Guild Wars 2

There should be absolutely zero reason that you can’t access Lion Arch if you aren’t level 35. It seems like you are just pushing EVEN MORE reasons on someone that they should buy HoT since that removes the level needed. My friend, a long time WoW player has started playing Gw2 with me. He was really looking forward to Halloween events coming up, and watched some old videos. But yet.. he can’t access this event till level 35!? We tried running there, pvp portal to lions arch.. Nothing works. You are punishing new players or people who maybe come to check out the game & try the halloween event? This also hurts you. I have never in my years of gaming played an MMO that made you have to be a certain level to participate in a festival event. You guys should remove the level 35 needed for festivals.

Edit: didn’t know you could use doors outside LA to do some of the stuff. Thanks.

Would be nice to know why the restriction exists. I haven’t been able to figure it out on my own.

Redfeather.6401:

Would be nice to know why the restriction exists. I haven’t been able to figure it out on my own.

My only idea is for something to do with bots, or just want it to be a character progression thing. But eve then in other MMOs main towns are accessible from any level.. They should in my opinion, at least make it not require being level 35 during festivals.

I’m really sorry that’s happened to you and your friend, but your frustration is misplaced. I believe the level 35 requirement was put in place to limit access for Real Money Traders (RMT’s). It’s one more barrier put in place to stop them from harassing players in the busiest town.

So yes, be angry, but not at Anet. Be angry at the RMT’s, and those players who continue to purchase from them.

It’s a free account thing. And this event can power level character so fast. Anet might not want free player to access it too fast.

level 35 in this game can be easily reach from open world pve though. Maybe you and your friend can go leveling until 35 and come back later.

Greener.6204:

I’m really sorry that’s happened to you and your friend, but your frustration is misplaced. I believe the level 35 requirement was put in place to limit access for Real Money Traders (RMT’s). It’s one more barrier put in place to stop them from harassing players in the busiest town.

So yes, be angry, but not at Anet. Be angry at the RMT’s, and those players who continue to purchase from them.

I’m not angry. And it was a VERY poor design choice for any reason to have it there during festivals. Even if it were to combat RMT. I understand having it there at other times, I even said that. But REMOVE it on Festivals.

Takoyakii.2146:

It’s a free account thing. And this event can power level character so fast. Anet might not want free player to access it too fast.

level 35 in this game can be easily reach from open world pve though. Maybe you and your friend can go leveling until 35 and come back later.

WE both work, we find the time we can play, to play GW2. Telling someone to oh just go level to 35 is a terrible design choice behind festivals. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I’ve played many MMO’s and never seen one of them do that.

Can you no longer access the Labyrinth at least from the doors in open world? I know it isn’t the full thing, but it would be something.

iHeartbound.3074:

I’ve played many MMO’s and never seen one of them do that.

In WoW you can’t access half the event content as they are locked to higher level instances and areas, often requiring the maximum level.

Brewfest dungeon needs maximum level, Feast of Winterveil reindeer quest needs you to be able to get Hillsbrad Foothills and you also can’t open presents on characters under level 20, Love is in the Air dungeon needs maximum level, Hallow’s End dungeon needs maximum level, Children’s Week needs around level 80 due to the Northrend orphans and access to flying, Lunar Festival needs you to be able to get to areas all around the world which of course includes maximum level and expansion exclusive areas, Midsummer needs maximum level to put out the enemy faction’s bonfires because guards will one hit kill you otherwise, Pilgrim’s Bounty requires a certain level of cooking skill which is tied a certain character level threshold and also requires you to be able to travel to all racial towns. Even Darkmoon Faire has level requirements for doing profession quests, turning in artifacts and doing the racing game.

Most of them are guilty of this. I think Noblegarden and Pirate’s Day are the only exceptions. So if your friend comes from WoW he really shouldn’t be so suprised.

It has to be a free account thing. I think I was level 4 or so when I jumped from Rata Sum through the portal to LA. No issues.

As other people have said the restriction is only on free accounts and is there to stop gold sellers accessing the main town and spamming everyone.

But I thought you could use the doors that appear out in PvE maps to get into the Labyrinth as well (and when you’re in there you can talk to the Boatmaster to access the Clocktower). I admit I haven’t tried this year but in previous years they definitely worked.

You can access the Labyrinth from Open World doors. It would, likely, not take long to level to L35 in the Lab.

Good luck.

I never understood people that kittened about all the things HoT players get that they don’t as a free account. Literally the game is FREE, be happy with what you get when it’s practically a gift. As for the restriction being removed on holidays despite RMTs, holiday events are when they’d be the most active and would swarm.

