Guild Wars 2

As someone who left for about a year for NW and came back in September to play, I think that the living story is great, but what I am hoping to see is more areas opening up, Cantha and Elona storylines, some more skill sets or additional skills, new pets to charm. All this could be done eventually through the living story which is fine for me so long as it’s up for consideration. The exciting part about GW1’s expansions was all the extra cultural flair it brought to the game. Let some Warriors pick up Dervish Skills or Defenders snag some Paragon Skills. Right now it seems that the new living story has shaken up some builds, so people are having to play differently anyway. Perfect time for some new skill trainers. lol

Yeah. This game definitely needs an expansion. After 2 years, I’d argue that they have not released an expansion’s worth of content. Really all we’ve seen in 2 years is QoL updates and Fractals. That’s it.
Oh, fixing bugs would be cool. They don’t seem to care for that, though.

edit: spelling

Countess Aire.9410:

It doesn’t need an expansion. The content and achievements keep the game fresh and moving forward. Why is expansion the battle cry? This game has changed and evolved since its pre-release beta days. The game is evolving and changing. I am still logging in to run around and work towards gaining achievements. Doesn’t need expansion yet. Still more area to explore.

The LS content is ultra casual. It took me like 2 hours to complete episode 6 including all achievements. I doubt thats enough for anyone except the people who want to watch TV while playing.

So I’m really curious, and I’m only partially trying to rile the hornet’s nest here…

What specific content does everyone feel ArenaNet should include in an expansion?

Remember that a wide majority of those who participate on this forum do not want any level increase or gear “treadmill” progression, so you should probably consider these concepts off the table. And raids are currently being discussed in a CDI, so you should probably consider this is something they’d already add.

So what else?

Antara.3189:

In closing, boxed expansions can expand the progression of the world and the game in a much broader sense in a shorter amount of time. It also provides more than one path to take; meaning you can enjoy another area of the game while other players explore another path of story/map/race/etc.

Discredit boxed expansions all you want, but there are many of us who prefer that type of release versus the current living world.

What that tells me is that gamers are sheep who need to be constantly hyped by the “next shiny thing” or they’ll be easily distracted by the “next shiny thing” that catches their eye, then spend months complaining about having nothing to do THERE before the NEXT “next shiny thing” catches their eye.

Rinse, lather, repeat.

I’ve seen the content locusts come and go, and frankly, if they never come back, that’s perfectly fine with me. I certainly won’t shed a tear if they NEVER release a traditional expansion.

Cavalier.9064:

So I’m really curious, and I’m only partially trying to rile the hornet’s nest here…

What specific content does everyone feel ArenaNet should include in an expansion?

Remember that a wide majority of those who participate on this forum do not want any level increase or gear “treadmill” progression, so you should probably consider these concepts off the table. And raids are currently being discussed in a CDI, so you should probably consider this is something they’d already add.

So what else?

Oh man, you’ll get a slew of different opinions on this. Seems like ‘content’ means something completely different to just about everyone who has ever argued for it on this forum. And then there are those that just ignore parts of the game, as that is not content to them. Whatever. I guarantee you’ll get absolutely no general consensus to your question. The answers will be as varied as the players.

Oh yea, and if you even slightly support Anet on how they’re doing anything…..anything at all…..you’ll get the Fanboy label. Gasp!!!! Like that even means anything anymore……lol

But yea, you’ll rile the hornet’s nest on this……well done!

Cavalier.9064:

So I’m really curious, and I’m only partially trying to rile the hornet’s nest here…

What specific content does everyone feel ArenaNet should include in an expansion?

Remember that a wide majority of those who participate on this forum do not want any level increase or gear “treadmill” progression, so you should probably consider these concepts off the table. And raids are currently being discussed in a CDI, so you should probably consider this is something they’d already add.

So what else?

If I had to wager a guess, players want:

1) New races. Which would be perfectly fine, but I see no reason why that couldn’t be implemented into the framework of the Living Story (though it hasn’t yet, obviously).

2) New classes. Which to me I think is a non-starter as far as Arena.net is concerned. They’ve shown no real interest in adding new professions with the exception of MAYBE one more heavy armor class.

