Guild Wars 2

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/living-world-in-guild-wars-2/

What a surprise, I thought it was gonna come in late July.

reading now
—-

Disapponted that there wasn’t a whole lot mentioned about rewards. That’s what this game is serious lacking now.

Tbh, i think they’re focusinga bit too much on all this Living World stuff.

Granted, it’s nice, but has 2 core issues:
-it’s not permanent content (so far)
-it doesn’t fix issues that base game still have.

Examples?
-Dungeons are in a bad state. Reward/time/effort ratio is out of whack (and no, i’m not talking about cof p1. it’s all the other 23 paths, that need to become more appetible.), metagame has depressingly become a DPS race, due to lack of depth in encounters..and there are still way too many bugs. Ah, and fractal is still waiting for new stage plus rebalance of current ones. And tokens, still needs to have other uses (inb4 core/lodestoens from vendors)
-Open world is empyt outside the boss chest event farming – and those events needs improvements too, most of the time it’s 40ish players spamming attack to a dmg sponge for 10 mins, then collecting reward. Not very epic.
-spvp…uh…well, i’ll skip the listing of issues. To name a few: unbalance, single and boring game mode, lack of rewards.
-wvw has a single but huge issue. Its treated as a mere extension of PvE – while actually it’s the main endgame mode of this MMO right now, even with all the issues (zoneblobbing, lag, bugs, unbalance, lack of rewards) that it have.
-gief us housing gvg anf more guild managing things. Give commander tags more tools. Extend some currently char bound stuff to be acc bound, stop punishing who plays on alts.
-plus, general bug polishing and balance across professions and across wordl/dg is needed hard.
^this is just to name things on top off my head.

I’m happy to see new stuff and new features every 2 weeks. Living World is a nice concept. And it’s improving every release.

But please, put it at hold for a couple of months and focus on your base game.

Vol.5241:

What a surprise, I thought it was gonna come in late July.

reading now
—-

Disapponted that there wasn’t a whole lot mentioned about rewards. That’s what this game is serious lacking now.

This wasn’t the Late July video/post (though you may already know that).

@AndrewSX

You make it sound as though the whole company is working on the Living World content. Though from what Colin said in the video, only a portion of the team has been chosen to make this content, and even then, they’ve been split into smaller groups to work on each individual month separately. Meaning that the people that are handling the Bazaar this July will be different than the team handling the update in August which will be different from the team handling the update in September.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if they’re handling other aspects of the game similarly.

Two weeks is bold, I hope you guys are up to the task! And I hope the “bi weekly releases” arent just a fancy way of saying “patch”…with some class balance changes, bug fixes, tweaking some things in the world, adding a few features. I really hope these releases are more impactful than run-of-the-mill patches.

And Colin, you didn’t smile as much! What gives?!

Thanks for clearing that up, Colin. That’s why I put the question mark in; I wasn’t sure if this was the infamous Second Half blog or not. It’s very exciting news, though, isn’t it!?

Could I request an official break in the two week cycle between mid-september to mid-october. I’m supposed to be getting married and going on honeymoon but now I don’t want to miss anything exciting! [real world problems…I know]

I want the crazy blog post about rewards!!! xD

One of those concept art pieces sure looked similar to Cantha (Luxon city)
More than anything else, I’d love to know about their plans on Elona and Cantha.

I am very very very curious about what is in store for rewards since reward is the engine of this game it seems. Id like more reward for exploration, finding hidden caves, waterfalls, chests, etc.

Likes:
Two weeks is a very frequent cycle! ArenaNet is currently releasing content faster than I can consume it, which is impressive to say the least.

As briefly as it was mentioned, the fact that all the teams are firing off their own content and have their own plans is encouraging. I’m a player that loves to play a little of all aspects of the world – PvE, sPvP, WvW. Being able to look forward to three new directions of content is always nice.

Needs improvement:

I don’t know if I particularly enjoyed the blurb about the living world, though. I feel like they kind of answered their own question as to what a living world is, and it’s not exactly right. As I discussed in other threads, world polish and detail is a lot more relevant to making a world feel “living” than (just) temporary content. I don’t know if there are any plans on stopping every karma merchant from just carrying the same 3 karma ingredients. I don’t know if dynamic events will ever create real, relevant world impact that are not just the same rewards of exp/karma/silver (i.e. constructing a structure that gives a zone bonus, constructing a bridge/portal that players truly need)

I would have loved to know if there are plans moving forward to really complete and improve the existing world.

