EoD end of an era.

[Randulf.7614]

Bringing up Wildstar is not relevant. That was an mmo which struggled from the get go. They had to even drop the Christmas festival due to trying to get the game up to the level they wanted that first year. Doomed from the start, which is a shame because whilst it wasn't all that great, it had potential.  It never got going, unlike GW2 which has always been well regarded and profitable

 

GW2 has always been successful. Theres no reason for it to be dropped and if they did, Id expect the ip to be bought up by someone anyway. Whilst I can see a new direction, living world structure or delivery cadence, I don't envision this being the end. The signs more or less point to a rebirth or rejuvenation of the game than its end.

[Red Haired Savage.5430]

To me it's the end of an era where they have to worry as much about sticking to the historic lore that they have in each area, now they can make new lore for new places in the world.

[Tyson.5160]

On 9/3/2021 at 12:53 PM, Red Haired Savage.5430 said:

To me it's the end of an era where they have to worry as much about sticking to the historic lore that they have in each area, now they can make new lore for new places in the world.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Since the start of Guild Wars 2, there has always been the thought when will we get to the next dragon, the next old historical area, the next story and in a way, it kinda shoots them in the foot a bit. People complained why did X dragon get X amount of story, while X dragon didn’t etc. After EoD, Anet is free to create new stories not involving dragons, as well as not be constrained to the dragon story. With the dragons gone, there’s alot of potential as well as plenty of unknowns, which excites me.

[Burial.1958]

For me it is good when the dragon thing ends. That opens up some new Storys to tell with no Dragon Theme. I really hope that after Cantha they will work on new Regions where the franchise wasn't before. I love the nostalgia  but i really want to see some new Regions.

[Ashantara.8731]

On 9/13/2021 at 10:45 PM, Grebcol.5984 said:

For me it is good when the dragon thing ends. That opens up some new Storys to tell with no Dragon Theme. I really hope that after Cantha they will work on new Regions where the franchise wasn't before. I love the nostalgia  but i really want to see some new Regions.

Same. I just hope that weird new modern design direction will come to an end soon and we will return to a more classy/classic Guild Wars style.

Edited September 15, 2021 by Ashantara.8731

[Red Haired Savage.5430]

1 hour ago, Tyson.5160 said:

This makes a lot of sense to me. Since the start of Guild Wars 2, there has always been the thought when will we get to the next dragon, the next old historical area, the next story and in a way, it kinda shoots them in the foot a bit. People complained why did X dragon get X amount of story, while X dragon didn’t etc. After EoD, Anet is free to create new stories not involving dragons, as well as not be constrained to the dragon story. With the dragons gone, there’s alot of potential as well as plenty of unknowns, which excites me.

Exactly, the world is their oyster.

[voltaicbore.8012]

On 8/22/2021 at 3:21 AM, Hypnowulf.7403 said:

WildStar et al, and who owned WildStar again? Oh yes...

 Eh. I refer you to the comment thread on this decent postmortem on Wildstar, where two people identifying themselves respectively as a former dev and former artist comment on the very serious problems with developing the game. Apparently artists had to learn how to code to solve problems that higher ups were actively creating with mismanagement and hubris. NCSoft, both in the video itself and the former employees' comments, seem to have very little to do with the rapid deterioration of the game. Wildstar, for all intents and purposes, serves as one of the poorest possible products to compare with GW2.

Also what this comment (and many others) seem to miss is that GW2 made a lot of money. So much money, in fact, that a ton of GW2 revenue was diverted to a whole slew of side projects that ALL failed. ALL of them. Every last one of the pre-layoff side projects that we know of is never going to see the light of day. Most businesses cannot survive that level of investment failure in that period of time. That level of failure is what tells parent companies to ruthlessly amputate the problematic subsidiary completely. The fact that laying off (mostly) side-project workers seems to have satisfied NCSoft indicates to me that they still see quite a bit of potential in GW2 as a product.

