Guild Wars 2

Will the content in season 2 be on par with that of an expansion but presented over the course of the season to develop the world? I love gw2 but running the same missions and dungeons the past few years is really bring down the moral of myself and my guild. I really hope they expand the Gw2 Universe with new content, stories, dungeons, armor etc. Not just expanding the gem store.

@Sarathiel: Technically, the whole of Season 1 was an expansion’s worth of content to… just too much of it was temporary or designed for annual festivals.

@Deceiver: we already got a dev stating that season 2 will be permanent content.

ANet would certainly like to output an expansion worth of content (why wouldn’t they?). But we don’t know. We literally know very little about S2.

Last time ANet came out and said they wanted to release x-pack worth of content (and debatable if they did or didn’t) the players haven’t yet stopped complaining. If they come out and say no they won’t, then can you image the community response? Keeping silent about it is probably the best bet.

Sarathiel.6374:

Will the content in season 2 be on par with that of an expansion but presented over the course of the season to develop the world?

I hope you’re not actually expecting an answer to this question from the peple here. Forum users are just regular players, who know just as little about Season 2 as you do.

The best you can hope for is people’s hopes and speculations.

Story journal just brought my hopes up. TY anet. take my money

Expansion = New races, new levels, new maps, new professions, etc, not pay if you don’t login! The future doesn’t look to bright if all we get is chapter by chapter Living Story stuff!

Colin Johansson never said it would be all we get.

He specifically mentioned story instances and permanent open world changes.

S2 is being released as the S1 journals…

To answer the OP – NO.

DeceiverX.8361:

If you’re looking for any real, meaningful updates, LS is never going to deliver.

You could be right if season 2 leaves permanent content but its bulked up with difficult achievements rather than much story, instances, additional zones, dungeons, fractals, events and so on.

Will season 2 be equivalent to an ‘expansions worth of content’?

Answer: We don’t know. None of us know, and won’t know until season 2 is over. Anet knows, may even feel it is but their definition of “expansion” may very well differ from what you or I define it as.

I think there’s a good chance we’ll see some significant content by the end of Season 2. But with that said, of course, it’s probably going to be kind of slow coming, being episodic releases. And you better believe they’re going to expand the Gem Store a hell of a lot… that’s where most of their money comes from, after all.

I seem to remember A-net stating that their Dev Teams are working on BOTH LS content and expansion content. It’s no different than they did w/ GW where they had 1 team working on Sorrow’s Furnace and another on Factions. When they released Sorrow’s Furnace that team moved on to Nightfall and when Factions released that team moved to EotN.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Eotn
that’s an expansion, everyone can make a story in a game with a bit of knowledge, it’s different for an actual expansion.

IF A-net ever does an expansion I hope they do it like Factions and Nightfall were done.

No raising the level cap
Add 2 character slots for people who merg the games
2 new Professions
2 new weapons per profession(3 if 1 is a mainhand/offhand set)
New skills for original 8 professions
Make Dungeons part of the storyline
Make it so you HAVE to do some storyline dungeons to get to new zones(IE Thunderhead Keep in Prophecies)

@Galphar: they already said they won’t do stand-alone campaigns. So there’d be no “merge the games” and it won’t be like Factions and Nightfall in that they could be bought without the original. You’ll always need the original game to play GW2.

doesn’t need to, they could….you know….add it as an expansion like they did for EotN but with the benefits of a chapter.

To answer the OP, YES.
Season 2 is Guild Wars 2 expansion pack.

Gw2 will NEVER feature boxed expansion pack ever.
Living Story is the only way to go now.

No.

It’s not even about the content.
Different games have different “expansions”.

In some games it can be 2 new dungeons and couple skins, where in other it can be whole new continent, thousands of quests, many dungeons and skins etc. Both are called expansions.

So we could argue that Living Story is kind of “expanding expansion”. It just adds the same amount of content over time. Maybe not a whole continent, but some improvements and quests for sure.

