Again the case of people focusing ot much on vocal minority of various forums/community sites. Like it or not, people who visit those sites make really small sample of overall player pool. Out of that small sample, only part is vocal on forums, and out that group part says X is same Y. And You notice it only because They repeat it at every possible ocassion. How many unique usiers You can however name that do this?
15-20? Let's be generous and say 1000. Compared to million that signed up for beta? To few millions that actually played and enjoyed the first game? the 10+ million of WoW players? Or even more millions (20m?30m?) of gamers that play various MMOs?
That's why communities are always vocal minorities. The silent majority will speak with their wallets and You will never see most of them on forums, official or otherwise.
I think it is perfectly reasonable for someone to think this game is kinda similar to the original 'Guild Wars'.
When I bought Civilization5, I thought it'll be kinda similar to Civilization4.
When I bought Simcity4, I thought it'll be kinda similar to Simcity 3000.
True, but if you give it a little bit of thought all of the sequels we have had in the MMO genre you would see that the reverse is actually more accurate.
EQ to EQ2
Lineage to Lineage 2
Asheron's Call to Asheron's Call 2
Neocron to Neocron 2
UO to what UO 2 was being developed as
Looking at these examples I would say that it's pretty normal in the MMO-sphere for a sequel to be very different from the first game.
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
I think that if it wasn't GW2 there wouldn't be half as much hype for the game or half the budget thrown at it, so it probably wouldn't even be the same game. It's the reputation and success of GW1 thats allowed to it even be created.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
I think that if it wasn't GW2 there wouldn't be half as much hype for the game or half the budget thrown at it, so it probably wouldn't even be the same game. It's the reputation and success of GW1 thats allowed to it even be created.
Yep - alot of people seem to forget the loyal following of GW1- and the reputation ArenaNet got from dealing with the fans there.
And even if people say the didn't like GW1 but GW2 is nothing like it, i say yeah it might be true on a superficial point of view. But it's much closer to truth to say that the design philosofi that made GW1 so great is what is making GW2 great also.
. Not liking a game is not an argument in itself that a game is bad. Thats a fact alot of players have to deal with.Even if you didn't like GW1 - it was still a game, that did what it did better than nearly everyone else.
And why not honor a great game by naming its sequel number 2?
Deciding how to brand a product is actually a very important marketing decision. By naming the game Guild Wars 2, ANet creates a very strong association between GW1 and GW2. After all, it is techinically a "direct sequel" so people would naturally expect GW2 to be similar to GW1.
Personally, I don't think this was the best decision. GW2 is just too different from GW1. GW1 fans expecting a "true" sequel to GW1, are bound to be disappointed, and people who hated GW1 will be prejudiced against GW2 because of its name. Basically, it makes ANet have to spent more on marketing and advertising to get their message out and communicate that GW2 is NOT the same as GW1...despite the name.
IMO, they should have just named it Tyria. That name would tell GW1 fans that the new game will be set in the GW1 world, and all the lore will be carried over, but it wouldn't carry all the expectations that the "Guild Wars 2" title carries. People that hated GW1 probably wouldn't assume that GW2 will be just like it, and people that loved GW1 wouldn't see "Tyria" as a direct sequel...but rather just a successor.
GW2 and GW1 share the same design philosophies. It is not about copying game mechanics and graphics and increasing the number (Hi SC2, D3, Fifa12!), but about the spiritual successor of a successful franchise. That's why it's called Guild Wars 2. GW1 has a huge following and still selling hundreds of copies each month. It's everyone's right to not like a game, but not liking something because of an earlier product is just stupid, unfounded talk.
I know a lot of people who are genuinely interested in GW2, but are not interested in GW1. They have informed themselves and are educated about its strengths and weaknesses. People need to stop being lazy and let marketing come to them. Everything they need to know about the game is already public.
So no, it's not a mistake, it's highly advantageous.
With the GW2 information dump happening right now there are all sorts of thoughts flowing through this community.
