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What’s Next for Guild Wars 2


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@AlexxxDelta.1806 said:To your point about LW though, a repeat of what they 've been doing the past 2 years just won't cut it anymore. Two hours of content every 4 months with some collection and currency grind padding is just not enough. It may have been adequate when paired with a big content release, that is an expansion every 2 years carrying most of the load. But with no xpac in sight, the full weight of this game falls on LW and the drip feeding model of S3 and 4 won't work.

I completely agree. Personally, I was happy enough with the amount of content in a LS episode in LS3 when we got a new episode every 70 or so days. Now it's every 110 or so days it doesn't cut it anymore and adding grindy collections in an attempt to bulk these episodes out is neither entertaining nor interesting, IMO.

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@Dami.5046 said:Well the people who wanted less new maps got their own way. Good for you.No cantha. Maybe is i shout loud enough i'll get my way.

Creating more and more maps all the time spreads the playerbase thinner and thinner through all these maps. It is not a good thing... It would work better if you didn't have a loading screen to get from one map to the next, but this is not the case.

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Players are not being spread thinner with each new map because a very large percentage don’t visit them again after exhausting the content, collections, and achievements. You’re completely ignoring how many players are on those maps at any given time compared to the total players online at that same given time.

If you want to blame something from taking away players from other maps then blame the farm maps such as SW and especially pre-nerfed Istan.

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@Ayrilana.1396 said:Players are not being spread thinner with each new map because a very large percentage don’t visit them again after exhausting the content, collections, and achievements.

But isnt that also kind of the problem? Maps take time and resource to complete and then nobody plays them really. They are waste of resources

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@"SidewayS.3789" said:""We are taking the opportunity now to reorganize ourselves into four fully staffed content teams with additional teams dedicated to supporting the core game like Skills and Balance, Rewards, WvW, and sPvP." So... No teams for fractals/raids? That will sound pretty bad, for the group content part.

4 fully staffed content teams and 4 additional teams for Skills and Balance, Rewards and WvW and PvP.

So those 4 content teams are: Fractals, Raids = instanced content; Story and the whole Design team (Voiceover team, Map Design, Sound Team, Composers in one). That's how I interpret it.

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@kasoki.5180 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:Players are not being spread thinner with each new map because a very large percentage don’t visit them again after exhausting the content, collections, and achievements.

But isnt that also kind of the problem? Maps take time and resource to complete and then nobody plays them really. They are waste of resources

Same could be stated about all maps.

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@zealex.9410 said:Can you get one of these every month/ month and a half with progress reports on hot topics?

Pls pls pls...

Support player autonomy

Say it with me: Gw2 is an MMO

Means that you don't have to be zerk to be useful, you don't need to have the best gear possible to have fun, you aren't forced to do anything. You are free and grow your character as you want.

In WoW you need to have the best gear possible if you dream of doing high-level raids which means a lot of grinding, while in GW2 you can run with exotics on the raids and it's alright, in WoW you're forced to make choices what Race you want, but then this Race can't use the only proffesion that interest you, in GW2 you can choose whatever you want to be and how you want to play, no significant benefits for choosing a race, you can pick Asura and be Mesmer, you can be a charr and choose Elementalist etc. You are free, you determine what you want to be best at - you can play Ele, but you can support or dps, you can be a mesmer and be a dps,tank or even a supporter. You can pick Revenant and also focus on sustain or dps or healing. And then in you can say chaos, we the players can really find what works best for the group, squad, party teams. That what makes GW2 unique, you are absolutely free.

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@phokus.8934 said:

@Bish.8627 said:I honestly can't say I think legendary sigils is a good idea. Every other release of a higher tier, like ascended gear, has been awful. The 5% difference is a large advantage for WvW and if the sigils have better stats, it will favour the very very small number who raid as ascended only favoured fractal runners and those with a lot of gold/time. Which goes against the apparent ethos of the game.

