Guild Wars 2

So if i am on holiday or whatever, i have to pay for a story that i missed?

Episodes of the Living World are permanently unlocked when players log in when an episode is the current live release. If players happen to miss this free period for an episode, it can be unlocked later for a small gem fee via the Story Journal section of the Hero panel.

Yes. If you WANT to. As opposed to Season 1 where, if you missed it, you didn’t have any way to see it at all.

You have 2 weeks or more to log on for 30 seconds to unlock an episode.

If you can’t even do that, then yes you have the option of buying the story and unlocking it. But keep in mind your friends can take you into the story instance for free, you just wont get any rewards.

Yes, and this is a good thing.

GreenAlien.5623:

You go on 4 Week long Holidays without access to a PC or Laptop?

Yes… just been to America for 4 weeks.. ofc i dont play a game when exploring the real world :-)

But i was thinking you only get it when it hits live that day.. but you get the story for free on its complete duration.

If you can afford a 4 week long vacation then you can afford some gems.

But seriously just log in once a month for 30 seconds, anyone can do that.

also you can just convert gold to gems, 200 gems isn’t a whole heck of a lot of gold

I don’t know how anyone else feels about it, but I don’t think paying a fee if you miss living story content is fair! what about those that have lives, families, work, school, are on vacation or even have disabilities ( I have disabilities and am just lucky I can be on now ) and cant log on in time to get the content..how is that fair? I have supported you enough thru the gem store, my own cash,(and I know that’s my choice) and I take offence to you asking for more because now you are taking the choice away from me, now you want me to budget for content?. I understand that for some they say this at least gives some a chance to play it if they miss..unlike the last story, but my point is why does it have to cost at all? I’m sure you can set up replay without the cost. I was under the opinion this was a free to play game, but now if you want new material its not? Well that makes it a pay to play game right? At least for those that cant live for the game.

This is a way to pay for updates. A dedicated player will not have to worry about this. Other people who are not as dedicated will subsidize some of the content costs for you. If you are busy then you can always convert gold to gems.

What’s this? You have to pay for DLC expansions?

What insanity! It’s like ArenaNet is doing something every other company doesn’t do!

Oh wait, they are… by having it free if you log on for even 1 second within 2 weeks of the update’s release.

Honestly, you don’t even have to pay the content. Just turn on your computer (laptop or desktop), run GW2, go away, come back a couple hours later, log in, let the loading screen occur (go do something if you want), and then close once you see the game itself.

Family? Work? School? Vacation? If you cannot even spare 5 non-consecutive minutes then I think you have bigger problems than “I have to pay for releases that others got for free! QQ”

Like time management issues.

@Dizzie: No game in existence will ever give you an expansion for free. If you want new content, you’ll have to pay for it just like you’d have to pay for the base game. GW2 isn’t free to play, it’s buy to play – buy once and have it for eternity or your account’s permabanned. GW1 was the same, and you had to buy each campaign and expansion. Season 2 is different in that you have a chance – like a reversely rigged lottery (where it’s completely in your favor) – to get it for free. And it won’t disappear, ever.

So Your saying Living Story = paid for Expansion Pack….not quite true being some will get it free and others may not….though I can understand your point somewhat in that sense. But there are unforeseen circumstances that stop some from have the perfect time management, its for those I feel because it would be hard to understand why some where able to get it free and those of unfortunate circumstances might not be able to…..Exp pc crashes, hospital stays, accidents of all sorts…..and on and on . I know if I were of unfortunate circumstances and didn’t get in on the free play I would feel annoyed. Though if I was the type to farm my butt off or play the market(TP) or just play 24/7 maybe getting those gems wouldnt feel so hard to come by……….

If I had a hospital stay, or was on some kind of horrific accident that prevented me from logging into GW2 for 2 weeks. The least of my worries would be paying 200 gems for some content I may or may not be around for.

