Let’s Talk About Marketing...

[Mike Silbowitz.1827]

@Nash.2681 said:I don't know what to think of this... should I be glad that Arena.Net gets a bit more in touch with their players, or should I be worried, that random forum users need to tell the Head of Global Marketing how to do his job right...

I would go with "be glad that Arena.Net gets a bit more in touch with their players"

My intention with this post is to have a direct communication with our players. I don't NEED you to tell me how to do my job...but I WANT to know what our fans think. If asking our fans about marketing is not a good idea I won't in the future, as I didn't when I worked at Square Enix or Activision Blizzard, but I saw value in what the GW2 community had to say...and luckily this lead to predominantly constructive feedback and communication.

[OriOri.8724]

@Mike Silbowitz.1827 said:

@Nash.2681 said:I don't know what to think of this... should I be glad that Arena.Net gets a bit more in touch with their players, or should I be worried, that random forum users need to tell the Head of Global Marketing how to do his job right...

I would go with "be glad that Arena.Net gets a bit more in touch with their players"

My intention with this post is to have a direct communication with our players. I don't NEED you to tell me how to do my job...but I WANT to know what our fans think. If asking our fans about marketing is not a good idea I won't in the future, as I didn't when I worked at Square Enix or Activision Blizzard, but I saw value in what the GW2 community had to say...and luckily this lead to predominantly constructive feedback and communication.

Pay him no mind. Some people are just all too willing to jump down throats for no reason at all. I think that this communication is amazing honestly! Not least because it gives you real feedback as to how people who aren't involved in making the videos (AKA unbiased opinions) see them, and what we get out of them. Please continue to reach out to the community with new ideas, or if you need new ideas.

[Rezzet.3614]

Terrible game it doesn't even suhck. 10/10

[Ashabhi.1365]

I've been with ANet and the Guildwars franchise since shortly after the launch of GW1. For what it's worth, here's my two coppers' :

The trailer shows some beautiful graphics, but it all looks like the CGI stuff that companies put out to suck people in and then the REAL graphics are some leftover 8-bit code that was left out of the original Mario Brothers. Player quotes, in my opinion (yeah, I know, I know...) just mean you have some fanbois. Same with magazine blurbs like you see in movie trailers. It's the look and feel of the graphics, and the fluidity of the combat that will bring people in.

GW2 is a beautiful game. You need only to show off the beauty of the desert and the epic scale of some battles. Sit on top of the wall in Amnoon and show people fighting stuff in the desert outside the gates. Show the actual mass of people fighting the Facet (or any other world boss.) Fly a skimmer over the Elon River and attack a drake. Jump up a cliff with a springer. Fly off a waterfall with a griffon. These are the kinds of things people look at and say "Oooh... I love the looks of this game. I want it!"

[Lonecap.4105]

@OriOri.8724 said:

@Mike Silbowitz.1827 said:

@Nash.2681 said:I don't know what to think of this... should I be glad that Arena.Net gets a bit more in touch with their players, or should I be worried, that random forum users need to tell the Head of Global Marketing how to do his job right...

I would go with "be glad that Arena.Net gets a bit more in touch with their players"

My intention with this post is to have a direct communication with our players. I don't NEED you to tell me how to do my job...but I WANT to know what our fans think. If asking our fans about marketing is not a good idea I won't in the future, as I didn't when I worked at Square Enix or Activision Blizzard, but I saw value in what the GW2 community had to say...and luckily this lead to predominantly constructive feedback and communication.

Pay him no mind. Some people are just all too willing to jump down throats for no reason at all. I think that this communication is amazing honestly! Not least because it gives you real feedback as to how people who aren't involved in making the videos (AKA unbiased opinions) see them, and what we get out of them. Please continue to reach out to the community with new ideas, or if you need new ideas.

Yes! Ignore that troll. 99% of us are thrilled you reached out and we're completely behind you. We hope that the other teams will reach out too, my personal hope is that the WvW team will reach out here too.

[Kal Spiro.9745]

The quotes were distracting and didn't really provide any useful information. If I didn't know anything about GW2 and wasn't already interested that wasn't going to inspire me. It started out alright, the quotes fit what was happening on screen, then it deviated and just became contextless praise, which is meaningless.

