Guild Wars 2

So after all this and a taste of salvation yesterday, it turns out that it’s not a vets bonus. It’s a pre-purchase bonus. 6 days of hellfire in the forums and aNet couldn’t even make a proper concession that didn’t go entirely in their favour. Not even a little one.

Not much to say really.

GW2 not the only one in trouble with it’s expansions and communities,

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/bungie-responds-to-destiny-taken-king-controversy/1100-6428384/

Upon Pre-purchase of current and other future expansions for $49.99 USD

A single item will be given to current Veterans of Guild wars 2.

name : “Favored by the 7 gods”

1 item ( Soul Bound, Account Bound, permanent, Endless, Stack-able upon other pre-purchases of Guild wars 2 expansions)

Select One Alternative profession of your choosing. This character will gain the ability to switch back and forth from your selected and original profession ( re-log required)
_____________ My reasons_________

1. If Rytlocke can switch professions, Why cant we?

2. Black Lion stuff should be kept as Black Lion Stuff…. ( stop giving it away for free as an excuse for Mistakes)

3. The item “Favored by the 7 gods” is Unique and only acquired by a pre-purchase of the most current Expansion avaiable

4. Guild wars 1 franchise allowed players to have an interchangeable Secondary profession. Guild wars 2 is absent of this.

5. might want to expand the pre-purchase date if this becomes available.

evoRobot.4019:

Please update us with how your issue was handled.

Apparently it won’t be handled.

People like me who recently bought the game will need to buy(separately).

Living World Content along with HOT, amounting to over 70 USD ontop of our base GW game cost(which for me was 20 USD).

The game is fun but I am never going to spend any money in the cash shop, I maybe buy HOT when it drops to 20 USD or less but I feel no desire to be furthered screwed over by AreaNets policies.

I’m kind of kicking myself for not buying ESO.

Stochastic.1398:

evoRobot.4019:

Please update us with how your issue was handled.

Apparently it won’t be handled.

People like me who recently bought the game will need to buy(separately).

Living World Content along with HOT, amounting to over 70 USD ontop of our base GW game cost(which for me was 20 USD).

The game is fun but I am never going to spend any money in the cash shop, I maybe buy HOT when it drops to 20 USD or less but I feel no desire to be furthered screwed over by AreaNets policies.

I’m kind of kicking myself for not buying ESO.

Your base game purchase will automatically be refunded when you buy HoT now. They changed it because so many people complained. https://www.guildwars2.com/en-gb/news/pre-purchase-community-address/

Maybe you should be alittle more honest mate.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Bought-a-game-key-through-Amazon-in-February/first#post5192676

Its not anets fault you bought from a 3rd party retailer that dont offer refunds on digital goods.

You wanted to save a buck and not buy from anet, now when they offer refunds to people who bought from them you throw a tempertantrum.

Edit

With the offer of an additional char slot for people who bought from third party retailers you are loseing out on 10$ of your base purchase.

You saying you havent had more entertainement or equal to 2 nights at the movies?

Ayrilana.1396:

Bad analogy. Cars, just like the core game, come with a “key” automatically which is required for the product to function. GW2 core games doesn’t need HoT to function.

Wrong. If you buy a car from the dealership ,they don’t have to give you a key to the car, because they are only selling you the car. In fact if you check the invoice of a car when signing the contracts, a key is listed $0.00 but dealers if they so choose to can actually charge you for the key since you’re only buying the car. The keys are considered as accessory. (which is why you can order more than one key)

Just like HoT Arena Net CAN sell you just the expansion but if they did that new players would see that core game = $24.99 and then see price of expansion is “so called” $50 and then ditch the game. which is why they threw it in there making the total cost of Core + Expansion to be $49.99, but then is a slap to the face to every Veteran because now we have to shell out $49.99 for JUST the expansion because we do not gain any benefit of having the core Guild Wars 2 key again. Arena Net wants to treat us like we’re worthless because New Players > Old Players in terms of importance.