Dizzie Mizzie.1069:

I don’t know how anyone else feels about it, but I don’t think paying a fee if you miss living story content is fair! what about those that have lives, families, work, school, are on vacation or even have disabilities ( I have disabilities and am just lucky I can be on now ) and cant log on in time to get the content..how is that fair? I have supported you enough thru the gem store, my own cash,(and I know that’s my choice) and I take offence to you asking for more because now you are taking the choice away from me, now you want me to budget for content?. I understand that for some they say this at least gives some a chance to play it if they miss..unlike the last story, but my point is why does it have to cost at all? I’m sure you can set up replay without the cost. I was under the opinion this was a free to play game, but now if you want new material its not? Well that makes it a pay to play game right? At least for those that cant live for the game.

have lives????

all that and all you got was horrific accident lol, all I’m saying is that what is easy access for some is not for others and things happen like – PC crashes, but ya seemed to have missed that haha things don’t have to be horrific to take up your time or cause you to forget to sign into a game for a bit…….circumstances change – doesn’t have to be horrific to cause you to change your routine for a bit. But if the majority doesn’t mind paying a fee if they miss while others got it free then so be it….I am looking forward to seeing how it plays out in the end tho.

At least you have an option now if you’ve missed logging into the game. Previously, if you missed it, it’s gone forever. So if you decide to have a life outside of the game, then that’s the choice you made if you couldn’t do the story. Pay a few Gems, and all of a sudden, it’s like you never left Tyria!

Dizzie Mizzie.1069:

So Your saying Living Story = paid for Expansion Pack….not quite true being some will get it free and others may not….though I can understand your point somewhat in that sense. But there are unforeseen circumstances that stop some from have the perfect time management, its for those I feel because it would be hard to understand why some where able to get it free and those of unfortunate circumstances might not be able to…..Exp pc crashes, hospital stays, accidents of all sorts…..and on and on . I know if I were of unfortunate circumstances and didn’t get in on the free play I would feel annoyed. Though if I was the type to farm my butt off or play the market(TP) or just play 24/7 maybe getting those gems wouldnt feel so hard to come by……….

Honestly, in each and every one of those cases, having to cash out what is effectively $2.50 for story instances alone would not be all that problematic.

You’re crying over a glass of milk that hasn’t been spilled.

I could possibly understand a minor frustration if everyone was forced to pay the 200 gems for every individual episode of the Living Story, whether you log in within the 2 weeks or not. Anet have been pretty fair with this approach, they are a business afterall, & the developers don’t work for biscuits

As for circumstances, if you can’t spare 30 seconds of your time within a 2 week period, then you’re an incredibly small minority. 200 gems is nothing, you’d have to not log in for 2 full months for it to amount to the minimum 800 gems you can purchase on the gem store. Even by means of subscription, that’s half the price of any sub-based MMO on the market today.

“Well, if you have disability, or completely can’t login in two weeks window for LS update, why not add the despair of CAN’T buy for 200 gem from Gem Store.” is what Dizzie want?
1. Critics seems to forget that 200 gem can be obtained easily from converting gold… 200 gem is quite obtainable. I’m almost sure whoever complaining 200 gem price at this moment is yet to reach level 80 (max level as of now).
2. Ability to purchasing living story means you have been given the option to relive them as opposed to completely skip it like in season one.

I had to go to work tonight. in fact I just got home.

about 10 minutes before I left for work the update finished downloading. I logged into GW2. I promptly logged back out, turned my computer off and then left for work. LS episode unlocked, for whenever I feel like playing it.

Please don’t make this out to be a matter of people not having lives being able to play while people who have jobs don’t. it’s not the case at all.

the 5 minutes you spent making this thread, could have easily been spent logging in and out of GW2 in order to unlock the LS content.

the Living Story is constant, and changing. If you are not there for it, you miss it. simple as that. I was not here for Season 1, and therefore it is gone, done, and over with, and I missed it. this is nothing for me to complain about. I was not playing GW2 at the time, so I do not get that content. that’s fair, imo. If I miss the timeframe for the time-limited content, then I don’t DESERVE to get it for free. I just move on to the next piece of time-limited content.

being able to pay to unlock it later, is a bonus, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t shed tears for content that I missed.

if you happen to be SOOOOOO busy that you cannot spare 5 minutes to log in and unlock the content, then I don’t really see how you’ll have time to play that content later anyhow, even if they gave it to you for free.

In season 1, it was that people didn’t have time to log in to keep up the LS every 2 weeks and that it would be gone forever if they missed it. But now, that season 2 is available is to play on your time, people can’t be bothered to log in for a brief moment to access the content for free.

nicknamenick.2437:

So if i am on holiday or whatever, i have to pay for a story that i missed?

Episodes of the Living World are permanently unlocked when players log in when an episode is the current live release. If players happen to miss this free period for an episode, it can be unlocked later for a small gem fee via the Story Journal section of the Hero panel.

if you can afford a 2-week long holiday, you can certainly afford a few gems.

plus, gems can be converted using in game gold.

