LW5 and new expansion.

[Majosea.2487]

Personally I prefer the Living Stories. I would not mind LS only going forward as long as it affords the same opportunities that an expansion does in the long run.

I have noticed that when you get an expansion, that there is a core group of players that will blaze though the expansion in 2 or 3 days; go on the forums or social media and talk smack about it, give away spoilers, etc,. before the casual players have even had a chance to get really started. (happened with HoT and to more of a degree with PoF). Then they spend the next few years griping about the expansion and how the game needs another expansion because, in my opinion, they need some new material to gripe about because their main cause is petering out.

As long as ANET (looking at GW2 developers) is consistent at releasing new LS stories, the "we need an expansion" people should be happy, unless you are in that special niche that needs to burn through content to ruin it for everyone else.

[Ulysses.2058]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > Would you have preferred another expansion instead of a new LW season? Are you happy with two consecutive LW seasons? Do you agree with season 5 but expect another expansion afterwards, at some point? Let us players express our expectations.

> My expectations are that ANet has been making games for longer than I have and they are more likely than I to know what makes for a fun experience for the community, and that will help them stay in business.

>

> Accordingly, I don't care whether it's LS5 or a new expansion. I care whether the game is fun to play, not about how ANet chooses to deliver the fun.

 

Precisely, this poll was made (amongst other reasons) to help ANet know what the community wants/expects/enjoys more.

 

We the individuals who form the community should use the tools we have to say what each of us wants. And then ANet will decide what to deliver.

[Thornwolf.9721]

* Living world doesn't bring anyone not invested to the game already into the game. (My friends won't come back for it, just like they quit shortly after PoF and the living world was just a "Log in and make sure I get it when its free, but im not playing it.")

* I hate the idea of stripping down an expansions content and shoveling it out over a living story

* The maps will be better as will the story, expansions < Living world story/maps

* The last point should not be how this works, but it is because reasons I guess.

* We have little to look-forward too because if it is living world I HIGHLY doubt we will get elite- specs or new classes or ANYTHING new, maybe some more mounts and possibly some other gimmicks to help travel maps. From what it sounds like we might get revamps to older maps ~ So an old world rework just about to make those maps fun to be in (Im not against this at all, please god make them interesting again <3)

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Ulysses.2058" said:

> > @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > > Would you have preferred another expansion instead of a new LW season? Are you happy with two consecutive LW seasons? Do you agree with season 5 but expect another expansion afterwards, at some point? Let us players express our expectations.

> > My expectations are that ANet has been making games for longer than I have and they are more likely than I to know what makes for a fun experience for the community, and that will help them stay in business.

> >

> > Accordingly, I don't care whether it's LS5 or a new expansion. I care whether the game is fun to play, not about how ANet chooses to deliver the fun.

>

> Precisely, this poll was made (amongst other reasons) to help ANet know what the community wants/expects/enjoys more.

 

I have said what I want/expect: for ANet to choose as they think best.

 

> Precisely, this poll was made (amongst other reasons) to help ANet know what the community wants/expects/enjoys more.

There's a saying that's apt (and perhaps not that witty): a camel is just a horse designed by committee. I'm not convinced that crowd-sourced polls are the best tool for figuring out what people will actually like once it's delivered.

 

Case in point: I didn't see any value at all in Mounts for GW2. We had waypoints, travel between zones didn't take long at all. NPCs in the game didn't use mounts. And, in other games, it seems like Mounts were simply tools for avoiding tedious travel (and to sell skins for RL cash); they didn't seem inherent to the actual game. When PoF came out, my expectations were completely shattered. Mounts changed the way I play, the way I perceive maps.

 

So it's a good thing ANet didn't take too much stock in what a plurality of people (perhaps even a majority) such as myself might have expressed in the forums.

 

****

I'm not saying, "don't make a poll." I'm saying, if you do, I'm going to express my opinion that I trust ANet's track record: they deliver a fun experience for me.

[Randulf.7614]

Think this is the same as I voted in last weeks poll on the same subject and im sure I’ll vote the same on next weeks ?

