Guild Wars 2

INF.8496:

i have been playing game since beta, and really love it, but why did u lie back there? – You promised no monthly payment and no more buying stuff (patch, etc.), saying everything in future will be free, couse you dont want to be like another games (which was one of main reasons i bought the game).
Now, you are just like another games, where ok patch, fixes, events, updates are free (for example like in WoW), but expansion is paid. Its shame you ruin game philosophy (that you can be proud of + make propagation strategy on it) + you dont keep your promises

Thomas

Software costs money to make. Online games with constantly evolving content costs money to maintain. ArenaNet deserves to be paid for their content. If this makes you uncomfortable then I suggest finding a different game.

People wanted a paid expansion, and they got one. Sucks to be you i’m afraid.

Gandalf.3516:

From the sound of things (an interview I saw yesterday with Colin), this is going to be their new formula. 4:52 to 6:55 -
http://youtu.be/CIiqCW4WrFo?t=4m52s

Now THAT is unique. THAT provides a lot of content. In between expansions, we get living story. We are getting living story, AND expansions, and there is still discontent within the community? Both sides get everything they wanted and more and there are people who still aren’t happy? I really don’t understand this.

Thank you for posting this.

If they go this route, I’ll be more than happy. It appears ANet is trying to satisfy both camps. If they’re successful, more power to them. And us.

INF.8496:

“and there are people who still aren’t happy”
i am happy

“ppl crying about the fact that they have to pay”
i bought it once, dont see a reason to be forced to buy it again.

For financing purpose u have new buyers.
For aditional financing, u have (optional) microtranstactions (not influencing gameplay). Just do your job corectly and people will apreciate it (pay or recommand to friends).
Thats my opinion.

If they were not updating game, the game will eventualy die. Updates (if good) is the key what keeps game popular and selling.

You bought the core game.
With it you got the service called Guild Wars 2 and the updates.

Heart of Thorns is however not included in that package that you bought.

Going with your T-Shirt analogy.
You can still wear the Shirt in 5 years, however it might have to be fixed at some point. There might be a hole in it, or you want a new picture on it.

Basicly with the expansion you pay someone to keep your t-shirt fresh and hip and cool.
It is still the same t-shirt.

INF.8496:

“ppl crying about the fact that they have to pay”
i bought it once, dont see a reason to be forced to buy it again.

For financing purpose u have new buyers.
For aditional financing, u have (optional) microtranstactions (not influencing gameplay). Just do your job corectly and people will apreciate it (pay or recommand to friends).
Thats my opinion.

If they were not updating game, the game will eventualy die. Updates (if good) is the key what keeps game popular and selling.

You bought the game and get regular content updates for free, that’s what they stated and that’s what you get.

This is additional content that they worked hard to create, you have the option to pay for it and play it, or you can just continue to play the content you get now and keep getting the regular living story updates. You are not entitled to this content because you think they should earn enough money to pay for staff through new players and micro-transactions.

1. There are a finite number of new players that they can get into the game, as an MMO ages, there are fewer and fewer players that will buy it so they can’t have a constant income there.
2. Micro-transactions pay for the staffs base pay and allow them to make regular content updates such as the living story.

If you want more content, such as expansion scale content with new classes, huge areas and more then they need money to invest in the time and technologies to do so, on such a large scale, having paid expansions deals with this issue in the easiest possible way.

Sending the developers happy thoughts and rainbows, whilst lovely, does not support them financially.

INF.8496:

“ppl crying about the fact that they have to pay”
i bought it once, dont see a reason to be forced to buy it again.

But you’re not buying it again, you still have and will always have the game you payed for, namely Guild wars 2. You can play everything in it, without any extra payment, it even got free updates.

What you would be buying is something new, that adds to the exisiting game but is in no way required to play said exisiting game.

so i dont get where you are getting the whole “buying it again” thing

As far as I know you still get to play the content you purchased INF, you have no grounds to complain, especially since Arena Net never said they would give away free expansions, you can not blame them for your own misunderstanding.

I spend 60 euro on my original copy of GW2 and spent over 1500 hours playing, that is exceptionally good value for money. Considering the standard Arena Net have set and the value for money you have already experienced, I have to wonder why anyone would not be prepared to fork over 30-40 euro for an expansion.

