GW2: Will it live up to the Hype? Or Overhyped?

[Laeris]

Well, considering NCSoft is an international corporation... you can simply compare the revenue GW2 generates to other publicly traded MMOs. Should see something to look at in NCSoft's Q1 2013 report (provided the world doesn't end). The 1st quarter will have most of your box sales. The 2nd and 3rd quarters should see declining revenue given the tapering off of the box sales. Somewhere around Q3 or Q4 you'll be able to see kind of what the revenue stream might look like. By the end of 2013 and well before a paid expansion release, you should be able to see the effect the financial model has on NCSoft's stock value and/or as they release statements to the media.

[TedO]

The Guild Wars franchise has been one of the biggest, if not the biggest franchise in NCsofts stable for over seven years, if it wasn profitable NCsoft would of pulled the plug or changed its model a long time ago, they have never been shy about shutting down anything resembling a drain in the past. So given that I feel the base model of how its implemented this long it wouldnt make sense to stray to far from that and alienate the existing gw population along with incoming players.

[TedO]

Just something I came across that clarifies some things from Gw

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaud...rier-to-entry/

[tro44]

The Guild Wars franchise has been one of the biggest, if not the biggest franchise in NCsofts stable for over seven years, if it wasn profitable NCsoft would of pulled the plug or changed its model a long time ago, they have never been shy about shutting down anything resembling a drain in the past. So given that I feel the base model of how its implemented this long it wouldnt make sense to stray to far from that and alienate the existing gw population along with incoming players.

That's not true. NCSoft made less off of GW1 than most of their MMO. It had box sells, but so did all their MMO as well. Just pointless for a MMO to market box sells like gw1 did since its not a MMO. How many boxes did Aion sell?

[TedO]

That's not true. NCSoft made less off of GW1 than most of their MMO. It had box sells, but so did all their MMO as well. Just pointless for a MMO to market box sells like gw1 did since its not a MMO. How many boxes did Aion sell?

read the whole statement Tro....."one of, if not the"

http://us.ncsoft.com/en/guild-wars/

I didn't state it as fact, but it is "one of" the top sales box wise for NCsoft,

[tro44]

read the whole statement Tro....."one of, if not the"

http://us.ncsoft.com/en/guild-wars/

I didn't state it as fact, but it is "one of" the top sales box wise for NCsoft,

My misunderstanding.

[Salamol]

That's not true. NCSoft made less off of GW1 than most of their MMO. It had box sells, but so did all their MMO as well. Just pointless for a MMO to market box sells like gw1 did since its not a MMO. How many boxes did Aion sell?

GW has sold 7million~ counting all campaigns, which when comparing to a game with just one release (Aion) I feel is fair if we're considering revenue. Western sales for Aion were just under 1million, but they do have a large Eastern audience; There were 3.5million subs at its peak in 2009 before the western release, so it's safe to assume close to 5million box sales. The Lineage franchise has ~57million sales according to Forbes, so I'd assume that's way out in the lead.

But that said, GW1 has had a "cash shop" following the Factions release (I think... it was then) and a lot of people would have bought extra bank slots, character slots and later on, costumes. Some people on these forums will tell you that people spend far more money on cash shop items than subscription fees, though it's not something I buy into :P

Also, I disagree that GW1 isn't an MMO. That's like saying raids or dungeons are not MMO, or that standing around in Meridian isn't part of an MMO, or Warfronts are not MMO. Those are pretty much the only things most of us are doing in Rift, yet I'd still say we're doing the MMO aspects of Rift, wouldn't you?

[tro44]

GW has sold 7million~ counting all campaigns, which when comparing to a game with just one release (Aion) I feel is fair if we're considering revenue. Western sales for Aion were just under 1million, but they do have a large Eastern audience; There were 3.5million subs at its peak in 2009 before the western release, so it's safe to assume close to 5million box sales. The Lineage franchise has ~57million sales according to Forbes, so I'd assume that's way out in the lead.