You guys should buy HoT, it blows WoW out of the water in how complex and immersive it is. I want more HoT content, and I’m willing to shell out dollaroos.

Black Iris Flowers.3418:

I never understood people that kittened about all the things HoT players get that they don’t as a free account. Literally the game is FREE, be happy with what you get when it’s practically a gift. As for the restriction being removed on holidays despite RMTs, holiday events are when they’d be the most active and would swarm.

I never understood why people like you don’t understand that I’m not complaining about what HoT does or gives. I said when they BLATANTLY make you try to buy it. That’s when it gets annoying is when it’s shoved on you. Besides that I don’t care. I own the game, but thanks for your concern. And if they swarmed that’s easy banning for Anet seeing as how they are rly active around festival time.

ElectricGoat.8253:

You guys should buy HoT, it blows WoW out of the water in how complex and immersive it is. I want more HoT content, and I’m willing to shell out dollaroos.

I am buying the expansion. But sorry, it’s not worth $50 to me. I’d gladly pay $30 though. Seeing if it goes on sale for Xmas. Also I don’t own WoW, he does. I hate WoW.

Many Authorized Retailers sell it for ~$30. No need to wait.

Good luck.

Have your friend run to one of the doors on a PvE map, such as Gendarren fields. He can enter the Labyrinth from there. If he is so low level he gets one shot you can go along with him to a door. No HoT purchase required.

You missed the 50% off sale awhile ago. Shame. It was less than $30.

iHeartbound.3074:

I said when they BLATANTLY make you try to buy it. That’s when it gets annoying is when it’s shoved on you.

There’s nothing blatant going on. It’s your perspective that’s the issue. A L35 wall is easy to overcome within several hours, less if you’re really trying, and less still with a companion. This is a very feeble effort to “BLATANTLY make you try to buy” anything if that’s ANet’s nefarious plan.

iHeartbound.3074:

And if they swarmed that’s easy banning for Anet seeing as how they are rly active around festival time.

So, what you’re saying is you believe that things should be set up so that all players in Lion’s Arch during this festival should put up with additional RMT annoyances* so that a few people who can’t manage to get to L35 on a free account in time can attend? Is that about right?

*(Banning RMT vermin isn’t instantaneous—it requires a lot of players being bothered, then having to report them, then waiting on the devs to process reports and ultimately act on them. All the while more and more RMT slime are oozing in through the open door you advocate.)

iHeartbound.3074:

Black Iris Flowers.3418:

I never understood people that kittened about all the things HoT players get that they don’t as a free account. Literally the game is FREE, be happy with what you get when it’s practically a gift. As for the restriction being removed on holidays despite RMTs, holiday events are when they’d be the most active and would swarm.

I never understood why people like you don’t understand that I’m not complaining about what HoT does or gives. I said when they BLATANTLY make you try to buy it. That’s when it gets annoying is when it’s shoved on you. Besides that I don’t care. I own the game, but thanks for your concern. And if they swarmed that’s easy banning for Anet seeing as how they are rly active around festival time.

But since you can access the Labyrinth through the doors in the world, which is the main attraction of Halloween for most people and since leveling in the labyrinth is super fast, I still don’t feel the complaint has merit.

Edit: By the way, all advertising is blatantly trying to get people to buy your product. It’s when people do it covertly that there’s a problem. Of course a company is going to try to get you to buy their product.

But they still manage to somehow give access to the labyrinth from the open world that you can get to as a free player.

When I’m playing on my free account the restrictions on things like entering towns doesn’t seem like blatant marketing to me. The constant reminder to buy HoT stuck on the top left of the screen and on every other locked thing (extra character slots, bag slots, the TP etc.) does.

But then I think of free accounts as a demo version and that’s what demos have always done. Reminds me of being a kid and hearing “Tell mom and dad to register!” in a really annoying voice every time I pressed a button or having a big pop-up every 3 minutes showing me all the things I can’t have in the free version. (Do people still make demos of games? Or Shareware version? I feel like I’ve not seen them for ages.)

Either way the idea is that you’ll only play the demo/free version for long enough to decide whether you like the game. Then you either buy it and all the restrictions and adverts go away or you stop playing and don’t have to worry about it any more.

I can understand people criticizing ANet for their tactical decision to lock out LA during festival events. If the goal is to get people to buy the game, then it’ perhaps better to show them just how fun it is by including them in more of Halloween, rather than less.

