[Merged] Feedback about today's Icebrood Saga announcement

[PaladinVII.1647]

We needed to hear that the game is alive and well. There has been a lot of negative going in in Guild Wars 2 lately.

1. Mount skins. You added randomization when people wanted pick and choose. You set the price at obscene levels. $20 for a single skin is Electronic Arts level of gouging.

2. The two toxic developers that were fired. Their names are not even worth mentioning.

3. The huge layoffs.

4. Developer commentary that seems to indicate that Living World may replace expansions. I bought this game because A.Net chose the Expansion model of funding. If you switch to gemstore marketing, season passes, Saga passes, whatever, I will say you are no better than EA, Bethesda, and 2k.

 

What we needed to hear, on stage, was that after season 5, or whatever you want to call it, there will be an expansion. That was what we needed and you failed to deliver. That tells me you have something working in the back that players may not like, such as a new monetization scheme. If you are going that route, stop now and go back to what works.

[shadowpass.4236]

As the saying goes, all feedback is good feedback.

 

A huge amount of players are telling Anet _exactly_ what they were/are looking for and _why_ they were disappointed with today's announcement. If Living World was what players were excited about, people would be hyped instead of frustrated.

 

If Anet is smart, they will reevaluate their plans going forward (after giving us what they talked about today) and deliver content people actually want instead of forcing all of this story-mode stuff down our throats and locking all of the new rewards behind it while largely ignoring PvP and WvW.

 

Now, I'm not saying some players don't enjoy LW. However, a lot of people don't and Anet needs to recognize this and stop focusing 90% of their efforts towards this one area of the game.

[Nephalem.8921]

I don't understand whats taking them so long to release build templates. Arc does the same for years already and was made buy just one guy in his free time without any access to the source code.

 

Regarding strikes. They will probably be balanced for open world players so they need to be 3manned for any kind of challenge. Hope a cm mode for 5 players exists. Let's be honest, it will be super easy if people put together via a party finder are expected to clear it. Soloable easy.

At least they try to use the combat system more with strikes since it's one of the better ones and completely wasted with spam 1 open world bosses. Will probably still be less rewarding than pressing 1 in silverwaste. Well it will probably be balanced for green random stat players that didn't even read half their skills and haven't found traitlines yet like the rest of the story.

Also why this obsession with singe player story instances that are only visited once yet get like 80% of the dev resources. Some even look outstanding but who cares if nobody visits them just once or twice for achievements. So much wasted resources. At least reuse the story dungeons for anything. Destiny II for example reuses them as Strikes which are just their versions of dungeons, why isnt anet doing this.

[Ishtar.6457]

Between the hideous poncho, some nipple slip, a weird choya, charr metal band, weird ass leggings and a freaking funko .. I must say I am 100% convinced that y'all drunk. You actually rent a theater for this madness? Oh boy .. This is some high level delusion of grandeur. Wake up and slap yourself.

[Tarlonniel.6534]

> @"Bloodstealer.5978" said:

> > @"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.

 

Unfortunately, Braham is the only norn we've got hanging around in our general vicinity at the moment, so any norn focus is pretty much going to mean a Braham focus. Though we _will_ apparently be meeting a female norn who looks like she'll be a major player in this season. Maybe she'll steal the spotlight from mini Eir. We can only hope.

[Acheron.4731]

> @"style.6173" said:

> 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.

 

I guarantee you this will become the 'what not to do' meme of the gaming community.

Like what @dceptaconroy.7928 said, the look of the people as they left the event.....just priceless

[Ark.6839]

Well... let me put it this way.

I'm a guy that stopped playing due to having two kids, a more demanding job, etc etc etc. To summarize: I don't have much time, specially not in a row, 1h at the best of days? So I stopped playing.

I was in the hope that *something* would change in the game and I wouldn't be forced to run very specific maps at very specific times to relentlessly grind for items.

I was in the hope that the new expansion/update/whatever you want to call it would keep my guildies running for a while.

