Guild Wars 2

I had originally been frustrated about the price of the expansion for current and veteran players, but I’ve changed my perspective after thinking it over a while. Maybe you’ll take these things into consideration before making your decision of purchasing or not purchasing the expansion.

In regards to the price…
To be honest, I was fully expecting a $40-$50 price tag for the expansion. I personally don’t have a problem with that price. If the issue is with the price, then that’s fine – it’s your opinion, and you should let Arena Net know you’re not interested in paying that much for Heart of Thorns based on what we currently know the expansion contains. If you don’t feel $50 is an appropriate price for what we currently know the expansion contains, then wait for more information to be released and decide for yourself if $50 is worth it. The only benefit you get from pre-purchasing now is a title and full beta access to all HoT betas (as far as the standard package goes).

In regards to new players getting a “free” or discounted base game…
Arena Net has had sales for Guild Wars 2 at $10 before (I believe twice), and this really isn’t any different. Arena Net has had sales for GW2 at lower than launch prices before as well. If someone’s argument is that new players get the base game for $10 (the current price for the base game alone is $40) and that it is unfair for current players, then those same players also have to bash Arena Net for the $10 sale weekends, or for any sale they’ve done in the past, and for reducing the base game price from $60 to $40 a long time ago.

Discounting the game years after release to draw new players in is a smart business move, is logical, and it completely makes sense. Products at Best Buy, or Walmart, or GameStop, or at your local grocery store do exactly the same thing. Gyms and phone companies have discounts for new members that apply during certain periods. Should you qualify for that same discount just because you’ve been with them before that deal? If you’ve ever bought a product on sale, then for that product you are that new player getting a great deal.

In regards to Arena Net not appreciating veterans…
Personally, I think this is a separate topic, in reference to the expansion price. Arena Net isn’t obligated at all, whatsoever, to provide benefits to veteran players, despite what many may think.

Is it a great business move to value long time, loyal customers? I personally think so!
Does the value a company places on its customers say something about a company, and is a consideration new customers take into account when doing business with them? I’d agree with this also!

But just because we think long time customers deserve benefits doesn’t mean a company is obligated to do so. If you feel a company doesn’t value their long time, loyal customers, then you can make that decision on whether or not you want to keep being a customer. Take this advice into consideration for every company you do business with, and this includes Arena Net.

TLDR: You need to make the decision on whether or not the content in Heart of Thorns is worth $50. You need to make the decision on whether or not Arena Net values you and/or veteran players and whether or not you want to support them or leave them. If a company sells their product(s) at a discounted price, they have a 100% right to do so, and it is completely legal. A company isn’t obligated to provide long time customers benefits just because they have discounted offers for new customers.

Hey, if people want to throw $50 at a title with no release date, well… this is why Steam’s Early Access program gets away with so much. As of June 17th, 2015, is it worth it? Probably not.

GranspearZX.5624:

Hey, if people want to throw $50 at a title with no release date, well… this is why Steam’s Early Access program gets away with so much. As of June 17th, 2015, is it worth it? Probably not.

That’s something else to consider. We don’t have a release date yet. It could be in the next few months, it could be late 2015, early or late 2016, or even later. In my opinion, without knowing all the details about everything in the expansion, you’re taking a risk. Whether or not that risk ends up resulting in a good or bad investment is up to the player to decide.

Honestly, I feel kind of bad for the devs. Because now they kind of have to catch up to the marketing team being the marketing team. Don’t think it’s Arena Net as a whole; it’s literally too big to be all hive-mindy on this sort of thing.

piano man.1672:

To be honest, I was fully expecting a $40-$50 price tag for the expansion. I personally don’t have a problem with that price. If the issue is with the price, then that’s fine – it’s your opinion, and you should let Arena Net know you’re not interested in paying that much for Heart of Thorns based on what we currently know the expansion contains. If you don’t feel $50 is an appropriate price for what we currently know the expansion contains, then wait for more information to be released and decide for yourself if $50 is worth it. The only benefit you get from pre-purchasing now is a title and full beta access to all HoT betas (as far as the standard package goes).

And I think this is really some of the underlying reasons for some the rage.

$50 seems too expensive for what we now about the content that is included in the expansion. A-Net wants a “big pricetag” but it does not yet look like a “big expansion”.

If most people would think that we get an excellent value for the $50 there would be less complaints.

Thats why I wait with my pre-purchase decision until they revealed all that is included in HoT.

