[GW2] Post Launch w/Colin Johanson - Bigger than expected

[Karizee]

http://gamingbolt.com/guild-wars-2-i...ng-post-launch

Bigger and more popular than ever expected it could be.
More purchases than expected.
Used 90% of total server bandwidth over November patch weekend.
January and February will be the biggest updates to date, basically an expansion's worth of content for free.

[Kelesti]

So considering a few mini-dungeons that are supposed to be run concurrently, and a single event is treated like a "mini-expansion", anyone have guesses as to how much actually is an "expansion's worth of content"?

[Fencers]

Considering Anet had the hubris to claim the kraka event/sunshine isle was a "mini expansion", I am reasonably /cocked eyebrow/ at further claims of "expansion's worth of content!" in patches.

Like most things Anet have said in blogs and interviews pre and post launch-- it's marketing bs same as any game developer. Really not worth a whole lot.

[Ravenblade]

Well, in my dry opinion it's just a typical developer interview. Naturally there are not much things to be learned from such one.
I am also very curious about whether they have different standards for mini-expansions and real expansions because I was fairly disappointed at their new content for the unproportional amount of hype which flowed into the preparations for the events. It's just Orr with annoying and overpowered shrimps and generally much less to do to me.
Its execution and fairly average delivery quality should have been an eye-opener at least for them about the things that went wrong. Considering he said in the interview:"And it’s just really humbling and really exciting to see how much people are falling in love with the game over a short period of time.":
I am not sure whether it was a case of "falling in love" really, a lot people with waning love level logged in after a long time of absence and then logged off after to not log back again until the next hyped event,many people logged just on because one-time events with unique rewards triggers a "Don't miss out!" alarm in a lot players, others got actually turned away from their previous loyalty, in my opinion the aftermath was much more dominated by mixed reviews and opinions not necessarily propagating a message of love. It usually heralds the beginning of community-splitting and given many missed out on their rewards they will be more cautious to trust their words when it comes one-time events preluding a mini-expansion of underwhelming proportions. At least for me.

[Salech]

Considering Anet had the hubris to claim the kraka event/sunshine isle was a "mini expansion", I am reasonably /cocked eyebrow/ at further claims of "expansion's worth of content!" in patches.

Like most things Anet have said in blogs and interviews pre and post launch-- it's marketing bs same as any game developer. Really not worth a whole lot.

So because you see it differently it's bullshit?, remember to inform that it's your opinion and not a fact.

[Merendel]

So considering a few mini-dungeons that are supposed to be run concurrently, and a single event is treated like a "mini-expansion", anyone have guesses as to how much actually is an "expansion's worth of content"?

Who knows, I dont think it will be on par with the amount of say what comes out of the box in a wow expansion but then agian i'm not paying for another box to get it. The term Mini expansion is rather ambiguous PR Legalese anyway as any amount of content added smaller than a full expansion technically qualifies. Weather expectations are met depends entirely on the observers expectations. Still consider that we've seen in the past that what we got in November, small as many consider it, would have taken blizzard 5 or more months to put out after their last major launch/patch (4.1 revamp of ZA/ZG patch says hello) To be frank I dont think its really fair to compare a GW2 patch on a 1 month cycle to a game X on a several month patch cycle 1 to 1 in the first place. The patch that took several months damn well better be biger than the one that only took 1 and didnt cost you a sub fee in the mean time. instead compare the amount of content over a similar time frame and see if its equivalent.

Still the major thing that peeked my interest was the bit about WvW additions in February. I'm curious to find out more about that but I'll have to wait. Of secondary intrest was the whole thing about the 90% of the server bandwidth during the kraka event but that was more of an "That explains alot"

[Deleted]

So because you see it differently it's bullshit?, remember to inform that it's your opinion and not a fact.

everything what fencers write is a fact

anyway^^

looks like february patch will be an big WvW update - cant wait

[zito]

So because you see it differently it's bullshit?, remember to inform that it's your opinion and not a fact.

Sure but what proof so far suggest otherwise? The karka mini expansion bull crap its hard to justify Anet words. Not to mention they arn't stabilizing the game, mesmers and necros have a long long long list of game changing bugs for them 2 months in and nothing addressed to them. Instead they are making mini expansions....

[sacrypheyes]

Sure but what proof so far suggest otherwise? The karka mini expansion bull crap its hard to justify Anet words. Not to mention they arn't stabilizing the game, mesmers and necros have a long long long list of game changing bugs for them 2 months in and nothing addressed to them. Instead they are making mini expansions....

stabilizing =/= balancing

just sayin...

and just how much content would it take for you to consider a patch to be a "mini"-extension? 10, 15, 25, 50% of current game content?
whiners will always whine about anything they can come up with anyways.