Dizzie Mizzie.1069:

I don’t know how anyone else feels about it, but I don’t think paying a fee if you miss living story content is fair!

It was a lot less fair when you missed it and it was gone, never to be seen again. As someone who has waited 10 days on a delivery of replacement RAM so I can play again? Yeah, that’s kind of significant if the other 4 days I had no chance of really sinking my teeth into whatever there was.

(Notably, last time it was “Last Stand at Southsun” which I really had wanted to take part in beyond token efforts.)

Is it also bad to point out this is still better than previous MMOs where if a massive event happened, it usually happened with little to no warning and you had to be on right then to get anything out of it? I mean, assuming you could.

I like the new system. Everything is like before, except that you can unlock missed events for like 2,50€. Yeah, it’s not free, but it keeps the game free and it’s an improvement compared to the situation before.

Why are you complaining? Your 50€ or whatever you paid once surely aren’t enough to cover the costs of the ongoing development.

This is a super fair and generous offer indeed.

here’s an idea anet, for anyone complaining about it, just revert it back for those accounts where if you miss it, you don’t have an option to buy it. now we can all be happy, except for people who are greedy jerks that don’t want anyone else to access the content either because “it’s not fair” that the new system gives EVERYONE a chance to play the content.

You don’t have to pay gems for the story. You don’t have to pay for the challenges. Both you can enjoy by guesting to the the story instances. You follow the stories and do the challenges like dodging all heavy bombs, keeping construction workers alive or completing the jumping puzzle inside the instance.

The only thing you have to pay for are several achievement points and some “no-must-have” rewards.

“I want to pay once for free meals at this restaurant for the rest of my life! This food sucks!”

“Ok, sure, we can do that for you.”

“I want every meal to be perfect and new! This food sucks!”

“Umm, we’ll do our best.”

“I missed yesterday’s lunch, it needs to be lunch forever! This food sucks!”

“That doesn’t really seem possible, we need to keep moving forw—”

“NO! All meals, FOREVER! This food SUCKS!”

“Fine, fine. If you just sign in here when you come eat, you can have that meal as many times as you want, into infinity, for free.”

“And what if I don’t? This food sucks!”

“If you miss, that’s okay. We’ll still give you infinity meals for a one-time fee of $2.50. We’ll even toss you an occasional gift card!”

“BUT I HAVE A LIIIIIIIIFE! I NEED EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME FOR FREE ALWAYS!!! THIS FOOD SUUUUCCCKSS!!!”

“Siiiiiigh.”

Never believed such incessant whining was actually possible…

I believe they said 200 gems per release. 800 gems = $10.00.

Basically if you miss the very large 2-4 week window, you can unlock it later for less than the price of a cup of coffee…

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

if you can afford a 2-week long holiday, you can certainly afford a few gems.

plus, gems can be converted using in game gold.

But how am I supposed to get gold if I’m on a 2-week long holiday and can’t log in to grind gold? Gawd! We should get the LS unlocks for free and 50 gold for every day we don’t log in! Also what if I’m one of those people from those tribes in the Amazon that don’t even know what computers are? How am I supposed to log in to unlock the LS chapters then? ANet is RACIST against isolated indigenous rainforest peoples!!1!

They could always go back to how they did S1 and you don’t get to play at all o.0

Dizzie Mizzie.1069:

I don’t know how anyone else feels about it, but I don’t think paying a fee if you miss living story content is fair! what about those that have lives, families, work, school, are on vacation or even have disabilities ( I have disabilities and am just lucky I can be on now ) and cant log on in time to get the content..how is that fair? I have supported you enough thru the gem store, my own cash,(and I know that’s my choice) and I take offence to you asking for more because now you are taking the choice away from me, now you want me to budget for content?. I understand that for some they say this at least gives some a chance to play it if they miss..unlike the last story, but my point is why does it have to cost at all? I’m sure you can set up replay without the cost. I was under the opinion this was a free to play game, but now if you want new material its not? Well that makes it a pay to play game right? At least for those that cant live for the game.

As opposed to the previous method, which was ‘you snooze, you lose’?

At least players are given the option to pay for previous content, while before you couldn’t.

Besides, all you have to do is run the launcher in the background to download the patch, spend 30 seconds logging in, and you’re done. You don’t have to touch it.

