Guild Wars 2

I play GW2 from first day of it release and I love it to this day. I love this world, quest system, hard and easy dungeons, awesome community etc. I was thrilled when I first saw new temporary content (Halloween) – and I liked it.

But with new and new addon to game every two week I dread the time when I cant play and miss something from game I love so much. I know i will not miss skins or reward so much. But I will miss thing which cant be replace – actual play of content and achivments for it.

So I wanna ask can we – players, which simply cant play for several weeks in year, somehow get those achivs we miss some day? Or can you stop bringing new achivs with new content? Make rewards -that ok, but dont push people to “you must be here or you miss something you can never ever get – and there will be constant remainder of it in achivs tables”

Sorry for grammer

If you’re an OCD player who feels compelled to tick off every achievement on the list, you’re going to end up disappointed sooner or later. In this case it’s sooner, it’s just not possible to keep up with everything in the game and have a life that includes… pretty much anything beyond eating and sleeping.

That said, I think that bi-weekly updates might be a little much for most people to keep up with. Even with four different teams working on updates, both players and devs run the risk of getting burnt out if they keep this pace for very long. Monthly updates are perfect, in that they give people time with the new content but don’t make things feel rushed.

Ahh yes, an MMO finally lives up to the challenge of producing content faster than players can consume it, and someone still manages to complain…

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Ahh yes, an MMO finally lives up to the challenge of producing content faster than players can consume it, and someone still manages to complain…

Players camped the holo spawns for 2 or 3 days, then ignored them after… they could update every 48 hrs and still people will be going “gimme sumthin to do!”

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Ahh yes, an MMO finally lives up to the challenge of producing content faster than players can consume it, and someone still manages to complain…

Well if its produced faster than players can consume and they are unable to do it of course they are going to complain.

My complaint about producing it so fast is more about the lack of quality control and consistent standards across all the living story teams and what they are producing. IMHO the overall project management is poor.

I think this is excellent news. How can new content releases every 2 weeks be anything but good. No developers in the world are this dedicated to their games after release.

If they can start adding new events to areas and make it much more dynamic rather than the same 3 events repeated over and over this would add so much more to the PvE world and actually make it exciting to go and defend an area, etc.

I actually agree with the OP. New content every 2 weeks is too rapid, especially if it’s only temporary. I’d rather have new permanent content added every 2 months.

Two weeks is too fast, mainly because Arena Net isn’t testing these patches enough. The last one Sky Pirate was the buggiest one yet and most of the bugs still haven’t been corrected. I would much rather have content coming out every month or two with little or no bugs at all. You can put out new content as fast as you want but if it isn’t tested enough than, you will get bugs that break the game. Slow down!!!! More testing lest bugs!

Zaxares.5419:

I actually agree with the OP. New content every 2 weeks is too rapid, especially if it’s only temporary. I’d rather have new permanent content added every 2 months.

You have read that there will be permanent content right? Straight from the horses mouth.

I’m assuming most people here watch TV and have a series they like to watch. I’m sure no one complains when there is a new episode every week.

By having a rotation of teams working on the content each team will have more than just 2 weeks to iron out all the bugs from their content

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Ahh yes, an MMO finally lives up to the challenge of producing content faster than players can consume it, and someone still manages to complain…

This is what happened with World of Warcraft according to the stock reports when players were cancelling their subscription.

There is a point where a game can change so quickly that you feel your effort Is worthless because you’ll know you will never achieve it.

However, I very much doubt GW2 will run into this problem.

Eggers.5608:

Two weeks is too fast, mainly because Arena Net isn’t testing these patches enough. The last one Sky Pirate was the buggiest one yet and most of the bugs still haven’t been corrected. I would much rather have content coming out every month or two with little or no bugs at all. You can put out new content as fast as you want but if it isn’t tested enough than, you will get bugs that break the game. Slow down!!!! More testing lest bugs!

What bugs? They get found and fixed relatively quickly. I much rather prefer faster content with less testing and then fixing the bug a few hours later of release rather than holding it back for months and releasing it.

