Guild Wars 2

This game should go free 2 play. Just give everyone who purchased the game $60-70 worth of gem. Everyone wins.

Anyone who plans on buying the game had already done so, Anet will get more sales from gem store. Us players will experience a increase in player activity and will solve the problem with low-mid level zones being empty. And of course, new players will get to experience this game without purchasing it.

Everyone benefits from this. Thoughts?

I hope this never happens

mrauls.6519:

I hope this never happens

and your reason?

I also hope this will never happen. If they remove the money gains from the box purchases, they will have to compensate through the item shop. The last thing I want in GW2 is a greedy item shop like all those trash F2P games have.

Sky.7610:

mrauls.6519:

I hope this never happens

and your reason?

While I can’t speak for him, I don’t want them because large-scale Free to Play games have the worst communities, and the bigger the game gets the more abusive the community becomes.

This never happes.

The arenanet is company, can you tell me why they should give their hard made product to someone for free?

Yes there are free to play mmorpgs, but they had low developing costs and anyone would even buy them money.

Guild Wars is on pair with the best pay to play mmorpgs there is no reason to go free to play ever. And no .. Arenanet would never benefit from this ..

Players that are not willing to buy game for money WONT ever spand money on gems. So what Arenanet have from this? Just more bots and more loaded servers.

You would see 100x more bots, gold sellers, trolls, etc.

Korrigan.4837:

I also hope this will never happen. If they remove the money gains from the box purchases, they will have to compensate through the item shop. The last thing I want in GW2 is a greedy item shop like all those trash F2P games have.

Who says the item in the gem store need to be like other F2P games? Our current gem store should suffice. ANet will not need to get compensation from the new players because they wouldn’t have bought the game in the first place and any money they earn through the gem store would be extra.

Conncept.7638:

Sky.7610:

mrauls.6519:

I hope this never happens

and your reason?

While I can’t speak for him, I don’t want them because large-scale Free to Play games have the worst communities, and the bigger the game gets the more abusive the community becomes.

Exactly. In addition to the reason I gave about money and the shop, the purchase price stops a good part of the trolls and other immature players who plague the F2P games.

Conncept.7638:

Sky.7610:

mrauls.6519:

I hope this never happens

and your reason?

While I can’t speak for him, I don’t want them because large-scale Free to Play games have the worst communities, and the bigger the game gets the more abusive the community becomes.

This is a MMORPG tho, a large community is to be expected and desired. Theres plenty of tools available to decide who and if you want to interact with others. So this shouldn’t really be a problem at all.

Um… this is a stupid idea. The game only costs initial purchase and that is a huge source of income for ArenaNet.

The current system is far superior to free-to-play and supports the continued development of the game.

We are still selling copy’s were I work

Sky.7610:

Conncept.7638:

Sky.7610:

mrauls.6519:

I hope this never happens

and your reason?

While I can’t speak for him, I don’t want them because large-scale Free to Play games have the worst communities, and the bigger the game gets the more abusive the community becomes.

This is a MMORPG tho, a large community is to be expected and desired. Theres plenty of tools available to decide who and if you want to interact with others. So this shouldn’t really be a problem at all.

Yes but, with the buy to play model you can be assured that the growing community is being filled with with a good and loyal playerbase who know the consequences of their actions, so you don’t need tools to separate good from bad. With free to play you can be just as sure that the community is filling up with leaches, scabs, griefers, and trolls who know there is no consequence for their toxic behavior because they can just roll-up another account.

Well it is already kinda f2p. We don’t pay subscribtion.

Though I think anet should think of something to invite new players. MMO with low online gets boring real fast.

Dogblaster.6713:

No please

and about your idea … The arenanet is company, can you tell me why they should give free product to people? Guild Wars 2 is protuct itself, gems are also the product. Why should they give their money they would make for players for free?

Well, ANet can produce a infinite amount of GW2 access for free because of the nature of software industry. People who gets to play the game free wouldn’t have purchased the game anyway and ANet will make money even if a small % of these players ever bought gems or even indirectly influence another to purchase gem.

Bluestone.7106:

Um… this is a stupid idea. The game only costs initial purchase and that is a huge source of income for ArenaNet.

The current system is far superior to free-to-play and supports the continued development of the game.

