Bast.7253

Kind of feels like a rephrasing if what’s already been said, with the main difference being a preemptive attempt at controlling expectations with the current contents release schedule. Understandable, but disappointing. And acknowledgement that they may be more open to communicate as things settle down, which would be appreciated. All in all though, if you take it for what it’s worth, feels like a general rephrasing of the previous update but with an actual name attached to it. I can’t say that it quelled my doubts any, though. But it’s still soon and there’s a lot of work to be done so the only thing to do now is wait and hope that the current content in development isn’t too impacted by this, and that those content releases give them the time to restructure and work things out in the background.

So, thanks for the update, even if it doesn’t really say anything new. It’s a step, and to be fair, probably the only course of action that can be taken at this time.

If you make it there, and want to see the unfinished under layer of the map. I finally found a way in. It has some really awesome areas I wish could have been finished. I.e. Some Indiana Jones style cavern assets, an odd Snake Room that looks like it might have had some importance at one point, and some neat mount jumping puzzles.

> @"battledrone.8315" said:

> > @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> > > @"JTGuevara.9018" said:

> > > Let me just say to the devs, thank you for all your hard work. It's never a good thing to see people being laid off. Devs, at the end of the day, are working people like you and I.

> > >

> > > That being said, NCSoft/Arenanet are NOT getting off the hook. Gw2 has been mismanaged over the years since release and now the chickens are coming home to roost. The push towards "esports", the rushed HoT expansion, rejection of gw1's combat system, lack of support for wvw/pvp, these are among some bad decisions taken over the years.

> > >

> > > This brings me to something else. The modern game industry SICKENS me. The greed is just rampant. You got companies that aren't happy just making a profit, they want to cut corners and screw the developers and players just to scratch that last cent. Honestly, once games became more mainstream and accepted, that's when corporate suits and investors decided to get their tentacles on them and ruin them. You want corporate shenanigans at its finest, look at mobile gaming. HOT GARBAGE. Now, regarding this game, whether you believe expansions vs living world will be a thing for the future, it really doesn't matter. What matters is that NCSoft will bear some of the responsibility in the near future (like...take over!). As far as the fate of gw2 goes, well...whatever NCSoft is in the mood for!

> >

> > As much as I would like to believe it was solely NCSoft mandating the creation of these other projects, and ArenaNet simply drowning in demands, I can't. While it's highly possible NCSoft delegated that they needed to create more titles and merely stepping in when their deadline wasn't met, I get the feeling that someone(s) at ArenaNet may have delivered a concept or two, got it approved, and underestimated the work and resources that would need to be done. Though it is certainly much nicer to imagine that they wouldn't have been so lacking in passion for this franchise that they willingly shifted focus from this game to other titles.

> >

> > didnt anet claim to be their own masters? and even so, wouldnt ncsoft be against spending money on uncertain projects vs. profit maximization

> in their current projects? this doesnt add up at all.

> >

>

>

I'm not sure I understand. I'm inferring that the projects were initiated by ArenaNet, with NCSoft more or less being merely the funding for said projects. At most, I could see NCSoft requesting ArenaNet to create some other IP's or merely to increase revenue however they saw fit, and ArenaNet either creating those new IP's or thinking the best way to increase to the desired revenue being to branch out with other games... but even that I don't think is the case.

I'm inferring that despite everyone wanting to blame NCSoft, I think it's whoever is in charge of making the decision to start creating these other games and then subsequently making the decision to shift focus and resources from their main product to these other games. I don't and never have worked in anything even remotely close to a game industry, so I can't even begin to fathom who would be in charge of a decision like this, but that's my guess.

And I don't know who the head of ArenaNet is right now, whether that's MIke O'Brien or someone else, but ultimately that's the person that I would hold responsible. Even if it isn't his fault, and the decision was made in belief and faith of the person he approved it for, I would imagine it still works its way up the chain of command.

Again, I used to have the impression that this company and everyone representing it was extremely passionate about what they do, and I believe they've stated that themselves. While that still may ring true, if it does for everyone, then the ones not working on Guild Wars 2 or the ones behind the decision to shift focus from it, must have had substantially more passion for these other projects.

I certainly don't believe that NCSoft told them exact specifics of the projects if they had any involvement with them at all, which leads to the conclusion of mismanagement yet again in the form of, lack of direction, poor time-management, overreaching with the concept, or whatever else it was that led to these projects being deemed not-worthy of resources and canceled, despite having the spotlight and potentially far more resources.

Without knowing the full picture, it's hard to say, and I doubt we'll ever get the full picture because 1. ArenaNet isn't likely to jeopardize their image by admitting fault. 2. ArenaNet isn't going to push blame to the NCSoft and risk being shut down or having their funding cut even more.

If Mike O was truly so blindsided by this in the position that he's walking around stricken with grief, then I DO blame NCSoft for being incompetent or careless enough to not make the circumstances apparent enough to Mike to give him enough time to prepare or consider ways to resolve the situation before now. Arguably though, still, you would think someone at ArenaNet would have at least a little foresight that this was a potential risk of devoting so much to those other projects. Especially if they've already potentially gone through many failed iterations or are nowhere near the timeline they expected. Though, they may have just anticipated they had much more time.

I think it's pretty fair to at least partially place blame on ArenaNet though. Especially as a consumer that's potentially been lead to believe that the game they support financially is receiving at least the majority of their support, which doesn't seem to be the case. Unless it has been, and they didn't delegate enough resources to the other projects and instead shifted their focus to making those projects as cheaply as possible, thus leading to some of the potential setbacks during production. But then you're left with a smaller staff with excess resources working on one game, and a larger portion of your staff divided amongst other projects working without enough resources to make the most of having all of that extra staff. Which would be another case of mismanagement and would be kind of an odd mistake for such a seasoned developer such as ArenaNet.

