Guild Wars 2

It’s been a very long road, or at least it seems it.

This is my thoughts on Gw2 which I’ve had to simmer on since the last Feature patch, which has also been the biggest push to write something like this. So in order, and feel free to insert your own feelings but keep it civil below.

Beta!

Gw2 Beta, the invitation I had been dieing for, for months on end. NDA agreements and Play testing, it was a blast and the community was great. I was so excited to see what Gw2 would become with even more development, there was a great base and core to the game that made going back to Gw1 very hard… I was hooked. This was the Closed Beta days…

Then the Announcement came, Gw2 to be released!

I was mixed on how I felt about this.. The beta was great but it still felt like it needed a lot more love to flesh it out into a true power house that could really alter the MMO scene.

Then came the Open Betas, great fun and it helped keep me playing the game I really wanted to play, It felt like Halo 1 or 3 all over again for me, but the game didn’t seem to be progressing fast enough to meet the deadline it now had, it didnt feel like it would hit shelves.

Launch

It was here, and while great, the game still very much felt like it hadnt left beta but maybe that couldn’t really be helped. It was an MMO after all and there was plenty of time for it to Grow and really flesh itself out in the years to come. Thats what all MMO’s do after all isn’kitten The core of the game was still pretty strong and the new concepts it had were interesting. I rushed a Guardian to 80 in just a week, I had to see everything and explore it all.

Later i found that Guardian just wasn’t working for me, WvW was turning into ranged combat and much of late end PvE was also ranged with many 1HKO attacks only being Melee.. i felt disadvantaged so i shelved my guardian for a Mesmer, hoping Anet would expand on the weapon sets and give my preferred class some ranged weapons.

During this time Halloween came for the first time ever! Clock Tower was buggy and I gave up on it but seeing all the potential to really bind communities with One Time Events and watching the world change for them was amazing!

Later the Karka arrived, Citizens! I tell you, I loved being a part of these events, 1 shot and it was over. being able to regale others of the epic battles was almost novel but it was still bonding, even if they were sad to have missed it. It wasn’t a perfect system but it was pretty good, it could have easily been retold through leveled down Instances after the fact so late comers could still have gotten a taste of it all.

My Mesmer was now level 80 and my guardian rarely touched, there was new content to do and Wintersday was here, lesser extent to the single live events, now extended to a Day or two but still re playable, all the festival content was well done and i really loved how things were working out for the game.

Then came Fractals and Ascended Gear… Honestly i was dissapointed, to learn of a new tier of armor and weapons and trinkets being added .. Gw has never been about Item Teirs and this was what I now consider the first step down a very long slope.. Fractals was still fun but the game was starting to grow stale.. WvW had devolved into Zerg vs Door or Zerg vs Zerg and tactics were loosing out, the cracks were showing in every game mode.. All the half finished or Rushed to launch features were showing their weakness..

Then came the Dry spell.. You probably know of it as LS 1, or Scarlet’s Legacy..

Living Story

At first, I was excited by the idea of a living story, changes to areas and new side stories to explore and follow. Flame and Frost on a 1 month turn over, this was the answer to 1 time events being so exclusive to so few players…

Flame and Frost was great, I really enjoyed it and it kept me interested in playing.. and then at the end of it.. it was gone…

Why had all of it vanished? all that dev time and work and world changes, null and void.. I was shocked.. Why take it away?

Then LS continued and I understood.. and was saddened deeply..

LS was an OK distraction for a time, but when the 2 week cycle took over I began to realize fully what it ment for the game.

Remember those weaknesses I mentioned earlier? They weren’t being touched, but almost entirely ignored now. While LS was a great distraction to many players to keep them from noticing this or that or bugs..

LS kept Anets focus on churning out Temporary Content whilst ignoring what was permanent, it chased away a lot of potential players and veterans alike as they either got fed up with waiting or found out they could not experience all these great things their friends had told them about.

Still I waited…

Today

Today, I’m Dissatisfied..

Disappointed.. and tired of waiting..

To be Fair LS2 is an improvement but it’s still so apparent to me that it destroys the ability of the dev team to work on the rest of the game. Content is so piece meal that it often feels that its coming at a snails pace. The core of this game is still so strong but the cracks are now painful to me. Yet there’s still potential in it.

