Guild Wars 2

I’ve read multiple articles about the price of HoT and I’m curious if once HoT is released in there will be an option to just get the expansion—possibly allowing users to purchase at a cheaper price other than $50. Anyone have any information on this?

You can get just the expansion. The core game is a free bonus when you apply the HoT code against a new account.

The price of HoT will likely drop sometime in the future. It could be as early as the holidays this year or further into next year.

The $50 is the expansion price.

That is unless you pay more for the other 2 levels. Both myself and my husband bought the Ultimate so our price was 2x that. But for us that’s fine since we enjoy the game quite a bit and have since the original’s beta.

Haha, if this happens it’s gonna be fun on these forums, just like after they started off the prepurchase.

I doubt it will, though. They stated several times it’s the price for the xpack, the core game was free.

Thanks for the info. It would be nice if the price was not so much but I guess i can understand why they charge $50 for the expansion. I guess I just had high hopes that maybe the game price would drop to like $30.

Also you are late to the party with a few months, this have already been talked about in 3648 different ways, there was a outcome of it and if you were insterested read back.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Judging by the human starter instance, it’s bringing in a lot of new chars. Whereas I used to rarely see anyone, even after they megaservered it, now there are always multiple others at the main boss no matter what time of day it is, and other people running around in the area before it.

I actually thought that the starting areas were private instances until i remade a character recently.

Vayne.8563:

New players have a lot of restrictions we didn’t have. They have less character slots. They can’t buy whatever they want on the trading post. They can’t send money or items in the mail.

The game, the whole game, was on sale for $10 three times anyway. I played this game for 3 years and got 3 years worth of entertainment out of it. I experienced things new players never got to see. By logging in during the Living Story Season 2 I got that for free.

You’re not out money by getting in 3 years early. You’re far far ahead of new people just starting out.

I honestly don’t get these posts.

I finally decided to buy the game about a week before it went free to play. The logical options I had were to either buy the base game or pre-purchase the expansion for $30 more… ended up buying the expansion for $50 to try the game for the first time and it goes F2P a week later.. bad luck or I got screwed. Either way I feel like I was ripped off.

Frozensun.8263:

Vayne.8563:

New players have a lot of restrictions we didn’t have. They have less character slots. They can’t buy whatever they want on the trading post. They can’t send money or items in the mail.

The game, the whole game, was on sale for $10 three times anyway. I played this game for 3 years and got 3 years worth of entertainment out of it. I experienced things new players never got to see. By logging in during the Living Story Season 2 I got that for free.

You’re not out money by getting in 3 years early. You’re far far ahead of new people just starting out.

I honestly don’t get these posts.

I finally decided to buy the game about a week before it went free to play. The logical options I had were to either buy the base game or pre-purchase the expansion for $30 more… ended up buying the expansion for $50 to try the game for the first time and it goes F2P a week later.. bad luck or I got screwed. Either way I feel like I was ripped off.

If that’s the way you felt when it went free to play, you could have asked for a refund and then gotten a f2p account. iirc, you can get a refund if it’s within a month.

CorrynnStarr.7942:

The game doesnt need new players to bring it to life… its already alive and kicking, just need to keep the content comming..

not hating here, just stating it already does well is all.

There may have been a lot of people playing sure, but you may be over-looking something. That being that just because there are a lot of people playing it does not mean that a lot of them are actually spending real cash any longer. I have not put down much cash myself recently due to the fact I can do so from gold to gems since I have been here from the start and find cash easy enough to make. As time goes on for us long time players I can see this being the same for many people. Yet I did put down a lot of cash the first couple of years for extra char slots, bag slots, etc.

Making the game free to new people has these advantages:

1 – It’s a good incentive to get people to just look at the game where as before they may have not felt inclined to.

2 – Having looked and played these people may then be tempted to buy HOT. That’s more cash to anet and more future content for all of us here.

3 – Said new players that do buy HOT may then go further and buy gems to help continue the survivability of the game.

So basically, increasing the playing population increases the chance that more REAL money will be handed over to Anet not only from the HOT sale but from Gem purchases. I can’t see that being a bad thing, can you?

