Guild Wars 2

You will have to excuse me, if the date is a bit off, but I seem to recall that it is at the end of this first half year that ANet plans to release a major update.

I have a question, though, to the ANet devs.

- When “The Lost Shores” hit the scene back in 2012 I thought that this “Living World” that ANet had spoken of would consist of these One Time Events (lets henceforth call them OTE’s) and to be fair, I did expect to see them grow in scale and length, but I can only imagine that the current LS model is taking a lot of the resources you have.

I imagined OTE’s every now and then and then a lot of polishing and expanding of the PvE (and PvP) scene (more zones, Dynamic Events, more game modes for PvP, not to mention that I play through dungeons with teams that cheat their way through, while I just want to do it the way it was meant to – it even rhymes).

So, to ask my question: Are we going to see any of these improvements in this major update, you spoke of, or what can we expect to see there (like, is it PvP or PvE content you’re working on mostly)?

If any devs or players have some information on this, be so kind as to let me know, would you?

They have four teams working on the LS and far more teams than that working on longer term content.

Vayne.8563:

…and far more teams than that working on longer term content.

From whom we’ve yet to actually see anything at all in game.

Don’t get me wrong, love this game, love the quest mechanics and pretty much everything about it.

But given that one AAA mmo has just gone out for preorder (release in 2 months), another is in alpha and by the end of the week BOTH will have the NDAs lifted, now would be a great time for ANet to pull back that mysterious curtain and tell their fanbase what they’ve got to look forward to in the future.

Ren.5842:

Vayne.8563:

…and far more teams than that working on longer term content.

From whom we’ve yet to actually see anything at all in game.

Don’t get me wrong, love this game, love the quest mechanics and pretty much everything about it.

But given that one AAA mmo has just gone out for preorder (release in 2 months), another is in alpha and by the end of the week BOTH will have the NDAs lifted, now would be a great time for ANet to pull back that mysterious curtain and tell their fanbase what they’ve got to look forward to in the future.

Umm, I’m 100% sure that’s not true. I know the big Tequatl battle was done by one of those teams. I know that the redo of the Ascalon dungeon bossses wasn’t done by a living story team. Some of the quality of life features we’ve had weren’t done by the living story team. I don’t think the new TA path was done by a living story team either, it was done by a dungeon team.

Stuff like the ability to view SPvP match ups, the account wallet, were done by other teams.

They sneak this stuff into living world updates, so everything thinks that these things were done by living world teams, but we’ve been told that’s not the case.

Well, to be fair, they have said that we’re going to get a major update.
- Problem is that we are not up to date with what we can expect from it.

And we all know of the four teams doing LS stuff, Vayne.
- I still think that “The Lost Shores” event had more content during just that one weekend, whereas a year after we use two weeks to grind achievements and do the same stuff over and over again.
And again, to be fair, they have some new ideas of how they’re going to do these LS arcs.
- It was my understanding that over one month we’d have a story arc that we could play through and would expand during that one month. I’m looking forward to see how it will turn out.

Vayne, we still don’t know what the future holds in those “big” changes and what we can look forward to.
- Yeah, they implement content that is unrelated to the LS into the updates, I think it’s common knowledge.

But, as Ren said, we have yet to see what is behind the “curtain” of secrets.

Vayne.8563:

Ren.5842:

Vayne.8563:

…and far more teams than that working on longer term content.

From whom we’ve yet to actually see anything at all in game.

Don’t get me wrong, love this game, love the quest mechanics and pretty much everything about it.

But given that one AAA mmo has just gone out for preorder (release in 2 months), another is in alpha and by the end of the week BOTH will have the NDAs lifted, now would be a great time for ANet to pull back that mysterious curtain and tell their fanbase what they’ve got to look forward to in the future.

Umm, I’m 100% sure that’s not true. I know the big Tequatl battle was done by one of those teams. I know that the redo of the Ascalon dungeon bossses wasn’t done by a living story team. Some of the quality of life features we’ve had weren’t done by the living story team. I don’t think the new TA path was done by a living story team either, it was done by a dungeon team.

Stuff like the ability to view SPvP match ups, the account wallet, were done by other teams.

