Guild Chat - Episode 75

The following is an unofficial, player-written transcript of the episode. The accuracy of this transcription has not been verified by ArenaNet.
The 75th episode of Guild Chat aired on October 12, 2018. Host Rubi Bayer interviews some of the systems team and learns about what they've been working on.
Transcription[edit]

Note: The text below hasn't yet been converted from raw subtitle text into pretty print like above.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAY4_pdgWuQ
hi everybody happy Friday and welcome to
guild chat
I'm your host Ruby and today we're
talking to members of the ArenaNet
systems team but first I want to talk to
you about something else
Rina net is participating in extra life
again this year so I want to talk to you
a little bit about that which is why I'm
courteously wearing my extra life
t-shirt today this is our second year in
a row participating in extra life for
those of you who aren't aware this is a
yearly gaming marathon in support of
Children's Miracle Network Hospitals
this is extra life's 10th anniversary
this year so we are super excited to be
helping out again
Children's Miracle Network Hospitals
what does extra life do to support them
I have a quick video that I want to show
to illustrate that and we'll talk a
little bit more about it
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
you
[Music]
and that is what our internet is working
to support this year we are really proud
to be an extra life team again this year
and if you would like to help us out
there are a lot of ways that you can do
that you can join team ArenaNet the URL
should be appearing right below me yeah
you can go to our page join team
ArenaNet and pledge to livestream on
game day which is Friday November 2nd
until Saturday November 3rd Extra Life
official game day is November 3rd
ArenaNet we're gonna start live
streaming for 24 hours at noon pacific
time so right this time on Friday
November 2nd you can also if you have
your own team that you want to be a part
of if you want to lead your own team
ArenaNet partnered with Extra Life this
year and I'm really proud to announce
that we are a super team which means
that we are able to host other smaller
teams who want to be a part of our
overarching goal but want to lead their
own team if you want to be an extra life
team with your family with your guild
with your in-game group with your world
versus world friends you can make that
if you're part of a fan site if you
follow a live streaming community you
guys can make your own team and then
join ArenaNet as a sub team beyond the
leader Boyd's
leaderboards on our page and help
contribute to our overall goal to
support Children's Miracle Network if
you are not streaming you can always
donate right there at that URL so we
appreciate in advance all of the help
that you guys give the kids at
Children's Miracle Network via our
efforts we're really proud to be one of
many many companies helping out this
year so thank you all in advance thank
you to those of you who have donated so
far we haven't even we're three weeks
out and we crossed $1,000 donated the
other night so our overall goal is to
meet what we raised total last year
which was sixteen thousand five hundred
and fifty five dollars for Children's
Miracle Network once we hit that goal
from you guys in our community this year
ArenaNet will match that dollar for
dollar taking it up to
3110 so we are really excited to meet
that goal and hope to get there and then
blow it right out of the water all right
so let's chat with the members some of
the members of our systems team thank
you all for taking some time to hang out
today I will go to in line let you each
talk about who you are and what you do
on the systems team I am a designer on
the systems team I'm specifically
responsible for making pretty much all
of the content rewards for living ruled
at the moment in addition some other
features like the underwater rework and
I'm Carl MacLean and I am a game
designer on systems team and my primary
primary function right now is to is
working on balance working on skills and
the regular balance cadence that we do
most specifically on world versus world
and I'm pretty focused on the world
restrictor and change that we're working
on bringing out awesome so let's start
by talking a little overall what is the
systems team it's kind of an all
encompassing lots of different people in
there I think the most useful way I
think of it is it's a service team for
all of the aspects of the game more so
like my role for example like if if a
living world episode needs reward stand
for it or like thought up built designed
like I usually fall for me and then if
there's like another like another
release it is a living world they will
probably also come and choose systems
for rewards basically we work a little
bit on pretty much every release ok yeah
I'd say that like with in terms of like
skills and stuff like that we work with
the entire with like living world we
work with fractals we rate with raids
with world war what's world with PvP to
try to like ensure that we have like a
good idea about what's going on with it
with the entire game in terms of like
player skill balance and you know making
sure that we can get people a little
happier every time yeah the bus never
stops for us
oh yeah and in addition that we support
you know the to kind of live game modes
the competitive game modes that are not
they don't follow the same kind of
content release that like a living world
those things like that and so all of
that combined and into itself is the
systems team kind of as a whole so a
little bit of everything there's a lot
yeah so you guys overall but you each
but you have a little bit of
specialization like Jessica you work on
rewards and it sounds like you still
need like an overall like a holistic
knowledge of the game and how it works
and none of you can operate in a vacuum
it's definitely true and one of the cool
things about kind of bringing like bring
us kinda under the umbrella of the
systems team is we're getting some of
that cross-pollination knowledge now
rather than having a bunch of people who
are hyper focused we're getting more
people that are starting to cross into
like helping like Carl with balance
