Guild Wars 2

This season of living story has become permanent content. All of it can be replayed and the zones are still there. In light of this it’s the perfect opportunity for ANET to introduce new dungeons or raid content (they did hire that designer after all). What’s to say the final battle with Mordy won’t be our first 25 man raid?

Xillllix.3485:

Vayne.8563:

People can only say the living world isn’t content if they’re dismissing new zones as well. And new enemies with new mechanics. And new dynamic events.

A few months ago, everyone was saying new zones, new skills, new weapons, new classes, new races.

We’ve gotten two new zones, but everyone says the Living Story is a couple of hours.

If that’s all the play you can get from a new zone, no MMO is the world is going to be able to provide enough content.

I don’t think anybody here is questioning the quality of the new Silverwaste and Dry Top zones, these are quite outstanding. The issue has to do with implementation and re-playability. As I mentioned earlier, it is sad to have so much beautiful work going to the design of instances people will only play once through, while instead they could have been designed as replayable dungeons, and the living story as story modes for these dungeons. It wouldn’t diminish the quality of the living story at all, but we would also get permanent dungeon content.

Same with WvW, why not make a version of Silverwaste competitive? Anet has already shown us that you can support PvP in the open world.

The general feeling is that there is content made only for a specific type of player and not for the rest of the competitive/hardcore-PvE community.

How many people do you think only play through dungeons once? There are people who replay dungeons over and over again and consider them replayable. I’ve replayed dungeons over and over again too, but not because I enjoy them, or find them fun or engaging.

There are people who play through the open world over and over again, because they like it and find that replayable and dungeons not replayable.

I’m not sure that it’s a less numerous group. Dungeon runners (and in other game raiders) always think they’re so great in number, but I’ve seen no real evidence to support that.

And we get half an hour long LS chapter. C’moooooon …

Xillllix.3485:

Vayne.8563:

People can only say the living world isn’t content if they’re dismissing new zones as well. And new enemies with new mechanics. And new dynamic events.

A few months ago, everyone was saying new zones, new skills, new weapons, new classes, new races.

We’ve gotten two new zones, but everyone says the Living Story is a couple of hours.

If that’s all the play you can get from a new zone, no MMO is the world is going to be able to provide enough content.

I don’t think anybody here is questioning the quality of the new Silverwaste and Dry Top zones, these are quite outstanding. The issue has to do with implementation and re-playability. As I mentioned earlier, it is sad to have so much beautiful work going to the design of instances people will only play once through, while instead they could have been designed as replayable dungeons, and the living story as story modes for these dungeons. It wouldn’t diminish the quality of the living story at all, but we would also get permanent dungeon content.

Same with WvW, why not make a version of Silverwaste competitive? Anet has already shown us that you can support PvP in the open world.

The general feeling is that there is content made only for a specific type of player and not for the rest of the competitive/hardcore-PvE community.

But what you are saying is exactly why people are asking anet for a roadmap, to know what to expect and to know if the game is still right for them. I personally am now using GW2 as a filler when im patching another game or waiting for something.

When they hype and keep saying “maybe someday” just to retain a playerbase that their game would not usually retain is what causes this toxicity. Add excessive forum moderation to that and a kittenty customer service that is never capable of giving a helping response or actually being able to help customers… Well you get what they have built up for 2 years … a very tense hostile environment.
I have nothing against Gaile, but lets just say the rest of the corporation is not making their job any easier. (specially with that bullkitten red tape policy)

I would like to see real numbers on the PvE/PvP’s they talk about being a larger group than we think. Not just the ones they bribed with the rewards.

dlonie, thank you for starting this topic.

+1 to clear communication.

I wanna play mmorpg, not some bad single player game.

Bran.7425:

I would like to see real numbers on the PvE/PvP’s they talk about being a larger group than we think. Not just the ones they bribed with the rewards.

You don’t think dungeons bribe with rewards?

Gaile Gray.6029:

Gulesave.5073:

Gaile was not asking whether the promise of more LW is sufficient to sate our desires for intel, just whether it counts.

Yes, this is correct. When I see comments like “there’s nothing new to do” or “we need fresh content” it just occurred to me to ask if you’re taking LW into account, if you see that as new content and pretty significant chunks of it, at that. (Admittedly, it may not be what you personally have requested, but if the statement is “there’s nothing new” that doesn’t seem quite right.)

Thanks everyone for not barking at me when I asked the question. Again, the question was not “is it enough?” I really was pointing to it to ask for your impressions of the concept and the execution as continuing, new content in an ever-changing world.

It certainly counts, but any additional content counts so I’m not sure it’s a terribly useful question to ask.

