Smart move by ArenaNet?

[Deleted]

I've seen so many people running about going;
"The beta is in the end of March so the game is going to be out at the start of April because I know they do this!"
And they are the same people who will sit there at the start of April writing hateful comments towards Arenanet over twitter, forums and the like due to pure and simple ignorance. Apparently not having a single clue how these things work gives certain people the power to see into the future.
I say take your time ANet, give us the brilliant game we've been waiting for.

[EdisonTrent]

GW2 is not a WoW killer. It may be in the same genre, but its a different kind of game entirely. It would be like thinking that the latest Ridge Racer release would end all interest in Gran Turismo.

Look, Im getting as impatient as anybody. Ive been waiting for this game for close to 4 years now. As impatient as I am, Im more interested in Arenanet actually finishing production on the game and releasing the completed article. When WoW was released, it was great but there were gaping holes in the gameplay. Dungeons missing from certain level ranges, bugs in quest chains that made them impossible to complete, lack of quests at max level and so on. These things were patched in reasonably quickly, but it did sour the initial experience somewhat. Id rather have a "complete" game released than something launching with bugs, missing content untested large scale events.

I'm not sure why people want a "WoW killer" so badly anyway, all that would result in is another monopoly. What we really need is some good competition, competition is a great way to feed creativity.

[Rowen]

The question is not that if they should release it when it's ready, which of course they should. The question is that in developer language, "when it's ready" most of the time actually means "When we run out of money/when the publisher and investors say so". We can only pray this is an exception.

[Deleted]

Take a look at WAR and AoC both games had great ideas behind them, both games where rushed out the door unfinished and it back fired very badly for them.

We don't need another game that looks awesome on paper/videos and then turns round and disappoints because it wasn't finished. I would of loved to see WAR and AoC do well since I actually liked them both more than WoW at the time, the bugs just drove me to not wanting to play, I don't want that again as I'm sure many others don't. I'd rather Anet take their time to make sure they release a game they think is ready, otherwise the fans and Anet are just wasting time and money.

[Deleted]

This is a rethorical question, of course it's a smart move. I'd rather have my game polished and as bug free as possible, with the best possible mechanics in it. I prefer to wait to have long time pleasure, rather than instant gratification and then a sour taste because the game misses things.

[Razeo]

As much as i'd hate to wait another 6-7 months, I think it's worth the sacrifice to play a really polished game come release. Atleast this way I'll still have a life this summer

[DrakeWurrum]

The real question is if they can make profit out of the game because of the long development time. The thing is that you buy the game and then it's free to play and therefore they need to make enough money with selling the game copies and with the in-game shop. You can't compare GW2 to WoW or ToR because they have monthly fees to get their money back and to create profit. In GW2 you have only the in-game shop with things nice to have but not necessary.

Actually, subscription fees are a very small margin of Blizzard's profit, compared to actual game sales. The simple fact that GW1 sales have been funding GW2 development, keeping dozens of developers, designers, programmers, advertisers, and more, very well paid since 2007 is proof that subscriptions are not needed in the MMO market.

[Deleted]

You want it now and get garbage?

[crica]

smart move for whom? arenanet profits? Do you think they would make more profits by releasing a half completed game vs a fully completed game? take a poll - i will put my money on the majority voting for buying a fully completed game instead of a half completed game, but hey, what do i know? im just a consumer, not a dev =P

[Deleted]

Yep take their time and release its as polished as possible imo.

Just look at TOR, the game is a mess, the engine is horrible and full of bugs its obvious the game needed more time.

[nalle]

I've seen so many people running about going;
"The beta is in the end of March so the game is going to be out at the start of April because I know they do this!"
And they are the same people who will sit there at the start of April writing hateful comments towards Arenanet over twitter, forums and the like due to pure and simple ignorance. Apparently not having a single clue how these things work gives certain people the power to see into the future.
I say take your time ANet, give us the brilliant game we've been waiting for.

And I've seen so many people saying that the game wont be out until November because "they know how the development process works!".

Start of April wont happen (I've actually not seen anyone state that the game will come out at the start of April here on the GW2 forum so I guess you got it from somewhere else or you're just throwing out a made up date to try to over exaggerate your point), but Anet has stated that:

- The date of the public beta will be determined by how well the closed beta goes and the release date will be determined by how well the public beta goes (the public beta starts in late March).
- The public beta will consist of beta weekends (if we go by how beta weekends usually go it will be 4-8 weekends spanning over 1-2 months).
- The public beta will be for stress testing servers and to promote the game.
- The public beta would act as a demo with the release of the game happening soon thereafter.

Sure things can go wrong (a major bug that would take months to fix) or things could go very smooth (4-5 beta weekends and a release a month or two after that), but we don't know that and all we have to go on is what Anet themselves have stated.

I'm all for releasing the game when it's ready and not any sooner, but your (and people in general that say the game wont be out until Q4 2012 or Q1 2013) argument is not less ignorant, in any way better nor any more informative then those who say that the game will be released in the start of April.

[Flyingmoney]

8 months of beta? I think not...I don't know where people are getting November from, but that just seems absurd.

[DrakeWurrum]

8 months of beta? I think not...I don't know where people are getting November from, but that just seems absurd.

More successful games (read: WoW) had longer betas than 8 months, and still launched with numerous bugs.

I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying don't prepare yourself for a summer release, because it's still very possible to be disappointed.

[Deleted]

If anything I wish more developers took their time to create games rather than rushing one out every year/2 years (mostly due to their publishers)

[nixcookies]

I think it's smart to make this game as good as it can be at launch BUT I hate the fact that a game is announced so early on that it takes months or years before we even start to get any more information about the game.

Personally I would like them to announce the game when they're much further along in their development process.

[DrakeWurrum]

I think it's smart to make this game as good as it can be at launch BUT I hate the fact that a game is announced so early on that it takes months or years before we even start to get any more information about the game.

Personally I would like them to announce the game when they're much further along in their development process.

People would've been asking why the GW1 campaigns had stopped, and people would have found out on their own anyways. I see nothing wrong with being so transparent about it. I miss when Blizz would push back release dates further and further, responding only "It's done when it's done" anytime somebody complained.

[nalle]

More successful games (read: WoW) had longer betas than 8 months, and still launched with numerous bugs.

I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying don't prepare yourself for a summer release, because it's still very possible to be disappointed.

I see your point, but don't forget that there has technically been a beta going on since December and that the public one would be determined on how well the closed beta went (which seems to have been going good since the public beta starts in late March).

[DrakeWurrum]

I see your point, but don't forget that there has technically been a beta going on since December.

An inhouse only beta. I was referring to WoW's many closed and public betas that ended in a glorious finale of summoning big bosses in main cities and GMs one-shotting players at random.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure why people want a "WoW killer" so badly anyway, all that would result in is another monopoly. What we really need is some good competition, competition is a great way to feed creativity.

So so true.

[komgcn]

There's alot of good games that take years to develop, some of them even longer than GW2.
Those that I know and interested in are RO2,DiabloIII,WoW.