Legendary armour is already locked behind the lowest populated game mode, adding more to it is one of the many reasons for dwindling numbers. Locking progress behind a game mode that in the last poll only aprox 5% of the population access. I would stop catering to lower pop game modes and focus on the high pop ones being open world PvE and WvW. Release legendary armour tracks like WvW pips in open PvE and WvW for what ascended is worth now, stop punishing the vast majority for not running raids.

I really doubt the the sigils and runes will be higher stat wise. Just merely the convenience of switching.

I pray it is just switching. Though even that is pretty amazing.

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Thanks for the update- Now I know for certain GW2 never really had any major plans for WvW to make it exciting or make guild battles matter. As far as PvE story & the commanders tale - try to focus on a less transparent story that hasn't been retold millions of times through some other fantasy/ sci-fi genre.

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After nearly seven years I'm afraid this just isn't sufficiently interesting to hold my attention any more. It's been a good run and the nature of GW2's easy drop-in design means no big decisions about staying or going, but the fact is I only really log in to do dailies these days and some days I forget to do that. Instead, I've returned to a couple of older MMOs that I played extensively before GW2 released. They don't get anything like the publicity GW2 does but they've had far more content added in the lifetime of GW2 than GW2 has and a good deal more regularly and consistently. Also, to my taste, of considerably higher quality.

I was hanging on for an expansion, which is pretty much the only time we get anything remotely close to the amount of content I've been used to in other MMOs over the last two decades (including in GW1). I loved HoT but I didn't enjoy PoF so even that was a bit of a gamble, but it would at least have been something solid to look forward to. I haven't really enjoyed the Living Story since the end of Season One (which I loved). Instanced content doesn't do it for me. The new maps were nice at first but they've become formulaic.

With no expansion in prospect I'm likely to drop in and out only when there's something new. I do like the stuff the Side Stories team puts out - it's far superior to anything we see in the main Living Story - so I'll be around for that. Also, if the Alliance system ever arrives I'll be there for some revamped WvW - assuming we're not all playing Camelot Unchained by then...

All that said, it does look like a better approach and a sounder base for maintaining the game. It's just too late. This is what should have happened after Heart of Thorns. Still, better late than never I guess. And maybe we'll get an expansion eventually. They do make more money than anything else an aging MMO can expect, after all.

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@Tiny Doom.4380 said:After nearly seven years I'm afraid this just isn't sufficiently interesting to hold my attention any more. It's been a good run and the nature of GW2's easy drop-in design means no big decisions about staying or going, but the fact is I only really log in to do dailies these days and some days I forget to do that. Instead, I've returned to a couple of older MMOs that I played extensively before GW2 released. They don't get anything like the publicity GW2 does but they've had far more content added in the lifetime of GW2 than GW2 has and a good deal more regularly and consistently. Also, to my taste, of considerably higher quality.

I was hanging on for an expansion, which is pretty much the only time we get anything remotely close to the amount of content I've been used to in other MMOs over the last two decades (including in GW1). I loved HoT but I didn't enjoy PoF so even that was a bit of a gamble, but it would at least have been something solid to look forward to. I haven't really enjoyed the Living Story since the end of Season One (which I loved). Instanced content doesn't do it for me. The new maps were nice at first but they've become formulaic.

With no expansion in prospect I'm likely to drop in and out only when there's something new. I do like the stuff the Side Stories team puts out - it's far superior to anything we see in the main Living Story - so I'll be around for that. Also, if the Alliance system ever arrives I'll be there for some revamped WvW - assuming we're not all playing Camelot Unchained by then...

All that said, it does look like a better approach and a sounder base for maintaining the game. It's just too late. This is what should have happened after Heart of Thorns. Still, better late than never I guess. And maybe we'll get an expansion eventually. They do make more money than anything else an aging MMO can expect, after all.

Totally am on the same page.I feel the game needs contents that encourage positive interaction of the players community. HOT definitely was good. I didn't think pof quite meet the expectation. Up to now, I still like Teq. I have stopped fractals and raids .. I'm not looking forward for more new raids.. the lfg community in raids is quite yuck.

