Guild Wars 2

jweez.7214:

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.

yes, at the moment, i feel that it is slow.
however, i do not mind that.
because, it allows me to spend time on other games other than guild wars 2.

regarding monetizing, i think they are doing well with the constant update of gem store skins.

I wouldn’t mind their being an expansion if the content in it was substantial. New areas, new classes, new gamemodes would be a viable reason to spend $40. I think Anet doesn’t like to talk about it because if they said they would never make an expansion but then did, it would make them look like idiots or unsure on their own development process.

I’m all for it. Living story is fun and all, but expansions could have it’s own story on the side with alot of content that wouldn’t affect the official GW2 story.

Kurrilino.2706:

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.

Hmm Not really
3Q2013 -24M
4Q2013 – 33M
1Q2014 – 25M
2Q2014 – 22M

Its been fluctuating around 25M for quite a while, they had a big spike for the end of year sales but apart from that they’ve been pretty stable something that in each financial call its clearly stated. Last Quarter was on the low side because they had the long break between LS Season 1 and Season 2 so naturally less people played which in turn led to fewer gem sales. Also lets not forget the 22M doesnt include the China Royalties which no doubt brings it higher then the 25M average. In anycase why would be the shareholders be displeased? its their 2nd biggest source of revenue. Even Lineage 2 which is is their lowest source of revenue is still updated to this day and you think they’re going to ignore their 2nd best and in favor of what?

A-Net never hyped or annocunced anything ahead of time ever. Since the very first update they’d only announce things a couple of weeks ahead max. actually they got better, shadow of the mad king, their very first update was only announced a couple of days before. Why would they change that for an expansion something thats way more emotionally charged then a regular update?

They have nothing to announcing, 20 people working on the Living story and the other 330 employees must be idle taking a break then? Expansion or no Expansion there is approxamitely 10x -16x the living story work force working on something. They arent even scaling down, they’re always hiring more and more people why would that be if LS is all they’re planing to do and if LS is just a team of 20 people?

yeah sure, lets look at wildstar, whats the number 1 complaint? ohh yeah why they’re not announcing their plans for the future. Dont compare game launch with post launch they’re too different beasts.

CrashTestAuto.9108:

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?

Well my experience with Gw1 might shed some light on this. When the game was released reviews stated it was a PvP focused game and well the whole instanced thing made it a “fake” MMO so I gave it a pass. some time later I got bored and decided to try the trial. it felt like a generic MMO and the instancing thing people were complaining about and coupled with not enough time to properly give it the chance it deserved once again I passed. 2 years or so later, it was on sale on said lets give it one more chance and boy am I glad I did. Who knew that the thing people were complaining about the most (its instancing not making it a real MMO) would turn out to be its biggest strength (finally questing that had some change on the world around it, npcs that actually get involved in the story rather then sit there waiting for you to do all the work etc..)

I didnt start on day because of what people said, I didnt start soon their after because in the first few hours or so the game didnt stand out (thats why NPE matters) enough for me to dismiss what people were saying. What the vast majority of people were saying was exactly the opposite of what I experienced.

Content is nice and all but just cause I read news that Factions and/or nightfall were released for Guild wars did not help me decide to buy it! why would I care there is more content for a game as far as I can tell will not appeal to me? if anything thats a detractor cause now I need to spend 3x as much to be able to play with people. If people didnt bother to buy the game by now they didnt because they’re afraid its not their kind of game most likely not because it didnt get an expansion yet. An expansion isnt going to change your mind on that, trying the game or discounts will work much better to convince you then any expansion ever would.

Devata.6589:

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.

Its actually a valid concern. Other MMOs work differently then Gw2. They put an expiry date on content and by the end of it you got no choice but to either stop playing or buy an expansion. Gw2 doesnt do that and that makes a big difference. Even if absolutely everyone buys the expansion you’ll still have problems because of that. The majority of people will undoubtily be playing that expansion content so if today I am in the mood of finishing up those couple of zones I skipped I will most likely find a ghost zone (for lack of a better word) and as we saw from the feedback that led to the megaserver that was already an issue with 25 or so zones imagine twice that or 3 times down the line. of course we did get megaservers and that fixed the issue somewhat.

another aspect is obviously not everyone is going to buy the expansion. Financial difficulties, Mainly PvP/WvW player so dont see the use of buying an expansion that mainly takes me to Cantha (one can dream ), The Living Story is enough content for me so why spend the extra money?, I only play sporadically cant justify the fee, I will wait for it to go on sale, I am spending most of my time in Game X so until I get fed up with that no point in buying the expansion, I am on a personal crusade again ncsoft execs getting luxury cars… whatever, people can have many reasons for not buying it. That too will fracture players a bit.

I do think with the megaservers these are not big issues anymore as that technology alone increase concentration by a factor of about 25x and I dont think there will be such a big fracture either way but it was surely a valid concern before megaservers and not some imaginary issue with 0 impact.

ZanchinFissure.7981:

I wouldn’t mind their being an expansion if the content in it was substantial. New areas, new classes, new gamemodes would be a viable reason to spend $40. I think Anet doesn’t like to talk about it because if they said they would never make an expansion but then did, it would make them look like idiots or unsure on their own development process.

I’m all for it. Living story is fun and all, but expansions could have it’s own story on the side with alot of content that wouldn’t affect the official GW2 story.

clarification, Anet never said they’ll never make an expansion. Closest they got to that statement is we’re not working on one right now and me never do if the Living story release model works well.

They also made it very clear that even if they decide to never do an expansion thy would still release the same stuff you’d get in an expansion with the living story… IE new maps, new classes etc…

From day 1 they said all those things would happen they question always was how they will be packaged and delivered to the customer nothing else.

Foreward: The following is the opinion of yet another end user and is no way affiliated with ANET, NC SOFT, or any of their subsidaries. It is a personal opinion and should be counted as such.