Only source on the Expansion – http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-03-its-unlikely-guild-wars-2-will-ever-get-an-expansion-pack

Published 03/07/2013
Guild Wars 2 has no subscription fee either, but it won’t, won’t, have an expansion, neither this year nor next – and maybe not ever.

“So right now we’re not really looking at expansions as an option,” lead content designer Mike Zadorojny told me on his visit to London last week.

“It’s something that’s on the table but it’s not something we’re focused on, because what we want to do is – our idea here is that with Living World, we can do what expansions would have done but do it on a more regular basis.”

I pressed him to tell me whether there would be a Guild Wars 2 expansion this year and he shook his head to indicate no. What about next year, I asked?

“If we do this right,” he answered, “we will probably never do an expansion and everything will be going into this Living World strategy.”

That was 2 years ago. And Look at how the LS turned out. IMHO Lack luster at best.

We need an expansion, OP, so please take it in stride. GW2 as it is today cannot survive.

This is what I think:
Standard edition – €25
Deluxe edition – €40 with some boosters and a mini revenant Rytlock

This is what I want :

The option for it to be totally free, or the option to pay $100 for it to support anet(since people out there think they should really support anet this way instead of buying Gems with real money from the gem store). Either one you choose will not give you an advantage over the other.

What is actually going to happen :
Price range $20-$40

Rebound.3409:

Besides it hasn’t been state it will be payed…how cheep can u get seriously. By the time the expo comes out this game will be 3 years old. If u played it since beta u practically payed 50$ for a game that has lasted u for 3 years. Is it that much to pay 30-40$ more when the expansion comes out IF it’s payed?

Tell me how much did the last “50$ game” last you before u quit and forgot about it?

Not to mention u will most likely be able to get the expansion with ingame gems. Just like u can upgrade the normal GW2 client to digital deluxe and so on.

For full-priced (which is 60USD here btw): Dragon Age Inquisition has lasted me roughly 80 hours so far, and I haven’t finished it yet. That’s just the single player campaign mind you. Mass Effect I probably got about 100 hours out of before I moved on to it’s sequel. GW2 has netted me roughly 1000 hours. The original Phantasy Star Online (for dreamcast) probably had me spending at least 1000 hours in it, and was (possibly still is) my favorite game.

Warframe (a completely F2P game) is currently clocked in at about 503 days(so more than 5,000 hours), has been out as long as GW2 and I started after I started GW2.

On the inverse side of things, I also remember spending 60USD on the sequel to “The Force Unleashed”, which was only 2 hours long – needless to say, paying that much for 2 hours of play was rather a bit infuriating.

I’d be curious to see just how many account-wide hours I’ve had in the original guild wars for comparison purposes, but I no longer have it installed on any of my machines due to having to reformat them a few times. Maybe some day the curiosity will get the best of me and I’ll install to check it out.

i dont know your costs, but quartal profit 32 milions seems to me enought to keep game runing and updating (without payed expansions)

If u still need more money, then i sugest to change game model – problem of the game is, thats based on fashion, and that fashion is avaiable to all players (paying or not paying) + most of it CANT be bought for money.
I recommand (in case of makeing more money) change model to 3 base skin looks for every armour type, rest skins (rares and special) avaiable only via gems (600 gems per 1 item). Events (living story) offering as meta achievment special “+5 upgrade”, which upgrade selected atribute on selected peace of armor by 5. On final event chest similar upgrade, but only +1 (and achievable only once per event). Its not such big advantage, but players will still be motivated enought to continue playing the game, and the microtransaction from skins will finance the game very well (a lot of active players + human nature to brag = profit). Present black lion offering its quite garbage (no offence), its not tending people to microtransaction as situation described above will.

I think it will be 20$ or x gems

INF.8496:

i dont know your costs, but quartal profit 32 milions seems to me enought to keep game runing and updating (without payed expansions)

If u still need more money, then i sugest to change game model – problem of the game is, thats based on fashion, and that fashion is avaiable to all players (paying or not paying) + most of it CANT be bought for money.
I recommand (in case of makeing more money) change model to 3 base skin looks for every armour type, rest skins (rares and special) avaiable only via gems (600 gems per 1 item). Events (living story) offering as meta achievment special “+5 upgrade”, which upgrade selected atribute on selected peace of armor by 5. On final event chest similar upgrade, but only +1 (and achievable only once per event). Its not such big advantage, but players will still be motivated enought to continue playing the game, and the microtransaction from skins will finance the game very well (a lot of active players + human nature to brag = profit). Present black lion offering its quite garbage (no offence), its not tending people to microtransaction as situation described above will.

