Guild Wars 2

Just a small suggestion, make Living Story Season 2 free with Heart of Thorns. Most of the story leading up to HoT is all living story content, which is locked to people who didn’t play during the release of each episode or purchase it with Gems.

It would seem a little silly to have the expansion’s plot rely on backstory you can’t access, you wouldn’t know what reasons your character has to chase down this new dragon, or what happened prior to the event of the pact fleet crashing into the canopy. There’s so much of this expansion that relies on players knowing current events… it’s kinda flawed when you think about it.

Would people prefer if S2 was additionally accessible to players who purchase HoT?

We don’t know for sure, but it’s very unlikely. As of right now, you have access to Living Story Season 2. While I know most aren’t crazy about the method, of paying, it is what it is for now.

they should bundle it and give it a special price (say, 1200 gems, or $15), but i think asking for it to be free with every expansion purchase might be pushing it a bit too far.

I could see them giving it for free with a potential Digital Deluxe edition, but it is very unlikely that we would get it for free with a standard edition.

S2 relied on backstory that players couldn’t access any more. There’s no replay option, no unlock. S1 was a one-and-done series of unfortunate events, but was direct character and plot lead to the S2 adventures.

Such is the way that Guild Wars 2 works. If you missed something, you missed it. There’s no getting that event back for free. However since they tweaked the UI and interfacing system as well as the story instances of S2, it’s possible to replay the ones you’ve unlocked. If you’ve not unlocked any when they were put into the system to be unlocked (the 2 weeks of the events related to that story chapter), then for a small nominal fee you can unlock them to replay the events that have technically already happened.

But GW1 was not free to owners of Guild Wars 2. Although it’s events lead directly -300 years later- to many of the stories and plot of Guild Wars 2. Why? Because A.Net is a business and not a charity. The only reason they were given away in the first place was to promote player log-in so that they could have them view the “temporary” cash shop items related to the events and use that as a platform to sell them. It was a business move.

There is no business benefit to giving away the LS S2 with the expansion over instead including the last part cut scenes. None. Instead if there is someone interested in the story related to the expansion and it’s build up, I’m sure there will be some promotional thing added to the cash shop saying “Catch up on Season 2 and prepare to enter the Heart of Thorns!”. They make more money off that, period. And it is a good thing for us players as the turned profit goes to the developers who are making more content for the game.

Not a bad idea IMO – and I say that having unlocked them all already by logging in while they live.

The only issue would be players who might have already paid for them. but they could offer a gem refund to those people if they buy HoT.

Siphaed.9235:

There is no business benefit to giving away the LS S2 with the expansion over instead including the last part cut scenes. None.

Nonsense.

The bottom line is ALWAYS revenue. Sometimes you make more money by being more generous – case in point GW2 NOT having a subscription and NOT having a stinky pay-to-win cash shop —> enormous profits.

Question is would offering this content for free again (as they did when it was live) as part of HoT cause enough people to buy the expansion who otherwise might not have? It is a potential sale barrier. Want to jump into an expansion…. but you’re missing half the story so that effectively increases the cost of the expansion by $20ish.

Plus they’d consider the PR value of such generosity.

Caeledh.5437:

Plus they’d consider the PR value of such generosity.

And they would also create quite a bit of rage from people that have paid in order to unlock the chapters. Which I am rather sure they are also taking into consideration.

Just farm gold and buy gems to unlock the chapters you want and if you want to play the story ask a friend to create an instance for you so you can do it. I for one don’t want S2 to be bundled with a deluxe or collectors edition of the game that would be stupid it wouldn’t be worth the extra cash I would spend for the deluxe or collectors.

BlkPrince.2854:

Just farm gold and buy gems to unlock the chapters you want and if you want to play the story ask a friend to create an instance for you so you can do it. I for one don’t want S2 to be bundled with a deluxe or collectors edition of the game that would be stupid it wouldn’t be worth the extra cash I would spend for the deluxe or collectors.

