Guild Wars 2

Saw the Guild Wars 2 commercial, and was wondering what the story being told was.

Here is the link from ArenaNet’s Official Youtube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o4R5Q0ZOTa8

At first, the person caked in mud reminded me of people in that old Apple/IBM commercial, where they are breaking free of their oppressor (here was it supposed to be Warcraft?).

The kid was paralyzed by fear and doubt, but about what, a video game?

Later, there are counter-culture types “rising up”, but against whom?

When they all rally, they face a dragon. I thought they were rising up against the system and sticking it to the Man.

I read they got someone who worked on the Matrix to direct this commercial.

I get those movies themes. However, this commercial’s modern setting and anarchist/protester theme didn’t make sense for a Warcraft-like fantasy game.

What does the commercial mean to you?

I liked the bit where they went from human to in-game people, but the beginning of the trailer was just unecessarily long and pointless.

I actually liked the trailer a lot, I like that they went for real-life, and the trailer has a nice mood. It’s a little cheesy and the people seem to have jumped out of a book about stereotypes, but it’s still kinda cool.

What REALLY annoyed me is that they spoilered ANOTHER of the dragons (maybe even zhaitan?)! Seriously, in every teaser or trailer they post there is another dragon shown and it takes the surprise away seeing them for the first time. Why? You could have done the same trailer with the dragon you spoilered last time >< But hey, they wanna show off what they got, it’s the same with movies all the time

I like the transition from real into fantasy scene.

Honestly, seeing the live action section and how serious it was made me roll my eyes. It’s a video game! You Americans, everything has to be sooo dramatic, I swear xD

Every scene seems to stand for a few negative aspects, gamers felt, when playing other mmos. I pretty much like it.

Good points. It was interesting to see how they tried to transition from real world to the virtual world, so the gamer can see themselves being drawn in to the game.

@nachdenki – didn’t realize they showed two dragons already. I’ll have to go back and see previous videos to see if I can catch the 1st one.

“I liked the part at the end where it was Guild Wars”

Kingfisher.7213:

Good points. It was interesting to see how they tried to transition from real world to the virtual world, so the gamer can see themselves being drawn in to the game.

@nachdenki – didn’t realize they showed two dragons already. I’ll have to go back and see previous videos to see if I can catch the 1st one.

If you are like me and want to be surprised by the game, showing off one of the coolest creatures (probably) is kind of annoying.

I guess it was decent, but they should’ve just made a CGI trailer like they did for Guild Wars Prophecies and Guild Wars Factions. They were so amazing!

a fair concept put in the wrong hands with a fat spoiler to sum it up

I may be in the minority of people who liked it. I thought it was pretty dang cool.

However, I am curious: is this meant to be a television commercial or what? I wonder who the target audience is meant to be.

I love the game, but I didn’t like the trailer, sorry. I thought it was a bit odd. Also, the dragon spoiler was very annoying.

I liked the bit when the person in the gas mask spray painted red from a can that clearly says ‘blue’.

The trailer looked like it was for TSW. Not a good trailer, I cant see it making people want to join the game, and thats a shame cause the game is fantastic.

All I saw was socially awkward people being rebellious teenagers, and… uh, some guy was walking on coals? Why? What does that have to do with anything? Very confusing

I think this Advertisement was designed to attract socially awkward players. I can’t see any other purpose to it

Twaddlefish.6537:

I liked the bit when the person in the gas mask spray painted red from a can that clearly says ‘blue’.

You have some great eyes, I didn’t notice that!

At roughly 49 seconds into the video, the young woman’s spray can is indeed labeled as being blue.

Edit mistake aside, I didn’t get the commercial, it felt disjointed.

People in the real world were rebelling against the system. I guess this was to set us up to visualize us breaking free from our video game oppressors?

However, in the game world that rebellion didn’t seem to be there. It was a group of players banding together to fight a dragon like every other MMO out there.

The commercial didn’t seem to tell me what was revolutionary about it.

nachdenki.2637:

I actually liked the trailer a lot, I like that they went for real-life, and the trailer has a nice mood. It’s a little cheesy and the people seem to have jumped out of a book about stereotypes, but it’s still kinda cool.

