Guild Wars 4th Anniversary - Content Update

[WarBlade]

Regina commented on her talk page about the cost of the Xunlai panes...

In determining the price point for the storage panes, we discussed what people in various departments thought would be a balance between making enough to cover our costs, keeping the price low enough that it doesn't alienate a large number of players, and setting a price that was commensurate with the amount of work and resources we put into developing this feature. We have to charge a minimum of $5 USD in order to recoup the base costs of a transaction. We understand that not everyone will be happy with the $9.99 price tag, and we're aware that people are advocating for simply purchasing additional accounts to achieve similar results as an alternative to purchasing storage panes. There was a consensus on the $9.99 figure as balancing out all of the considerations I mentioned above, so this is why it was chosen. Again, I know that knowing why we chose the figure may not necessarily make anyone happier about it. --Regina Buenaobra

[FoxBat]

If it costs them $5 to make a storage pane, they must have taken huge losses selling full campaigns for only $50.

Well, whatever. They know they'll make money at $10, and they'll probably do a half off sale around christmas to get anyone else.

[Lurker Wyrm]

If it costs them $5 to make a storage pane, they must have taken huge losses selling full campaigns for only $50.

I think the "$5 minimum to recoup transaction costs" means that's what they have to pay out to NC (parent) and other companies (i.e. paying for credit card processing, etc.). Doesn't really make sense though, you'd figure if they had to pay $5 for every transaction they would find something that worked, well, better.

Interesting guess. Not only is it flat out wrong, it's just plain silly.

Yeah, because no one in the history of the computer gaming industry has ever done that before. It's not like they went out of their way to tell us that they wouldn't be adding more storage with GW:EN or anything.

Yeah, well they should do a lot of things, but when it takes a month to work one new quest into the game maybe people could be a little supportive about the few improvements we do get.

Oh, I get it, how silly of me. I forgot we live in the age where our standards are supposed to be set so low that everytime we get scraps from the table we should be jumping for joy.

[WarBlade]

...An age where demanding a whole meal from said table would mean demanding a lengthy halt of production on Guild Wars 2. No, I'm just in favour of giving credit where credit is due and with the Guild Wars Live team being so small I count myself lucky to get any content updates at all.

[KingOfPain]

I forgot we live in the age where our standards are supposed to be set so low that everytime we get scraps from the table we should be jumping for joy.

That is quite a disturbing trend among gamers, who, would otherwise expect (and rightly so) a bug free polished product at release with any other software.

KoP

[Lurker Wyrm]

That is quite a disturbing trend among gamers, who, would otherwise expect (and rightly so) a bug free polished product at release with any other software.

KoP

Well, I'm not naive enough to expect a pefect product at release; I know there are quite a few bugs that will get through no matter how long your QA team works on something. I think the big problem I'm having with GW and ANet/NCWest started way back when the original game was released. There were 6 character classes and you only got 4 character slots. With each new chapter you got 2 extra character slots, along with 2 new classes (3 with the NF pre-order), which means that, at most, you get 9 character slots with 10 classes, meaning you would need 10 slots to get everything out of the game that you wanted, 11+ if you wantd to have dedicated PvP character slots (like I do). To me this just doesn't make sense.

Additionally, they've released new content (GoTY weapons, BMP, etc.) through the online store at a nominal fee, along with character slots and unlock packs. This is especially irritating to me, because I'd like to play through the BMP missions and have more char slots, but 1) I don't intend to make use of the in-game store and 2) I bought all 3 Collector's Editions of the games when they came out and at $70+ each, plus $30 for GW:EN (got it on sale), that's $240 I've already spent on this game. Do I regret those decisions? No. I knew what I was getting myself into. But, now, if I want to have the BMP and 2 more char slots AND the 4 extra storage panes, that's another $70, totalling $310. Really, if I had known I would be spending this much money on 1 game, I probably would have gone instead with something like LotR online and bought the Founder's club lifetime subscription.

If they were to offer a retail option (i.e. something I could buy off Amazon or at Best Buy) called an account upgrade package or something that included 2 character slots, the BMP, and storage panes for $30 or so (if you go back to their math about a minimum charge of $5 for everything) that ends up at a price that's a bit more reasonable. But, like I said, with all these micro-payment options they keep coming up with to keep the game going, I have to wonder how much longer until they start selling crafting materials and other "prestige armor" sets or "special minis" through the online store, since it feels as though this game is moving in the same direction as all those other free MMOs that are supported by a cash shop.

In any case, I don't need more storage panes (though they would be nice with all these tonics and crap they keep adding to the game) so I won't be buying them, nor do I have any intention (at this time) of putting any more money into this game.

[WarBlade]

But, like I said, with all these micro-payment options they keep coming up with

"Options." Man, I enjoy seeing that word pop up in rant posts about Guild Wars pricing. It's almost as good as seeing the word, "need," completely blow a wall of text into the realms of absurdity.

[Lurker Wyrm]

Well, the free pane is actually free. Click for details.

You can now buy an item to change you char's appearance and even gender, as well as a purchase to change their name. So... why did I pay money for GW in the first place when obviously ANet wants it to be a Cash Shop game?

[FoxBat]

. So... why did I pay money for GW in the first place when obviously ANet wants it to be a Cash Shop game?

So you can pay twice, duh.

They've already decided they didn't like doing the "constant big expansion" model - so they are probably look for more of this sort of thing in GW2. The big question is whether they'd take the dive into selling grind shortcuts like super items and so forth as every Korean game does.

Also at this point, most of the new additions are things only experienced players (who have no more campaigns to buy) would appreciate - they do need some internal justification for pouring development resources into a "dead" game. Not that the prices are anywhere near reasonable, but as digital content they can afford to target the luxury market.

[Seijin]

Well, the free pane is actually free. Click for details.

Yeah, its free for sure, but I just had a WTF moment. OK, aside from the stupid NCsoft site being ridiculously slow, I'm having a problem adding the anniversary pane to more than one account.

So, I was able to add the pane to my main account. But I do have 3 other accounts as well, 2 of which are also linked to the same NCsoft master account or whatever they want to call it. I don't know if anyone else had this issue come up, but when I try to add the free pane to a different GW account that is on the same NCsoft account, it won't let me do it.

According to the link Wyrm posted, when looking at the FAQ, they specifically state that "This promotion is limited to one pane of storage per Guild Wars account. The player must use the NCsoft Store and must associate a Guild Wars account with an NCsoft Master Account in order to redeem the free pane of storage." I'm hoping this is only a problem because of the amount of traffic going through the site, but if not, I'm going to be pissed.

Oh ya, and those copper coins for doing the zaishen challenges still can't be put into storage, even though I read somewhere that they could be put there...I hope they fix that.