Discussion Thread: ArenaNet News of 21 February 2019 [Merged]

[Jski.6180]

A rode map for updates would be nice beyond pve updates i would love to see balancing updates road maps. (Maybe WVW one as well but not as important.)

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

@Squirrel.6318 said:

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

@Squirrel.6318 said:I feel like they haven't really listened to our community. They don't really cater to the community. I've known them since GW1 prophecies came out. Gaile gray has been the ONLY one that has consistently reported or talked to the community for all these long years.

I was a hardcore supporter for them during the GW1 years, defended them so many times, but since GW2 came out, I definitely do not like the company anymore. There aren't really any major improvements to the game. Regarding major improvements, GW1 had alliances and faction wars when Factions came out, and then Nightfall had the hero system. Then EOTN added a whole bunch of content + the dungeons, I believe there were like 20 of them.

What did we get in GW2 in 6-7 years? gliders and mounts..............

I can't remember what happened, I think some major guys left the company when GW2 was released. edit: yeah it was two co-founders that left. I'm pretty sure that made a huge difference.

Those 'two co-founders' (both left ArenaNet and went to work at NCSoft West and subsequently left a year later) left ArenaNet long (2008) before Guild Wars 2 was released.You can easily find this information in the GW2 Wiki, the GW Wiki, or even Wikipedia.

Thus, probably didn't make a 'huge difference'.

You mean the opposite, this means they most likely did not have any part of GW2, which could be the reason why GW1 was way better developed and planned out better. The development of GW2 has been an absolute mess. While GW1 was clearly planned and developed more professionally.

Well, let's see. Since leaving Patrick Wyatt has done Tera and Aion. Jeff Strain has done State of Decay. Not sure if those have fared better than Guild Wars 2, or not.

[Kanok.3027]

Aion is a dead fish in the water. Barely anyone care about it anymore and TERA has it's following because Elins, but it's still relatively untouched anymore.

[Opal.9324]

I really hope this doesn't negatively impact GW2 too much. I may complain about things every now and then, but I love this game and wish all of you over at Anet the best of luck.

[Catchyfx.5768]

@Opal.9324 said:I really hope this doesn't negatively impact GW2 too much. I may complain about things every now and then, but I love this game and wish all of you over at Anet the best of luck.

Exactly this. Myself too. Screaming here and there for some tweaks but overall this game is best MMO for me. Event system is just great. WvW best mode in MMO I ever seen. Story is just lovely. Gem store inst P2W only cosmetic(pretty nice ones). PvP is kinda hard now but if you close your eyes, every class have atleast 1 build. I get that MMO you cannot ever balance to perfection state. Too much mechanics, too much gamemodes. I just love playing this game a wish you best luck Anet <3

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@psyt.9415 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:OP.. I have already posted comments to the kind of posts like yours that appeared in other threads, but I will give it another go..Set up your own business launch a product and sit back and hope that product keeps you afloat and moving forward forever.. maybe then you will realise ANET have a responsibility to their business, their employees, shareholders and maybe even a little to us players to ensure that the business remains viable. That means new projects need to be identified, new ideas tried out. Some will work and many wont, that is how it works. Do you think GW2 was just bank rolled by ANET off the back of a previous product that was beginning to show signs it had seen to many winters, what do you think should happen when blips occur in revenue do you allow it to become not just a blip but potentially a growing trend..Do you -

A - Go bury your head in the sand and hope by tomorrow all will be good again in the world, business as usual.B - Ask anyone and everyone to offer you charity in the hope it plugs the deepening hole that the revenue stream is pouring down.or maybeC - Plan ahead, take action, look into other ideas and new products that the company can add to its portfolio that might generate new additional revenue streams so as to not to continue to place so much reliance on a 6yr old product that is inevitably going to be faced with decline if it hasn't already.Sorry but the worst thing any business can do is stand still imo and trust to luck.

As for your hard earned dollars.. yep they are hard earned, but you chose to use them to buy something which you deemed of value to you.. that hard earned dollar isn't yours any longer it is ANET's.. cos you know they also worked hard to earn it... believe it or not ANET is a business with overheads, as is NC Soft, they are not charities set up to provide you with your fun fix and from the point you agreed to buy anything from them that is the last time you have any say in what the business does with that dollar.You may not like any particular facet of the business, whether that be NC Soft, ANET, Blizzard, Activision, Turbine or whatever/whoever, they may not like you but you choose to put money into the coffers, it is up to ANET/NC Soft as to how it gets spent, what it is spent on and that includes GW2 related content or other potential projects.. you are supporting the business that provides you access to GW2. without revenue you don't get to play GW2 period. Similarly if the business cant remain viable cos a 6yr old product is beginning to show signs of decline those other projects might just of been a lifeline to many employees throughout ANET/NC Soft and vice vera.. some of them proved to not be viable, others may still be in the pipeline.. we have no idea how or what effects they may or may not of had on GW2 other than the fact that if new products were never to be looked into there wont be a GW2 anyway cos they all have relevance to the business viability as a whole.

I disagree. Lately and its an increasing trend, companies in the gaming industry are chasing new markets ie. Mobile, Battle Royale, Card games and that's their prerogative it needs to be done to secure new revenue streams. But they need realize that if they are not re-investing in their core market they may lose that market while trying to chase the bird in the trees... pretty simple but you see it with EA, Activision/ Blizz and Square and I would say most likely Anet as well with this news. You can defend it all you want but the proof is in reality of the current layoffs in the game industry. If your just doing the bare minimum ie. sliding in a LS every 3 months and releasing new cash shop items while funnelling most of your resources some where else.... you may not be doing enough to keep the customers you do have happy. Gaming companies have been failing miserably at striking a balance in new projects and keeping their core market happy for the last couple of years and the result has been layoffs across the gaming sector. I'm not telling them how to spend their money... i'm telling them how to keep me and others like me and this content cadence is not enough sadly for me. The fact they have those resources available but aren't allocating them to keep their current player base happy is a shame. They can do what they want I don't really care and if its good enough for you that's great but I go where i'm having fun and that may not be this game the way things are going. They can care or not but that's my honest feedback.

But that's just it.. you or I have no idea what is being re-invested into the core product, we don't know what is/was/will be planned in for the future of the product beyond what we have already been told.The gaming industry is not immune to all the pressures that affect any other business in any other industry. Placing heavy reliance on a single product that is reaching a 6-7yr lifespan will always mean requiring to seek new opportunity in order to maintain the company's viability.Unfortunately for ANET they are also part of a larger entity, that must also push those same objectives to identify new areas of revenue if they and by association ANET are to remain viable going forward - if they don't all stand the chance of falling by the way side and we the players don't get those nice things to throw our time into either.The unfortunate thing is that sometimes those projects, those ideas don't pan out, get shelved and look to be a waste of resource, but the alternative would be to do nothing and sit back and watch the business recede just the same maybe quicker, because as I have said time is the killer of all things and GW2 is not immune to it.

[Psycoprophet.8107]

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@psyt.9415 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:OP.. I have already posted comments to the kind of posts like yours that appeared in other threads, but I will give it another go..Set up your own business launch a product and sit back and hope that product keeps you afloat and moving forward forever.. maybe then you will realise ANET have a responsibility to their business, their employees, shareholders and maybe even a little to us players to ensure that the business remains viable. That means new projects need to be identified, new ideas tried out. Some will work and many wont, that is how it works. Do you think GW2 was just bank rolled by ANET off the back of a previous product that was beginning to show signs it had seen to many winters, what do you think should happen when blips occur in revenue do you allow it to become not just a blip but potentially a growing trend..Do you -

A - Go bury your head in the sand and hope by tomorrow all will be good again in the world, business as usual.B - Ask anyone and everyone to offer you charity in the hope it plugs the deepening hole that the revenue stream is pouring down.or maybeC - Plan ahead, take action, look into other ideas and new products that the company can add to its portfolio that might generate new additional revenue streams so as to not to continue to place so much reliance on a 6yr old product that is inevitably going to be faced with decline if it hasn't already.Sorry but the worst thing any business can do is stand still imo and trust to luck.

