Can ArenaNet retain its player base for GW2?

Of course people will come back. Even those who started playing other games.


The real question is if people will stay or regret trying GW2. This means GW2 must be equal or better than the competition in 1-2 years.

I may not play as much as I used to but I'll be playing GW2 for sure. GW2 is going to be pretty awesome

Guild Wars isn't a Marriage and most players don't treat Guild Wars like a Marriage, unlike other subscription based games on the market where you're joined in the holy credit card matrimony of getting in enough hours to make sure your vow is honored.

I find asking the question, "will players stick with GW for such a long time?", extremely narrow-minded. I wonder if there is a bias behind it? Nah, couldn't be. It's as though one is under the impression that the entire player base of GW is a guru member, that there aren't any brand new players coming into the game, or that when GW2 comes out, it won't be the first GW game players play.

Much like my playstation, which is doing more dust collecting than game playing, when I tire of a game, I shelf it and move onto something else. It's a foriegn concept to some; putting a game away and perhaps trying something else. I don't spend 40 dollars on FF expecting 3 & 4 years of pure, sweet, fulfilling enjoyment.

However, like my love for the Half Life franchise, through all the delays and waiting, I bought HL2. It was well worth it. Through all the aches and pains of long delays for Halo 3, I love the series, so I certainly came back for Halo 3.

If players aren't moving around to other games because they feel the need to marry one game and never leave it, that's an issue they have to deal with on their own. Anet has done an amazing job cramming all the content they could possibly push into this series already. I'm not saying it's perfect, but what game is perfect? I've never played a perfect game. Have you?

No, instead we play games that best suit what we enjoy. GW caters to the majority of what I enjoy in an online game. Not everything, but, to give a figure, 85-90% of what I enjoy.

Guild Wars 1 is a relative small series and has had a long lasting life in a business where long lasting success is less than 20%. The MMO market, present day, is echoing the height of the dot.com boom. It has become so competitive that unless you have a truly unique idea, you will fold. I can't imagine anyone here believes the developers of GW2 aren't going to deliver something unique.

When GW2 comes out I will buy it. I can't say I won't because I know nothing about GW2 that says it won't be worth it. Nothing concrete has been said about it, no screen shots, no movies, no list of "Here's some features you WILL experience, no changes from now until release!: _____________ "

I've enjoyed my GW1 experience. Much like the Final Fantasy Series, Halo, Half-Life, and so on; It's a franchise I love to play and when I feel I've gotten all my enjoyment out of it, I'll move on. If it GW2 turns out to be a game I don't enjoy, then like so many other games I've purchased in my life, it'll find a home on my shelf and life will move on.

Players come and go. Some stay for a long time, some stay for very little, but it's a cycle every online game has. If you want to be the Doomsday prophet, yelling "The End is Near!", like the half-blind man in downtown Manhattan, so be it. It's rather foolish though to live in such a world. Equally foolish is living into a world where you feel like you're cheating on Guild Wars if you try something else.

Support of this franchise doesn't have to mean you're monogamous. I'm not monogamous and I never will be, but to this day, the Guild Wars franchise has been the best online game I've had the honor of being a part of and while not being perfect, it has shown more than enough appreciation to me that I will continue to support the franchise in GW2.

Zinger has the most epic love/hate relationship with gw i have ever seen... ever.

This is the best description of the relationship between MMO and its users I have EVER read, anywhere. Congrats!

[quote]The MMO market, present day, is echoing the height of the dot.com boom. It has become so competitive that unless you have a truly unique idea, you will fold.[/quote

Very well put. I agree that MMO are the new .com, combined with social networking sites. (in essence, I believe that people are just using/playing the applications that come closer to what they're looking for, the social dimension/communication, plus bits of challenge in an MMO)

+1 to the rest of your post.

The more likely story is that Zinger is bored and thought it would be funny to get a bunch of forum denizens riled up. The alternative is that he/she is "concern trolling". I think we can charitably assume the former, because who isn't bored these days?

True that, i am boredddddd, but that doesn't mean we'll loose interest....right? ... right?!

Just because someone isn't actively playing GW1 when GW2 comes out doesn't mean they won't play GW2. There are lots of players who bought GW1, played it, enjoyed it, and moved on. When GW2 comes out they will go "I remember enjoying GW1 - I think I will check out GW2." And because it's not a subscription game, that is all Anet needs to make money.

One of the things most MMOs do to hold onto their player bases between expansions, upgrades, campaigns, etc., is to dangle carrots about "what's coming next" in front of player eyes. I mean, look at Blizzard and the hype surrounding Wrath of the Lich King and the Starcraft MMO, information and game details released to the public WELL before these products actually go on the market.

What I find puzzling is Anet's virtual silence about Guild Wars 2. Maybe they are getting ready for some big extravaganza preview event, like another special issue in PC Gamer or something. But it is strange, in my opinion, for them to be so tight-lipped about the whole thing.

Still and all, Guild Wars 1 was a huge "hit" with me, an 8 or 9 on a scale of 10, so I'd say they're definitely going to hang onto *this* player anyway. They've earned that much brand name loyalty from me.

I will try Guild Wars 2 for certain. But if it's a disappointment, that'll be it for me.

This right here is my problem with anet right now, they can take all the time they need to, but at least give us something to look forward to, all i hear this days is a chorus of crickets...

You went way off of what I've been saying. A "headstart" could've meant giving GW1 players a powerful starter weapon or armorset when you've unlocked a certain part of the Hall of Monuments. This is what I perceived to be a "headstart/advantage", and it would indeed be beneficial. A long-time Guild Wars player would be able to progress more easily - compared to a newcomer to the GW universe - because he had invested so much time into GW1. This is something I do not want. I only want these "advantages and content" to be purely aesthetic based. A different looking starter weapon, without "amazing stats" or the like, would be acceptable. Armor that's of a higher level rating would not.

No idea why you went on the tangent about all that other stuff.

What does it matter? A-Net has already gotten their $ out of YOU, so if you buy GW, play it for a day and decide you don't like it and never play again, it won't be sweat off their backs.

Just because peopel don't paly a game doesn't mean there not fans-.-
i'm a fan of SSB and going to buy the new one for Wii havn't played SSBM in maybe 2-3 years still excited about getting it

But yeah they'll have a nice influx of users for Gw2 imo from what i've heard of it, but it's open to change:P

I don't understand why they need to retain their playerbase at all. Most fully functioning human beings don't blame game developers when they get bored of a single-sale game, and instead tend to retain good memories of a game they enjoyed, despite giving it up. Most people, anyway.

Silly question, but does Anet want to retain its player base? For some of their new features and being unwilling to support two different GW lines, part of me says no.

Carefull here, if the sky is the limit, you'll end up as a lolcatz in real-life.

And now for the next uninteresting and pointless question of the month: can GWG continue to be the same forum until GW2 is out?

Or else, and now for something completely different...

Hopefully not. When GW2 hits, there'll be a huge mass of new players looking for help, feedback, and discussion.

Luckily, they'll have the wiki. Forums are an utter waste of time.

Apologies for being vague in previous post.

It's the concept of "Amazing Stats" that seems to be absent in GW1. Being that just about anything "Amazing" stat-wise can be acquired in a few evenings solo.

Point I'm trying to make is, Arena Net could give GW1 players anything as a reward for all their hard work, if Guild Wars 2 is anything like Guild Wars 1. I'm assuming that Stats, and the grind for them, will be less significant than say, stats in WoW. The same way you are assuming that Stats in GW2 will somehow represent more than they do in GW1.

Again, GW1 perfect weapons/armor can be acquired without advantage or disadvantage, with little effort, thus no advantages for dedicated GW1 players VS new GW2 players.

It's a bizarre concept, but there may come a day when stats in an MMO may be absent completely--only modifiers and effects to jocky with. Arena Net has been the first company to actually provide progression via content, unlocks, etc. and could completely do away with stats if it didn't confuse so many Evercrack fed fans.

So yes, it's very possible that GW1 will get a huge boost to in playership when Arena Net anounces all the benifits, advantages, stats-free content offered to loyal players, who purchase GW2. Even though such content could be accessible by new players, given time.