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Setting aside my nearly 3,000 hours of love for this game, imagining myself as a new player with no knowledge of GW2, this video does exactly zero for me. Random scenes with no context paired with generic quotes--from what the skeptical side of me would assume are made up usernames--tells me nothing about the game, what it includes, how it plays, what its sytems are, what the story is about, or literally anything else that would make me want to purchase it.

Sorry, it falls flat for me.

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  • ArenaNet Staff

@X T D.6458 said:First, I would not use quotes from the forum, use narration with a Gaelic/Celtic voice (It is just perfect for narrating). This makes it look like you are only cherry picking and showing the stuff that's favorable to you. It's why I never watch videos that people post of themselves from youtube, they are always edited to make themselves look good. Use lines from the game, many of your trailers have great narration, use that instead.

Second, I never see GW2 advertised anywhere except for the occasional online link. If you had the resources to produce a television ad, it could bring in a lot of interest and new players. Maybe try hooking up with Steam, that can connect a ton of potential customers to GW2, and other Anet/NcSoft games.

Third, marketing needs to focus on changing consumer emotions and thoughts. That music is good, but you need to add something stronger that makes the blood flow. Music is a powerful tool that can affect how people feel and think, and more importantly how they associate those feelings with a product. The visual aspect needs to display what a player can do. You can be sexy, heroic, and embark on great adventures in a huge world. Showing some npc's walking around does not do that. Showing a player exploring a beautiful map, and suddenly getting attacked by an enormous beast ambushing them while the music shifts from peaceful to heart pounding and combative, does that. It makes people more interested.

@X T D.6458 said:First, I would not use quotes from the forum, use narration with a Gaelic/Celtic voice (It is just perfect for narrating). This makes it look like you are only cherry picking and showing the stuff that's favorable to you. It's why I never watch videos that people post of themselves from youtube, they are always edited to make themselves look good. Use lines from the game, many of your trailers have great narration, use that instead.

Second, I never see GW2 advertised anywhere except for the occasional online link. If you had the resources to produce a television ad, it could bring in a lot of interest and new players. Maybe try hooking up with Steam, that can connect a ton of potential customers to GW2, and other Anet/NcSoft games.

Third, marketing needs to focus on changing consumer emotions and thoughts. That music is good, but you need to add something stronger that makes the blood flow. Music is a powerful tool that can affect how people feel and think, and more importantly how they associate those feelings with a product. The visual aspect needs to display what a player can do. You can be sexy, heroic, and embark on great adventures in a huge world. Showing some npc's walking around does not do that. Showing a player exploring a beautiful map, and suddenly getting attacked by an enormous beast ambushing them while the music shifts from peaceful to heart pounding and combative, does that. It makes people more interested.

Thank you for this. I agree that we need to go broader with our advertising. TV and Out of Home is something we need to consider, particularly to engage new players.

Music is key to tap into the emotional connection and leaning on our beautiful content is key, particularly when we show to player experience.

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  • ArenaNet Staff

@Calanthe.3857 said:The cinematics are beautiful and the music is good, but I feel like the font of the quotes doesn't mesh well with the video. The font feels off somehow. Like maybe make it gold and more stylized without reducing its readibility. And maybe a voice actor should read some of the quotes.

I see your point on the fonts. I’m gonna discuss this with the team and also look into what can be done with the voice actors. Thank you :-)

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anyone see the new Deadpool 2 movie trailer ?

I'd love to see something like that for gw2, because the game itself does have a great sense of humor thats part of what makes GW2 a fun place to be. "you ran from skrittt!!" ......something like a skritt narrating about life in tyria as a pirate lol! ...with random cut scenes of action packed fights from different parts of the game, filled with footage of users having fun.......and a funny script - those kinds of things have viral power, and the humor itself is a selling point that sets the tone of the environment we want you to have fun in! Plus the video script itself is memorable

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I agree with the others, less quotes from people I likely won't know, more credible sources, and put the emphasis on what the xpac brings to the player, such as mounts, huge maps, elite specs and more! Add in something to challenge/dare the player like "Are you strong enough to defeat war itself?" as part of the excitement for new releases includes the challenges it presents.

