Guild Wars 2

I just don’t see it happening. I think gw2 will be an expansionless mmorpg. I have a few points on why I think this.

1. Anet has invested heavily in living story.
From new technology to reworking their teams. I see this as a hint that anet plans to have the living story be their vehicle of choice for expansion content.

2. Anets statements.
They have never came out and said “no x PAC. Only living story”. But they seem to dodge the question when asked about it while reaffirming their belief that living story can deliver expansion content.

3. Gradually proving their point.
Everything you see in an expansion has already been put into the game. New zones, new traits, new abilities, new story lines etc. the only exception is new races really. Now the quality and quantity of these things is very debatable. What isn’t is that they have indeed added what many would believe to be expansion content to the game.

Soooo there’s my 2 cents. I would prefer a traditional expansion but I see a lot of people holding on to the hope of an x pac but I just don’t see it happening.

Now I could be wrong. I’m very aware I am one person with one perspective and by all means as soon as I post this a trailer could drop and I’ll look silly. So no flaming me in the event of that happening lol!

Anyways what’s your thoughts do you think there will be an x PAC?

Edit – added in my opinion to topic

I hope there will be an expansion, the two little maps we have gotten through LS are nice, but nothing compared to what traditional expansions offer. Having the Kodan or Tengu as a playable race would be awesome, and don’t forget some of the classes from GW1 they could put in GW2, or even make new ones.

MrPersons.1560:

I hope there will be an expansion, the two little maps we have gotten through LS are nice, but nothing compared to what traditional expansions offer. Having the Kodan or Tengu as a playable race would be awesome, and don’t forget some of the classes from GW1 they could put in GW2, or even make new ones.

I do too!!!

The only thing that gives me hope is they revamped the npe as if they are expecting a sudden influx of players. But that’s the only thing I’ve seen that points towards xpac.

I think we’ll see one. There have been a lot of little things here and there hinting that they may be working on one.

First, Angel has told us that they only have 20 people on the living story team. Out of 300+ employees. While I know they are bound to have plenty of management, that a lot of people doing….what exactly? We know they have a few working on pvp, a few working on balance stuff, etc. What are the rest up to? What are the big names working on that we haven’t heard from since…who knows when. The ones playing least in sight.

Colin regularly tells us they have big background projects. Oh I’m sure the wardrobe was one of those, but what else are they “not ready” to talk about?

The fact that they do dodge the question is also another tell. We all know that they don’t tell us anything until it’s close to ready. Think about the silence while they built GW2. Outside of the few ’we’re working on a sequel’ statements near the beginning (to let us know why we weren’t getting another campaign) we didn’t hear anything. To the point the community started calling gw2 vaporware, if you recall. Then lo and behold we’re suddenly having all sorts of information released and a launch date less than a year after that.

One’s coming….I’m almost positive at this point. If it turns out I’m wrong in the long run, well so be it. But I don’t think so.

jweez.7214:

I just don’t see it happening. I think gw2 will be an expansionless mmorpg. I have a few points on why I think this.

1. Anet has invested heavily in living story.
From new technology to reworking their teams. I see this as a hint that anet plans to have the living story be their vehicle of choice for expansion content.

2. Anets statements.
They have never came out and said “no x PAC. Only living story”. But they seem to dodge the question when asked about it while reaffirming their belief that living story can deliver expansion content.

3. Gradually proving their point.
Everything you see in an expansion has already been put into the game. New zones, new traits, new abilities, new story lines etc. the only exception is new races really. Now the quality and quantity of these things is very debatable. What isn’t is that they have indeed added what many would believe to be expansion content to the game.

Soooo there’s my 2 cents. I would prefer a traditional expansion but I see a lot of people holding on to the hope of an x pac but I just don’t see it happening.

Now I could be wrong. I’m very aware I am one person with one perspective and by all means as soon as I post this a trailer could drop and I’ll look silly. So no flaming me in the event of that happening lol!

Anyways what’s your thoughts do you think there will be an x PAC?

Edit – added in my opinion to topic

I think they’ve been working on an expansion for 2 to 3 months now. It’s either an expansion or gw3. Either way, they’re definitively doing something because gw2 feels very still and neglected right now.

Shpongle.6025:

jweez.7214:

I just don’t see it happening. I think gw2 will be an expansionless mmorpg. I have a few points on why I think this.

1. Anet has invested heavily in living story.
From new technology to reworking their teams. I see this as a hint that anet plans to have the living story be their vehicle of choice for expansion content.

2. Anets statements.
They have never came out and said “no x PAC. Only living story”. But they seem to dodge the question when asked about it while reaffirming their belief that living story can deliver expansion content.

