Guild Wars 2

Even if you have GW2 already, you still need to pay to full price.
Sweet deal for newbies, a big middle finger to anyone who already bought the game.

At the moment, Anet is stuck between a rock and a hard place. They can’t offer refunds, and they probably won’t make additions to satisfy the veteran playerbase without kittening lots of people off.

Everyone who bought the pre-order is either telling everyone else to stop whining and leave, or telling everyone that nothing is wrong. You cannot compare GW2 to other games to defend your argument, because THEY ARE NOT SIMILAR GAMES WITH SIMILAR BUSINESS MODELS. Just because we don’t pay subscription doesn’t mean that it’s okay for them to decide what they want. Comparing this game with WoW solves and explains nothing; all you end up saying is ‘At least we don’t have it as bad as they do’.

I’m even skeptical with the amount of content released at the unknown due date with all the combat changes and trait systems (originally part of HoT expansion) being released next week. I just have this feeling with this action today, they’ve no choice but to announce a release date end of this month to prevent the hype from dying, and end up giving content that we’ve seen in Beta on release date with the rest being added as Living Story content in the future.

I’m very worried about the game’s current direction now.

littlemunster.1059:

Don’t forget. Old players who used up all their slots will need to spend an extra $10 on top of that $50 that new players will be paying for the full HoT experience.

Old players will for sure have ~140 gold to buy the slot with ingame currency.

serenke.4806:

darkdomino.9578:

Europeans pay more because you have VAT.

No, that’s not the reason. Us europeans have different VAT in different countries, yet we pay the same.

Thats because what companies generally do is register a european hq and charge vat based on the location where the company reside. I do believe the EU is trying to change that.

Maybe the 50$ would be fine if new players didn’t get the game we paid for for free, or if we actually got something extra for having the game.

yanipheonu.5798:

When has an MMO company ever offered veteran players a discount for an expansion? It’s never been a major practice in MMOs. New players will get stuff on sale, or newer, better deals. It’s like being an early adopter, there was never anything to stop a company from moving on from you. Game bought, occasional dlc bought, end of transaction.

Anything else is entitlement or unrealistic expectations.

GW1 offered character slots with every new expansion. You bought the expansion and you got new character slots equal to the number of new classes they introduced. These were not extra purchases but were part of the standard edition.

This is not about offering a discount to existing players, it is about offering comparable content and comparable value to them, and it is in the tradition of THIS MMO franchise.

EgyptRaider.3946:

To be honoust, I think it’s still pretty selective and leaves out a very large group of players Guild Wars likes to identify with: casual players.

I’ve owned the game for over one and a half year, yet I only have two filled character slots. I mostly enjoy the game for sPvP and Stronghold was for me the only incentive to buy the expansion. And as a very casual player that often doesn’t play the game for months and only really played the PvP parts, paying 50 bucks just for that upgrade and the specializations. It’s much. 20, 30 euros would be fine. Those are reasonable prices.

What would you think of a bunch of gems the same value of a character slot. People would have a choice. and casual players who only focus on part of the game, be it PvE, WvW or PvP and don’t have that many characters, can at least get something that is of value for them.

I loved all the content announced for HoT and I can’t wait to do the game again with a new Revenant character. And while I can afford the 50 euros, I can’t help but feel it’s a rip-off and a scam considering they give the base game for free.
People who adressed the FAQ quote have a sincere point and I support them, even though I don’t belong to the ones who bought the game in that period.

I see where you’re coming from but I think that would be slightly too much to ask for. A Standard edition is supposed to be standard = you get what’s necessary to enjoy all the new content and nothing more. If you want to benefit from the purchase you need to pay more, that’s how it works in any game. Right? ^^
The point is that Standard edition lacks a necessary character slot for the veteran players. And if Anet would be so kind to give us the choice between a free base game or character slot, I bet you’d enjoy that slot sooner or later even though you’ve got a few spare slots at the moment – don’t you agree?

Some people will buy it other won’t.50$ for HoT is actually more than better from everything that i have payed for WoW sisnce i started playing in Wotlk and ended with MoP.For 3 years with Anet i payed exactly 100$ vs who know how many for 4 in WoW.So actually me and my friends are not really bothered with the price.

