Guild Wars 2

Red Queen.7915:

Morsus.5106:

Jordo.5913:

Morsus.5106:

How will the additional character slot work if I preorder at GameStop or Amazon tomorrow? I really want the boxed edition, but I’ll order it digitally to get the character slot though. It’d be a shame to have to go without the box though

You HAVE to pre-purchase from Best Buy or Gamestop. You have to pay in full. If you pre-order you don’t get any of the bonuses, including Beta Access or the exclusive Title.

You will get the code on your receipt, and you must apply that code to your account before HoT launch.

Can you source this for me?

I’m guessing Jordo is seeing different retailers? This is what the FAQ say:

Can I pre-purchase through my favorite retailer?

Yes. Starting on June 23, 2015, you’ll be able to pre-purchase boxed and digital editions of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns from our official retail partners. You may also be able to pre-order through retailers, but there is no official pre-order program and pre-purchasing is the only way to receive the benefits of our pre-purchase program, including access to all of the Beta Weekend Events.
Note that the Ultimate edition is only available for purchase in-game and via buy.guildwars2.com. Additionally, there won’t be an option to upgrade to the Ultimate edition later if you decide to purchase the Standard or Deluxe edition.

It says “pre-purchase” along with the retail partners (as listed for your country), and at least German Amazon lists HoT as pre-purchase as well, as opposed to pre-order. I guess (hope) this means that buying the boxed version will still get us a key we can tie to our account in time to get those bonuses.

In the local shop here I would be able to go and get it tomorrow (While they only have the standard edition at the moment), so it should be no problem.

Murth.5637:

Devata.6589:

btw, all this positive talk does not mean I am not interested in a CE anymore.. I still want that, so if you could announce that in the next blog that would be great

Sorry to burst your bubble but:

Is there a physical collector’s edition planned for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns?
There are no plans for a physical collector’s edition for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns. Heart of Thorns will be offered in Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate Editions (all of which are available for pre-purchase and include digital in-game bonuses only).

From: https://help.guildwars2.com/entries/94582027-Heart-of-Thorns-Pre-Purchase-FAQ

OT: Ultimate inc after I fill my paypal :p

I know, that is why I said reconsider. BTW, it says ‘no plans’, so there is still a very small opportunity. Anyway I want a physical copy so as it stand I can only go for the Deluxe (to get the closes to a CE edition) as the UE will also not be available as physical copy.

Gaile Gray.6029:

As we mentioned in several posts on the forums and in various other media, we have been reading and gathering your feedback about the Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns pre-purchase.

Please see this blog post for new information on the Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns pre-purchase.

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts!

So now you guys are in a positive reconsider mode, could you please also reconsider releasing a CE and announce that tomorrow?

I think Anet really did a good job with the new offer.

It will likely not satisfy the people who simply find the $50,- price to high and Anet still has to proof them why the price above what the market does is justifiably. (Like start behaving as a B2P game in stead of a cash-shop game, and let us know that new approach) but other than that they should have solved all other issues people had with the package.

Anet, you did a really good job!

btw, all this positive talk does not mean I am not interested in a CE anymore.. I still want that, so if you could announce that in the next blog that would be great

Miku.6297:

Larynx.2453:

You’re giving Veteran players a free character slot? Nice!

Except for the people who bought the deluxe edition for the character slot. Now they’ll pointlessly complain. And thus the cycle begins anew, with people trying to milk undeserved concessions out of the company.

I bought the deluxe for the character slot.

It’s not pointlessly complaining, A-net showed us 3 versions of the game, I weighed each version and decided I would be willing to buy the more expensive version because it had a few silly bonuses and a CHARACTER slot. I needed the character slot, I figured I might as well get the other stuff while it was available.

Now I don’t need the character slot, I needed 1 for not, I would not have purchased a seconded extra one. My suggestion is just turn the slot into it’s current gem value on the pre orders.

As far as I know they have a policy to refund within a given time and I think even if you did buy it the moment it became available, that time has not passed yet, so if you really want you should be able to get a refund I think.

They indeed did handle this very good. People who simply do find the $50,- price to high likely still find that, and Anet has to show them why they think that ‘above the market’ price is justifiable. They could be more true to the B2P model from now on (and let people know), that should do it, but other then that they handled this really really really good!!

If any Anet staff would read this, I might be very critical about any step you take, but am also fair and will say it when I do think you handle something very well, and in this case you did!

Larynx.2453:

You’re giving Veteran players a free character slot? Nice!

Except for the people who bought the deluxe edition for the character slot. Now they’ll pointlessly complain. And thus the cycle begins anew, with people trying to milk undeserved concessions out of the company.

Those people get 2 character slots.

I think Anet did a very, very god job, especially how they handle people that did buy the game for the last half year. What they now offer is exactly what I did see as only real good way to do it, but I did also think it would be impossible for them to do that because it could have huge implications for Q1’s numbers.

The only ‘problem’ they have left is that some people dimply find $50,- to expensive and Anet will have to proof to them that somehow GW2’s expansion is worth a price that is above what the market does.

If GW2 had behaved like a B2P game it clearly would have been a good reason for that, however for the last 2,5 years it has mainly be run as a cash-shop game. Maybe they plan on being more true to B2P in the future but then they should announce that, that should also justify the $50,-

Anyway, I think Anet handled it almost perfectly so huge thumbs up for them!

Galen Grey.4709:

How would that be the honest thing to do ? give hot for free to all those 3.5 million people who bought the game at launch? that would be crazy. The honest thing to do is exactly what they’re doing. Refund what you paid, give you back your account as soon as you buy HoT.

Anet statement “For all players who purchased the Guild Wars 2 core game from our website and registered it between January 23, 2015 and June 16, 2015 in anticipation of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, we will automatically refund what you paid for the core game should you decide to per-purchase Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns from our website or in-game store any time through July 31, 2015.”

This is exactly what I was trying to say, this is the most honest thing to do, but I did not think they would be able to do it as it could possible really mess up the sales numbers for Q1 (when they did sell many of those copy’s).

Huge thumbs up here for Anet here!

Also announcing now how they will handle this in the future is really good.

Giving the character slot is also very good and will be a little extra for those who do find the $50,-

The only issue left imho is indeed those people who simply do find $50,- to expensive, they must be shown that for some reason a GW2 expansion is justifiably more expensive than that of other MMO’s and the only reason I could see for that is them being a true B2P game with more focus on expansions but less on the cash-shop. That is the only part that is missing imho. But other then that again, huge thumbs up for Anet!

Celtic Lady.3729:

Devata.6589:

Now if you put most of the best looking items in a cash-shop, does that then not also count as P2W? It short of depends how you define winning.

You’re the first person I’ve met that would define wearing a nice outfit that you can’t earn in game as P2W. Most people don’t consider cosmetics a P2W issue. P2W indicates that what you buy will get you further or make you more powerful in the game versus other players that didn’t buy.

Well I just explained how cosmetics can be pay to win, you talk about paying to be stronger. I also said most people when talking about P2W do in fact refer to pay to kill but when literally looking at what it states it is completely true what I say. Not to forget that GW2 is very heavily focused on cosmetics, the supposedly highest weapon to go for basically is mainly a skin. Anyway, I never made a point of naming GW2 P2W but I do very much made a point of saying this buying (or grinding) of items in stead of them being rewarded is a negative for the game. So no-matter if you name it P2W or not, it does negatively effect the game itself, especially if you are into cosmetics. It is not like if it is not pay to kill then by definition it’s fine.