Personally I believe an expansion in the classical sense of the term is unneeded and rather foolish at this time. I started GW2 like many others during beta and have watched the game mature, grow, dwindle, grow again, and etc. The one thing A net has maintained consistency on, and declared before the release of this game, was that they wanted to create a living world with a living story. That is why npcs will continue quest lines with or without character involvement, why season 1 living story is unavailable, and why I feel living story 2 should also have been limited time content. The players sojourn into this world, but it doesn’t revolve around them. Other hero’s will answer the call if you are resting in bermuda, or not yet old enough to venture out and seek a name for yourself when the events transpire.

In keeping with that philosophy, how could a net add a profession, race, continent, and/or etc. Without subjecting their world, their story, to unneeded time shifts? Which makes more sense, we finish up with mordremeth, (or hit a brick wall), and then find the Tengu are under a full assault by Primordius’ forces. Facing extinction they turn to the other races of Tyra for help, and as well as joining the pact furthermore offer to train others in their profession “Samurai” in exchange for assistance. This would then open an arc where you delve into the depths of Tyria and find the remnants of Dwarven society who also come to your aid in defeating the Elder dragon. With him slaughtered the dwarves are then freed from their gaes and return to flesh from stone. Not only do they also become a playable race, but then add another class, or what not.

All of this is and more is possible with the living story. And yes it will take time, but another factor to consider here is scope. Compared to its competitors and forebears GW2 is a graphically breathtaking game. Adding a new area that can be jumped around in with obstacles and etc isn’t as simple as it is with the cartoonist graphics of most other games. Especially compared to something like WoW Gw2 has more finite resources. Assume WoW has 3.5 million players. Each pays a subscription fee of 15$ a month. That’s over 45 million a month. Remove operating costs etc. And they still have a stupidly higher revenue. A net can not win going toe to toe with the same model of content, so they need something different. LS covers that ground.

again, Just some idiots 2€ on the interwebs.

They don’t have time for the living story. The whole community is bored, everyone who has been playing for two years now calls for new content, and a big one, not only a ridiculous farm during 2 weeks. They even took a break after only 4 updates…

An expansion has to be, or the game won’t be anymore.

The biggest threat for GW2 has never been the games with fees like WoW or Archeage, the biggest threat is Everquest Next. A F2P with the same philosophy as GW2, that is to say nothing more than aesthetic things in the CS and a big PVE world.
The game being developed by Sony, and a big community coming from the first one, it is the real threat. They even managed to sign with Jeremy Soule and make him stop with guild wars…

That’s why an expansion will come, Arena has no interest in killing its own game.

I am still hoping A-Net will release a major expansion based on the LS…
Not an area in 4 updates but 4-5 area’s, a race, dungeon an a proffession in one go.

Just to show they can pull it off…. and be different then other MMO manufacturers, at least with regard to Guild Wars 2…

Fernling.1729:

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.

In fact GW1 was a good example. Every expansion earned on average 100% of the initial sales. If we would translate that to GW2 and assuming they had an expansion once a year they would have earned more then they have earned now. And we would not have the cash-shop focus. (well there would be no need for it at least) So likely have a better game for it. Win win. However, LS and cash-shop was the road they did go for.

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.

“Is it though? How often have you seen a largely free-to-play game use the traditional box-selling expansion model?” Funny here is that when I about 1,5 year ago said this game was more a F2P game then B2P because they focused on a cash-shop not on expansion sales I got half the forum against me because it was really B2P. Now it has become the standard definition what indeed makes more sense. But it’s also where you make your first wrong assumption. You see, the expansions would be if the game would be truly B2P and not F2P so also not focus on the cash-shop as they have now. In stead a focus on expansions and because of that those expansions would make sense.

Also the fact that some people might not be able to pay the game is not really interesting for a company. More then enough will be able to and it’s no charity. Not if a large number of players would not be able to effort it, it would be different but you can expect that by far most people who where able to buy the original game would be able to also buy the expansion a year later.

I am not sure what type of revisions you are talking about. Again, it would make a lot of sense of standalone expansion but not so much for a real expansion that just adds something to the original game. The very few people without the expansion only do not have access to those new things. And when they manage to get the money they will have access to it.

Fernling.1729:

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.

Biggest difference between a F2P and B2P game would imo be how often then release an expansion and how much work would go into cash-shop stuff. F2P game would have less expansions (that cost money) but more stuff in the cash-shop.

B2P games have more expansion but no focus on the cash-shop.

Hyper Cutter.9376:

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.

Yeah a lot lot lot worse then GW2. lol

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_In-Game_Store

Pretty much in-line with what I would expect from a B2P cash-shop. There are a few things I would not want to see in there like the mini’s, the costumes and a few unlocks but overall it’s way less then what we see in the current shop.

Oow and no, the fact that you can use ingame gold for the current game does not make up for that!

The pace of content additions currently is too slow, and they need to improve it if they expect retain players. The method of delivery doesn’t really matter.

Galen Grey.4709:

Devata.6589:

TexZero.7910:

~

~

Its actually a valid concern. Other MMOs work differently then Gw2. They put an expiry date on content and by the end of it you got no choice but to either stop playing or buy an expansion. Gw2 doesnt do that and that makes a big difference. Even if absolutely everyone buys the expansion you’ll still have problems because of that. The majority of people will undoubtily be playing that expansion content so if today I am in the mood of finishing up those couple of zones I skipped I will most likely find a ghost zone (for lack of a better word) and as we saw from the feedback that led to the megaserver that was already an issue with 25 or so zones imagine twice that or 3 times down the line. of course we did get megaservers and that fixed the issue somewhat.

another aspect is obviously not everyone is going to buy the expansion. Financial difficulties, Mainly PvP/WvW player so dont see the use of buying an expansion that mainly takes me to Cantha (one can dream ), The Living Story is enough content for me so why spend the extra money?, I only play sporadically cant justify the fee, I will wait for it to go on sale, I am spending most of my time in Game X so until I get fed up with that no point in buying the expansion, I am on a personal crusade again ncsoft execs getting luxury cars… whatever, people can have many reasons for not buying it. That too will fracture players a bit.

I do think with the megaservers these are not big issues anymore as that technology alone increase concentration by a factor of about 25x and I dont think there will be such a big fracture either way but it was surely a valid concern before megaservers and not some imaginary issue with 0 impact.

