Guild Wars 2

Ok serious answer now: There’s a reason GW1 only had two new campaigns before they gave up on that approach. Possibly more than one reason but the one I heard was that in order to make it financially viable, to keep paying all the people who worked on those campaigns they had to bring them out relatively quickly. But that put a lot of pressure on not only the people developing new content but also the people trying to balance the game and keep the existing stuff viable.

That’s why (coupled with wanting some new ideas that weren’t possible on that engine) after just two new campaigns they went for a smaller expansion and then GW2.

And after some more experimentation we got the system we’ve got now. I’m pretty sure they originally planned to do mainly one-time events like the one that introduced Southsun, but that was a disaster so they re-worked it into bi-weekly temporary content, and now by the sounds of things they’re going for permanent releases instead. So they are improving, even if it means giving up on their original plans for the game.

Personally I have high hopes for Season 2. I might end up being disappointed but at the moment, especially after the CDI threads, I’m excited to see what they come up with.

Danikat.8537
True Story

So, Where are the REAL Living World, and the Next-Gen Designs??

Danikat.8537:

I remember the days when each new campaign had utterly ruined GW1 to the point where no one played it any more. Balance across all game modes was completely, irreparably ruined by new classes and skills. All the new areas were horrible to navigate, had terrible mechanisms locking you out of parts to force you to grind through the whole storyline. New PvP modes were only ever farmed by bots because no real people would ever want to play them. And then to top it off the addition of heroes killed any hope that was left by turning GW1 into a single player game that was entirely for farmers.

Good times.

I agree, I’d like to see how Anet can completely ruin GW2 forever with an expansion. (I’ve heard Blizzard have managed to drive away every single player they had 4 times and are on track to do it a 5th time. I’m sure Anet could top them if they wanted to.)

On the other hand I’ve heard Season 2 is going to include some things players have wanted for a long time like more permanent content and a new zone (not confirmed but strongly implied) and I’m looking forward to how that will ruin the game forever too, it seems unlikely given that it’s exactly what players want but they’ve pulled it off before.

Wow. Can a reason for barely chugging along get any more silly?
You: “I don’t want new content because Anet (the developer of the MMO) will mess things up”. Did this seem okay to you at the time you wrote it? Really?

If a developer can not create new content with out “ruining” the game, it might be time for that company to find a new gig.

People want more from GW2. Period. Repeating the same stuff over and over again (living story) is just not cutting it anymore. Have you even logged on lately? The festival of the four winds? Or how about that glorified mindless drone farm fest they have going on in Divinity’s Reach…AGAIN. I tremendously enjoy going to the four winds to run up and down a mountainside looking for crystals that do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

The game needs new permanent content, asap. Now, I’m not saying it be an expansion but w/e it is, it must add to the experience of the game. Because, as of right now, when quite a few players (not everyone but quite a few) think of GW2 a big “MEH” comes to mind.

At this point, the moment WS goes F2P (and reviews are good) I’m pretty much leaving.

I don’t care for the Living Story and I’m not looking forward to it.
I didn’t even bother playing it this and last year (after Tequatl update).
I don’t care about the lore and characters, the writing level of GW2 is really low.
There’s really nothing to look forward in PvE. Forget about hard and challenging GW1 like instances, GW2 players love and want more Farmville.

Currently I’m playing WvW and even there Devs show absolutely no signs of doing anything to improve WvW experience.

siralius.9517:

Danikat.8537:

I remember the days when each new campaign had utterly ruined GW1 to the point where no one played it any more. Balance across all game modes was completely, irreparably ruined by new classes and skills. All the new areas were horrible to navigate, had terrible mechanisms locking you out of parts to force you to grind through the whole storyline. New PvP modes were only ever farmed by bots because no real people would ever want to play them. And then to top it off the addition of heroes killed any hope that was left by turning GW1 into a single player game that was entirely for farmers.

Good times.

I agree, I’d like to see how Anet can completely ruin GW2 forever with an expansion. (I’ve heard Blizzard have managed to drive away every single player they had 4 times and are on track to do it a 5th time. I’m sure Anet could top them if they wanted to.)

On the other hand I’ve heard Season 2 is going to include some things players have wanted for a long time like more permanent content and a new zone (not confirmed but strongly implied) and I’m looking forward to how that will ruin the game forever too, it seems unlikely given that it’s exactly what players want but they’ve pulled it off before.

Wow. Can a reason for barely chugging along get any more silly?
You: “I don’t want new content because Anet (the developer of the MMO) will mess things up”. Did this seem okay to you at the time you wrote it? Really?

If a developer can not create new content with out “ruining” the game, it might be time for that company to find a new gig.

People want more from GW2. Period. Repeating the same stuff over and over again (living story) is just not cutting it anymore. Have you even logged on lately? The festival of the four winds? Or how about that glorified mindless drone farm fest they have going on in Divinity’s Reach…AGAIN. I tremendously enjoy going to the four winds to run up and down a mountainside looking for crystals that do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

The game needs new permanent content, asap. Now, I’m not saying it be an expansion but w/e it is, it must add to the experience of the game. Because, as of right now, when quite a few players (not everyone but quite a few) think of GW2 a big “MEH” comes to mind.

