To prove why build diversity is awesome, I will show you the most dumb (yet funny^^) build ever. If you thought Firestorm warrior (as per the GW1 box example) was funny, you have seen nothing yet! Ladies and gentleman, I bring you Caveman Meteor Shower Warrior!!!! XD
What are those cloth thingies covering the characters’ backs in that video? And where can I get one of those cloth thingies for my characters in this game?
I want to see finally Colins blogpost about what we will see in the future to see, what we can rally expect to see in the next half year…
I’ll save you the suspense. It’s going to be something along these lines…
“We’re going to finish the stuff we were supposed to do last year. We’re going to continue to work with the community to ensure this game is the best it can be. And we’ve got some really cool stuff in the works. Thanks for making Guild Wars 2 a huge success. Oh, and don’t forget to check out all the cool new items we’re adding to the cash shop every Tuesday.”
As I typed that I realized just how jaded I am with this game, lol. Hopefully – hopefully – things will turn around soon. ^^
Given the track record?
– Jeweler increased to 500
– a few bug fixes
– a few trait tweaks
– maybe a new skill per class
– a quality of life change or two
– and of course, “New Items in the Gem Shop!”
In short, more of the same.
Not gonna lie, it looks really bad that the potion bugs persisted for 18 months, then when the LS shines a spotlight on said bug a day later the bug is fixed. That says to me you guys could have easily fixed if you’d been bothered to do so. If bugs like this are so easy to fix yet go unchecked, then perhaps it’s time to evaluate your priorities/allocation of resources?
(edited by darkace.8925)
Honestly people how many sets can you wear at any given time anyway!? I don’t know which game, or who/where it was ever said that MMO’s HAVE to periodically bring in new wep/armour skins. Even having 7 alts and my main I can’t see myself using ALL of what was made available at the start of the game. Mind you I understand how most of what there are does not look so great, but still…
All the new armor sets are only available in the gem store, that’s the problem.
I don’t see it as a problem. They need desirable things in the gem shop to entice people to spend money and these are obviously one of the better ideas for that end.
PS, not ALL new armour sets are gem store only – ascended is an example that comes to mind.
The problem is end-game was supposed to be “all about collecting rare weapon and armor skins”. Since almost all new weapon and armor skins have been added to the cash shop instead of the actual game, essentially end-game is purchasing new stuff from the cash shop. That’s an exciting end-game, isn’kitten
(edited by darkace.8925)
I think we should expect the Tengu soon™
in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath
Posted by: darkace.8925
I firmly believe ArenaNet has stretched their resources so thin trying to maintain the bi-monthly release schedule for the Living Story that they don’t have the resources to work on things like new races. I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
Completely false. Anet’s LS team is very small compared to the rest of the company. Many other teams are focused on balancing, marketing, and even larger more pronounced projects for the game. They are the ones who have the potential to add new professions, races, areas etc. and it’s been a year and a half since they’ve released anything. So believe it or not the company isn’t spreading it’s resources thin at all, it’s your pop that makes it look kitten. LS is what sets up the lore and explanation for the larger updates to come up.
You’re proving my point. If these other teams aren’t stretched thin, as you claim, then where is the stuff they’re supposedly working on?
I think we should expect the Tengu soon™
in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath
Posted by: darkace.8925
I firmly believe ArenaNet has stretched their resources so thin trying to maintain the bi-monthly release schedule for the Living Story that they don’t have the resources to work on things like new races. I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
I’m just wondering what this firm belief is based on. Are you inferring based on the quality of the LS updates to date? They’ve clearly stated that there are multiple teams dedicated to LS updates, so I’m not sure I’d judge their company-wide resources based on your opinion of the success or non-success of LS updates.
If your belief is based on something other than a decision that you made to believe it and then become confident in that belief, would you mind sharing your evidence with the rest of us?
For the record, I don’t have any knowledge one way or another whether there are any plans to expand playable races.