I don’t know where you’re pulling your numbers from, but their current marketplace model works fine, people are buying gems and using them regularly and we’ve had no hints of them needing to change it in any way. Hell, no-one in the forums or reddit posts to complain about the gem store in general, only a select few items ever get complaints.

None of that even matters in this thread though, this expansion is separate from the main game and the gem store, they’ve said it’ll be a paid expansion and we’re discussing how much it will cost.

Suggesting that since they’re a big company and they should give you the expansion for free because charging for it, in your mind, seems to suggest that they’re failing as a company is rude and extremely entitled.

I think some people are unable to understand concept of ’’EXPANSION’’ and ’’GAME’’

Question is about EXPANSION PRICING… not GAME PRICING

There is no way that Expansion will cost more than 20EUR

AivenPrimus.9184:

I think some people are unable to understand concept of ’’EXPANSION’’ and ’’GAME’’

Question is about EXPANSION PRICING… not GAME PRICING

There is no way that Expansion will cost more than 20EUR

Pretty much. £20, $30, €25 is most likely the maximum they would charge.

Osculim.2983:

Psientist.6437:

Osculim.2983:

To the dude that says gold – gems is not profit it is. The cash have already been generated its like having a investor give you money upfront to do something later. So if Anet use that money for something else its not anyones concern but Anet’s. I for one would like to see it in the gemstore. Unlike most folks im one of those poor gamers money is extremely tight. I do however agee that it would cause major gem price issues. So maby wait a month or 2 after release.

Assuming I am the dude…

Please explain how a player using Tyiran gold to purchase gems generates income. That is lost revenue that can only be recouped by players purchasing gems to exchange for gold. The gem exchange as a whole is only profitable if the number of gems bought with real money to convert into gold exceeds the number of gems purchased with gold that would have been purchased with real money instead (not everyone who used gold to buy gems would have used real money instead). Theoretically, the gem exchange as a whole could cost Arenanet revenue.

Investors expect to be repaid, the gem exchange is nothing like an investor.

I am not trying to tell Arenanet or other players how to behave, just trying to describe the realities involved.

Let me explain. Gems dont fall out the sky it have to come from somewhere so this is how it works. People buy gems with real life money meaning anet makes money that is how ammount of gems in the store is generated which other people buy with gold. The point is something was bought with real money now if you use the gems you buy with real money yourself or someone else uses it. The gems have been paid for meaning profit.

So what would happen if no one ever buys gems with real money the gem prices (with gold) will shoot through the roof.

Hope this explains it.

I want to add to this just a bit. Knowing that converting gold>gems reduces the gem pool and increases the amount of gold players can get by converting gems>gold the former serves as incentive for players to do the latter. The net result is that buying gems with rl cash to convert into gold becomes more appealing. Think of it kinda as advertising. Does it directly increase revenue? No, but you can bet your sweet tuchas it ultimately results in increased revenue.

4k gems or 20$ is my limit.

I will guarantee is won’t be Gems. Gems would be catastrophic to the exchange rate for the short term. If you think players are crying foul now that some skin cost X gold from the gem shop (wrong thinking but that’s another topic) they will blast into orbit like a Kerbal when 100 gems top 50+ gold as gold rich players by the expansion for “free”.

Everyone is going to have to plunk down cold hard cash and only cash for the expansion.

So, I’m just curious about this:

A friend just bought the game (like a week ago) knowing that it was a “one time pay” game. With the expansion coming soon (something I was really excited with) this unpleasent though comes to me… the thought that I’ll have to say to my friend “I’m sry dude, it’s not a pay and play game anymore, you’ll have to pay once more, and any other time they decide to update the game and call an expansion”.

