Guild Wars 2 has had about half an expansion’s worth of stuff IMO.
What would I expect to see in a full expansion?
1. Quest line with at least ten hours of play through time
2. At least 4 new maps
3. QoL and UI improvements
4. Several new dungeons
5. Class skill expansions
6. Either a new class or new race
7. Expanded crafting
A quick survey shows that 1 passes easily if we include content that is gone, but we’ll have to wait until next year before it qualifies for permanent content.
We are half way there for 2, and an acceptable way through for 3.
For dungeons we have FotM, which some might argue is enough for the dungeon component of an expansion. I probably wouldn’t.
For 5 we have only really seen one new heal skill and one new elite skill.
6 is not there
7 is about 3/4 of the way wrt 500 crafting. And then there are a few more ingredients and stats that have also become available.
I don’t know if my expectations of what an expansion should contain are off, but I think that the piecemeal nature of delivery hides the fact that we have got a fair percentage of the way to an expansion for free. to be honest, I have no idea how my list compares to a WoW expansion, so if someone wants to tell me how my expectations stack up let me know.
I agree with this in scope. Unfortunately the content is unrelated and fails to follow a common theme. So it feels disjointed when considered as a whole.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Many of us wouldn’t play WoW for free. I might not even play WoW if they paid me.
Agree.
Although how many will still be playing GW2, who are playing NOW, will still be logging in after nearly 10 years.
Easy, wait 10 years and see.
Gw2 wont last another 8 years on this pace with hardly any major content update and polish. This game could easily be the killer of all MMO’s but nothing happens with it apart from some living story updates and gemstore stuff.
Guild Wars 1 hasn’t had a major update in years and people still play it. UO hasn’t had an update in a decade and people still play it.
Saying a game won’t last ten years is just wrong.
For one thing, no one can predict the future. So far every game that was supposed to kill this one is severely lacking. So if that continues, even with modest upgrades this game will continue.
But then, the new content we’re getting won’t be temporary and will add up. So I’m not thinking that predicting ten years in the future of this genre is all that valuable.
Except GW1 is a far better game with lots more content.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
I like it but only with a scepter. It’s a bit of a finger workout though. My friend on the other hand thinks it is a cheese build… in some ways I agree as it promotes mindless attunement switching. I still find it fun.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
(…) Context is often everything, but so is jamming words into people’s mouths(…) .
Yeah. He’s doing it constantly, as long as I remember.
And do note – he never acknowledge he’s wrong, even if You catch him on contradictions, nor he acknowledge You’re right, when You are. Sometimes he’s right, I’m not saying he’s not – but if You agree with him on 1 point out of 10, he takes it like complete win on all accounts. So much for constructive criticism.
And try to forget to write “it’s my opinion” (which is obvious) and You’ll be jammed with accusations of lies and spreading misinformation
And the people I argue with always admit they’re wrong. lol
I agree with these people so they’re right. Logically speaking, we can’t all be right. Anyone most of the time, I don’t talk in absolutes. I’m more careful with how I speak than many.
And I wouldn’t talk about lying much after a post like yours.
Well – I will try to use Your weapon.
We’ve ben doing this dance for more than a year and a half? Taking into consideration, I left since xmas’13 till 2 months ago, and now left again, visiting only forums (more fun than playing). We’ve been talking in about… 50 topics? 80? Maybe more.
I remember to admit I’m wrong more than 10-15 times… because guess what. You were actually right! Yep, I can’t believe it as well!
But hey – I never eeeeeever seen You do it. No matter if it was in dialogue with me, or in any other thread, I wasn’t involved above simply reading.
Whenever I (or anyone else) pinpointed You to weak point of Your logic, to the flaw of this particular change of thoughts, there was no answer. You either ignored that point and focused 100% on others in our discussion, or You complitly left without a word. And my feelings were hurt…
I can remember admitting I was wrong on more than one occasion on these forums. So demonstrably, what you’re saying isn’t true. I don’t always admit I’m wrong, because I’m not always wrong. And much of what I say is opinion which can’t be wrong.
But I don’t often tell other people they’re wrong either. I tell them I disagree and give the reasons why. Then they put words into MY mouth and say I’m wrong. It’s wrong to do that…then people accuse me of putting words into their mouths.
As for me leaving, there are times in life I have to go and often I don’t get back for a while. By then the conversation has moved on.
See this is a bit of a fallacy… saying opinions can’t be wrong. When your opinion is regarding something provable via scientific method, it’s not an opinion. Example: You cannot have a difference of opinion regarding whether vaccines are necessary to save lives… because it’s not opinion. So saying “I’m not wrong, it’s my opinion” doesn’t always work.
