Guild Wars 2

What’s the Heart of Thorn property going to be a free expansion like some other MMOs, paid (if so how much so I can budget), or a combination meaning free to people that already bought the game/ and bundled with the original game for new players?

It hasn’t been announced yet even, so no one knows.

We will learn what it is, and what it costs (if anything) on January 24th, when they announce it at Pax.

This announcement has made my year already!

If it’s even an expansion in the traditional sense.

Whatever it is, if it requires money I’m already throwing money at my monitor….

ANet, hurry up and announce it so I can give you money.

From the rumor mill, the company’s earnings calls indicated an expectation of increased revenue during Q3 atypical of their normal projections. If that’s the case, it will be a paid expansion between the months of July and September.

JLHiggs.6258:

From the rumor mill, the company’s earnings calls indicated an expectation of increased revenue during Q3 atypical of their normal projections. If that’s the case, it will be a paid expansion between the months of July and September.

July and September?!
This will be a loooong break.

Vayne.8563:

If it’s even an expansion in the traditional sense.

They wouldn’t have copyrighted if it was nothing more than a Living Story section. To put to copyright means that there’s going to be extra physical and digital distribution involved (as well as most likely extra marketing).

With that said, of course it’s going to be a Paid expansion. Do not expect it to be bundled/free for players who own the original [base] game, but rather possibly that the base game comes free with the expansion for new players (similar to how Blizzard provides it’s older stuff bundled for new players, but not the other way around).

I’m throwing out a guess (complete speculation only!) here, but this is what’s going to come out of PAX South:

~~Heart of Thorns expansion announced (official acknowledgement)

~~New levels

~~New Legendary weapons

~~New PvP maps and modes

~~New weapons+Skills

~~Cross-class weapon usage (Elemental with a mace, anyone?)

~~New maps

~~A blended story continuation of The Living Story and Personal Story leading to the face of the 2nd Eldar Dragon to “die” (really I think they’re just forced back into a 1,000 year slumber before magic feeds them awake once again).

~~Actual Launch Date of said expansion.

~~Price point of $40-50

~~Collector’s Edition details (maybe statue of Mordremoth, although that would be cheesy and easily comparable to the dragon provided in the CE of Skyrim….I’d much rather have a statue of Taimi on her Golem to set it right next to Rytlock from the original CE oddly enough).

~~Gameplay (maybe…..I hope?)

JLHiggs.6258:

From the rumor mill, the company’s earnings calls indicated an expectation of increased revenue during Q3 atypical of their normal projections. If that’s the case, it will be a paid expansion between the months of July and September.

this… i saw the table too…

JLHiggs.6258:

From the rumor mill, the company’s earnings calls indicated an expectation of increased revenue during Q3 atypical of their normal projections. If that’s the case, it will be a paid expansion between the months of July and September.

If it’s an expansion, I suspect it will come out on the anniversary of GW2’s launch, so August 20-something. I just hope it’s not more of the same. New zones, new personal stories, perhaps some new races and perhaps new ways to level up characters would be a welcome addition.

I’m kinda hoping it will be like the campaigns of GW1, but being that Heart of Thorns is the title it sounds more like an actual expansion to the current. We will see I suppose.

There are numerous things this game has done well recently that I hope are expanded upon, namely:

- Silverwastes is well designed. It is a map that can house a lot of players working toward a simultaneous goal without it being a complete zergfest. We need more end game zones with simultaneous rewarding events that require coordination. The latest meta event only helps confirm that (bravo ANet).

- Fractals are a success, whether or not they’re enjoyed by as much of the player base as other content. They upscale. They’re relatively rewarding (although that’s another discussion). They’re generally well designed. More content like that would be nice.

- Collections are a huge addition that’s too often overlooked. I think the achievement-oriented progression that generally gives convenience items or aesthetic items but with a real sense of accomplishment is a winning formula. I am working on Exotic Hunter for the karmic converter and I know numerous guildies working toward Luminescent.