Again, who knows. I doubt we ever will. And I'm not sure that knowing would really matter or make much of a difference. The important thing is knowing the state of the game, the expected future of the game, and then finally seeing improvements in the future as a result.

To close this unintentionally long rant, as most of mine have been with this latest news, just because we have 100+ people leaving now, doesn't mean we won't have many more to follow of their own volition because they have lost morale or no longer believe in a future with ArenaNet. And if I were MIke O, that would certainly give me another reason to pace the room silently. Because then, not only do you have a nightmare of a hiring process, but you have rocky workflow and a game that's in a perpetual state of chaos amidst the already prevalent chaos involved with production. Just factor after factor compiled on until everyone collectively yells, "Jenga!" Because that, I can relate to, even in the mediocre job I have now. That is the straw that has led to a lot of my job dissatisfaction at least. You're always going to have new hires, people to train, and people to incorporate into the workflow, but when it becomes more and more frequent and you start looking up and seeing unfamiliar faces everytime, especially for a company that seems so tight-knit, it's going to be a major demotivator.. ontop of the harmful effects it will have on production. That's when the soul of the company devolves until it's just a peon doing the bidding of NCSoft and solely producing to meet the status quo.

> @"Gopaka.7839" said:

> In my opinion the new content in the future will slow down after 1/4 of the employees are cut and there will be more responsibilities to the other 3/4 who are staying in the studio. There will be more work for the ones who stay but in my opinion that means promotions for the extra work, and cutting some of the communications around the employees. What I mean by cutting some of the communications is that when 4 people work on a project there are 4 different opinions, now there will be 3. That means faster decisions. 1 employee maybe is not enough but imagine 10 people out of 40, imagine 100 out of 400. This has a plus and a minus, more heads more different opinions, more ideas but that doesn't mean 300 employees aren't capable of doing the same job as 400, they just need to tighten their pants in the future and not working on other game projects that do not include GW2's future.

I definitely think it will slow down, unfortunately. If not come to a grinding halt for quite some time. They mentioned we would still get continuation of season 4 and 5, but not when or how the timeline will be affected. But as they restructure and inform what's left, and attempt to incorporate the ones remaining into the current workflow and teams, it's going to most likely drastically impact the game at least in the short term. Which is unfortunate.

I don't really follow the rest of your statement, to be honest.

But I think it could go one of two ways, if the people remaining are passionate about the franchise and have good leadership, then I think the game could see a boost from the number and focus increase. If they just have more people than before, but a lack of morale and passion for the game, then they probably won't produce the same quality as the smaller teams. And if they don't have good leadership and people are just tossed into areas where they shouldn't be or aren't be as productive as they could be, you just have an excessive amount of people producing less than they could because there's just too many cooks in the kitchen.

And if I follow any of that last bit, are you assuming that there were 400 people and now 300 are going to be attempting to do the work of 300? Those 400 were dispersed among multiple projects, and arguably, most of that 400 may have been working on something other than Guild Wars 2. So, for all we know, we could be going from 100 or less working on Guild Wars 2, to 300 working solely on Guild Wars 2 and a plus 200 increase in staff devoted to it. So with that, it could go either way. It's going to take a lot of great leadership to ensure that the influx of 200 people are being efficient and not liabilities that lead to disorganization and pipeline or workflow chaos. And even in the best possible scenario where we see a benefit from this staff increase and an increased amount of content in all areas of the game, it's going to be a huge upset with what's presumably small tight-knit teams that have been used to conditions forcing them to work at 200% efficiency.

I'm not sure your logic about opinions is sound here. Two or three of those 4 people may have the same opinion? They're not ALWAYS going to have a different opinion about every decision. And in most cases, a team is going to reach a general census on the best approach, or it's going to be left up to the lead in charge of the team to make that decision and delegate in whatever way they need to see that decision come to fruition.

Thus the influx, in relation to your statement, could lead to 15 people working in a team that used to be 5, and now we have 15 people attempting to reach a census which... not really applicable either way.. but theoretically could take longer. Because now you can go from 5 people, and 3 people having the same opinion shifting the vote, to 15 people, with 4 people having one opinion, 4 people having another opinion, 4 people having another opinion, and 3 people having another opinion. Then all of a sudden you have a three-way tie on the same decision and have to go through another iteration to narrow it down. Thus, slower in the end.

To add to that, you now have leads now trying to manage or.. well... lead... 15 people versus 5, which is when it can start to get chaotic. Of course then the solution would probably be to have three team leads instead of 1.

Honestly, in regards to your title, I think "drug" was pretty much the intention of development behind many of the past years of World of Warcraft. It shifted from people being passionate about the game and more about maintaining supply of the drug, and relying on people's addiction to the game itself.

Honestly, I feel like that's kind of the direction this game was heading with the somewhat erratic updates, maps not having as much replayability as some of the others. I feel like that addiction factor is pretty much what they wanted to start relying on when they started putting most of their focus on the other projects. Not sure what that says about the ones in charge of making those decisions, but it doesn't feel like they were overly passionate about this game.

Maybe the ones left working solely on Guild Wars 2 were the ones remaining that were truly passionate about this game and why it's even maintained what it has with the reduction. Not sure what will happen now that many of those people might not even be there anymore.

In case you were unsure of some build examples: Here's a list -

Elementalist - any spec/build - longest range weapons being staff/scepter, with medium/close ranger dagger that still technically plays different than a melee weapon.

Necromancer - literally any build and with any weapon outside of greatsword. Not sure of dagger's range but it isn't hack and slash.

Mesmer - any build really. Greatsword, staff, scepter, pistol off-hand, sword-offhand, focus-offhand. The only weapons that are strictly melee are sword and axe.

Thief - rifle Deadeye and any thief can play pistol pistol. It's actually a really unique and fun playstyle. Shortbow, mainly used for mob-tagging and movement.

Engineer - pistol/pistol and kits. Probably going to be condition based, but you have everything from ranged turrets, to flamethrowers, to toolbelt skills and a grenade kit ontop of your pistol pistol. Oh, and rifle as well.