But ultimately I’m Fed up. the latest Feature pack just feel like Confirmation for my worries.

Patches for problems we mentioned so long ago that feel misplaced this far into a games lifepsan. Often these types of changes come with a Full paid expansion in other games which makes them less traumatizing, as if to say “we’re sorry, we listened but we were working on all of this at the same time and this just seemed like the best time to roll it all out for everyone.” There was no cover to this for Gw2..

The latest Feature pack is ultimately the culmination of the CDI’s that were held last year along with a lot of other player feedback, but they came a year to late. The players are noticing the deeper issues with this game now and many of us might prefer that you focus your full attention to these rather than LS or Temp content or Cosmetic UI changes or changes to leveling that we asked for changes to, gave up waiting for and learned to deal with..

Many Players, fairly enough, will appreciate the changes and will learn to deal with the other problems the game faces while others will continue to just deal with the problems because they cannot find a better outlet for what they are looking for in a game..

Will I personally continue to play? Yes, but with limitations and deeply lowered expectations. While I understand that game development is never easy or fast, I also cannot understand the direction that has been taken for Gw2. I won’t highly recommend the game to others but will tell them the truth as a whole about it, and suggest they wait till Gw2 goes on Sale to pick up a copy if they choose. I will continue to attempt to criticize the game in so much of a civil manner as I can manage to when I am capable of putting my thoughts together in a meaningful way. I will also continue to aid fellow players locate and test bugs, learn builds, test builds, run dungeons, etc.. when I find the motivation to log onto the forums or Game..

Ultimately I don’t want to give up hope on this game, but you make it so kitten hard Anet.. you make it so hard..

TL;DR
No TLDR, go back to where you stopped and keep going.. <3

PS: Keep it civil if you choose to comment below, please and thank you in advance.

Heya Swish. I really appreciate you taking the time to write this and especially your tone. This is a great critique of the game.

I’m interested to know more about the cracks and what can be done to mend them, than anything else.

Good post.

good post and not much I feel I need to comment on. There is just 1 part which I think needs a bit of clarification. You said “to be Fair LS2 is an improvement but it’s still so apparent to me that it destroys the ability of the dev team to work on the rest of the game.” Thats not the case at all. The living story team consists of about 20 people out of 350
source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Enough-of-your-GMPC-please/page/3#post4193277

quote “Our team changes in size, but there are just a little over twenty people on it at any given time.”

There are still a lot of devs left to tackle other areas of the game.

Thats why some of us think there probably is an expansion in the works or if not an expansion other big content thats still being developed.

If 20 people can create all that living story content, how much more stuff should 320ish people create (well not exactly 320ish cause of course some of them are QA, Customer support etc.. that dont create content but still there is a sizeable number working on things in the background we have yet to see)

Great post basically the feeling of everyone i know in the game

i’ll prefix this w/ the fact that i’ve already quit the game, and just log in here to read up on the steady decline of the game & satisfying disquiet of its users.

I feel the same as what you’ve posted up till living story (because I never made it to that point in pve) due to the fact that they killed dungeons for me far before that, leading me to play only pvp/wvw the day that the dungeon mechanic patch was released.

now that they’ve killed (my opinion) off both pvp and wvw, i’ve simply left the game, all my wonderful friends and this terrible company who thinks that “the company is always right” “the customer is always wrong” is the mantra to follow.

I hate to say it (as much as I’ve enjoyed gw over the years) but I hope ncsoft steps in at some point and dictates how anet does their business or just shuts it all down, because what’s going on now simply isn’t working.

on a side note, its nice playing mmo’s that are fun again. too bad none of my money is going into ncsoft/anet’s bank account. you win some you lose some.

I can add in what I find to be issues sometime tonight. At least the larger ones.

As for the Anet dev quote, I’m sorry to say I have learned from past experiences that it may not be entirely truthful or only truthful at the given moment that it has been posted. Things change rapidly and there are far more posts regarding Lacking Resources or No time or It’s not off the table or we’re looking into working on it.. etc.. that would seem to suggest the company only has 20 people in it at all that are capable of working on the game in a meaningful way.