Also making the video longer won't hurt, as the shorter videos tend to be forgotten more than the longer ones. think of the video as a play showcasing everything good about your product, something that draws people in with wonderful music, great story moments, beautiful environments and fun gameplay!

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  • ArenaNet Staff

@Swagger.1459 said:This is probably the most important info I can give to anyone trying to sell any product...

http://www.danieldecker.net/successful-marketing-starts-with-the-wiifm-factor/

It’s great to display positive reviews, but there also needs to be as much “what’s in it for you and you and you” feature highlights as possible. More and more people are becoming wary of cherry picked positive reviews, and more savvy to marketing tactics, so providing info that is more “substantial” for potential customers is better.

Edit- Probably the most effective marketing for old players is seeing old issues being addressed, and a game that has evolved in a positive direction, in the xpac you want them to buy.

Thank you for this. I really like the idea of showing old players what has changed. This is something we need to do.

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@JustTrogdor.7892 said:One thing I have learned from quotes for promotional items is that if they don't come from actual well known critics, they are usually cherry picked because of that. Even when from an established critic still often cherry picked but at least have a little more weight. Movies do this all the time when they don't get decent reviews from established critics, "Best action movie I ever watched - Movie238Guy@twitter.whatever", "So glad I watched this movie! - Amazon review from Someperson"

Trying to view this as a potential new customer I don't really care what name.7852 has to say as I have no idea who they are where they stand in the gaming community.

If I'm being completely honest - and I know this is coming from a cynical place - if I didn't know the game and saw those quotes with obvious screen names, my impression would be, "Wow, they can't get any professionals to say good things about the game, so they had to get random players to do it?" I know that's not the case with GW2 as PoF got a lot of good reviews, but that's definitely how it would come across to me. People know the people playing the game enjoy it, so it just looks like you had to get a bunch of biased opinions to make your game look good.

@Erasculio.2914 said:

@Ohoni.6057 said:Instead, show some footage of a Jackal in a jumping area, like the one in SE Crystal Oasis or the shattered pyramid in the NE Crystal Oasis, and show him multi-teleporting in different directions, through portals.

Showing the Jackal entering the sand gate in the
and then exiting it at the sand bridge would be great, IMO. It would show the Jackal's most unique ability, the teleportation, and also showcase one of the most breath taking moments of using a mount (the sand bridge high in the sky is really unique).

Yeah, I think one thing they really need to show off and emphasize is the difference between GW2's mounts and how mounts in other MMOs work. In most other MMOs, mounts are just something you use to get around faster. Show the springer jumping up mountains, the jackal teleporting, the raptor jumping into combat with his tail spin. The griffon isn't a secret anymore, show off that GW2 has flying mounts too. (Personally, I'd show someone getting knocked off a cliff and then taking off on their griffon.) The trailer shows the mounts a couple times, but it doesn't show what they can actually do.

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I believe you'd get more impact if you also talked about all the existing content. Numbers speak for themselves, more than quotes. Something like x dungeons (add fractals to the count maybe), y raids, z events, xy maps, xz story instances and so on. If you're showing me quotes from active players for a game I don't play I will likely ignore it, after all they're not playing a game they don't like. Obviously I'm not going to do all the hard work for you but I hope you get the idea.