It doesn’t really feel like an ever-changing world but this is probably impossible to achieve so it’s difficult to complain about it. In reality, it feels like a couple of zones tacked onto the outskirts of the world and a periodical smashing of a handful of locations but there are other threads out there discussing whether there are more interesting things you could do with this concept.

The new content has felt underwhelming – another poster listed the differences between 2013 and 2014 features and it’s striking, maybe this is why last years living story didn’t get many complaints – there were loads of other new things to go with it. Now all we’ve really got is the living story and it’s pretty brief and there’s only so much you can do in a single zone.

As an aside, it’s cool as hell that you’re engaging in this conversation with players. It’s really appreciated, even if it changes nothing the fact that you want to explore why some people feel this way means a lot.

Vayne.8563:

Jerus.4350:

Vayne.8563:

People can only say the living world isn’t content if they’re dismissing new zones as well. And new enemies with new mechanics. And new dynamic events.

A few months ago, everyone was saying new zones, new skills, new weapons, new classes, new races.

We’ve gotten two new zones, but everyone says the Living Story is a couple of hours.

If that’s all the play you can get from a new zone, no MMO is the world is going to be able to provide enough content.

Not everyone plays for open world event stuff.

There are multiple parts of the game, focusing on only one and abandoning the rest is why many people are frustrated (btw, not using everybody/community)

I don’t want those things you said people were asking for, I just want more dungeons and maybe something in WvW as I’m primarily a dungeoneer and secondary being WvW. Open world stuff is where I go when I have nothing better to do and want to soak up some rewards for little to no effort.

So again, the question and point of this thread is to try and get ANet to let us know if we should give up, or should we hold out hope?

Nothing to do with what I said mate. I’ve seen again and again the words the living story content, as in the new updates are two hours of content.

If Anet introduced a new dungeon, even though I don’t prefer dungeons to other content, I wouldn’t say no content has been released, nor would I say an update has two hours of content if I did the dungeon once in two hours and never did it again.

It’s disingenuous, it’s unfair and it’s ignoring a lot of hard work and effort. Particularly seeing as how well the new update has been received.

I get that different people want different things. It’s no reason to dismiss what’s there because you don’t play it though.

You could take it that way, or you could try and see the point those people are trying to make and not worry about the semantics of it. They’re saying they get 2-4 hours out of the content, that’s it. They find the replay value of it low and simply hit it to get the quick rewards then go back to their preferred areas of game play which are being left for dead.

In the post I quoted before you said “everybody was saying” I didn’t take that to literally mean everybody, no, you meant there was a LOT of people asking for those things.

As for your comment about no MMO being able to support people with that attitude, I completely disagree. I played EQ for 15 years because they supported all aspects of their PVE play open world, advanced group(dungeon type stuff), and raids. That’s the key here, ANet has dropped support for all but their Open World gameplay.

So again, I return to the topic (sorry dlonie for getting off track, lots of tangential topics to this thread) What are we going to see moving forward? Are there any plans to do more than the open world?

People complained the content wasn’t repeatable. Could you imagine how it would be for people if everything was left in. The battle for Lion’s Arch, escape from Lion’s Arch the Nightmare Tower, the Marionette, the Scarlet Invasions…no one would know what was going on. Those sort of set pieces were possible because you could put them in and remove them…and it worked. Now it’s what people asked for. Repeatable content.

Which brings us to the new zones, which accompany the story and like Orr they’re locked in time.

You can’t really have it both ways. Anet listened to their fan base. I’d have preferred it the old way too.

SpyderBite.6274:

Is this your first MMO? Please show me another game which has developers who layout their entire roadmap for the game for the player base to critique.

Planetside 2, TESO, wow, and most others i guess. Now show me another MMO where we don’t know anything about what is coming next 3 months or 6 months or year or whatever time frame. Is GW2 your first MMO ?

Vayne.8563:

People can only say the living world isn’t content if they’re dismissing new zones as well. And new enemies with new mechanics. And new dynamic events.

A few months ago, everyone was saying new zones, new skills, new weapons, new classes, new races.

We’ve gotten two new zones, but everyone says the Living Story is a couple of hours.

If that’s all the play you can get from a new zone, no MMO is the world is going to be able to provide enough content.

1. Living World (entire world is subject to change) is one thing and Living Story(quests affected by lore that follow a certain continuity) is another. One refers to locations while another to quests.
2. “new enemies with new mechanics” well, thank God? or are you implying something along the lines of it’s not all a zerg. Besides i think you’re talking about boss/monster tactics in order to kill them, game mechanics refers to something else, like for example dodging or jumping (in-game actions or inactions that allow you to interact with the game)
3. “A few months ago everyone was saying new zones, new skills, new weapons, new classes, new races.” I’m sorry but what are you trying to say here? They never added any new skills or weapons, classes or races.

