I played GW2 from Beta to about 2 years out, then I switched to WOW and never looked back.

After 2 years and many updates, it was clear Arena Nets idea of MMO content and mine did not match, endless required jumping puzzles and sections. Frequent cheesy carnival mini games that were required to get better gear or items after a grind. The community was very elitist and running dungeons or "fractals" was always an exercise in "your not the right class or build".

The only thing I thought that GW2 did well was World VS Word pvp, which they seemed to always treat with benign neglect. Every month there were new jumping puzzles and mini games, but tweaks and improvement to WVW were few and far between. I seen nothing in the new release that looks like they have changed their proclivities, so no way am I sending them any cash for this expansion.

After 4 years combined GW2 and WOW, I only run dungeons to level in WOW. The LFR system just works. And the dungeons are fun and challenging, especially when you get dropped into one where your at the minimum level to enter.

Mac wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 17:06:
But this is business ... they know the people who have been there from the beginning will buy it, so charge as much as you can ...

Not necessarily. I've been with GW2 since beta but I didn't buy the expansion. Like some others upthread, I'll consider it when it's $10 or so.

El Pit wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 10:21:
ArenaNet: "Thank you, Guild Wars 2 veterans for your money when you bought the base game! And here is our middle finger to you! We'll give the base game FOR FREE to our new fans! And we won't even offer a rebate on the expansion to our veterans. How do you like that?"

Me: "Easy. I won't buy your expansions. How do you like that?"

LOL

Dumbest thing I've ever read. When I buy a new release blu-ray I don't go bitching to the store when they lower the price 3 goddamn years later.

Vall Forran wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 12:14:

El Pit wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 10:21:
ArenaNet: "Thank you, Guild Wars 2 veterans for your money when you bought the base game! And here is our middle finger to you! We'll give the base game FOR FREE to our new fans! And we won't even offer a rebate on the expansion to our veterans. How do you like that?"

Me: "Easy. I won't buy your expansions. How do you like that?"

Because paying $50 for a game with free content included with no sub fee -- not to mention it's been out for 3.5 years -- isn't value enough?

Thing is pretty much noone played it that way. Even I paid $100 additionally to the $50 the game cost, albeit I only played it like 1 year combined. Thats pretty much like a subscription game.
I know people who have spent $500 or more, who have played 3 years. Yet I dont have a problem with that. ANets approach is very good, its a good game and they deserve at least as much as a normal subscription of $15 a month would pay. Its just that your argument is irrelevant because of this fact.

This is one of the coolest games I never play. It's an awesome game. I just don't have the drive to play MMOs any more. If I did I would be all over it and buying the expansion.

Wallshadows wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 17:37:
This game really fell off my radar. The Sylvari and their lore is awful and Jungle zones are cancer, in my opinion.

I'll pick it up when it hits $10.

Translation, "This cake tastes like absolute shit. The frosting is weak. The plates they serve this cake on look like they were made from the bladders of rotting seal carcasses!"

"I'll just wait an hour before having a piece."

El Pit wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 16:44:

Whatever. As I said before: no thank you to you loyal player base is in my opinion a very bad move. Would it have hurt them big time to say "Guys, you stayed with us from the beginning, here's $5 off from the expansion for you"? But the only guys who got a present is EVERYBODY ELSE but the veterans. Is it really so difficult for a lot of you talking about "entitlement" to understand that it would have been the right move to show some gratitude to people that supported you from the beta?

But to each their own. I cannot and will not accept such a behavior and will therefore no longer buy anything with ArenaNet on it. Hey, I might be one of the lucky guys and - after the release of the next expansion - might get this one for free.

Everyone that bought the game before August 29th got this for free AS a thank you to their core players. Free accounts did not. An otherwise what would have been an 800 gem ($10USD) outfit for free.

Royal Guard Outfit

But hey, they probably should have bowed before us and kissed our feet too. /s

This game really fell off my radar. The Sylvari and their lore is awful and Jungle zones are cancer, in my opinion.

I'll pick it up when it hits $10.

I think their economics are doing just fine.

El Pit wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 16:44:

AngelicPenguin wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 16:33:
I don't know much about GW2, but if the game doesn't have a subscription, why would they have to thank you for anything? You paid for a game, and got a game - isn't that all there is to it?

If you had been paying a monthly subscription, then I sort of get it, but with the way the game is now, it doesn't make any sense to me.

Man, I really hit a nerve there for some people.

Whatever. As I said before: no thank you to you loyal player base is in my opinion a very bad move. Would it have hurt them big time to say "Guys, you stayed with us from the beginning, here's $5 off from the expansion for you"? But the only guys who got a present is EVERYBODY ELSE but the veterans. Is it really so difficult for a lot of you talking about "entitlement" to understand that it would have been the right move to show some gratitude to people that supported you from the beta?

But to each their own. I cannot and will not accept such a behavior and will therefore no longer buy anything with ArenaNet on it. Hey, I might be one of the lucky guys and - after the release of the next expansion - might get this one for free.

But this is business ... they know the people who have been there from the beginning will buy it, so charge as much as you can ...

People who haven't been there from the off will need more encouragement to part with their £££ ...

Economics 101 ...

Yet you spent 70 hours on it. Call of Duty charges you $60 for a 4 hour campaign, plus multiplayer.

It's fine if it's not your type of game. But, seriously, no one in their right mind can say this game doesn't have content worth $50. If you can't see that, well...impasse.

I picked up this game 3 weeks ago and invested about 70 hours into it.

The pvp is alright and I've been spending time leveling in PVE and doing pvp.

But I don't feel like going home tonight and playing it. I don't get why its so crazily appraised. It's a pretty princess dress up game with WoW style pvp.