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  • ArenaNet Staff

@OriOri.8724 said:I like it, but I feel like it doesn't have any information for potential new players. Quick list of the top things that could be improved

  • "Its a beautiful map" - Let the art speak for itself. I have never seen an MMO whose art quality comes anywhere near close to that of GW2. Personally I think it speaks for itself, if you guys feel that it doesn't, maybe a small disclaimer at the bottom stating that this is actual in game footage, and not some CGI trailer?
  • "Mounts are the best addition so far" - Well, as a player, I'm quite aware of how amazing mounts are in GW2, AND also of how different they are from other games. But stepping back, if I knew nothing about GW2, but I had heard about WoW (or even played it before), and saw this, I wouldn't know that WoW mounts aren't even in the same league as GW2 mounts, because there is nothing to say that. What would probably be going through my mind is that GW2 is playing catch up by just now adding a feature that WoW has had for years. Add onto that the fact that you just show players traveling on mounts, no movement abilities or engage abilities, and I would seriously be wondering why I would want to consider a game whose "greatest feature so far" was the addition of a mount that I don't know can do anything other than run quicker than the base runspeed (does this mess of a paragraph make sense? If not I'll try to reword it). I guess TL;DR - You have a quote about how great mounts are, but then you don't show how they are truly unique in GW2 from mounts in any other game.
  • "Loving this expac so much!" - I think this is great. It also doesn't say anything about the game. Why is the expac so great? What features make it so amazing?
  • "New storyline is great!" - I like this a lot. It doesn't give any spoilers at all, yet still says that the storyline is really good
  • 2 more comments show up talking about how great the expac is - Look I get it, I really do. You want to sell that the expac is amazing. And I really do think it is! But so many comments in such a short video all saying the same thing feels forced to me. IDK, maybe this one is just me.

Non comment related comments

  • It focuses entirely on PoF. Now there is nothing wrong with this, but it doesn't mention, not even at the end, that the core game is Free. I think this is huge marketing honestly. Telling people that they can try the core game for free, and only have to pay for the expansions, means that they don't have to drop money on the game to try it. I know that other games offer free trials, but GW2 IS free if you play the core game. This should be included in every trailer you guys make that is intended for non players to watch in my opinion.
  • Features, features, features. The only feature mentioned in the trailer is mounts, but it doesn't talk about why they are so much better in GW2 than in any other MMO. It doesn't talk about their purpose, their movement abilities, the griffon, nothing.
  • No mention of the amazing combat system that GW2 has. Regardless of the quibbles that people might have over balance, I don't think anyone would say that the underlying combat system is not one of the best made.

Basically, to sum it all up, you have a very pretty trailer which doesn't sell GW2. It doesn't mention any features outside of mounts, but even those it makes no mention of why they arne't your boilerplate MMO mount. It doesn't mention that the base game is F2P. It doesn't tell a viewer why they should give it a try.

You have raised so much of value. ArenaNet Marketing needs to look at a full years worth of video assets that detail what GW2 is now and highlights all of its amazing features and reasons to play. Features like mounts deserve a video dedicated to there greatness and why they are the best out there. Your greatest feedback may be the simplest and most important of everything. Players can join the core experience for free and this should be a message we drive on all assets to engage new players. Thank you so much for the constructive and valuable feedback. I will discuss this with the team and make this actionable for our ongoing campaigns. :-)

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I don't normally respond in forum posts, i tend to only read them and that's it. But i liked this one, so i'll give you my opinion :)The video is decent. But there are a few problems (is that the right word?) that i feel need to be addressed.

  • First and foremost: the quotes! They seem a bit out of place, the color, the font et cetera. And who are those saying these things? I mean, i understand they are players (some of them seem to be, at least) but to a possibly-new-player? No. They also cover the background scenes, which imo sell the game better.
  • Which brings us to the second point: the scenes! Well, apart from the fact that some of them are half covered by the quotes, they seem to be mostly fights and have way too much movement (which divides your attention while trying to read the quotes and understand whats happening in the background at the same time). All too flashy and intense (the first 30ish secs seem fine, then it escalates). Also, new players won't understand what's being shown (probably even returning players).

The rest seems fine. I really like some of the scenes and the music, kinda resembles the of the trailer (which i loved).

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  • ArenaNet Staff

@IndigoSundown.5419 said:Other posters have provided suggestions about things to add to the video (or to replace some of the existing vignettes). How long of a video are you aiming for? A minute seems short for a Youtube video, but placed on other platforms might be just about the right length.

