Guild Wars 2

Jairyn.6913:

…then you really need a better gem shop.

Suddenly, ANet cares about vertical progression, and many say this is because they need those players for business purposes. I rather think, if the payout of BLTC was lower than expected, it might have to do with the offerings being terrible.

The #1 item for GW1 sales were costumes, we know this is also true for LOTRO – their biggest sellers are cloaks and dresses. The sparkle pony raked in extra millions for WoW.

So we get a cash shop of nonsensical town clothes, useless boosters, and hideously ugly gear available on an RNG basis from chests. No wonder it isn’t selling. Put in things that are worth buying and make that purchase guaranteed, and I promise the money will come rolling in.

Absolutely true +1

They have sold over 2 M I L L I O N copies … why on earth do lemmings think they need money already. For those too lazy to do the simple math that is 120 million dollars based on the CHEAPEST version of the game only. I would happily bet they are closer to 1/4 of a billion already and climbing steadily with Christmas approaching.

Do not kid yourself into thinking the dev team makes anywhere near that. WoW brain washed an entire generation into thinking a monthly sub was needed to keep a game alive and making content … box sales pay for that and more. The cash shop is about greed not need. Thank the shareholders for that.

leprekan.7248:

They have sold over 2 M I L L I O N copies … why on earth do lemmings think they need money already. For those too lazy to do the simple math that is 120 million dollars based on the CHEAPEST version of the game only. I would happily bet they are closer to 1/4 of a billion already and climbing steadily with Christmas approaching.

Do not kid yourself into thinking the dev team makes anywhere near that. WoW brain washed an entire generation into thinking a monthly sub was needed to keep a game alive and making content … box sales pay for that and more. The cash shop is about greed not need. Thank the shareholders for that.

Of that $120,000,000 (ish) how much do you think goes back into on-going development costs, how much is absorbed into the publishing company and is never spent on anything Arena Net are currently working on.

A lot of it will also be re-invested back in to cover the development costs from the original development. Rough example, EA barely broke even with the initial box costs on SWoTOR (Though that cost ridiculously more, it illustrates my point). EA even said prior to launch they needed to sell X amount of copies to just break even, let alone make a profit.

The gem store covers on-going costs after the initial cash influx.

They wont make much money on cosmetics if town clothes continues to work the way that they do. People arent bothering to switch to TC in cities. Why pay cash for something that you wont bother using.

Pants.8315:

leprekan.7248:

They have sold over 2 M I L L I O N copies … why on earth do lemmings think they need money already. For those too lazy to do the simple math that is 120 million dollars based on the CHEAPEST version of the game only. I would happily bet they are closer to 1/4 of a billion already and climbing steadily with Christmas approaching.

Do not kid yourself into thinking the dev team makes anywhere near that. WoW brain washed an entire generation into thinking a monthly sub was needed to keep a game alive and making content … box sales pay for that and more. The cash shop is about greed not need. Thank the shareholders for that.

Of that $120,000,000 (ish) how much do you think goes back into on-going development costs, how much is absorbed into the publishing company and is never spent on anything Arena Net are currently working on.

A lot of it will also be re-invested back in to cover the development costs from the original development. Rough example, EA barely broke even with the initial box costs on SWoTOR (Though that cost ridiculously more, it illustrates my point). EA even said prior to launch they needed to sell X amount of copies to just break even, let alone make a profit.

The gem store covers on-going costs after the initial cash influx.

Anet sold around 7 million boxes of the first 4 chapters … basic math again … over 300 mil. We ALL saw the offices of Anet before launch and most of us have better PCs than what they created the game on. Are you implying the staff is so well paid that half a billion doesn’t meet their needs?

This is corporate GREED not need. I am old enough to remember when software and games shipped and WORKED because patching over the Internet wasn’t really an option. Those companies still managed to make money ….

Gem store is a money grab no more no less. Sadly, Anet is now creating events with the intent of making money from them instead of love of the game and fan appreciation. How they were in GW1 is why I have happily contributed to their cause and sold as many people as I could get to listen on the integrity of this company. With the direction I see them taking now … I am embarrassed that I did.

I’ve been saying the same thing for a while too. Currently once I’ve bought my character slots and bank and inventory space, there is nothing in that shop that I want to buy.

I mean, I might buy a pet but I will not be put in the hands of RNG and buy packs of pets and hope to get one I like. I might buy some dye, but same goes, I’m not prepared to gamble with RNG in the hope I’ll get something I need. I’m not prepared to gamble with chests so I will not buy keys or consortium chests. I’m not going to buy 2012 products like a beanie hat and sunglasses for a fantasy game, it breaks all immersion.

