Guild Wars 2

They’ve simply said that there are restrictions for particular items. To my knowledge nobody has looked to see what is excluded.

What did you try to buy or sell?

Nemizar.6152:

How about you say what will you give to players who bought the game full price and who supported you with all the gem buying through these 3 years.Every MMO that had transfered to F2P gave something to already existing players in conpensation.I would like the answer to these questions and not just some random “Welcome” post from Gaile.It is really hard to love you Anet anymore.And i pray that there wont be some server hickups becouse of these F2P acounts.

They gave you unrestricted access to the game: 3 extra character slots, more bag slots, the ability to use map chat, go anywhere from level 2 onwards, ability to trade everything, buy gems with gold and all the other stuff I’ve forgotten.

Told a buddy of mine who was iffy about trying Gw2, mentioned it had recently gone F2p, he said to me “Ahh so whats the catch?” I said there is none, you’ll either like it enough to hand over your money to upgrade or you won’t, either way you still get a free game.

He tried the f2p that day, he now has the full game, brought 3k gems for the sales and won’t stop telling me asura are the master race.
That’s the ambitious gamer i like to see.
So in the words of yours truly i would like to say:
“My Corrosive Poison Cloud shall Weaken me but my ./age Shall go on”

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Lambent.6375:

I’m for f2p players getting map chat at 70+, because at that Point not being able to communicate in map chat will not only be a hindrance to them, but other players as well.

Just think about everytime you,ve seen someone going kitten because someone didn’t communicate something in map chat.

If they’ve reached level 70 then they should have enough information as to whether or not they will buy the game. If they buy the game then the restrictions will be gone. If they don’t buy the game, I see no reason to reward them by lifting restrictions. The purpose of the restrictions is not only to protect the game but also to be annoying enough to make a person who plans to continue playing buy to remove them.

My point was having high level players who can’t use map chat wouldn’t just be annoying to them, it would be annoying to account paid players as well.

The people who only pvp, wvw, or do dungeons probably wouldn’t care about this, but in open world it can become annoying to

-have people start/run events and not be able to announce them, or they’really athe teq or something and need to let people know N battery. Eeds. Ore people, but can’t.

They could also add limits similar to what they have done with whisper.

I want a wombat mini.

Anet isn’t blizzard to set couple of servers in every region of the world.

It’s interesting to see how vigilant some are againt unrestricitng some things for people who have proofed not to be Goldsellers/Trolls by achieving lvl 70/80.
Or that only the start zones should have no map chat restriction.

As a Veteran who also put some actual real money and no gold into the gemstore (15+char slots, armor,outfit,weapon skins,eternal tools etc) i don’t understand why it should be so punishing for actual new players. (For goldsellers its clear)

What FTP accounts can do on the TP right now is the majority of the worries that are out there. Nobody outside of anet really knows. I suspect that information will filter out eventually but in the meantime …

The biggest problem is there would have to be at least 3 servers, for WvW and even then they’d be fighting each other all the time.

Are there enough active AU/NZ players to populate 3, or 6 servers?

Lambent.6375:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Lambent.6375:

I’m for f2p players getting map chat at 70+, because at that Point not being able to communicate in map chat will not only be a hindrance to them, but other players as well.

Just think about everytime you,ve seen someone going kitten because someone didn’t communicate something in map chat.

If they’ve reached level 70 then they should have enough information as to whether or not they will buy the game. If they buy the game then the restrictions will be gone. If they don’t buy the game, I see no reason to reward them by lifting restrictions. The purpose of the restrictions is not only to protect the game but also to be annoying enough to make a person who plans to continue playing buy to remove them.

My point was having high level players who can’t use map chat wouldn’t just be annoying to them, it would be annoying to account paid players as well.

The people who only pvp, wvw, or do dungeons probably wouldn’t care about this, but in open world it can become annoying to

-have people start/run events and not be able to announce them, or they’really athe teq or something and need to let people know N battery. Eeds. Ore people, but can’t.

They could also add limits similar to what they have done with whisper.

Yes I got your point. However I don’t think these are supposed to be forever free accounts but a form of trial accounts that get the people hooked and then get them to buy (and put money in ANet’s pockets). By lifting the restrictions, it eases the pressure to buy. They are a business and naturally they want as many of these new players converted from free accounts to paid accounts as possible.

F2P Aion didn’t have mapchat unless you paid for a monthly sub and that game was really confusing at times. Survived through it all with my ol’ trusty sidekick Google, I’m sure the youngsters of today are able to use it as well.

All new players have to do is go to a centralized location where players are at and ask questions with /say. A lot of people will respond, especially if they are the only one in the area and the question is directed at them. Also a player can stand among dozens of player at Divinity’s reach for example, a location they will come across in many instances and ask questions.

