Guild Wars 2

I’ll admit, I turned the ad off at the point people were talking about rent. Not planning to go back and watch the whole thing.

Agree with the poster who said: not sure who the target audience is.

It was very unprofessional.

Yargesh.4965:

I was hoping this was a joke. Looked at the calendar and it is still November not the end of March.
http://migration.guildwars2.com/en/

Not sure who the target audience is but think it may backfire a little.

It is just good fun. Not sure why you take it so seriously. Smile.

If I didn’t play the game, and was considering it, this would have completely turned me off and made me run. It’s so awkward and uncomfortable and… I don’t know. Just weird.

Brutal Arts.6307:

“You never feel like you’re grinding”

Hahahahaha. Hah.

Same reaction, I almost spit my cocoa listening to this.

While this seems kind of dumb, I would definitely at least check out what the game is like if anyone advertised like this, lol.

Xcom.1926:

That was painful and cringe worthy. Things like this make me embarrassed. Can you guys do something cool instead that make me proud to play GW2 and something that I can share with friends that don’t play GW2? I want to tell my friends hey check this thing out it is so cool. Instead of things like this that are so cringe inducing?

And do you realize this isn’t 2005 anymore, right? You realize most MMOs are F2P? Why are you talking about subscriptions? Most MMOs are F2P with less barrier to entry than GW2.

Yeah like the last trailer for the current patch. That was awesome and something you can show other people. This is really embarrassed as a GW2 player imho.

Yargesh.4965:

Xcom.1926:

That was painful and cringe worthy. Things like this make me embarrassed. Can you guys do something cool instead that make me proud to play GW2 and something that I can share with friends that don’t play GW2? I want to tell my friends hey check this thing out it is so cool. Instead of things like this that are so cringe inducing?

And do you realize this isn’t 2005 anymore? You realize most MMOs are F2P? Why are you talking about subscriptions? Most MMOs are F2P with less barrier to entry than GW2.

I think they are talking about subs because two big names coming next year (maybe) will be sub based. They want to differentiate themselves from the competition.

It’s not really sure if you can name Wildstar a sub-based game. You get game-time for buying gems so at least it’s F2P with the requirement to buy gems but you can also earn game-time ingame. The big question then is how easy or hard it is to earn it. Maybe it’s very easy to earn and you just have a little less resources ingame because you spend some on game-time but in that case you can’t really consider it sub-based. Maybe it is hard to earn it ingame and then like I said it’s at least F2P with the requirement to pay.

I am not interested in Wildstar but when I read up about the payment system I noticed that you can not easily cal it a sub-based game.

Why so serious? I thought it was pretty entertaining.

Galtrix.7369:

Sps.7862:

Galtrix.7369:

Facepalm

40% off of Guild Wars 2 at the moment (Will definitely go up to at least 60% off later), and advertisements like this popping up left and right. I think that tells us what the population of Guild Wars 2 is like.

My goodness, that was hard to watch though.

I think it’s completely irrelevant. Advertisement is advertisement. They’ve done sales before, and other advertisement campaigns.

This is like saying WoW going partial F2P with a starter edition is a desperate move. It’s merely to try to get people more to try out the game and get them hooked.

One can consider that a game is not doing well when it goes F2P when it originally was B2P, P2P or what have you (say for example Tera, Rift, Aion, etc.).

At the moment, it’s not about the amount of players in the game that they want. It’s money. What logical reason would they have for making the game 40% off and then advertising with this? If they were doing well, they would keep the game at 60 dollars and keep advertising. But nope, they drop it to 40% off and advertise to bring in more players so they will have more money.

And as much as I like WoW, that was a desperate move on their part to offer a starter edition. Their idea was to offer it in the hopes that people would come and see how great the game is, but most people play the starter edition and once they hit level 20, they delete the game.

I respectfully disagree. My example stands, as it is in no way a sign of desperation on Blizzard’s end, rather their own attempt at trying to cater to the massive crowd of players who are too cheap to actually pay for a game (or simply can’t afford it). The same crowd that is indulged by the horribly flawed F2P model. Blizzard does not do F2P, although they are starting to get into it, about 5 years later, with Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm.

WoW has 7 million subscribers after nearly 9 years, that alone is absolutely impressive and they have nothing to feel desperate about. And no, I do not play WoW and I in fact find the game very boring.

And I still don’t believe GW2 is doing poorly in term of money. Having a sale on the game is perfectly normal, it happens all the time and considering the sheer competitive nature of the MMO market, I don’t see it as an anomaly or a sign of bad financial shape. I mean, what do you expect? That they just keep the game at $60 throughout the whole year, without ever advertising it? A game which doesn’t offer any discount nor any advertisement is doomed to die, it’s as simple as that. As disgusting as advertisement can get, it is a sad necessity and one can’t expect their game to grow (understand: actually grow, not survive) without it.