They sneak this stuff into living world updates, so everything thinks that these things were done by living world teams, but we’ve been told that’s not the case.

Once again you’re ignoring context. In both instances I’ve seen the “we’re working on BIG things, but we can’t tell you about them” comment (paraphrased) it was in regards to boxed expansion type content…not a world boss overhaul or a quality of life update or class balance tweaks or a new sPvP map, but actual expansion-esque content (new maps, new races, new classes, new skills…that sort of thing).

From a Eurogamer interview given less than a month ago…

Actually, it sounds like there is an expansion planned. “We have a couple of really big Guild Wars projects cooking in the background,” Johanson told me.

Later, he added: "Some of our players believe that because we are doing this Living World seasons, and these features or these big feature-builds, that it means that the features you would traditionally get in an expansion, or the content you would traditionally get in an expansion, is not something that will get added to Guild Wars 2. And that is not true at all.

“Not only are we doing those things, new features and content you would traditionally get from a boxed expansion are also things that will be added to Guild Wars 2.

“The thing that we haven’t decided yet,” he went on, "is what form that type of content will take. Is it right for Guild Wars 2 for that kind of boxed expansion? Is it right for that to be something we add, live, through storylines in the game? Is that something we want to sell through our in-game store? There are a lot of different options available to us.

“… but we absolutely are going to do sweeping new features that you would traditionally only get in expansions – large regions, content and progression additions to your characters in the form of growth and professions and races. Those are all things that you will see in the lifespan of Guild Wars 2.”

Given the context of that interview, it’s hard to walk away thinking he was talking about the minor changes rolled out at a slow pace (like we’ve seen thus far). For those of you who like semantics, note he said “will be added”, not “have been added” when he mentions “new features and content you would traditionally get from a boxed expansion.”

If by “we have a couple of really big Guild Wars projects cooking in the background,” he really means more stuff like Tequatl changes and Twilight Armor path overhauls, then I can’t help but think this game’s future will be one with a substantially fewer players. There’s only so many times a fresh coat of paint and rearranging of furniture can be presented as an expansion to a house. It’s not.

I’m not taking anything out of context. I’m talking from my understanding of the industry. Anet is going to sit on any big chance/annoucement until it makes sense to make it. That has nothing to do with your schedule and everything do with with what the competition is doing.

That’s why so many games announce expanstions around the time of a new major release.

Rift had an interesting reaction to the SWToR launch. They stopped advertising altogether. They figured they couldn’t compete in that field, so they saved their money, they waited until the SWToR shine wore off and then put all their money into pushing their next big thing.

Anet doesn’t want to use a trump card now, which is why nothing is being said. If you don’t believe me, that’s perfectly cool.

Wait and see.

Vayne.8563:

I’m not taking anything out of context. I’m talking from my understanding of the industry. Anet is going to sit on any big chance/annoucement until it makes sense to make it. That has nothing to do with your schedule and everything do with with what the competition is doing.

That’s why so many games announce expanstions around the time of a new major release.

Rift had an interesting reaction to the SWToR launch. They stopped advertising altogether. They figured they couldn’t compete in that field, so they saved their money, they waited until the SWToR shine wore off and then put all their money into pushing their next big thing.

Anet doesn’t want to use a trump card now, which is why nothing is being said. If you don’t believe me, that’s perfectly cool.

Wait and see.

“Wait and see” is just as likely to mean “we don’t have anything, but if we tell you that you’ll leave” as it is “we’ve got something great, but we can’t tell you anything about it just yet”. You can take their word for face value if you want, but as you yourself have said on multiple occasions, “a statement of intent is not a promise.” Given ArenaNet’s track record, I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I don’t place any stock at all in anything they have to say in these marketing pieces.

darkace.8925:

Vayne.8563:

I’m not taking anything out of context. I’m talking from my understanding of the industry. Anet is going to sit on any big chance/annoucement until it makes sense to make it. That has nothing to do with your schedule and everything do with with what the competition is doing.

That’s why so many games announce expanstions around the time of a new major release.

Rift had an interesting reaction to the SWToR launch. They stopped advertising altogether. They figured they couldn’t compete in that field, so they saved their money, they waited until the SWToR shine wore off and then put all their money into pushing their next big thing.

