Console port 2023?

[Zoid.2568]

Could we see a console port by 2023 and a fully developed console UI for pc? I mean more and more mmorpgs are porting for consoles and releasing for consoles and I would much rather play GW2 on the TV sitting in my sofa. 

 

What needs to be done.. 

 

- Fully developed console UI to navigate with a controller. 

- Keybinding options for controllers. 

- Voice commands for consoles. For exanple saying "summon raptor" in the mic will summon the raptor mount. 

[patton the great.7126]

Not gonna lie, they are re-releasing the 1st living world as new "content" in the wake of a major expack what makes you think a console port is in the works with that kind of high level quality? 

 

Stay hopefull my friend, but I doubt they'd lower themselves to that "standard"!

Edited September 5, 2022 by patton the great.7126

[Veprovina.4876]

35 minutes ago, patton the great.7126 said:

Not gonna lie, they are re-releasing the 1st living world as new "content" in the wake of a major expack what makes you think a console port is in the works with that kind of high level quality? 

 

Stay hopefull my friend, but I doubt they'd lower themselves to that "standard"!

Didn't people whine for idk, about 10 years now that they want to play season 1 again? Ever since it went away?

Now it's lazy that they're finally releasing it?

Like, pick one... 🙄

[SamuelW.2685]

I doubt it, there might be a incentive to get more players, though I'm not sure if it'd be worth the cost for Anet however. 

But I'd love console support as that'd mean proper controller support, right now all we have is uber jank using steam, I can tell this game would be wonderful with controller. FF14 manages and that game has whole hotbars full of skills to manage.

[Veprovina.4876]

1 hour ago, SamuelW.2685 said:

I doubt it, there might be a incentive to get more players, though I'm not sure if it'd be worth the cost for Anet however. 

Part of "the console experience" is the game should be running perfectly on it, be it locked to 30 or 60 FPS, and we all know GW2 can't pull a stable framerate, so it would probably be denied on that fact alone. Especially when you consider its age.

So while yes, it would open up "new grounds", Anet would need to considerably improve the engine for it to run stably on a console.

I also don't think that would be worth it much.

1 hour ago, SamuelW.2685 said:

But I'd love console support as that'd mean proper controller support, right now all we have is uber jank using steam, I can tell this game would be wonderful with controller. FF14 manages and that game has whole hotbars full of skills to manage.

I mean, aside from needing to use mouse, i don't see what's so uber jank about using a controller with steam?

Especially Steam controller or Steam deck, those have touchpads and it's very easy to manage everything on them.

[Mungrul.9358]

2 minutes ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

Especially Steam controller or Steam deck, those have touchpads and it's very easy to manage everything on them.

See, if ANet target the Steam Deck, maybe there's hope they'll finally make a native Linux client 🐧

I can dream, can't I?

😄

 

[Veprovina.4876]

6 minutes ago, Mungrul.9358 said:

I can dream, can't I?

😄

RIght! 😄

It's the same as my dream to fully switch to Linux and all my required programs and addons working on it. 😄

 

[Mungrul.9358]

Linux is so very close to being a functional replacement to Windows and Mac, it's painful.

 

Unfortunately, the desktop experience still has rough edges, enough to put the average consumer off.

 

For example, my normal install of Steam suddenly stopped working with GW2 the other day for some unknown reason.

I fixed it by moving to the Flatpak version of Steam, but that one initially couldn't see all of the disks in my system. I fixed that, only for it to forget them a few days later, when almost my entire Steam library of installed games disappeared.

 

In addition, even moving windows around at a desktop level can be painful if your distro is using XORG rather than Wayland, and Wayland itself can have problems with nVidia devices...

 

Yeah, unless you're technically minded, Linux is still not really ready for general consumption.

[Danikat.8537]

I've not seen any indication that Anet are even considering a console release. There were rumours that they considered it around the time the game came out, but I've not heard anything since then.

I think the Steam Deck is the nearest we're likely to see. I know some Anet staff have Steam Decks and at least some are running GW2 on it (both the Steam version and non-Steam version) because they've posted about it on Twitter, but I'm not sure if there's any official plans to support it.

