Guild Wars 2

I’m seeing less and less videos put up by the big GW2 youtubers and they’re receiving less and less views. I haven’t played in a few months, so i’m completely out of touch with the community but are a lot of players quitting?

I won’t say it’s dying, but I will say there’s a lot less to do because of the current lack of content. While many disparaged Living World, it definitely gave us something to do.

But that’s another topic.

if i quitted it means that many have also. cuz.. well.. i’m patient but everythin has its limits. i assume many pvpers/wvwers quitted. maybe PvE’ers are okey’ish tho. just competetive side of the game was/is terrible. pve will always be fine.

I would agree that the lack of new content is taking its toll on active players. We’ve got new achievements to do (Current Events) but the longevity of those are limited as most players finish them rather quickly.

We’ve got the third wing of the first raid coming soon and hopefully the new Living Story after that. I’m sure that when that happens, you’ll see a lot more players coming back to the game.

It’s having another one of those ‘no updates in a while’ intervals. There is the raid thing but that only counts for anything for some people.

People taking a break till new content comes out is not dying. You’ll see more videos when the new raid wing hits, for example, which should be very soon. WvW is busier than it was six months ago. PvP is relatively busy for the season.

But yeah, this is the traffic pattern we’ve seen since launch. Die hard players stay and play all the time, the rest of the players come back when there’s new content.

Also for a lot of stuff, videos really don’t tell the whole story. For example people did come back to get their bandit kills and do the new achievements, but who’s going to make a video of that?

Maybe, but I think it’s more likely that there just isn’t a whole lot going on right now. Being a free to play game (after an initial payment), it’s probably going to have its moments where people leave during the slow periods and come back when things pick back up again, since there’s no obligation (monthly fee being wasted on a game your’e not playing) to stick around.

It’s summer and other games released, there isn’t much content to keep everyone playing or wait for, especially in terms of pvp/competitive modes. WvW changes came too late, or just due to bad changes throughout the years, most of those guilds won’t come back.

HoT brought people back, but didn’t keep them for long.

They aren’t linking servers or considering to merge the bottom half of of na servers because of excess number of players.

Nor are they linking servers or considering any merges because of a lack of players, since the WvW population is larger than it was for some time. (You can find the Dev quotes addressing this issue in the WvW sub-forum).

There has been nothing really added from launch of expansion back in October but a few small events, just a new raid coming which appeals to maybe 5-10%? Of the entire player base. I truly hope they never do a thing like raids again and stay focused on the majority group of players.

just like last year, the game is on a hiatus again new content wise. I mean, basically nothing new added (other than these tiny events) for almost over half a year now. The spring update brought some people back because now its not a chore to do HoT stuff, but again, nothing new was added, its still the same content.

So people are just taking a hiatus while Anet works on LS3. I think the only holiday event coming up is the Queen’s gauntlet, which will most likely be a rehash of last years with a few new added awards most likely, but that’s it.

I’m figuring nothing new till september

It’s hard to play at the moment because of the drought of content, and how HoT actually intensified the grind. My 2016 wish list:

1. New elite specs
2. New fractal stages and living story
3. Easier accessibility of ascended gear (so I can play more than 3 professions in PvE) (I only do fractals and raids)
4. PvP style stat selection for WvW

Vayne.8563:

People taking a break till new content comes out is not dying. You’ll see more videos when the new raid wing hits, for example, which should be very soon. WvW is busier than it was six months ago. PvP is relatively busy for the season.

But yeah, this is the traffic pattern we’ve seen since launch. Die hard players stay and play all the time, the rest of the players come back when there’s new content.

Also for a lot of stuff, videos really don’t tell the whole story. For example people did come back to get their bandit kills and do the new achievements, but who’s going to make a video of that?

