"I feel I have the knowledge and the foresight of what to expect,"
Even with all the information out there, people are still going to feel ripped off and find blame with A-net.
That may very-well happen. But I won't feel ripped off. I've made and earned my money, and I do my research before I put it into a product. I will not regret my choice to put money into GW2, even if it doesn't turn out wonderful at the start -- I can always return to it later because I'm not obligated by monthly fee.
My Assumptions on the Marketing Plan Overall?
I feel that Arena.Net doesn't want to over-blow their game. They don't want to be another WAR, they don't want to be another SWOTR, and they don't want to be a house-hold name.. Not yet. Why? The game isn't ready yet. I have a feeling they around to start small and build up steam. This is the way that World of Warcraft did it in the first place. When WoW was released, it wasn't a household name.. but gamers KNEW about it. Gamers KNOW about Guild Wars 2. Does Arena.Net care if someone's mother knows that it's coming out soon so they can buy it for their 13-year-old for their Birthday? I highly doubt it.
(Arenanet still have forbidden the Press from releasing non-Arenanet provided screen shots, so there are some real limits on press coverage to date).
That's not really true. NDA for press was there only during the beta. But day after beta weekend (monday) NDA was lifted and press was allowed to post anything they wanted (except things that are not finished, aka cash shop).
@OP awesomely written article. Would like to see it spotlighted.
That is not true. In addition to not being able discuss some aspects of their experience or show videos of those things, (we know cash shop is one, but there were apparently others), the press have not been allowed to share their own in game screenshots.
hm.. but why ban screenshots. Videos are worth 10000x more than screenshots..
My question exactly. It would have saved a lot of the arguements over the alledged graphics quality "issue" that resulted from the degradation of the visuals that most of the videos produced due to video compression. Some of the leaked shots were beautiful, but we couldn't use them to defend the visuals.
You do realise that Screenshots are disabled for most BETA's right? I mean... the Printscreen button literally takes a picture of your desktop instead of the game.
“We expect the public weekend beta people to be some of our strongest evangelists,” said Lye. “They’ll be able to post screenshots, create blogs and create live streaming of the game to share with their friends and the overall community.”
Arenanet banned press beta participants for posting screenshots, so I don't get the point of your post. Even if there was a barrier to easy screen shots being taken by the press, it wasn't a failproof mechanism and the question remains over why they prohibited screenshots from the press, when it would have just better served the game? I'm not going to obssess over the prohibition on screenshots, I brought it up in reply to the nothion that the press had carte blanche on reporting on the press beta weekends after the embargo was lifted. They did not. Even that isn't a big issue for me, just correcting an inaccuracy.
You know what's also different from all those games and GW2? They're out, and we can now look back at the actual games themselves and see what they did wrong. We can't do that with GW2. Yet.
It's easy to sit back and say that enough information about Warhammer and Swtor (I never played FF, but when the boss apologizes for releasing a bad game, I guess enough's said) wasn't released, but it was. We had gameplay videos all over the place. But you can't really get a feel for the thing until you play it.
It's not really fair to compare the marketing departments of these games while using the state of those games to prove your point. Here's the thing. Marketing sold me on games like Warhammer and Auto Assault. Marketing has sold you on GW2. Because that's all it is. Good marketing. And it's JUST hype and marketing until the game hits the shelves.
Look, I had this same conversation with AmazingAvery when he knew that Age of Conan would be the best game ever. I get it. And I'll never convince you that you're affected by anything other than just what has to be the most awesome game ever. That's fine too. Just realize that it's all the same sales machine, and this one has your soul. Just like A Secret World has mine.
That's going to be the best game ever. I saw videos.
You know what's also different from all those games and GW2? They're out, and we can now look back at the actual games themselves and see what they did wrong. We can't do that with GW2. Yet.
It's easy to sit back and say that enough information about Warhammer and Swtor (I never played FF, but when the boss apologizes for releasing a bad game, I guess enough's said) wasn't released, but it was. We had gameplay videos all over the place. But you can't really get a feel for the thing until you play it.
