what I think should happen in the future...

Well for some of you this thread may be depressing and hopeful at the same time, we all know that at some point (may it be many many MANY years from now) that the servers will eventually close and that guild wars will dissapear from everyone save our memories, but why should it be like this? I thought about it for a while and came up with an answer that should make everyone happy (including Anet and NCsoft) what i beleive should happen is when the time comes out for the servers to close, Anet should release one more game (at the usual price), only this one wouldnt add any new content, instead it would add all the data required to turn Guild Wars into single player download our characters from the servers and set up our own servers, thus allowing Guild Wars to live on as long as we want, and while i know this is probably a long way off its good to start thinking about what u should do now.

so what do u guys think?

/sign

also if possible id like an official response from gaile gray or someone else who works from Anet, that way i know they heard about this thread

I like chicken.

That's extremely wishfull thinking. I'm not sure if it would even be possible for them to make our characters downloadable; but in all honesty I don't think enough of the community would actually play GW in a standard local game capacity to warrant actually considering it.

release the server code and let people host their own private servers? (but with less peopler per server)

Will see after 5 year later or so.... afterall grandfather UO is still running....

Hooray! Yeah, funny how it's stll around. 2D FTW.

I still think GW has a strong grip on its style and fun. I just think they should release version of GW that have no really big changes in it except for Graphics and a few features that make it cooler. So this'll please the people who are just stingy about having good graphics and also it'll keep up for the future graphics cards and computers.

I'd play it single player if they got rid of the farming "fix" *cough*nerf*cough*

And then, with 1500 ectos in storage, you'd get a nice 15^50, req 7 crystaline from Forgotten chest, and you'd post screenshots of it on the web.

Oh, what joy that would be. A crystaline sword, the most expensive item, in a single player game.

And yes, I have 375,083 points in Space Invaders. Ain't I cool.

Seriously, what would you do with money? Buy 17,415 superior vigors? What would you do with stacks upon stacks of ectos? With maxed out chest runner title? I'm sure Rotscale would be amused.

The reason people farm is so they can brag before others with their sundering Fiery Dragon Sword of Fortitude. It would be only then that it would hit you, how worthless every single thing in GW is. Including crystaline swords.

Farming, in a single player game, for items with identical stats? To each their own I guess.

thats why i put in the thing about creating our own private servers when therirs go down

I have suggested such an idea in the past as well.

UO, everquest, AC(1) and even Linage(1) are still running despite being outdated is because they still have a royal player base that PAYS MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION to play those old and outdated MMO games.

In the case/business model of GW where it boast "free online play", should a chapter or the title become a flop and fail, there wont be enough revenue to justifty for maintaining the servers for free to play online which will likely force them to do 2 things:

1) Shut down servers after the failed Chapter - see AC2 with turbine

2) Give funny excuse and try to charge a monthly online maintance fee to keep servers running.

Hence i believe what the OP means to say is, instead of going with the 2 possible options, perhaps Anet could either make the game open source (fat hope i know) or present a closing chapter where we can continue to play the games (all the past chapters we paid for) offline on our standalone PCs perhaps with limited multiplayer capabilities such that the individual guilds can host their own mini servers on someones PC for their fellow guidlies to play together in the same game. ie NWN concept.

Personally i see this as an idealistic but unrealistic hope since when a game fails, the publisher and developer cant justify the resources to generate options for the playerbase. They usually just pack things up and reallocate personel to other new projects for profit and issue a public statement with server shut down dates and its up to us to bid our own farewells.

The matter of the fact is that it will depend how the IP/patents rights for GW is managed for such an option to be even considered remotely possible, which i doubt is likely.

Lol. How long has it been since RO came out? People still play the original. A lot of people. Sure, there are a shitload of new servers produced by random people like every month or something, but they die after a couple years or so.

/Notsigned

A.Net is not stupid. People are gonna play this game for quite some time. Requesting something this bold is far too early and actually disrespectful, in my opinion.

Personally, I dont see how its "disrespectful", as ANet does start work on a new chapter only 6 months before the "new" release. Thats planning ahead, and for somethink like releasing the server side files, it would take ALOT of discussion(over time, they do have work to do), so they can have some general idea of whether or not its something theyd want to do, when GW has run its course, and is no longer a viable game, market-wise.

You say that as if there is some inherent difference in how these types of games are sustained. If people stop paying for UO, EQ and AC, they'll stop running, all the same. And if people continue to buy GW games, they will continue, for 5 years or more if people are that loyal. It's the same concept, only different in terms of execution. One makes revenue due to monthly fees, the other with game sales.