I am not at all saying Anet have been struggling to make cash, on the contrary I believe they have been doing very well up to this point. But any good business will always look for more ways to increase their cash income.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

No. There is no reward for buying the game up to 3 years ago and playing all that time without a subscription and getting all those free updates.

Wasn’t there the Royal Guard Outfit?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Royal_Guard_Outfit

Frozensun.8263:

I finally decided to buy the game about a week before it went free to play. The logical options I had were to either buy the base game or pre-purchase the expansion for $30 more… ended up buying the expansion for $50 to try the game for the first time and it goes F2P a week later.. bad luck or I got screwed. Either way I feel like I was ripped off.

You’d have a valid point if you had bought the core game but you’ve bought the expansion for pretty much the same price everyone else has paid. No-one is getting the expansion for free so you have not been ripped off at all.

If you try the game, don’t like it and stop playing you’ve lost out.
If you enjoy it and keep playing then it’s all good.

yes, product prices and transaction agreements change after you bought a product. Shocking news and unprecedented in any business.

Seriously, this community is an endless source of amusement.

Free to play is great. Ive been playing Guild Wars 2 since the start and FINALLY a lot of my friends are giving it a go since it became free.

Frozensun.8263:

Vayne.8563:

New players have a lot of restrictions we didn’t have. They have less character slots. They can’t buy whatever they want on the trading post. They can’t send money or items in the mail.

The game, the whole game, was on sale for $10 three times anyway. I played this game for 3 years and got 3 years worth of entertainment out of it. I experienced things new players never got to see. By logging in during the Living Story Season 2 I got that for free.

You’re not out money by getting in 3 years early. You’re far far ahead of new people just starting out.

I honestly don’t get these posts.

I finally decided to buy the game about a week before it went free to play. The logical options I had were to either buy the base game or pre-purchase the expansion for $30 more… ended up buying the expansion for $50 to try the game for the first time and it goes F2P a week later.. bad luck or I got screwed. Either way I feel like I was ripped off.

See, I’d planned to buy the game for my birthday seeing as it came out on my birthday 3 years ago and it’s been in my sights for a long time. Seeing I could pre-order HoT was a bonus. When it went f2p a couple of days after I’d bought it, I initially felt ticked off but thought ‘Well, I’d have bought the expansion anyway’. Plus for all the years of enjoyment I got out of the first game, I don’t mind giving ANet my money (within reason!). Even if I end up not enjoying GW2 as much as the first game. I can understand some misgivings if you didn’t enjoy/play the first game but seeing as the price of HoT has stayed the same, won’t be accessible to anyone who doesn’t own the expansion and the f2p accounts are limited in what they can do… There’s been a few f2pers who’ve joined my guild not long after myself and honestly, the complaints I hear about how restricted they are and how they’re intending to buy full copies of the game make me realise that I don’t have anything to be mad about. I feel the price I paid is fair for the content I’ve gotten and will be getting in a couple of weeks.

You sir/ma’am clearly can’t tell the difference between a cheeseburger and a big mac.

ruilionheart.1394:

You sir/ma’am clearly can’t tell the difference between a cheeseburger and a big mac.

A Cheeseburger tastes much better than a Big Mac.

Cheaper too.

Comparing GW2 price and content with that of GW1 is not particularly useful. They are different games from different times.
If you don’t like the price, don’t pay it. You are not forced to buy it immediately and I’m sure there will be special offers down the line. But if you want a reason to pay, just consider how many game play hours it will give you. It’s a no-brainer for me…

Lance Von Alden.8415:

Does that means that new players can play free now while we the ones that bought the game simply lost our bucks? Or is there gonna be some kind of reward for having bought the game previously.

Personally I don’t think I’ve lost the $60 I paid 3 years ago for a game that I’ve played 2000+hrs.

Have you never played a game that went on sale or F2P after you bought it? Do you honestly think you deserve your money back?

Well I’ve said I would buy it until the price is lowered to at least £25, from it’s current £35 asking price.

