Guild Wars 2

There are a lot of threads where people are threatening to ask for their money back because they don’t like the direction they perceive that the game is headed in. There are silly statements like “I deserve answers!” and “The customer is always right!” Most of those threads make me laugh, but I’m sure there are people at ArenaNet who are taking them personally.

Regardless of your feelings about the game, stop and ask yourself how much game play you need to get out of a $60 game before you feel that you got your money’s worth. Because the guy who said he has 500 hours into the game and feels cheated may be pushing the reality envelope hard enough for even the most jaded of you to giggle.

Don’t think its the amount of hour someone put into the game. It more of what the reason they bought the game. With the change in direction they felt cheated and lie to, its was not what they paid for, so it understandable that they would want a refund. Its as simple as that.

I think that people who didn’t expect new items / weapons to be introduced into an MMO is delusional.

If you were expecting to play the game for 5+ years, I would be bored stiff after having the same items for 4 1/2 of those years.

Besides, Anet has already said the new gear will be aquired via different means – gamers nowadays are jumping on another bandwagon of hate.

People say they don’t believe in “Gamer Entitlement”, but looking on ANY game forums nowadays it’s hard not to notice it.

So it doesn’t matter how many hours someone plays, if the game maker changes direction the customer has a right to his/her money back? Seriously, if it wasn’t two months, and was instead two years, it doesn’t make a difference? 1000 hours? 10,000? I’m thrilled with an entertainment option that costs pennies an hour. I’m glad people are focuses on games then, because the future of real life entitlements is going to bite hard.

Southern Lord.7254:

I think that people who didn’t expect new items / weapons to be introduced into an MMO is delusional.

If you were expecting to play the game for 5+ years, I would be bored stiff after having the same items for 4 1/2 of those years.

Besides, Anet has already said the new gear will be aquired via different means – gamers nowadays are jumping on another bandwagon of hate.

People say they don’t believe in “Gamer Entitlement”, but looking on ANY game forums nowadays it’s hard not to notice it.

I have no issue with the introduction of the skins or weapons it is the stats, gated content and treadmill associated with those items that are the issue. How about making them available in other ways than a dungeon.

You honestly think they wouldnt create new awesome skins that have the same stat level or titles and extra to chase after? Agony without the stats ect.
Horizontal progression doesnt equal stale bad content – vertical progression does tho.

Wow that is sad.

I agree with OP, videogames offer an incredible value for the entertainment value. Even games with a sub, the $/gameplay hour is minimal. Few hobbies are as inexpensive on a per hour basis.

I would say that 30 days is a reasonable amount of time to ask for a refund. Any more than that is dubious. Why 30 days? Because that is a common “money-back guarantee” or trial period for many products.

I dont like the direction the game developers have taken but i think ive had enough good time in the game so I wont ask for a refund. I also played GW and know they can make really good things without vertical progression or gated content. Ill continue playing but i dont think i could continue if they add another set after this one. Fractals are a good idea as a dungeon and fun to play but the level system seems really bad.

But i also understand why people feel they lied to them and ask for a refund. You dont buy an mmo to only last 3 months with its principles.

Imagine that tomorrow blizzard says that panda expansion now has horizontal progression and that all top tiers will be put on sale at cyties and will be affordable for cassuals. People who bought the expansion because they wanted vertical progression would start to anger because they bought a product and suddenly it changed.

I am one of those against Ascended gear but I agree with the OP, I don’t think it’s right to ask for the money back since for those 3 months the game delivered and it certainly earned those 60 dollars, I have played games that only deliver 10 hours of content that cost the same.

It would be as if people that watched Star Wars before the 90s editings would ask for their ticket money back since Han no longer shoots first and the whole thing is now ruined.

I agree, don’t ask for box value back. However, if you paid into the Gem shop… that’s a different story.

Born.1745:

stop and ask yourself how much game play you need to get out of a $60 game before you feel that you got your money’s worth. Because the guy who said he has 500 hours into the game and feels cheated may be pushing the reality envelope hard enough for even the most jaded of you to giggle.