[zealex.9410]

I would like to suggest and but not look like a dick that maybe the ratings and comments of ppl (wether proffesional or not and wether you put them in or not) should look abit more proffesional. Idk how to explain it but something among the lines of trailers AAA games have with the scores and comments of big names. For example ea titles or the trailer from Warframe's newest update the plains of eidolon.

Bug genually i agree with ppl that showing epic moments with the powerfull sountracks your teams have created should be enough of its own. A great trailer for the expac should consist from the strong aspects of the game/expa (music, art, visuals, features, challenges (raids, fractals) etc)

[Mike Silbowitz.1827]

@OriOri.8724 said:Pay him no mind. Some people are just all too willing to jump down throats for no reason at all. I think that this communication is amazing honestly! Not least because it gives you real feedback as to how people who aren't involved in making the videos (AKA unbiased opinions) see them, and what we get out of them. Please continue to reach out to the community with new ideas, or if you need new ideas.

Thank you. I intend to because the majority of feedback had been so detailed, constructive and thoughtful. So many ideas came out of this that I plan on making a reality over the next year and I'm proud to say it all came from the GW2 community. :-)

[Egrimm Van Horstmann.7921]

I actually would like the commander to not always be in third person, a bit more first person would emphasize this is the player. The music does escalate and I'm actually not against it, the visuals though are pretty much just the PoF trailer minus the profession scenes. Maybe a bit more emphasis on the professions scenes, they do a good job of showing the scenery with the camera sweeps.

With it only a minute shorter than the PoF trailer, I would worry that it would look too much like a repeat of the PoF trailer with so much of the same visuals. And from what I remember leading up to the launch after the trailer the profession scenes where more reshown vs the general scenes by almost everyone reviewing the game.

No matter how you go forward I do hope it's successful.

[Ricky.4706]

@Mike, I for one appreciate your presence very much. It's natural that with a game like this you will attract followers from all walks of life, some who have been there and done that .....and some that have not.

You can't let the bad comments derail the many good comments made in this thread - having been there and done that, I will allow myself to be a nostalgic moron and say ignore the morons lmao!! -bro fist- Thank you, your posts and efforts are very much appreciated, especially to me since this game is a part of my own history as a gamer! Cheers!

the time you waste with the wrong people, is the time you take away from the right people.

[Dropdown.7460]

I know I'm late to the party, but I read some responses, watched the video, and have a few thoughts. I'd like to see Guild Wars succeed and, aside from some anti-consumer gem store pricing and practices, I think Arena Net has created -- and continues to create -- something amazing.

I would recommend showcasing the following:

• Content, content, content. MMO players want to know they're not going to be wasting their time with something that's over quick and then they have nothing to do. Some of the things that could be mentioned: Raids, Fractals, Dungeons, World Vs World Vs World, World Bosses, Dynamic Events, Holiday Events, Living Seasons, Guild Missions, unique races, unique classes, robust customization and I'm sure much more. You could mention there is pvp... but I wouldn't recommend it until it undergoes some fundamental changes.
• Community. MMOs are made or undone by their community. One of the reasons I continue to play is the great people I've met in the game. Despite a few trolls and angry people, Guild Wars 2 probably has one of the best communities in gaming. Show people what makes it so great.
• Fun. At the end of the day, the only thing that really matters is whether the game is fun to play. I don't get a sense of what the game is all about based on the trailer. I get it's a quick teaser, but with highlighting the story, why couldn't they just watch it on a let's play? Show newcomers what makes the game fun to play.
• How Guild Wars 2 is different. There are too many WoW clones and free to play titles available. You already know you're competing in a massively (multiplayer online) saturated market. If you want to reach people, show them how you're different, how your game is unique and offers something others don't.

I visit MMORPG.com from time to time and Guild Wars 2 is consistently one of the highest rated, most popular games on their list. The current trailer seems amateurish and doesn't show all the unique, fun things Guild Wars 2 has to offer new players.

Thanks for listening to feedback and being proactive about the community. Just another thing that makes Guild Wars 2 special.

[Drew.1865]

@Dashiva.6149 said:

@Severdnerv.4523 said:

Why have I never seen this before!? Recommending Gw2 to my friends through gameplay and features has been easy enough, but trying to sell the story to new players with no previous insight has been a challenge. "Movie"-trailers like these are immensly helpful in that regard.

