Guild Wars 2

I think the only “problem” from players’ perspective is waiting for the final pieces of armor. So many of the players in GW2 are completionists, and it is killing them that they have to wait a few extra weeks to complete the set.

Personally, I’ll be happy to just have time to enjoy Wintersday and grind out thousands more geodes and bandit crests The break will also give me time to put my two alts through the LS. Thank you.

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. :/

I don’t know where you all are from, but here in America we don’t get tons of time off from work. It’s not like we are all sitting around for 2 weeks spending time with friends and family. I don’t understand this “working over the holidays” argument. It’s not like anyone is asking anet to release content on Christmas day. You release the patch on the 16th, work out the bugs we all know will be there and then enjoy Christmas. Sounds pretty straight forward to me.

I’ll reiterate:

The problem is not so much when certain things are released (the schedule naturally suits some and does not suit others), but the problem is (as it is so often) that nobody knew, so the playerbase had to make plans based on assumptions.

Similarly, if you announce a few days before your birthday that you will celebrate a month later, half of your friends won’t be able to attend because they made other plans, and the other half of your friends will be cranky because they canceled other things that they thought clashed with your birthday party on your actual birthday.

If then you tell your friends that you always planned to celebrate a month later, you would have to expect that your friends ask you why on Tyria you wouldn’t disclose that information in time for everybody to make their own plans accordingly.

:)

Labjax.2465:

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.

Well, how do you feel about having all these issues and you know that the last episode is about to air, which might give you the conclusion you were waiting for…
And then there is a sudden unanounced (till today) break?
A break which follows two unsatisfied cliffhanger episodes, which need this conclusion?

While the reaoning on why they do it is obvious, they paced the whole LS hoorible, resulting in the fact that they had to push the Last episode after the holiday, instead of concluding the Season beforehand.

It`like handing you 99% of a ticket, but you can only get in with 100% and you have to wait a month to get the missing 1%, which you would need two weeks before that.

Eh. I still have badges and geodes to grind out and old achieves to finally do, plus whatever Wintersday stuff that comes out. For me, I’m glad they’re not combining this holiday event and another living story.

I really hope Anet is working on a an expansion because this years update schedule has been extremely lackluster compared to last years.

Anyway, enjoy Winter Break.

Jaken.6801:

Well, how do you feel about having all these issues and you know that the last episode is about to air, which might give you the conclusion you were waiting for…
And then there is a sudden unanounced (till today) break?
A break which follows two unsatisfied cliffhanger episodes, which need this conclusion?

While the reaoning on why they do it is obvious, they paced the whole LS hoorible, resulting in the fact that they had to push the Last episode after the holiday, instead of concluding the Season beforehand.

It`like handing you 99% of a ticket, but you can only get in with 100% and you have to wait a month to get the missing 1%, which you would need two weeks before that.

I’d probably be kind of bummed if I cared that much. There’s a reason I don’t invest myself into things like TV series release dates.

But it’ll come when it comes, ya know? And by the time it does, you probably will have stopped caring some. If that hurts their turnout, then they’ll notice.

My hope is that there was some miscommunication, and there are actually several more episodes left in the season, not just one. The current arc is in no way built up for what TV would call a “season finale”. We might be about ready for the sweeps week shocker where a baby cat gets real. The Pact might be about to attack Mordremoth, but something tells me this won’t… well, you know.

If that isn’t the plan, then they might want to give serious thought to renaming Season 3 as Season 2, pt 2.

Jaken.6801:

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?

What is all if this “it is” and “it isn’t”, and this “we” and “us” junk?

You do not speak for me, or anyone else as far as I am concerned. As well your *opinion,", of what is or isn’t is an opinion, not some fact of any kind. Why don’t you stop presuming to speak for the rest of us for one? Because as far as I am concerned, you doing a poor job, just speaking for yourself. you post every thing you say as a statement of fact, then use “we” and “us” as if you are some elected official.

