I didn't mean to suggest it was a huge success - but simply a success.
There's no way it's not a success with the amount of attention and forum activity we're seeing still.
As for numbers, I have no idea - and it's obvious that the amount isn't too impressive - or ArenaNet would have made them public.
But given my opinion about the game and its design - I honestly didn't expect this level of continued dedication by fans. They very clearly struck a chord with a significant segment of the gaming populace - and that's not a trivial accomplishment.
This forum is and has always been a breeding place for GW2 fanbois, which are the most obnoxiously loyal group of fanbois ive seen in gaming in 15 years. The game could be a steaming pile of dung and the GW2 forums would still be flush with activity. I wouldn't consider forum activity a sign of anything here... In some cases it might even be a bad sign.
but yeah, 3 million copies sold is nothing to sneeze at, and the game's not bad... Even if I personally can't get into it. It's real saving grace is that it never adopted a subscription, otherwise it would have fell flat on its face like the rest.
i think it would have did extremely well if that had been smart enough to have a proper PvP infrastructure and ELO system in at launch. I think they really blew it on that one. The games PvP is a lot of fun.
In my (over) 15 years of gaming, have found the amount of fanbois pretty much correlates with the amount of trolls, but maybe its just me...
Nah, otherwise games like Mortal Online and Star Trek Online would be a hotbed of activity. We trolled the hell out of those forums. I do think fanbois attract trolls though, just because its so fun to get a rise out of them when you point out something that just blantantly sucks in their game and you watch them try to rationalize it...so there is that.
if you look at STO, there community just actively admits that a lot of things are subpar. There isn't really a controversy. TSW is the same way, their players admit the games faults(and TSW is a fantastic game in most respects, much like GW2), and its forums are relatively bland. Contraversy drives the activity; the folks who cover their eyes and ears and go "lalalalala" any time you criticize their game. GW2 has a lot of those folks.
I didn't mean to suggest it was a huge success - but simply a success.
There's no way it's not a success with the amount of attention and forum activity we're seeing still.
As for numbers, I have no idea - and it's obvious that the amount isn't too impressive - or ArenaNet would have made them public.
But given my opinion about the game and its design - I honestly didn't expect this level of continued dedication by fans. They very clearly struck a chord with a significant segment of the gaming populace - and that's not a trivial accomplishment.
This forum is and has always been a breeding place for GW2 fanbois, which are the most obnoxiously loyal group of fanbois ive seen in gaming in 15 years. The game could be a steaming pile of dung and the GW2 forums would still be flush with activity. I wouldn't consider forum activity a sign of anything here... In some cases it might even be a bad sign.
I disagree.
The amount of forum activity - good or bad - tends to reflect the level of interest a game enjoys.
Obviously, it's not an accurate tool and some games have strong dedicated forums by the developers, making other forums less active - but I'd say it's pretty clear that GW2 has a large active fanbase still. Large can mean what you want it to mean - but my estimate is above 300K and below 1.5M players players - and that's enough to constitute a success in this day and age, where 95% of all recent MMOs have less than that.
I'm not saying it means anything in terms of the quality of the game - merely the amount of active players.
That's why Darkfall has routinely been a high activity forum around here for years,because of "interest".
We must have very different concepts of what "high activity" means - because before the announcement of DF:UW, the forums were very quiet.
That said, it's one of the VERY few viable sandbox MMOs with full loot PvP - so it's only natural that it will get a bit more attention than would otherwise be the case with such a small playerbase.
But if take a loot at GW2 activity - it's a completely different story. There's massive activity and there has been a massive activity since release.
Compared to what? Newly released or upcoming games? DF has consistently been in the top 10 for years post and prior to release, and has a extremely small player base in comparison to its peers.
It, much like GW2, has some extremely protective and vocal defenders.
Again, DF is a bit of an anomaly because of the full loot nature of PvP - and the amount of players interested in that feature, myself included.
The same can be said about Mortal Online which has a TINY TINY playerbase - and yet the forum is still somewhat active.
But GW2 is a themepark and there's no shortage of those around. Compare GW2 activity with Rift, LOTRO, Age of Conan and so on - and you'll see a GIGANTIC difference.
