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

[Vayne.8563]

@Tolmos.8395 said:Some of this confuses me. I could have sworn I read an article that Arenanet bought the rights back from NCSoft for GW2, and had sole decision making power on it now. Did I dream that, or misread that? I could have... it made me feel a little better thinking that, considering NCSoft's reputation as an MMO killer.

Anet didn't buy the rights. They took over the publishing. They've been owned completely by NcSoft since before Guild Wars 1 launched. They never owned the rights to Guild Wars 2.

[Blocki.4931]

@Obtena.7952 said:I have no doubt the game will continue to exist; the content we have will always be here in some way. I do anticipate that at some level, we will finally see some pay-to-win things; abilities to fast track long/hard to get items, like +5/+9 infusions, legendary anythings, etc ...

Honestly, if I were NCSoft, I would 'pushing' for a more revenue driven model ... milking the current players by giving them things they want via some purchase. They don't care a flip about anything but the bottom line. It's a shame Anet were tied to them. I think you will see that be a common theme in the evolution of the industry. Games showing long teeth will get their legs knocked out from beneath them and the focus will be to entice veteran players to patronize the games more, even at the expense of the games themselves .. I think SWTOR went that way long ago and it persists because they sell things people want to buy. That doesn't necessary mean we won't see new content, etc ... because that is what will keep us around to spend that money.

I mean ... Anet selling chairs ... THOSE are the kind of decision that would make a parent company pull the rug out. To what end do chairs give players any value? Even if they are for some future housing ... they put the cart in front of the horse.

People WANTED CHAIRS

How can you even make this an example? Out of all the things, this isn't the one to criticize at all. Pay 2 win would immediately make a lot of the players jump ship, there is no place for that kind of bs in our game. For all we know, this means that all remaining staff will now work on the game and only the game. This is a good thing, once they have reorganized themselves after this initial shake up things will start looking brighter again.

That is to say that not even more people jump ship now. As it stands we just have to wait and take them by their word, that being that future content won't be delayed by this in the foreseeable future. How could it? The first episode of season 5 is probably already 60% done at this point.

[Vayne.8563]

Star Wars ToR laid off 30% of their staff six months after the game launched. TSW laid off half their stuff. 25% of the staff, if you're trying to reorganize the company seems like a small percentage.

The company started with about 300 during development. It's up to almost 400 now. Laying off 100 people will bring the game to original launch levels. Some of those people were working on other projects as well, so I'm no t sure why everyone is running around yelling the sky is falling.

[Obtena.7952]

@Blocki.4931 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:I have no doubt the game will continue to exist; the content we have will always be here in some way. I do anticipate that at some level, we will finally see some pay-to-win things; abilities to fast track long/hard to get items, like +5/+9 infusions, legendary anythings, etc ...

Honestly, if I were NCSoft, I would 'pushing' for a more revenue driven model ... milking the current players by giving them things they want via some purchase. They don't care a flip about anything but the bottom line. It's a shame Anet were tied to them. I think you will see that be a common theme in the evolution of the industry. Games showing long teeth will get their legs knocked out from beneath them and the focus will be to entice veteran players to patronize the games more, even at the expense of the games themselves .. I think SWTOR went that way long ago and it persists because they sell things people want to buy. That doesn't necessary mean we won't see new content, etc ... because that is what will keep us around to spend that money.

I mean ... Anet selling chairs ... THOSE are the kind of decision that would make a parent company pull the rug out. To what end do chairs give players any value? Even if they are for some future housing ... they put the cart in front of the horse.

People WANTED CHAIRS

That means so little to be honest. That's probably part of the problem ... what people? how many? It's a profitable endeavour? I mean, they have made a few chairs so yeah, people must be buying them at a well enough clip, but if chairs is the BEST thing Anet had going for GS goodies ... I'm not shocked of the recent developments.

[Xykris.6758]

Hello everyone,As I am sure most of you know, thanks to NCSoft, ArenaNet has had to let go of some employees. One of which was Community Manager Gaile Gray. https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/69445/gaile-gray-where-are-you/p4

This has me quite concerned for a few reasons.

