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    #46
    Originally posted by speedlolita View Post
    My mate gave me his account recently and I attempted to play it. The controls just feel so backwards after playing Tera so long though.

    Little unfair to drop it just for the older styled controls though.
    The controls aren't quite as physical as TERA's combat, but I think it has a lot going for it in other areas - conversely, I always felt TERA had interesting combat but most of the rest of the game didn't interest me.

    Anyway, they've got a big event on today; apparently the big city, Lion's Arch, is going to be invaded and destroyed. No idea how this is actually going to affect the game (it may just be temporary until the story comes around for players to take the city back and rebuild it) but we'll see.

    EDIT: Turns out the patch has been delayed until "afternoon Seattle time", which is both bad for EU players AND not actually a specific time.
    Last edited by Asura; 18-02-2014, 18:14.

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      #47
      Sad news: https://www.resetera.com/threads/kot...ayoffs.101137/

      Guild Wars 2 Developer ArenaNet Plans For Mass Layoffs (Kotaku)

      I'll post a little bit more of the article that 'Era did.

      ArenaNet, the studio behind the popular online games Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, informed employees today that it is planning big layoffs, according to a person who is there. Although ArenaNet did not give out exact numbers, and they may not yet be finalized, rumors floating around the studio signal that a significant number of people will be let go.

      Songyee Yoon, the CEO of Korean publisher NCSoft West, which owns ArenaNet, e-mailed employees this afternoon with the news. “Our live game business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in development on PC and mobile have created further drains against our revenue projects, while our operating costs in the west have increased,” she wrote. “Where we are is not sustainable, and is not going to set us up for future success.”

      Yoon added that the company plans to “cut costs across the organization” and restructure across the board, merging ArenaNet and NCSoft’s publishing divisions in the process. “The restructuring, cost-cutting, and strategic realignments are all being done to secure our tomorrow and to provide the foundation that will allow us to grow and acquire,” she wrote.
      I guess for Guild Wars it probably means maintenance mode, although that is just my initial reaction.

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        #48
        Not too surprising, the era of the MMO is drawing to a close and there's nothing they can really do to turn that around. Too much long term complacency meant the market moved on, it's a slow milk for them all here on

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          #49
          Maybe, although I'd say that it's more a case of the MMO organically merging into other genres rather than outright disappearing. Games like The Elder Scrolls Online, Runescape, Final Fantasy 14, The Old Republic all seem to be doing well. And of course that are lots of other games like Black Desert Online or regional ones like Dragons Dogma Online that are financially viable.

          It's been rumored that ArenaNet are just shy of 400 employees and that feels like a very, very large number (similar number to Telltale when they started getting rid of staff) so I can imagine that if the revenue is massively down and that they don't have new content to release it makes sense to downsize. Particularly if back office functions can be done via it's parent organisation (NCSOFT).

          Based on some of the early comments this feels like it's come a bit out of the blue because ArenaNet was tweeting out about recruiting ex-Activ Blizzard staff when their announcement was made.

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            #50
            I definitely wouldn't like to be in a position of trying to launch a new one, presumably that's why there's never been a push to launch World of Warcraft 2 etc as the risks are too high now

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              #51
              This is going to be a big problem for them. As someone who plays this game a lot, and has done consistently since launch in 2012, the worst thing for an MMO isn't failure - it's the perception of failure.

              It's the reason that the media outlets used to love running news reports about "server closures", because vultures circling the carcass bring in a lot of traffic. I remember back when it hit the news that The Matrix Online was dropping to 1 server; it was bizarre because there had been no news about The Matrix Online for months despite many updates and changes. But news that it might close made for top billing on the news sites.

              Guild Wars 2 largely runs on IAPs, instead of having a monthly subscription like WoW. This means that the perception it might close down (remember that Wildstar went from "live-but-in-maintenance-mode" to "closing in 2 months" shockingly fast) has the real potential to kill it, because players will be wary of buying stuff in a game which might simply go away faster than they expect. I certainly won't be buying anything until I get more info.

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                #52
                Agreed, I haven't spent on the game for a while (last xpac I think) but as a casual PVE'er there was loads left for me to do. Although that being said ESO has long since taken over as my MMO of choice. ArenaNet have released a statement but unfortunately doesn't really say anything:

                We know you have a lot of questions about the future of Guild Wars 2. We want to share with you what to expect moving forward for the game. First and foremost, we are still fully committed to all of our players and ongoing support of the game. We will be moving directly from Living World Season 4 into Season 5 as promised, and we plan to continue a regular cadence of updates and releases.

                We know Guild Wars 2 is important to you, and as our players, you are important to us. Rest assured that we are still working to add great new content to the game. We are deeply grateful to all of you for your support during this difficult time.
                It gives credence to the assumption this is a studio scrambling around as it goes through massive change inflicted by the parent company. No details, no strategy, no naming of future content or at least a statement pointing to when they may share this. It screams maintenance mode.

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                  #53
                  Over 100 ArenaNet and Guild Wars 2 devs have been laid off as fans express #LoveForArenaNet

                  Last week’s horrific news that NCsoft and ArenaNet would be laying off a large part of the Guild Wars 2 studio and canceling multiple secret projects had a weird sidenote: The corporate execs couldn’t actually tell anyone who was staying and leaving. That meant four days of not knowing, which as anyone who’s ever been in that situation can tell you is worse than just a quick cut.
                  We don’t currently know exactly what percentage of the studio has been retained (it sounds rather significant, but Anet hasn’t given a formal headcount), nor has ArenaNet issued a follow-up statement since last week regarding the outlook for the game itself. [Update: It now appears it was over 100.]
                  More within the article, including tweets from those affected and those still at the studio.