Galen Grey.4709:

Devata.6589:

Most stakeholders don’t even know what a character slot is so I don’t think that if this would be the only thing they wanted to do it would have been decided on that high level, while the question, what they will do likely must.

I think you’re mixing stakeholders with shareholders. Pretty sure every stakeholder knows what a character slot is. Stakeholders would be teams that are related to an item. In this case including a character slot for free. Owner of that would probably be sales. Stakeholders would include finance who have to base their forcasts on what sales do. (including character slot for free means less revenue, while not including it generates revenue stream for those people who lack a free character slot) another stakeholder will be development itself since based on the forcasts by finance can plan how many resources they’ll have for development content in the future etc…

Devata.6589:

Giving a char slot would help a little but is likely not what would really satisfy most people as the people complaining about the $50,- where expecting a char slot even with a $35,- version.

well there is nothing anyone can do for those people really.

Devata.6589:

Maybe Anet simply changed direction with their business model (focusing more on expansion instead of micro-transactions) and then all they have to do is explain that. There might then be people who don’t believe Anet will also indeed do that, but overall it would solve the $50,- issue for the biggest part.

somehow I think the bulk of those who are unhappy would not believe them anyway. Besides I doubt the pricing is based on the business model, it probably is more related to the amount of work it took to develop the expansion but since we dont yet know the full extent of the expansion its too early to judge this.

Devata.6589:

Then there is of course the problem with the GW2 being given away for free while for the last 6 months GW2 has been promoted a lot while the faq stated it was for free. This is a way harder problem to fix, the honest thing to do is allow people to buy HoT and reduce the price by the amount they spend on GW2, and that would then be the case for everybody who did buy GW2 since they announced HoT. That would be the most fair way, however it would likely reduce much of the income for the previous quarter so not really an option form a business viewpoint. So I think that is something they can’t really fix.

How would that be the honest thing to do ? give hot for free to all those 3.5 million people who bought the game at launch? that would be crazy. The honest thing to do is exactly what they’re doing. Refund what you paid, give you back your account as soon as you buy HoT.

“I think you’re mixing stakeholders with shareholders.” I indeed was, I even types stakeholders while thinking shareholders. btw, don’t be surprised if there are multiple stakeholder who also don’t know including the financial people you talk about.

“well there is nothing anyone can do for those people really.” They might be fine with it if they know Anet indeed makes that change and so they are paying $50,- basically for another product, having much of those items they would usually have to buy additionally, in-game.

“somehow I think the bulk of those who are unhappy would not believe them anyway. Besides I doubt the pricing is based on the business model”
It’s very possible some don’t believe it, however it makes a lot of sense that it is based on the business model, in fact I am pretty sure it is, the question for me only is.. do they price it higher because they believe they are already using some special model (every commercial they also point out GW2 does not have a subscription, as if it something special no other game has) and so think the $50,- is reasonable with the current approach (what is untrue and the many negative reactions seems to proof that), or do they indeed know it would not have been reasonable but they indeed do plan to move back more to the B2P model what makes this a reasonable price. Only that part of the communication is than lacking behind.

“give hot for free to all those 3.5 million people who bought the game at launch?” That is not what I said, anyway it doesn’t really matter because as I also said, this is something they can’t really fix imho.

Rebound.3409:

Devata.6589:

Rebound.3409:

~

Can you explain me number 2?

You don’t think the expansion has a value of $50,- However, based on your statement I also conclude you do spend money on cash-shop items.

HoT will introduce at least 2 complete new guild armor skins, so that are 19 (weapons) times 2 (sets) is 38 weapon skin just there.

200 gems is one of the lowest prices on the gem-store (only some really small items are cheaper). So let’s do 200 times 38, that are 7600 gems. That would cost you close to $100. Sure you might not like these skins, but if you give any value to those gem-store items, how can you then now say the expansion does not have the value of $50,-?

Don’t get me wrong, there might be good reasons for finding the $50,- to expensive, what I am more surprised by is that you then do find that the price you pay for those gem-store items is of good value.

Sorry, but that makes no sense to me.

So by your logic am i supposed to buy a product based on how much money i will be paying after? No sorry i am not that kind of person. I pay for products that are worth the investment. The content that comes with this 50$ expansion is NOT worth the 50$. I am NOT paying 50$ on a product that offers me more gemstore items then actual content. I also don’t do calculations like you do. I calculate what i like and i pay for that. I give close to absolute-0 value to items that i don’t have an interest in. If the gemstore is 80% filled with items that i don’t care about then “100%” for me is actually the “20%” items left that actually interest me. It’s their job to give value to their items not mine.

If i wanted to “pay for the opportunity to pay more after” i would have chosen a p2p game. Not a b2p/f2p game….which allegedly “does not offer you p2w items” but the only content you predominantly get are cash-shop items anyway….the rest of the content being a few hours of LS story with huge gaps inbetween..and close to no ingame-skins (again +1 for the wasteland set) armor, weapons, minis..whatever you want.

If the game was p2p with monthly fee and it offered the volume of content (besides cash shop exclusive updates) i expect from a p2p, i would gladly throw even double that amount/month if it allowed me too. It’s down to “how much” they offer for my money..period.

You can find my logic flawed…..but for me personally my logic made me more money then i lost IRL.

“So by your logic am I supposed to buy a product based on how much money i will be paying after?” No, all I was wondering is how you could justify yourself spending money on some items from the cash-shop but then not being able to justify spending money on an expansion that content-wise is way more for the price then the cash-shop items give you.

“If i wanted to “pay for the opportunity to pay more after” i would have chosen a p2p game." Well this attitude is indeed one that I never understand, but if you did buy gems (and where fine with that) you did do exactly that. You did buy GW2 and where then fine with buying more items for in it. It is one of the things I dislike about the cash-shop model. I simply want to buy a game to play it (and earn the fluff that way), not to be able to buy more fluff.

However I think I get it. You did buy GW2, you then started playing GW2 and spending money on the cash-shop, because of that you started to see GW2 as a type of F2P game where you spend money in the game, and because of that you are now not really willing anymore to spend (that amount of money) on an expansion.

" but the only content you predominantly get are cash-shop items anyway….the rest of the content being a few hours of LS story with huge gaps inbetween..and close to no ingame-skins" I agree, that is why I am so against the cash-shop model, but am in favor of a good B2P model, where I do spend more money on regular expansion but then also expect good content and those items in the game, not in the cahs-shop.

however, by buying gems you did support exactly what you now seem to say you dislike.

Ohoni.6057:

but when people get a cash-shop game they don’t expect $50,- expansions, they expect $35,- – $40,- expansions.

Nonsense. “People” don’t have any particular expectations one way or the other. If you have such expectations, fair enough, but don’t project. There’s no reason why a game can’t or shouldn’t have $50 expansions AND a cash shop. WoW had kitten boxed expansion AND a cash shop AND a monthly fee. I highly doubt that the majority of the people balking at the $50 expansion price would have been “fine with it” had the gem store been less of a factor. They likely still would have complained just as much. Many of these people probably don’t even use the gem store much.

