Guild Wars 2

/agree with Palador. Take a break. Follow the news, participate in the forums. GW2 isn’t going anywhere.

I’m all for GvG as another play mode, but not to the detriment of WvW. In GW1 guild vs guild matches were intense, fun, and incredibly worth the time and effort needed to prepare for it. GvG matches brought guildies together in a special way that is missing in GW2. The bonds I made in GvG lasted over 6 years.

Vayne.8563:

Guild Wars 2 has met expectations for each and every quarter. The evidence is, if you don’t meet expectations, people get laid off as happened with the rest of NcSoft West, but notably not Anet.

Saying the game has less profit means absolutely nothing without knowing the expectations in the business plan.

For the record, I always thought an expansion (or expansion type content) is in the works anyway. I think it would be a bad mistake if it’s not. But quoting numbers without knowing the expectations is taking a fact and trying to make it fit your personal pet theory. It can’t really be done.

Now if NcSoft West laid off people and Wildstar Laid off people and Anet did not (but is instead hiring people), anyone that has a modicum of business experience might be tempted to think that the company is meeting expectations…which is all a company usually needs to do.

GW2 doesn’t have a sub model, so you have to base financial success on box sales and whatever piddlings the Gem Store brings in. Right now NCInteractive has more open job reqs than ArenaAnet, so I’m not sure the layoffs were due to just Wildstar’s utter failure.

Furthermore, if you look at the financial numbers Guild Wars 2 has steadily declined all year whereas Lineage, Lineage 2, Aion and Blade & Soul have increased. Why? One reason may be expansions. Lineage 2 launched one, as did Aion and Blade & Soul. It doesn’t take a Wall Street analyst to see GW2 needs an infusion. And what’s the best way to jumpstart box sales and get those numbers up?

I’m with you in the sense an expansion is coming. I hope that when the announcement comes, the expansion will have been in development for some time and this isn’t the grand proclamation an expansion is a great idea and should be pursued. Time will tell.

I hope this is the announcement we’ve all been waiting for. Likely it isn’t, but one can hope.

Andred.1087:

Chrisco.5732:

The reason I feel that an expansion is needed is because the living story hasn’t been able to deliver the common features that people are asking for.

If you review recent changes you will find it has, in fact, been able to deliver features that people asked for. I think what you mean is “it hasn’t delivered features that a handful of very vocal individuals have been fruitlessly demanding for years.”

Players have asked for new skills - can you point them out?

Players have asked for at least one new class to play - can you point this out?

Players have asked to play a new race - Can you point this out?

Players have asked for new dungeons - can you show me the way? I can’t seem to find it.

Players have asked for new crafting disciplines - Can you point this out?

Players have asked for new weapons to use - Can you point this out?

Players have asked for precursor crafting - Have you made any yet?

Players have asked for a new continent to experience - Can you give us directions?

Your turn to bestow on us, the “very vocal individuals” the features we have all asked for which were delivered.

Andred.1087:

I fully expect to now be labelled as a “white knight”

If the cape fits, wear it. Your shots at the community did give me a chuckle, thank you. But sadly your post reeked of bias and envy, which leads me to believe you’re simply here to troll. I’d counter some of your other far-fetched claims but I prefer to reside in the realm of fact-based arguments supported by reference.

Here’s some tasty tidbits you:

GW2
19.68 biln Won
-6.6 % QoQ; -20% YoY
Still strong performance in NA/EU
Performance in China is weaker than expected.
more aggressive marketing and updates are planned to expand the playerbase
From conference call: " The game is now two years old. And therefore in the not too far future we do think that we will have an opportunity to show our plans about expansion packs for this game"

Link to the report: http://global.ncsoft.com/global/ir/earnings.aspx#none
Stream Conference call: http://cast.calltogether.co.kr/ncsoft/2014_3Q/index.html

Did you see what I did there Andred? I backed up my statement with facts . Sales are down, the game is stale and the people in the position to green light an expansion have either done so already or plan on doing it in the not too far future.

Just in case you’re still having trouble getting the point: an expansion is coming . The masses were right to complain and criticize and outline ideas of what should be developed. The others (you) were wrong to defend a game in its current state, knowing full well the Living Story isn’t up to the task of replacing a full-on expansion.

