Guild Wars 2

Astralporing.1957:

evoRobot.4019:

And they said they will compensate users within a specific time frame. Stop hating.

No, they didn’t.
1. Their timeframe is one month only (while the info and sales tied to it started from the very beginning of this year).
2. To get compensated you need to contact support on your own (which many people who do not read these forums will not know – Anet doesn’t exactly advertise this fact).
3. Anet would compensate only those people that bought the game directly from them. Many people did that through intermediaries (i.e. Amazon, or game shops), and those will not get an option of upgrading to HoT. At best (if they bought really recently, but see point 1) they might be able to return the game and cancel the sale, but it would mean getting their account closed and starting from zero.

In short, Anet" compensation" offer is not really worth that much.

Even though I don’t meet the time frame, and they could still offer me a refund (which I doubt). This is exactly how I feel.

Lisa.6102:

Wow , just wow

Ethically speaking

A retraction should have been issued, and any person that bought the base game from that date of the of the original release of the FAQ , to the date of the “Edited” FAQ that goes on to buy the HoT expansion SHOULD be refunded the price of the base game.

Stop making sense.

evoRobot.4019:

You underestimate the effort it takes to coordinate a games release. There is so much going on, and with E3 that just passed one day ago.. They updated this FAQ as soon as possible and addressed the forums and those who had concerns about already purchasing the game.

People like you won’t let it go and are making so many excuses. If you don’t like the direction of the game / company, then why are you still here? Because your negativity won’t change anything it only makes it worse with this dirty propaganda. You have a choice here, either take it or leave it.

That’s bad decisions example at least, if not the malintent people seem to be thinking about. Not from ANet, neither from the Community Management. But from their greedy higher-ups.

Also, 2 things:

1. The vets who actually supported the game through the first 3 years of GW2, with a management blantantly ignoring major issues over spamming the gemstore with poop are just being laughed in the face with the way HoT was offered yesterday. “Hey! you bought all that random junk already, so keep at it!”

1. Even more important, the company’s silence and trying to shift focus on more bling-blings isn’t supporting any of the current statements made by people like you in their favor. It was an obvious kitten up and they’re now walking on eggs, ’cause another kitten could be fatal.

I believe ANet has good – no! great – potential, but it’s being lashed in some very shaddy actions by a company who doesn’t care much about its customers, just about their potentially fat wallets. I’m sad to see the guys who gave GW1 bow down to them to this extent.

HoT incoming vid was released at the end of the free LWS2. Since then, all the GW2 purchases should be refunded. And the company should’ve already come with that statement. The fact that they’re just manifesting their “desire to fix the problem” is either political bs, or another proof that what ANet would do isn’t actually what it is allowed to do.

So all in all, ninja-modifying the FAQ on the day of the presale launch is a major slap in the face. To their honesty. And a huge stain on their reputation. Never in their 10 years of nurturing the prequel had they displayed such behavior…

RabbitUp.8294:

The problem is not the fact that FAQ were updated. It the difference between the 2 answers to the same question. The first one was what boosted those sales a few months ago, when newer players were convinced they had to buy the core game.

Yup. TOTALLY with you on that. They have a LOT of cleaning up to do. Spelling out the guidelines of that clean up publicly and clearly would be a very good play. Realpolitik tells me they won’t until after E3 is over, both because they’re terrified of damaging their buzz and because they just aren’t very nimble as an organization, but I’m hopeful its coming.

So, the FAQ were changed to reflect the current situation. After they made money from this con, they changed their business plan to something that clashed with what was promised and completely devalued the product they sold to those players, and they didn’t even leave a note in the FAQ to communicate this change.

I’m intrigued you think that’s were it should be listed. Because really, I don’t see most affected parties re-reading FAQs looking for changes. I was thinking more like in the launcher and on the front page once they get their policy nailed down. In my experience most companies don’t enshrine their mistakes in their FAQ documents where the admission of error will linger for months.

If it weren’t for wayback machine, those players would be starring at the page and thinking they probably imagined reading that answer in the first place.

…I actually blithely expect people to have a sharper memory than that . Especially if it was a pivotal piece of information in the decision process for spending money. Either way I’m glad to the tools to verify it are so readily at hand. It’s good for everyone to have that information available.

I’m not surprised these rascals arent commenting in this thread.

