ArenaNet escapes layoffs in NCSoft restructure

symeonreturns

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jun 2013

E/

Looks like NCSoft is still banking on the Guild Wars franchise:

http://www.pcgamer.com/wildstar-stud...t-restructure/

Quote:
Wildstar developer Carbine Studios has lost "around 60" employees as part of "restructuring" by owner NCSoft. The redundancies, reported by Polygon and confirmed by NCSoft, have affected all of NCSoft's Western branches—with the exception of Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet.

Carbine, it seems, has been hit especially hard, with over sixty lay-offs across all levels of the studio.

"Today we announced a restructuring of key operations within NC West," NCSoft's statement reads. "As a result of this restructuring, we are implementing staff reductions across our Western operations with the exclusion of ArenaNet. While decisions like this are always hard, they are necessary as we begin the implementation of a new strategy designed to strengthen our footing as a leader in global entertainment."

NCSoft's statement says the publisher will continue to "focus on core development capabilities"—citing Wildstar, Aion, Lineage and Guild Wars. It goes on to say they're "looking to move into new business segments," such as mobile and tablets.

"Again, the decision to reduce staff was not an easy one, and we sincerely wish everyone well in their next endeavors."

Best of luck to all staff affected by the lay-offs.
EDIT: If only the bolded part were true...

cosyfiep

cosyfiep

are we there yet?

Join Date: Dec 2005

in a land far far away

guild? I am supposed to have a guild?

Rt/

gee and everyone says the recession is over, tell that to the poor slobs who are now on the unemployment website....

and yeah, would be nice if they put some effort into our game.

Ayuhmii Shanbwa

Ayuhmii Shanbwa

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Oct 2005

Holland

[GaMe]

Rt/

i dunno if its smart to let em change skills though, they made some skills act like they do in GW2, like some water magic skills being more defensive, and some skills having another condition

arc lightning had the condition to arc if target was under a water hex, and now needs overcast...... isnt it obvious that lightning gets through water like that?

then chain lightning less overcast was nice.... but except the dmg being higher, invoke lightning causes overcast now... always, while before that update, it only did if you had no enchantment on you

lightning strike being hex isnt bad, but wouldnt it be better if it was just an added effect?
you know, not a hex, yet still works like one..... now we cant even target spirits with it anymore (while its a basic skill, like starter skill, as in functionality.... or which it had)

its not that i dont like skill changes in general, its that i dont like new anet's skill changes ideas

..... if they only had made phoenix burning enemies it flies over, like lightning javelin does with dmg..... that would be closer to GW2

i dunno what they want, but to me it looked like they wanted to test stuff, and let it be, without actually TESTING it

so in the end, i dunno what better for GW now, leave it alone and do nothing with skills, or let em come back and update skills and dont even look back to see if people even like it...

i'm not the only one who didnt like most of the cahnges they made
phoenix was good as a double pbaoe skill (it started to deal aoe dmg at your location, and made aoe dmg at the arrived spot), but they gave fire magic a healing skill..... water magic is more fit to have some defense in GW2, right?

so its even worse, they tried to make it a bit GW2-ish, yet failed at that

double dragon sux to fight against too, but thats in a small part of the game (cantha mostly, and probably worst in kaineng city areas)

this is based on MY OWN OPINION, so I dont like the idea of new anet changing skills
i WOULD like if they either added the new content for elona, or made some parts better like WiK and WoC (seriously, they need to make a boss called Wik Woc) stopping to spawn when you want (wik after scavenge hunt, and only spawns IF you got related quests, even storyline ones. and woc having the old spawn quest RIGHT after the first woc storyline quest)..... and in case they make elona's new content (i call it ENC), they should also do it with that, so that we dont need to do half or the whole storyline

if anet would do that, i'd say its a good idea to let em touch our precious GW again, otherwise i most likely wouldnt like it

again: BASED ON PERSONAL OPINIONS (to make it clear)

1 last thing: i did like the bolded part for a second.... but then realised the old anet doesnt exist anymore, and the new one is more after GW2, so i give up hope (yes me, who always said "it always COULD happen, even if they said not to, as they can change their minds" says this now)

Coast

Coast

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

Belgium

Whats Going On [sup]

Mo/

Lighting strike would be insanely broken in pvp if the 2nd dmg portion wasn't a hex since you could just run 2 air eles and never overlap it.

Zahr Dalsk

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Aug 2007

Canada

Guild Wars as a franchise has no future until this lady gets the boot (and that's just a beginning).



I mean really, the head of development hasn't played Guild Wars? No wonder GW2 is such an abysmal failure!

Ayuhmii Shanbwa

Ayuhmii Shanbwa

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Oct 2005

Holland

[GaMe]

Rt/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coast View Post
Lighting strike would be insanely broken in pvp if the 2nd dmg portion wasn't a hex since you could just run 2 air eles and never overlap it.
anet showed us a way, called "pvp split"
they can even do it with attributes, so skills should be no problem, which they also did alot

Oo D A W N

Oo D A W N

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2014

somewhere

me,myselfe and I

Mo/R

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zahr Dalsk View Post
Guild Wars as a franchise has no future until this lady gets the boot (and that's just a beginning).

http://i.imgur.com/9b1sSMv.png

I mean really, the head of development hasn't played Guild Wars? No wonder GW2 is such an abysmal failure!
that explain alot.... no wonder gw2 sucks^^

ACWhammy

ACWhammy

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Dec 2009

Texas

Gold Trim Guild [gtg]

R/

The sad thing is GW2 is performing so well it leaves them no incentive to work on Guild Wars 1 or even develop another game similar to GW1. And it's not their fault either, it's the lame public's fault for spending hundreds and thousands of dollars on in-game gems lol

ruk1a

ruk1a

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2008

UR MOM LOL

ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES

A/

GW2 will not last nearly as long as 1 without an expansion, all they release is their living grind and gem shop updates.