I was in the hope for more than just... Living Story.

I was also in the hope for a discount for the PoF expansion with this news, specially for those that already owned the previous two.

 

What did I see with this?

There will be more grind.

Guildies not online for months, and from seeing our forums/discord, that won't be changing any time soon.

More Living Story.

I... got a skin. Not even a full set or whatever, just some masks/gloves/shoulder that I would never shell out gems for. Heck, I would even trade it for RNG with the black lion chest/keys. While the "new" players who purchased PoF only... got the other expansion.

Did anyone really give any thought on giving a free, extremely cheap looking one armor piece skin to the people that have stuck with you since the beginning, but decided to reward the newer players with a whole free expansion?

Whose idea was this? Where does this make sense? You guys at this point feel more like cable/phone companies that heavily reward newer contracts but ignore your older ones.

Why not keep the reward consistent both ways?

Why give that slap to your older customers?

 

And with this, what I want to say is... Here's to another few months not logging in. My very little free time is just too precious for a game that just doesn't feel rewarding, both in-game and through the rewards given to people who believed in you and were part of your path up until now.

 

[AlexxxDelta.1806]

> @"Tarlonniel.6534" said:

> > @"Bloodstealer.5978" said:

> > > @"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.

>

> Unfortunately, Braham is the only norn we've got hanging around in our general vicinity at the moment, so any norn focus is pretty much going to mean a Braham focus. Though we _will_ apparently be meeting a female norn who looks like she'll be a major player in this season. Maybe she'll steal the spotlight from mini Eir. We can only hope.

 

If you mean the blonde next to them, she's probably a commander placeholder.

[Mass Pandemic.3517]

> @"EagleDelta.4726" said:

> > @"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...

> Are you saying that EVERY MMO that does this (makes previous Expansions free after the newest one releases) is spitting in their veterans' faces? GW2 is giving us something while most games (WoW, FF14, etc) don't give the "early adopters" anything.

 

Because other MMO's don't have to if they have a healthy player base. I'm fine with them giving HOT away for free it's a good move and maybe it's because they plan to add/iterate on content in the zones there. They made a huge mistake making this announcement seem like it was going to be bigger and more impactful than it actually was. It seems like a desperate attempt to get eyes on the game, they would have done themselves more of a favor at least acknowledging there is an expansion coming at some point. Doesn't matter when , just saying one is being worked on , because they haven't said a word about a new one even existing or if there will ever be another. Everything just seems off, anet usually doesn't do announcements like this since HOT and to do it for something we already knew was coming with minimal new things coming just seems really strange for them to do out of nowhere.

[Mass Pandemic.3517]

> @"Mthe mystery.4615" said:

> > @"Razorsharp Blade.9283" said:

> > Well there goes my last hope for the game, been playing since one of the first betas, and played gw1, and here we are 7 years later having more gemstore content, irl merch and another stale wait 3-5 months for a 1 hour content update living story thing, a year+ delayed WvW alliance update that probs will be delayed, and the game mode is already dead, PvP dead. But hey atleast more stale PvE content! (This is coming from a primarily PvE player). I aint going to WoW but I probs wont continue playing this game for long. So burnt out and bored of this endless timegated LS content and no PvP/WvW content.

>

> My thoughts exactly. I quit 6 months ago, came back to see what the announcement would be and was "SHOCKED" with the gemstore content, merch. But hey, At least PvPs getting a new armor set right? For that 1 pvp fan in the back.

 

I love this game, but i have to say it's a shame to see the game seem so mismanaged and under supported. Yeah they give us free content, but all the content that keeps people engaged long term in most games is always put into the gem store and that's why so many people leave guild wars 2 at least the people i've spoke to and played with. The pvp in this game is extremely fun and one of the best parts of the game , it's a shame the dev team or at least management doesn't seem to believe in it's potential.

[JTGuevara.9018]

To all the people praising this....stop it.

