Guild Wars 2

To make sure this doesn’t get completely lost, for those of you who are concerned that the players are not being listened to on the HoT pricing structure issue:

Hey all,
We understand that there are many opinions and suggestions about the game versions and the pre-purchase program. We will continue to read your thoughts and thank you for sharing them.
Edit to add: We will share your input with the team.

From this post by Gaile.

We have been heard and we are not being ignored.

Hope this puts a few minds at ease!

NoTrigger.8396:

you are being ignored. this is the same stuff they always say. “we read your thoughts”.
and now? do you think they will change anything? they wont, because money is all they care about.

how many times have they talked about communicating with their players? how many times have they said they will improve it? and how many times did they actually improve it?

I do not get it how can ppl think this way and still play or do any thing in life? At a point would not your own action suggest your only after one thing maybe not money but a seemly single minded goal at any cost.

NoTrigger.8396:

you are being ignored. this is the same stuff they always say. “we read your thoughts”.
and now? do you think they will change anything? they wont, because money is all they care about.

how many times have they talked about communicating with their players? how many times have they said they will improve it? and how many times did they actually improve it?

In the end I’m as cynical as you are. Only time will tell if they’re listening or not though. We shall see. I think the backlash is worse than what they thought it’d be honestly, so that may change things. It’ll depend on the pre-purchase numbers as well. If they’re coming in fast enough that they feel confident in meeting whatever arbitrary projections they had for the expansion they’ll probably do little, if it looks like sells will fall short, or future player retention will be adversely effected they may do something, who knows?

It’s something. Hopefully, there’s a light at the end of this mess. Right now, I can’t get any of my friends or family to buy the expansion if I tried.

Sad because I really like this game, but this was a huge miscalculation.

Anzriel.1398:

NoTrigger.8396:

you are being ignored. this is the same stuff they always say. “we read your thoughts”.
and now? do you think they will change anything? they wont, because money is all they care about.

how many times have they talked about communicating with their players? how many times have they said they will improve it? and how many times did they actually improve it?

In the end I’m as cynical as you are. Only time will tell if they’re listening or not though. We shall see. I think the backlash is worse than what they thought it’d be honestly, so that may change things. It’ll depend on the pre-purchase numbers as well. If they’re coming in fast enough that they feel confident in meeting whatever arbitrary projections they had for the expansion they’ll probably do little, if it looks like sells will fall short, or future player retention will be adversely effected they may do something, who knows?

There’s ample evidence floating around that Anet has been listening to us all along. That doesn’t mean they kowtow to every demand, however. Listening is not obeying. Just ask my wife.

Anzriel.1398:

It’ll depend on the pre-purchase numbers as well. If they’re coming in fast enough that they feel confident in meeting whatever arbitrary projections they had for the expansion they’ll probably do little, if it looks like sells will fall short, or future player retention will be adversely effected they may do something, who knows?

Pretty much this. It was a nice gesture by Gaile, but profit numbers and projections far outweigh negative opinion. If the number of sales are where they want them to be, or even contradict the dissent, they will have no reason to change anything. We’ll see what happens.

Merathkira.7041:

To make sure this doesn’t get completely lost, for those of you who are concerned that the players are not being listened to on the HoT pricing structure issue:

Hey all,
We understand that there are many opinions and suggestions about the game versions and the pre-purchase program. We will continue to read your thoughts and thank you for sharing them.
Edit to add: We will share your input with the team.

From this post by Gaile.

We have been heard and we are not being ignored.

Hope this puts a few minds at ease!

As if ANet ever saying “we’re listening to your feedback” has been able to put players’ minds at ease.

NoTrigger.8396:

you are being ignored. this is the same stuff they always say. “we read your thoughts”.
and now? do you think they will change anything? they wont, because money is all they care about.

how many times have they talked about communicating with their players? how many times have they said they will improve it? and how many times did they actually improve it?

when they started the living story they stopped caring about what their players want and wish for and how good the content is. because they realized how much easy money they can make by releasing lackluster click through content for 20 min playtime every 2 weeks.

Case in point.

Vayne.8563:

There’s ample evidence floating around that Anet has been listening to us all along. That doesn’t mean they kowtow to every demand, however. Listening is not obeying. Just ask my wife.

Reading, but not neccessarily listening. There was at least one popular thread asking about character slots to be included. It appears it was willfully ignored.

You actually believe that copypasted non-statement means anything? You must not have experience with dev interactions. That’s not a slight on you, on the contrary, I envy your innocence.

Rest assured though, this is the first step on your path to becoming as calloused by disappointment as the rest of us.

