The future of Guild Wars 2
Long poem dude.
I too would like an expansion, and would not mind paying for it. I think it would breathe new life into the game. I’m not talking a subscription, but maybe a $35-50 Xpac with some new areas, dungeons, classes, races, skins, skills, and weapons would not be a negative thing. I think it would entice new players and retrieve some old players as well. It would also make some money for Anet as well.
The reason that you will receive on these forums will most likely be “Because Guild Wars 2 is a totally different game than Guild Wars was.” The real reason is because most of the devs who made GW are no longer with ANet. After GW was such a success NCSoft started taking more of an interest in ANet and GW2. And now we have a cash-shop game that is nothing like the game we expected.
This is an argument that has been iterated quite a few times OP.
Arena.net doesn’t want to fragment their player base with boxed expansion sets. Apparently, they felt there were problems with how some people had Prophecies, Factions, or Nightfall, or any combination of the three.
I guess there were enough people who had one game, but couldn’t play the other because they didn’t have that campaign. They also don’t want a long line of expansions, and creating a barrier for new players. “You mean, I have to get this… then this… then this… then this… then I can play all the content?”
Those are their cited reasons. I don’t think they are entirely invalid (though I also think that it’s not nearly as big of a hurdle as they claim it is). My main suspicion however, is that it’s a matter of money.
It is FAR cheaper to develop digital only content than boxed expansions (I mean to the degree of for every dollar spent for physical disc content, it’s ten cents to do it digital only)… and if they were to sell a digital expansion, you better believe that players would be demanding a physical disc set.
So this is what they hope will maximize their profits. Gradually released digital content that serves the purpose of an expansion at a fraction of the cost. They likely feel they can suffer the loss of players who demand traditional expansion sets because the cost of developing that content is far less.
The current barrier I see is that their Living Story has yet to demonstrate it can deliver that expansion pack level of content that sticks. It can in theory, but until they demonstrate that theory in reality, they’re going to continue to face skepticism from a market that is NOTORIOUS for resisting changes to the traditionally accepted business model.
tl;dr version: I believe Arena.net thinks this will make them more $$$ at the end of the day.
(edited by chemiclord.3978)
To a degree I think you’re right Chemiclord. They are definitely trying to make money but not for the reasons you’re stating or in the way you’re stating.
I think the thought process here is to keep people playing which keeps them buying in the cash shop, which is a steady influx of money. As opposed to people leaving and giving them no money at all until an expansion comes out.
But it’s more than that. They’re competing an in arena were everyone does the same thing. So by doing something different, they have no competition in that area. I like the 2 week content thing. I’d like an expansion as well, but I don’t think I’d like it more. It would be very exciting for a month or two and then I’d be waiting 10 months for something new.
This is better for me and people like me. Better to have some new stuff to do every two weeks for a period of time. I can’t really get that in most MMOs.
I like the LS method in GW2 just fine. Am glad it is a completely different sort of mmo than GW1.
I also agree with a lot of what Vayne posted above.
Mmo players with a screw loose vs mmo players with two screws loose. All very important stuff.
-Zenleto-
(edited by Teon.5168)
Ok back to the point
How long did it take to release guild wars 1 first expansion?
Let’s start by dates
Guild wars was released 2005 FULL classic map
Guild wars factions was released April 2006 FULL map with new classes
Guild wars night fall was released October 2006 FULL map with new classes
Guild wars eye of north was released 2007
By releasing the expansions so close together, ANet also exhausted most of their aces and had to rush development of Guild Wars 2 in 2011.
I do think, however, having an expansion every other year or so would make for a better game. Plus, it would offer a huge monetary cushion. In between years could have Living Story – similar to how Guild Wars Beyond played out.
I highly doubt ANet will be able to profit if everyone decides the slow digital releases aren’t worth waiting for anymore.
(edited by Cuddy.6247)
Long poem dude.
It’s called an ODE to a HO-HUM game compared to GW1.
Mud Bone – Sylvari Ranger