Guild Wars 2

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.

In the sewers beneath LA, where the juvenile armorfish can be tamed at the very bottom in the back, I got a piece of mad king’s memories.

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.

Rage.9723:

One living story team. Where is the evidence of larger projects? Expansion? Where is your evidence of larger projects?

Well, I don’t know I’d say people worked on collections, I’d say they worked on redoing the trading post, I’d say they worked on the NPE, I’d say they are working on guild stuff (hence all the guild CDIs).

Anet has directly stated they have projects they’re working on. It’s logical that one one project finishes, another replaces it.

The wardrobe was a project that wasn’t living story. The megaserver was a project that wasn’t living story.

Even Tequatl revamp was a project that was done by another team.

The company hasn’t lost most of it’s 300 plus employees or we’d have heard about it. Colin said 20 people are currently on the Living Story team. That leaves 280 other employees. I’m pretty sure most of them aren’t getting coffee for the 20 working on the LS. I could be wrong though. lol

I didn’t see it in the patch notes and I didn’t see anyone mention it here, but minis now show skin locked/unlocked when you view them. It’s sort of nice if you’re looking in the trading post to buy them, you now don’t have to go insane trying to figure out if you have one or not.

Well they definitely streamlined how you can get to the content this year. Which is nice. They also fixed it so when you look at the TP for a mini, you can see if you have it in your collection or not. It says skin locked or unlocked (which is very nice but it’s not mentioned in the patch notes for some reason).

Naturally they did have to work on changing the way LA was decorated, since it was different last year at this time…completely different.

And they’ve certainly upped the labyrinth rewards this year. Adding the new consumables was a pretty good idea too.

But I do wish they’d continued the story.

One thing which might explain why they didn’t (and I don’t know if this is true or not) is because a lot of long time players have left the game, replaced by a lot of new players who have never experienced a halloween. So it’s possible they’re giving this year’s crop a chance to catch up.

Rage.9723:

Well the development process has slowed down quite a bit. They used to have multiple teams and now only have one. They seem to trying to maximize gem sales while adding only a minimal amount of content.

Umm, that’s not quite what has been said at all, so unless you have some evidence to this, I’ll call you on it.

What they’ve done is consolidate the living story team, while other teams work on larger background projects.

There isn’t just one team. There’s only one team working on the living story.

It’s a gamble and you’re probably going to lose. If you’re going to put money into it, or even a lot of time, be aware you may get nothing back for your efforts.

Short answer: No one knows.

Anet isn’t talking, but I strongly suspect there’s not. However plenty of people play that way and don’t care if they get that reward or not. People who run dungeons which are harder than most open world content will wonder why they should do dungeons when they can just run around the world.

Farmers go to wherever the money is.

I do what I want and I don’t care if it takes me longer to get stuff.

Yep…those aren’t new.

brokenrabbit.6538:

Fatalfugus.1780:

Hey folks. It’s been quite a while since I last opened up my GW2 client, but I’m really thinking about getting back in. Just want to know some stuff about the state of the game first.

Run.

Yep run from the forums. Best way to enjoy the game.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Vayne.8563:

apocalyps.7106:

15 pages yet no Vayne, where is he ? i miss him, is he on a payed vacation ?

ontopic: just add a custom setting so that players can buy how many gems/gold/whatever they want.

I’m here. I’m perfectly fine with most of what’s been said here…and have nothing constructive to add.

See ANet? Even Vayne, who ALWAYS sees the bright side of updates, is disappointed. Even if the most optimistic of us all doesn’t like the change, it sure isn’t a good one!

You really don’t get me at all…or you simply ignore my negative posts.

apocalyps.7106:

15 pages yet no Vayne, where is he ? i miss him, is he on a payed vacation ?

ontopic: just add a custom setting so that players can buy how many gems/gold/whatever they want.

I’m here. I’m perfectly fine with most of what’s been said here…and have nothing constructive to add.

Plenty of people leveling.

This game is perfect for casual players. You can set small goals and get things done almost constantly for a very long time. Eventually, however, onceyou’ve done all the easy stuff to do, you’re going to have to do things that take longer….and progress will be slower…but you can always make some progress. It’s just reaching your goals as you play more will take longer.

Jaggedrain.6923:

You forgot the best of them all – EVE Online is also releasing their Phoebe expansion/update on the 4th (I wonder whether they nicked the idea off Anet, actually) and I am going to be SERIOUSLY torn as to which game I am going to play.

(UNLIMITED SKILL QUEUES HELL YEAH!)

Eve is never going to seriously affect Guild Wars 2. It’s too hard core, too sci fi, too spreadsheet. It requires too much of a time investment to get anywhere, or even learn.

It’s like saying people who like golf are going to leave that game to play football. Well some might…but most…probably not.

I’ve been here for the release of a lot of MMOs. Neverwinter, Rift going free to play, ESO, Wildstar…none of them have made any kind of real dent in the game’s population.

We did lose a guildie to ESO, and another to SWToR, but that’s a relatively small percentage of the population. We’ve lost no one at all to Archeage.

My son plays it and keeps me informed. If half the stuff he’s telling me is true (he tends to exaggerate), then that game isn’t going to end up with a huge following. The amount of hacks, and gold farmers and scammers is truly huge. Griefing is part of the game. Reporting people is an in game strategy and they have to play labor points to clear their names.

