Guild Wars 2

My Attack Will Kill.7816:

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.

what about veteran players ? what do we get ‘free’ as a bonus ?

Nothing.

Shifu.4321:

Giving a discount = lying

No, that’s not a lie.

But telling people you would need the base game as well to get HoT, and selling lots of both cheap and regular priced copies of teh game based on that premise, then hours before the pre purchase is announced, throw in the base game for free and secretly changing your FAQ.

That is lying. And deceptive.

Galen Grey.4709:

piza.9310:

This would apply if I would spend as much time with the expansion. But ATM, I might get 100 – 200 hours out of this? That’s 2 – 0.25$ per hour. With the summer sale going on… let’s see. Payed 15$ for Deus exe human revolution during last summer sale. 150 hours later… let’s calculate… 0.10$…. Well then, deus exe is below the maximum amount of play I get out of my money. We’re talking about an MMO right?

we dont even know what’s in the expansion yet how exactly can you tell how much play time you can get out of it?

And they still want us to shell out $$$$ based on no information.

grayskull.2367:

this xpac is clear worth the $50 price

You base this on what exactly? They have revealed nothing of the new zones other than the beta area.

Dal.5872:

Anet has bent us over a barrel and parked it on this one.

Even a package that’s $5 less without the core game would have kept most of this at bay, but no…. You buy the core game again and we can’t even be kitten d to give you a single character slot.

You also don’t mention anywhere how much more content will be included in this expac. Will I be buying another expac and the core game for the third time over the coming months?

Anet please stop screwing your long term players on this one.

The lack of information as to how much content we are getting, whilst expecting us to shell out money, is my biggest gripe. I’d be happy to look at paying if I could see what and how much I’m getting. Don’t ask me to gamble.

Geneaux.9547:

I’ve got to get this off my chest.

-How can some of you look people in the eye and claim Arenanet is not giving you a whole lot of content(HoT specifically) when you haven’t played or experienced everything(and I mean EVERYTHING) that is this expansion offers, hmm? Do any of you have access to some leaked version of the full expansion or w/e? Enough with assumptions and back seat game development. You don’t work for Anet.
-The base expansion is $50. Ok, cool. Historically, most MMO expansions have been about $40-60. So how is this a problem? It’s because people keep equating whatever “value” the game has with games that aren’t even in the same genre: ie every game that doesn’t require an internet connection. They just don’t say it(probably because they dot understand the meaning of their words). Those games(usually) don’t ask for this level of pricing because they don’t have to continue developing content for it. People can continue to play those games well after the publisher and devs have moved on to other projects. MMOs(and MOBAs) don’t get this luxury.
-Yet naive individuals here will procrastinate on the “value” of the prices. There is no “value”. That’s a subjective emotion you make up for yourself to justify your purchase. And there’s nothing wrong with that. However, it holds not one kitten ounce of meaning as far as the quality of the expansion goes. We have reviews/reviewers for that.

The price of reason is steep.

/rant

At least we can still all agree that the real only valid argument here is that the standard edition does not come with a free character slot. As it should, at the minimum for people who bought the game very recently.

How can some of you look people in the eye and claim Arenanet is not giving you a whole lot of content(HoT specifically) when you haven’t played or experienced everything(and I mean EVERYTHING) that is this expansion offers, hmm?

That’s actually also an aggravating factor – we know sooooo little, yet they slam us with this “deal” ha!

I mean, if they had already laid out a ton of content I probably wouldn’t care, but we barely know how much and what we are getting. I don’t want to gamble thanks.

Combination NC.9813:

CureForLiving.5360:

Creativity.3816:

This is unbelievably scummy. Pretty unethical and unfair if you ask me.

Assuming they had always planned to do a bait and switch. Most likely they only recently decided to make this change.

But if they already knew, why keep the FAQ as it was? They only changed that today, and the contents of the FAQ as it looked before could very well have influenced people’s decision to by the base game, either for themselves or someone else.

Yeah. The have been lying basically. It’s not like the people who make these pricing / policy decisions woke up this morning and made this change today. They’ve effectively been profiting off of this situation since the announcement, and when the FAQ first went up.

Why didn’t they announce it then? Why do it and try to hide it?

Rashy.4165:

Linnael.1069:

Semantics. It’s false advertising. You’re naive if you think anything related to marketing and PR goes through or stays live on the internet without serious considerations.

I’m also guessing you didn’t read through the whole thread, where if you had followed the links you would have seen that the change wasn’t made until after a forum thread had been up complaining about the discrepancy for a good hour before the changes occured. I linked it once but I’ll do it again. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/From-the-Heart-of-Thorns-Q-A-Page/first#post5157198

The fact that this thread and all responses on it are timestamped hours after the presentation ended and obviously referring to the live at that point in time version of the page should make it obvious that the change was not conducted until after the discrepancy was called out and flamed, and was only conducted as a cheap response to the situation.