That would be assuming that S2 was the ONLY bonus you got from Deluxe/Collectors, which is very unlikely.

I think some kind of story pass for season 2 (you get access to the instances but not the achievement) could be given for free with the expansion just to allow the player to immerse himself in the story. It’s a quality of life idea since you could always join a player who has it unlocked.

I hope they wont give it for free… they already did when it was released, anyone could get it for free… if you missed it, you have to pay money or gold for it, even this is so generous that they let you buy it with ingame money… it’s more than enough… if you are too lazy to login once when new content is released or play the game to make ingame money it’s your problem…

Sure, give me back 200 gems per episode then or give me something that those with Ls2 not unlocked will not get.

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

Sure, give me back 200 gems per episode then or give me something that those with Ls2 not unlocked will not get.

I too have paid up for some of the episodes that were recommended to me, so I’m not trying to cheap out by asking for S2 free, just putting things into perspective a little

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

Sure, give me back 200 gems per episode then or give me something that those with Ls2 not unlocked will not get.

it’s a ridiculous notion that you should be refunded for something because it was bundled on another product a year later. do you also ask valve for refunds when games go on sale? do you lose your kitten when humble bundles happen?

the funniest part is that more likely than not, you didn’t even pay for the episodes.

BrunoBRS.5178:

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

Sure, give me back 200 gems per episode then or give me something that those with Ls2 not unlocked will not get.

it’s a ridiculous notion that you should be refunded for something because it was bundled on another product a year later. do you also ask valve for refunds when games go on sale? do you lose your kitten when humble bundles happen?

the funniest part is that more likely than not, you didn’t even pay for the episodes.

It is no more ridiculous than asking for something to be giving for free yet again after the developers gave clear and open opportunity to get it for free for a long period of time (2 weeks is HUGE time to take less than 2 minutes to quickly log in and log out of a game).

Giving it free with the HoT expansion would make the expansion less valuable for those that have played the chapters already than to those that haven’t.

Giving it free with HoT would also make those that have paid for the chapters -any of them at all- feel like they’re being scammed and cheated by the developers.

They said at PAX South that they announced all the major features of Heart of Thorns as to what is being included in it (without specific details, of course). Living Story Season #2 is not a listed feature of Heart of Thorns; it will not be included in that expansion. At most they’ll include a video compiling the works of Scarlet up to and including her death, then the rise of Mordremoth right up to the Pact ships being attacked. That is what new people will get for free.

If they want to play the LS S2 chapters to get the loot items included within it and a more detailed story, then they’ll have to pay the Gold or $$ to get it. Period. End of story.

P.S. I didn’t purchase all the chapters myself, only the 1 single one I missed while I was moving and my PC with GW2 was in storage. That one was well worth paying the $2.50 for and the rest I’d unlocked via logging in to the game. Also that $2.50 chapter got me to sink in $20 worth of Gems for the game, so just as business planed by A.Net, their content baited me (welcoming) into spending money on the game’s Gem shop. How about that….

Siphaed.9235:

BrunoBRS.5178:

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

Sure, give me back 200 gems per episode then or give me something that those with Ls2 not unlocked will not get.

it’s a ridiculous notion that you should be refunded for something because it was bundled on another product a year later. do you also ask valve for refunds when games go on sale? do you lose your kitten when humble bundles happen?

the funniest part is that more likely than not, you didn’t even pay for the episodes.

It is no more ridiculous than asking for something to be giving for free yet again after the developers gave clear and open opportunity to get it for free for a long period of time (2 weeks is HUGE time to take less than 2 minutes to quickly log in and log out of a game).

Giving it free with the HoT expansion would make the expansion less valuable for those that have played the chapters already than to those that haven’t.

Giving it free with HoT would also make those that have paid for the chapters -any of them at all- feel like they’re being scammed and cheated by the developers.