3. Gradually proving their point.
Everything you see in an expansion has already been put into the game. New zones, new traits, new abilities, new story lines etc. the only exception is new races really. Now the quality and quantity of these things is very debatable. What isn’t is that they have indeed added what many would believe to be expansion content to the game.

Soooo there’s my 2 cents. I would prefer a traditional expansion but I see a lot of people holding on to the hope of an x pac but I just don’t see it happening.

Now I could be wrong. I’m very aware I am one person with one perspective and by all means as soon as I post this a trailer could drop and I’ll look silly. So no flaming me in the event of that happening lol!

Anyways what’s your thoughts do you think there will be an x PAC?

Edit – added in my opinion to topic

I think they’ve been working on an expansion for 2 to 3 months now. It’s either an expansion or gw3. Either way, they’re definitively doing something because gw2 feels very still and neglected right now.

Anything in particular makes you think the last 3 months?

There is an expansion in preparation. Colin Johanson said

Now that China has launched we’ve freed up a lot of development resources back to get to those things. We also have a lot of people at ArenaNet and you’ve only seen what some them are working on this last year or two. Since we can’t share a road map of what they’re doing per our company policy, all I can answer is I hope when we’re able to show you what all we’ve been doing in total someday in the future – you’re as excited as we are about it.

They are probably working on systems to ship the expansion via a living world update. So that it doesn’t fracture the community.

It’s the most logical reason as to why they wouldn’t say much on the subject other than yes, there will be an expansion and no we don’t know how it will ship yet.

Box expansions tend to fracture the community by dividing those who have, from those that do not. This is unhealthy for a persistent world, like Guild Wars 2. However, its not too farfetched to think that they would allow you to unlock content with “Gems”. See the living story season 2 for an example of how this works.

With all that in mind, i highly doubt we will have a traditional box expansion, but instead have season updates and feature packs that will amount to miniature expansions throughout the year.

An expansion is made to make money, making it buyable through gems would be absurd and I don’t wish it, ’cause the price for gems would explode.

TexZero.7910:

They are probably working on systems to ship the expansion via a living world update. So that it doesn’t fracture the community.

Most mmos released have either released expansions or DLC that fragment the playerbase. I’m not sure I’ve ever even seen a complaint about it splitting the community. I mean, It’s as easy as making a one time purchase. The amount of revenue made from an expansion is substantial as well. Even if only 1 million people buy it at $50-$60 each.

Besides, GW2 is well equipped to deal with a split in the playerbase. Before the megaserver, not so much.

Yunielesca.2850:

An expansion is made to make money, making it buyable through gems would be absurd and I don’t wish it, ’cause the price for gems would explode.

I agree. I don’t think they would even consider it.

Did you know Everquest, a 15 year old MMORPG is coming out with its 21th expansion this October???
Still aint dead lol.

Back to the topic, one thing that I thought of yesterday was if this game never releases an expansion it never gets to re-hype the game to draw in the players that left to come back and play GW2. That’s the purpose of an expansion is to bring everyone that left to come back and replay the game. However I don’t think it should make an expansion every year, it should make sure its good and it should be like once every 3-5 years. The purpose of expansions is to rehype the game, not necessarily to bring new content. You have to look at this from a marketing point of view.

uberkingkong.8041:

Did you know Everquest, a 15 year old MMORPG is coming out with its 21th expansion this October???
Still aint dead lol.

Back to the topic, one thing that I thought of yesterday was if this game never releases an expansion it never gets to re-hype the game to draw in the players that left to come back and play GW2. That’s the purpose of an expansion is to bring everyone that left to come back and replay the game. However I don’t think it should make an expansion every year, it should make sure its good and it should be like once every 3-5 years. The purpose of expansions is to rehype the game, not necessarily to bring new content. You have to look at this from a marketing point of view.

The marketing angle is a very valid one.

However there are many other ways to drive revenue. Product discounts, product trials, product promotion, and introducing the product to other markets (all of which we’ve seen).

As far as hyping to old players id argue that is what the small living story updates and trailers are for. I do see that these things are less promotable than a full xpac just wanted to state that no xpac does not equal no hype

I agree that if we do get an xpac it will be once every 3 – 5 years.

Yunielesca.2850:

There is an expansion in preparation. Colin Johanson said

Now that China has launched we’ve freed up a lot of development resources back to get to those things. We also have a lot of people at ArenaNet and you’ve only seen what some them are working on this last year or two. Since we can’t share a road map of what they’re doing per our company policy, all I can answer is I hope when we’re able to show you what all we’ve been doing in total someday in the future – you’re as excited as we are about it.

