Guild Wars 2

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

So, you are saying, they shouldn’t have given out LS for free at all?

Morfedel.4165:

Possible. But one of the models for Stronghold was Fort Aspenwood, and FA was very awesome and very popular. I think we have a reasonable chance that it could work out well.

It was also imbalanced and bugged as hell, and they have never managed to fix that until the very end. I’m pretty sure that the only reason it was never removed was because it was not considered to really be part of PvP mode.

I have never understood people moaning about having to pay for new content. So what if we got the LS stuff for free, that was a bonus not the norm. Some companies would have charged for each season.

Stop moaning about Anet charging for new content and start thanking them for giving us free stuff.

Some people are just so kitten ungrateful.

#alwaysthewhiners

People cry for expansion, other people cry because of expansion. Seriously. Stop crying, Anet CAN NOT please everyone.

Test.8734:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

That’s not really what happened, I think.

The Living Story pretty much failed. ArenaNet focused a lot on the China release but it was worse than expected. The number of players has been falling, they have made changes to their business model (selling Living World chapters) yet profit has not risen; in other words, the future doesn’t look bright for ArenaNet.

They probably decided to make an expansion simply because they have no idea what to do now. This is nearing a desperate move. And it remains to be seen how well planned and how well implemented the promised features for the expansion will be.

I’m sorry but the facts presented in the NCsoft earning reports trump your opinions. GW2 is making more money than ever. Yeah, the devs must be really desperate.

Now it remains to be seen of course how well the expansion sells, but from what I’ve seen it seems like a solid package.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

just don’t do living story… #SolvingProblemsTheEasyWay

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

Season 2 ended (on a cliffhanger). The Season 3 will either need the expansion or be the expansion. Almost 3 years of content for €50 seems reasonable to me (€75 in my case, as I got the digital collectors edition). I think we’ve all got our moneys worth.

Tom Gore.4035:

Test.8734:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

That’s not really what happened, I think.

The Living Story pretty much failed. ArenaNet focused a lot on the China release but it was worse than expected. The number of players has been falling, they have made changes to their business model (selling Living World chapters) yet profit has not risen; in other words, the future doesn’t look bright for ArenaNet.

They probably decided to make an expansion simply because they have no idea what to do now. This is nearing a desperate move. And it remains to be seen how well planned and how well implemented the promised features for the expansion will be.

I’m sorry but the facts presented in the NCsoft earning reports trump your opinions. GW2 is making more money than ever. Yeah, the devs must be really desperate.

Now it remains to be seen of course how well the expansion sells, but from what I’ve seen it seems like a solid package.

Actually he has a point. The Royalties line, which GW2 China would be reported in (as well as any of their games being run by 3rd parties) was down for 3Q from 2Q by roughly $15 million. No idea which games, all games, 3rd party from China, 3rd party from Europe (for AION and Lineage 2), we just don’t know but it’s down a lot, like 40%. Then you have GW2 sales and cash shop from NA/EU. That was down 8% from the previous quarter, roughly $1.7 million.

So it’s impossible to say how well China GW2 is doing, just that 3rd party revenue is sharply down and GW2 in NA/EU income has weakened slightly. Still the last 4 quarters, GW2 had NA/EU income around $95 million.

Behellagh.1468:

Tom Gore.4035:

Test.8734:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

That’s not really what happened, I think.

The Living Story pretty much failed. ArenaNet focused a lot on the China release but it was worse than expected. The number of players has been falling, they have made changes to their business model (selling Living World chapters) yet profit has not risen; in other words, the future doesn’t look bright for ArenaNet.

They probably decided to make an expansion simply because they have no idea what to do now. This is nearing a desperate move. And it remains to be seen how well planned and how well implemented the promised features for the expansion will be.

I’m sorry but the facts presented in the NCsoft earning reports trump your opinions. GW2 is making more money than ever. Yeah, the devs must be really desperate.

Now it remains to be seen of course how well the expansion sells, but from what I’ve seen it seems like a solid package.

Actually he has a point. The Royalties line, which GW2 China would be reported in (as well as any of their games being run by 3rd parties) was down for 3Q from 2Q by roughly $15 million. No idea which games, all games, 3rd party from China, 3rd party from Europe (for AION and Lineage 2), we just don’t know but it’s down a lot, like 40%. Then you have GW2 sales and cash shop from NA/EU. That was down 8% from the previous quarter, roughly $1.7 million.

