...as for sustainability for Arenanet as a money maker...I don't think they will be based soley on a cash shop. I am guessing they will also come out with seperate expansions as with GW1 (Factions, Nightfall + EON).

The problem with The Secret World and Guild Wars 2 is this: I'm being told what to do and where to go... the entire time.

I don't have any control of my destiny. Sometimes I want to shift the engine in neutral and just hang out. I want to plant a house, start a player city, attack rival cities, experience deep crafting, and start a player shop.

I can't do any of this in these Theme Park games.

ArcheAge, IMO, looks to be the sustainer of MMOs. We'll see, though.

Victor Barreiro does not understand the point.

Of course WvW can turn out to be bad, of course DEs could be boring. We are going to see soon.

GW2 is something special because of all the things they do differently. No trinity, no item-grind, etc. It is the exact opposite to MMOs like SWTOR, where everything is the old same as it has been the past 10 years.

Originally posted by kaiser3282

Originally posted by Illyssia

Originally posted by kaiser3282

Originally posted by Illyssia
GW2 is good casual fun, and I enjoy playing it. But, long-term will head to other games. One million sales at launch isn't a jaw dropping number so I think we have to think now the game is good, but it isn't going re-write the record books, more add to what was already there on the mmo landscape.

As i stated int he thread about the 1 million sales... that was pre-purchase (fully paid for game for access to beta + head start weekend), which were available until a few days before the head start weekend. That is not counting regular pre-orders + actual sales on launch day. Guessing it will be much closer to, if not at least a little over 2m once all those are added in.

The 1 million sales and 400K playing concurently is probably the high water mark for the game. Yes, the number of box sales will go up over time post-launch, and especially when game box cost is slashed, but I don't think they will get to 2 million concurently playing, Proof of this is the lack of servers at launch and the use of overflow servers. 

You think pre-launch is the high mark? I dont think your egetting what I (and the article) are saying. That was PRE-launch sales. that doesnt account for people who just threw a few bucks down to pre-order it and picked it up yesterday, or regular sales. Game wasnt even officially launched yet with 1m sales and 400k concurrent players.

Pre-launch is where most of the action is for mmo games. People don't buy older games in such volume. Reality is the numbers of servers ArenaNet/NCsoft has for the game, not so many, so clearly they aren't seeing a 10 million game anythime soon. No, GW2 has done alright...it just hasn't blown everyone away in the gaming world 1 millioni is a long way from the 10 million DIablo 3 got. 

I think people need to stop looking for some monolithic "winner" of the genre, and just pick one or more they enjoy and play them.  I'm currently enjoying GW2 and TSW, and both are really good games.  If the sandbox game I have in my sig turns out to be the great game it looks to be, then I won't have time for either of the two I am playing now.  Then again, maybe Planetside 2 will surprise me, and I will end up playing that instead.

Frankly, I don't care, as long as I am having fun.   I don't need the general population to agree that my games are the best games.  This is no longer a market where one game is going to destroy all the others.  It has grown into a diverse genre with something for just about everyone (though us sandbox players are still waiting).  If you can't look out there and find one you like, you are probably your own problem.

Originally posted by mmoDAD

The problem with The Secret World and Guild Wars 2 is this: I'm being told what to do and where to go...

 

I don't have any control of my destiny. Sometimes I want to shift the engine in neutral and just hang out. I want to plant a house, start a player city, attack rival cities, experience deep crafting, and start a player shop.

I can't do any of this in these Theme Park games.

 

ArcheAge, IMO, looks to be the sustainer of MMOs. We'll see, though.

Your opinion is very valid and clearly GW2 is not the game for you but I do wonder why you and many others feel compelled to comment like this. Imagine I said, the problem with a VW Golf is that it doesn't have 4WD and I can't take it off-road - it would be a pretty stupid statement because it's not what a Golf is designed for. At least you are not being rude and insulting in your comments. I hope ArcheAge is the game for you.

Im going to say the OP is wrong in a sense..

GW2 is an mmo savior for many of us in the WoW/classic mmo player aftermarket, i like many others was about finished with MMo gaming until GW2 came along..

