Guild Wars 2

darkace.8925:

I can’t work the production time into the above analogy, but I can’t imagine the LS having the development time a full-fledged expansion would have. And the more time a developer has, the more fine-tuning and polishing he can put into the final product.

These are all things that have been addressed in another interview:

“It’s a marathon not a sprint and we’ve been getting better with each of our releases, in terms of how we budget, how we plan it out, how we manage personnel etc. Now we have four full ‘Living World’ teams that are building these content updates, so that we can stagger releases and make sure that people [developers] can decompress and get the quality time necessary to build a good design document before going back in and trying to implement it all over again”

“It seems all of this free content is only possible due to the ongoing popularity of the in-game gem store which Mike told us feeds new revenue into the studio at a “constant” rate, something which regular updates would inevitably increase as players return to the game regularly to sample newly added content. Essentially it seems those who use the store are essentially sponsoring those who don’t ensuring these new content updates remain free, and that’s a tough balance which very few online games get right.”

http://www.gamerzines.com/pc/arenanet-planning-fortnightly.html

Interesting fact that was posted in another thread.

Anet has not said for sure there will be no expansions. It is something the future will tell use.
Personally I am apposed to the way expansion have been done in the past and wish they would not do so and just slowly add to this game in this new format. Including adding races.
Who says they can’t? Only time will tell

I have two things I wish to point out that I am seeing a lot of in this thread.

1) A lot of people keep mentioning the last ten months. Shame on you.
This has nothing to do with the state of Anet at this time. This is a recent development for them as this game comes into it own. To compare what they now promise to what has come out before should never be done. They have been trying something new and as of now is not how they thought two months ago let alone at the time they launched the game.
SO STOP.

2) lets define the word Expansion:
per Dictionary.com it is:

1. the act or process of expanding.
2. the state or quality of being expanded.
3. the amount or degree of expanding.
4. an expanded, dilated, or enlarged portion or form of a thing: The present article is an expansion of one he wrote last year.
5. anything spread out; expanse.

Now tell me what really sound like an expansion to you. What they say they are going to deliver from here on out or what we have gotten in the past from other MMOs.

Personally I like Anets method better.

I do not support this suggestion. Plus we already have it in our personal story. Now I would support more personal stories

Thorn.7963:

Krosslite.1950:

Nick.6972:

Thorn.7963:

I’d gladly shell out 40-50 for a whole new continent to explore
But I’d really kill for new skills and weapons.

Quoted for emphasis.

I spend more then that a month in the gem shop… What is your point?

That crap like that is whats wrong with MMOs nowadays.

Who needs content when you can make more money scamming people with RNG?

That “crap” as you put it is what is funding this game, but if you would rather pay a subscription please let Anet know this. I would rathe fnd a game that is free to play after you buy it and spend money in a cash shop.

Oh…….. wait. I already did

Nick.6972:

Thorn.7963:

I’d gladly shell out 40-50 for a whole new continent to explore
But I’d really kill for new skills and weapons.

Quoted for emphasis.

I spend more then that a month in the gem shop… What is your point?

ColinJohanson.2394:

Just to clarify a bit, as Mike said there are numerous teams beyond our Living World teams, and some of them are working on much longer term projects which we’ll go into details on much further down the road.

It’s entirely possible some of the types of content which you might traditionally find in expansions would be released through an expansion in the future for Gw2, and it’s possible we’d try something different when it comes to integrating those type of releases.

We have no final plans one way or another about expansions at this time, and certainly haven’t ruled them out, it’s something we’ll discuss more in the future.

Edited to add: Our primary focus right now is on making the core Gw2 experience as strong and compelling as possible, we’ll release a blog post later this month detailing more specifically our plans for Gw2 in the second half of 2013.

Thanks Colin.

It seeing responses like this that keep me a player of this game not matter what the nay-Sayers may be trying to not only convince other but themselves that they are correct, when as you have just shown they are not. Admittedly I being just a customer don’t have all the answer either, but due to my twenty years experience in MMOs and having successfully run a multimillion dollar business. I feel I have the knowledge to understand where you guys are going with your plans and I whole hardily support them.

So they have stated that for FREE they will basically doing an expansion over a period of month instead of forcing us to pay $25 up front for an expansion pack will kill this game?

That is bull.

