Jeff Strain leaves NCSoft

Eh, I don't buy this.

When was StarCraft 2 due out? What? Delayed again? StarCraft 2 is a failure. (except it won't be, it will be the top selling game for at least a month).

So, how exactly is Guild Wars a "failure"? And what does this have to do with Jeff Strain leaving? Wasn't Guild Wars "failing" while Jeff was still around?

Wow just wow, SERIOUS BUSINESS here guys ... This is not the first person that has left or been forced out of the position. Garriot and Chris more recently. Something is definitely brewing over in the main NC offices.

As for Jeff, so long see you farewell, when i came to GW i began looking into their developers and such and truth be told they [NC] are losing a great man. The guy is a true visionary in the future of MMO gaming. What worries me is that though he hasnt been part of it for a year, he was part of its original concept and they have been working on the game for quite sometime, wonder why hes not going back to ANET? If you pay attention even though mike can be a voice, its Jeff who most turned to for advice and such more. Even the articles theres more Jeff, than Mike.

I really want Aion to be successful and i really thought on the NA/EU regions, having someone like Jeff up there was going to give us a little ray of hope that they'd actually be able to get their game right for our audience, Ill have to wait and see, but i just lost a little faith in NC.

However Ill end this and say, everyone wanted to know what the next big MMO was gonna be, Ive believed for the longest time that game would be GW2 [heres still hoping] It's developers were once a core of what became the king, so i had no doubt they knew how to get to king status. I still think as long as NC doesnt sweep under the rug, which in that case lets hope ANET finds way out of contract and gets GW2 off on own and gives them competition.

P.s i ve seen someone say something bout subscription and GW2 that i dont see, Microtransactions of some sort similar to GW1's store yes. But w/ a lot more to it. The reason, if NCsoft was smart theyd pay attention to what Jeff said before about marrying games and divorcing them [HOW TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL MMO by Jeff] and should know the minute that GW2 gets released the fan base would leave AION and go there, no sense in having to make that choice. One subbed [Aion] one buy and play forever w/ MT's [GW2] i still believe thats their market strategy to bring the current king down.

Heh, I think you are over optimistic as to what market share or fan base GW still has.

It used to have a very vibrant and large fan base by any online RPG standards. Today however only a small fanboy niche market remains.

They will have to do some serious marketing stunts to get people excited again.

I don't think we should link Jeff Strain with Richard Garriot. Speaking of failures, Tabula Rosa was a failure. Bad numbers at launch, never could pick up a decent base, ended up being canceled. So, should they keep Richard around? Why?

Now, Jeff Strain is another matter: successful Guild Wars, great visionary, ability to translate those visions into reality.

I love to speculate, so here's my thoughts on why Jeff left NCSoft. This is a guy who left Blizzard before their biggest title ever: World of Warcraft. He could have ridden that gravy train until he died. Same with NCSoft, they are making money right now, he would be set for life.

I think he doesn't want to sit on already successful games (or game companies), he wants to make new ones. So, we'll see where he ends up, but I predict we haven't heard the last from Jeff Strain.

The "fan-base" just went to other games for a while. Just as Diablo fans went to other games. When GW2 comes out, the GW "fan-base" will buy GW2, play through it, and after a while put it down again. Not all of them, of course, because some people would be unable to continue playing video games.

How successful will GW2 be?

Depends on what you count as success!

It will sell over a million copies, I predict. Whether that will be "successful" or not will depend a lot on who you're talking to.

While everyone at the studio is definitely very busy, the "delay" was the decision to hold the beta phase of GW2 to a period closer to the release date, in keeping with how betas are timed and run in today's MMOG market. That was a business decision, but we know that it disappointed fans.

As for the actual GW2 production, that is not something we've discussed in public, so any reading into the company's feelings about the (unpublished) production schedule is just speculation. Keep in mind that we have never announced a release date for GW2.

No Regina, the problem is that you have never officially released ANYTHING credible about GW2, not the fact that you haven't announced a release date...

but its that "speculation", is what people are focusing on due to no concrete info

I get it, but not everyone does or can and its that feeling that is building in some and coming over from the vocal minority

hell this post exactly shows what that minority is feeling

in fact its the ONLY thing that doesn't need repeating

Heh, I don't think you need to remind anyone of that.

Now you see why it's probably best for ArenaNet just to stay quiet until they have something to announce!

Why because people complain even when they do say something?

Well how about this... How about when they say something, they actually say SOMETHING? Instead of saying nothing once again?

sigh

So Regina finally speaks and says... well nothing really

As usual zero info other than we are working on GW2, nothing that hasnt been heard for the past 2 years,not qualified in anyway, just the stock answer that is always given

GG a-net your communications policy is as woeful as ever

Because then people complain they don't say anything (like last night, when we saw Regina reading this thread and not commenting until Mike O'Brien's statement).

They can't win, which is OK, I suppose, because they are doing what they are told and they must expect it.

Hey that was my idea

If you read between the lines, she just said everything is going according to schedule; they only decided to delay the original start of the first beta.

Whether they really are at the point they planned is a different matter entirely, but I can say with 100% certainty that Anet is working on something, and it is most likely GW2. You don't double your number of employees so they can sit on their ass all day.

MMORPG.com says GW2 is going to be the #2 game of 2012.

How was your game of GW2 today Regina? Did any phat loot drop?

Well hopefully they will release info as they said at the end of this year, I still don't think it will go to beta before Oct 2010 as there is no way NCSoft will accept any type of competition from an In House Developer

Hum, that explain why ANet pissed away the early beta and transparent development of GW1 (which Jeff loudly and repeated praised) in favor of their Iron Curtain approach to GW2. It's a whole different ANet now...

Betas have changed a lot over the last few years.

They are now treated as a free trial more than a bug testing and server stability test. If a beta goes badly then you can bet numbers at launch will suck. It's not just the player perception that has changed either, there will be more 'reviews' and write-ups of beta that judge it as if it were a finished product.

On that level I can see why they would want to hold off to closer to release. I do think they should have thought about some kind of closed NDA locked beta, but even then you are risking leaks. Perhaps this is something they will consider once the first screenshots hit the press.

I really think this thread has deteriorated to the point of just a lot of misinformation, random insults and attacks. There's not a whole lot of actual discussion or insights at this point.

Suffice it to say, that the point of this thread... Jeff Strain and David Reid leaving has been announced. ArenaNet has released a statement on it. You can find both of those in the first post of this thread.