Guild Wars 2

phys.7689:

Vayne.8563:

dace.8019:

There’s plenty of conflicting indicators but none of them are wholly reliable. Overlays like those mentioned in the OP are worth factoring into a wider estimation but on their own they are one of the worst examples of popularity or population, or any other state of the game you’re trying to estimate.

Why? The popularity of those overlays per game is the data supplied and trying to crowbar that into a rough estimate of population trends in those games is a fallacy.

In terms of surveyed customer revenues, GW2 scores highly in those particular league tables (when compared to F2P games such as Planetside 2, DOTA 2, etc., in which GW2 brings in about as much as those) which indicates a healthy state of game and is more representative of the games population than any data supplied by overlay popularity per game.

Edit: An example http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/mmo-arpu/

It’s, as I’ve said many times, useful for detecting trends…and relative strengths. Nothing more. It’s unlikely a game is going to be massively popular on those three programs I listed (as well as google trends and reddit) and not be a popular/successful program.

The link you gave backs up what I’ve said.

The difference is these sites track progress monthly and over time you can actually see less popular games fall of those charts. In other words, but observations of those sites seem to be an indicator of trends over the long term.

actually based on most of your info, its most likely FFXIV is doing a lot better than it seems.
FFXIV includes ps3, which is not likely to hit many of the things you are tracking. They also have a large japanese population, who likely dont use, or use different programs.
Neither JP nor PS3 users are likely to be as active in reddit as well. Just to be clear for ffxiv, JP and ps3 users are part of the same service and can interact with each other, and get the same content at the same time.

anyhow gw2 isnt dead, but it is not flourishing, and it is not living up to the potential of its game sales numbers. Retention is not high. FFXIV is competing with it, and i think their game sales are like 1/3rd of what gw2 has. Archage has no box sales, but the retention at this early stage is competing, i think their high number during opening week was 2 million accounts? (which is generally less actual people in F2p games)

point is not that gw2 is murdered, its that it isnt growing, its slowly declining, which is actually not normal for successful mmos at this stage of development.
FFXIV is expanding its audience, WoW expanded their audience at this time, and gained about 600k users in preparation for the next expansion.

Is gw2 on the chopping block? hardly. Is gw2 thriving? nope

I don’t know if it’s not thriving or if it is. And that may well depend on your personal definition of thriving.

As for a game available on computer and console…well yes, there are more console gamers out there than computer gamers….at least that’s what developers keep telling us. It’s why they don’t care as much about the computer games if they have a console game out. We see it again and again.

So if a console/computer game sells more than just a computer game, that doesn’t prove anything. If a game is less popular on the computer, it’s less popular on the computer…no matter what the console portion is doing.

We all know having games is more formats yields more sales. But since we can’t know how GW 2 would have done if it was out on a console it’s sort of a moot point.

I’m enjoying it too…and I always enjoy the Clocktower.

dace.8019:

There’s plenty of conflicting indicators but none of them are wholly reliable. Overlays like those mentioned in the OP are worth factoring into a wider estimation but on their own they are one of the worst examples of popularity or population, or any other state of the game you’re trying to estimate.

Why? The popularity of those overlays per game is the data supplied and trying to crowbar that into a rough estimate of population trends in those games is a fallacy.

In terms of surveyed customer revenues, GW2 scores highly in those particular league tables (when compared to F2P games such as Planetside 2, DOTA 2, etc., in which GW2 brings in about as much as those) which indicates a healthy state of game and is more representative of the games population than any data supplied by overlay popularity per game.

Edit: An example http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/mmo-arpu/

It’s, as I’ve said many times, useful for detecting trends…and relative strengths. Nothing more. It’s unlikely a game is going to be massively popular on those three programs I listed (as well as google trends and reddit) and not be a popular/successful program.

The link you gave backs up what I’ve said.

The difference is these sites track progress monthly and over time you can actually see less popular games fall of those charts. In other words, but observations of those sites seem to be an indicator of trends over the long term.

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

Trying to provide a hard core link between the following facts, however, does mean something.

1. Anet’s quarterly report (which shows the game is still profitable).
2. The Google search trend.
3. The Overwolf best games chart
4. The Xfire top games chart.
5. The Raptr top games chart.
6. The fact that there haven’t been any major layoffs at Anet, in spite of NcSoft reorganizing and laying off people from Wildstar. Hell, Anet is still hiring.
7. The game is getting updates. You may not like them, but they’re putting an awful lot of work into a game people say is dying.

It’s not one fact that paints a picture. It’s a combination of facts. One source saying the game is strong relative to other games means nothing. Three sources means only a bit more. The search trend adds to it. The lack of layoffs adds to that. The quarterly report. The hiring.

I’m not really sure what’s so hard to understand.

It’s people’s subjective my guild, my friend’s list, I don’t play the game anymore, and the fact that the game is obviously being played by someone.

Who’s playing it hardly makes a difference.

1, You can’t determine wether GW2 is profitable or not without knowing the expenses on the game during the five year development & after that. I’m not saying it is not , but stating it as a fact is simply not true.
2-5. Xfire and google trends shows a 90%(Xfire more than 95%) decrease in popularity and I didn’t check but most likely the other two too.
I have an opinion on 6-7 too, but that’s a different topic.

You can guess a game is profitable if a company reorganizes and lays off people in two areas around you but leaves you’re company alone. One can assume if the game wasn’t profitable, reorganization and layoffs would happen.

Unless your experience is otherwise.

KarlaGrey.5903:

Oh now we’re at reddit already?
Interesting.
Here I was, remembering so clearly how the forum populace is but a minuscule tiny fraction of the playerbase, and as such not representative in any kind of manner, although still trumping both xfire and and the other app’s figures, but hey!
Not only is the hypocrisy real, so is the comedy.

The forum population is a tiny percentage of the population. But in theory that’s true of all games. So if this game has a higher percentage of people on reddit and all games have roughly the same small number of people on the forums, then it indicates how many people are playing the game. It’s not really hard logic to follow.

Trying to make someone look bad doesn’t strengthen your argument at all. Insulting people doesn’t strengthen it.

If only 15% of people post on forums, that means 85% don’t. This is what I’ve said all along.

But it would still mean that a forum with more posters would probably indicate a game with more players.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Good Evening,

A couple of things.

1: The next phase of the CDI will be delayed until this weekend or Monday due lack of available time on my part.
2: whilst I am very much looking forward to the raid discussion and chatting with you all about it I do want to make it clear that this last CDI has been excellent, with maturity and collaboration throughout. So to be clear unnecessary comments about ‘True Gamers’, ‘Elitists’ and ‘Dress Up Players’ won’t be tolerated.