@Drew.1865 said:Visual artist here. Not a white knight so my opinion is not influenced by anything. I think the video is terrific. I like the quotes also even though I don’t agree with every one. My only suggestion is to keep focused on the mounts in future marketing. You guys did a terrific job with them. Maybe show some of the cool new skins with crazy colors. That celestial griffon skin would be great.

Wouldn't that set some false expectations, though? They get the game, and then discover that they have to go through a "second purchase" to get that cool thing in the trailer. In my experience, people are not a fan of hidden costs like that.Show of the mounts for sure, but make sure that what you see is what you get.

Excellent point! I think a way to communicate the costs for flashy things in the game is important. Players who are new to the game and returning should be told they need POF for mounts.

[Cronos.6532]

@Mike Silbowitz.1827 said:

@X T D.6458 said:

@Mike Silbowitz.1827 said:

@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.

I would like to say thank you for this thread. I always appreciate it when staff are engaged in a discussion with players and interested in feedback on how to improve something.

I'd also like to add that it should not be focused solely on PoF. I don't mean to sound like PoF does not have a lot of great things to show off, but so does the rest of the game. The Mouth of Mordremoth for example, kitten amazing. If you show a shot of that thing coming up behind a player who then slowly turns around for example. Show off the diverse scenery. I personally love the Shiverpeaks areas, the majestic snow capped mountains are just beautiful.

Guild Wars 2 also has the absolute best combat system of any MMO out there. It needs to be showcased.

I should be the one thanking you and the rest of the GW2 community. I NEVER expected to recieve so many responders...much less such thoughtful and constructive feedback. I am so proud to be working at ArenaNet, on GW2 with this amazing group of gamers.

You’re absolutly right that we need to show off all of GW2 in order to engage new players. The ArenaNet marketing team is discussing how we do exactly this with new content and the GW2.com website. Stay tuned as we move forward and reach out for more insights from the community. :-)

What if you guys bought "GW2.com"?

[mercury ranique.2170]

My feedback is not so much about the video (which is good), but more about what you are trying to accomplish. Getting people in the game cause PoF is amazing. The issue is that it is a max level expansion. So people can't just pop in and get started. They have to play the core game first. There is a level 80 scroll, but it is considered to be not sufficient for a new player to participate at max level as he lacks knowledge and skills gained from a regular level up experience.

The goal should be not only to get people in cause of this video, but to keep them and spreading the word. There many ways to accomplish this. For example a comprehensive guide. But I think that being able to make Elonian characters that have a short storyline and map to level in a high rate would be perfect. It would also mean that existing players be making extra toons (which means selling more character slots). It does require development time (and I know this should not be just a marketing thing), but I do think it is wortht it. The devs should actually work with experienced players to see how to pack the knowledge and skills so efficient as possible.

One example could be a story where the character fights a foe with a breakbar. The foe is easy to dps, but has a breakbar that appears at 75, 50, and 25% health. The first freezes the fight (foe is invulnerable till breakbar is broken) and makes a pop-up appear. The second is on a timer. If the player doesnt break it in time, it steals 25% of health. The third is also on a timer, but failing gives a lethal blow and makes you to start all over.

I truly think such an experience is missing to effectivly lure people into PoF

[Zunki.3916]

@"mercury ranique.2170" said:My feedback is not so much about the video (which is good), but more about what you are trying to accomplish. Getting people in the game cause PoF is amazing. The issue is that it is a max level expansion. So people can't just pop in and get started. They have to play the core game first. There is a level 80 scroll, but it is considered to be not sufficient for a new player to participate at max level as he lacks knowledge and skills gained from a regular level up experience.

The goal should be not only to get people in cause of this video, but to keep them and spreading the word. There many ways to accomplish this. For example a comprehensive guide. But I think that being able to make Elonian characters that have a short storyline and map to level in a high rate would be perfect. It would also mean that existing players be making extra toons (which means selling more character slots). It does require development time (and I know this should not be just a marketing thing), but I do think it is wortht it. The devs should actually work with experienced players to see how to pack the knowledge and skills so efficient as possible.

One example could be a story where the character fights a foe with a breakbar. The foe is easy to dps, but has a breakbar that appears at 75, 50, and 25% health. The first freezes the fight (foe is invulnerable till breakbar is broken) and makes a pop-up appear. The second is on a timer. If the player doesnt break it in time, it steals 25% of health. The third is also on a timer, but failing gives a lethal blow and makes you to start all over.