right like there's a lot more
communication there and that
communication is very much facilitated
by us basically all being on the same
team
and working toward those goals together
hi guys I've done programming tasks but
there's the skills guys yes yeah our
veteran here enough to have worked on
pretty much all the content types like I
was originally on story as well for a
while
work on raids we all have pre broad
knowledge of each other some some like
rewards implementation and some other
content modifications and implementation
that kind of stuff and skills are kind
of where we're I've landed yeah but I'm
curious about your reward implementation
reward what did you see some maps were
part I was able to partially face trap
question what does settlement yeah okay
darn feels like and Aaron fields okay
like some of the rewards in there have
done some of those and a few other
places in the
okay our system is ideally if I were to
get hit by five buses tomorrow that we
would still be able oh hey Oh our
team has a hit by a bus plan anything
less than five we're expected to be a
work the next day it's fine yeah you
guys are strict most teams probably have
that I'm pretty tough I mean four buses
will bounce off the five that no one
expects the fifth bus that was good I
need to keep you away from the Transit
Center it's the thing she'll just sit
there waiting for the buses where are
they so what does a typical work day
look like for you guys we have typical
work day yes like it seems to be mine is
always in flux but like it's usually
like come in and and like immediately
it's like looking like all the feedback
that's come in we got got a lot of
people just get sending me messages or
like reading the forum's reading reddit
like seeing what's new what's new what
is what is being written about that day
yeah you know Ben will send me yeah a
bunch of feedback and stuff like that
and there's just a lot of places that it
comes from so that's generally like the
first the first start and then it kind
of goes into you know like figuring out
what's going on for the rest of the day
meetings
what's different so Mary yeah
and kind of like Mart like marching
through the day like getting through all
the different goals so getting away of
the land yeah is anything imploded
getting the lay of the land making sure
making sure you take a break yes please
but yeah you know that there's there's a
whole lot more specific that we I can
get other than like yeah usually comes
in it's it's a matter of like reading at
the very start of the day sometimes
actually I go into like transitioning
you look played playing the game you
know just like listen like I read this
feedback in where this world let's go
let's go experience this
like this thing says is like you know
like this is broken and like how does it
fin then so I like Oh sometimes I'll go
put that to build together and like you
know start playing and playing through
it yeah so getting hints on yeah getting
give me the hands on and then it goes
into like you know going through the
rest of the day and like making sure
like everything did it that needs to be
done gets done yeah I think yeah one of
the first things I often do in the
morning is turn to Carl be like hey so
people were talking about this thing in
this discord that I come in like is this
a thing and then we'll just talk about
it from the beginning of the beginning
there's a lot of conversation that has
on what's to be had on like a lot of the
things that that that are said you know
we investigate many different areas yeah
you know at some point the drinking
starts and then buses so you talked
about balance a little bit
and that's seeing if something hey this
is the thing is does this seem to be a
thing for you or is this just like a few
people how do you decide what I mean
what if something falls out of your
regular okay this is this is what I see
these meetings I have these are the
tasks that I'm working on oh here's this
outlier oh this this happens a lot I
mean we're kind of we provide you know
services to everybody right and so like
you know if somebody in living world has
this problem with like a skill they're
creating it they're making a creature
and it needs to like work a certain way
like it's a like they can come to us and
we will be like yep this is this is I
know how to work this I know or at least
I can point you in the right direction
to get the to get this creature
functioning how how you want it to so
that kind of stuff kind of pops up a lot
and it gave me they can be just be like
you know your your task like my task for
the day might be implement on balance
for the next iteration and it needs to
and they but this person just making
this living world stuff like this is a
this is a priority as well so right you
get a you get a you know divvy it out
yeah it out and
make sure that you think they get the
help that they need
okay we get the benefit of all of our
tasks our high priority tasks so like
it's very easy to prioritize them that
way I mean it's a thing we call
randomization when like something that's
not actually your responsibility like
lands on your plate and you've kind of
got a deal with it ideally like we
minimize that kind of thing but it's
always gonna happen since systems is
traditionally expected to be the team
that has the most technical knowledge of
how the game sucked up
we're very scrappy we we we can we can
kind of roll with those punches perhaps
I wouldn't say better than other teams
but like we're more experienced we're
more used to it yes yes and we actually
just our new producer Joby I'll give a
shout-out to him he's been he's been
really good about not only helping us
track and identify those those kind of
randomizations but helping us figure out
which ones are actually like I said you
know everything seems like high priority
but what is actually high priority how
does this fit into our normal release
schedule you know like can we can we
wait to help the person who needs help
with the living world creature because
Carl needs to get you know work on the
balance patched you know first right um
helping helping kind of prioritize those
things and on track this stuff is really
good cuz I mean being a service team we
