Guild Wars 2

Something many analysts miss (especially those who aren’t gamers themselves) is that it doesn’t necessarily matter how good your game is – it also matters how good the current competition is. As MMOs evolve this genre is constantly changing, and players enjoy an MMO until they get bored, then jump to the next. All it takes is for your competitor to put out a bad patch to cause disenfranchised players to then leap over to your game.

A large group of players on release leveled to 80, and then left because there was no end-game. They will be back at some point to see what has been added, especially since GW2 is free to play. Right now you should be experiencing an increase in player logins, because of WoW’s 5.3 change to pvp as well as ToRs news for 2.2 that they are essentially going under.

With their content Blizzard is attempting to cast as wide a net as possible, attracting players with many minigames such as farming, pet battles, a new Barrens with live dynamic events, etc. What Anet should be doing right now is focus on adding minigames, and activities that deviate from what you already do ingame.

You guys are actually really good at creating minigames. The battle royale beta closing event was great, as were the holiday games, kegbrawl, crab chase, etc. You need more of these. And adding a leaderboard for each would encourage a competitive community to arise around each one, which further keeps people playing. The more different activities you can offer players, the higher your player retention rate will be.

So your suggestion is mini-games?

Personally I’ve never had any time for mini-games, I hate them… not saying others like yourself don’t like them but they make me shudder.

All I want is loot, and as the game stands now there is hardly any which is the main reason for the game being boring for me. IMO that’s where an RNG system would shine with randomly generated loot. If GW2 had randomly generated loot like Diablo 2, Torchlight 1 & 2, Borderlands 1 & 2, Titan Quest etc then I’d have little to complain about in the game because everyday would be a new experience even Tyria stayed the same. But then NCSoft would lose their control over the market so I don’t see this happening…

The mini-games that I have played in GW2 are, without a doubt to me, very fun. However, I feel that it is hard to design the ‘reward’ outside of simply having fun due to many players wanting to obtain loot. If the rewards in mini-games were the same as everywhere else but required less effort, then these areas ‘everywhere else’ would see a decline in favor of an easier way to obtain such loot.

I think SAB was one of the best implementations of a mini-game since you could work your way towards getting Obby Shards that wasn’t too far off from obtaining them normally. Plus, it was a lot of fun. People want to feel as if they are working towards something worthwhile, and they need a variety of methods of working towards it to remain entertained, especially for a video game.

I’m not really a fan of these mini-games, also i never was good at Jump&Run and thats why i played RPGs .. so what i really want as non-combat content is a good housing system like we had in Everquest 2

StormageddonBK.9842:

So your suggestion is mini-games?

Personally I’ve never had any time for mini-games, I hate them… not saying others like yourself don’t like them but they make me shudder.

All I want is loot, and as the game stands now there is hardly any which is the main reason for the game being boring for me. IMO that’s where an RNG system would shine with randomly generated loot. If GW2 had randomly generated loot like Diablo 2, Torchlight 1 & 2, Borderlands 1 & 2, Titan Quest etc then I’d have little to complain about in the game because everyday would be a new experience even Tyria stayed the same. But then NCSoft would lose their control over the market so I don’t see this happening…

I agree the main reason i left was the loot restrictions, i don’t want to farm many years to get nice things and fight DR, i just wanted to play and make nice things sadly its no longer an option so i left, i still keep an eye out hoping stuff changes but ah well…

I really enjoyed the game just after beta, since then nope..

Well I love the mini-games so I’m all for them adding more.

But I already play the game so I’m guessing your post isn’t for me.

I’m a hero, I help tyrians and save the world.
That’s why I bought Gw2.

I didn’t buy Gw2 so I could keg brawl or crab toss or do jumping puzzles.
Not that those aren’t fun, but they’re not the core of the game!
If I wanted to do those things… I’d go play Frisbee or hot potato? I wouldn’t have bought Gw2 to do that.

