Community report july 2014 to Arenanet

[Nekodesu]

Actually I think GW is far from dead. Yeah it isn't what it used to be but it's 9 years old.

Today a few of us got together enough people to do a AB match, actually if you log in you will maybe be able to join, there's a few teams But be quick, it's getting late!

[MaxBorken]

Suggestion....?

This has gone a long way off topic and nearly turned into flamewars.

Stop the doom and gloom.

Enjoy it while we can.

Get a grip on what is important and what isn't important.

Accept that there are things outside of our control.

Enjoy the game while we can. Did I say that already?

Maybe close this thread because it's gone so far off topic I can't see the start any more...

Max

[Bristlebane]

Actually Max, I think the fire has died off already, but it's good you're alert and think of all our vulnerable minds :-)

[killigon]

Would it be possible to make an attempt at getting some exposure onto this? Make an attempt at getting it viral?

I know IGN only does "Games news" but maybe it can be sent to them or some other show with a reasonable amount of viewers.

If you can get it popular on reddit, that would be the best though I don't see it happening.

If you can shed light on the case maybe we could get some sort of apology from ANet...

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I mean, the fact that he couldn't even answer the first question that was about his own experience with GW is completely rediculous. Surely someone will see the sensationality in this and "pity" the GW community?

[symeonreturns]

Originally Posted by killigon

Would it be possible to make an attempt at getting some exposure onto this? Make an attempt at getting it viral?

I know IGN only does "Games news" but maybe it can be sent to them or some other show with a reasonable amount of viewers.

If you can get it popular on reddit, that would be the best though I don't see it happening.

If you can shed light on the case maybe we could get some sort of apology from ANet...

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I mean, the fact that he couldn't even answer the first question that was about his own experience with GW is completely rediculous. Surely someone will see the sensationality in this and "pity" the GW community?

While I appreciate the sentiment, I doubt there will be much interest from gaming news outlets in the plight of the GW community; the tale is all too familiar for those who have followed the lifecycle of other MMOs. At this point, the only thing likely to generate significant attention would be the announcement of imminent server closures.

Besides, what use is an apology from ArenaNet? We knew that they had abandoned the original when they implemented full automation over a year ago. Better to just enjoy what is left in the game or move on, as ArenaNet (unfortunately) have.

[Chooty]

I think making the base game (prophesies) free to play, and keeping the other campains on sale for 10 dollar or smt would be a very smart move bussiness wise for NCsoft.

It would attrackt loads of people, without changing their model.

[cosyfiep]

I think that dropping the price of all of the campaigns would be a good idea--the game is almost 10 years old so paying the original full price for prophecies is insane, as well as the rest of them (eye came out in 2007? so half price or LESS would be better for it as well).
$10 for each chapter and $5 for eye is what I suggest (since you could get the whole set for $30 not to long ago---), if you buy the complete collection--$20.

[tooburns]

i think its the way to go at this point in the game, free Proph and lower price on other one would bring fresh wave of player.

[Ayuhmii Shanbwa]

with free proph (or any other campaign or eotn) they would get even less money
i bet if they'd "fix" some stuff like WiK having 1. having a "stop wik spawns" quest like woc has, or 2. have no wik spawns when you dont have a wik quest
and woc having the "stop woc spawns" quest right after quest nr 1

that'd make alot of people way happier, as most people i see last few years, either dont like, or even hate those 2

thats 1 small change which would make people happy, thats what they could do once in a while, to keep people playing, and invite friends to GW (= money)

yes anet, many people already like it when they sometimes get real small changes
they wont listen, will they?

but making the game even cheaper.... especially free? wouldnt that hurt the game even more? people paying less if they wann try GW, and if they leave, anet+ncsoft will have gotten even less from those who dont give GW a chance (like leaving after 1-3 hours new in the game.... or days in some cases)

the game isnt as basic as f2p with their p2w ways, so its different already, making people try it, and has no fees, so its easy to pay and leave the game when you want to, and come back when you want to, without paying anything !!!
plus its much cheaper than most MMO's (ingame stores can be adicted, and fees cost more over time..... plus some games need to be bought AND have fees... COUGHWoWCOUGH)

some said free pvp would be nice, but i doubt it, as people would see a dead pvp in GW, and wont stay long

a free pre searing, with no way to get to post searing might work

i think many underestimate the money they still get from GW (including anet themselves), as they compare it to GW2..... that'd be the same as comparing GW to WoW, with its 1. pay the game itself, 2. pay fees to play the whole game, 3. pay for expansions and 4. ingame store

of course thats more money, but you have to pay alot just to play the whole game, with GW thats not the case, so its cheap already
1. GW is much cheaper than when i bought campaigns 1 by 1
2. GW has no fees at all
3. unlike many MMO's i've seen, you dont get 2-4 char slots and need to buy more if you want more, you get like 8 already (counting the WHOLE game being bought)

funny thing is, people who say the game is dead-ish, mostly play with guilds in GW... meaning its not dead-ish
i know i've seen many guilds alot, which i see in your info box here (like PhD and such)

oh well, call a game dead, and the game will be dead over time, as people dont wanna take risks (even though alot do pay fees right away for many MMO's)

ps. this is based on my opinion and point of view (the way i see it, that is)

EDIT: also, if proph would be free, it would hurt even more, as most proph towns and outposts are dead, people gather in kamadan to do anything
if you would be new in an instance based game, would you stay if you play free, and see noone in any place you go to (except american district pre sear)?

