Guild Wars 2

Oh my, so let me get this straight. If i buy a car from the year 2000, it should cost me (according to these people) the same amount of money as a car made in 2015?

I hope these guys are right, maybe i will get 60-70k$ for my kittenty pos volvo v40 year 1998!
HUUURAY!

The price isn’t the killing point here to me. The Fact I have played nearly 3 years love the game. Even bought a second account and one for my GF. I expected the expac to be $30-50 depending on content. To include the core game even though free is a slap in the face to those who already own it or recently bought it. Ever considered having 2 standard editions ? Not talking about a price change or anything. Just leaving out the core game, an replacing it with like a extra Character Slot, maybe even a few boosters, Bank expansion slot. Anything really as a reward to the existing players for upgrading. Keep the exclusive stuff to the higher tiers that’s not the problem.

i just bought the game a month ago and it’s really unfair.

£25 considering what I have seen so far was my limit so I no longer have skin in this, but to not even allow Vets who WANT an additional account ( with 5 slots) to have one like the new players?

That’s pretty tight fisted.

Im not saying loads of players want an extra account, an extra character slot seems to be the consensus on a peace offering, but to offer something ‘free’ to newbies that Vets are blocked from?

WoW xpacs always felt worth the money when I still played, the content here is way to slight to charge £10 more..

So, if new players who pay the 50USD/EUR price tag get the expansion with the core game for FREE, us veteran players who paid 50USD/EUR at launch for the core game, get the expansion for FREE… Right? Right???

JustTrogdor.7892:

It is the wording on the sales page I think that is giving people to perception they are paying twice.

That is a dishonest accounting of the current situation. Read the megathreads and the several other individual threads to better understand it before you dismiss this out-of-hand as a “PR fail.” It’s much more than that.

MrYay.7063:

I don’t get why the expansion is at the price of a new game. @ArenaNet HoT must be kitten good AND so what’s follows.

However:
- I’ll buy the game just because I like a lot GW2, and it is the only MMO I feel like playing. I like the design and how characters feels. And I bow to the fact it has been released without a subscription.
- I’ll buy it because I have enough money to spend on it rather than on another game.
- I’ll buy it because I believe ArenaNet is doing quite well overall in an industry that is so competitive nowadays. I want this studio to remain successful and I want to contribute so that GW2 gets better, at least as good and brings as mush diversity as GW1 (subliminal message inside).

Therefore, make it a good or, even better, a great game, and please don’t disappoint me.

Peace

actually im the same as you… “Screw the rules i have money”, but i understand why some people are kitten off!

This is seriously a marketing 101 problem.

You can’t suddenly make things that used to be charged as a promotional benefit.

You just freaking can’t.

Cuz it’s gonna blowup and create a sense of unfairness among consumers. lol There are many other contexts and factors to be considered before decision like this is made (time relevance, product’s book value, etc). Apparently Anet didnt think it through.

This HoT pricing disaster is seriously gonna be on my marketing textbook for dummies (If I am ever going to write one)

Kain Francois.4328:

Honestly, I feel $50 is fair for a new expansion. A lot of work has been put into this, it might as well be worth a whole new game entirely.

If you’re bothered by price, just wait a bit. We all know it’ll go down eventually, and this $50 pricetag is only for the most hardcore of fans, who want to play it as soon as possible.

That said, I think people actually aren’t aware why they’re angry. It’s not the $50 pricetag people are consciously angry about, but the $75 and $100 dollar Deluxe and Ultimate editions. Simply by being in eye-view, right next to the other stuff, there is an association with Heart of Thorns having an outrageous price…. But that is a separate issue altogether.

There seems to be a lot of people on here telling us why we’re unhappy. Perhaps you should start a psychic hotline together.

And for the record, you are wrong. People are upset about the $50 price because a.) new players are getting more than loyal players; and b.) we don’t feel the expansion is worth $50 as it is presented right now.

After rethinking about my post a few minutes ago, I’m just going to walk away from GW2 all together. I’ll keep watching official information releases to see if Anet changes things for their veteran players but considering what we’ve seen so far, I think GW2 has done what so many other MMO’s before it have done – forgot their core players.

/farewell

It’s funny how people think the value of something stays the same, especially when a new version comes.

My volvo from the year 1998 does not COST as much as a new one from the year 2015. I wish that you guys were right, but sadly you are not. 60k$ for my pos volvo would really be nice to get

I have bought every Arena Net product to date. No longer.

