Guild Wars 2

Hello,

Today i shall make my case for a Guild Wars 2 paid expansion, please feel free to chime in with opinions and arguments (for or against) of your own.

I love the living world, it gives me a reason to come back every 2 weeks and witness the world change before my eyes, but I can’t help but feel that something’s missing, a certain energy, an anticipation to change, currently things change very slowly, so slowly in fact that it seems inconsiquential, although the game is dramtically different in some ways (Lion’s Arch etc) it doesn’t feel like it is.

I think the reason for this is partly that there isn’t a whole lot of build up and hype that excites the community, new traits! new weapons! (i’m looking at you polearms…) A new race! new areas to explore! New abilities! New race! cough Kodan cough

This brings me to my second point, expansions give old players a reason to get excited and put GW2 back on their radar, it’s also more marketable and more easily covered by mainstream media (eg ign, gamespy etc.) which intices people who’ve never tried it before.

Now i know what you’re going to say: “but adam! we don’t want people to have to pay anymore to experience guild wars2 amazing dragon driven stories! because we’re awesome like that!” and yes admittedly you are awesome, but you don’t have to sacrifice the living world stuff for an expansion, I know resources are limited and you might be worried that if you don’t make gameplay changes in the living world the community will get upset, but that only happens now because there isn’t an expansion on the horizon and we assume that the patches are all we’re getting.

Also, an expansion needn’t exclude people who don’t buy it, you could keep the level cap at 80, but give us a story to work through, maybe it’s a story unrelated to the living world, another massive threat, or make it more personal, relating to our character and his/her relationships in a crisis. Those who don’t buy the expansion will still get the new traits, abilities and can explore the new are maybe, and those who do can get this new personal story quest, a new race and some new tier of cosmetic gear.

In summary, an expansion is a great idea because it rallys the community, attracts new players to the game and brings back the old ones, aswell as giving us current players a reason to get really excited.

Thank you

I personally think that a paid expansion would do more harm than good at this point.

People have gotten used to free content every 2 weeks, and if they suddenly had to wait 6+ months without content and then be forced to pay for it they most likely wouldn’t like it too much.

ArenaNet have gotten themselves into this “mess” of the Living Story. Now they either prove that it actually IS like an expansion, or they call defeat and will lose most of their playerbase since people won’t stay with a company that doesn’t know what it is doing.

Expansions are bad. Even Blizzard thinks so.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/08/19/blizzards-chilton-expansions-are-barriers-to-people-coming-bac/

Content is good however. Looking forward to how the big projects will roll out

Season 2 and the fight against Mordrey could have been an expansion, but it’s far too late for that now. And as Naus said above me, they’ve gotten themselves so deep into Living Story that they really just have to stick it out at this point.

Andred.1087:

Season 2 and the fight against Mordrey could have been an expansion, but it’s far too late for that now. And as Naus said above me, they’ve gotten themselves so deep into Living Story that they really just have to stick it out at this point.

The only thing they can feasibly do in terms of boxed products is probably do a “boxset” release of LS episodes at the end of each season that bundles all the episodes in one pack for a gem cost that is slightly less than buying them individually. Then they could sell these physically in similar fashion as they do gemcards if they want a retail presence.

I can’t see a traditional expansion being a wise move for them at this point. However, I do think they need to get the benefits of the elevated presence an expansion would normally bring at some point. Because this is the best way to reach out to new players that might not even have GW2 on their radar otherwise.

Expansions are pointless. How often do you see them released? You don’t see them released annually for sure. What will happen is that players finish an expansion within a month or two and then have nothing to do until the next one is released.

Player activity would drop and result in less people purchasing gem store items. Less purchases means less money Anet receives to fund their expansions. This could result in a downward spiral. I’m not saying that it would but it has the potential.

This game has relatively little grind to keep players occupied compared to other MMO’s so it doesn’t have the durability to withstand large durations of time without new content.

Karizee.8076:

Expansions are bad. Even Blizzard thinks so.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/08/19/blizzards-chilton-expansions-are-barriers-to-people-coming-bac/

Content is good however. Looking forward to how the big projects will roll out

It could be like the Guild Wars 1 expansions, where it was really a separate game.

A paid expansion would pull developers away from creating things for us to do now.

Not a good idea and would be counter to the original model they set up. Essentially, it would create a dead game with injections of content every few years.

A steady release of smaller content packets is a better model than large one time bursts of content followed by months of dead playtime.

I think the problem blizzard has is that they keep increasing the level cap, and so to get back into it is very difficult because you feel like you have a lot of catching up to do to get to an equal footing with other players. That’s not what i’m proposing, think of it in terms for lateral development rather than vertical, people who don’t buy the expansion will still be able to do all the dungeons, have the new abilities and be the same in terms of power, but they just wouldn’t be able to do that expansion’s story or play the new race.

