Guild Wars 2

When GW2 was first announced as a Micro game I was all for it….even willing to shell out 100 dollars in gems to get me started…though that was until I saw what was for sale mostly junk..

I want to share how much I have spent on the game so far compared to Gw1…

I bought Gw2 with the early release so I forget how much I paid but I think it was like
54.99 again I forget and I bought like 20 dollars in gems.

so that is roughly 74.99 and how many months has the game been out???
I don’t know how financially Guild Wars 2 is doing but if this is all they got from me since the game came out I don’t think that is very good business considering that I can easily spend way more than that.

BY now in Guild wars 1 lifespan I had already bought the game plus Factions that was like 110.00 and by now I was getting ready to buy Elona….

You are probably going to say that I am just one player but there are thousands like me who did not return…..all these piecemeal content updates arent cutting it and until they change that I may never return……

I have probably put in over $1000. So my extra will make up for you not buying gems. You will probably say that I am just one player, but there are thousands like me who paid over as well.

Also I am glad to donate so that there are many players you included that can play for free or very close to free. Besides the initial cost of the game.

I am with Zypher on this one and I am probably in for the same amount.

Oo

You guys are the reason we can’t have good things..

People who buy gems subsidize those who don’t. And I reckon the # of gem buyers available are more than enough for Anet to sustain itself and grow. The exchange rate reflects this.

The game’s been out for 674 days, and I’ve probably spent roughly the same amount in £ (GBP) in gems since release.

I enjoy the game and most of the releases so far, and looking forward to tomorrow’s too.

:)

Read the quarterly NCSoft reports, and you will get your answers.

The game is pretty much dying in Europe (financially) after a massive loss in the last quarter, in the US it was at least stable but the numbers are less than satisfying.

The big hope is/was the china release, but we will have to wait a bit longer for the second quarter report.

http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/mmo-arpu/

That’s a tad dated and I’m not entirely certain they sourced accurately; but adding that to the mix.

EDIT: and their grammar is horrid.

I’m not certain how much I’ve spent and I’ll be honest, I’d rather not know. It surely cost more than playing another popular mmo and buying all its expansions and monthly fees for two years.

I see nothing wrong with how much money you want to place in the gem-mall, but i am against putting top tier rewards as something you can simply buy.

Well over $200 for the collector’s edition just as a start, and so much in gem purchases that if my spouse found out I would be in BIG trouble. I spent roughly $100 a month or more on gems. That is until I stopped playing. I know, your saying I am just one player, but there are probably tens of thousands of players just like me who stopped playing and that revenue loss will hurt. If you think your gem purchases make up for it, you better start spending a lot more if you want to see the game survive.

I think I’ve spent over £400, not sure.

But not one penny more until they revert the trait kitten up.

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

Well over $200 for the collector’s edition just as a start, and so much in gem purchases that if my spouse found out I would be in BIG trouble. I spent roughly $100 a month or more on gems. That is until I stopped playing. I know, your saying I am just one player, but there are probably tens of thousands of players just like me who stopped playing and that revenue loss will hurt. If you think your gem purchases make up for it, you better start spending a lot more if you want to see the game survive.

Silly.

Q2 2012 25,800,000
Q3 2012 22,900,000
Q4 2012 107,000,000 <—-Launch year Christmas sales
Q1 2013 32,800,000
Q2 2013 25,800,000
Q3 2013 22,900,000
Q4 2013 32,000,000
Q1 2014 24,500,000

They just launched in the largest gaming market in the world. What do you think Q2 is going to look like?

Karizee.8076:

Silly.

Q2 2012 25,800,000
Q3 2012 22,900,000
Q4 2012 107,000,000 <—-Launch year Christmas sales
Q1 2013 32,800,000
Q2 2013 25,800,000
Q3 2013 22,900,000
Q4 2013 32,000,000
Q1 2014 24,500,000

They just launched in the largest gaming market in the world. What do you think Q2 is going to look like?