I also want to give all the new players a hearty and friendly welcome! As long as all the restrictions keep the game from being exploited, I think this is a great idea. It gives everyone the opportunity to see all the hard work the devs have gone through in order to create such a sincerely beautiful and innovative game.

It probably isn’t the right experience for everyone, but this is the more honest option. Gamers on the fence can come in, test the waters, and make the choice for themselves.

I’ve had many friends who were interested in GW2 who wanted to give it a try and just didn’t want to make a commitment. Hardly any working adult has the time for two MMO’s and not many people are willing to make a switch unless they have a chance to see what they’re getting into.

Good luck to you all! Hope you love the game, and I’ll see you in Tyria!

I created a new character, unawares of that GW2 just had become free-to-play. When I entered the game I was greeted by name by a huge group of people welcoming me to the world and also passed me a gold coin (which I gave to an actual f2p person along with gold of my own).

That welcome was awesome! Have never seen that in any other game. I think I got a taste of the fresh f2p experience from a community perspective and I have to say it was great.

GOOD JOB people!

I’ve played most of the game without map chat enabled, usually it’s ranting or just general discussion.
Most F2P accounts will be people coming in who already know someone who has an account. At very least they can post on Facebook, twitters, YouTubes, and likely get a surprisingly good response.
/wiki command should be demonstrated to new FTP accounts in game during tutorial time.

Yes it is good to be nice to the new free player. If people are nice to them then maybe they buy full game and become good part of community.

This is great news. Great addition to the game. I’m sure it will be all great. We are a great community after all. We should all try to make it even greater.

Danikat.8537:

The biggest problem is there would have to be at least 3 servers, for WvW and even then they’d be fighting each other all the time.

Are there enough active AU/NZ players to populate 3, or 6 servers?

I guess it would be better for them to have a SEA infrastructure.

Problem lies how many people play from SEA, and if releasing Gw2 there, would actually make it popular enough to open 6-9 servers for wvw.

dane.4638:

PopeUrban.2578:

Ghosttalon.2416:

What are you talking about? As a consumer who’s bought a product people have every right to complain. There’s no “entitlement” to be had, we paid the product and therefore we are by every means allowed to be angry when a company does makes it free to play. It de-values the game for the old players, makes them feel as if they only paid to have some extra perks rather than have exclusive access to the game. Of course A-net knows that this backlash would have been created, they are prepared to take that risk because they know not all old players will leave and even if they do, the new ones would still most likely bring them profit. They think that they can earn back a portion of their fanbase with a mediocre armor skin but unfortunatly that doesn’t cut it. Nothing A-net can do will make me regain their trust.

You do have a right to be angry. The rest of us also have just as much of a right to be annoyed with your anger.

This entire argument stems from the idea that having bought the game at release somehow makes you deserving of special treatment. That you’re worth significantly more than a new player. Dude. You’ve had a full fledged MMO to play for 3 years. You can’t sell your account. What value have you lost exactly?

You’re saying the price you paid at release wasn’t worth the live events and time you’ve been able to play the game with no additional cost? Really? It’s not like it’s been six months since release. This is three years later

It doesn’t make sense to me. Only highly prized luxury items are intended to appreciate in value over time. Every other product depreciates in value. That’s just basic economics.

Every time I see this complaint I just wonder “did these people forget they’ve been playing a subscription free game for three years with a mass of free content and updates, roughly half of which is unplayable by new players because it was all live events?”

You’re acting like you bought land, or precious metals, or something that operates on a completely different set of economic rules.

There is nothing in what was said that implies that anyone thinks theyre special and entitled to special treatment. You completely changed it up to make it sound ridiculous. Expecting to not pay the amount that people have to pay for the full core game + HoT content if they already bought the core content is not the same as wanting special treatment. In fact its the opposite as they don’t want to be the special ones that pay for the core game twice! And before you say theyre not paying for the core game again I will preempt you by simply saying when you pay what they charge for HoT + core and you already bought core, you are in fact paying for core twice. Noone wants HoT for free so please stop saying that. We just want to pay for the expansion and not for the whole game over again which means we pay LESS not nothing at all! Btw I have no problem with the ftp model. I think its good for the game with the restrictions in play. I just doent think that when you do pay for HoT that vets should have to pay what is essentially a full package when we already bought at least half of that package.

Again, core costs nothing now. It used to cost money, but now it doesn’t. You’re not paying for core twice. You’re upset that core was made free, and you feel as if you’re entitled to a discount because you bought core a while back before it was offered for free.

The economic model here is pretty clear. After three years anet decided they don’t feel like it’s reasonable to charge for core any more, so they’re not. You enjoyed the game during a time when it was locked behind a purchase price. That is what you paid for, and that is what you got.

