Guild Wars 2

Back on Dec. 10, 2013 there was a news post announcing the final four installments of the Living World Season 1. Towards the end there was a paragraph:

“Due to the size and scope of the final four story releases in season one, the next round of major features will be bundled together into a large “feature only” release that will come after the first season of the Living World 2014 has finished. Once the story has completed, we’ll go into much greater detail on what’s to follow, but for now we want to focus on making sure our last four episodes shine.”

I and many others read it, and so far in the forums I’ve only seen speculation and rants about what’s to come and/or what hasn’t come, and there haven’t been any Living World announcements since Season 1 ended.

Did I miss something? I enjoy the game, but I’m growing weary of its static state.

No, there’ve been no announcements or anything since the feature pack launched. There’ve been a bunch of red posts lately to the effect of they’re all tied up at the moment working on the new content and/or overseeing the Chinese launch.

Right, and I don’t doubt for a minute that they’re developing something as we speak.

My point is that they said that they would “go into much greater detail on what’s to follow.” I for one would be appeased if they could make good on that statement.

The statement said they’d go into more detail on the feature pack and the changes coming with it and they did; the blog posts on the feature pack were made and all of the discussions and changes that followed as well. The statement said nothing about going into details on LS: Season 2 or what new stuff might come later in the year, only about going into detail on the changes coming with the feature pack after LS: Season 1 finished up.

As StinVec is saying. That comment was about the April feature pack and their 8 blogposts about it explaining.

The only reason I can imagine for Anet to ignore their player base is that they are preparing some major announcement at E3.

Xillllix.3485:

The only reason I can imagine for Anet to ignore their player base is that they are preparing some major announcement at E3.

Sadly, Arenanet doesn’t go to E3 since it evolved into a press-only event.

i’m glad they aren’t doing anything particular and just letting people enjoy the game for once.. it’s what they should have done on its initial launch.. i can’t say i really enjoyed any releases during 2013 with the exception of dragon bash.. the last few releases of living world showed quite a bit of improvement in that i think arena net was finally on the same page as the players.. i don’t know where the mechanical aspects of the game are headed, but the recent feature pack was more of a spring cleaning release and nothing overly exciting that they shouldn’t have been capable of implementing earlier.. i’m really hoping to get some medium grade installments over the summer season to transition into the next chapter.. if we’re lucky, mordremoth will already be dead and the who where what and how of it will provide some new ‘expansion grade’ content  =)

Xillllix.3485:

The only reason I can imagine for Anet to ignore their player base is that they are preparing some major announcement at E3.

I’m inclined to say they’re still busy getting the rebound right on their China release. If they are making an announcement at E3, though, neat.

I don’t mind the lull in content, but I do mind them not telling us what to expect next, and when. Usually, when there is no communication, it means they have dropped the ball in some way, and that is worrisome.

Sakri.7234:

I don’t mind the lull in content, but I do mind them not telling us what to expect next, and when. Usually, when there is no communication, it means they have dropped the ball in some way, and that is worrisome.

Yeah I agree with you. Something feels wrong. No news, no hints, no content….. nothing.

When a game’s max level PvE content is the LS and the don’t release anything it kind of makes the game really boring.

Vennyman.7521:

Right, and I don’t doubt for a minute that they’re developing something as we speak.

Really? I’ll be the first to admit my view towards this company is a bit on the cynical side, but I find it hard to believe that anyone thinks ArenaNet isn’t currently putting the vast majority of their resources into the Chinese release of this game.

You will make gazzilions of money from China release yet you dont hire enough people for it. That sounds wrong

rhodoc.2381:

You will make gazzilions of money from China release yet you dont hire enough people for it. That sounds wrong

Your post make no sense.
You talk about them GOING to make money, but at the same time complaining about them not hiring people for those money that they haven’t gotten yet.

I think the problem we don’t get new content is not the lack of devs number, i guess they don’t want to overshadow the release of wildstar since its ncsoft published too, so they will wait for it to be released and then release more content

rhodoc.2381:

You will make gazzilions of money from China release yet you dont hire enough people for it. That sounds wrong

I hope you don’t operate a business because a mentality like that will get you bankrupt

Vennyman.7521:

Back on Dec. 10, 2013 there was a news post announcing the final four installments of the Living World Season 1. Towards the end there was a paragraph:

“Due to the size and scope of the final four story releases in season one, the next round of major features will be bundled together into a large “feature only” release that will come after the first season of the Living World 2014 has finished. Once the story has completed, we’ll go into much greater detail on what’s to follow, but for now we want to focus on making sure our last four episodes shine.”

