Slow Pace affecting players enjoyment

We have a guild that has enjoyed much success until recently. Here are comments from some of our members "Also he said he hardly plays thi sgame anymoreSeems a lot of people are getting bored with the game... updates come out way too slowly." "LS4 only gave us 1 map and its like 2 months in .. well prob get 1 new map every 3-4 months"
"Drops are getting worse .. lots of low level sigils, but nothing good for enjoyment in building and experiencing new things."

This does not bode well. Not good for us (our Guild), the game in general, loyalty, enjoyment. We need excitement, not same old same old.

Well, the devs can't help it if you're missinformed...Usual LS cadence has been 2-3 months between episodes, so there's one right around the corner.And "only one map"? Entitled much? It's a free content patch, and it's only supposed to be a story release. Nice representation of "give them a hand and they'll take your arm". It used to be that LS patches were just that story Living season 2 only gave us 2 maps in a 8 chapter story, and everyone was ecstatic!

Drops getting worse is pretty much your own perception. They usually improve as you improve your luck, after 200% you'll see a lot more rares and exotics.Did you complete all Raids?Are you fractal lvl 100?Have you completed all the Dungeons, and content? PvP, WvW?There's plenty stuff to do, if you want to. If you don't, sure take a break, and come back when next episode releases.

Our release schedule has been spectacular, at least for pve. I don't wvw or pvp so can't comment on the freshness of that content, but we have been spoiled with the cadence of releases otherwise.

@"chatiss.3281" said:We have a guild that has enjoyed much success until recently. Here are comments from some of our members "Also he said he hardly plays thi sgame anymoreSeems a lot of people are getting bored with the game... updates come out way too slowly." "LS4 only gave us 1 map and its like 2 months in .. well prob get 1 new map every 3-4 months"

The pace is definitely a lot slower than at launch. On the other hand, the releases are more consistent and most consistently robust and... there's almost no danger of extended content droughts, as there was in the early days. Plus, there are updates more often than just for Living World. (the next balance patch is going to, um, shatter the status quo).

If that's too slow for people, they can take a break and come back later (just remind them to logon every month so they don't accidental miss a free update).

"Drops are getting worse .. lots of low level sigils, but nothing good for enjoyment in building and experiencing new things."

Drops haven't changed at all. What's changed is the value of those drops. That's annoying for sellers, but great for buyers, especially those making their first legendary.

This does not bode well. Not good for us (our Guild), the game in general, loyalty, enjoyment. We need excitement, not same old same old.

This bodes nothing. People always leave games. Players run through content far, far quicker than any studio can produce it. People burn out or have RLs they need to attend to. As time goes on, it's a very, very unusual game that doesn't have significant drops in membership.

Facts are facts, you are quite correct. You said if its too slow for people .. essentially ... too bad so sad. come back later. Hmmm not sure this is the right approach to improvement. thank you for you point of view though

@"ReaverKane.7598" said:Well, the devs can't help it if you're missinformed...Usual LS cadence has been 2-3 months between episodes, so there's one right around the corner.And "only one map"? Entitled much? It's a free content patch, and it's only supposed to be a story release. Nice representation of "give them a hand and they'll take your arm". It used to be that LS patches were just that story Living season 2 only gave us 2 maps in a 8 chapter story, and everyone was ecstatic!

Drops getting worse is pretty much your own perception. They usually improve as you improve your luck, after 200% you'll see a lot more rares and exotics.Did you complete all Raids?Are you fractal lvl 100?Have you completed all the Dungeons, and content? PvP, WvW?There's plenty stuff to do, if you want to. If you don't, sure take a break, and come back when next episode releases.

Yes thank you. I have been playing for five years, and am aware of luck. Take a break. hmmm well at least i have posted how i feel even though it is not universally shared I guess. Thank you for you comments.

The content updates are coming out more frequently than in many other MMO’s so I don’t see the issue to be honest.

Do you know of another MMO with a faster release schedule?

My other game gets 4 releases a year, one of those is just a dungeon and one is just a base game patch with new features but no new content. A 3rd is a paid expansion and the 4th is a paid DLC equivalent to GW2s living story. I'm told that is pretty great and most games don't even match that. So by that standard it seems like we're getting a lot of content releases in this game.