It WAS a huge source of income to ANet. Not anymore because the sales of box have long since reached its peak and now only serve as a obstacle to recurit new players. I would imagine the majority of “continued” revenue comes from the gem store, so expanding that to more players would be a smart business decision.

Sky.7610:

mrauls.6519:

I hope this never happens

and your reason?

In F2P models you need to pay for content as it’s released, and some parts of the game becomes blocked off until you buy it.

Would you be content to purchase Orr for 5000 gems, or be willing to participate in the Halloween event for 3000 gems? Maybe even have half the professions restricted for a certain amount of gems. I’d rather pay up front and then have the game supplied in ‘free’ increments, while the entire game is accessible.

When an expansion comes out, I’ll pay for that, but I’d prefer not to have section of the game become locked away behind a large dollar sign.

Sky.7610:

Dogblaster.6713:

No please

and about your idea … The arenanet is company, can you tell me why they should give free product to people? Guild Wars 2 is protuct itself, gems are also the product. Why should they give their money they would make for players for free?

Well, ANet can produce a infinite amount of GW2 access for free because of the nature of software industry. People who gets to play the game free wouldn’t have purchased the game anyway and ANet will make money even if a small % of these players ever bought gems or even indirectly influence another to purchase gem.

Bluestone.7106:

Um… this is a stupid idea. The game only costs initial purchase and that is a huge source of income for ArenaNet.

The current system is far superior to free-to-play and supports the continued development of the game.

It WAS a huge source of income to ANet. Not anymore because the sales of box have long since reached its peak and now only serve as a obstacle to recurit new players. I would imagine the majority of “continued” revenue comes from the gem store, so expanding that to more players would be a smart business decision.

If I was ArenaNet I would favour guaranteed income (buy-to-play) from new customers rather than possible income (free-to-play).

With the buy-to-play model everyone is a customer. With a free-to-play model only those who purchase from the gem-store are customers. Divisions never help games.
Games that are free-to-play tend to have a subscription plan for premium members and that always divides the community.

We don’t need the negative effects of free-to-play ruining GW2. The buy-to-play model worked for GW1 and I have faith in it for GW2.

Azjenco.9425:

Sky.7610:

mrauls.6519:

I hope this never happens

and your reason?

In F2P models you need to pay for content as it’s released, and some parts of the game becomes blocked off until you buy it.

Would you be content to purchase Orr for 5000 gems, or be willing to participate in the Halloween event for 3000 gems? Maybe even have half the professions restricted for a certain amount of gems. I’d rather pay up front and then have the game supplied in ‘free’ increments, while the entire game is accessible.

When an expansion comes out, I’ll pay for that, but I’d prefer not to have section of the game become locked away behind a large dollar sign.

Where does one get the idea that’s the only way a F2P game can function? Why couldn’t ANet simply keep the way the gem store is and open the game up as f2p? I assure you that they would make waaay more money than they are now and don’t have to do what you said.

yes put the best items in Cash Shop and make the game “more grindier” for those who won’t buy in Cash shop. That will work.

It’s not solely pay to win since we have an option for those who won’t pay to get the items in Cash Shop.

Yes, those who will pay Real Money must get the best stuffs. This is not a far fetched idea and this is what happens in real life.

Sky.7610:

Us players will experience a increase in player activity and will solve the problem with low-mid level zones being empty.

Nah, they’ve always been empty. It’s just a gigantic game world. But the content is 95% soloable anyway.

The problem as I see it is GW2 seems to be stuck in the middle and ever so slightly with each update leaning more and more towards a f2p model..

Thats not acceptable..

True we dont pay a subscription.. but they shifted more than enough units to guarantee an income from expansions that most new games would be happy with..

They need to stop pushing the game ever so gently towards an f2p model.

Bluestone.7106:

Sky.7610:

Dogblaster.6713:

No please

and about your idea … The arenanet is company, can you tell me why they should give free product to people? Guild Wars 2 is protuct itself, gems are also the product. Why should they give their money they would make for players for free?

Well, ANet can produce a infinite amount of GW2 access for free because of the nature of software industry. People who gets to play the game free wouldn’t have purchased the game anyway and ANet will make money even if a small % of these players ever bought gems or even indirectly influence another to purchase gem.