Doing it for FREE will gaunttee this game will be the new model for all future MMOs

Well in the next patch this is what will happen:

“Account Achievement Reward System

Put your account achievement points to good use! From now on, you’ll be able to unlock rewards like exclusive new armor skins, weapon skins, and permanent account bonuses as you earn achievement points on your account. You’ll also earn laurels, gems, gold, powerful items, and PvP and WvW rewards as your achievement score grows. These rewards will be retroactively awarded for any tiers of account achievement rewards you’ve already earned on your account."

Maybe this will help your understanding

I have no problem with it being every two weeks.]

I actually do not participate in all that has happened so far. I did my best to avoid Southsun coast for example

1) Anet will refine and update existing content and locations

2) Overhaul explorable dungeons

3) update the reward system

4) add new fractals

5) create new activities

6) Change world bosses into more epic encounters

7) Holiday events that will change slightly year to year

8) events that change the landscape of the world forever ( leaving behind epic monuments, destruction, new playable content)

8a) introduce new maps and regions permanently

Feel free to pick one, some or all of these to comment on. Look forward to your responses

FateOmega.9601:

Maybe it will retain some people but at the same time, it will deter new players from joining the game.

I don’t see that happening. I actually think there will be an influx of new folks

Having been in MMOs for over 20 years. I have to say this has been one of the better things that has happened to this industry.

Keep it up Anet

Because there weren’t any and the few that are available are useless till 75.

Nkuvu.2570:

Krosslite.1950:

so kill her to shut her up. That is what you are suppose to do in this game. Finish the DEs

Unfortunately many of these events are group events. For example, in Timberline Falls, with the Krait Witch in the middle of the lake — it can be difficult to find a group willing to do the content.

And that’s also assuming that I want to interrupt whatever it is that I’m currently working on (hearts, usually) to go half way across the map to finish some event. The range of the NPC speech is ridiculously large and repeated far too often.

I do simply turn off the dialogue volume, but it’s only a mediocre solution for a poor design.

How is it unfortunate? Are you incapable of forming a group?

uberkingkong.8041:

zones become empty it happens in all mmorpgs. The only zones that aren’t empty are the end game zones or starting zones, but those inbetween are empty because theres no reason why anyone should be there.

All mmo’ are like that.

since the “end-game” for PvE is the Living Stories and the Dynamic Events. the latter of which is in EVERY zone, thus the end-game is in every zone your statement makes no sense. Since this game is not like “other” mmos

HawkMeister.4758:

Krosslite.1950:

Sorry to break it to you but you bought into the anti-hype line and sinker

http://www.gamerzines.com/pc/arenanet-planning-fortnightly.html

“Anti-hype” wat .. that doesn´t even make sense.
But thanks anyway for pointing out that article.

Horrible news!

At least now I don´t have to get so aggravated at the constant content-murder.
I´ll just lean back and watch the car-wreck develop in slow-mo.
:(

Hype — extravagant or intensive publicity or promotion

Anti- — opposed to; against

Anti-hype — opposed to intensive publicity or promotion

so kill her to shut her up. That is what you are suppose to do in this game. Finish the DEs

I would do all the starter zones myself then work my way out.

I like the way you are doing things now….. but…..

I would like to see more open world content that is not a jumping puzzle or just some new place to go around and see NPCs doing nothing.

Maybe you could add a new Dynamic Event or modify ones that we already have to make them something people will be interested in going after.

You could use the current popular DEs as an example and place them in all the maps. this will make where people will be more spread out and have to make difficult choices on where they should head.

Make them struggle over going to Jungle Wurm or a new DE that is just as rewarding.

Devata.6589:

Krosslite.1950:

Devata.6589:

The point was just that to have a living story you are not required to take the stuff out again. Adding stuff with a story would still give you a living story.

Well they are now leaving some elements in. Like for example this time a permanent JP

True, the many people here complaining about it seem to help. But still. The achievements will scare completionist away because they will never ever be able to complete all achievements when they miss or have missed one and with the skins and stuff it’s just a waste that is is temporary. Maybe next year I make a new char that would totally be great with a skin from one of the past living story parts but then I (and other people) would not be able to get is anymore.

