Guild Wars 2

Well I just came back after a few years and though the xp grind is a bit annoying sometimes, I actually quite like getting these masteries. The reason why it is annoying sometimes actually has nothing to do with the mastery system, but is about whether or not there is a decent amount of players around to do the event chains that give some nice xp.

I haven’t set foot in dungeons or raids and not sure if I have that interest but as long as there are people around to do the events then it seems ok to me. So for me it’s really something that adds to the game. I did notice with my guardian though that it certainly became a lot easier once I unlocked the specialization. That makes a big difference.

I will say though that I’m not particularly engrossed in the story so I don’t care so much that I have to wait for the next part of the story until I have a certain mastery unlocked.

Galtrix.7369:

that’s simply a dumb idea.

Judgmental and rude to call what other people like “dumb”. Try not to impose your views as general truths.

Galtrix.7369:

It’s simply stupid to be able to wear a swimsuit into battle

Again, your opinion. People have different ideas about what “fantasy” means. Generally it doesn’t refer to reality. Also calling it stupid is again rude and judgmental.

They simply don’t appreciate what’s already there and are trying to change the genre into something else.

That’s a kittenumption and rather vindictive.

Galtrix.7369:

I hope you didn’t take offense to that, as I meant none.

After your other statements I have a hard time believing that.

Also I remember you saying something about having morals. Apparently your morals do not extend to being denigrating towards other people’s ideas. A shame really.

Personally I don’t need swim suits, but what I find immersion breaking is contemporary clothing in fantasy games. Look at Aion where people have flippers and diving goggles, tuxedo’s etc. I also left that game because of that (and other reasons). I do get the point of immersion breaking but immersion is also linked to personal opinions about what breaks immersion, but this is a fantasy game still and there are plenty of examples in the fantasy genre of scantily clad heroes (male and female for that matter) that can withstand the biggest monsters and magics. Not realistic perhaps but it is fantasy.

So I can understand immersion issues when it comes to contemporary versions of clothing but not for moral or realism reasons…it is fantasy after all.

General Health.9678:

Gehenna.3625:

Also visiting Orr last night, there really aren’t a lot of people there anymore and since those areas are still rather a pain in the butt to go through I’d say that it’s not that great to go there.

And yet the other day I was there and someone commented they hadn’t expected to see so many people and were pleasantly surprised.
So I guess it’s timing. I was there last night (about 10pm UK time) to do the daily vista and stayed to get in a giant/ooze, rotbeard, couple of hallas, half an Arah defend and then ran round gathering. Fairly busy, suspect most people are doing the LS3 story which is where I’d just come from after doing a bunch of achievements.

Possibly. Of course I cannot say if I had bad luck or if you were lucky. However, for the topic this is beside the point, because it still means that the areas are not solo friendly. You need to have other people there and so you are dependent on other players being there.

For an MMO that is understandable but at the same time I do believe it’s a trend that a lot of people do like the MMO set up but prefer to play mostly solo in it. I have no idea how many people are like that in GW2 but when such a player asks if the game is solo friendly, saying that there usually are enough people around is not the point.

All in all when I am progressing story I find myself with very few people around because the story parts are instanced and people tend to gravitate to specific events in each area. Going through a zone alone as a solo player can be quite tedious or challenging. I am not saying an MMO has to be solo friendly but this game is not specifically solo friendly the higher level the areas are. Orr and HoT are the best examples there. I tend to spend my time dodging combat or running through mobs and hoping I’ll lose them before I die rather than engaging in this tedious combat. It’s just a matter of mob spacing and health bars of enemies more than anything.

I can live with it but as such the higher level zones are solo able but not solo friendly in my view. Having enough people around makes it easier but the default position of a solo player is that you don’t need other players to experience the game as fun as per the individual’s definition.

So it’s not about convincing people that their definitions are wrong or coming up with answers which don’t actually apply to solo play but the simple admission that the game is indeed an MMO and not always solo friendly and that a person can then decide what to do with that.

By principle I think it’s wrong to make part of the main story line have a separate cost. The main story should be part of the core game and expansions.

At the same time, I’m a returning player and I completely missed season 2 as such but it didn’t hamper me in anyway of playing HoT. Why not?

Because GW2 stories aren’t that great and very predictable and don’t really have an underlying story line that you can’t miss parts of.

I haven’t completed HoT yet but there is a part where you plant an egg and then you get a cut scene. That cut scene was pretty amazing actually. But beyond that I haven’t seen anything worth worrying about.

As a player who recently returned to the game I thank you for the spoilers.

I think that in a game that only charges one time for the game and once for the expansion the word “pay wall” is undeserved.

Although there is a lot you can solo in this game, I will say that it’s not a solo friendly game. Being able to solo a lot doesn’t make the game automatically solo friendly, just solo able. There is a difference.

My feeling is that the game is built around more people being around and therefore it is possible to solo stuff but certainly not always easy. I find for example that playing my guardian, the HoT areas are a pain as a melee (still working on getting my bow skills) because there are so many circles being dropped constantly and the endless knock backs that I have to wait for other players or I have to play ranged so I can pick mobs off one at a time because you can los a lot of other mobs throwing circles.

Also visiting Orr last night, there really aren’t a lot of people there anymore and since those areas are still rather a pain in the butt to go through I’d say that it’s not that great to go there. Still, the lower level zones are better. I think you can safely state that the higher level the zone the less solo friendly it is. At the same time even the higher zones are in large parts soloable, just not as friendly. You could argue though that this is ok in an MMO that doesn’t even require you to group up to do content together.

