My only complaint so far has been the super time limited stuff like the big Dragon Bash fireworks show that was only on for a couple of days.
The problem with temporary content is this - if you last played in December, and just now came back, what actual new content is there? You have:
- The current event
- Some WvW changes (and items)
- Some ascended items
- Really expensive item drops leftover from previous events
- Some changes to Karkaland
- Achievement rewards
That’s really a puny amount of stuff that’s actually stuck around.
EDIT:
7) Guild events. Some of these are actually really cool, but you only get to do them if you have a big and active guild. If not, too bad for you, never going to see these.
Really enjoying the Bazaar content. To the point that I forgot to buy my plane ticket for PAX yesterday. Oops. The sky crystal scavenger hunt was just hard enough to provide gratification when I figured it out and got the achievement without resorting to a guide.
Gedd
5644
Pretty much this, and achievements that are basically just you running around clicking “F” 100+ times (dragon pinatas, firework launchers, holographic things, Halloween gates, etc.). I had really hoped the Fireworks show would at least happen for both weekends Dragon Bash was live as I was out of town for one of them.
I was initially annoyed at the content coming and going, especially because I don’t play that much and I am somewhat of a completionist (two things that don’t go so well together), but I’ve changed my mind completely on it. In exchange for stuff that I know I’m going to miss, I get new stuff to do every 2-4 weeks. I’d take that over other games’ months (cough, WoW, cough) between updates any day.
It really shows a very high level of commitment to the game on ANet’s part. Even though I hate missing stuff, that’s something you have to appreciate.
I’m a completionist and I hate that if I want to experience the living content I need to play regularly and on their schedule and not only that, but have made it to a high level character by that particular point. With WoW’s updates I can come back to almost anything whenever I want. And I’d certainly trade any amount of updates for actual friggin’ expansions.
But I’m increasingly realizing that GW2 just isn’t a game that’s made for me, which is fine.
Oh, please. So because you’re a completionist, you don’t want the developers adding new content? That’s on you. Also, you don’t need a high level character for the living world stuff. Your character scales to level 80. You’re flat out wrong to assume you have to “play regularly and on their schedule” to “experience the living content”. That’s an ignorant thing to say.
But by all means, hold up World of Warcraft as some sort of gold standard for ongoing content. How’s the subscription fee working out for you? Are you enjoying the new areas, features, and gameplay modes it regularly buys you?
-Tom
How exactly does rotating the content out every two weeks (or sometimes inside a couple of days) not mean I need to play regularly and on their schedule if I want to experience that content? And I’m fine with them adding content. They’re not, for the most part. They’re rotating content. If they added it, I could go and experience it on my schedule, whenever I feel like playing. I do stand corrected about the level thing. Comments in this thread (at least one made by you) gave me a different impression. Mea culpa.
I’m also not holding WoW up as a standard for ongoing content (they’re not exactly fast about it nor is it often more than more raid content and maybe some more dailies to grind), nor do I appreciate the subscription fee there. I brought it up only as a contrast to Gedd’s take on their dilatory update schedule as something I prefer despite its failings because when they add content, they add it, and I can go back and experience it whenever. The same can be said of LOTRO, The Secret World, SWTOR, and virtually every other major MMO. GW2 is obviously going for something different in this as with a number of other areas, and it’s not an approach that fits my needs. That’s all.
Daagar
5648
A tad harsh. A completionist wants to do/experience everything. A completionist without an inifinite amount of time will miss out on temporary content, which depending on your level of OCD can be disappointing to extremely frustrating. Not that WoW is free from it - there are certainly things you can’t get anymore (Amani warbears, etc.). But most content, once added, sticks around to be explored on the player’s time, not the game provider’s. You could substitue WoW with almost any other MMO - GW2 is somewhat unique in the amount of temp content thus far. I don’t think he was saying WoW itself was the standard.
EDIT: sigh, beaten to the punch by mere seconds it appears.
Saying you’d trade “any amount of updates” (Guild Wars 2) for “actual friggin’ expansions” (World of Warcraft’s panda bear thing, I presume) is a pretty definitive statement of preference.
At any rate, malkav, it’s ridiculous to criticize ArenaNet for their new content model because you claim you’re a completionist (who, incidentally, wasn’t enough of a completionist to have a high enough level character to play end-game content or even know that Guild Wars 2 scales characters). Sounds to me like you’re grasping at unconvincing straws. How are you coming along with the eight character classes, five races with unique starting areas, PvP content, and legendary weapon? I guess if you’ve completed all that stuff, it must be galling that you didn’t have time to show up for that one-time fireworks show!
-Tom
Nesrie
5650
The limited time stuff is unfortunate. It would be nice if they brought it back once in awhile. Sometimes you are just doing other things than gaming. I am not against limited time, but it would be nice if they rotated it back once in awhile along with you know, lasting content.
magnet
5651
I think it’s refreshing to find a game where this is impossible. And I can only hope that someday in the future, gameworlds will become so huge we will criticize them if they can actually be “finished”. Life is all about choices and consequences, after all. Immersive games should strive for the same, rather than giving you a cake after you’ve eaten one.
