ArenaNet Studio Update: July 2021

[GrayHawk.7560]

Mega hyped.  Wish I could give a thanks and a like on the the post.  Welcome back guys, we've missed you!  Given what's happening in the world right now we needed this win, thank you!

[Ashantara.8731]

11 hours ago, radda.8920 said:

This screen destroyed my slight hype, shing jea it was never that kind of  fluorescent land  like wow, it's just disgusting.

 

No kidding what is this green goose crap that stings the eyes. And in fact the vibe of the fractal, that was exactly what we're going to have here.

I have so much the image of the cantha of guild wars 1 which remains quite sober, dark even creepy during practically all the campaign of guild wars faction, that I will quickly be disillusioned if this continent is transformed into Polly Pocket.

 

Errr...

 

1. Re-calibrate your monitor, perhaps? (Or deactivate in-game Post Processing. )

2. It's artwork, not the actual thing.

3. Shing Jea Island has always been very colorful, never "dark" or "creepy" - so I don't know what you're talking about.

 

Edit: I find the artwort quite appealing - certainly nothing like "My Little Pony", as someone else here suggested, or "Polly Pocket".  I'd love them to put that out in wallpaper size. 👍

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Ashantara.8731

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

43 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

 

Errr...

 

1. Re-calibrate your monitor, perhaps? (Or deactivate in-game Post Processing. )

2. It's artwork, not the actual thing.

3. Shing Jea Island has always been very colorful, never "dark" or "creepy" - so I don't know what you're talking about.

 

Edit: I find the artwort quite appealing - certainly nothing like "My Little Pony", as someone else here suggested, or "Polly Pocket".  I'd love them to put that out in wallpaper size. 👍

 

As stated before, the second picture is an in-game screenshot, not 'artwork'. 

 

I think it looks fine, but others have their own thoughts. 

[Demeth.5816]

I'm so happy they communicate with us like that again, when you have no clue where the game is going, you don't really wanna launch the game, but even this motivated me again to play!

[Ashantara.8731]

57 minutes ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

As stated before, the second picture is an in-game screenshot, not 'artwork'.

 

What second picture??

 

*goes looking it up* Oops! I missed this one. Ahem. Well, post-processing in GW2 has always been eye-kitten in many cases as it screws a lot of maps up rather than enriching their visuals. It's why I don't use it.

[Pifil.5193]

There seems to be a lot of premature hype over this post. Let's see what and when they actually deliver.

[Zirael.4279]

really happy about these news! I wonder if we'll be getting any new raids though, would love to see raids getting more attention. 

[leet.2519]

honestly yall brought tear to my eye, I want see the game do well and thrive. played gw1,gw2 from when I was really young. I love the game please take your time do it right. <3

[SkyFurY.6057]

Nothing new... anet will stall time with ls achievements.

I dont belive anything that they say at all. Alliances??? yea good joke.

All they do is stalling time and release gemshop crap.

 

I dont get how ppl can get hyped... they dont even have anything to show.

These are empty words like always.

 

[Fueki.4753]

"ArenaNet was founded with the goal of pursuing innovation by focusing on solving player problems first. Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 are direct results of this pursuit. It’s essential that this player-first approach is at the heart of everything we do going forward."

 

I'd like to know exactly what you at Arenanet understand in this part I quoted.

Because the things I consider player-first don't seem to be represented by that:

 

- There is next to no communication between players and developers.

- There literally is no balance in this game and the occasional changes aren't even attempting to balance the game.

- There has been not a single comment on why Arenanet is happy with Warrior and Elementalists being below the bottom 

   of the barrel, while Guardians and Necromancers are are too far above the barrel.

- There is no option to turn off ALL particle effects of other players to improve the game's performance.

 

Based on what I'm experiencing, Arenanet seems to be primarily focussed on the Gem Store, not on player experience.

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Fueki.4753

[Wedge.2579]

Please take all the time you need! Thank you for letting us know. I know that there are a lot of players (like me) who can take this time to get caught up on all the awesome content that we missed during the first 6 years of the game! I only knew about GW2 for 3 years and I need the time to catch up.

Keep up the fantastic work, we love and support you!

<3

[Razorsharp Blade.9283]

So I want to say I'm not going to keep my hopes high just yet cause I don't want to get disappointed again, as sad as that might sound. But after reading the last studio update from July I was honestly feeling pretty happy cause I've been wanting to play Guild Wars 2 sooo bad again cause I love this game so much, but it's just so hard to get into it again when almost all the content that has been put out the last couple of years have been HEAVILY geared towards the casual community with almost nothing to show for when it comes to high end PvE and PvP/WvW, and has felt fairly rushed and not really polished. 