Now what will make me go Riot is the missing character slot!!!!!Da hell Anet!!!

nerevar.6247:

Zlosnica.8936:

The thing is you aren’t paying for much, new specs and that’s pretty much it, untill those new specs are being ballanced you can catch flies with your tongue, and watch your money go to waste., you are not paying for something tested and working properly which is something common for MMO’s. This price is ridiculous, is this EA or Ubisoft, with their upcomming DLC’s? Ask yourself that question. This is why GW2 was never popular outside NA/EU. Korean market holds the biggest MMO’s and you know why? They hold a value, this is money milking, once again ask yourselves for what changes you are paying and here its not a question of being a fan of the game or not, its about the value that you are paying for and what you are geting out of it, which is nothing except more unballanced classes and months of QQ post’s in forums about stuff. It happened before it will happen again.

“Korean market holds the biggest MMO’s and you know why? They hold a value”

That right there just killed it for me. Korean MMO’s are so good that they all end up being P2W and a huge Grindfest for BIS Gear .

Like this game isn’t a grindfest and you can’t pay real money to make gear faster right?

everyone seem to forget this is pre purchase
do not buy it if you think the prise is to steep just w8 for the relase date

i will buy the exp but not now.

Evans.6347:

Look, the problem I have is that the base game is priced lower, yet the extras are more expensive because for some reason an extra 5€ is suddenly charged, which seems to have no reason other than to grab more money. If it were taxes, then why aren’t they applied to the core game?

I’d like to know why it isn’t 44,99€ – 69,99€ and 94,99€ for Eurozone countries.

because the core game is free and thus you dont pay taxes on it?

Sylv.6514:

Keira Wildflower.7304:

The solution is quite simple really:

1. Give New Players the current bundle sets.

2. Give Veteran Players the same deal but instead of the core game, make it a character slot.

Same value, different demographic.

Now here is my reasoning. New Players get a bunch of character slots. The veterans do not. The New Players do not need character slots, they need the core game. The Veteran Players need character slots, for the new character type: The Revenant. So basically, by adding bundles for Veteran Players exclusively, you reward those of us that have played for a longer time than the New Players AND we continue buying gems with our hard earned cash. Which, in the long run makes you more money and we get to strut our happy rear ends around Tyria and shout the praises of how much Anet cares about us. Thus helping us sucker in New Players, which helps you make more money! isn’t tat wonderful!! Didn’t even take me like 10 minutes to think this up. I was put off by John Smith’s comment that was more of a taunt than actually helpful or sympathizing. I think the new content could be $40 Base and $60 Deluxe and I personally could care less about the “Ultimate” version (which isn’t really an Ultimate version). This leaves us Veteran Players, the ability to pay $10 for an extra character slot at a total of $50 or $70. Which ironically still makes you a bunch of money..

Should I send an application for your Marketing Position? I mean Anet, not NCsoft.. No one cares about NCsoft.. They have a tendency to ruin games.. Plus your current Marketing Team seems to be lacking right now..

It’s not the same value at all. Veteran players have to pay $110 while new players only have to pay $50. A character slot does not justify the ridiculous $50 price tag on the expansion either. There is nowhere near enough content.

Reread what I said. It states that it is indeed the same value since Anet is giving away the Core game for $10, where that is the price of a new character slot. Tow bundles aimed at two different types of people. I fully believe in supporting additional content. I do not believe in screwing over Veteran Players over something as trivial as not having a couple additional bundles.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Shifu.4321:

What’s the difference between the ravings of an 8 year old and a 5 year old?

Three years, duh.

No, it’s like the diff between South Park vs Steven Universe.

http://i.imgur.com/1h0wSaL.png

Enough said.

The excuse why it’s 50$ “new players to enjoy the game”….Alright, what happens when you think ONLY at new players, you forget about the players that hold the game up till now, and it keeps holding up cuz of them. Lack of common sense with that price.

Since they have allready inclueded the core game into the perchase and the price give it a seperate code so you can create a new account with it or give it to a friend or relative and still add the expantion to your old account.

Zeus.9840:

This is not to say that what ANet is doing here isn’t a slap across GW2 veteran’s faces, but most veterans prolly got access to a lot of living world stuff that newer players have to pay to gain access to. An argument to this point would be that some players might have missed out on some of the living world chapters and will never have access to it/have to pay for those chapters, but I think for most veterans it is a compromise.