One of the more surprizing one is the response when people are saying 'I didn't like GW1 therefore I won't buy GW2'. The response from some section of this community is that 'This game is nothing like GW1 and therefore should not be compared to it'.
Should ArenaNet have named this game as 'ArenaNet's next-gen game' or something rather than GW2 so that people will judge this game on its own merits?
I think it is perfectly reasonable for someone to think this game is kinda similar to the original 'Guild Wars'.
When I bought Civilization5, I thought it'll be kinda similar to Civilization4.
When I bought Simcity4, I thought it'll be kinda similar to Simcity 3000.
Despite what some people may think Guild Wars 1 was very successful, in an age where Sequels outsell original IP on a regular basis its a no-brainer. You have a very loyal fanbase of players still playing the original guild wars. Not really worth loses your fans at the hope of appealing to someone who may not like your product, there is words of mouth, videos, and advertisements for those people.
If people don't even bother to learn more about the game, then they don't deserve to experience the fun stuff of GW2. It's their loss. Also, most people hate GW1 because they are used to WoW where you need no brain to play. Lotsa people suck at GW1 and they find it hard to play. They will hate GW2 too, because it's about dodging and using the right skill at the right time. These people will fail because they can only do 2 things: stand still and spam skills. They are going to get pwned and ragequit. Even if they quit after a few days, they gotta buy the game, so ArenaNet will get their money. I'm not worried, we'll have enough quality players.
Gw2 is an evolution of gw1, same universe, many of the same guiding principles ( but evolved). Nothing wrong with gw2, acknowledging it's roots makes perfect sense.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
It's not going to matter. Anyone who mistakenly believes this game is the same as GW1 will be corrected when the game releases and they see how much fun everyone is having. At this point, I am actively avoiding futher information about the game because I'm already sold, and I just want to play it now. heh
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
If people don't even bother to learn more about the game, then they don't deserve to experience the fun stuff of GW2. It's their loss. Also, most people hate GW1 because they are used to WoW where you need no brain to play. Lotsa people suck at GW1 and they find it hard to play. They will hate GW2 too, because it's about dodging and using the right skill at the right time. These people will fail because they can only do 2 things: stand still and spam skills. They are going to get pwned and ragequit. Even if they quit after a few days, they gotta buy the game, so ArenaNet will get their money. I'm not worried, we'll have enough quality players.
PS: Sorry for my bad English.
I completely disagree. I could very easily see how someone could not care for GW yet possibly enjoy this game. They're rather different in several areas and GW2 is going to have much more available to it for those that tended to feel GW really wasn't an mmo.
Frankly, your post is very shortsighted.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
If they named it something like "Guild Wars: Rise of The Dragons" people would just think it was a GW1 expansion.
I think GW2 gets the point across that it's a continuation, but not an expansion
MMOs played: WoW, Star Wars Galaxies, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guild Wars, Planetside, Global Agenda, Star Trek Online, RIFT, Everquest 2, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, EvE online, APB Best MMO Companies: Trion Worlds, ArenaNet, CCP Worst MMO Companies: Electronic Arts
With the GW2 information dump happening right now there are all sorts of thoughts flowing through this community.
One of the more surprizing one is the response when people are saying 'I didn't like GW1 therefore I won't buy GW2'. The response from some section of this community is that 'This game is nothing like GW1 and therefore should not be compared to it'.
Should ArenaNet have named this game as 'ArenaNet's next-gen game' or something rather than GW2 so that people will judge this game on its own merits?
I think it is perfectly reasonable for someone to think this game is kinda similar to the original 'Guild Wars'.
When I bought Civilization5, I thought it'll be kinda similar to Civilization4.
When I bought Simcity4, I thought it'll be kinda similar to Simcity 3000.
No, if they named their game something else they would have to come up with a new universe and make up the lore. It would literally mean scrapping all that work they've put into their flagship universe.
Also this would alienate GW1 players. While ArenaNet are looking to expand their fanbase, turning their back on the people who helped them get where they are is not the right way to go. Don't want to be elitist but without people like me and other Guild Wars 1 fans who paid 200-300 dollars for the original game there wouldn't be a Guild Wars 2. And if naming their new game Guild Wars 2 means losing on people who can't spend more than 1 min researching a game then so be it. I am pretty sure that GW1 fans are much more important than these people.
