Guild Wars 2

I just hope there’s an expansion price for people who already OWN the game, why they had a popup in-game for players who already have the game is beyond me, that one should have shown the expansion price (without the price for the full game since I already own it). This is just an expansion, like Eye of the North, EoTN didn’t include the base game, Factions did but it also had 2 character slots and 2 new professions. HoT is not that type of expansion, it’s a simple content expansion that simply adds the areas and a lot of features we had in gw1 maguuma area… I would have prepurchased at $30 but at $50 I’d rather get a full game and wait on HoT until it was on sale.

At this price I’ll be getting Fallout4 instead of an expansion.

$50.00 for an expansion! They are insane, I don’t care if it includes the original GW2. It is an expansion. This is stupid and they will not get any money from me, my fiancé and my kids!

They are showing their greed now! I hope this flops hard!

Most of my guild agreed that it is the third. People get upset more about percieved unfairness (new players getting something extra, core game) then the price itself

MoonStoneX.9245:

bigbobpataki.4796:

MoonStoneX.9245:

Markhov.4603:

The price is not fine as you are paying TWICE for the core game, think again if the money that you pay is your own hard earned money.

The Expansion is $49.99 (Standard) if you buy it on a new Account that doesn’t own the Core game you get the Core game for free. So if you own the Core Game you aren’t paying for another. Now I am not defending the price just wanted to clear that up. I for one think this is far to expensive for the amount of content that they have shown us up to this point compared to other MMOs hell even Guild Wars 1. I mean come on we don’t even get a single free Character Slot for buying the Standard Edition?

“the amount of content that they have shown us up to this point”

Yeah it is too much for content up to this point, but they have a lot more to show. Think you’re jumping ahead a little early? If all they have shown was the content they’re launching with the game would be out already.

No I don’t think I am jumping ahead to early. I don’t believe what they will show us from now till release will be enough to warrant the price.

Do you have access to some knowledge/news/leaks that other people don’t, or are you just speculating/guessing? If you have the former we’re all ears for you to share.

Carbon Footprint.3421:

This isn’t for current players, only new players. They only care about new money not old money.

Ironically, it’s old money that builds the new money.

Sigh…..
I hate you Anet.

Zappix.7928:

lithiumwing.5493:

But it’s not $50 for the bundle, you’re buying the expansion for $50 and they’re throwing in the core game as a bonus. :/

We already know that. What use is the core game for Veteran players? We have no use for it, so instead of throwing in the core game free, why don’t they chuck in a free character slot instead? Or something that us Vets could actually benefit from?

But no, loyal customers have stayed with Anet since the beginning and have spent money on the game.

You harm your core and dedicated player base and you will see a massive drop in income.

Short term gains like this ploy have long term consequences in the form of loyal players that spend more in the long term than a few new players that give up after a couple of weeks will see Anet’s revenues in the form of microtransactions drop like bricks.

That is the concern, that is the upset. No one has a problem with the price, people have a problem with Vets being shafted yet again.

I was replying to someone who was saying what if the game was separate from core. I’m just as upset with this pricing. Look at Destiny: $60 for a game in which the content was distributed into paid dlc’s. It’s pretty much the same here. We’re paying for a full game, but with a fraction of actual content. Hell, atleast Blizzard’s expansion for WoW were pretty much standalone games with hours of content and updates.

Alirya.2365:

I think it’s also worth noting that this means that literally the only people that will not have full access to HoT content when it drops are…well, veteran players. People who bought the game before this HoT pre-order outrage, and just decided that the xpac was not worth it to them. New players will have their HoT accounts. People who have the money to spend or who don’t feel that there’s anything wrong with the xpac packages (a completely valid opinion, I might add, just one that I can’t bring myself to agree with) will have the HoT game. And that’s a big deal when the new main progression system (masteries) is exclusive for HoT.

And if not many people buy HoT or there is a drop in microtransactions they’ll lower the price and add incentives to bring back the lost sheep.

The point is, they shouldn’t get into a state like this. It’s a bad move.