Basilenco.6375:

I’m assuming most people here watch TV and have a series they like to watch. I’m sure no one complains when there is a new episode every week.

Yes, but each episode lasts for, what, half an hour to an hour? And then you wait a whole week for the next episode. In terms of a ratio of time spent/time waiting, that’s about the same as waiting 1 – 2 months for new permanent content. Again, it’s about being able to savour the experience with plenty of time to spare, and then giving you enough time to build up anticipation for the next release.

But yes, ANet have said that they’re looking into making more permanent content with subsequent releases, so I’m willing to wait and see what their new approach is like.

Eggers.5608:

Two weeks is too fast, mainly because Arena Net isn’t testing these patches enough. The last one Sky Pirate was the buggiest one yet and most of the bugs still haven’t been corrected. I would much rather have content coming out every month or two with little or no bugs at all. You can put out new content as fast as you want but if it isn’t tested enough than, you will get bugs that break the game. Slow down!!!! More testing lest bugs!

I think you missed Colin’s comments about the testing teams and how this new content is being developed and how they can crank out so much in what is perceived as such a short amount of time.

Content updates have been split into various teams and each team handles a specific update. This means that those updates are being tested for months before they go live. Bugs will slip through…testers are only human.

You find a bug, report it by typing /bug in the chat interface.

morrolan.9608:

My complaint about producing it so fast is more about the lack of quality control and consistent standards across all the living story teams and what they are producing.

This is my main concern. This AR dungeon and JP are cool. But the rest is crap. The Southsun one had a horrible "dungeon’. There story behind these are completely forgettable. Theres a lack of quality around the Living STORY and experience involving that story.

Chase.8415:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Ahh yes, an MMO finally lives up to the challenge of producing content faster than players can consume it, and someone still manages to complain…

This is what happened with World of Warcraft according to the stock reports when players were cancelling their subscription.

There is a point where a game can change so quickly that you feel your effort Is worthless because you’ll know you will never achieve it.

However, I very much doubt GW2 will run into this problem.

I agree with you to a certain extent, regular releases will definitely cater to the current audience but can be a great deterrence to returning players, they get overwhelmed by new information and for some may end up being too much trouble than it’s worth to catch up.

The advertising is actually a little misleading – the release is not actually every “2 weeks” it’s more like the “new content” spans the course of a month, except the release content is “gated” so you don’t see everything all at once, take past examples of how subsequent releases has been within the same “story” before branching off to something different.

The one thing that I find really quite annoying about the living story is that it only really seems to affect a small portion of the world… I mean within the starter zones and Lions Arch…. I get the reasons why but it just seems like the rest of the world is insignificant and I’m not sure if it’s only me but at times it’s starting to feel very repetitive…. they’ll need to innovate else this is just going to be a dead end.

My concern isn’t completionism, but I do fear for the quality of the releases. Southsun proved pretty blatantly that content developed in a short period doesn’t always work out very well.

I have no problem with it being every two weeks.]

I actually do not participate in all that has happened so far. I did my best to avoid Southsun coast for example

I think there’s a solution to providing content quickly enough for those who are dedicated players, while making it available long enough for casual players to get around to it: make the content updates overlapping.

What if living story content was released every 2 weeks like they planned, but lingered even after the next update? E.g., if all living story content stuck around for 3 months, then at any given time there would be the equivalent of 6 updates worth of living story available. Those who are quick would be playing the latest update, while those who missed a certain month would still have a chance to go back and get their achievement points/rewards. As an added bonus, if one update’s contents happen to suck (e.g., Canach’s Lair) people would still have better content (e.g., Molten Facility) available to them until the next “good” update arrives :-)

-Tranc

MokahTGS.7850:

his means that those updates are being tested for months before they go live.

Pretty much this.

We’ve known about Dragon Bash and the new armor sets for months now. The models have been in the game for a long time, and the hardworking devs at ANET polished it!

