Isnt now the time for new expansion?

Heart of thorns release date - 23.10.2015Path of fire - 22.09.2017Since most mmos has 2 year new expansion cycles, any info about new one?

In case you haven't been upto date anet has lost/cut alot of staff this year.

For now icebrood saga is the future of gw2, but of recent article we have been told that expansions have not been ruled out.

It may happen or not we just have to wait and see

@DoRi Silvia.4159 said:In case you haven't been upto date anet has lost/cut alot of staff this year.

For now icebrood saga is the future of gw2, but of recent article we have been told that expansions have not been ruled out.

It may happen or not we just have to wait and see

That said, it is also worth mentioning to @LeSavage.1359 that there is no expansion in the works, so there won't be another expansion released for years (if ever).

Even if ArenaNet is/was working on an expansion, it would not be released for some time. We have to finish the Icebrood Saga first (which may take a year or two...or more).

It is, but honestly I'm just hoping for a revival of sPvP/WvW, the continuation of the PvE story and backend stuff such as updating the graphics engine to DX12.

@LeSavage.1359 said:Heart of thorns release date - 23.10.2015Path of fire - 22.09.2017Since most mmos has 2 year new expansion cycles, any info about new one?Yes. The info is, that they aren't making one. Nor do they have one in plans at this moment. For the time being at least they want to see if they can get by with release system based solely on Living Story.Their explanations seem to make us think this is a purely design decision, but everything else suggests that the problems in the company run so deep, that at the moment they are simply incapable of working on both LS and an expansion at the same time anymore, and had to choose.

The future of GW2 looks uncertain, we have the Icebrood Saga for now, and we don't know if we'll ever have a GW2's expansion.

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@LeSavage.1359 said:Heart of thorns release date - 23.10.2015Path of fire - 22.09.2017Since most mmos has 2 year new expansion cycles, any info about new one?Yes. The info is, that they

aren't

making one. Nor do they have one in plans at this moment. For the time being at least they want to see if they can get by with release system based solely on Living Story.Their explanations seem to make us think this is a purely design decision, but everything else suggests that the problems in the company run so deep, that at the moment they are simply

incapable

of working on both LS and an expansion at the same time anymore, and had to choose.

Maybe there are early processes of a new expansion, but they don't want to talk about it, since a lot may change.

Mike O had worked with quite a big amount of people on something big, but I guess layoffs ruined his plans, they worked on something just after Path of Fire launched.

I guess the resources went to a new GW sequel, at the cost of new GW2's expansion (or maybe there was a new expansion in works, really big one), and I think that was the main point of the announcement in the Moore Theatre, that worth mentioning was certain to happen ~6 months before layoffs hit.

So they booked this theatre to announce both the Saga and a new, massive expansion/a new game.

Since layoffs happened early this year, I'd say they do have some plans for a new expansion, but I think it will happen somewhere in 2021 at earliest.

I think for now they want to get as much resources from the Saga, and then find out if they can afford a new expansion - everything basically depens on 2020 and their revenue in the coming year.

Devs showed the willingness to continue GW2, we must also show the same by simply paying for their work, so they can do something big for GW2.

@Arden.7480 said:

Devs showed the willingness to continue GW2, we must also show the same by simply paying for their work, so they can do something big for GW2.

I don't think that willingness is as strong as people think... nor do I think its a good idea in the long run. Many MMOs at the turn of the decade were aimming for 10 year life spans, and many failed to keep substantial momentum due to really dodgy starts across the board. Accretion has been the enemy of MMOs since their inception...... but the astronomical increase in burn rate for content compounds that problem in a way that many Devs could even fathom.

GW2's launch was a pretty big mess, and has never truly been able to course correct many of those issues, on top of the ongoing inability of Anet to get many of their biggest effort investments to really pay off. For the most part we know how the current system is failing.... but the game lacks the frame work necessary to easily go in new directions, nor back porting older content to take advantage of new developments. Its reasonably better to cut the legacy side of the game, which frees up everything to start fresh with all the lessons learned from the previous game. As good as it was, GW1 gameplay didn't age well. GW2 aged substantially better, but it suffers from 7 years of haphazard adaptation and abandoned development efforts.