They said at PAX South that they announced all the major features of Heart of Thorns as to what is being included in it (without specific details, of course). Living Story Season #2 is not a listed feature of Heart of Thorns; it will not be included in that expansion. At most they’ll include a video compiling the works of Scarlet up to and including her death, then the rise of Mordremoth right up to the Pact ships being attacked. That is what new people will get for free.

If they want to play the LS S2 chapters to get the loot items included within it and a more detailed story, then they’ll have to pay the Gold or $$ to get it. Period. End of story.

P.S. I didn’t purchase all the chapters myself, only the 1 single one I missed while I was moving and my PC with GW2 was in storage. That one was well worth paying the $2.50 for and the rest I’d unlocked via logging in to the game. Also that $2.50 chapter got me to sink in $20 worth of Gems for the game, so just as business planed by A.Net, their content baited me (welcoming) into spending money on the game’s Gem shop. How about that….

I personally don’t think it’s entirely implausible for S2 to come with HoT.

And it wouldn’t be less valuable, it’d be more valuable… how do you add MORE content and lose value? Those who haven’t got S2 would be far more inclined to buy HoT since it’d be a means to access the full arc of the story.

If you paid up for the story chapters then it’s just tough luck, as are many things like the Mystic Toilet, Black Lion Chests and Boss Rewards… maybe all those people who bought skins when they weren’t on sale should get the difference paid back to them, if that’s the logic you’re going for.

There’s more potential to make a sale with more content, unless you don’t want said content included… and realistically, S2 isn’t gonna be the kinda thing people turn down if it’s offered to them.

PS. They said nothing about what we’ve seen so far being ALL that’s gonna be in HoT, they only showed the major features, that’s it. There’s certainly more to be included/announced

lordkrall.7241:

Caeledh.5437:

Plus they’d consider the PR value of such generosity.

And they would also create quite a bit of rage from people that have paid in order to unlock the chapters. Which I am rather sure they are also taking into consideration.

You didn’t read all of that post which began with…..

Caeledh.5437:

Not a bad idea IMO – and I say that having unlocked them all already by logging in while they live.

The only issue would be players who might have already paid for them. but they could offer a gem refund to those people if they buy HoT.

Which would be a rather time-consuming and annoying thing for all parts involved. And then they miss someone or something and all kitten breaks loose.

lordkrall.7241:

Which would be a rather time-consuming and annoying thing for all parts involved. And then they miss someone or something and all kitten breaks loose.

Lucky GW2 keeps receipts of purchase for each individual person’s account

Tyrannical.9348:

Just a small suggestion, make Living Story Season 2 free with Heart of Thorns. Most of the story leading up to HoT is all living story content, which is locked to people who didn’t play during the release of each episode or purchase it with Gems.

It would seem a little silly to have the expansion’s plot rely on backstory you can’t access, you wouldn’t know what reasons your character has to chase down this new dragon, or what happened prior to the event of the pact fleet crashing into the canopy. There’s so much of this expansion that relies on players knowing current events… it’s kinda flawed when you think about it.

Would people prefer if S2 was additionally accessible to players who purchase HoT?

my vote on this would be no.

“There’s so much of this expansion that relies on players knowing current events…” like what? couldn’t the players just read the ls history for free and catch up?

Tyrannical.9348:

Lucky GW2 keeps receipts of purchase for each individual person’s account

Of course. That doesn’t make it less of a time-consuming and annoying thing though. And there are always a risk that someone is missed.

Swagger.1459:

Tyrannical.9348:

Just a small suggestion, make Living Story Season 2 free with Heart of Thorns. Most of the story leading up to HoT is all living story content, which is locked to people who didn’t play during the release of each episode or purchase it with Gems.

It would seem a little silly to have the expansion’s plot rely on backstory you can’t access, you wouldn’t know what reasons your character has to chase down this new dragon, or what happened prior to the event of the pact fleet crashing into the canopy. There’s so much of this expansion that relies on players knowing current events… it’s kinda flawed when you think about it.

