Guild Wars 2

Krosslite.1950:

Nick.6972:

Thorn.7963:

I’d gladly shell out 40-50 for a whole new continent to explore
But I’d really kill for new skills and weapons.

Quoted for emphasis.

I spend more then that a month in the gem shop… What is your point?

The point is Whales like you make it worth it for them to make smaller, mediocre content, rather than adding things like Races, Classes, New Abilities, lots of new rewards & gear, new zones, etc..

In other words: you make the game more mediocre.

DarksunG.9537:

Krosslite.1950:

Nick.6972:

Thorn.7963:

I’d gladly shell out 40-50 for a whole new continent to explore
But I’d really kill for new skills and weapons.

Quoted for emphasis.

I spend more then that a month in the gem shop… What is your point?

Because Whales like you make it worth it for them to make smaller, mediocre content.

Thanks glad to be of service to you

ColinJohanson.2394:

Just to clarify a bit, as Mike said there are numerous teams beyond our Living World teams, and some of them are working on much longer term projects which we’ll go into details on much further down the road.

It’s entirely possible some of the types of content which you might traditionally find in expansions would be released through an expansion in the future for Gw2, and it’s possible we’d try something different when it comes to integrating those type of releases.

We have no final plans one way or another about expansions at this time, and certainly haven’t ruled them out, it’s something we’ll discuss more in the future.

Edited to add: Our primary focus right now is on making the core Gw2 experience as strong and compelling as possible, we’ll release a blog post later this month detailing more specifically our plans for Gw2 in the second half of 2013.

Gah just give us the blog already!! Keep telling us there is a blog…Nao!

Just kidding. A bit impatient.

DarksunG.9537:

Krosslite.1950:

DarksunG.9537:

Krosslite.1950:

I got this here:
*something we all read**
you keep pushing this like you know something when it is obvious you don’t.

If you can’t see this is not equal to an actual Expansion, then you really are stuck in mediocrity. I also love how you ignore that they’ve been saying this for 6 MONTHS.

IF they somehow deliver real expansion-level stuff (which they imply but don’t explain) then great. But so far, we’re almost a year out & this aint no Cantha.

Once again lets define the word Expansion:
per Dictionary.com it is:

1. the act or process of expanding.
2. the state or quality of being expanded.
3. the amount or degree of expanding.
4. an expanded, dilated, or enlarged portion or form of a thing: The present article is an expansion of one he wrote last year.
5. anything spread out; expanse.

and once again you prove my point about you know nothing

LOL yeah; look up the work Mob too. I bet we’re all using that wrong huh? & Tank! ooo, you got us all there!! We all know nothing!

Substance E.4852:

DarksunG.9537:

Krosslite.1950:

I got this here:
*something we all read**
you keep pushing this like you know something when it is obvious you don’t.

If you can’t see this is not equal to an actual Expansion, then you really are stuck in mediocrity.

IF they somehow deliver real expansion-level stuff (which they imply but don’t explain) then great. But so far, we’re almost a year out & this aint Cantha.

I actually feel bad for the people who keep asking for things like new races as though anything Anet has put out yet shows they’d be willing to tackle something like making every piece of armor fit a quagan and providing appropriate skill animations. That alone is something that you would be expected to pay for in a typical expansion. Unless CCP suddenly acquires the GW license, it isn’t going to happen in their current platform.

I don’t get your point. You feel bad for people because they expect expansion-type features in the same amount of time games normally have expansion-type features?

No, I feel bad for them because they desire something that is impractical in Anet’s current direction. Like I said, a new race (especially one that isn’t humanoid or human in scale) is a huge endeavor and wouldn’t be expected to happen for free but since Anet wants to shy away from paid expansions, I just don’t see how it can happen.

I don’t see how anyone could argue this won’t be an expansions worth of content. How long do you play expansions? we will see new areas and dungeons, and if it comes up, new races and professions if needed. it’s just not going to be presented all at once. I’ll admit I wasn’t the biggest fan of living story stuff, but overall it’s something to do and work towards and I’m happy I partake in it. Also some races share models, like the tengu and charr I believe so new races aren’t out of the question.

