Guild Wars 2

Kill.3458:

The longer ANet stays quiet, the more this wound festers. E3 week is almost over and with how far this outrage is spreading it wouldnt surprise if within the next week gaming journalist get all over this.

ANet seriously, what are you doing? This isnt the Ascended Scandal or the Megaserver Fiasco, this is an entirely different beast with the capability to make or break the company and its reputation..

This. ANet, please, wake the hell up and do something.

I considered creating the below line as a new thread topic, but then I realized… nah, its just too evil.

If you activate HoT on a GW2 account, you get 800 gems

Cant restate that idea enough. Basic pack – HoT+800 gems to do with as you wish (800 is what a character slot cost). Deluxe – HoT+slot+800 gems to do with as you wish (second slot, bank upgrade, whatevs). Ultimate – HoT+4800 gems to roll around in.

Just thought I’d put my 2 cents in.
50 USD = $60-$70 AUD depending on the market.

Price of most DLC/Expansion Content = $20 AUD.

Hmmmm. This is one very expensive expansion pack. Why not make this WORTH the money and include a free character slot for people who already own the game.

What? You plan on introducing a new character to the game when 90% of the community already has their character slots maxed out?

Get real.

$50 game pack should include character slow – OR WE RIOT!

eduardo.1436:

After seeing some videos from the community and comparisons of other MMOs expansion, I’ve decided that 50 bucks MIGHT be a bit expensive (for an expansion) but good price I guess since we get no sub fees. Besides you have broken standard rules in MMOs and “getting the core game from buying an expansion” is another unique thing………

uncommon 10 years ago, when they did it with GW1. It’s actually uncommon with modern MMOs to charge a sub fee. Most are buy to play models, with micro transactions. Most MMOs that did charge subs, have even changed to this model.

So, your main point is mootsville.

I see a lot of reactions of: “If HoT was $50,- for only the expansion, people wouldn’t complain”.

That’s true!

But here is the big difference: Rather you are a new player or a veteran, you pay $50,- but as a new player you get the core game. As a veteran you already have the core game so u only get the expansion. No substitutes for veteran players. So this is really unfair to the veterans..

Vayne.8563:

I’m not sure why people think there is some requirement for a company to offer enough information for everyone when first offering it for sale, that’s my point.

While there are a lot of different motivations for the current firestorm, there are some common themes.

• Some think ANet will relent and lower the price. Hope springs eternal, no matter how unrealistic.
• Some hope that ANet will “see the error of their ways” and be more forthcoming about what’s coming. Also unlikely.

Any psychologist could tell you about things like impulse buying and taking advantage of the gullible via the provision of partial information. One common example for this is seeing a trailer for a new comedy movie, then going to see it in the theater and learning that anything that was remotely funny was in the trailer and the other 90 minutes were a dull slog with some hackneyed, sophomoric trash substituting for humor. For anyone who sees this, presenting a hook with no bait seems like an attempt to bilk the gullible – whether that’s intended or not.

There’s also the psychology behind the old saying about money burning an opening in one’s pocket (kitten filter won’t let me put the article a before the noun hole). I’d guess some of those wanting info now want to spend their money, and are angry about ANet reticence because they think HoT won’t be worth it if what they’ve revealed so far is all there is. This would be exacerbated by past ANet hype disappointments they’ve experienced and the ANet Gag Order, which is by far the worst thing ANet has done for customer relations.

As an example, take anyone whose preferred content is challenging group content. ANet has stated that HoT will have bosses that will be harder than anything the game has seen before. However, will those bosses be large, persistent world events or small to medium group instanced? Based on past performance, I’d say the former is more likely. And, I can see why those players want to know, since they’ve been waiting since Robert Hrouda left ANet to see if ANet is ever going to throw them a bone.

$50 sounds very reasonable to me. No subscription fees plus I’m supporting the developers. Not sure what all the drama is about.

I will not be buying the expansion at that price, there should be an upgrade only option. Disappointed is an understatement.