If they had the package as 49.99 for Core Guild Wars 2 “KEY” AND HoT “KEY”(notice I said Key twice) Then both side would benefit because Veterans could give the 2nd Core game key to their family/friends/whatever and have access to HoT. But I’m sure some sheep will tell me it’s not benefiting Arena Net when they’re getting more player base at the cost of somebody else expense…

And Quite frankly I don’t see how this “expansion” would be worth $49.99
It’s just Guild Wars 2 re-branded, new logo slapped onto it, added 1 extra class + new maps.

SWTOR does the same thing with level cap, story line, etc. but their “expansion” is $19.99 and they switched to a Free to play Model where you don’t even need to buy the core game anymore.

So explain to me how exactly is HoT worth the $49.99?

Is there another years worth of content?

As far as I can see 2 months is the maximum i’d rate it so far.

Is the new class that “Special” that it has an outrageous price tag?

Did Arena Net hire some new animators and developers and this new price tag offset the costs?

Nothing was ever announced.

If this expansion pack is worth $49.99 i’m not see it.

I bought Guild Wars 2 literally a month ago for $39.99 so now I have to pay $50 for the expansion and a free version of the core game????

If we buy the ultimate edition do we get the 4k gems instantly, or do we have to wait for the release?

goosecoupe.3156:

I bought Guild Wars 2 literally a month ago for $39.99 so now I have to pay $50 for the expansion and a free version of the core game????

Wrong, since you already own GW2 your $49.99 will only get you the expansion. There is no second key for the core game.

Lambent.6375:

If we buy the ultimate edition do we get the 4k gems instantly, or do we have to wait for the release?

Release.

Hyori.3624:

Lambent.6375:

If we buy the ultimate edition do we get the 4k gems instantly, or do we have to wait for the release?

Release.

Thanks.

When A.NET announce the HOT for $49.99 as a pre-purchase, you would get the expansion + original game.

Fans revolted, A.Net decided to give fans that pre-purchase the game a free character slot.

If fans never revolted, what is the benefit of pre-purchasing the game? Will it got to 59.99$ usd?

If base game costs 19.99 or 24.99 then what is the benefit of buying HOT, when you own a base game?

I want to play with my friend, and he wants to buy just a base game, that option is not available anymore, and even if I buy HOT i cant give him the license to the base game.

I dont see any benefit for veteran players not much of a choice for new players. All what this look like is a way to generate as much revenue as possible from the veteran player base and new players.

Whats mostly irritating is that publishers decides what players want and don’t give any options to players. The model of keeping the price as high as possible and bundling bunch of useless stuff that no one asked for is getting old. The menu look big when you order, but when waiter bring you your order, all you see is bean sprouts on your plate with fancy non edible decorations. If you complain the wait will give a piece of carrot and will expect you to shush.

Also 50$ usd for sky high for expansion and with paypal conversion rate to cad at 1.25, its 62.50$.

All I can say that neither me not non of my friends are not getting expansion any time soon.

goosecoupe.3156:

I bought Guild Wars 2 literally a month ago for $39.99 so now I have to pay $50 for the expansion and a free version of the core game????

Send a support ticket, they will refund you 39.99$ only if you will per-purchase HOT.

And if Im a charr and have killed my gods what do I get then?

And my Norn want animal spirits.

Then just change the name to be appropriate to all.. Problem solved. Isnt hard to program a text change.

Lets not be dumb about stuff please. Im trying to make it worth spending money for expansions for veteran players. Is it fair that a new comer can own every single expansion for the worth of $50 while you spend 50 x Expansion?

Hyori.3624:

Wrong. If you buy a car from the dealership ,they don’t have to give you a key to the car, because they are only selling you the car. In fact if you check the invoice of a car when signing the contracts, a key is listed $0.00 but dealers if they so choose to can actually charge you for the key since you’re only buying the car. The keys are considered as accessory. (which is why you can order more than one key)

WTH. Umm.. no. The key is part of the car when you buy it. Name one place that sells you the car but not the key. Otherwise, don’t make things up just so they continue to fit with your narrative. And FYI, even if they charge for the key, it’s a fee you have to pay to get the car unless you can haggle them out of it which in most cases you can. This is not the same situation as with HoT.

