Guild Wars 2

Where are there advertisements in-game?

/15 charrrrssssssssssssss

Oh. I thought you meant they were advertising Gold for Gems.

Well maybe sales are going down and they are desperate.
Lets hope so then maybe this hole cash-shop focus might end and they might turn back to expansion-focus leaving the cash-shop behind in the history achievement tab.

And yes when I did see that message I also did see it as a new low for the cash-shop focus. In a game that is supposed to be B2P not F2P.

I came back after taking a bit of a break because I did enjoy the zephyrite release previously and wanted to check it out again. I saw this ad as well and it was a complete “WTF – this is what they’ve resorted to now?!?” moment.

Please. No more. It stinks

So they told players in game that there are limited edition minis from past LW releases in the store for a limited time.

Players who may not necessarily check the front page or Facebook or the forums. But they announced in game something that those players may be interested in. They used the one guaranteed method they had to reach as many players as possible who might be interested.

Yea those kind of ads are pretty sketchy.

If you want to do them, then have them appear in chat, and not appear on the kittening screen blocking our view.

Or better yet: just put them on the launcher. I’m not blind; if I want to see what’s available on the gem store, then I will.

I appreciated the message. I don’t constantly watch the gemstore, so a heads up was nice.

You are taking on like they repeatedly sent out a "Buy gems now, pls!!!’ spam. Thats silly. When it gets to that point, sure complain. But acting like this simple message spoiled your evening makes you look goofy.

Would be better if they were timely. The message only showed up many hours after the items were actually available.

Would also be better if the message appeared like it came from Evon Gnashblade to further evoke immersion.

It would be nice if there was some In-game advert that wasn’t related to the gem store though. While I can understand that some players may appreciate a head’s up… when a LOT of players * raises hand* are starting to feel that all Gw2 focuises on is the Gem shop… this kinda feels like being spit in the face, or being poked in the eye with a crooked stick.

The second problem is, it screams of desperation. And ruins immersion for those of us trying to pretend we live in tyria, at least inside our own heads…Nothing Like “Visit the Gem store!!!” to pull you out, and remind you that Gw2 wants more money.

They tend to give us free content every few weeks. How is that focusing on the gem store?

The gem store exists. It is going to have some skins & mini pets you cannot get anywhere else. This is part of what allows them to give us all this other stuff for free, and you want to complain about that?

Yes, please. Find another way to promote the gem store aside from flashing big yellow text across the screen. It’s what ‘free to play’ games do, and it’s tacky. For all what’s good in this game, don’t resort to this. It sends a bad image all around.

I quit a f2p before joining GW2. I had horrible, horrible flashbacks. Ugh.

I thought it was just a message in the chat box. There are flashing messages now? Does anyone have a screenie? I’ve not seen this.

I only saw it happen once. Hopefully, it’s just a test to see how people would respond, and not be done a second time.

Personally I don’t find any harm in them advertising the Gem Shop in game during the festival. With that being said – if they start spamming it then we will have problems.

I don’t mind advertising – just use another method. Maybe if it was kept short and sweet, (not taking 3 lines in the chatbox, and one long line ingame) it wouldn’t have bugged me so much. But it really was a tacky choice, and reminded me too much of f2p advertisement.

they have to make money.

all businesses advertise. while i agree its tacky and lame, it is better than annoying splash graphics on the website and launch page. its a little text blurb….ignore it like you do half the morons who post stupid kittene.

Relshdan.6854:

they have to make money.

all businesses advertise. while i agree its tacky and lame, it is better than annoying splash graphics on the website and launch page. its a little text blurb….ignore it like you do half the morons who post stupid kittene.

They already advertise. Each time you log in you see whats new in the Gem Shop each week.

Azhure.1857:

Relshdan.6854:

they have to make money.

all businesses advertise. while i agree its tacky and lame, it is better than annoying splash graphics on the website and launch page. its a little text blurb….ignore it like you do half the morons who post stupid kittene.

They already advertise. Each time you log in you see whats new in the Gem Shop each week.

+1. Next thing we will start seeing are some kind of cryptic messages that are subliminal suggestions about their cash-grab gem store, can’t wait.

Really? Are you kidding me? Of the most stupid thing to complain about this is it?. So what they put a message up to tell people about a special sale in the Gem Store. Who cares? Did that message actually mess up your play? Did it take too long to read? Did it give you a headache?
People seem to complain about that gem store for the reason just to complain. Go to other mmo’s with an gem type currency store. Compared to those in real money ours is cheap. Go to them and try to use in game gold for the gem type currency you can’t. Here in GW2 you can and people should appreciate that.