Also I’m seeing this thread get kind of off topic. This isn’t even really about the price. It’s about how scummy the marketing here was. Let’s keep the attention there and not get bogged down with subjectives about worth.

Alright. A discrepancy was noted, ArenaNet fixed it to reflect the change. For people who bought the game recently and feel it’s a rip-off or false-advertising (because really, those are the only people who have a right to make that claim), ArenaNet’s refund policy is very good when it comes to these situations.

I could buy it was a discrepancy if for months they hadn’t kept telling us this, and then on the day the pre purchase is announced they change it, don’t tell anyone, and then got caught out.

Just seems like they lied. You can’t seriously expect us to believe they made this decision today?

Scummy, scummy move.

Shifu.4321:

Nah, EA and Activision are literally the devil.

Remember when we all shivered at the thought of Nexon taking over? “insane cackle”

They have successfully distracted us all from the balance changes incoming next week :-D

tasha.4176:

If I buy this expansion, considering it comes with the core game, will I get a brand new game code? If so, does it connect my already existing account to the HoT or can I make an alt or give the code to a friend, to play the basic version of Gw2?

PS – Why do we have to spend 50 bucks for the core game and expansion? The original Gw2 has way more content than the expansion gives and I don’t really think it’s worth 50 dollars. Were pretty much paying 50 bucks for a couple maps and guild halls, am I right?

No. Basically the ‘free’ base game is worthless to current players. Only new players / accounts benefit from this.

It’s been terribly marketed, quite aside from being a bad deal.

jesters.9406:

Completely agree.

If the purchase page had started with $50 that includes HoT and 1 Character Slot, by the time I’d read along the options and got to the Ultimate edition I’d be like “YES ANET TAKE MY MONEY! GIMME THOSE EXTRAS AND THE GEM DISCOUNT” because it would actually feel like a really, really good and exciting deal. But as things stand, I’m feeling the complete opposite. And I say that after being hyped as all get out for HoT since it was announced at PAX.

I’m not adverse to spending money on this franchise—I had two GW1 accounts which both got kitted out with Factions, Nightfall and EotN (some of which Collectors editions) on the release day of each. But to a long term player, not just of GW2 but of the series, this is an incredibly disappointing move and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

anet pls

It’s a giantkittenand slap in the face. Whoever was responsible for dreaming up this marketing plan should be given a kick.

Batelle.1680:

Anet posted on reddit that they will offer a HoT upgrade for players who just bought the base game. I don’t know what the parameters on those orders are, but it’s something they are doing.

They’ll have to offer that deal to every single person who bought the game after HoT was announced then – because that’s when they made the claims about the base game and needing it for HoT.

And then today, tried to change the FAQ without any of us noticing. Scummy move.

Gray.9041:

Zakard.6743:

you are not buying the game twice……the expension price is 50$ but for someone who dont have the core game aleady they get it for free as a bonus.its a way to attract new comer.this game have no sub fee and have been out for what,2-3 year already?a sub fee game would have cost you like 5-6 time more then this game so far. this expension is a bit more expensive then other game like ff14 or wow because those game have a sub fee….expension is the way to make $ for buy to play game and it still end up dirt cheap compared to most hight quality mmorpg (sub fee)

oh, sweet, then I can buy this, and use the free copy of the base game as an alt.

oh wait. if the base game was an additional item, then it’d come as a separate key which could be passed on or used as an alt. this doesn’t.

Yeah, they really should stop trying to sell this as a “bonus” – it’s basically nothing.

Crise.9401:

Jordo.5913:

Shifu.4321:

To put it into perspective, the cost of HoT is equivalent to 3 unlimited harvesting tools, 1 outfit, and 1 hairstyle kit.

Think about that.

HoT is going to have less story, less maps, no dungeons, and about 1/3 of the original games total content.

Yet, costs the same amount of money as the original game at launch.

Think about that.

Original game was 59,99 at launch as far as I recall… and where is your source on that estimation of content in HoT we know next to nothing about the extent of PvE content at this point.

we know next to nothing about the extent of PvE content at this point

And that in itself is a HUGE problem. They want us to buy into this not great deal, yet have told us barely anything about it. It’s basically gambling.

Arioso.8519:

Yup, that’ll do it. I can’t try out the new revenant without canning one of my existing characters.

So to try out one of the major features of the expansion, I need to spend ANOTHER $10, making it $60.

Also, to add on to your math, it’s a more economically sound decision to simply NOT upgrade my account, and get a second one for HoT, giving us FIVE more character slots and keeping our old account as alts for playing base content.

That’s a good point.