The 2-3 month release schedule works pretty well for me. It means I can keep up with current releases (including doing the achievements I want and map meta-events) whilst also having time to work on older stuff I want to do or additional characters. But then GW2 isn't my only game, let alone my only hobby so it probably takes me longer to get through stuff than most people.

If you immediately know the candlelight is fire, then the meal was cooked a long time ago.

This is not meant as a snarky or over simplistic response. I've played a lot of MMOs and the single one thread that has run through every single one of them is that the studios cannot produce content fast enough to keep up a portion of their player base. In the games with which I am most familiar, new content is typically conquered by a segment of the players within a couple of weeks.

But on the other extreme, there are players that are always behind the curve. In this game, I have guild mates that have not finished the first episode of the LS4. I know players and see people in game that are still clearing the expansion maps. There are those that are still trying to get their griffon. And, yes, I have friends that have everything done in a week. Most of us, though, I suspect lie somewhere in the middle. I've cleared the expansion maps, finished with LS4 Episode 1, and got my griffon. And, as others have pointed out, we expect that the next release is due up within the month.

I think it is fair to say that different people will have different perceptions and preferences about content release speed. For some it will be too slow while others will find the speed blindly fast. Personally, I fall into the camp that thinks they have it about right.

Is it really the rate of content released, or how quickly the content is “finished”?

I’d understand if you said you finished everything you wanted to do in Path of Fire quicker than it took to do the same in Heart of Thorns. And I’d obviously understand if you said you weren’t farming resources on the new Living World map as much as you did in season 3. But I don’t think the pace of releases is very different.

Not telling you to do anything, but, here is how I see things. It's free game, with lots of free stuff given to us, if you are unhappy with that, by all means, take some time to sample what else is out there, maybe there is something more your liking.. if not.. we will see you again.. when you come crawling back.

@"chatiss.3281" said:This does not bode well. Not good for us (our Guild), the game in general, loyalty, enjoyment. We need excitement, not same old same old.

What does "loyalty" entail?

@Danikat.8537 said:Do you know of another MMO with a faster release schedule?

My other game gets 4 releases a year, one of those is just a dungeon and one is just a base game patch with new features but no new content. A 3rd is a paid expansion and the 4th is a paid DLC equivalent to GW2s living story. I'm told that is pretty great and most games don't even match that. So by that standard it seems like we're getting a lot of content releases in this game.

The 2-3 month release schedule works pretty well for me. It means I can keep up with current releases (including doing the achievements I want and map meta-events) whilst also having time to work on older stuff I want to do or additional characters. But then GW2 isn't my only game, let alone my only hobby so it probably takes me longer to get through stuff than most people.

Good point. Gw2 is my only mmo game. Context ... the release schedule could be upped, but acquiring mats to build seems to be an issue. Drops seem to have tailed off or at the least not increased in value. I try to max my luck including guild boosts to get as much as poss to build. I have not done raids to increase rewards, because whenever I go there and declare i am a noob, i get turned down. So that also is a miss on my part.Thank you responding I can appreciate your perspective. Cheers

GW2 has no subscription, so it is perfectly viable to take a break and jump back in when new LS-episodes releases. I did that for pretty much the entirety of LS3. And since there is no traditional geargrind you are never really "left behind" in terms of gear either!

Other than that I agree with what other have said that new content is released fairly frequently compared to previous MMOs, and has pretty good size and quality considering it is "free".

@Elothar.4382 said:This is not meant as a snarky or over simplistic response. I've played a lot of MMOs and the single one thread that has run through every single one of them is that the studios cannot produce content fast enough to keep up a portion of their player base. In the games with which I am most familiar, new content is typically conquered by a segment of the players within a couple of weeks.

But on the other extreme, there are players that are always behind the curve. In this game, I have guild mates that have not finished the first episode of the LS4. I know players and see people in game that are still clearing the expansion maps. There are those that are still trying to get their griffon. And, yes, I have friends that have everything done in a week. Most of us, though, I suspect lie somewhere in the middle. I've cleared the expansion maps, finished with LS4 Episode 1, and got my griffon. And, as others have pointed out, we expect that the next release is due up within the month.

I think it is fair to say that different people will have different perceptions and preferences about content release speed. For some it will be too slow while others will find the speed blindly fast. Personally, I fall into the camp that thinks they have it about right.