Chyanne Waters.8719:

Really? Are you kidding me? Of the most stupid thing to complain about this is it?. So what they put a message up to tell people about a special sale in the Gem Store. Who cares? Did that message actually mess up your play? Did it take too long to read? Did it give you a headache?
People seem to complain about that gem store for the reason just to complain. Go to other mmo’s with an gem type currency store. Compared to those in real money ours is cheap. Go to them and try to use in game gold for the gem type currency you can’t. Here in GW2 you can and people should appreciate that.

It does all those things to me as well as make my eczema flair up.

Relshdan.6854:

they have to make money.

That’s why they sell the game and not just give it away.

People brag about making 10 to 15g in one hour or play with a level 80 In Gw2.

I started Playing a new character on a game that shall remain nameless… and although she is but level 20, after 20 hours of play she has 600 gold, and this without twinking.

The Biggest issue as far as I can tell is, that Anet sells Gold for gems. They have a vested Interest in keeping Gold production by mearly playing the game, as Low as they can, while still not having it so low that people leave.

It’s Not working. People are leaving.

For those that wish to give Anet the benefit of the doubt. A thought experiment.

Assume that my argument is 100 % true, Just for the sake of argument. What steps would Anet take, if their incentive is to make as many people as they can, resort to the gem store to purchase their gold…. Ask yourself this….

What would they do….to get as many players as possible to buy Gold of the gem store, without losing their player base?

Now ask a secnd question. How Much of what you imagine Anet would do…. coincides with the present state of the game?

O.O
Holy kitten
mmm they don’t advertise free stuff in the gem store.
it is not like we are unaware that the gemstore exists
-.-

Not what I would call intrusive or demanding.

what a bunch of sourpusses… They gave the advert ONCE! It’s actually thoughtful of them to make an advert like that for people who missed stuff last time and might be interested but don’t check the gem store on daily basis.
NOONE forces you to buy stuff just cause they make an advert. Do you all react like this if you get commercials during a TV show or movie as well? The only difference here is they’re adverting for themselves in their game.
I was actually PvPing when it was advertised, i didn’t die because my screen had some yellow on it. So why the hell would it be “blocking” your view.

@Nerelith: It’s not ANET’s fault the gold production is low. In that game you mentioned where you got 600g at lv20, it’ll also mean that even the most basic items are insanely expensive for max level chars, because money is easy to get by. It might not be hard to hard big numbers in the game, but in EVERY game your relational income will ALWAYS be low as the higher levels will always be making more. If you wanna ensure that the game’s gold production is healthy, you need to find ways to avoid monetization of the rich, as giving more gold is easy, but all you do is inflate prices that way as more and more gold is bound to get into a game as people keep farming, but relational income will always be shrinking for casual players.

The fact anet keeps the gold requirement of this game low by providing gem→gold for ppl who truely need it is actually good, as the rich who gots load to spare will be gold→gemming to keep the inflation low. Imagine if these conversions didn’t exist. Then anet would be selling quasi nothing in their gem store and the market would have precursors of 2500 gold+, instead of 1000 gold+ as the massive farmers or TP players wouldn’t have gem store stuff to waste gold on, and they’d be buying precursors of themselves to keep the market rolling and screwing the casuals even more.

Nerelith.7360:

People brag about making 10 to 15g in one hour or play with a level 80 In Gw2.

I started Playing a new character on a game that shall remain nameless… and although she is but level 20, after 20 hours of play she has 600 gold, and this without twinking.

The Biggest issue as far as I can tell is, that Anet sells Gold for gems. They have a vested Interest in keeping Gold production by mearly playing the game, as Low as they can, while still not having it so low that people leave.

It’s Not working. People are leaving.

For those that wish to give Anet the benefit of the doubt. A thought experiment.

Assume that my argument is 100 % true, Just for the sake of argument. What steps would Anet take, if their incentive is to make as many people as they can, resort to the gem store to purchase their gold…. Ask yourself this….

What would they do….to get as many players as possible to buy Gold of the gem store, without losing their player base?

Now ask a secnd question. How Much of what you imagine Anet would do…. coincides with the present state of the game?

Twinking for some reason makes me think of Anarchy Online… but anyways.

How much would 600g be worth in GW2 though? On GW1 for example, if my remember right, base currency is actually more or less worthless, so it’s all relative.

Maxite.6102:

I appreciated the message. I don’t constantly watch the gemstore, so a heads up was nice.

