Guild Wars 2

I think this would be an amazing addition to the SPVP section of Guild Wars 2.

make a free to play client for Guild Wars 2 that only allows players into the mists, while still having access to the cash shop and the ability to purchase the full game if desired

Guild Wars 2 will have competition from other eSports games. and one of the biggest barrier of entry for new players is the 60 dollar price tag.

/discuss

geez guess nobody’s really interested in this topic

It’s not like no one cares , the reality is that it will neva happen .I personally neva liked the idea of the ‘’e-sport’’.From my point of view the pvp side is just another thing to add to the list of the shattered dreams promissed from Gw2 Manifesto.
Peace.

terrible idea. game is pretty bad. needs more development time. maybe in 2015 when they finish split all skills for spvp and we have a second game mode we can have f2p mists esports

I believe the game goes for 30-40 $ now at certain retailers.. just sayin’

Pros:
More people

Cons:
Worse community as bans are no longer an option
Troll accounts killing gameplay in custum arenas like duel arenas.
11 win/0 loss Troll accounts on leaderboards.(Check out all the freeaccounts still there)
Troll accounts throwing games and killing MMR Rating.
More leavers/Afk (cause it doesn’t matter now! I’ll just roll a new account)
Spammers/GoldSellers/etc
Moral Hazard to players who bought the game for pvp (me)
No profits.

Just off the top of my head.

Darnis.4056:

I believe the game goes for 30-40 $ now at certain retailers.. just sayin’

Pros:
More people

Cons:
Worse community as bans are no longer an option
Troll accounts killing gameplay in custum arenas like duel arenas.
11 win/0 loss Troll accounts on leaderboards.(Check out all the freeaccounts still there)
Troll accounts throwing games and killing MMR Rating.
More leavers/Afk (cause it doesn’t matter now! I’ll just roll a new account)
Spammers/GoldSellers/etc
Moral Hazard to players who bought the game for pvp (me)
No profits.

Just off the top of my head.

I’m pretty sure that there’s more than one Pro for going free to play

1. more people means more potential money in the cash shop
2. if it does become more profitable than it will give incentives to forward more resources to PvP
3. shorter que times
4. more people means more evolving the meta
5. reasons to put PvP related items in the cash shop I do enjoy Cosmetics for my characters
6. more people means more streaming more advertising more word of mouth about the game. could bring in potential customers for the full client of the game.

I’m sure there’s plenty of other things that could be good by making mists free to play

I would be okay with it if
a)No Chat/Forum/Mail Privileges (Impossible)
b)No Leaderboard (Also Impossible)
c)No Ability to Solo Que with players above a certain rank say 1000
(Probably the most impossible)

Every time a mmorpg goes F2P or partly it becomes worse or Dies.

I’ve actually never seen a B2P or P2P game go F2P or partly F2P without dieing or getting worse really worse

Darnis.4056:

I would be okay with it if
a)No Chat/Forum/Mail Privileges (Impossible)
b)No Leaderboard (Also Impossible)
c)No Ability to Solo Que with players above a certain rank say 1000
(Probably the most impossible)

Every time a mmorpg goes F2P or partly it becomes worse or Dies.

I’ve actually never seen a B2P or P2P game go F2P or partly F2P without dieing or getting worse really worse

the only thing I agree with is no mail privileges
and the leaderboard system hardly works as is.

Your opinions about f2p are highly subjective. . ArenaNet would not be aiming towards a free MMO market. No they would market torwards a competitive PvP market much like what LOL, dota2, SC2 have two of wich are f2p and very sucsessful at it. I just I think that anet needs to get a slice of that pie

milo.6942:

terrible idea. game is pretty bad. needs more development time. maybe in 2015 when they finish split all skills for spvp and we have a second game mode we can have f2p mists esports

why everyone keep repeating meeeee!? im the only one allowed to talk about 2015 because i own a crystal ball and can see sup. On thread, i like the idea and this would be the only way to have over 1k players in the mist one year from now lol

Darnis.4056:

I would be okay with it if
a)No Chat/Forum/Mail Privileges (Impossible)
b)No Leaderboard (Also Impossible)
c)No Ability to Solo Que with players above a certain rank say 1000
(Probably the most impossible)

Every time a mmorpg goes F2P or partly it becomes worse or Dies.