Thou, I’m not familiar with the game also, nor I watched the stream about the expansion. I just play casualy, and so I’m guessing that:
1) you can’t play the game as it is after the expansion (some games have their expansion separately, which isn’t the case here, right?)
2) there’s no ganrantee that the game will remain free after paying for this expansion, cuz they could release some future paid expansion and so on.

I appologize again, I read only some bits of info here and there, and also pretty much only the GM replies to this thread.

Thx for your time \o

Arcan Blues.5284:

So, I’m just curious about this:

A friend just bought the game (like a week ago) knowing that it was a “one time pay” game. With the expansion coming soon (something I was really excited with) this unpleasent though comes to me… the thought that I’ll have to say to my friend “I’m sry dude, it’s not a pay and play game anymore, you’ll have to pay once more, and any other time they decide to update the game and call an expansion”.

Thou, I’m not familiar with the game also, nor I watched the stream about the expansion. I just play casualy, and so I’m guessing that:
1) you can’t play the game as it is after the expansion (some games have their expansion separately, which isn’t the case here, right?)
2) there’s no ganrantee that the game will remain free after paying for this expansion, cuz they could release some future paid expansion and so on.

I appologize again, I read only some bits of info here and there, and also pretty much only the GM replies to this thread.

Thx for your time \o

You have it all wrong, this expansion is different to the living story and general updates, expansions will not come often and it is optional for your friend to buy it. If he doesn’t buy it, he’ll lose out on a new class and a large story with a few new areas but he can still play.

After the expansion it will revert back to free regular living story updates, eventually they might release another expansion, but this one is coming out almost 3 years since the release of the game so I don’t think that’ll be any time soon.

Next time please take the time to read through some more replies and the FAQ about the expansion.

ANet has to pay the NCSoft overlords who like to use GW2’s success to fund their horrible fail-games, so they might not have as much money to spend on the game as you think.

Also considering how much it costs to buy just one outfit from the gem store, almost $10, it’d be perfectly reasonable if they put the expansion at $60. $60 for 7 outfits, or $60 for an entire expansion. :P But I’m feeling $40-$45 will be the price range.

Mo Mo.1947:

But I’m feeling $40-$45 will be the price range.

I see this number a lot and I’m positive that’s $15 too much, this is an expansion pack, not a full retail game. $30 max.

Arcan Blues.5284:

So, I’m just curious about this:

A friend just bought the game (like a week ago) knowing that it was a “one time pay” game. With the expansion coming soon (something I was really excited with) this unpleasent though comes to me… the thought that I’ll have to say to my friend “I’m sry dude, it’s not a pay and play game anymore, you’ll have to pay once more, and any other time they decide to update the game and call an expansion”.

Thou, I’m not familiar with the game also, nor I watched the stream about the expansion. I just play casualy, and so I’m guessing that:
1) you can’t play the game as it is after the expansion (some games have their expansion separately, which isn’t the case here, right?)
2) there’s no ganrantee that the game will remain free after paying for this expansion, cuz they could release some future paid expansion and so on.

I appologize again, I read only some bits of info here and there, and also pretty much only the GM replies to this thread.

Thx for your time \o

Honestly you know that this is the 1st one in nearly 3 years. They’ve already stated that the expansion is optional. The existing game doesn’t break if you don’t have the expansion. They’ve already said that there will still be LS updates.

i dont like that this “patch” will be payed, its money-makeing on players.

Talks about “one time pay” is history.

Shame on you.

What be next, new profession avaiable only for paying players? Or farming zone? Maybe paying players could switch between 3 weapons, hm?

Guess i will have to look for another game.

INF.8496:

i dont like that this “patch” will be payed, its money-makeing on players.

Talks about “one time pay” is history.

Shame on you.

What be next, new profession avaiable only for paying players? Or farming zone? Maybe paying players could switch between 3 weapons, hm?

Guess i will have to look for another game.

Good riddance, people have been trying to explain why it’s a paid expansion to you for days now and you’ve just cried about it the entire time.

The game updates are still going to be FREE. Living story, feature packs, new maps, ALL FREE.

This is a once in 3 years expansion separate to your initial purchase that the devs have worked on for years, they have every right to charge for what is essentially a different game that requires Guild Wars 2 to play, that works with Guild Wars 2, gives it some new features and story but isn’t required to play the game that you paid for initially.