Hi! The video is intended to be about 1 minute in length and utilized via social channels targeting people who play video games but have not yet played GW2.

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@Cantatus.4065 said:

Yeah, I think one thing they really need to show off and emphasize is the difference between GW2's mounts and how mounts in other MMOs work. In most other MMOs, mounts are just something you use to get around faster. Show the springer jumping up mountains, the jackal teleporting, the raptor jumping into combat with his tail spin. The griffon isn't a secret anymore, show off that GW2 has flying mounts too. (Personally, I'd show someone getting knocked off a cliff and then taking off on their griffon.) The trailer shows the mounts a couple times, but it doesn't show what they can actually do.

I agree fully. The inclusion of mounts was one of the big selling points for PoF, and I was still blown away when I got to experience each of them for the first time. Rather than being glorified speedboosts they really enhanced the gameplay for me, both in new and old zones. They all handle well for what you want them to do and they contributes to some of Gw2s greatest strengths, namely the joy of exploration and freedom of movement.

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I don't want to leave any patronising comments as you're an industry professional, but I'm a returning player and here are my reasons for coming back, and my biggest reasons for enjoying the game overall. The best strengths of the game, so maybe you can gleam some insight from that.

  • The affordability and fair, gentle cash shop. Despite recent complaints, the store remains absolutely wonderful.
  • The art is obviously gorgeous. It's very vivid.
  • The maps are filled with interesting nooks and crannies to explore.
  • The amount of character customisation visually is quite deep, and your characters can look truly unique in a level beyond other MMO games.
  • The combat is great, it's fast and satisfying. Builds are easy but fun to make. Single traits can make big differences.
  • The more involved, personal story.

And thank you for taking the time to engage with us and consider our ideas, it's really nice you're interacting with the community and being so open, I think that's a great approach that should be praised.

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I only have one thing to note:

@"Mike Silbowitz.1827" said:... "while displaying gameplay "...I didn't see any gameplay footage. Lots of sweeping low angles and pretty shots of nameless characters/gods. Like most snippet trailers I see for games it shows nothing that will actually be experienced outside of cutscene footage. That footage isn't gameplay, and provides no reference to the joy of a griffon race, bouncing up a towering pinnacle, or leaping across canyons. The graphics are nice, but that's all this showcases, not the content or the actual experience.

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These two threads from reddit have a lot of information I think you will find interesting:

I really recommend reading them, not just for the OP but for the comments too (and keep in mind it's reddit, so there's always a bit of drama, spice of life and such). If you want a summary, what ArenaNet fails at (and pretty bigly) is at the marketing material itself. You need more screenshots (not just empty landscapes), video footage (not just showing people walking), and better trailers for each release (showing lot of the new stuff, including the new maps/fractals/raids, rewards, enemies, etc).

Make an effort to have all the artwork and soundtracks available at the highest quality, easy to access, from either the wiki or the official page, too. If I wanted to make a GW2 video now, I wouldn't have barely any quality material, and that's a problem. There's still people at 2017 using the pre-2012 footage for their GW2 videos, with those ugly graphics that have nothing to do with how far we've gotten.

I'll make a detailed analysis including better summary of the above threads tomorrow, because this is a really important issue, and I'm very, very, very glad to see it addressed.

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People tend to know Websites more than they know Criticts, etc. I'd suggest looking for some Official Reviews of known websites, I am pretty sure you will find positive reviews and you'll be able to put it in your Video, so new people will actually be amazed that this and that website rates the Xpac well.Also, this might just be a Personal taste, but I still believe that a bit of Action makes for a better impression than 'dramatic' camera zooms and rotations. I think that something bit more breath-taking will have a better outcome. Also, I am quite sure that what makes One buy/try a game, is when it gets stuck, when it gets under the skin. So adding something a little Mysterious, maybe a glimpse of Something.

