Guild Wars 2

Imaginos.3756:

Why isn’t there a slider in the options menu for “Max Number of Particles on Screen” at once?

Many of the particle effects seem to me to be overly excessive and if cut down some wouldn’t affect the look much if at all. That kind of slider would be far more friendly to older machines/video cards.

Yes.

And why isn’t there a yes/no option for “Hide particle effects of other players” so the animations/effects of some (world) bosses could be seen again?

Greetings.

Fernling.1729:

I think FF14 looks way better than gw2. Overall, I think Archeage looks better as well. AA has beautiful trees/grass and water. Kinda hard to compare, but Eve Online is absolutely stunning as well. GW2 has a great art style, the graphics themselves aren’t too impressive.

I have played AA too, and think that it has the better graphics engine (water/beach athmosphere looks really good) but that GW2 has the better graphics/art style.

I fear that a revamp of the GW2 graphics quality needs to replace the actual, quite outdated, graphics engine with a newer/better one and that will not happen because that is a really big task.

Greetings.

danbuter.2314:

Don’t spend real money on this. Seriously. The only reason RNG continues is because people keep buying gems.

lockheedlight.5910:

People really need to stop buying black lion keys. Maybe then we will get to just buy the weapons instead.

Still, after a year, I think you are both right. Sadly there seem to be enough people that buy the keys withs gems (and the gems with real money) and the black lion chest lottery still exists.

Greetings.

Vix.6730:

This was the single most exciting article thus far:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/looking-ahead-guild-wars-2-in-2013/

Each feature lasted no more than two paragraphs. The release gave players enough information on what they can expect the end result to be without divulging specifics.

Yes it was and I would really like to have more of this kind.

But after that they created their “no such annoucements anymore” policy, maybe as an excuse to not tell us, that some of the mentionend things did not come because the ressources were needed for the China launch.

And when A-Net now does do annoucements there is a lot of exaggeration like the “big changes comming to commander system” when it is merely only a price change and some new colors and even little things are described as big things with a lot of empty words. Its like they want to make “big announcements” but have not enough things finished to announce.

I do not think, thats good.

Greetings.

I would prefer 2.5. It is OK, when some people feel lucky but it is not good when other people on the “lower end” feel unlucky. After all I want to feel some reward for what I achieved but I do not want to play the lottery. (I do no buy black lion chest keys and I avoid the RNG-part of the mystic forge)

So I think the RNG-influence should be decreased/corrected and there should be some ways/tracks that assure getting the “extra good” items after some efforts even without RNG.

And the loot distribution system or “loot tables” should be looked into. For example: It is OK to get some trash/junk items when slaying some unimportant mobs. But it is not good to get trash/junk items as part of the reward of finishing a living story episode.

So I think that the overall influenc of RNG for loot distribution should be reduced.

Greetings.

Orpheal.8263:

As if finding out how to dodge would have been before the NPC so freaking hard.

I took a friend who plays nearly half a year GW2 and has one 80 char to the “dodge-chest” and she asked “what key do I have to press to dodge?”

Before this, there was no real “visible” need for her to dodge. So I think yes, this part of the NPE is a good thing.

Greetings.

Anirri.4156:

1: A game devs are not in it for the money but for the lvoe of games. They cant do this for free so they attempt to make money

Isnt this the “normal way” that people that have a talent for something try to find a job which they like and in which they can use that talent?

So its not a surprise that people who want develop video games, liked video games.
And after they started their job it then becomes a business for them.

I do find it more interesting when she talks about that the (missing) quality of several things in a video game has not so much to do whith the “raw talent” of the developer, but with shifting constraints and priorities (coming from the management), so a developer has to focus permanentely on different things.

Yes, that is also normal for a business from time to time. But if this happens too much too often for a company that is normally a sign of bad management (or/and unhappy shareholders)

Greetings.

nexxe.7081:

It really depends on the rewards.

I do not think so.

