In an interview with VideoGamer.com, global brand director Chris Lye, stated that Guild Wars will remain open even after Guild Wars 2 launches, if an active player base remains.
The only incentive we need is to have an active player base. Guild Wars is a very cost effective game to support and because there is no active cost to maintain both a Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 account. We could see a lot of players keeping both.
To me that sounds like ArenaNet will be leaving it up to players to decide if Guild Wars remains running and for how long. There will obviously be a major shift to GW2 once it’s released, so the question is will enough players remain playing the original to keep it cost effective.
From that statement it seems that it would take a massive amount of players leaving for them to decide to shut down Guild Wars, but you never know. If GW2 turns out to be as good as ArenaNet is making it out to be, players could start their GW2 journey and never look back.
Most GW players will move to GW2. Many guilds are planning for the move already. However. The GW2 is a very different game. Some of the mechanics are obviously borrowed from the old game as is much of the design philosophy but there are many ways in which the two games are just straight up different. No mercenaries. no heavy zone instancing. the way skill slotting works. 80 vs 20 levels. Dynamic Events vs Mission instances. Distinct servers vs 1 unified server.
Most of these changes will be seen as positive things by most players, even longtime GW fans but the changes will not suit everyone. I have already run into a couple of people that are not so sure they will be moving to the new game, and I have only been playing GW for a few weeks to get into the lore before the new one comes out.
I also suspect that there will be people who find the new game at release or later and after having spent some time in it will wonder about the old game and the lore that leads up to the new game. I think there will be a steady flow of visitors to the old game just to check things out and play though the campaigns and expansions. Because of the mercenaries and heroes it is a very solo friendly game so I see nothing to keep people from taking a few months break from one game to go play the other.
Thats the point; the gameplay is totally different from what players of GW may like. And keep in mind, that GW2 claims to be more RPG oriented and focussed on the player’s own story through the game than GW, where the PVP factor is huge. I hope both will survive, there not many alternatives out there for me…
I Have played Guild-Wars Since Closed Beta, And I Don’t Plan On Quitting Any Time Soon. Guild-Wars 2 Looks Like A Great Game But It Almost Seems As If They Are Two Completely Different Games, With The Levels, Skill Builds And PvP Being Based More On A Players Skill And Knowledge Of The Role They Are Playing In Guild-Wars It Leaves Me To Believe That More Of The Hardcore Guild-Wars Players Will Continue To Play The First Guild-Wars. As Guild-Wars 2 Seems To Focus More On RPG Elements We See In A Lot Of MMO’s Today. People Played Guild-Wars Because Of Its Uniqueness And Now That A Lot Of It Has Been Changed In Guild-Wars 2 I Have No Doubt That Guild-Wars 1 Will Stay Online.