Is Guild Wars 2 a runaway success without even having had a single public beta event?

[Deleted]

best example would be Yogscast.

in one of th latest videos Lewis asked Simon which one he prefer to play GW2 or wow and Simon shyly said GW2 (shy because it was wow video)

[Razeo]

best example would be Yogscast. Simon and Lewis have a huge following and they've played Guild Wars 2 and got into the MoP beta..

the disgust and boringness of the stale repetitive horribly dead state of Warcraft couldn't be denied in their videos

I mean they still tried to make it entertaining considering youtube is their revenue/job but you can clearly see WoW's dead to them after playing a much more fun and better GW2

I noticed the same thing just by the way they talk while questing in the Panda starting area. Not to mention on one of the videos, Simon mentioned that his favorite game thus far on the betas they've played was GW2 (out of MOP, Archaeage, Firefall, GW2.)

[Tackhisis]

Are these "prepurchases" refundable? If no, the game is already a success as it already fulfilled its destiny, to cover development costs.

[Delias]

Are these "prepurchases" refundable? If no, the game is already a success as it already fulfilled its destiny, to cover development costs.

Oh boy, your ban's over already?
Yes, the game has 'fulfilled it's destiny' and will now fall off the face of the earth.

[TigglyBiggly]

It'll be a success, just based on what it is trying to do with leveling.

Unfortunately the few rabid fans are annoying and off putting.

[Midnight Man]

I been thinking about this a while.. first of let me say this upfront, Guild Wars 2 is in no way shape or form a competitor or rival of World of Warcraft simply by the fact that IT IS NOT A SUBSCRIPTION MMO.

That alone doesn't make it a rival or hurt wow in any way shape or form because there's no price at all to play GW2.. that out of the way let me get to the point.

I'd respectfully disagree with your statements here.

As someone has mentioned previously in this thread, there may be no price competition between the two games, but there most certainly is time competition. I am one of those players who is currently playing WoW (albeit a lot less than I used to), and planning on cancelling my WoW subscription once GW2 launches. Reasons include, but are not limited to:

(1) I do not have time to do both games justice, and
(2) I do not agree with the direction WoW is going (nor has been going for a while now, but there's been no alternative that appealed to me), and
(3) I am finding WoW - even after a new patch with new content very much the "same old same old" gear treadmill which I'm tired of

Please don't misread the above, I'm not having a go at WoW - I'm reiterating my personal opinions of the game having played for near 5 years. I've had fun, it's been great, but it's time to hang up my hat.

I wonder how many other people feel the same way - planning on cancelling their subscription when GW2 launches as they don't have the time or inclination to play both games? On the basis that I feel there are probably a number of people with the same mind set, I will say that I cannot agree with your argument that GW2 will have no effect on WoW. I don't expect it to decimate WoW's playerbase, but almost inarguably, some will leave WoW for GW2.

Also, on another point you raise - I would like to know where you came up with a budget of $15,000,000 from? I did read, about a month ago, a well thought out article that examined the various costs ArenaNet would have had to incur in order to develop GW2, and that article conservatively estimated the cost as being around $60,000,000. If your numbers and the numbers in the article were significantly closer, this wouldn't present an issue for me in examining the issue - but there's an extremely large difference on the numbers presented, hence why I'm asking for some source or justification for your claim of $15,000,000

Additionally, you claim they had 500,000 collectors editions available for sale. Whilst I will completely agree that the number seems reasonable, and I find it completely believeable, are you sure that there were this many available? You then go on to claim 500,000 digital editions (and you conservatively ignore the extra $20 for the DD edition, a stance I agree with you on), but unless I have missed some news or other information somewhere, I'm assuming this number is an estimate on your part?

[Decra]

There was similiar hype about SWTOR before it launched and people going on how awesome it will be and now alot of people seem to be leaving it.

[Larynx]

There was similiar hype about SWTOR before it launched and people going on how awesome it will be and now alot of people seem to be leaving it.

Good to know?

Maybe they should have done their research before they got hyped for the game. I did my research, I saw it as just another boring WoW MMO with neat questing. I bought it, leveled several characters to 50, left. Easily 200+ hours of entertainment for only like 50 or 60 dollars.

[Cakka]

There was similiar hype about SWTOR before it launched and people going on how awesome it will be and now alot of people seem to be leaving it.

This. I actually have pretty high hopes for this game but these hypethreads just do a disservice to everyone involved.

[Deleted]

From what I've seen? Probably.

GW2 has managed to get a lot of people excited, myself included, by only showing a few videos. The skill videos on their website were the first I saw, and I admit, I was worried because they looked... well, almost too well-made. But the thing is, when other videos came out, they showed me that these very well-made videos were normal gameplay. That's where it got me.

It promised something, then delivered.

If GW2 keeps up with that, I'm betting it'll be a huge success. I've pre-ordered, and cant wait to play. From what I've seen, there have been a LOT of pre-orders. Would you call that a success already? I would.

[Repefe]

When I was listening to some interviews with ANET developers it always sounded like they want to make game that they would enjoy playing and so far GW2 looks exactly like that. We can only hope that they keep it up ^^.

But I can't imagine 15 mils to be budget for the game ... for that amount of money Blizz is able to do 1-2 raids.

[Delias]

But I can't imagine 15 mils to be budget for the game ... for that amount of money Blizz is able to do 1-2 raids.

