Guild Wars 2

Price is an issue for some but for majority of the disgruntle vet is the fact that they’re getting a worse deal coming in to this pre purchase than a new gw2 player.

Yup royally screwed. Frankly i didn’t expected this from anet thou, took me quite by surprise considering how experience they are at rolling out expansion with gw1 and never had any issue bout it.

rapthorne.7345:

I can’t think of a single successful business that offers a service that doesn’t give exclusive deals and advantages to new customers rather than existing customers. I fail to see the validity of this outrage when this is something that happens literally everywhere in business. You guys are acting like ANet have committed some great sin, and it’s hilarious.

Well if not for the existing customer do you think the company can survive or grow? I’ve yet to see a company become successful by treating their existing customer like kitten. In this case, who funded the HoT expansion? Do you think HoT will even be on the table if not for the support for the existing customer?

Well i just don’t like to be getting the shorter end of the stick when making a deal/purchase. I’d have no problem buying the game even if everyone is required to pay 100usd for the base expansion set with no core game bundle, i don’t even mind if gw2 had a monthly sub while getting rid of the cash shop RNG. But i won’t be getting it cos the current deal is just an insult to vets player.

Lol pretty much sums it up.

Well the story of the king who paid for the invisible dress comes to mind, some people can still be happy while getting rip off.

Agreed thats the simplest solution without affecting the dynamic much.

Just some tidbits info for you, anet during gw1 did say they have various player data mining system in place so that they would know which map player like and which activity player enjoy so i’d assume they have similar system in gw2 just that they didn’t make any announcement or maybe i’ve missed it.

Agreed, well said and hopefully this will put an end to this lame marketing gimmick that so many defending anet are falling for.

I know this sound stupid and vulgar but yes old player are getting screwed and it’s not a mistake according to anet. They really want to screw you by all intent and purposes.

What give u the notion that they even care what the player think? Not to be rude but most company just made business decision based on what “they” think the customer want or will want. From the mmo industry i’d say i’ve still yet to see 1 that actively incorporate what the player wants into the game. Even market leader like WoW have been diluting content and making it more and more casual despite player raging since burning crusade, even now some even stand by the vanilla WoW as the better version.

@Vayne@morfedel
Well there’s tons of games out there offering tons of content for minimal or no fee at all so i won’t be going down the “repent and be grateful” act, it’s a competitive market and i’d say gw2 is in the middle ground when it comes to how free the game is as it’s b2p compare to games like swtor, blade and soul (yea i played for years now in china server for free and no i’m not from china) etc etc

After this expansion gw2 core game will be gone since it’s bundle for free in HoT. So basically new player buy the “new gw2” at 50usd while vet player will be buying………!!…

Kinematocraft.4182:

I think this has been handled badly—not the pricing or the content; Anet is free to do as they wish there—but psychologically. Originally you bought the game and got content for free. Now you buy content and get the game for free. It’s a confusing reversal of the business model.

This is what they should have done (without changing anything, really), but it’s too late now:

1. Called it Guild Wars 2.5. No-one would have been irritated with the price or the fact that the old game came included.
2. Put the expansion into 1 out of every 1000 black lion chests and said so publicly. Players would have bought chests like mad, and every time someone reported winning one in the chat, more chests would have been bought.

But disregarding bad marketing strategy, at least it isn’t Sims.

Reason they include the core game is that the expansion won’t work without the core game. And going my this marketing plan of bundling core game “free” with the expansion. Old player will be paying twice for gw2(price they pay when buying core game and now expansion) and new player will only pay for expansion.

So from this logic we can also say that gw2 won’t be getting an expansion cos new player will only pay for 1 core game while anet is punishing old player by asking them to pay for another game called gw2.5.

Along the years they devalue their core game too much by putting it on steep discount. But i’d agree with OP logic.

Huggywuggles.2814:

Really? I wonder. Think about it for a second. IF you’ve been wise you’ve probably got a gajillion or more ToK stockpiled. That means if you choose to do so, your new Revenant can jump right into HoT content whereas a new player will have to spend the time leveling (and I’ve seen nothing regarding reducing the amount of exp needed for 1-80) to get where you are.

In addition, if you have been wise, you’ve been stockpiling those crafting materials and maybe already crafting Legendary/Ascended armor and weapons for your newly boosted Revenant. Again, this puts you (as a ‘veteran player’) WELL ahead of the curve compared to new players.

All those skill point scrolls you’ve got sitting around? Pretty sure those will come in handy as well whereas a new player won’t have those.

So yeah. Your point is all YOU’VE gotten are glorified discounts. And that’s true. But what do you think happens when you’re a long term customer? YOU get all the best deals. YOU get all the extras. YOU get all the ‘go to the head of the line’ type deals that newer customers do not get.

Sounds pretty darned rewarding if you ask me.

I’ve been playing since gw2 launch and i have 0 tome of knowledge in my bank currently and i have like just around 80 laurel collected and less than 2.5k achievement point.
Not everyone is getting the same “loyalty program” as you put it. Thats why i’d say it’s the game “progression” as i don’t have time to be logging in everyday and even go for those ascended and legendary items. And if the “loyalty program” is for player to have 6 full legendary/ascended geared character going into HoT then i’m not sure what progression is in this game anymore.

Not every player is a hardcore grinder and i would think that’s the strong point of gw2 compare to other mmo. I could still enjoy my game even when i’ve been playing it so casually over the years.

Jski.6180:

Quiznos.4296:

The the thing your not paying twice your just getting something free. If the base game was not there would this still be an issue? Just ask your self that.

Vet pay 50usd and get
-HoT

New player pay 50usd and get
-HoT
-Base game

Unless they provide the “free” base game as a separate code i would consider it not an even deal for new player vs veteran player.

