Guild Wars 2

I’m under the impression that if the material wasn’t time gated then those who saved tons of materials would be able to flood the market and drastically reduce the cost of making an ascended piece. This would devalue the feel of the weapons as well as the effort it takes to obtain one. This is meant to be a step between a legendary and exotic and flooding the market with cheap materials would lessen that.

Also the time gating ensures that people are logging in to create said materials and possibly will bottleneck the amount of leftover materials that could be used for ascended armor.

I apologize if this is hard to follow, my thought process isn’t always linear and I tend to follow in on paper.

juno.1840:

…..
With those two ideas in mind, it does NOT make any sense for GW2 to be time gated because it’s not subscription and the high-end crafted items are all account bound………

Economically, it certainly makes sense. What are the odds that any player will spend money in the Gem Store (GW2’s ONLY additional source of income after the original purchase) if they are not in-game and active? (hint: rhymes with “HERO” and it’s a very low number).

Subscription MMOs have the advantage of automatically taking your money every month if you forget to cancel it…. Yes, they need to keep the majority of the players engaged to keep them subscribed but, the monthly fee will continue to roll in from some percentage of players that no longer log-in (for whatever reason) as long as the players don’t unsubscribe. ANet’s model on the other hand, brings in NO money from the existing player base if they are not actively in the game buying gems.

You can complain about the realities of ANet’s model all you want, but I (and many others playing here) embrace the no fee model and at least TRY to understand some of the choices ANet makes based on this economic model. I’m not saying I like them all, but I fully understand that they must strive to make money and they are providing me with loads of entertainment, so I’ll continue to support them for the time being. I in no way indicate that support may not change in the future.

Brother Grimm.5176:

juno.1840:

…..
With those two ideas in mind, it does NOT make any sense for GW2 to be time gated because it’s not subscription and the high-end crafted items are all account bound………

Economically, it certainly makes sense. What are the odds that any player will spend money in the Gem Store (GW2’s ONLY additional source of income after the original purchase) if they are not in-game and active? (hint: rhymes with “HERO” and it’s a very low number).

Subscription MMOs have the advantage of automatically taking your money every month if you forget to cancel it…. Yes, they need to keep the majority of the players engaged to keep them subscribed but, the monthly fee will continue to roll in from some percentage of players that no longer log-in (for whatever reason) as long as the players don’t unsubscribe. ANet’s model on the other hand, brings in NO money from the existing player base if they are not actively in the game buying gems.

You can complain about the realities of ANet’s model all you want, but I (and many others playing here) embrace the no fee model and at least TRY to understand some of the choices ANet makes based on this economic model. I’m not saying I like them all, but I fully understand that they must strive to make money and they are providing me with loads of entertainment, so I’ll continue to support them for the time being. I in no way indicate that support may not change in the future.

This is a very well thought out post – I agree 100% – I feel exactly the same.

Brother Grimm.5176:

juno.1840:

…..
With those two ideas in mind, it does NOT make any sense for GW2 to be time gated because it’s not subscription and the high-end crafted items are all account bound………

Economically, it certainly makes sense. What are the odds that any player will spend money in the Gem Store (GW2’s ONLY additional source of income after the original purchase) if they are not in-game and active? (hint: rhymes with “HERO” and it’s a very low number).

Subscription MMOs have the advantage of automatically taking your money every month if you forget to cancel it…. Yes, they need to keep the majority of the players engaged to keep them subscribed but, the monthly fee will continue to roll in from some percentage of players that no longer log-in (for whatever reason) as long as the players don’t unsubscribe. ANet’s model on the other hand, brings in NO money from the existing player base if they are not actively in the game buying gems.

You can complain about the realities of ANet’s model all you want, but I (and many others playing here) embrace the no fee model and at least TRY to understand some of the choices ANet makes based on this economic model. I’m not saying I like them all, but I fully understand that they must strive to make money and they are providing me with loads of entertainment, so I’ll continue to support them for the time being. I in no way indicate that support may not change in the future.

You can still have them come back but just not have it be a daily. More people would be likely to buy and play the game (and keep playing) if it was more flexible. What are the odds that any player will spend money in the Gem Store (GW2’s ONLY additional source of income after the original purchase) if they quit because they are falling behind (not able to get on every single day), getting sick of the daily chore list, etc. due to daily time gating?

