Guild Wars 2

There’s an exceptionally good reason – and that reason is in the mirror.

I get that it’s frustrating to wait on information that already exists. I GET THAT. But what some of you have to understand is that WE ARE OUR OWN WORST ENEMY. Too much information before release, and we all know there’s gonna be a tiny pack of schmucks out there that take advantage of it for their own gain. (Or even just to troll folks!)

This is particularly true when it comes to economic changes. Most of us wouldn’t care, but there’s quite a few Gordon Gekkos out there who have absolutely ZERO problem engaging in rampant speculation and priceshaping.

So, the next time you, the gentle reader, get upset at ANet being tight-lipped? Remember that it’s to protect us from ourselves, because we sure as hell aren’t up to the task.

(Or don’t. What am I, your parole officer?)

Flames go below. Thanks! -Sid

I actually think I know more about HoT now than almost any other game before it released. The only exception might be the original release of GW2.

Fyrebrand.4859:

I actually think I know more about HoT now than almost any other game before it released. The only exception might be the original release of GW2.

Or any game or expansion that had a complete beta test to ensure a smoother launch.

Eh? People are complaining about not knowing whats going to happen to the market?

They should just do what anyone in their shoes should do… Go Work for Anet, get some insider info and abuse the system that way. ;D

I agree about economic changes being kept a secret, but there is plenty of general info relevant to purchasing decisions that could have been given. There’s been a lot of feature hype and detail, but little indication of how much content is coming. And the amount of content is a huge factor in deciding the value of a game purchase.

We’ve only seen part of a single map, with no hint of how much ground its other two biomes cover. And we know nothing about the 3 other maps, aside from the fact that not all of them have all 3 biome areas. I don’t think a quick fly-through tour or some map screenshots(preferably showing each of the biomes) is much to ask for.

I’d also like to know how much personal story is included at launch, and just when we can expect LS3 to pick up and finish off the story. Just a simple number of chapters or instances, or expected average gameplay hours within the story instances. The ditching of PS in favor of LS for the core game, and relative silence about HoT’s PS, gives me the impression that there isn’t much to it. I’m expecting the bulk of HoT’s story to be released post-launch via LS3.

Which then makes me question how many other things are held back till sometime after launch. We already know that the single raid won’t be complete at launch, nor do we have any idea how many more raids (if any) there will be at this time next year. Legendary weapons apparently take about 1 month each to add, so we can expect about a year before a new complete set is ingame. These are fairly big features that we know for a fact are not ready at launch, but are they only ones?

The impression I get from lacking this kind of info is that it’s being held back because it’s unfavorable. That it doesn’t show HoT living up to its price tag.

mrstealth.6701:

I agree about economic changes being kept a secret, but there is plenty of general info relevant to purchasing decisions that could have been given…

They have kept it all a secret, except to say that there is going to be a big upheaval, which then creates a big upheaval because everyone goes out and speculates, etc.

They have kept it all a secret, which will mean large fluctuations once HoT launches and people find new uses or needs for mats or ones that become less valuable, new materials etc.

Why not just release info about material changes over time to make the impact less?

Uncertainty is what destabilizes markets. Better off being upfront about any potential changes… though I guess in a game we don’t have to worry about wage and hiring freezes because no one knows what’s going to happen.

Eh, even if they came out with everything up front, the market would still become unstable, just because it’s an xpac. This is the case with just about every MMO out there that has had an expansion (or more). Veteran players are already prepping for it, or are just planning to wait it out.

“… but we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it…” ~ Nancy Peloski.

“the bill”, Prepurchase.

Meh, details.

KhanKatir.4038:

“… but we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it…” ~ Nancy Peloski.

“the bill”, Prepurchase.

Meh, details.

Pretty much.

So far HoT hasn’t sold me and has pushed me closer to uninstalling than purchasing and continuing. I’m still going to wait and see what reviews show on YouTube before making my final decision.

Ragnar.1546:

KhanKatir.4038:

“… but we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it…” ~ Nancy Peloski.

“the bill”, Prepurchase.

Meh, details.

Pretty much.

So far HoT hasn’t sold me and has pushed me closer to uninstalling than purchasing and continuing. I’m still going to wait and see what reviews show on YouTube before making my final decision.

