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End of Dragons Development Updates - [Merged]


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So the current contenders of GW2 - NW and AoC - are unreleased games that are now looking to be launched (NW) or have its alphas starting (AoC) around the same time we're expecting the EoD expansion to GW2. The difference is how these games post development updates and showcase some of the cool stuff that's coming, whereas Anet continue in their same style of not sharing anything - and with an upcoming expansion in a competitive MMO market, isn't it about time they market it a little and at least give us a little update on something coming to help build a little hype and interest in their upcoming product.

My guild(s) are all looking ahead to NW and AoC and preparing for these games because those games are publishing articles that give some insight into what's coming. Of course, GW2 is different being already established and players already being max level / power, etc. I'm not talking about Anet giving away what the elite specs will be, nor any new features they're going to surprise us with, but glimpses and artwork of Cantha, some stories as background to what's taking us there.

Possibly the conclusion to Champions will make some of this unfold naturally, but simply knowing 'xpac is coming' may be enough for me (a die-hard fan of the Guild Wars universe), but for many other players it isn't.

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The last two expansions have had release an info dump/trailer for better or worse on the last episode of the season leading into it. HoT seemed like it was stretched too long with it being 8 months and the hyped for it was a bit strained. Then PoF got everything in one announcement trailer 8 weeks before it dropped, which seemed too fast and couldn't really gather the hype it deserved for it imo. If they maybe 4 months out did a bit info drop about a date, the big 'thing' to get people in (gliding for HoT; mounts for PoF) showed us some visuals and what not. Then maybe drop a trailer. And do like weekly lead into EoD with small tidbits about elite specs and so forth. I think they did nail that really well with how they dropped info weekly about the elite specs going into HoT with a teaser pic then a live stream for each one. Doesn't have to be exactly that, but those were really fun to follow along with.

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I assume you mean New World and Ashes of Creation? Better marketing would suit Anet, I certainly agree with that. For me though, those two games are not an alternative. So I am not sure if Anets lousy marketing will drive a lot of people to other games. Also, the great thing about GW2 is that you can always come back after having cheated on it with other games. ;)

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Anet have never been inclined to change their announcement or release schedule just because another company is releasing something. Probably because there's always another game or expansion being released soon or just been announced and people who are excited for it assuming everyone else feels the same way and everyone is going to stop playing everything else when the new thing comes along because that's what they plan to do. It never actually happens and scrambling to rush releases and announcements to react to every other announcement would make Anet's plans even more confusing than they already are.

Personally I would have said the Final Fantasy expansion is a bigger deal in this context, because I've seen more people talking about it and I know more GW2 players who play Final Fantasy than either of those two. I don't know anything about Ashes of Creation and last I heard New World was still hovering somewhere between an MMO with not much to do and a disorganised battle royale and the only thing Amazon were sure about is they want it to be a tech demo for their servers. But that's subjective too - that's what I know from my friends and what they're interested in.

What we can say is there's been dozens of new MMOs and expansions to existing MMOs released in the past 8 years and none of them have caused Anet to change their release schedule or had a noticeable effect on activity in GW2, so it seems unlikely these ones will either.

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AoC is entering alpha this year. That's still a LONG way off from a release. So long that it might not even happen in 2022. The game does look quite nice, especially if the intended game play loop works out.

NW was just now postponed a 3rd time to August 31st, 2021. The common experience of games which are continually postponed as well as Amazon Studio games is: at best mediocre products in both cases. Not saying people can't get hyped about it, some of the players from my WvW guild certainly are too, but really curb your expectations because so far, going by development red flags, this game is not out to be the groundbreaking experience many believe it to be. Pair that with mediocre betas last year and well Amazon Games has a lot of work to do.

That said, sure a bit better PR would go a long way Guild Wars 2 EoD wise, something in between the time-span of HoT and PoF, not to long, not to short. Doubtful that NW or AoC will have the great effect on GW2 people believe. FF14 and ESO are currently direct competitors and those games have released trailers recently for this year content updates which were well received.

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Companies like Square Enix can release class info 2 years before the actual expansion drop, Anet instead can release a teaser...of a teaser and after one year no more info. What about?

