Guild Wars 2

Think Tank Predictions For 2015

http://i.massively.joystiq.com/2014/12/18/the-think-tank-mmo-industry-predictions-for-2015/

Apparently the media thinks your going to at least announce a major expansion; the challenge as been set!

Ugh. They also predict mounts, but not player housing. I’ll take the new weapons, though.

Not much of a challenge. Just some predictions.

And the only one I think that is coming is another weapon per profession coupled with new legendaries. Those are things ANet has always said they are most likely to add.

Ritualist and Dervish are definitely not making a comeback.

I predict Rytlock makes a comeback, but at the rate he’s moving maybe sometime in April or May, just in time for a Spring Break WvW Season.

I predict that none of these predictions will happen.

I don’t think we will ever get an expansion, but I am happy about that because I would not be able to help myself but grind through every bit of content ASAP which after I had done there would be nothing for maybe a year or more. With the living world I CAN’T grind through everything (I mean the story itself not each episode) and that actually makes me care more about what is going on. I hope they have another 2 or 3 living world seasons complete by end of 2015 but hopefully not an expansion (unless they do the same size LS updates every 2 weeks along with the expansion)

suffish.4150:

I don’t think we will ever get an expansion, but I am happy about that because I would not be able to help myself but grind through every bit of content ASAP which after I had done there would be nothing for maybe a year or more. With the living world I CAN’T grind through everything (I mean the story itself not each episode) and that actually makes me care more about what is going on. I hope they have another 2 or 3 living world seasons complete by end of 2015 but hopefully not an expansion (unless they do the same size LS updates every 2 weeks along with the expansion)

If Anet is gonna release an expansion, it means they have a seperate team working on it and therefore Living World and expansion are both gonna be released. On the other hand, I do believe that the Living World will take pause when the expansion releases.

Personally, I find it highly possible that an expansion will be announced this year. If not, then I really doubt that Anet will release any expansion if the game doesn’t start to die.

Now, where is the expansion gonna take us? the first scenario is as mentioned, to the rest of Tyria. Therefore, the Living World was simply setting for the expansion-release and the whole thing was planned from the start. Because honestly speaking, I don’t see us fighting an elder dragon in the Living World. Which also means that Anet is probably planning 5 expansions, 1 for each dragon.

The second thought is simply that the expansion is going to take us to a new contenent while the Living World is gonna take care of keeping Tyria alive to not leave a content deserted. It is going to be complicated with the lore though. I would see it possible to connect the dragons with other continents however, how are we going to explore a new continent and yet fight a dragon? if the fight is going to happen in Tyria, it means that they will work on a new contenent AND on opening more lands in Tyria and the whole fight with the elder dragon, which seems like… too much for an expansion perhaps?

If there’s an expansion next year, I’ll be shocked. No press? No annoucement? No trailer?

Not happening.

I predict NCsoft will cut anets budget and eventually scraps anet after destroying the companies flagship game. Take the patented mechanics and implement a new Moba.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

If there’s an expansion next year, I’ll be shocked. No press? No annoucement? No trailer?

Not happening.

There is a difference between announcing an expansion and releasing an expansion.
Also, if they announce it in the first quarter of 2015, they can still release it. I have never heared of an expansion release that took 1 year after the announcement.

I predict that holiday content for 2015 will be recycled from 2012-2014.

Only new item will be A Glorious Box, which contains Magnificent Bag, which once opened gives Gilded Purse, and inside of it players will get three Silvery Chests and three Ivory Chests. These can be opened. Inside will be 1-3 Pouches of the Festival, and 1-3 Sacks of the Festival. These containers hold an extremely rare Ascended Cache of Ascended Materials, and more common Fine Cache of Fine Materials. Once opened, players can choose which Coffer of Ascended Material to have, and which Coffer of Fine Materials to have. Once chosen, players can double-click the Bundles of Ascended/Fine Materials, and receive 1-5 pieces of chosen items. Fun, exciting and extremely rewarding!

Champions Online quietly moves into maintenance mode

Looks like that guy is still living in 2011.

Where is the challenge in what was written? Kind of a cross section of the forums without the whinge is what I saw.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

If there’s an expansion next year, I’ll be shocked. No press? No annoucement? No trailer?

