Guild Wars 2

Jazzabelle, it isn’t about the timing. It’s about the shady advertising that led new players to purchase a base game that they otherwise would not have purchased because they thought it was necessary to play HoT.

It would be like you seeing a new outfit that you really wanted consisting of a decent skirt and a really nice blouse, but they had run out of blouses. The store tells you that you are still going to need the skirt for the outfit, so check back soon. You go ahead and buy the skirt for a discount, and then a month later you return to the store. You can no longer return the skirt, and you also cannot buy the blouse separately, so they tell you if you want the outfit, you have to pay for the entire thing again.

ANet says they are giving the core game away for free with the expansion, but since the only way to buy the core game from them anymore is with the expansion, that doesn’t pass the smell test either. They haven’t flat out lied that I can see, but as noted farther up in the thread a lie doesn’t have to be blatant to be misleading, and neither are acceptable for good business.

Their customer service is also handled by robots, and it’s ticking me off.

Amen. I got the game a month and four days ago so I am in the same boat as you. I think part of the community (i.e. Edgar) thinks we have the same mindset of the bittervets, but that’s not the case at all. This feels like a bait-and-switch, and every email I have gotten from support, four and counting, has been automated by something called Zendesk, which is not helping the situation at all. Users have posted on reddit about receiving refunds going back as far as April, and also that they have been refunded the sale price and proceeded to purchase the HoT prepurchase without losing their accounts. ANet can do these things, and it would probably even generate MORE revenue for them because a significant portion of new players would probably go ahead and get HoT; they simply can’t be bothered, and are using a robomailer instead.

Ants don’t serve grasshoppers! It’s you who need us!

I got it on sale a month and two days before the prepurchase release. Like Hamster, I don’t want a refund, and was explicit about that in the support ticket I submitted. The reason I feel cheated is because ArenaNet made me feel like I would need to purchase the base game to be able to play HoT, so I did. Their FAQ explicitly stated that the base game would be required, which is not an out and out lie but doesn’t really pass the smell test.

To compound the matter, I received two replies from my support ticket and my subsequent reply, and BOTH of them seemed automated and did not address my concerns at all, but rather stated that I would not be eligible for a refund.

ardasica.4531:

You see this often in supermarkets where they reduce the price of some items dramatically in order to spur increased sales. You know, like if they made hot dog bun packs 50 cents which would then increase the sale of hot dogs.

They don’t usually offer items on sale and then proceed to offer them for free, however. This is more like, hot dog bun packs are 50 cents, but the hot dogs aren’t ready yet (you’re still gonna need a bun per our FAQ). You can lick your bun while you wait. Fast forward a month, now hot dogs are available, and buns are free!

I’m angry because I feel misled. To avoid cross-post, here’s a link to why.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/I-don-t-want-a-new-account-just-an-upgrade/5169605

As someone who bought the game 33 days ago, my biggest problem with this whole thing is that the base game was put on sale several times recently, the FAQ for Heart of Thorns explicitly stated that the base game would be required to play the expansion, and there was no indication whatsoever that the base game would be given away with the expansion. That’s not an out-and-out lie, and it’s possible that this was just a series of marketing missteps, but it FEELS nefarious. It feels like I just got cash-grabbed. Had the base game not been discounted, I would probably have waited to hear more about the expansion before purchasing it.

To compound the matter, I submitted a ticket to Support about it, and received not one but two auto-replies that basically dodged the issue by stating that I am not eligible for a refund, when I stated in my original ticket and my reply to the first email from Support that a refund wasn’t what I was looking for. This is a fun game, but the out-of-game experience with ArenaNet is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.