Guild Wars 2

Well thats sad, even f2p games have season events… Arenanet you are so big company and you dont even talk with your players.

Hype work for weeks, not months. You cant always say “when its ready”. Its like “i dont care”. You have time to make new gemshop items but in game events take too much? Thats sad…

This game dont have endgame. GW2 has fun gameplay but lack of content make it boring. I will not wait 6 month till you release expansion for one week of gameplay. We dont even know what this expansion will bring to gw2 world because you think that timegateing reveals make it more interesting.

Hype is over. You went with early access pay to test logic.

Eh… allow me to explain.
Living World = relatively regular content updates
Expansion = In time large expansion addition

You can’t really have it both ways without one or the other having to suffer in terms of quality

I really understand that ANet has to focus their development on the oncomming expansion and that there is no living world in the meantime – no problem, accepted.

But fact is that we did not get ANY new content since wintersday.
I would really be glad if they just “recycle” some old content:
- bring back one of the festivals – even if it just has the same content as last year
- bring back SAB – I dont need an new world in it to have fun with it
- why not have another Kiel/Gnashblade vote because ppl in LA are so upset about the slow progess in rebuilding their city that they force the council to have another vote to get Gnashblade to power because he promise the folks that he can do better
- why not restart another WvW season with the same rules as last year as a tribute to the “old” alpine map that will be gone soon
- …

I think that ANet could provide content variety without great effort and I would really appreciate this

CureForLiving summed it up. People demanded a “real” expansion and they will get it.

They did not say no new content. Just no more living story content. Still I don’t expect anything really new, but I hope we get some old stuff back.

Yargesh.4965:

CureForLiving summed it up. People demanded a “real” expansion and they will get it.

I am eagerly waiting to see if this “real expansion” is as big as a traditional expansion. For now i see a new class but no new race. New specializations which is ok. “End game content” which is iffy….and no news about how many maps&dungeons we get which is the backbone of any expansion….and so far they religiously avoided the answer for this. If we get just 1 map kitten that.

Rebound.3409:

Yargesh.4965:

CureForLiving summed it up. People demanded a “real” expansion and they will get it.

I am eagerly waiting to see if this “real expansion” is as big as a traditional expansion. For now i see a new class but no new race. New specializations which is ok. “End game content” which is iffy….and no news about how many maps&dungeons we get which is the backbone of any expansion….and so far they religiously avoided the answer for this. If we get just 1 map kitten that.

I can pretty much guarantee that you will not find this mythical end game you want. I will also predict that enough content is going to be relative as well.

There is a difference between having nothing to do once you reach lvl80 apart from a legendary and having anything to do which is endgame…which can be translated into progression past lvlcap. An example of endgame could be the introduction of the Paragon system in Diablo 3 past lvlcap and they did it very well as every paragon level makes you stronger..it gives you a real feeling of progressing indefinitely.

They will introduce something “endgame-ish” from what i’ve seen in their interviews. Not 100% sure if it will do the trick tho.

I am just comparing their expansion with other expansions and i am trying to see if their expansion is at that level.

Fingolfin.6917:

I really understand that ANet has to focus their development on the oncomming expansion and that there is no living world in the meantime – no problem, accepted.

But fact is that we did not get ANY new content since wintersday.
I would really be glad if they just “recycle” some old content:
- bring back one of the festivals – even if it just has the same content as last year
- bring back SAB – I dont need an new world in it to have fun with it
- why not have another Kiel/Gnashblade vote because ppl in LA are so upset about the slow progess in rebuilding their city that they force the council to have another vote to get Gnashblade to power because he promise the folks that he can do better
- why not restart another WvW season with the same rules as last year as a tribute to the “old” alpine map that will be gone soon
- …

I think that ANet could provide content variety without great effort and I would really appreciate this

You say nothing new since Wintersday, and you would like some ‘recycled’ content. Did you miss the Lunar New Year? I understand it was not much, but some might say it had a bit of new content, and most stated it was ‘recycled’ content.

Or is it only when it pleases?

Personally, I would be happy with some new information. I have plenty to do in Pact Tyria. Of course, that’s just me.

Too many people in the forums wrote things like :
- LS is bad
- i don’t care about LS
- give us a “real expansion” instead .. even if that means 2 years without new content

soo .. thats what we got.

The real fun will start when people have burned through the expansion in 2 weeks
and then there will be no new content for the next 2 years ^^

I am glad we’re finally getting the expansion, but remember they said LS was to be it’s own team, with other projects going on at the same time. most of this expansion was developed already before living story ended, so just because it’s in beta now does not mean they could not still have some small event to tide us over. If what they said about how the teams worked, the LS team shouldn’t really have much to do right now.