Not happening.

What do you think the majority of the Anet team is working on right now then?

We will get an expansion. But the way it will be delivered is still not clear. Could be LW, X-pack, story packs in the gem store or a combination of two/three. They will talk about it as soon as the expansion or pieces of it are ready to ship.

Guhracie.3419:

Ugh. They also predict mounts, but not player housing. I’ll take the new weapons, though.

I don’t blame them for those predictions though. It really does seem to fit GW2’s development methods.

Honestly, if they want to be in the news and in the heads of the gamer communities, they simply need an expansion or the game will be lost in 1-2 years (well, with a ridiculous amount of players like all the fail MMOs out there).

My predictions?

Wildstar will dwindle and be F2P by April.
ESO will carry on also, but no major developments come and it is on life support by year end.
WoW will do a major engine upgrade, many people complain it now runs badly but re-sub anyway.
GW2 will at least announce an expansion, but unlikely to launch before August.
TSW will run out of expansion ideas, and have a ‘history’ phase of some sort where players enter another time zone.

GuzziHero.5104:

My predictions?

Wildstar will dwindle and be F2P by April.
ESO will carry on also, but no major developments come and it is on life support by year end.
WoW will do a major engine upgrade, many people complain it now runs badly but re-sub anyway.
GW2 will at least announce an expansion, but unlikely to launch before August.
TSW will run out of expansion ideas, and have a ‘history’ phase of some sort where players enter another time zone.

Yea, I agree with these more.
I disagree with the predictions that ESO will go F2P, won’t happen anytime soon if ever.
Wildstar on the other hand needs a miracle to survive as a pay to play title.
Well, hopefully better content for TSW, I sadly don’t really enjoy the gameplay but I usually return for the expansions and the superior story they bring.

The prediction of an expansion is based on an investor dodad where someone from NCSoft’s corporate division said that they feel an expansion on GW2 may be soon to come, but given the level of Engrish and mistranslation involved, they may simply mean expanding the game as a whole, the advertising, the staffing, etc

I’d love for an expansion, because it’s not healthy for a game like GW2 to go so long without a major update (note, major meaning core content expansion. classes, weapons, races, mechanics, etc)

I’m of the inclination that they will not, and should not release an expansion. Anything they could introduce with an expansion, they can do with the Living Story, and changing their entire model for releases this late in the game would not only look bad, it would require a huge overhaul of their company processes, significantly detracting from time that could be spent developing new content.

Andred.1087:

I’m of the inclination that they will not, and should not release an expansion. Anything they could introduce with an expansion, they can do with the Living Story, and changing their entire model for releases this late in the game would not only look bad, it would require a huge overhaul of their company processes, significantly detracting from time that could be spent developing new content.

Unfortunately, at this point of the game, Gw2 needs a major overhaul of it’s game format if it wants to keep up &keep it’s player base & get new ones interested. There’s just no buts & why about it. There loosing numbers every month. & in the end, nobody cares about mounts & new weapons skins or even new content if ur character cant get more power. Gw2 lacklusters in the game excitement department… shame!

Vieux P.1238:

Andred.1087:

I’m of the inclination that they will not, and should not release an expansion. Anything they could introduce with an expansion, they can do with the Living Story, and changing their entire model for releases this late in the game would not only look bad, it would require a huge overhaul of their company processes, significantly detracting from time that could be spent developing new content.

Unfortunately, at this point of the game, Gw2 needs a major overhaul of it’s game format if it wants to keep up &keep it’s player base & get new ones interested. There’s just no buts & why about it. There loosing numbers every month. & in the end, nobody cares about mounts & new weapons skins or even new content if ur character cant get more power. Gw2 lacklusters in the game excitement department… shame!

I bolded the part I may or may not take umbridge with. By that, what exactly do you mean? Do you mean something like gear progression or are you talking about something like new skills?

Vieux P.1238:

Unfortunately, at this point of the game, Gw2 needs a major overhaul of it’s game format if it wants to keep up &keep it’s player base & get new ones interested. There’s just no buts & why about it. There loosing numbers every month. & in the end, nobody cares about mounts & new weapons skins or even new content if ur character cant get more power. Gw2 lacklusters in the game excitement department… shame!