Besides there are a lot of similarities with GW1. They do have the whole story driven singleplayer like campaign. They still force you to choose only a limited number of skills. They still focus a lot on competitive PvP without any gear imbalances. GW2 will also not be a gear grind as I think the most powerful items will be easily acquired which is similar to GW1. To be honest a lot of people didn't like the game because they couldn't grind for uber gear, they had to actually think which skills to bring and they didn't like that there was zero grinding for levels.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
I have had this same question in my mind for some time. I think it's less a question of should they have given it a different name, and more a question of should they have made a new ip at all for this. The game as it stands is obviously Guild Wars 2. It couldn't be anything else. But it could have been.
Honestly, I don't know. In many ways, getting a new ip started and popular is a lot harder than building off of your old one. But it does free you from the conceptions that people have of your old ip, and if you are changing the game as much as they have here, it might be a good idea to do so.
I don't have a definitive answer but in ArenaNets case I think they probably made the best choice. Many people have played the first game, the ip itself underneath the game is actually very strong, and obviously the developers are happy with their world. Not starting a new IP let them innovate in some areas without having to spend a lot of design effort on coming up with the world and lore. A mesmer is the same thing here, lore wise, even if the class has changed significantly in playstyle, for example.
You lay lose some people who didn't like the first game, who might actually be in your target audience, but you also gain a large target audience. If it hadn't been called Guild Wars 2 I highly doubt the dev blog posts which started the hype train would have gained as much traction. But this is a what if game. It's Guild Wars 2 now and forever
There are actually quite a few game series where new games in the series innovate, for better or worse. I know a lot of people who liked final fantasy 7 who had never even heard of the previous games. Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament are another example. They are vastly different games than their predecessors. Someone who likes single player fps only would have been really dumb to just buy Quake 3 sight unseen, and people who only like the multiplayer elements should have looked at it more closely.
I think anyone who is actually in the target market will eventually come around, but it's true that ArenaNet have a marketing task here to make sure they don't tie themselves too closely to the first game. They've done a pretty good job so far, considering I only just recently started playing GW1 for the first time due to GW2 hype.
GW1 is a great game anyway. You just have to not be a dummy to understand that it's not an MMO. It's more like diablo 2. The towns are the lobbies and the areas where you fight is the game. It shouldn't be that hard of a concept to grasp.
When you got WoW did you think it would be just like Warcraft 1-3? Guild Wars 2 is a fine title. I will not miss the people that didn't take the time to do their research.
I am personally of the opinion that YES, Anet made a mistake in naming this game Guild Wars 2. For people that have done no research on the game and know next to nothing of it, they immediately assume it's a "sequel" to GW1 and will be very like it, to the point of assuming it will be the same, just more of the story. I think it was a bad choice, myself.
Guild Wars 2 is the right name and in addition to lore, it retains many of the features that most GW-veterans value including: Lack of gear grind, limited skillbars and an extremely talented and dedicated company behind it all.
In Guild Wars I heard... QQ: Gear is all the same... WTF no jumping? WOW is so much better!
In GW2 I guess it will be... QQ: Gear is all the same... WTF no mounts? WOW is so much better!
No matter how the game evolves some of the players never will - They may fool themselves into believing that they seek something "new", "different" or even "innovative". The sad fact is that once they start complaining about the "missing" features from their favourite MMO they would probably be better of just going back to that :-)
We dont need casuals in our games!!! Errm... Well we DO need casuals to fund and populate our games - But the games should be all about "hardcore" because: We dont need casuals in our games!!! (repeat ad infinitum)
I don't know if there's too much widespead dislike/hatred of GW1. If anything, they're probably all here on this site because this is a haven for dissatisfied gamers.
I'm sure ArenaNet has statistics on what the habits of the GW1 playerbase are like. They must know that significantly more people positively regard GW1 than dislike it, otherwise they wouldn't be using the name.
