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

[judgebeo.3976]

@"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.

You and any company. The problem is not to pay in/for a gme, is for WHAT you pay for? i have no trouble to put in some bucks every month on gem store, cause I know im supporting the game, the problem, is that gemstore gives just "shitty" on return. 2k for a skin of a mount? if you think about this, you are paying close to 16€ for some "sad" skin... ok, there is some new free content... did you notice how deserted are maps from the living world already? and how grinding the game has become? do meta one time and another, and thats the way to go. You got lot of maps with 1 or 2 players on it, what will this few players ON EVERY MAP do if they want need to be 20 to enjoy some content and are just 4?

Between, expansions aren't free. This brings money to ANET, and new players. Did you hear anything about new expansion? not me.

I think the idea is fine: not pay to win, just gems for cosmetic changes, no, is not a bad idea. But, you can't sell "shit" at gold price. People will stop buying that, not even buy once. Im not putting in money for a virtual chair...

On the other side. Keys and Black Lion Chest "prices" maybe ridiculous high: If you invest 30/50 keys and you get nothing in comeback. Will you pay again for gems?Seems the model is not the problem, I think is the way is used. Maybe anet became too greedy having high prices for cheap content?

By the way: I don't thinnk Gw2 is dying, but is in need of something that bring NEW players. Playerbase is falling and if they dont encourage new (and old players) to comeback, people just burn out of grinding and the flaws already mentioned. Also, this content should not be a hard to start mission or event, like "needing 10 experiences players with a concrete build to play". Maybe something more focused on dynamic teams; public events, and solve the issue that there are lot of maps/instances without any link that spread population away.

On the other side. Maybe people is worring for nothing. Maybe all the people that left anet were on another projects, not GW2. Honestly. Do you think the new content on gemstore, or Living World requieres a team of 300 devs? not even 100?

[Gehenna.3625]

@TheQuickFox.3826 said:

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

Fault, fault... Things are always a bit more complicated. In the end, it was NCSOFTs decision to do this to a profitable studio. Because GW2 is still in the top 5 of most popular MMOs and because it was financially healthy, it did not have to be.It's a nice sound bite but these days being in the top 5 of MMOs doesn't mean much considering how poorly MMOs have done. Still, I'm sure it's healthy enough to survive for quite a while yet.

I would suggest changing your signature so it says ArenaNet and not AranaNet ;)

[TheQuickFox.3826]

@Gehenna.3625 said:

@TheQuickFox.3826 said:

@Ulyssean.1709 said:

[...]I would suggest changing your signature so it says ArenaNet and not AranaNet ;)

Done. Thanks! ;)

[Adenin.5973]

@xan.8936 said:What in the world did Ncsoft think they would accomplish by laying off actual devs from raids, fractals, world maps and living story. Do they think the money saved now will pay off later when the rest of the devs are so distraught they leave too and a once profitable game is no longer. I don't post here that often but I am truly and completely distraught over seeing a game that I have loved and played for 12 years gets treated this way.

I doubt that NCSOFT specifically told them what devs they need to lay off. I think that's an ANET decision.NCSOFT probably told them that they will cut X amount of money for ANET and that they have to focus now on getting project X,Y and Z to make profit or more profit.

And after ANET cut down the side projects already and they still needed to lay off ppl they started to go around looking in the projects they now want to focus their resources on, like GW2, where they can make cuts that don't affect the general playerbase much.

And they probably identified fractals and definetely raids, maybe PvP, maybe WvW as a niche part of the GW2 project.

It's now pretty much happening what I've said years ago here in the raids forums. That if you try to keep your content for yourself and you don't make it accessible, which for example raids are, in case they need to cut resources, your niche content will be the very first thing that gets hit.

I would really like to hear an NCSOFT statement about all of this and their side on it and where they think GW2 should be heading. I really hope we do not only see cuts made to niche content for GW2 but actually focus on new gameplay and features that add the desperately needed replayability to this game.

[JonnyForgotten.4276]

@Palador.2170 said:

@"Haishao.6851" said:He blame anet's management for this situation but he told me "Start calling it NCSoftNet from now on"

I'm thinking "ArenaSoft" myself.

I do hope that the people leaving find a way to land on their feet. I know it wouldn't surprise me if some of them were thinking of starting up a new group.