Nury.3062:

SkylightMoon.1980:

Scoundrel.2139:

SkylightMoon.1980:

To my knowledge, which can be summarized as reading 80% of the posts on here, there is pretty much nothing that can satisfy this community. Literally something always has to cause conflict and several rage posts. To add to that, most of the forum posts that do offer criticism, don’t offer it constructively. There is a lot of “This is the last straw Anet”, or “Does Anet even care about their players?” on this forum. We get patches every month! And in the last 2 months, its been twice a month, which is absolutely insane for a game. Obviously its a continual learning process, but I don’t think most of you actually take the time to appreciate the immense work Anet puts into the game, part of which is going on the forums listening to you guys make lousy complaints.

I’m bored. had a beer. I’m going to leave this here. Not for the reasons you think though…. This is from a year ago.
(Sorry for using you as an example Skylight)

It’s because it highlights the way some players, while previously championing the ANet cause, have become a bit jaded. I agree it’s time for an expansion. Maybe not right now, but if Anet were to come out and say “We are hoping for an amazing addition to our product in 2016 that everyone will love, although it may cost $x amount” then it would quiet the fears of a lot of people that are worried the current content is becoming stale.

lol. Because I gave the LS a chance? Ye I used to think the LS could be a very big thing. Ive been proved wrong. I gave it a very fair chance for its content delivery and can objectively say it failed.

subjectively*

Objectively was correct. I also gave the LS a serious chance at supplanting an expansion. I supported Anet’s decision to rework how they released the updates. But the Living Story, in now its second form, is not the answer . Too much is being left out. Unless LS3 is piggy-backed with a steady diet of new skills, the introduction of new eaces and classes, raids, guild halls, a new continent (notice I didn’t say one or two new zones) and new character progression I don’t see anything improving.

Dave.2536:

I love getting to walk around with titles/armor that other people can’t really obtain any more.

I think this arrogance says it all. Your piece as a whole screams self-centered egocentric values.

Dave.2536 – the OP is being sarcastic. Take a moment to read and comprehend the post before replying.

To the OP – this was an issue with LS1 and was addressed in LS2. How affective the change was is anyone’s guess. Comparee to basically every other functioning MMO at this point GW2 is far behind in content production so I don’t think you’re missing out on very much.

lordkrall.7241:

Zanshin.5379:

Anet will make an expansion when they really lose a lot of player. Who knows if it’s gonna be 2015 or 2016.

Want an expansion? Stop playing GW2.

Or it could do the complete opposite.

Losing many people could make NCSoft decide spending money on an expansion would not be worth it, and as such an expansion would never happen.

Agreed, although Zanshin appears to be confused as to why expansions are released in the first place. Expansions are made to re-invigorate their existing playerbase while attracting new players. There has to be a combination of both for their efforts to be successful.

Oldirtbeard.9834:

It’s not meant to be funny, I’m actually being quite serious; further more I didn’t see anyone else showing our forum mod the consideration of wishing her a Merry Christmas you Scrooge

Sad attempt at trying to get someone’s attention. Why not include a thoughtful post in the numerous other threads discussing why Anet hasn’t considered or announced an expansion yet?

spoj.9672:

Well if nothing comes that personally excites me for the next year. Ill be trying Black Desert with no ties. That should be released end of 2015 or early 2016. Kind of hope something big does happen with GW2 before that though. Barely log in these days.

Agreed. Black Desert looks great. I’ve been hanging on the outer fringes with GW2 for the past year, hoping against hope they get their act together. If year 3 rolls around and we’re stuck in the same place we are now that might be it.

nGumball.1283:

Substance E.4852:

It won’t happen. They have sad time and again that they aren’t gonna do expansions and if they suddenly released one out of no where it would shatter what little credibility they have left in the eyes of the community.

There would be almost 0 reason to believe them on anything, one way or the other.

They never said they won’t do an expansion.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-03-its-unlikely-guild-wars-2-will-ever-get-an-expansion-pack

This was said about the time an expansion should have been in the early stages of development. Considering how long it takes Anet to release the LS, a full blown expansion would require years to make. It’s not going to happen.