LOL!
If you really think the China sales are going to have any impact on the rest of the world, your in for a rude awakening. I’ll give you a hint, you may as well consider the China servers a completely different game for a different audience. It’s common practice, if you have resources in 1 location losing money and another making money, you don’t keep both alive, you kill off the losing property and concentrate on the money maker. If you really want to keep playing GW2, you better hope the rest of the world servers can keep pace with the China servers or they will shut them down in a heart beat. Mark my words, the megaserver was phase 1. Next will be merging servers in regions, then merging regions, then………..

Zypher.7609:

I have probably put in over $1000. So my extra will make up for you not buying gems. You will probably say that I am just one player, but there are thousands like me who paid over as well.

Also I am glad to donate so that there are many players you included that can play for free or very close to free. Besides the initial cost of the game.

I have also spent over $1000, now I don’t feel crazy anymore.

Drok Kindleshot.1496:

so that is roughly 74.99 and how many months has the game been out???
I don’t know how financially Guild Wars 2 is doing but if this is all they got from me since the game came out I don’t think that is very good business considering that I can easily spend way more than that.

Then donate some more? Keep in mind that when you buy gems with gold, somebody bought these gems with money, so you’re supporting them just as well.

BY now in Guild wars 1 lifespan I had already bought the game plus Factions that was like 110.00 and by now I was getting ready to buy Elona….

Actually these titles were around 40. Prophecies, Factions and Elona together would have been 120.

You are probably going to say that I am just one player but there are thousands like me who did not return…..all these piecemeal content updates arent cutting it and until they change that I may never return……

I don’t know if there are plans for additional campaigns, but I think we’d all like a campaign sized expansion – and pay full price, but perhaps the gem shop plus the extension into China is making them enough money to continue.

@ Shining

I think he meant Q2 results as a whole, not drilled down to region

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

… if you have resources in 1 location losing money and another making money ….

It doesn’t look like their loosing money.

An expansion would instantly revive sales and player log in.

I wonder WHY they wouldn’t want to put that out now when they are not having financial issues and are making decent money with just LS releases and the Gem store?

HINT: Reinforcements are held back for a reason when you are playing a long term game.

You’re not the demographic, there are people that game marketers like to call ‘cash whales’ who will spend hundreds or thousands on microtransaction, just cause you spend maybe $0-20 doesn’t mean anything compared to those people.

I have spent hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on this game in December alone .
Luckily this is the only game I actually spend money on LOL

KarateKid.5648:

http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/mmo-arpu/

That’s a tad dated and I’m not entirely certain they sourced accurately; but adding that to the mix.

EDIT: and their grammar is horrid.

Quoted because nobody seemed to notice it

Also Drok, mmos don’t need a sub to run, the ones that have a sub are likely scamming you.

Personally i think the game is in a good state and is fine

Drok Kindleshot.1496:

When GW2 was first announced as a Micro game I was all for it….even willing to shell out 100 dollars in gems to get me started…though that was until I saw what was for sale mostly junk..

I want to share how much I have spent on the game so far compared to Gw1…

I bought Gw2 with the early release so I forget how much I paid but I think it was like
54.99 again I forget and I bought like 20 dollars in gems.

so that is roughly 74.99 and how many months has the game been out???
I don’t know how financially Guild Wars 2 is doing but if this is all they got from me since the game came out I don’t think that is very good business considering that I can easily spend way more than that.

BY now in Guild wars 1 lifespan I had already bought the game plus Factions that was like 110.00 and by now I was getting ready to buy Elona….

You are probably going to say that I am just one player but there are thousands like me who did not return…..all these piecemeal content updates arent cutting it and until they change that I may never return……

Receipts or it didn’t happen.
(Actually thought you were going to ask for a refund…and then /ragequit lol)

Im afraid to look and see how much Ive spend. Could have probably fed atleast 4 starving kids from a 3rd world country.

I’ve spent maybe close to $200 or so. That being for enough character slots for all classes, maxed out collection expanders, as well as, infinite use node harvesters. Aside from that though, I can’t see any real use in spending more. Usually the cosmetic stuff doesn’t do it for me, i’m more about convenience, that’s why the Living story is a dead zone for me in regards to spending.

