Guild Wars 2

So the Raptr July rankings just came out. For those who don’t know Raptr is a gaming platform that some people use to play games and talk to people playing games at the same time, sort of like being on Steam. Since Guild Wars 2 isn’t on steam, you’re not going to see much use there, Steam works best for Steam games, but every month Raptr publishes not only a chart of their 20 most played games, but what percentage of over all time is spent playing that game by Raptr members. Guild Wars 2 seems to be holding steady. Well it went up a spot, but that’s no big deal. Here’s the article.

http://sknr.net/2014/08/11/raptrs-most-played-pc-games-of-july-2014/

Of particular note: Wildstar is not only down 7 spots, but lost 40% Playtime since launch. I strongly suspecdt Wildstar isn’t going to have major impact on Guild Wars 2. Also ESO dropped out of the top 20 this month, down to 26, and though Final Fantasy has moved up, according to the game notes a lot of this has to do with a free login weekend.

Raptr numbers only show trends and are indicative of pretty much nothing else. But it does show that two years after launch, Guild Wars 2 remains in the top 20 games played in Raptr by player hours (I’m not on Raptr btw, so I don’t figure into that lol), and that it’s remained relatively steady over time.

Lol. I have Raptr. I often turn it off when playing, though. Guess I should leave it on! =P

Only if you keep it on while playing whatever games you play. No sense in skewing results intentionally. I just find trends interesting in general.

Well, the only game I play that is tracked by Raptr is Guild Wars 2. So, I don’t think I would be skewing anything. Plus, you do get points to spend. Nothing I’m really interested in, though….

You get points! Who knew? Maybe I should be doing that.

Good to know, but not entirely surprising from my perspective. This forum always seems to have at least a few topics from new and returning players, and a majority who are playing fairly regularly so it makes sense the population would be stable. Although obviously both this survey and the forum only represent tiny sub-sections of the overall playerbase.

I don’t think it’s surprising that Wildstar is down, that always happens to MMOs not long after launch. If the developers are sensible they will have factored that into their plans and it won’t have much of an impact on the game as a whole.

ESO does surprise me because last time I looked at their forum everyone seemed pretty hyped about upcoming changes. Although people also keep saying the majority of people are playing on the PTR instead of the actual game and that probably doesn’t factor into this survey.

@Danikat

You just can’t go by forums though. Games like ESO once they lose someone it’s harder to get them back, because it means them paying more money. People over all were disillusioned with the generic gameplay. It wasn’t enough like a good MMO or a good Elder Scrolls game to hold either group.

Just as if you go to these forums it doesn’t really give an accurate picture of how Guild Wars 2 is doing, which is better that most MMOs 2 years on.

I should have explained that better. The drop in player numbers doesn’t surprise me, (I concluded the game is boring during the betas, it always made me want to play GW2 instead, or Skyrim).

What surprises me is the contrast between that and the forum. Normally there’s as much negativity towards the game as any MMOs forum and since you don’t have to be actively playing, or subscribing, to post (even I could, if I wanted to, and I never bought the game) it’s not that it’s the loyal core who stuck with it who post there.

It does show an interesting contrast with GW2 though. Even when I’m interested in the changes and my husband has said I could use his account if I pay the sub, the commitment of doing so is just too much of a deterrent for me to give it another go. Whereas with GW2 it’s easy for anyone to jump back into the game and try for themselves.

The thing is I’ve been tracking Guild Wars 2 on Raptr for a long time and it seems relatively stable. Which is a good thing.

This game has found it’s core playerbase and I don’t think most of us are leaving anytime soon. And I do think that it’s enough people to sustain the game indefinitely.

I think that GW2’s business model will contribute to its placement in programs/sites like Raptr. I am not at all surprised that Raptr shows it doing well.

But population is an indirect measure of financial health for a game without a sub fee. I am curious as to the average monthly cash expenditure of a GW2 player. From what I’ve read the game is doing well financially. Kinda curious about the actual per player income though.

There’s an article out there…somewhere…that shows Guild Wars 2 players spend (spent) an average of $3.81 per month? week? something. Lol.

But it was awhile ago, and I have no idea how accurate it is nowadays.

Vayne.8563:

The thing is I’ve been tracking Guild Wars 2 on Raptr for a long time and it seems relatively stable. Which is a good thing.

This game has found it’s core playerbase and I don’t think most of us are leaving anytime soon. And I do think that it’s enough people to sustain the game indefinitely.

I would agree with this, simply based on my experiences. All of my same friends/guild members still play. Our guild has grown rather than shrink. The people I play GW2 with are here to stay, just like I am. I may enjoy a distraction here and there (like Destiny, oh man did I enjoy the beta), but GW2 is my home for the foreseeable future as it is for many, many others.

I think post-WoW MMO players need to accept the fact that whatever new game they choose to play won’t have a cult following of millions of players like WoW did. If your game is stable and maintains a healthy number of players, then just ride it out. Especially if you enjoy the game.

The best we can really see about that is the NCsoft quarterly reports. Guild Wars 2 seems to be doing fine on that front and that was before China launched. Now I don’t know that China will actually show up on the report, it was suggested elsewhere that it may have another category.

In any event, I think the game is doing fine. I wonder what would happen if Anet actually announced an expansion. lol

Vayne.8563:

The best we can really see about that is the NCsoft quarterly reports. Guild Wars 2 seems to be doing fine on that front and that was before China launched. Now I don’t know that China will actually show up on the report, it was suggested elsewhere that it may have another category.

In any event, I think the game is doing fine. I wonder what would happen if Anet actually announced an expansion. lol

GW2 EU/NA obviously has found its stable ground over the last quarters. GW2 China will be listed under “Royalties” in the new earnings report that will be published by NcSoft this week. Leading indicators show missed expectations for GW2 China and Wildstar. The data from raptr seem to confirm the indication for Wildstar.

Yes, NCSOFT stock has taken a beating since the start of July, down some 18%, down 37% since the start of the year. Even one of their biggest cheerleaders, KDB Daewoo who at one time predicted the price of the stock would reach an absurd 600,000 has dropped it’s target price from 280,000 to 220,000 and is calling for NCSOFT to cough over some increased dividends in a mid July report. Stock is now at 154,500.

This is seen as an indication that they know something about what will be reported later this week (likely this week) about the 2nd quarter numbers. But NCSoft is a company with five major games being the bulk of their income along with Asia being their bulk region for income.

NCSOFT has been stringing along their investors with promises of vast riches to be mined from China’s gaming market. I’m sensing that this isn’t going as well as hyped. Just like the time they suggested that the company would hit over $1 billion USD in sales once B&S and GW2 come out in 2010. They took their surprised success of AION and thought the next two MMOs they had in the pipeline would be just as huge. Silly rabbit …