1)Concept art of new elites? - They are already set in stone now, at the very least you can indicate what each new elite will focus..we don't even need gameplay video

2)Hint for new features....alliances? legendary armory?

3)Location of the new expansion like possible locations?

4)Monsterpedia?

After one whole year not even a single new info....

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@Arheundel.6451 said:Companies like Square Enix can release class info 2 years before the actual expansion drop, Anet instead can release a teaser...of a teaser and after one year no more info. What about?

1)Concept art of new elites? - They are already set in stone now, at the very least you can indicate what each new elite will focus..we don't even need gameplay video

2)Hint for new features....alliances? legendary armor?

3)Location of the new expansion like possible locations?

4)Monsterpedia?

After one whole year not even a single new info....

How do you know the elites are set in stone? I believe this game has had major profession overhauls mere months before a release. I know it has happened in other MMO’s.

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Multiple reasons, but Anet are no longer keen on hype these days. Even PoF only had a few months notice before it revealed anything.

One of the key reasons is to avoid spoilers. EoD will clearly tie heavily into the consequences of Icebrood Saga. They have never revealed the content of the next big expansion before a season has ended to avoid any possibility of giving away what might be happening or diluting the eventual reveals

I'd expect most players are eager for the content, but understanding that it's not ready for a reveal yet.

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@"Arheundel.6451" In my humble opinion I'm 99% certain Anet will not give us any info at all until either very, very near or the day before release day, for the same old reason in MMO Life: " In case they fail to deliver what they say they will and then get burnt hard by the Community for not delivering it ".

I've kind of adopted the approach with Anet now that I will just enjoy the game here and now, and play it as it is. If and when something big, and game-chaning happens then great, but I'm certainly not going to get my hopes up for it or get sucked into any hype for EoD: Only sets you up for disappointment if things don't meet your expectations. I'm not a big fan of the IceBrood Saga story-telling ( solo-esque stuff ), would way prefer some big over-haul / update on Group play game-modes: WvW, sPvP, Raids or re-work of current Dungeons with boosted bosses & rewards ( DRM's are just awful: Recycled terrible content ): But sadly i cannot see Anet investing resources in WvW & sPvP as I don't think in general the players in these game modes bring in much revenue for them.

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@Mungo Zen.9364 said:

@Arheundel.6451 said:Companies like Square Enix can release class info 2 years before the actual expansion drop, Anet instead can release a teaser...of a teaser and after one year no more info. What about?

1)Concept art of new elites? - They are already set in stone now, at the very least you can indicate what each new elite will focus..we don't even need gameplay video

2)Hint for new features....alliances? legendary armor?

3)Location of the new expansion like possible locations?

4)Monsterpedia?

After one whole year not even a single new info....

How do you know the elites are set in stone? I believe this game has had major profession overhauls mere months before a release. I know it has happened in other MMO’s.

By now the concept and idea behind each elite must be set in stone and this got little to do with actual balance which comes before and after release

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@Randulf.7614 said:Multiple reasons, but Anet are no longer keen on hype these days. Even PoF only had a few months notice before it revealed anything.

One of the key reasons is to avoid spoilers. EoD will clearly tie heavily into the consequences of Icebrood Saga. They have never revealed the content of the next big expansion before a season has ended to avoid any possibility of giving away what might be happening or diluting the eventual reveals

I'd expect most players are eager for the content, but understanding that it's not ready for a reveal yet.

Having huge reveal about elites and other base new features like alliances and legendary armory got little to do with spoilers I believe

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@Greg.7086 said:@"Arheundel.6451" In my humble opinion I'm 99% certain Anet will not give us any info at all until either very, very near or the day before release day, for the same old reason in MMO Life: " In case they fail to deliver what they say they will and then get burnt hard by the Community for not delivering it ".

I've kind of adopted the approach with Anet now that I will just enjoy the game here and now, and play it as it is. If and when something big, and game-chaning happens then great, but I'm certainly not going to get my hopes up for it or get sucked into any hype for EoD: Only sets you up for disappointment if things don't meet your expectations. I'm not a big fan of the IceBrood Saga story-telling ( solo-esque stuff ), would way prefer some big over-haul / update on Group play game-modes: WvW, sPvP, Raids or re-work of current Dungeons with boosted bosses & rewards ( DRM's are just awful: Recycled terrible content ): But sadly i cannot see Anet investing resources in WvW & sPvP as I don't think in general the players in these game modes bring in much revenue for them.

