How does Anet plan to keep us interested for 9 more months?

Outside of the announced expansion and normal events, I'm going to predict the following:

Game improvements: player item auction functionality, more interface improvements/tweaks, player pet changes, new armor types.

Any number of game improvements implemented over the next year will go a long way to keep people engaged.

This is my plan (which is the same for the majority of my friends) until GW2 is out:

Currently:
- Waiting for GW2 (no plans to buy GW:EN)
- Putting more time into other games and playing GW1 very sparingly (only when I want a break from the other stuff).
- Staying in touch with what's going on in the world of GW through the main website and forums.


If more detailed information about how the Hall of Monuments system will work... then this may change:
- Don't need to know exactly what I'll get for doing/having X. Just general information like if GW1 accomplishments can transfer to future GW2 accounts at any time (like an Account-Unlock that even existing GW2 characters can go to the Hall of Monuments and receive). Will there be a different bonus Per Title for all titles? Will there be a bonus for different levels of a title? This kind of info would convince me to buy GW:EN and buy missing GW1 Chapters right now like Nightfall. It would pull me back to playing GW1 because I have a better idea of what effect it has on my GW2 time.
- Whether special event items like candy canes will transfer (otherwise why bother with events like Wintersday?). My free time is too valuable to be spent gathering items to trade in for Candy Canes when I could be winning booster packs drafting in Magic:The Gathering Online.
- GW:EN without a Hall of Monuments system that interests me means I just continue what I'm currently doing and wait for GW2. Will then just look forward to a fresh start.

I'm still trying to choose between getting lots of titles on the same character or getting each of them one or two..

Anet shouldn't wait that long to launch GW: Eye of The North. The good thing about Nightfall's release, is that it was not to far off and not to close after Faction's. It came just at the right time when I got bored with Prophecies and Factions all together. Factions is my favorite campaign (mainly cause I'm bias to the fact it was my first GW campaign and I love the armor) but after a while it just got quickly boring and Prophecies.....the more I play it, the more I realized I'm just doing it to kill time because I'm very bored. Guild Wars being the only game I care to associate with, yet the only game I can spare some time for, has really gotten very boring. I'm more of the pve type, so yeah I've been seeing a lot of these pvp events pretty lame and unnecesary (although, its great for those who are move into pvp over pve). Naturally when I login in GW trying to find something to do, but nothing after being done beating the missions, getting atleast a few titles (don't have the time to get all of hem) the good greens, golds and stuff my 11 pve's (playing all classes including 2 assassins (1 male, 1 female: Yeah, yeah, I love the Sin.) with so many sets of ascended armor that Anet should atleast consider making an armor storage for us lovely armor collectors. (Which they really should, considering Anet's conjured up 40 new armor sets for GW: EN. If anet doesn't, there wouldn't be much purpose of taking any character over, even though I'd really love to.) Yeah, I know 11 pves? Well after a while, you learn the shortcut of getting your characters to level 20 pretty quickly.


The only PVP I do is AB and that's when I'm really, reaaaaaaaaaaaally bored and that's just very boring. Noticing how Anet has ignored AB and kept the interchanging maps over and over and over. Whenever I enter the area you see so many players already complaining of how boring ab is and that they could atleast make some new maps - anything w/e.

But point being, All three campaigns are already boring. (Now watch someone kiss ass to Anet) There are only so many limited ways from left to right, right to left and so on to conquering the game. And yeah, even though I have made 11 pves, it was kinda really boring going through the same quests and missions over and over. Come on now, after 11 pves it does get really boring. So for Anet's sake, I hope they really consider to pull the release of GW: EN to come in a bit earlier. Who knows? Some rival company might come up with a game sooo good it would drive away the interest of most of Anet's consumers. And who knows about GW 2 if it actually turns out the way I didn't expect, I'd probably get it too, but for the meantime...Anet hurry up! LOL. (Yeah, yeah, I decided to give it a damn shot...maybe.)

Hard mode and maxing sunspear/lightbringer are the part of the same thing. Hard mode will not only be for missions but for explorable areas.
It will give you harder monsters with better loot; the lightbringer and sunspear are no doubt the same as the bounty system now except a harder area will give more points.

what i find slightly ironic and funny is that some people are making a fuss about leaving (partly cuz transfering characters). you can stop playing if you really want to....o_0
They want to leave because theyve put so much effort into their work and they cant transfer but hows leaving going to solve this problem? What about your so called effort?

I'll just go for Skill hunter Title for one of my charactor.

Even with the hard mode, it's still going to get boring. Don't get me wrong. I love Guild Wars. I think it's the best video game out there. You really can have an actual real life and play this game. However, it is boring (as I said before) now. The good thing with the majority of the missions and quests is that you can take them on with your henchies and heroes). The most you are gonna see in hard mode when it comes to team play is major character discrimination where some pretentious noob that dictates everyone's build (even if you know your build is way better than what that noob demanded.) and thinks the only thing to get by are his idea of the "elite" team. (Mainly rejecting ever non-core profession, especially the Assassin - which only noobs would never comprehend it's a great class if used right.)

