Secrets Of The Accounting Department

I suppose I ought to say something about the newly-announced expansion for Guild Wars 2. I can't say I'm itching to get started. I haven't really played the game since, what, January? About all I've done is log in to claim a few freebies from Amazon Prime.

There was an update a while back, I think. Maybe two? Content drops that would have been tagged Living World or Living Story at one point but now come coded as some kind of afterthought to the previous expansion, the name of which I can't quite remember. The Cantha one. I'm sure you know it.

There was a flurry of PR activity a while ago, ArenaNet offering the latest in a seemingly endless series of ideas on cadence. I struggle to think of another MMORPG I've played where so much time and energy has been spent discussing what updates ought to be called and how often they should appear. It's a discussion that began pretty much at launch back in 2012 and has continued, almost without pause, ever since.

I wrote about it at some length a month ago and I don't propose to go over the same ground again. I will say that back in May I certainly wasn't expecting the first new-style expansion to drop just three months later. I would have guessed November or December but the announced release date is August 22.

I guess we could have the trailer about now.

Not much to say about that, is there? It's ominous, alright. Listen to the thudding, doomy theme. Look at all that red and black. And what about that creepy, giant eye?

I will say the title is quite possibly the worst I've seen for an MMORPG expansion in a couple of decades: "Secrets of the Obscure". Clearly having been chosen purely on the grounds of sonority, it's both tautological and uninformative. It does sound good, though, I'll give it that. Until you think about it, anyway.

Thematically, SotO (Nice acronym. I'll give it that, too.) would have had me salivating eight or nine years ago, when I was deep into the lore of the game. Those were the days of heavy speculation over the import and significance of certain visible but inaccessible parts of Tyria, like the great wall, guarded by those irritating birds, or the floating mage tower that forms the focal point of the trailer.

Unfortunately, for me at least, those mysteries went stale long ago. I was curious then. I'm not now.

The most interesting thing for me is what all of this says about development cycles within the genre as a whole and GW2 in particular. It's becoming apparent that all of these imagined worlds - the successful ones, anyway - have life-cycles measured in decades, rather than the months or years that once would have seemed like a good run.

Like the adventures of comic-book heroes, the storylines of MMORPGs are turning into a responsilbility no one generation of creators can handle. If it isn't true already, it will be soon, that no-presently working on the games will have been there from the start. I'm wondering whether some of the games won't even still be around after everyone who was there at launch, players and developers both, has vanished, although I suspect most will wrap up when the last few original players pass away.

I'm beginning to learn that my own attention span for these things is finite. I don't not care yet, but I don't care as much as I once did and I can foresee the day when I won't care at all.

Do I care enough to buy this expansion? That's the pertinent question.

My immediate reaction, when I clicked through to check the price and found they wanted £21.99 for the Standard Edition was "Hell, no!" Reading the contents list, this doesn't look so much like an expansion as an extremely clever way of rebranding the Living World updates we used to get for free in a fashion that allows ANet to charge for them upfront.

Here's how they've done it. 

"A self-contained story with its own resolution will play out at launch. Later releases will seamlessly pick up where the launch arc concluded and tell the rest of the expansion's story. Additional features and updates across the game are planned for release every quarter."

I'm making an assumption that those "additional features and updates" will require a flag on your account confirming you bought the expansion. If so, that makes it almost literally the same format as the Living World once used, only active players used to get that for free and now they'll have to pay.

As for the rest of what's included, I'm not going to go over it all in the kind of detail I once would have done. If you're interested, it's all in the PR pack and Belghast has a very good analysis of the content. 

I'm more interested in picking out lines like this:

"The story of Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure will play out over installments, with new story content to look forward to at launch and in subsequent releases."

And this:

 "At launch, two new explorable zones will take you to the skies over Tyria; a new map will become available as the story progresses in future releases."

My emphasis.

Pay now, play later. You can't say they aren't being straight about it.

In my case I'm not playing at all, so I can afford to wait. Except, if I don't pre-order, I won't get 

"... an extravagant Arcane Spellweaver's Hat Skin, a weapon of your choice from the Eagle Eye weapon collection, and the Demon Hunter title."

Anet's emphasis. You can see where they want your eye to focus.

And I have to say... it works. There's a hat! It's hard to say to no to a free hat, even one you have to pay for.

So, yes, I might pre-order. Who knows? By the end of August I might be in the mood to go back. Twenty-two quid is a bit steep for what's on offer but it's not a lot in absolute terms. It's not like I'm going to be buying the Deluxe Edition at £43.99 or the Ultimate at £64.99. That would be crazy.

And there is one thing in the expansion that does interest me:

"Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure offers an updated path to unlocking your skyscale mount."

If by "updated" they mean easier and faster then they have my attention. It is described elsewhere in the Press Release as "streamlined", so I guess it will be quicker, at least. 

I don't actually want a Skyscale mount but it's been evident for a while now that all future content is likely to be designed on the assumption that every player has one. If you want to play anything but the oldest content these days you're all but obligated to have access to the key movement features - gliding, mounts and now the almost-flight of the Skyscale. 

The lunatic farrago required to get one fails my personal sanity test so definitively, I long ago decided that if it ever came to a choice between doing it or quitting the game I'd quit without looking back. I'll wait to see the details of the new path but if it's no worse than, say, getting the Griffin, I'll consider it.

I'll take my Arcane Spellweaver's Hat off to whoever at ANet finally figured out a way to monetize the content GW2 ,along with most other MMORPGs, have been giving away for years. I just hope it doesn't start a trend.

Based on the company's long-established inability to follow through or stick to a proposed course of action, I think that could be less of a risk than you might think.