Guild Wars 2

And if they don’t get people to keep spending money month after month how do you suggest they survive?

They have already given several bonuses to people that have bought gems (kite, minis) so I don’t really see how they don’t reach out to their “loyal contributors”.

lordkrall.7241:

You have no proofs nor any hints whatsoever that this will happen.
The mini was most likely made available this way due to the outrage about it only being available at cons.
How does this in any way or form even hints at starting a new thread where they will add armors and weapons exclusively this way?

I would say: If you accept the way they do it, then you will see it again.
That’s the way ANet and many other companies work.

I don’t have proof yet, but I see the chance and that is bad enough.
Don’t you wonder why isn’t it on sale for 1000gems? Then buying 4k would really make sense. You would fee that you get 5th k gems for free. Yet, for miniature collectors they force them to buy gems.

Also they way they make you buy gems in the worst possible month is very, very bad.
They used to give a free gifts for those who purchased gems before in brackets form last giveaway to the next one.

I’m sure there are many people who bought gems in last 3-4 months and if they want the mini now they need to buy next 4k gems?

That sucks for whatever angle you look at it.
It’s just bad… Totally no respect for customer…
I hope it will stop, but I don’t have any proof it will…

The shop is for convenience items and cosmetics. Sure
There are many things they can do: (borrowed from other threads)
- pet slot (auto showing pet)
- auto consumable slot (food etc)
- more GW1 armors, or any other amazing skins like Mojory/Kasmer
- race change (with personal story reset)
- there are many items needed in gem store – thole thread with ideas those were few.

Game improvments to make people feel better:
- fighting gathering bots that create incoms for gold selling sites? (for few months they are on an uprise, but there is lack of fight from ANet – just read forums)
- expanding the world so people stop suffocating?
- announcing expansion so people who stopped playing would log in and try to get ready for it?

How do they reach us?
Thats very simple. Just by paying attention to the fact that we don’t have to buy gems in 1 month but for last few of them?
Basically they say “We don’t care you spent money for last few months. Pay us now”.

Thats offending for me. Personally.

The thing is that if they didn’t require a somewhat big price in order to get the mini, it would have been a slap in the face for those going to the cons.
Especially those that went for the con only to get the mini (and yes, there were people like that).

Collectors might be “forced” to buy it, but $50 is much less than the $200 people at ebay want for it. And that would ONLY give you the mini. In this situation you are getting the gems (which you can use for anything you want) and gets the mini (and backpack) as a bonus.

I would say it is a rather good month.
It could easily be considered a christmas present for yourself, our your family could buy gem-cards that can be used for it.

So you are basically saying that you should have been able to just buy gems for $10 over the last 3-4 months and still be able to get the mini (and backpack)? They have most likely made careful calculation as to what price would be a good balance between giving it away only at con and making it available in-game without diminishing its “value” too much.

lordkrall.7241:

And if they don’t get people to keep spending money month after month how do you suggest they survive?

They have already given several bonuses to people that have bought gems (kite, minis) so I don’t really see how they don’t reach out to their “loyal contributors”.

First off they give those out to everyone, not the players who spend a lot, secondly they make millions and more than enough for guild wars 2 alone. From what I read GW2 has made more money than GW1 has in it’s first 7 months than GW1 has in 7 years and they have sold 5 million less copies of the game. We don’t get to choose that they spend most of the money on other games that we dont even support to play so that shouldn’t be our problem but they make it our problem with content we should get for supporting the game without having to spend 1000’s of dollars or playing the game 80 hrs a week to farm enough gold to convert into gems since anet suck ups always love to say “you can buy it with gold!”

I’ve read most of your post and you seem to really support anets flawed ways of doing things. Anet is great company, they make a great game and I love the beauty they put into their art but that doesn’t mean I agree with how they run as a business. While I know NCsoft pulls most of the strings, anet can decide what to do too I’m sure.

Also for most people that don’t know, cash shop systems tend to make more money than subscription models for reasons, don’t think ANET doesn’t make good money.

Unfortunately I speak about the new policy that they migth introduce that really is terrible, yet you just want to make me believe that this one is really good deal.

I’m sorry but I don’t care about minis since I bought my mini oak that I love to have as a sivari. I do care only for how will the next special offers look like…
If they want people to stop spending money to buy gems in order to wait for “you must spend money deal”, that sucks and will do BIG TIME.

