tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post8826198723415792881..comments2024-03-28T10:18:05.213+00:00Comments on Inventory Full: What A Difference A Day Makes : GW2Bhagpusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-89932436789082396442019-02-27T07:03:49.838+00:002019-02-27T07:03:49.838+00:00I don't comment often, but I've been readi...I don't comment often, but I've been reading for upwards of 8 years now and wanted to say good luck with your health, Bhagpuss. Hope it all goes well for you.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12892367633984292438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-11979141231543886682019-02-26T23:31:38.119+00:002019-02-26T23:31:38.119+00:00Perhaps they've spent the last five years with...<i>Perhaps they've spent the last five years with the majority of those 400 people working on projects that never came to anything.</i><br /><br />Having just finished Jason Schreier's "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels" that sounds like a very real possibility. I was quite surprised to read that it's apparently not that unusual for a studio to have a significant chunk of its workforce on random projects which may or may not work out, and some of which may not even have been fully approved by the higher-ups.<br /><br />With that said, these staff cuts don't sound like a big threat to Guild Wars 2 to me - though they might be a sign of ArenaNet suffering from bad resource management, which could end up affecting them negatively in a different way down the road.<br /><br />Also, here's another person crossing their fingers for your health problems working out OK!Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-72272745502468758672019-02-22T20:33:34.289+00:002019-02-22T20:33:34.289+00:00Thanks!
I think GW2 probably has a much better ch...Thanks!<br /><br />I think GW2 probably has a much better chance than either of those of coming out ahead but I was still motivated this morning to check the progress of Camelot Unchained and Pantheon, just in case...Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-57353996022647539712019-02-22T17:18:45.778+00:002019-02-22T17:18:45.778+00:00My best of wishes to you, may everything turn out ...My best of wishes to you, may everything turn out well!<br /><br />GW2 never really klicked with me, but I definitely hope it won't share CoH's and Wildstar's fate anytime soon regardless.Mailvaltarhttp://mailvaltar.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-4215260962731746602019-02-22T16:49:31.027+00:002019-02-22T16:49:31.027+00:00Thanks! I don't even have a full diagnosis yet...Thanks! I don't even have a full diagnosis yet, got to have more tests. Right now I feel fine so business as usual until I know more.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-31318745131167422782019-02-22T16:46:19.385+00:002019-02-22T16:46:19.385+00:00Thanks!
Hmm, GW3. I wish...
ANet have claimed f...Thanks!<br /><br />Hmm, GW3. I wish... <br /><br />ANet have claimed fairly consistently that they have no intention of making another Guild Wars sequel. The plan was always to run GW2 "indefinitely". I've written before about how unlikely I thought that was to work. Whether one of the cancelled projects would have been GW3, though... now that would be very interesting to know. It would be a little early for them to have started on it before GW2 had it's second expansion, I would have thought - anything beyond the planning stages, at least. I guess they could have been working on it instead of a third expansion?<br /><br />There has to be a good chance that, once the lay-offs are done and people have left the company, some information about what they were working on will leak out. I'm sure there are NDAs in place but almost every time something like this happens, someone makes some kind of anonymous infodump and we all have to assess how true it might be. I'd love to know what they were doing all these years!Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-57267260810966728442019-02-22T16:07:48.414+00:002019-02-22T16:07:48.414+00:00Best of luck with your health issues!Best of luck with your health issues!Tyler Edwardshttps://superior-realities.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-22487602121071971642019-02-22T15:25:10.304+00:002019-02-22T15:25:10.304+00:00I add my echo to the chorus of well-wishes with yo...I add my echo to the chorus of well-wishes with your coming treatment, Bhag. Hope it all goes to plan and you come out fine.<br /><br />GW2 has occupied an interesting space for a while. They've acknowledged several times that the engine is not the easiest thing in the world to work with, hell, it was the most common answer given for why they didn't want to work on full dungeons any more. <br /><br />The content they added for Heart of Thorns was beautiful, but the scale of it was pretty light for a full expansion. Sure, it also covers the Living World stuff...<br /><br />...But when is Guild Wars 3 coming? I would assume this is where some of their staff had/have been siphoned off to? To work on a new game with new engine that isn't so painful to build new content for, to ultimately speed up their content pipeline and ability to monetise?Naithinhttps://www.timetoloot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-50010070573825606512019-02-22T14:23:53.823+00:002019-02-22T14:23:53.823+00:00Thanks! I just thought I'd get my health issue...Thanks! I just thought I'd get my health issues out there in case I end up having to take a (hopefully short) break from blogging in a few weeks.