How did GW2 managed to build its hype "without" GW1?

[Deleted]

Because there's nothing else going on in the MMO scene.

WoW gets progressively worse as time goes on and people jump on hype bandwagons hoping it'll be the next best thing.

Remember the AoC, Aion, Rift, SWTOR hype?

[Shadzta]

I'd say this video helped tremendously...



That and GW2 isn't a WoW clone. That' s probably it's biggest selling point.

This is what first hooked me about a year or so ago.

[Miah]

Warhammer's events wernt "dynamic" didnt spontaniously happen and was only a couple in each area that were very stale with nothing really happening, just mobs standing around untill someone actually showed up and would last for 2-3 stages in the same area, plus warhammer still had those homing in projectiles and dedicated tanks/healers and warhammer has a subscription fee past lvl 10 :P and is still quite heavily quest driven rather than their events and no active dodging/moving out of the way of projectiles, (basically no havok engine to track projectiles/weapons swings properly) by having the entire world not just selected specific areas being affected by dynamic events makes it innovative

We will have to see how this spontaneity thing goes, maybe it improves at latter levels but lower levels, basically Warhammer PQs. You arrive, kill lil mobby trash, kill boss, get rewarded. I guess Warhammer could have had an NPC standing there saying " go to the next PQ" and added an auto group join to make it " Dynamic".

I think the reason they didn't is because Warhammer had their WvW ( RvR) enveloped amongst the PQs where as GW2 you actually Q and load screen to WvW which too me, takes some of the luster off WvW. GW2s WvW is almost an exact clone of WH down to the Oil and siege engines. Even the keeps are the same layout.

I will give you the Trinity, I'm really surprised more games didn't do this years ago. I had forgotten about that and that is the one thing I find different and unique about GW2. The other thing I find unique and different than all other MMOs isn't what I would call a plus at all. The amount of zoom out is about half of all other games and the character movements feel very unnatural.

[Valeron]

Character movements feel unnatural? How so? They seem more natural to me than games such as wow. Now perhaps you don't prefer that kind of movement and that's certainly valid but the unnatural part is not it.

[Miah]

Another thing people like to call "innovative" or whatever they call it is the NO reward/s for PvP. I keep hearing about skill takes precedent but this couldn't be further from the truth IMHO. It takes true skill for a non geared person to take down a geared person ( of equal skill) and it feels rewarding when you do so. I would call GW2s PvP Welfare PvP, everyone gets a house, car, hot girlfriend/boyfriend and takes all the shine off the journey of getting there. People that complain about being beat because of gear should remember that the geared out person stomping them into the ground had no gear at one time as well. For me, there's little appeal in not being rewarded for effort. make the gear swing smaller or make it really nice looking, or maybe a unique ability or something.

[Osprey39]

We will have to see how this spontaneity thing goes, maybe it improves at latter levels but lower levels, basically Warhammer PQs. You arrive, kill lil mobby trash, kill boss, get rewarded. I guess Warhammer could have had an NPC standing there saying " go to the next PQ" and added an auto group join to make it " Dynamic".

I think the reason they didn't is because Warhammer had their WvW ( RvR) enveloped amongst the PQs where as GW2 you actually Q and load screen to WvW which too me, takes some of the luster off WvW. GW2s WvW is almost an exact clone of WH down to the Oil and siege engines. Even the keeps are the same layout.

I will give you the Trinity, I'm really surprised more games didn't do this years ago. I had forgotten about that and that is the one thing I find different and unique about GW2. The other thing I find unique and different than all other MMOs isn't what I would call a plus at all. The amount of zoom out is about half of all other games and the character movements feel very unnatural.

Warhammer was an abysmal game. It was so bad, I quit playing the frigging beta test for it. It wasn't even in the same league as GW2 as far as fun factor.

GW2s WvW is almost an exact clone of WH down to the Oil and siege engines. Even the keeps are the same layout.

Are you trying to be serious with this comment? You do know that the boiling oil thing was a commonly used gate defense in medieval times right? You also know that siege engines like trebuchets, ballistae and catapults were also very common right? If you did in fact know those things, why are you surprised to see them in multiple games that involve castle sieges?

As far as keep layouts go, most keeps were square or rectangular. Maybe they got a bit fancy with circular corner towers....maybe. They didn't have CAD back then to make all sorts of advanced designs. What were you expecting the square castles to be like inside?

Finally, all that stuff you're talking about from Warhammer was in Dark Age of Camelot first (same devs for both) and contrary to your opinion, I love that they have incorporated it into GW2. I loved DAoC and it was the first MMO game that I really played seriously. That stuff you are calling GW2 out on is one of the main reasons I can't wait to play it.

[Niwoe]

For me, it was reading the manifesto. I was following another game in development at the time and someone posted a link to the GW2 manifesto (not the trailer- the blog) on those forums. I read it, and I was sold.