Note: Added maps: Southsun Cove, Dry Top and The Silverwastes

Vayne.8563:

Bran.7425:

I would like to see real numbers on the PvE/PvP’s they talk about being a larger group than we think. Not just the ones they bribed with the rewards.

You don’t think dungeons bribe with rewards?

Perhaps, but they never tried to link increased dungeons rewards to state that increase in dungeon participation justifies further dungeon development.

SpyderBite.6274:

dlonie.6547:

This is an online game. No matter what they do, people will kitten, moan and complain ;-) They need to stop being so afraid of that, and just communicate what their goals are. If people complain, at least they’re getting feedback before they release content that flops.

Is this your first MMO? Please show me another game which has developers who layout their entire roadmap for the game for the player base to critique.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/forums/643-Letters-from-the-Producer

he is up to letter 57 right now, he also does video letters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft:_Warlords_of_Draenor
was announced last year
http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-brief/62349-mists-of-pandaria-will-not-be-the-last-wow-expansion-pack
they day it came out, they announced that there would be another expansion.

it really isnt abnormal at all.

But know this, many other games dont have to tell people everything, because they already have established how the game is going to grow. WoW can say expansion, and people know what to expect. GW, no one knows what to expect from any release.

Bran.7425:

Vayne.8563:

Bran.7425:

I would like to see real numbers on the PvE/PvP’s they talk about being a larger group than we think. Not just the ones they bribed with the rewards.

You don’t think dungeons bribe with rewards?

Perhaps, but they never tried to link increased dungeons rewards to state that increase in dungeon participation justifies further dungeon development.

They increased dungeon rewards significantly twice. Once with champ bags and once with adding the gold for each dungeon.

But also if you go to any thread that talks about getting gold, dungeons are one of the most recommended ways to get gold fast.

Increasing the reward isn’t really the issue.

Guys…try to stay on topic. I’m dealing with a mess at work at the moment and can’t crack the whip, but remember:

This thread is to discuss the issue of ArenaNet’s absolute silence disenfranchising many of their players. Not dungeon rewards, not personal jabs, not specific additions to content, but communication between ArenaNet and their players becoming more meaningful.

Forum quality always crashes and burns on patch day >.<

Vayne.8563:

Bran.7425:

Vayne.8563:

Bran.7425:

I would like to see real numbers on the PvE/PvP’s they talk about being a larger group than we think. Not just the ones they bribed with the rewards.

You don’t think dungeons bribe with rewards?

Perhaps, but they never tried to link increased dungeons rewards to state that increase in dungeon participation justifies further dungeon development.

They increased dungeon rewards significantly twice. Once with champ bags and once with adding the gold for each dungeon.

But also if you go to any thread that talks about getting gold, dungeons are one of the most recommended ways to get gold fast.

Increasing the reward isn’t really the issue.

You missed the point of that entirely, there was an entire dialog on the idea that they only thing keep numerous player from doing PvP was the fact that it did nothing to advance the goals of the other modes of play. So increased rewards, increased number of people playing PvP, justification of keeping most if not all balance centered around the mode of play that more than likely did not lead to the box sell.

phys.7689:

SpyderBite.6274:

dlonie.6547:

This is an online game. No matter what they do, people will kitten, moan and complain ;-) They need to stop being so afraid of that, and just communicate what their goals are. If people complain, at least they’re getting feedback before they release content that flops.

Is this your first MMO? Please show me another game which has developers who layout their entire roadmap for the game for the player base to critique.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/forums/643-Letters-from-the-Producer

he is up to letter 57 right now, he also does video letters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft:_Warlords_of_Draenor
was announced last year
http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-brief/62349-mists-of-pandaria-will-not-be-the-last-wow-expansion-pack
they day it came out, they announced that there would be another expansion.

it really isnt abnormal at all.

But know this, many other games dont have to tell people everything, because they already have established how the game is going to grow. WoW can say expansion, and people know what to expect. GW, no one knows what to expect from any release.

Thanks a ton phys. SpyderBite, take this as my reply.

Vayne.8563:

Bran.7425:

Vayne.8563:

Bran.7425:

I would like to see real numbers on the PvE/PvP’s they talk about being a larger group than we think. Not just the ones they bribed with the rewards.

You don’t think dungeons bribe with rewards?

Perhaps, but they never tried to link increased dungeons rewards to state that increase in dungeon participation justifies further dungeon development.

