Guild Wars 2

I think the gem store strikes a fine balance between a F2P game and a game with a subscription.

We F2P now boys…

Here, here!

Get the pitchforks!

But I like buying new shinies off the Gem Store!!

All MMOs have a running cost as well as the development costs.
Game sales and expansion sales cover the development costs, but not the running costs.
If the game doesnt have a monthly sub, then that lost revenue has to come from somewhere else.
Thats the Gem store, and to get the equivalent of a monthly sub, the gemstore has to sell an equivalent amounts of goodies to make up the lost revenue.
Which means that all the good stuff has to purchased in the gem store.

Monk Tank.5897:

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Game designers used to spend all of their time making a great game. They also made enough money by charging around fifty bucks for said game. You could buy this game, take it home and play it as much as you wanted. This is when gaming was great, because the designers were just making a great game. Not designing a game to milk the customers out of every dime they can.

Back then, didn’t these same mmo game designers also charge you $15 or so every single month ($180 a year) on top of that $50 purchase price, to make a total of $230 for one year’s play time?

Dibbelocher.2318:

Well a better game means more people who will buy the game or stay with the game to buy expansions. Also the content we got for the price of the expansion was quite scarce. Comparing it to the core game that is. So the demands I’m asking aren’t too out of place if you take that into consideration.

They are out of place when you, and other people of your same train of thought, finally understand that Anet’s stated multiple times that all future LS releases, and expanded content will be locked behind HoT. If you dont get what that means, it means that ALL CONTENT from the drop of HoT to the release of the NEXT expansion, you bought for however much you paid for HoT.

Monk Tank.5897:

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Game designers used to spend all of their time making a great game. They also made enough money by charging around fifty bucks for said game. You could buy this game, take it home and play it as much as you wanted. This is when gaming was great, because the designers were just making a great game. Not designing a game to milk the customers out of every dime they can.

That’s still true for single player games (except it’s $60 now) for the most part, unless you’re dealing with an EA product that tries to milk you with microtransactions or Day 0 DLCs.

You’re being massively disingenuous if you’re trying to apply this standard to MMOs though, because MMOs have always tried to squeeze money out of you. The optional cash shop full of cosmetic and convenience items is better than pay-to-win cash shops and mandatory subscriptions.

Would it kill em to put in some new Cultural sets? How about Cultural gliders we can earn? They dropped the ball when it came to bells and whistles for what they charged in the expansion.

Armor weights as far as how they look doesn’t even matter at this point. There are medium, light and heavy looks for the outfits. Just release “one size fits all armor sets”. I am at the point where I am willing to settle for less than I expect from ArenaNet because they won’t or can’t meet the same high watermark they set with the release of GW2’s core game in terms of earnable items.

There should be cultural backpieces as well that go with the T1-3 sets and there should be at least T4-6 at this point. So many items the had no problem trumpeting whilst they were shoveling coal to stoke the fires of the hype train’s engine and where is all that stuff 3 months after release? Most of it isnt even in the game yet. Some of it never will be.

Where’s the Shaman set that used to be PvP exclusive that they promised would be earnable over a year ago for everyone? So many times they just keep coming up short. So many people want mix and match items. I have purchased a ton of armor skins on my main account. I have purchased exactly 1 outfit. I can’t make it my own when all I can do is dye it and you have the audacity to charge me 700 gems? Only 100 less than the armor sets that I can do a lot of creative things with? That’s laughable.

Aidan Savage.2078:

Dibbelocher.2318:

Well a better game means more people who will buy the game or stay with the game to buy expansions. Also the content we got for the price of the expansion was quite scarce. Comparing it to the core game that is. So the demands I’m asking aren’t too out of place if you take that into consideration.

They are out of place when you, and other people of your same train of thought, finally understand that Anet’s stated multiple times that all future LS releases, and expanded content will be locked behind HoT. If you dont get what that means, it means that ALL CONTENT from the drop of HoT to the release of the NEXT expansion, you bought for however much you paid for HoT.

and some of the stuff we used to have before HoT too.

