Guild Wars 2

Uman.6150:

Sorry if I wasn’t clear enough.

I wasn’t trying to advertise gold seller in any way, nor I do understand that it ruins the game and arenanet makes no profit out of it.

I was saying that the Gem store exchange was introduced to GW2 so that people that would go buy money from gold seller could do it legally (as there isn’t a way to stop them behaving as such).

And if a lot of people buy gem from gold, the price would skyrocket to that only few people would be able to buy gems from gold. People then who have money and wants gold would buy gems, and get gold in exchange. In the end, the gem price would still rise as it would get more useful than just getting cosmetic items, and more people would buy gem with real money and sell them as they would get more gold out of it.

The revenue stream you are describing is not a guaranteed revenue stream. If HoT were offered for gems, many players including myself would use gold to buy HoT and the gem to gold exchange rate would indeed rise. However that is not a guarantee that players would then purchase gems to exchange for gold.

Making HoT available for gems could also have a massive deflationary affect on Tyrian gold.

Psientist.6437:

That also isn’t accurate either since many people who have exchanged gems for gold would never have used black market gold sellers even if Arenanet did not offer RMT services.

Well, I think it was meant to solve both the issue of people that would have gone through the black market, and people that wanted to buy gold with real money, but couldn’t as they wanted to respect the terms of service.

Sorry if I was unclear.

Uman.6150:

Psientist.6437:

That also isn’t accurate either since many people who have exchanged gems for gold would never have used black market gold sellers even if Arenanet did not offer RMT services.

Well, I think it was meant to solve both the issue of people that would have gone through the black market, and people that wanted to buy gold with real money, but couldn’t as they wanted to respect the terms of service.

Sorry if I was unclear.

You had better be sorry!

Neither of one of us is privy to Arenanet’s plans and they may offer the expansion for gems sometime in the future. I just think it is very unlikely HoT will be available for gems when it is released. There are many players who have thousands, tens of thousands of gems now and whose purchase of HoT with gems would have no effect on the exchange rate and therefore not even the potential for new revenue.

Uman.6150:

Psientist.6437:

That also isn’t accurate either since many people who have exchanged gems for gold would never have used black market gold sellers even if Arenanet did not offer RMT services.

Well, I think it was meant to solve both the issue of people that would have gone through the black market, and people that wanted to buy gold with real money, but couldn’t as they wanted to respect the terms of service.

Sorry if I was unclear.

If people can spend money to buy gems to then buy the expansion (if it was on the gem store) they should have the money to buy it outright and not via the gem store since the gem cost would still equal the normal price.

If people farm for gold to then covert into gems to buy the expansion from the gem store it’s like Anet is giving away the expansion for free and not making a return profit which would be a bad business move.

So players that say this would be a good move since they can’t buy it outright, they need to slowly save their money until they can afford it and stop thinking a luxury item is a necessity.

Geeze just reading these comments (save arena.net’s staff member) gives me the headache. It’s like you people never saw cash shops before and are wondering how this UFO flies at all.

So here’s some facts for you:
1. Gems trades in gold<→gem exchange in Black Lion Trading company ARE PROFITS for A-net. So buying expansion there would not rob a-net of profits, maybe even make more, as there are not boxing, distribution, dvd burning and retailer costs. On top of that gemstore is less confusing then website’s purchase forms, least to people who are already ingame and that option might shovel some extra sales for a-net.

2. That being said, putting x-pac in gem store would indeed cause massive skyrocketing of gem prices in gold that might lead to serious stalemate between buyers and sellers on tp and a clog in gem<→gold exchange. Upgraded version is one thing, but expansion is not something you can so easily ignore. Quite a few would hoard goal (from more or less honest sources) to get their gems and buy out the x-pac if it’s confirmed to show up as gem store item.

How will arena.net go about this, that’s something they know. But gemshop is the source of their income, only question they themselves have to answer is wheather this time putting x-pac in there would ramp up the profit for a while, or adversely shoot it down due to price wars.

The expansion seems to be really good but will it be free?

Paid.

https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/105801626-General-Guild-Wars-2-Heart-of-Thorns-Questions

it will be paid, similar to the expansions in GW1.

any idea about the price ?

It will not be free, you will find a FAQ here: https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/105801626-Guild-Wars-2-Heart-of-Thorns-FAQ

edit: ninja’ed.

I’m happy it’s an expansion you need to buy, I enjoy paying for a solid chunk of quality content much more so that getting slivers of free ’content’, it’s why I never enjoyed the living story much.

CruleD.7380:

50$ standard edition.

Too high!!!

