Guild Wars 2

It’s showing $50 for the basic Heart of Thorns pack, but it says it comes with GW2 core game as well. I already own the game so is it still going to be $50 for me as well?

Yes. And you don’t even get a core game with it.

If you have owned GW2 previously , then it uogrades your game to be GW2: HoT.

Search this topic is your friend.

See this thread for an existing discussion about the price and the inclusion of core GW2, in short the current state of play is:-

1. HoT for new accounts gives full access to the GW2 world as it stands
2. HoT for existing accounts gives you the new HoT exclusive features/content (and an extra character slot – at least under some circumstances)

My understanding is that without HoT your game will not evolve beyond the current world state except where changes tweak features/content you already have access to. That means (assuming you do not get HoT) you would not get:-

1. Access to Guild Halls
2. Revenant Profession
3. Elite Specialisations (e.g. Druid, Chronomancer, Tempest, etc)
4. Masteries (e.g. Hand Gliding)
5. Any further living story progression

There may be even more content/features you would miss out on and it is unclear if any of the above features will be even partially available to non-HoT accounts (but I believe they are not even partially available).

hard to see players who didn’t notice the whole rage about this topic

$50 is the price for the expansion on it’s own. The base game is being given away free to people who don’t already have it, but the expansion would cost the same for existing players (and new players) even if they didn’t do that.

neonis.3974:

Search this topic is your friend.

1. Search is borken

2. I can understand why someone wouldn’t want to browse through/read 5598 replies (at the moment I am writning this).

Sadly, you will have to pay the full price, but won’t get the Core game unless you register a completely new account (but your old accound won’t get the update that way).

If you want a better price, just look around for special offers. In Europe, there were some special offers for the physical Prepurchase-Box already, the price was around 30-33€.

In my opinion boxes will be in stores way before the release date.

Many stores no longer sell GuildWars2, and many stores no longer have GuildWars2 box (because there is no point for any customer to buy the core game twice). Right now the best way (and only way) to play GuildWars2 is to buy HoT from official website. This status quo is a problem for stores trying to make profit from this product, and it’s an issue for ArenaNet trying to bring more customers into this MMO without disappointing them.

As such, I think ArenaNet plans to announce a release date during GamesCom 2015 (so they will not loose more potential customers) and then put the whole bundle (HoT+Core) into boxes on stores, with a release date notification.

In my opinion if ArenaNet does not create boxed versions fast, many customers will make plans to buy something else after GamesCom, and ArenaNet will loose potential customers, especially from visitors at GamesCom (because many companies will provide hands-on for their games planned for release this year).

Many players want the lowest price, but when only one website sells a product there is no competition in offers, and no lowest price.

While I do understand why A.net is actively trying to capture new players, giving existing players a character slot as a “loyalty bonus” seems near insulting. Even if they just gave us $10 worth of gems it’d be far far better. Just my two copper of course.

Roxer.4609:

kleedrac.9624:

While I do understand why A.net is actively trying to capture new players, giving existing players a character slot as a “loyalty bonus” seems near insulting. Even if they just gave us $10 worth of gems it’d be far far better. Just my two copper of course.

Well, keep in mind that it took a full scale player riot picked up be the media to make ANet give away 1 character slot with the expansion.

Now, sending gems to everyone updating to HoT might affect gems-to-gold market too much, but …

what would be nice is if ANet give all the current players a special currency we could exchange for some of the things new players receive with a brand new gw2 package. I’m not asking for the full value of 5 char slots, bank slot and material slot, but at least something equivalent to 40-80% of that.

For example, when an existing account upgrades to HoT, the player receives Loyalty Tokens (LT) that can be spent to get

• 2-4 new character slots, or
• 3-6 bag slot expansions, or
• 3-5 bank expansions, or
• 2-4 material storage expanders, or
• an exclusive mini of Colin Johanson or Gaile Gray, or
• a combination of the above, then spend the remaining LT to buy
• transmutation charges, or
• spirit charges, or
• some other useful stuff to make sure LTs aren’t wasted

This way the players would be in control of what they get, and I’m sure, 95% of the players will be totally extatic about the deal, praise ANet on their generosity, and HoT pre-purchase will go way up right away.