The way they do things right now is great. I enjoy the festival of four winds a hell of a lot. It was my favourite Season 1 event. The game has perma content, the first season was mostly to establish things that would return. Halloween, christmas, festivals. Now that they are basically out of the way and only need small tweaks they can focus more on the gameplay and story.

He/She’s not saying Anet will mess it up, they are simply saying that the old method was inefficient and expensive. The way they release things now is pretty fantastic and the reason I know this is because I am now craving the next update. I’m used to getting the new update every 2 weeks and now I’m suffering. Expansions would seriously suck.

I agree with OP. I also remember the beginning of LS S1 when many people where already complaining about the LS and it’s temporary content. Then there was a live-stream with Colin who said e listen to the complains and the patches would be more frequent and the teams would become bigger meaning the content would be bigger.

Back then I already said that would not make thinks better but worse. If more and bigger temporary achievements list to grind down. I did here that S2 might get bigger intervals but then again not everything you read is true so we will see. If however it is true well they should have listen to me (and many people with me) back then.

Also the feeling of them being stubborn about mistakes or thinks that don’t work out so well is something I see a lot.

Anyway, I agree with OP. They should focus on expansions to create content and to generate income.

Sure with the start of LS2 we will likely get a few new maps but all in all the quality (and content) of the game could have been so much better.

ObsidianSaint.1079:

siralius.9517:

Danikat.8537:

I remember the days when each new campaign had utterly ruined GW1 to the point where no one played it any more. Balance across all game modes was completely, irreparably ruined by new classes and skills. All the new areas were horrible to navigate, had terrible mechanisms locking you out of parts to force you to grind through the whole storyline. New PvP modes were only ever farmed by bots because no real people would ever want to play them. And then to top it off the addition of heroes killed any hope that was left by turning GW1 into a single player game that was entirely for farmers.

Good times.

I agree, I’d like to see how Anet can completely ruin GW2 forever with an expansion. (I’ve heard Blizzard have managed to drive away every single player they had 4 times and are on track to do it a 5th time. I’m sure Anet could top them if they wanted to.)

On the other hand I’ve heard Season 2 is going to include some things players have wanted for a long time like more permanent content and a new zone (not confirmed but strongly implied) and I’m looking forward to how that will ruin the game forever too, it seems unlikely given that it’s exactly what players want but they’ve pulled it off before.

Wow. Can a reason for barely chugging along get any more silly?
You: “I don’t want new content because Anet (the developer of the MMO) will mess things up”. Did this seem okay to you at the time you wrote it? Really?

If a developer can not create new content with out “ruining” the game, it might be time for that company to find a new gig.

People want more from GW2. Period. Repeating the same stuff over and over again (living story) is just not cutting it anymore. Have you even logged on lately? The festival of the four winds? Or how about that glorified mindless drone farm fest they have going on in Divinity’s Reach…AGAIN. I tremendously enjoy going to the four winds to run up and down a mountainside looking for crystals that do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

The game needs new permanent content, asap. Now, I’m not saying it be an expansion but w/e it is, it must add to the experience of the game. Because, as of right now, when quite a few players (not everyone but quite a few) think of GW2 a big “MEH” comes to mind.

The way they do things right now is great. I enjoy the festival of four winds a hell of a lot. It was my favourite Season 1 event. The game has perma content, the first season was mostly to establish things that would return. Halloween, christmas, festivals. Now that they are basically out of the way and only need small tweaks they can focus more on the gameplay and story.

He/She’s not saying Anet will mess it up, they are simply saying that the old method was inefficient and expensive. The way they release things now is pretty fantastic and the reason I know this is because I am now craving the next update. I’m used to getting the new update every 2 weeks and now I’m suffering. Expansions would seriously suck.

No, sir/ma’am, I’m sorry but he said 2 or 3 times that Anet would mess GW2 up by creating expansions due to their inability to balance the game’s mechanics. Try reading his post.

Tell me, though, what is it you like about the festival of the four winds? I’d really love to hear what excites you about that content. The area is no doubt beautiful. However, as far as I’m concerned, it’s wasted space as there is nothing to do there. Run up and down the mountain looking for crystals? The race (if they even put it in this time)? What is it, exactly, that you find enjoyable about it?

I feel the exact opposite. GW2 has already been messed up, and they they seem unable or don’t want fix some the issues discussed in various threads.
And expansion with more areas (more than one) opened with hearts/vistas ect. for PVE as well as solo dungeons and making the last instance in living story solo with NPCs( like every other part of the personal story.)
I’d almost be content if they fixed the enemy AOE cirlcles so they actually meant something (when I an standing outside of the red circle-is shouldn’t affect me).

Blude.6812:

I feel the exact opposite. GW2 has already been messed up, and they they seem unable or don’t want fix some the issues discussed in various threads.
And expansion with more areas (more than one) opened with hearts/vistas ect. for PVE as well as solo dungeons and making the last instance in living story solo with NPCs( like every other part of the personal story.)
I’d almost be content if they fixed the enemy AOE cirlcles so they actually meant something (when I an standing outside of the red circle-is shouldn’t affect me).

