Guild Wars 2

At PAX South, Colin said they are going to announce every MAJOR feature. But they could be playing around with the word " major" , could they announce something that’s completely new and huge, but they don’t consider it “major”. For example, adventure could easily been put in the list of major feature. So I think Anet might be playing with words here and surprise us with some feature that they don’t consider major but us player do.

I dont think…they stressed a lot about this…things not major for them are something like camera or stability changes. Sorry

They said that every back of the box features have been told.

It’s entirely possible that every ‘major’ feature that they’ve announced is an umbrella term.

For example, ‘challenging group content’ could mean anything from Fractals and open world events to dungeons and raids, while Guild Halls could have things potentially tied to them as well (they’re instanced, so they could house instanced content for guilds as opposed to just being a place to hang out).

All in all, until they go into the specifics of each feature, we can’t really say what they’ll be comprised of.

Keep in mind that Outposts and Adventures seems to be quite major part of the new maps, and yet we heard a grand total of nothing at all about them during the announcement. So I would say it is fully possible that there are some big things left to tell us.

TheDaiBish.9735:

It’s entirely possible that every ‘major’ feature that they’ve announced is an umbrella term.

For example, ‘challenging group content’ could mean anything from Fractals and open world events to dungeons and raids, while Guild Halls could have things potentially tied to them as well (they’re instanced, so they could house instanced content for guilds as opposed to just being a place to hang out).

All in all, until they go into the specifics of each feature, we can’t really say what they’ll be comprised of.

Exactly this.

I think you’ll be a lot happier if you manage your expectations.

And no, I don’t think they are hiding something big. They’re hiding details, which is to say dragging out the hype on what they’ve got as long as possible.

TheDaiBish.9735:

For example, ‘challenging group content’ could mean anything from Fractals and open world events to dungeons and raids

you over think too much, when anet say something, they mean it, when they say challenging group content, it will just be open world event like Wyvern

lighter.2708:

TheDaiBish.9735:

For example, ‘challenging group content’ could mean anything from Fractals and open world events to dungeons and raids

you over think too much, when anet say something, they mean it, when they say challenging group content, it will just be open world event like Wyvern

That’s not true, they never said challenging group content are all just open world, it could be anything that involves grouping.

warbignime.4610:

So I think Anet might be playing with words here and surprise us with some feature that they don’t consider major but us player do.

I’m rather sure they are holding something very major, that you will only truly see on release day.

Something called “massive disappointment”.

warbignime.4610:

That’s not true, they never said challenging group content are all just open world, it could be anything that involves grouping.

“It could be anything”… But its not. It’s something. And that something is something they are holding back details on while people’s expectations soar before the crash. The three progressively harder Wyvern fights are “challenging group content”. Whether there is any more waiting in the wings we’ll just have to see.

They are hiding something big… What kind of weapon each of the specialisations get. I’ve got 3 80s waiting to be geared up (Guard, Engi, Mesmer), my main (Ranger) having an existential crisis now that he could reach full ascended gear and Mawdrey sharing in that existential crisis.

Announcing Scepter Warriors is meaningless (yet an interesting throwback to pre-nightfall GW1), because it could range from an offhand sparkly healing laser to a melee beatdown stick.

Honestly, I’m slowly losing interest in this whole thing again. I love playing the game, I really do, I’m having loads of fun, but the expansion is less and less gripping every day.

At first, my hype was huge, being raised on the Guild Wars 1 expansions – big continents full of new stuff to explore, two new classes, new skills for all my existing characters, new armor, weapons, and enemies – those were really big things.
So when I heard of Heart of Thorns, the hype was real.
But anet keeps hiding in the shadows. We’ve heard some things – 3 of the Revenant Weapons and two of it’s Legends, which is great, and I’m really looking forward to it – but in the same breath they tell us that they aren’t even done with the traitlines yet.
This xpac seems like it’s not even closed to finished, at least not in my eyes, maybe they have a lot of stuff done already, maybe even enough to push out a release, but let’s be honest here: Will this be sufficient? Whenever there’s an interview, they avoid the topic of map size, and try to parry the questions with “oh, the maps are so densly filled with events!” – is that because they have a lot of events done that they can simply copy paste onto the maps (like they did with silverwastes – which I really like, but I cannot imagine an xpac consisting of this design), so the small 2 or 3 maps that are there will take a bit more time to get through? Even if there are multiple layers, are they all worth playing?

