Guild Wars 2

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/season-2-returns-on-january-13/

It appears that Anet is taking another 6 week break from their small updates to focus on PvP.

I do not believe that Anet is putting out content at an appropriate pace for a AAA MMO and should push the release forward to coincide with the Wintersday patch since it contains no new content and is just a rehash of last year.

As unfortunate as the timing of this break may be, it’s not like they have everything in the can and are just picking release dates. Imagine your response if you were working on a large project — say, a term paper, or a mural on the side of a building — and someone said “I know your due date is in six weeks, but I’d really like you to finish next week instead.” You wouldn’t be able to do it, not with any reasonable quality.

Hahaha! Seriously?? My worst case scenario was that next week would be finale, and now LAST episode turns out to be the finale?? Priceless!

Oh, by Abaddon’s rasta haircut… please please wake up Anet, the Living Story delivery method of content does not work!

Mark Katzbach.9084:

I’m not sure where this rumor that the break is to focus on PvP is coming from. The team that works on PvP is very different from the team that works on Living World updates. The break is for the holiday. The 16th is the last release date before people start taking time off to travel or spend with their families. It also happens to be time for Wintersday, which will run from that day until the first update of the new year on January 13.

There isn’t much different between this break and the break we took last year, or the year before, for the same reasons. I understand you’re all excited for episode 8, but it wouldn’t make much sense for Wintersday to happen after the new year.

I completely understand that, and I won’t speak for everyone(or even myself), just some of those that would like to continue the LS. What I think they’re asking for is the LS2 Ep.8 to be released concurrently with Wintersday. So that they story is contiguous and once they’ve completed it they can go right into Wintersday activities, and not have them be separate releases, but again, I get your stance, it’s consistent with past release schedules.

Yes, definitely, Wintersday should be released concurrently with Episode 8. That would both make sense (4 episodes, break, 4 episodes) and would provide more content for the Winter vacation time that all companies have around this time of year (4 week break). This would also be consistent with pretty much every holiday/LS release combination of the past.

While I understand company limitations, staff limitations due to holidays, and so forth, I very much feel that this should’ve been planned for well in advance and that releasing them concurrently would’ve been the best.

Zaklex.6308:

I completely understand that, and I won’t speak for everyone(or even myself), just some of those that would like to continue the LS. What I think they’re asking for is the LS2 Ep.8 to be released concurrently with Wintersday. So that they story is contiguous and once they’ve completed it they can go right into Wintersday activities, and not have them be separate releases, but again, I get your stance, it’s consistent with past release schedules.

It would Make the world seem more alive as well by having it concurrent.
while the rest of tyria are trying to celabrate wintersday the brave men and woman are fighting to keep us safe.
could even have events where you have to go around giving out presents to soldiers around tyria
it dosnt have to link with living world to be on at the same time

I dont see anything wrong with waiting a little bit, we will have Wintersday to occupy us, just as expected. Why should we have 2 patches at the same time? That doesn’t make sense to me.

I don’t understand OP’s title. What do you mean “reconsider?” Do you want them to shift their schedule up by a week? You’d still get the same total amount of content. Or do you want them to come up with content on the fly?

The amount of content we get is the amount of content they are able to produce. Not much you can do about that.

I think OP is expecting Anet to sit there with a load of red buttons for each patch saying ‘release’. Patch is not going to be ready before the deadline, simple as that.

I think the feedback to take when you strip away all the rage, is how rhe schedule is planned for the year. The last episode didnt really end, so people rightfully feel a bit like the episode was only half played.

Maybe next year, as feedback, have a more natural way to leave the story before a break or ensure it ends. Or before wintersday starts. Because of also how close the team keeps things close to its chest, there is nothing apart from another episode to get excited about. Maybe give a teaser to generate exitement?

Thats my feedback.

I’m glad the living story and holiday patches are being kept separate. Having them together would be like the boss asking you to work on Christmas.