Kitsune.1902:

I don’t really understand. The instant I read the core game is included in the expansion, I felt disappointed. I knew the response from the majority of existing player community would be largely same. If it was clear to me within a second, I can’t possibly imagine it was unexpected to a.net either. If that’s the case, then why do this?

I think the normal – and to my opinion much more fair – way to do this would have been to drop the price of base game to – for example – $25, and lower the cost of all expansion options by the same amount. Current players would get $25 value for their existing game and have the expansion at reasonable cost. New players would not have to pay a dime more than they do now – since they’d get the game and expansion at the same cost. The people who bought the base game recently would not feel so complitely screwed over either – sure, they’d have paid more for the base game, but it shouldn’t be unexpected that the game goes on sale for the launch of expansion.

Is the extra $25 drawn from all current players really worth all the feelings of unfairness and disappointment this decision causes? Really what’s worst about this whole thing to me, isn’t the extra cost, but that feeling it leaves. That the purchase of original game was just obsolated, simply to milk a few extra coins from me.

This is really well expressed, and I think the majority of us agree with you. There is a vocal segment of the community that is aggressively ridiculing anyone who disagrees with the pricing, though.

nehezbegar.1065:

Kaleban.9834:

nehezbegar.1065:

I don’t remember that argument. In every game, the ppl who complain on the forums about EVERYTHING are like 1-2% of the total player base, while the rest of the gamers enjoy the game or uninstall it. Those games were just bad, thats it

You need to statistics better. Yes, in every game the people who complain on the forums might constitute 1% of the player base. However, the people who defend/white knight on the forums ALSO constitute 1% of the player base. These two sides on forums REPRESENT 100% of the player base as a whole, and fairly accurate metrics can be created solely from forum posts. Otherwise, games companies wouldn’t bother with them.

And its not just smaller titles like Warhammer or CoH. It also happened to SWTOR, which went from a WoW style subscription fee to Free to Play precisely because the game was poorly designed, overcharged for everything, and the player base left in droves relatively shortly after release. And this from the same guys who made KOTOR, Mass Effect, Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, etc. SWTOR IIRC is the most expensive MMO created to date.

Forum opinion is one of the BEST litmus tests for a game’s health, when complaint threads start to dominate, the developers should recognize it as a potential major issue.

I don’t agree.

Normal players just play the game, or uninstall it and they don’t effin care about forums.

Like me, i have like 10 posts on forums since 3 years, since i don’t feel i need to post sth. Just came today since it is a HoT prepurchase day and saw this drama on forums

You may not agree, but that does not make him wrong.

yanipheonu.5798:

I mean, the alternative is they just didn’t give away a free account.

Do we really believe this would have somehow made the game cheaper? Honestly, it would have once again lined up with industry standard $50 expansion, but now new players have to pay more.

But hey, now we don’t feel like we missed out on our free account right?

Yeah, you can say it is cruel or selfish but that is how they could have avoided a lot of hurt feelings, no one wants to be paying the same as the guy next to him but getting less for his money.

Loyalty and supporting the game for 3 years should be rewarded not ignored, so as a matter of fact yes yes and yes, if they didn’t give out the core game for free to new players we wouldn’t feel like we missed out by being veterans.

I’ve played so many MMORPG’s over the last decade I really have, and this is honestly the first one I’ve seen where new players are getting a better deal than the ones here from launch. Usually you see companies showing their appreciation for their loyal customer base by giving them BETTER deals than new players, not worse.

If they wanted to entice new players to join the game, there was about a million other ways they could have done so without this mess, then they could have charged whatever the hell they want for their expansion too without it feeling like a cheap snub to everyone playing all these years.

Getting the same amount of content as the original GW2 would be a stretch to say the least. That is a LOT of content.

What can be said, however, is that the expansion will likely at least double the amount of level 80 open world content (seeing as how Guild Wars 2 vanilla only has 4 pure-80 zones, with 2 70-80 zones) while changing the way current content is played through specializations and masteries.

And that’s not counting all of the updates they’re giving us for free here.

Another thing to note is that it is difficult to quantify the expansion exclusive content because it is extremely likely that there will be expansion-exclusive living world content, which would effectively increase the value of the expansion post-launch.

