Guild Wars 2

this is just a stab in the back from anet. i surely hope this is a mistake and the expansion becomes available for us old players. im not gonna pay 45 euro’s for an expansion with a free core game wich i dont get at all since i allready have the core game.

Its like buying a house for a lot of money but if you allready own a house you just get a room for the full price of a house.. thats just dumb marketting.

guess many players will wait untill the expansion is available for about 15 a 20 euro’s.
45 is just overpriced.

i remember when anet released this game. they said: pay once and get all dlc free. what happened with those promisses?

we old players sure would like an explanation, allthough i think many will just quit playing if this is how you treat your community.

If I was to buy the expansion today it would cost me $135.91 that’s for the ultimate version, The middle version would cost me $101.92. Whoever made these prices is crazy.

I wonder how much longer it will be until all those that pre paid for whatever it is they have bought realise there is no release date and Anet are happily sitting on all that money in the bank without having delivered anything nor given any timescale for doing so.

There’s a reason they add fluff to the packages- so you can’t claim your money back on the grounds that you received nothing, as you got the fluff and used it!

I’m sure they’ll deliver something eventually, but pre paying months in advance for something that you can get once it’s released (and probably cheaper 3 months after that) isn’t my idea of sensible.

slayerking.3581:

If I was to buy the expansion today it would cost me $135.91 that’s for the ultimate version, The middle version would cost me $101.92. Whoever made these prices is crazy.

It is priced at normal price for a full game, whether it will be worth it in the long run only time will tell.

As I understand it with HoT we get:-

1. Masteries – e.g. Hand Gliding
2. All Elite Specialisations – e.g. Druid, Chronomancer, etc
3. New Profession – Revenant
4. Guild Hall access
5. New Living Story Content which is expected to be (at least primarily) HoT PvE exclusive area based

If any of us do not get HoT then they can still participate in current GW2 gameplay but I would not expect non-HoT users to have access to any new living story content, or the other stuff mentioned above.

Pre-order allows us to participate in the Public Beta events and gives an extra character slot if you already own GW2 and add it to that account (at least as I understand it – not sure if the extract character slot for existing account holders is pre-order only).

This issue has reached even kitten germany already…
http://captiongenerator.com/46396/Hitler-reacts-to-HOT-pricing

ZeftheWicked.3076:

This issue has reached even kitten germany already…
http://captiongenerator.com/46396/Hitler-reacts-to-HOT-pricing

While amusing is not 100% accurate…

The base GW2 game is essentially legacy material now and is probably only worth the local equivalent of around 10 UKP (the lowest sale price for the game as I understand it).

As for those of us that have owned GW2 since pre-order of GW2, we have probably each had over 1000hrs of play time out of it which is not bad for the local equivalent of 65 UKP (GW2 Digital Deluxe pre-order price).

The free character slot may not make all veteran players feel they have been dealt with as they would have liked but I believe it is a fair and reasonable attempt (and most courts of law would probably agree) by A-Net to redress the sense of inequality between New and Existing account holders.

And it has some serious addressing to do since the “base game + HoT for new guys” is the basic deal. No promotions, no deadlines, no conditions. All the time that’s what you get as the new guy.

Vet players gotta jump through hoops (pre-purchase for an x-pac with not fully disclosed features let alone release date) to get “consolation prize” that for most mmorpg companies is a basic “no favours” feature of their expansions (new character slots matching new classes in xpac).

As I see it, the current situation for existing GW2 account holders is comparable to A-Net dropping development of improvements (no more new living story, maps, nor features) to the game and reducing the price of buying the base game to £10.

If they actually did that and relabelled GW2:HoT to GW3:HoT and set up new servers exclusively for the HoT players I suspect there would have been much more (or at least the same degree) of an outcry over the situation.

As it stands, buying into HoT is like buying the next book in a series of epic novels (at least as I see it). By making HoT an expansion to the legacy GW2 game existing players at least get to continue to benefit from their accrued in-game assets in the new title.

What other games do or don’t do is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, if we individually think HoT is worth the money then we will buy it if not then we won’t. Complaining about the pricing is not going to change how much it is valued at by the developers. The inequality of VFM between new and existing account holders was worthy of being addressed though.