But it will be never an “expansion”. It’s aimed at players who already play the game, just to keep them in-game. But it will not attract new players. Ever.

“Hey, Tim, wanna try Guild Wars 2? It’s expanding! For most, it’s nothing more than it was on release, but hold your pants! You can come now, do couple new things and if you stay for longer you’ll get couple new things! Eventually, maybe a dungeon!”

Instead of:
“Hey Tim, wanna check out Guild Wars 2? If you join us now and play the new expansion, you will be able to play X new race/X new class, explore huge new area and story, do multiple dungeons!”

Which one is more interesting for Tim who have never played the game or left it in the past and never came back? Obviously, choice 2. He may grow bored of the content after couple months, but the Developer succeed. He gota new player who could buy the boxed content, he got money, both are happy. It’s B2P in a version of Guild Wars 1.

Expansion is not only the content. It’s also marketing. Pure marketing.

If ANet decides that only LS will expand the world, then they might keep the number of players (but the content has to be good also to hold them) but will not appeal to new players and game may eventually die out.

That’s why I think that Living Story is an excellent “filler” content in between expansions, especially for B2P/Gemshop model. But will not succeed alone.

The first problem is that nearly each single player seems to have his own imagination what an expansion has to include. So far we have no idea about the volume of season 2. The evaluation has to be done in Autumn/Winter 2014.

At least we can say the experience around season 2 will be most likely very different compared with a traditional expansion. The different methods of delivery will cause this.

Belenwyn.8674:

The first problem is that nearly each single player seems to have his own imagination what an expansion has to include.

Whatever you think an expansion should or should not include, I think virtually everyone will agree it should contain 1. permanent content and 2. polished content. The vast majority of Season 1 content was neither.

Only time will tell. When s2 is over can we the players deside if it was or not.

I would really just like to know more about what they have planned. I’ve had fun with all the kicks and giggles from season 1. But I’m really looking for that feeling of buying an expansions pack and having vast new content to explore. Not just little story bits.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

@Sarathiel: Technically, the whole of Season 1 was an expansion’s worth of content to… just too much of it was temporary or designed for annual festivals.

@Deceiver: we already got a dev stating that season 2 will be permanent content.

Ahahah. Except that Season 1 was:
- Filler content: achievements and meta-achievements for grindy content
- Backpack skins; as if we need them
- Boring and childish storyline

Not even close to “an expansion’s worth of content”.

I doubt S2 will be any different: zerg, grind, farm along!

You know what’s great about any Season’s content? You have the choice to completely and absolutely ignore it. No obligation whatsoever. =)

Sarathiel.6374:

Will the content in season 2 be on par with that of an expansion but presented over the course of the season to develop the world? I love gw2 but running the same missions and dungeons the past few years is really bring down the moral of myself and my guild. I really hope they expand the Gw2 Universe with new content, stories, dungeons, armor etc. Not just expanding the gem store.

If you mean an full expansion with half a dozen maps, new races, classes and a new level cap, then no.

It sounds like one new map (maybe more?), and some new events, “quests” etc.

Hmmm… we know for a fact that it will be considered the continuation of personal story, adding permanent story instances. From the hints released at the end of season one, we can deduce that new maps and an elder dragon will emerge. An Elder dragon would come with its own set of minions, and new enemies would require new skills. If these skills become available to us, then that satisfies character skill and story progression. All said, this could very well be considered an expansion, even if not presented in the traditional sense.

No, an expansion does not require them to raise the lvl cap; GW1 never did, nor for that matter, did they add new races.

Of course, this is all speculation, but if it comes to pass, then I would most definitely call it an expansion.

Maybe we’ll get lucky and the Tengu will play a part in LS2. Would be nice to see them involved as NPCs.

Sola.7250:

Expansion = New races, new levels, new maps, new professions, etc, not pay if you don’t login! The future doesn’t look to bright if all we get is chapter by chapter Living Story stuff!

