What happened to the question and answer part of the event?

From:https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/83087/join-us-for-a-special-live-event-tomorrow-friday-august-30/p1

We will be taking questions in advance and we will answer as many as we can over the course of the event. So share below what you’d like to know from the team about the newest chapter of Guild Wars 2 Living World.

I didn't see that happen during the event stream. Or is the event still ongoing somehow and we can expect that later?

I am wondering this as well. It could be they couldn't get the theater for long enough to do that part. Perhaps they will put answers in the thread you linked?

Ignoring the community like always.

@Stephane Lo Presti.7258 said:We gathered the questions (including in German, French and Spanish) and then discussed with the team what was relevant to our announcement, so that we could answer them. While you may not see a direct answer to a given question, comments that players made had an impact on the script of our event.

The problem is there are a lot of questions that have gone unanswered for way too long at this point. Those issues are going to continually overshadow anything you do for the foreseeable future - not just for this announcement.

As an example, when you said that living stories will include things typically reserved for expansions, what specifically were you talking about? What is the status of elite specializations moving forward? Status of specific game modes?

These questions have been raised on the reddit and these forums repeatedly for the past month. That the Anet team didn't address any of them in any way pretty much hurts any real excitement (and we should be excited) about the actual announcement.

In summary, it is time for a warts and all AMA. Give players a real vision of what the future of the game really looks like.

@Blaeys.3102 said:

@Stephane Lo Presti.7258 said:We gathered the questions (including in German, French and Spanish) and then discussed with the team what was relevant to our announcement, so that we could answer them. While you may not see a direct answer to a given question, comments that players made had an impact on the script of our event.

A fair summary/response. Very much time to drop the official secrets act on the game's ongoing future and some direct answers to some of those questions would have helped without spoiling very much

@Blaeys.3102 said:

@Stephane Lo Presti.7258 said:We gathered the questions (including in German, French and Spanish) and then discussed with the team what was relevant to our announcement, so that we could answer them. While you may not see a direct answer to a given question, comments that players made had an impact on the script of our event.

Players assume that any vision that ANet puts out is set in stone and won't change due to unforeseen problems. Then when something changes, players complain that they've broken a promise.

You can thank those players for why ANet chooses more often than not to keep a tight lip on anything except what's about to launch.

@"Stephane Lo Presti.7258" said:We gathered the questions (including in German, French and Spanish) and then discussed with the team what was relevant to our announcement, so that we could answer them. While you may not see a direct answer to a given question, comments that players made had an impact on the script of our event.

I recommend different phrasing if ANet plans something like this again. When people read, "we will be taking questions in advance," there's an expectation of a Q&A format, in which a question is presented (even if modified) and a direct response is offered. It also helps people visually see how many topics the respondent covers.

Since the corporate plan from the start was to incorporate answers into the main presentation, a more useful phrasing would be closer to

Are there topics you would like us to cover during the event? Please let us know here. We plan to adjust our presentation based on your feedback. Unfortunately, we won't have time to address specific questions.

Both styles work well for general audiences. It's only a problem when people attend expecting the one and end up getting the other.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"Stephane Lo Presti.7258" said:We gathered the questions (including in German, French and Spanish) and then discussed with the team what was relevant to our announcement, so that we could answer them. While you may not see a direct answer to a given question, comments that players made had an impact on the script of our event.

Are there topics you would like us to cover during the event? Please let us know here. We plan to adjust our presentation based on your feedback. Unfortunately, we won't have time to address specific questions.

Fair/agreed

@Donari.5237 said:Perhaps they will put answers in the thread you linked?That would have worked, too.

(Hint: it's not too late to do that.)

@Stephane Lo Presti.7258 said:We gathered the questions (including in German, French and Spanish) and then discussed with the team what was relevant to our announcement, so that we could answer them. While you may not see a direct answer to a given question, comments that players made had an impact on the script of our event.

Thank you for the answer. I suppose I was expecting a different format where the questions selected were presented and then answered.