 

[Vlad Morbius.1759]

Living World is a great way to fill the void between expansions but it will not and cannot take the place of expansions. The worst part of all this is that we went down this very road prior to HoT, and they knew then what they should know now an MMO needs expansions to grow the game and maintain its health. Nothing generates more sales or hype, or player influx than expansions, that will never change. If you think in terms of RPG's, the principle is the same, do you really believe that Call of Duty or Witcher or whatever else would have continued to grow without new games being released for those titles? MMORPG's version of new game play follows the same principle and that is the expansion, pure and simple!

[Goettel.4389]

Still enjoying the content that's already there.

[DeanBB.4268]

Perhaps we should wait and see what Anet is delivering with the new Season?

[Kaliwenda.3428]

I'm ok with LW5 right after LW4. I really do hope for an expansion after that.

[Ototo.3214]

I genuinely don't care because both ultimately do the same thing, but one is delivered in increments over time. Sure, we haven't gotten especs in LW but I'm of the opinion that build templates should come out before more especs. If they can find a way to add especs in LW, cool, but that isn't a feature I really care much for. And everything else can and has been done with both...That I can think of.

[Ayrilana.1396]

I wonder if it’d be worth it on Anet’s end to have one more living story team. If we’re averaging four months an episode, it’d theoretically bring down the interval by about an entire month. On the other hand, they could maintain the same pacing but each team would then have more time to add content to their respective episodes. In either case it seems like a win depending the costs and what they’re able to put out.

[TheGrimm.5624]

> @"Majosea.2487" said:

> Personally I prefer the Living Stories. I would not mind LS only going forward as long as it affords the same opportunities that an expansion does in the long run.

If they can achieve this than would agree. Currently though with the LW there are times where it's hard to remember where we left off due to the release schedule of the LW. The extended release schedule itself can make the story feel more fragmented until you can play them all back to back again.

 

> @"Majosea.2487" said:

> I have noticed that when you get an expansion, that there is a core group of players that will blaze though the expansion in 2 or 3 days; go on the forums or social media and talk smack about it, give away spoilers, etc,. before the casual players have even had a chance to get really started. (happened with HoT and to more of a degree with PoF). Then they spend the next few years griping about the expansion and how the game needs another expansion because, in my opinion, they need some new material to gripe about because their main cause is petering out.

 

True this, and they annoy me too. But these same people do it on the LW episodes too so that might be more of a wash, at least to me.

 

[hugo.4705]

Ls or expacs you will have someone spoiling everything, shouting it even in main city. The best way currently to counter that is simple:

 

1-Create a new channel with nothing ticked or at least remove as a minimum, map chat and whisper.

 

2-Switch to that one, return to the normal one once you finished the episode/xpac story.

 

In our guild, it's forbidden to speak about the recently released/current episode. But once it's the next one it's okay for the previous one.

[Cobra.6509]

LW 5 right after LW 4 was something that Anet brought on the table when they realized that whatever they was working(we dont know what..for sure not GW2) will not be ready in time and they need to milk GW2 another year. Anet's plans was changed early this year so GW2 is again their main focus. With this in mind I can tell you that Anet need some revenues fast, so either they make LW5 episodes bigger and sell them like mini expansions or they will release an expansion this year somewhere in winter.

[Poormany.4507]

I'm fine waiting another year or two, but expect an expac after that. 1 or 2 hours of LW story and few hours of new content every 3 months is just not enough to keep players in game. We need repeatable expac level metas (HoT) and content (PoF mounts).

[Iozeph.5617]

Neither. My main profession, Engineer, is enough of a mess without adding yet another element to it which the devs will either fail or refuse to balance properly. Having to play through one or several new maps -whether it be part of living story, or an expansion with all new environmental and enemy mechanics, along with a grind for a mount of dubious use - all that with yet another broken, half-done e-spec which will probably gut core engineer further - that just isn't my cup. Sorry.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

If Season 5 means content and Expansion features for everyone, no matter what kind of expansions they have or are lacking, I'm down for more seasons like it between every expansion.

[mercury ranique.2170]

> @"otto.5684" said:

> > @"Opopanax.1803" said:

> > How is this poll even possible to answer? No one knows what season 5 holds yet, do they?