By that argument, new players should be able to play for free as long as they don’t want to play HoT. This is not the case.

A new player can by the Ultimate version for $100. If I bought the core game for $50, and the upgrade for $50, I pay the same amount for less game.

‘But you saved by not having a subscription.’ How does that make it okay? Part of the purchase agreement was no subscription, and that hasn’t changed with HoT (we hope.) And, new purchasers still won’t pay a subscription, so it’s not a balancing condition.

I realize Anet’s job is to make money to support the game. But upsetting its fan base does not accomplish that. Some of them will leave, not spending their money. Others will reluctantly, and feeling as if they have no choice if they want to keep playing, shell out the money, and not buy anything else.

But look at it this way: let’s assume the core game has lost value. (It hasn’t, to buy it now is still the same price, but lets assume…) Call it worth $10 after the expansion. Let those who have bought the original have a $10 discount and 1 slot for the new character type, (beacause, really? $50/$75/$100 and another $8 if we want to try the new guy? It’s not like we had the choice when we made our characters…) Now current players don’t feel unappreciated, and are more likely to keep wasting spending money in the Black Lion store. Players are happy, and Anet comes out ahead.

So, if you’re willing to pay what they’re asking, you don’t see a problem, fine, don’t say anything and you don’t lose anything you’re not already willing to. But those of us that see it as disrespectful, who feel the money we already gave them should count for something compared to new players who haven’t spent that, certainly have the right to say something. And, contrary to popular belief, calming stating your disagreement with a decision so that your opinion is on record and can be taken into account, especially when others share that opinion, is not always ‘complaining.’ In fact, it’s possible that with enough discussion, an equitable solution can be reached, and you might even come out ahead on the deal – so please stop with the ‘its fine the way it is, stop complaining.’

I can totally get “wanting to make it easy for new players to get into the game”. But at the same time, how could nobody at ArenaNet not see how existing players wouldn’t see this as a slap in the face? I’m as loyal a customer and as big a fan as you’re going to find, but I can’t help but read over the pre-order stuff and say “REALLY?!”
If the price point is $50, fine. But then come out with a “Complete” edition that includes the core game for $60, just so that long term players feel like they’re getting some kind of deal. Or, as another poster said, Grant a free character slot if the key is attached to an existing account.
I’ve played since the beta weekend events and the 3 day head start and never felt the need to post here. But this ticked me off enough to post. Hope you do something to rectify this mess.

xBrownZ.7360:

Two hours ago Guild Wars 2 “DIGITAL HEROIC EDITION” was sold for $40. Then they added the expansion for $50 including the $40 game without the 3 extra meh items… that no one cared much for anyway. So yeah.. we gotta buy the game again for $40 it seems, and then pay $10. Great job.

Yeah, that is all kinds of shady.

Lil Puppy.5216:

I just hope there’s an expansion price for people who already OWN the game, why they had a popup in-game for players who already have the game is beyond me, that one should have shown the expansion price (without the price for the full game since I already own it). This is just an expansion, like Eye of the North, EoTN didn’t include the base game, Factions did but it also had 2 character slots and 2 new professions. HoT is not that type of expansion, it’s a simple content expansion that simply adds the areas and a lot of features we had in gw1 maguuma area… I would have prepurchased at $30 but at $50 I’d rather get a full game and wait on HoT until it was on sale.

At this price I’ll be getting Fallout4 instead of an expansion.

$49.99 is the Price of just the Expansion. The Core Game is an extra bonus for new players and they get it for free. This was already verified by Anets Twitter.

I thought WoW was more expensive with expansion and on top of that a monthly sub to?

lithiumwing.5493:

Zappix.7928:

lithiumwing.5493:

But it’s not $50 for the bundle, you’re buying the expansion for $50 and they’re throwing in the core game as a bonus. :/

We already know that. What use is the core game for Veteran players? We have no use for it, so instead of throwing in the core game free, why don’t they chuck in a free character slot instead? Or something that us Vets could actually benefit from?

But no, loyal customers have stayed with Anet since the beginning and have spent money on the game.