I disagree. Where are these numbers? People can talk all they want, but if you want to make the claim that an expansion is needed or the game is dead, you better bring some facts. From where I’m standing, everything is going fine, and Anet doesn’t need to reconsider any of their goals. Unfortunately for this discussion, we can’t see their earnings, but taking a look at how the developers and staff that visit the forums are talking, they certainly don’t seem concerned at all.

There’s a viral mindset here on the forums that everything is done for if the vocal minority doesn’t get what they want. I think that sentence itself is sufficient to explain why that mindset is wrong.

I predict that WvW will get no real love in 2015, but PvP and PvE will.

Not much of a prediction I know, but I always was one to pick the low hanging fruit from the tree.

Consider that GW2 gave out numbers after the 1st anniversary – for example the max amount of concurrent players online (around 400k+). They didn’t do that after the 2nd anniversary which implies that they are lower. If they were even or better they surely had us told that. It’s that simple. NCSoft never gives out such numbers, be cause they fear people’s reaction to bad news.

At least Blizzard told their community that they lost some 3 million players (from 10 mio to 7 mio – oh those numbers, it’s a bit embarassing that a 10 year old sub based game has 20 times the amount of players than GW2).

Andred.1087:

Vieux P.1238:

Unfortunately, at this point of the game, Gw2 needs a major overhaul of it’s game format if it wants to keep up &keep it’s player base & get new ones interested. There’s just no buts & why about it. There loosing numbers every month. & in the end, nobody cares about mounts & new weapons skins or even new content if ur character cant get more power. Gw2 lacklusters in the game excitement department… shame!

I disagree. Where are these numbers? People can talk all they want, but if you want to make the claim that an expansion is needed or the game is dead, you better bring some facts. From where I’m standing, everything is going fine, and Anet doesn’t need to reconsider any of their goals. Unfortunately for this discussion, we can’t see their earnings, but taking a look at how the developers and staff that visit the forums are talking, they certainly don’t seem concerned at all.

There’s a viral mindset here on the forums that everything is done for if the vocal minority doesn’t get what they want. I think that sentence itself is sufficient to explain why that mindset is wrong.

Numbers you can find on statistics webpages. Google it! Theres this other thread already talking about the servers in china already merging after 6 month.thats a sign of trouble right there. Players are leaving. As for gear grind i do understand the reluctance of lots of GW2 players. Reason number 2 why i stop playing WoW. But the truth is, WoW has still have a players base of 8to 10 million players despite there losses & bad decisions. Why? let me give you a hint…it’s not the story telling thats for sure.

GW2 needs an expansion and it needs one badly. Nobody can deny the success or dollars a traditional expansion can bring, just ask Blizzard how well the latest one did for their subscription rate and box sales. Also don’t forget that this game is the only real successful western MMO title NCsoft has left and I doubt they’ll continue to let it flounder.
Anet knows how powerful a boost expansions can be to the bottom line so if they aren’t headed that way my only prediction is some heads will roll.

nGumball.1283:

There is a difference between announcing an expansion and releasing an expansion.
Also, if they announce it in the first quarter of 2015, they can still release it. I have never heared of an expansion release that took 1 year after the announcement.

Oh I can think of more than a few. Some, that got announced, didn’t even make it to the shelf come to mind too. But that’s another topic. Regardless, it’s unlikely we’ll see an ‘expansion’ any time soon.

Maybe some big patches, but not an ‘expansion’ as we understand it.

Sorry, but that’s just not happening next year.

aspirine.6852:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

If there’s an expansion next year, I’ll be shocked. No press? No annoucement? No trailer?

Not happening.

What do you think the majority of the Anet team is working on right now then?

Living Story and seasonal content are barely keeping up with that. These short and sweet episodes, and rehashed seasonals, they don’t show you that?

Vieux P.1238:

Andred.1087:

Vieux P.1238:

Unfortunately, at this point of the game, Gw2 needs a major overhaul of it’s game format if it wants to keep up &keep it’s player base & get new ones interested. There’s just no buts & why about it. There loosing numbers every month. & in the end, nobody cares about mounts & new weapons skins or even new content if ur character cant get more power. Gw2 lacklusters in the game excitement department… shame!