Ranger - kind of obvious as it's in the name - has many builds and weapon choices - you have axe, longbow, shortbow, staff if you go druid,

Revenants - shortbow and Renegade, hammer in general is the go-to for WvW which is entirely ranged.

Guardians - most ideal ranged gameplay comes from Dragonhunter, and while longbow may not be favorable for raids it's fun in wvw and open world content. You also have staff and scepter, scepter being a desired weapon for many raid and fractal builds, also quite lethal in some pvp builds. Staff is more for utility though admittedly and doesn't even have the benefit of providing Gandalf roleplay with the change to skill 1.

Warriors - lethal rifle burst builds, though not my ideal build, has some potential at least in pvp. Longbow and condi is also an option, especially as berserker elite spec.

I think they've done pretty well at making sure that each class has a wide range of playstyles, some of them obviously being more favorable to specific game modes, but the option is there.

If you're strictly referring to fractals and raids, then yes, your only real option is going to be necromancer or ele, as all the other classes are just more efficient with melee weapons. Even rangers, which is odd. I think this is caused in part by the emphasis they've placed on stacking for boonshare and boss mechanics, and partially due to them not wanting to enhance or create further imbalance from specs that are potentially already lethal or specialized in ranged.

I think they could probably be a bit better about giving some of the ranged builds more identity and viability, like having a ranger actually viable with ranged weapons, or having a renegade more effective with a shortbow than just camping axe/mace, or having a condi-mesmer camp axe when they have scepter that could be great with a few tweaks, or dragonhunter longbow be more effective than just camping sword/scepter and greatsword. Or having an engineer build that doesn't rely on being on the hitbox and spamming minimum range bombs with pistol-offhand being solely there for utility.

Fractals are a little more lenient in terms of ranged/melee playstyle, outside of challenge modes, but if your sole complaint is with raids then I understand. But with many boss mechanics having cone-based attacks and projectile effects, and boon management being essential to the strategy, I don't think there's much of a point in putting a lot of effort into tweaking a bunch of ranged weapons.. because ultimately you're going to be as close as possible. Maybe taking some of the emphasis off of boons would help to create opportunity for a wider arrange of playstyles, but I'm not sure how much effort it would be worth just to make raids a little more viable. (Oh, and healing too. That's probably the major reason for stacking. And aside from aura-heal tempests, firebrands and druids are both pretty limited when it comes to efficiency.)

But for everything other than raids, range is just as viable as melee.

I'm not even sure what they could add at this point to create more ranged roles. A ritualist/scepter rev spec might be an option. Perhaps somekind of javelin-throwing/paragon elite spec for a class like warrior or guardian.

It's hard to think of things they could add, because they have approached weapons in a very unique and unexpected way with many of the classes in this game. I.e. Mesmer greatsword being a ranged weapon, revenant hammer being ranged, axe for rangers and necros being ranged, daggers for eles and necros technically being ranged, daggers for necros technically being ranged even if smaller range.

I think if they continue to create elite-specs, we could easily see another Mesmer spec that's focused on ranged given that the last two were melee oriented. I also wouldn't be surprised to see a ranged warrior spec similar to Paragon since it's the one playstyle that it hasn't really received yet. And lastly, I think engineer could benefit from a truly ranged weapon that may even have additional synergy with some of the core class, i.e. turrets.

Just to continue this long rant, with what we have received in the form of elite specs for each class:

Ele - Tempest with warhorn which is technically ranged, Weaver with sword that is definitely melee. Next spec could be a bow or a greatsword imo.

Necro - Reaper with greatsword and melee oriented, Scourge with torch and ranged oriented. Next spec - who knows.

Mesmer - shield which is defensive and could go either way but leaning towards melee, axe which is melee. - Next spec I see being a bow or dagger that plays as ranged.

Revenant - Herald with shield and melee, Renegade with shortbow and seems themed around mid-range.

Warrior - Berserker with sword and melee oriented, Spellbreaker - melee oriented.

Guardian - Dragonhunter, longbow, ranged. Firebrand, melee oriented and axe.

Thief - Daredevil staff, melee. Deadeye, rifle, ranged.

Ranger - Druid, staff, ranged. Soulbeast, dagger, melee favorable.

Engineer - Scrapper, hammer - melee. Holo, sword, melee.

> @"JTGuevara.9018" said:

> Let me just say to the devs, thank you for all your hard work. It's never a good thing to see people being laid off. Devs, at the end of the day, are working people like you and I.

>

> That being said, NCSoft/Arenanet are NOT getting off the hook. Gw2 has been mismanaged over the years since release and now the chickens are coming home to roost. The push towards "esports", the rushed HoT expansion, rejection of gw1's combat system, lack of support for wvw/pvp, these are among some bad decisions taken over the years.

>

> This brings me to something else. The modern game industry SICKENS me. The greed is just rampant. You got companies that aren't happy just making a profit, they want to cut corners and screw the developers and players just to scratch that last cent. Honestly, once games became more mainstream and accepted, that's when corporate suits and investors decided to get their tentacles on them and ruin them. You want corporate shenanigans at its finest, look at mobile gaming. HOT GARBAGE. Now, regarding this game, whether you believe expansions vs living world will be a thing for the future, it really doesn't matter. What matters is that NCSoft will bear some of the responsibility in the near future (like...take over!). As far as the fate of gw2 goes, well...whatever NCSoft is in the mood for!

As much as I would like to believe it was solely NCSoft mandating the creation of these other projects, and ArenaNet simply drowning in demands, I can't. While it's highly possible NCSoft delegated that they needed to create more titles and merely stepping in when their deadline wasn't met, I get the feeling that someone(s) at ArenaNet may have delivered a concept or two, got it approved, and underestimated the work and resources that would need to be done. Though it is certainly much nicer to imagine that they wouldn't have been so lacking in passion for this franchise that they willingly shifted focus from this game to other titles.