As for your hard earned dollars.. yep they are hard earned, but you chose to use them to buy something which you deemed of value to you.. that hard earned dollar isn't yours any longer it is ANET's.. cos you know they also worked hard to earn it... believe it or not ANET is a business with overheads, as is NC Soft, they are not charities set up to provide you with your fun fix and from the point you agreed to buy anything from them that is the last time you have any say in what the business does with that dollar.You may not like any particular facet of the business, whether that be NC Soft, ANET, Blizzard, Activision, Turbine or whatever/whoever, they may not like you but you choose to put money into the coffers, it is up to ANET/NC Soft as to how it gets spent, what it is spent on and that includes GW2 related content or other potential projects.. you are supporting the business that provides you access to GW2. without revenue you don't get to play GW2 period. Similarly if the business cant remain viable cos a 6yr old product is beginning to show signs of decline those other projects might just of been a lifeline to many employees throughout ANET/NC Soft and vice vera.. some of them proved to not be viable, others may still be in the pipeline.. we have no idea how or what effects they may or may not of had on GW2 other than the fact that if new products were never to be looked into there wont be a GW2 anyway cos they all have relevance to the business viability as a whole.

I disagree. Lately and its an increasing trend, companies in the gaming industry are chasing new markets ie. Mobile, Battle Royale, Card games and that's their prerogative it needs to be done to secure new revenue streams. But they need realize that if they are not re-investing in their core market they may lose that market while trying to chase the bird in the trees... pretty simple but you see it with EA, Activision/ Blizz and Square and I would say most likely Anet as well with this news. You can defend it all you want but the proof is in reality of the current layoffs in the game industry. If your just doing the bare minimum ie. sliding in a LS every 3 months and releasing new cash shop items while funnelling most of your resources some where else.... you may not be doing enough to keep the customers you do have happy. Gaming companies have been failing miserably at striking a balance in new projects and keeping their core market happy for the last couple of years and the result has been layoffs across the gaming sector. I'm not telling them how to spend their money... i'm telling them how to keep me and others like me and this content cadence is not enough sadly for me. The fact they have those resources available but aren't allocating them to keep their current player base happy is a shame. They can do what they want I don't really care and if its good enough for you that's great but I go where i'm having fun and that may not be this game the way things are going. They can care or not but that's my honest feedback.

But that's just it.. you or I have no idea what is being re-invested into the core product, we don't know what is/was/will be planned in for the future of the product beyond what we have already been told.The gaming industry is not immune to all the pressures that affect any other business in any other industry. Placing heavy reliance on a single product that is reaching a 6-7yr lifespan will always mean requiring to seek new opportunity in order to maintain the company's viability.Unfortunately for ANET they are also part of a larger entity, that must also push those same objectives to identify new areas of revenue if they and by association ANET are to remain viable going forward - if they don't all stand the chance of falling by the way side and we the players don't get those nice things to throw our time into either.The unfortunate thing is that sometimes those projects, those ideas don't pan out, get shelved and look to be a waste of resource, but the alternative would be to do nothing and sit back and watch the business recede just the same maybe quicker, because as I have said time is the killer of all things and GW2 is not immune to it

While it is true a gaming company must branch out and attempt to develope new idea’s and projects to insure future growth of the company. It is also true many projects get shelved and will not see the light of day,these projects are risks companies must take but at a appropriate time.i would disagree though that branching out at the cost of development and growth of a companies biggest ongoing project by removing resources from said project would qualify as the right time to branch out to new projects. If and when a time came where arenanet could provide the resources to develope new projects to help push the company forward and into new growth without negatively impacting a large source of its revenue being gw2 than I’d see that as a very smart and logical business move whether the new projects fail or not because this eventually needs to happen in most cases for a business to grow.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@psyt.9415 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:OP.. I have already posted comments to the kind of posts like yours that appeared in other threads, but I will give it another go..Set up your own business launch a product and sit back and hope that product keeps you afloat and moving forward forever.. maybe then you will realise ANET have a responsibility to their business, their employees, shareholders and maybe even a little to us players to ensure that the business remains viable. That means new projects need to be identified, new ideas tried out. Some will work and many wont, that is how it works. Do you think GW2 was just bank rolled by ANET off the back of a previous product that was beginning to show signs it had seen to many winters, what do you think should happen when blips occur in revenue do you allow it to become not just a blip but potentially a growing trend..Do you -

A - Go bury your head in the sand and hope by tomorrow all will be good again in the world, business as usual.B - Ask anyone and everyone to offer you charity in the hope it plugs the deepening hole that the revenue stream is pouring down.or maybeC - Plan ahead, take action, look into other ideas and new products that the company can add to its portfolio that might generate new additional revenue streams so as to not to continue to place so much reliance on a 6yr old product that is inevitably going to be faced with decline if it hasn't already.Sorry but the worst thing any business can do is stand still imo and trust to luck.

As for your hard earned dollars.. yep they are hard earned, but you chose to use them to buy something which you deemed of value to you.. that hard earned dollar isn't yours any longer it is ANET's.. cos you know they also worked hard to earn it... believe it or not ANET is a business with overheads, as is NC Soft, they are not charities set up to provide you with your fun fix and from the point you agreed to buy anything from them that is the last time you have any say in what the business does with that dollar.You may not like any particular facet of the business, whether that be NC Soft, ANET, Blizzard, Activision, Turbine or whatever/whoever, they may not like you but you choose to put money into the coffers, it is up to ANET/NC Soft as to how it gets spent, what it is spent on and that includes GW2 related content or other potential projects.. you are supporting the business that provides you access to GW2. without revenue you don't get to play GW2 period. Similarly if the business cant remain viable cos a 6yr old product is beginning to show signs of decline those other projects might just of been a lifeline to many employees throughout ANET/NC Soft and vice vera.. some of them proved to not be viable, others may still be in the pipeline.. we have no idea how or what effects they may or may not of had on GW2 other than the fact that if new products were never to be looked into there wont be a GW2 anyway cos they all have relevance to the business viability as a whole.

I disagree. Lately and its an increasing trend, companies in the gaming industry are chasing new markets ie. Mobile, Battle Royale, Card games and that's their prerogative it needs to be done to secure new revenue streams. But they need realize that if they are not re-investing in their core market they may lose that market while trying to chase the bird in the trees... pretty simple but you see it with EA, Activision/ Blizz and Square and I would say most likely Anet as well with this news. You can defend it all you want but the proof is in reality of the current layoffs in the game industry. If your just doing the bare minimum ie. sliding in a LS every 3 months and releasing new cash shop items while funnelling most of your resources some where else.... you may not be doing enough to keep the customers you do have happy. Gaming companies have been failing miserably at striking a balance in new projects and keeping their core market happy for the last couple of years and the result has been layoffs across the gaming sector. I'm not telling them how to spend their money... i'm telling them how to keep me and others like me and this content cadence is not enough sadly for me. The fact they have those resources available but aren't allocating them to keep their current player base happy is a shame. They can do what they want I don't really care and if its good enough for you that's great but I go where i'm having fun and that may not be this game the way things are going. They can care or not but that's my honest feedback.

But that's just it.. you or I have no idea what is being re-invested into the core product, we don't know what is/was/will be planned in for the future of the product beyond what we have already been told.The gaming industry is not immune to all the pressures that affect any other business in any other industry. Placing heavy reliance on a single product that is reaching a 6-7yr lifespan will always mean requiring to seek new opportunity in order to maintain the company's viability.Unfortunately for ANET they are also part of a larger entity, that must also push those same objectives to identify new areas of revenue if they and by association ANET are to remain viable going forward - if they don't all stand the chance of falling by the way side and we the players don't get those nice things to throw our time into either.The unfortunate thing is that sometimes those projects, those ideas don't pan out, get shelved and look to be a waste of resource, but the alternative would be to do nothing and sit back and watch the business recede just the same maybe quicker, because as I have said time is the killer of all things and GW2 is not immune to it

While it is true a gaming company must branch out and attempt to develope new idea’s and projects to insure future growth of the company. It is also true many projects get shelved and will not see the light of day,these projects are risks companies must take but at a appropriate time.i would disagree though that branching out at the cost of development and growth of a companies biggest ongoing project by removing resources from said project would qualify as the right time to branch out to new projects.