They’ve already said they don’t have the resources to ensure the quality of the Living Story is on par with that of the game at launch (voiced player-characters, etc). They’ve said they have multiple teams working on content, but the number of “oops” hotfixes we get after each LS update strongly indicates their QA team is struggling to keep up.
Then there’s the fact that they missed a great number of the 2013 goals (crafting precursors, new skills, Legendary trinkets, etc). Class balance patches are few and far between. They’ve all but said “we don’t care at all about addressing clipping issues on charr armor”. And there are still multiple bugs that have been around since the game launched 18 months ago. If that’s not enough reason for you, I can go on.
I think we should expect the Tengu soon™
in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath
Posted by: darkace.8925
I firmly believe ArenaNet has stretched their resources so thin trying to maintain the bi-monthly release schedule for the Living Story that they don’t have the resources to work on things like new races. I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
There are quite a few Personal Story scenes that take place in Lion’s Arch. If the city is nuked, as most suspect it will be, then how what affect will it have on these Personal Story scenes? Has anything been said on the subject?
This restless fan must have forgotten this is free2play without a subscription and yes they have added content the last time i’ve checked.
Admission to the park isn’t free. One must purchase a ticket if one wishes to enter the park. Granted, the ticket is a lifetime pass; but the ticket is not free.
Theme parks live and die by the excitement their attractions provide prospective customers. You haven’t installed a new attraction in quite some time. We’ve rode all the rides in your park. We’ve seen all the attractions in your park. We’re getting bored with the same-old, same-old.
There’s only so many times you, the park owners, can paint the horses on the carousel or change the name of the Cyclone to the Hurricane or the Tornado or the Typhoon before the we, the patrons, grow bored and start looking for entertainment elsewhere. Sure, the band you’ve hired to provide entertainment every Saturday night changes a couple of times a month, and you’re constantly rolling out new merchandise in the kiosks.
But we want…we’re begging for new attractions. As someone who loves your park but finds myself growing increasingly bored with the attractions I’ve already rode a hundred times, I’m pleading with you to give me something new and exciting. Your competitors will soon cut ribbons on their own parks. And while I personally have no interest at all in those parks, there might be a more than a few of your customers who will leave when tempted by something new.
Signed, an increasingly restless fan.
In the 18 months since release we’ve been given:
– 1 new skill per class
– 1 universal skill
– 0 new weapon options
– 0 new playable races
– 0 new playable classes
– 1 new permanent PvE map
Down with options! Down with variety! Hurray for stagnation!
They haven’t said anything because, honestly, what are they going to say? Imagine the reaction around here if they came out and said,
“Our plans for 2014 are to finish all the stuff we said we’d do in 2013. We’re going to continue with the Living Story model, so those of you wanting an expansion are just out of luck. Things like new races and new zones aren’t off the table, but neither are they things we’re going to implement. Oh, and we’ll be sure to release new items in the cash shop each and every Tuesday.”
thing to remember is that Anet has stated that they fully intend to deliver the same amount of content that would come in an expansion, they’re just not sure that the standard expansion format is the way they’re going to do it. They don’t want to put out a new box of the game.
Personally I think they’re going to use the living story to deliver the content in chunks. Hopefully the features build after this LS season wraps up will be the start of the real new content.
They’ve said a lot of things – a LOT – that they either failed to or never really intended to deliver upon. Lip service: tell the customers what they want to hear, even if it’s not true, so they’ll continue to hang around and spend money in the cash shop.
When I completed LA on my five characters all I got was a bit of experience and three Transmutation Stones (the usual rewards for fully exploring a city). If LA becomes a regular map – we’ll say level 80 just for argument’s sake – anyone completing the exploration after the change will (presumably) get the usual chunk of experience, 40 of a T6 or T7 crafting material, a random BL item, and two exotics (the usual rewards for fully exploring a level 80 zone). So, if this happens…where’s mine?
Disclaimer – There’s no guarantee the map will become a regular map, the map will give out rewards for exploration, or the rewards won’t be retroactive. I’m just thinking aloud so you guys can weigh in if you have thoughts one way or the other on the subject.