This won’t be any different than what other aka F2P games do when they lock best aspect after boundaries that are theoretically available by free but very easy for cash like DDO etc.

I know that I’m exaggerating, but you don’t have to change much to do it if you go for the step they just made. I understand company needs money, but they can offer much more in game to make cash flow.

(not to mention getting people back by using a word “expansion” – it really works but thats another discussion)

I’d be very surprised if anyone didn’t realise a promotion saying “buy 4,000 gems and get a free gift” is mainly intended as a way of selling more gems. It’s a fairly standard marking practice and very simple to understand.

As soon as I saw it the first thing I asked myself was “can I justify spending £45 to get a mini?”. The fact that I would still have the gems to spend afterwards did factor into it (as did the fact that I buy gems with real money every so often so sooner or later I’d have spent that money anyway) but my first reaction was to look at it as a straight sale.

Also Arenanet are under no obligation to ‘reward’ loyal players – whether that’s people who have been playing the game a long time or people who spend a lot or any other group – in any way at all, ever.

What they offered, and what players accepted, was a straight transaction. You bought a game – you got a game. You bought gem – you got gems. You used those gems to buy an armor skin or a bank tab or whatever and that’s what you got.

At no point were you promised anything else as a result of your purchase so it doesn’t really make sense to expect it.

I don’t know what is the big deal, it is not like mini Mr. Sparkles is going to transform to a giant robot to help you in PvE/WvW anyway. Furthermore, he is not trade-able so he is not going to make you rich either.

All people did was just to show up and attend the con. I don’t see why that is such a super feat of skill that it deserves to be rewarded with a mini that is exclusive to that event. It is not a must-have and I don’t collect minis myself because I think it is a waste of gold to buy something that would not help me in the game whatsoever.

You guys complain just for the sake of complaining something. I support AreaNet’s action on this promotion since it helps bring in income for them and thus, helps the game development.

I’m just amused that the people who flew all the way out there aren’t complaining as much as human t3. It certainly cost them more to get it, and it’s an exclusive!!

Malediktus.9250:

I am not happy about it. After Anet was silence about the topic for an eternity I bought a code for 300g. Call me selfish, I do not care.

good for you that the gem: gold ratio is sky high at the moment.

$50 in gems will net you the 300g (or there abouts) that you spent on the mini. granted, you will still be out 4000 gems, but i guess you could call that the price of getting the mini much sooner than everyone else?

Septemptus.7164:

lordkrall.7241:

You have no proofs nor any hints whatsoever that this will happen.
The mini was most likely made available this way due to the outrage about it only being available at cons.
How does this in any way or form even hints at starting a new thread where they will add armors and weapons exclusively this way?

I would say: If you accept the way they do it, then you will see it again.
That’s the way ANet and many other companies work.

I don’t have proof yet, but I see the chance and that is bad enough.
Don’t you wonder why isn’t it on sale for 1000gems? Then buying 4k would really make sense. You would fee that you get 5th k gems for free. Yet, for miniature collectors they force them to buy gems.

Also they way they make you buy gems in the worst possible month is very, very bad.
They used to give a free gifts for those who purchased gems before in brackets form last giveaway to the next one.

I’m sure there are many people who bought gems in last 3-4 months and if they want the mini now they need to buy next 4k gems?

That sucks for whatever angle you look at it.
It’s just bad… Totally no respect for customer…
I hope it will stop, but I don’t have any proof it will…

It’s called a promotion. In the real world, you see this all the time if you watch TV. Commercials are a marketing tool to promote products. A marketing strategy to get people to buy a company’s products would be to offer gifts or bonuses to entice them.

Example: Customer A didn’t think about buying Gems, but now there’s a really good offer. Buy Gems, and get a free bonus, but only if you make the purchase within a limited time frame. There’s now more value to Gems, since you get the same amount for the same price, and extras on top of it.

If you don’t like something, you don’t have to buy it. No one is forcing anyone to make a purchase they don’t want. Why is this so hard for people to understand?

Arrelaine.5692:

I’m just amused that the people who flew all the way out there aren’t complaining as much as human t3. It certainly cost them more to get it, and it’s an exclusive!!