It's not really fair to compare the marketing departments of these games while using the state of those games to prove your point. Here's the thing. Marketing sold me on games like Warhammer and Auto Assault. Marketing has sold you on GW2. Because that's all it is. Good marketing. And it's JUST hype and marketing until the game hits the shelves.
Look, I had this same conversation with AmazingAvery when he knew that Age of Conan would be the best game ever. I get it. And I'll never convince you that you're affected by anything other than just what has to be the most awesome game ever. That's fine too. Just realize that it's all the same sales machine, and this one has your soul. Just like A Secret World has mine.
That's going to be the best game ever. I saw videos.
HAHA! you made perfect sense until, well..............
(Arenanet still have forbidden the Press from releasing non-Arenanet provided screen shots, so there are some real limits on press coverage to date).
That's not really true. NDA for press was there only during the beta. But day after beta weekend (monday) NDA was lifted and press was allowed to post anything they wanted (except things that are not finished, aka cash shop).
@OP awesomely written article. Would like to see it spotlighted.
That is not true. In addition to not being able discuss some aspects of their experience or show videos of those things, (we know cash shop is one, but there were apparently others), the press have not been allowed to share their own in game screenshots.
Agree with Thedarkness, great post OP. Fiontar I believe is correct on limited screenshots.. but think about why. The game is NOT in a finalized nor optimized. It would be like a woman saying sure post up that pic of me without my morning coffee or make up =P She wouldn't let you! And the items still under NDA, like the cash shop that was the first look at it and it was a test group. They don't want it discussed because its not final and we saw the panic that ensued! Which is most likely the case for the other items they cannot dicuss.. also we know that they are withholding certain things. I believe them that its to save them as surprises, its a great marketing strategy!
on this I may be off base as I am trying to remember the larger post while replying to this one.. was there concern on the beta classification? I read today in the Romanian interview that they will NOT have an open beta, they disagree with the term and will not have a beta called "open beta". Instead they are having the BWE's like Rift and Tera had. So basically they have/had alpha, beta with NDA and beta without NDA. We are soon to have our first beta without NDA.
Look, I had this same conversation with AmazingAvery when he knew that Age of Conan would be the best game ever. I get it. And I'll never convince you that you're affected by anything other than just what has to be the most awesome game ever. That's fine too. Just realize that it's all the same sales machine, and this one has your soul. Just like A Secret World has mine.
That's going to be the best game ever. I saw videos.
The critical flaw in your point of view/response is that you take a bold assumption. No where in my article, or in any of my responses for that matter, do I declare/annoucne/assume that Guild Wars 2 is and will be the best game ever. As a matter of fact, I do not feel that Guild Wars 2 will be the greatest game, and everyone I tell about the game I say this.
"You know, the game looks really solid and polished, looks like plenty to do, and there is a good solid gameplay structure to at least enjoy for a little while. Even if it's not a huge success from the start, you can at least be assured that it will have a positive effect on future games."
You know what's also different from all those games and GW2? They're out, and we can now look back at the actual games themselves and see what they did wrong. We can't do that with GW2. Yet.
It's easy to sit back and say that enough information about Warhammer and Swtor (I never played FF, but when the boss apologizes for releasing a bad game, I guess enough's said) wasn't released, but it was. We had gameplay videos all over the place. But you can't really get a feel for the thing until you play it.
It's not really fair to compare the marketing departments of these games while using the state of those games to prove your point. Here's the thing. Marketing sold me on games like Warhammer and Auto Assault. Marketing has sold you on GW2. Because that's all it is. Good marketing. And it's JUST hype and marketing until the game hits the shelves.
Look, I had this same conversation with AmazingAvery when he knew that Age of Conan would be the best game ever. I get it. And I'll never convince you that you're affected by anything other than just what has to be the most awesome game ever. That's fine too. Just realize that it's all the same sales machine, and this one has your soul. Just like A Secret World has mine.
