PvP Unlocks available to buy from Online Store

[FoxBat]

"Currently" you do have to own prophecies before purchasing the unlock pack, or so Gaile said on GWGuru. This could make some semblance of sense if you could buy the skills without the campaign, but that simply isn't the case.

What about those of us who are FAR from rich, and simply don't have the TIME and ENERGY to endlessly (and boringly) grind for faction, quests, captures, etc. for any class (let alone all of them) because we're too busy working? Is it so wrong for us, people like ME, to drop a couple of our hard-earned dollars on a game to give us the same advantage those who DO have the luxury of time (and yes, time is a luxury, just as much as money is) have? What's so wrong about that?

I don't blame players for taking advantage of this option. I blame ANET for making said players pay for it. PvP unlocking of skills is just too slow. If we started with elites costing 1500 and regulars 250 we'd have something more reasonable IMO, considering the rune/mod upgrade prices. Something just strikes me as being very wrong if the grind, which Anet arbitrarily created, is so bad, that they are going to sell the complete elimination of it, rather than mitigating the horrible grind. People who moan about the rich UAXed kid getting all the skills without any of the work, should really be questioning whether UAXing without paying should feel like work in the first place. A "UAXd PVP-only" tournament edition of GW chapters might make sense: paying $40 on top of the original game doesn't. It's unfortunate ANet almost has a monopoly on this style of competitive play, because that's the only reason anyone would put up with, or even request, that kind of BS.

You might want to take a look at the updated pre-mades before plunking down the cash, they've been replaced with standard actually competitive builds instead of crap like the paladin and spellslasher. You can easily carve up arenas or even GvG with some of the existing builds or with minor tweaking.

[WarBlade]

So has anyone confirmed either way whether this requires you to own Prophecies in order to purchase the skills? If it does, then yeah it's stupid.

It's the stupid version... if I understand you correctly.

If you buy the 6-profession UAS and only own Factions you'll recieve all the core skills for those 6 professions, but will be unable to access the Prophesies-only skills because you don't have Prophesies. That's assuming you can actually buy it at all, which I'm not sure about (and don't think you can).

What about those of us who are FAR from rich, and simply don't have the TIME and ENERGY to endlessly (and boringly) grind for faction, quests, captures, etc. for any class (let alone all of them) because we're too busy working? Is it so wrong for us, people like ME, to drop a couple of our hard-earned dollars on a game to give us the same advantage those who DO have the luxury of time (and yes, time is a luxury, just as much as money is) have? What's so wrong about that?

IMO nothing. The problem is more that the PvP community have had a very mixed opinion about the whole "grind Faction and/or PvE gaming for skill unlocks" thing for a long time. Many of them hold the view that it has been a horribly broken feature from the outset. Two installments on and a third near at hand, these people have developed quite a grudge on the subject, then Arena/Net puts a related product up for sale and BLAM! The powderkeg explodes.

[KingOfPain]

Nod, that is what I am saying all along. Skills and mods are tools you need to PvP, just as much as the game's user interface. All PvP characters should be UAX, FREE.

KoP

[Lurker Wyrm]

I wouldn't be surprised if Zaishen Medallions and Flames of Balthazar made a return; those sped things up. Several people managed to unlock everything that was available for the Dervish and Paragon during the weekend event thanks to those things.

[Roland]

PvP unlocking of skills is just too slow. If we started with elites costing 1500 and regulars 250 we'd have something more reasonable IMO, considering the rune/mod upgrade prices. Something just strikes me as being very wrong if the grind, which Anet arbitrarily created, is so bad, that they are going to sell the complete elimination of it, rather than mitigating the horrible grind.

I would tend to agree, although maybe 500 / 1500 would be a bit better. Keep things more balanced.

You might want to take a look at the updated pre-mades before plunking down the cash, they've been replaced with standard actually competitive builds instead of crap like the paladin and spellslasher. You can easily carve up arenas or even GvG with some of the existing builds or with minor tweaking.

