Either I'm blind or there are no official GW2 forums.  Does GW1 have official forums?  If there are no forums.... did they say they will make them when game launches? What gives?  Didn't they learn anything from WAR?

GW1 didn't have one and what you get at the official forums is mostly just concentrated whining.

Originally posted by Drvanitus

Either I'm blind or there are no official GW2 forums.  Does GW1 have official forums?  If there are no forums.... did they say they will make them when game launches? What gives?  Didn't they learn anything from WAR?

Nope, they've never had official GW2 forums... or official GW1 forums either, for that matter.

They're not planning on making them, either.  I'm not familiar with what WAR did wrong so far as forums went, so I can't really comment on what they did or didn't learn.

Originally posted by Drvanitus

Didn't they learn anything from WAR?

What is there to learn?  WAR eventually got forums and it did nothing to improve the quality of the game.  Mythic could have had forums from launch and the game still would have turned out the to be the same piece of crap that it did.

No, you do have to cut off a few things when you don't charge monthly fees. 

This is the closest thing: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/ I don't hang there myself, but I do know that at least Strain used to post on the old GW guru forum when he still was the lead designer.

I don't think WARs big problem was the lack of official forum. Sure, some people were upset about it but frankly is this forum better than any official forum anyways, and you have a lot more freedom posting here than in any official forum I been to at least.

Arenanets support on the other hand is at least pretty good. It is really just when something is wrong you actually need the official forum.

Originally posted by Loke666

No, you do have to cut off a few things when you don't charge monthly fees. 

This is the closest thing: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/ I don't hang there myself, but I do know that at least Strain used to post on the old GW guru forum when he still was the lead designer.

I don't think WARs big problem was the lack of official forum. Sure, some people were upset about it but frankly is this forum better than any official forum anyways, and you have a lot more freedom posting here than in any official forum I been to at least.

Arenanets support on the other hand is at least pretty good. It is really just when something is wrong you actually need the official forum.

I've had a lead developer actually mail me with a correction before at guildwars2 guru, and they have a few community managers hanging around who are pretty darn good at answering questions, and talk to whoever the pertinent person is for information when needed.

Apparently some major employees at Arenanet read guildwars2guru as well.

It's nice to know they're paying attention, anyway.  They're also really on the ball when it comes to answering false concerns stemming from confusion over points in blog/news posts.

It's not THAT expensive to simply run a forum, but the problem is keeping official forums from ending up as insufficiently moderated cesspools. :)

I've always preffered fansites to official forums myself. So I guess this really doesn't effect me. Honestly I prefer it this way that way fansites are even better because they don't have to compete with an official forum.

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Originally posted by Meowhead

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Originally posted by Loke666
No, you do have to cut off a few things when you don't charge monthly fees. 
This is the closest thing: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/ I don't hang there myself, but I do know that at least Strain used to post on the old GW guru forum when he still was the lead designer.
I don't think WARs big problem was the lack of official forum. Sure, some people were upset about it but frankly is this forum better than any official forum anyways, and you have a lot more freedom posting here than in any official forum I been to at least.
Arenanets support on the other hand is at least pretty good. It is really just when something is wrong you actually need the official forum.

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I've had a lead developer actually mail me with a correction before at guildwars2 guru, and they have a few community managers hanging around who are pretty darn good at answering questions, and talk to whoever the pertinent person is for information when needed.
Apparently some major employees at Arenanet read guildwars2guru as well.
It's nice to know they're paying attention, anyway.  They're also really on the ball when it comes to answering false concerns stemming from confusion over points in blog/news posts.
It's not THAT expensive to simply run a forum, but the problem is keeping official forums from ending up as insufficiently moderated cesspools. :)

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What Meowhead said :)

They do keep tabs on their listed fan sites, gwguru was the most widely used so it was inevitable that gw2guru would follow and get the most dev/cm input.

They have 'listed fansites' which they rank according to news and information for GW See this page. I'm sure they'll be following the same path for GW2, it gives the player choice, go to the largest, which tend to read more like official forums (the good and the bad) or hang at the smaller ones which often get a more community feel.

Anet have always been hot on community, if a fansite ends up as listed you can be sure the community team will be keeping tabs

Yeah, the guildwars2guru site is a great forum for the GW2 because it works as a very rapidly updated news aggregate, for finding about all the blogs, interviews and articles about the game, moments after they are released. Also everytime a new bit of info drops (e.g. profession reveal) then you can expect a Community Manager to be there in the forums, setting people straight.

lolwat no forums? That's ridiculous. It can cost next to nothing, just let a few trusted fans from guildwars2guru be mods or something.

It's often a resonable way to keep a dialoge between the players and the devs

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Originally posted by EvilGeek

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Originally posted by Meowhead

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Originally posted by Loke666
No, you do have to cut off a few things when you don't charge monthly fees. 
This is the closest thing: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/ I don't hang there myself, but I do know that at least Strain used to post on the old GW guru forum when he still was the lead designer.
I don't think WARs big problem was the lack of official forum. Sure, some people were upset about it but frankly is this forum better than any official forum anyways, and you have a lot more freedom posting here than in any official forum I been to at least.
Arenanets support on the other hand is at least pretty good. It is really just when something is wrong you actually need the official forum.

---

I've had a lead developer actually mail me with a correction before at guildwars2 guru, and they have a few community managers hanging around who are pretty darn good at answering questions, and talk to whoever the pertinent person is for information when needed.
Apparently some major employees at Arenanet read guildwars2guru as well.
It's nice to know they're paying attention, anyway.  They're also really on the ball when it comes to answering false concerns stemming from confusion over points in blog/news posts.
It's not THAT expensive to simply run a forum, but the problem is keeping official forums from ending up as insufficiently moderated cesspools. :)

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What Meowhead said :)

They do keep tabs on their listed fan sites, gwguru was the most widely used so it was inevitable that gw2guru would follow and get the most dev/cm input.