Even if they provide a separate code for another free copy of the base game i’m not sure i’m digging it cos i normally don’t purchase stuff i don’t need as a policy cos thats just dumb.

It’s not the issue of price as stated in the opening post but more of the perception of fairness in the deal ur getting. Lets be honest it’s all virtual stuff so don’t get into the “but u need to pay 13euro sub for WoW” argument cos if anet feel the need for it then they should use that business model instead and i’d have no problem if everyone is paying 13euro sub to get that gw2 experience.

And as to why anet don’t go sub in the first place, i’d say it’s a bold marketing strategy, they want a bigger share than WoW by giving the customer a better choice compare to it’s competitor. Imagine 15-20mil player potentially while it does not pan out to be that way but it’ll be an interesting market study. I’d blame the lack of branding power compare to blizzard with lots of genre defining title, anet have just started to carved out the mmo landscape and setting quite a high standard as well i might add. But it still have a way to go before able to sit on even sitting with the likes of blizzard.

For me personally, from time to time i periodically splash cash into the gem shop even if i don’t even need to just to show support for the dev. Happens quite a lot when living story is going strong. This happens usually in games i feel the dev deserved it like warframe, LoL, Path of exile etc etc.

CureForLiving.5360:

The only lesson ANet should learn from this is the same lesson my grandmother taught me: “Goed doen is gif”, which doesn’t translate very well but basically comes down to “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. ANet shouldn’t have included the core game, it’s was a nice idea, definitely not something you’d see other MMO developers doing, but in the end of the day “goed doen is gif”.

Nice quote, but i’d like to chime in with this “good intention” motive. I’d say it’s very subjective and open to abuse and misused like so many things in this world (politic, religion, patriotic etc). Imagine out of good intention i’d lock you up in a basement to prevent you from getting into accident in the real world or trying to convert you to another religion because i feel that thats the path to salvation and i’m saving you from eternal kitten ation. All those could be carried out in the name of “good intention”.

So i would say nice quote “Goed doen is gif”, kinda off topic but food for thought ^^
For me personally i’d rather not people shoved their “good intention” down my throat against my will but rather have the option to make my own inform decision base on the data at hand.

Huggywuggles.2814:

Player loyalty
Coming from a long time gw player, while trying to grab new player is a good move but neglecting loyal/veteran player by giving them the shorter end of the deal is not. Those player are the one making the expansion possible by purchasing the gam years ago and supporting the game via gem purchase. Without them there won’t even be a expansion as the game would be consider a failure. Move and marketing like this will sent out a vibe that loyal supporter and player are not appreciated and will not bore well in helping the gw and arenanet branding in the future. MMO like WoW strive due to it’s loyal playerbase while company like EA and activision get bad rep for milking it’s player base with map pack and DLC galore. Which type does arenanet want to strive to be?

Daily rewards. PvP rewards. All of these things should also be considered as “loyalty rewards”. Why? Think about Tomes of Knowledge for a second. Many long term players who’ve been saving them/hoarding them are going to be able to put newly created characters DIRECTLY into the (pardon the pun) heart of the action. Want to level those professions? You’ll have access to crafting materials galore..not necessarily from farming them but simply from logging in each and every day.

You, as a long term player, have already been rewarded for your loyalty. You just took it for granted.

I’d consider those as game progression as thats what you do in the game and the more you play the game it’s obvious that you’ll “progress” more by getting more item, skin, mats.

Player loyalty
Coming from a long time gw player, while trying to grab new player is a good move but neglecting loyal/veteran player by giving them the shorter end of the deal is not. Those player are the one making the expansion possible by purchasing the gam years ago and supporting the game via gem purchase. Without them there won’t even be a expansion as the game would be consider a failure. Move and marketing like this will sent out a vibe that loyal supporter and player are not appreciated and will not bore well in helping the gw and arenanet branding in the future. MMO like WoW strive due to it’s loyal playerbase while company like EA and activision get bad rep for milking it’s player base with map pack and DLC galore. Which type does arenanet want to strive to be?

Pricing is not the main issue
But the perception that i’m not getting a good deal is. It will be a common instinct for people to try and get good value for money for what they’re paying for. So when making a purchase and finding some people getting way more value out of the deal and you do, then you’ll think twice about making that purchase since ur not getting the most out of the deal. It’s like buying a house and a custom made swimming pool deal at a great pricing if you don’t own the house and you’ll only get the swimming pool only if u already own a house. Even if the price is great for people just wanting a swimming pool but it will be overshadow by the fact that other people are getting more value out of the deal.

Honesty and moral high ground
While i doubt a lot of player are affected by the sudden change from “you need the base game to play the expansion” to “we’re giving base game away for free” when it comes to HoT expansion announcement. But the underlying concept of switch selling and capitalizing on player rush buying the original in preparation for the expansion still remain. Anet need to ask themselves if they want to be associated with those practice (well they kind of did it already, knowing or without). Long term wise it will cast doubt on the reputation and integrity of anet on the whole if they practice this type of marketing. Image, branding and reputation is built by the perception of the customer on the decision and management of the company/brand.

My recommendation would be to provide those who already purchase the base game with gems or other substantial fluff/account benefit. example would be a upgrade pack which include the expansion and 800-1k gem. Those gem will provide a means to purchase expansion slot and reward veteran player with some quality of life upgrade or fluff.

While i’m a big spender when it comes to gaming with over 100usd invested in this game, grandmaster member in TSW, lifetime member in LOTR, 200-300 games in steam, 200-300 usd spent in warframe etc etc) i’m sitting this 1 out atm just out of principal.

TLDR version
-appreciate veteran player
-HoT pre purchase sucks if u already own the game
-dodgy marketing grab is a no no
-u ain’t getting anything if player does not think it’s a good deal for them. when it comes to virtual stuff perception is important.