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World Restructuring Update 2


Raymond Lukes.6305

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I for one am disappointed in both the direction of pve and wvw are going. I don't like the raid format of the pve...where is the story line:? If I wanted a co-op pve then I would do raid or dungeons. This format not only is horrible, it discourages single players from playing. The constant tinkering of WvW balancing is down right stupid and the constant fix one, break two has to stop. You are losing me and about a dozen of my friends are moving over to either BDO or D2. Too bad, I've been on for 7 years and just down right angry about this.

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@Sviel.7493 said:Both 2019 and 2020 passed in their entirety without a peep from Anet. It might be time to call in a health and safety check...

Yes, it is 2021 and an expansion is on the way. It truly would be appreciated if someone said something. The assumption that makes the most sense to me is that alliance work died when the lay offs happened. If so then just say it.

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@Super Hayes.6890 said:

@Sviel.7493 said:Both 2019 and 2020 passed in their entirety without a peep from Anet. It might be time to call in a health and safety check...

Yes, it is 2021 and an expansion is on the way. It truly would be appreciated if someone said something.
The assumption that makes the most sense to me is that alliance work died when the lay offs happened. If so then just say it.

Really, that's all I want. Just be honest with us. If it's no longer on the table, at least we can properly plan to organize entirely on Discord, forever.

Alliances when!? Or If? Or ever?

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@"Super Hayes.6890" said:Yes, it is 2021 and an expansion is on the way. It truly would be appreciated if someone said something. The assumption that makes the most sense to me is that alliance work died when the lay offs happened. If so then just say it.All of us here can of course only speculate, but I would bet that something like this is more plausible:

When ArenaNet sold to NCsoft there was probably a verbal agreement to a good degree of autonomy. When GW2 vanilla became the smash hit that it became that probably drove the publisher to overstep and push for further short revenues and that turned the developer from the leader of trends to a follower of trends. That backfired but the cat was out of the box regarding whatever silent agreement and attempts at salvage simply meant more overstepping culminating with Mike O's departure. If you read early interviews alot of this is really easy to see where Mike speaks of innovation but alot of moves made later and after are very formulaeic. Something as isolated as how GW2 approaches MTX is an interesting study from early days, to midterm to late present day. From positive management, to defendable issues to all out non-tradeable box rolls. I think NCsoft overstepped many other things (eg., in design) where Anet was made to innovate from poor routines just to replace that with the same old poor routines and that ultimately made Mike quit.

The industry is also rather cutthroat and success has its ramifications with talent getting poached. That no doubt hurt ArenaNet after release but ArenaNet has also likely suffered additional setbacks from an HR department corrupted with alot of nepotism. Hirings has been suggestedly done on vouches and recommendation alot (eg., comments made during the Deroir-incident), by- and for people with similar outlooks and skillsets leading to something akin to a team full of goaltenders. It is hard to win games with that.

It may also have caused quite alot of factioning on the inside with new and old groups. The sPvP and WvW initatives most likely came from a Mo-loyalist faction with Mike Z looking to pick up pieces that couldn't fit into the PoF crunch. It became pet projects of the Mike Z era and while there are certainly things to say about the productivity, iterativity and cancellation of related projects in the past, the two PvP initiatives in this era did look rather thought-through and shippable. However, by june that year Ray got a new job. Mike likely still tried to keep some resources to those projects and made reassurances but resources kept being shuffled or held off (at the time of the infamous saga announcement) and with Mike and whatever resistance his tenure posed gone a couple of months later those projects were likely frozen with another faction getting more speed under their wings again.

The resources put onto Alliances when the downsizing came was not taken away, because they were probably limited to the people we know have worked on it since already by then. Nothing was really given that could be taken away. Also, even if a company may shed senior employees at times like that, they usually do not shed employees in important positions, like engineers, unless they have to. Especially not if they are understaffed on them to begin with. Whatever Mike's promises probably included existing engineers or hopes of getting some margin to rehire and balance out for programming.

Like I've alluded to elsewhere, I think Ray is being honest when he says some work is still being done on Alliances. However, I also think that "work" is very close to something the group at competetive get to do on their own time. Like how SAB was or how side projects have come about in other games (for example the GvG arena that came to EVE) with developers working overtime, "between lunch and recess" or off the clock (because they have a sense of responsibility that heartless business leaders do not). I think that is where we are.

Of course, this is as much speculation as Hayes' comments and at times it certainly drifts out into the more outrageous, however, past lessons has told that it isn't as far-fetched as it may seem to some. The examples may stem from whatever leaked out at the rando cowboy-hat's departure, but what was said certainly painted a picture of a likeminded faction who held itself in high regard, was convinced of its own excellence, operated in an echo chamber and viewed the 'others' as a separate dinosaur faction. On its own, I wouldn't really vest much worth in it, but it fits into the backdrop of the studio's behaviour with past- and present admitted reshuffles, turns in direction and productivity issues. So with the liberty of some tinfoil, this is how I would put it.

Given the rehashed nature of alot of this I thought this would be a rather short summary, but you know, whatever vOv

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Well said above, pragmatically speaking, the math never lies in the end, at times rude awakenings are needed for any business.

GW2 WvW is missing gold standard design elements such as:

  • GW1 skill system diversity + balance
  • GW1 alliance battles design philosophy
  • GW1 game design methodology (listening to players constructively without taking it personally)
  • Passion: veteran game designers dedicated to their craft & not just for the money
  • Meritocracy: The right talents in the right places
  • Financial literacy & accountability: Utilizing the right $ resources in the right places
  • GW1: Player was king, balanced by critical design decisions
  • GW2: Money (skins) is king

There is another major 'BIG' competitor appearing in the horizon with infinite financial resources. Veteran game designers from the GW1 era are on their team, if you've ever played GW1 Factions & Alliance Battles, I'm sure you'll instantly recognize similarities in their recent alpha PvP system, this spring/summer will be another one of those defining moments where math is king!

Keep the hope alive though! Fingers-crossed! :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Indeed my friends.

The Lie continues.

The leading us on with false hope.

The cashing in on Gem Sales from Bandwagoners as the mode still bleeds players from this farce.

We simply ask:

"Alliances WHEN!?"

When we already know the answer. Alliances never. Because world links generate more Gem sales.

End the Alliances Lie. Tell us the truth!

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