 

There is really no reason to praise this "big" announcement, even if you're into living world yourself. The problem isn't with people expecting too much, the problem is that ANet OVER-hyped and UNDER-delivered. The overhype being this colossal live event, with lights and music and then....nothing. I'm sorry, but this whole living world thing along with the other stuff(strikes, templates) could've easily been done in a blog post like countless other times over the years instead of screwing people who paid and flew to that event, only to announce that nothing truly substantial was in the works. From an outsider's point of view, this is a marketing DISASTER. That people to this moment still attempt to defend this obvious company disaster by turning it around and blaming us for having too high expectations is just downright sad.

 

The only thing keeping me in this game is my guild and the good will of many of my friends. Otherwise, I would've ditched gw2 long ago. ANet and gw has lost their way, constantly pushing single-player content in MMOs, namely living world/gem store while leaving other parts of gw2- wvw/spvp neglected and abandoned. It's a blatant cash grab at this point.

[otto.5684]

> @"DzT.8127" said:

> If i was the owner of ANET i would have seriously fired most of the people. This announcement was a joke really. Hey we announcing a LW5 that we allready announced weeks ago.

 

More like since March. I really do not understand Anet. Do they really think people care that much about the story? If I rate content in GW2 in terms of quality:

 

Open world PvE + great combat system

PvP

Instanced PvE

Story

 

Story is the GW2 weakest content.

 

Open world is some what tied to story, but story does not carry it. And open world quality too a nose dive with PoF. LWS4 had some improvement, but it is far from what it used to be.

[LaFurion.3167]

I'll keep it simple. Guild wars 2 needs content. The rate at which living world or sagas are released is way too slow. People need REPEATABLE content as an end game. Repeatable pve content (fractals/raids), repeatable pvp content (such as arenas, or far far more maps for conquest), and your unique amazing game mode wvw needs more content (duels, better or updated maps etc)

 

 

Basically what you guys rented out a theater for to tell around 30k viewers was that you were restructuring (cool. Not content), and that the saga would be taking place in the north vs jormag. Okay...

 

 

Living world releases had never had content for more than 6 hours of play. People wait months for a release then zoom through it in 4 hours.

 

So when you hyped it up as much as you did, people at the very least were expecting elite specializations, or s new race. But NOBODY cares about some spirits mastery that we will never appreciate. Its on the same level as bouncing mushroom or adrenal glands. Its.... nothing.

 

And the quality of life is long overdue so I won't whinge about that. Finally we are getting it, so that's that.

 

But there is no content. Your new 10 man expeditions or bounties or whatever better be repayable and rewarding. Otherwise they will end up like bounties/dungeons... just... there.

 

I sincerely hope to god that you guys have more than this. Because if there was ever a chance for you guys to blow us our of the water and pull the millions of people who are currently getting hit with how hard and boring and outdated wow classic is to this amazing game, this was your chance... but you blew it big time.

 

 

A lot of people are feeling let down. COMMUNICATE with us. Is there more??? Or is that it? Are we going to cantha ever? Will we be getting permanent arena? How much longer do wvw players have to wait before giving up??

[DoRi Silvia.4159]

Well.

My first initial thought after watching the whole livestream was "did I really get my self up at 4am to watch this?"

 

The whole announcement was a bit too over hyped I would think because you guys do not do a live event like this very often and it has lead a lot of players to believe that something BIG could be coming.

I believe it did not satisfy a lot of current playerbase and it did not address many issues that players are vocal about (pvp, wvw, balancing etc etc)

Current players want something more, different from this game to give it a refreshing feeling, something new for us to spend our time on but it looks like we will be doing pretty much the same thing as we have been doing for the last 7 years

 

I think I for one, will be logging on a lot less and I think that will be good for my wallet too as for the past few months I have been spending hundreds upon hundreds on gemstore items to some extent hoping it is contributing to the staff at anet making some exciting content.