PS: The right Music is one of the most important aspects of anything. Be it Movie, Video or Trailer, Music will do 50% of the Job. You need something that sounds more Action-like, but also at the same time is not the Classical Cliche style, that will be a pretty hard part to get right, but it is the one that really matters.

EDIT: Also, maybe less close-ups of fighting People and more Shots of Landscape, Maps.

EDIT2: Forgot to Add, that this Post of Yours is finally a Step in the Right Direction. Because, with all due Respect to all of Anet Staff, there was not much of a Communication which is the very foundation of succes in MMO games. Good Job.

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I think the title alarmed me the most. You called it "Path of Fire Accolades." What awards has Path of Fire received? All I saw were comments from existing players? As someone who has played virtually every MMO from the original Everquest in the late nineties, to World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 1, and now Guild Wars 2, in my opinion, mounts aren't going to sell this game to anyone you're trying to convert. Show content. I want things to do when I play games. Showcase the fresh, new content every two to three months FOR FREE! Show off the amazing combat system. Show off raids and fractals. If I saw this and was playing any other game at the moment, it would not convert me.

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Sorry more feedback. I've watched the trailer several times to see what it is missing. One thing I noticed is that it doesn't end with a call to action, just more quotes from players. You see calls to action a lot especially in adverts for those lame mobile games that seem to attract a lot of customers. Generic examples, "Are you ready to be the next hero of ...."? "You can be a legend!" "Tyria is waiting for you!" Heck, even "Start playing today for free." I'm sure you could come up with something better than that! Things that gets the viewer wondering what it means to do so and how they can. But the video as of now just ends with a quote from someone.

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I had to watch the video twice; the first time, all my attention was drawn to the quotes and the second time, to try to see the footage behind the quotes.I would suggest either scrapping the quotes, or put a short shot of a page of quotes (videos can be paused) at the end. I'd also agree that, as cool as they might be to those of us that play the game, quotes from unknown players mean little to those unfamiliar with the game. If you must use quotes, use them from well-known entities.

Also, if you want to sell the game, sell the whole game, not just the latest release(s). I mean, where would new players start? Not in Path of Fire...well, we veterans would not recommend starting there, anyway.

Thanks for including us, and best of luck.

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  • ArenaNet Staff

@Ricky.4706 said:anyone see the new Deadpool 2 movie trailer ?

I'd love to see something like that for gw2, because the game itself does have a great sense of humor thats part of what makes GW2 a fun place to be. "you ran from skrittt!!" ......something like a skritt narrating about life in tyria as a pirate lol! ...with random cut scenes of action packed fights from different parts of the game, filled with footage of users having fun.......and a funny script - those kinds of things have viral power, and the humor itself is a selling point that sets the tone of the environment we want you to have fun in! Plus the video script itself is memorable

Infuse and highlight the funny...I LIKE IT! This one makes it to the idea board for future videos. :-)

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Thanks for asking the community for feedback on marketing. I never bought Guild Wars 2 because of the trailers; they made the game look pretty bad. That's why I waited until it was half off, but I wish I had purchased it sooner. Here are my thoughts on the trailer, comparing it to what attracts me most in a trailer.

The letterboxing should be removed, especially with the space taken up by the quotes. The font and transition animations are unsavory. Remove the "Well done ArenaNet!" from the quote at 0:49. The quotes used aren't the beset in the first place, and seem to be only targetted at people who already play the game. But I don't like it even as someone who does play it. Don't use the word "xpac", "expansion pack," "expac", anywhere. This should feel like a trailer for a game, not a minor update. I know you want to use real quotes from real players, but a quote that says "loving the storyline" is much better than "loving the new storyline".

