[Merged] Feedback about today's Icebrood Saga announcement

[Dredlore.1672]

Todays announcement was useless hype... a total waste of time.

We already knew that the next Living World season was coming.

Yet absolutely nothing has been done to fix any major problems in the game, and yet they continue on the exact same course that's nearly killed GW2 up to this point.

Grind.

Unfriendly to guilds (they killed my guild after 5 years and around 1500 members, and didnt even blink). They dont even realize that guilds create communities and keep the player base logging in. But.. I can no longer recruit for my guild because I cant use PMs to recruit anymore. Thanks for that Anet. Thanks a lot.

Grind.

**Broken PVP** ...Oh, and maybe the Swiss style tournaments would be fantastic IF WE ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT TIME THEY START. How are we supposed to assemble a 5 man team if we dont know the start time?

Oh... and we should definitely continue to base PVP player ratings on TEAM performance rather than individual metrics. Yea, no sport in the world does that so lets be unique and crash outside the box. Right?

Grind.

**Broken WVW** When will we actually get the ability to play WVW WITH GUILDIES????????????

Grind.

**Did I mention grind?** Everything from Hero Points to salvaging is grind and there's more where that came from. Oh boy!

I once opened over 2000 PVP (and other) chests and got ONE ascended item. ONE. I think I got maybe 4 gold from selling what I could at the TP.

Grind.

Maybe this is what a select group of social justice warriors consider fun, but what about the rest of us?

Sure, ..GW2 is Super duper fun if you happen to be a gender diverse cosplayer...who enjoys sewing up weenie puppets and crushing them with hammers.

...but hey sorry. Thats just not me. ..and I'm thinking that the declining player base agrees.

GW2!!!! ->Low on fun but high in diversity!

Its true, so lets just call it as it is.

Im sick of it.

After around 6 years Im beginning to wonder if Anet has the desire or the capacity to realize the games potential of greatness. I keep waiting for them to DO something. SHOW ME SOMETHING... But they just keep spewing BS all over the place. Its just so disheartening.

The ONLY thing they have done right recently is Living World...and sorry, even if I play it, it doesnt really excite me nearly as much as they probably think. Its meh. Its "OK". ...but its not enough. Its FAR from enough.

The whole event was a sickening disappointing joke.

Just my opinion.

[Deihnyx.6318]

> @"MetalGirl.2370" said:

> I wish it was a joke. I already said in another thread.. but i will repeat it anyway

> They spit in the face of vets who paid 60 euros for exp and now they gave it for free... I bet it's cuz they see game is lacking in players big time so they wanna give them it so they'd stay and play.... but that's just gonna make vets mad and leave, utter disrespect...

 

I don't get this logic at all.

Every game, every product that is not a rare collection item loses value over time, why would that be any different?

The years you played this game weren't taken away from you.

 

There is nothing wrong with doing that.

[dodgerrule.8739]

You can wvw with Guildies it uses the original servers as worlds. You all have to be on the same world for it to work that will likely not change.

[wickedkae.4980]

Can the devs please confirm that this is the last season and that there is no more classes/races/specs coming out for us to look forward to? If I keep using the gear I have been using for 5 years at least give us new skills. IF we aren't getting these, we need confirmation so I can uninstall and move on.

[style.6173]

I think it is just sad how ANET mismanaged GW2. You essentially have dead game modes in WvW and PvP. People who stuck around this long were hoping for news. The event was hyped and then all that was announced were things everyone already knew. Very disappointing.

 

8/30/2019: The day ANET announced the death of GW2.

[coso.9173]

i understand people expecting more, but an expansion? after they literally said there wasn't going to be an expansion?

anet: "there isn't going to be an expansion, we'll be going directly into LWS5"

anet: this is the date we'll show info on the next LWS5 episode"

anet: *shows LWS5 trailer and info*

players: "we were expecting an expansion!"

 

I simply don't get it.

 

[Dragon Priestess.9760]

I love you guys, but I think maybe a whole PAX panel and countdown might have been a bit too much for an announcement of this size. An announcement like this would have been better as a blog feature. It was just too much grandstanding for such a small amount content.

 

I kinda feel bad for the people who went to the panel, some probably who probably had to cross state/ border lines in order to do so.

