Guild Wars 2

Well, I’ve been apart of the game for quiet some time now, I just got my “faithful” title and I’ve been talking about how amazing the game is and how its now free for people to join! I had gotten a good friend of mine to join the game, and so far so good.

The thing is, the F2P mode is lacking so much content..if you’re gonna make the game free for new players why take out basic things that pretty much all F2P games have?

I get it, it used to be that you had to pay for the game to play it, and its got a LOT of content. But come on, map chat, trading in the market, messaging players items/gold. Seriously?

His own quote, “Feeling bullied into buying the expansion.” basically says it all. Its like in order to fully enjoy the game you have to ultimately buy it anyways.

This needs to change, I was extremely upset to hear him say that he might just drop the game because of this. Perhaps he’ll want to buy the game if the game showed more…content? He’s limited in certain aspects, and its completely unfair to new players. You want people to buy the expansion, don’t go and limit them to what they can do!

I dunno if I’m the only one with this opinion, but I am very disapointed.

All they would have to do is put gliding into the core game somehow….. like allow ppl to glide around in LA….. and all the f2p players would ooh and aah over it.

Runescape did it this way…. where the pay to play players could show off their p2p shinies to the f2p players….. but hey…. lets just lock everything behind a pay wall and not even allow the f2p ppl to take a look through the keyhole to see whats on the other side.

The restrictions on F2P accounts are in place to protect the economy from being overrun by RMT gold sellers and bots, and the general consensus seems to be that they are necessary and useful.

And yes, ANet expects F2P players to buy the game if they want to have the restrictions removed. It’s one of the reasons they haven’t added a bunch of microtransactions to the gem store targeting F2P accounts like other MMOs have.

also a cash grab to get players to spend real money too unlock all the blocks

The game isn’t actually free to play, it’s try for free. It just allows you to try the entire game instead of stopping you at some point or level.

Did you ever play Archeage? I didn’t, but I was reading the forum for a while. They had free to play accounts there and the forums complained about walls of gold seller map chat. Real players couldn’t even use map chat the gold seller messages scrolled so fast. There were videos of bot accounts appearing and disappearing around the merchants. They would drop out of the air and land on top of each other and be several bots deep around the merchant. The company couldn’t ban them fast enough. As soon as one was banned another was made.

That’s the result of no restrictions on chat, trade and where you can go.

Gold sellers and other people who abuse the system are the reason why we can’t have nice things. What’s the point anyway? You buy from a gold seller, you’re banned. Who is stupid enough to buy from them? -shakes head-

Idk, I know everyone’s situation is different, but $50 is manageable (even saved over time) if you have time and a computer to play on…

I certainly don’t agree with changing the “play for free” model considering there is not a monthly fee..,

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Did you ever play Archeage? I didn’t, but I was reading the forum for a while. They had free to play accounts there and the forums complained about walls of gold seller map chat. Real players couldn’t even use map chat the gold seller messages scrolled so fast. There were videos of bot accounts appearing and disappearing around the merchants. They would drop out of the air and land on top of each other and be several bots deep around the merchant. The company couldn’t ban them fast enough. As soon as one was banned another was made.

That’s the result of no restrictions on chat, trade and where you can go.

Yeah, ArcheAge has been the worst I have ever seen for bots/gold sellers/etc. Ever. And I played nothing but F2P games for years when I was younger.
And, in ArcheAge, you can’t sell things on the TP without a subscription either (at least, you couldn’t when I played it). And that’s subscription. Not one-time payment.

I was actually surprised when GW2 started offering a F2P option. In my opinion, they were already generous enough. But it’s their game.
I think the trial version would be enough for me to buy the game, here. I ended up buying a month in ArcheAge, and that game wasn’t anywhere as nice. Plus, knowing it was just a one-time* payment would seal the deal.

of course it is. it is basically a free trial (with restrictions).

i’ve seen people bought the game only to play it for the first few weeks and then left. so , f2p is a good place to basically just try the game, not really to enjoy it.

SpandexPudding.6372:

His own quote, “Feeling bullied into buying the expansion.” basically says it all. Its like in order to fully enjoy the game you have to ultimately buy it anyways.

No F2P game provides all of its benefits to people who don’t pay. None. If he thinks there’s a better deal elsewhere, more power to him. Personally, I’d much rather buy a game once than pay piecemeal for every benefit. That’s how free to play usually works. Freemium games restrict many things as well, but offer those things for rent (for a monthly fee). Tell him to do some comparison shopping.

As a hater of all things Free To Play this makes my day. Thank you for posting, does anyone else have “friends” who didn’t buy the game and therefore cannot post here that they would like to circumvent forum rules for?

All who bought this Buy To Play game thank you in advance.