So it’s impossible to say how well China GW2 is doing, just that 3rd party revenue is sharply down and GW2 in NA/EU income has weakened slightly. Still the last 4 quarters, GW2 had NA/EU income around $95 million.

Good points. Too bad NCsoft does not break down their profits per game, so we can only see that sales for GW2 have dropped a bit from Q2 to Q3, but we have no idea what their cost structure for that period was.

I withdraw my claim that GW2 is making more money than ever. I however don’t think the release of the expansion is desperation as some put it. It was an expected move, and it was widely requested by the players. Apparently many of them would rather get larger chunks of content at a sparse pacing rather than small bits every few weeks.

Also, we don’t know how LS will work after the expansion. I would assume they keep on doing it like they did with S2. Heck, it could even be that we won’t take Mordy down in the expansion, but only in S3 which would start shortly after the expansion launch. Many other MMOs don’t let you to kill the expansion big baddie right from the launch, but instead only after a couple of subsequent content patches. This is to give the developer team more time to polish the content, but also to help gate the content so that the 1% of “pros” don’t finish off the big boss in 24 hours and spoil the rest of the players, sometimes weeks before they can get to the final battle themselves.

Test.8734:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

That’s not really what happened, I think.

The Living Story pretty much failed. ArenaNet focused a lot on the China release but it was worse than expected. The number of players has been falling, they have made changes to their business model (selling Living World chapters) yet profit has not risen; in other words, the future doesn’t look bright for ArenaNet.

They probably decided to make an expansion simply because they have no idea what to do now. This is nearing a desperate move. And it remains to be seen how well planned and how well implemented the promised features for the expansion will be.

Hans Christian Anderson would have rejected this for a fairytale. I’m sure that the expansion was being worked on before Season 2 even launched.

I don’t know how you can think otherwise, since in six weeks they’re going to be doing a live demo of it.

Vayne.8563:

Test.8734:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

That’s not really what happened, I think.

The Living Story pretty much failed. ArenaNet focused a lot on the China release but it was worse than expected. The number of players has been falling, they have made changes to their business model (selling Living World chapters) yet profit has not risen; in other words, the future doesn’t look bright for ArenaNet.

They probably decided to make an expansion simply because they have no idea what to do now. This is nearing a desperate move. And it remains to be seen how well planned and how well implemented the promised features for the expansion will be.

Hans Christian Anderson would have rejected this for a fairytale. I’m sure that the expansion was being worked on before Season 2 even launched.

I don’t know how you can think otherwise, since in six weeks they’re going to be doing a live demo of it.

I think he’s implying that the HoT content was originally planned to be released free through Living World updates, and then only subsequently decided to be bunched up and sold as an expansion.

It could be. We don’t really know.

Well I mean,

A) it’s be weird if they didn’t build up to their big new expansions

B) yeah, they’re a business. They make money. Deal with it.

Behellagh.1468:

“We hate this drip, drip, drip of the Living Story. We want a paid expansion.”

“Here’s a paid expansion.”

“What? I don’t want to pay cash for an expansion. Can I pay in gold?”

Honestly, a fine example of kitten if you do, kitten if you don’t.

They’ve stated it’s bigger than any of the current regions, the ones with multiple zones. They aren’t giving us a pocket zones like Dry Top or Silverwastes.

Tom Gore.4035:

Vayne.8563:

Test.8734:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

That’s not really what happened, I think.

The Living Story pretty much failed. ArenaNet focused a lot on the China release but it was worse than expected. The number of players has been falling, they have made changes to their business model (selling Living World chapters) yet profit has not risen; in other words, the future doesn’t look bright for ArenaNet.

They probably decided to make an expansion simply because they have no idea what to do now. This is nearing a desperate move. And it remains to be seen how well planned and how well implemented the promised features for the expansion will be.

Hans Christian Anderson would have rejected this for a fairytale. I’m sure that the expansion was being worked on before Season 2 even launched.

I don’t know how you can think otherwise, since in six weeks they’re going to be doing a live demo of it.

I think he’s implying that the HoT content was originally planned to be released free through Living World updates, and then only subsequently decided to be bunched up and sold as an expansion.

It could be. We don’t really know.

Interesting. It’s possible, and from the outside looking in, a plausible theory.