Nor am I, and to be perfectly honest I wouldn’t expect them to answer each and everyone of these posts, that would be a full time job for someone and would probably have a breakdown within 24 hours.

They should however have made a sticky addressing the issue, people aren’t going to calm down over time, it is going to fester and tomorrow is a whole new day of people that have had time to think about how angry they are.

I do not envy whom ever they direct to address the community when they decide to actually address the community.

I guess the bright side is they don’t have to do it face to face, that would probably put some poor employee into an institution while the true culprits sat back behind locked doors.

This is bad.
It looks really bad, intentional or not, this blows my mind.

This all been a PR disaster

Random.4691:

Nor am I, and to be perfectly honest I wouldn’t expect them to answer each and everyone of these posts, that would be a full time job for someone and would probably have a breakdown within 24 hours.

They should however have made a sticky addressing the issue, people aren’t going to calm down over time, it is going to fester and tomorrow is a whole new day of people that have had time to think about how angry they are.

I do not envy whom ever they direct to address the community when they decide to actually address the community.

I guess the bright side is they don’t have to do it face to face, that would probably put some poor employee into an institution while the true culprits sat back behind locked doors.

You rang? =P

Knighthonor.4061:

This all been a PR disaster

One for the books.

And so easily avoided.

The best is yet to come though.

Omocha.4931:

evoRobot.4019:

You underestimate the effort it takes to coordinate a games release. There is so much going on, and with E3 that just passed one day ago.. They updated this FAQ as soon as possible and addressed the forums and those who had concerns about already purchasing the game.

People like you won’t let it go and are making so many excuses. If you don’t like the direction of the game / company, then why are you still here? Because your negativity won’t change anything it only makes it worse with this dirty propaganda. You have a choice here, either take it or leave it.

That’s bad decisions example at least, if not the malintent people seem to be thinking about. Not from ANet, neither from the Community Management. But from their greedy higher-ups.

Also, 2 things:

1. The vets who actually supported the game through the first 3 years of GW2, with a management blantantly ignoring major issues over spamming the gemstore with poop are just being laughed in the face with the way HoT was offered yesterday. “Hey! you bought all that random junk already, so keep at it!”

1. Even more important, the company’s silence and trying to shift focus on more bling-blings isn’t supporting any of the current statements made by people like you in their favor. It was an obvious kitten up and they’re now walking on eggs, ’cause another kitten could be fatal.

I believe ANet has good – no! great – potential, but it’s being lashed in some very shaddy actions by a company who doesn’t care much about its customers, just about their potentially fat wallets. I’m sad to see the guys who gave GW1 bow down to them to this extent.

HoT incoming vid was released at the end of the free LWS2. Since then, all the GW2 purchases should be refunded. And the company should’ve already come with that statement. The fact that they’re just manifesting their “desire to fix the problem” is either political bs, or another proof that what ANet would do isn’t actually what it is allowed to do.

So all in all, ninja-modifying the FAQ on the day of the presale launch is a major slap in the face. To their honesty. And a huge stain on their reputation. Never in their 10 years of nurturing the prequel had they displayed such behavior…

When people sound like this I often imagine it’s some random anet dev calling for help on his or her own “secret” account trying to help the community understand why they are going to be mad.

Im forwarding these threads to all the major YouTube channels I watch, such as TotalBiscuit. I suggest you ALL do the same. This needs to be covered immediately before they ninja-fix the FAQ and alter the evidence (not that it isnt already too late for that lol).

Lisa.6102:

Wow , just wow

Ethically speaking

A retraction should have been issued, and any person that bought the base game from the date of the of the original release of the FAQ , to the date of the “Edited” FAQ that goes on to buy the HoT expansion SHOULD be refunded the price of the base game.

+1 Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Vicariuz.1605:

When people sound like this I often imagine it’s some random anet dev calling for help on his or her own “secret” account trying to help the community understand why they are going to be mad.

The kitten up on the marketing and PR sections is obvious. The veteran’s rage is quite justified too. (Plenty of reasons to choose from, between supporting the buggy game and scarce info on what they’re supposed to toss $100 on). And ANet’s silence just adds more salt on the wound. (I for one stopped logging after I saw that ludicrous offer yesterday).

