Guild Wars 2

Do you guys think Anet foresaw this and if “Yes”; why do it then?
I would’ve though they’d have professionals giving them advice on their game’s price…
Maybe they thought that there players were loyal enough to them to pay anything for their game, also giving extra digital content with the game wouldn’t have cost them anything, indirectly.

I’m going to say they foresaw at least some forum outrage. There was forum outrage when they sold the Heroic Edition of the game to new people and it sounded very similar to what people are saying now. It’s quite possible they anticipated this much uproar and that’s why they haven’t responded. They might be letting people say what they want till they tire themselves out and give up on it.

Personally speaking, I don’t think ANet could forsee a thunderstorm if they were standing in the middle of it.

Personally, I’ll get the ultimate version for 1 reason; I’ll already be paying 50$ on the expansion plus I’d be getting 4000 gems which I would’ve needed to buy anyway and get a lot of “nice” cosmetic stuff with it. They wont give us anything of real value in the versions because anything that we really need like char slots would need to be bought, so if they give us 1 char slot it means that they wont be getting the money of that 1 char slot. Also I wont be getting any more gems after this.

And, I believe it was very kind of Anet to give the new players the core game but I believe they could’ve gone a lil out of their way to just give as for example an char slot, I don’t want kitteneless title like Ive read some people want.

They should have expected it. The same complaints were made when people were suggesting that season 2 should be given away for free as a perk with HoT. Could you imagine if the deluxe included it?

They could have simply avoided the problem by offering GW2+HoT as a separate package, with GW2 priced at the 75% off sale price, making it $59.99 total. The heroic edition offered $20 worth of gem store items. If they’re no longer giving those away, I can see how they would have justified making it $0. The problem with that however is that there’s no longer that visual separation to act as a placebo. To fix that, they should have made it $59.99, then put it on sale for pre-purchase only.

If people would have been satisfied with a $10 difference though (the base game was $10 after all), I’m surprised people didn’t complain more about the beta. Original accounts that participated in the beta were given the heroic edition for free due to a “bug”.

The other problem however, the belief that HoT isn’t worth a standard price tag, will not be resolved until HoT is fully revealed. Perhaps they assumed people would complain regardless of what they did.

But why didn’t they simply make a price difference to avoid the first half of the complaints? They might have not wanted to cause confusion between the two editions, though people were confused anyways due to the meaning of the free core game. They probably also thought the problem wouldn’t last. A big patch is coming after all and the complaints have already died down. I doubt anything will be done. In other news however, people are distracted and haven’t noticed that inspections and thus gearscores (invite only) are coming possibly next week.

Lastly, they might have been going for all press is good press. Other companies have managed to pull it off.

I think they simply believed that $50 was fairly reasonable for HoT. I’m not sure they saw the way their packages would be perceived regarding the whole new player/vet player thing coming, however.

It looks to me like they really didn’t see that argument coming, considering how easy it would have been to avoid altogether. If I had to guess, I’d say they were likely surprised by the level of outrage, though the FAQs thing was probably done deliberately.

They can’t really make the pre-orders cost less because people have already bought the game, unless they give back the money difference if they make it cost less. All I can see is if they conpensate players with something usefull ingame (Would really help them keep people happy)

I can’t imagine they predicted any of this. They offered a perfectly reasonable price, and yet the babies threw their toys out of the pram anyways. What could they have done differently?

Ohoni.6057:

I can’t imagine they predicted any of this. They offered a perfectly reasonable price, and yet the babies threw their toys out of the pram anyways. What could they have done differently?

Smooth Penguin, is that you?

Absolutely,

You should have seen the forums right after the twitch stream. I was ingame listening with guildies and we were all basically cheering at the changes thinking they were cool. Then I came on the forums and it was QQ

Whatever they do you’ll always see outrage.