You bought the base game, you “bought” the free updates for life, you did NOT buy free expansions.

Since you love strange analogies: You go to a cafe and order a hamburger meal, you start eating it and you love it, you compliment the staff there and they say, “Oh thanks, we’ve also been working on this new side dish for years, we spent a lot of time and money on it and it tends to go well with hamburgers, it costs £2” and what you’re essentially telling the staff member is “I just bought this meal here… you should give me that side dish for free, I’m entitled to it because I bought something else.” That side dish that wasn’t ever included in your meal and that they spent time working on making delicious, you feel entitled to get for free… and you see no problem with that?

INF.8496:

i dont like that this “patch” will be payed, its money-makeing on players.

Talks about “one time pay” is history.

Shame on you.

What be next, new profession avaiable only for paying players? Or farming zone? Maybe paying players could switch between 3 weapons, hm?

Guess i will have to look for another game.

They are not shutting down the servers so you can still play the same GW2 you are playing now for free.

INF.8496:

i dont like that this “patch” will be payed, its money-makeing on players.

Talks about “one time pay” is history.

Shame on you.

What be next, new profession avaiable only for paying players? Or farming zone? Maybe paying players could switch between 3 weapons, hm?

Guess i will have to look for another game.

Some people go to such length of absurdity, that I even go through all the trouble to login and post a reply. You should get an ingame title for that alone dude.

How can people so arrogant that you expect to get everything free? You go to a pub, you pay for your beer and pizza. You go to a doctor, and you pay for 15 minutes visit a reasonable amount of money. You play a game, and you probably gonna have hundreds, if not thousands of hours of fun in it. And you say that 50€ is too much for it? You spend at least as much when you go out to pub with friends twice, and all you get for it is kittenload of calories, hangover and some suspicious memories which are same as any other, just with different label with the date.

The core game is one time pay – and you got to play it for over two years, with all the Living Story (which I personally find worthless effort) for free. The expansions will not change it, you can still play Guild Wars 2, the core game. Any new campaign and expansion is expected to be b2p, as it used to be the original Guild Wars.

Of course players who will have expansion will have access to new stuff – and that’s the point. People who played few thousands hours in this game, they are bored of everything there is, so they can’t wait for expansion to bring some new content, new stuff. You really expect it free? No idea what kind of jerk and leecher you must be in real life.

Go ahead and look for another game, just don’t post any nonsense here anymore, cos it makes normal people sick. Your egoistic approach is sad to watch, and I see you like to repeat your stubborn views often. I tried many other games ever since GW2 was released, and most of them turn pale and boring.

I’m writing it from a perspective of an average earning guy, in a country that has very low average income comparing to many others economically successful countries, but even I will be happy to pay 50€ for new stuff in this game, cos I honestly think it’s needed, and I don’t mind supporting developers once in a while. Yes, I will save the money in advance, but I’m sure I will not regret a single coin. Especially since I pay for quality stuff.

Whatever you do in your life, I sincerely wish you were treated by your customers in exact way as you display over here.

Games are shared content.
You are shareing it with newcomers and other playing players.
Meal not. Its eaten by yourself.

Expansions (alias small patches) are just money makeing for me. Its microtransaction afecting gameplay = money makeing.

If you one day see some payed patch in Dota 2 let me know, and that game unlike GW is FREE !! and yes, its also permanently upgraded ! (new heroes and stuff). There is no need to pay for gameplay afecting stuff.
And guess what, players still donate it ! And the game isnt bankrupt, actually its generating a lot of profit !

Aha, not sharing your food. Now it shows what kind of person you are, and fits perfectly in your psychological portrait.

Hey,

I don’t know if this is the right thread to ask this, but I don’t know where else, so I’ll still do it. Will we get a free character slot with the expansion? The reason I wanted to know this is because with the recent discounts in the gemstore, it is cheaper for me to buy a character slot while it’s on discount (In case the expansion doesn’t give you a free character slot).

Sorry, normaly when i buy meal in restaurant i also eat it. I am not shareing it with other guests. Guess i am a bad person))))

INF.8496:

Games are shared content.
You are shareing it with newcomers and other playing players.
Meal not. Its eaten by yourself.