want to help the teams that we you know
that we that we do service so it's it's
tricky sometimes to say well actually we
need to work on this other thing first
yeah and if you're a service team for
the entire company and everything is
high priority overwhelming that's where
the scrappy part comes in yeah yeah so
we were talking about things that fall
outside of your normal day and I'm gonna
ask I'm gonna ask Carl actually because
Carl gave me a note about stolen bundles
and raids and I want to hear this story
now because all I have are these four
words oh this is a this is kind of a I
guess an example of like when it when
raids they came to us and they were like
well I don't know if they came to us
actually yeah this is part of it you
didn't you didn't see thieves and raids
and like that it felt like they were
kind of caught out from that sorry
that's side of things because they
they kind of lack the utility they had
decent amount of damage but their
utility in terms of like they don't heal
very well realize they do and they and
and so this was an a one of the things
that we were we decided to implement to
help out thieves and raisins like these
raid bosses had just normal
stolen bundles on the more nun and so
you know I went in there and like looked
it looked at all the loot tables and
stuff like that and said oh well we can
let's let's make them new items so they
can go and steal these cool like super
functional items from these from these
bosses and share them with their allies
or create some other good utility for
the for the thieves and that was one of
that's just an example how can I fix
this and not screw everything up because
the thing is everything touches
everything and with few exceptions which
you guys would know about better than me
but it is it's I hate to say it's a
balance thing because it feels like I'm
making a terrible pun and I'm not but I
feel like I make a terrible pun a few
but it feels like you have to you have
to help whatever team that you're
working with and still take the work of
your teammates into consideration so you
don't accidentally upset something else
there is there's a lot I'm not I'm
telling you something that you already
know but it feels like one of the
trickier aspects of your job because
sure I can go in here and I can fix this
thing without and if you're not taking
anything else to consideration then
maybe sure I fix this one thing and I
broke 17 other things yeah I mean that's
kind of a big that's a big reason why
we're like we we have to QA embeds and
you know for people who saw the QA
streams they know that but that's is
basically QA members that are on our
team and focus on the things that we're
working on other things that we're
changing and making sure that that
stuff's gonna go through you know
largely without being a problem and
that's a huge task because I mean you
know if Carl changes a skill and that
skill doesn't it doesn't have a PvP
split or a wolf split like that affects
three game modes now
yeah and that's not it I mean Carl looks
here if I don't know get to put the
catalog shell-shocked he's remembering
all the time great power comes please
don't screw everything up yes that
actually is really wise so how do you
make those decisions about okay I need
to fix this thing what direction do I
change this him what do I add what do I
take away what do I add just I mean
there's a ton of discussion like I did
you go to our area and you see our desks
like a bunch of us are like just kind of
in a loop and then there's a bunch of us
and another loop we're like kind of like
an eight almost yeah and like so that
like the skills guys can turn around and
talk to other skills guys or they're you
know or the QA or Joby and like you know
I'm you know when I need to talk to been
PR designer on the competitive modes
like he's like I can look over my
shoulder and talk at him like that that
communication is really is really key to
for our teams and like I said I'd you
know out a car like hey yeah standing up
and like talking about this with leg
bent and and Raymond and everybody else
on that side of their we're pretty we're
pretty compact it has to be so loud I'm
not in there
I just want to say so does that mean you
get the most done or I mean maybe sure
yeah that's good yeah we'll go with that
it's communication within the team there
is a lot of conversation that happens
and a lot of like planning and sort of
like you will pick it will start a
conversation and say we don't have a
good good resolution for this right now
and then we'll just like think on it
we'll stew on it for awhile but
sometimes like just like a half hour
later somebody will be like but wait
yeah the answer nice takes longer than
and like you know sometimes sometimes we
get to the point where like we just got
to make a decision on this and like
let's let's figure out what the best
option that we never now is because
waiting longer
is you know is is not it's not the right
choice at this point right and yeah and
that's you know that's kind of like you
know we do skill suppose for PvP and
we'll vote right like there's a there's
a consideration is there is there way to
affect the skill in a way that is good
for all three game modes all at once
yeah and so like every time we make a
balance adjustment it's like we try to
consider it for like where does this
actually need to touch and we have a we
have kind of a paradigm where there are
three game modes basically like there's
PvE Orvis world and PvP and where this
world is like this it's like cross
between the tallest one because it is
it's taking all of your PvE stuff and
then like but it kind of uses a PvP rule
set and so we try to it's it's it's
different to split oftentimes if it
needs to change for PvP we try to take
the try to take the change in the
worldís world as well sometimes the
sometimes a change doesn't do a factor
of its world and like it really should
just be like always we stick it on the
PBE side of things like it would
bringing the PvE or the PvP split would
be worse for world room yeah because
it's fun it functions differently and
like yeah and then you go we can talk
about the the kind of the spiral chaos
of skill battles but like world view
world has multiple ways to play world
view world right