Just because you think something is filler, or you think something is a cliff hanger and don’t like it, doesn’t mean you have the right to claim to speak for anyone else in some bad attempt to give your own opinion more weight.

what doesn’t make sense is the 6 week gap between the second to last episode and the finale. You lose a lot of momentum in the story structuring it in such an odd way.

I’m curious to see how successful this Spvp system will work. I feel like that part of the game is just not working at all. For a game that has millions of players the Spvp servers aren’t very busy at all. They say “MMO PvP Is Stronger than Ever in GW2” but everything I see points to the opposite.

When I played wow most people who played arena were only there to gain honor so they could buy reasonably decent gear for BG’s and/or scrape into raids with the minimum gear requirements. To make it succeed you really need to look at the rewards.

Is there any unique gear you can get from Spvp? If not then there should be.

Astral Projections.7320:

I still have badges and geodes to grind out and old achieves

That is all the game has become as of late…

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.

I was like this before too. I was unhappy with pace, and quited playing after many hours of joy. But before I left game I would write negative on forum, was very unhappy. But now I realize that was wrong of me, and feel bad for some posts. It’s one thing to be unhappy and saturated with game, It’s another thing to be some self righteous ahole, and spread negativity. And btw GW2 is one of rare mmos who put out content frequently (and for free).
Also I’m sure anet doing their best, its in their best interest to keep game alive. So being negative and spreading negativity like this, just reconsider doing these kind of posts.
When u feel like u don’t wanna play gw2, just do something else. No need to poison forum. But I feel eventually you will come back like I did. Its simply best mmo today.

I don’t think that they can reconsider at this point. You can’t push up a deadline that much, and I doubt that decisions regarding content releases are decided with less than a week of lead time.

That being said, the lack of new and dynamic content coupled with the no-longer-regular release schedule make this game significantly less compelling than it was a year ago. This isn’t good news for the game, and should probably be taken into account when making future development decisions. The lack of transparency isn’t helping, either. WoW might go for a few months without delivering new content, but they’re very open about what is coming. We’re not so fortunate. There’s nothing to anticipate, other than some vague, nebulous conclusion.

coglin.1867:

What is all if this “it is” and “it isn’t”, and this “we” and “us” junk?

You do not speak for me, or anyone else as far as I am concerned. As well your *opinion,", of what is or isn’t is an opinion, not some fact of any kind. Why don’t you stop presuming to speak for the rest of us for one? Because as far as I am concerned, you doing a poor job, just speaking for yourself. you post every thing you say as a statement of fact, then use “we” and “us” as if you are some elected official.

Just because you think something is filler, or you think something is a cliff hanger and don’t like it, doesn’t mean you have the right to claim to speak for anyone else in some bad attempt to give your own opinion more weight.

sigh , read again.

I put things in quotes, I used the word “I”, even said so towards the end.
I was speaking about general feelings, which were reflected on the forums in massive threads, etc…

People were complaining about these things and I never said that everyone does it.

If you mixed up what I was saying and what were a generalisation, then I don`t know,

I never asked to be a spokesperson and I wrote that there as well.

May i ask you to carry on then, if you got nothing constructive to the topic to say of course…

(btw. Is it just because I got a reaction by Gaile? Maybe she is busy right now and comes back later. The Thread was still young there)

btw. you will tell me that the endings of these episodes were no cliffhanger? They weren`t cut and mysteries were created to be possibly concluded in the next episode?
It is a deliberate choice by the writers and not always a bad one.

While the sudden break just for the final story chapter DOES seem nonsensical (from a story perspective, not development, mind you), I’m not too broken up over it. I’m eager to jump into the Wintersday festivities.

I do have one question though: will the “Toymaker” titles be obtainable again? I’d really like to get that.

