Living Story alternative purchase suggestion

[Chyanne Waters.8719]

I know this may be controversial, but I have a suggestion for story episodes.

Does not matter if it is Living world or just the story in an expansion if it is missed or the game is bought after it, a person has to pay for it with gems.

They could either buy the gems with Money or earn the gold to purchase them. The problem with that is some people do not have that kind of money and or cannot get enough gold just to purchase them. Mainly the problem with that is everything else is very expensive in the game, and Anet keeps putting cool things into the gem store. A set of armor alone for ascended can run anywhere from 400-600g that does not include weapons.

 

I have a solution especially for people who finally bought the game and would like to at least do LS2 and beyond but they missed it. The controversial part is people may scream they had to pay for it, but once its done even they if they still have some missing episodes can easily earn them too.

 

Loyalty is a good thing in GW2 and that is the idea of how people can earn those episodes using the 28 day log in reward system. Add a token to that system on the 28th day that lets someone use it to purchase any episode they would like of any story they want. Anet gets people to come on to see the changes in the game and play and we get our episodes for being loyal players. The reason it is free when it comes out is because of loyalty of the player. I do not think it's fair if someone new has to pay for the episodes of the story if they just bought the game. This way they can earn them a bit later and be able to buy the things they need and want from other parts of the game, just by being loyal.

 

[SapphireDisaster.1046]

I don't think this is the best idea, honestly, though I get where you're coming from. But at this point if you were to use real money to buy gems to unlock each of the Living World episodes (including One Path Ends since that's only free for a bit longer) you'd only need 2800 gems which is only $35US, or a little more than the cost of one expansion pack. Spread that out over time, maybe 800 gems ($10US) every two months, you can make it with very little real money investment (save $5 a month) and still have it all unlocked within a short amount of time. The problem with linking it to the daily login is that, yes, you'd still have to play for 14 months continuously to get the same result, but ultimately that still seems like maybe too little effort to get the content that we technically pay for access to when we buy the expansion packs. Again, I get that paying for the Living World stories seems unfair, I had to pay for most of Season 2 after taking a long break from the game, but unlocking content through daily rewards seems unfair on the other side of things.

 

And that's not even getting into how unfair it would be to let people unlock expansion story chapters through log in rewards...And how much money ANet would lose.

[Healix.5819]

The reason they give away the episodes initially is because they want people to come back and play and see the gem store. Putting a token in the login rewards would have the same effect, but isn't it basically already like that? It's not going to be obvious to the average player, but selling your login rewards is something like 100g, which is ~400 gems and will get you 2 episodes. Also, I doubt ArenaNet actually wants to sell the story, considering season 3 should be at least double the price.

[Chyanne Waters.8719]

How is Anet losing anything since it gems can be purchased with in game gold which has zero value only time? Which is the same as log in rewards. I never said to replace the other ways just add an alternative way to get the episodes. Some one that is new to the game should be able to have it all unlocked anyway whether or not they knew about it in the first place. I know I sure do not want to be blocked from anything if I put my money down on a game that says buy my game you get everything for free after that. This game you don't, because they decided to charge for living story episodes. To some people kids especially that rely on their parents for things $10 is a lot of money to them, and probably would like to spend it on other things they want. Also people play this because they do not want to pay a monthly fee. Hmm do I spend $10 in the gem store or feed my kids tonight? things like that.

 

I myself have 3 accounts 2 support accounts and a main one I have been playing since the three day head start with 11k hours on it yes I have every episode, but still think charging for the episodes is a bad idea. If you can get them with in game gold then you should be able to get them by being loyal to the game. Remember the log in rewards do not reset after 28 days they only reset after some one has actually logged in those 28 days. Also everyone in the game would get a token for the living story episodes. They would be account bound, and if they are not used for the episodes maybe there could be a list of other items for it to be used for. Now that list of items you would need more than one to get that item.

[Beorn Raukar.4328]

Consider that this game has no monthly fee, this is how they monetize their product. The more ways people come up with to avoid paying the less revenue anet gets. The current system is already generous enough for people who are loyal to the game, it rewards sticking with their product the bare minimum to log in once every two months. After that is gems (or gold through gems which financially is the same thing). It seems like a fair deal to me.

[IndigoSundown.5419]

Access to the start points for expansion story episodes mostly require access to the XPac maps. That is gated by expansion purchase. Expansion purchases cannot be made with gems. The OP's suggestion would circumvent this system, and would thus not be good for ANet, though it might be good for some players who don't want to spend money.

 

There is already a discount for the HoT story (and the HoT XPac). While not as good for those who don't want to spend money as giving away the episodes would be, it's an option that gives some benefit to the latecomer and also to ANet. This makes it a better overall option. Anyone who wants the game to continue should be aware that ANet cannot give everything away and stay in business. While I can understand the desire of given individuals to get what they want without having to pay for it, ANet cannot afford to play favorites, and giving everyone what they want means they go out of business.

