Guild Wars 2 is dying — What do we do about it?

[AuldWolf]

Okay, first of all, the metrics.

MMO populations in 2023[mmo-population.com], and the Steam metrics[steamcharts.com].

The numbers are low (340~k total, Steam and via ArenaNet), and they're dropping consistently with no rises, even when sales occur.

Why do I think this is happening? Three reasons.

1. The New Player Experience is Awful

New players are forced to start off with the racial storylines, which are middling to okay as narratives go. The bigger problem is that there's no maintenance for the old zones, so they're riddled with bugs. And no one plays in these old zones, so when new players turn up it looks like a ghost town.

What's the solution?

ArenaNet needs to squish the maximum level down to 20, because levelling doesn't matter anymore. Then they need to create a new player island where new players level up from 1-20 in fresh, new, well-maintained content.

The island will bring them up to speed on the story. Following this, when they hit 20 (the new max level), they're given choices as to where they can go. These choices are curated to be the most well-maintained by ArenaNet.

2. ArenaNet's Marketing is Rubbish

When ArenaNet does bother to market, they market the game as a casual-friendly title that respects your time. This isn't true. The turtle being locked behind the horrible Soo-Won event, the Skyscale, and many other examples exist which are contrary to this. When new players hop into the game expecting a casual-friendly experience that respects their time? They're going to feel alienated.

What's the solution?

ArenaNet needs to unify their messaging and marketing with the game. Either they need to market Guild Wars 2 as a very grindy, hardcore, Asian MMO-styled experience or they need to rebalance the game to match their marketing. The lack of unity between the two is a bait and switch, and it means that no one who'd enjoy the game is checking it out and vice versa. Their marketing is a huge problem.

3. The Community is Increasingly Toxic

Here, on Reddit, and on the official forums. I've just seen a rise of very aggressive toxicity. And the only complaints I've ever seen leveraged against the game is that it isn't anti-woke enough, which is silly. Often, the aggression goes towards new players asking questions about the game, or wondering what the health of the game is.

What's the solution?

The community needs to encourage more positive interactions, with less hate. Talk about what they like about the game, focus on fun features, community events, and fashion wars. These are the things that say a game is healthy to someone who's checking it out. This never happens with Guild Wars 2. We only ever see the community being incredibly toxic, with some very aggressive denial regarding the current health of the game.

We all know that this signals a dying game, so the toxicity has to stop. ArenaNet could help with this with a little messaging suggesting how the community could help the game (with suggestions like my own, here). From a source of authority, the community might listen. This could be further incentivised with competitions with prizes to be a good community member.

Conclusion

Guild Wars 2 is dying, the metrics say so. It's got a 340~k pop and it's dropping like a stone. That's a number that never goes up, only down.

Can Guild Wars 2 be saved? Yes, I think so. It would just take ArenaNet caring about it to make that happen. The community has to want that, and focus their energy on ArenaNet rather than alienating newbies which would just result in the game dying even faster.

[Elvis]

food for him too? you ppl giving so much food, they are well fed, keep troll thread alive.

[Tiberius]

Actually from this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/17r0ura/ncsoft_quarterly_report_is_out_and_i_am_confused/

Gw2 is actually making less money than last year q3.

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

Here we go..

@Odyssey Hey, i mean.. what would the GW2 discussions be without topics like this? With same people repeating same stuff? It's like our own matrix.. there must be no glitches, but only repeating the same. We all must play our part in it. ^^

[Tiberius]

truth hurts

[Elvis]

Lelu💜 původně napsal:

Here we go.. :LaughingOwlcat:

@Odyssey Hey, i mean.. what would the GW2 discussions be without topics like this? With same people repeating same stuff? It's like our own matrix.. there must be no glitches, but only repeating the same. We all must play our part in it. ^^

more food for trolls keeps thread alive, not good for ppl.

[meeesj]

the amount of cope in this thread could feed the entire continent, the game is dead and struggling financially. The earnings report is even posted in this very thread for everyone to see and people are still denying it

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

Tiberius původně napsal:

truth hurts

And what is the truth? That GW2 is still online, going strong. And gonna be in 5 years, and in 10 years. We can meet in this same (or if deleted) topic after those years to see it. I'll be here.

Even GW1 is still alive. :D And GW2 has way bigger playerbase. But enough, nothing i say will change the ESOfam gangs usual propaganda.

Let's talk about something else for once? Like what you all are doing in game today? No matter what game you playing. ^^

[Tiberius]

Yea online, but it sure as hell is not growing

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

Personally? Doing endgaming right now in GW2. Yes, fashion. So look dashing while taking down opponents and bringing that holidays joy to friends and foe alike! ^^

By the way, wish GW2 had same kind of screenshot/photo mode like FF14 has the gpose. For taking good screenshots with zoom, the in game zoom and cannot control lighting is a bit scuffed tbh. Needs to send email to GW2 devs immediately about this. Almost unplayable. :P Screenshots ends up being a bit poor quality sadly, unless spends an hour to try find perfect lighting and angle.