It is possible.
they may figure people will complain, but buy it anyhow

they may figure, there is no such thing as bad press. a lot of people now know about the package, and perhaps some new players will be like sounds like a good deal.

they may figure they can try out the price, then if there is an uproar, adjust it, and come out on top. And gain the benefits of being part of the news multiple times.

truth is, with a good enough apology, and sweeter deal, many people will be happy, and many will purchase

all that said?

they probably didnt think it would blow up like this, though its theoretically possible.

I’ve seen the suggestions that lowering the price by $10 and adding the character slot would have made a big difference, but I’m not so sure. If they gave the 50$ one the char slot, they would have had to give the higher priced ones something else. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that didn’t touch off complaints.

No doubt they could have handled it differently with the pricing and packaging. I’m just not sure it would have decreased the complaints, only changed then to something else.

Smooth Penguin, is that you?

How DARE you sir!

I’ve seen the suggestions that lowering the price by $10 and adding the character slot would have made a big difference, but I’m not so sure. If they gave the 50$ one the char slot, they would have had to give the higher priced ones something else. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that didn’t touch off complaints.

As someone who already bought the expansion, I wouldn’t mind if they did drop the price or offer the free slot to people who buy the $50 package, so long as they give everyone who already pre-ordered before announcing that change a Legendary of their choice.

Ohoni.6057:

How DARE you sir!

So that’s a yes, then.

That…explains far too much.

my post isnt to take it seriously but this is how i see it X)

As a software developer i see what clients feel when requesting changes in the software, ill do it over time and then charge for the new version, if they want the
patches off course its not funny when they misunderstood changes requested by client must be paid and aren’t free.

We are paying what we have been requested in forums, but we are the clients here, we have new gvg type, GH, changes on classes and new roles etc, “devs dont code for food”, dont forget we also had some free content with LS, besides how awful the mechanics were from being the map shards and the blobs they were exploring the possibilities and the players, its like a full revision of the game with new features..

for the players that get the new game that already have gw2, all they need is to add is a new candy in the package and deal better prices/other possibilities with resellers on countries were dollar is to strong :I(hard path and might be to much bureaucratic), or add HoT later in the BLT.
Also this package is to attract new players mostly….imo players are making a fuss too soon.

Rome wasn’t built in a day….neither L.A.

Ohoni.6057:

Smooth Penguin, is that you?

How DARE you sir!

I’ve seen the suggestions that lowering the price by $10 and adding the character slot would have made a big difference, but I’m not so sure. If they gave the 50$ one the char slot, they would have had to give the higher priced ones something else. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that didn’t touch off complaints.

As someone who already bought the expansion, I wouldn’t mind if they did drop the price or offer the free slot to people who buy the $50 package, so long as they give everyone who already pre-ordered before announcing that change a Legendary of their choice.

That…. sounds exactly like something Smooth Penguin would say. Hmmmmm.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

That…. sounds exactly like something Smooth Penguin would say. Hmmmmm.

The scariest revelation in all this is that they’ve been having conversations with themselves for…two years?

I’m sure some Anet employees expected some outrage, but probably nothing on this scale, especially when several notable websites reported on it.

This is the fault of NCsoft though, since they determine the pricing, and possibly the packaging.

The scariest revelation in all this is that they’ve been having conversations with themselves for…two years?

For the record, I don’t recall ever complaining about ANet’s business model, the way they handle cash money I’ve never really been bothered with, the thing that has always bothered me is how they’ve allowed their in-game gold economy to function.

Ohoni.6057:

The scariest revelation in all this is that they’ve been having conversations with themselves for…two years?

For the record, I don’t recall ever complaining about ANet’s business model, the way they handle cash money I’ve never really been bothered with, the thing that has always bothered me is how they’ve allowed their in-game gold economy to function.

And ascended armor.

But my point is that the arguments you’re trotting out in regards to the HoT stuff?

They’re the exact same kinds of arguments that Smooth and Wanze use in regards to things that you used to argue back when the BLTC forum was a thing.

You’re even using Smooth’s favorite word.