It’s my understanding they recently edited that statement anyway. But, I will admit, I’m surprised at some of the venom, especially the rude and personal attacks, on the boards when a counterargument or counterpoint is voiced.

But I’ll leave that to the moderators.

Merathkira.7041:

To make sure this doesn’t get completely lost, for those of you who are concerned that the players are not being listened to on the HoT pricing structure issue:

Hey all,
We understand that there are many opinions and suggestions about the game versions and the pre-purchase program. We will continue to read your thoughts and thank you for sharing them.
Edit to add: We will share your input with the team.

From this post by Gaile.

We have been heard and we are not being ignored.

Hope this puts a few minds at ease!

That is roughly their standard response to big forum threads.

They said approximately the same thing (“we’ve heard,” “the issue has been forwarded to the appropriate team,” “we’ll update you in the next few days”) when the Lupi autoattack bug blew up the dungeon forum. That was April 1. As of today, it has not even been confirmed whether the bug was a bug or an intended change.

Lol you’ve been heard….yeh I remember hearing that back when I used to play GW2 stopped by to check out what’s happening..seems to be more smoke an mirrors at more cost. So I’m off again, sure as hell not paying about the same amount for and xpac of a game I lost faith in a year ago.

its the same price as a 1 year old Expansion in a P/P game, sorry but its a Normal reasonable price…. People just feel like things should be free, devs need to eat too.

This perception is bad, i hope they dont change the price, cause all u Cheap-kitten do is Cause game quality to drop when the Profits Fall out the Sky due to this whole “I WANT FREE kittenZ” mentality.

OP: It’s feelgood PR and damage-control. That’s all it is. As much as I’d like it to mean something, it doesn’t.

Drayos.8759:

its the same price as a 1 year old Expansion in a P/P game, sorry but its a Normal reasonable price…. People just feel like things should be free, devs need to eat too.

Way to completely misinterpret the argument and replace it with a strawman of your own.

Vayne.8563:

There’s ample evidence floating around that Anet has been listening to us all along. That doesn’t mean they kowtow to every demand, however. Listening is not obeying. Just ask my wife.

PvE content is buggy and not great. WvW is buggy and not great. PvP is imbalanced and not great. PvP is getting a non PvP game mode. PvP ladders have not been fixed. Lupicus is still bugged. Fractal rewards have been kitten…..

Look i get a lot of people like this game and heck i do too. But i haven’t seen anything to make me believe that HoT will have better development, that it is going to be an answer to all my concerns/communities concerns.

At the end of the day complaining > not complaining. It may change their minds, it may make them listen more and that’s all the is important. The fact that this many people are astonished at this price just make it obvious that it isn’t the right price or that Anet is doing something, or a lot of things, wrong.

Merathkira.7041:

To make sure this doesn’t get completely lost, for those of you who are concerned that the players are not being listened to on the HoT pricing structure issue:

Hey all,
We understand that there are many opinions and suggestions about the game versions and the pre-purchase program. We will continue to read your thoughts and thank you for sharing them.
Edit to add: We will share your input with the team.

From this post by Gaile.

We have been heard and we are not being ignored.

Hope this puts a few minds at ease!

I’m sorry but, as the traits thread, the SAB thread, the communication threads etc. have shown, this means basically nothing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Gaile posted it, as it means they’re at least reaching the bare minimum on customer service on this one, but don’t take it as more than that.

Well see just how long Gw2 will last with no income. These people can still just find another 20 hour game for 50$, trust me, they’ll be back and pay for this expansion in a heartbeat, when they know what’s out there.

Let them leave if they don’t want to pay. They’ll be back, 50$ for another 3 years is 2 expensive? Oh my.

Why don’t we see this in WoW aswell? Buying WoW and all it’s expansion does not Cost as much today as they once did, which means that we should have seen this bs all the time in WoW forums, but we dont.

Infact, we should see this all the time in all gaming forums all the freakin time.
It’s a fair price. Keep it this way for god sake.

I remember a post a while back which started off with a complaint about how the Devs never listened. The title was something along the lines of “Name one time the developers actually listened to us”. Anyway, people started giving examples of changes that were made based on player feedback, and the list got so long that the OP changed the title out of embarrassment.

EDIT: no longer in broken English.

In a business setting, buyer and seller are enemies. It’s not at all unreasonable for us to pit our own greed against Anet’s.

Coldtart.4785:

In a business setting, buyer and seller are enemies. It’s not at all unreasonable for us to pit our own greed against Anet’s.

get what you give.