The idea is that if ANet wants to be fair to what they sell with HoT to new players as well as old ones, they’d have to make it

• totally fair: give veteran players an equivalent of $40 in virtual goods
• understandable to get more profit: give a $30 equivalent
• totally greedy: give a $20 equivalent
• insulting: $10 equivalent
• cause a riot: give nothing, a $0 equivalent

What really happened is ANet started with giving $0 extra value for upgrade, got a riot on their hands, then made a community address and promised to give everyone who pre-purchased HoT a char slot. Apparently, the most vocal players on the forums were Ok with that deal. Some players are still unhappy, but at least there is not that many active rebels here

No. That there is entitlement. It’s disappointing that it’s now expected that companies have to provide free bonuses with any of their products otherwise they’re labeled as greedy or out of touch.

Ayrilana.1396:

No. That there is entitlement. It’s disappointing that it’s now expected that companies have to provide free bonuses with any of their products otherwise they’re labeled as greedy or out of touch.

Considering we’re paying more than the original game when it first came out…yeah, they kinda do owe us something. Though TBH, they need to just release an expansion only version to put all this crap to rest. They do that, the mob dies down because we can spend $20-30 to get the expansion alone and not the core game with it (which we already paid for btw).

Acrisor.8097:

Right now the best way (and only way) to play GuildWars2 is to buy HoT from official website.

In my opinion if ArenaNet does not create boxed versions fast, many customers will make plans to buy something else after GamesCom

Dont know how is it in NA, but since june 23rd, in EU you can prepurchase a boxed version of the standard edition in a lot of stores. And actually, it is cheaper than buying HoT from the offcial website.

So:

1.- you can buy boxed edition already
2.- it is cheaper to buy a boxed edition than in anet’s web.
3.- remember that you can upgrade any standard edition into deluxe with 2.400 gems (or in other words, less than 450 gold and of course: $0).

RyuDragnier.9476:

Ayrilana.1396:

No. That there is entitlement. It’s disappointing that it’s now expected that companies have to provide free bonuses with any of their products otherwise they’re labeled as greedy or out of touch.

Considering we’re paying more than the original game when it first came out…yeah, they kinda do owe us something. Though TBH, they need to just release an expansion only version to put all this crap to rest. They do that, the mob dies down because we can spend $20-30 to get the expansion alone and not the core game with it (which we already paid for btw).

Original came out for $60. The expansion is $50. So 50 > 60? The core game is not part of the price of the expansion either. If they dropped the free core game to new accounts, the expansion would still be $50.

Roxer.4609:

At the moment the value of the new account with HoT is incomparably bigger than HoT-upgrade for the existing account. This is a major disbalance in what current players get versus the new ones. For many people it’s big enough to delay the purchase of HoT till the price is reduced or more information makes HoT more attractive, I’m sure.

The people who are upset about the core game being included for free to new accounts would still be upset if the expansion price was $30. The people who are upset because the expansion is $50 would still be upset if new accounts did not get the core game for free.

At one point, the core game was going for $10. I believe that the final price, if you bought it separately settled for $20-25 depending on where you go. If labeled Anet as greedy if they only gave $20 in bonuses. You deemed $40 in bonuses to be fair. If you want to complain about value, how about complaining that new players can buy the core game for half the price that players did at launch? After all, they’re getting better value for the money that they spent.

Roxer.4609:

GW2 stream of bi-weekly updates was suspended as of Jan 2015. People who bought GW2 on the terms of “pay-once, play forever” not only experienced over 6 month interruption of service, but also have to re-purchase the game now if they want to keep enjoying it in the future. Combined with extra-vague idea about HoT and no announcement about ANet commitment to content delivery schedule after HoT release, this adds to the “uncertainty” of what we actually buy. Is GW2 dead? Is it only GW2:HoT now?

