Need a break after the Guild Wars 2 Halloween event? Too bad. ArenaNet had other teams ready to lay up content right after the Mad King’s exit. Martin Kerstein stated that hints from the November content update would start with the same patch that takes out Halloween.
So what did the update bring?
Beached whales (h/t: daydreams356). Lion’s Arch now has to deal with beached whales. Believably this has to deal with whatever threat the Lost Shores holds. Other oddities include a new sign posted that warns that Lion’s Arch authorities are not liable for anything (e.g., devoured appendages, dinghies, seeing-eye squirrels), a few new ships in port, and a building standing next to it’s own inactive asuran gate just south of the gates to the racial cities. The new buildings have a unique symbol, which looks golem-ish, and the warning sign has a small stick figure fleeing from some big… thing.
On a livecast by mmorpg.com, Colin Johanson stated that the November update would ‘change the world’, and there would be a mid-size island map added for “fun” content. The island is not meant to compete with the Orrian end game it appears, but it provides its own storyline. Also on the island there will be a new dungeon that is meant to expand end game. Unique rewards only for the island will add that carrot element.
Expect hints to go down, ramp up, or wash away until the weekend event, which is slated for November 16. After the weekend event the island and dungeon will become permanent fixtures.
–Ravious
Meh. Instead of adding new content (most of it for one-time events, of course), they need to hunker down and actually fix the game’s problems and bugs before adding more. :/
They do fix bugs constantly. They will never be able to make this a bug free game, but they do fix bugs. also, regarding the article, this doesnt add a carrot, because the stats arent gonna be better than all of the other sets, which means you don’t have to have the gear to be awesome at this game.
“Change the world,” huh? So it’ll add endgame content, variation amongst classes, much-needed bug fixes, a solution to the constant and continuous account hacking issues, a reason to interact with other players beyond playing side-by-side, consequences for player actions, customizability to provide diversity amongst characters of the same cla–
Oh, it’s just another one-off event. Nevermind.
I really want to be a video game PR guy. I think it’d be the best job in the world. Pull the wool over gullible people’s eyes every day and get paid for it. Sweet.
uhm i’m pretty sure it’s doing pretty much every thing you just sarcastically tried to point out. Try reading it again and now take time to read all the words
Actually, one of the things I’m most happy about is something not mentioned above.. they fixed one of the most annoying things in the endgame WvWvW matches by removing the orbs. The impact was felt immediately, with the match my server was in becoming more meaningful at once.
No, this patch won’t fix every problem reported by anyone ever. Agreed.
They say “change the world.” They didn’t say “fix the gameplay” or “add major content” or “extend endgame.” The promise to “change the world” would be fulfilled by a new map – or even new NPCs! – that stay there after the event, as opposed to Halloween content which was always intended to be for a limited time and not to have lasting impact.
They haven’t promised anything they can’t deliver; the bigger issues you refer to are no doubt being worked on, but we have no promises, for good reason.
They have stated several times that they’ve got several teams working on stuff. Doing one thing does not necessitate ignoring the rest.
This rapid content addition, the enjoyable Halloween festival, and the overall fun gameplay (as well as the awesome visual style of the workd in general) is why I bought $20 worth of gems a couple days back. They are living up to their pre-release promises (despite the lingering bugs) and still feel this game is a steal at the current box price. Even if I only use half the gems right away, it just feels like a tip for really good service when you go out for a meal/drinks.
Going to be a challenge balancing this with Storm Legion, not to mention several other irons I have in various fires. I’m pretty happy with the way GW2 is shaping up, although the botting and hacking issues really need to be sorted faster and better than there’s any evidence they have been so far.
If it wasn’t for botting and hacking being so in our faces it’s quite possible Mrs Bhagpuss and I would have waited til the New Year for Storm Legion as we originally planned, but the corruption of the playing environment has been so extreme for so long now that we both felt we’d rather go somewhere “nicer” sooner rather than later.
And now there’s a teaser notice in New Krytan on the GW2 Facebook page.
I’m enjoying the mysteries, to be honest! I won’t spoil the note for anyone who (like me) wants to translate for themselves, but pirates, tropical vacation destinations, and small print disclaimers were involved. It definitely sounds fun and light-hearted.
You know what’d be MORE fun? Them just coming out and telling us instead of this viral marketing crap. All that sort of garbage does is make me *NOT* be interested, not to mention being more resentful that they’re wasting time on that instead of fixing the game’s many, many problems…
Would you like them to pull the Marketing people off of Marketing and put them in Bug Fixing? The Artists, Animators, and Writers?
You seem to assume that if there’s any visible work going on other than Bug Fixing, that there can therefore be NO Bug Fixing going on. How it actually works is that they hire many different people with many different skillsets, and then have them all work at the same time on different things. This means that while some of the the Programmers are fixing and adjusting existing content, others are constructing new content or otherwise working on the game in unrelated ways.
Marketing folk writing Code? May the six save us from such blasphemy! That’d be as successful as having the Chick at the nearby bookstore that makes my coffee perform my hernia surgery. LoL
I’m sympathetic to “No seriously, just tell me what you’re doing. I don’t need the teaser.”
Also, no, you do not have marketers fix bugs, but you could stop paying for someone to do (this sort of) marketing and pay for someone to do something else, such as coders, QA, CS, etc. The artists cannot be moved to coding, but money is fungible.
Companies can value marketing, if it is successful, but surely you can see why a current player derives little value from it.
[Deleted – cussing out other commenters is not acceptable community participation.]
lol yea…really need a keyboard breathalyzer – thanks for deleting that : /
GREEN A.N.K.H. (Ankhies Nuturing Kind Humpbacks)
In a most unfortunate turn of events three humpbacks whales have beached themselves on the shores of Sanctum Harbor. Near Sanctum Harbor Way point you will find the first of three tortured souls needing our care, attention and Water!
Green A.N.K.H. has dedicated it’s time and interest in saving the middle whale from it’s impending doom!
We stand by the side of this noble creature, calling for volunteers, moistening it’s skin with healing waters and Ankhie Love until Anet provides content to save it!
ANKH guild will be here to support the whale on DragonBrand server at: http://www.xfire.com/live_video/crackraven
and
http://www.twitch.tv/exempt_gwen
until we can return it to the sea!!!!!!!!
I really do hope there is an event to save them, it is so sad to see them like that. If in a day or two they are replaced with dead whales, going to be even more upset, but can accept it as some kind of call to arms for a new threat that will arise.