Guild Wars 2

Correct me if I am wrong, but…

Are veterans forced to buy the CORE game again? Just to have access to the expansion? IF SO…

How is a single free character slot equivalent to 5 character slots when I bought the game originally?

And its not the 4 character slots that we are being cheated that matters.
But the fact that there’s no option to buy the expansion as a stand alone.

Which leaves you three options:

1. pay more and receive less value per dollar spent versus the new player. (sure 1 free character slot gg)

2. play as a new player and having to restart from zero.

3. stop playing

To me options 2 and 3 are about the same because simply many of us play the game because of hours our time and money we’ve already INVESTED and COMMITTED to the game. And it feels like Anet is using this to sell the core game again..

This like one of the oldest marketing tricks “why don’t you take ’er for a test drive” instead it wasn’t a 20 minute test drive, it was thousands of hours questing, grinding, making friends, organising, training etc etc. You’ve come to far you’ve got too much to walk away from. So we’re going to be milked when each new expansion comes out. So for the veteran player this is how it looks:

before: core
Now: core + exp1
then: core + exp1 +exp2
later: core + exp1 +exp2 +exp 3

vs the new guys who comes in at the end of the game (which is not possible because mmorpg would crumble if no player base)

later: core + exp1 +exp2 +exp3

The new guy won’t buy the core game 3 extra times, exp1 two extra times and exp2 one extra time. Of course it will never get to that point where the new guy gets to reap the discounts because mmorpg require an on going player base. A lot of the value in gw2 are the players, in that if no body played no mmorpg, it will be just rpg.

I don’t know if Anet realizes that the players are not only the consumer but also the provider.

If you wanted to provide even footing for new players make guild wars 3.

end rant.

The core game is a bonus for new players and is not factored into the price.

the money you’re paying is for expansion stuff only

the ‘standard game’ you see in the list, thats a free bonus, for new players, no1 is paying for that
which resulted in rant from veteran players over not getting anything for free..
which made ANet get a headache..
which resulted in veteran players getting a character slot for free.

I could probably quote tons of stuff other players have been saying about GW2 game current worth = charachter slot
but Im sure you’ve tried reading those things that have been posted so much that it drives me insane

you’ve done that right?

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/pre-purchase-community-address/

I’ve made a similar argument several times. For me it comes down to two things:

1) Will all expansions be $50 or will each expansion cost $5 or $10 more? If every expansion cost the same, then I personally don’t mind rebuying all the previous content again (as the steep price is more then accounted for by living world episodes and lack of subscription – to me anyway, not necessarily to others). If the price of each expansion goes up to account for the expansions included in the base bundle, I will be sufficiently irked to move on.

2) As this expansion is yet again “rebuilding the underlying systems to be used in future expansions”, will later expansions which do not have to rebuild the underlying systems from scratch feature higher zone counts? I’m fine with a small expansion once off to cover improvements but I’d expect further expansions to have a zone count as large as other mmo’s expansions – especially given the above average price being charged for each box (more so for vets).

Winter.1374:

the money you’re paying is for expansion stuff only

the ‘standard game’ you see in the list, thats a free bonus, for new players, no1 is paying for that
which resulted in rant from veteran players over not getting anything for free..
which made ANet get a headache..
which resulted in veteran players getting a character slot for free.

I could probably quote tons of stuff other players have been saying about GW2 game current worth = charachter slot
but Im sure you’ve tried reading those things that have been posted so much that it drives me insane

you’ve done that right?

my condolences about your insanity

surely you can’t buy into the fact that the current game is “free” for new players. Its like selling you a hammer and giving you the handle free of charge. You need both to play, by that same logic veteran players are entitled to a free expansion. You know, the help veteran players get into the game.

yes I’ve read, but you know… rant, more rant volume might mean higher likely hood of change.

Feel free to wait 10+ years before you buy the game with all of its expansions packaged into one unit. Yes, you will get it for a lot cheaper, but then you won’t be playing the game very much will you? Seriously, the core game isn’t even free. Now that they are including the character slot for people who bought the game before June 16th, that means:

Veterans: HoT = $40, Character slot = $10 (required)
New Players: HoT = $40, Core game = $10 (This was the sale price the few times these past few months)

How is there any complaint aside from the actual cost of the game anymore? Look at the math and please tell me how the pricing structure isn’t fair now.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/pre-purchase-community-address/

Thank you, i was going to put that one up but forgots : 3

The most troubling line is:

In the future, if we release further Guild Wars 2 expansions, we plan to offer all of the prior expansions, the core game, and the latest expansion for one single purchase price.

hence:

Vet player
before: core
Now: core + exp1
then: core + exp1 +exp2
later: core + exp1 +exp2 +exp 3

vs new player
later: core + exp1 +exp2 +exp3

It really is a round about way of having to pay subscription due to the ongoing costs of having to be able to play. One can be grateful its at least cheaper than some mmorpgs.