What I would gladly spend more money on is an expansion

I don’t even want to think how much I’ve spent on this game since launch. I don’t spend every month. But normally I spend any birthday and Christmas money I get on gems(my birthday is a week before Christmas) and if I get a bonus for work and I want to treat my self I get some then. Normally I convert to gold or buy keys. But I’ve spend well over £1000. At launch I got the Digital delux preorder and around £70 of gems. For the first year I spend around £20-40 a month, last Christmas I spent £160 over December alone. That did get me in hot water with the wife. So if I had to guess I’d say I was close to the £2000 mark than the £1000. So even if I was to never spend a penny again. I think I’ve more than helped the game along, and as for Guild Wars 1. I bought everything from the ingame store bar a few winters day outfits and the merc packs. My hero’s work just fine.

Probably 10k by now if not more between buying stuff for me and my gf. Pretty much a sucker for mini’s and BLC gambling, and being able to change appearances anytime I want.

Collector’s Edition, an account for my wife, and about $200 in gems total since launch (and I’ll never buy gems again). I got into GW and was so pumped for GW2 because they assured us the gem store wouldn’t run the game. I still play and will until I see another non NCsoft title I like, but they’ve had all the cash they’ll get from me unless things change.

Karizee.8076:

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

Well over $200 for the collector’s edition just as a start, and so much in gem purchases that if my spouse found out I would be in BIG trouble. I spent roughly $100 a month or more on gems. That is until I stopped playing. I know, your saying I am just one player, but there are probably tens of thousands of players just like me who stopped playing and that revenue loss will hurt. If you think your gem purchases make up for it, you better start spending a lot more if you want to see the game survive.

Silly.

Q2 2012 25,800,000
Q3 2012 22,900,000
Q4 2012 107,000,000 <—-Launch year Christmas sales
Q1 2013 32,800,000
Q2 2013 25,800,000
Q3 2013 22,900,000
Q4 2013 32,000,000
Q1 2014 24,500,000

They just launched in the largest gaming market in the world. What do you think Q2 is going to look like?

Probably not as much as you would think because sales in China is booked as royalties in NCSOFT’s quarterly statement and not tied to a particular game. They may mention the reason royalties are up so much like they did when Blade & Soul entered China but Blade & Soul’s stated numbers don’t reflect China.

I’d say I’ve probably spent around $700. A pretty expensive game if you ask me!

I think I’ve spent about $100 or so on gems since buying the game before launch.

Tons of people spend money on the game. There are plenty of people who spend money on gems just to turn it into gold by selling it. There are people who buy tons of black lion keys in hopes of getting tickets or ticket scraps. There are people who speculate in dye packs in the hopes of getting rare expensive dyes.

Those people spend a zillion times more than I’d spend if they put stuff in the auction house I like.

Me, I buy unlimited gathering tools, the salvagomatic, very ocassionally something cosmetic (because I dont’ like the way most armor sets look) and novelties. I’m sure they made a small fortune on the bobble head factory. I bought one. My wife bought a water balloon thingy.

The game isn’t in any trouble at all, in spite what naysayers say. If they were, you’d have seen a reduction in staff, like happened with TSW and SWToR when they weren’t doing well.

Wow, well glad you guys buy gems I guess lol I haven’t spent any money on GW (other than buying the game itself.) Was wondering how many people actually bought stuff.

We live in an age of gaming in which companies do not listen to the customer until they are losing money, it doesnt matter how much money the customer throws at a game developer to make the game better, they will not change anything until they lose enough money.
It is a dumb system, but that is what it is.
So if you want change in any game or by any game producer, stop giving them cash and hope they listen instead of going bankrupt.

Blindly following a company that is ignoring 2/4 of their customers is not worth buying gems at all. CDI was just damage control. If they truly gave a crap about anything they would have done it already. Just look at the Sarcx video about how the dev’s raged over the critics comments to their ideas and ways to the pvp and wvw systems.