Sadly, the living world part is not true. The first season was available on a limited time, and they will work on implementing it as a permanent addition, season 2 style.
And season 2 was available for free only to those who logged in during the time the episodes were released. Not all veterans were logged in at those times and had access to those.

Btw, i bought the game at 10€, and i really liked it, so i really don’t mind buying the expansion at 75€, by considering the extra price as being what i would have paid along with the 10€ to buy the core game. However that doesn’t easily apply to older players, as they bought the game at higher prices, and now they have to buy the expansion for a similar (or even higher) price and getting less content. And on top of that new players just spend half of what they did and get all the content regardless.

And honestly, this expansion is level 80 content; it’s true that levelling up in the game is very easy, but it’s still supposed to be an expansion “for veteran players”, so it makes less sense to me for them to make such an offer. New players can buy the original game, get to level 80, see it’s a nice game, and then buy the expansion; that “bundle for newcomers” doesn’t really seem like the best choice imo.

(After looking at the site)
But when you go to the site to buy Guild Wars 2, you realize that the only one you can buy is the core game + expansion, meaning the price the game now has is 44,99€, expansion included which feels really like:
“The game got updated, with the price being increased thanks to the new update. Older players HAVE to buy the game once again to enjoy the new features”.

It’s not that new players get the core game as a plus when buying the expansion (because there is no option of buying the core game anymore),
it’s that veteran players have to buy the whole game again.
u.u

Just to point it out clearly (sorry if i keep adding things)
45€ is the price of the whole game, not just the expansion (whose price might be between 10-20€, given the core game’s last price was 35)
The problem is that we don’t know whether we’ll have to buy the game once again, or if they’ll add an expansion only option. It game out less than 24 hours ago, so there’s still time for things to change.

YEEEES this is a very fair price for people who already own the core game. but also there should be a regular version for people who don’t own the core game. I would keep the system now but add that first option from Rich Fuel’s picture

They didn’t lie. But yea…

Zlosnica.8936:

nerevar.6247:

Zlosnica.8936:

The thing is you aren’t paying for much, new specs and that’s pretty much it, untill those new specs are being ballanced you can catch flies with your tongue, and watch your money go to waste., you are not paying for something tested and working properly which is something common for MMO’s. This price is ridiculous, is this EA or Ubisoft, with their upcomming DLC’s? Ask yourself that question. This is why GW2 was never popular outside NA/EU. Korean market holds the biggest MMO’s and you know why? They hold a value, this is money milking, once again ask yourselves for what changes you are paying and here its not a question of being a fan of the game or not, its about the value that you are paying for and what you are geting out of it, which is nothing except more unballanced classes and months of QQ post’s in forums about stuff. It happened before it will happen again.

“Korean market holds the biggest MMO’s and you know why? They hold a value”

That right there just killed it for me. Korean MMO’s are so good that they all end up being P2W and a huge Grindfest for BIS Gear .

Like this game isn’t a grindfest and you can’t pay real money to make gear faster right?

Yes, Because totally I have to truly Grind my Heart and Soul out for BIS slot gear to be viable in pve or pvp and last time I checked I’m sure they weren’t selling gear on the gem store.

So link the expansion to your fresh, shiny new 5 empty slots and a fat load of nothing account instead of your veteran account. Maximize that value!

They’re going to lose more money to people not buying/refunding HoT because of this crap than they are from not adding a character slot to the 50$ for veterans.

nerevar.6247:

Zlosnica.8936:

The thing is you aren’t paying for much, new specs and that’s pretty much it, untill those new specs are being ballanced you can catch flies with your tongue, and watch your money go to waste., you are not paying for something tested and working properly which is something common for MMO’s. This price is ridiculous, is this EA or Ubisoft, with their upcomming DLC’s? Ask yourself that question. This is why GW2 was never popular outside NA/EU. Korean market holds the biggest MMO’s and you know why? They hold a value, this is money milking, once again ask yourselves for what changes you are paying and here its not a question of being a fan of the game or not, its about the value that you are paying for and what you are geting out of it, which is nothing except more unballanced classes and months of QQ post’s in forums about stuff. It happened before it will happen again.