“Other MMOs work differently then Gw2. They put an expiry date on content and by the end of it you got no choice but to either stop playing or buy an expansion.” Really? Explain. Never noticed an expiry date on content in ‘other’ mmo’s.

“The majority of people will undoubtily be playing that expansion content so if today I am in the mood of finishing up those couple of zones I skipped I will most likely find a ghost zone” Why would that be? If they make sure they also update the current zones with stuff to keep it relevant (thats indeed what many games forget to do) there will be just as much reason to be there as there is to be anywhere. Sure new stuff will attract more players, but if thats a problem the LS patches (and the two maps) would have had exactly the same effect and so that would not change.

“as we saw from the feedback that led to the megaserver that was already an issue with 25 or so zones imagine twice that or 3 times down the line.” The problem that there where less people in the world? Maybe an expansion would solve that problem getting more people in. Not increase the problem. Maybe that as the world expands people get spread out more (what is not a bad thing imho, but obviously you may disagree with that) but still it would be good to also update those existing maps to keep them relevant so they would still as well attract people. There is not reason that would be impossible.

“Mainly PvP/WvW player so dont see the use of buying an expansion that mainly takes me to Cantha” If there is not new stuff for them in the expansion they might not buy it (so make sure there is stuff for them) but if thats the case it would still not split people up because they will be in the same place as they where before anyway. With our without that expansion.

“The Living Story is enough content for me so why spend the extra money?” To not have a cash-shop focus, to get more people back. Oow and for many people it’s not enough.

So you have a hole post to tell why it’s a valid reason to then end that with the note that it’s not a valid reason anymore but it was. And not megaservers have not much to do with it. If they would not have enough players so servers or maps got empty especially after an expansions they could have simply merged multiple servers like most MMO’s do. So megaserver or not it would not be a problem.

Spectre.6821:

Foreward: The following is the opinion of yet another end user and is no way affiliated with ANET, NC SOFT, or any of their subsidaries. It is a personal opinion and should be counted as such.

Personally I believe an expansion in the classical sense of the term is unneeded and rather foolish at this time. I started GW2 like many others during beta and have watched the game mature, grow, dwindle, grow again, and etc. The one thing A net has maintained consistency on, and declared before the release of this game, was that they wanted to create a living world with a living story. That is why npcs will continue quest lines with or without character involvement, why season 1 living story is unavailable, and why I feel living story 2 should also have been limited time content. The players sojourn into this world, but it doesn’t revolve around them. Other hero’s will answer the call if you are resting in bermuda, or not yet old enough to venture out and seek a name for yourself when the events transpire.

In keeping with that philosophy, how could a net add a profession, race, continent, and/or etc. Without subjecting their world, their story, to unneeded time shifts? Which makes more sense, we finish up with mordremeth, (or hit a brick wall), and then find the Tengu are under a full assault by Primordius’ forces. Facing extinction they turn to the other races of Tyra for help, and as well as joining the pact furthermore offer to train others in their profession “Samurai” in exchange for assistance. This would then open an arc where you delve into the depths of Tyria and find the remnants of Dwarven society who also come to your aid in defeating the Elder dragon. With him slaughtered the dwarves are then freed from their gaes and return to flesh from stone. Not only do they also become a playable race, but then add another class, or what not.

All of this is and more is possible with the living story. And yes it will take time, but another factor to consider here is scope. Compared to its competitors and forebears GW2 is a graphically breathtaking game. Adding a new area that can be jumped around in with obstacles and etc isn’t as simple as it is with the cartoonist graphics of most other games. Especially compared to something like WoW Gw2 has more finite resources. Assume WoW has 3.5 million players. Each pays a subscription fee of 15$ a month. That’s over 45 million a month. Remove operating costs etc. And they still have a stupidly higher revenue. A net can not win going toe to toe with the same model of content, so they need something different. LS covers that ground.

again, Just some idiots 2€ on the interwebs.

“The one thing A net has maintained consistency on, and declared before the release of this game, was that they wanted to create a living world with a living story.” A living and breathing world, yes. The Living story? No that came in after release of the game.

“Without subjecting their world, their story, to unneeded time shifts?” As if that is not happening now? And it;s even more noticeable. With expansion they usually have a story that explains the sudden change but in this living story? Why did they manage to repair LA a little bid in the first few weeks but now while workers are busy there for months they have not make any progress.. until the next patch where Anet decides to fix LA a little more. That was something they did do much betting in the beginning but strange “time shifts” that make no sense are very common now in GW2.

You guys are missing the point. Somebody almost had it earlier, but they didn’t quite connect the dots.

“Why does the NPE experience matter when you’re not advertising/getting new players?”

Good question. Here’s another good one:

“Don’t they realize an expansion would bring back a bunch of people and bring in a ton of new players?”

Of course they do. That’s why they did the NPE: BEFORE you release the expansion/big content drop/whatever, you fix your systems and ensure people have things to do when they come back/buy the game.

Think about Collections. Collections right now are kind of meh. But what about in new zones? Suddenly, Heart vendors have things you want! They have stuff for your Collections! New areas means new skins… which you unlock in the wardrobe!

If I were ArenaNet, my plan would be for LS2 Part 2 to lead into an expansion. We get one more zone heading toward Mordy and the story sets up what we’d be doing in the expansion. Anyway, that’s my bet: they’re working on it, the systems they’re building are necessary for the expansion content to retain players who come back/come in for the new content.

Players that frequent these forums have a vastly over-blown view of just how “ticked off” the player base is. Yes, there are hardcore players that range from raging to disappointed in the current state of the game (I’m one of the later, to be honest), but overall, the general player base is not nearly as upset as much of these forums tend to portray.

I think much of the silence is due to them still making some decisions about what they can and cannot do in an Expansion based on things still being tested via the LS content AND overseas markets being included in the release of any Expansion. Some of that may be timing and them not wanting to announce something a year out from the scheduled release.

Again, all speculation (and some wishful thinking, I suppose).