I truly think such an experience is missing to effectivly lure people into PoF

Make them "adventures", make one adventure for each mechanic you want to teach.Make them repeatable, and make tiers with bronze to gold like on the normal adventures.

A breakbar adventure, one with dodging, one with simple solo-bosses, one with healing maybe, one with tanking or whatever. Give exp-scrolls as a reward maybe.Give adventure specific weapons maybe, with the skills needed. Make an achievement where you use you own skills instead of the encounter skills, to teach people how to select skills according to an encounter.

And yeah, you could actually just introduce a "new player chapter" into the journal, where you let people find these adventures.

[Alga.6498]

I see why ANet added these quotes but I personally dislike having quotes from random people. The trailer would be much better without them.I know ANet are great at doing trailers, show off the content, the beautiful maps, amazing themes, battle system- sell the content itself instead relying on random people's quotes.

I have been here since the very beginning, and what got into GW2 was the older teasing and trailers of GW2, how different it was from GW1, showed us what we can do in the world of Tyria, jumping, new playable races, swimming, dodging, open world, dymanic events and so much more.

This is what you need to do, show off the game itself! Epic trailer with the amazing themes, showing fighting scenes, the main bosses, abilities such as mounts is what interesting people rather having the quotes.Remove the quotes and the short trailer would be so much better. :)

[MadBomber.3719]

@Mike Silbowitz.1827 said:

@OriOri.8724 said:Pay him no mind. Some people are just all too willing to jump down throats for no reason at all. I think that this communication is amazing honestly! Not least because it gives you real feedback as to how people who aren't involved in making the videos (AKA unbiased opinions) see them, and what we get out of them. Please continue to reach out to the community with new ideas, or if you need new ideas.

Thank you. I intend to because the majority of feedback had been so detailed, constructive and thoughtful. So many ideas came out of this that I plan on making a reality over the next year and I'm proud to say it all came from the GW2 community. :-)

What communication?? WvW players say hi. Anet has great communication for certain gamemodes for others it's terrible. in this case non-existent. Not one WvW question was responded to during that AMA. I understand it was Living Story AMA (whens the WvW AMA??) but we couldn't even get a statement from Anet about WvW, even if it was a generic bullshit one. It amazes me how they continue to ignore their playerbase and let a gamemode with so much potential go down the drain. 3 major NA WvW guilds have left the game within the last 2 months, more are likely to follow. Keep up the great communication!

[ReaverKane.7598]

You know what could be interesting?A new GuildWars 2 Manifesto!!

Here's the thing, that video made me want to play the game because you could see some passion from the devs.Right now, i think Arena Net needs this. We see bland statements from MO that feel empty, and pretty much silence. The fact that you shield yourselves behind silence and AMAs that happen too early for people to actually have questions about the content, and on a third party site create a sense of aloofness from the team.Bring back Points of Interest, bring back World Tournaments on PvP, WvW Tournaments. Show the people that you care, by doing more than just a trailer that anyone with access to youtube and soundlcoud can reproduce.

You need to show us that your players, ALL your players matter, because so far you've successfully excluded a lot of us with the statement from MO that implies in not so many words that only those that buy the overpriced mounts are supporting the game. And when you have ACTIVE players and content creators feeling, and saying that they're "not your target audience", this more than anything drives people away from the game.

So yes, i'd suggest you start by mending fences with the community that you have, then move on to new horizons. At the moment, and not just in community relations, Arena Net seems to keep building their content on quicksand, instead of steady foundations.Strengthen your core so you can build on top of that. (And that's also a way to say, rework the stats, core professions, health pools, bounties in core tyria, etc before telling us "here's another mainly decorative expansion, cough up the dough")..

Dammit... See, got me ranting...

[Nash.2681]

@Mike Silbowitz.1827 said:

@Nash.2681 said:I don't know what to think of this... should I be glad that Arena.Net gets a bit more in touch with their players, or should I be worried, that random forum users need to tell the Head of Global Marketing how to do his job right...