Wait, what Housing and costumations? If you mean only the guild halls than you can screw it, a normal member of a guild can never decorate the guild hall, that’s usually a privilege of the guild leader and/or officers.
If housing means that I can build and decorate my own house like in Rift/Archage, well then I would pay the price, I would even prepurchase it.

After taking a bit of time to collect my thoughts, here’s my reaction to the pricing system.

Firstly, I understand intellectually that including the base game in HoT purchases was intended as a nice bonus for people who didn’t have it, not as a snub for veterans, and I appreciate that. At the same time, emotionally, it feels bad, and I think there’s a couple primary reasons for that:

1. Plain and simple jealousy. We see someone else (new subscribers) getting something (the base game) that we don’t. For long-time players (not the people who got the game during a recent sale) it’s fundamentally different from a game dropping in price after you buy it, because they’re getting a better deal on the same thing at the same time. To put it another way, it’s an issue of other people getting the base game for cheaper, it’s an issue of them getting more out of buying HoT. It’s not a logical or reasonable reaction, but the emotion is hard to suppress.
2. The economic breakdown of the deal as it stands. Right now, you get more raw value, even as a veteran player with heavy play time, by creating an entirely new account and applying HoT to that. You get access to the same content, as well as more extra character slots, plus the advantages of having two accounts (twice the login rewards, potentially having accounts in another region to play with friends in that region, etc.). The problem is, if you do that, you lose the ability to take your old, best-liked characters into the new content. Giving up either of those feels bad.

Ultimately, I think it’s really unfortunate that what should have been a nice little bonus gift ended up riling up so many people’s bad sides. The good intentions, though, don’t quite manage to negate the poor emotional response it triggered.

People still treat it as if price opposing side cannot afford it….
Most of people outraged by the price can go for ultimate at any point in time they want. Problem lies within basic package – if basic package is bad value for money or a totally unfair deal to a group of people then the higher 2 are kitten value by default, because they include the basic one:

So basic 45 euro: Just expansion which is probably worth like 30E.
Deluxe 75 euro: Subtract the basic cost of 45 and char cost of 10. you get 4 cosmetic items + char slot for 20 euro. Now since NONE of those are complex items I can safely assume if they were on BL shop they would cost around 20-25 euro. So this package extras cover the extra price, while cost of basic remains bad value
Ultimate 100 euro: 45 Euro basic, 1 char slot 10 euro, 4k gems 50 euro and the cosmetics which I estimate to be 20-25 euro or so. Now, this is the only package that seems ok, but still not “good”.

For this people saying 45 euro / 50$ is a normal price to expansion go and compare what those 50$ expansions bring to the game with this one. The “normal” price for an expansion is 10-90$ although they are usually proportional to amount of content they bring.

And again, I hate to repeat myself, but seriously, just because they don’t admit core game makes the pack more expensive doesn’t mean it doesn’t. They just made the bundle so EVERYONE pays 50$, rather than old players paying 30$ and new ones 40+30. In the end it is in their interest to attract new players(and increase potential “steady” profit) because old ones are already likely to stay.

And finally, for all those people who say " You like it – you buy it. Don’t like it? Don’t buy it. Just STFU!": if you bought it follow your own suggestion. Obviously some people don’t think the content justifies the price and they are stating their opinion.

Sylent.3165:

Nothing in this world is free if you want just the core game it will cost you and your better off waiting for HoT release most likely will drop to 10 bucks

If HoT is $50 (like Anet says), and HoT+GW2 is also $50 (like Anet says), then by definition base GW2 is free now.

Hell of a way to announce going F2P though.

kawo.6935:

for me, it’s a fine deal if…
50$ with no additional slot for new players with core, or
50$ with an additional slot for old player without an extra copy of the core game.

Exactly! I second this! +1 and all that jazz. I’m fine with 50 bucks – I just really want a character slot instead of the core game which I’ve owned since it became available for pre-purchase 3 years ago.

