Guild Wars 2

That statement has been present since before the initial release of GW2. Unfortunately it means nothing, as “nothing” is set in stone (quote from Dev).

I wish we had more to go off here, but unfortunately not.

I can attest to this. I remember the early videos highlighting night and day in GW2 and being absolutely stoked about this visual mechanic.

A bit darker would signify that it’s actually night time.

But to go even further with this, I would love to see the following:

1. A variation of creatures from night to day, such as ghouls and goons (well maybe not goons), bats, trolls, etc.
2. Weapons such as torches being an advantage at night, or weapons with light affects.

I, like many, have many questions regarding various parts of lore in Tyria. Some of my questions have relations to the GW Books, so please be prepared to read spoilers. To name a few:

1. QUESTION- Livia, the last we have seen or heard from her, she was a personal “body guard” of King Edair, son of King Baede around 1256AE. She was Exemplar of the Shining Blade and seemed to not age since the days from when she took the Scepter of Orr. Why is she not in the presence of Queen Jennah? Has she died? Or is she on another personal quest that we do not know about? Since Countess Anise is the current Exemplar, she must know where or how Livia dissapeared, or why she is not relevant in the Noble realm of Kryta.
2. QUESTION- In line with my previous questions, what has become of the Sceptor of Orr? Was it destroyed by Livia or has someone else taken it for themselves? Is it possible Zhaitan consumed the Scepter of Orr for its magical power? (All of this would make a great fractal, as it’s in the past.)
3. QUESTION- Currently we only know that a mysterious wizard Isgarren supposedly owns the Wizards Tower located near Garrenholf. Interestingly, this tower has moved from its original location (GW1 era). What magic is able to move this large mass? If Isgarren has the cababilities to perform such magic, how did he obtain such exceptional skills? This tower also was the rumor of holding ancient magical tomes of unknown origin. Where did they come from? This whole tower has been the center of “campfire” talk in Tyria, especially when the nights become dark and cold, something stirs in the tower near Kessex.
4. QUESTION- Eye of the North, this tower is another mysterious piece of architecture that seemingly dodges any attempts to defoil it’s history. Where did this tower come from? Who made it? Why do Norn stay away? Why has it been untouched by the Icebroad currently?
5. QUESTION- Underworld, the place where souls go, but then disturbed by Dhuum, this place was no candyland. What has become of the realm and is Dhuum still roaming his sanctuary?
6. QUESTION- Fissure of Woe, realm of Balthazar , with his evil-half brother Menzies fighting to take control, was this place also destroyed? If so, how? What became of Menzies and his shadow army? (Granted, both places are tied to the Human Gods, but this was left unanswered and has potential to be an amazing addition to todays Tyria
7. QUESTION- Lazarus the Dire, one of the last remaining Mursatt. Did he survive? If so where is he located? Is it possible that the white mantle are hiding him somewhere and bringing him back to full health?
8. QUESTION- Malyck and his kin, this Sylvari is from another supposed pale tree and has gone in search for them. What has become of lonely Malyck? Has he come in touch with other Sylvari or fallen upon darker lands?
9. QUESTION- I will keep this as my last question, though I can ponder on many. The Dwarves, though not directly about the Dwarves, is it possible that there could be a kin somewhere in the far north or east? Many other races have similar species that could be tied together from the distant past. Could the dwarves have a type of cousin we don’t know about?

~This Concludes my Questions~

Oh, and …. Cantha

BobbyStein.2315:

minbariguy.7504:

BobbyStein.2315:

[SNIP] …Or would you like future LW releases to cover other topics? Share your thoughts, but please keep it constructive. Thanks.

Honestly, it does not matter what topics are covered in the LW releases; if I cannot play through the content at my own pace, I will not play it at all. It is so frustrating to have my play timeframe constantly dictated by ANet. You folks put a lot of work into this stuff, I know, but my enjoyment of it is completely spoiled by the stress of waiting for the carrot to be yanked away.

This is a common complaint, and one that we’re very aware of. We’re discussing a variety of ideas that will allow players more flexibility in experiencing the Living World content, but we’re not ready to announce the details since the designs aren’t finalized yet.

Good to see you back on the forums Bobby. Interested in what the next patches reveal in terms of story content, hopefully we are blown away.

Please do not create multiple threads, and also use the second link to make a comment regarding this subject.

Thanks!

Vayne.8563:

cesmode.4257:

I never played GW1, I dont know who primordus is…or what he is. But he sounds way more kitten and epic than a tiny sylvari. I just couldn’t get around Scarlet as a villain…but I could definately dig some sort of true epic destruction of the world.

I really don’t understand this at all. The idea that somehow dangerous foes have to be big.