Anet doesn’t want to use a trump card now, which is why nothing is being said. If you don’t believe me, that’s perfectly cool.

Wait and see.

“Wait and see” is just as likely to mean “we don’t have anything, but if we tell you that you’ll leave” as it is “we’ve got something great, but we can’t tell you anything about it just yet”. You can take their word for face value if you want, but as you yourself have said on multiple occasions, “a statement of intent is not a promise.” Given ArenaNet’s track record, I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I don’t place any stock at all in anything they have to say in these marketing pieces.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t place stock in what they have to say or not. You’ll see, that’s all. And you will.

Every major MMO has strategies in place for dealing with competitors launching. They can’t let the cat out of the bag early because that actually destroys what they’re trying to do. Call the attention to them. That’s how the game is played.

The public memory, over all, is too short. You can give them the world and six months later, when it comes out, they’ve moved on already because they waited too long for you to deliver.

Anet is a corporation. Yes, they’ve done some stupid things, but I’m pretty sure that they’re more successful than most MMOs that have launched in the last five years. They must know SOMETHING.

Vayne.8563:

It doesn’t matter if you don’t place stock in what they have to say or not.

It doesn’t matter if a company’s customers think they’re not trustworthy? And you used to run a business? I really hope you didn’t have that same attitude with your own customers.

Vayne.8563:

You’ll see, that’s all. And you will.

You keep telling yourself that, and I’ll keep watching them release bi-monthly filler content.

Vayne.8563:

Anet is a corporation. Yes, they’ve done some stupid things, but I’m pretty sure that they’re more successful than most MMOs that have launched in the last five years. They must know SOMETHING.

Very good example, Vayne. If have felt just like you for more than a year now. Very good exaple for “hope dies last”. My has died with the last patch. Hopefully yours will survive a little longer

darkace.8925:

Vayne.8563:

It doesn’t matter if you don’t place stock in what they have to say or not.

It doesn’t matter if a company’s customers think they’re not trustworthy? And you used to run a business? I really hope you didn’t have that same attitude with your own customers.

Vayne.8563:

You’ll see, that’s all. And you will.

You keep telling yourself that, and I’ll keep watching them release bi-monthly filler content.

It doesn’t matter if you believe something is coming or not. It will come or it won’t come. It’s that simple.

If I believe it won’t rain tomorrow, my belief or disbelief is unlikely to determine whether it will rain.

Not trusting the company is a completely different thing. But whether or not that thing happens or doesn’t happen has nothing to do with your belief in it.

Grileenor.1497:

Vayne.8563:

Anet is a corporation. Yes, they’ve done some stupid things, but I’m pretty sure that they’re more successful than most MMOs that have launched in the last five years. They must know SOMETHING.

Very good example, Vayne. If have felt just like you for more than a year now. Very good exaple for “hope dies last”. My has died with the last patch. Hopefully yours will survive a little longer

What was it about the last patch that made your hope die?

I had hoped for… I dont’ know, meaningful content? Something to show, they have learned from the past, they do even care about their game. But we got still the same old generic zerg for achievement stuff, nothing substantial. Two world bosses where you need that many players for the zerg, that the overflow is inevitable, where the MMO feeling is reduced to seeing loads of players, while you spam you (1)(2)(3). Where you have to grind certain bits of collectable RNG trash, to even get a glimpse of the oh so cool story.

Sorry OP, I don’t want to get this offtopic or even closed. I think Vayne gets the idea. I am out.

If the party Ui will be really fixed in todays update, that is the biggest expansion i can get this year.

/just saying

April is not summer.

Corpus Christi they already said there will be short break after end of LS, but because they did not announced length of that short break, many people thinks that Feature patch will be in summer.

darkace.8925:

Vayne.8563:

It doesn’t matter if you don’t place stock in what they have to say or not.

It doesn’t matter if a company’s customers think they’re not trustworthy? And you used to run a business? I really hope you didn’t have that same attitude with your own customers.

Not the customers in general, just you, the individual.

In any market, some customers’ loyalty is locked in. They’ll continue using your product for as long as you remain in business. Some will never be satisfied no matter what you do. You focus on the middle group, the ones who decide from moment to moment whether they will use your product or not.