[zito]

stabilizing =/= balancing

I'm not talking about balance. I guess it could refer to balance in a way but broken traits or zero usefulness traits and skills I don't considered stabilized.

and just how much content would it take for you to consider a patch to be a "mini"-extension? 10, 15, 25, 50% of current game content?
whiners will always whine about anything they can come up with anyways.

Please justify how a small island about half as big as a starter zone with very little interesting dynamic events and nothing else to do on it is a "mini expansion".

[Deleted]

Well I was super impressed with Octobers update, not at all impressed with Novembers - looking forward to seeing christmas though, since halloween was a big hit with me. I'm intrigued as to Jan/Feb adding up to an expansion - for me that would have to equate with several new dungeons as well as several new maps to even qualify as a mini expansion.

If someone said to me "there's a new guild wars 2 expansion", I'd probably personally be hoping for things along the lines of a new crafting discipline, new races or new class - that sort of level of content in addition to expanding current zones, dungeons, jumping puzzles, so I don't personally think it's going to benefit them to start describing content patches as the same content as a paid expansion... especially when we're still missing some features that were promised pre-release.

Still, intrigued as to what they consider an expansions worth of content and christmas patch should hopefully be fun

[sacrypheyes]

I'm not talking about balance. I guess it could refer to balance in a way but broken traits or zero usefulness traits and skills I don't considered stabilized.

then you better call that fixing rather than stabilizing...
unstable game to me = kicking you out the game for pushing wrong button or similar crap.

Please justify how a small island about half as big as a starter zone with very little interesting dynamic events and nothing else to do on it is a "mini expansion".

except it wasn't just about that small island in the last patch... or maybe am i forgetting fotm, the pvp map and some lesser stuff i can't recall.
not saying they're not pushing it a bit by calling it a mini-expansion, but you guys are kinda pushing it a bit too far too by implying/stating they just didn't do shit.

[InfiniteRetro]

This company needs to find a well and throw its big bloated 'we are better than every other mmo' attitude down it. this company is the biggest marketing fail ive seen in years and i thought star wars had it coming. boy, i suppose if they release 3 new swords they'll market it as a gigantic gear expansion, oh wait, they added a new enemy type, holy cow, this is the dawn of their new massive expansion for something else to fight against.

sick of people falling over themselves defending this company and have the nerver to claim blizzard are a bunch of liars. i tell you what, you read the blue posts, they say it like it is. if they screwed up, they admit it.

if anet were in charge of pandaria this is how PR speak would work:

"oh, they're not pandas, they're pandarens"
"we have these instanced areas unlike any in any previous expansion, you can go in as any race/class/spec and be just fine"
"vast new world, bigger than anything our competitors have ever dreamed of...and leaf falling physics to be swooned over"


hows that for a start.

[Ravenblade]

[...]
and just how much content would it take for you to consider a patch to be a "mini"-extension? 10, 15, 25, 50% of current game content?
whiners will always whine about anything they can come up with anyways.

Well, speaking for me, it's not true and not fair. I still like a great lot of the game but some things stand out and ANet needs to know what people don't really like about their game as well. I've been doing that during my WoW times as well, I've been quite the vocal critic about certain game issues while still playing the game and liking the most of it. When these vanished over time I would also stop pointing these out.

I would for once think that it goes beyond a major patch which is what the Lost Shores are using WoW standards. Basically it added a 'raid' (fractals) and another open world area to run around crippled, blinded and knocked down. It's nothing wrong if they just said: Major update which it undeniably was. But this sort of wording is giving the impression that ANet is sort of indulging themselves in superlatives. 'Huge','big','bigger' and it's no surprise they went from 'major update' to 'mini-expansion' in that sense. Maybe they are lacking a reference scale or maybe they like to sell a package greater than the content it is wrapped around.

[Jovanaar]

A patch as big as an expansion... soo.. new region anyone?

Part of Cantha? Ring of Fire? Isle of Janthir? Crystal Desert?

[Deleted]

Assuming something like a couple of more zones and a couple of more dungeons, sounds great to me.

[Fencers]

So because you see it differently it's bullshit?, remember to inform that it's your opinion and not a fact.

Marketing is inherently duplicitous. Ergo, bullshit.

But I'll be sure to make note of your capacity to take marketing in earnest.

[Karizee]

Should prove interesting nonetheless. If (in Colin's words) the January and February patch combined give as much content as an expansion, this gives us an idea of what they think an expansion should hold.

Looking forward to it

[Deleted]

Guys ... it's free. Who cares what they call it, if it's fun and entertaining.

[Fencers]

Guys ... it's free.

So are the content patches of other MMOs.