Galen Grey.4709:

good post and not much I feel I need to comment on. There is just 1 part which I think needs a bit of clarification. You said “to be Fair LS2 is an improvement but it’s still so apparent to me that it destroys the ability of the dev team to work on the rest of the game.” Thats not the case at all. The living story team consists of about 20 people out of 350
source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Enough-of-your-GMPC-please/page/3#post4193277

quote “Our team changes in size, but there are just a little over twenty people on it at any given time.”

There are still a lot of devs left to tackle other areas of the game.

Thats why some of us think there probably is an expansion in the works or if not an expansion other big content thats still being developed.

If 20 people can create all that living story content, how much more stuff should 320ish people create (well not exactly 320ish cause of course some of them are QA, Customer support etc.. that dont create content but still there is a sizeable number working on things in the background we have yet to see)

Apparently the other 300 struggle to do much of anything at all. There have been no new major features or content for almost a year. I suppose maybe dry top was assigned to those devs and not the LS team, but it seems pretty much exclusively for the LS so that seems unlikely.

I would love to know what all those devs are working on. I suspect they included NCSoft admin, janitors, coffee people, customer service reps and 100+ other people who don’t have anything at all to do with game development in that number. There is just no way a team that large could put out such little content.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

good post and not much I feel I need to comment on. There is just 1 part which I think needs a bit of clarification. You said “to be Fair LS2 is an improvement but it’s still so apparent to me that it destroys the ability of the dev team to work on the rest of the game.” Thats not the case at all. The living story team consists of about 20 people out of 350
source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Enough-of-your-GMPC-please/page/3#post4193277

quote “Our team changes in size, but there are just a little over twenty people on it at any given time.”

There are still a lot of devs left to tackle other areas of the game.

Thats why some of us think there probably is an expansion in the works or if not an expansion other big content thats still being developed.

If 20 people can create all that living story content, how much more stuff should 320ish people create (well not exactly 320ish cause of course some of them are QA, Customer support etc.. that dont create content but still there is a sizeable number working on things in the background we have yet to see)

Apparently the other 300 struggle to do much of anything at all. There have been no new major features or content for almost a year. I suppose maybe dry top was assigned to those devs and not the LS team, but it seems pretty much exclusively for the LS so that seems unlikely.

I would love to know what all those devs are working on. I suspect they included NCSoft admin, janitors, coffee people, customer service reps and 100+ other people who don’t have anything at all to do with game development in that number. There is just no way a team that large could put out such little content.

Or they’re working on a project(s) they’re not ready to announce yet cause its not going to be finished this week

Lets say for the sake of argument they’re working on an expansion (not saying this is the case just an example) plenty of MMOs take 2 years to finish an expansion… rift, wow, Tera etc.. and thats without them releasing tons of content every single month. Because Anet dont announce stuff before they’re essentially ready to release it it would seem like most devs arent doing anything when in fact they were busy building an expansion. (or whatever they’re working on)

now even if most of the team is not a dev, with a 15% smaller team Anet built all of Gw2 in less then 5 years (some of those 5 years were used to design, build the engine and build the tools during which time not content could be developed for the game) and we still didnt see as much content so far. there has to be something going on in the background.

@Swish, that’s pretty much how i felt. Everything was going good until the living story. We had a new zone, Southsun, and a new boss the Karka Queen, along with Fractals and new dungeons coming out. After this though, many things were becoming temporary.

I stopped logging in consistently after Cutthroat Politics (here’s a point of reference of release dates: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/). I just couldn’t take it anymore and that’s when i knew the Living Story was taking GW2 into a direction i didn’t like. I still logged in sporadically to check out the new releases, but it wasn’t as consistent anymore.

I came back for Festival of the Four Winds, which was May 20, because i knew Season 2 was starting, and i was hopeful it would be different, which it was, but i realized that this was their only content being released, while everything else was being neglected. I even leveled three 80s during this time.

Sadly, i stopped playing consistently again after feature pack 2. I really disliked the recent update, and all the bugs/features that came with it. I was going to ride it out by playing the WvW tournament and then stop playing again, but even that was a disappointment. SPvP/WvW players have been treated terribly over the last two years. I’m sorry, but a couple maps and EotM just doesn’t cut it. As you said, the culmination of this feature pack, that came from the CDI’s, was very disappointing.