I am going to get Heart of Thorns when it comes out, no question there. But I don’t think I will look forward to it as much as I did when it was first anounced, because the way I see it, anet is stumbling around in the dark, trying to get the bit of stuff they have ready out as slowly as possible, to have more time finishing the definitely unfinished xpac they anounced out of sheer desparation.

They said they announced every major new item for the expansion, what they didn’t say is what they are revamping out of the old ones. I expect new Guild Missions that involve more of the challenging group content (or raiding).

lighter.2708:

TheDaiBish.9735:

For example, ‘challenging group content’ could mean anything from Fractals and open world events to dungeons and raids

you over think too much, when anet say something, they mean it,

Manifesto say hi.

Remember when they said you won’t kill the same boss twice and that events don’t repeat? Anet has a way of saying something that really isn’t how things are.

Nonoka.7028:

I am going to get Heart of Thorns when it comes out, no question there. But I don’t think I will look forward to it as much as I did when it was first anounced, because the way I see it, anet is stumbling around in the dark, trying to get the bit of stuff they have ready out as slowly as possible, to have more time finishing the definitely unfinished xpac they anounced out of sheer desparation.

Sadly, and I do not like to admit it since I want to hope they’re pulling a fast one on us and they’ll just end up being like, “HAHAHAHA had you all worried! Here it is; we’ve been joking with you this whole time! There’s SO MUCH MORE!”, I’m really…

It’s almost depressing how much I’m not looking forward to the expansion. Everything shown from it thus far has just been so underwhelming. From my perspective and mine alone, what we’re getting:

1 new-for-each-class-access-but-nothing-actually-new weapon. Granted, I’m not so fussed, but.. just one? After nigh on three years of THE EXACT SAME OVER AND OVER, you’d think they might throw us a bigger bone to chew on? Just one weapon? It’s going to become as old and boring as the ones we already have in the time it takes for me to take a dump.
I really feel some pity for classes like Mesmer that are getting off-handed weapons. An entire TWO BLASTED SKILLS are all they get after that three years. It’s just a huge slap in the face. I main Engineer, so I’m happy with my hammer and all, but.. nyeh. It’s just not satisfying.

3 maps that look like a whole crap-tonne of white space. Empty space we’re supposed to glide over doesn’t equate to content, people, no matter how big the maps are. Even Orr has little bits of hidden flavour around the map to break up the white space.
And yes, granted – not all three of the maps are going to be aerial-based. And? One looks like a jungle-skinned invisible-wall maze (See the original 25/Jan trailer), and we don’t even know if the third one exists as of yet. SO MUCH CONTENT.

1 new PvP map that’s just going to get thrown into the rotation and become stale fast. Remember Huttball? From SWTOR? Do you, people? Yeah. Aside from a few rare, clutch personal moments, it was just the same old malarky.
It’s a step in the right direction at least, so I won’t harp on too much. It’s just.. not enough. See comments regarding specialisations and their weapon.

1 new class. Nothing negative to say here. Good move. Adds more flavour to the game. Personally doesn’t look to my style, but it’s a refreshing pace to add.

(EDIT: I did forget guild halls, but… honestly, something that should have been in the game at release doesn’t get to make this list. And yes. It’s a fairly basic feature at this point. I can forgive them taking an expansion or two to get it out in GW1, but by GW2, they know the drum roll. No excuses, no lifesavers being thrown to them for their lack of an expecting, already well-known and well-liked feature.)

I can’t get myself hyped for it at all. If some other game decides to play off of things and release something at the same time – I’m there, not here. Frell – if Runescape decides to release Inventing around then? I can’t stand that game and what it’s become, but I feel more excitement about it than I ever have GW2.

Not to double post – but I just opened up an email for another game that’s releasing an expansion on 23/06/2015, and I just.. I just got hyped. Holy smeg. I am legitimately looking forward to that – and it’s a game I DON’T LIKE AND CONSIDER TO BE A BUGGY MESS. But it fills me with hope!