Good news is that some places are already selling it for £28, and a couple places have it at £25.

Again, HoT is not worth the £35 Anet is asking for.
All veteran players get is a free character slot, ONLY if they pre-purchase!
Pre-order or buy after release, you get nothing at all!

Which is fine really, I dont need an extra slot.
And when you look at the gem store, a slot costs 800 gems, which is £8.50 in real money.

So come release day when a lot of other retailers get their hands on HoT, I expect quite a few offers going on. Might even go a little lower than £25

So if I get HoT at £25, that saves me £10, and if I then buy gems for an extra slot, I have still saved £1.50

Yet again proof that veterans still do not get a good deal with the pre-purchase.
Sure you got beta-access and you can say that extra £1.50 was worth it.
But still this shows HoT is not worth the current price tag!

How about anet gives you the money back and resetted your account as if it was new? Bye skins Bye titles Bye whatever new players cant obtain anymore.

Offair.2563:

How about anet gives you the money back and resetted your account as if it was new? Bye skins Bye titles Bye whatever new players cant obtain anymore.

Not just resetting the account to new, but removing all but 2 char slots and adding on restrictions on trade, inventory, chat, whisper, guild bank, trading gold to gems, accessing WvW and cities until you’ve reached a high enough char level, and some other restrictions just so you’ll be happy that you now have a free to play account.

Offair.2563:

How about anet gives you the money back and resetted your account as if it was new? Bye skins Bye titles Bye whatever new players cant obtain anymore.

Actually when someone gets a refund the account is not reset, it is taken away completely. Then one can make a new account. (And OP has played far too long to be entitle to any refund.)

The map chat restriction is probably one of the best aspects to help prevent consequences.

Look at the map chat in F2P games. Now imagine trying to command/call out events with all of that going on.

Frozensun.8263:

Vayne.8563:

New players have a lot of restrictions we didn’t have. They have less character slots. They can’t buy whatever they want on the trading post. They can’t send money or items in the mail.

The game, the whole game, was on sale for $10 three times anyway. I played this game for 3 years and got 3 years worth of entertainment out of it. I experienced things new players never got to see. By logging in during the Living Story Season 2 I got that for free.

You’re not out money by getting in 3 years early. You’re far far ahead of new people just starting out.

I honestly don’t get these posts.

I finally decided to buy the game about a week before it went free to play. The logical options I had were to either buy the base game or pre-purchase the expansion for $30 more… ended up buying the expansion for $50 to try the game for the first time and it goes F2P a week later.. bad luck or I got screwed. Either way I feel like I was ripped off.

People buy stuff all the time that goes down in price a month later, and for a lot more than a hundred bucks. Cars, computers, even house prices. It’s part of life. You weren’t ripped off.

Aside from that you don’t have the limitations a free account has on them and there are many.

Getting the expansion means you’ve gotten rid of the sub AND you get the new game. How exactly were you ripped off?

There’s absolutely no version of the expansion other than the one that comes with the base game.

DoctorDing.5890:

The F2P is a good addition. The restrictions are perfectly-pitched…..

It’s a personal choice of course, but I dunno ‘bout that. I brought HoT before F2P so I’m kinda neutral, but I wouldn’t waste my time playing this ‘free to play’. Way too many restrictions when you compare them to all the other good free to play games without those restrictions.

It reminds me of Vanguard, a decent enough old style grinder, but the F2P wasn’t really free to play, more like ‘limited to play’.

keth.1836:

DoctorDing.5890:

The F2P is a good addition. The restrictions are perfectly-pitched…..

It’s a personal choice of course, but I dunno ‘bout that. I brought HoT before F2P so I’m kinda neutral, but I wouldn’t waste my time playing this ‘free to play’. Way too many restrictions when you compare them to all the other good free to play games without those restrictions.

It reminds me of Vanguard, a decent enough old style grinder, but the F2P wasn’t really free to play, more like ‘limited to play’.

I think ANet should have called it Free to Try instead of Free to Play as it’s much more like a glorified trial version than it is a Free to Play version. If you consider it a trial version then the restrictions are more understandable.