Zok.4956:

piano man.1672:

To be honest, I was fully expecting a $40-$50 price tag for the expansion. I personally don’t have a problem with that price. If the issue is with the price, then that’s fine – it’s your opinion, and you should let Arena Net know you’re not interested in paying that much for Heart of Thorns based on what we currently know the expansion contains. If you don’t feel $50 is an appropriate price for what we currently know the expansion contains, then wait for more information to be released and decide for yourself if $50 is worth it. The only benefit you get from pre-purchasing now is a title and full beta access to all HoT betas (as far as the standard package goes).

And I think this is really some of the underlying reasons for some the rage.

$50 seems too expensive for what we now about the content that is included in the expansion. A-Net wants a “big pricetag” but it does not yet look like a “big expansion”.

If most people would think that we get an excellent value for the $50 there would be less complaints.

Thats why I wait with my pre-purchase decision until they revealed all that is included in HoT.

I totally agree with you.

I think I’m going to pay for the expansion regardless of how it turns out, just because I have enjoyed the base game since launch so much and for such a great price, in comparison to its competitors. And because of this , I don’t have a problem investing in Guild Wars 2 and its expansion. I look forward to seeing how the expansion evolves and how Guild Wars 2 grows.

Interesting post OP. Enjoyed reading it.

Well to really put things in perspective, ESO Tamriel expansion is selling for pre-purchase at 59.99.

And they just list whats coming with it. Not much else is known.

piano man.1672:

In regards to new players getting a “free” or discounted base game…
Arena Net has had sales for Guild Wars 2 at $10 before (I believe twice), and this really isn’t any different. Arena Net has had sales for GW2 at lower than launch prices before as well. If someone’s argument is that new players get the base game for $10 (the current price for the base game alone is $40) and that it is unfair for current players, then those same players also have to bash Arena Net for the $10 sale weekends, or for any sale they’ve done in the past, and for reducing the base game price from $60 to $40 a long time ago.

this is a fair point, but back during those sale existing players could and did buy extra accounts, to use as alts or give to friends. the problem is not the core game being free with HoT, it’s the core game NOT being free for everyone with HoT.

Gray.9041:

piano man.1672:

In regards to new players getting a “free” or discounted base game…
Arena Net has had sales for Guild Wars 2 at $10 before (I believe twice), and this really isn’t any different. Arena Net has had sales for GW2 at lower than launch prices before as well. If someone’s argument is that new players get the base game for $10 (the current price for the base game alone is $40) and that it is unfair for current players, then those same players also have to bash Arena Net for the $10 sale weekends, or for any sale they’ve done in the past, and for reducing the base game price from $60 to $40 a long time ago.

this is a fair point, but back during those sale existing players could and did buy extra accounts, to use as alts or give to friends. the problem is not the core game being free with HoT, it’s the core game NOT being free for everyone with HoT.

Yes, even I purchased an extra alt account for myself! It’s awesome

Let me try to clarify (for myself) what you’re trying to say, since I don’t know what you’re referring to as “everyone”.

You’re saying that the problem is that the core game is not free for everyone with Heart of Thorns. The core game comes free with every (edit: prepurchase) edition of Heart of Thorns, so that statement is false.

If you’re saying the problem is that the core game is not free for players who have purchased the game previously, then that statement is true. But people need to understand that it’s essentially a special, bargain deal. I’ve seen many games sell an expansion and have the base game included. Many of the sales on Steam are like that.

Not saying that you have this statement or that it’s your opinion, but I personally don’t think it’s a valid argument that current account holders deserve a free game. I see where people are going with this, but if people are upset that new players get the game for free with the purchase of the expansion, then those same people need to bash Arena Net about every sale they have for Guild Wars 2, whether it be the base game, the expansion in the future, or even gem store sales.

piano man.1672:

Gray.9041:

piano man.1672:

In regards to new players getting a “free” or discounted base game…
Arena Net has had sales for Guild Wars 2 at $10 before (I believe twice), and this really isn’t any different. Arena Net has had sales for GW2 at lower than launch prices before as well. If someone’s argument is that new players get the base game for $10 (the current price for the base game alone is $40) and that it is unfair for current players, then those same players also have to bash Arena Net for the $10 sale weekends, or for any sale they’ve done in the past, and for reducing the base game price from $60 to $40 a long time ago.

this is a fair point, but back during those sale existing players could and did buy extra accounts, to use as alts or give to friends. the problem is not the core game being free with HoT, it’s the core game NOT being free for everyone with HoT.

Yes, even I purchased an extra alt account for myself! It’s awesome

Let me try to clarify (for myself) what you’re trying to say, since I don’t know what you’re referring to as “everyone”.