I also don’t want to get rid of the living world, just tone it down if the resources are stretched. I feel that sometimes game mechanics and the new areas in the living world come out of the oven a little too early, like they didn’t have the time to give it a second look (eg. all the new areas are rectangles, now that you know you can’t unsee it).

And just because you have expansions, doesn’t mean you go months without content, that would be like saying we go without content in between living world seasons.

A lot of people don’t know how great Guild Wars2 is, a lot of that is because it doesn’t have an expansion, once you get one, your game essentially gets more publicity and re-reviewed by every major gaming site.

I don’t think content wil stop due to expansions, but it would allow us to go to Elona and Cantha, which is way more exciting than Dry Top if you ask me.

Blaeys.3102:

A paid expansion would pull developers away from creating things for us to do now.

Not a good idea and would be counter to the original model they set up. Essentially, it would create a dead game with injections of content every few years.

A steady release of smaller content packets is a better model than large one time bursts of content followed by months of dead playtime.

No offense but what exactly is there to do now lol?
It’s pretty much dead playtime consistently here… sure you get a couple hours of LS every 2 weeks I guess, but a lot of ppl aren’t even into that and besides, its just a simple story progression… hardly meaningful at all, I’m not here to play a single player RPG lol.

Endgame for a lot of ppl is WvW/PvP and activies with their guildies like fracs and what not…all of these things have barely been touched by anet…its been 2 years and theres been PLENTY of dead playtime for a large number of people…

It’s not really necessary they can do as they please however, they have enough untapped map resource locations to use up and when they do they can flip the page ‘so too speak’ on the map, constantly adding to the story from week to week like a TV show, some of that content you’ll likely have to pay for ‘like’ a subscription to your favorite TV show, which is great I think and better way than Guild Wars 1, where by they’d hide away for months on end not saying anything and then suddenly Sorrows Furnace, Factions, Nightfall & Eye of the North. at least this way they can release in chunks (cliff hangers I do hate them).

As long as that content can be played at any time when new or older players can get time to play it, its all cherry and roses.

I’ve waited 2 years looking for the right moment financially for myself to buy the game , and I can tell you there is more than enough to get on with

ed: only suggestion I could have to make, is put player dots on the radar so we can “SEE” the game isn’t dead (will also require off switch)

IF A-Net were to ever release expansion-like content it would most likely be in the form of a DLC much like DCUO does. They have about 10+ “expansions” for about $9.99 each that is only new content and no level increase and sometimes a new Power depending on if it fits with the content being released.

I’d say for GW2 DLCs we could get possible new professions when/if they were to release Elona or Cantha. Until then they could release full areas of Tyria like Far Shiverpeaks, Crystal Desert, or Maguma Jungle without any new professions.

Karizee.8076:

Expansions are bad. Even Blizzard thinks so.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/08/19/blizzards-chilton-expansions-are-barriers-to-people-coming-bac/

Content is good however. Looking forward to how the big projects will roll out

You are quoting out of context. He did not say that expansions were bad. He was referring to raising the level cap, and making content for those at the level cap. he said that was a barrier to bringing players back. He never said “Expansions are bad.”

If you read it in context, his comment was about why they added a level 90 character to the new expansion.

So that players can just jump into the new content, and Not have to wait to level a character up high enough to do so.

here’s the thing. An expansion is an expensive enterprise. Blizzard has World of warcraft with a dwindling playerbase.. many say " it’s dying" except… even after losing 25 % of it’s playerbase, it still has twice whatever the next MMO has.

I really doubt that World of Warcraft would spend money developing an expansion…. if an expansion was bad.

Gw2 refuses to put out an expansion. They are gambling that simply delivering Living Story, will replace player desire for an expansion.

Personally my opinion is, that MMO players expect new classes, and skills, a new map or two, new story, and new mobs to fight.

Living story delivers 2 of the above. The lack of the rest is what drives players to desire " a paid expansion".

Maybe Gw2 is right. Maybe they can keep cranking out Living story seasons, and that will suffice.

Personally I doubt it. I for one want new classes and skills. Unless Living story comes out with a new class … it’s not “expansion-like” for me. More like " expansion super-lite."

Example: Imagine if after Star Wars: A new Hope" instead of getting " The Empire Strikes back" they scrapped the Movie completely, and gave us Television Specials. Like…….." An Ewok Christmas", followed by " Easter on Endor"

Naus the Gobbo.5172:

I personally think that a paid expansion would do more harm than good at this point.

People have gotten used to free content every 2 weeks, and if they suddenly had to wait 6+ months without content and then be forced to pay for it they most likely wouldn’t like it too much.