You harm your core and dedicated player base and you will see a massive drop in income.

Short term gains like this ploy have long term consequences in the form of loyal players that spend more in the long term than a few new players that give up after a couple of weeks will see Anet’s revenues in the form of microtransactions drop like bricks.

That is the concern, that is the upset. No one has a problem with the price, people have a problem with Vets being shafted yet again.

I was replying to someone who was saying what if the game was separate from core. I’m just as upset with this pricing. Look at Destiny: $60 for a game in which the content was distributed into paid dlc’s. It’s pretty much the same here. We’re paying for a full game, but with a fraction of actual content. Hell, atleast Blizzard’s expansion for WoW were pretty much standalone games with hours of content and updates.

I know I wasn’t having a go at you. There’s like 3 people in this thread defending this ploy.

3 out of what? 4 pages worth of complaints, not counting the other threads.

Khristophoros.7194:

nehezbegar.1065:

Well, the character slot for standard edition would be nice, since we get new profession, but who cares.

Vote with Your wallet, if You think 50$ is a ripoff just don’t buy it, get over it and stop moaning.

If You think it is a fair price, buy and enjoy the HoT when released.

End of story for me.

We’re doing them a favor by telling them in advance how we’ll vote.

Well for me it is childish. When i see sth on market that i feel is overpriced, i don’t go to the market manager and shout at him how he ripoffs ppl…i just don’t buy that item…

What I’ve seen advertized in xpac is not worth $50 in my opinion. Being in Canada means that’s about $60 for me. Will not be buying it.

lithiumwing.5493:

But it’s not $50 for the bundle, you’re buying the expansion for $50 and they’re throwing in the core game as a bonus. :/

Which is just a PR-approved wording of the same thing.

Odyssey.2613:

Carbon Footprint.3421:

This isn’t for current players, only new players. They only care about new money not old money.

Ironically, it’s old money that builds the new money.

Sigh…..
I hate you Anet.

I think this is really what peeves me the most. They only got to this point in the first place because of the people that have been with them since the beginning. Setting up the pricing this way makes for a great way to punish loyalty.

Leo.6817:

It is unfair because some people (new players in this case) are getting more value for their money than you are.

So if you buy a t-shirt today at Target for $20, then 2 years later, random person A buys the same T-shirt that is on sale for $10, then Target is being unfair? They are not getting more value than you, you’ve been playing this game sans subscription fee for x number of years. In that time you have managed to accumulate more in-game resource than they have. Experienced content that have now been permanently removed that they can’t experience as a new player. Given the chance to obtain skins that are now no longer obtainable. Received the LS2 updates for free, while they would have to pay around $20 to unlock all of that.

It is unfair because to all the people who supported the original game since release date they are receiving a poorer deal than people who have never touched the game before.

It is unfair because we as human beings have this unwritten understanding of “You scratch my back I scratch yours” with each-other, and this thing called ‘loyalty’ which is being utterly disregarded in the current situation.

Practically every other MMORPG out on the market right now rewards its veteran players in some way, it treats them as important core blood and doesn’t make devalue their money by asking them to spend the same amount of money a new player will, but giving the new player -more- than the veteran.

Really? Those same MMORPGs also make you pay a subscribtion fee. IF this was a sub game, I would agree with you. But it isn’t.

You might like to use $50 bills as toilet paper and it might make you mad us peasants dare to be disgruntled over how much value we make, but you are the minority here, perhaps a bit of respectful silence is wise.

Aedelric.1287:

nehezbegar.1065:

Kaleban.9834:

nehezbegar.1065:

I don’t remember that argument. In every game, the ppl who complain on the forums about EVERYTHING are like 1-2% of the total player base, while the rest of the gamers enjoy the game or uninstall it. Those games were just bad, thats it

You need to statistics better. Yes, in every game the people who complain on the forums might constitute 1% of the player base. However, the people who defend/white knight on the forums ALSO constitute 1% of the player base. These two sides on forums REPRESENT 100% of the player base as a whole, and fairly accurate metrics can be created solely from forum posts. Otherwise, games companies wouldn’t bother with them.