I would go with "be glad that Arena.Net gets a bit more in touch with their players"

My intention with this post is to have a direct communication with our players. I don't NEED you to tell me how to do my job...but I WANT to know what our fans think. If asking our fans about marketing is not a good idea I won't in the future, as I didn't when I worked at Square Enix or Activision Blizzard, but I saw value in what the GW2 community had to say...and luckily this lead to predominantly constructive feedback and communication.@Mike: glad to read that. I hope at least you understand that your initial post can look suspicious, esp. since communication from officials in this forums is quite rare if compared to reddit. Hope you also read that I added some constructive feedback aswell.Oh, and I hope you not only appreciate the ideas and thoughts of everyone in here as they are (I believe you that you really do), but also keep in mind that everyone trying to support you in this thread is somehow working for Arena.Net for free.@OriOri.8724 said:Pay him no mind. Some people are just all too willing to jump down throats for no reason at all. I think that this communication is amazing honestly! Not least because it gives you real feedback as to how people who aren't involved in making the videos (AKA unbiased opinions) see them, and what we get out of them. Please continue to reach out to the community with new ideas, or if you need new ideas.Making one-sided assumptions about other peoples intention ain't any better. May be think about it.@ProverbsofHell.2307 said:Yes! Ignore that troll. 99% of us are thrilled you reached out and we're completely behind you. We hope that the other teams will reach out too, my personal hope is that the WvW team will reach out here too.Just because someone isn't blindly white-knighting everything a company does makes one a troll to you and gives you permission for flame-baiting? Pardon, but I can't take you serious.

[DeceiverX.8361]

Here's the thing...

As great as a trailer can be, the game made massive waves in 2012 and nearly everyone I know who plays online games (which is going to be the primary audience because most of the time people don't switch from console FPS's to MMO's, for example) has heard of or even played GW2. The problem is that an overwhelming majority of people would rather recommend something else or not recommend GW2. The game no longer has people on soap boxes screaming that this game is going to be the best one ever. The recommendations from your friends and family and coworkers are the ones that really matter. And needless to say, the game's been declining fast when it comes to the number of people willing to recommend it. While the game is aging which means that a population of new and prospective younger players/customer base is possibly emerging, so are new games, and one has to evaluate if the return from spending huge bucks in advertising is going to be more worthwhile long-term than trying to redeem players who have fallen off or are currently falling off. We can use Runescape3/Old School Runescape as an example that a substantial population of players can and will prefer older gameplay that they liked as opposed to shiny new gameplay that they do not. OSRS makes nearly the same amount of subscription revenue and often sports substantially more players online than RS3 despite RS3 having loot boxes and microtransactions at every corner. While I stick to the motto of "people who are going to spend money, will," this isn't applicable to GW2 as a comparison of possible revenue since it has a cash shop and is B2P as well rather than comparing Subscription + CS vs only subscription. This means, generally, you want as many players as possible interested in the game rather than trying to maximize off of whales, since those whales will be purchasing a lot, anyways. I can only assume that revenue is why the trailer is all about PoF and not GW2 as a franchise; you're trying to get people to buy the paid expansion because you already know that's where more revenue is going to be made.

It's pretty apparent that the GW2 brand needs some reinvigorating, though. Sales are continuously down every quarter for the most part, and the game is slowly bleeding out. The PvP formats are ghost towns (which is often used as a basis for determining game health long-term based on its inherent replay-ability, which will cause players to be skeptical when they go exploring these systems, and thus, possibly electing to drop the game early).

Honestly, it's in ANet's best interest to try and make a stand and redeem itself with its old customer base. Go back to the roots of what made GW2 launch so well: A fan-favorite previous franchise (GW1), a top-tier experience, a clear vision for the future, and most notably: a manifesto that pretty much defined this game as being the one worth investing time and effort into. The game laid out plainly what it wanted to do. How it wanted to do it; why the ideas were good. We just saw Blizzard rake in millions from announcing the launch of both a revamped original WoW and Starcraft 2 among other big announcements. Graphical reboots are cool, but a lot of people just want that sweet gameplay from when the company was a visionary rather than one drifting by just trying to keep profits up. GW2 has felt without passion for some time now, and people en masse know it. Their friends tell them. Their colleagues don't seem excited by the game. And so on. The game needs to present something that gives people a reason to talk about it over other games. Some cherry-picked reviews from players won't do that (odds are if they're still playing they think the game is good). There is so much going on in the gaming industry that can be done to make a spectacle if you have the initial funding to get the attention. Companies nearly every day are shooting themselves in the foot. Show, don't tell, why GW2 is better than WoW and why ANet is better than EA.

