Beta Update Email from ArenaNet

[Guilegamesh]

When I saw the email, my heart sank. It looked very much like a "thanks for trying" email at first glance.

[masterpiece]

@grandpab

How many days do you think the'll honestly need to give people to download the game? I figure if the beta starts say Saturday morning, wouldn't downloads only need to start on Wednesday/Thursday at the latest? Its a big game but with decent internet and a decent download server it should only take a few hours to download. Giving people ~2 days to download will be more than enough IMO especially if its only a 48 hour long beta.

[masterpiece]

The video was poorly done IMO, It was no where near the quality of the other videos.

[grandpab]

@grandpab

How many days do you think the'll honestly need to give people to download the game? I figure if the beta starts say Saturday morning, wouldn't downloads only need to start on Wednesday/Thursday at the latest? Its a big game but with decent internet and a decent download server it should only take a few hours to download. Giving people ~2 days to download will be more than enough IMO especially if its only a 48 hour long beta.

I did say the 21st which is a Wednesday, and I'm sort of expecting (hoping) the event to begin on Fridays though, but we'll have to wait til it gets closer to know for sure.

[theredviola]

Yet another cock tease from Anet... those dirty bastards know how to give good foreplay... Where's a good MFW.jpeg when I need it?

On an upnote I thought it was good of them to give us that little video just to say "thanks." I can't help love a gaming company that takes time to do stuff like that.

[Lusitan]

Anet, just trolled us

Step 1: Log in into email account program
Step 2: See Guild Wars 2 on subject - Fucking yeah face
Step 3: Click the link that don't work - i got hacked faced
Step 4: Confirm its real email, but not BETA invite - FU face
Step 5: just got TROLOLOLOL by Anet

[DrakeWurrum]

Anet, just trolled us

Step 1: Log in into email account program
Step 2: See Guild Wars 2 on subject - Fucking yeah face
Step 3: Click the link that don't work - i got hacked faced
Step 4: Confirm its real email, but not BETA invite - FU face
Step 5: just got TROLOLOLOL by Anet

My link worked fine. Sounds like it was your computer that trolled you.

[RüneRS]

I really hate all these "like us at facebook things". Have to create a fake profile just to watch some videos.

Indeed, if it wasn't Guild Wars 2, they could have buggered of

[Naxcis]

My guess is actual invites will go out this weekend. Giving people a full week to download the client for the beta event to start in the last full weekend of March (as they said it would be late march. Not late march/early april if i remember correctly?)

[DrakeWurrum]

If it wasn't for Facebook, I'd have no idea how many of my old high school friends and class-mates have gotten married, had kids, and been hired on to various jobs. It's nice to keep tabs on friends, both current and former. *shrugs*

I do think it's sad how many people get sucked into the ridiculous number of stupid mini-game apps, however.

[Rife]

Anet teasing is beginning to irritate me.

The only reason to send that thankyou email out before the actual beta invites is to tease and drum up facebook likes. I thought Anet were above this circlejerking crap TBH.

They could have sent out the invites and then sent out a thankyou email the next day and added "if you haven't received your beta invite yet then better luck next time". Instead they tease with a facebook link and answer the same "OMG HAVE INVITES GONE OUT YET?!" question on twitter every, single, damn, day.

[ddsad2212]

Who here wants a soul? you may have mine for beta access

[DrakeWurrum]

The only reason to send that thankyou email out before the actual beta invites is to tease and drum up facebook likes. I thought Anet were above this circlejerking crap TBH.

Or maybe it's just a genuine thank you directed at their fans for being so loyal/hyped/excited with all those beta sign-ups. Believe it or not, there are plenty of people in this world who genuinely enjoy thanking people, rather than having some hidden agenda. I don't necessarily agree the Facebook route was best, but clearly they felt it important to attach the video to one of their various community pages.

[illinivb7]

Well you said it all, genuinely thanking your fans, and forcing them to like a facebook page to "thank them" are 2 different things.

[DrakeWurrum]

Well you said it all, genuinely thanking your fans, and forcing them to like a facebook page to "thank them" are 2 different things.

Why so cynical? Seriously, it was a genuine thank you directed at the fanbase. Just because they didn't take the smartest route by putting it on Facebook, doesn't mean they had a hidden agenda to fluff numbers or some bullshit like that. Most people had already liked them, and so didn't have that additional barrier.

[Squirrelbanes]

After all the warm fuzziness of Anets genuine openhanded development...people need to control their fanaticism and hysterical anticipation of this game lest if degenerate into wanton paranoia and unwarranted and unjustified verbal attacks against Anet.

Have you seen Colin's face? How can anyone judge that face harshly...

[vizzle]

Well you said it all, genuinely thanking your fans, and forcing them to like a facebook page to "thank them" are 2 different things.

God forbid a company tries to advertise through facebook...

[Itko]

God forbid a company tries to advertise through facebook...

This.
And also, however passionate they seem, they're still a company that needs to make money. Making money means advertising and like it or not, facebook is probably one of the better and certainly one of the cheapest ways of advertisement. If I can help them advertising, thus selling more game compies, making more money and therefore making a better game with one single mouse click on face book... sure, and I for one can't blame them for doing it.

[grandpab]

This.
And also, however passionate they seem, they're still a company that needs to make money. Making money means advertising and like it or not, facebook is probably one of the better and certainly one of the cheapest ways of advertisement. If I can help them advertising, thus selling more game compies, making more money and therefore making a better game with one single mouse click on face book... sure, and I for one can't blame them for doing it.

I just wanted to leave this link here, for one specific part... http://blogs.forbes.com/johngaudiosi/

“There used to be a time where you could have a mediocre title but you spend millions in marketing and you could still move a lot of units,” said Chris Lye, global brand director for ArenaNet. “Those days are gone. With the rise of social media people listen to their friends’ more than gaming press. The good news is that it’s become a great equalizer. It’s no longer about who can throw the biggest marketing budget at a game. If you have a great game, people are going to tell their friends. That’s probably the most exciting thing for me. Social media is a huge factor in the marketing of online games. It’s not something we’ve fully figured out yet, but we’re continuing to experiment and we see it as an opportunity to use it in a compelling way moving forward.”

Facebook is free advertisement. If it saves them tons of money that can be better spent on developing the game...It's just a win-win for both the players and Arenanet.

[DrakeWurrum]

That's a very excellent point. It doesn't cost ANet any money to record that short video and post it on their completely free Facebook group, where fans can /like it using their own completely free Facebook accounts. And the result is that their fans market the game for them, assuming their fans actually are enjoying the product (and thus giving ANet incentive to make a better product).

I get why so many people hate the idea of Facebook, but the fact that it's free really should remove a LOT of the qualms behind it. I personally use it exactly for it's original intention: keeping in touch with friends, most of which I've obtained through school.
The difference between Facebook apps and whatever Myspace has is that they're all so non-intrusive and easy to avoid; meanwhile the profiles are all uniform and lacking the ridiculously dumb level of customization that MySpace employed in countless eye-gougingly ugly profiles.