PvP Unlocks available to buy from Online Store

[WarBlade]

Like the title says, you can fish out your credit card and and use it for PvP unlocking now.

Each character skill set unlocked is the same $ value as a new character slot. Or you spend about four times as much and buy the whole lot in one big hit.

Good news for all the bleating PvP'ers who want their precious unlocks without the "grind" of PvE. Better news for the PvE crowd who have to play 7/8 every time one of those leeching idiots parks in a mission and goes and has lunch.

[Swiss Mercenary]

As one of those 'bleating' PvPers, that's been my last straw. 40$ for a band-aid fix to a broken 'feature' of the game?

Eff that. I'll be taking my money elsewere.

Note to Wyrm - please don't count on me to be there on Wednesday nights. If that's how A.N will be approaching their game, I'm done with it. I hope that poor opressed 'PvE crowd' is happy.

[WarBlade]

And that about sums up most of the PvP response I've read too.

This addition has really revved up a lot of people and got the rotten tomatoes flying. A number of arguments have been a fairly similar to those surrounding the cost of the character slots a month or two back, but the abuse has been far greater.

My response is simple: A new feature has been added. There's no obligation to buy it.

[FoxBat]

Couldn't help but read up on GW every now and then since I am a hopeless addict. Well, this should put a halt to that at least. In case it wasn't clear, you need to own the chapter outright already before you can pay the price again for UAS of that chapter. Skill, not time/money/fees my arse. These guys absolutely aren't seeing any cash from me again. And unlike 90% of fellow whiners, that's a promise I've managed to keep with Blizzard.

[Lurker Wyrm]

That really is a pretty stupid addition to the game. It takes almost no time whatsoever to get skill unlocks. I had Prophecies UAS about a week after the change to skill points/cost. I had Factions UAS back in June.

It's not stupid enough for me to say good-bye to the game forever, though. I just see it as ANet getting desperate; they thought they could revolutionize the way games were played online and now it's starting to backfire on them. So rather than work harder on a product to make sure it's quality will please/impress sufficiently, they throw stupid gimmicks like this out there.

ANet's PR team has really balked up. They're too involved with the community. Sure, having someone keep tabs on what the major issues are is fine, but they're trying to be chummy with the players, which is just stupid.

These guys absolutely aren't seeing any cash from me again.

That doesn't mean you can't waste their server bandwidth and come lay the smack down with us (had to throw that one in there).

[WarBlade]

That really is a pretty stupid addition to the game. It takes almost no time whatsoever to get skill unlocks. I had Prophecies UAS about a week after the change to skill points/cost. I had Factions UAS back in June.

Yeah, but at the same time the people crying foul the most are people who want to spend zero time in the PvE environment and I do mean zero. There are people playing this game who demand to be able to pick up the game and be fully competitive with UAS and UAX right off the bat.

It's not stupid enough for me to say good-bye to the game forever, though. I just see it as ANet getting desperate; they thought they could revolutionize the way games were played online and now it's starting to backfire on them. So rather than work harder on a product to make sure it's quality will please/impress sufficiently, they throw stupid gimmicks like this out there.

A couple of points on that. They did revolutionize MMORPG gaming and they do work hard. I agree they got it wrong with this add-on, but I can't see how one blunder is cause to claim that they'd rather take a quick and dirty path over working hard on the product to make sure it will "please/impress sufficiently."

ANet's PR team has really balked up.

I don't think A/Net's PR team had much to do with this one.

They're too involved with the community. Sure, having someone keep tabs on what the major issues are is fine, but they're trying to be chummy with the players, which is just stupid.

Well that "stupidity" has generated the other 99% of the game which IMO is a very strong product with a lot going for it. Yes, they're chummy with the GW community. They've always been chhummy with the GW community and much of what we've seen going into the game has been a direct result of that relationship.

OTOH, most of the detracting factors that take away from the game can be more closely attributed to a conflict between what's good for the game and what's good for the business model.

[Zed-F]

It's no skin off my nose one way or the other. It's something I'd not be interested in spending real money on even if I were more interested in PvP, so I simply won't buy it.

I can imagine if you're already POed at ANet anyway, this could be considered a final insult... but you'd have to be POed at ANet to begin with to take that sort of stance.

[Lurker Wyrm]

I don't think A/Net's PR team had much to do with this one.

There are people playing this game who demand to be able to pick up the game and be fully competitive with UAS and UAX right off the bat.

The PR team saw all those complainers on the boards. They also had posts on the forums asking people for random suggestions for stuff for the online store. You really think the two are mutually exclusive?

Well that "stupidity" has generated the other 99% of the game

No, it hasn't.

OTOH, most of the detracting factors that take away from the game can be more closely attributed to a conflict between what's good for the game and what's good for the business model.

That's hitting the nail on the head.

I think the major issue with this implementation is the timing. The Prophecies Special Edition offered free skill unlocks as part of the extras. Not UAS or anything, but enough to make a full build right out of the gate and yet no one complained about that. Now that the game has been out for over a year and the hardcore players have worked for hundreds of hours in the Random Arenas grind just to get UAS/UAX (or have spent time in PvE farming for the gold/exp to get skills when they'd rather have been in PvP) Anet decides to add an implement that basically says they did it all for nothing. Now, the next generation GW player can own the game for less than an hour and be pretty much at the same level they are (granted, for a hefty sum). Seem familiar? It's the constant complaint of "back in my day, we worked for things, they weren't just handed to us" that you hear every generation say to the next.

Personally, I don't care, I've already got UAX and have maxed out my Balthazar faction to start unlocking for Nightfall. I've never used the online store and I doubt I'll ever start. All this change means is that there will be more stupid people PvPing with skills that don't belong in a competative environment and which they don't know how to use properly. It'll make wins for the rest of us easier.

[Swiss Mercenary]

Demeaning the 'grindomplishment' of UAS is not the issue here. (Despite the fact that A.N has been using that as an excuse to keep the rate of unlocks as it is. No hypocricy there whatsoever, right?)

The issue is this lovely new approach to the game's problems. 'Pay 40$, for a band-aid patch.'

And WarBlade, love the generalisations there. How did you come by to know how much time the 'majority' of the people asking for UAS spent in PvE, anyways?

[WarBlade]

And WarBlade, love the generalisations there.

Good. That makes things easy for me when I stop responding altogether and you're left thinking, "Oh crap. He's gagged again because one of those issues are involved!"

But that is the way of things I'm afraid. Forum topics like this are hard for me to contribute to now because there are things I'm not at liberty to discuss.

How did you come by to know how much time the 'majority' of the people asking for UAS spent in PvE, anyways?

Eh???

What are you referring to? I never said anything about any majorities of people.