I just want to make this clear so we can all have a healthy discussion and design out a Raid System proposal that is born out of GW2’s core mechanics, personality and community passion.

Looking forward to having a great discussion with you all.

Chris

Thanks for this. I really can’t stand people judging other people as “real” gamers, or carebears because they prefer one aspect of games to others. It’s demeaning and unnecessary.

Glad to see it won’t be tolerated in the raiding thread.

KarlaGrey.5903:

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

Vayne.8563:

kins.3294:

Do people still use those BS things?

Obviously some people do. There are over 7 million people registered with Overwolf.

Registered =/= active, or using it on a relatively regular basis.

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

^Inorite.
I guess both vayne and his employer (winkwink) must be testing new grounds over at the comedy show scene.

Also, the whole business plan of GW2 he mentioned must indeed be quite a success overall, especially in its most recent manifestation which, having united the typically divided communty and allow it to act in unison against a largely unethical business decision, hands down successfully achieved something that no one else could even dream of so far.

In that sense it is indeed a pretty good company, a splendid one even, so I’m giving it a sound thumbs-up and a strong kiu!

Totally off topic of course, but since you lost the argument, you might as well try to obfuscate.

Oh right, those Google metrics you provided absolutely shattered my ‘doom and gloom’, kinda like Anet’s sound business decisions so far strongly improved retention and boosted them new-player figures, rite.

Nice comedy-fantasy thread, nevertheless!

But reasonable people who don’t have an agenda will see it for what it is. No one is trying to convince you of anything. Anyone can see from your post history (as they can see from mine) exactly what you’re about.

Easy enough to make up their own minds. A reasonable person will see the mass amount of evidence, circumstantial though it is, as opposed to the non-evidence provided by people who want the game to fail because they don’t like it.

Let me know when layoffs start then we’ll talk. Until then, you really have nothing to support your arguments.

I am firmly convinced that any reasonable person will be able to see that anecdotal evidence for what it is. Ok, except perhaps this mythical breed of new players under Anet deefinition, which fortunately will be too confused to find this thread anyway.

Yes the number of people on reddit at any time for specific games is definitely anecdotal. /sarcasm

kins.3294:

Vayne.8563:

kins.3294:

Vayne.8563:

Fernling.1729:

The google trends does show that ff14 is searched more often than gw2. Over the last year, gw2 hasn’t surpassed ff14 a single time. We are also forgetting about runescape, which is trending much higher than gw2. We will have to see how archeage will hold up, since release it’s been higher, which is to be expected. I have a feeling it will hold up though. Gw2 one month after launch had a 38 and archeage one month after has a 37.

From those mmorpgs and WoW, that puts gw2 at #4, with a potential #5 depending on what happens with archeage.
I’m pretty sure I’ve said this exact same thing before. Lol

Well even if it’s #4 (keeping mind no one is near WoW at all), what’s the difference. Archeage won’t affect Guild Wars 2 numbers long term, of that I’m sure. It’s a completely different type of game. The kind of players attracted to this game, many of them anyway, would never even look at Archeage.

However, #4 or 5 is still a long long way off from being dead, or doing badly…and it’s #4 by a tiny tiny margin, not a great big huge one. It’s a very very small discrepancy any way you look at it.

Even in the other forms of polls, Guild Wars 2 isn’t far off Final Fantasy. It’s just a statement that the game is doing far better than people are giving it credit for. That’s the point.

Relatively speaking, it’s healthy…or no MMORPG is healthy except WoW. Those are really the options.

Either the entire industry is dead (and with no layoffs and profits every quarter I don’t see how this game is dead), or it’s not.

Guild Wars 2 is successful within the space of the industry…unless WoW is the only successful MMO. And I don’t think most people believe that.

That is because ArchAge is actually even worse than GW2, it’s really sad that GW2 is successful because it is the least junky mmo at the moment lol

Guild Wars 2 certainly has it’s flaws. No question about it. But then, if ESO came out, and Wildstar came out and Archeage came out, and they’re all newer and Guild Wars 2 is less junkie than any of them, maybe that’s because it’s easy to say how to make a good MMO, but much harder to actually make one.

So many MMOs come out, and out of them, Guild Wars 2 is one of the most successful. Which doesn’t equal dying to me.

And you can’t deny people like it, because people have said on these forums they like it…even love it. There are many posts and none of them are by me. I don’t make posts like that and hardly respond to them.

But they’re out there.

I don’t know why people have so much trouble believe that other people can love a game they don’t like.

Eso stinks, ArchAge has been taken over by Trion so that one is pretty much done as well.

Wildstar…. I played it and to be honest, it stunk a lot more than GW2.

None of the games came even close to what they said they would deliver. GW2 at least has the no sub going for it.

There are plenty of people still enjoying the game. You can bury your head in the sand if you want, but even if Archeage delivered everything they said it would (and it hasn’t), I doubt many of the PvE’ers in this game could have dealt with it.

Fernling.1729:

I wasn’t trying to say gw2 is dead or dying. I just thought the thread was about the tracking of its popularity.

Gw2 is so very far from dying. Especially in a world where very few mmos ever actually get shut down. I would just shove the quarterly reports down peoples throats that believe the game is dying
I haven’t had many issues playing with people since the release of the megaserver. People are all over the place.

This thread is in response to stuff said in other threads..but it would have been off topic. I made it to show Guild Wars 2 is among the most popular MMORPGs right now, other than WoW.

It’s definitely a contender for #2. Look at the reddit post I made. And you know, that’s so far from what a lot of people are saying.

Maybe you don’t read or see those posts, but there are a handful of people trying to say the game will be dead in a year. There’s a post on the first page saying so is everyone else leaving. This post is the except to the rule, not the rule.

Those other posts are far more common. Someone needs to set the record straight.

kins.3294:

Vayne.8563:

Fernling.1729:

The google trends does show that ff14 is searched more often than gw2. Over the last year, gw2 hasn’t surpassed ff14 a single time. We are also forgetting about runescape, which is trending much higher than gw2. We will have to see how archeage will hold up, since release it’s been higher, which is to be expected. I have a feeling it will hold up though. Gw2 one month after launch had a 38 and archeage one month after has a 37.

From those mmorpgs and WoW, that puts gw2 at #4, with a potential #5 depending on what happens with archeage.
I’m pretty sure I’ve said this exact same thing before. Lol

Well even if it’s #4 (keeping mind no one is near WoW at all), what’s the difference. Archeage won’t affect Guild Wars 2 numbers long term, of that I’m sure. It’s a completely different type of game. The kind of players attracted to this game, many of them anyway, would never even look at Archeage.

