Guild Wars 2

I haven’t seen Robert Hrouda posting in the forums for a while now, so I went and search his last post. According to the records, https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/members/Robert-Hrouda-1327/showposts , his last post was on the 10th of August. I then did a quick search on FB to see what he’s been up to, and boy I was surprised. In his profile he has the job title “former Content Designer at Arenanet”, and has posted that on August 20th is the last of his work that will be live on GW2.

So, an important person working for GW2 has just left, and we’re not even informed? Someone please tell me that he’s still working for Arenanet and I’m totally wrong.

What, seriously? What happened? I liked how he was pretty open in his posts, and I was interested to see wha he would do for his next content.

I don’t know where you see that. I don’t see “former” at all in his profile.

He’s gone. Read his FB wall.

Judging from his posts, it looks like he wasn’t too happy with how his last piece of work at ANet was used.

DiogoSilva.7089:

What, seriously? What happened? I liked how he was pretty open in his posts, and I was interested to see wha he would do for his next content.

Perhaps too open!

I have no idea. Google isn’t helping much, other than the post in his FB (I assume that’s the real Hrouda’s FB profile and not some impostor.)

You could be right, his linkedin profile suggest that he has left the company, marking his current position at ANET as : "March 2011 – August 2013 (2 years 6 months) " , if he was still at the company, it would read “March 2011 – Current”.

Shame.

Vol, check the “About” section on the left side of the page.

I would blame it on these forums, people can be really cruel ;(

In the August 15th entry he says, “I’ve been laid off from ArenaNet, and – am – now currently unemployed.”

(edit: had to add some – marks to avoid the forum kitten)

What, how? We constantly asked for Robert to come back the dungeon team and actually do something with dungeons…

Man, with him gone, most of my hope for dungeon revamps is out of the window as well to be honest.

His LinkedIn still says he works at ArenaNet.

well

DUNGEONS ARE DOOMED

It’s always sad to see an employee leaves/fired , makes u feel part of the game is gone as well …
Hope he finds guidance and true happiness in his life, would love to see him come back someday.

Mileinnor.7125:

I haven’t seen Robert Hrouda posting in the forums for a while now, so I went and search his last post. According to the records, https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/members/Robert-Hrouda-1327/showposts , his last post was on the 10th of August. I then did a quick search on FB to see what he’s been up to, and boy I was surprised. In his profile he has the job title “former Content Designer at Arenanet”, and has posted that on August 20th is the last of his work that will be live on GW2.

So, an important person working for GW2 has just left, and we’re not even informed? Someone please tell me that he’s still working for Arenanet and I’m totally wrong.

Last thing I heard was that the 14th amendment was not yet repealed. Therefor slavery is still illegal and mr Hrouda has the right to chose whether or not to leave Arena.net and pursue other avenues.

Whether or not we have to be informed is another issue entirely. Personally I’m of the opinion that career switches don’t always have to be broadcast, especially not to customers.

Robert has been the only dev who really sat with players. Like going to ranger forums, talking, exposing, discussing. Same for DG forums, back in the days there was a DG team.

Anet should hire like 15 Robert, not lay off (? unsure, only rumors seems here) the only one you had.

Guys I figured it out! He was “a hardcore GW1 player” not a fit for the company.

People leave for many reasons. Companies rarely if ever comment on it unless it is a CEO or a retirement. At most you get x person left to pursue their own goals.

Here’s a screenshot of part of the FB page:

Well this certainly is sad news…
I wonder what happened if it was “…laid off…”. Assuming he left of his own accord I wish him well and I’ll miss him. It may be none of my business but I’m just a very curious person and I liked him.
Sad indeed…

OMG it is the end of GW2 and the world as we know it! Are there really only a select few people out there with great ideas?

I think it’s time we have Josh Foreman transition from SAB to dungeons.

DusK.3849:

He’s gone. Read his FB wall.

Judging from his posts, it looks like he wasn’t too happy with how his last piece of work at ANet was used.

That is totall shocking and sad news.

The last post he posted on was in my thread; in the ranger’s forum and than he went M.I.A.

Thanalso, another person made a thread trying to hear back from Robert.H; unfortunately, no answer or replies from him.

His favorite class was the Ranger!! Even the rangers’ community felt that he was being intentionally forced in jeapordizing our class, we all felt it including myself.