First of all, I never said I was a proponent of romances in Guild Wars 2. I’m not. I don’t think the writers are skilled enough to handle it well. And even if they were, I don’t think it fits with the rest of the game. What I said is the “we can’t have thousands of romances with NPC X” reason for not having romances is a weak one, considering thousands of players have killed Zhaitan or watched Tybalt die.
RPGs are stories. Romances are one of the oldest and most prevalent story genres in the history of mankind. If you don’t appreciate romances as a viable form of character development, fine.
(edited by Moderator)
I don’t know anyone who has, but I know what I would be willing to pay for them.
First off, of course, I would need to trust the person. But then I think I would offer 600g (probably depending on the legendary, and how much it meant to me, though). For account bound materials. However, I would also supply the ectos and mystic coins for clover tries.
Yes, I cannot remember where I saw it (here or reddit), but people were discussing selling the AB portions between 300-500G.
wvw and dungeon tokens I do not give any value to, since they are easy to get (well they do have value, but dwarfed by the estimate values for map completion and karma)
Skill points can be valued at current promotion prices (no more than 100g if I recall)
Karma is harder to quantify since it’s rarer. Let’s say I value karma alone at 200G
Map completion is the most difficult, and I think I would value alone at 300g.So 600G is indeed a fair estimate.
If that is the case, there is no room for profit at all. If we were to use Twilight, it costs 1910G. Add the AB fee and it’s 2510G. No room for profit and absolutely not worth the risk.
I wish to God I could sell some of the 10 Gifts of Exploration I have sitting in my bank for 300 gold apiece.
Flirting? Maybe.
Romances? Probably not.
It couldn’t fit into the story with all the players, as there would be no way to explain that storyline/canon-wise. Braham couldn’t get Ottilia’s attention, but now he’s in a happy relationship with several thousand players? It just wouldn’t work in an MMO setting with important story characters.
Zhaitain was killed by thousands of players. Big Nose Ted blew the orphanage up thousands of times. The White Stag has been captured by the Nightmare Court thousands of times. There have been thousands of seconds-in-command for the Pact. And there have been thousands of Infinity Balls invented by asuran players. But romances is where you have a problem?
That’s a pretty weak excuse to avoid them (or anything else). That excuse has also been given to justify Trahearne, not the players, being made the hero of the story. Other MMOs have managed to make the players both central characters and heroes of their stories, so I see no reason why ArenaNet couldn’t have done the same.
Is it possible we’ll at some point be given new zones to explore? Yes. Is it likely? Not if the past year and a half have been any indication. Because new zones are costly to make and the direct return-on-investment is low, it seems ArenaNet is content to keep rearranging the existing zones in lieu of giving us new ones.
Will Escape from L.A. bring in the Tengu?
in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath
Posted by: darkace.8925
Tengu will be a playable race. That’s not a suspection, that’s a fact.
That most certainly is NOT a fact. You can speculate or rationalize all you want, but there is absolutely zero confirmation the tengu will ever be a playable race.
Will Escape from L.A. bring in the Tengu?
in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath
Posted by: darkace.8925
No.
/15characters
Who would try to save?
The little girl and charr cub playing ghosts.
And based on what they have said they will deliver more or less everything via the Living Story.
They’ve said a lot of stuff. What they’ve delivered is something else entirely. Talk is cheap, my friend. Talk is cheap.
No precursor hunt, no new pvp game modes, no Qol updates, no new maps, no new dungeons (outside Living Story).
What exactly are these projects? Your thoughts?[/quote]
We’ll get an occasional new skill, revamped dungeon path, or new zone. Occasional, being the operative word. The “big project”, though, that’s just lip service given to keep stringing us along so we’ll be around to buy cash shop items.
If everyone gets ‘epic loot’, then is it really epic?
Yes, as long as the loot in question has an impressive feel and look to it.
I guess we differ on the feeling of accomplishments when it comes to ‘epic’.