You say “plenty of new content to the game that has nothing to do with the gem store, way more than we paid for.” But that is false, people did pay for that, with the gem-store (and the game itself does suffer for it). That is exactly why this model vs expansion price matters so much.

Wrong. People who paid for stuff in the gem store, got the item they bought in the gem store. They got what they paid for. They were not paying to get anything else, such as a freedom from future expansions. Everyone got what they paid for.

Oh, lol. Are truly thinking that noone’s paying for the core game that newcomers get? Anet is not offering it at no cost to themselves, you know, and those costs are being refunded somehow.

Yes they are offering it at no cost to themselves. The costs involved have already long since been recovered. It’s a digital product, if they want to give it away for free, they can and will do so.

Lol, I love posts that start with “my wife and I” or “my husband and I” – who the kitten cares that you’re married.

They’re basically trying to double up their vote, to express that their opinion is worth twice anyone else’s.

This very much is something people expect. What you see in many topics is that they consider it too expensive and then compare it to the market, pointing towards other cash-shop games.

So they clearly see GW2 as a cash-shop game and have an idea about the cost of an expansion for such a game.

Or look at this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/This-is-B2P/page/2#post5186871

Somebody justifies the price by pointing out that the game is B2P (or at least he tries to convince people of that) on what multiple other people say that GW2 really is a cash-shop game. So most seem to agree that it being a B2P game would make a difference but they simply don’t agree that GW2 is a B2P game at this stage. (or behaves like one)

Also WoodenPatatoes did mention it in his video, stating that Anet likely justified the price by saying GW2 does not need a subscription but that there are many F2P games that do that also pointing to the differences and comparisons with GW1.

So it clearly is a big reason.

Making use of the gem-store is not really the issue, if you don’t make use of it you miss out on many items or need to go into a boring grind for it, so they still feel the effect of it (if they are interested in those items at least).

“Wrong. People who paid for stuff in the gem store, got the item they bought in the gem store.” And buy doing that they did pay for that content. that is simply how the cash-shop model works.

Rebound.3409:

Not buying. I could buy the biggest package without issues or feeling any remorse…but as much money i have i also know the value of it and the work that goes into making it.

What they shown so far from the xpac, by my personal standards, it’s not worth:
1. My money
2. The gemstore money i would most likely have spent after the release
3. My time spent ingame
4. My dedication and experience i could offer others.

I don’t care about the price…i have more then enough money..but having money doesn’t mean i throw it out the window for the lulz. The content, however much you squeaky-clean white knights want to defend the company, is NOT worth what they offer (or at least what they showed so far).

That being said, good luck to ppl who purchased it. Hope you have fun and that the content (quantity and quality) suits your needs. No sarcasm..i really do…because the price you payed for this product is overpriced.

Can you explain me number 2?

You don’t think the expansion has a value of $50,- However, based on your statement I also conclude you do spend money on cash-shop items.

HoT will introduce at least 2 complete new guild armor skins, so that are 19 (weapons) times 2 (sets) is 38 weapon skin just there.

200 gems is one of the lowest prices on the gem-store (only some really small items are cheaper). So let’s do 200 times 38, that are 7600 gems. That would cost you close to $100. Sure you might not like these skins, but if you give any value to those gem-store items, how can you then now say the expansion does not have the value of $50,-?

Don’t get me wrong, there might be good reasons for finding the $50,- to expensive, what I am more surprised by is that you then do find that the price you pay for those gem-store items is of good value.

Sorry, but that makes no sense to me.

Linken.6345:

Test.8734:

Xar.1387:

Yeah, price of this expansion may be too high, if u compare it to the content which is going to appear in the begining of HoT, but ONLY when GW2 would be a P2P game.
Not B2P.

The Gem Store, which happens to get updates more often than ANY other part of the game, and uses shaddy practices like a lottery system with unknown odds or the creation of inconvenience to sell convenience, is evidence that GW2 isn’t just B2P. It has a strong stench of F2P, and the worst kind of F2P while you’re at it.

Xar.1387:

2. Its really easy to destroy a pretty good MMORPG game, which is B2P. This payment model is rly risky. Do not be surprised if they will be forced to make P2W in the future.

P2W? Isn’t GW2 already the most P2W it could be? You can already use gems to buy the most powerful weapons in the game.

If you could buy weapons that were stronger then whats in the game that would be p2w

While I do not really use the term P2W a lot in combination with GW2, I am still not completely agreeing with you here. Your definition might be the definition many people use, but isn’t that really P2K (K = kill)?

This game is completely focused on cosmetics, not about killing, also for me stats don’t really interest me and because MMO PvP is so much focused on stats a kill does also not really feel like winning for me (it does in a FPS).

No, for me winning in a MMORPG is getting that special skill, hat cool mini, or that funny toy. I want to complete some hard content and then get an item like that as a reward, that is ‘winning’ for me. Liadri is a good example of ‘winning’ for me.

Now if you put most of the best looking items in a cash-shop, does that then not also count as P2W? It short of depends how you define winning.

Anyway, I completely agree with Test first half, for the second it really depends on how you define P2W but it’s not per definition false.

Xar.1387:

Ey, guys. I feel like most of you dont understand how B2P MMO works.
But thats understandable, cause there’s not much this kind of MMORPGs.
Most of you misjudged the situation.

Yeah, price of this expansion may be too high, if u compare it to the content which is going to appear in the begining of HoT, but ONLY when GW2 would be a P2P game.
Not B2P.
Cause then it may (and even should) cost like 10$ for an expansion like this, but then we would have to pay subscription to play more and discover next updates.
While here we pay for all this months or even years of playing.

And by the way, when it comes to the B2P games – if expansion comes, the basic game is no longer worth anything. We used it already. We paid for it and we used it. Even if somebody bought this game in the saturday (-75%) then he paid just for this few months before HoT – to lvl some characters, discover the world etc etc. The only losers are these people which bought it in the last month for a bad price, but Anet is probably going to help them. Anyway there’s not many of them, while almost all of you whine on the forums etc.

I hope Anet isnt angry cause of your behavior guys and they’re not going to do something wrong in the future, cause of the last situation.

Yes, the $50,- price is completely reasonable for a B2P game, and that is also why I am completely accepting that price.

However, GW2 has been behaving as a cash-shop game the last 2,5 year. And while I do not complain about the $50,-, I did complain about that.

There are also people who did not complain about the cash-shop focus but obviously now complain about the $50,-

So yes, $50,- for a B2P game is fine and GW2 was put on the market as a B2P game, but then they should also behave as a B2P game, having no focus on the cash-shop but releasing regular expansion that then indeed may cost $50,-.

If Anet would announce that is indeed how they want to go on further from this point out, I think it would make a lot of the complains go away (if people do trust Anet on indeed doing that). But as it stands many people see GW2 as a cash-sop game because really, for the last 2,5 years GW2 was a cash-shop game and not a B2P game.

mcwurth.2081:

maybe it is time to stop all this guessing about what other people think, get ready to party with coming update when lions arch will be awesome again and new features

(PS I do not prepurchase simply because i am waiting for a physical copy)

That should be tomorrow, I will wait a little longer to know for sure there will be, or will not be a CE. The faq now only states there are no plans for a CE, then again their where no plans for a new professions, no plans for an expansions and no plans for many thing that did happen anyway.

