Can ArenaNet retain its player base for GW2?

Yes it is. That's been a trademark of the Elder Scrolls series for years. And they did it really well, until they forgot to include the uniqueness that made the Elder Scrolls great. They forgot it when they made Oblivion. Morrowind must be turning over in it's grave. Except that Morrowind is still in an excellent condition and has an active modding community, so it would be more accurate to say Morrowind must be giving Oblivion the finger on behalf of TES. On that note I played one or two hundred hours of Oblivion and have done everything there is to do in it (which was disappointingly little compared to Morrowind) as well as experienced a lot of modded content, so I think I can say with some authority that I know what it is.

So technically this makes Star Wars Battlefront 2 and Call of Duty 4 RPGs, because they both fit that definition. CoD4 even measures XP and levels.
Star Wars Battlefront 2.
Call of Duty 4.

First Person Shooters that match your definition of roleplaying.

Right...

Oblivion is aimed at providing you the ability to role play. You create a character and play his/her role.

Even expanding that to include advancing the character, you get the same - you still get to advance the character and provide him with better gear.

Beyond that, it's a problem of narrowing the definition too much. RPG is a general term. Not a specific one.

Heck, take a look at the game generation of Eye of the beholder 1-2-3. All were RPGs, however, the technology of the time did not yet allow advanced role playing interaction.

You forgot bioshock on that list .

My point is the basic definition of RPG has evolved and changed over the last 20 years, if you can find a standard set definition of RPG thats being used today by all means show it to me.

I've never played star wars battlefront 2 so I can't comment on that however you take "stats" completely out of context when you say CoD4 is an RPG by my definition. If you take it so literally I suppose by my defintion any and every game in which your character gains some form of development is an RPG. I guess games like Need For Speed and Madden 08 are also RPGs. You gain stats for your cars or you create a player and define his abilities as you see fit.

Point is, Final Fantasy games follow the basic RPG formula, you have a wide variety of choices and skills with which you can manipulate and develop your character. There is a large amount of choice and freedom in terms of the abilities of your character and the class they play. You gain experience through quests, defeating enemies and you're able to apply that experience into developing your character.

I suppose GW isn't an RPG has it only also has character development where you are able to choose a class, develop your character and gain access to more powerful skills and abilities.

Now I'm no game designer or anything like that but by my definition games like Oblivion, and Final Fantasy are RPGs, thats just my opinion. If you care to show me that hard and fast definition of an RPG which shows me otherwise then I'll by all means be glad to read it.

In the meantime rather than simply stating how much you've played Oblivion or games which also show stat progression, you can tell me specific points where oblivion and final fantasy fall off the RPG map.


BACK OT ... GW2 just through simple word of mouth and ease will still most likely attract a fairly strong playerbase. Now how much of that is new players I'm not sure but GW has a very friendly, casual inviting atmosphere, if thats maintained for GW2 I can't see new players avoiding GW2.

*shrug* All I can remember is having a good time.

If we took definitions to the complete literal sense, then Counter-Strike and TF2 are MMO's.

of course not. Btw. everything the community was asking for is already in WoW for over three years now, they just don't know.

If you like cartoons WoW is the game to play. To the OP people will be there to play GW2, it will draw many GW1 players and a whole new base of new players. I get a little tired of WoW players posting on GW forums about how great it is, when basically it is just one big grindfest. If I want to grind I can play many free games and do the exact same as WoW.