Bluestone.7106:

Um… this is a stupid idea. The game only costs initial purchase and that is a huge source of income for ArenaNet.

The current system is far superior to free-to-play and supports the continued development of the game.

It WAS a huge source of income to ANet. Not anymore because the sales of box have long since reached its peak and now only serve as a obstacle to recurit new players. I would imagine the majority of “continued” revenue comes from the gem store, so expanding that to more players would be a smart business decision.

If I was ArenaNet I would favour guaranteed income (buy-to-play) from new customers rather than possible income (free-to-play).

With the buy-to-play model everyone is a customer. With a free-to-play model only those who purchase from the gem-store are customers. Divisions never help games.
Games that are free-to-play tend to have a subscription plan for premium members and that always divides the community.

We don’t need the negative effects of free-to-play ruining GW2. The buy-to-play model worked for GW1 and I have faith in it for GW2.

This argument would had being valid if the “guarantee income” had not yet being secured, which isn’t the case because they already got your money and most likely 99.9% of people that would have bought this game. So if they already got most of the people that would buy the game, the only logical step is to expand their secondary source of revenue to a larger audience.

Sky.7610:

Azjenco.9425:

Sky.7610:

mrauls.6519:

I hope this never happens

and your reason?

In F2P models you need to pay for content as it’s released, and some parts of the game becomes blocked off until you buy it.

Would you be content to purchase Orr for 5000 gems, or be willing to participate in the Halloween event for 3000 gems? Maybe even have half the professions restricted for a certain amount of gems. I’d rather pay up front and then have the game supplied in ‘free’ increments, while the entire game is accessible.

When an expansion comes out, I’ll pay for that, but I’d prefer not to have section of the game become locked away behind a large dollar sign.

Where does one get the idea that’s the only way a F2P game can function? Why couldn’t ANet simply keep the way the gem store is and open the game up as f2p? I assure you that they would make waaay more money than they are now and don’t have to do what you said.

Why didnt you quote on this? I have felling that you are some kind of gold seller and want bots to have free acess to game?

Arenanet is smart. By making gw 2 f2p they would give free acess to every bot, gold seller, troll, etc.

‘’ I can play guild wars 2 for free !! Ye I got banned for hacking, botting Who cares, I will just make new account yeea’’

This is what you want?

But the suggested way to expand the secondary source of income cuts off the guaranteed income entirely.

My reasoning is that if someone is going to buy gems from the gem store then they can afford to buy the initial purchase whereas people who wouldn’t buy the game upfront generally won’t buy gems.

Sky.7610:

Dogblaster.6713:

No please

and about your idea … The arenanet is company, can you tell me why they should give free product to people? Guild Wars 2 is protuct itself, gems are also the product. Why should they give their money they would make for players for free?

Well, ANet can produce a infinite amount of GW2 access for free because of the nature of software industry. People who gets to play the game free wouldn’t have purchased the game anyway and ANet will make money even if a small % of these players ever bought gems or even indirectly influence another to purchase gem.

Bluestone.7106:

Um… this is a stupid idea. The game only costs initial purchase and that is a huge source of income for ArenaNet.

The current system is far superior to free-to-play and supports the continued development of the game.

It WAS a huge source of income to ANet. Not anymore because the sales of box have long since reached its peak and now only serve as a obstacle to recurit new players. I would imagine the majority of “continued” revenue comes from the gem store, so expanding that to more players would be a smart business decision.

you got any facts to back any of this up? According to the people that run the company they are still doing better than ever expected. So if their financial business model is proving to be more lucrative than expected why should they change it and risk alienating people? This seems short sighted and parochial.

Bluestone.7106:

But the suggested way to expand the secondary source of income cuts of the guaranteed income entirely.

My reasoning is that if someone is going to buy gems from the gem store then they can afford to buy the initial purchase whereas people who wouldn’t buy the game upfront generally won’t buy gems.

exactly …

When someone dont have money or is not willing to spend any money on the game itself .. why should spend money for the gems?

Guys just post in this topic anymore. It sounds to me this Sky is gold seller.

Sky.7610:

Azjenco.9425:

Sky.7610:

mrauls.6519:

I hope this never happens

and your reason?

In F2P models you need to pay for content as it’s released, and some parts of the game becomes blocked off until you buy it.