However, #4 or 5 is still a long long way off from being dead, or doing badly…and it’s #4 by a tiny tiny margin, not a great big huge one. It’s a very very small discrepancy any way you look at it.

Even in the other forms of polls, Guild Wars 2 isn’t far off Final Fantasy. It’s just a statement that the game is doing far better than people are giving it credit for. That’s the point.

Relatively speaking, it’s healthy…or no MMORPG is healthy except WoW. Those are really the options.

Either the entire industry is dead (and with no layoffs and profits every quarter I don’t see how this game is dead), or it’s not.

Guild Wars 2 is successful within the space of the industry…unless WoW is the only successful MMO. And I don’t think most people believe that.

That is because ArchAge is actually even worse than GW2, it’s really sad that GW2 is successful because it is the least junky mmo at the moment lol

Guild Wars 2 certainly has it’s flaws. No question about it. But then, if ESO came out, and Wildstar came out and Archeage came out, and they’re all newer and Guild Wars 2 is less junkie than any of them, maybe that’s because it’s easy to say how to make a good MMO, but much harder to actually make one.

So many MMOs come out, and out of them, Guild Wars 2 is one of the most successful. Which doesn’t equal dying to me.

And you can’t deny people like it, because people have said on these forums they like it…even love it. There are many posts and none of them are by me. I don’t make posts like that and hardly respond to them.

But they’re out there.

I don’t know why people have so much trouble believe that other people can love a game they don’t like.

Let’s look at some reddit numbers. There are currently almost the same number of people on the Guild Wars 2 reddit as the Archeage Reddit.

This is from just a few minutes ago, obviously numbers online will change. I polled the following games: Guild Wars 2, SWToR, Archeage, and Final fantasy. Of those games:

Guild Wars 2 Members – 97083 Members online 583
SWToR…Members 36651…. members online 130
Final Fantasy…members 50487….members online 512
Archeage…members 28430…members online 544

Guild Wars 2 has more members online than Archeage (and far more members) and you know, Archeage is relatively new. It has more online than Final Fantasy.

Or are you going to tell me Reddit doesn’t mean anything either.

Everywhere you look, Guild Wars 2 is up there with the most popular MMOs except WOW. Everywhere.

Some people just don’t want to see the truth.

KarlaGrey.5903:

Vayne.8563:

kins.3294:

Do people still use those BS things?

Obviously some people do. There are over 7 million people registered with Overwolf.

Registered =/= active, or using it on a relatively regular basis.

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

^Inorite.
I guess both vayne and his employer (winkwink) must be testing new grounds over at the comedy show scene.

Also, the whole business plan of GW2 he mentioned must indeed be quite a success overall, especially in its most recent manifestation which, having united the typically divided communty and allow it to act in unison against a largely unethical business decision, hands down successfully achieved something that no one else could even dream of so far.

In that sense it is indeed a pretty good company, a splendid one even, so I’m giving it a sound thumbs-up and a strong kiu!

Totally off topic of course, but since you lost the argument, you might as well try to obfuscate.

Oh right, those Google metrics you provided absolutely shattered my ‘doom and gloom’, kinda like Anet’s sound business decisions so far strongly improved retention and boosted them new-player figures, rite.

Nice comedy-fantasy thread, nevertheless!

But reasonable people who don’t have an agenda will see it for what it is. No one is trying to convince you of anything. Anyone can see from your post history (as they can see from mine) exactly what you’re about.

Easy enough to make up their own minds. A reasonable person will see the mass amount of evidence, circumstantial though it is, as opposed to the non-evidence provided by people who want the game to fail because they don’t like it.

Let me know when layoffs start then we’ll talk. Until then, you really have nothing to support your arguments.

Fernling.1729:

The google trends does show that ff14 is searched more often than gw2. Over the last year, gw2 hasn’t surpassed ff14 a single time. We are also forgetting about runescape, which is trending much higher than gw2. We will have to see how archeage will hold up, since release it’s been higher, which is to be expected. I have a feeling it will hold up though. Gw2 one month after launch had a 38 and archeage one month after has a 37.

From those mmorpgs and WoW, that puts gw2 at #4, with a potential #5 depending on what happens with archeage.
I’m pretty sure I’ve said this exact same thing before. Lol

Well even if it’s #4 (keeping mind no one is near WoW at all), what’s the difference. Archeage won’t affect Guild Wars 2 numbers long term, of that I’m sure. It’s a completely different type of game. The kind of players attracted to this game, many of them anyway, would never even look at Archeage.

However, #4 or 5 is still a long long way off from being dead, or doing badly…and it’s #4 by a tiny tiny margin, not a great big huge one. It’s a very very small discrepancy any way you look at it.

Even in the other forms of polls, Guild Wars 2 isn’t far off Final Fantasy. It’s just a statement that the game is doing far better than people are giving it credit for. That’s the point.

Relatively speaking, it’s healthy…or no MMORPG is healthy except WoW. Those are really the options.

Either the entire industry is dead (and with no layoffs and profits every quarter I don’t see how this game is dead), or it’s not.

Guild Wars 2 is successful within the space of the industry…unless WoW is the only successful MMO. And I don’t think most people believe that.

Ragnarox.9601:

Well those who are in game are always farming 99% of them for their legendary like me.

If there were no legendaries game would die in 3 months.

Legendary farming is an end game and thats it.

Why do people think everyone is like them. I have a guild full of people who have been playing quite a long time and most of them have no interest in legendaries at all.

Maybe it’s not as cut and dried as you think.

kins.3294:

Do people still use those BS things?

Obviously some people do. There are over 7 million people registered with Overwolf.

kins.3294:

Vayne.8563:

OP, avoiding all the conflict (for once), I really do hope you get your Dusk back. Everyone makes mistakes. This is a game.

People don’t need to be penalized for their mistakes.

Ye, people shouldn’t get punished for their mistakes! Pulling triggers on accident is also a mistake, guess they shouldn’t be punished. People transfer peoples pension funds to their own bank account on accident, shouldn’t be punished.

You need to draw the line somewhere otherwise the world would become even more chaotic.

Disingenuous response is disingenuous. I quantified it by saying this was a GAME. No one was hurt by the OP’s mistake. No one got hit by a bullet. Seriously, you just disagree with me, because you don’t like what I’ve said in other threads.

People buy games to relax and be entertained. This kind of mistake can happen. Making someone pay for it isn’t likely to accomplish anything positive. It’s not like there’s a need to rehabilitate here.

Anyway, from my experience, the people who say loudest that other people need to pay for their mistakes are often the people who are the first to cry foul when they make a mistake themselves.

