Why was GW2 so popular this year, with 5,519, 402 unique hits?

redrain84

I have played GW2 a few times this year and I cant understand what makes it so popular.. It had 5,519,402  hit this  year,  the 2 other games behind it were  FFXIV ARR with 2.822,729  hits, and swtor with 2132,26. So statistically speaking this is the best MMO out at the moment, why? It isn't that good, what am I missing?

I thought swtor was the best mmo of the year.

NagelRitter

What? GW2 definitely beats SW:TOR by landslide.

 

djazzy

Why is apple pie so good?

Halandir

Most popular does not equal "best".

Sure, I think GW2 is a great game and I have little to no interest in the other two you mentioned. That does not make GW2 better or the other games worse. It just makes GW2 the right game for me and FFXIV/SWToR games with systems and mechanics I am not interested in/dislike.

BTW: Quite a few of the unique hits come from people who complained, mostly about GW2 not being exactly like every other themepark mmo onthe market. Are you trying to spawn yet another "payment model" argument?

 

nariusseldon

Originally posted by redrain84

 I cant understand what makes it so popular..

Because the game is fun for many people? You don't expect everyone has the same preference for fun as you, do you?

Gaendric

They read the market quite well and made a polished game that caters to the masses.

Do we all agree with what the mass market wants? Nope. Personally, I got bored with it after 2 weeks.

But it's still a well done and smartly priced and marketed game none the less. I am just not in it's core target audience.

 

 

nariusseldon

Originally posted by Halandir

Most popular does not equal "best".

 

"Best" is subjective. Most popular does not equate "best" for you. You can't speak for others.

 

Coman

Because you constantly see news about GW2 here. So off course it getting a lot of hits

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Originally posted by Halandir

Most popular does not equal "best".

 

"Best" is subjective. Most popular does not equate "best" for you. You can't speak for others.

 

 

Actually he is right and nothing subjective about this. Most popular simply means most unique hits with does not mean best. Someone might find GW2 the best game out there, but that does not change the fact that most popular on this site does not equal best.  

If you take a bad game and keep putting articles on this website it will get a lot of hits and be "popular" according to those stats.

Also Pathfinder Online is in that list. Clearly it might be popular, but no-one can know if it the best. So it's fair to make the assumption that popular does not equal best in this case. 

redrain84

All I was saying is that the game gets a lot of attention for some reason,  if its popular or the best game out. I just wanted to know what was the fuse over it?  If you look at all the hits it got over the past year  no other game come close to it., meaning this game has a lot of attention for some reason. I wasn't trying to rant or start a f2p model argument , I was just trying to state the facts.

redrain84

Originally posted by NagelRitter

What? GW2 definitely beats SW:TOR by landslide.

 

 How?

Neo_Viper

- Quality game, very polished, very high production value.

- Different from all the WoW clones.

- Tons of things to do that don't involve raiding.

- Buy to play, no subscription, and unlike most of the F2P titles, the in game shop isn't a "pay to win" greedy cash grab.

- Free content patches every two weeks.

- Fast, dynamic combat.

- No gear grind. Even if you take a break, you won't be so far behind your friends that it would take weeks to catch up, discouraging people to play again after e.g. holidays.

- Massive scale World vs World PvP with siege engines.

- sPvP (aka BG/Arenas) without gear grind either, it's all about player skill.

- Awesome graphics, with (imho) the best cities ever created in a MMORPG so far.

- Great community, partially thanks to the cooperative nature of the game as opposed to the competitive one of WoW and clones, where you fight your own guild mates for gear, and your own side for resources or tagging a mob first.

UsualSuspect

Originally posted by Gaendric

Do we all agree with what the mass market wants? Nope. Personally, I got bored with it after 2 weeks.

You lasted longer than me then, I got bored with it after 2 days, and that was the free trial period. I found it incredibly bland. No idea why it gets so much interest, I thought it was just plain dull.

bonzoso21

With the exception of the FFXIV reboot, the game is still pretty much the newest mass-appeal AAA MMORPG out there. Even if it seems like it's been ages since I logged in, it's only been a year since release, and the devs have rolled out content patches and holiday events at a pretty consistent clip in that time. If there's any reason for GW2 to have a huge disparity in hits, it's probably just that more articles have been written about GW2 this year than the other AAA MMOs that are on the horizon for a 2014 launch.

