Guild Wars 2

EDIT: I understand the frustration and perception that new players will get more than ‘veteran players’ for the same money. It’s fairly evident. However, do not be surprised to see an eventual “fourth tier” purchase option (possibly with the physical edition-if there is one) that will be priced possibly below the Basic pre-order that includes ONLY the expansion material. However, depending on how things are coded it may not be a possibility

So there’s been some back and forth as of yesterday regarding the pricing of the upcoming expansion and whether or not Anet is “ripping people off”. Many players are claiming that, yes Anet is ripping off people. But the math says otherwise.

So what do we know? We know that you can purchase a gem card with 2400 gems for $25.00 which pegs the cost of a SINGLE gem at roughly $1.00 U.S. (if you round up).

So where does this take us? Well, doing the math, it’s pretty interesting.

NOTE: all prices are in dollars U.S. and based on an average of similar items in the gem store

Let’s look at what we get with the fully upgraded version which is a cost of $99.99 U.S. ($100.00 U.S. rounded up):

We get 4000 gems which is a cost of $40.00 U.S.

We also receive an exclusive Mini which is (based on an average cost of the minis in the game store) $3.65

There’s also the glider skin (again, based off an average cost of skins in the gem store) which costs $5.40

The finisher which is $7.18

The Character Slot is worth $8.00

All of these goodies (and who doesn’t like those?) come up to a total of $64.23 U.S.

In addition, there is also the inclusion of the base game at a cost (presuming the cost is the same as the base expansion upon release) of $50.00 U.S.

That, friends, is a staggering total of $114.23 U.S. all of which we’re purchasing for $100.00 U.S.

Does that sound like a huge discount? Not really. But consider this for a second:
According to a Reddit from 06/25 it is speculated that GW2 has as many as 460,000 concurrent users (source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/29xuvj/how_big_is_the_player_base/)

Imagine that for a second. If you do the math (presuming everyone purchases the super awesome deluxe upgrade package), ANet takes a MASSIVE bath on this! Do the math yourself!

460,000 (presumed concurrent active playerbase) multiplied by 14.24(the difference between actual cost of extras and the cost off the expansion).

So is HoT a rip-off? Not even close.

However, there is also the issue of ‘legacy’ or ‘veteran players’ and rewards for them. This is a pretty easy one to answer though it’s also equally easy to overlook. For three years, people have been able to purchase all the character slots they need, thus the argument that players ‘deserve’ an extra character slot is rendered moot. After all, what happens if you’re already maxed out on those slots as of now? Bingo.

But more importantly there’s also the ease by which veteran players will be able to take their presumably brand new Revenant into the new content. To put some perspective on this: I’ve spent the past week playing Unrated Arena (the Balthazar track, which I finished last night; HOORAY FOR ME!). In doing this, I’ve accumulated 45 Tomes of Knowledge which is over HALFWAY to max level. Two more weeks or slightly under that, and I’ll have MORE than enough to auto-level my Revenant to max and jump right in. Newer players, by contrast will not have that advantage. So, for all intents and purposes, Veteran Players will be WELL ahead of the curve in terms of experiencing the newer stuff.

There’s also crafting to be considered as well. Though I haven’t even begun to touch it myself, I’ve seen players in Ascended armor already. You have the mats or the capability of obtaining those mats far more easily than the new player to fully gear out your newly leveled (by virtue of stockpiled ToK) in the best gear available in the game.

On top of that, you have the daily log in rewards which have been accumulating.

So to the Veterans you HAVE been rewarded and quite diligently at that (coming from the perspective of a still newb player). The problem as I see it is this: You just, perhaps, haven’t realized how well you’ve been rewarded because it doesn’t have “Veteran Reward!!!!” stamped on it in big, bold letters.

TL,DR: ANet is taking a massive bath on the expansion release; it’s the furthest thing FROM a rip-off. Regarding “Veteran Rewards”; you’ve already been rewarded for your loyalty to this game. A reward doesn’t need “Veteran Reward” stamped on it to make it such.

You should get your informations straight before you write wrong stuff

First you added the 50$ for the core game. We the player have the core game! So your total is wrong, actually it is 64.23$ for the ultimate edition. No player would complain about that price!!! (Of course the 100$ are fine for new player, but that are not 460.000! 460.000 have paid their 50$ already!)

Second, so it is a ripp-off to veterans.

Third, veterans have been able to purchase the extra charslot for 3 years??? Yes of course, but what does it matter if I paid 10$ 3 years ago for a revenant charslot or if I have to pay it again now? Revenant comes with HoT, so it should be price inclueded for all veterans that buy HoT and not cost another 10$.

Fourth point you said yourself. You accumulated 45 ToK in one week… So every new player buying HoT can play gw2 core game right after purchase and get enough ToK until HoT.

Fifth is crafting, well did you consider that veterans might have to get all the materials too? Where is there any advantage?

Sixt the daily log in rewards only exist since ~5 month and you only get them if you log in daily. Where the hell is that any advantage that has a value to ripping of 50$ from veterans (at ultimate edition).