None of the GW1 expansions had new races or levels, and one lacked new professions. I expect to see a Tengu at some point, maps for sure, and possibly even new professions, and feel it is realistic to expect all of that to come out of Living Story. But I doubt we would ever, even if they gave us an actual expansion pack, see a change in the level cap.

serapheles.5409:

But I doubt we would ever, even if they gave us an actual expansion pack, see a change in the level cap.

I dunno… I can see it already, cap becomes 90, new instance dungeons added with enemies level 80+ and better opportunities for precursor. I’m not certain they’ll ever increase the level cap, but I wouldn’t be that surprised if they did.

Andred.1087:

serapheles.5409:

But I doubt we would ever, even if they gave us an actual expansion pack, see a change in the level cap.

I dunno… I can see it already, cap becomes 90, new instance dungeons added with enemies level 80+ and better opportunities for precursor. I’m not certain they’ll ever increase the level cap, but I wouldn’t be that surprised if they did.

The biggest reason I see it not happening is ascended gear. If they stayed at exotic, they could have legendaries ‘perma best in stat AND max level’, and everyone else could just go get new exotics. But ascended gear is so much more difficult to get compared to exotics that many players with ascended gear would feel like ANET removed a long-term goal they worked towards. Additionally, and arguably more important, is that new levels probably wouldn’t play well with crafting. Realistic options I see would either be for crafting to go up to 600 (or even 700, for ascended crafting at the higher level) with a very awkward and frustrating period between 400 and 500 where you were working towards an outdated goal, or for 500 to continue being the max, but now we suddenly get new recipes for all the weapon tiers (which would be weird).

Sola.7250:

Expansion = New races, new levels, new maps, new professions, etc, not pay if you don’t login!

Well that’s debatable.

sorudo.9054:

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Eotn
that’s an expansion, everyone can make a story in a game with a bit of knowledge, it’s different for an actual expansion.

Again, we stumble over the limited taxonomy of gaming.

Belenwyn.8674:

The first problem is that nearly each single player seems to have his own imagination what an expansion has to include.

Yeah kinda what I’m thinking too.

Sirendor.1394:

Ahahah. Except that Season 1 was:
- Filler content: achievements and meta-achievements for grindy content
- Backpack skins; as if we need them
- Boring and childish storyline

MMO players love them some grind. Backpack / weapons skins are easier to make, armor requires specific considerations for the different races, sizes, genders and appearances. So making a single armor skins is equal to making at least 5 skins.

Galphar.3901:

Maybe we’ll get lucky and the Tengu will play a part in LS2. Would be nice to see them involved as NPCs.

As nice as that would be, adding more races further increases the complexity involved with armors as I noted above. So if ANet were to make another race they’d have to create unique skins for all current skins. Probably why GW1 only had humans.

It is do or die for alot of people concerning LS2. LS1 was such a debacle that many people feel jaded by that experience.
There were some good things from LS1, don’t get me wrong but it wasn’t like an expansion. I get the feeling that LS2 will be pretty much the same as LS1 but permanent.
After 2 years, GW2 needs new zones, classes, skills, dungeons, and all the content that an expansion can provide. Not a small content patch every 2 weeks with gemstore only items and checklist achievements and lackluster story.
I really hope that LS2 will provide an expansion worth of content but I am not holding my breath.

CureForLiving.5360:

Galphar.3901:

Maybe we’ll get lucky and the Tengu will play a part in LS2. Would be nice to see them involved as NPCs.

As nice as that would be, adding more races further increases the complexity involved with armors as I noted above. So if ANet were to make another race they’d have to create unique skins for all current skins. Probably why GW1 only had humans.

I wasn’t asking for a new playable race. I was asking for the Tengu to be involved as NPCs. I think ANet has all the races playable that the want.

From the latest press release it sounds as if we will get a second personal story from Living Story 2. That will be the closest equivalent to a paid expansion that people will get. I imagine that once season 2 is over, any future players will be able to buy all of the season as a package and for them it will be the equivalent of an expansion.