You are taking on like they repeatedly sent out a "Buy gems now, pls!!!’ spam. Thats silly. When it gets to that point, sure complain. But acting like this simple message spoiled your evening makes you look goofy.

Yeah very goofy if you forget for a moment that most of the negative stuff in the game is because the cash-shop focus. So no that sort of advertisement I do not like to see in a B2P game.

It’s the same with the giveaways to gem-buyers. The ‘we love you more’ don’t mind this game is sold as B2P not F2P still we love you gem-buyers more. And good job helping to destroy the game.. Keep up the good work because you know, we love your more. And now advertisements in your face in a B2P game. Extremely rude.

Anyway lets hope it’s indeed desperation and that the cash-shop sales are going even more down. That could result in a better game in the long run.

Devata.6589:

Maxite.6102:

I appreciated the message. I don’t constantly watch the gemstore, so a heads up was nice.

You are taking on like they repeatedly sent out a "Buy gems now, pls!!!’ spam. Thats silly. When it gets to that point, sure complain. But acting like this simple message spoiled your evening makes you look goofy.

Yeah very goofy if you forget for a moment that most of the negative stuff in the game is because the cash-shop focus. So no that sort of advertisement I do not like to see in a B2P game.

It’s the same with the giveaways to gem-buyers. The ‘we love you more’ don’t mind this game is sold as B2P not F2P still we love you gem-buyers more. And good job helping to destroy the game.. Keep up the good work because you know, we love your more. And now advertisements in your face in a B2P game. Extremely rude.

Anyway lets hope it’s indeed desperation and that the cash-shop sales are going even more down. That could result in a better game in the long run.

Knowing NCSoft, they’ll just shut the game down.

The problem isn’t with this one advert. If they read the forums at all, which they do, they’ll know that tension on the gem store at the moment is at an all-time high.

Yet what dot hey do? Oh that’s right! Let’s put an in-game advert at the players just to see how vexed they can reaaally be!

But hopefully, if the gem shop is indeed becoming unsustainable, then they’ll start thinking of DLCs and expansions.

Xae Isareth.1364:

Devata.6589:

Maxite.6102:

I appreciated the message. I don’t constantly watch the gemstore, so a heads up was nice.

You are taking on like they repeatedly sent out a "Buy gems now, pls!!!’ spam. Thats silly. When it gets to that point, sure complain. But acting like this simple message spoiled your evening makes you look goofy.

Yeah very goofy if you forget for a moment that most of the negative stuff in the game is because the cash-shop focus. So no that sort of advertisement I do not like to see in a B2P game.

It’s the same with the giveaways to gem-buyers. The ‘we love you more’ don’t mind this game is sold as B2P not F2P still we love you gem-buyers more. And good job helping to destroy the game.. Keep up the good work because you know, we love your more. And now advertisements in your face in a B2P game. Extremely rude.

Anyway lets hope it’s indeed desperation and that the cash-shop sales are going even more down. That could result in a better game in the long run.

Knowing NCSoft, they’ll just shut the game down.

The problem isn’t with this one advert. If they read the forums at all, which they do, they’ll know that tension on the gem store at the moment is at an all-time high.

Yet what dot hey do? Oh that’s right! Let’s put an in-game advert at the players just to see how vexed they can reaaally be!

But hopefully, if the gem shop is indeed becoming unsustainable, then they’ll start thinking of DLCs and expansions.

The “problem” is players flipping out over the “focus on the gemstore” in the last month or two because there’s no living story content for them to latch onto and kitten about. How are the advertisements of new, and returning, items in the gem store any different than advertisements of new and returning items in say…. Walmart? Do you complain about all the advertisements at the outside doors when you walk in? Or do you ignore them like some players do what’s on the launcher and social media? And do you then flip out when they run an audio track to the general store announcing that there are new limited edition items as well as the return of previously popular items?

with megaserver they already nerfed mob farm, almost killed boss trains (still killing wherever they can find such train), respawn times of major bosses etc… its all about nerfing the “gold” drop

Xae Isareth.1364:

then they’ll start thinking of DLCs and expansions.

NCsoft allowing Guild Wars 2 to compete with Wildstar?
I’d break the piggy bank and become my own publisher if I were Anet.

I’ve never actually seen something like that before. Probably either A) I actually buy gems every now and then B) I don’t pay attention.

i call this fair and square competition, beating gold sellers with their own tools.
Next up: plush quaggans advertisement on the walls of WvW keeps and 15% discount coupons for gem purchases as rewards for the Living story.

chronus.1326:

Xae Isareth.1364:

then they’ll start thinking of DLCs and expansions.