Why not start the living story two weeks earlier, WAAAAY back when, so that you could have chapter 8 start on the second, and wintersday on the 16th?

Its fine to give feedback for the future, it just seems bizarre to demand the patch now which is what the OP is doing. I agree it might be a bit naugty to have a break right before the last episode but if they didn’t manage to fit it into the schedule any other way then so be it. Regardless of when the patch hits I will still enjoy my holiday

Gaile Gray.6029:

Donari.5237:

As unfortunate as the timing of this break may be, it’s not like they have everything in the can and are just picking release dates. Imagine your response if you were working on a large project — say, a term paper, or a mural on the side of a building — and someone said “I know your due date is in six weeks, but I’d really like you to finish next week instead.” You wouldn’t be able to do it, not with any reasonable quality.

Thank you for a reasonable comment that really stands out for its logic and perception. It’s true: The team can’t roll out content a month in advance on request. There is a plan and a master schedule, and with the much-loved and keenly-anticipated Wintersday Festival, Episode 8 will receive its full due in January, as intended. And as outlined in Colin’s blog post, there are other nice things coming, too!

Please, if this thread is going to continue, I ask you to think before posting. This is a forum, sure, but let’s all do our part to tamp down the DramaBeast with his +5-gazillion to Hype Attacks.

I think many understand the reason why it is happening.

The problem is more the way it happened.
The last LS Episode ended as too many other episodes before on an Cliffhanger. Even though it was enjoyable, the content itself was nothing more than filler for many.
Which is even more concerning with the episode before having the same feeling.

We got two “filler” in a row, with endings that felt like someone said: “_cut, we continue next week.”_

It just isn`t a satisfied way to end the year. More so if episode 8 really is the last episode of this season.

Please understand that we know about the supposed Masterplan an possible inenr workings enough to understand your reasoning as a company.

However can we ask (or at least I, since I feel bad for speaking for others) you please understand that it feels like dangling the keys in front our noses right now?
Even though you do good, frustration is growing and this decision does not help the cause.

Not even the rehashed wonderful Wintersday most of us have allready seen, will change that.

However, since it is allready decided and all we can do is stay frustrated (yeah, sorry, I do not expect any satisfying developements here. I will have to wait.), happy holidays for the staff that goes out?

One question, are we really waiting 6 weeks for final episode or there is something more?

Sorry, but this is just very, very poor scheduling.

Doesn’t ANet work with time tables? Who in any meeting would have thought, that splitting up the LS again was a good idea?

It is hard to see the LS as season, if there are more and longer breaks in the season, than there are between other seasons, like on TV. Too random.

Work with a timeline, work with a scheduler, or hire someone who will actually coordinate things for kittens sake.

Well yeah, let’s throw some snowballs from last year for 4 weeks, that is really what your playerbase wants. Doesn’t feel like this whole Mordremoth story got streched out too much at all. C’mon.

We get more LS season 2 free periods than we actually get content. What is this a competition for minimalism? And who gets two weeks off for christmas anyways?

The child already fell in the well for this year. We have to deal with it. I will concentrate on the events the next patch will provide us.

But still it feels wrong to me to separate one single episode from the rest and put it in the middle of nowhere. Maybe there are two episodes planned like many TV series do it for their season finale. Putting things in such an exposed position can create many high expectations the finale was never intended to fulfill.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Xiem.4719:

One question, are we really waiting 6 weeks for final episode or there is something more?

Xiem — Have you had a chance to read the blog post? It’s here: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/season-2-returns-on-january-13/

I’m not asking about wintersday, pvp/wvw, but living story, is there only 1 episode left?
[don’t want to sound rude, just my english isn’t that good]

Gaile Gray.6029:

Xiem.4719:

One question, are we really waiting 6 weeks for final episode or there is something more?

Xiem — Have you had a chance to read the blog post? It’s here: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/season-2-returns-on-january-13/

That does not answer his question. Is it more than one episode or not?

So far most people are onkly expecting one more, sicne we had 4 before the break, which was supposed to be the halfway point.