Fact is now, ever since 2014 the content released is not more than the content other MMOs deliver without their expansion packs. They initially claimed to release content every 2 weeks. It is not even near that. If you want people to play your (MMO)-game you need much, much, much more content: new races, regions, continents, story campaings, professions (classes), craftin disciplines (professions), dungeons, raids, factions with reputation and their unique rewards (this one lacks it completely – even GW1 had it). I mentioned it about 100 times and I cannot mantion it more: this game needs CONTENT, ground solid concrete CONTENT for christ’s sake!

Well I think the most notable part of expansions for RPGs of any sort was new lands. GW1 did it well. Sure, neither Cantha or Elona were as big as Tyria, but they were big. Even EotN North Tyria was pretty big.

It’s logically the best way to recycle content. For example: Title hunters got to vanquish/explore other continents. It may seem like more of a chore, but it really is more game play. And YES, you could take it or leave it as you please.

This is where LS1 fails and LS2 succeeds.

LS1 destroyed LA (several times) and then messed up Kessex Hills. It first added cool new dungeons that people liked, then removed them and burdened fractals with them instead. (Though you could sorta say LS1 added fractals in the first place, that much was good.) Southsun Cove was added, but there was never much of a reason to go there after the events. There was a few story missions, but they are all gone for now.

LS2 so far, has come closer to expansion content. Dry top is a nice permanent zone with challenges and completion achievements of its own. Furthermore, it keeps growing and we’re looking at a potentially large new map section when it’s done. The story missions are permanent, challenging, repeatable and include bonus objectives as well.

It is missing a few things that expansions would more than likely bring. Like a new and separate 100% map completion for example.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Players that frequent these forums have a vastly over-blown view of just how “ticked off” the player base is. Yes, there are hardcore players that range from raging to disappointed in the current state of the game (I’m one of the later, to be honest), but overall, the general player base is not nearly as upset as much of these forums tend to portray.

I think much of the silence is due to them still making some decisions about what they can and cannot do in an Expansion based on things still being tested via the LS content AND overseas markets being included in the release of any Expansion. Some of that may be timing and them not wanting to announce something a year out from the scheduled release.

Again, all speculation (and some wishful thinking, I suppose).

I can only speak from my experience and everyone that I know personally that left did so due to the lack of content, so color me greatly disappointed at the lack of information on Anet’s side. In fact the little to no real effort at communicating their future plans was the underlying cause of why they abandoned the game. Either way that group has now returned to other games I won’t mention and they aren’t looking back. Like I said not being transparent regarding future plans is detrimental to the long term health of the game, not in every case but I most certainly has been for me, and I’m sure others as well. Also the boards are relatively quiet as summer is just ending and people are returning to other things but wait until winter sets in in many areas and people are around to play more and see how things fair then if nothing changes lol!

As far as expansion content, since the game is just now live in China, I would expect the cycle to be build content for NA and EU first then development to work towards making it for the east. If they do it at the same time that means splitting off development teams so we are not left with these 300 or so people are claiming to be working in the background, but half of that. That would translate into far less content than one would imagine coming from their developers, than was originally planned I would assume. But as you’ve said and I continue to say it’s all bloody speculation because it’s all we have.

Devata.6589:

“Is it though? How often have you seen a largely free-to-play game use the traditional box-selling expansion model?” Funny here is that when I about 1,5 year ago said this game was more a F2P game then B2P because they focused on a cash-shop not on expansion sales I got half the forum against me because it was really B2P. Now it has become the standard definition what indeed makes more sense. But it’s also where you make your first wrong assumption. You see, the expansions would be if the game would be truly B2P and not F2P so also not focus on the cash-shop as they have now. In stead a focus on expansions and because of that those expansions would make sense.

Also the fact that some people might not be able to pay the game is not really interesting for a company. More then enough will be able to and it’s no charity. Not if a large number of players would not be able to effort it, it would be different but you can expect that by far most people who where able to buy the original game would be able to also buy the expansion a year later.

I am not sure what type of revisions you are talking about. Again, it would make a lot of sense of standalone expansion but not so much for a real expansion that just adds something to the original game. The very few people without the expansion only do not have access to those new things. And when they manage to get the money they will have access to it.

By revisions, what comes to mind is a game that started out sub model and then it went F2P, and when it went F2P, it made all of the map-related expansion content available to everybody. It then had all of the other cool stuff (such as new professions) behind a paywall.

That’s the kind of thing I’m imagining; you make it so all of the existing players can still play with each other, even in new content, but the rest of it costs money.

If you’re wondering how that would ever work, just think about how F2P works in the first place (or even B2P): Most of the long-term revenue comes from a relatively small percentage of players that has a lot of money.

As for the definition, I understand cause I got jumped on once for referring to this game as essentially F2P without adding any caveats. It’s kind of silly cause the only distinguishable difference between this and a F2P game is that you have to buy the box before you have permanent, full access.

Einlanzer.1627:

The pace of content additions currently is too slow, and they need to improve it if they expect retain players. The method of delivery doesn’t really matter.

^^^This

If they want to keep going with the LS for content delivery then they need to add a map a month. Not a single map piece meal per LS season. They need to release a new playable class and race per LS season. They need to add more traits and skills per LS season. They need to add more weapons per LS season and I mean weapons not skins. It could be just reusing current weapons but adding them to classes that currently can not use them. Like rifles or bows for guardians. These are the kind of things many of us were expecting from the living story but arenanet failed to deliver.

Looking at arenanets recent track history with GW2 I have to say its very unlikely that we will see an expansions worth of content added to the game before any one unlocks a full set of achievement armor. That is even with including the stuff they have already added.

jweez.7214:

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?

First we need two things

1. define retention in a game that you paid once and play forever

2. Define the metric measuring this.

When you try to do this do not get concurrency mixed up with retention. These are 2 very different things.

Lobo Dela Noche.5127:

Einlanzer.1627:

The pace of content additions currently is too slow, and they need to improve it if they expect retain players. The method of delivery doesn’t really matter.

^^^This

If they want to keep going with the LS for content delivery then they need to add a map a month. Not a single map piece meal per LS season. They need to release a new playable class and race per LS season. They need to add more traits and skills per LS season. They need to add more weapons per LS season and I mean weapons not skins. It could be just reusing current weapons but adding them to classes that currently can not use them. Like rifles or bows for guardians. These are the kind of things many of us were expecting from the living story but arenanet failed to deliver.

