Guild Wars 2

Jinath.1298:

So ok, Guild Wars Eye of the North required ‘a’ guild wars campaign. Sorry for the confusion. Regardless, my point stands. That expansion can still be purchased independently without needing to re-purchase the core game.

As for Heart of Thorns, if you are a ‘new’ player you get a great bonus which is a ‘free’ GW2 core game! Kudos!
If you are a veteran player who has already paid for the core game, then all you get is the HoT expansion. If you’re fine with that then kudos to you too.

People can spend or ‘not spend’ their money however they want. I’m only trying to educate you that there are better alternatives to the way Anet is handling this particular expansion release.

Truly, the best course of action would be to wait until the expansion goes on sale and buy it then:)

Read this:

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

So I just spent hundreds of quality hours in Witcher 3 that costed me 30 euro and here comes an expansion to already aging MMO that I kinda lost interest in and asks me for more money than I paid for the game itself few years ago. I’m not sure if even the biggest sc**bags of the industry like EA or Ubisoft ever made such price for their triple A games. Why every company has to be like a villain and play against their customers. I thought ArenaNet is different, I recommended this game to everyone around and defended its Buy2Play system against games like WoW. And now you’re doing the same kitten like WoW. On top of that favoring new players over the people that’s been with you since the very beginning. Have you no shame? Have you any respect for your playerbase? Do you even listen to the feedback or money blinded you? How many new players do you seriously plan to get? What is the % of those people compared to your already established playerbase that plan to buy the expansion? Most people that are into MMO games already know what Guild Wars is. I hope you actually gain less by asking for more. You kitten up, ArenaNet and no matter what you change in your politics there will be victims and people hating you, cause it’s too late. I will gladly spend this money on some stupid skins in MOBA games. Why? Because it’s optional.

Hi all , if i have the guild wars 2 heroic edition and now i want to get the new expansion (Heart of Thorns) , i need to pay the same price like a new buyer ????

well, yeah, there is no “veteran’s discount”

everyone has to pay the same price for the new expansion, as is with every game that has expansions.

Depends when did you buy you heroic edition was it before or after januari 23 2015?

If it was before and you prebuy hot and add it to your account before launch you will get a char slot worth 10$ if it was after from anet store you will upgrade to hot and only have to pay the diffrance in price for the expansion. (if you bought it for 10$ expansion will cost you 40$ adding up to a total of 50 for basic)

If you bought from a third party after januari 23 like amazon you will get a character slot as those before that date

yaa but we have the full game why we need to pay again like we get a new full game , parson that don’t have the game at all can but the game + the expansion for 49.99$ , and we need to buy it for the same price (and you get just the expansion cuz you have the full game) . just to explain my self , people that want to get “diablo3” can buy this game for 20 $ and people that want to get diablo 3 expansion need to pay another 20$ but if you don’t have the full game you cannot get just the expansion for

the need to make i price for people that already have the game , lets say like 25$ to get the expansion .

The price for just the expansion is $50.

The core game comes free with it for people who didn’t have it before. If you already have it you get a free character slot (which is worth $10, same as the core game when it was on sale).

Alternatively if you bought the game after 23rd January 2015 you can get a refund on your original purchase and then buy the expansion and get the core game free, without losing your progress in-game. (Contact Support for exact instructions.)

You don’t pay again to get the full game. You pay to get access to the expansion. Which costs $50.

VOLKON.1290:

But… let’s take a moment and assume your fallacy resembles reality just for gits and shiggles. How am I losing anything? I already have the core. I’m paying the set price, that I accept, for the expansion. The only perspective that matters in this is mine. I’m gaining the expansion and losing nothing. What others get or don’t get is irrelevant.

And what do u get for 45€? U should ATLEAST get 6-8 new maps, 3-4 new dungeons, and ALOT of new content. So far we know we are getting:
- The mastery system
- 1 new class
- The heart of Maguuma (how many maps?)
- Specializations (also for people who dont buy HoT?)
- Guild Halls ( should have been here from release, game is called “guild wars” afterall)
- Pvp/WvW Maps

So u think that’s worth 45€? New players are getting a whole game, while i have to pay the same for a few maps? I dont understand why people are saying it’s a fair price.
Content wise u’ll get a few maps, as a pve-player, those have to be huge/special maps to be worth that kind of money, since i payed around the same amount for the whole game when it released.

Simple solution would be:
- Gw2 + HoT expension = 45€
- HoT expension = 25/30€

Or atleast give veteran players a seperate gw2 account WITHOUT HoT expension, so they could give it to a friend or something. Atleast i’ll get value for my money then.
But with these insane prices i aint buying it anytime soon..