That game is not going to attract this game’s audience for any length of time. It’ll be a while before an MMORPG comes out that will. The next one isn’t even due this year.

phys.7689:

Vayne.8563:

phys.7689:

Vayne.8563:

Nilkemia.8507:

The only real misconceptions regarding level gating are those that suggest the level gating is a good or beneficial change. While some may have exaggerated about the badness of the changes, it doesn’t change that they are bad, and do not improve but rather degrade the quality and fun of this game.

The leveling rewards make later leveling much more fun for me personally. More fun is an improvement to me.

most of those rewards are more than balanced against the loss of all drops from personal story monsters. I mean it feels nice to get it yeah, but personal story tends to suck more than its share out now, especially since some of the missions have a decent amount of enemies.

I’m not buying it. A certain levels I get rares and exotics now. I get an ecto for level 69. My personal story rewards are still better over all than I used to get by a long shot. I’m not sure what you’re talking about here.

you realize 1 ecto isnt really a big deal? a non level 80 exotic you cant salvage is worth very little.
you get a lot of loot from personal story/used to. Many arcs have a decent amount of enemies
put it like this, lets say you wandered around killing enemies for 30 minutes in the open world, you would probably generate more value than an ecto.
killing stuff in the personal story used to be fairly similar drop wise to killing stuff in the open world, now, its worth nothing.

Some arc also a lot of enemies that didn’t drop loot before.

An ecto is roughly 40 silver now. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t get 40 silver worth of drops from most personal stories. But you miss the point anyway. You’re obviously not an altoholic.

I don’t care if I get exotics I can’t sell or salvage, because I can use them as I level. It makes killing easier/faster, which means more loot while I’m playing. I’ve got a lot of characters. It’s quite expensive to kit them all out in the finest gear.

For people who run through the story multiple times (that would be most altholics like me), they’re going to receive that benefit. I’ve found it to be very convenient. Hell some of the stuff is good enough to be the final armor…particularly because now you can choose stats on some pieces.

SeanBeanDies.8951:

This will be my first halloween in Tyria so I’m really pumped for it, but I’m just wondering if the event is just on the day of Halloween or does it last a few days?

The event lasts from the day it starts for about three weeks until the next Living Story starts on November 4.

Pifil.5193:

Vayne.8563:

The games profits aren’t significantly down and hours played and unique log ins aren’t significantly down

I’m curious, how do you know that?

Well we know exactly how much the game makes in terms of sales from the NCsoft quarterly report. I follow several sites that track games, links found in this thread:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Tracking-Guild-Wars-2/first#post4500520

Edit: As a side note, you can also look at google trends which tells you how often Guild Wars 2 is searched for.

Edit 2: Another note. When SWToR did worse than expected, they laid off half their staff. When TSW did worse than expected they laid off a third of their staff. No company could cover that up, much less a public company like NcSoft. Oh…and Anet is hiring. This is something you don’t do if you’re losing money or close to dying.

I filled out this as well and found it interesting. Good luck with your project.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Vayne.8563:

I log in because I still find it fun. However, I used to find it fun to log in at other times, when my guild wasn’t around. There was stuff I had more fun doing solo. Those times I tend to log in less, because I’m not having as much fun. I log in when I am having fun. Not so sure why that’s hard to understand.

That’s the point of my whole rant actually. You might find less fun in the game and hope for a brighter future. If it doesn’t happen, you might find less and less fun in the game until you stop/have a break.

I’m there right now. I’m having fun but far less than before. If the next part of LS2 is not as rivetting and lore-based as it is advertised as, I daresay I’ll have a break from the game until they do indeed add enough content for me to play for more than one hour before doing the same things over and over again.

It’s not “play or don’t”, it’s rather “play when you want to and have a break before you hate it”.

See this is very convenient, but it’s not what you wrote. These are your words from the OP:

" Yay re-used holidays… I really do hope that these re-used events are some kind of a hint regarding how the team worked on bigger things. If not, well, time to move on."

The words “move on” to me, doesn’t mean cut down your hours of playing. Move on means to leave something behind and not come back to it. We all know what it means to move on in life. Move on in our job career.

Moving on has a certain implication. It’s definitely not what you’re saying here. If it’s what you meant, I’d edit your OP for clarity.

phys.7689:

Vayne.8563:

Nilkemia.8507:

The only real misconceptions regarding level gating are those that suggest the level gating is a good or beneficial change. While some may have exaggerated about the badness of the changes, it doesn’t change that they are bad, and do not improve but rather degrade the quality and fun of this game.

The leveling rewards make later leveling much more fun for me personally. More fun is an improvement to me.

most of those rewards are more than balanced against the loss of all drops from personal story monsters. I mean it feels nice to get it yeah, but personal story tends to suck more than its share out now, especially since some of the missions have a decent amount of enemies.

I’m not buying it. A certain levels I get rares and exotics now. I get an ecto for level 69. My personal story rewards are still better over all than I used to get by a long shot. I’m not sure what you’re talking about here.

Nilkemia.8507:

For you personally. Not the rest of us. While some of the rewards are ok, most of the time it is something you’ll quickly outlevel or otherwise not need, especially if you craft as well. And once again, locking abilities like the downed state/skills, profession mechanics, and other abilities we either had right from the beginning or shortly after was a stupid decision that should’ve never been done.