They’re not going to offer it straight up for free because then you get loaded with bots and spammers

Rhonin Greymane.8752:

A simple point people don’t seem to understand is that the core game inclusion isn’t influencing the price in any way… it’s just something they threw in so new players that missed the previous sales aren’t stuck behind a huge paywall. They just got lucky to get the game at a lower price than others(free of charge in this case) the same way people got it for 75% less during the recent sales but nobody raised any pitchforks then even though they should have, according to the logic the complaining follows. The expansion itself costs 50$, you’d be paying that regardless of core game inclusion. Nobody is forcing you to pay extra for something you already have. Think of it as a 100% discount product you don’t have to put in your basket separately.

That’s two totally differents situations.
I already brought the game at 60$ & enjoyed it.
Then a new offer directed at new players comes they sell the game at 10$.
I’m not eligible & not interested because I already own it.

Now our situation:
I already brought the game at 60$ I played it for 5K hours.
I’m waiting for the expansion.
Anet releases a selling offer for the expansion adressed to new players and existing players.
Except that the offer is amazing for new players and is a ripoff for existing players.

To me is like Anet says :
You are a newplayer you can have a freebie + the expansion.
You are an existing player, you are not eligible for a freebie. thx for your support.

I’m not even mad at the expansion anymore. I am more amazed at the marketing/communications team at Arena Net. It doesn’t matter how big a company is (and ANET is probably on the smaller side comparatively) they are tied heavily to their consumers and weather or not they can keep them from going somewhere else. I mean there are programs that monitor community engagement in a variety of social media platforms, blogs forums etc and they pay people to monitor the community sentiment and develop plans to react to all situations. I’d love to see their communications strategy because they are doing a terrible job. Honestly….really bad.
Whoever in ANET that has said silence is an effective strategy for dealing with incredibly negative community feedback is an idiot. The longer they leave it, the longer it spreads until in every review there are comments putting new players off purchasing any version of the game. Why would they when they can go and buy elder scrolls online which is $60 on steam and is free to play, the same cost as the expansion and a character slot – and which is getting great reviews since it became ftp. Not to mention FFXIV.
How a company handles their consumers is also a great indication of how in touch they are with the market and how safe the brand will be in their hands. Not good at all. Any gaffs now are just going to result in more work down the track to make up any losses in profit which means longer wait before a release and on and on it goes.

JohnnyS.1460:

Finally some official word from the devs…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZspKoupWAY

holy kitten.. i’m crying here… that’s freakin hilarious!

I spent some time cooling down and rethinking and analyzing the whole situation. Still, veterans outraged not because some new players will get for FREE something, they won’t. They outraged because THEY will get NOTHING.

If you are new player: Welcome, congrats, here is your present!
If you are vet: move along now.

And 50$ price… I can buy a whole new game for that. Not just an expantion.
If i up it to an additional char slot (60$), i can preorder some epic games…
So no, it seems a bit overpriced.

I mean just look at the decline in the new page likes on GW2’s Facebook. Over what, a day…since this all started. So tell me where are these new players going to come from?
Edit: the grey line is last weeks new page likes, and the blue is this weeks.

JohnnyS.1460:

Finally some official word from the devs…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZspKoupWAY

Genius! I have nothing to add to that. That is just pure internet gold.

PuddingNL.7603:

I see a lot of reactions of: “If HoT was $50,- for only the expansion, people wouldn’t complain”.

That’s true!

But here is the big difference: Rather you are a new player or a veteran, you pay $50,- but as a new player you get the core game. As a veteran you already have the core game so u only get the expansion. No substitutes for veteran players. So this is really unfair to the veterans..

Some of the big problems I see here are:

- Not nearly enough information about expansion only features; while I think in general, 50$ for a B2P style MMO expansion seems fair, I’m not at all certain what exactly said 50$ would get me compared to what is being added for free

- No advance announcement for bundling the core game with the expansion; good intentions no doubt, but mishandled. Quietly editing the FAQ with no announcement is shady though

- As a result of the point above, “veteran” players get seemingly less value for their money compared to a new player. A free character slot (or gem amount equal to the cost of one) for veteran accounts would have been the obvious “deal-sweetener”. Considering that additional slots can be bought with gold anyways, this really should have been a no-brainer

It truly is astounding that they managed to step into all the easily imaginable potholes.

