I posted this in another gw2 thread, but i wanted to have more people criticize/challenge my thoughts. i have a broad back and welcome criticism, it's the only way to refine your arguments/thoughts. i realize this isn't organized too well, but i think i hit a lot of the key notes as to why i think gw2 let me, and many people down. i also realize a lot of people love/enjoy the game and i don't wish to take anything away from that.
i feel like there is a small very active minority of players, especially on the gw2 forums who are seriously deluded. now, i've played quite a bit of gw2, and i appreciate it for what it is, but it certainly isn't "brimming" with fresh ideas.
1. the sPvP angle: at the start of the game, there was this huge hype from Anet about how the game was going to become esports, and have a strong pvp basis, ect. this was a complete and utter failure. the competitive scene collapsed, and the development is painfully slow. i think the combat is pretty good, and balance isn't even the core of the problem, rather they don't seem to have the resources to produce proper pvp structure (matchmaking, map types ect) or produce content (new skills, better variety ect). as far as i'm concerned, as a consumer, i think their product advertisement was misleading, since they knew how small their spvp team is, and how slow their content would come out, and they can't possible be stupid enough to think it would be enough for esports.
2. pve content/new zones/ new skills / new cosmetic armor. this is also severely lacking. i don't consider the 2 new dungeons over nearly 2 years enough content. it's just so painfully dry. i don't consider living story new content, i mean seriously, after 2 years you would think there were major changes, not this sad trickling of afterthought content. i'm a grad student and have barely 45-1h of gaming on a good day, and i've was out of new content a year ago. if you think what they have now is new content, you are delusional. which is totally okay, whatever makes you happy, but to compare the "living story" to a real expansion or pumping out solid tangible content is nonsense.
3. the whole no-subscription thing. i hate this part the most, and it's probably at the core of why the game is so stagnant. who wouldn't want to pay 15/month to have a vibrant game with constant content, rather than shitty trickling of "content" and gem shop exclusive cosmetics? thats why wildstar and ESO are going back to the subscription model, because, guess what, you can't sustain a developing mmo with gem shot purchases, and have an spvp team that's larger than 3 people. can you believe that? i saw that in a post in the spvp forum a few months ago. there's a handful of people, working on a major facet of the game. an mmo can't be functional with that sort of manpower. it's not possible.
the thing is, the game has/had a lot of potential. right now, it is an utter failure to a gamer who doesn't want an updated runescape / upgraded facebook, because thatt's what the game is right now. the spvp is in ruins, new pve content is scarce, wvw is a mindless zergfest (i honestly feel a little sad for people who spend hours running in groups of 40+ spamming 1-2-3), the gem shop has exclusive cosmetics, ect. you can totally enjoy the game, and i see that there are many many people who do, but don't delude yourself into thinking the game is something it isn't. oh, and one more thing, the writing is absolutely horrendous. i mean it is nauseatingly bad, it's probably the worst plot lines / writing, i've ever seen in a video game. there is no irony, no relating to the character, no witticism, nothing.
-evo