Guild Wars 2

I just want to start this with a disclaimer that I don’t intend this to be a flame war or some sort of rage at A-Net. There are a million venting threads up at the moment so please feel free to go pick one of those to rage at, I simply want to bring to attention how I feel about A-Net’s approach to this game and how I feel like it needs work.

Now, to sum up where I’m at I’ve played very casually since the beta and only have 1 level 80 so as you can tell I’m not the most hardcore of players. I love this game to bits but I’m at the stage where I feel like my other characters are progressing towards the same content I’ve already played without of course the Living Story content I played on my first character. The problem isn’t however the lack of things to do, it’s about A-Net’s attitude to fueling excitement for the game itself.

To put it into perspective I have been following the development of a game called Star Citizen. I know, it’s crowd-sourced so the developers are at the mercy of the community in a sense but I have to say that the effort that the company goes through to try and communicate themselves to their audience. The CEO of the company personally writes long blog posts about how he envisions the game, individual elements they are working on and is constantly involved within his community to answer any questions, even if the answer is no. This creates healthy discussion, people contributing to new ideas and they get excited about the game’s ambition.

Now I know that A-Net doesn’t have the same restrictions as Star Citizen but you don’t have to look far too see what they are actively trying to achieve. My problem here is an element of transparency. I find it rather difficult to anticipate anything when we literally have no idea where the company is trying to take the game. They think too much that the element of secrecy is too mysterious to turn away from and would rather leave us on a cliffhanger rather than be up-front and honest about their direction. They are focusing way too much on one element of hype, even though that very type has bitten the community more than once, it’s a bad strategy to sell your product. The reason why the forum vibe can be so poisonous sometimes is because people have nothing to really work from and jump to conclusions.

Cont’d below.

Now I’m at the point where I still have things to do in the game, but I wouldn’t mind having better reason to push forward. I think that A-Net could at least do a couple things to make it easier on the players:

1. Simply saying ‘we are aware of this issue’ provides us with no information. We don’t have any information to work from here, so closing threads because you know about it is really making us feel like we can’t have any input.
2. Try your best to alleviate people’s concerns within any thread. If you see a thread that can easily turn into a company attack thread, please at least take the time to reassure the community how A-Net views a particular topic, even if you can’t talk about a solution. People feel like A-Net doesn’t really have a set direction for this game anymore. I see it everyday that a moderator might only post in official threads maybe once or twice or just on the odd thread to shut it down. Sorry but that’s not very reassuring.
3. And lastly, make sure your content updates reflect the direction you want the game to take in the future. If there were an expansion in the future, the game’s progress does not show that trend. Aside from quality of life and balancing updates, the game hasn’t really been expanded upon since launch if you compare builds now. If you can’t talk about any developments, the community is going to assume that the past is going to dictate the future, which is in all honestly is mostly just temporary and gem store content which does nothing to show future ambition for the game.

It just seems a little puzzling to me because people need to realize that GW2 isn’t just a game, it’s a project. GW2 isn’t just a sum the content that’s in the game right now, it’s also the direction and goals it makes in the future. And I understand that A-Net’s strategy is to be very hush-hush about it, let us try and figure it out then surprise us. But that doesn’t benefit what GW2 is, in our mind that doesn’t push anything to what the game could be. Interaction is the key here, not hype. Just honest, up-front interaction.

I know a lot of people will say that this is a horrible community but I believe it’s just the environment they’ve been put in. It’s like a digital Lord of the Flies, put people in an undefined place and they will make it their own. I personally feel like I want to have a link with A-Net, to understand why they are taking the steps they are taking. I get it, “they just want your money, sheep!”….. I get it. The threads that are going to do the most good are the ones that try to promote interaction, not throwing unwavering opinions so please, keep it civil, unbiased and objective. Thank you. And sorry for the wall of text.

I’m all for transparency, which is why I’m going to ask you what this thread is really about, instead of vague terms like “ambition” and “transparency”.

Is it the trait points?

No it’s not about content updates or what they’ve done. This isn’t any sort of complaint about content, it’s the fact that their attitude for making the game has been about keeping us in the dark about development and letting us argue and speculate to no end what they game will be like in 12 months time. It’s that we just have NO IDEA what A-Net want to do with their product, and it’s hard to play a game where you don’t really know where it’s going. We can be speculating something for a year or more, constantly talking about it and building ideas only for all of that to be dismissed in temporary content or something that just leaves us with more questions than answers. It seems a little directionless at times, like it just creates a cycle.

Look at your signature, perfect example. Do you know what they want to do with the game? Will it just be about e-sports? Is it about finding a game with the perfect balance? Is it about new experiences? We simply don’t know their idea about what they want for the game.

I think the CEO was quite involved before the game launched, like in your example, and they told us much of what they were working on, and the direction they wanted to go.
Then the game launched, the playerbase had other ideas, and some of the direction of the game changed…to satisfy the playerbase.