ArenaNet have gotten themselves into this “mess” of the Living Story. Now they either prove that it actually IS like an expansion, or they call defeat and will lose most of their playerbase since people won’t stay with a company that doesn’t know what it is doing.

Excuse me?

Almost everybody I talked about, in my guild and on forums, would LOVE an expansion and pay for it.
Obviously, the said expansion shoud be substancial in every category of the game: WvW, sPvP, maps, dungeons, world bosses, guilds, combat.

“People won’t stay with a company that doesn’t know what is doing.”
…
Do you realise that the game is already very diffent from their original statement?

Do you think that people would leave GW2 because content is FINALLY being added under in the shape of expansion? Then listen to me: I don’t know anybody who’d do that, actually many people whould quit GW2 if an expansion is NOT being added.

Blaeys.3102:

A paid expansion would pull developers away from creating things for us to do now.

Not a good idea and would be counter to the original model they set up. Essentially, it would create a dead game with injections of content every few years.

A steady release of smaller content packets is a better model than large one time bursts of content followed by months of dead playtime.

How do you know that? In 2 years ANet never released a content pack.

Blaeys.3102:

A paid expansion would pull developers away from creating things for us to do now.

which is?

Not a good idea and would be counter to the original model they set up. Essentially, it would create a dead game with injections of content every few years.

Compared to what we have now?

A steady release of smaller a large content packets is a better model than large one time bursts of small content followed by months of dead playtime.

Fixed.

I’m very surprised many in this thread have voiced their opinions on NO expansions – yet many other threads reference an expansion, as well as the countless players wanting an expansion.

I personally think it would revitalize the game to another level entirely – new marketing, new money, new content, bigger content, new races, new abilities, new classes.

I hate to do this but GW1 (which I can see is not the same game) and their expansions seemed to further advance the game entirely every time, offering many days/weeks of content that GW2 just hasn’t quite touched upon. The LS is great, but it offers very little in the long run.

Pleaso no expansions.

Domino.1359:

I hate to do this but GW1 (which I can see is not the same game) and their expansions seemed to further advance the game entirely every time, offering many days/weeks of content that GW2 just hasn’t quite touched upon. The LS is great, but it offers very little in the long run.

Well, see, those expansions also weren’t a problem in one particular way: with one exception, any of those could be purchased and played as a full game. I got my brother into GW1 because I got a free code from a contest somewhere, and he could play alongside me without needing to shell out for every one of the three games at the time.

However, from traditional expansions . . . it is a barrier to new people and it is the biggest reason I keep skipping trying WoW. There’s just a high cost monetarily to getting in and playing with friends who have been playing it for a while.

I don’t have a great objection to expansions . . . I just think they wouldn’t work to fix what’s wrong. I think it’d just magnify the problems when people pay for an expansion and don’t get what they want, as opposed to it just dropping into their laps one part at a time over two weeks.

I would rather have a stand-alone campaign to Cantha or Elona or somewhere new altogether.

I agree with the OP. GW2 needs new well-planned and organized contents. The LS is fine, but most players can complete each update in a couple of hours, leaving nothing else to do (excluding PvP, WvW and Char-Reroll).

All other major MMO have expansions for a reason: players want knew contents, new areas, new races, new professions, new features. At present the LS (+feature packs) is not able to offer the equivalent of an expansion in a reasonable time. If this is the maximum we can get “for free”, then GW2 needs a paid expansions with well-planned and organized new contents.

I would like to emphasize: “well-planned” and “organized”. In fact, one of the main problems we have with current updates is that they are not coherently organized, and frequently ArenaNet has to release updates just to modify previous changes in a wrong direction. An expansion would not suffer from this kind of problems. At least, not as much as updates in the present situation.

Compare the amount of time you had spent doing each episode’s content so far this season and compare it to how long it would have taken you if everything to this point was released at once? I’m pretty sure you would spend the same amount of time either way if not less.

The issue with it being released all at once in an expansion is that you have a larger gap between content releases. The larger each expansion is, the larger the gap between expansions will be. Anet risks losing players the longer the gap gets resulting in less income. I’ve explained this already in a previous post within this thread.

Expansions are not feasible for GW2 specifically because of how it was designed. It is not like other MMO’s. They also are most likely not able to to both an expansion and do living story updates.

I don’t think they should do a expansion but maybe a small dlc that further enhance the living world story I mean mordermothe is a real big threat will races in maguuma need to seek refuge and we have a few home world near there (rata sum, the grove) so if they want to expand the selectable races that could be way to do it and to access these race you buy and small dlc that could include new weapons, legendary’s, cultural style etc… but that is just my way of thinking

Morsus.5106:

Karizee.8076:

Expansions are bad. Even Blizzard thinks so.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/08/19/blizzards-chilton-expansions-are-barriers-to-people-coming-bac/

Content is good however. Looking forward to how the big projects will roll out

It could be like the Guild Wars 1 expansions, where it was really a separate game.