But there's no way to prove this either way. If you really think GW2 has this level of activity without a significant playerbase - then I don't mind. It's not a big deal if we agree about it.
if it got sub I'll stop playing by now or even after box sub got over; but it b2p, so no reason to stop.
for p2p it will be fail, but as it b2p it may look like a success. Only to be honest, and I don't want to troll, I would prefer to play next x-pack of GW1.
try before buy, even if it's a game to avoid bad surprises. Worst surprises for me: Aion, GW2
Nah, otherwise games like Mortal Online and Star Trek Online would be a hotbed of activity. We trolled the hell out of those forums. I do think fanbois attract trolls though, just because its so fun to get a rise out of them when you point out something that just blantantly sucks in their game and you watch them try to rationalize it...so there is that.
if you look at STO, there community just actively admits that a lot of things are subpar. There isn't really a controversy. That's what drives the activity; the folks who cover their eyes and ears and go "lalalalala" any time you criticize their game.
Perhaps something you think blatantly sucks, they enjoy? Or maybe its something they can overlook because there are other aspects of the game they like? Crazy, i know.
From what i gather, the developers of Mortal Online sold a bag of goods which weren't as advertised, nevermind disc and sub problems. So yes, if the game can barely get out of it own way, of course the trolls will outnumer the fanbois.
I've never found the amusement here (in red), though i am curious what MMO you play, or do you just go around trolling forums and not offer anything constructive all ?
But hey, if its what enjoy, knock yourself out i guess.
GW2 is amssive sucess and will only continue to grow, guess haters will always find some reason to hate it.
I feel sry for them they are wasting their time and energy on bashing the game since they dont have any game to play.
I actively point out GW2s faults (i.e., bashing), yet have TONS upon TONS of games to play. That's just so odd, right?
ONTOPIC: I'd like to point out that while GW2 is a success on PC box sales wise for sure, determining whether it's a MMO success will only be possible if they release active user numbers (which won't happen, I assure you).
We will know if it's a MMO success when the 1st expansion hits, and even then only if they release sales numbers for the expansion (NOTE: they never did for GW1 expansions, altough part of that was due to the strange bundling they did back then).
What defines an MMO success? How many boxes must be sold that folks would actually say "success"?
3 million? Or does it need to go up to 4 million expansion "boxes" sold? Is it possible to sell 2 million boxes, and then have enough income through the BLT to support the game and future expansions? Can a an MMO have 400k active players and make enough money to be a success? Or is there some arbitrary number it must have that the MMO community has deemed acceptable?
I'd say what he's getting at for an "MMO success" is initial player retention and long term activity and growth. There isn't a magical number to hit for that, but probably more dependent on how many boxes you sold. Would think a player retention rate of 50% would be extremely sucessful in this day of MMOs, although the more boxes you sell the lower percentage you can probably get away with for retention.
Played: EQ1 (10 Years), Guild Wars, Rift, TERA Tried: EQ2, Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Runes of Magic and countless others... Currently Playing: GW2
Like most pseudo MMO hybrids, it's really fun for a few months, then it just isn't anymore. Progression keeps people playing for years, this game lacks progression IMO.
GW1 was like this for me as well, Fury was another game, I'm sure there are others I'm still just in a fog this morning. Good games, but no staying power.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV Have played: You name it If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
GW2 is a massive success, thats simply an undeniable fact. Many that don't like the game don't understand why so they try and refute it success and try to predict its eventual doom.
Heres the bottom line on why it is and will remain one of the top MMO's in players, play time and popularity.
It appeals to a much larger player type than many of us belong to. Its as simple as that.
Those looking for a second life aren't going to find that in GW2. Its not a game you can escape into for 10+ hours a day. Those looking for this are going to be understandably dissapointed. This group isn't the largest out there though, it's actually relatively small in comparison.
Those looking for a hardcore game aren't going to find that in GW2. Theres no full loot, no FFA PvP, no perma death, no stat loss, no fear of loss on anything really or anything remotely close to that. Griefing potential is next to non existant. This group isn't as large either.
What Anet did was provide an MMO without a monthly fee that was extremely polished. An MMO that was designed to be hopped in and out of with ease that didn't gate fun behind a lot of arbitrary time sinks. An MMO that offered a risk free and care free environment where everyone was your ally and never competition unless you wanted it and so on. This appeals to a rather large player base.
The games still very active, it's still selling fairly well, its still one of the most discussed, and its still one of the highest rated.