If we're being honest, this would had been a good place to push for an end cap to GW2 (finish off the last 2 dragons), and put effort into GW3 to free itself from past mistakes and failures. But if the Technical cost wasn't enough...... theres also the problem of getting the players to migrate. The entire model of long lived MMOs practically set themselves up for terrible deaths. Players are too invested, so they don't want to move. But unless the game is extremely well designed to be Format mobile (which the stat system alone makes it nigh impossible), theres only so much you can do with your design premise before its exhausted itself..... eventually dying from fading relevance. And thats not counting cataclysmic mistakes on the dev's part, that can kill a game prematurely (see Starwars Galaxies).

From a philosophical stand point, we're in dire need of a cultural shift that allows for healthy MMO life cycles, so we can tailor the business models and technical frame works to support it. Its ironic that the Anime industry kind of understands this well enough, despite much of what surrounds being on-par or even worse then Western entertainment industries when it comes to milking things way past their prime. We have too much of an all-or-nothing approach, and continually force things to keep going until they fail to amuse us. I DO NOT want to see Hugh Jackman come back as Wolverine.... because Logan deserved/earned an end cap that would be crime to undermine for more milking. Too many drama series go on longer they ever want, simply because they got popular..... but part of what makes the whole thing work is it getting a satisfying ending.

It just pains me that its so hard to do with multiplayer games, because player population is what makes the experience work. But so many MMOs didn't deserve to die they way they did..... and many more are kept alive simply to bleed it dry for as long as possible. I just wish online games could run their arc, stick around to let the slow audience have their fun, and then retire it with dignity. If WoW Classic has brought forth any new truths... its that reliving the past is like undoing everything you learned from it.

There's no expansion this year because they had chosen to create a new game instead, which was cancelled by NCSoft and resulted in the layoffs. Any expansion would have just started, so it's still 2 years away, but they've already stated they're not currently working on one. They are however working on something other than the living world.

They should be aiming to launch the game on next-gen consoles along with a new campaign or refreshed leveling experience to avoid repeating the original launch problems. That's really the only way they're going to see any major improvements at this point.

its time to polish old stuff. a expansion for the sake of expansion is nonsense.

also mobile wont save Gw2, i guess most PC players hate mobile, i would feel like a retarded walking around with this face

@Arden.7480 said:Devs showed the willingness to continue GW2, we must also show the same by simply paying for their work, so they can do something big for GW2.

What are we supposed to be paying for?There is no expansion in the works to pay for.Living World Episodes are free.Maybe some Gemshop skins, but those aren't too great in my opinion. Those aren't even armours that can be mixed with other pieces.

Firing more than 50% workforce clearly states there's no serious work in progress.

I really hope they got rid of people who think this game is unicorn wars instead of guild wars.(i am sick of outfits,blc skins and legendary items that look horrendous)and they decided to hire people who actually have imagination.

(sigh) There are numerous threads about future expansions (or lack thereof) that yet another thread really wasn't necessary.

Put effort into GW3 to free itself from past mistakes and failures.

People who devote 10 hours a day into games,people who invested thousands of dollars,people who farmed for years to complete collections want stability.

GW2 was much needed,because it was simply not possible to upgrade GW to something like GW2.

GW3 would be nothing but insult to every single player who invested time/money into this game.

Game could function with expansion until end of the days perfectly,what this game lacks is motivation and innovation.

New game wouldn't change nothing but story.If they cant fix pvp and wvsw in 7 years,what makes you think they would do better in GW3?

GW3 would be nothing but keeping up with the trend these days,and keeping up with what other games do.

Instead of making more complications,fix what you have.

Give people reason to do dungeons,to go back to pvp and world vs world.

Give them new weapons,new spells,new armors,add new dungeons,new builds and things like that.I mean 7 years into game,and 2 years into second expansion,we are only now getting ability to save builds...

I'm glad they haven't released a new expansion and don't plan to any time soon for one big reason: elite specs with balance. As it is, they have an extremely difficult time trying to balance classes (check any threads during/after a balance patch) and adding new elite specs will only make things more complex, convoluted and difficult. There would be some that say "they don't HAVE to release elite specs with an expansion", but if you look at the forums...yeah. People want them even for Living World releases because they want something new to play with in terms of builds/classes.

I hope we don't get new ones for a very long time. The current set, totaling 27 classes, seems like a good amount for now.

I'm not super concerned for a new expansion. Living world already kind of serves that purpose, though we do periodically need something "big." Mounts were big. Gliders and elite specs were big. They can't just keep throwing a new story quest at us. Even a new weapon type (fist weapons, polearms, whips, etc.) would go a long way to keeping things feeling fresh.