This is honestly what I am hoping for. Would love it if the group that just left got together, started a new studio, and made a new game that was totally "not" GW3 ;)

[Gemnaid.4219]

I love sitting in my chair.

[alcopaul.2156]

relax.. Guild Wars 1 out since 2005 and its servers are still up.

[AlexxxDelta.1806]

@"ScottBroChill.3254" said:Maybe NCsoft is trying to save the game? Most of their newer games died off and maybe they saw guild wars 2 was heading downhill or on a similar path to those other games, especially if Anet was mismanaging seeing as they weren't focusing enough on this game and instead on other projects that never saw the light of day. Maybe the decision to skip the expansion was enough for NCsoft to stop it because investors will see a lack of sales hike at the usual time and it won't necessarily look good if its just small price hikes from living story episodes and gemshop sales, which those gemstore sales will eventually decline because of the lack of substantial content. The living story is neat and all, but they all have to be made individually, they divide the playerbase, become obsolete fast, and they lose the ability to make grand big content that all works together like the expansions do.

We can't really say whether this is a bad or good thing yet. But I honestly wouldn't be opposed to the game going in a different direction if it doesn't mean a new microtransaction and p2w scheme.

I seriously doubt that NCsoft's way of "saving" the game will be of any benefit to the average GW2 player. Having experience with other NCsoft titles it is likely they will double down on short term profits while the game is on its last legs, meaning more microtransactions, lootboxes, tampering with in game economy/gem exchange etc. Anyone looking could see increased signs of this even before the layoffs, with Anet focusing more on gem store monetization than ever before over the past year. The pressure on them by the parent company for increased profits is pretty clear.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

@Gemnaid.4219 said:I love sitting in my chair.

I must say that sitting in a chair is better than running around with your hair on fire.

/Armchair Commander

[alcopaul.2156]

do you think that players with 9999 gems, 5000 gold++ and lots of expensive infusions spent GEMS from real money and obtained what they have? lel. (remember the early exploits and probably current hush hush exploits)

and mind you, there were people who spent kitten tons of GEMS from real money when the exchange rate was still 1 gem = 2 silver or maybe less. and converted gems to gold after.

and yeah, say you spent ~3k dollars from 2005-2019. the amount you would spent in GW1 is just buying the base games and expacs. and thats around say $300 tops. and from 2012 to now, you spent 2.7K dollars. and adjust the inflation on that if you bought gems in the beginning of the game and exchanged that to gold when the exchange rate was just what i mentioned above.

[Dragana.1497]

Josh Foreman's view on the future of GW2: https://clips.twitch.tv/MagnificentKathishStarlingArsonNoSexy

[TheQuickFox.3826]

WP: ArenaNet Staff Layoff Names Announced

[Psycoprophet.8107]

@ScottBroChill.3254 said:Maybe NCsoft is trying to save the game? Most of their newer games died off and maybe they saw guild wars 2 was heading downhill or on a similar path to those other games, especially if Anet was mismanaging seeing as they weren't focusing enough on this game and instead on other projects that never saw the light of day. Maybe the decision to skip the expansion was enough for NCsoft to stop it because investors will see a lack of sales hike at the usual time and it won't necessarily look good if its just small price hikes from living story episodes and gemshop sales, which those gemstore sales will eventually decline because of the lack of substantial content. The living story is neat and all, but they all have to be made individually, they divide the playerbase, become obsolete fast, and they lose the ability to make grand big content that all works together like the expansions do.

We can't really say whether this is a bad or good thing yet. But I honestly wouldn't be opposed to the game going in a different direction if it doesn't mean a new microtransaction and p2w scheme.

Not only this^But u people blaming nsoft who wasn’t the one making the descisions to draw resources from the one successfull project bringing in revenue slowing down its growth and development,nsoft didn’t ok side projects and miss manage them to not being successful or productive to the company,this was all arenanet. Blaming the parent company is always easy.also your blame for nsoft and reaction are a complete contradiction to what u get from the communities post on here and reddit over the last few years about how the feel arenanet is doing for the most part as a company with regards to gw2. It’s far more surprising than the news of the lay offs, perfect example of blind fandom.

[AlexxxDelta.1806]

@"Tiviana.2650" said:This is good, read the comments from Anet staff. And oo is that a blizzard recruiter in there? Maybe blizzard will snag them up and get some new blood to flood the system.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-family-philip-holt/?published=t

Hope they all find a place.