FinalPatriot.8034:

I just found the game for $37.90 US. I’m still going to wait for some time until after the xpack is released and we can see what all it contains. I’m concerned that so close to release we’ve not seen anything yet about new armor sets, character customization options, etc.

Anyway, here is the link where I found it for a lower price:

Make sure the place you buy from is legit.

keth.1836:

Way too many restrictions when you compare them to all the other good free to play games without those restrictions.

What other good F2P MMOs are out there? All of the ones I’ve tried sucked pretty hard after a day or two of playing.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

keth.1836:

DoctorDing.5890:

The F2P is a good addition. The restrictions are perfectly-pitched…..

It’s a personal choice of course, but I dunno ‘bout that. I brought HoT before F2P so I’m kinda neutral, but I wouldn’t waste my time playing this ‘free to play’. Way too many restrictions when you compare them to all the other good free to play games without those restrictions.

It reminds me of Vanguard, a decent enough old style grinder, but the F2P wasn’t really free to play, more like ‘limited to play’.

I think ANet should have called it Free to Try instead of Free to Play as it’s much more like a glorified trial version than it is a Free to Play version. If you consider it a trial version then the restrictions are more understandable.

Yup, agree.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

keth.1836:

DoctorDing.5890:

The F2P is a good addition. The restrictions are perfectly-pitched…..

It’s a personal choice of course, but I dunno ‘bout that. I brought HoT before F2P so I’m kinda neutral, but I wouldn’t waste my time playing this ‘free to play’. Way too many restrictions when you compare them to all the other good free to play games without those restrictions.

It reminds me of Vanguard, a decent enough old style grinder, but the F2P wasn’t really free to play, more like ‘limited to play’.

I think ANet should have called it Free to Try instead of Free to Play as it’s much more like a glorified trial version than it is a Free to Play version. If you consider it a trial version then the restrictions are more understandable.

I feel the term ‘trial version’ implies a limit on time or progression. Not 100% of the time, of course, but for most people I feel it is a fair implication, which isn’t quite accurate as to what their set-up is. You have access to essentially the whole core game, meaning you can level up to max level, get max gear, etc. You really just have limits on chat and trade (for the most part).

Draknar.5748:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

keth.1836:

DoctorDing.5890:

The F2P is a good addition. The restrictions are perfectly-pitched…..

It’s a personal choice of course, but I dunno ‘bout that. I brought HoT before F2P so I’m kinda neutral, but I wouldn’t waste my time playing this ‘free to play’. Way too many restrictions when you compare them to all the other good free to play games without those restrictions.

It reminds me of Vanguard, a decent enough old style grinder, but the F2P wasn’t really free to play, more like ‘limited to play’.

I think ANet should have called it Free to Try instead of Free to Play as it’s much more like a glorified trial version than it is a Free to Play version. If you consider it a trial version then the restrictions are more understandable.

I feel the term ‘trial version’ implies a limit on time or progression. Not 100% of the time, of course, but for most people I feel it is a fair implication, which isn’t quite accurate as to what their set-up is. You have access to essentially the whole core game, meaning you can level up to max level, get max gear, etc. You really just have limits on chat and trade (for the most part).

There is also some fairly steep level-gating to a lot of the content, like needing 60 for WvW, 35 to go to Lions Arch, etc. This makes the daily completionist impossible most days without PvP.

keth.1836:

DoctorDing.5890:

The F2P is a good addition. The restrictions are perfectly-pitched…..

It’s a personal choice of course, but I dunno ‘bout that. I brought HoT before F2P so I’m kinda neutral, but I wouldn’t waste my time playing this ‘free to play’. Way too many restrictions when you compare them to all the other good free to play games without those restrictions.

It reminds me of Vanguard, a decent enough old style grinder, but the F2P wasn’t really free to play, more like ‘limited to play’.