> >

> > Or did I miss the reveal??

>

> Expansion >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> any other content

 

But why??

 

In the end a studio creates content and releases it in some sort of bundle (e.g. living world release or expansion). There are two factors important in this.

1: Price of the bundle.

2: amount of content within.

 

looking at the cummulative of season 4, I see more content then in e.g. HoT and it was all released for free. You might argue that some content was missing (new guildhalls, elite specs, new mechs like mounts and kiting), but there has been a massive change of direction at arenanet with massive lay offs and focus back to GW2 instead of side projects. After this the game lead promised us that the living world teams are allowed to work on more then just traditional living world releases as we are used to. So the content of the upcomming packages are unknown and we will likely not know about it for atleast 3-4 releases. So I am carefull to judge it just by the label on it and want to wait for the actual content.

[zealex.9410]

> @"mercury ranique.2170" said:

> > @"otto.5684" said:

> > > @"Opopanax.1803" said:

> > > How is this poll even possible to answer? No one knows what season 5 holds yet, do they?

> > >

> > > Or did I miss the reveal??

> >

> > Expansion >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> any other content

>

> But why??

>

> In the end a studio creates content and releases it in some sort of bundle (e.g. living world release or expansion). There are two factors important in this.

> 1: Price of the bundle.

> 2: amount of content within.

>

> looking at the cummulative of season 4, I see more content then in e.g. HoT and it was all released for free. You might argue that some content was missing (new guildhalls, elite specs, new mechs like mounts and kiting), but there has been a massive change of direction at arenanet with massive lay offs and focus back to GW2 instead of side projects. After this the game lead promised us that the living world teams are allowed to work on more then just traditional living world releases as we are used to. So the content of the upcomming packages are unknown and we will likely not know about it for atleast 3-4 releases. So I am carefull to judge it just by the label on it and want to wait for the actual content.

 

More content? O you count content based on maps? Because ive spend 10x the amound of time ive spend in some lw maps in hot maps.

 

Plus i got all the content at once instead of having micro content droughts of 3-4 months between each trickle of content.

[mercury ranique.2170]

> @"zealex.9410" said:

> > @"mercury ranique.2170" said:

> > > @"otto.5684" said:

> > > > @"Opopanax.1803" said:

> > > > How is this poll even possible to answer? No one knows what season 5 holds yet, do they?

> > > >

> > > > Or did I miss the reveal??

> > >

> > > Expansion >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> any other content

> >

> > But why??

> >

> > In the end a studio creates content and releases it in some sort of bundle (e.g. living world release or expansion). There are two factors important in this.

> > 1: Price of the bundle.

> > 2: amount of content within.

> >

> > looking at the cummulative of season 4, I see more content then in e.g. HoT and it was all released for free. You might argue that some content was missing (new guildhalls, elite specs, new mechs like mounts and kiting), but there has been a massive change of direction at arenanet with massive lay offs and focus back to GW2 instead of side projects. After this the game lead promised us that the living world teams are allowed to work on more then just traditional living world releases as we are used to. So the content of the upcomming packages are unknown and we will likely not know about it for atleast 3-4 releases. So I am carefull to judge it just by the label on it and want to wait for the actual content.

>

> More content? O you count content based on maps? Because ive spend 10x the amound of time ive spend in some lw maps in hot maps.

>

> Plus i got all the content at once instead of having micro content droughts of 3-4 months between each trickle of content.

 

I personally count content on the amount of story, the amount of maps, the amount of stuff to do like raids, fractals and meta events.

When you compare PoF and Season 4, Season 4 scores higher on almost all of these.

 

PoF has about 7 meta events and 5 maps. Season 4 has 6 maps and 8 events. Season 4 has 3 fractals and 3 raid wings.

Season 4 was developped in a time that GW2 was not the core business of Arenanet, they had significant focus on another game. there has been a massive lay offs (about 40% of the company) but as I understand about 50-60% was working on the abanded mobile game. So, they have more time to invest in season 5

[zealex.9410]

> @"mercury ranique.2170" said:

> > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > > @"mercury ranique.2170" said:

> > > > @"otto.5684" said:

> > > > > @"Opopanax.1803" said:

> > > > > How is this poll even possible to answer? No one knows what season 5 holds yet, do they?

