Guild Wars 2

BrotherBelial.3094:

The facts of the matter are simple. They are not currently working on legendary weapons. They want to start getting the content that everyone can enjoy out the door. Legendary weapons are not gone for good, they just no longer have a set window of when we will have them, but we will have them at some.point.

Oh I totally agree with this. They will use the remaining 12 as a sales pitch for the next expansion, then hold back 9 of them for future advertising. Hopefully they’ll release the last 3 with the first expansion of GW3. Of course, by then I’ll have retired and so will have plenty of time to finish them off. /endsarcasm

If you want my personal feelings on the matter, I don’t care much for legendary weapons. They’re cool looking, sure, but they aren’t going to hook me on the game. So the decision to axe the legendary workers for more updates makes sense…

Until you realize that the vast majority of their workforce is dedicated to the next expansion. So the axing of legendary development is the most logical out of the illogical decisions you could make.

Pandaman.4758:

On a lighter note Colin probably owes Mike a drink or ten for bailing right before this announcement.

I’m not sure he bailed.

Bad news. Not gonna buy more gems.

This thread displeases me. The only way I can be satisfied is if those 6 devs are moved into the development of Cantha.

Ashandar.2570:

BrotherBelial.3094:

The facts of the matter are simple. They are not currently working on legendary weapons. They want to start getting the content that everyone can enjoy out the door. Legendary weapons are not gone for good, they just no longer have a set window of when we will have them, but we will have them at some.point.

Oh I totally agree with this. They will use the remaining 12 as a sales pitch for the next expansion, then hold back 9 of them for future advertising. Hopefully they’ll release the last 3 with the first expansion of GW3. Of course, by then I’ll have retired and so will have plenty of time to finish them off. /endsarcasm

Maybe your right. Time will tell.

At least Anet been upfront with us on this issue, I prefer that than keep stringing us along on promises they clearly cant keep up with. they will still arrive at some point so people will get moneys worth in future. but they need to keep their core casual player base around with casual, fun content. I would say they made a mistake trying to pander to a small potion of player base with raids and guild hall stuff. the expansion should of just gave us more of what we already had and loved and improved on them.

New fractals
New PVP maps and game modes
NEW WvW overall (that is coming at least, well came then failed and needs reworking again)
I agree with the dungeons being cut they were pretty poor design wise.
HOT story was short but delivered well on quality but really need living story to be no more than 3 months after its release to make up for the length.

they made a massive mistake promising content to come after hot release clear sales and other income stream are not grand enough to pay the extra staff to full fill the promises.

let ANET learn from this first expansions mistake and try get back on track. the community should support them and be understanding and have faith that they doing what’s best to keep the franchise alive. (or they all outta a job)

Nightmare.1234:

At least Anet been upfront with us on this issue, I prefer that than keep stringing us along on promises they clearly cant keep up with. they will still arrive at some point so people will get moneys worth in future. but they need to keep their core casual player base around with casual, fun content. I would say they made a mistake trying to pander to a small potion of player base with raids and guild hall stuff. the expansion should of just gave us more of what we already had and loved and improved on them.

New fractals
New PVP maps and game modes
NEW WvW overall (that is coming at least, well came then failed and needs reworking again)
I agree with the dungeons being cut they were pretty poor design wise.
HOT story was short but delivered well on quality but really need living story to be no more than 3 months after its release to make up for the length.

they made a massive mistake promising content to come after hot release clear sales and other income stream are not grand enough to pay the extra staff to full fill the promises.

let ANET learn from this first expansions mistake and try get back on track. the community should support them and be understanding and have faith that they doing what’s best to keep the franchise alive. (or they all outta a job)

In my personal opinion, they have had more than enough time for trial and error already. If they still have no clue what they are doing or where they plan to go with it, in whatever case, the time for second chances is over. If you are “excited” about every little thing, hype the living kitten out of it at every ocassion you get, yet fail to deliver what you promised oh so many times, you cant expect your customers to roll their eyes and give you another chance each and every time you disappoint them. Its about time they deal with the consequences.

Also, on a sidenote, being so excited all the time doesnt sound too healthy. perhaps its time for a few checkups.

Mike O Brien.4613:

As game director I have to make tough trade-offs. One thing I believe is that we have to focus on the core game first before taking on additional responsibilities. I wrote in the Guild Wars 2 Design Manifesto in 2010 that our vision was to create a living, dynamic world, where there’s always something to do. Let’s ensure we succeed on that front.