Would people prefer if S2 was additionally accessible to players who purchase HoT?

my vote on this would be no.

“There’s so much of this expansion that relies on players knowing current events…” like what? couldn’t the players just read the ls history for free and catch up?

Reading up game content isn’t as fun as playing it.

They’re more likely to reveal a packaged season 2 “box set” than to give it away for free. Buying the expansion could come with a coupon for it however. If they were going to give it away, they might as well refund everyone now and simply make it free. Who would really buy season 2 now if they knew they would get it for free with the expansion?

The only way I see the expansion actually including season 2 is if it is severely lacking in content. Dry Top, Silverwastes, Season 2 – it was always a part of HoT, that’s simply how the living world works.

I don’t see them offering Season 2 free with the expansion. The content is not absolutely locked for those that did not acquire it, either free or with Gems. Each and every player can, if they so desire, team up with another player who has unlocked the Episodes, and play through said Episodes, for story-content only.

I could maybe see them doing that as a pre-order bonus for a special edition. Who knows.

Tyrannical.9348:

Swagger.1459:

Tyrannical.9348:

Just a small suggestion, make Living Story Season 2 free with Heart of Thorns. Most of the story leading up to HoT is all living story content, which is locked to people who didn’t play during the release of each episode or purchase it with Gems.

It would seem a little silly to have the expansion’s plot rely on backstory you can’t access, you wouldn’t know what reasons your character has to chase down this new dragon, or what happened prior to the event of the pact fleet crashing into the canopy. There’s so much of this expansion that relies on players knowing current events… it’s kinda flawed when you think about it.

Would people prefer if S2 was additionally accessible to players who purchase HoT?

my vote on this would be no.

“There’s so much of this expansion that relies on players knowing current events…” like what? couldn’t the players just read the ls history for free and catch up?

Reading up game content isn’t as fun as playing it.

that’s a completely different argument than the one you provided.

there are options for players to relive and learn about ls2 already. i’d prefer that arena not give away more free stuff (particularly old ls content), because more free stuff means less development money. this game has a lot of things to do, catch up on and offer to their customers and these things will not be achieved by giving out even more freebies.

agree, S2 story should come with HOT.
I mean they could lose many potential customers if new players
find out that they need to spend extra money to unlock story contents.

lordkrall.7241:

Of course. That doesn’t make it less of a time-consuming and annoying thing though. And there are always a risk that someone is missed.

You know, if it weren’t for the fact this was on online forum I’d have to ask if you’ve ever heard of computers? Sales records are digital. They’re stored in a database. Maybe you’ve no idea how easy it is to perform alterations en masse in a database?

If an ANet exec said “refund the gem cost of all living story purchases to everyone who buys HoT”, that could be done in a matter of minutes. Literally. More time would almost certainly be allowed for testing and checking (just good practice), but actually writing and executing the script to do it would take minutes.

Nor would there – short of major flaws in their systems – be any risk of missing anyone.

I wonder why, when items are sent out en masse (to some select sub-group), we always find threads on the forums from those that are ‘missed’. Somehow, that ‘no risk’ seems to change into ‘some risk’ every single time.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I wonder why, when items are sent out en masse (to some select sub-group), we always find threads on the forums from those that are ‘missed’. Somehow, that ‘no risk’ seems to change into ‘some risk’ every single time.

Sure. Every single time. Been keeping a record have you?

Even if it were true – which it’s not – it’s still silly to compare a simple internal database operation involving financial records to by the sounds of it, mass emails?

You must not spend much time over in Account Issues. A database is a database. How would these ‘refunds’ be distributed, then? Just show up with no accompanying documentation?

BrunoBRS.5178:

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

Sure, give me back 200 gems per episode then or give me something that those with Ls2 not unlocked will not get.

it’s a ridiculous notion that you should be refunded for something because it was bundled on another product a year later. do you also ask valve for refunds when games go on sale? do you lose your kitten when humble bundles happen?

the funniest part is that more likely than not, you didn’t even pay for the episodes.

