Guild Wars 2

Why give them out for free in the first place then. Nobody likes to miss the boat on that offer and have to pay later. If it was always paid content or even became FREE once its been out long enough like the base game, it would be easier to stomach paying for it obviously. The guys that argue A.net does these things to make money never answer this one. In any case they got it the wrong way around. Maybe it could be argued they wanted ppl to try LW out first with S1 before they began charging to give players a chance to test that style of content out but S3 still follows the same model, but is the only LW that doesnt have its map accessible. Surely make them available for those who get PoF at the very least. If not another another way to unlock it like login rewards which is what it was originally anyways.

Anyone new to the game will simply get both expansions and expect to explore all regions and not have to encounter blanked out lvl 80 area.

Theres no reason to have it a freebie for players who logged in earlier if you say the reason is to make A.Net more money. The only thing you do is end up kittening ppl off who jumped onto the 2nd expansion thinking they can explore all areas that people who also bought both expansions can, but no. You are charged more. Atleast have the maps available for those who get PoF (if not the content itself) or include it in a package and make it obvious what youre missing out on. It doesnt disadvantage anyone, since they play the story component.

IndigoSundown.5419:

• Most non-sub (or sub-optional) games: gate access to new maps behind an XPac or DLC price; and tie access not only to that price but also to ownership of the base game. Note the dual conditions required — own base game, plus pay.

I like this one. I bought the base game before it was made free and was willing to pay for both expansions. However, I wont buy PoF and not have access to maps which were a freebie at some point before its release.

Youd think the whole point of having expansions in the first place is to have all the important stuff in one easy to purchase package.

You forgot to add that if you payed the $50 launch price you got to play the game for 2yrs more, which is of course a big deal. Those late to the game will have less play time on a older title that is why to attract buyers prices have to be driven down. But this living world ‘fee’ feels like a bit of bait then add on cost after for new/returning players esp since guys who logged in earlier got it for no extra cost. A game marketed as Free-to-Play with the only major component cost being the expansions. It seems a little underhanded and deceptive and is not something you want to do when you want to attract new comers.

Both S1 and S2 Maps are accessible to me even though I didnt log in during those times where kitten map areas are not. If one were to work of prior experience youd think S3 areas would be also. Why do you say I should exercise “due diligence”? if the game sells expansions maps are typically bundled under the one package one of the reasons is so you dont have to go digging through a catalogue of dlc to see which ones are important. Theres also less segregation of the player base that way. Games that have dlc maps usually market all their stuff as dlc in my experience. Like Borderlands. Well after taking a look at battlefield you can see all the dlc stuff are weapons packs/starter kits NON of them are maps. This is an important distinction. Like I said earlier if I didnt get access to the story componant I wouldnt care about it. There are a few mmo style of games I dont even bother with beating the main story if I can avoid it.

It never says you would be denied access to certain areas of the game. This is KEY. To be completely clear they need to say you have to buy DLC maps for that. and who knows how many SEPARATE dlc maps they would make. Kinda defeats the purpose of expansions in the first place.

How does logging in 1 day in the month or however long it was to get the LS free constitute loyalty? Maybe have the areas unlock after playtime or login days at least if youre going to make that argument. I dont really understand the that logic anyway. Why not offer PoF for free for loyal players too? I dont count gold-> gem as free.

Why should newcomers be charged for what was offered as a free gift earlier if they pay for the expansion thinking that it would give them access to all playable content? Since thats how it works in almost every game with an expansion. Maybe they should package Living World as a stand alone expansion too for clarity sake. Most new players prob wonder how to access the blanked out lvl 80 areas until the google search it.

All I asked for is to have the areas which were previously given out for free accessible without purchasing living world. It is the maps that are the most important part of it. Those who buy HoT+PoF should have access to all map areas end of story.

I agree completely with the OP. I recently returned to GW2 after taking a 5yr break to see if it was worth playing again. I thought I needed to get the lastest expansion just to get an accurate indication of where the game was at now and if PoF would be worth it. It would ATLEAST give me access to all areas/specialisation I needed was the thought process. As a returning player I didnt do too much in terms of research before buying HoT. Why? because could simply go and see for myself after I bought the expansion, and to my surprise I got bitten by that approach. I would never have bought HoT if I knew I would still miss out on potentially important areas of the game (that were for Free for a limited time but cost extra now?!?), or pay extra.

This is an mmo where efficiency matters so having access to be all areas is important and having this information obscured seems misleading to buyers and for meagre financial gain. If they make the new maps accessible at least then I wouldnt have much issues with it cause I dislike the story anyways.

This is a deal breaker imo for returning players looking to get back into the game but missed out on the free living world content. I mean, it wouldnt of mattered much if you could atleast access the maps, but creating exclusive areas only accessible at this time if you pay for it is not right.

Those who logged in earlier will have them for FREE while returning players who purchase PoF will not? They would easily fall into the trap thinking theyll be up to speed content wise if they bought both HoT/PoF only to be gouged extra.

Also the LW isnt even included in any premium editions of the expansion wtf? They shouldnt have offered Living story for free to begin with or make it come with the latest expansion to avoid infuriating players who taken a break from the game. It would also incentivise sales of PoF too (barring the fact it would seem intuitive to do it that way in the first place).

Im only in the first zone of HoT but from what I played I didnt like. It reminds me a lot of super mario. I wouldnt have much problems with all the mazes and new mechanics if the player wasnt required to level up skills in order to access different areas but how it works now is unnecessarily convoluted. Zones separately by upgrades works in games like metroidvania because that is what the audience expects but not in mmos like guidwars. The core game didnt play anything like this either. *Maybe important upgrades shouldve just been story/quest related once a new zone is reached.

Im a returning player who stopped playing GW 2 shortly after the vanilla release, so pretty much a new player with the the changes that have happened since then. I decided to pick up guild wars again after the announcement of a new expansion and the lack of other options, and I always like the combat in this game.

My question is should I save my lvl 80 char boost that I got wit HoT expansion until PoF release or should I use it now? I already have a thief at lvl 80 with full exotics that I grinded out before originally leaving the game and the elite specialisation fully unlocked after purchasing HoT recently.

The argument for using it now is that if I understand the boost correctly through trialling the boost, is that it doesnt unlock the elite specialisation (you still need to earn the Hero Point) so you are required to grind that out. So it doesnt matter which char I boost cause it would require playtime regardless to get it maxxed skill wise. And Ive liked what Ive been hearing so far about holosmith and it was the class I was going to get to 80 second anyways years ago that is, but from what I have read is in a poor state currently so if it doesnt come good with the 2nd elite from PoF could be a crap choice. Also if I buy PoF I will get a 2nd lvl 80 boost which means I can blow 1 of them no worries.

I think you can earn Hero Points faster with more level 80 chars too right?

The argument for saving the boost is I can see which specialisations are going to be good after PoF release and in the mean time I can play on my thief DD who is full exotics anyways. This will give me 2 lvl 80 chars based upon the latest balance/game changes. I also tend towards the Power chars in a game for face-rolling and wouldnt mind taking the best 2 for a variety of uses, though the meta is always evolving.

Also note I havent totally committed on buying PoF yet and have wanted to check it out after all these years with the old expansion being cheap if you buy the key from someone not arena net and have no idea how long I would be playing GW 2 the 2nd time round.