I just came back from not playing for years and got HoT on sale. I did always want to try HoT out but not at full price. As a side note I can say that the game has changed enough for me to find the game enjoyable.

Now on topic, I do feel a bit annoyed at this gating concept but it’s really just because you can only gain xp for this in the HoT areas and the xp doesn’t come so quickly so it does take hours of gameplay which does sort of stop you in your steps as far as progression is concerned.

A few thoughts:

1) Sorry to say but the story was never a really great thing in GW2 for me. Personally I care more about the mastery points than the story so for me the perspective is reversed. I need xp to get my masteries and I can’t continue the story for xp to get my masteries.
2) On the other hand, once you have gotten the masteries your alts do not have to do this anymore because the masteries are account wide. So really it’s just a bit tedious for the first character.
3) Linked to point 2 is that it is a shame that you can only get the xp for this in the HoT areas. This makes gaining xp for the masteries more repetitious because you are very limited in what you can do to gain the needed xp.

If I’m right you just press the space bar and you get the option next to advance within the conversation and the option skip to end which is what you want.

Phyre Storm.1624:

Gehenna.3625:

Ahh some more good advice. Yeh I did the first couple of chapters of HoT and now it says I need to gain experience to get the glider but it doesn’t actually explain how to do this. Still trying to figure what I need to do exactly. The WvW seems like a good idea also.

In your mastery interface, you need to have the mastery highlighted that you want to train in. You will see the experience bar on that mastery for what you have earned. Each mastery earns it’s own experience. Example: You are earning experience for basic gliding. If you click over to bouncing mushrooms, you will see a different level of experience.

Once your experience bar is filled – gained by doing the story, events and general experience – and if you have enough mastery points, you will see the green star burst highlighted. You click on that to train it. The game automatically chooses the next in line of that mastery to start training you. So, when you earn your basic gliding, you need to switch to bouncing mushrooms – or what ever you choose to train in next.

When you look at the over view of the mastery panel, you will have a golden check mark to show what mastery line you’re earning experience in.

I hope that helps you.

Yeh it took me a moment to figure that out. I initially thought I just needed to gain mastery points and didn’t realise that the spending of mastery points was also gated by experience point gain.

Angelica Dream.7103:

The real question is not where to start but why did you leave? I believe it is because you got board, and it just may happen again. I really don’t think HOT is a lot better than the core game. In fact I kind of like the core game better.
So how do you fix that? My suggestion is join a very active guild with voice, and make friends. Or better yet invite a real life friend to play. I belong to a very small guild that has played nearly every night since opening of GW1. We play the game, but more so keep up with each other lives as we play a few hours every night.

This is the players helping players forum. I am sure that from your point of view that might even be what your intention is here, but I don’t find this rhetoric very helpful.

However, I am very much willing to explain to you what the core reasons were why I left and see if that makes a little more sense to you.

1) I was a GW1 veteran. Played it for about 7 years and GW1 was abandoned pretty much by Anet in favour of GW2. Unfortunately, as GW2 developed and the team was basically replaced during that process, the only things that remain in GW2 that have anything to do with GW1 is names of places and classes and the occasional cosmetic item that’s basically a GW2 version of a GW1 armour set. Beyond that it has NOTHING to do with GW1 and the name GW2 therefore was completely undeserved as it was a game that has no real link to the first installment. It took time for me to accept that.

2) Boredom. Yes, you mentioned it but you do not see that things have changed. You have to remember I am looking from the outside in now. I have not taken all the steps in between and so I see the differences more clearly. One of the things that bored me was that no matter what I did with my build, it made no difference. After having played a few hours yesterday, already I noticed I needed to do something about my build. That for me was a good sign. Also the new areas are different and adding flight into the game is a big plus for me for the exploring side.

Another issue was that endgame was completely useless. Sure the whole game was endgame but in all honesty, you need a more casual approach to gaming to be able to appreciate what this game does have to offer. I have become more casual since then.

Listen, I am not expecting the perfect game and maybe I’ll just play it for a couple of months and that will be that. But for 22 bucks that’s a great deal just the same. Since GW2 doesn’t have a subscription model I don’t have to care about long term. It’s an advantage as well as a disadvantage.

Next thing for my guardian is to figure out which build to use and which set bonus to use and give that a go. Then it’s on to my Mesmer. Apparently I can raise an alt to 80 instantly. I’m sure I’ll have some fun with it at least for a while and then we’ll see if it sticks. But it’s neither a waste of time nor money for me. I am enjoying it for what it is at the moment and that’s what matters to me.

Ah great thanks. I just couldn’t figure it out cause I saw the one mastery point I got but then it said 62% on the unlock so it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Alrighty then, time to see where I get that mastery point.

Just a silly question perhaps, but if I do those first two chapters on an alt will it give me another mastery point or is that a one-time only deal?

So you want to reduce the movement speed to a quarter or did you mean +25%?

Ahh some more good advice. Yeh I did the first couple of chapters of HoT and now it says I need to gain experience to get the glider but it doesn’t actually explain how to do this. Still trying to figure what I need to do exactly. The WvW seems like a good idea also.

Thanks, that actually sounds like a great plan to me. I think the exploration with gliding is something I enjoy.

I’ll see if I can look up what those hero challenges are that you are speaking of. And yeah it’s 1pm here right now (EU)

Hi all, I played this game when it came out and didn’t quite like it as much as I hoped. With the expansion being on sale I thought I’d give it a go again also because I really like the gliding idea (I used to play Aion which had wings also).