I understand you feel like you deserve a discount based upon your previous purchase history. The thing is, you’re on even footing with everyone as of the release of HoT. There is no longer a purchase price for core. You’re paying the same for HoT as a brand new player.

I realize I can’t convince you of the reality that core no longer costs money and you are not paying for a bundle, you are paying for HoT but that’s exactly what happening.

I’m sure we’ll be having this conversation again when the next expansion releases, and some of the people that started playing around HoT release also feel they’re owed some form of discount.

Now, if the argument is HoT should cost less, that’s a different story. I think it’s a perfectly fine price point but I realize there are some who think it’s a bit high. That’s not the viewpoint I’m disputing though.

You already got massive value for your purchase price of of the core game.

This is what Gaile said:

“I do not understand these threads. “My family and I have played thousands of hours, but we feel ‘cheated’ because the person who is joining now plays the core game for free or pays just the one fee for Heart of Thorns.”
Let’s consider another type of purchase, that of DVDs. FotR was $30 when it came out on DVD. You now can get all three chapters of LotR for less than $20. But the person who buys now lost years of viewing pleasure because he didn’t own the video at release. LotR is shown for free on television, but that doesn’t negate the value of purchasing the DVDs, for those of us who chose to make those purchases. Imagine showing up at a DVD retailer and saying, “This movie is now free. I want money off another title.”
The hours in Guild Wars 2 that your family has enjoyed—very likely the thousands of accumulated hours—are not without value. They are not, to us, without cost. The 40 major updates we have made to the game that you have been enjoying for three years each add significant value to your purchases: Wintersday festivals that a new player will never be able to attend, major in-game events they’ll never see, drops that were only available to you, as a veteran player, during a limited period.
The position in the first post has been put forth by different people and successfully dispelled time and time again. OP — Please know that we greatly appreciate your support. I encourage you to make whatever purchase decision is best for you and your family. But please never forget that all you have gotten for each of your purchases does have value, in the overall view of things.”

I really don’t understand the hate.

Even if you bought the game recently, you still get the expansion and lots of privileges that have been detailed over and over again. With the chat/trade/currency restrictions, the new players can’t hurt the game in any way. More so, they will finally have a trial that doesn’t seem empty and lots of them will buy the game.

Let me begin: I am sceptical against free to play. Why? Long story short: Rappelz is free to play. And it has some of the worst ‘pay to win’ mechanics, worst RNG mechanics (like black lion chest, but for necessary ‘good gear, with much higher failure chance, and cost per attemt, 4 dollar at least), much more elitism, much more greedy company (if you find a secret good loot source, they nerf it next week), 1000 spam messages per minute, in all populated area’s (inlcuding newb area’s), hacking + then using the gold from those items to ‘sell gold’ happens a lot, etc.

If the game wasn’t free to play, a lot of this wouldn’t happen, or happen a lot less. PERIOD. That’s simply how it is. Something Arenanet must remember at all times.

Now today I met 5 people who gathered in a cute spot in Hoelbrak. They grabbed my attention and I joined them for fun. Guess what! All were lvl 10-14. I suspected new players. They were very kind, and were enjoying gathering there. They asked me 1 gold to start a guild. My first instinct was ‘no no no no no, it’s a scam’. Mind you I’ve been scammed a precursor before, so that has made me suspicious of any kind of scamming. But they all talked dutch. A language that you can’t just ‘fake’ with google translate. Asking about them they came from Counter strike and Call of duty. And the free to play attracted them to try the game. And they all didn’t have a guild tag, and were clearly friends. I thought, heh what about it, I earn that back in 10 min (cof p1). ’Ok I give you the gold, on condition you show me your guild tag, as proof of not scamming. They understood this without problem and did as I asked. They were all very gratefull, and showed a lot of respect for me offering this chance for them to open a guild. I answered them a few questions, like how Pet Taming works, or how to do personal story together (they were 6 people , but limit is 5, I suggest doing it twice, once as guest, and once for yourself, so they all could play together).

In the end, this was a surprise for me. I didn’t expect people from the kind of games like Shooters to come to gw2. Especially not so fast. I know internet travels fast, but there’s news about 100 games, every day, i didn’t expect Gw2 news to travel that fast and increase in hype.