They’re the exact same kinds of arguments that Smooth and Wanze use in regards to things that you used to argue back when the BLTC forum was a thing.

But the difference is, I’m defending ANet’s rights to make actual money, to pay their employees and support their families. I think it’s fair that they should be able to do that. But back then, I was arguing about their arbitrary decisions regarding the ingame economy, for which they were making not one more penny of real world money one way or the other. Do you understand the distinction here?

Ohoni.6057:

But the difference is, I’m defending ANet’s rights to make actual money, to pay their employees and support their families. I think it’s fair that they should be able to do that. But back then, I was arguing about their arbitrary decisions regarding the ingame economy, for which they were making not one more penny of real world money one way or the other. Do you understand the distinction here?

Thing is, there is no distinction. Or at least the distinction you’re looking at is irrelevant.

ANet doesn’t have a right to make money. Yes, they are a business. Yes, they are a for-profit business. That doesn’t mean they deserve to make money.

They are not guaranteed money. Just because they put out HoT and at the price they have chosen does not automatically make it the right price. It does not automatically make it a reasonable price. And it does not mean that the product deserves to sell, regardless of work hours put into the product, or whether or not ANet employees have mouths to feed.

ANet doesn’t have a right to make money. Yes, they are a business. Yes, they are a for-profit business. That doesn’t mean they deserve to make money.

Of course not, but it does mean that they make their policies in the way that they believe will be most profitable for them, and I’m fine with that. There are a few things they’ve done that I’m not a fan of, but I don’t act like it’s the end of the world or take it as a personal insult.

There’s a saying when running for political office that no press is bad press.

If they do something to fix it now like give a character slot to everyone who adds it to an existing account they just may come out ahead.

And then the question would be, “Was it planned all along?”.

Johje Holan.4607:

There’s a saying when running for political office that no press is bad press.

If they do something to fix it now like give a character slot to everyone who adds it to an existing account they just may come out ahead.

And then the question would be, “Was it planned all along?”.

I suspect it’s more like this:

Gene Archer.8560:

Personally speaking, I don’t think ANet could forsee a thunderstorm if they were standing in the middle of it.

Judging by past….uh….actions…..of the company… I could not agree more with this.

Honestly? I doubt it. Maybe a little backlash. But not the tsunami they got.

Ohoni.6057:

Of course not, but it does mean that they make their policies in the way that they believe will be most profitable for them

Every company does that. Doesn’t mean they succeed.

If enough of a drop-off occurs, ANet will take action. Or they’ll take action for the sake of good PR. Or they’ll do like the SAB thread, throw platitudes, and do nothing. Regardless of what they do, consequences will be wrought. And they will either succeed or not, but just because they’ve planned things this way doesn’t mean it will go as planned.

Ohoni.6057:

but I don’t act like it’s the end of the world or take it as a personal insult.

Not everyone is doing that. Plenty of people are making reasoned arguments.

You’re still acting like Smooth and Wanze, though, at the end of the day. Actually, looking at some of your other posts in one of the other threads? You ARE SmoothPenguin. And the irony is thick enough to cut if you aren’t.

So, if you still believe as you do about the in game economy? Maybe you should scrutinize things a little closer with what those you disagree with here are saying instead of throwing out things like the “e” word. Because all I see you doing right now is dismissing things out of hand, just as has been done to you.

I don’t think they expected the reaction. It has stolen attention from the massive rebalance update coming up on Tuesday, from the Guild Halls reveal, and from the fact that we can finally pre-order/purchase (which means: they are thinking about a release date internally). All of that should be the big news dominating forums, reddit, and fanzines. Instead, folks are either criticizing ANet or defending ANet from over-the-top reactions.

I can’t imagine that they expected that.