This is what you normally see when games do expansions. Players wanted an expansion, as was seen by numerous threads that popped up last year when WoW announced theirs, so Anet gave players what they wanted. You also do not repurchase the game. I don’t see how this is a difficult concept to grasp for some people. All that you’re having to buy is the expansion.

Roxer.4609:

Long-time players seem to upgrade to HoT not because the deal is great, but because they don’t want to be punished by losing hard-earned benefits of their existing accounts. On the other hand, there is player’s trust in ANet that makes them believe their money will be well-spent by the developers.

Players who do not pre-purchase are not losing hard-earned benefits. Everything in the expansion is permanent content. When they upgrade at a later date once the expansion price drops or goes on sale, they can catch up.

Many people have purchased games that had much less content summaries released. I also vaguely remember factions selling for $50 and much less information about it being released. Many people had pre-ordered it. Eye of the North sold for $40, with not much info as we’re seeing now released, and people still pre-ordered it.

(“This is my story.” ..and my feedback to HoT expansion)

I bought Guild Wars 2 as soon as it came out. I was able to play in beta and hopefully contribute to what a great game that Guild Wars have become. I remember the struggle about buying the game being a teenager and getting all the savings to invest in this game. Right in the first hours of playing it I felt that was a great buy. I’m not that constant player of Guild Wars 2, not having great time sure doesn’t help but even though I’m still convinced that GW is the best MMORPG that I have played, which make me return a few months ago with some friends that bought the game recently.

The issue that I’m struggling with is that my friends will receive the refund and are going to buy the expansion and I want to buy it too but I’m really concerned. The money I spend in the release of the game and spending the same amount to buy the expansion makes me feel that I won’t have the same level of satisfaction. I’m not even talking about buying the copy of the game again but paying 45 € all over again it feels like all the support that I gave to GW2 wasn’t really appreciated. I’m not aware of your costs on developing the game but I think a discount to old players would give us the idea that heart of thorns is some what special for us. All of us playing the game made it possible to get a expansion. That character slot sure is something but it feels wrong that players that didn’t really experience Guild Wars 2 will get basically Heart of Thorns for free and all the content with it and old players that experience a great part of the game must accept the same price just for the expansion + character slot.

Roxer.4609:

You can blame ANet for the lack of transparency, or bad pricing model, but personally, my only concern here is the aforementioned decision. I believe it’s a significant amount of players who feel bad about discarding the “free core game” and that may hold HoT prepurchase sales back.

This is the crux of the matter. However, it’s no longer an issue of just, “Can ANet sell more copies of HoT?” It’s also, “Are there enough vets who’d buy at a lower price to counter-balance all of the refunds that ANet would have to process for vets who’ve already bought at the $50 price point?” My gut suggests not, based on the numbers who’ve declared their prepurchase both before and after “free slot for prepurchase” was implemented versus the numbers of protests. That’s just me spit-balling, and I’m sure the protestors will come up with a different gut feeling..

Also, this issue is similar to the push-back seen in games that go Free to Play or Freemium. New players are seen as free-loaders who are “leeching” off the vet players. When you’re looking at the GW2 issue, it might be a good idea to consider how often that kind of push-back changed those decisions. When a company decides that giving away a game will make them more money than selling it (or renting it), they tend to keep to the course.

With all that in mind, I suspect HoT will remain $50, at least until the sales inevitably roll out. I think that will be at some indeterminate, but likely significant, time after release.

Roxer.4609:

However, if you insist to change the subject to discuss price reduction and overall game pricing policy, I’ll stay away from it. This was discussed over and over again. For all I care, base HoT could have larger price tag and still be sold successfully.

