Let's Talk About Marketing...February

[Mike Silbowitz.1827]

Hi @"necrofarmer.9704"

 

Thank you for so much thoughtful consideration. I really like your idea of real life rewarding of players through marketing. It’s something I’ve done in my past life on different games but it really makes a lot of sense for GW2.

 

Also I promise I will continue to engage with the community as I know the majority appreciate the direct dialogue. :-)

[Mike Silbowitz.1827]

@"Huli.9740"

 

Thanks for sharing. I had not yet seen this trailer and agree it is quite good. :-)

[Mike Silbowitz.1827]

@"Randulf.7614"

 

Yes we will have a blog for those who are unable to tune in for Guild Chat as we want everyone to know what we are doing and find the info in the fashion most digestible for them but I hope as many fans as possible tune in as this will be the first true mentions of our February campaign. :-)

[Mike Silbowitz.1827]

Thanks @"Aldath.1275"

 

Never foolish to share your thoughts. A lot of what you shared doesn’t fall within marketing but your last point on showing support to our global fans is something we absolutely will be doing. Community and people are at the top of ArenaNet’s core values and we plan on doing good in the world beyond our games. You may have seen some our our recent philanthropic endeavors but we do not go out of our way to promote them. We do them for the good of the community first and foremost and will continue to do this for the foreseeable future. :-)

[TexZero.7910]

Mike im not sure if you're the person to point this out too, but it probably effects you as well....

 

If people don't play the game because there's no substance to hold their attention, no matter how much you market the player turnover is gonna be unhealthy.

To this end it would be nice if we had some longer lasting content pieces as your average player i feel is in and out within a week every 3 months leaving a 2+ month dead cycle.

[Randulf.7614]

> @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" said:

> @"Randulf.7614"

>

> Yes we will have a blog for those who are unable to tune in for Guild Chat as we want everyone to know what we are doing and find the info in the fashion most digestible for them but I hope as many fans as possible tune in as this will be the first true mentions of our February campaign. :-)

 

Good stuff. Might be worth adding things like this to the email you send out about LS updates etc to maximise eyes

[mercury ranique.2170]

Something I would really think would help for sales is a preview week. It allows non playing customers to experience the full game for a week time. The way it works is simular to the PoF Beta. The accounts who do not have all expansions and living world seasons unlocked get a special characterslot that has it all, but no progress is saved and TP, GH and banks are disabled. Chat limitations should still be based on the main accounts rule (so f2p players have strict limitations for chat). After that week it is back to normal.

 

What has it to do with marketing? a lot. before the free to play trial, such weeks always brought in a lot of attention. I know I always shared the facebook announcement on my own timeline. Also gaming news websites tend to share this. So it is a very good way to put GW2 in the spotlights. It also would be a good reason for players to buy more stuff.

(sidenote, maybe give those special slots also access to most Black lion upgrades and skins as extra promotion for the gemstore)

[X T D.6458]

> @"shippage.1983" said:

> Why does the community need to interact with you guys about the marketing at all? Why can't you guys just hire a professional like every other company! Saying the game has "mounts" doesn't mean anything to anyone, they want to see it as a living breathing world of customization and combat that is incredibly deep.

 

Wait so its a bad thing for players/customers to interact with developers and company staff about the games development, design, and future?

 

I love it, its great to see companies interested in feedback and interaction with the playerbase.

[Donari.5237]

> @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" said:

> Hi @"ProfCarson.7124"

>

> The animated short is a super appealing idea. I don’t know if we can make this a reality but I would love to explore this. :-)

 

You may already have the means. The fractals trailer came out in 2013 and works very well with GW2 style and transitions without being in-game footage. It's between game art and full cinematic, with fluid animations. At the time its makers said it was new tech ANet had and there would be more trailers like it ... and then we never got anything like it again. Well, we do get the transitions style in the in game cinematics (mostly in Pale Tree visions and suchlike) but not the animation style. It can be viewed on demand in the fractal lobby, but here's a youtube of it:

 

 

In my opinion that animation style would work well to convey some story narrative.