I do want to return and at some point will return….but not at the current prices.
If they include a toon slot then I don’t mind the $50 one quite as much.
I still feel as an expansion though, it should of been $40 max and include a toon slot as standard. (considering it has a new class to play)
The deluxe and ultimate editions however are now excluded from my buy possibility due to current kitten Aus exchange rate.

JustTrogdor.7892:

T raw.4658:

Another employee thread.

I’m happy you all are satisfied with your purchase

I’m not an Anet employee and never will be. I’m happily self-employed. However, thanks for understanding that I’m pleased with my purchase.

Uh huh sure. You know only certain types of people defend HoT. Since you say you aren’t an employee I’m sorry for your situation and only wish you success in life.

hahahaha !

http://www.noelshack.com/2015-25-1434696994-aatcrhn.jpg

yeah I can say I’m buying the Ultimate edition too, dose not make it true.

T raw.4658:

JustTrogdor.7892:

T raw.4658:

Another employee thread.

I’m happy you all are satisfied with your purchase

I’m not an Anet employee and never will be. I’m happily self-employed. However, thanks for understanding that I’m pleased with my purchase.

Uh huh sure. You know only certain types of people defend HoT. Since you say you aren’t an employee I’m sorry for your situation and only wish you success in life.

Why would you feel sorry for someone that’s a self-made person?

I was waiting for HoT… When I saw the pre-purchase I tought I must have it and now!!!
After i look the price and i change idea. The price is too high for what I ask.
I do essentially pvp, a bit of dungeon and Fractal . I never complete the world map, I never start the living story, I never did the world boss, the guild mission are boring, ecc ecc.
For my preference pay 50 euro for Stronghold and new specialization is really too much.
Can you give me some advice for a new game? Thanks very much.

Not the place to ask for advice for a new game. Go to a gaming forum for that. I’m relatively sure you can play stronghold without purchasing the expansion, btw.

http://massivelyop.com/2015/06/18/why-guild-wars-2s-prepurchase-deal-has-the-internet-raging/?utm_content=buffer7568f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

“For comparison’s sake, consider that we paid $50 for Warlords of Draenor and a level 90 character booster, which alone costs $50 $60. ArcheAge’s $50 founder package came with beta, head-start, a title, a glider, a month of sub, and credits worth $20 (its $100 and $150 packages included $80 and $120 in combined sub fees and credits, respectively). Closer to home, Guild Wars’ $35 Eye of the North expansion preorder package deal included a sneak peek weekend, special weapons, time-limited access to the standalone campaigns, and a free copy of the Bonus Mission Pack’s special missions and skins. In light of competitor pricing, I think that $35, $50, and $75 for the three tiers, intact, would have made far more sense.”

Funny thing I agree ANET you’ve got your pricing wrong on this one.

Granola.7309:

hahahaha !

http://www.noelshack.com/2015-25-1434696994-aatcrhn.jpg

Nice one

I used the same comic: http://i.imgur.com/1jI3LGy.jpg

If there is an exchange in order to receive a product it is not free. The core game is now part of the bundle you are paying for, thus it is not free. Why is it hard to understand ?

Is it because they told you it is free ? Ask them to give you a key code for the core game before you purchase HoT and then a separate key code for HoT when you drop the money. If they won’t give you a key code for nothing for the core game, I’m sorry to shatter your theory but it is not free. If it is part of a package that costs money then by definition it is not free.

If you go to a car dealership and they want 40k for a car and tell you they will throw in the engine for free are you really going to believe your not paying for that engine ?

Well maybe they’re getting $100 from you because the ultimate edition is a pretty good deal, unlike the (sub)standard edition, that for many ppl means extra 10$ for character slot or a random act of butchery on one of their beloved characters.

So now Anet accept some refund (with their crappy offer) up to April.

papry.8096:

So now Anet accept some refund (with their crappy offer) up to April.

problem is a refund kills your old account, which, if you linked it to gw1 is sort of unredeemable, then again i doubt many people are coming this late from gw1.`

I’m from Poland and i bought original gw2 as a key from key online store roughly 4 months after it’s launch. It was around 43$ at that time, compared to 60 euros on official site.