For me personally not the rest of us. You mean hundreds of thousands of people playing this game, and you’ve talked to all of them personally? I admire your dedication.

You have no idea what percentage like or don’t like it. There are some in my guild who didn’t like it, tried it and like it now. I know at least a dozen people that I play with every day who like it more. And I don’t go around polling people.

You don’t know what the rest of us feel. You only know what you feel…and maybe some of your friends.

Halloween is absolutely my favorite time of year, and my favorite holiday. I looked forward to it in Guild Wars 1, and I look forward to it every year in Guild Wars 2.

The Mad King’s Tower alone is enough for me to log in. I love that JP.

Pifil.5193:

Vayne.8563:

My issue isn’t with that anyway. My issue is with the attitude that somehow anyone should be encouraged to leave the game by X date. Why X date? Why not Y date? If there’s nothing new on halloween that means the November 4th update won’t be great? It makes no sense at all to me.

I think that people should leave or stay because they want to leave or stay, not because of some kind of “call to arms”. Personally, I haven’t played since the last feature pack. There isn’t anything in the game to interest me anymore so I doubt I’ll log in until November 4th when I will log in, I’m looking forward to season 2 continuing as the first 4 episodes are the best content they’ve added for the Living World, IMO.

I just hope that the season won’t end on December 2nd, seven episodes for a season is just too short IMO. Likewise taking six+ months a year “off” from the Living Story is not going to work, for me, at least.

Ultimately, regardless of whether or not I’m missed I simply won’t log in and won’t be buying gems and those may be missed if enough others feel the same way.

The games profits aren’t significantly down and hours played and unique log ins aren’t significantly down, and this is with a lot of competition coming out. No one is going to be missed unless/until a really good MMORPG comes out.

Until then, I don’t see this game in any kind of danger whatsoever. And by then, there’ll probably be lots more content. Just a guess.

KarlaGrey.5903:

KDXX.9520:

I started playing GW1, because is seemed cool. I stayed and bought Factions, Nightfall, and EotN because Anet grasped and suitably represented an ideal that had seemed to have long been forgotten by society in general.

That NO, not “everything” needs to be decided by money. That you owe your loyal players a reciprocated loyalty, and make visible, palpable, amends when a mistake is made, and you talk to them in a serious manner, and take none of their ideas for granted. That your responsibility to the craft of the game does not end once the money hits the counter. That intentional mediocrity for the sake of profit is not acceptable.

GW 2 placed a fresh face on a game I loved, better graphics, more freedom, more immersion; and at the start, those same ideals, steadfastly in place. Now. I increasingly question why, or even IF I want to play anymore. The graphics are still good, the freedom to roam is still there, the immersion is a little worn, due to time. But the ideals. The ideals that made me a player, fan, and customer; are dead.

I don’t know when or why, but someone killed them.

So maybe I keep playing for the vain hope I will see those ideals restored to the company, one day.

Exactly.

Sadly I’m afraid no amount of hope will bring us/you back the company that made the game of your dreams~
Most of us have been disillusioned some time ago.

Most of us haven’t been disillusioned some time ago. I guess that must be your opinion because this is a pretty kitten ed popular MMORPG.

Gene Archer.8560:

Vayne.8563:

Either the game is fun, and you play it, or it isn’t and you stop.

If only the world was truly as black and white as you seem to view it. Though I find it funny that in one post you mention how your logging in to the game has dropped some recently, and yet here you are saying either play or don’t.

Given that attitude, since your log ins have already started dropping, you may as well just stop, since clearly you don’t find the game as fun as you once did.

Vayne.8563:

I’m not going to draw an artibrary line in the sand after which it’s time to leave. That just makes no sense…

It doesn’t make sense to try and hold on to something you once enjoyed? To give things a chance to change?

The reactions you describe as not making sense? Those would be emotions, and the human condition. Your inability to understand them would suggest you aren’t actually human, Vayne.

So what planet did you come from, and does our yellow Sun give you super powers?

I log in because I still find it fun. However, I used to find it fun to log in at other times, when my guild wasn’t around. There was stuff I had more fun doing solo. Those times I tend to log in less, because I’m not having as much fun. I log in when I am having fun. Not so sure why that’s hard to understand.

And yeah, in this case, it is that black and white. If you’re enjoying a GAME you play the game and if you’re not enjoying the game you don’t play it. Playing a game you’re not enjoying makes no sense.

My issue isn’t with that anyway. My issue is with the attitude that somehow anyone should be encouraged to leave the game by X date. Why X date? Why not Y date? If there’s nothing new on halloween that means the November 4th update won’t be great? It makes no sense at all to me.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Vayne.8563:

I’m saying the people who post on this forum are a tiny minority of the game’s population and if we suddenly evaporated, I don’t think it would affect the bottom line as much as you do.

Sure I care about the game. But no matter what I think or don’t think, this game is going to continue with or without me. It’s not going anywhere, whether I personally like something or not. That’s the difference between me and a lot of forum posters. I know I’m a minority.

So I can come here and beat my chest and threaten to leave or incite others to leave and it will accomplished absolutely nothing.

This thread has a tldr; that basically says if Halloween is a repeat is it over. Of course it’s not over. It’s not even close to being over.

It’s not even a big enough deal to stop playing over. It’s the last thing I’d worry about because it’s three weeks and it’s gone, after which new content is coming out. And people will log in to play that new content.