If it’s anything like traditional MMOs, then no. In other MMOs, even in GW1, expansions added new skills, new classes, new races, new stories, etc.

In GW2, we’re only getting the story part… from what we know. And possibly a new zone.

Now this is an expansion, in a traditional sense.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Eotn

1. 41 new armor sets, including rare, stand-alone pieces
2. 100 new profession-specific skills (10 per profession, none of which are elite)
3. 50 new PvE only skills including 3 elite skills
4. 10 new heroes
5. 18 Dungeons
6. 124 new quests
7. The Hall of Monuments

4 new regions
Charr Homelands
Depths of Tyria
Far Shiverpeaks
Tarnished Coast

Galphar.3901:

I seem to remember A-net stating that their Dev Teams are working on BOTH LS content and expansion content. It’s no different than they did w/ GW where they had 1 team working on Sorrow’s Furnace and another on Factions. When they released Sorrow’s Furnace that team moved on to Nightfall and when Factions released that team moved to EotN.

Yeah… that Anet is gone. Don’t get your hopes up.

LW is all we got.

Edit – Oh btw Anet only worked on SF and Factions at the same time. After Factions most of the team were on NF. After NF most moved on to EoTN.

Some concept and design people were always ahead of the bulk of the development team though, so that when a release went gold, the designers had some materials to look at for the next project.

It was a good system. Anet was so much more efficient in those days.

Lucky.9421:

Galphar.3901:

I seem to remember A-net stating that their Dev Teams are working on BOTH LS content and expansion content. It’s no different than they did w/ GW where they had 1 team working on Sorrow’s Furnace and another on Factions. When they released Sorrow’s Furnace that team moved on to Nightfall and when Factions released that team moved to EotN.

Yeah… that Anet is gone. Don’t get your hopes up.

LW is all we got.

Yeah, seems that NCSoft got what they wanted out of ANet w/ GW2 and used that cash to fund Wildstar. I seem to remember also reading that most of the original GW team/Devs have left the company.

Galphar.3901:

I seem to remember also reading that most of the original GW team/Devs have left the company.

Careful you’ll get your post deleted for saying that.

Working in the same company for 10+ years in the games industry seems to be a rare thing, so that doesn’t really surprise me. If it even is true (I personally don’t remember any statements to that effect but I don’t read everything).

Whether season 2 will be like an expansion I don’t know, I can only speculate. I recall Colin Johanson suggesting in an interview that they were considering the idea of presenting that sort of content through the living story – whether they pulled the trigger on that idea, who knows, but it seems possible. Now that the living story is formally arranged relative to the personal story, will share many of the same mechanics, and we have a new dragon to deal with, most of the pieces are in place.

I do expect that if they introduce some of the other “expansiony” things like professions, races – they will come through the gem store. Those seem too big an investment to hand out for free. Core gameplay changes have to be released to everyone though.

Galphar.3901:

Yeah, seems that NCSoft got what they wanted out of ANet w/ GW2 and used that cash to fund Wildstar. I seem to remember also reading that most of the original GW team/Devs have left the company.

It’s been what, 9 years since the original GW released? 7 years since EoTN? I’d imagine a lot of people probably moved on.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

@Sarathiel: Technically, the whole of Season 1 was an expansion’s worth of content to… just too much of it was temporary or designed for annual festivals.

@Deceiver: we already got a dev stating that season 2 will be permanent content.

That’s a very subjective statement. Imo the whole of season 1 is not “an expansion’s worth of content”. Imo it wasnt even close to that. And I did vote with my money during season 1 by spending less and less on the game while it ran.

I am however hoping that Season 2 is a decent improvement and I’m willing to give them a chance to draw me back into the game.

Going by the standard of season one, then I have to say no it is unlikely to be equal to an expansion.

Season one had neither enough content or depth to qualify as expansion worthy. It is just decent filler content to tide players over till a real expansion.