I did a quick scan through that thread and they did address a lot of the queries. The only big outstanding question (there are quite a few small ones, where 'small' means very specific or pertaining to a small sub area of the game) seems to be whether elite specs will be delivered via Living Story or not. Anything else asked in there that you guys feel needs at least a "we heard you but cannot give a yes/no right now" if they have reason to withhold a full answer?

Q&A means letting players ask you questions, not preemptively selecting easy to answer questions, that's just the A part. You can still do a real, serious, legitimate Q&A if you want, but I don't think you ever wanted to at this point..

@Stephane Lo Presti.7258 said:We gathered the questions (including in German, French and Spanish) and then discussed with the team what was relevant to our announcement, so that we could answer them. While you may not see a direct answer to a given question, comments that players made had an impact on the script of our event.

That is not how Q&A works. There are so many important questions that havent been answered for so long. I would advise you to change your marketing and pr strategies after today.

@Hofulu.7325 said:Q&A means letting players ask you questions, not preemptively selecting easy to answer questions, that's just the A part. You can still do a real, serious, legitimate Q&A if you want, but I don't think you ever wanted to at this point..To be fair, the FFXIV devs do this all the time. They take specific questions from a thread they set up on the forums, and then mention the question during their stream and answer it right there.

@Blaeys.3102 said:

@Stephane Lo Presti.7258 said:We gathered the questions (including in German, French and Spanish) and then discussed with the team what was relevant to our announcement, so that we could answer them. While you may not see a direct answer to a given question, comments that players made had an impact on the script of our event.

This is a bit naive. There is no vision for gw2 anymore. The game is a cash cow right now that's being milked to fund other projects.

No company is gonna admit that though.

Oh nevermind.

@RyuDragnier.9476 said:

@Hofulu.7325 said:Q&A means letting players ask you questions, not preemptively selecting easy to answer questions, that's just the A part. You can still do a real, serious, legitimate Q&A if you want, but I don't think you ever wanted to at this point..To be fair, the FFXIV devs do this all the time. They take specific questions from a thread they set up on the forums, and then mention the question during their stream and answer it right there.

unless i have no information about their process, she says they just looked at questions in the forums to influence what they decided to talk about, rather than asking the players what they would like to see talked about. What was discussed was great, but people paid for travel and lodging to see a 45 minute living world discussion, not 15 minutes of living world and 20 minutes of advertisements and special expac deals. everything they showed us was really awesome, but once again, how am i supposed to feel waiting all week for a 45 minute living world presentation, to have only 15 minutes spent on what i tuned in for, and the total time stopping ten full minutes short. last time they had a presentation, they delivered on what they said they would be talking about. This time, they not only failed to fully deliver the presentation they repeatedly advertised, but they didnt even make the allotted time before running out of things to say about the future of the game.

@Stephane Lo Presti.7258 said:We gathered the questions (including in German, French and Spanish) and then discussed with the team what was relevant to our announcement, so that we could answer them. While you may not see a direct answer to a given question, comments that players made had an impact on the script of our event.

I would honestly be very interested to know exactly which ones WERE asked AND answered.

@DutchRiders.2871 said:

@Blaeys.3102 said:

@"Stephane Lo Presti.7258" said:We gathered the questions (including in German, French and Spanish) and then discussed with the team what was relevant to our announcement, so that we could answer them. While you may not see a direct answer to a given question, comments that players made had an impact on the script of our event.

As much as I think they mishandled yesterday's announcement and have never been great at how they market and advertise the game (remember the cringe worthy live action commercial when the game launched?), I don't agree with what you've said here either. Guild Wars 2 is still a very engaging and fun game - one that I still believe is the best MMO on the market today. And I believe them when they say the "other projects" have been set aside so they can focus on GW2.

But, at the same time, there is a need for some greater transparency. Earlier this year, they laid off a substantial number of people. Not long after, we got a blog post from the lead developer that things were changing (one of which he said would be that Living Story would now contain elements typically reserved for expansions). Then, more recently, they - rightfully so, but also shortsightedly - tried to drum up excitement for yesterday.