Aberrant.6749:

Brother Grimm.5176:

juno.1840:

…..
With those two ideas in mind, it does NOT make any sense for GW2 to be time gated because it’s not subscription and the high-end crafted items are all account bound………

Economically, it certainly makes sense. What are the odds that any player will spend money in the Gem Store (GW2’s ONLY additional source of income after the original purchase) if they are not in-game and active? (hint: rhymes with “HERO” and it’s a very low number).

Subscription MMOs have the advantage of automatically taking your money every month if you forget to cancel it…. Yes, they need to keep the majority of the players engaged to keep them subscribed but, the monthly fee will continue to roll in from some percentage of players that no longer log-in (for whatever reason) as long as the players don’t unsubscribe. ANet’s model on the other hand, brings in NO money from the existing player base if they are not actively in the game buying gems.

You can complain about the realities of ANet’s model all you want, but I (and many others playing here) embrace the no fee model and at least TRY to understand some of the choices ANet makes based on this economic model. I’m not saying I like them all, but I fully understand that they must strive to make money and they are providing me with loads of entertainment, so I’ll continue to support them for the time being. I in no way indicate that support may not change in the future.

You can still have them come back but just not have it be a daily. More people would be likely to buy and play the game (and keep playing) if it was more flexible. What are the odds that any player will spend money in the Gem Store (GW2’s ONLY additional source of income after the original purchase) if they quit because they are falling behind (not able to get on every single day), getting sick of the daily chore list, etc. due to daily time gating?

Both arguments could be made. However, Anet has chosen to make it so people log in everyday (or as much as possible). They obviously feel it works for them and will continue to do so until they aren’t making money.

cranked.3812:

Aberrant.6749:

Brother Grimm.5176:

juno.1840:

…..
With those two ideas in mind, it does NOT make any sense for GW2 to be time gated because it’s not subscription and the high-end crafted items are all account bound………

Economically, it certainly makes sense. What are the odds that any player will spend money in the Gem Store (GW2’s ONLY additional source of income after the original purchase) if they are not in-game and active? (hint: rhymes with “HERO” and it’s a very low number).

Subscription MMOs have the advantage of automatically taking your money every month if you forget to cancel it…. Yes, they need to keep the majority of the players engaged to keep them subscribed but, the monthly fee will continue to roll in from some percentage of players that no longer log-in (for whatever reason) as long as the players don’t unsubscribe. ANet’s model on the other hand, brings in NO money from the existing player base if they are not actively in the game buying gems.

You can complain about the realities of ANet’s model all you want, but I (and many others playing here) embrace the no fee model and at least TRY to understand some of the choices ANet makes based on this economic model. I’m not saying I like them all, but I fully understand that they must strive to make money and they are providing me with loads of entertainment, so I’ll continue to support them for the time being. I in no way indicate that support may not change in the future.

You can still have them come back but just not have it be a daily. More people would be likely to buy and play the game (and keep playing) if it was more flexible. What are the odds that any player will spend money in the Gem Store (GW2’s ONLY additional source of income after the original purchase) if they quit because they are falling behind (not able to get on every single day), getting sick of the daily chore list, etc. due to daily time gating?

Both arguments could be made. However, Anet has chosen to make it so people log in everyday (or as much as possible). They obviously feel it works for them and will continue to do so until they aren’t making money.

I don’t like this though, it makes me sad to do chores every day. Even my mom and dad let me have a day off now and again :_(

Aberrant.6749:

cranked.3812:

Aberrant.6749:

Brother Grimm.5176:

juno.1840:

…..
With those two ideas in mind, it does NOT make any sense for GW2 to be time gated because it’s not subscription and the high-end crafted items are all account bound………

Economically, it certainly makes sense. What are the odds that any player will spend money in the Gem Store (GW2’s ONLY additional source of income after the original purchase) if they are not in-game and active? (hint: rhymes with “HERO” and it’s a very low number).

Subscription MMOs have the advantage of automatically taking your money every month if you forget to cancel it…. Yes, they need to keep the majority of the players engaged to keep them subscribed but, the monthly fee will continue to roll in from some percentage of players that no longer log-in (for whatever reason) as long as the players don’t unsubscribe. ANet’s model on the other hand, brings in NO money from the existing player base if they are not actively in the game buying gems.

