This one little change to a quality of life thing has become so very handy and I couldn’t be more tickled that they added it. GW2efficiency is a site that allows you to track all sorts of useful information about your characters across your account thanks to the GW2 API key. Now I have a reminder about doing daily crafting and world bosses, for those days where I am not sure what I want to get done.
If you’re not using the site, I HIGHLY recommend checking them out. It’s completely worth it.
This conversation that friends and the rest of my circles are having doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon, so I figured why not weigh in. I know I normally come across as having little opinion on stuff going on in the gaming world, and I stick to mainly positive topics that revolve around my little world of gaming, but why not.
To start things off – yes, it is annoying having a billion launchers. It’s probably one of my most disliked features of gaming these days, but it is what it is. I have multiple launchers, I have steam, I have bnet, I have origin, and I have stand alone games that have no launcher at all. I can lose track of what games I have where, so I get that aspect of the frustration of games being Epic Launcher Exclusives.
What I can’t get behind is the anger and frustration pointed at Epic for attempting to lure developers over to their side with exclusives by offering them sweeter deals and putting more money into the pockets of said developers (or the companies they work for). That is what a game company is. It’s a business, and going to the platform that is going to give them more money makes sense. Now the one instance where this does bug me is where the game has already promised to come out on a specific platform, and then changes their mind, leaving those users in the dust. In that instance, yes, I feel the buyers have every right to be upset.
I do not fault developers (or companies) for wanting more money in their pockets. I do not think Epic is coercing those companies, and I do not think Epic is forcing them. There are options and choices, you pick the best one for xyz internal reason that most of us armchair developers can only guess at. There is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with competition. There is nothing wrong with Valve having to work a bit harder to keep the developers they have who want to launch on their platform no questions asked. The anger and vitriol against Epic or against people who are OK using their launcher or playing those exclusive games, frustrates me. There are better things to be focusing that energy on.
Plus, it’s not as though those games are exclusives for life. It’s a limited deal. If you feel that strongly about using the launcher then as a customer do what is right for you and vote with your wallet. Wait for the game to release on the platform that you’re OK with.
Now lets all move on to some happier gaming commentary.
I’m slowly working my way through living world season 2 – even though I’ve already completed HoT. I decided it would be better to continue as much in order as I can (I’ve also done some of season 3, and some of PoF, but I have not completed either of them). In some ways I’m happy I’ve completed HoT before doing season 2 because I understand what’s going on a lot better and I can see where it’s leading. Of course that also means there isn’t much of a surprise.
I’m pretty close to reaching 3,500 achievement points and obtaining a new reward. I’m excited about that! I’ve been working on daily quests, along with doing the living world, and some map completion. I’m only 64% of the way through map completion so there’s still TONS to do. I’d also like to start working towards a legendary claymore, but I heard someone talking about how a new one will be released before too long (next month?) so I may hold off.
What is everyone else up to in game? Let me know in comments!
I’m on the final story quest in Heart of Thorns expansion, and I’ve actually managed to complete one of the maps – I’m also pretty close to completing the final two maps thanks to some HoT HP trains that have been running over the past few weekends. I’ll need help with the story (which irks me a bit, seeing as the entire rest of the story I was able to do solo) but I’m REALLY looking forward to finally completing this so that I can move on with the living world stories, and then move on to PoF. Unlocking the mounts that are available is something I want to complete, and maybe I’ll even get caught up with the current living world story.
stargrace 
