Guild Wars 2

Massively’s MMO of the Year: Guild Wars 2

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/19/massivelys-best-of-2012-awards/

Congratulations ArenaNet!

UPDATE:
Best MMO Studio of the Year: Sony Online Entertainment and ArenaNet (tie)

Congratulations again ArenaNet!

Slow Clap

Don’t forget ArenaNet also tying for best studio.

Congratulations, ANet.

I have my own reasons to like and dislike this game. A beautiful environment and a solid variety of playing modes, combined with a combat system that makes positioning and reflexes relevant does make for a pleasant gaming experisnce.

I hope for GW2 to retain its accolades for years to come.

A lot of work needs to be done on code stability (culling, bugs). I’ve seen many people complain about game design. This is not a concern for me, I find the design to be reasonable. My most prominent gripe with ArenaNet is the lack of apparent competence at making things work as they intended. Events bug. Bosses bug. Instances bug. I clip through walls, I recently fell into the guts of Temple of the Silent Storm. Apparently there’s an ocean under it. That was interesting. Recipes glitch, (black lion) chests glitch. While you would expect issues to be present in any game, there are often repeated and ever more futile efforts (Cliffside) to fix a single broken piece of content, with the conclusion that it is “difficult to isolate”. This is a level incompetence I’ve seldom seen from other (major) companies.

The bottom line is, I still enjoy and actively play the game, so to me, the positives must significantly outweigh the negatives. From the updates we’ve been given, a lot of promising content is to be added to improve player experience even further (Guild Halls!)

It isn’t without turbulence, but very solid overall work on Year 1, Arenanet! These compliments are deserved.

Lmfao..

Guild Wars 2 won award for best mmo of the year.

It also placed 2nd for most disappointing game of the year?

I no understand.

And here I thought The Secret World was going to win. ; )

MKJoker.8372:

Lmfao..

Guild Wars 2 won award for best mmo of the year.

It also placed 2nd for most disappointing game of the year?

I no understand.

That sounds about right for MMO players.

MKJoker.8372:

Lmfao..

Guild Wars 2 won award for best mmo of the year.

It also placed 2nd for most disappointing game of the year?

I no understand.

Yeah that’s a little odd…. I guess it walked the razor’s edge and just happened to fall in the “winner” category?

Massively’s MMO of the Year: Guild Wars 2 (Runner-up: The Secret World)

Biggest Disappointment of 2012: City of Heroes’ sunset (Runner-up: Guild Wars 2)

Hmm, what do you make of this? This is on the same page at Massively. Do you have any idea how bad that makes them look? Discuss.

Bruno Sardine.2907:

MKJoker.8372:

Lmfao..

Guild Wars 2 won award for best mmo of the year.

It also placed 2nd for most disappointing game of the year?

I no understand.

Yeah that’s a little odd…. I guess it walked the razor’s edge and just happened to fall in the “winner” category?

If we’re talking about user voting, it sort of makes sense. The games that more people played will tend to get more votes in either of those categories. It’s mostly not the same people voting it for both of those categories, in other words.

Think about the Call of Duty games and how well those sell, and at the same time, how many people think that franchise is getting really dumb at this point (or that always thought it was dumb). It’s a matter of exposure. It’s a matter of how many people even know what the thing is.

edit: I guess it’s not based on user votes. It still seems to have come down to a split in opinion amongst their staff. Most publications don’t handle it that way, I guess.

Well, maybe Massively’s MMO of the year was a critics choice.
Biggest disappointment was probably player influenced.

Sort of how Oscars are sometimes given to artsy movies that did “meh” in box offices as opposed to the movies that consumers actually liked.

If im correct, then the latter actually justifies the former. The more popular the game, the more players it has. The more players it has the more noise people with an agenda will make because they would rather see the game burn than be something other than what they want. Im sure massively GW2 articles and forums are full of misguided comments raging about ascended gear and botched content releases that they got for free.

Secret World didn’t have that kind of noise, because it didn’t have that big of a player base, because it wasn’t that good of a game. Thus not a nominee or winner in either category.

AcidicVision.5498:

Well, maybe Massively’s MMO of the year was a critics choice.
Biggest disappointment was probably player influenced.

Sort of how Oscars are sometimes given to artsy movies that did “meh” in box offices as opposed to the movies that consumers actually liked.

If im correct, then the latter actually justifies the former. The more popular the game, the more players it has. The more players it has the more noise people with an agenda will make because they would rather see the game burn than be something other than what they want. Im sure massively GW2 articles and forums are full of misguided comments raging about ascended gear and botched content releases that they got for free.

Secret World didn’t have that kind of noise, because it didn’t have that big of a player base, because it wasn’t that good of a game. Thus not a nominee or winner in either category.

i agree, the playerbase of GW2 is so big, that it has a 2 distinctive community, a double edge sword,

the one who likes it as it is, and the one who wants more improvement,

the one who want more improvement tends to be negative in a sense that they want this game to be perfect, (of course perfect seems better, but in the end they will not be satisfied whatever the updates will come)

knowing that GW2 has a large playerbase (just to have that 2 opposing award to be won), we can safely assume that GW2 population is so large befitting two opposing titles.