Not exactly sure what the complaint is here. I feel they listen, sometimes too much. (New Dailies, for example.)

Not really. Game was fun last week, game is fun this week. If you convince yourself that a lack of transparency destroys that entire experience the problem isn’t the game, it’s your mindset towards it.

I asked if this was about a specific thing because these kinds of threads that speak broadly about the state of the game usually tend to be poorly communicated feedback about a specific issue (such as the trait points).

Anyway, back on topic, I do agree that transparency is good. But Anet’s above average in that regard to me anyway. Not great, but we do get some idea of both short term and long term goals, even if we don’t know the specifics until a couple of weeks before the changes land. Cannot emphasize enough however that you shouldn’t let a lack of transparency sour you on what is a good game right now.

It’s unfortunate that in this day and age that a game developer can’t be more transparent because of competition in the market. We would all like to know every detail of Anet’s plans for this game but they can’t do that. Also if they give out to much information to soon and that new feature or game mechanic doesn’t work the they get in trouble from the irate fans that scream “YOU PROMISED” even though all game announcement come with a disclaimer or is part of the EULA that we agreed to when we installed the game that know one reads anyway.

Loving the feedback. To think about it more similar to the way that I am have a look at where the game has come in two years. Now, realistically any content like an expansion that may or may not be in the works surely wouldn’t be out yet, but judging by just what you’ve seen happen to the state of the game right now ask yourself this question; What do I think GW2 will look like in 5 years time?

Look at GW1, within a few years they had a whole new continent that added so much variety to the game. I personally like to believe that after we kill this deep sea dragon, the path that was originally closed to Cantha will now be open and pave a way towards reaching it. That’s my dream, but I have nothing to go by. The example I used from Star Citizen is an example because not only are they outlining what they have been working on, but where they would like it to go in the future. The discussion and impression of the game is a lot easier to wrap your head around. I feel safe investing in that game because even if only 70% of the ideas make it into the final game, I know it’s an experience I will want to be supporting. Yes GW2 was fun at launch and another resounding YES the game is fun now! But I only have one level 80 and I know I still have a lot to experience and I’m looking forward to it.

My question isn’t about what is, it’s about what next. Sure, GW2 is a product worth supporting but just some better idea of where the company is at and an idea of what I can look forward to in the future would certainly make that experience so much better.

Here is an example from the chairman of Star Citizen that I was talking about. We have an idea about what they are working on, why and just their general attitude towards making the game and even though it’s not necessary, it’s a lot of peace of mind being a little involved in the product I’m invested in.

Unlike many games, Star Citizen is clearly a work of passion by a team with a pretty set-in-stone vision while GW2 doesn’t know what it wants to be, or what it is. Now I’m not bashing on Arenanet as I’m sure many of them love their work (Foreman <3), but remember the often-quoted “everyone by level 80 should have the best stats?” from Colin around 1 year before release? Yeah, totally reflective of the current game. They don’t talk about their plans for the future because they might not have any.

Then again we’ll have to wait and see what happens with SC. Let’s hope for the best. See you in the ’verse.

The OP basically answers his own question.

Every company and developer has to keep their investors in the loop. In the case of Star Citizen, those investors are those who offered the crowd funding. In the case of Arena.net and Guild Wars 2, that is NCSoft’s shareholders, which you likely are not one of.

Arena.net simply doesn’t owe you anything. You’re just the customer. They don’t have to tell you anything they don’t want to. If that breaks the game for you, then I dunno what to tell you other than to enjoy Star Citizen.

But I do kinda have to roll my eyes at the idea that GW2 lacks passion and desire from the developers. I got news for ya Wolfheart, there is NO ONE at Arena.net developing this game that is doing this for the fat paycheck.

Gazillion interacts with us in Marvel Heroes constantly, and make us feel like part of the team. Members of the community have literally ‘become’ part of the team. They are constantly rolling out new stuff, and while the genre is different, there isn’t any reason why the same philosophy couldn’t be applied anywhere.

Their game is is ‘crowd funded’ just like this one: via a shop.

If nothing else, peruse the forums some time.

That’s great for Gazillion. They are perfectly free to interact. I’ve seen several Arena.net devs in game as well. What’s your point?

Arena.net doesn’t HAVE to tell you a thing. They are under no obligation to share anything with you. They don’t owe you or any of their customers “transparency”, and seeing the blowback they repeatedly get whenever they HAD tried to let people look inside what they’re planning to do in the past, I don’t blame them for going mum.

I’d rather they not say anything and just focus on getting their work done, honestly.

While I understand the plea for more communication, I think a different thread title would be more conducive to generating a discussion about transparency and communication. The OP’s premise is not that ANet’s ambitions for the game are hurting — which the thread title states — but that lack of communication about where they want the game to go is hurting.

I certainly expected a very different discussion from the title, something mayhap about ESports and balance.