If the final is stretched out like the final of season 1 that is a different matter.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Xiem.4719:

One question, are we really waiting 6 weeks for final episode or there is something more?

Xiem — Have you had a chance to read the blog post? It’s here: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/season-2-returns-on-january-13/

The post says that a pivotal moment is coming up, but it seems like a lot of people think that the next (Jan 13) episode is the final episode in the season. Is that the case, or does Season 2 run through the spring?

This is also a strange thing for me: a season where I have no idea how many episodes is contains.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/season-2-returns-on-january-13/

It appears that Anet is taking another 6 week break from their small updates to focus on PvP.

I do not believe that Anet is putting out content at an appropriate pace for a AAA MMO and should push the release forward to coincide with the Wintersday patch since it contains no new content and is just a rehash of last year.

Have a heart. The holiday season is upon us, and many schools and corporations let up on the workload this time of the year to allow their students/employees to enjoy more time with their friends and/or families. I’m curious as to what you feel is an appropriate pace for new content in a free-to-play game.

Guild Wars content isn’t generated by robots. The people bringing us this stuff have lives of their own and should have the same opportunity to enjoy the holidays that we do.

Gaile Gray.6029:

May I ask why you feel that way? Why have two conflicting or competing things going on in a time period when many people have a lot going on in their lives — family obligations, travel, parties, events — which leaves them with less time to log in to their favorite game?

I respect this side of the argument, but consider also that many people will finally be able to take some vacation time from work or will be off of school or some such that gives them more time to think about playing games. I speak for myself when I say that my time on GW2 will increase substantially over the winter holiday season even though I will also be spending a lot of time on familial obligations.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Why not have each release get the spotlight and the player attention that each so richly deserves?

A rehashed holiday — by both design and definition — is going to garner far less attention because it is exactly what we’ve seen before with a very slight twist. Halloween 2014, for example, was fun and something to do, but certainly didn’t shine much in the limelight due to the fact that the core content was identical to the previous year. Given that the same will be true of Wintersday, having another content update alongside it will really give players something to be wowed over.

Gaile Gray.6029:

And why roll out content (some are suggesting just days before a holiday break) that would be difficult if not impossible to maintain with holiday travel, developer unavailability, etc.?

We pride ourselves on addressing issues as promptly as possible, but if an issue arises over a holiday break, it can be very challenging to take care of a problem. (I know this from personal experience: I worked with a server programmer through a full New Year’s Day to address an issue years ago. He was able to get things back to normal, but it was asking a lot to do that.)

This is a much more valid point for sure, but at the same time I think should be ameliorated by proper project planning. As a project manager for dozens of developers myself, I can tell you that I’m releasing a major update to a piece of software to the government next week that we are perfectly suited to support even with hotfixes because we planned for the necessary resources ahead of time. This leaves no surprises, and keeps the people involved happy since we coordinate ahead of time who can be available at what times for possible work.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Saying “This is what I want” is fine. But is what you want really logical? In my opinion the decision of the two release dates makes sense on several levels.

I think it is, and I think I’ve appropriately explained why. I don’t think you’re obliged to follow my suggestions (or anyone’s here), but I at least want to make sure you understand it and why it can work, and more importantly why it is a good suggestion despite the difficulties in getting it handled.

The pros here are numerous:

• More content for a long break
• 2-week cadence successfully maintained
• Players feel like they have short and long term goals because they can finish working on their luminescent armor sets (and other stuff) over the long break
• Natural continuity of content (finishes with a big finale in the same year)

Hopefully now you’ll understand where I am coming from.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Donari.5237:

As unfortunate as the timing of this break may be, it’s not like they have everything in the can and are just picking release dates. Imagine your response if you were working on a large project — say, a term paper, or a mural on the side of a building — and someone said “I know your due date is in six weeks, but I’d really like you to finish next week instead.” You wouldn’t be able to do it, not with any reasonable quality.