“Korean market holds the biggest MMO’s and you know why? They hold a value”

That right there just killed it for me. Korean MMO’s are so good that they all end up being P2W and a huge Grindfest for BIS Gear .

Yup, people are being huge hypocrites. On one hand, they scoff at P2W MMOs that nickle and dime you for much less effort in content generation but on the other hand, praise such tactics and take offense to a company trying to make a cash return after giving its players a means of never needing to spend a dime to get access to everything the game has to offer.

You’re not just paying for HoT, you’re also paying for the elite specialization system that will continue to be expanded upon ON TOP of not having to spend anything else for any further released non-expansion content.

I’d be happy with this compromise as well.

You say the base game is an free bonus for new players. Well, you need to offer a free bonus to your veteran playerbase as well, as without them, you’d have no reason to make an expansion in the first place.

The Revenant is part of the expansion. We shouldn’t have to pay extra to experience that part of the expansion. In GW1, when it came out with new professions, extra character slots were part of the package for those campaigns. Other MMOs do the same: new class in an expansion? Here, have an extra character slot.

Add in a character slot at no extra charge and I’ll be happy to spend €45.

dookleeto.3647:

Amazed at how many people are outraged they ‘have to buy the base game again’. You are not. It is being bundled in for free for the new players…

Their explanation to this is making the core free helps new players get into the game.

Can people who have core already get the expansion bundled in for free to make it easier to get into?

The whole thing is sketchy, wrong, and insulting.

NEOCROM.8957:

I have a very hard time to reach a conclusion if you are a troll with the title or you are serious. 50$ fair for a map and few other contents? The ENTIRE core game at 50$ has 10 times more content than HoT. If HoT was like 20$, then yes, it was worth and a price set with common sense.

This isn’t a troll post this is my sincere opinion that HoT is worth 50$ if you take into consideration that you will get the following
-Guild Halls
-New Borderlands
-New Elite spec although i’m a bit sad that the thief was not revelead yet.
-1 new Region which i think will be 5 maps with various size.

But that is your opinion i repsect that.

Try paying €48.85 – €83.76 or €111.70. Thats what we will be paying in the UK for the 3 tiers.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

To clarify: $50 is the price of the expansion. We included the core game as a free bonus to make it easier for new players to get into it.

To clarify: the expansion isn’t worth $50, so you must be burying the cost of the base game in that $50 price tag, but not extending a discount to existing players in order to maximise your margins.

That’s LITERALLY the only way this could possibly make any sense whatsoever.

Unless you’re trying to claim that less content released now in the form of an expansion is worth MORE MONEY that more content released a few years ago in the form of a base game?

Is that what you’re saying?

Cause, you know, inflation has averaged about 0% everywhere that matters…

Take an economics class or something. I don’t know. You guys need help.

Synesence.7546:

Crise.9401:

We don’t owe ArenaNet, but they don’t owe us either they are free to decide on the price of their goods (or in this case them and NCSoft most likely) just as much as we are free to either buy them or not.

I get that they are free to settle the prices as they see fit in order to keep up with the competition, but they are offering players who’ve invested thousands of hours into this game in the past 3 years absolutely nothing with those packages. No amount of extra goodies and early accesses can justify the prices they’re demanding for something with no set date.

So those thousands of hours of gameplay you’ve got from GW2 for no subscription fee and no obligation to buy gems, on top of pretty regular content updates are worth absolutely nothing?

But it is a ripoff.
New player: $50 for GW2+HoT
Old player: $10-60 for GW2+$50 for Hot

How is that not a ripoff when there’s no option to purchase just the expansion?

I think the backlash of the pricing is self-explanatory.
If anet did it right, there might still have been some complaints but not the threads burst in the forums happening now.

Old players have 3 years of play advantage over new ones. The price of the core game for 3 years of play is still quite cheap these days, where new games often offer you mere 8-10 hours of playtime for the same cost.

Isven.2165:

Anet doesn’t care about the money they already made, but about the money they want/will make. A player should think different, why exactly?

In that case both new and old players will need to pay the same – $50.

littlemunster.1059:

Don’t forget. Old players who used up all their slots will need to spend an extra $10 on top of that $50 that new players will be paying for the full HoT experience.