Beldin.5498:

Btw :
http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/23/7050545/wildstar-carbine-studios-layoffs

According to the statement, there were “staff reductions” across all of NCSoft’s western branches except for Guild Wars developer ArenaNet.

Please don’t respond with facts. People who are predicting doom and gloom don’t want to hear anything about facts.

moiraine.2753:

Vayne.8563:

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

moiraine.2753:

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

Don’t know Raptr,
don’t know xfire,
but game’s going down,
that much, I know.

But you have no evidence at all for it. Anyone can say things and provide no evidence. It’s quite easy.

I have evidence.I’m not playing from a week,my RL friends are not playing from even longer,my in game friends are not playing from months.I’m not considering to return at all if the gme keeps going in the direction that Anet currently wants.I can bet that a lot of people are in the same situation as me.
I only look at the forums forumsto see has something been changed.Noone that i know of is not even logging anymore to get the free LS updates.

Okay so it’s your word against Google Trends. I guess we can all decide who we believe.

Yeah, I have no more questions
http://goo.gl/ge2wea
Edited link

’’It’s pretty good company’’. Relatively speaking, for a two year old game, this game is a success.

It’s too bad people don’t really get the whole business plan of games.

I used to work in the publishing industry and books are the same way. It doesn’t mean a book that doesn’t do as well as a new book, or the second most popular book isn’t doing well, just because interest is less two years after its been published.

Your comment shows a lack of understanding of the entertainment industry.

Anet is everything else but not a good company when they can’t deliver enough content or features.How long took them to make only 1 new WvW map or the LFG tool or new dungeon?When i compare GW2 (content,features,realeasing time) to GW1.Well The 1st game is just miles ahead.Yes GW2 has some better things.But that is something expected from a newer game.What is NOT expected nor tolerated is Anet’s fixes of things that are not broken to begin with.Or things that other MMOs already found that they are working great and Anet just refuuses to add them in GW2.For example these two:
http://media.mmochampion.com/images/news/2010/november/markers2.jpg
http://media-curse.cursecdn.com/attachments/84/260/scanner-zoom.png

I’m not sure how a good company has anything to do with a game’s success. Most people say EA isn’t a good company but they have had successful games. One thing has nothing to do with another.

Also the criteria you’re judging whether a company is good or not on isn’t fact. It’s arbitrary criteria. I could easily argue the point, except I’m not doing it here, because it has nothing to do with anything I’ve said.

KarlaGrey.5903:

^Inorite.
I guess both vayne and his employer (winkwink) must be testing new grounds over at the comedy show scene.

Also, the whole business plan of GW2 he mentioned must indeed be quite a success overall, especially in its most recent manifestation which, having united the typically divided communty and allow it to act in unison against a largely unethical business decision, hands down successfully achieved something that no one else could even dream of so far.

In that sense it is indeed a pretty good company, a splendid one even, so I’m giving it a sound thumbs-up and a strong kiu!

Totally off topic of course, but since you lost the argument, you might as well try to obfuscate.

NewTrain.7549:

Trying to claim that there is a hard correlation between google search terms and game purchases is ludicrous. A very loose correlation surely exists, but trying to prove the health of a game by analyzing how many times that game’s title is typed into google is a fool’s errand.

Trying to provide a hard core link between the following facts, however, does mean something.

1. Anet’s quarterly report (which shows the game is still profitable).
2. The Google search trend.
3. The Overwolf best games chart
4. The Xfire top games chart.
5. The Raptr top games chart.
6. The fact that there haven’t been any major layoffs at Anet, in spite of NcSoft reorganizing and laying off people from Wildstar. Hell, Anet is still hiring.
7. The game is getting updates. You may not like them, but they’re putting an awful lot of work into a game people say is dying.

It’s not one fact that paints a picture. It’s a combination of facts. One source saying the game is strong relative to other games means nothing. Three sources means only a bit more. The search trend adds to it. The lack of layoffs adds to that. The quarterly report. The hiring.

I’m not really sure what’s so hard to understand.

It’s people’s subjective my guild, my friend’s list, I don’t play the game anymore, and the fact that the game is obviously being played by someone.

Who’s playing it hardly makes a difference.

I think there’s something wrong with the Labyrinth and mega servers. Today I was in the Labyrinth with my guild. Other guildies were in other maps. They were all full. But then people started getting into empty maps as well.

We had at least four full maps going and it was pretty late in the US evening (though I didn’t take note of the exact time).

OP, avoiding all the conflict (for once), I really do hope you get your Dusk back. Everyone makes mistakes. This is a game.

People don’t need to be penalized for their mistakes.

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

moiraine.2753:

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

Don’t know Raptr,
don’t know xfire,
but game’s going down,
that much, I know.

But you have no evidence at all for it. Anyone can say things and provide no evidence. It’s quite easy.

I have evidence.I’m not playing from a week,my RL friends are not playing from even longer,my in game friends are not playing from months.I’m not considering to return at all if the gme keeps going in the direction that Anet currently wants.I can bet that a lot of people are in the same situation as me.
I only look at the forums forumsto see has something been changed.Noone that i know of is not even logging anymore to get the free LS updates.

Okay so it’s your word against Google Trends. I guess we can all decide who we believe.

Yeah, I have no more questions
http://goo.gl/ge2wea
Edited link

You shouldn’t have any questions. The first people interested in a game, buy the game when it comes out. After that, the searches slow considerably as with all games.

But relative to other MMOs, which is what we’re talking about, the only MMORPG that gets more searches than Guild Wars 2 consistently is WoW. And I don’t know that anyone ever claimed Guild Wars 2 was as successful as WoW. WoW was there at the right place and time.

And out of all the other MMOs, only a couple of them really get hits. SWToR, which is of course Star Wars and it’s backed by EA. FFXIV, which is of course Final Fantasy which is not only a popular Franchise, but it’s also on console…and Guild Wars 2.

It’s pretty good company. Relatively speaking, for a two year old game, this game is a success.

It’s too bad people don’t really get the whole business plan of games.

I used to work in the publishing industry and books are the same way. It doesn’t mean a book that doesn’t do as well as a new book, or the second most popular book isn’t doing well, just because interest is less two years after its been published.

Your comment shows a lack of understanding of the entertainment industry.

Kartel.2561:

Putting aside the idea of biased samples and how representative they are ..It should be noted that just because people get on frequently doesn’t mean they are truly and completely satisfied with how things are. A lot of us keep on playing (perhaps not as much as we used to) because we’ve had trouble finding anything better. Being the best part of a poor sample doesn’t make something amazing, especially if it’s highly arguable how “best” it even is.