I went from the biggest fan to hating this company and its inept staff with a passion.
They break more things than they fix. They punish loyalty. They insult intelligence.
My wallet and I will be going to Fallout 4 and Star Citizen.

Arena Net has become the very thing they set out to destroy.

Tirien.1326:

Oh my, so let me get this straight. If i buy a car from the year 2000, it should cost me (according to these people) the same amount of money as a car made in 2015?

I hope these guys are right, maybe i will get 60-70k$ for my kittenty pos volvo v40 year 1998!
HUUURAY!

No no no, to make the examples the same ill fix it.

You bought a car in 2000 for a price. Another guy buys the 2015 car for the same price but gets the car you bought as well no extra charge. If you want to new 2015 car, you have to pay the price again. So he gets two cars for the price you paid for one, and you get two cars for double the price.

upsdn.5426:

JustTrogdor.7892:

It is the wording on the sales page I think that is giving people to perception they are paying twice.

That is a dishonest accounting of the current situation. Read the megathreads and the several other individual threads to better understand it before you dismiss this out-of-hand as a “PR fail.” It’s much more than that.

I’ve been following most of the threads on this topic since the pre-order first went live last night. I’m well aware of people’s stances on the topic and the many misconceptions that have been posted. I stand by my earlier post in this thread as not only an honest account of why some people are up in arms but as also a valid opinion.

Okay…. so I own the base game already. Do you give me a key that i can give to a friend then?

Or do I simply get less for the same price?

Start Citicen! lest pay 200 dolar for a ship that should explote to hell on space and no insurance will save you from it!

There are some suggestions for making the HoT prices look better and more fair:

STANDARD EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit

DELUXE EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit
- 1 Black Lion Ticket
- Bang Expansion Tab or Bag Expansion
- Miniature Revenant Rytlock
- Mordremoth’s Bane Guild Hall Decoration
- Heart of Thorns Glider Skin

ULTIMATE EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit
- 1 Black Lion Ticket
- Bang Expansion Tab or Bag Expansion
- Miniature Revenant Rytlock
- Mordremoth’s Bane Guild Hall Decoration
- Heart of Thorns Glider Skin
- 4000 GEMS

PRE-PURCHASE BONUSES (for any Edition)
- Access to the Beta
- Special Title
- Booster Multi pack
- Heart of Thorns Head Gear Skin ( a Thorny Halo or a Thorny Circlet)

Those are just a few small editions, some of them useful, some of them unique, changes that can make people feel that their money have a better value.

results so far:
1. No 28 votes (56%)
2. Yes 17 votes (34%)
3. Unsure 5 votes (10%)
50 total votes

I have always supported Anet ever since launch. I love guild wars 2 as I’ve never loved other game. I use the cash shop on regular basis and always boasted in front of others how fair Anet is in their decisions when it comes to their player base. But this time, guys, I am so very disappointed in you.

It is alright that you guys want to attract new players and want to make it a sweet deal, I totally understand! But seriously, what kind of respect do you show to people who have been supporting the game since it’s launch, who’ve spend hundreds if not thousands of euros/dollars/whatnot/ in the cash shop and players who’ve spend thousands of hours in game. I don’t want you to give me the expansion for free, I don’t want you to give me free armor skins, but I’d like to see some appreciation for the time I’ve invested playing your game.

Please don’t come up with the crap that you’ve got to get the money from somewhere because I am so sure that the cash shop pretty much takes care of that. Otherwise your management will not have taken the decision to go f2p for the second time. I mean GW1 is running for 10 years up to today and I am sure you don’t get as much from it as you used to, but it keeps running, so I doubt that the issue is about “getting payed” and supporting the servers here..
It’s about respect and loving your players – as somebody here already said.

Please clarify as to what happens with the extra GW2 core game I will get once I purchase the bundle? Eh? Even if I manage to give it to a friend, they still have to buy the expansion…so what the hell am I to do with the extra game?
Or do you mean to say I have to buy it from the gem store and then I will NOT get the extra copy? What am I paying for then?

The “don’t pre-purchase HoT” thread on Reddit is the highest up-voted post in the sub-reddit of all time now. People seem really upset, hope the community and Anet can figure this one out.