However, I can’t understand why people think that this is a bug or insist that ANet must change it today or even in time for next year. ANet has made it clear that “free to play” comes with lots of restrictions. They want those who have paid to have advantages over those who haven’t, and that includes unrestricted access to LA and its festivals.

Moreover, it people really want into LA to see the decorations and participate in Mad King Says, it doesn’t take all that long to level up.

They should just add a door to the labyrinthine into each city, The doors are in the open areas as well so it is not content they intent to have the restriction on just an outcome they didn’t see happening when making the base game free and putting in the restriction.

Anet have added nothing new to Halloween in terms of activities or story so the best target for this seasonal event is the newer players.

Hey!

It’s a free game. The Investments needed to get a reasonable amount of comfort is relatively low (something Like a couple of saturdays out).

The have to gain something: the opposite way is the monthly fee, but believe me if i say that other games with fees (WoW and Ff) still put some limits and THAT is insane.

As a new player i can say that there are a couple of things which are pretty dumb (like not making waypoints account based), but some restrictions are part of the game itself and what you get here for a low cost B2P is insane.

You can reach lvl35 in three days intense gameplay and that’s a reasonable amount of hours that are not a great problem for a motivated player. It’s like a threshold.

I see a lot less reasonable the waypoint thing, since this game blows other games out and needs to be a bit more alt friendly… Buy anyway, I understand Anet has to get the money somewhere and probably having players around forced to explore connects well to their needing of microtransactions.

In WoW you are not actually playing If you are not lvl100. The starting areas are empty cause everyone goes with lvl boost for that reason… And you still have to invest lots of hours to farm stuff to enjoy the game.

Here you have an open world approach, fast leveling (I’m 47 in 5 days) and a fun learning curve, since you can do almost everything as soon as it is available.

So, there are flaws, but not this one IMHo.

iHeartbound.3074:

There should be absolutely zero reason that you can’t access Lion Arch if you aren’t level 35. It seems like you are just pushing EVEN MORE reasons on someone that they should buy HoT since that removes the level needed. My friend, a long time WoW player has started playing Gw2 with me. He was really looking forward to Halloween events coming up, and watched some old videos. But yet.. he can’t access this event till level 35!? We tried running there, pvp portal to lions arch.. Nothing works. You are punishing new players or people who maybe come to check out the game & try the halloween event? This also hurts you. I have never in my years of gaming played an MMO that made you have to be a certain level to participate in a festival event. You guys should remove the level 35 needed for festivals.

Your viewpoint is understandable but try to look at it from ours too. There are many people that believe even GW2 going free to play was a mistake. This was certainly not even an option when I got the core game for abt full price.

Therefore why do u feel u deserve more, given that ur not willing to spend a single cent on either the core game or the expansion? You mentioned your friend was a WoW veteran.. then maybe he would feel more comfortable with GW2 necessitating a $15/month subscription fee with only the initial month given free?

If you like the game so far, then show them that you support it by purchasing it.. Plus you get a much better price than before, about $15 or so each for the core game and HoT. This game is kind enough to not req a subscription, otherwise I wouldn’t even have considered it. You should never feel you are forced to do anything, true.. but I don’t think even WoW was as lenient to new players. If I remember correctly they don’t let new players lvl past 20? Just something to think about.

It will be thanksgiving in abt a month which means that ostensibly u should work on being thankful for what u are given, esp in a given scenario where not even a single cent is being asked of you. If you are that stringent on not having to spend more money than u have to, then there’s always black Friday and similar deals to consider before making the final decision. No one’s forcing you to do anything, you are essentially ‘free to play’ which for a long time as I mentioned was not even an option. Therefore I don’t understand how you feel they are punishing you to the extent u claim they are.

nagr.1593:

iHeartbound.3074:

There should be absolutely zero reason that you can’t access Lion Arch if you aren’t level 35. It seems like you are just pushing EVEN MORE reasons on someone that they should buy HoT since that removes the level needed. My friend, a long time WoW player has started playing Gw2 with me. He was really looking forward to Halloween events coming up, and watched some old videos. But yet.. he can’t access this event till level 35!? We tried running there, pvp portal to lions arch.. Nothing works. You are punishing new players or people who maybe come to check out the game & try the halloween event? This also hurts you. I have never in my years of gaming played an MMO that made you have to be a certain level to participate in a festival event. You guys should remove the level 35 needed for festivals.

Your viewpoint is understandable but try to look at it from ours too. There are many people that believe even GW2 going free to play was a mistake. This was certainly not even an option when I got the core game for abt full price.

Therefore why do u feel u deserve more, given that ur not willing to spend a single cent on either the core game or the expansion? You mentioned your friend was a WoW veteran.. then maybe he would feel more comfortable with GW2 necessitating a $15/month subscription fee with only the initial month given free?

