Thought this was an interesting read.

http://www.arena.net/blog/is-it-fun-colin-johanson-on-how-arenanet-measures-success

Opinions?

Fuck sake people, at least one paragraph, what is so hard to understand.

Apologies. Was written on my phone, I will include a full report in future.

@RekIvan: @Beaudacious:

One... paragraph? Huh? I don't get it.

As for the blog post, thanks for the link. Guys around these parts have been so on top of it that I've stopped checking the blogs until one of y'all post it here.

Will edit with thoughts.

ED:

Okay, this is one of those articles which I seriously couldn't care less about (just Anet guys talking game design philosophy... shrug). BUT - it did include this image, which is hella cool.

Read this earlier, and while everything Colin says here has been said elsewhere, it's worth keeping in mind. ArenaNet is trying as hard as they can to make their game fun, because that's the only way they can sustain their company with the business model they have.

@selfconfessedcynic: Oh god, more jumping puzzles.

@selfconfessedcynic: FUCK YES, more jumping puzzles.

they are doing a great job of keeping it fun sans the respec trainers. they need to go back to the original way and let us respec anywhere in the world out of combat. that is fun.

@selfconfessedcynic: You are asked to write at least one paragraph to encourage discussion in a topic otherwise it gets labeled as spam/locked.

Also, I'm on board with @CommodoreGroovy. All jumping puzzles will bend to my will.

In regard to the blog post, it's almost like they're running out of things to write about. Most of what is in there is common sense or has been said before, or both. If they don't have anything to write about then they totally have my permission to just work on the game. No need to force it.

@Jayzilla said:

they are doing a great job of keeping it fun sans the respec trainers. they need to go back to the original way and let us respec anywhere in the world out of combat. that is fun.

Without that sense of permanence, you end up with Diablo 3: the lack of permanence and investment only making the experience feel less personal in favour of flexible.

@RekIvan: @selfconfessedcynic: Don't mean to be a prick, just tired of threads getting locked.

@Subjugation: I feel like Areanet has be stalling for a while now, I'd rather they work or say something pertinent.

@Beaudacious said:

Fuck sake people, at least one paragraph, what is so hard to understand.

The fuck is a paragraph?

@Maystack said:

@selfconfessedcynic: Oh god, more jumping puzzles.

Less of a jumping puzzle and more of an interstate jumping highway.

I am pro jumping puzzles, especially if their is a collectable or something at the end of them. Datacrons= my favorite part of ToR

T'is a 'White Noise' blog post, if I ever saw one.

@project343 said:

@Jayzilla said:

they are doing a great job of keeping it fun sans the respec trainers. they need to go back to the original way and let us respec anywhere in the world out of combat. that is fun.

Without that sense of permanence, you end up with Diablo 3: the lack of permanence and investment only making the experience feel less personal in favour of flexible.

It's arguable in the end. I personally like having restrictions on respecing because it makes you think twice before you want to experiment with something. Of course, removing that to have more room to experiment could also be a good thing.

@Dark_Lord_Spam said:

and cheap respec costs in PvE and WvW (less than 50 silver at level 80, which is practically nothing at that point).

Then why have them if they're "practically nothing" lol? It just seems like an inconvenience to me.

@Beaudacious said:

@RekIvan: @selfconfessedcynic: Don't mean to be a prick, just tired of threads getting locked.

@Subjugation: I feel like Areanet has be stalling for a while now, I'd rather they work or say something pertinent.

Stalling?

They just confirmed a solid release date.

@SeriouslyNow: That post is 2 weeks old. The release date announcement is 1 week old.

@TheHT said:

@SeriouslyNow: That post is 2 weeks old. The release date announcement is 1 week old.

Oh. Sorry. :(

HT is ON it : )

Anyway - what was this thread dredged up again?

*looks*

Oh right, permanence and respeccing.

@Kreindis:

I actually fall on the side of wanting it to be like GW1. I mean, they already let you change skills at any time out of combat, so why not trait points? AND WHY CANT THEY GIVE ME A CONFIRM OPTION INSTEAD OF MAKING EVERY CLICK OF "+" COUNT. That's a bullshit artificial way of making investing a point feel important, (surprise) 4 out of every 5 points mean jack all Anet.

Anyway. I assume it'll go the way of GW1 and they'll eventually make it easier to change and load up builds after the vast majority of players are at 80 and complaining that they have to spend tonnes of gold to respec because they made a single misclick.

@SeriouslyNow: Yes we know, read the timestamps on comments.