That's going to be the best game ever. I saw videos.
You might want to talk to someone who has played the game for more than a tiny bit at a con before giving it your soul... just sayin. All you have to do is look at the state of the game RIGHT NOW, compare GW2 with TSW. TSW is in no way ready to be release in June... three game companies combined couldn't make it so. *shakes head, sighs and moves on*
You know what's also different from all those games and GW2? They're out, and we can now look back at the actual games themselves and see what they did wrong. We can't do that with GW2. Yet.
It's easy to sit back and say that enough information about Warhammer and Swtor (I never played FF, but when the boss apologizes for releasing a bad game, I guess enough's said) wasn't released, but it was. We had gameplay videos all over the place. But you can't really get a feel for the thing until you play it.
It's not really fair to compare the marketing departments of these games while using the state of those games to prove your point. Here's the thing. Marketing sold me on games like Warhammer and Auto Assault. Marketing has sold you on GW2. Because that's all it is. Good marketing. And it's JUST hype and marketing until the game hits the shelves.
Look, I had this same conversation with AmazingAvery when he knew that Age of Conan would be the best game ever. I get it. And I'll never convince you that you're affected by anything other than just what has to be the most awesome game ever. That's fine too. Just realize that it's all the same sales machine, and this one has your soul. Just like A Secret World has mine.
That's going to be the best game ever. I saw videos.
You might want to talk to someone who has played the game for more than a tiny bit at a con before giving it your soul... just sayin. All you have to do is look at the state of the game RIGHT NOW, compare GW2 with TSW. TSW is in no way ready to be release in June... three game companies combined couldn't make it so. *shakes head, sighs and moves on*
how do you know what state TSW is in? they haven't exactly releasd a slew of videos. you've been saying you played the beta, but that was months ago.
how do you know what state TSW is in? they haven't exactly releasd a slew of videos. you've been saying you played the beta, but that was months ago.
I think you completely missed the point of what he was stating. He was using TSW as an example of how many MMORPGs have been released in the past 8 years. You hear very little about them and know they haven't been in production very long. Yet, they still have a stupidly soon release date and almost no real information about them -- despite sharing a potential release date with Guild Wars 2. It's an example, and a good use of one.
You know what's also different from all those games and GW2? They're out, and we can now look back at the actual games themselves and see what they did wrong. We can't do that with GW2. Yet.
It's easy to sit back and say that enough information about Warhammer and Swtor (I never played FF, but when the boss apologizes for releasing a bad game, I guess enough's said) wasn't released, but it was. We had gameplay videos all over the place. But you can't really get a feel for the thing until you play it.
It's not really fair to compare the marketing departments of these games while using the state of those games to prove your point. Here's the thing. Marketing sold me on games like Warhammer and Auto Assault. Marketing has sold you on GW2. Because that's all it is. Good marketing. And it's JUST hype and marketing until the game hits the shelves.
Look, I had this same conversation with AmazingAvery when he knew that Age of Conan would be the best game ever. I get it. And I'll never convince you that you're affected by anything other than just what has to be the most awesome game ever. That's fine too. Just realize that it's all the same sales machine, and this one has your soul. Just like A Secret World has mine.
That's going to be the best game ever. I saw videos.
You might want to talk to someone who has played the game for more than a tiny bit at a con before giving it your soul... just sayin. All you have to do is look at the state of the game RIGHT NOW, compare GW2 with TSW. TSW is in no way ready to be release in June... three game companies combined couldn't make it so. *shakes head, sighs and moves on*
how do you know what state TSW is in? they haven't exactly releasd a slew of videos. you've been saying you played the beta, but that was months ago.
you aren't following your game of choice very well... its in beta right now. You can see that right now at the TSW forums.
You know what's also different from all those games and GW2? They're out, and we can now look back at the actual games themselves and see what they did wrong. We can't do that with GW2. Yet.
It's easy to sit back and say that enough information about Warhammer and Swtor (I never played FF, but when the boss apologizes for releasing a bad game, I guess enough's said) wasn't released, but it was. We had gameplay videos all over the place. But you can't really get a feel for the thing until you play it.