I think it’s mostly meant as a goofy advertisement, I’m sure they don’t expect anyone to actually take the pledge. I mean, anyone who would do it would be doing it not so much for the free game but simply to be part of the fun.

I agree there are better ways to advertise the honestly amazing game that is GW2 though. I simply don’t take that particular ad seriously.

Well I found it a bit silly but had to laugh at the guy saying driving the cab was a second gig to save coin for Eternity. Real life grinding.

lol, that oath is funny. Some of you guys are too serious. Jeeze

I, Sir Vincent III, renounce free to play games and pledge my allegiance to Guild Wars 2.

I likewise declare my freedom from Rachel Ray’s magazine subscription fees!

That I turn my back forever on the world which is/are totally boring.

That I will take up arms to defend the Moshpoipoi and crush evil with my pair of toothpicks.

I take this oath to Guild Wars 2 freely, without clothes because I am naked?.

Well, I thought that was a bit of fun. And a bit cringeworthy but I always feel like that when I see these sorts of things.

They probably make a ton more from the gem store than from selling the game itself. Discounting the game to get people into it provides more potential gem store users.

Not sure if this is as bad as the other real action trailer or not.

Sps.7862:

Galtrix.7369:

Sps.7862:

Galtrix.7369:

Facepalm

40% off of Guild Wars 2 at the moment (Will definitely go up to at least 60% off later), and advertisements like this popping up left and right. I think that tells us what the population of Guild Wars 2 is like.

My goodness, that was hard to watch though.

I think it’s completely irrelevant. Advertisement is advertisement. They’ve done sales before, and other advertisement campaigns.

This is like saying WoW going partial F2P with a starter edition is a desperate move. It’s merely to try to get people more to try out the game and get them hooked.

One can consider that a game is not doing well when it goes F2P when it originally was B2P, P2P or what have you (say for example Tera, Rift, Aion, etc.).

At the moment, it’s not about the amount of players in the game that they want. It’s money. What logical reason would they have for making the game 40% off and then advertising with this? If they were doing well, they would keep the game at 60 dollars and keep advertising. But nope, they drop it to 40% off and advertise to bring in more players so they will have more money.

And as much as I like WoW, that was a desperate move on their part to offer a starter edition. Their idea was to offer it in the hopes that people would come and see how great the game is, but most people play the starter edition and once they hit level 20, they delete the game.

I respectfully disagree. My example stands, as it is in no way a sign of desperation on Blizzard’s end, rather their own attempt at trying to cater to the massive crowd of players who are too cheap to actually pay for a game (or simply can’t afford it). The same crowd that is indulged by the horribly flawed F2P model. Blizzard does not do F2P, although they are starting to get into it, about 5 years later, with Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm.

WoW has 7 million subscribers after nearly 9 years, that alone is absolutely impressive and they have nothing to feel desperate about. And no, I do not play WoW and I in fact find the game very boring.

And I still don’t believe GW2 is doing poorly in term of money. Having a sale on the game is perfectly normal, it happens all the time and considering the sheer competitive nature of the MMO market, I don’t see it as an anomaly or a sign of bad financial shape. I mean, what do you expect? That they just keep the game at $60 throughout the whole year, without ever advertising it? A game which doesn’t offer any discount nor any advertisement is doomed to die, it’s as simple as that. As disgusting as advertisement can get, it is a sad necessity and one can’t expect their game to grow (understand: actually grow, not survive) without it.

I think it’s mostly meant as a goofy advertisement, I’m sure they don’t expect anyone to actually take the pledge. I mean, anyone who would do it would be doing it not so much for the free game but simply to be part of the fun.

I agree there are better ways to advertise the honestly amazing game that is GW2 though. I simply don’t take that particular ad seriously.

Oh, I didn’t make that last paragraph clear at all. Guild Wars 2 is doing great financially, but they are doing very poor with the amount of players in the game at the moment. That’s the reason for the 40% discount and the advertisement. To get more people to join. They sacrifice money to do that. It just seems like they’re making a joke out of it when they advertise like this because, instead of bringing people in, it repulses people.

Galtrix.7369:

If they were doing well, they would keep the game at 60 dollars and keep advertising. But nope, they drop it to 40% off and advertise to bring in more players so they will have more money.

If they have come to realize that on average the cash shop generates more income than box sales on a per account basis it would be foolish of them to NOT run a sale to draw in more people to be exposed to the cash shop.

Sometimes a price reduction can lead to increased revenue/profit.

Now on the oath, I’m going to have laughs with it.

I, Player, renounce older games and pledge my allegiance to Guild Wars 2. I likewise declare my freedom from never paid subscription fees! That I turn my back forever on Jotun which is/are totally going to wreck my Norn home. That I will take up arms to defend the bunnies and crush evil with my Flameseeker Prophecies shield. I take this oath to Guild Wars 2 freely, without a Flameseeker shield because I am poor.