Anet is in love with their PvE stuff which is not wrong… if they didn’t ignore the other aspects of the game like the pathetic attempt at Esports with the PvP crap that really… is not gunna take off with their current attitude. It is hit or miss atm with them. GvG has actually been trolled by a dev so there is 1/4 of the game, and WvW is just not even looked at, at all anymore so there is the other 1/4.

Ive followed Guild Wars since the beginning of the release and have always love Anet. But now they are just like any other company out there. They have totally lost what made them great in the first place which was a snappy, competitive PvP (GvG etc etc) and a gripping lore backing everything. Now it is just a shadow of its former self and iti is truly disappointing to see them fall down this dark path.

I will keep playing but it will be just like an over priced chat log to me then anything now.

Curby.4897:

Blindly following a company that is ignoring 2/4 of their customers is not worth buying gems at all. CDI was just damage control. If they truly gave a crap about anything they would have done it already. Just look at the Sarcx video about how the dev’s raged over the critics comments to their ideas and ways to the pvp and wvw systems.

Anet is in love with their PvE stuff which is not wrong… if they didn’t ignore the other aspects of the game like the pathetic attempt at Esports with the PvP crap that really… is not gunna take off with their current attitude. It is hit or miss atm with them. GvG has actually been trolled by a dev so there is 1/4 of the game, and WvW is just not even looked at, at all anymore so there is the other 1/4.

Ive followed Guild Wars since the beginning of the release and have always love Anet. But now they are just like any other company out there. They have totally lost what made them great in the first place which was a snappy, competitive PvP (GvG etc etc) and a gripping lore backing everything. Now it is just a shadow of its former self and iti is truly disappointing to see them fall down this dark path.

I will keep playing but it will be just like an over priced chat log to me then anything now.

IMO the CDI is/was a FARCE.

Vayne.8563:

The game isn’t in any trouble at all, in spite what naysayers say. If they were, you’d have seen a reduction in staff, like happened with TSW and SWToR when they weren’t doing well.

Personally I’ve never questioned the results, just the methods. They’re the same kind of “methods” that I don’t experience in any other genre sans Candy Crush clones and other F2P hits. I think that that’s the main thing I was hoping GW2 would grow out of, but I should’ve seen the warning sign when I found out you could turn cash into gold.

Maybe I’m “offended” at the “audacity” of a game being buy-to-play that ends up being free-to-play. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I was especially pleased with my GW1 purchases; the end result is I’ve spent $140 more on GW1 than I have towards its sequel.

The most I can do is to continue to vote with my wallet, maybe they’ll pull a Diablo III when they’re no longer making much money off of the ‘whales’ and revert back to more traditional means of income. If it goes full-blown D3, with an overhaul to rewards and many more mechanics, I will absolutely throw down $50 for it. Until then, I have to endure gameplay that keeps nudging me towards my wallet.

If they release something I’m interested in buying (besides a few char slots and transmutations) I’ll spend more.

Like an armour set that shows off my charr’s fur and doesn’t clip the kitten tail.

To be fair micro transactions are successful because they prey on the ignorant.

Smith.1826:

Vayne.8563:

The game isn’t in any trouble at all, in spite what naysayers say. If they were, you’d have seen a reduction in staff, like happened with TSW and SWToR when they weren’t doing well.

Personally I’ve never questioned the results, just the methods. They’re the same kind of “methods” that I don’t experience in any other genre sans Candy Crush clones and other F2P hits. I think that that’s the main thing I was hoping GW2 would grow out of, but I should’ve seen the warning sign when I found out you could turn cash into gold.

Maybe I’m “offended” at the “audacity” of a game being buy-to-play that ends up being free-to-play. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I was especially pleased with my GW1 purchases; the end result is I’ve spent $140 more on GW1 than I have towards its sequel.

The most I can do is to continue to vote with my wallet, maybe they’ll pull a Diablo III when they’re no longer making much money off of the ‘whales’ and revert back to more traditional means of income. If it goes full-blown D3, with an overhaul to rewards and many more mechanics, I will absolutely throw down $50 for it. Until then, I have to endure gameplay that keeps nudging me towards my wallet.