It's not really fair to compare the marketing departments of these games while using the state of those games to prove your point. Here's the thing. Marketing sold me on games like Warhammer and Auto Assault. Marketing has sold you on GW2. Because that's all it is. Good marketing. And it's JUST hype and marketing until the game hits the shelves.
Look, I had this same conversation with AmazingAvery when he knew that Age of Conan would be the best game ever. I get it. And I'll never convince you that you're affected by anything other than just what has to be the most awesome game ever. That's fine too. Just realize that it's all the same sales machine, and this one has your soul. Just like A Secret World has mine.
That's going to be the best game ever. I saw videos.
You might want to talk to someone who has played the game for more than a tiny bit at a con before giving it your soul... just sayin. All you have to do is look at the state of the game RIGHT NOW, compare GW2 with TSW. TSW is in no way ready to be release in June... three game companies combined couldn't make it so. *shakes head, sighs and moves on*
how do you know what state TSW is in? they haven't exactly releasd a slew of videos. you've been saying you played the beta, but that was months ago.
you aren't following your game of choice very well... its in beta right now. You can see that right now at the TSW forums.
i must not bother to visit the forums, cause im so interested in it. i just hate how people slander games, for no good reason.
Alot of us know the state of TSW, but due to all the NDA's they like to toss around ill get banned im sure for just even saying TSW and NDA in the same sentence. This is why you havnt heard anything about the game, they are locking down hard on anyone who even thinks about the game.
What made the Star Wars situation unique is that it combined elements of WAR’s hype machine and Final Fantasy XIV’s fan-driven expectations, married into one organism. The difference though, is that Star Wars: The Old Republic is actually a playable game, and many people have found it to be quite acceptable. In several points, the hype did live up to what people were told to expect, but it didn’t exactly live up to what people were really hoping for overall. In the end, a lot of people really were disappointed with Star Wars, either because they had too high of hopes or felt they were simply lied to. Whose fault is hard to tell, for there were two massive fronts generating a massive amount of hype before its release.
So what’s so different? What is it that makes Guild Wars 2 different from these previous tittles? As a product, one could argue that nothing is different at all. Guild Wars 2 is ultimately still a game, it is to be sold to the public, it is to be played, and probably enjoyed for only a short period of time – or at great length depending on the person who is going to play it. But as a market plan – Guild Wars 2 is a very different creature indeed. I’ve known about this title for a long, long time. In 2010 in fact they released gameplay footage of it, of course this was low quality, but the footage was roughly about an hour long featuring a female ranger running around in the starting zone.
Actually no, I have the articles where the devs interviews made broad outlandish statements about how great their combat system would be, how unlike other mmo's it was not going to be the same twenty little guys beating on a larger boss and how they were doing something no one else had done before (even tho they were vague and didn't reveal what(. They did not deliver what they promised But since it was Starwars people just settled in and paid these people anyway.
For the past few years, Guild Wars 2 has been something of a quiet creature. While Guild Wars 2 remained high on the hyper-meters of many websites, there wasn’t much known about the final product. All people really had were their experiences with Guild Wars and how it handled. Aside from occasional information dumps of class information via the main website, the fair bulk of Guild Wars 2 content was still completely unknown and up to the wild imaginations of the community. That is until February 2012 of course.
Ugh it's just amazing to me how much people can miss in a year by not searching. I've been using Google for over a year now since last christmas following this game title. there hasn't been unknown speculation, there's been post after post of interviews commentary gameplay reviews from pax and cons alike (they didn't do a single show they did many) and what amazes me about your statement is that since you didn't find anything until feb 2012 there wasn't any information available. ??? HA. right.