Ashen.2907:

Galtrix.7369:

If they were doing well, they would keep the game at 60 dollars and keep advertising. But nope, they drop it to 40% off and advertise to bring in more players so they will have more money.

If they have come to realize that on average the cash shop generates more income than box sales on a per account basis it would be foolish of them to NOT run a sale to draw in more people to be exposed to the cash shop.

Sometimes a price reduction can lead to increased revenue/profit.

Its a form of price differentiating, or whatever name by which you know the technique as. You sell it to the eager fans who would pay a higher price first to play the game earlier, than lower the prices to capture the not-so-eager potentials. Lets you milk every last penny out of sales.

The same with books. Do you really think the hardback version costs THAT much more to produce?

But, wow, that was cringe-worthy as crud. I’m gonna pretend that never existed. Not to sound offensive but can whoever makes this stuff actually look at their work and think ‘hmmm, what would an actual viewer think of it?’ before just jamming it out.

Galtrix.7369:

Facepalm

40% off of Guild Wars 2 at the moment (Will definitely go up to at least 60% off later), and advertisements like this popping up left and right. I think that tells us what the population of Guild Wars 2 is like.

My goodness, that was hard to watch though.

I think you have a good point but your looking at it wrong. This most likely means they have a solid game base and have money. Advertising is not cheap. The production cost on this must have been pretty steep and a game that has a weak player base or poor income doesn’t front the cost for stuff like this.

Ashen.2907:

Galtrix.7369:

If they were doing well, they would keep the game at 60 dollars and keep advertising. But nope, they drop it to 40% off and advertise to bring in more players so they will have more money.

If they have come to realize that on average the cash shop generates more income than box sales on a per account basis it would be foolish of them to NOT run a sale to draw in more people to be exposed to the cash shop.

Sometimes a price reduction can lead to increased revenue/profit.

Even if thats the case it’s to bad that this gem-store focus is destroying the game in many ways. A focus on expansions would resolve in a much better game.

Neat idea.

BUT I WANT THE “LOOK FOR KARKA” sticker!!!!!!!!

Make it happen Anet!

Xae Isareth.1364:

Ashen.2907:

Galtrix.7369:

If they were doing well, they would keep the game at 60 dollars and keep advertising. But nope, they drop it to 40% off and advertise to bring in more players so they will have more money.

If they have come to realize that on average the cash shop generates more income than box sales on a per account basis it would be foolish of them to NOT run a sale to draw in more people to be exposed to the cash shop.

Sometimes a price reduction can lead to increased revenue/profit.

Its a form of price differentiating, or whatever name by which you know the technique as. You sell it to the eager fans who would pay a higher price first to play the game earlier, than lower the prices to capture the not-so-eager potentials. Lets you milk every last penny out of sales.

The same with books. Do you really think the hardback version costs THAT much more to produce?

Exactly.

The technique works in many areas. Not just in trying to capture the not so eagers either. Some of your potential customers, who are every bit as eager as the initial buy ins, just cannot afford your release pricing. You need to be careful to not go to sale pricing too soon or you risk the possibility, if this becomes a known trend for your company, of “training” your potential release customers to wait for the sales. Then again you also do not want to wait too long to attempt to draw in the second wave of customers with sale prices as you risk the possibility of waning interest.

I’d like to know where in the game that concept art is?

Sorry folks but I found that video funny, even if a bit corny. I don’t really see it as any waste of money, to me it was a good change from an advertising perspective.

Ashen.2907:

If they have come to realize that on average the cash shop generates more income than box sales on a per account basis it would be foolish of them to NOT run a sale to draw in more people to be exposed to the cash shop.

Sometimes a price reduction can lead to increased revenue/profit.

I have no issues with this. I hope if they ever do “expansions” it’s all a matter of updating and adding the content right in to the game. The savings on mass producing boxes and discs with the content and marketing to outlets and shipping to outlets is not small.

This is why I don’t get the “I want an expansion!” crowd. It can be done without store releases. New skills, new content, new classes, new races, on and on. I think some people have that gratification need to going out and picking up a box and hugging it til they get home…..or something.

Sorry Anet, but this video wasn’t funny, wasn’t entertaining, and wasn’t cute. Not in the least. Definitely not representative of the game itself. If you honestly believe espousing the fact that it is free to play is the way cause an exodus from other MMO’s to GW2 you are sadly mistaken.

I hope this was just an in-house thing and you had a bit a fun. Because if you paid an advertising agency for that… meh, I’ve said enough.

LOL, what’s the problem? U guys kitten about EVERYTHING!!!

