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Kate Welch & Martin Kerstein leave Anet.
observer
Member RarePosts: 3,685
in Guild Wars 2
I usually don't care about the inner workings of MMO companies, but i thought this was interesting, because it coincides with all the drama that came from the Guildmag Gamescom 2014 interview:
After that interview, the community went into an uproar over SAB, FoV, 1st-person view, Anet's lack of communication, etc.
Mike O'brien even stepped in and made a post about communicating:
Shortly after that, Martin Kerstein made some tweets about it:
"Sometimes I wish I would work in a less stressful environment - like taming wild animals…"
Then his goodbye post:
Kate Welch made a goodbye post too, and also posted more comments on reddit:
It seems like troubling times at Anet right now, and even though these two people probably weren't all that important at the company, it's still some bad PR for the company.
Comments
In my opinion this was a great game, but turned into bad MMO.
Much of their decisions might be due to overall inexperience or hubris in trying to run a true MMO (which Guild Wars 1 was not due to a lobby system and only 2-8 players allowed in any given area beyond lobbying), but they seem to constantly negate well written feedback by the community, as well -- it seems -- by their own staff.
Have high hopes that an expansion is in development that addresses much of this, as well as renewing the interest of past players (as well as GW1 players) in addition to sparking attention anew by those who have yet to delve into the game.
Would still recommend it to friends based purely on the gameplay value versus the cost. Though I'm personally waiting for housing to be implemented; it seems to be a thing nowadays with old games putting it in and new games outright coming out with their own versions of it.
He's being told by his superiors to not convey any information about future releases while simultaneously being blamed for the community outrage due a lack of communication.
Hopefully, he and Kate while able to land on their feet again. No one should hold any ill will towards them even if you dislike the game.
l2p
I do not think that word means what you think it means...
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
Well, if you really want to split hairs over definitions: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fiasco
Synonyms: 1. disaster, catastrophe, debacle, flop, bomb.
It's a fitting description as to what happened.
I read the interview, and was expecting...well something more. Maybe its because I'm not that familiar with the games community, but I'm not sure what was fiasco-y or any of its synonyms. I see where people are upset about some of the decisions being made in the game, but I'm not sure how that relates to the interview being a fiasco.
I agree with you. I'm not into the actual indivduals that made the game by name or anything, but I feel if you get an entire studio working together for that long eventually someone is going to get upset, no matter what career it is. I mean, that is like thinking everyone at a Walmart is going to be happy working there 8 years and no one is going to get upset and quit. It's just part of life I guess.
I'm sure there was way more behind the scenes than I just read, but like you it was kind of not that big of a deal.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
Martins tweets were inappropriate for a CM - his "8 years of experience" should have given him a clue about that.
Kate has always seemed like a really cool person and I hope she finds whatever makes her happy soon.
Overdramatic much?
The two people quitting sound like typical people in the industry. If you've never worked in game development, you have no clue just how stressful the work can be. Regardless of how good (or bad) the studio.
People move on, people take breaks, people get burnt out. And working on an MMO for roughly 4 years can do that to you. Moving on, is not the same as 'F this company I'm out'. I really don't see where that leap is coming from.
I also read the gamesmag interview. I don't think 'fiasco' really applies either. Some people got upset, but you can look at most of the big updates for GW2 and find a very vocal group of people who are 'pissed off' but still play. And you will also find people that either don't care or enjoy the changes.
Tin foil hats off please.
My god. Some people want to actually argue about semantics in this post. I just replaced it with interview instead. I wasn't specifically referring to the interview itself, but the fallout from it. I should've been more clear on that. My bad.
It still doesn't change the fact that the community went into a (awaiting approval of which word to use by posters), over this.
The problem was a lack of communication, complete silence on some issues, being out of touch, and the avoidance of answering questions, by dodging them in this interview. That was the real reason why the community got upset. It wasn't just forum posters either, but youtube personalities and other website owners too.
I was fairly disappointed also when them two where the major things that was brought up. I am a GW2 players (login every day to do my dailies and a dungeon or two) and I have never once thought that I needed or wanted a first person view. It does NOT fit GW2 in any way what so ever, it does not work with the combat system, does not provide any realy addition to the game. All it would serv to do is make people complain that up close the textures are just not that great (and they do not stand up when viewed at a very close distance).
Now the mini-game I can kinda see there point. They did sell a unlimited key to the mini game and it did cost around $10 all said and done. But on the exact same token, if it was open 24/7 forever it does kinda cheapen the whole ideal, thought process, ect. behind having the mini-game as a limited event. When its something that is there for a limited time you kinda of enjoy it more while it is there. And I am certain that it will come back around ageain at some point in the future.
The mini-game can be turned on with the flick of a button as the coding and visuals are all still in the game.