If the expansion is an end game content expansion similar to EoTN and expands upon these working elements, we will be happily surprised. If for some reason it is not an expansion (which makes the earnings numbers suspect) or it’s not going to continue building upon the end game experience, it’s going to be a failure.

This game is criticized for lack of end game more than anything. Thanks to Dry Top, Silverwastes, collections, and a few other changes, I’ve been able to at least halfway sell this game to my other gamer friends. Add a few more zones, dungeons, etc. on top of that and I think I could bring in half a dozen of my friends to play post-XPac.

It will be veterans re-energizing the game, not new subscribes from some marketing campaign. Let’s keep in mind that some other major MMOs didn’t see their player pops explode until after they released well-executed expansions. This is ANet’s opportunity, and we’ll either ride a winner that will be around for a decade plus or we’ll go down with the ship.

I’m optimistic.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Guild-Wars-2-Heart-of-Thorns-Trademarked-Merged/page/6#post4690918

Judging from comments outside of the game, if it’s free, people will treat it as if it doesn’t exist, just like everything added through the living story.

Jak.8627:

I’m kinda hoping it will be like the campaigns of GW1, but being that Heart of Thorns is the title it sounds more like an actual expansion to the current.

Back in the day prior to launch, when they talked about the possibilities of an expansion, they said they wouldn’t be doing standalone expansions like GW1 anymore. They found it to be a waste of resources having to recreate the basics of the game every time. Moving forward, any expansion will be more like a traditional expansion, even going as far as increasing the level cap, which they are open to.

If they do increase the level cap in this I can already see the talk about ascended equipment/gear treadmill popping up again.

As for price point, I can see them bundling the content in with the old base game for new players (in a new shiny box) and offering some kind of upgrade path for existing players. Part of me hopes that it is more than a price drop for existing players or if not more at least different.

I would hope it was paid n here are the following reasons :

1. Anet has a huge staff they need to make money esp since they have been providing us with great content between the expansion with living story (alot of people may not see it that way but each episode or each event that occured in living story lead up to this expansion if u had any foresight you would have seen it from the start they had a bigger plan for these mini episodes.
2. It is a game that is well over the box price u initially paid for and $50 or $80 is the average price u pay for rpgs these days so its not going to break ur wallet ($80 if they make a delux edition which I would buy into and maybe the collectors at 100+ if the extras are nice :P)
3. Making it paid for will allow them to get more money to support the team that would be working on the next expansion.

Wait for PAX South to find out.

Personally i really hope it’s gonna be a paid one, which will hopefully mean it’s a proper one: big, traditional expansion. Because if it’s free then it’s probably gonna be a smaller one.

If it would have a new landmass to discover, reworked weapons skills (a.k.a at least 3 to choose from for each slot), new dungeons (the Molten Facility kind of dungeons) and new sPvP modes…. I would buy it.

i would happily pay for a new big true expansion. we have been getting free living stories for more than 2 years now. not many companies are able to do that. time to repay ANet what they deserve. but of course, the content must be worth it.

Brahmincorle.1264:

If it would have a new landmass to discover, reworked weapons skills (a.k.a at least 3 to choose from for each slot), new dungeons (the Molten Facility kind of dungeons) and new sPvP modes…. I would buy it.

Your weapon skills rework is unlikely, as nice as it sounds on paper three choices for each weapon means 10-15 new skills per weapon set depending on how you count existing skills and on weapon heavy classes or for elementalist this would quickly grow to an unmanageable number.

Personally I will take a game with less variety and better or at least easier to manage balance as well as reduced overlap on skills between professions (since professions should retain their unique aspects).

The last two I can see happening, assuming ANet hasn’t completely abandoned the concept of regular dungeons.

Crise.9401:

If they do increase the level cap in this I can already see the talk about ascended equipment/gear treadmill popping up again.

As for price point, I can see them bundling the content in with the old base game for new players (in a new shiny box) and offering some kind of upgrade path for existing players. Part of me hopes that it is more than a price drop for existing players or if not more at least different.

I’m not worried if there’s a level cap increase or a new level of gear.