Tom Gore.4035:

Vayne.8563:

Test.8734:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

That’s not really what happened, I think.

The Living Story pretty much failed. ArenaNet focused a lot on the China release but it was worse than expected. The number of players has been falling, they have made changes to their business model (selling Living World chapters) yet profit has not risen; in other words, the future doesn’t look bright for ArenaNet.

They probably decided to make an expansion simply because they have no idea what to do now. This is nearing a desperate move. And it remains to be seen how well planned and how well implemented the promised features for the expansion will be.

Hans Christian Anderson would have rejected this for a fairytale. I’m sure that the expansion was being worked on before Season 2 even launched.

I don’t know how you can think otherwise, since in six weeks they’re going to be doing a live demo of it.

I think he’s implying that the HoT content was originally planned to be released free through Living World updates, and then only subsequently decided to be bunched up and sold as an expansion.

It could be. We don’t really know.

The evidence for this is severely lacking, if that’s what’s being suggested. Anet has always said, well for a long time anyway, that they were working on several big projects in the background but they weren’t sure how they wanted to release them.

More to the point, NcSoft has been saying for years that at some point there would be an expansion….when the time is right.

Clearly they were working on this and clearly at least some people thought it would be an expansion.

They may have well had a faction of people in management who wanted to try something new, but it’s a fact that at conference calls over the last couple of years, NcSoft has mentioned the word expansion more than once.

If he is saying what you say he’s saying (and I see no evidence for it), there’s still nothing to back it up.

Keep in mind, I’ve been saying they’ve been working on these bigger projects for probably about a year now.

At least Anet doesn’t have the audacity to have a montly subscription fee on top of cash store AND regular, full-price expansions whilst being 10 years old.

Honestly, I’m happy to pay for an expansion if it means we get more content faster. I never thought that doing the Living World only was going to be sustainable and they were likely hemorrhaging players due to the slowness of content updates.

For all those using TV shows as an analogy; keep in mind that you are paying for a service package to watch the channel to begin with; be it cable or satellite. Even if you’re going through Hulu or Netflix, you’re still paying a fee to watch those episodes. So they aren’t technically free to begin with. The only real exception to this is if you’re watching ‘local’ channels, which is not what the majority of you are talking / thinking about.

Anywho, back on topic, I’m perfectly fine with this route – LS leading up and into the expansion story line. It’s actually what I’ve suggested they do since very early in the LS development. I rather like it, personally.

If people would have supported the free model, and not come on the forums yelling for an expansion. We might have continued down that path, but Anet needs to bring back fans and attract new ones. For some reason when expansions are talked about people get all excited.

I would have been just excited if not more, if Anet would have stuck to their no expansion, and just release the content as LS episodes.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

For all those using TV shows as an analogy; keep in mind that you are paying for a service package to watch the channel to begin with; be it cable or satellite. Even if you’re going through Hulu or Netflix, you’re still paying a fee to watch those episodes. So they aren’t technically free to begin with. The only real exception to this is if you’re watching ‘local’ channels, which is not what the majority of you are talking / thinking about.

Anywho, back on topic, I’m perfectly fine with this route – LS leading up and into the expansion story line. It’s actually what I’ve suggested they do since very early in the LS development. I rather like it, personally.

Except that you can since you are paying for your internet service already to play GW2. I can watch my TV shows on Hulu from the internet for free , all I have to do is pay for my internet service. So yah if you look at it that way you can compare.

Living Story had a rocky start and it just started getting really good, but now Anet is throwing that away because some people can’t get away from old habits.

…
OH! I get it now! I finally understand

great job, 8/8 would rage at again

I’m at the point where I don’t care about the content in the x-pac.
I just want to so haters will stop playing and won’t flood the forums and map chats with kitten like this.

I doubt ANet is “throwing away” Living Story. Especially since they’ve stated that new masteries and specializations will be coming with future releases.

And Living World has, in mine and many other player’s eyes, been a success. We’ve gotten great events (both dynamic events and lore events) through it, gotten great characters, tons of speculation about lore, and much more. I think ANet sees Living World as a success as well, and not once have they said expansions will replace Living World.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

For all those using TV shows as an analogy; keep in mind that you are paying for a service package to watch the channel to begin with; be it cable or satellite. Even if you’re going through Hulu or Netflix, you’re still paying a fee to watch those episodes. So they aren’t technically free to begin with. The only real exception to this is if you’re watching ‘local’ channels, which is not what the majority of you are talking / thinking about.