<br /><br />The "400 employees" thing has been a running joke for years now. As I've said often, EQ2 probably has less than five per cent of that number of devs and yet they manage to put out a decent expansion every year, two or three major updates with at least as much content as an LS episode, and something new for each of about four times as many holidays as GW2 even has. Almost any MMO you can think of is more productive. <br /><br />There's been a widespread belief among WvW players for a year or more that there's literally only one developer assigned to that game mode. I doubt it's quite that bad but self-evidently there aren't enough to do most of the work that needs doing. It's been kind of hard to judge because even at the best of times ANet always seems to work much more slowly than almost any MMO company I have ever seen. They seem to take months to do what others would do in weeks and days to fix what others would hotfix overnight. Maybe they've never had enough people on the core game. Perhaps they've spent the last five years with the majority of those 400 people working on projects that never came to anything. If so, you can see why NCSoft might have lost patience with them.<br /><br />Looking forward, I think the biggest danger is NCSoft itself deciding to bail from the PC-MMO business. If Mobile continues to be their biggest earner and they believe that will only grow then "securing their future" might mean something very bleak for anyone not willing to go mobile. More likely, I think, would be a focus on better monetization for the Guild Wars titles, which ought to mean producing an expansion in a timely fashion. It seems apparent that the Gem Store and interest generated by the Living Story can only take them so far.<br /><br />I really think, if they want to keep afloat, they need a minimum of a full expansion every other year, just to keep their name in the public eye and the money coming in. Either that or they will have to start selling the LS Seasons instead of giving them away and I can't see that flying.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-5606236626485470502019-02-22T13:44:59.296+00:002019-02-22T13:44:59.296+00:00Wishing you well with your health and procedure as...Wishing you well with your health and procedure as well.<br /><br />As regards to the Arenanet-related media report, I think a phrase on Reddit I saw said it best. 400 employees seem overstaffed for their visible output. Granted, there are three factors here - manpower/labor, -visibility- and output/product.<br /><br />Apparently, decisions are pending and affected staff will be given two month's salary, so it's not a "yo, pack your belongings and get out" mismanagement disaster scenario at least. Kotaku jumped the gun on the announcement here for their media scoop. <br /><br />Could kind of smell the writing on the wall though, between some staff making their early exits (Colin, John Smith, that lady who was some kind of microtransaction designer) and the glacial pace of new stuff coming into the game.<br /><br />The most positive thing I can say right now is that I am still willing to give what remains a chance and continue as if everything is status quo. I hope it's a case of a hard decision that had to be made to, as they say, keep things sustainable. For the sake of the company and their current stable of games. Morale has no doubt taken a hit right now, so a little patience and understanding is in order. <br /><br />I hope it's a wakeup call that will be ideally and eventually taken the right way, and clearer focus and direction and proper management of resources help the company make the u-turn around a rocky road. But as a bit of a pessimist and a realist, I'm also bracing for a less than ideal outcome. We'll see. <br /><br />The best we can do for them right now is to not feed a media frenzy, give them space and hope things improve (for everyone - players, remaining staff, laid-off staff that can get back on their feet quickly and be happy elsewhere.)Jeromaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02206083433625986970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-44170919534901756262019-02-22T13:23:11.512+00:002019-02-22T13:23:11.512+00:00Well, hopefully if NCSoft ever loses interest in o...Well, hopefully if NCSoft ever loses interest in owning ANet, they'll just let them buy themselves out. Considering that MO was hinting at them having multiple mobile teams in 2013 and we still haven't seen anything from them except today's statement about cancellation of unannounced projects, ANet is unlikely to ever release anything for mobiles.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-28330280623260309572019-02-22T12:48:33.106+00:002019-02-22T12:48:33.106+00:00Thanks!
Yes, I don't really think there's...Thanks!<br /><br />Yes, I don't really think there's much of a comparison between GW2 and either CoH or WS when it comes to profitability. And if ANet was an indipendent studio I'd pretty much count on them keeping the franchise going indefinitely - it's self-evidently strong enough. The thing about NCSoft at the moment, though, is the huge amount of money they're making from mobile. If that trend continues, as it most likely will, I wonder how long they'll be interested in owning and operating any non-mobile games?<br /><br />Oh well, I imagine GW2 will be around for a good while yet. Too early to panic!Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-90155677914868356952019-02-22T11:53:06.914+00:002019-02-22T11:53:06.914+00:00Well, first of all, I wish you all the best with y...Well, first of all, I wish you all the best with your treatment and hope everything will turn out well.<br />As for A.net, last two years were pretty good for them and I don't think the game itself will be affected in any way. As of now, they are making around $80M per year, CoH barely managed to beat GW1 in earnings during maintenance period of latter, when it was bringing around $1M per quarter. Wildstar dropped to $2M per quarter in 2015 and it only went down since then.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com