I saw Epic Games Seattle "recruiting" on a social feed too. Many of the devs being laid off are industry vets so there is demand for them.

[Stephanie.4659]

I wouldn't mind paying a sub every month, even if it came with next to no benefit personally. (Even tho ArenaNet are lovely, they would give us some sort of incentive or bonus ♥ )I've played and enjoyed GW1 & GW2, and I personally think none is more deserving.Yet I still think having people be forced into a sub isn't the right thing, but have it more as "tip the developer".

I still think GW2 has the best support staff I've ever had in my 29years of existence.Games like Call of Duty, and Final Fantasy XIV have some of the worst. (Sorry, not sorry for naming and shaming)

I was honestly hoping someone was 2 months early with their April fools day jokes when i read this. >_>

I send my deepest regards to everyone affected by this, and I hope you find a new home, with as much love and care as what this community will miss you. :(

[ScottBroChill.3254]

@AlexxxDelta.1806 said:

@"ScottBroChill.3254" said:Maybe NCsoft is trying to save the game? Most of their newer games died off and maybe they saw guild wars 2 was heading downhill or on a similar path to those other games, especially if Anet was mismanaging seeing as they weren't focusing enough on this game and instead on other projects that never saw the light of day. Maybe the decision to skip the expansion was enough for NCsoft to stop it because investors will see a lack of sales hike at the usual time and it won't necessarily look good if its just small price hikes from living story episodes and gemshop sales, which those gemstore sales will eventually decline because of the lack of substantial content. The living story is neat and all, but they all have to be made individually, they divide the playerbase, become obsolete fast, and they lose the ability to make grand big content that all works together like the expansions do.

We can't really say whether this is a bad or good thing yet. But I honestly wouldn't be opposed to the game going in a different direction if it doesn't mean a new microtransaction and p2w scheme.

I seriously doubt that NCsoft's way of "saving" the game will be of any benefit to the average GW2 player. Having experience with other NCsoft titles it is likely they will double down on short term profits while the game is on its last legs, meaning more microtransactions, lootboxes, tampering with in game economy/gem exchange etc. Anyone looking could see increased signs of this even before the layoffs, with Anet focusing more on gem store monetization than ever before over the past year. The pressure on them by the parent company for increased profits is pretty clear.

I mean before this merger wasn't Anet responsible for the focusing more on gem store monetization? I mean you gotta take what JP says with a grain of salt but if you were to believe its true, Anet bumped up gemstore monetization to basically decieve NCsoft and investors to avoid the knowledge of how much resources they were pumping into other projects. And secondly, GW2 is a very western mmo, it would be ridiculous for NCsoft to try and use a korean or asian market strategy for this game. Now, they could be completely stupid like they have in the past with CoH, but we can almost see a change of heart in terms of how they handle western games by how they let wildstar basically linger for a long time without making any profits holding on to hope that it would succeed. If we are judgin by what they have done with wildstar, then they will let the game run until its in the red and then some more. Furthermore, maybe they were seeing similar management trends between the failing games and the currently successful GW2 franchise.

In terms of listening to the community or at least having an open dialogue with us in terms of game direction, Anet of has been pretty silent as well as almost completely ignoring the communities wants. It wouldn't be such a problem if they discussed the game direction and what kind of substance they would bring to it, but they never did. The last big thing they announced was the WvW restructuring and we still know nothing about it.

Maybe I'm looking at it glass half full because I'm on the other half who hasn't been digging the game direction for awhile.

[Psycoprophet.8107]

Arendt was pushing gem store crap and other meaningless content because resources were spread to thin for them to developmeaningful content on a regular basis and the community was very vocal over past few years noticing this very trend of lack of development and communication so arenet had to give us somthing on a regular basis yay skins and gem store crap. Hopefully new management and direction with refocus on bring gw2 to what I could have been if resources weren’t drawn from it and help it reach its potential. Might be wishful thinking.

[AlexxxDelta.1806]

@ScottBroChill.3254 said:

@AlexxxDelta.1806 said:

@ScottBroChill.3254 said:Maybe NCsoft is trying to save the game? Most of their newer games died off and maybe they saw guild wars 2 was heading downhill or on a similar path to those other games, especially if Anet was mismanaging seeing as they weren't focusing enough on this game and instead on other projects that never saw the light of day. Maybe the decision to skip the expansion was enough for NCsoft to stop it because investors will see a lack of sales hike at the usual time and it won't necessarily look good if its just small price hikes from living story episodes and gemshop sales, which those gemstore sales will eventually decline because of the lack of substantial content. The living story is neat and all, but they all have to be made individually, they divide the playerbase, become obsolete fast, and they lose the ability to make grand big content that all works together like the expansions do.