I and many others read it, and so far in the forums I’ve only seen speculation and rants about what’s to come and/or what hasn’t come, and there haven’t been any Living World announcements since Season 1 ended.

Did I miss something? I enjoy the game, but I’m growing weary of its static state.

So … did the last four episodes shine for you?

rhodoc.2381:

You will make gazzilions of money from China release yet you dont hire enough people for it. That sounds wrong

I actually get what your saying. Your talking about the fact that if the China release will bring in a strong potential revenue stream. Why did they have to send some of the main development team from the States over to China to wrap it up? Taking away some the initial development power that could be spent on other things.

Well actually there were still some people at Arena Net that never went overseas (like Mathew explained in his post.). They continue developing there “special projects” GW2 along with season 2 stuff. Plus it’s usually the team leads who jump flight anyways; so their input on certain projects have already been set in motion prior to them leaving. So it does not really hinder their development cycle. I think Arena Net somewhere of 350+ people. Compared to when they first started which was well below a hundred.

Furthermore I think Arena Net (and NCsoft) does not want to have a repeat of past mistakes. A third party company called “The9” originally handled the Guild Wars 1 operation for China. Which inevitably fell through after some time. They eventually had to pull the plug on the China client for GW1. I believe after this happened we got the Panda pet for the Ranger within GW1. It originally was suppose to come with the Factions release. That happened because “China did not allow depictions of a dead dead member of an endanger species.” Kind of like the whole politically correct thing that had to with them ripping out the Cantha District from Divinity’s Reach (Podcast time from: 1:44:20 to: 1:47:10).

lordkrall.7241:

rhodoc.2381:

You will make gazzilions of money from China release yet you dont hire enough people for it. That sounds wrong

Your post make no sense.
You talk about them GOING to make money, but at the same time complaining about them not hiring people for those money that they haven’t gotten yet.

While the post you quoted is rather silly, business is very much about investments in future earnings. You can’t run a largely successful business without occasionally spending money you don’t have.

Vissarion.6509:

I think the problem we don’t get new content is not the lack of devs number, i guess they don’t want to overshadow the release of wildstar since its ncsoft published too, so they will wait for it to be released and then release more content

Absolutely agree with this.
The reason why we’re only getting Living Story instead of a proper expansion after 2 years is DEFINITELY due to the upcoming release of Wildstar.

Obviously NCSoft don’t want a 2 year old MMO like GW2 to do any expansions to steal the thunder of this new franchise. This could explain the lack of ambition on gw2.
Or even worse, they may even be reducing funding for GW2 due to Wildstar.

Snowmoon.1758:

Vissarion.6509:

I think the problem we don’t get new content is not the lack of devs number, i guess they don’t want to overshadow the release of wildstar since its ncsoft published too, so they will wait for it to be released and then release more content

Absolutely agree with this.
The reason why we’re only getting Living Story instead of a proper expansion after 2 years is DEFINITELY due to the upcoming release of Wildstar.

Obviously NCSoft don’t want a 2 year old MMO like GW2 to do any expansions to steal the thunder of this new franchise. This could explain the lack of ambition on gw2.
Or even worse, they may even be reducing funding for GW2 due to Wildstar.

Yeah, because Wildstar developers got so much money that one of the most simple systems in the game that every MMO has, character customization, was universally hated in Beta because of the lack of customization options, which caused more/totally new customization options to be added in later, that were still criticized for being rushed. I don’t see where these statements are coming from about NC giving more funding to Wildstar over other projects. The evidence just doesn’t exist.

Sindex.9520:

Kind of like the whole politically correct thing that had to with them ripping out the Cantha District from Divinity’s Reach (Podcast time from: 1:44:20 to: 1:47:10).

Yet its still politically correct to still have an African themed section, and a European Themed section still contrasting and 100% trapped inside of the themes of the rest of the differently European themed Divinity’s Reach?

Chrispy.5641:

Snowmoon.1758:

Vissarion.6509:

I think the problem we don’t get new content is not the lack of devs number, i guess they don’t want to overshadow the release of wildstar since its ncsoft published too, so they will wait for it to be released and then release more content

Absolutely agree with this.
The reason why we’re only getting Living Story instead of a proper expansion after 2 years is DEFINITELY due to the upcoming release of Wildstar.