It is already dying, a lot of servers can't even step foot in WvW battles because it is dead on bronze tier. Their nerf of farms have entire zones abandoned, their pvp is all but dead with a few dedicated players wishing, hoping, and praying that ANet will take it seriously some day.

They are a joke, either they are completely oblivious to everything or NCSoft is preventing them from doing what they need to. Then there is really dumb shit like hiring people such as kristen cox to run the gem shop, or the fact that pretty much every single ANet employee that worked there during GW1, liked GW1, or has even played GW1 has left, been let go, or is completely looked down on.

GW1 is not even allowed to be mentioned at ANet HQ. Pathetic shitters, it is enjoyable to read their forums and see the same things being said in quite literally every single thread. Yet they are ignored. Haha... how low can a company fall, ANet is a perfect example that you should never put your trust in a company because anything is possible.

Be afraid, be very afraid! I hope they never touch GW1 with a 10 foot pole, they'll ruin it and add a gem shop. Fk you ANet and NCSoft you korean grind filth.

fadekill

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by ruk1a View Post
GW2 will not last nearly as long as 1 without an expansion, all they release is their living grind and gem shop updates.

It is already dying, a lot of servers can't even step foot in WvW battles because it is dead on bronze tier. Their nerf of farms have entire zones abandoned, their pvp is all but dead with a few dedicated players wishing, hoping, and praying that ANet will take it seriously some day.

They are a joke, either they are completely oblivious to everything or NCSoft is preventing them from doing what they need to. Then there is really dumb shit like hiring people such as kristen cox to run the gem shop, or the fact that pretty much every single ANet employee that worked there during GW1, liked GW1, or has even played GW1 has left, been let go, or is completely looked down on.

GW1 is not even allowed to be mentioned at ANet HQ. Pathetic shitters, it is enjoyable to read their forums and see the same things being said in quite literally every single thread. Yet they are ignored. Haha... how low can a company fall, ANet is a perfect example that you should never put your trust in a company because anything is possible.

Be afraid, be very afraid! I hope they never touch GW1 with a 10 foot pole, they'll ruin it and add a gem shop. Fk you ANet and NCSoft you korean grind filth.
Why did I had to read such a sad thing before going to bed? Now I will get nightmares.

Arkon Necrocannibal

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2011

Hello guys,

just sharing some piece of quote in one of my last email with a GW Developer:

Quote:
Thanks for being such a fan of Guild Wars! Most of the company is focused on future development work for Guild Wars 2, but I won’t rule out the possibility of Guild Wars seeing an update. There is such a strong and dedicated group that continues to play even after all these years!
It might give you some hope. I am still believing in anti sync update in Codex and GvG just like they did in HA (more hench and points/boxes cap).

Coast

Coast

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

Belgium

Whats Going On [sup]

Mo/

date of email?

Arkon Necrocannibal

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2011

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coast View Post
date of email?
wednesday. 05/11/2014 18:08
I just keep it hidden because I am trying to, maybe, get an internship over there and I took that opportunity to ask about updates. I thought it would be nice to share this sentence.

cosyfiep

cosyfiep

are we there yet?

Join Date: Dec 2005

in a land far far away

guild? I am supposed to have a guild?

Rt/

a possibility of an update, geesh, is this what has become of us? (I say after I know how long we waited for gw2 to come out----)

well, this dog is taking the bone thrown in our general direction....thanks!!!!!

fadekill

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkon Necrocannibal View Post
Hello guys,

just sharing some piece of quote in one of my last email with a GW Developer:



It might give you some hope. I am still believing in anti sync update in Codex and GvG just like they did in HA (more hench and points/boxes cap).
Thanks for sharing. I would rather avoid annother point/box cap though. It sucks and helps nothing against syncers. Hench update probably helped HA a lot though.

Veldan

Veldan

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2010

R/D

Wow, if there ever would be even an announcement of a small update to Guild Wars, I'd reinstall without thinking twice... and I'm pretty sure many others would too. Of all games that have declined in population, if anything could rise from the ashes, it would be Guild Wars. But I doubt it will happen... I won't believe it until I see it anyway. The last thing I read is that GW was going to be put on "automation", and they were trying to keep the game running on technology alone, with as little human input as possible on Arenanet's side.

Bristlebane

Bristlebane

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2008

Mo/

Still have my hopes for some hidden treat for the 10 year anniversary.

Shayne Hawke

Shayne Hawke

Departed from Tyria

Join Date: May 2007

Clan Dethryche [dth]

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bristlebane View Post
Still have my hopes for some hidden treat for the 10 year anniversary.
inb4 they use it to announce and promote the new GW2 expansion.

Zahr Dalsk

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Aug 2007

Canada

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bristlebane View Post
Still have my hopes for some hidden treat for the 10 year anniversary.
Be nice to get one final skill balance patch. Tone down some of the really powerful stuff and buff some stuff that needs buffing.

And maybe revert Spell Breaker & Holy Wrath so we can have a fun vanquishing option again