 

Again, I love you guys - but I think this was a bit too much.

 

**Edit:**

 

I just wanted to clarify that I have no problem with the content that was announced. I don't mind that at all, in fact, I'm excited to head North and fight the Icebrood.

 

What DID bother me was simply the grandiose advertising that misled me and many other people into thinking that this was going to be something more.

[dodgerrule.8739]

I think the saga will be just one of a few parts of the season all coming together for a finale similar to season 1!

 

If it’s 2-3 episodes per saga that’d be 2 sagas if they only do their original design of 6 episodes split between this and last season.

 

I liked the announcement

[Hofulu.7325]

> @"dodgerrule.8739" said:

> You can wvw with Guildies it uses the original servers as worlds. You all have to be on the same world for it to work that will likely not change.

 

this was supposed to change with the alliance system, so people on different servers could more easily play together. now we know that we would be lucky to even get it in 2020.

[Ash.5274]

Let's start with the positives.

 

This new Living World 'Saga' looks really promising. The trailer was fantastic - I'd love to see more episode trailers using this art style - and I'm genuinely looking forward to digging deep into Norn & Charr culture and conflicts. I'm also very intrigued by the suggestion of this darker, Lovecraftian approach to some of this upcoming content, as well as those intriguing hints of underwater and Centaur content. All good stuff.

 

Less positive, however, is my response to how the announcement was delivered. I'm aware there's been rather a lot of negativity surrounding this, and I hate to add to it, but I simply don't understand why Anet took this approach. Yes, absolutely hype up your game and upcoming content for that game, but do so appropriately. What Anet have done is announce this event weeks in advance, rent out a theatre and invite players along to watch the event live, and then cap all this generated hype with a live 48 hr countdown, complete with intriguing imagery slowly being revealed as the timer ticks down. Think about that for a moment. What does that suggest to you? Even given the fact they clearly stated this was a Living World announcement, you have to admit that huge amounts of hype and speculation are as good as guaranteed to be generated by that kind of build up. Add to that the clear indications coming directly from Anet that they can deliver 'Expansion level content' with the Living World, it can come as no surprise to anyone that expectations quickly began to skyrocket.

 

This was entirely the wrong approach for what, in reality, they did have to announce. And all that disappointment and dissatisfaction could have been avoided. They should have kept this as a Guild Chat announcement, for example. In the preceding days they could have built up to it with Twitter posts of that slowly unveiling image of the Icebrood horde, for another example. Far more appropriate. Hype on a scale with the announcement itself. Realistic expectations.

 

It's such a shame, because clearly love and passion goes into the making of this game, and as I said at the start of this post I think what they have in store for Season 5 is intriguing and exciting. I just wish Anet had gone about announcing it differently.

[dodgerrule.8739]

It would be good if implemented or just remove the choice of choosing a server and forcing wvw with guilds

[coso.9173]

and this needed a whole new topic because...?

[Hofulu.7325]

Once again, it's up to the amazingly hard working devs who seem to love this game more than management AND advertising, to continue making it amazing, because management AND advertising have failed once again. Anet, the company, needs to start talking. I am not angry with the devs, I am absolutely furious with how management AND advertising has chosen to utilize the hard work of the devs. The devs DO NOT need to explain themselves at all, its management AND advertising that needs the shake up this time.

[AlexxxDelta.1806]

> @"cptaylor.2670" said:

> And they didn’t even have a q&a probably because they knew people would be asking questions they didn’t want to answer. Still strange though. Spend that money on renting a theater just to push merchandise and talk about story for a few minutes? And the only new feature mentioned being strike missions that just sound like instance bounties. But no talk of the reward or examples of mechanics or anything? And a vague hint at a new mastery with no details? Is anything other than the prologue actually finished? And 4 teams? Haven’t they always had at least three teams? Oh? It’s a saga now? Not a season? Cool, but how is that different?

>

> Idk. This would have been better as a blog post.

 

They obviously want to convince players that LS is expansion-like now that's why they changed name and went for a live event. It's called rebranding. But without actual substance it looks like a cheap marketing ploy.

 

They can still fix it but only if they have something expansion-like to show. And no, strikes or whatever and templates is not it. A major feature of expansions is that they bring brand new visuals and sounds to the game. If they have those in the works, they need to start showing them.