We can't really say whether this is a bad or good thing yet. But I honestly wouldn't be opposed to the game going in a different direction if it doesn't mean a new microtransaction and p2w scheme.

I seriously doubt that NCsoft's way of "saving" the game will be of any benefit to the average GW2 player. Having experience with other NCsoft titles it is likely they will double down on short term profits while the game is on its last legs, meaning more microtransactions, lootboxes, tampering with in game economy/gem exchange etc. Anyone looking could see increased signs of this even before the layoffs, with Anet focusing more on gem store monetization than ever before over the past year. The pressure on them by the parent company for increased profits is pretty clear.

I mean before this merger wasn't Anet responsible for the focusing more on gem store monetization? I mean you gotta take what JP says with a grain of salt but if you were to believe its true, Anet bumped up gemstore monetization to basically decieve NCsoft and investors to avoid the knowledge of how much resources they were pumping into other projects. And secondly, GW2 is a very western mmo, it would be ridiculous for NCsoft to try and use a korean or asian market strategy for this game. Now, they could be completely stupid like they have in the past with CoH, but we can almost see a change of heart in terms of how they handle western games by how they let wildstar basically linger for a long time without making any profits holding on to hope that it would succeed. If we are judgin by what they have done with wildstar, then they will let the game run until its in the red and then some more. Furthermore, maybe they were seeing similar management trends between the failing games and the currently successful GW2 franchise.

In terms of listening to the community or at least having an open dialogue with us in terms of game direction, Anet of has been pretty silent as well as almost completely ignoring the communities wants. It wouldn't be such a problem if they discussed the game direction and what kind of substance they would bring to it, but they never did. The last big thing they announced was the WvW restructuring and we still know nothing about it.

Maybe I'm looking at it glass half full because I'm on the other half who hasn't been digging the game direction for awhile.

Of course Anet's management decisions played a part in all this but when it comes to monetization it's all about NCsoft's targets. Don't forget we are talking about the same NCsoft who reportedly considers GW2 profits underwhelming because they are not on par with their exploitative money milking machine that is their mobile games. Yes, the focus will be back on GW2 and on paper it's a good thing, but in what form now that NCSoft is fully at the helm?

[alcopaul.2156]

do you think that players with 9999 gems, 5000K gold++ and lots of expensive infusions spent GEMS from real money and obtained what they have? lel. (remember the early exploits and probably current hush hush exploits)

and mind you, there were people who spent kitten tons of GEMS from real money when the exchange rate was still 1 gem = 2 silver or maybe less. and immediately converted gems to gold after.

and yeah, say you spent ~3k dollars from 2005-2019. the amount you would spent in GW1 is just buying the base games and expacs. and thats around say $300 tops. and from 2012 to now, you spent 2.7K dollars. and adjust the inflation on that if you bought gems in the beginning of the game and exchanged that to gold when the exchange rate was just what i mentioned above.

[metalhev.6872]

@"Psycoprophet.8107" said:Arendt was pushing gem store kitten and other meaningless content because resources were spread to thin for them to developmeaningful content on a regular basis and the community was very vocal over past few years noticing this very trend of lack of development and communication so arenet had to give us somthing on a regular basis yay skins and gem store kitten. Hopefully new management and direction with refocus on bring gw2 to what I could have been if resources weren’t drawn from it and help it reach its potential. Might be wishful thinking.

Yeah, people going "booboo NCSoft evil poor ANet" seem to not notice the fact the game has been in cashcow mode for a few years now, getting 1% actual content and 99% cashshop stuff.

[hugo.4705]

Gonna be hard to have another expansion now. Also the unfinished things will stay unfinished.-Polymock will stay unavailable... guess I'm not missing anything was the case during 6years.-Nobody will see old LA again apart in personal story.-SAB will never be finished, condemned to only have 2 worlds.-Cerebro jumping puzzle will never be implemented, again was the case for 6 years so..-Dungeons will continue to rot at a point nobody will ever remember them.-WvW classes will never be fixed so is that bad balance in PvP or PvE too.-No chance to see player housing or Cantha.-Charr homelands? Eventually.