Further, if they had considered this possible (never mind likely), there are any number of ways they could have offered the same pricing tiers that would have been likely to avoid or at least dampen the reactions. For example, if the original offer had been US$50 for HoT+character slot or HoT+base game — that’s basically the identical “price” for vets and newbies in terms of revenue (US$50 either way), but both parties would have felt they were getting “something” for “free.”

tl;dr no, I doubt it occurred to ANet that people would react (and overreact) to the prices/tiers this way.

Of course they expected it. They could have announced literally anything and these forums would have exploded in outrage. Isn’t that what these forums are for? Always seems that way to me.

They never saw this coming. They decided to include the base game to entice new members on the outside site. They did not even think that they may need to include a char slot for those that already have the base game, as they were they advertising it in game to those that, well, already in the game. Just that would have evened the keel, and eliminated the whole debacle. The 74.99 price point shows that the marketing team never even considered the effect of giving new members a bonus while not providing a balanced bonus to players already in game, especially when the bonus to new members is that which the current players have already bought.
Serious breach of common sense and an unbalanced marketing strategy IMHO.

Considering there was that long, multi paged thread that Gail commented in, where people begged for the expansion to give them a character slot, how in the world did they not know that people really really wanted a character slot? How come they didn’t know that not giving a character slot wouldn’t cause an uproar? Which makes me think they did know and decided against giving one.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Considering there was that long, multi paged thread that Gail commented in, where people begged for the expansion to give them a character slot, how in the world did they not know that people really really wanted a character slot?

They knew. That’s why they have put it in the Deluxe version. They thought, that if players want it that much, they will be able to wheedle them for additional $$.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Considering there was that long, multi paged thread that Gail commented in, where people begged for the expansion to give them a character slot, how in the world did they not know that people really really wanted a character slot? How come they didn’t know that not giving a character slot wouldn’t cause an uproar? Which makes me think they did know and decided against giving one.

Just because Gaile commented in the thread and possibly sent word to the higher ups doesn’t mean that they actually paid any amount of attention, though.

Well the fine people at Anet thought the current trait unlocking system and NPE were good ideas because “new players”.

So I’m gonna go with they actually didn’t expect any backlash from this.

nexxe.7081:

I’m sure some Anet employees expected some outrage, but probably nothing on this scale, especially when several notable websites reported on it.

This is the fault of NCsoft though, since they determine the pricing, and possibly the packaging.

Except for Anet has always maintained that they are an independant entity and NCsoft had no say in what happens within the company. NCsoft was basically only their publisher and supplied the bankroll.

But maybe that isn’t true any more, so who knows for sure.

I think people expect too much action from companies. Did you think they would reverse their position while E3 was going on? Did you thing those behind the decision making process was even aware of the blow back until it started cropping up on game media sites on Friday? Were they even aware when the forums got all but taken down by a some disgruntled group with a bot net on Wednesday? Plus there is a holiday this weekend in the US and it’s unlikely they would spend the weekend to develop a cogent statement to the issues.

Management isn’t agile.

And when ever they do formulate a statement about this ruckus, it will be spun by marketing and cleared by legal and will say virtually nothing about the actual complaints or provide a satisfactory resolution in the eyes of the noisiest of us and likely inflaming them more.

The only think ANet senior management has going for them is thatTrait 3.0 will dominate the forums once they drop on Tuesday and push the bulk of the expansion threads to page 10.

Behellagh.1468:

Management isn’t agile.

Personally speaking, this strikes me as a problem rather than an excuse.

Behellagh.1468:

The only think ANet senior management has going for them is thatTrait 3.0 will dominate the forums once they drop on Tuesday and push the bulk of the expansion threads to page 10.

Whether or not that winds up being a good thing, though…

You may think it’s a problem but in business taking quick action is often more problematic than taking some time to consider the best alternatives.

There are two-ish issues here.

First is the base price for the expansion a fair price for what we know is included. $50 seems a bit pricing and statements about how this expansion was “also about laying the groundwork for future content” seems to imply we are paying for future features we won’t be seeing right away.

