Guild Wars 2

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Actually “don’t buy the expansion” is exactly what you’re saying OP. Just come out and say it. Stop dancing around the bush.

This is a clear demonstration of how difficult words are for some people.

“Wait to buy” suddenly becomes “don’t buy”. “Wait for a release date” becomes “OMG ENTITLED VETS ARE BOYCOTTING”. This is exactly why Edna Mode said ‘no capes’.

Johaocarl.5430:

I bought the 99 bucks package. I don’t care what the haters think.

You get more out of the $99 than you do out of the $50, so technically you came out ahead. Good for you.

Kurogami.9210:

So what if it turns out that the expansion actually is worth the 50$?

It might be eventually, before whatever release date they decide on. Right now, people are pretty much paying for beta weekend access.

No one knows if you’re even able to keep anything from beta weekends (if the GW2 original beta is any indication, the answer is no), so…

This whole thing is rather fascinating. Never have I ever seen fans of a game cape so hard that they’d throw $50 at a game with no release date, and then hide that kind of blind faith behind calling OTHER people entitled.

ERs all over the globe should be reporting dislocated shoulders en masse, because the reach required for this is medically amazing.

The Kraken.2347:

The price for HOT stand alone ONLY is $50, that is the price of the expansion…. Ok, still following…… Base game is included free to make it easier for new players to get into, which is a good thing.

I still dont understand why so many arent paying attention and think they are buying the original and the expansion.. HOT cost $50, thats what your paying for.

Meanwhile, full release games with release dates cost $10 more.

Seriously, my money at this point was better spent picking up Fallout 4 than this. It might be worth purchasing when there’s an actual date attached but until then…. who’s really not paying attention?

At this point, people are essentially paying for 1) the promise of development that hasn’t happened yet and 2) beta weekend access for an indeterminate period because there’s no release date.

This ‘new players vs. old players’ happens in every gaming community, without fail. It never over the exact same issue but it boils down to the same dynamics:

New players want to start on ‘even footing’, older players feel like they’re ‘paid their dues’. Lost in all this shuffle is a point that absolutely no one is bringing up—there is no release date. None. So no one knows what their $50 is actually buying… but that obscured overall picture is much, much clearer for players who don’t have an account already.

Zephyr.9320:

I purchased another copy of the game for my wife not two months ago and now we’ll have to buy the whole thing again at full price to experience the expansion. Not right.

Customer service. They’re, thankfully, motivated by entirely different parameters than marketing, so they might be able to help.

Getefix.9150:

GranspearZX.5624:

Darkwolfer.7819:

People normally go out of their way to complain. People who are satisfied generally do not. Therefore your numbers are skewed thinking that the mass majority of players are upset.

If you do not like it, just don’t buy it and SHUT UP

This is openly false. Most negative customer comments are circulated within communities of common interest so… nah. The gaslighting is neither cute nor subtle.

If you don’t like the complaining, ignore it and shut up. (See what I did there?)

but constructive criticism is more useful than simply whining though (seriously, have you seen some of the posts? “boycott HoT”, “can anet be prosecuted” etc

i can see where the justfied criticism comes from, my advice is wait and see if they decide to bring out a simple upgrade to HoT (which wont be any cheaper seeing how the core game was added for free) or at least one with a character slot or something… or just wait until release this isnt a preorder, its a pre-purchase so its gonna be more exensive

Yeah, the ‘boycott HoT’ thing is silly. And suing ANet… wow. People being ridiculous on all sides.

I’ve said this before: if people want to drop $50 on what amounts to an Early Access title with no release date… I mean, it’s your money. At this point, even NEW players would be better served buying the Deluxe or Ultimate versions. Which, as far as the marketing team is concerned, the entire point.

Darkwolfer.7819:

People normally go out of their way to complain. People who are satisfied generally do not. Therefore your numbers are skewed thinking that the mass majority of players are upset.

If you do not like it, just don’t buy it and SHUT UP

This is openly false. Most negative customer comments are circulated within communities of common interest so… nah. The gaslighting is neither cute nor subtle.

If you don’t like the complaining, ignore it and shut up. (See what I did there?)

Jaccer.6572:

i’m not a veteran. i just bought the game a month ago. and now they are telling if you buy exp pack you’ll get core game free. this is really unfair. i just paid for nothing and it’s really makes me angry.

I suggest contacting customer service and letting them know. They might be able to help you out there.

JustTrogdor.7892:

Current players are not paying for the base game twice. They are paying for the expansion. New players are paying for the expansion and getting the base game for free to attract new customers. It is the wording on the sales page I think that is giving people to perception they are paying twice. I agree it is poorly worded. They should have stated something like, “Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns Expansion. Includes a free version of the core game for new customers.” People would still be here complaining but I think it would have cleared things up a bit.

It’s this weird, semantic thing that I’d expect from a marketing release. If I purchased GW2 two weeks ago, I’d end up having to pay $50… for an expansion.