There are so many things that I love that it's hard to list just 1. But I'll try to leave it short.

The endless gear grind as mentioned above is definitely 1.

The art in this game is another. Although I think the armor and weapons are a bit uninspired at times, the maps have always been truly breathtaking and immersive for me. I'm the type of person that loves exploring, and have probably spent a good 200 hours just exploring the guild halls and making them my own with decorations. I also absolutely love breaking out of maps and seeing the bones of them or finding new vantage points just to take in the beauty of them. I sincerely hope the layoffs didn't affect too many people associated with this. I think the people responsible for creating many of these maps are highly professional, detail oriented, and extremely talented. It would be a shame to see any of them go, and have it reflect in one of the most major ways I enjoy the game.

The innovation is another. The minds that program some of this tech have to be pretty top notch. Although I think this game is bad in general about creating new things and never letting them grow into their full potential, I feel like this game has always been really creative in terms of putting a new spin on classic features. Mounts for example, are a huge boost for the game an exciting new way to not only enjoy existing or older content, but to give developers new and fun challenges when creating new content. Sure, mounts aren't unique to this game, but I think they introduced them wonderfully and to a game you wouldn't naturally expect to have them. The same with gliding. The combat system in general and the many ways they find to keep pushing the physics in the game.

The other is the method of storytelling. Though I highly disagree with some of their story-decisions, I think the delivery is quite effective and very immersive. A little quick at times, and short-lived, but I certainly never got as involved or invested with any characters in WoW when I played it... and I even read a majority of the novels...

There are plenty more things to list, and I hope as time goes on, I'm able to add even more. But the map design and innovation are probably the key things that I like and find unique about this game.

And again, you don’t know that Gaile didn’t volunteer to leave room for some of the new blood.

> @"Dragana.1497" said:

> Josh Foreman's view on the future of GW2: https://clips.twitch.tv/MagnificentKathishStarlingArsonNoSexy

This was an inciteful look into what was going on for sure and confirms a lot of the suspicions I had. It’s a shame though. Leaving Guild Wars 2 with minimal focus and stretching all that staff unreasonably thin because they want to focus on creating other ips.

Certainly don’t think we needed another thread, that’s for sure.

> @"wetwillyhip.7254" said:

> > @"Rabbi Rick.3194" said:

> > > @"JustTrogdor.7892" said:

> > > Josh Foreman is leaving Anet. :(

> > >

> > >

> >

> > Yep, and with that, Anet will not receive another dime from me. ESO looks like it has some great content coming out this year.

>

> It's not ArenaNet's fault! It's NCSOFT's fault for all of this.

Assuming these projects were someone's idea at ArenaNet and not some delegated tasks by NCSoft, it is "ArenaNet's" fault. And to an extent, it's the teams working on those other projects not being able to complete them with the resources or staff they were given, or a lack of direction, that are also to blame. Perhaps the projects were too ambitious to begin with?

I think this is a case of mismanagement just as much as it is corporate greed.

Maybe they’re contractually bound to having an official forum as part of their services or terms of business? I can see how such a thing might be necessary.

With the latest article stating that the game will not be “affected” but will have less developers working on it I think that’s either a hint that we will probably getting some pretty drastic delays with more than just the wvw mount patch. And with so many veterans leaving, likely due to volunteering, I fear that this game while undoubtedly continuing one way or another, will just devolve more and more until it’s merely a shell of its former self.

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"MrCuddowls.4610" said:

> > > @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> > > > @"MrCuddowls.4610" said:

> > > > If someone has achieved 100% World Completion, give them the option to reset their entire world. Also make them weaker relative to the mobs to make the game a bit harder. Give it some incentives (like different colors for the star, new titles, gear etc) and that's a way you could add more content with relatively little work.

> > >

> > > That seems like a lot of work to me. Rebalancing all of those zones. And the tech they’d have to build to register whether it’s a players second attempt, and specifically rebalancing them only in core Tyria. Then making sure that the balance is just right, I.e. some mob somewhere isn’t hitting just a few percent higher than they should. Lol

> > >

> >

> > I don't think they have to change anything with the zones. They just need to make your character scale lower.

>

> Why do any work at all? You can scale your character lower by taking less gear.

And I think the type of person that would redo map completion would probably find a way like this or an iron man challenge like not dying from 1 to 80 without needing the devs to do anything. I don’t think something of this undertaking would ultimately appeal to a very large group of people, even with titles or different color stars. Weapon or armor models perhaps. And then, realistically, you would just wind up with groups doing this challenge to get the reward faster and negating the difficulty with numbers.

Yeah, I think posting that guild wars 2 services won’t be affected was probably a little heat of the moment.

But to be fair, their update or not, common sense tells you it’s still going to be affected.

And wow, losing Josh Foreman? I assume he probably wasn’t even working on guild wars 2 for awhile and that’s why, which is kind of sad considering what he’s added to the game. But perhaps working on a new project was exciting to him, and in the end it’s probably better having people tired of the franchise move onto other products than get burnt out and have it reflect in their work.

A lot of big names leaving though. Makes this whole thing seem like it will be a lot worse than they’ve let on.

Then again, I suppose it’s possible that some of these people may have been higher paid and volunteered knowing that they have the capability to find work elsewhere potentially allowing more of the lesser paid staff to remain.

Who knows though. It’s definitely seeming worse and worse with each day. And I’m sure if veterans like some of these are leaving it’s probably complete chaos behind the scenes. I can understand taking a week to grieve, but it certainly doesn’t look promising.

> @"MrCuddowls.4610" said:

> If someone has achieved 100% World Completion, give them the option to reset their entire world. Also make them weaker relative to the mobs to make the game a bit harder. Give it some incentives (like different colors for the star, new titles, gear etc) and that's a way you could add more content with relatively little work.