Same old, same old; We are reading what you think and we disagree with all of you and common sense. Have a nice day. (how is this news?)

Pretty Pixie.8603:

Vayne.8563:

There’s ample evidence floating around that Anet has been listening to us all along. That doesn’t mean they kowtow to every demand, however. Listening is not obeying. Just ask my wife.

Reading, but not neccessarily listening. There was at least one popular thread asking about character slots to be included. It appears it was willfully ignored.

it wasn’t ignored, there is the option there to buy the expac with a slot, at an inflated price.

The question is which team will they share it with. If i recall right Collin announced pre-orders, but said nothing of the price. It is possible he’s not the one calling the shots in the matter. And we all know too well how “marketing pros” tend to bury game’s chances with their “optimized pricing and monetizing policies” (in their limited cranial cavities at least).

I prey A-net has marketing/sales team that even has half the idea of what they are selling and 1/5th of understanding of their playerbase that your average forum joe does. If not, then we’re gonna look at smaller sales, scapegoating and blaming “that guy over there with goatee, cause it scared off kids on twitter and sales went down 10%”;)

DieselFueled.3257:

It’s fifty freaking dollars. Grow up. I gave them 100 so they can ignore 1 of you.

Please PM me for my paypal so you can give me 100 bucks as well then you could make anet ignore 3 of “them”.

Cormac.3871:

I remember a post a while back which started off with The title was something along the lines of “Name one time the developers actually listened to us”, and was a rant about how the players always get ignored. Anyway, people started giving examples of changes that were made based on player feedback, and the list got so long that th OP changed the title out of embarrassment.

And i missed it! :/

Merathkira.7041:

To make sure this doesn’t get completely lost, for those of you who are concerned that the players are not being listened to on the HoT pricing structure issue:

Hey all,
We understand that there are many opinions and suggestions about the game versions and the pre-purchase program. We will continue to read your thoughts and thank you for sharing them.
Edit to add: We will share your input with the team.

From this post by Gaile.

We have been heard and we are not being ignored.

Hope this puts a few minds at ease!

Trait debacle says “hi”.

However, maybe there is a loud enough uproar to make them act. I’ll buy HoT but am waiting to see if the deal is made more palatable first.

Maybe this uproar will get their attention now.

Before, with the Megaservers and Trait changes, IRL money wasn’t directly involved. They could ignore the complaints and issues safely.

But now their precious dimes and dollars are on the line. And when you have someone’s coinpurse in a vicegrip, people tend to listen with more intent. ;^)

DieselFueled.3257:

It’s fifty freaking dollars. Grow up. I gave them 100 so they can ignore 1 of you.

apparently, you paid 100 to get this post in this thread deleted.

:)

Pretty Pixie.8603:

Vayne.8563:

There’s ample evidence floating around that Anet has been listening to us all along. That doesn’t mean they kowtow to every demand, however. Listening is not obeying. Just ask my wife.

Reading, but not neccessarily listening. There was at least one popular thread asking about character slots to be included. It appears it was willfully ignored.

Willfully ignored? You mean in the 2 or so days since they announced it!? They obviously need to discuss this in house and see what they can and can’t do. It’s not like someone can just flip a switch somewhere and everything is fixed.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

It’s my understanding they recently edited that statement anyway. But, I will admit, I’m surprised at some of the venom, especially the rude and personal attacks, on the boards when a counterargument or counterpoint is voiced.

But I’ll leave that to the moderators.

Everyone’s being exceptionally passive aggressive. No one is directly insulting anyone so it makes moderation difficult.

mstanton.3561:

Lol you’ve been heard….yeh I remember hearing that back when I used to play GW2 stopped by to check out what’s happening..seems to be more smoke an mirrors at more cost. So I’m off again, sure as hell not paying about the same amount for and xpac of a game I lost faith in a year ago.

So disgruntled ex-player. Well at least you’re honest about where you’re coming from.

BrotherBelial.3094:

Pretty Pixie.8603:

Vayne.8563:

There’s ample evidence floating around that Anet has been listening to us all along. That doesn’t mean they kowtow to every demand, however. Listening is not obeying. Just ask my wife.

Reading, but not neccessarily listening. There was at least one popular thread asking about character slots to be included. It appears it was willfully ignored.

it wasn’t ignored, there is the option there to buy the expac with a slot, at an inflated price.

Time-line is a bit wonky. He means adding a character slot after the fact (pre-purchase announcement), you’re referring to something before the fact.

Gregori.5807:

Trait debacle says “hi”.

I imagine you’re referring to the NPE? They’re implementing an overhaul next week.

