Guild Wars 2

Anet really is showing how much it cares for its fan/player base with this lack of…anything. 8 blog posts in two days about how they’re making things “better” but absolutely no response while thousands of people are screaming for answers. The only forum post by anet staff has been an unidentified moderator, closing a thread that was asking for answers. Yeah, they care.
/forum

Meridian.4983:

Anet really is showing how much it cares for its fan/player base with this lack of…anything. 8 blog posts in two days about how they’re making things “better” but absolutely no response while thousands of people are screaming for answers. The only forum post by anet staff has been an unidentified moderator, closing a thread that was asking for answers. Yeah, they care.
/forum

But you’re not allowed to say that they don’t care, lest some White Knight call you a liar.

Legal blabla aside… what we have seen so far from HoT is simply not worth $50. Not without some extra… like at least, as absolute minium, a free character slot.

Or a free gw2 key. But only those NOT having spent time and money on this game already get.

Which is just plain weird if you think about it.

Dedicated fans get: overpriced expansion.
Newbies get: overpriced expansion + core game + 2 year worth of bug fixing.

GeekDavid.2786:

Meridian.4983:

Anet really is showing how much it cares for its fan/player base with this lack of…anything. 8 blog posts in two days about how they’re making things “better” but absolutely no response while thousands of people are screaming for answers. The only forum post by anet staff has been an unidentified moderator, closing a thread that was asking for answers. Yeah, they care.
/forum

But you’re not allowed to say that they don’t care, lest some White Knight call you a liar.

So if use the same ’’method’’ and put you in the middle of the Square , so every1 can see my acomplicements , should that make me a bad White Knight ?

GeekDavid.2786:
‘’If they come back and claim they beheaded the marketing guy, those people who’ve already left won’t see it cause, well, they’ve already left.’’
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Anet-please-say-something/first#post5188491

Too bad i have 1200 min between posts , but i will remember you name :P

Killthehealersffs.8940:

GeekDavid.2786:

Meridian.4983:

Anet really is showing how much it cares for its fan/player base with this lack of…anything. 8 blog posts in two days about how they’re making things “better” but absolutely no response while thousands of people are screaming for answers. The only forum post by anet staff has been an unidentified moderator, closing a thread that was asking for answers. Yeah, they care.
/forum

But you’re not allowed to say that they don’t care, lest some White Knight call you a liar.

So if use the same ’’method’’ and put you in the middle of the Square , so every1 can see my acomplicements , should that make me a bad White Knight ?

GeekDavid.2786:
‘’If they come back and claim they beheaded the marketing guy, those people who’ve already left won’t see it cause, well, they’ve already left.’’
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Anet-please-say-something/first#post5188491

Too bad i have 1200 min between posts , but i will remember you name :P

I’ve read your post three times, and it still makes no sense.

So have they responded to this buzz yet or can we just label this concern and the veteran players dust under the rug?

Solori.6025:

So have they responded to this buzz yet or can we just label this concern and the veteran players dust under the rug?

dust under the rug

Solori.6025:

So have they responded to this buzz yet or can we just label this concern and the veteran players dust under the rug?

“Dust in the wind… all we are is dust in the wind…”

Not sure how many here are old enough to remember that song, tho.

Well they deleted a thread asking for answers, and they closed my thread asking to communicate. I see where this is going and I feel so sad that after 3 years I think at least we deserved a replay about all this.

GeekDavid.2786:

Solori.6025:

So have they responded to this buzz yet or can we just label this concern and the veteran players dust under the rug?

“Dust in the wind… all we are is dust in the wind…”

Not sure how many here are old enough to remember that song, tho.

You’d probably be surprised….

GeekDavid.2786:

Solori.6025:

So have they responded to this buzz yet or can we just label this concern and the veteran players dust under the rug?

“Dust in the wind… all we are is dust in the wind…”

Not sure how many here are old enough to remember that song, tho.

Carry on wayward son…………………….

As a dedicated veteran player (almost 20k AP) i feel scammed by the price.
Not only we get to buy a game again, we get no char slot (assuming we buy the 50€ one) AND the worst thing is, we don’t know what content we’ll get. You got charr slot in GW1, when you bought the expansion.