I bought a new TV for my bedroom, it cost $99 11 months later it broke, one of its functions no longer works.
Now the TV is not functioning as i initially desired, just like my copy of GW2 the function has fundamentally changed. have i got my $99 worth of entertainment from it in the 1000`s of hours i used it hell yes.

Even so i am going to return it and ask for a refund, will the shop tell me you have had my bang for buck so stop complaining, no its expected for me to return it no fuss. why should a game be any different, The TV has given me a cheaper $ per hour than this game so to your reckoning i should not complain at all.

With the latest patch the game fundamentally changed for may, so it not longer suits the purpose they bought it. they have a right to return it no matter how long they used it.

kistell.5684:

Born.1745:

stop and ask yourself how much game play you need to get out of a $60 game before you feel that you got your money’s worth. Because the guy who said he has 500 hours into the game and feels cheated may be pushing the reality envelope hard enough for even the most jaded of you to giggle.

I bought a new TV for my bedroom, it cost $99 11 months later it broke, one of its functions no longer works.
Now the TV is not functioning as i initially desired, just like my copy of GW2 the function has fundamentally changed. have i got my $99 worth of entertainment from it in the 1000`s of hours i used it hell yes.

Even so i am going to return it and ask for a refund, will the shop tell me you have had my bang for buck so stop complaining, no its expected for me to return it no fuss. why should a game be any different, The TV has given me a cheaper $ per hour than this game so to your reckoning i should not complain at all.

With the latest patch the game fundamentally changed for may, so it not longer suits the purpose they bought it. they have a right to return it no matter how long they used it.

Where on earth can you buy a TV and expect to return it 11 months later with no fuss?

There are return policies that prevent this, you wont get any money back. Only if you had some sort of product replacement plan, and even then, you pay monthly and end you get screwed over as you likely far exceeded the cost of the initial product in monthly fees.

Best Buy for instance has a 14 day policy. After that, you are out of luck. Warranties are usually covered by the manufacturer, and even then are extremely limited based on type of defect etc.

Infact, a vast majority of products will feature a time limited policy.

Most consumers are lucky enough that ANET will give a refund at 6 months if you bought directly from them, but you’ll likely have a pretty hard time anywhere else.

I can’t go to my dealership and say “I have a flat tire, give me my money back. The flat tire completely changed the original function of my car.”

You bought a game that changes over time, as many games do with patches etc. Regardless of genre. No game, even a few months down the road is the same product you bought. MMO’s especially. You buy these expecting them to evolve and change, if not you are a bit naive.

It’s like saying adding a leaderboard fundamentally changed the game for you and now you want a refund. Or the Halloween event fundamentally changed the game etc.

The fact that a monetary exchanged happened, you opened and used said product for quite sometime means you likely can’t and shouldn’t get a refund anyways. You are not entitled to that money anymore.

kistell.5684:

Born.1745:

stop and ask yourself how much game play you need to get out of a $60 game before you feel that you got your money’s worth. Because the guy who said he has 500 hours into the game and feels cheated may be pushing the reality envelope hard enough for even the most jaded of you to giggle.

I bought a new TV for my bedroom, it cost $99 11 months later it broke, one of its functions no longer works.
Now the TV is not functioning as i initially desired, just like my copy of GW2 the function has fundamentally changed. have i got my $99 worth of entertainment from it in the 1000`s of hours i used it hell yes.

Even so i am going to return it and ask for a refund, will the shop tell me you have had my bang for buck so stop complaining, no its expected for me to return it no fuss. why should a game be any different, The TV has given me a cheaper $ per hour than this game so to your reckoning i should not complain at all.

With the latest patch the game fundamentally changed for may, so it not longer suits the purpose they bought it. they have a right to return it no matter how long they used it.

was going to say the same thing, you beat me to the punch ^__^

I liked the way they released new content as chapters in GW1. How I miss missions!

No argument that video games provide allot of entertainment value when compared to other forms of entertainment.

However, what if this was a hard goods item, let’s say it’s a network Router. Now, you use it for 2 months and then the manufacturer provides a firmware update and it stops working as intended ….. is that ok to return to the store? You expected to get years of uses out of your new network Router but now it’s not doing the job.