Maybe the LS Team is working on LS S3, and with the extra time, making it bigger and better than before. (Hopefully more like Season 1, which was the season I, personally, preferred.)

I imagine time will tell.

Bathos.6341:

I am glad we’re finally getting the expansion, but remember they said LS was to be it’s own team, with other projects going on at the same time. most of this expansion was developed already before living story ended, so just because it’s in beta now does not mean they could not still have some small event to tide us over. If what they said about how the teams worked, the LS team shouldn’t really have much to do right now.

Or maybe the LS team is working on the LS coming after the expansion?

Bathos.6341:

I am glad we’re finally getting the expansion, but remember they said LS was to be it’s own team, with other projects going on at the same time. most of this expansion was developed already before living story ended, so just because it’s in beta now does not mean they could not still have some small event to tide us over. If what they said about how the teams worked, the LS team shouldn’t really have much to do right now.

In other words, you think ANet is paying them to sit in the break room and eat doughnuts and drink coffee while everyone else is working hard getting the expansion ready?

There will be a season 3 and they are undoubtably working on that. They showed a snippet of it in the Stress test.

CureForLiving.5360:

Eh… allow me to explain.
Living World = relatively regular content updates
Expansion = In time large expansion addition

You can’t really have it both ways without one or the other having to suffer in terms of quality

well, i think anet cant do it, but other companies can.
FFXIV is going to release their first expansion in june.
just shy of two years after going live.

during that time they put out on average 10 major patches, with the equivalent of 5 seasons of story, and what seems to be more content (including a whole new class or job)(more content than we have gotten)

they do have a monthly sub, but they dont have a cash shop focus. They probably didnt start making as much money as anet till like year 1(just a guess, they have been slowly increasing userbase)

so yeah anet cant do it, but i think thats probably because their content delivery pipelines or something are not as effecient. Not really because of money, or impossibility based on resources.

to the topic, we probably wont get any content till HoT, at best we will probably get some type of promotional event designed to get people excited for HoT. Anet just cant handle producing a lot of different content at once that effeciently. Hopefully in the future they can more effeciently turn their hard work into content that feels substantial.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Bathos.6341:

I am glad we’re finally getting the expansion, but remember they said LS was to be it’s own team, with other projects going on at the same time. most of this expansion was developed already before living story ended, so just because it’s in beta now does not mean they could not still have some small event to tide us over. If what they said about how the teams worked, the LS team shouldn’t really have much to do right now.

In other words, you think ANet is paying them to sit in the break room and eat doughnuts and drink coffee while everyone else is working hard getting the expansion ready?

There will be a season 3 and they are undoubtably working on that. They showed a snippet of it in the Stress test.

that wasnt season 3, that was HoT. HoT is basically season 3, with more time to fully bake it, and less spaced out portions.

CureForLiving.5360:

Eh… allow me to explain.
Living World = relatively regular content updates
Expansion = In time large expansion addition

You can’t really have it both ways without one or the other having to suffer in terms of quality

Creating an expansion doesn’t mean that you don’t do small content patches before expansions. This idea that Anet can’t release anything while working an expac is nonsense.

Look at FF14.

So, if they can’t release content whilst working on the expansion, are you under the impression they just this last couple of months started work on it? Some time after the announcement?

Wow, they are better than even I thought possible!

Funny thing is, come time for the expansion to drop, everybody is going to forget they ever cared about this. People make such a big deal about the hype dying down, as if ANet expected it wouldn’t. You think they don’t know what they’re doing? It doesn’t matter if the hype goes away, because it’s all coming back in the weeks leading up to release, and nobody is going to be thinking about what’s happening right now.

If you’re so salty about not having expansion info, you should probably look for other things to entertain yourself with. ANet doesn’t give a rat’s kitten if you’re happy with their schedule, because they know that in a few months, you’re gonna come running back with wads of cash in your hand ready to throw at their feet.

I’d personally perfer to have no content for a few months and get the expansion faster than slow down HoT production for a few extra living story fillers

Fingolfin.6917:

But fact is that we did not get ANY new content since wintersday.

Yes, this is exactly how “classical” MMO development works. After the last patch of an expansion you have a huge gap until the next expansion releases.

This is entirely normal and exactly what people hopefully knew they were crying for when they flooded the forums with the barrages of “Stop LS! Give me expansions!”.

And now ANet is delivering. Expansion sounds awesome, but assuming it works out and is successful, just be aware that the days of relatively frequent smaller content additions are most likely over.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

So, if they can’t release content whilst working on the expansion, are you under the impression they just this last couple of months started work on it? Some time after the announcement?

