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Voice acting in Episode 3 of The Icebrood Saga


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We live in interesting times. A pandemic, where at least for now, we can still do many of the things we do, to calm us, feel normal, escape. Honestly, that not having voiced characters is even a concern, shows what we come to expect from video games, and not having them will force our imaginations to kick in. To me, this is a good thing. Losing one sense if you will, will heighten the rest. Maybe it's just me, but I'll hear the voices anyway, at least from the regular characters, Braham, etc.

Anet you are impressing me greatly with how you are stepping up. I play a lot of online games (being old does that lol). I've said it many times in game chat, guild chat, "Anet gets more right than they do wrong." And most experienced gamers agree. We've seen way worse. The Evil Alliance springs to mind. Stay safe, be well, and meh, it's just another day in Tyria. Some will say not hearing certain characters is good lol

Peace..

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@Lizdeath.5143 said:

@Fire Attunement.9835 said:As the world continues to fight the spread of COVID-19, we’re working remotely on content updates for Guild Wars 2. Because the recording studio staff and voice actors who help bring Guild Wars 2 to life are also abiding by shelter-in-place guidance to keep the virus from spreading, we’ve chosen to release the upcoming third episode of The Icebrood Saga without voice acting.

I disagree with this.

Why not have they record at home, include the substandard voice overs, and accept it as part of what the plague does to society.

I hope you are at least paying them retainer fees.

as someone else said, $$$, or maybe they dont have the equipment at home, maybe a mix of the two. Paying them twice for saying the same lines is just a bad business concept.

Id rather have the episode release on time and be muted than not at all.

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I personally feel this is actually the wrong decision to make and will not be playing this content at launch and that hurts a load because the story is the main reason I came back to GW2 after such a long time away. I look forward to it. I understand the need to protect everyone (I work in the NHS in the UK) and have no issue with the team not being able to get back together but why then still release a half-finished product? I can only speculate of course but it feels as though this is a purely business decision and their metrics say that any delay to the episode will decrease player numbers in the short term. Have alternatives been looked into? Some kind of stop-gap?

I will still play this when it is fully voice acted. I'm not staying away out of spite, I love GW2 but just feel that this is a terrible decision and I'd rather have the episode postponed.

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@Thereon.3495 said:I can only speculate of course but it feels as though this is a purely business decision and their metrics say that any delay to the episode will decrease player numbers in the short term.Pretty sure it's a business decision. They have to consider government regulations of not only the US, but also France and Germany. Who knows when all VA studios will be able to work normally again? Maybe the episode would be delayed by a few weeks, but maybe for half a year or any other random guess. Then, of course, Arenanet is a company. I suppose they have planned ahead for the year beyond this episode. They can't just delay one episode indefinitely, it would mess up the whole schedule.

I support this decision. It will be awkward to play at first, for sure, but it's for a good reason and it will be patched eventually.

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While I'm sad about the lack of voices, I'm glad that ArenaNet are taking Covid-19 seriously and are not putting anyone in danger over something as trivial as voice work (people's lives are always greater than anything else). That said I'm glad we're getting content despite the virus, I wasn't sure what to expect but I'm happy with the compromise. Thank you Anet for taking Covid-19 seriously and keeping everyone safe and for giving us all something to do while we wait until this virus issue blows over.

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THANK YOU! for a safe, sane approach to the virus that's scourging the world. And thanks for still delivering new content in the face of the new reality we're all living. I'll happily do without voice acting, knowing that the actors are staying safe. Lives are at stake here, and the temporary absence of voice acting is a sacrifice I'll gladly make to know that people are safe. I've actually been playing less lately, but only because I'm using my CPU and GPU to help the Folding At Home effort. I figure my computer cycles are needed more in the race to find drugs and vaccines against COVID-19 than for me to just game. Hopefully, we'll all be able to go back to doing the things we enjoy very soon. Once the world has a handle on this pandemic, I'll be back to GW2 in full force. In the meantime, thanks again!

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@Thereon.3495 said:I will still play this when it is fully voice acted. I'm not staying away out of spite, I love GW2 but just feel that this is a terrible decision and I'd rather have the episode postponed.