Obviously NCSoft don’t want a 2 year old MMO like GW2 to do any expansions to steal the thunder of this new franchise. This could explain the lack of ambition on gw2.
Or even worse, they may even be reducing funding for GW2 due to Wildstar.

Yeah, because Wildstar developers got so much money that one of the most simple systems in the game that every MMO has, character customization, was universally hated in Beta because of the lack of customization options, which caused more/totally new customization options to be added in later, that were still criticized for being rushed. I don’t see where these statements are coming from about NC giving more funding to Wildstar over other projects. The evidence just doesn’t exist.

How then can we explain the LACK OF AMBITION that GW2 has so far
if its not due to lack of funding from NCSoft?

2 years later and all we had was a feature pack that should have been
implemented at least 1 year ago, a stupid sylvari villian that no one cares,
character dialogue thats just….meh~ and every single event merely another
excuse for achievement grinds?? (I’m looking at you stupid Dragon Bash Pinatas)

Is that it for GW2? Is that all we will have?
Its a little hard to keep the faith for 2 years.
To be honest, i personally don’t have much hope for the so called Season 2,
which will probably be more of the same we got in Season 1. I really find it
hard to see how much better they can improve on gw2.

Snowmoon.1758:

Chrispy.5641:

Snowmoon.1758:

Vissarion.6509:

I think the problem we don’t get new content is not the lack of devs number, i guess they don’t want to overshadow the release of wildstar since its ncsoft published too, so they will wait for it to be released and then release more content

Absolutely agree with this.
The reason why we’re only getting Living Story instead of a proper expansion after 2 years is DEFINITELY due to the upcoming release of Wildstar.

Obviously NCSoft don’t want a 2 year old MMO like GW2 to do any expansions to steal the thunder of this new franchise. This could explain the lack of ambition on gw2.
Or even worse, they may even be reducing funding for GW2 due to Wildstar.

Yeah, because Wildstar developers got so much money that one of the most simple systems in the game that every MMO has, character customization, was universally hated in Beta because of the lack of customization options, which caused more/totally new customization options to be added in later, that were still criticized for being rushed. I don’t see where these statements are coming from about NC giving more funding to Wildstar over other projects. The evidence just doesn’t exist.

How then can we explain the LACK OF AMBITION that GW2 has so far
if its not due to lack of funding from NCSoft?

2 years later and all we had was a feature pack that should have been
implemented at least 1 year ago, a stupid sylvari villian that no one cares,
character dialogue thats just….meh~ and every single event merely another
excuse for achievement grinds?? (I’m looking at you stupid Dragon Bash Pinatas)

Is that it for GW2? Is that all we will have?
Its a little hard to keep the faith for 2 years.
To be honest, i personally don’t have much hope for the so called Season 2,
which will probably be more of the same we got in Season 1. I really find it
hard to see how much better they can improve on gw2.

dozens and dozens of armor sets plus hundreds of individual pieces and tens of thousands of different weapon models disagree with you. So is the fact that they Destroyed the center of the game world a few months ago. The game is literally twice the size of any comparable MMO at the moment of release. There are also over a dozen fully fleshed out cultures and races with a lot of lore and history not in the game (I really wish I could have access to that database instead of our cruddy player edited one!). Another thing you should consider is that after combining all the weapon skills with all the utility skills, Guild Wars 2 actually has about the same number of skills as GW1 did through 3 campaigns and an expansion pack.

Guild Wars 2 had Ambition.

While some games do double in size in two years through free updates and the first expansion pack, Guild Wars 2 is not going to do that, solely because of how large it was at the moment of release.

The problem with Guild Wars 2 was that Anet made it TOO BIG at the moment of release, and 2 years after a generous amount of free updates, the added content doesn’t hold a candle to what already existed in the game. The other problem is that because of how large the game is, updating the individual stories across dozens of map can’t be done at once, if it ever gets done. Just the act of updating all the world bosses and events in this game probably took as much time as creating a new map. Just the act of creating the Megaserver tech probably took as much time as creating a new map. There is a reason why there isn’t more areas to explore.

The GW2 dev team has actually expanded since release, if I recall. Funding isn’t an issue – it’s probably just that most of what they’ve invested in has been non-obvious stuff or isn’t done yet.