Looking at arenanets recent track history with GW2 I have to say its very unlikely that we will see an expansions worth of content added to the game before any one unlocks a full set of achievement armor. That is even with including the stuff they have already added.

Replace ‘they need to…’ with ‘I want them to…’. I would love content the size of GW1 Nightfall every 2 weeks. That is impossible to do. I’m pretty sure the size of the content adds you desire are near impossible also. The amount of content we’ve received is fine, particularly as it was no cost to us. Your mileage may, and pr0obably does, vary. Would an expansion be nice? Sure. Do they need to do it? The jury is still out. Would people come back for an expansion? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on why they left.

A figure I’d like to see is a % of active players that have finished what % of all of the content. That would be very telling.

i really want to see a expansion

but i am not a living story person.

i would like to see them add some new areas
and introduce factions and open world pvp/wvw

for a game called (guild wars 2) i think there is to much story

all the conflict is based around story computers.
there is 0 feeling of war between guilds

we have a mega server now and open world war would be awesome

super adventure box is awesome
but be sides that i almost never play any of the up dates
if i am on i am playing pvp/wvw

Einlanzer.1627:

The pace of content additions currently is too slow, and they need to improve it if they expect retain players. The method of delivery doesn’t really matter.

I usually complain in the forums but I try to be objective as much as I can and this I can’t totally agree… They had an amazing pace for updates last year and the first half of 2014… they blew it with features packs and china release.

Roybe.5896:

Replace ‘they need to…’ with ‘I want them to…’. I would love content the size of GW1 Nightfall every 2 weeks. That is impossible to do. I’m pretty sure the size of the content adds you desire are near impossible also. The amount of content we’ve received is fine, particularly as it was no cost to us. Your mileage may, and pr0obably does, vary. Would an expansion be nice? Sure. Do they need to do it? The jury is still out. Would people come back for an expansion? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on why they left.

A figure I’d like to see is a % of active players that have finished what % of all of the content. That would be very telling.

I really don’t see how that would be relevant, it should be more along the lines of what % of what content was completed and how many times. This would give a much better idea of the focus needed to develop content, for instance I have successfully completed 1 dungeon, I don’t care for dungeon content at all, never have, never will. As a game company you know going in that a percentage will finish everything but many won’t and thus what you provide will only ever satisfy to a degree.
Also I’m sorry but the got what you paid for thing is getting tiresome, many of us still here continued to support the game through gem purchases believing we were doing so to get more content and keep the game alive and not outright funding them produce a version for China.
Nowhere did this come to light prior and for good reason, how many would have shut the faucet off knowing this. That being said I don’t put much stock in the got what you paid for argument because frankly I’ve likely invested more than I would have into a subscription based game and have received very little for it this past year.

Vlad Morbius.1759:

Roybe.5896:

Replace ‘they need to…’ with ‘I want them to…’. I would love content the size of GW1 Nightfall every 2 weeks. That is impossible to do. I’m pretty sure the size of the content adds you desire are near impossible also. The amount of content we’ve received is fine, particularly as it was no cost to us. Your mileage may, and pr0obably does, vary. Would an expansion be nice? Sure. Do they need to do it? The jury is still out. Would people come back for an expansion? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on why they left.

A figure I’d like to see is a % of active players that have finished what % of all of the content. That would be very telling.

I really don’t see how that would be relevant, it should be more along the lines of what % of what content was completed and how many times. This would give a much better idea of the focus needed to develop content, for instance I have successfully completed 1 dungeon, I don’t care for dungeon content at all, never have, never will. As a game company you know going in that a percentage will finish everything but many won’t and thus what you provide will only ever satisfy to a degree.
Also I’m sorry but the got what you paid for thing is getting tiresome, many of us still here continued to support the game through gem purchases believing we were doing so to get more content and keep the game alive and not outright funding them produce a version for China.
Nowhere did this come to light prior and for good reason, how many would have shut the faucet off knowing this. That being said I don’t put much stock in the got what you paid for argument because frankly I’ve likely invested more than I would have into a subscription based game and have received very little for it this past year.

buddy thats insane
and subscription games are a rip off

what u pay for in the gem store is what u get

if u can name one time guild wars had said your gem store money will go to future updates ill be surprised but i highly doubt it

i am grateful for what they release ! for FREE

but i think it is getting close for a expansion

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

jweez.7214:

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.

yes, at the moment, i feel that it is slow.
however, i do not mind that.
because, it allows me to spend time on other games other than guild wars 2.

regarding monetizing, i think they are doing well with the constant update of gem store skins.

This is a problem.

If GW2 wants to be a primary game and play with the big boys they need to get people to go to them first and have their name on the top of the list.

really the question should be what do u want to see in a expansion to gather support for a expansion !

there is a lot of new games on the horizon

side note: GW2 blows arche age out of the water in terms of combat.
but arche age has allot of stuff gw2 does not have …. almost to much!

chew on that.
if u have played arche age u know what i am talking about

caveman.5840:

buddy thats insane
and subscription games are a rip off

what u pay for in the gem store is what u get

if u can name one time guild wars had said your gem store money will go to future updates ill be surprised but i highly doubt it

i am grateful for what they release ! for FREE

but i think it is getting close for a expansion

I’m also not naïve enough to think that the costs of items in the gem store reflects the development costs put into making them, of course buying gems is the way the game is getting compensated, it isn’t a subscription based product. Insanity is thinking they will just do all this and pay their staff from the cleaning person to the management out of the goodness of their hearts, or a secret stash they kept from the original sales.
Yes, you get something for the gems but do not for one minute think this isn’t their way of recouping costs to fund the continued growth of the game.

Yes it’s due for a major expansion, and it should come in a boxed, or DL format otherwise they won’t make the revenue needed, or keep enough going to grow the product. LS and additional gem store products will fizzle the population down far enough it won’t be viable to keep it going especially if it continues in the dribble format we’ve been getting it.
If it is happening only those managing know and that is the sad part for most of the long term players asking the question.

