Calling this an update is like calling SWTOR content "updates". This is all fluff, hardly any content.
WOOOO Beetle racing, ONE PvP map (in a PvP centric game), and vendors on a ship! That's WAY better than many more PvP maps, or some actual palatable endgame that might bring some players back, or some other PvE things to do (again, to bring back the players who loved the game leveling, but hated the PvP endgame). Nah, just give them shinies to look at. The GW2 fanbois will call it the best thing since sliced bread and claim their game actually has "content" upgrades every 2 weeks.
LOL
LOL at you. They have been adding content every two weeks. Also the teams that do PvP are separate from the teams doing the Living Story. I can see you are a basic hater because of the wording you use. You show your bias and then people ignore you even when you do come up with a valid point. Good job making yourself
I own and play GW2. You can try to lie to me, assuming that I do not, so you can lure other players to the game, but you cannot lie to me. This game has had NO MAJOR CONTENT added since launch. Some fail 8 bit dungeon and more armor sets are not content. Please, tell us all about the great wealth of endgame content......oh, there is none? Gotcha. How about the large addition of several dungeons......oh wait, there's only been like 3 at most added if you count that 8 bit abomination. So please. keep your ultra fanboi opinion to yourself. I like the game. A lot to e exact. I'm not just dumb enough to call anything they've added since launch an actual update. ALL of their updates COMBINED equals one non-major patch for most other MMOs. I love how if anyone brings up an OBVIOUS weakness to this game, people like squirt out a litter of puppies and attack the poster, not the post, immediately deeming the person a "hater" without even having a clue who you're even speaking to. Fail fanboi is fail.
Except that you're obviously (oh whoops, was I supposed to put that in caps?) hating on the game by reframing your personal preferences for the game as those of the entire MMO community. You're completely refusing to acknowledge that what this game is doing is pleasing a lot of players, because, and this may shock you, a lot of players don't want the same things you want!
So no, these updates are NOT flat out objectively bad, as you're trying to propagate. You're not happy with the updates; then you're letting yourself fall into a tailspin of hating on the game that doesn't apply to other players. That's the very definition of hating.
Now I'm against both fanboys and haters alike; they both suffer from the same fallacious irrationality. But the people you're trying to label "fanboys" here are just normal fans who are justifiably offended by your irrational hating. The are fans of the game because *gasp* they actually enjoy it! And they love where it's going.
I didn't say the content they were releasing was objectively bad, it's just not what "content" is usually defined as in a AAA MMORPG. Let's compare say Rift and GW2. When Rift puts out a new content patch, there are changes to the classes, new dungeons, new chronicles, new raids, new PvP maps, new quests, etc.. When GW2 puts out a "content" patch, it's visual fluff stuff, temporary storylines and events (which I highly enjoy, btw), and maybe a dungeon or a PvP map. Do you see the difference? Now, one could say "But Rift takes months to release those content patches, and GW2 releases them twice a month!".....okay, so let's add up 3 months worth of GW2 "content" vs the single Rift content patch, and which is larger? Rift. 100% of the time, Rift. I have no doubt that sooner or later, we will see a paid xpac for GW2, and it will be at least the size of a large content patch for any other AAA title, but then you have to say "Those other AAA titles are giving us this content for free for the most part (minus the monthly subs for some of course)". It's not the same. My issue is not with the game itself, rather the posters on MMORPG who claim to have the world's best game because "it has content updates every two weeks". The definition of "content" for those people is skewed by bias at best, and an outright lie at worst. I will continue to say that I really like this game, but calling this "content" is so wrong.
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
Pretty much have to agree with this. I left the game around Christmas, tried to come back in the middle of one of these living story things. Couldn't figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing. Inevitably wound up quitting a short time later.
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
Pretty much have to agree with this. I left the game around Christmas, tried to come back in the middle of one of these living story things. Couldn't figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing. Inevitably wound up quitting a short time later.
Did you ask on map chat? People are friendly - also look on the map as things are highlighted where to go.
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
Pretty much have to agree with this. I left the game around Christmas, tried to come back in the middle of one of these living story things. Couldn't figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing. Inevitably wound up quitting a short time later.
Did you ask on map chat? People are friendly - also look on the map as things are highlighted where to go.
If you walked into a movie 45mins into it, would you ask the other people in the theater what had happened, or would you just say screw it and wait till later? Yes, it's easy to follow the quests, but the context of the quests is forever gone.