AngelDiscarnate.5489:

What happens is players whine on the forums, and A-Net considers it, but says nothing because they don’t want to be caught with their pants down if they can’t deliver or deliver on time.

So they just say nothing at all on larger matters.
Which is fine with me. They dangled GW2 in our faces for what? 3 years before anything concrete showed up. They don’t want to disappoint people, and I’m fine with that.
I like surprises anyway.

Here’s a surprise: Anet isn’t working on an expansion. If they were the CDI’s would be abuzz with ideas and conversations related to classes, races, continents, skills, which they aren’t. And if they were making an expansion the Living Story would be taking at least a one year hiatus to focus on content development. That’s not happening either.

And just in case you still aren’t convinced, think about this: Anet announced GW2 and stood by their statement of “It’s ready when it’s ready.” They didn’t disappoint anybody with this. They could easily announce an expansion and say, “it’ll be released when it’s ready” and the playerbase will respect and understand this. Would we still ask for updates? Sure, that’s human nature. People ask questions.

What we have now and for the foreseeable future are thin Living Story updates and PvP tournies. Unless Anet hires a small army of new developers and artists it’ll be status quo for 2015.

lordkrall.7241:

LucosTheDutch.4819:

That is assuming a diminishing userbase is something normal and expected.

Every single game ever released have a diminishing user base from the moment it is released.

And you pulled these facts from where, exactly ? In NA we didn’t hear about mergings until a good year and a half had passed. Megaservers was a great way to conceal dominishing numbers. How ever China has reached this point within six months. That’s a troubling sign.

Andred.1087:

America.9437:

Here’s how you get people to experience new things and new places….CREATE NEW THINGS AND NEW PLACES! STOP ALTERING CONTENT AND PASSING IT OFF AS NEW CONTENT. Sometime I feel as if Anet is just rearranging the furniture and calling it a new living room.

Yeah, like that time they re-arranged literally nothing into Dry Top and the Silverwastes, I mean talk about re-using content, amirite?

Please tell me you’re not defending the only two new zones not named SouthSun. That’s hilarious and a bit sad. To the OP – your theory ia correct. Rearranging and dressing up existing content has been Anet’s MO since launch. Ignore the white knights. They’re getting frustrated more and more players are coming out with valid criticisms about their beloved.

Lishtenbird.2814:

EXPLORATION

Before:

• Walk around the world and feel like a free hero. Do what you want when you want.

Now:

• After the NPE improvement, follow the arrows (and press [F] to win). No need to make decisions.

OP – +1 and thank you. Having experienced the NPE on my alt, it’s not something I wish to revisit. I do not require arrows to show me where the next vista is, in fact I find it insulting. The core of this game – PvE wise – was built around exploration and discovery. I was amazed at all the things I found simply by running and jumping as a new player. But now who in their right minds can possibly recommend a game that treats you like a four-year old? Last time I checked this wasn’t Pirates 101.

Andred.1087:

Forum-goers are such romantics.

What if, WHAT IF??? What if everything is actually going well at ANet, and you all who come on here day after day to sound the alarm of imminent DOOM are totally mistaken, and too arrogant to see how wrong you are?

What if the reason ANet is ignoring you is because they have a bigger picture than you do, and they can see that everything is fine, and that doing what you suggest would not be the best course of action?

Unless Anet surprises everyone with an expansion pack dwarfing anything ever released in the history of online gaming in the next three months you are sadly mistaken. There is no big picture. Everything is not fine, and it doesn’t matter what we suggest Anet will release what Anet wants to release without a second thought to the state of the game. The proof is in the last 2 1/2 years.

Donari.5237:

Oh, I don’t buy nearly as many as I used to, not since the town clothes change. Instead I specifically buy when I want a particular item and keep close to a zero gem balance. I also less-want some items, such as the various gathering tools. They’ve looked cool, but I haven’t felt like spending on them when I likely would have before the town clothes thing kicked me in my fashionista gut.