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I appreciate what Mike Z said, but I'd like to see (or read) what Mike O has to say. I still believe in what he said back in 2011, expressed in the Guild Wars 2 Manifesto video (link after the comment).

What happened to some of the following? Some items, among others, defended by Mike O when talking about Guild Wars 2.

  1. Not invalidating old content: some maps and areas of the game are empty or make no more sense to players to go to.
  2. Making players play the game together, facilitating they play as a group: players are not enjoying the game as much they as they used to.
  3. Questioning the foundation of MMORPG genre: is the genre in crisis? What to expect from MMORPGs in the next decade? How Guild Wars 2 will tackle that?
  4. No subscription fees: does that mean the business model adopted by Mike O and ArenaNet is not working and, to some extent, is related to the lay offs everybody witnessed few weeks ago? Does it need to change?

Are there any lessons learned?

It would be great to see what Mike O has to say about it.

ArenaNet's MMO Manifesto Video

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@"DiogoSilva.7089" said:

@"Blaeys.3102" said:~snip~ In contrast, everything in GW1 was group content - even in the "open world", even in story missions, and even when you were playing solo.

~snip~

Only if you consider playing with Henchman or Heroes group content(which I don't consider groups since they aren't real people, just AI assistance), otherwise it could all be done solo(with the exception of perhaps 2 or 3 places other than PvP).

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@"Shouryu.4169" said:Any info on future expansion (no need a release date) ?If there was any expansion planned, you can bet it would be on that list. So, the lack of info about expac is in itself an info that
no
expac is planned. It's not delayed, it's not far off in the future, it's
not in the plans at all
. They just were afraid to say that clearly.

Why does it have to be on that list...and don't just say because they'd want us to know about it because I think that is the last thing they would want to mention when reading that list. If ArenaNet said they were working on an Xpac as well as all the stuff above the only thing people would talk about is the Xpac and not any of the other stuff listed in the road map, that's just the nature of people...focus on the big thing and ignore all the important little stuff. As far as I'm concerned we don't know one way or the other whether an Xpac is on the horizon or not(the horizon is a long way off).

@Rose Solane.1027 said:I think a lot of people missed the part I made bold. Living World is the way ArenaNet is continuing to go. That doesn't exclude a new expansion but ArenaNet thinks Living World is the best way to deliver new content.If you don't remember, they tried that in the past. It didn't work. LS was simply unable to catch the players' attention the same way expacs do. No expacs also mean they gave up on trying to get new players, which is never a good thing. The moment the devs give up on expanding the game is the point at which the game starts to decay.

Assumptions Astral that they're giving up on attracting new players, as long as the base game remains free to play there will always be the potential for new players to join, enjoy the free content then want to buy the rest to enjoy everything else...just like the 3 billion people that play mobile games now, that's how they get new players on those games...and that market is much larger than PC and console gaming combined in both terms of players and money spent.

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@Zaklex.6308 said:

@"DiogoSilva.7089" said:

@"Blaeys.3102" said:~snip~ In contrast, everything in GW1 was group content - even in the "open world", even in story missions, and even when you were playing solo.

~snip~

Only if you consider playing with Henchman or Heroes group content(which I don't consider groups since they aren't real people, just AI assistance), otherwise it could all be done solo(with the exception of perhaps 2 or 3 places other than PvP).

I'm talking about party-driven content where going with non-damage builds is viable and even optimal. In GW1, you can specialize yourself in healing, supporting and control anywhere you go, because heroes and henchmen can deal damage for you. In GW2, playing anything except a AoE burst damage build in open world PvE is a waste of time.

That's what "Support player autonomy" leads to with current design. Each player can (and optimally should) deal burst damage while having enough evasion/ self-healing for sustain. Solo open-world/ story instance content meta is pretty much designed around a single combat role: damage burst with sustain. There's no role diversity unless you play pvp, wvw, fractals or raids, but all of those game modes are niche and getting even more niche as time passes due to minimal support (and other issues).

Thus my point: Anet's strategy to focus almost exclusively on LW content from now on does not takes full advantage of GW2's combat system. Anet is doublind their reliance on content that has had historically shallow combat diversity/ strategy.