Add some proper items so that I can get them without playing the RNG game. The problem is with the current setup is that they rely on people having a gambling addiction in order to keep selling items.

1. Get the costumes the way they were in GW1 (unlock per account, get unlocked costume as often as u want, wearable as a skin in every part of the world)
2. Get rid of that vertical progression
=> Shut up and take my money!

The way it is now: No ty.

I’ve spend €80 (approx. $102) in the cash shop until now, that’s way more than what I would have paid for a subscription based MMORPG. That’s in addition to the purchase of a digital deluxe version of the game of course.

I won’t give one more cent to the shop until I’m 100% sure there will not be another layer of gear above ascended, and also that ascended gear will be available through all the play styles of the game (dungeon, but also crafting and WvW). If they don’t do that, if they add another layer or if the process to get ascended gear through other means is so much of a grind that no sane person would do it, then I will keep on playing occasionally (eating a logging spot and bandwidth), but I will NEVER ever spend one more cent in the shop.

Vote with your wallet. That’s the only way.

leprekan.7248:

Pants.8315:

leprekan.7248:

They have sold over 2 M I L L I O N copies … why on earth do lemmings think they need money already. For those too lazy to do the simple math that is 120 million dollars based on the CHEAPEST version of the game only. I would happily bet they are closer to 1/4 of a billion already and climbing steadily with Christmas approaching.

Do not kid yourself into thinking the dev team makes anywhere near that. WoW brain washed an entire generation into thinking a monthly sub was needed to keep a game alive and making content … box sales pay for that and more. The cash shop is about greed not need. Thank the shareholders for that.

Of that $120,000,000 (ish) how much do you think goes back into on-going development costs, how much is absorbed into the publishing company and is never spent on anything Arena Net are currently working on.

A lot of it will also be re-invested back in to cover the development costs from the original development. Rough example, EA barely broke even with the initial box costs on SWoTOR (Though that cost ridiculously more, it illustrates my point). EA even said prior to launch they needed to sell X amount of copies to just break even, let alone make a profit.

The gem store covers on-going costs after the initial cash influx.

Anet sold around 7 million boxes of the first 4 chapters … basic math again … over 300 mil. We ALL saw the offices of Anet before launch and most of us have better PCs than what they created the game on. Are you implying the staff is so well paid that half a billion doesn’t meet their needs?

This is corporate GREED not need. I am old enough to remember when software and games shipped and WORKED because patching over the Internet wasn’t really an option. Those companies still managed to make money ….

Gem store is a money grab no more no less. Sadly, Anet is now creating events with the intent of making money from them instead of love of the game and fan appreciation. How they were in GW1 is why I have happily contributed to their cause and sold as many people as I could get to listen on the integrity of this company. With the direction I see them taking now … I am embarrassed that I did.

No I’m implying that you simply aren’t factoring in the development costs of the games themselves. Which come out of the initial box sales.

Your also somehow missing that the developer will never see a large proportion of the revenue, as it will go to the publishers. Even if Anet are owned by their publishers, NCSoft aren’t going to re-invest all of the revenue into Anet.

leprekan.7248:

Pants.8315:

leprekan.7248:

They have sold over 2 M I L L I O N copies … why on earth do lemmings think they need money already. For those too lazy to do the simple math that is 120 million dollars based on the CHEAPEST version of the game only. I would happily bet they are closer to 1/4 of a billion already and climbing steadily with Christmas approaching.

Do not kid yourself into thinking the dev team makes anywhere near that. WoW brain washed an entire generation into thinking a monthly sub was needed to keep a game alive and making content … box sales pay for that and more. The cash shop is about greed not need. Thank the shareholders for that.

Of that $120,000,000 (ish) how much do you think goes back into on-going development costs, how much is absorbed into the publishing company and is never spent on anything Arena Net are currently working on.

A lot of it will also be re-invested back in to cover the development costs from the original development. Rough example, EA barely broke even with the initial box costs on SWoTOR (Though that cost ridiculously more, it illustrates my point). EA even said prior to launch they needed to sell X amount of copies to just break even, let alone make a profit.

The gem store covers on-going costs after the initial cash influx.

Anet sold around 7 million boxes of the first 4 chapters … basic math again … over 300 mil. We ALL saw the offices of Anet before launch and most of us have better PCs than what they created the game on. Are you implying the staff is so well paid that half a billion doesn’t meet their needs?

This is corporate GREED not need. I am old enough to remember when software and games shipped and WORKED because patching over the Internet wasn’t really an option. Those companies still managed to make money ….

Gem store is a money grab no more no less. Sadly, Anet is now creating events with the intent of making money from them instead of love of the game and fan appreciation. How they were in GW1 is why I have happily contributed to their cause and sold as many people as I could get to listen on the integrity of this company. With the direction I see them taking now … I am embarrassed that I did.