Kind of disappointing honestly, was hoping they learned something from the past 4 months.

Like someone else said, this is only a portion of their team however, so there still is hope for something lasting and meaningful.

And fun. That would be great too. Busting pinata’s, repairing signs, etc. Is not content. It’s a distraction from the lack of content.

ColinJohanson.2394:

cesmode.4257:

And Colin, you didn’t smile as much! What gives?!

It’s a very serious subject!

Hahaha!! Awaiting that RNG box that has a head-armor skin that makes your character smile all of the time! Kidding.

Anyways..still bold stuff. Even though Im at a cross-roads with guild wars 2, good luck.

I’m all for Living Content as long as there is Permanent content to enjoy later or (More than just a mini game.) My biggest concern lies with a good portion of the fan base.

1. Finding groups for dungeons (LFG Tool). Will we see this feature this year? Currently I can barely find a group for the new Aetherblade Dungeon, which is a very sad fact knowing this content hasn’t been out longer than two weeks. (Yes I even tried using 3rd party “gw2lfg.com”)
2. Issue with empty maps. Only maps with the attractive events have larger portion of players. Quite a few maps are very lonely with the random leveler or crafter roaming by. Will we be seeing a “merge” of various servers in the PvE environment? Perhaps taking the WvW design of matching servers together (but according to size) and allowing multiple worlds to play together in the maps in dire need of players. Even districts would be nice to see at this point.
3. Dungeon Rewards. Dungeon rewards have been tossed around throughout the months, but is there any update to when or if this will be re-visited?

There are more issues, but those are three ones that strike my mind. (Not including wvw)

I don’t mean any disrespect to the people in charge of the Living Story or ArenaNet, but in my opinion you are doing a horrible job in regards to making the world feel living AND adding content to the game at the same time.

The biggest problem(in my opinion) with the Living Story is that those of us who stay and play the game on a very regular basis get to experience a lot of new content, but people who take breaks for months log in and think that no new content has been added, because there is nothing new for them to experience.

In my opinion it would be much better if you in the future just added the dungeons as permanent content, but let the story npcs stay and tell the tale of how the new content came to be.
You could just make some unique skins as a reward for completing those challenges when the content is fresh, and then take them out when the next chapter is added.

Because then everyone would get to experience the content, and the world would still feel alive because there would be changes added all the time.

If the F&F dungeon was still here it would feel much more alive, because that dungeon wasn’t here at release. Now it’s gone and everything is back to normal, if you get what I mean.

It’s perfectly fine to have content that goes away, but in moderation. Do it like WoW used to.
Have a massive event when something is about be added. Like they did with the opening of the gates of Ahn’Qiraj. Or the scourge invasion. Those are events that people still talk about to this day. The only event in GWII that has had such an impact on the community was, so far, the Lost Shores event.

Sorry if it sounds like I’m just whining, but I really think this would be much better for the game and I really want this game to last for years to come.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The point is, they don’t need to stop work on ‘x’ in order to pay attention to ‘y’ necessarily. That’s the whole point of having teams.

Quote a point in my post where i say the opposite.

Then explain why Living Story is getting a 2 week schedule while other parts of the game barely get any update (compared to the Living Story pace of content flow)

That’s the point.
Give the rest of the game, which does need help, the same importance of Living Story if it’s true they have enough ppl to work on multiple things at same time.

Because right now it seems that it isn’t wokring that way.

AndrewSX.3794:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The point is, they don’t need to stop work on ‘x’ in order to pay attention to ‘y’ necessarily. That’s the whole point of having teams.

Quote a point in my post where i say the opposite.

Then explain why Living Story is getting a 2 week schedule while other parts of the game barely get any update (compared to the Living Story pace of content flow)

That’s the point.
Give the rest of the game, which does need help, the same importance of Living Story if it’s true they have enough ppl to work on multiple things at same time.

Because right now it seems that it isn’t wokring that way.

It’s been seen as the Live Teams doing everything… Dungeons, story, crafting. Anything not live story is out of the picture

Antara.3189:

AndrewSX.3794:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The point is, they don’t need to stop work on ‘x’ in order to pay attention to ‘y’ necessarily. That’s the whole point of having teams.

Quote a point in my post where i say the opposite.

Then explain why Living Story is getting a 2 week schedule while other parts of the game barely get any update (compared to the Living Story pace of content flow)

That’s the point.
Give the rest of the game, which does need help, the same importance of Living Story if it’s true they have enough ppl to work on multiple things at same time.