Besides, all the shops I did check, for now only have the standard edition, and I want at least the deluxe (if there is no physical copy of anything ‘higher’ then that).

Ohoni.6057:

If there would be less focus on the gem-store and more of those items would be in the game, you would have less problem with the $50,-

Why do people complain about the gem store? The GW2 gem store is one of the least bothersome on the market. You can totally avoid it if you like, and they add plenty of new content to the game that has nothing to do with the gem store, way more than we paid for. I fully expect that trend to continue past HoT.

Not everybody complains about it (I do) I don’t want to make this a discussion why or what is bad about this cash-shop so will leave it at that, but when people get a cash-shop game they don’t expect $50,- expansions, they expect $35,- – $40,- expansions. When they get a B2P game with no heavy focus on the cash-shop they expect and are more willing to pay a $40 – $60 expansion.

I did expect kitten,- expansions and so are fine with that but I am not fine with the cash-shop, it’s however not strange that the people that are gotten used to the cash-shop are complaining about kitten,- expansion.

So in this case it was not really a complain about a cash-shop but pricing in general and what people expect with what type of products.

If Anet does continue the same trend with HoT then the price is indeed to high, if they don’t it’s not.

You say “plenty of new content to the game that has nothing to do with the gem store, way more than we paid for.” But that is false, people did pay for that, with the gem-store (and the game itself does suffer for it). That is exactly why this model vs expansion price matters so much.

Galen Grey.4709:

Cyninja.2954:

Agreed, but come on. It’s not like 2-3 people are complaining. It’s quite a few actually and the wave has become at least so big that most mainstream gaming media are reporting it.

You can’t tell me no one at arenanet(or NCSoft, whoever is responsible for the pricing implementation) at any point didn’t go:“Are we maybe taking this to far? Players are stupid, but there is a limit of shady business stuff we can pull off without it collapsing on us.”

In case this did not come up, get rid of the marketing team and replace them because they sure as * are completely out of touch with their gamer base.

Now yes naturally but like I explained in a different post: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Did-Anet-foresee-HoT-price-pandemic/5183541

it will take sometime before they can come up with anything. Its only been 2 business days. Even if they take the easy way out and simply give a character slot to everyone which hopefully would be enough to diffuse this situation, it will take sometime to get that approved by all stake holders. I dont think its something that can be decided and told to the community in as little as 2 days.

Most stakeholders don’t even know what a character slot is so I don’t think that if this would be the only thing they wanted to do it would have been decided on that high level, while the question, what they will do likely must.

Giving a char slot would help a little but is likely not what would really satisfy most people as the people complaining about the $50,- where expecting a char slot even with a $35,- version.

Maybe Anet simply changed direction with their business model (focusing more on expansion instead of micro-transactions) and then all they have to do is explain that. There might then be people who don’t believe Anet will also indeed do that, but overall it would solve the $50,- issue for the biggest part.

Then there is of course the problem with the GW2 being given away for free while for the last 6 months GW2 has been promoted a lot while the faq stated it was for free. This is a way harder problem to fix, the honest thing to do is allow people to buy HoT and reduce the price by the amount they spend on GW2, and that would then be the case for everybody who did buy GW2 since they announced HoT. That would be the most fair way, however it would likely reduce much of the income for the previous quarter so not really an option form a business viewpoint. So I think that is something they can’t really fix.

Grover.8753:

Devata.6589:

Grover.8753:

I won’t be buying it at all nor will I ever spend another dime on any ArenaNet or NCSoft product ever again. From everything they’ve shown its all complete garbage and not at all worth the asking price. That’s funny considering I’ve spent thousands of $$ on their lame gem store items since launch. Also now their flawed system has caused items I purchased through their Gem Store to disappear without my consent and they refuse to replace it. If I see or hear people ask about GW2 I’m gonna tell them don’t even bother with it and find something else. I’ll post as many negative reviews and boycott it as much as possible. I hope they go bankrupt.

With all due respect, but it sounds a little like you did fall for all the tricks they used to get you (players) to spend gems, you now consider that is all fake (you spend money on air) and now you are extremely mad because of that. But that really Is your own fault. In fact, because people like you spend so much money on air, game companies start focusing on air instead of quality content. See the many people here complain about kitten,- expansion, but where are the complains about a finisher box that contains 6 finishers for also $50,-? Sure the complains have a lot to do with having both, did they only have the $50,- while the finishers would be in-game, there would be less complains. Not saying that those items in the cash-shop aren’t nice, I love most of them, but it’s not quality content, it’s stuff that should be rewarded from quality content.

So the question is, why are you now mad? After having spent thousands of dollars on gems to buy junk, you now are not willing to spend money on kitten,- expansion? I feel it’s not really related, you simply recently figured out that you have been spending money on air and that is what makes you so mad. That is at least what I think that is going on here.

You’re completely wrong. That’s not at all why I’m mad. By Law it is in fact called " Intellectual property". It’s as much air as the money I spent on it is. 99% of the US currency is in fact “air” and only exist digitally as it is “debt”. I spent money because I wanted too. Because i had the extra income to spend on my hobby. Because I was a fan of the game I wanted to support them and i enjoyed playing with “air”. I’m mad because my “air” disappears because of a flaw in their system and they refuse to acknowledge it because of a “general rule” as they say. So there’s no longer any reason to support a company who can’t acknowledge and correct their own mistakes.

Still, the reason you are mad is not the $50,- price of the expansion.

Amon.5042:

Why should I pay the price of a full game for an expansion? There’s no monthly fees, so should that justify the inflated price? No, not in my opinion, since there’s the gem store which is a source of surplus revenue. If I’d be happy with what the game had to offer I’d likely use the gem store and, in time, possibly spend more than a monthly subscription plan as I have done in the past.

What the corporate price tag created, for someone like me who hasn’t played the game for a while and was interested in coming back to try the expansion, is that I have no longer a wish to come back, buy the expansion, play it, and use the gem store for whatever interesting items there.

At least two purchases are lost since my wife is of the same opinion. There’s a lot of good quality competition in the gaming world for the consumer’s hard earned money and I’m certainly not interested in inflated prices versus a fair one. Asking a full game price for an expansion completely killed any interest for me.

If there would be less focus on the gem-store and more of those items would be in the game, you would have less problem with the $50,-

It seems to be the common denominator for those who find the price to high.

Maybe Anet did see that with the announcement of HoT the sales immediately went up and the absence of the LS during the last half year wasn’t as bad as they expected, in addition they were now able to create things they wanted to do for a long time but where not able with the old model. That might have made them decide that they would rather be start focusing more on expansions then on the LS and the gem-store. If they are thinking like that the $50,- is completely reasonable but then they should communicate that with the player base.

dank.3680:

If they lowered the price to 30$ I would be buying 3 copies today. At 50 I won’t buy it period, 40 I might buy 1 for me. Up to you Anet how much money do you want from me? 90? 40? 0?

A few questions.. How much money did you spend on gems, and if you did buy gems on what items did you spend them?