So, after shipping Chuka and Champawat, I’ve asked that we indefinitely suspend work on new legendary weapons. This team of developers will instead shift their efforts back to Living World style content, building new journeys and events for everyone to participate in.

Personally, I’m glad to read this. Ever since HoT, I’ve been feeling that the game is moving away from what I originally picked it for. Returning to those core principles is me hoping that this will change for the better. If legendary weapons have to be sacrificed over this, so be it. While you’re at it, why not consider to indefinitely suspend raid work and reassign those people to the Living World style of content as well? Same as with the legendary weapons really, niche content for a handful few.

Good luck as game director

Satenia.9025:

Mike O Brien.4613:

As game director I have to make tough trade-offs. One thing I believe is that we have to focus on the core game first before taking on additional responsibilities. I wrote in the Guild Wars 2 Design Manifesto in 2010 that our vision was to create a living, dynamic world, where there’s always something to do. Let’s ensure we succeed on that front.

So, after shipping Chuka and Champawat, I’ve asked that we indefinitely suspend work on new legendary weapons. This team of developers will instead shift their efforts back to Living World style content, building new journeys and events for everyone to participate in.

Personally, I’m glad to read this. Ever since HoT, I’ve been feeling that the game is moving away from what I originally picked it for. Returning to those core principles is me hoping that this will change for the better. If legendary weapons have to be sacrificed over this, so be it. While you’re at it, why not consider to indefinitely suspend raid work and reassign those people to the Living World style of content as well? Same as with the legendary weapons really, niche content for a handful few.

Good luck as game director

Yes, and while we are at it, might aswell also sacrifice the legendary armor, the legendary fractal backpack, new fractals and whatever else that was paid for and still isnt available, nor will be available in the near future.

Players love to be slapped in the face in return for giving them their money, of course.

Mike O Brien.4613:

Be angry about legendary weapons, sure, but how about the recent drought of content? That kind of thing happens when we spread ourselves too thin, and when we let the content development pipeline empty out so we can fight fires.

It seems to me that this actually happens when you switch paths too often and redevelop already existing content.

Imagine if:

Rather than redesign LA three times, you’d made a new city?

Rather than redesigning traits twice, you’d left them alone.

Rather that redoing the NPE, you’d focussed on new endgame content.

Rather than nerf dungeons, you simply had left them alone.

Rather than make replacements to WvW maps, you’d made additions to them.

Rather than redesigning fractals, you’d made the small and regular map additions that they were designed for.

Rather than turn SAB off after a month, you’d left it in the game permanently.

Rather than making LS1 temporary, you’d designed permanent content for it.

So much development time has gone into reinventing the wheel, making temporary additions, or to starting and then abandoning projects. While I’m glad that the ship is changing course, how much development time has been wasted on legendaries so far? It seems that hours and hours of work go into ideas that don’t actually add to the game, but just move it sideways or nowhere at all.

CrashTestAuto.9108:

Rather than redesign LA three times, you’d made a new city?

This… actually feels like a pretty big one.

Siobhan.5273:

Pandaman.4758:

On a lighter note Colin probably owes Mike a drink or ten for bailing right before this announcement.

I’m not sure he bailed.

I have to agree with you on this….

I think all this thread is based on cancelling something/false promises rage but needs some broader view.

I don’t know if you have read the economic results of HoT and what NCSoft have said about them. I suppose ANet did the update schedule basing it on forecasts that were far away from actual results. In other words: HoT has been a huge economic failure and NCSoft (the owner) is not happy. So, all that promises probably implied hiring more people and living more time with the earnings from HoT sales. But there wasn’t enough HoT sales to do that. And now it’s time to partially “cancel” HoT in order to “survive” long enough to make other xpac that could save ANet.

Of course, as players, what we want is what they promised us. But this is bussines. And sometimes, bussines needs to make annoying decisions in order to exist. We’d be talking about being happy with legendaries today and no game tomorrow or being angry today and have GW2 to play tomorrow, maybe.

Hello,

I am personaly not too disapointed about the decision to delay the new legendary weapons. I mean sure, yes, they were promised with HoT, but if they are just delayed (not cancelled) for more content and sooner, why not?