Vlad Morbius.1759:

Roybe.5896:

Replace ‘they need to…’ with ‘I want them to…’. I would love content the size of GW1 Nightfall every 2 weeks. That is impossible to do. I’m pretty sure the size of the content adds you desire are near impossible also. The amount of content we’ve received is fine, particularly as it was no cost to us. Your mileage may, and pr0obably does, vary. Would an expansion be nice? Sure. Do they need to do it? The jury is still out. Would people come back for an expansion? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on why they left.

A figure I’d like to see is a % of active players that have finished what % of all of the content. That would be very telling.

I really don’t see how that would be relevant, it should be more along the lines of what % of what content was completed and how many times. This would give a much better idea of the focus needed to develop content, for instance I have successfully completed 1 dungeon, I don’t care for dungeon content at all, never have, never will. As a game company you know going in that a percentage will finish everything but many won’t and thus what you provide will only ever satisfy to a degree.
Also I’m sorry but the got what you paid for thing is getting tiresome, many of us still here continued to support the game through gem purchases believing we were doing so to get more content and keep the game alive and not outright funding them produce a version for China.
Nowhere did this come to light prior and for good reason, how many would have shut the faucet off knowing this. That being said I don’t put much stock in the got what you paid for argument because frankly I’ve likely invested more than I would have into a subscription based game and have received very little for it this past year.

All bad choices you decided to make. I bought stuff from the store because I liked it. My support through purchases has nothing to do with the direction of the game, nor its survival. I continue to get my money’s worth while I continue to have fun. It’s a game. I don’t ‘play’ anything unless I am enjoying myself.

Misaligned expectations are just that. To keep them aligned on what you want, rather than what you have, is unproductive. You can try to make suggestion to a multimillion dollar company, but expecting them to listen is unrealistic. They might, they might not…or worse, figure out some way to give you what you want and charge you more for it. Sorry you feel like you overpaid, or worse, are entitled to something because you gave money to it. Next time I would suggest getting a contract for your demands. You’re expectations not being met are causing you distress and are self inflicted.

It doesn’t matter how many times the playerbase has finished something. The important fact is how many haven’t finished it at all. I do not care how many times someone grinds something. I want to know what % of my population that is active still has fresh content before them. If to many have fresh content then any new content means that my population is lagging behind releases and I am overspending on my content creation. I can use my assets to better the game in other ways, rather than feeding a few people constantly. That’s why it’s more important.

We don’t need expansions in this game but that’s really hoping ANet steps up their game with the LS. It’s an amazing vehicle for expansion but they haven’t utilized it nearly enough.

Prophet.6257:

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

jweez.7214:

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.

yes, at the moment, i feel that it is slow.
however, i do not mind that.
because, it allows me to spend time on other games other than guild wars 2.

regarding monetizing, i think they are doing well with the constant update of gem store skins.

This is a problem.

If GW2 wants to be a primary game and play with the big boys they need to get people to go to them first and have their name on the top of the list.

Here’s the rub. You are considering concurrency with retention. Concurrency is how many people play at a time. Retention is how many people will ‘buy’ the next product. Concurrency looks at how many people are on a map, in a town, etc. Retention is how many people login…to download new content, look at the gem store, etc. These are 2 numbers that are different. NCSoft does not care for concurrency as much as they care about retention. Concurrency costs money. Retention potentially increases profits. It doesn’t matter to NCsoft if I play D3 for 6 moths rather than GW2, as long as I login to get new content every time it drops. WalMart doesn’t care if you shop at Sears, as long as you enter their store more than Sears.

Cuddy.6247:

We don’t need expansions in this game but that’s really hoping ANet steps up their game with the LS. It’s an amazing vehicle for expansion but they haven’t utilized it nearly enough.

all they do is focus on story content
there is some pvp/wvw up dates but

i kinda wish they would focus on wvw and pvp a lil more than the story
all i am trying to say is the story does not keep me coming back to the game

Roybe.5896:

Lobo Dela Noche.5127:

Einlanzer.1627:

The pace of content additions currently is too slow, and they need to improve it if they expect retain players. The method of delivery doesn’t really matter.

^^^This

If they want to keep going with the LS for content delivery then they need to add a map a month. Not a single map piece meal per LS season. They need to release a new playable class and race per LS season. They need to add more traits and skills per LS season. They need to add more weapons per LS season and I mean weapons not skins. It could be just reusing current weapons but adding them to classes that currently can not use them. Like rifles or bows for guardians. These are the kind of things many of us were expecting from the living story but arenanet failed to deliver.

Looking at arenanets recent track history with GW2 I have to say its very unlikely that we will see an expansions worth of content added to the game before any one unlocks a full set of achievement armor. That is even with including the stuff they have already added.

Replace ‘they need to…’ with ‘I want them to…’. I would love content the size of GW1 Nightfall every 2 weeks. That is impossible to do. I’m pretty sure the size of the content adds you desire are near impossible also. The amount of content we’ve received is fine, particularly as it was no cost to us. Your mileage may, and pr0obably does, vary. Would an expansion be nice? Sure. Do they need to do it? The jury is still out. Would people come back for an expansion? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on why they left.

A figure I’d like to see is a % of active players that have finished what % of all of the content. That would be very telling.

It’s not. Not if you’ve played other MMOs. It’s actually inexcusably slow.

Devata.6589:

“Other MMOs work differently then Gw2. They put an expiry date on content and by the end of it you got no choice but to either stop playing or buy an expansion.” Really? Explain. Never noticed an expiry date on content in ‘other’ mmo’s.

It really needs explaining? Finished a quest cannot be done again, any content that is my level – 3 levels gives no XP, no rewards. mobs my level -5 levels can be one shot etc.. That mechanism funnels all players towards the same end game content because at max level there is just those end tier raids that are still viable.

Devata.6589:

Why would that be? If they make sure they also update the current zones with stuff to keep it relevant (thats indeed what many games forget to do) there will be just as much reason to be there as there is to be anywhere. Sure new stuff will attract more players, but if thats a problem the LS patches (and the two maps) would have had exactly the same effect and so that would not change.

