Brand it as something else.

[aetemes.2603]

So...I got an email about the "expansion", have not played the game ever since they announced EoD..at the time I tried the elite specs in beta and just felt like..the quality of the game is probably not going to be what it used to be and just let the game go fast as I already experienced the "we don't care like that anymore but we will never say that straight up" treatment from games like this far too many times before lol. 

It was obvious that ANET started to go sour about how this game is not making them money for how much creativity they are pumping...and thus their priorities changed. Fair I guess.

I tried in good faith to check this expansion out (from afar of course 🙂 ).

I just want to say the minute I read "everyone gets to equip any weapon, no new specs though - teehee".

I was like ok I see what kind of  "copy pasta content, fantasy integrity be damned, no coding needed" we're going for lol. Very tacky imo, that alone was like yeah, I don't think so. 

I participated in some rifts (by accident)..and these enemies are reskinned (ugly - to me) models and just the concept of running around to smack rifts on the head??..ok...lol.

"If you buy the expac you get to have generic sandals or some blue gryphon skin for easy wizard vault points" being thrown at my face as some interesting selling point. It could've been something that at least hinted at the new lore expansion aesthetic or something (think aetherpath/awakened...etc).

Like this is not the quality of an "expansion" I expect from GW2...this is a "we might as well call it one", cause who ever is willing to buy anything will do it regardless.

Anyways my "feedback" is I am not even reconsidering buying EoD since the "down hill/plateu" is as I expected. 

From what I saw, this not the work of an entity that actually cares or is invested in creativity..this is a you can't hate on it cause the game is free, just get it. Ok cool.

Gotta make them coins, can't hate on that.

But be communicative and honest...brand it as something else other than an expansion, and don't just mishmash tacky concepts to try to sell it as one..I guess that's "marketing" for you.

I do miss the game..but this just further turned me off personally. I agree with the notion that it'd have been better off stating "from now on we are monetising living stories, cause we need to make a living" or whatever, and skip the need to introduce  poorly thought off, new but not really, what are you up to really, tacky features. It cheapens the game.

Me having to be extra cautious with how the "direction of game development" is changing, seeing that I have to be ontop of the antics my self.

This was not the case with this game before - at all, it is very much so now. There is a lack of trust that you actually care about quality, and not just throwing stuff around.

It is just my opinion...I still love the game for what it was and hate to see its quality smeared without thought...but wouldn't be the first so...who cares lol.

IMO just invest in really good  "living stories" with maps, strikes, mini interesting features even and monetise them 5 dollar at a time or something...I don't really know..but I am over feeling this game's whole line of defense is becoming "well it has no sub so good enough".

[Tere.4759]

My problem is that there is no story here,  EOD had a story.  So far everything SOTO has been about mastery and events and of course Zojja who I never liked in the first place and in this she is even worse than in the Asura story and if they don't want the "commander" give us another title and not "Oh I had a lot of help from Zojja" who really didn't do anything.  No, Frode, I had a lot of help from my mech and my jade bot.  That is who I had a lot of help from.  And don't get me started on their stupid rng searching for the egg.  I have opened so many nests and have yet to find one.

BTW, EOD is way better than SOTO.  I like the story, I like Rama (voice actor is yum), I really like the mechanist elite spec and the world they created was excellent.

 

[Astralporing.1957]

27 minutes ago, Tere.4759 said:

My problem is that there is no story here,  EOD had a story. 

Ironically, i feel that story is the only really good part of SotO. And that so far that story is at least two tiers higher than the EoD one. Now, story alone does not an expansion make.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

With games these days going for 70+ dollars, which is sadly the new norm, and seeing all these AAA titles who are basically none functional at Lauch with barely any meat on them bones. 

I gladly pay 25 bucks for SotO. 

They only negative part about SotO is the lack of Relics and that the new daily system needs to be become more user friendly. 

The rest of the QQ you see is over exaggerating. 

People simply need to understand that 25 dollars are not that much money anymore. 

And paying that once a year is completely fine. 

For the price of one of these kitten kitten AAA titles that get thrown on the market half finished, you get 3 Expacks for Gw2. 

You get what you are paying for. Simple as that. 

[Randulf.7614]

1 hour ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Ironically, i feel that story is the only really good part of SotO. And that so far that story is at least two tiers higher than the EoD one. Now, story alone does not an expansion make.

I agree. I think it might even be the best story GW2 has done and I'm only halfway through it. 

[Monarc.9726]

I agree that calling this an “expansion” is too far of a stretch. Especially with so much content not being by available at launch. Go to Metacritic or try to find professional reviews or news about the new Guild Wars 2 expansion and you won’t find much, for good reason. 
 