Agreed. I was purchasing every new armor set that became available until this change. The town clothes nerf was a rude awakening. Then to top it off, Anet decided to nerf mix-and-match armors, further limiting customization.

I was never a fan of Traits to begin with. They felt like a lazy supplement to actionable skills, as if the system was limited. After the NPE, the Trait system has been revealed to be nothing more than a nuisance which requires rework after rework. To have 7 80’s and have to wait until a higher level to use traits on a new alt is mind-boggling. But alas Anet needs to release something to account for all the development time spent during these months of bare-bone content releases.

To the OP – it sucks to have that experience. You’re not the first to express frustration over the NPE and won’t be the last. Thank you for expressing it regardless.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

So to sum up the year:

We had a 6 week break from December 10th to January 21st

Then we had a 4 week break from March until April

Then we had a 12 week break From April to July

Then we had an 8 week break from September til November

And now we are having a 6 week break from December to January

Anet’s total break time for the year = 36 weeks of break out of a 52 week year…

Well I guess it is no wonder why people are complaining about the amount of content… Anet gets more breaks than congress…

Thanks for the breakdown. This pretty much sums of GW2 at a glance. Maybe 2015 will see a change in leadership or general course for GW2. Either way it can’t get any worse than this.

Random Wax Orc.7695:

Blockhead Magee.3092:

and a few very small explorable areas.

This alone is a hugely important issue. These tiny new zones are more arenas than areas. This may be, in part, due to the slow rationing out of the living story, however, I suspect it has more to do with megaservers.

Without expansive zones, the game loses its epic feel and diminishes the sense of exploration and discovery.

Well said. It’s not like before launch when GW2 shipped when it was good and ready to. You can see the time and effort placed into every zone. They felt much larger than they really were. The new LS zones reflect the time crunch placed on the development teams. If these zones, along with other much needed deliverables like classes, races, skills were churning out I doubt the number of complaints would be as high. But given that’s all we’ve recieved beyond Southsun the arguments hold merit.

Ausfer.1853:

Gaile Gray.6029:

It’s really interesting to read the various thoughts on the story and the role that we, as players, played in the update. We’ve highlighted this thread (and a few others) so that the developers can see the various opinions about the Living World updates.

I sure hope you devs have a thick skin when it comes to the forums. It seems like no matter what you guys do, there will be people complaining about it.

Not so. I was constantly heaping praise for art work, voice acting and the general feeling the world felt alive. More praise came through the inital armor sets and hair styles through the gem store of which I bought them all. The SouthSun Cove event was bold and creative, albiet laggy.

I recommended GW2 to over 20 of my friends, of which 12 of them bought in and enjoyed themselves.

Bug fixes and balancing was frequent and appreciated. But then we were introduced to the Living Story, Anet’s attempt to sate our thirst for new content. That’s when the rails fell off.

Valento.9852:

This is a well-earned vacation. From GW2’s starting year until now they’ve shown an incredible ability to come up with new systems, re-work stuff as needed, and deliver a reasonable amount of content in short periods. I still recommend GW2 for all of my friends, and I’m still fond of the idea that ArenaNet has really changed how companies should perceive MMOs in general.

So yeah, I rant regularly but let them enjoy their free time.

Did you just come out from under a rock for two years? If by “vacationing” you meant “quitting for a better paying dev job”, or “moving onto a different company because I’m sick of burn out” then yeah they are vacationing. In all seriousness, the OP is right, just like a multitude of OP’s before him: the egregiously long breaks between thin Living Story updates is unacceptable. It points to turmoil across all development levels, starting with upper management. But don’t take my word for it, look it up for yourself. The moderators routinely delete posts which link to this public information, so I will not.

Paul.4081:

From what I gather it seems spokespeople are being chosen which means in true ANet style Lordkrall and Vayne have already been picked but Anet will make a big show for Xmas of pretending!

I seriously hope not. This Forum Specialist thing is a farce.

To the OP – I’m sorry to hear about your guild and experiences thus far. Hopefully things change in the future, however I wouldn’t bet your free time on it. Many of my friends who used to play GW2 quit because of the lack of content keep tabs now and again. If you haven’t yet subscribe to Guild Wars 2 news through Google.