[Huli.9740]

> @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" said:

> @"Huli.9740"

>

> Thanks for sharing. I had not yet seen this trailer and agree it is quite good. :-)

 

For what you could argue is a similarly niche game ( MMO and 4X, wouldn't know enough to compare actual numbers) the views reach alone is pretty impressive for a week, and the community response has been hype like I saw pre HoT

 

[videoboy.4162]

I know! For the customer celebration, you can market us some pants for female light armor!

 

(I was going to insert a picture of some of the medium pants that would be a good fit, but I can't upload photos anymore =( )

[necrofarmer.9704]

> @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" said:

> Hi @"necrofarmer.9704"

>

> Thank you for so much thoughtful consideration. I really like your idea of real life rewarding of players through marketing. It’s something I’ve done in my past life on different games but it really makes a lot of sense for GW2.

>

> Also I promise I will continue to engage with the community as I know the majority appreciate the direct dialogue. :-)

 

I want to help in marketing!

[necrofarmer.9704]

> @"Huli.9740" said:

> Here's another games attempt at marketing , went down well

>

 

yep, paradox are really good in storytelling

[necrofarmer.9704]

> @"Donari.5237" said:

> > @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" said:

> > Hi @"ProfCarson.7124"

> >

> > The animated short is a super appealing idea. I don’t know if we can make this a reality but I would love to explore this. :-)

>

> You may already have the means. The fractals trailer came out in 2013 and works very well with GW2 style and transitions without being in-game footage. It's between game art and full cinematic, with fluid animations. At the time its makers said it was new tech ANet had and there would be more trailers like it ... and then we never got anything like it again. Well, we do get the transitions style in the in game cinematics (mostly in Pale Tree visions and suchlike) but not the animation style. It can be viewed on demand in the fractal lobby, but here's a youtube of it:

>

>

>

> In my opinion that animation style would work well to convey some story narrative.

 

new tech? Adobe Animate or After Effects. I could do it with the right assets. Arenanet didnt had a video editor for a long time - now they have a new one and from what I heard he is very skilled.

[Rubi Bayer.8493]

> @"DakotaCoty.5721" said:

 

>

> I look forward to watching this upcoming Guild Chat (the first time ever for me).

>

 

 

Now I'm nervous! <3 Seriously, I'm glad you'll be watching–thanks in advance!

 

 

[ReaverKane.7598]

> @"Rubi Bayer.8493" said:

> > @"DakotaCoty.5721" said:

>

> >

> > I look forward to watching this upcoming Guild Chat (the first time ever for me).

> >

>

>

> Now I'm nervous! <3 Seriously, I'm glad you'll be watching–thanks in advance!

>

>

 

Ruby!!! I actually miss watching PoI or Guild Chat weekly. You guys need to bring that back. Like it or not, that, On Point, and the World Championships were big rally points for the community.

I mean, i'm sorry for all the artists and people that enjoy that, but Community spotlight doesn't hold any interest to me and a lot of people that are there for the gameplay.

And Guild Chat had it's own weekly community spotlight...

[Gaile Gray.6029]

> @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

>

> I mean, i'm sorry for all the artists and people that enjoy that, but Community spotlight doesn't hold any interest to me

 

Hey, I take that very personally! :o Nah, I'm kidding! :) You're right, there is no "one size / one feature suits everyone" in our endeavors. Guild Chat, Community Showcase Live, and other initiatives are *all* intended to broaden our reach and find the medium or media that appeals to each player and each fan of the game. So watch, as you can and as you wish. We have a blast bringing these shows to you!

 

[ReaverKane.7598]

> @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> > @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> >

> > I mean, i'm sorry for all the artists and people that enjoy that, but Community spotlight doesn't hold any interest to me and a lot of people that are there for the gameplay.

>

> Hey, I take that very personally! :o Nah, I'm kidding! :) You're right, there is no "one size / one feature suits everyone" in our endeavors. Guild Chat, Community Showcase Live, and other initiatives are *all* intended to broaden our reach and find the medium or media that appeals to each player and each fan of the game. So watch, as you can and as you wish, and we have a blast bringing these shows to you!

>

I understand that, i just miss the weekly version of those. GC has been spread kind of thin, so much so that i've actually missed the last ones because the routine of being on to watch those is now lost.