No one can rightfully call it an endless gear treadmill/hamster wheel if the hamster wheel was removed from the cage way back in 2013. Your hamster’s been getting a little pudgy since then. Its time to put that wheel back in the cage and let the thing exercise a little.

As for price….

30 dollars is my guess, 40 dollars will include season 2 of the living world. New people can pay 60 dollars and get the expansion, the original game, along with all of living story season 2.

Chrispy.5641:

No one can rightfully call it an endless gear treadmill/hamster wheel if the hamster wheel was removed from the cage way back in 2013. Your hamster’s been getting a little pudgy since then. Its time to put that wheel back in the cage and let the thing exercise a little.

I am not really worried either, but that is because I have three level 80’s mostly with the gear I want. However, despite your great analogy, invalidating the as of right now either very expensive or highly time gated ascended gear, without reworking their acquisition in some way doesn’t seem like a good idea.

Not necessarily because I wouldn’t be okay with it but because it goes against all the things the game was marketed with and the promises made when ascended gear was announced. There is no way new tiers of gear wouldn’t be seen a a net negative by a lot of the playerbase.

If they do increase the level cap I will certainly look forward to how they handle it but let’s just say I will likely stay away from community outlets for quite a while if they do.

If Anet is smart it will be a payed expansion. They have done things enough for free, and they could use some money for future projects.

Chrispy.5641:

Crise.9401:

If they do increase the level cap in this I can already see the talk about ascended equipment/gear treadmill popping up again.

As for price point, I can see them bundling the content in with the old base game for new players (in a new shiny box) and offering some kind of upgrade path for existing players. Part of me hopes that it is more than a price drop for existing players or if not more at least different.

I’m not worried if there’s a level cap increase or a new level of gear.

No one can rightfully call it an endless gear treadmill/hamster wheel if the hamster wheel was removed from the cage way back in 2013. Your hamster’s been getting a little pudgy since then. Its time to put that wheel back in the cage and let the thing exercise a little.

As for price….

30 dollars is my guess, 40 dollars will include season 2 of the living world. New people can pay 60 dollars and get the expansion, the original game, along with all of living story season 2.

I didn’t lke the ascended part but I can live with that, it was just once and they have a good reason for it but I would quit GW2 the instant I see that level cap has been increased and that I have to fix all my characters new gear. I doubt there will be a level increase though, expansion or not.

It will not be a traditional expansion. It will be an episodic expansion mainly based on the LW concept. Since this expansion concept is very important for Arenanet and they want to promote it intensively they registered the logo and the title for merchandising. At the beginning “Heart of the Thorns” will monetized via gem store. There will be heavy discounts for people logging in at the right time. After everything is released Arenanet will sell boxes where all features are bundled. There will also be collector’s editions with additional perks.

Belenwyn.8674:

It will not be a traditional expansion. It will be an episodic expansion mainly based on the LW concept. Since this expansion concept is very important for Arenanet and they want to promote it intensively they registered the logo and the title for merchandising. At the beginning “Heart of the Thorns” will monetized via gem store. There will be heavy discounts for people logging in at the right time. After everything is released Arenanet will sell boxes where all features are bundled. There will also be collector’s editions with additional perks.

Hmm I am not sure I will like an episodic expansion, I like to play my games at the time and convenience that suits me. Not timegated like the LS is now.

Belenwyn.8674:

It will not be a traditional expansion. It will be an episodic expansion mainly based on the LW concept. Since this expansion concept is very important for Arenanet and they want to promote it intensively they registered the logo and the title for merchandising. At the beginning “Heart of the Thorns” will monetized via gem store. There will be heavy discounts for people logging in at the right time. After everything is released Arenanet will sell boxes where all features are bundled. There will also be collector’s editions with additional perks.

Don’t write as if what you are stating is fact. We have no idea how they are going to do it, and that is a fact.

Crise.9401:

Chrispy.5641:

No one can rightfully call it an endless gear treadmill/hamster wheel if the hamster wheel was removed from the cage way back in 2013. Your hamster’s been getting a little pudgy since then. Its time to put that wheel back in the cage and let the thing exercise a little.