In fairness to Oscars, it’s a series of voting from your peers…. and not just every member of the academy, but directors nominate directors, actors nominate actors, etc. The only exceptions to that rule is Best Picture in which all members can vote and best Foreign, Animated, and Documentary are determined by a special panel. It’s not so much an award determined by critics and viewers as it is professionals in the industry.

Video gaming has maybe 4-5 awards somewhat like the Oscars… and as far as I’m aware those awards have yet to be given out.

we can also compare this awards to election,

like presidential election,

they will choose first who will run the electoral race, then debates, then the final verdict will be of its people who are voting

How about this one?

Where Guild Wars 2 Goes Wrong:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/19/where-guild-wars-2-goes-wrong/

ZaiTh.6378:

Hmm, what do you make of this? This is on the same page at Massively. Do you have any idea how bad that makes them look? Discuss.

This question is answered in the article that was linked to in the OP.

May I recommend that in the future you actually read the article before you make a comment that makes it so clearly obvious that you didn’t? Discuss.

Peregrine Falcon.5496:

ZaiTh.6378:

Hmm, what do you make of this? This is on the same page at Massively. Do you have any idea how bad that makes them look? Discuss.

This question is answered in the article that was linked to in the OP.

May I recommend that in the future you actually read the article before you make a comment that makes it so clearly obvious that you didn’t? Discuss.

What he said. Discuss.

This was a poll for the Massively writers only..

“Today, Massively’s staff honors the best of the best for the year 2012. We asked each writer and streamer to vote in each category with an anything-goes nomination process. No MMO, company, or headline was off the table.” -Brianna Royce, Massively

Because..
“We tried readers choice awards before and they turned into a huge popularity contest where voters were told to go vote, but they weren’t actually readers of the site. So it was more like awards for which game could rally more troops.” -Shawn Schuster, Massively

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/19/massivelys-best-of-2012-awards/

And this is from their 2011 Awards, just to add a little perspective..

“Massively’s Best of 2011

Game of the Year: Star Wars: The Old Republic

OMG this game just launched! How can we possibly rate this the game of the year! We must be paid off! Adhgdjhgdudbjh! The fact is, this was a hard one. RIFT launched as a staff favorite in March, but it’s both the freshness of SWTOR’s launch and the fact that MMO fans have been going nuts over this game for years that combine to make this our Game of the Year. Plus, ya know, it’s kinda fun."

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/31/massivelys-best-of-2011-awards/

ZaiTh.6378:

Massively’s MMO of the Year: Guild Wars 2 (Runner-up: The Secret World)

Biggest Disappointment of 2012: City of Heroes’ sunset (Runner-up: Guild Wars 2)

Hmm, what do you make of this? This is on the same page at Massively. Do you have any idea how bad that makes them look? Discuss.

I believe it is because all MMOs on the market are a disappointment; there is no epic MMO. Personally I believe GW2 is the best MMO on the market, but I’m also very disappointed in some things concerning GW2. So it sounds right to me.

Akumashogun.5973:

How about this one?

Where Guild Wars 2 Goes Wrong:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/19/where-guild-wars-2-goes-wrong/

I stumbled across this when I looked at the winner of the year piece. I think in both articles GW2 gets the qualified praise it deserves. They’ve got many things right; it is a good game. On the other hand there are aspects that apparently weren’t thought through. I believe that many of the ‘problems’ listed will be easy to work through. I like the way he ended the article:

“So consider this a reality check. It’s not the apex of game design; it’s a game, one that aims high and hits a respectable number of marks but also one that has some issues it could really work on hammering out over the next year.

Or we could keep going with Ascended gear. That went over real nice."

Interestingly enough, I think the Ascended gear, or the introduction of vertical progression will be the only intractable problem. There is no way to make a gear grind with a focus on zero grind, which is their stated goal at the moment. This really will remain as the major issue when the other issues are “hammered out”.

Congrats to ArenaNet.

I heard the ring of truth on all sides.

Very true that ArenaNet masterfully promoted their game. Very true that their vision was good. Also true that we’re waiting still for crucial functionality, had some disillusionment and backward steps…

mulch.2586:

Also true that we’re waiting still for crucial functionality, had some disillusionment and backward steps…

The term ‘crucial functionality’ implies that without said functionality the software will not function, since said functionality is crucial. Now since we both know that Guild Wars 2 does actually function then your statement is simply false.

Perhaps you really meant ‘important features’? Like a group finder, more guild systems, etc.

So basically you’re disillusioned because the game isn’t perfect or doesn’t have 8 years worth of additions and expansions at launch?

Congratulations ArenaNet!

Congratulations ArenaNet! Very well deserved!