Often times Press were seen as something of the enemy, people to be avoided! You see, the Game-Press have this nasty habit of spreading information. Games, especially MMORPGs, are supposed to be top-secret development projects, right? No one is supposed to know ANYTHING about the game until like 2 weeks before release, then the Game-Press and can come and go as they please as Open Beta is underway. But Arena.Net pretty much hand-picked a lot of major game websites, especially those who pod-cast regularly, gave them the keys to the car and said: “It’s yours for the weekend.”
After that, it’s like a virtual information bomb went off on the internet. A tsunami of gameplay videos, impressions, blogs, reviews, and more just poured into every orifice of just about every game-related website on the face of the internet.
I agree with you there! there was a bomb that went off LOL it is still everywhere as there was a short understandable delay between events and the videos.
Now the information is trickling down to the community itself, who weren’t the first ones to be catered to it at all. With an information overload, the community is still sifting through the mass media. If you haven’t looked at anything Guild Wars 2 related, you should. These aren't simple assumption articles. These are detailed descriptions of the actual mechanics of the game that will not see much alteration between now and the final release. Confident in their product, especially after a record breaking 50 hour beta sign up period, Arena.Net is offering full on pre-purchases of the final product. This too has been seldom done.
But but don't tell people there are FACTS about the game, they'll simply turn around and tell you that you are a hype machine!
Alot of us know the state of TSW, but due to all the NDA's they like to toss around ill get banned im sure for just even saying TSW and NDA in the same sentence. This is why you havnt heard anything about the game, they are locking down hard on anyone who even thinks about the game.
For some reason EA branded titles usually do that.
The critical flaw in your point of view/response is that you take a bold assumption. No where in my article, or in any of my responses for that matter, do I declare/annoucne/assume that Guild Wars 2 is and will be the best game ever. As a matter of fact, I do not feel that Guild Wars 2 will be the greatest game, and everyone I tell about the game I say this.
"You know, the game looks really solid and polished, looks like plenty to do, and there is a good solid gameplay structure to at least enjoy for a little while. Even if it's not a huge success from the start, you can at least be assured that it will have a positive effect on future games."
You can quote me.
I actually didn't mean it to come off as putting words in your mouth. It was more of a counterpoint to everything I had just finished saying about not buying into hype.
And for the record, I'd like GW2 to be great. I want TSW to be great too, if only because the setting is newish. I really don't like to see games fail, and for the life of me, I can't understand how so many games can have individually good ideas but one game can't come and put them all together.
I also didn't mean to derail the thread into a TSW thing. My bad!
What made the Star Wars situation unique is that it combined elements of WAR’s hype machine and Final Fantasy XIV’s fan-driven expectations, married into one organism. The difference though, is that Star Wars: The Old Republic is actually a playable game, and many people have found it to be quite acceptable. In several points, the hype did live up to what people were told to expect, but it didn’t exactly live up to what people were really hoping for overall. In the end, a lot of people really were disappointed with Star Wars, either because they had too high of hopes or felt they were simply lied to. Whose fault is hard to tell, for there were two massive fronts generating a massive amount of hype before its release.
So what’s so different? What is it that makes Guild Wars 2 different from these previous tittles? As a product, one could argue that nothing is different at all. Guild Wars 2 is ultimately still a game, it is to be sold to the public, it is to be played, and probably enjoyed for only a short period of time – or at great length depending on the person who is going to play it. But as a market plan – Guild Wars 2 is a very different creature indeed. I’ve known about this title for a long, long time. In 2010 in fact they released gameplay footage of it, of course this was low quality, but the footage was roughly about an hour long featuring a female ranger running around in the starting zone.
Actually no, I have the articles where the devs interviews made broad outlandish statements about how great their combat system would be, how unlike other mmo's it was not going to be the same twenty little guys beating on a larger boss and how they were doing something no one else had done before (even tho they were vague and didn't reveal what(. They did not deliver what they promised But since it was Starwars people just settled in and paid these people anyway.
Did those early statements really create any sense of confusion toward what the final product would offer in the end? As it's not like they hid combat from public view. It was no secret what TOR's combat was before it released. So I'm not sure what the above has to do with Temper's point.