Last time I checked, the creatures that have caused the most deaths on the planet earth were fleas and mosquitos…and not the giant kind either.

When I see a giant boss, in games were all bosses are giant, I think, here we go again. The only way to make a boss more powerful is to make him bigger.

Superman and spiderman are pretty powerful and they’re human sized. Why does a boss have to be big to be dangerous?

Edit: Even in Guild Wars 1, in the Ring of Fire mission (the last mission in Prophecies), the tiny sparks were far more dangerous than the giant titans. They were far more likely to kill you.

I’m baffled on why it matters whether said creature is big/small. What makes a creature interesting is the context behind said creature, and why said creature is very dangerous. It’s irelevant on whether it’s massive or small.

In the case of dragons, they were designed to be large, therefore they are large. Whether people think they are scarier or not because of their size, is just subjective and not important (imo).

Elbegast.6970:

hedix.1986:

webtoehobbit.4201:

What if the guy speaking in the video is Mr. E???

Interesting. And judging by the tone, it’s a Sylvari… le sigh, not another one.

Mr. Eggplant?

Lol

JayMack.8295:

Something tells me it isn’t Primordus or Destroyers. If you take the lines literally, people of Tyria know Primordus and the Destroyers exist – it wouldn’t be a ‘secret deep below’. It also isn’t a secret to us players, either. It may be related to Primordus and the destroyers, but I don’t think they’re the ‘secret’.

But when you look at where the destroyers first starting appearing (GW1 era in the dephs of the northern shiverpeaks) and where you can find them in GW2, it’s a huge advancement, and moreso than any of the other minions. You don’t find minions of kralkatorrik in Maguuma, nor do you find Jormags minions anywhere other than the shiverpeaks.

The only other spread that was on a larger impact was the Undead, which became a direct impact.

Primordus’s minions have been primarily underground, thus unseen to the majority of races. We only know about them since we have encountered them in various parts of Tyria.

One thing is known though, and that’s they cover more ground than any other known minion. I can find them on all parts of the Tyrian Continent. It’s really interesting if you think about how far they’ve moved without much resistance.

From the riddle it sounds as though she’s seen the future of Primordus slowly taking over the dephs of tyria (Wrote about primordus being forgotten underground but slowly growing several months ago) and shes preparing for an assault? She is becoming prepared while everyone else is caught off guard?

Yes Primordus has champions (The Great Destroyer was one who was defeated, delaying primordus’s awakening.)

That’s the only plausible thing I can think of. She is going to take the world for herself since she’s prepared and everyone else is not.

CC Danicia.1394:

Antara.3189:

As there has not been any inflammatory remarks in this thread, I’m not sure why there was a reminder regarding the moderation of threads. Maybe I’m personally missing something.

Just to help keep things transparent in the process…there have been 5 posts on this thread which you aren’t seeing. Hence the request to keep it constructive and respectful to all.

Well then that definitely explains what I’m missing. Thank’s for the clarification

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

GW2 has great graphics, but the optimization leaves some thing to be desired. Especially Lion’s Arch during Wintersday, and the electricity bolts in the Thaumanova Fractal, bring the FPS down a lot.

I also think the art direction could focus a bit more on improving overall visibility. A lot of effects drown out what is actually happening on screen. And many projectiles that you need to dodge, are very small, and hardly visible.

Yea optimization has come a long way since release, but some of the LS instances and LA can be choppy at times.

As there has not been any inflammatory remarks in this thread, I’m not sure why there was a reminder regarding the moderation of threads. Maybe I’m personally missing something.

As far as the changes go, It’s a step in the right direction in my opinion, and I hope that the CDI evolves into a bigger process that also removes redundant threads regarding the same topic. A CDI covers a lot of topics, and also answers a lot of questions that other threads repeat.

The graphics and art designed for GW2 simply dominate any other MMORPG in the market today.

NOTE: This is a direct comparison between Scarlet and another Fictional Character from a television series, so it does relate (Had an accidental deletion for comparison before)

Okay so I was listening to some “The Walking Dead” soundtracks, and I stumbled upon a comment about the Governor. If any of you have seen the latest seasons, then you will know who he is. But someone wrote this about him and I think this is really what explains why scarlet is not a good villain (or wasn’t), and what ArenaNet can do to improve the next go around.

And I quote:
“Because all the great villains have background history”

And I thought about the character building of the Governor and how he was portrayed. He struck a “cord” in many of the fans, whether good or bad, and at times you almost thought he had a good sense of decency, only to be proven wrong.

Overall, I hope this simple, yet true comment I found can be used in relation to how I felt Scarlet did not connect with me or others and how future villains can be truly “showstopping”.

(A link about the Governor. Though not a full account of who he is, its a short summary.)