Why didn’t I feel that with the HoT trailer? I didn’t read a paragraph of this other games’ expansion features list, yet it grabbed me.

lordkrall.7241:

Keep in mind that Outposts and Adventures seems to be quite major part of the new maps, and yet we heard a grand total of nothing at all about them during the announcement. So I would say it is fully possible that there are some big things left to tell us.

Time challenge in burning vines being a major feature? No wonder this game is so casual.

Knighthonor.4061:

lighter.2708:

TheDaiBish.9735:

For example, ‘challenging group content’ could mean anything from Fractals and open world events to dungeons and raids

you over think too much, when anet say something, they mean it,

Manifesto say hi.

Remember when they said you won’t kill the same boss twice and that events don’t repeat? Anet has a way of saying something that really isn’t how things are.

They never said that. If that’s what you gout out of the manifesto, you weren’t paying attention. Several times now over the last couple of years the clarification of the manifesto was posted. And you guys keep saying stuff like this.

lighter.2708:

TheDaiBish.9735:

For example, ‘challenging group content’ could mean anything from Fractals and open world events to dungeons and raids

you over think too much, when anet say something, they mean it, when they say challenging group content, it will just be open world event like Wyvern

Except they’ve said Wyvern is an example of just a tough boss:

…the Wyvern is an example of just a tough boss in the open world. It’s not a mega boss, it’s not some super, crazy challenging group content that we want you to do. It’s just an example of what world bosses are going to start being like.

Source

My expectations are somewhat low in terms of anything big being hidden from us. It’s nice to be drip fed on things coming from HoT, but really, until there’s a release date of when it’s all actually coming, I feel like a bear in hibernation, waiting… and waiting… and waiting.

ArenaNet is hiding something big. The price. A simple number reveals a lot and people will judge it.

Knighthonor.4061:

Remember when they said you won’t kill the same boss twice and that events don’t repeat? Anet has a way of saying something that really isn’t how things are.

The manifesto video was a few sentences pulled out of a much larger source. If you didn’t understand the context, the video was basically a comparison to WoW. Look at the written manifesto for example, though it doesn’t cover some of the points.

Killing the same boss was in reference to questing in other MMOs. There, you do a quest to kill something, then someone else comes are kills it again. What you do truly does not matter. Although they were referring to the personal story, most bosses in the open world don’t just respawn. If you pay attention, there’s usually a reason why they’re back.

As for repeating events, that wasn’t mentioned, however I do remember them saying something like that a long time ago. It is of course impossible to not repeat events, however, on a normal play through, you’re not always going to do the exact same events like you would a quest line in every other MMO.

I think this feeling comes mostly from the expansion sounding so tiny at the moment. Kusumura covered it pretty well. You get a feeling there must be more to it, but… personally, I don’t have enough faith in ANet to believe that’s true. They can’t even deliver on the things they’ve talked about, so why would they deliver on other stuff?

My answer: no. I don’t think anet is hiding anything else beyond what they already featured on PAX South.
In addition HoT is probbably going to be launched on July-September 2015. There is no time for more. What it is, is what it is.

I feel anet take money for things they gave for free before, so many ppl scream take my money do a xpac.

so anet not stupid stop releasing new content for 9 Months then give us all we would have got in this 9 months step by step for free in one swipe and take money.

after that they going back to there old concept.

everybody happy

Balsa.3951:

I feel anet take money for things they gave for free before, so many ppl scream take my money do a xpac.

so anet not stupid stop releasing new content for 9 Months then give us all we would have got in this 9 months step by step for free in one swipe and take money.

after that they going back to there old concept.

everybody happy

That’s simply not true. The patch on Tuesday had some major features in it, completely changing the stability system and adding the new camera. They worked on the LB system for pvp and start testing it today (I hope it’s good this time). And that was only this week. People like you have taken for granted that a game financed exclusively through a gem store and some episodic boxes sell would just be able to give out the same amount of content a subscription based MMO does. Furthermore, after the expansion was announced, a lot of new players came into the game, so for this reason alone the expansion strategy is working.

Anet’s not hiding anything big, but they didn’t release much detail on stuff they’ve announced yet. Expecting more will probably end up in disappointment.

Vayne.8563:

Anet’s not hiding anything big, but they didn’t release much detail on stuff they’ve announced yet. Expecting more will probably end up in disappointment.