Is fifty dollars really breaking people for a game that you can play as much as you want?
GW2 is a large part of the reason so many FTP games are on the market right now. Are you enjoying other FTP games, well you can thank ArenaNet for helping that happen.
Oh and FTP does not stand for Force To Pay.
It stands for Free To Play.
You are not forced to buy cosmetic items in the gem shop or forced to pay for the ultimate edition, you can if you choose to. That is what makes this game, you can spend what you want..when you want. Its not like oh great i need to resubscribe this month or i cant play.

I don’t understand why people are so peeved about the price. Eye of the North retailed at $40. Are people really complaining and threatening to leave the game because of a $10 difference? Or is it because we aren’t getting an extra account?

Fine, you could say it’s the principle of it. They are taking $10 extra from us. What about the free living stories that we got that new players would have to buy now. We got so much content already, that new players have missed out on. Just deal with it.

For those who continue to complain about new players always getting the better deals, why can’t you all just think of it as spreading the game that is Guild Wars, to more people. More players benefits us too, not just ANet.

For the people that say they won’t even play the new profession or take part in pve/pvp, most people would take part in those. The content is still there. Just because you don’t want to play it, doesn’t take away from the value of the content itself, as a whole.

Guild Wars 2 is a great game, way better than many other top MMOs out there. ANet has never failed me before. So I will continue to support them and enjoy their content. The people who leave because of such a silly reason will just get replaced by new players.

why people who already own GW2 and have been playing have to pay for the expansion but new players get it for free when they buy the game we already bought?

Edit: What you’re literally saying is:

I have to pay $100 to play GW2: Heart of Thorns

Newbies have to pay $50 to play GW2: Heart of Thorns?

Is that what’s going on?

You’re effectively making your dedicated playerbase pay while newbies who won’t stick around get it for free.

Also your new expansion is not worth the price of an entire game, thanks.

OP

I paid $100 to get core game, LS season 1, LS season 2 for free, and HoT

Newbies paid $50 to get core game and HoT, they have to pay for LS season 2 and never able to experience LS season 1

Crossaber.8934:

OP

I paid $100 to get core game, LS season 1, LS season 2 for free, and HoT

Newbies paid $50 to get core game and HoT, they have to pay for LS season 2 and never able to experience LS season 1

So a single LS being missed is worth a fifty dollar discount for newbies? Doubt it.

DireGeist.9613:

Crossaber.8934:

OP

I paid $100 to get core game, LS season 1, LS season 2 for free, and HoT

Newbies paid $50 to get core game and HoT, they have to pay for LS season 2 and never able to experience LS season 1

So a single LS being missed is worth a fifty dollar discount for newbies? Doubt it.

Can you count how many free updates and festivals we’ve been through?

All of those updates give me joy, entertainment and experiences that worth every penny to me, if you don’t find that worth the price, exit is that way, please, help yourself.

new player pay $100 dollar for gw1+2

older players paying $100 for gw1+gw2 living world 12 + extra character slots + previous living world exclusive legacy items like the halo/devil horns

OwUrHurtingMe.1650:

I don’t understand why people are so peeved about the price. Eye of the North retailed at $40. Are people really complaining and threatening to leave the game because of a $10 difference? Or is it because we aren’t getting an extra account?

A-Net have addressed the New/Existing disparity issue, at least for pre-order and until HoT is released we do not know if/how they will be dealing with it post-release. I suspect they would be hard pressed to justify not including the character slot for existing accounts if new accounts still get the core game bundled effectively for free.

I think the main problem now is what at least some ppl are still unhappy about is paying a full game price for what they see as an uncertain degree of content. I would reckon A-Net would need to deliver new content that is worth at least 100hrs/character of gameplay under coverage of HoT for the price to be considered acceptable by many.

100hrs could equate to ~2hrs of non-rushed living story per week over the first year after release or be measured in some other way. However A-Net measure it, they probably need to be more specific on this score (a measure of the minimum amount of gameplay that can be expected from HoT and what general form that gameplay is planned to take) before those that are still complaining about the apparent “lack of information” are likely to be appeased.

You can get HoT for $50 too. All you need to to do is give up your 3 year head start.

Don’t compare apples and oranges. You can buy a lot of 3 year old games for almost free. Do you complain when you buy a new game on steam for 30€ and someone else 3 years later for 5€in a summer sale?