On a side note, Kiel would have been an awesome antagonist, since she appeared so honest and stable. I would think it’s too late to portray her as such now though.

R/,
Dan

Prepare

/15 Canthan Manuscripts

I think zommoros will break free and then proceed to take back all items he gave during his tenure as a “servant” to the greedy Tyrians in LA. He will then smite Scarlett down and the world be under his domain.

GW3 Confirmed

An Siorai Tharian.4516:

Teratus, to be fair. Guild Wars 1 was set in what I like to term a “High Fantasy Setting” which generally equates to between the 1200’s and the 1600’s in Europe, as far as the historical influences on the setting are concerned. But even back in Guild Wars 1, there were elements of Steam Punk present in the setting. Most notably within the Charr civilization. I don’t personally classify Asura Tech as anything other than “Magitech” and thus do not include it within the genre of Steam Punk.

That said, Video Role Playing Games that utilize a High Fantasy Setting, have been incorporating elements of Steam Punk within their stories since at least 1991, a good 14 years before Guild Wars was ever actually released. You basically have Final Fantasy II/IV to blame for the inclusion of Steam Punk in your fantasy genre. Final Fantasy III/VI was even more blatant about it though, going so far as to coin the term magitech in regards to a device that looked way more steam than it did magical (it even issued steam).

Final Fantasy 6 Opening Movie

Also, as far as villians worthy of hating them. Scarlet really has absolutely nothing on Kefka. I mean she hasn’t actually done anything noteworthy as far as being a Villain. Kefka on the other hand poisoned an entire cities drinking water, did various other evil things…. AND SUCCESSFULLY ESTABLISHED HIMSELF AS GOD. Not to mention causing a successful destruction of the entire world of Final Fantasy VI (which he later rebuilt in his image).

Kefka was by and large the single most successful villain of all time (unless you are counting Yuno Gasai, cause she trumps even Kefka in the category of successful Villains).

Though you are correct that GW1 presented both magitech and steampunk, the game was not orientated around such, but moreso on the “High Fantasy/Medieval” style with a taste of the latter. I, alongside Teratus, am not fond of the two but don’t mind a taste or influence of them. GW2 presented faction type races, with norn and humans not relying on Magitech or steampunk, which was decent. Now as we move forward, all races are becoming blended, but with more tech and punk, with no spiritual fantasy feel (in my humble opinion).

GuzziHero.2467:

An Siorai Tharian.4516:

Yeah but none of those villains you mentioned actually has a legitimate claim to immortality, (well except Mumm-Ra I suppose). Unlike Voldemort, or Sauron for example. Or heck, even Jadis. Scarlett gets a pass because she doesn’t actually fight us, or hasn’t yet. She lets her minions do all the work and runs away to wherever her battle fortress happens to be located.

Immortality doesn’t matter. She is just another Saturday Morning Cartoon villain.

I guess the problem really could be that since GW2 is largely played by adults and not kids, we cannot overlook the flaws in having a do-anything, go-anywhere enemy that cannot be placed or defeated. The issue is with our cynical minds, not the character.

I belive this to be a valid point. Many of the player I’ve come across are older than 18, which would lead to more critisicm and higher expatations as a player. Tough crowd so to speak.

I quit following the living worlds story line, so I don’t hate Scarlet, but the overall theme of Scarlet wasn’t amusing for me, or interesting. She appears to be too overstated for whom she really is. There was no character building before she appeared, only what was written up in the short stories.

For me, a Villain who appeals to my taste is one who either slowly crept in before taking control, or someone who started off nobel but because of an event, whether known or unknown, took the turn for the worse.

I like suspense, but with Scarlet she was too forceful and too strong and seemed saracastic and arrogant in a sense. Her story isn’t over, so I cannot conclude her overall role, but her “Character Building” experience has been over the top, in my respectful opinion.

If she’s you’re cup of tea, there’s nothing wrong with that, and you were lucky enough to get a good year of Guild Wars 2. For me, I struggled to enjoy the fruits of GW2, hanging on by what once was, and the hope that great things are coming.

Ashabhi.1365:

Antara.3189:

Actually a lot of activity in GW1 end game was farming, speed clears, title farming. Actually completing content with a organized team to try for awesome gear was a lot of fun. There really is no awesome gear that you can farm in this game. You just have to play the time gate, or cash shop game. Which I find to be quite un-amusing

You could get tired of that, but that goes with anything.

Awesome Gear? In general, what you were grinding for was mats and cash for skins. Not too much different here, except for Ascended gear, which has its own set of problems.

Farming? In general, except for a few named weapons, farming was for mats and cash. Sound familiar?