Thank you for a reasonable comment that really stands out for its logic and perception. It’s true: The team can’t roll out content a month in advance on request. There is a plan and a master schedule, and with the much-loved and keenly-anticipated Wintersday Festival, Episode 8 will receive its full due in January, as intended. And as outlined in Colin’s blog post, there are other nice things coming, too!

Please, if this thread is going to continue, I ask you to think before posting. This is a forum, sure, but let’s all do our part to tamp down the DramaBeast with his +5-gazillion to Hype Attacks.

You could however have planned this more proper in advance. In the future, it might be smarter to not do a format like the following; 8 episode season with a mid season break and then a break before the finale episode. No TV-show producer would ever do this as it’s stupid and kills ratings. I understand that the 16th was the only logical date to start wintersday and that doing LS update at the same time as wintersday is also not a good solution (hey lets all throw snowballs while mordremoth is destroying the world). What you could have been done though was make it so December 5 was the finale episode. That would have been better story pacing/flow.

You must understand this is just a drip in a much larger bucket of growing annoyances with the game and the company as a whole. There is almost zero transparancy. Look past the fact that I’m a gaming fanboy and read into this objectively. Look at any company in any other field or sector. No transparancy is a 70s and 80s thing. It does no longer fit with modern society. Companies NEED to be transparant. This includes you.
No one cares about your policy. Blizzard doesn’t do it, they promise content that later gets iterated or cancelled all the time. WoW still has 10 million subscribers, it doesn’t seem to hurt them all that much. That is because the fact that you are transparant is going to weigh far heavier then those couple cancelled features that were promised.

The amount of content (be it duration of episodes, total number of stuff to do or discontinued parts of the game like dungeons) is severly lacking, compared to other MMO’s. We do not know the reason. Is it because you are all working on something great? Then fine, I’ll wait a year with zero content for a banging and booming expansion. But at least tell us. Right now for all we know, this game could be on its way to being shelved indefinitely. We can’t know cuz you aren’t telling us. Some people read into the lack of content as it being becuz you are all diverting resources to a big expansion and thus have less development time for the LS. Others think it’s becuz you are out of money or rather, do not have enough money, time, developers to keep up with the rate at which the players consume your content. Whichever it is, we need to know.

All kinds of small things like armor type sorting being in the TP took almost 2 years and a feature pack to be in the game while it should have been in at launch or at least patched in quite soon after.

Add all of these things together and players are getting fed up and something as small as wintersday butting in before the final episode is met with much more negativity and hostility then it would have if everything else in the game was all kitten-dory.

Please view this as constructive criticism. I want this game to shine just as bad as the developers. Everything I say is becuz I am passionate.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Donari.5237:

As unfortunate as the timing of this break may be, it’s not like they have everything in the can and are just picking release dates. Imagine your response if you were working on a large project — say, a term paper, or a mural on the side of a building — and someone said “I know your due date is in six weeks, but I’d really like you to finish next week instead.” You wouldn’t be able to do it, not with any reasonable quality.

Thank you for a reasonable comment that really stands out for its logic and perception. It’s true: The team can’t roll out content a month in advance on request. There is a plan and a master schedule, and with the much-loved and keenly-anticipated Wintersday Festival, Episode 8 will receive its full due in January, as intended. And as outlined in Colin’s blog post, there are other nice things coming, too!

Please, if this thread is going to continue, I ask you to think before posting. This is a forum, sure, but let’s all do our part to tamp down the DramaBeast with his +5-gazillion to Hype Attacks.

The issue I see here, is that ArenaNet had promised a bi-weekly schedule. Now, we got our mid-season break, so this leads me to wonder why we get another, especially given that Episodes 6 and 7 were so minimal in content (I find it hard to believe that Episode 7, especially, took a lot of QA time given that all of it is 3 instances + an, albeit insanely large, jumping puzzle). ANd even more especially so since we’ve been told that, like Halloween, Wintersday will be featuring very little new. New decorations and rewards, most likely, just like Halloween, but nothing that would require a lot of focus from Anet diverted from Episode 8.