[Veprovina.4876]

2 hours ago, Mungrul.9358 said:

Linux is so very close to being a functional replacement to Windows and Mac, it's painful.

Yeah. Except there's always something either missing or not working on it, and it's just enough to not be able to make it your main OS... It's so frustrating.

2 hours ago, Mungrul.9358 said:

Unfortunately, the desktop experience still has rough edges, enough to put the average consumer off.

Also, years and years of Windows conditioning, meaning, the average consumer will always feel lost in any linux environment, no matter how closely they mimic windows.

2 hours ago, Mungrul.9358 said:

Yeah, unless you're technically minded, Linux is still not really ready for general consumption.

And even if you are - constantly tinkering around what should be a set and forget would kinda get tedious...

 

But hopefully linux matures enough one day so that it can be a fully supported OS.

[ProtoGunner.4953]

Will never happen, Console gaming is pretty out atm. I own a PS5 though I am maybe a fifth of the  time I play on the console (well there  is the Switch and Mario Kart/Party and Zelda to name a frew). Also, costs resources which are used elsewhere.

Edited September 5, 2022 by ProtoGunner.4953

[Zoid.2568]

On 9/5/2022 at 3:20 PM, ProtoGunner.4953 said:

Will never happen, Console gaming is pretty out atm. I own a PS5 though I am maybe a fifth of the  time I play on the console (well there  is the Switch and Mario Kart/Party and Zelda to name a frew). Also, costs resources which are used elsewhere.

PS5 is IN, not out. Just because you dont play console much doesnt mean a thing. 

[ProtoGunner.4953]

10 hours ago, Zoid.2568 said:

PS5 is IN, not out. Just because you dont play console much doesnt mean a thing. 

Dude, it's called megatrends and you have either a feeling for the market or not. And at the moment PC gaming is big again and these threads are for nothing: this game will never be released on consoles and that said: PC MMOs releasing on a console is a shite idea anyways, no mouse, no keyboard. It's just not made for it. Deal with it.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Steam Deck is the only sustainable console, all the others are replaced right after you finally buy one, so all we really need at this point is a better UI and controller support.

 

Dedicated hardware is quickly becoming a thing of the past and fewer players are upgrading, and Windows is slowly on its way out too with all the horrible changes Microsoft is making in Windows 11. (I've seen more people move to Linux in the last year than the last decade because they just want the features back.)

 

I find it ironic people compare Windows desktop to Linux. Windows, the OS that ever since 95 has been plagued with "custom UIs", no consistent desktop experience, constant (negative) changes by the developer that no one asked for, general driver instability especially on cheap hardware, and so on and so forth.

 

People act like Windows Me was the low point when in reality MS repeats the same cycle every few years (Windows Me, Windows Vista, Windows 8, Windows 11..), and is only redeemed by going back and fixing it all in the subsequent release (Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 10,..). But I think people are getting really tired of this on again/off again upgrade cycle, too.

 

Sure, it may work for you, but I've been working on Windows PCs for over two decades, and let me tell you, its always been bad from the very beginning, irregardless of our own nostalgia for it.

 

Its never been a better experience than Linux, it was just more popular. The only company that has ever managed consistency in their products is Apple, and they've been going  the way of Microsoft lately with sanitation of features and acting like all their users are dumb. (The opposite of what they originally were as the go-to choice for professionals due to their respect for intelligence..)

Edited September 7, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[Bakeneko.5826]

On 9/5/2022 at 12:26 PM, Mungrul.9358 said:

Linux is so very close to being a functional replacement to Windows and Mac, it's painful.

I don't think dictionary agrees with your definition of "close"

[Bakeneko.5826]

2 hours ago, ProtoGunner.4953 said:

And at the moment PC gaming is big again

😄 you forgot /jk or /s

[Veprovina.4876]

1 hour ago, Mariyuuna.6508 said:

Its never been a better experience than Linux, it was just more popular.

It always was though, windows was always a better experience... For the regular user that is.

 

From the beginning, every driver for everything was for windows and/or mac.

There were no drivers for linux, you couldn't even install half the stuff you owned on it.

 

Every major productivity/creativity program wasn't (and largely still isn't) available on linux. And the alternatives were nowhere as near to the profesionally made software, as some are today. But again, a lot of alternatives just can't compete even today. WINE made progress with this but it took years, and still isn't perfect or user friendly.