With all this in mind: my concerns still stand, But now I agree the (limited) free to play accounts can be good for the game. For me it’s incredible important that the limitations are NEVER dumbed down, they must stand, and even made more strict if needed (my biggest concern is wvw trolling. Power leveling for 1 week to 60, to then become the biggest spy/troll on your enemy server, is just to easy, and with the current state of wvw, garanteed lot of people will do it). My second most concern is pvp. I know pvp guys are absolutely desparate. C’mon 3x tournement 50 000$ x3 already wtf. This is throwing money away faster then gambling people do! I know they have appeal and perhaps ‘little’ strengten the community, but look anet, your queues are horrible, 18/25 match lossses are common strikes (and don’t give me the ’it’s player skill’ answer, i know it isn’t). This means either you left pvp in terrible game code state, or it’s having a crappy low amount of people. Making accounts free is NOT the solution for this. I’m afraid it will have opposite effect (fracturing elitist, like the tournement joining people) versus new people will have toxic fights bigger then ever.

For pve I have no qualms with new players AS LONG AS the limits are kept intact, they are increased if hackers, scammers, gold sellers, trolls etc find a way around them. Keep features also minimal. 1-2 char slot is plenty to ‘test a game’. If they want more buy account. If they want cheap, your temporary sales will achieve that. But don’t go free all the way please (that means, full account, no limits, all features (5 char slots, map chat)). Not now, Not ever. Political, and economical suicide. Period.

But to end on good note: It was good to see those 6 dutch people join the game, and have so much fun. I’m glad I gave them a guild, cause a guild is what creates a good feel of community in guild wars 2. So new ‘free’ players is definitely not all bad. But getting to soft is not good, and i’m afraid Mike obrien (or pvp team) might get to soft to fast, hence my overall quite negative tone in this post, to keep them rallied to all the possible issues at hand.

bacon.9461:

-Authentication before mail even after fully purchasing the game, this would annoy me to have to authenticate every single time I sent a mail.

No, If I got it right you just need authentication once to get that feature unlocked. You won’t need authentication every time you send a mail. Same for being able to use some TP features.

khani.4786:

• This is part of the NPE but it bugged me: You can’t do hero challenges until you get to level 11 but as you’re mapping on a fresh character you find them out in the map in lower than lvl 11 areas. The dialogue box you get when you interact doesn’t tell you hey come back at lvl 11. If you want to fully complete the zone you then have to backtrack after you get to a high enough level.

Yay! Dumb NPE strikes again! :P Actually, I wonder how NPE would be evaluated by these new players. There is already a long thread of complaints about it but they don’t seem to listen. I believe F2P players would be a real evaluation of that system. If a paid account player would get frustrated by that crap they hardly would give up, their money must worth. But for free account players, what would they lose if they give up because their first experience is bad?

khani.4786:

• Dailies: To get daily completionist you need to do 3 daily options. You only get 3 options until (I don’t know what level) sometime later. PvE daily…easy. PvP daily…easy. WvW daily?….not possible until level 60 on a F2P account. So until you get more than 3 options you can’t complete the daily completionist.

O.o Good point.

Quiznos.4296:

/wiki command should be demonstrated to new FTP accounts in game during tutorial time.

Tutorial? What tutorial? Initial instance and starter zones are very far from being a decent tutorial. Tutorials are meant to teach you stuff, not tossing you into an area and leaving you to find stuff on your own. But good point, /wiki should be told to new players somehow indeed.

Sylent.3165:

They do not need map chat. They can still use say and talk to people in the area

Unfortunately that presents a problem. While I have plenty of 80s I am almost always leveling some character or other (I started an asura necro Friday so was doing the “NPE” the same time as the early FTP folks). To get xp I need to be out and about … sometimes on initial maps, other times on more advanced ones. I would love some sort or a cross-map solution. Maybe going ugh outside the game to an irc or a teamspeak? A forum like players helping players would be a great option as it could have in-depth answers, but it could not answer immediate problems.

PopeUrban.2578:

dane.4638:

PopeUrban.2578:

Ghosttalon.2416:

What are you talking about? As a consumer who’s bought a product people have every right to complain. There’s no “entitlement” to be had, we paid the product and therefore we are by every means allowed to be angry when a company does makes it free to play. It de-values the game for the old players, makes them feel as if they only paid to have some extra perks rather than have exclusive access to the game. Of course A-net knows that this backlash would have been created, they are prepared to take that risk because they know not all old players will leave and even if they do, the new ones would still most likely bring them profit. They think that they can earn back a portion of their fanbase with a mediocre armor skin but unfortunatly that doesn’t cut it. Nothing A-net can do will make me regain their trust.

You do have a right to be angry. The rest of us also have just as much of a right to be annoyed with your anger.

This entire argument stems from the idea that having bought the game at release somehow makes you deserving of special treatment. That you’re worth significantly more than a new player. Dude. You’ve had a full fledged MMO to play for 3 years. You can’t sell your account. What value have you lost exactly?