I tried GW1 a little before that, but it didn't really capture me. The story was good- but it just wasn't a style of game that I really liked. However, the passion that the game developer had for this game was evident in what they wrote on the blog. I have since become a fan of the developer- and I believe that they have delivered a quality product.

[Miah]

Character movements feel unnatural? How so? They seem more natural to me than games such as wow. Now perhaps you don't prefer that kind of movement and that's certainly valid but the unnatural part is not it.

Slow, heavy feeling even on small characters, N/S/E/W strafing that translates clunky on screen, zoom too close, lack of perfect control on running up spiral staircases completely centered usualy caused by a camera that zooms all over the place, very twitchy turn speed that is either very slow or annoyingly fast......no real sweet spot. Maybe it's different at launch but so far.....it feels off to me

[Valeron]

well the camera is a separate issue, but I have never had an issue with movement. They even have some physics involved with momentum which is certainly more natural or realistic than a lot of games.

[Osprey39]

Another thing people like to call "innovative" or whatever they call it is the NO reward/s for PvP. I keep hearing about skill takes precedent but this couldn't be further from the truth IMHO. It takes true skill for a non geared person to take down a geared person ( of equal skill) and it feels rewarding when you do so. I would call GW2s PvP Welfare PvP, everyone gets a house, car, hot girlfriend/boyfriend and takes all the shine off the journey of getting there. People that complain about being beat because of gear should remember that the geared out person stomping them into the ground had no gear at one time as well. For me, there's little appeal in not being rewarded for effort. make the gear swing smaller or make it really nice looking, or maybe a unique ability or something.

Believe it or not, there's a whole lot of people that have other things going on in their lives besides a single video game. They have other things they need or want to do but they still like to be able to play their game for some fun and not be in a hole power-wise because they are hopelessly outgeared by someone that plays the game like it's his/her job. Getting gear in these games does not equate to skill at playing the game as it's almost always a function of time invested.

I find it laughable that you describe GW2's pvp as "welfare pvp". In GW2's pvp, you can't hide a lack of skill behind an overpowering gear advantage. You will sink or swim on your own merits and that's the way it should be. I don't see anything "welfare" about it. In fact, it's the opposite of the concept of welfare in that everyone has to get by with their own innate skills and abilities.

[Valeron]

Well some people enjoy gear grinds, even in their pvp. I imagine Miah is one of those. Nothing wrong with that, different tastes and all of that jazz.

[Willias]

In the end I really do hope that GW2 will succeed. I would like to play this game for years to come and for Arena.net to have motivation to release more and more good expansions. I am just curious (and a bit cautios at the same time) about all that hype that surrounds it in the recent months.

Pretty simple: GW2 isn't GW1. Guild Wars 1 was fairly polarizing. You liked it, or you didn't.

GW2 follows more typical MMO design, and significantly polishes and refines a lot of what MMOs have tried to introduce since World of Warcraft.

It's been interesting trying to get some friends to pay attention to the game. The first reaction is "wait, I thought since it was a sequel to Guild Wars 1, it'd be like Guild Wars 1" and then you get them to actually look at the game and they start to get interested. One guy who was a good friend and guildy in WoW for over 2 years I managed to get into the third beta weekend and while he was skeptical about the game at first, by the end of the weekend he was completely hooked.

Edit: That's a big part of it too. "Here's what we're doing with our game". People are skeptical at first, then get to play it. "Oh hey, they did that with their game, holy crap". Then people spread word that the developers are actually keeping their word and that the game is good. Bam. Hype starts to spread like wildfire.

The only concern I have is whether they'll be able to keep it up in the game's later levels.

[Deleted]

Well some people enjoy gear grinds, even in their pvp. I imagine Miah is one of those. Nothing wrong with that, different tastes and all of that jazz.

But he bought the game , even knowing there is not a gear trendmill

[Valeron]

But he bought the game , even knowing there is not a gear trendmill

Then that is his problem.

[Miah]

Warhammer was an abysmal game. It was so bad, I quit playing the frigging beta test for it. It wasn't even in the same league as GW2 as far as fun factor.



Are you trying to be serious with this comment? You do know that the boiling oil thing was a commonly used gate defense in medieval times right? You also know that siege engines like trebuchets, ballistae and catapults were also very common right? If you did in fact know those things, why are you surprised to see them in multiple games that involve castle sieges?

As far as keep layouts go, most keeps were square or rectangular. Maybe they got a bit fancy with circular corner towers....maybe. They didn't have CAD back then to make all sorts of advanced designs. What were you expecting the square castles to be like inside?

Finally, all that stuff you're talking about from Warhammer was in Dark Age of Camelot first (same devs for both) and contrary to your opinion, I love that they have incorporated it into GW2. I loved DAoC and it was the first MMO game that I really played seriously. That stuff you are calling GW2 out on is one of the main reasons I can't wait to play it.