Yeah, that to me sounds like they actually don’t have much in the works, but don’t want people to abandon the game. Every developer I’ve ever known has at least teased at future content with a handful of tidbits. Colin’s words here sound like that one kid in elementary school who claimed he had a Canadian girlfriend, but no picture and no chance of anyone ever meeting her.

Shpongle.6025:

I think they’ve been working on an expansion for 2 to 3 months now. It’s either an expansion or gw3. Either way, they’re definitively doing something because gw2 feels very still and neglected right now.

You can’t be serious…..

Let me explain something.
A-Net and especially NC-Soft are interested in making money…. nothing else.
If there would be something like an expansion or GW3 they would hype it
to nirvana.

I know people’s last hope is that there is somehthing brewing something they can hope for.
A reality checks tells us something more simple….
They don’t announce something because there is nothing to announce.
Ever thought about that ?

I know most people don’t wanna hear it. I am one of these people.
But it is what it is. The head office have this illusion of feeding the people barely enough to keep them from quitting.
This is the big difference to GW1 where they did everything to please the customers and even trump the wildest dreams of the players.
If you ask for something in gw2 you get the bare minimum that could even considered
to relate to what was asked for.

I guess it is easier for everyone of us to realize that there will be mini maps added without any connection to anything just say… “you guys got what you wanted”.

You guys remember asking for new skills ?
We got new skills… sure every class got a single one and they are utterly useless….
but A-Net can say they are listening to people and added contend.

You guys better get used to it

You know…I get a bit burned out with all the “Expansion” threads.

Personally I see no reason to put forth an Expansion in the traditional sense. Live content can be created and pushed in small or large chunks that over time can equate to the traditional Expansion. Just like the Big Numbers people like to see when doing damage, they don’t see the big Expansion if it slips in on them.

Those people….those are the one’s that need that big BOX expansion.

There is a LOT of overhead when pushing boxed expansions. That overhead has to be recouped before the expansion can even begin to be profitable. Why should Anet go down this road? If GW2 can remain profitable without that large initial overhead, why feel pressure to go down that traditional route?

I don’t think there will be an expansion either. There’s all this talk about a super secret expansion project in the background, but i just don’t believe it. There hasn’t been anything said about it, and it’s all just player speculation. Living story is their expansion content. The sooner players accept that, the sooner they will be disappointed and move on.

He who is not busy growing is busy dying…

MFoy.3284:

He who is not busy growing is busy dying…

A-Net is more:
You can’t forget what you never learned

I don’t see an expansion ever happening, at least within the next few years. The living story has been setup to explore the currently hidden areas, which will probably be at a rate of 1 area every 2 years (1 to introduce it, the other to use it). If they did an expansion now, it would likely be smaller and basically be equivalent to the entirety of the 2nd season of the living story, which they probably will sell as a single pack once it’s done. The only way an actual expansion would happen is if they release an entire new continent and go from there, but that would take years if they’re planning on revealing the entire map. An expansion would split the player base, which isn’t good for the living story or the current zerg design of the content, so it would be better to go big than small.

If they released a new continent as an expansion, it would likely be small at first with areas reserved for the living story. Orr for example should have been released through the living story, which would have required players to actually fight their way to the heart of Orr over time.

If theres no expansion, or announcement of an expansion I should say sometime within the next 6-8 months im going to play FF14 until GW2 adds more

I think there will be eventually. Some of the more obvious benefits of an expansion beyond just generating revenue that are too good to pass up indefinitely:

- Excuse to generate lots of marketing buzz and get people to come play, or return to the game
- Feeling of a “fresh start” for players, which can help reset peoples’ burnout meters and make new players feel like they are part of something big/original
- Extra budget to work on bigger, more marketable features/content

Kurrilino.2706:

Shpongle.6025:

I think they’ve been working on an expansion for 2 to 3 months now. It’s either an expansion or gw3. Either way, they’re definitively doing something because gw2 feels very still and neglected right now.

---

You can’t be serious…..

Let me explain something.
A-Net and especially NC-Soft are interested in making money…. nothing else.
If there would be something like an expansion or GW3 they would hype it
to nirvana.

I know people’s last hope is that there is somehthing brewing something they can hope for.
A reality checks tells us something more simple….
They don’t announce something because there is nothing to announce.
Ever thought about that ?

I know most people don’t wanna hear it. I am one of these people.
But it is what it is. The head office have this illusion of feeding the people barely enough to keep them from quitting.
This is the big difference to GW1 where they did everything to please the customers and even trump the wildest dreams of the players.
If you ask for something in gw2 you get the bare minimum that could even considered
to relate to what was asked for.

I guess it is easier for everyone of us to realize that there will be mini maps added without any connection to anything just say… “you guys got what you wanted”.

You guys remember asking for new skills ?
We got new skills… sure every class got a single one and they are utterly useless….
but A-Net can say they are listening to people and added contend.