Gona w8 till price reduces or something…

MMOGamer.6175:

GeekDavid.2786:

Solori.6025:

So have they responded to this buzz yet or can we just label this concern and the veteran players dust under the rug?

“Dust in the wind… all we are is dust in the wind…”

Not sure how many here are old enough to remember that song, tho.

Carry on wayward son…………………….

One of my all-time favorite classic rock songs.

xbutcherx.3861:

Well they deleted a thread asking for answers, and they closed my thread asking to communicate. I see where this is going and I feel so sad that after 3 years I think at least we deserved a replay about all this.

Like I just said on another thread, I don’t trust ANet to do the right thing. I did at one time, but no longer.

Been playing this franchise for 10 years. I own multiple accounts of every game in the GW franchise. I made a few decisions after thinking about it for the last few months.

1.) I will play with the new trait system tomorrow. I haven’t been playing for the last 3 months or so. Colin’s post about skill points/hero points was good though. It’s a good first step to addressing concerns. If I like the new trait system, it could sway my decisions on playing the game.

2.) HoT information. I want more information on HoT before I decide to pre-order I bought a second copy of the game a few months ago when it was on sale to save me money for when HoT comes out. It’s actually going to cost me more money now because they changed their mind on the necessity of owning the base game. That is a big deal to me and a big knock against them. The people signing off on this stuff aren’t paying the sort of attention that the customers need. It’s a gaffe. Is it forgivable? Sure, if they are open-handed about the reparations.

If I don’t like the new trait system though, I just bought a few MMOs to diversify the MMO portfolio as it were. I am done with locking myself in one game and having my gaming time be dictated by shifting “Pillars” or “Core Principles” of game development. Devs switch that stuff whenever they want to and don’t tell you they are shifting it. By me choosing to play 4-5 different MMOs I can cherry pick the experiences I want to have and if devs decide to go off their original manifesto visions and core design philosophies, I just jump to the next title in my MMO kitten nal.

Tyria’s been a great place to spend the bulk of my time. I am just happy that I found a crazy Asura scientist to create me a rocket to travel to new star systems and different worlds. After tomorrow it just may be a case of, “I’ll see ya when I see ya.”

Iason Evan.3806:

I am just happy that I found a crazy Asura scientist to create me a rocket to travel to new star systems and different worlds. After tomorrow it just may be a case of, “I’ll see ya when I see ya.”

Beautiful, just beautiful.

Celtic Lady.3729:

sorudo.9054:

if the core game has become free, does that mean we can make a new account without HoT for free?
oh and if that’s not the case, it’s not really free now is it.

Yeah, it’s free for new players only.

So how much does just the core game cost now? Oh, right. You can’t get the core game on its own anymore. So it’s either a free bonus with HoT that has some sort of value outside of HoT, or it’s not a free bonus, and is thus factored in as part of the price of HoT.

It’s not a bonus, because it’s no longer being sold on its own. If you want to play guild wars 2 as of now, you’re buying Heart of Thorns.

It’s not free because there’s no where to download the vanilla game for a price. As above, it’s not being sold at all anymore.

It’s not a bundle because there’s no option to separate the two. Neither piece has its own individual price, and on top of that, the vast majority of people who would want to pre-order, people who already own the base game, only get the “free” base game if they start a brand new account, and apply the expansion to that account.

JoelTang.3680:

Lets not forget the network effect of having new players. There is value in a large player base that benefits players. If you consider the fact that the free core game is in order to facilite new players, it is a kind of win-win. That being said, I am quite surprized that the expansion doesn’t by default give a few, not just one, character slots. Not very good IMO.

If they really wanted to expand their player base, why not let veterans have free core game copies, too? As a veteran, I would happily hand off my “free” copy of the core game to a friend who was considering the game.

As it stands, however, I would tell him either to wait and see how this issue shakes out, or to look for another game.

GeekDavid.2786:

“Dust in the wind… all we are is dust in the wind…”

Not sure how many here are old enough to remember that song, tho.

Plenty of us, I think. Also, I appreciate your voice of reason here and your ability to make your points in clearly legible text. Thank you.

Kumion.7580:

JoelTang.3680:

Lets not forget the network effect of having new players. There is value in a large player base that benefits players. If you consider the fact that the free core game is in order to facilite new players, it is a kind of win-win. That being said, I am quite surprized that the expansion doesn’t by default give a few, not just one, character slots. Not very good IMO.