coming around with the Zerg vs. solar
roaming versus small squad roaming you
know PPTP PK you know like all of those
things want different things from the
same basically the same pool of skills
right in that and it becomes an
incredibly difficult thing to consider
do we change this which is really
powerful in solar roaming but that would
mess up these desert builds and so like
how do we how do how do we balance that
yeah and that that's all discussed like
that's all discussion within within the
team the biggest myths about game dev is
that game devs will just make a snap
decision without like weighing all the
consequences it gives me hives I get I
guarantee you like any decision that has
ever made for our game and probably most
games is also accompanied by many
many many heated discussions yeah I
would say one of like the most important
skills to have you want to work on gave
them is to be able to talk very
impassioned about something very easily
about something and they come out that
not heat the other person afterwards
right yeah yeah not personal yeah like
conversations arguments have to happen
like the you everybody so we've got
multiple people working on skills you
know and and we have different opinions
about a lot of things but it's good for
like we get a week we are able to kind
of filter through a lot of that by of
like maybe if maybe it's like bias or
maybe it's just sort of like yeah I'm
trying to try to think of like the
actual words to put it said like we we
would come at things from different
angles and perspectives different
perspectives and it all down and I kind
of get to the get to the actual heart of
what it what the problems are that we
need to be solving right exactly
and like and I always like to remind
myself everyone here wants to make a
great game like yeah no one here wants
to make a not great game so Karl's
coming at it from that angle it's just a
different perspective on how to make a
great game and that throughout my game
career has made it a lot easier for me
to see things from the other person side
you know maybe make you know changes to
the way I'm looking at things so that I
can you know get a better picture for
things yeah that's that's a joke that
I've made before and like half-heartedly
kidding saying nobody is coming in here
every morning going how can I ruin
someone's day because I feel like it
wouldn't last very long yeah but it's
everybody here wants to make a great
game I need it on a throw pillow or
something yeah and making games is hard
that's the other that's the other hard
no it's easy I hear it if I had felt
like something like I thought you were
save I seriously you were talking about
the heated discussions and you reminded
me that years back I was just I was
spitballing with some friends
about different episodes about different
ice-cream topics we could do and some of
those people worked here and I said what
if we did like what if we did like let's
follow the process of skill balance and
how that works and he immediately said
just show a video of a bar brawl okay
okay all right yeah that was I mean
there was no hesitation he was like just
show a video of a bar brawl and say it's
in a meeting room it's fine yeah it's
one of the things that I would have to
say is like you learning you're learning
people's communication stylism it's
super important some people they argue
in different ways some people will just
immediately just kind of Stonewall and
say no this ideas is the thing no but
you just but if you learn how they but
that's only their initial reaction so if
you'd like you know say what you got to
say and then like kind of walk away for
a little bit come back a couple hours
later they've they've they've let it
stew when they process it and then
they're ready for ready for more like
that plant plant the season yeah let
them actually think about about what you
said yeah we I would say if you can't if
you don't have the ability to have your
mind change probably should working game
does everybody you know like everybody
in this room has been wrong on a number
of occasions and you know being wrong is
fine as long as as a group you come out
with the right answer yeah are the
systems area is we have tons of
whiteboards they're like we're
surrounded whiteboards all around the
room and everything they're there right
we've written down there's like ideas of
like let this do sort of things like do
we need this you know like and so like
that's it's it's it's funded like kind
of go back and see what we've you know
talked about all the conversations that
we've had how it's like a visual vision
how things have come along yeah but that
goes back to what Jessica was saying
about there aren't snap decisions it's
not no one person can walk in and be
like this is how it
is this is now the decision everybody
sit down it's not only a thing you
definitely hopefully that but no one's
gonna come in and try to try to make
that that like command I mean good luck
yeah I mean yeah definitely for sure
fun fun fun trivia fact about our
whiteboards so we we weren't we haven't
always been in that little pod but when
we moved there you know whole group
moves there all at the same time written
on every single whiteboard over and over
and over again filling every White was
praised Joko over and over and over
again like hundreds of someone when you
say it kind of is like no play makes
Jack a dull boy
yeah well praise Yoko over and over and
over again it was awesome I think for
Halloween I'm just gonna write help me
backwards and red marker and every
single whiteboard that's valid work with
Eva on that because I think they can
help you step it up okay so I have a
question about when teams come to you
like hey this thing is broken or we're
doing this and we need rewards for it
how involve it and maybe it just depends
on the team but how involved do those
other teams stay or is it just okay
we'll work on this and get back to you
or are they involved in that process I
think we've I think we've all got
different experiences yeah these are
valuable I think it's important to
remember we do fairly different things
for rewards it tends to be I talked to
them extensively over the course of
whole release there's all you should see