Because right now it seems that it isn’t wokring that way.

It’s been seen as the Live Teams doing everything… Dungeons, story, crafting. Anything not live story is out of the picture

Yeah, clearly out of the picture. People just seem to ignore the new PvP map or another WvW update.

I totally trust Colin’s vision.

Naus the Gobbo.5172:

I don’t mean any disrespect to the people in charge of the Living Story or ArenaNet, but in my opinion you are doing a horrible job in regards to making the world feel living AND adding content to the game at the same time.

The biggest problem(in my opinion) with the Living Story is that those of us who stay and play the game on a very regular basis get to experience a lot of new content, but people who take breaks for months log in and think that no new content has been added, because there is nothing new for them to experience.

In my opinion it would be much better if you in the future just added the dungeons as permanent content, but let the story npcs stay and tell the tale of how the new content came to be.
You could just make some unique skins as a reward for completing those challenges when the content is fresh, and then take them out when the next chapter is added.

Because then everyone would get to experience the content, and the world would still feel alive because there would be changes added all the time.

If the F&F dungeon was still here it would feel much more alive, because that dungeon wasn’t here at release. Now it’s gone and everything is back to normal, if you get what I mean.

Sorry if it sounds like I’m just whining, but I really think this would be much better for the game and I really want this game to last for years to come.

Well said, some strong points here. This has been keeping a lot of my RL friends away from the game. Not a single one will play anymore, and if I try to introduce people to the game they want nothing to do with 6 months of missed content. I tried to tell them they weren’t missing much, but it’s perception that nothing at all has changed in 6 months. It’s been a real pain to explain to people who buy the game that they are only getting half the updates everyone else got.

AndrewSX.3794:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The point is, they don’t need to stop work on ‘x’ in order to pay attention to ‘y’ necessarily. That’s the whole point of having teams.

Quote a point in my post where i say the opposite.

Then explain why Living Story is getting a 2 week schedule while other parts of the game barely get any update (compared to the Living Story pace of content flow)

That’s the point.
Give the rest of the game, which does need help, the same importance of Living Story if it’s true they have enough ppl to work on multiple things at same time.

Because right now it seems that it isn’t wokring that way.

I look at the patch notes for the updates, we have a decent chunk of ‘other stuff’ being touched in my opinion. As the article goes on to state, with the more frequent updates (and the additional hiring) things like pvp and wvw will be getting more frequent updates as well.

Can everything be done all at once? No, sadly that’s not how programming works. The more intricate the code, the more complex the interaction, the longer its going to take to tweak, to diagnose whats causing a specific issue, and then to fix that issue.

They have been adding stuff to wvw, they have been trying to make it more fulfilling with some type of progression. They are introducing a new pvp map (in either the next update, or the one after? Have to go reread that). They are paying attention, they are working on it. It just can’t all be done ‘as fast as the fans want it’ it’s just not possible. Sure, it may ‘feel’ like they aren’t doing anything, like they don’t care or aren’t working on the other parts, but its not the actuality of it.

We, as the fans and not the designers, are missing the broader scope of the project. There is a lot more happening than just what we see and the tidbits of info we are fed.

Remember this about the future. So we will get more permanent updates in the future.

Every two weeks? I plan to go on leave this month. I don’t want to miss anything Plz dont release temporary things these days

It seems to me that the blogpost is written by the marketing department, especially this sentence:

" We’ll create events that change the landscape of the world forever, leaving behind epic monuments, destruction, new playable content, and fantastic memories in their wake."

Somehow I don’t feel like the actual content is as epic as ANet depicts it. Personally, I wouldn’t mind waiting longer for permanent content, new areas in our existing world to explore. I feel like there’s a too large focus on storyline here, when I feel like the truth here is that if you give players content and good rewards, they will do it no matter if the storyline would be written by a 7-year-old. That’s why I’m kind of wary of the whole Living story and why ANet is pushing it so hard. I’m not a fan of 2-week rushed temporary content, I’d prefer expansions.

Mr. Colin, can you verify that there will be improvements to the ranger class as a whole? we are hurting badly over there and feel largely ignored. As a matter of fact, can you confirm that all classes are being treated equally?

Also, can you let us know if dungeon feedback from the forums would affect the final state of the new and improved dungeons? some of these dungeons are extremely annoying with mobs with large health pools (but little to no mechanics), instant kill skills that make no sense, and because of the class differences and DPS check system in most dungeons, some classes are just not viable!

ezd.6359:

Every two weeks? I plan to go on leave this month. I don’t want to miss anything Plz dont release temporary things these days

You realize this is the reality of a living world? That things evolve, change and continue even when you’re not around? Just like life.