> > > > >

> > > > > Or did I miss the reveal??

> > > >

> > > > Expansion >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> any other content

> > >

> > > But why??

> > >

> > > In the end a studio creates content and releases it in some sort of bundle (e.g. living world release or expansion). There are two factors important in this.

> > > 1: Price of the bundle.

> > > 2: amount of content within.

> > >

> > > looking at the cummulative of season 4, I see more content then in e.g. HoT and it was all released for free. You might argue that some content was missing (new guildhalls, elite specs, new mechs like mounts and kiting), but there has been a massive change of direction at arenanet with massive lay offs and focus back to GW2 instead of side projects. After this the game lead promised us that the living world teams are allowed to work on more then just traditional living world releases as we are used to. So the content of the upcomming packages are unknown and we will likely not know about it for atleast 3-4 releases. So I am carefull to judge it just by the label on it and want to wait for the actual content.

> >

> > More content? O you count content based on maps? Because ive spend 10x the amound of time ive spend in some lw maps in hot maps.

> >

> > Plus i got all the content at once instead of having micro content droughts of 3-4 months between each trickle of content.

>

> I personally count content on the amount of story, the amount of maps, the amount of stuff to do like raids, fractals and meta events.

> When you compare PoF and Season 4, Season 4 scores higher on almost all of these.

>

> PoF has about 7 meta events and 5 maps. Season 4 has 6 maps and 8 events. Season 4 has 3 fractals and 3 raid wings.

> Season 4 was developped in a time that GW2 was not the core business of Arenanet, they had significant focus on another game. there has been a massive lay offs (about 40% of the company) but as I understand about 50-60% was working on the abanded mobile game. So, they have more time to invest in season 5

 

Fractals arent tied to lw or expacs they are independent of them and are being worked on by a diff team. Same with raids.

 

Also, who is to tell us that they dont still have some focus on other projects?

[maddoctor.2738]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > @"Einlanzer.1627" said:

> > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > I don’t mind either way. A living story season is pretty much the same as an expansion anyway except it’s just spread out over time. As long as the quality remains high then I can’t complain.

> >

> > No, it isn't, or at least it hasn't been in the past. Not by a long shot. I'm sincerely hoping they change that for LW5.

>

> Quality is subjective but I haven’t noticed a difference between the quality in an expansion and an LS episode. I haven’t felt any content release so far to be of low or mediocre quality.

 

You said they are the same, just the LS is spread over time. So I gonna ask, how many elite specs did we get in the LS episodes?

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"maddoctor.2738" said:

> > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > @"Einlanzer.1627" said:

> > > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > > I don’t mind either way. A living story season is pretty much the same as an expansion anyway except it’s just spread out over time. As long as the quality remains high then I can’t complain.

> > >

> > > No, it isn't, or at least it hasn't been in the past. Not by a long shot. I'm sincerely hoping they change that for LW5.

> >

> > Quality is subjective but I haven’t noticed a difference between the quality in an expansion and an LS episode. I haven’t felt any content release so far to be of low or mediocre quality.

>

> You said they are the same, just the LS is spread over time. So I gonna ask, how many elite specs did we get in the LS episodes?

 

And if Anet released an expansion without elite specs, would you then consider it not to be an expansion? There’s also no reason that they couldn’t add elite specs through the LS or simply in a separate update.

[Ben K.6238]

ANet don't need me to agree on things like this, and my view is a bit complicated, so I guess it's none of the above again.

 

I think if they'd had the opportunity to know in advance that they'd be bringing everyone back off the side projects, they'd have been silly not to opt for another expansion rather than LS5. But they did not have that opportunity, and so things happened the way they happened. They should probably be thinking about an expansion after LS5 however, or possibly finding some way to merge the two concepts together toward the end of the season.

[Witch of Doom.5739]

One thing that I wish they'd work on re: Living World episodes, maps, etc. is the ridiculous number of different currencies. There are too many and they're too confusing. Let's see, I need a bunch of Volatile Magic... no, wait, I mean Unbound Magic.... wait, what's the difference?