You’re saying that the problem is that the core game is not free for everyone with Heart of Thorns. The core game comes free with every (edit: prepurchase) edition of Heart of Thorns, so that statement is false.

If you’re saying the problem is that the core game is not free for players who have purchased the game previously, then that statement is true. But people need to understand that it’s essentially a special, bargain deal. I’ve seen many games sell an expansion and have the base game included. Many of the sales on Steam are like that.

Not saying that you have this statement or that it’s your opinion, but I personally don’t think it’s a valid argument that current account holders deserve a free game. I see where people are going with this, but if people are upset that new players get the game for free with the purchase of the expansion, then those same people need to bash Arena Net about every sale they have for Guild Wars 2, whether it be the base game, the expansion in the future, or even gem store sales.

basically, if the sale is to get GW2 and HoT, they should be separate, so that even existing players can use both if they want. they keep saying it’s HoT with an additional extra – not a bundle. if so, the two should be separate – but they’re sold as a single code.

I posted last night saying pretty much what you said, OP, but my post got deleted because I said the community was being immature and childish.

Good post, +1

What about the people that will need to churn an extra $10 to gain access to a key expansion feature (the revenant)?

Gray.9041:

basically, if the sale is to get GW2 and HoT, they should be separate, so that even existing players can use both if they want. they keep saying it’s HoT with an additional extra – not a bundle. if so, the two should be separate – but they’re sold as a single code.

I agree 100%, and think Arena Net should have approached it this way instead of adding the base game to every expansion edition. That would have caused a lot less complaints by most individuals who believe that the core game price is included in the expansion pre-purchase editions, since we now know that the core games were included after-the-fact as a free bonus to new players.

Spittinglama.5287:

I posted last night saying pretty much what you said, OP, but my post got deleted because I said the community was being immature and childish.

Good post, +1

Thanks! Sorry that yours got deleted.

DiogoSilva.7089:

What about the people that will need to churn an extra $10 to gain access to a key expansion feature (the revenant)?

Then those people will need to churn an extra $10 to gain access to the Revenant.

No one is required to pay an extra $10 to have access to the Revenant. If you have purchased the expansion, you get access to the Revenant. It’s included in the expansion.

Now for character slots, that depends on the person. If you’ve used up your 5 character slots and don’t want to delete any of them, then you’ll have to pay $10 for another character slot. In this case, if you wanted to play any of the other base professions included in your initial purchase of the base game (because there’s 8 base professions), then you’d also have to pay an additional $10 (or more). Same goes with playing any of the Elite Specializations for any profession, if you don’t already have them in your 5 character slots and don’t want to delete characters.

I personally think Arena Net should have included at least one character slot on all editions, but that’s just me.

piano man.1672:

Yes, even I purchased an extra alt account for myself! It’s awesome

Let me try to clarify (for myself) what you’re trying to say, since I don’t know what you’re referring to as “everyone”.

You’re not getting what he’s saying.
What he’s saying is that people who don’t have a GW2 account GET GW2 + HoT.
If you buy HoT WITH your current account (so you can access Maguuma and whatnot with your current characters) You get ONLY HoT, because you already have GW2.
If you use a new account to buy HoT and get both, you can’t access Maguuma with your current stuff.
If you got a SECOND GW2 account when you pre-order HoT. Or equivalent stuff (like a new character slot, and/or bank/bag expansions), then it would be equal for all.
So basically people who never gave a crap about GW2 are getting more money than those of us that pre-ordered the Core game, and been supporting the game since.

Atm, the price is wahy too high for current content. I’m waiting for more info to decide what to do. Most likely i’ll keep just core game, and wait till the expac falls in price (so probably 3-6 months after launch) if the expac disapoints and keeps the current price.

My personal “budget” for HoT after the announcement would be more like 50-55€ for deluxe, not 45 for the standard. For me they simply didn’t announce enough stuff to justify paying the same price tag as the core game at launch.

Yes, here’s the perspective we all need:
The price tag for this small-ish expansion is the same as the Core game’s pre-order.

ReaverKane.7598:

piano man.1672:

Yes, even I purchased an extra alt account for myself! It’s awesome

Let me try to clarify (for myself) what you’re trying to say, since I don’t know what you’re referring to as “everyone”.

You’re not getting what he’s saying.
What he’s saying is that people who don’t have a GW2 account GET GW2 + HoT.
If you buy HoT WITH your current account (so you can access Maguuma and whatnot with your current characters) You get ONLY HoT, because you already have GW2.
If you use a new account to buy HoT and get both, you can’t access Maguuma with your current stuff.