(I only wish the tail didn’t clip on Charr….)

I can’t wait to see this happen two weeks is perfect for the way I play, assuming you pull this off as well as you have the living story so far I may not play another mmo again when there is new content available this often

I’m worried from a slightly different position. What concerns me is that the dev’s will feel pushed to create new content, putting strain on them that is unnecessary. I’m grateful and happy for the amount of effort they’re putting in, but I’d rather they took more time time to develop their ideas between events.

Several reason for this;
1. Stress, I know what it’s like to work to deadlines and in software, where nothing is certain, this can mean knackered, frustrated programmers who potentially could end up leaving under the strain. Now i’m sure that Anet has covered this with the programmer and that they feel they can cope but it’s a worry for me nonetheless. I’d rather we have the same programmers as long as possible who enjoy their job, know the game, and know the community.

2. Quality control. With rushed ideas and stress programmers comes the very real possibility of bugs in the program. The uninted consequences that can never be fully accounted for when adding new code to such a massive game. There’s also issues of balance and accessability. For example The Dragon Bash story with Marjory’s cutscenes were really incredible, so much so that there were repeated threads thanking and congratulating the devs. Fun quests, good rewards and varied ways to reach them, if a bit grindy.
The aetherblades however are essentially barred content to low-levels and soloists. There’s literally nothing enjoyable for a good portion of the community to do (no grinding the same few mobs hundreds of times in different areas is not fun) and no way to access the story at all. Needless to say this is quite dissapointing. It’s also all the more likely on a scheduled release.

3. Missed content. On topic with OP, I feel that frequent content overall will lead to a lot of people missing out on a lot of the fun, which is just a shame. Sure, you could argue that people would miss things happening in the real living world but then things aren’t timedto every two weeks in the real living world.

In Conclusion. Anet, take your time, chaps. Release stuff when you think you can. If you whip up a mini event in a week, then get out in a week. If you someone has an awesome idea but it’d take an extra week to develop and make accessible to all, then take that extra week. By all means, make this world as alive as you can, push the boundaries, and make it a challenge for yourseves. Just don’t overdo it and make things suck for your collegues.

I am completely conflicted about the new content. I love that they’ve added certain things like achievement rewards (obviously, this is a permanent thing), but I’m underwhelmed by the temp content that’s been added. Generally, I fall into the camp of people who don’t have that much time to play, play solo for the most part, and either don’t have enough experience, or enough chars to 80 to really take advantage of most of the content anyway. So what I find I end up feeling, whether I should or not this is how it is, is a slightly deflated feeling akin to “Oh look, yet more content floating by that I cannot keep up with and even, for some of it, take part in”.

Yes, the Aetherblade dungeon will level you to 80, but so what? The people at 80 don’t necessarily want someone so underpowered on what is recognised as one of the harder dungeons yet. If you are at 80 but you run a Necro, then it’s also somewhat hard to find groups who want you. And if you are also inexperienced – well, I’m not saying there aren’t groups willing to take you on, but these come harder and harder to find.

This isn’t a complaint about people in general, please do recognise that. I mean, why would you necessarily want to spend an hour, maybe two, running a dungeon and explaining every step as you go, possibly wiping a few times, with a few newer players, when you already have a group of friends who you can go through with three or four times in that space of time? There are people willing to do that, but I wouldn’t want to over-test their patience too much.

So, a rather overlong example of one of the reasons I am concerned about the new plan to bring out new content every two weeks. I’m not in any way implying the people to want/need new content shouldn’t get it, but I don’t feel that there is enough of a mix (maybe due to timings) that appeal to every level of player. The stuff that I can do relatively easily, is stuff that unfortunately comes down to grinding out lighting X number of effigies, or consuming X number of sweets, which is not particularly fulfilling in and of itself. Or getting overly set on things in the gem store – because it feels like stuff I can enjoy NOW and conveniently.