On the other hand, both sides of this forum “conflict” are tempted to blow things out of proportions, for the sake of supporting their claims. Sadly, there are only 2 sides, the disgruntled players and the ANet fans. The one missing from the party was the same who tried to cover the whole mess up and now probably hoping the poopstorm that started will die out on its own and they can safe sweep the trash under the rug. Only there’s already a lil mountain forming out there…

Alexxander.8306:

Im forwarding these threads to all the major YouTube channels I watch, such as TotalBiscuit. I suggest you ALL do the same. This needs to be covered immediately before they ninja-fix the FAQ and alter the evidence (not that it isnt already too late for that lol).

Go for it. I don’t watch any youtube channels besides my own since I’m the only person on youtube that actually posts good content. I have over 100 views on a recent video I posted and all 100 views have been viewed by me

OK I lied. Most my views come from others and I actually watch some of Bog Otter and Aurora Peachy stuff. Bog Otter’s recent video on most of these complaints is exactly the way I see it. No need to watch some raging nerds on youtube who only have one sided opinions on topics.

Nike.2631:

Vicariuz.1605:

you’ve missed the point entirely.

No. The blind outrage has missed the point.

The only outrage I feel is about people all around telling me how to feel or what opinion to have.

Y’all have never started/had a business, I assume.

Obviously the FAQ wasn’t clear, hence the complete outcry by the community and some of the insane arguments that are thrown around. They changed their FAQ to alleviate some of the confusion.

But hey, Anet is Illuminati and is taking over the world. /s

butch.8136:

Y’all have never started/had a business, I assume.

Obviously the FAQ wasn’t clear, hence the complete outcry by the community and some of the insane arguments that are thrown around. They changed their FAQ to alleviate some of the confusion.

But hey, Anet is Illuminati and is taking over the world. /s

Hey not sure but given English is my first language. I Believe that the meaning of the original wording was clear enough for near-sided French badger to understand. To say that they were clarifying things, wow, can I get what you have, I won’t need to buy a fantasy game.

This is how you cheat your customers.

Careful, they are deleting things.

ybz.6547:

@ Errant
Didn’t you start a thread about this right after it happened? Where did it go?

It got merged into the megathread and lost in the kittenstorm

butch.8136:

Y’all have never started/had a business, I assume.

Obviously the FAQ wasn’t clear, hence the complete outcry by the community and some of the insane arguments that are thrown around. They changed their FAQ to alleviate some of the confusion.

But hey, Anet is Illuminati and is taking over the world. /s

Yes. the FAQ was edited to reflect the current situation and to not be misleading, but why didn’t they include another Q/A explaining that if you happened to buy the original game before the FAQ was edited, you should contact support etc. Even more, there should be a sticky here and an announcement on the front page and in the launcher.

Back when they unveiled HoT, they were encouraging new players to buy the game for $10. From then on, at major events they would again put the game on sale for $10. Buying a new account was an obvious choice. They were basically giving away the game.

With HoT, they had a choice. They wanted to make the game easily accessible to new players. WoW also basically offers previous expansions for free to make it more accessible. Offering GW2 permanently for $10 was not an option since it would have caused problems. Instead, they chose to bundle it with the expansion. They could have sold the expansion separately for $49.99 and offered a bundle including the base game for $59.99. That wouldn’t have been a competitive price however (compared to WoW), so they would have likely done the opposite and further reduced the price of the base game to only $5. That would make it $44.99 for the expansion and $49.99 for the bundle. With only a 5-$10 difference however, why not take the simplest route and include it for free?

The FAQ was simply updated to reflect that change. This could have all been prevented by simply making a difference between them. Is that all you wanted, a small price difference? Then the FAQ wouldn’t have been changed. Whether HoT is actually worth the price of a full expansion is another question.

The point that some are not seeing is, giving new players a gift was not a knee jerk reaction. This would have been brought forward to the team, debated, a business plan created (Even small companies do this) and then a decision made. It is NOT a one day project, they knew they were going to do this, they chose to keep it quiet, and then quietly changed the FAQ’s.

The perception is what truly matters, had they came out and said “ok guys and gals, this is what we have decided, we are going to take measures to refund our previous sold copies and issue an apology because we truly feel this will help out our potential new players” people would have been unhappy and there still would have been an out cry for a character slot ect, but they would not look like common criminals.

