Guild Wars 2

It would be like putting lipstick on a pig at this point. The game mechanics are widely different from the two games as well as the business model and vision it seems.

Isn’t that always the way with sequels though…

Seems to me this isn’t a question of “have to” go F2P as much as it is “Want to”

Simply put, expansions are a great way to bring returning players to your game, but an awful way to bring new players.

So what if you basically make the new player investment cost the same regardless of when they start, and not ask them to cought up an ever increasing amount of money to get involved in your game (and hopefully start buying gems)?

This is basically the “less is more” strategy that has worked very will with mobile developers (which is also where the f2p model was refined in to the version we see in modern MMOs today) in which you expect to make more money selling at a lower price, because a lower price is more enticing to potential customers.

In addition, offering customers some sort of preview or trial increases the liklihood they’ll pick up your product.

It’s really just smart economics.

Right. I logged into the forums expecting to find a kittenstorm.

I am not an avid GW2 player. I played more in the beta weekends before release + first few months of release than I did in the whole 3 years, I don’t feel like I was cheated of my money, I played years earlier than the people now playing for free. That’s fine.

Before Guild Wars 2 I played Guild Wars 1 for many years and several thousands of hours.
Personally, GW2 never struck a chord with me. As has been said ad nauseam , there’s virtually no PvE content to speak of (high end I mean) and I don’t have the patience/desire to farm cosmetic items. Again, that’s just me, I’m not a big fan of this game. I can log in occasionally but it never captures my interest for more than a couple hours.

Here’s what’s not fine:

A. People who bought the game recently, who paid for something that’s now totally free
B. People like me (perhaps who enjoy GW2 more) who bought the game initially can now think, well why should I buy heart of thorns if it’s going to be free by the time the next expac is out.
C.Living world content I never wanted/asked for/enjoyed is being used to justify my, now meaningless, purchase.

I don’t feel like I’ve been cheated of money and whatnot as some dramatic individuals like to claim, thats just BS, it’s 50 euros if you bought at launch. Suck it up, you won’t die of hunger because of the game.

Instead think of the precedent it sets, think of what YOU want and expect from the GW2 and make your purchase based on that.

Not having enjoyed GW2 I’m unlikely to buy HoT, at least not at full price, and the decision to make the original F2P didn’t affect that choice.

I absolutely do think keeping the game behind a paywall, even if heavily discounted like the original Guild Wars by the time EotN was out, would have been the better thing to do, but oh well. I also think living story was a bad/dull idea, the dungeons needed lots more work and that the game overall feels stale. Vote with your wallet. That’s the only thing you’re really entitled to.

PS: Just to put this into context, I have NEVER spent a PENNY in the in-game store. Not in GW2, not in World of Warcraft, not in any game, ever, have I spent a DIME for cosmetic items or XP potions or whatnot. I’m just not interested.

F2P players can get laurels trough AP rewards.

kamedin.4698:

It seems like GW1 was a great game since it did not have to go F2P just to get people interested in it. Maybe Anet needs to invest some time into what made it successful and bring it over to GW2.

Actually… GW1 never had enough players to justify such a move. Numbers are not announced, but looking at how long it took GW1 to reach 1 million copies sold, and hearing GW2 has sold over 5 millions copies ion the first 3 years, I think you can say that GW1 actually never reached the 5 million copies at all

So it was not so succesfull as you think.
I loved both games, but what worked for GW1 will not work for GW2.

Yeah, the F2P move had nothing to do with how good or bad the game was. It was a marketing trick, and in willing to bet, very successful. It’s something I’ve urged for a long time for sake of PvP, but with the expansion, it fit very well for the broader game as well, so that’s great.

They are adding things that people enjoy in traditional MMOs. Raiding is one of the biggest. And it will give people the ability to play something other than the face roll zerker comps, which will be a big enjoyment burst for a lot of players. Endgame was much of what was killing this game, but that’s what they’re adding. Best we can do now is hope there is longevity in it and they have a decent means of allowing people to access it so it isn’t forgotten about like dungeons.

Taku.6352:

F2P players can get laurels trough AP rewards.

https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/95982157

No they can’t
You get laurels from the daily login chest. These are blocked for F2P
The daily tasks (that reward AP’s) don’t reward laurels.

He is probably talking about these.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Achievement_rewards

I like the idea of GW2 core came to go F2P. it is easier for us now to recommend this game to our friends, co-workers, relatives etc. They can play with us and if they like it, they will have more incentive to buy it.
This is a great thing A-Net. And for the players who are willing to wait for the next expansion then HoT will be F2P too, so you wont need to buy the game at all and still have all in it.