Whether that the case with you Vayne is beyond my desire to care.
Nice strawman. Obviously your opinion of how enjoyable a game is, or how good a chance to a game is isn’t going to be scientific fact.
Obviously
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Exactly 1 month ago, they releaed their plans until the end of the year.
Not very impressive… and planning for “the end of the year” is the same as planning 3 months out at this point.
Halloween and xmas will be mostly recycled from the previous years, so nothing new in that “plan” except for the last part of LS2 (which is late considering it should be on a 2 week cadence instead of a month on, month off, month on, etc.)
OP asked for Anets future plans and here they are.
If they dont meet your expectations, thats a different discussion.
Fact is that they announced their plans 3 months in advance.
Then the future is not very bright.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
We will have to agree to disagree. The thing I hate most about traditional trinity type games is having to rely on a “healer” to do things. Heal your dang self is my motto. :P
Guardian is mostly my main and her philosophy is kill it with fire. I’ll provide boons and such to folks, but I will never spec her out to be pure support…feels like such a waste of a guardian to me. I know I don’t do as much damage as a warrior but I love the guardian utilities and abilities. Perhaps you should play an elementalist.
Disclaimer: I love the hack and slash classes. I want to do as much damage as I possibly can and faceroll stuff and take care of myself. Floofy support stuff is not in any way my playstyle.
Except you don’t even have to do that (heal yourself). You just have to dodge. This was a mistake imho, adding the dodge mechanic as a 100% damage avoidance. It dumbed the game down so that healing is moot (even self healing).
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
(…) Context is often everything, but so is jamming words into people’s mouths(…) .
Yeah. He’s doing it constantly, as long as I remember.
And do note – he never acknowledge he’s wrong, even if You catch him on contradictions, nor he acknowledge You’re right, when You are. Sometimes he’s right, I’m not saying he’s not – but if You agree with him on 1 point out of 10, he takes it like complete win on all accounts. So much for constructive criticism.
And try to forget to write “it’s my opinion” (which is obvious) and You’ll be jammed with accusations of lies and spreading misinformation
And the people I argue with always admit they’re wrong. lol
I agree with these people so they’re right. Logically speaking, we can’t all be right. Anyone most of the time, I don’t talk in absolutes. I’m more careful with how I speak than many.
And I wouldn’t talk about lying much after a post like yours.
Well – I will try to use Your weapon.
We’ve ben doing this dance for more than a year and a half? Taking into consideration, I left since xmas’13 till 2 months ago, and now left again, visiting only forums (more fun than playing). We’ve been talking in about… 50 topics? 80? Maybe more.
I remember to admit I’m wrong more than 10-15 times… because guess what. You were actually right! Yep, I can’t believe it as well!
But hey – I never eeeeeever seen You do it. No matter if it was in dialogue with me, or in any other thread, I wasn’t involved above simply reading.
Whenever I (or anyone else) pinpointed You to weak point of Your logic, to the flaw of this particular change of thoughts, there was no answer. You either ignored that point and focused 100% on others in our discussion, or You complitly left without a word. And my feelings were hurt…
I can remember admitting I was wrong on more than one occasion on these forums. So demonstrably, what you’re saying isn’t true. I don’t always admit I’m wrong, because I’m not always wrong. And much of what I say is opinion which can’t be wrong.
But I don’t often tell other people they’re wrong either. I tell them I disagree and give the reasons why. Then they put words into MY mouth and say I’m wrong. It’s wrong to do that…then people accuse me of putting words into their mouths.
As for me leaving, there are times in life I have to go and often I don’t get back for a while. By then the conversation has moved on.
See this is a bit of a fallacy… saying opinions can’t be wrong. When your opinion is regarding something provable via scientific method, it’s not an opinion. Example: You cannot have a difference of opinion regarding whether vaccines are necessary to save lives… because it’s not opinion. So saying “I’m not wrong, it’s my opinion” doesn’t always work.
Whether that the case with you Vayne is beyond my desire to care.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Exactly 1 month ago, they releaed their plans until the end of the year.
Not very impressive… and planning for “the end of the year” is the same as planning 3 months out at this point.
Halloween and xmas will be mostly recycled from the previous years, so nothing new in that “plan” except for the last part of LS2 (which is late considering it should be on a 2 week cadence instead of a month on, month off, month on, etc.)
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
After all this time on hiatus, will the next chapter of the Living Story be commensurately HUGE, full of new and exciting stuff? By which I mean, stuff that would be new and exciting even if it wasn’t bundled with the LS?
Avast, there be the possibility of Spoilers beyond this sentence!
How much more of Tyria will become accessible?