Which is exactly what we have now. Both new accounts and existing accounts can get the base HoT for $50. New accounts have the added bonus of getting the core game for free.

Roxer.4609:

Ayrilana.1396:

… You also do not repurchase the game. I don’t see how this is a difficult concept to grasp for some people. All that you’re having to buy is the expansion. …

Well, of course you re-purchase the game.

Once you buy HoT you have to make a decision: you either use it to make a new account with GW2+HoT on it or you upgrade an existing account with HoT and thus discard “core game for free” that came with it.

In both cases, regardless if you use your purchase to the full extent or trash “core” part of it, you did buy the right to have a full access to the game, even though you already had it.

You can blame ANet for the lack of transparency, or bad pricing model, but personally, my only concern here is the aforementioned decision. I believe it’s a significant amount of players who feel bad about discarding the “free core game” and that may hold HoT pre-purchase sales back.

It’s free for new accounts. It is in no way part of the price of the expansion.

Roxer.4609:

At the moment the value of the new account with HoT is incomparably bigger than HoT-upgrade for the existing account. This is a major disbalance in what current players get versus the new ones. For many people it’s big enough to delay the purchase of HoT till the price is reduced or more information makes HoT more attractive, I’m sure.

Value is completely subjective. You can only truly speak for yourself when discussing it. Trying to claim to speak for, “current players,” in a non specific all encompassing manner is a fundamental flaw in your argument.

Well i don’t now about you guys, but after seeing that ele elite spec, and warhorn skills i pre purchased HoT for myself and my girlfriend.

Brostrodon.1657:

Well i don’t now about you guys, but after seeing that ele elite spec, and warhorn skills i pre purchased HoT for myself and my girlfriend.

No, that was definitely not my reaction. I’m hoping Warrior elite spec will be exciting, but the Ele elite doesn’t interest me. And honestly, it does a lot to make the elite specs seem mandatory because they are straight buffing class mechanics instead of altering them. Makes the whole thing crazy awkward until each class has at least 2 elite specs.

Between the Blah blah blah and the price, I’m just playing Skyforge now and following HoT news to see whats up.

Skyforge seems pretty great FYI. A little more grindy than GW2 upfront but fun.

Ashen.2907:

Value is completely subjective.

Of course it is. And it is that subjective value that forms the basis for any price (after all, people do not tend to buy things they value at less than what they have to pay for it).

Which doesn’t invalidate Roxer’s point in the slightest.

That’s a lovely graphic.

As to alternating account upgrades, I suppose that would work. For me I just want to keep improving one account. I don’t have to manage two accounts, I get all the goodies, and as a RPer all my alts are available for adventures anywhere in the world.

Astralporing.1957:

Ashen.2907:

Value is completely subjective.

Of course it is. And it is that subjective value that forms the basis for any price (after all, people do not tend to buy things they value at less than what they have to pay for it).

Which doesn’t invalidate Roxer’s point in the slightest.

Sure it does. He made a claim to be speaking for how existing players as a whole valued HoT compared to new players as a whole. When you claim to be speaking for others, whom you have not polled, in order to present your own personal subjective value as the norm, a general truth, or an absolute, then you have no supportable point.

For example:

The current pricing model is absolutely fair to all players and provides an immeasurably greater value to existing players than to new even though all players will receive an exceptional value.

Roxer.4609:

Donari.5237:

That’s a lovely graphic.

As to alternating account upgrades, I suppose that would work. For me I just want to keep improving one account. I don’t have to manage two accounts, I get all the goodies, and as a RPer all my alts are available for adventures anywhere in the world.