Now I do have a level 80 guardian in exotic gear as I remember but it’s been a while and as I am downloading the client atm I thought I’d ask you guys for advice on what you think the best way is to get back into the game since it seems a lot has changed especially since the expansion hit.

So please, feel free to give me any advice that could be useful to get back into the game and give it another chance.

VOLKON.1290:

Gehenna.3625:

VOLKON.1290:

Failure? How exactly is failure defined these days? Of course, I haven’t seen anything recent, however this:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/07/10/guild-wars-2-sales-more-than-double-thanks-to-chinese-launch

“Guild Wars 2 has over 3.8 million Chinese players according to a census uploaded to Reddit, all accrued in just two months after launch.

This means ArenaNet’s MMO has more than doubled its global playerbase since launching in the new territory. The last update we got on Western sales was back in August 2013, when the figure stood at 3.5 million. This figure is likely to have risen since then but, even if we assume it hasn’t, this means global sales of Guild Wars 2 should now be well past the 7 million mark."

You do realise that the link you provide is a year old. That’s not exactly recent news. I wouldn’t put much stock in that for the status today… clearly it’s odd there is basically no news since then if you do a quick search on the internet. It’s all from a year ago on this topic. I find that at least unusual.

It’s not like ANet didn’t go an extended period of time before announcing numbers here in the U.S. either. Some 3.8 million sales out of the gate in China isn’t exactly a failure.

I’m not the one saying it’s a failure. That was someone else. But I find it bizarre that not Anet but just in general nobody has anything to say about the China release since then. It clearly did well at first but we all know MMOs drop a lot of players after the first while. I just have no idea about how the game is doing there today cause I can’t find anything about it.

VOLKON.1290:

Failure? How exactly is failure defined these days? Of course, I haven’t seen anything recent, however this:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/07/10/guild-wars-2-sales-more-than-double-thanks-to-chinese-launch

“Guild Wars 2 has over 3.8 million Chinese players according to a census uploaded to Reddit, all accrued in just two months after launch.

This means ArenaNet’s MMO has more than doubled its global playerbase since launching in the new territory. The last update we got on Western sales was back in August 2013, when the figure stood at 3.5 million. This figure is likely to have risen since then but, even if we assume it hasn’t, this means global sales of Guild Wars 2 should now be well past the 7 million mark."

You do realise that the link you provide is a year old. That’s not exactly recent news. I wouldn’t put much stock in that for the status today… clearly it’s odd there is basically no news since then if you do a quick search on the internet. It’s all from a year ago on this topic. I find that at least unusual.

Will the expansion add as much content as the core game? No it won’t.
What will it add? Not sure.
When will it be out? Not sure.

I understand the uncertainties. I won’t buy it till much later when it’s cheap, but if you love this game, I would think this will be worth it. I saw something about mastery of flight or something. That’s kinda cool I guess. There is no objective answer to this question though but if you try to be somewhat objective I guess it’s not looking like a lot of new content, but who knows?

phys.7689:

It would be like me selling a picture of man walking down the street and claiming im selling a picture of a man, and giving you a picture of a street free.
Its not accurate, its one picture. The price given is obviously for both since you cannot buy them seperately

Except most people here already have a picture of that street and just want that man added to it without having to pay the same price as someone who buys the picture of the street and the man together.

The fact that you cannot buy the expansion separately was a choice by Anet and it’s a last minute choice. They didn’t have to do it like this. It could’ve been offered at a reduced price for people who already own the game as it was.

Most games gives package deals but not generally at the release of the expansion but a year later or something. If they’d priced it at 40 bucks and thrown in the core game for 10 bucks people probably wouldn’t have complained. Certainly not as much as they have now.

yakuza snowdragon.4639:

Gallahad.9834:

This is the second time ive posted this, lets see if it gets deleted again… So with this new expansion it includes the core game as well as the expansion? So in other words i just paid $60 for GW2 when i could have gotten it AND the expansion for $50 if i had just waited? or is the expansion JUST the expansion and not include the core game?

You didn’t get screwed, just bad timing, did you want them to pull all sales 1-3 months before releasing the expac with free core game? bad luck build a bridge and stop posting how hard the world is to you.

It’s bad luck and Anet saw it coming but said nothing. In fact they planned it.

Hell, next time you walk down the street and someone doesn’t warn you when something’s falling down even though they could keep you from harm, I’ll be happy to remind you of this post.

Of course it’s not the same situation but it’s the same type of reasoning. If Anet had announced that the core game would come free with the expansion much earlier, all of this wouldn’t have happened. So yeh people feel screwed over cause Anet got them to spend cash on a bad deal, while withholding the better deal till the last moment.

Clever, but not very nice. It might even backfire, but they might sell enough copies yet.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

I think expecting 30$ for it is a bit outrageous, but that’s just my opinion.

SWTOR expansions cost 20 bucks. Aion expansions were free. I don’t think it’s outrageous to expect a lower price.

Anet can ask for it what they want of course and I do agree there. Everybody has to decide for themselves if it’s worth it to them or not.

My fortune is that I don’t have much invested in this game, so I’ll wait till the price goes down before I get it. I am not angry at Anet but I do understand why other people are not happy with either the price or the way the core game being free was introduced. But as I mentioned in another thread, if you really like this game, you may want to see this as an opportunity to support it and forgive Anet for their less-than-perfect approach to marketing. I will never say that 50 bucks is too much for something you enjoy and spend many hours on.

Vayne.8563:

Blazing Liger.1236:

Guild halls should have been available at release. Same with everything we’ve gotten in the Feature Packs. The game was very unpolished at release, and it’s taken some time to get it caught up. That feature alone is not worth $50 to me.