Vesuvius.9874:

Never believed such incessant whining was actually possible…

I never believed people would complain about something so beneficial

This thread is awesome. Anet should revert things back to please the OP and others with the same mindset. This would work out for everyone. They get to miss out on the content completely but don’t need to pay gems either. Win/Win.

If you were able to play any of Season 1 I don’t understand how you can complain about this change. That means you were able to “perfect” your time management enough to not only log in but actually play the content during the only 2 weeks it was available.

I’m one of the people who is likely to miss a release sooner or later (mainly because my job means sooner or later I’m likely to spend several weeks or even months in a place where I won’t have either a computer that can run GW2 or internet) and to me this actually marked the end of trying to schedule my life around GW2.

If you were able to find time to play the content during the 2 week window then finding time to just log on once should be easy. And if not you have the option of buying it later. If you don’t want to (either in general or for that specific release) then you don’t have to, and you’ll still have the entire base game and all the releases you do unlock available to play.

(I am concerned about the price and the number of purchases putting off new players, but I assume at the end of each season they’ll be bundled together like conventional DLC or expansion packs, which will make it a bit easier. Or alternatives can be investigated when it gets to be an issue.)

nicknamenick.2437:

So if i am on holiday or whatever, i have to pay for a story that i missed?

No. This is completely incorrect.

Dizzie Mizzie.1069:

I don’t know how anyone else feels about it, but I don’t think paying a fee if you miss living story content is fair! what about those that have lives, families, work, school, are on vacation or even have disabilities ( I have disabilities and am just lucky I can be on now ) and cant log on in time to get the content..how is that fair? I have supported you enough thru the gem store, my own cash,(and I know that’s my choice) and I take offence to you asking for more because now you are taking the choice away from me, now you want me to budget for content?. I understand that for some they say this at least gives some a chance to play it if they miss..unlike the last story, but my point is why does it have to cost at all? I’m sure you can set up replay without the cost. I was under the opinion this was a free to play game, but now if you want new material its not? Well that makes it a pay to play game right? At least for those that cant live for the game.

I am so sorry that you did not get a payout from the charity that pays Anet to develop content ….

After all, they do it outta the goodness of their lil hearts. They do not need paying to do their job !

OMG get a grip !!

its 30 seconds in a 2 week period, whinge whinge whinge

Not like you are paying $15 a month like other lame MMO’s is it ?

Here is a bigger issue imho, I’ve completed almost all of the living stories since they started, and they want me to pay for the ones I already finished? Good luck to new players trying to find people to group with. I won’t be buying old content, but if I had access to it I would be happy to help others, going through it for the first time. Sorry Anet, Epic Fail on this one.

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

Here is a bigger issue imho, I’ve completed almost all of the living stories since they started, and they want me to pay for the ones I already finished? Good luck to new players trying to find people to group with. I won’t be buying old content, but if I had access to it I would be happy to help others, going through it for the first time. Sorry Anet, Epic Fail on this one.

You’ve already finished all of season 2?

“I’ve completed almost all of the living stories since they started,”

Reading is fundamental. It says “since they started” past tense.

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

Here is a bigger issue imho, I’ve completed almost all of the living stories since they started, and they want me to pay for the ones I already finished? Good luck to new players trying to find people to group with. I won’t be buying old content, but if I had access to it I would be happy to help others, going through it for the first time. Sorry Anet, Epic Fail on this one.

You don’t need access to the living story to party with and help other people that do have access to it.

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

Here is a bigger issue imho, I’ve completed almost all of the living stories since they started, and they want me to pay for the ones I already finished? Good luck to new players trying to find people to group with. I won’t be buying old content, but if I had access to it I would be happy to help others, going through it for the first time. Sorry Anet, Epic Fail on this one.

Who said that or where are you getting that from?

As long as one of those new players does have it unlocked, you can help them Vesuvius. Or, if you have it unlocked, you can bring them into your instance, both are free alternatives for someone that has missed out on the content.

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

Here is a bigger issue imho, I’ve completed almost all of the living stories since they started, and they want me to pay for the ones I already finished? Good luck to new players trying to find people to group with. I won’t be buying old content, but if I had access to it I would be happy to help others, going through it for the first time. Sorry Anet, Epic Fail on this one.