Will there be any new skills/traits/weapons?
Who will we want to kill this time for being mean to Taimi?
Will some wacky asura scientist devise a way to put Belinda’s ghost into a remarkably life-like golem?
What, o fellow forumite, do you expect?
Same size and scope of content that was delivered for the fist part of LS2. Anet has yet to deliver much for any LS. How this equates to an “expansion worth or content” is beyond my reasoning.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
yah if i didnt abuse the glyph traits to make the glyph provide me with perma swiftness out of battle and perma might in battle i would use signet for my WvW build its far too viable especially on a DD ele that drops a thousand attacks a minute.
What?
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Casuals (not as an offensive word now) already complain a lot about the combat (see this thread). If you make these existing roles required basically you make everything else truly obsolete but berserkers and kazuls would flip the table. And unable to do the content. They already can’t manage half of that, what would happen if a fight requires high uptime and capped might, vuln, other conditions, proper aegis rotation, whatnot?
Well it was a little exaggeration but you get my point.
Yep I totally get it, and it’s why combat will always be less satisfying than say LotRO or even WoW (how old is that now?). I’m still waiting for some developer to create an MMO with a combat system as fluid as GW2’s but with the depth from one of these classic games. Archeage could have been that game as it has some GW1 aspects which are really cool… but there are other mechanics dragging it down (lag, server queues, kill tagging, etc). It’s only a “few weeks old” though so maybe in two years (same amount of time as GW2) it might be epic.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
“sharing map with other people” does not equal “sharing map with a horrible kittenload of people”.
And again, what constitutes a “horrible kittenload” is completely different from one person to another.
As stated previously in this thread, some people think just seven others is too many. That’s less than two parties. And that, I feel, is ludicrous.
If you’re really so upset about having less than a dozen other people join in events with you, then you SHOULD NOT be playing MMO’s. At all. Because that is not an unreasonable amount of people to be participating in a single open-world event.
Now you’re just trying to defend an indefensible position for e-pride in the forums. I could argue that the GW2 is not an MMO with less than 100,000 players in a single zone… because what constitutes “enough players” is “completely different from one person to another” — and you couldn’t disagree with your logic.
TLDR: your logic is simply “don’t like it, play another game” — that does nothing to improve GW2.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
The problem is failing to let go of the idea (picked up in other games) that gear determines your role in the game. GW2 was designed so that dedicated roles are not a thing in PvE. Gear is just another aspect of the character building system, not a determining factor.
So zerker is meaningless for DPS?
I think what you said is more true for GW2 than say WoW, but gearing is still impactful on your role. So you could wear Giver’s armor for DPS and yeah you could still DPS but you wouldn’t be as good as a character in Zerker’s.
Relative levels of effectiveness aside, GW2 is designed so that everyone in any build can and probably does do damage. Damage is not a role, it’s something that everyone does. In the same way, support is not a role, nor is control. You can enter an encounter prepared to provide more of A, B or C. You can also restrict yourself to mostly A, B or C. That’s a viable — but certainly not optimal — choice.
I wish ANet had not removed the old blog on healing. It was the source of the “GW2 trinity” assumptions. What it actually said was something more along the lines of damage, support and control being things that players do during the natural course of play. It certainly did not promise dedicated roles, yet that’s what most of the posts like the OP’s are really about.
I agree with everything you wrote — it’s the lack of roles that many people find disappointing. Roles required a minimum of teamwork to execute. You can use the Trinity as a classic example of roles, or create a new set of roles. It doesn’t matter, it’s the point that roles add depth to the game. It’s not as satisfying without them.
The combat system in GW2 is nice (best in any MMO I’ve seen) but it is quite shallow. There’s little complexity or depth to it. The lack of roles and required team work contributes heavily to this result.
You can execute combos as a team but they are hardly required, and definitely not necessary for success. If they were, it would enforce a degree of team work and coordination that would be very rewarding upon success. Some teams would fail (and should) but that’s the nature of challenging and rewarding content.
I agree with most of what you said except the lack of role, there is role in GW2, they aren’t necessary but they exist.
When I join a party, I expect the guardian to use Aegis, Reflect, condi cleanse just like I expected my tank to keep the aggro, it’s a different role, but it’s still one. I expect my warrior to run Banners, give might and fury. Thief using stealth, blind, blasting combo field etc. Instead of being forced into a healer, tank, dps role, you choose which class you want to play which role. Right now every class can be useful (except maybe necro which aren’t as useful as other classes)
Teamwork is useful in gw2 to be efficient, most people won’t like the example I’m about to post but look at how everyone know what they have to do, Warrior CC’ing abomination, thief using black powder, everyone throwing a blast, guardian using reflect and aegis at the right time, elementalist using swirling winds. The amout of coordination in this run is insane. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmmBAQzfSF4
Exactly my point — the roles aren’t necessary. As a result, role-based team coordination is not required. Some situations require team work like the platforms in a dredge fractals for example. Those are great imho because it requires something other than mindless key mashing.