They increased dungeon rewards significantly twice. Once with champ bags and once with adding the gold for each dungeon.

But also if you go to any thread that talks about getting gold, dungeons are one of the most recommended ways to get gold fast.

Increasing the reward isn’t really the issue.

It goes both ways. If silverwaste is released in another game. It’ll be jam pack with people. Since they’ll be farming the next tier of gear there.

But apparently after the first few days. The population drop sharply. Since there is nothing else to farm there any more. I got a few stack of crest and not sure what to use it for.

I still like going there to get dragonite ore. But I dont’ see much people interested in it after the nerf.

Most people doing open world are farming items too. I doubt many people will do open world boss everyday if they dont’ drop anything.

I’d add that SOE as a company goes as far as having an entire weekend convention called SOELive to release their plans for the next year. This includes panels for each individual games as well as new games being introduced.

DCUO in 2013 even went as far as to announce their plans for 3 years out, broad plans (basically that there would be about 3DLC’s per year and it’d be 3 different storylines, amazon fury, New Genesis, and War of the Light with 3 episodes to each).

dlonie.6547:

Guhracie.3419:

I’m just going to leave this here…

Yeah, it’s so whiny to expect people to mean what they say. Super unreasonable.

Sorry about killing your thread, Guhracie. I really thought my post there was relevant :-/ I was sad to see it locked.

I still feel bad for Gaile. It feels like after the communication blow-up, they just shoved her outside of the ArenaNet fortress of silence, bound and gagged, and told her to do a little dance to keep us entertained. As much as I’d like to see the things she’s said in that thread come true, it’s not up to her to make them happen. :-(

<3 Gaile, even though I’ve been a kitty to you sometimes!

Her successopredecessor seemed awfully quiet on the forum. I’m happier to have her between the rock and hard place.

Don’t let ’em give ya any guff, G.

phys.7689:

SpyderBite.6274:

dlonie.6547:

This is an online game. No matter what they do, people will kitten, moan and complain ;-) They need to stop being so afraid of that, and just communicate what their goals are. If people complain, at least they’re getting feedback before they release content that flops.

Is this your first MMO? Please show me another game which has developers who layout their entire roadmap for the game for the player base to critique.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/forums/643-Letters-from-the-Producer

he is up to letter 57 right now, he also does video letters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft:_Warlords_of_Draenor
was announced last year
http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-brief/62349-mists-of-pandaria-will-not-be-the-last-wow-expansion-pack
they day it came out, they announced that there would be another expansion.

it really isnt abnormal at all.

But know this, many other games dont have to tell people everything, because they already have established how the game is going to grow. WoW can say expansion, and people know what to expect. GW, no one knows what to expect from any release.

This is an example of REAL communication and this is how you keep players interested and playing your game. I’m sorry but this is what MMO players are used to getting and there is no reason not to provide it unless you have something to hide, or nothing to say. All the excuses given regarding the flack taken if something isn’t out on time is just deflection and the fact is people have said many times, myself included all you need do is provide a general layout of things to come/no spoilers. It’s your choice if you don’t we have no control over that but we do have control over what we choose to play and on what we continue to spend money supporting.

Vayne.8563:

People complained the content wasn’t repeatable. Could you imagine how it would be for people if everything was left in. The battle for Lion’s Arch, escape from Lion’s Arch the Nightmare Tower, the Marionette, the Scarlet Invasions…no one would know what was going on. Those sort of set pieces were possible because you could put them in and remove them…and it worked. Now it’s what people asked for. Repeatable content.

Which brings us to the new zones, which accompany the story and like Orr they’re locked in time.

You can’t really have it both ways. Anet listened to their fan base. I’d have preferred it the old way too.

So you’d prefer the game remain in perpetual stagnation once a season is over and after 2 years we have very little permanent content? The entire reason we are where we are is because ArenaNet foolishly thought developing mostly temp content out of the gate was a good idea. The game did not have a solid endgame at launch and due to all the temp content and LS it still doesn’t. You’re correct that the season 1 content couldn’t be left in, but that’s because it was developed as temporary content. It wasn’t developed with replayability or permanence in mind. The season 2 stuff has permanence in mind but fails at replayability. Besides story, or achievements there really isn’t much reason to do the content, thus once you’ve played through it once most people are done.

ArenaNet needs to come up with a way to add progressive goals to the game that aren’t farming or achievement points. MMO’s are all about progression and GW2 has always lacked it. The easy cop-out is a new tier of gear, but ArenaNet has already used that card. Clearly raids will be the next attempt, but very quickly they will find that if the rewards aren’t good enough it’s more wasted development time.