[cosyfiep]

yeah, would love it if they were to fix the wik thing (I have an account w/o eye and I will never be able to get rid of the wik spawns unless I team up with someone).

I dont think making it free would help--it would probably make more people upset that they paid for it, but dramatically dropping the price to a few dollars (5-10) would still give anet income from it, not upset too many folks, and show that it is still a good idea to have it available--offering an incentive (besides hom stuff) to get it.

[Chooty]

No, making it free would be the best way.

Look at Dungeons and Dragons online that totally revived.

If you make it free you can advertise it as free; just think of the sidebanner add 'Guildwars, now for free'; that would bring in TONS of people. TONS. Hundred of thousands. Look at runescape, there are enough people in the world who cannot pay the entry cost. Plus many F2P titles don't even come close to GW's quality. It would sweep the competition. And it would get new reviews in magazines, etc.

And people will then buy the expantion and other campaigns. If they can be seduced to buy some armour or a pet in an item mall in another game, won't they be secuded to buy a whole game for 5 or 10? But you have to dragg them in first. Areana net would be making major money without any new investment. Plus, it won't upset the balance by introducing an item mall.

And you seriously think people would feel robbed paying for a game 9 years ago which they already completed? Bringing in new players increases the value of their investment.
Also fixing small changes won't bring in new people. You wanna aim at people just browsing the web. And younger kids, who can't pay yet but wanna start gaming, and a year later can pay for another campaign. It's not about the cost itself, its about the entry bar. Free of 1 dollar makes an enourmous diffirence.

[fadekill]

You are talking about free bot accounts flooding the game in a time when anet doesn't do anything about them?

[Chooty]

Originally Posted by fadekill

You are talking about free bot accounts flooding the game in a time when anet doesn't do anything about them?

This would offcourse imply that they would use a part of the income to provide support again; do events, fix things, maybe a new dungeon, etc.

300.000 new people, easy
30.000 buy another campaign (10%) for 10 dollar.

300.000 in the bank; enough to employ a few peeps.

Anyway; if you want new players - besides myself - in, this is the way. New things still won't give you exposure for a 9 year old game with a sequal; only some radical change can do that.

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Originally Posted by Ayuhmii Shanbwa

EDIT: also, if proph would be free, it would hurt even more, as most proph towns and outposts are dead, people gather in kamadan to do anything
if you would be new in an instance based game, would you stay if you play free, and see noone in any place you go to (except american district pre sear)?

Again, an add campaign for Free Guildwars would flock thousands on people to the server on day one. Those starting towns will be crowded.

You keep seeing it from a perspective of reviving it for current players; but a hudge influx of new players and thus new money is the only way to a) make casual pvp thriving again ; b) generate means for further support for current players by areananet.

Anyway I dunno why I'm defending this idea so much; I'm just a random person. Have fun guys, hope to see you in the game in a few weeks.

[Ayuhmii Shanbwa]

i doubt it, every person coming online sees an almost deserted place, then leave and that happens alot..... no f2p-ers left either

besides, proph takes longer to get through, and meeting up with people who know what they do is rare..... and then the newbies should be lucky if they even get help from those people.... the "we do HM, as NM is just for noobs" people are still here

also, people see an old game for a small price, but then it goes totally free.... must go real bad for them to have to go free, better not touch it

the little bit GW cost is already too small to attract people, as most think that expensive games are always better, cuz they are expensive (like WoW having 3 forced payments (which are 1. buy game, 2. fees to play it, 3. expansions not free) and 1 extra... the ingame store)

if proph would get ALOT of people, and not just normal ones, but patient ones to get to lions arch and such, then MIGHT work, but most who joined GW and bought all campaigns+eotn who i've seen in active guilds, left in no time, cuz they dont get help for 100% of the friggin time
and if a guild has no talking people for 10 minutes, they log off and leave for half a year or longer, and come back and 50-50 to see them again

sigh, its already bad enough that i, who defended anet for years and recently got bad news from people who saw stuff from em about not supporting GW any more than automation, have to admit my defeat and give up on anet for more in GW, so why make it sound like its good that proph (the least active part cuz of no pve only skills and no grinding titles and such, and nothing for the 4 newer profs) should be free, so that people are like: playing...... no thx, bye
and try another game

free for a cheap game..... wouldnt that make people think its so weak, that even though its cheaper than most MMO's (and even has no pay to win ingame store like most free MMo's have) it still has to be free for a part?