Thats not a good idea for a MMO. GW1 wasnt a MMO, so it could get away with that.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Domino.1359:

I hate to do this but GW1 (which I can see is not the same game) and their expansions seemed to further advance the game entirely every time, offering many days/weeks of content that GW2 just hasn’t quite touched upon. The LS is great, but it offers very little in the long run.

Well, see, those expansions also weren’t a problem in one particular way: with one exception, any of those could be purchased and played as a full game. I got my brother into GW1 because I got a free code from a contest somewhere, and he could play alongside me without needing to shell out for every one of the three games at the time.

However, from traditional expansions . . . it is a barrier to new people and it is the biggest reason I keep skipping trying WoW. There’s just a high cost monetarily to getting in and playing with friends who have been playing it for a while.

I don’t have a great objection to expansions . . . I just think they wouldn’t work to fix what’s wrong. I think it’d just magnify the problems when people pay for an expansion and don’t get what they want, as opposed to it just dropping into their laps one part at a time over two weeks.

Actually, you’re entirely right now that I read your explanation.
I knew expansion just didn’t fully explain how GW1 was, it’s been awhile. But back to GW2, a stand alone expansion could be fantastic. I read above how WoW’s expansions pushed some away – this could be a great alternative.

Because it’s always the same 77 players I see playing, the other 4 ,285, 686 players have all quitted.

Domino.1359:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Domino.1359:

I hate to do this but GW1 (which I can see is not the same game) and their expansions seemed to further advance the game entirely every time, offering many days/weeks of content that GW2 just hasn’t quite touched upon. The LS is great, but it offers very little in the long run.

Well, see, those expansions also weren’t a problem in one particular way: with one exception, any of those could be purchased and played as a full game. I got my brother into GW1 because I got a free code from a contest somewhere, and he could play alongside me without needing to shell out for every one of the three games at the time.

However, from traditional expansions . . . it is a barrier to new people and it is the biggest reason I keep skipping trying WoW. There’s just a high cost monetarily to getting in and playing with friends who have been playing it for a while.

I don’t have a great objection to expansions . . . I just think they wouldn’t work to fix what’s wrong. I think it’d just magnify the problems when people pay for an expansion and don’t get what they want, as opposed to it just dropping into their laps one part at a time over two weeks.

Actually, you’re entirely right now that I read your explanation.
I knew expansion just didn’t fully explain how GW1 was, it’s been awhile. But back to GW2, a stand alone expansion could be fantastic. I read above how WoW’s expansions pushed some away – this could be a great alternative.

thats not why people quit WoW who try to join after new Expansions. The reason they quit is because of the level increase, which means more level grinding, just to play all the game features.

Knighthonor.4061:

Domino.1359:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Domino.1359:

I hate to do this but GW1 (which I can see is not the same game) and their expansions seemed to further advance the game entirely every time, offering many days/weeks of content that GW2 just hasn’t quite touched upon. The LS is great, but it offers very little in the long run.

Well, see, those expansions also weren’t a problem in one particular way: with one exception, any of those could be purchased and played as a full game. I got my brother into GW1 because I got a free code from a contest somewhere, and he could play alongside me without needing to shell out for every one of the three games at the time.

However, from traditional expansions . . . it is a barrier to new people and it is the biggest reason I keep skipping trying WoW. There’s just a high cost monetarily to getting in and playing with friends who have been playing it for a while.

I don’t have a great objection to expansions . . . I just think they wouldn’t work to fix what’s wrong. I think it’d just magnify the problems when people pay for an expansion and don’t get what they want, as opposed to it just dropping into their laps one part at a time over two weeks.

Actually, you’re entirely right now that I read your explanation.
I knew expansion just didn’t fully explain how GW1 was, it’s been awhile. But back to GW2, a stand alone expansion could be fantastic. I read above how WoW’s expansions pushed some away – this could be a great alternative.

thats not why people quit WoW who try to join after new Expansions. The reason they quit is because of the level increase, which means more level grinding, just to play all the game features.

Exactly, expansions don’t have to be exclutionary as long as the level cap doesn’t go up. What we’ve recieved in the living world and feature packs isn’t anywhere near the content of an expansion, and what about people who’ve missed weeks in the living story? All those people feel left behind because they can’t catch up with the story.

Expansions don’t have to increase the level cap or power of the players, just provide new content on par with what’s in the game, there would be no barrier of entry to new players with an expansion, if anything,it would be more accessable to them than the living world currently is.