Not everyone needed to fly there, I know I certainly didn’t since I live near the area. If you did fly there just for a mini, then too bad for you, you have too much cash to waste anyway. But most reasonable people would fly there for the con instead of just for the mini.

It is a mini that doesn’t affect the game and doesn’t affect the economy, so I don’t see what the big deal is. Crying over something purely cosmetic is just….sorry but it is….pathetic.

I doubt anyone went to either convention specifically to get the mini. As far as I’m aware the fact that the mini would be given away was kept a surprise until people got to the convention.

Some people may have assumed Anet would give away a freebie and gone to find out what it was but that would be a gamble – they might have gotten something they didn’t want, or nothing at all.

if they really want ppl to buy gems trough real money without removing the gold->gem exchange then they better make a bonus gem system for that, so you ether spend your time farming gold all the time or you buy gems with real money and get more gems then you can get trough the exchange.
just look at this:
http://www.lotro.com/en/buy-turbine-points
Anet can do the exact same thing, it makes buying gem trough money allot more profitable while keeping the exchange the way it is. (and if this keeps up, only the extreme farmers can use it properly)

sorudo.9054:

if they really want ppl to buy gems trough real money without removing the gold->gem exchange then they better make a bonus gem system for that, so you ether spend your time farming gold all the time or you buy gems with real money and get more gems then you can get trough the exchange.

Since the gems for gold exchange rate gets “worse” (I still think it’s fair) every week, you’ll get more and more gems for money.

And: The lotro system gives you more “gems”, but it’s like giving away money to customers, because then they would buy less gems (if they get more). Giving a free bonus mini to customers doesn’t hurt Anets profit a lot, and like so many times said before: they need to make a living too.

And: I played lotro before and many didn’t make a lot of microtransactions, they usually waited till the next big bonus weekend and bought max turbine points – so they had no need to buy any the next months/year. Don’t think, that Anet would favor this.

sorudo.9054:

if they really want ppl to buy gems trough real money without removing the gold->gem exchange then they better make a bonus gem system for that, so you ether spend your time farming gold all the time or you buy gems with real money and get more gems then you can get trough the exchange.
just look at this:
http://www.lotro.com/en/buy-turbine-points
Anet can do the exact same thing, it makes buying gem trough money allot more profitable while keeping the exchange the way it is. (and if this keeps up, only the extreme farmers can use it properly)

Except I don’t remember seeing NCSOFT offer bonus proxy currency in any of their games ever. Turbine has been able to keep DDO and LotRO alive with offers and discounts on their proxy currency as well as sales in their cash shop. But those games have been around much, much longer and may need offers like that to keep the cash flowing. GW2 is only 15 months old, not 5 plus years.

Behellagh.1468:

sorudo.9054:

if they really want ppl to buy gems trough real money without removing the gold->gem exchange then they better make a bonus gem system for that, so you ether spend your time farming gold all the time or you buy gems with real money and get more gems then you can get trough the exchange.
just look at this:
http://www.lotro.com/en/buy-turbine-points
Anet can do the exact same thing, it makes buying gem trough money allot more profitable while keeping the exchange the way it is. (and if this keeps up, only the extreme farmers can use it properly)

Except I don’t remember seeing NCSOFT offer bonus proxy currency in any of their games ever. Turbine has been able to keep DDO and LotRO alive with offers and discounts on their proxy currency as well as sales in their cash shop. But those games have been around much, much longer and may need offers like that to keep the cash flowing. GW2 is only 15 months old, not 5 plus years.

yet they have 3X more income then a sub based game, tells you how much they really “need” it.

Gaile Gray.6029:

sorudo.9054:

and what if i buy 2K first and 2K after my next payday?
it’s still 4K, if that doesn’t give me the mini then you are actually buying the mini.

Well, here’s the page about the Mini Mr. Sparkles: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-black-lion-wintersday-rewards-event/. It says:

“Welcome to the month-long Black Lion Wintersday Rewards Event! Evon Gnashblade of the Black Lion Trading Company will be rewarding December customers with exclusive gifts!

Black Lion Trading Company customers who purchase at least 800 gems will receive an exclusive Green Quaggan Backpack Cover. If you purchase at least 4,000 gems, you’ll receive not only the Green Quaggan Backpack Cover, but also a Mini Mr. Sparkles of your very own!

In early January, you will receive your gift based on gems you purchase and gem codes you redeem between 12:01 AM December 1 and 11:59 PM December 31 PST."