my skype window it's like thirty windows
oh is it possible it'll parse but no
because because rewards is trying to
match up what we make to what fits best
with the content it's important that we
have a very close communication with the
content designers also content designers
will usually have a very specific thing
they want so that communication make
sure helps ensure that there's no like
cross wires anything okay like the one
thing you can't do is by telephone no
like art requests and that kind of thing
yeah how about you
it depends sometimes it sometimes is
like a like an involved process where
like go back and forth and try to try to
design through some stuff other times
it's a matter of like I'm gonna just I'm
going to make this thing for you and you
know you go and and then like we're
gonna have a review on it then they you
can tell me what you think about it like
but we've we had that initial that
initial meeting and like this it might
just be exactly what you're looking for
when in the end of it but not that it
happens that frequently though the dream
is that but yeah sometimes sometimes
like I don't they don't really need to
be involved with like all of the
development know like how you you made
the that thing for them come watch me
type yeah it's just a matter of like
okay here's this thing you know this is
how how it how it's looking is that
Alright okay where do we need to put it
let's put it there okay that's fair
right oh yeah I would say everything
that I do has to be more collaborative
cuz as a programmer I don't I don't make
content generally I mean some of the
things I can do can be can be very
content
you know centric like especially like if
I'm adding new UI or you know my quality
of life features and stuff like that
that can I guess be considered as
content but if I'm adding you know some
some script actions for new skill stuff
like Carl's gonna have to use that stuff
otherwise it is not nothing's gonna
happen right so like just as a
programmer like it's very it's a lot
more collaborative I'm gonna do my chunk
and then someone else is gonna do their
chunk and then come back to me you know
when I didn't do it right or something
so yeah like it there's definitely a lot
of back-and-forth um
now with like world restructuring I'm
kind of all by myself
so like I mean like it's a whole world
it's it's it right now it is largely
programming tasks like that's what we're
working on so it is it is just the
programming staff working on it so it's
you know like designers have feedback
and design doc stuff that we're working
from but like just the actual
implementation of things it's very
program receptor so I guess I guess it
can be
more central to me it makes sense so you
mention you're working over world
restructuring and that brings up a
question that you may not be able to
answer and if you guys if one of you or
all of you can't answer it that's okay
but I'm curious what are you working on
right now that you're excited about and
if you can't say that's okay I cannot
emphasize that enough I'm working on a
quality of life well I actually actually
just finished a quality of life feature
for all over the world I'm super excited
about because it's something that I've
wanted that's always that's always a fun
thing about working in games especially
on a live game I want a thing and then
if everyone thinks it's a good idea I
can go ahead and do that
yes so that's super exciting I mean I'm
really excited about world restructuring
there's a lot of cool tech there that
we're we're building so that stuff is uh
it's pretty exciting to work on I'm
getting to touch like lots of different
things like I'm writing SQL and I'm
doing C++ code and python code and it's
all over the place and it's very
exciting and that's super dirty but it's
awesome you're in a building full of
huge nerds for me it's hard for me to
talk about really anything since I've
been working so closely with living
world and spoiling some from the world
will cause ninjas to be sent after me
finish with me so they're outta here
they're behind the set your ceiling
tiles right there's not even ceiling
tiles except for there are nervous but
it's okay but that's what a ninja would
say so for me I think the other thing
I'm excited about is always always
always to see a player reaction to the
stuff we're giving them because yeah
like rewards the way I look at it is it
is motivation right rewards this is the
team that is responsible for motivating
people to like play the content and
should try and make that content for
your rewarding and to see if if what you
have been spending all your time on is
actually like hitting the right now
it's that that's that's really exciting
to me it's really gratifying isn't it
yeah if you can't say it's okay
seriously know this so working on the
next balanced iteration is one of those
things that's kind of always we're
always doing and like so we just got
done with our with the last one we're
kind of got the got our last hot fixes
done and we're seeing the results of the
the previous balance patch and so you
know we've been gathering information
and and we're looking at new kind of
goals and stuff like that it's a word
we're kind of springing into action to
get that next the the next iteration
going what that said like I've also like
there's some like skill reworks I've
actually got something in prototype
right now and it's like basically being
like in the approval process and then
like I was about to ask ago which skill
and I'm like oh wait of course this is
why you're being vague basically it
would live the next like I think Monday
I'll have like the answer as to what
what when this thing could go out
awesome so I'm kind of excited about
that one okay in addition there's some
stuff that's going out Tuesday I think
the next iteration ninjas this is
there's a couple of just fine-tuned
stuff they're balancing that we have
going and I'm also trying to remember
what the date of next year's there's a
lot of Tuesdays from now until forever
some of us are working like three weeks
ahead like sometime soon with four likes
just some fine teen balance stuff and
then like some stuff we'd working on for
world was world yeah yeah really excited
about that one I think we're at right to
