There have been many different sources of the same thing I am about to write, but I feel another “voice” needs to be added.
The problem with Guild Wars 2, in it’s current state, isn’t that there is not enough things to do. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. There is an overabundance of content. But with that, Guild Wars 2 suffers from a lack of perspective in what it hopes to accomplish with so much content. Instead of focusing all the effort into a singular purpose, we see that the game tends to wander about trying to fill the voids of what should be done and how it should be done. When Arena.net designed the game, they thought a lot about how they wanted to make the game appealing to gamers of all types. The covered basics like PvE content, WvWvW and PvP; but, the lack of focus means that while you can enjoy each aspect of the game seperately, they are ultimately not focused enough to capture the long-term attention in each area of the game.
Numerous design flaws and time-sinks plague the game. That much is apparent to many of the player base. There are also a large number of game bugs and graphical problems that also exist. There are a large share of people who feel this only adds to the game, or they are content with what the game provides. While these flaws and bugs do not take much away from the game, they tend to persist for quite some time before they are fixed (if ever) and when that builds up, players turn away as well.
It is unclear how far Arena.net understands all of this, as they have not been entirely clear on their plan of progression of the game. They seem to understand it to a point, and with recent content (the Living Story and the Molten Weapons Facility dungeon, WvWvW progression) have gotten better at shaping this content. While this is a great thing, I feel as if it is merely a band-aid for the larger problem at hand. Approaching the one-year anniversary of the game, it is becoming increasingly clear that without focused content we will start seeing a larger temporary player-base; that is, players who only log on for short periods of time without commitment. This is not a bad thing, but it is not good for a healthy community.
Guild Wars 2 tries to lead by example of their ideas for the original Guild Wars (and subsequent sequels and expansion). It is to be a game where you can pick up at any time and still continue and progress without having to worry about what you missed. While a noble goal, I feel as if something was lost in the translation when they changed games. This is not to say that the game is not enjoyable, or does not serve it’s purpose, with it’s current content. Quite the opposite. Much of the content IS enjoyable and varied enough to capture attention. But after short periods of time that content fails to keep that going. The current additions of content helps stave off that problem, but how long can that go on before the players begin to grow old of all the “one-shot” content before passing most of it for being “too temporary”?
All that said, what can Arena.net do to solve the fundamental problems of the game? I am not a game developer—nor can I see into the minds of all their players—but I do have a fair grasp of what players want and do not want after my life experience playing games and selling games in the retail market. Many of these issues, I feel, can be solved through the following:
1. Keep up the temporary content. The Living Story content, and filler bridge content such as Southsun Cove, is not a bad thing. They should continue to develop these smaller stories and content to develop the game into the direction they want. This gives many players smaller portions to digest when they are not wanting to waste large chunks of time without feeling accomplished.