 

As to living story episodes, the OP's suggestion is essentially a loyalty reward. Log on a bunch, get an episode. There is already a loyalty option -- log in during the 2-3 month release period.

[Chyanne Waters.8719]

I give up you all seem to think this will hurt Anet. It won't at all Anet wants loyal players not just ones with money in their pocket. If that is all they wanted they would not have made in game gold to gems available. Also remember that all the gem store items are not real. We pay for them with money because we like them, but we can never take them with us anyway. A loyal player will spend money on those items at some points. So why not reward them for being loyal. When HoT came out quite a few people rage quit the game.

One post said well sell the log in rewards you get x amount of gold for it. Problem is they need those items and gold for armor and weapons another said log in during the 2-3 month release period well what if a player is just learning about the game and wants to see what its like, but purchases it instead of doing the free to play thing?

Yes they have to purchase the expansions to get the story for it, but for a new player its locked. Anet said it does not want to hold back anything from new players and that is exactly what they are doing with living story. A new player does not get the entire game at all.

 

[Lonami.2987]

> @"Chyanne Waters.8719" said:

> I know this may be controversial, but I have a suggestion for story episodes.

> Does not matter if it is Living world or just the story in an expansion if it is missed or the game is bought after it, a person has to pay for it with gems.

> They could either buy the gems with Money or earn the gold to purchase them. The problem with that is some people do not have that kind of money and or cannot get enough gold just to purchase them. Mainly the problem with that is everything else is very expensive in the game, and Anet keeps putting cool things into the gem store. A set of armor alone for ascended can run anywhere from 400-600g that does not include weapons.

>

> I have a solution especially for people who finally bought the game and would like to at least do LS2 and beyond but they missed it. The controversial part is people may scream they had to pay for it, but once its done even they if they still have some missing episodes can easily earn them too.

>

> Loyalty is a good thing in GW2 and that is the idea of how people can earn those episodes using the 28 day log in reward system. Add a token to that system on the 28th day that lets someone use it to purchase any episode they would like of any story they want. Anet gets people to come on to see the changes in the game and play and we get our episodes for being loyal players. The reason it is free when it comes out is because of loyalty of the player. I do not think it's fair if someone new has to pay for the episodes of the story if they just bought the game. This way they can earn them a bit later and be able to buy the things they need and want from other parts of the game, just by being loyal.

>

 

That's a great idea.

 

Even better, instead of giving the token every few days, let them buy it with laurels. So, they can spend either laurels or gems to buy the episodes.

[FrozenStarRo.7240]

It's not really about it hurting Anet, but they are basically giving episode away for free for 2-3 months within their release window. If a player with an existing account does not log in once for that period you can't exactly call them loyal.

 

For new players, yes it could be incovenient, as they'd have to purchase more than the base package of HoT to get full access to what is considered part of HoT, LS S3, but a new player also shouldn't do LS S3 right away. They have a lot of exploration and story to clear in core GW2, then HoT before moving to LS S3. And honestly by then they should have saved enough gold just from gathering materials on maps, salvages and drops to afford buying the full LS package and more through gold exchange.

[SapphireDisaster.1046]

> @FrozenStarRo.7240 said:

> It's not really about it hurting Anet, but they are basically giving episode away for free for 2-3 months within their release window. **If a player with an existing account does not log in once for that period you can't exactly call them loyal.**

>

THIS. And yes, I get that it makes it harder for newer players to get up to speed right away, but when you consider that base game is now free and HoT is greatly reduced in price, asking them to pay $35 for Season 2 and Season 3 (or gold to gems) isn't that much of an ask. The Living World being free for 2-3 months per episode is already a reward to loyal players who buy the expac at launch and log in regularly to unlock the content. After that, asking for what amounts to $2.50US per episode just doesn't seem that bad to me and it helps ANet keep the lights on. Like I said, I get that it can be rough, I had to pay for most of Season 2 when I was unemployed, but if you aren't looking to get everything right away (which a new player shouldn't be trying to do anyway, as FrozenStarRo said), then it just doesn't seem like that big of a deal. I just don't see this as being something that hurts player loyalty or promotes players with lots of money over players who don't.

[jokke.6239]

I think the current system makes perfect sense. They keep the game active by giving the episodes away for free, and at the same way make money off new/returning players. I'm a returning player myself, and I had no problem purchasing season 3. I didn't even had to spend 10€, and the content is well worth the price.

Anet already is very generous, there has to be a limit, game is without monthly fee's after all.

[Linken.6345]

You do know that the 5k ap chests give gems aswell so you can get it by only being a loyal player.