A Massive Headache.1879:

I don’t see how anyone could argue this won’t be an expansions worth of content. How long do you play expansions? we will see new areas and dungeons, and if it comes up, new races and professions if needed. it’s just not going to be presented all at once. I’ll admit I wasn’t the biggest fan of living story stuff, but overall it’s something to do and work towards and I’m happy I partake in it. Also some races share models, like the tengu and charr I believe so new races aren’t out of the question.

New races need new home areas and new racial personal stories, new skills and racial armor. It’s not just a matter of mesh wrapping existing armor to a new body.

You can’t realistically make the tengu a playable race and not create the entire walled off tengu area at the same time.

Hell, the Tengu as a playable race could be it’s own purchasable expansion by itself.

While it’s not impossible, it just doesn’t fit into their current method.

Krosslite.1950:

A lot of people keep mentioning the last ten months. Shame on you.
This has nothing to do with the state of Anet at this time. This is a recent development for them as this game comes into it own. To compare what they now promise to what has come out before should never be done. They have been trying something new and as of now is not how they thought two months ago let alone at the time they launched the game.

Well, unfortunately I have no means of judging what they’re capable of and/or planning to do other than what’s already been presented to me, which has been rather piddly “filler” content and a half-arsed zone that even their latest revamp/event couldn’t keep people in after it was done. I wouldn’t classify any of their Living Story content as enjoyable so far. Of course, I don’t do dungeons so that leaves spamming “F” at a lot of objects, grinding mobs for achievements, and a 5-minute single player instance every now and then with a less than compelling story.

I’m probably being overly pessimistic, but I also feel others are being overly optimistic. All anyone can do is wait and see.

Pretty disheartening but not surprising at all, my interest in GW2 wanes everyday tbh, the game is nothing of which i expected it to be, TSW will be getting an expansion in a week or so so i guess my money goes to them instead..

ah well.

The main thing that worries me about that update was their wholehearted embrace of the microtransaction model. I have nothing against microtransactions (indeed, I’ve spent enough on gems buying the unlimited tools and other stuff that I could have bought another Collector’s Edition!), but my fear is that this will mean a continuation of the “goodies locked behind RNG” trend we’ve seen so far. That system is something I loathe and I have not purchased any RNG boxes to this date.

Dante.1508:

Pretty disheartening but not surprising at all, my interest in GW2 wanes everyday tbh, the game is nothing of which i expected it to be, TSW will be getting an expansion in a week or so so i guess my money goes to them instead..

ah well.

Ouch. And thats saying something. TSW is one of a small few games that couldnt keep my interest even an hour.

I differ in opinion. GW2 is a good game…correction a great game with great potential. Some decisions are making it go the opposite way a lot of us thought it would which is upsetting. Yes, it makes me want to spend my money elsewhere. And I do and I have.

But I wouldnt go as far as giving that money to TSW or even swtor at this point.

GW2…neverwinter… I might even pick up defiance soon. Been keeping a keen eye on that.. Could get into a shooter game.

Id also like to say: Lets not just snip a quote from this interview and take it for gospel. What he was trying to say was that at the moment, the company is focused in living story and getting the current format down solid. There may or may not be a team working on an expansion, but right now theres no plan to announce theres no plan to make an expansion the cornerstone of their development table, etc. Its not off the table, its just not one of their top priorities right now. Thats all.

cesmode.4257:

Id also like to say: Lets not just snip a quote from this interview and take it for gospel. What he was trying to say was that at the moment, the company is focused in living story and getting the current format down solid. There may or may not be a team working on an expansion, but right now theres no plan to announce theres no plan to make an expansion the cornerstone of their development table, etc. Its not off the table, its just not one of their top priorities right now. Thats all.

I agree, I just think it’s going to take a LOT to prove that this method with end up with the same quantity & quality of content In the same amount of time with the average person spending the same amount of money as the normal expansion method.