Granted, you could probably contact customer service in that particular situation and get that straightened out, but it kind of highlights how disingenuous quibbling over the wording actually is.

briggah.7910:

GranspearZX.5624:

briggah.7910:

nexxe.7081:

Veterans keep this game alive by using their time on this game, and buying gems. And you have the gall to call them greedy? Some veterans spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on the gem store. You can kindly go you know what.

haha calling them greedy cause they want something that new players are getting free when they already had free content for a long time yet new players will never see that content.. yup greedy if you ask me.

It was the players choice to buy gems. It was never forced on you. I spent lots of money on gem store items too and tbh the game needed and expansion cause it wasn’t enough for me to keep playing new content every 2 weeks. Players wanted the expansion and although anet said we probably wouldn’t see one. that is what the players pushed for

Yes. This unknown thing that no one knows the full scope of is what players pushed for.

Some people just seem to insist upon themselves being openly not bright.

If you want to pay $50 for what essentially amounts to an Early Access game, that’s fine, but to call people who have a little bit more monetary sense than that ‘greedy’ is an amazing reach.

Wow and another person saying that I’m calling people greedy cause of some price. I’m calling players that think they deserve something since they’ve played this game longer than a new person that is just buying the game that includes a freebie.. You clearly got more freebies then these new players ever will get. Can I make it any clearer? PRICE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT I WAS POINTING OUT. Maybe greedy is the wrong term.. Selfish maybe? Aww new players get a freebie and I’ve gotten freebies for the past few years. Its not fair. I demand a freebie too.. wah wah wah

Oh well everyone seems frustrated and I was trying to make a certain point but everyone is still stuck on the price and what new players are getting instead of realizing that old players have gotten way more freebies.

>posts with a leading title
>gets upset when people actually interpret post based on title
>tl;dr, QQ, etc

Those of us who didn’t have paint chips for lunch know that people are, as of this moment, basically paying $50 for an unknown number of beta access weekends. That’s really the only concrete thing in that pricing. The issue isn’t as simple as ‘new players vs veteran players’. It’s a more nuanced position than ‘freebies’, and I’m going to have to insist that you get all the way over yourself. You’re literally claiming some nonexistent level of nuance while generalizing ‘veteran’ players. Like the words aren’t literally right there.

upsdn.5426:

GranspearZX.5624:

Case in point, look at how NCSoft handled City of Heroes. Tremendous community support, highly interactive devs… shut down because it wasn’t lucrative enough.

That’s a ludicrous comparison. CoH is 11 years old. If anything, it tells us we should be concerned that NCSOFT may shut GW1 down sometime in the next 2 years (and I wouldn’t be surprised).

See, that’s not even accurate; the cycle of the game was a little over 8 years from launch to its eventual shut down. Now that I think about it, though, the only real issue with that analogy is that NCSoft is a publisher, not a developer, and I can’t say for sure how much influence NCSoft does or doesn’t have on the development and marketing of a title.
If you think they don’t factor in at all though, well… I have some beachfront property in Kansas you may be interested in.

Honestly, I feel kind of bad for the devs. Because now they kind of have to catch up to the marketing team being the marketing team. Don’t think it’s Arena Net as a whole; it’s literally too big to be all hive-mindy on this sort of thing.

Hey, if people want to throw $50 at a title with no release date, well… this is why Steam’s Early Access program gets away with so much. As of June 17th, 2015, is it worth it? Probably not.

I think it’s important to make one particular distinction: the devs behind the game and the marketing folks are two completely separate entities.

Marketing is only interested in customer satisfaction if it’s financially advantageous to take that position. In most companies, ArenaNet being no exception, the marketing division is a separate beast for a reason. They determine the value of a thing irrespective of the community behind a product or, generally, anything that isn’t mechanically and numerically quantifiable. Case in point, look at how NCSoft handled City of Heroes. Tremendous community support, highly interactive devs… shut down because it wasn’t lucrative enough.

At this point, people are paying $50 for a prayer and a dream. Especially older players. There’s far more value in getting the more expensive versions—which is, essentially, the entire point. It’s a marketing thing to push sales in that direction and has absolutely no bearing on the game itself.

briggah.7910:

nexxe.7081:

Veterans keep this game alive by using their time on this game, and buying gems. And you have the gall to call them greedy? Some veterans spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on the gem store. You can kindly go you know what.

haha calling them greedy cause they want something that new players are getting free when they already had free content for a long time yet new players will never see that content.. yup greedy if you ask me.

It was the players choice to buy gems. It was never forced on you. I spent lots of money on gem store items too and tbh the game needed and expansion cause it wasn’t enough for me to keep playing new content every 2 weeks. Players wanted the expansion and although anet said we probably wouldn’t see one. that is what the players pushed for

Yes. This unknown thing that no one knows the full scope of is what players pushed for.

Some people just seem to insist upon themselves being openly not bright.

If you want to pay $50 for what essentially amounts to an Early Access game, that’s fine, but to call people who have a little bit more monetary sense than that ‘greedy’ is an amazing reach.