So what would you do.. go out into the market and employee even more people to work on those projects thus expanding the cost base even further which in turn only adds to more pressure on that one product (an aging product at that) to deliver more in order to fund expansion of costs in other areas.. sorry that is bad management.These layoffs would not of been something that materialised out of thin air, the financials are not managed on a day to day basis this would of been a factor of a longer term trend and as such there comes a point the business has to take action for the greater good.. adding additional risk by way of a burgeoning head count when they already have a range of specific skills and experience at their disposal is not the way to go. especially as there will also be a ramp up period before new staff become truly productive to the business so the first port of call would and should be to utilise those skills already inherent to the business as a whole, which it seems is the approach that was taken.

Unfortunately things happen sometimes that even ANET/NC Soft and another business can't control and R&D is normally one of the first areas to get put on hold/projects cancelled at least that is my experience of 30+yrs in Project Management, many of those years within my own business. On the flip side, if just one of those projects comes to fruition and proves to be lucrative to the business, then there might well be options to expand the business and accommodate increases head count and costs.. but similarly the many that never do see the light of day would then only see those new staff released and still run the risk of more staff cuts as they look to plug the financial gaps left by an increased cost base over the period of time they were employed.Lets not forget, there is always a risk borne by business, yes it is sad news hearing there are people facing loosing their jobs and that is never good for them, the business and us as customers.. however there is also a worst scenario involving everyone concerned not just a percentage, ANET/NC Soft are not being forced to take that route thankfully ...

[Psycoprophet.8107]

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@psyt.9415 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:OP.. I have already posted comments to the kind of posts like yours that appeared in other threads, but I will give it another go..Set up your own business launch a product and sit back and hope that product keeps you afloat and moving forward forever.. maybe then you will realise ANET have a responsibility to their business, their employees, shareholders and maybe even a little to us players to ensure that the business remains viable. That means new projects need to be identified, new ideas tried out. Some will work and many wont, that is how it works. Do you think GW2 was just bank rolled by ANET off the back of a previous product that was beginning to show signs it had seen to many winters, what do you think should happen when blips occur in revenue do you allow it to become not just a blip but potentially a growing trend..Do you -

A - Go bury your head in the sand and hope by tomorrow all will be good again in the world, business as usual.B - Ask anyone and everyone to offer you charity in the hope it plugs the deepening hole that the revenue stream is pouring down.or maybeC - Plan ahead, take action, look into other ideas and new products that the company can add to its portfolio that might generate new additional revenue streams so as to not to continue to place so much reliance on a 6yr old product that is inevitably going to be faced with decline if it hasn't already.Sorry but the worst thing any business can do is stand still imo and trust to luck.

As for your hard earned dollars.. yep they are hard earned, but you chose to use them to buy something which you deemed of value to you.. that hard earned dollar isn't yours any longer it is ANET's.. cos you know they also worked hard to earn it... believe it or not ANET is a business with overheads, as is NC Soft, they are not charities set up to provide you with your fun fix and from the point you agreed to buy anything from them that is the last time you have any say in what the business does with that dollar.You may not like any particular facet of the business, whether that be NC Soft, ANET, Blizzard, Activision, Turbine or whatever/whoever, they may not like you but you choose to put money into the coffers, it is up to ANET/NC Soft as to how it gets spent, what it is spent on and that includes GW2 related content or other potential projects.. you are supporting the business that provides you access to GW2. without revenue you don't get to play GW2 period. Similarly if the business cant remain viable cos a 6yr old product is beginning to show signs of decline those other projects might just of been a lifeline to many employees throughout ANET/NC Soft and vice vera.. some of them proved to not be viable, others may still be in the pipeline.. we have no idea how or what effects they may or may not of had on GW2 other than the fact that if new products were never to be looked into there wont be a GW2 anyway cos they all have relevance to the business viability as a whole.

I disagree. Lately and its an increasing trend, companies in the gaming industry are chasing new markets ie. Mobile, Battle Royale, Card games and that's their prerogative it needs to be done to secure new revenue streams. But they need realize that if they are not re-investing in their core market they may lose that market while trying to chase the bird in the trees... pretty simple but you see it with EA, Activision/ Blizz and Square and I would say most likely Anet as well with this news. You can defend it all you want but the proof is in reality of the current layoffs in the game industry. If your just doing the bare minimum ie. sliding in a LS every 3 months and releasing new cash shop items while funnelling most of your resources some where else.... you may not be doing enough to keep the customers you do have happy. Gaming companies have been failing miserably at striking a balance in new projects and keeping their core market happy for the last couple of years and the result has been layoffs across the gaming sector. I'm not telling them how to spend their money... i'm telling them how to keep me and others like me and this content cadence is not enough sadly for me. The fact they have those resources available but aren't allocating them to keep their current player base happy is a shame. They can do what they want I don't really care and if its good enough for you that's great but I go where i'm having fun and that may not be this game the way things are going. They can care or not but that's my honest feedback.

But that's just it.. you or I have no idea what is being re-invested into the core product, we don't know what is/was/will be planned in for the future of the product beyond what we have already been told.The gaming industry is not immune to all the pressures that affect any other business in any other industry. Placing heavy reliance on a single product that is reaching a 6-7yr lifespan will always mean requiring to seek new opportunity in order to maintain the company's viability.Unfortunately for ANET they are also part of a larger entity, that must also push those same objectives to identify new areas of revenue if they and by association ANET are to remain viable going forward - if they don't all stand the chance of falling by the way side and we the players don't get those nice things to throw our time into either.The unfortunate thing is that sometimes those projects, those ideas don't pan out, get shelved and look to be a waste of resource, but the alternative would be to do nothing and sit back and watch the business recede just the same maybe quicker, because as I have said time is the killer of all things and GW2 is not immune to it

While it is true a gaming company must branch out and attempt to develope new idea’s and projects to insure future growth of the company. It is also true many projects get shelved and will not see the light of day,these projects are risks companies must take but at a appropriate time.i would disagree though that branching out at the cost of development and growth of a companies biggest ongoing project by removing resources from said project would qualify as the right time to branch out to new projects.

So what would you do.. go out into the market and employee even more people to work on those projects thus expanding the cost base even further which in turn only adds to more pressure on that one product (an aging product at that) to deliver more in order to fund expansion of costs in other areas.. sorry that is bad management.These layoffs would not of been something that materialised out of thin air, the financials are not managed on a day to day basis this would of been a factor of a longer term trend and as such there comes a point the business has to take action for the greater good.. adding additional risk buy way of a burgeoning head count when they already have a range of specific skills and experience at their disposal is not the way to go. especially as there will also be a ramp up period before new staff become truly productive to the business so the first port of call would and should be to utilise those skills already inherent to the business as a whole, which it seems is the approach that was taken. Unfortunately things happen sometimes that even ANET/NC Soft and another business can't control and R&D is normally one of the first areas to get put on hold/projects cancelled at least that is my experience of 30+yrs in Project Management, any of those years within my own business. On the flip side, if just one of those projects comes to fruition and proves to be lucrative to the business, then there might well be options to expand the business and accommodate increases head count and costs.. but similarly the many that never do see the light of day would then only see those new staff released and still run the risk of more staff cuts as they look to plug the financial gaps left by an increased cost bas over the period of time they were employed.Lets not forget, there is always a risk borne by business, yes it is sad news hearing there are people facing loosing their jobs and that is never good for them, the business and us as customers.. however there is also a worst scenario involving everyone concerned not just a percentage, ANET/NC Soft are being forced to take that route thankfully ...