They took the shady route, whether intentional or not doesn’t matter at this point because the perception is set that they went for the money grab.

There is nothing wrong with them trying to be nice and helping out the new guy, the way they went about it was amateur hour and had zero thought put into it.

How many times has the community been up in arms because Anet hides like children instead of confronting the issues at hand. We deserve answers, this isn’t high school, running away and hiding in hopes that it just goes away is what children do. I want a company that is forward and honest, even if I don’t like the answer at least it is an answer, the silent treatment does more harm than good and they STILL haven’t learned this lesson.

evoRobot.4019:

Warb.8127:

You call this classy ?
It is anything but classy, giving the new players a gift is all fine and good but this is blatantly trying to cover up their previous FAQ’s that stated you need the base game to be able to play, which suggested that people needed to buy it before hand, which SEVERAL people did as per Anets answer.

You and I have a very different definition of classy.

And they said they will compensate users within a specific time frame. Stop hating.

Except you lose all progress on your account and all the money you spent in game on gems. If that’s fair to you, you also have a different definition of “hating”.

seriously all they did was correct an error on their faq page. i honestly expected them to do that already wonder what took them so long

Nike.2631:

Kury.8210:

@Nike: Keeping FAQ current is good, but they did it in a way that invited this response. A sudden change of plans is definitely understandable. However, it should have immediately been made clear why the change was made and that those effected negatively would be compensated.

Lets be clear. They screwed up. On many fronts. Like I said earlier this has ALL the ear marks of a rushed job. I mean we we’re watching some classic corporate whoopsie this week.

BUT. Lets hound them for the things they did wrong and not this irrational spasm attacking the FAQ getting an update.

When has Anet NOT released a rushed job? Their quality has been circling the toilet bowl for a long time now.

ricky markham.8173:

seriously all they did was correct an error on their faq page. i honestly expected them to do that already wonder what took them so long

Maybe they all got called in to finance to count $?

ricky markham.8173:

seriously all they did was correct an error on their faq page. i honestly expected them to do that already wonder what took them so long

Really ? That error has rather large consequences

You are all taking it way to serious.
i lack english grammer but both of those sentances before and after are the same thing but the 2nd is easier to understand……nothing wrong here, being mad at the price as i do too doesnt justefy anger in other places

Rich Fuel.7253:

You are all taking it way to serious.
i lack english grammer but both of those sentances before and after are the same thing but the 2nd is easier to understand……nothing wrong here, being mad at the price as i do too doesnt justefy anger in other places

I think people are angry at the deception and apparent “Money Grabbing, snake oil salesman tactics” as they have a right to be.

well it seems that they just changed a tactic…..and well every 1 needs a tactic

Rich Fuel.7253:

well it seems that they just changed a tactic…..and well every 1 needs a tactic

They got money from this tactic. How hard is it for you to grasp the fact that based on that FAQ, there were multiple people that bought the core game just to prepare for HoT.

they got their refund

Unfortunately no, they all did not get their refund, some of which (I’m guessing a large portion) are probably still unaware that they have been duped.

They are also only covering the last 30 days, what about the people that bought it prior to that ? Those FAQ’s have been around for far longer than 30 days.

The funny thing is that if they had not change it, we would have just as much raging about it containing false/incorrect information.

It is very likely that it is simply a matter of human error. They made changes to how the game would be released, and they simply forgot to change the FAQ. When it was brought up, they changed it. Simple as that.

It could very well have been a human error, but changing it with no notice, actually scratch that, changing it and not saying anything about it until they were caught makes whether it was an error or a planned money grab questionable at best.

Anet has the emails to those sold accounts available, the right thing to do would have been similar to a recall, they could have sent out emails explaining the error which would have covered their butts. Then it would have been up to those players to decide what course of action they wanted to take.

Rich Fuel.7253:

they got their refund

Those that got the game more than 30 days ago, as well as all who bought the game from a retailer are not eligible for a refund, or compensation of any kind.

For the rest, the refund offered requires them to delete their existing account, including their characters, items, gold, HoM rewards, but more importantly, they lose all gems, gem store purchases, and they won’t receive any compensation for the real money they have already spent on their account.

lordkrall.7241:

The funny thing is that if they had not change it, we would have just as much raging about it containing false/incorrect information.

Going against the FAQ that a change is required in the first place is the problem here.