Azzataky

Originally posted by redrain84

I have played GW2 a few times this year and I cant understand what makes it so popular.. It had 5,519,402  hit this  year,  the 2 other games behind it were  FFXIV ARR with 2.822,729  hits, and swtor with 2132,26. So statistically speaking this is the best MMO out at the moment, why? It isn't that good, what am I missing?

I thought swtor was the best mmo of the year.

Good marketing, its promising something new. But I can tell you that I've been playing it and its cool till end game where its fractals "only". And now.. I play SWTOR.

Binny45

Originally posted by redrain84

I have played GW2 a few times this year and I cant understand what makes it so popular.. It had 5,519,402  hit this  year,  the 2 other games behind it were  FFXIV ARR with 2.822,729  hits, and swtor with 2132,26. So statistically speaking this is the best MMO out at the moment, why? It isn't that good, what am I missing?

I thought swtor was the best mmo of the year.

I have to agree.  Bought this on a recommendation of a friend.  Between that and what I saw here I expected something amazing.

Granted, the graphics are beautiful and I appreciate their efforts to differ the races from other games.  The bad news is that I find the game slow moving and it quickly becomes boring.

I will admit that I'm only in the early teens for a couple of characters, but these days if an MMO can't grab you by those levels they usually die off.

Maybe I'm missing something, but so far I've seen nothing special about Guild Wars 2.

Scorchien

Negative posts also count as hits ... It was just the most discussed MMO ... / thats all

bcbully

Because for 365 days, there's been atleast one feature and or news on the front page of this site.

Halandir

Originally posted by Binny45

I will admit that I'm only in the early teens for a couple of characters, but these days if an MMO can't grab you by those levels they usually die off.

Maybe I'm missing something, but so far I've seen nothing special about Guild Wars 2.

 

If you are in your early teens you MUST be missing something - Even the people who hate/dislike GW2 overall can agree on the lower levels being great.

And NO. I am in no position to tell you how you should play the game: If that is truely how you feel thats YOUR feelings and absolutely fine! By all means play something else... I would feel bad/guilty doing DE's together with someone who hated the experience.

Oh wait. Just noticed your sig... Note taken :-)

 

Carnicide

This game would be sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooomuch better if it had tanks. Not healers, just tanks.

Scalpless

Simply reading all the positive reviews should explain why people like this game. It's not like there's a shortage of them.

Halandir

Originally posted by bcbully
Because for 365 days, there's been atleast one feature and or news on the front page of this site.

 

Strange world: The microphone shows up where something is happening?

 

lightblade

I can think of 2 good reasons:

1. GW2 fosters great community. The "Guild" in the title should give you that idea and there are many features in the game that helps you with that sense of belonging (to your guild). Just to name a few:
   1. Guild vault where you share items and gold
   2. Guild emblem encrusted armor that you can show the world your guild pride
   3. Claiming territories in the name of your guild
   4. Public service buffs with your guild's name on it.
   5. Guild missions that offers great rewards but require coordinated cooperation of 10 or more players.
2. Frequent content updates. New contents arrive every 2 weeks that bring some "one time only" items. This eventually helps lock in old players and make those left want to go back again

 

bcbully

Originally posted by Halandir

Originally posted by bcbully
Because for 365 days, there's been atleast one feature and or news on the front page of this site.

 

Strange world: The microphone shows up where something is happening?

 

"Dynamic events", and "Living Stories" 

Halandir

Originally posted by bcbully

Originally posted by Halandir

...

"Dynamic events", and "Living Stories" 

 

Yeah well... When "Living Story" is a solid content update (whether you enjoy it/agrees with it or not) showing up every two weeks.

I don't see your preferred (or any other for that matter) MMO showing that kind of "news-worthyness"?

 

Bigdaddyx

It gets unique hits more than any other MMO because ANET continues to release something new every month. So people always have something to talk about.

LlexX

Originally posted by redrain84

So, why was GW2 so popular this year?

Because of the tens,hundreds of millions of dollars spent on marketing and brainwashing.

 

Originally posted by Halandir

Most popular does not equal "best".

Absolutely true.