Except that you're obviously (oh whoops, was I supposed to put that in caps?) hating on the game by reframing your personal preferences for the game as those of the entire MMO community. You're completely refusing to acknowledge that what this game is doing is pleasing a lot of players, because, and this may shock you, a lot of players don't want the same things you want!
So no, these updates are NOT flat out objectively bad, as you're trying to propagate. You're not happy with the updates; then you're letting yourself fall into a tailspin of hating on the game that doesn't apply to other players. That's the very definition of hating.
Now I'm against both fanboys and haters alike; they both suffer from the same fallacious irrationality. But the people you're trying to label "fanboys" here are just normal fans who are justifiably offended by your irrational hating. The are fans of the game because *gasp* they actually enjoy it! And they love where it's going.
I didn't say the content they were releasing was objectively bad, it's just not what "content" is usually defined as in a AAA MMORPG. Let's compare say Rift and GW2. When Rift puts out a new content patch, there are changes to the classes, new dungeons, new chronicles, new raids, new PvP maps, new quests, etc.. When GW2 puts out a "content" patch, it's visual fluff stuff, temporary storylines and events (which I highly enjoy, btw), and maybe a dungeon or a PvP map. Do you see the difference? Now, one could say "But Rift takes months to release those content patches, and GW2 releases them twice a month!".....okay, so let's add up 3 months worth of GW2 "content" vs the single Rift content patch, and which is larger? Rift. 100% of the time, Rift. I have no doubt that sooner or later, we will see a paid xpac for GW2, and it will be at least the size of a large content patch for any other AAA title, but then you have to say "Those other AAA titles are giving us this content for free for the most part (minus the monthly subs for some of course)". It's not the same. My issue is not with the game itself, rather the posters on MMORPG who claim to have the world's best game because "it has content updates every two weeks". The definition of "content" for those people is skewed by bias at best, and an outright lie at worst. I will continue to say that I really like this game, but calling this "content" is so wrong.
See, I truly would call everything GW2 has released post-launch "content." I admit that I'm becoming increasingly disillusioned by the amount of "fluff" that has seeped in between the actual content, but that actual content remains there nonetheless. A few months ago, I wrote this post to compare the objective amount of content released in both GW2 and WoW during the first 8 months following release. Of course there are problems comparing content in the two games (one's happened 8 years earlier, for one; the games feature different types of content, for another), but I think at the very least it highlights that, when you widen the scope beyond any individual 2 week period, GW2 really has pumped out a significant amount of stuff that can only be called content. You talk about class changes, new dungeons, new raids, new PvP maps, new quests. GW2 has added significant amounts of all of that. Yes, it really has. (Raids needs some clarification, as GW2 doesn't feature traditional raids. But they've added things like guild missions, where the challenges and puzzles certainly feel like raid encounters. Then GW2 has a ton of stuff like jumping puzzles, story instances, and mini dungeons that I'm sure Rift doesn't have; just as I'm sure Rift has many things that GW2 doesn't have. It balances out.)
I really do think you're focused on comparing 1 month of GW2 content to 6 months of another game's content. I'd honestly like to see similar posts to the one I linked made outlining all kinds of other MMOs. I'd like to see a list of every content update made by Rift over the first year, Aion, SwotR, AoC, LotRO, TSW, really any MMO. Not with the goal of saying "haha, see I told you GW2 has a lot of content!", just as a basis for some kind of realistic objective comparison.
After all that's done, all that's left is the temporary versus permanent content debate. This is another debate that recurs over and over and over again, and I've grown a bit tired of posting the same arguments, so allow me to...be right back...let me dig up...k got it. Here's a copy/pasted bit I posted on my GW2 guild's forums:
While I agree that the lack of permanent content additions is becoming more and more apparent with each passing month, I do see the merits of temporary content. When content is temporary, especially good content, it becomes a very special period for the game; that content itself becomes more special and significant. It also becomes memorable when it's gone. That all works - quite effectively, I think - to help create the living, evolving narrative that Anet seeks for GW2.
Of course, we also know that much of the content that has come and gone thus far is not merely temporary but seasonal. It will come back. I think that's a big distinction. For one, it means all the development time wasn't truly wasted on just a couple weeks worth of content. Over the years, this will amount to months and months of content, which is honestly the maximum amount of time you can hope to entertain players with a single bit of content. But more importantly, I suspect that every time this content rolls around, it will feel fresh and new and exciting once again. Take the halloween events or the Super Adventure Box. I know I've been dying to get back inside the Mad King's Clock Tower and to continue onward in my pixilated adventure. When these come back around, I and many others will be flooding them once again, as if they were brand new.
