Guild Wars 2

For comparison, let’s imagine Borderlands 2, instead of releasing DLC that you bought piecemeal, released Borderland 2: The New Gang, which included the core game, the DLC classes, and the DLC missions, for $60. And that was the only way you could get that content.

Tell me that there would not be calls for blood from everywhere.

So why should we overlook it for this game? Because they did essentially the same thing, but labeled it an “expansion”?

If it is an expansion, where is my option to upgrade from the core product? That distinction is what usually separates an expansion from a re-release.

Basically, ANet has adopted the TurboTax method of software upgrades:

Make your existing customers re-buy the entire software package in order to receive updates.

Unfortunately, in a customer/business relationship polite communication will rarely achieve anything.

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease” as they say.

ANet wants to use their current expansion pricing without change, they have motivation for keeping it, they will ignore any points or feedback that they can safely ignore because it does not cause problems for them.

It is the complaints to a supervisor, or a call to the media, or a bad review that will motivate a business to change its policies to the consumer’s benefit, not reasonable arguments, because you could be right, but they have no reason to care.