FirebrandFrog.7603:

Before, with the Megaservers and Trait changes, IRL money wasn’t directly involved. They could ignore the complaints and issues safely.

Megaserver complaints usually ignored the benefit, which far outweigh the deficit. As for traits, like next week right? Pretty sure there was a news entry about it. Oh you can complain they took a long time, fair enough, but you can’t complain they just ignored players.

DieselFueled.3257:

NoTrigger.8396:

DieselFueled.3257:

It’s fifty freaking dollars. Grow up. I gave them 100 so they can ignore 1 of you.

reality is, you gave them 100 to ignore YOU for the next 3 years. dont worry.

They don’t have to ignore me. I already don’t complain. Cool pic.

very interesting I wonder if anet is setting the price that way to get rid of poor people who only grind and have no money to spend on gemstore anyway.

that combined with new player which has nothing at start but need get everything.

Almost genius thinking about it now.

suck for old player but if can successfully replace the old base with a better new

wow

Honestly, everyone who is so angry over the price should just not buy it. I think the ultimate was a good deal and purchased it this morning. If you don’t want to support the game, don’t do it. I personally love the game and support it in the store and by buying the xpac. People are angry because the core game is free? You have got to be kidding me.

I buy a vid card now, it’s 700.00. Three years from now that vid card will sell for 200.00. Should I be angry about it. Make sense people. The core game is free. Big deal. I’m a vet, I was in the original beta, I was in early access, but I’m not angry that the core game is free.

OK Anet say they are listening to us fine lets see what comes of it, there are lots of players who have character slots that are full of stored items they don’t want to delete one just to play a new class, Anet understands this from all the comments made, but at the asking price for what in effect is a “MAP PACK” I think supplying 1 or 2 character slots isn’t too much too ask, I for one don’t want to then after paying £35 / $50 have to fork out to buy a slot just to play the new class, some people work some are on low incomes, I personally have to save to afford luxuries such as expansions, so come on Anet help your fans play

Also to those who think the expansion should be free NO Anet have put in countless(although they probably know how many) months, days, hours, lunch breaks and sleepless nights in to this expansion, as in GW1 expansions such as Factions, Nightfall and Eye of the North everyone was happy with paying for them so really it should be no different here, we have had an extremely large amount of free content with living world which they could have charged for if they so pleased but did not, so come on people play a little fair with Anet too thank you for reading

Nothing is off the table.

The response is meaningless.

There are certain people at Anet who are paid to, or have the authority to, interact with the forums. Stating that they noticed negative feedback over the pricing and will say so to the team is silly. If you type “gw2” into google at the moment your top suggestions will be links to negative responses to the pricing.

Again, I’m not saying the comment is bad, I’m merely pointing out the comment is meaningless. Nothing is added, nothing is explained, no commitment is made nor future endeavors outlines. Empty words.

CureForLiving.5360:

Gregori.5807:

Trait debacle says “hi”.

I imagine you’re referring to the NPE? They’re implementing an overhaul next

Nope. The trait debacle predated the NPE by some time. Here are two threads about it, the first one closed after 83 pages and the new one opened: Trait thread 1 Trait thread 2

As for traits, like next week right? Pretty sure there was a news entry about it. Oh you can complain they took a long time, fair enough, but you can’t complain they just ignored players.

The trait thing has been ongoing since April 15th, 2013, with the amongst the most obvious deflection and loudest ignore I have seen in the forum. Don’t believe me? Read those threads.

I am glad that the traits will be redone after all this time. However, I will never forget what that fight taught me.

I apply this lesson to everything in the game. When I read the current fuss, I just shake my head and think “and this has worked so well in the past.”

For me its nothing more than PR talk. I dont care what they say, i want to see results.

I’m fascinated by the number of people here and on Reddit that actually believe that Arenanet didn’t plan all this out, and that this backlash somehow caught them by surprise.
They know exactly what they are doing, because they have a massive playerbase that has told them repeatedly what they can get away with.
All they have to do now is a little PR song and dance, and they will still make their profit projections.
Even if everyone here and on Reddit dropped out of the game completely, and bought no more gems, Anet would go full steam ahead, because they have a huge number of people who will blindly open their wallets for new content.
Players on the forums who deeply care about where this game goes are at the whim of people who don’t know and don’t even care about concepts such as artificial scarcity, and other marketing tricks. They just open their wallets whenever something new and shiny is dangled in front of them.

We are the fringe noise, nothing more. Any interaction (CDI’s included) is just a PR show to satisfy the curiosity of potential customers that might visit the forum to “see if the company cares”.