Guild Wars 2

Make sPvP a standalone, free-to-play game.

How? Flag sPvP-only free accounts differently and auto-load all accounts to the Heart of the Mists and the Heart of the Mists only.

Allow free accounts to access all features necessary to compete, includings pubs, tournaments, ladders, free servers, spectator mode, etc. However, wall off access to certain premium features, including cosmetic items, ranks, etc.

Then, create two upgrade options for sPvP players: (1) sPvP upgrade option — $29.99 one-time fee to access all sPvP cosmetic content, ranks, etc. (still only Heart of Mists access) or (2) full upgrade option — they can buy the full game for $59.99 and get everything.

Don’t do this until you’ve actually made sPvP a complete game — ladders, spectator mode, etc. Otherwise, you’ll lose a lot of potential free-to-play gamers who might actually consider the upgrade. Package all of this as part of your “we’re serious about eSports roll out.”

Profit.

The FIRST thing they need to do – Fix the Bugs, Issues, Traits, Skills and disconnects. Until that is done this game will NEVER be an Esport no matter how much Anet want it to be.

Yeah, absolutely. That’s part of the “[d]on’t do this until you’ve actually made sPvP a complete game” issue. But it should be on the roll out list around the same time.

Though this will never happen, they would have to actually release content alot more oftne. Maybe make WvW and S/Tpvp into a combined kind of thing? That or start releasing a few new maps/game modes.

Take a example of Rift and WoW they both have times when certain maps give bonuses and such and Rift takes it (or used to, havent played it in a while) to a higher extent and make it so that the maps can have new special modes for the week/weekend

Why more content? All he seems to be asking for is a discounted version of the game for people who only want to PvP.

Which, yeah, isn’t going to happen. I think you’ve confused desire to have a MOBA-like mode and e-sport potential with wanting to promote THAT area of the game exclusively over the other things going on in the game….. If they had wanted to laser focus like that…they’d just have released a MOBA.

(Also, you seem to underestimate how much of the cost of the game is based on shared resources….since it’s all the same art, animations, class designs…90% of the game is shared between modes so I’m not sure why you think you’d get half off. )

I love the writeup and agree. For me they have to start getting the community growing with ladders. Until there is skill based matchmaking sPVP won’t grow in popularity. It sounds simple, but it is so essential.

Who cares about the costs of the game? Those costs are sunk vis-a-vis people who would never play the game at all, but for the free-to-play option.

There is a reason why older games eventually offer various free trial-type options. Find as many suckers as you can to pay to play the game at launch. Wait a while, and then consider how you can draw in other folks who would never want to pay a penny. Giving them full access to a particular part of the game (like competitive sPvP) and charging them for cosmetic, premium content is bread-and-butter LoL-business model. The MOBA aspect is irreelvant.

For it to only have S/Tpvp it would have to either have more content or be half the price of the current game. It should not be the same price as the normal game after all it is ALOT more limiting in terms of content

You can change the pricing model, but the concept is that you charge a premium for cosmetic content that is non-essential to actually competing. If people want to look pretty, they can pay for it. Whether they will is a separate issue, you let your marketing and pricing experts determine how much to charge. The premise is sound, but you can argue about the specific implementation. Don’t bother me with the details, just get it done.

The problem also comes in what about players like me?
Ones that enjoy (when its not bugged and broken) all aspects of the game

Players like you have other threads they can comment in on those issues.

Atlas.6901:

Players like you have other threads they can comment in on those issues.

I was talking about YOUR idea. If you are saying about splitting PvP into a separate game then these are the kind of questions that would need answering. So again, i ask what would your solution be for players like me that like playing all aspects of the game?

Answer: You already bought the game. This does not impact you. Sorry you’re not satisfied with the product.

Atlas.6901:

Answer: You already bought the game. This does not impact you. Sorry you’re not satisfied with the product.

Not quite, so this change you would have would ONLY affect new players?

Yes. As most free trials do…