SpandexPudding.6372:

Well, I’ve been apart of the game for quiet some time now, I just got my “faithful” title and I’ve been talking about how amazing the game is and how its now free for people to join! I had gotten a good friend of mine to join the game, and so far so good.

The thing is, the F2P mode is lacking so much content..if you’re gonna make the game free for new players why take out basic things that pretty much all F2P games have?

I get it, it used to be that you had to pay for the game to play it, and its got a LOT of content. But come on, map chat, trading in the market, messaging players items/gold. Seriously?

His own quote, “Feeling bullied into buying the expansion.” basically says it all. Its like in order to fully enjoy the game you have to ultimately buy it anyways.

This needs to change, I was extremely upset to hear him say that he might just drop the game because of this. Perhaps he’ll want to buy the game if the game showed more…content? He’s limited in certain aspects, and its completely unfair to new players. You want people to buy the expansion, don’t go and limit them to what they can do!

I dunno if I’m the only one with this opinion, but I am very disapointed.

This makes me very angry. Very very angry, but you get it… Ok.

Is it as bad_ as SWTOR? Cuz that game bullies the hell out of you by constantly begging and nitpicking at you for money at every opportunity. :s

Chat restrictions are pretty sucky but w/o them there’d be a flood of goldsellers and at least you only have to pay once instead of having some annoying sub system like some “f2p” have.

you can play all core game related content with f2p

restrictions you mentioned are necessary to protect the game from abuse by gold sellers, trolls, etc, who would create an endless number of f2p accounts to ruin the game

if you like it, buy it and support the devs

Because it’s an extended free trial. It’s not meant to be the full version of the core game.

Doggie.3184:

Is it as bad_ as SWTOR? Cuz that game bullies the hell out of you by constantly begging and nitpicking at you for money at every opportunity. :s

Chat restrictions are pretty sucky but w/o them there’d be a flood of goldsellers and at least you only have to pay once instead of having some annoying sub system like some “f2p” have.

Not really. There is a thing on the character select screen and a popup when you try to sell/buy certain things on the TP. I don’t remember running into any other “BUY NOW!!!!” kind of thing but you can just make one and go see for yourself.

Good riddance ?

Maybe i’m extremely jaded at this point. But the game and the expansion are 60$. If they dont want to pay that price for easily thousands of hours of entertainment then they can still play the base game for free. Not much for to discuss here.

Holy heck, the OP is complaining that the expansion is a paywall. All expansions are a paywall. And it’s no different between a P4F account and a original core account who didn’t buy the expansion. They have the same content and activities they can participate in. The same professions, crafting disciplines, etc. P4F simply starts with fewer character slots, bags and chat/tp restrictions plus a few level restrictions before access is granted to certain parts of the game. Boo hoo they can’t get gliders or “peak” in on HoT or the Raids. Want a peak, watch Twitch or Youtube. Go play PvP/WvW and see the Rev and specializations in action.

So no, they aren’t screwing P4F over anymore than vets who didn’t buy HoT.

You know, your “friend” could always just buy the core game if he feels pressured in to buying HoT, it’s like £5 on Amazon. He gets to do everything he’s doing now with no restrictions. Or he could stop being a cheap skate and pay up. If he’s enjoying it, I really don’t see why parting with some cash for what is an amazing deal for new players.

Remind your “friend” that they are paying half, if not less than half the price and getting more for there money than a vet. Seeing as we had to pay twice as it where(this is not me complaining about it, just saying) the how ever much they would pay they are getting something for “free”. If they want for the price of HoT they are getting HoT for free, as they are buying the core game, or getting the core game for free and paying for HoT.

SpandexPudding.6372:

His own quote, “Feeling bullied into buying the expansion.” basically says it all. Its like in order to fully enjoy the game you have to ultimately buy it anyways.

Not just F2P players. But as someone who only has core GW2, I feel exactly the same way. I’m very close to quitting a well.

Lord Kuru.3685:

SpandexPudding.6372:

His own quote, “Feeling bullied into buying the expansion.” basically says it all. Its like in order to fully enjoy the game you have to ultimately buy it anyways.

Not just F2P players. But as someone who only has core GW2, I feel exactly the same way. I’m very close to quitting a well.

Okay. Quit then. ANet won’t make an exception and give you the expansion for free. Obligatory “Can I have your stuff?:” question.

