Kill Ten Rats

How are your server’s WvW match-ups? Ours have been dramatically one-sided, with one server wiping the floor with the other two. This week, we are the victors; last week, a different server held 75% of the map consistently.

I am told that one of our competing servers had an exodus last weekend, with a major guild or seven leaving Eredon Terrace. (There are stories about what happened, but never trust Us when they tell you what is wrong with Them.) Numbers disparities are hard to overcome, and once your server is losing that badly, people stop trying. You cannot build the momentum to get past your own gates, while people flock to the winning team. The winning server has a long queue for WvW and your WvW team is half-full at best.

Bandwagons are a problem that will continue as long as free transfers are available (to more populous servers). People generally want to be on the winning team. Without server transfers, this just means that people are more likely to hit B and join WvW if they are ahead. With server transfers, people leave losing servers and join winning servers. Any swings are exaggerated by immigration. Continue reading [GW2] Unbalanced

Funny moment in Guild Wars 2 but maybe you had to be there:

My son and I were hunting in a level 30ish area when we came upon a champion. It was a long fight and several others joined in during the battle to make it a success. I started to run off and look at my loot but he tells me to hold on as he wants to grab a souvenir. I turn around to look and here he comes running carrying a huge bomb! I just did not expect that. He then ran over and dropped it by a cute white bunny and next thing I know he had earned an achievement for master of overkill with over 10,000 damage. For the rest of the evening, he was looking for souvenirs. Even if it was a rake or a hoe, he just had to grab something on the way out of a battle. It became a running joke for us all night.

Like I said, you probably had to be there but it still makes me smile.

– Ethic

(This is my final post of the Double Down series following Part 1 and Part 2.)

While ArenaNet was shifting towards Guild Wars 2 production, they created a new rewards system based on re-using content. Obviously they were aware that any Live Team would not have the resources of a new zone, or the like, and so the Zaishen content was created bringing new life to old content. For Guild Wars 1, this was possibly the only option.

Guild Wars 2 is different because the studio is entirely focused on Guild Wars 2. There are resources for new zones, dungeons, etc., and new things are exciting and shiny. The biggest question is still whether to press onward or iterate on what is available. For instance, exploring the Henge of Denravi in Guild Wars 2 was huge, in my opinion. A lot of mystery still surrounds the druids of Guild Wars 1, and with the current conflict surrounding the Henge, I felt the actual content was a tad underwhelming. For me the area downplayed my memory instead of ramping it up, like it did with Sorrow’s Embrance. A team at ArenaNet could decide to push a lot more focus on this out-of-the-way area, but is that worth it? Continue reading [GW2] Sunk Costs (Double Down III)

I open those blue bottles filled with a rainbow assortment of dyes. The unidentified dyes are slowly coming down in price as more people are getting the colors they want, but the rarest dyes are still worth quite a bit. I open my bottles because it’s a fun gamble. It’s like earning a scratcher’s ticket. Sure, I could sell it off for a few silver, but where’s the fun in that. Plus, I like filling out my dyes.

Anyway, last night I open a Celestial Dye (whitest). Hey, here’s 3 gold! That’s quite a bit of money for me since I’ve been floating around 1-3 gold for awhile now. Continue reading [GW2] Lottery Win