talk about that one we're actually we
were actually yeah we talked about it
beforehand in case in case there was a
not like an opportunity to talk about on
the water stream we do what with streams
every Thursday at 2:30 you watch them
you guys they're good they're a ton of
fun we get lots of different people it's
you
a whole lot on the street
you know you know going back to things
we're excited about like that's actually
one of the you know cool things about
our team being being a very very like
the stuff were working on for external
teams is obviously stuff we can't you
know we don't we don't generally talk
about but there is a lot there's more
freedom for us to give to do back and
forth little player base about you know
feedback that are you know they're
they're giving bounce ideas off of them
like we you know we bounce I mean we
posted the world were structuring design
and asked the local community like hey
is this something that you guys think
would be good and what are your
questions and we think this is the right
move for the game the game mode and that
was that was a ton of fun and it was
very informative like you know there
were you know there's player perspective
like we talked about you know having
different perspectives on the game like
we're like this tiny subset of all the
people that player yeah right and all of
those people have their own perspectives
on what's important and like there was a
lot of viewpoints that we didn't even
think about because unlike you know we
didn't have that that that that
visibility and so like bringing those
people into the fold and like kind of
like helping helping us think about all
the different different angles we need
to think is is super good and that's why
I like you know we've we've got a little
bit more leeway to do some of that stuff
and you know we're we're definitely
vague about things because we don't you
know we can't promise that something's
gonna come you know out on a particular
release because maybe something goes
wrong or we have you know we have to
wait and you know we don't want to
disappoint people but at the same time
you know we want it we want to get that
feedback and we want to be able to
bounce the ideas off people that way we
can make better choices overall which is
actually what like why we were talking
about but we were talking about changes
to the way mark marked works in world
versus world it was like a thing that uh
that we've been talking about and
iterating on and stuff like that yeah
got we've got some cool stuff that's
going on there and like you know when I
don't know exactly when that's gonna
come out but like there's there's cool
stuff to working on there and if we were
we were talking about like bringing it
up on the stream if there was a
in interaction there that was like you
know something that we were we were
looking at but you know it didn't it
didn't come up
things were kind of excited about yeah
it's a small change but it's it's more
of like this is this is quality of life
sort of and changing the way that people
will play around this sort of thing
honestly a lot of times the QL changes
are the things that I get really excited
about because those are they just make
the game better overall mmm yeah yeah
you would mentioned putting world
restructuring in front of the players
how can players be helpful and in
guiding you guys from their own
perspective post on the forums yep we
push you politely post on the forums I
mean if I great I mean obviously
obviously be polite but like I mean if
you're passionate about something then
that can that can come off you know
aggressive sometimes but yeah it's don't
see something's bad explain why you
think it's bad yeah and then and then
now we can now we have something to go
off of don't tell ray he's bad he knows
he's bad yeah I know I'm your helper
it's really important to be able to get
your their points across it without like
you know like being inflammatory less
yeah using music that kind of languages
is a little bit it's kind of not
constructed to what you're trying to do
if you're trying to if you want to make
a make an impression yeah maybe keep the
end goal in mind yeah yeah and is the
end goal to make the dev feel bad
because they're bad thing that you feel
like is messed up
exactly and like I think I think this is
true of the players right like we talked
about us not wanting to make a bad game
I don't think they want a bad game
either right like they're coming at it
from that same that exact same angle
everyone wants a great game we all want
the same thing we want an amazing game
exactly there's a puzzle for us we've
read so much of the forums and like we
don't have a ton of time to reply to
every post and so sometimes it seems
like we're not you know when we're not
getting that engagement but we are like
we totally are oftentimes it's better to
just see the the interaction between
between you and your
the other people who are who are similar
who are also on the forum and they also
have opinions about the things you're
talking about yeah and sometimes like
you know your of it your opinion may
evolve based on what they have to say
and like it that's that interaction of
seeing how how you talk with one another
is is impactful and it did and it kind
of helps to give us perspective about
how people feel yeah yeah talk to us yes
and I mean I mean I don't ping me
in-game I love when people say great
game love what's doing that super
exciting every time someone does it and
then and then like I'm awkward and I
don't know what to say back like thanks
great playing the game like I mean
because like the players are part of
that a part of making the game great
right absolutely especially the
communities like you say thanks for
raising me and we're trying to convey
exactly that's a great way to say yeah
like yeah it's it's a it's a ton of fun
I actually had a we were playing on a
German server for one of the live
streams if someone someone just started
whispering me like line after line of
German and I'm like and they're like
they're like English question mark I'm
like yeah just English just two guys I'm
sorry and then they they like to redid
the whole thing and like it was it was
it was awesome because I got to interact
as a person and I felt really bad for