That seems like a lot of work to me. Rebalancing all of those zones. And the tech they’d have to build to register whether it’s a players second attempt, and specifically rebalancing them only in core Tyria. Then making sure that the balance is just right, I.e. some mob somewhere isn’t hitting just a few percent higher than they should. Lol

> @"Westenev.5289" said:

> I think it's a safe bet to assume the commander is going to make their way back to the Land of the Lost to help Aurine find her way back, and possibly finish her ascension by killing whatever kralky minion is eating/processing souls. Doing so will somehow foil Kralkatorik's plans, which will delay him for a few episodes (or until the next expansion).

>

> Or we could just kill Braham now that he's actually become a decent guy who genuinely wants to make amends. Kick the puppy while he's down, I say.

For some reason I think Braham is the one character that's actually safe in all of this. At the rate we're going, I'd be surprised if Taimi, Canach, Marjory, and Kas survive this season. Considering they stated that they originally planned for Caithe to die this episode but changed their minds to give Aurene's death more emotion, I find it unlikely that she's going to die anytime soon either. I don't really believe they had plans to kill her off to begin with though. I've got to hand it to her though, she always manages to find a way to make herself relevant somehow. Sneaky cabbage.

> @"Trise.2865" said:

> > @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> > And while it's entirely possible that Asura will save the day yet again, that would be a huge gut punch for those of us that became attached to Aurene and spent the past few years raising her. Would also seem entirely ridiculous after spending an episode gaining every strategic advantage we had and sacrificing Aurene when we could have just used magicks to trap him somewhere he won't be a threat.

>

> Why? The damage she and the Commander were able to inflict left Kralkatorrik the weakest he's ever been; even weaker than when Destiny's Edge battled him. Nothing like that would have been possible without them. Did you think the Elder Dragon was just going to sit there and watch us point lasers at him? no, he needed to be hurt; driven back, forced to retreat deep into his hidey-hole... so we can collapse the entrance.

>

> Aurene was our only plan. We were so focused on her, we ignored every other possibility. Now that she's gone, we need a new plan. We have to take advantage of this opportunity, and capitalize on this moment of weakness, or her sacrifice would have been in vain, just like Glint's and Vlast's (and don't think I didn't notice that little bit of symmetry, ANet. This was Glint's plan from the beginning, wasn't it? to attack Kralkatorrik from within the mists, with their combined power.).

Closing his "hidey-hole" does no good if you can't extract his ability to traverse the mists. This supposed thin veil over Elona makes no difference. There's a "thin veil" in Woodland Cascades near the raid. And even with that, a thin veil isn't necessary when you have the ability to come and go as you please wherever and whenever. Rhytlock appearing out of thin air due in Verdant Brink due to Balthazar - the same magic that Kralk is using, is proof of that.

And the only known way to get that magic out of Kralk, that we know of, is to kill him.

Weakened or not, he's still stronger than us, and aside from whatever special abilities Glint's Army had in the mists that allowed them to damage him before we ever fought him, it takes us having a specially made weapon just to damage him. But yeah, sure, we could Taimi our way into creating Omadd's machine 2.0 and applying the resonance technology to it somehow, but that's about the cheapest thing they could do.

I see your points, but regardless, I highly doubt magitech is the route they're going. Especially given we already used that with Primordus and Jormag.

I imagine, we'll probably all be wrong and whatever they come up with will be completely out of left field. But I guess we'll have to wait and see.

> @"Trise.2865" said:

> It wouldn't surprise me if we were in for some time-travel shenanigans, especially considering Rytlock's connection to Glint and The Mists.

>

> Assuming [Requiem](https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/january-29-2019/ "Requiem") is exposition and not foreshadowing, we can then assume that some time passed between the end of All or Nothing and the start of Season 5.

>

> Here's what I'd do: Kralkatorrik retreated to and is hiding within The Mists, which means he can use the weakened Veil in Elona to "planeswalk" between them at will. We have research and technology available to warp and restructure The Mists and its unique magic, as well as the Dragons' energy and magic. We can use our technologies and magicks - along with Rytlock's connection to Glint, Zojja applying Snaff's research, our experiences with Joko, and our knowledge of Elona's history - to siphon Kralkatorrik's magical energy back on itself and use it to reinforce the Veil, effectively sealing him off inside his own lair, and permanently away from Tyria. This has the side effect of dramatically lowering the ambient magic in Elona, and all across Tyria, removing nearly half of the energy from the system. Half as much magic means less to go around, but it also means a more stable system with fewer Dragon "nodes" necessary to regulate it. It's a temporary measure, as magic will build back up eventually (and more quickly), but it buys us time to consider less desperate options.

>

> In Season 6, as predicted, Magic starts building up again, but even faster than we anticipated. We can't funnel enough into the dimensional stabilizers to properly contain Kralkatorrik (which is why there are still Branded everywhere), but at least he's dealt with for now. This is where we return our focus to Primordus and Jormag, to see if we can't Twinrova their energy again, and use some of that to further fuel Kralk's prison... but they won't fall for the same ploy twice. They'd be weary of picking fights with each other again, even if we could cleverly instigate them. So, instead, we simulate that ol' Bubbles is invading the surface and encroaching on Jormag's and Primordus's territories. It works as well as could be expected. But what we didn't count on, is actually drawing Bubbles' attention...

>

I wonder what having fewer dragons does to their sleep cycles though. I wonder what the optimal pattern is. Is it better to have them all sleeping and waking at the same time keeping them around the same level of power but wreaking havoc in each of their designated locations, or is it better to have two sleeping and one awake and potentially reaching whatever cap they need to sate their appetite faster.

And while it's entirely possible that Asura will save the day yet again, that would be a huge gut punch for those of us that became attached to Aurene and spent the past few years raising her. Would also seem entirely ridiculous after spending an episode gaining every strategic advantage we had and sacrificing Aurene when we could have just used magicks to trap him somewhere he won't be a threat.