“Numbers” can only tell you so much. Ultimately if you care to know what your players think about things you need to ask them. And when you don’t, the players who can be bothered will give you their option anyway. But that at least tells you something. Just pointing and saying “look, numbers exist!” (as if anyone thought they didn’t) doesn’t really say much. Also, didn’t those xfire, etc numbers used to be much higher?

Right but that’s true of all MMORPGs. People play them and complain. All of them. Even WoW, which is the most successful by far.

So what does that even mean.

TSW, SWToR, Wildstar all have layoffs. ESO doesn’t meet expectations and so they delay the console version.

It’s a relative thing. People are playing this game, satisfied or not, and they’re not playing other games.

That means relatively speaking this game is more successful than them. It’s easy to complain.

wasted.6817:

Google trends or not, the simple fact right now is that game never felt that empty. Day after start of Halloween, 10 ppl doing Mad King says, dead chat and ~2 not full maps farming Lab at evening. This is new and imo, no matter how you look at it, it’s not a good sign.

Not two full maps? lmao

We had five guildies on five maps all farming it, none two together…and the reason they were on those maps is because when we tried to get in together they were full.

I’m thinking you need to refine your definition of fact.

moiraine.2753:

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

Don’t know Raptr,
don’t know xfire,
but game’s going down,
that much, I know.

But you have no evidence at all for it. Anyone can say things and provide no evidence. It’s quite easy.

I have evidence.I’m not playing from a week,my RL friends are not playing from even longer,my in game friends are not playing from months.I’m not considering to return at all if the gme keeps going in the direction that Anet currently wants.I can bet that a lot of people are in the same situation as me.
I only look at the forums forumsto see has something been changed.Noone that i know of is not even logging anymore to get the free LS updates.

Okay so it’s your word against Google Trends. I guess we can all decide who we believe.

Ok I Did It.2854:

Vayne.8563:

KarlaGrey.5903:

Don’t know Raptr,
don’t know xfire,
but game’s going down,
that much, I know.

But you have no evidence at all for it. Anyone can say things and provide no evidence. It’s quite easy.

You cant prove that its not going down, your using links to programs that a lot of people do not use, none of my gaming friends whom play GW2 use any of the programs you mentioned.

Fact is, the only person/company/program that can truly tell us what the numbers all belong to Anet, and unless they want to tell us those numbers its a guessing game, and with the guessing game it brings 2 types of people, those who think the game is doing great like yourself, and people who think the game isn’t doing so great, and topics like this cause friction that isn’t needed.

But it’s one one program. It’s three different programs. And I’m pretty sure no one uses all three of them. And then there’s this from people searching for games from Google Trends… or are you suggesting that no one uses google?

http://tinyurl.com/ovr6scq

MFoy.3284:

Thanks for the links Vayne. It’s always of interest to see the bigger picture even when the data is not the entire player base.

From my experience maps are getting empty and slow again. At least in Cursed Shore.

I’m starting to think folks are really really tired of running the same events all the time.

It’s because lots of people are farming the labyrinth at the moment. And people are taking breaks because you know, there wasn’t new content.

But how long has it been empty for.

Some people played the WvW tournament hard core and took a week or two off. It happens. And in this game you can.

I’ve been in the Labyrinth and even though some of those servers are empty, you consistently get ferries to other servers that have plenty of people…and it’s not the same servers. That’s where your farmers went.

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

I’m sure in 1 year from today Guild Wars 1 will be about where it is now. For every person who leaves, another person joins. For many of those people it’s their first MMO and they won’t move on.

It’s likely there are as many new players as long time vets right now. So I don’t know why anyone would think it’s not going to be fine. It’ll just be fine without some of us.

If you mean GW2, I find that statement highly unlikely. For every person leaves another joins is simply not true. Proof is on Xfire, in the first months GW2 had 17k unique logins, ~ 1 year ago the number of unique logins was 4k, now on the first day of halloween its 440. Even if we count with the data we have from 1 year ago means the active playerbase ~90% stopped playing

No one is talking about the first months. Do you realize 90% of everyone who’s ever played WOW doesn’t play WoW anymore?

We’re talking about sustained figures, not peak figures. That happens with all games.

The game is making millions of dollars a month. That’s a lot of money. It’s enough money to keep the game going for a long time. It’s just launched in China so the figures will go up, not down.

No one, and I mean no one, not Anet, not NcSoft and not me thought a 2 year old MMO will have the same playerbase as launch month. That’s not even close to reasonable.

The game has enough players and enough money to continue indefinitely…and it will. It’s not going to be a mega huge blockbuster and I never claimed it was. I claimed enough people like this sort of thing and have no real alternative to keep this game going for a long long time. And if you don’t believe it, have the bottle to come back in a year and then talk to me.

I’m sorry, but I didn’t talk about the first months I was talking about ~ year ago, otherwise your argument would be relevant.

On the GW2 is still making money thing , we saw decrease in revenue in Q2 from Q1 even with the launch of china. Also you saw this week’s gem conversion change, looks pretty desperate to me, and I’m pretty sure they knew what’s going to be the players reaction. Also you might know how much does GW2 make every month, but do you also know the expenses? Without that it’s hard to tell “GW2 is financially a succes”.

Also noone is doubting wether GW2 will be here 1 year from now , but some people got tired they get as much content in GW2 as they got in GW1 while they were working on GW2. The question here is wether GW2 is making enough money to take the development forward, not backwards.

You didn’t see a decrease with the launch in China. China sales aren’t listed under the Guild Wars 2 figures they’re listed under royalties.

My bad. Still, Q2 had the biggest update of the year so far and we saw a decrease without china, and all my other point stands.

Let’s be logical. You saw a decrease in a quarter that saw the launch of both Wildstar and ESO and you’re thinking that’s a big deal? Really?

The game was down 10% from the previous quarter. It’s nothing…when you take into account the fact that two games some people were waiting for launched.

The real test will be not even this next quarter, but the quarter after.

At any rate, its’ all meaningless. 10% drop and an influx from China is still successful period.

It’s not doom and gloom, because even though 60 people got laid off from Wildstar, Anet didn’t lose a single person. Why would NcSoft restructure, layoff people from NcSoft West and Wildstar, but not touch Anet…unless the game was performing to expectation?

raiden.9024:

Belzebu.3912:

raiden.9024:

it was meant to be in at launch but was pull as it “wasn’t ready”

From where did you get that?

I take it u weren’t here for the beta’s ? it was meant to be added in for launch but never was.

I was here for the betas. I moderated a fan forum before the first beta. My guild was already building before the first beta.

I never heard the Crystal Desert was supposed to be in the game at launch. No idea what gave you that idea.

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

I’m sure in 1 year from today Guild Wars 1 will be about where it is now. For every person who leaves, another person joins. For many of those people it’s their first MMO and they won’t move on.