I love the combat system in GW2, I just think it’s shallow without the required roles.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Nobody complained about too few people in a zone. However players did use the population (or lack thereof) as a correlation with the games success/failure. Some players still feel that the megaserver was just a way to hide the dwindling number of active players to give the illusion of a vibrant and vast community.
If you can link a bunch of threads with all these “complaints” of empty zones, then maybe you’ll sound more credible Draknar. Until then you simply look like a white knight drinking Koolaid.
The problem is failing to let go of the idea (picked up in other games) that gear determines your role in the game. GW2 was designed so that dedicated roles are not a thing in PvE. Gear is just another aspect of the character building system, not a determining factor.
So zerker is meaningless for DPS?
I think what you said is more true for GW2 than say WoW, but gearing is still impactful on your role. So you could wear Giver’s armor for DPS and yeah you could still DPS but you wouldn’t be as good as a character in Zerker’s.
Relative levels of effectiveness aside, GW2 is designed so that everyone in any build can and probably does do damage. Damage is not a role, it’s something that everyone does. In the same way, support is not a role, nor is control. You can enter an encounter prepared to provide more of A, B or C. You can also restrict yourself to mostly A, B or C. That’s a viable — but certainly not optimal — choice.
I wish ANet had not removed the old blog on healing. It was the source of the “GW2 trinity” assumptions. What it actually said was something more along the lines of damage, support and control being things that players do during the natural course of play. It certainly did not promise dedicated roles, yet that’s what most of the posts like the OP’s are really about.
I agree with everything you wrote — it’s the lack of roles that many people find disappointing. Roles required a minimum of teamwork to execute. You can use the Trinity as a classic example of roles, or create a new set of roles. It doesn’t matter, it’s the point that roles add depth to the game. It’s not as satisfying without them.
The combat system in GW2 is nice (best in any MMO I’ve seen) but it is quite shallow. There’s little complexity or depth to it. The lack of roles and required team work contributes heavily to this result.
You can execute combos as a team but they are hardly required, and definitely not necessary for success. If they were, it would enforce a degree of team work and coordination that would be very rewarding upon success. Some teams would fail (and should) but that’s the nature of challenging and rewarding content.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Nobody complained about too few people in a zone. However players did use the population (or lack thereof) as a correlation with the games success/failure. Some players still feel that the megaserver was just a way to hide the dwindling number of active players to give the illusion of a vibrant and vast community.
If you can link a bunch of threads with all these “complaints” of empty zones, then maybe you’ll sound more credible Draknar. Until then you simply look like a white knight drinking Koolaid.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
I’m thinking it would be nigh on impossible to do The Deep or Urgoz’s Warren with three heroes. Henchmen couldn’t enter elite areas, and using 7 heroes wasn’t allowed until much much later in the game’s life cycle.
Yeah, you could 2 man Urgoz post full parties of heros patch, but The Deep, if i remember correctly you need at least 4 players, since you have to do each pad separately or deal with a whole world of aspect pain.
We’d 3-man the deep, each man taking 3 heroes which would make the 12 total members. Was lots of fun and very doable. Honestly more enjoyable and fulfilling than anything I’ve encountered in GW2 so far. The closest is a good team in WvW, but that’s about it.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
I don’t think the new TP is having a large effect on users using the TP. I think you make a compelling argument and it was a good idea and a good use of reasoning, but there are other factors involved that may be missing.
I’m attaching a simple chart of TP Users and Buyers as unique counts relative to logins since the beginning of the month.
The key phrase being “relative to logins”. So the data is normalized “per active capita” so to speak. The good news is it definitely shows that Players are not using the TP less.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
The problem is failing to let go of the idea (picked up in other games) that gear determines your role in the game. GW2 was designed so that dedicated roles are not a thing in PvE. Gear is just another aspect of the character building system, not a determining factor.
So zerker is meaningless for DPS?
I think what you said is more true for GW2 than say WoW, but gearing is still impactful on your role. So you could wear Giver’s armor for DPS and yeah you could still DPS but you wouldn’t be as good as a character in Zerker’s.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
The roles are irrelevant because you don’t need a team composition built around the roles (like in the hard trinity). As a result, roles are lacking. While being very pug friendly, it leads to very unsatisfying team work.
