Guild Wars 2

Hello I’m sorry to bug you all about this but I have a few questions that I really badly need answered. I’d rather get input from the community before I purchase. here at the few questions I have

1. excluding the original Guild wars2 game how much more content does the expansion add like how many more maps and what new and exciting things does it add ?

2. is it worth the $50 for the basic or would I find more functionality and enjoyment out of getting the larger packs?

3. what will happen to people who cannot afford the expansion with a miss out on events or other later content because of it?

4. Would it be possible to skip over this expansion and play the next expansion whenever it comes out?

5. If somebody in my guild does not have the expansion but I do and I put up a Guildhall, will they be able to visit it?

6. Are there any options to allow me to send the expansion as a gift to my friends?

7. And lastly, is there any discounts for buying the expansions in bulk like if I buy six copies of it?

I thank you all for your time in reading this and I really do appreciate any input I can get on this before I make the purchase

1 — Only ANet knows. Pessimists say “one map” (clearly wrong), optimists say “several maps in one new zone, with more coming post-launch the way SW did.” As to new and exciting things, check the FAQ for the main new things.

2 — The larger packs don’t add functionality, they add a mini and a glider skin etc. Nothing you need to play the game. The largest pack includes a set of 1/2 price gems, so if you will spend 50 bucks on gems anyway in the future it’s a stellar deal.

3 — There will be content people without HoT cannot see. That’s how expansions work.

4 — You could wait 1 to 3 years and buy the next expansion and it will include this one as well as vanilla. But then you would miss all that game playing time and being part of the game’s evolution.

5 — No one knows for sure but the theory many have is that yes, guildies without the expansion can still see the guild hall but might not be able to use all its features.

6 — The base and middle packs can be bought for gems, so you could buy them a gem card (or buy one yourself and give them the code) so they could do the in-game purchase of the expansion. Or I think you could buy any tier of the expansion and just send the serial code to someone else to apply to their own old or new account.

7 — No bulk discounts that I know of.

Donari.5237:

6 — The base and middle packs can be bought for gems, so you could buy them a gem card (or buy one yourself and give them the code) so they could do the in-game purchase of the expansion. Or I think you could buy any tier of the expansion and just send the serial code to someone else to apply to their own old or new account.

Correction, HoT as the expansion itself cannot be bought with gems. The only option available via gems is to upgrade from base HoT to Deluxe. You have to have purchased base HoT with real world money and added to the account first. It works like the older DD upgrade does. You can buy HoT basic, Deluxe, or Ultimate through the in game store but you have to pay with real world money and it automatically upgrades the account once purchased.

If one wishes to gift the expansion to another they can buy the expansion through the web store or other authorized retailer and simply send the serial code to the gift recipient. As mentioned previously you cannot buy the expansion through the in game store for someone else because once purchased it automatically upgrades the account.

One problem with most of your questions is that for we don’t have the answers yet.

1. excluding the original Guild wars2 game how much more content does the expansion add like how many more maps and what new and exciting things does it add?
Unknown as to how many more maps. They have said challenging content (undefined), leaderboard content (where you can do an event and see who does best), and the addition of the new Mastery system, which allows your chars to assign points to different lines (something like in WvW and the ability to assign points in different areas).

2. is it worth the $50 for the basic or would I find more functionality and enjoyment out of getting the larger packs?
the higher priced items have only cosmetic fluff, such as a mini pet or a guild decoration. The highest priced one has discounted gems, 4k worth. Other than that there is no difference.

3. what will happen to people who cannot afford the expansion with a miss out on events or other later content because of it?
I guess it depends if it’s repeatedable content or not. Presumably most will be repeatedable and those who purchase later can still do it.

4. Would it be possible to skip over this expansion and play the next expansion whenever it comes out?
Any future expansion is expected to be bundled together with the core game and any old expansions so as not to divide the player base.

5. If somebody in my guild does not have the expansion but I do and I put up a Guildhall, will they be able to visit it?
This is unknown, but presumably yes through a button on the guild panel.

