Curse

pumpkin pie · Jan 18, 2009, 03:07 AM // 03:07

...and people are coming and a lot not leaving at all and some intent to play both GW1 and GW2 forever (like myself).

don't think of me me me me me, its a MMORPG, its Free to play for all, do you think 1% (very rough estimate) of players leaving to play other games is going to shut down Guild Wars? and just because you are leaving and don't care for more storage the rest of the players who choose to continue playing don't want the extra storage?

how do you know the development team isn't coming up with new quests and storyline for players to get the new storage? far fetch hint hint hint but could happens!

plus as long as HoM exist, how do you know Arena Net won't try to keep both game alive by introducing cross-game mission/quests? hint hint hint.

Lishy · Jan 18, 2009, 04:21 AM // 04:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by pumpkin pie

...and people are coming and a lot not leaving at all and some intent to play both GW1 and GW2 forever (like myself).

don't think of me me me me me, its a MMORPG, its Free to play for all, do you think 1% (very rough estimate) of players leaving to play other games is going to shut down Guild Wars? and just because you are leaving and don't care for more storage the rest of the players who choose to continue playing don't want the extra storage?

how do you know the development team isn't coming up with new quests and storyline for players to get the new storage? far fetch hint hint hint but could happens!

plus as long as HoM exist, how do you know Arena Net won't try to keep both game alive by introducing cross-game mission/quests? hint hint hint.

Yay for someone with a decent sense of intelligence. And actually, now that you've made me think about it, that'd be interesting.
Seeing cross-over effects from GW1 and GW2 and vise versa would be interesting. All I know is that once given long enough time, everything will be worth the wait.

shoyon456 · Jan 18, 2009, 05:16 AM // 05:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by pumpkin pie

...and people are coming and a lot not leaving at all and some intent to play both GW1 and GW2 forever (like myself).

don't think of me me me me me, its a MMORPG, its Free to play for all, do you think 1% (very rough estimate) of players leaving to play other games is going to shut down Guild Wars?

First off, since the year eotn came out I'm sure the game lost more than 1% of players. Secondly, I never said taking months of work to just produce more storage would shut down gw, HOWEVER, it is not a financially sound idea to put alot of work into gw1 at this point. Anything they do is only to appeal to the minds of players. They shouldn't be putting this much attention to menial things that people have dealt with for years because THEY ARE A BUSINESS. They are getting ZERO cash from doing anything with gw1 that wont directly affect gw2, whether or not you selfishly intend to selfishly whine about it for free, for a game you plan to play forever apparently (sadface).

Quote:

Originally Posted by pumpkin pie

how do you know the development team isn't coming up with new quests and storyline for players to get the new storage? far fetch hint hint hint but could happens!

plus as long as HoM exist, how do you know Arena Net won't try to keep both game alive by introducing cross-game mission/quests? hint hint hint.

If they make new quests to get the extra storage, it will be an annoying five minute quest or quest-string like the jingle bear quests, for something that should've just been added.

Anet has repeatedly stated it is a new game, and the rewards from HoM will be purely visual or for nostalgia, because they want to make the field level for new players in order to attract new players to gw2, because god knows they need GW2 to be a hit. Even if Guildwars hasn't lost all that many players, even if EVERYONE who is still active on it bought gw2, it would still be a bust.

Operative 14 · Jan 18, 2009, 06:08 AM // 06:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by shoyon456

... HOWEVER, it is not a financially sound idea to put alot of work into gw1 at this point. Anything they do is only to appeal to the minds of players. They shouldn't be putting this much attention to menial things that people have dealt with for years because THEY ARE A BUSINESS. They are getting ZERO cash from doing anything with gw1 that wont directly affect gw2, whether or not you selfishly intend to selfishly whine about it for free, for a game you plan to play forever apparently (sadface).

Yes, because Arenanet, and most business for that matter, don't depend on potential repeat customers (and the free advertising they provide) that need to be satisfied that their concerns are being heard and answered.

shoyon456 · Jan 18, 2009, 06:43 AM // 06:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Operative 14

that need to be satisfied that their concerns are being heard and answered.

Concerns of a community are moot when the game they concern is about to be replaced by its second installment (GW2) and those concerns are 1+ years old. If you really want to talk, the storage concerns have been around since gw was released, they just took small steps along the way to relieve it.

