23 replies to this topic

[Naevius]

Colin Johanson is Lead Content Developer and no longer Game Designer. Tin Foil Hat brigade, the floor is yours.

[Dasryn]

hoenstly, i dont know enough about the guy to see what you are implying. . . maybe some background info?  links?

[ErrantVenture]

Naevius, on 02 December 2012 - 06:01 PM, said:

Colin Johanson is Lead Content Developer and no longer Game Designer. Tin Foil Hat brigade, the floor is yours.

Anyone is better than Izzy though.

[Naevius]

Up until this point, he was the lead 'designer'. Also, he was noticeably absent during the Ascended Gear flap. Possibly indicates a change in design direction.

[Obscure One]

All I'm seeing here is a very normal internal adjustment to the development staff. Going from lead in design in a game that is technically "done" and shifting into lead in content development indicates the focus of the dev team as a whole has shifted...considering the fact that the game is seriously lacking in content and has used the dungeon grind to patch that gaping void in the game. They may have come to the realization they need to focus more on content development (which keeps people playing) than game design and I'd say Colin is in a better position to contribute to GW2 in a content development role, than a design role with the game in it's present state.

I wouldn't assume design is going to change much, I'd assume content is going to change and perhaps begin coming out in higher volume and frequency...besides the game GW2 is and the game it sounded like Colin was designing back during all the pre-launch hype are two different game designs...

[MazingerZ]

Eric Flannum has always been the lead Game Designer.  I've seen Colin's title fluctuate in press bewtween Lead Content Designer and Lead Content Developer.  There are articles referencing him specifically as leading the team responsible for developing content since April of this year.  Unless there's some press release about a change, I think too much is being read into titles here.

[Mustache Mayhem]

that means he gets his donuts in another room

[ScoutMATH]

is that a downgrade? looks like to me. is he now poised to save GW2 from going to wrong direction or was he responsible for the OK of ascended item and now he got downgraded?

[TenderFoot]

Obscure One, on 02 December 2012 - 06:32 PM, said:

I'd assume content is going to change and perhaps begin coming out in higher volume and frequency

Yes from a article I read the other day that is what Anet plans on doing free monthly content for the time being and do paid expansion/s later down the road
http://gamingbolt.co...ing-post-launch

Edited by TenderFoot, 02 December 2012 - 08:42 PM.

[ScoutMATH]

TenderFoot, on 02 December 2012 - 08:34 PM, said:

Yes from a article I read the other day that is what Anet plans on doing free monthly content for the time being and do paid expansion/s later down the road

bait and hook?

[TenderFoot]

ScoutMATH, on 02 December 2012 - 08:36 PM, said:

bait and hook?

Only time will tell in the end what exactly happens then we can decide to get the pitch forks & stakes out again or not.

Edited by TenderFoot, 02 December 2012 - 08:40 PM.

[beadnbutter32]

I have never heard single word come out of his mouth that indicates he knows anything at all about coding.
Seen plenty of slick PR banter gush, so for all intents and purposes he is a well paid actor putting youthful cool guy face on GW2 PR.

If he is what he claims, show me one sentence anywhere that shows he knows anything at all about coding games.

[stayBlind]

beadnbutter32, on 02 December 2012 - 10:26 PM, said:

I have never heard single word come out of his mouth that indicates he knows anything at all about coding.
Seen plenty of slick PR banter gush, so for all intents and purposes he is a well paid actor putting youthful cool guy face on GW2 PR.

If he is what he claims, show me one sentence anywhere that shows he knows anything at all about coding games.

Where in his new title do you find the requirement for programming experience?

Programmers == design tools for game designers/content developers

Game Designers/Content Developers == use tools created by programmers to make the game

If his new title was 'IT - Systems Engineer' or 'Senior Programmer Roles at ArenaNet' then I could see the problem with his lack of programming experience...

[Alex Dimitri]

He swung the sword, he swung the sword......maybe he actually did chop someones head.....and now like every proud warrior takes his place !

[draxynnic]

TenderFoot, on 02 December 2012 - 08:34 PM, said:

Yes from a article I read the other day that is what Anet plans on doing free monthly content for the time being and do paid expansion/s later down the road
http://gamingbolt.co...ing-post-launch

That's pretty much what I was expecting. There was always going to be paid expansions on the table for the big ones.

From what the article said, though, it sounds like what they're planning to do is keep with the monthly updates with the occasional big, paid expansion thrown in - but those expansions aren't going to be as frequent as the GW1 campaigns were planned to be.

[Robsy128]

Oh no! This is seriously the end of GW2! I had high hopes for this game. I mean, come on, that Manifesto video was amazing! 'Hey, I swung a sword, I swung a sword again! We don't want you to do that in Guild Wars 2'. Now that Colin Johanson has a new title, everything has changed! They've lied to us from the start! They're just copying WoW now! Seriously, this whole game is going to be Pay to Win and everything will drive you towards the cash shop! Expect serious grind as well - more than what we have with the Fractals of the Mists dungeon.

And in crazy land, that's what the citizens are saying.
Now for the weather in reality.