Jaetara.4075:

There are some suggestions for making the HoT prices look better and more fair:

STANDARD EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit

DELUXE EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit
- 1 Black Lion Ticket
- Bang Expansion Tab or Bag Expansion
- Miniature Revenant Rytlock
- Mordremoth’s Bane Guild Hall Decoration
- Heart of Thorns Glider Skin

ULTIMATE EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit
- 1 Black Lion Ticket
- Bang Expansion Tab or Bag Expansion
- Miniature Revenant Rytlock
- Mordremoth’s Bane Guild Hall Decoration
- Heart of Thorns Glider Skin
- 4000 GEMS

PRE-PURCHASE BONUSES (for any Edition)
- Access to the Beta
- Special Title
- Booster Multi pack
- Heart of Thorns Head Gear Skin ( a Thorny Halo or a Thorny Circlet)

Those are just a few small editions, some of them useful, some of them unique, changes that can make people feel that their money have a better value.

So. Much. Pointless. Fluff.

If they want to fix it, they can “balance” it easily with gems:

- If you buy a HoT back and activate it on an account that have GW2, you get 1600 gems (€20 “veteran value”).

- Slap 1600 gems to begin with on the €75 pack because its value is utterly kittened. There is zero point in buying it and whoever does fall in a blatantly obvious trap set by Anet.

That is all. Those two changes would make every pack worth it while maintaining the fact that yes, the expansion+"free" game cost €45 as base for new players, big woop. New players do get alot for that, its true. This change would require very little changes on the webpage and updates to accounts can be done retroactively.

It would please just about everyone I think.

ANet, I am extremely disappointed in you. I have bought and played both GW (plus all EPs) and GW2 from Day One. This is how you reward me and other veteran players.

Yes, I KNOW how the world works — a business needs to keep attracting new customers to stay afloat. But this? It’s not the $50 price tag; I know the price of expansion packs has gone up over the years. It’s what’s included (the base game — already paid for that, thanks) and what’s not included. A GW EP with no extra character slot to play the new Revenant? No extra shinies that wouldn’t cost you anything (some outfits or minis or whatever)?

Please reconsider.

The price is not necessarily the killing point, but as an MBA with some understanding of how companies do pricing, I can basically guarantee you that they are not just handing out the core game for free.

Someone put a spreadsheet together that projected likely cash flows considering [lower expansion price + discounted core price] v. [higher expansion price + free core game] and decided that the second yielded better numbers.

Good on them, but don’t pretend like they didn’t bake the core game into the price. They did.

I would gladly pay $50 for the expansion, provided I got a new character slot (& a bank expansion tossed in certainly wouldn’t hurt either).

There is certainly no incentive to pre-purchase.

Little (and maybe to simple) calcualtion:
A lot of people claimed, they won’t buy the Xpan for 45€ but would if it cost something around 35€
Let’s guess 3/10 people claim this.
so how much can you lower the prize, to earn the same money?
45€ * 7 / 10 = 31,5€
So when you sell this Xpan for 35€ you will earn more money in the end.(not considering, that this will keep the sales in gem-shop at a higher amount).

And now please expalin me, why not to lower the prize.

Cambeleg.7632:

Most of people isn’t whining about the content, Morfedel. Most of people -specially vets- are whining the WRONG decission that Anet took with the Basic Edition. Vets want to buy HoT without the ‘core’, which would mean $10 less. Or, at least, to get something for justifying this overcost -like a character slot, for example.

No, there ARE people whining about things like “this doesnt have enough content to blah blah blah.”

I didn’t say there was a majority of them doing so, but they are.

As it stands, though, really, $40-$60 is the standard price point for an expansion anyway for the vast majority of other mmorpgs; granted they usually included a new character slot and didn’t include the core game, but really, the price itself is not really out of bounds considering the price of other expansions.

$50 is the upper limit of what I would be willing to pay for a GW2 expansion, so the actual price isn’t my main issue.

I wouldn’t have a problem with a fifty dollar price tag for HoT if it included a character slot to try out the newly-introduced profession. Without one, it’s a no-buy from me. Sorry.

Chicho Gosho.6507:

No “veteran” player said anything when the game was 10$ but now it is a problem. Just saying.

P.S. I believe that 50$+ core game/char slot should be the norm. I do not believe that new players getting the game for free would affect my game negatively at all.

Because when the game was 10$ it was a sale. Someone buys the game 2.5years after the rest of us, sure they pay less.

But now this is about the upcomming content, the latest and greatest. And if you are a fresh new player you simply get a better deal out of buying HoT than someone who has been around since the start.

Anet’s silence is horrible.

There should have been an official announcement by now.