You guys better get used to it

I don’t think their agenda is as malevolent as you make it seem but I do agree that Anet wont just come out and say that their is no expansion and living story is it because they don’t want to shock the player base into quitting.

Healix.5819:

If they released a new continent as an expansion, it would likely be small at first with areas reserved for the living story. Orr for example should have been released through the living story, which would have required players to actually fight their way to the heart of Orr over time.

That’s an interesting idea there.

I don’t care if there is a formal expansion or not. I just care that the world gets expanded. I like the idea of the Living Story. My main gripe is that there just isn’t “enough” of it. When they introduced it, they said it would give us content similar to an expansion, and I agree it COULD do that. But so far it hasn’t. Not even close.

I would primarily prefer if we just got more from the LS. A LOT more. In two years, GW1 got 2 continents. In the same time frame, now we’ve gotten only 2 permanent zones, and really small ones at that. Not to mention all the other things you’d expect with an expansion ..new race/profession, new skills/weapons, new activities/features (hello GvG, Halls, Housing, you-name-it).

Aside from having the LS live up to what they claimed it would, my secondary preferred method would be DLC in the gem store. Like introduce a “Campaigns” tab, where for maybe $30, you can unlock massive amounts of legitimate expansion content.

I don’t know how that would fit with the LS though ..I suspect it wouldn’t. I think they’ve basically bet everything on using the LS and Feature Patches as the delivery method for whatever they supposedly are working on. That’s fine, but kitten, how many kitten years is it going to take before we get something significant?!

As for “what they’re doing”, I agree with the sentiment that the reason they’re not talking is because there just isn’t much to talk about. They have no problem hyping things up when they really do have something that they really are confident and excited about.

The fact that they aren’t doing that anymore sends the message that they really just don’t have anything cooking for us ..or if they do, they know it’s not very exciting or good. They’ll eventually figure out some way to spin it and make it sound more exciting than it really is (like the last feature patch).

They know that if their product is good enough, it doesn’t NEED much spin. If it has merit, the community will respond on its own with excitement and support (if we’re allowed to know about it). Secrecy only implies a lack of merit. That they know we would not be excited or supportive if we knew ..so we don’t need to know. I don’t think it makes much business sense. But hey, that’s the new Anet for you I guess.

I’m afraid that No-exp might be the choice that Anet went for. Why am I afraid? Because I like the game and I see myself playing it for quite some more time. This time, however, would be greatly expanded if Anet decided for an expansion. It would bring so much life into the game, so many returning and new players.

If Anet decided to go without an expansion, they’ve ultimately doomed their own game 5 years beforehand. Such a bad call and such a shame.

And a Quiz question here:

Why do you think WoW is still the strongest MMORPG on the market, even tho it’s 10 years old?

Geez, no idea, but I do know, that the game is having it’s fifth big expansion coming out in november!

Step it up Anet, for your own sake…

I can distinctly remember saying that at some point on these forums over a year ago that Anet HAD to do an expansion at some point – the LS would not be enough and that the game would slowly die without one. Time has just further reinforced this for me – the LS is good, even great as filler while we wait for expansions – it is insufficient as a replacement for an expansion.

Kurrilino.2706:

Shpongle.6025:

I think they’ve been working on an expansion for 2 to 3 months now. It’s either an expansion or gw3. Either way, they’re definitively doing something because gw2 feels very still and neglected right now.

---

You can’t be serious…..

Let me explain something.
A-Net and especially NC-Soft are interested in making money…. nothing else.
If there would be something like an expansion or GW3 they would hype it
to nirvana.

I know people’s last hope is that there is somehthing brewing something they can hope for.
A reality checks tells us something more simple….
They don’t announce something because there is nothing to announce.
Ever thought about that ?

I know most people don’t wanna hear it. I am one of these people.
But it is what it is. The head office have this illusion of feeding the people barely enough to keep them from quitting.
This is the big difference to GW1 where they did everything to please the customers and even trump the wildest dreams of the players.
If you ask for something in gw2 you get the bare minimum that could even considered
to relate to what was asked for.

I guess it is easier for everyone of us to realize that there will be mini maps added without any connection to anything just say… “you guys got what you wanted”.

You guys remember asking for new skills ?
We got new skills… sure every class got a single one and they are utterly useless….
but A-Net can say they are listening to people and added contend.

You guys better get used to it

If that’s the case Anet better get used to paying its people with Monopoly money. If that’s the reality then eventually people say “That’s all? Guess we’re done here.” And leave. And take their cash shop money with them. Even the cash from China will eventually start to run out if that’s Anet’s attitude.