1. She has worked for ArenaNet for a long time. Surely she must have some sort of seniority over there, so why did they let her go before newer employees and is she the only person that has been around for that long that they have let go?
2. Gaile was probably the most active Dev on the forums. With her gone, does this mean that we will have less communication over all from the Devs?
3. ArenaNet had said that these layoffs would not effect Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 and yet it has! https://pcgamer.com/guild-wars-studio-arenanet-will-reportedly-undergo-layoffs/andhttps://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/69643/an-update-on-the-release-of-the-warclaw#latest

I'll be honest, I do not trust NCSoft. I don't want Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 to be the next "City of Heroes".

We need to know what the plans are for the future of this game! We need the Devs to speak up and tell us what their plans are and I don't mean some short HR like response like this: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/69249/update-from-arenanet#latest! We need to know what's going on. We need to know what we can expect. Can we still expect another living story update? Can we still expect the changes to WvW? Can we expect new raids? If so, when?

Obviously I'm not expecting there to be no delays given what has happened but if we can at least know what they have planned, perhaps it will help things not seem so grim the games future!

In short, we need transparency from ArenaNet now more than ever. If they are taking hits like this, it affects us all. So I ask the Devs. Please, gives us an idea of what's going on. Keep us informed of how these things will effect the game and what you plan to do to see to it that this game doesn't just crash and burn.

[SacuraShadow.6021]

This hurts to see so many veteran devs getting laid off. I really hope this doesn't mark the end of the game. I wish you all luck. :(

[Talindra.4958]

Well they need to keep the positions reserved for gem store development team.. ?

[Talindra.4958]

@Gemnaid.4219 said:It’s clearly anets fault. All their choices in taking the game in a certain direction has finally caught up to them. They’ve lost a lot of customers over the years and no one has cared until now.

I don't think so.. they have tried their best to provide for all, but you just can't please everyone. People has to know the game is basically free.. buy expansion buy the game and you free to play at anytime... no subscription fees.I hope there's a turn around :)

[Yamazuki.6073]

@ilovegw.1258 said:

@Ulyssean.1709 said:

@ilovegw.1258 said:

@Ulyssean.1709 said:Why is it NCsofts fault?

Because they sent the lay off message to Anet initially when this storm started?

So if you do not perform to standard and get fired, it's your manager's fault?

Because NCSoft is known for excellent managerial skills like how they managed CoH?

While NCSoft is terrible, it still doesn't excuse the terrible mistakes made by those in charge of ArenaNet. The cost of maintaining ArenaNet as is was increasing while the returns weren't. You can't have a single game that you actually make money off of, and then use that money for multiple failed side projects that get canceled and be surprised when the consequences show up.

Of course, it's unfortunate the workers always suffer from the mistakes of their superiors.

[style.6173]

It is disappointing to see so many talented people get impacted by poor management at ANET. GW2 has been on cruise mode since the last expansion. We get a couple of hours of content every 3 months or so. Hopefully there is a bigger focus on GW2 now instead of some match 3 guild wars game.

Management is even more incompetent if the rumors of no expansion in 2019 are true.

[Donari.5237]

You are likely to get merged into the main thread they asked us to use for this. But I'll say yes, I agree, transparency (once they have their heads straight after this massive blow) would be nice. However! There could very well be directives and rules and employment obligations causing gag orders and nda's on pain of termination. I don't want anyone else losing their job just for the sake of placating the player base's fears.

[Kanok.3027]

Guild Wars 2 probably won't become another City of Heroes or Wildstar. No, it'll probably go the way of Aion and become pay2win with lots of things that will help enhance your stats and other things like that being exclusive to the Gem Store with the conversion taken away to ensure money goes their way (NCSoft) to fund more of their mobile projects.

[PookieDaWombat.6209]

Any speculation we partake in now would be just that, speculation. Even trying to make determinations from past experiences can be dicey in these situations. I agree that I want Anet and NCsoft to give us info as soon as they can (and it behooves them to do so before panic causes the biggest active player drop they ever seen), but ultimately we are on shaky ground regardless. Even if they came in here by Friday with a list saying the things we will see in detail over the next two quarters, it won't change the fact that as far as NCsoft is concerned those next two quarters will have to show a certain amount of profit or any and all promises of the future will be void. NCsoft is looking to make money and if they don't, then they will refocus until they do. Their concern isn't the time and personal investment we've made in the game or the time and talent their employees have poured into it. They've said as much already in their original statements regarding their lacking PC properties. To that end, expect a greater focus on the monetization stuff in the next couple months.