Why should Guild Halls have been available on release?

Yeh that would be an odd expectation for a game called Guild Wars 2.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Gehenna.3625:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The problem there is that, as many have pointed out time and again, GW1 is not a MMO. It can not be used as a standard by which we judge GW2, which is a MMO. On the other hand other MMO companies have done similar promotions, which does set precedent.

Except this is not about the genre but about the business plan. It’s much fairer to compare the game to GW1 than another MMO because of the B2P approach which other MMOs don’t use. They use F2P or box + subs or combinations thereof. Totally different approach and in other MMOs I’ve played they didn’t do it this way. Some MMOs give expansion free to subs, others give different package deals for just the expansion or a combo price for core + expansion.

What I’ve not experienced is an MMO that comes out with it’s first expansion and just before it comes out suddenly decides to thrown in the core game free with it. But maybe you have an example of that.

It would’ve been wiser to do this differently. Now a lot of people are upset. More than needed really.

Again, this is not the first company to do this type of promotion (and thats what it is, a promotion). Other companies (not just MMOs) have done the exact same type of thing and it was perfectly fine. So why is it suddenly an issue when Anet does it?

The issue is that you’re all using the FAQ and calling false advertising. Stating they lied to us when no such action has occured. The question asks if the core game is required to play the expansion. It is answered, yes, it is required. No where do we ask if we are required to purchase it and given an the answer of yes. No where do they commit one way or the other in regards to us needing to buy or not buy the game, and that is done intentionally.

As I explained it’s not exactly the same what Anet does here.

saurus.8290:

or they can charge you $150 for a beta access to a game that is free to play with pay to win shop like Archeage did

or ESO or FF14

GW2 HoT have already more to offer than these titles above

And this is exactly why you can’t compare GW2 to other MMOs. In fact it doesn’t even matter what other games do really. What matters is that just before the release of an expansion the core game goes on a massive sale only to let people find out they could’ve gotten it for free and the silent adaptation of th FAQ is dodgy at best.

Also you may like GW2, but to say that HoT already has more to offer than ESO or FF14 is objectively just a ridiculous statement.

To be clear I do not like either of those games so I am in no way biased towards them but for whatever reason you are not able to look at this even remotely objectively.

And it’s also not the point. As I said, it’s just the way they handled this whole thing. You can go to the people who bought GW2 recently via other suppliers who cannot get a refund and explain to them why Anet didn’t do anything remotely unfortunate. You just can’t unless you are a total white knight about it.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The problem there is that, as many have pointed out time and again, GW1 is not a MMO. It can not be used as a standard by which we judge GW2, which is a MMO. On the other hand other MMO companies have done similar promotions, which does set precedent.

Except this is not about the genre but about the business plan. It’s much fairer to compare the game to GW1 than another MMO because of the B2P approach which other MMOs don’t use. They use F2P or box + subs or combinations thereof. Totally different approach and in other MMOs I’ve played they didn’t do it this way. Some MMOs give expansion free to subs, others give different package deals for just the expansion or a combo price for core + expansion.

What I’ve not experienced is an MMO that comes out with it’s first expansion and just before it comes out suddenly decides to thrown in the core game free with it. But maybe you have an example of that.

It would’ve been wiser to do this differently. Now a lot of people are upset. More than needed really.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Gehenna.3625:

What it does make me wonder is this: If the sales of the core game at reduced prices was going really well, there is no reason to add it to the expansion for free. So my guess is that those sales the last few months have not opened up the gates for a lot of new players and this is their way of fixing that unfulfilled expectation.

All games eventually reach a point where they are phased out. If a retailer has any left, he throws it in the bargain bin to get rid of it. It may very well be that ANet was considering making the core game F2P to attract new players who might then spend in the store. I believe they chose not to because of RMT players being able to get free accounts and maybe also because some vets would make numerous accounts for laurel farming of T6 mats.

GW2 was selling for $10 right after the HoT announcement. That’s an 83% discount from the initial sale price of $59.99. My sympathies are with those who’ve bought the game since the HoT announcement based on thinking they’d need to to progress in the game. I believe that it would be fair for ANet to do something to redress this issue beyond just refunding sales in the last 30 days. Iirc, the refund policy at launch was six months, not one.

Like I said, it’s mostly the way they went about it. Timing is important.

Straylight.7529:

That is not an insult.

Perhaps you didn’t mean it as an insult but calling someone insecure is generally not well received. I would suggest the word unsure instead of insecure.

Vix.6730:

If you bought GW2 within the past 30 days Anet support is refunding/compensating customers. Beyond 30 days and you may be screwed.

Of course only if you bought it directly via Anet. If you bought it somewhere else you can stick your complaint where the sun don’t shine.

Crude? Perhaps but that seems to be the reality of it.

Don’t forget this game is B2P. This model is very interesting for cheap skates. Now don’t get me wrong, not all GW2 players are cheap skates, but there are a lot of people who are very much against subs etc. and that’s fine.

It does mean though that when you do something on the money side of things that even hints at unfairness, people will jump and go for your throat.

Now, some people might think that from what they’ve seen that the expansion isn’t worth the 50 bucks.

Some people will be really upset about their 11:59 move to throw in the core game for free after having it had on sale for some time before the new expansion and at least giving the impression the expansion would have to be paid for separately next to the core game.

So I think there are 2 issues going on here that are being mixed together.

I am sure a lot of people who where here at the beginning remember the debacle of the manifesto. No matter which side you were on, you know it was a big deal. Then there was the level cap raise that got pulled back. Again some are happy, some are not.