Guild Wars 1 in some ways was worse than this game, cash shop wise. There you could buy packs to unlock skills, which to me was a huge time saver. I’d almost put that was pay to win. It was very borderline.

And there was content as well, as in the historical mission pack.

After playing some actually free to play MMOs, I’d have to disagree that Guild Wars 2 is in the same ball park as them.

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

Karizee.8076:

Silly.

Q2 2012 25,800,000
Q3 2012 22,900,000
Q4 2012 107,000,000 <—-Launch year Christmas sales
Q1 2013 32,800,000
Q2 2013 25,800,000
Q3 2013 22,900,000
Q4 2013 32,000,000
Q1 2014 24,500,000

They just launched in the largest gaming market in the world. What do you think Q2 is going to look like?

LOL!
If you really think the China sales are going to have any impact on the rest of the world, your in for a rude awakening. I’ll give you a hint, you may as well consider the China servers a completely different game for a different audience. It’s common practice, if you have resources in 1 location losing money and another making money, you don’t keep both alive, you kill off the losing property and concentrate on the money maker. If you really want to keep playing GW2, you better hope the rest of the world servers can keep pace with the China servers or they will shut them down in a heart beat. Mark my words, the megaserver was phase 1. Next will be merging servers in regions, then merging regions, then………..

I don’t see the problem. Assuming the royalty numbers in the quote are correct GW2 seems to be quite stable financially (launch and chrismas have the spikes to be expected).Where is the reason to be afraid over the financial situation? Where is the argument for deducing that the number of players are dwindling?

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

Karizee.8076:

Silly.

Q2 2012 25,800,000
Q3 2012 22,900,000
Q4 2012 107,000,000 <—-Launch year Christmas sales
Q1 2013 32,800,000
Q2 2013 25,800,000
Q3 2013 22,900,000
Q4 2013 32,000,000
Q1 2014 24,500,000

They just launched in the largest gaming market in the world. What do you think Q2 is going to look like?

LOL!
If you really think the China sales are going to have any impact on the rest of the world, your in for a rude awakening. I’ll give you a hint, you may as well consider the China servers a completely different game for a different audience. It’s common practice, if you have resources in 1 location losing money and another making money, you don’t keep both alive, you kill off the losing property and concentrate on the money maker. If you really want to keep playing GW2, you better hope the rest of the world servers can keep pace with the China servers or they will shut them down in a heart beat. Mark my words, the megaserver was phase 1. Next will be merging servers in regions, then merging regions, then………..

LOL! and here I was thinking money was a mobile medium of exchange… Server costs are negligible today in large projects and content has to be developed once with a proportionally small cost of localization for two markets. But that´s ok, as I dislike GW2 myself, go on with your doomsaying.

As for OP: I buy products and services, I don´t “support” companies.

Vayne.8563:

Guild Wars 1 in some ways was worse than this game, cash shop wise. There you could buy packs to unlock skills, which to me was a huge time saver. I’d almost put that was pay to win. It was very borderline.

Unlocking skills “normally” was far from impossible but yes, everything should’ve been unlocked in PvP from the start. The only pro is that at the time, it was a great way for someone new to the series to get right into the PvP if they didn’t care about the expansion packs or the PvE.

Still, I can’t in all honesty say I find that more offensive than providing cash-to-gold services.

And there was content as well, as in the historical mission pack.

Is this an issue? I don’t see why having to pay for content should be a concern.

After playing some actually free to play MMOs, I’d have to disagree that Guild Wars 2 is in the same ball park as them.

Of course not, because GW2 succeeded in already making $50 off of us, very likely more than any of us have spent on those sillier free-to-play games. It has no right to be as intrusive because it already “won”.

It’s still a price worth paying; the initial leveling experience through the one of the best looking MMOs is top notch stuff.

Well the quarterly reported income figures from NCSOFT, in millions of South Korean Won are:

3Q 2012 – 45,841
4Q 2012 – 119,013
1Q 2013 – 36,382
2Q 2013 – 28,899
3Q 2013 – 24,481
4Q 2013 – 33,555
1Q 2014 – 25,142

During this time period the exchange rate to USD bounced between 1050 and 1150 KRW per USD which is why it’s not the same ratio between the two list of numbers.