TBH, if you split up Factions into 12 months you’d have about 3 Full zones of content every month. And that’s JUST map content… not features & rewards etc..

I think I have a good reason to think they produce less this new way.

Substance E.4852:

A Massive Headache.1879:

I don’t see how anyone could argue this won’t be an expansions worth of content. How long do you play expansions? we will see new areas and dungeons, and if it comes up, new races and professions if needed. it’s just not going to be presented all at once. I’ll admit I wasn’t the biggest fan of living story stuff, but overall it’s something to do and work towards and I’m happy I partake in it. Also some races share models, like the tengu and charr I believe so new races aren’t out of the question.

New races need new home areas and new racial personal stories, new skills and racial armor. It’s not just a matter of mesh wrapping existing armor to a new body.

You can’t realistically make the tengu a playable race and not create the entire walled off tengu area at the same time.

Hell, the Tengu as a playable race could be it’s own purchasable expansion by itself.

While it’s not impossible, it just doesn’t fit into their current method.

Well yeah. Racial skills are kind of toned down profession skills, they would need their own stories and home instance, but we know where that is. It could happen with living story stuff

cesmode.4257:

Dante.1508:

Pretty disheartening but not surprising at all, my interest in GW2 wanes everyday tbh, the game is nothing of which i expected it to be, TSW will be getting an expansion in a week or so so i guess my money goes to them instead..

ah well.

Ouch. And thats saying something. TSW is one of a small few games that couldnt keep my interest even an hour.

I differ in opinion. GW2 is a good game…correction a great game with great potential. Some decisions are making it go the opposite way a lot of us thought it would which is upsetting. Yes, it makes me want to spend my money elsewhere. And I do and I have.

But I wouldnt go as far as giving that money to TSW or even swtor at this point.

GW2…neverwinter… I might even pick up defiance soon. Been keeping a keen eye on that.. Could get into a shooter game.

Well honestly TSW has had three expansions since opening and the game doesn’t play itself for you plus you must actually think while playing it so its no wonder a certain percentage don’t enjoy it, i was just saying they are giving their players new permanent content like so many Ask for here.

As for Neverwinter i liked that too, its more of your standard mmo type which i also enjoy.

Menzies and I have unfinished business to settle in the Fissure of Woe. Now bring this back!

The Mursaat and I have unfinished business to settle in the Isles of Janthir and Ring of Fire Islands. Now open up these maps!

You mean to say there won’t be any of those long gaps of waiting for expansions so I don’t get bored of waiting for new content? kitten ANet you are so mean!

Seriously…..I cannot believe some of the posts in this thread? Do people actually stop and think before they post?

In all the time I played both Aion and LOTRO….I never saw so much CONTENT put into a game in such a short period as I am seeing with GW2. It’s absolutely amazing, some of it may not always be to my cup of tea, though I find myself getting sucked in and doing a lot of it anyway.

I think ANet can do a lot with this, there is nothing saying they can’t add new continents, new races, new skills….some people are just used to the expansion model, that they seem to go into a panic. I personally disliked waiting, and waiting, and waiting for a new expansion to come, so seeing new things (even though it seems almost too fast just lately) so often is amazing to me.

Hats off really to ANet…..the new content we have had so far since release is already enough to fill an expansion, some people just refuse acknowledge that, and STILL the content keeps coming.

I can certainly see the points made about content not being permanent and can appreciate that argument, and I wouldn’t be surprised if ANet are seriously taking this on board.

As long as I get to see player housing at some point…..I am seriously having a blast, and the frequent content keeps me very, very, very busy with this game, almost TOO busy…(but in a good way).

ColinJohanson.2394:

Just to clarify a bit, as Mike said there are numerous teams beyond our Living World teams, and some of them are working on much longer term projects which we’ll go into details on much further down the road.

It’s entirely possible some of the types of content which you might traditionally find in expansions would be released through an expansion in the future for Gw2, and it’s possible we’d try something different when it comes to integrating those type of releases.