What is those items, or the gem-store items would be all in-game, would you then be more willing to spend $50,-

Why do you think $50,- is too much? Because the market (of cash-shop games) asks less, or simply because you think the content is too little.

I don’t think $50,- is unreasonable for a B2P games expansion, I think many of the items you buy with gems are unreasonable in price and are bad for the game (as they are taken out of the game to be sold separately). What might be really unreasonable is doing both.

Grover.8753:

I won’t be buying it at all nor will I ever spend another dime on any ArenaNet or NCSoft product ever again. From everything they’ve shown its all complete garbage and not at all worth the asking price. That’s funny considering I’ve spent thousands of $$ on their lame gem store items since launch. Also now their flawed system has caused items I purchased through their Gem Store to disappear without my consent and they refuse to replace it. If I see or hear people ask about GW2 I’m gonna tell them don’t even bother with it and find something else. I’ll post as many negative reviews and boycott it as much as possible. I hope they go bankrupt.

With all due respect, but it sounds a little like you did fall for all the tricks they used to get you (players) to spend gems, you now consider that is all fake (you spend money on air) and now you are extremely mad because of that. But that really Is your own fault. In fact, because people like you spend so much money on air, game companies start focusing on air instead of quality content. See the many people here complain about kitten,- expansion, but where are the complains about a finisher box that contains 6 finishers for also $50,-? Sure the complains have a lot to do with having both, did they only have the $50,- while the finishers would be in-game, there would be less complains. Not saying that those items in the cash-shop aren’t nice, I love most of them, but it’s not quality content, it’s stuff that should be rewarded from quality content.

So the question is, why are you now mad? After having spent thousands of dollars on gems to buy junk, you now are not willing to spend money on kitten,- expansion? I feel it’s not really related, you simply recently figured out that you have been spending money on air and that is what makes you so mad. That is at least what I think that is going on here.

Ohoni.6057:

Because they were mislead into buying the core game?

At the VERY least, anyone who purchased after HoT announcement should be given HoT at a reduced cost.

They’ve been offered a refund, which was appropriate. Problem solved.

Many GW2 players simply have started to see GW2 as a cash-shop / F2P game, because that is relaly what GW2 did become with their heavy focus on the cash-shop.

If you want to see what a REAL cash shop game is, check the one where every single content update costs $5-15 to unlock the new missions, powersets, etc. GW2 is NOT a real cash shop game.

You mean, GW2 is not a really bad cash-shop game, that is a difference. No for a cash-shop game (if you accept GW2 as a cash-shop game) GW2 is not the worse, it does not have P2W (where winning is killing), it does not squeeze out money for every thing they add to the game, but it very much is a cash-shop game. You are not only a REAL cash-shop game if you are a really bad cash-shop game.

chemiclord.3978:

Devata is willfully ignorant of this fact. Cash shops exist in EVERY MMO, and they are NEVER going away. Sub MMOs have them. B2P and F2P MMOs have them. Even Devata’s beloved GW1 had a cash shop (to which Devata’s response tends to be an articulated version of “LALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”).

But nope, there exists this “pure” MMO in Devata’s mind… one that only charges for the base game, has AAA level of graphics, never has a sub, and produces cheap expansions every six months to a year.

That the studio who produced such a game would go bankrupt within three years with current game development costs never seems to enter Devata’s mind.

You are willfully ignoring what I say. I talk about a cash-shop focus. And no not all mmo’s have a cash-shop focus. Most P2P games for example (like WoW) do have a cash-shop but clearly no focus on the cash-shop to generate it’s income.

That is a huge difference.

I have no problem with a B2P game that asks $50,- every year for an expansion that also has a cash-shop, if there is no focus on that cash-shop. So lets say they would only sell 10 mini’s while the other 150 mini are in-game, 5 skins, total make-over kits, race changers and a few more of those services. So no, it’s not about having a cash-shop itself.

A difference I explained many times, so if anybody has a reaction that go’s a little like “LALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” it’s you.

You even proof that more with the next statement.

“But nope, there exists this “pure” MMO in Devata’s mind… one that only charges for the base game, has AAA level of graphics, never has a sub, and produces cheap expansions every six months to a year."

While only two comments before that I say

I have no problem with the $50,-

so far for wanting cheap expansions.

Also I always talk about an expansion every year, maybe year and a half, never half a year to a year.

So it’s a nice try but the fact that you can’t proof your point by stating the facts only proofs your wrong.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Celtic Lady.3729:

I don’t see how they can change it now after so many people have purchased the packages as they are. All those people would have to be compensated somehow.

They can always include something with the purchase.

An in game plushie of Colin might do the trick.

The problem is that people where expecting that extra (character slot) even with a $35 – $40,- version of the game. So it would help a little but not a lot.

Many GW2 players simply have started to see GW2 as a cash-shop / F2P game, because that is really what GW2 did become with their heavy focus on the cash-shop.

However with that they also expect expansions of a lower price, if we where 1 year after release now, and GW2 would have done almost nothing with the cash-shop, putting all those cosmetics and other stuff we now have in the cash-shop, into the world, people would see GW2 as a B2P game and would have no problem with the $50,- prize-tag. (even while it would have only been a year ago they spend that money on GW2)

But who knows, maybe they plan on going back to the B2P model (it should be), then maybe they should announce that as an explanation as to why the expansion is above the price the market does. That should help, while the question is if people trust them on their word.

The thing they did with the faq can’t really be fixed anymore.

Aidenwolf.5964:

I paid $150 for my pre purchase of GW2 I’ve bought gems since 2012 off and on with cash, I bought an account for my wife who also buys gems, I’ve built 2 custom PCs worth thousands that we play on, so this isn’t about being unable to pay $50 for an expansion.

When I bought GW2 I was wary of the gemstore which we were promised wouldn’t drive development, which was a lie (or as the hard core call it a shift in business models), but I’d already bought the game and loved it so we let that slide. This time however, I’m expected to reward Anet with another purchase (2 actually) with no idea if they’ve included raids or the size of the new map or anything of substance, they want me to trust them. Then they want to penalize me for owning the game by devaluing my purchase vs a brand new player’s purchase? No. I’ll play the core game and live in WvW if I have to, in protest.

“When I bought GW2 I was wary of the gemstore which we were promised wouldn’t drive development, which was a lie (or as the hard core call it a shift in business models)” > “I’ve bought gems since 2012”

Don’t buy gems if you do not like what it does to the game! A company will sell you everything you are willing to buy, even if you buy it while finding it crap at the same time.

I was very much like you, well I wasn’t wary of the gem-store at first as Anet had a good name of focusing on expansions, not on the gem-store and the game was promoted as B2P. So I have always treated this game as a B2P game. Just as you, I did buy the CE, but I did never buy any gems (and I did complain about the focus on them), now I have no problem with kitten,- or more expansion (will likely go for the Deluxe as they do not have a CE, so the Deluxe is the most extensive physical edition) but will get even less acceptance for the gem-store as the $50,- price fits a B2P model, not a cash-shop model.

You did say you disliked something but at the same time you supported it. That is not smart my friend.

xeerus.1645:

I bought the ultimate edition mainly because I am paying 99.99 for 149.99 deal. 99.99 and 4k gems. I wont argue on rebates.