Good content is fun to play. That is normally the main reward and reason to play.

But after you have played the content and it is not so much fun anymore then the other rewards (loot, achievement system, etc..) take over and motivate players to play the same content over and over repeatedly.

Fun content can be “stretched” by rewards/loot/grinding but not replaced.

Content can only be replaced by more content.

Greetings.

Kythan Myr.4719:

Lately a lot of vocal players have expressed frustrations with things like NPE, saying it doesn’t address the veteran players. Others have expressed frustrations with the direction of the game moving towards more overly-casual and simplistic game play experience.

Yes, I have seen a lot expressed frustrations and anger in the NPE threads in this forum. Maybe its because key farming takes longer now (and key farmers are the only veterans that I can think of, that are creating a lot of new characters) maybe people already felt patronized by this even by reading the announcements. Its hard to tell.

But I do not see that the game has the general direction towards more overly-casual and simplistic game play.

Example: Most of the new content of this year (in the LS2) is for 80s only and has some new mob mechanics and harder mobs and is more challenging than for example the personal story.

For some people this already is too difficult, for some others its still too easy.

So, if A-Net raises the difficulity-bar in little steps, step-by-step over time, I think most of the player base would adapt and follow this direction.

Usually difficult content becomes easy with better skilled and equipped characters and with more experienced players. So content that was hard at the beginning feels easy now.

I do want more difficult content.
I do want more easy content.
I just want more content to play.

Greetings.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

I would like your opinion of events (like Tequatl) on timers. Do you prefer the way it is now or could you come up with some ideas which could elevate theses battles to a more engaging fight?

I do not like the timed events as they are now.

I liked the “miasma timer” of the lions arch event (miasma/poison build up) so you can only be in LA a limited time before you must have to go out, because the timer was part of the story/event.

But the actual timers are just artificial to the story/lore as a consequence of the megaserver. Fixed schedules are easier for some farmers, but are not good for the immersion of a “living dynamic world”.

Greetings.

mricezombie.4560:

offcourse you can pug, but doing someting challenging just with your best friend without 3 random players is the most fun. (in my experience)

I agree.

mricezombie.4560:

What do you guys think about 2-men dungeons? and in what form it should take place?

I would like to have 2-player dungeons and even 2-player fractals. :-)

However, I do not think that A-Net will be assigning ressources to this idea.

Greetings.

Zardul.3952:

but new classes bring new builds, new counters, new tactics, new gameplay, the need to relevel through the map again,

I would prefer they make new maps that bring new builds, new counters, new tactics, new gameplay without the need to relevel through the old maps again.

Greetings.

When has this discussion become so totally focused on “GW2 is better than AA” (and vice versa)??

I do really like that I have tested out AA. Because AA showed me, how GW2 is really different in so many things. Things that matter to me.

Is GW2 perfect? Of course not.

Will I stop playing GW2 at some time, if there is no new content coming soon? Sorry to say, but yes.

Is there another MMO out there that I would play instead of GW2 and that I like more than GW2? Absolutely not. (not yet).

Does other people have different optinions? Yes, of course.

Greetings.

notorious bob.2061:

So I logged back into my GW1 account yesterday, just to have a potter about for old times sake.

I started playing GW1 after GW2 (bought GW1 on the steam sale a few weeks ago) und played GW1 for some hours to understand why people are saying it is so better than GW2.

Well, after a few hours I stopped playing GW1. For me the questing was so “old style classical MMO boring”, fights were rather static. GW2 was and is much more fun for me. GW1 isn’t working for me, but GW2 is.

GW2 is not a sequel to GW1. GW1 and GW2 are two total different games that share the Name “guild wars” and some of the lore. So it is then normal, that GW1 works for some people, but GW2 not (and vice versa).

Greetings.

Lishtenbird.2814:

And yeah, can you level an alt just by riding a mount?

You can level a mount by riding a mount. ^^ (in some other game, of course, where everything is work …)

Greetings.