You can complain about the realities of ANet’s model all you want, but I (and many others playing here) embrace the no fee model and at least TRY to understand some of the choices ANet makes based on this economic model. I’m not saying I like them all, but I fully understand that they must strive to make money and they are providing me with loads of entertainment, so I’ll continue to support them for the time being. I in no way indicate that support may not change in the future.

You can still have them come back but just not have it be a daily. More people would be likely to buy and play the game (and keep playing) if it was more flexible. What are the odds that any player will spend money in the Gem Store (GW2’s ONLY additional source of income after the original purchase) if they quit because they are falling behind (not able to get on every single day), getting sick of the daily chore list, etc. due to daily time gating?

Both arguments could be made. However, Anet has chosen to make it so people log in everyday (or as much as possible). They obviously feel it works for them and will continue to do so until they aren’t making money.

I don’t like this though, it makes me sad to do chores every day. Even my mom and dad let me have a day off now and again :_(

If you find GW2 to be a chore, it might be time to find a different game.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to log in everyday to make an ascended weapon. Buy the time gated mats on the TP and get the fragments and ore at your leisure. Not sure why you feel you must log in everyday to get an ascended weapon.

People have to understand that ANet has stated time and time again that Ascended weapons are a long-term goal for players. People log in, see they can’t buy everything on the first day, and come in the forums to complain about how bad ANet is. But they are also the same people that blast through content to be amongst the first to do so, and then complain how there is nothing to do.

If I’ve learned nothing else from the hours I’ve spent in the forums, I’ve learned that you can never please this vocal minority. Ascended is the last tier of gear that they will likely ever implement. There are a lot of fun activities that get you the materials to craft them (you know, playing the game). If you don’t want to do it, don’t. There is only one very niche type of content that even requires the weapons, and an argument can be made about that as well.

This has been the way ANet conducts business since launch. Stop complaining or find another game.

ANet could also make money via expansions (a la GW 1). However they’ve gone another route with the 2-week content, which always features nifty new items in the Gem store.

Saying that ascended weapon time gating is justified in order for ANet to make money just reinforces the poor decisions ANet has made with regards to revenue.

juno.1840:

ANet could also make money via expansions (a la GW 1). However they’ve gone another route with the 2-week content, which always features nifty new items in the Gem store.

Saying that ascended weapon time gating is justified in order for ANet to make money just reinforces the poor decisions ANet has made with regards to revenue.

I’m not justifying the system and stating it is right or wrong. I am stating that I understand WHY they need to keep people IN GAME and the realities of the economic system being used here.

I’m quite curious how you have intimate knowledge of ANet’s revenue in such a way as to describe their decisions as “poor”. You have every right to state you will not financially support them because of this issue or that, but to make a broad statement about the companies overall financial state or past economic decisions is slightly amusing (and purely your opinion). I’m not saying you may not be correct in the long run, but nothing I have seen indicates that this game is moving in the direction of shutting down, so I can’t fathom how you are defining “poor” from the evidence at hand.

Brother Grimm.5176:

I’m not justifying the system and stating it is right or wrong. I am stating that I understand WHY they need to keep people IN GAME and the realities of the economic system being used here.

Why do they need such a system to keep people in game when they have significant new content every 2 weeks? I’ve asked this question a lot and no-one has been able to give a satisfactory answer.

morrolan.9608:

Brother Grimm.5176:

I’m not justifying the system and stating it is right or wrong. I am stating that I understand WHY they need to keep people IN GAME and the realities of the economic system being used here.

Why do they need such a system to keep people in game when they have significant new content every 2 weeks? I’ve asked this question a lot and no-one has been able to give a satisfactory answer.

For one, not everyone plays the new content or at least they don’t necessarily play every single 2 week content. I know I am one of those players. I will play the ones I find interesting and skip the others. So, how do they keep people like me occupied and logging in regularly?

Secondly, everything hinges on driving gem store sales. It is the ONLY thing that generates revenue for anet. That being said and based on their history of content release, they are going to release things so that everything drives players to log in as much as possible. They obviously feel that is what keeps gem store sales high or at least keeps the potential high.