I don’t like missing the limited time stuff either, but not because I’m a completionist. I don’t like missing it because I’d like to see the events they’re doing. Fortunately, it seems like ArenaNet’s answer to that complaint is “but new events will be along every two weeks”. If I can expect something every two weeks that’s even half as good as what I saw of the Bazaar of the Four Winds last night, they’re doing a pretty awesome job of folding in new content.
And I certainly wouldn’t trade that for Blizzard’s approach. Cataclysm was pretty cool, but was it “wait three years” cool?
-Tom
Nesrie
5653
As an MMO player, I know it’s odd I didn’t play WOW, but I haven’t. I found the Ancient Karka event challenging, interesting, and it nearly wiped our server. There are just certain events I think the general player community should get to experience at least once and it far exceeded my experience with other events. That’s not to say I didn’t like the Halloween or Christmas events it’s just they didn’t compare to that major event for me. Also, their newsletters lost bite awhile ago. I keep decide whether or not I am going to to stick around over a weekend for an event or go down the river. It’s summer. I am choosing the river…
Now I will say Guild Wars 2’s payment model means I am not nearly as unhappy with missing out as I would be with a monthly charge, so I still poke around once in awhile.
I’d be very surprised if we never saw any of this stuff again.
Actual frigging expansions, as in the ones ArenaNet did for Guild Wars and has suggested they probably won’t be doing for Guild Wars 2. I loved the Guild Wars expansions. And adding entire new continents with entire new campaigns, multiple new classes and hundreds of new skills, all of which I could pursue at any time (still can!) are a lot more appealing than one time boss fights and two-week-only dungeons in my book. I mean, I would expect that they’ll at least trickle some of that stuff in over the course of these live events but there’s something to be said for getting a huge new toybox all at once.
And having completionist tendencies doesn’t necessarily mean being married to a single game at a time , it just means being compelled to do as much of the content as one can in the time one does play - it’s a big part of -why- I’m not in endgame, because I’ve been too busy 100%ing areas a couple hours at a time, which I’ve now done with the Sylvari home city, the Sylvari starting zone, and the next zone over from that and am now working on the 25-35 zone nearest to those. I never claimed that I’d be able to actually complete the game - I’m certainly nowhere near being able to do so with any other MMO I play - but with those games, I generally know all those objectives will be there for me when I have time and inclination to pursue them. With GW2, I don’t know that at all and the fact that I am routinely missing stuff makes me less inclined to play it at all. It’s not “ridiculous” to criticize that model on that basis at all, and it seems like it’s you that’s grasping at straws to defend your precious baby from someone who, gasp, has different gaming tendencies and preferences than you do. It’s not like I’ve said multiple times now that their model now is clearly aiming at a different target than me or my needs and that that’s fine, or anything.
PS: Literally all they would need to do to make me perfectly happy with their model is have a way to go back and play actual story/game content. I really don’t care about missing festivals or fireworks displays or whatever, and quite routinely ignore similar events in other games unless I feel like playing during that time anyway. It’s the fact that ArenaNet is taking out actual missions and dungeons and such that bugs me.
Gedd
5656
Is there a quote from somewhere that backs up what you’re saying about ANet probably not doing expansions for GW2? I can’t see any reason that the living world stuff would preclude expansions.
After Super Adventure Box ended, I took a two-month break from this game, and returned earlier this week. I’ve been enjoying the new content quite a bit; Sanctum Sprint is so Mario Kart it hurts, and I like that it’s a very easy way to earn money and karma for very little effort (one race gets you a guaranteed green or better, about ten silver, and 700 karma, and you get an additional loot bag containing a guaranteed yellow or better every fifteen races). I haven’t started the sky crystal hunt yet, but that shouldn’t be too bad. I don’t know if I’ll track down the kites; if I do, that probably won’t include the WvW one.
I also like the achievement rewards system, especially the bit where they’re trying really hard to get people to do PvP and WvW (not that I’ve done either myself). I wish they’d include fewer goofy gem-store consumables, though; I really don’t need a Box of Fun.
Lions Arch was amusing last night. The ground was littered with ignored Fun Boxes.
Look, I hate missing timed events, too. Which makes timed events actually special, but never mind that. You’re holding it up as a net negative, petulantly stamping your foot and insisting you’re not gonna play – waaah! – because you’re missing content and therefore Guild Wars 2 isn’t for you and World of Warcraft’s one expansion every three years is the better way to add content. It’s particularly ridiculous when you’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s in Guild Wars 2. It would be one thing if a hardcore player with maxxed out characters was kvetching about this. But you’re 30th level? With one character? Dude, there were, what?, two timed events based on holidays and two story-related events with a few missions? I might as well complain that I’m not going to play World of Warcraft because I can’t have snowball fights in Ogrimmar anymore.
But, yeah, it sucks that I missed that Fire and Frost thing they had. Fortunately, I’m plenty distracted by all the new stuff in the Bazaar of the Four Winds.
-Tom