How’s WvW? Is it basically the same old Alpine Borderlands or did they change stuff up ( merge the desert borderlands mechanics or something )

For me, the daily grind gold routine involving dungeons was amazing. 1.5g every run. You could see the progression. Now, the rewards are a bit more abstract with the fractals. I know there’s still dailies and stuff I can do everyday to compensate, but idk, I feel like dungeons were a great driving force for me to log on everyday. Anyone else feel the same? What can I do instead?

echo.2053:

They aren’t linking servers or considering to merge the bottom half of of na servers because of excess number of players.

But this situation with WvW has been going on for years. Not months, years. Almost since launch. Server transfers were free and launch and everyone moved to the top tiers, even back then. So this isn’t some new problem where the population suddenly dropped. This is addressing an existing problem that has existed pretty much for the entire life of the game.

Dragonfeu.4356:

Vayne.8563:

People taking a break till new content comes out is not dying. You’ll see more videos when the new raid wing hits, for example, which should be very soon. WvW is busier than it was six months ago. PvP is relatively busy for the season.

But yeah, this is the traffic pattern we’ve seen since launch. Die hard players stay and play all the time, the rest of the players come back when there’s new content.

Also for a lot of stuff, videos really don’t tell the whole story. For example people did come back to get their bandit kills and do the new achievements, but who’s going to make a video of that?

How’s WvW? Is it basically the same old Alpine Borderlands or did they change stuff up ( merge the desert borderlands mechanics or something )

WvW is more populated now, due to a revamp of the reward structure, reward tracks and changes to the system more generally. It’s not as populated as it was in the early months of the game, but it’s far more populated than it was a year ago, or at least it seems that way to me.

And even less busy servers can play now since they’ve been linked to busier servers. It’s worth taking a look.

I came back to this game 3 weeks ago and have been playing intensively since then. I can safely say there are a lot less ppl playing since 5-8 months ago. Idk about other people, but myself and most of my friends just couldnt find any incentive to play. There arent many things to do left in the game. Wvw? good luck finding fun fights outside prime hours (weekend 6pm-9pm). Pvp is also dying quickly now ppl already got their backitem. Openworld pve? it’s like playing with robots. Map chat is so quiet and everyone seems to only care about loots. What’s left is the raid community, which makes up maybe less than 5% of the whole community.

The last 2 updates also didnt reward anything but AP. Before HoT, each update always reward players with something, even if the reward is just a lame accessories or backitem.

I came here and got attracted without watching streams or gameplay videos on Youtube (okay, fine, ONE video, but that was kinda old and not a series of a special Youtuber).

So no, the amount of Youtube uploaders/Streamers have nothing to do with the game’s population.

Once GW2 gets back to a regular content production, things will look different. Raids will help, but they only offer small spike as they appeal to a smaller group. I imagine the new direction WvW has started heading in has given a boost to that section as well and that is good, because that appears to be one of the largest areas of loyal players.

A lot will hinge in LS3 and the way pve will proceed after. Whatever opinions players had on LS1, it did generate content and interest via social media outlets. HoT was too short in terms of story and number of maps to sustain a wide interest for this long a drought and that really hasn’t helped.

Whilst Qtr 2 update was mostly features, it did show a willingness to throw down as much as possible in these big updates and that is a good foundation to set coming up to Qtr 3.

Also, in this day and age, attention spans are both shorter and more easily dragged away by something new, so a population drop is not really anything surprising or worrying at this stage,

Yeah, it’s dying. Just take a look at all the people on the forums that have left the game but stay on the forums to keep reminding us that they left and that it’s dying.

(Sarcasm of course, GW2 is still alive and well! )

From my experience, all MMOs have ebbs and flows when it comes to active players. Typically these ebbs and flows coincide with the cycle of new content, i.e. new content = more active players, while old content = fewer active players. As others have said, we’re currently in a lull when it comes to new content, which means there are going to be fewer active players as people who have gotten bored with the existing content are off to the next big thing. As soon as new content is introduced, players will return.