 

Which is not surprising, given the numbers that we can see. Giant gasp: GW2 still makes money! GW2's revenues have been good in Q3 2020, Q4 2020, and in Q1 2021 managed to beat the same quarter the previous year by 25%, despite NCSoft seeing an overall downturn in Q1 2021. All these reports are on NCSoft's Earnings Releases website. If NCSoft really is as greedy for money as you say it is, then GW2 seems to have enough left in the tank to keep around.

 

This is not to say that your opinion is entirely without merit. Where you see EoD as being intended to serve as a sunset expansion, I see EoD as being only potentially a sunset expansion. I think it's possible for ANet to mess up sufficiently that EoD sales fall way short of where they need to be by NCSoft's standards, and while ANet and NCSoft aren't necessarily looking to make EoD the last thing GW2 gets, that could very well be the case if it doesn't perform. Anyone who thinks "GW2's future is safe just because ANet told us they want to keep making it" is clearly not looking at the whole picture.

 

I just think the whole picture - which includes the financials, their current attempts to finally market the game to new players via sponsoring non-partner content creators, the DX11 upgrade, and the current velocity of the mmo market - suggest the exact opposite of what you're saying is the case.

[radda.8920]

On 8/18/2021 at 10:22 PM, lokh.2695 said:

Well, what else do you want to hear? We have the devs saying it won't be the end of GW2 and by that people kinda sorta somewhat agreed to understand that the devs mean development of GW2. So there will be some kind of live releases, maybe even another expac or two, who knows what time will bring. At the moment all we have is 1) the above statement and 2) what they actually put into the game and it doesn't look like packing up and switching to maintenance mode. So again, what exactly do you want to hear? "Jup dead game move on can i have your stuff?"?

I don't think this is the end of guildwars2, it will live a few more years without new content, probably one last living world season.

 

But, you have to be naive to think that the devs are going to announce the end of a video game before selling an extension. It's a business, they are there to make money above all. So obviously, they are not going to take the risk of disappointing the players now.

Edited September 15, 2021 by radda.8920

[Faridah.8431]

On 9/13/2021 at 2:51 PM, Ashantara.8731 said:

Same. I just hope that weird new modern design direction will come to an end soon and we will return to a more classy/classic Guild Wars style.

250 years since first game, I'm ok with the idea that many areas/cultures are advancing technologically, but it definitely shouldn't be all of them. Different levels so to speak. Like Charr (and theoretically Cantha upcoming) would be more technologically advanced than others.

[EdwinLi.1284]

1 hour ago, Faridah.8431 said:

250 years since first game, I'm ok with the idea that many areas/cultures are advancing technologically, but it definitely shouldn't be all of them. Different levels so to speak. Like Charr (and theoretically Cantha upcoming) would be more technologically advanced than others.

It is still going to be based on what new civilization way of advancing may have gone.

Remember only Core tyria, Cantha, and Elona been affected the most from Elder Dragon's influence in current knowledge.

If other civilizations beyond current known regions have been affected less than current regions then their method of advancing their civilization maybe more free than the ones we know since they may not have to adopt technology into their way of life or depend more on magic in their life due to lack of constant threat of the world ending beings called Elder Dragons.

For example, a civilization beyond current regions may have advanced more into the Magic path thus creating a entire civilization based around magic over technology but the same can happen as well for another new civilization as well where they advanced more into technology to a point magic users are the minority or they are not as useful as technology. 

Cantha technology of course advance is between technology and magic due to using magic jade as a power source with technology to manipulate that magic. 


-------------------

That aside, it will be interesting to see how civilizations beyond current known regions have been affect or not affected by events of GW2 to GW2 EoD. 

I won't be surprised if they are completely unaware of the events of Elder Dragons due to how focused the major Elder Dragon activity been in only Core tyria, Elona, and Cantha. Thus also explaining why their civilization may have developed more magic based and/or completely unfamiliar with the sci-fi technology that Core Tyria and Cantha has since they neither have to think nor worry about the dangers of magic being consumed by some world ending being. (Can't say Elona since they are still more magic based due to how Joko hindered technology progress to keep Elona's citizens under his control).

