Guild Wars 2

I know I can’t be the only one thinking about it. I think this game would do great on next-gen systems. Sound off on your thoughts…

What….like on a Star Trek holo deck?

I think its a terrible idea. Leave in on the PC where it belongs, developers should spend the time instead on developing new content and gameplay instead of trying to port it to other systems.

Also, while I realize you can have keyboards for next gen systems…typing would be a nightmare while also trying to play from a controller. Also simple things you do with your mouse everyday and don’t think about how much of pain it would be without it. For example: Inventory and bank manipulation, AoE placement, Selecting enemies/objects/waypoints, etc….

By next-gen you mean the current consoles? If so, just no.
Or you mean really next gen CPUs and devices like Oculus Rift and stuff?

A 1st person camera with Oculus Rift in Jumping Puzzles would be amazing, I would play a game that consisted of just that.

Guild Wars is a game that requires a mouse and a keyboard to be played properly.
It wouldn’t work on console.

It would be so awful on consoles (if that’s what you mean by “next gen”). The current state of “gaming” is to release games way before they’re finished and poorly developed (constant bugs, etc). On pc they have the benefit of resolving serious bugs and releasing hot fixes in a couple hours. On a console they have to send the update in for approval which takes a couple weeks (as well as costs the publishers some money). Could you imagine some of the game breaking bugs that we’ve had lasting two weeks (yeah i know there are tons of bugs that have been around since launch). Every two week Living Story content would pretty much be impossible and not practical from a business stand point. It just wouldn’t work overall, leave GW2 on PC and us the resources to fix bugs/develop new content.

Belzebu.3912:

By next-gen you mean the current consoles? If so, just no.
Or you mean really next gen CPUs and devices like Oculus Rift and stuff?

A 1st person camera with Oculus Rift in Jumping Puzzles would be amazing, I would play a game that consisted of just that.

Oculus rift a really next gen device? Its like a 20 year old concept just made fancier, lol.

Anyway, seeing as 90% of us probably have a computer thats equal or better than a PS4/XBone then sure why not.

Well, an i7 CPU is just a 30+ years old concept made fancier …
Oculus Rift is a good concept and the work is to make it easier to use and cheaper to produce, the concept of how it work sure is old, like almost every technology we have today.

Console MMOs was never a thing, at least in the western market, and the few that reach here usually requires a keyboard or a device to emulate a keyboard, I don’t see GW2 on PS4/XBONE at all.

PS4 and XBOX are x86, the same processing used in home computers. It would be easy to port it into the console, the only issues is the updating restrictions set by Sony and Microsoft, they would also have to pay extra money to them to grant the ability to use the service online without PS+ and Live.

ugdup.2371:

Guild Wars is a game that requires a mouse and a keyboard to be played properly.
It wouldn’t work on console.

Diablo is a hack and slash click to move based game, the entire game was designed to be played with mostly just your mouse… and they released that on the consoles and some people argue it is superior to the PC versions.

Guild Wars coming to console would be easy to implement, there’s only 10 skills. The difficult part would be redesigning the interface to work with controllers.

I don’t know…MMO on a console? Doesn’t seem like it would work very well…

ugdup.2371:

Guild Wars is a game that requires a mouse and a keyboard to be played properly.
It wouldn’t work on console.

I know a couple people who play quite well with controllers. Only issue is they couldn’t get select to accept “push to talk” on TS so their jump and push to talk are the same button

It would be foolish of them not to. Other major titles such as World of Tanks and War Thunder have been ported to other consoles or are in the process of getting extra console treatment.

Of course, a different dev team would be needed.

ESO is out for PS4 and X1 and we saw how that worked out. I tried ESO on my computer and it felt like a game made for consoles. That is one reason why I got a full refund.

Have you ever played Sacred 2 on the PC then on a console (PS3)?

MMOs belong on PCs.

Just like flight simulators and mech simulators belong on the PC instead of on a console.

ugdup.2371:

Guild Wars is a game that requires a mouse and a keyboard to be played properly.
It wouldn’t work on console.