Tao.1234:

I cba about Copywrite, their free core kittenz etc.

But I want to know if HoT will be available for Gems.

They’ve already said no to that. Real money only.

But what am I getting for “Free” – NOTHING. That’s what. I don’t want or need something I can’t use, so don’t try and con me into believing it’s a “bonus”.

Keep your free thing, and give us already current players something we can actually use.

Let us use the “free” extra copy of the base game to do with as we please (give to friends or use ourselves), or give us a character slot. Or HoT is slightly cheaper.

It’s like they went out of their way to choose the worst option and give us the middle finger -_-

nods pretty much this.

Yeah, I need more info. I ain’t shelling out $$$$ based on what they’ve ‘promised’ , but not shown, so far.

Nibi.3572:

I seriously don’t understand why the core game comes with it

at least let me give the core game i just now got again to a friend

Or let us have it as an extra copy, that we can use ourselves or give to friends.

TexZero.7910:

Tirien.1326:

TexZero.7910:

Zplus.4217:

TexZero.7910:

Markhov.4603:

To end this issue, they should come up with Upgrade pack from core game for existing GW2 players, cost $29.99. Case closed.

Pretty much.

Or give them the value of what they paid for the base game against the current value of the HoT bundle.

The $50 price tag IS for the upgrade, you guys need to get that fact into your heads.

Good sir, I already own the base game why would i pay for it TWICE.

While this pre-order may contain an upgrade it also contains a product i already own as part of the sale price. Meaning that i am effectively missing another product if i purchase as is currently bundled.

Get that through your head.

It’s just a bonus, it’s not actually added to the price, it’s a bonus. You ask why you should pay for the same thing twice, well, you don’t. Simple and easy.

You can call it a bonus, i’ll call it what it is a bundle.

The cost is calculated with HoT and the Core game. Hence you’re getting the core game at no cost when you buy it.

But if we already own it what we are getting is just HoT. The so called “Bonus” becomes obsolete the moment you link HoT to an existing account. No “base game”.

So why would anyone pay twice to get half the product ?
Fandom aside, while im likely to still buy it, i find this leaving an overall sour taste in my mouth.

It’s not a bonus – what bonus do I get. NOTHING.

Markhov.4603:

To end this issue, they should come up with Upgrade pack from core game for existing GW2 players, cost $29.99. Case closed.

Yep.

Pockets.3201:

Its never a good time to try ESO.

lol

Xillllix.3485:

Honestly at that price I almost regret pre-ordering it. They better deliver.

You are basically gambling, especially given their recent decisions. I can live without Beta, and Rytlock mini – don’t like Rytlock anyway. Yes, blasphemy I know! :-P

I need more info than we’ve seen – about actual content and zones. The volume of content. Not hype, and that we can get to 1500 condition stacks.

Show me HoT is worth all this money ANet. I’ll wait till near launch otherwise – and no characters slot? Really? blerg.

As a side note, as we are not getting a free character slot, they could at least let us use the extra base game for friends or something.

HawkMeister.4758:

So to get new players old ones need to be screwed over?

Yes. They already have our money.

I agree. If they could lay out a huge amount of content that’s incoming it would help justify the silly pricing. As it is, it just promises and give us your money.

Torsailr.8456:

It’s already stated in the FAQ that you can only buy the expansion with cash. No gems.

Well, it also stated in the FAQ, up until about 2 hours ago, that you needed to have already bought GW2 base game to play HoT – but they changed that and thought no one would notice. FAQ isn’t worth the pixels it appears on.

Kentaine.4692:

Stark.1350:

Rabidd.9458:

Save your money and buy Witcher 3. THAT game is worth $50, and you get to play it now.

Yes, pay $50 for a game that actually ends after, what.. 60 hours?

How many thousands of hours have you gotten out of GW2?

I paid $40 bucks for spore… I’ve probably played that as much as GW2 to be honest and its expansion was $20 and added about as much content as I’m expecting in GW2 by what I’ve seen thus far. Sure it was buggy as hell, and did very little to appease the Spore veterans but that’s what HoT is looking like and Spore’s servers (still going mind you) are emptier than Bloodstone Fen in GW1.

Then again, I’m more of a casual and not a farmer so I haven’t even logged 1,500 hours yet in three years.

$60 is what I pay for the full game. And GW2 came with 5 character slots, a massive continent, and a functioning gem store (that a lot of people have obviously been paying into otherwise GW2 would have gone under two years ago)… a character slot is $10, so why am I not getting even ONE character slot with less than a quarter the content that GW2’s core had? Why is ANYONE okay with this?

Yeah, not even one character slot is appalling.

In short. No it isn’t. But they have you over a barrel if you want to experience the new content -_-

Yeah, you could do this. But all your progress will be on the account without HoT – only the new account would have HoT.

