Originally Posted by
Derah
Not necessarily. The more a game is hyped, the more unrealistic the expectations of it becomes. Look at SWTOR. I had never seen a game more hyped before. People played the beta and had nothing but praise and praise of the game, over and over. I heard over 50 people in wow (half from my own guild) saying how much they enjoyed the betas and stress tests, and when it came out, it received lots of awards, lots of attention, lots of praise.
Look where it is now.
I'm not saying that's gonna happen to GW2 (come on, I don't have a magic 8-ball in my hand that can accurately predict the future. I'll make one in my Asura Engineer, but I digress) however I am saying that a game with a lot of hype has to be approached carefully, because is MUCH harder to distinguish between genuine feedback, and simple robotic praise/hatred. Back when people were reviewing SWTOR based on their beta impressions either they were part of the hype bandwagon saying NOTHING but praise and how it was the greatest thing since chocolate pudding, or they were on the hate bandwagon saying it was an unplayable mess and was the worst thing to happen since Rob Schneider. Same thing is happening in this game.
I've done my homework, I've read and seen several reviews by people who played the beta, and its SWTOR all over again. Its either people praising EVERYTHING in the game, and hating absolutely nothing at all, or people hating EVERYTHING and praising absolutely nothing at all. Nobody is being objective, nobody is being neutral, or unbiased. They all belong to the love or hate club. So I am wary about games like that. Because they have a 50/50 shot at being great or lame.
I mean it, not a single review that says "well I loved this and this and this and that, but I disliked this and this and this and that, and I also think X feature needs the following improvements, and Y could be a lot more fun if this is tweaked"
Nope, all the reviews I've seen are: "OHH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVER MADE, ITS GONNA BE A LANDMARK IN HISTORY, ITS BETTER THAN SEX AND BETTER THAN DRUGS"
or alternatively:
"THIS GAME SUCKS, ITS A SHIT GAME FOR SHIT PLAYERS AND ITS GONNA FAIL HARD"
I have yet to see a neutral review. How can I draw any realistic conclusion if all the feedback I'm getting is either 100% win or 100% lose? The only real feedback I can trust, is my own feedback, gained by actually playing the game, rather than seeing someone play, or reading someone who played. Their opinion is not the same as mine, what they may find boring I could find fun, and what they could find annoying I could find engaging, there's also the fact that what someone may find fun, I could find repetitive and stupid, and what they could find engaging I could find annoying. And this is why trials are the best form of publicity an MMO could ever ask for.