This raises one final question: would we feel the same about them if they had been left in the game permanently?
The important thing to acknowledge is that there are pros and cons with temporary content. It's not just a zomg terrible system that sucks and sucks and is terrible. There is a reason they're trying it. To not acknowledge it is to intentionally blind yourself to it. That said, for some, the pros will outweigh the cons and they'll love it. For others, the cons will outweigh the pros and they won't like it. It's another "you can't please everybody" moment. But just remember, if you find yourself on the displeased side, that doesn't mean the game sucks and is terrible and is going downhill and all temporary content is awful period.
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
Pretty much have to agree with this. I left the game around Christmas, tried to come back in the middle of one of these living story things. Couldn't figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing. Inevitably wound up quitting a short time later.
Did you ask on map chat? People are friendly - also look on the map as things are highlighted where to go.
If you walked into a movie 45mins into it, would you ask the other people in the theater what had happened, or would you just say screw it and wait till later? Yes, it's easy to follow the quests, but the context of the quests is forever gone.
Actually i started playing again 1/2 through the sky pirate's living story and had no problem's. There is plenty of places to find the information you need, you have the main GW2 page with a link to the event information, the wiki is always a good source of info, forum's also have a good ammount of info, and there is the almighty Dulfy.
The information you need is there, if you spend a lilttle bit of time to read and research.
I'm desperately, desperately hoping that these achievement rewards are not going to be limited to one character. GW2 is pretty schizoid when it comes to rewards helping or hurting players running multiple characters (i.e. some things are available to the whole account, other things are character specific - without a whole lot of rhyme or reason) - as such, I really can't anticipate which way these will go.
If the bonuses aren't applied account wide I'll be pretty disappointed.
Did you read the article? Because the article answered that question.
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
Pretty much have to agree with this. I left the game around Christmas, tried to come back in the middle of one of these living story things. Couldn't figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing. Inevitably wound up quitting a short time later.
Did you ask on map chat? People are friendly - also look on the map as things are highlighted where to go.
I agree, ignoring the wise asses in chat, plenty of people will help you.
But that's not what I mean. The living story is framed over a foundation. If you didn't get into the story on the ground floor, it becomes confusing. If you'd been following it all along, it's not a real issue, but if you haven't been in the game, what you get is access to one and only one content patch. The current patch. That's it. All that content ANET released previously is gone. It doesn't matter if they released content once a year, once a month or once an hour. None of it is relevant. The only one that is relevant is the current patch. So for a returning player, a 2 week release schedule is pointless if the only patch that has any weight is one no matter how many came before. That's kinda weak.
I don't dislike the idea of hte living story. But I don't really like the execution. It really doesn't create a truly living evolving world. Nothing really changes. It's the Same old GW2 but with a different patch. Just wait a week or 2 and it will be the same old GW2 with a different patch.
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
I don't know about that. Every story sequence is really its own independent thing. Players will never be behind from missing the previous story. For example, a player who returned during the Secrets of Southsun wouldn't have been confused about what was going on in that story because he missed the Flame and Frost story. They're separate. Furthermore, no matter what point of the Secrets of Southsun story that player returned during, he would be able to play through the entire thing from beginning to end. Logging on during day 1 of the patch is the same as logging on during day 27, with the exception that the person logging on on day 27 would have the entire patch's content available to him. Maybe that can be a little overwhelming; maybe it's a little disorienting because most of his fellow players have moved on past the first parts of the content patch, but it's still all entirely available to the newcomer.
As far as having permanently missed out on old story sequences, you really can't miss what you didn't know was there in the first place. Every player currently finds him or herself in the exact same position, which is to play the current content available. In that regard, it's really like any other themepark MMO, except on a much less massive scale. Anyone who joins WoW post-Cataclysm, for example, will never get to experience any of the old world quests and zones. Anyone who joins WoW during any expansions that wasn't vanilla, will never get to (really) experience any of the previous expansion's end game dungeons or raids. The game's current content has moved on, and so must all of its players. (Now I happen to think this WoW example is a major flaw with that game, so perhaps it's a bad example, but I don't think GW2's Living Story bits suffer from the lost content syndrome quite on the scale of WoW or any other dungeon/raid tiered style MMO. I also don't think temporary content as GW2 is attempting to execute it is without its merits that make up for its inadequacies, which I've detailed in this thread and elsewhere.)