3) A clump of new zones, rather than single zones slowly being released piecemeal. Personally, I find that to be a fairly legitimate criticism, but I’m not convinced that it really would satisfy players for very long.

4) New weapon skills. Which is another thing Arena.net has been lukewarm on, most likely because of the balance nightmare GW1 proved to be. They don’t want to create a system where people simply bounce to a different broken build with each patch. I suspect this is a non-starter as well on the developers’ end.

5) New dungeons. That IS a non-starter, considering Arena.net outright dropped their dungeon team, apparently finding dungeons not worth the investment.

Basically, many of the things that players want that normally comes with an expansion are things that Arena.net isn’t keen on doing. Any expansion that they WOULD produce would in effect be a Living Story season unloaded all at once.

And I’m personally not interested in spending $40 for that.

Doing a quick bit of maths, comparing the price of an expansion to the price of buying Living story episodes – if you added up all the episodes of one and two( yes I know you cant buy season 1 but this gives an idea of output over 2 years) excluding all the festivals it comes to about 23 episodes.

Episodes cost £2.13 each so £48.99 for all the content released over 2 years which is about the time frame for an expansion release o Wow’s expansion is currently shipping for £27.99 for most likely a darn sight more content than the LS has given…

I know which I would prefer..

Oh. I forgot one:

6) Cantha. Cantha Cantha Cantha Cantha Cantha Cantha Cantha Cantha CANTHA!!!!

chemiclord.3978:

Antara.3189:

In closing, boxed expansions can expand the progression of the world and the game in a much broader sense in a shorter amount of time. It also provides more than one path to take; meaning you can enjoy another area of the game while other players explore another path of story/map/race/etc.

Discredit boxed expansions all you want, but there are many of us who prefer that type of release versus the current living world.

What that tells me is that gamers are sheep who need to be constantly hyped by the “next shiny thing” or they’ll be easily distracted by the “next shiny thing” that catches their eye, then spend months complaining about having nothing to do THERE before the NEXT “next shiny thing” catches their eye.

Rinse, lather, repeat.

I’ve seen the content locusts come and go, and frankly, if they never come back, that’s perfectly fine with me. I certainly won’t shed a tear if they NEVER release a traditional expansion.

Completely agree.

Lol…..“content locusts”……what a perfect description!

Rococo.8347:

Doing a quick bit of maths, comparing the price of an expansion to the price of buying Living story episodes – if you added up all the episodes of one and two( yes I know you cant buy season 1 but this gives an idea of output over 2 years) excluding all the festivals it comes to about 23 episodes.

Episodes cost £2.13 each so £48.99 for all the content released over 2 years which is about the time frame for an expansion release o Wow’s expansion is currently shipping for £27.99 for most likely a darn sight more content than the LS has given…

I know which I would prefer..

But then again, if you log in for all of 30 seconds max around the time a new chapter in the LS is released, you pay nothing at all…..which makes your entire argument a moot point.

Rococo.8347:

Doing a quick bit of maths, comparing the price of an expansion to the price of buying Living story episodes – if you added up all the episodes of one and two( yes I know you cant buy season 1 but this gives an idea of output over 2 years) excluding all the festivals it comes to about 23 episodes.

Episodes cost £2.13 each so £48.99 for all the content released over 2 years which is about the time frame for an expansion release o Wow’s expansion is currently shipping for £27.99 for most likely a darn sight more content than the LS has given…

I know which I would prefer..

The problem with that is much of that content in WoW was “endgame raiding”, which less than 5% of the player base would ever actually see at the time it was relevant. It really was a horribly inefficient model, which is why now you see “Looking for Raid” difficulty.

It’s easy to SAY, “I want WoW Expansion-like content.” It’s a little more difficult to fit it into GW2’s model without kittening off a LOT of people.

Remember the rage when Arena.net added ONE tier of gear? Try selling those people on the traditional raid model that was the backbone of WoW expansion content. I’ll bring the squeegie to mop up what’s left of you.

Make no mistake, there’s nothing wrong with asking, “Where’s the content?” But it’s not something you can just point at another game and say, “Do it like that!” Even pointing back to GW1 is kinda problematic (GW1 was actually a pretty linear game with some very narrow progression, it’s exponentially harder to capture that same essence in an open world).

chemiclord.3978:

Remember the rage when Arena.net added ONE tier of gear? Try selling those people on the traditional raid model that was the backbone of WoW expansion content.