I most definitely would not move resources from the development of tha project that is providing me with the most revenue,the revenue to fund new projects. The negative impact on the development and growth of the project being gw2 would not only lower revenue’s through multiple facets but as can be seen easily through the community has translated negatively over to its playerbase. I would have continued as a main priority to try and increase revenues through the continuation of full support and development of gw2 to give their biggest releases project the best chance to provide the most possible amount of revenue and growth within the game. Than if and when possible to fund other projects to help insure future growth within the company without drawing from the development resources from gw2 negatively impacting one of the steady revenue sources arenanet has. Expanding is every companies end game for success but has to be done when viable or it can be extremely detrimental to the growth of the business.

[dusanyu.4057]

While the news is sad it is not shocking, Sad fact is mobile makes more than both PC and counsel combined which is pathetic with how rife the platform is with pay to win. Secondly MMO as a game genre has been on a down swing in popularity. While i have no doubts that GW2 will be going strong for a long time. this news is saddening as a whole

Personally I am glad we still have GW1 and 2 but if the world goes mobile for games I am going to be that back catalog playing curmudgeon who simply refuses to own a mobile phone I trust google and apple as far as I can toss em'

[irondog.4830]

A mobile game is nothing like a pc game. I don't play them myself. I have been playing GW2 since it came out and I hope it's here for along time. I think it's rotten to do this to the people who worked so hard to make this game the best one out there.

[irondog.4830]

Actually I have paid candy crush a long time ago, and now Peril's peril on my phone but only when I'm out of the house or in the car ect. So, Makes no sense to me for companies to give up on pc games.

[mortrialus.3062]

Some people are like "Okay this means they can focus on GW2 100%" like these layoffs will be a good thing are kind of really not thinking about this correctly.

Sure if you only care about GW2 then you might think you want 100% of Arenanet devoted to GW2, but it's a very shortsighted view and you really don't if you actually care about the long term health of GW2 and Arenanet. But at the end of the day that will never been long term sustainable for the company. Sure Guild Wars 2 made $71 million dollars in revenue in 2018 and that's probably really good. But whether it's one year, five years, ten years, fifteen years from now from now Guild Wars 2 won't be pulling in that kind of revenue anymore. And when Guild Wars 2 can only survive by going into maintenance mode Arenanet needs to to have other games to fall back on or NCSoft will pull the plug on them.

World of Warcraft was king of the MMORPG scene. But even it isn't the 12 million subscriber juggernaut is used to be. Even if WoW is crazy profitable, the fact that no matter what Blizzard has games like Overwatch and Hearthstone also providing big revenue streams for them makes the prolonged existence WoW a sure thing, even if it someday suffers a massive collapse in userbase and goes into maintenance mode.

So yeah, it's really really sad these projects didn't pan out. If they did it would mean a more secure and stable future for Anenanet and Guild Wars 2. Business is a lot like natural selection. And one thing you find is that when you are extremely specialized to do just one thing, to survive in one type of environment, eat one kind of food it makes any kind of shock to that creature's habitat a potentially extinction level event. The species that survive the best are those that are more generalized. Right now Arenanet is a koala, only able to survive off one leaf from one plant. And literally nothing else. And things might be fine so long as the trees are fine and growing. But if something happens to those trees like some kind huge blight they're gone. They're extinct.

So yeah. It's a huge bummer these projects didn't pan out.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@psyt.9415 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:OP.. I have already posted comments to the kind of posts like yours that appeared in other threads, but I will give it another go..Set up your own business launch a product and sit back and hope that product keeps you afloat and moving forward forever.. maybe then you will realise ANET have a responsibility to their business, their employees, shareholders and maybe even a little to us players to ensure that the business remains viable. That means new projects need to be identified, new ideas tried out. Some will work and many wont, that is how it works. Do you think GW2 was just bank rolled by ANET off the back of a previous product that was beginning to show signs it had seen to many winters, what do you think should happen when blips occur in revenue do you allow it to become not just a blip but potentially a growing trend..Do you -

A - Go bury your head in the sand and hope by tomorrow all will be good again in the world, business as usual.B - Ask anyone and everyone to offer you charity in the hope it plugs the deepening hole that the revenue stream is pouring down.or maybeC - Plan ahead, take action, look into other ideas and new products that the company can add to its portfolio that might generate new additional revenue streams so as to not to continue to place so much reliance on a 6yr old product that is inevitably going to be faced with decline if it hasn't already.Sorry but the worst thing any business can do is stand still imo and trust to luck.

As for your hard earned dollars.. yep they are hard earned, but you chose to use them to buy something which you deemed of value to you.. that hard earned dollar isn't yours any longer it is ANET's.. cos you know they also worked hard to earn it... believe it or not ANET is a business with overheads, as is NC Soft, they are not charities set up to provide you with your fun fix and from the point you agreed to buy anything from them that is the last time you have any say in what the business does with that dollar.You may not like any particular facet of the business, whether that be NC Soft, ANET, Blizzard, Activision, Turbine or whatever/whoever, they may not like you but you choose to put money into the coffers, it is up to ANET/NC Soft as to how it gets spent, what it is spent on and that includes GW2 related content or other potential projects.. you are supporting the business that provides you access to GW2. without revenue you don't get to play GW2 period. Similarly if the business cant remain viable cos a 6yr old product is beginning to show signs of decline those other projects might just of been a lifeline to many employees throughout ANET/NC Soft and vice vera.. some of them proved to not be viable, others may still be in the pipeline.. we have no idea how or what effects they may or may not of had on GW2 other than the fact that if new products were never to be looked into there wont be a GW2 anyway cos they all have relevance to the business viability as a whole.

I disagree. Lately and its an increasing trend, companies in the gaming industry are chasing new markets ie. Mobile, Battle Royale, Card games and that's their prerogative it needs to be done to secure new revenue streams. But they need realize that if they are not re-investing in their core market they may lose that market while trying to chase the bird in the trees... pretty simple but you see it with EA, Activision/ Blizz and Square and I would say most likely Anet as well with this news. You can defend it all you want but the proof is in reality of the current layoffs in the game industry. If your just doing the bare minimum ie. sliding in a LS every 3 months and releasing new cash shop items while funnelling most of your resources some where else.... you may not be doing enough to keep the customers you do have happy. Gaming companies have been failing miserably at striking a balance in new projects and keeping their core market happy for the last couple of years and the result has been layoffs across the gaming sector. I'm not telling them how to spend their money... i'm telling them how to keep me and others like me and this content cadence is not enough sadly for me. The fact they have those resources available but aren't allocating them to keep their current player base happy is a shame. They can do what they want I don't really care and if its good enough for you that's great but I go where i'm having fun and that may not be this game the way things are going. They can care or not but that's my honest feedback.

But that's just it.. you or I have no idea what is being re-invested into the core product, we don't know what is/was/will be planned in for the future of the product beyond what we have already been told.The gaming industry is not immune to all the pressures that affect any other business in any other industry. Placing heavy reliance on a single product that is reaching a 6-7yr lifespan will always mean requiring to seek new opportunity in order to maintain the company's viability.Unfortunately for ANET they are also part of a larger entity, that must also push those same objectives to identify new areas of revenue if they and by association ANET are to remain viable going forward - if they don't all stand the chance of falling by the way side and we the players don't get those nice things to throw our time into either.The unfortunate thing is that sometimes those projects, those ideas don't pan out, get shelved and look to be a waste of resource, but the alternative would be to do nothing and sit back and watch the business recede just the same maybe quicker, because as I have said time is the killer of all things and GW2 is not immune to it

While it is true a gaming company must branch out and attempt to develope new idea’s and projects to insure future growth of the company. It is also true many projects get shelved and will not see the light of day,these projects are risks companies must take but at a appropriate time.i would disagree though that branching out at the cost of development and growth of a companies biggest ongoing project by removing resources from said project would qualify as the right time to branch out to new projects.