What the veterans got is 3 years of playing an MMO while new players missed that out. My god, this is getting ridiculous and every kittening hour a new thread about this ‘unfair’ treatment is finding it’s way into this forum.

You get the core game free EVEN IF YOU HAVE GUILD WARS 2.

You can start a brand new account with the core game and the update, just like any new player.

If you’re not willing to give up your progress, then you should understand why it’s so hard for people to start playing an MMO years in. They’re really far behind.

Anet is trying to remove barriers to entry. WoW does this. EQ does this. This is logical and good business.

But this also benefits players who are already here. Veteran players need new people coming into the game, or their won’t one day be a game.

Seems to me the OP doesn’t really understand the business. Five, six years from now should we make people buy 4 games to get into Guild Wars 2?

Did we really need another stupid thread about this?

If you don’t think that ANet has delivered $50 worth of value with the core game for the past 3 years, and you don’t think they will give you another 3 years worth of value for an additional $50, then don’t purchase the expansion and move onto another game.

Chobits.2430:

If you don’t think that ANet has delivered $50 worth of value with the core game for the past 3 years, and you don’t think they will give you another 3 years worth of value for an additional $50, then don’t purchase the expansion and move onto another game.

I agree, and it can not be ignored that the apparent disparity in VFM between new/existing account holders has also been addressed by A-Net by giving existing account holders a new character slot if they have purchased HoT.

It would probably have been a lot easier on everyone if A-Net had followed a product model closer to the original GW where the expansions’ (Nightfall/Factions) creative content stood solidly apart from what was generally considered the core game. However, they have not done this and as a result debates such as these emerged.

That is not to say that those requesting more specifics on how buying HoT benefits existing players do not have a point though.

Vayne.8563:

You get the core game free EVEN IF YOU HAVE GUILD WARS 2.

You can start a brand new account with the core game and the update, just like any new player.

If you’re not willing to give up your progress, then you should understand why it’s so hard for people to start playing an MMO years in. They’re really far behind.

Anet is trying to remove barriers to entry. WoW does this. EQ does this. This is logical and good business.

But this also benefits players who are already here. Veteran players need new people coming into the game, or their won’t one day be a game.

Seems to me the OP doesn’t really understand the business. Five, six years from now should we make people buy 4 games to get into Guild Wars 2?

By giving new players more than I get for my money (as HoT is 90% GW2 10% expansion) Anet is creating a barrier because I won’t buy it. I haven’t posted in awhile or played for that matter which is a shame since I’ve enjoyed this game.

Many are happy to throw money away but I won’t. Don’t mistake that a lack of anti HoT posting means players have given in, some have simply left.

Aidenwolf.5964:

Vayne.8563:

You get the core game free EVEN IF YOU HAVE GUILD WARS 2.

You can start a brand new account with the core game and the update, just like any new player.

If you’re not willing to give up your progress, then you should understand why it’s so hard for people to start playing an MMO years in. They’re really far behind.

Anet is trying to remove barriers to entry. WoW does this. EQ does this. This is logical and good business.

But this also benefits players who are already here. Veteran players need new people coming into the game, or their won’t one day be a game.

Seems to me the OP doesn’t really understand the business. Five, six years from now should we make people buy 4 games to get into Guild Wars 2?

By giving new players more than I get for my money (as HoT is 90% GW2 10% expansion) Anet is creating a barrier because I won’t buy it. I haven’t posted in awhile or played for that matter which is a shame since I’ve enjoyed this game.

Many are happy to throw money away but I won’t. Don’t mistake that a lack of anti HoT posting means players have given in, some have simply left.

Where HoT is concerned there is simply not enough public information to reasonably justify people being completely anti but that is not to say I do not understand the reservations of the sceptics.

A-Net have made a complete mess of their marketing IMO, and there is another point that in a good number of single player game series cases buying the next title can be considered akin to buying HoT (in many cases the next game in the series is predominantly the previous title with some rework).

The argument that existing account holders could create new accounts and forfeit their accumulated in-game assets is ridiculous especially since it is marketed as an expansion and at least some may have invested real world money via the Gems store (not necessarily just relatively rich people but possibly also some less affluent who effectively received Gems as gifts for special occasions). If it were marketed as a completely new game we would be on a different ball game.

