Since most people in the MMO industry use WoW for most comparisons….
I just want you to know that I’m a WoW veteran….I’ve played since WoW’s first Beta….I played when Tauren’s didnt have mounts only plain-strider speed….I played when Will of the forsaken and underwater breathing for undead was passive…..i played when paladins abilties did more damage against undead players…I played when Alterac Valley did not end till 8 hours had passed and all the elites had been summoned….I played when the Hall of Champions was reserved for champions….i played before arena existed…..before BG’s existed….I played when the only way to Achieve Grand Marshal or Highwarlord was to drop out of school or quit your job….I could go on and on but you get the idea….
I see a lot of posts about this games end game content. I remember when WoW came out the only end game content we had was MC. Why would a game designer spend a significant amount of time on the end game content when the mass majority of it’s player base is leveling up for the first time. Doesn’t it make sense that a game would focus more time on the leveling experience since new players are being introduced into the game for the first time….and add more “end game” content as the “community” together reaches max level. If you were a game designer why would you only cater to a few hard core players that reach the max level within a couple of days? It doesn’t make any sense at all that you would spend a significant amount of time on end game content when you are trying to create an addictive leveling experience for people new to the game…at least that’s what WoW realized when it released its MMO…..and that formula worked…because numbers don’t lie.
But not only has Guild Wars focused on the core community of its game it also has a superior business strategy as well…which is to profit solely off the support of our community. You see…Blizzard has a strategy too….one that most of you will be reading about for the first time in this post so grab some popcorn. Now as we all know Blizzard charges subscription fees for World of Warcraft….and we also know that Blizzard offered us a free Diablo 3 in exchange for a year of WoW….and everyone here agrees that Blizzard did not spend a significant amount of time on Diablo 3 and I’ve yet to talk to anyone who thought that was an amazing game or who even still plays it….***So here’s their game plan….They gave most players a low quality made game (they didn’t have to sacrifice a lot of time and resources into) for free in exchange for a year of WoW so that players would feel obligated to buy the expansion when it released….BUT WAIT there’s more…..when the years subscription ends and you’ve had all the WoW you can take….they will introduce you to a new game titled “Project Titan”. The COO of Blizzard (Paul Sams) said their most talented people are working on “Project Titan” and that great people “under” them are managing WoW. So not only is WoW a sinking ship but their COO is even telling you that his best people are working on another project. Guild Wars has its best people working on their game RIGHT NOW….and they are NOT trying to to manipulate you through crafty marketing strategies to lock you into the game. The GW2 business strategy requires that the community supports the game in order for it to succeed…unlike Blizzard.
PvP? I’ve ranked gladiator many times on the unending grind to the top….where emotions run high and a demon arises within the nerd. Arena is NOT fun….it’s a grind…just like WoW PvE is. This game isn’t a grind…in WvW I actually enjoy myself if we win or lose and I never feel the tension that I felt in arena. Arena and BG’s for me at one point had turned into a job….this has never felt like that. Even in WoW when I mention GW2 most people in every chat channel no matter what they think about GW2 in general will always say the PvP is more fun than WoW.
What about MoP? I made my panda monk with his bouncing belly….and ran him around till he was level 15….then logged onto my 85 paladin and mounted on my ZG tiger mount and explored the entire new island in under 30 mins……then for the first time ever I logged out, cancelled my account, and uninstalled the game. Yes GW2 is that good.
The point of this post was to show you that every game needs time to grow and that even though criticism is important towards a games success….its equally important that you understand that the game was built for a community as a whole and also that the meaning of end game “evolves” as the “community” matures and grows.
Name: “Kaide” (Kaine is just the account name)
(edited by Kaine.3501)