Distaste.4801:

~Snip~

ArenaNet needs to come up with a way to add progressive goals to the game that aren’t farming or achievement points. MMO’s are all about progression and GW2 has always lacked it. The easy cop-out is a new tier of gear, but ArenaNet has already used that card. Clearly raids will be the next attempt, but very quickly they will find that if the rewards aren’t good enough it’s more wasted development time.

If this is what you’re looking for, then I think you’re playing the wrong game and any type of road map from A.net is going to disappoint you. They want to steer away from the progression that most MMO’s offer, they have tried to come up with some ways of horizontal progression, and that is their focus…no gear grinds, no level grinds…no grinds at all in honestly…just a game to play and have fun…this isn’t a job, it’s entertainment.

Personally, I could care less if they ever release a road map, it doesn’t matter to me what plans they have, I bought this to fill up my free time, and it does just that quite well.

Gaile Gray.6029:

You mention wanting to know there will be more to the game. The new and continuing episodes of the Living World count towards that, right?

Gaile, there are 2 things to games.

1) The story or plot that your character is involved in.
2) The game mechanics or systems that we the player use to interact with our character and the world.

I’m perfectly happy with what Arenanet is doing with the story. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed pretty much all of it (even the parts of season 1 it seems many others did not).

However, I am thoroughly dissatisfied with having no idea what is going on (if anything) with how I the player interact with… well, every part of the game.

To answer your question directly, no, it is not enough by far. It is amazing to me that anyone would even think it was close to being sufficient.
5% – Knowing there’s more story coming
5% – Being told there’s a team working on features
90% feeling completely in the dark about the direction of those features and the game as a whole.
Please give me the other 90%.

dlonie.6547:

Guys…try to stay on topic. I’m dealing with a mess at work at the moment and can’t crack the whip, but remember:

This thread is to discuss the issue of ArenaNet’s absolute silence disenfranchising many of their players. Not dungeon rewards, not personal jabs, not specific additions to content, but communication between ArenaNet and their players becoming more meaningful.

Forum quality always crashes and burns on patch day >.<

I can remember a time when absolute silence lead to alot of positive anticipation (and still does for me) because of the possibility of discovery, learning ,etc.. Anyone when Santa gave you Christmas presents? Same thing.

That doesn’t seem to happen anymore … I know what the content is without even logging in because of Dulfy, forums, etc… Frankly, I think people don’t know what they want and think they want to know more when really, knowing less or nothing is a great way to actually experience new content.

People think they are missing out if they aren’t told things. The real things you need to know as players is what actually happens in the game and you do that by playing it once the new content is patched, not before.

In the case where Anet wants feedback, they will come to get it. For instance, there is CDI for that.

tigirius.9014:

Since this was ignored in my own thread maybe I’ll get an answer here….

Is there a fix coming for condition damage?
Will hobosacks be a thing of the past?
Are you adding new skills for PVE to offset some of the missing skills from previous PVE balance issues?
Will you be adding the rewards systems you are using in the two newest locations to the rest of Tyria?
Will you be adjusting DR or removing it so that people aren’t getting piles of skulls for their troubles?
Will there be any new traits?
Will skins from the past LS 1 episodes be available from the Laurel Vendor? (Like the Anti-toxin backpack)
Will you finally fix CC in PVE so it works against bosses?
Will you add post max level advancement like Star Trek Online’s Specializations or Rift’s Planar attunements? Or at the very least a spell changing system like Diablo III’s runes?
Is farming, fishing, housing or basic mounts in the future?

Seriously!?!?

Did you read any of this thread before dumping this here? Please don’t try to hijack this thread. If your other threads were ignored, you’re not going to get an answer here.

Obtena.7952:

I can remember a time when absolute silence lead to alot of positive anticipation (and still does for me) because of the possibility of discovery, learning ,etc..

That doesn’t seem to happen anymore … I know what the content is without even logging in because of Dulfy, forums, etc… Frankly, I think people don’t know what they want and think they want to know more when really, knowing less or nothing is a great way to actually experience new content.

People think they are missing out if they aren’t told things. The real things you need to know as players is what actually happens in the game and you do that by playing it once the new content is patched, not before.

In the case where Anet wants feedback, they will come to get it. For instance, there is CDI for that.

Obtena, I appreciate you sharing your viewpoint. I just wanted to reply and point out that this thread isn’t about a feeling that we’re “missing out” by not knowing what’s coming. I don’t expect anyone to reread the enormous backlog of this thread, so I’ll just point out this recent post where I summarized the intent of this thread.

We don’t want to know too many details, but just get a rough idea of what, if anything, is coming down the pipeline for some of the more infrequently updated portions of the game.