Well said. Thank you. ONe thing I like to do is help others complete whatever they need to do thereby increasing my personal enjoyment, However, guess i am a bit ahead of the herd and would like everything NOW heh ... cheers

@Leo G.4501 said:

@"chatiss.3281" said:This does not bode well. Not good for us (our Guild), the game in general, loyalty, enjoyment. We need excitement, not same old same old.

In my case loyalty can be added to what guilds have to offer others and loyalty to the game in general. I would like to see excitement increase. I guess that means i am loyal to the game in that commenting on experiences and POV (point of view) I gain insight. Thank you

@Ayrilana.1396 said:The content updates are coming out more frequently than in many other MMO’s so I don’t see the issue to be honest.

I suppose that I am restricted in that I do not play other MMO's so in that i have not a comparison. So essentially i am only relating to my in-game experience.

Thank you for that info. cheers

There are some player types that cannot be satisfied really. I remember in PoF, I met a guy who binged through most of the content in two weeks or so, then he leaves until the next Living World chapter comes, then he binges the content, and leaves again. I mean, yeah, I only spend two or three weeks in PoF too, did what I wanted to do and basically never returned, but I enjoy other parts of the game.

If you get bored too quickly, there's nothing any publisher can do. What would happpen if they added a new expansion every month? Would be fine for me, I don't need a month to get all masteries, all maps completed and the achievements I want. But that sounds crazy, we would have way too much content for the average player, he would be overwhelmed. You already have content for months to keep you busy when you start this game, of course the pace slows down when you binge and are done with everything. I really don't see how you can cater this player type.

i think the amount of content in GW2 is acceptable. if new map is release frequently you will end up with alot of dead map.in fact I was concern that the last season has way too many map.

imo, they can add more "seasonal" stuff into the game like xmas, new year, holloween, sab type...or that wvw golem rush event, stuff like that could be brought back.

@chatiss.3281 said:

@Leo G.4501 said:

@chatiss.3281 said:This does not bode well. Not good for us (our Guild), the game in general, loyalty, enjoyment. We need excitement, not same old same old.

I still don't understand. What do you mean by what guilds have to offer others?

I wouldn't bunch excitement with loyalty, tho. The hype culture completely betrays loyalty in practically every way.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:(the next balance patch is going to, um, shatter the status quo).You really had to go there, didn't you? ;)

People say the slow content effects enjoyment. Ok maybe if you were an old player since the beginning but as players who have only been in for couple years there’s many things to do within this game. As for me what I found that keeps me entertained is getting my classes to full ascended. As much as people say you don’t need it. Well I want it just because it’s the highest tier besides legendary. And much cheaper then legendary. But trust me crafting a class full ascended will take at least have the time for new content. And then crafting for another class will also.

Fractals takes a while to do as much as people say. Getting the +11 infusions takes a long time. Even for me. I only have +9 infusions. Also it adds mastery points that you need.

Map completion. Which takes a while.

All elites for each class you have.

Finish every story for all classes which gives more skins.

Knight of thorns for hot ending to get an ascended piece.

Pvp is by far underrated. Or lot of people can’t handle the competitiveness but it is by far the best time waster in the game.

Raids which takes hours to perfect.

There are many things to do

I've been logging in pretty much every day for a little over two years on my two accounts. A couple nights ago, I logged in, did my dailies, farmed my home instance, hit all the other farming tasks, chatted with some guildies, and then logged off and went and read a book for a couple of hours until I went to bed. The following evening I logged in, hit my dailies and my farm spots...and found myself refreshed and went and helped with some HP's in HoT for a couple of hours. Taking that evening off to go read a little sci-fi was the right thing to do, and let me come back to the game and have fun.

Another piece of advice, if you don't have one, create an account over at gw2efficiency and plug in your API key. Then go look at the achievements list under your account. Find some achievements that you're only one or two (or 4) things from finishing. Go chase down those achievement points. It's not all about the content, but about finding, or setting, and working towards a goal. Find your goal and go get it...just remember to kill everything you come across as you go after it! :)

@kharmin.7683 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:(the next balance patch is going to, um, shatter the status quo).You really had to go there, didn't you? ;)

Actually, @"Gaile Gray.6029" got there waaaaaaaaaaaaay before I did.

• Alacrity: Time for a Change
• Shattering the Status Quo

I've tried to clock the speed of the puns coming out of the ANet posting machinery, but there are enough minute details missing from my data that I've simultaneously paused my tracking of the chronology.