And it’s not just WoW. The same model is being (or has been) used for a bunch of other MMO’s, as well. Increase the level cap, increase the gear progression, increase the number of zones (to accommodate the level increase), maybe add a new class, or a new race, or both.

Much of that just won’t work with GW2, though. Either because the foundation of the game was so strong to begin with, or because a wide margin of our playerbase just don’t want this game to go that route.

Zypher.7609:

If they have not played in a while, between living story and feature packs there has been a good amount of content added.

Many players don’t consider LS to be real content. It’s sole purpose is to drive gem sales.

scerevisiae.1972:

Many players don’t consider LS to be real content. It’s sole purpose is to drive gem sales.

What do these players consider “real content” then?

If they can’t answer that in concrete terms, within the framework of GW2’s existing basic foundation, then they’re adding nothing to the conversation.

There indeed are a lot of threads like this and about communication lately. It is a good thing that mamy people care about it.
It is pretty poor that so many people have to care at all though…
Just too many unanswered questions. Too less content. Too much time passes without significant changes.

Cavalier.9064:

scerevisiae.1972:

Many players don’t consider LS to be real content. It’s sole purpose is to drive gem sales.

What do these players consider “real content” then?

If they can’t answer that in concrete terms, within the framework of GW2’s existing basic foundation, then they’re adding nothing to the conversation.

There are more than enough post about how people see weapons, new (real – some with hearts and co.) zones,
proffessions, races, etc etc. as “real” conten.

Cavalier.9064:

scerevisiae.1972:

Many players don’t consider LS to be real content. It’s sole purpose is to drive gem sales.

What do these players consider “real content” then?

If they can’t answer that in concrete terms, within the framework of GW2’s existing basic foundation, then they’re adding nothing to the conversation.

I think you’re seeing the fanbase trying to pull GW2 in two different directions, many of which have desires mutually exclusive to each other. Both sides want the same thing on the surface (expansions and more content):

You have the Guild Wars 1 veterans who want the franchise to return to its “roots.” They want 150+ skills they can arrange however they want, the ability to play by themselves if they desire (using AI assistants rather than rely on other players), they want smaller scale content that can’t simply be “zerged”, and they want to return to Cantha and Elona and the places they remember from GW1.

Then you have the other side that wants GW2 to go full into the traditional MMO experience. They want trinity combat, mounts, raid dungeons with “phat lewt”, open world dueling (if not open world PvP entirely), level increases and a gear treadmill (though not too many admit to wanting those last two anymore), etc…

And yes, I know the divide isn’t nearly that neat, and that’s a lot of bleed over of players who want some of column A and some of column B. It’s a simplistic breakdown that makes a mostly all encompassing Venn diagram.

Living story is obiously not the way to replace expansion. Expansions in GW1 brought entire continents. i miss this feeling from beginning of the game when you have a world to discover. Maps they give in LS are visually good, nice landscapes and all, but there is nothing that keeps my attention when after first look. Lots of people were active on Silverwastes because of the unbalanced farm, they left as soon as the farm was nerfed. I don’t know, I fell like original maps were filled with ideas, jumping puzzles, interesting places, quests… New ones are boring and… small. Maybe area is not that small, but in fact you are forced to run through NARROW CORRIDORS. I would like underwater expansion, but it has to be something BIG.

I concur with the opp. In the living story content comes and goes. But what we need is new content which stays! Such as Chemiclord’s suggestions above. And I"m willing to pay for it, that is, if released as expansion.

TYHE.6435:

New ones are boring and… small. Maybe area is not that small, but in fact you are forced to run through NARROW CORRIDORS. I would like underwater expansion, but it has to be something BIG.

See, now here is where I kinda go cross-eyed.

Because THAT’S what maps in Guild Wars 1 pretty much exactly WERE. The zones were very narrow and limited in where you could actually go. So the idea that you want continents like in GW1 then complain about how the maps in GW1 actually were… it just doesn’t follow, man.