I know a lot of players like mini games, I liked the seasonal mini games Gw1 had.
But minigames should not be what gives substance to a game, a game is what should give substance to a game!

I mean, think of final fantasy 7, what you’re suggesting is instead of adding more story, they should add more mini games like the squatting one, chocobo racing, crazy motorcycle….

(Hmm… ok… I might like the squatting mini game if it’s a cute Cloud doing it… but there’s no cute Cloud in Gw2!)

That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t see how that should be a priority. It’s as if you’re suggesting Gw2 is so bad, it’s only saving grace is mini-games instead of the game itself. In that case, wouldn’t it be better to improve the game itself?

lorazcyk.8927:

I’m a hero, I help tyrians and save the world.
That’s why I bought Gw2.

I didn’t buy Gw2 so I could keg brawl or crab toss or do jumping puzzles.
Not that those aren’t fun, but they’re not the core of the game!
If I wanted to do those things… I’d go play Frisbee or hot potato? I wouldn’t have bought Gw2 to do that.

I know a lot of players like mini games, I liked the seasonal mini games Gw1 had.
But minigames should not be what gives substance to a game, a game is what should give substance to a game!

I mean, think of final fantasy 7, what you’re suggesting is instead of adding more story, they should add more mini games like the squatting one, chocobo racing, crazy motorcycle….

(Hmm… ok… I might like the squatting mini game if it’s a cute Cloud doing it… but there’s no cute Cloud in Gw2!)

That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t see how that should be a priority. It’s as if you’re suggesting Gw2 is so bad, it’s only saving grace is mini-games instead of the game itself. In that case, wouldn’t it be better to improve the game itself?

In WoW I remember seeing mini-games and special events every few days, which made the world seem more expansive and full of surprises. What I’m saying is, just the mere presence of mini-games, events, raids, and holidays made it a lot more exciting to walk through the world, even if I didn’t actually participate in any of the events. A big bonus is that, if you did participate in some events, the events gave rewards that benefited the player throughout their time when they were logged on, even if I traveled somewhere else I could still use the items (Items being food, costumes, money, mounts). Those items were relatively easy to get. This is an area that Guild Wars 2 is seriously lacking in. When I log into GW2 and go to an event, I get the joy of receiving one or two items that last me like 2 minutes. If I really want a good event item, I spend countless hours to get ONE of the things that maybe make my character look cool. That’s it. I get to look cool in GW2. Yay. Afterward, I feel drained of energy instead of excited to go out and explore or do some dungeons alongside my new pet. Again, even if you don’t participate in the events, it still makes the game seem more alive when you see tons of people with new items that you desperately want all completing one event.

The OP has a bit of a point. While I’m not much of a minigamer myself, one of the biggest issues with GW2 from an objective perspective is that there is not enough in the game that breaks up the tedium of standard combat/farm game-play. Apart from creating monotony, this also results in a lack of anything deep really tethering you to the world or your character(s).

Lots of things could be help fill this hole – minigames, guild halls/player housing, companion systems, etc, updates to the crafting or traiting systems, lots of new skills, etc. There just needs to be more stuff to do in the game in general IMO.

Galtrix.7369
Would making the mini games part of dynamic events work for what you want?
Like the Golem mini game, the first heart quest as an asura played agaisnt another player.

one of the biggest issues with GW2 from an objective perspective is that there is not enough in the game that breaks up the tedium of standard combat/farm game-play.

Crafting, mystic forge, fun box, costume brawl, events that aren’t about fighting (like playing with snow leopard cubs or helping entertain the norn children), crab toss, kegbrawl, jumping puzzles, dancing book, role playing… I’m sure I missed more.

Again, even if you don’t participate in the events, it still makes the game seem more alive when you see tons of people with new items that you desperately want all completing one event.

That’s precisely it. I wouldn’t mind mini games, I just don’t want them to become the game, like jumping puzzles and dailies seem to be. I don’t want them to overshadow the game itself, and I’m very afraid it would.

What kinds of mini games would you guys suggest anyway?