It’s hard to tell this but I agree with Vayne on this matter.

Keep your expectations low.

rotten.9753:

Time challenge in burning vines being a major feature? No wonder this game is so casual.

Time challenge in burning vines is a single example of a much larger system. Adventures.
Then there is the whole outpost system. And yes I would say they both seems rather big.

Knighthonor.4061:

Remember when they said you won’t kill the same boss twice and that events don’t repeat? Anet has a way of saying something that really isn’t how things are.

Do enlighten us on how to make an MMO where you don’t kill the same boss twice and events don’t repeat. Oh, what’s that? You’re just twisting their words to support your own point? I had a feeling.

Vayne.8563:

Anet’s not hiding anything big, but they didn’t release much detail on stuff they’ve announced yet. Expecting more will probably end up in disappointment.

That’s what i think as well. Of course, the devil may be in details. Just don’t expect that Anet has purposefully hidden a major game feature just to reveal it at/shortly before launch, because that’s highly unlikely.
So, like Vayne said, you really shouldn’t expect more than it has been already revealed.

Sorel.4870:

Balsa.3951:

I feel anet take money for things they gave for free before, so many ppl scream take my money do a xpac.

so anet not stupid stop releasing new content for 9 Months then give us all we would have got in this 9 months step by step for free in one swipe and take money.

after that they going back to there old concept.

everybody happy

That’s simply not true. The patch on Tuesday had some major features in it, completely changing the stability system and adding the new camera. They worked on the LB system for pvp and start testing it today (I hope it’s good this time). And that was only this week. People like you have taken for granted that a game financed exclusively through a gem store and some episodic boxes sell would just be able to give out the same amount of content a subscription based MMO does. Furthermore, after the expansion was announced, a lot of new players came into the game, so for this reason alone the expansion strategy is working.

Expecting something from a company isn’t taking something for granted. Fact is, there’s already a well-established industry standard for what constitutes a, “Good”, amount of content and what consitutes a, “Lacking”, amount of content.

For two years, Anet’s been using us as guinea pigs by testing their little Living Story content out on us. It’s flopped. That’s not our problem. They decided to gamble and risk on trying to give people a content they thought people wanted. Short story: No. It isn’t.

If they want to switch to a subscription model, that’s entirely their choice. If they want to stay as they are, their choice. Their chosen method of bettering their finances ARE NOT an excuse, nor is it our problem, for them failing to deliver on what people actually want/expect. If they cannot produce what people are expecting and wanting from their game – either as a big surprise, as this thread is hopeful of, or in smaller doses via their episodic scheme, whatever the case may be – then that is THEIR fault, not ours.

You’re a consumer. Act like it. We’re all here because we want to see something out of this game. Rather than shooting down any negative feedback Anet receives, slow down and think.

Their stability and the first-person camera business were wonderful changes…
Not really ‘features’ as such. The camera, as they released it, really should have just been around at game launch. It’s not a new feature. It doesn’t warrant any parade.

The Stability changes are lovely, too. Don’t get me wrong. Again – not a new feature. They’ve just decided to change the way something worked, and they’ve been lauding it as some kind of hidden gem they’ve been working on all this time. NO.

In any other game, those very same Stability changes would be touted thus:
“Hey guys! We’ve taken a look at the Stability system, and we’re not entirely satisfied with the way it works right now and feel that it doesn’t fit our vision of how it should work in game. So, starting from (Insert date here) with Patch 2.whatever, we’re implementing drastic changes to the way it works.
(Insert patch notes regarding Stability changes here, down to the micro details)
Thank you!
- Game Dev Company.”

No need to rile people up over it, no need to say it as anything more than it is. It’s just a change, it’s not a feature.

Here?
“Hey guys! We’ve been secretly thinking about and working on something awesome! We’ve been watching the way the Stability buff works in the game, and we’ve decided to make it absolutely, infinitely better! We have been taking our time with finding a way to implement some changes to the way it works. Get ready to take it to the next level!
We will let you know closer to release how it all goes down and how great the ideas we came up with work! We don’t have an approximation date that you could expect this by, but it’ll be in when we feel we’ve made it awesome!
Stay tuned for more!
Thank you!
- Anet.”

Can you see the difference?

