Putting the cart before the horse

[Stelawrat.6589]

I've taken advantage of some of the sales & I really appreciate them.

 

**I'm wondering about the timing of this one though.**

**On sale (price you see depends on what you already have)**

Living World Season 2 Complete Pack

Living World Season 3 Complete Pack

Living World Season 4 Complete Pack

 

If Anet plans on putting the game on sale to celebrate the Anniversary, which I imagine they will, then the incentive to buy to the LWS Packs in tandem with, or just after that would be greater. Putting the Packs on sale prior to the game is like putting the cart before the horse... unless there is no plan to put the game on sale... :/

[Lottie.5370]

Personally I think it's awful that they don't just include it with the price of the game, or add it as an option on higher tiers of purchase (somewhat equal to the cost of an existing player having to buy them (or just make them free if you have the relevant expansion... but I guess they lose too much money there?). It's silly to spend so much money and getting the expansions, and then having to pay more to unlock the "middle" parts of the story between them both. I have had a lot of players in my guild that have been confused that they didn't get that when they bought the game.

 

I say this as someone who unlocked every single episode for free also.

[Stelawrat.6589]

> @"Lottie.5370" said:

> Personally I think it's awful that they don't just include it with the price of the game, or add it as an option on higher tiers of purchase (somewhat equal to the cost of an existing player having to buy them (or just make them free if you have the relevant expansion... but I guess they lose too much money there?). It's silly to spend so much money and getting the expansions, and then having to pay more to unlock the "middle" parts of the story between them both. I have had a lot of players in my guild that have been confused that they didn't get that when they bought the game.

>

> I say this as someone who unlocked every single episode for free also.

 

I have mixed feelings about that. I think that because both of these, the game tier options & the LWS Packs, are _fairly_ reasonably priced **one time purchases only,** we can't complain. As you've pointed out, when you add to that, that you get all the new Packs free, just for logging in, is an incredible bonus.

 

The fact that both of these are put on sale semi-regularly, if you're really enjoying the game, then there is so much free content to explore that hopefully, you have the patience to wait for one of these sales. I don't have money to spare on these kinds of purchases, so that is exactly what I did & I have no regrets at all. It's been totally worth it.

 

**I think that the only thing Anet can be faulted for is not being crystal clear on the process,** on the fact that these are initially separate purchases. Personally, I knew because I did a lot of reading, browsing the forums etc., prior to deciding to purchase. So I knew up front what the costs were, but I realize that others might not have the time, or might not want to do that.

 

> @"Lottie.5370" said:

> I say this as someone who unlocked every single episode for free also.

 

And grats on recognizing GW2 as such a great game right from the beginning!! Very lucky! =)

[mercury ranique.2170]

I actually think it is pretty fair. Existing players who bought the game earlier (most likely without the discount and more likely with an old price), get a discount on the DLC and new players get a discount for buying the game. Why should a new player have both discounts?

[Stelawrat.6589]

> @"mercury ranique.2170" said:

> I actually think it is pretty fair. Existing players who bought the game earlier (most likely without the discount and more likely with an old price), get a discount on the DLC and new players get a discount for buying the game. Why should a new player have both discounts?

 

I had forgotten that. When I bought the game, HoT & PoF were sold separately. Now that they're bundled at no additional cost, is another reason to forgive Anet for _some_ of their transgressions.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Lottie.5370" said:

> Personally I think it's awful that they don't just include it with the price of the game, or add it as an option on higher tiers of purchase (somewhat equal to the cost of an existing player having to buy them (or just make them free if you have the relevant expansion... but I guess they lose too much money there?). It's silly to spend so much money and getting the expansions, and then having to pay more to unlock the "middle" parts of the story between them both. I have had a lot of players in my guild that have been confused that they didn't get that when they bought the game.

>

> I say this as someone who unlocked every single episode for free also.

 

I agree with this.

 

I think the price for the game is reasonable (especially for the base game, HoT and PoF together, that's a lot of content for the money) and I think it's reasonable to sell the Living World seasons but I think it would be really, really helpful to have an option to buy the entire lot together as one purchase. Firstly so that people who are sure they want all the content can buy it in one go instead of having to make lots of separate purchases, but more importantly so it's clear to all new players (or at least all the ones who take the time to look at the different versions available) that there is more to buy in addition to the expansion packs and they're not hit with a nasty surprise later on when they realise they're missing parts of the story.

