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Reader Comments (11)

Posted: Jul 5th 2010 4:12PM TheJackman said

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the screen shots are just amazing! the info known about the game so far is amazing! However no real gameplay with UI and every thing was so far.

I think they are still in a pre alpha state.

However lets hope they not rush this game out of the door and release a stable product that does the first guild wars game honor!
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Posted: Jul 5th 2010 4:32PM Veplerion said

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They're definitely beyond pre-alpha, IMO. This game has been in development for years now and they've always said they want people to be blown away when they first show it in playable form. We're only a couple months from Gamescon, where the first gameplay footage will be seen and players will get their hands on the game. I'd hope they're far beyond pre-alpha if they want people to be blown away.
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Posted: Jul 5th 2010 5:26PM Enikuo said

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Question - does ArenaNet do a good job of managing their games?

After my experience in Aion, I'm wary of any game related to NCSoft. But, I've heard so many positive things about Guild Wars and ArenaNet. I played the Guild Wars trial and liked it, but don't want to start investing time in it when Guild Wars 2, which sounds like it will be amazing, is right around the corner.
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Posted: Jul 5th 2010 6:55PM Tanek said

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In the past 9 months, I have seen nothing but good from the ArenaNet team for Guild Wars. Game updates, technical support, and communication with the community have all been as good as or better than in other games I've played.

The disclaimer here is that I do not play Aion and don't really have any other games produced by NCsoft, so I have not really experienced the problems you may have seen. I'd imagine the teams managing things are different, though, so maybe with Guild Wars NCsoft does the right thing and gives ArenaNet the control they need to do the job.

As for starting GW with GW2 in the works, my opinion on it is that now is still a great time to get into the original I am currently working my way through Prophecies and will continue into the other campaigns, hoping to finish all three and the expansion before GW2 is out. Plus, there is the War in Kryta going on as part of Guild Wars Beyond and I want to see where they take things with the new bits of story.
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Posted: Jul 5th 2010 7:46PM (Unverified) said

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I play both GW1 and Aion, so:

That is the big question, will Guild Wars 2 have the totally inept Aion management that is NCWest or will ArenaNet actually have professionals running GW2? As far as I know they are both based in the same offices in Seattle, and share resources and ideas, which isn't good considering Aion is their latest release. But GW1, before being reduced to just having a few people running it, was by most accounts run very well compared to many other games.

The current GW1 Live team, although tiny, is mostly pretty good. They've added some nice stuff over the last year+, done some good skill changes, and the game itself is pretty rock solid. They did mess up the Xunlai Tournament House (possibly on purpose?) due to apparently not having any knowledgeable database programmers on the Live team, and wouldn't pull any from the GW2 team to fix it. The GW1 community manager (and GW2?) wouldn't get a very high rating from most of the people I know and is often days behind the community getting info released. But GW1 is fun, the price is dirt cheap and the game still very active, so now is still a good time to join and play.

NCSoft, makes good to great games, but the management ranges from good (GW) to some of the very worst in the industry (Aion). Tech support is often poor, although if you keep at them you should get the problem fixed by the time you've gone through 5 or 6 people, and actually get someone that knows what they are doing.
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Posted: Jul 5th 2010 10:29PM Enikuo said

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Thanks for the replies guys =)
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Posted: Jul 6th 2010 1:21AM cray said

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Ignore the negatives about NCsoft, it doesn't effect ArenaNet. They have a lot of control over their game(s) and there's little to no interference from their publisher (NCsoft).
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Posted: Jul 6th 2010 11:22AM (Unverified) said

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@Cray - straying a bit from the topic of this post (another useful guide from Rubi), but a lot of people get this wrong.

ArenaNet is OWNED outright by NCSoft. It is not like some of the other companies, where you have a studio and then a separate publisher. Same with City of Heroes' Paragon Studios, that un-named San Diego studio (if they still exist), and ArenaNet; they are all owned completely by NCSoft.

During the 2008 shakeup with the western parts of the company (after the Tabula Rasa disaster), several of the ArenaNet main people (Patrick Wyatt and Jeff Strain, two of the three founders of ArenaNet) took over running all the western operations under the banner NCWest. At the time this was a good sign (considering how well ArenaNet did compared to Richard Garriott's regime, which had been Destination Games > NCSoft Austin > NC Interactive). Something happened since then and both have left the company entirely, leaving only Mike O'Brien still in charge of ArenaNet (yay!). NCSoft Korea sent over one of their people (sorry, don't have the name) to run things at NCWest and if the bungled way Aion has been handled is any sign, they could use yet another person to step in and try running things. We just have to hope ArenaNet will be left alone as much as possible so they can continue to run the Guild Wars franchise properly (ditto for Paragon and CoH).

Also, Aion's lead designer, Yongchan Jee, left NCSoft, to join another upcoming game, although this isn't unusual as lead designers often move on from project to project. But it does hint at problems that so many people have left for other companies rather than work on new projects at NCSoft. Although some of that could be greater creative control at a smaller or start-up company, too.

This ends our NCSoft history lesson, now back to the Guild Wars 2 guide. :)
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Posted: Jul 5th 2010 5:45PM Minofan said

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They do indeed do a good job of managing the GW franchise, though I should say that with the caveat that the business model - and structure for that matter - don't call for in-game GMs and that kind of thing.
I mean it has no down-time (at all - updates are streamed), no scandals, no billing mishaps etc.

If you do get into GW1, it does feed into GW2 indirectly (lore, current GW:Beyond series of updates laying foundation for GW2 setting) and in fact directly; if you purchase the Eye of the North campaign you gain a Hall of Monuments, which turns achievements in GW1 into exclusive unlocks in GW2.
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Posted: Jul 5th 2010 6:52PM Yoh said

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And here I was thinking I was the only one who knew about Saber's videocast and modcast....... how about that.
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Posted: Jul 5th 2010 10:14PM yeppers said

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I'm sure many know but you can pre-order GW2 on Amazon for 5% savings right now ($57 USD).
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