 

The only thing positive I can touch on is the strike bosses, which I could see could be fun but that will have to be looked at upon release.

 

Summary, **disappointed**

 

Adios

[Burnfall.9573]

> @"LaFurion.3167" said:

> I'll keep it simple. Guild wars 2 needs content. The rate at which living world or sagas are released is way too slow. People need REPEATABLE content as an end game. Repeatable pve content (fractals/raids), repeatable pvp content (such as arenas, or far far more maps for conquest), and your unique amazing game mode wvw needs more content (duels, better or updated maps etc)

>

>

> Basically what you guys rented out a theater for to tell around 30k viewers was that you were restructuring (cool. Not content), and that the saga would be taking place in the north vs jormag. Okay...

>

>

> Living world releases had never had content for more than 6 hours of play. People wait months for a release then zoom through it in 4 hours.

>

> So when you hyped it up as much as you did, people at the very least were expecting elite specializations, or s new race. But NOBODY cares about some spirits mastery that we will never appreciate. Its on the same level as bouncing mushroom or adrenal glands. Its.... nothing.

>

> And the quality of life is long overdue so I won't whinge about that. Finally we are getting it, so that's that.

>

> But there is no content. Your new 10 man expeditions or bounties or whatever better be repayable and rewarding. Otherwise they will end up like bounties/dungeons... just... there.

>

> I sincerely hope to god that you guys have more than this. Because if there was ever a chance for you guys to blow us our of the water and pull the millions of people who are currently getting hit with how hard and boring and outdated wow classic is to this amazing game, this was your chance... but you blew it big time.

>

>

> A lot of people are feeling let down. COMMUNICATE with us. Is there more??? Or is that it? Are we going to cantha ever? Will we be getting permanent arena? How much longer do wvw players have to wait before giving up??

 

not just content alone but having healthy competitive changes

 

Making exceptions is wrong

 

-The fact that Thief Profession being excluded doesn't help at all

[coso.9173]

story moves through living world season episodes. saying that no one cares about that is like saying that no one cares about the game story progression, i disagree a lot. I play gw2 for the new maps, the fun battlesystem, and its story. i don't care for pvp or raids. to me a new episode is much more content, than, let's say pvp fixes or WvW fixes, or even a raid wing. so just want to remind you that not eveyrone has the same priorities as you.

[Ototo.3214]

I personally really enjoyed the presentation and got more than I was expecting. They very explicitly said it was an announcement about Living World, to expect anything else is your own fault. The trailer was expansion quality and it seems that the Living World is going to follow a new format considering it now has a prologue that will be the equivalent of an episode it seems? Could mean the future episodes are bigger than before. I'm happy to see new world bosses, happy that Charr are also getting some attention, and the mini raids seem interesting.

 

Also, as someone that's gotten all the expansions as they've come out, I'm not offended in the slightest that you can now get both expansions for the price of one. As a veteran, I've gotten nearly all the LW episodes for freakin' free, only having missed 1 or 2 from being a dingus that forgot to log in for a while. Newer players still have to buy all those. I think it's a perfectly fair deal to allow players to get both expacs for the price of one with that in mind.

[Astrolicus.3716]

Do you realize how stupid it is to rent a theater just to announce Icebrood? Why didn't you announced Icebrood through YouTube? Just as you did with Path of Fire. Probably a lot of people who showed up in person were expecting something really amazing, you could have avoided all this just by streaming on YouTube instead renting a whole theater.

 

Also. I'm not disappointed, I'm glad we will visit Far Shiverpeaks. **I am disappointed that you missed new elite specifications.** You just have no idea how much I truly want Longbow for Necromancer with all my life and I thought I would get it this time.

 

Next time, ArenNet, whatever you're going to announce after season 5. _Please do it only on YouTube_.

[Iozeph.5617]

> @"Blocki.4931" said:

> I like that they changed it from season to saga, because season in our minds is the full map release, while saga will expand on it further. Cool idea. The new map looks and sounds awesome, the features they announced sound good too.