So what would you do.. go out into the market and employee even more people to work on those projects thus expanding the cost base even further which in turn only adds to more pressure on that one product (an aging product at that) to deliver more in order to fund expansion of costs in other areas.. sorry that is bad management.These layoffs would not of been something that materialised out of thin air, the financials are not managed on a day to day basis this would of been a factor of a longer term trend and as such there comes a point the business has to take action for the greater good.. adding additional risk buy way of a burgeoning head count when they already have a range of specific skills and experience at their disposal is not the way to go. especially as there will also be a ramp up period before new staff become truly productive to the business so the first port of call would and should be to utilise those skills already inherent to the business as a whole, which it seems is the approach that was taken. Unfortunately things happen sometimes that even ANET/NC Soft and another business can't control and R&D is normally one of the first areas to get put on hold/projects cancelled at least that is my experience of 30+yrs in Project Management, any of those years within my own business. On the flip side, if just one of those projects comes to fruition and proves to be lucrative to the business, then there might well be options to expand the business and accommodate increases head count and costs.. but similarly the many that never do see the light of day would then only see those new staff released and still run the risk of more staff cuts as they look to plug the financial gaps left by an increased cost bas over the period of time they were employed.Lets not forget, there is always a risk borne by business, yes it is sad news hearing there are people facing loosing their jobs and that is never good for them, the business and us as customers.. however there is also a worst scenario involving everyone concerned not just a percentage, ANET/NC Soft are being forced to take that route thankfully ...

I most definitely would not move resources from the development of tha project that is providing me with the most revenue,the revenue to fund new projects. The negative impact on the development and growth of the project being gw2 would not only lower revenue’s through multiple facets but as can be seen easily through the community has translated negatively over to its playerbase. I would have continued as a main priority to try and increase revenues through the continuation of full support and development of gw2 to give their biggest releases project the best chance to provide the most possible amount of revenue and growth within the game. Than if and when possible to fund other projects to help insure future growth within the company without drawing from the development resources from gw2 negatively impacting one of the steady revenue sources arenanet has. Expanding is every companies end game for success but has to be done when viable or it can be extremely detrimental to the growth of the business.

Lol.. you have no idea when any such project was/has/is undertaken only that some have been shelved due to costs.Those same projects would of likely been facing issues had the company decided to go out and hire for the purpose, take time to bedrock them and then roll with the risks.How do you know what resources were even utilised from GW2 and to what impact. Those responsible for managing the business will have all that information at their fingertips.Lets take your way...how do you know that the time was not right to launch new projects, utilise resource, hire staff, do you know when these went live, what actual resources were utilised and what the state oft he books when considering all revenue streams into the business not just GW2.. simple fact you don't, which is why making such outrageous assumptions of negative impact on GW2 can be seen as nothing more than hearsay and conjecture.. I mean, can you prove that anyway?Your taking your own personal likes and dislikes of some content to add 2 and 2 together to make 33.If I am not mistaken since the launch of GW2 ANET have expanded, which maybe shows they have an eye on their financials better than you think.. but no business is immune to localised and the wide variety of global pressures of todays economics.But to stand back and continually rely on an ageing product to deliver not just enough to stand still but try to expand is just a recipe for disaster,imo.

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

Hey, just chiming in to add my two bits here about the current events.

I may rant and rave a couple of forums tabs away when it comes to competitive features, but when it comes to marketing/structure changes that affect the livelihoods of people that worked on this game or with Arenanet that could end up having a large bearing on the stability of the game as a whole, it's very sobering to consider.

This touches everyone connected with Guild Wars, from player to developer.

It's a shame whatever ventures were being worked in the background ended up collapsing like this, and my heart goes out to the people affected by the recent layoffs.

Just know that, whatever your contribution to the state of the game, even if we didn't outright notice, your work was appreciated; and a large number of us hope that you take that drive and skill with you to your next endeavor. And to the employees of every division that remain, try not to stress out, please. I don't know how project leads are handling any workload or morale hits this may send through the company, but it is my wish that they are handled considerately.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@psyt.9415 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:OP.. I have already posted comments to the kind of posts like yours that appeared in other threads, but I will give it another go..Set up your own business launch a product and sit back and hope that product keeps you afloat and moving forward forever.. maybe then you will realise ANET have a responsibility to their business, their employees, shareholders and maybe even a little to us players to ensure that the business remains viable. That means new projects need to be identified, new ideas tried out. Some will work and many wont, that is how it works. Do you think GW2 was just bank rolled by ANET off the back of a previous product that was beginning to show signs it had seen to many winters, what do you think should happen when blips occur in revenue do you allow it to become not just a blip but potentially a growing trend..Do you -

A - Go bury your head in the sand and hope by tomorrow all will be good again in the world, business as usual.B - Ask anyone and everyone to offer you charity in the hope it plugs the deepening hole that the revenue stream is pouring down.or maybeC - Plan ahead, take action, look into other ideas and new products that the company can add to its portfolio that might generate new additional revenue streams so as to not to continue to place so much reliance on a 6yr old product that is inevitably going to be faced with decline if it hasn't already.Sorry but the worst thing any business can do is stand still imo and trust to luck.

As for your hard earned dollars.. yep they are hard earned, but you chose to use them to buy something which you deemed of value to you.. that hard earned dollar isn't yours any longer it is ANET's.. cos you know they also worked hard to earn it... believe it or not ANET is a business with overheads, as is NC Soft, they are not charities set up to provide you with your fun fix and from the point you agreed to buy anything from them that is the last time you have any say in what the business does with that dollar.You may not like any particular facet of the business, whether that be NC Soft, ANET, Blizzard, Activision, Turbine or whatever/whoever, they may not like you but you choose to put money into the coffers, it is up to ANET/NC Soft as to how it gets spent, what it is spent on and that includes GW2 related content or other potential projects.. you are supporting the business that provides you access to GW2. without revenue you don't get to play GW2 period. Similarly if the business cant remain viable cos a 6yr old product is beginning to show signs of decline those other projects might just of been a lifeline to many employees throughout ANET/NC Soft and vice vera.. some of them proved to not be viable, others may still be in the pipeline.. we have no idea how or what effects they may or may not of had on GW2 other than the fact that if new products were never to be looked into there wont be a GW2 anyway cos they all have relevance to the business viability as a whole.

I disagree. Lately and its an increasing trend, companies in the gaming industry are chasing new markets ie. Mobile, Battle Royale, Card games and that's their prerogative it needs to be done to secure new revenue streams. But they need realize that if they are not re-investing in their core market they may lose that market while trying to chase the bird in the trees... pretty simple but you see it with EA, Activision/ Blizz and Square and I would say most likely Anet as well with this news. You can defend it all you want but the proof is in reality of the current layoffs in the game industry. If your just doing the bare minimum ie. sliding in a LS every 3 months and releasing new cash shop items while funnelling most of your resources some where else.... you may not be doing enough to keep the customers you do have happy. Gaming companies have been failing miserably at striking a balance in new projects and keeping their core market happy for the last couple of years and the result has been layoffs across the gaming sector. I'm not telling them how to spend their money... i'm telling them how to keep me and others like me and this content cadence is not enough sadly for me. The fact they have those resources available but aren't allocating them to keep their current player base happy is a shame. They can do what they want I don't really care and if its good enough for you that's great but I go where i'm having fun and that may not be this game the way things are going. They can care or not but that's my honest feedback.

But that's just it.. you or I have no idea what is being re-invested into the core product, we don't know what is/was/will be planned in for the future of the product beyond what we have already been told.The gaming industry is not immune to all the pressures that affect any other business in any other industry. Placing heavy reliance on a single product that is reaching a 6-7yr lifespan will always mean requiring to seek new opportunity in order to maintain the company's viability.Unfortunately for ANET they are also part of a larger entity, that must also push those same objectives to identify new areas of revenue if they and by association ANET are to remain viable going forward - if they don't all stand the chance of falling by the way side and we the players don't get those nice things to throw our time into either.The unfortunate thing is that sometimes those projects, those ideas don't pan out, get shelved and look to be a waste of resource, but the alternative would be to do nothing and sit back and watch the business recede just the same maybe quicker, because as I have said time is the killer of all things and GW2 is not immune to it

While it is true a gaming company must branch out and attempt to develope new idea’s and projects to insure future growth of the company. It is also true many projects get shelved and will not see the light of day,these projects are risks companies must take but at a appropriate time.i would disagree though that branching out at the cost of development and growth of a companies biggest ongoing project by removing resources from said project would qualify as the right time to branch out to new projects.