For me, epic is something that is scarce and looks great. It makes you stand out and feel unique because you achieved something that many others cannot.
If everyone in this game who completes season 1 achievements for ‘epic’ loot ends up getting a nice skin set, the excitement over that skin set will disappear rather quickly. You’ll see it everywhere and you don’t feel special. That’s not epic, IMO.
Same thing happened when AP rewards came out. Everyone and their mother started carrying the AP skins and the novelty quickly came off. Now I don’t associate AP skins with prestige or ‘epic’. It’s more of a poor man’s skin.
What you’re describing isn’t epic, though. What you’re describing is exclusive.
They aren’t the same thing.
Something is fully capable of being epic without being exclusive.
Exactly right. But there are going to be no shortage of people who want to be “special little snowflakes” who will tell you you’re wrong.
RE: Changing the face of Tyria "forever"
in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath
Posted by: darkace.8925
There is no difference between her and any other villain that has ever existed, except that she’s female.
Really? Did you really just play the gender card? Wow. That’s…well, I’ll just leave that one alone.
Being a powerful woman does not automatically make you a bad character/Mary Sue/retcon bait. In fact, I applaud ANet for making the main villain female, rather than yet another male villain.
No, being a poorly written character makes her a bad character and possessing traits normal characters can only dream of makes her a Mary Sue. You’re applauding ANet for writing a bad character and patting yourself and them on the back under the misguided notion that we’re all a bunch of sexists and you guys are fighting the good fight for women’s rights. That’s just sad.
And I bet if a good portion of the people mentally rewrote her character as male, they would have no problem with her.
I did re-imagine her as a male. You know what she looked like? Dr. Klaw. “I’ll get you next time, Gadget!” Congratulations, you just solidified Scarlet as a Saturday morning cartoon villain. Saturday morning cartoon villains are NOT well-written characters.
Okay, that sounds like a decent character. So what about Scarlet is radically different so that she’s a bad character?
She’s a sylvari who wants more knowledge. She goes to the knowledge capital of EVERYTHING (AKA Rata Sum) and makes her way through all three colleges
You just answered your own question in the very next sentence. There are plenty of other examples, of course, but we don’t need to go any further than this. You claim she isn’t a Mary Sue, then you defend your stance with Exhibit A in the case of her being a Mary Sue.
Because Scarlet’s wearing plot armor.
But in all seriousness, the only thing we haven’t gotten in GW2’s first year is a new race. We already have an expansion’s worth of story. The rest of the goodies will come out in March. And I imagine the new race won’t be too far behind.
New zones? A whopping two; neither of which were as complete as the zones in the game in release. Hardly the kind of stuff that’s going to delight the explorers among us, huh?
New skills? A whopping one per class and one universal; all of which are healing skills. Hardly the kind of stuff that shakes up the meta, huh?
New playable races? None. But I guess something that’s going to add replay value to the game in the way a new race would isn’t something players want, huh?
New loot? Very little in-game. Of course there’s been tons of new weapons and armor added to the cash shop. Nothing says “end game” like buying the desirable stuff from the cash shop though, huh?
Class balance? Very little; and that we’ve been given has been slow to come. I guess there’s too high a priority on the Living Story and cash shop items to spare resources for something as insignificant as class balance though, huh?
New Content? Well I guess that depends on whether or not we’re talking about permanent or temporary content. There’s been very little of the former and tons of the latter. Nothing says “and expansion’s worth of content” like removing said content as quickly as it’s added to the game, huh?
So much wishful thinking going on in this thread. Neither this update nor the next (conclusion) will:
– open the Dominion of the Wind for exploration
– make the tengu a playable race
Anyone thinking either of the two is going to happen is setting themselves up for some serious disappointment.
How did the Pact get all those resources to build hundreds of massive airships, tanks, artillery and bases?
Are you seriously comparing one individual to the combined political, logistical, and military efforts of three paramilitary organizations backed by the land’s five mightiest nations?