[Zhaneel.9208]

@Kanok.3027 said:Guild Wars 2 probably won't become another City of Heroes or Wildstar. No, it'll probably go the way of Aion and become pay2win with lots of things that will help enhance your stats and other things like that being exclusive to the Gem Store with the conversion taken away to ensure money goes their way (NCSoft) to fund more of their mobile projects.

....I don't know about that. NCSoft as no qualms about cutting IP's after a certain amount of time. But time will tell, gaming has been changing a lot lately and hopefully GW will have a place here for a while longer.

[Julischka Bean.7491]

@"style.6173" said:It is disappointing to see so many talented people get impacted by poor management at ANET. GW2 has been on cruise mode since the last expansion. We get a couple of hours of content every 3 months or so. Hopefully there is a bigger focus on GW2 now instead of some match 3 guild wars game.

Management is even more incompetent if the rumors of no expansion in 2019 are true.

Oh this..very much this.

I very much doubt NCSoft told Anet to lay off certain people otherwise the more experienced people could not have volunteered to leave to spare the younger less experienced, developers.

From what I understand, NcSoft told Anet their side project was sucking money and development time from Anet's main game. This side project was not getting done fast enough, and if it ever got finished it would probably be unprofitable, so they rightly told Anet to stop production on it and concentrate on the game that pays the bills and keeps the lights on. They probably gave Mo directives on how much Payroll they had to use, trusting Anet to know who to keep, and who to lay off. They just wanted Guildwars2 back on course.

When making the decision who to keep, and who to "throw away" the people in charge of this at Anet probably looked at what everyone was making and used that as a guildline. This was risky because the high earners were of course not only experienced with how the game works but were also beloved by the customers....customers that Anet desperately needs to keep in order to dig themselves out of this mess.

What I want to know is, why did Anet not see how badly this side project was hurting and draining Guildwars2, and why it took NCSoft to have to step in and stop the snowballing damage said project was doing to Guildwars2.

Because Of CoH it is easy blame this on NCSoft...This time though, I could be wrong, but I am not sure the blame belongs there.

[Pretty Pixie.8603]

@Obtena.7952 said:

That means so little to be honest. That's probably part of the problem ... what people? how many? It's a profitable endeavour? I mean, they have made a few chairs so yeah, people must be buying them at a well enough clip, but if chairs is the BEST thing Anet had going for GS goodies ... I'm not shocked of the recent developments.

That's a strange argument; Anet identifies a market that is not pay to win or a hated loot box, and that's a bad thing? Should you leave one financial opportunity because there are others, when this one is profitable? Take advantage of one opportunity doesn't exclude taking advantage of others per se.

[Vayne.8563]

@"Jura.2170" said:Sorry for asking a silly question, but how is Star Citizen able to raise millions to develop itself, while Arenanet can't?

Is the market for space mmos that much bigger?

If Anet had spent money on improving the game like QoL, making it faster, keeping the guild halls team and improving them, and even improving festivals and adding new ones, surely they would have made more money?

Star Citizen charges people riidiculous amounts of money to buy ships for a game that isn't out yet. Many people think it's a scam. It may or may not be. Star Citizen has packages that are literally thousands of dollars and people buy them. But Scams can make money by offering something you're never actually going to get. Even if Star Citizen does make it to release, there's no way they can deliver on what it's been built up on. That's just a fiasco waiting to happen.

Do you know it's always easier to have a great MMO before launch than after?

[Nightcore.5621]

This is from her Twitter. . "I am sad to tell you that I am no longer an employee of ArenaNet. It's been a wonderful 18+ years, and I have appreciated every one of those years and every single one of the friends I made through the game. I wish everyone at ArenaNet a fantastic future -- I love you all."R.i.P for this game .... i got more than 3000 haours in This game i am afraid to see this game fade away. ..

[Naxos.2503]

I had a look at NCsoft Recent earnings, and Indeed they were losing money across the board based on this one year. Technically however, they were still earning more than the year prior (2017). Either they invested poorly, and needed to cut costs across the board to stay afloat, or indeed they've cut costs at the least earning points (Mobile games seemed to earn so much in comparison to the rest, it didn't factor in the total).

What I'm wondering is if those cost cutting measures were applied to All NCsoft titles, in which case, we'll see layoffs occuring for Aion and Lineage along with Blade and Soul, not just Arena Net. If that's not the case, then one has to ponder what has ArenaNet done to deserve the axe when less performing titles like Aion did not.