If they really wanted to expand their player base, why not let veterans have free core game copies, too? As a veteran, I would happily hand off my “free” copy of the core game to a friend who was considering the game.

As it stands, however, I would tell him either to wait and see how this issue shakes out, or to look for another game.

GeekDavid.2786:

“Dust in the wind… all we are is dust in the wind…”

Not sure how many here are old enough to remember that song, tho.

Plenty of us, I think. Also, I appreciate your voice of reason here and your ability to make your points in clearly legible text. Thank you.

I can think of at least three people I could hand off a free copy of the base game to without even having to think very hard. If they want new players, they shouldn’t kitten off the best advertisers they have… existing players!

And I thank you for your kind words.

There’s another angle to look at the ANet offer. Veterans get more from HOT because they are given a choice – get a new account with HOT or continue on their existent account with HOT. New players does not have that choice. So veterans actually get the better end of that deal.

GeekDavid.2786:

MMOGamer.6175:

GeekDavid.2786:

Solori.6025:

So have they responded to this buzz yet or can we just label this concern and the veteran players dust under the rug?

“Dust in the wind… all we are is dust in the wind…”

Not sure how many here are old enough to remember that song, tho.

Carry on wayward son…………………….

One of my all-time favorite classic rock songs.

Leftoverture is one of the great classic rock albums, period.

“You’re my boy, Blue!!!”

(kind of sad, most youngsters would remember it from that….)

Back on topic, I don’t want to be too kitten the Devs here as I’m SURE many of them would like to respond on this issue (tho I’m not sure how they would do so or what they could say to defend it), but also want to keep their job.

I’m quite confident this was a (horrible, IMO) decision made way up the food chain and those Anet employees that truly care about this game have been gagged.

Chicho Gosho.6507:

There’s another angle to look at the ANet offer. Veterans get more from HOT because they are given a choice – get a new account with HOT or continue on their existent account with HOT. New players does not have that choice. So veterans actually get the better end of that deal.

What ?

If I have to throw away everything I’ve worked for so far in GW2 at each expansion, I really can’t see how it is beneficial to me.

Brother Grimm.5176:

GeekDavid.2786:

MMOGamer.6175:

GeekDavid.2786:

Solori.6025:

So have they responded to this buzz yet or can we just label this concern and the veteran players dust under the rug?

“Dust in the wind… all we are is dust in the wind…”

Not sure how many here are old enough to remember that song, tho.

Carry on wayward son…………………….

One of my all-time favorite classic rock songs.

Leftoverture is one of the great classic rock albums, period.

“You’re my boy, Blue!!!”

(kind of sad, most youngsters would remember it from that….)

Back on topic, I don’t want to be too kitten the Devs here as I’m SURE many of them would like to respond on this issue (tho I’m not sure how they would do so or what they could say to defend it), but also want to keep their job.

I’m quite confident this was a (horrible, IMO) decision made way up the food chain and those Anet employees that truly care about this game have been gagged.

And it probably came at the worst time possible, just before the weekend. They said earlier that our concerns are passed to the people responsible so they probably had a meeting and hopefully they decided how to respond and we will hear from them today.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Back on topic, I don’t want to be too kitten the Devs here as I’m SURE many of them would like to respond on this issue (tho I’m not sure how they would do so or what they could say to defend it), but also want to keep their job.

I’m quite confident this was a (horrible, IMO) decision made way up the food chain and those Anet employees that truly care about this game have been gagged.

Very true, but that says a lot about the company as a whole, doesn’t _ it? Sure doesn’t sound like the kind of business I wanna support with my hard-earned dollars (or pesos or euros or whatever).

Edit: Silly thing put a kitten in my post where I didn’t want it!

Guhracie.3419:

It’s not a bundle because there’s no option to separate the two. Neither piece has its own individual price, and on top of that, the vast majority of people who would want to pre-order, people who already own the base game, only get the “free” base game if they start a brand new account, and apply the expansion to that account.

And if you do that, start a brand new account, you’re not buying an expansion. You’re buying GW2 v2.0, which happens to have new features collectively knows as “Heart of Thorns”.

People want an expansion, which means a product that “expands” their existing account, and get as good a deal as people buying GW2 v2.0.