So what would you do.. go out into the market and employee even more people to work on those projects thus expanding the cost base even further which in turn only adds to more pressure on that one product (an aging product at that) to deliver more in order to fund expansion of costs in other areas.. sorry that is bad management.These layoffs would not of been something that materialised out of thin air, the financials are not managed on a day to day basis this would of been a factor of a longer term trend and as such there comes a point the business has to take action for the greater good.. adding additional risk buy way of a burgeoning head count when they already have a range of specific skills and experience at their disposal is not the way to go. especially as there will also be a ramp up period before new staff become truly productive to the business so the first port of call would and should be to utilise those skills already inherent to the business as a whole, which it seems is the approach that was taken. Unfortunately things happen sometimes that even ANET/NC Soft and another business can't control and R&D is normally one of the first areas to get put on hold/projects cancelled at least that is my experience of 30+yrs in Project Management, any of those years within my own business. On the flip side, if just one of those projects comes to fruition and proves to be lucrative to the business, then there might well be options to expand the business and accommodate increases head count and costs.. but similarly the many that never do see the light of day would then only see those new staff released and still run the risk of more staff cuts as they look to plug the financial gaps left by an increased cost bas over the period of time they were employed.Lets not forget, there is always a risk borne by business, yes it is sad news hearing there are people facing loosing their jobs and that is never good for them, the business and us as customers.. however there is also a worst scenario involving everyone concerned not just a percentage, ANET/NC Soft are being forced to take that route thankfully ...

I most definitely would not move resources from the development of tha project that is providing me with the most revenue,the revenue to fund new projects. The negative impact on the development and growth of the project being gw2 would not only lower revenue’s through multiple facets but as can be seen easily through the community has translated negatively over to its playerbase. I would have continued as a main priority to try and increase revenues through the continuation of full support and development of gw2 to give their biggest releases project the best chance to provide the most possible amount of revenue and growth within the game. Than if and when possible to fund other projects to help insure future growth within the company without drawing from the development resources from gw2 negatively impacting one of the steady revenue sources arenanet has. Expanding is every companies end game for success but has to be done when viable or it can be extremely detrimental to the growth of the business.

Lol.. you have no idea when any such project was/has/is undertaken only that some have been shelved due to costs.Those same projects would of likely been facing issues had the company decided to go out and hire for the purpose, take time to bedrock them and then roll with the risks.How do you know what resources were even utilised from GW2 and to what impact. Those responsible for managing the business will have all that information at their fingertips.Lets take your way...how do you know that the time was not right to launch new projects, utilise resource, hire staff, do you know when these went live, what actual resources were utilised and what the state oft he books when considering all revenue streams into the business not just GW2.. simple fact you don't, which is why making such outrageous assumptions of negative impact on GW2 can be seen as nothing more than hearsay and conjecture.. I mean, can you prove that anyway?Your taking your own personal likes and dislikes of some content to add 2 and 2 together to make 33.If I am not mistaken since the launch of GW2 ANET have expanded, which maybe shows they have an eye on their financials better than you think.. but no business is immune to localised and the wide variety of global pressures of todays economics.But to stand back and continually rely on an ageing product to deliver not just enough to stand still but try to expand is just a recipe for disaster, imo.. add to that sometimes you just have to speculate to accumulate and by keeping cost down to a minimum whilst doing that helps offset some of the risk - but developing new products isn't easy, which is why you might see 10 shelved or failed projects before 1 comes to fruition, often taking elements of those that didn't make it onboard within that 1 success.

[Psycoprophet.8107]

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@psyt.9415 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:OP.. I have already posted comments to the kind of posts like yours that appeared in other threads, but I will give it another go..Set up your own business launch a product and sit back and hope that product keeps you afloat and moving forward forever.. maybe then you will realise ANET have a responsibility to their business, their employees, shareholders and maybe even a little to us players to ensure that the business remains viable. That means new projects need to be identified, new ideas tried out. Some will work and many wont, that is how it works. Do you think GW2 was just bank rolled by ANET off the back of a previous product that was beginning to show signs it had seen to many winters, what do you think should happen when blips occur in revenue do you allow it to become not just a blip but potentially a growing trend..Do you -

A - Go bury your head in the sand and hope by tomorrow all will be good again in the world, business as usual.B - Ask anyone and everyone to offer you charity in the hope it plugs the deepening hole that the revenue stream is pouring down.or maybeC - Plan ahead, take action, look into other ideas and new products that the company can add to its portfolio that might generate new additional revenue streams so as to not to continue to place so much reliance on a 6yr old product that is inevitably going to be faced with decline if it hasn't already.Sorry but the worst thing any business can do is stand still imo and trust to luck.

As for your hard earned dollars.. yep they are hard earned, but you chose to use them to buy something which you deemed of value to you.. that hard earned dollar isn't yours any longer it is ANET's.. cos you know they also worked hard to earn it... believe it or not ANET is a business with overheads, as is NC Soft, they are not charities set up to provide you with your fun fix and from the point you agreed to buy anything from them that is the last time you have any say in what the business does with that dollar.You may not like any particular facet of the business, whether that be NC Soft, ANET, Blizzard, Activision, Turbine or whatever/whoever, they may not like you but you choose to put money into the coffers, it is up to ANET/NC Soft as to how it gets spent, what it is spent on and that includes GW2 related content or other potential projects.. you are supporting the business that provides you access to GW2. without revenue you don't get to play GW2 period. Similarly if the business cant remain viable cos a 6yr old product is beginning to show signs of decline those other projects might just of been a lifeline to many employees throughout ANET/NC Soft and vice vera.. some of them proved to not be viable, others may still be in the pipeline.. we have no idea how or what effects they may or may not of had on GW2 other than the fact that if new products were never to be looked into there wont be a GW2 anyway cos they all have relevance to the business viability as a whole.

I disagree. Lately and its an increasing trend, companies in the gaming industry are chasing new markets ie. Mobile, Battle Royale, Card games and that's their prerogative it needs to be done to secure new revenue streams. But they need realize that if they are not re-investing in their core market they may lose that market while trying to chase the bird in the trees... pretty simple but you see it with EA, Activision/ Blizz and Square and I would say most likely Anet as well with this news. You can defend it all you want but the proof is in reality of the current layoffs in the game industry. If your just doing the bare minimum ie. sliding in a LS every 3 months and releasing new cash shop items while funnelling most of your resources some where else.... you may not be doing enough to keep the customers you do have happy. Gaming companies have been failing miserably at striking a balance in new projects and keeping their core market happy for the last couple of years and the result has been layoffs across the gaming sector. I'm not telling them how to spend their money... i'm telling them how to keep me and others like me and this content cadence is not enough sadly for me. The fact they have those resources available but aren't allocating them to keep their current player base happy is a shame. They can do what they want I don't really care and if its good enough for you that's great but I go where i'm having fun and that may not be this game the way things are going. They can care or not but that's my honest feedback.

