I can say absolutely and without hesitation that price isn’t the issue for me. Unless and until this issue is handled to my satisfaction, I won’t be purchasing HoT. It’s just that simple.
For me, it’s a combination of price vs. value, plus the abysmal way ANet has handled this.
If — if — there was enough value here to be worth $50, I’d spend it. I plunked down $60 on the base game, so it’s not that I’m adverse to spending the money if the value is there.
But look at what we’re getting compared to the base game. A small — compared to the vastness of Tyria — new area. One new class added to the eight already there. And a few miscellaneous tweaks that could have just as easily been rolled out in a regular update.
Simply put, what we’re getting doesn’t qualify for a price that’s 83% of the base game, because we’re not getting 83% of the stuff we got in the base game. We’re getting maybe — if we’re being charitable — 20-25% of what we got in the base game.
Now, as for the communication. They screwed up by the numbers, there’s little doubt about that. Essentially, they appear — and I said appear, not that they actually are — concentrating on the new players and ignoring the vets. This isn’t the first time they’ve done this, when they redid the early levels, they did it because new players were saying “the game is too hard to learn!” Nevermind all of us — including yours truly — that learned it just fine the old way.
So, the impression we’re left with is, “welcome, new players; screw you, veterans… again.”
Now, given both of those issues, is it any wonder that I’m seriously contemplating completely uninstalling GW2? ANet sure doesn’t seem to value my business any more.