That’s precisely the problem however. You’re right the problem already exists to a degree but an expansion will make it that much worst. Lets say they release Cantha and make LS updates equally distributed between Kryta and Cantha. That means people who didnt buy the expansion will feel jaded cause now they’re getting 1/2 the updates and people who did buy the expansion will feel jaded cause only 1/2 the updates are supporting the expansion they bought. Anet will burn out even more cause now they need to support 2 different storylines and 2 different art start with the living story.

Devata.6589:

The problem that there where less people in the world?

The problem is like I said Gw2 doesnt put an expiry date on content like other MMOs do and thus instead of people being funneled in the same content they get fragmented. An expansion will bring some players back sure but those players will come pack to play the expansion not the old content cause else they wouldnt have felt in the first place. Thus in this context an expansion will definitely be detrimental rather then helpful (though like I said probably with the megaserver this is no longer an issue)

Devata.6589:

If there is not new stuff for them in the expansion they might not buy it (so make sure there is stuff for them) but if thats the case it would still not split people up because they will be in the same place as they where before anyway. With our without that expansion.

If you do stuff that exclusive to the expansion like a new WvW area or new sPvP maps that only people with the expansion have access to you’ll fragment PvP players It may even be fatal for WvW on some servers that already find it hard to field enough players to the existing battle ground imagine needed twice as many.

Devata.6589:

To not have a cash-shop focus, to get more people back. Oow and for many people it’s not enough.

No cash shop focus is not realistic. Every single B2P game out there has a cash shop, well actually every MMO out there regardless of business model has a cash shop (except for wildstar I believe).

Devata.6589:

So you have a hole post to tell why it’s a valid reason to then end that with the note that it’s not a valid reason anymore but it was. And not megaservers have not much to do with it. If they would not have enough players so servers or maps got empty especially after an expansions they could have simply merged multiple servers like most MMO’s do. So megaserver or not it would not be a problem.

I was replying to your statement "Not to be a meany but you know this is a really bad reason that is kinda nonsense. " which you told TexZero regarding Expansions fracturing the community.

Merging servers works when the issue is not having enough players playing the game, it doesnt work when the issue is player fragmentation. That wasnt the issue here. many mid level maps where pretty empty on my server but go to a high level map, a world boss, or even one which includes guild mission instances and you’ll end up in an overflow.

Not changing just because u invested into something that clearly doesn’t rise to the expectation of most of your customers would probably be one of the dumbest business models i have heard off…worth being put in the bible next to random disasters.

Rebound.3409:

Not changing just because u invested into something that clearly doesn’t rise to the expectation of most of your customers would probably be one of the dumbest business models i have heard off…worth being put in the bible next to random disasters.

RFLMAO! That made me spit my coffee out, great line. As far as splitting the player base, do you really think that people won’t be able to purchase an expansion? I can’t imagine those who have a computer and play online can’t put $40.00 together, let’s be realistic shall we.
Anyway the expansion can come in may forms, and that’s exactly what Collins said, however as far as what is best for the game to me regardless of the delivery method “more content” is needed. When I say more I mean large amounts of content, going into year 3 of the game the delivery has been abysmal and a far, far cry from what most expected regardless of how it was to come. The LS failed to deliver enough in many cases and a large input is sorely needed, and not all of it gem store related.

I really don’t think they’ve prove their point. We got 2 healing skills and 1 extra grandmaster trait for line for each class after 2 years. I mean, I don’t know about you but that’s really not much in terms of actual character development.

Kurrilino.2706:

All these “secret expansion is in work” hopers are completely delusional.

Maybe. Maybe not. Devs work in mysterious ways. Just when you think you’ve got them figured out…

During the living story releases it was evident that many people were logging on the first day or the first few days of the story’s release and then would not log in until the next step. Two weeks breaks are fine but this phenomena would also be seen with expansions especially if they are as “needed” as people claim them to be.

This leads to the question of what is better in terms of game health and revenue. Is it a life line of expansions that part of the population will buy to complete in under a week or month? This would result in spike activity at certain times and stagnation in the rest especially if people want as much new stuff in the expansions as they have stated (new classes, races, etc.).
Or is it better to have a slower medium of content delivery that gives incentive to at least log in bimonthly and play for a day or two for free and be informed of all of the new gem store items that are regularly introduced? This is part is apparently sustainable by 20 people, but I think should have more support to release more content (which is primarily what everyone wants).

An expansion would also probably shift the revenue stream from GW2 completely and end up being the primary source of revenue if enough people keep buying it and playing in longer bursts. This will also weaken the revenue from gems since the people bursting would be less exposed to releases. Another problem is WvWvW and sPvP both of these strive to achieve a competitive scene and the fragmented nature of expansions can hurt this a lot especially the WvW. Expansions would also remove incentives to improve these areas since expansions are mainly pve (pvp would be too unfair) and may become the primary source of revenue. The retention from wvw would then be insignificant. The longer burst nature would also be very harmful to wvw.

Living story can alleviate most of the concerns if only it produces more diverse content and well produces more. The problem is that content would always be slower than the player mastery of the content. One concern with living story however is that it does not seem to be as marketable as an expansion. This can be mended if Anet were to release teasers for the whole season but that can be bit spoilerly.

While I agree with some points, I truly feel that expansions will give much greater replay ability than the LS can especially in it’s current format. They have lost an entire years worth with the temporary content that they attempted to fix but at the end of the day the current format is mostly an instanced type of content rather than open world, which again fractures the player base.
As far as revenue, along with the immediate financial benefits of an expansion, there would be far more opportunities to add to the gem store obviously since it would likely introduce a whole host of new armor types and probably a race or two. These would take minimal effort to produce and could continue to provide income much the same as it does today in the LS. Also if they are using a small team to do LS there is no reason whatsoever not to do both styles of content updates, what could be better than expansion every 18 months with limited LS to keep things fresh and cash flowing?

I think they need to stick with the LS platform at this point and just ramp up the deliveries (in frequency and size).