Instead of a 2, I might have maybe gone with "Beyond" or "Next Generation" or something else so that it doesn't imply it's a direct sequel and also implies progress. But I don't think it'll hurt it in the long run. If the glowing reviews continue once regular users get their hands on it, then most people will at least give it a try. It's B2P, you can always just buy it for your stubborn friend and tell them to shut up and play it.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it."-Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
Guild Wars 2 is the right name and in addition to lore, it retains many of the features that most GW-veterans value including: Lack of gear grind, limited skillbars and an extremely talented and dedicated company behind it all.
In Guild Wars I heard... QQ: Gear is all the same... WTF no jumping? WOW is so much better!
In GW2 I guess it will be... QQ: Gear is all the same... WTF no mounts? WOW is so much better!
No matter how the game evolves some of the players never will - They may fool themselves into believing that they seek something "new", "different" or even "innovative". The sad fact is that once they start complaining about the "missing" features from their favourite MMO they would probably be better of just going back to that :-)
Haha, I remember this. People were QQ so hard about all gear being the same. You will hear a lot of people on these boards QQ about gear grinds and how they wanted their skill to be the only determining factor but that's all BS. Most MMOers want their gear grind and I think some people will be put off when they get more into GW2. E.g. most MMO players don't want esports-like PvP. They want their open world PvP.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Comments
Again the case of people focusing ot much on vocal minority of various forums/community sites. Like it or not, people who visit those sites make really small sample of overall player pool. Out of that small sample, only part is vocal on forums, and out that group part says X is same Y. And You notice it only because They repeat it at every possible ocassion. How many unique usiers You can however name that do this?
15-20? Let's be generous and say 1000. Compared to million that signed up for beta? To few millions that actually played and enjoyed the first game? the 10+ million of WoW players? Or even more millions (20m?30m?) of gamers that play various MMOs?
That's why communities are always vocal minorities. The silent majority will speak with their wallets and You will never see most of them on forums, official or otherwise.
True, but if you give it a little bit of thought all of the sequels we have had in the MMO genre you would see that the reverse is actually more accurate.
EQ to EQ2
Lineage to Lineage 2
Asheron's Call to Asheron's Call 2
Neocron to Neocron 2
UO to what UO 2 was being developed as
Looking at these examples I would say that it's pretty normal in the MMO-sphere for a sequel to be very different from the first game.
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
I think that if it wasn't GW2 there wouldn't be half as much hype for the game or half the budget thrown at it, so it probably wouldn't even be the same game. It's the reputation and success of GW1 thats allowed to it even be created.
Yep - alot of people seem to forget the loyal following of GW1- and the reputation ArenaNet got from dealing with the fans there.
And even if people say the didn't like GW1 but GW2 is nothing like it, i say yeah it might be true on a superficial point of view. But it's much closer to truth to say that the design philosofi that made GW1 so great is what is making GW2 great also.
. Not liking a game is not an argument in itself that a game is bad. Thats a fact alot of players have to deal with.Even if you didn't like GW1 - it was still a game, that did what it did better than nearly everyone else.
And why not honor a great game by naming its sequel number 2?
Deciding how to brand a product is actually a very important marketing decision. By naming the game Guild Wars 2, ANet creates a very strong association between GW1 and GW2. After all, it is techinically a "direct sequel" so people would naturally expect GW2 to be similar to GW1.
Personally, I don't think this was the best decision. GW2 is just too different from GW1. GW1 fans expecting a "true" sequel to GW1, are bound to be disappointed, and people who hated GW1 will be prejudiced against GW2 because of its name. Basically, it makes ANet have to spent more on marketing and advertising to get their message out and communicate that GW2 is NOT the same as GW1...despite the name.