The issue with the imbalance in VFM between new and existing account holders has been addressed by A-Net granting an additional character slot to existing account holders that purchase HoT (perhaps only pre-purchase but we will have to wait and see). I know not everyone is happy with the approach A-Net have taken on this but at least it acts as a reasonable show of good will on A-Net’s part and we are unlikely to get anything more than that.

I have questioned the legality (based on UK/EU laws and regulations) of what A-Net have done by bundling GW2 with HoT, not licensing it separately, and still charging the same price whether you already have GW2 or not. However, given the account slot being granted to existing players I think they have addressed the imbalance to a sufficient degree that fighting it from a legal standpoint could be ultimately futile.

I suspect the HoT price would not be reduced even if the core game was not included which leads us really to the dispute of whether the content covered exclusively by HoT is actually worth the published price. A-Net really need to address this concern otherwise HoT (and possibly GW2 as a whole) could end up dead in the water (or at least not nearly as successful as it could have been) – especially given how unpopular some of their changes to core GW2 design decisions (inc. Mega-Server) seem to have been (at least in some circles).

More detailed information on the degree of game play expected to be granted by HoT content would possibly help with this. Based on what I have been hearing (from off-forum discussions) some of the simpler queries include:-

1. How much HoT exclusive living story can be expected?
2. How much of HoT content is truly exclusive to HoT? (there have been some mixed messages on this point)

I feel I must add that personally I do not care if A-Net answer such questions or not, but there are at least some who do not necessarily participate in these forums and are active GW2 players that do.

if you look at this from a core standpoint, the original dev of GW comes from blizzard, for what i see he has bin looking way to much to how blizzard does it’s pricing.

how do i get to that conclusion?
at first GW1 was $50,- or €45,-, that was for the chapters.
the expansion was $40,- or €35,-, a fair price for an expansion.

now they wanted to release GW2, since then they already did one thing that is influenced from blizzard, making euro prices the same as dollar prices regardless of price differences. (even when including VAT the difference is bigger then you think)
now look at the price of LS chapters, together it’s 1600 gems which is 20,-
so the price of almost a full expansion go’s in to a small storyline that doesn’t really add anything really, just some reused areas ruined to fit their S2;LS and rewards that are barely worth the trouble.
now they show the price of HoT, the same price you pay for a WoW expansion, yet another blizzard influenced price tag.

i say, Anet needs to stop showing their blizzard part and show their Anet side again, it’s getting way to obvious right now….

Given the exchange rate, in Australia, standard is $69, deluxe is $103 and ultimate is $137. That’s one hell of an expensive expansion, considering a full new release AAA title is $70-80 here and collectors editions usually come with soundtrack CDs, books, statuettes plus digital goods.

Even though I want to, I just can’t bring myself to spend that much on an expansion with an unknown amount of content. I paid $40 for the digital collectors of gw2 and I just don’t see HoT even close to doubling the amount of content (or adding a half, or a quarter or even a sixth as much).

Severino.3604:

Given the exchange rate, in Australia, standard is $69, deluxe is $103 and ultimate is $137. That’s one hell of an expensive expansion, considering a full new release AAA title is $70-80 here and collectors editions usually come with soundtrack CDs, books, statuettes plus digital goods.

Even though I want to, I just can’t bring myself to spend that much on an expansion with an unknown amount of content. I paid $40 for the digital collectors of gw2 and I just don’t see HoT even close to doubling the amount of content (or adding a half, or a quarter or even a sixth as much).

I’m confused since you actually paid $60 for it.

Severino.3604:

I only started playing this morning and my fps was fine. Since the last patch, the game is unplayable for me, and I only just bought the thing…

Despite following instructions on the “Low fps” sticky, or even turning all my setting to lowest, I still only get 5-15fps.

To add insult to injury, the game dropped from $59.99 to $44.99 right after I bought the kitten thing and I can’t even play it! Extremely peeved at the moment, and would appreciate any help from anyone. From what I’ve read, it’s a pretty common problem atm.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Have-to-turn-off-all-reflections/first#post1001979

I am curious if they will add boxes for local stores before release and what will their prices be.

Ayrilana.1396:

Severino.3604:

Given the exchange rate, in Australia, standard is $69, deluxe is $103 and ultimate is $137. That’s one hell of an expensive expansion, considering a full new release AAA title is $70-80 here and collectors editions usually come with soundtrack CDs, books, statuettes plus digital goods.