I said I wanted maps big as at the beginning of the game ( GW2) and many of them together as a whole “continent” too (like in GW1). And you just read what you want out of my post, and yes your interpretation makes less sense.

Cavalier.9064:

So I’m really curious, and I’m only partially trying to rile the hornet’s nest here…

What specific content does everyone feel ArenaNet should include in an expansion?

Remember that a wide majority of those who participate on this forum do not want any level increase or gear “treadmill” progression, so you should probably consider these concepts off the table. And raids are currently being discussed in a CDI, so you should probably consider this is something they’d already add.

So what else?

Yeah, this is where the feedback is poor. People say “expansion” so Anet keeps expanding the game.

What people really mean when they say “expansion” is “new classes, skills, weapon types, and professions”, which we’re not really getting to any satisfying degree.

And I mean yeah, people want the traditional “new continent” that comes with expansions, but it’s mostly new ways to play the game that they want, rather than more game to play.

TYHE.6435:

I said I wanted maps big as at the beginning of the game ( GW2) and many of them together as a whole “continent” too (like in GW1). And you just read what you want out of my post, and yes your interpretation makes less sense.

Well, that’s kinda the problem though. Because I’m not sure that Arena.net’s development allows you to have both in anything resembling a timely manner. Whether that’s because of poor management not using resources optimally, or that the event system makes programming zones much more complex than traditional MMOs… I really can’t say… but I think players are going to have to accept having one or the other. You’re either going to have to accept GW1’s “narrowness” or expect to wait a very, very long time for more “full” areas.

Corian.4068:

What people really mean when they say “expansion” is “new classes, skills, weapon types, and professions”, which we’re not really getting to any satisfying degree.

The question then becomes, are new classes, skills, weapon types, or professions (assuming you mean crafting) really that important to people’s overall enjoyment of the game? What about those veterans who couldn’t give a rat’s spit about other classes, or weapon types, or professions, because they main a specific character and are happy with how they’ve built it? And where do new classes / weapon types fit into the existing game? When you say “new class”, what do you mean? What’s fundamentally missing about the classes we have now (besides the obvious lack of a third heavy armor wearer)?

And, hypothetically speaking, once they’ve added those new things, then who’s to say that 12 months, 18 months, 24 months from now, people won’t be clamoring for even more new classes or weapons or skills, and then more beyond that, until the entire game starts becoming a bloated, convoluted mess right from character creation?

There’s a reason AION plans on going back to basics and giving its players a more vanilla-esque experience again. Class / weapon / skill bloat is bad.

I do agree that it would be NICE to see a fully realized, immersive full-size set of zones being released, in regions like Cantha or Elona, that have heart quests and vistas and jumping puzzles and interesting dynamic events that require thought and planning over the current zerg mentality. But those things take time and resources, the latter of which I’m not altogether certain ArenaNet has any extra at the moment.

I like the idea of both living story and an expansion. Honestly, I had assumed the living story stuff was linking the original game to a future expansion, and that it would be announced once the living story had progressed enough.

As for specific things I’d like to see, I played GW1 so you can probably guess.

2005 just called and it wants it’s boxes back. Really, who buys boxed MMO expansions anyway?

Boxes aren’t needed as just about every online gaming magazine writes an article whenever Anet releases a new LS episode or feature update anyways.

An expansion just isn’t needed.

DarcShriek.5829:

2005 just called and it wants it’s boxes back. Really, who buys boxed MMO expansions anyway?

Boxes aren’t needed as just about every online gaming magazine writes an article whenever Anet releases a new LS episode or feature update anyways.

An expansion just isn’t needed.

I think there’s nothing inherently wrong with a large “expansion” that adds a ton of content to explore and do. I certainly don’t think WoW for example is “doin’ it rong.”

At issue is that I’m not sure a lot of the things that would fit what players consider an “expansion” (new skills and professions and maps with instanced dungeons) are things Arena.net is terribly interested in pursuing.

With that in mind, I wonder what the point of a more traditional “expansion” would be. It really wouldn’t be more than the Living Story just thrown at us all at once every year or so. Why would I pay money for that if I don’t have to?

Cavalier.9064:

Corian.4068:

What people really mean when they say “expansion” is “new classes, skills, weapon types, and professions”, which we’re not really getting to any satisfying degree.