This is just like WoW you buy every new expansion on the full price of the game that you own hahaha

Maladon.5760:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

VOLKON.1290:

And… who cares? Giving new players the core as well in no way hurts me or affects my game play, with the possible exception of there being new players around. I’m not losing anything, I’m still gaining the expansion.

You are losing money. A lot of money.

Are you 12 years old or something? Fifty bucks is just a couple of lunches…

I’m 47 and employed. And for me, 50$ is half of my weekly grocery budget. That’s not an inconsiderable amount of money.

Not everyone has a great income or a income at all. Some people need to spend that money on necessities. Not to mention that some people are in countries where salaries are CONSIDERABLY lower than what you are apparently used to and that some people are students with the attendant budget restraints.

Having played my share of other MMOs, I find this entire discussion to be surreal. I can’t believe how spoiled the average gamer is these days! There’s no subscription fee for this game, so how is $50 an unfair price after they’ve supported a game with no mandated additional fees beyond the initial purchase price for three years? But you’re not happy that new players are getting a good deal even though that can only be a good thing for the continued health of the game? The whole train of thought is just unbelievable to me …

ArenaNet doesn’t owe existing players a darn thing! You bought the game, you got to play it up until now, but now it’s time to pay up again. End of story. Anyone who doesn’t like it can move on to something else. There are plenty of other games out there.

SedrynTyros.6841:

Having played my share of other MMOs, I find this entire discussion to be surreal. I can’t believe how spoiled the average gamer is these days! There’s no subscription fee for this game, so how is $50 an unfair price after they’ve supported a game with no mandated additional fees beyond the initial purchase price for three years? But you’re not happy that new players are getting a good deal even though that can only be a good thing for the continued health of the game? The whole train of thought is just unbelievable to me …

ArenaNet doesn’t owe existing players a darn thing! You bought the game, you got to play it up until now, but now it’s time to pay up again. End of story. Anyone who doesn’t like it can move on to something else. There are plenty of other games out there.

You are missing the whole point of those comments you are complaining about. I myself find myself in a difficult financial situation like those people “complaining” and to me 45€ for the standard version is a huge expense.

In my country unemployment benefit is 65€ on average, so think before you speak. (And do not ask, I will not disclose the details of my origin.)

A paid upgrade is fine, an expensive upgrade not so, it’s like paying for the game all over again and that is a bit too much to ask for, yes.

If the upgrade cost around 10€ I would be fine with it, because ANet would still earn a load of money from all the customers they have (several hundreds of thousands I presume). At this point it’s only about who is insatiable.

Inoki.6048:

SedrynTyros.6841:

Having played my share of other MMOs, I find this entire discussion to be surreal. I can’t believe how spoiled the average gamer is these days! There’s no subscription fee for this game, so how is $50 an unfair price after they’ve supported a game with no mandated additional fees beyond the initial purchase price for three years? But you’re not happy that new players are getting a good deal even though that can only be a good thing for the continued health of the game? The whole train of thought is just unbelievable to me …

ArenaNet doesn’t owe existing players a darn thing! You bought the game, you got to play it up until now, but now it’s time to pay up again. End of story. Anyone who doesn’t like it can move on to something else. There are plenty of other games out there.

You are missing the whole point of those comments you are complaining about. I myself find myself in a difficult financial situation like those people “complaining” and to me 45€ for the standard version is a huge expense.

In my country unemployment benefit is 65€ on average, so think before you speak. (And do not ask, I will not disclose the details of my origin.)

A paid upgrade is fine, an expensive upgrade not so, it’s like paying for the game all over again and that is a bit too much to ask for, yes.

If the upgrade cost around 10€ I would be fine with it, because ANet would still earn a load of money from all the customers they have (several hundreds of thousands I presume). At this point it’s only about who is insatiable.

Have you played any MMO’s that have had paid subscriptions?

10 euros for an expac would be wonderful for the community, but utterly unsustainable for their business to thrive, expand or invest from. I don’t believe £35 is too expensive personally, especially as I went into my local game store today and saw the new Batman game for £55. That is a game, which Im sure is great, but would have enormously less gameplay and repeat value for me, for 45% more money. Looking around, this was very much the norm for game prices.

Game are more expensive to make versus the cost of return these days, so prices have gone up. 3 years ago, £40-£45 was the average price and now it’s £50-£50 for little extra gain beyond graphical detail.

Expacs are the same – D3 RoS was £30 as was Starcrafts expac. FF14’s expac was£30 and that charges a sub on top, making it more expensive long term.