Some mob skills are anti-mob skills (which have no circles), such and Claw of Jormag’s breath, which does chill and fear besides the Claws and the ice damage (which are circles, BTW). Sometimes there is more than one AoE skill going on at the same time.

Living story reminds me about GW:Beyond, gives me the impression they are working on GW3 and they are just trying to keep us busy.

Danikat.8537:

I remember the days when each new campaign had utterly ruined GW1 to the point where no one played it any more. Balance across all game modes was completely, irreparably ruined by new classes and skills. All the new areas were horrible to navigate, had terrible mechanisms locking you out of parts to force you to grind through the whole storyline. New PvP modes were only ever farmed by bots because no real people would ever want to play them. And then to top it off the addition of heroes killed any hope that was left by turning GW1 into a single player game that was entirely for farmers.

Good times.

I agree, I’d like to see how Anet can completely ruin GW2 forever with an expansion. (I’ve heard Blizzard have managed to drive away every single player they had 4 times and are on track to do it a 5th time. I’m sure Anet could top them if they wanted to.)

On the other hand I’ve heard Season 2 is going to include some things players have wanted for a long time like more permanent content and a new zone (not confirmed but strongly implied) and I’m looking forward to how that will ruin the game forever too, it seems unlikely given that it’s exactly what players want but they’ve pulled it off before.

Doesn’t sound like you even remotley passed by GW1 or any of it’s campaigns/expansion.

Numbers never lie. See the numbers behind GW1, its campaigns and an expansion.|

I’ll sum it up for you: the number of players quadrupled with the release of the first and the second campaign as compared to the original Guild Wars 1. Not to mention, just browse through random websites and you’ll see that the campaigns and the expansion have higher ratings than the original game.

Nothing more needed to disprove your argument.

I’d just like to remind everyone that GW1’s sold 8 mln copies and the only reason why GW2 was actually created is because they had had too much stuff planned for another GW1 expansion that they thought it’d be better to just release a new game.

So apparently starting my second post with “Ok serious answer now” wasn’t enough to make it clear: I was being sarcastic.

Although all those things are real claims I heard/read people make about GW1 over the years I don’t agree with any of them and I’m reasonably sure the people who said them originally were being hyperbolic at best, if not out-right trolling. Especially the people who claimed no one but bots ever did Alliance Battles every single time they were mentioned.

I just find it amusing that I spent 6 years listening to people complain about every new campaign, expansion or update GW1 received (if you don’t believe me check out the wiki talk page for pretty much any update: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Game_updates:Archive) and now people talk about it as if it was an amazing time when Anet never did anything wrong and every new addition was better than the last.

Personally I think both games are amazing, easily among my all-time favourites, but both have their flaws too. They could be better in a lot of ways, but that’s why I like the Living Story: I think Anet genuinely want to make the best game possible (according to their own standards) and that’s not an easy thing to do, so they’re experimenting with lots of different types of content to see what works and what doesn’t and how it can be improved on. It’s exciting to me to see what they come up with, whether it’s good or bad or a bit of both.

(And personally I enjoy the Festival. I’m still insanely happy that I finally beat Liadri and I really enjoyed finding and reaching all the crystals without using a guide. Plus the chance to get the few Living Story rewards I missed the first time around.)

GW1 was a masterpiece, whereas GW2 is just plain boring garbage.

Personally i hope really for new zones added with LS2 as they did with Southsun but i hope they avoid to listen to the hardmode people this time, and don’t create again content that (nearly) nobody plays, just because of a vocal minoroty that always want they elite modes because everything is too easy for them. And if they get harder stuff they don’t play it because they wanted in reality better exclusive loot, and not really just the challenge like they said before.

Nick.6972:

At this point, the moment WS goes F2P (and reviews are good) I’m pretty much leaving.

Haha .. good joke .. and i leave as soon as Might & Magic Online is released, and gets at least 99% reviews everywhere. Or at least as soon as i get my own Holodeck.

The shelf life of gw1 far exceeds the possible shelf life of gw2. At the rate gw2 is going it wont be long people will be digging out their copies of the game from the bottom of the bargain bins at Wal-Mart.

As long as Season 2 happens to be of the GW1-campaign weight, i.e. possible new explorable zones, maps, classes, races, plethora of new skills, weapons ( mix existing ones ) and so on, I would be willing to forgive the ANet devs their Season 1. Maybe. I’m still hoping for that, although lots of my friends of once 214-people guild left for good and only 12 of us is left.

RoyalPredator.9163:

Danikat.8537
True Story

So, Where are the REAL Living World, and the Next-Gen Designs??

Exactly, so far I’ve seen tactics that don’t benefit the players of having temporary content with maybe sometimes 1 or two relics of the event left behind but nothing solid.

It’s like a tease. Here’s what you can do, how we want you to do it, in this amount of time, for these rewards but you gotta grind or spend real money. And the few ui updates they did do at the last minute weren’t worth it imo. They killed alts with the traits restriction, they didn’t make builds more diverse with the new traits they added but still restricted to a single line each, and the “wardrobe” was basically transmog with a skin library. I asked for LOTRO’s outfitter personally where you can make whole ensembles have a limited number of slots, use skin tokens just 1 time, and then switch anytime I wish. That’s a wardrobe.