While I do feel you cannot simply release LS next week, I’m quite dissapointed with the current schedule. Especially if you consider last 2 episodes were pretty much build ups for the finale, some people were looking forward to the next weeks episode. Overall I had hoped Arenanet would be less ambigious about what they are currently working on, and issue the release dates of LS more timely.

If there is a schedule, why not release it in advance? Also consider the fact that this break happens to be just after 2 build episodes and a mid season break as well? The last 2 episodes took only about 1 hour each? From a story point it makes no sense.

To recap: -Unexpected break,
-vague comments about releases after the delayed episode
-Previous 2 episodes were very short in playtime
-Especially seeds of truth had filler/stalling type mechanics: couldnt skip cutscenes on replay, more RNG with the organs ( especially the bladders ….). We have been doing the exact same foothold and breach events without any changes to spice it up since silverwastes was introduced in order to get the lumiscent set.

Overall is it really that surprising some players are not content with the pacing of LS?

Labjax.2465:

Jaken.6801:

Well, how do you feel about having all these issues and you know that the last episode is about to air, which might give you the conclusion you were waiting for…
And then there is a sudden unanounced (till today) break?
A break which follows two unsatisfied cliffhanger episodes, which need this conclusion?

While the reaoning on why they do it is obvious, they paced the whole LS hoorible, resulting in the fact that they had to push the Last episode after the holiday, instead of concluding the Season beforehand.

It`like handing you 99% of a ticket, but you can only get in with 100% and you have to wait a month to get the missing 1%, which you would need two weeks before that.

I’d probably be kind of bummed if I cared that much. There’s a reason I don’t invest myself into things like TV series release dates.

But it’ll come when it comes, ya know? And by the time it does, you probably will have stopped caring some. If that hurts their turnout, then they’ll notice.

That`s true.
Not everyone is invested that much into the LS.
Heck, even I am not.

I just get bummed at unfinished things. Having 7/8 finsihed and the last one hold back because of reasons (yeah I know, good ones, etc…) instead of releasing the thing to be done with it at years end is just rubbing me the wrong way personaly.

Sure, there are several other concernes. I think there are people who wanted their armor complete, were hoping for a new extension for the silverwastes.
New content you know.

Wintersday won`t give many veterans the same satisfaction as it did a two years ago. Even last year was kind of a stretch.

I think if some people had to choose they would take the LS over the festival, as that would at least be something new.

It doesn`t matter how you turn it, somebody will always loose out.

If I released content of this quality at this frequency with this level of communication at my job I’d have been fired months ago.

It’s really not surprising why some people are disappointed and ANet shouldn’t be surprised either.

If Arenanet follows a master plan the release date for Episode 8 was fixed months in advance. Why was the break not mentioned in this blog post?

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/tyrias-point-of-no-return/

It would have been so easy to announce and explain the break during X-mas in a plausible way before the season was continued after the “mid-season break”

Looks like I found the dictionary definition of “Ungrateful”.

Asking people to work during the holidays and not see their families, pretty kitten if you ask me.

I’d like to ditto those who suggested that more care and planning be put into the schedule for next year. There were so many extended breaks this year, and now we have a major cliffhanger being left until after the new year. It just feels like the release schedule for the past year wasn’t planned very well. Maybe next year take more care with the spacing between LS entries and avoid leaving the final chapter to release after Wintersday (even if it means LS updates happen once a month instead of bi-monthly)?

More than anything else, I’d love it if you all would please be more communicative with the players. It’s nice to hear from devs with the upcoming release info and employees who try to respond on the forums. But those details and responses (with the exception of Gaile, who really works hard to interact with us as much as possible) are pretty spaced out, often leaving us wondering what’s going on for quite some time.

I think Living Story should be monthly releases anyway. More time for more elaborate episodes, more things to do… etc. In my opinion, the bi weekly schedule just isn’t working. More time in between episodes would make for much better story development.
Meh… maybe im crazy.