Speed Clears? Another form of mat farming. I ran UW speed clears. It was no less of a “job” than farming for mats here. The big question when you got out of UW wasn’t “Was it fun?” It was “How many ectos did you get?”

Title Farming? The titles in GW1 were gained through massive amounts of grind/farming. People seem to forget that.

The thing is that GW2 is fun. Asking for an expansion isn’t going to solve the problems people have with farming and grinding. All it will do is give you more areas to grind in.

I’d rather have it packaged in nice little chunks ever few weeks instead of needing to go out and purchase another box.

I respectfully disagree. If I wanted to, I could also compare “pepper” with “salt” by a margin, but I, and many of the players I know/knew would also agree that the dungeons, items, and armor, felt more prestigious and were fun to get.

The way a party was designed and everyone had a role defined GW1, in GW2 it’s not so and the rewards at the end don’t compare (imo).

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Memphisjz.1405:

You can’t damage walls without siege, so neither should you be able to damage gates without siege

Walls are made of stone, gates are made of wood. Walls are much thicker and stronger than gates. Your argument is invalid.

Exactly right. Now if your argument about was about reinforced gates and the amount of time it takes to go down when 20+ are hammering away, then we could have a structural conversation, but a wooden gate doesn’t stand much chance when you have tons of people hammering away with weapons and skills. It makes sense in a fantasy world.

Ashabhi.1365:

I see a lot of people asking for an expansion.

I get where you’re coming from. New, permanent content is always a good thing, even though the implementation might be a bit off.

Here’s the problem:

Let’s say ANet gives us an expansion. For Example, let’s say Elona. So, we all take our level 80’s to Elona, and run through the content in a month, then we all head back to LA to hang out and cry about dead zones, nothing to do, and how bad GW2 is.

I really don’t want that kind of expansion. I remember once you “won” over the big baddies in GW1, the rest of the time we stand in the hubs looking for something to do. Don’t say it didn’t happen, because I was there. It happened all the time. If you weren’t in one of the big-time GvG guilds, then the content got old, and the grinding for racial and faction reps got tedious. Saying it was glorious is just rose-colored glasses.

Now, on the other hand, let’s say ANet gives us decent Living Story updates with lingering permanent changes to the world, including, but not limited to new areas, and new skins, et al. Add some challenging content in the existing world to go along with the new stuff as well. I think that’s something worth doing.

The thing is that the concept of the Living Story is a good one, but the implementation has been rather haphazard. Some were good, some not so much, but you can’t say there wasn’t something new to do ever two weeks or so, no matter who you are. Choosing not to do it doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.

If they were to update the LS every month instead of every 2 weeks, and give us quality over quantity, I would take LS updates over an expansion any day of the year.

Actually a lot of activity in GW1 end game was farming, speed clears, title farming. Actually completing content with a organized team to try for awesome gear was a lot of fun. There really is no awesome gear that you can farm in this game. You just have to play the time gate, or cash shop game. Which I find to be quite un-amusing

You could get tired of that, but that goes with anything.

Aeonblade.8709:

Ethics.4519:

Aeonblade.8709:

Nabrok.9023:

Aeonblade.8709:

I wonder if they’ll sing the same tune in 6 months as population continues to decline as rapidly as it has.

OK, look me up in 6 months and we’ll continue this conversation then.

I’d rather not. And I’m sure most of us will be gone by then anyway if an expansion announcement isn’t made in the next few months.

You guys can have your LS and all the ghost towns that come with it if there isn’t an expansion announced before then, because we have much more ambitious projects coming down the pipeline this year

I have been warning them against this content delivery method since I started playing, and during that time I have watched nearly every server become empty outside of LA and Queensdale.

Come to BG. Frostgorge and WvW also have Queues =)

Hehe don’t tempt me, have been a DB faithful since the beginning

From my observation, I sadly agree Aeon. With the exception of BG, FA, JQ, the servers I’ve guested to have all been declining. In the terms of activity that is. Either everyone has stacked in the top tier servers or it’s a slow decline of activity. Either way it’s become quite stagnant in my server. Compare this to last years Wintersday, and it was very packed.

Hopefully something pulls activity back.

Off topic, but in relation to GW2 and the video that was posted, Daniel and the Art team is phenomenal. GW2 gets an A++ when it comes to art and beauty.

Astralporing.1957:

Malkavian.1493:

I miss what mmo’s used to be.

I’m not sure that i do. They were only a niche game type then – when they went for a really Massive Multiplayer audience, they were forced to change.

I thought it was unique. In a way you were part of a club that only fellow gamers could share. Since the genre has become more common and generic, the “club” no longer exists.