Expansions (alias small patches) are just money makeing for me. Its microtransaction afecting gameplay = money makeing.

If you one day see some payed patch in Dota 2 let me know, and that game unlike GW is FREE !! and yes, its also permanently upgraded ! (new heroes and stuff).

DOTA 2 is an entirely different game, it’s a MOBA, not an MMO. It takes little effort to add a character and a small arena map to a game like that.

Actually, oh look http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetails/16209?r=cd a compendium for DOTA 2 that gives players xp boosts and other in game changes and they’re charging $10. http://www.dota2.com/store/itemdetails/11110?r=cd and some more paid, game affecting items… Oh and a WHOLE page full of passes to play in tournaments http://www.dota2.com/store/#cat=3837590211.

You’ve annoyed me. The devs must have been working on this expansion under the circumstance that their bosses at NCsoft can make back the money they spent on their wages in the development time for this expansion pack. They’re charging because they spent more time on this than they would have spent just doing their regular duties.

We don’t know how much money they’re asking for yet, but shaming them for asking to be paid for doing a job that they spent time on is despicable.

Again, you don’t have to buy this expansion pack to play Guild Wars 2, you’ll continue to get the free updates, living story and more and you are a horrible person for trying to put people down for doing their job.

Bladicus.9078:

Hey,

I don’t know if this is the right thread to ask this, but I don’t know where else, so I’ll still do it. Will we get a free character slot with the expansion? The reason I wanted to know this is because with the recent discounts in the gemstore, it is cheaper for me to buy a character slot while it’s on discount (In case the expansion doesn’t give you a free character slot).

Wrong thread but you’ll get an answer either way, just not a great one.

We don’t know, I’m afraid. If they continue to work like they did in Guild Wars 1, they released a free slot for each new class. If you can afford a slot whilst they’re discounted however, I’m sure that even if you end up with an extra slot, you’ll be able to make a new character and use it eventually!

psizone.8437:

for DOTA 2 that gives players xp boosts and other in game changes

It doesnt boost in game XP, it boost battle points. Thats 2 diferent things.
And rest of it, its ALL SKINS ONLY. (and thats what makes dota 2 profitable btw).

Tournaments are e-sport. Its different category. In some you compete for real money.
You dont have to play it (= pay it), its not afecting gameplay. You (as a winner) dont get special hero or sword, that others dont have (its all skin only).

Please ANet, add the posibility to buy the new Expansion Pack via the in-game store!

Would you?

Thanks, mods, for keeping the thread clean and keeping the not so pleasant posts out.

INF.8496:

-stuff-

Alright man, I mean, i’m a fella that wanted this expansion to be delivered in a different manner than it is, but you are even starting to grate my nerves a little.

The game will (in theory) continue to offer the same kind of content it has been adding for a while now – you know, Living story and that kind of stuff. Considering that all the dragons can’t possibly be hiding in that jungle, I can only assume that after this dragon is dealt with it means we will be moving back to the “GW2 Proper” map areas that everyone has access to to advance the story – meaning you’ve only missed a single part of the story (and the features or whatever isn’t back-trended). Essentially, this means you can play without buying this expansions and still have fun – maybe not as much fun as everyone else, but that’s just typical in this day and age.

Now, let’s say they put the new class behind the gemstore instead of the expansion right? You’d be okay with buying it from in there right? I mean, it’d be just like buying a new champion or whatever they are called in those MOBAs that are so popular (I have no clue why, but I’m not a competitive person). The new class isn’t going to (intentionally) be better than any of the other classes, so it doesn’t affect the gameplay at all for you or a new player.

That being said, almost all the analogies people have been making in here are some of the weirdest most nonsensical things I’ve ever heard – which is a feat, because I’m pretty pants-on-head when it comes to coming up with stuff myself. The problem here is that you have your opinion set in stone that nobody regardless of validity of their points will ever make you change. I mean, it’d be one thing if you were actually trying to understand why they were charging for the expansion or something, but at this point it doesn’t seem like that. I mean, I’m upset over the paid expansion – but we don’t even know the price yet man, or the actual depth-of-time investment we will get out of it yet. Could it be handled better, sure, but it’s not like they are forcing any of us to buy the expansion to play the game. If you want to play the expansion, then yah you need to buy it – but if you wanted to play the main game you had to buy that too.