And honestly, I think to show that, the company needs to re-align its priorities and figure out where leadership made missteps. GW2 shattered the mold at launch. Over the years, it's just crept more towards every other generic RPG out there, which is exactly one of the biggest criticisms behind your video; every other game has these features now. Every other game has the same selling points. This one is five years old. Why is it still better? Colorful vocabulary won't fix that. And the revenue doesn't lie in the shared sentiment of many players; we want ANet to be different because the convention is over-saturated and boring, and we want to feel confident the players' interests are theirs in order to justify big, long-term investments of both our time and sustained allowance of money.

You can make a video checking the boxes of things to do to promote a game, but that still doesn't instill the "Wow"-factor many will depend on. While I know major systemic changes are beyond the scope of your job, it needs to be realized the value of production of huge magnitude and potential RoI is not worth skimping out over. Once you pass this opportunity up, future reviews continue to mean even less, especially if the first one proves underwhelming; it all comes back to the integrity of that ad. Is it a major reviewer giving it a 9/10 or some random guy? Is it just some general pre-rendered footage, or are we getting our minds blown by excellently-designed combat and can verify ANet now knows what it's doing like it did leading to launch of the core game?

[Maat.3940]

Hi,

Trailer feels rushed, fragmented and it lacks heart. The music is alright and it's the only aspect of the trailer that tugs on the heart. The quotes feel out of context and poorly edited into the video. The use of quotes can be a smart decision but not in this context and not with what you're trying to demonstrate. Demonstrate is the key word here. :) Drop the quotes and show off your gorgeous game. Write what You love most about the game you've created and simply show that. It's not more complicated that this/ You're always hiding the best part of your game: the visuals and the mechanics. Show them the beauty of your maps and their diversity along with all the mounts including Griffon! Stop hiding that amazing beast! The Griffon is the ultimate experience in terms of mounts. It is flawless and fascinating and it simply evokes feelings. I actually feel a sensation of freedom and elation when I simply fly with the Griffon. I am just there to enjoy the virtual world you've created without anything else in mind. This is so valuable. Please stop keeping the Griffon out of sight. Give us the spirit of Adventure, of exploring, of ovecoming obstacles. Who cares about mobs?! Show me Joko...show me the Underworld where he "was"?! kept as a prisoner...show me the Astralarium. It's not as complicated guys. Focus on the beauty, on the joy...and people will respond to that.

[Moondancekid.9506]

There are mounts in a lot of games.For a new player this is nothing special.

But the way you jump on/off them in GW2? The natural movement? Absolute unique!I would highly recommend not (only) to show how someone ride on the mount. It whould let him run and them mount up and maybe ride for a few seconds.

The mounts in GW2 are awesome. Just to show that there is something you can ride on is nothing that would a new player convince. To show what make them special should generate a lot of interest. A mount was a great new feature for someone who plays GW2 already, because we can see the impact. If you have no clue a about the game you just hear from the trailer:"There are mounts in GW2 now". Whould not bother me as someone who had never played GW2. But to see how perfect this is integrated in the game would do the trick.

[ReaverKane.7598]

@DeceiverX.8361 said:Here's the thing...

As great as a trailer can be, the game made massive waves in 2012 and nearly everyone I know who plays online games (which is going to be the primary audience because most of the time people don't switch from console FPS's to MMO's, for example) has heard of or even played GW2. The problem is that an overwhelming majority of people would rather recommend something else or not recommend GW2. The game no longer has people on soap boxes screaming that this game is going to be the best one ever. The recommendations from your friends and family and coworkers are the ones that really matter. And needless to say, the game's been declining fast when it comes to the number of people willing to recommend it. While the game is aging which means that a population of new and prospective younger players/customer base is possibly emerging, so are new games, and one has to evaluate if the return from spending huge bucks in advertising is going to be more worthwhile long-term than trying to redeem players who have fallen off or are currently falling off. We can use Runescape3/Old School Runescape as an example that a substantial population of players can and will prefer older gameplay that they liked as opposed to shiny new gameplay that they do not. OSRS makes nearly the same amount of subscription revenue and often sports substantially more players online than RS3 despite RS3 having loot boxes and microtransactions at every corner. While I stick to the motto of "people who are going to spend money, will," this isn't applicable to GW2 as a comparison of possible revenue since it has a cash shop and is B2P as well rather than comparing Subscription + CS vs only subscription. This means, generally, you want as many players as possible interested in the game rather than trying to maximize off of whales, since those whales will be purchasing a lot, anyways. I can only assume that revenue is why the trailer is all about PoF and not GW2 as a franchise; you're trying to get people to buy the paid expansion because you already know that's where more revenue is going to be made.

