Would you crowdfund an engine upgrade?

[Veprovina.4876]

1 hour ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Exactly.  Only Anet knows how easy or hard this would be.  I'm guessing that they've already decided it is not worth the time/effort/money/resources or that doing so would not be profitable.  If upgrading the engine would bring in more money for their investors, Anet would have done so well before now.

That's why i made the poll.

Like i said in the OP - the poll is about crowdfunding because the premise is what you described, that Anet doesn't consider it profitable. So since it's assumed no money would come out of an engine upgrade for anet, the question is, would players want to invest in a better experience themselves.

 

So far the poll says no to a new engine, but yes to an engine upgrade. Interesting!

 

57 minutes ago, Mik.3401 said:

And that leads me to believe EoD might be the last expansion coming. I’m not trying to be negative, I’d love the game to live on for years and years to come like WoW does. But yes, without necessary upgrades and the new gaming technology coming in next years the things will just get worse and worse. Anet surely has some business strategy team or whatever and they know this obstacle is coming.

Let's hope they go out with a bang then. 🙂

But yeah, if the engine stays like it is now, EoD will indeed be the last expansion.

Maybe they'll milk another Living World season out of it but beyond that, i highly doubt the game will survive.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I think the poll is a little skewed. 

One can not vote for more than one option, so if one would be against both paying for engine and engine upgrade, or conversely, for both, there's no way to vote for that.  Or for one and against the other. 

[Danikat.8537]

51 minutes ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

I think the poll is a little skewed. 

One can not vote for more than one option, so if one would be against both paying for engine and engine upgrade, or conversely, for both, there's no way to vote for that.  Or for one and against the other. 

You can pick more than one option. 

 

I picked both no options because I think Anet crowd funding for GW2 would be absurd. This isn't some little indie studio, if they need more funding they can negotiate with NCSoft to keep more of their profits, or even ask for extra funding which they will pay back later. That's the entire reason publishers exist and why they get a cut of the profits.

[Doggie.3184]

16 hours ago, Thornwolf.9721 said:

I mean at this stage, the only reason this game is allowed to exist is because NCsoft really has nothing that can compete or even replace it once its gone. Like what? Aion classic. LMFAO they killed that game by doing EXACTLY what A-net has been doing to guild wars 2 over the years... but I agree.

Honestly we need a complete new team, with a solid foundation and vision and a guild wars 3.  This game will never be more than it is... 

 

MMO market in general is like that. There's only like 3 of them worth playing in 2021 and Aion certainly isn't one of them, nor anything else out of Korea.

 

I would probably, but I'd prefer they would actually make things I like for gemstore for money. It's been years since there's been something I liked enough to spend cash on. Their fashion sense and quality is just really bad to me. 

I'd also go with upgrade cuz I've seen the results of a new engine in PSO2 recently and it's mostly disappointing XD

Edited June 29, 2021 by Doggie.3184

[sasya neko.1985]

i am already paying an outrageous price for simple stuff in the GEM store, if they still don't have the money to upgrade the engine then they need a better financial manager.

[Astralporing.1957]

17 hours ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

That would be a fellony though lol, if they get money for a specific thing then spend it on something else.

It would not be a felony if they used the money for GW2, but withdrawn the same amount from GW2 for other projects though.

 

Regardless, the point remains - i prefer to pay for things i actually get, when they are good enough for it. I'd rather not pay for things that may improve the game somewhere in the future (but also may not change anything, or even make things worse). I'd also rather not make devs (any devs, not specifically Anet ones) think that they can sell us parts and pieces of a game piecemeal for far more than they'd cost if the old style pricing models were used.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

1 hour ago, Danikat.8537 said:

You can pick more than one option. 

 

I picked both no options because I think Anet crowd funding for GW2 would be absurd. This isn't some little indie studio, if they need more funding they can negotiate with NCSoft to keep more of their profits, or even ask for extra funding which they will pay back later. That's the entire reason publishers exist and why they get a cut of the profits.