GW2 Core went to F2P.
I feel cheated, because I’ve paid for game and I didn’t get anything for it, that the game has been transformed to F2P.
We have to buy an expansion, if we want more content. But players who have bought the core game (me too) haven’t any profit from it – any discount to buy expansion or something ? Didn’t you see that ?
If I want to buy an expansion, they give me a core game, that is useless, because I have bought core game.

marcin.1978:

GW2 Core went to F2P.
I feel cheated, because I’ve paid for game and I didn’t get anything for it, that the game has been transformed to F2P.
We have to buy an expansion, if we want more content. But players who have bought the core game (me too) haven’t any profit from it – any discount to buy expansion or something ? Didn’t you see that ?
If I want to buy an expansion, they give me a core game, that is useless, because I have bought core game.

they gave you an outfit worth 800 gems plus up to 3 years of playtime. Isn’t this worth 50 bucks you paid 3 tears ago? (anything else what you might have bought with gems is irrelevant)

This outfit is useless and doesn’t matter how many it is worth. Outfit have to compensate game price? It’s funny.
We don’t get any interesting profit, any thank you for this, that we bought a game and we didn’t waited for F2P.
We have to buy an expansion by price of core game, and we don’t get any discount, or any cashback for core game price (which we already have)

F2P isn’t supposed to be a permanent solution.

mercury ranique.2170:

The issue is that laurels can be turned into gold.

This concerns me. I’ve never been one to jump on the elitist bandwagon when it comes to F2P vs. Paid debate but the fact that Joe Smith from Botsvilia can create 1000 accounts and just camp in for the daily rewards as a form of revenue generation could have an effect on market prices.

This game is basically a F2P model anyways with micro transactions being the main form of revenue but removing the initial $10 to $50 cost per account would open the door to problems we cannot predict.

Let’s go

I paid for the base game and if I want play the expansion, I have paying.
I pay $ 49.90 (base) +49.90 (exp) = $ 99.80

How do I upgrade my account?
You can upgrade your account to Heart of Thorns in-game or by applying a serial code (from buy.guildwars2.com or one of our official retail partners) to your account on the account management page.
(Information withdrawing of the https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/95982157)
————————————————————

Require refound – $49,90(base acc)
You get free account + $49,90 hot (used your refund) = full account, half price.

Very nice ArenaNet -You thought the older players

The QQ in this thread is too kitten high!

Definitely NO.If they want daily rewards to by the game then.

PopeUrban.2578:

Jiggawattz.2697:

If you go to a restaurant and order a 20 dollar meal, and get everything but desert and they tell you you don’t get desert. Do you not complain because “Well I suppose I got 20 dollars worth of a meal out of it so I should be thanking them” Shut the kitten up and act like an adult. We payed for a product and are upset with our service so we are issuing complaints on the proper medium. Take that garbage somewhere where people think its okay to take kitten from companies because of your internal value of money. People like you are ignorant as all hell.

I’ll use your metaphor to illustrate my point here.

Did they advertise that the meal included dessert?

I’ve actually had a lot of 20 dollar meals that didn’t include dessert.

What you’re complaining about is ridiculous

You expected to receive dessert when none was advertised

You know what I, as an adult, do when I’m dissastified with a product or service? I stop using it, and report abuses to the proper authorities

All I see are a bunch of people who want hand outs because they have an overinflated sense of self importance. You know, like a guy who orders a 20 dollar meal at a restaraunt and then becomes furious that there’s no dessert… even when the place doesn’t serve dessert.

It was implied, and on that nobody here is furious. We are dissatisfied, and as someone who is dissatisfied we don’t ignorantly go reporting large companies to the BBB every time we don’t like something like you intend to make us believe you do… we forward our complaints to the company head looking for a resolution first. You will understand how this works when you get older, and have to pay bills. When your internet becomes slow you don’t report them to the BBB, you don’t STOP using the internet, you contact them and report your dissatisfaction. We get that you have a kitten for Anet, but nobody here honestly cares about whether or not YOU think we got our monies worth, we are posting here to send our message to Anet, telling them that we are dissatisfied with the treatment of veteran players in the scheme of this deal.

I bought the game full price, well my hubby bought it for me… to me this whole going f2p junk is bull, it’s basically a slap in my face. I think those who paid full price should get some sort of compensation, and those who disagree are probably those who’ve joined free. The economy is probably wrecked now.