If you observerd their older ‘awesome’ releases after the initial release of the game: certainly not. I hardly believe that they will introduce a whole new campaign, new continent, new playable race or profession etc. That’s what an expansion is like as of MMO-standards.

The game certainly needs:

• New areas / maps
• New dungeon
• New skills
• New armor and weapon

These 4 alone will keep the game interesting. And keep the player coming back on and playing.

People are acting like expansions are some nebulous thing that are vastly different from game to game. It is an interesting defense for Anet but it simply isn’t true. AAA MMO expansions are fairly well defined and consistent.

Pick an MMO and look at their expansion. It will include the following:

New class
New race
New zones
New Quests
New features
New dungeons/raids

When you get into multiple expansions sometimes there are differences. Usually every other expansion will forgo the addition of new classes and races. Odd expansions will usually contain them. New zones, new quests, and new features are a certainty, as is the games version of dungeons/raids.

The notable exception to this trend is EVE because it is a complete sandbox that doesn’t contain any of those things, so it can’t actually add them.

But nothing that has happened in GW2 could even be close to an expansion, claiming otherwise is just silly.

I think we can get tied up in the semantics of what is and isn’t an expansion, but the only thing that is important is that the game remain fun and interesting.

Instead of a traditional expansion, I would really like to see the following (or something fairly close – this may be overambitious/hopeful):

Every Two Weeks:

- Two to six dynamic events
- One to two champions
- At least one new living story instance
- New achievements as appropriate
- New minis/skins etc in the gem store
- Bug fixes and minor balance tweaks

Every 1-2 Months:

- Three to six new traits and utility skills
- One new dungeon path or fractal
- One new jumping puzzle or open world mini-dungeon
- Three to four new guild missions
- Three to four new armor and weapon skins

Every 3-6 months:

- One festival (as appropriate, but there should be at least one every three months)
- One new world boss
- One to two new maps/regions
- One new Spvp map
- One new permanent minigame/activity
- Heavy balance pass over all professions

Every 12 months:

- One new weapon for each profession
- One new WvW map or other major addition
- One new spvp mode

Every 24 months:

- One new profession/class (Monk, Dervish, etc)
- One new race (Tengu, Kodan, etc)

One time additions:

- Guild housing
- Personal housing
- SAB as a permanent game addition
- Cosmetic only mount system (I know this is a point of contention, but I think it would be a fun addition)
- Custom minigame arena (just like the spvp custom arena, but for minigames)

Things I never want to see:

- Level cap increase
- Instanced raids with set group numbers (10,25, 40 man raids)

i would not mind having no new class or race, i just like to see the would actually expand.
not change what we have but add what we need, we still don’t have the crystal desert so if they’re smart they add the crystal desert and make a whole story arc around it.

I’d personally like to see them expand out to some of the area on the map which we can’t yet explore. Fire Islands, Crystal Desert, Far Shiverpeaks, Woodland Cascades… I would really enjoy it if there were tasks to do, even if they’re level 80 areas. I feel like the level 80 areas seemed a bit more barren and boring without any tasks. Level 80 tasks could be more difficult to do than normal tasks and give greater rewards, maybe?

Some new skills for all classes would be much appreciated.

A new class would be even more appreciated.

A new race would be great, but with my bias towards human characters I personally wouldn’t benefit a whole bunch. I do know that a lot of people would love it, though.

And for the living world story, I feel like they could do better than the whole Scarlet thing. I really didn’t care for that bit, and I didn’t bother doing any of it because to me it felt like they just said “here’s a new bad guy” and then quickly threw together a grand scheme behind all of it that didn’t really fully explain itself.

A lot of you have forgotten the fact about the feature updates. If I remember right they said 2 will be released a year so I’m guessing 1 will be in middle of season 2 and 1 at the end. Those 2 feature patches and the LS addition I believe would equal out to be an expansion. Only time will tell what will be in those feature patches though.