 

Are the new Icebrood brand new assets or reskins? If it's the former then release concept art, let us see what cool new enemies we will be facing. Are the new maps made from new models and textures or older, reused stuff like the previous LS? Again if it's the former then release some screens and art to create hype.

 

They already have a new logo for the "saga", just like they do with new expansions. A new start screen and music should roll out with the prologue to reinforce this is a new "xpac without xpac" (I think they 'll do that, it's easy).

 

Are the instances and bosses of these "Strikes" brand new designs? Show some demo video of them or at least concept art, get people excited because just hearing about them doesn't work. They just sound like glorified instanced bounties.

 

Every xpac brings new armors and a plethora of weapons in game. Start showing them off if you have them.

 

Of course all that can be done if they are actually planned for this season/saga. If it's just same ol' LS with a bunch of reskins...well good luck convincing anyone about this glorious expansion-like saga.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @"Keriana.9635" said:

> Not excited to have yet another season with Braham as the focus. I don't care about his past and do not want to know anything more about him.

 

Agree.. for me Brahm is the least enjoyable member of the story arcs it simply does not hold any interest for me.. here's to hoping Jormag finally devourers him once and for all, slowly and painfully, just before Trehearne comes back through the mists with Dumbledor to drive home the final blow.

[Revanent.9715]

Just going to add my two cents here.

 

Personally, I found the announcement completely disappointing.

I was one of those people that was hoping they were going to announce new elite specs. But, alas...

 

Fortunately I have found the cure such heart wrenching disappointment....

 

 

 

.......Alcohol........

 

 

 

 

......WEEEEeeeeEEEeeeeEEEEEeeeee!!!!!

[Eros.6801]

While waiting for Icebrood Saga it seems we also have Angry Birds Saga going on all over the forum. Please if you want to voice out frustrations keep them in a single thread. Just please stop flooding the forum.

[Deihnyx.6318]

I'm a little late but...

 

This game had (still has) such great potential. For years I was pretty supporting of the team, both here in the forums and as a whale.

 

After W6 came out I started playing the game less. I didn't even bother with W7 until my guild leader forced me into playing a few days ago.

I used to love raids, and challenging content, now I barely care about optimizing my builds and gameplay.

 

And why? Because it is clear at this point that Anet has stopped caring about its non casual audience. Living story is fun, but ultimately doesn't have much replay-ability and you can only pull the same tricks for so long before people get tired of grinding for skins (especially when premium skins are better). There is no challenge left, the only kind of "work" in this game is towards grinding.

 

And I don't get it. Over the years people have brought up so many ideas to make pvp/wvw feel refreshing... What's going on? Why are you so afraid to experiment on new stuff? How is it that WvW is abandonned in an age where battle royale games are making millions?

 

People suggested no downstate for raids or T4, something that requires almost no effort but would actually provide new challenges. You could add some new gimmicks to each fight to make them feel more fresh. Each new week a new gimimick. No downstate one week, condi damage halved next week, 25% slow down the next. Whatever, experiment!

You could have specific "HM" (gw1 ref) of world maps where there's just more enemies, or more of everything. get some randomizers here and there. I dunno, experimenting. Trying new things, see what sticks with the players. Not be afraid to revert if a change was unpopular...

 

Is it your internal process then? Having to go through multiple, boring, and ultimately time consuming meetings to get any idea discussed? Is your agile process really agile?

 

I don't get it, I don't get why you're sinking all your money exclusively on living story, and I'm not sure i'll be there for much longer to care anyway.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @"Archwizard.1603" said:

> Anet said both LS5 and build templates were coming down the line but no where did they suggest that an expansion was coming right now. Sure maybe after the next season there could be an expac but they been stating for months now that Season 5 was their next priority so nothing new here.

> Just find it funny how much expectations have snowballed out of control.

 

Not specifically talking about an expansion.. the new kid on the block is "expansion type content within LS".. and many of us are asking - where, what, when and after the live theatre retelling of old news, still are.