Would you be content to purchase Orr for 5000 gems, or be willing to participate in the Halloween event for 3000 gems? Maybe even have half the professions restricted for a certain amount of gems. I’d rather pay up front and then have the game supplied in ‘free’ increments, while the entire game is accessible.

When an expansion comes out, I’ll pay for that, but I’d prefer not to have section of the game become locked away behind a large dollar sign.

Where does one get the idea that’s the only way a F2P game can function? Why couldn’t ANet simply keep the way the gem store is and open the game up as f2p? I assure you that they would make waaay more money than they are now and don’t have to do what you said.

Sadly, that’s the path most F2P games go. A great deal of players wont use the gem shop. They’ll play the game, get the extent of enjoyment they want, and then move on. The point of the gem shop is the luxury items. If someone just plays around with the game to pass the time while waiting for the next best thing, the why would he want to spend money on the game.
This is the reason why F2P game need to gate content, to keep you interested just long enough to buy the next piece of the game. So why does GW2 need this? It’s working perfectly fine as it is.

Sky.7610:

Where does one get the idea that’s the only way a F2P game can function? Why couldn’t ANet simply keep the way the gem store is and open the game up as f2p? I assure you that they would make waaay more money than they are now and don’t have to do what you said.

Do you have any data to back up this assumption? Fact is, neither you nor I know how much (or little) people who aren’t willing to shell out the buy price might be willing to spend in the gem store. Basing business decisions on assumptions is rarely a good idea.

Dogblaster.6713:

Sky.7610:

Azjenco.9425:

Sky.7610:

mrauls.6519:

I hope this never happens

and your reason?

In F2P models you need to pay for content as it’s released, and some parts of the game becomes blocked off until you buy it.

Would you be content to purchase Orr for 5000 gems, or be willing to participate in the Halloween event for 3000 gems? Maybe even have half the professions restricted for a certain amount of gems. I’d rather pay up front and then have the game supplied in ‘free’ increments, while the entire game is accessible.

When an expansion comes out, I’ll pay for that, but I’d prefer not to have section of the game become locked away behind a large dollar sign.

Where does one get the idea that’s the only way a F2P game can function? Why couldn’t ANet simply keep the way the gem store is and open the game up as f2p? I assure you that they would make waaay more money than they are now and don’t have to do what you said.

Why didnt you quote on this? I have felling that you are some kind of gold seller and want bots to have free acess to game?

Arenanet is smart. By making gw 2 f2p they would give free acess to every bot, gold seller, troll, etc.

‘’ I can play guild wars 2 for free !! Ye I got banned for hacking, botting Who cares, I will just make new account yeea’’

This is what you want?

I’m sure we don’t have any short supply of bots or gold sellers even right now where the game is buy 2 play. Sure, the # of bots will increase but so will the legit players so in the long run, the % of bots in the entire population as a whole should be rather close to what we have now. Its also worth mentioning that the majority of bots farm on hacked account so they wouldn’t lose any money at all and any decent mmo will always have problem with bots. Its an expected part of the game.

Bluestone.7106:

But the suggested way to expand the secondary source of income cuts off the guaranteed income entirely.

My reasoning is that if someone is going to buy gems from the gem store then they can afford to buy the initial purchase whereas people who wouldn’t buy the game upfront generally won’t buy gems.

Sure it does cut off the direct income entirely but when the cow runs out of milk, is it hard to imagine it comes beef?

Theres plently of players that will end up enjoying the game and thus spend $ on it in the form of gems but these players never play the game because they are on the fences and don’t want to risk $60. Granted, the majority of players will most likely not buy anything but the beauty of f2p is that vast volume of players it attracts, where even a small percentage is very large. Sometimes its better to have a small piece of a big pie than a large piece of a small pie.

Sky.7610:

Dogblaster.6713:

Sky.7610:

Azjenco.9425:

Sky.7610:

mrauls.6519:

I hope this never happens

and your reason?

In F2P models you need to pay for content as it’s released, and some parts of the game becomes blocked off until you buy it.

Would you be content to purchase Orr for 5000 gems, or be willing to participate in the Halloween event for 3000 gems? Maybe even have half the professions restricted for a certain amount of gems. I’d rather pay up front and then have the game supplied in ‘free’ increments, while the entire game is accessible.