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                    #54
                    Probably a final post on this, but at least some more credible news has emerged. WoodenPotato's (probably one of the most pre-eminent GW2 dedicated YT/Twitch streamers) has released a new video with some information from an anonymous former ArenaNet employee.


                    • Supposedly 141 Staff gone from ArenaNet (Video states 143 tho). Maybe more staff voluntary leaving on top of this.
                    • c.35% of the company cut.
                    • ArenaNet were working on 2 unannounced projects which are effectively cancelled.
                    • Former employee states there was some vagueness from company but plans on what to work on next known.

                    So now we know NCSoft made the decision to cut costs, it would be interesting to know why the 2 unannounced projects have been cancelled. And of course what they actually plan to do next.

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                      #55
                      Originally posted by Digfox View Post
                      • ArenaNet were working on 2 unannounced projects which are effectively cancelled.


                      Yeah, as someone in that community who has been watching this closely, the impression seems to be that NCSoft weren't impressed with ANet's progress on these two additional projects, one of which we know to be a mobile game (based on their recruitment website over the last couple of years).

                      If I'm to guess, I believe NCSoft have axed those two projects and asked the company to lay off the staff that were working on them, or something of similar nature. ArenaNet then seem to have consulted their staff. Based on my experience, they'll have first assessed those staff who have jobs that are simply redundant; there is no way to retain them. After that, they'll have an idea of who they would let go, but then they open the floor to the rest of the company and ask if anyone wants to leave (i.e. take voluntary redundancy). This usually means a few staff who were already considering leaving come forward, because the company will offer them incentives to do so (usually statutory redundancy plus immediate severance with a few months' extra wages and paying for holiday they have not yet taken too). Once that's done, the company will have to pick among who remains (the hope is that enough people voluntarily leave to avoid this) until they have satisfied the demands of their owner.

                      So a fair few devs have left, some of them pretty key people. Gaile Gray, for example, who was their community manager for many years. But then these long-time staff do leave when these sorts of things happen. It's never not a shock.

                      The question is what this means for GW2. The game has made NCSoft money for years in the millions, so it's unlikely it'll get the axe. This problem is more about long-term issues for ANet. WoW is getting long in the tooth but Blizzard have tons of IPs. ANet only have one.

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                        #56
                        Originally posted by Asura View Post
                        The question is what this means for GW2. The game has made NCSoft money for years in the millions, so it's unlikely it'll get the axe. This problem is more about long-term issues for ANet. WoW is getting long in the tooth but Blizzard have tons of IPs. ANet only have one.
                        Indeed, and good pickup on the mobile title. I was going to note one was at least a mobile game, but forgot to.

                        GW2 simply isn't making the amounts of money to be sustainable (as per that comment from the former employee) so maybe they move to 'quick win' projects.

                        WoW:BFA appeared this week in Superdata's top 10 grossing titles for January 2019. So even if it is at a low-ebb critically it's still makes a lot of money.

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                          #57
                          Originally posted by Digfox View Post
                          Indeed, and good pickup on the mobile title. I was going to note one was at least a mobile game, but forgot to.

                          GW2 simply isn't making the amounts of money to be sustainable (as per that comment from the former employee) so maybe they move to 'quick win' projects.

                          WoW:BFA appeared this week in Superdata's top 10 grossing titles for January 2019. So even if it is at a low-ebb critically it's still makes a lot of money.
                          To be fair, GW2's expansions have both sold extremely well when they were released. Notice that Blizzard used to be all-too-happy to quote subscriber numbers years ago, but they never share that data now.

                          When they say "not enough to be sustainable", I think that's an off-the-cuff comment which could be misinterpreted. Looking at NCSoft's financial data each year, ANet have made plenty of money (no idea how that compares to what NCSoft wanted, though). It's just that the takings for the game have trended downwards as the game ages, apart from when expansions have buoyed it, so they see a tipping point looming in a few years' time.

                          NCSoft are a strange company. I think part of the problem they face is similar to Jagex in the UK; they still have Lineage II, which is an Unreal Engine 2 MMORPG (i.e. the engine that powered the original Unreal Tournament), which came out in 2003, pre-dating WoW, and inexplicably still makes an ungodly amount of money. The game's fine, like there's nothing wrong with it, but it's one of those titles which didn't succeed just because it was good - it was because the planets aligned on its release. If they're comparing everything to Lineage II, nothing's going to seem like a success.

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                            #58
                            Originally posted by Asura View Post
                            To be fair, GW2's expansions have both sold extremely well when they were released. Notice that Blizzard used to be all-too-happy to quote subscriber numbers years ago, but they never share that data now.

                            When they say "not enough to be sustainable", I think that's an off-the-cuff comment which could be misinterpreted. Looking at NCSoft's financial data each year, ANet have made plenty of money (no idea how that compares to what NCSoft wanted, though). It's just that the takings for the game have trended downwards as the game ages, apart from when expansions have buoyed it, so they see a tipping point looming in a few years' time.
                            I think that whilst GW2 is profitable, it's not in the same league as WoW. Blizzard have the recently released expansion revenue, subscriptions and more MTX revenue which very likely puts it in a different league.

                            I think the 'not sustainable' comment is fairly on point, personally. NCSoft stated as much at the time of these announcements. Ultimately as you say it's all about what their 'expectations' are but their live service revenue is declining looking at their latest financials.

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