Ok, Expansions are not a bad idea and they don’t have to be paid. Star Trek Online has gone the free expansion route. This gives all the perks of a full expansion (ie new race, guild halls, new areas, etc) and still kept the same free to play model with their version of the gem store to support them. In addition to this they also have a Living story model they call “seasons”. So the two do not have to be mutally exclusive.

I’m really surprised at how many peopl are actually against expansion. I’m not personally against it. It seems I’ve fallen again for the old so many threads are asking for it, everyone must want one. I should have known better.

I think expansions will do better to get the game’s name back out there, far more than living story content would ever do. I also don’t think they’re mutually exclusive.

I hope Anet is thinking like me, but whatever it is, I’m still having fun with the game.

If they don’t come out with expansions, weapons, skills, races and professions need to come out in the living story format, which would quell at lot of the complaints about not having an expansion.

After 2 years an expansion seems essentiell for me and additions like rare lvl-35 weapons won´t do anything to keep me interested and running over the same old mid-level maps. Also Living World is nothing more than Personal Story to me, as long as it´s instanced atleast.

I spend most of my little ingame-time in DryTop nowadays which I really like and which looks like a good model for expansion-content to me – except it´s a little to much split up, due to that – in my opinion – lacking Living Word concept (release in small parts).

It´s about time to shift their business a little away from that shady gem-shop and that carrot-on-a-string Living World. Give us real fullscale honest content and I gladly pay fullprice for it.

“Also, an expansion needn’t exclude people who don’t buy it, you could keep the level cap at 80, but give us a story to work through, maybe it’s a story unrelated to the living world, another massive threat, or make it more personal, relating to our character and his/her relationships in a crisis. Those who don’t buy the expansion will still get the new traits, abilities and can explore the new are maybe, and those who do can get this new personal story quest, a new race and some new tier of cosmetic gear.”

You are seriously underestimating the economics of expansions. When a company invests money into developing an expansion it needs revenue from the player base. The marketing men ensure that everyone has the biggest reasons possible to buy the expansion and it is not just an optional extra. This means that players who don’t get the expansion get almost no content, nothing is given away for free between releases, and ‘must have’ content is created for the releases such as a level cap increase. Nobody in GW2 wants a level cap increase.

You might say that a release doesn’t need to be that way however the economics push releases in in that direction. As soon as you get rid of releases you get free features like the wallet and the cosmetic system, you get a shared world where all content is open to everyone, content can be released often, players can choose to pay for cosmetics in the game store rather than paying for them in expansions, and there is no need to ever raise the level cap.

Stooperdale.3560:

“Also, an expansion needn’t exclude people who don’t buy it, you could keep the level cap at 80, but give us a story to work through, maybe it’s a story unrelated to the living world, another massive threat, or make it more personal, relating to our character and his/her relationships in a crisis. Those who don’t buy the expansion will still get the new traits, abilities and can explore the new are maybe, and those who do can get this new personal story quest, a new race and some new tier of cosmetic gear.”

You are seriously underestimating the economics of expansions. When a company invests money into developing an expansion it needs revenue from the player base. The marketing men ensure that everyone has the biggest reasons possible to buy the expansion and it is not just an optional extra. This means that players who don’t get the expansion get almost no content, nothing is given away for free between releases, and ‘must have’ content is created for the releases such as a level cap increase. Nobody in GW2 wants a level cap increase.

You might say that a release doesn’t need to be that way however the economics push releases in in that direction. As soon as you get rid of releases you get free features like the wallet and the cosmetic system, you get a shared world where all content is open to everyone, content can be released often, players can choose to pay for cosmetics in the game store rather than paying for them in expansions, and there is no need to ever raise the level cap.

you make a valid point, however i would argue that the content we’re getting now is for free, and a good part (if not all) of the player base would gladly buy something more meaningful than the living world story, as most of us can agree, is good, but somewhat underwhelming, the increase in the population together with the free publicity would greatly increase the revenue, more than enough to compensate people who didn’t buy the expansion. They living world story(the free part) can continue as a way to hold on to that new population.

I understand the fear of not getting content in between expansions, but i don’t think that will happen, expansions serve to re-invigorate a game and swell the ranks, then continued added content (eg living world story) holds onto that population.

The crux of my argument is this: I don’t believe the content that’s been added in the last 2 years is enough to justify not having an expansion, which i feel would add much needed life back into the world

Factions and Nightfall were fantastic add-ons to the original Guild Wars. I don’t see why we can’t get something similar in Guild Wars 2.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a $60 boxed standalone campaign or even a $30 expansion pack.

People just want new professions, new skills, new weapons, new races, new zones, new bosses, new dungeons, and other substantial, repeatable content. ArenaNet can figure out a way to monetize that in a fair way that minimizes player segregation and doesn’t make the original Tyria content obsolete.