I’ll pay double if I can play now.

I dont like that it will be payed.

Sadly its clear to me, that not shareing majority opinion makes me drop and dead.
You like its payed? – oh nice, lets come with us celebrate. You dont like it? – than burn on a border.

INF.8496:

I dont like that it will be payed.

Sadly its clear to me, that not shareing majority opinion makes me drop and dead.
You like its payed? – oh nice, lets come with us celebrate. You dont like it? – than burn on a border.

Paid content usually means higher quality content.

There’s nothing wrong with not liking that it’ll be paid content, I’m sure there are a great many that feel the same way, but you expressed that concern in the wrong way and got crucified for it.

“I would prefer the content to be free or at least very affordable” would have been the best way to put it.

Either way, that argument should be done and dusted, we still don’t know the price of the content so we’ll have to hold off arguing too much until they give us a better idea.

It may be higher quality content, but its still FAR short of a “full” game.

Can you eke out hundreds or even thousands of hours with the base game alone for $50 to $60? Of course, but the pricing of video games isn’t the same as a movie ticket or a free day at the park. Industry standards nowadays rate quality titles at around $59.99, or more depending on extras, editions and platforms.

Point is you’re paying for content. GW2 is a full game, and I think the average paid for it was around $50 per player.

Will the expansion bring the same amount of content? Of course not. Will it bring a measurable percentage of content? Harder to tell. For $50, we got a pretty full world, multiple classes and races, tons of skills, quests, dungeons, etc.

Given what I’ve read so far about HoT, I’d say it rates maybe $15 for a standard digital edition ($19.99 box in-store), and maybe a $25 deluxe digital edition, which should include perhaps an exclusive mini, 400 gems, and some other in game fluff or skin.

If the standard edition surpasses $25 in price, then I’ll have to wait til it hits the bargain bin. NOT because that’s out of my price range (lol), but because of the principle of the issue. I’ve felt that lately games designers on the whole have moved to the el cheapo cash grab department, and one need look no farther than gemstore pricing, such as unlimited gathering tools for $10 a pop. Get one character three tools and you just paid out more than the cost of an average expansion.

Yes, GW2 is subscription free, but so was GW1, and its expansions certainly were not the price of a full game, AND they brought sizable new lands, two new classes, entirely new storylines, etc. With all the new titles coming out every day (I’m flying my mercenary Asp in Elite Dangerous atm, and plan on getting Star Citizen when it comes out) ANet has to remain competitive as well as offering good content. Gamers are not poor beggar supplicants to the font of ANet’s generosity, it is not up to us to make them great, it is up to ANet to release a quality, affordable product that keeps its existing playerbase happy, and entices new players to join in.

Overpriced cash grabs for small amounts of content does not do that, and in fact tends to drive players away, especially when the next big thing comes around.

Kaleban.9834:

Yes, GW2 is subscription free, but so was GW1, and its expansions certainly were not the price of a full game, AND they brought sizable new lands, two new classes, entirely new storylines, etc. .

GW1 technically only had one expansion, Nightfall and Factions were separate games that could be played together and they were, as far as I can remember, full priced games similar to the original game.

Eye of the North was the only full expansion.

EoTN Features compared to HoT:
1. No new classes. Heart of Thorns has 1 new class.
2. 100 new profession skills (10 per profession). HoT has specialisations which have an unknown number of new skills and traits.
3. 50 new PvE only skills. HoT has the new Mastery system that seems to be similar I guess.
4. 10 new heroes. Guild Wars 2 doesn’t use the Heroes system.
5. 124 new quests and a new storyline. HoT has an unknown amount of new quests and at least 1 storyline.
6. 4 new regions. HoT is said to have 3 (I think I read that anyway, can’t confirm right now)
7. 41 new armour sets. HoT has an unknown number of new sets.

For reference, Eye of the North cost around $40 (£25) on release.

Please announce pricing and possible Collector’s Edition versions soon. I’d like to be able to get my purchase in ASAP!

It’s called an expansion for a reason. It’s not guild wars 3. why would it cost much more than the game itself?