I’ve actually never seen a B2P or P2P game go F2P or partly F2P without dieing or getting worse really worse

team fortress 2 says hi!

it is not a mmorpg though.

I think you mixed up subjective with Objective.
Objective reality : Aion Rift Eq2 SWTOR
Put the nail in the coffin when they went F2P

Team Fortress 2 ………………………………..
Yes I guess. :/

hmmm what about these 2?

dungeons & dragons online
lord of the rings online

they were buy to play, subscribe to play, now free to play.

anyway, i dun support a free to play version.

maybe a usd10 version, pvp mist only, 1 character slot only.

buy more slot with gems (still pvp only)

buy pve / wvw access with gems (insert suitable amount, no gold? grind glory, sell dyes, use credit card etc)

They’re not really better off are they?..
They were never really popular to begin with..

Darnis.4056:

I think you mixed up subjective with Objective.
Objective reality : Aion Rift Eq2 SWTOR
Put the nail in the coffin when they went F2P

Team Fortress 2 ………………………………..
Yes I guess. :/

and yet those games are still online and people still play them some may have had some change in quality after going free to play. but that does not mean everyone feels the same way.

but more on topic Guild Wars 2 has
always intended for SPVP to be in Esport, that was a goal they set for themselves . that is why the free to play client should be marketed as a competitive PvP game in its own right. not just a nother free to play mmo shoveled on to the Internet.

and yes Team Fortress 2 may not be an MMO but is a good example how profitable and beneficial a game can become by going free to play. and I think that anet can learn from this and turn spvp into a profitable and resource supported, competitive game.

Team fortress 2 is not an MMO nor has it gone Esport As far as I know.
MOBA is only free because Dota has always been free, let’s be honest HoN Dota2 and LoL are really the same game, they even have a lot of the same champs.

Starcraft 2 has done great as B2P, and shows that a barrier of entry is a good thing.
Look at the LoL community. Look at it.

indeed, team fortress 2 is not esport, has not gone esport, i think they never will, or never intend to.

but i think they must be raking in lots and lots of monies!
nc soft should take note and learn lul.

for me i think it will take a very long time before gw2 becomes esport worthy.

hmmm btw i use team fortress 2 as an example, bcos hotjoin gw2 spvp 8 vs 8 reminds me of how much fun i had in team fortress 2 hot join games. though nowadays them tf2 servers are running 12 vs 12 max 24 players though.

in gw2 the max is 10 vs 10 (including spectators) but true 10 vs 10 games seems too zergy for most people. 8 vs 8 is acceptable by most.

Right esports are far off and I don’t think that’s a bad thing

I think most people interested in a serious pvp game would be willing to throw 40$ (During sales, I bet you can find a better deal at Greenmangaming sometimes) at the devs, I know for sure they deserve it.

is there any popular PC pvp game that isnt F2P nowadays? i think that’s the only route

Darnis.4056:

Team fortress 2 is not an MMO nor has it gone Esport As far as I know.
MOBA is only free because Dota has always been free, let’s be honest HoN Dota2 and LoL are really the same game, they even have a lot of the same champs.

Starcraft 2 has done great as B2P, and shows that a barrier of entry is a good thing.
Look at the LoL community. Look at it.

that’s why I I think Guild Wars 2 can be unique in this aspect
they’re not very many games with both a buy 2 play and a free to play side that has the focus of competitive play.

and I think it would be financially viable and great for the cash shop

saying that somebody only has a free to play Myst account but has friends that have the full client of the game eventually he’s going to want access to PvE and world vs world so he can play with his friends.

this games income roughly relies on the cash shop to stay financially stable. I think that a good cash shop is built on two principles 1 it’s fair 2 it has good incentives. and more money always means more support and resources which in this case are going to be directed at spvp which needs.