You act as though NDA was held until release day, there was over a month of uncontrolled tester/press feedback.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
What made the Star Wars situation unique is that it combined elements of WAR’s hype machine and Final Fantasy XIV’s fan-driven expectations, married into one organism. The difference though, is that Star Wars: The Old Republic is actually a playable game, and many people have found it to be quite acceptable. In several points, the hype did live up to what people were told to expect, but it didn’t exactly live up to what people were really hoping for overall. In the end, a lot of people really were disappointed with Star Wars, either because they had too high of hopes or felt they were simply lied to. Whose fault is hard to tell, for there were two massive fronts generating a massive amount of hype before its release.
So what’s so different? What is it that makes Guild Wars 2 different from these previous tittles? As a product, one could argue that nothing is different at all. Guild Wars 2 is ultimately still a game, it is to be sold to the public, it is to be played, and probably enjoyed for only a short period of time – or at great length depending on the person who is going to play it. But as a market plan – Guild Wars 2 is a very different creature indeed. I’ve known about this title for a long, long time. In 2010 in fact they released gameplay footage of it, of course this was low quality, but the footage was roughly about an hour long featuring a female ranger running around in the starting zone.
Actually no, I have the articles where the devs interviews made broad outlandish statements about how great their combat system would be, how unlike other mmo's it was not going to be the same twenty little guys beating on a larger boss and how they were doing something no one else had done before (even tho they were vague and didn't reveal what(. They did not deliver what they promised But since it was Starwars people just settled in and paid these people anyway.
Did those early statements really create any sense of confusion toward what the final product would offer in the end? As it's not like they hid combat from public view. It was no secret what TOR's combat was before it released. So I'm not sure what the above has to do with Temper's point.
You act as though NDA was held until release day, there was over a month of uncontrolled tester/press feedback.
Actually that is what happened, they weren't as open or as free with their actual gameplay footage, they had a very low footage to interview ratio, and since not everyone who was interested had as much information as say GW2 has out for it's title a year in advance, people thought it was going to be one way instead of another. It's like WoW's celebrity commercials, they don't really reveal anything concrete and there are only a few of them but they built up hype via ads. Oh and then there was the issues they discovered post launch where the final beta of the game was different then the launch, and i don't just mean graphics issues.
Actually that is what happened, they weren't as open or as free with their actual gameplay footage, they had a very low footage to interview ratio, and since not everyone who was interested had as much information as say GW2 has out for it's title a year in advance, people thought it was going to be one way instead of another. It's like WoW's celebrity commercials, they don't really reveal anything concrete and there are only a few of them but they built up hype via ads.
THe game-play was laid bare at just about every single event that existed.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Actually that is what happened, they weren't as open or as free with their actual gameplay footage, they had a very low footage to interview ratio, and since not everyone who was interested had as much information as say GW2 has out for it's title a year in advance, people thought it was going to be one way instead of another. It's like WoW's celebrity commercials, they don't really reveal anything concrete and there are only a few of them but they built up hype via ads.
THe game-play was laid bare at just about every single event that existed.
15 minutes(usually) of the same exact slice of game. while GW2 demos were expanded nicely from show to show, the game time was longer and the game itself had more layers to show. exploration videos were in bountiful supply, while with TOR there was no "off the beaten path". the result was that less of the game was shown.
PvP, crafting(in depth), all playable and stuff people could see for themselves. half the swtor footage were staged canned pieces and very brief. they weren't putting high level content in your hands at trade shows.
THe game-play was laid bare at just about every single event that existed.
15 minutes(usually) of the same exact slice of game. while GW2 demos were expanded nicely from show to show, the game time was longer and the game itself had more layers to show. exploration videos were in bountiful supply, while with TOR there was no "off the beaten path". the result was that less of the game was shown.
PvP, crafting(in depth), all playable and stuff people could see for themselves. half the swtor footage were staged canned pieces and very brief. they weren't putting high level content in your hands at trade shows.
In either game what is the difference between mid to low level content and high level content? In TOR not much, in GW2 they say endgame starts at level one.
