Anniversary Video Discussion

3:34 "You can expect more great things from us as we move directly from Season Four into Season Five."

I don't have anything profound to say about it myself (yet), but was curious as to what others thought that might imply (infer?).

That got me really confused. Can we get a clarification on that? Is LS4 over with just 3 episodes? If yes - when is LS5 expected to begin? I was sooo hyped about the Sunspear sanctuary and that thing with LS sank my heart :(

@"notebene.3190" said:3:34 "You can expect more great things from us as we move directly from Season Four into Season Five."

:/

I don't have anything profound to say about it myself (yet), but was curious as to what others thought that might imply (infer?).

I've never been entirely clear on whether they count the expansion story as part of the seasons. Obviously, there's a lot of overlap and internally, they might see it as just one more punctuation to the release cadence.

On the other hand, the pattern (two times out of two) has been LS2 → Expansion A → LS 3 → Expansion B → LS 4, so I'd have expected Expansion C to launch before LS 5.

Still, there's no rule about it. After all, what's the difference between having LS4 run 5 episodes and LS5 run 5, versus having LS4 run 10? I definitely prefer having a longer LS season to waiting for months after before there's an expansion.

@Archdevil.1748 said:That got me really confused. Can we get a clarification on that? Is LS4 over with just 3 episodes? If yes - when is LS5 expected to begin? I was sooo hyped about the Sunspear sanctuary and that thing with LS sank my heart :(

I suppose it could mean that LW4 and LW5 will each have fewer episodes, but distinctly different story lines, and together, more episodes than LW3, and maybe an expansion after that?

Or, it could mean they are getting more ambitious with the LW concept, and rather than having one big expansion every so often, they'll introduce smaller things as part of LW releases, and just not do expansions any more?

It just kinda floated out there and they moved on.

Good video though. Putting faces with names and what not. I don't know the team really well. I should follow streams more.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:Still, there's no rule about it. After all, what's the difference between having LS4 run 5 episodes and LS5 run 5, versus having LS4 run 10? I definitely prefer having a longer LS season to waiting for months after before there's an expansion.

I'm thinking this too.

The problem with all this is that it starts various speculations. With so little information people can only guess what is coming. This has to be clarified before people start leaving the game because of no information on that thing.

Thankfully i wasnt the only person who caught that and was confused.

I was also under the assumption as previously stated that it's season->expansion->(loop)I'll be pleasantly surprised if they take more time to do the next expansion and polish between/add more festivals (as that was the other confusing line "new festivals")

Otherwise it's kinda weird seeing some of the faces again with that presidental grey going on.

So does this mean the next LW season won't require an expansion?

@Archdevil.1748 said:The problem with all this is that it starts various speculations. With so little information people can only guess what is coming. This has to be clarified before people start leaving the game because of no information on that thing.

Why does it have to be clarified? This changes nothing for us in any meaningful way.In any case, we'll find out soon enough, when they officially announce the final episode of LS4 (which might be LS4.5 or might be later).

From what I understand, the season 4 will have 6 episodes, then we will continue with season 5.We find this at the bottom of this page : https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/celebrating-six-years-of-guild-wars-2/"We are extremely excited for you to experience the explosive second half of season 4 and join us on the continuing adventure we are creating for season 5"

@"Julian.9473" said:From what I understand, the season 4 will have 6 episodes, then we will continue with season 5.We find this at the bottom of this page : https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/celebrating-six-years-of-guild-wars-2/"We are extremely excited for you to experience the explosive second half of season 4 and join us on the continuing adventure we are creating for season 5"

I just read it into the Infographic in Reddit and was about to post it :)

@"notebene.3190" said:3:34 "You can expect more great things from us as we move directly from Season Four into Season Five."

I don't have anything profound to say about it myself (yet), but was curious as to what others thought that might imply (infer?).

I think it is pretty obvious what it means: There will be (at least) another Living World season before there is going to be a new expansion.

@Archdevil.1748 said:That got me really confused. Can we get a clarification on that? Is LS4 over with just 3 episodes?

I doubt that was the meaning of it, though...

Well, i just feel like they are moving to GW3.

1. In infographics there is a statement: We are excited for you to experience an explosive second half of season 4 and join us on the continuing adventure with season 5.

Idk i would phrase that differently if there was only 1 more episode in season 4(something like, join us for finale). With that in mind i would think that season 4 has 5 or 6 episodes(more leaning to 6, cus of whole mentionion of second half of the season and being excited for us-suggesting we are yet to experience the second half).

Source:https://i.redd.it/nemu88qycvi11.jpg

2. MMORPG: Why did you decide to continue the Living World and go straight from Season 4 to Season 5 rather than say, work on an expansion in the background?Mike: There's a number of different reasons why it made sense for us to do this.....(it goes on)Note that he did not correct that there is any expansion in the works, which seems suspicious to me(tbh there was no mentioning of expansion anywhere).

Source: https://www.mmorpg.com/guild-wars-2/interviews/guild-wars-2-gamescom-2018-interview-looking-back-at-living-world-1000012975#kpf1L7dt7YIYhFa5.99

3. "With season 4, with very next episode ,....adding stuff,.....Again the phrasing suggests there are more than 4 episodes in season 4.

Source:

With all of this i'm kinda worried, that if they are not working on GW3, when are we getting Elite specs? Idk, but as a PvP and WvW player, expansions are all about Elite specs for me, finding new ways to play classes that tbh are very stale and don't change much if at all from their release to now, i guess.