Yeah, same here, but I can’t make myself just discard that “free core game” thing. chuckles

I can. I’m in the school of thought that the expansion costs what it costs but new purchasers needn’t also buy an older game version to be able to play. I’ve gotten far more than my original $150 of value from the past three years (I bought the CE), and been happy with how much I’ve spent in the gem store on top of that (other than the town clothes issue, which did stop me buying gems on spec and only buying them when a specific item arrived that I wanted enough). I don’t mind the price of HoT at all, though those who do think it’s too high based on current information have legitimate arguments. They’re free to wait to buy it until they know more, and possibly never buy it if even after launch with full disclosure of what’s there (and later down the road when we get more content patched in) they still think it’s more than they want to pull from their wallet. So long as they don’t then complain they don’t get the cool stuff that early adopters did.

Besides, what would I do with a second core game? I had two or three opportunities to buy one for ten bucks this past summer and each time elected not to, though I told my friends the chance was there in hopes they’d buy an account. I’m just happy they’re making it easier for new players to join. Maybe some of the new ones will become good friends of mine in years to come.

I think ANet has bobbled the ball a bit PR wise but the model they’ve settled on is fundamentally fair. They certainly aren’t shady or dodgy or any other -y’s people have ranted about. Want to see an actual example of ripping customers off? Look at Trion.

Roxer.4609:

You keep talking about the price, which is irrelevant to my problem. It seems you compare New vs Vet Player. But if you’ve bought the game and played gw2 for e.g. 2-3 years by now, you can’t undo that. The situation of the new and old players is different. Unless HoT offer changes (again), there is hardly a reason to discuss that. No, what I was talking about is the options current players have at the moment they buy HoT. You only buy HoT once (for now) but you use it differently if you go with an account upgrade or activate a new account.

I’ll just answer this with a question:

If the core game was not included as a bonus to new accounts but sold for $10 instead, would everything you said in your post still be relevant and would you still insist that Anet follow though with what you suggested?

Roxer.4609:

LOL, maybe I should draw a picture.

Upd: OMG, now you made me think more about it! If you have 2 accounts, you can upgrade every other account every time a new expansion is released. That sounds like a pretty good price-to-value strategy

Go with option #1. That appears to be the best option for you as it has more value (a subjective term) to you. In the end, this would probably make you happier which is what is important.

Ayrilana.1396:

Roxer.4609:

kleedrac.9624:

While I do understand why A.net is actively trying to capture new players, giving existing players a character slot as a “loyalty bonus” seems near insulting. Even if they just gave us $10 worth of gems it’d be far far better. Just my two copper of course.

Well, keep in mind that it took a full scale player riot picked up be the media to make ANet give away 1 character slot with the expansion.

Now, sending gems to everyone updating to HoT might affect gems-to-gold market too much, but …

what would be nice is if ANet give all the current players a special currency we could exchange for some of the things new players receive with a brand new gw2 package. I’m not asking for the full value of 5 char slots, bank slot and material slot, but at least something equivalent to 40-80% of that.

For example, when an existing account upgrades to HoT, the player receives Loyalty Tokens (LT) that can be spent to get

• 2-4 new character slots, or
• 3-6 bag slot expansions, or
• 3-5 bank expansions, or
• 2-4 material storage expanders, or
• an exclusive mini of Colin Johanson or Gaile Gray, or
• a combination of the above, then spend the remaining LT to buy
• transmutation charges, or
• spirit charges, or
• some other useful stuff to make sure LTs aren’t wasted

This way the players would be in control of what they get, and I’m sure, 95% of the players will be totally extatic about the deal, praise ANet on their generosity, and HoT pre-purchase will go way up right away.

The idea is that if ANet wants to be fair to what they sell with HoT to new players as well as old ones, they’d have to make it

• totally fair: give veteran players an equivalent of $40 in virtual goods
• understandable to get more profit: give a $30 equivalent
• totally greedy: give a $20 equivalent
• insulting: $10 equivalent
• cause a riot: give nothing, a $0 equivalent

What really happened is ANet started with giving $0 extra value for upgrade, got a riot on their hands, then made a community address and promised to give everyone who pre-purchased HoT a char slot. Apparently, the most vocal players on the forums were Ok with that deal. Some players are still unhappy, but at least there is not that many active rebels here

No. That there is entitlement. It’s disappointing that it’s now expected that companies have to provide free bonuses with any of their products otherwise they’re labeled as greedy or out of touch.