Hyori.3624:

Just like HoT Arena Net CAN sell you just the expansion but if they did that new players would see that core game = $24.99 and then see price of expansion is “so called” $50 and then ditch the game. which is why they threw it in there making the total cost of Core + Expansion to be $49.99, but then is a slap to the face to every Veteran because now we have to shell out $49.99 for JUST the expansion because we do not gain any benefit of having the core Guild Wars 2 key again. Arena Net wants to treat us like we’re worthless because New Players > Old Players in terms of importance.

The $74.99 would be a cost barrier for new players and Anet wanted to help them out. The $50 was going to be the cost of the expansion all along and unlike new players, you’ve had much more time than they to play the game. Were you upset when the price of the game went down to $10 when you had paid $60? Did you accuse Anet of slapping veterans in the face then for doing so and not refunding players? Veterans have gotten so many things that new players haven’t and it’s a bit selfish to get upset one of the few times Anet cuts new players some slack.

Hyori.3624:

If they had the package as 49.99 for Core Guild Wars 2 “KEY” AND HoT “KEY”(notice I said Key twice) Then both side would benefit because Veterans could give the 2nd Core game key to their family/friends/whatever and have access to HoT. But I’m sure some sheep will tell me it’s not benefiting Arena Net when they’re getting more player base at the cost of somebody else expense…

They could have given players an additional key except they had intended the free bonus key for the core game to be for new players. Not everything has to revolve around veterans as if they’re special and should be treated as such all the time. One of the few times they did something for new players and now you’re upset. Geez…

Hyori.3624:

And Quite frankly I don’t see how this “expansion” would be worth $49.99
It’s just Guild Wars 2 re-branded, new logo slapped onto it, added 1 extra class + new maps.

You haven’t seen everything and Anet isn’t going to spoil everything for players. When they did season 2, they didn’t list many spoilers. They left it up to the players to find these themselves. There very well could be five zones in the expansion. You’re making rash judgements based off a single zone.

Hyori.3624:

SWTOR does the same thing with level cap, story line, etc. but their “expansion” is $19.99 and they switched to a Free to play Model where you don’t even need to buy the core game anymore.

This isn’t SWTOR through and look at the many other games that charge more. Simply cherry picking the first MMO that you find that has a cheaper expansion isn’t going to win your case. Oh, and by the way, the Shadow of Revan expansion gave the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion free to new players. Now which game is doing something similar? Hmmm…….

Another thing that I should bring up is that a quick search shows some people complaining that the latest expansion is small. I looked and we got more in a living story season. The expansion before that was worse.

Hyori.3624:

So explain to me how exactly is HoT worth the $49.99?

Is there another years worth of content?

As far as I can see 2 months is the maximum i’d rate it so far.

Is the new class that “Special” that it has an outrageous price tag?

Did Arena Net hire some new animators and developers and this new price tag offset the costs?

Nothing was ever announced.

If this expansion pack is worth $49.99 i’m not see it.

Many people feel that it’s well worth the price of $50. There’s still many more blog posts for them to reveal details before the expansion is released. If you feel it’s not worth the $50 at the moment then simply wait. If it’s still not worth it to you the day before it’s released then wait until it goes on sale or get’s packed with the next expansion so you feel like you got your money’s worth.

desertleaf.5403:

Then just change the name to be appropriate to all.. Problem solved. Isnt hard to program a text change.

Lets not be dumb about stuff please. Im trying to make it worth spending money for expansions for veteran players. Is it fair that a new comer can own every single expansion for the worth of $50 while you spend 50 x Expansion?

If I get to play it without waiting, you betcha it’s fair and the more people playing the better.