When an expansion comes out, I’ll pay for that, but I’d prefer not to have section of the game become locked away behind a large dollar sign.

Where does one get the idea that’s the only way a F2P game can function? Why couldn’t ANet simply keep the way the gem store is and open the game up as f2p? I assure you that they would make waaay more money than they are now and don’t have to do what you said.

Why didnt you quote on this? I have felling that you are some kind of gold seller and want bots to have free acess to game?

Arenanet is smart. By making gw 2 f2p they would give free acess to every bot, gold seller, troll, etc.

‘’ I can play guild wars 2 for free !! Ye I got banned for hacking, botting Who cares, I will just make new account yeea’’

This is what you want?

I’m sure we don’t have any short supply of bots or gold sellers even right now where the game is buy 2 play. Sure, the # of bots will increase but so will the legit players so in the long run, the % of bots in the entire population as a whole should be rather close to what we have now. Its also worth mentioning that the majority of bots farm on hacked account so they wouldn’t lose any money at all and any decent mmo will always have problem with bots. Its an expected part of the game.

Sorry man. Dont care anymore Good luck with your idea.

Sky.7610:

Theres plently of players that will end up enjoying the game and thus spend $ on it in the form of gems but these players never play the game because they are on the fences and don’t want to risk $60.

The game’s price will drop as time pass, and after the first expansion is released, then it will probably cost next to nothing. Then people can definitely pick it up and see how the game feels, and if they like it, spend money on further content.

Who knows, after a certain amount of expansions the core game may become free after all. As for now, let’s not give more people an excuse to clog the servers and lag the game down, just so they can have a look. Keep the people who really want to play it while the servers are being upgraded for further players and content.

I’d rather this not happen for several reasons:

1.) The current business model is a very good solution to those who enjoy subscription-esque models, and those who like free-to-play models. A one-time purchase to play for free is a great deal, especially when the cash shop is not intrusive and unfairly biased.

2.) Free-to-play usually means the cash shop needs to contain items that are very incentivised. This usually means pay-to-win or pay to have an unfair advantage. You end up thinking, “I might as well pay money to play this game.”

3.) General community cohesiveness and quality. This might be an unfair judgement, but communities tend to not be very friendly when it’s a free-to-play game. This doesn’t mean there are friendly people, but they are few and far between.

I think it’s somewhat safe to say that the only reason the Gem Store lacks potential intrusiveness is because of the business model the company has adopted. They don’t depend on sales of the items in that store as much as f2p games do. They get the initial profit from the game sale, then when people see that they aren’t forced to buy from the Gem Store, they stick around to see how the game is. The longer they stick around, the higher the chances they’ll buy from the store (generally).

Also, the reason most free-to-play games have not been able to forgo with the general unfairness of their cash shops is because they need people to buy things. It’s not a situation of, “They don’t have to, but it helps,” it’s a situation of “We’d like to make it so that they really, really want to for many reasons.”

The funny thing is, though, that people who say “Oh, free-to-play with a cash shop is better than sub” usually end up spending more in the shop than they would monthly on a sub.

Won’t happen. GW1 is almost 8 years old and it is still buy to play.

Funny, how free to play games always end up costing you more!

Horrible idea. Please delete this thread.

Sola.7250:

Funny, how free to play games always end up costing you more!

I never pay a cent to free-to-play games.

I will buy GW2 gems.

If GW2 went free-to-play I would not buy GW2 gems.

It is a principle I have – I do not respect free-to-play games as their track record is to make their game almost unplayable without cash-shop purchases despite their claims otherwise. I do not get this pressure from GW2, I am playing very comfortably without purchasing gems and as a result I will buy gems to support the games continued development (even though I don’t need the gems).

Even the venerable Guildwars (aka GW1) isn’t free to play.

If gw2 becomes f2p, chances are it will be more expensive for people in the long run than a single purchase of the game.

Its a 50/50 toss up. The F2P method will bring in alot more players, which the game needs – but at the cost of everything else. You be the judge?

Bluestone.7106:

Sola.7250:

Funny, how free to play games always end up costing you more!

I never pay a cent to free-to-play games.

I will buy GW2 gems.