All I'm saying is that this has been dealt with for years now by players, and making it easier to deal with in the decline of GW won't do much.

pumpkin pie · Jan 18, 2009, 07:57 AM // 07:57

so says one player.

i truly hope whatever put in HoM will only be fore "show off" but cross-games experience will be a very welcome feature says me :P

the idea behind this is to keep players keep on playing GW1 and GW2 players who do not have GW1 to purchase GW1 mwahahahahaha, off course its an option, buy it or not you will still be able to play GW2. but its a plus if you have both game. if cross-game between GW1 and GW2 works fine, think of the possibility, of Cross-Game MMORPG. GW vs WoW, WoW vs Aion, Everquest Vs GW

huge communitiy lots of "money" to be earn there. seriously think game company wouldn't want that if it is possible?

I should patent that idea and when mmorpg company does it I'll sue Worlds

cthulhu reborn · Jan 18, 2009, 01:34 PM // 13:34

Well, what I get from this, is that Anet found it necessary to put extra support in for GW1 during 2009. That would lead me to believe that GW2 is definitely not coming out this year.
The upcoming changes for storage space and the HoM are nice things but I doubt that just that alone will really be enough to keep the game going as much as they may want to. But then it did say that those were a few of the things they are working on for April. So I would expect so actualy content to be added still.

I agree with the comments that Anet needs to get more people interested in GW2 than the current player base and I suppose I will be interested to see how the marketing is going to be.

All in all, the bottom line will be that 2009 will still be about GW1 and not 2. The Mox update kept me busy for a few days. So after that I took a break for a couple of months. Now I am working on my kurzick title so that's JQ, JQ and an occasional vanquish if I can be *rsed to do it. But for the moment that'll do me, but I think it may drive a fair amount of people to wait till the update, play a few days or weeks and then wait again till the next one. I do hope that Anet can do some things to really get people to play more actively because empty servers aren't good for the game or new players.

AngelWJedi · Jan 18, 2009, 02:49 PM // 14:49

extra storage is good. wish they would do more but i can live with what they give. oh can someone send me the link this update page people pull the info from? i tried looking on wiki and couldnt find it.

Karate Jesus · Jan 18, 2009, 03:08 PM // 15:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by AngelWJedi

extra storage is good. wish they would do more but i can live with what they give. oh can someone send me the link this update page people pull the info from? i tried looking on wiki and couldnt find it.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Developer_Updates

that tends to be a helpful page on the wiki

pumpkin pie · Jan 18, 2009, 03:16 PM // 15:16

its on Guild Wars dot com front page under Latest Headline. Official news always go there, I am waiting for winterdays contest result to pop up there any day now!

Rocky Raccoon · Jan 18, 2009, 03:30 PM // 15:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gun Pierson

@risky ranger: spoon fed? It's their job, they get paid for it. Or do we have to do their job for free while they rake in the cash? Let them work for it. Give them the chance to grow and do their job properly.

Lastly, it's business and communication is vital.

The personal journals are available at anytime through a link on the wiki page, it is not actually the wiki itself. It takes very little effort to favorite a direct link to that page. They are communicating on the company provided site. Yes there should be communication on the fansites, but the way some people treat them I don't know why they would want to.
Forums are not the most friendly places you know.

Here are a few features we are currently developing for April:

Increases to account-based storage
Improvements to character-based storage
Account-based changes to the Hall of Monuments

Can't people read , it says a few features they are working on, not all the features they are working on. Why don't we save the whining and such until we see what they actually give us.

Xx_Sorin_xX · Jan 19, 2009, 02:53 AM // 02:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Socrates The Mauler

This is too little too late.

How much lead time do they need to add an extra tab? You would think by April they could whip up an NPC or hero mule, or better yet a cow with saddlebags that can travel with you. Give us the option to have it pick up all drops with a single click. Give us something besides an additional tab.

It does no good to talk about April in January. In other words, they have nothing. Dead game, unhappy players, NO new content, same shit, different day.

I usually don't complain, but I just don't understand. I know it's only like 2 people working on GW1, but why does it take 4 months to add a tab for storage. I know nothing about making games, but if you can design the ENTIRE game in 5 years, something tells me they didn't spend 3 months making a tab.

Apollo Smile · Jan 19, 2009, 04:52 AM // 04:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xx_Sorin_xX

I usually don't complain, but I just don't understand. I know it's only like 2 people working on GW1, but why does it take 4 months to add a tab for storage. I know nothing about making games, but if you can design the ENTIRE game in 5 years, something tells me they didn't spend 3 months making a tab.