It’s not an upgrade, it’s a sequel to one of the best selling Online RPGs Guild Wars. An upgrade is when I put a new stereo or rims on my car. A sequel is when I buy a newly designed model with the same name as the orignal, though it’s not the same car.

As far as the generic response, “If you like Guild Wars, then go play Guild Wars” goes, it’s just a derogative response that provides no solution or recommendation to the poster. It just depends what you missed from the orginal, the game play?, GvG?, Alliance Battles?, Cantha?, Social aspects? HM?, the list can go on. But unless you enjoyed GW1 for the basic PvE content, then most likely it won’t be appealing to you anymore because the interaction that was present in the past has since moved on.

If you like GW2, but are not happy with certain aspects, then provide a detailed post to the developers following their guide to providing feedback, if you don’t care for GW2, then state your reasons respectfully and move on. And if you like/love GW2, then “rock n roll”.

Good Day.

nexxe.7081:

There wasn’t anything really special, sitting with 4 other players, talking about what you had for lunch, or how depressed one’s life is..

The reason people socialized? Because poor game design forced them to literally wait 12+ hours for a mob to spawn. I’m glad those days are over with. If people want to socialize that much, there is always Second Life.

Some players might see it that way, as it appears this is how you view a gamers social life. However, there are many different players our there, and some really do enjoy social interactive in game, for whatever reasons they may have.

tolunart.2095:

This is the result, not the cause. In the beginning, the average MMO player was a high school or college student, the game formed the basis of their social lives, and they had 4-8 hours a day they could devote to the game, more on weekends/breaks. A decade later, most of these people have jobs (and overtime), families, and other interests that reduce the amount of time they can commit to the game. At the same time, they have more money (those with jobs anyway) that they can pump into the hobbies they like. So now the average player can play maybe 2 hours a day, a few more on weekends.

I wanted to highlight this because I think this might also be a valid point. As I was younger and spent more time in a game then I do now.

As far as a broader market of games, that’s true but honestly the “butter” has been spread so thin that most of the games only provide a portion or light coat of what the older games had. The market is stale, full of generic “rice cake” games that offer little than an hours worth of amusement.

In time this will change though, and a game will become the “bread and butter” for players

I made formal complaints about the social aspects of GW2 many months ago, but received much ridicule and lash back from both players and a developer. It was a sensitive subject at the time, and I still stand by what I stated in the past.

I don’t have the broad scope of MMO’s under my belt like some of you, but playing many hours of GW1 I met many people who have best friends, girlfriends, and even couples who got married, originally meeting from GW1. The main reason I think there was a social environment in that game, is because the system of outposts and having to have a team to achieve dungeons, bosses, HM content, etc.

But they ended up hurting this aspect by allowing players to stack heroes, which furthered the decay of the social environment.

Here you can solo majority of content, only needing help in dungeons and champ/legendary bosses. This has lead to a more independent gameplay where you only team to achieve a certain goal and then part ways soon after.

Granted, I’m not an active player like I was in my GW1 days, so I’m sure there are players out there who still have a very social environment, especially role players. But generally speaking, you don’t see players striking conversation in towns like you did in GW1.

Morinmeth.9823:

Reason why GW1 players feel so “bleh” about GW2, is because it doesn’t give them the satisfaction of building something unique. It’s a general demand on gaming, people prefer building their specs rather than actually playing the game. Which is something I really disagree with, but that’s just be being a player and not a builder.

And GW2 comes in, with one of the most amazing, genius, yet simple combat systems ever created in a game (its balance is another topic – inb4 haters) and people are complaining because they don’t have 200 available skills and being able to choose some of them. Duh. THAT really grinds my gears.

Welcome to human nature, people strive to be unique, identify themselves in their own way. Many people don’t want to look the same, have the same hair style, same car, same house, same pay. Those restraints hold people in invisible chains that only civilization defined.

So the way you’re looking at it, GW1 players wanted the freedom to play the way they wanted, with their own unique style of traits, runes, and skills. I don’t see anything wrong with that on a player viewpoint.

GW2 puts contstraints on the freedom a player has when it comes to build versatility. Not only because the lack of skills, but the required work to change a build if you don’t like it. In GW1 you had to get new inscriptions and runes, and unlock skills if you didn’t already have them. Here I have to not only get a new set of armor, I have to transmute if I like old skins, reset my traits, buy new weapons, get new trinkets, buy more runes/sigils. It’s expensive and/or time consuming just to try something else.

For instance, warrior hammer was changed recently. I had put a good amount of work and and gold into making my warrior. Since it’s changed, I have to now either ditch hammer all together, or re-spec to the new hammer stats.

chemiclord.3978:

Antara.3189:

Over 7 Million copies of GW1 sold. GW2 currently stands around 3.5 Million copies sold.