We have no final plans one way or another about expansions at this time, and certainly haven’t ruled them out, it’s something we’ll discuss more in the future.

Edited to add: Our primary focus right now is on making the core Gw2 experience as strong and compelling as possible, we’ll release a blog post later this month detailing more specifically our plans for Gw2 in the second half of 2013.

No offense, but it doesn’t sound like your team is clear on what you want to do with this game. Do you want it to be a roleplaying game? Do you want it to be a massively multiplayer game? Do you want character or skill progression?

Living Story is the most disappointing thing about this game. You’re sacrificing resources that could be dedicated to expanding the core game to build content that happens in two zones at a time. I could see this being worth it if living story events took place simultaneously across the entire world. They don’t. It’s repair signs and find a cave. It’s not an expansion worth of content. Go look at the Everquest games. Go look at World of Warcraft. Those are expansions. What’s being delivered is nothing more than holiday events that I can complete in a weekend. Some of it is decent content, like the dungeons and jumping puzzles.

I really hope that the LS content can lead to permanent content that enriches the game. I’d love to see more dungeons, more zones, and more armor sets. I’d love to see content that’s deeper than an achievements checklist. I get it though – those achievements are the alternative to fractals. We want gear, it all ties into that.

Silentsins.3726:

I get that. It doesn’t fully answer my question though. I, like others in the thread, don’t feel that content such as Southsun and “dance around 50 trees” are examples of their best work, and nowhere near in line with what I’d think of when talking about what would get me excited for Elona or Cantha. Saying that we’re getting new maps is all well and good, but are they going to be more like what we’ve seen so far? I’d GLADLY shell out money for an expansion if that was the case.

All that being said, it’s pretty safe to call me a super fan at this point.

I’m not going anywhere.

I don’t think the game is dying.

The answer to this question is not going to result in some sort of ultimatum.

I guess I’m looking for an answer as to what and how they plan to go about releasing the larger scale content to coincide with the episodic content.

As I already stated all we have seen for the last ten months is Anet trying to figure out the best method for them to make money. Without money nothing is possible. Now they have found a formula they feel is best for what they wish to pursue.

Also as stated by someone else in addition to the four teams working the Living Story line they have other team or teams working are larger permanent content.
Since they have not said I will not make assumptions as others have.
Could they work on new races? At this time there is no answer for us the users of this product.
Will we get an answer to these questions? Who knows.

I feel it is doable but we will not know for sure till Anet says one way or another.

You will also note that Colin did not rule out expansions in the traditional manner like other MMOs do. If people stop using the cash shop and they wish to keep this game going they most likely will go that route.
No one here can tell the future, but still too many are assuming that what has happened in the past will be the same for the future. This is wrong. Especially since they have made several public announcements that it will be different then what has come in the past.
I am still use to MMOs not even releasing new content for a year and a half and later.
Anet has broken this image and I am willing to give them the chance to either show you are right or what they have said they will do will take place.

Question: How will the personal story progress with no expansion? I want to kill Jormag, please!

So as long they are making money from RNG boxes we will not see an expansion.
I stopped playing GW2 never touched the living story.
had hope that an expansion will bring changes to GW2
now that hope is gone.

Is that a coffin? Here, let me put the final nail in it for you.

Money sucking RNG everything 4 lyfe yo

This is entirely Disheartening. This game makes me hate logging in more and more-But I can’t stop logging in because of living story. Otherwise is miss something permanently-forever gone. Some things were actually statistically valid(sentinel gear for example).

Now, I won’t discredit Arena Net so far. They are doing something amazing, in the fact that they are making content every month. So far the quality has been slowly increasing, and that’s a good sign. It’s not great yet, and this last update left a bad taste in my mouth with the broken dungeon. But still, it was something neat. My problem with it so far is that the Quality is still quite low. Gw2 came out of the gates strong, and with every update the “energy” put into it seems to dwindle. The lack of direction worries me as well.

