Should Arenanet Make another Expansion?

Though it did not turn out as originally planed with each campaign getting a new god area.... Anet did fulfill the promise of at least 1 elite area for each...

We got UW and FoW with prophacies,

Urgos, instead of melendru
and Deep, instead of Dwayna

And finally DoA instead of Lyssa.

So that was the original 5 that was intended to happen, however I do agree an expansion to add the rest of the god realms and maybe a new adventure area would be nice. Like up in the northern lake north of Kryta & Jungle areas, or the south east areas of Cantha...

However we have to be honest here. GW 1 is retiring. Anet wants it that way, Unfortunately... Ultimately GW2 has a number of Variables that may spell its doom. It being a entire new game and requiring a Clean slate, While exciting for many, is a BAD thing for many many others. Me not caring to much for gold or items for the most part in GW1, It will not be as important to me in GW2 on a reset. However I do want to claim my Name and reputation in GW2 at the very least (which HoM seems to be setup to do for us), Success or no success. Others however are Very upset that they can not take their bulging inventories and supplies into GW2.

Anet is going abandon GW1 for the most part for now... GW2 will be their focus, and if its a HUGE success and GW1 dies, and Anet removes all the servers, Well we should hope that by that time SOMETHING will happen to make it so we can continue to play our GW1 classic game someplace like the current fan based server side mod that is in the works. OR a Single player mode be put into GW1 for those that still want to play it on their own with Heroes and henchmen. Or maybe ultimate single player mode with 7 heroes at that point.

However I happen to believe the opposite will happen... GW2 may well be a huge failure. And that is my prediction. I think it will be a fad for a time, and people will get it, but that many will be returning to GW1 because that is where their stash is. and that is where the game is Easy... And unfortunately that is the type of players we have to work with anymore.

Compatibility is going to be another HUGE factor... there is a HUGE and I mean HUGE population that will not EVER go to Windows Vista. and as such never get DX10. But with a new engine I predict Anet will push GW2 into Mandatory DX10 arena. Which will make it a Vista only game. I can tell you right now. For me that will mean I will never get GW2. Without a DX9 compatibility may existing players of GW that enjoy the game today will not be able to participate at all in GW2 basically without a new machine... Indeed I know of MANY GW players that to this day still use gw.exe -dx8 switch in order to play GW at all. And one of the few reasons they do enjoy GW so much is because its one of the few modern games that they can play on their machines.

All PvP functionality will likely progress into GW2. Ultimately I believe that will be the place to PvP from then on. But I doubt PvE will progress much past GW2 initial campaign.... Why do I say that? Because of how Anet treats PvE players in general as second class citizens that they wish would grow up and participate in what they feel is the real game PvP. Which IMHO is nothing but BS and insulting to the people that buy their products... Lets face it here guys. what sells campaigns or expansions is NEW things to do in PvE, New lands, New classes (if any), new story, new missions, New lands to vanquish, New bosses and creatures to kill, and new items to attain. That is what sells expansions. not PvP... Which in all truth has hardly changed in 3 years time save for a few new classes that in the opinion of many in PvP screwed up the original Balanced teams concepts in PvP.

In the end the Lore and PvE experience that Pushed and Shoved and Stood their ground to get attention has finally won out in GW1. GW2 will force more and more PvP type areas on us, that PvE types will not enjoy as much, and may well drive them back to what they feel more comfortable with. Which will be GW1.

It all comes down to money. Look at EQ2. EQ1 was HUGE. Indeed it is still going on. Where as EQ2 was an ultimate flop. And servers for EQ2 are fewer and near empty. Save for the illegal free ones. And EQ1 has numerous official realms still active even today.

If that trend holds true with GW1. There MAY be a future expansion After GW2 comes out. But not before. I doubt a FULL expansion, maybe a new level or dungeon... On the scale of Sorrows Furnace. but I doubt a full Expansion for quite some time.

Only if GW2 is a huge flop will anet return to a tried and true business model that has been a success in the past. Which would be their GW1 Campaigns.
Unfortunately the only way to get to that point is to assure GW2 fails.

