card), but the "level 20 only" excuse is kind of irrelevant in the issue. Jaxom 17:19, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * IIRC (which I may not), to use Paypal (as was mentioned as an option by Kurd above), you need either a credit card or a bank account with a credit card to back it up (otherwise the payment is not "instant" and is instead an "e-check"). As the complaint was that Paypal was not an option, I pointed out that credit cards should work fine.  One way ANet could get around this would be to sell cards similar to the time cards sold for some MMOs where you could buy a card as a retail outlet for X amount of whatever currency and you add the code to you account and you get one new character slot.  --Rainith 17:52, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * Also, most debit cards can be used for international payments also (at least ones issued by banks here in the US). --Rainith 17:54, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * Just to add my experience to this discussion - if you have a credit card from a country other than your IP location, you cannot purchase anything from the store anymore. My boyfriend is from Cali and I've bought upgrades and char slots with his cards previously (as I don't have my own) but a couple of months ago I tried again and got an error. When I took the error to support they told me they can no longer process payments from cards foreign to my location and that we'd need to get an Australian credit card to use the store. :/ I sent a suggestion in once for game cards that had character slot keys - you go into your game store to buy it with cash. I think it would be a great source of revenue for Anet, because there are a lot of kids that get pocket money (teens have the highest expendible income of any age group) but can't buy things online. As for the expansion, I don't think they need to have character slots, but one with a pre-release pack would be sweet. - B e X  22:19, 18 May 2007 (EDT)

Why would they add new character slots if there are no new professions? Thats the reason we got them before. -- ( General  |  Talk ) 17:37, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * I too see no reason for additional slots - FireFox [[Image:firefoxav.png]] 18:05, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * The simple question boils down to the price of GW:EN. If it is priced close to the price of the previous installments, not giving char slots would be unfair. However if GW:EN is priced much below a full retail copy, they might want additional revenue from char slot sales.
 * PS: To back up Rainith above, (at least some) Debit cards work just fine for internet purchases. --Xeeron 20:53, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * Omg, stop whining about no characters slots. There are no new proffessions so therefore we don't need to require new character slots. Stop whining and go onto the Shop and buy some character slots.--Eloc 20:54, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * Well, if not sell codes retail in brick&mortar shops, then at least allow the possibility of buying slots online as gifts - that's how I renew my paid Livejournal account every year. I don't have a credit card and won't be getting one anytime soon. I have a friend (with a CC) buy me a 'gift' subscription every year and I pay her back in whatever reasonable real-life means as appropriate (buy her a book or mow the lawn or whatev). Sure, it costs a little more (than a direct payment from CC yearly) but both of us benefit from it. — [[Image:User_Kyrasantae_Fin_sig.gif]] kyrasantae  22:54, 18 May 2007 (EDT)
 * It has already been stated, several times in fact, that it will be priced under that of an actual campaign. So its fair in my opinion. -- [[Image:Blackgeneralstar.png|19px]] ( General |  Talk ) 02:50, 19 May 2007 (EDT)


 * I'd like a link to the official statement about lack of character slots. I must have missed it. &mdash;Tanaric 01:45, 20 May 2007 (EDT)
 * Gaile/Frog Talk/20070425 - FireFox [[Image:firefoxav.png]] 03:04, 20 May 2007 (EDT)
 * I think it was also mentioned in the PC Gamer article. --Rainith 03:12, 20 May 2007 (EDT)
 * Not true. PC Gamer only mentions that there will be no new professions. Tulen elementti 07:45, 20 May 2007 (EDT)
 * "go onto the Shop and buy some character slots.". Thats what were discussing here jeez. We want to buy more but there is no option for us to do so. There are so many CC providers in Europe that it is very unlikely that someone will have Visa or Mastercard. Paypal would fix this as it support all the CC. And even so i dont understand what the big deal is, if they can add visa or mastercard why not paypal :S ~ Kurd [[Image:Kurdsig.png]]10:33, 20 May 2007 (EDT)
 * I think we need a GWW:Gaile's talk page is not a fansite forum - FireFox [[Image:firefoxav.png]] 13:48, 20 May 2007 (EDT)