Judging from the ~75 player roster of the guild I joined when I started playing the game has lost about 50% to 75% of its initial player base. And by lost I mean gone for over a year. Another roughly 20%-40% check in on the game occasionally sometimes every few weeks although many have been gone for 6+ months now. From what I can see only myself and 1-2 others still play regularly. Good thing its an MMO because if GW2 were a TV show it would have been cancelled mid-season year one.

I do believe they are working on an expansion and have been for long while. But if not, and mid-2015 rolls around with nothing but more LS . . . I’ll try to remember to turn out the lights when I leave.

Yunielesca.2850:

There is an expansion in preparation. Colin Johanson said

Now that China has launched we’ve freed up a lot of development resources back to get to those things. We also have a lot of people at ArenaNet and you’ve only seen what some them are working on this last year or two. Since we can’t share a road map of what they’re doing per our company policy, all I can answer is I hope when we’re able to show you what all we’ve been doing in total someday in the future – you’re as excited as we are about it.

What Colin said makes sense, expansion or no Expansion, the living story team is made up of 20 people out of a total 350+ What we’ve seen so far is in any case not the bulk of the content its a fraction of what they’re working on either way.

samo.1054:

If Anet decided to go without an expansion, they’ve ultimately doomed their own game 5 years beforehand. Such a bad call and such a shame…

So you don’t believe the living world can keep retention up?

Everyone, what would it take for the living world to retain you as a long term player if no traditional expansion is in the works?

Honestly, this just depends on what you consider an “expansion.” We know they’re building a bunch of content. How? Well, there’s plenty of designers and writers who work at ArenaNet but aren’t on the Living World team. What are they doing?

Some of them have admitted to being on a “secret” project. Whatever that is, I hope it’s ready soon.

I’m currently on a spending freeze for GW2.

I plan on dropping a lot of money on this game again but not until an expansion is released. If they try to stick with the Living Story as the only means of content expansion I’ll just keep spending my money in other places.

No hate. No anger. It just not worth it to me.

The marketing talk made me consider this for the first time. Why would a new player actually pick up GW2? We know the NPE is “supposed” to keep them once they start, but why would anyone actually start now?

I haven’t noticed any marketing outside of the game. There are no expansions to build hype or get attention. Many, many players have said they’ve stopped recommending the game.

This isn’t meant as a criticism, but genuinely, where are new players actually coming from?

Reasons I think OP is wrong:

1. Anet HAS put a lot of effort into Living Story, but has never hidden the fact that they are experimenting with it. Note that the introduction of the Journal leads to repeatable rather than temporary content that was the original LS concept.
2. There are some VERY high profile Anet Devs that nobody has heard ANYTHING from in more than a year (unless they have left the company and I’m not aware of it….quite possible).
3. I hate to say it, but the LS content has seemed more and more like a diversion of late. I’m not saying it’s bad, but it seems to be a flailing attempt (for the lack of a nicer term).
4. From what I gather, GW2 has been consistently profitable up to this point and is a considered a VERY long term money maker for NCSoft. For a long term game, they need to be able to pull dormant players back into the game months (if not years) from now. A previously unmentioned or advertised Expansion is how you do that.

Anet is using the LS to “test” the waters with new concepts that will be fleshed out with a “surprise” expansion that has been in the works for quite a while. Consider how all the negative comments above change if they announce an expansion after Wintersday and it’s ready for release by Year 3 Anniversary (if not sooner)? Players that have written GW2 off for months will be back in a flash and those that hold out, will eventually come back (if the Expansion is up to snuff).

I could be totally wrong, but I think some big things are on the horizon for GW2 and the fact that Anet is keeping it under complete wraps is a smart move (in terms for maintaining the longevity of the game).

Arrow.4619:

If that’s the case Anet better get used to paying its people with Monopoly money. If that’s the reality then eventually people say “That’s all? Guess we’re done here.” And leave. And take their cash shop money with them. Even the cash from China will eventually start to run out if that’s Anet’s attitude.

Exactly this is what happened.

If you follow the financial reports they are forced to present to the share holders
you notice that they have a constant decreasing income.
roughly 5 million $ every quarter from last year.

This isn’t the first time it happened and of course the head office isn’t stupid.
So they do what proved working the last time.
They pick the least effort demanding thing of all things people asking for and develop it.

You may ask now what would it be ?
A-Net already answered it in the forums… Guild halls.
But before people cry out of joy right now keep the pattern in mind.
Take the demand and offer the absolutely lowest thing possible that could be related to this topic.
Remember the riot asking for new skills ?? Look what you got
Remember asking for new maps ? Look at Dry Top
Remember asking for a betetr story ??? Look at text box clicking

I really wouldn’t surprised if the new Guild Hall is a straight square building with orange wall papers and without any functions.

