Feedback:User/Karate Jesus/Better In-Game Communication

Over the last few weeks, I have been playing much more often and noticed that the majority of the people I run into have no idea what the Live Team is up to. A lot of people don't mine the wiki for information and they don't brave the forums for it either, so as far as they know, the Live Team is doing nothing (I even commonly run into people that don't know what the Live Team is). This can lead to players feeling abandoned or forgotten, especially when we're asked to wait months for actual in-game changes.

KJ's suggestions:


 * Expand the log-in screen with more in-game information. For example, we now know that HB & TA will be removed this week. Why not put something about that up on the log-in screen so players can actually know it's coming.
 * Provide links to the Guild Wars Twitter and other useful sources of information. Recently we've been told that there will be more attempts at information. Well, share that with the WHOLE playerbase and link useful pages that have that sort of information.
 * Add an up-and-coming section to the log-in screen. Something that basically says, here are some things coming up. Halloween, would be a good example. It would be nice to inform people about that prior to 1 week ahead of time (seriously, some people don't know it's coming).
 * I understand that you guys can't add statements about content that you're unsure about, such as SD (even though we're being more "open" now). But it would still be nice to tell the playerbase when you can.

000's contributions:


 * 1) Expand the usage of the Login screen. - The player base appears quite often to be out of the loop, many players don't take part in the wiki or the forums, or don't go to the Guild Wars website, so they are uninformed or misinformed by players.  Noticable updates, such as the skill updates, or developers update, especially when adding or removing from the game, or a change in stance; such as with the bi-monthly updates, are important things that the community should be aware of and quite often aren't.  Though the community can help with disseminating information there is no good reason Arenanet can't help this process in a more direct manner.
 * 2) News Window at Character Selection Screen. - Introduce a window with relevant information to the account holder, as mentioned above, in a pop-up window form. Personally I rarely log in by typing, I have multiple accounts so I have a shortcut for each, so I can often miss the login screen altogether.  Putting a window in that can't be missed, would draw more attention to the important information that can often be missed, even though it is foreseeable that people may just click away.
 * 3) In-Game Scribe/Noticeboard. - Basically expanding on the above. Though it requires work and upkeep by Arenanet it would function within the same realms as above, giving the players access to more update game events/news without necessarily having to leave the game; even providing links to the official website, or to the official wiki as a secondary means.  Often, I have found that a lot of people don't know what's going on with Arenanet and Guild Wars, with the change in skill updates, for example, I had personally directed friends and allies to places like the website and wiki after informing them of a change in how things are going, simply because they didn't know.  They don't go to the official website, they don't use the forums or the wikis.  Being able to say "Go check the noticeboard in LA."  or "Go see the Scribe." is simple, in-game and doesn't distract too much from general-gameplay.
 * 4) An in-game browser. Something similar to what EVE Online uses (check the discussion page for a link).

FreedomBound's Contribution:
 * Email information to players. Probably allowing them to sign up for some type of information newsletter that gets sent out monthly (or at the very least, bi-monthly). Anet already has all of the players email addresses, so it couldn't be too hard to mass email the player base once a month.

Felix's Contribution:
 * Bring back the Scribe. Possibly make him an in-game NPC that offers information monthly (so as, not to stress out the coders. God knows we wouldn't want him facing a wall every week :D) or something similar.