Nothing is free if you have to pay to get it. People who make products ALWAYS have had to offer consumers some value to make a sale.

Simple fact is enough people really felt the package they were offering wasnt worth 50 dollars, that anet thought it would be to their advantage to sweeten the deal.

Dont get mad at consumers for deciding what they feel something is worth, or get disappointed by a company changing a stance because its in their own best interest.

phys.7689:

Nothing is free if you have to pay to get it. People who make products ALWAYS have had to offer consumers some value to make a sale.

Simple fact is enough people really felt the package they were offering wasnt worth 50 dollars, that anet thought it would be to their advantage to sweeten the deal.

Dont get mad at consumers for deciding what they feel something is worth, or get disappointed by a company changing a stance because its in their own best interest.

Of course not since the core game being free is dependent the purchase of the HoT expansion and then applied to the new account. It is still free when taking into account the purchase of HoT for $50 which is required of every player that plays the expansion. I guess I don’t see what your point is.

Not all details have been released about the expansion. Probably the primary argument against the expansion when it’s price was announced was that it did not include a free character slot. You may have noticed that things simply died down more or less once they announced the pre-purchase bonus and clarified a few things.

I’ve already stated numerous times that it’s up to players to decide if the expansion is worth it to them at this time so I’m not mad at all. What I have been arguing against is a lot of what’s being used as the reasoning. One person tried to compared GW1 EotN to HoT. They even listed something like 18 dungeons in EotN and none in the HoT expansion. If EotN has 18 dungeons then GW2 was released with 33 dungeons. Season 1 then added 12 more dungeons (with one of the original being removed) plus two that were temporary. Probably one of the primary things I’ve been vocal against is the cost of the core game being part of the expansion price.

Well….I have to pay in USD even though I live in Canada, so the extreme pack cost me $135 CAD. But you know what? I sucked it up and didn’t b**** and complain about it. And I work hard for my money. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. And if you want it, pay the price they are offering and deal with it. Easy as that.

Silicato.4603:

Dont know how is it in NA, but since june 23rd, in EU you can prepurchase a boxed version of the standard edition in a lot of stores. And actually, it is cheaper than buying HoT from the offcial website.

So:

1.- you can buy boxed edition already
2.- it is cheaper to buy a boxed edition than in anet’s web.
3.- remember that you can upgrade any standard edition into deluxe with 2.400 gems (or in other words, less than 450 gold and of course: $0).

Nothing in the US yet, so those of us wanting boxes here are still holding out.

WSG Delen.9203:

My understanding is that without HoT your game will not evolve beyond the current world state except where changes tweak features/content you already have access to. That means (assuming you do not get HoT) you would not get:-

1. Access to Guild Halls
2. Revenant Profession
3. Elite Specialisations (e.g. Druid, Chronomancer, Tempest, etc)
4. Masteries (e.g. Hand Gliding)
5. Any further living story progression

There may be even more content/features you would miss out on and it is unclear if any of the above features will be even partially available to non-HoT accounts (but I believe they are not even partially available).

You almost had it correct. Anet has made no mention of future LS seasons being funneled through HoT. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if HoT concluded the Mordremoth storyline and LS3 introduced a fresh narrative to core GW2.

just speaking out for other gw2 players since the betas.

why is it that the expansion pack now is more “newbie” friendly rather than old member friendly?

if the expansion pack price includes the part1 and the part2 put together, then wouldnt it be fair for the old members, since we paid for more than the expansion pack amount, get the expansion for free? or at least a reasonable discount?

truthfully, arenanet, youre on the brink of losing your community. sorry to say, but its true.

ANet gave all Vet players a free character slot. New players don’t get that.

