Guild Wars 2

So, when expansion 2 comes out, will all of HoT go free? Or will thier be two xpacs on sale?

(I tried using the forums search, but its terrible)

Yes, to get the most bang for the buck you should wait till they are finished with all future expansions so it looks like there is a ton of content

You’ll get HoT when you buy the 2nd xpack

Yup, the business model atm the moment seems to be that when you buy an expansion you get the pre-exisitng content bundled with it. This of course leaves out LS season 2, which is acquired via gemstore and most likely LS season 3 will also be possible to get the same way in case you do not play it when it comes out.

Soooo this formula boils down to punishing early adopters and panders to people who will just simply wait and get things for free that other people paid for.

$60 GW2 + HoT + Exp2
$50 HoT+ Exp2 (requires GW2)
$35 Exp2 (requires GW2 + HoT)
$0 GW2 F2P

But nope, you can bet your kitten Anet will come up with some other convoluted pricing scheme.

wrathmagik.3518:

Soooo this formula boils down to punishing early adopters and panders to people who will just simply wait and get things for free that other people paid for.

Early adopters of EVERY game are punished by this logic. I bought Guild Wars Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall and EotN when it came out. I paid $170 for it. If I waited long enough I could get it all for $40. I’m being punished? lol

Okay then.

I was punished the most for this I feel. I was sucked into buying the pre-Beta by my social guild and one of our members was a big fan of dungeons. “Fungeons” he called them. He forced me to learn mechanics that recent players don’t even need any more. I had to learn complex skill rotations and swap out weapons. Free accounts just press 1 now.
I later joined a Singapore based guild. More like a cult! They groomed me with WvW and zergs and before I knew it we were sucking back on Quaggan tonics and doing synchronised moves in LA and.. I’m ashamed to say.. I was lured back into dungeons where I was forced to perform unspeakable acts of stacking and blasting combo finishers from behind doors and luring enemies by breaking line of sight and pulling them to us.
I wish I’d just waited three years and then I’d have got the base game for free.
But no. A few months ago I joined a really big guild. Things have gotten steadily worse. They do missions where you get turned into things, unspeakable things and you have to run round and round these places and I have no idea where I’m going and try to make my excuses but they put up these markers that float in the air and people stand in set places and my cries fall on deaf ears. I’ve now got all these commendation things that just make me feel cheap. And they do mapping runs, yesterday it was Timberline Falls. Ten or so of us just roaming around this map getting waypoints and points of interest.
I just feel beaten by all the wonders. Next time I’m going to wait.

I’d guess that Xpac 2 will include core and HoT in the price but XPac2 could easily be a year or two away. So you’d get “better value” by waiting but you would not be able to play HoT in the meantime. It’s a bit like not wanting to buy a PC today because you’ll a better one for the same money next year.

It seems to me more likely that the options will be:

• Play-for-Free (the limited version, core areas only).
• Core only (not available from ANet any longer; only for original owners who haven’t upgraded).
• HoT: Revenant, 9 specializations, Magus Falls, HoT story, gliding, HoT masteries, core masteries.
• CoLD (Conscience of the Living Dead, a dwarven story, the 2nd expac): new prof, 10 more specializations, CoLD story, gliding, CoLD masteries CoLD masteries

In other words, the 2nd expac is certain to include the same core features as HoT, but not as certain to include the unique-to-HoT abilities, with the exception of gliding.

This is close to how the Campaign system of GW1 worked and it seems better suited for maximizing revenue.

I’ve crossed out my comment, based on the ANet statement quoted (below) by Khisanth. ANet answered the OP’s question (unless you think they’ll give away for free one of the major benefits to buying the expac).

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

In other words, the 2nd expac is certain to include the same core features as HoT, but not as certain to include the unique-to-HoT abilities, with the exception of gliding.

They’ve already said that any new expac will be bundled with all the previous ones (and core). So, expac 2 will contain HoT and paid core in it as well.

Now, that doesn’t mean HoT will be free – you’d still need to buy expac2 to get it. F2p game is unlikely to get upgraded past core (or at least not at the next expac).

The current plan, as was announced with HoT, is to only sell a single box. The living world seasons are however sold separately and with at least 1 per expansion and fixed pricing, that is how they’ll likely recover the loss on expansion sales. If you buy HoT for example, you’ll get season 3 (~$20) for free if you bother to login. If you skip HoT and buy the next expansion, you’ll get HoT for free ($50, ~$30 on sale), but will be missing season 3 (~$20).

They didn’t clarify if HoT would be made entirely free like the core game however. I suspect they will in order to keep the old game alive. If not, they’ll probably make it free with the 3rd expansion.