I'm not trying to undermine the value of all the people that contribute to the community spotlight, and there's awesome talented people there doing awesome incredible things that i couldn't do even if i tried (i can barely draw a straight line... I'm an engineer and almost failed technical drawing because of the hand-drawn component :expressionless: : ), i just miss the old days of watching PoI or GC and then later seeing WP geek out to what you guys said. ^_^

[Rubi Bayer.8493]

> @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> I understand that, i just miss the weekly version of those. GC has been spread kind of thin, so much so that i've actually missed the last ones because the routine of being on to watch those is now lost.

> I'm not trying to undermine the value of all the people that contribute to the community spotlight, and there's awesome talented people there doing awesome incredible things that i couldn't do even if i tried (i can barely draw a straight line... I'm an engineer and almost failed technical drawing because of the hand-drawn component :expressionless: : ), i just miss the old days of watching PoI or GC and then later seeing WP geek out to what you guys said. ^_^

 

Aww, thanks Reaver. Gaile's right in that not every person will love every single thing, so it's all good. But we've been talking a lot about the livestream schedules behind the scenes, and you're right that when GC isn't on every Friday you can lose that routine. Hang in there with me a bit longer, okay? We're working on scheduling for 2018 and I think you'll be happy!

 

(Also seriously don't miss tomorrow's show. I have seven awesome dev guests, including one you haven't seen before, and that thing that Sibs has been hinting at. I'm super excited!)

 

 

[ham.8209]

@Mike Silbowitz.1827 will the cost of buying stuff from NPC be dropped or cut???

also will the gold drop rates in pve be changed to make it more better in order to by said stuff from NPC??

even tho this is a good starter and hoping it brings more to the game .

 

but we are in very bad need of more and bigger amo to do as MO ask us all to do with word of mouth thing

the bigger amo we got in this game the more easy we can spread the word of mouth and bring back and in new players

even tho that is a different topic but still if possable could you pass that on to MO please and thank you for your work and time in trying to make the game more fun and better for us all B) B)

 

sorry if this already been ask but did not see it if it was

[ReaverKane.7598]

> @"Rubi Bayer.8493" said:

> > @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> > I understand that, i just miss the weekly version of those. GC has been spread kind of thin, so much so that i've actually missed the last ones because the routine of being on to watch those is now lost.

> > I'm not trying to undermine the value of all the people that contribute to the community spotlight, and there's awesome talented people there doing awesome incredible things that i couldn't do even if i tried (i can barely draw a straight line... I'm an engineer and almost failed technical drawing because of the hand-drawn component :expressionless: : ), i just miss the old days of watching PoI or GC and then later seeing WP geek out to what you guys said. ^_^

>

> Aww, thanks Reaver. Gaile's right in that not every person will love every single thing, so it's all good. But we've been talking a lot about the livestream schedules behind the scenes, and you're right that when GC isn't on every Friday you can lose that routine. Hang in there with me a bit longer, okay? We're working on scheduling for 2018 and I think you'll be happy!

>

> (Also seriously don't miss tomorrow's show. I have seven awesome dev guests, including one you haven't seen before, and that thing that Sibs has been hinting at. I'm super excited!)

>

>

 

Yeah, i'll try to watch it, if not live, i'll watch the youtube one. Need to finish up on a deadline by Sunday...

I'm actually curious about it, and although i have a few grievances with some decisions made in the game, i'm enjoying the enthusiasm that guys like McKenna, Mike and Ben have been showing and the drive to push on and improve that i haven't seen in a while.

To be honest for a long time now, almost since HoT, it kind of seemed that the team had settled a bit and stopped wanting to innovate and improve. Although there were some sparks here and there from the Raid, Current Events, Fractal and Living world teams. Overall the game felt like it was stalled. PoF didn't bring much else to the table either. Mounts are fun, but after gliders, they weren't that revolutionary, and although i understand and support how masteries were made, i do miss some of the variety from HoT (despite with all the useless masteries there).

 

 

> @"ham.8209" said:

> @Mike Silbowitz.1827 will the cost of buying stuff from NPC be dropped or cut???

> also will the gold drop rates in pve be changed to make it more better in order to by said stuff from NPC??

> even tho this is a good starter and hoping it brings more to the game .

