Colin: We toe an interesting middle ground in that area, because there really are just two paradigm shifts that seem to be happening. The first is you pay a monthly fee for games, and there are actual console companies that are looking at following that model, which is really interesting to me, and then you have the opposite end of the spectrum that is being driven a lot by the east; games that are completely free (or you pay a very small fee up front to play the game). These companies then monetize it by charging you a fortune to play the game or to get more powerful.
Guild Wars 2 falls in a strange middle ground where we don’t sell anything in our online store that makes you more powerful. There is nothing you need to buy in our store to ever play the game which is very different to most of the Eastern games, and we don’t charge a monthly fee which is very different from most of the western MMOGs. It will be interesting to see if companies start to drift towards that middle of if they continue to shift far to the left or right of those.
and this:
Colin: It has to be the charr for me. Ever since I ever started working at ArenaNet and saw the charrI was like, “wow! What is that?”. I just think they look incredible and to be actually able to play as one now and roam around as my bad ass big cat monster; I think they are amazing. I think their stories are amazing and I love playing in the charr areas with the steam punk feel to it. I play a charr whenever I get a chance, although the asura are rapidly moving up the list for me. The animations really sold me on them.
We haven’t demonstrated this yet, but the early asura starting experience, it is amazing. That first storyline for the asura and the first events you experience in the starting area — there is such a great sense of humour there – such a unique feel to all they do, that I go back in that area constantly because I love being there. Every time I run around that map I can’t stop smiling.
And I really want them to just say the dang class name already (LOL):
Colin: We are constantly testing and looking at ‘numbers’ and running data mining to see what appears, but we are really happy right now with the balance we have, especially for something that is in an Alpha phase. I think the systems team has done a fantastic job of balancing the game already. Right now, the 8th profession is a little weak and needs a lot more work to get to the point when it is on par with the rest of them and so that is one area of concern. We are trying to get that unnamed 8th profession so that it matches everybody else.
Colin: We toe an interesting middle ground in that area, because there really are just two paradigm shifts that seem to be happening. The first is you pay a monthly fee for games, and there are actual console companies that are looking at following that model, which is really interesting to me, and then you have the opposite end of the spectrum that is being driven a lot by the east; games that are completely free (or you pay a very small fee up front to play the game). These companies then monetize it by charging you a fortune to play the game or to get more powerful.
Guild Wars 2 falls in a strange middle ground where we don’t sell anything in our online store that makes you more powerful. There is nothing you need to buy in our store to ever play the game which is very different to most of the Eastern games, and we don’t charge a monthly fee which is very different from most of the western MMOGs. It will be interesting to see if companies start to drift towards that middle of if they continue to shift far to the left or right of those.
and this:
Colin: It has to be the charr for me. Ever since I ever started working at ArenaNet and saw the charrI was like, “wow! What is that?”. I just think they look incredible and to be actually able to play as one now and roam around as my bad ass big cat monster; I think they are amazing. I think their stories are amazing and I love playing in the charr areas with the steam punk feel to it. I play a charr whenever I get a chance, although the asura are rapidly moving up the list for me. The animations really sold me on them.
We haven’t demonstrated this yet, but the early asura starting experience, it is amazing. That first storyline for the asura and the first events you experience in the starting area — there is such a great sense of humour there – such a unique feel to all they do, that I go back in that area constantly because I love being there. Every time I run around that map I can’t stop smiling.
And I really want them to just say the dang class name already (LOL):
Colin: We are constantly testing and looking at ‘numbers’ and running data mining to see what appears, but we are really happy right now with the balance we have, especially for something that is in an Alpha phase. I think the systems team has done a fantastic job of balancing the game already. Right now, the 8th profession is a little weak and needs a lot more work to get to the point when it is on par with the rest of them and so that is one area of concern. We are trying to get that unnamed 8th profession so that it matches everybody else.
I think in light of the thread about what are people that P2P paying for, this part caught my attention the most. It seems no matter how many times it is stated by the Dev team, the nay sayers still claim that Anet is either full of crap or they are being coy about their wording so they can throw in a shop to match the F2P setup. There it is once again in plain english. Good interview BTW.
Colin: We toe an interesting middle ground in that area, because there really are just two paradigm shifts that seem to be happening. The first is you pay a monthly fee for games, and there are actual console companies that are looking at following that model, which is really interesting to me, and then you have the opposite end of the spectrum that is being driven a lot by the east; games that are completely free (or you pay a very small fee up front to play the game). These companies then monetize it by charging you a fortune to play the game or to get more powerful.