You’re saying the price you paid at release wasn’t worth the live events and time you’ve been able to play the game with no additional cost? Really? It’s not like it’s been six months since release. This is three years later

It doesn’t make sense to me. Only highly prized luxury items are intended to appreciate in value over time. Every other product depreciates in value. That’s just basic economics.

Every time I see this complaint I just wonder “did these people forget they’ve been playing a subscription free game for three years with a mass of free content and updates, roughly half of which is unplayable by new players because it was all live events?”

You’re acting like you bought land, or precious metals, or something that operates on a completely different set of economic rules.

There is nothing in what was said that implies that anyone thinks theyre special and entitled to special treatment. You completely changed it up to make it sound ridiculous. Expecting to not pay the amount that people have to pay for the full core game + HoT content if they already bought the core content is not the same as wanting special treatment. In fact its the opposite as they don’t want to be the special ones that pay for the core game twice! And before you say theyre not paying for the core game again I will preempt you by simply saying when you pay what they charge for HoT + core and you already bought core, you are in fact paying for core twice. Noone wants HoT for free so please stop saying that. We just want to pay for the expansion and not for the whole game over again which means we pay LESS not nothing at all! Btw I have no problem with the ftp model. I think its good for the game with the restrictions in play. I just doent think that when you do pay for HoT that vets should have to pay what is essentially a full package when we already bought at least half of that package.

Again, core costs nothing now. It used to cost money, but now it doesn’t. You’re not paying for core twice. You’re upset that core was made free, and you feel as if you’re entitled to a discount because you bought core a while back before it was offered for free.

The economic model here is pretty clear. After three years anet decided they don’t feel like it’s reasonable to charge for core any more, so they’re not. You enjoyed the game during a time when it was locked behind a purchase price. That is what you paid for, and that is what you got.

I understand you feel like you deserve a discount based upon your previous purchase history. The thing is, you’re on even footing with everyone as of the release of HoT. There is no longer a purchase price for core. You’re paying the same for HoT as a brand new player.

I realize I can’t convince you of the reality that core no longer costs money and you are not paying for a bundle, you are paying for HoT but that’s exactly what happening.

I’m sure we’ll be having this conversation again when the next expansion releases, and some of the people that started playing around HoT release also feel they’re owed some form of discount.

Now, if the argument is HoT should cost less, that’s a different story. I think it’s a perfectly fine price point but I realize there are some who think it’s a bit high. That’s not the viewpoint I’m disputing though.

You already got massive value for your purchase price of of the core game.

And once again core does not cost nothing now! Core is not being sold alone anymore but the free version is not the core game. The free version is a restricted version of the core game. Also you cant point out a single sentence in what I wrote that says I think anyone OWES me anything, but of course you will translate what you want from it and its useless to argue with someone who believes they are right as people are steadfast in their opinions which is ok. I will just state one more time that it is MY opinion (as well as many others but were talking about me right now) that the expansion should be cheaper for people who already bought the game. Not only will that mean more sales to people who already play but it also means you keep the population in the new maps up. I know lots of people who havent bought HoT for this reason who like me already have a bunch of level 80 toons who have finished the rest of the story and would be good for keeping up the population on the new maps etc. It is my opinion that keeping their player base from feeling shorted and keeping their veteran high level population up will be in Anets best interest.

Lambent.6375:

My point was having high level players who can’t use map chat wouldn’t just be annoying to them, it would be annoying to account paid players as well.

The people who only pvp, wvw, or do dungeons probably wouldn’t care about this, but in open world it can become annoying to

-have people start/run events and not be able to announce them, or they’really athe teq or something and need to let people know N battery. Eeds. Ore people, but can’t.

They could also add limits similar to what they have done with whisper.

Yikes! I would certainly hope (or at least beg them to add) allowing them to see /map /party and /squad … even with them not sending to them. I use all 3 for organizing and it would REALLY be a pain to paid members if we could not communicate with ftp members unless we were near them or randomly friended everyone we saw.

Oh, as to more people in Ore …. does that mean more undead from next door in Orr or does it mean stone elementals? I agree though, it is already a pain to get people to do anything other than AFK and/or zerg at an Teq (or any event) so I do NOT need people there I can not /map to ask for more to do a turret or defense.

bacon.9461:

-Gold to gem’s exchange lock seems pointless. Though I doubt any F2P accounts are going to get to that point.

It makes sense .. else you could make farmbots, buy gems and gift stuff to your
main account .. or whatever .. and all those bots would crash the gold-gem ratio
even more.

The no map chat things is a kittene. They don’t want troll and seller on those, but in the same time like you said, it’s usually a good source of info for new players. I don’t think there is a perfect solution to that problem.

