[UPDATED] Guild Wars 2 is Coming to Steam - [Merged]

[Sobx.1758]

> @"Astyrah.4015" said:

> > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > > @"Astyrah.4015" said:

> > > > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > > > > @"Astyrah.4015" said:

> > > > > > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > > > > > About it being "cheaper" -steam takes money from anet, anet doesn't like losing money, so maybe it still wouldn't really be cheaper.

> > > > > and about anet losing money, it's money they didnt have to begin with if steam takes 30% cut from sales then better 70% goes to arenanet than nothing at all. i don't see arenanet losing in anyway here

> > > >

> > > > You don't? If they let the old accounts join the steam then they lose *the steam cut* from all of those players they previously didn't. Then they're taking a gamble if you'll actually increase the playerbase that will spend and cover for that loss, aye?

> > >

> > > not really going to argue after this but sure they lose a cut. but _some_ people who are currently playing also currently do not "pay" and just convert gold to gems to buy for the most part. by giving a new payment method via steam wallet, losses aside, they may actually make "paying" customers out of those gold to gem people if they have access to a much more convenient and "cheaper" payment method.

> >

> > These are some bold assumptions based on nothing. I don't see why people that are already mainly/only going gold>gem road would sudenly start paying just because they were on steam. This seems to be simply wrong.

>

> i didnt say they **would**. i said they **may**. so no one would suddenly start buying gems/pay. but yeah let's just agree to disagree with each other.

 

And I said these are some bold assumptions, because they are. I also said this seems to be false, because it most probably is for vast majoity of players here. "May" or "would"... doesn't matter -you're trying to use it as an argument either way, so I'll just address it for what it is I guess.

[Linken.6345]

> @"Astyrah.4015" said:

> > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > > @"Astyrah.4015" said:

> > > > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > > > About it being "cheaper" -steam takes money from anet, anet doesn't like losing money, so maybe it still wouldn't really be cheaper.

> > > and about anet losing money, it's money they didnt have to begin with if steam takes 30% cut from sales then better 70% goes to arenanet than nothing at all. i don't see arenanet losing in anyway here

> >

> > You don't? If they let the old accounts join the steam then they lose *the steam cut* from all of those players they previously didn't. Then they're taking a gamble if you'll actually increase the playerbase that will spend and cover for that loss, aye?

>

> not really going to argue after this but sure they lose a cut. but _some_ people who are currently playing also currently do not "pay" and just convert gold to gems to buy for the most part. by giving a new payment method via steam wallet, losses aside, they may actually make "paying" customers out of those gold to gem people if they have access to a much more convenient and "cheaper" payment method.

 

Even if the people buying gems with gold they are still paid gems.

Someone have paid for them and put them into the gem pool by trading gems for gold.

 

And when you use them in the store they go poof so all new gems in the pool have to be bought with cold hard cash.

 

Thats why we see gem to gold conversion go up and up untill people put more real life cash down to exchange for gold.

[Astyrah.4015]

> @"Linken.6345" said:

> > @"Astyrah.4015" said:

> > > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > > > @"Astyrah.4015" said:

> > > > > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > > > > About it being "cheaper" -steam takes money from anet, anet doesn't like losing money, so maybe it still wouldn't really be cheaper.

> > > > and about anet losing money, it's money they didnt have to begin with if steam takes 30% cut from sales then better 70% goes to arenanet than nothing at all. i don't see arenanet losing in anyway here

> > >

> > > You don't? If they let the old accounts join the steam then they lose *the steam cut* from all of those players they previously didn't. Then they're taking a gamble if you'll actually increase the playerbase that will spend and cover for that loss, aye?

> >

> > not really going to argue after this but sure they lose a cut. but _some_ people who are currently playing also currently do not "pay" and just convert gold to gems to buy for the most part. by giving a new payment method via steam wallet, losses aside, they may actually make "paying" customers out of those gold to gem people if they have access to a much more convenient and "cheaper" payment method.

>

> Even if the people buying gems with gold they are still paid gems.

> Someone have paid for them and put them into the gem pool by trading gems for gold.

>

> And when you use them in the store they go poof so all new gems in the pool have to be bought with cold hard cash.