They won’t. All they’d need to do to have a slot free is to delete one character. Wait, you are saying that then you won’t have your full complement of level 80’s? Hey, the new players won’t have that either.

Lol as if they have not made enough money on this game now they need to cheat the existing player base or the current newcomers who purchased the game after this faq. Hahahah true colors shine through. Good bye, and good riddance

Exactly. OP A+ nods

Isven.2165:

Anet doesn’t care about the money they already made, but about the money they want/will make. A player should think different, why exactly?

What?

I bought the game at release, for the 50€. With that, I bought myself thousands of hours of gametime. MY choice is now, if I want to spent another 45€ for another (probably) few thousands (or at least hundreds) of hours of gametime (=fun).

That’s my decision to make, and yes, I’ll buy the addon for 45 €.

It does not matter for my decision if any other person around gets something in addition (the core game), or has to pay less (f.e. because he lives in China; maybe I should move? xD), or if the addon will only cost 10€ in two year (well, I could wait).

For me, it is good, that there is a good deal for new players. New player = more players to play with = more fun.

Fine we are not paying for GW2 again, instead new players get it for free, same difference.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

To clarify: $50 is the price of the expansion. We included the core game as a free bonus to make it easier for new players to get into it.

To clarify your clarification – that’s BS. And I should add that I spent a good year or two in corporate marketing, so I know precisely what that smells like.

Your claim is obvious and disingenuous spin. The fact is that, however you want to try to describe your decision in order to attempt to justify it (you’ve not succeeded, by the way), what you’re selling is a full, playable package consisting of the game to date plus new content. And you’re spinning it the way you are in order to “justify” not offering existing players an upgrade to the new content at a lower price than that full package.

Will you normally be releasing the update in future on its own (i.e. minus the so-called “free bonus”)? Unlikely.

Will you continue selling the base game for some extended period without HoT alongside the "expansion? Improbable.

In which case, the base game simply and demonstrably isn’t a “free bonus”. It’s a core component of the package. I can’t envisage any independent observer seeing it differently – however ANet try to spin things.

Assuming malice with no evidence is just blind hate. And for reference, any law court would require pretty strong evidence of malice as well.

littlemunster.1059:

That was the reason why I bought the base game. Now I felt I’ve been lied to.

You can get a refund within 28 days of the initial purchase by filing a support ticket.

Make it clear that you’re asking for a refund so you can take advantage of the new deal, since otherwise customer services might block you from using the same e-mail and payment method for future purchases.

Acharyn.4738:

They even put it on sale. Before the edit, several times it was on sale after they announced HoT in the making.

Sounds to me like the original plan was to cut the base game to £10 permanently once the expansion became available for purchase, and the sales were just a preview of that.

Again, no evidence of malice.

They kinda did.
BEFORE: Buy the base game before you buy the expansion.
NOW: The expansion includes the base game.

Nike.2631:

Because you have real health care. Once you factor that in, paying a little more on complete frippery like an MMO expansion is just not something that’s gonna get you sympathy from this side of the pond .

Its not just free health care either! its free schooling, unemployment benefits, heavily subsidized / free training, free child care, paid leave, paid sick leave, potentially more.
might differ from country to country but there is a ton of stuff we get for free for that little extra we pay compared to US price but every single time it has to be a big deal.

The price is fair if you’re a new player.

Not even a character slot for $50 is insulting veteran players, who will need to spent more to be able to try new class.

Shadowly changing the FAQ to remove the “you’ll need core to play HoT” to a “core is included!” may even be illegal, they lied people who bought the game since the FAQ appeared until now.

Anet hasn’t continually expanded anything. Living story is a joke. After this expansion it’ll likely be another 2 years of stagnation and mediocre living story. Thanks but no thanks.

So pre-order and link the expansion to your new 5 empty slot newbie account and tell yourself how incredibly important the free copy of the base game is to a veteran. I’m sure being cut off from all your account bound advantages accumulated over the last 3 years will be incredibly liberating…

rapthorne.7345:

Synesence.7546:

Crise.9401:

We don’t owe ArenaNet, but they don’t owe us either they are free to decide on the price of their goods (or in this case them and NCSoft most likely) just as much as we are free to either buy them or not.

