Guild Wars 2

I have a serious question to ask – but first – I have to tell you my story. So bear with me here.

About half-a-dozen good friends of mine got into the GW2 Beta. And were raving about it. I poked my head in to the news sites from time to time and was impressed with Arenanet’s innovation. I was looking forward to the game, but it wasn’t at the forefront of my radar.

Fantasy really isn’t my first love, you know? Oh don’t get me wrong! I love some of the classics like Tolkien. Steven Brust’s Jhereg series really got me going for awhile. And I’ve been a big fan of Mercedes Lackeys stuff since an old dear friend of mine sent me the first trilogy of her Valdemar stuff.

But my first MMO love was City of Heroes.

I bet you’re rolling your eyes even now. Give me a moment more of your time. This is not a GW2 bashing thread. Anything but.

So I was more than willing to be pulled into GW2 if my friends were enthused about it. Hey it looked good, you know?

Then Black Friday happened. The day NCSoft announced CoH closure.

So I wound up playing the game occasionally when I needed to take a break from the frenetic pace I’d set myself these last couple of months trying to get things finished off and squared away with my main characters in COH.

And GW2 is a GREAT game. It’s a great WORLD. It’s at least as finely detailed as COH. It’s obvious the amount of love that Arenanet have put into it.

BUT…

I cannot get emotionally invested in my character or story in GW2. I find the world fascinating. I find the history and lore interesting to read about. I appreciate the artistry.

But only in my head, because it’s not touching me in the heart. Not like COH has. And it’s no fault of Arenanet and Guild Wars or Tyria.

It’s NCSOFT of course.

No matter how much I try, I can’t get past the fact that NCSoft KILLS MMOs. All MMOs will pass away of course. But for most – there is the possibility of existing for many many years in reduced format on fewer servers or even private servers long after the game itself is no longer supported by the company. Maybe to find life again with new companies.

Not with NCSoft. When it’s over, they shut the games down completely and let NO ONE buy them or do anything with them. Then they sit on the intellectual property forever.

So in the back of my mind – always – with Guild Wars 2, there’s this little voice saying, “This world is doomed.”

That’s the Sword of Damocles of being tied to the MMO Killer NCSoft.

Oh not today. Not this year. Maybe not for 5 years or more. But I can’t help but feel that Guild Wars 1 and 2 are doomed to die. And they won’t die after a prolonged retirement either. No, like the other games NCSoft kills, they’ll simply be buried and Arenanet will be destroyed and scattered like Paragon Studios has been. And they’ll sit on the IP forever and not let Tyria live again.

NCSoft with MMO IPs are like King Hagrid keeping all the Unicorns in the Sea penned by the Red Bull.

My friends notice a lack of enthusiasm on my part. I played the Halloween Event once or twice. But I don’t think I achieved anything or bothered to worry about drops of anything special. I was there for THEM, not for the game. I’m not too concerned if I miss the Lost Shores opening either. If I do, I’ll see it on Youtube. I just can’t get emotionally involved. It bugs them. It bugs me. But I just can’t get past the “Damocles” effect.

I know that Arenanet is considered a wholly owned subsidiary of NCSoft. No getting around that. But unlike Paragon Studios, it wasn’t always that way. Arenanet had a life as an independent studio before being acquired by NCSoft.

So here’s the question:

Does Arenanet have any kind of “Escape Clause”? A way to remove themselves from under NCSoft if they need to?

If I felt confident that they could, then I wouldn’t feel the sense of doom hanging over this world like I do now. If Arenanet has a way to escape out from under NCSoft’s management at anytime, then I’d feel a lot more confident about getting involved in Tyria. If they actually DID go independent (or get bought by another studio) I’d support them wholeheartedly monetarily – even buy a new physical copy of the game, just to help them out!

I honestly don’t want this to seem like a “DOOM” thread. That’s ridiculous. The game is selling well. It’s being run well. Arenanet communicates with the players admirably. And I have nothing but praise for the way the game plays and looks.

But that Sword of Damocles is hanging up there, and it’s just killing my fun here in Tyria.

So – does anyone have any words of encouragement? Any Devs willing to say something about my question above? It would help. It really would.

I’m sorry about CoH, but my advice is to let it go. There is potential for that to happen with any game, the best thing to do is just enjoy the game while its out.

Anet is western, sooner or later NCSoft will kill them just to save money lost by a homeland studio.

Just enjoy the ride while you can.

I took the absence of new Halloween headgear in Guild Wars this year as a sign that a certain sword might be about to swing again.

Do not worry. Im sure anet have protected there baby and will have oppurtunity to cancel there contract weith ncsoft and find another company to do what ncsoft does for them.

Also, its not impossible for ncsoft to learn from there mistakes. its the best way to learn as it happens

If they intend to protect their baby, they never have released this pathetic patch of mandatory gear treadmills

Oluerim.7256:

If they intend to protect their baby, they never have released this pathetic patch of mandatory gear treadmills

thats good because this patch has no mandatory gear treadmill.

im astounded at the number of people who miss interpreted the first post informing us about agony, even more astounded at the people who still dont get it after the follow up posts that explains very clearly that :-

“To make Fractals of the Mist even more challenging, every time you re-visit the hub, the dungeon scales up in difficulty”

that is what the new gear is for, it lets you slow down the difficulty increase, nothing more

Tachenon.5270:

I took the absence of new Halloween headgear in Guild Wars this year as a sign that a certain sword might be about to swing again.

Lolwut?

Devil horns at the start, for free.
Witch hat at the end, for free.
Phantom mask, for gems.
And two gem outfits.

Please do not post blatant misinformation.

As for the op. Given that fantasy is not your mainstay, even if gw2 were guaranteed to live forever im not sure your enthusiasm would perk up. You seem a bit jaded and depressed over coh and bitter towards ncsoft.