Ayrilana.1396:

Hyori.3624:

Wrong. If you buy a car from the dealership ,they don’t have to give you a key to the car, because they are only selling you the car. In fact if you check the invoice of a car when signing the contracts, a key is listed $0.00 but dealers if they so choose to can actually charge you for the key since you’re only buying the car. The keys are considered as accessory. (which is why you can order more than one key)

WTH. Umm.. no. The key is part of the car when you buy it. Name one place that sells you the car but not the key. Otherwise, don’t make things up just so they continue to fit with your narrative. And FYI, even if they charge for the key, it’s a fee you have to pay to get the car unless you can haggle them out of it which in most cases you can. This is not the same situation as with HoT.

Fremont Honda, for my 2009 Honda Accord, $55.00 First key. $145.00 2nd key.

Daly City Toyota for my 2007 Toyota Corolla First key $35.00, the second key was $115.60

Their excuse was “we have to program the keys to the cars.”

Hyori.3624:

Ayrilana.1396:

Hyori.3624:

Wrong. If you buy a car from the dealership ,they don’t have to give you a key to the car, because they are only selling you the car. In fact if you check the invoice of a car when signing the contracts, a key is listed $0.00 but dealers if they so choose to can actually charge you for the key since you’re only buying the car. The keys are considered as accessory. (which is why you can order more than one key)

WTH. Umm.. no. The key is part of the car when you buy it. Name one place that sells you the car but not the key. Otherwise, don’t make things up just so they continue to fit with your narrative. And FYI, even if they charge for the key, it’s a fee you have to pay to get the car unless you can haggle them out of it which in most cases you can. This is not the same situation as with HoT.

Fremont Honda, for my 2009 Honda Accord, $55.00 First key. $145.00 2nd key.

Daly City Toyota for my 2007 Toyota Corolla First key $35.00, the second key was $115.60

And you could’ve talked down those charges. The thing is that those are required for the original product and are no different than say paying for the seats. Like I’ve already said, it’s not the same scenario as with HoT.

Ayrilana.1396:

ArmoredVehicle.2849:

Ayrilana.1396:

ArmoredVehicle.2849:

Ayrilana.1396:

You can buy the expansion. It’s $50. The core game is a free bonus for new accounts to help new players to the game.

Help new players eh? Exactly how does lvl 80 targeted content help new players?

You’re right there’s so much lack of content in the base game for a new player that he MUST have both.

This is only Anet helping themselves, hell even a blind could see that.

It’s helping new players get into the game without there being a huge paywall for them. Read the blog post that clarifies this.

Oh really? A paywall and concern about new players. Well in case you’ve been living in a cave you’d notice that even the oldest players get to pay the same amount. This is a paywall for everyone not just new players.

Put it this way:

The expansion + “free game” costs 45e as a bundle.

If they offer the base game at 25e and the expansion for 20e separately that’s still 45e to new customers and without screwing your loyal fans. But this is all negated since they want to force 45e price upon everyone for more filthy profit.

Also in case you forgot. There may still be a few retail copies of the core only game on sale, I only feel sorry for the innocent souls falling into this trap. They would be forced to pay an additional 45e for the expansion since they bought it from a retailer. Now THAT is a massive paywall.

The truth lies here, they want to sell the expansion for 45e and no amount of word play will hide that. This is the best for their profits not the new players or old ones for the matter.

And what you don’t realized is that they priced the expansion at $50. Selling it for less causes them to lose money. The paywall was new players having to pay $50 for the expansion and the ~$25 for the core game. They had incentives to provide the core game for free to new players as this would increase the likelihood of new players purchasing GW2 and possibly buying items from the gem store in the future.

Help new players this, help new players that. It’s all a nice coverage to help them sell the expansion at a high price.

It’s a 2 sided problem. The first being the high price and the second is the 2 in 1 bundle new players are getting over the old ones.

Do you truly believe this is an act of generosity on Anet’s behalf, please don’t be so simple. Maybe you forgot they’re a business and maximizing profit is their aim.

I once thought Anet was different, probably it was true until a few years ago. Now its a different company, gone are the days they treat the game with love over profit.