What I don’t understand is this:
If a little team of people can make something as cool as raid wings in a couple months, why not having another little team for more regular content/game modes while waiting for living story?
I mean, why not thinking of new game modes with high replayability instead of relying ONLY on Fractals and Living Story? Living Story, while great, is basically a succession of quests that will always be limited in its replayability, fractals started with a great idea, but take -way too long- to update and offer new content.

- How about some randomized content?
Example: Put 2+ random boss from the game in an empty room, a team of 5 players, a timer, and fight. This could lead to very fun situations, would have replayability (aka, never the same mechanics to deal with 2 different boss) and shouldnt be too hard to develop. (Thinking Lupicus with like, Mossman fighting together haha, could be mean and fun)
- How about more “endless wave of enemies” kind of modes? one team of 5 players (or 10), one zone to defend, and see how long you can last.
- Why not bringing back the HM of Guild Wars 1 with dungeons? Players want their loot back? Give it back with HM!
I don’t think any of that would take years to dev, this is basically reusing what you already have to make new modes, new ways of fighting, new challenges. Use it!

I am sure many of us have good ideas (not saying mine necessarily are, but Im not everyone). So… in short, why not asking directly the community? While not using the community as part of the creation process?

You should use the community to your advantage.

I have no interest in living story. I am considering the new legendaries, so it’s a shame that these have been cancelled.

Just please fix WvW;

- Old Maps
- Stability Changes Reverted
- Rewards

I would guess that I’m not the only one that has no interest in the living story, so the assertion that this is something everyone can enjoy is incorrect. Look at the WvW / PvP player base.

So to be clear, are they cancelled or delayed? I keep seeing people use the word cancelled despite the fact ‘indefinitely’ was used in the op???

Either way im not happy, legendaries were the main thing i was looking forward to within this expansion (you know waited 3+ years for more of them already!!!). And really i dont think its fair to cancel/delay this part of the game to improve a pve only aspect of the game.

Im guessing the skins themselves are designed, if its the story/collection thats going to hold them back just release them in the original legendary format. I just want something to work towards i dont care if its part of some silly collection like the current new ones or if its more gold based like the originals.

Really hope we see these skins ingame one way or the other before the next expansion since we all paid for it.

I for one am happy because this means more living story. I play GW2 for the story and lore. I don’t mind not having more legendaries for awhile. I can’t believe so many people are saying the bought HOT for more of them. It’s a small part of the game. Don’t let the negativity drag you guys down and do what you must.

Derdhal.6908:

I think all this thread is based on cancelling something/false promises rage but needs some broader view.

I don’t know if you have read the economic results of HoT and what NCSoft have said about them. I suppose ANet did the update schedule basing it on forecasts that were far away from actual results. In other words: HoT has been a huge economic failure and NCSoft (the owner) is not happy. So, all that promises probably implied hiring more people and living more time with the earnings from HoT sales. But there wasn’t enough HoT sales to do that. And now it’s time to partially “cancel” HoT in order to “survive” long enough to make other xpac that could save ANet.

Of course, as players, what we want is what they promised us. But this is bussines. And sometimes, bussines needs to make annoying decisions in order to exist. We’d be talking about being happy with legendaries today and no game tomorrow or being angry today and have GW2 to play tomorrow, maybe.

That’s not entirely what happened. Anet was tasked by NCsoft to create tools that could be used in multiple MMOs, not just guild wars. In other words, the “tools” Colin was discussing are meant for things other than GW2. It’s not to say that GW2 isn’t going to use those tools, but to take funding from the game and use it for other projects while taking away content from the game is disingenuous at the least.

News from last minute. GW2 story is kitten and full of holes. I would place it on par with f2p korean grinders when it comes to lore really.

Burtnik.5218:

News from last minute. GW2 story is kitten and full of holes. I would place it on par with f2p korean grinders when it comes to lore really.

It averages out somewhere between Dungeon Fighter Online and Blade and Soul.

GW2 has had the weirdest development cycle of any mmorpg I’ve seen, and there was so much potential wasted.

- 1st year: anet mostly dedicated themselves at setting up new festivals.
- 1st-2nd year: anet came up with the living world concept, but made the mistake of making it temporary for the sake of an ideal that didn’t work in practice (the idea that temporary content would make the world feel more alive).
- 2nd-3rd year: they finally hit a sweet spot when it comes to adding new, permanent content with ls2 and HoT, but it does not feel enough after so many years.
- Since launch: anet spent more time reworking the existing game than adding new content. This wouldn’t have been a problem if most revamps were well executed, but the first trait rework was a disaster, the daily reworks have brought as many new problems as they fixed old ones, the newcomer’s experience was shallow and unengaging, etc.