People keep bringing up that they are working behind the scenes on a major project, but that’s just speculation, and for all we know, it’s just more content for the living story, or a few additions here and there. I’ve even noticed the lack of fan videos, and slow forums, throughout the community on other fansites. Oh well, i’m having fun in another game right now. I’ll just log in to unlock the living story, in hopes of an expansion, but if there isn’t anything substantial in a year, it’ll be time to finally uninstall GW2. Good luck to you OP.

just got off runescape and felt so satisfied with my last 5 hours. Something I never felt on GW2 for the last 1 year loool good to free up 20gb on my hdd

Galen Grey.4709:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

good post and not much I feel I need to comment on. There is just 1 part which I think needs a bit of clarification. You said “to be Fair LS2 is an improvement but it’s still so apparent to me that it destroys the ability of the dev team to work on the rest of the game.” Thats not the case at all. The living story team consists of about 20 people out of 350
source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Enough-of-your-GMPC-please/page/3#post4193277

quote “Our team changes in size, but there are just a little over twenty people on it at any given time.”

There are still a lot of devs left to tackle other areas of the game.

Thats why some of us think there probably is an expansion in the works or if not an expansion other big content thats still being developed.

If 20 people can create all that living story content, how much more stuff should 320ish people create (well not exactly 320ish cause of course some of them are QA, Customer support etc.. that dont create content but still there is a sizeable number working on things in the background we have yet to see)

Apparently the other 300 struggle to do much of anything at all. There have been no new major features or content for almost a year. I suppose maybe dry top was assigned to those devs and not the LS team, but it seems pretty much exclusively for the LS so that seems unlikely.

I would love to know what all those devs are working on. I suspect they included NCSoft admin, janitors, coffee people, customer service reps and 100+ other people who don’t have anything at all to do with game development in that number. There is just no way a team that large could put out such little content.

Or they’re working on a project(s) they’re not ready to announce yet cause its not going to be finished this week

Lets say for the sake of argument they’re working on an expansion (not saying this is the case just an example) plenty of MMOs take 2 years to finish an expansion… rift, wow, Tera etc.. and thats without them releasing tons of content every single month. Because Anet dont announce stuff before they’re essentially ready to release it it would seem like most devs arent doing anything when in fact they were busy building an expansion. (or whatever they’re working on)

now even if most of the team is not a dev, with a 15% smaller team Anet built all of Gw2 in less then 5 years (some of those 5 years were used to design, build the engine and build the tools during which time not content could be developed for the game) and we still didnt see as much content so far. there has to be something going on in the background.

If they are working on an expansion then the game is in much better shape than everyone thinks. The problem is their no telling the community anything policy. If the LS ties into an expansion then I think many people will come back and give the game another try. I just hope they announce that before people uninstall and get dedicated to another MMO.

I hope those 300 are working on new DLCS i will be able to buy with new explorable maps, exploring “mmo” worlds is all i care about in games like gw.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

good post and not much I feel I need to comment on. There is just 1 part which I think needs a bit of clarification. You said “to be Fair LS2 is an improvement but it’s still so apparent to me that it destroys the ability of the dev team to work on the rest of the game.” Thats not the case at all. The living story team consists of about 20 people out of 350
source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Enough-of-your-GMPC-please/page/3#post4193277

quote “Our team changes in size, but there are just a little over twenty people on it at any given time.”

There are still a lot of devs left to tackle other areas of the game.

Thats why some of us think there probably is an expansion in the works or if not an expansion other big content thats still being developed.

If 20 people can create all that living story content, how much more stuff should 320ish people create (well not exactly 320ish cause of course some of them are QA, Customer support etc.. that dont create content but still there is a sizeable number working on things in the background we have yet to see)

Apparently the other 300 struggle to do much of anything at all. There have been no new major features or content for almost a year. I suppose maybe dry top was assigned to those devs and not the LS team, but it seems pretty much exclusively for the LS so that seems unlikely.

I would love to know what all those devs are working on. I suspect they included NCSoft admin, janitors, coffee people, customer service reps and 100+ other people who don’t have anything at all to do with game development in that number. There is just no way a team that large could put out such little content.

