Unlike most “premium” MMO’s out there, Guild Wars 2 has never charged a subscription. Guild Wars 2 doesn’t force you to buy ANY non-cosmetic stuff. This is a game that you pay for once and play for absolute free until the day it shuts down.
Servers cost money to run.
Employees have families to feed.
The hamsters running the servers have bedding that needs to be refreshed.
Whereas any other premium MMO pays these fees by charging players a monthly subscription fee, Guild Wars 2 does it by making cool cosmetic items and putting out expansions that most people want to buy! How many of you people complaining about this silly “Game is included in price of expansion” spent hundreds of dollars on a WoW subscription? And then STILL paid the 50 dollars for the expansions at release? People are taking this ridiculousness way too far, saying you’re going to forsake ArenaNet because they’re trying to bring in more players by making the game a stand-alone expansion. They’ve never been shy about the fact that they NEED the expansions in order to make the money to continue paying their people and running the servers that keep the game we love up. I totally expect to get bashed for this post because the whole mob mentality is driving people to pick up their pitchforks and torches and storm the Arenanet keep, but seriously, guys… let’s think about this.
If you played WoW for 4 months, you paid anywhere from 30-50 bucks for the original game, followed by 60 dollars in subscription fees.
If you’ve played GW2 for 3 frickin’ years, you’ve been forced to pay anywhere from 15-60 bucks. That’s it. You all are screaming that ArenaNet is some greedy money-consuming organization that wants to charge you for the base game and “isn’t shy about pushing the ultimate editions”. That’s completely silly. ArenaNet is trying to bring in more players with this model, and they’re offering people who want to spend the extra money to support ArenaNet little bonuses in the expansion pack choices. Are some of the things frivolous? Sure. But if I’d been playing WoW or any other premium MMO for this long, I’d’ve spent a LOT more than 100 bucks.
I really don’t get it. I don’t get why people are so frustrated. They’re giving us a new class. They’re giving us new freaking profession upgrades (druids, finally)! I’m excited for the expansion, and I couldn’t give a hoot that they’re making it a stand-alone. Guild Wars 1 has always let you play the expansions without the base game, and I’m not exactly sure why people are so up-in-arms and surprised that they decided to do it this time, except with LESS restrictions. Instead of being upset that they’re tossing in the base game with the expansion, be excited at how many new, fresh players it’s going to bring in that might’ve otherwise not joined.
Come on, folks. ArenaNet isn’t CHARGING you for the base game again. They’re tossing it in for free for the people who haven’t bought it. ArenaNet isn’t greedy in the least. They’ve gone out of the way to show that they’re NOT the Benjamin-burnin’ corporation like Blizzard, EA, CCP, etc. Them including the base game with the expansion is only another way of them showing they’re not money-hungry. Every other MMO expansion for premium titles has cost 50 bucks. Some included a lot less than we’re getting.
Let’s all put this behind us and be big boys and girls now and instead of ruining the expansion with alligator tears, pay the 50 bucks that you would’ve paid anyways, ignore the fact that you get a useless copy of the original, and continue having a fun time without a subscription like you have been for 3 years.