Guild Wars 2

Sorry but i’m livid. I’ve had it UP TO HERE with all those white knights saying “people would be far less agitated if not for free core game bundled for new players”.

No. Stop insulting me, making me some sort of grinch that can’t bear other people’s fun. I’m all for them getting it for free, more players the merrier (especially in this game, and it’s pvp hehe).

My beef is that standard package does not feature extra character slot for a new profession that must be made as new character and is a payed (50$!) expansion content. If they cannot do their xpac buyer this basic courtesy, which is upheld by almost all and any mmorpg company, far less reputable ones at that, then we got a problem here. It’s about the principle for me (since i got a free slot anyway).

This. I don’t care at all about the “free” copy of GW2, nor particularly about the price (though I think it is high, especially the jump from standard to deluxe in the UK).

What I do care about is feeling disrespected as a customer. Which after the traits fiasco, the ongoing issue of the Infinite Continue Coin, the lack of communication etc. etc. etc. this is kind of the log that buried the already broken camel in the sand.

I think one of the big issues with this is that all complaints about the pre-purchase are being stuffed into one merged thread. the truth is, there are several groups, all with different opinions, and there are a significant number of people for whom the free core game – either its inclusion or the way it’s being handled – is a major issue.

what we need to do is separate the main complaints, and then discuss them individually, but any attempts to do so will probably just be merged before any real progress is made…

When people bought the core game they could only play 5/8 classes.
You had to buy 3 extra character slots to play every class.
Nobody complained

When people buy the expansion without extra char slots they still can only play 5 classes.
Everyone loses their mind.

I too don’t care about the free core game, but if you are going to charge $50, which I think is $10 too high, then at least include a couple of character slots, ONE at the VERY least. As it stands, I pass on HoT.

Nah, it’s just about the price. $50 /75/100 is too much. they could add value or lower the price, but it’s not specifically about the character slot.

New players will have 9 professions (for them each is new and fresh) and 5 slots to try them.

Old players get one new profession and 0 extra slots to try it. For many ppl it’s pay up or someone goes under the knife..

No it’s not about the character slot.

Yes we all expect the character slot, but for me it’s the neglect WvW received. I am not paying them $50 to ignore the game mode I like to play for yet another 3 years!

And second it’s about the content, the content information we so far have received does not warrant this being called a full expansion seeing that half of it’s about changing the mechanics of the game. Who the hell would pay for that?!

yep, character slot is the thing putting me off. If they are giving away the base game for free we should get the five character slots that come with it (really not expecting that but it should come with one at least). As the base price + character slot is to much. I have an empty slot at the moment anyway but it is putting me off. Haven’t been playing for a little over a month as got a little bored waiting so playing another game. This is not making me think i really need to buy this expansion and get back to playing anytime soon.

Man, you guys are quitting a great MMO, free to play at that, all over one character slot? We’ve known about Revenant for how long now? Rather than make sure you had an open slot by either buying one or farming enough gold to turn into Gems to get one (at least one half-off slot sale since they were announced, by the way), you all assumed one would be included. True, that’s a fair assumption, but an assumption none the less. We all know the saying of what happens when one assumes.

Your purchases and playstyle are your responsibility. It’s your job to make sure you have an open slot, not their’s. Like Sampro said, you had to buy three times as many slots as you do now in order to play all 8 classes when the game launched, and nobody seemed to complain very much about it back then. So yes, don’t quit the game because you’re burned out, are bored, your friends are moving on, or the core gameplay is changing too much, quit because you didn’t get a free character slot when the expansion came out.

What this guy is saying. It is about the slot. By not adding the slot option for non-new players, you’ve virtually made the cost of the expansion sixty dollars for many consumers. It’s not even primarily the economic factor of a 10 dollar increase affecting wallets though, it’s how you treat your consumer-base. This underhanded move clearly shows you have no respect for your playerbase, and will squeeze every ounce of value out of them for your own gain. We don’t like to be taken advantage of, as I’m sure you’ve heard by now.

OP – this is what I’m trying to say everywhere too.

New players will pay $50 for HoT and get everything readily playable.

As a veteran with no free char slots, I will have to pay $60 for HoT to play all its core features (i.e. the new class) because $50 won’t give me that extra char slot to play one of HoT’s new central features; the Revenant.

Asking to pay the same as new players to be able to readily play HoT, is that entitlement of a veteran player?

As before;
* I have NO issues with the price tag of $50 for the expansion and its content’s worth
* I have NO issues with new players getting the core game for free – in fact I applaud the generosity and hope it will bring many new players to the game.
* I am saddened that I cannot get the expansion for $50 and play it without having to delete one of my long-established chars – or dish out money (either $10 in cash or grinding out $10’s worth of in-game gold). New players don’t have to do that, why am I forced to?

Woljnir.7810:

Man, you guys are quitting a great MMO, free to play at that, all over one character slot?

Yes – because clearly Anet think it’s ok differentiate and ask $50 USD of new players while their loyal players are expected to cash out $60 USD – whether you pay in USD or have to put in the effort to get it with in-game gold, and if you are getting it for in-game gold, that is only required of you as a veteran players while the new players don’t have to spend their first ~100 gold converting it to 800 gems for a character slot.