you know not being able to speak German
because like yeah they could speak
English I feel like I should return the
favor almost that's funny you say that
because what I'm playing a lot of times
I will hop over a you servers just
because hey that's and especially when
I'm tagged up so I want to go over there
and you know when I talk to people there
too and the last time I did that a
couple days ago a player greeted me by
running hot Bethan say chat screaming at
me in German and I only recognized one
word and it was a bad one and it was
like he seems very passionate about this
I opened up on my other monitor Google
Translate I typed that entire thing
into Google Translate and I was like
okay you're saying something reasonable
you're just very excited about it and
then I was like English and we talked in
English and I was like well since you
asked me so nicely I will look into it
but I don't actually have your answer
but is very intense yeah yes he was like
I'm yeah I'm just very excited very
passionate yeah and but it is neat
getting to talk to players from all over
the world yeah that's super cool even if
I have to run them through Google
Translate and undo the caps lock
so I lost my question I'm very sorry
he's just thinking about the other
player yeah we were talking about how
players can help out and I actually
wanted to wrap up by asking each of the
favorite part of your job what is the
thing that you look most forward to I'm
trying not to cough I'm sorry no I think
the very convenient answer is I really
enjoy players seeing what I make and
enjoying that but actually you know I
think I'm gonna give the answer that not
people a lot of people give I enjoy the
discussions with colleagues I it's cool
I'm gonna regret saying this right now
there's such a thing as having way to
make meetings which is definitely not
sometimes but also I do really
appreciate getting a variety of
viewpoints on idea and that kind of
debate and that process where you're all
trying to find the best thing for the
game and you've all got different ideas
of how to do it and all you have like oh
all you are a little bit right and like
trying to like source out like just
trying to to squirrel out what the right
answer is that's satisfying to me like
it's solving those logic puzzles with
other designers is very interesting to
me it's really that I like that that's
like very valid well my favorite
meetings actually kind of can't believe
of a favorite meeting the the economy
council meeting because that's a rewards
person I'm part of the economy Council
and we kind of just keep an eye on how
the economy is doing and see what's
coming up in terms of releases and how
it might
protect the economy and that yeah
Illuminati confirmed economy council I'm
seeing you're going I didn't even know
we had something called that there
they're definitely a cent inches after
me where do you meet like in the
basement the sub-basement is a
sub-basement Congrats level see ya buddy
yeah you just don't know I'm gonna pull
that one book on the bookshelf and then
the elevator I wish anyway but yeah
fascinated are the discussions there are
really fun for me just because like we
have tons of data and that we look at
and we're trying to interpret it and
then we're trying to see like what is an
acceptable range and what is not an
acceptable range mean like what we can
do what we can do to affect it in a more
positive way for the player oh wow
that's awesome I love that answer
alright top that oh I don't know right
so for me it's it's the constantly
learning stuff whether it's like
different ways to script things or new
ways or better ways that kind of stuff
or learning how to like a lot of it is
like learning how to communicate with
people and that is something that is I'm
just feel like I'm always look I'm
always trying to work at and it feels
feels really great to be able to
communicate better with with your
colleagues and and recognize when you're
when you haven't communicated to write
like well and try to improve on that and
so like like I don't know that to me is
like I feel like I'm learning and
growing and trying and finding better
ways to do things and learning better
ways to implement balance and it's been
tested and make skills and do yeah and I
think that what like doing the skill
reworks is one of those things is
because it's taking something we've
we've kind of known and sort of held
dear dear to us for these last six years
and and saying okay this has lost its
its value and then and it's it doesn't
really fit the game anymore and like how
do we like how do I take what I have
what I've learned over this over the
course of time what we've done and make
this into something useful again
Wow that's so good alright I was trying
to think of like a joke answer like a
little my desk you like you love whiskey
Friday now nobody tells me anything
drinks I'm afraid the free drinks are
great except wonder 83 degrees because
of frigid is that today drink sir then
the drinks are hotter than the
livestream room when we're doing the
fridge on the right is okay they're
fixing the one on the left yet no I know
but I found out the hard way that the
tea was warm yesterday pepper I don't
know any dr. pepper you can have mine
but what's your actual my real answer is
I I really love like interacting with
the community like that was like one of
the first things I jumped on when I
started here is I I'm like you know you
know what do you guys do when you talk
to the communion they're like oh you
know you know we we talk on the forums a
little bit I'm like no no we gotta I'm
gonna get in there I'm gonna be post on
the forums every week I'm like I am i I
don't know how many discord channels I'm
in for various servers because I'm all
over the place and we're making an MMO
right I know yeah I've like there's a
quite a few discord
there's so much there's so there's so
many so many things like that and then
of a lurker though he's here yeah I just
I love interacting the players I love
you know kind of and helping to in a lot
of ways facilitate that communication
between like our team and and the player
base and stuff like that and helping
helping that out you know responding the
things on the forums I mean the world