The question then becomes, are new classes, skills, weapon types, or professions (assuming you mean crafting) really that important to people’s overall enjoyment of the game? What about those veterans who couldn’t give a rat’s spit about other classes, or weapon types, or professions, because they main a specific character and are happy with how they’ve built it? And where do new classes / weapon types fit into the existing game? When you say “new class”, what do you mean? What’s fundamentally missing about the classes we have now (besides the obvious lack of a third heavy armor wearer)?

And, hypothetically speaking, once they’ve added those new things, then who’s to say that 12 months, 18 months, 24 months from now, people won’t be clamoring for even more new classes or weapons or skills, and then more beyond that, until the entire game starts becoming a bloated, convoluted mess right from character creation?

Yes, for many mmorpg players I’d say new classes and skills in a very important thing. Many people like leveling and exploring different classes, and having the chance to play a new one is extremely exciting, especially if they weren’t all that interested in the original classes. Having a variety of different classes, and play styles to choose from is a very important aspect of mmorpgs imo. New classes can also help the economy as people begin buying low level greens/blues, and rares again, and bring some new life to low level areas. As for the people that don’t care about them, they can simply choose to not play them.

People probably will ask for more, people always ask for more eventually, in short, it’s been 2 years with new new skills, classes, or weapons added, so I don’t think skill bloat will be anything to worry about if Anet finally does decide to add any of these things.

Countess Aire.9410:

It doesn’t need an expansion. The content and achievements keep the game fresh and moving forward. Why is expansion the battle cry? This game has changed and evolved since its pre-release beta days. The game is evolving and changing. I am still logging in to run around and work towards gaining achievements. Doesn’t need expansion yet. Still more area to explore.

lol not sure if serious.

So the rolplaying people who don’t give a dang about archievement get exactly what from the game ?

I am not at work.. i don’t have to archive something. I want entertainment and
not working toward a target.

people like you are A-Nets wet dream.
No expectations and low maintenance

Kurrilino.2706:

Countess Aire.9410:

It doesn’t need an expansion. The content and achievements keep the game fresh and moving forward. Why is expansion the battle cry? This game has changed and evolved since its pre-release beta days. The game is evolving and changing. I am still logging in to run around and work towards gaining achievements. Doesn’t need expansion yet. Still more area to explore.

---

lol not sure if serious.

So the rolplaying people who don’t give a dang about archievement get exactly what from the game ?

I am not at work.. i don’t have to archive something. I want entertainment and
not working toward a target.

people like you are A-Nets wet dream.
No expectations and low maintenance

This. Achievements are the cheapest way to increase replay value without actually adding anything of actual value. I play for entertainment, not for a gold star that I got for killing 50 bandits or some text in a part of the UI I never access for salvaging 250 pieces of kitten.

On another note, I keep hearing people say “omg these updates are adding countless hours of content!” If your an achievement chaser, maybe it is. For me? This last update added 1.75 hours of content.

An expansion does so much for mmos. Like for WoW, I was pretty bored with it for a very long while now. Mostly from the last expansion. Here we have WoD release and I am seriously in love all over again. That is also to do with the expansion being one of, if not, the best expansion they have ever released.

It’s brought WoW subscribers already up to over 10 million. We’re talking about over 3 million subscribers returned to the game because of a very well done expansion. Imagine the sales christmas will bring in. 3 million subscriber increase on the same day the expansion released(november 13). China wasn’t even released until the 18th, so the numbers should go much higher than that.

I’ll keep checking GW2 forums out until I either get bored of WoW or until GW2 steps up their game and produces enough content to last more than a couple hours a month.

Not advertising. It’s already been established that gw2 players don’t really want what WoW offers. I’m just saying an expansion release does wonders for a game. I fully think anet would benefit from doing the same.

Fernling.1729:

An expansion does so much for mmos. Like for WoW, I was pretty bored with it for a very long while now. Mostly from the last expansion. Here we have WoD release and I am seriously in love all over again. That is also to do with the expansion being one of, if not, the best expansion they have ever released.