I’m feeling pretty disenfranchised as a confirmed altoholic lately but I realize very very few people by percentage play the way I do, or have the number of characters I do. I was discussing it was someone in my guild just yesterday, complaining about the new trait system and you know, he said it doesn’t bother him at all. Because he has one character. It’s something he does, unlocks all the traits and he’s done. He said most people don’t care, no matter what the forum says…and I think he’s right.

This problem is mine. Anet knows the problem exists. Eventually they’re either going to do something about it, or they’re not going to do something about it. The less reason I have to make new characters, the less reason I have to play, and it doesn’t matter at all. Not to the future of the game.

Making the game better for me isn’t necessarily making the game better. It’s just making the game better for me. It will either happen or it won’t.

But caring about the game and suggesting what say we leave if it’s the same holiday event…that’s just silly to me.

People are a tiny vocal minority, but how many have left without saying a word?
Also, I said “time to move on”, I didn’t say “time to leave/quit”. We are all attached to “what’s coming next?”, and basically if “Halloween re-used + 3-month break” = “no new content”, it’s fair to assume that we won’t see anything significant for months. And that’s the whole point: if they are already on auto-pilot with huge breaks before any consistent update, the game might not be worth logging on each and every day.

Well your guild mate might think most people don’t care, but I can say many people care (in-game, on social medias, and here), but many are also happy. None of us will ever win an argument about who is right and who is wrong, because no one is, or ever will. Some people don’t care about updates and either accept or reject their fate, others fight on the forum to say what they think. Fact is, everyone has an opinion and every opinion is against someone else’s, just like your optimism is most of the time seen as a White Knight defense. I do respect your views, so do respect mine when I say I will focus on something else if such a long silence doesn’t mean something worth waiting for.

My experience of the game was also renewed lately (I’m an altoholic too), some parts I liked, some I hated. But in the end, I end up doing the same things over and over and over again, and I am not connected to the game’s lore as I was in the first campaigns.

So, if you didn’t get my point right (and maybe my English is the reason why), what I said with “time to move on” is I won’t bother to play the way I do now if the content that needs 3-month break and rehashed Holiday events is not outlandish. It’s as if I invited you for dinner, spent one hour in the kitchen (leaving you alone with cold canapés) and came to you with some spaghetti served with only some oil. I assume you won’t come again soon, even if my meal was delicious

But when you’re saying time to move on, you’re actually saying something quite arbitrary. If it’s not here by X date, it’s time to move on. If it’s not here by Y date, it’s time to move on. If you’re not having fun, then it’s time to move on, and only then. Why set a date? Why make it sound like an ultimatum.

It puts everything else into question. Either the game is fun, and you play it, or it isn’t and you stop. I’m not going to draw an artibrary line in the sand after which it’s time to leave. That just makes no sense…whether I respect your opinion or I don’t (I do btw). I can respect an opinion and still point out that it makes no sense. It’s like starting a diet on Monday. That never made sense to me either. Either you need to start eating better, or you don’t.

rapthorne.7345:

Vayne.8563:

rapthorne.7345:

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

snip

I can’t say I understand fully how Xfire works nor it’s purpose , only looked up to it now, but taking a first glance at it, GW2 has 400 unique logins , I don’t see how that proves anything. Taking a second glance, a first person shooter has more than 20x more unique logins than GW2, and that game was released at 2007. To cut it short, I don’t see how 400 active player proves GW2 is in a healthy state.

crossfire/xfire is crappy software that only takes in to account users that log in with xfire installed and that allow xfire to track their game activity. it’s not an accurate measurement of game activity.

The only actually accurate measure of activity would have to come from ANet themselves

Right, Xfire means nothing, because it doesn’t fit your theory. And Raptr means nothing because it doesn’t fit your theory. And Overwolf means nothing because it doesn’t fit your theory. Your personal observations and a few posts from forum strangers are much more accurate.

If someone doesn’t know how Xfire works btw, I’m not really sure they should be commenting on it, but as a comparison of hours played (without knowing how often it’s updated) it can be compared to other games on the same service.

So in the time frame (unpresented) we see Guild Wars 2 has at this time 1110 hours clocked up. Something like Archeage has 605. Diablo 3 has 2197 or almost double Guild Wars 2 hours.

You don’t get an idea of exactly how many people play but…if Guild Wars 2 isn’t healthy in that list, then no game is healthy.

Of course in addition to this, Anet still shows a healthy quarterly profit, still shows it’s hiring (without any mass layoffs), and is still coming out with updates (admittedly not as fast as many would like).

There’s a whole lot more evidence the game is doing well then the game is not doing well. It always amazes me that people who don’t personally like a game just assume it’s doing badly.

For the record, I’m playing less than I used to because of the trait update…and I don’t think it matters at all. In fact, if I were to stop playing I’m one guy. It won’t change the overall popularity of the game.

Not sure if this is directed at me or not, but I was actually trying to emphasise that xfire’s statistics can’t be used to argue that the game is inactive, due to the small sample size, same with raptr.

I myself don’t think the game is going down any dark paths for some time yet. The game seems healthy, there’s always people to find on maps, the pvp lobby area is stuffed to the brim with people, eotm is always full (even on overflow) for my server (Northern Shiverpeaks).