WH was abysmal but you never played it except beta? If people judged games off betas Arena Net would be handing out a whole lot of refunds but I think most wait until launch to see if the bugs got worked out. You loved DoAC, And yes WH was a clone made by the exact same people, the difference being graphical, collision, interupts and global CDs hindering button mashers. Warhammer was fun as can be, hopefully GW2 is as well.

[Kesandri]

What exactly happened and when did it happened that caused GW2 to be such a highly anticipated game? I mean, GW2 is all over the place right now. One could even get an impression that it is regarded by some as a savior of the MMO genre.

It's the same as every mmo that has been released in the past several years, the hype for GW2 is no different than was the hype for Swotr/Rift/Aion/Warhammer etc etc. The only thing I would add in more recent years the hype for any new mmo has increased due to part of the mmo community looking for something new to get their claws into.
The reason it seems to you that it is being hyped more is because as you said, your interested in it and want to play it, and so do your friends. As you did yourself I could use my friends as an example, out of the 11 of us in our wow raiding guild I can tell you now that only 1 of us is buying it, does that mean its not very popular? No ofc it doesnt it just means that you and your friends dont represent the feeling of thousands/millions of gamers.

We could all argue till we are blue that GW2 is the messiah or is the saviour of mmo's due to its compelling gameplay however the fact is none of us will know until much later on how it stands the test of time (how we normally judge the success of an mmo).

All I am saying here is, I am seeing nothing new behind the hype behind GW2, so far I am personally seeing things the same as I have in recent years, its another new game with great potential and a fanbase behind it pushing it forward. I for one even though I wont be buying it am looking forward to the release as I always do so people can get on with playing and making up own opinions rather than hearing the same chatter over and over

[Miah]

Well some people enjoy gear grinds, even in their pvp. I imagine Miah is one of those. Nothing wrong with that, different tastes and all of that jazz.

Nobody really enjoys gear grinds do they? Most MMOs take me moths to get Max geared PvP toons but I really enjoy taking down geared up people in my garbage gear, hence the satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment. Myself, I feel the "everyones geared the same" system will actually tarnish PvP by allowing someone that has zero skill to join/hamper the matches. There's nothing keeping the dead weight out of your matches what so ever unless you premade

[Head Down]

Aside from whatever's mentioned above, I believe the whole pre-purchase thing had something to do with it as well. I wanted to get into the beta and pre-purchasing was the only way of doing so. You try it out and you find a bit of joy seeing something new; sure you could cancel it, but you figure you're already all in so why not stay? Couple that with the fact that nothing more could be lost (as I did with Rift and Tera) as you won't have a credit card on file. It was a financial decision for me. I could enjoy virtually everything right out of the box and not worry about how much money I'm losing when I'm not playing it. My interest has kind of waned because of all the BWE and stress tests since I felt as it they were ruining the experience I could potentially have when the game launches. But all of that is fine because I know there's a lot I haven't seen in the game and there's no detriment in my possessing it.

To go back to your question...

I believe WoW had just released and gained traction a little before Guild Wars' release. That and FFXI was extremely popular and held its base for a few more years. I believe these 2 were satisfying quite a large chunk of the MMO community and it just didn't care for much else. MMOs around that time were more of a job than they are now, I think...I definitely wasn't going to spread myself too thin. Now people want change, and I think GW2 is bringing it.

[Miah]

But he bought the game , even knowing there is not a gear trendmill

You bet I did! I love PvP, would I like to be rewarded for doing it? Absolutely! I don't dismiss games because they don't have add-ons, trinity, easy mode everything, I try them all........I even played Star trek Online if that tells you anything

[Malthurius]

Another thing people like to call "innovative" or whatever they call it is the NO reward/s for PvP. I keep hearing about skill takes precedent but this couldn't be further from the truth IMHO. It takes true skill for a non geared person to take down a geared person ( of equal skill) and it feels rewarding when you do so. I would call GW2s PvP Welfare PvP, everyone gets a house, car, hot girlfriend/boyfriend and takes all the shine off the journey of getting there. People that complain about being beat because of gear should remember that the geared out person stomping them into the ground had no gear at one time as well. For me, there's little appeal in not being rewarded for effort. make the gear swing smaller or make it really nice looking, or maybe a unique ability or something.

You can get the same feeling you describe by killing a player in GW2 with a higher rank than you and better looking gear. "Oh yeah! I killed a Dragon Ranked PvP as a Rabbit!". There is still a reward for PvP in ranks and cosmetic gear; gear grinds in PvP only create imbalance.

---------- Post added 2012-08-19 at 10:50 AM ----------

You bet I did! I love PvP, would I like to be rewarded for doing it? Absolutely! I don't dismiss games because they don't have add-ons, trinity, easy mode everything, I try them all........I even played Star trek Online if that tells you anything

I don't understand the relevance to GW2.