I disagree. Where are these numbers? People can talk all they want, but if you want to make the claim that an expansion is needed or the game is dead, you better bring some facts. From where I’m standing, everything is going fine, and Anet doesn’t need to reconsider any of their goals. Unfortunately for this discussion, we can’t see their earnings, but taking a look at how the developers and staff that visit the forums are talking, they certainly don’t seem concerned at all.

There’s a viral mindset here on the forums that everything is done for if the vocal minority doesn’t get what they want. I think that sentence itself is sufficient to explain why that mindset is wrong.

Numbers you can find on statistics webpages. Google it! Theres this other thread already talking about the servers in china already merging after 6 month.thats a sign of trouble right there. Players are leaving. As for gear grind i do understand the reluctance of lots of GW2 players. Reason number 2 why i stop playing WoW. But the truth is, WoW has still have a players base of 8to 10 million players despite there losses & bad decisions. Why? let me give you a hint…it’s not the story telling thats for sure.

You’re grasping at straws now. GW2China was a drastically different game compared to what we have. It was no different than the cash shop games on your phone. That’s part of why it failed.

As for wow, it only has players because of E-Stockholme Syndrome. They keep players by constantly putting out expansions you have to pay for, and the “customers” keep buying.

It looks like gw2 is at it’s lowest it’s ever been on raptr and google trends. I don’t put much value into these, but some people here have said they do.
Maybe things slowing down for them on all front will force them to produce lengthy content, like an expansion.
http://caas.raptr.com/most-played-pc-games-november-2014-dragon-age-and-call-of-duty-debut-world-of-warcraft-resurgent/

Fernling.1729:

It looks like gw2 is at it’s lowest it’s ever been on raptr and google trends. I don’t put much value into these, but some people here have said they do.
Maybe things slowing down for them on all front will force them to produce lengthy content, like an expansion.
http://caas.raptr.com/most-played-pc-games-november-2014-dragon-age-and-call-of-duty-debut-world-of-warcraft-resurgent/

Unfortunately, most game producers simply lay off staff and change nothing about their actual production process when things get bad.

Seems like we are just ending with another ‘’OMG, THE GAME IS DYING’’ thread.
Good luck. I fancy such useless threads because of all the rubbish.

nGumball.1283:

Seems like we are just ending with another ‘’OMG, THE GAME IS DYING’’ thread.
Good luck. I fancy such useless threads because of all the rubbish.

I don’t feel like the game is dying, but then I’ve not played any games with as high population as GW2 other than wow, so I might just not have a good enough background for comparison

nGumball.1283:

Seems like we are just ending with another ‘’OMG, THE GAME IS DYING’’ thread.
Good luck. I fancy such useless threads because of all the rubbish.

Point is more that the game can boom like a mofo when something like Elona or Cantha expansion comes out. That much is sure for me.

Oldirtbeard.9834:

Think Tank Predictions For 2015

http://i.massively.joystiq.com/2014/12/18/the-think-tank-mmo-industry-predictions-for-2015/

Apparently the media thinks your going to at least announce a major expansion; the challenge as been set!

That entire article was this:::

Sarcasm noun
- The use of irony to mock or convey contempt.

As far as expansions, we all know it’s “when it’s ready™”. If they do intro new professions, it’ll be one not two, i’d guess. They seem far more focused on esports than in the original game, for good reason. Balancing 2 new professions might not be in-budget, just saying.

I really, personally, don’t think we will see something like Elona or Cantha of the original. Not because it’s hard, but because it takes a good deal of time to develop with the current game. Maybe portions of it, or a gateway to it (Bubbles?). But, looking at where LS is now, can anyone possibly see moving onto much more world than we have now? If so, why?

Chrispy.5641:

Oldirtbeard.9834:

Think Tank Predictions For 2015

http://i.massively.joystiq.com/2014/12/18/the-think-tank-mmo-industry-predictions-for-2015/

Apparently the media thinks your going to at least announce a major expansion; the challenge as been set!

That entire article was this:::

Sarcasm noun
- The use of irony to mock or convey contempt.

While it may be irony, it’s not so much more than hope, something this game desperately needs.

nGumball.1283:

Seems like we are just ending with another ‘’OMG, THE GAME IS DYING’’ thread.
Good luck. I fancy such useless threads because of all the rubbish.

