So if i am on holiday or whatever, i have to pay for a story that i missed?
As opposed to the previous solution (you have no option to ever play or access it), which is better?
If you take a look at some of my past posts you know that I have very high standards for the ethical monetization of players and I think charging players a small gem fee for previous chapters is system rational and ethical. To maintain system rational and ethical, I would only warn against offering time sensitive sales on “previous chapter unlock” bundles.
Complaint is like TV. If you miss the show love you likely have to pay for the DVD or download
Complaint is like TV. If you miss the show love you likely have to pay for the DVD or download
I hear iTunes is good if the network sells through them. It’s how I caught up on Lost in the time before I could get the DVDs for Season 3 :P
Alternatively, there’s NetFlix and Hulu for whole shows you missed out on. (“Holy crap, Simon Baker had another show before he was Patrick Jane?” -presses ’add to queue- )
Complaint is like TV. If you miss the show love you likely have to pay for the DVD or download
I would caution against using a TV series as an analog for the LW. As a storytelling medium, a persistent MMO is more plastic and makes very different demands on the viewer. A mmo is more akin to live action interactive theater.
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.
Okay let’s try this again. Season 1 will NOT be available via through the journal. If YOU have completed all of the living stories and gotten all of the rewards and achievement points. Why would you want to pay for re-doing them again?. Your ‘concern’ makes no sense.
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 doesn’t bother me because of the option to transfer in-game currency for gems. Otherwise, it’s very simple. Log in within those two weeks to unlock the feature and you wont have to pay a dime. Otherwise, since money is shared across characters it just requires gold pieces or a trip over to Best Buy for gems store directly into your account.
EDIT: And it’s even account wide. So you could pop into your level 10 and unlock the episodes, reach level 80 months later, and still have access without paying gems.
(edited by Ronin.7381)
Complaint is like TV. If you miss the show love you likely have to pay for the DVD or download
I would caution against using a TV series as an analog for the LW. As a storytelling medium, a persistent MMO is more plastic and makes very different demands on the viewer. A mmo is more akin to live action interactive theater.
Comparison was about the complaint about missing something and having to pay for it.
Here is a more constructive response though. This game is an mmo which has no sub model, adding things like these allows for them to keep their living story whole also catering to those of us who asked to replay old missions. This also adds a bit more money into their wallet. I like the addition and support it. Better than a sub model and better than pay to win. Better than paying intermittently for an expansion.
“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.”
I’m just replying to this just in case others missed it. it perfectly shows these people that love to complain about spending a little cash (or in game gold) for what is otherwise free content.
Some people are really cheap.
The irony is, I can only see this driving an even larger wedge between GW2 and lapsed players. The longer someone takes a break, the more they’ll have to pay in order to catch up on content.
So if I decide to revisit the game in 2015 (I’m really not likely to this year given how much current development strategies disgust me), I will not be able to play any new content unless I pay for it. I will be faced with the same game I left because I thought they were leaning too heavily on the gem store in the first place.
ArenaNet and GW2 have completely lost any faith I had in them.
I hope, sincerely, it comes back and bites them hard. They don’t deserve the adulation of their fans. And they certainly don’t appreciate it anywhere near as much as they should.
This thread is full of people defending them, who don’t realise they’re trapped in a soul-sucking loop of trivial, mediocre gameplay.
They’ve been doing it so long, they’ve forgotten what value is and don’t realise there are games out there that offer so much more than GW2 for less money.
The irony is, I can only see this driving an even larger wedge between GW2 and lapsed players. The longer someone takes a break, the more they’ll have to pay in order to catch up on content.
So if I decide to revisit the game in 2015 (I’m really not likely to this year given how much current development strategies disgust me), I will not be able to play any new content unless I pay for it. I will be faced with the same game I left because I thought they were leaning too heavily on the gem store in the first place.
ArenaNet and GW2 have completely lost any faith I had in them.
I hope, sincerely, it comes back and bites them hard. They don’t deserve the adulation of their fans. And they certainly don’t appreciate it anywhere near as much as they should.This thread is full of people defending them, who don’t realise they’re trapped in a soul-sucking loop of trivial, mediocre gameplay.
They’ve been doing it so long, they’ve forgotten what value is and don’t realise there are games out there that offer so much more than GW2 for less money.
They can still go onto the maps, they can still do stuff, they are not even missing out on special rewards (based on what we know right now).