But this is really just the next big item where you could say Anet lacked foresight and could’ve handled their turn-around differently.

My guess is they are hurting for new player influx and fel they needed to do this to increase accessibility for new players. Could be good for the game, just not the best way of doing it all in all.

Dunno, it was clear from launch that GW2 has nothing to do with GW1 except some names. Lion’s Arch here never looked anything like the old Lion’s Arch for example. However, jungle zones are not something I’d get excited about in general. Maybe more players feel that way but I really wouldn’t know.

Dinks.2478:

Gehenna.3625:

Giland.4507:

Explodie.9428:

Okay after reading this i found out we in europe have to pay more then americans do?

Normal pack costs $50 wich is € 44.07 and we have to pay € 44.99 wich is $ 51.08 ( $1.08 more Its nothing to say about that is normal)
The deluxe version costs $75 wich is € 66.06 we have to pay € 74.99 wich is $ 85.14 ( $ 10.14 more its huge!!)
The ultimate version costs $100 wich is € 88.08 we have to pay € 99.99 wich is $ 113.53 ( $ 13.53 more, its huge)

(I’ve converted this with the status for 20-6-2015 at 00.22 GMT+01)

You cannot take converted money into account you have to take in things like how much does the average consumer make. If you make on average 8 pounds an hour and the average north American make 7 dollars an hour, we are in fact paying more. Which for most products is usually the case.

Figuring for exchange would only factor if you had to import the product which you don’t a dollar is a dollar here and a pound is a pound there.

Just for your information, he is comparing dollars to euros. Not pounds. That’s the UK only.

€ = Euro
£ = Pound

Just so you know

I’d say the point still stands regardless. Not to mention people truly like to ignore the difference between VAT and US taxes. VAT is from my understanding already included in the marketed price. US taxes vary by state/city/etc so that is impossible so our marketed cost is pre-tax.

Oh nothing against your point as such. Being upset at price differences between countries and continents is pointless. It has to do with taxes but also logistics. It’s a numbers game and in the end it mostly depends on where you buy it. Buying it at Anet gives a certain security and convenience but it will never be the cheaper choice.

Go to websites of stores you know and you get it for less. They buy in bulk to be competitive and Anet keeps their price where it is so other suppliers buy their game in bulk to sell to the public. The internet goes across borders, shop smart.

Straylight.7529:

Gehenna.3625:

Straylight.7529:

Ragnadriel.2879:

Almost completely stopped playing due to lack of content, and now you have ensured that I will definitely not be coming back. Bye bye!

By giving you more content? The very lack thereof that made you almost stop playing?

Jeez, the logic of some people..

Except they’re not giving it. They charge the price of a full game for it. It probably has less content than a full game and they ticked existing players off by throwing the core game with it for free for new players but not giving them a discount.

Did you expect it to be free? Of course you have to pay for it.

“It probably has less content”. Yeah, you don’t know how much content it has, no one knows.

They didn’t tick me off for giving new players the core game for free. I’m actually happy for the new players. It helps the game to grow.

Of course I don’t expect it to be free. You are the one saying they’re giving content. They’re not giving it, they’re selling it. That’s all I am saying. I understand they are a company, but I also understand people feeling ripped off because of the way they handled this. It just wasn’t the smartest way to go about it.

Giland.4507:

Explodie.9428:

Okay after reading this i found out we in europe have to pay more then americans do?

Normal pack costs $50 wich is € 44.07 and we have to pay € 44.99 wich is $ 51.08 ( $1.08 more Its nothing to say about that is normal)
The deluxe version costs $75 wich is € 66.06 we have to pay € 74.99 wich is $ 85.14 ( $ 10.14 more its huge!!)
The ultimate version costs $100 wich is € 88.08 we have to pay € 99.99 wich is $ 113.53 ( $ 13.53 more, its huge)

(I’ve converted this with the status for 20-6-2015 at 00.22 GMT+01)

You cannot take converted money into account you have to take in things like how much does the average consumer make. If you make on average 8 pounds an hour and the average north American make 7 dollars an hour, we are in fact paying more. Which for most products is usually the case.

Figuring for exchange would only factor if you had to import the product which you don’t a dollar is a dollar here and a pound is a pound there.

Just for your information, he is comparing dollars to euros. Not pounds. That’s the UK only.

€ = Euro
£ = Pound

Just so you know

Straylight.7529:

Ragnadriel.2879:

Almost completely stopped playing due to lack of content, and now you have ensured that I will definitely not be coming back. Bye bye!

By giving you more content? The very lack thereof that made you almost stop playing?

Jeez, the logic of some people..

Except they’re not giving it. They charge the price of a full game for it. It probably has less content than a full game and they ticked existing players off by throwing the core game with it for free for new players but not giving them a discount.

Yeh this is the thing. If you pre-ordered somewhere else you basically got screwed over. It’s not a nice thing. They really didn’t think this over properly in my view.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

To clarify: $50 is the price of the expansion. We included the core game as a free bonus to make it easier for new players to get into it.

This is an understandable reason as such, but perhaps people would’ve felt less cheated if buying the expansion when you have a copy of the core game would be at least somewhat cheaper.

The core game is basically the larger part of the deal and that comes for free now for new players. I understand that from the developers point of view that part of the game is already paid for, but that’s not taking the customer point of view at that moment, at least your existing customer base.

The expansion, at 50 bucks, is priced on the high side. Perhaps it’s a reasonable price for the content but I cannot judge that at the moment. But it’s 50 bucks for people and it makes it harder to make a package deal where for example new players can buy the core game and expansion for say 75 bucks or something. That would deter new players.