They simply choose not to do it because they see it as not profitable enough and would rather funnel people into their living story.
The anger stems from that disregard of the rest of the game and their inability to communicate their future plans.
Correct, I'm focus on the part where other games have real issues. If them turning off a mini-game is the biggest problem gw2 has then it's doing better than almost any other game out there.
Oh no... the earth is moving... again...
Every team needs to make changes from time to time to keep things fresh innovative and improving. In my opinion these are just that kind of things.
Its funny to see all the doomsayers of the forums jump in and comment, while the people still enjoying this game are probably to busy enjoying themselves to even notice this post.
Now lets all sit down and wayt for their first big expansion pack...its overdue for sure, but eventually thats what we are wayting for, justy like with WoW and all those other games. Played over 1000 hours since release, and still discovering new things in the gameworld on a daily base.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
It wasn't just those things. It was the culmination of silence, and lack of communication from Anet. When those issues were brought up, and dismissed as unimportant by Anet, that's when people felt the need to react. There are many more things that aren't being addressed besides FoV, FPV, and SAB (which were finally addressed at gamescom btw), such as dungeons, pvp, wvw, end-game berserker meta, gear, precursors, etc. WvW and Dungeons were finally addressed though, and it's not looking good for dungeon players either. There won't be anymore dungeons added anytime soon, except for Fractal additions. You can see the interview here: http://youtu.be/umpR6LhBhW4?t=4m16s They actually view Living Story Achievements as a dungeon "framework". It sort of reminds me how Blizzard implemented Scenarios to replace Normal & Heroic dungeons from being developed, which left WoW's dungeons stale for almost 2 years.
I also wouldn't call it "doing better" when 2 of your well known members leave, or is fired (speculation of course), especially when one of them is the Community Team Lead. There was obviously a problem between the community and the team for something like that to happen.
No one with really a say on previous Guild Wars 1 & Guild Wars 2 direction nor the future of Guild Wars 2 direction.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
Did the original dev crew leave Anet?
I guess I missed that.
I know some are working for Undead Labs and that is about it concerning main GW1 Prophecies devs.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
That interview was a PR fiasco. As forum posters, we all love to be backseat developers, but this is one instance where I truly believe that I, or any number of other players out there, could have done a better job that Anet's current team at communicating and divulging information in a way that's both satisfying to players and safe for the company.
That said, I hardly think this is indicative of "troubling times" for Anet. The current living world and feature pack updates put the game in a much better place than it was last year, when it was still doing just fine. People are generally very happy with the content that's coming out. The only issue is that when PR is this bad, it gives players and especially forum posters a very strong negative focal point to focus all their attention on. And let's be clear - 100% of the anger is a result of the way in which Anet communicated the information, not the content of the information itself. That is, the current state of development could be exactly the same, and if Anet had communicated differently or, ironically, not at all, players would still be happy as campers. No uproar at all.
Concerning the 2 devs leaving, it's no secret that being a developer is a ridiculously stressful, often thankless job. You pour your heart and soul into a game, and you do manage to please and provide joy for a great number of players, but the majority of the feedback you hear at any given time is always going to be negative. 80% of players who try your game could love it and play it happily. 15% don't find it to their taste, so they simply move on to games that appeal to them more; all good. But who you hear from on a daily basis on forums everywhere is that last pissed off 5% who find an endless collection of items to bitch about. It can really wear on you as a developer - as a human - to have an endless wave of negative feedback shoved in your face. (To be clear, I'm not talking about legitimate constructive feedback posts by players; I'm talking about nonsensical hating on a game, issued with an utter lack of empathy and a complete disregard for the bigger picture of the game.)
I enjoyed guild wars 2 for a month or so, but I'll always be sad that it wasn't a sequal to guild wars 1.
It just wasn't as good as It's predecessor, it felt like just another MMO, rather then the great game it could've been.
In other news, Ted the greeter at the local Walmart, is said to be "moving on". We don't know at this time if he quit or was fired, but the impact of having someone so crucial to the business customer base appears to be a devastating blow to the company, and I am wondering how their PR will ever recover. Ted made contact with literally thousands of customers each and every day he worked. We can look back to the fiasco back in June where the store assistant manager entered the building and didn't say hi back to Ted. I can't say for sure that was the cause, but the grumblings coming down the pipe sure lead to a severe crumbling of the entire business chains structure and doom is imminent. DOOOOOM!
Needless to say, this could have an impact on the amount of GW2 gemcards being available for sale at this and other establishments as they now shift positions due to this change.
All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
I don't hate much, but I hate Apple© with a passion. If Steve Jobs was alive, I would punch him in the face.
Only if he took the trash can with him... that would be significant news...