Anet still needs to hurry it up.

I still encounter crap assassins. Call me wary or stubborn, but the crap to skilled assassin ratio is still not worth it. Friends and guildies I know who use assassins are very good at them. But most randoms are not.

Unless theres a huge update, I'll be taking a break until GWEN comes out.

Wouldn't that huge update be Hard Mode?

I'm hoping that the "Title Rush" will fill up the mission area more...

Not that we "need" people to do the missions, but it sure makes them more fun.

Well, if GW:EN turns out to be released in November-December I'll be playing another game while I wait and that's Hellgate: London. Which is schedule to be released this Summer, hopefully.

say, isn't Spore supposed to come out? Sometime?

GW1 held us for > 1 year. And the SF expansion was not that large when you look at the grand scheme of things.

I think the do stuff in GW1 for GW2 unlocks will be a big factor as well.

But the main thing for me, if I'm bored, I put GW down and do something else, and come back latter.

Edit - Pet changes / controls are in the works Gaile mentioned and in final stages of testing.

We got different events left in Tyria, Canthan and NF. Not to mention preview event for GW:EN and maybe GW 2 before it is release. Also if you have console systems (PS3, PS2, Xbox360, Wii, whatever) you got plenty of games to play with before GW 2 is released.

Eh, mainly just pvp and farming I guess. Got FFXII waiting, and Supreme Commander. And Tekken5 Dark Resurrection is always around. And I've been meaning to finsh Dawn of War: Dark Crusade with the eldar too. Last faction to go

well, im working on the titles

did u know there is a new kind of a big deal title? theres a 3rd one now, 15 titles maxed, who had time for that? anyways i need 6millk for the sweet tooth, wisdom, and chest run.....so ya, i got a list of quest to work on.

friends+airsoft gun fights= fun forever

GW:EN will come out Q3 2007, not december or november.....

Proof? Theory?

Would you care to point out the big holiday in Q3 to make people refer to it and NOT Christmas as the Holiday Season?

There has to be a reason for this Design-a-Weapon contest...

I believe it got pushed back again to next year...

Really I don't think they have a plan to even keep me interested for 2 months.

I've gone through all three chapters with 4 characters and now finding myself in the "bored boat". I really don't understand why with already limited end game content, that Anet is holding on to their pvp tied to pve for access (UW, FOW, Deep, Urgotz).

Customer retention I would think is important for any business. Pvp is an alternative, but shouldn't be the only way. If people get bored for too long, they will leave.

I bet they'll release a DoA/SF type thing in the summer...if not, I guess I have 9 months to farm for some FoW armor! (Yes, I am that slow)

I'm helping peoples and farming things during this 9 months of waiting!

or we can rely on ourselves to entertain ourselves (that sentence sounds weird but it works). Maybe I will host another one of my fun guru contests??? (not that I am hinting at a really big contest in the near future for a phenomenal prize... *cough cough*).

True, even if they don't plan on doing anything, and focus all of their time on GW:EN, I won't mind that much.

I'll probably just log in a few times a week to work on my KOABD title, and just chill and do anything else when I'm not playing, over the summer. No rush to get that title though... I got like 2 years lol.

But yes, I'm sure Anet has a hat full of surprises...including that Pet Hero Control thing, although I have no clue how that is going to make me want to play more.

Boy I already got hooked into GW2

http://eu.guildwars.com/press/article/gw_eotn_announce/

Due to hit store shelves during the Q3 2007, Guild Wars: Eye of the North™ will require at least one of the previous Guild Wars campaigns (Prophecies™, Factions™, or Nightfall™) in order to play

GW was never designed as a game you play for years.. you play for a few months , then stop playing and come back when there is new campaign. I really don't see any problem here.. bored? go play something else and come back when you want.

Ah, but that's in Europe, the US and Asia needs to wait for another 3 months

huh? and double take

nooo, these things have a worldwide release, its been that way for each chapter.

Don't put too much stock in that, I think by now we're all familiar with how much release dates slide around.

yea.. ANet released 3 games and all of them were released on time =P

lets see why im not going to get bored =
hard mode for 3 campaigns = maybe they will add hard mode for eye of north too.
changes to mesmers and rangers.
changes to pvp
oh and the new guild wars

LOL I received NF on the day before anet open NF server. The most annoying 12 hours ever, a bit like when I pre-download Half-Life 2 contents and had to wait 2 weeks for the stupid activation code.

Hard to say what "on time" is, like for Factions they didn't even say when it might be coming for the longest time. Q3 is very vague, if they can't be more specific I wouldn't be surprised if it changed.

Thats the reason they say Q3, to be vague. I've found that generally games come out in the quarter their announced, but never the right month/date. Although I'm still waiting around for Two Worlds.

Guitar Hero 2 comes out this week though!

Guitar Hero 1 sold?

Hell just broke loose.