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
I don't know about that. Every story sequence is really its own independent thing. Players will never be behind from missing the previous story. For example, a player who returned during the Secrets of Southsun wouldn't have been confused about what was going on in that story because he missed the Flame and Frost story. They're separate. Furthermore, no matter what point of the Secrets of Southsun story that player returned during, he would be able to play through the entire thing from beginning to end. Logging on during day 1 of the patch is the same as logging on during day 27, with the exception that the person logging on on day 27 would have the entire patch's content available to him. Maybe that can be a little overwhelming; maybe it's a little disorienting because most of his fellow players have moved on past the first parts of the content patch, but it's still all entirely available to the newcomer.
As far as having permanently missed out on old story sequences, you really can't miss what you didn't know was there in the first place. Every player currently finds him or herself in the exact same position, which is to play the current content available. In that regard, it's really like any other themepark MMO, except on a much less massive scale. Anyone who joins WoW post-Cataclysm, for example, will never get to experience any of the old world quests and zones. Anyone who joins WoW during any expansions that wasn't vanilla, will never get to (really) experience any of the previous expansion's end game dungeons or raids. The game's current content has moved on, and so must all of its players. (Now I happen to think this WoW example is a major flaw with that game, so perhaps it's a bad example, but I don't think GW2's Living Story bits suffer from the lost content syndrome quite on the scale of WoW or any other dungeon/raid tiered style MMO. I also don't think temporary content as GW2 is attempting to execute it is without its merits that make up for its inadequacies, which I've detailed in this thread and elsewhere.)
I suppose it is a matter of perspective. But right now, The Living Story seems to be the major area where development for GW2 is happeing. I know there are other plans in the works, and probably some systems that players have been waiting for are also in the future. But for right now. All there is, is the Living Story.
When I started playing GW2 seriously, I loved the leveling aspect. I loved how the classes played and felt (for the most part) Combat took some adjusting to, but with that, I really enjoyed it. Playing other games, I've caught myself double tapping. When I got snuck up on. But having gotten to 80 and played through the dungeons, having done the fractals, I went back and leveled an alt. And again and again. I now have 6 level 80s each with multiple sets of full exotics and ascended gear. I'd play the new LS content when it came out and then go back to leveling my alts. Well, the last one was a Necro. But now that it was time to level an Ele, I started it and idunno, somewhere around level 5 in the starter zone, I just had this overwhelming sense of "I just can't do this again."
I am now taking a break from GW2, but when I think about the content patches that I will experience when I get back, I am left wondering about the one that I already missed, the current one that will end soon etc etc. They don't matter to me. They never will. No matter how good they are. The closure of Flame and Frost was really good. That was one of the most fun dungeons GW2 has done. What a shame really.
So in the end, the only thing that matters or ever will matter is the one single content patch that is in release on the day I log into the game. So what's the point of content every 2 weeks? With every other MMO, you can always come back and experience content at any time. Even in WoW there are always players looking to do legacy raids.
When you look at things realistically, at the vast amount of content that's come (and yes, gone in some cases), new zones, new dungeons, Fractals, holiday events, etc. it's pretty clear you're getting a ton of content, at no charge, for your money. Fresh content too... new things to do every month with a lot of things being removed before they become stale, dead clutter. Things people look back on fondly now in all likelihood would, had they been left in, now be dead, boring, "been there done that a thousand times" stuff. People talk about how great the Clocktower was as opposed to how boring it is now having done it a hundred times.
Keep in mind something important as well... all that they've added, all that's come and gone, happened before the switch to four distinct teams all dedicated to Living Story. Before it was one team pumping that out, now each team has a full four months to work a months new content. Also note that there will be a shift in focus to adding more permanent stuff as Colin stated himself. The game is young, they're experimenting with things instead of regurgitating the same old same old. People like the temporary stuff but want more permanent... ok, more teams, add more permanent.
Also, the four Living Story teams aren't the whole ball of wax either. There are additional teams creating the longer term "big" stuff without the time crunch the LS teams have. It's been quite the ride so far, and the best is yet to come.