Guild Wars 1 handled Expansions brilliantly in my opinion. No reason Guild Wars 2 couldn’t do something similar.

Wisp.9725:

Factions and Nightfall were fantastic add-ons to the original Guild Wars. I don’t see why we can’t get something similar in Guild Wars 2.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a $60 boxed standalone campaign or even a $30 expansion pack.

People just want new professions, new skills, new weapons, new races, new zones, new bosses, new dungeons, and other substantial, repeatable content. ArenaNet can figure out a way to monetize that in a fair way that minimizes player segregation and doesn’t make the original Tyria content obsolete.

This.
15 / char

Klmor.1250:

Wisp.9725:

Factions and Nightfall were fantastic add-ons to the original Guild Wars. I don’t see why we can’t get something similar in Guild Wars 2.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a $60 boxed standalone campaign or even a $30 expansion pack.

People just want new professions, new skills, new weapons, new races, new zones, new bosses, new dungeons, and other substantial, repeatable content. ArenaNet can figure out a way to monetize that in a fair way that minimizes player segregation and doesn’t make the original Tyria content obsolete.

This.
15 / char

if they could release that via LS that would be great!

so far one skill where the characters look like a ballerina with sweat problems and no one uses it.

Vayne.8563:

I’m really surprised at how many peopl are actually against expansion. I’m not personally against it. It seems I’ve fallen again for the old so many threads are asking for it, everyone must want one. I should have known better.

I think expansions will do better to get the game’s name back out there, far more than living story content would ever do. I also don’t think they’re mutually exclusive.

I’m not exactly against it . . . I just don’t think it would fix anything.

“The crux of my argument is this: I don’t believe the content that’s been added in the last 2 years is enough to justify not having an expansion, which i feel would add much needed life back into the world”

GW2 doesn’t have enough new content. All MMOs never have enough content. That’s true for games with expansions and games without expansions. Expansions do give a burst of activity but only for 1 month typically with about 11 months of decline (or grind) in between. The Living Story format does seem to retain players and the “where is the expansion?” threads only arise on the forums when the Living Story is not getting the updates, such as this week.

If you want to pay extra $ for development then go the gem store today and give some $. If you want me to pay extra $ for development then I’m sorry, I’m not likely to buy an expansion. I will be excluded from any content that you want packaged into a salable expansion.

Slippery slope fallacies abound in this thread!

As for the OP, I’m with you. Whatever it takes to get new classes, new weapons, weapon proliferation, new skills/utilities, new races (personally rooting for Tengu myself…so many possible ways to customize one of those!!), personal story quests, maybe even some guild halls/personal housing then I’m in.

All I see is reasons why this or that wouldn’t be good as an expansion and I honestly don’t care. I want to use different weapons on my elementalist because I’ve used them all. While I can’t say I’ve mastered them all, I have played with all of them extensively in all modes of play and had fun. But if you want me to go back and do old content, give me some new visuals to watch my character do. If you want me to have fun, give me so many options to play with, that by the time I get to the last options on the list, I already forgot how to use the first options so things are nearly perpetually fresh.

If it requires more money to create, by golly, put it in an expansion, make the skills purchasable with gems, put the race unlocks behind a cash purchase linked to your account, SOMETHING!

I like the game, I really do, but I guess I have a short attention span. The wardrobe feature was a HUUUUGE step forward to keeping my attention since I can more easily change/adjust the look of my characters (I didn’t have to settle for a few particular looks!) but don’t get complacent! You’ve just made adjusting my looks EASIER, but there’s so much more things to be added. It has a lot to do with how characters look while they are in action…

My feeling on expansions is… why pay for something if I don’t have to?

Arena.net is committed to the idea of providing an “expansions worth of content” through the Living Story. They haven’t done that… yet… but I’m more than willing to let them run that road to the end before I start demanding an expansion.

Then again, I’m a very patient sort.

Let’s imagine that an expansion pack might look something like this:

$60.00 (or 4800 gems)
———————————-
- 20x New Maps
- 2x New Races
- 2x New Storyline Quests
- 2x New Professions
- 2x New Weapon Types
- 20x New Utility Skills (per profession)
- 10x New Traits (per profession)

If you release this as a separate standalone expansion in the normal sense, then you create a portion of the world that cannot be visited unless you pay for the expansion.

This would create problems over time with the Living Story, because ANet would either have to release LS content that not everyone could play, or avoid any new areas.

You also end up with a series of traits and utilities that could be used in PvP but not available to everyone.

Personally I’d prefer this hypothetical expansion to be released in chunks.

e.g.