This has been gone over on the forums many times and answered many times by people like Brother Grimm. We don’t pay subscription fees monthly to play the game so anet is going to do whatever it takes to keep gem store profits (or potential profits) maximized. This is their solution. Take it or leave it.

Brother Grimm.5176:

juno.1840:

ANet could also make money via expansions (a la GW 1). However they’ve gone another route with the 2-week content, which always features nifty new items in the Gem store.

Saying that ascended weapon time gating is justified in order for ANet to make money just reinforces the poor decisions ANet has made with regards to revenue.

I’m not justifying the system and stating it is right or wrong. I am stating that I understand WHY they need to keep people IN GAME and the realities of the economic system being used here.

I’m quite curious how you have intimate knowledge of ANet’s revenue in such a way as to describe their decisions as “poor”. You have every right to state you will not financially support them because of this issue or that, but to make a broad statement about the companies overall financial state or past economic decisions is slightly amusing (and purely your opinion). I’m not saying you may not be correct in the long run, but nothing I have seen indicates that this game is moving in the direction of shutting down, so I can’t fathom how you are defining “poor” from the evidence at hand.

I agree, classifying anet’s revenue decisions as “poor” is silly at best and stupid at worst. They are obviously doing very well based on the way the game is going. They release content on a regular basis and, although many people (myself included) don’t care for things like RNG boxes and such, it works and it makes money. We are early in the life cycle of the game, but so far, I don’t see any indication of things going wrong or slowing down.

cranked.3812:

For one, not everyone plays the new content or at least they don’t necessarily play every single 2 week content. I know I am one of those players. I will play the ones I find interesting and skip the others. So, how do they keep people like me occupied and logging in regularly?

By improving the fortnightly content.

cranked.3812:

Secondly, everything hinges on driving gem store sales. It is the ONLY thing that generates revenue for anet. That being said and based on their history of content release, they are going to release things so that everything drives players to log in as much as possible. They obviously feel that is what keeps gem store sales high or at least keeps the potential high.

So greed then, because certainly the new content also drives gem store sales.

morrolan.9608:

cranked.3812:

For one, not everyone plays the new content or at least they don’t necessarily play every single 2 week content. I know I am one of those players. I will play the ones I find interesting and skip the others. So, how do they keep people like me occupied and logging in regularly?

By improving the fortnightly content.

cranked.3812:

Secondly, everything hinges on driving gem store sales. It is the ONLY thing that generates revenue for anet. That being said and based on their history of content release, they are going to release things so that everything drives players to log in as much as possible. They obviously feel that is what keeps gem store sales high or at least keeps the potential high.

So greed then, because certainly the new content also drives gem store sales.

LOL @ Greed.

Do you know anything about owning a business? How is maximizing profits equate to being greedy? Your responses are that of a person who just wants stuff handed to them.

You play a game that is entirely free to play other than the initial cost of the game. The game is constantly being updated and added to at no additional charge to you. Anet is in business to make money and do it while they can before the games life cycle comes to an end. You and everyone else who complains all the time on these forums would do the exact same thing if you were in their shoes, but I guess it’s much easier to come on here and QQ about how greedy Anet is.

Just wondering… is there anything in the gem shop that anyone in here buys on a daily basis with RL cash to where having people log in a few times a week Vs. daily would harm sales? From what I’ve seen most people buy stuff when new things are introduced, but I’m just one person.

Aberrant.6749:

Just wondering… is there anything in the gem shop that anyone in here buys on a daily basis with RL cash to where having people log in a few times a week Vs. daily would harm sales? From what I’ve seen most people buy stuff when new things are introduced, but I’m just one person.

That’s the point. You are one person, who more than likely doesn’t spend a ton of cash in the gem store.

Think of it this way: If you go down to Walmart one day a week are you likely to spend a bunch of money on stuff that you may or may not need. Probably not, because you are more than likely going there for a specific reason.

If you go there seven days a week, you probably don’t have any real reason to go there so you just “window shop” and more than likely you will leave with something in hand.

They are trying to keep as many people online at the same time so that they maximize the potential for profit. Either way, you don’t have to log in every day to get ascended weapons.

cranked.3812:

Do you know anything about owning a business? How is maximizing profits equate to being greedy? Your responses are that of a person who just wants stuff handed to them.

