Curse

l Rainy l · Dec 11, 2008, 05:24 AM // 05:24

GW2 is an elaborate conspiracy that allows ANET to be lazy while still having people playing GW in anticipation for the second.

beanerman_99 · Dec 11, 2008, 04:05 PM // 16:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darcy

I didn't mean to sound like I thought that GW2 will be so bad in beta that ArenaNet is afraid to start the beta. I meant that NCSoft (the banker) got their fingers burnt with Tabula Rasa and might not want GW2 beta to begin until the game is more polished. They have also seen several other highly publicized games crash and burn over the last few years.

Remember that while ArenaNet is building the game, they still have to keep their "investor" calm. While the success of GW as an FTP has amazed NCSoft and the gaming world, I imagine most think it will be a one off deal and the sequel will not succeed as well.

Personally, I think that ArenaNet has a very clear idea of what the fanbase reaction will be to GW2. There will be the usual 5% screaming "xxx sucks" and the rest of us will be happily playing the game.

This is true.

Well it seems that NCSoft has been burnt by 2 games that I know of. Auto Assualt and Talba Rasa. I actually did play Auto Assualt in the open beta and thought it was just a horrible game. There was no way in hell I was going to pay any kind of monthly fee for that game. For being an MMO I felt utterly alone when I played it. Grouping for quests was a total nightmare. The towns made for socializing were boring. The car upgrading and crafting was totally confusing. I could go on. The thing is that players were telling the developers of ALL the problems I just listed and they did absolutely nothing to change any of it. They released the game as-was and it tanked. This is a perfect example of a company not listening to players and their game doing horrible sales.

This has got to make investors pissed off. If I were a heavy investor I would demand that the players of the beta be taken seriously. Cause really a beta is a test run of your game. If people don't like it when its free to play how the hell could you expect anyone to play it when they have to pay for it?

And it seems from what I gather from conversations that Tabula Rasa suffered from the same.

But strangely I trust Anet even in their silence. I just know that they will start a beta for GW2 and they will actually listen to what the players are saying is good and what just doesn't work. And they will fix it. Anet seems to actually care what players think about their games. Now I know we see a lot of crying and whining here on the forums for changes, but they have to be able to seperate the wheat from the chaff and only make changes that affect everyone, not just a few whiners.

So I will take Anet's silence and I will be patient because I know when its all said and done Guild Wars 2 will knock my socks off and probably be more than I had even thought it could be. Anet will give us a polished product. Just have to be patient and wait for it.

Shyft the Pyro · Dec 11, 2008, 06:52 PM // 18:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by zwei2stein

Release bits of info: people get bored of it. Nitpick it. Will nitpick and call doom&gloom if you do something differently than you claimed. (OMG, they are not gonna add X after all - company must be near bancrupt and similar shit) Soon, noone is listening because they get bored of it all. Hype will die.

Or keep omniously silent. Starve people of infromation so that when you finally release something they will be all ears, actually send email about to to their buddies, vote it up on (whatever social bookmarking site is hot atm) - Hype will build up.

Duke. Nukem. Forever.

tmr819 · Dec 11, 2008, 06:55 PM // 18:55

I agree that GW2 will be great, regardless of their marketing strategy (or lack thereof

). I was just curious how one would fund MMO development on that scale for years and years with dwindling revenue (from GW1) *without* doing any advertising or press releases; if I were a game/company investor, that kind of silence would make me ... nervous.

It sounds, though, like ANet has plenty o' cash.

I have been trying to think of other games that have adopted a very low-profile pre-release strategy. Not many. I have also been trying to think about pretty good games that failed due to a lack of adequate advertising and promotion.

How, for example, was "Hellgate: London" hurt or helped by prerelease advertising -- or did it not make a difference at all? The same with AoC and TR; if prerelease advertising is too intense, the level of player disappointment can be catastrophic, whereas if players enter a game with lower expectations, maybe your chance for success is increased.

Heck, SWTOR is planning to show in-game footage already, which is pretty amazing to me.