@kharmin.7683 said:(sigh) There are numerous threads about future expansions (or lack thereof) that yet another thread really wasn't necessary.

People still want to believe that an expansion is coming, and any informations to the contrary are either a mistake, or Anet trying to keep what they're working on secret. Even if that's not true. They just don't want to believe no expac is being made or planned, even when everything is telling them that.

That only shows how important expacs are for a large part of the community.

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@"kharmin.7683" said:(sigh) There are numerous threads about future expansions (or lack thereof) that yet another thread really wasn't necessary.

People still want to believe that an expansion is coming, and any informations to the contrary are either a mistake, or Anet trying to keep what they're working on secret. Even if that's not true. They just don't want to believe no expac is being made or planned, even when everything is telling them that.

It's not even expacks so much as people desperately want something to look forward to (and no, stupid holiday festival bullshit where you grind bags to sell to a mass opener so they can get an aura doesn't cut it anymore)

Anet fucked themselves by tethering systems releases to expansions while also relying way too much on the glacially slow LW strategy.

It leads to people wanting expansions for no reason than they think we won't get new toys to play with without them and people want a big, huge content drop to sink their teeth into for more than a week.

Anet proved to be able to deliver those two things but only in a paid expansion format so that's what people pine for even when told it's not happening anymore.

Maybe that can change with the new season but this prologue and the "first taste is free" templates system has left me doubting.

@"Astralporing.1957" said:People still want to believe that an expansion is coming, and any informations to the contrary are either a mistake, or Anet trying to keep what they're working on secret.

"The big announcement at PAX is about a new expansion."

"They already said there wasn't going to be one. They're announcing the new season."

"I can't wait to find out about the expansion."

"Did you hear me? They said they weren't."

"My entire state of sanity depends upon that new expansion."

"They aren't..."

"WHAT?! NO NEW EXPANSION?! ARGLEBARGLE!"

-- Reddit, GW2 sub. 2019.

there is a massive upfront cost to work on expansions

give anet lots of money, we will have a new expansion every year

@Fueki.4753 said:

@Arden.7480 said:Devs showed the willingness to continue GW2, we must also show the same by simply paying for their work, so they can do something big for GW2.

Exactly, this isnt a charity.Don't just 'give' them money in 'hopes' they will do something with it this time.They dug their own grave, let them get out of it.

@crepuscular.9047 said:give anet lots of money, we will have a new expansion every year

Gimme a well-grounded business plan and the safeguarding that this is going to be the case for the future in this game and I will be glad to pay as I've done so in the past when I bought every box for the highest amount possible.

IF (and that is indeed a big if!) Anet is working on a new expansion I am certain they only could have started after NCSoft slapped their wrists about the secret side projects and told them to re-focus on GW2. From what I can tell they had 3 teams working in rotation on LW S4 and S5 while a chunk of the rest of the company was working on whatever they wanted to start on the side. There simply weren't enough people left to cobble together a whole new expansion that would be ready to release any time soon. So even in the most optimistic timeline we would have LW S5 for the next 2 years or so and only after that there would even be the possibility of another expansion.

What I think is realistically happening right now is that Anet is concentrating on LW S5 as the possible future model for their content that makes expansions obsolete, hence the rebranding and all that jazz. Instead of releasing big chunks of content every few years we'd get smaller chunks every few months. I don't see much wrong with that in theory as I've always enjoyed the LW episodes, but that's just me. The question remains if they'll be able to deliver the Saga content in a way and with features that make the rest of the player base happy. As far as I can tell Bound by Blood has been well received so... fingers crossed, I guess??

So if scenario 1 as laid out above is Anet is working on an expansion but it will only come out in 2 years or so at the earliest, and scenario 2 is Anet plans to never work on an expansion again and instead use Sagas as their way of releasing content, then there's of course still scenario 3 in which the Saga model somehow completely fails them (Idk what the criteria that would be here though) and they resort to going back to the expansion model which probably means it won't be out until 3 or more years depending on when they decide they need to change course. And last but not least there's scenario 4 that people are prophetising since day 2 of the beta events: GW2 is deeed and going into maintenance mode. But since they are already working on the Icebrood Saga and assuming they won't abandon the game mid-story then this won't happen for at least another 2 years or so.

TL;DR: If you're waiting for a new expansion check back in like 2 years.