The price is always going to hit people differently based on their financial circumstances which is why gaming is classed as a luxury purchase. Also, it isn’t necs Anets fault. Shareholders at NCSOFT will likely have had some input or expectation of price which will have influenced things.

Inoki.6048:

SedrynTyros.6841:

Having played my share of other MMOs, I find this entire discussion to be surreal. I can’t believe how spoiled the average gamer is these days! There’s no subscription fee for this game, so how is $50 an unfair price after they’ve supported a game with no mandated additional fees beyond the initial purchase price for three years? But you’re not happy that new players are getting a good deal even though that can only be a good thing for the continued health of the game? The whole train of thought is just unbelievable to me …

ArenaNet doesn’t owe existing players a darn thing! You bought the game, you got to play it up until now, but now it’s time to pay up again. End of story. Anyone who doesn’t like it can move on to something else. There are plenty of other games out there.

You are missing the whole point of those comments you are complaining about. I myself find myself in a difficult financial situation like those people “complaining” and to me 45€ for the standard version is a huge expense.

In my country unemployment benefit is 65€ on average, so think before you speak. (And do not ask, I will not disclose the details of my origin.)

A paid upgrade is fine, an expensive upgrade not so, it’s like paying for the game all over again and that is a bit too much to ask for, yes.

If the upgrade cost around 10€ I would be fine with it, because ANet would still earn a load of money from all the customers they have (several hundreds of thousands I presume). At this point it’s only about who is insatiable.

No, sir, it is you who are missing the point. It’s their game and they get to decide what is and isn’t reasonable to charge then you get to decide whether or not you want to pay for it. $50 is a good deal for what you’re getting. A MMO with no subscription fees. The suggestion that ArenaNet is insatiable is utterly absurd. They’re not running a charity, they’re running a business, and businesses need to earn profit.

Like I said, plenty of other games out there. If you think $50 is such a bad deal you may want to give World of Warcraft a try. That perspective may help you and others reevaluate your opinions on this situation.

this is what happens when a company decides to cash in on a game and knows there are cash cows ripe to be further milked.

The original Guild Wars (no I will not call it GW1 as imo it is the only real Guild Wars and not some generic dime a dozen korean style mmo that is cashing in on a name ( I.E AL2, Cabal2, GW2 etc…)) had 3 expansions Factions, Nightfall and Eye of the North

What did those expansions bring? new professions/classes, new areas a slew of new content, elite areas, extended PvP, further skills… the list rolls on for what you would deem an actual EXPANSION!

HoT is basically throwing together stuff that was suggested as far back as the original beta (I was part of the Kore Testing Krewe in beta1 and now not under NDA so who cares what beans are spilled) the ability for each class to have access to each weapon and skill set to go with it, a means of faster travel (i.e mounts/gliders etc…) craftable pre-cursors, scaveneger hunt was mentioned as far back as too and then rehashed a few times in the forums since

so what have NcSoon™ done? thrown all this together, tried to tell you it is a legitimate expansion and then expect the cash cows that have been funding them for years via the “vanity” purchases to be reeled in hook line and sinker yet again

also why does it include GW2 core? simply because then they can quote increased sales and expansion of the userbase of the original GW2 as a marketing tool to prove what a huge playerbase successful game GW2 is (weird really when the game feels mostly deserted and I doubt you will fine more than 10-15% of any guild playing regularly)

GW2 is only successful in trading on the name of what was a vastly superior game, that A-net made (I stress Arena-net as it NO LONGER exists and hasn’t been more than an in-house production team since 2008 (even though it was bought and used as a seperate entity since 2002 until eventually absorbed by NcSoft)), NcSoft buggered this until it produced this kitten child as a means to milk the cash cows and milk you they have and are continuing to do

Feel free to enjoy the game if you wish, if you like the game then good on you, but maybe take the rose-tinted specs off and have a hard look at some blunt truths and you will realise for all that ppl whine about P2W etc… there is a far more sinister element at work here, it is called preying on vanity and they do this week in and week out and moo moo MOOOO the cash cows come a herding to lap up them gemstore goodies

The whole “base game included!!!” thing is bullkitten, no matter how you cut it you’re getting way less content per dollar than a new player and it amounts to a middle finger at existing players.

The only reason they can do this pricing is because they feel people who are still playing the game, will be ripped off because they have already invested this amount of time/money into it.

Like I said before, it’s like a drug dealer offering a lower price on the first fix. Not to mention the milking of money from server transfers/tinybank/5 char slots…..

VOLKON.1290:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

VOLKON.1290:

Let me slow this down for you.