The only explanation that I can think of is that Episode 8 is larger than even Episode 5 was.

After all, being on the same release as Wintersday did not stop the Tower of Nightmares arc last year, which got 2 instances, a fullblow cutscene cinematic, several new events, and a new map layout for Kessex Hills (including the removal of waypoints, alterations of hearts, and relocation of NPCs, as well as new ambient dialogue throughout the zone) – on top of Wintersday stuff being slightly altered.

If this break was planned from the get go, I’m not sure why Episode 7 was so small in new content. One would expect it to be large enough to tide the players over until Episode 8, given the lack of new Wintersday stuff will no doubt disinterest players.

So I’ll just formerly request one thing:

Can you give us an explanation for why Episode 8 is, by all appearances, delayed?

Addendum:
“much-loved and keenly-anticipated Wintersday Festival” – this, to me, describes Wintersday in GW1, which got new things every year until Guild Wars 2’s release. Wintersday has yet to really get new things on par to the evolution of GW1’s Wintersday, and I don’t see that “keenly anticipation” that you apparently do.

But maybe I’m just turning cynical over the rather poor management decisions (from the view of the consumer).

Mark Katzbach.9084:

I’m not sure where this rumor that the break is to focus on PvP is coming from. The team that works on PvP is very different from the team that works on Living World updates. The break is for the holiday. The 16th is the last release date before people start taking time off to travel or spend with their families. It also happens to be time for Wintersday, which will run from that day until the first update of the new year on January 13.

There isn’t much different between this break and the break we took last year, or the year before, for the same reasons. I understand you’re all excited for episode 8, but it wouldn’t make much sense for Wintersday to happen after the new year.

This is perfectly reasonable, and I personally don’t care whether I have to wait a few weeks or not.

My only input here is, if (as we all know) the schedule is known way in advance, why not share some of that information with your playerbase?

I assume that many players are disappointed now because they, also, took time off over the holidays, and maybe planned to spend that time playing the new content.

If you’d let us known the general roadmap (without going into content too much), we all could have planned our lives around your game (as, sadly, many of us do) and that’d be that. There might be opinions about your schedule, but not the emotional outburst we’re witnessing right now. You keep us guessing —> we’re guessing wrong —> we have expectations —> expectations lead to disappointment —> disappointment leads to anger. (Which is, of course, why you don’t share information with us: because you think that this way there will be no expectations, no disappointment, and no anger. Well, turns out we can come up with our own expectations anyway, so help us make them into more realistic expectations.)

For your consideration <3 Now everybody enjoy, happy December time!

Gaile Gray.6029:

Xiem.4719:

One question, are we really waiting 6 weeks for final episode or there is something more?

Xiem — Have you had a chance to read the blog post? It’s here: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/season-2-returns-on-january-13/

Jaken — I understand your thoughts. I admit I feel the same way with a favorite TV show, where you expect the next episode the following week and learn something else is stepping into the space for a while. Oh heck, I feel the same way at the end of each season, too. Darn that Game of Thrones!

Gaile, the difference is that I know how many episodes are in each season of Game of Thrones ahead of time and we don’t have months in between the episodes. As a fan of the show, what would your thoughts be if they decided to delay the finale a month so HBO could ruin a miniseries for a month. You can’t do anything about the latter, but can you at least answer the first question? I feel like asking this is reasonable and I’m getting really irritated that it is being treated otherwise.

This actually works better for me, and I’m surprised it’s such a big problem for so many people.

In GW1 I was rarely able to do all the Wintersday stuff, and in 6 years I only ever saw the finale once because it was held on New Years Day and funny enough I have other things to do that day than sit in front of the computer.

Having Wintersday up for 4 weeks means I’ll actually have time to play it around all the other stuff going on. (In my case a combination of spending time with family and work because my job cannot simply be put on hold because someone’s decided it’s holiday time.) I would have thought most people would be in a similar position, if not for the same reasons (even people I know who don’t celebrate any of the winter festivals usually take the time to visit family and friends, or simply go on holiday).