>

> but we are in very bad need of more and bigger amo to do as MO ask us all to do with word of mouth thing

> the bigger amo we got in this game the more easy we can spread the word of mouth and bring back and in new players

> even tho that is a different topic but still if possable could you pass that on to MO please and thank you for your work and time in trying to make the game more fun and better for us all B) B)

>

> sorry if this already been ask but did not see it if it was

 

While i agree with you that there needs to be a revision and rework of the cost/reward metrics, and the costs of a lot of stuff (especially some crafting recipes that were changed to "deal" with economical imbalances and have become obsolete by now, but still create unnecessary constrains to new players), with a special emphasis on PoF reward structures and the costs of ascended items on the heart vendors there, in order to create some incentives to revisit that content.

I don't think Mike is in a position to handle those things... He's handling marketing, not client development and in-game economy (afaik).

[ham.8209]

> @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> > @"Rubi Bayer.8493" said:

> > > @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> > > I understand that, i just miss the weekly version of those. GC has been spread kind of thin, so much so that i've actually missed the last ones because the routine of being on to watch those is now lost.

> > > I'm not trying to undermine the value of all the people that contribute to the community spotlight, and there's awesome talented people there doing awesome incredible things that i couldn't do even if i tried (i can barely draw a straight line... I'm an engineer and almost failed technical drawing because of the hand-drawn component :expressionless: : ), i just miss the old days of watching PoI or GC and then later seeing WP geek out to what you guys said. ^_^

> >

> > Aww, thanks Reaver. Gaile's right in that not every person will love every single thing, so it's all good. But we've been talking a lot about the livestream schedules behind the scenes, and you're right that when GC isn't on every Friday you can lose that routine. Hang in there with me a bit longer, okay? We're working on scheduling for 2018 and I think you'll be happy!

> >

> > (Also seriously don't miss tomorrow's show. I have seven awesome dev guests, including one you haven't seen before, and that thing that Sibs has been hinting at. I'm super excited!)

> >

> >

>

> Yeah, i'll try to watch it, if not live, i'll watch the youtube one. Need to finish up on a deadline by Sunday

>

> .> @"ham.8209" said:

> > @Mike Silbowitz.1827 will the cost of buying stuff from NPC be dropped or cut???

> > also will the gold drop rates in pve be changed to make it more better in order to by said stuff from NPC??

> > even tho this is a good starter and hoping it brings more to the game .

> >

> > but we are in very bad need of more and bigger amo to do as MO ask us all to do with word of mouth thing

> > the bigger amo we got in this game the more easy we can spread the word of mouth and bring back and in new players

> > even tho that is a different topic but still if possable could you pass that on to MO please and thank you for your work and time in trying to make the game more fun and better for us all B) B)

> >

> > sorry if this already been ask but did not see it if it was

>

> While i agree with you that there needs to be a revision and rework of the cost/reward metrics, and the costs of a lot of stuff (especially some crafting recipes that were changed to "deal" with economical imbalances and have become obsolete by now, but still create unnecessary constrains to new players), with a special emphasis on PoF reward structures and the costs of ascended items on the heart vendors there, in order to create some incentives to revisit that content.

> I don't think Mike is in a position to handle those things... He's handling marketing, not client development and in-game economy (afaik).

 

glad we agree on them parts to a point . and yes for the new player that wants to craft stuff buying some of the stuff from NPC vendors in LA is not cheap at 50 gold and more!!!

 

very much aware of what mr silbowiz in charge of here. just kind of hoped maybe a idea could be passed on to higher ups . to get them to improve the game even more. given who btw other companys are coming out with new stuff this year and anet needs to up its game to keep us and help us all do like MO ask us all to do with the word of mouth thing a while back .

 

maybe in doing so that word of mouth becomes far more easy for us al to do B)

[Donari.5237]

Just over an hour until Guild Chat, y'all. Hopefully this new marketing kick off will be worth the (very mild) hype!

[videoboy.4162]

> @"Donari.5237" said:

> Just over an hour until Guild Chat, y'all. Hopefully this new marketing kick off will be worth the (very mild) hype!

 

I know! I'm not usually into the chats, but he managed to get me excited to watch this one!

[closedsocket.1876]

Very disappointing. Not really anything about marketing, just talking about the story. Yea, I realize there is some kinda contest where the grand prize is a trip to Seattle, but I don't think we expected that the talks about "marketing" would be trying to get people to hashtag.

 

If you go by the post you get some hype, after watching the guild chat you are just disappointed.