Perhaps the game is quieter than it’s first year (I wasn’t around to judge) but that’s to be expected from absolutely every MMORPG. The vast majority of MMORPG’s will experience their highest traffic in the first few months of release. As time goes by it’s only natural that the hype generated from the wait on development dies down a little, as people get comfortable with the game and settle in.

GW2’s forum is more active than most MMO forums I’ve been a part of, the community is friendlier than most MMO communities, and the active population most definitely seems much higher than a majority of MMO’s I’ve been a part of.

I don’t think there’s any reason to worry about GW2’s health just yet.

Overwolf at least, has 8 million people using it (and it’s there that Guild Wars 2 does the best). Xfire has over 25 million registered users, it’s fair to say at least a small percentage still use it. If it’s 500,00 it’s enough people to give you an indication.

Raptr probably has as many people as Xfire now, since it was made by one of the Xfire devs who left, but offers more features.

And I don’t use any of them, but enough people do to use it as a barometer…and that’s the only way I’m using them.

Unless you think for some reasons the hundreds of thousands of people on Raptr or Xfire or Overwolf, for some reason,. like Guild Wars 2 more than everyone else who’s not on those services (which doesn’t really make sense).

And in case you didn’t see it, there are people saying the game is dying….I responded to your quote responding to another quote and just continued the conversation.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Vayne.8563:

People will complain anyway. If the game is buggy they’ll complain about bugs. If it’s too hard, or too easy or too hot or too cold, or too blue or too green….people are going to complain. This forum isn’t close to as bad as most MMOs forums so many would think we have less to complain about.

I have my own complaints…but I’m pretty sure most of them will never be addressed. So I either play the game and enjoy it, or I don’t play the game. I don’t suggest leaving or threaten to leave if something I don’t like happens.

I care too much about the game to simply leave it and uninstall it. I’m just underlining the general idea of people who are passionate about the game: all I personally do is wait for new content, as I barely play any other game. However, I will certainly take a break if the game keeps on going round and round. Most of us always have been way too optimistic, and on some emotional rollercoaster (to exaggerate), and we would like to show that not keeping the flame ablaze could be harmful in the long term, even to the new recruits the game seems to be aiming for.

If people complain about problem A or B and nobody follows, that’s just human nature. If people unite under the banner of problem C and nothing is done about, it’s normal to keep on showing their concern (hobosacks for example, or clumsily implemented trait system).

Do you think people would complain if they didn’t like the game? They complain because they do. They could simply ignore the fact some parts of the game are now less enjoyable, or some game breaking bugs that take way too long to be fixed, and leave never to come back. But they want to be part of the game and keep it enjoyable. Those who complain are those who want to stay, but I assume that there are many more who don’t complain and simply leave.

I’m saying the people who post on this forum are a tiny minority of the game’s population and if we suddenly evaporated, I don’t think it would affect the bottom line as much as you do.

Sure I care about the game. But no matter what I think or don’t think, this game is going to continue with or without me. It’s not going anywhere, whether I personally like something or not. That’s the difference between me and a lot of forum posters. I know I’m a minority.

So I can come here and beat my chest and threaten to leave or incite others to leave and it will accomplished absolutely nothing.

This thread has a tldr; that basically says if Halloween is a repeat is it over. Of course it’s not over. It’s not even close to being over.

It’s not even a big enough deal to stop playing over. It’s the last thing I’d worry about because it’s three weeks and it’s gone, after which new content is coming out. And people will log in to play that new content.

I’m feeling pretty disenfranchised as a confirmed altoholic lately but I realize very very few people by percentage play the way I do, or have the number of characters I do. I was discussing it was someone in my guild just yesterday, complaining about the new trait system and you know, he said it doesn’t bother him at all. Because he has one character. It’s something he does, unlocks all the traits and he’s done. He said most people don’t care, no matter what the forum says…and I think he’s right.

This problem is mine. Anet knows the problem exists. Eventually they’re either going to do something about it, or they’re not going to do something about it. The less reason I have to make new characters, the less reason I have to play, and it doesn’t matter at all. Not to the future of the game.

Making the game better for me isn’t necessarily making the game better. It’s just making the game better for me. It will either happen or it won’t.

But caring about the game and suggesting what say we leave if it’s the same holiday event…that’s just silly to me.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Vayne.8563:

OP, reused holidays is the industry standard for a reason. Not many companies want to make a brand new 2 or 3 week event every year, just for that week. It’s a terrible waste of resources, just as making one time, temporary content for Guild Wars 2 was a terrible waste of resources.

I’m talking about the continuity of a side-storyline. I don’t mind having re-used events, it is indeed a waste of resources, but we were used to get something about MKT & family around this time. We are on 2 extremes here: either we get news temporary things we will never see again (2012), or we will repeat last year’s events with tiny additions (2014). What could have been done was adding a new tiny chain of quests each year, re-using last year’s events.

People complained about that one time content and now you’re saying if we don’t get a hint of something new it’s time to move on?

This time I’m talking about the general direction of the game. The game is still young and, if after 2 years, all we have is re-used content without any hint of new things, that’s pretty much as waiting for GW3 to be released, as we would be on auto-pilot.

Maybe if every game had completely new stuff every year, you’d have some kind of point, but most new stuff on holidays are small changes here and there, not big massive ones.

I think you’re expecting way too much from a developer.