Second is what looks to be the sudden change in the requirement to already own the game part of the plan all along and the original FAQ coupled with the sales a “cash grab” or was this a last minute change and nobody thought about how bad this looks and therefore didn’t consider ways to reimburse those who were caught by this.

Behellagh.1468:

You may think it’s a problem but in business taking quick action is often more problematic than taking some time to consider the best alternatives.

Sure, but that requires said business to -actually- consider alternatives.

ANet…has a shoddy track record when it comes to having a finger on the pulse of the community. And it’s more than just “the community has so many differing voices”.

Commander Tags, the Traits and SAB threads, all the stuff that caused the O’brien post and a “promise” of better communication.

There are distinct areas where ANet…for lack of a better way to put it…just does not pay even slight attention to what’s going on around them when it comes to their community. I don’t know if it’s their communication policy, or that they exist in some weird echo chamber, or what.

But the big thing going on right now? With HoT? This strikes me as yet another community bomb that could have been disarmed well in advance and ANet simply chose not to.

Behellagh.1468:

There are two-ish issues here.

Snipped this part because I generally agree with the assessment.

Again, given that all anyone is talking about is the fiasco, and not the actual expansion, they definitely didn’t expect it.

I think Gene Archer made a good point there about the Commander tags. There was very clear feedback in the forums about what people wanted changed with the tags, spanning multiple threads over a long period of time. When ANet made the changes there was a general outburst of “Huh? What? NO! YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG!”

How did ANet manage to read all those threads and come up with their version of the Commander tags? It’s similar to this situation. People clearly said they wanted a character slot with the expansion, and it only comes with the high priced ones.

Their own echo chamber, indeed.

I honestly would not be surprised to discover that the current situation was not only foreseen but orchestrated as a means to implement a “premium” style rewards system similar to the Chinese client.

What better way to add something that you know would drive players away than to instigate a situation where many are literally demanding for something like it to now be added?

This practice has been used throughout history by businesses and governments alike to bring about conditions where, not only are the people no longer actively fighting against something being a certain way, they are actually demanding for it to become that way.

Basically:
Step 1: Make veterans feel like they are not as valued as new players buying the new game version
Step 2: Let the internet blow up over the created situation for 7-10 days
Step 3: Reveal that a “Veteran Appreciation Paths” system will be put in place to help show the veteran players that they are, indeed, valued by the company

• “Veteran Appreciation Paths” adds paths that grant rewards based on different factors
• “Cherished Supporter Path” has an incremental list (to get item 5 on the list you first need to buy enough gems to get 1-4) that includes items from a pool of time/RNG-gated gem store and in-game items, no longer available skins (tribal), unlocking NPC exclusive armor skins and outfits, discontinued gem store skins (bunny ears, molten/aetherblade weapon skins), and exclusive alternate versions of gem store skins (white wings)…mainly everything players have been begging for…that are awarded/unlocked for free based on the number of gems purchased with real world money over the life of the account – For those who support the game with real money
• “Path to the Heart of GW2” path has an incremental list that includes a small pool of exclusive stuff as well as various always-available gem store items of medium to high value that are awarded/unlocked for free based on the number of achievement points earned on the account. Current achievement rewards are integrated into this reward path – For those that support the game through active gameplay.

Or something like that. Who knows. ANet only said that they will never add the premium reward thing that is in China’s client to the NA/EU version of the game. However, they never said anything about never adding any kind of premium reward…just that we will never see one identical to the one used in China. So technically they won’t be lying. Always pay heed to the way statements/promises are worded. In fact, this may have all been a scheme to justify adding one in due to some players now begging for something to show that being a veteran player and supporter of the game means something to ANet.

Who knows. I don’t consider there to be much of anything that can be seen as beneath a company any more when money is on the line.

Gene Archer.8560:

Behellagh.1468:

You may think it’s a problem but in business taking quick action is often more problematic than taking some time to consider the best alternatives.

Sure, but that requires said business to -actually- consider alternatives.