But that said, GW1 has had a "cash shop" following the Factions release (I think... it was then) and a lot of people would have bought extra bank slots, character slots and later on, costumes. Some people on these forums will tell you that people spend far more money on cash shop items than subscription fees, though it's not something I buy into :P

Also, I disagree that GW1 isn't an MMO. That's like saying raids or dungeons are not MMO, or that standing around in Meridian isn't part of an MMO, or Warfronts are not MMO. Those are pretty much the only things most of us are doing in Rift, yet I'd still say we're doing the MMO aspects of Rift, wouldn't you?

No point arguing with you, since you already made up your mind.

[TedO]

Some don't consider it a "true" MMOrpg due to the PvE is all instanced as opposed to what is known as "conventional terms a MMOrpg.

It diverged from the template and that tended to make it hard for many to think of it in terms of an MMO, you fully have the capabilities to form up groups to do missions, theres numerous dungeons, elites are what could be considered end game raid...ish, the Cities are more a social hub like cities in most other MMOs. Its just like anything else we as humans tend to do and pigeon hole/label things out of neccesity.

For me the 'role playing" component is even deeper then Rifts, with alot of detail to the storyline and lore in Guild Wars, plus the added benefit of the focus on PvP in Guild Wars which kept me around all these years.

[DaddyDaz]

i love that there's no sub fee. i love that i can log in whenever the hell i want with no pressure. i love the detail in the game. i love this game. it really brings back something old school. not sure what it is that gets me. i haven't been excited about an mmo after actually beta testing it for a long time.

that teaser hour today just sucked. game ran perfect and all the lag issues were gone. in such a short time i didn't even know what to do. i ended up spending the entire time runnin around lion's arch checkin out all the sites. they really did a great job with that city. i really dig that the cities are so large. they really feel like cities.

with that said, i'll be playin GW2 and Rift when the expansion hits. really looking forward to both.

[Sekhmet The Fierce]

No point arguing with you, since you already made up your mind.

Most arguments are made when both sides have their own viewpoints solidified in their mind. Plus, you can't really convince the other side when they seem to be able to provide more actual numbers and facts than you have.

And finally, the business model ArenaNet chooses for GW2 is purely what they reckon will work the best for the game over a prolonged period of time, especially in the context of today's MMO scene. I certainly know of a number of MMOs which I certainly wouldn't pay a subscription fee but would be happy to play them if they were F2P.

[AtomicUniverse]

that teaser hour today just sucked. game ran perfect and all the lag issues were gone.

I didn't know about that hour that the game was open....I also saw there was another 4-hour window open recently which I missed.

What do you subscribe to to keep up to date of things like this? I've bought the game and played in the beta and other stress tests, but I didn't get any notification emails about these last two.

I know the game will be out soon anyway, but you never know...they might have another stress test before release.

[Annalea]

I didn't know about that hour that the game was open....I also saw there was another 4-hour window open recently which I missed.

What do you subscribe to to keep up to date of things like this? I've bought the game and played in the beta and other stress tests, but I didn't get any notification emails about these last two.

I know the game will be out soon anyway, but you never know...they might have another stress test before release.

Their Facebook and Twitter pages are usually quite decent for it.

[NearioNL]

Some don't consider it a "true" MMOrpg due to the PvE is all instanced as opposed to what is known as "conventional terms a MMOrpg.
.

People mistake theme-park MMORPG as the true MMORPG apparently.
GW/GW2 are just as much a MMORPG as Mass Effect is a RPG. ME isnt FF or TES, but that doesnt make it any less of a RPG, same goes for GW/GW2.

It appears there will even be an Dutch Server(Far Siver.... something) :P anybody know if this will be the designated Dutch server, or just because most Dutch guilds will go there but officially it will be an English server?
No interest in a complete Dutch server, hence the question

[Annalea]

People mistake theme-park MMORPG as the true MMORPG apparently.
GW/GW2 are just as much a MMORPG as Mass Effect is a RPG. ME isnt FF or TES, but that doesnt make it any less of a RPG, same goes for GW/GW2.

It appears there will even be an Dutch Server(Far Siver.... something) :P anybody know if this will be the designated Dutch server, or just because most Dutch guilds will go there but officially it will be an English server?
No interest in a complete Dutch server, hence the question

I believe that Far Shiverpeaks is just an English server that's been designated as the 'unofficial Dutch/Scandinavian' server by the community. Similar to how there's no true roleplay server, yet the community has designated Tarnished Coast as the RP destination of choice.