But that's just it.. you or I have no idea what is being re-invested into the core product, we don't know what is/was/will be planned in for the future of the product beyond what we have already been told.The gaming industry is not immune to all the pressures that affect any other business in any other industry. Placing heavy reliance on a single product that is reaching a 6-7yr lifespan will always mean requiring to seek new opportunity in order to maintain the company's viability.Unfortunately for ANET they are also part of a larger entity, that must also push those same objectives to identify new areas of revenue if they and by association ANET are to remain viable going forward - if they don't all stand the chance of falling by the way side and we the players don't get those nice things to throw our time into either.The unfortunate thing is that sometimes those projects, those ideas don't pan out, get shelved and look to be a waste of resource, but the alternative would be to do nothing and sit back and watch the business recede just the same maybe quicker, because as I have said time is the killer of all things and GW2 is not immune to it

While it is true a gaming company must branch out and attempt to develope new idea’s and projects to insure future growth of the company. It is also true many projects get shelved and will not see the light of day,these projects are risks companies must take but at a appropriate time.i would disagree though that branching out at the cost of development and growth of a companies biggest ongoing project by removing resources from said project would qualify as the right time to branch out to new projects.

So what would you do.. go out into the market and employee even more people to work on those projects thus expanding the cost base even further which in turn only adds to more pressure on that one product (an aging product at that) to deliver more in order to fund expansion of costs in other areas.. sorry that is bad management.These layoffs would not of been something that materialised out of thin air, the financials are not managed on a day to day basis this would of been a factor of a longer term trend and as such there comes a point the business has to take action for the greater good.. adding additional risk buy way of a burgeoning head count when they already have a range of specific skills and experience at their disposal is not the way to go. especially as there will also be a ramp up period before new staff become truly productive to the business so the first port of call would and should be to utilise those skills already inherent to the business as a whole, which it seems is the approach that was taken. Unfortunately things happen sometimes that even ANET/NC Soft and another business can't control and R&D is normally one of the first areas to get put on hold/projects cancelled at least that is my experience of 30+yrs in Project Management, any of those years within my own business. On the flip side, if just one of those projects comes to fruition and proves to be lucrative to the business, then there might well be options to expand the business and accommodate increases head count and costs.. but similarly the many that never do see the light of day would then only see those new staff released and still run the risk of more staff cuts as they look to plug the financial gaps left by an increased cost bas over the period of time they were employed.Lets not forget, there is always a risk borne by business, yes it is sad news hearing there are people facing loosing their jobs and that is never good for them, the business and us as customers.. however there is also a worst scenario involving everyone concerned not just a percentage, ANET/NC Soft are being forced to take that route thankfully ...

I most definitely would not move resources from the development of tha project that is providing me with the most revenue,the revenue to fund new projects. The negative impact on the development and growth of the project being gw2 would not only lower revenue’s through multiple facets but as can be seen easily through the community has translated negatively over to its playerbase. I would have continued as a main priority to try and increase revenues through the continuation of full support and development of gw2 to give their biggest releases project the best chance to provide the most possible amount of revenue and growth within the game. Than if and when possible to fund other projects to help insure future growth within the company without drawing from the development resources from gw2 negatively impacting one of the steady revenue sources arenanet has. Expanding is every companies end game for success but has to be done when viable or it can be extremely detrimental to the growth of the business.

Lol.. you have no idea when any such project was/has/is undertaken only that some have been shelved due to costs.Those same projects would of likely been facing issues had the company decided to go out and hire for the purpose, take time to bedrock them and then roll with the risks.How do you know what resources were even utilised from GW2 and to what impact. Those responsible for managing the business will have all that information at their fingertips.Lets take your way...how do you know that the time was not right to launch new projects, utilise resource, hire staff, do you know when these went live, what actual resources were utilised and what the state oft he books when considering all revenue streams into the business not just GW2.. simple fact you don't, which is why making such outrageous assumptions of negative impact on GW2 can be seen as nothing more than hearsay and conjecture.. I mean, can you prove that anyway?Your taking your own personal likes and dislikes of some content to add 2 and 2 together to make 33.If I am not mistaken since the launch of GW2 ANET have expanded, which maybe shows they have an eye on their financials better than you think.. but no business is immune to localised and the wide variety of global pressures of todays economics.But to stand back and continually rely on an ageing product to deliver not just enough to stand still but try to expand is just a recipe for disaster,imo.

Well we do kno that these new projects caused an unsustainable draw on ncsoft and this is the result so....

[blackheartgary.8605]

welp, it appears as if people still, to this day, never cease to amaze me."anet is not communicating"anet communicates."why isn't anet communicating?"again, anet communicates."the lack of communication from anet is disturbing"once again, anet communicates."but WE WANT COMMUNICATION"eventually, this circle will end. the easiest way? start listening when anet communicates. and stop begging for communication.the hard way... no one listens to anyone anymore and everyone loses.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@psyt.9415 said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:OP.. I have already posted comments to the kind of posts like yours that appeared in other threads, but I will give it another go..Set up your own business launch a product and sit back and hope that product keeps you afloat and moving forward forever.. maybe then you will realise ANET have a responsibility to their business, their employees, shareholders and maybe even a little to us players to ensure that the business remains viable. That means new projects need to be identified, new ideas tried out. Some will work and many wont, that is how it works. Do you think GW2 was just bank rolled by ANET off the back of a previous product that was beginning to show signs it had seen to many winters, what do you think should happen when blips occur in revenue do you allow it to become not just a blip but potentially a growing trend..Do you -

A - Go bury your head in the sand and hope by tomorrow all will be good again in the world, business as usual.B - Ask anyone and everyone to offer you charity in the hope it plugs the deepening hole that the revenue stream is pouring down.or maybeC - Plan ahead, take action, look into other ideas and new products that the company can add to its portfolio that might generate new additional revenue streams so as to not to continue to place so much reliance on a 6yr old product that is inevitably going to be faced with decline if it hasn't already.Sorry but the worst thing any business can do is stand still imo and trust to luck.

As for your hard earned dollars.. yep they are hard earned, but you chose to use them to buy something which you deemed of value to you.. that hard earned dollar isn't yours any longer it is ANET's.. cos you know they also worked hard to earn it... believe it or not ANET is a business with overheads, as is NC Soft, they are not charities set up to provide you with your fun fix and from the point you agreed to buy anything from them that is the last time you have any say in what the business does with that dollar.You may not like any particular facet of the business, whether that be NC Soft, ANET, Blizzard, Activision, Turbine or whatever/whoever, they may not like you but you choose to put money into the coffers, it is up to ANET/NC Soft as to how it gets spent, what it is spent on and that includes GW2 related content or other potential projects.. you are supporting the business that provides you access to GW2. without revenue you don't get to play GW2 period. Similarly if the business cant remain viable cos a 6yr old product is beginning to show signs of decline those other projects might just of been a lifeline to many employees throughout ANET/NC Soft and vice vera.. some of them proved to not be viable, others may still be in the pipeline.. we have no idea how or what effects they may or may not of had on GW2 other than the fact that if new products were never to be looked into there wont be a GW2 anyway cos they all have relevance to the business viability as a whole.

I disagree. Lately and its an increasing trend, companies in the gaming industry are chasing new markets ie. Mobile, Battle Royale, Card games and that's their prerogative it needs to be done to secure new revenue streams. But they need realize that if they are not re-investing in their core market they may lose that market while trying to chase the bird in the trees... pretty simple but you see it with EA, Activision/ Blizz and Square and I would say most likely Anet as well with this news. You can defend it all you want but the proof is in reality of the current layoffs in the game industry. If your just doing the bare minimum ie. sliding in a LS every 3 months and releasing new cash shop items while funnelling most of your resources some where else.... you may not be doing enough to keep the customers you do have happy. Gaming companies have been failing miserably at striking a balance in new projects and keeping their core market happy for the last couple of years and the result has been layoffs across the gaming sector. I'm not telling them how to spend their money... i'm telling them how to keep me and others like me and this content cadence is not enough sadly for me. The fact they have those resources available but aren't allocating them to keep their current player base happy is a shame. They can do what they want I don't really care and if its good enough for you that's great but I go where i'm having fun and that may not be this game the way things are going. They can care or not but that's my honest feedback.

