Guild Wars 2

It started January 2013 and has ended March 2014. Thats 14 months roughly. I hate to bring this topic up more there have literally been thousands of comments brought up on this. But I think its important we recap since the living story has ended. In tallying up the content, I think the only subjective matter will be what people actually consider content. Features like the account wallet, champion loot bags, revamped achievement panels and rewards are not what we consider content. Neither are new weapons and armor. I’ll try to list these chronologically.

F&F = none really besides small changes to the current zones.
Southsun cove = A new meta event which is still participated in to this day
Clockwork chaos meta events, the first large dynamic events which showcased the removal of culling in pve.
Tequatl! A revamped meta event which certain is participated in towards this day. Other world bosses were revamped but its hardly noticeable.
A new TA path, even thought anet hinted at the fact that they could completely revamp an entire dungeon. T
he tower of nightmares left a lingering and interesting effect on Kessex hills, so we can consider that to be a small revamp.
A fairly decent fractals update with new fractals, new rewards, and a few new mechanics.
A new boss fight called the great jungle wurm. Which is much more difficult than teq.
A new WvW map Eotm.
Up next? Possible a completely ruined LA that we will rebuild or that wont be rebuilt and end up as a disaster like the Thaumanova Reactor did.
(Other things to note are mini-games)

Anet did certainly add a lot of new features this year, during the Living Story, but not a lot of content. I think this is because the features being added arn’t limited by the Living Story. I think this also shows that the Living Story had a severe restraint on the types of content, and quantity of content, that Anet could release. Its been a question many people have. Does the content Anet wants to implement drive the living story? Or the other way around? I can’t help but wonder if this is what happened with Anet this year. It makes me wonder whether or not an entire 14 months of game history was limited by a story written in a few days. I think big changes need to be made in 2014 and I hope Anet understands that. They have made pretty big promises, such as 4 big content releases coming this year alongside the LS, and also that what is coming in 2014 is better than an expansion. If gw2 wants to turn things around, this is the year to do it, considering other competitor MMO’s are just around the corner.

Yeah man we need new dungeons, new armor, new customization options, etc. Things feel so stale sometimes. How is it possible that we’ve had the same 8 dungeons with no change except fractals since launch? I really wish they’d release an expansion with as much punch as GW2’s initial launch. I want to play a continuation to the personal story so bad. Don’t say the living story, it isn’t the same. It feels like I’ve been doing the same thing every day. I love GW2 as a game, but something needs to give

With this buggy update and the strict information embargo on what we can expect, we surely missed the deadline to get the people hyped so that they don’t leave for ESO.

Too little to late.

And I know people will tell me that ESO sucks, and maybe it does. Maybe not. But it won’t change the fact that people will leave for the greener gras, as over here, they are pretty much told not to expect anything.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

With this buggy update and the strict information embargo on what we can expect, we surely missed the deadline to get the people hyped so that they don’t leave for ESO.

Too little to late.

And I know people will tell me that ESO sucks, and maybe it does. Maybe not. But it won’t change the fact that people will leave for the greener gras, as over here, they are pretty much told not to expect anything.

Personally ive told myself id wait til the end of 2014 to see how things change. I really like gw2, more than any other MMO. Eso does suck for the most part and I couldn’t really go to any other MMO right now because there are too many things about gw2 that hook me. Like how fluid it is of an MMO. Things that would keep me staying would be new maps, new dungeons and even new pve content that we has never been added(maybe something similar to raids or different types of 5 man content), new spvp modes, new features that will change the meta of pve(incentivizing more builds for support or cc or conditions) and the mindset of the game in general. I highly doubt a new race or class will come and I dont think it needs to come, its cool and all but definitely not top priority for gw2 in my opinion. Anet giving players something to do during updates instead of meta achievements which summarize the entire LS season 1. They weren’t all bad but doing that for 14 months straight is too repetetive.

