Guild Wars 2 Adopts Bimonthly Content Updates

[Earnest Cavalli]

Guild Wars 2 Adopts Bimonthly Content Updates

Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet has decided to step up its planned schedule of releasing new content for the MMO by shifting to a twice-monthly scheme.

Massively multiplayer online games rely on fresh content updates to a degree not seen in any other genre. MMO fans are a rabid bunch who will tear through new content almost as quickly as developers can cobble it together, so any company hoping to be successful in the MMO space has to be prepared to create and roll out new distractions on a regular basis. How regular? Well, if you happen to work for Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet, the answer seems to be "every two weeks."

"We're doing three [week updates] currently, but now we're pushing to two weeks," Guild Wars 2 lead content designer Mike Zadorojny states in a recent interview with GamerZines.

"It's a marathon not a sprint and we've been getting better with each of our releases, in terms of how we budget, how we plan it out, how we manage personnel etc. Now we have four full 'Living World' teams that are building these content updates, so that we can stagger releases and make sure that [our developers] can decompress and get the quality time necessary to build a good design document before going back in and trying to implement it all over again."

That's a great idea, and should alleviate fan complaints about the lack of proper end-game content in Guild Wars 2 to some degree, but isn't there a fear that this update schedule might burn out ArenaNet's cadre of developers? Certainly, but Zadorojny claims that with time and practice the company has become much more adept at turning around new content in a short amount of time and the benefits of this speed should only increase as time rolls along.

"Our goal is that as we do this, we're getting better and better at it," Zadorojny states. "We're starting to catch the bigger mistakes that we would've missed earlier on. We're starting to build the infrastructure, the framework and the tools to help us do this because we really think that this is the longevity of the product."

"If we can push this, if we can add content every two weeks that is engaging to the players, then really it's almost like a TV show at that point. It's kind of stay tuned until next week for the thrilling conclusion of ..." he adds.

"That's where our goal is, and it's really fascinating when you have an entire studio dedicated to pulling off."

Can ArenaNet pull this off? We just don't know. We wish the developer the best of luck, but that's a very strenuous development schedule. If it succeeds, then they deserve full propers, but if the scheme crashes and burns you can expect us to report on the carnage tout de suite.

Source: GamerZines [http://www.gamerzines.com/pc/arenanet-planning-fortnightly.html]

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[ciasteczkowyp]

this mmo still lacks any end game content worth of guild co-op ;/

 

[Sicht]

People don't remember spat out content bi-monthly as opposed to content that has had what it's offering polished. While you can say the content can be polished it's hard to stay creative and fresh when you're ripping idea's from your box at an alarming rate.

 

[Korten12]

Guild Wars 2 was a game I really wanted to try out after I quit WoW. I played the first one for a while and enjoyed it but ultimately everyone I played with jumped back over to WoW so I followed them. I even got it as a Christmas gift this past year. However, after 14 years on the MMO treadmill I just didn't have it in me to pick up another one.

That's not to say I won't try it in time. I do own the damn game after all and there are no subscription fees so I might give it a go eventually. Or install it at least.

It's hardly a MMO treadmil, it's easy to level up and there is no gear treadmil unless you go after legendary gear which is all cosmetic. You can play the game very casually.

 

[Gali]

To the people still playing, last month I read Anet is working on a LFG tool. Is it in the game already? I don't have the time to participate in a guild, and though I know there's a third party website many people use to build groups, I'd prefer an ingame-feature.

OT: Jeez, and I thought monthly updates are maybe a bit too much. Well, if they think they can handle that...

 

[Jamous]

Goddamnit. I really wish I'd never fallen out of GW2. I loved it, I just ended up not being able to get online often.

 

[Jburton9]

Woah a two week schedule? I hope they can pull it off, I can see it working as every two weeks adds a bit more to an on going storyline or current theme.

I pop onto GW2 every so often but for me at least it lacks a certain something, maybe it is the combat mechanics or the story just did not grab me enough, hmm.

I am glad GW2 is out there as it clearly demonstrates another MMO way of doing things vs being like the others all going down the same way over beaten path. : )

How it will adapt to the new MMO's coming out will be interesting to see.

 

[Deathfish15]

Can ArenaNet pull this off? We just don't know. We wish the developer the best of luck, but that's a very strenuous development schedule. If it succeeds, then they deserve full propers, but if the scheme crashes and burns you can expect us to report on the carnage tout de suite.

Source: GamerZines [http://www.gamerzines.com/pc/arenanet-planning-fortnightly.html]

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Wow, does that last paragraph sound like a pompous fan shouting from the stadium "your team sucks, I hope you lose!"

Any way you could have made a slight spin on the fact that A.Net is already doing massive content updates and patches at a rate 3x-5x faster than subscription giant World of Warcraft? Or how they're already doing a good job, though some minor hitches go through once in a while that are quickly resolved with a quick patch hours after they're flagged.