 

No graphics card drivers. No sound drivers. You were forced to used open drivers (the ones in kernel) that often failed and had to make workarounds to even show you the UI. Today, those are fine, with optional "proprietary" ones, but back then? I was lucky if linux booted into the GUI first time without having to go to grub terminal and doing "magic" there first.

 

Don't get me wrong, i like linux, i've been using it on and off since windows 98 was around, but it was NEVER a better experience than windows. Ever.

Only recently did linux start being an OS that everyone could realistically use, and even now most of the programs i use are not available on it (nor do they work in WINE), so i STILL can't switch full meaning it's STILL a worse experience than windows just for that fact.

 

So i don't know what kind of nostalgia glasses you're looking through, but Windows was and still is better from the general users perspective. If you're some ultra capable hacker that writes their own kernel and stuff - yeah, linux is great. But that's not the experience everyone else was having back then, and still isn't having now. There's still a lot of catching up it needs to do in order to be a suitable OS for general public. A lot of education would help. People still think of it as a "hacker os" even though distros like Ubuntu, POP os and Mint and similar are pretty much usable for anyone - with a bit of learning.

 

And that's what people don't want to do. Learn a new OS, however small the leap is.

And having 1000 distros, GUIs, repositories and different "flavor" doesn't help either, it's just too confusing for most.

 

So, sorry but hard disagree - windows was always a better experience despite its many MANY flaws.

Edited September 7, 2022 by Veprovina.4876

[Urud.4925]

On 9/5/2022 at 4:14 AM, Zoid.2568 said:

I mean more and more mmorpgs are porting for consoles and releasing for consoles and I would much rather play GW2 on the TV sitting in my sofa. 

You wanted to say "more and more MMORPGs are released for consoles and then ported to PC"? FF14, ESO among the 6 biggest ones have atrocious UI on PC (try to compare an item with what you currently equip in FF14, or to browse your inventory in ESO). Not to mention the limited RAM on consoles, that forces devs to create small maps with frequent loading screens (and invisible walls to avoid that you fall down because of the controls).

GW2 wouldn't be playable on console. You can "tweak" it for a controller on PC, but you cannot sell it as proper game for consoles, since you would have too many limitations without a mouse and keyboard (try to pick up an item from the inventory with a controller). I'm glad GW2 is released for PC only.

Edited September 7, 2022 by Urud.4925

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

1 hour ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

It always was though, windows was always a better experience... For the regular user that is.

 

From the beginning, every driver for everything was for windows and/or mac.

There were no drivers for linux, you couldn't even install half the stuff you owned on it.

 

Every major productivity/creativity program wasn't (and largely still isn't) available on linux. And the alternatives were nowhere as near to the profesionally made software, as some are today. But again, a lot of alternatives just can't compete even today. WINE made progress with this but it took years, and still isn't perfect or user friendly.

 

No graphics card drivers. No sound drivers. You were forced to used open drivers (the ones in kernel) that often failed and had to make workarounds to even show you the UI. Today, those are fine, with optional "proprietary" ones, but back then? I was lucky if linux booted into the GUI first time without having to go to grub terminal and doing "magic" there first.

 

Don't get me wrong, i like linux, i've been using it on and off since windows 98 was around, but it was NEVER a better experience than windows. Ever.

Only recently did linux start being an OS that everyone could realistically use, and even now most of the programs i use are not available on it (nor do they work in WINE), so i STILL can't switch full meaning it's STILL a worse experience than windows just for that fact.

 

So i don't know what kind of nostalgia glasses you're looking through, but Windows was and still is better from the general users perspective. If you're some ultra capable hacker that writes their own kernel and stuff - yeah, linux is great. But that's not the experience everyone else was having back then, and still isn't having now. There's still a lot of catching up it needs to do in order to be a suitable OS for general public. A lot of education would help. People still think of it as a "hacker os" even though distros like Ubuntu, POP os and Mint and similar are pretty much usable for anyone - with a bit of learning.

 

And that's what people don't want to do. Learn a new OS, however small the leap is.

