Feedback:User/EvanEssan/Letter to ANet

To Whom It May Concern
I've been prompted to write by continuing connectivity issues regarding Guild Wars. This has (finally?) resulted in the death of my (second, failed) Legendary Survivor. These connectivity issues have been going on for almost a month now. It is only Guild Wars, as my internet (ISP) has experienced no problems outside of this game. I've been patiently waiting for the issue to clear up, but there seems no end in sight. I've avoided playing my paragon during the typical problem times (usually around 1-2am EST), in order to avoid a d/c death, which I know is ArenaNET policy to ignore with a shrug and a "too bad, maybe next time". While I know it's now possible to achieve Legendary Survivor after a death, I made the very conscious decision to ignore this monumental slap in the face to those of us who had already achieved Legendary Survivor with zero deaths.

Since I've refrained from writing previously on a great number of other perceived grievous insults to loyal players (aka customers) in the name of patience, acceptance, and "they don't really owe me much anyway".. I feel it's time to air a few other complaints, which experience tells me will be ignored, but that I feel you need to hear, as you're deep in the planning stages of GuildWars2. I was initially excited for GW2, but things like changing the drinking title (Wow, I'm such an idiot, I gave 10,000 minutes to these people..?!) The 4th anniversary Xunlai Storage (Well screw me for playing 5 years, I missed that day/week.. so screw me, and every other 5+ year player who missed it).. Various other collector / exclusive week / limited release items that.. for whatever reason, escaped myself and the small handful of other players I know who have been playing for so long (And yes, they are very few. Most people seem to benefit most from having old accounts sitting idly, checking in every few months...?)

The class updates, the changes, the nerfs.. Seem to disregard those us who have been loyal players, paying customers for costumes, updates, etc.. Who are.. or were, at one stage excited for Guild Wars 2.. but who are now dreading the monumental disappointments it likely has in store for those of us who put so much effort into it, shortly after the initial announcement of its release. What benefits do we gain, that set us apart from the random slew of people cranking out titles and driving favor into the 34,000 minute range? I used to feel elite, I used to feel accomplished... This has all but been erased by the multitude of short term players, of extremely casual (not very loyal) players.. who are easily and quickly matching, and overcoming, our accomplishments.

I am sickened by so many things that happen, that I pick fights with my best friend (who I brought to Guild Wars, as I've brought many other people to Guild Wars.. though none lately, reason being, see above) any time he wants to talk about Guild Wars 2.. because frankly, I expect to be disrespected, and expect to be greatly disappointed.

Another somewhat vague and unverifiable complaint. The anti-farming code, or perhaps just the droprate code, seems to heavily favor new accounts. Why is this? One of my guildmates and good friends has two accounts, one of which was recently created. The drops that that account receives in comparison to ours, consistently floor us. Another person brought to the game around a year and a half ago, consistently has better drops than those of us here for 3-5.5 years. If this in fact reality, that new accounts receive better drops than older ones... it explains why I always feel so broke in comparison to people I see in trade. My gains and titles have been achieved through a lot of hard work, and honest effort. If I see a newbie (and I loathe the word 'noob') selling something of great value, I try to at least give them an accurate estimate of the price range of such things. I've helped pay for around 4-5 sets of Obsidian armor.. and tend to give rather freely of what I have. That said, I cannot fathom the fortunes that some people seem to accumulate with such ease. Are they scamming new players who have better droprates? This seems likely... Are they buying advantages, buying accounts, still prospering from dupes that escaped the (one time?) mass-banning... I don't understand. My most recent example of this farm-code complaint, or anti-old-account complaint.. is that I've been trying to farm, initially, a peacekeeper mini (understandably quite rare). Knowing the rarity of such drops, I have given it 2-3 hours a day.. solo farming.. peace keepers for them. When I farm with my friends Alex and Andrea, I see War in Kryta unique drops.. the bow, the fire staff, the two monk greens.. but none have dropped for me. It seems the only way to find these things are by playing with people with much newer accounts. Icy Dragon sword from the Ice Imps.. Exuro's Will, etc. This is a long-term observation over many, many farms, in a multitude of areas. I've come to feel that farming is pointless, and yet I continue giving it unreasonable amounts of time... because I'm a stubborn arse, and am quite proud of that in myself.

