Guild Wars 2

I just watched this interview w/ one of the devs and I’ve never seen so much dodging since I played against thieves.

I’m not going discuss the interview, I was just wondering why so often it is impossible for devs to actually answer a question.

I have not seen anyone pleasantly suprised by the patches outside of some people in PvE, what is the purpose in keeping the community in the dark on these topics? (I’m not talking about the story points mentioned in the interview)

because of marketing and PR spins

admitting fault or complying with criticism shows weakness.
and showing weakness in a competitive market such as MMO’s is blasphemous.

keep in mind there legally obligated on things they can and cannot say that’s just the nature of working for a company, you have to be willing to show that you have their interests in mind.

keep in mind though we already know that most developers already know of the issues that plague PvP. you shouldn’t be asking yourself why are they not fixing these things. you should be asking why are they not getting the resources to make SPVP work.

keywords: resources

the main issue that people need to be bringing up is how can we make SPVP more profitable. it takes money to make money in with SPvp having such a low population this is why there making such a safe bet with PvE. and they’re not the only mmo that does that.

in my opinion if they want SPVP to ever work. they need to make a slow transition into making the mist free to play. with a larger emphasis on PvP items in the cash shop.

Edit: for anyone intrested on the topic of free to play mists ive made a thread here. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/making-a-free-to-play-client-for-the-mists/first#post2782490

Transcribing Isiah Cartwright’s response to MattVisual’s question WRT PVP made it painfully obvious to me that Arenanet is extremely cagey and falsely optimistic about the current state of PvP:

Transcription as follows, syntax errors may follow due to transcribing natural speech

MattVisual:
“What is your goal for PvP right now?
I know-understand that you guys are trying to go like, Esports and stuff like that.
I would think that modes – other modes would be in the works for that?
Or are you trying to stick with Conquest for now?”

Isiah Cartwright:
“Oh, for PvP? In general, type of things?
You know, I think we’re trying to build the base, fundamentals for Esports, get those things all going.
You know, we’ve gotten Custom Servers in, we’ve also been adding Spectator stuff.
We’re trying to get the fundamental building blocks to get an Esport going. So that’s our main focus right now.

You know, we don’t want to add tons and tons of gametypes and make it confusing and harder to do esports stuff, but we do know that there’s always tweaks and things.
We want people to have a lot of fun and play around with the Custom Arenas in PvP.
And so it’s something that, you know, we’re dabbling with; something that after we get this base fundamental building blocks down.
But right now it’s just focus there."

Talking points

• Arenanet is trying to get the basic fundamentals of Esports going.

• In their mind, this means spectator support and Custom Arenas

• They do not wish to “confuse” people with “tons and tons” of gametypes.

Analysis/Opinion

• It really seems that with this kind of focus they’re putting the cart before the horse. You cannot have an Esport without a large PvP population to discuss the scene.

• You also cannot have an Esport without a plethora of competitive teams and a tournament scene to support it – neither of which are present at the moment.

• Isiah Cartwright is most likely in the wrong department and so would probably be a bad person to ask regarding PvP. I believe that his vagueness is probably obligated.

• That being said, the company line being that Esports should be established before anything else is disturbing. Esports is grown, not made. It’s a community, not a developed feature.

Hey guys…

Isiah “Izzy” Cartwright made his bones in PvP design/balance quite a while ago (by this industry’s standards anyway). He is very well respected by high level gamers and other devs that have seen a lot more of him than this clip.

Don’t talk trash when you have no idea what you are talking about.

I didn’t even watch the clip, because whatever he says in an on the spot interview is of absolutely no consequence. Let the man’s body of work speak for itself.

With that said, it is no mystery that the sPvP team is resource starved, and it has always been A-Net’s MO not to talk in detail about these kinds of things. His non-answers are a predictable non-event. Nothing to see here.

Myrmidian Eudoros.4671:

Hey guys…

Isiah “Izzy” Cartwright made his bones in PvP design/balance quite a while ago (by this industry’s standards anyway). He is very well respected by high level gamers and other devs that have seen a lot more of him than this clip.

Don’t talk trash when you have no idea what you are talking about.

I didn’t even watch the clip, because whatever he says in an on the spot interview is of absolutely no consequence. Let the man’s body of work speak for itself.

With that said, it is no mystery that the sPvP team is resource starved, and it has always been A-Net’s MO not to talk in detail about these kinds of things. His non-answers are a predictable non-event. Nothing to see here.

I don’t think anyone is trash talking in this thread.
just simply being analytical on the subject of arena net focus, priorities, and resources. which i think is a good topic for SPVP forums, especially the subject of resources

and OP’s simply stating his curiosity

My response to this thread is in the works currently. A lot of good points I’d like to mention are being thought about internally. You know, with all the words I could use, any response could be possible. At this time I am just really focused on getting my fundamental response down to build a good answer at some stage in the future.

Classic. Poor fella. What’s a guy meant to do when you want face time on camera, but at the same time can’t speak too much about what is install.

MonMalthias.4763:

… …
Analysis/Opinion
… … …

• Isiah Cartwright is most likely in the wrong department and so would probably be a bad person to ask regarding PvP. I believe that his vagueness is probably obligated.
  … …

I was referring to this specifically with my earlier comment. No offense to others discussing the clip, but you will never get any forward looking commentary from A-net unless there is a serious change in their internal policies. You may as well ask me about it. I might guess wrong (I clearly have no idea where they are going), but at least I would give you a good song and dance. If I have had a few drinks, then I might even do it clothing optional.

@Myrmidian Eudoros:
I get what you’re saying, and I apologise if I have offended you. It’s also why I put Analysis/Opinion above my comments on his response. It is after all, my opinion.

It is my opinion that this attitude of “no forward looking commentary” should change. I believe that a lot of grievances in the community could have been avoided, especially if something like the June 25th patch had been previewed and discussed with respect to balance changes.

However, I don’t run the PR department or the Community for Arenanet so my words are worth nothing. I just feel that Arenanet is copping a lot of flak by sticking to a policy that only galvanises the community against them.

If a company admitted to fault and was like "Yeah, we made a bad call, we plan on fixing it ASAP, x, y, and z, are coming soon, and another company dodges a question and instead goes “Man you should be grateful for all the awesome stuff we’ve done, we’re amazing and and have done x, y, and z!”, I’ll always stick by the former.

There was a mass exodus from this game, and they won’t be coming back due to alienation.