[Eon Lilu]

Robsy128, on 02 December 2012 - 11:11 PM, said:

Oh no! This is seriously the end of GW2! I had high hopes for this game. I mean, come on, that Manifesto video was amazing! 'Hey, I swung a sword, I swung a sword again! We don't want you to do that in Guild Wars 2'. Now that Colin Johanson has a new title, everything has changed! They've lied to us from the start! They're just copying WoW now! Seriously, this whole game is going to be Pay to Win and everything will drive you towards the cash shop! Expect serious grind as well - more than what we have with the Fractals of the Mists dungeon.

And in crazy land, that's what the citizens are saying.
Now for the weather in reality.

Well when you can play 1000+ hours and still be grinding gold for your legendary and t3 racial armor not even including your ascended backpack and rings....yep the game is basically buy your way to your goals quicker in the gem store....or grind gold forever.....there is so much artificial grind and gold sinks in this game and its obvious they made it this way because of the cash shop, I wish the cash shop didn't have so much influence over game design mechanics, but it does.

Most people I know are thinking of leaving the game because they know they will have to play a crap ton of hours to achieve there goals, repeat content and grind for hundreds of hours or even up to 1000 hours, but if they throw money at the game they will get there goals done quicker, making the whole goal feel cheap and shallow, but then they would have no reason to play anyway. The whole game revolves around RNG and the cash shop. Players do not think it is worth the grind, so there starting to leave for other games.

Plus the fact Anet seem hell bent on focusing 90% on pvp pvp pvp pvp pvp, added gear power creep, grinding dungeons, just more reasons why alot of players are thinking of leaving. Anet have an awesome game, they just need to start following through on there manifesto and promises and stop making bullshit and stupid design choices based all around a bloody cash shop...

Edited by Eon Lilu, 03 December 2012 - 12:55 AM.

[alucard13mmfmj]

At least it is not Jay Wilson... gg. I had to say it.

[Robsy128]

Eon Lilu, on 03 December 2012 - 12:46 AM, said:

Well when you can play 1000+ hours and still be grinding gold for your legendary and t3 racial armor not even including your ascended backpack and rings....yep the game is basically buy your way to your goals quicker in the gem store....or grind gold forever.....there is so much artificial grind and gold sinks in this game and its obvious they made it this way because of the cash shop, I wish the cash shop didn't have so much influence over game design mechanics, but it does.

Most people I know are thinking of leaving the game because they know they will have to play a crap ton of hours to achieve there goals, repeat content and grind for hundreds of hours or even up to 1000 hours, but if they throw money at the game they will get there goals done quicker, making the whole goal feel cheap and shallow, but then they would have no reason to play anyway. The whole game revolves around RNG and the cash shop. Players do not think it is worth the grind, so there starting to leave for other games.

Plus the fact Anet seem hell bent on focusing 90% on pvp pvp pvp pvp pvp, added gear power creep, grinding dungeons, just more reasons why alot of players are thinking of leaving. Anet have an awesome game, they just need to start following through on there manifesto and promises and stop making bullshit and stupid design choices based all around a bloody cash shop...

And this is all related to Colin Johanson's new title... how?

How much money does it cost to get 100 gold in-game after you've bought the gems? I don't know, but I know it's a stupid amount. Who on earth would pay that much just to get a legendary or tier 3 cultural armour in the game? They'd have to be brain dead in order to spend that amount of cash on the cash shop. Yes, it's a little grindy right now, but it was grindy back when they released the game. Legendaries took at least 3 weeks of pure play just to get enough materials and gold to get a legendary.

It's not all pvp either. They just added the Lost Shores content and a new dungeon (which is pretty damn fun, regardless of grind). Still, this has nothing to do with Colin Johanson's new title. He's just moved over into the new content team.

All I can really say that's in relation to this thread is: well done, Colin. Try not to swing too many swords

[TGIFrisbie]

alucard13mmfmj, on 03 December 2012 - 12:48 AM, said:

At least it is not Jay Wilson... gg. I had to say it.

Let's see...franchise item is used to sell units as a follow up, yet it lacks much of what the original had and it burned the fans in the end just to sell units.

Similarity?

Where is the Guild Wars in my Guild Wars game?  Where is that "no grind for gear tread mill" in my Gear Wars game?  Where is the "we removed as much tedium as we could" and then added it back in 3 months later?  The entire fiasco smacks of being WIlsoned.

I await the day I read that Colin posted "f that loser" on some developer facebook page.  At that moment the circle will have closed.

Edited by TGIFrisbie, 03 December 2012 - 03:02 AM.

[Jason Seven]

No matter whose position changes in this company. It can't get that much worse from here on.

[Syncline]

draxynnic, on 02 December 2012 - 11:08 PM, said:

That's pretty much what I was expecting. There was always going to be paid expansions on the table for the big ones.

From what the article said, though, it sounds like what they're planning to do is keep with the monthly updates with the occasional big, paid expansion thrown in - but those expansions aren't going to be as frequent as the GW1 campaigns were planned to be.

They've said this was going to be the model way before the game even released, they're just repeating old info. Edit: they also stated gw1's frequent expansion model was unsustainable-- several years ago.

Edited by Syncline, 03 December 2012 - 07:59 AM.

[Waar Kijk Je Naar]

Syncline, on 03 December 2012 - 07:58 AM, said:

They've said this was going to be the model way before the game even released, they're just repeating old info. Edit: they also stated gw1's frequent expansion model was unsustainable-- several years ago.

Hence, the cashshop.

[Linfang]

So does this means where ever Colin is walking around at the Arenanet office there will be a blue icon over his head for everyone to see?