Who cares? If it cost too much for some but still want it, just wait.

I mean, I bought GW2 2 months after release (for less than the original price) and 1 day (yes! 1 miserable day) after I logged in for the first time, they put it on sale (%50 off.)

So if 30-50$ is too much, wait. If you can’t wait, pay full price.

..ok..I just purchased a second copy/acct of gw2 and activated it…all is well…purchased gems through the gem store/ BLT for my new characters…all is well….now I try to exchange gems for gold to spend in the store…and it says “this feature is disabled, pls come back later”….is it me, or something wrong at Anet? Or just a temporary down thing?

Support the game and buy gems from Anet..its how you get new content.
You wont be getting an expansion from running dungeons and converting to gems.
You can get cosmetic items that way, but doubt anet will be giving away new content.
Would like to see a new backpack like the green quaggan for spending more than $100.
Possibly a gold Quaggan backpack.

aquanaughty.5781:

..ok..I just purchased a second copy/acct of gw2 and activated it…all is well…purchased gems through the gem store/ BLT for my new characters…all is well….now I try to exchange gems for gold to spend in the store…and it says “this feature is disabled, pls come back later”….is it me, or something wrong at Anet? Or just a temporary down thing?

I believe there’s a “downtime” on new accounts before they’re allowed to convert gems and do certain other things. Its a measure to hinder gold sellers, if I’m not mistaken.

Danikat.8537:

They haven’t told us.

My guess is it won’t cost more than a new full game. So about $60/£40.

But that’s just a guess and I think it’s likely to be less than that. But personally I’d rather budget for more than I need and have some left over.

Most new full games cost 50 pounds… too much for an expansion that is, based on the stuff they told it gets, rather limited.

I would be satisfied with $20-30 max.

@Electro…ok, makes sense…"but I wanna PLAY !! Waaaaaaa!! "…I can dig that, Thanks..

I think it will be 30$ / 2000 gems

I’m going to go with $39.99 it’s an expansion I don’t see how they could charge more

Q: When is the next big feature reveal for what’s coming in this expansion?
A: We wanted to reveal Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns when we were ready to talk about every major feature we’re planning. That’s why right now, every major feature planned for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is there for you to check out at http://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com.

Sad face, not even 1 single new playable race… and sounds like they’re gonna hash up the Sylvari somehow.

ZeftheWicked.3076:

Geeze just reading these comments (save arena.net’s staff member) gives me the headache. It’s like you people never saw cash shops before and are wondering how this UFO flies at all.

So here’s some facts for you:
1. Gems trades in gold<->gem exchange in Black Lion Trading company ARE PROFITS for A-net. So buying expansion there would not rob a-net of profits, maybe even make more, as there are not boxing, distribution, dvd burning and retailer costs. On top of that gemstore is less confusing then website’s purchase forms, least to people who are already ingame and that option might shovel some extra sales for a-net.

2. That being said, putting x-pac in gem store would indeed cause massive skyrocketing of gem prices in gold that might lead to serious stalemate between buyers and sellers on tp and a clog in gem<->gold exchange. Upgraded version is one thing, but expansion is not something you can so easily ignore. Quite a few would hoard goal (from more or less honest sources) to get their gems and buy out the x-pac if it’s confirmed to show up as gem store item.

How will arena.net go about this, that’s something they know. But gemshop is the source of their income, only question they themselves have to answer is wheather this time putting x-pac in there would ramp up the profit for a while, or adversely shoot it down due to price wars.

Rude and inaccurate.

The conversion of gold into gems does not directly generate revenue. The conversion of gold to gems eliminates revenue. Many players use gold to purchase gem shop offerings rather than spend real world money. The conversion of gold to gems only generates revenue indirectly by increasing the exchange rate for converting gems into gold, prompting players to purchase gems to convert into gold.

Currently, there are thousands, perhaps millions of gems that have been purchased with gold and if those gems were used to purchase HoT, those sales would generate no new revenue. Any new gems purchased with gold would also be lost HoT revenue that could only be recouped if enough people purchases gems to convert to gold to cover the lost revenue from gold to gem purchases of HoT.

Most sales will likely be digital downloads anyway, and the website isn’t confusing enough to prevent people from purchasing from the website.

Offering the HoT expansion in the gem shop will generate more revenue only if there will be future HoT gem shop products and the long term revenue from those new products exceeds the revenue lost from people buying the expansion with gold.

edit: That being said, Arenanet may value us playing their game enough to risk making less guaranteed revenue.

aquanaughty.5781:

..ok..I just purchased a second copy/acct of gw2 and activated it…all is well…purchased gems through the gem store/ BLT for my new characters…all is well….now I try to exchange gems for gold to spend in the store…and it says “this feature is disabled, pls come back later”….is it me, or something wrong at Anet? Or just a temporary down thing?

last time I checked eula multiaccs where forbiden and permabannable…..