6. Are there any options to allow me to send the expansion as a gift to my friends?
https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/94582027-Heart-of-Thorns-Pre-Purchase-FAQ
If you’re buying Heart of Thorns for someone else, you’ll want to use buy.guildwars2.com

7. And lastly, is there any discounts for buying the expansions in bulk like if I buy six copies of it?
No. The game does not have discounts for bulk purchases.

Donari.5237:

1 — Only ANet knows. Pessimists say “one map” (clearly wrong), optimists say “several maps in one new zone, with more coming post-launch the way SW did.” As to new and exciting things, check the FAQ for the main new things.

2 — The larger packs don’t add functionality, they add a mini and a glider skin etc. Nothing you need to play the game. The largest pack includes a set of 1/2 price gems, so if you will spend 50 bucks on gems anyway in the future it’s a stellar deal.

3 — There will be content people without HoT cannot see. That’s how expansions work.

4 — You could wait 1 to 3 years and buy the next expansion and it will include this one as well as vanilla. But then you would miss all that game playing time and being part of the game’s evolution.

5 — No one knows for sure but the theory many have is that yes, guildies without the expansion can still see the guild hall but might not be able to use all its features.

6 — The base and middle packs can be bought for gems, so you could buy them a gem card (or buy one yourself and give them the code) so they could do the in-game purchase of the expansion. Or I think you could buy any tier of the expansion and just send the serial code to someone else to apply to their own old or new account.

7 — No bulk discounts that I know of.

1. https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/ There have been various dev blogs over the last few months with detailed info here and there on what the expansion will contain. You just need to look through the pages to find it all. You can also go here and see what info has been released so far https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/en/#section-home

2. That’s true. The only extra thing the ultimate edition has that the deluxe doesn’t is $50 worth of gems for half price.

3. True. Some stuff won’t be available for players that don’t have the expansion.

4. True. They had made an official state that going forward any new expansions will contain all previous expansions and the core game completely free of charge as a bonus. You could use it to create a new account or upgrade an existing account.

5. I’m not to sure about this either and so far I haven’t seen an official response on it (it’s possible a dev mentioned it and I just didn’t see it). I too am curious to know if players without the expansion will be locked out from going to their guild hall as well as if there are any guild activities that will be locked out. It’s possible they will make a dev blog about it soon if they haven’t already.

6. Partially incorrect. Only the deluxe edition upgrade can be purchased with gems after adding the basic expansion to your account. The basic version has to be bought from http://buy.guildwars2.com/store/gw2/en_US/html/pbPage.heartofthorns?_ga=1.167951841.177988212.1434715322 Or you can access the shop through the gem store and purchase it there but you still need a credit/debit card to purchase it.

If you have the basic or deluxe edition there is no way to upgrade to the ultimate edition.

If you purchase it through the in-game store it will be automatically added to your own account (this is how I did it and I had no option to apply the code to my account since it was applied automatically). You would need to purchase it through the website. Since the code can be used to create a new account, feasibly you should be able to give it to a friend so they can make their own account.

As others have clarified you cannot buy the expansion for gems if you don’t already have the game. I think I was assuming your friends had the base game already because the word “expansion” made me think “expanding on what one has.” But JustTrogdor is absolutely correct, initial purchase of the game at any level must be with cash.

onic.4537:

Hello I’m sorry to bug you all about this but I have a few questions that I really badly need answered. I’d rather get input from the community before I purchase. here at the few questions I have

1. excluding the original Guild wars2 game how much more content does the expansion add like how many more maps and what new and exciting things does it add ?

One region comprised of three overlapping, vertical maps. Colin stated this very clearly, however many are choosing to deny this for some odd reason. The meat of the expansion is thin which has led many to sit and wait until it comes out to make a better purchase decision.

Vix.6730:

onic.4537:

Hello I’m sorry to bug you all about this but I have a few questions that I really badly need answered. I’d rather get input from the community before I purchase. here at the few questions I have

1. excluding the original Guild wars2 game how much more content does the expansion add like how many more maps and what new and exciting things does it add ?

One region comprised of three overlapping, vertical maps. Colin stated this very clearly, however many are choosing to deny this for some odd reason. The meat of the expansion is thin which has led many to sit and wait until it comes out to make a better purchase decision.