50 newbies in proph would not let em stay long, they would see that only newbies are there, you dont count newbies, you look at players who play the game alot when joining a game and then you try to join their community asking for help, and learning through teamwork with those who do know more, not with other newbies

anyway, i think i made my point here, dont need to repeat it again, as its just how i see it, and should be clear by now
same goes for making it cheaper, unless its just the "get proph,factions,NF and eotn for cheaper than 1 by 1"

also, making pvp free would only make everyone here who does pvp angry, as the pvp areas have more than enough bots from accounts which are being paid for (yea bot users, get banned with your accounts, and buy a new one to continue with bots all the time, anet would get an income from that for sure), so making it free would make it unplayable

i dont pvp, so i could care less, but for those who do pvp, its gonna be a nightmare

[Bristlebane]

Originally Posted by Ayuhmii Shanbwa

i doubt it, every person coming online sees an almost deserted place, then leave and that happens alot..... [snip]

and then the newbies should be lucky if they even get help from those people.... [snip]

also, people see an old game for a small price, but then it goes totally free.... must go real bad for them to have to go free, better not touch it

the little bit GW cost is already too small to attract people, as most think that expensive games are always better, [snip]

Are these your personal observations, or are they assumptions?

[Ayuhmii Shanbwa]

personal observations, as i've seen that happen many times, and not just in GW (about the cheaper games not being played much, cuz some think that cheap stuff is always less good than expensive ones.... and thats not even just with games)
or did you think i would go on on the same topic cuz i assume stuff to happen.... which is partly true, as thats what opinions are also based on (i've never seen exact numbers of what anet loses through GW and such)

so yea, i talked about stuff what i've seen ingame on these forums alot (also said "i see.... happen ingame") so i thought you'd take me seriously

i say what i see, so that others see what i saw... if they believe me

but i guess you didnt take me seriously the time i spent here, as you are doubting me by asking that..... so i guess its no use to discuss stuff, and explain, cuz i dont say stuff without reason

now that i answered your question (in short...), do you believe me, or is it best for me to not reply anymore?

[Bristlebane]

Don't take my question so seriously. You see, many people do make assumptions and present them as facts, to express it nicely.
What I believe is of lesser importance. I enjoy the game and I play it for as long as I can. And I enjoy to play with new players, I sometimes envy how they get to enjoy this game for the first time. And even after 9 years I still do a lot of NM due to having 6 accounts. Not everyone is an elitist.

[Chooty]

Just for the fun of it I'll reply:

Ayuhmii Shanbwa you seem like a nice and helpful guy, but you seem to be arguing besides me.

Let me start from the beginning again. The first question is how to draw attention to this 9 year old game. Lowering price, fixing small things etc. won't help bc people simply don't come across this game in the first place. The only way to put the spotlight on gw is either making a new campaign or making it free to play. The first is unrealistic.

- Next, it will pull thousands of people in at the same time. This is what happens to good F2P games that are advertised. So to counter your idea, 1) there will be thousands of people, it won't be deserted, 2) its an instanced game, especially in the first hours of play you don't need other people. Of all MMO's starting alone hurts here least.

- Free to play doesn't look bad, at least not anymore. Terra, Dungeons & Dragons online, etc, are free to play and decent titles. Plus they will consult a review or smt. You can't say it won't work, while it worked for many other titles.

- Prophesies is the best campaign to start with for beginners. Who cares that there are no this or that skills if you don't even know they exist. You again see this from a late-game perspective; and by late game people will buy the other campaings - dat is net de bedoeling

- The **** I care about some dude talking about hard mode to me when I log on first. If I enter an old community I am very aware that I'm at the bottom of the foodchain. And that goes for all games, including FPS, RTS, fighting games, etc.

- PvP is the only argument that made sense to me; but then again don't you have separated arena's, where people are restricted to the prophesies one?


Again it doesn't really matter, its not like any company is reading this, so don't fear ^^ Hope to see yall in the game soon.

[Bristlebane]

Here's another idea.
We pull a campaign to try make people to buy and give away a Prophecies campaigns to friends or family coming Xmas. Imagine making that go viral and some 10000 people starting out in Prophecies in winter. Full districts and other new people to party. Even better, I solved your future Xmas shopping dilemmas, give away something that will last
And it might bring attention to Anet/NCsoft when they notice Prophecies districts are all full. After that people hopefully buy new campaigns.

[Oo D A W N]

F2P all campaign.. sounds very good to me. and yes it will pull thousands of people in at the same time. sure a few will leave but most will stay. and they all will buy stuff in the gw shop. like name change, char slots, costumes etc. so anet would make more money then with sell few gw games. and the best part would be that gw is really a f2p game and not like all other fake f2p were u have to pay to get your max lvl........
but yeah thats only dreams since anet zero care about gw anymore.......