What REALLY annoyed me is that they spoilered ANOTHER of the dragons (maybe even zhaitan?)! Seriously, in every teaser or trailer they post there is another dragon shown and it takes the surprise away seeing them for the first time. Why? You could have done the same trailer with the dragon you spoilered last time >< But hey, they wanna show off what they got, it’s the same with movies all the time

That’s Zhaitan. Dragon made up of dragons, hence the multiple dragon heads.

Love the game, but this is hands down the worst promotional video I’ve ever seen. For the first half of it I actually thought it was an ad for something else that was playing before the actual video.

Just think, the money they spent to make that identical SW:TOR-esque trailer could have gone to creating more servers and completely removing the horrible overflow shard system, hiring new developers to put in MMO features like trading, dueling, gear inspection, more PVP modes, raiding, etc.

Ganadorf.3460:

All I saw was socially awkward people being rebellious teenagers, and… uh, some guy was walking on coals? Why? What does that have to do with anything? Very confusing

I think this Advertisement was designed to attract socially awkward players. I can’t see any other purpose to it

Walking on coal would mean a struggle people go through to achieve something. And I don’t get the socialky awkward thing. It’s obviously something with the message of rebelling against established paradigms, which really is the game’s general idea.

Zen.1740:

Just think, the money they spent to make that identical SW:TOR-esque trailer could have gone to creating more servers and completely removing the horrible overflow shard system, hiring new developers to put in MMO features like trading, dueling, gear inspection, more PVP modes, raiding, etc.

Erm. First, overflow solves itself over time as people level up. Opening more servers has bad long-term implications.

More developers? Who said we don’t have enough?

Trading will never be in. Inspecting is completely unecessary, and raiding? Seriously? I’m quite sure we’re getting dueling and more PvP modes soon enough. The game just came out and people expect immediate updates. Good grief.

As others from various gaming sites have pointed out: It looks a LOT like an advert for The Secret World. So much you could almost see a lawsuit arising due to this.

I personally didn’t really like it. It had a deep meaning to it that seems to indicate that the game is revolutionary and will break us free after we at least take the risk and try it. If we do we will find ourselves immersed with a massive and beautiful world to explore.

Yet the meaning can also be derived from the content of the game itself, and instead of acting somewhat arrogant and over confident they could have been far more humble in message. Let the community decide if your game will stand the test of time rather than tell us what it will be for us. We are a very sensitive bunch as you know ArenaNet.

Tanith.5264:

I may be in the minority of people who liked it. I thought it was pretty dang cool.

I’d like to hear what you liked about it.

ArenaNet has some great videos out there showcasing GW2. I’ve seen lots of them and I can see how much thought and love they put into this beautiful game.

I’m having an awesome time exploring their brilliant creation.

This commercial just got me confused, because it looked to be their first TV-like commercial, and it didn’t seem to know what it was trying to say.

Archaeneoso.8461:

The trailer looked like it was for TSW. Not a good trailer, I cant see it making people want to join the game, and thats a shame cause the game is fantastic.

I was thinking the same thing. Totally a The Secret World promo.

Was that gal at the end Piper Perabo?

personally I’m not a fire walker or a graphetti artist or an underwater dinning enthusiast. Maybe I don’t fit in the Guild Wars universe. I’m certainly not caked in mud watching TV in a dark room.

What on earth is the appeal from this. I’m 40 years old and my peer group is long past the rebellious teenager days. So perhaps that’s it, but this commercial would definitely turn me away from this game. In fact, I hope none of my friends see it. I don’t want to have to explain that GW2 is actually nothing like the commercial at all.

And before anyone disagrees with me. I get it! I know the commercial is saying, “We’ve gone against the system. We’ve done something with our game that is revolutionary and against the system” I get that. But no one outside of the existing GW community is going to get that because this commercial doesn’t say that explicitly and unless you’ve already read about GW2 you wont know it.

Sorry guys, the game is great but this commercial is just plain odd.

As a comms and marketing person I professionally found it off, personally I positevely hated it. Glad I never saw that when debating buying GW2…

I would have preferred they stuck with their canvas style painting approach instead of this. If they had to implement real life images with ingame; they should have had a couple of art-students painting the world of Tyria on a giant piece of canvas and it coming alive. Then in the end they walk through it into the painting and becoming ingame representations of themselves.

