Guild Wars 2

Imagine you start a game with a friend. You’ve been playing since launch, but you’re friend is just starting out. If they join a bunch of friend’s and family will join too. Unsure if they want to purchase $50 of game for everyone they sign up thinking, “Hey? The base experience is free right?.”

Immediately upon finishing character creation (which they enjoyed) they’re dropped into the little mini story leading up to entry into the starter zone. In this case Divinity’s Reach. (Also enjoyed this).

All is going well, right?

Wrong. They get slapped with this.
http://previews.123rf.com/images/candyman/candyman0909/candyman090900022/5535422-Do-not-enter-3d-sign--Stock-Photo-no.jpg

Literally, that painted onto the portal to Divinity’s Reach. So… you’re like. ‘K, …That’s… Embarrassing. Wish I’d known that was going to happen before we tried to enter."

Ignorant of just what’s going on you think, ‘Well, whatever. This is Guild Wars 2? Eh? We can play anywhere together! So… you’re off to Lion’s Arch. Gonna show off some of the awesome that is the game and have an adventure!" All’s going well. Doing the little escort the cart and protect it from the Centaur’s DE. Then were runing up under the sprinklers in Beetletun Farms, people are like, “Hey, a sense of ambiance! Yeah! This game is cool!” Alright… game’s starting to sell on everyone. Yay!

Then:
http://previews.123rf.com/images/candyman/candyman0909/candyman090900022/5535422-Do-not-enter-3d-sign--Stock-Photo-no.jpg

Bam! That again. Right on the next portal.

Well… now this raises questions. Are Free to Play accounts only able to go around the Newbie Area and then that’s it? Do they have to level up to the level of the next zone?

Well… We don’t know.

So, off we go to level. This shouldn’t be too bad. We’ll just go over here… Do this heart. Do this Skill Point… er… no. No. We won’t. For some anonymous reason they can’t do the skill challenge. By this point another friend has logged in that hasn’t for ages. We’re sitting in Discord going, “Well… maybe it’s bugged. No, no, I can interact with it. What about you? Yeah, okay, but we both have Heart of Thorns. And you? (to F2P person). No. It’s not working.”

K…

… Quickly running out of game here to showcase… and they aren’t even to level 7 yet.

I can hear their husband behind over their shoulder laughing. “What? What kind of [expletive] game is this?”

To which the wife replies, “Hahaha, right?”

About that time the “Buy Heart of Thorns!” little jiggly box over the Mimi Map starts going. Everyone on Discord who was thinking of joining is now watching the little box giggle are like, “Don’t click it! …Yeah, god knows what will happen!” So… No one clicks it, leaving this little jiggling box hanging there like a nag for your money.

So… ya. In the world of online gaming all of this seems extremely shady when taken in the context of someone who hasn’t played the game before Heart of Thorns.

Per usual Anet. You’re remarkable talents with marketing this game have had the opposite effect.

Please in the future try to make the game available enough that players can get a sense of what it is like to own the real and purchased version? A whole family of people just passed on this game because it seemed by all appearances you can’t escape the newbie area without throwing $60 on the table per person for something supposedly they could trial free and unrestricted until they hit HoT content.

https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/95982157-Account-types-Free-Core-HoT

Enjoy

Hero challenges are locked for all new accounts, paid or free, until one char on the account is level 11. It’s been that way for months, if not a year or more.

All accounts, paid or free, have access to all the starter zones. Each starter zone has one waypoint unlocked.

I think the OP’s point wasn’t that there were differences between paid|free games — it was instead to point out which specific differences are going to discourage people from playing any longer, never mind choosing to pay for the game.

I think it would make more sense to open up all the cities to F2P (including LA) and instead disabling some of the services/features available through LA. Lion’s Arch is a showcase of ANet’s design — is should be an example of what the game offers, rather than hidden behind the pay wall.

I think part of this issue too is the op was showing the new players around with out knowing thier limits, tbh on the 1st play through most people don’t get to LA till the story takes them there.