Yes there is an inherent difference, there still exist those who actually pays to play those old game on a monthly fee! which is the only reason why they are still running. Oh goodness we sound like we are disagreeing when we are agreeing on the same thing...

Yes i agree with you in general, but you must admit that billing and collecting monthly fees for those outdated MMOs sure is easier than having to come up with a entirely new chapter/game every 6 months hoping players will like it enough to buy it kind of a model that GW is on at the moment in terms of pure effort involved.

Edit: for those who might misunderstand, i am not trying to encourage a Monthly subscription model for GW, kindly read the rest of the thread before responding.

However before someone begins to mention battlenet and how D2 has been running free multiplayer for years, if i am not mistaken interms of bandwidth and operational cost, it would be more taxing for Anet to actually provide GW free to play forever than it would cost D2 for Blizzard.

I don't think it is possible for a chapter to be a flop. Players will buy the next one to see what it is like, whether they were happy with the last one or not, post their list of "like" and "don't like" and keep playing. New players will always be attracted by the "no fee to play" feature.

@OP - it's not a bad idea. Nothing "good or bad" lasts forever. If or how it could be implemented is something we would have to wait to see. But I think you would end up with a game missing a lot of content and features which would make the current playerbase reluctant to buy it. No one wants a game "sort of like" GW. They want the real thing.

well, as i see it, it seems the OP is saying:

When A-net finally decides "this is the last chapter. We've taken this theme as far as it can go (be it chapter 5 or 25). Time to pack up guys," some of the players might appreciate being able to run through the quests and missions (not everyone is obsessed with having the perfect dwarven axe). Generate a new character and go through the instances with hench. But with no more chapters, the servers wont be funded. No servers, no play, and i have a pile of software, and characters i really liked, sitting locked away and i can't even take them out for a little dance. This could be addressed by a farewell package. A "Final" chapter that isn't even a chapter. Just a way for you to set up the game so it is playable on your home PC, sans internet. Honestly, the game is sooooo beautiful (eye of the beholder) i'd hate to have all that content lost forever. So, when A-Net does choose to end the series - it will happen eventually - it would just be a nice send off if the final installment allowed you to continue to enjoy the lush environments/challanges of the PvE world. So, to that end...

/signed

EXACTLY

the internet will be superseded by the "better" internet and current games won't be appealing to the future generation.

and youll get old and won't be devoting your time to gaming.

Already there, for the most part. Also, forgot to /signed

Imo they already got it covered one way or another...

When they run out of ideas or choose to stop making chapters or whatever they will likely start to charge small monthly fee I would think.


As with all big company they still own it and can change what they like.. a quick look on there website...

5. CAMPAIGN AND ADDITIONAL FEATURE PURCHASES
.......
.....blah blah... a bit further down..
....
ah! here
(c) NC Interactive reserves the right to alter the fees payable for new Campaigns and/or Additional Features or introduce alternative fee structures for the Service. Any alteration to the purchase price will be posted on the Web Site at least 30 days prior to such alteration taking effect. If you do not agree to any such alteration, you should not purchase the new Campaign and/or Additional Features and/or you should terminate your Account prior to the date on which the alteration takes effect, otherwise the revised amount will automatically be debited to your Account.



Nuff said basically if they choose they could start charging monthly as of next chapter... I doubt they will after all the "no monthly fee" press. Theres plenty of life in GW yet so it would be like shooting themself in the foot. Not to mention the fan base atm, but they aint stupid its there for a reason. Maybe just to cover all the bases but it there.

**EDIT**
Just want to point out that I dont want them to monthly hell no!, In fact I would likely go elsewhere and play something else. The idea of an end game/chapter like the OP posted would be a nice way to finish off.
However from a sales/business point of view £20 for and end game V's £5 a month for a while and then still the option of a £20 end game I think I know which any company is going to try for.

Um....that line is under "Campaigns and Additional Feature Purchases"

which is only speaking about adding campaigns and buying slots(etc)

This makes zero reference to a monthly fee or a subscription....

Why dont you read the description of the ACTUAL service.

NC Interactive offers the Game(s) as a subscription-free on-line fantasy role-playing game service with fee-based releases of new Game(s) content (the "Campaigns") and additional features including, without limitation, character slots and skill packs ("Additional Features") (the "Service") accessible through our web site, currently at http://www.guildwars.com (the "Web Site"). NC Interactive reserves the right to change the URL address of the Web Site at any time.

Campaign fees and additional stuff fees can be changed in pricing.