Perkinz.5362:

Attached are the results of my “short” stay, just in case you are curious as to what I’ve accomplished, and just how much I enjoyed this game.

“You have played for 260 hours over the last 35 days”

Wow. Thats 7.4 hours a day average in the last 35 days.

Maybe you have tried too hard and maybe a break from the game could be healthy.

Greetings.

Fernling.1729:

Zok.4956:

Shen Slayer.3058:

I just checked out Archeage and it looks pretty good. From the youtube, it looks almost like GW

Actually it is called in the games forum often “QueueAge” and for a lot of people it is not F2P (free to play) but F2Q (free to queue) and even paying customers (patrons etc…) have to wait 1-2 hours or longer in queue after log on before they can play (or get a disconnect during waiting…).

Greetings.

That just means a lot of people are playing. Give it some time and it should get better.
I haven’t tried it myself, and haven’t looked much into it. I do have it downloading now though.

It means: There are not enough servers for the players. It is Trion. I saw this issues with Rift in the past. They put not enough servers online because they want to sell items for money so that you do not have to wait so long in queue (patron status etc…). And after weeks/months when more and more player are leaving, they merge servers and a lot of people have to rename their chars.

Greetings.

MrIllusion.5304:

I imagine if there is a region drawing inspiration from kitten Germans and Jewish people living happily together (…), some feathers would get ruffled.

I do not think so.

Well, you know, there are Jewish people that live in Germany and which are also Germans and some parts of Jewish culture and language are still some parts of German culture and language.

Greetings.

Shen Slayer.3058:

I just checked out Archeage and it looks pretty good. From the youtube, it looks almost like GW

Actually it is called in the games forum often “QueueAge” and for a lot of people it is not F2P (free to play) but F2Q (free to queue) and even paying customers (patrons etc…) have to wait 1-2 hours or longer in queue after log on before they can play (or get a disconnect during waiting…).

Greetings.

Kite.2510:

Current problem:
EVERYBODY wants a berserker gear!

No, not everybody. Problem solved.

Don’t fix what isn’t broken.

Greetings.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

The dodge tutorial is great for the dodge Daily. =)

Nice idea.
I used to do the dodge daily with a veteran oakheart. And the tricky thing was to finish it before the vet was killed by autoattack (or other players) ^^

Greetings.

Fenar.4025:

Actually, real science is about observation of reality, not just numbers. If the reality doesn’t fit the numbers, then the numbers aren’t reality.

Actually, real science is in fact about the oberservation of our view of reality and making modells that fit our obervations about how we think reality could be. But actually, no one knows what reality (i.e. the universe …) really is.

Interesting reading: Quantum Psychology

Greetings.

Kamui.4038:

gryph.8734:

Tachenon.5270:

gryph.8734:

So my challenge stands. If you think you and your buddies can design a better game and make a go of it financially, go right ahead.

Your ‘challenge’ is so old and tired and downright silly that you should get a 50 DKP minus for using it. Heck, 350! By using it, you demonstrate that you are bereft of any valid argument.

One need not be a chef de cuisine to know that if the crème brûlée smells like a litter box that hasn’t been cleaned in a week, there’s probably something wrong with it.

But if one has never made a good creme brulee and can not make one any better than that, you’ll get laughed right out of the kitchen for cussing out the chef.

What’s happening here is that the chef is trying to tell us that a litter box is a creme brulee. GW2 has entered Bizarro World: up is down, left is right, right is wrong, …

No, actually not. The chef already has confirmed that something is wrong in the kitchen and that they are working on fixing it.

Sunshine.4680:

The new leveling system was designed to bore people and for people who play GW 2 on leap frogs.

Do you really believe, the developers designed the changes because they want to bore the players?

Greetings.

Barabbas.8715:

Vayne.8563:

So 12 year olds are impatient and think things are dumb.