You mean $125 deal right? Of course you could also grind for the gold to get those gems so in a way you could also consider it a $75,- deal you did buy for $100,-

Some people said they did go for the $100,- deal to then buy some additional slots they would else have both anyway and then never spend any cash on gems anyway, that would indeed make it a good deal.

It all depends on how you look at it.

I don’t spend money on gems as I do not want to support the cash-shop focus and the grind it put into this game. So for me it would have been a bad deal, while I would likely still have purchased it if they had it as a physical copy simply because the box would be nice next to my CE.

Sadly there will be no CE or even a UE as physical sale for HoT, so I can only get the Deluxe edition as a substitute.

Ohoni.6057:

How did ANet manage to read all those threads and come up with their version of the Commander tags? It’s similar to this situation. People clearly said they wanted a character slot with the expansion, and it only comes with the high priced ones.

Just because people want something, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily wrong of the company to not give it to them. I’m sure they’re aware that people would want a free character slot, of course they are, but the character slot is something they normally charge for, so they have to weigh that into the cost of the product. They clearly decided that players would get their money’s worth out of kitten HoT, without a $10 character slot thrown in. Some disagree, but that doesn’t mean that ANet was not paying attention to what the fans wanted.

the industry standard is 0-50, i actually only saw 50 one time, and it was WoW, and only the latest expansion.
so they priced it as much as the most expensive expansions that exist, not really the industry standard

Two things to keep in mind, one, GW2 is a Buy to Play game, so the boxed expansions are a larger part of their revenue model than either a sub or a pure F2P game. A GW2 expansion is more akin to a standalone retail game than merely an expansion. It is reasonable to expect their box prices to skew towards the high end of the range.

Second, inflation, prices of all games rise steadily over time, the latest WoW expansion was $50, so it’s not unreasonable that GW2’s is as well. You can’t point at expansions from five years ago and ask why it isn’t the same price today.

“Two things to keep in mind, one, GW2 is a Buy to Play game, so the boxed expansions are a larger part of their revenue model than either a sub or a pure F2P game.” True, but then they should also behave as a B2P game.

Currently they behave as any F2P / Cash-shop game out there. Many new cosmetics, mini’s and toys are in the cash-shop. Getting anything (of these things) ingame is a boring grind, but of course you can always buy your way out of the grind by buying gems and use that to buy the item you want, or convert it to gold to buy what you want.

So they have very much been behaving as a F2P game and the game did suffer for it like any F2P game does.

Of course that did make sense as it took 3 years for an expansion but they the fact is that at the moment they do not use the model (B2P) that would allow them to charge above what the market does. I have no problem with the $50,- but I do hope they will now also indeed move back to a true B2P model, losing focus on the cash-shop and start focusing more on expansion they then start releasing on a more regular base.

SirDrygan.1823:

I think they knew all this will happen. And I think they also know those complaining will still buy the expansion. Some will leave, but it would not affect much their playerbase as the new ones will make up for that difference and probably get even more out of it since we are shouting that new players to the game get their value for money for just 50USD!!!
I am sure ANET knew the risk and just risked it anyway.

“Empty cans make the most noise”

I think you are wrong. The $10,- extra for new players (if they would have gone for selling GW2 for $10) would not have hold back many new players away while the bad PR might hold more players back (old and new).

Basandra Skye.4031:

You forget, devata, that you DO still need the base game to play HoT. That much wont ever change, regardless of what ends up being sold. Not to mention unless you’re a sooper-seekret Anet staffer, you, as well as the rest of us, are likely seriously in the dark about what influenced the pricing choices, as well as the choice to totally choke off selling the core game by itself* and bundle it with the HoT purchase.

*They’ve mentioned before shortly after the announcement that all content in the “near” future will be gated behind the expac. No longer selling the core by itself IS a smart business decision in the end because it can reduce new-customer burden involved in starting the game. As well as reduce the odds of the community becoming increasingly fractured (see GW1).

“You forget, devata, that you DO still need the base game to play HoT.” Do I forget that? Not sure where you base that on.

I am not saying that making GW2 itself free (as part of HoT) was bad by itself, but then they should have said that 6 months ago and then started selling GW2 for $10,-. While I think the $10,- in addition to the $50,- would also not have been a problem it’s not about having to sell GW2 for a price or making it free as part of HoT, it’s how they now got people to buy GW2 because they expected to have to own GW2 for HoT (and they sold many copies while promoting HoT and putting GW2 on sales) and then later changing the deal meaning many of those people could have (better) waiting for the release of HoT to buy it.

asterix.9614:

Okay I am a “veteran” gw2 player playing since beta, I admit I will buy heart of thorns expansion looks too cool to miss out on, but please anet don’t give us more ugly trenchcoats for medium armor…. Please…… All my medium armor wearing characters are having to make do with outfits (I am a big collector).

Also $50/ £34.99+$10.00/ £8.50 (character slot) is cheap for an expansion and a slot, give anet a freaking break will you veteran players They need to earn money somehow, it’s not as if they are adding a hefty monthly subscription fee on top…..

Just no lazy trenchcoats please…………

Edit: Something I made that might convince anet

I would love to see one real trench-coat, I wanted to give one of my characters a trench-coat because as all your images show, none are true trench-coats. But indeed, other then adding one true trench-coat some diversity would be nice.

About the price, I have no problem with the $50,- it is above what the other MMO’s out their do and that was acceptable if indeed this was Anet was making it’s money with these expansions because as you say “They need to earn money somehow”, the problem however is that for the last 3 years they have been making the money the same way as those other games out there, micro-transactions, and it hurts the game. I have no problem with those $50,- but then I also don’t expect the cash-shop focus.

What I think is that the fact that they did sell GW2 separately and even promoted sales and said on the Faq that it was required was a simple mistake, bad monetize and marketing going there.

I think that because if it was really planned out like this and with the Faq changing and all It would be such a big scam it would likely even from a legal viewpoint be seen as a scam, and while they might have people working there that are always trying to squeeze out all the money they can, and even hurting the game in the progress, I don’t think they are literally trying to scam people. So I think that part was simply a mistake, they figured that giving the game for free with the expansion would allow for more new people while in fact they have likely already scared more people / lose more future money now then if they would have put the base game at $10 next to the $50,- expansion.

Then the price of $50,- itself. So $50,- is higher then what the market does, most games expansions are about $35 to $40 an for expansion, or even have them for free. I personally always expected GW2’s expansion to be in the $40 – $60,- range (having one every year) and was fine with that, on the other hand I am not fine with the cash-shop focus because I expect that from games that have free or $30 – $35 expansion every 2 years.

Anet got big with GW2 and one of its main things GW1 was known for, was being a MMO-like B2P (no sub) game, no heavy focus on cash-shops but making it’s money with the game and expansion sale. With GW2 Anet did change that by starting to focus a lot on the cash-shop to generate income. That however also means it did lose it ‘special model’. Where F2P was considered a bad word by many GW2 players during the first half year of GW2, now many people refer to GW2 as F2P and that makes sense because while you do have to pay, they pretty much have the same model as most F2P games, focusing on micro-transactions. Making them using one of the most common models out there for MMO-like games.