>

> Thats why we see gem to gold conversion go up and up untill people put more real life cash down to exchange for gold.

 

yup i am aware of that. it's also why if the game comes out on steam and offers more payment options on top of what arenanet already offers via steam wallet, then some people who werent buying gems directly before, may even consider doing so if paying for gems become cheaper or easier/convenient -- this doesnt mean they'll want to right away or become direct paying customers once it becomes clear (or not) that you can buy gems with steam wallet _just that the option will be there_ and they can avail of that -- more people can potentially contribute to the gem pool.

 

besides there wont be stopping people who want to spend via the steam wallet as long as many gemstore items are giftable even if they can't use their old account over, there will eventually be guides on how to spend by using an alt gw2 steam account and what not -- from buying gems and gifting it to your main -to- buying gems converting it to gold and mailing it to your main (assuming they bought an expansion key via steam to unlock restrictions) there's also the possibility of people actually abandoning their main account and starting over in steam if they havent gotten far enough in their non-steam arenanet account.

[Redfeather.6401]

Since the game isn't coming out on steam in the foreseeable future, I think the steam forums should be closed. Whenever I visit there I get caught up in all the negativity and it carries over to other places I visit. I feel it is making things toxic.

[Mungrul.9358]

Has anyone mentioned that another reason the Steam wallet appeals is that you can generate cash in it by playing other games and selling trading cards or things like hats from Team Fortress 2?

That cash can then be spent on anything else on Steam. So effectively, you could sell a hat you got from playing TF2 or a gun skin from CS:GO and spend the resulting funds on gems for GW2.

 

Personally, the appeal of Steam for me are the tools it provides me with.

Like cloud storage for screenshots, making them easier to share.

Or the Steam Workshop, where the community can make items or mods for games, which can then be subscribed to through the Workshop, keeping them updated with minimal interaction from the user.

Now the items thing would never happen in GW2, but I know there's lots of folk out there using user interface enhancing mods, which can be a pain to keep updated. Steam could do that for you, as long as ArenaNet add Workshop support.

[Sobx.1758]

> @"Mungrul.9358" said:

> Has anyone mentioned that another reason the Steam wallet appeals is that you can generate cash in it by playing other games and selling trading cards or things like hats from Team Fortress 2?

> That cash can then be spent on anything else on Steam. So effectively, you could sell a hat you got from playing TF2 or a gun skin from CS:GO and spend the resulting funds on gems for GW2.

 

Sure, that is a theoretical possibility, but I'd like to see how many people grind skins to sell them for miniscule amounts of money to then make significant purchases in gw2 or other games. At this point you might as well (or probably easier/faster/better) grind away gold in gw2 and turn it into gems. Unless your true goal is to play other games because you enjoy them more (I guess?), then sell whatever you grind in games you enjoy, buy tons of stuff in gw2 and... I guess go back to playing what you enjoy more anyways? That reasoning seems *a bit* forced to me, but maybe I'm wrong about something here and grinding tf2 skins is somehow better/more efficient than grinding gold in gw2, but I'm pretty sure it's not.

[Mungrul.9358]

There's a site I subscribe to that as part of my subscription fee gives me a unique TF2 hat every year, and this hat inevitably sells on the TF2 marketplace for £10. And I don't even play TF2 any more, so it's money in the wallet for me. If you do play TF2 or CS:GO regularly you're likely to get a lot more unique drops, so I could easily see people making enough money through skins in other games to buy stuff in GW2. I'm not saying that EVERYBODY would do it, but I'm sure there's quite a few Steam users who would.

It gets even more interesting when you factor in trading cards, which you get simply for playing games, even without workshop support, and which people are willing to pay for.

 

But your comment also highlights a reason why I think ANet are nervous about releasing on Steam. ANet at the end of the day are actively invested in dissuading people from playing other games. It's why so many things take such a long time to do. They want as much of their players' free time as possible, to ensure maximum exposure to their monetisation mechanisms.

It's how all "Games as a service" operate, and it's more than a little seedy.

So yeah, ANet are scared that if people are playing on a platform that promotes other games that ask nothing more from their players than the price of entry, people might realise just how scummy the gem store is.

Especially when a lot of games provide Workshop support where equivalent items that would cost lots of money in GW2's gem store cost nothing there.