Malchior.5732:

It’s like this in pretty much every other game: Run as little defense that you need to survive and dump everything else into your offense, which happens to be Zerker gear. People will always prefer the faster methods, so taking 5x longer to kill an enemy isn’t on their list of things to

tl;dr Either Zerker is meta, or something else will take its place. Going against this is pointless.

Was your intention to create a flame war? Is someone looking for attention? There is no skill requirement in GW2 hence the preference for speed. Bring whatever you want, it works pretty much the same. And it’s not like this in every game, heck it wasn’t like this in GW1.

Behellagh.1468:

saalle.4623:

Anet made some really big mistakes with NPE where they sort of declared us as kittens that dont know how to press 1 button and dodge.

NPE wasn’t for vets but newcomers. The problem is that they didn’t implement a way for vets to skip all the restrictions they set up for new players like they said they would. Other MMOs allowed you to skip the Tutorial. Here we didn’t have a tutorial at all until NPE dropped. It’s like going skiing and now everyone must first qualify on the bunny slopes before you get to go up to any of the trails every weekend.

The more frustrating aspect of the NPE is why they did it in the first place. All those resources dumped into the wrong bucket.

Rhinala.1739:

I think GW2 is becoming better and closer to GW1 in some aspects, thy have a lot of work to fulfill the game potential but i think that thy are on the right path.

In some ways GW2 is better than GW1. The free-flowing combat and look and feel of the world. But as another poster mentioned, all necessity for skill was thrown out the window. Fighting is open – yes- but also mindless. And I question what kind of path GW2 was taken on. We knew what kind of path GW1 had – an expansion every year or so. GW2? A living story update that lasts for an hour, then wait two weeks? And after a two month period of releases we get to wait for three months? It’s not amounted to much.

poisonality.8972:

it would have been nice if they would have just kept releasing expansions for guild wars. this is a decent game, but it isn’t nearly as epic as guild wars was. i played guild wars 1 more than i do 2, and still would if i had anything left to do on any of my characters

In hindsight, yes they could have made it work. GW1 was immensely popular and the expansion model (when in full swing) kept the players playing.

Gaile Gray.6029:

I agree, Behellagh. I think the term is overused and used poorly.

To try to address some of the comments about “white knights,” we’re looking for people who know the game, participate in the forums, and engage well with others. These qualities means they won’t have a “speckled history” of a large number of forum infractions, suspensions, or what-have-you’s. We look for decent writing skills and a genuine interest in helping other players and our dev team with this project.

As to “white knights,” they can be white, brown, purple, or fuchsia polka dot. They can be male or female, any age above 18, and from any part of the country. A qualifier is not “Do they post only good stuff about the game?” but more “Do they express themselves clearly and fairly?”

I know we have a lot of forum members like that, and I hope they’ll consider helping out.

Gaile – A lot of posters convey their thoughts clearly and fairly. I remember a large thread discussing the state of game featuring clear and fair posts; however, you stated that no feedback could be taken from that thread. In one fell swoop you discounted everyone’s opinion. Granted, there was a lot of emotion swirling through those pages, but you dismissed a great number of thoughtful perspectives. This is not an attack; rather an observation that holds meaning to what Anet is really looking for in a Forum Specialist.

Swagger.1459:

Gaile Gray.6029:

As you will see in the News and Announcements Sub-Forum, we are introducing a new program for the forums. Please review the announcement and post any question you may have here.

Thank you.

this program is only going to work if you do the following…

1. start being transparent.
2. open a public testing realm.
3. actually start pumping out aaa quality content, updates, fixes, changes… on a regular basis.

anything short of the above three will be seen as another stalling tactic (cdi) while the game remains “substantial development” starved and we are constantly given the “umm, we can’t talk about it again”.

edit-additionally, i don’t know why a program like this would be necessary considering we have been told that the developers read the forums despite lack of comments.

I have agree with these points. Forum Specialists seem redundant and made to add another defensive layer to an impregnable fortress that is the development of GW2. Shouldn’t whatever resources Anet has left be devoted to digging themselves out of this content hole? We’re approaching 2 1/2 years without an expansion, and don’t tell me the Living Story is the answer because its not. It’s like living off potato chips.

