Fansite Friday/Slovenija

Fansite: Guild Wars Slovenja

Date: 26 November 2004

Number: 23

Q&A

Question: Alpha/beta testers and players during public events have provided you with lots of feedback about the game. How much weight and impact does this feedback have on your overall game design and how does the team respond to it? How do you discuss the ideas and decide what is hot and what not? Can you tell us how the process from an idea (internal or external) to an actual visible result looks like?

Answer: The three events that we have held so far -- the E3 for Everyone Event in May, the World Preview Event in October, and the first Beta Weekend Event – have been tremendous sources of player feedback. We receive fan feedback mostly from fansite forums, which we read on a regular basis. We put together documents with accumulated feedback and we share them with the rest of the team, so everyone has a chance to read the feedback and suggestions. The dev team members give fan ideas a lot of value, because after all, we’re making this game for you!

Sometimes a fan suggestion will be something that one of the team members really likes, and he or she will bring it to a meeting, or point out the thread or email to other team members. We’ve had some very in-depth discussions about fan suggestions and I know each of us have probably taken an idea from the fans to the team to ask “What about this idea?” or “Do you think we could offer that in Guild Wars?” To be honest, a couple of times, I’ve felt very passionately about something and it has been terrific when the players have made a suggestion that bolsters my own opinion. “Well, the fans agree” is a really nice thing to say!

Let me share an example of the suggestion-to-game process. It’s one I may have mentioned before, but I think it’s pretty neat: Before E3 for Everyone opened, the alpha testers had shared a modest concern in our private alpha forums. They mentioned that it would be more fun to be able to explore the hunting grounds with a party, rather than simply as a single player. We had been looking at that aspect of the game, and decided to keep our eye on the large amount of feedback available during and after E3 for Everyone. Sure enough, the response from players in the event was dramatic. They said, “We’d really like to play the open areas with a team,” just as the alpha testers had said, and by the end of that week (just one week!) team play in the hunting grounds had been added to the entire game.

During the World Preview Event, some of the feedback was focused on a couple of significant points:

• The early game experience: For some, the early game was great. But others felt that they were overwhelmed, and that they didn’t have a clue what to do at the start of Guild Wars gameplay. Because the early experience is so important and sets the tone for the entire game, we looked very critically at what we were offering new players. We realized that there were many ways in which we could make the early game more fun and more intuitive. We are currently working on some very exciting changes. The changes may not be visible in the December Beta Weekend Event, but will almost certainly be test-able in the January BWE. We can’t wait for people to see what we’ve added!

• Mission difficulty levels: Many players felt that the missions were too simple and perhaps a bit less exciting than they had been during the E3 for Everyone event. As a result of these comments, we examined the balance between early game comfort levels and the overall objective of having deep and involving mission challenges. We’re working now to make the missions more challenging and to enhance gameplay in new and interesting ways.

After the December Beta Weekend Event, we’ll scan the forums and learn how the players feel about the changes, and how they are enjoying the game. We will be, as always, ready to listen and respond to what players suggest. I’ve never seen the level of receptiveness that our design team shows towards fans – I’m really proud of them for being willing to take another look at concepts and design decisions. They’ve shown themselves willing to listen, and to make amendments that will create a better game based, in part, on the input of those of you who play during our events and will be playing when we release Guild Wars!

Question: The official Guild Wars Game FAQ states that players will still remain competitive even if they don't buy an expansion pack against players who have. Can you give us any information on how will this model affect the current level 20 cap? Are you planning on raising the level cap with every expansion pack and if so, how is this going to be balanced?

Answer: Well, I’ll start with an opinion: A level is only a number. I cannot answer with certainty whether the level cap will rise with expansions. I rather believe that the designers have not yet finalized an answer on that one. But in a game of skill, isn’t it how you play, and not how long you’ve played, that really matters? If I say I’m a level 99 character in such-and-such a game, does it really tell you how well I play? Or does it tell you only that I’ve been playing for a long time?

The point of Guild Wars isn’t to reach a number that has little relevance to the gameplay itself. The point of Guild Wars is to get good at playing, to acquire a deeper and richer range of gameplay options and a fuller arsenal of skills – with “skills” meaning the kind that you wear on your belt and the kind that you, as a gamer, bring towards the manner in which you play the game.

Now, how does that relate to expansion packs? Well, the player who has purchased multiple chapters of Guild Wars will almost certainly have a greater list of skills from which to choose. It’s pretty natural that with the completion of quests in multiple chapters, you will be able to acquire more skills for your characters. But the designers are balancing skills in each chapter and between chapters, so while you may have more skills and greater choices, but you won’t necessarily have more powerful skills. And in battle – PvP or PvE – you will still be able to bring only 8 skills into the battle. It’s how you use what you have on hand that will show you to be the better player.

The typical level grind rewards players with unfair advantages. Jeff Strain has said that it’s like giving the veteran chess player three queens compared to the new player’s one queen, simply because the veteran has more experience. Whether we raise the level cap in subsequent chapters of Guild Wars or not, we intend to never reward as richly for hours spent as for how well you play the game.

Question: During public events cities and outposts in Guild Wars were full of people trading various items. With the district/instance nature of the game it was very hard to find a specific item since players had to cycle thru hundreds of districts to catch the best offer. Are there any plans to implement a global trading interface like an auction house, an item trader NPC or some other method that would make trading easier, faster and more user-friendly?

Answer: Hey, that’s a great idea. Did you post that as a suggestion in the forums? Ok, just teasing. I see exactly what you mean about the trade situation. It’s not just difficult to find items, it’s also sort of distracting to enter Lion's Arch or Ascalon City and see scrolling test offering weapons, crafting supplies, and all sorts of other items. But the trade interface is still very new, as you know, just as guild features were only recently added. Both are expanding in many ways.

So I have confidence that the process of finding willing buyers, sellers, and traders of items will be improved in the future. I don’t know about an auction house – that’s certainly one possibility and I could see our team having a lot of fun creating an interface and the programming to make that great. I think until we’re final on this concept, we’d love to hear about players’ experiences in other games, what they liked, didn’t like and how they feel the whole system could be improved. We’ll be looking for comments, feedback, and suggestions as we approach release, so that we can incorporate as many features as are reasonable for this chapter, and also examine options that may apply even better to a future chapter of Guild Wars.

Bonus Question: Before the first beta weekend event the long awaited GvG ladder system was introduced showing some basic information about global guild rankings. Is this the final layout for the ladder system or are you planning on adding any additional information/statistics about guild members, their stats etc.? Will this information only be displayed on a webpage or will it be also accessible via the in-game user interface?

Answer: The ladder, as posted, is a work in progress. Yes, you will be able to access additional information in the future. And you won’t be required to leave Guild Wars in order to access the Guild Wars Ladder.

Thanks very much to Guild Wars Slovenija for participating in this week’s Fansite Friday. We’re glad that you’re helping us get the word out about Guild Wars!