As a long term guild wars player (2005) people have always been crying the game(s) dying. WoW/Aion/SWTOR/BDO and many other games have all been pointed at as THEE game to end the guild wars franchise. And here we are. Why? Because it’s not a sub game. Come and go as you please, there will always be a community here.

There has been a lul in new content, and as always there are other new games out.
When new content comes, so do the players.
For wvw, its a matter of stale matchups that are locked with apparently no chance of changing until anet intervenes. When that is updated, wvw people who left will come back. Even those who swear they will never come back (you know who you are…).

They are working on the next expansion and we will not see any new contents for a year at least….

dying?

try dead.
…and it will stay that way until the next major content packet is released.

There simply is not enough to do in the game to keep players entertained.

Alex Shatter.7956:

It’s hard to play at the moment because of the drought of content, and how HoT actually intensified the grind. My 2016 wish list:

1. New elite specs
2. New fractal stages and living story
3. Easier accessibility of ascended gear (so I can play more than 3 professions in PvE) (I only do fractals and raids)
4. PvP style stat selection for WvW

Too be honest, I don’t think the game is YET dying and I agree with point 2-4 completely! Nevertheless, No 1 is unfortunately one of the reasons why quite a bit of people I know stopped playing.
Due to the overpowered “elite specs”, running any normal spec is a “no go” in any pvp related game including wvsw as well as raids. This is resulting in a big lack of diversity.

I think they should take some serious time to balance the skills and make each of them valuable again. This shouldn’t be done the way they do now (almost every patch they alter a few which takes ages), but as once through a massive balance overhaul patch.

In addition, as a casual player, I absolutely HATE the mastery and hero point farming. Luckily I like wvsw, so atleast I can unlock some professions. However this is basically still farming and again, the elite spec took away the last bit of diversity the game had (which even before the elite specs unfortunately was nothing compared to GW1 with all its skills and combos).

Don’t get me wrong, I always liked the game, but its just becoming annoying..

Dragonfeu.4356:

I’m seeing less and less videos put up by the big GW2 youtubers and they’re receiving less and less views. I haven’t played in a few months, so i’m completely out of touch with the community but are a lot of players quitting?

Every game that’s 4 years old has people quitting. There are very, very few people willing to play the same game (even with new mechanics and ‘some’ new content) for four years.

So don’t ask, “is GW2 dying?” — it’s not a very useful question. Instead, ask yourself: what matters to you about the state of the game?

• Are there plenty of fights in WvW? At the moment, mostly better for most people compared to the last year or two.
• Is there competition in PvP? ‘League’ play has added some. Mostly not enough to satisfy really hardcore players; seemingly enough to entice some new players.
• PvE? Are the maps populated? Absolutely, there are fuller maps all over Tyria. The main issue is (for some people only) finding them, for meta events — the are a variety of things (mostly mathematics, rather than mechanics) that can sometimes make it hard to find a ‘good’ map.

tl;dr the community and the game are very healthy by any reasonable measure.
(At the same time, there’s been a lot of attrition.)

No, it’s still healthy population- and revenue-wise. I mean, all games really start dying as soon as they launch, since they won’t be around forever.

The dev pacing is very concerning, though, particularly coming from profession and mechanic balance. That needs a lot of involvement and we’ve seen basically none since HoT, despite there being many conceptual imbalances and poor design elements in the game which have gone unaddressed for ages or were introduced or exacerbated in HoT’s content.

I’d be “worried” (I’m not really playing now because the imbalance in the competitive formats, the reason I play this game at all, is just so pathetically horrendous) if we see a truly big Western-market game start getting into late stages of development that takes a similar design approach to GW2 but with much more emphasis on competitive play. Right now there’s really no good competition.

Overwatch just came out, so a lot of the attention kitten are making vids of that to get upvotes. GW2 is alive, fine, and doing great!