Jaetara.4075:

There are some suggestions for making the HoT prices look better and more fair:

STANDARD EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit

DELUXE EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit
- 1 Black Lion Ticket
- Bang Expansion Tab or Bag Expansion
- Miniature Revenant Rytlock
- Mordremoth’s Bane Guild Hall Decoration
- Heart of Thorns Glider Skin

ULTIMATE EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit
- 1 Black Lion Ticket
- Bang Expansion Tab or Bag Expansion
- Miniature Revenant Rytlock
- Mordremoth’s Bane Guild Hall Decoration
- Heart of Thorns Glider Skin
- 4000 GEMS

PRE-PURCHASE BONUSES (for any Edition)
- Access to the Beta
- Special Title
- Booster Multi pack
- Heart of Thorns Head Gear Skin ( a Thorny Halo or a Thorny Circlet)

Those are just a few small editions, some of them useful, some of them unique, changes that can make people feel that their money have a better value.

I actually think this is great lol xD

Dear A-net: Please consider the following as a really smart damage-control/marketing strategy:

“We really value our loyal veteran players. As an extra bonus, all current GW2 players who pre-purchase any of the Heart of Thorns packages before [insert date here] will get an additional character slot for free.”

This would instantly ninja-flip the unfolding marketing fiasco, and result in a rather quick flood of cash into A-Nets coffers. It would be smart, and not at all hard to do. I’d be on it in a heartbeat instead of complaining on these forums.

So, it seems that if I pre-purchase HoT I get the core game for free.

I have the core game already, but would be happy to give a key to friends.
Is this possible?
Or I get the core game only if I don’t have the core game yet?

(tl:dr at the end and I’m sorry for the long post)
I want to buy the expansion. I most likely will. But when I do it will depend on a few things. Before I make my point, I want to set some things straight about ANet, their decisions and the player’s reactions:

Defending ANet:
* Personal gushing I do believe HoT will be worth my time. There’s no guarantee right now, of course, but I’ve liked most things ANet have done before and I have faith I will like this too. Consider me hyped!
* Entitlement vs Loyalty – I feel like some of the complaints being posted here are invalid. Not only does ANet not owe its current clients anything, other than a working base game, they’ve been providing free content for the last 3 years AND whatever future content is added to HoT is included in the price. The game is completely playable without gems AND because gems can be obtained with gold most people can get what they want without spending any real money.
* Content and Features – Content isn’t the only measurement of value. All the features being added, regardless of whether people think they should’ve been here from launch or not, have value. By buying an expansion, you’re benefitting from the new content and new features. Some people may not be used to paying for features but that doesn’t mean they (the features) can’t be very valuable and the main reason why people would consider buying an expansion.
* Quality vs Quantity – The thought of an X dollar expansion should offer about the same content as an X dollar base game, while perfectly logical to a lot of people, is flawed. I see a lot of people talking about numbers (X maps, Y game modes, etc) but not even mentioning quality. We can’t know if HoT’s maps, however many there are, are as valuable, or even more so, as the core game’s maps. We simply don’t know.

Defending the Veteran Players:
* Taking Vets for granted – We still haven’t been shown, with sufficient detail, what all the major features will encompass and that leads to doubt and unwillingness to do business from the players. ANet started pre purchasing way too early, didn’t even give a single detail on two major features of HoT and expected everyone to pay.
* Flawed Approach – The weird/bad phrasing and marketing lead to confusion and anger, which in turn lead to people losing faith. Offering the base game for free for new players is great but stating that in the in game store was just… sloppy!

Now! Because we don’t know enough about HoT and its value, saying 50 dollars is too much or just right (or maybe too little, for some people?) is meaningless. For some people, all it matters is how many hours they get from a game. If that’s how they want to do it, that’s fine for them. But I’d rather have replayable and fun maps (as ANet said the new maps would be designed to achieve) then 40 hours of dredging through solo leveling and fetch quests.

This all leads to my final point: Players should not even complain about (pre) purchasing HoT until every major feature is sufficiently fleshed out. Most of this backlash is coming from ignorance rather than anything else but they also need to look at the overall value and not just the numbers. Even if all the new areas HoT will introduce make up a total of 33% of the base game world, that does not mean the content will not be valuable. GW1’s Fissure of Woe and Underworld were the same two elite areas of the game for 9 or 10 years and they were always interesting. Sure, interest waned and spiked as time went by, and that interest also came from the different builds that could be used, but those two areas are proof that map quantity isn’t that important. If ANet release enough info over the next few weeks (and maybe months), I’d bet most of the people complaning now would change their minds (assuming what ANet shows is indeed valuable). If all HoT has to show is bland while asking for 50 dollars, THEN people should complain.