Their metrics could very well show that delays decrease their player numbers forever. Content delays drive people away, not everyone comes back and this situation is not going to be resolved in a couple of weeks or even a couple of months.

It wouldn't just be this episode, it'll be this episode and the next one and the one after that and so on. A delay affects all upcoming episodes, it's not like they can really release a bunch of episodes all at once.

Best to keep the studio working as best they can. Best to keep producing content for their players as best they can to safeguard their jobs and provide for their families as best they can. Many don't have that option right now.

The story itself is a relatively small part of a new episode so while I'll miss the voice acting I'll do without for now and replay the story when it's put back in.

I applaud them for their decision, well done everyone at ArenaNet, working remotely while dealing with childcare and the other disruptions is far from easy, I know. Stay safe and stay sane and know you're helping a lot of us do the same by producing great content for us!

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I think what may be effecting some badly is they see this as just one more negative another let down during the pandemic. We all look forward to each release and a new chapter in the story unfolding. One less positive if you let it be so. One silly and fun thing to do could be form groups, get on discord, run the missions and use your own voices to fill in the missing ones. :)

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@Pifil.5193 said:

@Thereon.3495 said:I will still play this when it is fully voice acted. I'm not staying away out of spite, I love GW2 but just feel that this is a terrible decision and I'd rather have the episode postponed.

Their metrics could very well show that delays decrease their player numbers forever. Content delays drive people away, not everyone comes back and this situation is not going to be resolved in a couple of weeks or even a couple of months.

It wouldn't just be this episode, it'll be this episode and the next one and the one after that and so on. A delay affects all upcoming episodes, it's not like they can really release a bunch of episodes all at once.

Best to keep the studio working as best they can. Best to keep producing content for their players as best they can to safeguard their jobs and provide for their families as best they can. Many don't have that option right now.

The story itself is a relatively small part of a new episode so while I'll miss the voice acting I'll do without for now and replay the story when it's put back in.

I applaud them for their decision, well done everyone at ArenaNet, working remotely while dealing with childcare and the other disruptions is far from easy, I know. Stay safe and stay sane and know you're helping a lot of us do the same by producing great content for us!

No offense to the voice actors but many here might be surprised at how many play the game with the voices off. Some want skip added to cutscenes. We'll have voices back soon enough. The video was touching, and I especially liked hearing a Charr voice being motivational. And of course the voice of reason from a fellow Sylvari :)

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@Evon Skyfyre.9673 said:I think what may be effecting some badly is they see this as just one more negative another let down during the pandemic. We all look forward to each release and a new chapter in the story unfolding. One less positive if you let it be so. One silly and fun thing to do could be form groups, get on discord, run the missions and use your own voices to fill in the missing ones. :)

Then again, it is evident that there is the technology that allows people to co-ordinate, join up with each other and present good sound/vocals to world wide audiences as shown by the many artists that have been performing during the pandemic with great quality.

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I'm glad Anet is going with the release after all so that they can move along with the Saga and get us to more content overall. Voice acting can be added retroactively. Weird that the voice acting isn't done after the writing process for the story, though. Unless they like letting the VAs see the characters and scenes to better help them emote.

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My earlier comment just isn't sitting right a couple of days after the fact and I feel the need to say something. I meant my opinion on the decision at the time but as is natural I let my emotion lead the way. I am so wrapped up in the lore/story it hurt to be told that the next installment wouldn't have a huge chunk of the emotion that comes with the animation and writing at launch. I am here mainly for the story, although jump in whenever I just want to have a little fun and I adore this game for it.

However after thinking about it, however saddening it is for me, this is probably the correct decision for the game. It's also a pretty bold move from ANET which should really be applauded as they are thinking outside the box and innovation, however small, should be lauded. From a personal point of view I just have to find a way to stay away from the new map for the duration of the voiceless episode! (Yes, I'm one of those that sees new maps as full of spoilers of the story)

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I'll give my 2 cents on this now that I have seen the trailer (twice) ...