This is taken from your FAQ…

Whisper: Except for mutual friends, can only whisper in the same map, one new person every 30 seconds

Have you stopped to consider you are giving GOLD SELLERS a free hand in the game now?!

Have you considered that we are already being whispered multiple times a day from various accounts already, and now that problem is going to sprial out of control?!?

Please REMOVE the whisper feature from the free account. You do not need whisper chat to help your friend, you can party or group up, find them on the map and use say chat or party chat.

Remember, we’ll be able to whisper them still, so we can guide them to a meeting place still, or say ‘accept the group invite’ etc. Also, most ‘friends’ that play together, talk on voice chat outside the game while playing (skype, teamspeak, mumble etc). So you don’t always need whisper chat.

For the sake of not being spammed a million times a day, remove whisper from free accounts!!

I truly believe they sold the game full price knowing that they would turn around and give it at a later date for free, it was a money making scheme… Me being a p2p person who paid in full I feel pity for the others who paid.

Agent Noun.7350:

None of you “invested” anything in Guild Wars 2. You bought things that were for sale. You got the things you bought. Done. That’s how transactions work. (Sure, people should probably be refunded for things like the infinite SAB coin unless SAB comes back right quick, but that’s a separate issue.)

I’ve been trying to avoid the word “entitlement” here, but holy crap, some of you are making that very difficult.

You do know what an investment is? It is a purchase made to help support monetarily the person or company that creates the item purchased with expectation in company growth to yield some gain in the future in this case new content(INVESTMENT in the company) or a purchase made to increase in monetary value over time as in a physical item, Guild wars is of course the earlier of two investments. We bought a game expecting our money and support to be used to further the game in good ways. That is an investment. Please stop arguing semantics.

GrandHaven.1052:

The QQ in this thread is too kitten high!

i think players are complaining stuff that doesn’t matter….about money.

Game will not handle the number of player + bots selling gold:
-we will spend more time blocking and reporting the bot pm’s than playing.
-more shards, more calc srver side means more lag
- and possible queue for WvW.
-Gemstore, lacks the “quality and quantity” of items that can be used in the f2p game, it would need to be a bit remodeled and less festival/time gated.
-Living world/story would be a mess all over again with the number of players, unless they restrict, less player per skitten

the positive side, new players would stack more on the emptier servers, im looking at it with a perspective for wvw , but even if they tried WvW since that game lacks by alot compared the freedom other mmo’s have, it would not last much, since this game as much much lesser mechanics than some f2p, and they would realize gw2 is far more stale and limited game than some other games, gw2 only have better graphics.
I just dont see Anet vision, i believe they are a bit limited due the game engine so they cant do much to make the game more appealing than a stale theme-park game with tons of shards just to slit players and service side resources.

p.s “skitten” means “s h a r d s”… kitten corrections >:]

Sorry i ended being blunt again (QQ), but game probably is going to be even more casual theme-park game. wich doesn’t sounds really that good…

I invested all right — cash, and this is how I am repaid… well technically I’m not being repaid, I’m just being slapped in the face.

HOT price shouldn’t be the same for f2p and veterans owners.

That show how Anet cares about who purchase the game from the beginning. Even in preorder.

GW2 should have never gone F2P, period.

We should get a FULL refund, or the expansion free… at this point I’d personally rather have a refund… Wonder if they could be sued??

You have bought the latest smartphone models last year and you will go and ask a refund because they sell them now at half price. Great A. I.

Please give the f2p accounts map chat, they need to be able to ask for help and advice. The populations are great there, but its so quiet, its kind of killing the atmosphere and may end up with a lot of these guys not buying in to the game.

Forget goldsellers, a simple report spam function works fine. The new guys need to feel what the community is like, which apart from a few whiners like here is amazing.

HelloKittyZOMG.1875:

I bought the game full price, well my hubby bought it for me… to me this whole going f2p junk is bull, it’s basically a slap in my face. I think those who paid full price should get some sort of compensation, and those who disagree are probably those who’ve joined free. The economy is probably wrecked now.

I’m a veteran (not 3 years ago but close) and I have no problem whatsoever in gw2 becoming f2p. I mean it doesn’t change anything for me. I can understand the frustration of people who bought gw2 not so long ago and didn’t want to buy HoT. But for the others (I think the majority), it doesn’t change anything at all. You’ll still have to buy the expansion no matter how you jumped into the game, by paying or just downloading it for free.