 * Definitely. LordBiro 16:02, 20 May 2007 (EDT)
 * Please. :( Aside from my huge "Paws to Consider" note, I don't know how else to tell folks that this is not the place for this sort of discussion. Once it's placed here, I'm morally and wiki-ly bound to keep it forever, I guess, which means into the archives it will go. Oh, well, I have a "misplaced content" sort of Archive, so that's where I'll move it. If everyone is finished, that is? ;) --Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 17:17, 21 May 2007 (EDT)
 * Of course go ahead :) ~ Kurd [[Image:Kurdsig.png]]17:59, 21 May 2007 (EDT)

Potential image copyright problem
is a modified screenshot of a superior Dervish rune. It's used on both PvXwiki, a wiki made for character builds, and dandwiki, an unrelated site that was granted permission by the person who modified the screenshot for PvXwiki. However, dandwiki is worried that using the image constitutes a copyright violation. If you can, can you clear this up or point me to someone who can? They want your word on it, as you're the community relations person for ANet. Thanks. Armond 15:45, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
 * For all I know its "ok" for Gw related fan site to use art found ingame / official pages. Unless they sell it or something. Biz 18:37, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, but the thing is, dandwiki is a wiki about, well, Dungeons and Dragons (DanD). Therein lies the question. Armond 20:31, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Not allowed &mdash; Skuld 15:24, 25 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Skuld's right. That's a clear case of using ArenaNet's intellectual property without permission. d&dwiki would need to write ArenaNet and specifically request permission to use the image. &mdash;Tanaric 18:37, 25 May 2007 (UTC)


 * The best source of information concerning use of our intellectual property or any Guild Wars asset is contained within our Terms of Use. In that, we make it clear that Guild Wars sites using our art have certain implicit permissions, so that fansites are not required to ask permission each time they expand their pages. However, dndwiki is not a Guild Wars site. Therefore danddwiki must remove the image until such a time as they have written permission from ArenaNet to use the art. (Someone else cannot give that permission; permission must come from the owner of the IP and/or copyright.) Because the site in question is not a Guild Wars site, I would recommend that they use copyright-free art of some kind rather than using Guild Wars or other art specific to a certain property. --Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 23:12, 25 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you for clearing that up, Gaile. Armond 19:29, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

How Do You Delete Accounts?
I accidentally didn't join my factions account to my prophecies and i wanna join them. Auzzie.
 * This type of question should be sent to support. As far as I know, you cannot merge accounts, nor are there plans to do so in the near future. - B e X  12:11, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Bex is absolutely right. We're not brushing you off by sending you to Support, they just may be able to help you, so please give them the chance to do so. Hit this link to get started. --Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 04:17, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Spam, a problem which cannot be solved?
Hi Gaile, since months we have big discussions on our german fan sites Guild Wars Infohow to get the spam problem in the local chats solved. Have you or other devs ever been in the big cities: Lion Arch, Kamadan or Kaineng (add: Int. Dis. Germany 1 upto 3... ) to watch this mess? People sell their items in the local chat, spamming their offers 4-5 times every second. I think you can image what happens if there are 10 or more sellers..... other people cannot communicate because their questions and answers disappear between those sale-spams. And if you tell those spammers not to use the local chat, they are either laughing at you or they get rude.