Same position I’m in. I want it to be good and worth the money, but delayed features and lack of details on the amount of content doesn’t inspire confidence. I’m not very inclined to spend $50 for a bunch of “content coming soon, check back later” signs.

mrstealth.6701:

Ragnar.1546:

KhanKatir.4038:

“… but we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it…” ~ Nancy Peloski.

“the bill”, Prepurchase.

Meh, details.

Pretty much.

So far HoT hasn’t sold me and has pushed me closer to uninstalling than purchasing and continuing. I’m still going to wait and see what reviews show on YouTube before making my final decision.

Same position I’m in. I want it to be good and worth the money, but delayed features and lack of details on the amount of content doesn’t inspire confidence. I’m not very inclined to spend $50 for a bunch of “content coming soon, check back later” signs.

For me the expansion kind of hinged around what they did with the classes. I had a lot of (high expectations?) hope for the specializations. Other than the Necros I wouldn’t have ended up pulling my specs away from what they were. So the possibility of running a new spec and getting loads of new stuff with my core classes I got the exact opposite.

It’s not all doom and gloom but I think I’d be more willing to buy TESO and give that a shot compared to HoT which has a serious lack of detail plus (personal opinion) bad specializations. New Ranger pets are very cool, just not £35 cool.

I don’t understand people who think there’s somehow a lack of content for their precious $50… Have you seen ANY of the videos of the jungle areas? It’s enormous. Those maps plus all the story content alone will be worth it in my opinion. Getting lost in a whole new world is such an incredible experience to me. My 1-80 in GW2 was incredible and if this captures that feeling again it’ll be worth way more than $50.

Pandabro.8743:

I don’t understand people who think there’s somehow a lack of content for their precious $50… Have you seen ANY of the videos of the jungle areas? It’s enormous. Those maps plus all the story content alone will be worth it in my opinion. Getting lost in a whole new world is such an incredible experience to me. My 1-80 in GW2 was incredible and if this captures that feeling again it’ll be worth way more than $50.

For me it is the type of content. The expansion for me hinged on my characters and what else I could do with them that would hook into how I like to play them but different. So basically I get more of the same but in a jungle setting, oh nm I might need new gear because it is harder? Maybe I missed something but no new dungeons?

Dunno, it just doesn’t feel like I’m going to be progressing my characters at all just killing stuff in a new zone. Not too sure about raiding, if it REQUIRES me to grind out all ascended gear I’m not interested. So for me the content isn’t right, not saying it isn’t for others, it just appears very meh to me. Which is too bad because I did want to like it.

I like the surprises coming. I always hated full betas with WoW where you pretty much previewed the whole thing before playing it, if you read up on it at all.

this is a good question…i played all three beta weekends and i feel like i know nothing about what’s coming. i guess what’s stranger is that there aren’t previews on gaming websites etc…

not that much internal hyping. recent notes have been largely bad ones-dungeons nerfed…guild missions/fractals not ready etc. it seems like they would really want to show this thing off and get some good press from tenton and other gaming sites but…it’s not the case.

to pvp i know we are getting one map and leaderboards and new rewards but i know next to nothing about leaderboards and the new rewards. it’s frankly a bit frustrating as i don’t know if what i’m doing this week in pvp is all for nothing-does reward track progress transfer(im gathering it does not)? how will new ranks work? just basic information here.

Selkirk.4218:

this is a good question…i played all three beta weekends and i feel like i know nothing about what’s coming. i guess what’s stranger is that there aren’t previews on gaming websites etc…

not that much internal hyping. recent notes have been largely bad ones-dungeons nerfed…guild missions/fractals not ready etc. it seems like they would really want to show this thing off and get some good press from tenton and other gaming sites but…

Have you read the blogs and watched all of their live streams?

Pandabro.8743:

I don’t understand people who think there’s somehow a lack of content for their precious $50… Have you seen ANY of the videos of the jungle areas? It’s enormous. Those maps plus all the story content alone will be worth it in my opinion. Getting lost in a whole new world is such an incredible experience to me. My 1-80 in GW2 was incredible and if this captures that feeling again it’ll be worth way more than $50.