There are a lot of regular speed or slow-motion shots that are up close, but the trailer needs some zoomed out, quickly panning/rotating shots of the landscape. If I didn't know any better, the entire trailer could very well be taking place in a small section of the zone. I want to know that the map is big. Have some shots where the camera quickly rotates around tall objects, like detailed buildings, pyramids, statues, and massive enemies. The rotation should be centered around whatever this large object is. This technique makes the most convincing game trailers for me, but it needs to be faster than what was done at 0:27–0:30. Technique is there, but not fast enough, and there needs to be more of it.

Essentially every shot in the trailer views the characters from below, but what about one which has one or more characters from above, which is how we view our characters when playing an MMO most of the time. The shot of the player standing on the edge of a cliff at 0:50 is good, but you can't see much because it's from below + the cinematic black bars block the view. Bump up the render distance if you have to, so everything looks better. The character models in this game are pretty good, but the game is sold on its environment. Show us less of the player (except when mounted or fighting) and more of the scenery.

Cut to some shots of the indoor environments in this expansion. Have the camera quickly zoom through the hallways of the market and government buildings of Amnoon, the lost city of Kesho, or the new guild hall Windswept Haven.

Lastly, the music for the trailer isn't terrible, and it fit very well in the two-minute launch / story trailer it was first used in, but you should really use some of the much better fast-paced in-game music created for Path of Fire or Living World for this one. For the record, the Announcement trailer was far better than the Launch trailer, but still lacking in showing off the environment with clever camera use. Don't letterbox in-engine trailers! Only animated trailers! Blizzard, Jagex, and Square Enix don't letterbox in-engine trailers! They use fast camera movements! You used to work at Square Enix! Letterboxed gameplay and landscapes look bad!

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The video's fine but I don't think the wider gaming audience will be particularly interested in the quotes unless they come from someone or from somewhere they know. The video looks gorgeous but it's just not really showing off any exciting gameplay.

When I think back to what got me interested Guild Wars 2 back in 2012 (having never bothered with MMOs before) it was the information and portrayal of the classes and their abilities that created the hype. Guild Wars 2 is an RPG after all and that's a big part of what draws people in - who they can actually BE in the game. Not wishing to drag in other game mentions too much but other games belonging to the same genre celebrate their classes quite a bit more than GW2 does and it's quite effective.

Maybe a bit off topic with the vidoe but, I have to say that the guildwars2.com website needs some updating and better consolidation of the content that has been added since 2012. For example, when you go to the professions page there is absolutely no mention of the elite specs and a lot of the videos there are really out of date with how the game has changed. To see the elite specs you have to navigate to each expansion's webpage and then from there navigate to the section with the elite specs. This is too much busy work for a potential new player. When they open the Thief profession page for example there should be information on what a Thief player can become and what expansion they need to get that. There needs to be more celebration of the new content right there on the main webpage

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  • ArenaNet Staff

@Ziooo.8932 said:I don't normally respond in forum posts, i tend to only read them and that's it. But i liked this one, so i'll give you my opinion :)The video is decent. But there are a few problems (is that the right word?) that i feel need to be addressed.

  • First and foremost: the quotes! They seem a bit out of place, the color, the font et cetera. And who are those saying these things? I mean, i understand they are players (some of them seem to be, at least) but to a possibly-new-player? No. They also cover the background scenes, which imo sell the game better.
  • Which brings us to the second point: the scenes! Well, apart from the fact that some of them are half covered by the quotes, they seem to be mostly fights and have way too much movement (which divides your attention while trying to read the quotes and understand whats happening in the background at the same time). All too flashy and intense (the first 30ish secs seem fine, then it escalates). Also, new players won't understand what's being shown (probably even returning players).

The rest seems fine. I really like some of the scenes and the music, kinda resembles the of the trailer (which i loved).

Thank you for responding :-)

I think we need to evaluate the fonts utilized. This is something I will discuss with the team.

I am a big fan of proving the fun by showing what real players think over press. Players love the game, which is why the have stayed with GW2. That’s powerful but I do agree we should add more context to the quotes themselves while fixing the fonts and placements. If under the player name we put something along the line of “GW2 player since 2014” would that help add context?

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