Anywho, back on topic, I’m perfectly fine with this route – LS leading up and into the expansion story line. It’s actually what I’ve suggested they do since very early in the LS development. I rather like it, personally.

Except that you can since you are paying for your internet service already to play GW2. I can watch my TV shows on Hulu from the internet for free , all I have to do is pay for my internet service. So yah if you look at it that way you can compare.

Living Story had a rocky start and it just started getting really good, but now Anet is throwing that away because some people can’t get away from old habits.

except that ANET doesn’t get anything from your internet service.

I know some other MMOs that require a monthly fee and then you have to pay for expansions.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

SO basically what anet wants to do is do free living story all the way up to the climax and then put the end behind a pay wall.

Brilliant.

At no point in the announcement did they state that the expansion would conclude the living story, and the trailer didn’t hint at all that we’d be defeating Mordremoth in it.

It’s quite likely that the expansion will be a side plot involving the Mursaat and Mordremoths minions with boss battles and the like and the main story will continue in the free living story season 3.

It seems clear to me that the OP has no interest in having an informed opinion and only wants to express an emotional reaction based on incomplete information.

Rin.1046:

It seems clear to me that the OP has no interest in having an informed opinion and only wants to express an emotional reaction based on incomplete information.

A lot of that going about, I haven’t typed in the forums this much in months. So much misinformation being spread considering we only have a little bit of information at all.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

BilboBaggins.5620:

dsslive.8473:

ye so lame that we get free content to keep us going in between expansions instead of waiting ~2 years without getting anything.

/sarcasm

Now take that same mentality and apply it to your favorite tv show. Why should a network give you the final season for free? It should go direct to DVD on a per episode basis for $20 a pop! Best way to milk your loyal fans.

You can’t use the same analogy. The TV show was free to begin with. GW2 had to be purchased.

Now visiting your DVD analogy: You can record your show and watch it free forever, or you can choose to purchase the DVD and get some extra content that comes along with the show.

Short way. You pay cable company, cable company pays studios to make content/air old content.

Nothing you see on tv is free.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

For all those using TV shows as an analogy; keep in mind that you are paying for a service package to watch the channel to begin with; be it cable or satellite. Even if you’re going through Hulu or Netflix, you’re still paying a fee to watch those episodes. So they aren’t technically free to begin with. The only real exception to this is if you’re watching ‘local’ channels, which is not what the majority of you are talking / thinking about.

Anywho, back on topic, I’m perfectly fine with this route – LS leading up and into the expansion story line. It’s actually what I’ve suggested they do since very early in the LS development. I rather like it, personally.

Except that you can since you are paying for your internet service already to play GW2. I can watch my TV shows on Hulu from the internet for free , all I have to do is pay for my internet service. So yah if you look at it that way you can compare.

Living Story had a rocky start and it just started getting really good, but now Anet is throwing that away because some people can’t get away from old habits.

WRONG. You do NOT watch Hulu for free.. EVEN IF YOU PAY FOR IT. You will see ads. The ads are how they generate revenue. Do you wants ads in GW2 so they can generate revenue? No? Didn’t think so. Paid expansion please and thank you. I’m glad they gave us free content to tie the stories together from base game to expansion and look forward to this continued process.

Also.. as others pointed out.. the television providers pay the content providers.. your ISP doesn’t pay anet.

I want the paid expansion. ArenaNet has one of the best pay models in all of gaming. They really do. I don’t think they should hide LW content behind a pay wall though.

With that being said, if they are changing the way they do their content and giving us like 3, $20 dollar expansions every year I am OK with that. Would be nice to see some clarification about how the process is going to play out though.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

This expansion yes, it is very lacking.

I don’t think we can say it’s lacking until they actually give us all the information. Be patient before throwing it under the bus.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

For all those using TV shows as an analogy; keep in mind that you are paying for a service package to watch the channel to begin with; be it cable or satellite. Even if you’re going through Hulu or Netflix, you’re still paying a fee to watch those episodes. So they aren’t technically free to begin with. The only real exception to this is if you’re watching ‘local’ channels, which is not what the majority of you are talking / thinking about.