Beggars can’t demand. And “feeling bullied into buying the expansion” ? how? you always have the option to play something else. You are bullied by your addiction more like. It’s like walking into a restaurant and being offered a sample and say “feeling bullied into ordering food”. Don’t like it? walk out. Aint you a little spoiled having things both ways, not paying but having accessing to features that people who actually paid the game. Since when the basic law of commerce, i.e. “pay and thou shalt receive/keep” becomes a point of debate. . Be happy that you can actually taste the sample before complaining the sample not being enough. There are merchants that don’t even give samples you know. Remember the kind of customers who were offered some samples and keep asking for a couple more but refusing to buy the product nevetheless? yah, those kind of people. And you are acting just like them. If you like the game that much to the extend of demanding to have more access, why not buy the game, as the way it should be, or at least like the people before you paid to get the game? and remember this is no monthly fee, happy yet?

Lord Kuru.3685:

SpandexPudding.6372:

His own quote, “Feeling bullied into buying the expansion.” basically says it all. Its like in order to fully enjoy the game you have to ultimately buy it anyways.

Not just F2P players. But as someone who only has core GW2, I feel exactly the same way. I’m very close to quitting a well.

Game is not perfect by any means and I have had lots of gripes, but players had played the core game for 3 years…

This is a personal issue if you don’t want to buy the expansion… Game has no monthly fee and y’all still complain. Sad.

I much prefer this system to typical free to play MMOs. Yes there’s a lot of restrictions on free accounts, but most of them don’t actually restrict gameplay and I much prefer the idea of a single 1-time payment to remove all the restrictions than constantly being asked to pay out fir unlocks or pay a subscription.

When I’m playing my free account the only ones that really bother me are not being able to use map chat and not being able to sell things on the TP. And when I was new it took me a long time to get into the habit of selling on the TP anyway.

But maybe it also helps that (like a lot of people apparently) I think of the free version as a demo with no time limit, not something that’s intended to be played indefinitely.

So, what you’re saying is that a game that your friend is logging in to and playing for free is limiting him to encourage him to buy a one time purchase.

Man, it’s almost like it’s a trial designed specifically to sell more copies of the actual game or something. That’s awful.

You get what you pay for in f2p land dude. That’s why free to play generally isn’t unless you want to have a less convenient/rewarding/content rich experience than someone willing to pay developers to keep developing the game. This trial is actually an amazing amount of content with some very minor limitations that doesn’t really impact your ability to play the content on offer to you.

SpandexPudding.6372:

Well, I’ve been apart of the game for quiet some time now, I just got my “faithful” title and I’ve been talking about how amazing the game is and how its now free for people to join! I had gotten a good friend of mine to join the game, and so far so good.

The thing is, the F2P mode is lacking so much content..if you’re gonna make the game free for new players why take out basic things that pretty much all F2P games have?

I get it, it used to be that you had to pay for the game to play it, and its got a LOT of content. But come on, map chat, trading in the market, messaging players items/gold. Seriously?

His own quote, “Feeling bullied into buying the expansion.” basically says it all. Its like in order to fully enjoy the game you have to ultimately buy it anyways.

This needs to change, I was extremely upset to hear him say that he might just drop the game because of this. Perhaps he’ll want to buy the game if the game showed more…content? He’s limited in certain aspects, and its completely unfair to new players. You want people to buy the expansion, don’t go and limit them to what they can do!

I dunno if I’m the only one with this opinion, but I am very disapointed.

Well, they are doing exactly what they suppose to do. The idea of F2P model here is for players to try the game, if they like it, they will buy it. It is like a trial account and like all trial accounts, there are limitations. If the limitations do not hold enough impacts, then, players won’t buy the products.

As a veteran player, I was at first dismayed when they announced F2P — just because I’ve seen how other games have restructured their cash shops, exclusions, locked accesses, etc. When I saw the restrictions GW2 planned, I was relieved. I felt they were very generous, actually. Chat limitations are essential in combating gold sellers. Yes, it sucks when you’re trying out the game and need help, but in the case of your friend, he can ask you! Also, if he feels bullied by GW2, he hasn’t seen many F2P games!

The biggest misunderstanding in this comes smack from Arena Net’s poor marketing skills.
The F2P version is a TRIAL for the game, the game is still buy to play, but they allow you to play a substantial part of the game for free, with a few restrictions.

The game is buy to play, make no mistake, the peek into the keyhole you’re asking for is the whole F2P thing.

I really dont understand these types of threads.
HOT is an expansion of the game .
Its not THE game.
You arnt forced to play it .
WOWs F2P model only lets you go to L20, and theres a lot of the world you will never see as a F2P player.
Too many ppl just want everything for nothing.

Swagger.1459:

Game is not perfect by any means and I have had lots of gripes, but players had played the core game for 3 years…

This is a personal issue if you don’t want to buy the expansion… Game has no monthly fee and y’all still complain. Sad.

Personally, I highly dislike the switch to the expansion model. But I’d have tolerated it if the WvW and PvP aspects of the game didn’t turn out to be P2W — which, considering the extreme power creep with the elite specializations — they now are.