Wow, they are better than even I thought possible!

My theory?
work began in earnest when season 2 began.
They werent 100% commited to doing it via paid expansion, but they wanted to release larger chunks of content, and more long term features, like guild halls, specializations etc. They would decide how to execute it later, but they were building it up just in case.

Watching their earnings, and player feedback, they basically eventually commited to the paid expansion path, my guess is it was a full commit when they started to see the earnings for q4. earnings dropping lower than ever in the xmas season.

basically screams that a change must be made.

There is a lot of things which come together to paint the picture
1)HoT is a direct continuation of the plotline and story of season 2 (content they were designing 2 years ago would have warranted a separation of concerns, or its own plotline)
2)HoT story bears the same structure and architecture as a living world release
Precursor crafting, added to HoT, is clearly something worked on before hot was planned, That it has become part of hot shows that hot wasnt really planned for years.
3)CDIs on content to be added to hot, give you an idea of when the idea was being presented for review, before anything was finalized, and was still in brainstorm phase.

So yeah, hot is basically a collection of incomplete older projects, and recently developed content repackaged to be an expansion. Nothing really wrong with that, but yeah, its a relatively recent commit, and they are using most of the projects they would have previously put out as LS, therefore they cant release LS/content because HoT is that content they would have released.

They have not as of yet developed a structure for working on large scale expansions, and consistent Living World simultaneously. The pieces dont add up that type of development structure being in place.

Carighan.6758:

Fingolfin.6917:

But fact is that we did not get ANY new content since wintersday.

Yes, this is exactly how “classical” MMO development works. After the last patch of an expansion you have a huge gap until the next expansion releases.

This is entirely normal and exactly what people hopefully knew they were crying for when they flooded the forums with the barrages of “Stop LS! Give me expansions!”.

And now ANet is delivering. Expansion sounds awesome, but assuming it works out and is successful, just be aware that the days of relatively frequent smaller content additions are most likely over.

No, this is not true. Most games release content patches in between Expansion releases.

Neb.4170:

No, this is not true. Most games release content patches in between Expansion releases.

This guy is right, hell even WOW has small content releases in between expansions. This is how typical expansions go for regular games (Note im not on either side, as im just busy playing the game as i still have stuff to do, so the no content works for me)

Neb.4170:

No, this is not true. Most games release content patches in between Expansion releases.

That’s what I said.

We’re past the last content patch (the end of season 2) now, and in the drought to the next expansion release. Come the expansion we get a slew of new content, followed by a few patches with smaller content releases again (in this case, the HoT LS), and then if the concept is successful we’ll get another long drought to the next expansion.

Which is not unlike, say, WoW, at all. Only the during-expansion content patches are smaller but more frequent due to the nature of LS. But the general layout is the same.

Carighan.6758:

Neb.4170:

No, this is not true. Most games release content patches in between Expansion releases.

That’s what I said.

We’re past the last content patch (the end of season 2) now, and in the drought to the next expansion release. Come the expansion we get a slew of new content, followed by a few patches with smaller content releases again (in this case, the HoT LS), and then if the concept is successful we’ll get another long drought to the next expansion.

Which is not unlike, say, WoW, at all. Only the during-expansion content patches are smaller but more frequent due to the nature of LS. But the general layout is the same.

I guess I’ve been playing too many games with actual content patches to consider a living story release one of them.

Hopefully it doesn’t return.

Also I’m not sure you’ll want to emulate WoW’s content drought methods. FF14 will only have had about 2 months with no content patch until the expansion. If HoT releases in… let’s be generous and say August, that’s what, 8 months?

Carighan.6758:

Fingolfin.6917:

But fact is that we did not get ANY new content since wintersday.

Yes, this is exactly how “classical” MMO development works. After the last patch of an expansion you have a huge gap until the next expansion releases.

This is entirely normal and exactly what people hopefully knew they were crying for when they flooded the forums with the barrages of “Stop LS! Give me expansions!”.

And now ANet is delivering. Expansion sounds awesome, but assuming it works out and is successful, just be aware that the days of relatively frequent smaller content additions are most likely over.

Dunno, XIV just released a pretty big content patch. Their last giant content patch (about as big as everything we got in all of season 2 combinded) was only a couple of weeks ago as far as I remember and Heavensward launches in june. It’s definitely possible to release a satisfying amount of content on regular intervals in between enormous expansions (judging from remarks made by Yoshida in several interviews, stating the expansion will have as much content as the base game). Meanwhile Colin dodges all questions as to how many maps/content we will actually get.