No hate? So disappoint. :/

DeceiverX.8361:

I’d be “worried” (I’m not really playing now because the imbalance in the competitive formats, the reason I play this game at all, is just so pathetically horrendous) if we see a truly big Western-market game start getting into late stages of development that takes a similar design approach to GW2 but with much more emphasis on competitive play. Right now there’s really no good competition.

There be much truth here. Everything else suck sass. If ANet actually stopped trying to kill their own game for a change, they’d probably blow away most AAA’s.

Amaranth.1985:

From my experience, all MMOs have ebbs and flows when it comes to active players. Typically these ebbs and flows coincide with the cycle of new content, i.e. new content = more active players, while old content = fewer active players. As others have said, we’re currently in a lull when it comes to new content, which means there are going to be fewer active players as people who have gotten bored with the existing content are off to the next big thing. As soon as new content is introduced, players will return.

The thing is…once summer hits, this should be the prime time to be releasing content. Its not only Anet that does this, but other video game publisher’s as well. Most kids arent in school, so now they should be playing more. Yet…no new games come out, and mmos seem to just go on hiatus. Its like there’s some threat coming they want to get out of the way for…

What’s that over the horizon? Its getting closer….OH GOD STEAM SUMMER SALE! HIDE YOUR MONEY AND YOUR CREDIT CARDS BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!

People need to realize that this game doesn’t ‘die’ like a traditionally sub-based game. Business model allows and anticipates the game to ‘die’ in between development cycles and Gemstore specials. Dying for GW2 isn’t as much about number of players as it is about sales in the Gemstore.

The odds of this game dying in another 6 years are almost nil, because statistically big successful MMORG do not die. The obvious thing that will happen is that when the game starts to dip then Anet will starting developing GW3 and will announce this to keep the excitement up.

Vayne.8563:

People taking a break till new content comes out is not dying. You’ll see more videos when the new raid wing hits, for example, which should be very soon. WvW is busier than it was six months ago. PvP is relatively busy for the season.

If it were a subscription game, I’d be more inclined to agree that active population cycles doesn’t necessarily mean dying. In a F2P model that is here to milk cash from the gem store, players that aren’t online aren’t there to buy the 2345871 new glider skin. I suspect that in a F2P w/ microtransations model an inactive player base has a much larger impact to cashflow.

It’s also strange that you site raids as a success when it specifically only appeals and is accessible to a small portion of the veteran population. And bonus white knighting points, for choosing to compare the once again dwindling population of wvw (T3 only gets a slight queue on a single map on the most busy night) to when wvw was completely dead.

Vayne.8563:

Also for a lot of stuff, videos really don’t tell the whole story.

They certainly don’t tell the full story, but are more along the lines of ‘one more piece of antecodotal evidence’. If you watch their streams they are all mostly bored/sick of gw2 and looking for ways to keep their viewers/followers. Several of them may have a histrionic disorder, but they are still people and like many others they mirror the general feeling of either ‘bored’ or ‘nothing to do’ in GW2.

The damage done by HoT to the population has been pretty amazing, and the aftermath that has been dev’s working on undoing HoT work combined with what’s looking to be another year long content drought is really attritioning out even, as you put it the ‘hardcore players’.

Is the game dead? No. Are many players questioning why they even logged in or just finding other games/things to do instead? Absolutely.

echo.2053:

They aren’t linking servers or considering to merge the bottom half of of na servers because of excess number of players.

You need to go back and re-read the dev’s post on this topic. You are incorrect.

Dragonfeu.4356:

Is GW2 dying? Just a question, no hate

GW2 is dying! Just an answer, no love

Dragonfeu.4356:

How’s WvW? Is it basically the same old Alpine Borderlands or did they change stuff up ( merge the desert borderlands mechanics or something )

There have been some positive changes made to wvw, but its come too little and much too late unfortunately.