The only thing not shown of TOR pre-release was Ilum. They showed Flashpoints, Class quests, Companions/crafting, side quests, Operations, Combat and Warzones, is there anything more to TOR than that?
You do realize The entire game of TOR was at conventions all through 2011 right? It wasn't a demo build.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Comments
That may very-well happen. But I won't feel ripped off. I've made and earned my money, and I do my research before I put it into a product. I will not regret my choice to put money into GW2, even if it doesn't turn out wonderful at the start -- I can always return to it later because I'm not obligated by monthly fee.
My Assumptions on the Marketing Plan Overall?
I feel that Arena.Net doesn't want to over-blow their game. They don't want to be another WAR, they don't want to be another SWOTR, and they don't want to be a house-hold name.. Not yet. Why? The game isn't ready yet. I have a feeling they around to start small and build up steam. This is the way that World of Warcraft did it in the first place. When WoW was released, it wasn't a household name.. but gamers KNEW about it. Gamers KNOW about Guild Wars 2. Does Arena.Net care if someone's mother knows that it's coming out soon so they can buy it for their 13-year-old for their Birthday? I highly doubt it.
This is a HUGE plus in my book!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2012/03/13/ncsoft-aims-to-break-the-static-online-game-mold-with-arenanets-guild-wars-2/
“We expect the public weekend beta people to be some of our strongest evangelists,” said Lye. “They’ll be able to post screenshots, create blogs and create live streaming of the game to share with their friends and the overall community.”
Arenanet banned press beta participants for posting screenshots, so I don't get the point of your post. Even if there was a barrier to easy screen shots being taken by the press, it wasn't a failproof mechanism and the question remains over why they prohibited screenshots from the press, when it would have just better served the game? I'm not going to obssess over the prohibition on screenshots, I brought it up in reply to the nothion that the press had carte blanche on reporting on the press beta weekends after the embargo was lifted. They did not. Even that isn't a big issue for me, just correcting an inaccuracy.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
You know what's also different from all those games and GW2? They're out, and we can now look back at the actual games themselves and see what they did wrong. We can't do that with GW2. Yet.
It's easy to sit back and say that enough information about Warhammer and Swtor (I never played FF, but when the boss apologizes for releasing a bad game, I guess enough's said) wasn't released, but it was. We had gameplay videos all over the place. But you can't really get a feel for the thing until you play it.
It's not really fair to compare the marketing departments of these games while using the state of those games to prove your point. Here's the thing. Marketing sold me on games like Warhammer and Auto Assault. Marketing has sold you on GW2. Because that's all it is. Good marketing. And it's JUST hype and marketing until the game hits the shelves.
Look, I had this same conversation with AmazingAvery when he knew that Age of Conan would be the best game ever. I get it. And I'll never convince you that you're affected by anything other than just what has to be the most awesome game ever. That's fine too. Just realize that it's all the same sales machine, and this one has your soul. Just like A Secret World has mine.
That's going to be the best game ever. I saw videos.
HAHA! you made perfect sense until, well..............
Agree with Thedarkness, great post OP. Fiontar I believe is correct on limited screenshots.. but think about why. The game is NOT in a finalized nor optimized. It would be like a woman saying sure post up that pic of me without my morning coffee or make up =P She wouldn't let you! And the items still under NDA, like the cash shop that was the first look at it and it was a test group. They don't want it discussed because its not final and we saw the panic that ensued! Which is most likely the case for the other items they cannot dicuss.. also we know that they are withholding certain things. I believe them that its to save them as surprises, its a great marketing strategy!
on this I may be off base as I am trying to remember the larger post while replying to this one.. was there concern on the beta classification? I read today in the Romanian interview that they will NOT have an open beta, they disagree with the term and will not have a beta called "open beta". Instead they are having the BWE's like Rift and Tera had. So basically they have/had alpha, beta with NDA and beta without NDA. We are soon to have our first beta without NDA.