Should it be different for a game that you expected to be playing for years that the developer deliberately changes 3 months after launch in a way that was unexpected and into something you would not have purchased in the first place.

I don’t see the difference, I haven’t asked for a refund but I don’t begrudge anyone that does.

Born.1745:

There are a lot of threads where people are threatening to ask for their money back because they don’t like the direction they perceive that the game is headed in. There are silly statements like “I deserve answers!” and “The customer is always right!” Most of those threads make me laugh, but I’m sure there are people at ArenaNet who are taking them personally.

Regardless of your feelings about the game, stop and ask yourself how much game play you need to get out of a $60 game before you feel that you got your money’s worth. Because the guy who said he has 500 hours into the game and feels cheated may be pushing the reality envelope hard enough for even the most jaded of you to giggle.

I tried to say this elsewhere but my post was deleted. Anyway i ‘ll try this once more. I would like you to be able to do what you ask from others to do. Stop for a minute and think. Think that there can’t be your “right” point of view against others “wrong” points of view. Think that there are people who play this game with a different mindset than yours. Think that among them there maybe a group that in the game the most important thing is their character. So what they can do for their character to progress is THE purpose to play the game even if you see something as minuscule and not worth the effort to them maybe is of the outmost importance and they can get to any length of “trouble” to achieve it just to advance their character even a little bit. To this group of people ( to which i am proud member of, i might say) the beautiful in game scenery no matter, the events no matter, the dungeons no matter, innovative combat system, exploration, quests, personal story all less compared to their character’s progression. What does that mean we don’t like them? Of course we do we love them all, and you know why? Because they contribute to our character’s progression.
Let’s see now what you are telling to all of us here: Ok guys you got to play 600+ hours and now that you don’t like that the game became anything BUT what it was advertised to be you can as well leave. But you must not ask your money back because, you know, it is unethical since you got your money’s worth by playing those 600 hours. OHHH REALLY NOW! did we? Since you seem not to get it let me spell it out for you NO amount of money we get from any refund will make up for the lost time we spend INVESTING on a character we are now forced to abandon. As a matter of fact what you perceive as “play time” that provided in exchange to a $60 price paid we more see it like precious time we spend developing our character and now it has been trashed overnight and contrast to what was advertised. So there maybe is merit for a compensation lawsuit for that time as well on top of that refund (but let’s just not take it that far). I hope you can really see our point.

Two parts to this argument I think.

One, question of false representation.

In truth, if the product was sold with a given stated feature set and overarching plan, directly advertised as being “A” in terms of features and obligations, and it upholds the stated practices of “A”, then absolutely, all good. If on the other hand, “A” is advertised and stated as defining characteristics and not adhered to, recognizing that the definition points of “A” were advertised as in perpetuity, not simply ‘at launch’ criteria for sale?

People are naturally going to react quiet negatively to this. There are numerous flawed analogies here but at the end of the day, consider this a sale where your warranty was changed in terms of what it covered after point of sale.

The second point, and to me more relevant to the video game industry in general, is the lack of technical dependability in products released today. Yes, they are challenging software to develop and yes, they are massive undertakings, but that is the business they choose to be in. People being angry at having paid for things that do not work as advertised (design philosophies not withstanding as part of that advertising) also have a very legitimate grounds to feel that they were cheated for their investment.

The games industry needs to stop being rewarded for pre-order and ‘faith purchases’ in advance of delivering a product in stable, verifiably intact form.

We gamers have done this to ourselves giving our money to hype rather than demonstrable results.

GW2 has been flawed out of the gate, and I say that at the same time with a straight face saying that despite that major flawed state it’s one of the singularly best packages of it’s kind on the market. That doesn’t mean people should allow very poor Q&A work or deviation from stated advertised selling features go un-addressed as consumers.

Personally, the fact i still see GW2 as arguably best of breed at moment is more a comment on the sorry state and failings and duplication of their competitors relative offerings than any inherent supreme value on GW2’s part.

Your mileage may vary of course.

Best $60 I ever spent.

The way ArenaNet keeps throwing content at me for FREE, I’m going to buy some gems to show my support <3

Monthly content patches? Yes please

Difference in perception.