The Pre-Purchase Community address does sound all nice but I still have an issue with what Anet has done. Car analogy people drop it get back to the point at hand. If you need an analogy use (http://puu.sh/itAcM/bffe1e0ea4.png) it was posted earlier and is pretty clear on what many are feeling.
It does seem reasonable to not make people purchasing the game for the first time have to buy both the original GW2 and HoT but Anet should let players with an existing account purchase Just HoT for a reduced price give us a $35.99 for just HoT or something that would sound a lot better.

ArmoredVehicle.2849:

Ayrilana.1396:

ArmoredVehicle.2849:

Ayrilana.1396:

ArmoredVehicle.2849:

Ayrilana.1396:

You can buy the expansion. It’s $50. The core game is a free bonus for new accounts to help new players to the game.

Help new players eh? Exactly how does lvl 80 targeted content help new players?

You’re right there’s so much lack of content in the base game for a new player that he MUST have both.

This is only Anet helping themselves, hell even a blind could see that.

It’s helping new players get into the game without there being a huge paywall for them. Read the blog post that clarifies this.

Oh really? A paywall and concern about new players. Well in case you’ve been living in a cave you’d notice that even the oldest players get to pay the same amount. This is a paywall for everyone not just new players.

Put it this way:

The expansion + “free game” costs 45e as a bundle.

If they offer the base game at 25e and the expansion for 20e separately that’s still 45e to new customers and without screwing your loyal fans. But this is all negated since they want to force 45e price upon everyone for more filthy profit.

Also in case you forgot. There may still be a few retail copies of the core only game on sale, I only feel sorry for the innocent souls falling into this trap. They would be forced to pay an additional 45e for the expansion since they bought it from a retailer. Now THAT is a massive paywall.

The truth lies here, they want to sell the expansion for 45e and no amount of word play will hide that. This is the best for their profits not the new players or old ones for the matter.

And what you don’t realized is that they priced the expansion at $50. Selling it for less causes them to lose money. The paywall was new players having to pay $50 for the expansion and the ~$25 for the core game. They had incentives to provide the core game for free to new players as this would increase the likelihood of new players purchasing GW2 and possibly buying items from the gem store in the future.

Help new players this, help new players that. It’s all a nice coverage to help them sell the expansion at a high price.

It’s a 2 sided problem. The first being the high price and the second is the 2 in 1 bundle new players are getting over the old ones.

Do you truly believe this is an act of generosity on Anet’s behalf, please don’t be so simple. Maybe you forgot they’re a business and maximizing profit is their aim.

I once thought Anet was different, probably it was true until a few years ago. Now its a different company, gone are the days they treat the game with love over profit.

Don’t be so cynical. It was going to be $50 regardless.

Let us veteran players buy the xpac at reduced price.

That’s how you treat your loyal playerbase.

kitten greedy people. kitten them all. There’s a fine line between making profit and exploiting your playerbase.

Ayrilana.1396:

ArmoredVehicle.2849:

Ayrilana.1396:

ArmoredVehicle.2849:

Ayrilana.1396:

ArmoredVehicle.2849:

Ayrilana.1396:

You can buy the expansion. It’s $50. The core game is a free bonus for new accounts to help new players to the game.

Help new players eh? Exactly how does lvl 80 targeted content help new players?

You’re right there’s so much lack of content in the base game for a new player that he MUST have both.

This is only Anet helping themselves, hell even a blind could see that.

It’s helping new players get into the game without there being a huge paywall for them. Read the blog post that clarifies this.

Oh really? A paywall and concern about new players. Well in case you’ve been living in a cave you’d notice that even the oldest players get to pay the same amount. This is a paywall for everyone not just new players.

Put it this way:

The expansion + “free game” costs 45e as a bundle.

If they offer the base game at 25e and the expansion for 20e separately that’s still 45e to new customers and without screwing your loyal fans. But this is all negated since they want to force 45e price upon everyone for more filthy profit.

Also in case you forgot. There may still be a few retail copies of the core only game on sale, I only feel sorry for the innocent souls falling into this trap. They would be forced to pay an additional 45e for the expansion since they bought it from a retailer. Now THAT is a massive paywall.