Anet however still seems to think they have some unique model, in almost any video to promote the game, on any commercial and so on they will say that you do not have to pay a subscription, as if it is something special. Of course it is not, having to pay a subscription is special, micro-transactions are the most comment used model in their branch at the moment. Now if they said ‘we have no subscription, and no focus on micro-transactions’ they would be special.

They probably did place the price of the expansion at a higher number then what most other games in the genre do because they feel they can do that because they use this ‘special model’. Or maybe they indeed have plans to move back to this more special model (less focus on the cash-shop but more regular expansion, in this price range) but simply haven’t announced that yet (do I hope that).

A lot of their current player-base is used the the cash-shop focus by now and you will not hear them complain about that, but they are then not really tolerant of kitten,- expansion and so complain about that. For me it’s just the other way around.

So to summarize it, I think it’s partly was a honest mistake and partly them thinking they are something special, but the way they handle things at the moment means they aren’t, or maybe they plan on being special again but did not yet communicate that.

Dawdler.8521:

Jaetara.4075:

Real bonuses could be a unique armor / weapon / headgear skin, free boosters to help you progress faster, black lion ticket or black lion keys, a unique Node for the house instance and many other things that they could offer… The extra beta key for a friend could also have a value, for them mostly since it can bring new players to the game.

No, the only “real” bonus is the character slot which actually allow you to play half of what the expansion is (ie the revenant), menaning that the €75 pack is a complete ripoff, lol. For basic you can buy a €10 slot yourself (maximum cost of €55, you could use gold too) whereas you are paying €35 for a €10 slot with the deluxe pack. In the ultimate pack, at least you’re only paying €5 for the €10 slot (since the €50 gems can actually have real meaning to your gameplay… if you so choose).

The remaining things in the packages is pure pointless fluff, as is everything else you suggested.

The gems are just as fluff as the other extras so I don’t see why that version would be better, the only extra you get are the gems, I would not even consider it a different version. Also the UE is not available as hard copy, only the standard and the Deluxe edition is. So if you like the extras and a hard copy Deluxe in your on;y option. What really misses is a CE.

If you don’t like the grind or don’t have a game to play it, but to decorate it, the UE is nice, as the gems will allow you to buy your way out of the grind or let you get items to decorate your game. I personally would prefer to play to win those decorations (not grind them, and not buy them) as that is what I have a game for.. playing.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Tere.4759:

50.00 is 1.00 per hour of play time if you play for 50 hrs and most of us have thousands of hours put into the base game. So, let’s see. We spend 100 hrs playing the new content (the content we have seen is not the only content that will be provided, it’s just a start) that means we get our entertainment for .50 an hour. You spend 200 hrs in the content and it is .25 cents per hour.

Now let’s compare that to a movie since movies are entertainment. It is 15.00 per movie for a 2.5 hr movie. That’s 6.00 per hour of entertainment. If you want to see it again, that’s another 6.00 per hour unless you buy the blu ray and then it’s an extra 30.00 (depending on the movie of course).

Where do you want to spend your entertainment dollars. I love the core game. I love what the devs have done so far and I spoke with my money. My entertainment dollars went to Anet.

Will you be willing to spend another 50-100 dollars next year if they put out another expansion in a year from now?

I would have no problem with that, in fact I would love that IF it would mean less focus on the cash-shop, so less of a grind for everything in the game but having those items as a reward in the game.

Compare for example WoW with GW2 here (games most people here know both). WoW is focused on a subscription, GW2 on the cash-shop for most of its income. In both games you can get a flying carpet, in GW2 you can buy it with cash, or grind gold in-game to buy it. In WoW it’s something you create with a profession. Similar things apply to many mini’s, skins, toys and so on. In WoW they are rewarded ingame for activities, while in GW2 it’s mostly, buy or grind.

If GW2 would move away from this grind or buy with cash, but start putting those things in the game itself (like WoW does) and then asks $50 / $100 a year for expansions I would be more than willing to pay that (likely going for the $100,- CE if that would be available).

Obviously, if they keep this F2P way of grind or buy then it would not be a price people should be willing to pay. With the B2P model you would simply pay for the game.. and a more fun game one could expect, fair enough.

Aidenwolf.5964:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If they can make an expansion a year from now on, will the next expansion be 50 dollars also?

Of course, and we’ll still be as gemstore-centric as a FTP game

No, because it would not be F2P (like it pretty much is at this moment), it would be B2P, like the game was promoted to be before launch.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If they can make an expansion a year from now on, will the next expansion be 50 dollars also?

Sure, what would be fine as if we would then NOT be cash-shop centric anymore. You would be paying for the content, not to get out of the grind for fluff, fluff could then be fun rewards in the game.

Excluding messages directed to the employees themselves (not as comment on something they said themselves, but purely because the pre-purchase) it’s also up to the employee’s themselves to not feel addressed.

It’s the management, monetize, marketing, PR people that should feel addressed what is only a sub group of the employees. Heck, most negative stuff in the game seem to come from them, looking at what decision people dislike the most in GW2.

Behellagh.1468:

I suspect neither Aidenwold or Devata ever worked on software development

It’s my job.

CureForLiving.5360:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

CureForLiving.5360:

Evidence? ANet has stated that they have valued the Expansion at $50.

Which is the price of the full game. So if the full game is included along with it for free, that makes the price tag really fishy.

Honest, you are not paying for the full game that we included with this expansion, it just so happens to cost the price of a full game…. right…

That’s not evidence, that speculation.

Aidenwolf.5964:

@Devata.6589 Living Story man/woman hours could easily turn out an expansion every year as they did with GW1. I agree with everything you’ve written.

GW1 was a different game. Cost and difficulty of development has only increased since then not decreased.

True, on the other hand, the size of the team and income of the game has also increased.

Behellagh.1468:

@Devata when will you accept that ANet will never be able to crank out expansions at a rate that could sustain the business. GW2 is an entirely different style game from GW. And as long as ANet’s number one priority it no monthly fee the cash shop is the only option available short of opening a Patreon account.

Rally against the cash shop but unless you know of a business model that doesn’t include a cash shop that includes juiced up items as most F2P games sell or walled off content that you can access for a fee or for a subscription in everything but name this is the model they have.

Wishing it was “just like GW” with an expansion every 12 months on average to keep the lights on and the development continuing isn’t going to work. I hope you realize that if GW2 didn’t get the green light and the funding from NCSOFT for development, GW would have likely shut down years ago due to lack of income. The only reason it’s still alive today is because ANet tied the HoM to GW2.

“when will you accept that ANet will never be able to crank out expansions at a rate that could sustain the business.” Or when will you accept they can.

Pretty much every SP game out there works this way. many titles have been in the market for over 10 years and doing fine that way, The Sims, GTA, Tomb Raider series. Sure they have lower running cost, however they also release complete new games, not expansion so the even things out.

So from a financial viewpoint it is possible. I also think they should be able to release an expansion once every year / 1,5 year. When basing myself on the way expansion spike (based on GW1) and comparing that to GW2’s income overtime Anet would have already earned more money.

Also I do think HoT has did not start development (for the biggest part) after the Chinese release so that is just over a year now.

So there is no doubt in my mind it’s possible and even that it’s the best. Whether you want to accept that it’s possible or not.