Though your post may be sarcasm, I'm too tired to tell.

If the twitter hints at the god are an indication of the upcoming story, I think it's safest to assume that we'll either be gaining their help to kill Kralk and Aurene is revived via Joko magic, gaining their help to replace him via some ability they have that we didn't know about or teaching us more about ascension or Aurene, or simply cleansing a death-branded Aurene as the final step for her becoming a viable replacement for Kralk.

I also am more likely to believe more than ever before, that the introduction of Zafirah wasn't just to pay homage to the finished story-line with Balthazar and perhaps it's possible that all of this talk of Ascension will have to do with more than just Aurene's ascension to an Elder Dragon.

Then again, that same private talk she had with Glint about ascension, could tie in with the role that Caithe plays and Aurene's little mind-melding moment with her in that Caithe is passing along that knowledge to the Pale Tree further explaining why she felt so "humbled." It would admittedly be a bit disappointing to me to go that route and leave Aurene as this martyr messenger, but I suppose it's possible.

Though I suppose it's also possible that they use this as an opportunity to somehow make it so that Zafirah inherits Balthazar's position as god of War, because they somehow have managed to not replace him yet, and this leads to her sort of absorbing the part of Balthazar that Kralk has within him. Or that perhaps in killing Kralk, the pale tree somehow ascends to replace Mordremoth and they have leeway to kill Kralk without the world exploding. But even then, just doesn't seem likely.

Or at this point it could be explained that the gods are attuned enough to the all that they have the ability to simply allow a non-typical replacement to absorb the magic of Kralk through ascension or something.

It's really anyone's guess at this point.

> @"ThatOddOne.4387" said:

> I do think your final theory is what's going to happen. The Gods aren't going to provide a solution, they're going to provide a stay of execution so we can get another solution in place. The main reason they avoided fighting the Elder Dragons was the collateral of doing so. So long as they fight and contain Kralkatorrik in the Mists but not kill him, the balance is still unthreatened and the collateral of their clash does not effect Tyria. They just need to perform some sort of holding action so Tyria can get its act together.

>

> As ArenaNet said, Kralkatorrik is more than just a Tyria-level threat now, he's a threat to all of reality, and I think that will change the Gods calculations on the matter - Before their decision was only predicated on the fact that the Dragons were bound to Tyria, now Kralkatorrik is not, an ability likely gained from Balthazar, that may well be the gamechanger the Gods either require or, in fact, have been waiting for this whole time, to allow their involvement.

>

> They've had some plan RE the Elder Dragons. They were involved with the Forgotten and Glint's solution, but Glint said that the plans of the Gods are beyond her knowing. So there is clearly something up there.

My biggest issue with them merely acting as jailors, is that it would seem risky to them to put themselves in that position. It's also questionable as to whether, even if working together, they are powerful enough to do so. Balthazar needed a special machine and Aurene just to damage Kralk. If they have no such devices at their disposal, I'm not sure how likely it is that they would be able to contain him.

It is also odd however, that the ghosts in the mists and Glint's army mentioned badly wounding him before we even started fighting him, because they didn't have access to dragonsblood weapons like we did in Tyria. So how did they manage to wound him with what they had, when Balthazar, a being known to travel and potentially originating from the mists, couldn't have any effect on him without the help of the forged siege and Aurene's ability to impact him through resonance. Is he more susceptible to other kinds of attacks while in the mists? Was it really Glint and Vlast that were able to injure and weaken him in the Mists even though, arguably, they are merely spirit beings at this point? Things just don't add up. And I think they will continue to not add up unless they find a way to make the original plan work with Aurene.

And unless the gods are involved with US and killing Kralk, I just don't see them getting involved just to attempt to imprison him somehow. But I suppose it's possible, given that we don't actually know how powerful the gods are in comparison to Elder Dragons or the full extent of their capabilities. Perhaps just as they are able to grant a blessing to Kormir to absorb Abaddon, they equally have the ability to drain a beings magic or extract certain properties, i.e. Kralk's ability to traverse the mists and ultimately leaving him stranded somewhere. I feel like that would be one hell of a cop out though. *shrug*

> @"Cyninja.2954" said:

> > @"Erasculio.2914" said:

> > And notice how ArenaNet is promising they won't cancel the announced content - but no word on long term plans. We may get a season 5 (with how many episodes? And what about the quality of each episode?), but after that?

> >

> They said GW2 is not affected and season 4 and 5 is still on schedule. Either show proof of this not being the case, or stop making assumptions.

>

To be fair, they said that we will get season 4 and season 5 as promised, not that they are on schedule. You can assume that with episode 6 and presumably the first two episodes of Season 5 already being in development, that they may not be affected in terms of the cadence. Because depending on their long-term plans and the fact that they have gone with a very linear story this season which may carry into the next, one minor change in what they had planned much further down the road may cause them to have to revisit some of these earlier episodes to make adjustments. Simply put, they promised that we will get the episodes, but not that we will get them at the rather unpredictable pace that we have. And we also don't know what Mike Z was referring to when he mentioned season 5 receiving expansion-level content with living story. If that expansion-level content consists of some feature that now has to be scrapped, reworked, or pushed for a later episode due to restructuring or resource allocation, it may have a serious impact on not only the schedule of releases but potentially the quality if said feature was meant to be a showcase feature like the Beetle was with Long Live the Lich.

Everyone is making assumptions here, because that's all you really can do at this point. I wouldn't be so quick at dismissing other people's concerns.

> @"Swagger.1459" said:

> To the naysayers... I challenge any of you to come up with better ideas to increase revenue so the game can grow and prosper years to come. I'll be more than happy to discuss them, so let's see what y'all got!