I haven’t tried another MMO in a while because they were all subscription based and I am not going to pay subscription anymore.
Of course if you don’t like the game there is no value for you, but that would be the same for any game and has nothing to do with this model.
They’ve been doing it so long, they’ve forgotten what value is and don’t realise there are games out there that offer so much more than GW2 for less money.
Wait….. are you telling me….. that there are great games out there….. that charge negative dollars to play?! kitten this free kitten, Imma go make some money!
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.
This didn’t work. GF logged in a few times during the week. Did dailies and changed skins. Logging in today the story is locked for her, and the 1st season 2 story needs to be bought for 200 gems. Cycling through every level 80 character, we couldn’t find an option to play the 1st part of season 2 without paying.
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.
This didn’t work. GF logged in a few times during the week. Did dailies and changed skins. Logging in today the story is locked for her, and the 1st season 2 story needs to be bought for 200 gems. Cycling through every level 80 character, we couldn’t find an option to play the 1st part of season 2 without paying.
That sounds like a bug, I would submit a support ticket.
The irony is, I can only see this driving an even larger wedge between GW2 and lapsed players. The longer someone takes a break, the more they’ll have to pay in order to catch up on content.
So if I decide to revisit the game in 2015 (I’m really not likely to this year given how much current development strategies disgust me), I will not be able to play any new content unless I pay for it. I will be faced with the same game I left because I thought they were leaning too heavily on the gem store in the first place.
ArenaNet and GW2 have completely lost any faith I had in them.
I hope, sincerely, it comes back and bites them hard. They don’t deserve the adulation of their fans. And they certainly don’t appreciate it anywhere near as much as they should.This thread is full of people defending them, who don’t realise they’re trapped in a soul-sucking loop of trivial, mediocre gameplay.
They’ve been doing it so long, they’ve forgotten what value is and don’t realise there are games out there that offer so much more than GW2 for less money.
Defending episode unlocks is not equivalent to defending every monetization decision Arenanet et al has made. I agree with you that GW2 often feels more like a business plan with a game attached than a game with a business plan attached.
However, unless you have attempted to sell your own art, you really can’t judge another artist’s attempts to sell their art. In my opinion, the LW is the closest thing the developers have to unique art. In my opinion, the most ethical place to put the price tag is right under the work of art.
I would argue against other monetization methods employed by Arenanet et al, but never this one. Well, unless they decide to torture it out of shape.
(edited by Psientist.6437)
Okay let’s try this again. Season 1 will NOT be available via through the journal.
……
While I don’t doubt that may be ultimately true, I do not think ANET has actually come out and said this as a fact. Obviously, the content is not DESIGNED for the journal (that has been stated), but I think they left it open for interpretation when they said they were “looking into how to release the content as re-playable”.
It’s entirely possible they may journalize / instance the actual story portions of LS1 while being choosing to possibly cut-scene or story board the actual open world event aspects. It’s also NOT impossible to make a “historical” zone to replay parts of it (say a randomized “past” zone for a Scarlet Invasion?). I doubt they go that far, but its not impossible.
My point is you stating it will NEVER be in the journal is simply not factual (unless I missed some Anet comments on the issue and if so, please provide links to back up your statement).
Okay let’s try this again. Season 1 will NOT be available via through the journal.
……While I don’t doubt that may be ultimately true, I do not think ANET has actually come out and said this as a fact. Obviously, the content is not DESIGNED for the journal (that has been stated), but I think they left it open for interpretation when they said they were “looking into how to release the content as re-playable”.
It’s entirely possible they may journalize / instance the actual story portions of LS1 while being choosing to possibly cut-scene or story board the actual open world event aspects. It’s also NOT impossible to make a “historical” zone to replay parts of it (say a randomized “past” zone for a Scarlet Invasion?). I doubt they go that far, but its not impossible.
My point is you stating it will NEVER be in the journal is simply not factual (unless I missed some Anet comments on the issue and if so, please provide links to back up your statement).
Well, to be fair, I think he meant in the hypothetical circumstance he was replying to. The poster he was replying to was talking about paying for episodes prior to Season Two Episode One, at this time (well, at this hypothetical time, anyway). /shrug
Im just coming back today and while I don’t mind paying around 8 bucks. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This is the same reason I left a few months back.
ANET, stop nickle and dime’n us. Freaking poor form.
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