Best part of these threads are all the production and business development experts that turn up

munkiman.3068:

As far as expansions, we all know it’s “when it’s ready™”. If they do intro new professions, it’ll be one not two, i’d guess. They seem far more focused on esports than in the original game, for good reason. Balancing 2 new professions might not be in-budget, just saying.

I really, personally, don’t think we will see something like Elona or Cantha of the original. Not because it’s hard, but because it takes a good deal of time to develop with the current game. Maybe portions of it, or a gateway to it (Bubbles?). But, looking at where LS is now, can anyone possibly see moving onto much more world than we have now? If so, why?

I do not think the whole team is working on LS. The main part of the company is therefor working on something else. Another game right now seems very unlikely. So for me there is just one conslusion, an expansion. And I hope I am not wrong I’d buy the special edition in a heartbeat

ok, well we aren’t taking into account the PvP goal’s are we?

Andred.1087:

taking a look at how the developers and staff that visit the forums are talking, they certainly don’t seem concerned at all.

No matter how concerned the company is behind its closed doors, they won’t actually express that concern to anybody outside the company because that would make things worse. Expecting that the outward appearance is necessarily indicative of the internal happenings is naive. No MMO developer is going to outwardly express concerns with a game losing people because that would just make them lose more as people expect the ship to sink and don’t want to waste any more time with it.

There’s a viral mindset here on the forums that everything is done for if the vocal minority doesn’t get what they want. I think that sentence itself is sufficient to explain why that mindset is wrong.

There’s also a viral mindset that the phrase “vocal minority” necessarily means “actual minority”. I’d say that a majority of the forum posts nowadays seem to be hating things and talking about how things are bad and dying and terrible and whatever.

Now consider: When studies are done through polls or experiments with people, those studies are done with a necessary minority of the actual potential pool. However, just because a sample size is a minority does not mean that it’s necessarily inaccurate in regards to the entire group.

The “vocal minority” means that the people who are voicing their complaints here are not an actual majority of the game. This does not mean that everybody who has not complained here disagrees with them. Some people may not see the point in going to the forums. Some people may not want to go to the forums. Some people may just quit outright. The people arguing that a vocal minority is necessarily not indicative of the entire playerbase are, in fact, the ones that should be providing their evidence, because necessarily minority sample groups are used as evidence to greater groups in pretty much every branch of everything.

Focus groups are used to test how well a product may be received. Polls are conducted for political reasons. Sample groups are tested for scientific reasons. In all these cases, they’re not testing everyone, they’re testing a minority. This does not mean they’re wrong.

Somebody needs to be given the talk about ‘metrics’ again.

Not only do they know what all the players want, they know what wants are backed by their actions, as compared to forum noise.

Expansion at the end of season 2 will be great. Pls bring back annual events like dragon bash, and SAB. If anet can let us play season 1 content, it will be even more awesome

Aidan Savage.2078:

Vieux P.1238:

Andred.1087:

Vieux P.1238:

Unfortunately, at this point of the game, Gw2 needs a major overhaul of it’s game format if it wants to keep up &keep it’s player base & get new ones interested. There’s just no buts & why about it. There loosing numbers every month. & in the end, nobody cares about mounts & new weapons skins or even new content if ur character cant get more power. Gw2 lacklusters in the game excitement department… shame!

I disagree. Where are these numbers? People can talk all they want, but if you want to make the claim that an expansion is needed or the game is dead, you better bring some facts. From where I’m standing, everything is going fine, and Anet doesn’t need to reconsider any of their goals. Unfortunately for this discussion, we can’t see their earnings, but taking a look at how the developers and staff that visit the forums are talking, they certainly don’t seem concerned at all.

There’s a viral mindset here on the forums that everything is done for if the vocal minority doesn’t get what they want. I think that sentence itself is sufficient to explain why that mindset is wrong.

Numbers you can find on statistics webpages. Google it! Theres this other thread already talking about the servers in china already merging after 6 month.thats a sign of trouble right there. Players are leaving. As for gear grind i do understand the reluctance of lots of GW2 players. Reason number 2 why i stop playing WoW. But the truth is, WoW has still have a players base of 8to 10 million players despite there losses & bad decisions. Why? let me give you a hint…it’s not the story telling thats for sure.