We could always feel a despearate cry in his writings; even though he tried his best in hiding it.

So sad…

As the saying goes, “you will never know the truth when you are in denial of the truth”

-The truth all along, he was being programmed-

I Hope the best for him…..

The world is far greater; it will care of him and make him feel worthy and valued.

AndrewSX.3794:

Robert has been the only dev who really sat with players. Like going to ranger forums, talking, exposing, discussing. Same for DG forums, back in the days there was a DG team.

Anet should hire like 15 Robert, not lay off (? unsure, only rumors seems here) the only one you had.

Arena.net has a no lay off policy. Hrouda most likely left out of his own accord. Apparently he worked there for almost three years, which is a point where many people reconsider their options.

I sincerely wish him the best in his future career.

That really is sad news. I certainly wish Robert all the best. He was often helpful on the forums, and it was nice that he kept such an open line with the players.

I guess that clears up why ANet has been ignoring the Dungeon forums for the past few months. Hope they find someone as open and communicative as Robert to take his place; those are some big shoes.

marnick.4305:

AndrewSX.3794:

Robert has been the only dev who really sat with players. Like going to ranger forums, talking, exposing, discussing. Same for DG forums, back in the days there was a DG team.

Anet should hire like 15 Robert, not lay off (? unsure, only rumors seems here) the only one you had.

Arena.net has a no lay off policy. Hrouda most likely left out of his own accord.

No lay offs policies are rare. NCSoft West had layoffs last December and even though Arenanet is their own subsidy, I’d think NCSoft has a say on their budget.

Vol.5241:

I think it’s time we have Josh Foreman transition from SAB to dungeons.

As much as I love the man behind SAB and Clocktower, if I recall correctly he’s a map artist? I’d think Arenanet have people with more appropiate skillsets for the dungeons?

Anyways, back on topic. While I’m not a huge fan of the Southsun stuff, I’m really sad to see Hrouda leave the company I hope him the best!

Robert says he was laid off and is collecting unemployment. You don’t get unemployment payments if you quit.

Wolfheart.1938:

Vol.5241:

I think it’s time we have Josh Foreman transition from SAB to dungeons.

As much as I love the man behind SAB and Clocktower, if I recall correctly he’s a map artist? I’d think Arenanet have people with more appropiate skillsets for the dungeons?

Anyways, back on topic. While I’m not a huge fan of the Southsun stuff, I’m really sad to see Hrouda leave the company I hope him the best!

Foreman is literally superman. He can do anything.

Do not underestimate him ;D

Gah.. our last beacon of light for dungeon revamps.

And he was a nice fella too. Sorry to hear of his misfortune.

Think this is the mark on the end of dungeons?

I can’t believe he was laid off. What does this mean for Anet?

edited to correct grammar.

Baron Von Graymouse.7801:

I can’t believe he was laid off. What does mean for Anet?

This is why companies rarely if ever comment.

This could be dire news. If a new content developer/dungeon developer is hired and turns out to be equally fond of HP sponges I fear for my future in the game.

Robert was one of my favorite devs

Looks like people leaving Anet or they are Laid off people.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/ArenaNet-Reviews-E255820.htm

Most of the other veterans have left the company and many are still leaving.

milo.6942:

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/ArenaNet-Reviews-E255820.htm

Most of the other veterans have left the company and many are still leaving.

Some of the problems mentioned there are very clearly present in the game, like the lack of focus and contradicting visions.

The rangers loved Robert. Robert was always helpful to them, when all other devs kept silent. I can’t comment on his other qualities, as I don’t know enough about them. But at least he communicated when no one else would.

Well, that’s a shame. He seemed like a nice guy who had a lot of passion for the game.

Still, I wish him luck in whatever he’s hoping to do next.

Well this means one of two things i guess…

1. The employees got fed up with being forced to release sub-par bug ridden content and demanded a higher standard and were fired for it. (Bad)

or

2. The higher ups finally have realized the sub par bug ridden content every 2 week model isn’t working and they fired the people responsible for it and will switch to a more reasonable model (good)

We probably won’t see the results of these layoffs for another 2-3 months, but we will be able to tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing in a few months based on the quality of content coming out at that time.