[Breogaan.5316]

Anet, i am happy playing ur game at moment, but is true that i return after 7 years or 6, people that did everything yet... LW is not a really bad idea, but is not an exp, is more

like new world events with a few more maps, nothing new for them. U have so much things to show, where is Cantha? Where are riatualist, paragons, derviches? You cant live forever with gw1 content, this game should have all the maps-class(proffesions) if not since the release, in the first exp yet, and them think about the new content for future, we have the same races since the vanila and just 1 new proffesion anda looooooootof gw1content that wasnt release yet, thats the sad point of this. I enjoy the game, but if u need 7 years and gw 1 content isnt all release yet, and new things needs like 5 years for being a complete good exp, something is bad.

[Knutsson.9405]

I'm glad they did something. In a perfect world there would have been shinies for everyone, but at least they show that they are working on the game. Content will drop for every playstyle, I'm sure of it. They do have to prio what to release first though. And living world was a given, since that is what draws the big crowds. I also hope we will se new players in bigger numbers due to the bundle of xpacks. This was sort of expected, but like most of you I had hoped for more, personally I got a lot of stuff to do ingame still, there's elite speccs to unlock for several alts etc. So I'm pretty far off from the crowd that has conquered every raid, done every pvp build til they puke, and don't have much else to do except hoping for a big pvp/raid update.

To be fair though, most mmo's out there are in the same boat, especially pvp is a sore tooth everywhere. I've done a lengthy stint in ESO, and their pvpcrowd aint happy either.

[Spectre.5287]

> @"Vishnok.7059" said:

> Oh,another WHINING ,i mean "feedback" thread....why do you guys whine so much...you get more free content...

 

It's not really MMO content though its really just single player content which is nice and all but people want more then just single player content in the game.

[Devildoc.6721]

This announcement could have been done in a blog post and people would have been appreciative of it. Hyping it up with a live stream and live presentation was a mistake that just raised everyone's expectations only to be disappointed. People thought "they wouldn't rent out a theater and have a live presentation and livestream for just a living story season (or saga, whatever, I fail to see how it's different), they've gotta be announcing something else.. new expansion, new especs, new gameplay mechanic, SOMETHING..

Then they came out on stage.. reviewed some of the recent changes and told us something we've been asking for and anticipating for years is coming finally... and then LS5, with a few trailers, just the same stuff we see with other LS releases, actually a little less, no new legendaries this time, or mounts (though I'm relieved about that, too many mounts too many keybinds, I'm actually glad GW2 has fewer keybinds than most MMO's). So instead of reading a blogpost about the new LS, and thinking "cool, I can't wait" players watched to the end when the furries came out and a bunch of merchandising announcements and thought "that's it? they hyped us up for THAT?"

 

Hopefully lessons were learned about hyping up expectations and this mistake isn't repeated in the future.

[Acheron.4731]

> @"Knutsson.9405" said:

> I'm glad they did something. In a perfect world there would have been shinies for everyone, but at least they show that they are working on the game. Content will drop for every playstyle, I'm sure of it. They do have to prio what to release first though. And living world was a given, since that is what draws the big crowds. I also hope we will se new players in bigger numbers due to the bundle of xpacks. This was sort of expected, but like most of you I had hoped for more, personally I got a lot of stuff to do ingame still, there's elite speccs to unlock for several alts etc. So I'm pretty far off from the crowd that has conquered every raid, done every pvp build til they puke, and don't have much else to do except hoping for a big pvp/raid update.

> To be fair though, most mmo's out there are in the same boat, especially pvp is a sore tooth everywhere. I've done a lengthy stint in ESO, and their pvpcrowd aint happy either.

 

I am thinking, though, that not only did the players expect a MUCH BIGGER announcement....they likely wanted it to drop with all the bells and whistles "VERY SOON"....like tomorrow soon. I don't blame them. It has been so lackluster and to plan for 'more' of it? in the future? It is like the scene in Stranger Things with leading Bart with the bologna to the cellar. We have just switched our carrot on a stick to bologna on the ground.

Again, an announcement about 'we are working on' for 'insert date' just doesn't cut it

[Acheron.4731]

> @"dceptaconroy.7928" said:

> Watching the stream for me was most pleasing as I had a real laugh at the 4 people who were screaming/yelling with excitement. Also watching the general emotional impact of what was delivered on the audience as they were leaving at the end. Thanks for the giggle lads.

 

Lol, looked like the end of a faculty meeting at the college I teach at :)

You always say to yourself..."coudn't they have just emailed that to me?"