It's pretty apparent that the GW2 brand needs some reinvigorating, though. Sales are continuously down every quarter for the most part, and the game is slowly bleeding out. The PvP formats are ghost towns (which is often used as a basis for determining game health long-term based on its inherent replay-ability, which will cause players to be skeptical when they go exploring these systems, and thus, possibly electing to drop the game early).

Honestly, it's in ANet's best interest to try and make a stand and redeem itself with its old customer base. Go back to the roots of what made GW2 launch so well: A fan-favorite previous franchise (GW1), a top-tier experience, a clear vision for the future, and most notably: a manifesto that pretty much defined this game as being the one worth investing time and effort into. The game laid out plainly what it wanted to do. How it wanted to do it; why the ideas were good. We just saw Blizzard rake in millions from announcing the launch of both a revamped original WoW and Starcraft 2 among other big announcements. Graphical reboots are cool, but a lot of people just want that sweet gameplay from when the company was a visionary rather than one drifting by just trying to keep profits up. GW2 has felt without passion for some time now, and people en masse know it. Their friends tell them. Their colleagues don't seem excited by the game. And so on. The game needs to present something that gives people a reason to talk about it over other games. Some cherry-picked reviews from players won't do that (odds are if they're still playing they think the game is good). There is so much going on in the gaming industry that can be done to make a spectacle if you have the initial funding to get the attention. Companies nearly every day are shooting themselves in the foot. Show, don't tell, why GW2 is better than WoW and why ANet is better than EA.

And honestly, I think to show that, the company needs to re-align its priorities and figure out where leadership made missteps. GW2 shattered the mold at launch. Over the years, it's just crept more towards every other generic RPG out there, which is exactly one of the biggest criticisms behind your video; every other game has these features now. Every other game has the same selling points. This one is five years old. Why is it still better? Colorful vocabulary won't fix that. And the revenue doesn't lie in the shared sentiment of many players; we want ANet to be different because the convention is over-saturated and boring, and we want to feel confident the players' interests are theirs in order to justify big, long-term investments of both our time and sustained allowance of money.

You can make a video checking the boxes of things to do to promote a game, but that still doesn't instill the "Wow"-factor many will depend on. While I know major systemic changes are beyond the scope of your job, it needs to be realized the value of production of huge magnitude and potential RoI is not worth skimping out over. Once you pass this opportunity up, future reviews continue to mean even less, especially if the first one proves underwhelming; it all comes back to the integrity of that ad. Is it a major reviewer giving it a 9/10 or some random guy? Is it just some general pre-rendered footage, or are we getting our minds blown by excellently-designed combat and can verify ANet now knows what it's doing like it did leading to launch of the core game?

This.

[DaG.5103]

Hi Mike, thanks so much for your eagerness to take feedback. This is a topic that really affects everyone - a fresh outlook on how the game is marketed can do wonders for the population, the game's revenue, etc.

Here's my perspective on things - and I'm sure it's echoed by many - I've got friends who used to play a while back. Some have popped on, on and off, but others may be down for the count. It's not that they couldn't like the game again - obviously not. But I think you need to think about how to get these players interested again. And for this, it's important to keep in mind that I have been praising the game for the past 5 years. And my praise is more valuable to these people - my friends - than vague praise from "randomname.xxxx" as shown in your trailer preview. But it doesn't do anything to them. It doesn't get them jived - and I think it's just not enough to speak about the game. People need to have the content visually jammed in their face, so they see themselves exploring a map, see themselves acquiring an item, see themselves trying out some content.