NCsoft allowing Guild Wars 2 to compete with Wildstar?
I’d break the piggy bank and become my own publisher if I were Anet.

GW2 and Wildstar are non-competition. It’s like saying Skyrim and Mario Galaxy are in competition. The two are completely different games.

1. One is a P2P and the other B2P.
2. GW2 is part-sandbox whilst WS is pure themepark.
3. GW2 is focused at casuals, WS is focused at hardcore raiders.
4. Their art styles are worlds apart.

and the list can just go on.

The only thing similar is that they;re both MMOs, and that’s it.

Xae Isareth.1364:

The only thing similar is that they;re both MMOs, and that’s it.

It’s basically enough because the mmo community moves from game to game trying to find the holy grail of mmorpgs that is not an addictive snorefest. That’s why mostly all the pr for new mmos cumulate in “look how unlike everything else we are”.

Some leftovers who are more prone to post-purchase rationalization are always left in each new game, but the general market, the target costumer always moves.

And the p2p model just means that publishers are making calculations to see if launching games as p2p and cashing in the monthly costs in the initial 2-6 months is more lucrative than going b2p with cash shop straight away. It just means that the game is gonna get full pr attention as an experiment, since p2p is not really sustainable today, not even with the EVE model. EVE is a very atypical game with a very atypical community.

Other MMOs have been far more intrusive with the advertising. I hardly notice it in GW2.

There is a point of view that you can adopt as a free player. The advertising is for the people who want to spend money. Let those people spend money on gems and that will help fund content for free players like you, and like me. If nobody bought gems with cash then the game would get into trouble, not only for Anet but also from the gold→gems perspective.

chronus.1326:

Xae Isareth.1364:

The only thing similar is that they;re both MMOs, and that’s it.

It’s basically enough because the mmo community moves from game to game trying to find the holy grail of mmorpgs that is not an addictive snorefest. That’s why mostly all the pr for new mmos cumulate in “look how unlike everything else we are”.

Some leftovers who are more prone to post-purchase rationalization are always left in each new game, but the general market, the target costumer always moves.

If you’re talking about the content locusts, that’s not exactly competition, they’ll always move to new games.

If you’re a casual gamer who dislike gear treadmills, raids and only play the game lightly, would you go buy a game that embraces the treadmill, is focused on endgame raids, and asks you to pay $15 a month for it?

Funny.
People have been complaining about not getting this information in-game and therefore risked missing it.
Now they told us in-game so that people won’t miss it, and now we are complaining about that as well?

Enjoying your no sub fee model? Lol. The entire game is designed around funneling as many players as possible into the cash shop by severely restricting loot and gold gained through simply playing the game.

$15 a month is worth NEVER seeing a “buy now” button on my UI or messages like in the OP in my chat box. Yeah, yeah, they have to make money so I’d rather just pay them a flat fee and hope they make a fun game with it.

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Enjoying your no sub fee model? Lol. The entire game is designed around funneling as many players as possible into the cash shop by severely restricting loot and gold gained through simply playing the game.

$15 a month is worth NEVER seeing a “buy now” button on my UI or messages like in the OP in my chat box. Yeah, yeah, they have to make money so I’d rather just pay them a flat fee and hope they make a fun game with it.

They don’t really funnel people into using the cash shop anyway. I have never felt that the game as pushed me towards the gem-store. I know it is there and I can use it if I want to, but I have never come into a situation where I have felt forced to use it.

They INFORM people that they can buy stuff that they might have missed. Which people have DEMANDED more or less since release.

Funny, I have seen those $15 a month games with buy now buttons as well. But I suppose that doesn’t count?

Xae Isareth.1364:

If you’re a casual gamer who dislike gear treadmills, raids and only play the game lightly, would you go buy a game that embraces the treadmill, is focused on endgame raids, and asks you to pay $15 a month for it?

Depends on the marketing. Currently it is known that you will be able to buy one month game cards in Wildstar for ingame cash. But even with that, its possible that the game is gonna go b2p or f2p in half a year or so. So I think the ingame game card idea was thrown there to maximalize first week profits, in other words, they indeed are going for the casual, and the casual bought Guild Wars 2 too, despite it containing an inbuilt gold seller service in the sheep clothing of the black lion trading post.

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Enjoying your no sub fee model? Lol. The entire game is designed around funneling as many players as possible into the cash shop by severely restricting loot and gold gained through simply playing the game.