Expansions were my big hope. Not even the whole “race” thing. But expansions were going to be large massive updates. Massive things that make a world more robust and interesting. So far the game has be doing terrible in this regard. All content is cheap and short lived. Nothing about these updates has really felt like an impact in the world. I mean, No one still goes to southsun. The Molten Alliance left no impact on the world. Further more “Our Story” has dropped off the face of the world. We have far ascended past the “were adventurers” stage, we lead an army, general of the pact. Yet none of this is referenced, not even given existence. Like it never happened.

Expansions were going to be my big hope. Something to keep me busier then a week. Dungeons with New mechanics that stayed, New dungeon armor, new ways to go about the game(new weapons), just new things in general. The living story is fun, but it’s getting tiresome and on my nerves. None of it feels special, none of it feels like it has an impact.

Also I was not expecting an expansion within this year. Games normally take 2 years to get the core game set before they make an expansion. Seriously though, anet please do not forgo this method. I know I will gladly pay 90 dollars for an amazing expansion vs. 10 for your rng boxes of hell. I hate rng boxes, and I can’t believe they won’t make expansions. They clearly are profitable(not to mention they get the game to interest even more players)-And anet refuses to tap into that money. Not telling them how to make money, but it seems like a bad idea-and they are going to lose some players to this “no expansion” talk. I heavy portion of people like well rounded, well created, and great content all at once, rather then mediocre untested-and low quality dribble every week. Even if they waited 3 months to release living story that would be better then every 2 weeks. More time=More testing time, better QA.

Hi. I’m very interested in this post.

I’m a dungeon master (many runs done in all dg and 2 expansion of bank full of tokens), i have explored all the world e played some sPvP (i don’t like it at all but sometimes). The WvW, my computer seems to not support it (60 fps all over the rest of the world) because when i meet some foes the client lags and crakitten the end. Fractal, i have 45 AR and lvl 46 reached. I have 8 chars at lvl 80, so all professions are covered by me.
luckily, i’m a leader of a 150+ players, so often i give an help to my mates.

I think the contents that you have inserted (living story) is easy to do for all because you target is entertain all type of players, but they are really easy to do for all people that reached the endgame status like me.

So i want to ask to the Anet team what should i do every time that i log in now?

I’m really involved and interested in GW2, pls do not let die this game. Is the money that do you need Anet?

Kichwas.7152:

We’ll never see the remaining 2/3rds of the core game: Elona and Cantha – as those are too big to plop into a bi-weekly update.

Expansions are needed – they give space for the HUGE changes, the world shakers. Like adding a whole continent back in.

That’s not necessarily a good assumption, yes, according to the traditional MMO service model of core game, then expansions, it would be true.

But I refuse to believe that everything in the 2-week Living Story release cycle will be made in the space of 2 weeks… so, e.g. for a Living Story release set for august/september, they could very well be working on a really big release that these shorter fragments we’re seeing now could be building up. That big release – yea, even though it’s released as part of a 2-week cycle – could have been worked on since this spring for all we know.

I’m sure they’re working on several LS releases in parallel and that some of these could very well contain a new continent with several zones and a new personal story, or at least the start of one, which can be continued in successive releases.

I agree – I have this ‘filler’ feeling towards many of the Living Story releases that have come lately, but with the latest Sky Pirates, the story and cinematic changed my opinion a bit, so now it’s up to Anet to continue to dazzle me. And of course, I love a big batch of new content – continent with several new zones, new mobs, new rewards, new playable race, etc. – so I really hope Anet have something like this planned even though they will be releasing stuff every 2 weeks.

Mirta.5029:

Does this mean that full dragons and continents will be released in these updates eventually? If so, then that makes me so happy!
If this means that we will never see other dragons or continents then it makes me very unhappy.
Oh well, we’ll see how it goes

That was what i am afraid off, when they started to talk about this so called “Living Story”….!!!
Because i still want to see Cantha with this new graphics and game mechanics!!!
And Vabi (Elona)!!

How did this come to this.
What happened to old Arena Net?
Seriously.
Greed? Money? Fame?