My teenagers thought everything was dumb. Insurance was dumb. Taxes were dumb. Eating vegetables was dumb. Chic flicks were dumb. Reading was dumb.

I’m not sure what that proves except that you’ve got plenty more years of that to go.

Insurance, taxes, and chic flicks are dumb. If you think that thinking those things are awesome is a sign of maturity…lol.

When I was a teenager, I thought the same and I felt really mature.

Of course, no one (read: some people) wants to pay for taxes and insurances and think they are dumb, but I am sure everyone (read: most of the people) wants to benefit from them. Thats life.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Metrics say what’s done. But never does it say why it’s done. Do we do it because it’s fun, or do we do it because we need to (or it’s the most profitable means of getting what we need) in order to begin what we feel would be fun?

And I think this is what the OP means by “we are not metrics”. Metrics is what we do, not why we do it.

Yes, that is true normally for all metrics and KPI (key performance indicators).

The numbers have shown “that” (too much) players had left early in the leveling but they do not say “why”.

And it was up then for the A-net folks to find out with their own expertise the “why” and how it could be made better. They tried. They did. People make errors. Not everythings works as expected.

So the metrics did not tell A-Net what to do, but show only hints where to look at.

Greetings.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Hey folks,
Wanted to pop by and give another update on where we stand,
(…)

For all it’s worth: This is the kind of timely information and communication I (and maybe others) have asked for in the past and would like to see to continue in the future.

Thanks and Greetings.

Proposal Overview:
Change the guild member list that it shows all characters of a player that are representing the guild

Goal of Proposal:
When a player has several characters that are in different guilds (are representing different guilds) the guild member list shows only the character that is current online, even if the character is not representing the guild. This can lead to confision and can lead to questions sometimes “why are you not representing our guild?”

Proposal Functionality:
The guild member list shows (one character per entry) all characters of a player that are representing this guild with “character name” and “player name”

The member status of a character in the member list will be changed to:

• “offline” – if the player is offline or has his own online-status set to “offline”
• “online” – if the player is online with this character
• “online other” – if the player is online, but with a different character that also represents this guild
• “offline” – if the player is online, but with a different character that is not representing this guild

The “last login” field should show the time when that character was last “online”, not when the player was last online

Associated Risks

• The member list could grow larger.

Proposal Overview:

• Achievements of guild members are visible to all guild members with an “achievement log”

Goal of Proposal:

• Better playing together
• To let members in a guild see what other members have achieved and see what parts of the game other guild members are playing so they can “gz” them, or can ask them when they need help doing that particiular achievment
• Could also be a fun guild internal competition which guild members have some achievements first

Proposal Functionality:

• (1) Whenever a guild member finishes a permanent achievement (not monthly/daily) a notification is written in the guild channel “player-xy has achieved [achievement]” where [achievement] has a mouse over that shows the achievement information
• (2) Whenever a guild member finishes a permanent achievement (not monthly/daily) an entry is added to the guilds “achievements page”(3) as “Date abc player-xy has achieved [achievement]”
• (3) In the guild menue/section/logs there is a new page “member achievements” where every guild member can see past achievements of all guild members

Associated Risks

• None

IceVyper.6810:

I am a bit surprised that more people aren’t upset about the poor rewards.

Maybe because not all players have understand the underlining design principles yet, maybe because some players think that complaining about this has the same effect as complaining about the black-lions-chests-ticket-randomness (i.e. nothing will change), maybe because some players think its an error that will be fixed soon, maybe some players dont care about collections at all.

When they announced the collections I was quite happy about it. Now after I saw it myself: Not so much anymore.

Greetings.

HiddenNick.7206:

Just wondering… So are you excited for Feature Pack?

Yes, I am excited to get the “Honorary Skritt” title shortly after patch.^^

Greetings.

Zelanard.5806:

Seriously… what did you expect? its a feature pack…

I have expected nothing but hoped for a pack of features. When they announced, they will be doing three weeks with blog posts to explain all this new cool features, I was assuming that there will be a lot features.