But that's just it.. you or I have no idea what is being re-invested into the core product, we don't know what is/was/will be planned in for the future of the product beyond what we have already been told.The gaming industry is not immune to all the pressures that affect any other business in any other industry. Placing heavy reliance on a single product that is reaching a 6-7yr lifespan will always mean requiring to seek new opportunity in order to maintain the company's viability.Unfortunately for ANET they are also part of a larger entity, that must also push those same objectives to identify new areas of revenue if they and by association ANET are to remain viable going forward - if they don't all stand the chance of falling by the way side and we the players don't get those nice things to throw our time into either.The unfortunate thing is that sometimes those projects, those ideas don't pan out, get shelved and look to be a waste of resource, but the alternative would be to do nothing and sit back and watch the business recede just the same maybe quicker, because as I have said time is the killer of all things and GW2 is not immune to it

While it is true a gaming company must branch out and attempt to develope new idea’s and projects to insure future growth of the company. It is also true many projects get shelved and will not see the light of day,these projects are risks companies must take but at a appropriate time.i would disagree though that branching out at the cost of development and growth of a companies biggest ongoing project by removing resources from said project would qualify as the right time to branch out to new projects.

So what would you do.. go out into the market and employee even more people to work on those projects thus expanding the cost base even further which in turn only adds to more pressure on that one product (an aging product at that) to deliver more in order to fund expansion of costs in other areas.. sorry that is bad management.These layoffs would not of been something that materialised out of thin air, the financials are not managed on a day to day basis this would of been a factor of a longer term trend and as such there comes a point the business has to take action for the greater good.. adding additional risk buy way of a burgeoning head count when they already have a range of specific skills and experience at their disposal is not the way to go. especially as there will also be a ramp up period before new staff become truly productive to the business so the first port of call would and should be to utilise those skills already inherent to the business as a whole, which it seems is the approach that was taken. Unfortunately things happen sometimes that even ANET/NC Soft and another business can't control and R&D is normally one of the first areas to get put on hold/projects cancelled at least that is my experience of 30+yrs in Project Management, any of those years within my own business. On the flip side, if just one of those projects comes to fruition and proves to be lucrative to the business, then there might well be options to expand the business and accommodate increases head count and costs.. but similarly the many that never do see the light of day would then only see those new staff released and still run the risk of more staff cuts as they look to plug the financial gaps left by an increased cost bas over the period of time they were employed.Lets not forget, there is always a risk borne by business, yes it is sad news hearing there are people facing loosing their jobs and that is never good for them, the business and us as customers.. however there is also a worst scenario involving everyone concerned not just a percentage, ANET/NC Soft are being forced to take that route thankfully ...

I most definitely would not move resources from the development of tha project that is providing me with the most revenue,the revenue to fund new projects. The negative impact on the development and growth of the project being gw2 would not only lower revenue’s through multiple facets but as can be seen easily through the community has translated negatively over to its playerbase. I would have continued as a main priority to try and increase revenues through the continuation of full support and development of gw2 to give their biggest releases project the best chance to provide the most possible amount of revenue and growth within the game. Than if and when possible to fund other projects to help insure future growth within the company without drawing from the development resources from gw2 negatively impacting one of the steady revenue sources arenanet has. Expanding is every companies end game for success but has to be done when viable or it can be extremely detrimental to the growth of the business.

Lol.. you have no idea when any such project was/has/is undertaken only that some have been shelved due to costs.Those same projects would of likely been facing issues had the company decided to go out and hire for the purpose, take time to bedrock them and then roll with the risks.How do you know what resources were even utilised from GW2 and to what impact. Those responsible for managing the business will have all that information at their fingertips.Lets take your way...how do you know that the time was not right to launch new projects, utilise resource, hire staff, do you know when these went live, what actual resources were utilised and what the state oft he books when considering all revenue streams into the business not just GW2.. simple fact you don't, which is why making such outrageous assumptions of negative impact on GW2 can be seen as nothing more than hearsay and conjecture.. I mean, can you prove that anyway?Your taking your own personal likes and dislikes of some content to add 2 and 2 together to make 33.If I am not mistaken since the launch of GW2 ANET have expanded, which maybe shows they have an eye on their financials better than you think.. but no business is immune to localised and the wide variety of global pressures of todays economics.But to stand back and continually rely on an ageing product to deliver not just enough to stand still but try to expand is just a recipe for disaster,imo.

Well we do kno that these new projects caused an unsustainable draw on ncsoft and this is the result so....

Like I said R& D is normally one of the first areas to suffer when the business sees a downturn.. that does not mean the projects were the cause or effect, just one way to help stem the bleeding. There are a plethora of reasons any business is forced to cancel projects, make layoffs both within the business and outside of it. - R & D whilst at the time might be viable, may of gone over budget or end up requiring additional funding to move it beyond a certain point, but when looking at the financial projections it may not of been feasible, so it gets cancelled - that is always the risk a business has to take whether its cash rich or not.. standing still watching the clouds go by and trusting in luck is not a good idea either imo.I mean a good example might be the High Speed Rail project the US have just cancelled.. great idea, costed to be investable development when launched but now some time later those costs have escalated often by no fault of your own but due to things beyond your control, which added to maybe a slowing economy, bad press, politics etc etc.. there are many factors that can cause issues with any business at any time.. this just showed that NC Soft and ANET are not immune to those challenges and rather than to continue to take the hit, they took a decision that would likely ensure the damage does not effect anymore than absolutely necessary. Like I said much worse outcomes might well of been on the cards

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Squirrel.6318 said:

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

@Squirrel.6318 said:I feel like they haven't really listened to our community. They don't really cater to the community. I've known them since GW1 prophecies came out. Gaile gray has been the ONLY one that has consistently reported or talked to the community for all these long years.

I was a hardcore supporter for them during the GW1 years, defended them so many times, but since GW2 came out, I definitely do not like the company anymore. There aren't really any major improvements to the game. Regarding major improvements, GW1 had alliances and faction wars when Factions came out, and then Nightfall had the hero system. Then EOTN added a whole bunch of content + the dungeons, I believe there were like 20 of them.

What did we get in GW2 in 6-7 years? gliders and mounts..............

I can't remember what happened, I think some major guys left the company when GW2 was released. edit: yeah it was two co-founders that left. I'm pretty sure that made a huge difference.

Those 'two co-founders' (both left ArenaNet and went to work at NCSoft West and subsequently left a year later) left ArenaNet long (2008) before Guild Wars 2 was released.You can easily find this information in the GW2 Wiki, the GW Wiki, or even Wikipedia.

Thus, probably didn't make a 'huge difference'.

You mean the opposite, this means they most likely did not have any part of GW2, which could be the reason why GW1 was way better developed and planned out better. The development of GW2 has been an absolute mess. While GW1 was clearly planned and developed more professionally.

Interesting.. why do believe the development of GW2 to of been an absolute mess.. I actually think it was developed, rolled out and moved on much better than GW1.. but I guess that comes down to personal perception rather than actual fact.

[Mbelch.9028]

My great distaste for mega-threads such as this stems from the fact that I can't follow anything. Players are talking about colors, economics, support, the future and much more and there's no logical thread of discussion.

Where it makes sense, these mega-threads should be broken out into smaller "sub mega threads" on those topics.

I know it seems like a pain, but there's no way I can go through 200 responses to try to follow what's going on here.

[BlueJin.4127]

Deleted since this doesn’t seem like a respectful time for a joke.

[Dami.5046]

@BlueJin.4127 said:You all want a doom and gloom post? Here’s a REAL doom and gloom situation! What if......Activision buys Anet. :scream: :scream: :scream: :scream: :scream:

Nah. With all these 'cost cutting' exercises NC soft are doing, I hope they don't shut down GW servers. I still wanna play cantha GDI.But my idea of hell?Giving this game to Gameforge to look after.

[Vyrulisse.1246]

I feel bad for the people who will be affected by this. I feel concern for the future of my favorite game. Feels like a dark cloud over everything right now and I hope it clears away soon.

[Flower Lyssa.8012]

If you look at Twitter, people are starting to post whether today's their last day at ArenaNet or not. It must be heartbreaking for all involved.