Now regarding the community, we didn’t have to wait the f2p players to get toxic. Also, a lot of new players are just like me and you : people who want to have fun. The only difference is that they don’t have to pay to try the game and that’s GREAT. Just like O’Brien said, Anet is confident that new players will fall in love with the game and buy the expansion and I agree. Gw2 is an amazing and original MMO that deserves to be at least tried. The more new people try the game, the more constent players we’ll have. And in Gw2, more players mean more fun. So that’s a win-win situation honestly.

Regarding the economy, it is in fact an interesting decision. The gem store remains as it is now. New players gathering large amounts of Gold is going to be balanced by the Gold sunk into the new items HoT will provide. And for the price of the core game, it should be “re-earned” by the sales of HoT. Because indeed new players wont pay right now, but they will when they’ll eventually buy HoT or buy gems. So it is a rather good decision, at least in my opinion.

Also, ArenaNet made it clear now : everytime an expansion is available, the previous content becomes FREE. You won’t have to pay the core game + every previous expansion to be able to play. It is a great deal for newcomers and a great choice for the game in general. As for the veteran , it is how markets work. You buy something at launch and over time, its value decreases but you gained the amount of time you played the game. Sometimes I feel like people forget that buying games isn’t a “real” investment as you can’t profit by selling it later. It is something you buy to have fun, nothing more nothing less.

So the main question is : Did you have fun? If yes, then you have nothing to regret. If no, then quit the game and don’t buy HoT or wait till it comes out and see if you’re willing to make the same bet. Really it is as simple as that.

Also, the free outfit is a cool enough Thank you from Anet for us Veteran and we should be thankfull aswell for a game we spent more than a thousand hours playing and awesome people we met by doing so.

I bought the core game at full price and I don’t regret it at all. These last 2,5 years were great and I had a lot of fun, met awesome people that I may have not met if I waited for the game to be free.

HelloKittyZOMG.1875:

We should get a FULL refund, or the expansion free… at this point I’d personally rather have a refund… Wonder if they could be sued??

Are you ser—no. No. Nope. No way. Later.

Jehuty.1938:

HelloKittyZOMG.1875:

I bought the game full price, well my hubby bought it for me… to me this whole going f2p junk is bull, it’s basically a slap in my face. I think those who paid full price should get some sort of compensation, and those who disagree are probably those who’ve joined free. The economy is probably wrecked now.

I’m a veteran (not 3 years ago but close) and I have no problem whatsoever in gw2 becoming f2p. I mean it doesn’t change anything for me. I can understand the frustration of people who bought gw2 not so long ago and didn’t want to buy HoT. But for the others (I think the majority), it doesn’t change anything at all. You’ll still have to buy the expansion no matter how you jumped into the game, by paying or just downloading it for free.

Now regarding the community, we didn’t have to wait the f2p players to get toxic. Also, a lot of new players are just like me and you : people who want to have fun. The only difference is that they don’t have to pay to try the game and that’s GREAT. Just like O’Brien said, Anet is confident that new players will fall in love with the game and buy the expansion and I agree. Gw2 is an amazing and original MMO that deserves to be at least tried. The more new people try the game, the more constent players we’ll have. And in Gw2, more players mean more fun. So that’s a win-win situation honestly.

Regarding the economy, it is in fact an interesting decision. The gem store remains as it is now. New players gathering large amounts of Gold is going to be balanced by the Gold sunk into the new items HoT will provide. And for the price of the core game, it should be “re-earned” by the sales of HoT. Because indeed new players wont pay right now, but they will when they’ll eventually buy HoT or buy gems. So it is a rather good decision, at least in my opinion.

Also, ArenaNet made it clear now : everytime an expansion is available, the previous content becomes FREE. You won’t have to pay the core game + every previous expansion to be able to play. It is a great deal for newcomers and a great choice for the game in general. As for the veteran , it is how markets work. You buy something at launch and over time, its value decreases but you gained the amount of time you played the game. Sometimes I feel like people forget that buying games isn’t a “real” investment as you can’t profit by selling it later. It is something you buy to have fun, nothing more nothing less.

So the main question is : Did you have fun? If yes, then you have nothing to regret. If no, then quit the game and don’t buy HoT or wait till it comes out and see if you’re willing to make the same bet. Really it is as simple as that.

Also, the free outfit is a cool enough Thank you from Anet for us Veteran and we should be thankfull aswell for a game we spent more than a thousand hours playing and awesome people we met by doing so.