Everybody gets the following parts of the expansion for free
- 20x New Maps
- 20x New Utility Skills (per profession)
- 10x New Traits (per profession)

You can then optionally purchase (via a box in your local game shop, or via gems)

2x Race Expansions (available individually)
$10 (or 1600 gems) each
- 1x New Race
- 1x New Storyline Quest

2x Profession Expansions (available individually)
$10 (or 1600 gems) each
- 1x Profession

2x Weapon Expansions (available individually)
$5 (or 800 gems) each
- 1x Weapon Type

You still end up spending $60 or 4800 gems for the entire expansion, but the maps and skills/traits for core professions are available to everyone preventing divisions in the community.

Oh yeah this game needs a major content influx to be sure, and an expansion is the loudest way to get everyone’s attention, including those that have left the game. If you add up the total amount of content since launch it wouldn’t even come close to a single GW1 expansion and that’s not to mention the entire 1st season of the living world is unplayable because it was temporary content.

An expansion would be great while late and it would need more then an expansion. Many of the elements still missing in this game are because of the cash-shop focus. I always use the mini example. Collecting mini’s in many mmo’s is fun. It’s a reason to go into te world and collect those rare mini’s. In GW2 it’s mainly a grind or buy with cash. That means a whole type of end-game and fun game-play is taked away because of the cash-shop. Then some people say “but it’s not P2W” af if that matters in a cosmetic focused game.

So yes I would love to see expansions once a year. Those expansions should that be Anet’s main focus for generating income. That also means that the cash-shop in it’s current state can go and game development can be mainly based on making a fun game in stead of having to answer “how do we get people to buy cash-shop junk” all the time.

Karizee.8076:

Expansions are bad. Even Blizzard thinks so.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/08/19/blizzards-chilton-expansions-are-barriers-to-people-coming-bac/

Content is good however. Looking forward to how the big projects will roll out

If you read that article the barrier he talk about is raising the cap and likely he also refers to things like higher gear tier. Not an expansion by itself. An expansion by itself does not create a barrier more then the fact that people have to buy it. So you can make expansion that don’t rais the cap or don’t introduce a new gear tier.

Ayrilana.1396:

Expansions are pointless. How often do you see them released? You don’t see them released annually for sure. What will happen is that players finish an expansion within a month or two and then have nothing to do until the next one is released.

Player activity would drop and result in less people purchasing gem store items. Less purchases means less money Anet receives to fund their expansions. This could result in a downward spiral. I’m not saying that it would but it has the potential.

This game has relatively little grind to keep players occupied compared to other MMO’s so it doesn’t have the durability to withstand large durations of time without new content.

Uhhm the gem store as main source of income could then be taken out of the loop. The gem store does not fund the next expansion but the previous expansion does. (in the case of a true B2P model that focuses on expansion in stead of the cash shop)

Also a good expansion should easely keep you busy for at least a year.

Putting the numbers of GW1 against GW2 even shows that if GW2 if it would have used a true B2P model (so no cash-shop focus but releasing regular expansion (once a year would be fine and doable) would have made them more money.

With GW1 every expansion raised the income the the same level as the initial sales while with the current cash-shop model you see a declining line (that stabilizes at some point).

See: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/NcSoft-earnings-1Q-14/page/3#post4029793
and: https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/151443/1q14_NCSoft.jpg?

Income was not the sole argument of my post. The game cannot last large gaps of time without influxes of new content. There is no grind to keep players occupied. You’ll then have people who stop playing the game and move onto something else. When an expansion is released, you’ll have people for a month or two before they exhaust that content and leave.

You’re also forcing all players to now have to pay to get access to new content rather than enjoy it for free via the living story.

I really wish they would merge all these expansion threads.

And for the record (again – way to many of these threads by the same people over and over), I am very much against the idea of an expansion. I want them to use their resources on updating the game gradually and giving us ongoing fun content – not on building something we wont see for a year and that will become stale a few months thereafter.

Not even an expansion; just release new skills every now and then and make a couple new instances every so often. And, by new skills, I don’t mean, here’s a new healing skill — have fun! I mean either 6-7 skills a month or 2 skills a week.

And I’m still waiting for an MMO to successfully implement user-created worlds. Guild Wars won’t be the first (as much as I want it to be), and as soon as somebody does (which, I think Everquest is talking about), I’ll be among the first in line to try it out.

hip.8435:

Not even an expansion; just release new skills every now and then and make a couple new instances every so often. And, by new skills, I don’t mean, here’s a new healing skill — have fun! I mean either 6-7 skills a month or 2 skills a week.

And I’m still waiting for an MMO to successfully implement user-created worlds. Guild Wars won’t be the first (as much as I want it to be), and as soon as somebody does (which, I think Everquest is talking about), I’ll be among the first in line to try it out.