The truth lies here, they want to sell the expansion for 45e and no amount of word play will hide that. This is the best for their profits not the new players or old ones for the matter.

And what you don’t realized is that they priced the expansion at $50. Selling it for less causes them to lose money. The paywall was new players having to pay $50 for the expansion and the ~$25 for the core game. They had incentives to provide the core game for free to new players as this would increase the likelihood of new players purchasing GW2 and possibly buying items from the gem store in the future.

Help new players this, help new players that. It’s all a nice coverage to help them sell the expansion at a high price.

It’s a 2 sided problem. The first being the high price and the second is the 2 in 1 bundle new players are getting over the old ones.

Do you truly believe this is an act of generosity on Anet’s behalf, please don’t be so simple. Maybe you forgot they’re a business and maximizing profit is their aim.

I once thought Anet was different, probably it was true until a few years ago. Now its a different company, gone are the days they treat the game with love over profit.

Don’t be so cynical. It was going to be $50 regardless.

I would pay that much without question only if it didnt come with the core game included.

It would only be fair since all old players had to buy the core game before it.

Anet is forgetting 1 thing here. Many people don’t know about the HoT mess there is and may buy a retail game without looking at the game’s website once.

Not everyone is very well informed about games. Anet in turn will refuse a refund since it’s from a 3rd party retailer

Well easier access for new players and building up a player base are ofc logical and noble reasons.

Now how about the less noble ones? “Certain mmorpg” (whose name i can’t mention due to forum rules) had an expansion release y-day. Now i don’t have it but if I wanted to buy it together with x-pac, then it’s $60. On official website that is.

But it’s already out at 3rd party retailers, and after bit of snooping i found out i can grab core + xpac for around 38,5$.
That game has a sub, so ofc it’s gonna be more then that over time. But what i mean is if A-net asked players to pay let’s say 30$ for core + 50$ for HoT, latter being a pre-purchase without a release date, and not a ready, just launched product, like over at competition…well that might’ve not been the best for their sales…

So sometimes being nice to your playerbase pays off a bit…and majority of the time pays off bigtime.

I am very hard up for cash, as I am sure a lot of you are, but isn’t this king of anger over a game really worth it? I have only had the game for maybe sixmonths, or so, and got it on sale, so atm, i know I played and had a wonderful time, for 10$ for 6 month. I am sure some of you most likely have even way more hours then me in it, and must have a good time to put that much effort into it. The expansion does seem a big high, and 49.99 is a bit hard for a game, but I planed on it, I am happy for the extra slot, even if i already have one open slot. I might try to save up for 100 slot cause it a decent deal, it like the standard, with all the bonus and gems, so it a real good bargain, and I like to donate back a little for most likely the year + i will continue to play the game.
I know some of you guys are upset, but is it possible your over reacting on it?

Wow it’s almost like Guild Wars 2 isn’t a charity and ArenaNet have adopted the best long term business strategy for creating a sustainable product.

There does not exist a truly noble company that operates in any legitimate scope. Companies do what is best for themselves to make money. If every person at ArenaNet was offered a job to milk cows for a billion dollars a year, every employee would accept it. The only differences between companies, the only means to actually distinguish one company from another from any notion of ethics, is what business practices they have decided will net them the most money.

You have EA, Google, Microsoft, Blizzard, Zynga, and many others. There is no moral difference between these companies. ArenaNet is no different. They have just adopted a much more user friendly business model than some of their competitors, because they believe it will make the most profit in the foreseeable future.

Stochastic – there is an easy way to get cheaper HoT. Don’t pre-purchase, why would you? You don’t even know full details or release date yet.

Instead hold your money, wait for launch. At 3rd party sellers you’re bound to get a better deal up to the point you’ll save 10$ even, enough for that extra character slot without having to throw your money at them now and no guarantees it’ll be worth the costs.

If anyone thinks it’s just about money and that that is something that drives people’s passion and creativity then they are sorely mistaken.