I disagree, I think the F2P in this game is a great model. So many other games give you caps or severe restrictions; the lvl 20 cap in WoW, for example, or the inaccessible quests and areas in Runescape. GW2 F2P has a lot of inconveniences and QoL restrictions (bag slots, chara slots, base lvl reqs to access content, etc), but you are fully capable of playing the entire game without ever paying Anet a penny.

That’s a great model, imo. Heavily incentivized to purchase, but you are never forced to in order to do anything at all.

It’s not a matter of being “forced”, it’s a matter of whether I would bother given the alternatives.

Competitive market out there now.

Blair.3796:

keth.1836:

DoctorDing.5890:

The F2P is a good addition. The restrictions are perfectly-pitched…..

It’s a personal choice of course, but I dunno ‘bout that. I brought HoT before F2P so I’m kinda neutral, but I wouldn’t waste my time playing this ‘free to play’. Way too many restrictions when you compare them to all the other good free to play games without those restrictions.

It reminds me of Vanguard, a decent enough old style grinder, but the F2P wasn’t really free to play, more like ‘limited to play’.

I disagree, I think the F2P in this game is a great model. So many other games give you caps or severe restrictions; the lvl 20 cap in WoW, for example, or the inaccessible quests and areas in Runescape. GW2 F2P has a lot of inconveniences and QoL restrictions (bag slots, chara slots, base lvl reqs to access content, etc), but you are fully capable of playing the entire game without ever paying Anet a penny.

That’s a great model, imo. Heavily incentivized to purchase, but you are never forced to in order to do anything at all.

Vayne.8563:

New players have a lot of restrictions we didn’t have. They have less character slots. They can’t buy whatever they want on the trading post. They can’t send money or items in the mail.

The game, the whole game, was on sale for $10 three times anyway. I played this game for 3 years and got 3 years worth of entertainment out of it. I experienced things new players never got to see. By logging in during the Living Story Season 2 I got that for free.

You’re not out money by getting in 3 years early. You’re far far ahead of new people just starting out.

I honestly don’t get these posts.

^This.

For roughly $60 (less than I would spend on a single Friday night out) I got 3 years of enjoyment playing this game. Best entertainment-per-dollar value ever! I have no complains, and I am very glad to see GW2 offer a free version of the game at this juncture to help entice more new people to give it a try.

Since GW2 is going F2P and people have to purchase the Xpac for all the “Good Stuff”,
wouldn’t it make sense to let people who already payed for the original game to get the Xpac for free?

Original purchasers of this game have to pay again while new players get the original for free and only have to pay for Xpac to get it all?

Veterans pay Twice, New Players Once!?

So Arenanet, you are telling me you want my money AGAIN after I already payed you for the game just so I can access the important features of the game (which come in Xpac)

REALLY?!?!

You should think this through more. It won’t end well.

There’s already a giant thread about the price of the expansion.

Im sure a mod will merge this or delete it either way.

This topic was beat to death already …
Veterans have up to 3 years of gameplay in advantage, also that is how economy works, service/products devalue with time, I remember when I 1st bought a pen drive (2005) I paid $50 for a 125MB one and it was amazing, now I can buy a 4GB one for 10$ , and guess what? I don’t feel cheated about it.

OH MY GOD! I had to pay for a game, I’ve got 3 full years of fun out of, and someone just starting gets a watered down restricted version for free?! I feel so discriminated against. /end sarcasm

Maybe because you played 3 years already.

I hope someone in Anet will anwser to your request by banning you actuall account and giving you a new one with HoT already bought on it.

You will have a fresh new account with HoT on it with zero stuff – same as new players ^^

Electro.4173:

The devs have said that the $50 price tag IS the price of HoT. Just HoT alone.

They’re just throwing in the base game in as a free bonus to make it easier for new players to come in, rather than requiring them to buy the base game and the expansion separate.

Now, whether you agree with that or not is up to you, and I’m sure a lot of people don’t. But considering that is Anet’s official stance on the matter, the chance of them changing it is pretty slim.

The point of the OP is:

Why do original players have to pay $50 TWICE to get what new players will get come expansion??

It IS an issue!