This isn’t a demand for ANet to do things differently. And, like I said, I really am excited about some of the stuff they’ve added this time around because I can see it giving me a reason to keep playing even if I ignore everything else about the new content next week. But it’s just a general explanation of the way I’m feeling ambivalent towards the living story part, I guess.

Tl:dr: I am concerned about the pace of new content, and the fact that it may lead to the frustration – and potentially alienation – of a very large portion of GW2’s targeted playerbase (the casuals).

People are over-thinking this way too much and trying to come up with unwarranted nonsense

Two weeks is too frequent in my opinion. The once a month content was just about perfect but recent events have felt so rushed, that I really haven’t felt invested in them … and that’s the danger; that content will become so frequent that it stops meaning anything, I’ll stop caring, stop logging in every day, and maybe go wandering off to other games.

Less is more.

Did ANY of the complainers actually watch the video? Four Anet content teams (more were added) are working independent of each other meaning plenty of time for quality of content. If you were a content team member, your releases would be every 2 months. As far as particular content goes, the Southsun content wasn’t as good as others. But isn’t that just the nature of ANY mmo content release? There is no guarantee the the “latest is bestest”.
My suggestion – if you don’t like content this two weeks, log for two weeks and try again…

I believe every two weeks is a bit much. It seems to me that Living story is becoming the “Core” game when infact the actual war against the elder dragon Zhaitan is, the dungeons are, the world exploration is, WvW & PvP is.

Living Story should be what it is an event that happens frequently but infrequently enough to actually have some excitement about it. Once a month world changing events would of fit nicely and given players enough time.

I do not enjoy the current state of how the Anet see us playing their game. Lets face it we are now playing “Achievement List Wars 2” I currently open that list more times than I do my hero panel or Guild list… now that is a sad state to be in.

I enjoy the living story but I know at some point even I will get fed up of chasing it.

I am sorry but if the the thought of missing out on content that has no real consequence other than simply experiencing it bugs you then you should be playing a single player game. I can understand the “If I take a break when I return my gear will be such trash I will never be able to catch up” argument of treadmill games but this complaint/request is just silly in a game such as GW2 where you can come and go as you please.

I wholeheartedly agree that the new 2-week schedule is too fast.

Though not because I can’t play that often. I thankfully have a lot of time to play GW2 and will be able to do most content in 2 weeks I’m sure.

The problem is that that’s all I’ll be able to do. Shuffle from one event to another, doing achievements and new content. I won’t have time to run normal dungeons (to this day I’ve still never done a dungeon besides event ones), I won’t have time to explore zones I’ve never been to, I won’t have time to just chill and do dailys / gather resources, I won’t have time to finish my personal story. All my time in-game will be taken up in an endless cycle of limited-time events and achievements that I feel pressured to do because if I ignore them, they’re gone forever and I’ll never get to experience them (where as in theory, stuff like normal dungeons are always going to be there, even if I never have time to do them >.>).

I’ve already been doing nothing but events the past couple months basically. I spent almost all my time on Southsun during Last Stand (though I’ll grant that only about a week or two was spent actually doing event stuff, the rest was just taking advantage of that 200% magic find) and Dragon Bash I’ve literally been doing nothing but doing achievements and grinding coffers for skins. And that was on the “old” schedule. Now there’s going to be even more to do more frequently? Gah. Its just too much, I’d like some time to just chill and do some stuff in the normal game, rather than the constant event rush.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Ahh yes, an MMO finally lives up to the challenge of producing content faster than players can consume it, and someone still manages to complain…

pretty much this!i like an ever changing world with lots of new events and constant changes to the world. it should really start to feel like a living breathing world and less like a world stuck in a constant loop of the same events over and over.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Ahh yes, an MMO finally lives up to the challenge of producing content faster than players can consume it, and someone still manages to complain…

Can you call Eat x of y, kill x of y content? Oh wait yes .. it is .. you get points for it o.O

I honestly believe in quality over quantity.

I thought a lot of the updates they released could have really benefited from a lot more polish and still could (karka queen could be excellent with a little bit more work). I’ve got other things to play and to do in my life so I’d perfer to come back to guild wars 2 every 2 months to play some well polished content then to play something every 2 weeks that’s really boring and feels rushed.