It’s brought WoW subscribers already up to over 10 million. We’re talking about over 3 million subscribers returned to the game because of a very well done expansion. Imagine the sales christmas will bring in. 3 million subscriber increase on the same day the expansion released(november 13). China wasn’t even released until the 18th, so the numbers should go much higher than that.

I’ll keep checking GW2 forums out until I either get bored of WoW or until GW2 steps up their game and produces enough content to last more than a couple hours a month.

Not advertising. It’s already been established that gw2 players don’t really want what WoW offers. I’m just saying an expansion release does wonders for a game. I fully think anet would benefit from doing the same.

If you’re expecting something decent being added to the game, watch this for a very sobering revelation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umpR6LhBhW4

I’ll give you a hint, The Living Story is all this game is apparently going to be getting in the future. Oh, and Achievements are considered end game now apparently too. That’s what arenanet meant when they said “the whole game is end game”.

my oh my im so tired of these guys comming from games like wow and whine that things are not like it is in that game. This is not wow this is gw2 the way content is released is fine.

When i started playing the game during pre betas i knew exactly what i was getting into and i was happy with that. If you really wanted to play a game that pop out one expansion after the other then you shoulda sticked to wow.

And to those folks that say you get level cap changes, new races, classes etc with expansions I say those can just as easily be provided in feature packs as it is now. Example the traits new traits were already added.

People should realise another thing aswell not everyone is as rich as you folks being able to buy expansion after expansion. For us poor folk this system works great as is and im able to get the content even if i miss the ls part for ingame currency.

TimTimTimma.6395:

Fernling.1729:

An expansion does so much for mmos. Like for WoW, I was pretty bored with it for a very long while now. Mostly from the last expansion. Here we have WoD release and I am seriously in love all over again. That is also to do with the expansion being one of, if not, the best expansion they have ever released.

It’s brought WoW subscribers already up to over 10 million. We’re talking about over 3 million subscribers returned to the game because of a very well done expansion. Imagine the sales christmas will bring in. 3 million subscriber increase on the same day the expansion released(november 13). China wasn’t even released until the 18th, so the numbers should go much higher than that.

I’ll keep checking GW2 forums out until I either get bored of WoW or until GW2 steps up their game and produces enough content to last more than a couple hours a month.

Not advertising. It’s already been established that gw2 players don’t really want what WoW offers. I’m just saying an expansion release does wonders for a game. I fully think anet would benefit from doing the same.

If you’re expecting something decent being added to the game, watch this for a very sobering revelation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umpR6LhBhW4

I’ll give you a hint, The Living Story is all this game is apparently going to be getting in the future. Oh, and Achievements are considered end game now apparently too. That’s what arenanet meant when they said “the whole game is end game”.

Fine by me. I like GW2 just fine the way it is. And I like the way LS chapters are released. One of the reasons I enjoy GW2 so much is it is not like the other mmorpg clones out there. I imagine I will be sticking around for awhile.

And go ahead and call me a fanboy. The term makes me chuckle anymore…..lol.

Fernling.1729:

It’s brought WoW subscribers already up to over 10 million. We’re talking about over 3 million subscribers returned to the game because of a very well done expansion. Imagine the sales christmas will bring in. 3 million subscriber increase on the same day the expansion released(november 13). China wasn’t even released until the 18th, so the numbers should go much higher than that.

Yeah. And in a month or two they leave again for another 1.5 years until the next expansion.

What some people don’t realise about elder dragons/cantha-elona storylines is that the only threat the whole world is facing right now is ONLY elder dragons. Cantha is rumored to be blockaded by Zhaitan and getting destroyed by the Deepsea Dragon.

Elona is pretty much sealed off, and the only place that merits it’s own storyline.

We don’t really need a Huge expansion with a hugeass world boss ala WoW… I know WoW loves to do this Dungeon-questhub-zone-BIGRAIDBOSS thing, but I personally feel Arenanet’s method is pretty novel.

After all, we literally have only 5 ElderDragons to go before there’s no big threat left in Tyria lol.

PS: going by what I’ve seen on FB, there are many people that have FINISHED Warlords of Draenor. like, completely finished it…

Kadin.2356:

There’s no point unless I can get my friends to take another look at it. MMO’s are all about community and while I’m sure that there are still plenty of people playing, I need MY guys playing for it to really be fun.

