Talk:Unlock

About the "bug"

Actually is a little different from my experience. It's not that you "unlock" a weaker version, but rather you lose all but the weakest, this way the stronger versions can be unlocked again. The ones I know so far are the inscriptions with a max value of 15 ("Strength and Honor", "Guided by Fate", "Dance with Death", "Too Much Information", "To the Pain!", "Brawn over Brains", "Seize the Day" and "Live for Today"). And they are unlocked by default on a new account. So far I've seem this happen thrice. being 2 friends' accounts and my second account. If you have more information on this feel free to add it to this talk page. 201.82.41.163 20:16, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

the bug description was totally correct. my acc was definetely not created after nf (i started with factions preview), and i've carefully observed the unlocked stuff whenever i identified a weapon that might hold something weaker than what i already had. the result was this bug description. - Y0_ich_halt 12:04, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

and afaik anet has not yet fixed the bug. - Y0_ich_halt 12:06, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

It could be correct, but if it was, then *there is another possible bug*, that's what I want to find out. Specially since the inscriptions that lose their unlocks are unlocked by default when the account is created. Don't get angry on me for doing this I'm just trying to learn what it is exactly, if someone loses just one inscription or ANY upgrade that's not on my list we have more then 1 bug.

Like I said, it happened to the same set of inscriptions in 3 cases I've seem with my own eyes. And you if your account is from Factions preview then what's left to say is accounts created in 2005, because I from the accounts of my closest friends in the game and my own, all 3 accounts that were created before Prophecies even had that name never had this bug, while the others did (all of them created after nightfall), it might be a coincidence but I still want someone telling me otherwise before dropping this theory. For now I'm just sticking to the facts, this bug is really weird so I'm not making suppositions on it without evidence.

Why was the bug note removed all the way back in 2008? [1] It is still happening with regularity. 4+ years without a fix for one of the game's core mechanics... 76.253.0.17 07:49, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

You'd have to ask the person who removed the note why they did. If you think it's a serious problem, then please report it at the official forums, otherwise ANet won't realize there's an issue. (To the best of my knowledge, they haven't reviewed bugs reported on the wiki in the last few years except for Joe Kimmes, who keeps track of how NPCs use skills (and even he only pays attention to a small number of articles)). I wasn't aware it's a major problem: it never affects PvE-only players and I can't imagine it has a big impact on pure-PvP players (who use other means for unlocking). And it doesn't affect all of the remaining players. That's not to say it doesn't need to be fixed, but it does offer a reason why it's still glitched. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 01:28, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

I don't know the statistical breakdown but it would seem to me that at least a non-trivial percentage utilize a mix of both, and it affects them because they can't identify items with their PvE characters without (inevitably) losing their unlock progress for PvP. I will forward this on to the forums then, but I'd also think that this warrants mention in the article, and will add it back if there's no objection. 76.253.0.17 15:26, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

Unsurprisingly, it turns out that this issue has been posted to the forum before (probably more than once), with no response from Anet. 65.87.26.122 23:08, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

If I were a developer, I would have ignored that old post on the forums because it failed to state the problem in a way that I could turn into a fix. I don't know if the issue is easy or hard to resolve, but it's simple to describe:

• If you unlock a max weapon or rune upgrade in PvE, you equally unlock the less versions, e.g. +15% damage for 15^50 also unlocks +14% and so. This is unaffected by identifying less upgrades.
• However, if you unlock these using PvP faction rewards, when you return to PvE, you can sometimes lose your max unlock by identifying items with less upgrades. In the same example, identifying your first +14% upgrade might mean that your account no longer has the +15% unlocked.
• To test, start with a new account with a new PvE character, buy it max PvP unlocks and then give the character some unidentified blues and grapes.

That should be enough to a dev to try to replicate the issue, unless it's extremely unusual (in which case, it's not as widespread a problem as either of us think). – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 03:36, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

The problem as described seems clear enough to me, the only point of confusion was that other players were ignoring what the OP said and assumed it was user error. The bug report was filed, I confirmed that it still happens; Anet and their apologists can continue to imagine reasons why Anet has for over 4 years done nothing about a bug that causes players to lose progress. I'm not sure whether to be more appalled by that or the fact that some players don't even seem to notice the bug happening to them (it is happening on both of the two accounts I actively play, and the safe assumption is that it's universal unless you have a substantiated theory on why it wouldn't be). The fact is that all of the old inherent mod inscriptions were supposed to be unlocked by default (I confirmed that new accounts have them at max), and the fact that any of them are not is evidence enough that there is a bug. Anet cannot possibly claim ignorance when the evidence is right there in the database. Their silence on this issue is deafening. 65.87.26.122 20:13, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

The people working on various aspects of the game keep changing, so it's no surprise to me if the current crew is unaware of the bug. It's a huge program and no one understands all of the mechanics properly (which is why some stuff is still bugged, even when ANet's aware of the issue).

Let me rephrase what I mean: I don't care in the least why the bug is still present. (Even though I think there are plenty of plausible explanations: ANet might be silent because, by and large, the player base isn't reporting that they are adversely affected by it or the current dev team just doesn't have enough people to read old bug notes, etc.)

What I do care about is offering an approach that is, in my opinion, likely to result in ANet responding to the issue sooner rather than later: post a new, clear report (free of editorialization) and keep it on ANet's radar. So far, the dev team has almost always taken the time to reply such messages: it's getting fixed, they plan to fix it (but no date is scheduled), or they can't or won't fix it (for reasons X, Y, or Z). – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 23:11, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

PvE only skills

I would think it beneficial to add a note somewhere on this page to reflect that "PvE-only skills cannot be unlocked." to prevent 1RR I'm bringing this to talk page. 192.203.160.241 13:55, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Done. --JonTheMon 13:58, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Unlocking Heros

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time I checked, heros could be used in heroes' ascent. (meaning that they do have a small use in pvp). --66.91.82.73 03:55, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Nonsense?

Some weapon upgrades and inscriptions have two levels of strength, the first one being the weakest and the second being the strongest. They have to be unlocked twice to get the strongest level.

What does that even mean? To which upgrades/inscriptions is it referring? You unlock whatever level of strength that you ID'd on an item. It only requires one unlock if you get the max on your first try, or up to one unlock per level if you unlock them in order. Or maybe this is talking about something else? Hold Me Closer, Necromancer 03:40, 16 October 2011 (UTC)

I believe it's referring to unlocking items with faction.-- Pyron Sy 03:47, 16 October 2011 (UTC)

Replace "levels of strength" by "degrees of quality", and it makes sense. For several weapon upgrades, you have to unlock them in steps, from lowest to highest quality. MithTalk 17:45, 20 October 2011 (UTC)