Well back on topic, if Season 4 has 6 episodes as the phrasing of stuff would suggest, that means that they are sticking with the plan to release 6 episodes per season and season 5, would than have 6 episodes aswell. If season 5 was to have only 2 per say, why not have season 4 have 8(which is what season 2 had). That would suggest me that season 5 is going to have 2+ episodes. Which kinda screwes with any 2019 expansions release and that fact that they never mentioned expansion suggests that they might actually not be making it yet or at all.(what are half of the employees doing if not an expansion???).

All of this makes me think that these 2 seasons are going to be the ending ceremony of gw2 and after it's going into maintanance mode.

Or you know, have Mike come out and say HELL YES WE ARE MAKING EXPANSION 3, and you are getting 2 elite specs for it and a reworked engine,.....

The only thing this really confirms is that there will be 2 living world episodes before we get a new expansion, much like season 1 and 2 before we got HoT, no big deal! I can absolutely see why actuallyspoilers down below read with caution

! Joko is now dead and as far as we are concerned kralkatorrik is the next "big bad" of the story. 3 episodes to get that story going and have taimi come up with some other idea, or not, maybe something else may happen. 3 episodes isn't gonna do that justice. Maybe we will get a new next big thing to deal with. Keep in mind that a future expansion will lead us to an entirely new area we haven't gone to before in Gw2, setting all of that up in 9 episodes seems more logical to me.

@Gaile Gray.6029 said:Here's some info for you: We will be moving straight into Season 5 at the conclusion of Season 4.

Awesome, lol!

I am hoping for Expansion news at some point to be honest. The LW stuff is cool with new areas to explore and all, and obviously they are adding features too, like the Sun's Refuge, but an Expansion is a lot more then that.
For me Expansions bring:1) A large new landmass to explore;2) Distinctly different setting of those lands; maybe the most important one;3) New ways to play through gliding, verticality, Mounts, Elite Specs.

I realize that item 1 can also be added through LW updates (as they are doing), and I guess new features could be introduced with LW too (Sun's Refuge?)It is 2 and 3 that makes the Hype for expansions real for me. But I agree, no need to panic, I am sure we will see more expansions. :)

@"Archdevil.1748" said:That got me really confused. Can we get a clarification on that? Is LS4 over with just 3 episodes? If yes - when is LS5 expected to begin? I was sooo hyped about the Sunspear sanctuary and that thing with LS sank my heart :(

@"SloRules.3560" said:All of this makes me think that these 2 seasons are going to be the ending ceremony of gw2 and after it's going into maintanance mode.

That's what I was saying in the "systems team" thread. The team redesign plus changing the content map they laid out for us makes me think either the ship is sinking or GW3 could be a reality. Which way I lean depends on how optimistic I feel at that point. Getting old enough that the lack of concrete info just makes me anxious, and not in a good way.

Upgradeable gear eh... hmm. We'll see.I'm particularly happy with this unforseen QoL improvement. A (new) customizable home instance is also something that has been asked for quite a long time, I'm very happy that they are going to realise it. Even sooner than expected.I'm also surprised that they'll skip the expansion 3... don't you want our money ANet? :p
Anyway, WELL DOOONE! Happy birthday :)

If it means more time for an even bigger expansion, then great as i prefer the big content drops expacs bring

the poster says next is "second half of season 4". its means will be 6 episodes on season 4.

Well with a new LW, all anyone expects is new maps, currency, maybe even legendaries.For a new expansion though, the playerbase would demand a new class, a new race, something BIG like the Revenant / Gliding, or the PoF mounts.

Clearly it's easier to just release new LW content to keep the story running. I'd also surmise that their revenue is generated more from the Gem store these days than from the purchasing of expansions, but that's just a guess on my part.

@Ubi.4136 said:

@"SloRules.3560" said:All of this makes me think that these 2 seasons are going to be the ending ceremony of gw2 and after it's going into maintanance mode.

Yeah systems team sound to me like a maintaince team of sort. Eventrually reducing staff required by automating as much as possible.

Seriously, how scarce they are with information i can't think anything else. I mean, they haven't even mentioned an expansion or correct a "work in background" statement. I mean, former Expansion employees have to work on something, right?

I must say, I am a bit disappointing about the fact that we won't get a new expansion after S4 or possibly not at all and here is my reason.

HoT for me was the best content GW2 made, I would go to say for my personal taste it was perfect, did not mind the exp needed for masteries, locked HP after specific masteries, I just did not care, it just made me wanna play the game more and gave me a sense of accomplishment, after a week and a half of sleepless nights, being able to unlock that last mastery gave me the best feeling I have ever had in an MMO.

After that the fun kept on going, working together to kill Chak Gerent for a few weeks, but unfortunately that fun came to a close very fast with the (what I would say) overnerfing of HOT HP's, meta bosses and progression.PoF was not even close to how HOT maps are nerfed unfortunately, I never go in the maps since week one of launch, unless there is an update that makes me go there or I just miss seeing the amazing environments but for me there is nothing to do there.

The Idea that there will not be an expansion makes me sad since I miss having challenging open world content. I understand making an expansion take many resources so unless we get LWS episodes at a faster rate and maps don't feel empty and have something that makes me wanna go back and play the map, that will make me miss an expansion.

So TLDR no expack good if we get LWS episodes faster and they have some sort of challenging content in them or anything that will make it worth while to revisit the map, also raids.

And I will finish with a disclaimer, I understand that I may not be in the majority with this opinion but there hasn't been anything challenging in open world PVE since before the HOT nerf on Chak Gerent and that's a long time ago.