An impressive stat on both games, but if GW2 were an initial release with no previous knowledge or backing of a game with over 7 million sold, I’d guess GW2 would be half or less of 3.5million.

To say GW1 Vets don’t hold any player base is untrue, many of the players who initially purchased GW2 (2.5 million copies within a month of release), were GW1 players, including myself. Many have since left however.

Just to add a few hardboiler points, GW1 is one of the best selling RPG Online Multiplayer game to date, even ranking among top PC games to be produces.

I understand why ArenaNet critiques GW1, and also respect players who disliked GW1. But the point is the game held and still holds a stable playerbase.

As far as the Manifesto goes, it was designed to appeal to players, and it did, which is why it is still brought to discussion over a year later.

7 million copies sold over eight some odd years. I highly doubt GW1 had NEARLY those sales in their first year (If I recall correctly, that first year was in the realm of 750,000).

As I had mentioned before in a thread that was deleted, there IS a niche that CAN support non-traditional MMOs. EVE and Guild Wars 1 demonstrate that.

Now, the question I think should be asked is why Arena.net decided to push outside the niche they had carved for themselves and if that was a good idea. At least, that’s the question that I wonder about.

Because this, in my opinion, was largely inevitable. Once Arena.net expanded their company, their overhead, and their goals… this sort of catering to the content locusts was going to happen. It had to if GW2 was going to remain solvent.

But you cannot compare the amount sold between the two games during the first year, since GW1 was not a sequel to an already best selling game. But statistically speaking, if GW2 truly does outperform GW1, then in 7 years, it should sell over 7 million copies.
To demonstrate another example, you can look at the stats of units sold on sims 2 to sims 3. Sims 3 outsold sims 2 in the first month, but ultimately sims 2 dominated sims 3 in the long run, clearly showing the favored game.

Hype and backing from a previous success with the same name goes a long way in the release of a sequel, because the consumer expects the same quality or better. But once the intitial hype passes, the true stats appear. If GW2 continues to sell units on an exceptional level, then no doubt it will surpass GW1 in the time frame GW1 had.

But comparing the GW2 model to the convential marketing model, I will be in awe if it happens do to the statement that they want to provide expansion style content via living story versus conventional expansion.

Expansions can be marketed as a game, whether tv, radio, newspaper, etc. An in game update/patch released every two weeks will not get the same publicity or consideration, regardless on how it stacks up in the end of a fiscal year.

But I would love to see ArenaNet prove conventional statistics wrong and provide exceptional content with the support of microtransactions, without needing to design expansions. Time will tell the truth, it always does.

Caffynated.5713:

I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maguuma was a perfect 7-0 in season 1 gold league PvF with an unprecedented shutout in week 4 with both opponents scoring 0 points.

I forgot to post the link which I cited all scoring data from.

https://leaderboards.guildwars2.com/en/na/wvwgold

I just found the coincidence in the current rankings between all three leagues to be interesting. Take Maguuma for example, before the league, this server was a strong, competitive server, but now the server appears to lack the coverage of the other Golds. And the same goes for the other two last place servers. They were all competitive servers in their own right, but due to the restraints of the new system, it seems it’s hurting their overall WvW rather than providing incentive. Does this incite the notion to move servers? quit the game or wvw?

I wonder if this is promoting stacking on the winning servers, killing off once competitive servers. Have to watch and see how this plays out to WvW.

Been using a G500 for 3 years now. Love it.

Pentium III 450mhz
PC130 RAM – 100mhz (32MB)
Canopus RIVA TNT2 Ultra (Graphics Card, PCI) 32mb ram
150watt PSU
Windows 98SE

chemiclord.3978:

Paul.4081:

In an alternate universe I’d love to read the forums if ANet followed the manifesto to the letter, I wonder what the complaints would be like there?

I think you’d see a 404 error; as GW2 would be shut down because the GW1 veterans alone weren’t enough to financially support the game.

I wonder how many people realize just how bad the retention rate of this game before the Living Story and vertical progression was introduced. From the devs I’ve talked to, in November of 2012 Guild Wars 2 was quickly approaching dire straits.

It’s something that supports my antecedotal evidence, so I’m inclined to believe it. For others who had a different experience, I guess I have to accept that opinion.

If there’s one thing I would hope everybody understands, it’s this: Developers at Arena.net didn’t gather up in a meeting one morning in late 2012 and said, “Ya know, all of our hardcore fans that supported us the last 8 years over two games? Kitten them. We hate them. Let’s completely go back on our word and make them cry. Because we hate them now. Truly.”

Their manifesto was largely rejected by the MMO market; just like everyone else who tried to change the game too much all at once. There’s a REASON games in this genre tends to drift towards the “WoW Clone” label… and that’s because it’s what the players want. It’s where the money is. And Arena.net (just like every other game developer) is in the business of making money.