MiniEquine.6014:

Feel free to wait 10+ years before you buy the game with all of its expansions packaged into one unit. Yes, you will get it for a lot cheaper, but then you won’t be playing the game very much will you? Seriously, the core game isn’t even free. Now that they are including the character slot for people who bought the game before June 16th, that means:

Veterans: HoT = $40, Character slot = $10 (required)
New Players: HoT = $40, Core game = $10 (This was the sale price the few times these past few months)

How is there any complaint aside from the actual cost of the game anymore? Look at the math and please tell me how the pricing structure isn’t fair now.

I agree, but is a character slot really required? I’ve got 5, I really only use 3, I could live with one. Sure you can say that not everyone is me, and I am not everyone, so why am I forced to purchase a character lot I have no need for?

I would be very happy paying 40 for the Expansion alone.

You’re still falling short of seeing that anybody who buys this or later expansions as a new player does not get to play the game prior to that. Like I said, you can wait for 10+ years for all the expansions to come out and get the entire game for $50, but you won’t be playing the game for 10+ years. Value depreciates over time, and especially if they give veteran players something extra (like they changed over to this time and will continue the practice if they don’t want this to happen again), then where is the issue? It all sounds like you want people to pay full price for every single expansion and core game when a new expansion releases, despite no MMOs doing this. WoW, for example, might not bundle them for “$0”, but I remember when Cata came out they sold a pack of the core game, Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King for, like, $25 so that people who were new could easily pick up the old stuff and play the game. Why didn’t they have to pay $150 for all of those plus the $50 for Cataclysm? Because it’s ridiculous and not many people would pay that up front.

Pseudoshrub.8017:

Are veterans forced to buy the CORE game again? Just to have access to the expansion? IF SO…

NO its “free” as everything in world is free

Pseudoshrub.8017:

I agree, but is a character slot really required? I’ve got 5, I really only use 3, I could live with one. Sure you can say that not everyone is me, and I am not everyone, so why am I forced to purchase a character lot I have no need for?

I would be very happy paying 40 for the Expansion alone.

The primary complaint about not getting character slots is that the expansion is releasing a new class and every instance where in GW1 they had an expansion/expandalone they packaged an additional character slot per new class. This was not carrying over into GW2 and there was a lack of consistency in their sales model (even though the conditions for both games are different). No character slot and too high a price for the content were the two primary concerns that people had.

There are a small handful of people that have all 64 character slots filled up (can you believe it? They linked pictures too, it’s pretty crazy!) and they do not benefit at all by getting even 1 character slot as it can’t be applied to the account. Maybe it would have been better to give the 800 gems instead, I’m not against that, especially since it could have been applied to a character slot, but they chose not to do that. Worst case, you get an extra slot to build a 6th character if/when you eventually get around to it. Have you tried all of the classes? I mainly only play my Engineer and Guardian, but I also have my Thief, Mesmer, Necromancer, Ranger, and Elementalist that all play very differently and are nice to use too. Maybe that’s not your thing though; that’s not what I’m criticizing.

I believe they would have charged $50 for the expansion with or without the base game being included.

MiniEquine.6014:

It all sounds like you want people to pay full price for every single expansion and core game when a new expansion releases, despite no MMOs doing this.

Hang on, I did not say that. I am advocating that the expansion can be bought on its own, and that what is given “free” to new player isn’t in fact free. Can I buy the package as a new player then refund the expansion and keep the “free” core game? no. if not then its not “free”.

I think what would be more appropriate is a meal deal. Where you get a discount for buying a bundle, but pay a premium if one chooses to buy each item individually.

I didn’t mind paying 150 for all the WoW Exp over a course of many years, but I was never forced to buy something twice.

Pseudoshrub.8017:

MiniEquine.6014:

It all sounds like you want people to pay full price for every single expansion and core game when a new expansion releases, despite no MMOs doing this.

Hang on, I did not say that. I am advocating that the expansion can be bought on its own, and that what is given “free” to new player isn’t in fact free. Can I buy the package as a new player then refund the expansion and keep the “free” core game? no. if not then its not “free”.