TL;DR: Anet spends too much time working on new features instead of new content, and they aren’t even very successful at that.

I enjoy tweaks to existing features, but I would like to see a 50:50 or 40:60 ratio (in favor of) new content, instead of the 70:30-ish we have right now, and I would wish that future system/map revamps actually succeeded often, which they rarely do.

SacuraShadow.6021:

I for one am happy because this means more living story. I play GW2 for the story and lore. I don’t mind not having more legendaries for awhile. I can’t believe so many people are saying the bought HOT for more of them. It’s a small part of the game. Don’t let the negativity drag you guys down and do what you must.

I’m confused. How does it mean that they will ship more living story? Nothing in MOs posts says that this will result in more content as far as I can see (and I doublechecked in the dev tracker)
when asked if LS might come earlier because of this decision he answered with the word “maybe”.

Now, this is my personal opinion and it might be wrong, but considering that they went back on their word regarding something that they had promised would come, a “maybe” regarding early release means nothing at all. I’m not convinced LS3 will ship at all this year, but they’re welcome to prove me wrong

SacuraShadow.6021:

I for one am happy because this means more living story. I play GW2 for the story and lore. I don’t mind not having more legendaries for awhile. I can’t believe so many people are saying the bought HOT for more of them. It’s a small part of the game. Don’t let the negativity drag you guys down and do what you must.

If they had removed adventures, we would have had 30 pages of people saying they bought HoT for adventures – just saying.

While I definitely do like the 4 new zones, raids and the first 2 episodes of the story, HOT is already low on the sheer amount of content. How can you cancel one of the selling points of HOT : Legendary weapons, which give players an end goal and cool journey to experience. We should get people from living world to finish the legendaries and make cool journeys that don’t require massive amounts of gold spend but massive amounts of searching for items and achievement hunting.

Sir Mad.1092:

SacuraShadow.6021:

I for one am happy because this means more living story. I play GW2 for the story and lore. I don’t mind not having more legendaries for awhile. I can’t believe so many people are saying the bought HOT for more of them. It’s a small part of the game. Don’t let the negativity drag you guys down and do what you must.

If they had removed adventures, we would have had 30 pages of people saying they bought HoT for adventures – just saying.

The way they put them into the game, it kinda feels like they sorta gave up half way into making them too. I mean, advertising them as “fun little things to do on the side”…
such fun to have to run a 20 minute event chain, before being able to try to get Gold Rank for another 20 minutes and failing to do so because its a clusterkitten of random chance and random spawn locations, which you have to memorize if you even want to stand a slim chance… and after that, you have to wait half an hour or more to be able to try again.
Gating “fun things to do on the side” behind meta event chains that require a bunch of people is the stellar opposite of “fun”.

Jesus Christ. It’s no wonder this game is failing. Nobody gives a kitten about the living world. I agree that we need new actual content, but I don’t understand how it’s so difficult to muster the resources to make a few new weapons.

The amount of content added to this game in 3 1/2 years is pathetic. Completely free non AAA titles see better pace of balance and content updates than this game. What the hell is the deal with that?

If they were smart (which they are not) they would have these 6 developers work on putting content back into the game that should never have been removed in the first place; SAB, Queen’s gauntlet, adding parts of season 1 to the story journal… Maybe even just put wvw back the way it was. This would create content to fill the drought and make players happy to see or revisit some of the past story arcs. Surely this would be faster than building original content and it would give the team working on LS3 a little more time to get their act together.

Jarwel.9180:

If they were smart (which they are not) they would have these 6 developers work on putting content back into the game that should never have been removed in the first place; SAB, Queen’s gauntlet, adding parts of season 1 to the story journal… Maybe even just put wvw back the way it was. This would create content to fill the drought and make players happy to see or revisit some of the past story arcs. Surely this would be faster than building original content and it would give the team working on LS3 a little more time to get their act together.

What? Bring content back that people repeatedly ask and basically beg for? something that would make them happy? what kind of mad man are you to suggest such a thing?

No, in all seriousness, I fully support that train of thought. Why they wouldnt invest resources into bringing back concepts that worked, and instead continue to waste them on experimental stuff, is beyond me.