USB connected mouse and keyboards can function on the PS4. (ps3 too)

(Not that I think Gw2 will ever make it to consoles)

The only next gen anything this game should be on is dx11 (and even that is questionable)

Chase.8415:

PS4 and XBOX are x86, the same processing used in home computers. It would be easy to port it into the console, the only issues is the updating restrictions set by Sony and Microsoft, they would also have to pay extra money to them to grant the ability to use the service online without PS+ and Live.

ugdup.2371:

Guild Wars is a game that requires a mouse and a keyboard to be played properly.
It wouldn’t work on console.

Diablo is a hack and slash click to move based game, the entire game was designed to be played with mostly just your mouse… and they released that on the consoles and some people argue it is superior to the PC versions.

Guild Wars coming to console would be easy to implement, there’s only 10 skills. The difficult part would be redesigning the interface to work with controllers.

Wrong. The new consoles may be x86 but they are considerably less powerful than your average PC. The game currently uses only 2-3 significant threads which means additional cores aren’t helpful but fast cores are. Due to the slow clock speed of the cores in the next-gen consoles their per core performance is painfully low, 25% slower than the cores in the old Core 2 Q6600. A “simple” port wouldn’t work since CPU core performance is everything once you get into mobs of other players.

Could it be possible if they started with a cross platform game engine from one of the big game engine companies? Maybe. UE has been used in some MMOs already. Same with the CryEngine. But it’s something you don’t decide to do later, you have to go in with cross platform development on day 1 otherwise it’s like adding more floors to a bottom of a skyscraper.

Quoting myself on this one:

Kalarchis.8635:

The problem with putting the game on a console is licensing and distribution. ANet has expressed disinterest in physical, boxed releases of the game. They much prefer digital copies and only want to have one box of the game out. Each release on a console means new contracts, new boxes, more shipping, more middlemen, etc etc.

It also means remapping the controls to a new controller and getting the game working on the PS4/X-Bone architecture. That means whole new sets of bugs for each console. It also means finding a way to get all three online networks playing together, which is its own legal and technical nightmare.

In the end, it’s just easier and more practical to keep it PC-only

There’s a lot of systems in game that just weren’t designed with a controller in mind. A console port of GW2 would take so much development from game menu reworks to how movement and casting, especially GTAOE, works that it would be easier to just make a new game. They’d have to slow everything down too, GW2 moves really fast for most people to enjoy playing it with a controller. Why do you think everything is so sluggish and slow in ESO and FFXIV? They designed the games to be playable with a controller.

GW or GW2 on a console will NEVER HAPPEN.

On the Xboxen you have the additional problem of Microsoft trying to control everything, including the network and servers (meaning a completely separate experience for Xbox players).

what about GW2 going 4k? Or has that already been done?

Personally I would like it if they introduced controller support before looking into moving it over to consoles. Making the controls work on a controller is one thing; moving it over to the new consoles’ operating systems is another (at least, I’m fairly sure they use different operating systems; XBone probably just uses a lamed version of Win8.1).

Besides, if you can plug your computer into a TV and play it with a controller, you’re pretty much already there. Steambox is on the way, too.

Chase.8415:

PS4 and XBOX are x86, the same processing used in home computers. It would be easy to port it into the console, the only issues is the updating restrictions set by Sony and Microsoft, they would also have to pay extra money to them to grant the ability to use the service online without PS+ and Live.

ugdup.2371:

Guild Wars is a game that requires a mouse and a keyboard to be played properly.
It wouldn’t work on console.

Diablo is a hack and slash click to move based game, the entire game was designed to be played with mostly just your mouse… and they released that on the consoles and some people argue it is superior to the PC versions.

Guild Wars coming to console would be easy to implement, there’s only 10 skills. The difficult part would be redesigning the interface to work with controllers.

Diablo III was designed to work for consoles since the very beginning. They had it planned from the start.

Scientia.8924:

The only next gen anything this game should be on is dx11 (and even that is questionable)

You mean DX12.

Lazarus.3970:

Scientia.8924:

The only next gen anything this game should be on is dx11 (and even that is questionable)

You mean DX12.