Let me break it down for you guys, simply. Right now, I can log into GW2 but instead I’m going to read a book. Do you understand what I just wrote here? I. am. choosing. to. read. a. book. This is not good… This is not good at all…

siralius.9517:

Let me break it down for you guys, simply. Right now, I can log into GW2 but instead I’m going to read a book. Do you understand what I just wrote here? I. am. choosing. to. read. a. book. This is not good… This is not good at all…

A book? An actual book? Madness. Anet, you’re monsters.

Celestial.8051:

Getting closer to the 2nd year anniversary of Guild Wars 2. And I recalled something about Guild Wars 1 that makes my already depressing feelings for GW2, even worse.

Guild Wars Prophecies was released on April 28, 2005.

Guild Wars Factions on April 28, 2006, released exactly a year after Prophecies.

The third campaign, Guild Wars Nightfall, was released on October 27, 2006

So from April 2005 to October 2006…Guild Wars 1 had two new campaigns, basically expansions, that took GW1 to incredible new heights in terms of new areas, classes, story, gameplay, everything.

Now look at GW2. What have we gotten in the time since it’s been launched?

It’s not even remotely comparable to what was delivered in GW1. It’s staggeringly low.

Your gamble to try and revolutionize the way MMOs develop post launch, has utterly failed to deliver a product that can hold a candle to the prequal! And instead of doing a 180 and developing an expansion, you continue to push a 2nd season of Living story as the core experience to develop on post launch!

At the very least, I would think to maybe not completely give up on Living Story, but at least turn it down, let them develop more over time, and with greater quality. The worst decision ever made for GW2 imo was the ridiculous frequency of which to push them out. They should have stayed monthly at the most. And really, could be much better as a quarterly mini campaign, while you work on a much bigger campaign (aka expansion)

You know why I’m here saying this. Why so many of us are saying this. We love the Guild Wars universe and it is so~ very sad to see so much talent and potential, squandered and chocked out on what seems like just stubbornness to admit mistakes were made. Admit to yourselves that the traditional method of developing on an MMO post launch is with expansions and much more beneficial as a whole compared to the sluggish addons that the Living Story produces for this game!

Guild Wars 2 was supposed to be the last MMO I ever wanted to play. I was ready to lay it all down for a long time for this game. Now having been away for months, I wonder to myself if I’ll ever play GW2 again. Or even bother checking anymore here on the site what you’re doing new.

Time is running out. Every year, a new truckload of MMORPGs get released that is slowly siphoning away your playerbase. Please do something big while you can. Create a game that dwarfs that of what Guild Wars 1 delivered!

Sincerely,

Your heartbroken fan

You Do realize that Wildstar is coming out published by NCsoft as well right? There is no way NCsoft would allow new content from Areannet to come out now to jeopardize its release, that and the games just got released in China 1oish days ago.
Its called time management. You knew gw2 wasn’t going to have all of gw1 features at the start. I actually tried and left gw1 after 2weeks but then after WoW kittened me off for the last time I came back at year 3 of gw1 when it really took off.

Find something else to do, I’ve read all the books, played other games, and had a life as well, having balance is great.

Dusty Moon.4382:

Blude.6812:

I feel the exact opposite. GW2 has already been messed up, and they they seem unable or don’t want fix some the issues discussed in various threads.
And expansion with more areas (more than one) opened with hearts/vistas ect. for PVE as well as solo dungeons and making the last instance in living story solo with NPCs( like every other part of the personal story.)
I’d almost be content if they fixed the enemy AOE cirlcles so they actually meant something (when I an standing outside of the red circle-is shouldn’t affect me).

Some mob skills are anti-mob skills (which have no circles), such and Claw of Jormag’s breath, which does chill and fear besides the Claws and the ice damage (which are circles, BTW). Sometimes there is more than one AoE skill going on at the same time.

Sorry my friend—that is just BS!!~!!!. E.G. going to get the key activated in the reactor—jumping up, no mobs—1:1 with the the ice thingy, on a platform, I am well outside of the red circle and it knocks me down or even off the platform and I have to startover again. Just pure crappy programming that they can’t be bothered to fix. A rookie in game programming 101 could fix it —but not Anet because they don’t give a blank.

I’m going to be called a white knight but here goes.

In my experience, if you don’t like the food or service at a restaurant and after numerous complaints to the owners, nothing changes, you stop going there.

What you don’t do is set up across the street from them on a folding chair with a bullhorn telling the arriving customers that the service and food stink and would be so much better if the owners just listen to you. If the place is still in business and they still get an decent clientele of regulars, where is your proof that what the owners are doing is wrong? Seems to be working out for them. Parking lot is always full and people seem to be enjoying themselves as they leave after their meal, only to return again several times during the month or even week.

I know. You all wanted something different. Something closer to what you had with the first game. It’s been over a year and a half since it went live. It doesn’t look as if your comments and complaints are making any headway. So when do you give up and move on, or move back since Guild Wars is still running? When do you stop jousting windmills?

So accept what good you can find in the game now, and by some of the posts it seems very little, or look for something better. I never understood how people can stay in abusive relationships and I’m seeing some of the same signs here. We’ll give ArenaNet another chance to see if Living Story 2 is any better. Maybe it’ll be different this time.