I am not really worried either, but that is because I have three level 80’s mostly with the gear I want. However, despite your great analogy, invalidating the as of right now either very expensive or highly time gated ascended gear, without reworking their acquisition in some way doesn’t seem like a good idea.

Not necessarily because I wouldn’t be okay with it but because it goes against all the things the game was marketed with and the promises made when ascended gear was announced. There is no way new tiers of gear wouldn’t be seen a a net negative by a lot of the playerbase.

If they do increase the level cap I will certainly look forward to how they handle it but let’s just say I will likely stay away from community outlets for quite a while if they do.

Every game redesigns the way progression works when they introduce a new level of gear/level cap, so its still relatively easy to hit whatever cap it in place, but to get the highest of the highest stats(by like 2%), it takes a little longer. That’s nothing to worry about.

I would still rather they not do it, but, there’s not really any justification for them to not do it, other than players getting mad that the gear they held for 2.5~3 years is suddenly obsolete. (2.5~3 years is a literal eternity by MMO standards for holding the same armor/gear/etc. unless its a game where gear stats mean almost nothing [such as GW1])

Its far more likely that Anet introduces more means of Horizontal progression (of which there have been many threads/CDI’s talking about the possibilities [new weapons, skills, subclass specializations, etc.])

Chrispy.5641:

Crise.9401:

Chrispy.5641:

No one can rightfully call it an endless gear treadmill/hamster wheel if the hamster wheel was removed from the cage way back in 2013. Your hamster’s been getting a little pudgy since then. Its time to put that wheel back in the cage and let the thing exercise a little.

I am not really worried either, but that is because I have three level 80’s mostly with the gear I want. However, despite your great analogy, invalidating the as of right now either very expensive or highly time gated ascended gear, without reworking their acquisition in some way doesn’t seem like a good idea.

Not necessarily because I wouldn’t be okay with it but because it goes against all the things the game was marketed with and the promises made when ascended gear was announced. There is no way new tiers of gear wouldn’t be seen a a net negative by a lot of the playerbase.

If they do increase the level cap I will certainly look forward to how they handle it but let’s just say I will likely stay away from community outlets for quite a while if they do.

Every game redesigns the way progression works when they introduce a new level of gear/level cap, so its still relatively easy to hit whatever cap it in place, but to get the highest of the highest stats(by like 2%), it takes a little longer. That’s nothing to worry about.

I would still rather they not do it, but, there’s not really any justification for them to not do it, other than players getting mad that the gear they held for 2.5~3 years is suddenly obsolete. (2.5~3 years is a literal eternity by MMO standards for holding the same armor/gear/etc. unless its a game where gear stats mean almost nothing [such as GW1])

Its far more likely that Anet introduces more means of Horizontal progression (of which there have been many threads/CDI’s talking about the possibilities [new weapons, skills, subclass specializations, etc.])

The funny thing is that I havent been using the same Gear for 2-3 years, I have been changing the looks now and then and I have even got me new gear for different stats to try new stuff…

Well here is why not to raise level cap.

- They have to re-balance the whole game to fit with the new levels for both WvW and PvP.
- They would have to do new gear and most probably new visuals on the gear.
- They would need to make crafting one tier higher atleast and also make new tier of crafting materials.
- They would need to balance all now level 80 zones to scale correctly or make them at the new level cap.
- Levels have no meaning in GW2 as it is only a tutorial of the game before you start the game at level 80 just as GW1 had it to level 20.

I am in a hurry now and cant finnish this list but there are mutch more reasons in my opinion to why not raise level cap.

Anet did not increase the level in any of there previous expansions/stand alones. What they did instead give another means of getting stronger by creating PvE only skills that gor stronger by getting a higher level in that particular area. Like Luxon/kurzick rank that made your skill more powerfull.

whatever they do, i hope no companion/hero system will be introduced…. they are bad in terms of social aspect of the game….

azizul.8469:

whatever they do, i hope no companion/hero system will be introduced…. they are bad in terms of social aspect of the game….