Thanks for the tip! I'll be sure to do that.

[Swiss Mercenary]

I understand where those of you against this are coming from, but please, for ONE moment, pull your head out of your cynical (and perhaps rightly so) rear and look at the OTHER side of the coin. There are those of us who this is designed for who won't abuse the system, and instead embrace it for filling a very large hole in our gaming. I happen to be one of those.

But here's the deal.

What I'm arguing, is that it is ridicilous to charge people like you 40$, to eliminate the grind which shouldn't have been there in the first place!

Instead of fixing the problem - unlock rates, this is A.Net's idea of a solution (Pay us 40$, and we'll 'fix' it for you).

When the solutions to the problem range from changing a few numbers to re-implementing existing functionality... Charging money for that kind of patch is ridicilous.

[Roland]

But here's the deal.

What I'm arguing, is that it is ridicilous to charge people like you 40$, to eliminate the grind which shouldn't have been there in the first place!

Instead of fixing the problem - unlock rates, this is A.Net's idea of a solution (Pay us 40$, and we'll 'fix' it for you).

When the solutions to the problem range from changing a few numbers to re-implementing existing functionality... Charging money for that kind of patch is ridicilous.

You know, I hadn't really thought of that much until reading further in the thread after my original post. I completely agree with you though. I don't mind A grind so much as that much of one. But, c'est la vie, as they say. If they change it, I'll be happy. For now, I'll save my money.

[FoxBat]

Well, thanks to universal bitching, seems Anet is gonna

A) allow chapter unlock packs to work regardless of whether you own the chapter or not

b) remove class unlock packs (since they want you to pay $40 for access to skills from a chapter you might not own)

c) come out with unlock packs one expansion behind the current one

Which I guess is somewhat reasonable. You know they are still going to soak up money from rich people who own the chapters and want to kill grind, but at least it can also serve a legitimate purpose of catching up newcomers on the PvP scene. The real rub is if they will ever improve the unlock rate with some of those experimental medallions or such.

Unfortunately I still need to keep my precious time. (Then again, if factions PvE sucked as much as people claim, it might not be too time-consuming... oi voice of the devil )

[Roland]

A) allow chapter unlock packs to work regardless of whether you own the chapter or not

b) remove class unlock packs (since they want you to pay $40 for access to skills from a chapter you might not own)

c) come out with unlock packs one expansion behind the current one

A) sounds interesting to me. Not quite sure how to feel about it, but I suppose it makes sense, especially given the wants of the masses. If you own Factions but not Prophecies, this will allow you to be more competitive in PvP, at least on the skills side. That's always a good thing.

As for b), well... Personally, I think it sucks. :P I like the idea of being able to pick and choose. Why would I order everything on the menu when all I want is a salad? :P Granted, I was thinking of doing the whole pack, simply because I have enough characters to unlock that I would have spent the $40 anyway on individual characters, but what if someone only wanted to play, say, Necromancers and Elementalists? Why pay twice as much to gain nothing you're going to use? Especially since it puts a much higher price barrier up.

I suppose I can understand the decision, but I still liked it better before. More options is always a good thing.

And c) I just don't know about. On the one hand, it forces PvE play to get skills. On the other, it still leaves the door open (eventually) for direct PvP play.

Overall, I'm slightly pleased. I wish they'd make more PvP stock builds, and I wish they'd stop scrapping all the old ones. :P But that's another issue. We'll see how the fanbase reacts to these changes, eh?

[Swiss Mercenary]

Well, thanks to universal bitching, seems Anet is gonna

A) allow chapter unlock packs to work regardless of whether you own the chapter or not

Meaning that we'll get the priveledge of paying 40$ USD for GW PvP Version, without the chapter-specific PvP content?

When a new chapter costs 50$ CAD here, I can only see this as a marginally better deal for the completely PvP-oriented...