I do agree. As I said, 2012 and 2013 were so different from one another that 2014 was expected to be so too (most people on the forum complained about the re-used 2013 theme). I don’t expect too much of developers, I know it’s hard to fight on many fronts at once. However, we are advertised to witness such hard work, nobody ever said “we were too optmistic it will be slower than expected”. I know it is, but it never appeared as such, therefore it is safe to assume they will stick to their commitment.

To be clear: I don’t mind re-used overall shapes of events with tiny twists to give a new experience, but I do hope than 3 months break + re-used events mean we are getting huge improvements and fixes on the game in general. If LS2 happens to be a damp squib, and if most bugs are still present, I hope you won’t mind if many people complain about the time they took to do nothing. However I do believe that we will be quite surprised by LS2, its ending, and the future of the game.

People will complain anyway. If the game is buggy they’ll complain about bugs. If it’s too hard, or too easy or too hot or too cold, or too blue or too green….people are going to complain. This forum isn’t close to as bad as most MMOs forums so many would think we have less to complain about.

I have my own complaints…but I’m pretty sure most of them will never be addressed. So I either play the game and enjoy it, or I don’t play the game. I don’t suggest leaving or threaten to leave if something I don’t like happens.

OP, reused holidays is the industry standard for a reason. Not many companies want to make a brand new 2 or 3 week event every year, just for that week. It’s a terrible waste of resources, just as making one time, temporary content for Guild Wars 2 was a terrible waste of resources.

People complained about that one time content and now you’re saying if we don’t get a hint of something new it’s time to move on?

Maybe if every game had completely new stuff every year, you’d have some kind of point, but most new stuff on holidays are small changes here and there, not big massive ones.

I think you’re expecting way too much from a developer.

ipan.4356:

“Point of No Return” may have been a prophetically accurate title for the next episode, as I think many people will never be returning to GW2…

Based on your opinion, but certainly the game hasn’t seen the falloff of players so many doomsayers are claiming.

You don’t like the game, you don’t play the game, but it makes your opinion completely biased. Plenty of people do like and play the game, as evidenced by sites that track player hours and unique log ins.

Just stop making stuff up all already.

rapthorne.7345:

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

What’s your evidence? The game hasn’t gone down in any significant way in any of the sites that track it. It has essentially the same number of unique log ins and the same number of hours played.

People keep saying that the game is dying or becoming a ghost town but nothing, and I do mean nothing, supports this with the exception of their personal observations.

I think we should all just keep an eye on Xfire for the Halloween content and the new living story content and see just how that affects the traffic. Since I’ve been following those sites, the people who report the game isn’t doing well make me wonder on what they base their information.

I can’t say I understand fully how Xfire works nor it’s purpose , only looked up to it now, but taking a first glance at it, GW2 has 400 unique logins , I don’t see how that proves anything. Taking a second glance, a first person shooter has more than 20x more unique logins than GW2, and that game was released at 2007. To cut it short, I don’t see how 400 active player proves GW2 is in a healthy state.

crossfire/xfire is crappy software that only takes in to account users that log in with xfire installed and that allow xfire to track their game activity. it’s not an accurate measurement of game activity.

The only actually accurate measure of activity would have to come from ANet themselves

Right, Xfire means nothing, because it doesn’t fit your theory. And Raptr means nothing because it doesn’t fit your theory. And Overwolf means nothing because it doesn’t fit your theory. Your personal observations and a few posts from forum strangers are much more accurate.

If someone doesn’t know how Xfire works btw, I’m not really sure they should be commenting on it, but as a comparison of hours played (without knowing how often it’s updated) it can be compared to other games on the same service.

So in the time frame (unpresented) we see Guild Wars 2 has at this time 1110 hours clocked up. Something like Archeage has 605. Diablo 3 has 2197 or almost double Guild Wars 2 hours.

You don’t get an idea of exactly how many people play but…if Guild Wars 2 isn’t healthy in that list, then no game is healthy.

Of course in addition to this, Anet still shows a healthy quarterly profit, still shows it’s hiring (without any mass layoffs), and is still coming out with updates (admittedly not as fast as many would like).

There’s a whole lot more evidence the game is doing well then the game is not doing well. It always amazes me that people who don’t personally like a game just assume it’s doing badly.

For the record, I’m playing less than I used to because of the trait update…and I don’t think it matters at all. In fact, if I were to stop playing I’m one guy. It won’t change the overall popularity of the game.

For a long time I’ve been tracking Guild Wars 2’s status on Xfire, Raptr and Overwolf. I feel this provides a better idea of how many people are playing and logging into the game than some guys on the forums presenting annecdotal data about their friends list or guilds.

This month Guild Wars 2 dropped to #13 in Raptr and went up to #6 in Overwolf. At Xfire Guild Wars 2 is currently #12, but that changes much more frequently than once a month. Yesterday it was #13 for example.

It’s been hovering around these numbers for a long time now.

I fully expect Guild Wars 2 to go up in October due to Halloween and then again in November due to the return of the Living Story.

Relevant links:

http://www.newzoo.com/free/rankings/top-20-core-pc-games/
http://social.xfire.com/games
http://caas.raptr.com/most-played-pc-games-september-2014-back-to-school-slump-edition/

Yoroiookami.3485:

Vayne.8563:

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

You should probably watch the business more, rather than formulating opinions without watching the business. Because MMOs do add content when the population drops, not when it’s at a high.