Martin once said, the community has to regulate itself. Ok. We tried, we made screenshots and sent them to the support, but its a drop in the bucket. Fact is, more and more gamers deactivate the local chat. But Guildwars is an online game where all people should communicate in a propper way. And this is atm not possible. A spamfilter or deactivation of the arrow buttons, copy and paste, anything which could stop this situation would be highly appreciated by the normal community. Thanks Gaile for listening ;-) --Eleonora 09:09, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I've also noticed an increase in spam from Peons4Hire in the great temple of balthazar. -- Scourge  [[Image:User Scourge Spade.gif]] 09:31, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Yea, agreed. And I bet most mmorpgs are having the same problem too. I wonder if an easier method of reporting might work? Such as "open report spam dialog, click offending character name, click report." sort of thing. But I can see how it can be abused and pose as a huge maintenance problem for Anet. Perhaps some sort of pattern matching spam prevention for the longer messages (since wtb and wts spam are all pretty long. -- ab.er. rant [[Image:User Ab.er.rant Sig.png|sig]] 07:49, 1 June 2007 (UTC) -- ab.er. rant  [[Image:User Ab.er.rant Sig.png|sig]] 07:49, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Eleonora, I understand that concern here, and I share it. It can be hard to carry on a conversation, and there is a certain number of players who just don't show the best manners in conducting business (although honestly I think the majority of players and traders are good about it). During our weekly Support conference call last week we were brainstorming ideas about how to reduce spam, to try to come up with some solid suggestions to share with the designers. I know the designers are very aware of the concern, and I know that they'll continue to devise their own ideas and consider various suggested methods to bring the spamming in check. If I get some information on this subject, I will be sure to pass it along to the players and to other community team members so that they can share on the fansites that they visit. And please do ask that players continue to add to the forum threads with their constructive ideas, so that we can gather player thoughts on this subject. --Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 07:53, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
 * In a MMO I played they had a feature where you would type /report and the previous 15 lines were sent to a server log for review. When people were repeatedly cropping up on /report logs then they were dealt with. I thought it was a nice feature that kept people from being abusive/spamming. - B e X  08:18, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
 * I've been curious about that possibility. According to the Support team members, who have a lot of combined years in service, report features can bring in 80% or more in the form of false claims or reports of issues with which Support cannot help. That is a lot of reports to read, only to find that only 1 or 2 out of 10 really have merit. Too, if we have such a feature, even if we read the report and dismiss it as frivolous -- just someone who feels impatient or who is even trying to get someone else in trouble -- I'm afraid that people will then follow up to find out why such-and-such didn't happen. Also, it's hard to set a line for spam -- what one person calls spam another calls "semi-frequent messaging" and a third doesn't notice at all. So I like the idea of /report and I think it could do wonders, but I'm also leery of it, too. --Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 08:27, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
 * =P Yeah, that'd create a painful amount of paperwork to deal with. Even if you can't implement something just to deal with spam (I know there's already a filter that mutes a player temporarily after saying enough in a short period of time), I'd really like any sort of filter that can deal with that Peons4hire junk and other gilselling sites, especially as it's against the EULA. As Scourge mentioned, Balths temple has gotten pretty bad lately ;) MisterPepe talk 08:37, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

How about a hard limit to number of lines posted in one district per/amount of time (e.g. no more then 10 lines per 10 seconds, the 11th line is repressed)? Though, as with all these changes, be aware that they make trading (definitely one of the weak points of GW) even harder. A crack down on spam should be combined with lengthening the amount you can type into party search, that would give traders a real incentive to write their offers there instead of the local chat. --Xeeron 10:06, 1 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Maybe have a system of word recognition like "fast delivery", "cheap gold", etc etc The implementation of a trading house would really limit the use of spam and make it easier to combat legit threats. Just my 2 cents. -- Scourge  [[Image:User Scourge Spade.gif]] 11:52, 1 June 2007 (UTC)


 * We have some of those things in place, but lightly, to avoid undue hindrance on normal conversation or trade. I will check into this Peons4Hire -- is that a gold selling company? If you note names of people spamming gold sales, we would welcome at email to reportname@arena.net. (Note: That address is only for reporting offensive names, or the names of those suspected of being bots or gold sellers. It's not for reports of any other kind.) Thanks for your comments, and as I mentioned, we will continue to look at possible resolutions to this problem. --Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 17:13, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Thank you Gaile :-) Hopefully the designer team has the right tough to solve this nasty problem. --Eleonora 13:05, 1 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree with Scourge. A auction house would drop the spam (on the major cities) a lot. Of course, a auction house is a hard thing to implement... I wonder how Xunlai auctions houses would be, if they were implemented. :) But even auction houses wouldn't stop spam bots... [[Image:Monk-icon-small.png]] Kiji talk 16:52, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

To be honest I think all it would take is the fear of a ban, so basically a random support member goes to the main problem areas for say 10 minutes once a day, and hands a 1-3 day ban out to anyone "spamming" in the local channel. I think you would find a lot of people whining about being banned for it on forums would cause everyone to think twice about doing it themselves. Kinda like public executions in the dark ages :) It is the fear of the repercussions that keep people in check. Even if not every single person gets punished. -- Lemming64 16:54, 1 June 2007 (UTC)


 * The problem with this is that you have protests of "unfairness," in that we nail some but not all. "My friends spammed for three days straight and didn't get blocked. I spammed for 20 minutes and earned a time out? I'm going to call my lawyer and file a class action suit on behalf of spammers everywhere!