Well Anet is doing a good job with all these updates. Best? subjective but for no monthly fee and a pretty out the way cash shop I'm not mad at them. They seem to be getting a good formula together as they go with this living story idea and i like the temporary content. I like the had to be there vibe but can understand how some might not. I like the world scavenger hunt mixed with some story instances and a dungeon maybe a jumping puzzle, gives plenty to do on top of fractals and guild missions outside of pvp. They do need to flesh out spvp more and i hope to see more modes of play for that though tbh i'd rather pvp in a fps or fighting game. I play mmo's for the co-operative experience and world, and anet has done a good job to me there with guild missions especially. Have lots of fun zerging a zone with my whole guild doing a guild rush or puzzle. Anyway see you all in tyria, or not...
Originally posted by SidQFT here's to hoping the next patch will be a WvWvW update *crosses fingers for new maps*! guild halls, guild owned territory, etc etc....
There won't be guild owned territory. That is not what GvG was in GW1 and I doubt it will be that in GW2. As they stated, there is no open world PvP.
If you understood GW1 and Guildhalls and GvG in that game then that is what you will probably see in GW2.
Originally posted by SidQFT here's to hoping the next patch will be a WvWvW update *crosses fingers for new maps*! guild halls, guild owned territory, etc etc....
There won't be guild owned territory. That is not what GvG was in GW1 and I doubt it will be that in GW2. As they stated, there is no open world PvP.
If you understood GW1 and Guildhalls and GvG in that game then that is what you will probably see in GW2.
well, there was something like that in GW1, in Factions where you could capture certain outposts for Luxon or Kurzick. I suppose in WvW the similarity would be keep capturing.
If you are coming back to the game, but have no clue as to the context of the release, do the following.
Type "/wiki Release" in chat
It will take you to the Release wiki page on GW2W. There you will find lore, guides, walkthroughs, and available rewards from launch until the present.
"As you read these words, a release is seven days or less away or has just happened within the last seven days those are now the only two states youll find the world of Tyria."...Guild Wars 2
If you are coming back to the game, but have no clue as to the context of the release, do the following.
Type "/wiki Release" in chat
It will take you to the Release wiki page on GW2W. There you will find lore, guides, walkthroughs, and available rewards from launch until the present.
If you are coming back to the game, but have no clue as to the context of the release, do the following.
Type "/wiki Release" in chat
It will take you to the Release wiki page on GW2W. There you will find lore, guides, walkthroughs, and available rewards from launch until the present.
Because that makes all that removed content magically relevant?
I expect that with all the hard work and $$$ that went into the Living Story content, they'll eventually release some kind of system that will allow players to do it again, even if that happens a long time from now. That data is still on their servers somewhere and after all the complaints about temporary content, I think ANet addressing it by releasing some sort of "Greatest Hits" in-game would knock people's socks off.
I seriously don't agree with that one obnoxious poster though that this is not real content. They're adding permanent content all the time, the game is just growing in a different way than WoW clones. I say: so what? At first I wasn't a fan, and I might miss an event here and there if I'm not quick, but that's life. Sometimes you miss things. Hell, in WoW, how many people actually got to the Lich King and beat him when it was relevant, even though the content is permanent? Not that many.
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
Pretty much have to agree with this. I left the game around Christmas, tried to come back in the middle of one of these living story things. Couldn't figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing. Inevitably wound up quitting a short time later.
Agreed here too. I find it difficult to care about new living story content, when I've already missed a big part of it. Strange design philosophy, IMO.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
Pretty much have to agree with this. I left the game around Christmas, tried to come back in the middle of one of these living story things. Couldn't figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing. Inevitably wound up quitting a short time later.
Agreed here too. I find it difficult to care about new living story content, when I've already missed a big part of it. Strange design philosophy, IMO.
People are clamoring for a living, breathing world. In the world much is transient, so that is what they are trying to do with GW2 - not that hard to understand really.
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
Pretty much have to agree with this. I left the game around Christmas, tried to come back in the middle of one of these living story things. Couldn't figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing. Inevitably wound up quitting a short time later.
thats not true at all you dont miss anything after comming back maybe some skins or tonics and the story that affected world somehow
and its not that hard to figure out what to do when you get a mail telling you what is happening
These updates are great and all, but it still leaves a glaring flaw.
If a player has left GW2 somewhere in the past few months and somehow gets wind of this aggressive new update schedule and decides to come back. They are screwed. depending on when they broke from GW2 and when they return with regaurd to the patch sequence, the only thing they will get is confusion. They'll pick up in the middle of some story line that has no meaning, no starting point and no development for them. They can't go back and go through it from start to finish.