AngelicPenguin wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 16:33:
I don't know much about GW2, but if the game doesn't have a subscription, why would they have to thank you for anything? You paid for a game, and got a game - isn't that all there is to it?

If you had been paying a monthly subscription, then I sort of get it, but with the way the game is now, it doesn't make any sense to me.

Man, I really hit a nerve there for some people.

Whatever. As I said before: no thank you to you loyal player base is in my opinion a very bad move. Would it have hurt them big time to say "Guys, you stayed with us from the beginning, here's $5 off from the expansion for you"? But the only guys who got a present is EVERYBODY ELSE but the veterans. Is it really so difficult for a lot of you talking about "entitlement" to understand that it would have been the right move to show some gratitude to people that supported you from the beta?

But to each their own. I cannot and will not accept such a behavior and will therefore no longer buy anything with ArenaNet on it. Hey, I might be one of the lucky guys and - after the release of the next expansion - might get this one for free.

El Pit wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 13:43:

HorrorScope wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 13:00:
Gaming Law:
If you buy early, expect to pay more. If you wait, expect to pay less.

I know! But pay less does not mean get it for free. Then again, I could agree if they gave the base game for free as long as they would in a way honor the support of those who paid for the game that they're giving away for free by offering their loyal player base a rebate on the expansion. But the veterans get NOTHING, the newbies get a complete free game. And this is plain WRONG. Oh my, whatever. Won't look back and have plenty of other games to play. ArenaNet is now on my shit list - no more money from me. That's the only message they understand. I can wait till they offer the expansion for free.

I don't know much about GW2, but if the game doesn't have a subscription, why would they have to thank you for anything? You paid for a game, and got a game - isn't that all there is to it?

If you had been paying a monthly subscription, then I sort of get it, but with the way the game is now, it doesn't make any sense to me.

BitWraith wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 12:22:
I think The Secret World is B2P. You could argue whether it's a major MMO or not.

I believe you're right. I was focusing on well-known MMOs that launched on day 1 as B2P instead of transforming into B2P or F2P at a later date after launch.

El Pit wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 10:21:
ArenaNet: "Thank you, Guild Wars 2 veterans for your money when you bought the base game! And here is our middle finger to you! We'll give the base game FOR FREE to our new fans! And we won't even offer a rebate on the expansion to our veterans. How do you like that?"

Me: "Easy. I won't buy your expansions. How do you like that?"

You realize that the base FREE game has limitations, right? To get rid of those limitations people need to buy the expansion...or buy the base game (but that would be a waste).

Do you not want them to attract more people that might not have otherwised purchased?

After it went free, I gave the game a shot and considered buying Heart of Thorns. I may still, but not sure I'd actually play it much.

Bill Borre wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 12:24:
I'm with Kxmode on this one. I've gotten waaay more entertainment value playing GW2 than the fifty bucks I spent on it. I like exploration, so just climbing up to the various Views and checking out all the hard work and polish that went into this game is worth the fifty bucks alone.

Same here. I was used to playing Japanese MMOs, so GW2 felt like being on vacation. So much fun. And I too really enjoyed getting world completion, seeing every last corner of every single zone.

Only problem was, after a year I had pretty much beaten the game - had my Ascended stuff, Legendary weapon and so on. At that point I had nothing else left to do. A shame the expansion wasn't out then, really.

El Pit wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 13:43:

HorrorScope wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 13:00:
Gaming Law:
If you buy early, expect to pay more. If you wait, expect to pay less.

I know! But pay less does not mean get it for free. Then again, I could agree if they gave the base game for free as long as they would in a way honor the support of those who paid for the game that they're giving away for free by offering their loyal player base a rebate on the expansion. But the veterans get NOTHING, the newbies get a complete free game. And this is plain WRONG. Oh my, whatever. Won't look back and have plenty of other games to play. ArenaNet is now on my shit list - no more money from me. That's the only message they understand. I can wait till they offer the expansion for free.

Entitlement always leads to butthurt when the real world comes knocking.

Primalchrome wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 12:55:

El Pit wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 10:21:
ArenaNet: "Thank you, Guild Wars 2 veterans for your money when you bought the base game! We hope you've enjoyed the years of play that came with that purchase. We would like to expand the world, so we're offering an expansion for a reasonable amount of money. In the hopes that you can get your friends involved, we won't punish new players with an obscene entry level fee of $100."

Me: "Easy. I won't buy your expansions. How do you like that?"

There, fixed that for you..... Yeesh, talk about American Entitlement at it's finest.

Well said, but on the flipside, I do think it's kinda weird they didn't offer, say, 10 bucks off for existing veterans.

El Pit wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 13:43:

HorrorScope wrote on Oct 23, 2015, 13:00:
Gaming Law:
If you buy early, expect to pay more. If you wait, expect to pay less.

I know! But pay less does not mean get it for free. Then again, I could agree if they gave the base game for free as long as they would in a way honor the support of those who paid for the game that they're giving away for free by offering their loyal player base a rebate on the expansion. But the veterans get NOTHING, the newbies get a complete free game. And this is plain WRONG. Oh my, whatever. Won't look back and have plenty of other games to play. ArenaNet is now on my shit list - no more money from me. That's the only message they understand. I can wait till they offer the expansion for free.

If they do anything, what I would like to see happen is some kind of thank you gift to the people who paid for the original game. Perhaps a unique title, outfit, armor or weapon skin. A unique mini pet. A gift of Black Lion keys which the game gives you almost no way to get hold of short of spending cash (seriously, I have over 500 chests, and have used about 20-25 keys). Some or all of the above. That way the vets feel more appreciated, and have an additional way to lord their e-penis over everyone else. Which is what drives 90% of MMO participation anyway.