As previous posters mentioned, these so-called Specialists will be just as bound and gagged as the communication reps we have now. How is this going to make things better?

DiogoSilva.7089:

If NCSoft has talked about an expansion, then it’s because an expansion or expansion-like content is in the works. Or do you people seriously believe that GW2’s publisher has no idea of what Anet’s plans are?

It’s well documented Anet is in the driver seat. NCsoft can make suggestions, but that’s where it ends. Some time back NCsoft announced an expansion and Colin publicly slapped it down.

SkylightMoon.1980:

Id like to dematerialize a few rumors going around

Their playerbase has stabilized which is good and not surprising.

You contradict yourself early on and lose whatever argument you strived to make. Why not just come out and say, "My rumors are better than your rumors, and here’s why. After all, all of this is rumor, so what if a few take hold.

7 80’s 1 map complete

I was holding out hope LS2 would restore some of the fun and excitement I experienced the first two years. Even a fraction would have been fine. Living Story Season 2 is shaping up to be another disappointment. The content couldn’t get any thinner. Either there’s are a kitten ton of empty desks at ArenaNet, or the development teams are so disorganized nothing substantial can be finished. Either way, this ship is taking on water faster than ever. It’s a sad sight to behold.

Bellizare.5816:

Attention seeker I would guess.

And you would be wrong. Like the OP and responders who understand why he created the thread, pulling away from GW2 was hard but he was left with no other choice. Too bad we’ll never kmow how many players have left since the game went stagnate lare 2013.

Let’s face it: there is no expansion coming. Raids and guild halls, whenever they are done, will most likely release alongside the beginning or middle of the Living Story. Anet doesn’t have the resources to give us what we really want.

tolunart.2095:

The article sets off my BS detector: the guy interviewed claims to have invented the MUD pretty much by itself, but fails to mention that the earliest MUDs were computer emulations of Dungeons and Dragons. D&D was developed a few years before he claims to have invented MUDs in the USA and is responsible for many aspects he claims to have invented, including the themes of exploration and killing enemies, experience, levels and classes, and even the “Dungeons” the genre was named for.

He didn’t invent any of these things, they were borrowed from existing games. The whole claim that he envisioned them as some kind of idealized society and a political protest is just BS.

Agreed. The article is nonsense. Please lock this thread.

I just purchase the Noble Outfit because it’s a beautiful dress. Sadly I had to give up my spectacles to wear it. I agree with the posters who say by just letting us customize the helmet we could retain some uniqueness. That’s a pretty fair compromise versus allowing the full outfit to be mixed and matched.

Thank you for the fix! I know I’ve been critical of Anet for a bit, but I do appreciate the ability to purchase gems smaller increments. Thank you.

Reverence.6915:

As someone who’s been playing since launch with around 3k hours logged, I’d say that gw2 isn’t repetitve or boring at all. I mainly play WvW (around rank 1400, a few ranks admittedly gained in EoTM) but dabble in fractals (only level 12 still for that), sPvP (low rank still, only rank 17), dungeons, living story and world boss trains occasionally. Hell, I’ve yet to do an Arah dungeon path or complete the aetherblade TA path. I still log on and think ‘kitten ot enough time to do that tonight’.

People not expanding into other game modes will most definitely get bored. You’re not experiencing the game as a whole but just a small fraction of it. What do you expect? Eat too much chocolate and you’ll get sick of that too, no matter how many different flavours and variations you try. No wonder they’ll complain

You’re definitely in the minority. The current state of the game couldn’t possibly be any more repetitive, and implying the rest of us haven’t experienced other avenues in GW2 is idiotic. Two years and counting since the players who made GW2 what it is (or was) and nothing substantial has come in the way of PvE, WvW or sPvP.

And we’re still waiting for the gem conversion fix. I’m sitting on 550 gems and refuse to buy 400 more just so I can buy the noble’s outfit. Gaile did say they are working on it, but should it really take this long?

SYPHA.9283:

So, when GW2 came out and ANET said new content every 2 weeks, (which they’ve lied about) did they mean new content as in new stuff, in the TRADER to BUY every 2 weeks.