I want to start out by saying that I am an ArenaNet fanboy. I openly admit that I was greatly disappointed with Guild Wars 2. Is Guild Wars 2 a failure? No. In fact they sold many times the number of boxes than they had expected to and retained more players than NCsoft or ArenaNet expected to retain.
I have jumped across four different servers in the last two months and have found that most of them are at capacity most of the time. I have yet to find a single server where all of the events (quests) are actually working. From what I have seen, only about a quarter of the events I know exist are actually working. There were several promises made when development started that were not kept. Those promises include; mounts, player housing and way too many more.
The game just does not feel like Guild Wars, it’s a whole different beast. I am still not sure (even after hundreds of hours) if I like the game. I really wish they would release a new expansion for the original Guild Wars. At least there the quests worked.
I want to start out by saying that I am an ArenaNet fanboy. I openly admit that I was greatly disappointed with Guild Wars 2. Is Guild Wars 2 a failure? No. In fact they sold many times the number of boxes than they had expected to and retained more players than NCsoft or ArenaNet expected to retain.
I have jumped across four different servers in the last two months and have found that most of them are at capacity most of the time. I have yet to find a single server where all of the events (quests) are actually working. From what I have seen, only about a quarter of the events I know exist are actually working. There were several promises made when development started that were not kept. Those promises include; mounts, player housing and way too many more.
The game just does not feel like Guild Wars, it’s a whole different beast. I am still not sure (even after hundreds of hours) if I like the game. I really wish they would release a new expansion for the original Guild Wars. At least there the quests worked.
This is person that understands that him being dissapointed doesnt matter when objective indiacators clearly show its a success. Or vice versa. Kudos to you.
On other note, hopefully they will know how to carry with success and add to the game, some events are broken, some break randomly but hopefully they will work it out.
And hopefully they learned their lesson what to do and what not to do, since its obvious thah they made few big mistakes since launch, but what is reassuring is admitting those mistakes.
Anyway, 1 big + is that you dont have to pay them 15/month to keep playing and hoping them fixing stuff. If you are happy you can throw few bucks their way, if you are OK you can keep playing, and if you dont like it dont play it and you can easily return whenever you want without 15 entrnce fee just to check stuff out.
I guess my question is what defines 'success' in this context? Who decides how it is derived?
Success in general is subjective (unless you pull in financials which I dont think anyone has the actual numbers here) -- so hard to see how you could argue one way or another effectively?
But more importantly - why does it matter? It has nothing to do with liking/disliking the game.
I want to start out by saying that I am an ArenaNet fanboy. I openly admit that I was greatly disappointed with Guild Wars 2. Is Guild Wars 2 a failure? No. In fact they sold many times the number of boxes than they had expected to and retained more players than NCsoft or ArenaNet expected to retain.
I have jumped across four different servers in the last two months and have found that most of them are at capacity most of the time. I have yet to find a single server where all of the events (quests) are actually working. From what I have seen, only about a quarter of the events I know exist are actually working. There were several promises made when development started that were not kept. Those promises include; mounts, player housing and way too many more.
The game just does not feel like Guild Wars, it’s a whole different beast. I am still not sure (even after hundreds of hours) if I like the game. I really wish they would release a new expansion for the original Guild Wars. At least there the quests worked.
Out of curiousity where did they say GW2 was going to feel like GW1? Honestly I only played a few levels of GW1 but completely expected GW2 to be different.
GW2 is in a funny, but unique spot. They have created something different. Outside of the revolutionary / evolutionary debate it doesn't play like the MMOs we are used to. This is going to (and from observation here and other forums) and has split the MMO playerbase. Progression versus (what I call) exploration or horizontal progression.
Interesting enough the game launches and soon after they implement 'small' progression via the ascended gear. It begs the question of which audience with ANet ultimately cater to. Try to succeed pleasing both sides and both will hate it.
Curious to see how the updates/expansions play out this year. I still say they have a great opportunity for a living world MMO but not sure if they'll invest in the necessary systems to do it. I mean you add housing, fishing, RP elements, expand the world, and you got an interesting concept that at least piques my curiousity.
Going to watch this one.. (as I play it along with my other MMOs)
At this point, it's pretty clear that a lot of people are more worried about their "cred" (which bet did they place, how can I be sure my ass is covered, I was right all along [insert statistics]) than ever had any concern about or interest in the game itself.