Strawman.

cranked.3812:

You play a game that is entirely free to play other than the initial cost of the game. The game is constantly being updated and added to at no additional charge to you. Anet is in business to make money and do it while they can before the games life cycle comes to an end. You and everyone else who complains all the time on these forums would do the exact same thing if you were in their shoes, but I guess it’s much easier to come on here and QQ about how greedy Anet is.

When the game becomes largely oriented towards players buying gems and becomes a chase the carrot grindfest and the complete antithesis of the ideals espoused prior to the games launch then yes it does lead to the conclusion that chasing the dollar is their priority now over creating a good gameplay experience.

If its needed to maintain the game then the model is a failure because it requires poor gameplay and an unhealthy reliance on exploiting the OCDness of mmo players.

But then I wonder if they have really tried to rely just on the fortnightly content to keep players in the game and buying gems. If player numbers were decreasing prior to ascended weapons being introduced that would imply its not enough however maybe the issue is with the quality of the fortnightly content.

morrolan.9608:

Why do they need such a system to keep people in game when they have significant new content every 2 weeks? I’ve asked this question a lot and no-one has been able to give a satisfactory answer.

Because not everyone is interested in the new content? I never even attempted Teq nor do I intend to start doing Dungeons because of the new TA path. There are plenty of players that completely ignore the new content added every 2 weeks.

Anet fully understands that no single reason is going to keep the majority of the players playing…..so they have multiple long term goals available for just about any type of player. It’s the intelligent approach, but you seem to just be focused on what YOU want out of the game. That’s not necessarily wrong (we all want different things from our games), but refusing to see that other players may have different desires is just narrow minded and a bit selfish.

So greed then, because certainly the new content also drives gem store sales.

Why do you continue to play the game if you are so convinced that Anet is an evil greedy monster? I in no way think they are a group of benevolent saints that simply want to give us all amazing free entertainment, but I DO think they are something near the center of those 2 extremes. When Anet starts FORCING players to spend RL money to play content or progress in the game, then I may start to be a bit more cynical about their motives.

I always view everything that Anet does with a bit of suspicion (unfortunately, that’s my nature for most everything in life) and I have yet to see anything that makes me think they only in this for the money.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Why do you continue to play the game if you are so convinced that Anet is an evil greedy monster?

Lack of a competitor and the fact that my guild are a great bunch of people, and my server is a great server for WvW.

Brother Grimm.5176:

juno.1840:

ANet could also make money via expansions (a la GW 1). However they’ve gone another route with the 2-week content, which always features nifty new items in the Gem store.

Saying that ascended weapon time gating is justified in order for ANet to make money just reinforces the poor decisions ANet has made with regards to revenue.

I’m not justifying the system and stating it is right or wrong. I am stating that I understand WHY they need to keep people IN GAME and the realities of the economic system being used here.

I’m quite curious how you have intimate knowledge of ANet’s revenue in such a way as to describe their decisions as “poor”. You have every right to state you will not financially support them because of this issue or that, but to make a broad statement about the companies overall financial state or past economic decisions is slightly amusing (and purely your opinion). I’m not saying you may not be correct in the long run, but nothing I have seen indicates that this game is moving in the direction of shutting down, so I can’t fathom how you are defining “poor” from the evidence at hand.

You thought I was referring to ANet’s revenue decision as “poor” in regards to how it impacts ANet — I wasn’t. It was a reference to how it effects the Game (and therefore the Players). You can probably conclude that the decisions are “great” for ANet because they keep making the same decisions over and over.

Personally I would have preferred an expansion (a.la GW1). I’d willingly dump my money into content, but not for the current gem store fare. I represent a non-trivial part of the player base, but it must be trivial compared to Players who continue to buy items from the store (otherwise we’d have an expansion at this point).

As mentioned by Morrolan above, one reason to keep playing GW2 is the lack of a worthy competitor — but it will arrive some day.

You are making the assumption that all players think the decisions are “poor” for them. That is not the case (or the decisions would be “poor” for ANet’s financials).