I get that they are free to settle the prices as they see fit in order to keep up with the competition, but they are offering players who’ve invested thousands of hours into this game in the past 3 years absolutely nothing with those packages. No amount of extra goodies and early accesses can justify the prices they’re demanding for something with no set date.

So those thousands of hours of gameplay you’ve got from GW2 for no subscription fee and no obligation to buy gems, on top of pretty regular content updates are worth absolutely nothing?

Regular content updates? Oh… you mean that living world right? Yeah, it worked so well. /sarcasm

Leo G.4501:

nerevar.6247:

Zlosnica.8936:

The thing is you aren’t paying for much, new specs and that’s pretty much it, untill those new specs are being ballanced you can catch flies with your tongue, and watch your money go to waste., you are not paying for something tested and working properly which is something common for MMO’s. This price is ridiculous, is this EA or Ubisoft, with their upcomming DLC’s? Ask yourself that question. This is why GW2 was never popular outside NA/EU. Korean market holds the biggest MMO’s and you know why? They hold a value, this is money milking, once again ask yourselves for what changes you are paying and here its not a question of being a fan of the game or not, its about the value that you are paying for and what you are geting out of it, which is nothing except more unballanced classes and months of QQ post’s in forums about stuff. It happened before it will happen again.

“Korean market holds the biggest MMO’s and you know why? They hold a value”

That right there just killed it for me. Korean MMO’s are so good that they all end up being P2W and a huge Grindfest for BIS Gear .

Yup, people are being huge hypocrites. On one hand, they scoff at P2W MMOs that nickle and dime you for much less effort in content generation but on the other hand, praise such tactics and take offense to a company trying to make a cash return after giving its players a means of never needing to spend a dime to get access to everything the game has to offer.

You’re not just paying for HoT, you’re also paying for the elite specialization system that will continue to be expanded upon ON TOP of not having to spend anything else for any further released non-expansion content.

I have some clay to sell you, some time in the future I might turn it into a house.

There are a million better ways to make money of a playerbase and expand it. It’s just Anet doesn’t give a crap, because it would involve, gosh, actual work. This expansion is way to light on content to justify this price. They’ve said it themselves already. There won’t be a lot of real content it will mostly be features.

Please, everyone upvote the OP. Anet needs to understand what is the issue, and the OP explained it perfectly.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

To clarify: $50 is the price of the expansion. We included the core game as a free bonus to make it easier for new players to get into it.

You’re making your veteran players pay $60 for the HoT experience while a new player gets the whole thing plus the base game veteran players already payed for for $50. This is incredibly stupid. At least add a free character slot to the $50 so we don’t have to delete a character or pay $10 to play Revenant.

Animism.9803:

This is GW2, we expect more, we are not receiving that.

Except that we can’t actually prove or disprove this claim in any way…. How much story content will there be at launch? What is the depth and amount of the “challenging group content”? How many maps will we have added total? How many unique events or mechanics will HoT add? Guild Halls alone are content that nothing like any previous content.

You know what CoD is like, and make a shallow comparison based on incomplete facts about HoT. The way I see it we are getting way more than CoD gets as DLC for one of their iterations already. You can’t compare maps in a shooter to GW2 maps at all.

rapthorne.7345:

Did people go insane and claw the walls when they merged the original GW trilogy in to one pack for a lower cost?

Did they go mad and scream scam when WoW merged it’s first three expansions in to the base game cost?

I really fail to see what the big deal is.

’’GW trilogy in to one pack for a lower cost?

Did they go mad and scream scam when WoW merged it’s first three expansions’’

3 not 1. just clearning that up we getting 1 expansion that costs 50 dollars. GW1 Trilogy and WoW costed less than 50 dollars if you bought it back then + they had their own benefits and perks such as new mounts/skins/character slots. each of those expansions were clearly far BIGGER and had more diverse content for its value that we got at that time. What does Anet offer? exactly. Core game and kitten expansion that not even complete yet

This is the only reasonable “controversy” I see in regards to the new expansion. That being that when they started releasing information about HoT it was implied that it the base game would be separate. So those who bought Gw2 AFTER they announced HoT should get reduced cost or a off setting bonus.