For whiners:
1. Yes, you are getting core game for free. You know what that means? Even if Anet give us HoT without vanilla you would still need to pay 50$ for it. So by all means, go and buy xpack only for the same price as xpack + GW2…
2. Yes, even if you have GW2 already, you still get free copy of it. Want to add exp to your existing account? Fine, but don’t lie you are not getting core game because you are.
3. 50$ is a normal price for expansion, so your argument about increased price cause of “free” core game is invalid. WoW Warlords of Draenor cost the same and you still need to pay subscription fee every month.
4. Do some math and calculate how many hours you spend in GW2 playing. Then divide it by cost and see for yourself how cheap GW2 is.
For example, person who spend 300 hours (and I bet many of you spent much more than that) in-game, paid 0.2$ per hour playing. Every additional hour lower the price even more.
Are you seriously whine how expensive GW2 is? It’s literally THE cheapest entertainment I ever bought. And expansion? 50$ is a cost of 5 movie tickets (~8-9 hours of entertainment) or couple of cigarette packs.
In the end. Want to whine about price? Go ahead but know this. It won’t change, neither it should. If it’s too much just don’t buy it and go somewhere else. Simple as that.
. Now I feel much more better knowing it’s not permanent ^^.