Or they’re working on a project(s) they’re not ready to announce yet cause its not going to be finished this week

Lets say for the sake of argument they’re working on an expansion (not saying this is the case just an example) plenty of MMOs take 2 years to finish an expansion… rift, wow, Tera etc.. and thats without them releasing tons of content every single month. Because Anet dont announce stuff before they’re essentially ready to release it it would seem like most devs arent doing anything when in fact they were busy building an expansion. (or whatever they’re working on)

now even if most of the team is not a dev, with a 15% smaller team Anet built all of Gw2 in less then 5 years (some of those 5 years were used to design, build the engine and build the tools during which time not content could be developed for the game) and we still didnt see as much content so far. there has to be something going on in the background.

If they are working on an expansion then the game is in much better shape than everyone thinks. The problem is their no telling the community anything policy. If the LS ties into an expansion then I think many people will come back and give the game another try. I just hope they announce that before people uninstall and get dedicated to another MMO.

I would be really really surprised if the LS ever went anywhere close to any expansion.

If they release an expansion they have a big problem on their hands. not everyone is going to buy it. So what do they do, do they lock people out of their living story updates (those who have not bought the expansion)?

I bet if they do an expansion it will be something like Cantha or Elona or some far away land while the living story will continue on Tyria. That way everyone can continue getting updates.

Galen Grey.4709:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

good post and not much I feel I need to comment on. There is just 1 part which I think needs a bit of clarification. You said “to be Fair LS2 is an improvement but it’s still so apparent to me that it destroys the ability of the dev team to work on the rest of the game.” Thats not the case at all. The living story team consists of about 20 people out of 350
source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Enough-of-your-GMPC-please/page/3#post4193277

quote “Our team changes in size, but there are just a little over twenty people on it at any given time.”

There are still a lot of devs left to tackle other areas of the game.

Thats why some of us think there probably is an expansion in the works or if not an expansion other big content thats still being developed.

If 20 people can create all that living story content, how much more stuff should 320ish people create (well not exactly 320ish cause of course some of them are QA, Customer support etc.. that dont create content but still there is a sizeable number working on things in the background we have yet to see)

Apparently the other 300 struggle to do much of anything at all. There have been no new major features or content for almost a year. I suppose maybe dry top was assigned to those devs and not the LS team, but it seems pretty much exclusively for the LS so that seems unlikely.

I would love to know what all those devs are working on. I suspect they included NCSoft admin, janitors, coffee people, customer service reps and 100+ other people who don’t have anything at all to do with game development in that number. There is just no way a team that large could put out such little content.

Or they’re working on a project(s) they’re not ready to announce yet cause its not going to be finished this week

Lets say for the sake of argument they’re working on an expansion (not saying this is the case just an example) plenty of MMOs take 2 years to finish an expansion… rift, wow, Tera etc.. and thats without them releasing tons of content every single month. Because Anet dont announce stuff before they’re essentially ready to release it it would seem like most devs arent doing anything when in fact they were busy building an expansion. (or whatever they’re working on)

now even if most of the team is not a dev, with a 15% smaller team Anet built all of Gw2 in less then 5 years (some of those 5 years were used to design, build the engine and build the tools during which time not content could be developed for the game) and we still didnt see as much content so far. there has to be something going on in the background.

If they are working on an expansion then the game is in much better shape than everyone thinks. The problem is their no telling the community anything policy. If the LS ties into an expansion then I think many people will come back and give the game another try. I just hope they announce that before people uninstall and get dedicated to another MMO.

I would be really really surprised if the LS ever went anywhere close to any expansion.

If they release an expansion they have a big problem on their hands. not everyone is going to buy it. So what do they do, do they lock people out of their living story updates (those who have not bought the expansion)?

I bet if they do an expansion it will be something like Cantha or Elona or some far away land while the living story will continue on Tyria. That way everyone can continue getting updates.

One thing is certain. If Anet does come out with a paid expansion, no one who doesn’t like it can say the fans didn’t pressure them into making it. lol

I feel the same way Swish.