Vet players got LS Season 1, LS Season 2, Tons of Events, Exclusive items, etc.
This is content that new comers will never have the chance to experience.

You paid at $50 for 3 years worth of free content. What other game has given you close to the same value?

Wish you people would stop the QQ. Also, why are you created a thread about this when it has been hashed out for months already on these forums.

If you don’t think you received $50 worth of value in the past 3 years and don’t think the $50 for the expansion will give you another 3 years of value, then don’t buy the expansion and move onto another game. Just quit clogging up the forums with the same stupid topic.

You’re a bit late to the party.

I would suggest reading through the dozens of other threads following the same topic.

This thread here could be a good start.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Pre-Purchase-Community-Address/first

Don’t speak for me please. As someone who has played since beta (both GW1 and GW2) I find the $50 price tag for the expansion to be a perfectly reasonable price. I see nothing wrong with constantly trying to get a larger player base and am in no way offended, kittened off or put out they get something for free. As an early adopter of any item, whether it’s a TV, a video game console or a PC game, I understand that I will pay more than those that come after me. This is no different.

Ok you dont have to wait anymore … i have put my pre-order in finally … switch HoT to live now please

Sorry everyone for making you wait, Been saving up for a trip to Orlando (im from New Zealand) so its taken awhile since the announcement to squirrel away that little bit more extra money.

Please, in the future, do refrain from speaking for me. I do not share your sentiments.

I’m kiwi to, wish we had better ping

Chobits.2430:

ANet gave all Vet players a free character slot. New players don’t get that.

Vet players got LS Season 1, LS Season 2, Tons of Events, Exclusive items, etc.
This is content that new comers will never have the chance to experience.

You paid at $50 for 3 years worth of free content. What other game has given you close to the same value?

Wish you people would stop the QQ. Also, why are you created a thread about this when it has been hashed out for months already on these forums.

If you don’t think you received $50 worth of value in the past 3 years and don’t think the $50 for the expansion will give you another 3 years of value, then don’t buy the expansion and move onto another game. Just quit clogging up the forums with the same stupid topic.

Im not a vet of the game but to me this is the poorest excuse as to why you pay full price instead of a discounted one, as last time I check unless I am wrong you pay for the LS seasons and alot of the events ARE what you paid for.

slowpoke strikes again

i can’t believe it that there are players who didn’t have noticed the whole ragestorm.

Ashen.2907:

Astralporing.1957:

Ashen.2907:

Value is completely subjective.

Of course it is. And it is that subjective value that forms the basis for any price (after all, people do not tend to buy things they value at less than what they have to pay for it).

Which doesn’t invalidate Roxer’s point in the slightest.

Sure it does. He made a claim to be speaking for how existing players as a whole valued HoT compared to new players as a whole.

Nope. He claimed that X+Y (core + HoT) has more value than just Y (HoT). Which is absolutely true as long as the value of X (core) is non-zero. I can make a reasonable guess, that to huge majority of players (and potential players), value of core game is non-zero. I am also sure that it is non-zero for Anet (or they would offer it for free, as a “free trial version”).

Now, if you are suggesting (as you seem to do) that for majority of players the core game is completely worthless…

I bought Guild Wars 2 at launch and have played it on and off. Seeing the new expansion really makes me want to get it. Only problem is, 50$?! I really don’t want to dish out money for the core game when I already have it. I’m hopeful though because I am a patient person and don’t need it right away. Do you think it will go down in price in the near future? (Less than 4 months after launch) or is 50$ the best deal I will get?

Also, there’s talk of extra character slots and other promotionals if I bought the game/order the expansion within a certain time. Can someone explain them to me?

To get the extra loyalty slot you have to pre-purchase the expansion. Once the pre-purchase is over that offer no longer stands. The same goes with the special title the pre-purchasers receive. Also $50 dollars is the price of the expansion alone, the core game is included free for new customers. So you are not buying the core game again. I’m sure the expansion will go on sale at some point but I don’t see that happening soon after launch unless sales are low.