Where they messed up was in failing to read the tone of the room (and by room, I mean reddit and this forum) - a tone that had been set by Mike's blog/comments about expansion style features and their own excitement. So, when yesterday's announcement didn't talk about anything other than an extension of the story and a few features that feel more like a periodic update than anything (strikes sound a lot like the recent rift events), then it came across incomplete.

They need to fix that. They need to ground expectations in reality and provide some insight into things like expansions, elite specializations, etc. It is very needed right now. And, it's important to note that I'm not talking about anything elaborate. A simple but honest reddit AMA would go a very long way right now.

@"Blaeys.3102" said:(remember the cringe worthy live action commercial when the game launched?)

That ad is one of the worst marketing ideas I've ever seen implemented. In fact, it's one of the examples I use to demonstrate to clients that high (or at least high-looking) production value doesn't outweigh an absolutely worthless level of messaging when putting together an ad.

I don't agree with what you've said here either. Guild Wars 2 is still a very engaging and fun game - one that I still believe is the best MMO on the market today. And I believe them when they say the "other projects" have been set aside so they can focus on GW2.

But, at the same time, there is a need for some greater transparency. Earlier this year, they laid off a substantial number of people. Not long after, we got a blog post from the lead developer that things were changing (one of which he said would be that Living Story would now contain elements typically reserved for expansions). Then, more recently, they - rightfully so, but also shortsightedly - tried to drum up excitement for yesterday.

Where they messed up was in failing to read the tone of the room (and by room, I mean reddit and this forum) - a tone that had been set by Mike's blog/comments about expansion style features and their own excitement. So, when yesterday's announcement didn't talk about anything other than an extension of the story and a few features that feel more like a periodic update than anything (strikes sound a lot like the recent rift events), then it came across incomplete.

Completely agree here. I still play GW2 because it's still among the best ones out there, and in terms of value, it can't be beat. Any investments you make into the game (be it gems, gold, or time) pay off with such enduring returns... almost every other game out there now feels like a cheap moneygrabber compared to this.

The failures seem entirely about communication and managing reasonable expectations. With all the (now obviously needless) hype, I was certain there would be more substantial announcements. The fact that questions were gathered beforehand only worsened the situation.

I wonder if this is a problem of delegation, where the marketing tasks are just too split up, and no one person can take an overall look at the situation and realize it's headed in an unfavorable direction.

Here's a list of the questions asked in the original thread. If I have an answer from the presentation or the follow-up posts, I'll include it. (I'm not linking to specific posts or offering attributions; anyone who is interested can visit the thread.) When I noticed, I combined similar questions together (different lines for different posters)

I'm separating this into three more posts, one for each page. Let me know what I missed (whether question or answer).

Summary: based on how many times I typed, "not addressed," it seems like most of the questions asked by players were not covered. Many critical concerns were not covered, even those that relate indirectly to the stated topic.

To be clear, all ANet promised us was "the very first look at an all-new chapter in Guild Wars 2‘s Living World story." They never so much as hinted that they would talk about schedules or features or anything else. So it's not surprising to me that they stuck to that topic.

Top Questions

Q: Will there be new elite specs.A: Not addressed at all.

Q: What's the status of WvW RestructuringA: Mentioned, without any specifics.

Q: What will be the cadence of future releasesA: Not addressed.

Q: Will there be an expansion?A: Not addressed

Page 1

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/83087/join-us-for-a-special-live-event-tomorrow-friday-august-30/p1

! > Q: Will it be more expansion sized content, or the usual smaller releases we're used to.! > Q: Please for the love of god make it an expansion sized content.! A: smaller releases! Speculation: might be smaller than we are used to, more often (source:

)!! > Looks like a September launch is likely then! A: Yup.!! > Can we expect for leggings?! A: (can't parse that)!! > who will take over Maclaine Diemer's place as a composer, as he went freelancer?! A: Not addressed as far as I know.!! > The logo "appears" to confirm no dragons this Season as they sorta indicated already! A: Nope. Here there be dragons. And, PS it's a "Saga" not a "Season" (to be fair, ANet kept calling it "Season 5" until about a month ago).!! > Q: Do the Devs have, and will they share with us, an expected release cadence for Living World Season 5?! A: I don't see that explicitly addressed.!! > Q: Are there still 3 Living World Teams? More? Less?! > Q: How many Teams work on Living World, and how many other Teams are there, and what do they work on (generally)?! A: Four on "Saga", apparently. Unclear what else has a "team."!! > Q: Are there any other Guild Wars 2 projects being worked on?! A: I don't see that explicitly addressed.!! > Q: Not including the alliance system will there be any new content such as new maps , tactics, packable siege, or new siege weaponry? Any status in shorter matches and server links? Any plans to make the Edge of the Mists viable? Any plans to make events like no down state and core swap come around more frequently and are there more plans in the mix to add to that list?! A: Based on the follow-up, it looks as if there are plans to change things, but nothing coming up "soon."!! > Q: Will we see some others greatly animated cutscene with our character within them like the one with joko in episode 3? Also more stunning mechanics like passing over kralkatorrik and chasing it in the sky? (Episode 5 and 6) was really awesome, great job.! A: Doesn't appear to have been addressed. Wooden Potatoes was, on the whole, not impressed by the graphics presented.!! > Q: Will it be composed of one main threat/goal or each episode have one story each by themselves? Does extanding an old map means adding a portal leading to a new map next to it?! A: The impression given was "no, it won't be the same as before," which is partly the reason for "Saga" rather than season.!! > Q: Will the cool story boss encounters get repeatable fractal/dungeon/raid mode? Previous bosses feel like they could have been great as a raid(Balthazar, both Kralkatorik fights , Mordremoth) or fractal( corrupted Aurene, Joko, Scruffy) but are left one and done .! A: Seemed as if the answer was, "no, fractal/dungeon/raid" are unrelated. However, they gave us scant information about "Strikes" (10-person, open world content), which might be related or not.! Speculation: I would point out that the entire Dragonfall map is devoted to the part of the Kralk fight that is in preparation to what we do in the story. I think it's fair to count that (among other content) as repeatable bosses.!! > Q: what is it? What kind of content does it contain? When will it arrive? How frequent will the updates be?! A: 17 September. A prologue to the "saga" involving norn & charr, taking place "in the north." Undetermined release cadence.!! > Q: Will the new Living World primarily be focused on adding new maps first and doing smaller modifications to older Core Tyria maps?! A: Not explicitly addressed. However, the impression given is that the story will take us to more places than just new maps.!! > Q: Wasn't it already confirmed that LWS5 will spare us of an Elder Dragon storyline?! A: Apparently not.!! > Q: How many hours per week your balance team plays this game?! A: Unanswered.!! > Q: What is current progress on WvW Alliances system announced 1,5(?) year ago?! A: "Still working on it."!! > Q: What is the theme of new WvW map to replace one of the Alpine borderlands?! A: Not addressed. (I don't think there is any indication that this is something they are considering.)!! > Q: How far in the future do you have "already planned" content updates? E.g. we plan to release build templates in one month, LS in 2 months, raid update in 4 months, alliances in 18 months, etc.... I am not looking for any specifics but more or less "we know we at least have this much in the works that we plan on releasing before working on another possible project" type of answer.! A: Not directly addressed at the presentation. However, roughly speaking, lots of ANet watchers (including WP in the video linked above) plus comments from devs at various points show that they have clear plans for short and long term, with stories mapped years in advance, and feature plans 1-2 years ahead. It takes long time to bring quality to a game.!! > Q: Extreme speculation - first implementation of dual classing for core builds? New elite specs - maybe pay for access through gemstore? Henchmen? ... No idea what it could be, gonna be a long month of speculations.! A: Not really question. Still: none of that is likely based on what they have posted.!! > Q: Or this could be a general reference to crossing the ocean to Cantha - who knows?! A: Nope. It's snow.!