And its not just smaller titles like Warhammer or CoH. It also happened to SWTOR, which went from a WoW style subscription fee to Free to Play precisely because the game was poorly designed, overcharged for everything, and the player base left in droves relatively shortly after release. And this from the same guys who made KOTOR, Mass Effect, Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, etc. SWTOR IIRC is the most expensive MMO created to date.

Forum opinion is one of the BEST litmus tests for a game’s health, when complaint threads start to dominate, the developers should recognize it as a potential major issue.

I don’t agree.

Normal players just play the game, or uninstall it and they don’t effin care about forums.

Like me, i have like 10 posts on forums since 3 years, since i don’t feel i need to post sth. Just came today since it is a HoT prepurchase day and saw this drama on forums

You may not agree, but that does not make him wrong.

DId i say he is wrong? I just don’t agree and vocal my opinion. -.-’

yanipheonu.5798:

Do we really believe this would have somehow made the game cheaper?

It’s all about perception. The mistake was simply saying that it was included when it should have been packaged as a different bundle and at a higher price. Relatively, the expansion would have been cheaper and people could only complain about the perceived lack of content. Just a few weeks ago, the base game was only $10.

Vayne.8563:

Hyper Cutter.9376:

GW1 campaigns had two new professions apiece and entire maps as big as the base Tyria map in Prophecies. There’s nothing to suggest HoT even has as much content as GW1’s actual expansion had (which cost less than $50, btw), let alone as much as Factions or Nightfall.

But the most recent Guild Wars 1 expansion, Eye of the North, came with no new profession, no character slots and basically a handful of zones. The fact is, the other games were full games, and only Eye of the North was an expansion. This is, by and large, along the same format as Eye of the North.

Which only cost $35 and had a lot more content than it looks like HoT has. Which was the point I was making.

$50 dollars isn’t a lot for a good MMO. I think I am going to pay for the $100 package since it a steal.

I Think if you have at least one character at Level 80 and you buy through the site, you should get $10 off as kind of a “we understand you guys helped to make this as much as we did”

I am not going to pay $50 dollars either for HoT exp. I am going to pay the $100.

“To clarify: $50 is the price of the expansion. We included the core game as a free bonus to make it easier for new players to get into it.” -Regina

bulladin.7340:

$50 dollars isn’t a lot for a good MMO. I think I am going to pay for the $100 package since it a steal.

A steal? I don’t doubt it. You might misunderstand which role you play in this hypothetical, though.

Did you actually read OP? He said he’s quitting because of the sarcastic comment from John Smith. You appear to be off-topic.

I honestly don’t know what to say, I rarely complain about things like this but this is so unfair to people that have bought the game. I definitely won’t buy the expansion until this gets sorted out.

My brother in law already said he’s not going to be getting the expansion now. I’m going to get it, plain and simple. I just wish it included ONE character expansion slot with the base. Meh..

nehezbegar.1065:

Khristophoros.7194:

nehezbegar.1065:

Well, the character slot for standard edition would be nice, since we get new profession, but who cares.

Vote with Your wallet, if You think 50$ is a ripoff just don’t buy it, get over it and stop moaning.

If You think it is a fair price, buy and enjoy the HoT when released.

End of story for me.

We’re doing them a favor by telling them in advance how we’ll vote.

Well for me it is childish. When i see sth on market that i feel is overpriced, i don’t go to the market manager and shout at him how he ripoffs ppl…i just don’t buy that item…

Thats why we are not shouting at the manager…. WE ARE SHOUTING AT THE CEO OF THE COMPANY!!!

Well at least that price explains why they were willing to sell the base game for $15 a month ago lol

I think the bigger issue is it appears the amount of content doesn’t justify the price tag. That’s more of a marketing and promotion problem than anything. If the public saw a huge amount of content, I would bet you wouldn’t hear these complaints.

But, for right now, the content appears to be around three or four Living Story updates with a new class. The rest is gravy with updates to skills and the like.

That’s a problem and a reason for the unhappiness on the forums. I’ll not get into that business about repaying for something we’ve already bought. Double-dipping doesn’t even begin to cover that.