I pay $50.00 and get exactly what I expect for the money I’m spending.
New players pay $50.00 and also get the same expansion, and so they can actually access the expansion they also get access to the core as well. The core that I already have and have had since closed beta.

The core that you are paying for AGAIN with the expansion.

No, I’m not paying again for the core. I’m simply not getting the core again (for no cost) because I already have it.

But… let’s take a moment and assume your fallacy resembles reality just for gits and shiggles. How am I losing anything? I already have the core. I’m paying the set price, that I accept, for the expansion. The only perspective that matters in this is mine. I’m gaining the expansion and losing nothing. What others get or don’t get is irrelevant.

Oh my! I always love the words of the obviously young. I’m just popping in to see if there were any developments oh this yet and restate for ANET’s benefit that I have absolutely no intention of pre-ordering this game at that price tag nor of buying it at release without a free character slot included but….

Because there are still people acting smug and making this argument (while calling other people fallacious no doubt) I’ll go through yet again how pricing works in businesses.

When a company has an option of pricing two goods separately or together they will run projections of expected cash flows in both scenarios considering their expected volumes and customer bases. I can, as an MBA, guarantee you this was done at ANET (in fact on this thread I have 3 or 4 times before now). A decision was made between (for example) selling the expansion for $35 dollars while offering the base game for $20 and selling both together for $50. ANET expects that the majority of people people buying the expansion would buy only the expansion and chose a pricing model that will yield higher revenue by asking veteran players for and additional $15, which is kicked backed between new players who are receiving a five dollar discount on the base game and ANET which will just rake in a crap ton more money.

Of course these numbers were chosen by me and don’t reflect any real numbers ANET chose to analyze, but this is still an accurate picture of the process they followed and the decision they made. I guarantee it! This is how pricing is done!!!

Randulf.7614:

10 euros for an expac would be wonderful for the community, but utterly unsustainable for their business to thrive, expand or invest from. I don’t believe £35 is too expensive personally, especially as I went into my local game store today and saw the new Batman game for £55. That is a game, which Im sure is great, but would have enormously less gameplay and repeat value for me, for 45% more money. Looking around, this was very much the norm for game prices.

Game are more expensive to make versus the cost of return these days, so prices have gone up. 3 years ago, £40-£45 was the average price and now it’s £50-£50 for little extra gain beyond graphical detail.

Expacs are the same – D3 RoS was £30 as was Starcrafts expac. FF14’s expac was£30 and that charges a sub on top, making it more expensive long term.

The price is always going to hit people differently based on their financial circumstances which is why gaming is classed as a luxury purchase. Also, it isn’t necs Anets fault. Shareholders at NCSOFT will likely have had some input or expectation of price which will have influenced things.

this isnt really true, gw2 makes a decent chunk of change even without box sales. If the game didnt have a strong gem shop you might be right, but the gem shop alone is incredibly profitable.

the cost of the game is not a worst case scenario, its the number they feel maximizes profits, Its the i think this is what people will pay price, not the this is what i need for this business to be doing well price.

i will add this is not abnormal, while companies can theoretically charge a price they find to be fair, most businesses will charge the price that generates the most profit.

essentially if you created a game, would you charge 30 dollars because that would be enough for the work you put in, and what you need to grow your business? or would you charge 1000 dollars if a bunch of people were willing to pay you that.

lukejoe.1592:

VOLKON.1290:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

VOLKON.1290:

Let me slow this down for you.

I pay $50.00 and get exactly what I expect for the money I’m spending.
New players pay $50.00 and also get the same expansion, and so they can actually access the expansion they also get access to the core as well. The core that I already have and have had since closed beta.

The core that you are paying for AGAIN with the expansion.

No, I’m not paying again for the core. I’m simply not getting the core again (for no cost) because I already have it.

But… let’s take a moment and assume your fallacy resembles reality just for gits and shiggles. How am I losing anything? I already have the core. I’m paying the set price, that I accept, for the expansion. The only perspective that matters in this is mine. I’m gaining the expansion and losing nothing. What others get or don’t get is irrelevant.

Oh my! I always love the words of the obviously young. I’m just popping in to see if there were any developments oh this yet and restate for ANET’s benefit that I have absolutely no intention of pre-ordering this game at that price tag nor of buying it at release without a free character slot included but….

Because there are still people acting smug and making this argument (while calling other people fallacious no doubt) I’ll go through yet again how pricing works in businesses.