Seriously I don’t get how you can have such a mindtwist…. there is NO reward for veteran loyality at all. But it are the veterans which paid and were loyal to gw2 so that people like you can still buy and play it after 3 years!

No one cares that you have played the game since release.

Faulty math math for current players Huggywuggles.

Bomber has this right.

This post is dead.

Bomber.3872:

You should get your informations straight before you write wrong stuff

First you added the 50$ for the core game. We the player have the core game! So your total is wrong, actually it is 64.23$ for the ultimate edition. No player would complain about that price!!! (Of course the 100$ are fine for new player, but that are not 460.000! 460.000 have paid their 50$ already!)

Second, so it is a ripp-off to veterans.

Third, veterans have been able to purchase the extra charslot for 3 years??? Yes of course, but what does it matter if I paid 10$ 3 years ago for a revenant charslot or if I have to pay it again now? Revenant comes with HoT, so it should be price inclueded for all veterans that buy HoT and not cost another 10$.

Fourth point you said yourself. You accumulated 45 ToK in one week… So every new player buying HoT can play gw2 core game right after purchase and get enough ToK until HoT.

Fifth is crafting, well did you consider that veterans might have to get all the materials too? Where is there any advantage?

Sixt the daily log in rewards only exist since ~5 month and you only get them if you log in daily. Where the hell is that any advantage that has a value to ripping of 50$ from veterans (at ultimate edition).

Seriously I don’t get how you can have such a mindtwist…. there is NO reward for veteran loyality at all. But it are the veterans which paid and were loyal to gw2 so that people like you can still buy and play it after 3 years!

Wrong-o about the pricing structure (kind of).

Here’s the thing: This is the pricing for EVERYTHING (including the base game) that is included in the price. If Anet were to profit off of this than the marketing would be at least discounting the base game but still selling it. Therefore, the pricing stands though the cost is theoretical only.

Ergo: Regardless of what you already have, the TOTAL cost of all that is included in the Expansion is correct. Thus the Ultimate version is going to be sold at a loss to Anet.

Granted, it doesn’t make sense to sell it on it’s own (I haven’t looked at the base $50.00 expansion to see whether or not it includes the base game or not so it may be a moot point). However, this is why I suspect they’re selling in three tiers.

1) Base expansion, no frills

2) Medium expansion, some frills

3) Ultimate expansion get all the goodies.

It’s basic marketing. Using your reasoning, that would be like asking your local appliance retailer to knock off the washer upgrade you want because you already have a functioning washing machine. Life and retail doesn’t work that way.

the questions you need to ask yourself are:

will you most likely buy HoT anyways?
do you want in on the betas?
do you want some exclusive in game bling?
do you buy gems?

if the answer to all 4 is yes, the ultimate is really the only way to go. cuz of the gems.
if even one of those is a no, go with the basic or wait till after a couple of the betas before you decide, cuz youll be able to get the bling with gems if you really want it ( = in game gold).
if you arent even sure if you want HoT… well… then… wait till release at a minimum and ignore all the kittening on here and reddit cuz its just a bunch of kittening.

deluxe should prolly be ignored no matter what cuz of those gems on ultimate.

It’s not just math. It’s perception.

Brand new and shiny new player in checkout line. To cashier, “Basic expansion please.”
Cashier: “Here you go. One complete vanilla game with 31 maps. 24 dungeons. A couple of thousand armor and weapon skins. 5 character slots, and the expansion. That will be 50 dollars”

Rusty, crusty old player (who has played Guild Wars 1 for years and Guild Wars 2 for a year or two). To cashier, “Basic expansion please.”
Cashier: “Here you go, one basic expansion. 50 dollars.”
Rusty, crusty old player. “Ummmm. Does that even come with a character slot? You know, to play that new profession they’ve been hyping?”
Cashier: “Oh yeah, I forgot.” Pulls out character slot, slaps it on the table. “That’s 10 more dollars, for a total of sixty dollars.”
Rusty, crusty old player: "No meal, no flowers, no candy and no lube before I got [BEEP].

insanemaniac.2456:

the questions you need to ask yourself are:

will you most likely buy HoT anyways?
do you want in on the betas?
do you want some exclusive in game bling?
do you buy gems?

if the answer to all 4 is yes, the ultimate is really the only way to go. cuz of the gems.
if even one of those is a no, go with the basic or wait till after a couple of the betas before you decide, cuz youll be able to get the bling with gems if you really want it ( = in game gold).
if you arent even sure if you want HoT… well… then… wait till release at a minimum and ignore all the kittening on here and reddit cuz its just a bunch of kittening.

deluxe should prolly be ignored no matter what cuz of those gems on ultimate.

Exactly. There is a lot of perceived value in these expansions. But you get that with other MMO’s as well. If you’ve ever played WoW, you know you generally get an art book, maybe a CD and a mount/pet. None of these things have any intrinsic value beyond what they mean on a personal basis to an individual player.

Good call!

I’m going to double down and say this particular offer is targeted ENTIRELY at new players and I can see Anet possibly offering what I call a “fourth tier” option (maybe two which would make it fourth and fifth) that include the perks and no perks at reduced costs compared to what we see on the pre-order MINUS the base game…unless coding prevents separating the two.