Are you going to miss out on things? Yeah.
Is that necessarily a bad thing? No.

Think of the events like the life experiences of your character, or your account. They help make you unique, just like your real life experiences make you as a person unique. Its the same concept.

I’m all for the two week release schedule but content has to be doable for a longer period of time. Two weeks is far too short a time to leave the temporary content around.

I think they should overlap the content, so that the content is available for at least a month after being added.

Keep it on the quiet by all means but I don’t think the players would be too upset if, for example, the Aetherblade content was left in the game for a couple of weeks after the Bazaar of the Four Winds arrives. I certainly wouldn’t mind if there were, say a few Aetherblade holdouts left scattered around the maps for people to kill for their achievements.

Personally, I hate the idea of missing a release because it was only available for the two weeks while I was away for work.

Knowing that I can never experience something in a game does have a serious impact on the fun I have with that game.

ezd.6359:

Every two weeks? I plan to go on leave this month. I don’t want to miss anything Plz dont release temporary things these days

GW2, so hardcore, you can’t even go on vacation/leave/etc., or you miss 2 weeks of pressing F.

It’s not that big of a deal. They haven’t put anything out that has made me log in nearly 3 weeks. If you need to go on vacation go ahead. You’ll feel better not worrying about collecting candy all day.

What’s wrong with then focusing on living world content every 2 weeks?! It’s not like they are forgetting about the rest of the content that gw2 has.

They even talked about incorporating living world into current dungeons if I’m not mistaken, and I think that’s one way of changing the current dungeons as it is. Hopefully boss mechanics will change with them too.

What it is, is that you guys want everything to happen so kitten fast, and it just doesn’t work that way.

Fenrir.3609:

ColinJohanson.2394:

(And to the person who asked, fear not! The next blog post talks about rewards like crazy.)

Coming to the game, Aug 2017. An extra blue from every world chest and a guaranteed blue from every level 70 and above champion.

Honestly, there shouldn’t be a guaranteed anything from a given chest. No guaranteed rare, etc.

No mention of the social aspects of the game, guild tools, alliances, the ability to play with people who are housed in different regions.

What is there sounds good. I’m excited about new content every two weeks; but to me what isn’t there is glaring, and it’s the most important part of the game to me.

I don’t get people
“Oh noes, we will get new temporary content every 2 weeks! How dare they?”
The content is free, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it. I personally love it, so I don’t see why is it bad that we’re going to get it.

On a side note – the achievement reward system – will we actually have to spend achievement points to get stuff, or will we just unlock stuff once we reach that particular mark of achievement points and we will be able to buy those items with money or something?

This was quite fun to watch

But I really have to ask 1 thing – Colin, are there any plans to fix the current state of Southsun ? It’s been empty and contested on every EU server I visited so far..

As much as I rage about the ranger gutting, I do really like the 2 week content. I like it very much. Makes the economy incredibly lively as well. I commend Anet on this system, which is very labor intensive. I prefer it above any other “bringing new content” system I’ve seen in all other MMO’s I’ve played. It’s innovative and it keeps the game interesting. The only thing I fear is the extent at which Anet will let the RNG elements dominate this content. If they get that balance right (as well as class balance), it will be good indeed.

I think alot of people are getting tied up in the semantics and missing the big picture.

The way I understand this video blog and other recent posts, there are now four dedicated teams responsible for adding in new content and “adapting” existing content every two weeks. That can include everything from changing something in a current dungeon to adding new DEs to new minigames.

I think people see the phrase “living story” and think “oh, that’s what we saw at the start of the Flame and Frost event” – which was the first time Anet used the term. My understanding is that these teams will be responsible for alot more than just adding in a few scopes and mini-instances. I dont expect the living story to look like the first weeks of F&F, but rather to look more like the current state of Aetherblade events or the latter weeks of the Southsun events (both of which I loved) – with potentially changes to every aspect of the game.

I find this approach exciting. Every step in the living story (F&F, Southsun, Dragonbash, Aetherblades) has been slightly more detailed and better than the last. If they continue to improve on the process and keep up the aggressive pace they’ve outlined, it should make for a (continued) great game.

