Guild Wars 2

I saw a recent sale for the 4 home instance nodes in the cash shop. Instead of spending $30 just for them I figured it would be better to buy ultimate edition of HOT and get the $50 in Gems. I made the purchase and got access to HOT immediately but I have never received my 4000 Gems. Now the sale on the nodes has disappeared and even if I do get my Gems it defeats the purpose of taking advantage of the sale. I refuse to purchase anything out of the cash shop at full price because everything is obscenely overpriced. I felt the nodes were still overpriced at 600 each but I was going to do it anyways and I fell I have gotten screwed in my attempt.

If I purchase Gems they are available immediately so why is it taking so much time for me to get the ones with HOT? This is making me regret my purchase!

I guess you have to read what it says on the store page.

“*All in-game items will be delivered upon redemption of a Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns serial code.
Gem delivery may take up to 72 hours after purchase.”

As noted on the purchase page, the delivery of the Ultimate Edition of Gems takes 72 hours (or more) from initial purchase transaction.

The reason is to allow the purchase to clear, as there have been a plethora of fraudulent keys/chargebacks/stolen CCs, etc.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

As noted on the purchase page, the delivery of the Ultimate Edition of Gems takes 72 hours (or more) from initial purchase transaction.

The reason is to allow the purchase to clear, as there have been a plethora of fraudulent keys/chargebacks/stolen CCs, etc.

This would make more sense if that was also true with purchasing Gems in game but it is not. When I purchase Gems in-game they are available immediately. Also they game me the HOT update immediately so why not the Gems? If my purchase was fraudulent like your example all they have to do it remove the content and all Gem purchases. Don’t forget they are selling digital items that cost them nothing to create there is no real risk to them.

It is the reason, nonetheless. You can find Dev posts about it using Google, if you so desire.

Again, read the note on the purchase page, just because you missed it is no reason to get mad at anet and be critical or their purchasing policies.

Yeah, it says it may take up to 72 hours for you to get them.

I can understand why ArenaNet would want to wait that long due to the amount of fraud attempts, but I assumed it was only until the charge posted on the credit card. I purchased the Ultimate edition 2 days ago, and have yet to receive my gems, and now the charge has posted on my credit card (No longer pending). So now ArenaNet has my money as a verified payment, and has not sent me my gems.

Here is what Gaile Gray say about topic.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/72-hours-to-get-my-gems/page/2#post5436600

Gaile Gray.6029:

Of course it makes sense. Imagine you’re a fraudster. You “buy” the Ultimate Edition using a stolen CC. You get the gems, buy items, sell them to innocent players to “wash” the gold, use the gold to acquire other items at which time the stolen CC is identified and the account is banned. You don’t care, because you’ve lost nothing and in fact have profited from the illicent activities. We can’t simply “take back” the gems because they’ve been used to acquire items that then go to innocent players. And those people are unwittingly impacted by scurulous behavior on the part of the fraudsters.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/72-hours-to-get-my-gems/page/2#post5436859

Gaile Gray.6029:

We consider you a valued customer, but your payment information (CC, bank, whatever) is something we don’t ping until and unless you wanted to make a purchase. At that time, it’s a “fresh start” for buying and for that reason, I don’t think we’re in a position to conclude, “Aw, that card was fine last month and three months ago — no problem!” That’s why even a long-time customer with splendid credit, using the same card, would have a delay. Heck, I work for ArenaNet, and I bet I’d have a delay, too.

I sure understand that the fact we have a take this measure “just in case” is a bit frustrating. If there was a way to eliminate the delta between purchase and delivery, I’m sure we would. But I saw a chart the other day about payment fraud and my hair about stood on end. The fraudsters were having a major impact, and measures had to be taken to protect everyone involved, from our billing provider to innocent players to, well yeah, us, too!

Sincere thanks for working with us, and for understanding the necessity of this step.

tl;dr You can blame all cheater that make fraud to steal gem for this, not Anet. They have to protect product from scammer.

Moral of story, don’t buy gems and expect to spend them immediately, ever. Too many tales of woe from players trying to buy gems for a short term sale only to miss out because there’s a understandable delay due to the level of fraud in online proxy currency purchases.

Perhaps everyone is missing some very important points:

1. I have purchased Gems from the in-game store and those Gems were always available immediately.

2. The disclosure states “may” take up to 72 hours. This means to most people that it will only take that long if there is an issue or concern.

3. Anet is not really hurt at all by fraudulent charges other than not making as much profit as they wish to.

4. The players are not hurt by fraudulent charges because, based on Gaile’s reasoning, it adds more items for purchase into the game that otherwise would not be there. This would also make items cheaper which is also a benefit to more players than not.