Because we haven’t had any NEW content in over 2 months.

Where do i submit my refund????

This thread is just bursting with White Knights. Haven’t you gotten used to the massive influx of players disillusioned with Anet’s handling of GW2 PvE sector yet?

To the OP: you’re most likely feeling the absence of any new, substantial content since launch. The Living Story is supplemental content at best. A snack to hold you over while Anet prepares another meal. however, players have grown tired of asking for an expansion, and that’s what GW2 desperately needs. Had Anet followed its predecessor’s blueprint for success you wouldn’t be feeling the lull as much.

cesmode.4257:

All of the pro and cons in ths thread aside…

I love how arenanet forum peoples hop into threads that are benign in nature but not in something like this.

When people comment on aesthetics or some gem shop item being cool or bad, or whatever, they comment in there. But when people have concerns, they steer clear. Probably because they know that people will put them on pikes, but still.

Devs are listening.

The devs can’t do jack diddly about the state of the game, neither can the community personnel. Our only hope is a NCsoft exec who is given a link by an assistant to gander at the sheer volume of criticisims directed at the direction Anet has taken GW2. Of course each of us will be struck by lightning before that happens.

Direwolf.8796:

I appreciate the value of constructive feedback but the online GW2 community just seems so ungrateful and unappreciative Just think of the negative image you are portraying for new/potential players. I think more people should know how great this game really is.

If I was Anet and I read all the crap people complain about I would find it a little disheartening. So I’m posting for the first and only time to say the following:

Anet, I love this game and I think you guys have done a fantastic job. Thank you for all your hard work! Dont forget there are people that really appreciate this game and work thats gone in to it.

New & Potential players, come and give this game a shot and decide for yourself if you like it Don’t get caught up in the negativity of some people . The complainers are the loudest voices but there is a great community in this game if you give it a try.

-happy GW2 player

Although the OP carries the scent of an Anet employee posting as an alt, let’s assume he is an actual player for the heck of it.

Your impressions are valid, the game is great – until you complete the content that was released at launch. Good luck trying to find anything else substantial to do. There’s a big reason why the major cities are near deserted. The supplemental content that is the Living Story has been rail thin. Anet has refused to release an expansion and has focused on “improving” the quality of life.

At first the negative feedback on these forums was minimalized by white knights as the vocal minority, but that stance has invariably changed. Now even the most stalwart of MMO journalists are openly questioning why Anet has allowed GW2 to deteriorate in such a fashion.

wasted.6817:

Not to jump to any conclusions or w/e, but what i noticed recently. For the past ~month, maybe more, LA chat is practically dead, no matter what time of day, no conversations at all, that’s the first time i see this in GW2 and i’am playing since beta. Now with Halloween there are some, but can’t be even nearly compared to how it used to be during past Halloweens. ~20 ppl doing Mad King says… used to be crowded. If it’s any indicator of decline in playerbase, then it could be because of:

1. General discontent after 9/9 patch and long break between LS seasons.
2. Archeage release. I know for a fact that many big guilds left for AA, as guilds.
3. Pre WoD patch release in WoW.

People who left were practically ready to leave for some time now and were just waiting for a good reason. Let’s see what happens on episode 2 release with Wintersday following up.

All very good observations. I have my doubts about Wintersday and the finale of LS season 2, though. More than enough players have become disillusioned with Anet’s handling of GW2, it’ll take a full on expansion to restore the glory. On the bright side I’ve been finding more and crowds in GW1. Not everyone has migrated back to Wow, many have returned home

Vayne.8563:

I can see the OP’s point about being disappointed. But if they really didn’t change much, and they haven’t done living story in months, does anyone really still believe they’re not working on something bigger?

My guess is that Anet started working on the expansion late in the day, and once again, they’re playing catch up.

But I think there will be an expansion.

Given Anet’s policy on not speaking about releases until they’re near completion I wouldn’t expect an announcement for 7 months at least, assuming they started an expansion during the lull.

But here’s the thing: if they are working on an expansion then the LS is effectively done after these final episodes. Which in turn means we could be facing a total blackout period of 5-6 months. What do you think will happen to the remaining playerbase during that time?