I just want to make sure, you’re talking about paying gem for S2, or anything else? From what i understand after reading patch info, you unlock living story once and forever. Method of unlocking it currently is: 1. Logging in during event, 2. Buy per episode via gem.

Notice the title of this tread is “Pay with GEMS for NEW STORY”,

I came back to the game just at the end of when Scarlet dropped her crazy death puppet of doom on the world. By the time I got my main leveled up enough to get into the festivities, Lion’s Arch was under attack. I’d happily pay a little bit to be able to play those stories. I think it’s a great alternative to missing out on stuff like that forever.

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

“I’ve completed almost all of the living stories since they started,”

Reading is fundamental. It says “since they started” past tense.

I assumed there wouldn’t be someone complaining about something that 1) doesn’t exist 2) might never exist. The only thing that would be in the past tense is season 1 and while the devs would like to get into the journal they have no idea when it will happen or if it is possible since it wasn’t designed with the journal.

There is a bug that causes the game to ask people to pay for the current episode but a bug is a bug, not something intentional.

A less vague complaint might result in a better reply.

Okay lets try this again, for the sake of discussion, let’s say you’ve completed all the living stories PRIOR to the new one in Maguma Jungle. If you, want to go back to replay a previous one, you must eithet buy it with gems, or wander around asking if you can join some that hasn’t played it and is willing to buy it, or has bought it.

Good luck with that. You’d have better luck finding people to do stuff in Orr. This is going to be a failed attempt at making money yet again. If they had avoided the LS in the first place we’d have an expansion or two, they’d have had a big influx of capital and all would be well in Tyria. As is, financial reports show in game sales are down etc. It seems so simple to fix, but they flat out refuse to admit it. I will agree that many tried and true mmo practices no longer work. But one thing mmo players should agree on is they like new content, and completely new areas. In GW1 we bought expansions and gained 2 character slots and 2 new classes. And of course new continents.

The LS is wasted effort, imho. The explanation for it escapes me. I hope, I truly hope, the recent remarks by Ncsoft about an upcoming Expansion are real. If not I don’t see how GW2 will last more than another year.

http://www.mmorpg.com/mobile/features.cfm?read=8293&game=473&ismb=1

Ask yourself this, if everything GW1 did, was wrong, why are people still playing it?

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

Okay lets try this again, for the sake of discussion, let’s say you’ve completed all the living stories PRIOR to the new one in Maguma Jungle. If you, want to go back to replay a previous one, you must eithet buy it with gems, or wander around asking if you can join some that hasn’t played it and is willing to buy it, or has bought it.

Good luck with that. You’d have better luck finding people to do stuff in Orr. This is going to be a failed attempt at making money yet again. If they had avoided the LS in the first place we’d have an expansion or two, they’d have had a big influx of capital and all would be well in Tyria. As is, financial reports show in game sales are down etc. It seems so simple to fix, but they flat out refuse to admit it. I will agree that many tried and true mmo practices no longer work. But one thing mmo players should agree on is they like new content, and completely new areas. In GW1 we bought expansions and gained 2 character slots and 2 new classes. And of course new continents.

The LS is wasted effort, imho. The explanation for it escapes me. I hope, I truly hope, the recent remarks by Ncsoft about an upcoming Expansion are real. If not I don’t see how GW2 will last more than another year.

http://www.mmorpg.com/mobile/features.cfm?read=8293&game=473&ismb=1

Ask yourself this, if everything GW1 did, was wrong, why are people still playing it?

Perhaps, you are confused. There is no option, at this time, to replay Season One. There may be, sometime in the future, but as of now, the Devs aren’t really working on making Season One available.

So….it’s really nothing to be concerned with.

^This^

You’re worried about something that doesn’t exist, Mr. Skyfyre.

@ Evon Skyfyre

Also, if season 1 was as bad as everyone says, why would you want to go back and replay it? But as it’s been said several times already, season 1 is not available, and we don’t even know IF it will be available. If it does become available, I could see them following the same model as season 2, if you were there, you unlock it for free. All they need to do is check your achievments. But if you weren’t there for it to begin with, charging 200 gems ($2.50 USD) per episode would not be out of line. New players won’t think of it as “unfair” that they didn’t get it for free. My wife, being a new player, certainly doesn’t feel like she “deserves” anything because she started playing AFTER season 1. Either way, I am beginning to think you are trolling by throwing out a “concern” that doesn’t even exist, and may never exist.