SenorMoody.5908:

I think Living Story should be monthly releases anyway. More time for more elaborate episodes, more things to do… etc. In my opinion, the bi weekly schedule just isn’t working. More time in between episodes would make for much better story development.
Meh… maybe im crazy.

A bi-weekly schedule is possible but not with the current size of the LW team. Let us hope that one of the big projects is Season 3.

The only thing that really annoys me with this note….
Veteran players are stuck for a few weeks with nothing to do but re-re-play wintersday content with the added bonus of most likely not being able to unlock anything from season one, unless it’s stuck behind another lottery. And the possible chance of some super adorable mini being locked behind wintersday gifts at a drop rate equivalent to precursors with the added insult of not being able to be sold or traded to other players.

I’m both amused and dismayed.

Amused that nobody saw this coming when they realized what time of year it was . . .

. . . and dismayed people expected something other than just Wintersday.

Considering we got just Halloween a couple months ago sticking itself in there to keep to the holiday timing, it’s not a far stretch to see that being done with Wintersday. It doesn’t surprise me and luckily I may get time off to actually play all three previous episodes.

Oh, wait, I work retail. Nevermind.

As a active player I will say this. Upon seeing the post that the next episode is being pushed back into next year it really got me down and very disappointed. The latest episode was just hanging off a thread cliff hanger about finding out what was behind the door. Episode 6 and 7 length were a bit short for my tastes(Though I did like the missions they were good.) though my general thought about that was episode 8 was going to have a good chunk of meat(story conclusions)we can sink our teeth into to make up for the noticeable shortness of those episodes that raised many questions as well as Wintersday celebration coming up, this way taking a month long break there’s a feeling of completeness for the year, and lots of things to do over break time.

One thing that really helped contribute with my disappointment were the teaser images, leading back weeks ago, that bear no relevance to the current episode. I can understand people at Anet are people, not soulless machines there for the soul purpose to pump out content for the player base. Though it just feels really off to have a important part/Finale of the story being left on a cliffhanger for a month near the end of the year.

If I have to wait I can just hope the next episode will be worth the wait, with a lot more length of story with conclusions, another area or boss unlock etc, just enough to make the wait to feel satisfying.

Though for now I guess have a good Wintersday/Christmas everyone.

While I’m disappointed I won’t get to finish my Luminescent Armor collection over Christmas, I suppose the break will give me more time to do Wintersday stuff, farm 4000 Bandit Crests, and maybe even get started on Dragon Age: Inquisition, so… it’s fine. Enjoy your Christmas break, ANet.

Zaxares.5419:

maybe even get started on Dragon Age: Inquisition, so… it’s fine.

Dooooo iiiiiit! Haven’t stopped since I started it, and I’m willing to wager that you’d find it more fun than farming 4000 bandit crests ;-)

In addition to all the other reasons given, it could be during this “Point of No Return” that something so devastating and tragic happens that it would make no sense for anyone to be celebrating Wintersday afterward in it’s immediate aftermath. So even if they had planned better and had the Season end on Dec 2nd instead, it may have STILL not worked out. Possibly they planned it exactly the best way possible.

Would we have really wanted to celebrate Wintersday immediately after the Battle for Lion’s Arch for example? I remember last Wintersday as the last happy moment for Lion’s Arch before it all went horribly wrong for the city.

Jaken.6801:

That`s true.
Not everyone is invested that much into the LS.
Heck, even I am not.

I just get bummed at unfinished things. Having 7/8 finsihed and the last one hold back because of reasons (yeah I know, good ones, etc…) instead of releasing the thing to be done with it at years end is just rubbing me the wrong way personaly.

Sure, there are several other concernes. I think there are people who wanted their armor complete, were hoping for a new extension for the silverwastes.
New content you know.

Wintersday won`t give many veterans the same satisfaction as it did a two years ago. Even last year was kind of a stretch.

I think if some people had to choose they would take the LS over the festival, as that would at least be something new.