A piece of advice, which you'll likely ignore in the interests of quick and easy profits, and advertising for your new game... Keep in mind those of us who have gained our achievements honestly, who have been loyal customers for many years.. and you will continue to have the free advertising of avid, excited, loyal players / fans, who will do much of your selling for you, quietly, untraceable by you.. but there, nonetheless.

Thank you for your time and attention. I hope that this letter has adequately conveyed my deep-seated, ever-growing sense of disgust, and betrayal.. while remaining both respectful, and foolishly, stubbornly hopeful. This has been a growing sentiment amongst my guild, and friends outside of the guild; I am not alone in these complaints.

ERS (signed)

50/50 Hall of Monuments Auren Laellia Essan Souls of Vendetta (GWAMM)

Founder and Guild Leader, Clan Vendetta [vVv]

''P.S. I hope that your Beta Testers meet at least the following; 50/50 HoM, Gwamm, 3+ years, and 5,000+ hours in-game. I wouldn't advertise this openly, as it would prompt people to idle for the hours...''

Letter sent via email
This was the letter I sent via email, and printed/signed, to ANet. I received a very timely, if wholly unsatisfactory reply. This is what good customer support doesn't look like. If NCSoft employees read this, I hope it gives cause to second-guess going with ArenaNet for Guild Wars 2, because the doubts I had about investing time and money in GW2, which have grown steadily, were, if anything, greatly increased by this response. Exact quote:


 * "''Hi Evan,


 * ''If you would like to send in your thoughts on Guild Wars, I encourage you to consider posting your suggestions on the Guild Wars Wiki at: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Feedback:Main


 * ''You can post feedback, bug reports and suggestions, and the information is reviewed frequently by our Development Team. More information about how to set up a Wiki account can be located at: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Feedback:Getting_started
 * ''Please let us know if you have additional questions.


 * ''Regards,
 * ''GM Phillip
 * The Guild Wars Support Team"

That's it?
This is how concerned ArenaNet is? "Use the wiki"? I could have found that much help in any major outpost, with a simple-to-answer question.. as the degraded player-base responded to me with "Read the wiki, noob!" Honorable, respectful players that I played with five years ago have in large part left the game.. many of those who remain share my very negative opinion of ANet. People who have obviously cheated for their fortunes, scammed, etc. seem to prosper. There was one big crack down... once.. it seems. Nothing that was scammed from people was put back into circulation.. any number of things that were gotten illicitly have been returned to circulation.. What was done when Ecto prices fell from the 20s to.. what are they now, 7k? Due in large part, originally, to duping? Nothing was said regarding the connectivity issues I've been experiencing, and reported in my letter, requesting assistance with.

Honestly, I expected (In order of likelihood); No response, a wholly inadequate response ("Tough luck kid, try again, but be sure to stop by the in-game store!"), sympathy and some empty promise of trying to do something about the perception of older accounts having such a disadvantage.. Though, to be quite honest, the least likely response I expected was.. "Thank you for remaining a loyal customer and player over the years, and devoting so much time and effort into our product. We appreciate our loyal customers, and I would like to personally thank you for bringing many friends to the game over the years.  There is nothing I can do about your survivor's death, despite it being our servers' fault, which it was, as I determined after looking through game logs.  I see you have had many disconnections over the past month, and will look into that matter further.  As for anniversary storage and other such perceived insults to yourself and other loyal customers, I will look into it, and bring this to the attention of my management staff, as it is quite contrary to our aims.  We hope to earn your and other loyal customers' trusts, such that you continue to contribute to the Guild Wars community, and that we can reverse any damage done to our reputation amongst our more loyal customers. I sincerely hope you are still excited enough about Guild Wars 2 to give us a chance to redeem ourselves after receiving a fresh start."

What I got, was (as expected); "Tough cookies, noob. Read the wiki."

Please NCSoft, consider game / player / maintenance teams other than ANet for Guild Wars 2. They're doing a decent job of tempting the curious and eager newcomers to at least give GW2 a glance, but from what I've experienced over the years, all they've done for your most loyal players, your most loyal customers, is alienate, frustrate, and infuriate us.