I’m very critical of GW2 but that’s because I had the highest expectations for it of any game in my life (in no small part due to my experience in GW1). I thought GW2 would be the end-all of MMOs (I know this is unrealistic but it’s how I felt). When I pre-ordered, I told my spouse “this will be the last game I ever buy, it’ll be that good”. The next closest rival would be the expectations I had for Baldur’s Gate prior to its release (the first D&D engine true to the rules?).

Anyway when you put a game on a pedestal you’re bound to have a let down. For GW2 my let down is severe and it has left me bitter.

I’ve logged in less than five times since LS2 started. I’m having a hard time getting motivated. GW2 has a long way to go in order to bring me back. An expansion similar in scope to GW1’s Nightfall or Factions might do it, but no guarantees at this point. Based upon my experience with GW2, I will no longer pre-order anything until I see it live.

EDIT: Even with my bitterness I still hold out hope — otherwise I’d never visit these forums.

Galen Grey.4709:

If they release an expansion they have a big problem on their hands. not everyone is going to buy it. So what do they do, do they lock people out of their living story updates (those who have not bought the expansion)?

I bet if they do an expansion it will be something like Cantha or Elona or some far away land while the living story will continue on Tyria. That way everyone can continue getting updates.

I’m curious, why would you think people wouldn’t buy an expansion?

Peow peow.2189:

just got off runescape and felt so satisfied with my last 5 hours. Something I never felt on GW2 for the last 1 year loool good to free up 20gb on my hdd

Really?!

The 1980s called, they want their 32bit graphics back. First “mission” is fishing and talk about level gating. Ohoo boy!

Probably best that you left GW2 if that’s the quality of game you prefer.

Peace.

Vayne.8563:

Galen Grey.4709:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

good post and not much I feel I need to comment on. There is just 1 part which I think needs a bit of clarification. You said “to be Fair LS2 is an improvement but it’s still so apparent to me that it destroys the ability of the dev team to work on the rest of the game.” Thats not the case at all. The living story team consists of about 20 people out of 350
source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Enough-of-your-GMPC-please/page/3#post4193277

quote “Our team changes in size, but there are just a little over twenty people on it at any given time.”

There are still a lot of devs left to tackle other areas of the game.

Thats why some of us think there probably is an expansion in the works or if not an expansion other big content thats still being developed.

If 20 people can create all that living story content, how much more stuff should 320ish people create (well not exactly 320ish cause of course some of them are QA, Customer support etc.. that dont create content but still there is a sizeable number working on things in the background we have yet to see)

Apparently the other 300 struggle to do much of anything at all. There have been no new major features or content for almost a year. I suppose maybe dry top was assigned to those devs and not the LS team, but it seems pretty much exclusively for the LS so that seems unlikely.

I would love to know what all those devs are working on. I suspect they included NCSoft admin, janitors, coffee people, customer service reps and 100+ other people who don’t have anything at all to do with game development in that number. There is just no way a team that large could put out such little content.

Or they’re working on a project(s) they’re not ready to announce yet cause its not going to be finished this week

Lets say for the sake of argument they’re working on an expansion (not saying this is the case just an example) plenty of MMOs take 2 years to finish an expansion… rift, wow, Tera etc.. and thats without them releasing tons of content every single month. Because Anet dont announce stuff before they’re essentially ready to release it it would seem like most devs arent doing anything when in fact they were busy building an expansion. (or whatever they’re working on)

now even if most of the team is not a dev, with a 15% smaller team Anet built all of Gw2 in less then 5 years (some of those 5 years were used to design, build the engine and build the tools during which time not content could be developed for the game) and we still didnt see as much content so far. there has to be something going on in the background.

If they are working on an expansion then the game is in much better shape than everyone thinks. The problem is their no telling the community anything policy. If the LS ties into an expansion then I think many people will come back and give the game another try. I just hope they announce that before people uninstall and get dedicated to another MMO.

I would be really really surprised if the LS ever went anywhere close to any expansion.

If they release an expansion they have a big problem on their hands. not everyone is going to buy it. So what do they do, do they lock people out of their living story updates (those who have not bought the expansion)?

I bet if they do an expansion it will be something like Cantha or Elona or some far away land while the living story will continue on Tyria. That way everyone can continue getting updates.