Also, I love my job and it means a lot to me but if I had the choice there’s no way I’d be working over the holidays. I understand why that’s not possible for me, but for a video game studio? Come on. The absolute worst case scenario here is that for 2 weeks you have to play parts of the game you’ve done before, or play something else. Is it really that much of a big deal?

bradldz.3728:

I agree it might be a bit naugty to have a break right before the last episode but if they didn’t manage to fit it into the schedule any other way then so be it.

Well, the schedule for Living Story was once announced to be “bi-weekly, more updates than any other MMO out there” and in 2013 that seemed to be no problem at all.
But this year feels like it consisted of more breaks, than times where we had updates.
It started with the (well-deserved) holiday break.
From January 21 to March 18 we had 4 Episodes and the “Aftermath” of Season 1.
After that there was a 3 1/2 month break until the Living Story started again on July 1 with 4 updates up to August 12.
Another 3 month break before the last 3 Episodes hit and now we have to wait another month?
Sorry, but that is far from bi-weekly.

And yes, the time between was filled with the re-used Zephyrites, the re-used Halloween from last year and the now (announced to be) re-used Wintersday event.
And also yes, in my opinion Season 2 was better than Season 1 so far. We got two cool new maps (and I don’t like Dry Top much, but that’s just my taste. Silverwastes is fantastic), way more nods to the Lore of both, GW1 and GW2. And this stuff may really take way longer to design, than one zergfest of content after another in Season 1 BUT with all these months and months of releasing nothing new, it should have been possible to start the second half of Season 2 two weeks earlier, so that the last episode does not colide with Wintersday and holiday-plans of developers.

So combine this with the fact, that Anet is far too silent about things they plan and do (“But we can promise you, there is SO much good stuff coming. We won’t tell you what or when but just wait a little more and buy something from the gemstore to keep you happy”), then I can understand the anger some people may feel.
I’m not happy myself but I also know that I will log in on January 12 and play Episode 8… I only wish I could have played it this year and with “bi-weekly” schedule I should have…

Gaile Gray.6029:

May I ask why you feel that way? Why have two conflicting or competing things going on in a time period when many people have a lot going on in their lives — family obligations, travel, parties, events — which leaves them with less time to log in to their favorite game? Why not have each release get the spotlight and the player attention that each so richly deserves?

Two reasons (as I see it):

1. Wintersday content has nothing new – and this was announced at the same time that no new Halloween content was announced. Recall the feedback about Halloween. Very little I saw was positive. There is new decorations and new rewards (I presume), but no new activity. This will only satiate those who enjoy returning content and those after (virtual) material reward, not those who want brand new things.
2. Episode 8 will be fully permanent (sans some changes to the open world if such exists). So if people want to enjoy all content in the update, they can do Wintersday and come back for Episode 8. While those not interested in Wintersday can skip to enjoying the brand new content.

And not everyone has those obligations you mentioned. Some just want to sit down and enjoy new games. Sometimes with friends and family.

I would argue that the situation would be different if Wintersday promised new content that would take up all players’ time. But that’s not the case.

It would also be a different situation if Episode 8, as a singular release, is the finale – and there is no Episode 9 to follow and Episode 8 isn’t split into multiple releases (which would seem odd).

Moersel – before that they announced there would be 1 update per month. Before that they announced that there would be periodic ‘special events’ with some content available on-demand within a short time frame and some one-time only events (see Lost Shores, the first Halloween and to a lesser extent the first Wintersday too).

Are they supposed to stick to those announcements forever too? Or are they allowed to change their schedule only if they’re increasing the rate of releases?

Gaile Gray.6029:

Xiem.4719:

One question, are we really waiting 6 weeks for final episode or there is something more?