Anywho, back on topic, I’m perfectly fine with this route – LS leading up and into the expansion story line. It’s actually what I’ve suggested they do since very early in the LS development. I rather like it, personally.

Except that you can since you are paying for your internet service already to play GW2. I can watch my TV shows on Hulu from the internet for free , all I have to do is pay for my internet service. So yah if you look at it that way you can compare.

Living Story had a rocky start and it just started getting really good, but now Anet is throwing that away because some people can’t get away from old habits.

No you cannot compare the two. Are you saying that you would like to stop playing every 15 minutes for a 3 minute commercial break? No one is providing you free content in any venue. $40 for three years of great gaming, ok story and unlimitted game time is the best bargin on the planet.

Between you and Test, I’m certain this thread is just being punked. And looking at Test’s posts (and the user ID for kitten’s sake) I’m convinced it is a competitor account designed specifically to troll the forums.

Iason Evan.3806:

I want the paid expansion. ArenaNet has one of the best pay models in all of gaming. They really do. I don’t think they should hide LW content behind a pay wall though.

With that being said, if they are changing the way they do their content and giving us like 3, $20 dollar expansions every year I am OK with that. Would be nice to see some clarification about how the process is going to play out though.

I agree with you, Anet does have one of the best payment models. I am sure will get more information soon.

As to putting LW behind a pay wall, I do not see this as a negative. The GW payment model is pay 2 play, so it makes perfect sense to charge for larger story updates and extra features. It was great of Anet to give us the previous episodes for free, that was something they didn’t have to do. They could have just as easily bundled each season into paid content, but they chose to give it free if you logged in while the episode was active. How many games companies can you say do that?

So I for one think Anet are well within their rights to charge for a larger content pack, and I for one will be applying for beta and buying the expansion as soon as it is available. Because I think Anet deserves to be paid for the incredible amoung of content they have given us, and are continuing to give us, without charging a restrictive monthly subscription.

And if a pay wall weeds out the more ungrateful members of the community then even better. As they clearly have no interest in supporting a developer that wants to make a great game.

First people whine about getting Living Story instead of an expansion.

Now people while about getting an expansion instead of Living Story.

Naus the Gobbo.5172:

First people whine about getting Living Story instead of an expansion.

Now people while about getting an expansion instead of Living Story.

Its not people changing their minds back and forth.

Rin.1046:

It seems clear to me that the OP has no interest in having an informed opinion and only wants to express an emotional reaction based on incomplete information.

Informed opinion? I watched the PAX announcement, read many interviews…. So yah I have a very informed opinion on the matter.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Informed opinion? I watched the PAX announcement, read many interviews…. So yah I have a very informed opinion on the matter.

If that’s the case, you shouldn’t be assuming that the expansion will be concluding the story and putting the ending behind a “pay wall”. The trailer gave no hints that we’d be finishing the Mordremoth arc or that it would replace what would be season 3 of the living story. It could be a side story that is related to the living world. We don’t know for sure.

People with informed opinions don’t go to forums to make baseless, wild accusations with little to no information to back it up.

Malthurius.6870:

Season 2 had a finale and a climax.

It had a finale, but no climax. It left everything off with a cliffhanger. The one and only closure produced in all of Season 2 was killing the Shadow of the Dragon.

EVERYTHING else was left open for Heart of Thorns.

Season 2 and Heart of Thorns is 100% the same story.

And imo, we should never have gotten Season 2; it should have all been part of Heart of Thorns. I think the quality of the story suffered because of the biweekly schedule. If not for the poor quality I see in the story, this format would have been fine to me.

Kreed.2768:

TL;DR: You can’t compare TV and Guild Wars 2, they work off of completely different strategies to generate income.

The funny thing?

Anet continuously compares the Living World to a TV show.

Naus the Gobbo.5172:

First people whine about getting Living Story instead of an expansion.

Now people while about getting an expansion instead of Living Story.

Actually, the complaints in this thread as I see it is that both the Living World and the expansion share the same story. And worse, that the Living World did not have its own proper conclusion to it.

Something that I predicted and feared would happen.

It’s very similar to what’s going on with the Marvel movies and Agents of Shield show right now – the show takes place between the movies, but requires seeing the movies to make sense of things, which also include the grand climaxes.