It’s simply not possible to please everyone, and if you spend all your resources chasing after those fringe customers who will never be pleased, you’ll spend more money on them than you can possible make by turning them to your side, and go out of business.

The devs have tried to explain this to forum posters before, but there isn’t really a polite way to say “you don’t matter.” The LS method has been extremely successful with their target market, other additions to the game like fractals and ascended gear are pleasing to the players they are intended for, and overall the game is healthy and doing well. There are players who are not interested in these things, and most of them move on to other games.

A few come to the forums and make a lot of noise because they believe if they make enough of a fuss the devs will make GW2 into the game they want to play. But the decisions have already been made, plans laid out for this year and the next several years, and the course of the game is not going to change to become what you want it to become.

For the tiny, but extremely vocal, minority who is wants GW2 to become a completely different game, you will be disappointed. Because ultimately, the game was not designed for you and it will never be the game you want it to be.

Hule.8794:

Corpus Christi they already said there will be short break after end of LS, but because they did not announced length of that short break, many people thinks that Feature patch will be in summer.

ESO launches in early April, the most logical time for GW2 to have a major update is within a few weeks of April 1, either to draw attention away from the release (mid-late March) or to recapture the interest of those who play the free month of ESO that comes with the purchase of the game but don’t continue paying to subscribe to the game (late April-early May). So far it seems this will coincide with the LS finale and the features update with a few weeks between to account for a temporary drop in logins from the new shiny.

tolunart.2095:

Hule.8794:

Corpus Christi they already said there will be short break after end of LS, but because they did not announced length of that short break, many people thinks that Feature patch will be in summer.

ESO launches in early April, the most logical time for GW2 to have a major update is within a few weeks of April 1, either to draw attention away from the release (mid-late March) or to recapture the interest of those who play the free month of ESO that comes with the purchase of the game but don’t continue paying to subscribe to the game (late April-early May). So far it seems this will coincide with the LS finale and the features update with a few weeks between to account for a temporary drop in logins from the new shiny.

I don’t think so. I think they’l wait until the shine wears off a bit and THEN launch.

Vayne.8563:

tolunart.2095:

Hule.8794:

Corpus Christi they already said there will be short break after end of LS, but because they did not announced length of that short break, many people thinks that Feature patch will be in summer.

ESO launches in early April, the most logical time for GW2 to have a major update is within a few weeks of April 1, either to draw attention away from the release (mid-late March) or to recapture the interest of those who play the free month of ESO that comes with the purchase of the game but don’t continue paying to subscribe to the game (late April-early May). So far it seems this will coincide with the LS finale and the features update with a few weeks between to account for a temporary drop in logins from the new shiny.

I don’t think so. I think they’l wait until the shine wears off a bit and THEN launch.

The shine of ESO has already worn of after the beta event in january, after all i have read so far.

The PROs for ESO were often just something like that you can at least create Elves that don’t look absolute horrible

Vayne.8563:

I don’t think so. I think they’l wait until the shine wears off a bit and THEN launch.

I think that would work for an expansion, it would be announced months before ESO launches and accumulate orders and buzz into a month or two after April, but even if the update includes new Legendaries it would really not be talked about as much as an actual expansion.

No content update would gather as much steam as it would if they announced a boxed-type expansion. A Living World reveal video never gets me excited…but remember when they announced Factions…Nightfall…and EotN? Those announcements had me excited. I also remember how excited I was when the Wrath of the Lich King was announced. (Big Warcraft 3 fan).

If they want to generate HUGE excitement and renew player’s interest in the game, then that’s how they do it. These forums would be going wild.

Corpus Christi.2057:

April is not summer.

^ This.

Major content is said to be released after the 4 Scarlet LS’s and one has been done and today the second one is here. So that leaves us about 6 weeks to the Major update.

2 more weeks for update 3, another 2 weeks for last one and the last 2 weeks for the major update.

And so we have another thread filled with people who knows exactly how Anet runs and how the should run their company. Wish they where as smart like you guys.

I think they have something large ready to launch simply because of how thin these last patches are expected to be (feature wise). They usually give some kind if feature in each LS patch but they are holding their guns for a load, as they’ve said. ANet has a penchant for delivering in the long term, and when they deliver it’s impressive (looking at you War in Kryta and BMP).