When a company has an option of pricing two goods separately or together they will run projections of expected cash flows in both scenarios considering their expected volumes and customer bases. I can, as an MBA, guarantee you this was done at ANET (in fact on this thread I have 3 or 4 times before now). A decision was made between (for example) selling the expansion for $35 dollars while offering the base game for $20 and selling both together for $50. ANET expects that the majority of people people buying the expansion would buy only the expansion and chose a pricing model that will yield higher revenue by asking veteran players for and additional $15, which is kicked backed between new players who are receiving a five dollar discount on the base game and ANET which will just rake in a crap ton more money.

Of course these numbers were chosen by me and don’t reflect any real numbers ANET chose to analyze, but this is still an accurate picture of the process they followed and the decision they made. I guarantee it! This is how pricing is done!!!

basically anet realizes most of the people buying will be returning customers, so they charge them the premium price.
However i believe the miscalculation is how many people will accept this price point based on what the expansion is promoting

all they were thinking of are ether ppl who are used to blizzard pricing on expansions and new players, ppl who know better and still remember Anet 1.0 see this as a ridicules price.

i see Anet in a simple way, GW1 had Anet 1.0, a company that thrives on improving the game and giving everyone the chance to play the game regardless on who (s)he is and what payrole they have.

GW2 has Anet 2.0, a money hungry company that makes fluff with a huge paywall, they don’t care about players and have no heart on improving the game.

so the question is more, do they really want to continue as 2.0 or do they get the hint and take a step back to go more in the direction of 1.0?

Sell GW2 + HoT for 50€ or just HoT for 25€?
I don’t think its fair to make veteran players pay more than new players, after all we are the ones who play your game… I wouldn’t mind paying 45€ if i would get something special and new as a veteran player, but i really can’t figure out what it would be. Allow veteran players upgrade their game with gems?

My only real problem with the expansion is:

-It seems priced to include the price of the core game, which I already have. So it looks like a complete rip off, considering it is just a small expansion.
-It doesn’t include a free extra character slot, unless I preorder. And to Grenth with preordering! It is just a bad deal for me as a customer. I know that the expansion is really $10 bucks more expensive because of that missing character slot.

So, please offer existing players an upgrade to just the expansion, for around $35 bucks, which includes a free extra character slot. Now that is a good deal that I can be happy with.

And another thing is we don’t got anything to do since month. As I’m a worker inside a factory for example. Oh we are upgrading the building, you can’t go to work for a year now. In this time they must pay my money while I’m sitting at home, wanted to work. Same here at GW-2.

We got no living story updates as the promised every two weeks even if this was often too low times. Now people paying 100 € for sitting back since now a year with nothing to do, nothing new to play and so they seee no reason for a product to pay with no progress further and all patches coming out damage the game more and more.

HOT is sold as overpriced full game, but we don’t allowed to play all new HoT features inside the game, only at one possible map. Oh and got a boring stronghold map and still group limits of 5 poeple, no housing, no more underwater things to do.

And now people got trolled with no access to stress tests at WvW. Hey some already paid over 100 € to support you and your game and what to be part. A good game is developed by the players and their wishes. A-Net would save many time after release if people not could test and play instead after the release saying what kitten have they made here. With peoples help you can do it right before start.

Should we now wait another years without living story ?? And people not buying HoT can’t complete LS2 or start LS3 ?? I still say it’s to expensive and start making a lower price for upgrading and start working with LS Story Team on a few things we can play and let the HoT Team develop the game. Most things seems to already working if watching the videos, and play maps. There can’t be so many main work to be done even yours hiding a lot of things. But we don’t like secrets and will not play price roulette for zero win at the end.

A lot of websites having threads about this and a lot of websites still telling not to buy HoT until it got cheaper and more secrets published. Is this your destination selling HoT if people read about not to buy or refunding their already paid money back ??

So make a low price deal and send a big strong signal out to stop this negativ wave coming towards HoT right now. We all want to play and pay but aslong being inside the mists we not spending any money for HoT neither at the ingame gem store anymore.

So, if we already own the game we have to pay for another copy? Don’t spin it as a “Free Copy” because it isn’t.

SO… If you are new customer to GW2 you get a Bonus of the core game… for free.

But if you are a loyal, long term customer of GW2 and have been spending money with anet for the last three years, you get… nothing.

Thanks, but I won’t be comming back whilst the greed monster blocks my path.

Darkmiss.7085:

SO… If you are new customer to GW2 you get a Bonus of the core game… for free.

But if you are a loyal, long term customer of GW2 and have been spending money with anet for the last three years, you get… nothing.

Thanks, but I won’t be comming back whilst the greed monster blocks my path.