Haha there was meant to be sarcasm in that post considering what had happened but yeah technically next gen nowadays is dx12

The sad part is that more and more games are moving towards consoles than PCs. Although PC gaming is in no danger of dying out anytime in the foreseeable future, and is still going strong, the fact is that more and more people are going console rather than PC for gaming. Game companies are recognizing this are are making more console ports of PC games than ever before. I am ok with some console ports of games, but some games just don’t flow well on a console. Games like Star Craft, of other RTS games, just aren’t the same on a console as on a PC, and never will be. Even if GW2 was to port over to console, I don’t think it would be nearly as good as the PC version.

Behellagh.1468:

Chase.8415:

PS4 and XBOX are x86, the same processing used in home computers. It would be easy to port it into the console, the only issues is the updating restrictions set by Sony and Microsoft, they would also have to pay extra money to them to grant the ability to use the service online without PS+ and Live.

ugdup.2371:

Guild Wars is a game that requires a mouse and a keyboard to be played properly.
It wouldn’t work on console.

Diablo is a hack and slash click to move based game, the entire game was designed to be played with mostly just your mouse… and they released that on the consoles and some people argue it is superior to the PC versions.

Guild Wars coming to console would be easy to implement, there’s only 10 skills. The difficult part would be redesigning the interface to work with controllers.

Wrong. The new consoles may be x86 but they are considerably less powerful than your average PC. The game currently uses only 2-3 significant threads which means additional cores aren’t helpful but fast cores are. Due to the slow clock speed of the cores in the next-gen consoles their per core performance is painfully low, 25% slower than the cores in the old Core 2 Q6600. A “simple” port wouldn’t work since CPU core performance is everything once you get into mobs of other players.

Could it be possible if they started with a cross platform game engine from one of the big game engine companies? Maybe. UE has been used in some MMOs already. Same with the CryEngine. But it’s something you don’t decide to do later, you have to go in with cross platform development on day 1 otherwise it’s like adding more floors to a bottom of a skyscraper.

Where are you pulling “less powerful” than current PC’s right now?

The average graphic card right now is the Intel HD 4000/5000. This is because they are included with the processor so its cheaper for laptop manufacturers to use it. They are also powerful enough to run modern games on medium settings, including Guild Wars 2.

Also Final Fantasy ARR runs at full speed on max settings on the Playstation 4. Integrated graphics could not handle that.

ugdup.2371:

Chase.8415:

PS4 and XBOX are x86, the same processing used in home computers. It would be easy to port it into the console, the only issues is the updating restrictions set by Sony and Microsoft, they would also have to pay extra money to them to grant the ability to use the service online without PS+ and Live.

ugdup.2371:

Guild Wars is a game that requires a mouse and a keyboard to be played properly.
It wouldn’t work on console.

Diablo is a hack and slash click to move based game, the entire game was designed to be played with mostly just your mouse… and they released that on the consoles and some people argue it is superior to the PC versions.

Guild Wars coming to console would be easy to implement, there’s only 10 skills. The difficult part would be redesigning the interface to work with controllers.

Diablo III was designed to work for consoles since the very beginning. They had it planned from the start.

And so was Guild Wars 2, you can actually find controller buttons in the interface hidden in the data files since the beta. Diablo 3 is obviously a game designed for a mouse, they ported it perfectly for the console.

Chase.8415:

The average graphic card right now is the Intel HD 4000/5000. This is because they are included with the processor so its cheaper for laptop manufacturers to use it. They are also powerful enough to run modern games on medium settings, including Guild Wars 2.

Too bad the GPU isn’t the part causing issues here.

I’m personally against the idea. It’d be a poor way to expend resources, and the game itself doesn’t exactly lend to being played with a controller, assuming it would even run on the new consoles.

Belzebu.3912:

By next-gen you mean the current consoles? If so, just no.
Or you mean really next gen CPUs and devices like Oculus Rift and stuff?

A 1st person camera with Oculus Rift in Jumping Puzzles would be amazing, I would play a game that consisted of just that.

If GW2 ever becomes compatible/optimized for use on the Oculus Rift I’d do nothing but play it on Oculus Rift. The sheer awesomeness of it boggles the mind.