In the end new players get to enjoy for 50 bucks what other players have to pay 100 bucks for. Personally if I really liked GW2 anywhere near as much as I liked GW1, I wouldn’t care so much because I’d see it as supporting the game in spite of a certain sense of unfairness about the whole matter. Still wouldn’t like it though. Most companies wait a while before making such package deals so people at least find it acceptable. To make such a package deal at the release of the expansions is probably the decision that made this a big deal.

Well, intentional or not, there is a reason why a lot of people are upset and I don’t think it’s strange.

Sure, games do cost less over time in general. GW2 has been kept high as it’s B2P. Nothing strange about that, but GW2 was still pricey after being out for a while compared to other games where the box price drops dramatically after one or two years at the most. Of course, if you then start selling the game much more cheaply in the wake of an expansion that is said to require the core game to play, the implication is that Anet are dropping the prices in preparation of the expansion to make it more accessible to newer players. However, if then at the last moment you decide to make the core game part of the expansion, of course people will feel tricked.

It doesn’t matter if it was intentional, planned or not. It’s a reality that no one can really deny. It really doesn’t matter if it was legal or not. It’s common sense to see that something happened here that’s not quite fair. Anet offers refunds now. It says they realise the mistake but they don’t want to cut their profits too much either so they won’t advertise it either.

What it does make me wonder is this: If the sales of the core game at reduced prices was going really well, there is no reason to add it to the expansion for free. So my guess is that those sales the last few months have not opened up the gates for a lot of new players and this is their way of fixing that unfulfilled expectation.

All in all I don’t think it was very smart of them to play it this way, but because of the B2P model my guess is that their profit margin isn’t that awesome. If that’s correct, the real question becomes, what is it worth to you to keep this game alive and well? Perhaps if you like this game you will forgive them for this in support of a game that you really like but is perhaps not as financially stable because of its business model.

Me, I don’t care so much about the price. I rarely play and I will wait because I’m sure the expansion will go down in price over time just the same and then I’ll see if it still matters. Who knows, maybe we’ll get it for free with the next expansion.

The Anet price will normally be the higher one. When they sell copies of the game to other suppliers to spread the game around, these supplies can buy in bulk and offer a lower price. If Anet however would start competing with them they would lose interest in buying the game as it won’t turn them a profit. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see other places, especially big companies, sell it for a lower price. Other smaller companies who can’t buy in bulk can still sell it for a price that’s reasonable since Anet is selling it at the SGRP themselves.

So it’s quite normal that the Anet price is where it is as such. Doesn’t mean there are no bad sites out there but the reason they can sell at low prices is bulk purchases from Anet.

Eli Stormstrike.8637:

Sounds like you’re burned out, played too much for too long, have too much spare time spent gaming GW2, and have become jaded with the game. You don’t leave however because you like GW2 and MMORPG’s, so you post on the forums hoping the devs will take notice and improve the game.

Alas, no one will care.

I suggest you take a break and when you return after a few months or a year, the game will be much more fun, as it has been for me.

Or not.

At the same time a lot of people will avoid Silverwastes because it’s not worth the effort.

RNG with low chance is the opposite of rewarding effort. The randomness will create inequality. Perhaps some people find that they don’t need real life in a fantasy game they are trying to enjoy.

Reliability, even when the road traveled is long, can motivate people.

This game is made for farming it seems. Just farm farm farm. But because there are guys like this who farm 14000 bags, they need to keep the drop rate low so they don’t flood the market even more.

That means the farming is not very interesting for a lot of players. It’s an issue created by the type of activities put in the game and a lazy reward system.

You simply have to be willing to do something mind numbly stupid for a long time. So in essence you reward people with a small chance of something as long as they are willing to blow a bunch of brain cells for it. Putting in a lot of work just to have a chance on a reward with a very small win chance….what a horrible concept.

I do not know if I should be impressed by people who manage this or just stand there with a look of shock in my eyes that people can actually bring themselves to do this.

Killthehealersffs.8940:

It would be better , to give more options to aquire the Rings+Earings+Amuelt and let the 6-piece gear to grind alot – waste a lot of gold .
If they waste their gold in the Crafting , then the Gold vs Gem ratio will be still low , for the rest of the population and not see somthing like :
‘’you need 100 gold for 100 gems’’ in the near future

Edit" Or atleast , Rings+Earings+Amuelt + 2 set pieces , are almost be extremly easy to get like exotics

I also think it would be better to have stat neutrality at level 80. Just wondering if it would upset a lot of people. The thing is they are clearly coming back to GW1 style approaches but only partially. That might not be as successful unless they completely take stat differences out of level 80 gear.

Serophous.9085:

WoW has content every three months, mostly in the form of a raid (which they time gate nowadays so players don’t burn through it) and maybe a dungeon or two or a new area. That’s the usual content update. Once in a rare while they add a new system (I think twitter is the new one now) or something else big.

Which arguably is more than some other games do if you add in the expansions but even if there are low times between expansions as you say, it hasn’t really hurt WoW since people still buy the expacs and play WoW. Just not all the time but that doesn’t seem to be a problem.

Serophous.9085:

But they have never been good with the lack of content between xpacs. What was it between MoP and WoD? A year+? Then there was the lack between wotlk and cata….

Sure and people came back and Blizzard sold millions of copies again.

Serophous.9085:

And so wait, so now “grinding” for mounts in WoW isn’t “grinding?” I could’ve sworn it was. I kept going for that tiger mount every reset and never got it. Then there was the lightsaber sword that dropped off of a rarespawn that you had to check every so often, see if it was there, pray someone else wasn’t near to steal or backstab (if on PvP), kill it, then hope RNG was good to you.