Naix.8156:

The real crux of this issue is in how Anet has chosen to develop and push the gem store. It’s a much broader topic than just armor and glider skins, and, even though there really isn’t any true pay to win (outside of the power creep of the new specializations, and players without HoT being at a disadvantage in PvP) its starting to feel slightly sleazier all the time.
The irony here is that the more overtly Anet pushes the gem store the less inclined I am to use it. With HoT in general, I feel largely ripped off in terms of content and then I ended up buying a promise of future content. Vayne probably summed it up best with his whiteknight of the week post: “This expansion, Anet said from day one was lighter on content, but it was building the building blocks of the future of the game. New expansions won’t take as long to come out and they’ll likely have more content.” That’s a lot of speculation and as someone who really abhors the pre-order, day one dlc, and season pass business models so prevalent in the games industry; it sure don’t make the HoT purchase give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

You are really good at putting my thoughts into better words

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

No matter how ugly you think the stuff in the gem shop is, I can guarantee at least 20% of the community loves it enough to buy it. No matter how awesome you think skin X is, I can guarantee 20% (maybe even the same 20%) will hate it.

There’s just no way to please everyone with skins. Heck, it’s pretty difficult to please more than 20% of the diverse community. As a weird example, I know people are “sick of trenchcoats” for medium armor, but I like trench coats generally and yet I haven’t seen one in this game that I really like — so despite the over supply of trench coats in the game, I’d still like to see a few more.

The problem with the OP’s post is that it assumes that there’s just one view point that covers everyone’s feelings about acquisition of and quality of skins. No question we’d all like to see more and better skins; it’s a huge question as to what that might look like.

Plus, it’s not all that easy to churn out quality skins, especially not in complete, thematic sets. If it was, then we’d see a lot more variety than we already do.

You see, my intention was to make clear that if you just put out 3 armor sets for an entire expansion that there is just isn’t much choice and a high risk of people disliking all of them and getting nothing out of their 50 dollars/pounds/euros in terms of new armor skins for their characters.

And while a scarce amount of armor sets is put out, they happily put tons of stuff in the gem-store.

Sicarius.4639:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Dibbelocher.2318:

Well a better game means more people who will buy the game or stay with the game to buy expansions. Also the content we got for the price of the expansion was quite scarce. Comparing it to the core game that is. So the demands I’m asking aren’t too out of place if you take that into consideration.

They are out of place when you, and other people of your same train of thought, finally understand that Anet’s stated multiple times that all future LS releases, and expanded content will be locked behind HoT. If you dont get what that means, it means that ALL CONTENT from the drop of HoT to the release of the NEXT expansion, you bought for however much you paid for HoT.

and some of the stuff we used to have before HoT too.

True! But how long has it been since HoT launched? It’s getting close to 4 months now. Where is the second set of legendaries? Where is the next raid wing? Where is any new content at all? What are they waiting for? More Gem Store money? Meanwhile all they’ve been putting out is Gem Store items.

Dibbelocher.2318:

Sicarius.4639:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Dibbelocher.2318:

Well a better game means more people who will buy the game or stay with the game to buy expansions. Also the content we got for the price of the expansion was quite scarce. Comparing it to the core game that is. So the demands I’m asking aren’t too out of place if you take that into consideration.

They are out of place when you, and other people of your same train of thought, finally understand that Anet’s stated multiple times that all future LS releases, and expanded content will be locked behind HoT. If you dont get what that means, it means that ALL CONTENT from the drop of HoT to the release of the NEXT expansion, you bought for however much you paid for HoT.

and some of the stuff we used to have before HoT too.