I bought the core game at full price and I don’t regret it at all. These last 2,5 years were great and I had a lot of fun, met awesome people that I may have not met if I waited for the game to be free.

This seems to be the argument they all use, its not a valid argument. Being satisfied with the product I originally purchased does not mean I have to be satisfied with all future changes or leave. As a customer I have the right to complain about my treatment by said company to the company. What they do with that complaint is up to them, but if I hear one more high school student ask me “Did you get 60 dollars worth of play out of it?” I am going to flip my kitten. That shows an ignorant, ridiculous, naive take on the real world…

Blaine Tog.8304:

SwiftXShadow.4236:

So owning GW2 is poinltess?

No. Current GW2 owners still get a number of perks over f2p accounts, like being able to use map chat, full use of the Trading Post, etc.

Not to forget login rewards … my 10$ second account still gets them .. and
that was my greatest fear that they totally remove them.

Jiggawattz.2697:

Jehuty.1938:

HelloKittyZOMG.1875:

I bought the game full price, well my hubby bought it for me… to me this whole going f2p junk is bull, it’s basically a slap in my face. I think those who paid full price should get some sort of compensation, and those who disagree are probably those who’ve joined free. The economy is probably wrecked now.

I’m a veteran (not 3 years ago but close) and I have no problem whatsoever in gw2 becoming f2p. I mean it doesn’t change anything for me. I can understand the frustration of people who bought gw2 not so long ago and didn’t want to buy HoT. But for the others (I think the majority), it doesn’t change anything at all. You’ll still have to buy the expansion no matter how you jumped into the game, by paying or just downloading it for free.

Now regarding the community, we didn’t have to wait the f2p players to get toxic. Also, a lot of new players are just like me and you : people who want to have fun. The only difference is that they don’t have to pay to try the game and that’s GREAT. Just like O’Brien said, Anet is confident that new players will fall in love with the game and buy the expansion and I agree. Gw2 is an amazing and original MMO that deserves to be at least tried. The more new people try the game, the more constent players we’ll have. And in Gw2, more players mean more fun. So that’s a win-win situation honestly.

Regarding the economy, it is in fact an interesting decision. The gem store remains as it is now. New players gathering large amounts of Gold is going to be balanced by the Gold sunk into the new items HoT will provide. And for the price of the core game, it should be “re-earned” by the sales of HoT. Because indeed new players wont pay right now, but they will when they’ll eventually buy HoT or buy gems. So it is a rather good decision, at least in my opinion.

Also, ArenaNet made it clear now : everytime an expansion is available, the previous content becomes FREE. You won’t have to pay the core game + every previous expansion to be able to play. It is a great deal for newcomers and a great choice for the game in general. As for the veteran , it is how markets work. You buy something at launch and over time, its value decreases but you gained the amount of time you played the game. Sometimes I feel like people forget that buying games isn’t a “real” investment as you can’t profit by selling it later. It is something you buy to have fun, nothing more nothing less.

So the main question is : Did you have fun? If yes, then you have nothing to regret. If no, then quit the game and don’t buy HoT or wait till it comes out and see if you’re willing to make the same bet. Really it is as simple as that.

Also, the free outfit is a cool enough Thank you from Anet for us Veteran and we should be thankfull aswell for a game we spent more than a thousand hours playing and awesome people we met by doing so.

I bought the core game at full price and I don’t regret it at all. These last 2,5 years were great and I had a lot of fun, met awesome people that I may have not met if I waited for the game to be free.

This seems to be the argument they all use, its not a valid argument. Being satisfied with the product I originally purchased does not mean I have to be satisfied with all future changes or leave. As a customer I have the right to complain about my treatment by said company to the company. What they do with that complaint is up to them, but if I hear one more high school student ask me “Did you get 60 dollars worth of play out of it?” I am going to flip my kitten. That shows an ignorant, ridiculous, naive take on the real world…

mm I don’t think it is naive at all. You only see things from your perspective. Now ask yourself : Does you buying the game at full price can prevent Anet from making economic decisions? No at all. It is not even stipulated in any contract between the player and the company (Anet).
Of course you can be dissapointed. That’s how life is and that’s how you may reconsider buying HoT. That’s exactly what I said : you don’t like how Anet treats the community, you’re not satisfied with the recent news in general, what you can do as a customer is not spending money, meaning you won’t play HoT. That’s it.

I think, with all the respect, it’s your vision that is naive really. I never said you can’t complain. You can as much as you want. Or you can try to understand the logic behind the recent choices Anet made and try to see, as a grown person, if you want to keep playing the game or not. Don’t just complain about everything, especially things you’re not entitled to.