You are right, they are probably working on ther other things to go along with the update.

pumpkin pie · Jan 19, 2009, 06:25 AM // 06:25

how do you know its a tab?

Fril Estelin · Jan 19, 2009, 09:48 AM // 09:48

IMHO, Linsey's words on her wiki journal reinforce nicely the fact, highlighted by people here, that we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg:

Quote:

Needless to say, we are all very excited about these changes and what they mean for Guild Wars. The little tidbits we listed are just the beginning and certainly not all we have planned for April. <3

I remember the "<3" she gave us after the huge title rebalance and this gives me more confidence that they indeed have something nice in stock

.

shoyon456 · Jan 19, 2009, 10:25 AM // 10:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fril Estelin

IMHO, [url=http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/User:Linsey_Murdock/Journal]

I remember the "<3" she gave us after the huge title rebalance and this gives me more confidence that they indeed have something nice in stock

.

I think that the reason this is actually a concern is because face it, if gw2 is real gw1 hardly matters except for HoM benefits anymore.

By giving us more free content w/o gw2 news, it seems as though they're using shiny objects to distract us from gw2.

Not saying this out of ingratitude, because I realize they could say nothing about gw2 AND have no new updates, but to be silent on one front and drawing attention to another is a tactic to have a "back way out."

Wish Swiftdeath · Jan 19, 2009, 10:34 AM // 10:34

maybe its horadric cube like objects which can store as well as convert items in your inventory

hmm wishful thinking, sorry

Fril Estelin · Jan 19, 2009, 10:40 AM // 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by shoyon456

shiny objects to distract us from gw2.

Well, if anyone sees any of the stuff they're providing as "shiny object", then they should move on to another game, because GW1 is not providing them with fun and they're just generating more anger/impatience for them. Which is also what's beneath the "distract us from GW2" bit of your sentence, and this gives me the impression that you're looking too far ahead of time, or looking too avidly. If all Anet can provide for you is GW2, then move on to something else and come back here in a little while. Just a friendly advice, it's not my intention to suggest you shoud gtfo or any other rubbish.

SerenitySilverstar · Jan 19, 2009, 07:57 PM // 19:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xx_Sorin_xX

I usually don't complain, but I just don't understand. I know it's only like 2 people working on GW1, but why does it take 4 months to add a tab for storage. I know nothing about making games, but if you can design the ENTIRE game in 5 years, something tells me they didn't spend 3 months making a tab.

Perhaps you should read Linsey's explanation of what it takes to make a "simple" change to the game. Even if you don't read this wall of text, the fact that it IS a wall of text will tell you that implementing anything isn't as "simple" as writing a bit of code.

Quote:

First I would like to break down for you guys what is needed to set up a new zone ("elite" status or otherwise) including how many different people it takes and then I will talk a little bit about new content in general.

A new zone requires these things:

1. Map: This means a level designer to work with the lead on the project to get down the layout and flow of the zone. It then gets kicked over to the level artists who will lay down all the terrain textures, wall cladding, lighting, props etc to turn the zone into the final product. While the level artist is working on that, another artist is needed to create new textures and props to support the new aesthetic of the map for the level artist to use (even if we reuse a majority of existing assets, some of this is still needed). An effects artist will also likely be needed for new effects which add to the aesthetic of the zone. Then we need the level designer to generate the mini map and get the map hooked up in the world.

2. Design: A designer is needed to detail out the overall design and drive the project. A couple other designers are needed to assist in designing and writing all of the quests, NPCs, mechanics, chatter, etc. <This could be done by one person, but as a frame of reference, to introduce M.O.X. as a new hero with his quests it took one designer to drive the design of M.O.X himself, Me to design the overall design of the four quests, and two other designers to design the details of two of those quests all over the course of two months and believe me when I say it was still stressful and tight on time.> A writer is needed to go through all the text making edits for spelling, grammar and awesomeness. Once those edits are done, Jeff Grubb does a continuity pass for any red flags and a last round of edits are made. Then the text goes to localization where a team of people translate everything into the languages we support. A designer is needed to design out all the creature armies, their skill sets, themes, etc. An item designer is needed to design any special items functionality (things like consumables, green items, etc) as well as design out what loot can drop in the zone and all of their drop rates.