We’ve only seen 1 of the 4 maps, and even then only part of it. We don’t know if the other 2 biomes cover the whole map, or are just limited to smaller parts of it. But we do know that the remaining 3 maps won’t all use all 3 biomes.

Verdant Brink is an impressive looking map and it looks fun to explore, but it also has a lot of open space and winding paths. Places that actual content isn’t likely to be found. A 300 ft wide canyon looks great, is fun to glide across, and makes the map look bigger, but it doesn’t really add any content to the map. It’s a big area that you can’t really do much with, outside of gliding.

That’s really the important issue. Instead of how big the map looks on the world map, we should be concerned about the content density and available content space within that area. Even if HoT’s maps fully utilize each biome zone (which we know for a fact they don’t), each map is no bigger than the core game maps. To hold up to its nearly equal price tag (to the core game at release), HoT needs a lot higher content density.

Content density is difficult for them to show off, but they can at least show the map areas to give us some idea of how much usable map space there will be. A single biome of Verdant Brink with massive canyons wasting space does not leave an optimistic impression on me.

While the curious side of me wants to know everything, I’ve been happy with the information that they’ve offered to date. It could be rose colored glasses, but the new WvW map looks like it could be a blast and I’m all for exploring new areas (hoping for more than just a few new zones) and the guild halls.

As for economic changes: I wonder how many of the speculators were/are alpha testers……

They’re not supposed to do it, but if they know something is going to be valuable, they can just ‘hold’ on to their drops instead of marching them off like they would normally do.

Ayrilana.1396:

Selkirk.4218:

this is a good question…i played all three beta weekends and i feel like i know nothing about what’s coming. i guess what’s stranger is that there aren’t previews on gaming websites etc…

not that much internal hyping. recent notes have been largely bad ones-dungeons nerfed…guild missions/fractals not ready etc. it seems like they would really want to show this thing off and get some good press from tenton and other gaming sites but…

Have you read the blogs and watched all of their live streams?

i’ve read most of the blogs..can’t say that i’ve watched any of the livestreams. i would actually prefer to have this information (just basic stuff regarding pvp for instance) in one place-slogging thru livestreams looking for nuggets is too tedious.

i mean historically haven’t companies had big previews with gaming media shortly before launch of an expac? shouldn’t the website have all the information i need to answer basic questions…instead it feels like bombs are being dropped in the week before release (again dungeon nerf…fractal leaderboards…guild missions…the list does go on). and further it feels like further delays are going to be revealed on release date itself.

this confusion is created (perhaps intentionally but i don’t necessarily think maliciously) by anet and the lack of transparency on even basic features(and their availability on release).

Selkirk.4218:

instead it feels like bombs are being dropped in the week before release (again dungeon nerf…fractal leaderboards…guild missions…the list does go on).

What’s changed with the guild missions overhaul in the past week? I know all of the expected changes/improvements coming with halls/instances missions, but what’s the bad news?

If you want more information, kids, you have to be better players. Remember – we’re our own worst enemy. The reason game companies are so secretive about upcoming changes is because, time and again, we have proven to them we will use this information for personal gain and kitten the effect it has on the overall game.

We have met the enemy, readers – and they are us. Are we willing to take more responsibility as a community to prevent this sort of stuff from happening?

Responses below will tell the tale, won’t they. -Sid

Sidenti.6035:

If you want more information, kids, you have to be better players. Remember – we’re our own worst enemy. The reason game companies are so secretive about upcoming changes is because, time and again, we have proven to them we will use this information for personal gain and kitten the effect it has on the overall game.

We have met the enemy, readers – and they are us. Are we willing to take more responsibility as a community to prevent this sort of stuff from happening?

Responses below will tell the tale, won’t they. -Sid

This really only applies to the economic/material aspect of the game. Not at all to details about features or content.

We know a lot about the new specs/skills/traits, but there is no evil to be had from it.

yeah im sort of ok (but not really) with not knowing anything about the game…i’m not ok with the pvp thing tho. i mean am i wasting my time on these reward tracks (essentially wasting time playing pvp at all this week). if i get to say 90% of a track will it transfer/the old track stay/gaining ranks is worthwhile or worthless?-going from level 32 to 33 for instance…will that all be wiped out?

Buying HoT is like buying a Wonder Ball.

You don’t know what’s inside it and hope you don’t choke? xD