That said, they have a talent for generating hype and riding that train. What they however dont have a talent for, is living up to it, and actually delivering what they hyped and promised.

If things keep going at the rate they are now, I dont even know why they would bother to work on a second expansion. Losing your customers trust by not giving (or not giving it in a realistic timeframe) what you took their money for pretty much seals the deal that they most certainly won’t be giving you any more of their money on yet another “you may or may not get what we promise you here” deal.

I am by far no economist, nor am I an expert in game design and the like.
However, I am a software developer myself, so i do know how projects run, or should be run, for that matter.
I honestly don’t get why there is still so much experimentation and waste of resources going on 3 1/2 years into the product lifecycle.

Planning and Experimenting with Concepts happens early in the lifecycle, not inbetween. If its unrealistic that you cant do something in a reasonable timeframe, don’t announce it as a feature of what you are selling.

Einlanzer.1627:

Jesus Christ. It’s no wonder this game is failing. Nobody gives a kitten about the living world. I agree that we need new actual content, but I don’t understand how it’s so difficult to muster the resources to make a few new weapons.

uh, what

living story is the primary mechanism for new content being added into the game

southsun, dry top, silverwastes, dungeons and stuff that got turned into fractals- outside of hot, it’s absolutely everything, some of which is the best content GW2’s had. the only problem is they decided to delete 2/3rds of it

and it’s not like we’ll never get new legendaries ever, that’d be an incredibly bizarre decision

With all those people talking about lawsuits because of “false advertising”, I suppose you never go to any fast food… if so, I assume you spend a lot of time in court. /s /kappa

Joking aside, YES it is terrible how their ambitions were too high and we ended up with missing some parts of the game. But it’s for the greater good, I’m pretty sure of that.

Legendaries were said to come after HoT… They never said each expansion would get a new set of legendaries, so even if we get some weapons after xpac2, it’s still “after HoT”.

I completely understand how people are annoyed with this idea, but GW2 is changing, they want to make the game better, and just like everything else it requires sacrifices. If seeing the game going back on the right tracks means delaying some stuff, I’m ok with it. Once everything is back in order, they’ll have plenty of time to work on missing things.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

With all those people talking about lawsuits because of “false advertising”, I suppose you never go to any fast food… if so, I assume you spend a lot of time in court. /s /kappa

Joking aside, YES it is terrible how their ambitions were too high and we ended up with missing some parts of the game. But it’s for the greater good, I’m pretty sure of that.

Legendaries were said to come after HoT… They never said each expansion would get a new set of legendaries, so even if we get some weapons after xpac2, it’s still “after HoT”.

I completely understand how people are annoyed with this idea, but GW2 is changing, they want to make the game better, and just like everything else it requires sacrifices. If seeing the game going back on the right tracks means delaying some stuff, I’m ok with it. Once everything is back in order, they’ll have plenty of time to work on missing things.

Do you realize that you need to buy HoT to get the HoT legendaries? If this were just a basic game feature that you didn’t need to spend money on, you may have had a point, but you don’t.

Anet would rather work on content that they can package and sell to you in the future(new expansion) They have 70 employees allocated to this project. No mention of any of the employees being taken off the expansion project.

Anet would rather not work on finishing the content they already sold customers(HoT). Legendary journey put on indefinite hiatus because they are “stretched too thin”. They already have your money from this project so I guess its not a priority.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

With all those people talking about lawsuits because of “false advertising”, I suppose you never go to any fast food… if so, I assume you spend a lot of time in court. /s /kappa

Joking aside, YES it is terrible how their ambitions were too high and we ended up with missing some parts of the game. But it’s for the greater good, I’m pretty sure of that.

Legendaries were said to come after HoT… They never said each expansion would get a new set of legendaries, so even if we get some weapons after xpac2, it’s still “after HoT”.

I completely understand how people are annoyed with this idea, but GW2 is changing, they want to make the game better, and just like everything else it requires sacrifices. If seeing the game going back on the right tracks means delaying some stuff, I’m ok with it. Once everything is back in order, they’ll have plenty of time to work on missing things.

I don’t get the fast food joke.