I don’t think this would be such an issue if people didn’t introduce their friends to the game with false expectations of what they are going to encounter.

a lot of people have had positive experiences with the F2P game. it is only when they start with friends and their friends are telling them that they can go to LA, or DR, or do that skill point from the start, etc. I think if their friends knew what they should expect, their experiences would be much better, like those who pick it up alone.

saying that, I think it would be a great thing to open up the cities to F2P players and allow them to travel between the cities, so they can see the differences between the areas, and interact with more people

The restrictions on cities aren’t permanent. If I remember correctly you have to be level 10 to leave the starter zones, and at that point all the cities except LA become available. LA becomes available at level 30 or 35. In both cases this is the point when the story will first send you there, which for most people is the first time they go there. (Free accounts also start with 1 waypoint in each starter zone unlocked so they can move between them even though they can’t go through the cities.)

It was a long time ago now but if I remember correctly when I started I didn’t enter DR until about level 10 because I didn’t need to. I started in Shaemoor and was pointed in the direction of the hearts so I was doing that and exploring the map I was already in, it was only when the story sent me to the city that I went there.

As for the hero points those are hidden for all new players until they unlock the ability to spend them at level 11. This is because supposedly it was too confusing for new players to get points they weren’t able to spend. Fortunately once your first character reaches level 11 you can do them on all your future characters right from the start.

Also they’re completely hidden from new players. They don’t show up on the map, the icon isn’t in the game world and the interaction options aren’t there. So unless a friend is telling them there’s a hero point there they wouldn’t know they were missing anything.

Someone didn’t read the FAQ on P4F accounts.

A bit of research would have saved you from " looking the fool", and given your friends a better experience. All the features where heavily discussed when the P4F was launched. ANet invited everyone to try the P4F accounts. Maybe you should have done that too so you knew what your friends would encounter.

This is not ANets fault at all OP, this is all you.

Even free to play accounts can play with anyone since the waypoints in every starting zone are unlocked automatically.

The city level requirement is to prevent bots from easily creating spam accounts. The restrictions are not an issue if you simply play the game, which was their problem. If they would have naturally played through the zone, exploring it as you would have your first time, they would have unlocked things as they needed them. The locks are also account based, so once they’ve done it, they’ll never have that problem again. If you wanted to show them around, you should have played normally, while also taking detours to the hidden areas.

They should get rid of that upgrade button however – having it on character select should be enough. As for the HoT reminder, just click it away.

Seems to me that the biggest problem the F2P friend had was the OP who did not research the F2P limitations and who was trying to get their friend to run before they could walk. Create an F2P account and just play what is in front of you. In time you will unlock all zones and can play pretty much all of the non-HoT game. The real F2P restrictions are the lack of login rewards and trading limitations but there is lots that can be done without them, certainly enough to decide whether you want to stump up some real $$$ for the full game.

As OP has been active on the forums for 3 years, how was the information about the Play4Free features (and lack thereof) missed. Not to mention https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/play-for-free-today/ which is the first hit with a search engine.

Also, it takes very little time to level a character up to L10.

Oh, well. Maybe next time.

Being myself, who paid for the bloody game, and the expansion, I find that not only do I not care that the F2P is unwelcoming, but I wouldn’t mind if it didn’t exist.

With that said, what OP is complaining about is their own lack of reading comprehension, or willingness to read in the first place, not the F2P experience.

Personally, I would never recommend the F2P model of the game to anyone, I would just recommend the Core game but sadly you can’t get that anymore so I just don’t recommend the game anymore.

Maybe when people make their accounts Anet need to have a pop up that says "You have made a F2P account. Please go to and read the following article to find out the restrictions that have been placed on your account. Thank you. -link to account types-

Op wants a better new f2p player experience. What could provide that for a person? Maybe a more informative do not enter sign? Or making more parts of the game more quickly and easily accessable to be demo’d?
Most people don’t have walls of text to complain for no reasonable reason, keep that in mind.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

I think it would make more sense to open up all the cities to F2P (including LA) and instead disabling some of the services/features available through LA. Lion’s Arch is a showcase of ANet’s design — is should be an example of what the game offers, rather than hidden behind the pay wall.

F2P accounts can enter cities; they’re just level-gated on WHEN they can enter said cities (10 for the racial cities and 35 for Lion’s Arch).

Zahld.4956:

Most people don’t have walls of text to complain for no reasonable reason, keep that in mind.

Actually you would be surprised. I’ve seen angry and uninformed players put more work into their rants than George R.R. Martin has put in his most recent book.

But back on topic: I would agree with the majority of the replies here. The information on F2P limitations was available. It’s not ANet’s fault that the OP didn’t take the time to do a quick review of the differences between a F2P account and a paid account.

