Does this game have too much hype?

[Deleted]

I just read this article on IGN (http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/07/0...e-hype-machine) and it mentions how games such as SWTOR or Diablo 3 had these huge expectations then disappointed. I was thinking that GW2 has had similar amounts of praise pre-release.
This isn't me condemning the game or anything but I haven't been in any of the beta events so wanted to know if the praise is deserved?
I especially mean the later levels as there is loads of footage of the starting areas but was wondering what the latter 3/4 of the game are like?

EDIT: I would like to clarify, I meant that SWTOR and Diablo 3 disappointed lots of fans who had greater expectations. In no way am I suggesting their advertising was misrepresentation of the game.

[Deleted]

It's a good game but yeah there's a lot of hype, and barely any of the latter games has been in the public BWEs.

[dpcn111]

My opinion. So far so good. I would say it deserves it more than not. There are always some that take the hype to the extreme but for the most part, what has been stated has been delivered.

[Deleted]

It's an amazing game, but yes, there's too much hype. Some people simply love it, but others cheer for it because it's some "WoW killer" or they expect it to move the sky and earth. It's not either of those, it will be a good game, but it won't be perfect in every aspect.

Although, to be honest, the hype is starting to die down, the people that pre-ordered it based on hype alone and didn't like it got their money back already most of them and the others already enjoy it.

[Valicen]

It's a valid concern and we just have to rely on Arenanet to deliver. So far, I am very excited about gw2, and in fact I am logged into gw1 now ^_~ The game will fall short of expectations for some due to many reasons; so may not get a grip of the combat, not like the world, or find the games design pathway undesirable and that's totally understandable.

For me however, it's the hype is deserved

[Deleted]

I think it deserves the "hype" it's getting, as the majority of those hyping it have now played in beta events. We know what the game is like, even buggy and unoptimised, and we like it.

I personally think that yes, some people will be disappointed, but that's the same with everything. It won't be the god of all games, but it'll be pretty good, a fun game, and a living environment.

I'm looking forward to it.

[terrahero]

No.

Hype just means to be excited. To be overly excited for the game is what? You pass out when you see a new blogpost from Arenanet and pee yourself?
There are people who are informed about the game, and people who are not. Those that are informed and still excited are so for good reason, those that are not informed might be in for a disapointment. Some people will be disapointed as a result of unrealistic expectations, and they can only blame themselves because all the facts are easy enough to find.

[Deleted]

it's gonna get a 2.1 user score on metacritic and loads of people saying it's an awful failure, but that's cause people have unreasonable expectations and even after playing a little of the game some people will have inflated expectations. Plus no doubt they'll be server issues on launch.

[Squirrelbanes]

The difference is that those games were massively hyped by the developers themselves with huge advertising campaigns. GW2 is being hyped by review websites and those who have played it.
Massive difference tbh.

But yh...don't get swept up in the hype train. Read, analyse, research. If ur not convinced wait for release when there will be even more info.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Depends on who's hyping it and in what ways. Will it kill any other games? Of course not. Silly notion. Will it become THE best game ever, undisputed? Of course not, that's subjective. People wanting to be on "the winning side" of the game world will probably be disappointed, just as they've been with Rift and SWTOR and Tera. Why? Because they seem to expect a new game to release in a massive ball of fire that reduced the population of other games in the same genre by 70% or more in a flash.

And then there are those that hype this game for what it REALLY is, such as myself. A different type of mmo, different mechanics, a fun world that feels alive in other ways than npcs just standing around. An amazing art style (best one I've seen, close second to WoW and RDR) and a company that really feels solid behind it all. I'd say the game deserves our hype. The hype of Other Game-killer or "The God of games" or other rubbish is not deserved, nor does it need that hype. GW2 wasn't created to please the bandwagon kids that jump from game to game. It was made to please real gamers and people willing to fall in love with games and that won't fall OUT of love when they encounter bumps in the road.

[Kisho]

This is a growing issue with the over-saturation of information we get these days. A few years ago we had to rely on magazines to get us all the decent information: it was great to read the articles, but they never gave us too much. Just enough to keep us interested. Each time a new article came out, we'd read it, get hyped, but then be able to move on and think about other stuff. There would still be a ton of mystery to the game; we wouldn't know what to expect, so when we finally got the game there was so much that we didn't know already.

Nowadays we are bombarded with videos, articles from hundreds of bloggers and big news sites, 'let's play' videos of beta content; we're even able to try the game ourselves with the aforementioned beta access! There is no end to the hype, we keep gorging ourselves on it because we're able to. As the hype continues it whips up into a ridiculous frenzy, to the point where the game can never live up to our expectations, no matter what happens. There is no break to give us time to rest. It's just constant hype, all the time.