This is exactly my point. A loyal, long term customer gets nothing. What a kittenty idea Anet. Me and my guildies are not coming back to this game if HoT comes out

It’s kind of hard to sell your customers on the idea that the core game is free, when the expansion is so expensive. Existing players should at least be paying less for this than new players.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

My only real problem with the expansion is:

-It seems priced to include the price of the core game, which I already have. So it looks like a complete rip off, considering it is just a small expansion.
-It doesn’t include a free extra character slot, unless I preorder. And to Grenth with preordering! It is just a bad deal for me as a customer. I know that the expansion is really $10 bucks more expensive because of that missing character slot.

So, please offer existing players an upgrade to just the expansion, for around $35 bucks, which includes a free extra character slot. Now that is a good deal that I can be happy with.

To Grenth with pre-ordering indeed. Buying early is usually equated with buying at a lower price, but this is bound to turn out being the opposite. You should not pre-order this game. It’s a bad package deal.

100,000 pre-orders amount to kitten loan players are making to ANET that is absolutely free, no associated costs and no interest at all. Usually, players are compensated for the interest free loan with a lower price tag or the promise of getting the product even if it sells out.

Without any of those incentives, I would definitely not pre-order.

VOLKON.1290:

There are games a heck of a lot older that charge a whole lot more (effectively) for an expansion.

And there are also games that charge nothing upfront for an xpac to subscribers who subscribe for 1 month.

Yeh this is stupid, I got HoT anyways as I need to support my Guild but it ended up costing me $100 AUS just for the Premium. I do not need another Core Game, if this is the case then I should at least be able to invite my missus to come play on the – extra core game – account.

Come on ANet this is why so many left GW1 you kept screwing us, this is just nutz…

I had considered trying the expansion, but I was never really that into Gw2 to begin with. My friends and I only played it sporadically since it was released. Definitely won’t bother trying the xpac at that price.

The only reason I put up with the price of WoD from Blizzard was because my B.net balance still had leftover money in it from the D3V auction house, so it was essentially free for me (which was good since it was awful and I only played it for like a month).

I pre-ordered every single GW1 expansion as soon as it was available.

With HoT I am not going to pre-purchase, I will not pre-order, and I will not purchase at release either!

Anet has not really listened to us, they heard that some people wanted a character slot and have given one only if you pre-purchase; which is another insult to vets.
The problem now is that those who wanted the slot have paid up now, so anet feels the price is right for us all. It isnt, this feature pack is not worth the cost of an expansion!

But our choice is still the same, protest with our wallets, simply do not buy the game at all and then when the game is finally released we can see just how sales are affected.

If you give in and buy the game anet win and will not reduce the price. Dont buy the game and anet will not get enough revenue and will have to listen and reduce to price to something fairer.

For me, there’s no ‘hook’ making me want to pre-order HoT. I’m bored with the original game now that there are no LS updates, don’t want to feel I’m paying that little bit extra for new player’s benefit (whatever they claim) and don’t hear enough info on HoT to enthuse me.

It also seems like I have very little chance of getting into a beta, if it’s pay-to-beta for the most part (and I knew about the portals, but grinding for a random opportunity isn’t appealing either). Sometimes betas have been the selling point that got me into a game when I wasn’t sure it would be worth the money.

I’ll probably buy HoT eventually after release when the price goes down, but right now, I’m just not feeling it. It seems the marketing was initially quite badly handled and they’ve tried to rectify that a little with the account slot for the basic version that should have been there at the beginning, but there’s still no strong ‘hook’.

So.. When the next expansion comes, do i have to buy the Core+HoT+New Expansion for full price again? If this keeps going on i will have to pay again and again for the stuff i already have… Doesnt really seems worth it.

Wolgo.1642:

So.. When the next expansion comes, do i have to buy the Core+HoT+New Expansion for full price again? If this keeps going on i will have to pay again and again for the stuff i already have… Doesnt really seems worth it.

You’d only be paying for the expansion which is what you’re doing right now.

This is my first and last comment on the Guild Wars 2 Forum. I am never going to touch GW2 again. I bought the game at release and now they are forcing me to buy the core game again if I would buy the expansion. This is the reason I did not buy Destiny, because they had these kinds of practises. You guys promised to give constant updates and monthly game play add-ons, which you did not do. You guys promised never to release an expansion yet you do it, and how. I’m done with Anet, you are just as corrupt and greedy as all the other triple A developers. It’s not the price that you did us wrong with, I gladly support you guys with money so that you can give us more content. But it’s the way you guys treat the veterans who sustained this game for all those years. Good Bye.

Wolgo.1642:

So.. When the next expansion comes, do i have to buy the Core+HoT+New Expansion for full price again? If this keeps going on i will have to pay again and again for the stuff i already have… Doesnt really seems worth it.