Forum cred. Is anything else quite so useless guarded with so much passion?
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
GW2 is amssive sucess and will only continue to grow, guess haters will always find some reason to hate it.
I feel sry for them they are wasting their time and energy on bashing the game since they dont have any game to play.
I actively point out GW2s faults (i.e., bashing), yet have TONS upon TONS of games to play. That's just so odd, right?
ONTOPIC: I'd like to point out that while GW2 is a success on PC box sales wise for sure, determining whether it's a MMO success will only be possible if they release active user numbers (which won't happen, I assure you).
We will know if it's a MMO success when the 1st expansion hits, and even then only if they release sales numbers for the expansion (NOTE: they never did for GW1 expansions, altough part of that was due to the strange bundling they did back then).
What defines an MMO success? How many boxes must be sold that folks would actually say "success"?
3 million? Or does it need to go up to 4 million expansion "boxes" sold? Is it possible to sell 2 million boxes, and then have enough income through the BLT to support the game and future expansions? Can a an MMO have 400k active players and make enough money to be a success? Or is there some arbitrary number it must have that the MMO community has deemed acceptable?
I apologize, I assumed everyone on these forums knew what constitutes a successful MMO. It's not boxes sold; we've seen enough evidence of that through "record breaking" sales of WAR, SWTOR and some others. Unless that was the business plan and they developed a bunch of patches in advance (think on-disc DLC, Capcom style).
But let me explain; for it to be a financial success for the publisher/developer, it needs to meet projected profits. In case of an MMO, in-house expetations extend beyond initial box sales, usually through implementation of subs, cash shops, or a combination thereof. We rarely - if ever, know if a game was a financial success; we usually aren't given the numbers (invesment, projected profits, etc). We speculate based on server merges, conversions to different business models, etc.
If it's a sucess in terms of being a good game for *US* is much easier to figure out, however, and depends fully on player retention. Having it be a financial success is a prerequisite - or else the game goes into "maintenance mode" of infrequent updates and "bare essentials" upkeep. You can notice players leaving easily enough by encountering ghost servers and through declining active user numbers.
With GW2s B2P model, the second kind of success will only be accurately known if they release expansion sales separately (as opposed to what they did with GW1).
At this point, it's pretty clear that a lot of people are more worried about their "cred" (which bet did they place, how can I be sure my ass is covered, I was right all along [insert statistics]) than ever had any concern about or interest in the game itself.
Forum cred. Is anything else quite so useless guarded with so much passion?
Since I like to be fair, I feel I should admit I was wrong about GW2 and the level of success it would enjoy.
I honestly expected the game would be all but dead ~3-4 months post release in terms of player activity and forum interest. I thought most people would be fed up with it - and I expected it to be much less of a success than it seems to have become. Now, I never expected failure - definitely not, but I thought it would be facing a widespread and heavy backlash right around now.
I'm not personally into the game - and I have a lot of bad things I could say about it, but I will spare you the negativity in this thread. It seems my tastes are, indeed, merely my tastes - and they obviously don't apply to as many people as I expected.
All I can say is that I was wrong - and I'm happy that so many people are enjoying a new and shiny MMO, even months after release. I'm sure we'd all love to have that feeling - and I'm envious of it.
Anyway, congratulations to ANet and the people playing GW2!
It probably only has about 500K-800K players actively playing. That is a success but far from what most thought. It sold 3Million and only retained a 3rd of its client base so to me that = failure.
Is there some way to tell how many active players are playing? Also since there is no sub how can they retain anything? People come and go...I know personally once I hit 80 i started taking a super casual approach to the game. Am I counted as retained because I only play every so often?
If it's a sucess in terms of being a good game for *US* is much easier to figure out,
But...so many want to elect thermselves to speak for this dubious "US". And they all say different things.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Obviously, more power to anyone who manages to enjoy this game. The beef was, and why it is a front-running candidate in 2012's most disappointing game, was all this boundary breaking and paradigm shifting it was supposed to do and didn't deliver.
Since I like to be fair, I feel I should admit I was wrong about GW2 and the level of success it would enjoy.
I honestly expected the game would be all but dead ~3-4 months post release in terms of player activity and forum interest. I thought most people would be fed up with it - and I expected it to be much less of a success than it seems to have become. Now, I never expected failure - definitely not, but I thought it would be facing a widespread and heavy backlash right around now.