To me this current ad was a pointless video with some equally pointless attempt at subliminal messaging and deeper meanings that the average casual commercial viewer will not pick up anyway. Heck, they’d probably be staring at the screen like their brain shorted out for a duration of the ad and then forget it ever happened.

So in my opinion they wasted money on something that will not see any additional copies being sold. Instead they should have stuck with their canvas-painting approach.

The above trailer sold me on Guild Wars 2 and made me also buy Guild Wars including all the campaigns and EotN. Something similar for a commercial would have been a lot better in my opinion.

More canvas, less ‘rebels breaking free’…

Kingfisher.7213:

I’d like to hear what you liked about it.

ArenaNet has some great videos out there showcasing GW2. I’ve seen lots of them and I can see how much thought and love they put into this beautiful game.

I’m having an awesome time exploring their brilliant creation.

This commercial just got me confused, because it looked to be their first TV-like commercial, and it didn’t seem to know what it was trying to say.

Oh, I won’t argue that point. The Gamescom 2011 trailer is far and away the best trailer for GW2 overall…but bear in mind that one was designed with hooking gamers for GW2, whereas this one seems to be directed at non-gamers.

And that’s why I say I find it cool, if not mind-blowingly spectacular. If Joe Schmo is sitting in front of a Big Bang Theory episode during the Christmas season, how will he react when he sees the running girl with her spray paint (assuming he doesn’t note the disparity between the color she paints and the color on the can), the firewalking kids, the swimming broad in a kittentail dress who suddenly morphs into a Norn warrior? Will he note the GW2 logo and head for his computer to find out what it’s all about?

I bet some of you work in advertising and can shed some light.

;)

If you don’t understand the trailer, it’s because it’s not marketed to you.

“Our time is now.” Who is that referring to? Who is rising up against what oppressor? Who is feeling fear and doubt when it comes to MMOGs?

All of us who never got to enjoy the kind of epic content shown at the end of the trailer, because in all prior MMOGs only those with a specific playstyle could enjoy that kind of content. We’ve been disappointed and frustrated by game after game that focused on that same system, and a lot of us have been out of MMOGs because of it, treated as nothing more than an underclass of scrub cash cows.

GW2 has rebelled against the end-game gear-grind uber-raid character spec pigeonholing player caste system, and made a world we can enter without fear or the paralysis of not measuring up to professional standards or being policed out of content by others who don’t like our playstyle. We don’t need your uberguild, your permission to group, your approval of our playstyle or how we play our characters.

So yeah, some of us “get” it – those of us who have been on the short end of the reward stick because of our playstyle in every MMOG from EQ to TERA.

love the game…hate the trailer. Didn’t get that it was for GW2 until the very end, and it didn’t showcase the game at all. Hated the dragon spoiler. It looked like a teen PSA ad. I am not a teen by a long shot, and frankly I’d be kinda embarrassed to say I play this game if my friends and family were watching the commercial with me.

Tanith.5264:

Kingfisher.7213:

I’d like to hear what you liked about it.

ArenaNet has some great videos out there showcasing GW2. I’ve seen lots of them and I can see how much thought and love they put into this beautiful game.

I’m having an awesome time exploring their brilliant creation.

This commercial just got me confused, because it looked to be their first TV-like commercial, and it didn’t seem to know what it was trying to say.

Oh, I won’t argue that point. The Gamescom 2011 trailer is far and away the best trailer for GW2 overall…but bear in mind that one was designed with hooking gamers for GW2, whereas this one seems to be directed at non-gamers.

And that’s why I say I find it cool, if not mind-blowingly spectacular. If Joe Schmo is sitting in front of a Big Bang Theory episode during the Christmas season, how will he react when he sees the running girl with her spray paint (assuming he doesn’t note the disparity between the color she paints and the color on the can), the firewalking kids, the swimming broad in a kittentail dress who suddenly morphs into a Norn warrior? Will he note the GW2 logo and head for his computer to find out what it’s all about?

I bet some of you work in advertising and can shed some light.

;)

I would have fired my agency had they come up with that copy and that concept tbh. Thankfully, the trailer isn’t needed to get me hooked into gw2 Z.z