 * Now, that's not to say that random actions are not effective -- I believe that they might be. And we're honest about not being able to catch every bot user even while we do continue carrying that bot banning banner and engage in actions daily. But a few weeks ago, due to a intra-team miscommunication, someone did block several spammers and a very large fuss arose, and it was principally centered on the perceived "unfairness" of the blocks. I expressed my belief in that aftermath that if we make a change in policy or in how we enforce that policy we need to communicate it clearly, so that players are not surprised by it. We do have the "right" to block bots, it's called out in our Terms of Use. The question is how best to undertake those actions, which we will continue to discuss. --Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 17:13, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Yeh someone in our guild was banned for "spamming" the other week, I guess it was part of that same thing. hehe :) I understand where you are coming from though. -- Lemming64 17:17, 1 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I disagree with Scourge. I don't think an auction house could reduce the spam. The problem is that all of the sellers want to sell their items, but nearly nobody is searching for items. So even with an auction house the sellers will continue spamming to catch potential buyers. We have the party search panel to sell things (ok, the line is to short..) but because nobody is interested to search for items, they do not open the panel and so they don't see the items. It would be the same with an auction house... poke | talk 17:22, 1 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Gaile, yes - Peons4Hire is a gold-selling company. They mainly hang out in Balths temple. The main problem with using the "report name" email, at least with these people, is that they make temporary characters (usually with nonsense names, i.e. DJMB TYZ) and delete them periodically to avoid being banned. Unless they're caught in the act (and banned immediately =P), they're not likely to be caught (Unless, of course, you guys have a way of looking up which account had a specific character name at a specific time - if you don't, that might be something y'all might want to implement ;) ). MisterPepe talk 17:25, 1 June 2007 (UTC)


 * If you give us a name, it's likely we can research it, even if no longer active. At least so I believe. --Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 17:40, 1 June 2007 (UTC)


 * poke it depends on how (if they do) implement the auction house, there are countless ways to go about about. They way I think you're thinking is that you have an outpost to sell your wares. I would have gone with a different approach. (Similar to the runescape merchant) -- Scourge  [[Image:User Scourge Spade.gif]] 06:52, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

I am curious as to why there is still not yet an auction house system. I'm sure this has been rehashed many times before and your most likely tired of explaining it, but unfortunately, I am still one of those who is clueless. Is it a technical problem, or is it logistics, or practicality, or are you all simply too busy? It just seems that by now, two years into Guild Wars, I would have thought we would see it by now.

Still, with spamming; I have an idea... use the /report feature. But instead of reporting the past 15 lines of local chat, send in the past 15 lines of the spammer being reported. The lines will go through a server that could compare the similarities of the 15 lines. If they are more than... say... 70% similar, it gets passed on to a human representative. That might filter through all the false claims. Heres an example of what would happen:


 * /report dan the warrior
 * INCOMING REPORT;
 * Suspect: Dan The Warrior Acc.# 1872623gh1987234g,
 * Reporter: John Silverhand Acc.# 12781g8713b048gt6,
 * 17:35 GMT 06.05.2007, Lions Arch_District 2_American Servers
 * LINE1; W~T~S Crystalline Sword 100k+100e PM Offers -local
 * LINE2; W~T~S Crystalline Sword 100k+100e PM Offers -local
 * LINE3; W~T~S Crystalline Sword 100k+100e PM Offers -local
 * LINE4; shut up i will use whatever channel i want
 * LINE5; W~T~S Crystalline Sword 100k+100e PM Offers -local
 * etc..
 * ~80% SIMILARITY; REPORT PASSED
 * LINE5; W~T~S Crystalline Sword 100k+100e PM Offers -local
 * etc..
 * ~80% SIMILARITY; REPORT PASSED

I think its a good idea at least. Think it over. --Counciler


 * You would need some way to time stamp the lines, otherwise how would they know they are spamming? It would be nice to use the feature to report bots and abusive people.-- Scourge  [[Image:User Scourge Spade.gif]] 07:04, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
 * And to record which channel it is being said in. - B e X  08:17, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
 * I think he got that part ;) the "-local" part is the channel I think, except he missed LINE4 I suppose. But overall, might be a nice idea to try. -- ab.er. rant [[Image:User Ab.er.rant Sig.png|sig]] 08:35, 5 June 2007 (UTC)