I see a Mike O’Brien on the forum.

waves Hi Mike!

I realize what your thread is about but I still feel the same way … why do players insist they need to know about what’s coming down the pipeline? How does knowing that impact any players’ interaction with the CURRENT game version on live?

I think my point is that knowing more than you should is probably the reason for much of the dissatisfaction with the game even though what little we do get isn’t even implemented in the game at the time. What’s coming down the pipe doesn’t seem reasonably relevant to current game satisfaction/dissatisfaction.

Obtena.7952:

What’s coming down the pipe doesn’t seem reasonably relevant to current game satisfaction/dissatisfaction.

In a game that had some expansions, or significant content updates, sure.

In a game that’s seen very little of anything, despite all these ‘big projects’ that’s been worked on in the background since release, I think it’s justifiable for people wanting to know if it’s time to move on.

To speak personally, it is relevant to my current game satisfaction. As long as players from my guild and dungeon crew keep disappearing because they think the game is a dead end, it will keep getting harder and harder to find a reason to stay myself.

I’m just looking for a straight answer to the question: Will we ever see the content we want to play updated or expanded? Are they not currently planning on working on these areas, or are they just delayed/postponed?

If they feel that I’m being unreasonable about this, I’d be glad to hear their perspective on things. It might help the contributors to this thread understand why it feels like the game is driving away its non-PvE fans.

You need to be more specific dlonie. Don’t say will we ever see the content we need to play updated or expanded. Because no one is going to know what you need to play.

People keep talking about significant updates. I think the updates, at least recently, have been significant. They’re significant to me. The updates you want to play probably wouldn’t be.

So in your request, instead of bolding a line with no detail, add the detail in the line.

Then again, ever is a very long time, so maybe you want to also put it in terms of six months or a year. I mean suppose you will see that content in five years. Anet could say yes, and they’d be within their rights to.

You need to be very specific. Which doesn’t mean you’ll get an answer.

Vayne.8563:

You need to be more specific dlonie. Don’t say will we ever see the content we need to play updated or expanded. Because no one is going to know what you need to play.

People keep talking about significant updates. I think the updates, at least recently, have been significant. They’re significant to me. The updates you want to play probably wouldn’t be.

So in your request, instead of bolding a line with no detail, add the detail in the line.

Then again, ever is a very long time, so maybe you want to also put it in terms of six months or a year. I mean suppose you will see that content in five years. Anet could say yes, and they’d be within their rights to.

You need to be very specific. Which doesn’t mean you’ll get an answer.

No. Stop trying to derail the thread. We want to know what we can expect in the next 3 months / 6 months or next year, what they are working on that went for the concept phase, passed it and went to dev. Not what we want them to work for, there are millions threads about this.

Vayne.8563:

You need to be more specific dlonie. Don’t say will we ever see the content we need to play updated or expanded. Because no one is going to know what you need to play.

That post was rather terse, I agree. I’ve just written out the long version (see the link I put above) so many times that I’m a bit tired of writing, as I’m sure anyone following the thread is tired of reading. The link I mentioned will point to a more detailed version of the post that is quite a bit more specific about content.

I’ll try to provide better references during future bouts of brevity

People keep talking about significant updates. I think the updates, at least recently, have been significant. They’re significant to me. The updates you want to play probably wouldn’t be.

So in your request, instead of bolding a line with no detail, add the detail in the line.

This is clearer in the longer, earlier post, too — if anyone is confused and missed it (I know you saw it, Vayne!).

In a nutshell, the goal of releasing content similar to an expansion through the living story doesn’t seem to be quite met in these last two years when considering similar games, including GW1. Are things delayed, or is this the pace and variety of new content that we can expect?

Then again, ever is a very long time, so maybe you want to also put it in terms of six months or a year. I mean suppose you will see that content in five years. Anet could say yes, and they’d be within their rights to.

You need to be very specific.

Thanks for the feedback, Vayne! You are correct, “ever” was a terribly inaccurate word. I assumed it wouldn’t be taken literally, which was an error on my part. To be clear, yes, an idea of what’s coming in the next year is what I had in mind.

Which doesn’t mean you’ll get an answer.

Oh, believe me I know.

Obtena.7952:

I realize what your thread is about but I still feel the same way … why do players insist they need to know about what’s coming down the pipeline? How does knowing that impact any players’ interaction with the CURRENT game version on live?

There are folks who will not start Chapter 7 of the Personal Story because they don’t know if Greatest Fear was removed on purpose or by accident. If ANet puts it back, but they’ve advanced the story past this step, maybe they’ll miss it anyhow. So they keep waiting.