The first year of this game has been a very meticulous survey. I’ve had my doubts in the past, but I think they are ready to blow us away.

Well, thank you, Darkace and Vayne for blowing things out of proportion.
- I was asking whether ANet have plans to polish their game and expand upon some of the features that they were going to innovate (and how brilliant innovation is. The idea is fresh, but no matter that it doesn’t truly work as intended and need polishing and refining, because it’s innovation…).

I appreciate ANet uncovering new ground and new ways of doing content, but they’re going to be releasing GW2 in other countries as well soon, and I would’ve thought it would’ve been a good idea to refine the content that they were so proud of innovating.

- The dungeons are being exploited, maps are left empty, bosses are damage sponges and people aren’t really using their combo fields or teamwork (I’ll agree, the bosses that have come recently are way better designed, but there’s a whole world out there that isn’t moving, isn’t breathing or living) but ANet have updates every two weeks, so we can’t argue with them, can we?

- A guy like me, who haven’t really cared for the Living Story content much since Scarlet appeared, who have spent a lot of time out in the world, who have saved villages from centaurs only for them to be attacked within minutes again (because no other DE’s are available to add variety to the place) is wondering when there’s going to be something done about this.
- IS this grand update going to satisfy my hunger for better, more refined content?

Sinifair.1026:

Well, thank you, Darkace and Vayne for blowing things out of proportion.
- I was asking whether ANet have plans to polish their game and expand upon some of the features that they were going to innovate (and how brilliant innovation is. The idea is fresh, but no matter that it doesn’t truly work as intended and need polishing and refining, because it’s innovation…).

I appreciate ANet uncovering new ground and new ways of doing content, but they’re going to be releasing GW2 in other countries as well soon, and I would’ve thought it would’ve been a good idea to refine the content that they were so proud of innovating.

- The dungeons are being exploited, maps are left empty, bosses are damage sponges and people aren’t really using their combo fields or teamwork (I’ll agree, the bosses that have come recently are way better designed, but there’s a whole world out there that isn’t moving, isn’t breathing or living) but ANet have updates every two weeks, so we can’t argue with them, can we?

- A guy like me, who haven’t really cared for the Living Story content much since Scarlet appeared, who have spent a lot of time out in the world, who have saved villages from centaurs only for them to be attacked within minutes again (because no other DE’s are available to add variety to the place) is wondering when there’s going to be something done about this.
- IS this grand update going to satisfy my hunger for better, more refined content?

Short answer: No. The big update will NOT satisfy your hunger for better, more refined content.

It’s not a content upgrade, it’s a feature upgrade.

Vayne.8563:

Sinifair.1026:

Well, thank you, Darkace and Vayne for blowing things out of proportion.
- I was asking whether ANet have plans to polish their game and expand upon some of the features that they were going to innovate (and how brilliant innovation is. The idea is fresh, but no matter that it doesn’t truly work as intended and need polishing and refining, because it’s innovation…).

I appreciate ANet uncovering new ground and new ways of doing content, but they’re going to be releasing GW2 in other countries as well soon, and I would’ve thought it would’ve been a good idea to refine the content that they were so proud of innovating.

- The dungeons are being exploited, maps are left empty, bosses are damage sponges and people aren’t really using their combo fields or teamwork (I’ll agree, the bosses that have come recently are way better designed, but there’s a whole world out there that isn’t moving, isn’t breathing or living) but ANet have updates every two weeks, so we can’t argue with them, can we?

- A guy like me, who haven’t really cared for the Living Story content much since Scarlet appeared, who have spent a lot of time out in the world, who have saved villages from centaurs only for them to be attacked within minutes again (because no other DE’s are available to add variety to the place) is wondering when there’s going to be something done about this.
- IS this grand update going to satisfy my hunger for better, more refined content?

Short answer: No. The big update will NOT satisfy your hunger for better, more refined content.

It’s not a content upgrade, it’s a feature upgrade.

err…what the skritt does that mean?