It doesn`t matter how you turn it, somebody will always loose out.

Can’t argue with that. I tend to just let my interest level speak for itself. If something anticipated is too long delayed, then my interest in it will tend to dissipate naturally. And then I may be less likely to go check it out when it finally releases.

But yeah, I don’t like things being unfinished either… just in general, in life. Not a pleasant feeling for me.

As much as I want to know what lies beyond that gate, I suppose I can wait a few weeks.

OP is off his rocker. GW2 is the AAA mmo and even if it wasn’t the team still deserves to have time off for the holidays.

So devs, go chill and enjoy good cheer with the people important to you. There will be plenty of us impatient players here chomping at the bits for all the good stuff you come out with when ya get back!

I can very much appreciate the break for wintersday. It’s the holiday season. Lots of people travel, visit friends / family. Many people are very busy at this time of year.

However,
The pacing of releases, and the story content feels out of step. The first 1/2 of season 2 felt more robust. The second half has felt less so (story wise). The story is great, but the pacing feels wrong. Four patches, break, 3 patches, break, 1 patch, End?

Besides the oddity in the ways it was released, what happens when season 2 is over on Jan 16th? Another LW break? I would assume so as time for season 3’s development needs to continue.

It is very much the same as last year, but does that mean it’s a good thing?

I am biased though. I love this game. I am excited to see how the story for season 2 ends. Waiting for breaks in TV shows is very much like this, and fans even with their best intentions can lose their minds when made to wait for that which they love.

100% off topic but I really dislike when TV shows like “the walking dead” run 1/2 a season take a break in the middle and run the other 1/2 a few months later. Not sure when this trend started but…ew

Guess that I will login do Teq when I remember GW2 and then wait till the 16th if I remember.
IF Wintersday is the same rehash that it has been the I will see everyone in 2015.

Duncanmix.5238:

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.

I was like this before too. I was unhappy with pace, and quited playing after many hours of joy. But before I left game I would write negative on forum, was very unhappy. But now I realize that was wrong of me, and feel bad for some posts. It’s one thing to be unhappy and saturated with game, It’s another thing to be some self righteous ahole, and spread negativity. And btw GW2 is one of rare mmos who put out content frequently (and for free).
Also I’m sure anet doing their best, its in their best interest to keep game alive. So being negative and spreading negativity like this, just reconsider doing these kind of posts.
When u feel like u don’t wanna play gw2, just do something else. No need to poison forum. But I feel eventually you will come back like I did. Its simply best mmo today.

did i say do not play gw2 anymore or i said have other games to play when there is no content in gw2 since gw2 is casual game it is fact. many people do this as matter of fact it is not negative at all. in fact i said keep gw2 as your second mmo and play it. learn to read properly, and you are wrong you are still ahole who can not read also.

Wolfey.3407:

The only thing that really annoys me with this note….
Veteran players are stuck for a few weeks with nothing to do but re-re-play wintersday content with the added bonus of most likely not being able to unlock anything from season one, unless it’s stuck behind another lottery. And the possible chance of some super adorable mini being locked behind wintersday gifts at a drop rate equivalent to precursors with the added insult of not being able to be sold or traded to other players.

Whereas veteran players in World of Warcraft waited a year while paying a subscription with no new content and just repeating stuff.

And I know people who’ve already beaten the new WoW and returned to Guild Wars 2. There’s no game alive that can keep people in content as much as they want.

I can see why Anet don’t respond or maybe even look at the reddit at these times, its semi blown up with rage in the one thread, and then this thread is a bit more calmer with slight disappointment.

I would say that releasing both the content at once being episode 8 and Wintersday is good and bad for different people, i know myself wouldn’t really play Wintersday at all since its most likely going to be a 90% rehash (also a certain moba is having new Christmas stuff) and would spend all my time doing the new content instead but since there is going to be hardly any new content i probably will go play the moba for Christmas.