I'm not personally into the game - and I have a lot of bad things I could say about it, but I will spare you the negativity in this thread. It seems my tastes are, indeed, merely my tastes - and they obviously don't apply to as many people as I expected.
All I can say is that I was wrong - and I'm happy that so many people are enjoying a new and shiny MMO, even months after release. I'm sure we'd all love to have that feeling - and I'm envious of it.
Anyway, congratulations to ANet and the people playing GW2!
It probably only has about 500K-800K players actively playing. That is a success but far from what most thought. It sold 3Million and only retained a 3rd of its client base so to me that = failure.
Is there some way to tell how many active players are playing? Also since there is no sub how can they retain anything? People come and go...I know personally once I hit 80 i started taking a super casual approach to the game. Am I counted as retained because I only play every so often?
I think the most telling number in GW2 is the amount of Spvp servers running. It may be the only number with players listed.
Launch week there where 260-300 severs every single day. If you log in prime time tonight you wont see more than 20-28 full Spvp severs.
Now I don't know what portion of the population people who do Spvp represents, but it does represent and percent, also remeber GW2 was highly touted as a game for pvprs. I wont say a pvp game, but if you were a pvpr around launch time you bought the game.
I'm not sure how easy it is to show how many actual play GW2.
As a sub game It's pretty easy just count active subs but with GW2 B2P model is hard to get a clear reading, what they have to do basicly is manual count logins for let say a month, some weeks/weekends have more logins than others so you have to make a educated guess to see how many of those 3+ mill still play on a regular basis.
Preposterous!!! We all know that they are not releasing activity levels because they have a lot to hide.....
The problem is that everytime Game X's successs levels get discussed there are as many ideas of what success means as there are opinions on the topic. Game sold a nice number of box sales which some can agree is what matters so in that it would be a success. The activity level on these forums is there like the OP stated. Retention matters more in a sub game but since they probably don't rely on it the same as a sub then can we say it fails there? Even though we don't know the activity levels. Less people has made the games DE's a lot more fun for me so less people is a success in itself as far as I am concerned ont hat topic. Now the game has some glaring flaws and I hope anet addresses them, but I wouldn't argue that the game was unsuccessful. I am glad the OP decided to speak up although I never would have held it against him had he not.
For a couple of month's enjoyment...akin to what I would find in an average video game, it was successful to me.
But as an MMORPG, it was a dismal failure for me. Just didn't offer the depth nor longevity I am hoping for with these games. Now, that wouldn't be such an issue in itself. But paired with the blatant overhyping of the company and it's fanbase, it become one.
I initially didn't expect much from the game...maybe a week or two of fun, but it lasted longer so I was pleased. I did find it annoying being told during prelaunch how closeminded I was for saying this....and equally annoying were the ridiculous platitudes being associated with the game.
In the end, it was a rather forgettable title. Fun for a moment in time, but thats about it.
I'd say it was a massive success. I'm not sure what others were expecting, the next WoW killer prehaps? Still, I'd wager it has more active players than all but a few of the highly successful casual F2P games and WoW, or in other words second highest active player based of a game you have to buy to play.
It's pretty obvious it's trouncing SW:TOR and TSW in active players. Probably has more than both combined. It definitely seems to be making money for NCSoft and I know there are some heavy cash shop spenders (whales) in game.
What counts as a success for most people nowadays? What counts as a "massive" success?
Since I like to be fair, I feel I should admit I was wrong about GW2 and the level of success it would enjoy.
I honestly expected the game would be all but dead ~3-4 months post release in terms of player activity and forum interest. I thought most people would be fed up with it - and I expected it to be much less of a success than it seems to have become. Now, I never expected failure - definitely not, but I thought it would be facing a widespread and heavy backlash right around now.
I'm not personally into the game - and I have a lot of bad things I could say about it, but I will spare you the negativity in this thread. It seems my tastes are, indeed, merely my tastes - and they obviously don't apply to as many people as I expected.
All I can say is that I was wrong - and I'm happy that so many people are enjoying a new and shiny MMO, even months after release. I'm sure we'd all love to have that feeling - and I'm envious of it.
Anyway, congratulations to ANet and the people playing GW2!