Even though I want to, I just can’t bring myself to spend that much on an expansion with an unknown amount of content. I paid $40 for the digital collectors of gw2 and I just don’t see HoT even close to doubling the amount of content (or adding a half, or a quarter or even a sixth as much).

I’m confused since you actually paid $60 for it.

Severino.3604:

I only started playing this morning and my fps was fine. Since the last patch, the game is unplayable for me, and I only just bought the thing…

Despite following instructions on the “Low fps” sticky, or even turning all my setting to lowest, I still only get 5-15fps.

To add insult to injury, the game dropped from $59.99 to $44.99 right after I bought the kitten thing and I can’t even play it! Extremely peeved at the moment, and would appreciate any help from anyone. From what I’ve read, it’s a pretty common problem atm.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Have-to-turn-off-all-reflections/first#post1001979

Wow, you have a little too much time on your hands. Maybe I should dig through your post history for little scraps of misinformation that have no real bearing on the conversation… No wait, i have better things to do. I guess because I misremembered something from TWO YEARS ago, everything else in my post can be ignored. You should run for office or something. The spin doctor is in zzzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz.

My points stand. The game is too expensive, exchange rates make it ridiculously overpriced.

Severino.3604:

Ayrilana.1396:

Severino.3604:

Given the exchange rate, in Australia, standard is $69, deluxe is $103 and ultimate is $137. That’s one hell of an expensive expansion, considering a full new release AAA title is $70-80 here and collectors editions usually come with soundtrack CDs, books, statuettes plus digital goods.

Even though I want to, I just can’t bring myself to spend that much on an expansion with an unknown amount of content. I paid $40 for the digital collectors of gw2 and I just don’t see HoT even close to doubling the amount of content (or adding a half, or a quarter or even a sixth as much).

I’m confused since you actually paid $60 for it.

Severino.3604:

I only started playing this morning and my fps was fine. Since the last patch, the game is unplayable for me, and I only just bought the thing…

Despite following instructions on the “Low fps” sticky, or even turning all my setting to lowest, I still only get 5-15fps.

To add insult to injury, the game dropped from $59.99 to $44.99 right after I bought the kitten thing and I can’t even play it! Extremely peeved at the moment, and would appreciate any help from anyone. From what I’ve read, it’s a pretty common problem atm.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Have-to-turn-off-all-reflections/first#post1001979

Wow, you have a little too much time on your hands. Maybe I should dig through your post history for little scraps of misinformation that have no real bearing on the conversation… No wait, i have better things to do. I guess because I misremembered something from TWO YEARS ago, everything else in my post can be ignored. You should run for office or something. The spin doctor is in zzzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz.

My points stand. The game is too expensive, exchange rates make it ridiculously overpriced.

You have less than a page of posts. I probably spent a grand total of 30 seconds skimming through them.

I never said that your post should be ignored. I was just pointing it out as you posted high prices (due to the exchange rate) for the expansion and a very low price for what you paid for the core game. One thing that I did not mention was that the $60 you spent was around 12/15/2012 which is what it would have cost someone in the US to spend for the base edition.

Yes. The exchange rates will increase the costs for some compared to others. However, it’s an unfortunate and expected cost when purchasing outside of your country. The point of that post of mine was that it seemed you were trying to make to make the argument based on the differences in prices when they technically should be the same. Actually, you should have spent slightly more for the core game.

One thing that I have said several times in the past is that you cannot relate cost to value. For example, someone purchases the game when it was going for $25 last year. They should expect twice as much content from the expansion as the original? How about those that purchased the game for $10 this year and need to spend $40 more to get the expansion. Should they expect four times as much content as the core game?

I will not argue against whether you personally feel there isn’t enough value for what you’re paying. That is judgment decision that I cannot ever make as value is subjective. If the cost of the expansion is too high for you now, I suggest waiting until it goes on sale at a later date. Although you’ll miss the initial rush of players going through the expansion’s content, everything should be permanent so you’re not really missing anything.

I got here late, but I’d just like to remind everyone comparing this expansion’s price to World of Warcraft’s that Blizzard generates a colossal amount of cash from monthly subscriptions. They can afford to have (slightly) less expensive expansions. And if the expansions have more content, keep in mind they’re also working with decade-old graphical and audio technology—which requires less time and manpower to build upon. I’ll wager there is more texture detail in Lion’s Arch alone than an entire continent in WoW. Anet has allowed most of us to play what I believe is a greatly superior game for zero required payments monthly.