Honestly, I think even less than that would be amazing. Like say, one month they release Dagger main-hand for PvE Warriors at the start of the month and somewhere around 3rd or 4th week of the month, they open up Rifle in PvP for Rangers that was released last month. Keep cycling around; next month put out Longbow for PvE Elementalist, then next month Sword for Necro, etc.

It’s basically 2-5 skills a month and everyone will get a couple weeks to ‘ooooh’ and ‘aaah’ over the newest shiny thing, then the last few weeks let the threads crying OPthis and Redundantthat until the next spoiler of what’s coming next month props up and sends everyone into a tisy about how strong or weak it’ll be.

Meanwhile, you can still be playing around with how weapons synergize with certain set-ups for quite some time until less than a half-a-handful of months later, the next big weapon update for the profession rolls in.

Stooperdale.3560:

“The crux of my argument is this: I don’t believe the content that’s been added in the last 2 years is enough to justify not having an expansion, which i feel would add much needed life back into the world”

GW2 doesn’t have enough new content. All MMOs never have enough content. That’s true for games with expansions and games without expansions. Expansions do give a burst of activity but only for 1 month typically with about 11 months of decline (or grind) in between. The Living Story format does seem to retain players and the “where is the expansion?” threads only arise on the forums when the Living Story is not getting the updates, such as this week.

If you want to pay extra $ for development then go the gem store today and give some $. If you want me to pay extra $ for development then I’m sorry, I’m not likely to buy an expansion. I will be excluded from any content that you want packaged into a salable expansion.

I have heard this batted about :

Stooperdale.3560:

I’m not likely to buy an expansion. I will be excluded from any content that you want packaged into a salable expansion.

I have been playing MMO’s for quite some time now. And while I can understand that you would not wish to be excluded from any content available though a sold expansion. Whether or not you buy that expansion is your choice.

I am trying to find a polite way to say this and feel i am just messing it up.

Through all MMO’s I have ever played, …expansions came every couple of years… ( Gw2 is about due.). And the expansions would expand how the game was played, they would give players NEW ways to enjoy old content, along with new content.

Each time that an expansion came out, I had to ask myself. “Do I want to pay $20 to $30 for new maps, new professions, new skills… new mobs..etc?” and the answer was usually yes. I also understand that if a player doesn’t buy the expansion, and it includes New maps…then that player cannot group with friends that DID buy the expansion.

THIS is Not a reason why Anet should not provide a paid for expansion. If players do NOT wish to pay for the content, they are free to NOT buy it. But ..that is Not a reason for Anet to not give the rest of us the option. " But I won’t be able to explore the new content" is the price paid, for not paying the price of the expansion.

Nerelith.7360:

Through all MMO’s I have ever played, …expansions came every couple of years… ( Gw2 is about due.). And the expansions would expand how the game was played, they would give players NEW ways to enjoy old content, along with new content.

I don’t know, did you play EverQuest and how some of those expansions pretty much continually made some content irrelevant? Zones going pretty much dead, or just farmed for a couple of the item drops? How about the one which almost made an entire class minor feature irrelevant? (Plane of Knowledge book portals making it almost unnecessary to bum rides off Druids/Wizards with the teleports.)

Then there was the failure which was “Lost Dungeons of Norrath”. Interesting concept . . . turned into one heck of a grindfest in execution.

Each time that an expansion came out, I had to ask myself. “Do I want to pay $20 to $30 for new maps, new professions, new skills… new mobs..etc?” and the answer was usually yes.

I still want my money back for Lost Dungeons. There were not really new maps so much as instanced missions, no new professions/classes, no new skills, just grinding for the new shiny loot object – “Augments”. Things we now have as a standard in the MMOs. And they weren’t really as useful as Runes/Sigils are currently Yes, any of them. Even the silly Pirate ones.

THIS is Not a reason why Anet should not provide a paid for expansion. If players do NOT wish to pay for the content, they are free to NOT buy it. But ..that is Not a reason for Anet to not give the rest of us the option. " But I won’t be able to explore the new content" is the price paid, for not paying the price of the expansion.

I agree. It should be the consequence of not paying for the expansion . . . not having access to anything out of it. But that’s also the problem with expansions, one of the principal ones with paid expansions. It starts dividing up the pool of players a little at a time, and it can seriously be a detriment to those who can’t afford the expansion right away. (Or at all.)

Oh, and woe be to the company which puts out an expansion which is lackluster or ripe with any form of power-creep within it. (While I mostly trust ArenaNet could make sure no raw power was gained, I do not trust them to put out an expansion where it wouldn’t wind up more advantageous to own it and have the content there to farm.)

On the dividing up of the player base, isn’t that happening now with Living Story? What I see in game is everyone farming Dry Top or just logging in long enough to do the new LS Ep and not returning until next update, rinse, repeat.