Now people with not much time or are having their first Wintersday would find this annoying and pressing on them so i can see why it’s also a bad idea if you were to release both content at once.

I wonder if ANet studio even has more than 20 developers working on stuff not counting the voice actors and the gem store artists.

that said, I hope in 2015 we get some ground breaking announcements….

It’s good to know that the folks at Anet are able to take the time over the holidays to be with the friends and family. I will also. Happy holidays to all Anet employees.

When was the last balance patch? September? And the January patch isn’t a balance patch either? So back to 6 months between balance updates?

Oh, Gaile. I hope they pay you a lot. hug Some of the comments here really surprise me. I, for one, am looking forward to glutting myself on Toypocalypse with my “static” Toypo group that did nothing else all last Wintersday, and you can shout that across the building to whatever devs designed it and are feeling beat down by the comments here. :P I know that I, for one, hated working at a place where someone HAD to be there to cover holidays, and some people got screwed because they didn’t know their plans early enough. I’m hoping that you guys can all relax for the holidays without having to panic about newly released content going haywire.

Yeah, I’m disappointed that the cliffhanger isn’t going to be resolved sooner. I do think that advertising a biweekly release schedule and then inserting multiple a-month-or-more breaks has caused some frustration among the players.

Perhaps for next year (and ideally, early on in the year), a post could be put forth that details the kind and amount of content you have in the works, without giving any details about said content. E.g.: 20 living story chapters, including at least one new explorable zone, at least one new jumping puzzle, at least one armor set and at least one weapon set relating to/acquired via the LS content; four holiday celebrations [jubilee, dragon bash, halloween, wintersday], 1 each GW1 themed weapon set and armor set, four new holiday themed outfits plus half a dozen extra pieces in the gemstore, a new armor set to acquire via PvP, and four WvW seasons. I didn’t double check my numbers but that would roughly match what was released this calendar year.

If you have it in the works, mention a dungeon overhaul, new world boss, new instanced dungeon(s), new fractal(s), newly added holiday, new PvP map(s), annual QoL update…

Set up expectations for what we can absolutely, for sure, expect from you. You don’t have to tell us when, what, how many, or where, unless you are absolutely sure they will happen within the time frame in question, and not necessarily then. Then, if you deliver more than that, cool – you have exceeded expectations.

I guess that last bit is the real kicker. Transparency about your plans isn’t a problem unless things are promised that can’t be delivered. Setting up reasonable expectations so that you can easily exceed them and make the customers pleasantly surprised is a great way to get people on your side.

Over and over again, holding things too close and then dropping the news at the last moment keeps biting you guys and it prompts this drama. I don’t think you guys deserve to be harassed constantly, and I think my suggestion might be a method you guys could use to soften your hush-hush policy and thus avoid shocked [and poorly thought through] responses/requests like this thread.

I don’t understand… is this 6 weeks a chance for Anet to have time off and relax or time to finish the release? It can’t be both…

If this is a 6 week break then that means the patch is ready and should be released before the Holiday’s… If it is not ready then I have to ask why not? These releases have not been large, there was a 4 month break at the beginning of the season and a 2 month break mid season, how much time is needed for these relatively small releases?

Also the reason I say we are taking a break for PvP is because in the 6 paragraph article about the LS there is 2 sentences about the LS and 5.5 paragraphs about PvP…

Rising Dusk.2408:

…the Winter vacation time that all companies have around this time of year (4 week break).

Am I understanding you as saying that you believe that all companies take a 4 week break this time of year ?

Mark Katzbach.9084:

I’m not sure where this rumor that the break is to focus on PvP is coming from.

Perhaps because the article mentions PvP events occurring during the Living Story hiatus ?

I don’t have a problem with the LS delay, but I can understand how someone might see a link between the hiatus and PvP.