I’m sure they could be as good as Squenix but as someone else said, ANet seems highly inefficient and disorganized.

Hopefully, as stated in an interview, they’ll continue Living Story events after the expansion. Supposedly, this will act as ‘filler’ between expansions.

Whether that actually happens, given ANet’s track record of saying one thing and doing another, is still pure speculation.

But, as others said, this is what the expansion crowd screamed and raved about on the forums. So here we are with nothing to do, besides dailies, waiting for an expansion that the majority of people will rush through in less than a month. And then, no doubt, rush to the forums to complain about.

Fun times.

Fingolfin.6917:

I really understand that ANet has to focus their development on the oncomming expansion and that there is no living world in the meantime – no problem, accepted.

But fact is that we did not get ANY new content since wintersday.
I would really be glad if they just “recycle” some old content:
- bring back one of the festivals – even if it just has the same content as last year
- bring back SAB – I dont need an new world in it to have fun with it
- why not have another Kiel/Gnashblade vote because ppl in LA are so upset about the slow progess in rebuilding their city that they force the council to have another vote to get Gnashblade to power because he promise the folks that he can do better
- why not restart another WvW season with the same rules as last year as a tribute to the “old” alpine map that will be gone soon
- …

I think that ANet could provide content variety without great effort and I would really appreciate this

Nobody has yet countered this effectively, because it cannot be countered. It’s legit.

There’s already content they can make available again with what… 5 minutes of copy-and-paste?

The Lunar New Year event he failed to mention was good. It’s over now though, but they can rotate other things. Reactivate Crown Pavilion… reactivate SAB… reactivate WvW league…

All of this gives us stuff to do without taking any significant resources away from HoT.

Talking about what the upcoming patch is like was already taken to a high art with 2 weeks prior to the feature packs. It won’t work doing this for 4-5 months.

Recycling content, however, would.

The question is . . . why? Every time they add even a minor bit of small content, the forums ignite with complaints. Hello? Look at what happened with April Fool’s.

It such a lose/lose situation for ANet. kitten ed if you do and kitten ed if you don’t.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

The question is . . . why? Every time they add even a minor bit of small content, the forums ignite with complaints. Hello? Look at what happened with April Fool’s.

It such a lose/lose situation for ANet. kitten ed if you do and kitten ed if you don’t.

Who cares if some angry random schmuck complains for a day? The angry minority on your forum should not decide how you run your game.

Unless you want to run it into the ground.

This was all predicted the moment they announced expansion. No new content for a while but then a whole bunch released at once. But there is absolutely no legitimate reasoning as to why they refuse to fill the gaps with older content. No time or money is a BS answer. The expansion coming is also a BS excuse. There’s no reason they can’t release the older, ready-to-play, no maintenance needed content.

The question is . . . why? Every time they add even a minor bit of small content, the forums ignite with complaints. Hello? Look at what happened with April Fool’s.

Where are people getting the idea that there is no more content before HoT?

I’m like 99% certain they said there would be no new LS until HoT but that other patches would continue on schedule. In fact we should be getting a feature patch this month at some point.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Where are people getting the idea that there is no more content before HoT?

I’m like 99% certain they said there would be no new LS until HoT but that other patches would continue on schedule. In fact we should be getting a feature patch this month at some point.

uhhh, where did you get the idea there would be a feature patch?
i really doubt they will release anything that feels like content, maybe qol improvements. They are pretty busy.

Besides our guild raid nights I’ll be playing ESO until the expansion is out. THe benefit of no subscription fee, you can play 2 MMOs…

Neb.4170:

Who cares if some angry random schmuck complains for a day? The angry minority on your forum should not decide how you run your game.

Unless you want to run it into the ground.

A day? Are you new to the forums or something? The point is that angry minority got their expansion. They did decide how to run the game. Hello? That’s kind of the point of this thread.

No new content because the expansion is taking all the resources. And that’s something we said would happen. But the expansion crowd didn’t care. They wanted their expansion.

And here we are.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Neb.4170:

Who cares if some angry random schmuck complains for a day? The angry minority on your forum should not decide how you run your game.

Unless you want to run it into the ground.

A day? Are you new to the forums or something? The point is that angry minority got their expansion. They did decide how to run the game. Hello? That’s kind of the point of this thread.

No new content because the expansion is taking all the resources. And that’s something we said would happen. But the expansion crowd didn’t care. They wanted their expansion.

And here we are.

Anet did not all of sudden decide to make an expansion just because some people complain. That’s really not how this stuff works.

If anything the reason they are switching to an expac is probably because NCSoft needed an increase in revenue for stocks.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Neb.4170:

Who cares if some angry random schmuck complains for a day? The angry minority on your forum should not decide how you run your game.