@Gwareawrwer
Noteable examples are;

MMORPG
World of Warcraft
Eve Online

Strategy
Starcraft

FPS
COD
Battlefield

Coming out:
The Elder Scrolls Online
Everquest Next
Wild Star

This has already been suggested a number of times. “Free the Mists”. People want it to happen.

tichorum.2415:

This has already been suggested a number of times. “Free the Mists”. People want it to happen.

and I think the higher ups could be convinced if they were shown how profitable it could be, investment vs income.

but they shouldn’t jump in all at once with this idea they should test the waters a bit.

This has indeed been posted multiple times.
I don’t remember a positive response to those threads.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

lord of the rings online

they were buy to play, subscribe to play, now free to play.

Lord of the Rings online had a really good business model, even when it was subscribe to play.

Each expansion brought would give you extra time and you could also buy an unlimited time, so you never had to pay subscription again.

TGSlasher.1458:

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

lord of the rings online

they were buy to play, subscribe to play, now free to play.

Lord of the Rings online had a really good business model, even when it was subscribe to play.

Each expansion brought would give you extra time and you could also buy an unlimited time, so you never had to pay subscription again.

I was not a big fan of Lord of the Rings payment options. though I will admit options are nice I think when it comes to an MMO it should be kept simple, and really I think people like the idea of paying once then just keep playing for free.

all Guild Wars 2 really needs is a cash shop. not to say that it could use improvement. for instance it would be more profitable if they made armor skins for specific classes rather than just 3 armor types. that way there’s more to sell on the cash shop and each class could g et a unique theme, aesthetic to there gear.

Darnis.4056:

I believe the game goes for 30-40 $ now at certain retailers.. just sayin’

Pros:
More people

Cons:
Worse community as bans are no longer an option
Troll accounts killing gameplay in custum arenas like duel arenas.
11 win/0 loss Troll accounts on leaderboards.(Check out all the freeaccounts still there)
Troll accounts throwing games and killing MMR Rating.
More leavers/Afk (cause it doesn’t matter now! I’ll just roll a new account)
Spammers/GoldSellers/etc
Moral Hazard to players who bought the game for pvp (me)
No profits.

Just off the top of my head.

This + leaderboards would become even bigger joke with all these ghost accounts.

Ive put this under suggestions and it got buried since that subforum is a joke.

PvP insfractructure is not ready for a big mass influx of players arriving. PvP is not ready for that yet. I talked to some devs and they will work on those features first in order to get it ready for this. Like templates, better tutorials, rewards, improved viewability.

This will all come slowly, obviously, but it will come. They did sold GW1-pvp-only edition for a smaller price and it worked out very good. GW2 pvp should be 5-10bucks, not free. And you should only be able to Queue for Solo Arenas when that account has atleast Rank-10-15.~

It will happen on the long run. Dont expect it now.

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

Ive put this under suggestions and it got buried since that subforum is a joke.

PvP insfractructure is not ready for a big mass influx of players arriving. PvP is not ready for that yet. I talked to some devs and they will work on those features first in order to get it ready for this. Like templates, better tutorials, rewards, improved viewability.

This will all come slowly, obviously, but it will come. They did sold GW1-pvp-only edition for a smaller price and it worked out very good. GW2 pvp should be 5-10bucks, not free. And you should only be able to Queue for Solo Arenas when that account has atleast Rank-10-15.~

It will happen on the long run. Dont expect it now.

I like the idea of how valve did it with dota2. dota 2 had a sign up for the beta and early access to the game. or you can pay $30 and get instant access to the game while also getting some cool items. this and on top of running a cash shop for cosmetic items for Heroes. this was cool in the fact that they were supporting the game financially and metA a wise while it was still in beta until it was ready for release.

I think ArenaNet should do something like this.

tell people that the free to play client is still in beta and all the profits support the game during the beta phase to help it get full release