Lord Trejgon.2809:

aquanaughty.5781:

..ok..I just purchased a second copy/acct of gw2 and activated it…all is well…purchased gems through the gem store/ BLT for my new characters…all is well….now I try to exchange gems for gold to spend in the store…and it says “this feature is disabled, pls come back later”….is it me, or something wrong at Anet? Or just a temporary down thing?

last time I checked eula multiaccs where forbiden and permabannable…..

Who in there right mind would ban someone for buying another copy of your game?

Chasind.3128:

Is it possible that the expansion would/could be purchasable through the black lion with gems? like how the digital deluxe edition is—- Just a thought, a nice one at that.

if they did that I would be happy im not rich in game but I can probly save up some gold to get a decent 5-10% discount from the original price

But the way the question is worded its up to Anet to Decide

Budman.2934:

Lord Trejgon.2809:

aquanaughty.5781:

..ok..I just purchased a second copy/acct of gw2 and activated it…all is well…purchased gems through the gem store/ BLT for my new characters…all is well….now I try to exchange gems for gold to spend in the store…and it says “this feature is disabled, pls come back later”….is it me, or something wrong at Anet? Or just a temporary down thing?

last time I checked eula multiaccs where forbiden and permabannable…..

Who in there right mind would ban someone for buying another copy of your game?

No one. Multiple accounts are just fine. Playing them simultaneously with one key press doing actions for both, now that’s bannable. Likely the source of Lord Treigon’s confusion.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Do-we-HAVE-TO-buy-it/first#post4723507
Gaile seems to think it’s not an issue to have more than one account…

KittyCat.2059:

can you please clarify if each account requires an expansion purchase?

Debating on getting an char expansion slot or a second account.

Gaile Gray

ArenaNet Forum Communications Team Lead

Since separate accounts are not (and cannot be) linked, one expansion cannot cover multiple accounts. So yes, each Guild Wars 2 account that you wanted to access Heart of Thorns would require a purchase. If you had multiple accounts, you would not be required to purchase an expansion for each account. But… I think you’re gonna want to.

snip
~ sips hot chocolate gratefully ~
Gaile Gray
Forum Communications Team Lead
ArenaNet

Edit: apologies for being unable to post from one to another correctly.

Lord Trejgon.2809:

aquanaughty.5781:

..ok..I just purchased a second copy/acct of gw2 and activated it…all is well…purchased gems through the gem store/ BLT for my new characters…all is well….now I try to exchange gems for gold to spend in the store…and it says “this feature is disabled, pls come back later”….is it me, or something wrong at Anet? Or just a temporary down thing?

last time I checked eula multiaccs where forbiden and permabannable…..

Anet is perfectly fine with multiple accounts. As for exchange being temporarily disabled, that applies to new accounts for a short period of time. It’s a precaution against gold sellers I believe.

RoRo.8270:

I’m going to go with $39.99 it’s an expansion I don’t see how they could charge more

Too much for the anemic amount of content added.

And isn’t anyone even a little upset about some of the things they’ve been promising us for years being stuck behind a pay wall? Things like Guild Halls (which should’ve been in at launch) and precursor quests. Also, what happened to “if we do this game right we won’t ever need an expansion.”?

Fairest way would be to make the xpac available for a month or two only via direct purchase, and then introduce it into the gem store.

roamzero.9486:

Fairest way would be to make the xpac available for a month or two only via direct purchase, and then introduce it into the gem store.

You’d still have gold farmers attaining the expansion for free, which Anet does not profit from. You have to consider ROI. As another poster said, digital download through a separate page is the best way. We’re not talking about a lot of money here, maybe $30- $35.

Budman.2934:

Lord Trejgon.2809:

aquanaughty.5781:

..ok..I just purchased a second copy/acct of gw2 and activated it…all is well…purchased gems through the gem store/ BLT for my new characters…all is well….now I try to exchange gems for gold to spend in the store…and it says “this feature is disabled, pls come back later”….is it me, or something wrong at Anet? Or just a temporary down thing?

last time I checked eula multiaccs where forbiden and permabannable…..

Who in there right mind would ban someone for buying another copy of your game?

Guild Wars 2 End User License Agreement, 5th section, paragraph e, comma i: You may not provide NCSOFT any inaccurate information regarding an Account ID or select an Account ID that represents You are another person;

If you used fake data upon creating your second account you went against the license agreement.