A quick look at the afforemented games forum reveal no such upheaval, so it was entirely an ArenaNet centered decisions : either money was squandered (on Anet or NCsoft part) and Anet was reined it to rebalance the lost funds, or Guild wars 2 is not doing well enough for what it costs NCsoft.

[Julischka Bean.7491]

@Neural.1824 said:

@Tiviana.2650 said:Its not Anet , its NCsoft pulling plugs, get it right. When the kitten hits the fan know where to point the finger, squarely at NCsoft.

The question is this: After what happened to Paragon, and with this happening to Arenanet (and let's be real, there's no facts/proof, but Arenanet could very well get the same treatment as Paragon sometime soon), what are the chances that people will finally be fed up enough to not purchase any more NCSoft products?

Paragon made the wrong decision making the endgame team only and locking the soloers out of that content. I had a whole lot of friends, who, like me soloed the game. When we could not solo the end game, the majority of them left. I also heard rumors that Positron or whatever his name was, I forgot, had a lot of clashes with NcSoft. Then we had a loyalty thingy and people started bragging that they were not spending a penny on the game....urk.

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

My sister thinks all of this is to prepare the company to be bought out. What a lot of companies will do is trim the excess to make it more attractive to buyers.

[Kam.4092]

You sure are late friend.

[Cyninja.2954]

@Vayne.8563 said:

@"Jura.2170" said:Sorry for asking a silly question, but how is Star Citizen able to raise millions to develop itself, while Arenanet can't?

Is the market for space mmos that much bigger?

If Anet had spent money on improving the game like

QoL

, making it faster, keeping the guild halls team and improving them, and even improving festivals and adding new ones, surely they would have made more money?

Star Citizen charges people riidiculous amounts of money to buy ships for a game that isn't out yet. Many people think it's a scam. It may or may not be. Star Citizen has packages that are literally thousands of dollars and people buy them. But Scams can make money by offering something you're never actually going to get. Even if Star Citizen does make it to release, there's no way they can deliver on what it's been built up on. That's just a fiasco waiting to happen.

Do you know it's always easier to have a great MMO before launch than after?

This.

Not going to call Star Citizen a scam (even if I personally believe it is by now). The following around it is almost like a cult by now, which is quite fascinating and understandable if you delve into the psychology of how people justify resource commitment (aka spending vast amounts of money on something). That said, the expectations are so far beyond what would be in any way humanly achievable, if the game ever releases it will crash and burn or be outperformed by an organically growing game like Elite Dangerous.

On topic:The gaming industry as a whole is shifting in certain areas. Time to market is becoming harsher. Big publishers are unwilling to fund year long development of games and risk the game not succeeding. Not in the current environment of competition from all areas. See Anthem and Apex Legends as good examples. Anthem was in development for 6 years with a lot of developer effort going into it and many good decisions, but also some bad ones. You can't expect to hit the mark on all you customer expectations, no developer studio is that good. Meanwhile Apex Legends released as a bare bone battle-royal game with close to no marketing, it could have just as well never shown up on the radar but the 2 years development time made it a lot cheaper compared to Anthem.

My guess is (more like hope to stay positive): we will see a lot less smaller AAA titles which are more along the lines of ideas which can be built on, instead of long development cycles with high risk. So in a way NCSoft is simply moving along with the times.

[Kam.4092]

Blaming everything on NCSoft is dumb. This wouldn’t have happened if Anet did a better job at managing GW2 and their side projects. I get wanting to point fingers at the parent company, but this is irrational thinking.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

@Kylden Ar.3724 said:

@Blanche Neige.7241 said:

@"Jura.2170" said:If Anet really needs more money to keep going, would it help if they removed turning gold into gems?

How would you feel if they did that?

It does not matter. Those gems you are buying with gold don't come out from thin air. Each and every one of them was bought by someone who then converted them to gold.

Um, no.

If Gems had to exist first from a cash sale, that would mean sometimes people doing gold to gems conversions would get told no until someone "made some gems exist" by paying cash for them.

I have never heard of anyone seeing that message.

Two things make sure that never happens:1) A large enough pool of both gems and gold, and2) An exchange rate algorithm that's aggressive enough to strongly incentivize transactions "against" the current flow.

When a lot of people exchange gold for gems, the value of gems rise for both directions. The people buying gems has to pay increasing amounts of gold (acting as a damper on how fast the gem pool depletes) and the people buying gold gets more gold for their gems (acting as an accelerator for the adding of gems to the pool).