Guild Wars 2

I just ran across a very thought provoking article that made absolute sense. I’ve always wondered why games seem to be struggling and could not put my finger on why.

Until I read this article. Very, very good insight from the author.
Correction:
http://taugrim.com/2013/06/06/the-two-big-issues-plaguing-mmorpg-game-developers/

correct url:

http://taugrim.com/2013/06/06/the-two-big-issues-plaguing-mmorpg-game-developers/

Nothing Found
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It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching can help.

maybe this one: http://taugrim.com/2013/06/06/the-two-big-issues-plaguing-mmorpg-game-developers/ (thank you uncle google)

I already posted the correct link! >.<

Interesting article, why is this post in the suggestions forum? what are you suggesting arena net to with guild wars 2?

While the post is a bit lacking in what he’s looking for I’ll take the ball on this article and run with it…

The writer of this article is suggesting that the games industry is just now learning many of the techniques that modern web/software companies are using to get the most out of their products. While I agree with him on a few points and disagree with others (Anet’s been using specialized groups to designs areas, etc. throughout the entire dev process from what I gather in blog pots, etc.) There is one thing that I think he hits the nail on the head about: stickiness.

While GW2’s breadth is really astounding and their constant updates and upgrades to their systems are amazing in the speed they do them, I think that the game is lacking in some of the stickiness that GW1 had presented.

Like Lol’s champions, GW1’s skills were a big part of that stickiness. 1200 maddness inducing, impossible to balance skills that people threw together in ways that would make any developer’s head explode. There’s a reason they took the skill count back from the first game, it had become unmanageable. But I think that as time moves on, the addition of skills has got to become a part of the game.

Without the experimentation of those skills combos, an important part of the game is diminished. With out the skill work in GW1, the GW2 ranger short bow skills wouldn’t even exist, since they’re basically GW1 cripshot.

I don’t know exactly how they can add this part of the game back without creating the classic problems of GW1 (useless builds and skill bloat/balance issues) but it is something that needs to be addressed in the long term. Really that fact the system was starting to go insane may have been part of it’s charm. >.>

Sometimes it’s not just about new permanent content or content at all, it’s in giving people new ways to play through your old content.

Of course the game hasn’t even been out a year so jumping to conclusions like this and the article above are a bit premature. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years it’s that the mmo fan is a fickle lot. I just liked the theme and went with it. I’m sure Anet is aware of these things, it’s just attacking it properly that’s the problem.

I agreed with the assessment that Akitten hould always be shared, one of the beautiful things about WoW was personal customization of the ui. My system didn’t look like my roommates or my husbands but we were all able to play easily because we could customize what we needed.

For example as a Paladin healer back in TBC I could easily cast a few spells on people I couldn’t directly target at the time thru a mod that showed these spell buttons on the right side of the person’s party name.

GW2 doesn’t have any such deal, heck they don’t even have direct heals which I feel is a huge weakness when it comes to support roles in any title.

GW2 is in dire need of modern mechanics like dual spec, outfitter etc because these things have literally become so mainstream they are expected at launch, and now here we are coming up on the anniversary and they don’t even have a LFG system installed which should have been put in when in November they started their new FotM dungeon focus last year.

I found it more interesting tho that he didn’t mention the problems new developers make by using 2004 economic and loot drop/progression systems. I can understand EQ using this because at the time that’s all there was RNG everything, however that never pans out well and we end up having a Wi Flagged system where the algorithms don’t function 100% randomly all the time, there are people who get nothing from drops all the time in this system just as there are people who feel like they’ve won the lottery and never fail to get large amounts of drops.

If they’d just expand the reach of the customization it would most likely fix many of the issues players have with the game in no time. They also have a problem with not receiving enough funds from NCsoft to make these changes.

Vashoom.8512:

I already posted the correct link! >.<

Interesting article, why is this post in the suggestions forum? what are you suggesting arena net to with guild wars 2?

Correct link: http://taugrim.com/2013/06/06/the-two-big-issues-plaguing-mmorpg-game-developers/

Well, suggestion forum just seemed to be the most appropriate for ideas that GW2 devs might explore. I for one like the idea that a dev team not over reach their scope. “… scope that was too big and difficult to deliver.”

On another note: “… the concept of creating multi-disciplinary strike teams. That’s the idea of assigning a designer, engineer, artist, writer, QA person, etc together to solve problems across disciplines, instead of doing the traditional handoffs or throwing stuff over the wall.”

I think both of these ideas actually make better sense than just dumping content after content without really making sure what you have implemented actually works for the majority of your player base. I would much rather have a team be totally involved so that they can work together to test/find/fix issues before they start on more content.

tigirius.9014:

They also have a problem with not receiving enough funds from NCsoft to make these changes.

^^ this…I agree with totally. In most large companies (regardless of product), folks who make the money decisions are not necessarily in the active tier of day-to-day worker bees creating and fixing content; or even in direct contact with their actual customer base.

So many high level suits just are not aware of how their decisions impact the customer base. All they see is they need to increase the profit margin.

This is not a bad thing unless it negatively impacts the quality of the product they are producing. Short sheet your development teams you short sheet your product to customers = customers leave because they see no improvement.

Well, for myself, I don’t know about coding or balancing games or any of that “tech” side of the game. As a consumer, however, I know I really enjoyed GW1 variety of skills, builds, and being creative with dual professions. The ability to design creative builds was THE most fun I had.

In WoW, I enjoyed the mods such as UI customization (Sexymap, XPerl Unitframes, Tidy Plates), quest locations (TomTom) – which would be good for finding Dynamic Events, markers for entire zone gathering nodes (GatherMate2), monitoring of the Trading Post/Auction House (Auctionator), tracking combat information (Recount), warnings for Dungeon encounters (Deadly Boss Mods), and loot monitors from crafting materials to boss drops (AtlasLoot Enhanced). These were modifications made by the player base – very talented people. Instead of waiting for the “official” development team to spend time designing these features, the WoW community is permitted (even encouraged – without dev support) to use them to enhance their gameplay. It strengthens the community and frees up the devs for more content-focused work.

So as a consumer, I believe the product GW2 could be better. I would have to agree with Taugrim’s article.

Our startup failed because we went after scope that was too big and difficult to deliver. We were big game hunting. This is the #1 reason why Triple-A MMORPGs have struggled in recent years. There has not been a single AAA MMORPG launched in 2008-2012 that has meaningfully grown its subscriber base post-launch. The list of these games includes Warhammer Online, Age of Conan, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Guild Wars 2.

Except one of the articles biggest bullet point, quoted above, is false. Guild Wars 2’s subscriber base grew steadily for a solid six months after it’s launch and active subscribers still hasn’t dipped.