Whatever happened to “when it’s ready” anyways?

I agree with the original poster. Not everybody has time to play the game every day. Casual gamers love this game as much as hardcore gamers do, they just don’t have as much time to spare.

IT’S TOO FAST!!!!!!
I can’t spend a lot of time in front of my computer, usually I do daily and go for a dungeon maybe 2 times in a weak with my guild. I Did 1/4 of the living story… Seriously it comes so fast, that I am not able to finish it. It kitten es me off. Many times I was thinking about ignoring it complately. I’m sure there are more players that think the same. MAKE IT SLOWER. Or stop doing that and give us another expansion like You did in GW1, I want Cantha and Elona not a new small portion of content every 2 weeks, because I don’t like rushing and for the most time I can’t do it fast enought before you delete it.

YOU DEVOTE A LOT OF TIME TO CREATE THIS NEW CONTENT FOR GOD’S SAKE WHY DO YOU DELETE IT AFTER SOME TIME??? LEAVE IT IN THE GAME, WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE MORE DUNGEONS, MORE EXCITING STORIES TO SEE.
DO NOT DELETE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, LEAVE IT IN THE GAME, OTHERWISE IT IS A WASTE OF MONEY

2 weeks is fine. It’s the content that matters though. More temporary dungeons isn’t good.

though the fact remains you cant please everyone, it is certainly plausible to please more ppl if they didnt remove the content (and dare i say, the unique rewards that come with it) as quickly. I dont want to tick off ALL achievements, just enough to get a specific reward or a certain minimum at least…

Ye won’t be able to get the mini Horrik
Nevermind talking to Mai in that 3 day window

Loved the dungeon though; hope they add all the living story dungeons in as fractals at least.

More content, faster! Make us actually have to choose which content we will see and which we will miss. Give us so much content that the dailies cease to be something that we concentrate on.

How is two weeks for a living story too short? I think that’s a pretty good time frame for players to finish the content. Not like the content is really hard or that time consuming.

Im more excited about what they are planning for the actual core game. So far, living stories are meh to me. Though they do give them a certain flair that most traditional mmos don’t have. I like the living breathing “world” theory that Anet has done, not for gameplay reasons (I think they are too shallow) but for immersion reasons.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Ahh yes, an MMO finally lives up to the challenge of producing content faster than players can consume it, and someone still manages to complain…

But it’s not really that they’re producing it faster, because that would imply that given enough time the player could eventually catch up.

Any given time I actually log in, there will not necessarily be more new content than I can consume, because prior content has disappeared.

So from a player’s-eye view of the game in the moment, the overall speed of content generation is moot, because the concern is about the availability of that content.

Basilenco.6375:

I’m assuming most people here watch TV and have a series they like to watch. I’m sure no one complains when there is a new episode every week.

It’s not really the same. I miss episodes of Game of Thrones all the time – but no big deal, I just watch them later. I haven’t lost anything by not tuning in when it airs, because I’ll have other chances to see it.

If I miss a GW2 living story episode, it’s missed forever. I can go back and read summaries and watch videos, but I’ll never be able to experience the content myself.

The TV analogy would only work if once an episode had aired, the best you could do would be to go read a summary. But of course, TV doesn’t work that way. It’s just different.

The two week schedule would not, in my opinion, be too fast if the content stayed in the game. How many are really not opposed to the schedule of releasing new content, but are in fact opposed to removal of the new content?

Honestly, what bothers me most is the game is not growing in content. Any game when it is released has a fairly small amount of content. As time goes on and content is added, the game gets larger in content.

Additionally, I have never liked the aspect of temporary content in games I play, but in most it is just something that happens every now and again, such as just before the release of a new expansion or large feature. Since it isn’t the primary focus of those games, it isn’t a big deal. Now, it appears that the focus of gw2 has become temporary content. That was not the focus when the game was released.