Grouch's New Q&A Interview

[firedragon.8953]

An interview with Grouch that sheds some interesting insights into the future direction of GW2. Thank you Grouch for doing this interview! It's great to hear the devs talking about the game and their vision for it.
https://wccftech.com/guild-wars-2-qa-arenanet-on-switch-to-yearly-expansions-secrets-of-the-obscure-learnings-and-2024-update/

 

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Elite Specs are on the table again huh? 

Good to hear we are getting a 4th power dps Elite for Warrior. 😑

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Interesting read; thanks for the link. 

[Cyninja.2954]

Had just read it myself and was thinking of making a thread, thanks TC for beating me to it.

Indeed an interesting read.

Let's hope everything pans out the way they hope/plan.

Work on the next mini expansion has obviously already begun, but having it confirmed is nice.

Game is doing better finanicially and there is an influx and growth in regards to new players (something easily seen in beginner areas and the core game).

Feels like he dodged the WvW question a bit, q1 next year will tell.

On the up side: the fact that elite specs are not off the table in the future as well as the goals they have for endgame give this a good vibe imo.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Cyninja.2954

[Cronospere.8143]

2 hours ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

Elite Specs are on the table again huh? 

But not for the next expansion. I dont mind though, i like that they are looking into other options.

 

[Dawdler.8521]

Quote

The terms “World Restructuring” and “Alliances” are often used by our community interchangeably, despite being very different things.

At least we have proof they do read the forums.

[Astralporing.1957]

4 hours ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

On the up side: the fact that elite specs are not off the table in the future as well as the goals they have for endgame give this a good vibe imo.

By now, you should already know how meaningless someting being on the table means. That table is quite big, after all, and only a very limited number of things ever fall off it. Remember, they never completely ruled out new professions either when they switched to elite specs model. It's just very rare for them to return to stuff that has been "tabled". More likely the next time they decide the current situation is not ideal, they will come up with something completely new, rather than return to the older, abandoned ideas.

I'm personally more interested in confirmation that the GW2 team size is at the LS4 levels (so, the level they had when most of the company was moved to non-gw2 projects, and they no longer could work on next expansion anymore). That's probably the real reason why they had to downsize their release schedule to what we're getting now - we're basically back to the situation that led to the layoffs then, but this time with better repackaging and marketing.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Astralporing.1957

[Danikat.8537]

This surprised me: "Our new player acquisition numbers are the strongest they’ve been since 2016/2017. In fact, we saw more ‘first time players’ in 2023 than we did at any point during the COVID-19 pandemic ‘gaming boom’." I know we're regularly getting new (and returning) players posting on the forum but I didn't realise there were that many.
 

3 hours ago, Cronospere.8143 said:

But not for the next expansion. I dont mind though, i like that they are looking into other options.

I agree, I'd prefer them to do what they think will add the most variety or fill gaps in the current options rather than sticking to the same format all the time even if it doesn't make sense. It got to the point where even players just coming up with high level overviews for new elite specs (without having to work out the details or worry about it actually being balanced) were struggling to find ideas that aren't just a duplicate of something we've already got, so I think it made sense to stop, but maybe in a few years adding new mechanics will change things enough that there will be more options.

I'm also pleased that they said it's just the release schedule that will be the same for each expansion, not what's in it. I was a bit worried the annual schedule would also mean each one would follow a fixed structrure with the same stuff every time. Like the elite specs I'd prefer them to make what they think will be most interesting, not a copy of what they've made before.
 

48 minutes ago, Dawdler.8521 said:

At least we have proof they do read the forums.

I have to admit I know World Restructuring and Alliances are different but I don't think I could explain how they're different, other than I think Alliances is just one part of World Restructuring, so I tend to call the whole thing Alliances all the time.

[Dawdler.8521]

12 minutes ago, Danikat.8537 said:

I have to admit I know World Restructuring and Alliances are different but I don't think I could explain how they're different, other than I think Alliances is just one part of World Restructuring, so I tend to call the whole thing Alliances all the time.

Look at the bright side no mention of shards to further confuse you.

[Danikat.8537]

14 minutes ago, Dawdler.8521 said:

Look at the bright side no mention of shards to further confuse you.

Oddly enough I'm ok with that one. My first MMO was Ultima Online which not only called servers shards (I'm not sure if they were in technical terms) but actually worked it into the lore that the world had been split into all these identical copies that then started diverging slightly, so it was common to hear it used in the game. It also helps that for my purposes world, server and shard all mean the same thing.