This, of course, is not easy to fix (they would need to redesign their entire game to fix it), but they can always tone down this problem by giving frequent, somewhat casual-targeted group content every LW episode. I think Wintersday's raid event was a really good step in that direction. Group content with just the right difficulty for more roles to be meaningful, yet not too hard for anyone to enjoy it. Now imagine if the game had a lot more of those "casual raids", or even just classic dungeons, every new episode. More content diversity, more replayability, more group-content and meaningful role/ gear investment AND more accessible to the casual/ LW audience (unlike hardcore raids or obscure and grindy fractals).

I would even suggest something more radical: Anet should halt fractals/ raid development, and place their efforts on creating accessible group-content attached to every episode, and with an optional Hard Mode for those who love challenging content. I can tell you that this model would attract a MUCH bigger playerbase than current fractals/ raids do.

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@Zaklex.6308 said:

@"Shouryu.4169" said:Any info on future expansion (no need a release date) ?If there was any expansion planned, you can bet it would be on that list. So, the lack of info about expac is in itself an info that
no
expac is planned. It's not delayed, it's not far off in the future, it's
not in the plans at all
. They just were afraid to say that clearly.

Why does it have to be on that list...Because it's a "what's going to happen with the game" list. A list like that can't omit anything really major - and expansion is definitely one of the most major points there could be. I mean, if they are talking about the future of the game, but then immediately withhold major information that shoudl be part of that talk, then what would be the point of such an announcement at all?

and don't just say because they'd want us to know about it because I think that is the last thing they would want to mention when reading that list. If ArenaNet said they were working on an Xpac as well as all the stuff above the only thing people would talk about is the Xpac and not any of the other stuff listed in the road mapSimple. If expac was in the works, and it would be missing from a roadmap, it wouldn't be a roadmap anymore.

@Rose Solane.1027 said:I think a lot of people missed the part I made bold. Living World is the way ArenaNet is continuing to go. That doesn't exclude a new expansion but ArenaNet thinks Living World is the best way to deliver new content.If you don't remember, they tried that in the past. It didn't work. LS was simply unable to catch the players' attention the same way expacs do. No expacs also mean they gave up on trying to get new players, which is never a good thing. The moment the devs give up on expanding the game is the point at which the game starts to decay.

Assumptions Astral that they're giving up on attracting new players, as long as the base game remains free to play there will always be the potential for new players to join, enjoy the free content then want to buy the rest to enjoy everything else...Yes, but so far no MMO developer have found a better way to bring in new people than expac. It is exactly the effect you mentioned before - people concentrate on Big Things. A game that is continuoulsy evolving is going to get less attention than the very same game with the very same new content, but packaged in the form of expacs.

The truth is, LS chapters keep people playing and slow the diminishment of playerbase, but they are not going to bring new people in. Expacs can do that. So, moving fom expac based development to purely LS-based one means Anet is no longer planning to grow this game. That they gave up on that, and are now only concentrating on slowing the decay.

just like the 3 billion people that play mobile games now, that's how they get new players on those games...mobile games are based on a completely different strategy - one based on low retention high turnover instead of longterm player loyalty. Trying to use that strategy for a MMO title would kill that title in a very short time.and that market is much larger than PC and console gaming combined in both terms of players and money spent.That's due to the massive number of such games (and much lower development costs). On average though each individual game has a far shorter life than is normal for PC/console games. If anet tried to follow that type of design, we'd be now on 3rd or 4th title (or more... we'd likely be getting several titles per year tbh), and barely anyone that was here at launch would still play.

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Thank God, no expansion and no more elite specs. GW2 needs a giant polish of the features that already exist in the game, before venturing into something new.

We have 9 professions, 3 branches (core, hot, pof), 3 x 9 = 27. (and I'm not even considering the other 2 core and probably calculating wrong the spec matrix). so at least there are 27+ combinations of classes and traits.

Rather than expanding more elite specs, I suggest reinforcing the class identity of what already exists.

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