14/09/2012 - GW2: Did GW2 really need an official launch trailer?

Addict of Fiction: [Post]

Okay, so this is a possibly a little late to share my views on the launch trailer which ArenaNet released for Guild Wars 2, but I shall do it anyway. Have you watched it? If not – take a peak now:

In a nutshell the general consensus of it is “Eh?” and “Well that was rubbish”. It is true that every company suffers a flop every now and then, and this is ArenaNet’s first one. You can try and see that they were attempting to show live-action metaphors about the game – but did anyone actually understand what on Earth they were trying to get at?

My attempts at deducting the ‘Morse-code’ set of metaphors left me at these ideas at which they might have been aiming for:

1. While we were creating Guild Wars 2 many other games were being released/dominating the market and we were unable to do anything because we weren’t ready.
2. Now that we are ready and on the market, it’s time for us to show our dominance. “Our Time Is Now”. *Hot gamer chick*
3.  Joining us is like walking on hot coals?
4. To be immersed within our game: living room underwater.
5. Everything else should be obvious – Hot woman turns into a Norn and it’s the actual GAME!

So yeah… after watching the trailer a few times it looks more like an advert for The Secret World than it does for Guild Wars 2. Would you have expected the director of the Matrix Trilogy and V for Vendetta, James McTeigue, to have created such a flop for this game? I can imagine that the initial pitch sounded pretty amazing – live action with a woman turning into her in-game character. But sometimes… Once you actually put pen to paper to actually create these great ideas, they don’t always turn out the way you initially hoped.

Oh! Oh! Ohh! Did you noticed the gigantic SPOILER at the end of the video? What a depressing way to end an awful launch trailer. Yes, the dragon at the end is the infamous Zhaitan in all his Elder Dragon glory. Many players have yet to reach and meet Zhaitan in-game, and he is one of the main focuses of your story quest-line with your aim ‘to defeat him’ when you reach level 80. I guess this was one of the main things that personally upset me… I’m SOO close to finishing the story-line and ArenaNet just shoves him in my face and ruins my personal discovery.

But in the end that is just my little rant. The actual game is really amazing to play and although you get some really weird people that troll “Oh this launch trailer makes me like Guild Wars 2 less”, it really doesn’t. Someone should just run round the game and record 5minutes of it in action with “THIS GAME IS REALLY AWESOME!” at the end and it’ll be so much better than the official one above. Showing the game in all its glory is all that Guild Wars 2 needed in a launch trailer, but experiencing the game first hand is always a much better judge of character.

Thanks for listening!
Toodles x