I always hated it when business concerns meant that the holiday break was truncated because some client had to have something right away. Whatever time off Anet is granting its employees for the holidays — and I’m sure some of them will have to work, if only to ensure the servers don’t implode — I wish them the best of it. So, happy holidays all you guys, and enjoy the time with your families.

I can’t speak for the rest of the posters (which is a habit some of them would do well to cultivate also). I’ll be around next year, pending the good fortune of continued survival. So, once again, Happy Holidays to staff, management and fans alike.

I’m not mad that we don’t have two patches at once.

I’m not mad that good content needs time to be developed and is hard to mantain over the holidays.

But I think that the pacing doesn’t feel right. As far as I remember, the first half of season 2 was fine in that aspect. But then we had a mid-season break after a point in the story where the plot was just about to gain pace. And that break felt very long. Now the second half began with a big patch, that not only contained a new map, but also a big chunk of story (the library! glint’s lair! and that was only one instance with gameplay out of THREE). Then we had two episodes that not only felt very short in comparison, but both also ended with a massive cliffhanger, with the first one still not being resolved. And now, with the feeling that we’d finally be getting answers, the next episode comes a month later than most people had expected.

I like the story and I really like how you tell it, but with the variation in patch sizes and release intervals, it feels like I’m listening to a stuttering narrator. At a moment, where the story reaches a high pace, the narration seems to slow down, due to smaller patch sizes and an additional break.

So if possible, try to keep a certain pace during a season, that means roughly equal “size” of updates and no interruptions of the update cycle other than season- and mid-season breaks.

IndigoSundown.5419:

I’ll be around next year, pending the good fortune of continued survival. So, once again, Happy Holidays to staff, management and fans alike.

And I, with any luck, will get enough free time to do more than haunt the forums and play mobile games due to being too darn busy to devote even an hour free time.

. . . oh, reminds me, thank you so much for the Journal method so i don’t have to ration sleep to make sure I can get enough of the episodes . . .

Vayne.8563:

Wolfey.3407:

The only thing that really annoys me with this note….
Veteran players are stuck for a few weeks with nothing to do but re-re-play wintersday content with the added bonus of most likely not being able to unlock anything from season one, unless it’s stuck behind another lottery. And the possible chance of some super adorable mini being locked behind wintersday gifts at a drop rate equivalent to precursors with the added insult of not being able to be sold or traded to other players.

Whereas veteran players in World of Warcraft waited a year while paying a subscription with no new content and just repeating stuff.

And I know people who’ve already beaten the new WoW and returned to Guild Wars 2. There’s no game alive that can keep people in content as much as they want.

FF14.
“Baaah, I don’t like THAT game, it sucks! therefore, the fact that they produce more content is irrelevant!”

Did I get that right?

aRestless.6213:

But I think that the pacing doesn’t feel right.

Perennial problem going on with the storytelling in this game, in my opinion, and similarly an issue with pacing your releases. I think pushing the time frame back to a monthly new chapter with slightly more content would probably be better for the content we get . . . less rushed fillers for instance.

Of course, I can’t be the only one thinking breaks happen because . . . well, something broke and they had to fix it first before a final build could be made to release? So they get backed up and need to then dig out.

I will post this for the hundredth time.

From an article on the Living Story on Zam’s website. “Therefore he (Meelad Sadat, Head of PR at Anet) didn’t want to say how many episodes are going to be left in the season, but did say that starting with the Halloween episode they are back on their two-week cadence up through Wintersday on December 16th before going on holiday break. As to what is going to happen after that, Meelad said that they will keep players informed of when there will or won’t be a patch, like how they announced the Halloween and start of each half of Season 2 well in advance.”

To be fair, this is from a website that I didn’t learn about until a month or so ago but if you came across it and read the article, you would have known the schedule. For some people knowing this info ahead of time matters and for some it doesn’t, but the point is, the break wasn’t a surprise and they let some people know well in advance.

Edit: And we still don’t know when the actual end of the season is. All they’ve said is that it will start up again on the 13th.