A sign of good faith from ANet right now would make me feel confident in pre purchasing the game. I already like what I hear about HoT and I want to support the company. This is not meant to be a ransom, even though it looks like one. But money speaks louder than words and your mistakes made people doubt you and your intentions.

tl;dr:
Veterans! Wait and learn before you shout. You should judge the complete package and not argue with incomplete information. ANet started pre purchasing too soon but that doesn’t mean you need to buy it right now.
ANet! You dun goof’d and a sign of good faith would be welcome. I have no idea how it could work but you guys are probably already weighing your choices. Maybe even consider interrupting pre purchases until you figure out a solution? Maybe even let more info be released until you resume sales.

As of now its only free if you dont have it already yes

You can’t give the base game to a friend if you already own it.

no, read one of the current threads. this question has been answered numerous times. It is a single key. Base game no longer exists. if you have the core game and you purchase the expansion you lose the base game from your purchase unless you create a completely new account. You can not give it to a friend.

No. If you have an existing account and pre-purchase you get the expansion. You do not get the core game/new account with it. The core game is included free to new customers that purchase the expansion.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/HoT-Price-Feedback-Base-game-included-merged/page/6#post5156129

I was going to ask the same thing. If Anet does continue with this base game idea after all the uproar, I don’t see why they would let us give that key away. If we give it to friends/family then they would most likely wish to play with the “Vet” and would have to get the Xpac which means an extra sale, which could domino from there.

then it’s even more BS

Two people go into same shop to buy a bundle made out of 2 items, lets call the item BOB, Person 1 already have a BOB and person two dont.
Bundle contains BOB and a expansion for BOB.

The Problem is when you leave the store, a store clerk come running after you and say to the person 1: Sorry Sir, but i see that you already have BOB at home and takes your BOB away.

Both payed the same amount, How do you think person 1 feels now ?

This is the main reason people are getting so angry. We hate when other steal from us

Indeed, i totally agree

There are a lot of rage filled threads out there right now and I understand why. But I think a lot of folks aren’t explaining or perhaps don’t filly understand why they’re so upset. So I thought about it for a bit this is what it comes down to, for me.

The problem isn’t that HoT is $50. The problem is that Anet announced the price before showing us enough of the game that justifies a price that high. It’s not that $50 for a video game is more then we will pay for a video game, we’re gamers, we’re used to paying $60+ for stuff. But usually we know what’s in that game beforehand. We know roughly, what we can expect in terms of value. But expansions for MMOs are rarely over $40. And a lot of us have played other MMOs and gone through this and know roughly what to expect from expansions.

So, for me, eyebrows raise when you’re asking for more then the average MMOs expansion and have shown next to nothing meriting such a price. Specializations are neat, but worthy of a full priced game? These comparisons may not be fair but when you announce this price within 24 hours at the same event that Fallout 4, Just Cause, Halo 5 are being announced for roughly the same price,you better be willing to show us something substantial.

Tldr: show me what I’m paying for. Quicker. Give us a number as to how many new maps we are getting. A rough square mileage of area. Show me concept art for the other zones and hints at story elements. Give me more then specializations once every couple weeks laced with “maybes”. Give me something to hang my hat on and I’ll gladly hand over my cash.

No rage. I just want some communication here. You’re asking for my money, I’m asking for you to show me why.

I was really excited to see the pre-order on the website today. Very sad about the cost being higher than expected. I figured even with the new guild halls, the content would not cost over $30 (Mind you i was pretty happy to see the guild halls. Those look awesome!)

What’s realistically stopping us from simply giving our current accounts to a friend while activating a brand new one with the HoT code?

I siphon all my gold and mats to the new account via a guild bank over the course of a couple weeks and voila, I’m not actually missing all that much, and the few account bound things left behind will at least be things my friends playing on my “buddy account” will get to enjoy.

There’s really no incentive to merge HoT into my current account.

More info about the content of HoT before pre-orders would have been really nice, yeah.

Morfedel.4165:

Cambeleg.7632:

Most of people isn’t whining about the content, Morfedel. Most of people -specially vets- are whining the WRONG decission that Anet took with the Basic Edition. Vets want to buy HoT without the ‘core’, which would mean $10 less. Or, at least, to get something for justifying this overcost -like a character slot, for example.

No, there ARE people whining about things like “this doesnt have enough content to blah blah blah.”