Assuming the roles were relevant, keep in mind that a lot of CC and Support come from skills as opposed to gearing (i.e. reflection skills, barriers, skill revives, stuns, etc). So +condition duration is meaningless for those. In short associating gearing with roles is not a perfect match.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
What’s are the recommended rune/sigil combinations for WvW Group Staff builds?
Been away for months to play D3. Finally geared out enough toons that I’m starting to get bored and thought I’d dust off my Ele.
So my Ele pre-dates the rune/sigil changes (yeah that was a couple feature packs ago — that’s how long I’ve been away).
I’m in full celestial (armor, staff, jewels). Looking for community feedback on the best rune/sigil choices for Staff builds. Feel free to post your build as well.
When I was playing months ago, it was exclusively WvW. I find PvE extremely dull and repetitive. So temper your feedback with WvW in mind.
Cheers!
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
I’m very critical of GW2 but that’s because I had the highest expectations for it of any game in my life (in no small part due to my experience in GW1). I thought GW2 would be the end-all of MMOs (I know this is unrealistic but it’s how I felt). When I pre-ordered, I told my spouse “this will be the last game I ever buy, it’ll be that good”. The next closest rival would be the expectations I had for Baldur’s Gate prior to its release (the first D&D engine true to the rules?).
Anyway when you put a game on a pedestal you’re bound to have a let down. For GW2 my let down is severe and it has left me bitter.
I’ve logged in less than five times since LS2 started. I’m having a hard time getting motivated. GW2 has a long way to go in order to bring me back. An expansion similar in scope to GW1’s Nightfall or Factions might do it, but no guarantees at this point. Based upon my experience with GW2, I will no longer pre-order anything until I see it live.
EDIT: Even with my bitterness I still hold out hope — otherwise I’d never visit these forums.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Because from a mechanic perspective, they make the three least useful weapons in the game.
It’s not an issue about mechanics. It’s more about the art/design of the weapon, and the status of having a Legendary.
Also, there’s a common misconception being spread by other players that Precursors are “overpriced” or “expensive”. After doing some research, I’ve successfully countered all those claims.
Comon — your post is total snark, and a waste of time. You know as well as anyone why those precursors are cheap. Can we assume you’ll give fair-time to another post about how expensive the other precursors are? If not, you’re just a troll.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Of course John may have meant “value questions” as in a statement of beliefs rather than fact. In that case, I think it means the question of wealth is something not visible and therefore not a concern?
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
1. What gold threshold would you use to classify a GW2 player as “rich” (yeah I know this is subjective, but let’s use the RL equivalent of multi-millionaires — my guess would be 6000g-ish, enough to buy a couple legendaries off the TP)
2. Roughly what percentage of the GW2 player population would fall into this “rich” category (probably tough since “smart” players would have their wealth in inflation-proof investments instead of cash in the vault — an educated percentage based upon your view of the data would be more than satisfactory)
3. How does this category of players effect the economy? (maybe a good/bad/neutral type of classification with a brief reason or two as to why)
Thanks!
These are value statements, and I don’t feel comfortable making value statements.
Okay. How much gold in bank would one need to have to be in the top 20% of active players? Top 10%?
I’m not sure that gold in the bank is meaningful either. I have 2 legendaries (I gave away the third that I made), lots of expensive skins/items (e.g. infinite light, anomaly, 4 sets of ascended armor, etc), and tradeable goods worth somewhere between 2k and 6k gold (I’m not sure exactly how much it would work out to be if I tried to sell everything, and it would depend on whether I decided to use or keep items like recipe: chaos of lyssa). But I often have only a few hundred gold in the bank at any given time … sometimes less than 100g.
I’ve changed cash into gold via gems often enough (better use of time than farming/grinding), but a lot of this is from playing or speculating (buying when prices seem too low, waiting to see if my guess was correct).
To the player looking to craft a legendary and thinks the precursor prices are outrageous is looking at the gold in his bank, not their net worth in items and mats. They may be saving those mats for a legendary or ascended so liquidating those is out of the question.
It’s always been my contention that the price of precursors track with those who can afford it “out of the pocket” without first liquidating their assets, the top X%. The line that defines that X% is always moving, always increasing and precursors are tracking along with it. And legendary prices track with precursor prices.
That’s something that I think would be addressed with the answer to my question #3. Maybe I should have left the first two questions off (the value ones). I’ve reworded the request in one of my previous posts:
Actually I was most interested in question #3 which is a recurring topic in the forums (at least occasionally). The first two questions were really to put perspective on the answer for the third.
The goal was to put to bed some of opinionated discussions regarding wealth disparity in GW2 and whether or not it has an effect on the “have-nots”.