Anyway no… they most definitely said HoT would come with legendaries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxLkfXwxLTs#t=34m37s

And as has been pointed out a million times and repeatedly ignored by the people defending anet, if things need to be fixed they should be shifting resources away from the 70+ people they have working on the next expansion before they started cancelling features from this one. There is no defense against it, I don’t care what anybody has to say about it.

Ticky.5831:

Do you realize that you need to buy HoT to get the HoT legendaries? If this were just a basic game feature that you didn’t need to spend money on, you may have had a point, but you don’t.

Actually, basic game features came for free (you don’t required HoT for the new specializations etc.), while indeed the legendaries were behind a paywall.

What I meant is that kitten happens, especially in gaming industries. But come on, to talk about burgers again, if you see a Big Mac as it is advertised, and as it is when you buy it… It’s not as complete as it was advertised. But unlike burgers, legendaries are paused and will come back (for free!), while nothing will make your burger better (except buying ingredients yourself and cooking it differently).

I’m sure the decision was not taken hastily. “Guys, let’s cut legendaries just because and relocate the team.” Nope, I’m sure there’s a reason behind this.

However, when I (personally) paid for HoT, I didn’t pay for the game we got, but for the game we will get: updates, LS, raids, etc. Legendaries are supposed updates, but they are delayed. They could have said nothing about them being delayed/paused, and let us wait forever (SAB?). They preferred transparency, they knew it would backfire, but they took the risk because they know where their priorities are.

I agree with you all when you complain about HoT’s quality: the story had a huge potential, but it ended up rather quickly and too easily. Isn’t what people were mostly complaining about these past months? That must be why the team decided to focus on the upcoming LS: six people can create some maps, enemies, new mechanics… Something to flesh out the upcoming LS. They listened to people complaining about the poor story, and they’re trying to fix that.

Once LS is launched, I’m pretty sure they could recreate a new (and maybe bigger) team to work on the legendaries. It’s just a blessing in disguise.

Dinks.2478:

I don’t get the fast food joke.

People are talking about false advertising (which is pretty much what fast food does) and that they want to bring ANet to court to get compensation. However, I’m pretty sure members of our community aren’t filling lawsuits every weekend because their burger does not look like the one of the ad.

What I would like to know is where mo used the words this part of things is cancelled. no more legendaries oh wait nobody can because what he did say was suspend them (I’ve asked that we indefinitely suspend work on new legendary weapons) also he nowhere says he’s not pulling people from other projects, this whole thing is even starting to give those of us who aren’t very happy with how things are going a headache about poor reading comprehension

I don’t know which McDonalds you eat at, but I worked at McDonalds and we didn’t have a problem putting all the condiments on the Big Macs.

It’s a terrible analogy.

Cancelling legendaries weapons has demoralised me – I was relying on new legendaries to keep me occupied. As much as you’d like to hide it or perhaps sit in ignorance of the fact; Legendaries were and still to this day are a major part of end game content that kept many loyal fans in your playerbase for 2 years before you announced the expansion. I’m losing faith in Anet’s ability to keep promises and it’s not a good feeling.

Ticky.5831:

I don’t know which McDonalds you eat at, but I worked at McDonalds and we didn’t have a problem putting all the condiments on the Big Macs.

In Belgium, burgers are not as appetizing as they appear on the ads: meat isn’t that thick, salad isn’t that “fluffy”, the sauce is sometimes barely there…

“Thick steak” becomes “thin steak”, “legendaries in groups at regular interval” becomes “legendaries delayed and thus more sparsely released”.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Ticky.5831:

I don’t know which McDonalds you eat at, but I worked at McDonalds and we didn’t have a problem putting all the condiments on the Big Macs.

In Belgium, burgers are not as appetizing as they appear on the ads: meat isn’t that thick, salad isn’t that “fluffy”, the sauce is sometimes barely there…

“Thick steak” becomes “thin steak”, “legendaries in groups at regular interval” becomes “legendaries delayed and thus more sparsely released”.

Truly a terrible analogy. A more true analogy would be like ordering a big mac and getting a double cheeseburger, actually missing components. Then when asking for the stuff you’re missing McDonalds goes, oh… Well we’ll give you the middle piece of bread but in order to do that we have to move staff from the sauce section so no sauce.

@VergilDeZaniah.3295
Actually, basic game features came for free (you don’t required HoT for the new specializations etc.), while indeed the legendaries were behind a paywall.

