Guild Wars 2
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:29 pm
Player Tags:
Mantis Scourge.4567
El Gaucho El Gaucho.5278
Snowy Snowy.9316
Sly Boots Sly Boots.3845
Soooooo.... I've been very quiet with regards to Guild Wars 2 on this forum, and PW before it, for quiiiiite a long time.
When TGA started, i thought about doing a big post on its current status and how i think it's doing after six.... yes SIX and a half years, nearly.
I started writing my thoughts, but I basically felt it would turn into a looong essay, and not something fun to read. (Also, life has been pretty busy these last few months...)
I can only say, simply, that GW2 is and remains one of my favourite casual gaming experiences of all time. I can only really describe it as having a a certain purity of gaming to it... it doesn't focus on grind or effort or setting lots of barriers to progression you have to mundanely work through day after day.
At it's core, it's a game about exploration. It's about relaxing, making friends, setting little goals, or just casually winding an evening down without too much stress.
It's not for everyone... or maybe better put would be to say that it's not for everyone all the time. The game is a dabbler's paradise. Come back when you feel the itch, dip in, and then call a time out if you so feel like it. Your progress is still valid, and you can make a little progress each time you come back. In truth, it's one of the best value games of all time, and one of the most accessible, at any time!
I still find moments when I'm in awe at what they really achieved here.
I could try and tell you about how the game has developed in Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire... i could tell you about the living story chapters and the fantastic narratives being created in the game...i could tell you about PVP and WvW... I could tell you about the mount system and how they transform traversing through Tyria... i could tell you about build diversity and the range of opportunity that specialisations enable... and so much more. It's all fantastic, really, and caters to a large variety of players who might be looking for an itch to scratch.
In short - i still love the game, and i'm always really happy to talk or help anyone through on it, should they have an interest, or be looking for specific types of content. So if you are interested, let me know!
All the above said... this week has been a bit of a sad moment for the game.
The studio has let go of 143 of it's circa 400 employees. This is an NCSoft led cull, largely attributable to an "unsustainable" model. ANet had a bunch of secret squirrel side projects on the go, of which most of the departed head count was working on. Apparently these projects were too ambitious, took too long to market, or were not sufficiently well managed. So the axe came down.
Many names very familiar to the community are leaving Anet... and it's honestly a massive shame to see that happen. I think one of the saving graces of this event, it would appear, is that many departures are voluntary. We're talking 15 year veterans putting their name forward, not even so much because they wanted to, but to allow others with less experience to have the opportunity to stay. I can't say that this has been the case for all of the impacted (I doubt it), but I think it says something about the place that there is even selflessness in being let go.
Naturally, this is causing some level of consternation in the community, with the doom and gloomers shouting about the end of days and the foreshadowing of a city of heroes type shutdown. It's also led to a flurry of community support for the team (which will inevitably be short lived), and more discussions about the future of the game.
In truth... i think for a game as poorly marketed as it is, that it's in an incredibly healthy place. Community mood on the whole has remained positive over the years. People like the content, although as with any game, there's always the "more more more" crowd. And yes, you can look and say "i want more big ticket content", but actually, i think the volume of people who've really played the content and worked through many achievements is probably pretty small. You could argue this is grindy content. (Sometimes it is), but on the whole achievements lead you to stories, and playing through stories gets you the content, and sometimes some nice rewards or titles. It's really quite clever, if you're patient enough to play the story, not the achievement!
Furthermore, it's rare to see any real time go by between new player posts - the game has healthy growth from people burned from MMO launch busts (Bless), WoW saturated veterans, or people just looking for something a little different. In short, i think we still have a good long stint ahead of us, if people don't freak out.
I had hoped the next expansion would hit later this year, but alas, that is not to be. We're nearly wrapped up with Season 4 of Living Story, and moving straight into Season 5, THEN an expansion. My gut tells me it will come with a biiig rework of underwater content as the new range of masteries. There's little hints that this may be the case in some of the balancing in recent months, and the introduction of underwater swimming speed infusions. Either way, that's some way away.
I'd like to think the remainers will be refocused and more aggressive than ever to make an impact after this reshuffle, assuming the community allows them to adjust, and I'm hopeful for the future, despite this sad moment. I know a number of you have tried and quit on the game a few times. But if, for any reason, you're looking for an itch to scratch, and can't settle on what, maybe give this another look! And remember - the base game is even free!