They may drop this plan however considering what happened with HoT is going to happen every expansion. People will complain about being forced to buy HoT again and everyone who recently purchased HoT will have to be offered a refund, so don’t buy HoT 1.5-2 years after its release from 3rd parties since they don’t get that offer.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

In other words, the 2nd expac is certain to include the same core features as HoT, but not as certain to include the unique-to-HoT abilities, with the exception of gliding.

That seems like a contradiction of what they have stated previously.

We want to be clear about our business model for future expansions now that we are approaching our first paid expansion for Guild Wars 2. We believe that to keep the game dynamic and vibrant with a constantly growing community, it should be as easy as possible for new players to get into Guild Wars 2. For Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, we didn’t want the core game’s price to be a factor in a new player’s decision to begin playing Guild Wars 2. In the future, if we release further Guild Wars 2 expansions, we plan to offer all of the prior expansions, the core game, and the latest expansion for one single purchase price.

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

They did leave that statement somewhat ambiguous if you ignore the context so maybe it will just a bundle.

I confess I missed that sentence. Thanks Khisanth and Astralporing. I’ll amend my earlier post accordingly (which is to say: cross it out entirely; it doesn’t really make sense in the context of that quote).

Yes, and we’ll be asked to pay for a full game while barely getting half of one. I’ll be waiting on what the expansion actually delivers. In fact, I’ll we waiting on the franchise.

DaShi.1368:

Yes, and we’ll be asked to pay for a full game while barely getting half of one. I’ll be waiting on what the expansion actually delivers. In fact, I’ll we waiting on the franchise.

Heh I guess it’ll work out if you buy every other expansion …

Pretty much.

wrathmagik.3518:

Soooo this formula boils down to punishing early adopters and panders to people who will just simply wait and get things for free that other people paid for.

dont forget most of ppl will be busy doing xpac 2 while u sit there LFG for xpac 1 content no one will be doing. Look at Silverwaste how many ppl are still doing the meta.

Taxidriver.2043:

wrathmagik.3518:

Soooo this formula boils down to punishing early adopters and panders to people who will just simply wait and get things for free that other people paid for.

dont forget most of ppl will be busy doing xpac 2 while u sit there LFG for xpac 1 content no one will be doing. Look at Silverwaste how many ppl are still doing the meta.

idont know what you mean, ive not had difficulty finding a populated sw map at all post HoT

So basically they are forcing paying customers to keep a game running so free players can pls everything apart from the most recent expac if they wait till next expac is out.

Another brilliant move by Anet, alienate your playerbase in favour of free players who will not pay a dime because they are getting say 70% of gw 2 for free.

If they do that then alot of their core players (who currently fund them by buying expansions) would just leave until 2 – 3 Expac have gone by and come back to get them for free.

Drakz.7051:

So basically they are forcing paying customers to keep a game running so free players can pls everything apart from the most recent expac if they wait till next expac is out.

Not sure where you got that. The paid game will have all the expacs up to the point you bought it included, but nowhere was it said that the past expacs will become free for f2p players. I strongly doubt that’s going to happen.

So, by the next expac, you will have players buying expac 2 getting everything, including HoT in that package, but f2p will still likely remain only core.

TL/DR: you won’t be able to get anything for free. You’d still need to buy that last expac.

Let’s also keep in mind that just because ANet said that future expacs will include the core game and all previous expacs up to that point, that doesn’t mean that by the time their next expac is ready to ship that they won’t have changed their minds and, shall we say, “altered” the deal. You know, for the “good of the game” and all.

My impression is that sales for HoT were not as good as they had hoped. I can easily see them deciding that they aren’t so eager to give it away for free since they didn’t make as much from it as they initially planned.

True, this is all speculation on my part, but then expecting ANet to honor their commitments seems to be a fast track to disappointment these days.

TLDR: I’ll believe it when I see it.

Drakz.7051:

So basically they are forcing paying customers to keep a game running so free players can pls everything apart from the most recent expac if they wait till next expac is out.

Another brilliant move by Anet, alienate your playerbase in favour of free players who will not pay a dime because they are getting say 70% of gw 2 for free.

If they do that then alot of their core players (who currently fund them by buying expansions) would just leave until 2 – 3 Expac have gone by and come back to get them for free.

That logic…..
This is in other MMORPGS also(one wich you have to pay monthly and to pay the addons).
And, while you pay for the addon at the beginning and can play, “the others”(the ones you are reffering to)have to wait atleast a year or more.

And i don’t think F2P-players can enter Expansion-areas, that will also not happen