One thing is certain. If Anet does come out with a paid expansion, no one who doesn’t like it can say the fans didn’t pressure them into making it. lol

are you sure about that?

Galen Grey.4709:

Vayne.8563:

Galen Grey.4709:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

good post and not much I feel I need to comment on. There is just 1 part which I think needs a bit of clarification. You said “to be Fair LS2 is an improvement but it’s still so apparent to me that it destroys the ability of the dev team to work on the rest of the game.” Thats not the case at all. The living story team consists of about 20 people out of 350
source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Enough-of-your-GMPC-please/page/3#post4193277

quote “Our team changes in size, but there are just a little over twenty people on it at any given time.”

There are still a lot of devs left to tackle other areas of the game.

Thats why some of us think there probably is an expansion in the works or if not an expansion other big content thats still being developed.

If 20 people can create all that living story content, how much more stuff should 320ish people create (well not exactly 320ish cause of course some of them are QA, Customer support etc.. that dont create content but still there is a sizeable number working on things in the background we have yet to see)

Apparently the other 300 struggle to do much of anything at all. There have been no new major features or content for almost a year. I suppose maybe dry top was assigned to those devs and not the LS team, but it seems pretty much exclusively for the LS so that seems unlikely.

I would love to know what all those devs are working on. I suspect they included NCSoft admin, janitors, coffee people, customer service reps and 100+ other people who don’t have anything at all to do with game development in that number. There is just no way a team that large could put out such little content.

Or they’re working on a project(s) they’re not ready to announce yet cause its not going to be finished this week

Lets say for the sake of argument they’re working on an expansion (not saying this is the case just an example) plenty of MMOs take 2 years to finish an expansion… rift, wow, Tera etc.. and thats without them releasing tons of content every single month. Because Anet dont announce stuff before they’re essentially ready to release it it would seem like most devs arent doing anything when in fact they were busy building an expansion. (or whatever they’re working on)

now even if most of the team is not a dev, with a 15% smaller team Anet built all of Gw2 in less then 5 years (some of those 5 years were used to design, build the engine and build the tools during which time not content could be developed for the game) and we still didnt see as much content so far. there has to be something going on in the background.

If they are working on an expansion then the game is in much better shape than everyone thinks. The problem is their no telling the community anything policy. If the LS ties into an expansion then I think many people will come back and give the game another try. I just hope they announce that before people uninstall and get dedicated to another MMO.

I would be really really surprised if the LS ever went anywhere close to any expansion.

If they release an expansion they have a big problem on their hands. not everyone is going to buy it. So what do they do, do they lock people out of their living story updates (those who have not bought the expansion)?

I bet if they do an expansion it will be something like Cantha or Elona or some far away land while the living story will continue on Tyria. That way everyone can continue getting updates.

One thing is certain. If Anet does come out with a paid expansion, no one who doesn’t like it can say the fans didn’t pressure them into making it. lol

are you sure about that?

No.

15 characters

Vlad Morbius.1759:

Galen Grey.4709:

If they release an expansion they have a big problem on their hands. not everyone is going to buy it. So what do they do, do they lock people out of their living story updates (those who have not bought the expansion)?

I bet if they do an expansion it will be something like Cantha or Elona or some far away land while the living story will continue on Tyria. That way everyone can continue getting updates.

I’m curious, why would you think people wouldn’t buy an expansion?

I am not saying people will not buy and expansion, I am sure a lot would but you can never be sure that absolutely everyone will.

Money problems, maybe jaded with the company and dont want to give them any more money, people might not like what the expansion has to offer, not playing the game enough to justify the money, mostly people that quit the game and just coming back to check whatever is new. I am sure they will not send as many expansions as they did initial box sales. don’t think anyone does ever.

Pretty much feel the exact same way, Swish. Seemingly, so does everyone else I’ve talked to who has been playing since beta/launch.

When they stopped working on Guild Wars 1 to build Guild Wars 2 they informed us and released Eye of the North. There reason for this is that they don’t want to leave their players hanging wondering what is going on.