Yep in my mind the OP ruined his friend’s experience. I’ve never played an MMO where something wasn’t cut off from me by level, not even the original Guild Wars 2. You get weapon swapping at a certain level, traits at a certain level, your ability to use an elite at level 30.

People gain access to stuff as they level. Not sure what the OP is on about.

kamedin.4698:

Personally, I would never recommend the F2P model of the game to anyone, I would just recommend the Core game but sadly you can’t get that anymore so I just don’t recommend the game anymore.

Maybe when people make their accounts Anet need to have a pop up that says "You have made a F2P account. Please go to and read the following article to find out the restrictions that have been placed on your account. Thank you. -link to account types-

I would, and have, recommended the free version to people. But on the understanding that it’s basically a demo version of a paid game rather than a true free to play game. You get enough access to try the game and decide if it’s something you would like to buy but I can’t imagine it was ever intended that someone would play on a free account indefinitely.

Which also helps to reassure them that they’re not setting themselves up for the typical situation where simply trying to play a “free” game ends up costing far more than simply buying one would have.

Despite being a day 1 GW1 player, I only joined GW2 when it became FTP. I have never had any issue with what the OP is describing (the hero challenge must have been a bug, and having to wait till level 10 and 35 I believe to enter DR and LA respectively doesn’t bother me that much), yet I found several other aspects of the game really frustrating for FTP accounts. Nothing big, it’s just a series of small limitations that, put together, start getting really annoying (the list is on the wiki). And I must confess I bought the game out of frustration, rather than enjoyment, which is kinda sad. I don’t regret it though: unlike many people on the forum, I’ve really enjoyed the expansion.

But the thing is… I think it’s just a matter of phrasing. If Anet had called it a Demo instead of a FTP game, my experience would have been completely different. I wouldn’t have expected much from it, and would have been pleased to see what may be the most complete demo ever released. But since it was called a FTP game, I was expecting much more, and was disappointed.

Words matter, and I’m not sure Anet has picked the right ones to describe Core Tyria. At least they haven’t for me.

I had almost completely forgot about this since the NPE was rolled out, since I have enough toons that I am not locked out of anything, even with brand-new alts. I guess if worst comes to worst, you could run to LA, or get a “WP to Friend” item, then, voila, you can return any time. I think what makes some of the NPE things less grueling is the fact that ANet made toons level up more quickly within the first 10 levels. By then, you’ve unlocked what’s relevant. At least be glad your friend is being introduced to GW2 after they fixed/nerfed some of the awful gated situations from the NPE, so it’s not nearly as bad as it could have been. Still, very much miss the original experience…

BrotherBelial.3094:

Someone didn’t read the FAQ on P4F accounts.

A bit of research would have saved you from " looking the fool", and given your friends a better experience. All the features where heavily discussed when the P4F was launched. ANet invited everyone to try the P4F accounts. Maybe you should have done that too so you knew what your friends would encounter.

This is not ANets fault at all OP, this is all you.

No, that’s also ANet’s responsibility, to help veterans know that there are restrictions on F2P that means they won’t be able to show off all the cool stuff to friends who haven’t purchased.

I read all of the restrictions multiple times and I still might have run into the same sort of issue as the OP, because I forget which things are gated when. I usually only remember when an F2P says, “oh, I can’t do that” or “where did you go” …which reminds me to revisit the rules again.

The point, again, is that the OP wanted to show the game off and ran into stumbling blocks. While there’s very good reasons for the gating, it’s very bad for ANet when that happens and, accordingly, it’s in ANet’s best interests to reduce the chances it happens.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

BrotherBelial.3094:

Someone didn’t read the FAQ on P4F accounts.

A bit of research would have saved you from " looking the fool", and given your friends a better experience. All the features where heavily discussed when the P4F was launched. ANet invited everyone to try the P4F accounts. Maybe you should have done that too so you knew what your friends would encounter.

This is not ANets fault at all OP, this is all you.

No, that’s also ANet’s responsibility, to help veterans know that there are restrictions on F2P that means they won’t be able to show off all the cool stuff to friends who haven’t purchased.

I read all of the restrictions multiple times and I still might have run into the same sort of issue as the OP, because I forget which things are gated when. I usually only remember when an F2P says, “oh, I can’t do that” or “where did you go” …which reminds me to revisit the rules again.