Yes, one region with each map having 3 biomes. That’s well known. But that does not answer the question here, which is, how many maps?

Charrbeque.8729:

Donari.5237:

2 — The larger packs don’t add functionality, they add a mini and a glider skin etc. Nothing you need to play the game. The largest pack includes a set of 1/2 price gems, so if you will spend 50 bucks on gems anyway in the future it’s a stellar deal.

2. That’s true. The only extra thing the ultimate edition has that the deluxe doesn’t is $50 worth of gems for half price.

They’re not half price unless you consider skins and minis to be worth $15.

Lhos.1643:

Charrbeque.8729:

Donari.5237:

2 — The larger packs don’t add functionality, they add a mini and a glider skin etc. Nothing you need to play the game. The largest pack includes a set of 1/2 price gems, so if you will spend 50 bucks on gems anyway in the future it’s a stellar deal.

2. That’s true. The only extra thing the ultimate edition has that the deluxe doesn’t is $50 worth of gems for half price.

They’re not half price unless you consider skins and minis to be worth $15.

To be fair it is a miniature, a glider skin, a finisher, a guild hall decoration, and a character slot. I’m guessing many people that choose the Deluxe or Ultimate edition do place some value on those items. The character slot alone is a $10 value. The finishers sold in the gems store according to the wiki range from 500-800 gems so that is at a minimum another $5 value. There is your $15 in two items alone. Minis in the gem store range from 350-700 gems. So add another couple of dollars. The other items don’t really have a gem store value at this time. I’m sure they will later when similar items are sold in the gem store at a later date.

JustTrogdor.7892:

Lhos.1643:

Charrbeque.8729:

Donari.5237:

2 — The larger packs don’t add functionality, they add a mini and a glider skin etc. Nothing you need to play the game. The largest pack includes a set of 1/2 price gems, so if you will spend 50 bucks on gems anyway in the future it’s a stellar deal.

2. That’s true. The only extra thing the ultimate edition has that the deluxe doesn’t is $50 worth of gems for half price.

They’re not half price unless you consider skins and minis to be worth $15.

To be fair it is a miniature, a glider skin, a finisher, a guild hall decoration, and a character slot. I’m guessing many people that choose the Deluxe or Ultimate edition do place some value on those items. The character slot alone is a $10 value.

That’s it in a nutshell.

The character slot at least has a function that can’t really be replicated in any other way, at least not for the same price and without hoops to jump through (whereas an unskinned glider will very likely work exactly the same as a skinned one).

Lhos.1643:

Charrbeque.8729:

Donari.5237:

2 — The larger packs don’t add functionality, they add a mini and a glider skin etc. Nothing you need to play the game. The largest pack includes a set of 1/2 price gems, so if you will spend 50 bucks on gems anyway in the future it’s a stellar deal.

2. That’s true. The only extra thing the ultimate edition has that the deluxe doesn’t is $50 worth of gems for half price.

They’re not half price unless you consider skins and minis to be worth $15.

Not sure how you can state that. Regardless of what it comes with, the Deluxe is $75 dollars. What does Ultimate, for $100, have that Deluxe does not? It includes $50 worth of Gems. What is the difference in price? The difference is $25; or 4000 Gems at half-price.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Lhos.1643:

Charrbeque.8729:

Donari.5237:

2 — The larger packs don’t add functionality, they add a mini and a glider skin etc. Nothing you need to play the game. The largest pack includes a set of 1/2 price gems, so if you will spend 50 bucks on gems anyway in the future it’s a stellar deal.

2. That’s true. The only extra thing the ultimate edition has that the deluxe doesn’t is $50 worth of gems for half price.

They’re not half price unless you consider skins and minis to be worth $15.

Not sure how you can state that. Regardless of what it comes with, the Deluxe is $75 dollars. What does Ultimate, for $100, have that Deluxe does not? It includes $50 worth of Gems. What is the difference in price? The difference is $25; or $50 worth of Gems at half-price.

If I offered to sell you an orange for x dollars, then offered you that plus a handful of dust for 1.5x dollars, and then the orange, the dust, and an apple for 2x dollars, would you still tell me that apple is 50% off? Obviously not; the dust is worthless.