It’s likely there are as many new players as long time vets right now. So I don’t know why anyone would think it’s not going to be fine. It’ll just be fine without some of us.

If you mean GW2, I find that statement highly unlikely. For every person leaves another joins is simply not true. Proof is on Xfire, in the first months GW2 had 17k unique logins, ~ 1 year ago the number of unique logins was 4k, now on the first day of halloween its 440. Even if we count with the data we have from 1 year ago means the active playerbase ~90% stopped playing

No one is talking about the first months. Do you realize 90% of everyone who’s ever played WOW doesn’t play WoW anymore?

We’re talking about sustained figures, not peak figures. That happens with all games.

The game is making millions of dollars a month. That’s a lot of money. It’s enough money to keep the game going for a long time. It’s just launched in China so the figures will go up, not down.

No one, and I mean no one, not Anet, not NcSoft and not me thought a 2 year old MMO will have the same playerbase as launch month. That’s not even close to reasonable.

The game has enough players and enough money to continue indefinitely…and it will. It’s not going to be a mega huge blockbuster and I never claimed it was. I claimed enough people like this sort of thing and have no real alternative to keep this game going for a long long time. And if you don’t believe it, have the bottle to come back in a year and then talk to me.

I’m sorry, but I didn’t talk about the first months I was talking about ~ year ago, otherwise your argument would be relevant.

On the GW2 is still making money thing , we saw decrease in revenue in Q2 from Q1 even with the launch of china. Also you saw this week’s gem conversion change, looks pretty desperate to me, and I’m pretty sure they knew what’s going to be the players reaction. Also you might know how much does GW2 make every month, but do you also know the expenses? Without that it’s hard to tell “GW2 is financially a succes”.

Also noone is doubting wether GW2 will be here 1 year from now , but some people got tired they get as much content in GW2 as they got in GW1 while they were working on GW2. The question here is wether GW2 is making enough money to take the development forward, not backwards.

You didn’t see a decrease with the launch in China. China sales aren’t listed under the Guild Wars 2 figures they’re listed under royalties.

As I said, Guild Wars 2 would move up on Xfire after Halloween hit. Guild Wars 2 is currently 9. The only MMORPG above it (at least on Xfire) is World of Warcraft, which you’d have to expect.

KarlaGrey.5903:

Don’t know Raptr,
don’t know xfire,
but game’s going down,
that much, I know.

But you have no evidence at all for it. Anyone can say things and provide no evidence. It’s quite easy.

phys.7689:

overwolf and anet entered a partnership recently, gw2 officially promoted their add ons.

Figures were high though long before they entered a partnership and it was promoted. I’ve been following it since before that.

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

I’m sure in 1 year from today Guild Wars 1 will be about where it is now. For every person who leaves, another person joins. For many of those people it’s their first MMO and they won’t move on.

It’s likely there are as many new players as long time vets right now. So I don’t know why anyone would think it’s not going to be fine. It’ll just be fine without some of us.

If you mean GW2, I find that statement highly unlikely. For every person leaves another joins is simply not true. Proof is on Xfire, in the first months GW2 had 17k unique logins, ~ 1 year ago the number of unique logins was 4k, now on the first day of halloween its 440. Even if we count with the data we have from 1 year ago means the active playerbase ~90% stopped playing

No one is talking about the first months. Do you realize 90% of everyone who’s ever played WOW doesn’t play WoW anymore?

We’re talking about sustained figures, not peak figures. That happens with all games.

The game is making millions of dollars a month. That’s a lot of money. It’s enough money to keep the game going for a long time. It’s just launched in China so the figures will go up, not down.

No one, and I mean no one, not Anet, not NcSoft and not me thought a 2 year old MMO will have the same playerbase as launch month. That’s not even close to reasonable.

The game has enough players and enough money to continue indefinitely…and it will. It’s not going to be a mega huge blockbuster and I never claimed it was. I claimed enough people like this sort of thing and have no real alternative to keep this game going for a long long time. And if you don’t believe it, have the bottle to come back in a year and then talk to me.

kins.3294:

Vayne.8563:

kins.3294:

Vayne.8563:

kins.3294:

Vayne.8563:

kins.3294:

GW2 will be in the discount bin…. Oh wait! It already is! in that case it will be ran be populated by the few remaining white knights who like to be abused by a game company

Yes, it’s populated by no one now. No one is playing this game. No one every complains about lag at events. The funniest bit about comments like this is how transparent they are.

I don’t like the game so no one plays it. This is simply incorrect.

I think you forgot that we are talking about the future…. That’s ok reading is hard.

I didn’t forget anything. But since people are playing and enjoying it and it’s not particularly losing people, saying that only white knights will be populating it is like extrapolating something from nothing.

Even saying it’s in the bargain bin isn’t really true, since it goes on sale and then it’s full price again, just like every other item that goes on sale. I was in EB games last week and it was full price.

But you know, never let the truth hurt someone trying to insult something he doesn’t like.

I was at the gamezone the other day and it was 19,99. Now I do not know much but I do not think that is full price since i paid a lot more for it.

And yes the white knights who love and defend the game will be all that is left after everyone has moved on to other games, thinking this is not true just means that you are one of them.

So do not let the truth hurt your mind too much.

Right because it’s not one of the most popular MMORPGs on the market. lmao

Long after all the other pretenders have shed the bulk of their player base, Guild Wars 2 will still be going strong. I hope you have the brass to come back in a year and see if you were wrong or right.

It’s so easy to make a prediction you can’t back up with no basis in anything but your own dislike. It’s much harder to stand by it long term.

Ncsoft’s flagship MMO Guild Wars 2 showed a decline in sales and revenue, making ?34 billion ($32 million) in Q4, 2013. That’s down from ?119 billion ($112 million) in the prior year’s quarter, when the game launched – a clear reflection of its subscription-free model. However, with the title still to launch in Asian territories, traditionally NCsoft’s strongest market, those numbers are expected to climb again soon.

Pretty obvious that the market is getting saturated (that means lesser inflow), with people getting bored of the game because of lackluster updates(WvW for me and many others) people will leave, because of the reduced inflow and increased outflow the population will drop, because the population drops other people will leave because they feel that the game is empty creating more outflow against an even more reduced inflow.

Can you still follow it? or should i write it up even more simplistic?

If you take WvW as a preview of the outflow then the game will be dead in a year.

You’re underestimating the number of casuals, new players and people who take breaks and come back. You also clearly have little idea of how business plans work.

Guild Wars 2 is performing at expectation not below it. The sign of that is no lay offs. Every single big business has a business plan they follow. They EXPECT falloff. They make plans based on it. Saying a game makes less money a year after launch is a no brainer. But it still makes millions of dollars a month. That’s not hay.