One thing that the players do and I realize I do is that we overhype ourselves way too much as to how new content will make us feel. Its not always that Anet overhypes content, its that we are imagining something to enter the games life that will change it in an unrealistic way. I don’t know if anything will ever make me feel like I did when I first entered the world of guild wars(gw2 being my first). It was certainly miles above any other MMO I had ever experienced. Im okay with that because those foreign experiences are always the most impactful.

Could you post a link showing where ArenaNet promised (or even just said) there would be 4 big content releases this year? I don’t remember seeing that anywhere. As well as where they stated what was coming was better than an expansion?

It’s great to talk about what might be coming down the road, but we should be careful not to be the ones ‘over-hyping’ possible upcoming content.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Could you post a link showing where ArenaNet promised (or even just said) there would be 4 big content releases this year? I don’t remember seeing that anywhere. As well as where they stated what was coming was better than an expansion?

It’s great to talk about what might be coming down the road, but we should be careful not to be the ones ‘over-hyping’ possible upcoming content.

Give me a little bit to find it even though im confident its what they said. I think the better than an expansion statement came from a certain person(dev or someone close to gw2) in an interview or via twitter? I’ll have to look. I wanna say I heard this near the end of 2013 of the beginning of 2014.

Update: Found the better than an expansion tweet. https://twitter.com/PersistentWorld/status/418816619825999872
Player asks whether its an expansion and the guy who is an editor for an MMO magazine replies. Another writer from gw2hub also replies. So this is not directly from the devs but people who do have closer access to gw2.

Don’t forget timers/time limits. lots and lots of timers/timelimits.

I remember that tweet, it was from Lewis or someone. I am pretty sure they were referring to the end of the LS Season One arc, and one of them even said they were trolling and paid to hype.

I don’t find that very official. This is where rumors and over-inflated hype comes from.

Southsun – a new map since abandon except for daily karka queen
Tequatl – Abandon unless you’re in TSS/TXS/ATT
World Bosses Update – Abandon unless you’re there at daily reset, or enjoy tedious content
New TA Path – Abandon due to over-size trash mobs, long-runs, lack of rewards
Invasions – Abandon after scaling events for champs no longer mattered
FOTM – Abandon for mediocre rewards; Dredge still awaiting re-balance
Wurm – Abandon, a lot of work for no rewards
EoTM – Unnecessarily large map with over-scaled mobs

ESO is really bad atm, anet should be so lucky.

Charak.9761:

Southsun – a new map since abandon except for daily karka queen
Tequatl – Abandon unless you’re in TSS/TXS/ATT
World Bosses Update – Abandon unless you’re there at daily reset, or enjoy tedious content
New TA Path – Abandon due to over-size trash mobs, long-runs, lack of rewards
Invasions – Abandon after scaling events for champs no longer mattered
FOTM – Abandon for mediocre rewards; Dredge still awaiting re-balance
Wurm – Abandon, a lot of work for no rewards
EoTM – Unnecessarily large map with over-scaled mobs

ESO is really bad atm, anet should be so lucky.

You used abandon is unnecessary instances, perhaps scarlet invasions. You might as well abandon the entire game to be honest because most of those things you listed summarize the permanent content which has been added to the game. Abandoning the new TA path because its simply “too long” just demonstrates you being unhappy that you can’t bug your way through it. Abandoning fotm would be like abandoning a gold mine. Abandoning teq literally makes no sense whatsoever since tts/txs does multiple teq runs a day which is plenty for anyone who wants to come and takes the time to get there 30 minutes early, you don’t have to be in the guild to join them lets make that clear. The wurm is difficult and the rewards suck but actually getting the fight done simply feels rewarding for the time being, especially if it is your first time. You need to make more clear criticisms.

Not a lot. While I think the living story is an interesting idea, I think that the quality of the content was below what I would expect from an expansion. My favorite part was the bazaar with the crystals, but I don’t think even that has lots of staying power.

Indeed, not a lot. However, if Lion’s Arch is done for; permanently ruined, I’d could be happy with that. Always hated it there. On the plus side as well people will be flocking to other cities, which for the first time The Grove was filled with individuals, nothing I hate more than going through a city only to find it vacant of all life.