I have over 1,000 hours clocked, and have maybe spent $30 total on gems, which were entirely optional. So around 50 required dollars for years of entertainment, with free high quality updates handed out constantly that have greatly expanded on the world. Compare that to World of Warcraft, where I would have spent about $540 in 3 years time, not even including the base game AND expansions.

If you can’t afford $50 every 3 years (yes, it’s been that long), and/or you can’t wait awhile for the price to drop, I really don’t know what to tell you. I don’t think many of you understand that Anet actually needs to make money in order to provide you with this entertainment you enjoy. They don’t get it from monthly subs, and they don’t force you to purchase ANYTHING from the cash shop. They have to get the money from somewhere.

Furthermore, the base game is very much devalued now, so having it included with the expansion isn’t like new players are getting one SUPER AMAZING DEAL. Lol. I’ve seen the game selling for $10-15 often. The fact that we paid $50 for it at launch is irrelevant. All game prices go down over time.

Personally, I’ve taken a break from Guild Wars 2 (and all MMOs for that matter), but I’ve thought about returning to play this expansion, and considering how little I’ve had to spend on the game I really don’t see much reason to complain. It’s likely to provide hundreds of additional hours (at least) of solid gameplay, and Anet will undoubtedly continue to release free updates after the expansion.

Any way you look at it, Guild Wars 2 is a bargain—whether or not veterans get a discount for the upgrade.

I’m with you on this. I’d like to get the Ultimate edition but… dropping between $125 CAD and $135 CAD depending on the exchange rate of your bank and credit card on a game… yeah I don’t think so.

(This comment was from another thread that was merged about the price in CAD which is absurdly high.)

My friend bought HoT for 34 bucks from an unofficial retailer ._.

Wow, 45 euro’s for an expansion? I feel sorry I bought the game at release now . I should have waited for a couple of years, until this and the next expansion were out, so I could buy them all at once. What a mistake I’ve done

Severino.3604:

Given the exchange rate, in Australia, standard is $69, deluxe is $103 and ultimate is $137. That’s one hell of an expensive expansion, considering a full new release AAA title is $70-80 here and collectors editions usually come with soundtrack CDs, books, statuettes plus digital goods.

Even though I want to, I just can’t bring myself to spend that much on an expansion with an unknown amount of content. I paid $40 for the digital collectors of gw2 and I just don’t see HoT even close to doubling the amount of content (or adding a half, or a quarter or even a sixth as much).

The price wouldn’t matter if it seemed we got a lot of content for it. But so far it seems just like every $25 expansion out there. For the price we should expect to get about 66% the size of what we already have. I’m waiting to see them pull out a rabbit out of a hat at the last minute.

I bought GW1: Complete Collection for $40 a couple of years before GW2 came out. There was still a decent population, but it was well past the point when the game was most popular. For a cheap price, I had all the content, but I missed out on the excitement as the game expanded and I missed out on the community. While I appreciate GW1, I don’t hold the same nostalgia for it as people who played since the beginning.

The 3 years I’ve played GW2 has been an amazing ride. I don’t regret the $60 I paid for it. $50 every few years to keep up-to-date on features and content for a game I plan to continue playing doesn’t sound bad to me. The idea that new players are better off or that it’s better to wait years before paying so you get more content for the price you pay ignores that this is an MMO where much of the enjoyment is playing with the community for years as the game grows. If you just want to get a lot of content for a low price, I suggest buying single player games instead. There are “GOTY” editions for many great games. You will get the value you desire.

Really its £35 in the UK from GW2s website.

Arcadio.6875:

I bought GW1: Complete Collection for $40 a couple of years before GW2 came out. There was still a decent population, but it was well past the point when the game was most popular. For a cheap price, I had all the content, but I missed out on the excitement as the game expanded and I missed out on the community. While I appreciate GW1, I don’t hold the same nostalgia for it as people who played since the beginning.

The 3 years I’ve played GW2 has been an amazing ride. I don’t regret the $60 I paid for it. $50 every few years to keep up-to-date on features and content for a game I plan to continue playing doesn’t sound bad to me. The idea that new players are better off or that it’s better to wait years before paying so you get more content for the price you pay ignores that this is an MMO where much of the enjoyment is playing with the community for years as the game grows. If you just want to get a lot of content for a low price, I suggest buying single player games instead. There are “GOTY” editions for many great games. You will get the value you desire.