 

'Saga' probably has more to do with the psuedo Scandanavian flavouring of the Norns and their epic tales of bravery than anything else.

[Tiviana.2650]

> @"shadowpass.4236" said:

> As the saying goes, all feedback is good feedback.

>

> A huge amount of players are telling Anet _exactly_ what they were/are looking for and _why_ they were disappointed with today's announcement. If Living World was what players were excited about, people would be hyped instead of frustrated.

>

> If Anet is smart, they will reevaluate their plans going forward (after giving us what they talked about today) and deliver content people actually want instead of forcing all of this story-mode stuff down our throats and locking all of the new rewards behind it while largely ignoring PvP and WvW.

>

> Now, I'm not saying some players don't enjoy LW. However, a lot of people don't and Anet needs to recognize this and stop focusing 90% of their efforts towards this one area of the game.

 

Exactly this, there were 30 thousand people on twitch streaming this and the majority agreed this is not the way to go. They really do need to reevaluate where they are going, because its a clear message from the playerbase this is not it.

[SnowMochi.7602]

> @"LaFurion.3167" said:

> I'll keep it simple. Guild wars 2 needs content. The rate at which living world or sagas are released is way too slow. People need REPEATABLE content as an end game. Repeatable pve content (fractals/raids), repeatable pvp content (such as arenas, or far far more maps for conquest), and your unique amazing game mode wvw needs more content (duels, better or updated maps etc)

>

>

> Basically what you guys rented out a theater for to tell around 30k viewers was that you were restructuring (cool. Not content), and that the saga would be taking place in the north vs jormag. Okay...

>

>

> Living world releases had never had content for more than 6 hours of play. People wait months for a release then zoom through it in 4 hours.

>

> So when you hyped it up as much as you did, people at the very least were expecting elite specializations, or s new race. But NOBODY cares about some spirits mastery that we will never appreciate. Its on the same level as bouncing mushroom or adrenal glands. Its.... nothing.

>

> And the quality of life is long overdue so I won't whinge about that. Finally we are getting it, so that's that.

>

> But there is no content. Your new 10 man expeditions or bounties or whatever better be repayable and rewarding. Otherwise they will end up like bounties/dungeons... just... there.

>

> I sincerely hope to god that you guys have more than this. Because if there was ever a chance for you guys to blow us our of the water and pull the millions of people who are currently getting hit with how hard and boring and outdated wow classic is to this amazing game, this was your chance... but you blew it big time.

>

>

> A lot of people are feeling let down. COMMUNICATE with us. Is there more??? Or is that it? Are we going to cantha ever? Will we be getting permanent arena? How much longer do wvw players have to wait before giving up??

 

To this I'd like to add the request to make more new dungeons. I enjoy most aspects of the game, including the dungeons, which sadly were made defunct some years ago.

 

[Iozeph.5617]

> @"Elric.4713" said:

> I think I speak for a lot of GW2 players when I say this: "kitten Rytlock".

 

Yes. Couldn't care less. The last person I want any backstory on whatever is the idiot who followed a rubbish sword into the mists and in the process paved the way for some of the worst grinding and the worst story telling in an mmo to date. The same person who throughout that terrible storytelling completely ignores the commanders orders and nearly makes things worse over and over again because he's an edgelord who 'knows better'. No. I don't care much at all for Rytlocke. DIAF, Rytlocke. For good this time around, please? Preferrably by falling on your precious sword.

[Khayoss.7621]

Strictly IMO, the steady downfall of GW2 has been caused by two common ailments: Mike O'Brien and NCSoft.

[UNOwen.7132]

> @"SnowMochi.7602" said:

> > @"LaFurion.3167" said:

> > I'll keep it simple. Guild wars 2 needs content. The rate at which living world or sagas are released is way too slow. People need REPEATABLE content as an end game. Repeatable pve content (fractals/raids), repeatable pvp content (such as arenas, or far far more maps for conquest), and your unique amazing game mode wvw needs more content (duels, better or updated maps etc)

> >

> >

> > Basically what you guys rented out a theater for to tell around 30k viewers was that you were restructuring (cool. Not content), and that the saga would be taking place in the north vs jormag. Okay...

