Contacted by ArenaNet's Regina Buenaobra

So... I'm very excited. Regina has taken notice of our guild and sought out to contact us directly. I will need some Stonewall Vanguard members to help out with questions she may have for us, so if you'd like to contribute, please respond to this topic or complete this survey. I need members who are dedicated Guild Wars 2 players who have opinions and a desire to help ArenaNet out. Below is the letter I received:

9/8/13

Hi Elquin,

My name is Regina Buenaobra. I'm the North American Community Team Lead for Guild Wars 2.

We just celebrated our anniversary, and we want the next year to be even bigger and better than our first, and to that effect we would like to start an ongoing conversation with influential guilds about how they see the game, what are their favorite parts and what would make the game even more attractive.

As a first step, I would like to set up an IRC chat with guild leaders and some of our leading designers.

If you are interested in embarking on this journey with us, let me know, and I will follow up with more details.

If there is a different person within the guild leadership that I should be communicating with on this initiative, would you mind passing along their contact details to me? I considered filling in the contact form, but I was concerned that it wouldn’t be perceived as “legit,” which is why you’re getting this email directly from me.

Best,

--
Regina Buenaobra
North American Community Team Lead | ArenaNet, LLC

9/9/13
I got another response from Regina... some good words for Stonewall Vanguard! Awesome job guys! We are being noticed by ArenaNet. :)

Hi Robert,

I’m so happy you’re interested giving us feedback and I really look forward to your input.

We’re in the process of organizing the logistics of the IRC chat, inviting folks, and so on, so as soon as I have details to share with you about that, I will pass them along to you.

Meanwhile, I would like to provide you with my Skype details for instant messaging. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to shoot me an IM on Skype at #########. I am usually available during Pacific Time office hours for questions, though I might not reply immediately if I am busy. I just wanted to give you an alternative point of contact if you just want a quick word.

And on a personal note, I play on Crystal Desert and I have often spotted members of Stonewall Vanguard running around in all areas of the game and I’ve noticed how helpful and cool your members are.

Looking forward to working with you.

Best,

--
Regina Buenaobra
North American Community Team Lead | ArenaNet, LLC

9/20/13

Greetings,

For the next step in the ongoing conversation we hope to have with you, we’d like to invite you and other guild leaders to a Vent conversation with the Guild Wars 2 Lead Designer, Isaiah (Izzy) Cartwright and the Guild Wars 2 Lead Content Designer, Mike Zadorojny.

We’re proposing Tuesday, October 1 at 11:00 AM Pacific Time for this Vent chat. Please let me know whether this time will work for you.

If this time is not convenient we might be able to schedule a chat later that day to accommodate different time zones.

Thanks,

--
Regina Buenaobra
North American Community Team Lead | ArenaNet, LLC

9/27/13

Hello Elquin,

Here is the information you will need to participate in the chat:

Chat: 11:00 AM PDT on Tuesday, October 1

Hostname or IP:
Port number:
Main password:

We look forward to your attendance.

Moving forward, I’d like to check in with you regularly to get any feedback you and your guild members have about the game releases. It doesn’t have to be an extensive email chain or anything. It could just be your high level thoughts about a release, for example. You don’t even necessarily need to stay on topic about a release. The point is that we’d like your feedback and opinions, so don’t hesitate to reach out and I’ll be communicating with you on a regular basis. J

Cheers,

--
Regina Buenaobra
North American Community Team Lead | ArenaNet, LLC

Wow, very cool news!
Congratulations on this, Vanguardians!!

I got another response from Regina... some good words for Stonewall Vanguard! Awesome job guys! We are being noticed by ArenaNet. :)

Hi Robert,

I’m so happy you’re interested giving us feedback and I really look forward to your input.

We’re in the process of organizing the logistics of the IRC chat, inviting folks, and so on, so as soon as I have details to share with you about that, I will pass them along to you.

Meanwhile, I would like to provide you with my Skype details for instant messaging. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to shoot me an IM on Skype at #########. I am usually available during Pacific Time office hours for questions, though I might not reply immediately if I am busy. I just wanted to give you an alternative point of contact if you just want a quick word.

And on a personal note, I play on Crystal Desert and I have often spotted members of Stonewall Vanguard running around in all areas of the game and I’ve noticed how helpful and cool your members are.

Looking forward to working with you. J

Best,

--
Regina Buenaobra
North American Community Team Lead | ArenaNet, LLC

I'd help out in anyway possible (even though I'm new/etc/etc)

This is so crazy! Congrats, El!