Kanebrake.6192:

Sorry Anet, but this video wasn’t funny, wasn’t entertaining, and wasn’t cute. Not in the least. Definitely not representative of the game itself. If you honestly believe espousing the fact that it is free to play is the way cause an exodus from other MMO’s to GW2 you are sadly mistaken.

I hope this was just an in-house thing and you had a bit a fun. Because if you paid an advertising agency for that… meh, I’ve said enough.

I agree. How was this funny? Because the people had no idea what was going on? Just saying random things like “Watch out for the centaurs” and seeing a clueless reaction isn’t funny. If it is for you, have fun laughing at “The titan rolled over in that pot hole”.

Who were they targeting? Random strangers that might not even play games at all? Thought it was the “Great MMO Migration”? The target demographic should be people from OTHER MMOs.

I think the trailer is just trash. The idea of generating social media to get GW2 free, is genius though. Creates a buzz, you might get a free game, people check out the social media being posted, etc.

i dont think i like the idea of playing alongside anyone that would join gw2 because of this video.

I already pledged allegiance to this game years ago back in GW1 days.

But man, people are just blowing up about this when they should be mad about that human t3 armor thing.

one of my math teachers in high school used to have a piece of paper taped to the wall that read “if needed, bang head here” with a plain blank circle below it. some moments still take me back to that time. this is one of them.

i don’t know how else to respond to this.

I haven’t been keeping track, but isn’t this around the fifth discounted sale now?
Well, I don’t find it surprising they’re becoming desperate for more players.
At this rate they may just turn the game into full blown F2P and give a title to anyone who purchased the game.
They have been pushing the game to make gold→gem less attractive, in order to get cash→gem, so it does make sense.

I pledge my life to KITTEN! loved that video lol

I can only guess that whoever was the author behind that :shudder: piece is also the author of the :shudder: Scarlet fiasco.

That was painful to watch.

I feel embarrased for the taxi drivers. The fact she ask these random strangers, that whom would most likely never touch a mmo, questions like those made it unbearable to watch.

I rather liked the video. Kinda fun, kinda weird.

Better than the original GW2 live-action trailer, right?

The whole time I watched this I felt very uncomfortable..

Anet does realize April 1st is still ~5 month way, right?

It was bad enough to not know anyone in person who played this game but now I’m starting to feel a little uncomfortable admitting I still do.

I did not at all feel comfortable watching this.
It was far too cheesy for me, and I love cheese.

I’m yet to see a single instance in which an asterisk next to the word “FREE” had any positive impact.

Obviously the target market is people who take cabs.

I get it, they’re trying to get people who never played an MMO into MMO’s. This won’t end well.

[q]gotta get people to play the game somehow, right?[/q]

One does that by creating/maintaining a quality product. No amount of hype will change the product being hyped, it’s still as good/bad as it was when created.

That was just weird and disturbing, ArenaNet. What is going on inside your heads?

What a desperate move by Arena Net, but, additional marketing is understandable. NCsoft reported lower earnings based on lower Arenanet sales and increased marketing costs for Wildstar: http://www.ncsoft.net/global/ir/earnings.aspx

Also, maybe Arena Net could go have a look at its own pre-release oaths and manifestos, and recite those, because they clearly forgot a few of them along the way.

I actually liked it! You got to watch the whole video and not pass scenes to realize that is nice!

It’s called having fun.

leman.7682:

Brutal Arts.6307:

“You never feel like you’re grinding”

Hahahahaha. Hah.

Same reaction, I almost spit my cocoa listening to this.

Same reaction, I almost spit my Mango, Pineapple and Passion fruit smoothie listening to this.

Would have been a very fruity mess.

Huck.1405:

[q]gotta get people to play the game somehow, right?[/q]

One does that by creating/maintaining a quality product. No amount of hype will change the product being hyped, it’s still as good/bad as it was when created.

I wouldn’t be too sure of that….

Just take a look at the supermarket. Kellog’s cornflakes is more expensive than Tescos cornflakes, it still sells. Are they different? Nope. If you put Tescos’ in a Kellog’s box, no one would notice.

Marketing can do wonders for your product.

The outfits they were wearing (which were from in game designs) were terrible, it looked like really cheap cosplay, more effort required.

Concept is silly and would turn me off the game.

Xae Isareth.1364:

Huck.1405:

[q]gotta get people to play the game somehow, right?[/q]

One does that by creating/maintaining a quality product. No amount of hype will change the product being hyped, it’s still as good/bad as it was when created.

I wouldn’t be too sure of that….

Just take a look at the supermarket. Kellog’s cornflakes is more expensive than Tescos cornflakes, it still sells. Are they different? Nope. If you put Tescos’ in a Kellog’s box, no one would notice.

Marketing can do wonders for your product.

Yes, proper marketing. Making your game into a walking joke is not proper marketing unless you are a fp2 browser game created for kids.