They most likely won’t do that. It was a feature they were talking about before GW2 was released initially, and it was scrapped. So they’ve most likely completely gotten rid of the idea.

I would not mind increasing the level cap but only if the exotic and ascended weapons that are currently at level 80 get bumped to that particular level. Otherwise, if new gear needs to be made, then it will be bad. Really bad…

Overall I think it would be best if they did not increase the level cap at all.

I think it would be wiser to keep the level cap the same but increase the amount of trait trees we can max by giving us like 2-4 more trait points…which is quite simple…that could be the new way of ascension too…making a huge difference pve wise between regular 80s and ascended 80s. OR we could aquire these trait points by just doing stuff in HOT.

SkyFallsInThunder.8257:

I would not mind increasing the level cap but only if the exotic and ascended weapons that are currently at level 80 get bumped to that particular level. Otherwise, if new gear needs to be made, then it will be bad. Really bad…

Overall I think it would be best if they did not increase the level cap at all.

At which point there’s no point increasing the level cap. But I agree, that would be the only thing that would make it acceptable. But it’s completely unnecessary. Vertical progression is not needed and it only enrages large portions of the player base and pushes end goals further away from new players, which is not what Anet wants at all.

I think they fear that less people will buy the new expansion than the original if there is a paid expansion. But they could just release a bundle together with the original game with a normal price tag.

About the features: I would welcome a level cap increase, but would be fine if it stays status quo. But there should be title hunting with reputation like in GW1, I liked that a lot and there is something to do after reaching level cap. That’s one of the biggest issues with this game: nothing really to do after you reached level cap progression wise.

As of ascended gear: it’s good, I liked it. It took me a while to have a full ascended character, but now I am happy with it. It’s fine the tier is now more than 2 years old, if they introduce something new with a new level cap, well they should go on. There is really a gap between players who say they have nothing to do after reaching 80 and those who complain that there is a (ridiculously low) gear treadmill with ONE added new tier of gear.

I hope of course there will be a new class, and a new race to a lesser extent (Tengu). Of course whole new landmass, the best would be somthing similar to Cantha or Elona – one can dream…

Belenwyn.8674:

It will not be a traditional expansion. It will be an episodic expansion mainly based on the LW concept. Since this expansion concept is very important for Arenanet and they want to promote it intensively they registered the logo and the title for merchandising. At the beginning “Heart of the Thorns” will monetized via gem store. There will be heavy discounts for people logging in at the right time. After everything is released Arenanet will sell boxes where all features are bundled. There will also be collector’s editions with additional perks.

I really hope you are wrong, but unfortunately i have to agree that it’s the most probable scenario here.

I personally hope it is a paid expansion. I’ve seen what “free” expansions offer and they are usually limited in scope and have a ton of paywalls to new features. Paid expansions offer much much more content and no paywalls.

If it ends up being “free” that’ll throw some water on income predictions. If it’s gem store only, that’s a different set of problems. Gold rich cheap players will drive the gem price up while cash rich players clean up converting to gold. Whether the two balance out, who knows. Personally I’m guessing it’ll be in the website’s shop and “expansion” cards similar to gem cards. You don’t need to ship media and stores don’t need a lot of shelf space to offer it.

If payed I hope it will be released in february Would make a great birthday present ^^

My guess —

Price: $40 (cash only, gem option for ‘collectors edition’ fluff)
Release: earliest March, most likely April, latest August.
No bundles until at least 1 year after release, so summer 2016 you may see a Guild Wars + expansion fire sale.

Chrispy.5641:

Every game redesigns the way progression works when they introduce a new level of gear/level cap, so its still relatively easy to hit whatever cap it in place, but to get the highest of the highest stats(by like 2%), it takes a little longer. That’s nothing to worry about.