There’s this funny idea people have about games needing cash shops or else they wouldn’t be able to keep their servers going.

It’s the same sort of thinking that WoW players go through with their subs when something like less than 1% of their subs go towards server upkeep.

I think they should add options to change hair style or maybe even the physical attributes/race of your character to the gem store, but other than that, I like that it isn’t bloated with crap (and consequently that the game isn’t bloated with crap).

I truly do not understand why there are not more exclusive cash shop armor skins.

Things I think people would buy:

- Emotes (imagine how selling the Thriller dance during Halloween would have turned out)

- Armor/Weapon skins (Sell the ones you have in chests on the cash shop while adding an aura or effect from those found in chests)

- Costumes

- Housing (Really? GET ON IT)

- Guild Hall decorations once guild halls are implemented

They’re going to go the simple route.

Cash for gems for gold.

Gold can be use to pay forbitems for those grindy Ascended recipes. Gold can be used to pay people to pull you through obviously gated content. Gold can be used for just about anything.

The gem for gold thing is entirely about the biggest reward for the least effort. Why make new content for free? Why not put in some restrictions that be circumvented easily enough wih enough coin?

It’s going to be funny to start seeing these kinds of shouts in LA

Group lf1m for fractal level 20 required or 5 gold.
You know it’s coming.

Robbyx.1284:

Its more than just clothes…they need a proper wardrobe re-design, like LOTRO has…who the hell wants to buy clothes for one outfit that cant be changed and is lost if you upgrade your armour/clothes…….Turbine tried that with DDO and it was a massive failure.

With the wardrobe you get 3 or 4 free slots per character, 20 account wide slots for clothing, extra space for both character and account can be bought from the gem store.
Honestly, why havent you Anet guys done your own research and why dont you have this done already……clothing options are the biggest sellers behind actual content in MMO’s……its blindly obvious that behind the pretty graphics you havent put much effort into this game at all.

they did their research and found they can leach more money off you by forcing you to give up one outfit for another which makes you constantly need to…

A) Grind out multiple of the same set of gear to have more than one look

B) Purchase the same sets over and over when you want to just change your look

C) It was easier than working in a layering system much like LoTR system uses

Think of the money they’ll save when everyone is funneled, finally, into Fractals and they can shut down every zone & server except for FotM and LA!

Morrigan.2809:

I bought a bank slot, the Witch costume for Halloween and some BL salvage kits, Fine Transmute stones.
I deleted my town clothes because they are hideous no matter how you dye them.
I really wanted to support this game but that was all I could realistically buy.

It there where:
character customization.
new hairstyles
new emotes/dances
costumes/town clothes
armor skins/weapon skins
heck even player housing

People would throw money at the cash shop in a never ending stream.

i totally agree for this but very sad true is that Anet dont have any idea how to make gemstore profitable and good for the players. they dont even get customization items that exist allready into the game sign

First of all, I find it amusing that people even think a company sees all the money a product sells for. Does anybody honestly think NCSoft made $60 per copy of the game sold?

Not even if it was purchased and downloaded directly from them. And the box copies bought from retailers yield the smallest amount back to them of all. Let’s see you have the cost of materials, printers, fabrication costs, etc. and then the cost of distributing the game to the retailers. And do you think retailers selling a $60 game pay $60 for it? Sure, they just sell stuff as a public service. They don’t need to make any money.

And to think the amount they actually receive is going to keep the game running forever. Excuse me while I stop laughing. What about the costs of the game development and the hardware to allow gamers to access it (servers, etc)? Those must be free too, huh? And to think all the money left stays with the game is just silly. The parent company is going to take a portion to pay it’s employees, fund future games, etc.

So after all is said and done, the game better make some money on it’s own pretty fast or it’s going down in a ball of fire, unless of course the parent company is making so much money elsewhere that it needs a tax write-off. NCSoft doesn’t have that problem, in fact they are largely counting on GW2 to pull them out of monetary slide.

That said, it is totally mind-boggling to me that a game which NEEDS to make money via the cash shop, has a pitiful one at best, and the game is also starting to cater to the group of people who spend the least amount in the cash shop. Both are entirely counterintuitive and lead me to believe that somebody in charge either needs to go back to business school, is a few crayons short of a full box, or both.

Myriads of high selling items have been posted above, and some of those were even listed on websites as planned for the cash shop long before Halloween, but they never materialized. With a puzzled look, I ask why? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that if you need to sell things, you sell things people want to buy, and you cater everything you possibly can to those people who are buying from you.

I guess they just never heard the phrase “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”