With the exception of the current patch, the vast majority of "All that content" is now and forever, unavailable.
The Living Story system does not appear to be the best way to lure old players who stopped playing back in. And that's a significant amount of people I'd say.
Pretty much have to agree with this. I left the game around Christmas, tried to come back in the middle of one of these living story things. Couldn't figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing. Inevitably wound up quitting a short time later.
thats not true at all you dont miss anything after comming back maybe some skins or tonics and the story that affected world somehow
and its not that hard to figure out what to do when you get a mail telling you what is happening
I love the removal of choice being used as how this game has a "living, breathing world". Would WoW have a "living, breathing world" if they removed Tier 14 raids when Tier 15 came out? That's not a "living, breathing world", that's forcing you down the rail they've chosen with no chance to go back.
People are clamoring for a living, breathing world. In the world much is transient, so that is what they are trying to do with GW2 - not that hard to understand really.
Comments
I didn't say the content they were releasing was objectively bad, it's just not what "content" is usually defined as in a AAA MMORPG. Let's compare say Rift and GW2. When Rift puts out a new content patch, there are changes to the classes, new dungeons, new chronicles, new raids, new PvP maps, new quests, etc.. When GW2 puts out a "content" patch, it's visual fluff stuff, temporary storylines and events (which I highly enjoy, btw), and maybe a dungeon or a PvP map. Do you see the difference? Now, one could say "But Rift takes months to release those content patches, and GW2 releases them twice a month!".....okay, so let's add up 3 months worth of GW2 "content" vs the single Rift content patch, and which is larger? Rift. 100% of the time, Rift. I have no doubt that sooner or later, we will see a paid xpac for GW2, and it will be at least the size of a large content patch for any other AAA title, but then you have to say "Those other AAA titles are giving us this content for free for the most part (minus the monthly subs for some of course)". It's not the same. My issue is not with the game itself, rather the posters on MMORPG who claim to have the world's best game because "it has content updates every two weeks". The definition of "content" for those people is skewed by bias at best, and an outright lie at worst. I will continue to say that I really like this game, but calling this "content" is so wrong.
^ this. A million times this. +1
Pretty much have to agree with this. I left the game around Christmas, tried to come back in the middle of one of these living story things. Couldn't figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing. Inevitably wound up quitting a short time later.
Did you ask on map chat? People are friendly - also look on the map as things are highlighted where to go.
If you walked into a movie 45mins into it, would you ask the other people in the theater what had happened, or would you just say screw it and wait till later? Yes, it's easy to follow the quests, but the context of the quests is forever gone.
See, I truly would call everything GW2 has released post-launch "content." I admit that I'm becoming increasingly disillusioned by the amount of "fluff" that has seeped in between the actual content, but that actual content remains there nonetheless. A few months ago, I wrote this post to compare the objective amount of content released in both GW2 and WoW during the first 8 months following release. Of course there are problems comparing content in the two games (one's happened 8 years earlier, for one; the games feature different types of content, for another), but I think at the very least it highlights that, when you widen the scope beyond any individual 2 week period, GW2 really has pumped out a significant amount of stuff that can only be called content. You talk about class changes, new dungeons, new raids, new PvP maps, new quests. GW2 has added significant amounts of all of that. Yes, it really has. (Raids needs some clarification, as GW2 doesn't feature traditional raids. But they've added things like guild missions, where the challenges and puzzles certainly feel like raid encounters. Then GW2 has a ton of stuff like jumping puzzles, story instances, and mini dungeons that I'm sure Rift doesn't have; just as I'm sure Rift has many things that GW2 doesn't have. It balances out.)
I really do think you're focused on comparing 1 month of GW2 content to 6 months of another game's content. I'd honestly like to see similar posts to the one I linked made outlining all kinds of other MMOs. I'd like to see a list of every content update made by Rift over the first year, Aion, SwotR, AoC, LotRO, TSW, really any MMO. Not with the goal of saying "haha, see I told you GW2 has a lot of content!", just as a basis for some kind of realistic objective comparison.
After all that's done, all that's left is the temporary versus permanent content debate. This is another debate that recurs over and over and over again, and I've grown a bit tired of posting the same arguments, so allow me to...be right back...let me dig up...k got it. Here's a copy/pasted bit I posted on my GW2 guild's forums:
While I agree that the lack of permanent content additions is becoming more and more apparent with each passing month, I do see the merits of temporary content. When content is temporary, especially good content, it becomes a very special period for the game; that content itself becomes more special and significant. It also becomes memorable when it's gone. That all works - quite effectively, I think - to help create the living, evolving narrative that Anet seeks for GW2.