Yes U do, but they will say its “free”. Like game companies like to give away free stuff, check on good old games how old games are given for “free”, ah no w8 they are still charged.

Wolgo.1642:

So.. When the next expansion comes, do i have to buy the Core+HoT+New Expansion for full price again? If this keeps going on i will have to pay again and again for the stuff i already have… Doesnt really seems worth it.

Yes U do, but they will say its “free”. Like game companies like to give away free stuff, check on good old games how old games are given for “free”, ah no w8 they are still charged.

People are still spouting off that the expansion alone is 50.00 and the core game is FREE?

Some people will believe anything you tell them… lol.

I peeked in to see if anything had changed, obviously not. I have migrated to other games, as this whole ordeal made me lose my taste for Guild Wars 2, maybe after it’s released and goes on sale for 20 bucks or something I may consider checking it out, but I am definitely not paying 50 bucks for a chunk of living story content that they held back and released all at once… under false pretenses.

I’m sure lots of people will, and I hope they enjoy the experience, I am a little more selective with what I purchase, and i won’t buy things being marketed deceptively, out of principal.

That said, I am going back to the other games I am into now, and bid you guys, and the world of GW2 farewell… for the foreseeable future at least.

XYLUM.7286:

People are still spouting off that the expansion alone is 50.00 and the core game is FREE?

Some people will believe anything you tell them… lol.

I peeked in to see if anything had changed, obviously not. I have migrated to other games, as this whole ordeal made me lose my taste for Guild Wars 2, maybe after it’s released and goes on sale for 20 bucks or something I may consider checking it out, but I am definitely not paying 50 bucks for a chunk of living story content that they held back and released all at once… under false pretenses.

I’m sure lots of people will, and I hope they enjoy the experience, I am a little more selective with what I purchase, and i won’t buy things being marketed deceptively, out of principal.

That said, I am going back to the other games I am into now, and bid you guys, and the world of GW2 farewell… for the foreseeable future at least.

It falls in line with how other expansions are priced and there’s still a lot of info that they haven’t released yet. The core game is free for all new accounts. Let’s say that the 5th expansion is still $50 with everything prior included as a free bonus for new accounts. Are you going to argue that those prior expansions and core game are part of the cost? How about for the 10th expansion?

Prices for games fall over time as do sales. You’ll see this with all games and I can’t think of any exceptions. They’ve likely made back most, if not all, of their investment from the development of the core game. I’m basing this off what’s considered the high end for production costs of games and how many units sold at $60.

Prices are lowered to increase sales and they benefit from this due to economies of scale. There are variable costs with distribution but that’s slightly different in this case as the game is available electronically too.

Many companies actually take a loss in one area or product to boost sales in another that’s more profitable. I gave an example in a thread regarding hot dog buns and hot dogs. Grocery stores often give great sales for one of the items that could be considered complementary goods. In the example I gave, they could have a sale on hot dog buns where they could take a loss but make it up and much more due to increased sales in hot dogs.

This is probably the rationale in why they’re offering the core game for free to new accounts. They’re taking a loss in potential sales they could have gotten for the core game in exchange for increased sales for the expansion by people who currently do not play the game. New players will perceive this to be a great deal and be more enticed to start playing the expansion than if they had to buy both separately. There are many benefits to having more people pick up this game.

Some say they could just make it so the expansion is cheaper so that new players still pay $50 for both. An example would be $40 for the expansion and $10 for the core game. The issue with this is that the expansion is priced along with what the predicted production costs will be along with whatever return is planned. This makes offering a low expansion price difficult.

Dear Anet,

So you would like me to purchase your new expansion. Hmm lets take a look here. The base one offers me no real incentive, the second one offers me some incentive, but not at that price. That last one, well lets just say it leaves me feeling quite sore around my rectal area. So do you really want to sell me your expansion or just have me go back to playing other games?

Oh you do want to to try and actually sell it to me. Well here is how you do it. Start it out at $35 for the HoT expansion (by itself). Now throw in one of those character slots so I can actually try out that new class you spent so much time developing. Hmm maybe I need a shiny useless title, but lets be honest I have plenty, so no thanks. Maybe some sort of celebration booster, just a thought don’t really care either way.

So lets see what we have.
$35 expansion [X]
Character Slot [X]
Some sort of extra gimmick [X]
Everyone walking away happy [X]

Congratulations you just sold your first expansion. We’ll be here in another year to make sure you follow the same formula.

~voidwarranty~

I’ll start by saying that the idea to include the core game with the expansion is an excellent one and as such the pricing (for new players) is both reasonable and fair.