FrizzFreston.5290:

If anyone thinks it’s just about money and that that is something that drives people’s passion and creativity then they are sorely mistaken.

Can’t be creative and passionate about something without money.

I mean I can be the world’s best booger eater, but unless I can monetize that I’ll be picking noses on the streets and in alleys.

OP should be honest in his original post about WHERE he purchased his copy of GW2.

Anet cannot refund you a game you purchased at AMAZON. Your support ticket should be with Amazon; Anet are already offering refunds to those player who purchased the game through them, according to their pre-purchase community address.

For all players who purchased the Guild Wars 2 core game from our website and registered it between January 23, 2015 and June 16, 2015 in anticipation of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, we will automatically refund what you paid for the core game should you decide to pre-purchase Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns from our website or in-game store any time through July 31, 2015. If you take advantage of this refund and pre-purchase Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, all of your current account progress will be kept intact. We’ll provide further details on when refunds will be processed in the next couple weeks as we set up this process.

There is only one MMO that can and does drain its player base of money and that is WOW I do not know why people put up with it. The rest of MMO’s on the other hand if they tried that well they suffered a lot and went free to play. If Arena net tries to do what WOW did they will go the way of every other MMO that is not the exception.
Do not copy WOW in prices or anything because that is business practice you can not do.
Also SWOTOR latest expansion was 20 dollars.

The answer is rather simple: HoT is not an independent game, it’s an expansion. All main features of GW2 belongs to its CORE game. So, players who bought the CORE GW2 game long ago and who didn’t buy add-on, will have a significant deterioration in potential of the game, due to the fact that it will be impossible to properly separate the CORE game and HoT. So, HoT will become a CORE game itself in a near future.

@adormtil.1605

There is another;) One that finally got off it’s feet 2 years ago;)

Why? So that they can sell GW2 for $50 again for a year.

Yeah, its that simple. It doesnt matter what HoT contain, its not even about HoT. Its all about GW2. You can only lower the sales bar so much.

adormtil.1605:

There is only one MMO that can and does drain its player base of money and that is WOW I do not know why people put up with it. The rest of MMO’s on the other hand if they tried that well they suffered a lot and went free to play. If Arena net tries to do what WOW did they will go the way of every other MMO that is not the exception.
Do not copy WOW in prices or anything because that is business practice you can do.
Also SWOTOR latest expansion was 20 dollars.

Sorry but i disagree with you.Anet is at a good spot at this moment.Compared to the other F2P MMOs i really like what Anet is releasing as content and features for free this past 3 years(nothing that the game is B2P).There are 2 categories of MMOs and GW2 is of the 2nd one:

• SWTOR/Tera/ESO/Archage are failed MMOs.I don’t consider F2P MMO to be a decent one.They suffer a lot from their cash shop.
• Rift and WS are the only 2 exceptions of the rule.I also admire how FFXIV was able to turn the tide and from a failed F2P game to become a fine P2P one.GW2 is from this category.

I still think $50 is way too expensive for an expansion that probably won’t even include Mordremoth, and also doesn’t include a free character slot.

I’m not pre-purchasing this. I’ll wait till I see how big this expansion really is, and if it is worth the money.

By agreeing to add a character slot to existing veteran (and indirect sale) accounts that register the pre-ordered HoT content they have effectively addressed the underlying perceived VFM disparity between new and existing accounts.

WRT HoT as a product, they have probably erred linguistically in calling it an expansion or even an upgrade. What they probably should have done is sell both GW2 and HoT as a notionally time-limited service contract (preferably of specified duration) wrt the development of Living World content with the base software/content effectively being considered 0 value but not free to acquire/distribute. At least some of the new base features/maps could be considered an incentive for existing players to buy into the new Living World contract of service. The existing world will still be there but as the previous Living World contract of service has been deemed to have expired they are no longer committed to develop/enhance the content exclusive to the previous world. In order to benefit from the new improvements you would need to buy into the next Living World contract of service. It is kind of like pay-to-play but not, your account is perpetual and you can continue to benefit from any content existing at the end of the contract. Under such terms though, new players could be seen as being treated unfairly if they buy into the contract say half way through the notional contract term.