And having 1000 distros, GUIs, repositories and different "flavor" doesn't help either, it's just too confusing for most.

 

So, sorry but hard disagree - windows was always a better experience despite its many MANY flaws.

Windows drivers were trash. Yes, there was a driver for every piece of hardware, and both the driver and the hardware worked maybe half the time. Almost all of the problems of Windows 9x, XP, Vista came down to bad drivers, so while you got full compatibility with everything you also got pain and suffering.

 

In some cases the drivers even fried expensive hardware, multiple times (hi, NVIDIA!).

 

Windows software was also trash. It all tried to do its own thing with its own UIs (often changing radically between generations), the only consistent experience being with Microsoft's products and even then this has mostly been abandoned in favor of app-ifying everything. Windows 9x era was known for being the "mobile era of desktops" where everything was full of splash screens, ads, non-standard user interfaces and more.

 

Keep in mind I used this OS for most of my life, and people who say its easy to use and requires no technical expertise are exadurating. There was always something you had to fix just to keep it running, and if you weren't doing it a family member or someone was doing it for you and that's why it seemed easier. Heck, the standard approach up until Windows 7 was to just reinstall the entire OS every time something went wrong, because it was easier than trying to actually find and fix the (often obscure) problem.

 

Currently Linux is in alot better shape than Windows has ever been, and especially its current iteration. People just need to try distros other than Ubuntu.

Edited September 7, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[TheQuickFox.3826]

ArenaNet had been hiring developers with experience on developing for major game consoles for quite a time until NCSOFT cancelled many of ArenaNet's "unannounced projects". So perhaps a console port was being in the making or planned and then scrapped. But we will probably never know for sure what console project ArenaNet was working on at that time.

[SinisterSlay.6973]

Consoles are really difficult.

You cannot use a lot of UI libraries, like what the gem store is using.

You have to obviously support controllers, and block all graphic, sound, and control options.

You have to test extensively because console hardware is highly variable in how it operates. On PC if you ask for 2gb of RAM to hold a string, the typical desktop OS says sure, here's an address that points to it. On a console it says, no, your out of memory because 17 players are on screen using graphics memory and there is no swap file to handle it properly.

Consoles have ridiculously poor wifi devices. The game has to handle intermittent connections. If from the ground up it's designed that way, no problem, but gw2 will crash a story instance for a single dropped packet apparently? anet can't fix it for PC, no way they will fix it for consoles.

And finally, historically PC games converted to console late in life always sell and review terribly on console. There's a big difference between the player groups and it doesn't translate. Same with PC to mobile.

[patton the great.7126]

On 9/4/2022 at 11:00 PM, Veprovina.4876 said:

Didn't people whine for idk, about 10 years now that they want to play season 1 again? Ever since it went away?

Now it's lazy that they're finally releasing it?

Like, pick one... 🙄

Wait wait wait you think that them going back and re-releasing old content is lazy? Have you ever worked in game design? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to bring an old update into line with the modern game? I mean my goodness the work that had to go into it. Don't cast stones from a glass house mate. I don't envy the poor devs, they are over worked! Please reconsider your stance...🤔

[Ashen.2907]

23 minutes ago, patton the great.7126 said:

Wait wait wait you think that them going back and re-releasing old content is lazy? Have you ever worked in game design? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to bring an old update into line with the modern game? I mean my goodness the work that had to go into it. Don't cast stones from a glass house mate. I don't envy the poor devs, they are over worked! Please reconsider your stance...🤔

I dont work in software but even in my field it can be easier to start over and/or produce something new from scratch than to update something old or outdated. 

[Dawdler.8521]

I would prefer a VR version with accurately implemented dodge rolls.

[Stadsport.8714]

Definitely not happening. IIRC ANet has said they have no interest in porting to console. They JUST spent about a year updating the engine to run on DX11, and while this hypothetically makes it KIND of possible to port to Xbox, it would be a tremendous amount of work just to get it working on one platform, and that's not even considering the amount of work it would take to rework the entire UI and control scheme (which really would be begging to redesign even the skill system), while still not having a solution for text chat, voice chat, and the concept of using voice recognition for commands is... just not good. 

 

The imput methods are integral to how GW2 was designed, and those input methods are mouse + keyboard.