ANet…has a shoddy track record when it comes to having a finger on the pulse of the community. And it’s more than just “the community has so many differing voices”.

Commander Tags, the Traits and SAB threads, all the stuff that caused the O’brien post and a “promise” of better communication.

There are distinct areas where ANet…for lack of a better way to put it…just does not pay even slight attention to what’s going on around them when it comes to their community. I don’t know if it’s their communication policy, or that they exist in some weird echo chamber, or what.

But the big thing going on right now? With HoT? This strikes me as yet another community bomb that could have been disarmed well in advance and ANet simply chose not to.

Behellagh.1468:

There are two-ish issues here.

Snipped this part because I generally agree with the assessment.

It’s not just a communication problem between Anet and the community. The have the same communication problems internally. Have you ever read Anet reviews on Glassdoor.com. They have to be taken with a grain of salt but it is a reoccurring comment.

Celtic Lady.3729:

I think they simply believed that $50 was fairly reasonable for HoT. I’m not sure they saw the way their packages would be perceived regarding the whole new player/vet player thing coming, however.

It looks to me like they really didn’t see that argument coming, considering how easy it would have been to avoid altogether. If I had to guess, I’d say they were likely surprised by the level of outrage, though the FAQs thing was probably done deliberately.

Actually, they did say fairly early on into the outrage that with or without the base game being included, you were going to pay $50. It’s likely a fair guess that all the people that are “outraged” over that are likely similar people “outraged” over Anet saying a year or two back that the first iteration of pre-crafting was scrapped due to changes coming. So… they likely DID see the potential of this outrage, and probably dont care.

It’s probably a similar situation to people clamoring about not wanting anymore outfits. “Ermigerd, i h8 outfits soo much, like, h8 so much i just spend money on an outfit that i’ll never put on my chars even though they were wearing it before this sentence was a coherent thought. STAHP WITH THE OUTFITS.” Yea… those people. They say they dont want them, yet still go out and buy them despite the outrage. Lot of the people saying “I will not buy the expac” likely will buy it, probably for full price too.

What I think is that the fact that they did sell GW2 separately and even promoted sales and said on the Faq that it was required was a simple mistake, bad monetize and marketing going there.

I think that because if it was really planned out like this and with the Faq changing and all It would be such a big scam it would likely even from a legal viewpoint be seen as a scam, and while they might have people working there that are always trying to squeeze out all the money they can, and even hurting the game in the progress, I don’t think they are literally trying to scam people. So I think that part was simply a mistake, they figured that giving the game for free with the expansion would allow for more new people while in fact they have likely already scared more people / lose more future money now then if they would have put the base game at $10 next to the $50,- expansion.

Then the price of $50,- itself. So $50,- is higher then what the market does, most games expansions are about $35 to $40 an for expansion, or even have them for free. I personally always expected GW2’s expansion to be in the $40 – $60,- range (having one every year) and was fine with that, on the other hand I am not fine with the cash-shop focus because I expect that from games that have free or $30 – $35 expansion every 2 years.

Anet got big with GW2 and one of its main things GW1 was known for, was being a MMO-like B2P (no sub) game, no heavy focus on cash-shops but making it’s money with the game and expansion sale. With GW2 Anet did change that by starting to focus a lot on the cash-shop to generate income. That however also means it did lose it ‘special model’. Where F2P was considered a bad word by many GW2 players during the first half year of GW2, now many people refer to GW2 as F2P and that makes sense because while you do have to pay, they pretty much have the same model as most F2P games, focusing on micro-transactions. Making them using one of the most common models out there for MMO-like games.

Anet however still seems to think they have some unique model, in almost any video to promote the game, on any commercial and so on they will say that you do not have to pay a subscription, as if it is something special. Of course it is not, having to pay a subscription is special, micro-transactions are the most comment used model in their branch at the moment. Now if they said ‘we have no subscription, and no focus on micro-transactions’ they would be special.