Winter is coming, apocalypse is near. Prepare yourself to only see gemstore updates and mount skins now, the only thing that was supported since the start of the game.I have not much hopes and dreams now. I really hope I'm wrong and that the game will be greater than ever but that's an hard to swallow pill.

[ScottBroChill.3254]

@AlexxxDelta.1806 said:

@ScottBroChill.3254 said:

@AlexxxDelta.1806 said:

@ScottBroChill.3254 said:Maybe NCsoft is trying to save the game? Most of their newer games died off and maybe they saw guild wars 2 was heading downhill or on a similar path to those other games, especially if Anet was mismanaging seeing as they weren't focusing enough on this game and instead on other projects that never saw the light of day. Maybe the decision to skip the expansion was enough for NCsoft to stop it because investors will see a lack of sales hike at the usual time and it won't necessarily look good if its just small price hikes from living story episodes and gemshop sales, which those gemstore sales will eventually decline because of the lack of substantial content. The living story is neat and all, but they all have to be made individually, they divide the playerbase, become obsolete fast, and they lose the ability to make grand big content that all works together like the expansions do.

We can't really say whether this is a bad or good thing yet. But I honestly wouldn't be opposed to the game going in a different direction if it doesn't mean a new microtransaction and p2w scheme.

I seriously doubt that NCsoft's way of "saving" the game will be of any benefit to the average GW2 player. Having experience with other NCsoft titles it is likely they will double down on short term profits while the game is on its last legs, meaning more microtransactions, lootboxes, tampering with in game economy/gem exchange etc. Anyone looking could see increased signs of this even before the layoffs, with Anet focusing more on gem store monetization than ever before over the past year. The pressure on them by the parent company for increased profits is pretty clear.

I mean before this merger wasn't Anet responsible for the focusing more on gem store monetization? I mean you gotta take what JP says with a grain of salt but if you were to believe its true, Anet bumped up gemstore monetization to basically decieve NCsoft and investors to avoid the knowledge of how much resources they were pumping into other projects. And secondly, GW2 is a very western mmo, it would be ridiculous for NCsoft to try and use a korean or asian market strategy for this game. Now, they could be completely stupid like they have in the past with CoH, but we can almost see a change of heart in terms of how they handle western games by how they let wildstar basically linger for a long time without making any profits holding on to hope that it would succeed. If we are judgin by what they have done with wildstar, then they will let the game run until its in the red and then some more. Furthermore, maybe they were seeing similar management trends between the failing games and the currently successful GW2 franchise.

In terms of listening to the community or at least having an open dialogue with us in terms of game direction, Anet of has been pretty silent as well as almost completely ignoring the communities wants. It wouldn't be such a problem if they discussed the game direction and what kind of substance they would bring to it, but they never did. The last big thing they announced was the WvW restructuring and we still know nothing about it.

Maybe I'm looking at it glass half full because I'm on the other half who hasn't been digging the game direction for awhile.

Of course Anet's management decisions played a part in all this but when it comes to monetization it's all about NCsoft's targets. Don't forget we are talking about the same NCsoft who reportedly considers GW2 profits underwhelming because they are not on par with their exploitative money milking machine that is their mobile games. Yes, the focus will be back on GW2 and on paper it's a good thing, but in what form now that NCSoft is fully at the helm?

I just highly doubt NCsoft truly believes the same strategies can be applied to a western mmo as they are to asian mobile game market. All mobile games are microtransaction p2w clusters of nonsense with very little actual content. If they do and you're right, then the games doomed because it just wont succeed here.

[killfil.3472]

You have my support, guys.All of it.Is there anything I can do to help?

[JustTrogdor.7892]

The best thing players can do to help is play the game as they normally would. If something is in the gem store you actually want buy it as you normally would.

[snh.7091]

I would be very cautious about paying for something during this time. With NCSoft one can never know (those who have experience with them know what I'm talking about).

For now, the best will be to put your wallet aside and watch. You wouldn't want NC to cancel the entire show and take your most recent spendings, would you?

I know what's been said, that GW2 remains untouched, for now. But will it, really? Patience guys. There's no way of telling what's below surface level in troubled waters.

By spending you're not saving the people who got laid off, nor should you take it, that a few skin purchases here and there now will magically change the situation. Be real.