Just think about when A-Net came out of nowhere and presented something
mind blowing to the gamers….

This is why A-Net isn’t hyping or announcing anything.
There is nothing to announce.
If there would be something like that NC-Soft would hype the crap out of it.
Just look at the campaign they had for Wild Star.
No detail was left out no extra wasn’t promoted.
All these “secret expansion is in work” hopers are completely delusional.
A-Net is going with the LS and minimal efforts.

And this is the real difference to GW1. They had people who actually cared about their product and they were really good in topping the wildest dreams of the players.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Consider how all the negative comments above change if they announce an expansion after Wintersday and it’s ready for release by Year 3 Anniversary (if not sooner)? Players that have written GW2 off for months will be back in a flash and those that hold out, will eventually come back (if the Expansion is up to snuff).
I could be totally wrong, but I think some big things are on the horizon for GW2 and the fact that Anet is keeping it under complete wraps is a smart move (in terms for maintaining the longevity of the game).

Consider how much damage this poorly thought out policy has done and is continuing to do. If they are working on an expansion announce it, it isn’t like this is the flippin Manhattan Project! Keeping it under wraps is a dangerous and risky move and really gains them nothing at this point except a lot of completely ticked off players and all for the sake of what exactly? What advantage does it have, you think it’ll keep players here lol, tell that to my original guild. Sure some will come back others never will because they are too jaded or have become invested in something else built by a company that won’t string them along blindly.

I believe, like many that there is nothing to announce which is why they aren’t, they left China behind and are playing catch up that’s all. Bare in mind the time frame they enacted this policy of silence, right around the time they secreted away a bunch of developers to work on the China version. If you dig deep enough it gets worse, they’re also planning on bringing it to Brazil etc. so how many more years are we going to be sidelined while the LS dumps a smidge of content here and there.

samo.1054:

I’m afraid that No-exp might be the choice that Anet went for. Why am I afraid? Because I like the game and I see myself playing it for quite some more time. This time, however, would be greatly expanded if Anet decided for an expansion. It would bring so much life into the game, so many returning and new players.

If Anet decided to go without an expansion, they’ve ultimately doomed their own game 5 years beforehand. Such a bad call and such a shame.

And a Quiz question here:

Why do you think WoW is still the strongest MMORPG on the market, even tho it’s 10 years old?

Geez, no idea, but I do know, that the game is having it’s fifth big expansion coming out in november!

Step it up Anet, for your own sake…

really no idea ??

Same reason why McDonalds is on top or Heinz or whatever leading brand you name.

They are not the best because they are the biggest…… they are the biggest because they are the best !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is why so many people and maybe the head of A-Net is wrong.
Using “we are not as big as Lizzrad” as excuse for the game contend is like suicide.

Do you really think Lizzard started as a world leading corporation ?
Of course not. They just presented something the people really wants and always tried to develop them self and their product.

And this is why A-Net isn’t as big as Lizzard.
They don’t care about developing. They are like Universitys.
They research more where to get the next funding is coming from instead to research something the human kind would benefit from.

But of course everyone is crying… why can’t we be Steven Hawkins ????
Easy… because he is putting effort and dedication into developing some new ground breaking theories and you guys research why people push the channel 12 button on their remote 4x more often than channel 18.

I don’t have problems with no expansion policy while they keep updating periodically.

I do have one comment about it, in an expansion, the ratio between ingame rewards and gemstore items would’ve been different. If you take everything that was added in one place and the other now, you will see a huge imbalance between both. In an expansion, content would’ve been more even.

TexZero.7910:

Box expansions tend to fracture the community by dividing those who have, from those that do not. This is unhealthy for a persistent world, like Guild Wars 2.

Not to be a meany but you know this is a really bad reason that is kinda nonsense. When you expand a world you might not allow people in that part of the game if they don’t have the expansion but in the rest of the world everybody still plays together. Also in reality most players who are actively playing will buy the expansion.

This reasoning is really something that has born on these forums here and are based on an interview Anet once gave where they said they didn’t want the expansions as in GW1 because that would divide up the player-base. That where however standalone expansion. Anet then even said they would have normal expansions for sure.

Anyway: this game needs an expansion. It needed an expansion when the game was a year old and we needed a second expansion about now and a third next year. And then no focus on the cash-shop. That would have been great.

Mesket.5728:

I don’t have problems with no expansion policy while they keep updating periodically.

I do have one comment about it, in an expansion, the ratio between ingame rewards and gemstore items would’ve been different. If you take everything that was added in one place and the other now, you will see a huge imbalance between both. In an expansion, content would’ve been more even.

If they would base there whole payment model on expansion there was not even a need for all that stuff in the cash-shop. Now they do not really have a choice.