Edited September 15, 2021 by EdwinLi.1284

[Faridah.8431]

9 minutes ago, EdwinLi.1284 said:

It is still going to be based on what new civilization way of advancing may have gone.

Remember only Core tyria, Cantha, and Elona been affected the most from Elder Dragon's influence in current knowledge.

If other civilizations beyond current known regions have been affected less than current regions then their method of advancing their civilization maybe more free than the ones we know since they may not have to adopt technology into their way of life or depend more on magic in their life due to lack of constant threat of the world ending beings called Elder Dragons.

For example, a civilization beyond current regions may have advanced more into the Magic path thus creating a entire civilization based around magic over technology but the same can happen as well for another new civilization as well where they advanced more into technology to a point magic users are the minority or they are not as useful as technology. 

Cantha technology of course advance is between technology and magic due to using magic jade as a power source with technology to manipulate that magic. 


-------------------

That aside, it will be interesting to see how civilizations beyond current known regions have been affect or not affected by events of GW2 to GW2 EoD. 

I won't be surprised if they are completely unaware of the events of Elder Dragons due to how focused the major Elder Dragon activity been in only Core tyria, Elona, and Cantha. Thus also explaining why their civilization may have developed more magic based and/or completely unfamiliar with the sci-fi technology that Core Tyria and Cantha has since they neither have to think nor worry about the dangers of magic being consumed by some world ending being. (Can't say Elona since they are still more magic based due to how Joko hindered technology progress to keep Elona's citizens under his control).

Good take, and totally agree.

[Vanthian.9267]

On 8/18/2021 at 4:36 PM, Sarajiel.5830 said:

Considering that the original Guild Wars game is still around, it's highly unlikely that Anet/NCsoft decide to pull the plug anytime soon. 

Yeah but Guild Wars 1 is timeless and everything can be completed with henchmen. In Guild Wars 2 anything worth doing is not achievable by yourself.  Some world events would be impossible without at least 10 other people.  I would be extremely surprised if Guild Wars 2 outlives Guild Wars 1.

[Rognik.2579]

On 9/15/2021 at 12:22 PM, EdwinLi.1284 said:

It is still going to be based on what new civilization way of advancing may have gone.

Remember only Core tyria, Cantha, and Elona been affected the most from Elder Dragon's influence in current knowledge.

If other civilizations beyond current known regions have been affected less than current regions then their method of advancing their civilization maybe more free than the ones we know since they may not have to adopt technology into their way of life or depend more on magic in their life due to lack of constant threat of the world ending beings called Elder Dragons.

For example, a civilization beyond current regions may have advanced more into the Magic path thus creating a entire civilization based around magic over technology but the same can happen as well for another new civilization as well where they advanced more into technology to a point magic users are the minority or they are not as useful as technology. 

Cantha technology of course advance is between technology and magic due to using magic jade as a power source with technology to manipulate that magic. 


-------------------

That aside, it will be interesting to see how civilizations beyond current known regions have been affect or not affected by events of GW2 to GW2 EoD. 

I won't be surprised if they are completely unaware of the events of Elder Dragons due to how focused the major Elder Dragon activity been in only Core tyria, Elona, and Cantha. Thus also explaining why their civilization may have developed more magic based and/or completely unfamiliar with the sci-fi technology that Core Tyria and Cantha has since they neither have to think nor worry about the dangers of magic being consumed by some world ending being. (Can't say Elona since they are still more magic based due to how Joko hindered technology progress to keep Elona's citizens under his control).

On the flip side, war has been one of the biggest technological motivators. With Tyria constantly under attack from the dragon minions, they were more driven to research new magics and weapons to fight back and survive. Peace is a great time to find other uses for that tech, but much of it was first found while fighting for our lives. I mean, the airships would likely not have been built if not to take down Zhaitan.

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

1 hour ago, Rognik.2579 said:

On the flip side, war has been one of the biggest technological motivators. With Tyria constantly under attack from the dragon minions, they were more driven to research new magics and weapons to fight back and survive. Peace is a great time to find other uses for that tech, but much of it was first found while fighting for our lives. I mean, the airships would likely not have been built if not to take down Zhaitan.