I think what would be more appropriate is a meal deal. Where you get a discount for buying a bundle, but pay a premium if one chooses to buy each item individually.

I didn’t mind paying 150 for all the WoW Exp over a course of many years, but I was never forced to buy something twice.

You’re right, it’s not free. You can still purchase the game from Amazon for $20-$40. Right now, and likely forever given their statement, the expansion purchase fully replaces the core game. They will likely never list the core game on their website again. You are not buying something twice either. See above where I wrote it out:

Veterans: HoT = $40, Character slot = $10 (required)
New Players: HoT = $40, Core game = $10 (This was the sale price the few times these past few months)

As long as they offer veteran players an extra incentive equal to the depreciated value of the core game plus expansions, then what is the issue? New players do not get the extra slot, an extra slot costs the same as the core game on sale.

Ayrilana.1396:

The core game is a bonus for new players and is not factored into the price.

Of course it is factored in the price. They oviously thought, that the expansion was too pricey for new players, if they had to buy the core separately. If the core wasn’t included, they’d have to set a lower price to get the same result. How much lower? Hard to say, but the fact it was a bundle was definitely factored in.

Pseudoshrub.8017:

I think what would be more appropriate is a meal deal. Where you get a discount for buying a bundle, but pay a premium if one chooses to buy each item individually.

I just reread this: So the bundle (Core + HoT) should have a discount for it but choosing to buy the Core and Hot individually should come at a premium? How is this any different from what it is now?

Well FYI, No I dont mind paying for the Xpan at that price!
Oh yeah tip for ya… No monthly-fee game, only paid its full game in 2012; which means Im paying 100$ (Plus bought few extra char slots which are completely OPTIONAL).
Rundown—- 50$ in 2012, 50$ in 2015 and I have FULL game with all its contents. No need to pay monthly or pay for extra content(I can easily name other games that does so). Forgot, unlike other games this isnt a starter edition (Like cough cough WoW) where you gotta pay More to get extra stuff and so on.

Get the point… Us Vet players had everything in-between for free; but hey, stay away from game. Im not gonna care if you cant value what Little we had to pay for this game compared to about every other grand MMO.

I think it’s like this… that the “core” game basically no longer exists. Even expansions don’t really exist since by their own logic, when the second one comes out the first one won’t be sold.

They’re selling the game as a service, as one package. So people will always get much much more for free if they’re buying the game later now.

I guess Anet’s main argument on value is what time you get the content. So if you want the HoT content this year… they’re saying it’s worth it for you to pay them $50 for that access. If you don’t really want that since it’s basically a Living Story charge, then I’m not sure what else they have to sweeten the pot. Doesn’t seem like anything at this point.

MiniEquine.6014:

Pseudoshrub.8017:

I agree, but is a character slot really required? I’ve got 5, I really only use 3, I could live with one. Sure you can say that not everyone is me, and I am not everyone, so why am I forced to purchase a character lot I have no need for?

I would be very happy paying 40 for the Expansion alone.

The primary complaint about not getting character slots is that the expansion is releasing a new class and every instance where in GW1 they had an expansion/expandalone they packaged an additional character slot per new class. This was not carrying over into GW2 and there was a lack of consistency in their sales model (even though the conditions for both games are different). No character slot and too high a price for the content were the two primary concerns that people had.

There are a small handful of people that have all 64 character slots filled up (can you believe it? They linked pictures too, it’s pretty crazy!) and they do not benefit at all by getting even 1 character slot as it can’t be applied to the account. Maybe it would have been better to give the 800 gems instead, I’m not against that, especially since it could have been applied to a character slot, but they chose not to do that. Worst case, you get an extra slot to build a 6th character if/when you eventually get around to it. Have you tried all of the classes? I mainly only play my Engineer and Guardian, but I also have my Thief, Mesmer, Necromancer, Ranger, and Elementalist that all play very differently and are nice to use too. Maybe that’s not your thing though; that’s not what I’m criticizing.

hey man, we’re both in the same boat in the end regardless of either of us recognize the value and/or costs of the deal. I myself really only Engineer, I believe I may have run into you sometime in Wvw, are you on the Sos server as an Asuran engi? I do realize that I am haggling over 10 dollars here, and it really rests on the fact that I cannot believe the current game is “free” and that the character slot is MUST have, gems would have been nice, 10 dollars might have been better : 3.

The character slot is more value to Anet than it is to the Player, it encourages you to level a new character and do all the purchasing and playing required to get the character just right. For some its not a big deal and they may want/need it. But to me its like a coupon I’m must buy. One which will require more additional time and money to reap any benefits from, that is if I even get around to using my other two character slots properly.