So we are comparing living story with expansions ?
Well well well, for starters I think the content of an expansion is available for more than just one silly month.

I completed the whole pirate thing except for JP in about 3-2 hours (12 Achievements).
So basically, they’re expecting me to log in for 2-3 hours and then be excited about new 2-3 hours content that will come after 2 weeks?

Nick.6972:

How did this come to this.
What happened to old Arena Net?
Seriously.
Greed? Money? Fame?

What are you talking about? Did you actually read the information?

Zelyhn.8069:

So we are comparing living story with expansions ?

Yes, we are really, because the living story’s are instead of a expansion…Anet have said they are not ruling a expansion out in the future but have no plans beyond the Living Story for the next year or so…ie no work being done/started on a expansion…

PolarisNova.3867:

Nick.6972:

How did this come to this.
What happened to old Arena Net?
Seriously.
Greed? Money? Fame?

What are you talking about? Did you actually read the information?

GW1 was bigger game than GW2 and yet Arena Net managed to sustain it even without micro transactions.
I fail to see how GW2 will gain additional 3 000 000 players to reach the GW1 level without expansions.

Nick.6972:

PolarisNova.3867:

Nick.6972:

How did this come to this.
What happened to old Arena Net?
Seriously.
Greed? Money? Fame?

What are you talking about? Did you actually read the information?

GW1 was bigger game than GW2 and yet Arena Net managed to sustain it even without micro transactions.
I fail to see how GW2 will gain additional 3 000 000 players to reach the GW1 level without expansions.

How long did it take GW1 to gain that many players, and how long did each expansion take to come out?

What people are not taking into consideration, is that instead of the gap between expansions (GW1 style) the content is trickling out on a fortnightly basis, which means there is no stagnation, the game is active, constantly changing and ever-moving forward. It’s a vision it seems, some players can’t seem to grasp at the moment.

None of this means we won’t get new continents, or re-visit old ones, it’s just a new way of bringing in new content.

No expansion will make it a dead game within half a year or less. No amount of living story can give you the effect what a new expansion does.

aspirine.6852:

No expansion will make it a dead game within half a year or less. No amount of living story can give you the effect what a new expansion does.

Can I have your crystal ball please?

Why, because as far as I can tell, instead of getting content all in one big blob (expansion), it’s evolving and coming to us in stages. Is that so difficult to envision? o.o

PolarisNova.3867:

aspirine.6852:

No expansion will make it a dead game within half a year or less. No amount of living story can give you the effect what a new expansion does.

Can I have your crystal ball please?

Why, because as far as I can tell, instead of getting content all in one big blob (expansion), it’s evolving and coming to us in stages. Is that so difficult to envision? o.o

It’s being repaired right now

You’re not getting an expansion worth of content, you’re getting filler fluff.

It’s advertised pretty well, I’ll give Arena.NET that – it’s a beautiful illusion that they’re actually working on this game. They’re not and they’re afraid to delve into its issues because they know it’s a ton more work than simply making an instance, a bunch of weapon skins and 3 models you have to interact with 5000 times. But there’s a market for people who love getting ripped off at the gem store and then defend the company because “well at least I’m not paying for expansions kitten ”. Yeah, you’re paying 3 times more and getting nothing in return. Oh, the saints of game development!

Hell, you don’t have to agree with me here; I’m merely quoting what many popular streamers said before leaving Guild Wars 2 (such as Strife). If you’re gonna use these forums for blind praise, fine by me, I lost my interest in trying to change something. But don’t spill out blatant lies because it’s just insulting to people who spent hours on end providing feedback.

At this point in time I can agree- Guild Wars 2 won’t die. So long as there’s people willing to buy RNG boxes it’ll endure. It’s not a gaming experience to me anymore, it’s an abomination. And Arena.NET lost all its credibility with me, to which end you probably don’t give two dimes. Be happy I’m gone so you can have your pointless themepark all to yourselves.

Insignya.8625:

You’re not getting an expansion worth of content, you’re getting filler fluff.