Guild Wars 2 falls in a strange middle ground where we don’t sell anything in our online store that makes you more powerful. There is nothing you need to buy in our store to ever play the game which is very different to most of the Eastern games, and we don’t charge a monthly fee which is very different from most of the western MMOGs. It will be interesting to see if companies start to drift towards that middle of if they continue to shift far to the left or right of those.
and this:
Colin: It has to be the charr for me. Ever since I ever started working at ArenaNet and saw the charrI was like, “wow! What is that?”. I just think they look incredible and to be actually able to play as one now and roam around as my bad ass big cat monster; I think they are amazing. I think their stories are amazing and I love playing in the charr areas with the steam punk feel to it. I play a charr whenever I get a chance, although the asura are rapidly moving up the list for me. The animations really sold me on them.
We haven’t demonstrated this yet, but the early asura starting experience, it is amazing. That first storyline for the asura and the first events you experience in the starting area — there is such a great sense of humour there – such a unique feel to all they do, that I go back in that area constantly because I love being there. Every time I run around that map I can’t stop smiling.
And I really want them to just say the dang class name already (LOL):
Colin: We are constantly testing and looking at ‘numbers’ and running data mining to see what appears, but we are really happy right now with the balance we have, especially for something that is in an Alpha phase. I think the systems team has done a fantastic job of balancing the game already. Right now, the 8th profession is a little weak and needs a lot more work to get to the point when it is on par with the rest of them and so that is one area of concern. We are trying to get that unnamed 8th profession so that it matches everybody else.
I think in light of the thread about what are people that P2P paying for, this part caught my attention the most. It seems no matter how many times it is stated by the Dev team, the nay sayers still claim that Anet is either full of crap or they are being coy about their wording so they can throw in a shop to match the F2P setup. There it is once again in plain english. Good interview BTW.
I agree. I thought the same thing as soon as I saw it. Lewis B. does a great job. I enjoy his articles.
Comments
That was a great interview!
I really liked this:
Colin: We toe an interesting middle ground in that area, because there really are just two paradigm shifts that seem to be happening. The first is you pay a monthly fee for games, and there are actual console companies that are looking at following that model, which is really interesting to me, and then you have the opposite end of the spectrum that is being driven a lot by the east; games that are completely free (or you pay a very small fee up front to play the game). These companies then monetize it by charging you a fortune to play the game or to get more powerful.
Guild Wars 2 falls in a strange middle ground where we don’t sell anything in our online store that makes you more powerful. There is nothing you need to buy in our store to ever play the game which is very different to most of the Eastern games, and we don’t charge a monthly fee which is very different from most of the western MMOGs. It will be interesting to see if companies start to drift towards that middle of if they continue to shift far to the left or right of those.
and this:
Colin: It has to be the charr for me. Ever since I ever started working at ArenaNet and saw the charrI was like, “wow! What is that?”. I just think they look incredible and to be actually able to play as one now and roam around as my bad ass big cat monster; I think they are amazing. I think their stories are amazing and I love playing in the charr areas with the steam punk feel to it. I play a charr whenever I get a chance, although the asura are rapidly moving up the list for me. The animations really sold me on them.
We haven’t demonstrated this yet, but the early asura starting experience, it is amazing. That first storyline for the asura and the first events you experience in the starting area — there is such a great sense of humour there – such a unique feel to all they do, that I go back in that area constantly because I love being there. Every time I run around that map I can’t stop smiling.
And I really want them to just say the dang class name already (LOL):
Colin: We are constantly testing and looking at ‘numbers’ and running data mining to see what appears, but we are really happy right now with the balance we have, especially for something that is in an Alpha phase. I think the systems team has done a fantastic job of balancing the game already. Right now, the 8th profession is a little weak and needs a lot more work to get to the point when it is on par with the rest of them and so that is one area of concern. We are trying to get that unnamed 8th profession so that it matches everybody else.
I think in light of the thread about what are people that P2P paying for, this part caught my attention the most. It seems no matter how many times it is stated by the Dev team, the nay sayers still claim that Anet is either full of crap or they are being coy about their wording so they can throw in a shop to match the F2P setup. There it is once again in plain english. Good interview BTW.
RIP Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan and Paul Gray.
I agree. I thought the same thing as soon as I saw it. Lewis B. does a great job. I enjoy his articles.