Curse

N E D M · Dec 25, 2006, 12:20 PM // 12:20

In the future, someday Guild Wars will go offline and the servers will shut down.
I petition that they release an update when it gets close to this time, no matter how big the update size may be, to put all server side data needed to play the game in each players dat file.
Meaning make it able to be played offline.
Yes i know there would be noone to group with , It would be all hero/hench and all pve.
I think it would be a great move to retain the favor of the many loyal GW customers.
This gives those who have not completed mission "x" the chance to finish the game.

/SIGNED

MegaMouse · Dec 25, 2006, 12:27 PM // 12:27

/SIGNED

Interesting but not real sure how they could implement this. They would have to give out the server data. Another thought is to allow players to host their own GW servers.

Mega Mouse

Aera · Dec 25, 2006, 12:46 PM // 12:46

Wow, you have confidence Arenanet!

Ok, it will happen SOME day, but that's in like 10 years or more, so why worry about it now?

Also, before they shut it down, they'll probably start requiering monthly fees.

Faer · Dec 25, 2006, 01:20 PM // 13:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aera

Also, before they shut it down, they'll probably start requiering monthly fees.

They wouldn't dare. With the many times they have promised otherwise, to introduce a monthly fee would completely kill their business platform and they would have virtually no consumers, new or old. It would be the death of the game, and quite possibly the company (as buyers of their other products would see that they are not firm on their promises and platforms), unless they were to change names and hide all ties to the name "ArenaNet"...

I like this idea. Sure, it may be ten years from now, but it'll be nice to still play Guild Wars when the servers are no longer up and chuggin'.

Wtf Its A Monk · Dec 25, 2006, 01:21 PM // 13:21

/Signed For Single Player Campaign

Guildmaster Cain · Dec 25, 2006, 01:42 PM // 13:42

hmm not a very realistic view of future events I think

It wont be closed in the near future, since the community is growing and not shrinking.
Should it happen to start shrinking, Anet will probably stop releasing new chapters, but the servers will be maintained by advertisements on the site or ingame.

Deciding to pull the plugs from the servers would be the downfall for any gamers-company. People will loose faith in their games, they know it and thats why they wont do it.

Should Anet finally decide to cancel the series, they probably sell the servers to a 3rd party company which will require fees or ads to stay online.

Njaiguni Blaze · Dec 25, 2006, 01:59 PM // 13:59

Don't make me cwy with those scawy words

Antheus · Dec 25, 2006, 02:22 PM // 14:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guildmaster Cain

Should Anet finally decide to cancel the series, they probably sell the servers to a 3rd party company which will require fees or ads to stay online.

Show me an online game, which, in attempt to prolong the life of a game, introduced monthly fees.

It works the other way round. When a game starts losing popularity, they drop monthly fees, and even purchases in order to attract players.

I seriously don't understand the fascination with monthly fees. There never will be any for GW, and even after over 20 months, or perhaps over 2 years since it was first announced, every is still rehashing this pointless content.

Why is nobody constantly bringing up the point that WoW will drop monthly fees next month. It's just as absurd.

Maxiemonster · Dec 25, 2006, 02:29 PM // 14:29

Diablo II servers are still up, the lag is minimum, and there's never been monthly fee. Unless ANet fails badly on their next games, Guild Wars will be playable online as long as people play it.

Hand of Ruin · Dec 25, 2006, 02:30 PM // 14:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antheus

Show me an online game, which, in attempt to prolong the life of a game, introduced monthly fees.

It works the other way round. When a game starts losing popularity, they drop monthly fees, and even purchases in order to attract players.

I seriously don't understand the fascination with monthly fees. There never will be any for GW, and even after over 20 months, or perhaps over 2 years since it was first announced, every is still rehashing this pointless content.

Why is nobody constantly bringing up the point that WoW will drop monthly fees next month. It's just as absurd.

WoW is dropping their fees?

