Mike Zadorojny is no longer the Game Director of Guild Wars 2. As it has now come to light, the head left the studio back in November. But what does this mean for the MMORPG?
What exactly happened? As reported by the website MassivelyOP, Mike Zadorojny, the former Game Director of Guild Wars 2, has made an update on his LinkedIn profile.
It now states that he left his position at ArenaNet in November 2019, after nearly 14 years. Since then, he has been overseeing the game Crucible from Amazon.
What is significant? The departure comes as a surprise to many players, as he had recently received the official trust of Mike O’Brien.
Mike O’Brien was the last remaining founder and president of ArenaNet. O’Brien left the studio in October 2019. With his departure, Zadorojny officially held the highest position in the company.
However, it seems he only did this for a month. Since there was no farewell post, the change went unnoticed for a long time.
Now he is working with many old acquaintances for Amazon. His predecessor Colin Johanson, who held the position of Game Director from release until 2016, is the lead of Crucible.
Under him are already some former developers of Guild Wars 2. Zadorojny is now obviously joining them.
GW2 is suddenly doing better, is the new boss the reason?
Who is now the boss of GW2? Currently, it is not really clear who holds the highest office at ArenaNet. There is no official statement. Massively believes it is John Taylor. Some authors from Massively have a very good connection to ArenaNet, which makes the statement quite trustworthy.
The highest position concerning game design currently seems to be held by Andrew Gray. He has already introduced himself in the forum as Content Design Lead and has been with the studio since 2004.
Has the change harmed Guild Wars 2? So far, it seems that Guild Wars 2 is not suffering from the latest change, but rather benefiting.
2019 was not a good year for the studio, due to layoffs, content droughts, and some marketing mistakes. The community was disappointed towards the end of the year, and some already predicted the end of the MMORPG.
However, 2020 has a completely different mood. There have already been 3 major updates, all of which have been well received:
- The latest episode of the Icebrood Saga was not a revelation, but many found it better than the previous one.
- The update for balance, PvP, and WvW in February created really good vibes.
- The latest story patch in March was positively received and also brought back long-lost content.
- Guild Wars 2 announced a third expansion, although it is said to be a long way off. This was something hardly anyone expected.
- The upcoming update for legendary equipment is also seen positively.
While it is difficult to say to what extent John Taylor has already influenced these events. However, the mood in the Guild Wars 2 community is noticeably more positive than in 2019 and even 2018.
Two updates for April already planned
What’s next in GW2? For April, there has already been an announcement for new content. A new April Fool’s joke is set to find its way into the game on April 1 (via GW2 forum). This could be a bit bigger, as ArenaNet is postponing the return of the Super Adventure Box specifically for this reason.
The popular Super Adventure Box is therefore not supposed to appear at the end of March, but only in mid-April. Furthermore, the developers promised new worlds for the box, but only in the coming years. This year, there will be at least a few new assets and a weapon set.
Following the SAB, the next episode of the Icebrood Saga and another event for the second quarter of 2020 are planned.
- Players are particularly excited about the upcoming third expansion. Our author Alexander Leitsch is skeptical, especially because of the story.