These are the kind of errors you'd expect from an indie developer who relies on fund raising...not a triple A company with a multibillion publisher behind them

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Final Fantasy is a near and dear household name in the industry, hype is super beneficial there. GW2 is an underdog compared and their resources are likely better spent on working on the future rather than hyping people up. Esp since the result in the past when they did release content was boo this and foo that. No sense is giving people a larger expectation than they can actually meet.

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Who cares, they'll give us info when they're ready. You keep getting LS episodes, but somehow that doesn't matter, what matters is that they didn't tell you about the especs for the expansion you don't even have a release date set for. I get it, you're curious, but nobody cares what square enix does 2 years earlier, it changes nothing and that knowledge -if you had it so far ahead of time- is something you don't really need.

Detailed locations? Monsterpedia? Elites? The sooner you learn about them, the more it will settle in and be a less meaningful experience when you actually play through it in the game. I don't see why you'd claim you need to know about everything RIGHT NOW.

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In my opinion they should not be scared of a yelling salty minority on the internet echochambers (few 100 people, you can almost count them, its always the same names), nothing different since even gw1 times. Its been mostly quiet for a period of half a year now, some comunication and teasing hype wont hurt. Especially in these times, that builds confidence and a new community foundation (new players, existing and returning(like me)) which has been eroding for some years now.

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@Arheundel.6451 said:

@Greg.7086 said:@Arheundel.6451 In my humble opinion I'm 99% certain Anet will not give us any info at all until either very, very near or the day before release day, for the same old reason in MMO Life: " In case they fail to deliver what they say they will and then get burnt hard by the Community for not delivering it ".

I've kind of adopted the approach with Anet now that I will just enjoy the game here and now, and play it as it is. If and when something big, and game-chaning happens then great, but I'm certainly not going to get my hopes up for it or get sucked into any hype for EoD: Only sets you up for disappointment if things don't meet your expectations. I'm not a big fan of the IceBrood Saga story-telling ( solo-esque stuff ), would way prefer some big over-haul / update on Group play game-modes: WvW, sPvP, Raids or re-work of current Dungeons with boosted bosses & rewards ( DRM's are just awful: Recycled terrible content ): But sadly i cannot see Anet investing resources in WvW & sPvP as I don't think in general the players in these game modes bring in much revenue for them.

These are the kind of errors you'd expect from an indie developer who relies on fund raising...not a triple A company with a multibillion publisher behind them

And yet it constatly happens for many/most companies with multibillion publishers behind them despite you trying to paint it as some kind of anet-only exception. Apparently you must know something those companies don't.

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@Arheundel.6451 said:Companies like Square Enix can release class info 2 years before the actual expansion dropCan they? The Endwalker expansion is slated for Q4 2021, we still know only about one of the classes (and it's mostly just class name and role), and know only the role (but not the name) of the other. So, care to tell us what exactly did you know about that expansion back in Q4 2019? Just to remind you, at that time we were only at patch 5.1.

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The time for info is after Icebrood Saga finishes. Then they will start rolling out the information.

Yes ANet are generally poor at marketing and promoting their product, but generally ignoring what other MMO's do with their launches is something that has worked out for them over the years. There is always something to compete with, so better just to do their own thing. Whether they reveal now or in May, it's not really going to make a huge amount of difference

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Its a stacking effect of both poor marketing of the end-game and lack of revisions to the starting game that cause players to either not start playing or to not stick with it afterwards, and its becoming a real problem this far in.

You're wanting them to advertise the next expansion when they still haven't advertised the last two expansions. I've seen comment after comment from new players who didn't understand what the expos even were, and call them DLC because thats what they seem to be.

Essential changes like making basic gilding and a basic mount available @ lv1 if they own Path of Fire, would help alot.

Imagine how this game would change if new players actually had a taste of what's coming past Central Tyria. This late in the game the veteran players aren't the ones we should worry about. They'll keep playing, but uptake and retention of new players is falling hard.

Think about it, how often do you see new players who aren't alt accounts?

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