4 months from now very unlikely, what’s worse is the more you’re gonna wait the more likely you’ll play with fewer people. I get the feeling people will tire rapidly of this small expansion, which I nicknamed living story 3 with a hefty price tag.

The best Deal you’d get on it would be the last expansion, since afaik the plan to include expansions and the core game every time.

I think Anet needs to implement some sort of reward-system for Veteran players, since I can’t see this model really going all too well by a long shot.

Sure that additional slot is nice, as it’s worth about 10$/€ but it’s not like everyone really has a use for it.

I currently work on a suggestion for something to adress this without cutting the profit for Anet, but it’s too early to really tell a lot about it.

Edit: Here’s my suggestion: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Veteran-Token-System

You can buy it day before release. You will only miss beta weekends and you still will get all pre-purchase bonuses. Plus you will have all necessary info to decide if you like HoT or not.
I don’t think we will have better official price for at least 4-6 months after release. Unless it will flop of course.

my clan has already started quitting. talked it over the fb groups. prices are absurd. old members dont get any perks for playing since the betas… Anet should take care of their old players. goodluck finding people to continue playing your game though.

Darrel.2809:

my clan has already started quitting. talked it over the fb groups. prices are absurd. old members dont get any perks for playing since the betas… Anet should take care of their old players. goodluck finding people to continue playing your game though.

Prices are not actually absurd. Regardless, GW2 is not the only option out there if you no longer enjoy the game (even though you could still continue to play the core game regardless of wether you buy HoT or not).

Also, obligatory “If you’re leaving, can I have your stuff? Thanks”.

It is still unclear to me what we are getting in this expansion besides the PvE map we’ve seen in the first betas, 2 guild halls, the revenant class and elite professions.

Are the new WvW map and PvP map part of the expansion? Is there new dungeons or hardcore group content? new fractals? new guild missions? more stronghold maps? new expansion-exclusive features?

I pre-purchased but I am a little worried about what we’re going to get, specially since the WvW map may be free to everyone (and WvW is all that I do) and the elite profession for my main class seems really weak (Tempest).

Astralporing.1957:

He claimed that X+Y (core + HoT) has more value than just Y (HoT). Which is absolutely true as long as the value of X (core) is non-zero. I can make a reasonable guess, that to huge majority of players (and potential players), value of core game is non-zero. I am also sure that it is non-zero for Anet (or they would offer it for free, as a “free trial version”).

I’m going to assume that by “players” you mean veterans. I’m not going to debate your guess that a “huge majority” of players would feel that the value of a new copy of the core game is non-zero. I will debate your certainty that it’s value to ANet is non-zero, as it is not a relevant point. What’s relevant is whether core holds more value for them as an aging, depreciating stand-alone or bundled with their new box.

Bundling serves two purposes in terms of increased revenue. First, there’s the reason they gave — bundling removes a barrier that might cause prospective players to choose not to buy the new product. Then there’s the unstated reason, which is the possibility that some of those new players will spend money in the gem store, and that some of them might be large Cetaceans. Will they generate enough revenue with their plan to offset revenue lost when/if players follow through with their statements about not buying HoT? I don’t know. They probably don’t know, though they’ve got more data than I do. Right now, it’s debatable how many aren’t buying due to core bundling versus how many aren’t buying due to wanting more info on what’s included.

You also make the point that the value of core is non-zero to ANet or they would make it free via free trials. By tying core to a produce with a price, they eliminate the possibility of gold sellers getting free — albeit temporary — accounts. If the period when free trials are available were for a limited time, then ANet would be back at having to decide whether or what to charge when the offer ends. If the trial itself was limited but the offer was always open, then gold sellers would just make new accounts more often. It’s not like free email isn’t available. I’d be very much against free accounts for gold sellers. That would reduce the quality of game life for legitimate users and lessen the effectiveness of enforcement.