I totally get what he’s saying, and I think you skipped out on the rest of the post. I could be wrong on that point, though, but then you wouldn’t have made this post .

In fact, he clarified his own post after I made mine. Thanks for clearing up what he cleared up for me, though

ReaverKane.7598:

If you got a SECOND GW2 account when you pre-order HoT. Or equivalent stuff (like a new character slot, and/or bank/bag expansions), then it would be equal for all.
So basically people who never gave a crap about GW2 are getting more money than those of us that pre-ordered the Core game, and been supporting the game since.

Individuals who purchased Guild Wars 2 while it was on sale, regardless of the sale, have gotten more money out of it than I have by default, since I paid full price for Guild Wars 2, right? So if Arena Net is required to make it equal/fair for everyone, they should refund the difference to everyone who paid $60 and $40 for the game because individuals who paid $10 during that sale got a better deal.

No, they aren’t required to do this, regardless of how long people have supported the game. Yes, they appropriately have the right to discount the game whenever they choose to, and are not obligated in any way shape or form make it “fair” or “equal” for those who paid full price for the game at launch.

ReaverKane.7598:

Atm, the price is wahy too high for current content. I’m waiting for more info to decide what to do. Most likely i’ll keep just core game, and wait till the expac falls in price (so probably 3-6 months after launch) if the expac disapoints and keeps the current price.

My personal “budget” for HoT after the announcement would be more like 50-55€ for deluxe, not 45 for the standard. For me they simply didn’t announce enough stuff to justify paying the same price tag as the core game at launch.

That’s a good idea! If you feel you don’t want to take the risk and pay for something you don’t fully know about, go for it! More power to you. I highly suggest people go this route.

I’m paying for the expansion whether it’s good or bad, personally, because I feel they’ve given me an awesome deal for almost 3 years in comparison to competitor MMO’s.

In my opinion the xpac should be available as standalone for less, even if its $40 for those of us that have the game. Charge $50 for the core & xpac, if I pay $50 for both, I should get a fresh new account because that is what I am buying. I only want the upgrade, so it makes sense that it should be cheaper for the upgrade only.

Of course that’s just one consumers opinion, but I’m certainly not going to lose sleep over it. I will say I do not agree with Anets logic on this one, veterans do have a right to be unhappy about this.

Nuzt.7894:

In my opinion the xpac should be available as standalone for less, even if its $40 for those of us that have the game. Charge $50 for the core & xpac, if I pay $50 for both, I should get a fresh new account because that is what I am buying. I only want the upgrade, so it makes sense that it should be cheaper for the upgrade only.

Of course that’s just one consumers opinion, but I’m certainly not going to lose sleep over it. I will say I do not agree with Anets logic on this one, veterans do have a right to be unhappy about this.

The expansion was $50 to start out with. Arena Net decided, most likely after-the-fact, that they would include the core game for free to new players. In my opinion, the price shouldn’t be discounted just because they’re giving the core game to new players for free.

I think people believe that the core game is included in the expansion price of $50. That’s not the case. The expansion price is $50 without the core game. The core game is a free bonus to new players.

I do think they should have made the $50 expansion separate from the core game, and just sell the core game at a discounted price than normal. But I think Arena Net’s decision was to make it very easy for new players to hop into the game before the release of the expansion, learn the game, and still be able to participate with the friends/guilds they’ve come to know since then. Whether it was a good idea or not amounts to an individual’s opinion.

Think of this prepurchase, standard edition price of $50 as a bargain sale.

I’m not saying veterans don’t have a right to be upset. They have the right to feel however they want about it. But if veterans get upset about this, then they, too, should have been as upset as they are now when Guild Wars 2 was on sale for $10.

In addition, veterans should also be this upset when Guild Wars 2 has sales within the gem store.

The number itself is not my point, $50 is fine if its $60 for the xpac and core game.

Nuzt.7894:

The number itself is not my point, $50 is fine if its $60 for the xpac and core game.

The number itself isn’t my point either.

You’re saying they should either increase the price of the bundle and/or decrease the price of the expansion, even despite the fact that Arena Net wants to add the core game to new players for free.

I’m saying, Arena Net has no obligation to do it, and it’s completely legal and it’s completely fair. Products are bundled together sometimes, people get stuff for free even though they don’t have to pay full price. Steam does it all the time, Humble Bundle does it with an even bigger discount most of the time.

Your opinion may be that they should increase/decrease the price, and that new players shouldn’t get the core game for free. That’s fine, I respect your opinion, and I’m not saying it’s right or wrong.