5. This provides unreliable service from Anet that reduces confidence and happiness with their product. Why should I spend anymore money if it is not going to be a straight forward purchase?

6. Contrary to Gaile’s comment Anet can make safe assumptions on credit worthiness. If I have purchased from them before without any issues and I use the exact same credit card there is a very high likelihood that the transaction will process without issue.

7. Customers may not be always right but companies surely are not always right either! Companies have more motivations and advantages against customers especially when they basically exempt themselves from every imaginable consequence and responsibility.

Behellagh.1468:

Moral of story, don’t buy gems and expect to spend them immediately, ever. Too many tales of woe from players trying to buy gems for a short term sale only to miss out because there’s a understandable delay due to the level of fraud in online proxy currency purchases.

There is no excuse for this. I deal with companies in the same situation all the time and they do not do this. If I add $60 to Steam in order to take advantage of a sale my money will be available immediately. I have never had this happen with them.

If I were to sell stock with an online trading company my money would be available immediately to purchase stocks. They are effectively giving me a short term interest free loan. This is significantly more risky for the company as it then becomes liable if I did something fraudulent. Anet has practically zero liability because it is a non-physical product. If my account were to be banned then they effectively take their digitized copy back. I can not actually steal anything from them because I never fully possess anything, I only gain use of it and that it is infinitely reproducible.

In short the delay is not understandable at all.

Cinnamon Goddess.3869:

Perhaps everyone is missing some very important points:

1. I have purchased Gems from the in-game store and those Gems were always available immediately.

2. The disclosure states “may” take up to 72 hours. This means to most people that it will only take that long if there is an issue or concern.

3. Anet is not really hurt at all by fraudulent charges other than not making as much profit as they wish to.

4. The players are not hurt by fraudulent charges because, based on Gaile’s reasoning, it adds more items for purchase into the game that otherwise would not be there. This would also make items cheaper which is also a benefit to more players than not.

5. This provides unreliable service from Anet that reduces confidence and happiness with their product. Why should I spend anymore money if it is not going to be a straight forward purchase?

6. Contrary to Gaile’s comment Anet can make safe assumptions on credit worthiness. If I have purchased from them before without any issues and I use the exact same credit card there is a very high likelihood that the transaction will process without issue.

7. Customers may not be always right but companies surely are not always right either! Companies have more motivations and advantages against customers especially when they basically exempt themselves from every imaginable consequence and responsibility.

In response to your point #3, a cursory Google search revealed this snippet:

Unfortunately, it’s becoming easier and easier for consumers to dispute legitimate purchases, bypassing you and going directly to the bank to file a chargeback. When that happens, YOU pay the price. It’s estimated that for every $100 in chargebacks, your true chargeback cost is $308 in wasted time, expensive fees, penalties or additional losses of goods and services.

That’s probably a bit more than just ‘not making as much profit’; it’s a definite loss.

Doing a bit more research, here is another bit of information that might not be widely known:

As is probably obvious, the chargeback process is a very complicated one and involves a number of different parties to remedy the chargeback. As a merchant, it will take some time to manage and remedy a chargeback. A typical chargeback process lasts anywhere from 6 weeks to up to 6 months. If each step takes the maximum amount for completion, then it should not be surprising for a chargeback to pressure you for what will seem like forever.

Thus, a 72-hour ‘vetting’ period seems quite reasonable.

1. Ultimate package basically gave the 4000 gems at a 50% off sale. That’s a large discount to give without payment going through. They didn’t have the delay at first and the number of fraudulent purchases went through the roof – they were all purchasing the Ultimate edition.

2. Since it says may, you can not get upset if the gems do not arrive right away. You said it yourself, that it should only take that long if there is concern or issue. There was a concern. That someone had stolen your credit card information and used it to fraudulently purchase the Ultimate edition of HoT.

3. When people who have their credit card info stolen report their card as stolen and have the charges reversed, the payment processor passes on the cost of undoing the transaction to the company. Which hurts ANet’s profits. Which hurts their ability to give us the best game possible.

4. So they should be encouraging gold sellers by your logic. Gold sellers and people who fraudulently purchase HoT Ultimate hurt the economy by driving prices up by adding gold to the system. The more gold in the system, the higher the average price of things goes up. Because people have more gold. This is what is known as inflation.

5. They gave a disclosure and as long as 72 hours have not passed, you can not call it unreliable. They said it could take up to 72 hours to get the gems. Until such time has passed, you can not claim unreliable.

6. What if someone had stolen your credit card information? If you purchased HoT through the game, did it pull your credit card info automatically? What if your account had been compromised and they noticed the remembered credit card info and bought HoT Ultimate for the gems?

7. Not sure what you’re trying to say here.