Who wants a mega post?
....
Too bad, you're getting one. I'll throw in a cat picture and some storytime to make it entertaining.
I agree there definitely needs to be more done to get the game out there. Sure it's two years old but it's still going strong and obviously it's still being supported so they should be trying to bring more and more people in. I can't even remember how I found out about the game in the first place, I remember being hyped pre-release and not having the time or money. When I saw the half price deal recently, I remembered how hyped I was pre-release and decided to just go for it. Besides that, there wasn't any trailer or something that caught my interest.
Would it be a fair assessment that GW2GAF is probably the ones who brought that price point to your attention? Because even when the game goes on sale, I don't see anything about it in ads. When it was 50% off, the most buzz outside of twitter and facebook was a blurb on Massively (which did the disservice of name-dropping TESO right at the end of the article). That sort of thing should have had a free trial weekend and advertising plastered
everywhere. New players are introduced to the game, people who have stopped playing will be reminded they own the game. The one downside I can think of is that people might get burned out, but in contrast to not seeing anything, I think it'd be worth the risk.
More merchandise would be cool though. I'd certainly end up buying something. I think Valve do a pretty good job of merchandise for their games. They've got statues, plushes, posters, phone cases.. all sorts. Maybe Anet just decided the store wasn't that important and it probably hasn't brought in a lot of revenue so idk. Valve store for reference:
http://store.valvesoftware.com/index.php?t=2
I'm funny when it comes to merchandise. I picked up a whole anti-corporate streak when I was a teenager and just never bothered to come back, so I do not, as a rule, have T-shirts with anything on them. I'm also not a hat person. But I would buy a Plush quaggan for my desk in a heartbeat (all nerds want a big desk with fanboy crap they can put on top of it). If they had a full-sized poster, I'd buy one and frame it (Apartment, so we can't get the wall decals). I'd absolutely buy a GW2 phone case, and I could use a new mousepad here in the future too. I don't think I'm alone in this. I also think there'd be just as many people who don't give two shits about plush quaggans (monsters!) but would totally buy a T-Shirt.
ArenaNet's PR/marketing department is suffering primarily from one major issue which is not having hired me to be in charge of it
I almost choked on my dinner thanks to this comment.
The release pages that are supposed to elucidate upcoming features are always an exercise in sourcing the exact meanings out from vague allusions that could often be misinterpreted, leading to dev clarification on the forums. Ad content ranges from inoffensive (holiday promotion videos) to bizarre (Tower of Nightmares metalfest) to fantastic (Fractured introduction video), like their production team has multiple personality disorder.
Ugh, I had forgotten the Nightmare Tower guitar contest. Again, that seems like such an odd concept, like someone doesn't really understand how to market a game so they just sort of pull things from the ether. Who wants a Guild Wars 2-themed guitar? What's the connection besides the trailer with a horribly mismatched music choice? Maybe if they had launched in-game musical instruments with it, it'd make sense. As it played out, it was like having a contest where Cat Fancy readers can win a snowboard with a kitten on it.
The problem is, sometimes the schizophrenic thing DOES work, which makes me think that there are some really great, clever people who are maybe just utilized the wrong way or aren't given enough direction. For example, for the Tequatl Rising release. Awesome trailer. Shows you what you wanted to know; big dragon, lots of people fighting, a big wave that didn't exist before to show you things have changed. Release page is pretty clear, shows you what's coming, rewards, etc. Then somebody went and did this badass poster;
That is completely at odds with the trailer and the release page, but I love it, and it
works. The Tequatl logo is straight off the cover of a 70s monster movie VHS tape. The poster evokes the imagery of Jaws. It's playful, and it stands out in the sea of faux-epic grimdark pre-rendered trailers for "Yet Another WoW Patch" and their ilk. Maybe the poster was just one of the artists having a goof, but I'll be damned if it doesn't work. But I also know that when it first came out, a lot of people didn't get it, and maybe the fact that I'm kind of a retro sci-fi/monster movie aficionado colors my perception (I am the guy with the Godzilla figure keeping an eye on my plush Charr), and I'm just seeing a connection where there wasn't one.
Like I said, there are sometimes where it works (that Fractal trailer is so damn good), but so many times where it just absolutely doesn't. Thus, the discussion trying to figure out why.
Anyway I don't actually agree that "There should be a lot more going on two weeks out." I think the better move here would have actually been radio silence until the 1st or the day before. But whatever, content is king. Loathe as I am to take potshots at my livelihood, I'd rather the product excel and the marketing continue to be de-emphasized internally than the other way around.
The problem with letting the content sell itself is that without some way for people who don't follow the game regularly (i.e. don't read Reddit, don't follow on twitter, don't visit MMO sites often) will completely miss out that there's something new. We all know something is coming, but what about the guy who played it for six months and then went to go play Call of Duty or whatever released around that time? Or the guy who played until they took a break at Christmas and never came back? Surely the goal of advertising is to say "Hey, there's big things going on, you don't want to miss out" to both the people who have never played before and the folks who have stopped playing for whatever reason. That last group especially since the appeal of a Buy-to-Play MMO is that you're never more than a reinstall away from a ton of content.
They were at their best when either just showing the world without narration alongside Jeremy Soule's score, or just letting the devs geek out and talk directly to the camera regarding what they liked about their game.
That's what did it for me; actual gameplay footage and the devs being open, honest and excited, in contrast to most MMOs where it's a CGI trailer and the devs seem to drift between apathy and contempt for their players. And it got me moist. Right, Braxzy?
Yeah, probably moist.
I don't want to be that type either. That's why I didn't say anyone should be fired. Rather, that I think ArenaNet needs a new or additional PR department focused on the exact issues being raised here and on reddit. Everyone can tell something's wrong.
I really didn't mean to single you out here or sound accusatory. From the Starbound dev having bit of a rant on Twitter over people threatening to kill / rape them for not having the game out yet, to the Phil Fish video that's making the rounds, to the usual E3 shenanigans and Cliffy B's comments about GAF, I've been more aware than usual (which is usually quite aware) how gamers speak of and behave towards game developers.
Especially since a handful of tiny decisions could have resulted in me being one of them and experiencing that kind of vitrol from the other side (and I think you guys know me well enough to know how badly I'd handle it).
Hope LS2 is as good as I have hyped it in my mind. Probably won't be, sadly.
Mo (that's Mike O'Brien to you plebs) invited me over for brunch last week. Midway through the third most-delicious nicoise I've ever had the privilege to enjoy, he commented that he'd recently watched a Let's Play video of Final Fantasy 7. While we were relaxing in the sauna afterwords, he mentioned that he thought it would be
très fantastique if players entered the Maguuma Wastes and in the middle of the desert there was a big Asura-run theme park, just like the Golden Saucer. I agreed enthusiastically as I ladled another cup of water over the warm stones.
A few hours and cigars later, we came to the subject of content. We both agreed that just like the Golden Saucer, there should be lots of things to do; Moa racing, a battle arena, games of chance. All with their own special currency that doesn't transfer out and can only be spent on very basic items like common cooking recipes and gag weapons like a mop, so players wouldn't feel obligated and could just indulge in the fun and games without thinking about rewards. From the plush, overstuffed chair opposite me, illuminated by the fireplace in the otherwise darkened study of O'Brien Manor, I saw a smile gleam through the fine crystal of his brandy snifter, and then he spoke, almost too quiet to hear;
"This will fucking ruin Kos Luftar's week."
We both laughed, then ate a kitten, because that's what rich people do with all of the money they have from tax loopholes and the Illuminati slush fund.