Note they didn’t publish any 2Q2012 income since the game went live in Sept 2012. So in roughly 19 months the game’s total income is roughly $287 million US in the ballpark with Karizee’s numbers.

But again when the 2nd quarter numbers come out in 2nd week of August, China’s income will be listed simply as part of “royalties” and not reflected in the game’s income numbers.

Not from a realistic standpoint, we will see box sales as well as popular items returning during the last month of every quarter to boost income numbers. And BlueZone is wrong. Microtransactions is a means to extract as much income each player is willing to spend each month rather than a flat rate like subscriptions.

KarateKid.5648:

http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/mmo-arpu/

That’s a tad dated and I’m not entirely certain they sourced accurately; but adding that to the mix.

EDIT: and their grammar is horrid.

I’m not familiar with all the games in that list, but is GW2 the only MMO to make the top ten in a sea of shooters?

Vayne.8563:

Smith.1826:

Vayne.8563:

The game isn’t in any trouble at all, in spite what naysayers say. If they were, you’d have seen a reduction in staff, like happened with TSW and SWToR when they weren’t doing well.

Personally I’ve never questioned the results, just the methods. They’re the same kind of “methods” that I don’t experience in any other genre sans Candy Crush clones and other F2P hits. I think that that’s the main thing I was hoping GW2 would grow out of, but I should’ve seen the warning sign when I found out you could turn cash into gold.

Maybe I’m “offended” at the “audacity” of a game being buy-to-play that ends up being free-to-play. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I was especially pleased with my GW1 purchases; the end result is I’ve spent $140 more on GW1 than I have towards its sequel.

The most I can do is to continue to vote with my wallet, maybe they’ll pull a Diablo III when they’re no longer making much money off of the ‘whales’ and revert back to more traditional means of income. If it goes full-blown D3, with an overhaul to rewards and many more mechanics, I will absolutely throw down $50 for it. Until then, I have to endure gameplay that keeps nudging me towards my wallet.

Guild Wars 1 in some ways was worse than this game, cash shop wise. There you could buy packs to unlock skills, which to me was a huge time saver. I’d almost put that was pay to win. It was very borderline.

And there was content as well, as in the historical mission pack.

After playing some actually free to play MMOs, I’d have to disagree that Guild Wars 2 is in the same ball park as them.

GW1 wasn’t pay to win, but there was a “pay to catch up” element for newer players. You didn’t buy win, you bought equality with the older players regarding access to skills and the like.

Should also note:

Gem store profits, NCsoft takes most of it and use it, with other profits from ingame stores and game sales, to publish games with developer of their choice…

One reason why ANet have released living story and “micro updates”(?), since they had not enough money to spend on bigger content.

I think there’s some news that NCsoft would start working with ANet on expansion for GW2.
I dunno when, and I dunno where the news was, so not so sure…

VOLKON.1290:

KarateKid.5648:

http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/mmo-arpu/

That’s a tad dated and I’m not entirely certain they sourced accurately; but adding that to the mix.

EDIT: and their grammar is horrid.

I’m not familiar with all the games in that list, but is GW2 the only MMO to make the top ten in a sea of shooters?

IIRC, the article stated it was not a comprehensive ranking of F2P MMO’s, just a representative list.

EDIT: Yah – in the grey footer of the graphic.

FrostSpectre.4198:

Should also note:

Gem store profits, NCsoft takes most of it and use it, with other profits from ingame stores and game sales, to publish games with developer of their choice…

One reason why ANet have released living story and “micro updates”(?), since they had not enough money to spend on bigger content.

I think there’s some news that NCsoft would start working with ANet on expansion for GW2.
I dunno when, and I dunno where the news was, so not so sure…

ArenaNet has already stated that there is no expansion currently in development and will remain that way until Season 2 is finished. So even if they did decide on an expansion, you’re looking at atleast another 2 years from now.