To me their system to get skins and achievements has been a learn as you go experience not only for the players but for Anet. Look for example Dragon Bash. Originally it was ten achievements then they lowered it to eight. Mainly I feel since they had at first made it where you had to bet on the Moa races to get all ten. People like myself made an issue out of this especially since there are people with a gambling problem and they were contributing to this illness by forcing folks to gamble to get all the achievements.
They changed it a week after DB started. So you can see that they are learning as they go. Just think of how fast things will change when they start pushing out new content every two weeks. Plus as they leave things in here and there the need for an expansion pack is reduced all due to Cash shop revenue.
Who knows they may just use this as a way to place new races into the game and it will only cost those that spend money in the gem shop, which I am one of.

SHM.7628:

I don’t think its simply a matter of the amount of drops. It’s how and where the drops are distributed too. The current system has you racing to kill as many mobs as possible in a zerg (with MF) to fight the RNG and/or chest hunting.

Why not distribute the loot more evenly through the champions who go untouched?

This statement I will agree with.
For example. How many reading this knows there is a Champ spider next to the hunting lodge in Queensdale?
I have never seen anyone even attempt to kill it. She just sits there day after day tending to her baby spiders. Yet day after day people swarm over in that area to kill the Wasp queen and the champ boar.
Spreading the loot out is a great idea, but then again it is like the DE system. People will have to be willing to try out these different champs and see if they are worth killing. I bet they won’t bother.

Devata.6589:

The point was just that to have a living story you are not required to take the stuff out again. Adding stuff with a story would still give you a living story.

Well they are now leaving some elements in. Like for example this time a permanent JP

killcannon.2576:

Krosslite.1950:

When statements like this are made:

“It seems all of this free content is only possible due to the ongoing popularity of the in-game gem store which Mike told us feeds new revenue into the studio at a “constant” rate, something which regular updates would inevitably increase as players return to the game regularly to sample newly added content. Essentially it seems those who use the store are essentially sponsoring those who don’t ensuring these new content updates remain free, and that’s a tough balance which very few online games get right.”

I feel confident in quoting

Considering that’s not a quote from a dev, I’m not sure what your point is there.

The “Mike told us” statement

When statements like this are made:

“It seems all of this free content is only possible due to the ongoing popularity of the in-game gem store which Mike told us feeds new revenue into the studio at a “constant” rate, something which regular updates would inevitably increase as players return to the game regularly to sample newly added content. Essentially it seems those who use the store are essentially sponsoring those who don’t ensuring these new content updates remain free, and that’s a tough balance which very few online games get right.”

I feel confident in quoting

HawkMeister.4758:

nehezbegar.1065:

It gives the world the sense of living, thats what ArenaNet claimed before they released the game, they want to make this game world living and breathing. Thats why They introduced the living story feature. .

Sorry to break it to you, but you bought that hype hook line and sinker.

Temporary content is a phenomenally bad idea in a MMO that´s supposedly taking itself seriously.
It works great in casual games, but GW2 is everything but.
It placates the bean-counters as they see numbers rise on introduction. And the quick buck these player numbers promise is all these types care about.

The ONLY thing that´s making a MMO live & breathe are the players, not some temporary ride in the Themepark.

Sorry to break it to you but you bought into the anti-hype line and sinker

http://www.gamerzines.com/pc/arenanet-planning-fortnightly.html

This is the PvE end-game for this game for the foreseeable future. Remember one of the things Anet stated is that this game is not going to be like other MMOs. So don’t try and mix apple with oranges in the future okay

Yenn.9185:

1. Maps are empty – After players have done their 100% completion, there’s virtually no reason to come back. It’s not like, “I just logged in, I feel like doing a dynamic event in Caledon forest” or “I should hop on my alt and do some hearts at Metrica Province.”

2. Gear Grind – Legendary was probably the worst idea in the game. For some this is their endgame. This is the sole reason why farming is very widespread right now. I wished Anet have added a real endgame in the very beginning.

Since DE were the orginal end-game. it is this very mentality you type here is why the maps are empty. it is the player fault not Anets. Their answer to this was to make “living stories”

Don’t blame Anet for people choosing dungeons over DEs

Fenrir.5493:

Krosslite.1950:

Fenrir.5493:

Warriors are terrible in pvp, this has nothing to do in pve

Taking that in account changes should be changed wisely but they can also do pvp only changes that will only affect pvp wvw etc.

Ahh… explains why I didn’t see a problem. I no longer PvP

I see, well, i can imagine why.

Nah I retired from PvP 2 MMOs ago

Most likely not.