If GW2 went free-to-play I would not buy GW2 gems.

It is a principle I have – I do not respect free-to-play games as their track record is to make their game almost unplayable without cash-shop purchases despite their claims otherwise. I do not get this pressure from GW2, I am playing very comfortably without purchasing gems and as a result I will buy gems to support the games continued development (even though I don’t need the gems).

This is my experience and approach as well. Just look at the F2P and Freemium games. They are nickel and diming players on everything from experience gained, resource limits, chat limits to quick slots. If GW2 allowed people in without the box price, the developer would be forced to do similar things. There is nothing in the GW2 store that is essential to the enjoyment of GW2. This is not the case in games where the game’s only source of income is the freemium sub or offering basic functions piecemeal in the store.

GW2 F2P = Hackfest

LoL has the best implementation of a cash shop I know. They have no P2W value there (except champions, which you can also earn through IP – free currency), and they make most of their sales through skins.

The best f2p model Ive come upon so far is Lotro. Everything costs turbine points, however you can earn those points ingame, so its entirely possible to purchase every single bit of content in that game merely by playing the game. (althoug you might have to grind the points on more than one char). That coupled with the possibility of subscribing (heck you can even subscribe for only a month and permanently unlock traits slots, bag slots and more). Plus all the areas are free without purchase, letting you play through the storyquests.

Death Reincarnated.3570:

GW2 F2P = Hackfest

Its already a hackfest btw ~ look at all the teleporting bots around.

Blackwolfe.5649:

The best f2p model Ive come upon so far is Lotro. Everything costs turbine points, however you can earn those points ingame, so its entirely possible to purchase every single bit of content in that game merely by playing the game. (althoug you might have to grind the points on more than one char). That coupled with the possibility of subscribing (heck you can even subscribe for only a month and permanently unlock traits slots, bag slots and more). Plus all the areas are free without purchase, letting you play through the storyquests.

I don’t like Lotro’s f2p model because of the basic core content that is denied to you without spending turbine points. I was a lifetime sub to Lotro so am all to aware of what the f2p players are missing out on while grinding out turbine points.

The new SWTOR f2p model is by far the worst in the issue of withholding content though.

hardly. It should stay the way it is now, it’s fine accept for the vertical progression sneak in. If they handle that properly we’ll see an improved game. Waiting on the next big patch and a dev to answer this question/problem —>

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Change-in-loot-parameters-or-a-bug-Merged

First, I just bought the game a few weeks ago and I am quite certain I will not be the last to do so. I am very impressed with the game and I will be trying to convince everyone I know to give it a shot too.

Second, I would be pretty mad if I coughed up 60 bucks and then they just decided to give it away for free now. I would much rather see people joining the game that really want to play it than a bunch of people who just poke their head in, troll around for a bit annoying people and then going back to wherever they came from.

Korrigan.4837:

I also hope this will never happen. If they remove the money gains from the box purchases, they will have to compensate through the item shop. The last thing I want in GW2 is a greedy item shop like all those trash F2P games have.

^^ Could not have said it better myself, totally agree.
all those crappy complete f2p games always become greedy and it hurts the player base a lot.

B2P is the best form of f2p there is.
all they need is a 48 hour free trial option, at some time down the line so that those that are cheapskate enough that will not buy an amazing game because it doesn’t have a free trial shut the F up about that already.

Worst idea ever evry mmo f2p is p2w i dont whant this to turn into one of those and they are still selling the game very very good

tigirius.9014:

hardly. It should stay the way it is now, it’s fine accept for the vertical progression sneak in. If they handle that properly we’ll see an improved game. Waiting on the next big patch and a dev to answer this question/problem —>

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Change-in-loot-parameters-or-a-bug-Merged

Regarding the vertical progression comment I have been reading everything I could find from Dev posts and interviews and it is my understanding that Ascended was intended fro launch and is the highest tier of gear. If it had been in at launch this would be a non issue but they made the regrettable decision to not include it at launch because their content that needed it (such as fractals) wasn’t ready.
It is my understanding that there will never be a higher tier than Ascended (Infused). But that the various slots of ascended gear will be added gradually.

yup not a gear grind

We’re lucky its just that Infusion you’ll have to frind from now one

But not a set gear

we are very fortunate huh