The Alpine maps have gotten the DBL update (nodes, tactivators, vendors, etc), but the ecological balance that made wvw what it was has been mostly destroyed. Blobbing in more common place than it ever has been and the partial stab revision (a positive change imo) combined copious amounts of resistance (Anet once again showing it either doesnt understand scaling or just doesnt care about wvw, take your pick) has created a perma-push type game play. So it’s pretty much numbers = win again. Most guild groups that were into gvg, openfield, or zergbusting are now either blobbing hard or have moved on from the game. The changes brought in with HoT has many of those that cared about ppt either now k-training or have moved on.

All in all there have been several positive changes recently but just too much damage has already been done. The other notable point is the dev’s now poling the wvw population before doing anthing may be well intentioned, but its also very alarming. Players aren’t dev’s and don’t have all the info or behavior metrics or understand dev time required, etc available and yet are being poled on decisions that largely require that info.

Maybe I’m just showing my age but the idea that the amount of youtube spam can be considered an accurate way to gauge the popularity of the game seems laughable to me.

It wouldn’t surprise me if player numbers are down at the moment, since there’s not a lot of new stuff going on, but as other people have said GW2 was designed around the idea that players would come and go from the game. Because it’s not subscription based they’re not as reliant on keeping large numbers of people logging in on a regular basis. As long as people come back when something new does happen (and I think we’re due for another big update sometime soon, in the next month or so maybe?) it’s not a problem.

Considering one consistent topic on the forums lately has been complaints about spikes in the gem price I assume either there’s enough active players to keep sales up or a small number of players are spending a hell of a lot more money than they usually do for some reason. Since most of the items released recently aren’t actually new, and they’re all things each person would only need to buy once it seems unlikely to me it’s a few people spending all that gold, but I could be wrong.

Serophous.9085:

Amaranth.1985:

From my experience, all MMOs have ebbs and flows when it comes to active players. Typically these ebbs and flows coincide with the cycle of new content, i.e. new content = more active players, while old content = fewer active players. As others have said, we’re currently in a lull when it comes to new content, which means there are going to be fewer active players as people who have gotten bored with the existing content are off to the next big thing. As soon as new content is introduced, players will return.

The thing is…once summer hits, this should be the prime time to be releasing content. Its not only Anet that does this, but other video game publisher’s as well. Most kids arent in school, so now they should be playing more. Yet…no new games come out, and mmos seem to just go on hiatus. Its like there’s some threat coming they want to get out of the way for…

What’s that over the horizon? Its getting closer….OH GOD STEAM SUMMER SALE! HIDE YOUR MONEY AND YOUR CREDIT CARDS BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!

My experience has been that video game sales and promotions generally die down over the summer because most people (both kids and adults) have many more options for how to spend their time. They’re more likely to be outside spending time on other hobbies than inside playing games.

When I worked in a video game shop the only systems doing big promotions around now where the Nintendo DS and the PSP, and that’s because they were counting on parents buying a new game (or even a new console) to give kids something to do while in the car/on the plane to their holiday. Other than that it was usually clearance sales to make room for new stock that would come in after the summer lull.

But I don’t know how that would apply to MMOs since they were a very small part of what we did, unless a new expansion was coming out for a big game.

Danikat.8537:

Maybe I’m just showing my age but the idea that the amount of youtube spam can be considered an accurate way to gauge the popularity of the game seems laughable to me.

It wouldn’t surprise me if player numbers are down at the moment, since there’s not a lot of new stuff going on, but as other people have said GW2 was designed around the idea that players would come and go from the game. Because it’s not subscription based they’re not as reliant on keeping large numbers of people logging in on a regular basis. As long as people come back when something new does happen (and I think we’re due for another big update sometime soon, in the next month or so maybe?) it’s not a problem.

Considering one consistent topic on the forums lately has been complaints about spikes in the gem price I assume either there’s enough active players to keep sales up or a small number of players are spending a hell of a lot more money than they usually do for some reason. Since most of the items released recently aren’t actually new, and they’re all things each person would only need to buy once it seems unlikely to me it’s a few people spending all that gold, but I could be wrong.