KvanCetre · Dec 25, 2006, 02:35 PM // 14:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hand of Ruin

WoW is dropping their fees?

No, they're not. Next month they're releasing their first expansion pack and it would insane to drop fees when more people will be playing than ever.

WoW can't afford to drop fees - its their primary source of income. The fees for keeping their dev team as well as their huge server fees would never allow this model to work.

lacasner · Dec 25, 2006, 06:16 PM // 18:16

Ya, this is true, but with 7million ACTIVE players, if they did drop their fees how many more players do you think would buy their game? They might be able to drop them, although it wouldn't be something they would do right now.

Stormcloud · Dec 25, 2006, 06:24 PM // 18:24

They will release GW2 before they end this series. But when/if they do I would like this option as well.

/signed for after shutdown play

BUT they will most likely not do this because they want to pull ALL the GW1 customers over to GW2. This is all speculation and a long ways off.

Antheus · Dec 25, 2006, 07:43 PM // 19:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by lacasner

Ya, this is true, but with 7million ACTIVE players, if they did drop their fees how many more players do you think would buy their game? They might be able to drop them, although it wouldn't be something they would do right now.

7 million subscriptions. Probably less than 3 million active, but then, activity is hard to define. Keep also in mind, that WoW is small. Big online games have upwards of 10 million active accounts, some exceeding 50 million. WoW is only defined by lots of hype.

This has nothing to do with a game. It has to do with business model.

WoW uses subscription based model. As such, they cannot remove their main income source. The game is designed for one purpose only - to keep players subscribed. Reason for this are the insane operating costs that WoW has. With thousands of GMs, data centers, support staff, administration, sales, management, their profit margin isn't as big as most think. They don't make 1 billion in profit yearly.

GW is based around box purchases. As such there's no incentive to keep playing, but plenty of motivation to buy the next chapter. Then again, GW staff is what? 200-300? Much less expenses, much less overhead, much better profit margin.

Read this, to find out why WoW isn't the money-maker many consider it, and how you need to work out of garage to make millions, not invest millions for a mediocre return:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/75/15

Corth · Dec 25, 2006, 07:49 PM // 19:49

If they do shut down gw1, I'm definitly buying gw2, as long as the graphics engine were to be updated. It's good as is, but I'd love to see what a.net could do with next gen tech!

Jumping Is Uselss · Dec 25, 2006, 08:21 PM // 20:21

GW shutting down.....thats unthinkable and it hasnt been out for more than 3 years. When it shuts down (in the distant future) its a good idea for players to be able to play the pve content.
/signed

Quid Pro Quo · Dec 25, 2006, 08:49 PM // 20:49

Yeah its good to plan for this as early as possible.

/signed

Liberations · Dec 25, 2006, 10:31 PM // 22:31

GW2, they should do this and not keep updating Guild Wars after a while. The game will eventually become old, and they will need a new start for something new. so yeah I agree with this thing where u can have GW as a solo game. Maybe they could include all the campaigns of GW in single player with the next full game. But still, this seems a very long way off and possibly not even likely. We'll just have to wait and see

NeHoMaR · Dec 26, 2006, 01:04 AM // 01:04

I don't see GW closing in a lot of years. Anyway, they could sell the server to anyone that will continue with the free service; There are millions of people already playing, I am sure that people like Google, Microsoft, could keep the free servers in exchange for send only ONE email per month to +1 million of people

The ONLY way this game die is if people DON'T play it anymore, not if ArenaNet close it.

And as far as I know ArenaNet is right now working in one (maybe two at the same time) totally new campaigns, and GW, as far as I know is a total success, so, why the hell you talk about an "end" at this moment? The only I know will end soon is this year

scrinner · Dec 26, 2006, 01:11 AM // 01:11

Seriously... Whats with all these doom topics? Sheesh Guildwars isnt going anywhere for a long time unless of coures a nuclear attack happens... then im all up for a single player.