No, because when a game goes on sale, i have my chance to purchase it, if i miss said sale, that’s my fault, i don’t complain saying “Sorry i missed X deadline, can i have it for free now instead?”

ArenaNet gave you 2 weeks notice to unlock each episode for free, missed that date? Then purchase the episodes, support the game you play.

Also, I had to pay for 4 of the episodes as I wasn’t aware of them being free for the first 4 during my time of not playing, but I’m not surprised you jumped the gun and made an assumption just to try and make my point seem null.

Caeledh.5437:

You know, if it weren’t for the fact this was on online forum I’d have to ask if you’ve ever heard of computers? Sales records are digital. They’re stored in a database. Maybe you’ve no idea how easy it is to perform alterations en masse in a database?

If an ANet exec said “refund the gem cost of all living story purchases to everyone who buys HoT”, that could be done in a matter of minutes. Literally. More time would almost certainly be allowed for testing and checking (just good practice), but actually writing and executing the script to do it would take minutes.

Nor would there – short of major flaws in their systems – be any risk of missing anyone.

Actually, being a system developer I have a rather good understanding on how computer (and databases) works. And thus I am also aware that it is very possible that things don’t work out as excepted.

No system is flawless, and almost every single time there have been things based on a database “which should be easy” there have been issues.

What if there was a slight hiccup in the database when someone bought the episodes, and thus it didn’t register correctly? They would be missed out.
What if the database does not differ between people that have bought the episodes and those that unlocked them for free?

There are plenty of things that could go wrong. Which everyone that have some knowledge of computers should be fully aware of.

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

BrunoBRS.5178:

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

Sure, give me back 200 gems per episode then or give me something that those with Ls2 not unlocked will not get.

it’s a ridiculous notion that you should be refunded for something because it was bundled on another product a year later. do you also ask valve for refunds when games go on sale? do you lose your kitten when humble bundles happen?

the funniest part is that more likely than not, you didn’t even pay for the episodes.

No, because when a game goes on sale, i have my chance to purchase it, if i miss said sale, that’s my fault, i don’t complain saying “Sorry i missed X deadline, can i have it for free now instead?”

ArenaNet gave you 2 weeks notice to unlock each episode for free, missed that date? Then purchase the episodes, support the game you play.

Also, I had to pay for 4 of the episodes as I wasn’t aware of them being free for the first 4 during my time of not playing, but I’m not surprised you jumped the gun and made an assumption just to try and make my point seem null.

Bear in mind this expansion is also bringing in a heap of new players and returning players to the game, who would not have the S2 content because… well, they weren’t here, were they? how could they know?

Tyrannical.9348:

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

BrunoBRS.5178:

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

Sure, give me back 200 gems per episode then or give me something that those with Ls2 not unlocked will not get.

it’s a ridiculous notion that you should be refunded for something because it was bundled on another product a year later. do you also ask valve for refunds when games go on sale? do you lose your kitten when humble bundles happen?

the funniest part is that more likely than not, you didn’t even pay for the episodes.

No, because when a game goes on sale, i have my chance to purchase it, if i miss said sale, that’s my fault, i don’t complain saying “Sorry i missed X deadline, can i have it for free now instead?”

ArenaNet gave you 2 weeks notice to unlock each episode for free, missed that date? Then purchase the episodes, support the game you play.

Also, I had to pay for 4 of the episodes as I wasn’t aware of them being free for the first 4 during my time of not playing, but I’m not surprised you jumped the gun and made an assumption just to try and make my point seem null.

Bear in mind this expansion is also bringing in a heap of new players and returning players to the game, who would not have the S2 content because… well, they weren’t here, were they? how could they know?

I wasn’t playing and i eventually found out, pretty sure emails were dished out too stating that if you logged in within a 2 week period you’d receive them for free also.