They do it at every chance.
NPE.
HOM.
Legacy Gemstore skins.
Now this.

They have a giant marble sculpture of a middle finger in their lobby that we paid for. All employees every morning bend and rest their forehead on it in hopes of inspiration on how to screw vets over next.

Trouble.3859:

I honestly don’t know what to say, I rarely complain about things like this but this is so unfair to people that have bought the game. I definitely won’t buy the expansion until this gets sorted out.

This isn’t unfair to current Gw2 Players….. I am glad they are giving out core game for new players.

wmtyrance.3571:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

nehezbegar.1065:

The ppl who complain on the forums are 1% of the playerbase, so who cares. I won’t miss them.

If they stop playing it will be healthier for the community and maybe new, fresh blood will complain less with this expansion.

I remember a similar argument on the City of Heroes and Warhammer Online boards. I hope I don’t have to point out the irony in their past and your current opinion. Sincerely.

Agreed that was just a stupid thing to say. Reeks of blind fanboy crap. If this is really the price for the little crap they are adding i won’t be giving them my money. I’LL use it to buy Fallout 4.

Who cares about fanboys or haters? You will buy Fallout 4, I bought HoT and will buy Fallout 4. Do we really need to elaborate on this fanboy, hater nonsense? As i said in another post, this whole drama is childish for me.

When You see overpriced item on the market You don’t go to the manager and fuss with him that he should lower the price, You just don’t buy that item (i mean, i think normal people would do that)….

nehezbegar.1065:

Khristophoros.7194:

nehezbegar.1065:

Well, the character slot for standard edition would be nice, since we get new profession, but who cares.

Vote with Your wallet, if You think 50$ is a ripoff just don’t buy it, get over it and stop moaning.

If You think it is a fair price, buy and enjoy the HoT when released.

End of story for me.

We’re doing them a favor by telling them in advance how we’ll vote.

Well for me it is childish. When i see sth on market that i feel is overpriced, i don’t go to the market manager and shout at him how he ripoffs ppl…i just don’t buy that item…

We can’t go buy HoT anywhere else because it’s ANet’s unique product. We could buy other games, but if we didn’t tell ANet why, they might just assume nobody likes their game rather than realizing that the price to content value is ridiculously bad.

you are not buying the game twice……the expension price is 50$ but for someone who dont have the core game aleady they get it for free as a bonus.its a way to attract new comer.this game have no sub fee and have been out for what,2-3 year already?a sub fee game would have cost you like 5-6 time more then this game so far. this expension is a bit more expensive then other game like ff14 or wow because those game have a sub fee….expension is the way to make $ for buy to play game and it still end up dirt cheap compared to most hight quality mmorpg (sub fee)

The Beta wasn’t even good. The game is like 3 years old in the midst of newer more immersive games, which are are practically at decent prices. The expansions costing like 50 bucks? seems overly pricey for a failed impression on beta. Hell steam is running mega deals I rather spend 50 bucks there get better gaming experience.

Ferever.7014:

I thought WoW was more expensive with expansion and on top of that a monthly sub to?

Yeah, WoW is also designed to be addictive over enjoyable. Let’s try not to follow their example please.

Let see …
$60 for GW2 with 5 character slots
$50 for HoT with 0 character slots

Even if the content is equal(very unlikely) you are still getting short changed from that alone.

Tofu.1978:

gw2 is a great value but they should have been able to understand that people do not like feeling like someone else is getting a better deal no matter how good the deal they are getting is or that they aren’t getting something they are paying for. Its a human behavior problem more then the value proposition that I think most are upset about. It was just careless packaging on their part. Logicaly gw2 is a great value being subscriptionless.

There is also the assumption, generated by both GW1 precedent and other MMOs, that an expansion with new classes should come with a character slot to put that new class into. Veteran players need to shell out an extra $10 or delete one of their existing toons. Since toons get gifts as they age, this is a painful thing to do and most will avoid it. So the veterans will end up paying $60 for an expansion and one slot while new players will pay $50 for an expansion and five slots.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

To clarify: $50 is the price of the expansion. We included the core game as a free bonus to make it easier for new players to get into it.

bad strategy…. should have sold HoT on its own for $35 or $40, and sell the core GW2 for $10 or $15…

Gw2 will always be available for you if you decided to come back. The beauty of b2p. Also by the time you ever decide to come back, the price on the expansion might have dropped!