As for the hackneyed “no monthly fee” argument. “No monthly fee” was not because of Anet’s great generosity Their business strategy was to go B2P in order to reel in customers who would not go for monthly fees. That strategy is what led me, and many others, to buy the game when we otherwise would not have. So “no monthly fee” is nothing to be appreciated but rather something expected given the B2P promise.

RubberDougie.2750:

Lord Kuru.3685:

SpandexPudding.6372:

His own quote, “Feeling bullied into buying the expansion.” basically says it all. Its like in order to fully enjoy the game you have to ultimately buy it anyways.

Not just F2P players. But as someone who only has core GW2, I feel exactly the same way. I’m very close to quitting a well.

Okay. Quit then. ANet won’t make an exception and give you the expansion for free. Obligatory “Can I have your stuff?:” question.

Where did I ask for them to give me the expansion for free? Go ahead and reread my post, it’s only two sentences.

I don’t like the product they’re currently putting out, ankitten ot buying; simple as that. As for my stuff: I’m almost exclusively WvW so I don’t have anything to give.

Lord Kuru.3685:

if the WvW and PvP aspects of the game didn’t turn out to be P2W — which, considering the extreme power creep with the elite specializations — they now are.

The fact that HOT affects (potentially negatively) the core game is a solid point IMO.

simple fact is, if you enjoyed the game till levelcap, the expansion should be a no brainer, if it’s not, stop playing.

The title f2p is misleading idd.With so many restrictions its not f2p.Its try for free.F2p is tera,neverwinter online,aion for example.You can play everything for free and you can use auction house,chat,play the latest content(expansions) etc but you can also become vip or buy some kind of sub if you want to spend real money on the game.This is a trully f2p model where you dont devide your players into two categories.Gold sellers is not a serious excuse to lock your playerbase behind a paywall.Even wow has tons of gold spamming in trade chat.

Interestingly I have not yet found content belonging to the core game I cannot do with my FTP account. Some of the things are very hard and time consuming compared to a paid account, but not impossible.

Could someone specify what cannot be done at all? (Not expansion stuff)

OK here’s the Deal ! Once you have in game play time it all free game with well doing really allot of things badly in your favor . There is really nothing from stopping you from doing allot of real damage . Well there is and that dosen’t mater any more

and that’s the sad state the game is in .

SpandexPudding.6372:

Well, I’ve been apart of the game for quiet some time now, I just got my “faithful” title and I’ve been talking about how amazing the game is and how its now free for people to join! I had gotten a good friend of mine to join the game, and so far so good.

The thing is, the F2P mode is lacking so much content..if you’re gonna make the game free for new players why take out basic things that pretty much all F2P games have?

I get it, it used to be that you had to pay for the game to play it, and its got a LOT of content. But come on, map chat, trading in the market, messaging players items/gold. Seriously?

His own quote, “Feeling bullied into buying the expansion.” basically says it all. Its like in order to fully enjoy the game you have to ultimately buy it anyways.

This needs to change, I was extremely upset to hear him say that he might just drop the game because of this. Perhaps he’ll want to buy the game if the game showed more…content? He’s limited in certain aspects, and its completely unfair to new players. You want people to buy the expansion, don’t go and limit them to what they can do!

I dunno if I’m the only one with this opinion, but I am very disapointed.

Of course it’s lacking, that’s the whole point with a trial account like F2P.
Did you think Anet gave away these accounts for free because they they are so generous?

TheBlackLeech.9360:

All they would have to do is put gliding into the core game somehow….. like allow ppl to glide around in LA….. and all the f2p players would ooh and aah over it.

Runescape did it this way…. where the pay to play players could show off their p2p shinies to the f2p players….. but hey…. lets just lock everything behind a pay wall and not even allow the f2p ppl to take a look through the keyhole to see whats on the other side.

The game is still pay to play. The f2p model is nothing more then a glorified trial version, which is good imo, because it allows people to actually play and test the game, before they decide should they buy it or not. There was not such an option before. Most people buying it were taking a -leap of faith- more or less with a little information provided by websites and youtube videos. The f2p now is more then enough to someone who did not payed anything.

Speaking of Youtube… did it occur to you f2p players can use the tons of videos to have that sneak peek through the keyhole you are talking about?

ckotoc.5421:

Gold sellers is not a serious excuse to lock your playerbase behind a paywall.

Now, why would ANet want to deter gold selling in GW2? It’s not as if illicit gold-selling had serious repercussions in hacked accounts for their customers. It’s not as if gold sellers were directly competing with ANet for one of the services Anet offers.

Oh, wait. Looks like a really serious reason after all.