I have played this game since launch, and I was a huge alt-o-holic. I have 19 characters as of now, and you can bet I was considering buying more. Leveling and exploring were my favorite things about the game.
To top off all the alts I had I also bought not one, but two people the game. People who wanted to try it but weren’t sure they wanted to invest money on it. People, who for the record, wouldn’t have even looked at it without me first praising it and sending constant videos on it to them. Videos which are now rendered moot by the changes.
I not only bought 14 character slots. I purchased many skins and cosmetic items. (Among them, Mad King’s outfit, Witch’s outfit, etc. Quite a few armor skins, weapons skins, makeover kits, some goofy items, like the flute, minis, etc.) We know I spent at least $250 (on myself alone) and on others and including buying the game itself $395 (as I regretfully bought the Digital Deluxe). Likely more I’m not remembering.
And before this patch, I was honestly considering buying more. A lot more. There were things in the store I wanted to buy, I wanted to buy even more character slots. Those things aren’t going to be purchased.
To top it off, my friend who I purchased the game for possibly 2 months ago? He’s quitting as well, because he wasn’t able to play religiously and as such all of his characters are under level 20 except for one 80 he got just about 4 days ago from running TA with me to get armor. (From 50-80.)
He’s actually one of the people who posted above. He was going to spend about $50 on the game over time, or at least he planned on it. Before the patch he was happily talking about how despite not being the type of person to spend money on a game (and how he tries to save his money) he was so happy about the idea of supporting this game he enjoyed so much. And how much he wanted to. With genuine joy in his voice. He was actually discussing what he wanted to buy and what he wanted to do with it (literally about two days before the patch). And now our discussion has turned to how happy we are he didn’t buy it before these changes. And how regretful I am I did.
Before the patch changes we were marathoning Jumping Puzzles and having so much fun. We were also discussing working towards Legendaries, getting achievements, completing the map, etc. Just because it was fun and we wanted to spend time in the game.
Literally right before the patch we were doing a Jumping Puzzle I was having some trouble on, and I said he should level his Mesmer to help me (and others) something he loved to do. Something he said he was happy to do and looking forward to. We got to the top of the jumping puzzle through a Mesmer’s help (well I did, he was fine) right before the patch came in. He was talking about how much he wanted to be a Mesmer because he could help people through this stuff. How fun that was and how cool Mesmers who did was. The patch comes in and we immediately notice something is wrong (some of the changes cause issues, some people are spamming due to changes, people taking advantage of the new TP system), but decide to log for the day. The next day we start playing with the intent of him leveling his Mesmer to do more jumping puzzles. And then he saw the new leveling system. And all the fun was drained. He just wanted to quit, and frankly so did I. And so we are. Anet has lost one of its new players due to both their attitude and the changes. At the core of it it’s just not fun anymore, and what we liked about the game is gone. Funnily enough my friend keeps bringing up how sad he was because he wanted to play this game for years to come, and what made it fun for him is now gone.
And a little added note: I knew an old player who had quit for a long time who had just redownloaded the game to play it again. He was really looking forward to it, and when he saw the changes he said it genuinely made him sad. (“Like really sad” as he said in his own words). I know for a fact he buys from the Gem store. I don’t think he’ll be playing the game either.
I’ve never posted on the forums before (to my knowledge, if I did it was a very long time ago), but for this I am. But I wanted to say something on it, because this is an issue that has entirely taken the fun out of the game for me and several others. And to be honest, I can get the model Anet is trying to be better somewhere else. And I think I might. (To the point, as an avid WoW disliker since mid-Cata, I’m thinking of possibly repurchasing WoW. Most likely not though.)
So for what it’s worth, you’ve lost 3 costumers and people of ranging varieties. And when I was playing the game I ran into a lot of people bringing up the issue with it mentioning their friends had issues with the leveling system. New players, who they said were only going to keep playing because they said they knew their level 80 friends would carry them. GG.
(edited by Jiyuria.4321)