Unless you want to run it into the ground.

A day? Are you new to the forums or something? The point is that angry minority got their expansion. They did decide how to run the game. Hello? That’s kind of the point of this thread.

No new content because the expansion is taking all the resources. And that’s something we said would happen. But the expansion crowd didn’t care. They wanted their expansion.

And here we are.

if the sales were high enough, they wouldnt have done an expansion. The key is, the model was consistently going down in profits. They realized they needed to have something increase interest/sales and restart the cycle. Business doesnt like consistent contraction.

Rebound.3409:

There is a difference between having nothing to do once you reach lvl80 apart from a legendary and having anything to do which is endgame…which can be translated into progression past lvlcap.
I am just comparing their expansion with other expansions and i am trying to see if their expansion is at that level.

They have shared that their mastery system is progression beyond cap. They are going for horizontal progression not vertical. So base numbers like our level will no longer be increased.

Instead, we will be able to improve our skill through mastery while doing the content we enjoy. Their endgame is still the same that they shared before and shortly after launch – “same thing you enjoy doing at level 1 you will continue to do at 80”. Point is to have fun through a horizontal progression-driven system.

Xillllix.3485:

Besides our guild raid nights I’ll be playing ESO until the expansion is out. THe benefit of no subscription fee, you can play 2 MMOs…

Then you come back and find out that no subscription has been replaced with paying for quests you missed with gems. Was not impressed with that, at all.

I’m still surprised they haven’t recycled SAB since so many would be happy to see it.

I was never a fan, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want it back for everyone else. Since they have this huge gap with nothing new going on – why not plug it in simply for the fun people have with it?

They can make WvW season 3 and let SAB return even without part 3,we need somthink recycle events are welcome we just need somthink…

They could always have a fast forward season one for all the people that missed it. One week for each story section.

I think re-using the Queen’s Pavilion would make a lot of sense. Get everyone fired up for battle. Hone those fighting skills! New enemies to train with from the far away lands of Dry Top and The Silverwastes!

It’s not unusual for their to be a lack of updates on the pre-expansion run-up, with devs concentrating on the expansion and associated systems.

That said, as a way to add something, it might be an idea to re-activate some of the older releases for a little while, particularly the seasonal ones. In GW1, Wintersday in July was a fun little distraction, and as something just to pass the time, would be interesting, as would reopening SAB for a spell. Not necessarily a need for brand new content, but a revisiting some of the past things could be a distraction.

Neb.4170:

Anet did not all of sudden decide to make an expansion just because some people complain. That’s really not how this stuff works.

If anything the reason they are switching to an expac is probably because NCSoft needed an increase in revenue for stocks.

Excuse me, but they say otherwise and have said so in various interviews. That’s exactly how it worked.

You don’t believe me, do you? Six-minute mark. Hear it for yourself.

Forums in the recent past: Stop giving us recycled content!!!

Forums now: Just give us recycled content!!!

Lol. It matters not what ArenaNet does…it will be wrong.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Forums in the recent past: Stop giving us recycled content!!!

Forums now: Just give us recycled content!!!

Lol. It matters not what ArenaNet does…it will be wrong.

Compare the Living Story to a running TV show’s webisodes aired during the offseason. They are smaller, usually tell a shorter story arc, but keep you engaged with the world for a time. Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead did this well.

When you put the LS into that perspective you can see why having smaller content releases during period of lull is much better to having nothing at all, but it’ll never be enough to replace what an expansion can bring.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Neb.4170:

Anet did not all of sudden decide to make an expansion just because some people complain. That’s really not how this stuff works.

If anything the reason they are switching to an expac is probably because NCSoft needed an increase in revenue for stocks.

Excuse me, but they say otherwise and have said so in various interviews. That’s exactly how it worked.

You don’t believe me, do you? Six-minute mark. Hear it for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIiqCW4WrFo

I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was talking to someone who believes marketing speak.

I’m going to just say ‘pass’ on this.

Vix.6730:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Forums in the recent past: Stop giving us recycled content!!!

Forums now: Just give us recycled content!!!

Lol. It matters not what ArenaNet does…it will be wrong.

Compare the Living Story to a running TV show’s webisodes aired during the offseason. They are smaller, usually tell a shorter story arc, but keep you engaged with the world for a time. Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead did this well.

When you put the LS into that perspective you can see why having smaller content releases during period of lull is much better to having nothing at all, but it’ll never be enough to replace what an expansion can bring.

That’s fantastic. I’m not sure what that has to do with ‘recycled’ content, though.

Regardless, thanks for the heads-up! =)