3. Art: A concept artist is needed to concept out the overall aesthetic of the zone, any armor, weapons, NPCs, new architecture, bosses, monsters, etc. Everything gets concepted before being made. A character artist makes any armor pieces needed as well as new NPC models. A creature artist makes any new creatures (reskins or otherwise). An animator is needed to animate any new models or adjust animations that are disfigured based on the reskinning (for instance, M.O.X. needed some substantial help to get him moving and using his anims properly at his size. He used to float around a lot and not in a good way). A prop artist is needed to create any new items that can't use the amazingly versatile "red bag" model. A concept artist is needed to make any new inventory or skill icons. If we make anything like books or other containers (like the Moa incubator) then we need a graphic/UI artist to fix up the images on each page or to create the UI art. An effects artist is needed to make any skill effects.

4. Implementation: A creature designer makes all the species needed (that's NPCs, monsters, and any other things which are spawned), this is usually someone who's entire join is creating species, but it can be done by two or three of the regular designers like myself who have been trained in how to set this delicate stuff up. The item designer hooks up all the inventory and bundles items needed. Again this is something that another designer can technically be trained to do but items are even harder than species so it generally falls to the one man who knows everything about our item system. Same deal with setting up the loot lists and drop rates, but this is even more scary and delicate so it isn't easy for someone who is not intimately familiar with the system to pick it up and get it done without ''serious'' training. The designers on the project then take all the species generated and script out all the spawns for the base spawn, the quests, any special NPCs etc. Once the spawns are down in at least their most basic state, it can be sent to a content programmer who hooks up all the quests, special mechanics, special items, skills, monster and NPC AI, etc. New sounds need to be recorded and coded into the map too. New mechanics like the battles down below in the Turai BMP mission required a lot of prototyping and additional server, engine and graphics programmers to make work at an acceptable level. If there are any cinematics, that requires another team of people to code the cinematic, do any special animations, effects, sounds, etc.

5. Testing: Once most of the pieces are together, a QA team begins searching the zone for bugs. Bugs are all over the place like animation glitches, floating props, effects not working, creatures spawned in unpathable spots, quests blocked, too many creatures spawning in an area, quests interacting with other quests poorly, spawns being too difficult, drop rates, skills not working or acting strangely, missing effects or icons, typos in text, text not localized, crashes, drops in frame rate, disconnects, you name it we got it. So round after round after round of bug fixes are made by all the people previously involved. Then there are rounds of testing for playability, balance and continuity and subsequent rounds of tweaks and more bug fixing.

6. Release: Marketing and Web are needed to working on any promotions being done. A web page for the feature needs to be created complete with its own text and graphics requiring more peoples time and effort. Update notes need to be compiled and checked against what is in game. A Dev Update needs to be written and edited. Community needs to be up to speed on everything involved. All the files involved have to be integrated up to the Staging servers where the whole testing process begins again with another round of bug fixes. Then everything needs to be integrated up to the Live servers and distributed out.

I know there are ''lots'' of things I am leaving out, but this should at least give you all some idea of what is required for just one zone. We are talking about ~20 people MINIMUM to accomplish. I would LOVE to make a new God Realm. LOVE. But getting all these resources at this point would be extremely difficult.

On the topic of new content in general, I mentioned a little bit about what it took to make M.O.X. so you know that doing any new quests is not a trivial task. I don't even want to talk about how stressed I was trying to get the Wintersday quests done in half the time with less people. From start to finish, a single quest can take around a month of development. Granted, certain people only work on it in specific stages but never-the-less, it is a time consuming process. But in all honesty, I would not have been as interested in working on the Live Team in the first place if I was not going to be able to add new content at all. It was the first question I asked when I was assessing whether or not I wanted to leave the GW2 team for this. In the six months since we started, the Live Team has already added a brand new hero with his own series of quests and brought Wintersday to the Eye of the North with its own series of quests. That ''is'' new content and I fully intend for us to be adding more small pieces of new content like this as we move forward. It's all just a matter of acquiring the resources and time needed. We have a VERY LONG list of things we want to do and new content is certainly on it. We know you guys want it and we do want it too.

And with that, I am going to end this epically long response and go home for the day. - Linsey Murdock 03:15, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Regina Buenaobra · Jan 19, 2009, 07:58 PM // 19:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by recon54

from this minor statement i gather that chances are a decently sized group of anet employees just finished what they were working on in GW2 and are now free to start working with the live team. So theres some GW2 news for ya.

No, that's not the case. The Live Team is expanding by one person. This person is not being moved away from the GW2 development team, but will be a new addition to the company.