But I would suggest adding that person to your block list so you know to never group with them again

I hate Steampunk

Not buying

OP
I guess you mean other then Steampunk

Fenrir.5493:

Warriors are terrible in pvp, this has nothing to do in pve

Taking that in account changes should be changed wisely but they can also do pvp only changes that will only affect pvp wvw etc.

Ahh… explains why I didn’t see a problem. I no longer PvP

Just for the record technically our home instance is our player house. well they implement more to make them useful remains to be seen

Didn’t notice they were broken myself and I have several of them

Hodor is a name of a character in Game of Thrones. All he ever says is “hodor”

killcannon.2576:

Krosslite.1950:

Nuage.5230:

Forgive my ignorance, but how is temporary content even a way to make money? The devs put int he work to release this awesome content, why take it away? I mean I see some things like events, invasions and all that stuff – but it seems so much effort is ut into content that is, as some termed it, thrown away.

It seems they could still put in work to give us permanent content, all while adding stuff to the gem shop and people will buy it.

More dungeons, lower level ones too. Anet makes a kitten fine game and a lot of this content is really awesome, don’t just trakitten. Again, much of this stuff is awesome and Anet could load up that gemstore with even more goodies and people will buy.

You have an establish game that was fully paid for when the game was launched and sold over 7 million copies. ($350,000,000 high end rough eestimate)
The game is run with an engine that is easy to update. This statement was made more then once in articles with the devs before launch.

You have a cash shop and you place items into that people use real money to buy them. Not everyone exchanged in game gold into gems. These are actually a minority. So you do the math and you can see that the Living Story model is making them a ton of cash.

lol, what? 7 million copies? Where did you get that data from?
You also have no data showing what percentage of people use gold to convert to gems as opposed to buying them with real world money.

Best check your sources. Seriously.

ok 3 million.. still you get my point though

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/rules

Nuage.5230:

Forgive my ignorance, but how is temporary content even a way to make money? The devs put int he work to release this awesome content, why take it away? I mean I see some things like events, invasions and all that stuff – but it seems so much effort is ut into content that is, as some termed it, thrown away.

It seems they could still put in work to give us permanent content, all while adding stuff to the gem shop and people will buy it.

More dungeons, lower level ones too. Anet makes a kitten fine game and a lot of this content is really awesome, don’t just trakitten. Again, much of this stuff is awesome and Anet could load up that gemstore with even more goodies and people will buy.

You have an establish game that was fully paid for when the game was launched and sold over 7 million copies. ($350,000,000 high end rough eestimate)
The game is run with an engine that is easy to update. This statement was made more then once in articles with the devs before launch.

You have a cash shop and you place items into that people use real money to buy them. Not everyone exchanged in game gold into gems. These are actually a minority. So you do the math and you can see that the Living Story model is making them a ton of cash.

theenigma.3597:

Krosslite.1950:

theenigma.3597:

Krosslite.1950:

The Living Stories is the new end-game since many ingnored the original end-game, Dynamic Events.
You have to remember Anet is a company. If a company isn’t profitable it closes.

Do you enjoy the game?

That is the real question that needs to be answered. If the answer is yes. Enjoy the ride

IF this is the “end game” then the game is in a sad state. In my opinion the PvP, mostly WvW is the only thign worth of an "end game’ title.

As to the do I enjoy the game question, I enjoy what it could be with some changes and some further worthwhile permanent content (Additional classes, weapon sets, utility, ect), with out those changes I am sorry but I don’t see any big reason to stay.

Well is it the PvE end-game.

As for the other items you listed those are expansion material.
If Anet holds form to how it did expansions with GW. Then we should see an expansion by the end of the year.
Remember this game is 10 months old while most MMOs don’t do expansion til a year and a half or later

One could easily argue that areas such as Southsun cove, Orr, and even Fractals and WvW are the designed end game, but the constant barrage of the “living story” is keeping players pulled away and doing other random things, to get achievements and limited time goodies.

While there is a lot of talk about a large block expansion I don’t believe I have seen any hints or posts from Anet employes stating that it is true or even in the pipe, if I am wrong on this please correct me and I will eat my words. But it still will not change my concerns or stance on temporary content.

Orr and South Sun were DE centered high level areas. Since you can go to any zone and have your level decreased is the main focus of having DEs the end-game as posted many times by the devs before the game was launched.