I'll help out however I can of course, although it sounds like something for our leader to do~ :p

and yes, I gots opinions.

Cool!!! Great job! Never played that game but keep up the good work!

Awesome news! It's great the our guild gets to be involved in the process!!

I'll help in whatever capacity that I can. I'm free most days usually best evenings 5-10 Mon-Sat (eastern). I have loads of ideas that I can drown arena net in XD.

Awesome by us! Yeah, we definitely do have a lot of helpful and friendly guildies.

Speaking of helpful, I'm willing to lend a hand to ya, El. Just name whatever you need me to do. (This is Tsume, btw.)

I'm happy to help however I can, too. Just let me know!

That's great news! :)

I, too, would be happy to help (even though i'm one of these euro weirdos who like to play on NA servers :p)

Update:

Greetings,

For the next step in the ongoing conversation we hope to have with you, we’d like to invite you and other guild leaders to a Vent conversation with the Guild Wars 2 Lead Designer, Isaiah (Izzy) Cartwright and the Guild Wars 2 Lead Content Designer, Mike Zadorojny.

We’re proposing Tuesday, October 1 at 11:00 AM Pacific Time for this Vent chat. Please let me know whether this time will work for you.

If this time is not convenient we might be able to schedule a chat later that day to accommodate different time zones.

Thanks,

--
Regina Buenaobra
North American Community Team Lead | ArenaNet, LLC

I'm excited about the Vent chat! It looks like ANet would like continued updates on what we think about releases and other opinions about the game. I'll probably add a separate Topic for SWVG members to voice their opinions and feedback or I may create surveys to easily collect and forward information to them. We'll be going over that during our next commanders meeting. Until then, feel free to reply in this topic.

Hello Elquin,

Here is the information you will need to participate in the chat:

Chat: 11:00 AM PDT on Tuesday, October 1

Hostname or IP:
Port number:
Main password:

We look forward to your attendance.

Moving forward, I’d like to check in with you regularly to get any feedback you and your guild members have about the game releases. It doesn't have to be an extensive email chain or anything. It could just be your high level thoughts about a release, for example. You don’t even necessarily need to stay on topic about a release. The point is that we’d like your feedback and opinions, so don’t hesitate to reach out and I’ll be communicating with you on a regular basis.

Cheers,

--
Regina Buenaobra
North American Community Team Lead | ArenaNet, LLC

Hey Elquin, first I think it's awesome that anet reached out to the guild :) I've been thinking about feedback, so here's my two cents about the new bloodlust change:

I saw the dev video preview of the borderlands bloodlust and their rationale for why you don't get any rewards for capping ruins is that the bloodlust buff is enough of a reward in and of itself. I think this is flawed for many reasons, most importantly, there is no incentive on an individual level. The way I see it, why would you spend a few minutes sitting in colored squares when you could be running around with everyone else capping towers or keeps and killing enemy zergs, getting loot, gold, wvw xp, karma and all that awesome stuff that makes WvW so much fun for a lot of people? The buff is nice and all but on that individual level, what's the point?

Edit: On second thought, I feel that there should be some reward just for completing the meta event for holding 3 ruins for two minutes and getting borderlands bloodlust, as long as you participated by capturing at least 1 point. (At first I thought it would be nice to get rewards for capping ruins, but people would just farm that.) So, you should be rewarded for being a part in acquiring that bonus to your world! Otherwise on an individual level what's the point?

Also it would be pretty awesome if they added new achievements specifically for capping borderlands ruins and acquiring bloodlust. I honestly think that it would bring a lot of positive attention to the new change with personal rewards and/or achievements, and I would actually be really excited and get out and take ruins myself. Because right now for me at least it's more rewarding to help the zerg cap something than run around the ruins.

That's all, thanks~

Just had my first chat with the ArenaNet dev group and it was fantastic! You can really tell that they're doing everything they can to listen to the community and make changes that will benefit everyone. A lot was said and done and some information couldn't be divulged but it was hinted at. Some things that the team is interested in right now includes new world boss fights/challenges/mechanics, new guild tools (revamp of MotD is already on it's way with other features being worked on), new ways to engage guilds and a lot more. The team will continue to have vent chats and they're interested in getting any kind of feedback/suggestions possible.

For those wishing to help out, you can complete the following survey for each living story. You may complete it multiple times.

goo.gl/3eCpT7