I personally think the reason GW2 will fail has little to do with any of that... It will be an alienation of the people that made GW1 a success originally. If that happens in the long period between now and GW2 launch, it will hurt Anets potential for GW2. The BEST thing they can do is a series of Beta campaigns as they did with Prophecies originally, for GW2. And keep the Original GW generation interested and involved in development of GW2. IF they go that route GW2 will be guaranteed a success, Just as GW1 was prior. But short of that, GW2 could well be forgotten over that time and players move on because of lack of content to keep them interested.

Only time will tell what will happen. I hope Anet will continue to want and support fans, but with NCSoft more and more trying to tinker with their business and support and community relations... Well... lets just say this... how many NCSoft games do you own? me I own two. City of Villians, and GW... Both of which were pretty much NCSoft hands off for a long time until recently... Now both have been taking turns for the worse with customer service issues, and Fan feedback.

I think ANet will keep GW2 as DX9 compatible. Getting the majority of people to upgrade their OS & cards will take longer than 2 years.

Unless they want to lose sales.

No expansion but rather some free updates of the existing chapters to keep players attracted. Like new quests with special rewards, an official version of a player made (mod) armor or weapon skin, changing the monster population on maps. That sort of things.

Oh and I read GW2 is scheduled for 2009, so why do people think it will take only 7 months?

I would hope with another year or so to go before gw2 that they would do something besides 'fun' weekends.....they may loose many people if they dont keep it fun until the beta at least, and if the beta is bad-----they had better be thinking about updates to gw1!

I would hope so since the majority of people with any sense are actually asking that any new systems they buy be downgraded to XP. Vista is crap.

Oh God... GW2 better not require Vista. *shudder*

lol @ people who cant operate vista to its full potential. it has around 20 drivers it doesnt support, and they're almost obsolete anyhow. OSx and Vista are darn near the same OS, read any review done by a professional with any sort of brain. (p.s. i work in graphic design, i own a G5 and a XPS 720H2C, so im not biased).


i hope that gw2 simply doesnt suck. so many differences that could be cool.. but could take the very essence of why i love gws1 so much : /

GW2 for Dx10 ftw!!! I'm running vista, and I kinda love it. Once you get used to it's strange anomalies (like allowing EVERYTHING) it's actually a great operating system. I haven't had any huge dramas with it, apart from early compatibility issues, but once they were ironed out i haven't had any major downfalls. And if Bioshock on Vista compared to XP is any indication of what Dx10 can do, I'm ALL FOR IT! Make it compatible for both, and everyone's happy.

you can turn off the guard that makes it ask you to unblock things :Pa

So 1% of 135 is 1.35. So 1.35 employees should work on holidays and 133.5 should work on GW2?

hmmm I'd Love a new "Content" Expansion, but no more pro's , and yeah, never gonna happen ^^

You should see the caves/dungeons in Oblivion.

If you want to use exact numbers then sure, its not like most holiday stuff doesn't have most of the code written for it already. Just seems like some dialog is changed and maybe some new quests. You must know a lot about GW2 to be able to be able to see the future that well. Whether people want to or not, people will get getting vista whenever they decide to update to a new computer. Microsoft put to much money into to just let it go and admit they screwed up. They might put out a new, better operating system really fast, but that is unlikely.

One of the things that made GW popular, as you said, is that it runs on older machines. What makes you think that they will decide to change now? I don't know where you get all that pvp stuff. From the first PCGamer where they announced GW2, they said that there would be a gvg type of area, along with a "mysts" where people just walk in, fight, and walk out. Every indication is that it is going to be more pve focused if anything.

Also, you say that EQ2 was a flop after EQ1 and that is what you base your prediction off of? It is too late for me to think if there are other MMOs that have a sequel, but to base the future of Guild Wars on something completely unrelated is kind of crazy.

I cant wait when gw2 comes but gw1 i think people will stay playing that one...

Like the huge population that refused to go to XP and stuck with 98, right? That gigantic amount of people?

lol! high five.


some people will just NEVER switch from Windows ME to vista.. im telling you!