True! But how long has it been since HoT launched? It’s getting close to 4 months now. Where is the second set of legendaries? Where is the next raid wing? Where is any new content at all? What are they waiting for? More Gem Store money? Meanwhile all they’ve been putting out is Gem Store items.

all of your questions have one simple answer there, they need time. To build on what they have as a frame work takes time. And as they release new parts to HoT content they want it to be harder, more in line, with their new direction.

But lets not sway here, the discussion is the lack of in game content compared to what is on the gem store these last 4 months.

sirsquishy.8531:

Dibbelocher.2318:

Sicarius.4639:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Dibbelocher.2318:

Well a better game means more people who will buy the game or stay with the game to buy expansions. Also the content we got for the price of the expansion was quite scarce. Comparing it to the core game that is. So the demands I’m asking aren’t too out of place if you take that into consideration.

They are out of place when you, and other people of your same train of thought, finally understand that Anet’s stated multiple times that all future LS releases, and expanded content will be locked behind HoT. If you dont get what that means, it means that ALL CONTENT from the drop of HoT to the release of the NEXT expansion, you bought for however much you paid for HoT.

and some of the stuff we used to have before HoT too.

True! But how long has it been since HoT launched? It’s getting close to 4 months now. Where is the second set of legendaries? Where is the next raid wing? Where is any new content at all? What are they waiting for? More Gem Store money? Meanwhile all they’ve been putting out is Gem Store items.

all of your questions have one simple answer there, they need time. To build on what they have as a frame work takes time. And as they release new parts to HoT content they want it to be harder, more in line, with their new direction.

But lets not sway here, the discussion is the lack of in game content compared to what is on the gem store these last 4 months.

Yes that’s what it is. They need time, a lot of time. And I think that IS one of the core problems of most complaints they will get from unsatisfied veterans.

Dibbelocher.2318:

sirsquishy.8531:

Dibbelocher.2318:

Sicarius.4639:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Dibbelocher.2318:

Well a better game means more people who will buy the game or stay with the game to buy expansions. Also the content we got for the price of the expansion was quite scarce. Comparing it to the core game that is. So the demands I’m asking aren’t too out of place if you take that into consideration.

They are out of place when you, and other people of your same train of thought, finally understand that Anet’s stated multiple times that all future LS releases, and expanded content will be locked behind HoT. If you dont get what that means, it means that ALL CONTENT from the drop of HoT to the release of the NEXT expansion, you bought for however much you paid for HoT.

and some of the stuff we used to have before HoT too.

True! But how long has it been since HoT launched? It’s getting close to 4 months now. Where is the second set of legendaries? Where is the next raid wing? Where is any new content at all? What are they waiting for? More Gem Store money? Meanwhile all they’ve been putting out is Gem Store items.

all of your questions have one simple answer there, they need time. To build on what they have as a frame work takes time. And as they release new parts to HoT content they want it to be harder, more in line, with their new direction.

But lets not sway here, the discussion is the lack of in game content compared to what is on the gem store these last 4 months.

Yes that’s what it is. They need time, a lot of time. And I think that IS one of the core problems of most complaints they will get from unsatisfied veterans.

I have been playing this game since launch. I dont mind waiting for rich content to be dropped in. Hell we waited for 8 months with out a GOOD content release from the announcement of HoT (Jan3Rd of last year) until its release for that rich content.

In between they did fillers, Gem store Skins/items, recycled holidays…ect.

HoT is released, they dribble out the content..first raid AFTER HoT’s release, first wave of new Legendaries….ect. with filler of Gem store items.

What I am not happy about is the gem store getting more updates then the content that we paid for. HoT is static, the zones are what they are. No LS release has happened yet (by now I would have expected the first chapter), and we just had a QoL release on the 26th (more Fluff and Nerfs). Where is the real content at?

I don’t mind giving them time, But I do mind them filling their precious time/resources with fluff when what was promised has still yet to be delivered.

and that is why I hate the gem store. Anet has made their money from HoT, they continue to make it with new sales. But all we have been getting is fluff. Its time they deliver.

and dont get me started on WvW…