It probably only has about 500K-800K players actively playing. That is a success but far from what most thought. It sold 3Million and only retained a 3rd of its client base so to me that = failure.
Is there some way to tell how many active players are playing? Also since there is no sub how can they retain anything? People come and go...I know personally once I hit 80 i started taking a super casual approach to the game. Am I counted as retained because I only play every so often?
I think the most telling number in GW2 is the amount of Spvp servers running. It may be the only number with players listed.
Launch week there where 260-300 severs every single day. If you log in prime time tonight you wont see more than 20-28 full Spvp severs.
Now I don't know what portion of the population people who do Spvp represents, but it does represent and percent, also remeber GW2 was highly touted as a game for pvprs. I wont say a pvp game, but if you were a pvpr around launch time you bought the game.
GW2census always maintained 15% pvp focus(35%pve, 50% balanced) among those polled. reddit polls were more skewed since they were just pve and pvp. 80% pve focus.
Comments
Nah, otherwise games like Mortal Online and Star Trek Online would be a hotbed of activity. We trolled the hell out of those forums. I do think fanbois attract trolls though, just because its so fun to get a rise out of them when you point out something that just blantantly sucks in their game and you watch them try to rationalize it...so there is that.
if you look at STO, there community just actively admits that a lot of things are subpar. There isn't really a controversy. TSW is the same way, their players admit the games faults(and TSW is a fantastic game in most respects, much like GW2), and its forums are relatively bland. Contraversy drives the activity; the folks who cover their eyes and ears and go "lalalalala" any time you criticize their game. GW2 has a lot of those folks.
Again, DF is a bit of an anomaly because of the full loot nature of PvP - and the amount of players interested in that feature, myself included.
The same can be said about Mortal Online which has a TINY TINY playerbase - and yet the forum is still somewhat active.
But GW2 is a themepark and there's no shortage of those around. Compare GW2 activity with Rift, LOTRO, Age of Conan and so on - and you'll see a GIGANTIC difference.
But there's no way to prove this either way. If you really think GW2 has this level of activity without a significant playerbase - then I don't mind. It's not a big deal if we agree about it.
it's ok, nothing much, but ok game...
if it got sub I'll stop playing by now or even after box sub got over; but it b2p, so no reason to stop.
for p2p it will be fail, but as it b2p it may look like a success.
Only to be honest, and I don't want to troll, I would prefer to play next x-pack of GW1.
try before buy, even if it's a game to avoid bad surprises.
Worst surprises for me: Aion, GW2
Perhaps something you think blatantly sucks, they enjoy? Or maybe its something they can overlook because there are other aspects of the game they like? Crazy, i know.
From what i gather, the developers of Mortal Online sold a bag of goods which weren't as advertised, nevermind disc and sub problems. So yes, if the game can barely get out of it own way, of course the trolls will outnumer the fanbois.
I've never found the amusement here (in red), though i am curious what MMO you play, or do you just go around trolling forums and not offer anything constructive all ?
But hey, if its what enjoy, knock yourself out i guess.
I'd say what he's getting at for an "MMO success" is initial player retention and long term activity and growth. There isn't a magical number to hit for that, but probably more dependent on how many boxes you sold. Would think a player retention rate of 50% would be extremely sucessful in this day of MMOs, although the more boxes you sell the lower percentage you can probably get away with for retention.
Played: EQ1 (10 Years), Guild Wars, Rift, TERA
Tried: EQ2, Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Runes of Magic and countless others...
Currently Playing: GW2
Nytlok Sylas
80 Sylvari Ranger
Like most pseudo MMO hybrids, it's really fun for a few months, then it just isn't anymore. Progression keeps people playing for years, this game lacks progression IMO.
GW1 was like this for me as well, Fury was another game, I'm sure there are others I'm still just in a fog this morning. Good games, but no staying power.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
GW2 is a massive success, thats simply an undeniable fact. Many that don't like the game don't understand why so they try and refute it success and try to predict its eventual doom.
Heres the bottom line on why it is and will remain one of the top MMO's in players, play time and popularity.
It appeals to a much larger player type than many of us belong to. Its as simple as that.
Those looking for a second life aren't going to find that in GW2. Its not a game you can escape into for 10+ hours a day. Those looking for this are going to be understandably dissapointed. This group isn't the largest out there though, it's actually relatively small in comparison.