Fermi.2409:

Chase.8415:

The average graphic card right now is the Intel HD 4000/5000. This is because they are included with the processor so its cheaper for laptop manufacturers to use it. They are also powerful enough to run modern games on medium settings, including Guild Wars 2.

Too bad the GPU isn’t the part causing issues here.

I’m personally against the idea. It’d be a poor way to expend resources, and the game itself doesn’t exactly lend to being played with a controller, assuming it would even run on the new consoles.

Well considering these gpus are integrated into the processor, if you have an intel HD 4000/5000 then you are capable enough to run GW2. The weaker end CPU’s use 3000.

Most of these games are developed to run on the average computer, it’s not about the best graphics it’s about making money.

Chase.8415:

Behellagh.1468:

Chase.8415:

PS4 and XBOX are x86, the same processing used in home computers. It would be easy to port it into the console, the only issues is the updating restrictions set by Sony and Microsoft, they would also have to pay extra money to them to grant the ability to use the service online without PS+ and Live.

ugdup.2371:

Guild Wars is a game that requires a mouse and a keyboard to be played properly.
It wouldn’t work on console.

Diablo is a hack and slash click to move based game, the entire game was designed to be played with mostly just your mouse… and they released that on the consoles and some people argue it is superior to the PC versions.

Guild Wars coming to console would be easy to implement, there’s only 10 skills. The difficult part would be redesigning the interface to work with controllers.

Wrong. The new consoles may be x86 but they are considerably less powerful than your average PC. The game currently uses only 2-3 significant threads which means additional cores aren’t helpful but fast cores are. Due to the slow clock speed of the cores in the next-gen consoles their per core performance is painfully low, 25% slower than the cores in the old Core 2 Q6600. A “simple” port wouldn’t work since CPU core performance is everything once you get into mobs of other players.

Could it be possible if they started with a cross platform game engine from one of the big game engine companies? Maybe. UE has been used in some MMOs already. Same with the CryEngine. But it’s something you don’t decide to do later, you have to go in with cross platform development on day 1 otherwise it’s like adding more floors to a bottom of a skyscraper.

Where are you pulling “less powerful” than current PC’s right now?

The average graphic card right now is the Intel HD 4000/5000. This is because they are included with the processor so its cheaper for laptop manufacturers to use it. They are also powerful enough to run modern games on medium settings, including Guild Wars 2.

Also Final Fantasy ARR runs at full speed on max settings on the Playstation 4. Integrated graphics could not handle that.

ugdup.2371:

Chase.8415:

PS4 and XBOX are x86, the same processing used in home computers. It would be easy to port it into the console, the only issues is the updating restrictions set by Sony and Microsoft, they would also have to pay extra money to them to grant the ability to use the service online without PS+ and Live.

ugdup.2371:

Guild Wars is a game that requires a mouse and a keyboard to be played properly.
It wouldn’t work on console.

Diablo is a hack and slash click to move based game, the entire game was designed to be played with mostly just your mouse… and they released that on the consoles and some people argue it is superior to the PC versions.

Guild Wars coming to console would be easy to implement, there’s only 10 skills. The difficult part would be redesigning the interface to work with controllers.

Diablo III was designed to work for consoles since the very beginning. They had it planned from the start.

And so was Guild Wars 2, you can actually find controller buttons in the interface hidden in the data files since the beta. Diablo 3 is obviously a game designed for a mouse, they ported it perfectly for the console.

Because the XBone and PS4 essentially contains two Athlon 5350, well the CPU portion, the GPU is more like an HD 7790 (XBone) or an HD 7870 (PS4). So on the CPU side of the equation, each core is slower than the cores found in the 1st generation Intel Core 2 CPUs from 2006. It’s just there are eight of them and if you code your game knowing you have X number of weak cores you can still make a game awesome.

However as I stated GW2 only has a few CPU intensive sections that can only use a few cores. The extra cores don’t help. Also the drop in framerate players are seeing in WvW and Boss events is due to CPU and not GPU. You could have a nVidia Titan and you will still see a drop in those instances while the GPU % load is barely breaking a sweat.