They probably did place the price of the expansion at a higher number then what most other games in the genre do because they feel they can do that because they use this ‘special model’. Or maybe they indeed have plans to move back to this more special model (less focus on the cash-shop but more regular expansion, in this price range) but simply haven’t announced that yet (do I hope that).

A lot of their current player-base is used the the cash-shop focus by now and you will not hear them complain about that, but they are then not really tolerant of kitten,- expansion and so complain about that. For me it’s just the other way around.

So to summarize it, I think it’s partly was a honest mistake and partly them thinking they are something special, but the way they handle things at the moment means they aren’t, or maybe they plan on being special again but did not yet communicate that.

You forget, devata, that you DO still need the base game to play HoT. That much wont ever change, regardless of what ends up being sold. Not to mention unless you’re a sooper-seekret Anet staffer, you, as well as the rest of us, are likely seriously in the dark about what influenced the pricing choices, as well as the choice to totally choke off selling the core game by itself* and bundle it with the HoT purchase.

*They’ve mentioned before shortly after the announcement that all content in the “near” future will be gated behind the expac. No longer selling the core by itself IS a smart business decision in the end because it can reduce new-customer burden involved in starting the game. As well as reduce the odds of the community becoming increasingly fractured (see GW1).

I think they knew all this will happen. And I think they also know those complaining will still buy the expansion. Some will leave, but it would not affect much their playerbase as the new ones will make up for that difference and probably get even more out of it since we are shouting that new players to the game get their value for money for just 50USD!!!
I am sure ANET knew the risk and just risked it anyway.

“Empty cans make the most noise”

StinVec.3621:

I honestly would not be surprised to discover that the current situation was not only foreseen but orchestrated as a means to implement a “premium” style rewards system similar to the Chinese client.

What better way to add something that you know would drive players away than to instigate a situation where many are literally demanding for something like it to now be added?

This practice has been used throughout history by businesses and governments alike to bring about conditions where, not only are the people no longer actively fighting against something being a certain way, they are actually demanding for it to become that way.

Basically:
Step 1: Make veterans feel like they are not as valued as new players buying the new game version
Step 2: Let the internet blow up over the created situation for 7-10 days
Step 3: Reveal that a “Veteran Appreciation Paths” system will be put in place to help show the veteran players that they are, indeed, valued by the company

• “Veteran Appreciation Paths” adds paths that grant rewards based on different factors
• “Cherished Supporter Path” has an incremental list (to get item 5 on the list you first need to buy enough gems to get 1-4) that includes items from a pool of time/RNG-gated gem store and in-game items, no longer available skins (tribal), unlocking NPC exclusive armor skins and outfits, discontinued gem store skins (bunny ears, molten/aetherblade weapon skins), and exclusive alternate versions of gem store skins (white wings)…mainly everything players have been begging for…that are awarded/unlocked for free based on the number of gems purchased with real world money over the life of the account – For those who support the game with real money
• “Path to the Heart of GW2” path has an incremental list that includes a small pool of exclusive stuff as well as various always-available gem store items of medium to high value that are awarded/unlocked for free based on the number of achievement points earned on the account. Current achievement rewards are integrated into this reward path – For those that support the game through active gameplay.

Or something like that. Who knows. ANet only said that they will never add the premium reward thing that is in China’s client to the NA/EU version of the game. However, they never said anything about never adding any kind of premium reward…just that we will never see one identical to the one used in China. So technically they won’t be lying. Always pay heed to the way statements/promises are worded. In fact, this may have all been a scheme to justify adding one in due to some players now begging for something to show that being a veteran player and supporter of the game means something to ANet.

Who knows. I don’t consider there to be much of anything that can be seen as beneath a company any more when money is on the line.

Who has said they want anything remotely similar to the premium stuff the chinese got? No one that I’ve seen.

Who has said they want anything remotely similar to the premium stuff the chinese got? No one that I’ve seen.

It’s not what players want. It’s what they get that counts. And that, is entirely up to Anet/NCsoft.