That’s it.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Dante.1763:

the guild im part of well one of them, went out in force and welcomed new members to the game in Plains of Ashford, it was pretty fun!

That was positively awesome. Thanks to you and your guild — and the many others who did that!

S-senpai noticed me!! xD

Kidding, but you are so welcome!! Ill pass that onto the guild leaders!

Jiggawattz.2697:

Is there a thread where I can express my overwhelming anger about the treatment of veteran players in this whole deal? If so please move this post to that thread.

I have played this game for 1100 days at this moment, not counting beta… this includes the pre-release and everything. I paid every penny for my game and I put money into the game. All of my own choice of course, but as a person who made the effort to support the game I cannot feel a little sour over the fact that I am paying 120 dollars to play HOT, when new players got refunds on their original game copy, and even newer players got the game outright free… Anet’s response to this was far worse than pathetic. No discount on HOT, no refund or even a gem bonus for loyalty rewards… we get some kitten kitten looking dinky “royal guard” skin that so far most of my guild has added to collection never to be touched again because it looks like something they had a high school intern design…

Before I get flooded with posts about entitlement and the value of 3 years of “free content” understand that while I may sound entitled, any one person would be a bit sour over the deal that is given to veteran players. We purchased the game… we supported it… we built this community and in a lot of ways this game… and we are rewarded for this effort and monetary and non-monetary support by them handing us a useless kittenty skin with one hand while reaching in our pockets AGAIN…

We tried out best not to complain over the ages, not when you stopped releasing content, or started charging for garbage content like living worlds… anet I am sure you know what kind of flop that was… but this is just in a lot of ways unprofessional. You are pandering to new players giving them the deal of the century, and rewarded your veterans, your loyalists, fans and supporters… by charging us full price a second time around. By the time HOT comes out I will have payed 140 dollars minimum for this game, not counting time investment and microtransactions… That is a bit much considering for 60 dollars I can get every piece of the game in its entirety…

The worst part is they sort of slapped us in the face with this. It would have been better if they gave us no compensation because then we could still be hoping they would reward us for our loyalty… but instead this… this royal guard skin… it is like the golden pen they give you when they force you to retire from a company… its like a very shiny kitten you that you will never use…

I guess I will put my tin foil hat on and hope that arena net is visited by the spirits of expansions past present and future…. so when it wakes up tomorrow it might find some semblance of respect for its active and loyal fan base… instead of milking us like cows in a stall because you know we stand to lose more in our time investment by quitting the game, even though we should in principle…

Anet, kitten your disingenuous business practices during this whole deal…

<End Rant>

Jiggawattz.2697:

Jehuty.1938:

HelloKittyZOMG.1875:

I bought the game full price, well my hubby bought it for me… to me this whole going f2p junk is bull, it’s basically a slap in my face. I think those who paid full price should get some sort of compensation, and those who disagree are probably those who’ve joined free. The economy is probably wrecked now.

I’m a veteran (not 3 years ago but close) and I have no problem whatsoever in gw2 becoming f2p. I mean it doesn’t change anything for me. I can understand the frustration of people who bought gw2 not so long ago and didn’t want to buy HoT. But for the others (I think the majority), it doesn’t change anything at all. You’ll still have to buy the expansion no matter how you jumped into the game, by paying or just downloading it for free.

Now regarding the community, we didn’t have to wait the f2p players to get toxic. Also, a lot of new players are just like me and you : people who want to have fun. The only difference is that they don’t have to pay to try the game and that’s GREAT. Just like O’Brien said, Anet is confident that new players will fall in love with the game and buy the expansion and I agree. Gw2 is an amazing and original MMO that deserves to be at least tried. The more new people try the game, the more constent players we’ll have. And in Gw2, more players mean more fun. So that’s a win-win situation honestly.

Regarding the economy, it is in fact an interesting decision. The gem store remains as it is now. New players gathering large amounts of Gold is going to be balanced by the Gold sunk into the new items HoT will provide. And for the price of the core game, it should be “re-earned” by the sales of HoT. Because indeed new players wont pay right now, but they will when they’ll eventually buy HoT or buy gems. So it is a rather good decision, at least in my opinion.

Also, ArenaNet made it clear now : everytime an expansion is available, the previous content becomes FREE. You won’t have to pay the core game + every previous expansion to be able to play. It is a great deal for newcomers and a great choice for the game in general. As for the veteran , it is how markets work. You buy something at launch and over time, its value decreases but you gained the amount of time you played the game. Sometimes I feel like people forget that buying games isn’t a “real” investment as you can’t profit by selling it later. It is something you buy to have fun, nothing more nothing less.