Already have plenty of GOTY, but none I own had this way of releasing expansions, forcing you to pay full price to get the base game and the full game. Two packs made sense, one Base Game + Expansion, being a “Complete Edition”, a GOTY, whatever, and the other option being to buy the expansion cheaper, for people who supported the game in the past. Its a widespread solution, logical. This move is simply illogical and greedy, and I will not support it, no matter how much I like the base game. 50$ for an expansion is way too much.

You have the option to not purchase it, after seeing the little info they have released I’m not convinced it’s worth the price tag. This is more compounded by the fact that I play WvW only, the new map is free so the only thing I might benefit from is specializations.

It might be worth while for others, PvE players are getting the most out of the xpac so for them (I don’t agree but that’s just my opinion) it might be worth it.

I’m also in Canada and yes, due to currency it does cost more. I don’t blame Anet for the currency, it’s not their fault our dollar isn’t worth as much at the moment but I still think they are asking to much for what appears to be very little.

Helequin.2608:

Threads on the price of HoT are all over, but I wanted to start a new one mainly with a question about the price for NA customers outside the US.

I’m in Canada, where GW2 on release was $60 CAD. The HoT offerings can only be purchased in USD, and given the published exchange rate that puts it at ~$61 CAD for the basic package…

It’s because it’s going to have as much content as the actual game…

Is $50 way too much? Compare it against the games closest to it. The recent WoW expansion is $50. Requires a subscription. The FFXIV expansion is $40 and also requires a subscription which immediately puts it over $50 just to play. ESO is going to release dlc every quarter which will end up being over $50 throughout a one year period.

While I personally don’t mind if Anet gave me the expansion at a lower price or even free, I’m being realistic here. $50 every few YEARS to stay up-to-date with a great MMO is fair.

Vayne.8563:

Anyone who’s played this game for a year or more on $60 is probably being a bit unreasonable thinking that a continuation of the game for $50 is out of the ball park.

The problem is that this puts us in the position of paying for something that we might get in the future. I agree, over the last three years I’ve gotten a great amount of content for $60. That’s why I felt free to spend additional cash in the gem shop because I thought of it as continuing to pay for what I was playing, while getting some nice gem shop stuff as bonus.

I gradually stopped spending cash when I didn’t like the choices ArenaNet was making with development and stopped getting value for my money.

At this point, I’d be happy to pay cash equal to the value I perceive in HoT. From what we’ve seen so far, that looks like $20-$30. Telling me that I might get another three years of content out of it doesn’t help me decide the other $20-$30 of the box price is worth it because we very well may not get another 3 years of updates and content.

ArenaNet keeps iterating, including, it seems, with their business model. They may be planning on giving us the next three years of Living Story updates free as long as we have HoT and keep logging in. On the other hand, they may be on track to start bundling Living Story as a new $50 expansion every year. With their lack of transparency about future plans, we don’t really know.

If you dont’ believe there’s enough new content, wait a year and buy it then.

That’s roughly my plan. I’ll be able to see if it’s worth it at that point, likely pick it up for half the cost, and hopefully with a lot of the bugs worked out.

My only trouble with this plan is that they haven’t answered the question of how future free LS updates will be credited to our account. If I log on for the next year without HoT, will I get access to all of the LS updates between know and then? Or will logging in for a LS chapter only count if I have HoT?

They haven’t answered when I’ve created posts about it. Maybe it’s time for me to bring it up again.

I’ll be enjoying the content from day 1.

Thanks. I appreciate you beta testing for me.

Arcadio.6875:

Is $50 way too much? Compare it against the games closest to it. The recent WoW expansion is $50. Requires a subscription. The FFXIV expansion is $40 and also requires a subscription which immediately puts it over $50 just to play. ESO is going to release dlc every quarter which will end up being over $50 throughout a one year period.

The big question here is, will HoT add as much to GW2 as those expansions do to their games? I guess only hindsight will tell us.

While I personally don’t mind if Anet gave me the expansion at a lower price or even free, I’m being realistic here. $50 every few YEARS to stay up-to-date with a great MMO is fair.