Honestly I think there’s a calling for therapists who specialize in getting people to leave MMOs they no longer like but can’t leave for some reason.

siralius.9517:

Let me break it down for you guys, simply. Right now, I can log into GW2 but instead I’m going to read a book. Do you understand what I just wrote here? I. am. choosing. to. read. a. book. This is not good… This is not good at all…

o/

I’ve been playing old single player games the last few months, ones that were made by passionate DEVELOPERS not money driven corporate types.

It’s sad how rampant capitalism has taken over the video game industry, they could at least deliver a top notch product in their quest for cash.

The reason I bolded ‘developers’ is because it was recently brought to our attention that a certain WvW lead/“developer” of the last year only has formal education in the German language, nothing about coding or games or public relations or anything that might apply to this industry. And this alone explains the stagnant state of WvW.

Behellagh.1468:

I’m going to be called a white knight but here goes.

In my experience, if you don’t like the food or service at a restaurant and after numerous complaints to the owners, nothing changes, you stop going there.

What you don’t do is set up across the street from them on a folding chair with a bullhorn telling the arriving customers that the service and food stink and would be so much better if the owners just listen to you. If the place is still in business and they still get an decent clientele of regulars, where is your proof that what the owners are doing is wrong? Seems to be working out for them. Parking lot is always full and people seem to be enjoying themselves as they leave after their meal, only to return again several times during the month or even week.

I know. You all wanted something different. Something closer to what you had with the first game. It’s been over a year and a half since it went live. It doesn’t look as if your comments and complaints are making any headway. So when do you give up and move on, or move back since Guild Wars is still running? When do you stop jousting windmills?

So accept what good you can find in the game now, and by some of the posts it seems very little, or look for something better. I never understood how people can stay in abusive relationships and I’m seeing some of the same signs here. We’ll give ArenaNet another chance to see if Living Story 2 is any better. Maybe it’ll be different this time.

Honestly I think there’s a calling for therapists who specialize in getting people to leave MMOs they no longer like but can’t leave for some reason.

/signed

thaooo.5320:

siralius.9517:

Let me break it down for you guys, simply. Right now, I can log into GW2 but instead I’m going to read a book. Do you understand what I just wrote here? I. am. choosing. to. read. a. book. This is not good… This is not good at all…

o/

I’ve been playing old single player games the last few months, ones that were made by passionate DEVELOPERS not money driven corporate types.

It’s sad how rampant capitalism has taken over the video game industry, they could at least deliver a top notch product in their quest for cash.

The reason I bolded ‘developers’ is because it was recently brought to our attention that a certain WvW lead/“developer” of the last year only has formal education in the German language, nothing about coding or games or public relations or anything that might apply to this industry. And this alone explains the stagnant state of WvW.

Aside from having proven Behellagh’s point, how is it actually relevant that a developer currently working on the game doesn’t have any formal education as a developer?

Where does it say that only a formally trained developer can write good code/create good designs? I’ve met formally trained developers who write poorly structured code and/or struggle with designing efficient solutions, and self-taught developers who create elegant code.

Passion only gets you so far. Companies have employees to pay. Server and network infrastructure ain’t free.

Proved no such point, as I’m playing the game less than a casual, as I’ve proven on many threads. But you’re one of those people who mistakes posting and offering free advice to a failing company as ‘still playing’, so I can’t change your mind here.

The reason I said ‘formal education’ is because we don’t know about any self taught education, since the person of topic did not mention anything about it, I’d say it is non existent. Usually when a person rights a CV of themself, they include things like that to look their best. But you can argue against this all you like, to no effect.

Servers and networks cost next to nothing, so sorry but that’s a moot point.

@ virtualtourist.6438:
I’m a developer myself, and have no any education/gratitude on it, sincs there is none – in my country, just really expensive ones around.
What matters is the talent and will, the passion toward making a game, all the rest comes by the years of working.

Danikat & Behellagh, I salute you.
I was thinking similar things to points you made as I read this thread, and was planning my own response. It’s so nice to see other people thinking and responding along those lines.
Especially such eloquent and amusing responses :P

Personally, (and speaking on behalf of the growing number of friends who play GW2 I suppose) I am thoroughly enjoying GW2. It’s not perfect, there is still plenty of room for improvement and there are some things I’d do differently. But it’s fun, it’s stable and there’s usually some new stuff every few weeks to break things up.
It was amazingly stable at release and still followed by some swift patching (not everything was fixed, but it never is). I’ve never heard of another AAA MMO maintaining a free content release schedule even approaching GW2’s. And all of this is without a subscription.
It’s awesome and I feel safe expecting the game to improve overall at a pretty solid pace.

thaooo.5320:

Proved no such point, as I’m playing the game less than a casual, as I’ve proven on many threads. But you’re one of those people who mistakes posting and offering free advice to a failing company as ‘still playing’, so I can’t change your mind here.

The reason I said ‘formal education’ is because we don’t know about any self taught education, since the person of topic did not mention anything about it, I’d say it is non existent. Usually when a person rights a CV of themself, they include things like that to look their best. But you can argue against this all you like, to no effect.

Servers and networks cost next to nothing, so sorry but that’s a moot point.