Does that mean everyone will love it?

No..But for them there is already a gazillion games for many of us there is now a choice..

But it is nice to have options and choices because the mmo player aftermarket is huge and for the most part it has been an unheard, neglected and abandoned playerbase that was starving for a different approach and anet gets that..

GW2 is an amazing milestone in mmo developement and the more players play it the more clear it becomes just how different it is..

I agree with much of this article but i disagree with his comment about cash shop effectiveness.  LoL is one of the most successful games in history with 32 million users in a single year and it has made tons of revenue from their cash shop model.  WoT has experienced similar success as a f2p cash shop game.  Many other games ranging from Atlantica Online to Combat Arms and Maple Story all have followed this model.  The only difference between those games and GW2 is you buy the box with GW2 then it becomes like those games.

The other point i disagree with is even considering GW2 as a potential next WoW.  While i already love GW2 and think it is much better than WoW, i dont think its possible to do what WoW did.  When WoW came out it had no real competitors and it dominated the market.  I think GW2 can get a huge number of users but the market is so big now that I don't believe any game will ever be able to singlehandedly dominate the market ever again.  WoW really hasnt since 2007 while their user base has stayed consistantly strong the market grew even more.today to dominate the market you would need 20-30 million users like LoL and i don't see that as possible for an MMORPG with all of the other decent MMO's out that will each take 1-2 million away.

I believe that it is the savior of MMO's because it is already going to be successful enough to lead game developers away from making WoW clones and try something new.  That is what i think the MMO world needed more than anything else and i believe it will succeed in that.

Originally posted by Illyssia

Originally posted by kaiser3282

Originally posted by Illyssia

Originally posted by kaiser3282

Originally posted by Illyssia
GW2 is good casual fun, and I enjoy playing it. But, long-term will head to other games. One million sales at launch isn't a jaw dropping number so I think we have to think now the game is good, but it isn't going re-write the record books, more add to what was already there on the mmo landscape.

As i stated int he thread about the 1 million sales... that was pre-purchase (fully paid for game for access to beta + head start weekend), which were available until a few days before the head start weekend. That is not counting regular pre-orders + actual sales on launch day. Guessing it will be much closer to, if not at least a little over 2m once all those are added in.

The 1 million sales and 400K playing concurently is probably the high water mark for the game. Yes, the number of box sales will go up over time post-launch, and especially when game box cost is slashed, but I don't think they will get to 2 million concurently playing, Proof of this is the lack of servers at launch and the use of overflow servers. 

You think pre-launch is the high mark? I dont think your egetting what I (and the article) are saying. That was PRE-launch sales. that doesnt account for people who just threw a few bucks down to pre-order it and picked it up yesterday, or regular sales. Game wasnt even officially launched yet with 1m sales and 400k concurrent players.

Pre-launch is where most of the action is for mmo games. People don't buy older games in such volume. Reality is the numbers of servers ArenaNet/NCsoft has for the game, not so many, so clearly they aren't seeing a 10 million game anythime soon. No, GW2 has done alright...it just hasn't blown everyone away in the gaming world 1 millioni is a long way from the 10 million DIablo 3 got. 

 

you know diablo 3 only had 1.5 million prepurchase right? and WoW even fewer.  Most people do not prepurchase games.  They wait till they can see videos and read reviews before buying.  That or they just dont pay attention go to the store and see it.  plus about a month after diablo 3 came out they only had 5 million users so while i havent seen the 10 million stat if its true it completely invalidates your argument as that was post one month growth.

Interesting article and I agree with the bit about fanboys, they can really be a negative aspect of any game because they will try to stifle any kind of criticism, legetimate or not, of their object of admiration.

However the last bit about us consumers being saviour of anything is just plain wrong. Consumers have only one obligation and that is to pay for products which are good and not to pay for products which are not. This is the only proper way to promote a healthy environment where crappy games get weeded out and the good one's stand out. This includes seeing past all the bullshit and marketing hype and critically review a game before buying it or continuing to support it.