[WARIORSCHARGEING.2637]

if they did what op suggests i think would be another slap in the face of the player base . for thos that already spent real world money to unlock them living story parts they missed out on for what ever reason . . as myself i played the game unlocked them and the ones i missed out on i saved up the gold and bought the need gems got them unlocked and moved on .

[Cyninja.2954]

> @"Chyanne Waters.8719" said:

> How is Anet losing anything since it gems can be purchased with in game gold which has zero value only time?

 

Please read up on how the gem exchange works. Purchasing gems with ingame gold has an effect on the gem-gold economy and as such an effect on the total economy as well as on arenanets revenue.

 

> @Lonami.2987 said:

>

> That's a great idea.

>

> Even better, instead of giving the token every few days, let them buy it with laurels. So, they can spend either laurels or gems to buy the episodes.

 

Already doable. Convernt Laurels to gold, buy gems with said gold, unlock living world episodes. 1 Laurel is aproximately 1 gold, check gw2efficiency for current value.

[VaaCrow.3076]

Or you could just login during the time the story is relevant to bank it.

[castlemanic.3198]

> @VaaCrow.3076 said:

> Or you could just login during the time the story is relevant to bank it.

 

You can't retroactively log in and bank already released living world episodes, which is what the OP is getting at.

 

There's *something* of merit here, I don't know if the daily log in rewards is the best method of doing it, but having a non-gems option of unlocking living world episodes would be a great idea, with the caveat that you have to unlock living world episodes in order (barring any living world episodes that have been previously unlocked by logging in, so if you have episode 1 and want to buy episode two, you don't need to shell out anything for episode 1, since it's already unlocked).

 

And by a non-gems option, i mean an option that does not, in ANY way, shape or form use gems (thus any exchange of gold for gems is excluded).

 

The system can ONLY work for living world episodes. It cannot, under any circumstances, unlock expansion story steps, as those must remain within the domain of a purchase of an actual expansion to unlock.

[WARIORSCHARGEING.2637]

> @castlemanic.3198 said:

> > @VaaCrow.3076 said:

> > Or you could just login during the time the story is relevant to bank it.

>

> You can't retroactively log in and bank already released living world episodes, which is what the OP is getting at.

>

> There's *something* of merit here, I don't know if the daily log in rewards is the best method of doing it, but having a non-gems option of unlocking living world episodes would be a great idea, with the caveat that you have to unlock living world episodes in order (barring any living world episodes that have been previously unlocked by logging in, so if you have episode 1 and want to buy episode two, you don't need to shell out anything for episode 1, since it's already unlocked).

>

> And by a non-gems option, i mean an option that does not, in ANY way, shape or form use gems (thus any exchange of gold for gems is excluded).

>

> The system can ONLY work for living world episodes. It cannot, under any circumstances, unlock expansion story steps, as those must remain within the domain of a purchase of an actual expansion to unlock.

 

yeah anet will not ever do that they love gems too much . and using gold to gems is the most easy way to unlock them if one is not able to do so by other means . might take some time to do it . but it works very well and anet lets us all use the gold to gems to buy them . it is a win win for us all.

[castlemanic.3198]

> @WARIORSCHARGEING.2637 said:

>

> yeah anet will not ever do that they love gems too much . and using gold to gems is the most easy way to unlock them if one is not able to do so by other means . might take some time to do it . but it works very well and anet lets us all use the gold to gems to buy them . it is a win win for us all.

 

There's only one method of getting living world episodes, and that's gems, which creates a barrier for more casual players who wish to experience the game at a leisurely pace. They won't ever have enough gold to exchange for gems to purchase living world episodes and that creates a lore problem because living world seasons explain loads of things and lead up to what is happening in the expansions. Season 2 could MAYBE be skipped, but you'd be utterly confused by the allies who surround you, but jumping into path of fire without playing season 3? nah man, that's too huge a leap lore wise. That's why there needs to be a non-gems option to unlock living world episodes (and also why season 1 needs to be reintegrated asap), because more casual players who don't spend a lot of time in the game will miss out on huge and important bits of story.

 

PLUS we also get some pretty useful stuff in season 3 mastery wise (signet of agony anyone?), and forcing someone to be unable to do those story steps because they weren't active enough at the time alienates those players, and further alienates NEW players as well (which is what MMOs in general need to flourish and thrive).

 

Thus, while keeping episodes as gem purchaseable is a good idea, having an alternative method of acquisition that's completely unrelated to gems would help give players the ability to better dive into the story of the game without grinding out countless hours (because how would a new player learn that laurels can be a good method of earning gold without being told about it? At best, extremely good luck).

 

So there NEEDS to be a new option for players to gain access to living world episodes that's non-gem related. Keep the gems option for those who can afford it (after all, there should be an incentive to spend gems on stuff and instant access is a good incentive over a gradual unlock system for those who don't have the time), but an alternative system that's less grindy (and importa than converting gold to gems to unlock all living world episodes is necessary.