Quite the opposite, that’s everything to be worried about. I didn’t put a lot of effort into obtaining ascended gear for my characters (and not even all of them, i’m still way off that point) only to have all that effort invalidated for a new turn of the hamster wheel.
More importantly, i was already seriously put off at the ascended inroduction to the game, and am able to swallow it somehow only because it was an one time event. Changing level cap and/or introducing a new gear tier would make that one-time event into a recurring one, which is something i do not wish to see. It would make me quit this game on the spot.

I’ll actually be pretty unhappy if it’s paid. How is that in any way a new framework for MMO’s to expand their universes? It doesn’t add up. Not to mention a paid expansion would divide the playerbase into two groups, one of which does not have the new content.

I read a good article explaining how it could be a free expansion, and they could release it in stores at the price of the original game, and include the original game for free along with it. More realistically, that’s just re-branding the game with the new content so it gets all the publicity that a paid expansion would get. Dunno if that’s what they’ll do, but it’s entirely feasible.

It’s not an expansion, it’s just more Living World. Anyone who expects differently is being deluded. There is absolutely nothing about the trailer that even remotely indicates anything more than Season 3

Guys, i love A-net for awesome customer service and this game (albeit i will kitten and moan when they pull something horrendous like NPE), but fact are FACTS and let’s not colorize reality here.

A-net has not been giving “us” content for free, as the gemstore does gets its sales all the time. Some of us who never used it can say they got it for free. Rest of us have thrown money at A-net since the day of purchas one way or another.

That being said i’m not saying the deal isn’t great, but let’s present the real picture here.

Kal Spiro.9745:

It’s not an expansion, it’s just more Living World. Anyone who expects differently is being deluded. There is absolutely nothing about the trailer that even remotely indicates anything more than Season 3

Quote related to the “Heart of Thornes” pax presentation: “Living World was just the beginning”
.. a 90 min presentation at the MAIN stage ..
The fact that they’ve trademarked “Heart of Thornes” ..
These all reasons to believe it’s very possible we will see an expansion soon.
It will def be big, not just a preview of living story season 3, no way ..

jokke.6239:

Kal Spiro.9745:

It’s not an expansion, it’s just more Living World. Anyone who expects differently is being deluded. There is absolutely nothing about the trailer that even remotely indicates anything more than Season 3

Quote related to the “Heart of Thornes” pax presentation: “Living World was just the beginning”
.. a 90 min presentation at the MAIN stage ..
The fact that they’ve trademarked “Heart of Thornes” ..
These all reasons to believe it’s very possible we will see an expansion soon.
It will def be big, not just a preview of living story season 3, no way ..

Prepare to be disappointed.

Kal Spiro.9745:

jokke.6239:

Kal Spiro.9745:

It’s not an expansion, it’s just more Living World. Anyone who expects differently is being deluded. There is absolutely nothing about the trailer that even remotely indicates anything more than Season 3

Quote related to the “Heart of Thornes” pax presentation: “Living World was just the beginning”
.. a 90 min presentation at the MAIN stage ..
The fact that they’ve trademarked “Heart of Thornes” ..
These all reasons to believe it’s very possible we will see an expansion soon.
It will def be big, not just a preview of living story season 3, no way ..

Prepare to be disappointed.

Expansion or not, it’s definitely more than Living Story, as per the “just the beginning” quote.

Kal Spiro.9745:

jokke.6239:

Kal Spiro.9745:

It’s not an expansion, it’s just more Living World. Anyone who expects differently is being deluded. There is absolutely nothing about the trailer that even remotely indicates anything more than Season 3

Quote related to the “Heart of Thornes” pax presentation: “Living World was just the beginning”
.. a 90 min presentation at the MAIN stage ..
The fact that they’ve trademarked “Heart of Thornes” ..
These all reasons to believe it’s very possible we will see an expansion soon.
It will def be big, not just a preview of living story season 3, no way ..

Prepare to be disappointed.

It may well end up being disappointing, that is always an option with Anet. Still, the fact that all the other registered GW names were names of basic games and GW1 campaigns/expansions does suggest they at least plan it to be something big. Not just a LS.
I still can be wrong, of course. It’s Anet we’re talking about, after all.