Valmir.4590:

Chicho Gosho.6507:

There’s another angle to look at the ANet offer. Veterans get more from HOT because they are given a choice – get a new account with HOT or continue on their existent account with HOT. New players does not have that choice. So veterans actually get the better end of that deal.

What ?

If I have to throw away everything I’ve worked for so far in GW2 at each expansion, I really can’t see how it is beneficial to me.

No, you do not have to throw anything. It is just a preorder, you do not have to buy it now. You do not even have to buy it when HoT is released. You will continue to get patches and QoL changes, just not story updates. Also as i said, veterans receive the ability to choose., nothing about whether the options are good or bad.

Manasa Devi.7958:

Guhracie.3419:

It’s not a bundle because there’s no option to separate the two. Neither piece has its own individual price, and on top of that, the vast majority of people who would want to pre-order, people who already own the base game, only get the “free” base game if they start a brand new account, and apply the expansion to that account.

And if you do that, start a brand new account, you’re not buying an expansion. You’re buying GW2 v2.0, which happens to have new features collectively knows as “Heart of Thorns”.

People want an expansion, which means a product that “expands” their existing account, and get as good a deal as people buying GW2 v2.0.

That’s gotta be the best way of explaining it that I’ve seen since the announcement.

Chicho Gosho.6507:

Valmir.4590:

Chicho Gosho.6507:

There’s another angle to look at the ANet offer. Veterans get more from HOT because they are given a choice – get a new account with HOT or continue on their existent account with HOT. New players does not have that choice. So veterans actually get the better end of that deal.

What ?

If I have to throw away everything I’ve worked for so far in GW2 at each expansion, I really can’t see how it is beneficial to me.

No, you do not have to throw anything. It is just a preorder, you do not have to buy it now. You do not even have to buy it when HoT is released. You will continue to get patches and QoL changes, just not story updates. Also as i said, veterans receive the ability to choose., nothing about whether the options are good or bad.

Teach me to see life like you do.
Being so blindly to the stuff around you must be a wonderful thing.

since i bought the game a few weeks before the expansion thingy preorder was announced, and i started playing 2 weeks ago, this ticks me of.. paying full price twice within a few months -.-…

Sutima.5703:

since i bought the game a few weeks before the expansion thingy preorder was announced, and i started playing 2 weeks ago, this ticks me of.. paying full price twice within a few months -.-…

Welcome to the world of ANet.

Chicho Gosho.6507:

There’s another angle to look at the ANet offer. Veterans get more from HOT because they are given a choice – get a new account with HOT or continue on their existent account with HOT. New players does not have that choice. So veterans actually get the better end of that deal.

Chicho Gosho.6507:

… Also as i said, veterans receive the ability to choose., nothing about whether the options are good or bad.

Emphasis added by me. “Better” means an increase greater than “good”.

I strongly disagree with you. Arguably, 102 pages of debate also disagree with you.

ReiCH.6273:

Solori.6025:

So have they responded to this buzz yet or can we just label this concern and the veteran players dust under the rug?

dust under the rug

Well my money will stay in my pocket.

also waiting for a dev reply to this issue … wondering how much longer it ll take

We got a statement!

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

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

Yay, they are listening guys! :P

I know some ppl don’t like this but just to chill off a bit, what about a poll? :P

http://strawpoll.me/4710074

(yeah it was made before the recent news)
Edit: to anyone seeing this, that poll was intended to get your opinion in case nothing would be changed. Please don’t vote based on how the latest news feel on you but how you felt before.

Man that’s awesome! kudos Arena!

ok wait…

For all players who registered the core Guild Wars 2® game prior to January 23, 2015 and who upgrade their account by prepurchasing and registering any Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns edition before Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns‘ launch, we will add one additional character slot to your Guild Wars 2 account.

So those who would wait to buy it after the launch won’t get a character slot??

Also another ploy to get all the prepurchases. That brand spanking new extra character slot goes the way of the dodo once HoT launches, from looking at the text. Its an improvement, but I think it wold be better to be a standard perk of upgrading, whatever the timing of it.

Its an improvement, certainly, but I’m not wholly convinced yet. The cynic in me sees it as a ploy for more prepurchases over people biding their time and waiting.