What you are really saying is that YOU and like minded players don’t like the decisions and would rather have something else. That is a perfectly valid position, but you are presenting it as a universal fact that ALL players agree on rather than the opinion of a minority group. While I have no data to backup my use of “minority”, if it were a majority, the game WOULD be doing “poor” financially and nothing I see indicates it is.

I have no problem with any players requesting and asking for something different (I would certainly not be apposed to an Expansion based content release), but going about it in such a negative manner (vilifying the content creators with every chance you get) is not very constructive and alienates both the Devs and other players.

If the silent majority speaks up, is it still a majority?

I finally reached the double time gate with quartz btw. Never bought any so my personal stash has been finally depleted and now it will take around 5 days I guess to craft another one day time gated item (depending on how many ‘rich’ nodes I strike, I do seem to get them fairly often).

Evilbeavers.3964:

I’m under the impression that if the material wasn’t time gated then those who saved tons of materials would be able to flood the market and drastically reduce the cost of making an ascended piece. This would devalue the feel of the weapons as well as the effort it takes to obtain one.

The real cost comes from raising the crafts to 500 (possibly from dark matter as well). Real effort comes from dragonites and empyreals. Time-gated materials are still a significant cost, but that’s not connested to timegating at all – it is based solely on the prices of t2-t4 mats (especially wood). Those hypotetical people who “saved a ton of materials” can still flood the market and rake a lot of cash, but all they need to do this is to sell the mats directly, without timegated refining.

Brother Grimm.5176:

You are making the assumption that all players think the decisions are “poor” for them.

I can hardly see where the ascended mats timegating would benefit anyone.

Astralporing.1957:

Brother Grimm.5176:

You are making the assumption that all players think the decisions are “poor” for them.

I can hardly see where the ascended mats timegating would benefit anyone.

I would only possibly consider a decision “poor” if it actually harmed my ability to play the game, not if it wasn’t the most “beneficial” for me, but I get that we may be venturing into a semantics debate now.

TL;DR so forgive me if I’m repeating, but I didn’t see this anywhere in my browse of the posts.

Time-gating is the developers telling us how to play their game the way they think we should play it. I thought we were trying to get away from that mentality and do something new and awesome in GW2.

I understand the developers being disappointed if the community blows through new content in 48hrs. That has to suck for them. But it really comes down to this:

We have access to all the content. We are going to do all the content that we choose to do. We are not going to do content that we do not choose to do.

The ONLY thing time gating does is force me to structure my play time the way THEY think I ought to, and not how I want to.

As a player, this arbitrary time-gating on crafting is annoying and lessens my enjoyment of the game. It does NOT enhance my gaming experience in any way. You implemented awesome new content. Thank you.

Now get out of the way so I can get to the content and enjoy it.

cranked.3812:

Aberrant.6749:

Just wondering… is there anything in the gem shop that anyone in here buys on a daily basis with RL cash to where having people log in a few times a week Vs. daily would harm sales? From what I’ve seen most people buy stuff when new things are introduced, but I’m just one person.

That’s the point. You are one person, who more than likely doesn’t spend a ton of cash in the gem store.

Think of it this way: If you go down to Walmart one day a week are you likely to spend a bunch of money on stuff that you may or may not need. Probably not, because you are more than likely going there for a specific reason.

If you go there seven days a week, you probably don’t have any real reason to go there so you just “window shop” and more than likely you will leave with something in hand.

They are trying to keep as many people online at the same time so that they maximize the potential for profit. Either way, you don’t have to log in every day to get ascended weapons.

Nah just me seeing something every day doesn’t make me want to buy it if I don’t need it. There isn’t anything you really need on a regular basis. Something new has more excitement, novelty, etc. Heck I miss out on sales where I might buy things because stuff is just constantly shown to me and my brain kinda just filters that out now. Yea I am just one person, hence why I was asking what is there that people in here would want to buy regularly… and buy more of because it’s shown to them more often than a few times a week.

That’s why I’m questioning if it would make any difference to what we were talking about before.

Once you get the recipe, the only time it takes to get a weapon is the time it takes for you to farm the gold to buy the Deldrimor/Spiritwood, which if done efficiently is drastically lower than the actual implemented gates.

As soon as I hit 500 I was able to farm tons of world events and Empyreal is a joke. I had my weapon 2 days after hitting 500.