[Cyninja.2954]

2 hours ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

By now, you should already know how meaningless someting being on the table means. That table is quite big, after all, and only a very limited number of things ever fall off it. Remember, they never completely ruled out new professions either when they switched to elite specs model. It's just very rare for them to return to stuff that has been "tabled". More likely the next time they decide the current situation is not ideal, they will come up with something completely new, rather than return to the older, abandoned ideas.

Sure, but given he outright mentioned some things were not on the table in this very interview, I'm seeing as this a positive even if he likely would not have out right denied more elite specs.

2 hours ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

I'm personally more interested in confirmation that the GW2 team size is at the LS4 levels (so, the level they had when most of the company was moved to non-gw2 projects, and they no longer could work on next expansion anymore). That's probably the real reason why they had to downsize their release schedule to what we're getting now - we're basically back to the situation that led to the layoffs then, but this time with better repackaging and marketing.

Better repackaging, marketing, more diverse and reliable release schedule and more growth player wise.

That's far more sustainable than the season 4 era which nearly had the game shut down.

How sustainable, time will tell.

Im short: it seems to be working for the studio for now which was NOT the case during season 4. That is kind of a big deal in regards to keeping this MMO around with the far lower cost to players compared to industry standards.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Cyninja.2954

[Zzik.5873]

What gap those the engi shortbow cover? Stat stick? Clunky kit? Also they didnt spoke about my golem 3,:

The pve endgame comment was intresting, wing 8 maybe?

[Randulf.7614]

No surprises new players are up and SoTo was a financial success. The high population across game speaks for that.

Theres not a lot else we learnt here though. Some word spaghetti and that new stuff is coming over two more expacs. I just want to see more quality content past initial expac release. And thoughts going towards vets as well as new players. After 11 years, I don’t need constant tutorial tooltip spam. Core reworks are fine, but also risky. The wizard vault has had some positive influence, but it’s overshadowed everything else in the release.

Two more expacs at least puts an immediate future in the table which I’m happy about
 

Edited December 22, 2023 by Randulf.7614

[Futa.4375]

I don't get how this interview is interesting in any way, it's the usual fluff from Josh Davis.

[AliamRationem.5172]

New player counts are up!  Great!  Let's put some more resources into developing content!  These new strikes, 10 minutes of story, and 1/3rd of a map ain't it.

[Taclism.2406]

"Our current team size is roughly what it was during the development of Living World Season 4"

At this point I hope that's a straight up lie, because that's just sad if it isn't. You're comparing the peak of gw2 with its current, early access like state.
 

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by Taclism.2406

[Astralporing.1957]

28 minutes ago, Taclism.2406 said:

"Our current team size is roughly what it was during the development of Living World Season 4"

At this point I hope that's a straight up lie, because that's just sad if it isn't. You're comparing the peak of gw2 with its current, still in early access current state.

Like i have already mentioned, LS4 was not a peak of gw2. Remember, that it was a time when they shuffled many of the company resourcess off GW2 towards other projects, which resulted in cancellation of Expansion 3, moving directly into LS5 (IBS), and, eventually, layoffs. If anything, it was a start of a decline phase. From this point of view, peak would be LS3, not 4.

[TheNurgle.4825]

6 hours ago, Danikat.8537 said:

This surprised me: "Our new player acquisition numbers are the strongest they’ve been since 2016/2017. In fact, we saw more ‘first time players’ in 2023 than we did at any point during the COVID-19 pandemic ‘gaming boom’." I know we're regularly getting new (and returning) players posting on the forum but I didn't realise there were that many.

SOTO is designed around new player in mind so good that it worked. That would mean no change in leadership in next few motnhs and that is always good.

[Taclism.2406]

20 minutes ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Like i have already mentioned, LS4 was not a peak of gw2. Remember, that it was a time when they shuffled many of the company resources

Peak in terms of content per $ (assuming you didn't get it for free on release), in terms of value to the player. 
If you wanna talk revenue / financial viability, then the "peak" doesn't matter anyway. The real lifeblood of the game is the gemstore. Content drops only serves to have more eyes (back) on the game and said store. 

47 minutes ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

and, eventually, layoffs

 But hey, that's inspiring me to look up what those layed off devs became. Surely that talent exodus must have ended up somewhere, and some of them made other gems since, so thanks for that 🙂

[Astralporing.1957]

56 minutes ago, Taclism.2406 said:

Peak in terms of content per $ (assuming you didn't get it for free on release), in terms of value to the player.