THAT is the inequality that is disappointing me…

I pre-purchased the $100 version, and no amount of negative sway will alter my mood on the matter, but I am with the OP on this one.
EVERY version of HoT should come with a slot. It’s common sense.

Sampo.9678:

When people bought the core game they could only play 5/8 classes.
You had to buy 3 extra character slots to play every class.
Nobody complained

When people buy the expansion without extra char slots they still can only play 5 classes.
Everyone loses their mind.

Even if this game had over one million classes, and only a single slot to try them, at the very least, you would be given the option to try whichever one you wish to try.

0 slots, however, means that it is impossible to try one of the core features of the expansion, unless you pay an additional cost (be it $10, massive farming or character deletion).

This means that new players will be able to experiment with the revenant right away, if they want to, but veteran players with all character slots filled will not be able to without an extra cost/ sacrifice.

Your purchases and playstyle are your responsibility. It’s your job to make sure you have an open slot, not their’s.

Anet is selling several new features for $50. Having to pay for them and still not getting access to some of those features is a scammy thing to do. Do not blame the consumers for cheap business practices.

The slot fiasco is the main concern. Now the trust has been broken, many assume the worst – 2-3 “deep” maps, which does not come close to justifying the price.

serious, give some details – WE NO LONGER BELIEVE YOU HAVE OUR BEST INTERESTS AT HEART.

It would be like going “We’re releasing gliders in HoT!” and then when you get HoT to use the glider you need to pay an extra $10 on top of the cost of HoT to use it.

This expansion will cost me a minimum of $60, because I would only buy it if I got to try the Revenant without deleting a character. $60 is too much, but $50 with a slot included would be (just barely) enough to get me off the fence. Incidentally, the Ultimate Edition with 2 slots (instead of 1) would probably get me to jump up to that level.

Basically, the expansion is overpriced by a factor of 1 character slot.

This. We all have a tipping point, a point at which we either will or won’t buy HoT. For me, it’s having an included character slot. I’m OK with $50 for an expansion (if there’s good content) but in a GW case, I have to have an included character slot for the new profession. Perhaps it’s because I got used to that in the first GW and think that’s the way it should be. Simple, ANet, if you want my business.

I agree, I don’t mind paying $50 because there is no sub fee, but I find the lack of a character slot as kind of a slap in the face. Revenant is one of the key features of the expansion and yet it’s hidden behind another paywall. I’ve never seen another MMO do this, and neither has Anet because they gave you character slots for expansions in GW1.

Honestly if they just changed it to this, it would quell a lot of this ‘rage’.
-New players get base game + expansion for $50
-Vet players get expansion + 1 character slot for $50 (for Deluxe and Ultimate editions, substitute equal gems to compensate for character slot)

For those that don’t think there’s enough content to warrant the $50, that’s fine. Nobody is forcing you to buy it right now, just wait for the rest of the info to come out.

Witch of Doom.5739:

This. We all have a tipping point, a point at which we either will or won’t buy HoT. For me, it’s having an included character slot. I’m OK with $50 for an expansion (if there’s good content) but in a GW case, I have to have an included character slot for the new profession. Perhaps it’s because I got used to that in the first GW and think that’s the way it should be. Simple, ANet, if you want my business.

Exactly. The way GW1 handled it was a quite elegant. In the first game, if you bought the Factions or Nightfall installments (or bought Prophecies after the fact), and merged it to your existing account, the game offered you a few options to help tie everything together. You were given 2 extra characters slots (for the 2 new classes included), and the ability to import your character “freely” into the other story line, allowed you to carry any unlocked skills between the campaigns, and eventually unified some of the core features. You also weren’t required to work through preexisting content just to get to the new release stuff.

A major failing here is that a Reverant WILL need to power level through existing content to take part in the new area….. this creates a very odd split in the activity centers of the game, disconnecting groups of people who may actually want to play together. And with the potential shift of skills being exploration bound, like traits are now, Reverants will the LAST group of players to experience HOT, in light of all the caps and hurdles being placed on Traits, Skill unlocks and power leveling. New players won’t care, since they start from zero anyway… but existing players are being forced into doing world completion if they had originally skipped it in favor of PvP, WvW, or Dungeon content.

Whether new or expanding, players had everything they needed to enjoy the game, without having to give up anything gained in the other campaigns, and had the ability to move between them freely. It just flowed perfectly.

With HOT, stumbling blocks are everywhere for existing players. The way they approached new players is Excellent, as it gets them everything they need to jump right into the game. But with existing players, you have to make a number of assumptions… especially with long time players who probably have several characters, are heavily invested in TP, and probably bought or traded in gems at some point.

Gem and TP prices are hugely important to this argument, as any claims that players “can pick up what they are missing from TP and Gem trade” aren’t taking into account the state of the Gem trade market against the earn rate of Gold for most players. If you go into full farm mode, you can make roughly 10G per day (not counting alt currencies like laurels). But at the current exchange rate, the 800gems to buy a slot is around 150-160gold.

With HOT opening the door for even more crafting, the value of things are going to get majorly shuffled, and gold is going to be stretched thin if you want to take part in it. And since the game goes through a great deal of effort to steer you towards crafting, referring to the gem exchange as a solution to whats very clearly a service design level problem is asinine.