Xiem — Have you had a chance to read the blog post? It’s here: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/season-2-returns-on-january-13/

Jaken — I understand your thoughts. I admit I feel the same way with a favorite TV show, where you expect the next episode the following week and learn something else is stepping into the space for a while. Oh heck, I feel the same way at the end of each season, too. Darn that Game of Thrones!

And yet it happened 2 times in a row.
It is also not the first time in season 2 as well.
Overall this season, with all its improvements, is still not good enough . By that i mostly mean the pacing.

You decided on a horrible point to cut the the season. It is even more frustrating, since season 2 has so many plots going on at once (which is a good thing) but is missing an important factor: Conclusions

We had very little of them, if any and now you ask us to wait for a possible finale, which for all we know will end again in a cliffhanger (an open secret so it seems. Thanks for spoiling that we get a cliffhanger season 2 ending with your GoT reference there. Much obliged ; ) )

I like you, but you have to understand that the pacing you have here is bad and no funny lines will make it better.
Rising Dusk said it perfectly: Good planning could have amended that.
Gave us some conclusion.

However all I got at least ,and appearently others as well, is confusion and frustration.

Sorry, not much mending here.

Here is my feedback on this as positively as I can put it. Every time there is a hiatus like this, I lose interest in the game. And so I want to know what you are offering to entice me back. And I get a date, a vague phrase like “it’s gonna be big”, and then silence. That’s not enough to make up for my lost interest and it makes me feel like you have no interest in trying to win me over. Maybe you don’t.

One more, the reason for the outrage is that you keep treating simple questions as outrageous and unreasonable. So people think you don’t hear them and they get angrier. If you stopped this ridiculous game, there would be lost of happiness over the holidays instead of cynicism and a billion “I quit” posts.

As a Wintersday gift, please consider for once being transparent about what we should expect. Don’t leave things acrimonious for a month.

gw2 is adding new content pretty slow with no expansion in sight.

gw2 should not be your main mmo because it is very casual mmo with slow content addition, if you keep it as your second mmo and play it from time to time ((during the living story)) then its all good dont consider it as your main mmo or only mmo.

saye.9304:

gw2 is adding new content pretty slow with no expansion in sight.

gw2 should not be your main mmo because it is very casual mmo with slow content addition, if you keep it as your second mmo and play it from time to time ((during the living story)) then its all good dont consider it as your main mmo or only mmo.

Problem is.. gw2 combat and movement feels so good, it’s impossible for me to play other mmos.

I don’t understand the complaints… Anet is not made up of 24/7 robots with no lives.

If you were an Anet employee, would you want to be working over the holidays just to push out an extra bit of content? I doubt it.

I mean, those of you who would be bored during the break… why aren’t you thinking about spending time with your friends and families? There is life beyond a single video game. :/

Gaile Gray.6029:

There is a plan and a master schedule, and with the much-loved and keenly-anticipated Wintersday Festival…

Hi Gaile!

As someone who loves the game and absolutely adored Wintersday 2012, I was very surprised to find that Wintersday 2013 didn’t bring the same feelings because it was pretty much the same content. Will there be any new rewards or content tied to this year’s festival? Thanks!

Danikat.8537:

Moersel – before that they announced there would be 1 update per month. Before that they announced that there would be periodic ‘special events’ with some content available on-demand within a short time frame and some one-time only events (see Lost Shores, the first Halloween and to a lesser extent the first Wintersday too).

Are they supposed to stick to those announcements forever too? Or are they allowed to change their schedule only if they’re increasing the rate of releases?

Yes, you are right of course but at least the did announce that there would be 1 update/month, bi-weekly stuff.
Now they don’t announce anything anymore up until 1 week before stuff is going to hit.
And when they DID announce that the second half of Season 2 was going to hit on November 2, I’m pretty sure most people thought that they were going to at least release the WHOLE second half in bi-weekly fashion (which they didn’t renounce so I think it is fair to assume that they have not abandoned it completely).
And this is the main problem. People “think” and “assume” stuff and are angry when nothing comes out of it. And this wouldn’t happen if Anet wouldn’t deliberately keep everyone in the dark all the time.
This company needs to be more open about stuff. And I don’t mean the teasing they’re doing all the time: “Oh… there is so much stuff in development, this will be so awesome and it is definetly coming down the line. Might be in a month, might be in 20 years, but in the meantime buy some cool stuff of the Gemstore, that always makes ME happy.”
But this is nothing new, pla… customers complain about this for years now and the company is not willing to change. And I respect the work Gaile is doing here, but when it comes down to most of the questions, she can’t/won’t tell us more than we already knew.