“The only reason it’s still alive today is because ANet tied the HoM to GW2.” You got that the other way around, GW2 is there because of GW1.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Palindrome.8904:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Devata.6589:

I rather see a CE edition coming available.

I really like this idea. I’m going to edit my OP and add a little something.

ANet confirmed no collector’s edition.

Hence the reason why I’m suggesting it. It’s so they can consider the idea, and change their mind.

Not completely true, they confirmed “There are no plans for a physical collector’s edition for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns.”. That’s something else.

That is same they confirmed about a new profession and about a expansion, while this time they of course do not have a lot of time to make those plans after all, I guess they should announced it before 23 of June.

Matazeruz.7498:

I feel sorry for people buying deluxe. The 4000 gems is half the cost of the ultimate edition. Either buy standard or edition.

And if you want a hard copy of the game, to put next to your CE of the initial game? Then UE is not even an option. Also I would not buy the gems anyway, did never buy gems. I have a game to play it, not to buy more stuff for in it or to grind it or to buy my way out of that grind.
If it would be available as hard copy I would probably buy the UE but more because it would then be sort of a CE, while I obviously would then also expect it to be in a nice box at the very least. That box would then be the reason, not the gems. Buying gems only gives the wrong signal imho.

Vayne.8563:

Linnael.1069:

Vayne.8563:

Linnael.1069:

Unloveableone.6082:

FirebrandFrog.7603:

Except the Megaservers aren’t ridiculously priced and bite older players who don’t want to buy the core game twice in the butt.

Try again.

You are literally not even kittening buying it.
It just comes as a bonus for people that don’t have it.
AGAIN.
YOU
ARE
NOT
BUYING
IT

kitten

It costs ANet to give stuff out for free.
Somebody else has to pay more to recoup that cost.

So on one level you’re right we aren’t buying the extra copies for ourselves.
We’re buying them for the new players. Huh, guess we really are the nicest community in gaming.

We’re not buying the game for new people, Anet is simply not charging new people for it, The price is the same with or without the original game being included. Would you be happy if they offered just an upgrade for $50, because that was the original plan.

“Simply not charging people” is an opportunity cost that somebody has to bear. The expansion would not be priced at 50$ if they were not giving out copies, barring the possibility that arenanet is generous enough to take the loss but somehow not generous enough to take an equivalent loss (charslot=$10=basegame) for veterans.

Now I’m not saying the latter possibility isn’t an option. It’s probably the most likely situation given marketing benefits of generosity to new players and the relative lack of gains when extending those benefits to vets. However, I see alot of people coming out with the “but its just a gift” argument as a counter to people who are aggrieved by the difference in treatment, when really it doesn’t change a thing.

TL;DR: Either we’re paying for the new copies, or Arenanet is choosing to make less money off of them but not off of us. Either way they vets are getting shafted and only the first option makes sense from an economics standpoint.

Or Anet wants more people to have access to the gem shop, which makes them money.

But then people would be right complaining about the price. I have no problem with the price but that is also because I take the cash-shop out of the equation. For a B2P game, $50,- for an expansion is fine, one every year would even be fine. On the other hand, when you focus on a cash-shop for your income there are also multiple mmo’s providing the content completely for free.

So I’m fine with the $50,- (In fact I will buy a hard copy of the Deluxe version, or might it become available a CE) but then you can expect me keeping complaining about the cash-shop focus and rightfully so.

To be accurate, I always said, go for an xpac and then move away from the cash-shop focus. But to answer your questions, I will be buying the expansion. While I would buy the CE edition if they would have one, looks like they don’t. Deluxe is the most extensive version availible as hard copy so I will likely go for that. While I will wait a while hoping a CE will become availible.

Still find what HoT seems to offer better then what the LS did offer.

Or be special, they earn money with gems, Anet stop with the gems, put those things just in-game and earn money with expansions. The thing that made Anet and GW big in the first place.

I rather see a CE edition coming available.

Askadia.4395:

Don’t you have, guys, a Server Guild? I know for sure Piken Square has (or had?) one.
I think I will join one of these gigantic server guilds for fun and curiosity, while holding my personal guild for myself.

Piken Square has [One] guild to rule them all, The Only One. But that is not a ‘gigantic server guild’. The ‘server guild’ they have is a WvW guild.

HawkMeister.4758:

So influence is going to be irrelevant for anything guild, so what the heck is it good for anyway?
As stated in the Guild Halls Interview

Influence will no longer be earned after HoT launches, but will stick around for a while so that guilds can sink the influence they currently have into the new system. There is a new currency being introduced call Favor that will be rewarded from guild missions, but they didn’t go into what exactly Favor was going to be used for.

And what about people with a personal guild(only yourself as a member) but without HoT, are we just gona loose everything including our guild stashes (& content)?

BTW not very much interested in the usual suspects telling me how ANet will surely not allow because they care.
I´m done with the hype, I need cold hard facts now to decide my future here.

Well a personal guild is not a guild, is it? In the CDI there has been talked about this and with a few exceptions most people did agree guild-halls should also be available for small guilds, but personal guilds can not be seen as guilds. While I don’t think there was ever a true definition of what size you could start talking about a guild, but I think it would be at least 5 people.

Anyway, we do not know yet how it works, personally I am not in favor of all the currencies, that is sort of boring. I would prefer to have specific activities for guilds to complete in order to unlock buildings, blue-prints and decorations. Not yet another grind for some currency. But that would indeed mean you need at least x people to complete such missions.

Kal Spiro.9745:

I’m really looking forward to the people who don’t buy it, then when the core game bonus is off the plate for pre-purchase, see the game is still $50, but the other bonus options are also gone so it’s just straight $50. They put up this fight for something they were going to get eventually anyway, and now they’re stuck without option.

If you were not going to buy it anyway, you wouldn’t be here raging. You would have said, simply, “That’s too rich for me, I’m moving on.” And you would have moved on.

Anyone coming to the forums to vent is already hooked. You’re not actually going to leave. You’re not going to hold out for a year or however long it takes to lower the price. You’re going to get it, and it’s going to cost you $50.

So you say, ‘haha some people don’t like the deal but will get screwed (to their opinion) anyway’. Is this supposed to be a defend for Anet?

Because it’s not a really bad defend. It’s like some innocent man on dead row, explaining for the last time why can not possible has done the crime and you laugh at him because he will get executed anyway.

To me it shows for you it purely has become a we vs them fight. Strange.

If you would be a true fan you would want Anet to listen to those complains instead of laughing at them because as much as they might get screwed anyway, Anet will get a worse name by this.. anyway. If things stay as they are that is. That would make it a lose lose situation.

Anyway, I still have no problem with the price while I agree a char-slot in the standard edition, and then something else extra in the deluxe edition would be better. What I dislike the most is not having a CE edition.

If there is anything about the price I would complain about is that as far as it looks they keep going on with their cash-shop model instead of a B2P model. If they had a true B2P model (so nearly no cash-shop but generating most money with the game and expansions) an expansion for $50,- would be perfectly justifiably. For a game that used the model of many F2P games I do understand why people find the $50,- to high. At the same time, I did not hear all of them complain about the cash-shop and you buy 6 finishers for about the same price or a long boring grind.

So I understand why some people dislike it, but if I have any problems it’s on another part of the game.