I dunno who said it wasn’t grinding but that wasn’t me. I just said that apparently plenty of people are ok with grinding as long as it feels like a reward. I get the feeling that grinding in GW2 just doesn’t feel rewarding in the end. I think the problem lies more in that corner than in the question whether or not there is grind in a game.

Serophous.9085:

I mean, if that’s the type of system we are looking for….wtf?

Well, people do tend to like the proverbial carrot. Not everybody of course but a big MMO tends to need to cater to various groups of players and not just one. Whether you call it a carrot or not, a lot of people need goals with steps and variety at the same time. There has to be a sense of direction. At the same time it should be possible to step away from that. I think GW2 lacks the former. When I leveled the characters I did a lot of it just felt senseless going from one zone to the next, and the next and the next and the next.

I prefer endgame progression now because it means I have something to strive for. It’s about gearing up but also about beating content like tricky boss fights and such and get a sense of accomplishment that way. Is everybody like that? No.

But there are a lot of people who do like that. And sorry but the boss fights in GW2 are not exactly interesting. I am sure there are exceptions but what I saw in GW2 was bosses with big HP and armour to extend the length of the fight who throw around tons of circles and having insta kill abilities. Basically dodge and ress bosses. I don’t mind a couple of bosses like that but it’s not really exciting in my book.

Maybe you really hate endgame progression in general, maybe you haven’t taken breaks so that you ended up hating it. Either way. Anet have shut the door on endgame progression beyond what there is when it comes to gear and levels. So it’s still about grinding ascended then? I dunno. It seems if they really want to bring home the no grind policy they should remove stat tiers from level 80 gear and let it all be about cosmetics, not stats.

What do you think though. Would there be an outrage if all level 80 gear would get ascended stats?

Killthehealersffs.8940:

Orrrrr , they wanted to give 2nd chance to WoW , to remember the good old times (like myself) :P

I would have to ask though….would you feel equally inclined to give WoW a second or third chance if there was not such an occasion from time to time as a new expansion?

It seems to me that expansions are key moments for people to give a game another go.

Loiterer.4235:

I applaud them as well for that and continue to make subtle jabs at Blizzard on the WoW forum as the balance cycle seems to mainly shift around the problem of the devs being determined to juggle the same set of skills in PvP and PvE.

As I mentioned, they’re not the epitome of class balance but it has to be said that I haven’t seen something as bad the GW2 ranger since pre-Zul’Gurub days when the survival hunter’s top tier skill was a DoT that did less damage than another DoT that they got at lower levels.

Lacerate / 2004 – 2005 / never forget

Arenanet did a great job by breaking up the more problematic skills into PvE and PvP versions but then I don’t know whappened. The fact that ranger pets still can’t reliably attack moving targets after three years + beta is… mindblowing.

Yeh I never liked the ranger in GW2 so haven’t played one but that does seem like a rotten situation.

But endgame surely is more than just class balance or a single class not working right or as desired.

My issue lies for example with the classes all having the same role and sharing more and more weapon types. The expansion will increase that. It makes it less interesting for me to try out different classes because they are too similar. For me alting is something I do a lot in games I play. So that’s part of my endgame approach if you will. GW2 is the first game that I could barely level 1 character to 80. I had 19 toons in GW1, I have 21 in SWTOR. Neither are perfect games but both I enjoy(ed) more than GW2 also because leveling was fun. GW1 had a lot of story for level 20. That worked fine for me. I liked how they did the missions and how you progressed over the map. It felt like you were going somewhere with all of that. The actual leveling there became less important than the progression over the maps and story.

Increased difficulty levels came with HM missions and clearing zones in HM. And there were special zones like UW, the Deep, DoA etc. that were a big deal. I think with all the stuff that does happen in GW2 it just doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere. And that feeling is important to me at least.

I think a person can be more forgiving to flaws in a game when the game itself offers what you need from it. Even if they fixed the ranger issues, whatever they all may be, I think you might find that it just clears the path to the next annoyance you haven’t dealt with. But that’s just my idea, I don’t know how you feel about that yourself.

Vayne.8563:

But there’s definitely grind there, that’s my point. And the grind there never really ends.

Oh I agree completely, but in spite of all that the game is still successful and people keep buying these expansions by the millions.

So perhaps grind itself isn’t the problem?

Vayne.8563:

There are precious few content updates between expansions. That’s why people play for three months and then subs fall off until the next expansion comes out.

But don’t make the mistake that WOW has these numbers because it’s such a great game. It is definitely an addictive game, though, I’ll give it that.

I have two sons that are subscribed to WoW again, and they’re bored already. But this happens every time an expansion comes out. They buy it. They subscribe to it. One of my sons doesn’t even like it that much but he does it anyway. He ends up not playing more than he plays…but he still subscribes.

WoW does advertise heavily and they have tons of people vested in the game for years on end, so sure, they have that advantage. But they don’t have regular content updates, trust me on that.

There’s also plenty of grind. Ask people about faction grind one day.

And yet with all of that it is the most successful MMO of all and people keep coming back.

My guess is that they do not need everybody to be playing all the time because they can afford people to come and go as they do. Clearly the game is so old that it also is not so expensive to build new content for as new games do, so it is a great money maker.

I would not be surprised if their new MMO that went by the name Titan has been delayed simply because there is no need for them to replace WoW.

I am guessing that these regular content updates that people talk about are not needed there.