If you like the game so far, then show them that you support it by purchasing it.. Plus you get a much better price than before, about $15 or so each for the core game and HoT. This game is kind enough to not req a subscription, otherwise I wouldn’t even have considered it. You should never feel you are forced to do anything, true.. but I don’t think even WoW was as lenient to new players. If I remember correctly they don’t let new players lvl past 20? Just something to think about.

It will be thanksgiving in abt a month which means that ostensibly u should work on being thankful for what u are given, esp in a given scenario where not even a single cent is being asked of you. If you are that stringent on not having to spend more money than u have to, then there’s always black Friday and similar deals to consider before making the final decision. No one’s forcing you to do anything, you are essentially ‘free to play’ which for a long time as I mentioned was not even an option. Therefore I don’t understand how you feel they are punishing you to the extent u claim they are.

??? I bought the game on release. I will not pay $50 just for more content when the base game still had more than the expansion. And no I’m not complaining because of that, that makes sense.. Any DLC/expansion will not be as big as the base game. Stuff just gets added on to it. But however I do not in any way think the expansion is worth $50. I’ll pay $30 when it goes on sale, but until then I wont have it. I’m just annoyed that my friend couldn’t enjoy the Festival until he played for a few days more. But I did however find out we can go through the doors thanks to some people here. So thanks to them.

Also they went f2p because they lost a lot of people because they waited to long for a true expansion.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

I can understand people criticizing ANet for their tactical decision to lock out LA during festival events. If the goal is to get people to buy the game, then it’ perhaps better to show them just how fun it is by including them in more of Halloween, rather than less.

However, I can’t understand why people think that this is a bug or insist that ANet must change it today or even in time for next year. ANet has made it clear that “free to play” comes with lots of restrictions. They want those who have paid to have advantages over those who haven’t, and that includes unrestricted access to LA and its festivals.

Moreover, it people really want into LA to see the decorations and participate in Mad King Says, it doesn’t take all that long to level up.

I never thought it was a bug. Unless you are just speaking in general.

Well given the fact that it is possible to Enter Lions arch at lvl 1 if you know how, it’s to stop gold seller which is fine.

BlaqueFyre.5678:

Well given the fact that it is possible to Enter Lions arch at lvl 1 if you know how, it’s to stop gold seller which is fine.

No you can’t. Unless you bought the base game when it costed money or buy HoT. Unless you found a bug that allows you.

iHeartbound.3074:

BlaqueFyre.5678:

Well given the fact that it is possible to Enter Lions arch at lvl 1 if you know how, it’s to stop gold seller which is fine.

No you can’t. Unless you bought the base game when it costed money or buy HoT. Unless you found a bug that allows you.

Yes you can I have a f2p acct it just takes clever use of the Guildhalls, before the patch that introduce the pvp queue from anywhere it was easier still. They could have fixed since I last did it but before that patch it was possible

I see what you did there. That would be a way to get into LA. And, I think, not only from Guild Halls.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I see what you did there. That would be a way to get into LA. And, I think, not only from Guild Halls.

Yeah I can try with a new toon tonight, but I only stumbled on it when I was bypassing the Tutorial and I got into LionsArch, if they fixed it I will be sad.

So I guess I’m the only one confused by what’s goin on? I dunno maybe i should /exit stage cos I have like 0 clue whats happening atm. OP (I think?) saying she bought game on release (bought =/= paying money?). Then op imply later that she didn’t bought the base game when it costed money. What’s goin on? and what world did i landed on

PS also what?? when did they change so only lvl35 can enter LA. do u mean.. If I didn’t have HoT.. than this would also apply me? I have no way to test cos I have HoT so.. whats goin on?? hlp me understand

Simple solution, if you want friend to have full access to the all games’ content—— get friend to buy it!! If friend only wants to use an F2P account, accept the restrictions. (or buy friend an early XMAS present).

(edited to be more accurate)

Blude.6812:

Simple solution, if you want full access to the all games’ content——buy it!! If you only want to use an F2P account, accept the restrictions.

op chewed me out cos she said she don’t have F2P.. so I’m confused as to what’s going on

maybe I’m transported to an alternate dimension where i am 100x unlucky and nothing makes sense anymore? Like which way is up and which is down.. and how we can know for sure?? idk where iam anymore.. i srsly mean it

^OP owns the game, including HoT. Friend playing with OP does not.

Edit: After re-reading the adjust thread, I should have said: OP owns the game, not including HoT. Friend playing with OP does not (own either).