Clearly you think that it makes millions of dollars because no one plays it. Again, not the case. Do you really think if you and I leave this game it’ll make a difference to the bottom line. What about 10% of the population? 20%?

Do you know how many people buy the game or come back? Do you know how many people will play the game and buy stuff in China?

The game is fine. That it made less money year two than year one is only relevant if it didn’t meet expectations laid out in the business plan.

You can try to talk down to me and talk about making things simple…but business isn’t that simple. If you knew that you wouldn’t say half of what you’ve said.

I certainly think you should leave if you’re not having fun playing a game. I’m sure a lot of people feel that way. I’m sure a lot of people don’t.

What I don’t understand is why people are so insecure they can’t just make up their own minds about whether a game is fun or not.

kins.3294:

Vayne.8563:

kins.3294:

Vayne.8563:

kins.3294:

GW2 will be in the discount bin…. Oh wait! It already is! in that case it will be ran be populated by the few remaining white knights who like to be abused by a game company

Yes, it’s populated by no one now. No one is playing this game. No one every complains about lag at events. The funniest bit about comments like this is how transparent they are.

I don’t like the game so no one plays it. This is simply incorrect.

I think you forgot that we are talking about the future…. That’s ok reading is hard.

I didn’t forget anything. But since people are playing and enjoying it and it’s not particularly losing people, saying that only white knights will be populating it is like extrapolating something from nothing.

Even saying it’s in the bargain bin isn’t really true, since it goes on sale and then it’s full price again, just like every other item that goes on sale. I was in EB games last week and it was full price.

But you know, never let the truth hurt someone trying to insult something he doesn’t like.

I was at the gamezone the other day and it was 19,99. Now I do not know much but I do not think that is full price since i paid a lot more for it.

And yes the white knights who love and defend the game will be all that is left after everyone has moved on to other games, thinking this is not true just means that you are one of them.

So do not let the truth hurt your mind too much.

Right because it’s not one of the most popular MMORPGs on the market. lmao

Long after all the other pretenders have shed the bulk of their player base, Guild Wars 2 will still be going strong. I hope you have the brass to come back in a year and see if you were wrong or right.

It’s so easy to make a prediction you can’t back up with no basis in anything but your own dislike. It’s much harder to stand by it long term.

kins.3294:

Vayne.8563:

kins.3294:

GW2 will be in the discount bin…. Oh wait! It already is! in that case it will be ran be populated by the few remaining white knights who like to be abused by a game company

Yes, it’s populated by no one now. No one is playing this game. No one every complains about lag at events. The funniest bit about comments like this is how transparent they are.

I don’t like the game so no one plays it. This is simply incorrect.

I think you forgot that we are talking about the future…. That’s ok reading is hard.

I didn’t forget anything. But since people are playing and enjoying it and it’s not particularly losing people, saying that only white knights will be populating it is like extrapolating something from nothing.

Even saying it’s in the bargain bin isn’t really true, since it goes on sale and then it’s full price again, just like every other item that goes on sale. I was in EB games last week and it was full price.

But you know, never let the truth hurt someone trying to insult something he doesn’t like.

kins.3294:

GW2 will be in the discount bin…. Oh wait! It already is! in that case it will be ran be populated by the few remaining white knights who like to be abused by a game company

Yes, it’s populated by no one now. No one is playing this game. No one every complains about lag at events. The funniest bit about comments like this is how transparent they are.

I don’t like the game so no one plays it. This is simply incorrect.

Re the labyrinth you could, I don’t know, use the looking for group tool and join an active map like anyone else who wants a solution instead of a reason to complain?

So far I’ve found good maps on both days with a minimum of effort. Not to mention that the farming is much better this year than in previous years.

On top of that, most games have copy and paste holiday events. Because you can’t put too much work on something that’s going to be gone in two weeks. Anet used to do that and got nothing but flack for it.

Olvendred.3027:

What about some sort of tag that tells you how long ago the player logged in? Not specifically, of course, but past certain thresholds (3 months, 6 months, a year). They can still post, but you’d know that they don’t actually play.

Eg.

Olvendred.3027
(Last in-game more than 6 months ago)

A tag would at least let us know whether someone who says they stopped playing has actually stopped playing. It’s funny to think a percentage of people simply lie about that.

Nannernut.3460:

It’s still a very good game but the core is rather stagnant. The part about “exciting, non-repetitive events and quests,” well, as a veteran player you will be disappointed. Arena Net has been making increasingly worse decisions such as level gating and now the gem store update. If I were you, I would wait until 2015 to see if Arena Net can pull things together.

This is also something I find a little worrying despite its inflated negativity …..

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2jzuh8/gw2_losing_touch/

A more careful reading of this thread would show that though the thread got a lot of upvotes, the comment below it with the MOST upvotes is this:

“You know what part of the problem is? Guild Wars 2 isn’t a person. I’m sure there are devs working there who get it, and I’m sure there are devs working there who don’t get it, and I’m even more sure that none of those devs are making decisions like the one we saw today. Because there’s also management involved.
The management not only isn’t in touch…it was NEVER in touch. The devs are far more in touch than the management, even the ones who aren’t in touch.
Is Anet out of touch? Nah. Are the people who are pulling the strings out of touch? I just think they’re more in touch with stockholders than players.”

Take the current kurfluffle over the trading post (which I think Anet said they were going to revert).

Questions to ask yourself: What percentage of the playerbase even buys gems at all and what percentage buys gems with gold (I think it’s probably less than most people think). Then what percentage of people buy very little of that stuff.

Nothing that changed personally affects my game at all. I’m pretty sure that’s true for a staggeringly large percentage of the playerbase. But man there was a kittenstorm about it. I bet people posted there it was never going to affect or handn’t affected.

The game is doing well, it’s fun to play and people are still playing it. As a player who’s played a ton, I play it a bit less than I used to, but I still play it every day since launch.

Nube one one seven.7039:

Vayne.8563:

Nube one one seven.7039:

Vayne.8563:

*(1)I’ve seen people who haven’t played the game for months complaining about stuff that’s no longer a problem. I don’t think that’s helpful or constructive.

*(2)But I’ve often wished people who don’t really know or understand what the game is about should just stop posting.

Because it accomplishes absolutely nothing.

1-just people have not played the game in months does not mean that they could not give valuable feedback, someone who actually left due to principle, and keeps an eye on the forum’s to see if/when any changes are taking place can still provide feedback. If they are abusing their posting privileges, then there is already a system set up for this.
Fortunately, Anet is not willing to simply infract people for not immediately agreeing with individuals. Notice I am NOT saying that all players who “left” fall into this category, but some do.