I can appreciate the lack of comfort on the value questions. Maybe a fuzzier answer on only question #3 is reasonable?
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
1. What gold threshold would you use to classify a GW2 player as “rich” (yeah I know this is subjective, but let’s use the RL equivalent of multi-millionaires — my guess would be 6000g-ish, enough to buy a couple legendaries off the TP)
2. Roughly what percentage of the GW2 player population would fall into this “rich” category (probably tough since “smart” players would have their wealth in inflation-proof investments instead of cash in the vault — an educated percentage based upon your view of the data would be more than satisfactory)
3. How does this category of players effect the economy? (maybe a good/bad/neutral type of classification with a brief reason or two as to why)
Thanks!
These are value statements, and I don’t feel comfortable making value statements.
Okay. How much gold in bank would one need to have to be in the top 20% of active players? Top 10%?
Actually I was most interested in question #3 which is a recurring topic in the forums (at least occasionally). The first two questions were really to put perspective on the answer for the third.
The goal was to put to bed some of opinionated discussions regarding wealth disparity in GW2 and whether or not it has an effect on the “have-nots”.
I can appreciate the lack of comfort on the value questions. Maybe a fuzzier answer on only question #3 is reasonable?
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
1. What gold threshold would you use to classify a GW2 player as “rich” (yeah I know this is subjective, but let’s use the RL equivalent of multi-millionaires — my guess would be 6000g-ish, enough to buy a couple legendaries off the TP)
2. Roughly what percentage of the GW2 player population would fall into this “rich” category (probably tough since “smart” players would have their wealth in inflation-proof investments instead of cash in the vault — an educated percentage based upon your view of the data would be more than satisfactory)
3. How does this category of players effect the economy? (maybe a good/bad/neutral type of classification with a brief reason or two as to why)
Thanks!
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
No hint of a dragon in that article. I hope it’s not another scarlet-like foe at the center of this entire plot chain.
EDIT: LS2 is not a personal “last chance” for GW2 because I don’t pay a sub and can come back for LS3 if this season sucks dragon balls. However, like many players, I haven’t played GW2 in many months now. There may not be a LS3 if ANet doesn’t pull a rabbit out of the hat.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
It’s not a good fit for PvE. It’s slow and cumbersome. I agree with a previous poster that it’s the fault of PvE design.
Totally agree that staff is epic in WvW zergs, and even in a good 5 man. However in solo WvW it totally blows (you might as well be carrying a stick). That’s a weird dichotomy.
Outside of wvw/pve it is not a great fit as DPS is still king.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Scratch that off the list of things to complain about!
Come on, there’s always “Just 1 map? RLY? What about ‘expansion size of content’?!” thing left :P
chuckle
As I said in another thread:
Honestly, even if they gave us 6 zones out in Wastes, a dozen new story missions, a new JP per map, a new in game armor skin per tier, and 60 new DEs per zone, people would still kitten. It still wouldn’t be ‘good enough.’ Nothing ever is any more. Its all “me me me, more more more!”
I think you’ve lost touch with reality — wipe the koolaid off your chin, you dribbled.
If ANet actually delivered a pile of content then maybe you’d have a more solid foundation to criticize those currently asking for content. If your expectation is the same fare as in LS1, then you must enjoy mediocre games.
I’ve lost touch with reality huh? Open your eyes and take a good look around you…
It’s not just in games that we see this “me me me” mentality, it’s a disease spreading around the world in real life. We’ve raised a generation of self entitled brats that have little to no discipline or respect. But sure, I’m the one that’s “lost touch with reality.” Ha.
No, I don’t expect the same as we got in LS1; however there’s a difference between those of us that realized LS1 was a testing ground (which did get better as it progressed) and the people that were calling for full blow expansion six months after the game released. With the exception of GW1, other games don’t get their first expansions until a year and half to two years after launch (SWOTR 1.5, Tera 1.5, WoW 2, etc). They might get a smallish update that adds a dungeon or two, but in those regards LS1 puts GW2 on par.
Beyond that ANet has spent the last several months spending significant time revamping the game and releasing in China, which (as has been explained) is essentially like launching the game all over again. No minor piece of work, and something completely new for them (keep in mind that GW1 never “officially” released in China). So yeah, realistically, I did not expect an expansion due to that. Anet isn’t as big as certain other companies in order to field that amount of development. It’s not like they didn’t do anything in that time frame.
We have no idea what, or even how much, content LS2 will provide. What we do know is that no matter how much it does (or does not) there will always be someone that will kitten. As already seen by the ‘what do you really expect type’ threads that have already started.