 

First things first, my biggest issue with this game to this day is the terrible performance, and reading that "Client performance optimization" line brought a tear to my eye almost, it's so frustrating that even after 8 years after release my performance with newer high end gear barely even touches the framerate compared to 2012 (Yes I'm a sucker for FPS, or at least stable FPS). So this is a change that is so badly needed for this game and I thank you so much for finally speaking on it!

 

And as a player who loves all PvP/WvW and PvE equally I'm more than thrilled to see that this year confirms alliances, WvW needs some love so bad and so does PvP and it makes a veteran happy to see some life being sparked into the WvW scene, but we've yet to see how it'll turn out and how it's implemented so I won't celebrate early. I just hope PvP gets some love too! (Please release permanent deathmatch/arena mode).

 

And I think the idea of pushing the release of End of Dragons to early next year is a great move since it feels like it was such a "holy crap we need to release this asap" move like we have seen from so many publishers before and it only ending up being rushed and buggy. So kudos to that, but please don't forget your veteran / hardcore community with this release, show WvW/PvP and high end PvE some love too! 

 

And before anyone gets triggered at me mentioning the dreaded word "Casuals" I'm not criticizing casual players, but the divide in this community seems to grow larger for every year, and I keep seeing people rushing to forums posts asking for challenging content saying  "NO THIS MY GAME, GO WOW IF YOU WANT HARD" type of response, there is room for everyone here so lets keep the love between all players and lets make sure to work with Arenanet to make End of Dragons the best release yet!

 

Peace and love from a GW1/2 Veteran who wants to come back!

 

P.S The Shing Jea picture looks amazing 

[Wounder.7526]

I surprised myself when I started crying uncontrollably for ten minutes in the car with my family today. I did not realize just how much I missed you, Colin. You have been sorely missed, and Guild Wars 2 has not been the same without you. From the bottom of my heart, welcome home <3

(Apologies if there are any typos above; I can't see because now I'm crying again)

[Kersya.3145]

I see Panda mount incoming.

Could even be a Crane bird similar to an Ostrich.

Edited July 3, 2021 by Kersya.3145

[KryTiKaL.3125]

2 hours ago, Fueki.4753 said:

"ArenaNet was founded with the goal of pursuing innovation by focusing on solving player problems first. Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 are direct results of this pursuit. It’s essential that this player-first approach is at the heart of everything we do going forward."

 

I'd like to know exactly what you at Arenanet understand in this part I quoted.

Because the things I consider player-first don't seem to be represented by that:

 

- There is next to no communication between players and developers.

- There literally is no balance in this game and the occasional changes aren't even attempting to balance the game.

- There has been not a single comment on why Arenanet is happy with Warrior and Elementalists being below the bottom 

   of the barrel, while Guardians and Necromancers are are too far above the barrel.

- There is no option to turn off ALL particle effects of other players to improve the game's performance.

 

Based on what I'm experiencing, Arenanet seems to be primarily focussed on the Gem Store, not on player experience.

 

 

Fully in agreement with you on these things, but to be fair they did state in this blog post that they are approaching things differently going forward. They acknowledged that they haven't handled it well up to this point. Them at least saying they are going to do it differently was, I think, the entire point of the blog post.

 

Now we will have to wait and see if their statements hold true, that things will change going into the future, but as of right now at least they acknowledged their mistakes in the past with this blog post. At minimum that is a first step.

 

Also at the very least I feel a little more affirmed in my assertions over the last few years that ANet has not communicated enough with the players, despite all of the "They communicate with us just fine!" backlash constantly flung back at me, and others, by the ever present crowd on these forums. Clearly ANet agreed that they weren't doing enough.

[Fueki.4753]

30 minutes ago, KryTiKaL.3125 said:

 

Fully in agreement with you on these things, but to be fair they did state in this blog post that they are approaching things differently going forward. They acknowledged that they haven't handled it well up to this point. Them at least saying they are going to do it differently was, I think, the entire point of the blog post.

 

Now we will have to wait and see if their statements hold true, that things will change going into the future, but as of right now at least they acknowledged their mistakes in the past with this blog post. At minimum that is a first step.

 

Also at the very least I feel a little more affirmed in my assertions over the last few years that ANet has not communicated enough with the players, despite all of the "They communicate with us just fine!" backlash constantly flung back at me, and others, by the ever present crowd on these forums. Clearly ANet agreed that they weren't doing enough.