2-Oh? and what pray tell exactly is “the game about”? I thought that was the great joy of guild wars, was that you could play as you wish. Are you trying to imply that there is a dictated way on how people should actually play it? If so, who does the dictation? You? Anet? me? HA! I don`t want it, and Anet is wise enough to avoid it where they possibly can.

Yes the game is actually about play as you wish. That’s what the game is about. So when people come in and talk about stuff like adding a full on gear grind to the game, who exactly does that help?

And if they feel that that makes the game better? You can wish that someone would post or not all you like, but that does NOT change the fact that their feedback, even if it goes against everything the game was originally designed for, is any less legitimate than yours. Nor should they simply be arbitrarily banned from giving feedback. It also does not give you the “right” to belittle or personally attack other customers simply because they are concerned enough with a change, and invested in the game enough, to come comment on their concerns. And note, that this last part is not aimed at you Vayne, but is something I think that a lot of what most posters would call “white knights” need to remember.

Saying people don’t get the game isn’t belittling them, no matter how much you wish to say it is. It’s an observation. We’re allowed to make observations. It’s what we do as humans.

Calling it offensive is an observation on your part, but it’s not intended to be offensive. Frankly, I find your post far more offensive than anything I’ve posted here.

Anet “promised” us nothing. Anet did outline a plan for the future. However Anet has said hundreds, even thousands of things and a handful haven’t happened. That’s it.

If you want to call that a bad track record go ahead. But it’s not, no matter how you slice it.

rapthorne.7345:

1. You can’t keep everyone happy. plain and simple. No matter what changes take place, there will always be a vocal few unhappy (and very loud about their unhappiness)

2. You seem to be under the illusion that ANet can just pull content from their rectums. Content development on a scale and quality offered by GW2 takes months/years. A CDI for guild halls in coming, and I expect cantha may be somewhere in future plans once the forces preventing people from accessing cantha have been dealt with

3. I have pretty crappy internet, and GW2 NEVER lags for me. I’ve not had issues in my guild with doing guild events, and I can’t comment on how it impacts Role Play because it’s not something I know about/have an interest in. In regards to it “taking away” from the community, I fail to see how this is the case and would appreciate clarity in what you mean.

4. Most games rehash their seasonal content with a few extra/switched around bits and pieces. Don’t forget that the continuation of the Living Story hits in early November, and I strongly suspect that developmental resources have been focused there, instead.

I’m all for constructive criticism and valid questioning of practices, but this just seems like unfounded and poorly thought out whining, to me.

You’re sounding more and more like me. Who are you? And what have you done with Rapthorne?

lordkrall.7241:

Vayne.8563:

I’m certainly not okay with this. I won’t spend a red cent on it. In fact, I’m not spending anything on the cash shop this month because of it.

I will hand in any wrapper I get dropped in the game… but the whole thing leaves me feeling quite blah.

Why?

How is this worse than the first time around where you could ONLY get a chance on it by using the gem store?

It’s not worse….I didn’t like that either and said so at the time.

Nube one one seven.7039:

Vayne.8563:

*(1)I’ve seen people who haven’t played the game for months complaining about stuff that’s no longer a problem. I don’t think that’s helpful or constructive.

*(2)But I’ve often wished people who don’t really know or understand what the game is about should just stop posting.

Because it accomplishes absolutely nothing.

1-just people have not played the game in months does not mean that they could not give valuable feedback, someone who actually left due to principle, and keeps an eye on the forum’s to see if/when any changes are taking place can still provide feedback. If they are abusing their posting privileges, then there is already a system set up for this.
Fortunately, Anet is not willing to simply infract people for not immediately agreeing with individuals. Notice I am NOT saying that all players who “left” fall into this category, but some do.

2-Oh? and what pray tell exactly is “the game about”? I thought that was the great joy of guild wars, was that you could play as you wish. Are you trying to imply that there is a dictated way on how people should actually play it? If so, who does the dictation? You? Anet? me? HA! I don`t want it, and Anet is wise enough to avoid it where they possibly can.

Yes the game is actually about play as you wish. That’s what the game is about. So when people come in and talk about stuff like adding a full on gear grind to the game, who exactly does that help?

xXZeroDeathXx.9408:

Ashen.2907:

xXZeroDeathXx.9408:

The painful truth? is that people are leaving Gw2

True of every MMO right ?

xXZeroDeathXx.9408:

majority of the Gw2 community agrees this game is in a state of downward progression

What percentage if you please? 51% exactly ? 53.7%? 69%?

Did you poll a hundred thousand people? quarter million?

Or are you inventing, “facts,” to support your position? Did you feel that saying that you (and perhaps even a relatively few others with whom you’ve interacted) agree with something would not carry sufficient weight so you made up some data to make your opinion seem more important ?

I am sure that others would be more than happy to accept your claim that you know what the majority agree with if you can provide a shred of credible data to support your claim.

No there was no actual poll i conducted myself, but if you read any of the replies i made you would understand where i was coming from. When i say majority i base it on the hours/months prior i have spent reading the forums from not only Gw2 but other highly credited Mmo review sites and blogs. Majority of the people are not pleased in the direction the game is going. I started to catch on the over all picture and why Gw2 was heading in this direction months ago. People that are familiar on how the mmo business functions recognize this. If you search Gw2 forums you can find some post about this also but a lot of the times it gets deleted. You don’t always need data to see what’s happening behind curtains, just open your views and start doing your own research and you may understand. But aye if you enjoy this Game how it is and don’t care the direction it goes then by all means enjoy the game.

The majority of the playerbase doesn’t post on the forums. Anyone with any experience in MMOs would know this.

The most you could claim MAYBE is the majority of people who post on the forums. You couldn’t even claim a majority of people who read the forums, since most people don’t post.

So the small percentage of people who agree with you mean what exactly?

Sorry phys but I don’t agree with you here.

There are many people who get disenfranchised for a reason or even just no reason. They’re bored. They’ve done everything. Something happened that annoyed them. Their guild disbanded.

And they find another game that they like. To those people, with nothing at all to lose, they can come here and say literally anything. Doesn’t matter if it’s good or true or right. They can say anything.

I’ve seen people who haven’t played the game for months complaining about stuff that’s no longer a problem. I don’t think that’s helpful or constructive.

There are probably people still complaining about ascended gear and “gear grind” when only that single tier of gear has actually been released.

I agree that the disadvantages to banning inactive players is less than the advantages of keeping them, but I’ve often wished people who don’t really know or understand what the game is about should just stop posting.

Because it accomplishes absolutely nothing.