Yes yes, that sounds nice but…
Your post was really aimed to belittle all critics of GW2. It’s easy to wipe away the flurry of complaints as “entitlement mentality” but that’s a gross simplification and not accurate.
You can play coy about it, but that was really your aim in this post and in the other topic that you also referenced.
I however expect more from GW2 — LS2 better blow my socks off or it’s game over.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Scratch that off the list of things to complain about!
Come on, there’s always “Just 1 map? RLY? What about ‘expansion size of content’?!” thing left :P
chuckle
As I said in another thread:
Honestly, even if they gave us 6 zones out in Wastes, a dozen new story missions, a new JP per map, a new in game armor skin per tier, and 60 new DEs per zone, people would still kitten. It still wouldn’t be ‘good enough.’ Nothing ever is any more. Its all “me me me, more more more!”
I think you’ve lost touch with reality — wipe the koolaid off your chin, you dribbled.
If ANet actually delivered a pile of content then maybe you’d have a more solid foundation to criticize those currently asking for content. If your expectation is the same fare as in LS1, then you must enjoy mediocre games.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
The more I think about it, the more I feel this topic is moot.
ANet will eventually move to a content driven model on its own — it will be necessary for its own survival. The charge for late access to LS2 is just the first step in that direction.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
What you’re suggesting, OP is that Anet would somehow magically change the living story to suit your interests if you just paid them more money per patch, which isn’t too different from a subscription as everyone has been saying.
That isn’t going to happen. Anet has their own ideas for what they want with the living story. Even if they charged for new living story content every two weeks (which is ludicrous and completely goes against their business model) there is no guarantee that they will make something that fans would find appealing enough to purchase. It will not force anet to make content that YOU would want
What they are doing now is a decent compromise. If people missed it, they can buy it if they really want to throw down cash for new content. If they don’t care, no sweat, you won’t lose out. Furthermore I would NEVER pay every two weeks for the living story the way it is now. It’s just not worth it.
Aside from that, I would gladly pay for entirely maps if they were available. Maybe not something as small as Southsun cove, but I really just want them to open up the world of Tyria again. Like sub-expansions or something. A subscription forces you to pay for your time spent in game, while this would be paying for content directly.
Edit: Wildstar is NCsoft’s subscription based game. Your suggestion would put Anet in direct competition with Wildstar which will not help their sales, but hurt it. They are NOT going to compete with Wildstar on that front for that reason alone. I’m sure NCsoft is making this distinction on purpose.
Except it’s not a subscription. This was explained earlier — like on page one.
I would like the same things as you — a new zone, new professions, etc. I don’t mind paying for them.
Right now ANet is not using that business model. My suggestion is a thinly veiled desire that ANet would switch from a cosmetic consumer model to a content consumer model.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
As a GW1 vet, I have one word for you….. Factions.
A loooooot of players absolutely hated that campaign, which I never completely understood. However they would argue that just because they had to buy it didn’t make it worth what they paid.
I loved factions — quite possibly my favorite after vanilla GW1. I still miss my Rit.
The key statement in your post was “had to buy it”… they didn’t have to buy anything. It was their choice. They could read a review of factions and decide for themselves if it’s worth buying. That’s why B2P is so awesome.
EDIT:
And for $35 it blows the pants off of anything given away for “free” in GW2 so far. The amount of content and quality of content in Factions was enormous.
I would refrain from using GW1 as an example since everything about GW1 supports B2P producing quality content.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
So while I can concretely point to the existing work of GW2 developers, nobody can point to what these same dev’s would produce under a content driven, B2P model.
Except we can. The GW2 Personal Story was part of the game’s B2P, and is constantly reviled.
The GW2 Personal story was not separate content that you could purchase through B2P — it was part of the entire GW2 vanilla package. I could just as easily argue that the personal story was “free” when you bought the game GW2, and you get what you pay for.
However the story in and of itself is not bad — it’s better than LS1 imho. It just plays out so slowly because it takes weeks to level. If you could sit down and play through the story from beginning to end over a period of days it would be fine. I enjoyed many aspects of it (“apples for sale!”).
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
Many posters in this thread have said there’s no evidence that selling content will actually result in better content. However there is evidence to the contrary.
Feel free to present that evidence. You have not yet done so. Evidence that one iteration of option A produced a negative is not the same as evidence that option B will produce a positive.
And yet there is no evidence that option B will not produce a positive (yes lots of negatives in that statements, sry).
What you do have is option A right now and many Players would say that Option A (LS1) was not up to their expectations for “an expansion worth of content” (ANet quote).
So while I can concretely point to the existing work of GW2 developers, nobody can point to what these same dev’s would produce under a content driven, B2P model.
