Should Anet make cinematic trailers again? (See Prophecies and Factions trailers for examples)

[Joey Lanuza.1479]

Something I've noticed over the years playing is that while the game is a ton of fun and honestly a feast for lore lovers like myself, it really lacks dynamic teaser trailers that properly sell it to new players. Even in game, it relies on an almost moving static artwork for many moments in cutscenes, which is fine, but that doesn't grab new players. The game is spread to new people generally by word of mouth. "Hi friend. I see you like ______. Well have I got a game for you!"

 

I am NOT saying the game is dying because it's not. The game is thriving, in PvE, but PvP (the saltiness of many who flame is to blame) and WvW (which hasn't had a meaningful update since 1803 aside from warclaw) are struggling. I know it's a it of things. WvW isn't feasable until 80, and PvP is where many go to hate themselves in a competitive setting. But young blood comes in much more sluggishly than it should. The game is solid, and there's something for everyone, so why are we not getting people in larger numbers?

 

I think that marketing has let the game down. Cinematic trailers were used for Guild Wars Prophicies and Factions, but with Nightfall it was switched to gameplay footage and it really never fully switched back. Updates are a mix of cutscenes and gameplay footage for their teasers, which for us vets is great. W know the game is great, so show us the parts we wanna see! But to attract new players? You see all this games with cinematic trailers? How do we compete against those for our proverbial sempai to notice the game?

 

Cinematic trailers for major releases (xpacs, living world seasons starting up, etc) would really draw in more fresh meat. I mean... New friends! Yes. _New friends_. This isn't the only mmo on the block competing with Blizzard games anymore. It's competing with dozens of studios, and new players are what keep this place fresh and awesome! Or extra salty in PvP. Tears or rants, your choice.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

You may find this recent thread interesting: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/107812/movie-quality-cinematic-trailer-for-new-expansion#latest

[Zephire.8049]

Agreed that the marketing for GW2 is pretty terrible but cinematic trailers would be a bandaid trying to fix a broken limb. Creating a cinematic trailer several times a year for updates won't attract that many new people—far fewer than active marketing would—and be hugely expensive and require a dedicated team to work on.

 

All the trailers and cinematics for GW2 are either purely in-game (the cutscenes that you mentioned are in-game, just with custom animations, camerawork, and post-editing) or their signature painterly style. And I can tell you that as a gamer, I prefer that over cinematics like WoW, LoL, and even Proph and Factions use. I'd rather know what's possible than be fed a lie, especially when it's so common for studios to pour money into a high quality cinematic only for the game itself to look a decade or two old at max settings. And while GW2 looks good for its age (especially given the engine), a cinematic would end up making it look bad in comparison. Especially for new players who spawn into a starting zone and interact with textures and animations from 2012 after seeing a cinematic from 2020.

 

Also Anet does not have a good history of trailers that don't use the in-game engine. There's some that are good (I'm a particular fan of the Rytlock one for the first SAB), but then there's also the one that shall not be named and those that have seen it likely know the exact one I'm talking about :p

 

I'd just prefer Anet focus on the game itself instead of putting resources into cinematic trailers that aren't needed and have no small chance at being a money pit given their history with marketing and trailers.

[Joey Lanuza.1479]

> @"Zephire.8049" said:

> Agreed that the marketing for GW2 is pretty terrible but cinematic trailers would be a bandaid trying to fix a broken limb. Creating a cinematic trailer several times a year for updates won't attract that many new people—far fewer than active marketing would—and be hugely expensive and require a dedicated team to work on.

>

> All the trailers and cinematics for GW2 are either purely in-game (the cutscenes that you mentioned are in-game, just with custom animations, camerawork, and post-editing) or their signature painterly style. And I can tell you that as a gamer, I prefer that over cinematics like WoW, LoL, and even Proph and Factions use. I'd rather know what's possible than be fed a lie, especially when it's so common for studios to pour money into a high quality cinematic only for the game itself to look a decade or two old at max settings. And while GW2 looks good for its age (especially given the engine), a cinematic would end up making it look bad in comparison. Especially for new players who spawn into a starting zone and interact with textures and animations from 2012 after seeing a cinematic from 2020.

>

> Also Anet does not have a good history of trailers that don't use the in-game engine. There's some that are good (I'm a particular fan of the Rytlock one for the first SAB), but then there's also the one that shall not be named and those that have seen it likely know the exact one I'm talking about :p

>

> I'd just prefer Anet focus on the game itself instead of putting resources into cinematic trailers that aren't needed and have no small chance at being a money pit given their history with marketing and trailers.

 

That's pretty fair. I'm personally a fan of the trailers as they show more hype, but you brought up a great point with the issue of the game graphics being less than against the trailer.

 

I think that while there would be a downgrade of sorts, like you said it holds up really well regardless.

[Dawdler.8521]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> You may find this recent thread interesting: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/107812/movie-quality-cinematic-trailer-for-new-expansion#latest

Its not so interesting, apparently my post shut down the discussion.