Anyway, this has kind of gotten beyond me.

ANet sorry but i’m a verteran people and i will not buy the expansion. i will leave this game

Astralporing.1957:

Ayrilana.1396:

The core game is a bonus for new players and is not factored into the price.

Of course it is factored in the price. They oviously thought, that the expansion was too pricey for new players, if they had to buy the core separately. If the core wasn’t included, they’d have to set a lower price to get the same result. How much lower? Hard to say, but the fact it was a bundle was definitely factored in.

No, it is not included.

Pseudoshrub.8017:

MiniEquine.6014:

Pseudoshrub.8017:

I agree, but is a character slot really required? I’ve got 5, I really only use 3, I could live with one. Sure you can say that not everyone is me, and I am not everyone, so why am I forced to purchase a character lot I have no need for?

I would be very happy paying 40 for the Expansion alone.

The primary complaint about not getting character slots is that the expansion is releasing a new class and every instance where in GW1 they had an expansion/expandalone they packaged an additional character slot per new class. This was not carrying over into GW2 and there was a lack of consistency in their sales model (even though the conditions for both games are different). No character slot and too high a price for the content were the two primary concerns that people had.

There are a small handful of people that have all 64 character slots filled up (can you believe it? They linked pictures too, it’s pretty crazy!) and they do not benefit at all by getting even 1 character slot as it can’t be applied to the account. Maybe it would have been better to give the 800 gems instead, I’m not against that, especially since it could have been applied to a character slot, but they chose not to do that. Worst case, you get an extra slot to build a 6th character if/when you eventually get around to it. Have you tried all of the classes? I mainly only play my Engineer and Guardian, but I also have my Thief, Mesmer, Necromancer, Ranger, and Elementalist that all play very differently and are nice to use too. Maybe that’s not your thing though; that’s not what I’m criticizing.

hey man, we’re both in the same boat in the end regardless of either of us recognize the value and/or costs of the deal. I myself really only Engineer, I believe I may have run into you sometime in Wvw, are you on the Sos server as an Asuran engi? I do realize that I am haggling over 10 dollars here, and it really rests on the fact that I cannot believe the current game is “free” and that the character slot is MUST have, gems would have been nice, 10 dollars might have been better : 3.

The character slot is more value to Anet than it is to the Player, it encourages you to level a new character and do all the purchasing and playing required to get the character just right. For some its not a big deal and they may want/need it. But to me its like a coupon I’m must buy. One which will require more additional time and money to reap any benefits from, that is if I even get around to using my other two character slots properly.

Anyway, this has kind of gotten beyond me.

I’m not on SoS, though I play against them all the time since I’m in Fort Aspenwood (sorry!). My engi is an Asura, but he’s male.

I can appreciate that concern. Like I said, the question of fairness with regards to veterans and new players has been addressed. If the packages they offer are, in your opinion, too costly or don’t offer the right benefits, then that is a perfectly reasonable complaint. There are many people who will still not pre-purchase the game because they don’t feel like they would be getting their money’s worth.

Maybe there is a way to send support a question and find out if they can transfer the character slot into a different package for you, like a bank slot or a storage upgrade? I don’t know if they can do that, but it’d be worth a shot. I recommend trying that. Anyway, I don’t mean anything bad by what I said. Your concerns about cost and the benefits you would get are valid, and your perspective is necessary for the conversation, especially since it’s a different one, albeit relatively rare.

Flydragon.7146:

Well FYI, No I dont mind paying for the Xpan at that price!
Oh yeah tip for ya… No monthly-fee game, only paid its full game in 2012; which means Im paying 100$ (Plus bought few extra char slots which are completely OPTIONAL).
Rundown—- 50$ in 2012, 50$ in 2015 and I have FULL game with all its contents. No need to pay monthly or pay for extra content(I can easily name other games that does so). Forgot, unlike other games this isnt a starter edition (Like cough cough WoW) where you gotta pay More to get extra stuff and so on.

Get the point… Us Vet players had everything in-between for free; but hey, stay away from game. Im not gonna care if you cant value what Little we had to pay for this game compared to about every other grand MMO.

WoW seems to be the standard that mmorpgs are compared to. Does price paid scale with quality of game? Maybe, maybe not. Its really subjective, because there are tons of mmorpgs out there that are completely free. In the end its up to you to decide what you like and what is worth paying.