They have 'listed fansites' which they rank according to news and information for GW See this page. I'm sure they'll be following the same path for GW2, it gives the player choice, go to the largest, which tend to read more like official forums (the good and the bad) or hang at the smaller ones which often get a more community feel.

Anet have always been hot on community, if a fansite ends up as listed you can be sure the community team will be keeping tabs

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Martin Kerstein, one of the Anet CM's, has been known to lurk on these forums too. And I've seen Regina comment over at Ten-ton Hammer.

Even the non-fan-sites that contribute to the MMO community get attention from Anet.

So if anyone has a concern or opinion about Gw2, you can be pretty sure that if you post it in a forum about GW2, Anet will eventually see it.

Originally posted by therez0

 

Martin Kerstein, one of the Anet CM's, has been known to lurk on these forums too. And I've seen Regina comment over at Ten-ton Hammer.

Even the non-fan-sites that contribute to the MMO community get attention from Anet.

So if anyone has a concern or opinion about Gw2, you can be pretty sure that if you post it in a forum about GW2, Anet will eventually see it.

The lead developer who mailed me on GW2Guru?  It's because he was correcting something I said in a thread on MMORPG.com.

That shocked the hell out of me.  It's like they're secretly everywhere. :D

Every single official game forum I have visited has been nothing but a cesspool. I have seen as much developer interaction at guildwarsguru as I have for most any other game forum for their particular game. The difference I have seen is that the fansites tend to have a stricter moderation than official forums do. While the mods at the guru forums can be a bit heavy handed sometimes I much prefer that than the mess I've seen at the wow or rift forums for example.

Originally posted by Drvanitus

Either I'm blind or there are no official GW2 forums.  Does GW1 have official forums?  If there are no forums.... did they say they will make them when game launches? What gives?  Didn't they learn anything from WAR?

Guild Wars didn't have a forum and it's still going strong to this day. ANet knows they don't need an official forum when they just can go on other reliable forums to interact with the fans.

Originally posted by arenasb

Every single official game forum I have visited has been nothing but a cesspool. I have seen as much developer interaction at guildwarsguru as I have for most any other game forum for their particular game. The difference I have seen is that the fansites tend to have a stricter moderation than official forums do. While the mods at the guru forums can be a bit heavy handed sometimes I much prefer that than the mess I've seen at the wow or rift forums for example.

 Amen.  I think when you have official forums for a game that isn't even out yet, the people who are going there are going to be passionate and hopeful that in some way they can contribute to steering the game towards their vision.  People are opinionated and most vocal when they feel negatively about something.  Every possible aspect of the game is going to have somebody who disagrees with it and that person is going to speak up.  It gets to be oppressive.

At first I thought ArenaNet was missing an opportunity, but the more I read other games' forums I'm glad they don't.

You do not need an official forum for a game without a monthly fee. The active community and the innactive community are essentially the same, whereas the innactive community in P2Ps is likely to be talking out of their rear without anything remotely objective to substantiate their opinions of gamestate. You know, like here on MMORPG.

Learning from WAR. Psh. WARs problems are not GW's problems. The fact that such a notion was thrown out willy-nilly really bothers me.

Bummer.  I can see the point about non-sub game not having an official forum because they don't have a way to separate real active players from trolls and haters.  Nevertheless tho, it's another point on the minus side of things on my personal GW2 score sheet.  I find forums essential for MMOs, and no fansite will cut it and I will never use a fan-run forums as a means of communication with devs.  I'm well aware that a lot of people could care less.  I can respect your opinion and your take on the issue if you can accept and respect mine.

Originally posted by Drvanitus

Bummer.  I can see the point about non-sub game not having an official forum because they don't have a way to separate real active players from trolls and haters.  Nevertheless tho, it's another point on the minus side of things on my personal GW2 score sheet.  I find forums essential for MMOs, and no fansite will cut it and I will never use a fan-run forums as a means of communication with devs.  I'm well aware that a lot of people could care less.  I can respect you opinion and take on the issue if you can accept mine.

My advice then is that to show your disapproval for their lack of forums, you buy the box, then quit when your free month runs out.  That'll show 'em. :)

Originally posted by Drvanitus

Bummer.  I can see the point about non-sub game not having an official forum because they don't have a way to separate real active players from trolls and haters.  Nevertheless tho, it's another point on the minus side of things on my personal GW2 score sheet.  I find forums essential for MMOs, and no fansite will cut it and I will never use a fan-run forums as a means of communication with devs.  I'm well aware that a lot of people could care less.  I can respect you opinion and take on the issue if you can accept mine.

I guess it's back to the RIFT forums for you and the OP then. GW1 did okay without a forum and GW2 will be the same but i bet any money you will use GW2 Guru when the time comes lol.

Did you ever visit the RIFT forums,i guess you have and you have no problem with thoses cess pit forums?

And why would they need to learn anything from WAR?

GW came out long befoire WAR...

Originally posted by Drvanitus

Bummer.  I can see the point about non-sub game not having an official forum because they don't have a way to separate real active players from trolls and haters.  Nevertheless tho, it's another point on the minus side of things on my personal GW2 score sheet.  I find forums essential for MMOs, and no fansite will cut it and I will never use a fan-run forums as a means of communication with devs.  I'm well aware that a lot of people could care less.  I can respect you opinion and take on the issue if you can accept mine.

I do agree that fan sites are bad, however the Guild Wars community is pretty solid when it comes to getting things through to Anet..but I do understadn where you are coming from.

(edit) through the sites listed by the other posters