Those looking for a hardcore game aren't going to find that in GW2. Theres no full loot, no FFA PvP, no perma death, no stat loss, no fear of loss on anything really or anything remotely close to that. Griefing potential is next to non existant. This group isn't as large either.
What Anet did was provide an MMO without a monthly fee that was extremely polished. An MMO that was designed to be hopped in and out of with ease that didn't gate fun behind a lot of arbitrary time sinks. An MMO that offered a risk free and care free environment where everyone was your ally and never competition unless you wanted it and so on. This appeals to a rather large player base.
The games still very active, it's still selling fairly well, its still one of the most discussed, and its still one of the highest rated.
I want to start out by saying that I am an ArenaNet fanboy. I openly admit that I was greatly disappointed with Guild Wars 2. Is Guild Wars 2 a failure? No. In fact they sold many times the number of boxes than they had expected to and retained more players than NCsoft or ArenaNet expected to retain.
I have jumped across four different servers in the last two months and have found that most of them are at capacity most of the time. I have yet to find a single server where all of the events (quests) are actually working. From what I have seen, only about a quarter of the events I know exist are actually working. There were several promises made when development started that were not kept. Those promises include; mounts, player housing and way too many more.
The game just does not feel like Guild Wars, it’s a whole different beast. I am still not sure (even after hundreds of hours) if I like the game. I really wish they would release a new expansion for the original Guild Wars. At least there the quests worked.
This is person that understands that him being dissapointed doesnt matter when objective indiacators clearly show its a success. Or vice versa. Kudos to you.
On other note, hopefully they will know how to carry with success and add to the game, some events are broken, some break randomly but hopefully they will work it out.
And hopefully they learned their lesson what to do and what not to do, since its obvious thah they made few big mistakes since launch, but what is reassuring is admitting those mistakes.
Anyway, 1 big + is that you dont have to pay them 15/month to keep playing and hoping them fixing stuff. If you are happy you can throw few bucks their way, if you are OK you can keep playing, and if you dont like it dont play it and you can easily return whenever you want without 15 entrnce fee just to check stuff out.
I guess my question is what defines 'success' in this context? Who decides how it is derived?
Success in general is subjective (unless you pull in financials which I dont think anyone has the actual numbers here) -- so hard to see how you could argue one way or another effectively?
But more importantly - why does it matter? It has nothing to do with liking/disliking the game.
Out of curiousity where did they say GW2 was going to feel like GW1? Honestly I only played a few levels of GW1 but completely expected GW2 to be different.
GW2 is in a funny, but unique spot. They have created something different. Outside of the revolutionary / evolutionary debate it doesn't play like the MMOs we are used to. This is going to (and from observation here and other forums) and has split the MMO playerbase. Progression versus (what I call) exploration or horizontal progression.
Interesting enough the game launches and soon after they implement 'small' progression via the ascended gear. It begs the question of which audience with ANet ultimately cater to. Try to succeed pleasing both sides and both will hate it.
Curious to see how the updates/expansions play out this year. I still say they have a great opportunity for a living world MMO but not sure if they'll invest in the necessary systems to do it. I mean you add housing, fishing, RP elements, expand the world, and you got an interesting concept that at least piques my curiousity.
Going to watch this one.. (as I play it along with my other MMOs)
I am going to do some simple and mostly made up math here. Try to pay attention.
assuming GW2 sold 3 million boxes: 3,000,000
(https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/colin-johanson-on-guild-wars-2-in-the-months-ahead/)
and it cost about half as much as SWTOR to make: $100,000,000
(http://www.gamespot.com/news/star-wars-the-old-republic-cost-200-million-to-develop-6348959)
and lets assume that every box sold was a normal edition sold in a retail chain store: $60
and assume that 30% of that profit goes to what not and blah blah blah to the retailers or shipping or boxing.
Than we are left with 3,000,000 * 60 = $180,000,000 and taking out the store cuts we get
$180,000,000 * 70% (cause 30% goes to what not) = 126,000,000
take out costs: 126,000,000 - 100,000,000 = $26,000,000
Im going to go with in this worst case scenario that GW2 was a success in every sense of the word.
At this point, it's pretty clear that a lot of people are more worried about their "cred" (which bet did they place, how can I be sure my ass is covered, I was right all along [insert statistics]) than ever had any concern about or interest in the game itself.