But rest assured your message is clear, my departure or further stay in the game are my loss or gain and mine alone… Unless many people felt that way, then you’d have a migration of many people and husk of a game : 3 enjoy your rpg

For your reference:
http://www.mmobomb.com/games/mmorpg

MiniEquine.6014:

Pseudoshrub.8017:

MiniEquine.6014:

Pseudoshrub.8017:

I agree, but is a character slot really required? I’ve got 5, I really only use 3, I could live with one. Sure you can say that not everyone is me, and I am not everyone, so why am I forced to purchase a character lot I have no need for?

I would be very happy paying 40 for the Expansion alone.

The primary complaint about not getting character slots is that the expansion is releasing a new class and every instance where in GW1 they had an expansion/expandalone they packaged an additional character slot per new class. This was not carrying over into GW2 and there was a lack of consistency in their sales model (even though the conditions for both games are different). No character slot and too high a price for the content were the two primary concerns that people had.

There are a small handful of people that have all 64 character slots filled up (can you believe it? They linked pictures too, it’s pretty crazy!) and they do not benefit at all by getting even 1 character slot as it can’t be applied to the account. Maybe it would have been better to give the 800 gems instead, I’m not against that, especially since it could have been applied to a character slot, but they chose not to do that. Worst case, you get an extra slot to build a 6th character if/when you eventually get around to it. Have you tried all of the classes? I mainly only play my Engineer and Guardian, but I also have my Thief, Mesmer, Necromancer, Ranger, and Elementalist that all play very differently and are nice to use too. Maybe that’s not your thing though; that’s not what I’m criticizing.

hey man, we’re both in the same boat in the end regardless of either of us recognize the value and/or costs of the deal. I myself really only Engineer, I believe I may have run into you sometime in Wvw, are you on the Sos server as an Asuran engi? I do realize that I am haggling over 10 dollars here, and it really rests on the fact that I cannot believe the current game is “free” and that the character slot is MUST have, gems would have been nice, 10 dollars might have been better : 3.

The character slot is more value to Anet than it is to the Player, it encourages you to level a new character and do all the purchasing and playing required to get the character just right. For some its not a big deal and they may want/need it. But to me its like a coupon I’m must buy. One which will require more additional time and money to reap any benefits from, that is if I even get around to using my other two character slots properly.

Anyway, this has kind of gotten beyond me.

I’m not on SoS, though I play against them all the time since I’m in Fort Aspenwood (sorry!). My engi is an Asura, but he’s male.

I can appreciate that concern. Like I said, the question of fairness with regards to veterans and new players has been addressed. If the packages they offer are, in your opinion, too costly or don’t offer the right benefits, then that is a perfectly reasonable complaint. There are many people who will still not pre-purchase the game because they don’t feel like they would be getting their money’s worth.

Maybe there is a way to send support a question and find out if they can transfer the character slot into a different package for you, like a bank slot or a storage upgrade? I don’t know if they can do that, but it’d be worth a shot. I recommend trying that. Anyway, I don’t mean anything bad by what I said. Your concerns about cost and the benefits you would get are valid, and your perspective is necessary for the conversation, especially since it’s a different one, albeit relatively rare.

Haha FA! Its not your fault, we lost all our guilds and now are subject to the whims and petty squabbles of FA and YB. They take what they want…

In truth, I just wanted to add my rant to whats already out there. If you rant you might have a chance of changing things, if you keep quite you definitely don’t. It’s thanks to people like myself we now have a free character slot. You’re welcome : 3.

I’m not too fussed about the game, I what you would call a casual player and I believe I’m no the only one. Sure Anet can ignore me, if it gets to the point its not worth it, I’ll just stop playing. But better that I kick up a fuss now than just leave without voicing my opinion, the proverbial ball is now in their court.

Yes they are and it seems they are doing everything they can to disprove this.

GW1 worked fine the way it did, don’t fix what isn’t broken. And they can keep their free slot for all I care, still using 4/5 slots from 2012 here, would be useless to me.

Short answer: No.

Shufflepants.9785:

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Best thing I’ve seen here today.

From a certain perspective yes. However before all this happened we weren’t told this was happening. We wanted clarity and we got it. They say from now on it will all be like this and I’m fine with that.

The question of whether the next pre-purchase will offer another slot is a bridge we’ll have to cross when we get to it.

The question of whether it’s worth $50 is subjective. Personally I think it’s cheap because of all the unknown updates which will come after release. If it is anything like core extra content we’re in for a ton of stuff.

Still will always feel like it nomatter how much it’s sugarcoated to me. We’re getting a much less value nomatter what and people are asking way too much for digital content nowadays that it’s insane.