IMO, they should have just named it Tyria. That name would tell GW1 fans that the new game will be set in the GW1 world, and all the lore will be carried over, but it wouldn't carry all the expectations that the "Guild Wars 2" title carries. People that hated GW1 probably wouldn't assume that GW2 will be just like it, and people that loved GW1 wouldn't see "Tyria" as a direct sequel...but rather just a successor.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
GW2 and GW1 share the same design philosophies. It is not about copying game mechanics and graphics and increasing the number (Hi SC2, D3, Fifa12!), but about the spiritual successor of a successful franchise. That's why it's called Guild Wars 2. GW1 has a huge following and still selling hundreds of copies each month. It's everyone's right to not like a game, but not liking something because of an earlier product is just stupid, unfounded talk.
I know a lot of people who are genuinely interested in GW2, but are not interested in GW1. They have informed themselves and are educated about its strengths and weaknesses. People need to stop being lazy and let marketing come to them. Everything they need to know about the game is already public.
So no, it's not a mistake, it's highly advantageous.
Despite what some people may think Guild Wars 1 was very successful, in an age where Sequels outsell original IP on a regular basis its a no-brainer. You have a very loyal fanbase of players still playing the original guild wars. Not really worth loses your fans at the hope of appealing to someone who may not like your product, there is words of mouth, videos, and advertisements for those people.
If people don't even bother to learn more about the game, then they don't deserve to experience the fun stuff of GW2. It's their loss. Also, most people hate GW1 because they are used to WoW where you need no brain to play. Lotsa people suck at GW1 and they find it hard to play. They will hate GW2 too, because it's about dodging and using the right skill at the right time. These people will fail because they can only do 2 things: stand still and spam skills. They are going to get pwned and ragequit. Even if they quit after a few days, they gotta buy the game, so ArenaNet will get their money.
I'm not worried, we'll have enough quality players.
PS: Sorry for my bad English.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
It's not going to matter. Anyone who mistakenly believes this game is the same as GW1 will be corrected when the game releases and they see how much fun everyone is having. At this point, I am actively avoiding futher information about the game because I'm already sold, and I just want to play it now. heh
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
I completely disagree. I could very easily see how someone could not care for GW yet possibly enjoy this game. They're rather different in several areas and GW2 is going to have much more available to it for those that tended to feel GW really wasn't an mmo.
Frankly, your post is very shortsighted.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
It should be exactly like GW1 and its name should be GW1,dang you ArenaNet 2!
Let's internet
If they named it something like "Guild Wars: Rise of The Dragons" people would just think it was a GW1 expansion.
I think GW2 gets the point across that it's a continuation, but not an expansion
MMOs played: WoW, Star Wars Galaxies, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guild Wars, Planetside, Global Agenda, Star Trek Online, RIFT, Everquest 2, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, EvE online, APB
Best MMO Companies: Trion Worlds, ArenaNet, CCP
Worst MMO Companies: Electronic Arts
No, if they named their game something else they would have to come up with a new universe and make up the lore. It would literally mean scrapping all that work they've put into their flagship universe.
Also this would alienate GW1 players. While ArenaNet are looking to expand their fanbase, turning their back on the people who helped them get where they are is not the right way to go. Don't want to be elitist but without people like me and other Guild Wars 1 fans who paid 200-300 dollars for the original game there wouldn't be a Guild Wars 2. And if naming their new game Guild Wars 2 means losing on people who can't spend more than 1 min researching a game then so be it. I am pretty sure that GW1 fans are much more important than these people.
Besides there are a lot of similarities with GW1. They do have the whole story driven singleplayer like campaign. They still force you to choose only a limited number of skills. They still focus a lot on competitive PvP without any gear imbalances. GW2 will also not be a gear grind as I think the most powerful items will be easily acquired which is similar to GW1. To be honest a lot of people didn't like the game because they couldn't grind for uber gear, they had to actually think which skills to bring and they didn't like that there was zero grinding for levels.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Considering the game is a sequel to Guild Wars, it obviously wasn't a mistake...
I have had this same question in my mind for some time. I think it's less a question of should they have given it a different name, and more a question of should they have made a new ip at all for this. The game as it stands is obviously Guild Wars 2. It couldn't be anything else. But it could have been.