Needless to say all worked, else you wouldn’t see me post this;) So i don’t know about arena.net’s official website, but i’m pretty sure there will be other options springing up if not immediately, then soon after HoT launches.

Witte.3160:

I will not pay a single cent if the whole list of content to be expected isn’t made public.

I think this is one of the best ways to handle this.

Vote with your wallet. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it.

$50 USD Basic buys…
New player: Guild Wars 2 (includes five character slots and at least one bank slot), GW2: Heart of Thorns expansion
Existing player: GW2: Heart of Thorns expansion

There is apparently no way to sever the core game from the purchase of the expansion if you are an existing player. If you are an existing player you are leaving a new account on the table (and its attendant 5 character slots / 1 bank slot).
If you were to buy 5 character slots and 1 bank slot as upgrade from the gem store to your existing account this has a ~4600 gem value, or, $57.50 USD value.
Or if you just look at cost of the core game, you are leaving roughly $40 USD on table (though only $10-$20 USD during the deep discounts).

Furthermore, for those of you who have been following the Reddit threads that discuss people who bought the game over the past few months on the reliance of the old GW2: HoT FAQ which stated GW2 was needed in order to play HoT (and therefore leading to many purchases of GW2 over the past few months). These purchasers are now being told that IF they bought within the last 30 days then they are entitled to a refund. The refund process means deletion of the account, the email associated with the account are to be rendered unusable, it can disrupt / permanently destroy linking to GW1 accounts, and no gem purchases, items, gold, or so on will exist once refund is completed and account is terminated. But, if you meet and like those criteria then you do have the option of taking that refund and purchasing GW2 & GW2: Heart of Thorns at the new price point.

Also, it should be stated that the GW2: HoT FAQ was edited from reading that the GW2 game was necessary to play the HoT expansion to reading that a purchase of HoT now includes GW2.
So, in light of the above, I really hope you didn’t buy the game recently because the expansion was announced and the FAQ said you needed the original GW2 title, or at least if you did hopefully it was within the last 30 days and hopefully you made no gem purchases.

I just figured all this information should be available to anyone viewing this announcement.
It has caused quite a stir and otherwise riled up, what would be on a good day, a very nice gaming community for the most part,and added some new rifts to the community as well as drive off some players both old and new. What impact this has had on potential sales is unknown.

This video sums up everything wrong with that offer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=126&v=meiU6TxysCg

To clarify: I don’t care what is included or not. I have invested enough in this game for the last 3 years and now you want to tell me i paid 45 Euro for the game and now 45 euro again..Simple math: that makes 90 euro for me, not including all the gems i bought and as veteran i don’t get even a new charakter slot for expansion with maybe no new dungeons. If i want to farm gold for my new legendary, am I supposed to run CoF etc. again(there are much points that have been discussed and i don’t need to do it one more time)? NO THANK YOU!!! Go find another players, I prefer to invest my money and be loyal to somebody, who is loyal to me, or at least have some vision how to pay attention to it’s long term customers! I am really sorry for you…was my favourite game.

PS: So to clarify one more time: The problem is not the money, but your politics!!!!

My main issue with the pricing point for the expansion is that it seems to holly favor new players and not veteran players.

Saying that new players get the base game for free, is basically the same as saying that new players get a discount on the GW2 + HoT package (with the discount being a value relative to the cost of GW2 on its own at any given time).

This discount does not affect veteran players because veteran players already have the base game and thus do not benefit from acquiring it again.

Now, I’m not asking for veteran players to get more stuff than new players. I’m just asking for them to be treated equally. Right now though, it feels like new players are getting the most benefit from this package while veterans get no extra incentives to offset the difference.

I still believe ANet should have had two packages. One for upgrading to HoT if you already have GW2, and one that includes both, as the current package does. Even if it’s just a 10 dollar discount for upgrading (I.E. the standard edition upgrade to HoT costs $40 for existing GW2 players), that would still be better because it at least gives us a free extra $10 to buy a character slot or whatever else we want. At the very least that would make it feel more balanced for both new and veteran players.