That would be because he randomly made up the number.
Funtimes, amiright?
Kind of like how his '500,000 CEs sold' was.. ahem.. "Lowballing"
... yeeeaaahhhhh.
I hate mindless hype threads.

[Repefe]

That would be because he randomly made up the number.
Funtimes, amiright?
Kind of like how his '500,000 CEs sold' was.. ahem.. "Lowballing"
... yeeeaaahhhhh.
I hate mindless hype threads.

^^ Ok.

I guess /lock pls ?

[Deleted]

Like some people allready mentioned that there was the same hype about swtor like there is over gw2 now , well its true , but the in my opinion swtor wasn't worth the sub due all the game bugs etc... GW2 well if it fails (we don't know) you didn't lose more money to it since there is no sub and you can jump back in the game after a few months for free.

[Hockeyhacker]

I suppose views differ, but I think GW2 is in incredibly different game, arguably more so than DA2 was from DAO. The key difference is they don't seem to be rushing a release date, so hopefully it'll be as advertised.

At first I thought the same about GW compared to GW2, but as I played more of it again from a scratch toon it actually seems to have a lot more in common mechanic wise then first glance. I agree that they are very different, but maybe not as much at first glance, as for the lore I have no clue I never really did get into the lore of GW because it was just a game I would dabble in here and there.

But back to the topic at hand, of course it is going to get a lot of attention since its one of the first games that is not a clone of every other MMO game play out there that has been more polished from not rushing it out. Comparing how stale MMORPGs had gotten over the years of course something that isn't the same old recipe that looks more polished will get attention. Some games have put in dynamic events into their games but the combat has been just a clone of a clone, some games have gotten combat right but questing and leveling was just again a clone of a clone and samey... Since GW2 is trying (key word) to re work both how the world works around you and how combat works in the same game it will be hyped to the point where people expecting it to live up to 100% of the hype will be disappointed even if it is a good game. I do believe this game will do quit well, but I am going to be going in expecting the worst hoping for the best so that I don't get the forsaken "not as good as hype" view so many people fall prey to, but no matter what something not the same as every other MMORPG out there will be a breath of fresh air.

Edit:
As for ToR being over hyped and people quitting, you have to realize that a fair amount of those people quitting fall into two categories (not all but a fair amount), category A of people buying the game knowing before hand that they are going to play it like KotoR 3 as a single player experience for the storyline with a tacked on MMO element to it because lets be fair KotoR you did not play for the "stellar combat", you played it for the story, the combat was pretty awful in KotoR but the game was fun because of the story. and then there is category B of people who do not play MMOs getting sucked in because of the franchise name of Star Wars on it, but heck you don't need hype on a name like Star Wars to get that effect.

Was it over hyped? yes
Was it released as an unfinished product? yes
Where all the people leaving, leaving because of a bad taste of not living up to hype? Nope, some people thoroughly enjoyed the game knowing quit well what they where buying was an extension to the KotoR story line and nothing more.

But either way please try to refrain from bashing other games just because they where not your cup of tea, its highly unproductive to bash on a highly subjective subject like that since each person has their own opinion and even with conflicting opinions no one is wrong because its all subjective.

[Deleted]

So, has anyone from the other thread saying the game wasnt overhyped, read this and still think it ?

[Deleted]

it will the same like swtor. not cause its bad/good game or anything. we dont know that yet. it will end like swtor cause they wont release new content after launch. only new expansions will bring new content. and if the "current" content isnt insanely huge ppl will get bored after a short while. many ppl will play it, but real raiders or ppl who really like the group play aspect of mmorpgs and beeing dependant on each other wont like it pve-wise. they break the holy trinity and no real team-/group-/raidplay is neccessary or even possible. the game will be more focused on casual-gamers whats ok and doesnt mean that it wont be a huge success, but many ppl wont buy it or play it cause of that.

[Deleted]

I only have one piece of advice: Be careful with overhyping, as it's a sure way for disappointment (think Mass Effect 3 ).

[Rapti]

I must say its a great success on the hype and prepurchase itself. Buying it from retailers is impossible now. All sold out.
People went for it like it would be end of the world and their survival would be based on having a copy of GW2.
Keys were sold out everywhere in matter of minutes, then restocks and then sold out again.
They didnt even spend too much money on marketing yet... its all "tell a friend" marketing atm and how well it works... .

[eucatastrophe]

Is there official word on the pre-purchase figures?

Honestly, to the "outside world" -- video games are still very much a niche game. A few months ago I went into my local EbGames (Gamestop to you americans) and asked to buy Guild Wars (1). The guy looked at me like I was speaking gibberish. Of course, this may be due to the fact that retail employees have the intelligence and awareness of a slug. But I still think MMOs are very fringe games even within an already niche community.

---------- Post added 2012-04-14 at 01:50 AM ----------

I only have one piece of advice: Be careful with overhyping, as it's a sure way for disappointment (think Mass Effect 3 ).

Good point. But the thing with Arena Net and GW2 is what you see is what you get. Unlike some other games (won't name them) that spent lots of money on CGI trailers, FALSE and controlled in-game footage and public location stunts like in Times Square, the "hype" built around GW2 is from game footage and from people who have played the game at demos, and so on.

If anything, Arena Net almost shies away from press events and press marketing (TV ads for instance). Instead they'd rather call the average Joe gamer to come play GW2 in the GW2 booth at conventions.