This.

What we have seen from the vast majority of cultures across the world of tyria is increaidbly primitive and tribalistic. Grawl, Harpies, Hylek, Ogres, Ettins, Quaggans, Krait etc. Races with real societal development are comparatively rare.

Outside of what is presumably the 4th human land shown on the world map from LWS2, I would expect most of the rest of the world of Tyria to be similarly underdeveloped.

Hell, before humanity's arrival most of Cantha and Elona, and large part of Tyria, were barely inhabited, or totally uninhabited. Large parts of the rest of the world are likely similarly depopulated from the Elder Dragons eating most life on the planet last dragon rise.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Sajuuk Khar.1509

[EdwinLi.1284]

9 hours ago, Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

This.

What we have seen from the vast majority of cultures across the world of tyria is increaidbly primitive and tribalistic. Grawl, Harpies, Hylek, Ogres, Ettins, Quaggans, Krait etc. Races with real societal development are comparatively rare.

Outside of what is presumably the 4th human land shown on the world map from LWS2, I would expect most of the rest of the world of Tyria to be similarly underdeveloped.

Hell, before humanity's arrival most of Cantha and Elona, and large part of Tyria, were barely inhabited, or totally uninhabited. Large parts of the rest of the world are likely similarly depopulated from the Elder Dragons eating most life on the planet last dragon rise.

The rest of the world being less populated may not be what we believe once we get there. 

As I said in the past, we are far too deep in the unknown about the world outside of the regions we have only known since GW1. 

The civilization of the regions we have known since GW1 assume a lot about maybe possible beyond current regions to a point not even they know if there are Civilizations in the beyond. A lot of it is due to only having knowledge from old scripts and books they manage to salvage but no attempt to explore the lands beyond the regions of GW1. Many factors cause this issue but mostly how the Elder Dragons locked them in the GW1 regions for all these centuries due to the constant war against the Elder Dragons.

Of course the openness gives Anet ability to establish new lore that is no longer tied down to GW1 contents and develop new civilizations that can developed in different ways.

I honestly won't be surprised if the first expansion to go into the new Storyline for GW2 ends up being called Guild Wars 2 Beyond. 

However, they may end up taking this chance to make it Guild Wars 2 Utopia as a way to create the Utopia expansion they originally wanted in GW1 that brings GW2 into new lands on the planet and in the Mist. Not to mention may provide lore about other civilizations that manage to survive the Dragon Cycle their own way with this first one encountered choosing to creating a Utopia in the Mists.

Edited September 25, 2021 by EdwinLi.1284

[voltaicbore.8012]

On 9/24/2021 at 1:27 AM, Vanthian.9267 said:

Yeah but Guild Wars 1 is timeless and everything can be completed with henchmen. In Guild Wars 2 anything worth doing is not achievable by yourself.  Some world events would be impossible without at least 10 other people.  I would be extremely surprised if Guild Wars 2 outlives Guild Wars 1.

I get what you're saying, even if I don't fully agree that "anything worth doing" is not soloable. A lot of stuff like raids, many fractals, and several dungeon paths require groups, but there's plenty of nominally group content that is still soloable if need be (or if you just like the challenge).

That said, I hope that before the maintenance mode time comes ANet will consider addressing some of the mechanically unsoloable things. For instance, the laser-deactivation panels in CoE, the boss-spawning braziers in CoF, or stuff like the Siren's Reef bag toss thing and the Deepstone activation circles. I do know that at least the Deepstone instance has a workaround to avoid using those circles.

Since the issue here is about standing in certain spots or just multiple live players pressing F at the same time, ANet wouldn't need to adapt the hero system for GW2. Rather, it might be feasible with a special action key that lets you put down up to 4 holo-copies of yourself via ground targeted circles, and they would all press F when you do. These copies would have other limitations (no aggro, you can't port to them, etc) to prevent overly gamebreaking versatility.