The situation is probably very complicated (in terms of what we are actually paying for) but ultimately providing both new and existing customers are seen as being treated equally the exact details are irrelevant. However, access to Guild Halls becomes a bit of a sticking point if non-HoT account holders can not access them since A-Net seemingly promised Guild Halls to those that bought into the original GW2 when it was first released.

The expansion for FFXIV is $40 not 50$ and its 60$ if you wanna buy the entire game. Why do we not have that option if we already have the game?
Really why?
I must add that FFXIV expansion has more features unlike ours and we know that because we saw with out own eyes what it had.

ZeftheWicked.3076:

Well easier access for new players and building up a player base are ofc logical and noble reasons.

Now how about the less noble ones? “Certain mmorpg” (whose name i can’t mention due to forum rules) had an expansion release y-day. Now i don’t have it but if I wanted to buy it together with x-pac, then it’s $60. On official website that is.

But it’s already out at 3rd party retailers, and after bit of snooping i found out i can grab core + xpac for around 38,5$.
That game has a sub, so ofc it’s gonna be more then that over time. But what i mean is if A-net asked players to pay let’s say 30$ for core + 50$ for HoT, latter being a pre-purchase without a release date, and not a ready, just launched product, like over at competition…well that might’ve not been the best for their sales…

So sometimes being nice to your playerbase pays off a bit…and majority of the time pays off bigtime.

I think you’re overthinking it a bit. Thing is if people didnt buy Gw2 for the last 3 years even when on multiple times it was on sale for $10 chances are they’re not going to buy it now. They’re certainly not going to buy if they have to pay $30 for the core game and $50 for the expansion.

However Free is a powerful force. Buy 1 game and get another for free? (even though strictly speaking an expansion isnt a game) that might convince a few people and every new player is potentially another sale once the next expansion launches not to mention they may spend gems and they keep the game playerbase healthy

adormtil.1605:

The expansion for FFXIV is $40 not 50$ and its 60$ if you wanna buy the entire game. Why do we not have that option if we already have the game?
Really why?
I must add that FFXIV expansion has more features unlike ours and we know that because we saw with out own eyes what it had.

Just for clarification, we know what FFXIV Expansion has, we do not yet know what Our has however.

Galen Grey.4709:

adormtil.1605:

The expansion for FFXIV is $40 not 50$ and its 60$ if you wanna buy the entire game. Why do we not have that option if we already have the game?
Really why?
I must add that FFXIV expansion has more features unlike ours and we know that because we saw with out own eyes what it had.

Just for clarification, we know what FFXIV Expansion has, we do not yet know what Our has however.

Was there not a beta for this game? Where there not things shown almost every week about what the expansions has?
I know what it has and its not worth 50$.

adormtil.1605:

Galen Grey.4709:

adormtil.1605:

The expansion for FFXIV is $40 not 50$ and its 60$ if you wanna buy the entire game. Why do we not have that option if we already have the game?
Really why?
I must add that FFXIV expansion has more features unlike ours and we know that because we saw with out own eyes what it had.

Just for clarification, we know what FFXIV Expansion has, we do not yet know what Our has however.

Was there not a beta for this game? Where there not things shown almost every week about what the expansions has?
I know what it has and its not worth 50$.

That is only your personal opinion.For me it is enough and that’s why i bought it.

FrizzFreston.5290:

If anyone thinks it’s just about money and that that is something that drives people’s passion and creativity then they are sorely mistaken.

It’s both. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Any Anet employee isn’t going to work for free. It’s just not going to happen, especially since they can go work on other projects that would pay them.

I wonder how the light gear and staff would fit if I changed from elementalist to warrior… I don’t think this is an especially good idea.

FrizzFreston.5290:

If anyone thinks it’s just about money and that that is something that drives people’s passion and creativity then they are sorely mistaken.

Try be creative and pasionate when ur hungry.