Page 2

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! > Q: The main thing I'd like to hear about is whether it's still planned to deliver expansion-level content within a Living World season, and if so, how that would happen.! A: Not explicitly addressed, except that they've already been doing some of it. Legendary upgrades, salvage all, ascended chef. Those are all (minor) expansion-ish features. (Obviously most of us have greater expectations for an expansion, such as elite specs and lots of story and so on. I just mean: they have an established delivery mechanic.)!! > Q: we've been told Season 5 will give us the equivalent of an expansion so I'd like to know what that means.! A: Sigh. Not answered.!! > Q: Can we expect more elite specs? If so will they be released one at a time like legendaries were, or all together? If it's all together will it be nearer the beginning or the end? Does this mean the new maps will have hero points, or will we start to use up some of the 'excess' hero points - meaning those who can't or don't want to complete all of them may have a harder time unlocking multiple elite specs.! A: Sigh. Not answered.!! > Q: What other features are planned? Will there be a big new thing like gliding or mounts, and if so what is it? If not can we expect new masteries which build on existing mechanics? Any new mounts?! A: Not addressed.!! > Q: Also will there be new stat combinations, weapons (unlikely I know) or anything else beyond the usual stuff we get with Living World Seasons?! A: Not addressed.!! > Q I also really want to know where the story will be taking us and who/what we'll be fighting but I assume that's guaranteed info.! A: Jormag. Plus norn and charr stuff.!! > Q: I'd like to know if we get Jory and Kasmeer back. Missing them a lot. And I really like to know more about the Jory - E connection. Who is E?! A: Not addressed.!! > Q: What is your intent when it comes to future long-term goals within Living World? As a Veteran player I'd like more of them, I love collecting and working torwards something bigger.! A: Not addressed.!! > Q: Replayability is something that always has been lacking because you at the end of the day grow tired of doing a specific meta or you're basically done with that map etc, are you having any thoughts on fixing that problem? I would love to have some old maps getting new content and rewards to fix that problem.! A: They did provide some thoughts on how they thought this would be different in Sagas, by revisiting maps (including new ones and old ones).!! > Q: Have you been thinking about adding Reputation as a new system for unlocking new content/rewards? I think its a system that is very fun and engaging if done in the correct way.! A: Not addressed. Doesn't seem like it though.!! > Q: Will you be actually taking questions? Iirc in your guild chat you had questions prerecorded.! A: Apparently not.!! > Q: Is there any chance of more interactivity in the dialogue (choices as well as flavor dialogue options)?! A: Not addressed. Seems unlikely.!! > Q: Will housing be part of Season 5, or would that be something for an expansion?! A: Not addressed. Seems unlikely.!! > Q: Will an expansion come after Season 5?! A: Not addressed. Seems unlikely.!! > Q: Will Canach play a bigger role? How about Laranthir and the Pact?! A: Not addressed.!! > Q: Will Braham play less of a part in Season 5? He is my least favorite of all but seemed to get the most time of anyone in Season 4.! A: Not addressed. Seems likely.!! > Q: Will we get new cultural armor?! A: Not addressed. Seems unlikely.!! > Q: Will we get new HoT-style meta events?! A: Not addressed. Seems likely.!! > Q: Can you tell us the current progress on Alliance system and future WvW content roadmap?! A: There's progress. They were... very generic.!! > Q: GW2 is losing players from every game modes, and one of the major reason behind this phenomena is due to the lack of communication and 0 hints of what dev teams are working on than 'we might do this later if we can'; are you aware of this and are there any plans and solutions rather than 'we will work on it'?! A: Not addressed.!! > Q: Does your game balance team consider current PoF meta in WvW is healthy? Is profession (skill) balance team even consider WvW when they tune skill strengths and its efficiency?! A: Not addressed.!! > Q: Do devs even play WvW, not just pugging/roaming around like squirrels but in an actual guild run with current meta comp?! A: Not addressed. But we know that there are devs who play WvW seriously.!! > Q: Do you still believe Living World and Main Story Episodes is the BEST SOLUTION to bring back leaving or already left users as well as new players?! A: Not directly addressed. However, they are branding the Living World now as "Sagas," so they apparently think there's a new way to present the game.!! > Q: I assumed that one of those was the Raids/Fractals team. Does that mean it no longer exists? Does that mean that LS is all the content teams are working now? Does that mean the expac team is gone as well?! A: Not directly addressed. It seems likely that we as players give more importance to the word "team" than makes sense for how things work at ANet.!! > Q: If you intend to introduce expansion level content in the living world, how do you intend to monetize the game for sustainability? Will the game still have expansions?! A: not directly addressed. Although apparently someone at ANet thinks physical swag is going to be important, as they spent ~10 minutes showing that off.!! > Q: Are you going to further rework underwater combat? Are you going to introduce an underwater mount?! A: Not addressed. Seems mostly unlikely.!! > Q: Is there a finite cap in the number of elite specializations possible before balance becomes too complex to manage? If so, how is that finite number determined?! A: Not addressed.!! > Q: Will the Mac client continue to be updated for future MacOS releases? Will it ever be updated to take advantage of Metal?! A: Not addressed.!! > Q: Are their any plans to provide better communication directly on the forums?! A: Communication wasn't addressed.!! > Q: I have a question about build templates that includes the wardrobe. Can the wardrobe be separated from our gear? That way we can make multiple looks for each character through build swapping.! A: Not addressed. However, they did explicitly refer to "build templates" and "character templates." (I wouldn't get my hopes up either way.)!