researching post alone had like I know
something like 18 pages of replies and
like you know McKenna and I just spent
days just going through that and talking
to each other and they're responding to
feedback and I really I really loved
that stuff I mean well I think both of
these you know these folks answers was
we're great to like interacting with the
the team here this this is the best job
I've had in terms of like just breadth
of knowledge and being able to have
mentors for all sorts of things like
do we have like a rena at university
where people in the studio give talks
about yeah all sorts of everything
everything anything you could think you
know there's the designer training days
where designers go off and give talks
about various aspects of game design and
i get to go to those and that's super
cool awesome those are different from
whiskey Fridays right yes i mean
sometimes the same topics of
conversation come up but you know no but
like just so many aspects of this this
company are awesome like you know we you
know like jessica saying we're very
interested in hearing everyone's voice
um sometimes to a fault right like now
there are too many people in this
meeting right there are too many voices
right now we don't have a we don't have
a good enough handle on what we're
asking here and then the meeting goes
goes awry right no but at the same time
like it we were striving to get that
that that input from all different
perspectives and that's that's supercool
team like there's so many awesome things
about working here and there's this
misconception this general attitude that
gamers and game dads are misanthropes
that are very introverted and like you
know shut-in and so not been my
experience yeah that can't be farther
from the truth
i mean we were we work with huge teams
different backgrounds different values
different experiences different
perspectives on everything and being
able to try and suss out the useful
parts of everyone's everyone's opinion
is a very important skill and also
maintaining positive relationship so
everyone is a very useful skill meaning
being able to interact with community
and be a positive figure for the
community very important scale social
skills are like one of those things that
don't get talked a lot about a lot in
game dev but they are super important if
you want to succeed in this industry
it's true it's very true yeah all right
well thank you guys very very much I
appreciate your time you can find us in
a whole bunch of different places raid
even talk about the world versus world
livestream and when and where people can
see that real quick
Thursday's 2:30 Pacific time we stream
in na and he you swap
data centers every week and then we plan
a different world every week so if you
know we haven't been on your world yet
we're coming soon for you I think oh man
we had given I had just I had the
server's I had the server's yeah there's
a super secret no one knows about it
achievement for killing a dev so even if
you're not on our team it you can come
get that are driving buses here has to
be on next week
wanna see it sorry Rach I didn't mean to
put you on the spot like no I think like
mark can bring it up he knows he knows
where that website is and now I'm going
mark on the spot which is exciting
leaving the room but the next the next
na the next na world I know because we
talked about on the stream is no anyways
like I mean we posted in the live show
you want to know the answer watch the
live stream on Thursday um but will be
it we're actually gonna be on black 8 in
two weeks I've been trying to get chat
to to determine my build for me oh yeah
yeah if I can figure it out beforehand
post on the forum they would be little
nice because I live stream I have a lot
of resources I can make sort of whatever
build you're trying to give me to play
but yeah I've got I've got quite a I got
a decent amount of bills and I'm willing
to try to make more try to get try to to
make the thing that you would like would
like me to make it just needs to be a
whole weight versus world livestream
what build Shekar over condi condi kala
like renegade you know they was at the
birthday the birthday plaster
necromancer yeah I think that was it's
gotta be it's gotta be somewhat viable
but not like I mean maybe it's my I mean
I gotta be able to use weapon skills he
at least he either need to be able to he
ever needs to be able to defend himself
through an offensive action or have a
lot of help so they can run away dance
have to
good when they're playing or they will
never share that oh right like you got a
god help their skills I think I think
yeah that's true
three weeks ago I jumped off of a cliff
to try to kill it down and I discovered
quickly than there was no nothing that I
could like jump on to no he couldn't go
and then I was like quick glide can't
glide either this is my life down
instantly dead rallied by I usually just
wind up accidentally hitting my foreskin
my forkie when I missed FLE and that's
like I will never learn not to like that
stuff like like well I'm trying to show
off
yeah at least specialization or some
like that I'm like just not quite for
not quite familiar what I'm doing I like
just died it's okay I mean that's part
of this dream like I mean it's part of
it we're not where the stream is super
super casual we can reach at and when
you've respond to chat if we can all
right so super good Thursdays 2:30
Pacific 2:30 Pacific yes and I'll be
although to you yes yes I wasn't like
but not Carl yeah I just happened to be
in race I line so yeah right and Carl
too so all right well I will let you get
all get back to work thank you so much
for your time and thank you for talking
about what the systems team does a
little bit of what it does
yeah so feel like there's more there is
just don't have enough time
yes I will let you I will let you start
doing it you all thank you for joining
us and make sure you check out our Extra
Life page and thank you again for your
support thank you for spending your
Friday afternoon with us bye guys
you
External links[edit]

Guild Chat Episode 75 - The Systems Team on ArenaNet's official channel on YouTube
Guild Chat - Episode 75

Transcription[edit]

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