Nooooo, no they don’t. I mean I don’t blame you for thinking that servers and network costs are tiny, to be honest I did too. Then I spoke to a friend who works in a related industry and I found out that for something like this, something commercial on this scale, those costs are significant. I mean GW2 is probably killing it and those costs are easily manageable for them currently, but they are so very far from “next to nothing”. And as he mentioned, employees need pay too. Companies like this do have a lot of expenses, if they didn’t far less would fail. Seriously, go check out how many major named game studios and companies have closed over the last year or two.
I don’t really understand the rest of your argument… It makes no sense. How would employing and paying someone to do a job they can’t do (as you claim is happening here) help their bottom line? If he’s not doing the job they’re paying him for and they just wanted more money, they’d simply fire him and not fill the position. The fact he got hired and is still employed makes VirtualTourist’s suggestion more likely. Just because it wasn’t on his resume, doesn’t mean he didn’t show his aptitude another way.
Your theory doesn’t imply “made by money grubbing corporates”, it implies “made by passionate people (who may overlook this person lack of coding skill for his passion/other skills)”. Because if it was made by those money grubbing corporates, they’d really friggin’ suck at their stereotype.

Behellagh.1468:

I’m going to be called a white knight but here goes.

In my experience, if you don’t like the food or service at a restaurant and after numerous complaints to the owners, nothing changes, you stop going there.

What you don’t do is set up across the street from them on a folding chair with a bullhorn telling the arriving customers that the service and food stink and would be so much better if the owners just listen to you. If the place is still in business and they still get an decent clientele of regulars, where is your proof that what the owners are doing is wrong? Seems to be working out for them. Parking lot is always full and people seem to be enjoying themselves as they leave after their meal, only to return again several times during the month or even week.

I know. You all wanted something different. Something closer to what you had with the first game. It’s been over a year and a half since it went live. It doesn’t look as if your comments and complaints are making any headway. So when do you give up and move on, or move back since Guild Wars is still running? When do you stop jousting windmills?

So accept what good you can find in the game now, and by some of the posts it seems very little, or look for something better. I never understood how people can stay in abusive relationships and I’m seeing some of the same signs here. We’ll give ArenaNet another chance to see if Living Story 2 is any better. Maybe it’ll be different this time.

Honestly I think there’s a calling for therapists who specialize in getting people to leave MMOs they no longer like but can’t leave for some reason.

Generally true, but I can’t go to Guild Wars 1 to get my fix anymore. The player population is below minimum to do group pve or pvp, and people will not return because the game is no longer updated by anet. No balancing, no content. And apparently bots haven’t been seriously removed since 2010. On finding another game: there is no other game that resembles the combat, strategy and team mechanics of guild wars 1. Not one. So I guess our best option is to try to convince devs to give the spiritual sequel as many possible elements of what made GW1 great. Hopeless cause? Probably. But my only other option is to develop a game myself (I can’t) or wait for someone else to.

thaooo.5320:

Servers and networks cost next to nothing, so sorry but that’s a moot point.

Wow. Just wow. As a developper myself, i can tell you that saying “Servers and networks cost next to nothing” is a completly stupid statement. I would suggest you to check the REAL cost of it.

Btw, my two cents on the “passionate developper” thing : Yes, passion is better. But don’t ever forget that these people need to bring something to eat, and something to live for their family aswell.

And actually, most video game company are almost considering their developpers as pieces of meat, repaying them with almost half of the salary they should make with their degrees, for almost twice the amount of work. I originally wanted to work in the video game industry, but after seeing how these companies work … not anymore. I’m not saying Arena Net is working like this, in fact i don’t know, but a big part of the industry at least is doing so, and i would not call any video game developper “capitalist driven” and even less “they have no passion for what they are doing”.

(sorry for my english, not my native language)

thaooo.5320:

Servers and networks cost next to nothing, so sorry but that’s a moot point.

That statement alone deserves some sort of award… :-)

Not sure if sarcasm. If you’re sceptical you can feel free to do 15 minutes of research on the costs of running servers.

If you’re in denial about the costs because you believe the myth “monthly fees are needed for MMO’s to pay server costs” then I only feel sorry for you, since you followed forum fiction rather than fact.

Shen Slayer.3058:

GW1 was a masterpiece, whereas GW2 is just plain boring garbage.

I honestly don’t know what game you played, but could I borrow it for a few months?

Though, I suppose we could split some hairs and declare it a masterpiece in the sense of it being a piece by which the creators succeeded in being allowed to call themselves masters of the craft. That’s being generous though, since I would say they’re still journeymen learning through doing.

i’ve been seeing a lot of these posts lately. I’m actually surprised it hasn’t been locked or anything yet but i digress. i agree 100% i’d like to see something new also. Season 2 could open up more of the map thats closed up but i;d like to see permanent content instead of temporary..

It’s not even a matter of expansions at this point; PvP formats like Guild vs Guild (this is not in the game yet for what reason?) Hall of Heroes and Alliance Battles / Fort Aspenwood / Jade Quarry were the gifts that just kept on giving and giving.

AaAAAaaaaaand to a lesser extent Random/Team Arenas.

But I feel like anything we say is in vain at this point.

Behellagh.1468:

I’m going to be called a white knight but here goes.