If you really are leaving give away your ectos! No one says no to ectos!!!

Dead.5829:

There’s no sub, 50$ is fair for a AAA expansion with as much as HoT is giving us. If you want a better deal, buy the Ultimate edition for 50$ more that comes with some free stuff, a character slot, and… 50$ worth of gems.

haha, you have got jokes. what even makes you think that with the stuff they announced and showed for the expansion that it is even worth $50 in the first place. imo, it is currently only worth $30 and that should include 1 character slot as well.

$50, wow Anet you guys really are delusional. put in $50 worth of content in the expansion FIRST then we can talk.

I hope I didn’t come off aggressive to you either, Zappix. I’m just hoping Anet looks at what their play base are saying and maybe do something like during the games release and ongoing living story. I’d hate to see this game fall.

Leo.6817:

Nate.3927:

Leo.6817:

yanipheonu.5798:

Worst case, you have something free, but useless

Uhm, no, you will NOT have anything for free, unless you plan to play on a new account starting from level 1, you wont be able to make use of the free account, the ‘core’ game and the expansion come bundled together, as one account, so you either add it to your existing account which upgrades it to Heart of Thorns and you lose that free ‘core’ game, or you start a brand new account all together.

At least get it right if you are just going to blindly lash out everyone in such an immature way.

Did you fail to read his post? He said free but useless. It matches his example, he got Bioshock for free, but already owns it, so it’s useless.

Now if the core game came as a separate key, then you got something for free that isn’t useless. There’s a difference there.

I’m personally fine with the pricing. Would I like it cheaper or with one character slot? Of course I would, that would be better value for money. But the pricing is fine as it is too.

And to those comparing this to Heavensward, do remember that FFXIV is a subscription game. So you are paying the price of Heavensward and then you’re still paying a subscription.

This pricing is still a better deal than all other MMOs that I’m personally aware of.

No I think you simply do not understand the concept of “You are not getting anything for free if you want to upgrade an existing account” He can give that second bioshock game to a friend, I cannot give that ‘free core game’ part of the bundle to anyone because it will be -gone- the moment I upgrade my account to Heart of Thorns.

So -No- you do -NOT- get anything, not even something useless.

I think you seriously fail at logic. I don’t know the specific of the Bioshock deal, but IF he gave that to a friend, then that automatically becomes non-useless. His Bioshock game is useless because he either cannot or does not want to give it to another person. Maybe the game is on the same disc as the newer Bioshock so he can’t give it to anyone, or maybe for some other reason, like it’s a digital copy that is linked to his account. The free copy of the base game you receive with a purchase of HoT is useless because at this point all signs say that we cannot give it away to another person.

So if you buy a t-shirt today at Target for $20, then 2 years later, random person A buys the same T-shirt that is on sale for $10, then Target is being unfair? They are not getting more value than you, you’ve been playing this game sans subscription fee for x number of years. In that time you have managed to accumulate more in-game resource than they have. Experienced content that have now been permanently removed that they can’t experience as a new player. Given the chance to obtain skins that are now no longer obtainable. Received the LS2 updates for free, while they would have to pay around $20 to unlock all of that.

Your arguments don’t even make any sense anymore, that T-Shirt at Target would never be ‘free’ 2 years later, it would still cost something, the core game now evidently does not cost anything for new players if they buy the expansion, and yes they do get more value then me, they will ALSO get to play the game subscription free for years to come, seriously your entire argument is “You got to play for longer, that is your reward” which makes NO sense whatsoever, if -you- are happy with that as your reward for being a loyal customer and supporter of the game then fine? Good for you?

One look over the forums suggests that the majority of said customers are not, so we being the majority and you being the minority, please explain how ‘everyone’ is wrong and only you and a few select individuals are ‘correct’.