Right now they're doing something bold, something different, and something exciting in a genre that's rather stale like last week's bread. Should try to props them for it now, instead of setting up for a "we're going to report when they crash and burn".

Biased reporting is biased.

this mmo still lacks any end game content worth of guild co-op ;/

Wrong. Guild Missions were added long ago, and keep getting new additions every 1-2 patch cycles. There are Rushes, Challenges, Puzzles, Bounties, and Treks. Hours worth of content on a weekly cooldown that rewards currency for end-game gear, festivity items, and more. Sounds like raid stylization that other games have, only different on a more FUNdamental level.

 

[Shuguard]

Problem with these updates is they are always broken Day 1 of release. These patches are honestly not really impressive, they are gone by the next few weeks as it is almost all temporary content. Also every patch pulls out another RNG cash box f2p mmos love to use.
Here's a link to their "updates"
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/june-25-2013/

Also just want to point out anet has pretty much abandoned their current dungeon team to push these story updates.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Sure I get they want to keep us drawn into the game once we finish the story but I don't want those events to be that consentant!

After I bought the game, I bought three more character slots (wanted to have all profession) and thanks to these new events, they drawn people away from the higher end areas like Orr meaning more it's harder to get things done in those area (like those Temples events). Beside most of the new events are not permanent so it lose abit of a appeal of stuff that stayed in the world (so we got a new island, new point of itnerests, some NPCs that we won't visit after the event and one big retro minigame).

I would love for them to at least take a month break from these new events so at least we get breath again!

 

[Jandau]

...and this is why I quite Guild Wars 2 recently.

Now, I can already hear you: "Why would you do that? Isn't content a good thing?" Normally, it would be, but the problem is that every time a new "set" of content starts, the previous set is removed. For instance, there was a set of 3-4 updates called "Flame and Frost". It was an episodic story that culminated in a fairly fun dungeon which was praised by many as the best dungeon in the game. Two weeks after the final episode (i.e. the dungeon) came out, it expired and was removed from the game.

This happens to every piece of content that is released.

Add to this that most of the content is just pathetically bad (Flame and Frost was pretty much crap aside from the said dungeon, what followed (Dragon Bash festival) was even worse) and you start to see why this isn't a very good thing. And finally, the development resources are being pushed into crap content while the game's glaring problems are being ignored for months.

All in all, unless you love PvP, the game isn't very fun at max level, at least for me. A shame, since the game had promise.

 

[Kahani]

every time a new "set" of content starts, the previous set is removed.

I haven't quit myself since I only play very casually, but this is exactly the problem with GW2. It doesn't matter what schedule they pick to release content, there's very little point in them bothering at all since they just delete all again almost immediately. With virtually every other MMO, if you leave for a bit and then come back, there will be a pile of new stuff to do. With GW2, if you leave for a bit and then come back, the game will be identical to how it was when you left. Unless your gaming time happens to line up exactly with their release schedule (and some of their living story stuff changes every day while it's running), it's just not possible to see most of the new stuff they release. This seems particularly silly when you consider their "pay once, no subscription" funding model which seems geared specifically towards casual gamers dropping in and out rather than hardcore players tied to a subscription.

It's a shame, because they've actually had some nice ideas about making the world less static, but the way they've implemented it leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Jandau]

every time a new "set" of content starts, the previous set is removed.

I haven't quit myself since I only play very casually, but this is exactly the problem with GW2. It doesn't matter what schedule they pick to release content, there's very little point in them bothering at all since they just delete all again almost immediately. With virtually every other MMO, if you leave for a bit and then come back, there will be a pile of new stuff to do. With GW2, if you leave for a bit and then come back, the game will be identical to how it was when you left. Unless your gaming time happens to line up exactly with their release schedule (and some of their living story stuff changes every day while it's running), it's just not possible to see most of the new stuff they release. This seems particularly silly when you consider their "pay once, no subscription" funding model which seems geared specifically towards casual gamers dropping in and out rather than hardcore players tied to a subscription.

It's a shame, because they've actually had some nice ideas about making the world less static, but the way they've implemented it leaves a lot to be desired.

The cynical explanation for this would be that it's in their best interest to have people constantly logging in, since they are more likely to buy stuff in the cash shop then. If people just pop in every few months to see the new stuff, it lowers the chances they'll buy stuff.

In general, the overall feel of the game's new content kinda seems aimed at milking money. For heaven's sake, the game doesn't let you buy fancy weapon/armor skins for real money, it lets you buy a key for a chest that has a tiny chance of giving a skin. That's just wrong...

 

[Revolutionary]

This is going to mean twice a month updates that I have to download chewing through my bandwith for content which for the most part I won't even see because I'm only mid level. Better for end-game max level players I guess, it just means more waiting time for me.