In my experience, if you don’t like the food or service at a restaurant and after numerous complaints to the owners, nothing changes, you stop going there.

I usually do, games are not much different. I have an absurd amount of games I paid for where I stopped playing when they weren’t fun anymore . . . I still haven’t finished more than 50% of the Final Fantasy games I began playing. I think my total completion ratio is something like 10%.

Anyway, it is the best advice, but there is a reason some people keep complaining so passionately. They still hope to make their displeasure known so ANet’s developers might possibly realize some things aren’t to everyone’s universal liking. Though, to be honest, many of the devs seem to realize everyone doesn’t like any singular thing . . .

No. Not a single thing everyone can agree on liking.

Which . . . is where it gets complicated. Some people don’t like jumping puzzles, and by that I mean they don’t like the idea of them existing in this game at all. Similarly, some people really are not happy the asura haven’t turned Rata Sum into a glowing crater. And there are others who really like these things and are happy/excited to see more.

Who’s wrong? Why is one player’s opinion worth more than another’s, and why should the devs only consider one side to be “correct”?

No, stop making a glib reply, this is a serious question.

How, exactly, do we determine what the “true GW2” should be and what ideas from the fans don’t belong?

Put a little more irritated:

Why do some of the fans get to determine what the “real GW2” is, instead of the people making it?

Honestly I think there’s a calling for therapists who specialize in getting people to leave MMOs they no longer like but can’t leave for some reason.

I think therapists specializing in getting people to realize they need to “unplug” from MMOs and get some perspective on how little control the price of Chaos of Lyssa has over them are required.

thaooo.5320:

Not sure if sarcasm. If you’re sceptical you can feel free to do 15 minutes of research on the costs of running servers.

If you’re in denial about the costs because you believe the myth “monthly fees are needed for MMO’s to pay server costs” then I only feel sorry for you, since you followed forum fiction rather than fact.

If you’re renting servers then sure, your own running costs are minimal, but if you’re hosting your own then that’s a whole new ball game. At which point, rather than looking at server running costs, you should look up facilities running costs.

But then, not sure if we’re getting trolled here

Celestial.8051:

Your gamble to try and revolutionize the way MMOs develop post launch, has utterly failed to deliver a product that can hold a candle to the prequal! And instead of doing a 180 and developing an expansion, you continue to push a 2nd season of Living story as the core experience to develop on post launch!

Holy kitten man, amen. People keep saying, “oh give living story some time to develop!” “anets listening this time it will be more permanent!!” or “it’s free content! don’t complain!”, real talk if the season 2 of living story is as bad as the first, I’m out… Almost nine years of support and its finally come time where I might actually drop the series all together. This new company that calls themselves arenanet have managed to frustrate the living hell out of not only veteran GW1 players but the people new to the series with the direction they taking with Living Story. Explaining why a years worth of updates aren’t accessible to friends that decide to return to the game always warrants the same response: “Nothing new to do? oh I guess i’ll just play another game instead”.

This was my main concern since day 1 when i heard about LS. We all see now how it turned out. At this point, just give up already and let it go. Nothing is gonna change. Leave for another game or play for whatever reason you can find and enjoy what you can, and wait for another thing to come around, be it a Wildstar or Black Desert, or whatever. This game and company which developed it, they do not deserve the time and effort, and heart you’re putting in it, not anymore. Save your breath.

Just to answer to 2 subtopic here.
Some people likes this, some hates that…
- This is why AN has to offer enough of everything.
Yet, the lack of contents, no expansion, just LS#2…
- We would have infinity content IF there would be a system that loops our play anywhere, anytime, enjoyable and rewarded, dynamic. Like my Cross-Support system.

Basicly, AN has a good point with Living Story, but they never really knew how to make something long-live, constantly playable but still enjoyable. Right now, all is it about to fulfill a list of tasks, and player’s mentality isn’t helping them when most aims to have it now, Now and NOW.

It is a core problem they seem to ignore…

RoyalPredator.9163:

Danikat.8537
True Story

So, Where are the REAL Living World, and the Next-Gen Designs??

They were left for gw3.

Just for the record, regarding the financial side of the original Guild Wars.
From an interview with Eurogamer in 2007:

"
Eurogamer: Guild Wars has been supported with lots of new expansion packs, perhaps to make up for the lack of subscription fees. Is this something you want to continue to do in Guild Wars 2?

Ben Miller: The Guild Wars business model has worked really, really well for us. We’re blown away by the success of the first game. We were three guys with an idea and now we’re a 130 person company supporting one of the biggest online role-playing games in the market.

We’re certainly not going to turn our back on the business model that got us here. It was really refreshing for players and carved out a niche in the market that is completely unsatisfied by any other games. I think you’ll see us do a lot of similar things with Guild Wars 2.
"

(source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-best-things-in-life-are-free-interview?page=2)

The reason that they decided to do GW2 instead of more expansions was most likely entirely because they had a lot of visions for the game that just couldn’t be accomplished in GW. Sadly, the people who had those visions have since left the company.

The game became stale and boring about 3-4 months after release. There was nothing real substantial and there was no end game from the beginning. I had my legendary by December 2012 and since then I just do ‘stuff’. There was no substantial campaign, no new profession, race nor new maps etc (well Southsun Cove…).