I think WoW is a great example of what an expansion can do to reel in new/old players.
Since the last investor call they have increased their monthly subscription average by 600k players. Imagine what it will be when the expansion actually launches.

Nothing happened for an increase of that size besides the hype of a new expansion. The game was stale for people playing since MoP and just like that, an expansion rejuvenates the entire game.

Devata.6589:

Not to be a meany but you know this is a really bad reason that is kinda nonsense. When you expand a world you might not allow people in that part of the game if they don’t have the expansion but in the rest of the world everybody still plays together. Also in reality most players who are actively playing will buy the expansion.

This reasoning is really something that has born on these forums here and are based on an interview Anet once gave where they said they didn’t want the expansions as in GW1 because that would divide up the player-base. That where however standalone expansion. Anet then even said they would have normal expansions for sure.

Anyway: this game needs an expansion. It needed an expansion when the game was a year old and we needed a second expansion about now and a third next year. And then no focus on the cash-shop. That would have been great.

Is it though? How often have you seen a largely free-to-play game use the traditional box-selling expansion model? (e.g. where you buy the expansion and that gives you access to all of the new content, including any new maps and so on) I mean, yeah, this game is technically box-to-play, not free-to-play, but once you have the box, you have access to everything. It’s a one-time purchase.

A box expansion, even with a game like this, definitely could (plausibly) fracture the playerbase. It’s totally plausible that there are players who: Could afford the original box but can’t afford more, put a lot of money into the game but their financial circumstances have changed, etc.

Don’t get me wrong. That’s not necessarily a reason to not release an expansion. It’s just a reason why the traditional sub-game-box-expansion model will probably have some revisions to it, if Anet releases an expansion for this game.

Labjax.2465:

Devata.6589:

Not to be a meany but you know this is a really bad reason that is kinda nonsense. When you expand a world you might not allow people in that part of the game if they don’t have the expansion but in the rest of the world everybody still plays together. Also in reality most players who are actively playing will buy the expansion.

This reasoning is really something that has born on these forums here and are based on an interview Anet once gave where they said they didn’t want the expansions as in GW1 because that would divide up the player-base. That where however standalone expansion. Anet then even said they would have normal expansions for sure.

Anyway: this game needs an expansion. It needed an expansion when the game was a year old and we needed a second expansion about now and a third next year. And then no focus on the cash-shop. That would have been great.

Is it though? How often have you seen a largely free-to-play game use the traditional box-selling expansion model? (e.g. where you buy the expansion and that gives you access to all of the new content, including any new maps and so on) I mean, yeah, this game is technically box-to-play, not free-to-play, but once you have the box, you have access to everything. It’s a one-time purchase.

A box expansion, even with a game like this, definitely could (plausibly) fracture the playerbase. It’s totally plausible that there are players who: Could afford the original box but can’t afford more, put a lot of money into the game but their financial circumstances have changed, etc.

Don’t get me wrong. That’s not necessarily a reason to not release an expansion. It’s just a reason why the traditional sub-game-box-expansion model will probably have some revisions to it, if Anet releases an expansion for this game.

SWTOR is largely F2P and has expansion packs that they charge for. DCUO also have DLC they charge for. Everquest 1 is F2P and has expansions. Not too sure what their F2P is like though.
I’m sure there are more. I only pay attention to a small amount of mmos these days.

Devata.6589:

If they would base there whole payment model on expansion there was not even a need for all that stuff in the cash-shop. Now they do not really have a choice.

You know GW1 had a cash shop too, right? A lot worse one than GW2’s, at that.

You know, this game would be perfect if it did have expansions.
Thing that gives it an edge over games like WoW, EQ, maybe TESO is that the game is relatively easy to level up in and the gear is so easy to obtain and its primarily a solo game.

I know with EQ and its 21st expansion, it may be tempting, but that game has a harsh past of serious grindage, high difficulty scale in leveling up in. I remember way back in the days, if you died, it set you back far, like days or weeks. Back when rezzing wasn’t as common as it is currently in that game. But getting from level 1 to 105 in that game… Your going to get burned out way before you even come close to level 105. However in a game like GW2, its just so dang easy.

To be honest, GW2 is one of the easiest MMO’s I’ve ever played, its really close to runescape in easeness, I think it easier too, to be honest. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Point is, if GW2 had an expansion the thought of mind would be “awesome, more stuff to do”, when EQ expansion comes to mind its “awww man, lots of grindage to do to get to 105, and 2000 more AAs it offers.”

