Originally Posted by
Alatian
For the first part of your quote, I will say that I will probably be primarily playing GW2, and only jumping in to new MMOs to try them out. Why? Because I am first and foremost a PvP player, and GW2's PvP is like a spiritual successor to the best two PvP MMOs on the market (the original Guild Wars and DaoC). Really, I have no reason to play any other MMO, as they are taking their PvP far more casually. As I said, I'll probably check out MMOs that interest me (such as Firefall, Planetside 2, End of Nations, and The Secret World), but I doubt I'll play them for extended periods of time.
I've tried PvE, and it's not for me. When 3.3 hit, I wanted to kill Arthus, so I joined a pretty hardcore raiding guild. We went all the way to 9/12 HM, before they transferred off the server. Sure, at first it was pretty fun. But after a month or two, the pressure to be there on time just got to me. The feeling of HAVING to be there was too much (I was the only Demo Warlock in the raid, so they needed the buff I brought, and was also one of the best geared/performing DPS, so they couldn't afford to attempt new fights without me). I've pretty much sworn off raiding since then, and have no intention of seriously PvEing in an MMO again.
As for the second half of your quote, I'll repost something I originally said in the WoW vs ToR vs GW2 thread:
"GW2 being successful is basically a given. GW1 is the second most successful MMO in the west (7 million units sold). Why? Because it is the only big MMO out there that is B2P. With the amount of hype out there (and we're STILL 6+ months from release), they'll break even in their first week of sales, no problem. They're really very smart, because although B2P is the least profitable method (it lacks the accessibility of F2P and the constant garunteed revenue of P2P), they're also the only ones at that price model. Because they don't charge a sub fee, people won't ask "WoW or GW2?" "SWTOR or GW2?". They'll be asking "SWTOR+GW2 or WoW+GW2?". Sprinkle on some microtransactions for those that want a pretty character, plus a steady release of expansions, and you have assured profit.
(...) GW2 will enjoy massive success. It doesn't have the the huge IP behind it that will attract non MMO players, but it will get to the point where the majority of MMO players will at the very least have tried GW2 out. I actually think that if more successful MMOs come out, it will actually help GW2, as people will say "Well, I recently got in to the MMO scene, and really enjoy WoW/Swtor. I've heard about this Guild Wars 2 game, I should look in to this...oh, no monthly fee! Well, no harm in trying it". Look at GW1. Before release, Arenanet projected about 500k sold MAX. But because WoW was so successful and introduced so many people to MMOs, Guild Wars rode that new wave of customers to 7 million units sold."