That’s pretty much every MMO everywhere…with very very few exceptions.

Cause and effect. MMO’s active population increases when they release major content patch or such meaning the population’s the highest when the content hits release, but anet doesn’t seem to intend to do that. With living story at best they can achieve a stable, somewhat bigger active population compared to other MMOs between expansions ,but it’s more likely they just slowed the population decrease.

But by saying MMOs don’t release content when their population is high is like saying MMOs don’t release content when they release content.

Sigh. It’s really much simpler than that. WoW is the best example. They pretty much have content releases with major expansions. Before those expansions, the cash income is the lowest. They require those expansions to reinvigorate the game.

Releasing that content when the population is high servers no purpose, because it’s not going to get MORE players. That’s their formula and it works for them.

Guild Wars 2 releases smaller patches more often. Why? Because that keeps players coming back to the game more often. You can see it in the tracking programs. That’s the Guild Wars 2 formula.

No company can release constant content no matter how much money they make. It’s just not reasonable. So logically you hold back the big release for when you need it. That’s business.

Well Vayne…seeing things as they are, they will need it some time soon. I just hope for their own sake, that the amount of new players they get is higher than the amount of veterans who leave~

What’s your evidence? The game hasn’t gone down in any significant way in any of the sites that track it. It has essentially the same number of unique log ins and the same number of hours played.

People keep saying that the game is dying or becoming a ghost town but nothing, and I do mean nothing, supports this with the exception of their personal observations.

I think we should all just keep an eye on Xfire for the Halloween content and the new living story content and see just how that affects the traffic. Since I’ve been following those sites, the people who report the game isn’t doing well make me wonder on what they base their information.

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

You should probably watch the business more, rather than formulating opinions without watching the business. Because MMOs do add content when the population drops, not when it’s at a high.

That’s pretty much every MMO everywhere…with very very few exceptions.

Cause and effect. MMO’s active population increases when they release major content patch or such meaning the population’s the highest when the content hits release, but anet doesn’t seem to intend to do that. With living story at best they can achieve a stable, somewhat bigger active population compared to other MMOs between expansions ,but it’s more likely they just slowed the population decrease.

But by saying MMOs don’t release content when their population is high is like saying MMOs don’t release content when they release content.

Sigh. It’s really much simpler than that. WoW is the best example. They pretty much have content releases with major expansions. Before those expansions, the cash income is the lowest. They require those expansions to reinvigorate the game.

Releasing that content when the population is high servers no purpose, because it’s not going to get MORE players. That’s their formula and it works for them.

Guild Wars 2 releases smaller patches more often. Why? Because that keeps players coming back to the game more often. You can see it in the tracking programs. That’s the Guild Wars 2 formula.

No company can release constant content no matter how much money they make. It’s just not reasonable. So logically you hold back the big release for when you need it. That’s business.

Scipio.3204:

Vayne.8563:

Scipio.3204:

I’d say wether GW2 is dying or not can be decided by using the logic of supply & demand. If something has high demand it is logical to deliver high supply or in other words if GW2 does have a stable or increasing playerbase that would mean anet has a stable or increasing income through gemstore and could deliver content in a nice & steady pace.
But that’s not the case. Content delivery is slower than ever and they show no sign of long term projects even after two year.
As for why I’m still playing, I’m not . I usually log in daily to see who is still online but I just stand around in a city.

This is backwards logic. Most games, when they go into a lull, produce more content to get people back. They come out with expansions to increase the playerbase. They make expansions to renew interest.

Games that are doing well don’t have to do that. That’s the logic of business.

The exception is when a game is in it’s last throws and you abandon it. Since the 9/9 patch was pretty robust, there’s no sign the game is being abandoned. Since we get new stuff on November 4th there’s no sign.

But if people weren’t playing and paying, the logical move would be an expansion.

Less money -> more content sounds like backwards logic to me. They try to get back players that’s obvious, that’s why they decided to release features in packs instead of launch them when they are ready. This way they can produce the same amount of content but also they also release patches big enough to send email about to players who left long ago.

Also I just think GW2 didn’t live up to Anet’s expectations. We still haven’t heard new sold copy milestone since when? 3.5 million sold was the last we heard without china. No wonder they pushed china release & 54 gemstore update a year.

You should probably watch the business more, rather than formulating opinions without watching the business. Because MMOs do add content when the population drops, not when it’s at a high.

That’s pretty much every MMO everywhere…with very very few exceptions.

Nilkemia.8507:

The only real misconceptions regarding level gating are those that suggest the level gating is a good or beneficial change. While some may have exaggerated about the badness of the changes, it doesn’t change that they are bad, and do not improve but rather degrade the quality and fun of this game.

The leveling rewards make later leveling much more fun for me personally. More fun is an improvement to me.

IndigoSundown.5419:

I’m beginning to think that ANet did themselves a disservice when they told us the NPE was being patched in due to players finding the game to be too difficult. Had they simply told us they were making the changes to better pace rewards to aid in new player retention, my guess is we’d be seeing a lot less of the, “ANet thinks I’m stupid.” comments.

They did later say there were three reasons for the patch….but yeah, it was said too late.