I kind of think of this game as an MMORPG version of Diablo3, because Diablo3 is relatively easy as well, as pretty much all things being soloable, which leads to the easeness. People with the most money, able to get all the best gear as well. In traditional MMORPG like EQ and WoW, its the other way around, hard work/grindage/dedication gives you the best items. You can goto the TP and be like “ima buy all the best raid gear in the game, because I’m a rich dude”. But in GW2 you can (“I’m got all the legendaries kittenes, been playing this game for 5 days now, I’m gonna let the hatta’s hate on my money cuz I could buy them too if I wanted too! because I’m the million dollar man and YOU CAN BE BOUGHT!”, and I’m pretty sure Diablo 3 is the same way.

Kurrilino.2706:

samo.1054:

I’m afraid that No-exp might be the choice that Anet went for. Why am I afraid? Because I like the game and I see myself playing it for quite some more time. This time, however, would be greatly expanded if Anet decided for an expansion. It would bring so much life into the game, so many returning and new players.

If Anet decided to go without an expansion, they’ve ultimately doomed their own game 5 years beforehand. Such a bad call and such a shame.

And a Quiz question here:

Why do you think WoW is still the strongest MMORPG on the market, even tho it’s 10 years old?

Geez, no idea, but I do know, that the game is having it’s fifth big expansion coming out in november!

Step it up Anet, for your own sake…

really no idea ??

Same reason why McDonalds is on top or Heinz or whatever leading brand you name.

They are not the best because they are the biggest…… they are the biggest because they are the best !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is why so many people and maybe the head of A-Net is wrong.
Using “we are not as big as Lizzrad” as excuse for the game contend is like suicide.

Do you really think Lizzard started as a world leading corporation ?
Of course not. They just presented something the people really wants and always tried to develop them self and their product.

And this is why A-Net isn’t as big as Lizzard.
They don’t care about developing. They are like Universitys.
They research more where to get the next funding is coming from instead to research something the human kind would benefit from.

But of course everyone is crying… why can’t we be Steven Hawkins ????
Easy… because he is putting effort and dedication into developing some new ground breaking theories and you guys research why people push the channel 12 button on their remote 4x more often than channel 18.

This post is like a word puzzle… I’m still trying to figure it out.

My 2-cents: There is too much investment in the LS delivery platform. All the eggs are in this basket. This is the future of GW2. There is potential here, even though the current LS deliveries seem a big light. Maybe those extra developers that are back will kick LS into high gear, making it the envy of MMOs everywhere.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Reasons I think OP is wrong:

1. Anet HAS put a lot of effort into Living Story, but has never hidden the fact that they are experimenting with it. Note that the introduction of the Journal leads to repeatable rather than temporary content that was the original LS concept.
2. There are some VERY high profile Anet Devs that nobody has heard ANYTHING from in more than a year (unless they have left the company and I’m not aware of it….quite possible).
3. I hate to say it, but the LS content has seemed more and more like a diversion of late. I’m not saying it’s bad, but it seems to be a flailing attempt (for the lack of a nicer term).
4. From what I gather, GW2 has been consistently profitable up to this point and is a considered a VERY long term money maker for NCSoft. For a long term game, they need to be able to pull dormant players back into the game months (if not years) from now. A previously unmentioned or advertised Expansion is how you do that.

Anet is using the LS to “test” the waters with new concepts that will be fleshed out with a “surprise” expansion that has been in the works for quite a while. Consider how all the negative comments above change if they announce an expansion after Wintersday and it’s ready for release by Year 3 Anniversary (if not sooner)? Players that have written GW2 off for months will be back in a flash and those that hold out, will eventually come back (if the Expansion is up to snuff).

I could be totally wrong, but I think some big things are on the horizon for GW2 and the fact that Anet is keeping it under complete wraps is a smart move (in terms for maintaining the longevity of the game).

Good points there.

I hope u are right and I am wrong. Only time will tell my friend

Fernling.1729:

SWTOR is largely F2P and has expansion packs that they charge for. DCUO also have DLC they charge for. Everquest 1 is F2P and has expansions. Not too sure what their F2P is like though.
I’m sure there are more. I only pay attention to a small amount of mmos these days.

Fair enough. Though I’m not sure I’d count TOR myself, considering how aggressive their F2P model is already and the loyalty that they get from being the only SW MMO running right now. They also started as a sub game, iirc.

i think there will be no expansion for guild wars 2.

the living story is a good platform to deliver expansion content.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

i think there will be no expansion for guild wars 2.

the living story is a good platform to deliver expansion content.

You don’t find it too slow?

I think it CAN be a good platform but I am not sure anet has/can figured it how to make it work. Also, there’s alot of problems one of the biggest ones I think is;

How does anet monetize on this without the community feeling nicked and dimed at every turn with the living story?

I’d like to know the thoughts of anyone who has opinion about this also.