Wdf teef cant go that fast

hax reported

[cannot get on forums to say teef is op]

Oh my yes. This will be amazing.

(apologies in advance if this is a dup)

We know they can see /say and /whisper if they are mutual friends. Can they see /map, /squad, and /party though, even if they are not able to respond?

All 3 channels are vital to paid players (especially commanders) to give information that will benefit the entire group.

Thaddeus.4891:

The no map chat things is a kittene. They don’t want troll and seller on those, but in the same time like you said, it’s usually a good source of info for new players. I don’t think there is a perfect solution to that problem.

Sure there is. Allow them to see chats but not reply.

When I say we need people on, say, the north hill, I do not need a reply from every individual player. It would be nice if the defense party said how many people they need, but if not I will run by, /map what I see, and urge someone to correct me if I was wrong.

martaug.1762:

First paragraph is sarcasm, second is how he fells about the new ftp restrictions.

Yeah, i was being sacarstic. I’m very happy about anet’s decision.

They can use party any time I believe, no /map, but /squad is unlocked for each character at 30, team chat always available.
Chat in PvP Lobby unlocked when the account reaches PvP rank 20
Emotes, Map and Say chat unavailable during matches

edit: I’m dumb, they should be able to see everything, yes, even if they can’t respond.

I am thrilled that GW2 went f2p. My 10 year old daughter ( she was 7 when she started) and I both have been playing since beta and both have our own accounts and upgraded to HoT when it was first announced.

She has been bragging about GW2 since the game came out to her friends at school. She had a few interested but their parents were already invested into WoW for their kids. Now she has one of her friends getting the f2p version today to try it out. I had talked to a few parents and explained the GW2 B2P model and told them about no monthly sub fee which was a big seller for them. Well I figure before the week is out my daughter may have some more 10 and 11 year olds running with her in game at from school. By the way my daughter loves doing PvP and fractals and runs her own groups at most times.

So I think the f2p version will help bring in many more players who have sat on the fence and never taken the GW2 plunge.

They can “see” every chat, but they can’t “write” in /map /squad (till lvl 30) /Whisper (unless both are friend)

More info here: https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/95982157?_ga=1.103325317.423863578.1438099506

I am still trying to find out about guild chat for f2p players if they can use it or not?

I’m pretty sure they can use, since nothing is mentioned about it in the FAQ.
Yeah, you can use guild chat, just not guild bank at all.

I predict this to be an excellent move on Anet’s part. People from all over don’t have to invest that $50 up front any more just to try the game out and it will bring a lot of people into the game (especially PvP). I am considering getting my dad to try it out now, since he and I used to play WoW together until it got too expensive and we both dropped it. It would be fun to be able to play again with him without having to worry about him losing money if he didn’t enjoy it after all (though he might enjoy it anyway).

Thanks Thor, that would settle it as right now there is a lot of confusion. Saying “they can not use /map” is fine if it means they can not send to it (for obvious reasons). Saying commanders can not use it to communicate instructions cripples paid players.

I’ve gone through Lotro and Swtor converting to f2p. Never had an issue with free players, except where they were trying to do some group event and couldn’t because they were locked out…inconvenience more than anything. We added many good/long term f2p players to our guild ranks in those games.

The only issue I’ve ever had with converting to this model is the gold spammers, and it’s already happening here. I logged into Lion’s Arch this morning and was immediately /w about a site that sells precursors. Ugh. Swtor was inundated with gold spammers, and Bioware was horrible about shutting them down. I hope Anet is more vigilant.

I’ve only been here for 3 months, and bought the game when it was on sale for $15. If it wasn’t for that sale, I wouldn’t have tried this game out. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who passed this game up because they couldn’t try it for free beforehand. With this change I can see some long term players settling in here. Some will come and go but some will stay, and that’s healthy for GW2 in the long term.

I think the op is right. New players should at least have a map wide new player channel which vets can have turned on or off. This just seems like a common sense addition. New players will need help like in most games to avoid a frustrating experience.

Someone said that on the next expansion, the expansion before that will become free for core game owners. I personally believe they shouldn’t do that.
Maybe lower the price of HoT to 20-30$ when the next expansion comes after some years, but not free.
I mean, I would love it if I were to own a core game only and suddenly get a lot of content for free, but I rather pay and know that the company will keep getting a nice amount of income to keep creating amazing content for the future.