Forum cred. Is anything else quite so useless guarded with so much passion?
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
I apologize, I assumed everyone on these forums knew what constitutes a successful MMO. It's not boxes sold; we've seen enough evidence of that through "record breaking" sales of WAR, SWTOR and some others. Unless that was the business plan and they developed a bunch of patches in advance (think on-disc DLC, Capcom style).
But let me explain; for it to be a financial success for the publisher/developer, it needs to meet projected profits. In case of an MMO, in-house expetations extend beyond initial box sales, usually through implementation of subs, cash shops, or a combination thereof. We rarely - if ever, know if a game was a financial success; we usually aren't given the numbers (invesment, projected profits, etc). We speculate based on server merges, conversions to different business models, etc.
If it's a sucess in terms of being a good game for *US* is much easier to figure out, however, and depends fully on player retention. Having it be a financial success is a prerequisite - or else the game goes into "maintenance mode" of infrequent updates and "bare essentials" upkeep. You can notice players leaving easily enough by encountering ghost servers and through declining active user numbers.
With GW2s B2P model, the second kind of success will only be accurately known if they release expansion sales separately (as opposed to what they did with GW1).
I hope we're on the same page now.
http://lyrics.iztok.org/verse/Lynyrd_Skynyrd/Simple_Man/80615
Forum psychology.
Is there some way to tell how many active players are playing? Also since there is no sub how can they retain anything? People come and go...I know personally once I hit 80 i started taking a super casual approach to the game. Am I counted as retained because I only play every so often?
But...so many want to elect thermselves to speak for this dubious "US". And they all say different things.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
I think the most telling number in GW2 is the amount of Spvp servers running. It may be the only number with players listed.
Launch week there where 260-300 severs every single day. If you log in prime time tonight you wont see more than 20-28 full Spvp severs.
Now I don't know what portion of the population people who do Spvp represents, but it does represent and percent, also remeber GW2 was highly touted as a game for pvprs. I wont say a pvp game, but if you were a pvpr around launch time you bought the game.
Preposterous!!! We all know that they are not releasing activity levels because they have a lot to hide.....
The problem is that everytime Game X's successs levels get discussed there are as many ideas of what success means as there are opinions on the topic. Game sold a nice number of box sales which some can agree is what matters so in that it would be a success. The activity level on these forums is there like the OP stated. Retention matters more in a sub game but since they probably don't rely on it the same as a sub then can we say it fails there? Even though we don't know the activity levels. Less people has made the games DE's a lot more fun for me so less people is a success in itself as far as I am concerned ont hat topic. Now the game has some glaring flaws and I hope anet addresses them, but I wouldn't argue that the game was unsuccessful. I am glad the OP decided to speak up although I never would have held it against him had he not.
RIP Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan and Paul Gray.
For a couple of month's enjoyment...akin to what I would find in an average video game, it was successful to me.
But as an MMORPG, it was a dismal failure for me. Just didn't offer the depth nor longevity I am hoping for with these games. Now, that wouldn't be such an issue in itself. But paired with the blatant overhyping of the company and it's fanbase, it become one.
I initially didn't expect much from the game...maybe a week or two of fun, but it lasted longer so I was pleased. I did find it annoying being told during prelaunch how closeminded I was for saying this....and equally annoying were the ridiculous platitudes being associated with the game.
In the end, it was a rather forgettable title. Fun for a moment in time, but thats about it.
I'd say it was a massive success. I'm not sure what others were expecting, the next WoW killer prehaps? Still, I'd wager it has more active players than all but a few of the highly successful casual F2P games and WoW, or in other words second highest active player based of a game you have to buy to play.
It's pretty obvious it's trouncing SW:TOR and TSW in active players. Probably has more than both combined. It definitely seems to be making money for NCSoft and I know there are some heavy cash shop spenders (whales) in game.
What counts as a success for most people nowadays? What counts as a "massive" success?
I got my moneys worth out of the game. So did a lot of people. Its a sucess for me.
Im still waiting for the next game. GW2 just only held my interest for over 500 hours! How does this not become a sucess?
GW2census always maintained 15% pvp focus(35%pve, 50% balanced) among those polled. reddit polls were more skewed since they were just pve and pvp. 80% pve focus.