That said, I’m enjoying the new story and new content well enough, aside from the boring rifts. Would have enjoyed it more as a LW story (which is what it feels like), but happy to pay some money for these mini expansions if it enables the devs to get back to creating good content. Been wanting new legendary armor for a long time and really happy with the designs, aside from cloth. We’ll see.

[Isshagal.3016]

Im just in the 5th story mission, but everything feels more fantastic, heroic, and develops in much better direction than EoD.

Storytelling and the all prevalent now-dystopian-bladerunner-tech-cantha with very uninspiring allies/tagalongs made me beg for parts of story to be over.

 

Now  im really invested, even the first map is much more appealing, the NPC's aren't there just to appear as random traffic, zones have a theme to them.

It's a move in a very good direction. I just WANT TO SPEND TIME there.

I can forgive that it will be (apparently) short when it's satysfying. It's much harder to forgive elongated mediocrity which was EoD.

[Marrow.9815]

I just feel like I've lost my mind because I think the dominant response has been positive from the community. I absolutely respect that opinion, but this has really soured me on the franchise, personally.

The missions are tedious and frequently broken up by grinds that you probably already did in your free time, but which didn't count towards story progress because you didn't know they were going to interrupt the story to make you grind moments later. When you're not grinding, you're doing busy work, clicking random items, and doing puzzles which really just involve running around aimlessly hunting for clickables near spongy, silent enemies. They turned two missions of content into ten and it was still too little. A lot of the padding also seems to come from the fact that the rifts are needlessly clunky, just like the meta events.

Storywise, I honestly feel like I missed crucial context, but I played back through the beginning on two alts to make sure I didn't. Much of the story seems to be coming through location-triggered dialogue that gets thrown at you completely out of order based on which events you're doing. There's also this half-cocked fish-out-of-water plotline they're trying to push that really didn't endear me to most of these NPCs. And more than ever I feel the limitations of their refusal to establish the commander as a real character. They cannot advance the commander's development while also refusing to develop them. GW1 was driven by its story. GW2 may as well not have one.

And none of this is made better by the fact that the game's visuals continue to show their limits. Its style is not aging gracefully and that's an issue for an expansion that arguably *needed* to draw you in aesthetically. I also think we only got like two new sets of armor, not counting legendary, so I can't even really comment on how their new gear looks. The only one I got, after completing the entire story in which it would have made sense to be wearing it the whole time, looks...fine?

All of this is without addressing what everyone else has already said about the lack of new specializations, the lack of new professions, the tiny world, and even the still-grindy farm for skyscales with the new method. Again, I know a lot of people really enjoyed this one, I respect their opinion, and I definitely see how certain things were positive, but I've been playing less of the game now than I was before the expansion.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Marrow.9815

[Ashantara.8731]

On 9/4/2023 at 1:46 PM, Tere.4759 said:

My problem is that there is no story here,  EOD had a story.

What?! "No story here"? 🤦‍♀️ SotO has one of the best, if not the best story so far.

[aetemes.2603]

On 9/4/2023 at 7:15 AM, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

With games these days going for 70+ dollars, which is sadly the new norm, and seeing all these AAA titles who are basically none functional at Lauch with barely any meat on them bones. 

I gladly pay 25 bucks for SotO. 

They only negative part about SotO is the lack of Relics and that the new daily system needs to be become more user friendly. 

The rest of the QQ you see is over exaggerating. 

People simply need to understand that 25 dollars are not that much money anymore. 

And paying that once a year is completely fine. 

For the price of one of these kitten kitten AAA titles that get thrown on the market half finished, you get 3 Expacks for Gw2. 

You get what you are paying for. Simple as that. 

Here we go with the constant "well all games are bad right now...so not bad right". Exactly..whoever buys anything will continue to do so.

All I said is name this direction of adding random "bits and pieces" another term just to retain some brand quality, and continue to cash in. Can't really say anything about it if they never called it an expansion.

If three expansions had a certain consistent expectation (EoD was like the beginning of pff I guess we have to do it that way again right)...then you throw this weak version, to me the brand is cheapened.

It's not about X dollars. It's called brand reputation.

Anyways, I was already aware that the talent that created GW2 is not there and what ANET is now prioritising with the game, so it's not like a shock really..but still just thought - maybe. 

You get what you pay for...so release anything with no consideration to quality just to cash in??? I am lost to why some consumers play pr for companies then complain well "games are bad?".

I don't understand the logic of it, imo that is exactly what bred the mentality of companies releasing anything and cash in. And they capitilize on that mentality after they actually have a good well made product use the branded characters, aesthetics or whatever that built respect for the franchise to milk the product...it happens all the time..so fair it's happening here that is all, why not right? Well ANET agrees so all good.

Edited September 6, 2023 by aetemes.2603