As things are right now though, it feels like veteran players are getting the middle finger while new players are treated like V.I.P.s. I’ll say this again, I don’t expect Veteran players to get any extras over new players. HOWEVER, I also don’t expect new players to get any extras over veterans, which is currently the case.

Goraz.3754:

I do want to return and at some point will return….but not at the current prices.
If they include a toon slot then I don’t mind the $50 one quite as much.
I still feel as an expansion though, it should of been $40 max and include a toon slot as standard. (considering it has a new class to play)
The deluxe and ultimate editions however are now excluded from my buy possibility due to current kitten Aus exchange rate.

This ^ Exactly.

Rahkylus.8097:

I see 3 options for ANet:
1 – Lower the price as an expansion only pack (wich i dont see happening)
2 – Keep the price but add the option: if used to upgrade an existing account get extra gems or character slots or both
3 – Do nothing and see a huge part of the actual player base leave…
Your strategy atm is making the current player not buy HoT, buy it and feel robbed and/or get laughed at by the new player for having bought the game TWICE, and make the incoming returning mass of players leave once more…
Also announcing this at E3 makes many ppl think about using the money saved for HoT to buy another game like Fallout 4 wich are much more worth in terms of price. like said in repplies above you are making regular veterans abandon the idea of purchase and keeping only the ones with tons of money and some new players. Not a wise strategy ANet.
Please make some ammends to this situation.

Sincerely a huge fan of the GW world

So I’m sorry, it seems I was missinformed about some things, for example, bonus core game is just a bonus for new players and not a bundle with the expansion so that part I take back what i said, still, lots of ppl are already extremely angered by that deal so the sugestions 1 and 2 stay since it would still be a easy sollution for both you guys at ANet and all the veterans out there would be happier and most would insta-buy it right now. Also I will add that if you reveal more things in the meantime it would help justify the price tag you put on HoT and more ppl would maybe find it worth the price, if not tell the community why do you think it would be worth such a price. With the ammount of content revealed up to date I understand why some are saying they wont buy.
It is a shame it has all come to this point, you guys do some amazing content and I (and many more too) would like the community to return to the happy and firendly state it was before.
Keep up the good work and hope this all gets solved soon so we can all enjoy Heart of Thorns

papry.8096:

This video sums up everything wrong with that offer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=126&v=meiU6TxysCg

Perfectly summarized. ANET please, please pay attention and go learn about FAIRNESS.

temerity.7824:

First, $50 is within the mmo industry standard for expansions. That’s just the way it is and anyone who suggests otherwise is completely ignorant about the state of the industry. Don’t like it? Tough kitten. The truth of the matter is Heart of Thorns will be effectively one of the cheapest modern MMO expansions on the market since it doesn’t require you to purchase the base game or pay a sub fee.

Second, you don’t have to pre-order and no-one is asking you to pre-order. Don’t think it has enough content? That’s fine, but we don’t know everything that’s going to be in the game yet (probably won’t until launch, another pattern in the MMO industry). So settle the kitten down.

The only reasonable request is a character slot be included with the base version of Heart of Thorns. But guess what – that’s all it is, a reasonable request.

Basically, in this thread: Entitled people whining that new players are getting the game cheaper than they got it 3 years ago

It is not about entitlement… Personally, I think the earlier post about pricing fairness (people who paid for A getting B at the same price as people buying A+B when A is still being sold at full price) had at least part of it right… the other part is what has also been said about the content being of questionable value for the price and there being no additional slots for existing owners in the base version.

In addition there is another element, due to Guild Halls being part of the package it does also kind of feel like holding the Guild Leaders to ransom as some guilds may start to falter if the leader does not get the expansion and so is at least unable to visit (nor possibly contribute to) the Guild Hall.

Fairness is ultimately what is being asked for and the current situation is damaging to the good reputation A-Net started with the original Guild Wars. If at least the base package did not include the game for free, there would probably be ALOT less objections to the pricing strategy, a better option would have been to bundle the original Guild Wars for an extra £10 or to give £10 worth of Gems to pre-existing account holders if they buy HoT.

Man I hope Anet reads all this and isn’t stubborn enough to do nothing with this..