What I'm going to toss back is [a video made by YT handle "Roelski",](

"a video made by YT handle "Roelski",") who shared this with everyone on Reddit. I want to first clarify that I don't think this is exactly how it should be done, but it's a huge step up. I can send something like this to my friend, and say "check out the new patch" without having to TYPE OUT everything to him in a text or something. It shows the new map, it hints at the new story without giving anything away, it shows a new fractal and raid (though the footage is not the best for these, you guys can do better I'm sure!). And it mentions a few other things, which I think should have gotten real footage.

A proper video for Daybreak would point out the following:

1. New Map - Domain of Istan
2. New Story Chapter - Daybreak
3. New Fractal - Twilight Oasis
4. New Raid - Hall of Chains
5. New Legendary - Binding of Ipos
6. First Legendary Ring Collection - Coalescence

Each one of those items with visuals and catchy dialogue (I love the "what could go wrong?" line and the commentary on the map, gives you a great feel for the episode's tone). The Legendaries need to be SHOWN in these videos. The Fractals and Raids need to be SHOWN. Give me something I can send to my friends, and say "hey, check this out, pretty cool new stuff!" Because currently, I have to send them this:

"Hey, new trailer for the next LS episode. It's got a new map in the desert, a new fractal, and a new raid where you get to go the underworld. Also there's this sick new legendary focus, I'll try to send you a pic. And they've started a legendary collection for a ring that you can do in the new raid."

I'm all for word-of-mouth, but a little help in making it easier for me to do that would be awesome.

Finally - my last point - I think you guys face a major hurdle in the way you approach putting these together. I think you put too much emphasis on preserving mystery and discovery. I 100% do not want anything spoiled for me - but I don't care if I know the name of the new map a week before it releases. What you end up doing is sacrificing actual advertisement to save this sense of discovery that leaves as soon as anyone checks Reddit or logs in and plays the first 10 minutes of the story. That can't be worth it! I know some of it may also stem from "not sure what's ready to ship" syndrome, but there's got to be a way to - for example - create the video portion for Twilight Oasis, and if it ends up not being ready to ship when the trailer is compiled, it's just pushed into the next trailer. It doesn't even have to be 100% accurate - recall the trailers for Rogue One a year prior!

Show everything. Make it easy for me to entice my friends. Show new players the COOL STUFF that they haven't seen before. Telling them "wow our game sure is full of cool stuff, even this guy thinks so" isn't really the mark that needs to be hit right now to help GW2 thrive.

[SoulPariah.2856]

I'm so stupidly happy to see this open communication come through after your active involvement in the AMA. I mentioned in that AMA about transparency, saw you were serious about it, and then saw this and immediately was like "oh god community don't ruin it!". So, I'm very glad to see that it appears to have been more productive than not =)Crazy idea - Would it be possible to get a player whose quote you wanted to use to consent to being in the video (their toon) and then spectate them in a large scope kind of background, and then display their quote. This would give context to who they are and also market assets/gameplay, but might be more tedious and limit the amount of total quotes in a video.Observation - What got me into the game way back when was event scope, and maybe that method isn't as effective any more, but I would use the middle of the video for showing off more large scale events or scenery panned out and key into that before diving into the close ups to push primary themes / characters / assets (mounts) at the end. A new player isn't familiar enough with the game for some details to fully affect them at the speed of the shots changing, but the "feeling" of a larger scene can go far without needing to be familiar with it. Pure opinion, and I may be very wrong.Obs - The skimmer scene didn't register with me at first (not the pack scene, the solo one). Maybe background blend / maybe the angle. Maybe coming from a higher angle to show the water splashing behind as it pans shows more of that their an over water mount for a new player?obs - For the ending hype, I think the jackal attack scene gives more than balthazar. You see balthazar, give off that he's a baddie and then show an attack scene. That, for me, leaves the final thought for the viewer being gameplay and wanting to do that thing they last saw.
idea (not as crazy) - with the logo at end, use some form of audio injection (dragon sound or something) when the dragon comes out of the tornado to snap back from the silence to drawing attention to the path of fire product logo (while not ruining the intent of the fall off in audio).

oh god, it got long....ok i'm done! =)Thanks so much for this and I hope it has truly been more worthwhile than not. I nitpicked i think, but to me, the background video and showing off of assets and the music and all that are going to be priority, and then the quote thing can be worked on. If the content I'm seeing doesn't do it for me though, the quotes won't matter. If I like what I see, the quotes are additive.

ok seriously, done...Thanks again!