RE: Changing the face of Tyria "forever"
in Battle for Lion’s Arch - Aftermath
Posted by: darkace.8925
So I guess my question is, do we really want this?.
The notion of changing existing zones instead of giving us new zones to explore is akin to rearranging the furniture in a house and telling the owners it’s a new house entirely. It’s not. It’s the same house, you just shuffled the furniture around and painted the walls a different color.
The same thing that happened to GvG, player housing, new zones, new skills, new races, new legendaries, class balance, armor clipping issues, and a great many quality of life improvements…the Living Story and cash shops are the highest priority and thus get the lion’s share of development resources.
Disclaimer: I’m not sure if this is the best sub-forum for this, so moderators are more than welcome to move it to a more appropriate place.
The Booster Multipack is a handy way to help us better manage our inventory. I’d like to see a similar multipack option added for the various laureate boosters. I can’t imagine such an addition would be prohibitively difficult for the developers, and I can’t imagine too many players would resist such an inventory-friendly item.
I’m not sure where this goes, but I’m wondering if the Experimental Rifle’s icon has been updated from the generic placeholder (the bomb) to something more appropriate? If not, is there any chance this can be addressed anytime soon? I don’t know why, but I can’t keep items with the placeholder icon in my inventory. It’s a pet peeve, I guess. And this is certainly one of those useful items I’d like each of my characters to carry.
Currently linen, a T4 basic material, is well more than any T6 basic material. And since it’s cloth, there’s no way to directly harvest it and any farming of the stuff is unreliable since it’s contingent on both RNG and DR. So is anything going to be done to address this inequity? Or should we all just accept that these inflated prices are here to stay?
“Unreliable” is a bit strong – it is entirely possible to reliably farm these without exploit at a rate of 4+ GP/hr (grated – at current prices) – and can do so in a manner that is fun OR eye-bleedingly boring – player’s choice.
It’s unreliable because your ability to gather the material is beholden to rng. That’s not to say you can’t farm it; with enough time invested killing the right mobs you’ll get a stack eventually. But because it’s tied to loot, rather than gathering, it’s going to take you a hell of a lot longer to get a stack of linen than it is, say, platinum.
Because the developers discovered very early on that it’s much more profitable to sell us cosmetic items than let us earn them in game. That’s why most new weapon skins released are done so through the cash shop rather than through quests, achievements, or dungeons.
If I were them I would have used Ascended crafting to get players back into the open world. I would have done so by flagging one random, unannounced Dynamic Event to drop a recipe for an Ascended insignia. This drop would be 100% upon completion of the flagged Dynamic Event, and the recipe would be transferable via the BLTP.
Once event was complete and the reward payed out, another random, unannounced DE would be selected to drop the next one. Only one event at any time would be flagged to drop the Ascended recipe. In this way, theoretically, players would be spread out all over the world running Dynamic Events to get the recipes required to make Ascended gear.
A slight variation of this idea could have been replacing the recipe with T7 materials and making DEs and the Trading Post the exclusive means of obtaining T7 mats.
living story fills the gap between expansions,
They’ve never said anything of the sort. Not once have they confirmed there would be expansions.
Recently They overhauled some of the legendary’s that where in the eyes of the devs not up to level compared with the other legendary’s. This leads to my conclusion that they judge this to be up par with the others.
That’s unfortunate. I’m still hoping they change the inane lighting footsteps on Meteorlogicus with the more subtle white, fluffy clouds. During the day that Legendary is too serene to have violent lightning strikes shoehorned into the footfall effects.
The problem is there is no reliable way to farm linen (or even silk, cotton and wool). You can’t expect players who are level 80 to enjoy farming lower level monsters with an abysmal drop rate, especially when the alternatives are better. What we need is a good alternative for farming cloths. I think this would solve a lot of the problems regarding this topic.
Also what Behellagh is forgetting is that you mainly get on-level drops. They changed that at some point. At the time it may have been a good change, but now it would seem it’s created another problem. A level 80 can’t go and smell the roses in a lower area as Behellagh thinks we all should and expect to come out with a decent amount of that tier cloth.