Labjax.2465:

I don’t understand the complaints… Anet is not made up of 24/7 robots with no lives.

If you were an Anet employee, would you want to be working over the holidays just to push out an extra bit of content? I doubt it.

I mean, those of you who would be bored during the break… why aren’t you thinking about spending time with your friends and families? There is life beyond a single video game. :/

It`s not the point of being bored. It`s because:

- Episodes one after the other end with annoying cliffhanger

- Unresolved storylines

- Episodes get shorter

- Last two Episodes felt like filler for many (as they concerned mostly sidestories)

- We just had a big break, which resulted in an annoying NPE for many.

- Breaks in general are bad for buisness, even more so if you advertised a shedule, which is then constantly broken (even if the reason are, well, reasonable. They should have been better planned and telegraphed to the consumer)

- We get another break, with appearently only 1 Episode left , making the wait more agravating, since they can just take another break after it, prepairing for S3 (or the mysterious and illusive expansion)

- Wintersday will be a rehash of last year, but set in DR (we do not expect many, if any, new things)

Gaile Gray.6029:

Xiem.4719:

One question, are we really waiting 6 weeks for final episode or there is something more?

Xiem — Have you had a chance to read the blog post? It’s here: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/season-2-returns-on-january-13/

Jaken — I understand your thoughts. I admit I feel the same way with a favorite TV show, where you expect the next episode the following week and learn something else is stepping into the space for a while. Oh heck, I feel the same way at the end of each season, too. Darn that Game of Thrones!

Oh, it`s rather like you expected the show since it was sheduled that day and you had everything ready. Popcorn, drinks, a tissue if it goes south and what happens?
There is a kitten footballgame or end-of-the-year special taking the timeslot, pushing the show you are eagerly awaiting back for a month, till they can fit it in again…

yeah, that is a better way to discribe it…

i know there are some dire issues with the game and lion’s arch burned and torn asunder.. but when concerns about scheduling arose, i decided to assemble the pact, voltron, duelwield caladbolg and excalibur, and waypointed in some red paint
    – sincerily, lord master of all things tyria and second
       only to caithe and her awesomeness
p.s. i said arose.. it’s funny, because i’m a plant.. though i have no personality and can not laugh, i leave that task to you commander

It’s been said a few times already, but the break comes at a welcome time. Like a number of other people, I’ll be away for most of the Christmas break. Some players may not be able to log in to register the new chapters if they kept on coming.

You know what would be a great wintersday present….Super
Adventure Box…

So I herdz ANET are a bunch of Cyborb GOLEMS who magically poof Living Story chapters into existence, with no break…

Jaken.6801:

It`s not the point of being bored. It`s because:

- Episodes one after the other end with annoying cliffhanger

- Unresolved storylines

- Episodes get shorter

- Last two Episodes felt like filler for many (as they concerned mostly sidestories)

- We just had a big break, which resulted in an annoying NPE for many.

- Breaks in general are bad for buisness, even more so if you advertised a shedule, which is then constantly broken (even if the reason are, well, reasonable. They should have been better planned and telegraphed to the consumer)

- We get another break, with appearently only 1 Episode left , making the wait more agravating, since they can just take another break after it, prepairing for S3 (or the mysterious and illusive expansion)

- Wintersday will be a rehash of last year, but set in DR (we do not expect many, if any, new things)

Ok? Most of that has nothing to do with taking a holiday break from LS.

It surprised me to be honest. But i dont think its worth causing drama over.