If they are working on a expansion I wish they would at least inform us that then just give us the montage of “No ETA”. That way we are not left hanging wondering “What are the 200+ people doing over there”. The players would really appreciate it for the same reasons why they appreciated it when development on Guild Wars 1 stopped.

A lot of the problem with how veteran players feel has to do with Phycology and human nature. We all act like skritt and like shiny things but we only like shiny new things.

In reality the only difference between a expansion and the current methods of deviling content is the current methods are in piece meal portions. That is not necessarily a bad thing. It keeps a lot of people logged in for the patches. We get a constant cycle of content. There is none of this play though the content then wait 6 months for the next expansion.

But we get used to it and the newness of the Living Story fades. Then we are left wanting more. We are wanting the Beta Experience, We are wanting the new car smell. We also want something that we will go through and not leave us wanting more but feeling satisfied. We are wanting a new game.

This is something Guild Wars 1 did vary well. It gave us a new game frequently. But Guild Wars 2 is a different animal. It is more complex and have more working parts to worry about. If they did release a expansion it would really only be the combination of a large feature pack and a entire season of Living World. Players will play though it and we would be back to where we are now.

It is due to this understanding that currently I take the game for what it is. A good game with a good community. I started to play other games more. I lowered my expectations to be honest they were too high anyways. Hope for new campaign sometime in the future. Take breaks when I feel they are needed. Provide feedback on changes that I think are needed and play the living story content when it is released. For I realize the new car smell is gone and it is now just my car. Such is the cycle of things.

Vayne.8563:

Galen Grey.4709:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Galen Grey.4709:

good post and not much I feel I need to comment on. There is just 1 part which I think needs a bit of clarification. You said “to be Fair LS2 is an improvement but it’s still so apparent to me that it destroys the ability of the dev team to work on the rest of the game.” Thats not the case at all. The living story team consists of about 20 people out of 350
source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/lwd/Enough-of-your-GMPC-please/page/3#post4193277

quote “Our team changes in size, but there are just a little over twenty people on it at any given time.”

There are still a lot of devs left to tackle other areas of the game.

Thats why some of us think there probably is an expansion in the works or if not an expansion other big content thats still being developed.

If 20 people can create all that living story content, how much more stuff should 320ish people create (well not exactly 320ish cause of course some of them are QA, Customer support etc.. that dont create content but still there is a sizeable number working on things in the background we have yet to see)

Apparently the other 300 struggle to do much of anything at all. There have been no new major features or content for almost a year. I suppose maybe dry top was assigned to those devs and not the LS team, but it seems pretty much exclusively for the LS so that seems unlikely.

I would love to know what all those devs are working on. I suspect they included NCSoft admin, janitors, coffee people, customer service reps and 100+ other people who don’t have anything at all to do with game development in that number. There is just no way a team that large could put out such little content.

Or they’re working on a project(s) they’re not ready to announce yet cause its not going to be finished this week

Lets say for the sake of argument they’re working on an expansion (not saying this is the case just an example) plenty of MMOs take 2 years to finish an expansion… rift, wow, Tera etc.. and thats without them releasing tons of content every single month. Because Anet dont announce stuff before they’re essentially ready to release it it would seem like most devs arent doing anything when in fact they were busy building an expansion. (or whatever they’re working on)

now even if most of the team is not a dev, with a 15% smaller team Anet built all of Gw2 in less then 5 years (some of those 5 years were used to design, build the engine and build the tools during which time not content could be developed for the game) and we still didnt see as much content so far. there has to be something going on in the background.

If they are working on an expansion then the game is in much better shape than everyone thinks. The problem is their no telling the community anything policy. If the LS ties into an expansion then I think many people will come back and give the game another try. I just hope they announce that before people uninstall and get dedicated to another MMO.

I would be really really surprised if the LS ever went anywhere close to any expansion.

If they release an expansion they have a big problem on their hands. not everyone is going to buy it. So what do they do, do they lock people out of their living story updates (those who have not bought the expansion)?

I bet if they do an expansion it will be something like Cantha or Elona or some far away land while the living story will continue on Tyria. That way everyone can continue getting updates.

One thing is certain. If Anet does come out with a paid expansion, no one who doesn’t like it can say the fans didn’t pressure them into making it. lol

That made my brain hurt to read. Too many double negatives…