I’ve already laid out how business chase the money and right now that chase is the cosmetics. With B2P of LS, the chase is content. You can dislike buying content all you want, but it doesn’t change how the business model works.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
It’s hard to have good end-game content requiring team coordination when the game has no defined roles. The new trinity of damage, support, control never materialized. Without roles there’s less emphasis on teamwork and coordination. Without teamwork and coordination, the content feels like a jumble of meaningless operations.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
It makes me laugh how the OP is replying to post he can argue with. But every post that mentions the fact that this will not fly dew to the game launching in China he ignores.
It’s quite simple. ANet do this now, I would guess. They would lose money in China as players would feel they where mislead even lied to. I know some people feel ANet have gone back on some of the things they said before launch but China will have the game I think ANet wanted at launch.
Maybe in a years time ANet might look at doing your idea OP, but I really do not see it happening. I have played lots of game that have payed DLC. On the most part it’s content that should have been in the game anyway. Look at how much flack EA published games get for there “DLC”. Mass Effect 2/3 is a fine example. Day 1 DLC that even comes on the disc AD. They have the cheek to say they worked on it after the main game. I know that with ANet it’s a different story, but the way LS2 is looking. It’s going to be the continuation of your PS that people will say should be in the game and not charged for. If it was something like the bonuse mission pack from GW, then I have no problem it’s optinal content.
TL;DR
LS2 should be as ANet have announced.
Optinal story’s like the bonus mission pack from guild wars should be charged for.
LOL — the only post referencing China is yours… you must be offended I didn’t reply to you specifically?
China is a different animal and it’s going through a local developer. They can create content for sale outside China and then give it away in China. The point is moot as it’s a different market with a different business arrangement.
My point is (and has always been) that selling content is good for the game.
It’s not popular because a portion of the game community would rather spend money on pretty skins, RNG consumables, and other cosmetic fair rather than for quality content.
Many posters in this thread have said there’s no evidence that selling content will actually result in better content. However there is evidence to the contrary. LS1 is not an “expansion worth of content”. If you feel that way then you are not being objective.
So there is evidence that not paying for content gets you LS1 quality fair. You’re playing it…
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
I disagree with the OP. There are other ways for Anet to make money out of content.
Option 1) is to add paid “extra” side stories to the main ( stil free of charge ) Living Story.\
Option 2) is to add paid extra episodes of the Personal Story.
That is of course if the upcoming changes to handle stories in your Hero panel works flawless.
Put in words of comparising to a tv channel. They wil have 1 channel that is free of charge ( if you buy a tv { the buy to play model part }). If you miss an episode you can stil buy it afterwards. And then they also have a second/third/etc. channel to broadcast paid content for those who don’t have enough content on the free of charge channel.
There are of course a load of pro’s and con’s here to revieuw but it could be a very good working model.
… which seems the same as paying for content… so I guess I’d approve. You’d have a hard time “selling” the idea (pun intended).
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
I didn’t address this point because it doesn’t exist. The scenario is not binary as you describe it — the cash shop doesn’t need to go away. However with my proposal cosmetics/consumables are not the sole revenue stream. The current cash shop fare becomes gravy (like the cash shop in GW1).
Except I didn’t describe a binary situation. If you think selling LS chapters would be a primary revenue stream, you’re deluding yourself.
Get it?
Selling content is a step in that direction. If making good, new, quality content is not profitable then the game is doomed anyway.
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
If you sell other stuff (such as convenience enablers) you ultimately design your game to “make” players buy that stuff. I’d rather my game be designed around what I find the most fun which is content.
I made the point earlier that the GW2 store is not going away. You did not address it. You’re still assuming it would either go away or take a back seat. Not going to happen, even if ANet were to monetize the LS chapters. Wouldn’t happen if they were to sell and expansion, either. If you find GW2 to be “designed to make you buy stuff” now, the OP’s proposal would not change that.
I didn’t address this point because it doesn’t exist. The scenario is not binary as you describe it — the cash shop doesn’t need to go away. However with my proposal cosmetics/consumables are not the sole revenue stream. The current cash shop fare becomes gravy (like the cash shop in GW1).
This was the original cash shop description when the firestorm occurred back in development. If you were around that long ago, you’ll remember the uproar from GW1 fans at the time the cash shop was announced.
This way the developers can spend less time creating the next great mining pick and instead create the next great dungeon path. If they make another mining pick, that’s fine. The point is the business doesn’t depend upon said mining pick — it depends upon the dungeon path.
Get it?
Part of me thinks that someone in ANet was thinking “hey, wanna see something funny? Watch this…”