Oh!  I had no idea.  Thanks for the heads-up!

[notebene.3190]

Engine upgrades come with model graphic upgrades, and their track record of touching things in this area and producing a negative result are very high, as some people decide to fix things that don't need to be fixed, like immersion breaking animations.

 

So if there is a a new engine, I'd just as soon they save it for GW2, and they can feel free to make character models like New World, which seems to be the norm these days, and I can not play that game and play this game, until they pull the plug, and then there's nothing left to play. 🙂

[IndigoSundown.5419]

I believe there is room for crowdfunding projects by developers who have no other backing. I don't believe in crowdfunding corporate subsidiaries.  Crowdfunding a corporate entity is backwards.  Let the corporation (or subsidiary, in this case) create a product and if that product is appealing and worth it, I'll pay.

[Smoosh.2718]

An Engine upgrade is 100% needed for the game, it currently runs like dog compared to other games which have been around for the same amount of time.
FFXIV as an example upgdraded DX9 to DX11, which has massivly aided the games performance.

The one thing I do not agree with is that it should be crowd funded. This needs to be done under the budget of Anet/NCsoft. If they really care about the game, an engine upgrade is something it needs as the current performance is horrible, jarring and offputting.

[Xanadrine.4352]

19 hours ago, Thornwolf.9721 said:

Daddy NCsoft has enough money. Let them foot the bill.

They rather pull the plug and stick to high profit mobile games that they dont need any real development for.

[Xanadrine.4352]

8 hours ago, Dawdler.8521 said:

Its been 9 years. The warranty has already expired.

 

"Just port the game to another engine" shows how far removed from reality it is.

 

You know who tried this too? EA, using one of the most modern and best engines at the time. It turned out to be a trainwreck because wouldnt you know, engines are highly specialized and you cant just plop an fps engine onto an MMO.

WoW upgraded and went DX12 and the performance increase worth it. So yes you can, the problem here is , and this is very telling and makes me sad, they dont have the skilled people to do it. That means they are working with a skeleton crew just limping the game along. Look at all the things that need attention, that dont get done after years and years. Dont think an expansion coming out means they have full crews to take care of the game. Unless they have changed some major things with the expansion GW2 will continue to deteriorate. 

[Dawdler.8521]

47 minutes ago, Zuldari.3940 said:

WoW upgraded and went DX12 and the performance increase worth it. 

Whats the worth? From what I've heard WoW is pretty much dead.

[artharon.9276]

I don't see how switching the engine would improve the game. I saw the ray-tracing results, tested it in VR mode. not really satisfying. and even if they ever really need to upgrade the engine, I think NCsoft and their enormous budget, which is billions of dollars, should be used for that, not donations.

Edited June 29, 2021 by artharon.9276

[Xanadrine.4352]

44 minutes ago, Dawdler.8521 said:

Whats the worth? From what I've heard WoW is pretty much dead.

Well sorry to inform you the tales of its demise are false. Just like people say GW2 is dead all the time also. WoW is still the most played mmo in 2021 with final fantasy ARR behind it. WoW is a very good game, I know I played it every day for 14 years straight, that paying 15.00 a month for 14 years, I wouldnt do that if the game was not good. Besides people have been saying wow is dead since 2004, it never gets old.

 

Another thing GW2 going to steam, steam says no go without DX11/12, thats why the move has been postponed indefinitely 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Zuldari.3940

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

22 minutes ago, Zuldari.3940 said:

Well sorry to inform you the tales of its demise are false. Just like people say GW2 is dead all the time also. WoW is still the most played mmo in 2021 with final fantasy ARR behind it. WoW is a very good game, I know I played it every day for 14 years straight, that paying 15.00 a month for 14 years, I wouldnt do that if the game was not good. Besides people have been saying wow is dead since 2004, it never gets old.