Anet has just been a huge Hype-man so far. I’ve been to enough live stage performances to recognise Hype-man spiel; “ARE YOU READY!? GEEEET READY! ARE. YOU. READY! LET ME HEAR IT! I SAID – ARE! YOU! READYYYYYYYYY!? Here it comes – ARE YOU READY!? Get ready everybody! Exactly what you’re after – ARE YOU READY FOR IT!?”

If they’re hiding something big, it’s behind so much smoke and mirror that I’ll miss it entirely, and thus, my interest will never have been piqued. I’ll shift to some other game, as stated in my previous post, and offer them my patronage instead.

lighter.2708:

TheDaiBish.9735:

For example, ‘challenging group content’ could mean anything from Fractals and open world events to dungeons and raids

you over think too much, when anet say something, they mean it, when they say challenging group content, it will just be open world event like Wyvern

No that’s just the tutorial starting area boss. the challenging group content will have 2 wyverns…

I hope no. Or this will be the most expensive patch ever. No one near enough content or features to be called an expansion, not to mention, to be worth a price tag.

While big reveals can be awesome, it’s better to lay things out on the table and “fail fast” so you have more time and resources to recover, and try again.

In short: No, I don’t believe they are

lordkrall.7241:

Time challenge in burning vines is a single example of a much larger system. Adventures.
Then there is the whole outpost system. And yes I would say they both seems rather big.

Adventures are basically slightly harder hearts and outposts are just events hub. If you believe they are large features, it doesn’t take much to please you as a customer.

I think there will be at least one big thing they haven’t announced yet, but I have no idea what it could be. Probably something unique though, not like another profession or they’re actually giving each profession 2 specialisations.

Even though they said they’re announcing all the big things early on I find that hard to believe, I think they’d keep something back to surprise us.

For those wondering about map size, it’s not that difficult to figure out, all you need to do is go to your game now, zoom completely out on the world map, and look at the Magus Falls area absolutely…potentially any non-named areas that fall within the triangle of Rata Sum, Magus Falls and Silverwastes. IF you want to get your hopes up to much, you can also hope for the Maguuma Wastes or some portion of it. As for anything being held back, no, no major features were held back, everything they talked about will be on the back of the box.

Kusumura.8642:

1. Guild Halls are a real feature
2.Not 3 PvE maps
3.Mentioning Runescape in a non-negative way post 2007

Test.8734:

warbignime.4610:

So I think Anet might be playing with words here and surprise us with some feature that they don’t consider major but us player do.

I’m rather sure they are holding something very major, that you will only truly see on release day.

Something called “massive disappointment”.

sigh, now look, I like lurking around a game I dislike and don´t play anymore to poke fun at it and the “game´s to hard” whining that is prevalent around here like the next guy, but you are really, really uninspiring and boring with your negative generalizations you post into every second thread.

Since they’re adding new fractal mastery line, I’m pretty sure there’d be some new stages of fractals that’re “free to all” players. Also they may even add new levels of fractals, make it up to lv99 now. (From 51~99, you need masteries to progress or you’ll get wiped easily)

They never did something big since launch. And because gw2 lost 40% revenue between q4 2013 and q4 2014, they even overhype an already overhyped ls season + feature pack and call it expansion. They need money because they are tanking hard.

Without the context, that could mean anything.

When I think a major feature, I envision things like … build libraries that allow you to store builds and gear … just click and your equipped and traited with the skills, etc…

For them, a major feature might be: A new role playing area or a new line of stuff in the gemstore. Could be almost anything.

Nope, don´t think so.

Anet is hiding SAB until April 1.

Yes they are hiding the release date. And don’t tell me they don’t have one. A company must have some internal deadline or at least a rough estimate.

Anet is definitely hiding something big. It’s called a disappointment.

rotten.9753:

Anet is definitely hiding something big. It’s called a disappointment.

Why are you still here?

lordkrall.7241:

Why are you still here?

Being disappointed with how development works is forbidden now?

rotten.9753:

Being disappointed with how development works is forbidden now?

No.
But the fact that you have spent weeks only talking about how much everything sucks and how bad it will be I question why you simply don’t move on with your life.

If I dislike something I tend to move away from it, rather than spending as much time as possible telling everyone else how much it sucks.