Well, it feels like they've devoted quite a number of resources and staff to those other projects. So hopefully, aside from yet another "restructure" in regards to teams and what not, they can put content out at a faster pace. With new content comes new gem store items, new items that people will most likely be able to buy with gem to gold conversion. More people satisfied with the game and spending more in general. They really haven't done as many mount skins as I was expecting. We get the occasional pack of random mount skins, but many of them are fairly close to the original with a slight pattern change and the ones that aren't are locked behind those in an rng system. So, I can't imagine those are selling all that great.

I think making wiser decisions with resources and fully focusing and investing in Guild Wars 2 would increase revenue on its own. More time spent on the one game that earns most of the money seems like kind of a no-brainer.

If you think about purely gemstore items in regards to how they earn their revenue, the more things players want in the gemstore the more money they're going to make. They have a novelties and novelties preview tab, so they can add a plethora of anything from chairs, to kites, to combat tonics if they wanted. I really think they've underestimated the desire for combat tonics so far. They will soon have 7 mounts in the game, and we receive one unique mount maybe every few months for 1 mount. I.e. Warforged and fox jackal, lion griffon, goat springer, armadillo beetle. These are all top gem items that plenty of people have spent money on, myself included. The more of these items you make, the more money you're going to make. Just look at WoW's mount system and how many mount skins they've sold. It just hasn't gotten nearly the attention I was expecting considering the opportunity.

I think in general, the issue is that they've thinned their resources and personnel out so much that they've jeopardized the one game that's earning them all the money. If they shift all of their focus back to it, increase productivity, create more content whether it's gemstore, living story, wvw, raids, fractals, expansions, or current events and biweekly gemstore updates they will see an increase. But right now the people left on Guild Wars 2 are probably just scraping by with, probably a very tight schedule and very fine-tuned workflow just to keep up the pace they have with little leeway. They haven't created opportunities to earn money because they've been struggling to much to create what they have in the time that they have. Honestly, it may not be a huge boost, but I think if they ever got around to creating player housing and revamped their decoration system, including adding furniture sets/decorations in the gem store, they could probably earn quite a bit of revenue that way. Perhaps the issue is less that they need to diversify with games, and more that they need to figure out ways to diversify within one game. There's infusions they could make and add to the gemstore. There's a lot they could do just with Guild Wars 2, in my opinion, but with the workload they've had and the people they've had it probably hasn't been possible.

Despite the updated response, this will have an impact on Guild Wars 2, whether it's temporary restructuring halting the speed at which content is delivered due to team reorganization, or just ideas that they want to incorporate or scrap due to budget cuts or whatever. But I think, in the long run, after everything gets sorted out, putting in the effort to diversify and create more opportunities within the one solid game they have then revenue may see a pretty decent boost. And obviously, I'm not implying that they put 70% focus into the gemstore and the other 30 maintaining what they have, but as it stands without more frequent content in multiple areas and the most frequent changes to the gemstore being the return of old items with the occasional new outfit or gathering tool.. they aren't really creating more opportunities to entice players into spending money.

With there already being multiple threads on the matter, it would seem more beneficial to try to assemble our thoughts and concerns within the context of one thread. If you have concerns or thoughts, it's important to be at worst- non-bias, and at best, sensitive, thoughtful, and to use common sense. Let's have a mature and non-emotionally charged discussion.

To start off with my thoughts, as I've iterated in countless other threads by now.

The News of Lay-offs and What We Know

While even the discussion of the subject will seem at least a little insensitive to those affected, it's a discussion worth having.

1. We know it will be a fairly large number, and we know that it's caused by an unannounced project.

2. We have an official response stating, "We will be moving directly from Living World Season 4 into Season 5 as promised, and we plan to continue a regular cadence of updates and releases."

3. This implies that the current trajectory of Season 4 and Season 5 is still in the works.

What We Don't Know

1. We don't know what's to come after season 5, or if an expansion was being worked on during this time.

2. We don't know why the reasoning behind switching to Season 5 after Season 4, which could have been a decision to create more time for expansion development, a decision to make a non-expansion related plot separate from the plot of season 4 seem more cohesive in advance of the potential expansion, or a simply a new decision to release living story content in place of expansions as their new content delivery model.

3. To tie into the previous, with statements being made about receiving expansion level content with living story updates, if expansions are no longer the preferred development we do not know what kind of expansion-level content this could entail. I.e. Elite specializations, larger features like Mounts/Gliding/Guild Halls/new Armor and Weapon assets in the same quantity as an expansion/other features that are of a larger scope than to be expected within a living story update. This statement could solely be referring to story delivery and instanced content.

4. We don't know the current amount of people working on each team, or even decisively what teams there are working on Guild Wars 2, only a few announcements made here and there regarding restructuring and assumptions made based on past explanations of living story team format with an alternate fractal/raid release format with each episode.

5. We don't know how many resources in general have been put into Guild Wars 2 and not funneled into the unannounced projects.

The Rumors and My Reasoning

A compiled list of rumors based upon assumptions made from releases this season as well as everyone's favorite Twitterer.

1. We have rumors that developers have been pulled from Guild Wars 2 to these unannounced projects, this is somewhat inspired by one of the Twitter responses. We know that there has been quite a bit of restructuring this season alone that has changed up development. We have been told countless times that resources are fairly thin and it has been cited several times when asked why a particular aspect wouldn't get any new development, because it would sacrifice upcoming content. It's not unreasonable, but it stands to reason if resources and staff is being shuffled off to other projects, that they are most likely scraping by to deliver what they have in the time frame that they have. We have had a few hiccups this season in which delays have been caused due to production issues, whether it was stated to be for the benefit of quality assurance, restructuring, or changes made to benefit future releases. I'm certainly inclined to believe that a large part of these decisions was due to these unannounced projects and less focus on Guild Wars 2. It is possible that some of these beneficial changes may not truly be seen until Season 5, as it may have been too late in development in Season 4 for them to take effect, but that's relying on faith of content that hasn't been delivered yet. The one reason why I would believe this to be the case, is that it would be risky to make these suggestions only to have the same problems arise after they have supposedly taken effect. This is particularly troubling because it implies that no only are we essentially getting less than we could be, but that the developers still involved with Guild Wars 2 are undoubtedly putting in a colossal amount more effort to meet expectations that we as consumers didn't understand were as unrealistic. This speaks volumes about the developers involved with these releases as well as the people making the decisions to put these developers in the positions they are in, over there heads and blamed for something that is completely out of their control. To that, there will of course be volatile responses and negativity no matter what the outcome, but potentially enforcing a strict communication policy as one of many tools to censor and veil these kind of decisions only makes matters worse for everyone.