Whether it is a film and TV series tie in or an expansion pack with lead in LS episodes, it costs the company money (lots of money) to produce these things. They have to pay for the equipment, the staff, the building they work in, the servers, the software development, the outsourcing, the marketing, you name it. Film and game development is not cheap. Especially on the scale of a AAA MMO.

Yes, it makes a profit, and that is the whole point. If it wasn’t making people money they wouldn’t do it on such a grand scale, purely because of the cost and effort involved.

So yes, Anet are linking things together to encourage you to buy the expansion. But it is not because they are evil, as it sounds like you think it is, it is because they need to make money. If you enjoy the game, then it is money well spent and money well earned as far as I am concerned. If you don’t like it, if you think the expansion information looks like it won’t appeal to you, then don’t buy it. Simple.

But please don’t come on the forums saying negative and derrogative things like ‘lackluster’ or ‘ripp off’ about content the company has worked hard to create, when you have virtually no information to make that call.

I watched the Pax South video and have read the interviews after pax, and none of them give you enough information to make the decisions that have been made in this thread.

We don’t know how extensive the specializations are, beyond knowing a few small details. We know the ranger gets staff, the necro gets greatsword, and all professions get 1 heal skill and 1 elite skill. We have hints of a mesmer shield and engineer hammer, but that is about it. Everything else is speculation. We do not know how many utility skills each specialization will provide, how the profession mechanics will change, how many traits we will be getting, or what is involved in progressing each specialization.

We do not know how extensive the mastery system will be, what it provides (other than improving the hand glider ability and a hint at using the bark off of mordrem), or what is invoved in progressing your masteries.

We do not know how the Guild Halls will work, what we will be able to do in them, how customizable they are or what is involved in gaining and (possibly) upgrading them.

We do not how the mechanics of stronghold will work, beyond hiring npcs and defeating the enemy lord. We do not know how many players are involved, how long a match lasts, how many maps we will get for this mode or how big they are, or how much GvG implementation there will be (beyond the GvG leaderboards).

We do not know how big the new borderlands map is, what objectives there will be, how the WvW xp and skill system will work (as Colin hinted that it will be changing), or how involved the map is.

You say you are well informed, but your information really is very limited. You are making decisions based on a summary and a few hints. That really isn’t sufficient to have make informed decisions.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Except that you can since you are paying for your internet service already to play GW2. I can watch my TV shows on Hulu from the internet for free , all I have to do is pay for my internet service. So yah if you look at it that way you can compare.

The point is that television shows aren’t free; you’re shelling out funding in some for or another. (And not all shows on hulu are free) The analogy doesn’t work in the sense that they are intending it to work.

Oh sure, if you want to start applying internet cost to being able to play GW2, then you might want to start thinking about adding in the costs of electricity to power your home, the costs to heat that home, the costs of the fuel for your car so you can work to pay those bills. I mean if you really want to drill down, nothing is free. Not even the air you breathe.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Living Story had a rocky start and it just started getting really good, but now Anet is throwing that away because some people can’t get away from old habits.

Yes, it did have a very rocky start. Yes, season 2 has been much better. However, people want a boxed expansion. Letting the LS lead into one works. It helps drive people to purchase it. Most likely after it drops, LS will continue, probably with some side stories, until they are ready to start setting the stage for the next big bad. It’s a solid idea that they can capitalize on.

So apparently I need to give a lesson on, yknow, how capitalism works.

Anet and NCSoft are a business. While they certainly will have their own drive and asperations for making a good game and using the talents of their customers, at the end of the day, they need to make money.

Yes, parts of the Living Story were used to hype what would turn out to be paid expansion. There is nothing “wrong” with that.

This isn’t some form of greed. It’s simply Anet using their own product to instill value into another. That’s certainly not illegal, or intrinsically greedy, or wrong. That’s just a company trying to sell their product.

Their only failure, in the context of the market, is not meeting some peoples’ idea of good value. And if you don’t find value in buying something, its a free market, go elsewhere.

Anet isn’t “your friend”. No company really is. They need to make money to survive, and in this case, they’ve done things to try and make their product more appealing in the Living Story and in the new features only available in the new expansion. They aren’t making free updates of the game out of “the goodness of their hearts”. While the content creators surely may have their hearts in their works, its also a way to make money, even if indirectly through the Gem Store.