When the blog posts came, they were kind of a anti-climax. They did not have enough real features to fill the blog posts every day so they have to put things in there that are no features (like the wvw tournament) or are not part of this feature pack (like the language chat filter).

It would maybe have been better if the feature pack announcements would have been condensed to three blog posts instead of three weeks with blogs posts.

Greetings.

HHR LostProphet.4801:

For all who say that new currencies aren’t the way to go: New currencies are an ideal and crucial tool to create new reward outside of gold.
Gold as reward is way too dominating, it can be used almost everywhere, and that’s bad.

I agree.

HHR LostProphet.4801:

I’ve put a lot of thought into the system and I can assure you, the benefits of new currencies outshine the disadvantage of having a cluttered wallet.

Well, that is your opinion.

I agree that the game should focus more on currencies/items that are not interchangeable with gold/gems, but I do not think that we should have a lot more of local currencies because it would clutter the wallet too much.

Greetings.

Geo.1603:

Mawdrey II eats Bloodstone Dust…

So why not Dragonite Ore and Empyreal Fragments as well?

Because Audrey II requires blood to survive.

Greetings.

I do sometimes like the abstract and impressionistic style of GW2.

Greetings.^^

Asmodeus.5782:

This kind of heavy rebalance would be more than welcome. The population density on higher level zones removed any semblance of challenge and fun from the events. For those of us, who simply don’t care about the loot (because it’s silly to care about it), the lower level zones would be a perfect escape, if we got weak enough to not juggernaught through them.

So, if the population density in higher level zones could be reduced, than there would be no need to “escape” to lower level zones? Maybe you should ask for that.

Greetings.

Arghore.8340:

1. The system was put in place so that the whole world would be a viable place to play the game. The whole game was supposed to be ‘end game’. While I am still somewhat in doubt if a lvl80 should feel more powerful;
(…)
Personally I would like the whole game to be and feel like end-game. For my own enjoyment, but also because then I can bring up that argument ‘again’ (like it was done at the start of this game) in the countless threads asking for more ‘end-game’ content.

First: I do not think that any system can rebalance an experienced, full ascended Level 80 and an newbie level 1, so that both have the same challange/difficultiy in level 1 zones. Even between different 80s players the 80-zones/content feels different in ist difficulty.

Second: Yes, the whole game is supposed to be endgame. To my understanding, that means when you start a new level 1 toon then you are already in “the endgame” and you do not have to wait until your reach level 80.

There was a time, frome time to time, when I wanted that i.e. Queensdale is a challenge again, and so I startet a new toon. That solved the problem for me.

And there is a time when a friend and I just want a relaxed run and get some mats or run for map completition through maps and then it is not bad, that an 80 can just ignore the mobs in the lower than 80 areas.

So I think an easier solution could be, that the mobs in low level areas could be “neutral” to level 80s and do not give loot. Of course, this is not perfect and there will be people that want to loot the mobs there.

So, I think the downscaling issue, to my understanding, is not an easy to solve issue and the developer ressources should be directed somewhere else.

Of course, if there are complaints from a lot of new players in China, I am sure that this issue will be fixed fast.^^

Greetings.

Healix.5819:

When you get disconnected from a megaserver, when logging back in, you will be moved to the emptiest server matching your criteria (home/guested server + guild/friends). If you’re quick, as in less than 1s, you will log back in to the server you were on.

Sometimes it helps to be in a group, because then you will moved to the same map version your group members are, if the map is not hardcapped (totally full) in the meantime.

Greetings.

Well it seems, that they have put the changes, they have made for the new players in china, back in the EU/NA Client to have a similar code base. It is not a bad thing by itself that the clients/game have the same functions. I am just wondering how much new players there are with the NA/EU client, that would benefit from this changes.

So, being not a new player, I am really not excited about these new “features”.

Greetings.

Ashen.2907:

I see mention of large scale free trial promotions. Do those counted in the 1m activated copies for quarter ?