My apologies.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

^OP owns the game, including HoT. Friend playing with OP does not.

o ok thx for clearing that up cos that was not clear to me even after reading op twice idk why

I was just worried like this apply for f2p or p2p (without no hot)? but ok ye i understand now

Redfeather.6401:

Would be nice to know why the restriction exists. I haven’t been able to figure it out on my own.

To prevent free accounts from farming transmutation charges maybe?

Lion’s Arch has Asura gates to all 5 racial cities, and getting 100% map complete on LA and each racial city gives you 1 transmutation charge each. You can get 6 charges in a short amount of time if you are familiar with the cities. Then delete the character and repeat the process to get as many free transmutation charges as you desire. I imagine some players actually farm them like this. But a level 35 requirement to enter Lion’s Arch would discourage free players from farming them.

I like the restriction because it keeps out potential spammers from getting to LA too quickly.

prevents spammers to instantly go to lions arch and starts spamming gold sells..

if you reply to this with " but spamers can just lvl up to 35 super easy and quick" then that also applies to you,the normal player who wants to go to la and do haloween events…

Yeah F2P sucks but you don’t have to buy HoT to get to LA.. You can still buy the core game for cheap and that will unlock all content, except HoT areas.

Daiki.6237:

Yeah F2P sucks but you don’t have to buy HoT to get to LA.. You can still buy the core game for cheap and that will unlock all content, except HoT areas.

You have won the thread.
(I have been sitting here waiting for someone to point out that the core game IS STILL available for purchase (dirt cheap too!) without HoT)
But hopefully the OP and their friend have leveled up now to make the entry to LA.

nagr.1593:

So I guess I’m the only one confused by what’s goin on? I dunno maybe i should /exit stage cos I have like 0 clue whats happening atm. OP (I think?) saying she bought game on release (bought =/= paying money?). Then op imply later that she didn’t bought the base game when it costed money. What’s goin on? and what world did i landed on

PS also what?? when did they change so only lvl35 can enter LA. do u mean.. If I didn’t have HoT.. than this would also apply me? I have no way to test cos I have HoT so.. whats goin on?? hlp me understand

I own the base game. I bought it back when it costed money. My friend is new & has the free version of the game & as a free player you can’t get into LA as a free player till level 35. However he can still do some of the festival since doors are scattered outside of LA. He just can’t get full experience. If he buys HoT he can immediately get into LA without being level 35.

Daiki.6237:

Yeah F2P sucks but you don’t have to buy HoT to get to LA.. You can still buy the core game for cheap and that will unlock all content, except HoT areas.

Didn’t even know that was a thing. Kind of weird that it was. Thanks, didn’t know.

A lot of people are assuming this is to stop gold sellers and/or spammers…

However, since free accounts can NOT send gold or items and can also NOT spam map chat this is certainly not to address those issues.

I would assume this is just one of the (arbitrary) things Anet put in to make f2p accounts feel more restricted in order for it to be more attractive to buy the full game.

Zohane.7208:

A lot of people are assuming this is to stop gold sellers and/or spammers…

However, since free accounts can NOT send gold or items and can also NOT spam map chat this is certainly not to address those issues.

I would assume this is just one of the (arbitrary) things Anet put in to make f2p accounts feel more restricted in order for it to be more attractive to buy the full game.

They can still go to a crowded area spamming Say/Whispers can’t they?

iHeartbound.3074:

Zohane.7208:

A lot of people are assuming this is to stop gold sellers and/or spammers…

However, since free accounts can NOT send gold or items and can also NOT spam map chat this is certainly not to address those issues.

I would assume this is just one of the (arbitrary) things Anet put in to make f2p accounts feel more restricted in order for it to be more attractive to buy the full game.

They can still go to a crowded area spamming Say/Whispers can’t they?

They can spam say and whisper to strangers that are on the same map as them, I believe.

It is probably easier said than done to unlock an area for a festival and then lock it again to players who did not reach the appropriate level. And considering how long the festival will run for at minimum, the work to do so wouldn’t be worth the handful of players it would help, while allowing for increased spamming of a city that will have larger than normal population.

Useful rule to remember: Forum access is also a ‘perk’ of having a paid account. Therefore if someone is posting on this forum they have bought the game. They might only have the base game and not HoT, but they have something more than a free account.

Danikat.8537:

Useful rule to remember: Forum access is also a ‘perk’ of having a paid account. Therefore if someone is posting on this forum they have bought the game. They might only have the base game and not HoT, but they have something more than a free account.

Also didn’t even know that lol.