I am not keen on the lack of voice-over, but I can understand why you made the decision. I guess there is no easy answer one way or the other. But the fact is, there is a 50-50 chance I will simply not do the content without the voice-over and will be inclined to wait some amount of time before I engage. I guess "how long is some amount of time?" is the obvious question. I dunno. Depends. Realistically speaking, Covid-19 will be with humanity for months and years to come. How many episodes will be released before the voice-over can be done safely? Only this 1? The rest of the season/saga? The rest of all future GW2 content? I guess the answer to this question starts to become important for the future of GW2, even though nobody can answer it yet.

I joined the game for the story content nearly 5 years ago, but I have found it wanting in Seasons 4 and 5 (and not particularly good or better in Season 3 either). For example, the most recent episode is probably the story content I hated the most, as I felt it was no longer suspending my disbelief. The ease of the maps leading up to the final boss fights (in both instances) followed by the orders-of-magnitude difficulty increase of the boss fights just ruined it all for me. If this is what you plan going forward then count me out of your "sagas" (and the gemstore content that comes with it).

Bizarrely I find myself becoming more and more engaged in the competitive content, full of bad apples though it may be. I am approaching mithril rank in WvW and started PvP 15 days ago. These are the parts of the game which I find engaging, despite the many, many, many flaws (server loads, balance issues, toxicity of part of the population, etc.).

If voice-over is unavailable for a long time, you might consider shifting substantial developer resources to the competitive content.

2 cents respectfully submitted,

Adzekul

EDIT to add: one point I forgot to make: I presume there will be plenty of text for us to read in the voice-over-less versions. Please ensure that players have a way to control/adjust the speed with which the text flies by. Some of us are slow readers and will simply not be able to keep up with auto-scroll or text that displays for a limited time. For example, the text in that "charr roundtable discussion" was too fast to follow. I had to replay the video to get it all. That won't be an option in the middle of a story instance.

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@"Adzekul.3104" said:

EDIT to add: one point I forgot to make: I presume there will be plenty of text for us to read in the voice-over-less versions. Please ensure that players have a way to control/adjust the speed with which the text flies by. Some of us are slow readers and will simply not be able to keep up with auto-scroll or text that displays for a limited time. For example, the text in that "charr roundtable discussion" was too fast to follow. I had to replay the video to get it all. That won't be an option in the middle of a story instance.

There was text in there? I mean, besides the big three-word captions? I just went back to the trailer to watch the charr slam his fist on the table at Crecia and I see no dialogue text at all. If you mean the big captions that linger on the screen, hmm. I admit I'm a fast reader, so I may be having trouble understanding the issue, but those don't seem any faster to fade than captions in previous trailers, none of which had voice over either, and I've never seen anyone complain those didn't last long enough.

In story instances all the voiced dialogue already has chat entries (in dull grey like all emote text, which I've been asking ANet since original beta to make more vivid). That's preserved until you log out, plenty of time to read it at least when not in combat.

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@Dante.1763 said:

as someone else said, $$$, or maybe they dont have the equipment at home, maybe a mix of the two. Paying them twice for saying the same lines is just a bad business concept.

Id rather have the episode release on time and be muted than not at all.

Turns out the real reason has to do with the guild. You can either hire guild member voice actors or non guild member voice actors for a project, but guild member actors are not allowed to work on projects where roles their members can play are being given to non members. More relevant is that they are required by their guild to only do recording in a professional studio environment.

Nothing to do with money, everything to do with policy.

Guild policy might change because of covid, but in general guilds and unions look out for the best interest of their members and I support their existence.

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Nice to know that you can put things in game even when not fully done(voice acting ex.). With that in mind I really hope we get Tengu race in the future even if that means no Voice acting from then till they have the incomes to do so and even if the dont ever have voice I would still gladly play them(a lot of games doesn't have a talking main character so I'm more than used to). Then again Tengu playable is just a dream for some of the player base but a dream that it is continued to be dreamt by them.

One last thing: Tengu Naruto run!!!!! If I recall back in gw1 they run like those naruto ninjas so I demand Tengu Naruto run animation for Tengu playables :P

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