Also, I believe having a F2P version with account restrictions is awesome considering the fact that WoW is launching a new expansion and Wildstar going F2P (being also from NCSoft). Maybe we should focus first on beating up the competition first :P

PD: I’ll still be testing wildstar btw….. sorry xD (but I promise I’ll buy every friggin expansion after HoT since I already own that one, because I love the Lore in the game)
Oh! and for all the readers in here, buy the books! they are awesome! also the music too xD (don’t quite like the fluffy charr doll though lol)

MiniEquine.6014:

I predict this to be an excellent move on Anet’s part. People from all over don’t have to invest that $50 up front any more just to try the game out and it will bring a lot of people into the game (especially PvP). I am considering getting my dad to try it out now, since he and I used to play WoW together until it got too expensive and we both dropped it. It would be fun to be able to play again with him without having to worry about him losing money if he didn’t enjoy it after all (though he might enjoy it anyway).

Indeed, after taking some time to think, F2P is probably the best move they could make right now to get the game moving and boost HoT sales. I’d be more skeptical, but considering the game has been out for a good 3 years, has had continual Content updates (except for now in preparation for HoT, even then we got a new LA and the spec system), and they have a good solid player base to help guide new players around through the game as well. The only things I’m a little concerned about is WvW, and gold selling spammers, as well as bots, but I haven’t seen a bots in a while, used to see 2-3 in Orr, and good selling seems to be less prevelant.

As far as the whole , I paid for it Vs F2P, they do have a point, I remember saying the same exact things when Tf2 went F2P. But we have been playing the game longer, had/have access to items that F2P players probably never will, and been able to grow our characters. Still, their dissatisfaction is understandable.

Overall, from a business standpoint, I think it was a good time to Go F2P to help prepare for HoT. From a gameplay perspective, it will make the low level zone more interesting to visit again, as well as help to flesh out the PvP skill range. And besides….if I was gonna complain about the game going F2P, I might as well complain about when it went on sale for 5-10 dollars every time haha.

skigorn.7910:

I’ve gone through Lotro and Swtor converting to f2p. Never had an issue with free players, except where they were trying to do some group event and couldn’t because they were locked out…inconvenience more than anything. We added many good/long term f2p players to our guild ranks in those games.

The only issue I’ve ever had with converting to this model is the gold spammers, and it’s already happening here. I logged into Lion’s Arch this morning and was immediately /w about a site that sells precursors. Ugh. Swtor was inundated with gold spammers, and Bioware was horrible about shutting them down. I hope Anet is more vigilant.

I’ve only been here for 3 months, and bought the game when it was on sale for $15. If it wasn’t for that sale, I wouldn’t have tried this game out. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who passed this game up because they couldn’t try it for free beforehand. With this change I can see some long term players settling in here. Some will come and go but some will stay, and that’s healthy for GW2 in the long term.

Was it a one time whisper or did it repeat a lot? 30sec per whisper is the restrition on free account.

Well there is a shorter list of categories for F2P when they go to the TP. Don’t know if there are items missing from within those categories. The API doesn’t return a field for F2P excluded.

Sinope.5630:

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.

Guild wars is not just a product, it is a service. We are happy with the product, unhappy with the service. Re-evaluate and fix post.

The service hasn’t changed for you. Why are you unhappy about it?

xinkspillx.3914:

Entitlement is a serious issue here, it seems. After reading just a few pages of this thread I can’t help feeling cynical and question the integrity of most of the people posting here. How selfish can you people be? Thousands of hours of gameplay for a price of $10 to even $100+ over the last few years (including content f2p users will never see) and you still think you’re being cheated, or worse, that ANet owes you something? I can’t even fathom it. Price cuts happen all the time. You don’t hear massive outcry when a game goes on sale for $1, but the second it’s FREE but heavily restricted it’s a crime? That’s nonsense.

Free to play is not taking anything away from what you purchased. You are losing nothing and the free accounts still do not have all of the access that paid accounts do so this should be a non-issue.

As a side note (although one that is still very much related): I think one of the worst parts of this whole thing is just the general ignorance of the gaming community at large as in the past f2p switches usually only occur with games that are circling the drain. It’s sad to see a lot of gamers that don’t play the game take this as a signal of defeat from GW2. >.>

I addressed this in my original post, we do not believe we are owed anything. I don’t think many of us are so jaded to believe Anet is required to do anything. That does not change the fact that “1000’s of hours” does not change that we are paying 120 dollars for access to something we could have just waited and got for 60 and were never informed of. You only see this the way you want to see it because it helps your argument, but some players only played for a few months after paying 60 dollars and not have to pay another 60 to play HOT… its just a mess.. veteran players who paid full price in good business practice that respects its elite loyal and hardcore fanbase would receive some sort of discount or incentive to purchase the new expansion especially when they are making the previous game free to play, devaluing the game as a whole…

TLDR: We don’t believe they owe us anything, we just feel like as the people who are their longest supporters, we were given the worst of the deal.

chemiclord.3978:

You did. You got the game three years before anybody picking up a (rather heavily restricted) version for “free.”