I think this is acceptable. Pretty much the bare minimum they needed to do for veteran players. I’d like to have seen some price/package splits (like HoT-only) or gems tossed in, but I can deal with a char slot.

The response for players that bought the core game from Anet since January is good. Exactly what I thought was the right thing to do. And tossing in the char slot offer for those that bought from a 3rd party is a nice gesture, can’t say I’d really ask for more there.

I’m still going to hold off on a pre-order till I know more about what I’m buying. But I don’t have any other issues effecting my decision.

Just be sure to prepurchase then to get the extra slot. Of course, there should be a good margin of time between fuller knowledge of HoT content, and the HoT launch, to decide if you want to upgrade. Certainly to get the extra slot you need to prepurchase, so bear that in mind for those still on the fence.

Well that’s an improvement, Good job A-net
It addresses most of the concerns, I still feel 75 euro to be too high for deluxe but may buy it anyway.

I’m glad they clarified that business model it’s an important point. I hope that when the next expansion comes round the veteran bonuses are cumulative if that’s the model you’re going with in future. (I.e you had original gw2 prior to Jan 2015 +1 , you had HOT prior to the new expansion announcement +1 etc.) to avoid any future PR backlashes.

Now what they have to do is actually give more info on HoT since we really don’t know much yet other than specs [and we STILL don’t know them all], Revenant [we don’t know his own elite either] and that one area of the beta.

I still don’t see how the FAQ could be interpreted in any other way than to mean that the core game would be a requirement in order for Heart of Thorns to function, but as long as they’re sorting that out for the players who have purchased the core game since HoT was announced, that’s really the crucial part, in my opinion. It’s a nice bit of transparency to include that this will be their business model going forward, unless people down the line try to claim that they shouldn’t be held accountable for what they say if their practices change overnight.

This goes a ways to buy back some of my good will. I was never going to buy it at that price point (without a lot more information, anyway), but it’s at least something I’ll consider doing on sale (or sooner, if reviews are favorable).

shadow.6174:

ok wait…

For all players who registered the core Guild Wars 2® game prior to January 23, 2015 and who upgrade their account by prepurchasing and registering any Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns edition before Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns‘ launch, we will add one additional character slot to your Guild Wars 2 account.

So those who would wait to buy it after the launch won’t get a character slot??

This is more than reasonable now though. Essentially, you get the expansion for $40 now, because you also get a character slot. Consider this a bonus to pre-purchasing. It also says “before Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns’ launch”, meaning right up until the day before it launches, when we know all the information about the expansion, if you pre-purchase it, you get the extra slot.

Ty anet for listening. Still think it’s a bit much but more equivalent for value to that of a new players. As well as all those refunds shows the company means well. Expect more gem purchases from me I will be purchasing this xpac.

shadow.6174:

ok wait…

For all players who registered the core Guild Wars 2® game prior to January 23, 2015 and who upgrade their account by prepurchasing and registering any Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns edition before Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns‘ launch, we will add one additional character slot to your Guild Wars 2 account.

So those who would wait to buy it after the launch won’t get a character slot??

Verily, it is written, none but the most faithful may enter the Kingdom of HoT with a free character slot.

MiniEquine.6014:

shadow.6174:

ok wait…

For all players who registered the core Guild Wars 2® game prior to January 23, 2015 and who upgrade their account by prepurchasing and registering any Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns edition before Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns‘ launch, we will add one additional character slot to your Guild Wars 2 account.

So those who would wait to buy it after the launch won’t get a character slot??

This is more than reasonable now though. Essentially, you get the expansion for $40 now, because you also get a character slot. Consider this a bonus to pre-purchasing. It also says “before Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns’ launch”, meaning right up until the day before it launches, when we know all the information about the expansion, if you pre-purchase it, you get the extra slot.

I still think 1 char slot should be included with every package, and give one more (or gem equivalent) to existing players. But I don’t see it as being worth complaining about. It’s not perfect, but it is reasonable.

Whether it’s worth the cost is still to be seen. Obviously $40 would be preferable to all of us, but I’m not going to pass judgment on that till I know we’re getting. I’m mostly just glad that the price/content value is now the only concern I have.

Just chiming in to say thanks for taking our opinions into consideration.

Personally, I know I’m not entitled to anything here, but it’s nice to know that concerns like these don’t fall on deaf ears.