There is no new full dungeon (only replaced), no raid, not even groups more than 5 people, no new crafting discipline, no new weapons. And still they continue with this garbage called living story which made me skeptical the first time I heard. The game is boring and there is nothing to do. I already completed world twice, ran the same dungeons about 100 times.

The first planned boxed expansions was a great idea and I am again disappointed they continue with this lackluster gem store driven living story crap. Well, I stopped playing for now. Moved on to other games.

Behellagh.1468:

I’m going to be called a white knight but here goes.

In my experience, if you don’t like the food or service at a restaurant and after numerous complaints to the owners, nothing changes, you stop going there.

What you don’t do is set up across the street from them on a folding chair with a bullhorn telling the arriving customers that the service and food stink and would be so much better if the owners just listen to you. If the place is still in business and they still get an decent clientele of regulars, where is your proof that what the owners are doing is wrong? Seems to be working out for them. Parking lot is always full and people seem to be enjoying themselves as they leave after their meal, only to return again several times during the month or even week.

I know. You all wanted something different. Something closer to what you had with the first game. It’s been over a year and a half since it went live. It doesn’t look as if your comments and complaints are making any headway. So when do you give up and move on, or move back since Guild Wars is still running? When do you stop jousting windmills?

So accept what good you can find in the game now, and by some of the posts it seems very little, or look for something better. I never understood how people can stay in abusive relationships and I’m seeing some of the same signs here. We’ll give ArenaNet another chance to see if Living Story 2 is any better. Maybe it’ll be different this time.

Honestly I think there’s a calling for therapists who specialize in getting people to leave MMOs they no longer like but can’t leave for some reason.

Great post – it seems many game forums have similar types of people. So maybe it is a bigger problem than the game?

thaooo.5320:

Proved no such point, as I’m playing the game less than a casual, as I’ve proven on many threads. But you’re one of those people who mistakes posting and offering free advice to a failing company as ‘still playing’, so I can’t change your mind here.

The reason I said ‘formal education’ is because we don’t know about any self taught education, since the person of topic did not mention anything about it, I’d say it is non existent. Usually when a person rights a CV of themself, they include things like that to look their best. But you can argue against this all you like, to no effect.

Servers and networks cost next to nothing, so sorry but that’s a moot point.

I originally came in here to support the OP’s opinion, but after reading your posts I have to scream out the sheer ignorance of what you have described in your statements.

First of all you blame “capitalism” for the reason of GW2’s downfall. This is not the case as if the developers were true capitalists they would actually listen to the consumers in expanding to make GW2 a better experience, not continue the road with this linear nonsensical LS garbage.

While it may be true that some people like LS, it is quite apparent that the community wants a permanent expansion much like delving back into the areas of Cantha, or Elona. Anet had some very good material with GW such as; the ever expanding skills for each class, new armor, weapons, and dungeons with each new expansion. While it wasn’t perfect, the lore of the original GW was so much more interesting than the LS we have now through GW2. Learning of the human gods and fighting the likes of Shiro, and the destroyers was so much more intriguing and mystical than Scarlett ever could be.

To put it all in perspective capitalism is not the “evil” you believe it is, otherwise Anet wouldn’t have been able to develop like what GW is, and GW2 once was. In fact if capitalism didn’t exist you wouldn’t be playing the games those “passionate” developers as you put it had created because there would be no such things as a PC, video game console, or even tablet or Iphone. Capitalism is about profit and loss, I loved GW2 which is why I put hundreds of dollars into the gem store, but after going so long with no new areas, dungeons, or armor produced from the developer I stopped playing and stopped giving Anet my hard earned money until they come out with something new that I will enjoy. If Anet doesn’t comply than that will be one less customer for them as I will move onto the next best thing such as Everquest Next where the developers are listening to their consumers, or Black Desert online which looks absolutely amazing.

My view on the living story is that its created some brilliant/excellent content and also some really awful content, with everything in between.

GW2 has originally shipped nearly 2 years ago now was high quality from beginning to end by and large.

The living story, you can never be sure if your going to get a great update, a medicore update or a I am not logging in for 2 weeks update.

Besides that living story can’t seem to deliver:-

1) A complete new zone full of hearts, vistas, dynamic events with perhaps at least 1 jumping puzzle and 1 dungeon. Southsun Cove was the closet they came but it still feels like only 70-80% of any other zone in the game and that’s after 2 updates devoted to it. EoTM was a brilliant go at this and I think the devs succeeded in style there but that was for WvW not PvE.

2) A complete new character class. No sign…

3) New weapons with new skills.

4) New legendaries.

5) New elite skills.

6) New utility skills.

If they could bring some of those to us via living story, I would like/respect the living story a lot more!

Meglobob.8620:

My view on the living story is that its created some brilliant/excellent content and also some really awful content, with everything in between.
(…)

If they could bring some of those to us via living story, I would like/respect the living story a lot more!

Actually when Anet talked about Living world at the time, i tough they would implement new mechanics overall not only 1 skill, a few traits, and 1 new map that was abandoned on the next month, atm just waiting to see where the mega-server blob is going to help this game, besides helping the living story and the heroes of the zergblob pure randomness spam.