@Valandil Dragonhart.2371

You seeing less people in LA continually can’t be compared to metrics though, for a whole lot of reasons. For example, there might be more people in different areas. There might be more people in Rata Sum or Divnities reach. Those programs that track player hours (and in one case player unique log ins) give actual data, which is better than any annecdotal evidence. For one thing, the human mind absolutely has issues with memory and seeing what it wants to see. There’s tons of evidence to support that. Testified to the fact that I haven’t seen less people in LA and you say you have. My own observatuions are largely worthless and can’t really be quantified.

At any rate, the ebbs and flows of the game are always going to be strongest on new release, then less until the next release In WoW it happens too, and no one says WoW is dying. WoW lost more people in the last two years than are likely still playing Guild Wars 2. But no one says they’re dying. WoW players, many, will be back with the next expansion.

Guild Wars 2 players, many, will be back for Halloween. And those tracking sites, particularly Xfire, show those ups and downs.

Seeing less people between updates if people log in for updates is nothing to comment on. Annecdotal evidence is inherently flawed, where as tracked data is more likely to be accurate.

Using the term a game is dying and using langage like funeral or buried, when a game is making millions and millions of dollars a month can’t be classed as anything but hyperbole. Why defend the indefensible?

He could have said that I don’t like stuff, instead he drew an unwarranted conclusion and expects us to swallow it. Why? Where’s the evidence? You see less people. Okay.

I’m biased and your biased. That’s why I prefer to depend on tracking software, and not any opinion.

Xfire and Overwolf have millions of players each. It’s statistically significant enough to judge how a game is doing, or at least trending.

This game is trending in the same spot across all three tracking sites for a long long time.

Many of us are still playing…no matter what spin you try to put on it.

This is why I almost always run dungeons only with my guildies.

Kurick.3680:

Vayne.8563:

Find and join a guild that matches your play style. I’m a casual, fun/social player so that’s the kind of guild I joined.

Having an active guild means you’re not always on your own and you can not only ask questions, but join in activities.

Yea I agree, I am sure it does help being in a guild and not playing alone all the time, I guess if I find a guild that is active and get on well with the people it will get me more interested in the game again. Been thinking of moving to a more populated server and find an active guild.

If you don’t care about WvW, and you’re a PvE’er, you can ignore what server the guild is on as well.

This thread isn’t particularly fair. It’s a way for everyone to express any complaint, whether it has to do with fairness or not. It’s not unfair that we don’t have Cantha, it’s just something you don’t like.

This is a terrible thread, that’s not in any way constructive.

TC since launch!

Find and join a guild that matches your play style. I’m a casual, fun/social player so that’s the kind of guild I joined.

Having an active guild means you’re not always on your own and you can not only ask questions, but join in activities.

Scipio.3204:

I’d say wether GW2 is dying or not can be decided by using the logic of supply & demand. If something has high demand it is logical to deliver high supply or in other words if GW2 does have a stable or increasing playerbase that would mean anet has a stable or increasing income through gemstore and could deliver content in a nice & steady pace.
But that’s not the case. Content delivery is slower than ever and they show no sign of long term projects even after two year.
As for why I’m still playing, I’m not . I usually log in daily to see who is still online but I just stand around in a city.

This is backwards logic. Most games, when they go into a lull, produce more content to get people back. They come out with expansions to increase the playerbase. They make expansions to renew interest.

Games that are doing well don’t have to do that. That’s the logic of business.

The exception is when a game is in it’s last throws and you abandon it. Since the 9/9 patch was pretty robust, there’s no sign the game is being abandoned. Since we get new stuff on November 4th there’s no sign.

But if people weren’t playing and paying, the logical move would be an expansion.

Most people know me as a big supporter of the game, but even I don’t like the precusor drop rates…and I got one.

But I play a LOT of hours.

Valandil Dragonhart.2371:

Vayne.8563:

GuzziHero.2467:

I don’t really, anymore.

The way Ascended gear was implemented planned the funeral. April megafailpatch dug the hole. Anet not giving a half a kitten about our concerns made the coffin. The ridiculous, mindless changes to the storyline hammered the lid shut.

I stick around in the vain hope that there are some signs of life before they start shovelling in the soil.

Pretty strong on the hyperbole. The game still seems to have a lot of people, even if it’s not the same people, or it’s some returning people.

You don’t like the changes or the game, so Anet is burying it. The game is alive and well. There’s absolutely no evidence anyone has put forward to the contrary besides the annecdotal evidence of my friend, my guild etc.

Hyperbole (n.) rhetoric – “obvious and intentional exaggeration.”

Metaphor (n.) “something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.”

I believe Vayne needs a lesson on understanding common english grammar.

He was clearly using metaphorical instances in his speech. Personally I don’t believe any of that is exaggeration. It’s clear that his mind is made up as to how stuff was implemented. How he feels about this implementation and how you or I feel about it is completely irrelevant.

I’m sorry but using language to imply something that there’s ZERO evidence to support is hyperbole. The game obviously isn’t dead or dying. Not unless a game that’s in the top 20 in Xfire, Raptr and Overwolf, that’s still making millions of dollars a month is dead or dying.

You didn’t like a change so you compare it to the game’s death, hence your creative use of the term funeral. It’s a gross exaageration, or commentary on the state of the game. The only thing that may or may not have died is your interest in the game.

Using language to exaagerate something is exactly what hyperbole is.

Even were this game to drop out of the top 20 in those three tracking sites, it still wouldn’t be close to dead. But as of now, the game is doing well.