Anyways.. anyone looking for a sassy in game waifu? Ultra Rare quality, single, shy and true mistress of elements (Tempest). Available only for a limited time (gotta put in that FOMO). :P

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3114123078

This better, for more winter theme in picture. :D

[Elvis]

Lelu💜 původně napsal:

Personally? Doing endgaming right now in GW2. Yes, fashion. So look dashing while taking down opponents and bringing that holidays joy to friends and foe alike! ^^

By the way, wish GW2 had same kind of screenshot/photo mode like FF14 has the gpose. For taking good screenshots with zoom, the in game zoom and cannot control lighting is a bit scuffed tbh. Needs to send email to GW2 devs immediately about this. Almost unplayable. :P Screenshots ends up being a bit poor quality sadly, unless spends an hour to try find perfect lighting and angle.

Anyways.. anyone looking for a sassy in game goth waifu? Ultra Rare quality, single, shy and true mistress of illusions (mesmer). Available only for a limited time (gotta put in that FOMO). :P

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3114101628

Yes very pretty, sassy, what is waifu.

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

Tiberius původně napsal:

Yea online, but it sure as hell is not growing

I think, as said, more the term is "steady", but i feel it keeps trickling in enough new players to stay healthy in population. I mean.. i am still quite new myself and keep getting other totally new players all the time into my guilds. :)

[𝒞𝒶𝓉𝓎𝒶♡]

Odyssey původně napsal:

Lelu💜 původně napsal:

Personally? Doing endgaming right now in GW2. Yes, fashion. So look dashing while taking down opponents and bringing that holidays joy to friends and foe alike! ^^

By the way, wish GW2 had same kind of screenshot/photo mode like FF14 has the gpose. For taking good screenshots with zoom, the in game zoom and cannot control lighting is a bit scuffed tbh. Needs to send email to GW2 devs immediately about this. Almost unplayable. :P Screenshots ends up being a bit poor quality sadly, unless spends an hour to try find perfect lighting and angle.

Anyways.. anyone looking for a sassy in game goth waifu? Ultra Rare quality, single, shy and true mistress of illusions (mesmer). Available only for a limited time (gotta put in that FOMO). :P

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3114101628

Yes very pretty, sassy, what is waifu.

lol just something i referred from those gacha games, where players gamble loot boxes to get cute female characters they can then get as playables in their collections.. :D I hear guys always calling them "getting waifus" lmao

[Koytar]

> Steam is the only real concrete proof that shows the real amount of players. Right now, it's sitting at 2,803 players. Even Maplestory has currently 4,164 players. I thought GW2 was supposed to be a "big" game?

Oooh right, it's the only real numbers from when... 2022 while the game was released in 2012 like you corrected me and I appreciate that.

Although it is the only reliable source. It isn't the best option to look for. Granted, there's no ACTUAL proof of the amount of players that do play the game outside of steam. But it is safe to assume that it is very much alive. And I was there a bit before Path of ~~Exile~~ Fire* (me big dumb) was in pre order state.

But anyway, I will waste my time no longer with that kind of braindead counter argument. I prefer wasting that time having a blast at wintersday that's full of people.


Edit: not to mention that if you want to pay stuff through credit card, it is recommended to create an anet account instead of using steam directly. It's less of a headache. And you won't have steam opened if you want to min-max performance if really needed.

[Q]

Tiberius původně napsal:

mysaga původně napsal:

...in order to increase frequency. And both official statements as financial reports support the "growth", while still not disclosing how big or small the playerbase actually is. Don't mix several things when you don't fully understand either of them.

To increase frequency? Did you forget we also received FREE living world episodes, which were as big as Soto? Yea ofc financial report is growing with how many gemstore content they pump out every day (and if you bother to compare their result to other mmo, gw2 looks extremely pathetic. So pathetic that it's not even the biggest money maker in ncsoft)

How to tell people you know absolutely nothing about NCSoft "truth hurts"

Lineage 2 and Lineage are NCSoft flag ship, the first borns, their most beloved creation, you have no idea how popular linage is in south korea, latin america, russia, poland, eastern europe, brazil etc. Both games still alive since early 2000's despite having hundreds of private pirate servers everywhere.
Anet is gw and gw2 developer, ncsoft the publisher. For lineage ncsoft is both.
Trying to shame gw2 by making such absurd comparisson, it's like lsd who tried to make l2 look like something irrelevant and pretty much used the same flawed argument "but but... gw2 not eaarning as much as lineage" i guess you and few others are completely unaware of the asian market and back then when everyone was embracing wow, asia was playing lineage 2, except for china... they really love WoW.

gw2 earning as much as NCSoft most precious creation that being Lineage and Lineage 2 is nothing to be ashamed of, in fact gw2 is the only decent ncsoft product for the western market since all the rest is heavily influenced by Lineage hardcore korean p2w elements and perma grinding. Literally Tera, BDO, Lost Ark, archeage etc were shapedm inspired in Lineage model, won't talk about Aion or Blade and Soul cuz those also belong to NCSoft.

I laugh when people complain about "hero points" or "elite spec is p2w" in gw2 super big LOL... how much money you need in L2 to be a decent, barely functional competitive player for PVE? instances, group content? if your answer is 20, 50 you have no idea, 100? NOPE, 200 or 300? getting there.. and it's not just a one time investment oh no sir, you'll have to do that every month and slowly build your power and then For pvp? we talking about thousands of dollars if you want to be competitive and "siege" castles.

Literally, no idea whatsoever.

[Tiberius]

🤭 game is growing despite making 20% less revenue on xpac release month. Then this punk came here to talk abt private servers and sht as if it contributes to ncsoft revenue. Then talked abt asian market as if asian players cant play this game. This thread is helpless lmfao