If an expansion was introduced I’m not sure I would buy it at this point. I would have a year ago but my interest has waned. Popping in occasionally to see the latest LS episode or complete a monthly is about it for me now.

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.

It’s only a good platform if they actually release enough content that is worthy of an expansion. So far, this hasn’t been the case. Living story hasn’t given us a new continent full of zones, multiple dungeons, new races or classes, etc.

jweez.7214:

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.

How is this not deceptive?

Labjax.2465:

Devata.6589:

“Is it though? How often have you seen a largely free-to-play game use the traditional box-selling expansion model?” Funny here is that when I about 1,5 year ago said this game was more a F2P game then B2P because they focused on a cash-shop not on expansion sales I got half the forum against me because it was really B2P. Now it has become the standard definition what indeed makes more sense. But it’s also where you make your first wrong assumption. You see, the expansions would be if the game would be truly B2P and not F2P so also not focus on the cash-shop as they have now. In stead a focus on expansions and because of that those expansions would make sense.

Also the fact that some people might not be able to pay the game is not really interesting for a company. More then enough will be able to and it’s no charity. Not if a large number of players would not be able to effort it, it would be different but you can expect that by far most people who where able to buy the original game would be able to also buy the expansion a year later.

I am not sure what type of revisions you are talking about. Again, it would make a lot of sense of standalone expansion but not so much for a real expansion that just adds something to the original game. The very few people without the expansion only do not have access to those new things. And when they manage to get the money they will have access to it.

By revisions, what comes to mind is a game that started out sub model and then it went F2P, and when it went F2P, it made all of the map-related expansion content available to everybody. It then had all of the other cool stuff (such as new professions) behind a paywall.

That’s the kind of thing I’m imagining; you make it so all of the existing players can still play with each other, even in new content, but the rest of it costs money.

If you’re wondering how that would ever work, just think about how F2P works in the first place (or even B2P): Most of the long-term revenue comes from a relatively small percentage of players that has a lot of money.

As for the definition, I understand cause I got jumped on once for referring to this game as essentially F2P without adding any caveats. It’s kind of silly cause the only distinguishable difference between this and a F2P game is that you have to buy the box before you have permanent, full access.

How that would work? Again, i’m talking about a B2P model, not F2P. So then most of the long-term revenue would come from all the players, not from a small percentage of players like in a F2P game. (not sure how small that is because F2P game tent to scare those not willing to spend money on that sort of stuff away).

Galen Grey.4709:

Devata.6589:

“Other MMOs work differently then Gw2. They put an expiry date on content and by the end of it you got no choice but to either stop playing or buy an expansion.” Really? Explain. Never noticed an expiry date on content in ‘other’ mmo’s.

It really needs explaining? Finished a quest cannot be done again, any content that is my level – 3 levels gives no XP, no rewards. mobs my level -5 levels can be one shot etc.. That mechanism funnels all players towards the same end game content because at max level there is just those end tier raids that are still viable.

Because people enjoy doing the same events over and over again? No, also in GW2 most people end up in some ‘end-game’. Sometimes that is grinding one event but they don’t keep repeating events or doing lower level events for the fun (maybe for map completion but also then only once per character, just like with quest). So that makes no difference whatsoever.

And those other games also allow for a lot of repeatable content.
Not to mention that in ‘those other games’ there are a lot reasons to be active in those lower level zones. For reputations for rewards or to get a special mount or a special mini or a special skin or a special recipe and so on and so on. Of course that is also until you have what you want but might in fact keep you playing longer there then GW2 does because it does not have a lot of that sort of rewards hidden all over the world. They put that mainly in the cash-shop.

So no, there is not an expiry date on content in those other games more as it is here.

Galen Grey.4709:

Devata.6589:

Why would that be? If they make sure they also update the current zones with stuff to keep it relevant (thats indeed what many games forget to do) there will be just as much reason to be there as there is to be anywhere. Sure new stuff will attract more players, but if thats a problem the LS patches (and the two maps) would have had exactly the same effect and so that would not change.

That’s precisely the problem however. You’re right the problem already exists to a degree but an expansion will make it that much worst. Lets say they release Cantha and make LS updates equally distributed between Kryta and Cantha. That means people who didnt buy the expansion will feel jaded cause now they’re getting 1/2 the updates and people who did buy the expansion will feel jaded cause only 1/2 the updates are supporting the expansion they bought. Anet will burn out even more cause now they need to support 2 different storylines and 2 different art start with the living story.

Different story lines? No, just make some updates to existing zones, update some events (to also make them interesting for max level players). But obviously 90% of the new stuff should be in the new expansion. And if those who did not buy the expansions feel jaded they can buy the expansion. Not to mention that at this moment also a lot of people are bored.

Galen Grey.4709:

Devata.6589:

If there is not new stuff for them in the expansion they might not buy it (so make sure there is stuff for them) but if thats the case it would still not split people up because they will be in the same place as they where before anyway. With our without that expansion.

If you do stuff that exclusive to the expansion like a new WvW area or new sPvP maps that only people with the expansion have access to you’ll fragment PvP players It may even be fatal for WvW on some servers that already find it hard to field enough players to the existing battle ground imagine needed twice as many.

All these assumptions of you are only true if a much smaller group of people will buy the expansions. An assumption that seems very unlikely. If the expansion is good by far most active players will buy it.

Galen Grey.4709:

Devata.6589:

To not have a cash-shop focus, to get more people back. Oow and for many people it’s not enough.

No cash shop focus is not realistic. Every single B2P game out there has a cash shop, well actually every MMO out there regardless of business model has a cash shop (except for wildstar I believe).

So because most games try to earn some additional money with cash-shops it’s unrealistic to have none? Anyway while that already is untrue the keyword here was focus! I did not say No cash-shop. They can still have a cash-shop where they sell some stuff like additional character slots, name-changer, race-changer, total make-over, expansions to the game, guild-name changer. All that “our of game” sort of stuff would be fine.

Vlad Morbius.1759:

Also if they are using a small team to do LS there is no reason whatsoever not to do both styles of content updates, what could be better than expansion every 18 months with limited LS to keep things fresh and cash flowing?

I completely agree with this, why not do both?