> >

> >

> > Living world releases had never had content for more than 6 hours of play. People wait months for a release then zoom through it in 4 hours.

> >

> > So when you hyped it up as much as you did, people at the very least were expecting elite specializations, or s new race. But NOBODY cares about some spirits mastery that we will never appreciate. Its on the same level as bouncing mushroom or adrenal glands. Its.... nothing.

> >

> > And the quality of life is long overdue so I won't whinge about that. Finally we are getting it, so that's that.

> >

> > But there is no content. Your new 10 man expeditions or bounties or whatever better be repayable and rewarding. Otherwise they will end up like bounties/dungeons... just... there.

> >

> > I sincerely hope to god that you guys have more than this. Because if there was ever a chance for you guys to blow us our of the water and pull the millions of people who are currently getting hit with how hard and boring and outdated wow classic is to this amazing game, this was your chance... but you blew it big time.

> >

> >

> > A lot of people are feeling let down. COMMUNICATE with us. Is there more??? Or is that it? Are we going to cantha ever? Will we be getting permanent arena? How much longer do wvw players have to wait before giving up??

>

> To this I'd like to add the request to make more new dungeons. I enjoy most aspects of the game, including the dungeons, which sadly were made defunct some years ago.

>

 

They were made defunct for a simple reason. Theyre just inferior fractals. There is no reason to make a dungeon when you can make it a fractal, which automatically gives it difficulty scaling (which dungeons badly needed long before they were abandoned), and makes it possible to actually be relevant to the games lore. Dungeons pretty much only were played for the gold for months if not years prior to their abandonment. And once that gold went away, people quit in droves.

[shadowpass.4236]

> @"Tiviana.2650" said:

> > @"shadowpass.4236" said:

> > As the saying goes, all feedback is good feedback.

> >

> > A huge amount of players are telling Anet _exactly_ what they were/are looking for and _why_ they were disappointed with today's announcement. If Living World was what players were excited about, people would be hyped instead of frustrated.

> >

> > If Anet is smart, they will reevaluate their plans going forward (after giving us what they talked about today) and deliver content people actually want instead of forcing all of this story-mode stuff down our throats and locking all of the new rewards behind it while largely ignoring PvP and WvW.

> >

> > Now, I'm not saying some players don't enjoy LW. However, a lot of people don't and Anet needs to recognize this and stop focusing 90% of their efforts towards this one area of the game.

>

> Exactly this, there were 30 thousand people on twitch streaming this and the majority agreed this is not the way to go. They really do need to reevaluate where they are going, because its a clear message from the playerbase this is not it.

 

I'm happy other people also understand the situation.

 

From what I've heard, Anet bases most, if not all, of their decisions based off of their data/statistics. So, I'm curious to see what statistics led them to believe that focusing on the Living World was the best option and whether or not they expected the reception to be positive.

 

Also, I'm curious as to what their statistics say about how many people are happy with today's announcement vs. how many people aren't.

 

Honestly though, ignoring the numbers, reviews are generally one of the best possible ways to gather information. You are able to hear firsthand what people _think_ about your product which you don't get based off of records of user activity. There's a reason why investors looking to put money into restaurants (for example) always make it a point to ask patrons what they think about the establishment and food rather than formulating their entire decision around how many people eat at the restaurant every day. This type of feedback is invaluable and Anet would be smart to take advantage of it. I mean, they could have someone comb through every response in these threads, write down their points, and tally how many people wanted x vs. y and how many people disliked z. At least, that's what I do for ecommerce/engineering projects. It helps narrow down _exactly_ what people want. And, when you deliver on what people want, you have happy customers and full pockets.