The new Elite specializations do require a HoT purchase. You can’t get them without it.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Ticky.5831:

I don’t know which McDonalds you eat at, but I worked at McDonalds and we didn’t have a problem putting all the condiments on the Big Macs.

In Belgium, burgers are not as appetizing as they appear on the ads: meat isn’t that thick, salad isn’t that “fluffy”, the sauce is sometimes barely there…

“Thick steak” becomes “thin steak”, “legendaries in groups at regular interval” becomes “legendaries delayed and thus more sparsely released”.

It’s not an appropriate analogy. You don’t look at the food from the same perspective as the camera. That’s why it looks bigger on the adspace.

Also, individuals don’t have to file lawsuits. This is what class action suits are for.

Mike O Brien.4613:

Obviously I go into this knowing that some players will be very upset. That’s why it’s such a tough decision.

Ankdarkwolf, Darkmikau, Ballads, Spira, Caerbannog, Cysgod, you each posted a variant of an accusation I’ve seen many times over the past few months on the forums, something along the lines of, “AN shipped half an expansion with HoT.” I take issue with that. We shipped a new region full of content, a new mastery system, gliding, guild halls, a new profession, nine new elite specializations for existing professions, and more. Then we shipped precursor journeys for existing legendaries, and said, “We’ve been working hard on new legendary weapons, the first handful of which will be introduced in Heart of Thorns, with more to come in subsequent updates.” While I fully get that you’re disappointed today, this is not about us shipping half an expansion pack.

Mo

Most of the HoT content you mentioned seems to be directed towards raids. Will you be adding an “LFR” option so those of us that don’t belong to a huge glob will have a way to play the content we paid for? My guild of friends has already abandoned plans to join me in GW2 and the way everything is set up we have few options to attract players to a new guild.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Ticky.5831:

I don’t know which McDonalds you eat at, but I worked at McDonalds and we didn’t have a problem putting all the condiments on the Big Macs.

In Belgium, burgers are not as appetizing as they appear on the ads: meat isn’t that thick, salad isn’t that “fluffy”, the sauce is sometimes barely there…

“Thick steak” becomes “thin steak”, “legendaries in groups at regular interval” becomes “legendaries delayed and thus more sparsely released”.

Sounds like you are referencing quality of what was delivered, which is debated regarding HoT. It is a different matter if the burger is missing the meat patty entirely.

Dinks.2478:

Truly a terrible analogy. A more true analogy would be like ordering a big mac and getting a double cheeseburger, actually missing components. Then when asking for the stuff you’re missing McDonalds goes, oh… Well we’ll give you the middle piece of bread but in order to do that we have to move staff from the sauce section so no sauce.

If I get half the steak that is on the ad, I’m missing components. My burger isn’t nearly as finished as it’s supposed to be, but it’s bought and voilà. ANet, however, is standing in front of the crowd, trying their best to avoid another big flop. They’re sacrificing 12 skins in order to occupy more people (I assume more people play the story than start the lendaries journey).

Ticky.5831:

Also, individuals don’t have to file lawsuits. This is what class action suits are for.

My bad, not enough knowledge in these differences in English.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Dinks.2478:

Truly a terrible analogy. A more true analogy would be like ordering a big mac and getting a double cheeseburger, actually missing components. Then when asking for the stuff you’re missing McDonalds goes, oh… Well we’ll give you the middle piece of bread but in order to do that we have to move staff from the sauce section so no sauce.

If I get half the steak that is on the ad, I’m missing components. My burger isn’t nearly as finished as it’s supposed to be, but it’s bought and voilà. ANet, however, is standing in front of the crowd, trying their best to avoid another big flop. They’re sacrificing 12 skins in order to occupy more people (I assume more people play the story than start the lendaries journey).

6 people who managed to make 1 legendary in 6 months are not speeding up your story production. Its a complete fallacy to claim it is going to occupy more people. Its also contrary to the fact that I bought and paid for both parts and don’t accept that one needs to be cancelled for the other when there are 70 devs working on expac 2 instead of finishing this one. Which once again has been ignored.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Dinks.2478:

Truly a terrible analogy. A more true analogy would be like ordering a big mac and getting a double cheeseburger, actually missing components. Then when asking for the stuff you’re missing McDonalds goes, oh… Well we’ll give you the middle piece of bread but in order to do that we have to move staff from the sauce section so no sauce.