It’s advertised pretty well, I’ll give Arena.NET that – it’s a beautiful illusion that they’re actually working on this game. They’re not and they’re afraid to delve into its issues because they know it’s a ton more work than simply making an instance, a bunch of weapon skins and 3 models you have to interact with 5000 times. But there’s a market for people who love getting ripped off at the gem store and then defend the company because "well at least I’m not paying for expansions kitten ". Yeah, you’re paying 3 times more and getting nothing in return. Oh, the saints of game development!

Mind expanding on what it is you would prefer to see, and what it is you don’t consider fluff? I don’t see dungeons and jumping puzzles, a whole new zone and constant follow-able stories as fluff. Festivals are fluff yes, but they are nice fluff, a bit of fluff is nice.

why is everyone freaking out, living story doesn’t mean we won’t see the other dragons or Elona or Cantha, it’s just that it will have to be built up to it. maybe we just unlock a harbor and instance in Cantha when/if we go back there. there’s the zone outside the south area of ascalon, when we see elona, it’ll probably start there. It basically was just explained it’ll be content eased into important things

ColinJohanson.2394:

…there are numerous teams beyond our Living World teams, and some of them are working on much longer term projects which we’ll go into details on much further down the road…

…We have no final plans one way or another about expansions at this time, and certainly haven’t ruled them out, it’s something we’ll discuss more in the future…

So there are teams working on “long term projects”, but currently not on expansions… Ok, I really hope, one of these projects is Guild Wars 3…

I can see how the living story concept can work, by adding to things bit, by bit and building up to things a fortnight at a time. However, how is this model going to bring back players who have left the game feeling a ‘been there, done that’ or even that the core mechanics at the time didn’t suit.

These people don’t read the forums, and anet certainly doesn’t advertise.

There is a ‘buzz’ about an expansion, an excitement that entices people to come back. Living story doesn’t do that, it feeds the playerbase with snack food just enough to stop people starving, but never enough to satisfy.

Players who left the game, are not going to be enticed back because of content that lasts 2 weeks and is as trivial as ‘press F to dance’ and that is not advertised outside of specific forums and websites. However, given an expansion with a fully coordinated campaign they would do, most in an instant.

The other issue is that living story tells the story from A..B..C..D..E..F all the way to Z so as to get the idea of the plot, how things have changed you will have had to gone through A..B..C..D etc If they don’t exist any more players coming back will feel like they walked in near the end of a film, not the beginning. Which from a narrative point of view is very poor and unsatisfying.

In my view, the living story is a way of putting GW2 on life support not giving it room to thrive and grow.

So no more professions? how does the story work? my main professions in gw1 were monk and ritualist, so what happened to them? how does this fit in with the story?

Ive been waiting and waiting to get my characters back ( i know they would be new ofc)
i started my monk way back in the beginning of gw1, isnt gw2 meant to be a part of gw1?

So what happened? “Whats your story” my monk and my ritualist have been erased from my story.

EDIT: I almost feel like i wasted all those years now

@Polaris Nova, no I won’t start again on what I consider non-filler. I spent a combined effort of maybe 10 hours or up explaining these things in two different threads. If you didn’t bother reading those you won’t bother reading here as well.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Just to clarify a bit, as Mike said there are numerous teams beyond our Living World teams, and some of them are working on much longer term projects which we’ll go into details on much further down the road.

It’s entirely possible some of the types of content which you might traditionally find in expansions would be released through an expansion in the future for Gw2, and it’s possible we’d try something different when it comes to integrating those type of releases.

We have no final plans one way or another about expansions at this time, and certainly haven’t ruled them out, it’s something we’ll discuss more in the future.

Edited to add: Our primary focus right now is on making the core Gw2 experience as strong and compelling as possible, we’ll release a blog post later this month detailing more specifically our plans for Gw2 in the second half of 2013.

i know that my post will be deleted.

But i just need to respond to this.

Right now dear Colin, you are just giving us “what you will do in future”. After every month the same sentence. This is getting bored.