Come on Anet, give us a signal!

ProdCloud.5704:

I’m not even mad at the expansion anymore. I am more amazed at the marketing/communications team at Arena Net. It doesn’t matter how big a company is (and ANET is probably on the smaller side comparatively) they are tied heavily to their consumers and weather or not they can keep them from going somewhere else. I mean there are programs that monitor community engagement in a variety of social media platforms, blogs forums etc and they pay people to monitor the community sentiment and develop plans to react to all situations. I’d love to see their communications strategy because they are doing a terrible job. Honestly….really bad.
Whoever in ANET that has said silence is an effective strategy for dealing with incredibly negative community feedback is an idiot. The longer they leave it, the longer it spreads until in every review there are comments putting new players off purchasing any version of the game. Why would they when they can go and buy elder scrolls online which is $60 on steam and is free to play, the same cost as the expansion and a character slot – and which is getting great reviews since it became ftp. Not to mention FFXIV.
How a company handles their consumers is also a great indication of how in touch they are with the market and how safe the brand will be in their hands. Not good at all. Any gaffs now are just going to result in more work down the track to make up any losses in profit which means longer wait before a release and on and on it goes.

Oh, I didn’t know that ESO became ftp, I could play it until HoT price inevitably drops to $10.

Achivements and stuff, I don’t care about those. At least not as much as I care for free character slots and a brand new everything. I could pick a brand new account for $10, even with the expansion. Until the day I buy it for $10 (probably won’t take more than 6 months by the way in this new era of crazy sales) I could use my main, now useless account to reap daily chests of laurels and other goodies (which takes like 10-20 seconds to acquire now, lol) and transfer all useful stuff to my new, bought for $10 account with expansion when the time comes. And continue farming chests at double rate now that I have 2 accounts.

warbignime.4610:

You guys should compare WoW expansion reveal to HoT, or even ff14 heavensward. Most of MMORPG are vague about their expansion too, there are no weekly live stream about the content neither weekly detailed blog post. Just check wow MoP reveal page, all they did are listed features and a very short portion of the reveal video and that’s pretty much it. How much more do you guys want? Anet won’t tell you every detail neither but that’s the same with every game expansion ever. People are having ridiculous expectations and it bothers me.

Everybody knows wow expansions and what they bring. Can be better or worse, but they bring tons of content, wether you enjoy it or not. For the last one i played, cataclysm, which was also probably the weakest, they reworked many maps, all the questing system, added new maps (cant remember if 3 or 4 big maps), a few raids (3 core and 2 small ones, i think), quite a few dungeons (6?), new pvpve map, and many things i dont recall. And that was a weak wow expansion. They did much better for wotlk, or burning crusade. They dont need to taunt people to buy their expansions, just to put put quality content.

Gw2 expansions, on the other hand? For a game that was such a big hype ball before launch, they are keeping it really quiet now. I wonder if its because they dont have much to show….

rapthorne.7345:

The one and only issue I have with HoT’s preorder purchasing right now is the slow trickle of information.

The problem you should have with pre-ordering is a history of gamers being taken for fools, sinking their money into a crap, unfinished product and wishing they’d not pre-ordered until hearing a review or two.

I may be wrong, but If A-net’s marketing/business plan cannot allow them to decrease their price of $50 or add a compensation for vets, then I think the best course of action would be to simply and honestly release some response:

Saying that they can’t.

Explaining their intentions / clarifying misconceptions.

And overall just addressesing the community.

As much as I can understand trying to not be hasty to otherwise just fan the flames, I think that being silent and letting the flames burn is equally as bad a decision. :\

Razor.9872:

I may be wrong, but If A-net’s marketing/business plan cannot allow them to decrease their price of $50 or add a compensation for vets, then I think the best course of action would be to simply and honestly release some response:

Saying that they can’t.

Sure… they can’t give us 800 gems /free slot instead of the core game we already have, because that will wreck a billionare bussiness plan. But upgrading hundreds of accounts to deluxe after the beta-events did not…

Dude, that is just not true.

They can, they should… they must give us that extra.