If I get half the steak that is on the ad, I’m missing components. My burger isn’t nearly as finished as it’s supposed to be, but it’s bought and voilà. ANet, however, is standing in front of the crowd, trying their best to avoid another big flop. They’re sacrificing 12 skins in order to occupy more people (I assume more people play the story than start the lendaries journey).

Ticky.5831:

Also, individuals don’t have to file lawsuits. This is what class action suits are for.

My bad, not enough knowledge in these differences in English.

Do they not teach you about perspective in Belgium?

They taught me that in grade school art class in Wisconsin.

Dissapointing? Try furious…I can’t believe you, don’t give me this PR speak garbage, you are ceasing development on a major part of the game, a part that mind you several people considered to be part of their purchase decision…now your just going to turn around and say “Oh yeah no more legendaries” Screw you guys…I can’t believe you would be this bloody stupid and unreasonable, and don’t give me that garbage about how you are “Focusing on LWS3” Living world is nice but legendaries are one of the main reasons people like me keep playing the game, I would suggest that you reverse this decision and think long and hard about being idiots in the future

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Ticky.5831:

Do you realize that you need to buy HoT to get the HoT legendaries? If this were just a basic game feature that you didn’t need to spend money on, you may have had a point, but you don’t.

Actually, basic game features came for free (you don’t required HoT for the new specializations etc.), while indeed the legendaries were behind a paywall.

What I meant is that kitten happens, especially in gaming industries. But come on, to talk about burgers again, if you see a Big Mac as it is advertised, and as it is when you buy it… It’s not as complete as it was advertised. But unlike burgers, legendaries are paused and will come back (for free!), while nothing will make your burger better (except buying ingredients yourself and cooking it differently).

I’m sure the decision was not taken hastily. “Guys, let’s cut legendaries just because and relocate the team.” Nope, I’m sure there’s a reason behind this.

However, when I (personally) paid for HoT, I didn’t pay for the game we got, but for the game we will get: updates, LS, raids, etc. Legendaries are supposed updates, but they are delayed. They could have said nothing about them being delayed/paused, and let us wait forever (SAB?). They preferred transparency, they knew it would backfire, but they took the risk because they know where their priorities are.

I agree with you all when you complain about HoT’s quality: the story had a huge potential, but it ended up rather quickly and too easily. Isn’t what people were mostly complaining about these past months? That must be why the team decided to focus on the upcoming LS: six people can create some maps, enemies, new mechanics… Something to flesh out the upcoming LS. They listened to people complaining about the poor story, and they’re trying to fix that.

Once LS is launched, I’m pretty sure they could recreate a new (and maybe bigger) team to work on the legendaries. It’s just a blessing in disguise.

Dinks.2478:

I don’t get the fast food joke.

People are talking about false advertising (which is pretty much what fast food does) and that they want to bring ANet to court to get compensation. However, I’m pretty sure members of our community aren’t filling lawsuits every weekend because their burger does not look like the one of the ad.

I would just like to point out that you absolutely DO need HoT for the “basic game features” of the new specs. and locking content behind a paywall means you’re selling that content with the expansion.

Dinks.2478:

6 people who managed to make 1 legendary in 6 months are not speeding up your story production. Its a complete fallacy to claim it is going to occupy more people. Its also contrary to the fact that I bought and paid for both parts and don’t accept that one needs to be cancelled for the other when there are 70 devs working on expac 2 instead of finishing this one. Which once again has been ignored.

It’s kinda hard to say without knowing their pipeline and what precisely the team was doing. It’s entirely possible that the legendary team has been pulled in so many directions that they simply can’t work on weapons.

Consider the following:
They pushed the three weapons at HoT launch, along with proceeding apace with the two legendary backpieces and the armor.
They’re confirmed to still be working on finishing Ad Infinitum.
They’re probably still working on legendary armor for raids.
There’s a WvW revamp coming up and I smell a rewards revamp. There could be legendaries in there that they’ve been working on.
And between trying to patch all of these elements, they’re trying to push out weapons. They’ve succeeded in making progress on at least two, with one being shipped in the next patch.

I have no idea whether this is the actual workload for the Legendary team, it’s possibly correct, it’s probably not. But without getting in amongst them, it’s hard to know.

Again, I’m just playing devil’s advocate. We know that the entire reason ANet’s pipeline is broken is because they had the entire team working on LS, and then put the entire team on the expac, and now MO’s picking up the pieces.