Yes…it could only mean those 2 things. There’s no other possibility.

milo.6942:

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/ArenaNet-Reviews-E255820.htm

Most of the other veterans have left the company and many are still leaving.

Management failure, who would have thought. Well this is not just Anet, managers are failing all over the world in every business. Useless bunch of people.

milo.6942:

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/ArenaNet-Reviews-E255820.htm

Most of the other veterans have left the company and many are still leaving.

Glassdoor is nice but reviews are hard to judge. People are more likely to post rants rather than praises.

JayMack.8295:

Yes…it could only mean those 2 things. There’s no other possibility.

I suppose it could mean the game is crashing hard and they are downsizing to keep profits up…

but that seemed a little extreme so I didn’t include it. I definitely don’t see SWTOR levels of failure here.

If you have another reason they would fire a large number of employees I am open to suggestions.

… Looks like I opened a can of worms huh? I won’t get infracted for this right?

Vol.5241:

milo.6942:

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/ArenaNet-Reviews-E255820.htm

Most of the other veterans have left the company and many are still leaving.

Glassdoor is nice but reviews are hard to judge. People are more likely to post rants rather than praises.

While its true that reviews should never be taken as gospel, and people are more likely to leave a review of a negative experience, it does not make the negative review false. Sure, if you asked 10 employees directly face-to-face to give a review, maybe 6 or 7 out of 10 have an overall positive review. It doesn’t mean the 3 or 4 out of 10 who have criticisms are lying though.

But one of those reviews says

Losing company culture to big business.

Which is definitely what I’ve been feeling from this game for a long time. Marketing, Sales, and Monetization departments all seem to have more power than design and development in terms of how things get implemented/promoted. Yes, ANet is a business, but they’re a game developer. There used to be a time where game devs made games to offer rich interactive experiences or tell stories while (hopefully) making a living from doing so. Now it seems like a lot of devs (not solely ANet) shovel products/updates out with the main goal being “whatever gets us the most potential revenue”, even if the game suffers for it.

All that being said, I’m genuinely sad to see a developer like Robert H leave. I’d much rather their monetization team take a hike than devs who actually understand player issues and want to help. A brief moment of hyperbole but maybe this is more a loss for ANet than Robert. I hope he finds a better place to call ‘home’ (professionally speaking)

ZudetGambeous.9573:

JayMack.8295:

Yes…it could only mean those 2 things. There’s no other possibility.

I suppose it could mean the game is crashing hard and they are downsizing to keep profits up…

but that seemed a little extreme so I didn’t include it. I definitely don’t see SWTOR levels of failure here.

If you have another reason they would fire a large number of employees I am open to suggestions.

Why are we jumping to the conclusion that they fired a bunch of employees? Maybe they are actually expanding job positions and hiring more people to keep up with the ridiculous demands of the playerbase?

Isn’t that what people here wanted? Hire more devs to fix bugs and such? Hire more artists to update and create more skins in the game?

Aww man. This sucks if its true. He was one of the devs that was pretty consistent at posting on the forums and answering questions.

Vol.5241:

Why are we jumping to the conclusion that they fired a bunch of employees? Maybe they are actually expanding job positions and hiring more people to keep up with the ridiculous demands of the playerbase?

Isn’t that what people here wanted? Hire more devs to fix bugs and such? Hire more artists to update and create more skins in the game?

Well the did post on twitter that they are hiring:

ArenaNet ?@ArenaNet 18h

ArenaNet is hiring! Positions are listed on our site, incl. server programming, localization & more: http://www.arena.net/ #gamejobs ^RB

Vol.5241:

marnick.4305:

AndrewSX.3794:

Robert has been the only dev who really sat with players. Like going to ranger forums, talking, exposing, discussing. Same for DG forums, back in the days there was a DG team.

Anet should hire like 15 Robert, not lay off (? unsure, only rumors seems here) the only one you had.

Arena.net has a no lay off policy. Hrouda most likely left out of his own accord.

No lay offs policies are rare. NCSoft West had layoffs last December and even though Arenanet is their own subsidy, I’d think NCSoft has a say on their budget.

Not relevant. The No lay off policy at A.net’s is relatively well known and part of the reason they can attract high quality people. If NCSoft wants to have a well functioning subsidiary, they’d better keep their hands off from such policies.