I’m trying to imagine an entire team of marketing professionals working to set up ‘the big reveal’ for 6 months or more, choosing the exact moment to strike for maximum effectiveness in the face of competitors revving up their own hype-engines for their MMOs’ big pitch/media blitzes… and saying “Everything is in readiness. Now all we need is for one poster on our own forum to ask us to spill the beans…”

Nike.2631:

I’m trying to imagine an entire team of marketing professionals working to set up ‘the big reveal’ for 6 months or more, choosing the exact moment to strike for maximum effectiveness in the face of competitors revving up their own hype-engines for their MMOs’ big pitch/media blitzes… and saying “Everything is in readiness. Now all we need is for one poster on our own forum to ask us to spill the beans…”

To which Anet will promptly reply… when it’s ready. Isn’t that the standard response to the impatient MMO masses?

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

Short answer: No. The big update will NOT satisfy your hunger for better, more refined content.

It’s not a content upgrade, it’s a feature upgrade.

err…what the skritt does that mean?

New skills, balance adjustments, UI improvements, possibly new items and systems like an update to Legendaries and a new method to acquire precursors. Things like that.

Changes to the story and how it’s delivered are content updates, and they have announced that they will be separating features updates from content updates so players can focus on one or the other.

Bugfixes, closing exploits, and minor fixes to existing systems will likely happen in each update, since things like that can’t wait another month until the “correct” update is scheduled. But major changes to the game will be separate from the LS updates.

tolunart.2095:

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

Short answer: No. The big update will NOT satisfy your hunger for better, more refined content.

It’s not a content upgrade, it’s a feature upgrade.

err…what the skritt does that mean?

New skills, balance adjustments, UI improvements, possibly new items and systems like an update to Legendaries and a new method to acquire precursors. Things like that.

Don’t hold your breath on that. The more tight-lipped ANet is and the less said/communicated on the subjects, the more doubt is created in players minds.

I think most people here have to learn what ANet say and what ANet do are two completely different things.

Cantha reveal/teaser trailer would be much better than the last 12 months of living story.

Nick.6972:

Cantha reveal/teaser trailer would be much better than the last 12 months of living story.

And then you get to play it and it’s much worse than the last 12 months of living story. Not only will they hype it, but they will also probably remove features at the last minute because they suddenly didn’t feel like it was ready and are going to release it at a later time.

Kind of like :
-guild halls
-bar brawl and archery (that were totally ready and would totally be there because “we don’t talk about things unless they are done”)
-personal instance being more customizable
-and let’s not forget account bound wxp and bugs that are as old as the game.

tolunart.2095:

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

Short answer: No. The big update will NOT satisfy your hunger for better, more refined content.

It’s not a content upgrade, it’s a feature upgrade.

err…what the skritt does that mean?

New skills, balance adjustments, UI improvements, possibly new items and systems like an update to Legendaries and a new method to acquire precursors. Things like that.

Changes to the story and how it’s delivered are content updates, and they have announced that they will be separating features updates from content updates so players can focus on one or the other.

Bugfixes, closing exploits, and minor fixes to existing systems will likely happen in each update, since things like that can’t wait another month until the “correct” update is scheduled. But major changes to the game will be separate from the LS updates.

If that is what is in the “Big, huge, super, amazing, can’t believe it, astounding” (paraphrased) patch coming after Season 1 of the LS, they may want to rethink how they are describing it.

killcannon.2576:

If that is what is in the “Big, huge, super, amazing, can’t believe it, astounding” (paraphrased) patch coming after Season 1 of the LS, they may want to rethink how they are describing it.

I’m pretty sure most of the guys in Marketing don’t actually play the game…

I figured the big update was coming March 18th.

I would really like to see some more focus on long term content. Like that latest patch, a new WvW world.

I get a “meh” feeling when you give and take away all the time. It feels like there is a bit to much focus on story driven players and not so much for the “I just want more stuff” people. Why not try to add some 10 man “real” endgame dungeons for starters. You’ve already proven that you can make content like that whit out problems. It’s the thing people are asking for.

Not much as happened really sense the launch of the game. Longterm-ish that is. I guess what your trying to achieve is the new gem items/new mini-game patches to keep the game alive. But longterm endgame always win in the end. It’s been proven more than a 1000 times.

If I were in your shoes I probably listen to that before It’s to late.