Serophous.9085:

Amaranth.1985:

From my experience, all MMOs have ebbs and flows when it comes to active players. Typically these ebbs and flows coincide with the cycle of new content, i.e. new content = more active players, while old content = fewer active players. As others have said, we’re currently in a lull when it comes to new content, which means there are going to be fewer active players as people who have gotten bored with the existing content are off to the next big thing. As soon as new content is introduced, players will return.

The thing is…once summer hits, this should be the prime time to be releasing content. Its not only Anet that does this, but other video game publisher’s as well. Most kids arent in school, so now they should be playing more. Yet…no new games come out, and mmos seem to just go on hiatus. Its like there’s some threat coming they want to get out of the way for…

What’s that over the horizon? Its getting closer….OH GOD STEAM SUMMER SALE! HIDE YOUR MONEY AND YOUR CREDIT CARDS BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!

My experience has been that video game sales and promotions generally die down over the summer because most people (both kids and adults) have many more options for how to spend their time. They’re more likely to be outside spending time on other hobbies than inside playing games.

When I worked in a video game shop the only systems doing big promotions around now where the Nintendo DS and the PSP, and that’s because they were counting on parents buying a new game (or even a new console) to give kids something to do while in the car/on the plane to their holiday. Other than that it was usually clearance sales to make room for new stock that would come in after the summer lull.

But I don’t know how that would apply to MMOs since they were a very small part of what we did, unless a new expansion was coming out for a big game.

It would actually be interesting to see the number of active logged on users in an MMO charted monthly over time, so that we could see if there is a standard dip around summertime. I’ve always assumed the same as you, that MMO game developers don’t target the summer months because people are more inclined to do outdoor activities. But it could also be that publishers are so stuck in the mantra of “release games around the holidays” that it forces a particular development schedule.

“Is GW2 dying? Just a question..”

A rather loaded question, don’tcha think? As opposed to something a little more objective like “How do you guys feel about GW2?”

It’s like the difference between “How is your mum?” and “Is your mum dying?”

We have had alot of people leave since the release of HoT add that to not much content being released people are just doing other things whilst they wait for LS 3.

They are releasing some bits of content but that is only the odd raid wing or pvp league seasons but as the game is more pve oriented (and raids targeting a very small percentage) there is not alot new to do so people are just waiting for LS 3.

HoT did alot of damage, brought in some new stuff, but doesn’t change the fact that it has hit them pretty hard, they are pulling their teams together to pick the pace up with LS 3 but the problem is that it won’t be meaty content that they need right now and when it is finished with they have a dilemma, do they rush the next expansion and give us whatever they can pull together or do they take their time and bring something with more in it than HoT did.

One problem I think is that they seem to want to fit everything into the Tyrian continent when, if you have played GW 1, they have the whole of Cantha and Elona yet seem to not want to do anything with these areas.

I wish they would have brought HoT out in chunks, actually make each map 3 individual maps not just layers on top of each other a brought out 3 every month.

So On release you would have had VB upper, mid and lower, 3 months later AB and same again etc. It would have meant we could have gotten more out of each area plus the core content of HoT would have lasted 12 months, Just and idea I had when playing through the maps xD

So once we see what LS 3 is like we will have a better sence of how the game is doing.

youtube videos != popularity, there’s plenty of people, maps are still full, world boss maps are still as lively as ever… hardcore players don’t put videos up most of the time, those are just personalities who do it for the ad revenue, has nothing to do with game state.

Xbon.9086:

youtube videos != popularity, there’s plenty of people, maps are still full, world boss maps are still as lively as ever…

All situations where the population is masked by megaservers, but tell us more plz.

Naix.8156:

Xbon.9086:

youtube videos != popularity, there’s plenty of people, maps are still full, world boss maps are still as lively as ever…

All situations where the population is masked by megaservers, but tell us more plz.