Hell I still use windows 2000 on one of my game machines... But XP on most of em. However I have yet to find a game from before 2007 that does not run on windows 2000.

But its a fact that More people are downgrading to XP on new machines because Windows XP Pro Runs on the same equipment at twice the performance benchmarks as that equipment on Vista. Its just the way it is and there is little MS can do about it without bending to the consumer demands a little. I have done it myself doing benchmarks with UTIII and Crysis... Both of which get better performance ratings on XP then they do on Vista.

And your right if it was not for all the extraneous DRM and Validation processes that MS insist run on Vista that bog it down it would be a fantastic upgrade to XP. But the Cost point value to justify it as a NEW OS is just not there for most people. Not unless they have a Dual P4HT, or dual core 2.4 with 4 GB of ram and a 512mb Video card. And that is just to get to the benchmark standards that XP has on 1/2 those stats.

The point is every game that has been VISTA ONLY, has had trouble with fans being upset that the game will not work on their machine because vista itself slows things down so much. Hell even Halo 3 has a fan AND DEVELOPER efforts to make DX libraries to work on XP so their game will work on more systems. This is much to the disappointment of MS naturally... But even they have to face the fact that they are cutting their own throats with their inaction to fix performance and compatibility problems in Vista.

Its like making a console game for a Sega... Sure it could be great and it might be the best game in the world, but if the majority of the people do not have a machine to play it on its going to be a flop. Thats just the way it is. And seeing as Vista is not even released in all the same markets GW is atm, well hell. It just does not make since to make GW2 Vista DX10 only... But in order to get Vista certifications SOMETIMES MS Insists that be your priority. Crysis being DX9.0c and DX10 compatible is the exception to the rule, not the standard. Though it should be the standard. We can only hope that IF GW2 is DX10, its optional. I prey Anet has that Vision. But will NCSoft insist on it being DX10 only to appease MS? That is the question...

As to My knowledge of GW2. I have none. I am predicting a cycle of things from what I have seen happening in the background. Vista Certification for GW, VoIP staff additions, Concept notes from Developer blogs, and other emails from friends in the know. Its still Opinion however. that's all.

The EQ2 thing is prob a poor example, but I am using it cause the following was similar. The community had issues with the game at the time of the switch, and the development team ignored those suggestions and requests, and in teh end lost people over it. And when it came time to get EQ2 going the people that originally made EQ a success in the beginning were no where to be found. If that history repeats itself in GW it would be a shame, but its a possible outcome, if things just go stale between now and launch of GW2. Again My opinion... Its based off a historic precedent that is unrelated, yes. But all I can say is it just FEELS the same. That's why I said what I did...

This deserves a fullquote!

GW:EN could have been such a great game, showing great promise. I also think they had some really cool ideas.

In the end they had to go on with GW2, and we got something that reminds me of the Maguuma Jungle: A lot of stuff missing and being unfinished business.


What bugged me the most was how we entered the final battle with the great destroyer through a portal in a cave without any other entrance or exit. In the end you see Primordus awakening and the heroes running out of the cave, on what seems to be the fire island II in the north, presumably the home of the destroyers where we should have travelled if they had the time to complete it.

I also believed the intro during the preview event to be some shortened "preview intro", but no, it was really supposed to start that way.



How on earth should ANet find time to make another expansion of a higher quality level.

They were always late with their half year per chapter schedule, Assassins and Ritualists had to be balanced like in beta till the release of Nightfall, the border line was not moving for ages, alliance battles were totally meaningless and are only given some more meaning with the new kurzick/luxon pve skills. The Domain of Anguish was not finished on release and so on.


I wish they had enough people to add new areas to GW, e.g. between the Umbral Grotto and Kryta, I call this area the "big green hole". Or spice up existing areas with quests.