I think the other concern is that people believe that, just because they have these 4 teams, that everything else will be ignored. First, based on recent statements by Anet, there isnt much that the Living Story teams wont touch (including exisiting dungeons). Second, it sounds like there will always be QA, balance, etc teams working alongside the LS teams.

Im excited for what they can potentially accomplish with this system. The game isn’t perfect, but I (and many others, apparently) really like the direction they are taking.

I personally love the fact they will be doing 2 week content updates aka living story, I also agree with allot of the criticism regarding empty zones sounthsun boredom etc but these are just minuscule, I firmly believe in there own terms they will fix the bugs when they fix them and I have no beef with that, the point is they will get fixed eventually just like when they released the game they said it will be ready when its ready, I firmly believe this company knows what they are doing and I fully support the direction in which they are going,

I will admit I did loose some hope for this game a few months ago thinking that updates were taking far too long monthly living world got stagnant really quickly, the other lands are just locked and I really believed that the few lands that already are opened will be all they were going to work on and this got really depressing really quickly

After seeing the video that was linked on here and the fact they are going to naturally open the other areas…. (CRYSTAL DESSERT PLLLLEEEEEAAAAASE) and the fact the new living world stuff will be every 2 weeks with actual permanent content as well as the temporary stuff and one of the biggest things was the fact they had more than one team working on it so each two week update may have taken over a month planning so this equals quality not tacked on.

I know I am waffling a bit but I personally have become very excited for the future of this game a feeling I have not had since the release, so they must be doing something right

Mirta.5029:

On a side note – the achievement reward system – will we actually have to spend achievement points to get stuff, or will we just unlock stuff once we reach that particular mark of achievement points and we will be able to buy those items with money or something?

I’m hoping it will be unlocks that we can access at the Hall of Monuments with our other account rewards.

Grats on the epic plan

In other news- 5 Hour energy drinks just got 300 permanent customers :P

khani.4786:

Mirta.5029:

On a side note – the achievement reward system – will we actually have to spend achievement points to get stuff, or will we just unlock stuff once we reach that particular mark of achievement points and we will be able to buy those items with money or something?

I’m hoping it will be unlocks that we can access at the Hall of Monuments with our other account rewards.

I’m hoping for that too. It would be nice if we would get an answer of how it will be though. But if we won’t we will get to find out soon anyway

Two main details I got from this:
1. ANet will be focusing on rolling out more content quicker.
2. Four teams are tasked with evolving the Living Story.

What I like:
1. ANet have their mind in the game, getting out content to keep the game involved.
2. Their teams are specifically dedicated to be assigned on delivering on parts of the world. (It’s something I kinda knew, but it’s good to “see” it in action)

My concerns:
1. Taking all of ANet’s staff into consideration, how many people are working on Living World in comparison to the other guys.
- Living World is an interesting concept (one I’m still waiting to realize its full potential, as it’s not really there yet) and all, but I’m worried that it’s starting to take priority over other developments that are equally important.

2. Quantity over quality.
- A steady stream of content is a novel cause, but not if it comes at a price. Will the new content be adequately tested? Sorry to say, but the monthly content came with a fair share of bugs, so will hastened content mean more bugs? And will this content have any meaningful additions? Not to rub salt in any wounds, but Southsun will forever be an ever present reminder of when well meant content goes bad.

3. Short-term versus permanency.
- This is a sore point for me personally. I am not a fan of temporary content, and GW2 has become the home of fleeting devices to get people to play (I guess), and I really can’t see the desire behind this. But people differ and some may like it. Though not sure how many enjoy the idea, I still find myself on the side of the fence where I’d like to revisit (even if only to a lesser extent) the things that have been carefully crafted for the game. This video brought that dejected feeling up, as the previous Living Stories removed a lot of the great ideas added, so I’m starting to think this will become a trend for GW2.

I’m not really a fan of this direction. I’d much rather have a huge update to the world every second month, then two updates every month. Quality over quantity. The content we’ve been getting these last few months have had too small of an impact on the game, for my likening, so I’m doubtful as to how good a change this really is.

cesmode.4257:

ColinJohanson.2394:

cesmode.4257:

And Colin, you didn’t smile as much! What gives?!

It’s a very serious subject!

Hahaha!! Awaiting that RNG box that has a head-armor skin that makes your character smile all of the time! Kidding.

Anyways..still bold stuff. Even though Im at a cross-roads with guild wars 2, good luck.

Ah! So that’s why the helmets remove beards and facial hair; so we can see big smiles! It’s suddenly so clear to me now.

What about Cantha? >:(