Personally, the argument that I think we should be having is, “Did Guild Wars 2 really NEED to try and expand the niche they had established?” Personally, I don’t think so, and trying to do so was a mistake. But it’s a mistake the developers of this game have to run with at this point. They’ve already committed to the larger company and larger expenses. Now they have to make the best of it.

Over 7 Million copies of GW1 sold. GW2 currently stands around 3.5 Million copies sold.

An impressive stat on both games, but if GW2 were an initial release with no previous knowledge or backing of a game with over 7 million sold, I’d guess GW2 would be half or less of 3.5million.

To say GW1 Vets don’t hold any player base is untrue, many of the players who initially purchased GW2 (2.5 million copies within a month of release), were GW1 players, including myself. Many have since left however.

Just to add a few hardboiler points, GW1 is one of the best selling RPG Online Multiplayer game to date, even ranking among top PC games to be produces.

I understand why ArenaNet critiques GW1, and also respect players who disliked GW1. But the point is the game held and still holds a stable playerbase.

As far as the Manifesto goes, it was designed to appeal to players, and it did, which is why it is still brought to discussion over a year later.

Greetings,

Upon glancing over the WvW Leaderboards I noticed an interesting trends among all three “Leagues”. If you look at the stats of each winning world, and loosing world, you will notice that all three have the same/or almost the exact same stats. I will break out the most interesting.

1. Gold- Blackgate placed first 7 times with 0 placement in 2nd and 3rd.
2. Silver- Fort Aspenwood placed first 7 times with 0 placement in 2nd and 3rd.
3. Bronze- Henge of Denravi placed first 7 times with 0 placement in 2nd and 3rd.

What does this signify? A coincidence or are these stats connected? If you look on the opposite side of the spectrum you get the same exact stat across all three leagues.

1. Gold- Maguuma placed first 0 times with 1 placement in 2nd and 6 placements in third.
2. Silver- Isle of Janthir placed first 0 times with 1 placement in 2nd and 6 placements in third.
3. Bronze- Eredon Terrace placed first 0 times with 1 placement in 2nd and 6 placements in third.

Of course some of you might be thinking I’m just stating the obvious here, which on black and white, I am. But I wanted to point this out because this seems to be a major flaw in the organization in the overall league system.

Was this because of players stacking from one server to the next? Or is this the gap between a top world in a league and a bottom world.

Personally without more stats on each server, activity I can only theorize on what could be the cause of such common denominators. From what the stats show, the only compitition in each league is the servers in the middle, who average out to be around the same coverage level.

I wanted to bring this to the table to debate whether the future of Leagues will be more competive in the future, or will the future display the same results. I also think this brings a valid point that the structure in general should be revisited.

Cheers.

In a response to the hard mode (HM) discussion, I personally feel it’s not needed in GW2 because the scaling of your character takes the place of a HM. Not only does your character get scaled down, but the loot tables adjusts to allow for items of your real level to drop as well. Granted, the system doesn’t perform perfectly in all areas, but it mostly achieves its purpose.

In GW1 HM was preffered by veteran players due to the upgraded loot tables and for title farming. Of course some players do prefer HM just for the challenge, but for the majority, I found that reward increases were the reason it was played.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

I think the producers just underestimated the importance of quality over quantity. They got it in reverse. That is why the Living Story is not such a big success. You may hire me as a producer if you want.

You have good ideas from what I’ve read.

Like the article stated; bi-weekly updates are great in theory, but without combing through the content with a fine comb for bugs, then the updates get underminded and critisized by the players, regardless of how much work went into said patch.

Even still, a valued writer understands that a quality story takes patience and time to complete. Re-writes, new directions, and doubt are all part of making a great story come to life. As it stands for me in my view, the writing team has been pushing to get the story in and written as quickly as possible, with less patience to dive into the creative “pit” that’s hidden in their minds.

Returning to a monthly update would change my current degrading opinion on the current status of the game. I thought the monthly+ patch release let players take their time in the update, allowing them to enjoy the small tid-bits of each update. Now it feels like an assembly line, and both the updates and many players feel weary.

I hope to see a positive upswing in the future, maybe a new years resolution for GW2. The GemStore will only carry if the content alongside is exceptional.

Stay frosty.

Commander Siegerazer

lordkrall.7241:

So should they start demanding that all their developers are awesome at the game then?
Because that is basically how it sounds right now. People bashing them because they are not “good enough”.
They are doing it as a JOB, not for entertainment, and especially not for OUR entertainment.

According to your logic It would be perfectly reasonable for me to have our programmer give our final products presentation to thousands of people, regardless of whether or not he is a good presenter or not, as long as he has knowledge of the final product.