Since people for the most part ignored the DE system and would rather repeat time and again the dungeons. This resulted in more complaints as a result the Living Story system was established and so far is proving to be a wise business decision.

I too have heard nothing nor do I expect an expansion til the middle of next year. MAYBE!

This post originally started issues with the “temp content” but Colin made it clear in January that this is where the game is heading. This caused a stir and some they started to lock in some of the content.

Now one could argue that by slowly adding in permanent elements that the need for a true expansion is not needed or required. So this in itself will push back an need to actually make a full expansion.

All I have stated is what Anet has. The Living Story system in conjunction with the DE system IS the PvE end-game which includes Orr and South Sun and it appear the new jumping puzzle in LA that will stay in permanently once Dragon Bash is over.

people need to realize this and not go and get overly excited about it. This is why I ask the question.

Do you enjoy the game?

Because it all appearances this is going to be the status quo for the foreseeable future.

theenigma.3597:

Krosslite.1950:

The Living Stories is the new end-game since many ingnored the original end-game, Dynamic Events.
You have to remember Anet is a company. If a company isn’t profitable it closes.

Do you enjoy the game?

That is the real question that needs to be answered. If the answer is yes. Enjoy the ride

IF this is the “end game” then the game is in a sad state. In my opinion the PvP, mostly WvW is the only thign worth of an "end game’ title.

As to the do I enjoy the game question, I enjoy what it could be with some changes and some further worthwhile permanent content (Additional classes, weapon sets, utility, ect), with out those changes I am sorry but I don’t see any big reason to stay.

Well is it the PvE end-game.

As for the other items you listed those are expansion material.
If Anet holds form to how it did expansions with GW. Then we should see an expansion by the end of the year.
Remember this game is 10 months old while most MMOs don’t do expansion til a year and a half or later

The Living Stories is the new end-game since many ingnored the original end-game, Dynamic Events.
You have to remember Anet is a company. If a company isn’t profitable it closes.

Do you enjoy the game?

That is the real question that needs to be answered. If the answer is yes. Enjoy the ride

Ebonhawk has weapon skins (lvl 40)

LA in the fort has weapon skins (lvl 40)

Then you have the racial skins in each races cities. (start at lvl 35)

There is also renown heart NPC that have some weapons skins time to time. Just have to go looking or get the ones in the living story (various levels)

Last count I had 12… Why not have a warrior is what the name of this thread should be

Lordrosicky.5813:

Anet should release the source code for gw2.

Please.

please refer to https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/ for your answer

This is not a F2P this is a B2P

Why is this thread still getting attention.

Dwarves will get some play time most likely NPCs

Elves will never happen

nuff said stop posting… sheesh

Geotherma.2395:

Krosslite.1950:

hmmm… the first post of this was 10 hours ago at the time I am writing this.

hmmm… you do realize that there is coding that must be done to be able to add items to whatever method is decided and that take a few days to weeks depending on how good the engine is.

So this vote is basically a waste of time

i abstain.

You are assuming the coding hasn’t already been done. I’m assuming neither, but being optimistic and proactive.

I know where you are going with the statement, but to clarify.
I am assuming the coding is done or nearly down, just not implemented yet.
Also, has I pointed out elsewhere, I tend to be more of a realist.

Hamfast.8719:

Krosslite.1950:

LA is the central HUB of the game. that is why it gets all the holiday stuff. you are just going to have to get use to it

LA has (most) of the holiday stuff currently. Fine.

The pirates are not “holiday stuff”. There is no reason they couldn’t have located them in Bloodtide Coast or another suitable area.

We do not have to “get used to” everything. We have a suggestions forum to have a voice and possibly get things changed. We don’t like dungeons in major cities, so we are asking for a change in future policy. I refuse to take your defeatist “there’s nothing we can do” attitude since we are doing something.

it is more of a realist attitude

hmmm… the first post of this was 10 hours ago at the time I am writing this.

hmmm… you do realize that there is coding that must be done to be able to add items to whatever method is decided and that take a few days to weeks depending on how good the engine is.

So this vote is basically a waste of time

i abstain.

LA is the central HUB of the game. that is why it gets all the holiday stuff. you are just going to have to get use to it

I would like to see a new advertising campaign. not really to bring players back. those that left so long seeya later and you won ’t be missed.
I would rather them show the changes as tbhey stand now for new folkif old players return so much the betterI