I didn’t say there was a majority of them doing so, but they are.

As it stands, though, really, $40-$60 is the standard price point for an expansion anyway for the vast majority of other mmorpgs; granted they usually included a new character slot and didn’t include the core game, but really, the price itself is not really out of bounds considering the price of other expansions.

Most people compare the expansion price to other games. But what about level of content?
Naming something an expansion doesn’t automatically give it the same depth of content as other games.
WoW expansions cost that much but usually bring about a TON of content, including new raids, new gear, and new levels. So much so that many times it feels like a new game altogether. We’re getting some revamped systems (stuff that they probably should have launched/fixed outside a expansion anyhow to prevent stagnation), a new class, and so far we know of 1 PVE map. And Guild Halls.
Given what we know so far the expansion has less content than what was released with Living World…
So yes, i don’t think its worth 45€.
Plus there’s also examples of other games with expansions for less than that, with comparatively more content.

I understand you wish to know what you are paying for. The best thing you should do right now is be patient as there has been no set release date yet. As time goes on, you will see more content pieces that may or may not convince you to buy the expansion. Until then, wait and see.

And a release date would be nice, like another person posted, you could pre purchase it and end up waiting years for its release lol

Jaetara.4075:

There are some suggestions for making the HoT prices look better and more fair:

STANDARD EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit

DELUXE EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit
- 1 Black Lion Ticket
- Bang Expansion Tab or Bag Expansion
- Miniature Revenant Rytlock
- Mordremoth’s Bane Guild Hall Decoration
- Heart of Thorns Glider Skin

ULTIMATE EDITION
- HoT
- Character Slot
- Total Make Over Kit
- 1 Black Lion Ticket
- Bang Expansion Tab or Bag Expansion
- Miniature Revenant Rytlock
- Mordremoth’s Bane Guild Hall Decoration
- Heart of Thorns Glider Skin
- 4000 GEMS

PRE-PURCHASE BONUSES (for any Edition)
- Access to the Beta
- Special Title
- Booster Multi pack
- Heart of Thorns Head Gear Skin ( a Thorny Halo or a Thorny Circlet)

Those are just a few small editions, some of them useful, some of them unique, changes that can make people feel that their money have a better value.

This would go along way I don’t look for it to happen but something similar would work. But like the whole Portal event a little while back I doubt they will go forward with this though they get a lot of feedback. Sometimes I wonder if they wait for things to get to the boiling point before trying to fix things. I wont say I am not going to buy HOT cause I most likely will. Like I said in a few previous postings It isn’t so much the price it is how it was handled with the answering and the underhanded way they sold copies during the Hype train days. I will however say I’m most likely will limit my real cash amounts into gems from this day forth. I’ve reduced my spending since the portal incident think I’ll just have to cut back further. AM sure there are others going to do the same thing. After all some of us buy gems at times just to support the game. I’ve watched this to much today going to go find something constructive to do instead of waiting for a response that may never come.

I caved in last night and purchased the ultimate package (turned out to be around $143 NZD after the currency conversion + transaction fees).

I still think it’s a bit unfair that the basic package doesn’t even include an extra character slot though (which would mean 2 slots for deluxe and ultimate). After all, an expansion should give at least 1 extra character slot because of the new Revenant profession. And I do think veterans have been given a slap in the face a little bit, in terms of having to pay more than what a new player would – $50 for the expansion, on top of the $60 the core game originally cost (after all, the veterans are the ones that have been supporting Anet from day 1 with many-a-gemstore-purchases). So to not even get an extra character slot in the basic package is a bit rude if you ask me.

In terms of pricing, I agree that the $50 price tag is a bit hefty for the basic package, considering the original GW2 core game cost $60 originally. By this logic, we should be expecting almost as much content and new map areas as what we currently have – and to be honest, or at least, I can only assume by what we have been shown thus far, I’m tending to think the expansion won’t even have half of the content in comparison to the core game. I hope I’m wrong on this.

I still hope by the very least, the basic package includes an extra character slot. It’s not going to hurt Anet’s wallet, and it will be a nice gesture on their part. In the end, GW2 has and will continue to provide me with a lot of entertainment and am happy to support them by buying the ultimate package. I hope they do give us an extra character slot at the very least though.

The core game still costs nearly £20 from amazon, so we should be able to buy the expansion without the core game.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guild-Wars-Standard-Edition-DVD/dp/B007YZ5B0I

People with the base game should be able to buy the expansion for £20 less.