 

There already is an option to add Season 2 to your purchase, as well as a bunch of random gem store items, so it's not even something which would require a redesign of the website or purchasing process, they would just need to add Season 3, 4 and eventually 5 to that list. Although if it was up to me I'd replace that screen with a brief explanation of what the Living World is and where the seasons fit into the story, a note that individual episodes or full seasons can be bought later on and then the option to add any/all of them to your purchase. I'd remove the gem store items entirely because I think it's silly to offer them at that point (and the permanent gathering tools are a bit misleading - I'd be annoyed if I bought those and then found out there's loads of other ones to choose from which I wasn't told about before buying) and put the focus entirely on getting all the content, or as much of it as you want anyway.

[Luthan.5236]

I don't think PoF is on sale during the anniversary sale. (At least I don't remember it being on sale last year.) I guess they want the PoF and Living World pack sales to be separated - so people might want to get the other one at full price instead of having to wait. (I got both on sale. I think PoF early this year, S2 last year ... and the S3+S4 a bit later after PoF was on sale at some other sale. During February/March I tink?)

 

Didn't know that they offer the option to add S2-S4 to the cart when buying PoF. (I knew from some other stuff offered but not about this.)

 

My main problem regarding the bundle strategy (PoF bundled with HoT) is that there will be "gaps" in between where you still need to buy the stories. And new players might not even know this. Better strategy would have been to offer the stuff that comes before one expansion ... with that expansion.

 

HoT with S2, PoF with S3. Or HoT + PoF and telling them that they need S2 and S3 if they want to proceed to PoF while also playing all other earlier stuff in chronological order. (Some players like this. Personally I am still at the beginning of PoF - after returning June 2019 when I was on break from end 2019 until June 2019. Since atm I play GW1 for the older lore - which I bought on sale last year as well. And the festival now ... when I am finished with GW1 Nightfall I will play PoF. Then EotN ... then Icebrood. Will take some time for me. I have a lot of free time but still other stuff keeping me busy besides this and festival atm eating some time - which I want to do a lot for exchange vouchers.)

 

I guess with upcoming expansion this one will be not bundled - so they can make a lot of money becaues it is now and everyone wants to buy it at full price. (Considering pre-ordering ultimate - should I play actively by then.) They might advertise at least the Icebrood and S4 then - which comes in between PoF and next expansion.

 

 

[Vavume.8065]

> @"Lottie.5370" said:

> Personally I think it's awful that they don't just include it with the price of the game, or add it as an option on higher tiers of purchase (somewhat equal to the cost of an existing player having to buy them (or just make them free if you have the relevant expansion... but I guess they lose too much money there?). It's silly to spend so much money and getting the expansions, and then having to pay more to unlock the "middle" parts of the story between them both. I have had a lot of players in my guild that have been confused that they didn't get that when they bought the game.

>

> I say this as someone who unlocked every single episode for free also.

 

1000 times this ^

 

This is one of the main reasons I would never recommend this game to anyone, it's basically a hidden paywall for new players.

[Empanda.4617]

so basically:Have some of them buy it or have everyone buy it. The seasons are suppose to be an additional free bonus to those who have already bought the expansions. You don't NEED the seasons to understand the story line. Wiki and youtube and often the forums cover the story of which it happens. It's a nice bonus, but it's not needed. I don't see an issue with them asking people to pay for a season since it's an extra. Also the game always goes on sale during certain times of the year a new player could look up those times and make a good estimate of when the game will be on sale again. Though it's kinda a steal already.

 

If everyone has to buy it then it'd have to have some content that would actually intice the players to buy it instead of achievement points...which is what most of the seasons are about achievement points and a few cool cosmetic things (if we're lucky enough for them to be cool looking)

[Yggranya.5201]

> @"Empanda.4617" said:

> so basically:Have some of them buy it or have everyone buy it. The seasons are suppose to be an additional free bonus to those who have already bought the expansions. You don't NEED the seasons to understand the story line. Wiki and youtube and often the forums cover the story of which it happens. It's a nice bonus, but it's not needed. I don't see an issue with them asking people to pay for a season since it's an extra. Also the game always goes on sale during certain times of the year a new player could look up those times and make a good estimate of when the game will be on sale again. Though it's kinda a steal already.

>

> If everyone has to buy it then it'd have to have some content that would actually intice the players to buy it instead of achievement points...which is what most of the seasons are about achievement points and a few cool cosmetic things (if we're lucky enough for them to be cool looking)

 

Yeah, like i started the game, bought HoT and wondered who are these random people talking like i know who they are? Not necessary to understand anything, obviously.

[Luthan.5236]

According to the news on the website it is on sale now:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/your-first-look-at-guild-wars-2-end-of-dragons/

(See bottom part with a discount code mentioned.)

[Stelawrat.6589]

Thank you! I couldn't wait because I really wanted to take advantage of the sale on the Expansion Packs, so I caved & bought it on sale through DL Gamer. A little bit more expensive than this sale, but I did get the Ex Packs here on sale, so it all worked out. :)