Guild Wars 2

I fully support Anets business model but there are a few points that I am a little unhappy about regarding items i would consider as quality of life. I really don’t think an expense should be that strongly attached to basic necessities that make the game more enjoyable. Of course this isn’t an issue to the hardcore as they can usual grind out the gold needed but for those whom enjoy playing for fun and may have time constraints then it is an endless frustration.

My main issue right now is charging quite a high amount for bag and bank space. What you get at the beginning is considerably limited considering a couple of things. Decent sized bags cost an exhorbitant amount of gold, and you get a plethora of items, tokens, gear, costumes, and crafting items that take up space, and then there is the issue of the huge drop pool of useless items mobs have (any need for trophies… really). There is so much vying for valuable space that it never ceases to frustrate, it is everyday irritation that Anet appears to be capitalizing on.

The funny thing is that when you look at the cost of upgrading an account to the price of buying gems it is actually cheaper to buy an entirely new box/ download.. and amusingly I have payed more than i would have for a sub based game that gives me much of what i need relatively easily (awesome TSW inventory).. I am sorry but that is just wrong. I am not saying give people things for free (although at least 1 free bank space would be appreciated) but there should at least be some sort of package deal so as to lower the cost.

Also charging for these sort of things is really quite unnecessary in the end as if players enjoy and are invested they will purchase non essential things in droves.. just look at LoL and how much they make just off character skins, the market is there. All I’m saying is please stop with provoking people to purchase out of frustration and just encourage.

Oh and while i’m at it make dyes account bound again for the love of all that is good or holy… or if your that desperate for cash charge for the privilege.

I knew what to expect because F2P models are designed to make the player nickle and dime themselves to death by bleeding RL money into the game to get even the most basic needed things such has storage space. This is one of the biggest reasons I prefer the games with the monthly 15$ (average) fee. Those games are based on customer service models while F2P are based on the customer serving the game company. In my opinion, F2P game models are destroying the MMO market. They certainly have no real motivation to invest much of their profits into maintaining a high quality game nor do they plan on having a long term commitment. The whole model is build to extract as much initial profit in the first year (maybe two) as possible from the players while the “newness factor” is in play. After that, they coast adding a little tweak here and there to content but really not making any serious investment of time or resources which would cut into that first year profit margin. I am talking about the business model in general. Whether or not someone applies this to GW2 is entirely up to them.

Jewel.1457:

My main issue right now is charging quite a high amount for bag and bank space. What you get at the beginning is considerably limited considering a couple of things. Decent sized bags cost an exhorbitant amount of gold, and you get a plethora of items, tokens, gear, costumes, and crafting items that take up space, and then there is the issue of the huge drop pool of useless items mobs have (any need for trophies… really). There is so much vying for valuable space that it never ceases to frustrate, it is everyday irritation that Anet appears to be capitalizing on.

I agree with this, except for one (albeit important) thing: at the current gem/gold rate, it is pretty easy to buy a new bankslot. 600 gems costs 5g20s at the moment. That is abot 3 hours of playing in Orr at 80.

If you can not do that to keep a game free, your attitude is wrong, I think.

In the future, who knows… if gem prices keep rising like this, this may become a problem. But for now, it is certainly doable.

Totally aside from that… if you prefer subscription-based games, just buy for 15$ a month gems! That gives you 1,200 gems every month which you can use for two bank upgrades every month.

And as last resort… you get 5 free characters. You can easily swap items between characters through the bank, because the bank is shared storage. It costs you less than 1 gold to make 4 alts, buy 4 bags with 10 space for each and put stuff in them.

Bottom line: yes, Anet deliberatly puts in content that use bag space to sell gems. But you can buy a new bank slot for 3 hours of grinding if you don’t want to pay money.

@ Tallis

would like to now your tips for farming that much gold in that little time, i have spent hours there and i never make that much (always have food buffs up).

it’s still rather annoying though and for the large group of players still at the lower levels gaining that much gold is beyond them for a long time thus the cash shop dilemma remains. Anet wouldn’t need that extra cash this brings in after all I’m sure there making enough from black lion keys… it seems more like a publisher stipulation than anything else, something to appease shareholders rather than players

I don’t have a problem with the bank slots. That’s one of the few things in the gem store that I view as worth spending money on (and I have). Sure, I’d love to see them cost less, but it has enough value at it’s current price for me to buy it. The bag slots are another issue, simply because they are character-based, rather than account-based. Because of that, they don’t have enough value for me to spend my money on them.

My problem with their model is their insistence on using gambling systems, which are really nothing more than an attempt to get people to spend more money than they intended without realizing it. It’s sleazy, it’s cheap, and it’s under-handed.

Of course, the arguments will be, “then don’t buy those things”. Well, I don’t. But the mere fact of them being used lowers my opinion of NCSoft, and yes, Arena Net too.

To the company(ies): If you want MY money, offer value. I make very good money, and am happy to spend it on entertainment, as long as I feel like I’m getting good value for it. I’d buy specific dyes, but I won’t spend a single penny for a grab-bag of unknown dyes. I’d buy skins, but I won’t spend a single penny for a chance at them.

Yes, I know there are plenty of suckers out there who will fall for your disgusting gambling-based business practices, but if you want MY money, you’re going to have to give me VALUE for it.

yeh i agree that the whole gambling aspect they are pushing on people is rather despicable to see, yeh yeh it is that persons choice but in the end it is a rather devious use of conditioning. Someone in my guild has already spent over 150$, yep real world dollars on buying black lion keys and playing the mystic forge… and I’m sure they are not alone, if thats the case then they are making more than enough from the black lion trader to justify making these quality of life items free or much much cheaper/aggregated

The transmutation system is another problem i have as it is a convulated way of doing it, when considering there are far easier and better systems out there this seems like just another way of ensuring a few purchases when you want a certain item to maintain or change a look. multiple gear sets means multiple transmutation stones.

The issue is they don’t have to give you value, due to the box prive you pretty much have a certain investment in the product and while playing there are some parts that compel you to purchase, convenience, necessity, gambling.. The early play was designed to influence these types of purchases and over time that fades… it would be better for them now to earn good will and maybe provide a leaner approach to the cash shop then money grab at the start and turn people away.

the funny thing is that the transmutation system creates their biggest problem for making money in the long term in a more ethical way as their costumes are considered town clothes. Considering that the game pretty much revolves around combat where these are meaningless means its pretty hard to justify the purchase of any sort of customisation.