2. We have rumors that what we as Guild Wars 2 players spend is potentially funding more of these unannounced projects than it is Guild Wars 2, as the Guild Wars 2 has lost the focus and these unannounced projects have been consuming enough to warrant the parent company to step in and force them to refocus their efforts on their flagship product. This doesn't sit well with me as I would like to think that I'm funding the game I know and love and the people that work to make it that way, and not the idea of someone who had the power to make a seemingly reckless decision with resources, to the point that the game I play's content is potentially harmed by such decisions.

3. We have rumors, as previously discussed, that the expansion model is being dumped in favor of living story updates. You could look at this several ways. One - the living story updates could be more beneficial if given the same features as an expansion but delivered more frequently. Two - this is done to keep what steady balance they have with production while leaving minimal focus on Guild Wars 2 while the unannounced projects receive the bulk of the resources and attention. Three - they believe that this model is just more lucrative overall. Personally, I would be inclined to believe 2. Of course, it's the most pessimistic option, but if a parent company comes in and tells you to refocus your efforts, it could be partially due to the fact that siphoning resources and personnel to unreleased projects while leaving your largest product running on as few cylinders as manageable raised a red flag.

The Response from ArenaNet Team

"We know you have a lot of questions about the future of Guild Wars 2. We want to share with you what to expect moving forward for the game. First and foremost, we are still fully committed to all of our players and ongoing support of the game. We will be moving directly from Living World Season 4 into Season 5 as promised, and we plan to continue a regular cadence of updates and releases.

We know Guild Wars 2 is important to you, and as our players, you are important to us. Rest assured that we are still working to add great new content to the game. We are deeply grateful to all of you for your support during this difficult time."

While this was a very quick response and one that wants to be uplifting, I can certainly understand the sentiment that doesn't quite hit the mark. Of course, expecting an elaborate response at this time would be unreasonable either way, especially given how recently this news was released. But for me personally and many others, I think a big issue with it is the fact that it answers a question most of us weren't asking. I think most people with common sense realized that Season 4 and 5 already having been in development weren't at risk of being canceled. And "regular cadence of updates and releases" is fairly vague. Again, all of this is to be expected and there hasn't been enough time to provide anything other than a slightly hopeful but overall vague response. My biggest issue with it however, is with what people are interpreting from it. Reading this as solid evidence that Guild Wars 2 will not be affected by something of this magnitude seems a bit delusional. Sure, it's possible that Guild Wars 2 won't be affected because the only people affected by the lay-offs will be the ones working on the unannounced projects and the current teams will remain the same. But that's not likely. The likely scenario, along with letting go of positions that aren't deemed absolutely necessary, is that they will keep the strongest and most beneficial. Some of the strongest and beneficial may have been ones working on these other projects. So, then we have the issue of another restructuring. We have people being moved out of Guild Wars 2 and others moved in, which comes with its own set of challenges in the form of catching the new team members up to speed whether it be general work flow or overall story and design decisions that have already been made. It's not realistic to assume that this will have absolutely no impact. It's also not logical to assume that this won't cause potentially major changes for undeveloped releases, or affect the cadence of already planned releases. After all, we have confirmation that the releases are still planned, not that they are planned and on schedule, which in and of itself has been a little hard to nail down as it falls outside the original 2-3 months. The negativity toward the current release cadence is another thing I think could have been somewhat avoided if we had known that, speculatively, there are less resources and developers involved with said releases.

Of course, everyone will have their own speculation. The game is obviously still earning plenty of money to stay afloat, and I don't think anyone could question that. Obviously, this is a delicate subject, especially for the creators of our beloved game, but I think it's one worth having non-the-less. Despite the insensitivity, as I believe they themselves have expressed, showing passion towards the product is a good sign. Ambivalence shows lack of demand, and lack of demand leads to uncertainty, reduced productivity, and potentially diminished inspiration.

To close out my thoughts, I wish the best to all of those affected by this and whether it be chalked up to corporate greed in favor of more profitable venues, mismanagement and poor decisions, or a hopefully not but possibly typical day as someone employed in the game industry... I hope that your next step is rewarding, fruitful, and filled with that feeling of fate closing one door to open one even better. And to the ones remaining, I hope that despite the low morale, you're still filled with passion about what you do despite the circumstances, and that you shrug off any regret you may have and realize for every doubt or fear you have, there's a player gleefully spamming space bar eager for their next adventure, a player sitting on their tiny asura with the feeling of being a child again, a player finding their next scantily clad outfit and pumping it up with as many particle effects as possible with pride, a pair of friends endlessly failing at jumping puzzles, a guild introducing a new player to the wonders of Shadow Behemoth, or a group of 50 complete strangers working together to slay an overgrown worm. And I hope that you remember that each of those players is undoubtedly thankful for the opportunity you have given them to express themselves in a way that they can only do in a virtual word, connect with people in a way that they may feel incapable of in the real world to combat the loneliness they carry with them each day, or simply feel a sense of magic and excitement that lets them escape from the chaos, mundanity, or general stress of what they wake up to. It's not an easy feat to have that kind of impact on that many people, and no matter how big or small the job you do, at some point whether it was an inspiring conversation you had with a colleague in the break-room, or the last-minute ambient dialogue you added and were afraid nobody would notice, or the attention to detail that made you realize that the light hitting that one tree by that one rock would give it an added sense of realism and depth, you made a difference.