The critical flaw in your point of view/response is that you take a bold assumption. No where in my article, or in any of my responses for that matter, do I declare/annoucne/assume that Guild Wars 2 is and will be the best game ever. As a matter of fact, I do not feel that Guild Wars 2 will be the greatest game, and everyone I tell about the game I say this.
"You know, the game looks really solid and polished, looks like plenty to do, and there is a good solid gameplay structure to at least enjoy for a little while. Even if it's not a huge success from the start, you can at least be assured that it will have a positive effect on future games."
You can quote me.
The game will be successful as long as its not a WoW clone b/c ppl are tired of playing WoW clone games.
Amen.
You might want to talk to someone who has played the game for more than a tiny bit at a con before giving it your soul... just sayin. All you have to do is look at the state of the game RIGHT NOW, compare GW2 with TSW. TSW is in no way ready to be release in June... three game companies combined couldn't make it so. *shakes head, sighs and moves on*
how do you know what state TSW is in? they haven't exactly releasd a slew of videos. you've been saying you played the beta, but that was months ago.
I've got the straight edge.
I think you completely missed the point of what he was stating. He was using TSW as an example of how many MMORPGs have been released in the past 8 years. You hear very little about them and know they haven't been in production very long. Yet, they still have a stupidly soon release date and almost no real information about them -- despite sharing a potential release date with Guild Wars 2. It's an example, and a good use of one.
you aren't following your game of choice very well... its in beta right now. You can see that right now at the TSW forums.
i must not bother to visit the forums, cause im so interested in it. i just hate how people slander games, for no good reason.
I've got the straight edge.
Alot of us know the state of TSW, but due to all the NDA's they like to toss around ill get banned im sure for just even saying TSW and NDA in the same sentence. This is why you havnt heard anything about the game, they are locking down hard on anyone who even thinks about the game.
Back to seriousness, I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE SAID
For some reason EA branded titles usually do that.
Send a private message if you have a serious offer and can pay the commission fees.
I actually didn't mean it to come off as putting words in your mouth. It was more of a counterpoint to everything I had just finished saying about not buying into hype.
And for the record, I'd like GW2 to be great. I want TSW to be great too, if only because the setting is newish. I really don't like to see games fail, and for the life of me, I can't understand how so many games can have individually good ideas but one game can't come and put them all together.
I also didn't mean to derail the thread into a TSW thing. My bad!
Did those early statements really create any sense of confusion toward what the final product would offer in the end? As it's not like they hid combat from public view. It was no secret what TOR's combat was before it released. So I'm not sure what the above has to do with Temper's point.
You act as though NDA was held until release day, there was over a month of uncontrolled tester/press feedback.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Actually that is what happened, they weren't as open or as free with their actual gameplay footage, they had a very low footage to interview ratio, and since not everyone who was interested had as much information as say GW2 has out for it's title a year in advance, people thought it was going to be one way instead of another. It's like WoW's celebrity commercials, they don't really reveal anything concrete and there are only a few of them but they built up hype via ads. Oh and then there was the issues they discovered post launch where the final beta of the game was different then the launch, and i don't just mean graphics issues.
THe game-play was laid bare at just about every single event that existed.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
15 minutes(usually) of the same exact slice of game. while GW2 demos were expanded nicely from show to show, the game time was longer and the game itself had more layers to show. exploration videos were in bountiful supply, while with TOR there was no "off the beaten path". the result was that less of the game was shown.
PvP, crafting(in depth), all playable and stuff people could see for themselves. half the swtor footage were staged canned pieces and very brief. they weren't putting high level content in your hands at trade shows.
In either game what is the difference between mid to low level content and high level content? In TOR not much, in GW2 they say endgame starts at level one.
The only thing not shown of TOR pre-release was Ilum. They showed Flashpoints, Class quests, Companions/crafting, side quests, Operations, Combat and Warzones, is there anything more to TOR than that?
You do realize The entire game of TOR was at conventions all through 2011 right? It wasn't a demo build.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson