Guild Wars 2 News Timeline

Fairly straight forward (and anonymous) poll: I'm interested in hearing what people think of the Guild Wars 2 news timeline.

Obviously there has been some concern over the lack of new information, and it has sparked some interesting debate.

The poll choices have been kept simple in order to get clear results, though I realize there's a pretty broad spectrum of opinions on this one. Apologies if you feel there isn't an answer that represents you, just try and pick the most applicable from the list.

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To throw in my hat first:

Given the incredibly stiff competition ArenaNet has coming from Blizzard and Bioware (to name just two of the studios making fantastic looking MMOs right now) I can completely understand why they are keeping a lid on things. The last thing they need right now is to start talking about innovations and new mechanics, only to find them turning up in competitors products.

Also, as covered in this thread there is a long list of reasons why they simply had to announce what they were working on when they did. Not least of those is the fact that we would have noticed they were no longer focused on Guild Wars anyway.

Guild Wars 2 will be the new Duke Nukem Forever

Voted number 2. Though I am more: The lack of information is understandable, ArenaNet might have reason(s) for it.

I don't think they handle the situation well. They just avoid everything in regards to GW2, while keeping the lid very tight, maybe they have reasons for it.

Although more information is welcome, I am not annoyed by the lack of it.

Its all about the tease, they dont need to update us everyday on what they are doing. Take a look at Mass Effect 2. That game is getting so much hype because of little teasers. In time GW2 will have teasers and every1 will quit their bitching and moaning about when its going to be released.

The lack of information (given the announcement was well over 2 years ago) is quite disconcerting.
Very little has been divulged and we know just as much now as we did 2 years ago.
We have no idea how far into the development process ANet is.

They may have good reasons for divulging so little, but they are not letting on to what they are and hence, suspicion arises.

Hence I vote for option two but with extra emphasis on the word might.


I think a problem with the news "timeline", is that there really isn't one. Everything we know now was revealed at the start with nothing in the space between now and then (and I suspect we'll get a lot more nothing for a good while).

Talk about gaming vacuum these days..

Is there really much difference between options 2 and 3?
I think we'd all like more information, but obviously there no motivation for them to give away everything.

I'm amused by the impatience of people who voted for option #1. Really, there's comparable information to Diablo 3. The fussing is completely unfounded.

Information for Diablo 3 has been paced (if only a bit) and crucially, we've seen gameplay videos.

All we have on GW 2 is the developer's word that something playable exists.

Mmm I'd say that is because D3 is later in development. I recall IGN's updates being as vague as the news we have from anet. Still, I don't follow either religiously, so I could be wrong.

And isn't there a whole wiki full of lore and class info for gw2 floating around somewhere?

The wording of the poll was tricky to say the least; Obviously everyone wants more information, regardless of how you feel about ArenaNet's justifications for releasing so little.

I understand your criticism, though I'd hope it's fairly obvious it's meant to be a middle-ground option between #1 and #3.

Being a successful MMO means imitating good ideas. It would be quite a shame for ANet to advertise their ideas to only see them implemented in other MMOs, thus removing what might be much of the innovativeness for GW2.

I'm chompin' at the bit for info myself, but I understand completely why they don't wanna show anything until they are ready. They last thing they want is to talk about some of the new ideas they have, just for a competing game such as World of Warcraft to implement said features before GW2 releases; thus stealing their thunder.

Not that there is a lack of information but there is no evidence GW2 will ever happen. Yes they can't divulge new game mechanics and anything else "revolutionary" they've worked on (if anything), but that doesn't mean they should go in total darkness.

I've seen a single concept art (recently) and I've read some interviews. As if they've just started on working on it and barely got a few art concepts done.

Other companies are paranoid about releasing info, Blizzard being very known for that but look at the Diablo 3 page... It's way past concept art being released yet they mention nothing of the game mechanics and any tricks they have up their sleeves.

So when we're left to wonder if GW2 is for real or not... I would say that means they handle it really badly.

ArenaNet handles GW2 the same way they handle GW. You will find out when it happens.

They are very consistent with this method.

I voted #3. I can wait. ANet has proven they can make a good game. I don't want to get early news about things that might not end up in the final release.

If things were different ANet could be doing the same with GW2 as Blizzard handles Diablo 3. The only thing is that they *had* to give us a reason as to why GW1 wasn't going to receive anymore content. Based upon that I don't think it's entirely fair to compare GW2 to D3.

Besides that, if GW2 wasn't being in development then I don't see what gain there is to be had with Anet completely abandoning a successful game.

Or you'll just totally miss it... and come back to GW after a break asking in-game if there is anything new in this "rotten" world, like I see more and more people doing.

You have to be really into GW and do a lot of detective job to get news about GW. Which is assuming people are so passionate about it that they would dig info up... instead of them pushing info out.

I have friends that are not on this forum and played GW some time ago and from time to time they remember it and ask: "oh yeah, is that game still around? did they ever made any content updates?"

I'm not sure that quite works... but we'll see, I guess.

Main reason we have not got any info is because of Aion. Ncsoft is putting everything behind Aion for its release. Also if any information regarding guildwars 2 would be released it for most certainly would be on show at pax but that will be very unlikely. Game is still at least 2 years away. You are most likely to get information regarding Guild wars 2 sometime in the first time of 2010, maybe very late 2009.

who can blame ncsoft they want Aion to be a very good launch and therefore Guildwars 2 will need to take a backseat.

Yeah, why not build another clone of WoW like everybody else tried (but with wings this time) and put something that is fresh and distinctive and new to the backseat. Clever thinking.

The reason why this community is stuck here and keep waiting is just because we don't enjoy playing WoW mechanics-like games. But if anyone would release a GW like game... we would all be gone in less than a sec. We're dealing with a sort of a monopoly.

I don't think they are handling things the right way, but as of now I really don't care anymore.

I don't understand their reasons for keeping mum about GW2. Its hugely anticipated and there isn't even a speculative release date? At least not any date from a credible source that I'm aware of. The least they can do to build minimum hype, even if the game is coming along slowly, is to put out a tentative release quarter and a trailer. It doesn't have to be a gameplay trailer, just something that makes the rounds on the internet and shows people the game is eventually going to exist. No need to reveal anything about the game that can be copied by competitors.

I care a lot about GW2, but I wouldn't say I'm frustrated despite thinking ANet isn't making a smart move (or any move at all).