I found a physical copy of the core game 15 days ago, so I bought it even thou it’s at full price (69.95 AUD). I don’t mind paying that price for a great game, I don’t mind paying for HoT expansion as well..
I was led to believe that I need to purchase the core beforehand. There you go, my first experience with arenanet.. Not a pleasant one. Now trusting them is a bit hard for me. I’m just a casual gamer and I love the game, I just don’t want to support someone I don’t trust.