Basically GW2 needs an expansion. Badly. It’s such a great game (mechanics/design) it just needs an expansion level content boost to get people to give it another shot.

My personal dream would be of a more sandbox style addition to the game.

Just my 2¢

Great points imo.

I’m having similar trouble with my crew. They have mostly gone back to WoW for their expansion. The others have just gone to other games. I think an expansion could bring some hype and interest back to these people.

DarcShriek.5829:

Boxes aren’t needed as just about every online gaming magazine writes an article whenever Anet releases a new LS episode or feature update anyways.

The one thing an expansion can do that the living story can’t is generate interest outside of the game’s existing player base. A new shiny box on store shelves also has the added benefit of attracting casual people.

Take WoW for example. I don’t hear people talking about the patches, though there might be a single headline on a gaming news site. With the expansion however, not only is there headlines everywhere, but it also generates a large amount of hype and is talked about all over, including here for example.

It’s simply a mindset people have. An expansion is seen as something new, whereas a patch is just a patch. Patches also don’t typically cause major changes whereas this is expected in an expansion, creating a sense of unknown and creating a lot more buzz.

Tere.4759:

I came back and brought 4 people with me. It’s a great game and so relaxing coming from TOR where it’s a constant battle to get nodes, complete bonus quests, etc. We play both and I find GW2 extremely refreshing. I left because my friends left. I brought them back. We’re looking forward to leveling together again and doing dungeons again.

In other words, it does not take an expansion to bring people back. It only takes a good friend to say “Hey, let’s give the game a chance again. I’m loving it, come play with me.”

How many times can you keep saying lets try it again, maybe doing “random thing for the thousand time” become suddenly fun. The game might not need an expansion pack but it does need to start working on other things instead of just relying a living story

I think the same, i’m not this… “wow has this and that”, because i’ve never played wow, but i’m proud player from GW1 beta played GW1 for 7 years! First 5 years I was constantly playing PvE, but when i was expecting GW2 so hard, i started to play PvP, and i was instantly inlove with the GvG.

What i miss the most is, that PvP players were same rewarded as PvE players…
I think PvP currently is FAR from rewarding, and those who enjoy PvP, don’t get the joy of rewards. If we only look back in GW1 what was reward ratio VS pve reward ratio, it makes me sad… Because personally, i don’t like to do PvE any more, but if i want to get some gear, a nice skin and something else…

I’M FORCED TO PLAY PVE TO GET ANYTHING..
Honestly, i went back to GW1, but population just died, GW2 really needs more interesting system, rewards, and OWN content to get income, or special things.
I think we deserve more than just balthazar reward..

And yes, i did enjoy GW1 a lot more with content than GEM store that we have, it’s just not appealing to me, personally it’s disaster.. Wish GW1 concept artist and level designer would be back.

TL:DR, i wish PvP players would be same rewarded and treated as PvE players, but as i see it’s hard to tell if we ever gonna be on the same page.

kolompi.1287:

Another “we need an expansion” thread. Thanks, what the forums need is another one of these.

No, what the game needs is one of these

Oh come on… based on their policy, they will announce the expansion one week before it is actually released! Just keep wishing

Just ignore the game for two years OP.

Re-log…free expansion.

Cavalier.9064:

So I’m really curious, and I’m only partially trying to rile the hornet’s nest here…

What specific content does everyone feel ArenaNet should include in an expansion?

Remember that a wide majority of those who participate on this forum do not want any level increase or gear “treadmill” progression, so you should probably consider these concepts off the table. And raids are currently being discussed in a CDI, so you should probably consider this is something they’d already add.

So what else?

I’m pretty sure players of the original want to see what the original offered. A new profession or 2, new weapon skills, new areas with a different cultural feel, new dungeons or dungeon like content, a plethora of new skins and so on.

But, my beef really isn’t in the expansion (or lack of) anyway. It’s in the changes that IMO have made the game far less of an enjoyable experience for me. PvP being mostly neglected, WvW being mostly neglected, core issues/bugs/camera/targeting being mostly neglected. Go back to release and read all the fundamental issues that players have practically begged for improvements/fixes for and find that most of them have not been addressed. That to me is a pretty big problem.

