ANet problems from my point of view seems to be lack of content building. GW1 was primarily about content. GW2 has been primarily about systems. Considering how many years it took to pivot the company in order to build the systems for GW2 and then iterate on those systems while adding new ones... most gaming companies don't roll out new systems as often as ANet does now. Even with that, they're slow on the WvW system update, but that could be called an aberration as it sounds like they're essentially rebuilding WvW from near scratch, or something.
I still believe in ANet, but primarily because it feels like they mostly delivered on their PvP promise. But even then that promise essentially came from a ton of iteration on systems, from changing MMR and ranked queues, to adding reward tracks, to finally getting out a new mode with its own distinct meta rather than the conquest variations, and then finally a League system along with a solid foundation for scheduled patches and showcases for how good or bad a patch is going, while still keeping some amount of space for hot fixing. But maybe my standards are too low for video game entertainment.
For PvE it felt like they wanted to be more rewarded. They made three maps with push and pull meta events, but people only went to the one that had the most rewards and hated how the others got in the way of reaching that map, so they focused on fewer maps. They added some events throughout the rest of the open world, but just adding a bunch more wasn't the best answer when they had players, even now 3 years later, still discovering hidden events that were there from launch or at least 2012. A number of players enjoyed their time getting through the game but it was a fact that many people were confused and turned off. GW2 wasn't supposed to be like GW1, with only a small dedicated user base that "gets it." They wanted everybody. That's the whole reason why they dropped everything and bet so many years into building a GW2. So they built...
2016 needs to see the company pivot from systems back to content. HoT maps give open world Tyria continued purpose that they can leverage for the next Living World and any other festivities and events they want to add (I think we got a bunch more events over the years thanks to Living World updates more than anything else, and it will probably be their path for adding more). However, that's still a ways off. If the open world and everything associated is their "low level" content, their mid level content is now Fractals and their high level content is now Raids, which they can add more of along with Masteries and anything else they can think of. Unfortunately, new Fractals are still a ways off and at best we're going to get one Raid every one or two years. Then there's WvW, which they want to support with tournaments, new reward structures, new ways for guilds to interact with each other, a tightening up of the community to provide more engagement more often. Sadly... you get what I'm saying.
I believe in ANet. They put out Living World updates like clockwork. How many releases did they have through Scarlet's rise and fall? If anything, their tardiness on revamping WvW seems to have constrained them. The fact that they don't stick to standalone content teams but instead have been very cross company with their programmers and such may be an issue as well. But they'll pivot back. The worst case scenario is that the WvW revamp doesn't make it until the end of the year, and it slows down everything. The best case scenario can't even happen until the revamp happens, which would be a festival, a Fractal, a PvP league, and a WvW league every season, and then either a Raid or Living Story story update each season (if only because it appears their raids are smaller but still potent story additions). Then again, they have a raid team now too, so hopefully they put together a dedicated Living Story team and keep them together too.
Likely, something will fall a bit to the wayside, but it still needs to be said that they have little use for systems. PvE will go back to getting more support. If Fractal content is put out often enough then it's possible for it to be the worthy sequel to dungeons. If, If, If...
But they finally got PvP right. They already had PvE right before. WvW will work as long as they increase engagement times, and concentrating the game mode will get that done. I still have faith.
And besides, Overwatch comes out soon too. If it ends up anything like when I was in the Heroes of the Storm alpha, I'll have a lot of fun playing both games at once. Guild Wars 2 will always be my home, and I'll have a place to stay when the community gets on my nerves at times, or if a seasonal update isn't enough to my liking.