$15 a month is worth NEVER seeing a “buy now” button on my UI or messages like in the OP in my chat box. Yeah, yeah, they have to make money so I’d rather just pay them a flat fee and hope they make a fun game with it.

It’s not really a question of ‘enjoying it’ not, P2P for everything simply isn’t viable for me.

I can’t stick to a single MMO. Right now, I’m playing GW2/TSW/(was playing)ESO/Defiance, choosing one on any particular day. So if I paid $15 a moth for all of them, that’s $60 a month on MMOs alone before other games, for something I spend, what 1-2 hours a day on average on?

That just won’t happen for me.

So a business advertises there products, shame on them? Seriously its not a big deal stop wasting space by posting nonsense threads.

chronus.1326:

Xae Isareth.1364:

If you’re a casual gamer who dislike gear treadmills, raids and only play the game lightly, would you go buy a game that embraces the treadmill, is focused on endgame raids, and asks you to pay $15 a month for it?

Depends on the marketing. Currently it is known that you will be able to buy one month game cards in Wildstar for ingame cash. But even with that, its possible that the game is gonna go b2p or f2p in half a year or so. So I think the ingame game card idea was thrown there to maximalize first week profits, in other words, they indeed are going for the casual, and the casual bought Guild Wars 2 too, despite it containing an inbuilt gold seller service in the sheep clothing of the black lion trading post.

P2P/B2P doesn’t define the game as casual or non-casual. TSW was P2P at the start as well, and that game was very casual.

The bottom line is that Carbine made it pretty clear in their marketing that their endgame was about raids, which basically says that if you don’t like them, well, the game isn’t for you. So if I don’t like raids, why would I go there?

Xae Isareth.1364:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Enjoying your no sub fee model? Lol. The entire game is designed around funneling as many players as possible into the cash shop by severely restricting loot and gold gained through simply playing the game.

$15 a month is worth NEVER seeing a “buy now” button on my UI or messages like in the OP in my chat box. Yeah, yeah, they have to make money so I’d rather just pay them a flat fee and hope they make a fun game with it.

It’s not really a question of ‘enjoying it’ not, P2P for everything simply isn’t viable for me.

I can’t stick to a single MMO. Right now, I’m playing GW2/TSW/(was playing)ESO/Defiance, choosing one on any particular day. So if I paid $15 a moth for all of them, that’s $60 a month on MMOs alone before other games, for something I spend, what 1-2 hours a day on average on?

That just won’t happen for me.

I can understand that since you seem to play several games. But GW2 has become so shameless with its cash shop, that I can barely stomach logging in or supporting them.

Xae Isareth.1364:

chronus.1326:

Xae Isareth.1364:

If you’re a casual gamer who dislike gear treadmills, raids and only play the game lightly, would you go buy a game that embraces the treadmill, is focused on endgame raids, and asks you to pay $15 a month for it?

Depends on the marketing. Currently it is known that you will be able to buy one month game cards in Wildstar for ingame cash. But even with that, its possible that the game is gonna go b2p or f2p in half a year or so. So I think the ingame game card idea was thrown there to maximalize first week profits, in other words, they indeed are going for the casual, and the casual bought Guild Wars 2 too, despite it containing an inbuilt gold seller service in the sheep clothing of the black lion trading post.

P2P/B2P doesn’t define the game as casual or non-casual. TSW was P2P at the start as well, and that game was very casual.

The bottom line is that Carbine made it pretty clear in their marketing that their endgame was about raids, which basically says that if you don’t like them, well, the game isn’t for you. So if I don’t like raids, why would I go there?

Wildstar will be an NCSoft product, which is why I won’t be jumping in right away. I want to see if that game goes the route of GW2 first.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I thought it was just a message in the chat box. There are flashing messages now? Does anyone have a screenie? I’ve not seen this.

To clarify, since it does not show up in the screenshot posted above –
the ad was just llike the previous announcements of – “Scarlet’s Minons are Attacking Frostgorge Sound!” big yellow text, right in the middle of the screen. It also showed up in the chat box.

Notification is fine. In-game mail would have been much better than this immersion breaker.

thehipone.6812:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I thought it was just a message in the chat box. There are flashing messages now? Does anyone have a screenie? I’ve not seen this.

To clarify, since it does not show up in the screenshot posted above –
the ad was just llike the previous announcements of – “Scarlet’s Minons are Attacking Frostgorge Sound!” big yellow text, right in the middle of the screen. It also showed up in the chat box.

Notification is fine. In-game mail would have been much better than this immersion breaker.

You can turn off the in game adds by paying a small monthly fee.

Watch it happen.