The complaints that linger on page 1 for months are not about new features, they are about old features ANet changed for the worse. This is stuff effecting folks now.

Obtena.7952:

I realize what your thread is about but I still feel the same way … why do players insist they need to know about what’s coming down the pipeline? How does knowing that impact any players’ interaction with the CURRENT game version on live?

Games are founded on the backbone of veterans and those that actually dedicate time, effort and resources (real currency). This being said, you need to be open and transparent about your intentions, as a publisher or a direct DEV, so as to build a fair amount of loyal fans in order for the game to live and produce revenue. This is also a reason why new content needs to be added and while Guild Wars 2 is on the path of it’s third anniversary, not many things were added, not many things were fixed or changed.

It also seems that the additions to the game, i’m talking about Living Story, are what ArenaNet is focussing upon, but many players would prefer different content.

At this point, players that really are interested in spending their time and money here, rather than in other games or whatever else leisure activity they prefer, need to know what is programmed for GW2 (other than Living Story).

Simzani.4318:

Vayne.8563:

You need to be more specific dlonie. Don’t say will we ever see the content we need to play updated or expanded. Because no one is going to know what you need to play.

People keep talking about significant updates. I think the updates, at least recently, have been significant. They’re significant to me. The updates you want to play probably wouldn’t be.

So in your request, instead of bolding a line with no detail, add the detail in the line.

Then again, ever is a very long time, so maybe you want to also put it in terms of six months or a year. I mean suppose you will see that content in five years. Anet could say yes, and they’d be within their rights to.

You need to be very specific. Which doesn’t mean you’ll get an answer.

No. Stop trying to derail the thread. We want to know what we can expect in the next 3 months / 6 months or next year, what they are working on that went for the concept phase, passed it and went to dev. Not what we want them to work for, there are millions threads about this.

My thread was perfectly on topic. This response is far more off topic than my response was.

In fact, I was asking for the request to have clarity so that any answer that came might be meaningful. By trying to correct that you’re actually derailing the thread.

Thank you dlonie for your efforts to keep this thread on topic and focused. The issue of how strained communcation with ArenaNet seems to have gotten is one that’s begun affecting me as well.

How tight lipped ANet has become is kind of bizarre for me. As a GW1 vet I vividly recall hanging out in LA International district 1 for the Q&A sessions with Gaile and The Frog. Directly interacting with the developers who were happy to answer questions and tease about upcoming events and things. It was great.

I hadn’t really thought about the shift in communication with the community until now, after all it’s been years since I logged onto GW1 with any regularity and even longer since there was any reason to have an in-game dev Q&A like that.

Earlier this year I started playing a game called Warframe by Digital Extremes, it’s a 3rd person shooter that’s technically in an open beta phase. But the thing that’s struck me about Digital Extremes and their development of Warframe is how open and responsive they are to their community. At least once a month they host a live stream on their twitch.tv channel and these function very similarly to the old Frog Q&A sessions where they actively answer questions from the fans and discuss what’s coming for the game. They’re happy to show off concept art, in progress animations, renders and even alpha gameplay footage of upcoming features.

Now I don’t want to derail this by drawing more comparisons between developers of entirely different games but I just wanted to point out how powerful those sorts of developer-community interactions can be. I love GW1 to death and greatly value ArenaNet as a developer name because of my experiences in GW1, not only because the games were great fun but because they were personable and fostered a strong sense of community in their game.

I hyped the hell out of GW2 because of that, and at launch the game did in fact meet the majority of my expectations and I’ve been playing and enjoying the game since then. But now we get to this point, two years in, and we don’t seem to have added all that much and there’s no Frog around to assure us great things are on the horizon. I’m just left wondering will we ever see Cantha again? Elona? Hell, will my necromancer ever get any new spells? At this point I’m beginning to question if anything other than story will ever be added.

I don’t know if all of this was specifically on the topic but I felt I had to contribute my thoughts here.

Vayne.8563:

You need to be more specific dlonie. Don’t say will we ever see the content we need to play updated or expanded. Because no one is going to know what you need to play.

Doesn’t matter. I know what i want to play. What i am asking is for Anet to supply me with enough info so i can answer the question dlonie posted. And for that Anet needs to know (and decide) where the game will be going in the next years.

Yes, of course i would like Anet to know what i want, and to supply it, but knowing if they will supply it in reasonable future is equally important. Just as knowing, that Anet has a consistent vision of the game, and that they have a plan and design for the future at all. Because at the moment i don’t even know that. In fact, i seriously doubt that they have any real plans beyond “more ls” and “more gemshop”.