Guild Wars 2 End User License Agreement, 9th section, paragraph b: Each Account may only be used by one person.

Which is unrelated to your case but still worth noting, account sharing is strictly forbiden by the license agreement.

legitimately owning more than one account is allowed. Account termination affects all accounts licensed to you at the time of the infringement but doesn’t forbid you from obtaining a new iteration of the license (aka buying a new account afterwards). Also worthy of note is the fact that you are not technically buying the game, you are being given a license to use it, this means that you are not entitled to sell your account and doing so is a bannable offense.

Oh, almost forgot about section 8. Prohibited and irreparably harmful activities concerning ncsoft paragraph h commas i and ii:
Be a party to any commercial activity related to the Game, including but not limited to:

providing or obtaining any Item; or
use of the Service, the Game, Content or Software

So remember to buy only from the official gw2 store or your account is liable to permanent termination.

BilboBaggins.5620:

Also, what happened to “if we do this game right we won’t ever need an expansion.”?

I think this question provides its own answer, don’t you?

Mind you, the question then becomes “what did they do wrong?” I think they overestimated what they could do without going this route.

A lot of players want more from this game than small updates can really provide. I always figured they’d need to spin out an expansion eventually. Most MMOs work this way. Besides, there have been a lot of things they said pre-launch that changed quite a bit once the game came out.

As long as its a physical copy. I do not own, condone, or use, or trust credit cards. I’ll probably not be able to get the expansion at Best Buy after my birthday then if it comes out in 5-6 months from now, and my birthday is June 21.

Expansion should be between $20-30.

God people are so cheap. -_- It certainly isn’t going to be $20 people.

xarallei.4279:

God people are so cheap. -_- It certainly isn’t going to be $20 people.

It better be less based on the anemic content.

I am gonna guess the expansion will be between 30-40 euro.

xarallei.4279:

God people are so cheap. -_- It certainly isn’t going to be $20 people.

It’s a pretty bare bones expansion.
20 is reasonable.

It’s not like you’re buying a new game here, folks.

You’re getting some new stuff in a game you already paid full price for.
I doubt anet is nuts enough to charge full price again, just for that.

Please, no!
You don’t even imagine what gem price rise would be after “release” expansion on the Black Trading Company. From ~110 gold per 800 gem you would have to pay over 200g-250g or even more.
Imagine that inflation. That would ruin economy becouse everybuddy will farm gold to buy gems to buy expansion.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Thanks for the explanation, Uman! I just wasn’t sure that I was clearly understanding what you were suggesting and I felt it might be good to be sure about what you were saying. I appreciate the details.

Purchase information will be made clear in the future, as mentioned in the FAQ and here on the forums. We aren’t able to provide this information yet.

So… I’m guessing it hasn’t been decided yet and you need to calculate the numbers to see if the economy is either accommodating, or if there wouldn’t be a loss from the abundance of gold sellers.

(tho I don’t see why anyone would trust those gold selling sites, I’m like 80% sure they steal your information to hack your account to add to the pool, so they can steal more accounts and get more gold to sell for more RL money! I’M NOT PARANOID!!!)

Also frankly (tho I haven’t spent since the holidays) I think the exchange rate is pretty fair.

@Gaile Gray
Isn’t it possible to completely remove those gold sellers from the game ? I know, individuals can still RMT, it’s not preventable in mmos. But, at least, you can prevent bigger sellers or companies. You can actually ban 3rd party gold buyers too, to make 3rd party gold sales unpreferable. It would be win-win for both you(arenanet) and players. We are experiencing market inflation and everything is becoming harder to get because of botters and gold sellers. On your aspect, many people prefer gold sellers instead of black lion trading company, and you lose income. As a player, I want you to make profit from gem/gold sales, not those gold sellers/botters. So you can fund more expansions like this

The 3rd party sellers use the accounts of their victims, it really isn’t something that is possible to remove.

Black market gold sellers have nothing to do with this conversation. No one in their right mind would pay a black market gold seller real money for Tyrian gold and then use that Tyrian gold to purchase gems.

Guild Wars 2 Heroic Edition costs, on the website, without price cuts, 40 euros. How much would you pay for this expansion ?

I would pay 30 euro, though if pushed I would fork over 50 and would still feel it worth the money.

My bet is on 34.99-39.99 US$ with them adding a character slot to the offer. I agree that the expansion looks pretty slim, but who knows it may seem bigger when they describe it better.

Well expansions tend to be cheaper than the actual game, so I would probably want to pay maybe $25 or $30 since the game is about $40 here. (22-26 euros)