The point, again, is that the OP wanted to show the game off and ran into stumbling blocks. While there’s very good reasons for the gating, it’s very bad for ANet when that happens and, accordingly, it’s in ANet’s best interests to reduce the chances it happens.

You can drag a horse to water, but if you can make in float on his back, you’ve got something. The OP’s problem seems to be he wasn’t aware of restrictions at all. You were.

You wouldn’t have run into a wall, come to the forums and made an angry post because someone has to get to level 10 to get into their home city.

This isn’t hidden information. This is information that is not only up front, but also in line with every other MMO that’s free to play.

I mean you go free to play in some MMOs and you don’t have access to every class and race. The restrictions here are not only minimal in comparison, but it literally takes an hour or two to get to level 10.

People who try to play low level characters for people before they get used to the game aren’t really doing them any favors.

I just go and hang out with people in their starter zone if I want to help out. I tell them about directly depsoiting mats (something most games don’t have), I tell them about bonus experience and how it works (which is something that helps you level a lot faster) I give them a few bigger bags, maybe, or some low level food.

At the end of the day, this isn’t the problem for Anet some people are making it out to be.

The NPE really does feel like being trapped in a padded cell at times. I can only imagine what it’d be like in a restricted version.

stale.9785:

Being myself, who paid for the bloody game, and the expansion, I find that not only do I not care that the F2P is unwelcoming, but I wouldn’t mind if it didn’t exist.

With that said, what OP is complaining about is their own lack of reading comprehension, or willingness to read in the first place, not the F2P experience.

Really? I wouldn’t have paid for the game had it not been for the F2P option. I guess your results may vary. I haven’t bought games that I can’t try first for 15 years.

Yeah, I felt that way too. Blitz through mini intro story only to see the portal blocked.

Free accounts require you be level 10 before hitting the major cities, and I believe lvl 35 for LA.

You only need to cross that restriction on one character though.

You will also need to be lvl 60 to enter world versus world.

There are a lot of restrictions that will be tougher on f2p accounts, namely no map chat (which is fine in your case as you can use party chat), and the other being the limited amount of items you can buy on the TP. It’s basically base materials to allow you to experience crafting. You can’t sell anything though.

Vayne.8563:

At the end of the day, this isn’t the problem for Anet some people are making it out to be.

At the end of the day, it’s as big a problem as… some people won’t buy the game. And those people will be grumpy about it.

I have no idea how many people this affects, but it seems to me that, in the spirit of the New Player Experience, ANet would want it to be easier for people to know about restrictions without having to read up on the game.

Is it an urgent issue? Almost certainly not. Is it important? I think so.

tl;dr I’m not making it out to be a big deal, I’m saying it’s worth ANet taking time to revisit how people learn about the restrictions and perhaps some of the specific restrictions (do they really want to block LA? or do they want to gate the services offered there?)

I’d be content to learn that ANet asked themselves the question and decided, “nah, we like things as they are.”

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Vayne.8563:

At the end of the day, this isn’t the problem for Anet some people are making it out to be.

At the end of the day, it’s as big a problem as… some people won’t buy the game. And those people will be grumpy about it.

I have no idea how many people this affects, but it seems to me that, in the spirit of the New Player Experience, ANet would want it to be easier for people to know about restrictions without having to read up on the game.

Is it an urgent issue? Almost certainly not. Is it important? I think so.

tl;dr I’m not making it out to be a big deal, I’m saying it’s worth ANet taking time to revisit how people learn about the restrictions and perhaps some of the specific restrictions (do they really want to block LA? or do they want to gate the services offered there?)

I’d be content to learn that ANet asked themselves the question and decided, “nah, we like things as they are.”

How do you suggest they make people aware of these restrictions?

As discussed for the person playing on a free account it’s already very clear. Some things, like portals to cities and extra character slots have big ‘locked out’ symbols over them, others like hero points, are completely hidden. The problem here is that people on paid accounts weren’t aware.

Do you want a pop-up every time you go to LA on a character below level 30 letting you know that free players can’t do it? How about whenever you buy something from the TP they can’t buy? Or maybe just one pop-up summarising everything they can’t do whenever you form a party with them?

I thought the restriction on LA was more to keep the Gold-selling spammers out, more than anything. Same with the other cities. (We all know how bad it can be in the PvP Lobby.)

But, I could be way off base.