You’re grasping at straws now. GW2China was a drastically different game compared to what we have. It was no different than the cash shop games on your phone. That’s part of why it failed.

As for wow, it only has players because of E-Stockholme Syndrome. They keep players by constantly putting out expansions you have to pay for, and the “customers” keep buying.

E-Stockholme Syndrome, well it sounds like it’s working. Maybe this game needs some of that. & i agree that china had a different formula on how to pay the game. But they have the same game as us. Play on the same format. Sorry but That still says allot.

Vieux P.1238:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Vieux P.1238:

Andred.1087:

Vieux P.1238:

Unfortunately, at this point of the game, Gw2 needs a major overhaul of it’s game format if it wants to keep up &keep it’s player base & get new ones interested. There’s just no buts & why about it. There loosing numbers every month. & in the end, nobody cares about mounts & new weapons skins or even new content if ur character cant get more power. Gw2 lacklusters in the game excitement department… shame!

I disagree. Where are these numbers? People can talk all they want, but if you want to make the claim that an expansion is needed or the game is dead, you better bring some facts. From where I’m standing, everything is going fine, and Anet doesn’t need to reconsider any of their goals. Unfortunately for this discussion, we can’t see their earnings, but taking a look at how the developers and staff that visit the forums are talking, they certainly don’t seem concerned at all.

There’s a viral mindset here on the forums that everything is done for if the vocal minority doesn’t get what they want. I think that sentence itself is sufficient to explain why that mindset is wrong.

Numbers you can find on statistics webpages. Google it! Theres this other thread already talking about the servers in china already merging after 6 month.thats a sign of trouble right there. Players are leaving. As for gear grind i do understand the reluctance of lots of GW2 players. Reason number 2 why i stop playing WoW. But the truth is, WoW has still have a players base of 8to 10 million players despite there losses & bad decisions. Why? let me give you a hint…it’s not the story telling thats for sure.

You’re grasping at straws now. GW2China was a drastically different game compared to what we have. It was no different than the cash shop games on your phone. That’s part of why it failed.

As for wow, it only has players because of E-Stockholme Syndrome. They keep players by constantly putting out expansions you have to pay for, and the “customers” keep buying.

E-Stockholme Syndrome, well it sounds like it’s working. Maybe this game needs some of that. & i agree that china had a different formula on how to pay the game. But they have the same game as us. Play on the same format. Sorry but That still says allot.

Comparing Western and Eastern gamers is like comparing chalk and cheese. They’re very different and want very different things.

There’s a reason why most Asian games that get ported to the west are massive grindfests: Because it;s what the Eastern market enjoys.

As for wow, most stick with it becaus4e they don’t want to lose the time and money and effort invested over 9 years. I still have my sub for wow active even though I’ve not logged in to it in about 5 years.

Aidan Savage.2078:

As for wow, it only has players because of E-Stockholme Syndrome. They keep players by constantly putting out expansions you have to pay for, and the “customers” keep buying.

So when a player buys a WoW expansion they’re doing so because they’ve been psychologically manipulated and/or damaged by an evil corporation, but when a player logs into GW2 for a LS update or drops money in the cash shop for an infinite gathering tool they’re so because they’re some sort of enlightened free-thinker? Nice double standard.

There will be some new toys to play with in the ‘not so distant’ future.

darkace.8925:

Aidan Savage.2078:

As for wow, it only has players because of E-Stockholme Syndrome. They keep players by constantly putting out expansions you have to pay for, and the “customers” keep buying.

So when a player buys a WoW expansion they’re doing so because they’ve been psychologically manipulated and/or damaged by an evil corporation, but when a player logs into GW2 for a LS update or drops money in the cash shop for an infinite gathering tool they’re so because they’re some sort of enlightened free-thinker? Nice double standard.

That whole discussion is weird, but ‘free’ vs. ‘buy’ makes those REALLY different (which also applies to subscriptions really).

Oldirtbeard.9834:

Think Tank Predictions For 2015

http://i.massively.joystiq.com/2014/12/18/the-think-tank-mmo-industry-predictions-for-2015/

Apparently the media thinks your going to at least announce a major expansion; the challenge as been set!

mounts? do they even play gw2? lol