And again if you know going into production that your game will be cross platform, you take that into account in your design. But if you start with “dual core required, quad would be better running a Dx9c video card on XP” you aren’t looking to make a rendering engine that scales across n cores. A development that went from 3 to 5 years isn’t going to go back and work in newer driver technologies or 64-bit or any of the advancements a company that sells their game engine would, like CryEngine or Source or Unreal Engine. And they do have console support.

There’s no reason GW2 on consoles can’t happen, after all, FFXIV has been ported to PS4 and from what I hear it runs just fine. And of course, as some people here fail to realize, consoles can use a keyboard and mouse. I don’t know how voice chat is handled, but I assume there are workarounds.

But I still think the optimal MMO experience is to be had on the PC, if even for little things like taking and managing screenshots, or minimizing your game to browse guides, the wiki, etc. Plus, home consoles still come with pretty minimal hard drive space, and MMOs require constant updates and additional space to download new content.

I feel for you if you simply don’t have a computer that can run GW2, but on the other hand I don’t really think ArenaNet’s time is best spent working on console ports and assigning a team to constantly maintain additional versions of the game.

Im Mudbone.1437:

GW or GW2 on a console will NEVER HAPPEN.

/eyeroll
Did you really have to specify “GW or GW2”? As if anyone is thinking about porting the original Guild Wars to consoles at this point…

I think is hilarious on how ppl are so confident that GW2 cant never be on a Console. Little do they know how clueless they are since Dev them self talk about on how they did wanted to bring the game to console and when as far to put a team together to make this happen but it was cancel b/c on like pc when you have to do updates for console, it was much complex where you have to talk back and forward with the console company to make it happen and this discourage them from doing it

They say that the day they can make update with out having to be dealing with the console company,they will bring the game out side pc

Drakent.9605:

They say that the day they can make update with out having to be dealing with the console company,they will bring the game out side pc

That is the reason GW2 will never be on console

Belzebu.3912:

Drakent.9605:

They say that the day they can make update with out having to be dealing with the console company,they will bring the game out side pc

That is the reason GW2 will never be on console

Anet say they will never have grinding gear but they change there mind and added ascended gear.

So never say never

IMO you don’t need to grind to get asc gear and asc gear is not even needed to begin with, but that aside, I wasn’t all serious, hence the " " , but I don’t think such game industry philosophy will change in time to GW2 actually be available for consoles, maybe a GW3 or even another future MMO franchise from Anet.

+1 to all who stated the dumb idea would never happen.

Belzebu.3912:

IMO you don’t need to grind to get asc gear and asc gear is not even needed to begin with, but that aside, I wasn’t all serious, hence the " " , but I don’t think such game industry philosophy will change in time to GW2 actually be available for consoles, maybe a GW3 or even another future MMO franchise from Anet.

As a business person it would be a mistake not bring GW2 to console since majority of gamers are in console and the reality is that pc gamers are the minority so bringing to console will be more $

As a gamer I think it would be a mistake not to want the game to be on console , I really never understood the hate pc gamers have against console gamers , thinking pc is superior when it really doesn’t matter b/c the fact is MMO games tribe on the amount of players so the more players are in the game the better the game gets and bringing GW2 to ps4 and xbox one would increase player base over 5 times more giving the game more life

Most people seem to be arguing about hardware and technical matters on why GW2 won’t make it to the console. I’d like to add some more fuel to the fire by adding on some legal/compliance matters.

This will all be based off of my experience working for one of the largest publishers in the gaming industry for six and a half years. So take it with a grain of salt.