We can only hope they really change directions instead of only claiming to do so.

[Touchme.1097]

Dear ArenaNet staff, I welcome your choices on your Studio Update and getting a Game Director on board before the release of EoD.

I still have faith on you and I am proud of you, looking forward to play the new expansion.

Do your best to deliver the most successful GW2 expansion, good luck.

 

[Ashantara.8731]

6 hours ago, Pifil.5193 said:

There seems to be a lot of premature hype over this post. Let's see what and when they actually deliver.

 

I believe it's a psychological thing: people feel those things are more likely to happen for real if they encourage the devs with positive reactions to these news.

[Gorem.8104]

The hype is so real!!! GW2 LETS GOOO!!! 

[hugo.4705]

3 hours ago, Fueki.4753 said:

"ArenaNet was founded with the goal of pursuing innovation by focusing on solving player problems first. Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 are direct results of this pursuit. It’s essential that this player-first approach is at the heart of everything we do going forward."

 

I'd like to know exactly what you at Arenanet understand in this part I quoted.

Because the things I consider player-first don't seem to be represented by that:

 

- There is next to no communication between players and developers.

- There literally is no balance in this game and the occasional changes aren't even attempting to balance the game.

- There has been not a single comment on why Arenanet is happy with Warrior and Elementalists being below the bottom 

   of the barrel, while Guardians and Necromancers are are too far above the barrel.

- There is no option to turn off ALL particle effects of other players to improve the game's performance.

 

Based on what I'm experiencing, Arenanet seems to be primarily focussed on the Gem Store, not on player experience.

 

Will agree with this statement.

 

Communications went worst and worst.

We used to have AFC on forums, does anyone remember that, when we used to have those Anet Forum Chats, with a theme, and everone asked questions and getting answers from story or lores devs?

 

The balancing shows the game isn't played and favorise some professions and specializations above others. No, your pof spec or hot spec isn't at the same level as the core ones. Like made on purpose to purchase expac. A joke for a game telling you to play how you want without favorising anything.

 

The particles and flashing effects is a real nightmare and this have to be dealt with. I don't even see red aoe of boneskinner strike with all the thunderstorm and light balls covering the middle of the arena...

[Tuna Bandit.3786]

I was expecting a lot for the future, but this dx11 thing blew me off my socks.

That is some serious investment in modernizing the engine and I applaud you for undertaking that effort.

 

And considering the whole pandemic and issues currently going on in the world, I am not the slightest bothered by the delay of End of Dragons. If anything, I rather see a delay than a half baked product as many game companies have done recently to make their deadlines.

 

As for the Communication, Loving it. Keep it up!

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

2 hours ago, KryTiKaL.3125 said:

 

Fully in agreement with you on these things, but to be fair they did state in this blog post that they are approaching things differently going forward. They acknowledged that they haven't handled it well up to this point. Them at least saying they are going to do it differently was, I think, the entire point of the blog post.

 

Now we will have to wait and see if their statements hold true, that things will change going into the future, but as of right now at least they acknowledged their mistakes in the past with this blog post. At minimum that is a first step.

 

Also at the very least I feel a little more affirmed in my assertions over the last few years that ANet has not communicated enough with the players, despite all of the "They communicate with us just fine!" backlash constantly flung back at me, and others, by the ever present crowd on these forums. Clearly ANet agreed that they weren't doing enough.

(It seems silly that the forums don't nest quotes, but...)

 

To be fair, ArenaNet has, in the past, admitted they don't communicate enough, and stated they will do better.  And they do better...for a short period of time.

I feel encouraged by this News Blog, and fervently hope that this time it is something they take to heart and actualize. 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Also, from the picture in the News Blog, it looks like the Devs are still working from home.

Will they be going back to the studio any time soon?

Have some returned?  None?  No plans to? Is it a choice?

 

Would love to hear what's going on; we have not had a Guild Chat in a long time.  Inquiring minds want to know! 

[Zok.4956]

23 hours ago, Svarty.8019 said:

What happened to the mysterious Mike Z?

Mike Zadorojny - Guild Wars 2 Wiki (GW2W)

He left Arenanet in November 2019. After he left, the company looked for a new Game Director for a long time.

 

[Dragon.4782]

On 7/2/2021 at 2:18 PM, Linken.6345 said:

So what is that mesmer holding in the blogpost a dagger?

...well it might be a spear since what appears to be a shaft end over her shoulder. I could be wrong but either way, it's clear this is the mesmer elite spec.