That’s exactly what a stagnate MMO needs, a bigger farming zone….good luck trying to market that to players who left for greener pastures.

How about explorable content? New skills? Races? Classes?

It’s too late for an expansion, anyways. Anet has outsourced too many jobs, and allowed too much talent to walk. They now have a reputation of low-balling developers and mis-management which leads to consistent sources of frustration and delays in code releases. Seattle is flourishing is game development. Many an opportunity to be found.

So where does that leave GW2? The same state it is now for the foreseeable future.

The OP was mis-informed. He’s referring to an April Fool’s joke.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/March_2012:_State_of_the_Game

A Lizard Bolting Skin.7426:

Honestly, the GW2 business model works like this: Release updates that keep players spending money on gems. If you give ANet money for gems, you are telling them to keep the updates as they are. ANet has made a conscious decision to make small updates and fund the game off of gems alone, with no plans for an expansion. This means, at some level, ANet makes enough money off of gems alone, that it is not in their financial interest to work on an expansion. They make more money with the status quo.

Hypothetically, if players stopped paying money for gems, it would cause ANet to consider an expansion to be able to continue making money off the franchise. Which brings me to my point: When you buy gems, you are basically paying ANet to continue not making an expansion (and also to get some virtual cosmetic junk I suppose). So, if you are not satisfied with ANet’s updates, stop paying them for gems. Please and thank you.

Honestly, if GW2 continues to move further away from it’s GW1 roots, I don’t care what it will look like in a year, because I won’t be playing it.

I see your point. From a NA standpoint, a near-stoppage of gem sales may lead to a reduction in force; however, Anet and NCsoft have been making a killing in China. Cash is falling from the sky. A player revolt could still influence NCsoft into pressuring Anet into making an expansion. After all, the expansion would serve on two continents now. Win-win for everyone.

But I don’t see this happening. Anet can sit back and enjoy the profits from China for another year before feeling the pressure to release anything substantial. Meanwhile North America continues to languish. We are not the primary customers anymore- China is. As far as Anet’s concerned we got our money’s worth. Time to move on.

Surbrus.6942:

Vix.6730:

Based on what we’ve seen from Anet in 2014 the outlook is bleak. They are hemorrhaging talent. Couple this with the fact that chaos reigns supreme in their home office (reference to recent employee reviews on Glassdoor) I don’t see anything substantial coming in 2015 beyond more thin Living Story and QoL improvements.

I would love to be wrong in this. 2013-2014 was the era of suck for GW2, let’s hope 2015 is the year Anet turns it around.

The Glassdoor reviews you refer to are anonymous. As such they should be taken with a grain of salt, as there is no one actually confirming that any of them are in fact, true.

However what is worrying, is that Anet’s behaviour, and what they’ve done with the game has suggested that they have a lot of management problems, and the Glassdoor reviews (whether true or not) are simply confirming what people are already thinking.

That’s all their intended to do, really. Problems in the home office have trickled down into the game, that’s not a stretch. This wouldn’t be the first developer to experience this. Another example was the outsourcing of the QA team – this led to the September QoL patch as having processes run “that were not what they intended”. Bad decisions have led GW2 to this point. GW2 is still a viable enough platform the powers that be can turn this ship around, but the clock is ticking.

Arikyali.5804:

Anet does listen, but they take quite a long time to implement the changes we ask for. We want everything instant and now, but Anet probably can’t come through with that demand. In that short of a time.

They’re not going to listen to posts with baseless facts. Saying “a lot of people” or “not everyone” aren’t viable numbers. That’s not how a business runs.

I’ll respect the time you invested in your post, but your points are off, except for the fact that the people who are criticizing the game do in fact love it. However, I can’t imagine what crazy nutbag would rather experience the same content from two years ago than explore new content. Most, if not all of the “angry posts” were from paying customers who took the time to voice their frustrations. Every post, whether it’s someone venting about a release or someone who drafts a four paragraph essay on why the NPE needs polishing is considered feedback.

Anet has shown they can “hear” the player feedback, but so far they have not “listened”. Big difference there.