• Patching: Patching on a console is a royal pain in the butt. You can’t sign the patches for the game, you have to submit the patch to MS/Sony and get them to test it, sign it, and then post it. This normally takes 6-8 weeks. With the bi-weekly content and patch updates that GW2 have this won’t happen. MS/Sony can send out a patch faster than 6-8 weeks, I had one patch go to Sony get propped in 36 hours. And 1 week with MS. The first was mostly because Sony didn’t know what they wanted and changed it at the last minute forcing us to rebuild the patch. The second with Microsoft because we had a severe commerce bug that was losing MS and my company lots of money. Both of them were put up, but with the words ‘never again’. Unless Arenanet can bypass this process the current development/Living world model won’t work. Patching is also expensive. I don’t know the exact (I wasn’t in finance), but its something like $50k for the first or second patch (I think MS gives the first patch free), $100k for the second, and it keeps growing and growing and growing. This fee can be waived if the patch is to enable more micro-transactions (downloading a new DLC for instance)
• Patch Size: There use to be a 4 meg max patch size limit on the XBox360, this use to be a hard limit but they were able to work around it, by storing patches in different ways. Sony use to have a 1.9 gig limit on DLC and Microsoft a 2 gig limit. That was package size and couldn’t be worked around. There wasn’t a limit to how many packages you could have, but see my next point on total hard drive space. I don’t know the technical size limits on the PS4 and XBone, I left the industry 4-5 months before they launched, and didn’t really get into their commerce technical docs.
• Hard Drive Space: Both Sony and Microsoft limit the amount of hard drive space your title has access to. For the PS3 I think it was set at 5 gigs, and x360 it was gigs. I’m pretty rough on the numbers since I haven’t had to deal with it since 2011 when we initially looked at DLC sizes. We found we were well under and never approached the number and then forgot about it there after. For the XBone and the PS4 those numbers might increase. Though I believe this is a compliance limit, not a technical limit and can get negotiated away.
• Hard Drive Access: If you think your load times are slow now, wait till you see it on a console. MS and Sony are paranoid about data on the hard drive and want to make sure that cheaters can’t change anything. Even stuff cached to the hard drive needs to be encrypted, and every access checked for validity. This is SLOW. Again this might be better on the XBone and the PS4.
• Commerce: Microsoft and Sony are very fussy about how commerce is done on their systems. They would probably allow Money->Gem transfers, but much rather prefer virtual items. Also like everyone else in the industry they take 30% off the top. Refunds are a pain to deal with, think its hard getting a refund now? Wait till you have to talk to Microsoft and Sony, and then they have to talk to Arenanet to do a refund.
• Inter Console Play Microsoft hates Sony, Sony hates Microsoft. The fastest way for a game to fail compliance is to make a game play across the artificial barrier. They have no problem with the console talking to a PC, but if another 1st party console gets in there the kitten hits the rotating air blower. The negotiation to allow cross-platform would be complex. And would probably involve more lawyers than Arenanet has staff. If they only brought it out for only one console this wouldn’t be an issue.
• Game Play with Controller Both Microsoft and Sony want you to use their controller. They might allow you to use a keyboard, as long as you had an in game keyboard that people can use, and I think it only allowed for text input not game control. For compliance for the PS3, XBox360 I remember some checklist items that specifically banned using a mouse. Custom game controllers were frowned at, but allowed if negotiated for.

I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting. I think the legal/compliance issues will be more limiting for GW2 to come out on the console than raw hardware power.

@ durrik

I don’t know where you get your information but is incorrect

FFXIV ARR does everything you say that cant be don’t

Patches:
FFXIV does 1 or 2 patches every month with no issues for xbox 360 ps3 and ps4 and they are doing so good that they added ffxiv arr to xbox one

Patches size limit:
FFXIV patches size update are bigger then gw2 , in gw2 patches updates the longest it has taken to download has been 40min in ffxiv arr it can take up to 2hr and this is on pc not console

hard drive space limit :
I have no clue where you get the information that console company control hard drive limit but that is false

Commerce:*
maybe xbox since they a bit greedy but playstation could care less

Inter Console Play:
ffxiv arr is on xbox 360 playstation 3 and 4 and has no problem dealing with them to the point now they making it for xbox one

Game Play with Controller:
Again more incorrect information, I have play ffxiv arr on playstation, xbox and pc and the control are the same none of them are different and you can use mouse and kb on both console and play the same as pc

They have almost no support for their Mac beta client/ wrapper that has been out for a year and a half unless the gem store breaks then they fix it. I wouldn’t expect a console client anytime soon and even then if it is released I hope it is treated better than the Mac client.

Anet has already addressed this issue in the past and they have made it clear there will never be a console version of Guild Wars 2.

Why? To many to post but here are some reasons why.

Living story content updates would never work on consoles do to the way updates/patches are handled by Microsoft and Sony.