This is why your posts are so demeaning to others, you degrade their opinion on whether or not they agree with something. Players are having a hard time watching the live streams due to the quality of the presentation. Kudos to all of the presenters giving it their all, but if players are having a hard time following, a suggestion to change the presenters is not invalid.

The unreasonable truth about this post is the fact that players are trying to apply logic and reason to a fantasy world.

Nice, good find

All I want to add is one thing, one thing that destroys the credibility of Scarlet for me.

The introduction of a “major villain” with no previous direct relation to the Elder Dragons, who were the main plot of the original GW2 Story, specifically Zhaitan. There were many questions or mysteries that were shown during our quest to combat Zhaitan, but none of which would point to the current villain, Scarlet.
The Lore has been built years before the introduction of Scarlet, and there are still many unanswered questions which could had been built off of. Instead we now have a new villain with no previous connection to anything we previously knew. I feel like I started a new book without finishing the previous one. I don’t like unfinished books.

jsduke,

on terms of content in itself, yes the amount of updates that go into the game data wise could be compared to expansion size. The problem with LS is the pace of the releases. The more content that needs to be released, the less time content gets polished.

I’ve made the point that LS isn’t a bad idea in itself, but it shouldn’t be the sole source of new content. I believe the LS should be a bridge between one major expansion to the next, having two teams versus four, with releases on a monthly term again.

I also agree with the vision to release new skills, more flexibility in weapons to other professions through the patches, but trying to directly tie the to a LS limits the flexibility the skill is going to have.

I like expansions because they release a bulk of content at once. This gives me much more game to explore and items to unlock. Of course some players want to rush this ASAP, but a lot of players will take their time enjoying the bulk of the content. Currently all I see is a huge mass of players hopping from one update to the next, leaving other parts of the game dry and stale. When you have a bulk of content, the mass of players spreads out throughout the content depending on the pace and time of purchase of the player. It’s just a better model for majority of the players in my opinion.

Too Long, didn’t read;
Living Story should contain short storys, bridging the time frame of major releases. Major releases should introduce the “big rock” content.

Respectfully,
D.Rose

AntiGw.9367:

Funset.7893:

AntiGw.9367:

Charak.9761:

Is anyone even surprised at this point? All the temporary content pushing bug fixes off the todo list.

Temporary content is done by entirely different teams than bug fixing.

I keep hearing this, but [citation needed].

Well, I won’t provide one.

Devs said there are like 4 separate teams working on Living Story.

This statement can be made over and over, but regardless many teams share programmers, graphic artists, and other various support staff (game optimization, QA, etc).

If management wanted to put majority of the focus on strictly fixing bugs, then they could have set up the teams to do that. Instead their focus is on releasing a continuous stream of updates (not saying this is right or wrong), but do have team(s) working alongside fixing bugs.

Regardless though, most of the priorities are not centered around fixing bugs, though it’s not forgotten either.

As far as both chains bugging though, that’s unfortunate and extremely embarassing. That’s on the same level as me trying to give a presentation to hundreds of clients/potential clients, but the projector is broken in all my conferences rooms, so I had to go to another office to give the presentation.

/inb4krallsaysallpostsareinvalid

I agree with the original poster on the top level. I made the warning several months ago about the looming “burnout” that was steadfastly coming due to the overload of content updates.
It happened for me at Halloween. I was wholeheartedly excited for the Halloween content and played the first opening instance. I enjoyed it and was eager to find out what was next. I then came to the realization that to continue the story line I had to grind out all of the achievements. I closed the game and have not updated since. I feel rushed to complete objectives and puts pressure on me as a player.

If players are happy with what the game produces, then players will continue to buy gems for items via the Gem Store. It has been stated that they want to continue the Living World concept versus selling box typed content, though not ruled out.
The Gem Store has been a big hit amongst a lot of players, including myself at the time. Even if 5 players don’t purchase a single Gem, someone such as myself who has spent somewhere close to 300 USD (Maybe More) since the release, this averages out to be surplus.

But since I have halted my GW2 experience, I will no longer be purchasing Gems, due to the dislike in the current content that I personally feel has nothing to do with the original concept of the game. I know there are others who feel the same.

If the players who like/love the current direction and content outweigh players who feel like myself, then the game will continue the current direction. (In my opinion)

I’ve been around the Guild Wars group for awhile now, and have no intentions of stopping voicing my opinion.

Cheers

Sadly, one could find more backstory and lore regarding Tyria/Guild Wars 2 in the “Lore” section of this forum then in the actual game. Quite sad.

Even worse is that I still have some form of hope to check the forums, but still not enough to log into the game anymore.