As for savior of the genre, GW 2 is defintely not, it just "just" a solid ThemePark MMO with nothing groundbreaking. Possible savior would be the upcoming ThemePark/Sandbox hybrid, ArcheAge or a potential commercial production of DayZ. Those games are trying to break the stale situation which have existed in the genre for the past 4-5 years, GW 2 does not.

Originally posted by itgrowls
He doesn't have very valid points. For one, he's basically saying in conclusion that we shouldn't say anything to naysayers and just let them bash the game to death and that GW2 needs us to save it, as if it's doing very poorly or some nonsense. Really? I've read it has record sales and as far as the naysayers go, no i won't shuttup about the game because they won't and letting them spin nonsense about this title is the equivolent of giving bad news a parrot to repeat lies told to us on television stations daily. It's not right or fair.

People like you are what draws the trolls out of the woodwork.  Don't you think some of them will post negative things just because they know that it drives you absolutely crazy when anyone says a single bad thing about GW2?  And yet it doesn't stop you from pointing flaws out in other games.   

You are proving the writer's point:  You do the game a disservice by pouncing on anyone with a negative view of GW2, and it's really silly and pointless.  Why not enjoy the game that you enjoy, and not worry about differing opinions?  

.

Originally posted by ZeGerman

Originally posted by Illyssia

Originally posted by kaiser3282

Originally posted by Illyssia

Originally posted by kaiser3282

Originally posted by Illyssia
GW2 is good casual fun, and I enjoy playing it. But, long-term will head to other games. One million sales at launch isn't a jaw dropping number so I think we have to think now the game is good, but it isn't going re-write the record books, more add to what was already there on the mmo landscape.

As i stated int he thread about the 1 million sales... that was pre-purchase (fully paid for game for access to beta + head start weekend), which were available until a few days before the head start weekend. That is not counting regular pre-orders + actual sales on launch day. Guessing it will be much closer to, if not at least a little over 2m once all those are added in.

The 1 million sales and 400K playing concurently is probably the high water mark for the game. Yes, the number of box sales will go up over time post-launch, and especially when game box cost is slashed, but I don't think they will get to 2 million concurently playing, Proof of this is the lack of servers at launch and the use of overflow servers. 

You think pre-launch is the high mark? I dont think your egetting what I (and the article) are saying. That was PRE-launch sales. that doesnt account for people who just threw a few bucks down to pre-order it and picked it up yesterday, or regular sales. Game wasnt even officially launched yet with 1m sales and 400k concurrent players.

Pre-launch is where most of the action is for mmo games. People don't buy older games in such volume. Reality is the numbers of servers ArenaNet/NCsoft has for the game, not so many, so clearly they aren't seeing a 10 million game anythime soon. No, GW2 has done alright...it just hasn't blown everyone away in the gaming world 1 millioni is a long way from the 10 million DIablo 3 got. 

 

you know diablo 3 only had 1.5 million prepurchase right? and WoW even fewer.  Most people do not prepurchase games.  They wait till they can see videos and read reviews before buying.  That or they just dont pay attention go to the store and see it.  plus about a month after diablo 3 came out they only had 5 million users so while i havent seen the 10 million stat if its true it completely invalidates your argument as that was post one month growth.

Diablo 3 holds the pre-purchase record to date for PC, heck over 2 milllion played beta. It also racked up its 10 million sales in 3 months. No way GW2 will even come close.

Just another mmo, who cares..

Hype and all that, people will get to the max level, and come down to earth pretty fast..

Could go back a bit ago and replace GW2 with Secret World, much less months and replace GW2 with Diablo 3..

I think GW2 is a step in the right direction but it won’t be the saviour, I don’t believe any game can ever do that regardless.

I do believe that GW2 is quite possibly the best mmo since vanilla WoW and has real potential which I hope Arenanet build on. It's the first mmo that I've not been 100% focused on levelling initially and have just been doing what I find fun like map completion, to me this is great game design.  

Just to point out the 1 million pre purchase sales is only digital purchases direct from Arenanet and doesn’t include retail pre-order sales which is going to be massive.

One things for sure, its the best £60 that I've spent on an mmo in years and I do feel I'm going to get my moneys worth and then some.