Except I have with my 80. Of course your definition of “decent” might be different.
I define “decent” as an amount of cloth (or leather) equal to the amount of lumber or ore I could have got in the same amount of time and effort. Right now the rate of cloth (or leather) accumulation isn’t anywhere near “decent”.
Makes you wonder what kind of problems we’d all be having if they hadn’t taken the extra time to “ensure the last four patches are as polished as possible”, huh?
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-01-14-you-thought-that-was-it-for-guild-wars-2
Concern: 350 people! And all they’ve come up with are story updates people outside the game can’t connect with? Where are the big new features? Is there really no expansion planned?
Actually, it sounds like there is an expansion planned. “We have a couple of really big Guild Wars projects cooking in the background,” Johanson told me.
Later, he added: "Some of our players believe that because we are doing this Living World seasons, and these features or these big feature-builds, that it means that the features you would traditionally get in an expansion, or the content you would traditionally get in an expansion, is not something that will get added to Guild Wars 2. And that is not true at all.
“Not only are we doing those things, new features and content you would traditionally get from a boxed expansion are also things that will be added to Guild Wars 2.
“The thing that we haven’t decided yet,” he went on, "is what form that type of content will take. Is it right for Guild Wars 2 for that kind of boxed expansion? Is it right for that to be something we add, live, through storylines in the game? Is that something we want to sell through our in-game store? There are a lot of different options available to us.
“… but we absolutely are going to do sweeping new features that you would traditionally only get in expansions – large regions, content and progression additions to your characters in the form of growth and professions and races. Those are all things that you will see in the lifespan of Guild Wars 2.”
Mike Zadorojny, clarifying his comments from last year – which suggested there wouldn’t be an expansion any time soon – said: “The answer I gave you [in 2013] was that nothing was off the table.”
The only thing from that interview that comes close to indicating an expansion is in the works is, “we have a couple of really big Guild Wars projects cooking in the background.” And given that we heard this exactly line when the Living Story kicked off more than a year ago I don’t see any reason to assume anything “big” is cooking in the background, the foreground, or anywhere else at ArenaNet. We’ve passed “benefit of the doubt” and crossed into “proof is in the pudding” territory.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t place stock in what they have to say or not.
It doesn’t matter if a company’s customers think they’re not trustworthy? And you used to run a business? I really hope you didn’t have that same attitude with your own customers.
You’ll see, that’s all. And you will.
You keep telling yourself that, and I’ll keep watching them release bi-monthly filler content.
I’m not taking anything out of context. I’m talking from my understanding of the industry. Anet is going to sit on any big chance/annoucement until it makes sense to make it. That has nothing to do with your schedule and everything do with with what the competition is doing.
That’s why so many games announce expanstions around the time of a new major release.
Rift had an interesting reaction to the SWToR launch. They stopped advertising altogether. They figured they couldn’t compete in that field, so they saved their money, they waited until the SWToR shine wore off and then put all their money into pushing their next big thing.
Anet doesn’t want to use a trump card now, which is why nothing is being said. If you don’t believe me, that’s perfectly cool.
Wait and see.
“Wait and see” is just as likely to mean “we don’t have anything, but if we tell you that you’ll leave” as it is “we’ve got something great, but we can’t tell you anything about it just yet”. You can take their word for face value if you want, but as you yourself have said on multiple occasions, “a statement of intent is not a promise.” Given ArenaNet’s track record, I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I don’t place any stock at all in anything they have to say in these marketing pieces.
That would probably also include less time gating, maybe a bit higher drop rates… You name it!
That does of course go very much against a subscription.
In a sub-based game the company wants you to stay and pay for as long as possible, and as such it is quite likely that they would rather INCREASE time-gating and lower drop rates, in order to make people chase after stuff for longer and thus paying more money on subs.As for adding subs to the game I would say no.
