Update From the Guild Wars 2 Team

[Mike Zadorojny.7058]

Hi everyone,

This past week there have been a lot of questions about the status of Guild Wars 2. I’d like to share with you a little about what’s currently going on at the studio and what it means for the game.

The Guild Wars 2 team is still committed to bringing content and feature updates to the game. The next episodes of Living World are already in development, Swiss tournament support is coming to PvP, we’re looking at more WvW events coming soon, and the return of the Super Adventure Festival is imminent. Our long-term plans for the game like World Restructuring and large-scale improvements to quality of life are still in the works.

The studio has recently been affected by layoffs, which is going to take some time to process. There’s no easy way for any team to adjust to that. We've had to say goodbye to friends and colleagues that we've worked alongside for years. We’re welcoming back some familiar faces to the Guild Wars 2 team that had been working on unannounced projects. After all is said and done, it's going to take some time for us to adjust to our staffing changes.

As the proverbial dust settles in the next few days we're going to re-evaluate our schedules to make sure that our releases are realistic and allow us the time to make sure they hit our internal quality bar. This means that some updates are going to see delays, like the recent Warclaw, as we regain our focus.

I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of you who have reached out in support of our studio family. Thank you for your patience in this trying time. We’re making every effort to keep things running as smoothly as possible and stay on track with releases. Rest assured that ArenaNet is not done with Guild Wars. And the team is not done with our tale of dragons, or our eternal conflict in the mists. There’s still lots for us to do together.

We’ll see you in Tyria,z & the Guild Wars 2 Team

[Holykitten.3064]

Thanks for the update Z. Big decisions like what has just happened are bound to affect those who were ‘spared’. I wish all the best of luck, whether with Anet or not.

I was concerned a lot of good pinned posts have vanished from General Discussion, due to Gaile Grays account heading them? Or because a player created them (like the Gemstore update thread)? Can these be restored somehow? Or is this just a glitch?

[steve.2945]

Thank you for the update, I wish you guys the best and I'm looking forward to more of your endeavors!

[Naxos.2503]

Thank you very much for taking the time to communicate with us, it might not be as in-depth as most people want, but it is very appreciated regardless. I can safely say the Community felt the loss as well

[pixie.5940]

Love you all and sending my nerdy gamer good vibes to ANet! Do what is needed. Thank you for telling us the update. B)

[Danikat.8537]

Thanks very much for taking the time to keep us up to date.

As I've said in various topics my work has been going through something similar and all this has made me very thankful we're not under the same kind of public scrutiny as Anet, I can only imagine how much more difficult that makes it.

I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out in future. This mention of large scale QoL improvements is especially intriguing to me.

[Randulf.7614]

Thanks Mike. Most people will understand the time required to readjust so that is fine

Hopefully when the dust has settled again in the coming weeks, you can focus also on communication and roadmaps. This game is desperate for it, not this top secretive feel it is has kept to for years. This is really the only studio to keep such poor communication, so this is your time for a fresh start in this regard.

You have lost some outstanding colleagues which is sad for you and sad for us. The best way to get through that is to celebrate and communicate more detail in the future of the game as well as in the delivery.

Thanks for coming out to address us during a difficult time

[Ultima.5318]

@Mike Zadorojny.7058 said:This means that some updates are going to see delays, like the recent Warclaw, as we regain our focus.

Does this mean the Warclaw/balance update is going to be delayed further or are we still expecting to see it on the 5th?

[Milea.6043]

Thank you Mike!~Milly

[Erasculio.2914]

Good luck for all of you, I hope the next days will be happier ones at ArenaNet's HQ.

[Ni In.6578]

Thank you for the update. I think we're all looking forward to a re-invigorated team dedicating themselves to continuing GW2 and making awesome updates.

RE: Warclaw delay. Can we have ANet have a true 'sit down' discussion with long term WvW players as to the impact of this new feature on the game mode? While there have been many threads in the WvW forum, on reddit, and so on, there hasn't been any response from devs other than the delay of the mount. There are real concerns and a constructive discussion (if one can be had ;)) would benefit those who dedicate themselves to this game mode.

Thanks!

[Baramaat.7439]

Thank you for the update, I appreciate it! I wish the team all the best and look forward to the future of the game.

[Susy.7529]

Thanks for the update, comunication is very important, especially in cases like this one, I don't have much to say, it was already speculated and discussed more than enough by now in these days in many threads.I just hope you can readjust your projects soon enough, to make GW2 even greater.

[Sango Hunter.8679]

Thanks for the update! Have loved the game since Guild Wars 1 came out and still love playing GW2.

[Trise.2865]

Keep doing what you do, and keep being awesome, everyone.

[Raven.4673]

Thank you for the update and best wishes to everyone impacted by the layoffs.

[NovaanVerdiano.6174]

Thanks for the update and please, take your time to get settled. Times like this are never easy.

That being said, is there any chance we may see some sort of roadmap with your future plans in a few weeks, when you feel confident sharing?

[LucianDK.8615]

A roadmap would definitely go a long way to adressing concerns.

[PaladinVII.1647]

This will be my first post in years after self removal from your forums in protest. I stopped posting because of the poor communication between community and developers. I stopped posting because of overzealous moderators.

I believe my words have weight when I say thank you for opening the lines of communication. Please continue to do so going forward. Good luck to you and your team in this difficult time. I do not believe your team deserved this level of repercussions.

[Pagio.3029]

Thanks for the update Mike. We really need the Anet's voice these bad times.Thank you

[Dami.5046]

Thank you and I'll be looking forward to what is being planned :)

[Edward H Angle.1407]

Time to bring Colin back and save our game.

[Skyroar.2974]

Thank you for the update. One thing I hope to see from Anet in the near future, after things have settled, is a roadmap for GW2's direction.

I also think it would be wise to rethink how the company communicates with its community. Not showing anything until it is done works for LS releases, because they usually have a set schedule and a minimum content expected from players (map + story), so anything extra (like mounts, sun's refuge, etc.) is a pleasant surprise. However, this secretive strategy doesn't works as well for other areas of the game. PvP, WvW, fractal and raids players being left in the dark has had a negative impact on those communities. So far, it seems like the only purpose of the "no talk" communication strategy has been to hide the lack of investment and lack of resources forwarded to those areas. If Anet continues to be overly secretive while offering close to nothing for any non-lw content, non-lw players will lose faith in the game.

[Slugonaut.9841]

Thank you, Mike <3

[jediwolf.8724]

Thanks for the update. Everyone there has been though a lot.If things need to be delay so be it. Take the time you all need to regroup.