So the main question is : Did you have fun? If yes, then you have nothing to regret. If no, then quit the game and don’t buy HoT or wait till it comes out and see if you’re willing to make the same bet. Really it is as simple as that.

Also, the free outfit is a cool enough Thank you from Anet for us Veteran and we should be thankfull aswell for a game we spent more than a thousand hours playing and awesome people we met by doing so.

I bought the core game at full price and I don’t regret it at all. These last 2,5 years were great and I had a lot of fun, met awesome people that I may have not met if I waited for the game to be free.

This seems to be the argument they all use, its not a valid argument. Being satisfied with the product I originally purchased does not mean I have to be satisfied with all future changes or leave. As a customer I have the right to complain about my treatment by said company to the company. What they do with that complaint is up to them, but if I hear one more high school student ask me “Did you get 60 dollars worth of play out of it?” I am going to flip my kitten. That shows an ignorant, ridiculous, naive take on the real world…

This. I guess I’m just supposed to bendover and take what they give me, no thanks… I paid full so I do expect something in return.

HelloKittyZOMG.1875:

I bought the game full price, well my hubby bought it for me… to me this whole going f2p junk is bull, it’s basically a slap in my face. I think those who paid full price should get some sort of compensation, and those who disagree are probably those who’ve joined free. The economy is probably wrecked now.

I bought the game at more than full price, and threw out 100$ for HOT, i dont care, i like this decision, i like seeing these low level zones populated like they are currently, its rather nice, brings back memories of when the game first came out!

i notice the mapchat is really toxic against new player this is so sad..and dont help the community to grow together.

also i dont understand why some exicisting player assume that every new f2p-player is a bad guy who only spam and its bad for them to be able to join guilds or to creat guilds. (these r just few examples from what i heared).

sure i was also feeling lil dissapointed when i heared gw2 become f2p….but when i tested it..it seemed more like a trial than f2p. Also it is made in a way that f2p acc cant be used for abusing. (or at least not so much). so it is ok..its helping player who r interesed in gw2 to test it..and then to buy HoT if they like it. and this dont mean that they r bad people.

Some people aren’t happy about the f2p switch.

Big deal.

so forums still are divided, on Anets mindless lovers vs Anets mindless haters, please they don’t even care who side you are, is a marketing decision, is in the contract they could do what ever the F, they whant with their product, some people should say yei i dont care, some other will say the kitten us up, on the end of the day it doesn’t matters, haters gonna hate and Anet fans should defend it like there’s no tomorrow so IT DOESNT kittenG MATTERS! (yea the caps broke sorry)

and yes all red post are like lest search all the post to look for something that looks good and convenient for Anet to prove how awesome we are and how righteous we are, so like i say in the end they dont care, actually devs should close this forum already, cause if your not with Anet, them your just some entitled child, go say hi to the new ones, and like Anets and its fans fell righteous you pay for their free accounts… and move on with your life.

Zackie.8923:

anet should introduce a white knight badge/fanboy/hardcore elitist tag for show beside those ‘rigorous’ forum posters so that we know who to avoid/ignore and such

I have not been watching /map as much, only sending waypoints to events on it. If anyplace was toxic though it is probably here as there are a lot of unanswered questions, like how this will affect the TP.

Guild Wars 2 is just a product what have had normal product life cycle.

1. Price is placed higher than normal price would be.

• Innovators will buy product no matter what price is placed to the product.
• Innovators want to be first ones, those who are ahead of the time.

2. Price is lowering to that price what has been normal this kind of product.

• Mass consumers buy the product, because they have heard what innovators have talk about it.
• Some of the innovators start to quit use this product.

3. Product have discounted price

• Those users buy this product whom interests arise because they heard mass users talk about it. It is not so important, but they want to be part of that product.
• Innovators start to looking for something new and some mass users start to quit use this product.

4. Product start to be giveaway with some other product, or it is changed to be free to play (if it is a game or program)

• Those players will try it whom get it free. It is not so important to them, but it is nice to try it, because some people are still talking about it, or new version from it is coming to the markets (expansion).

So I only see positive action from ArenaNet that they put Guild Wars 2 free to play. It is nice to have new players to enjoy the game with us.

I have been enjoyed this game couple days over 3 years now and it has been worth all money what I have invested to it.