If NCSoft had actually scaled back funding on GW2, it’s hard to imagine ArenaNet wouldn’t have to lay off staff (or transfer them to a new game, if they had one).

The only bitter pills i got personally with guild wars 2 is the lack of armor\weapon designs (specially stuff that looks like its made for a specific class is lacking a lot), the ability to colour weapons to match the armor, the lack in care for anything but human armors (seriosly.. it sadens you if you play charr or asura and just look at the difference in care of the armor models, specially in light and medium armor) , the lackluster personal story end with zhaitan and some certain smaller skill issues\balancing on most classes what reduces the “effective” builds for each class to far too few what makes harder pve content and pvp content really not so pleasant if you play with groups (for me atleast). As for story content and map design and LS… i really cant complain, each zone got a different taste to it and if you look what the npcs do and listen\read what they say you clearly feel that each zone was designed with love and care. Well scarlet wasnt really liked by everybody but then again you cant please everybody, i personally enjoyed the twisted machines and alliances she pulled together, made for some really enjoyable battles (specially the battle of LA). Season 2 is obviosly about a dragon.. so they easily can redeem the kitten up with zhaitan and set up a menace that actually delivers. Thats my 2 cents to that. Lets see how season 2 goes, who knows… maybe they get us all by surprise lol

MatthewMedina.5419:

Hey guys,

I’m not the typical “spokesdev” around the forums, so I won’t be able to give you all the answers you are looking for about what’s next, but I’ll clarify a couple of points:

• The “usual suspects” who you would typically get answers from on this front have unquestionably been super busy getting the game out in China. A number of our devs were in China for the launch this past week, so I imagine that in addition to the hard work they put in over there to get the game launched, they’ll be returning home, getting over jet lag and catching their breath. I hope you can all understand that, and we appreciate your continued patience. We’re all as excited to share with you what’s coming next, as you are to hear it.

• There has been, and continues to be ongoing development on projects outside of China, with the team hard at work on Living World Season 2. I can’t say anything more than that yet, other than to reiterate that we’re excited to be able to share more info on it when the time comes.

• Come and check out the Festival of the Four Winds on Tuesday! Even if you experienced it back in July, we had a small-ish team revitalizing it to celebrate the China release, and there will be new things to do and see. :-)

But… where is Cantha?

lordkrall.7241:

rhodoc.2381:

You will make gazzilions of money from China release yet you dont hire enough people for it. That sounds wrong

Your post make no sense.
You talk about them GOING to make money, but at the same time complaining about them not hiring people for those money that they haven’t gotten yet.

Welcome to the mind of students.

MatthewMedina.5419:

Hey guys,

• The “usual suspects” who you would typically get answers from on this front have unquestionably been super busy getting the game out in China. A number of our devs were in China for the launch this past week, so I imagine that in addition to the hard work they put in over there to get the game launched, they’ll be returning home, getting over jet lag and catching their breath. I hope you can all understand that, and we appreciate your continued patience. We’re all as excited to share with you what’s coming next, as you are to hear it.

“Excited” is a little strong of a word. Many of us are… concerned. Nervous maybe. A lot of what needs to be said by developers isn’t “what’s coming next”, and more of “how we’re going to address issues with what’s currently here.”

People complain about the LS, but I for one, who missed it, am rather sad that I did. I’ve watched all the video content, read the wiki about it, and I want more. The story seemed like a Holywood summer blockbuster made into a videogame, ending with a climactic awakening of an underground beast. I personally can’t wait for season 2.

As for the personal story, I feel I’m nearing the end as I’m rallying the Orders then shipping off to a safe Haven Trahearne has etched out in Orr to make our way to Zhaitan. I’m really excited to see how it goes. I’ve never actually enjoyed the story content in other MMO’s as I do GW2. When I played WoW, I didn’t care for the story other than Wrath, which was AWESOME, and mostly due to the world event where we turned into zombies, much like a Living Story event could have us do. The fact an MMO has me caring for its world and story is great.

I hope now that the China release is over and they have their team assembled, we will see more information about what is coming next.

Also, I don’t think NC would cut funding because of Wildstar, especially as it would be really risky to invest more into a game that is just about to come out and doesn’t have any data around how much money it can be making. Personally, I played the beta for W* and hated it.