Okay, Anet made more than 8 million dollars a month for the quarter, according to the quarterly report. A fact not masked by the megaserver.

I don’t think youtube videos are a very good representation of the state of the game.
I am also puzzled at why anyone would watch videos of people who are unhappy and complaining about the game!

The game seems very much alive to me. I don’t really enjoy the HoT stuff but plenty of others do.

Lack of class balancing. HoT killed build variety, what little there was to begin with.

That in addition to Anet’s continued lack of communication. As far as I can tell there isn’t even anyone working on balance anymore.

People lose interest because they lose hope.

i definately see a lot more players in wvw and in dungeons,fractals have much more activity as well and raids are keeping the hardcore players interested especially with the 3rd wing coming.

Unfortunately pvp is still suffering with huge balance issues, cant notice the difference cause pvp population was always a bit low.

Overall game aint dying.

From my pov it started sying short after the end of LS1 when we got the wardrobe.
After that they stopped giving us new armorsets, which are imho very important
for this game, and they started with longer and longer breaks between new content.

But there was still a lot to farm to get all the old shines from the classic game and
i hoped they spared up all the new armorsets for HoT and then we would get at
least 20-30 new sets.

But all we got was grind to unlock even more grind. I finally left when i saw at
wintersday how they buried these new shoulders not even behind an abnormus
grind but also behind jumping puzzles.

In the game i changed to we got all kinds of nice stuff on wintersday for free, and
at the moment we have 1 month of events for 3th birthday and we get masses
of loot and stuff.

I must say, i don’t think i will ever return playing this game, as long as they don’t
change their mind that armorsets are just too much work, and continue with
outfits and gliders.

Oh when i logged in just for the daily reward last time i saw our guild is down
from 220 to 90 members since i stopped active playing.

Also, the devs in that other game even post in the forums all the time, they tell
us what they plan, or after bugs from new patches, they really post that they
look after it .. and such stuff .. amazing .. isn’kitten

There’s still a lot to do for most people.

The video makers need talking points and things look a bit dry for them right now? I remember WoodenPotatoes had his house move just recently so there’s that, plus he doesn’t play WvW much and WvW is something I’ve gotten back into a bit since the addition of the reward tracks. I don’t PvP so they were a really new addition for me, plus I love some of the WvW exclusive armour pieces in the WvW track. The server alliances have been interesting too.

Now is probably a good time for people to play some other games before season 3 hits. Some folks are talking about Overwatch, I know I’ve gone back to Path of Exile to play some of the expansions I’ve missed and I have a backlog of other games… but just speaking personally now, I’ll be back in GW2 at some point no doubt. I’m vaguely working through Nevermore II and getting The Golden Child done in Auric Basin… >.>

Beldin.5498:

From my pov it started sying short after the end of LS1 when we got the wardrobe.
After that they stopped giving us new armorsets, which are imho very important
for this game, and they started with longer and longer breaks between new content.

Yeah, I recall this being around the time things started to feel a little stale.

GW2 always had two strong selling points, imo: (1) Relatively easy access to premium items (both BiS gear and the gold→ gem exchange) and (2) Frequent content updates.

For sure the devs did a lot of things right, and created a wonderful little game – but by far I think what really gave this game lasting appeal was the ease with which you could get the goodies without grinding too hard or even spending a dime. And there was always some new content to play through or shiny to grind for.

Now, we go months at a time without seeing significant changes. There’s far fewer festivals and seasonal events. Transient and uninspired fluff in the gem store… and worst of all, inflation has reached the point where the amount of gold you’d need to exchange for a makeover kit and full armour set barely gets an outfit while gold income is more or less the same (I suspect most people, like me, play enough to earn around 400 – 500g a month).

Now, this isn’t an ‘entitled’ and lazy cheapskate’s complaint about the state of the game. Always knew that the free ride would come to an end someday, but it is an observation on how these changes could have driven some of the player base away.