In the reddit someone mentioned “permanent free trials”.

Is “permanent free trial” not just another wording for free-to-play?

Greetings.

Shaileya.7063:

90% of some of the jumping puzzles I find myself fighting the camera, not the jumps. Sometimes you get into a spot where seeing anything but a wall, or the floor requires you to move around to unstick the camera so badly that you fall off the ledge, which can be fatal. Thank you for this detailed post about the problems.

Yes. Two of my friends do not like jumping puzzles just because of the camera problems that they often more have to fight the camera than the jumps.

Greetings.

P.S. Yes I know, it is a one year old thread. but maybe sometime someone will be working on improving the camera.

Branden Gee.2150:

Alright just trying to get all of these thoughts into a single concise list. (Please note this does not mean that any of these things will happen)

• First person camera
• Increase max dolly (camera distance) distance
• Decrease min dolly distance
• More finite dolly control
• Automatic camera height adjustment on /sleep emote
• Manual camera height adjustment
• Stop ‘random snapping’ from happening
• Look at camera
• Free orientation movement
• Fix automatic camera height so that the over the shoulder camera works as it would be expected to work
• Manual FoV adjustment

Please let me know if there is anything else I’m missing.

I think, thats it. Thank you very much for your list and presence here.

Greetings.

I miss the atmosphere wandering through destroyed and occupied lions arch and rescue citizens.

I do not miss the zerglings.

I do like the new map Dry Top but it feels more like an “amusement park” and as if nothing serious with impact happened there within the story.

Greetings.

Vayne.8563:

It happens to Microsoft too. It happens to all software developers, big and and small. Late and over budget is the rule in this industry not the exceptions.

Yes, errors, i.e. management errors happens to every company, not just in a software company. The rule of thumb is “humans make errors.” No problem with that.

But if you are stating that “late and over budget” is the general rule in sofware development, than you should prove your statement, because I doubt it from my experience with several companies.

Vayne.8563:

Edit: Also, how many of the programmers are new and take longer. You mean everyone who works here is an expert programmer that’s worked on many big games?

Yes, and why do you think that the bosses of these new junior programmers do not know this and can not take this into account i.e. in project planning?

Greetings.

P.S. This is now very off topic, so I will not post more about this.

“Everyone around you is doing the same thing you do. The boss you just killed spawns 10 minutes later. I doesnt care if I am there.” – Ree Soesbee, GW2 Game Designer

From the Guild Wars 2 Manifesto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35BPhT-KI1E

Seems to me like some kind of descriptin how the megaserver-scheduled world-bosses now work in GW2.

Greetings.

P.S. I do want not offend anyone. But interesting how the game has changed and what they said in the past.

Randall.7306:

MMO communication has some particular qualities, IMHO. Developers are not expected to do the game and return home, but to work at a steady pace, doing new stuff/fixing things/developing story. In exchange, is expected that the players base keep growing, or at least that players keep playing and making purchases, cosmetic stuff, in-game items, expansions, etc…

This makes this relationship longer than the company-player relationship that a singleplayer game has, for example, I’m just there is no a crowded forum for Metal Gear Solid 2, or Uncharted. Communication should be in par of that particularity.

Yes, You do not buy a boxed game software but an online game service .

And this game service changes. And it is normal for customers that they want to now if, how and when this service will change.

Randall.7306:

I’m waiting for my first child to be born next month

Then why are you posting here? In the months after the birth you will not have time to play GW2.

Just kidding.^^ I wish you and your new family the best.

Randall.7306:

“We said a new continent was in the works, is still in the works and it will not appear sooner than LS4, even LS4 is an roughly estimation date because there is some discussion going yet”

It’s far more better than nothing (for me, at least). It may lead to some rage and disappointments, but probably no more than saying nothing during an entire year.

Yes.