It’s a matter of where the buyer places value, that’s all. I don’t find skins to be worth cash.

EDIT: inb4 “well some people do”; note the agreement two posts up.

The argument was not whether there was value in the Deluxe edition, but what the difference between the Deluxe edition and the Ultimate edition was.

The only difference is the 4000 Gems, and the price difference between the two editions is $25 dollars; which is half-price for those 4000 Gems.

It’s a completely different argument whether some find the Deluxe bonus items valuable, and some do not.

Good luck.

Lhos.1643:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Lhos.1643:

Charrbeque.8729:

Donari.5237:

2 — The larger packs don’t add functionality, they add a mini and a glider skin etc. Nothing you need to play the game. The largest pack includes a set of 1/2 price gems, so if you will spend 50 bucks on gems anyway in the future it’s a stellar deal.

2. That’s true. The only extra thing the ultimate edition has that the deluxe doesn’t is $50 worth of gems for half price.

They’re not half price unless you consider skins and minis to be worth $15.

Not sure how you can state that. Regardless of what it comes with, the Deluxe is $75 dollars. What does Ultimate, for $100, have that Deluxe does not? It includes $50 worth of Gems. What is the difference in price? The difference is $25; or $50 worth of Gems at half-price.

If I offered to sell you an orange for x dollars, then offered you that plus a handful of dust for 1.5x dollars, and then the orange, the dust, and an apple for 2x dollars, would you still tell me that apple is 50% off? Obviously not; the dust is worthless.

It’s a matter of where the buyer places value, that’s all. I don’t find skins to be worth cash.

EDIT: inb4 “well some people do”; note the agreement two posts up.

If you place no value on the fluff, then the deluxe is 75$ for the expansion only. The Ultimate is $100 and it gives you $50 worth of gems. This means either the expansion price is $50 in the Ultimate version with $50 in gems or that expansion is $75 and the gems are discounted in price to $25, depending on how you want to view it.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

The argument was not whether there was value in the Deluxe edition, but what the difference between the Deluxe edition and the Ultimate edition was.

The only difference is the 4000 Gems, and the price difference between the two editions is $25 dollars; which is half-price for those 4000 Gems.

It’s a completely different argument whether some find the Deluxe bonus items valuable, and some do not.

Good luck.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If you place no value on the fluff, then the deluxe is 75$ for the expansion only. The Ultimate is $100 and it gives you $50 worth of gems. This means either the expansion price is $50 in the Ultimate version with $50 in gems or that expansion is $75 and the gems are discounted in price to $25, depending on how you want to view it.

HoT is known to cost $50 by itself. 4000 gems cost $50 by themselves. Character slots cost $10 by themselves.

HoT ($50) + Gems ($50), get charslot and fluff free. Hooray.

Alternatively, HoT($50) + charslot($10) + fluff($15) + gems ($25), get $25 gems free. Hooray.

One way focuses on things that have a purpose other than being pretty. The other, personally, attempts to look at things to make it seem like the greatest bargain possible. Both include at least $10 in bonuses. The remaining up to $15 bonus depends on whether you value what I’ve labeled fluff or not, that’s all.

Please buy my dust. It is very shiny dust. :P

Lhos.1643:

It’s a matter of where the buyer places value, that’s all. I don’t find skins to be worth cash.

EDIT: inb4 “well some people do”; note the agreement two posts up.

Of course some people do you even admitted so, see the bold text in the quote. That’s why they buy those packages. They want the skins, mini, etc. and think it is worth the money. The fact that you as an individual don’t find value in those items does not negate the fact that many people do.

You don’t get to subtract value from an item for everyone just because you find no value in it yourself. To me the custom mail carriers have no value (to me they are dust using your terrible overly biased analogy). I don’t go around in the threads on mail carriers telling people saying they bought them that they have no value though. That would make no sense as apparently many people enjoy custom mail carriers and thus they have value to the buyer.

And that is exactly what you are doing, you are telling people those items have no value because you think they have no value. In your personal situation, indeed you should not buy the Deluxe or Ultimate edition because you have no interest in those items. I’ll agree with you on that.

Did anyone mention “No Monthly Fee”?