If that $50 isn’t for a specific amount of new content, and only to stay “up-to-date”, then it’s a lot closer to a (albeit relatively cheap) subscription than B2P.

Xillllix.3485:

Helequin.2608:

Threads on the price of HoT are all over, but I wanted to start a new one mainly with a question about the price for NA customers outside the US.

I’m in Canada, where GW2 on release was $60 CAD. The HoT offerings can only be purchased in USD, and given the published exchange rate that puts it at ~$61 CAD for the basic package…

It’s because it’s going to have as much content as the actual game…

Hahaha ha yea… ok….. surly you MUST know that this isn’t true…. almost makes me feel ill how far off base that comment is.

Think what? Back when I bought gw2 on my country (Brazil), it costed around of 106 R$ ( my country coin). I Bought hot and it is right now showing at my credit card the absurd value of 184,54 R$. Thats around of 57% higher than the core game.

PS: I bought the most basic version, the 49.99 USD one.

I know your pain.

I was browsing and notice anet post this.

“Pre-Purchase Clarification

In our January 23 FAQ, we wanted to clarify that Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns would not be a stand-alone campaign like those offered in Guild Wars ® in the past (Factions® and Nightfall®), but instead would be a true expansion to Guild Wars 2 similar to what Guild Wars: Eye of the North® was to our original game. We wanted you to know that access to much of the content in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns requires access to Guild Wars 2. Some read the FAQ as us urging players to buy the core game now, in preparation for the expansion release. This was not our intention and amendments made to the FAQ following the announcement were a good-faith attempt to clarify this misinterpretation. As such, we’re offering a comprehensive refund policy.
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."

Can someone please explain to me what this means? Also if its what I think it is why does it only apply to newer players and not the players who bought the game when it first launched!?!?!?

Yeap it sucks that the Canadian dollar is weak atm. When I compare the price that I bought gw2 from the guild wars store to the expac it really makes no sense. The amount of content doesn’t seem to justified the price (but if thief gets staff I might budge lol). When I convertered the price of the ultimate edition, I was like NO THANKS!

If you purchased Guild Wars after January 23rd, 2015 from ArenaNet, then you will receive a refund of that purchase when you buy Heart of Thorns, so you are are effectively getting HoT for $40 instead of $50.

Players that purchased the game before that time get a Free character slot, value ~$10.
New players do not get a free character slot, but everyone gets something.

Update:
Why would ANet refund the game to players before that time? Many have played the game for 3 years and enjoyed all the free content updates, exclusive events, and items that new players will never get. It makes no sense on any level. They are a business, not a charity.

It has to do with how people bought the game when the expansion was announced and not expecting the core game to be included as a free bonus later on.

Gibson.4036:

ArenaNet keeps iterating, including, it seems, with their business model. They may be planning on giving us the next three years of Living Story updates free as long as we have HoT and keep logging in. On the other hand, they may be on track to start bundling Living Story as a new $50 expansion every year. With their lack of transparency about future plans, we don’t really know.

I would also like to know ANet’s plans going forward, as the role of HoT ownership in determining access to value beyond HoT’s release would very much be a part of my decision-making. However, the epic fail which is the gag order makes it seem that ANet is afraid to tell us anything on the macro level that is not settled. So, I expect to have to determine HoT’s value to me based solely on information released prior to launch and on posts and reviews shortly after launch.

If the Elite Specs looked better than they do to me, I might be inclined to think that HoT does not need to offer a huge amount of content to go with them. However, since only 2 of the 4 shown look in any way appealing, I’m inclined to say that the gameplay features portion of the XPac is not holding up its end of the comparison. Thus, HoT content is going to have to make up for what the specs lack for me to want to spend money on it.

Edit: thread merged with this one.
@ Harlequin’s thread

I bought the Digital Deluxe on April 9, 2012 and paid 79.99$ USD.

(Copied off the response email)
Thank you for pre-purchasing Guild Wars 2!
IMPORTANT! Please take a moment to register your Guild Wars 2 account.
Registering your Guild Wars 2 account lets you play the game before launch by providing you with Headstart Access and guaranteed access to all Beta Events.
Order date: 4/9/2012
Guild Wars 2 Digital Deluxe Edition $79.99

its true that the Ultimate version costs $100 but it also comes with 4k gems which is worth $50. That means for this pricing version, the expansion itself is $50 plus $50 in gems.