Greetings.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

once upon a time… http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/uowdy/looking_at_the_difference_in_the_gw2_team_ama_and/

it was a nice experience

Intresting. in that reddit link someone wrote two years ago:

I came from future and can say main concerns after launch will be lack on pvp modes/conquest being only and boring, normal dungeons being to easy hard dungeons being to hard without and intensive to run it beacuse you get noting with it and asking to balance game around www witch is stupidest thing ever because www dont matter at all.

Greetings.

Vayne.8563:

There are unseen things that come up in programming that literally prevent programs from functioning at all.
(…)
Programming can’t be held to the same schedule as television shows. It’s not reasonable to expect it or compare it.

Of course there is some uncertainness in software development. Bugs happen. Testing and fixing bugs takes too long. Ressource and time estimations were wrong.

So if you are new to software development and project management, maybe it is your first bigger project, or you are building a big software (like a computer game) from scratch the first time, then I can agree with you.

But A-Net ist not a start-up company or a rookie in game and software development and is not builiding a complete new GW2. So the software/game development cycle is nothing new to them and should be streamlined by now. They know how much errors typically have to be found and fixed before a release and how much in general this will take. Thats all part of the project plan. The should know by now how much “security margin” before scheduled dates they need. If they do their job good.

And there is nothing intrinsic in software development that prevents them for announcing (as an example) “we have decided to produce a LS 3.0 and expect to start the season in Q1/Q2 2015” and to hold that schedule.

Greetings.

P.S. And of course the point of view can differ if you are a software developer who does not like schedules or if you are the boss of a software developer and schedule the deadline.

Dondagora.9645:

Any thoughts on how you want characters, no just the Biconics, to progress?

Taimi, Braham, Rox, Marjory and Kasmeer (the whole scooby gang) visits the funeral of Belinda and after that have tee+cake with the mother of Marjory to understand each other better …. for the remaining of Season 2.

In the meantime our hero (the player character) will solve all problems of tyria and is forced to team up for that with Canach and Anise.

Greetings.

Vayne.8563:

Zok.4956:

Vayne.8563:

There are two types of writers. Guys like Piers Anthony outline their work and they write it to that outline, hardly ever varying what they write. Guys like Stephen King don’t use outlines and evolve the story as they go.

Stephen King, before he finishes a book, doesn’t really always know where it’s going. I uses the equivalent of an iterative process. I understand it, because it’s the same process I use when I write. I don’t use an outline.

It takes longer and you have to backtrack more often, but that’s what works for me. I strongly suspect WoW is working from the equivalent of an outline, but Anet is, in many ways, breaking new ground. So they won’t always know what works and what doesn’t. So announcing stuff is more of a risk.

After the book/script is finished it takes a lot of planning, time and ressources to produce a tv-series (like game of thrones) or a game-play-series (like GW2 LS2). And in both endeavours there will be unexpected problems and some things that do not work as intended.

From Game of Thrones I know already, that there will be a 5th and 6th Season, even if season 5 will likely start not before march/april next year. I do not know what will be in the next season, I do not want spoilers, but I am pretty sure they will deliver (on time).

Is there a Season 3 of LS in the planning/making? Is there any announcement like “due to the success of (the first half of) season 2 of the LS we have made the decision to produce a season 3”?

No, of course not. It looks to me from the outside: A-Net does not want to announce anything before it is finished, because they know they are very often not able to finish and deliver an announced product and do not want this to became public evidence, so they announce nothing. Which would be really bad.

Greetings.

Surely you realize that programming is nothing like producing a TV series. You can perform a script that’s not quite ready for TV and it will run. Many TV series have individually bad episodes.

But a bad line in a program prevents it all from moving forward.

Every analogy has its limitation and not every comparison is right. A bad line in a computer program would more compare to a bad actor in a tv-series. Both can have a massive negative effect on the result.

But my point was to compare the announcments from A-net with announcement for a tv-series, because some things of GW2 where compared to a tv-series from A-Net themselves.

Greetings.