Honestly, I don't know. In many ways, getting a new ip started and popular is a lot harder than building off of your old one. But it does free you from the conceptions that people have of your old ip, and if you are changing the game as much as they have here, it might be a good idea to do so.
I don't have a definitive answer but in ArenaNets case I think they probably made the best choice. Many people have played the first game, the ip itself underneath the game is actually very strong, and obviously the developers are happy with their world. Not starting a new IP let them innovate in some areas without having to spend a lot of design effort on coming up with the world and lore. A mesmer is the same thing here, lore wise, even if the class has changed significantly in playstyle, for example.
You lay lose some people who didn't like the first game, who might actually be in your target audience, but you also gain a large target audience. If it hadn't been called Guild Wars 2 I highly doubt the dev blog posts which started the hype train would have gained as much traction. But this is a what if game. It's Guild Wars 2 now and forever
There are actually quite a few game series where new games in the series innovate, for better or worse. I know a lot of people who liked final fantasy 7 who had never even heard of the previous games. Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament are another example. They are vastly different games than their predecessors. Someone who likes single player fps only would have been really dumb to just buy Quake 3 sight unseen, and people who only like the multiplayer elements should have looked at it more closely.
I think anyone who is actually in the target market will eventually come around, but it's true that ArenaNet have a marketing task here to make sure they don't tie themselves too closely to the first game. They've done a pretty good job so far, considering I only just recently started playing GW1 for the first time due to GW2 hype.
doesn't really matter what they think now, once the game is out and everyone is playing it the rest will follow
It's just an idiot filter.
GW1 is a great game anyway. You just have to not be a dummy to understand that it's not an MMO. It's more like diablo 2. The towns are the lobbies and the areas where you fight is the game. It shouldn't be that hard of a concept to grasp.
When you got WoW did you think it would be just like Warcraft 1-3? Guild Wars 2 is a fine title. I will not miss the people that didn't take the time to do their research.
My theme song.
I am personally of the opinion that YES, Anet made a mistake in naming this game Guild Wars 2. For people that have done no research on the game and know next to nothing of it, they immediately assume it's a "sequel" to GW1 and will be very like it, to the point of assuming it will be the same, just more of the story. I think it was a bad choice, myself.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
Guild Wars 2 is the right name and in addition to lore, it retains many of the features that most GW-veterans value including: Lack of gear grind, limited skillbars and an extremely talented and dedicated company behind it all.
In Guild Wars I heard... QQ: Gear is all the same... WTF no jumping? WOW is so much better!
In GW2 I guess it will be... QQ: Gear is all the same... WTF no mounts? WOW is so much better!
No matter how the game evolves some of the players never will - They may fool themselves into believing that they seek something "new", "different" or even "innovative". The sad fact is that once they start complaining about the "missing" features from their favourite MMO they would probably be better of just going back to that :-)
We dont need casuals in our games!!! Errm... Well we DO need casuals to fund and populate our games - But the games should be all about "hardcore" because: We dont need casuals in our games!!!
(repeat ad infinitum)
I don't know if there's too much widespead dislike/hatred of GW1. If anything, they're probably all here on this site because this is a haven for dissatisfied gamers.
I'm sure ArenaNet has statistics on what the habits of the GW1 playerbase are like. They must know that significantly more people positively regard GW1 than dislike it, otherwise they wouldn't be using the name.
Instead of a 2, I might have maybe gone with "Beyond" or "Next Generation" or something else so that it doesn't imply it's a direct sequel and also implies progress. But I don't think it'll hurt it in the long run. If the glowing reviews continue once regular users get their hands on it, then most people will at least give it a try. It's B2P, you can always just buy it for your stubborn friend and tell them to shut up and play it.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." -Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
Haha, I remember this. People were QQ so hard about all gear being the same. You will hear a lot of people on these boards QQ about gear grinds and how they wanted their skill to be the only determining factor but that's all BS. Most MMOers want their gear grind and I think some people will be put off when they get more into GW2. E.g. most MMO players don't want esports-like PvP. They want their open world PvP.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.