Its weird how Anet won’t give us a price. Stand alone campaigns for Gw1 were just as big as prophecies and they were less than the box price for GW1 on release date. They also only took a year to make.

Now this expansion has very few features and an appropriate price would be between $10-$20 . Anything over that and I would hope that everyone would lose their minds.

Those who think it should be around $50 are just plain crazy. That’s like saying a Hershey bar should be worth $25. The fun size one.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Its weird how Anet won’t give us a price. Stand alone campaigns for Gw1 were just as big as prophecies and they were less than the box price for GW1 on release date. They also only took a year to make.

Now this expansion has very few features and an appropriate price would be between $10-$20 . Anything over that and I would hope that everyone would lose their minds.

Those who think it should be around $50 are just plain crazy. That’s like saying a Hershey bar should be worth $25. The fun size one.

Not weird at all, they said they’d be giving out the specific information including the price in a few weeks.

You keep saying it has so few features but we don’t have any detailed information, masteries and specialisations could be huge features on their own. We don’t know yet.

The price point is the only think I agree on. I don’t think they could justify going over $30 for any kind of expansion.

psizone.8437:

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Its weird how Anet won’t give us a price. Stand alone campaigns for Gw1 were just as big as prophecies and they were less than the box price for GW1 on release date. They also only took a year to make.

Now this expansion has very few features and an appropriate price would be between $10-$20 . Anything over that and I would hope that everyone would lose their minds.

Those who think it should be around $50 are just plain crazy. That’s like saying a Hershey bar should be worth $25. The fun size one.

Not weird at all, they said they’d be giving out the specific information including the price in a few weeks.

You keep saying it has so few features but we don’t have any detailed information, masteries and specialisations could be huge features on their own. We don’t know yet.

The price point is the only think I agree on. I don’t think they could justify going over $30 for any kind of expansion.

Masteries and Specializations lets break them down to what they are.

Masteries : Passive and probably optional utility skills to fight PvE mobs. Very similar to WvW abilities as Anet said.

Specializations: 1 new weapon to use complete with new weapon skill bar, new traits a couple utility skills, an elite , and heals. When you change into your specialization you lose a couple of your skills and traits from your base profession to be replaced with new ones. You can change between specialization and “normal mode” out of combat.

These two things may have look like they have lots to give and are original but they are born from pre existing systems we already have and just being called something else.

I guess what I am saying is that nothing uniquely innovative is being brought to the table except for artwork, lore , event scripts, and geometry. Hang gliding…. hello , Aion, Archeage. Nothing wrong with this but its not something I would sell as pure gold.

MidNighT.5960:

Q: Is the expansion “buy to play”?

A: Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is a paid expansion to Guild Wars 2, but once you buy it, there are no subscription fees. This means that you can continue playing and access future updates for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns with no subscription fee.

Oh well….

Actually I’d be very concerned if it were free. Imagine how much worse rewards or the TPcentric nature of the already messed up economy would become if this content were free. smh it’s happened before in this industry.

I think they’ll most likely have kitten price tag on it.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Masteries and Specializations lets break them down to what they are.

Masteries : Passive and probably optional utility skills to fight PvE mobs. Very similar to WvW abilities as Anet said.

Specializations: 1 new weapon to use complete with new weapon skill bar, new traits a couple utility skills, an elite , and heals. When you change into your specialization you lose a couple of your skills and traits from your base profession to be replaced with new ones. You can change between specialization and “normal mode” out of combat.

These two things may have look like they have lots to give and are original but they are born from pre existing systems we already have and just being called something else.

Everything looks insignificant of you describe them in a minimalistic manner.

Masteries could end up adding a lot of skills for PvE in all manners of content and could eventually help them make more meaningful boss battles that are won with skill and having the right tools instead of zerging the boss down.

Specialisations…We’ve never had a system in game for swapping out our class mechanics, and changing from one set of skills and traits to another. And the specialisations are going to be used to add more skills, class mechanics and traits to the game in a way that will make it easier for them to balance.

Again, stop spreading false information about how this expansion is somehow meagre before they’ve given us all the information they plan to.

And if you read a few posts above yours, I outline the fact that looking what we know and comparing it to what we got from Eye of the North (GW1s expansion) we’re getting roughly the same amount of content.