That's a... weird way to look at things. Going by this factor, not only no expansion could ever be considered a peak of GW2, but the actual peak would end up being LS1 remake (as it is completely free, not just "free on release").

I'd never consider a timeframe when the game studio started to cut down on resources and game development and was preparing to go into reduced content release mode to be a peak. Quite the opposite.

[AliamRationem.5172]

1 hour ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

That's a... weird way to look at things. Going by this factor, not only no expansion could ever be considered a peak of GW2, but the actual peak would end up being LS1 remake (as it is completely free, not just "free on release").

I'd never consider a timeframe when the game studio started to cut down on resources and game development and was preparing to go into reduced content release mode to be a peak. Quite the opposite.

This should be pretty easy to understand.  Players prefer more content.  LS4 gave us full maps and more story and they did it immediately following a full expansion.  SotO isn't even close in that comparison.

[Taclism.2406]

1 hour ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

That's a... weird way to look at things.

idk man. I'm not saying its the only factor to define value, but time and amount of (new) content per $ is a fairly common one, especially for mmos. Their sandbox approach helps adding to the value of gw2 in that aspect, it's easy to make your own fun for a while.

So after googling some more, I noticed lws4 started in late 2017, ending early 2019. I didn't realized it was that slow, which might explain why you're tying that period to a memory of content drought. As someone who simply bought it once it was fully finished, I just experienced it as the most memorable (and lucrative) part of the game
 

Edited December 22, 2023 by Taclism.2406

[AliamRationem.5172]

16 minutes ago, Taclism.2406 said:

idk man. I'm not saying its the only factor to define value, but time and amount of (new) content per $ is a fairly common one, especially for mmos. Their sandbox approach helps adding to the value of gw2 in that aspect, it's easy to make your own fun for a while.

So after googling some more, I noticed lws4 started in late 2017, ending early 2019. I didn't realized it was that slow, which might explain why you're tying that period to a memory of content drought. As someone who simply bought it once it was fully finished, I just experienced it as the most memorable (and lucrative) part of the game
 

Some of those episodes were pretty loaded, too.  I remember "a star to guide us" in particular had a ridiculous amount of achievements and lore.

Compare to a third of a map with a really short story and not much else.  And this on a per quarter release cadence following a 2 map "mini expansion", where LS4 followed PoF with 5 maps, elite specs, mounts, etc.

[Cyninja.2954]

1 hour ago, Taclism.2406 said:

idk man. I'm not saying its the only factor to define value, but time and amount of (new) content per $ is a fairly common one, especially for mmos. Their sandbox approach helps adding to the value of gw2 in that aspect, it's easy to make your own fun for a while.

So after googling some more, I noticed lws4 started in late 2017, ending early 2019. I didn't realized it was that slow, which might explain why you're tying that period to a memory of content drought. As someone who simply bought it once it was fully finished, I just experienced it as the most memorable (and lucrative) part of the game
 

A lot of people seem to have forgotten how "slow" season 4 was release wise. All they remember is how "amazing" it was.

The reality is the complaint threads about season 4 were there, just as they are now per episode. The time between episodes was closer to 3-4 months versus 2-3 (can easily be double checked on the wiki). Some episodes were drastically barren (anyone remember "Long Live the Lich" and how obviously missing and unfinished  the Domain of Kourna is?).

Meanwhile there was nearly no "content" besides open world content released in that time. 2-3 weeks in, the forums were full of "I have nothing to do" posts. No, not "I don't want to do this" but "I have nothing to do" posts. Which might be an reason why some players remember it so fondly they left for 2-3 months until the next living world released. Which also lead to the abysmal revenue situation during that time frame.

Ah the power of rose tinted glasses.

EDIT

I'd suggest for every veteran to at least 1nce actually go to the wiki, check on how much and what content ACTUALLY released in the past, how big the content droughts were and just try to remember what they were doing in the game at that time.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Cyninja.2954

[Taclism.2406]

8 minutes ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

A lot of people seem to have forgotten how "slow" season 4 was release wise

Its not even about forgetting, like I mentionned it was already completely out when I started. And to be fair, that info is buried under each episode specific wiki page. The page for lws4 only mentions it dropped on nov 2017.
I was first gonna say to astralporing "why mention 2018 layoffs for a release that didnt affected it" but I'm glad I looked up the details before making a fool of myself 😛