If you don’t get that the perceived value of something drops over time outside of a handful of rare exceptions, there’s little further discussion that could be had that would placate you.

This is a cop-out response “OHhh you got 3 years… that is what you get…” cmon man, you know kitten ed well what he meant go apply for Anet support if you are going to peddle that kitten here. 3 years of gameplay was the service we contracted by purchasing the game, as long as it was running and we obeyed the terms of service we were in fact ENTITLED to that.

What he is saying is that he wishes like most of us, that Anet provided some sort of decent “consolation” for having to pay 120 dollars for being essentially a “founder”

Ascended.8312:

You get more character slots and inventory bag slots
You can start a new whisper conversation more than once every 30 seconds
You have no restrictions on mailing items to other characters
You can access WvW without a level 60+ character no your account
You can use map chat
You can leave the starter maps before level 10
You can go to Lion’s Arch before level 35
You have guild bank access
You have masteries
You can use squad chat before level 30
You can use LFG before level 30
You can use more PvP chat modes other than squad chat
You can chat in the PvP lobby before level 20
You get daily login rewards
You can use the Gem-to-Gold exchange
You can trade more things on the trading post
You can post on the forums

All pieces of the original services we contracted by purchasing the copy of the game when it came out. You can’t just go to a resteraunt and eat food there and when you end up with a fly in your soup they offer you nothing in return and they say “Well… you had a waitress… and somone seated you… and they provided water and breadsticks so you should be happy….”

They drastically changed the value of the game without previous notice and gave to veterans little to no consolation for this. That is why there is outrage. If the prize had been even a 15% discount on HOT you wouldn’t have this on the forums… or perhaps 1000 in game gems, something that is not hard for them because they dump gems into the game from pvp tournaments and other promotions…

All of these were options that they did not consider… and as veteran players it is more the lack of thought that makes it the worst. We were there supporting them from the beginning and we receive little to no thanks for it. It is an abrasive situation at minimum.

maddoctor.2738:

Dager.2390:

The thingh is that we didn’t buy only the game but also we contract a service (every mmo is a service) and here is the problem in the moment we bought the game the say to us that the game was b2p but now is a f2p.

I’m not agaist new players but I’m agaist what Anet is doing the things

And your service is still valid, you bought the service to play the game forever without paying again and that’s what you got, that never changed.

But the value of the offer has changed drastically. You pay 60 dollars to go to a show, and as you get there and get seated they announce that because 50% of the seats are empty they are letting everyone else in for free. Outrage will insue for anyone that values money and carefully chooses the things they enjoy enough to invest in. As somone who is physically disabled and has to manage my money carefully I made a very active decision to save the money to pre-purchase gw2 because I love the title and the company despite many of my posts on this forum.

And contrary to popular belief I am in no way shape or form unhappy with that investment, even knowing this would happen (I would be less happy about it) but I would do it again, and pay the 80 bucks up front. Now that being said this does not discount or change the feelings of animosity or distrust built by both the secrecy of this deal, because you know they knew this was going to happen and could have told the community earlier than yknow… the day they did it… nor does it change that I am upset that our consolation prize yielded to me no real value of any sort.

They did provide us with some garbage royal guard skin that looks like something that got downvoted too many times so they couldn’t greenlight the release on the trading post… however to many of us, especially most of us that will never ever use such a horrendously disfigured skin, this feels like a cop out, or at the very least gives veteran players (and this has happened many times before) the idea that we are worth next to nothing. That our continued support and promotion of their game is to them, worth whatever they found in the bottom of the barrell… They couldn’t dare to part with 15% off the expansion? Or even to generate a few in game gems to let us purchase something of actual use? Gems are an unlimited currency, they could have provided consolation compensation and chose not to. This is why most of us hardcore veteran players with 1101 days played are a little bit sour over this whole deal.

Also to many of the people on this forum this anger and unrest is being redirected at the new guys coming into the game because they are easily accessable and it will only cause problems in the future, fracturing those who play for free and those who don’t. You will see free to players getting kicked from parties, us vs them mentality. All because Anet couldn’t part with something other than a skin that looks like a beatleborgs halloween costume to placate a disenfranchised mass of veteran players who have been at the lesser valued end of pretty much every deal since the initial purchase. Veterans are not respected. Anet is a company that as a company is much like a shark, they know about time investment, and they know that as a company they don’t have any need to placate players that already exist because we stand to lose more than they do if we stop. They already have our money. This is the overall idea behind this whole fiasco.

A post or two from the red names and perhaps something of actual value would settle down the veteran players and really help to smooth the transition of these new guys into the game. Personally I am happy to see new players, I am unhappy that I was not given consideration in the method that they chose to aquire them.