/end dump of text and thoughts. kudos if you made it this far!
Mantis Scourge.4567
El Gaucho El Gaucho.5278
Snowy Snowy.9316
Sly Boots Sly Boots.3845
Soooooo.... I've been very quiet with regards to Guild Wars 2 on this forum, and PW before it, for quiiiiite a long time.
When TGA started, i thought about doing a big post on its current status and how i think it's doing after six.... yes SIX and a half years, nearly.
I started writing my thoughts, but I basically felt it would turn into a looong essay, and not something fun to read. (Also, life has been pretty busy these last few months...)
I can only say, simply, that GW2 is and remains one of my favourite casual gaming experiences of all time. I can only really describe it as having a a certain purity of gaming to it... it doesn't focus on grind or effort or setting lots of barriers to progression you have to mundanely work through day after day.
At it's core, it's a game about exploration. It's about relaxing, making friends, setting little goals, or just casually winding an evening down without too much stress.
It's not for everyone... or maybe better put would be to say that it's not for everyone all the time. The game is a dabbler's paradise. Come back when you feel the itch, dip in, and then call a time out if you so feel like it. Your progress is still valid, and you can make a little progress each time you come back. In truth, it's one of the best value games of all time, and one of the most accessible, at any time!
I still find moments when I'm in awe at what they really achieved here.
I could try and tell you about how the game has developed in Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire... i could tell you about the living story chapters and the fantastic narratives being created in the game...i could tell you about PVP and WvW... I could tell you about the mount system and how they transform traversing through Tyria... i could tell you about build diversity and the range of opportunity that specialisations enable... and so much more. It's all fantastic, really, and caters to a large variety of players who might be looking for an itch to scratch.
In short - i still love the game, and i'm always really happy to talk or help anyone through on it, should they have an interest, or be looking for specific types of content. So if you are interested, let me know!
All the above said... this week has been a bit of a sad moment for the game.
The studio has let go of 143 of it's circa 400 employees. This is an NCSoft led cull, largely attributable to an "unsustainable" model. ANet had a bunch of secret squirrel side projects on the go, of which most of the departed head count was working on. Apparently these projects were too ambitious, took too long to market, or were not sufficiently well managed. So the axe came down.
Many names very familiar to the community are leaving Anet... and it's honestly a massive shame to see that happen. I think one of the saving graces of this event, it would appear, is that many departures are voluntary. We're talking 15 year veterans putting their name forward, not even so much because they wanted to, but to allow others with less experience to have the opportunity to stay. I can't say that this has been the case for all of the impacted (I doubt it), but I think it says something about the place that there is even selflessness in being let go.
Naturally, this is causing some level of consternation in the community, with the doom and gloomers shouting about the end of days and the foreshadowing of a city of heroes type shutdown. It's also led to a flurry of community support for the team (which will inevitably be short lived), and more discussions about the future of the game.
In truth... i think for a game as poorly marketed as it is, that it's in an incredibly healthy place. Community mood on the whole has remained positive over the years. People like the content, although as with any game, there's always the "more more more" crowd. And yes, you can look and say "i want more big ticket content", but actually, i think the volume of people who've really played the content and worked through many achievements is probably pretty small. You could argue this is grindy content. (Sometimes it is), but on the whole achievements lead you to stories, and playing through stories gets you the content, and sometimes some nice rewards or titles. It's really quite clever, if you're patient enough to play the story, not the achievement!
Furthermore, it's rare to see any real time go by between new player posts - the game has healthy growth from people burned from MMO launch busts (Bless), WoW saturated veterans, or people just looking for something a little different. In short, i think we still have a good long stint ahead of us, if people don't freak out.
I had hoped the next expansion would hit later this year, but alas, that is not to be. We're nearly wrapped up with Season 4 of Living Story, and moving straight into Season 5, THEN an expansion. My gut tells me it will come with a biiig rework of underwater content as the new range of masteries. There's little hints that this may be the case in some of the balancing in recent months, and the introduction of underwater swimming speed infusions. Either way, that's some way away.
I'd like to think the remainers will be refocused and more aggressive than ever to make an impact after this reshuffle, assuming the community allows them to adjust, and I'm hopeful for the future, despite this sad moment. I know a number of you have tried and quit on the game a few times. But if, for any reason, you're looking for an itch to scratch, and can't settle on what, maybe give this another look! And remember - the base game is even free!
/end dump of text and thoughts. kudos if you made it this far!