The thing is, forum communities have a tendency to over-exaggerate the issue as well. By their very definition forumgoers are the same type of people who gorge on hype, so you get a large community of people who feed on each other's exaggerated hype, whip each other into a ridiculous frenzy, then when they are inevitably disappointed they encourage each other's depression and anger. It all gets very... Yeah, exaggerated is the word.

While all this goes on, the vast majority of players don't give a flying fuck about the hype or the crushing disappointment. The vast majority will have watched a few videos, maybe got lucky enough to try out beta (even that is a stretch), are excited in a small way themselves, then buy the game and enjoy it. They didn't get their hopes up impossibly high. They saw a game they liked, bought it, and enjoyed it. Simple.

This is the problem with the gaming community. The vast majority are decent, reasonable folk. There's an unfortunate minority who are very vocal in both their overwhelming praise, and their vile hatred after their disappointment. It paints a very inaccurate picture of who gamers truly are.

The funny thing is there's a very simple solution: step away from the computer. Take a deep breath, go for a walk. Calm down. Think rationally. Come back with a clear head. The game isn't going to be a gift from the heavens, but it isn't going to be Satan's bastard child either. It's just going to be a game that some will think is good, some will think is bad. Nothing more.

[Deleted]

Betas is not doing initial purpose from a long time (testing) they are mostly used for marketing now. A lot of players wants to be a part of something spectacular and new and they are buying it, not only buying game itself but also advertising this game for free.

I disagree with this. ANet have stated that their Beta Weekends are real betas, not advertising. And it's true - a lot of feedback given was acted on and changed for the better.

[Vexies]

The game is good, very good. However, there is a lot of misinformation out there for and against the game. The game has been heralded as the second coming of gaming Jesus by a lot of people so there will with out a doubt be some ridiculous back lash. It seems to be a unfortunate side effect of games these days. I am almost convinced that no game will ever get good reviews anymore because every game gets hyped to the point where no game could live up to the hype generated.

hell companies dont even have to advertise much as rabid fans do most of that for them. Without a doubt though it leads to unrealistic expectations and almost every release lately has feel victim to it. Sadly even with all the information out about most any game before release its far to common these days for many to simply take the word of friends or a few fan sites as gospel with out really educating themselves on a product.

[Riathy]

For me personally it doesn't have a lot of hype. I am looking forward to it and I have been in 2 betas... but I have not played a lot in those betas so I wouldn't spoil myself.
(Mostly testing classes/pvp)

The game looks beautiful and the classes/weapons were also fun. I am just looking forward to it... but hyped for a game...? The last one I can remember was Skyrim and that did not disappoint.

[Malthurius]

Hype has nothing to do with the quality of a game. Both Diablo 3 and SWTOR were rushed out the door before they were ready, and that's the fault of the publishers, not the hype machine or even the developers.

As for GW2 sharing the same fate as those 2 games in particular? The game has been rather pleasant in the Betas, and I can't see it getting worse for release, only better. so I would summize that the game will be finished and those that are expecting it to be more than what it is will obviously be disappointed, and that's their own fault.

[Kisho]

The difference is that those games were massively hyped by the developers themselves with huge advertising campaigns. GW2 is being hyped by review websites and those who have played it.
Massive difference tbh.

Ignoring the somewhat skewed perspective here... Why is a company doing the basic thing of marketing their product a bad thing? That's good business sense. If anything, if what you say is true and Arenanet aren't doing their own marketing (pretty sure that isn't true, but for the sake of argument let's roll with it), then I'd say Arenanet are making a very poor business decision. That makes me far less likely to try their game out.

That said, GW2 definitely has its own marketing strategies, and I really wouldn't say it's any smaller than D3's or SWTOR's. If it is, well... Let's think about the brands.

Blizzard are legends in the gaming community. Nearly every game they've released has hit number 1 in the charts. Of course they have a strong marketing department.

SWTOR is Star Wars. A legend in the entire media world. Again, of course it's going to have strong marketing.

Conversely, Guild Wars 2 is... what? Developed by people who used to work for Blizzard? That seems to be one of the main claims to fame. That kind of helps out Blizzard, if anything. So no, logically speaking they won't be able to even afford a marketing campaign on the same level as Blizzard and Bioware. The GW2 brand just doesn't compare.

Not saying it's an automatically worse game by any stretch of the imagination. Just that it makes logical sense that GW2 would have a smaller marketing campaign, if that is even the case at all.