I prefer to support the game at my leisure rather than paying and then feeling “forced” to play constantly for said month. We also saw the reactions on these forums (and reddit, and other forums) when the Chinese subscription details were data-mined some time back. And it wasn’t pretty.With a subscription they get a steady income, so I don’t see a reason to increase time-gating.
He’s right, developers of subscription based MMOs have every incentive to utilize time gates. Of course, as ArenaNet has showed us with Guild Wars 2, so do developers of non-subscription based MMOs.
…and far more teams than that working on longer term content.
From whom we’ve yet to actually see anything at all in game.
Don’t get me wrong, love this game, love the quest mechanics and pretty much everything about it.
But given that one AAA mmo has just gone out for preorder (release in 2 months), another is in alpha and by the end of the week BOTH will have the NDAs lifted, now would be a great time for ANet to pull back that mysterious curtain and tell their fanbase what they’ve got to look forward to in the future.
Umm, I’m 100% sure that’s not true. I know the big Tequatl battle was done by one of those teams. I know that the redo of the Ascalon dungeon bossses wasn’t done by a living story team. Some of the quality of life features we’ve had weren’t done by the living story team. I don’t think the new TA path was done by a living story team either, it was done by a dungeon team.
Stuff like the ability to view SPvP match ups, the account wallet, were done by other teams.
They sneak this stuff into living world updates, so everything thinks that these things were done by living world teams, but we’ve been told that’s not the case.
Once again you’re ignoring context. In both instances I’ve seen the “we’re working on BIG things, but we can’t tell you about them” comment (paraphrased) it was in regards to boxed expansion type content…not a world boss overhaul or a quality of life update or class balance tweaks or a new sPvP map, but actual expansion-esque content (new maps, new races, new classes, new skills…that sort of thing).
From a Eurogamer interview given less than a month ago…
Actually, it sounds like there is an expansion planned. “We have a couple of really big Guild Wars projects cooking in the background,” Johanson told me.
Later, he added: "Some of our players believe that because we are doing this Living World seasons, and these features or these big feature-builds, that it means that the features you would traditionally get in an expansion, or the content you would traditionally get in an expansion, is not something that will get added to Guild Wars 2. And that is not true at all.
“Not only are we doing those things, new features and content you would traditionally get from a boxed expansion are also things that will be added to Guild Wars 2.
“The thing that we haven’t decided yet,” he went on, "is what form that type of content will take. Is it right for Guild Wars 2 for that kind of boxed expansion? Is it right for that to be something we add, live, through storylines in the game? Is that something we want to sell through our in-game store? There are a lot of different options available to us.
“… but we absolutely are going to do sweeping new features that you would traditionally only get in expansions – large regions, content and progression additions to your characters in the form of growth and professions and races. Those are all things that you will see in the lifespan of Guild Wars 2.”
Given the context of that interview, it’s hard to walk away thinking he was talking about the minor changes rolled out at a slow pace (like we’ve seen thus far). For those of you who like semantics, note he said “will be added”, not “have been added” when he mentions “new features and content you would traditionally get from a boxed expansion.”
If by “we have a couple of really big Guild Wars projects cooking in the background,” he really means more stuff like Tequatl changes and Twilight Armor path overhauls, then I can’t help but think this game’s future will be one with a substantially fewer players. There’s only so many times a fresh coat of paint and rearranging of furniture can be presented as an expansion to a house. It’s not.
Currently linen, a T4 basic material, is well more than any T6 basic material. And since it’s cloth, there’s no way to directly harvest it and any farming of the stuff is unreliable since it’s contingent on both RNG and DR. So is anything going to be done to address this inequity? Or should we all just accept that these inflated prices are here to stay?
This is much more important than fixing year old bugs and making the game more rewarding and fun.
I’m sure you’re well aware of this, but the guys fixing bugs or developing content aren’t the same guys who design weapons and armor.
I view “elite, hardcore” content in the same light I view dueling…I’m not particularly interested, but I don’t mind if it’s added to the game. In both cases, though, I’d MUCH rather them be added to hidden from view in instances rather that marring a beautifully crafted open world.