Of course, we also know that much of the content that has come and gone thus far is not merely temporary but seasonal. It will come back. I think that's a big distinction. For one, it means all the development time wasn't truly wasted on just a couple weeks worth of content. Over the years, this will amount to months and months of content, which is honestly the maximum amount of time you can hope to entertain players with a single bit of content. But more importantly, I suspect that every time this content rolls around, it will feel fresh and new and exciting once again. Take the halloween events or the Super Adventure Box. I know I've been dying to get back inside the Mad King's Clock Tower and to continue onward in my pixilated adventure. When these come back around, I and many others will be flooding them once again, as if they were brand new.
This raises one final question: would we feel the same about them if they had been left in the game permanently?
The important thing to acknowledge is that there are pros and cons with temporary content. It's not just a zomg terrible system that sucks and sucks and is terrible. There is a reason they're trying it. To not acknowledge it is to intentionally blind yourself to it. That said, for some, the pros will outweigh the cons and they'll love it. For others, the cons will outweigh the pros and they won't like it. It's another "you can't please everybody" moment. But just remember, if you find yourself on the displeased side, that doesn't mean the game sucks and is terrible and is going downhill and all temporary content is awful period.
Actually i started playing again 1/2 through the sky pirate's living story and had no problem's. There is plenty of places to find the information you need, you have the main GW2 page with a link to the event information, the wiki is always a good source of info, forum's also have a good ammount of info, and there is the almighty Dulfy.
The information you need is there, if you spend a lilttle bit of time to read and research.
Did you read the article? Because the article answered that question.
This is not a game.
I agree, ignoring the wise asses in chat, plenty of people will help you.
But that's not what I mean. The living story is framed over a foundation. If you didn't get into the story on the ground floor, it becomes confusing. If you'd been following it all along, it's not a real issue, but if you haven't been in the game, what you get is access to one and only one content patch. The current patch. That's it. All that content ANET released previously is gone. It doesn't matter if they released content once a year, once a month or once an hour. None of it is relevant. The only one that is relevant is the current patch. So for a returning player, a 2 week release schedule is pointless if the only patch that has any weight is one no matter how many came before. That's kinda weak.
I don't dislike the idea of hte living story. But I don't really like the execution. It really doesn't create a truly living evolving world. Nothing really changes. It's the Same old GW2 but with a different patch. Just wait a week or 2 and it will be the same old GW2 with a different patch.
I don't know about that. Every story sequence is really its own independent thing. Players will never be behind from missing the previous story. For example, a player who returned during the Secrets of Southsun wouldn't have been confused about what was going on in that story because he missed the Flame and Frost story. They're separate. Furthermore, no matter what point of the Secrets of Southsun story that player returned during, he would be able to play through the entire thing from beginning to end. Logging on during day 1 of the patch is the same as logging on during day 27, with the exception that the person logging on on day 27 would have the entire patch's content available to him. Maybe that can be a little overwhelming; maybe it's a little disorienting because most of his fellow players have moved on past the first parts of the content patch, but it's still all entirely available to the newcomer.
As far as having permanently missed out on old story sequences, you really can't miss what you didn't know was there in the first place. Every player currently finds him or herself in the exact same position, which is to play the current content available. In that regard, it's really like any other themepark MMO, except on a much less massive scale. Anyone who joins WoW post-Cataclysm, for example, will never get to experience any of the old world quests and zones. Anyone who joins WoW during any expansions that wasn't vanilla, will never get to (really) experience any of the previous expansion's end game dungeons or raids. The game's current content has moved on, and so must all of its players. (Now I happen to think this WoW example is a major flaw with that game, so perhaps it's a bad example, but I don't think GW2's Living Story bits suffer from the lost content syndrome quite on the scale of WoW or any other dungeon/raid tiered style MMO. I also don't think temporary content as GW2 is attempting to execute it is without its merits that make up for its inadequacies, which I've detailed in this thread and elsewhere.)
I suppose it is a matter of perspective. But right now, The Living Story seems to be the major area where development for GW2 is happeing. I know there are other plans in the works, and probably some systems that players have been waiting for are also in the future. But for right now. All there is, is the Living Story.