I have no doubts that GW2 will be a resounding success; I just marvel somewhat at their approach vis a vis PR--for funding reasons if nothing else.

zwei2stein · Dec 11, 2008, 07:02 PM // 19:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shyft the Pyro

Duke. Nukem. Forever.

Most memorable title ever. 100% Sure they will get frontpages without having to pay a dime.

But still, point taken.

Abedeus · Dec 11, 2008, 07:17 PM // 19:17

Quote:

How, for example, was "Hellgate: London" hurt or helped by prerelease advertising -- or did it not make a difference at all? The same with AoC and TR; if prerelease advertising is too intense, the level of player disappointment can be catastrophic, whereas if players enter a game with lower expectations, maybe your chance for success is increased.

One thing is overhyping the game and another is rushing an unfinished product, then fail to fix it for ZOMGHOWLONG over a year?

Fril Estelin · Dec 11, 2008, 08:31 PM // 20:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmr819

I have no doubts that GW2 will be a resounding success; I just marvel somewhat at their approach vis a vis PR--for funding reasons if nothing else.

A venture capitalist, or a funding company like NCsoft for Anet, thinks in terms of risks and costs/benefits. It is not something we usually do in a rational way, as we value things with emotional connotations and often make the wrong calculations. For "us" GW player, Anet's silence sounds worrying. For a company, it's a strategy which is backed by data and based on the experience of many people that are working on this industry.

Anet showed to NCsoft during the last 3 years that they made a brilliant cost/benefit on GW1, 4 millions game unit sold and infrastructure costs under control. And even despite the comments on fansite before EotN (and just after release), they kept on selling, while making sure not to loose too much money (thin customer support, very low maintenance, server loads only peaking during week-ends and festival events).

But now they've probably shown NCsoft that they can limit and mitigate the risks of their new PR strategy, for the transition from GW1 to GW2. I have absolutely no idea how they did that, and it's a trade secret anyway. But one can imagine reasons like "we don't want to give the wrong impression" (thus giving the impression that they are cautious, or some would say that they are disrespectufl to the existing customers) or "create expectations that will come bite us back" (the 3 years of GW1 experience), or "let's play it like for GW1, low profile then people will be amazed when the game's out". Or maybe Anet has exact numbers to back up their estimations, based on existing use of GW1. Maybe then we're the ones blind and not seeing how good the situation is for GW1 from a business perspective, thus allowing them to keep a low profile.

In the end, both Anet and NCsoft are making a big bet, because given the shape of the MMO and online game market (coming: D3, SC2, stargate, star trek, DC online, etc. etc.) and NCsoft's portoflio (Aion will be big in 2009, but then you need something after that, and they have others in the pipe), the risk of loosing market shares with this PR strategy is huge. I read that WAR's PQs are extremely successful, probably as Aion's PvEvP will soon be, and in essence they're the culmination of MMO activity (a WoW raid on a bigger scale), so I can only wait for GW2's linked events to move to the next level.

I bet they're counting on the natural attraction of f2p to the existing GW community (people complain on fansites, but it's a minority, as other people don't complain because they play) and maybe even counting on WoW decline (which may be caused by the other MMOs/online games), plus a brilliant technical platform that will blow us away

.

tmr819 · Dec 11, 2008, 10:22 PM // 22:22

One thing I hadn't thought of is that hyping GW2 before Aion has released might be self-defeating, somehow or other, for NCSoft. Maybe there's no use competing with yourself, so to speak. I imagine Blizzard thinks the same way about Starcraft and Diablo, though those games target a different kind of MMO audience, whereas Aion and GW2 seem much more mutually competitive.

Aion does not appeal to me at all, however.

I think it is interesting that TR is still prominently featured on NCSoft's website. I really wish they'd salvage TR. If only that game had been set up like Guild Wars (i.e., no subscription fee), I think it might have had a fighting chance. As it is...

The main problem with TR, imo, was that they charged a subscription fee and the game, while OK, was not worth a subscription fee.