Any MMO will bore most people at some point I would think. Constantly being kept busy by a game is an impossible feat unless you accept repetition and enjoy it.

I do think though that WoW has a lot more to offer than GW2, aside from whether or not you like the game and its content.

No matter the semantics of words like grind and farming, I think that for a lot of people GW2 is boring because of senseless repetition being the main activity for level 80s. I call it senseless at least.

WoW has plenty of that as well, but that little thing called progression, does make a difference for a lot of people I think.

That’s why I think that a game without endgame progression needs other meaningful activities and for me it was clear that GW2 lacks in quality alternatives for this. You seem to be enjoying the game still. That will forever remain a mystery to me

Loiterer.4235:

Blizzard isn’t the epitome of class balance but they’re doing a far better job since WOTLK than Arenanet did in this game or its prequel. (Wammo, anyone?)

The Wammo became the laughing stock at some point. The dual class system of GW1 was a rich feeding ground for imbalance but at least classes were about something and Anet did do a lot there to try to balance it. Even to the point of bringing in PvE only skills and making PvP and PvE versions of the same skill.

I always felt that giving the same skill set to PvE and PvP was a mistake in any game but I also think that imbalances fuel PvP as much as it causes frustration. There is a limit though and I know that I enjoyed PvP much more in GW1 than in GW2 when I still played. The maps like JQ and also Random Arena’s were not perfect but they were fun to do. I just never understood why GW2 didn’t build on that success. WvW wasn’t bad but it did get boring faster than I would’ve liked. That could’ve been a good one for endgame really. Maybe the new stuff will help.

I just sometimes get the feeling that the newer developers that ended up making GW2 were just scoffing at the GW1 teams and now are realising they had some pretty good ideas back then.

At some point though you reach max level and then the question is: Now what? How well that question can be answered depends on the person but also on what the game does or doesn’t provide.

Vayne.8563:

No I’m not going to argue with you that WoW’s cash shop is similar to Guild Wars 2. Because WoW makes I don’t know, $150,000,000 per month in subscription fees. They don’t update content regularly, they just sell you an expansion every couple of years. So no big content updates. You pay for the expansion. you pay for the monthly fee AND there’s a cash shop. If that doesn’t strike you as greedy, there’s absolutely nothing to talk about. On top of that:

http://www.themarysue.com/celestial-steed-world-of-warcraft/

This game is far less greedy than that game….in my opinion.

I don’t know but it seems to me that the WoW players, of which there are many and I am not one of them, are willing to fork out cash for that game.

So is Blizzard more greedy or are their customers less stingy? Apparently these players enjoy the game to the point of having no issue spending money on it even for something as a shiny horse.

And correct me if I am wrong, there are also content updates in WoW between the major expansions. Blizzard certainly knows how to make money with WoW, but I don’t think they would be successful if it was just them being greedy. Perhaps they are simply able to create an experience where people enjoy the game to the point of spending some extra cash on it. I never liked WoW but I can’t argue with those numbers and it seems to simple to just pin the pricing down to greed.

GuzziHero.2467:

A couple of times I have been tempted to make another character. I put a level 20 tome on them… then spend whatever Tomes of Knowledge I have collected on them… maybe even do some PvE play…

Then I remember the trait acquisition system, feel almost literally sick, and delete.

You know I missed all of this because I didn’t play for a while but I am getting curious to the point of playing a new character to see what all the fuss is about.

Vayne.8563:

Gehenna.3625:

Vayne.8563:

If people feel the ranger is bad enough to quit over, that is indeed their opinion. And they expressed it. I expressed a contrary opinion. Other people share my opinion. I don’t know why you have a problem with this. I didn’t say this person doesn’t have a right to his opinion, but I do believe he’s overstating his case.

Considering how many 80th level rangers I see running around, I’d have to say I’m not alone.

This is a much more balanced way of bringing your opinion. Would’ve been great if that was actually the topic here.

You do realise you were reacting to a single comment made by someone who isn’t the OP?

Sorry but your post is off topic. If this is an issue for you, why do you keep responding to me about an off topic post? Does that really make sense to you.

On topic: As far the end game game goes. it is weak for people who want challenging content. That has always been the case. Hopefully the expansion will fill that gap.

I think you care more about this game and forum than I do, so it might be more important to you to stay on topic. Do not see us as equals in this. I remember you not being happy with people going off topic in the past but I might be wrong. I just get annoyed by your way of posting till I challenge you and you finally say what you mean. I am just pointing out that you were going off topic because I thought you are the kind of person who prefers threads stay on topic here. For me that’s not so important.

But this doesn’t benefit anyone, even myself, so I will also get back on topic and leave this for what it is. You may have the final off topic comment if you need it.

GW2 has very little real challenge except fighting boredom and repetition from my experience. That’s why I quit. The content that you get to do is not very interesting and the boss fights (unless something has changed recently) were generally the dodge and ress kind, regardless of what skills or class you brought.

You look forward to what the expansion will bring. I think that means that you agree at least to some point that the current endgame is lacking in that department. But that aside, I wonder if the new expansion can actualy deliver this.

I hope for people it does, but I am not so sure it will. It will probably add some new elements to the game but will it be considered challenging and interesting for more than a month? I honestly don’t know but considering the foundation of this game and how the mechanics are, I am not expecting it.

I think the expansion is geared more towards customer retention of the existing player base and generating a spike in sales that have been goind down steadily as the financial reports have shown. An understandable move but I do hope that doing a 180 about expansions and level cap raises will help.

The only thing that does look a little interesting is that mastery thing…but it looks like just adding a few things to the game, not necessarily adding challenge to the game.