Warb.8127:

I’m actually shocked you went this far to hide your blunder. Would it not have been easier to say “oops, we made a mistake” or simply explain why you felt this was the best course of action.

Q: Do I have to own Guild Wars 2 to play the expansion?
A: Yes, but Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns includes the Guild Wars 2 core game.

This is not what your FAQ’s read a couple days ago, I mean one needs to ask, is this even legal ?

It’s an FAQ not a license agreement or terms of service so of course it’s legal. That’s what an FAQ is for. To even ask this question is beyond ridiculous

uhohhotdog.3598:

It’s an FAQ not a license agreement or terms of service so of course it’s legal. That’s what an FAQ is for. To even ask this question is beyond ridiculous

It’s false advertising, which is illegal.

uhohhotdog.3598:

Warb.8127:

I’m actually shocked you went this far to hide your blunder. Would it not have been easier to say “oops, we made a mistake” or simply explain why you felt this was the best course of action.

Q: Do I have to own Guild Wars 2 to play the expansion?
A: Yes, but Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns includes the Guild Wars 2 core game.

This is not what your FAQ’s read a couple days ago, I mean one needs to ask, is this even legal ?

It’s an FAQ not a license agreement or terms of service so of course it’s legal. That’s what an FAQ is for. To even ask this question is beyond ridiculous

I don’t claim to be a lawyer but I think his question is a legitimate one, they advertised one thing and then changed it after sales had occurred. I would think thats a grey area of the law at the very least.

Absolute. Complete. Irreparable. Breach of trust.

Very scummy. Typical Anet 2.0

ricky markham.8173:

seriously all they did was correct an error on their faq page. i honestly expected them to do that already wonder what took them so long

The timing for that correction suggests, it was not an error.

Seriously, they knew they will be giving out free core game at least a month before prepurchase announcement, maybe even longer (such decisions are not made on the spot, and if it was done in a rush there would have been two keys, not one). During that time they not only left the FAQ info suggesting people should buy core, but also had a sale event. Face the reality – they knew what they were doing.

And for those saying that Anet is acting nice by offering the refund, i’d like to point out that they do absolute minimum required by law of many countries they sell their game in (they literally can’t not do that). They don’t do anything beyond that line, nor do they advertise widely that such an option is possible.

butch.8136:

Y’all have never started/had a business, I assume.

Obviously the FAQ wasn’t clear, hence the complete outcry by the community and some of the insane arguments that are thrown around. They changed their FAQ to alleviate some of the confusion.

But hey, Anet is Illuminati and is taking over the world. /s

they also failed to update other sections of their FAQ at the same time. this was not a general update, this was a very specific change.

(for example, if they are so adamant that HoT is base $50, why does the FAQ still say that they haven’t announced a pricing plan for HoT?)

Speaking of updates did anyone notice this?

“Q: How can I participate in a beta weekend event?

A: Everyone who pre-purchases Heart of Thorns will be able to participate in the beta weekend events! If you haven’t pre-purchased yet, you can upgrade your account through the Black Lion Trading Company in-game or by applying a serial code from buy.guildwars2.com or one of our retail partners."

I haven’t been online to check, has anyone noticed if its there?

steveway.3167:

Speaking of updates did anyone notice this?

“Q: How can I participate in a beta weekend event?

A: Everyone who pre-purchases Heart of Thorns will be able to participate in the beta weekend events! If you haven’t pre-purchased yet, you can upgrade your account through the Black Lion Trading Company in-game or by applying a serial code from buy.guildwars2.com or one of our retail partners."

I haven’t been online to check, has anyone noticed if its there?

it is, but it’s with money, not gems, if that’s what you’re asking.

No I was just curious about it since I have not been online in the past couple days. It caught me off guard.

RabbitUp.8294:

evoRobot.4019:

And they said they will compensate users within a specific time frame. Stop hating.

Sweet, sweet compensation

lolwow

So to everyone stating that it’s only right to correct the FAQ:

Yes, it is right to correct the FAQ, but it needs to be done in a way that makes clear, the FAQ has been changed. You can’t just edit official statements and have them look like they’ve been that way all along.
Also, as with the changes the question will come up quite often and it’s a FAQ, with editing the FAQ, they also need to address those, who have been misled by the old FAQ.