I truly feel that they used to actually improve the game in the original, adding solid QoL improvements along with spurts of new content very regularly, balance changes that shook up PvP. This game, all the big patches that add good stuff seem to come with huge caveats… We get the wardrobe, improvements to the TP and crafting, but we loose the server system in PvE, a trait change no one wanted, an unnecessarily grueling NPE and so on. These things really feel like it’s all about numbers and metrics, there is very little heart in it, most of it feels cold, almost callous. I simply think the game is too big for management, to complicated for efficient development and focus. I also think it’s not Arenas fault, really. I think it’s the environment of modern business, do more with less, fill your staff with temps that never really get a grasp on what they could put into the game and/or have much of an investment with each other.

Drow.2081:

Game development is more complex & competitive now. This isn’t the same market when GW1 launched. GW2 has some powerful pluses but OP is right about needing to compete for the public’s eye. An expansion with real housing would be nice.

That so? You do realize that GW back at its release was competing against the giant of the mmo genre that is/was WoW? With WoW now in a somewhat decline (relatively speaking), GW2 at its release date had far less competition in the same genre (or rather, less competition of such epic proportions), while enjoying far more goodwill/reputation which was had built entirely on the foundation of its predecessor. While the initial box sales of the game were promising (given the circumstances), it lacks the longivety, replayability, and several other key features that kept people stick with the original for as long as they did.

In other words – roughly 8 years ago, GW was virtually a ‘noname’, a new market entrant that made a promise of bringing something new and refreshing to players bored of the typical monthly-fee and gear-grind mmo system a-la WoW. And it was a clear success.
Fast forward to 2k12, GW2 was an established AAA+ name hyped massively with the promise of (re)delivering the experience the original did, and all that in a market where WoW is slowly losing ground to mobas and esports as well as to myriad f2p mmos. Yet two years in, the prospects seem anything but optimistic with no real sign of improvement. More or less a ‘Wha’ happened??’ kind of moment.
(hey, they might secretly have a GW3 in the works! #hype)

Anyhow, to come back to the point – back then it was a whole different market, indeed.

Drow.2081:

ll tell you one thing GW2 has done right – I can run this game on a slow crappy PC.

And then you encounter a zerg or an event and the game locks up in slowmotion of 1 frame/5s. I myself used to run GW2 on a pretty old PC, so I know quite well how it is/was like.

At the same time, GW runs on a smartphone or virtually any low-end machine of the WinXP era or earlier without giving you the the death-by-lag experience (ok, on a phone it would probably still lock up).

I don’t understand why there are so many people opposing the OP.

I mean….. who doesn’t want an expansion?

The only reason people ask for an expansion is because there is no way they will add all the traditional things from an expansion through patches. The maps added until now are smaller than the original maps. They have also no hearts, and theyre generally less complex than the maps from the release.

The reality is that what theyve mostly added in these 2 years, and how they give the impression that the game would have high replayability if all the LS content would still be available is ACHIEVEMENTS. The actual content, and difficulty of it, is little and trivial (not that the achievements would be hard).

The thing is that the pace at which theyve released content in the past 2 years is SLOW. I don’t understand, in 5 years they created the engine of the game, they created about 25 different maps (?) plus 6 big cities. They created the personal story, with all its different variations. They created 8 dungeons, thousand of dynamic events. And then in 2 years this is all they create? It’s either that they must be working on an expansion (and its taking them so kittening long) or they have given up on this game.

Stormscar.5489:

They have also no hearts, and theyre generally less complex than the maps from the release.

The new maps are set for cap level. The Orr maps also have no heart, kind of a point of a cap level map as the pattern shows.

As for an expansions, I doubt the major feature that many associate with expansion additional race/profession are not really something that the devs seem interesting in working on. Not to mention with the general PvP focus that is the majority of communication received I doubt that player base would want to pay for an additional profession.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

I don’t understand why there are so many people opposing the OP.

I mean….. who doesn’t want an expansion?

I personally prefer the current system.

Some people prefer to have new stuff often but in smaller part rather than waiting a year or so for a big bunch of stuff that will be completed in a week or two and then go back to waiting another year.