When I started playing GW2 seriously, I loved the leveling aspect. I loved how the classes played and felt (for the most part) Combat took some adjusting to, but with that, I really enjoyed it. Playing other games, I've caught myself double tapping. When I got snuck up on. But having gotten to 80 and played through the dungeons, having done the fractals, I went back and leveled an alt. And again and again. I now have 6 level 80s each with multiple sets of full exotics and ascended gear. I'd play the new LS content when it came out and then go back to leveling my alts. Well, the last one was a Necro. But now that it was time to level an Ele, I started it and idunno, somewhere around level 5 in the starter zone, I just had this overwhelming sense of "I just can't do this again."
I am now taking a break from GW2, but when I think about the content patches that I will experience when I get back, I am left wondering about the one that I already missed, the current one that will end soon etc etc. They don't matter to me. They never will. No matter how good they are. The closure of Flame and Frost was really good. That was one of the most fun dungeons GW2 has done. What a shame really.
So in the end, the only thing that matters or ever will matter is the one single content patch that is in release on the day I log into the game. So what's the point of content every 2 weeks? With every other MMO, you can always come back and experience content at any time. Even in WoW there are always players looking to do legacy raids.
When you look at things realistically, at the vast amount of content that's come (and yes, gone in some cases), new zones, new dungeons, Fractals, holiday events, etc. it's pretty clear you're getting a ton of content, at no charge, for your money. Fresh content too... new things to do every month with a lot of things being removed before they become stale, dead clutter. Things people look back on fondly now in all likelihood would, had they been left in, now be dead, boring, "been there done that a thousand times" stuff. People talk about how great the Clocktower was as opposed to how boring it is now having done it a hundred times.
Keep in mind something important as well... all that they've added, all that's come and gone, happened before the switch to four distinct teams all dedicated to Living Story. Before it was one team pumping that out, now each team has a full four months to work a months new content. Also note that there will be a shift in focus to adding more permanent stuff as Colin stated himself. The game is young, they're experimenting with things instead of regurgitating the same old same old. People like the temporary stuff but want more permanent... ok, more teams, add more permanent.
Also, the four Living Story teams aren't the whole ball of wax either. There are additional teams creating the longer term "big" stuff without the time crunch the LS teams have. It's been quite the ride so far, and the best is yet to come.
Oderint, dum metuant.
There won't be guild owned territory. That is not what GvG was in GW1 and I doubt it will be that in GW2. As they stated, there is no open world PvP.
If you understood GW1 and Guildhalls and GvG in that game then that is what you will probably see in GW2.
well, there was something like that in GW1, in Factions where you could capture certain outposts for Luxon or Kurzick. I suppose in WvW the similarity would be keep capturing.
Pro tip:
If you are coming back to the game, but have no clue as to the context of the release, do the following.
Type "/wiki Release" in chat
It will take you to the Release wiki page on GW2W. There you will find lore, guides, walkthroughs, and available rewards from launch until the present.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Releases
"As you read these words, a release is seven days or less away or has just happened within the last seven days those are now the only two states youll find the world of Tyria."...Guild Wars 2
Because that makes all that removed content magically relevant?
I expect that with all the hard work and $$$ that went into the Living Story content, they'll eventually release some kind of system that will allow players to do it again, even if that happens a long time from now. That data is still on their servers somewhere and after all the complaints about temporary content, I think ANet addressing it by releasing some sort of "Greatest Hits" in-game would knock people's socks off.
I seriously don't agree with that one obnoxious poster though that this is not real content. They're adding permanent content all the time, the game is just growing in a different way than WoW clones. I say: so what? At first I wasn't a fan, and I might miss an event here and there if I'm not quick, but that's life. Sometimes you miss things. Hell, in WoW, how many people actually got to the Lich King and beat him when it was relevant, even though the content is permanent? Not that many.
Agreed here too. I find it difficult to care about new living story content, when I've already missed a big part of it. Strange design philosophy, IMO.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
People are clamoring for a living, breathing world. In the world much is transient, so that is what they are trying to do with GW2 - not that hard to understand really.
thats not true at all you dont miss anything after comming back maybe some skins or tonics and the story that affected world somehow
and its not that hard to figure out what to do when you get a mail telling you what is happening
I love the removal of choice being used as how this game has a "living, breathing world". Would WoW have a "living, breathing world" if they removed Tier 14 raids when Tier 15 came out? That's not a "living, breathing world", that's forcing you down the rail they've chosen with no chance to go back.
+1 agree