Original Players: $50 for GW2 + $50 for Xpac
New Players: $50 for Xpac/ INCLUDES Original Core Game

Not fair at all to those who bough the game originally.
A Free character Slot is NOT worth the extra $50 at all.

I don’t regret paying for the game. Exchange in Brazil is around 1 dollar per 3,80 reals (yes, so much expensive), however I do want to support the game, as well as quite a lot of friends. I even bought my best friend an xpac so we could still play together.

Now, one thing that’s been saddening is the tempest spec, but I won’t really comment anymore as the dev responsible for this spec isn’t (or doesn’t want to be) that active in ele forums. I’ll just continue providing my feedback and wait on what changes they come up with.

Seems the clueless people befell this thread so far….

hy do original players have to pay $50 TWICE to get what new players will get come expansion??
It IS an issue!
Original Players: $50 for GW2 + $50 for Xpac
New Players: $50 for Xpac/ INCLUDES Original Core Game
Not fair at all to those who bough the game originally.
A Free character Slot is NOT worth the extra $50 at all.

Maybe it’s time to move on to something less money mongering.

Good Luck all.

The biggest slap in the face is actually your way of thinking. You bought a game 3 years ago, got Living story 1 and 2 for free, plus multiple updates and improvements. Now they are bringing out a new expansion, something we have all been asking for for ages, and you manage to complain about it. Some people will never be happy about anything.

So to answer your question…

REALLY!!

I rarely defend the developers on anything. I have no problem with them charging for the expansion. They just throw in the core game with the expansion for new players as incentive to buy. They’ve already sold the core game a few times for 10 bucks. It’s simply a discount

Also, if you don’t want the expansion then you don’t have to buy it. I didn’t because I don’t like the direction the game has taken in many ways. There’s too much that needs fixing. I get to vote with my wallet.

Valento.9852:

I don’t regret paying for the game. Exchange in Brazil is around 1 dollar per 3,80 reals (yes, so much expensive).

And still I bought the HoT Ultimate

I’m glad that when GW2 was released, dollar was around R$ 2,00 , good times …

Henkasaur.4531:

The biggest slap in the face is actually your way of thinking. You bought a game 3 years ago, got Living story 1 and 2 for free, plus multiple updates and improvements. Now they are bringing out a new expansion, something we have all been asking for for ages, and you manage to complain about it. Some people will never be happy about anything.

So to answer your question…

REALLY!!

I’ve been here 8 months. Stop Assuming like a typical MAN.

This is not about getting an expansion. It’s about paying more for what we already have.
Think a little before you type.
Here you go:
http://kotaku.com/this-is-a-completely-valid-complaint-and-is-very-simil-1712553947

OH MY GOD! I had to pay for a game, I’ve got 3 full years of fun out of, and someone just starting gets a watered down restricted version for free?! I feel so discriminated against. /end sarcasm

The guy I quoted understands.

Don’t be like the fat guy at an all you can eat buffet who abuses all you can eat (GW2 is the MMO equivalent of such a restaurant) but instead buy gems. You’ll drastically improve your quality of life and have access to really cool skins and outfits. You can also convert to gold for some dyes or move ascended and legendary crafting along. Due to inflation and getting more gold per gem icy runestones are far more reasonably priced than when I made my legendary. Yes they’re still only one gold, but with inflation have practically fallen in price. The obvious downside however is vendoring obviously makes less money and each earned gold doesn’t go as far.

JessikaTG.8139:

Seems the clueless people befell this thread so far….

hy do original players have to pay $50 TWICE to get what new players will get come expansion??
It IS an issue!
Original Players: $50 for GW2 + $50 for Xpac
New Players: $50 for Xpac/ INCLUDES Original Core Game
Not fair at all to those who bough the game originally.
A Free character Slot is NOT worth the extra $50 at all.

Maybe it’s time to move on to something less money mongering.

Good Luck all.

I look at it as a discount. I think they are money mongering with the gem shop. I think that needs to go. Its offensive to pay for a B2P game and expansions, and then all the drops are in the gem shop. Its the main reason I will not buy the expansion ever.