Astralporing.1957:

Vayne.8563:

You need to be more specific dlonie. Don’t say will we ever see the content we need to play updated or expanded. Because no one is going to know what you need to play.

Doesn’t matter. I know what i want to play. What i am asking is for Anet to supply me with enough info so i can answer the question dlonie posted. Yes, of course i would like Anet to know what i want, and to supply it, but knowing if they supply it is equally important. Just as knowing, that anet has a consistent vision of the game, and that they have a plan and design for the future at all. Because at the moment i don’t even know that.

Nor do I, nor does anyone. You’ll never hear me say that Anet is providing enough information. I started a thread saying they need to communicate more and better.

My response was simply to clarify the question, because if Anet did answer it the way it was phrased it had loopholes the size of Montana.

Is it possible some of the lack of content is actually lack of rewards?

People say they want new dungeon, but they wont’ bother to run aetherblade path for more than a few times.

People say they want new zones, silverwaste is a really fun zone to play on. But for people that dont’ want Luminescent armor… They probably won’t bother with it very much.

I recently started doing EOTM because I need gift of battle for legendary. And find it really fun. And wonder why I never do EOTM before… and ya, because the lack of rewards I want…

If Anet can find ways to rewards people maybe they can turn a few hours of content into tens/hundreds of hours of content. That being said, I’m not sure what they can reward people with beside skins which not everyone care so much about it.

This is not about rewards in SW.
For me and my guildies it is purely about the will to bring major uptades at all.
Some people may leave as soon as Anet says something like “there will never be an expension”. But don’t they deserve to know?
And yes Gaile. This episode was fun and I loved it. But no, it is not enough.

I do have to say the only thing i’m actually looking forward to at the moment is reaching some “golden place” like in the vision through the story. Those are really the only glimpses we really get at possible future content. Regardless, i dont have my hopes up enough to feel like it’s going to entertain me for days, more like a couple hours.

I also don’t really remember arena being all that open about long term plans, but it was also pretty clear that they could crank out content in much smaller gaps of time with the original. That’s kind of the crux anyway, the amount they can churn out in a certain time frame seems to be much longer.

I don’t doubt a ton of work goes into producing the stuff we have gotten and that the release in China shook the players into posting how arena is out of touch, doesn’t communicate and hasn’t done much over the lifespan of the game. Even so, i’m still pretty disenfranchised.

Riot Inducer.8964:

Thank you dlonie for your efforts to keep this thread on topic and focused.

I’m trying, despite certain individuals’ constant need to nitpick semantics!

Now I don’t want to derail this by drawing more comparisons between developers of entirely different games but I just wanted to point out how powerful those sorts of developer-community interactions can be.

Just wanted to point out that discussions like these are wonderful and 100% on topic here They show the state of the industry, and provide concrete examples of how ArenaNet could improve communications with their players. Thanks for sharing!

laokoko.7403:

Is it possible some of the lack of content is actually lack of rewards?

People say they want new dungeon, but they wont’ bother to run aetherblade path for more than a few times.

Just to speak on dungeons (as that’s my turf), this certainly is part of it. AetherPath flopped, and they’ve just left it there, twisting in the wind. We’ve given them feedback as to why it’s unpopular, yet instead of addressing the issues with it, they seem to have taken its failure as a justification to stop making more dungeons.

The whole lack of direct communication now has me feeling like the direction of the game itself might be in limbo and that is worrisome. Isn’t it odd that all these new hires and ads for specific people (one would associate with expansion like content) have hit so far down the road, 2 years in? I think to be honest the silence is a way to keep us all distracted from the truth, LS and rehashed holiday content is all that is on the horizon for a very long time and if they do lay out the roadmap the fear is that many will simply walk away and stop supporting the game.
Think about it and tell me you don’t draw the same conclusions at this point. Why the silence, why the lack of a roadmap, why the lack of specific answers regarding things like dungeons, classes, traits, races?

Vlad Morbius.1759:

The whole lack of direct communication now has me feeling like the direction of the game itself might be in limbo and that is worrisome. Isn’t it odd that all these new hires and ads for specific people (one would associate with expansion like content) have hit so far down the road, 2 years in? I think to be honest the silence is a way to keep us all distracted from the truth, LS and rehashed holiday content is all that is on the horizon for a very long time and if they do lay out the roadmap the fear is that many will simply walk away and stop supporting the game.
Think about it and tell me you don’t draw the same conclusions at this point. Why the silence, why the lack of a roadmap, why the lack of specific answers regarding things like dungeons, classes, traits, races?

This, unfortunately, is one of the more plausible explanations IMO, too :-(

squish

Nasty little forum bug…