 

Another thing GW2 going to steam, steam says no go without DX11/12, thats why the move has been postponed indefinitely 

Oh, really?  I'd be interested in seeing the Steam statement about refusing Guild Wars 2 because of Dx11/12. 

Is Guild Wars Dx11/12? Isn't Guild Wars on Steam? 

[Xanadrine.4352]

Just now, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Oh, really?  I'd be interested in seeing the Steam statement about refusing Guild Wars 2 because of Dx11/12. 

Is Guild Wars Dx11/12? Isn't Guild Wars on Steam? 

I dont know maybe, gw is the same basic engine they used to GW2. I read on steam that without dx11/12 will cause issues. or maybe they are waiting till the expansion, who knows they may pull a Blizzard and upgrade with the xpack like WoW did.

[Veprovina.4876]

3 minutes ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Oh, really?  I'd be interested in seeing the Steam statement about refusing Guild Wars 2 because of Dx11/12. 

Is Guild Wars Dx11/12? Isn't Guild Wars on Steam? 

I'd like to see that too. I wasn't aware Steam release was postponed because GW2 doesn't have DX11/12 support.

 

I mean, DOS games exist on steam, how is DX11/12 a requirement? 😕

[Xanadrine.4352]

2 minutes ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

I'd like to see that too. I wasn't aware Steam release was postponed because GW2 doesn't have DX11/12 support.

 

I mean, DOS games exist on steam, how is DX11/12 a requirement? 😕

Not saying it is, there was discussion on it on steam is all. People thinking the delay may be about the DX.

[Veprovina.4876]

4 minutes ago, Zuldari.3940 said:

Not saying it is, there was discussion on it on steam is all. People thinking the delay may be about the DX.

Ah, I see. 

I mean, I doubt it, especially due to how many crap unstable games Steam has. If stability or some modern technology support was mandatory, Steam would have way less games lol.

[Xanadrine.4352]

1 minute ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

Ah, I see. 

I mean, I doubt it, especially due to how many crap unstable games Steam has. If stability or some modern technology support was mandatory, Steam would have way less games lol.

Thats true, I dont use steam personally. But regardless an upgrade would make this game so much better to run. Shame it wont happen though. They need to hire a game engineer lol  

[Dawdler.8521]

1 minute ago, Zuldari.3940 said:

Thats true, I dont use steam personally.

Well if you did, you'd know that Steam automatically installs whatever DirectX version is required at first runtime of all games you install. Yes, that includes DX9.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

They have one:   Dr.  Stephen_Clarke-Willson

http://www.above-the-garage.com/resume/index.html

 

He still works on Guild Wars 2; you can often find him in-game, as well. 

 

[Xanadrine.4352]

3 hours ago, Follyfoot.2803 said:

It's looking more like what many people have said is true.  There is no real programming talent left at A-net.  All they have left are a team of skin designers.

Wow you are right https://boards.greenhouse.io/arenanet/jobs/3158829

https://www.arena.net/en/careers#listings

All i see are monetization and skin designers , who is running the hardware!  

[Obtena.7952]

Engine upgrades or all new ones are tricky to fund ... because as a player, I don't think I need it to enjoy engine stuff to enjoy the game. I played Anarchy Online ... it took them about ... 3 years IIRC in the twilight of the game to implement it? It's really hard to see the value of it in that case. I don't even recall being around to see it be rolled out. It became a meme in the end. 

 

If there was an engine upgrade, I would STILL probably buy it knowing it's good for other people and somehow, I would benefit from it too. It's just too elusive as to what value I get from such a thing. 

 

I would literally tack it on to an expansion, adding the cost of development to it and build the expansion around it if possible. That way it wouldn't affect people who play the non-expansion content. Of course I know little of these things and the complication that would cause to have a part of the game as 'new engine' (not even sure if that can be done!) ... but that's how I would do it. 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Obtena.7952