Unlike PC when Anet wants to release new content, patches or updates they can do it when ever they feel like it but releasing new content, updates, and patches on consoles would be a pain since they would have to summit any new updates or patches to Microsoft and/or Sony and wait for them to approve it. Meaning if there is a bug and Anet made a patch for it console gamers would have to wait a week or longer to get it while PC gamers can get it in hours.

No. Because all the filth that lives on Xbox Live and PSN will flood into the GW2 community.

Chase.8415:

Well considering these gpus are integrated into the processor, if you have an intel HD 4000/5000 then you are capable enough to run GW2. The weaker end CPU’s use 3000.

Well considering that the consoles aren’t PCs and have godawful CPUs, this isn’t relevant in the slightest.

Its not so much of a hardware issue as it is a logistics issue. You would need a whole team to rewrite the ENTIRE code. Xbox one uses a windows 8 based OS, while PS4 uses a freeBSD (unix) based OS. Plus you have to contract dealings of both Sony and Microsoft, as well as the cross platform compatibility issues that don’t stem from hardware, but rather legal issues. Plus every PC update would have to be re-written, and submitted for each platform. Although some games have been able to successfully port from PC to console (generally FPS/RTS type games), putting a massive scale MMO onto a console at this point would cause more issues than it is worth.

pdavis.8031:

I don’t know…MMO on a console? Doesn’t seem like it would work very well…

If the MMO planned for it, then maybe.

FF14 handled it that way. The resulting problem was that the game is very slow-paced and less fluid in comparison to more modern MMOs like GW2 and WildStar.

And yet, I know a few people who love FF14’s console version. Weird. o_O

Sorry to necro this thread, but I came to the forums specifically to see if there was a planned PS4 port and found this thread via the search function.

I saw a free trial offer was just recently announced and honestly haven’t played the game in quite some time.

I did enjoy what I saw of Guild Wars 2 when it was launched but was burnt out on MMO’s at the time. While I still don’t have a ton of time for gaming these days I believe GW2 would fit perfectly on consoles. The smaller skill set that switches depending on what weapon you have equipped allows for easy button mapping on a game controller.

We’ve seen success with Final Fantasy XIV and what I believe to be the definitive version of Diablo 3. I would love to see Guild Wars 2 make a console-friendly port. If done correctly, I think it could be a huge success for ArenaNet.

I’m curious what technical limitations does the community see as potential issues for a console version? Targeting? Coordination?

The game won’t come to consoles and MMOs aren’t really suitable for consoles. But I would appreciate it if they made it available. That said GW2 is more suitable for consoles than traditional MMOs since you have such few skills and not even the option for additional skill bars and utility bars on the PC version (a fract that I criticized from time to time here) – let’s say for bufffood and other consumables (yeah we know it now: it would be confusing for the players lol).

But then again the PC-game community shows a huge disrespect towards console gamers and their enormous intolerance and narrow-mindedness. Just let them play how they want.

We aren’t showing a disrespect but legitimate issues with the bureaucracy that consoles have in place for pushing out major updates as well as hardware limitations.

Now hardware limitations can be worked around if the game was first designed with these consoles in mind. It is easier to port a console release to the PC than an original PC exclusive to console and it’s best to start with all three targets in mind and using cross platform tools to ease development. And that usually starts with a game engine that’s already been ported across all targeted hardware. Then it’s a matter of confining the assets the game uses to the limitations of those platforms and allowing you to scale them up depending on the platform.

And this is one of the reasons it will be especially difficult to do is, and it’s my unfounded belief, that they choose ease of asset development over providing a silky smooth frame rate. They let their artists and animators with few restrictions a let 3rd party tools like Umbra to handle the messy job of reducing the polygon complexity that’s being fed through the renderer rather than running a strict budget to ease the renderer’s job. It’s a trade of pretty over engine efficiency and engine efficiency matters on consoles due to their low end hardware.

Both new gen consoles (sorry WiiU) have roughly 1/2 the CPU performance of an FX-8350. And no amount of limit OS/API to improve efficiency can alter the fact that any single thread is limited by the performance of a single core so multi-threaded balance of workload is very, very important to squeeze every last bit of performance out of the hardware.