I don’t mind paying for xpacs, but this is really bad.

Unless HoT has a huge amount of content and we just haven’t been told about it.

People who bought the game AFTER HoT was announced should all be offered full refunds, or a free upgrade, surely?

ANet specifically stated you already needed to have the base game, as noted in the FAQ (which has just been edited), and purchases were made based on that. They were mislead, were the not?

They could just have waited, and bought now.

People who purchased the game after HoT was announced are basically paying double. Full price over the last few months, and now another $50 for even the cheapest version.

Ashen.2907:

Zoul.1087:

There are people who bought the game 2+ hours ago who basically now have to pay $90.

Isn’t that well within Anet’s refund policy ?

What about the couple of mates I got to buy it several months back, and start playing, when ANet specifically stated you needed to have the base game first.

Then in like the last hour or two edited thier FAQ to remove this? They are up for another $50, or more if they want goodies.

DeceiverX.8361:

The $50 fee includes a key to the base game, which is what, $40?

Probably a $10-20 expansion as an upgrade. They’ve only released the info for new account packages.

So let me buy the xpac for $20-30. I already have the base game.

They are basically trying to sell it as a whole new, extra game. As giving less stuff. Lol

This is just greed, pure and simple.

Pockets.3201:

They are asking us to pay just about the same price as the base game was on release, for a fraction of the content.

This!

We were explicitly told it was necessary to have the base game already, and now they are chucking it in free?

And then, in the last few hours, changed the FAQ and hoped no one would notice?

Way back machine and the Internet never forget.

And no free character slot for the $50 version. Ummm, no. Not buying. This is just greedy.

Additional: can some of my friends who I convinced to play, and bought copies because they were told they needed it for HoT get refunds, and buy this new version instead?

They should fire whoever was responsible for the Ranger changes. Or at least replace them with someone who actually understands the class. They are absolutely appalling.

aspirine.6852:

Dragonseason? What is that exactly?

It’s a fan website.

Guild Mag have now posted a full PDF of the changes as well:

http://www.guildmag.com/release-notes-preview-june-23-2015/

This seems to be official, yeah?

Ayrilana.1396:

The last I heard it was 400 HP for getting to 80,

Yea, and you need to do 65 hero things, or skill challenges. But, i find it all very confusing too. Just have to wait to see how it works out I guess.

Re these patch notes on Dragonseason – Guild Mag have also confirmed they received them from official ANet sources.

Mods, can we please discuss them now?

“GuildMag received the same patch notes – we haven’t done anything with them yet. The email seems legitimate.”

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3a1bux/threads_referencing_the_notes_from_dragon_season/cs8d4rl

My Ranger class has been destroyed. sobs

Broom.2561:

khani.4786:

mistsim.2748:

MashMash.1645:

Arnath.2319:

Guardians got nerfed.

The devs proving once again that they hate Guardians. We are now officially the most broken profession in this game.

lol. have you not heard of ranger? we have just been shot in the head. ugh (It’s just as well love my ranger regardless of the crappy changes they’ve made).

rangers were buffed in too many ways to list here.

I can no longer instantly heal and clear conditions with healing spring.

My traps have to be placed at my feet and I cannot place them right where I want them. I’m less concerned about the arming timer for the old traps…but my heal? when I hit heal I want to heal not wait 1/2 a second and hope I’m not dead by the time my healing spring is ready for me.

So now I have to use a different heal skill because when I hit heal I better get a heal right then not some time later and hope I’m in the same spot when I hit that heal.

Because I have to change my heal I’m losing condition cleanse. Why isn’t there a survival skill for condi clear? Seems like that should be a basic survival skill…

I don’t use spirits because they were a pain to use and I don’t plan on using spirits still.
I loved traps for the extra AoE damage fields but I can’t put them where I want anymore.

How is this better?

And again are Rangers the only ones getting stuck with an arming timer on traps? Shouldn’t all traps in the game work the same?

Actually, I took one look at the ranger changes, and logged out. With a headache. Which is completely related.

/rangermainsinceclosedbeta

I’m seriously considering ditching playing my Ranger, and I’ve played her since…. forever. Might try a revenant.

This is just horrible.

Arnath.2319:

Guardians got nerfed.

The devs proving once again that they hate Guardians. We are now officially the most broken profession in this game.

lol. have you not heard of ranger? we have just been shot in the head. ugh (It’s just as well love my ranger regardless of the crappy changes they’ve made).

I get this sometimes too. I was told it’s because you don’t attack the veteran wurms enough. Not sure if it’s a myth, but I have heard commanders mention this, and other players also, and they make time for it in the fight to allow everyone to attack a bunch of them, and clearing them helps too of course.