HelloKittyZOMG.1875:

Jiggawattz.2697:

Jehuty.1938:

HelloKittyZOMG.1875:

I bought the game full price, well my hubby bought it for me… to me this whole going f2p junk is bull, it’s basically a slap in my face. I think those who paid full price should get some sort of compensation, and those who disagree are probably those who’ve joined free. The economy is probably wrecked now.

I’m a veteran (not 3 years ago but close) and I have no problem whatsoever in gw2 becoming f2p. I mean it doesn’t change anything for me. I can understand the frustration of people who bought gw2 not so long ago and didn’t want to buy HoT. But for the others (I think the majority), it doesn’t change anything at all. You’ll still have to buy the expansion no matter how you jumped into the game, by paying or just downloading it for free.

Now regarding the community, we didn’t have to wait the f2p players to get toxic. Also, a lot of new players are just like me and you : people who want to have fun. The only difference is that they don’t have to pay to try the game and that’s GREAT. Just like O’Brien said, Anet is confident that new players will fall in love with the game and buy the expansion and I agree. Gw2 is an amazing and original MMO that deserves to be at least tried. The more new people try the game, the more constent players we’ll have. And in Gw2, more players mean more fun. So that’s a win-win situation honestly.

Regarding the economy, it is in fact an interesting decision. The gem store remains as it is now. New players gathering large amounts of Gold is going to be balanced by the Gold sunk into the new items HoT will provide. And for the price of the core game, it should be “re-earned” by the sales of HoT. Because indeed new players wont pay right now, but they will when they’ll eventually buy HoT or buy gems. So it is a rather good decision, at least in my opinion.

Also, ArenaNet made it clear now : everytime an expansion is available, the previous content becomes FREE. You won’t have to pay the core game + every previous expansion to be able to play. It is a great deal for newcomers and a great choice for the game in general. As for the veteran , it is how markets work. You buy something at launch and over time, its value decreases but you gained the amount of time you played the game. Sometimes I feel like people forget that buying games isn’t a “real” investment as you can’t profit by selling it later. It is something you buy to have fun, nothing more nothing less.

So the main question is : Did you have fun? If yes, then you have nothing to regret. If no, then quit the game and don’t buy HoT or wait till it comes out and see if you’re willing to make the same bet. Really it is as simple as that.

Also, the free outfit is a cool enough Thank you from Anet for us Veteran and we should be thankfull aswell for a game we spent more than a thousand hours playing and awesome people we met by doing so.

I bought the core game at full price and I don’t regret it at all. These last 2,5 years were great and I had a lot of fun, met awesome people that I may have not met if I waited for the game to be free.

This seems to be the argument they all use, its not a valid argument. Being satisfied with the product I originally purchased does not mean I have to be satisfied with all future changes or leave. As a customer I have the right to complain about my treatment by said company to the company. What they do with that complaint is up to them, but if I hear one more high school student ask me “Did you get 60 dollars worth of play out of it?” I am going to flip my kitten. That shows an ignorant, ridiculous, naive take on the real world…

This. I guess I’m just supposed to bendover and take what they give me, no thanks… I paid full so I do expect something in return.

You got a game, restriction free, X amount of hours, X more hours coming, and all that wealth, that they can’t get, or some things easily at all till they pay. what more do you want?

well..i mainly play pvp…and there the mapchat is usually toxic^^ maybe this explains it….when i was in queensdale today..there was even a party to welcome new player was really cute and lovely + sooo much fun

moony.5780:

when i was in queensdale today..there was even a party to welcome new player was really cute and lovely + sooo much fun

Yep same with my instance on NA side. Tons of people welcoming the new recruits. Had a couple devs as well. Later announced SB arrival for any that were up to lvl 10sh at that time.

When I was in Queensdale and Caledon Forest last night, people were being very, very friendly and helpful. People would post info about where events are happening, welcome new players (in both say and map chat), invite new players to whisper them if they had questions or needed help, etc.

Like you said, chat was probably toxic where you were because pvp chat just tends to get that way more often.

started to play with new players here thats fun to help people and lvl up with them and show them where the events

Well what if someone doesnt welcome them/like them here? Let them be as toxic with them as they want, untill its still following the rules, stop protecting and whine about f2p restrictions, it really starts to get annoying

I could not find the party in Queensdale today but my necro will probably do Caledon Forest for a change after I get lunch.

As to SB, if anyone was on my map a bit ago I was announcing a pre and the main event at 20 mins and 2 mins.