For existing players however there are a number of issues:

1) The price is too high for all the reasons stated in this and numerous other threads.

At £10 cheaper (base edition WITH a character slot) for existing players who pre order I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have had a single complaint.

2) What exactly is the incentive to Pre order?

Back in the day, I used to work in retail when pre-ordering was first ‘invented’ – It allowed retailers to (a) ensure customers purchased the item in your store and (b) helped you guage how many physical copies to order prior to release. In the early days, merely guaranteeing that the customer would have a copy on the first day of release was sufficient, however as more stores starting competing for pre-order business, incentives became the norm – Money off, free posters or other promotional items etc.

So, the U-Turn on providing a character slot aside, it would seem that the only incentive on offer to pre-order is the privileged of doing beta testing and even then any loot or gold obtained is lost.

Withe the exception of offering the core game to new players, all in all I would say your marketing department has done a pretty disastrous job all round with this release and it has left a sour taste in the mouth of many players.

I try and look at it from another angle. My first $60 three years ago got me 3 years of free game play with new content almost every month. So i hope this $50 xpac will get me 3 more subscription free years with free content every month.

If the price were $05 instead of $50 it would still be to much.
Since the game turned into a freaking skill lag festival anytime mass events take place and the only solution they can think of is to decrease the player cap per server..than any price at all being charged is just overpricing it.
If you can’t provide a descent server that can handle the game..you just do not deserve any player support or community money..
Fix your god kitten server for once

voidwarranty.6193:

Dear Anet,

So you would like me to purchase your new expansion. Hmm lets take a look here. The base one offers me no real incentive, the second one offers me some incentive, but not at that price. That last one, well lets just say it leaves me feeling quite sore around my rectal area. So do you really want to sell me your expansion or just have me go back to playing other games?

Oh you do want to to try and actually sell it to me. Well here is how you do it. Start it out at $35 for the HoT expansion (by itself). Now throw in one of those character slots so I can actually try out that new class you spent so much time developing. Hmm maybe I need a shiny useless title, but lets be honest I have plenty, so no thanks. Maybe some sort of celebration booster, just a thought don’t really care either way.

So lets see what we have.
$35 expansion [X]
Character Slot [X]
Some sort of extra gimmick [X]
Everyone walking away happy [X]

Congratulations you just sold your first expansion. We’ll be here in another year to make sure you follow the same formula.

~voidwarranty~

First I was like “are you serious…” and then I was like:

Something turning things upside down gives one a whole new perspective. While chilling and reading HoT reactions i noticed just how entitled the ones accusing others of entitlement are.

Many a comment about HoT from it’s defenders were about how we had 3 years of great gameplay and free updates and now we complain about 50$.

Now that’s entitlement. Even if we had 15 years worth of free playtime, that doesn’t mean jack smack kitten to the deal that is the x-pac. A-net doesn’t owe vets anything, true. But they also don’t owe anything to a-net. HoT standard edition costs 50$ and that’s a fact.

That’s the price for expansion. Not “overly long free time fee”, “over the top LS season 1 & 2 costs” or some such. It’s the price for xpac. And therefore it’s the xpac’s size and content that’s being subject of justified scrutiny and no melodramatic “u.o.us” are gonna work. If the xpac is not worth 50$ in players’ eyes they’re not gonna buy it nor are they obliged to.

You can be an awesome baker and make amazing cakes. But just because i ate 50 times at your place already, doesn’t mean i’ll pay full cake’s price for few brownies on my plate which you advertise as “house’s new special”.

Straylight.7529:

voidwarranty.6193:

Dear Anet,

So you would like me to purchase your new expansion. Hmm lets take a look here. The base one offers me no real incentive, the second one offers me some incentive, but not at that price. That last one, well lets just say it leaves me feeling quite sore around my rectal area. So do you really want to sell me your expansion or just have me go back to playing other games?

Oh you do want to to try and actually sell it to me. Well here is how you do it. Start it out at $35 for the HoT expansion (by itself). Now throw in one of those character slots so I can actually try out that new class you spent so much time developing. Hmm maybe I need a shiny useless title, but lets be honest I have plenty, so no thanks. Maybe some sort of celebration booster, just a thought don’t really care either way.

So lets see what we have.
$35 expansion [X]
Character Slot [X]
Some sort of extra gimmick [X]
Everyone walking away happy [X]

Congratulations you just sold your first expansion. We’ll be here in another year to make sure you follow the same formula.

~voidwarranty~

First I was like “are you serious…” and then I was like:

i have that all the time, the reason why i try to not use sarcasm, it tents to go over their head way to often….