And rest assured, this is no bait-and-switch. Guild Wars has had a long history of a buy-to-play model, which seems to have carried over to GW2 (though to be fair, this could have been more clearly stated to players, but to be fair, they may not have settled on an expansion model). A series of free content given over time is no indication that you won’t have to pay for something in the future.

Other games with subscriptions have expansions as well. There is a well established history in the MMO genre for content locked off until expansion, without the benefit of free content between them.

I remember Wow rolling out patches with content leading up to Wrath of the Lich King, even for people who didn’t intend to buy the actual expansion. That’s not some bait and switch trick, just a business hyping their product and creators wanting to have a flow into the next part of their game.

If you don’t find value in the paid expansion, that’s just fine. But there’s no big unethical trick here. It’s simply a product that is being offered.

I think ANet had the best of intentions when they did Living Story. But as time went on they realized that the player base would only be satisfied with an expansion rather than it broken into LS parts so they are looking to do Orr Mark 2, the next elder dragon fight.

And all of you people answering in this thread will buy it =3.

arkealia.2713:

And all of you people answering in this thread will buy it =3.

Of course I will. I enjoy the game. I’ve gotten a couple thousand hours out of it. So yeah, I’m more than willing to buy an expansion and continue enjoying my casualness. ;p

Anet gave us GW2 and we paid for that. Anything added to the game beyond that is completely optional from Anets side, they don’t have to add anything at all if they don’t feel like doing so. But from release until today, Anet has given us a huge volume of content considering it’s free, they were not forced to add any of that.

When they now 2 ½ years later come to a point when we have to pay for a big content release, after getting so much for free, I can’t even imagine how someone could whine about the need to pay for it.

If you want the original game? Fine it’s still there, and they have given you more than you have paid for over time. If you want to support their further development? Fine buy the expansion. Don’t expect 300 people to serve you candy for free without them getting something in return forever.

I was right. In a PCgamer interview they say that HoT is supposed to wrap up the current storyline with Mordremoth. What else could HoT be for in the lore sense?

Sure you will get into the Mursaat but the Mursaat may be the key to killing Mordremoth during the storyline in the expansion in which you use that key to kill the dragon in the end.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

I was right. In a PCgamer interview they say that HoT is supposed to wrap up the current storyline with Mordremoth. What else could HoT be for in the lore sense?

Sure you will get into the Mursaat but the Mursaat may be the key to killing Mordremoth during the storyline in the expansion in which you use that key to kill the dragon in the end.

Are you sure you’re not reading it wrong, like you did with the other interview?

Lazaar.9123:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

I was right. In a PCgamer interview they say that HoT is supposed to wrap up the current storyline with Mordremoth. What else could HoT be for in the lore sense?

Sure you will get into the Mursaat but the Mursaat may be the key to killing Mordremoth during the storyline in the expansion in which you use that key to kill the dragon in the end.

Are you sure you’re not reading it wrong, like you did with the other interview?

Yeah I just reread the article. Chew, are you sure you’re not reading “PCG: The Living World has wrapped up, and players have got this expansion coming in the future. Do they have anything to look forward to between these two points? Are there any game updates planned?”, because that’s not the devs talking.

Zypher.7609:

If people would have supported the free model, and not come on the forums yelling for an expansion. We might have continued down that path, but Anet needs to bring back fans and attract new ones. For some reason when expansions are talked about people get all excited.

I would have been just excited if not more, if Anet would have stuck to their no expansion, and just release the content as LS episodes.

Careful. You might get posters to start following you around and calling you colorful names or some other nonsense to hurt your feelings.

Truth be told, you’re right. But what can you do? They want to keep and bring back those more in favor of a traditional route in MMOs. Namely, expansion, expansion, expansion.

Again, I more than enjoyed getting content for free every few months or weeks while buying niche items through the gem store. I know that reads strange to rather get the content updates for free as opposed to buying them, but that may be just me.

What other interview? and yes I am sure. thanks for personally stalking my posts all over those interwebs though.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

What other interview? and yes I am sure. thanks for personally stalking my posts all over those interwebs though.

Certainly doesn’t help that you are constantly opening new threads with similar topics. There’s been interviews posted already that living story will likely continue after the expansion.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

What other interview? and yes I am sure. thanks for personally stalking my posts all over those interwebs though.

Yeah, like I said in page 2 of this thread, I can’t find what you’re talking about. Can you copy and paste the part you saw?

I’m thinking you misread what the interviewer said as a dev comment.