I like the game and I am still playing it. It’s the boxed game, that keeps me playing, not the stuff you call living story. I have paid some money for gems in the past, but after this interview and Colins statement I will quit paying for anything but a good solid expansion.

The living story isn’t much more (if anyway) than any other MMO I played in the past, offered between expansions. It is most certainly not enough to keep me (most of my guild is already gone, waiting for more real content in GW2) playing.

It’s simple. Give us an expansion, I (we) will gladly pay for it. Until then no more money for GW2.

And the Living Story starts a long, slow, smoking spiral towards the earth where we can all watch it crash in glorious abandon.

Thumbs up for good, comprehensive, compelling, permanent content.

PolarisNova.3867:

You mean to say there won’t be any of those long gaps of waiting for expansions so I don’t get bored of waiting for new content? kitten ANet you are so mean!

Seriously…..I cannot believe some of the posts in this thread? Do people actually stop and think before they post?

I was gonna ask you the same thing. You are mesmerized by the fact that you are getting the content NOW, which is nice. But when you look at a full real expansion, & compare it to the past 6 months, we should not only have the stuff we currently have but somewhere around 18 zones(comparing to Cantha’s 40 zones) with tons of fully cut scene story missions. Sorry, but this isn’t even close.

The RATE that they have updates is outstanding. It’s just the volume & feature type is weak. I would be totally fine with this whole plan if I felt they released the same amount & quality of content as they did in the Full Expansions of GW1. Making a huge list of little things like Guild Missions (sorry, these are meh) culling fixes, guild rewards & other stuff that should have been at launch is just a way to hide the small amount of stuff.

I’m expecting “housing” to be weak, with extremely limited customization & no choice of house. If housing is even personal.. probably just a guild hall.

tldr; People are freaked out because we aren’t getting the same amount & types of content in 1 year as we would through an expansion. it’s not even close.

Nick.6972:

And -
Shouldn’t the core experience been there/integrated since the launch?

Is this still beta?

• Core experience may not include meaningful bug fixes or quality of life improvements. Core experience will not branch out your personal lore experience in any meaningful way. If you are not compelled to buy fashion items for the sake of the core experience you may look out of place next to all the players who do. If your Core experience attempts to last longer than 4 hours, diminishing returns may be prescribed without notice. …Core experience may contain nuts.

If all new content is going to be added via Living Story additions, I’m wondering how this is going to affect our Personal Stories. With the time and money required to script and record voice acting for ten different playable character I’m starting to worry we’re going to become more and more silent protagonists while NPCs like Inspector Keil spout a few lines between each new mission.

How is the game evolving and how is it even a “living world”>?
I didn’t play Lame & Frost, I didn’t play SAB, I didn’t play Molten Facility, I didn’t play Southsun. And guess what? I didn’t miss anything. Nothing changed, nothing stayed.

Colin, is there any explorable dungeon/max level “post-Arah” (or post-Fractals) PvE content currently being worked on?

You guys keep showing that you’re capable of putting good quality dungeons together. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that Aetherblade Retreat and Molten Facility are actually better than most of the dungeon content in the core game.

With that in mind, I find it confusing (and frustrating) that we’re simply not seeing any kind of indication that any new, more challenging, permanent explorable mode dungeons will be added to the game.

A recurring theme in GW2’s blogs/videos/etc. is the idea of the living world approach to game design, and improving the core game. Frankly, I think adding permanent dungeons is the way to do this. I mean, let’s be honest – pressing F next to 150 things, chasing the skin of the month and playing mini-games isn’t exactly compelling compared to having a real, growing end-game.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s enjoyable, but it feels more like a collection of side-tasks to the “real” content. And maybe it’s just years of being conditioned by WoW (where you always have some new challenging PvE to sink your teeth into), but it doesn’t feel like the “real” content is even there in GW2.

I’d love to see a form of tiered dungeon progression – maybe with a similar mechanic to Agony, where you have to prove yourself in x dungeon (which might take a month or two, farming x amount of faction/reputation or resistance) before you can enter or hope to complete y dungeon in a future update.