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! > Q: have the devs thought about adding a private test server type system using the PoF and HoT beta system to allow players the chance to test the content to avoid any possible update breaking bugs like the bug that released with Long Live the Lich?! A: Not addressed. (However, in the past, the devs have always said that this is cost inefficient to the point that it's not worth considering.)!! > Q: Will the event cover information about PvP and WvW for those possibly interested in going? or just Living Story?! A: Just story (based both on what they said in advance and what we actually saw.)!! > Q: Is there any chance that Living World could incorporate WvW and PvP game modes into the story ?! A: Not addressed. Seems unlikely.!! > Q: How many people are currently dedicated to the wvw, pvp game modes?! A: Not addressed.!! > Q: Shouldn't there have been more fallout in the world after the Commander and the Pact killed two Elder Dragons and then suddenly the commander changed his opinion on the Elder Dragon killing? Shouldn't at least the Norn and the Vigil have objected more? And why are not large groups of people questioning the fact that we gave Aurene a huge amount of magic, making her the most powerful Elder Dragon to date? Why would people in the world accept that she is benevolent? Most people don't know her. Do you not think that these questions should be explored in a real sense, through more than a throw-away line from Rytlock for example?! A: Not directly addressed. Although apparently, this might come up.!! > Q: Now that 3 Elder Dragons are dead, 2 are asleep and 1 does not affect the continent of Tyria directly, what are some of the challenges you face in writing the story going forward? To what extent do you think the game world of GW2 depend on the Elder Dragon threat? A lot of the status quo depends on the Elder Dragons being an active force. The forming of the Vigil, the forming of the Pact, the Human-Charr treaty, the withdrawel of the Tengu and so on. Shouldn't this status quo change now that the Elder Dragon threat is so much more distant?! A: Apparently not so distant.!! > Q: 1: Is it possible to safe blish or is he gone and lost forever :'( ?! A: See this answer that one of the writers posted a few weeks ago.!! > Q: Will we find out more about Steve/ bubbels/ the DSD?! A: Not addressed.!! > Q: Will your the race of your character effect the new LW story? And which playable race will be in the spotlight the most this LW?! A: Not addressed in the presentation. However, in the past, writers have talked about how incredibly expensive that is and why it's almost certainly never going to happen.!! > Q: Which characters will be part of the cast/recurring npcs this LW?! A: Indirectly addressed. Braham, Rytlock appear to be important. Unclear who all else!! > Q: Will there be more quaggans and choya ^^?! A: Not addressed!! > Q: Have you any plans for future gen 3 legendary weapons in the future?! A: Not addressed!! > Q: Are there likely to be gen 2 underwater legendary weapons at some point?! A: Not addressed. Seems unlikely.!! > Q: Will the story continue until every dragon is killed/out or can we expect more stories centered on the races themselves?! A: Seems like a combination!!