But at least we get some new weapon skins after wintersday, according to a gaile chat from yesterday.

i hate to sound like im making a big deal out of this, but while i know the AVERAGE user doesnt know the real potential of a computing device, vista, once really tinkered with, is just as fast, if not faster, and definitely prettier and more sleek than any other OS. my g5 is fast, but my Xps is faster, and they're almost the same inside minus the graphics card. not to mention, vista is super suave, and just more exciting to use. i dont use the stupid sidebar, and i turn of user profile defender, seeing as that alone can tear up your processor speed, but tbh, although both computers are above your average, everyday computer, my mac has nothing on my pc, and more so, will never be as compatible or mainstream as my pc. i play all of my games, run all of my apps and pro apps flawlessly, never had a problem at all, and my home media stuff is brilliant and with no problem as well. i play halo, oblivion, titan quest, ut3, and all the other really -bog you down- games, at the highest everything, and still browse, play on photoshop, and all the works, while listening to music and on aim, with no lag, or any other issue.

might be because i spend all my money on my computers. might be because i know the proper way to run any windows machine. might be because im a nerd. might be because im lucky. either way. i still use my pc over my mac any day, and i'll never go back to old crusty xp.

just my opinion of course though.

OK I don't want to turn this into a Vista vs XP hijack topic. thats not fair to the OP. but lets just say right now its a 50/50 thing. So if it goes to be DX10 only thats 1/2 the community lost right there. and thats bad... My hope is it will be there as an option; as -dx8 is now with the switch; and leave it at that...

Nah, I don't mind it now I'm used to it. Hardly even notice it.

On the other vista v xp conversation though, it really doesn't matter what OS you have as long as the game is compatible with both. Bioshock alone shows that a game can be played and still look great on many differing OS's, with only very minimal Dx10 and Dx9 difference. I do believe that anything further, whether it be an expansion or GW2 should start to move with the times, graphically. GW still looks great, but using new technologies to their full advantage would just mean it could be so much greater.

No more expansions. GW:EN had too little content and was a disappointment. Just focus on making GW2 a success.

Maybe make Grind of the South, with 40 reskins of the reskins in eotn!

It'd be nice to have something new half way till GW2 release.

I'd probably buy it anyway.

No, i think they should focus on GW2, and have a great Beta in 2008.
The sooner the beta the better, it's not like it's the real game right? I just want something new to play.

Were are you getting 7 months??????
like 3 months ago anet sayed 2009 thats 2 years considering they will prolly release it twords christmas
I doubt it will be done by than and will prolly get pushed back to early 2010

Seriously?? Are we playing the same game. Yes, I agree the armors and weapons are just for vanity, but Guildwars is oozing with greedy players! Farming and Powerselling come to mind.

i think he means people arent greedy for item powering. unlike most MMOs, you arent gear dependant, and everything "maxed" comes pretty naturally.

No. Simply said. The game was perfect when it was only chapter one. Should of just added afew higher level stuff to that.

I don't know what it is, GW really bores me now, but still something about the game makes it the first thing I click on whenever I see my desktop.

Should Anet make GW: Grindhouse for PvE?

Honestly? if it was just prophecies, i'd have quit just after factions had been released, I'd gotten bored of it then, but even then including betas i'd been playing for a year and a half

I would definitely not be playing anymore if there weren't other chapters to have kept me amused. I hate doing low lvl prophecies quests now, there's too much repetition of the same area since you can't get quests for the same area until you've already finished a quest. Prophecies is good for new players, but imagine if for the last 2ish years you had NOTHING to play but that. I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that we would have got bored about a year ago...

Would you be content if Super Mario Bros. game sequel just had more content but the same graphics and gameplay?

I want more Guild Wars, but I don't want to frustrate ArenaNet programmers. They obviously felt they can make a better game if they completely overhauled it. Sometimes its good to step away from an old way of doing things, if you can do it much better in entirely different process.

GW2 is going to be a much better game.

Why do all of you think everything should be free? Must be a bunch of kids that have not realized yet that you have to work and pay to have nice things nothing worth anything is free.

I think the game got better as it went on not worse (until EoTN). I liked Factions better than Prophecies and Nightfall better than Factions...then GWEN cam out and I don't care for it too much but hey 3/4 aint bad. I think they need to get GW2 out asap but make a level cap for crying out loud..if we want to play WoW and Evercrack we will play them!!