[Squirrelbanes]

Ignoring the somewhat skewed perspective here... Why is a company doing the basic thing of marketing their product a bad thing? That's good business sense. If anything, if what you say is true and Arenanet aren't doing their own marketing (pretty sure that isn't true, but for the sake of argument let's roll with it), then I'd say Arenanet are making a very poor business decision. That makes me far less likely to try their game out.

That said, GW2 definitely has its own marketing strategies, and I really wouldn't say it's any smaller than D3's or SWTOR's. If it is, well... Let's think about the brands.

Blizzard are legends in the gaming community. Nearly every game they've released has hit number 1 in the charts. Of course they have a strong marketing department.

SWTOR is Star Wars. A legend in the entire media world. Again, of course it's going to have strong marketing.

Conversely, Guild Wars 2 is... what? Developed by people who used to work for Blizzard? That seems to be one of the main claims to fame. That kind of helps out Blizzard, if anything. So no, logically speaking they won't be able to even afford a marketing campaign on the same level as Blizzard and Bioware. The GW2 brand just doesn't compare.

Not saying it's an automatically worse game by any stretch of the imagination. Just that it makes logical sense that GW2 would have a smaller marketing campaign, if that is even the case at all.

Ummm.........objectivity?
Tbh, that comment isn't very logical.
Relating to what the OP said.....SWTOR and D3...both heavily advertised by the developers. Both quite large disappointments. What does that tell you about the credibility of the developers?
Anet are ofc advertising in their way...but largely they're letting the game speak for itself....on its own merits. If that gives you reason to doubt the game.....well, that's ur choice.

[Malthurius]

Ummm.........objectivity?
Tbh, that comment isn't very logical.
Relating to what the OP said.....SWTOR and D3...both heavily advertised by the developers. Both quite large disappointments.
Anet are ofc advertising in their way...but largely they're letting the game speak for itself....on its own merits. If that gives you reason to doubt the game.....well, that's ur choice.

You'll notice by the ArenaNet blogs that they're mostly selling themselves as a trustworthy company more than they are their game.

[Kisho]

Hype has nothing to do with the quality of a game. Both Diablo 3 and SWTOR were rushed out the door before they were ready, and that's the fault of the publishers, not the hype machine or even the developers.

That would be personal opinion. D3 is a very polished game, with a small amount of bugs ('Error 37' isn't really a bug, that's 6.3 million people trying to play the game at the same time: the issue is now non-existent. As for the AH being down quite a lot, that's due to unforseen consequences of the players doing rather silly things with commodity trading. Beyond those, the bugs are minor and few).

SWTOR lacks endgame, but the levelling content is superb. Best levelling experience I've seen so far in an MMO. The endgame issue is being addressed in upcoming (and already implemented) patches. Bioware have proven that they are quick to rectify issues and work hard to make the game as good as possible for the players. 'Rushed out the door' doesn't really come in to it.

On that note too... You could, feasibly, spend your entire life developing an MMO and it will never truly be done. That's the nature of the beast. As such, you have to set a release date at some point, which inevitably means some things aren't going to be finished. They will never be 100% finished: an MMO is something you constantly work on and expand. It's also nearly impossible to create content faster than players can consume it (or even at the same rate), so there will always be people who say it is 'rushed' or that there's 'not enough content' or whatever. You have to accept this or else you're always going to be disappointed.

[Vexies]

So no, logically speaking they won't be able to even afford a marketing campaign on the same level as Blizzard and Bioware. The GW2 brand just doesn't compare

No doubt that both of those companies had big dollars behind them but I would argue that "HYPE" for the most part gets generated by word of mouth through the community and community fan sites like this one. 90% of the hype for any game gets generated during its beta / development phase by.. the fans and not really much by the company at all. All the company has to do is make a appealing product and turn the community loose on it through conventions, beta's and fan sites. One could argue that much of the Marketing dollars are spent to attract non community members / general public and generate after release sales which aren't really part of the hyping process pre-release at all.

Relating to what the OP said.....SWTOR and D3...both heavily advertised by the developers. Both quite large disappointments. What does that tell you about the credibility of the developers?

Now I didnt follow the Diablo train so I wont comment on that but SWTOR didnt recieve much advertising at all until the last month before release.. I wouldn't exactly call that heavily advertised. Hell TV spots didn't even show in the states until a couple weeks before release. I guarantee your going to see just as much web based adverts for GW2 and tv campaign? nah probably not. Money has very little to do with Hype, I maintain that "hype" is community driven for the most part.