I read that as a cumulative purchase and not one single purchase of 4,000 gems at a one time. I will verify, but that’s how I read it, anyway.

15 Days ago……

Has there been any verification that it is a cumulative purchase?

Only a few days left in December now.

Of course it’s cumulative. A $25 gem card is only 2000 gems. Do you really think that if someone buys a $25 card and then buys another one two weeks later they’re going to say, sure you bought 4000 gems, but it was two different cards so it doesn’t count!

No reply is needed.

tolunart.2095:

Of course it’s cumulative. A $25 gem card is only 2000 gems. Do you really think that if someone buys a $25 card and then buys another one two weeks later they’re going to say, sure you bought 4000 gems, but it was two different cards so it doesn’t count!

No reply is needed.

bit off topic but if you search around you can get such a card for €16,-

sorudo.9054:

tolunart.2095:

Of course it’s cumulative. A $25 gem card is only 2000 gems. Do you really think that if someone buys a $25 card and then buys another one two weeks later they’re going to say, sure you bought 4000 gems, but it was two different cards so it doesn’t count!

No reply is needed.

bit off topic but if you search around you can get such a card for €16,-

I don’t think they have those at Wal-Mart.

tolunart.2095:

Of course it’s cumulative. A $25 gem card is only 2000 gems. Do you really think that if someone buys a $25 card and then buys another one two weeks later they’re going to say, sure you bought 4000 gems, but it was two different cards so it doesn’t count!

No reply is needed.

Been done by many companies before. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit. That’s why clarification is needed. Because when left with 2 options, the companies almost always take the greedy/more profitable option.

Don’t you understand modern business practice? Short Term profits over long-term customer loyalty.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-black-lion-wintersday-rewards-event/

So what part of

In early January, you will receive your gift based on gems you purchase and gem codes you redeem between 12:01 AM December 1 and 11:59 PM December 31 PST.

Note the use of the plural of code.

tolunart.2095:

sorudo.9054:

tolunart.2095:

Of course it’s cumulative. A $25 gem card is only 2000 gems. Do you really think that if someone buys a $25 card and then buys another one two weeks later they’re going to say, sure you bought 4000 gems, but it was two different cards so it doesn’t count!

No reply is needed.

bit off topic but if you search around you can get such a card for €16,-

I don’t think they have those at Wal-Mart.

in europe, wall-markt doesn’t exsist yet i can still find one, look beyond retail

sorudo.9054:

tolunart.2095:

sorudo.9054:

tolunart.2095:

Of course it’s cumulative. A $25 gem card is only 2000 gems. Do you really think that if someone buys a $25 card and then buys another one two weeks later they’re going to say, sure you bought 4000 gems, but it was two different cards so it doesn’t count!

No reply is needed.

bit off topic but if you search around you can get such a card for €16,-

I don’t think they have those at Wal-Mart.

in europe, wall-markt doesn’t exsist yet i can still find one, look beyond retail

Even if I did, I don’t have any euros.

tolunart.2095:

sorudo.9054:

tolunart.2095:

sorudo.9054:

tolunart.2095:

Of course it’s cumulative. A $25 gem card is only 2000 gems. Do you really think that if someone buys a $25 card and then buys another one two weeks later they’re going to say, sure you bought 4000 gems, but it was two different cards so it doesn’t count!

No reply is needed.

bit off topic but if you search around you can get such a card for €16,-

I don’t think they have those at Wal-Mart.

in europe, wall-markt doesn’t exsist yet i can still find one, look beyond retail

Even if I did, I don’t have any euros.

….facepalm
that’s not the point -_-

sorudo.9054:

tolunart.2095:

sorudo.9054:

tolunart.2095:

sorudo.9054:

tolunart.2095:

Of course it’s cumulative. A $25 gem card is only 2000 gems. Do you really think that if someone buys a $25 card and then buys another one two weeks later they’re going to say, sure you bought 4000 gems, but it was two different cards so it doesn’t count!

No reply is needed.

bit off topic but if you search around you can get such a card for €16,-

I don’t think they have those at Wal-Mart.

in europe, wall-markt doesn’t exsist yet i can still find one, look beyond retail

Even if I did, I don’t have any euros.

….facepalm
that’s not the point -_-

I know.