Not a criticism of you, just that it seems you might be a little caught up on the recent past to actually enjoy the present, and that is something you will have to work through.

Even if ncsoft let anet go, tyria would remain ncsofts.

gogoapoxy.1425:

Tachenon.5270:

I took the absence of new Halloween headgear in Guild Wars this year as a sign that a certain sword might be about to swing again.

Lolwut?

Devil horns at the start, for free.
Witch hat at the end, for free.
Phantom mask, for gems.
And two gem outfits.

Please do not post blatant misinformation.

As for the op. Given that fantasy is not your mainstay, even if gw2 were guaranteed to live forever im not sure your enthusiasm would perk up. You seem a bit jaded and depressed over coh and bitter towards ncsoft.

Not a criticism of you, just that it seems you might be a little caught up on the recent past to actually enjoy the present, and that is something you will have to work through.

Even if ncsoft let anet go, tyria would remain ncsofts.

Ah, I believe Tachenon was referring to GW1

NcSoft is a company that doesn’t really understand the Western market. But Lineage and Aion are still doing well in Asia.

I played Aion, it was still too grindy for me to like. Not because of the actual grind but the fact that by the time you got something together you outleveled it….but I digress.

Arenanet was an American game company that used NcSoft as a publisher but in the mean time it has been incorporated into NcSoft.

But, GW1 is still running. Aion is still running (f2p in Europe) and other games of theirs are running.

As much as I hate the Korean grind and NcSoft’s lack of communication and terrible support, I wouldn’t categorise them as MMO killers. A lot of their games are still available to play.

The reason I cannot really connect to my characters has more to do with the poor storylines and horrible voice acting (more the scripts than the actors even).

So, a great world, great history and background etc…but horrible storytelling. I’d rather not hear my character’s voices.

As others mentioned any MMO has the risk of ending. Perhaps CoH was your first MMO. When your first MMO is shut down or disappoints you to the point of leaving. That always hits hardest. It gets easier after that.

That’s why there’s so much complaining going on. Customer expectations are moving a lot faster than game developers. Companies will have to learn to keep up with that. GW2 did some of that right, but not all of it.

We’ll see what this weekend brings, but the sword of Damocles is always there. Just a fact of life. Nothing lasts forever

Tabula Rasa anyone? Anyways, GW1 has been around for exactly 1/4 of my life. If the servers were to shut down it would be a bit sad. Sort of like seeing a childhood hang-out torn down to build something new.

But I got more than my money’s worth of entertainment, enjoyment and memories from that game by orders or magnitude.

I’m not expecting GW2 to be any different. Same world, same lore, same “feel” (even though it’s not. Some GW players will get what I mean), and same people I’ve been playing with for years.

Gehenna kind of mentioned what I was thinking. You can’t let the knowledge that because things might go away you can’t enjoy them now. Life is fleeting.

Enjoy the fall leaves even thought they trees will soon be bare.
Enjoy your kids even though they will grow up an move away.
Enjoy your dog/cat even though it will probably die long before you do.

Even if GW1 does cease to run, I will always have the 7 years of memories I got with that game. Maybe even more so than other people, as I played GW1 with my wife for those 7 years and it was fun as well as a bonding experience for us. Whether it ends in 2 years, 20 years, or 2 months, don’t let that stop you from enjoying something at the present. Now…if you actually don’t care for GW2, I can’t help you there, find something you DO like and love that instead. Hope that helps.

Dra Keln.2015:

I’m sorry about CoH, but my advice is to let it go. There is potential for that to happen with any game, the best thing to do is just enjoy the game while its out.

I cry myself to sleep every night because of what happened to Chromehounds. ;_;

That’s the thing though. With NCSoft – before City of Heroes, there was the consideration that the games they shut down weren’t profitable. That they weren’t going to make it anyway. Even Tabula Rasa was likely never to make back the amount put into development. (and even if Garriot deserved to be let go, how they did it was as scummy as it comes, and they rightfully got themselves burned doing it to the tune of 32 million.)

That wasn’t the case with City of Heroes. The game was never in the red. They weren’t pulling in a LOT of money but they were steady. Paragon Studios was enthusiastically putting together issue 24 and was about to launch it when they were all unceremoniously kicked out the door. This was an utter shock to both the studio and the players. This while Aion was bleeding them dry in the western market to the tune of about 6 Million.

So if they can and will shut down a profitable (if marginally so) game like City of Heroes, while favoring their Korean market, what’s going to happen the instant the either of the GW games isn’t pulling in “enough” profit?

Is NCSoft looking for steady profit or a WoW killer? They’re not going to get the latter, no matter what. WoW is an anomaly – the far end of the bell curve. The only thing that will “kill” WoW is WoW.

What they should be looking to do is maintain the loyalty of customers. Instead they’re poisoning the well of the MMO industry and calling into question the longevity of all their products. Even GW/GW2.

As for myself. I don’t know if I’ll ever get into any MMO the same way again. Frankly I can’t just shug and say “oh well”. NCSoft is killing my characters and stories.

Maybe that’s the difference. As pretty as GW is, it’s not really a story I’ve come up with myself, but one I’m being asked to identify with. I didn’t really come up with the specific details of my character. They were provided to me by the world.

I’m used to writing up – or at least having a specific “head-canon” for characters. An “Elevator Pitch” if you will. Well the “hook” for the GW2 characters is provided by the game itself. I can get into that to a degree. But not enough to get anywhere near as enthusiastically as I did when I played my OWN characters in COH.

And that, along with the “Damocles” effect is making it difficult to get into things here.

I guess we’ll see over time. I want to give GW2 a fair chance. I’ll certainly be here for my friends. I’d like to explore the world some.

But it’ll probably never be HOME to me like CoH was.