No one ever said it was free.. but all the guild wars beyond content for guild wars 1 was/is provided 100% free. I know gw2 isnt gw1 but its NCSoft anad ANet still, evidence and experience dictates they already do this payment model the correct way... there is no reason at all to assume otherwise at this point. If you do, you are hating and that's a fact. Innocent until proven guilty.
- Sub style
- F2P style
- B2P style
It's all the same............. Don't bother sayingDANet will never pull this
No, not at all. I'll break it down for you:
P2P - You don't know what you are going to get for your money each month, you have no say in what you pay for and you have to pay for it even if you didn't want it. Don't like raids? too bad, this month you've got 2 new raid bosses that you'll never even see.. thanks for the $15.
F2P - Consumables are wasted money, you might as well burn it imo, but if it's optional and not required then it's completely fair and at the players discretion. Modular content purchases can be ok; you know what you are getting and it's optional; you can choose to spend on the content you prefer. Tends to be overpriced though. Take DDO or LOTRO for example. Spend $60 in their cash shops and see if you get as much content as GW2 offers at release. You won't get as much, you know it, and it's worse because they are older games. Also, FTP often presents barriers that encourage you to spend more, 'almost' forcing you.
B2P - You always know exactly what you are getting for your money and can choose whether or not you get any expansions. Any time you have to part with any money, you yourself fully decided to spend it. You still have the product you first purchased and none of that is taken away from you. If you can't help buying extras you can't afford it's your own fault, those extras are not mandatory. They could make some sort of advantage to having the expansions (e.g. increased level cap), which makes it as bad as the FTP model in providing barriers to encourage spending. Like I mentioned above though, innocent until proven guilty and they proved themselves so far with GW1.
I actually hope they do have an expansion in the works already and release it quickly. There is one thing I do not mind paying more for and that's more content. Throw as much of it at me as possible and I'll buy it all if it's good stuff and I'm still enjoying the game.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
I really feel that OP's assumption is somewhat correct. Look at the current trend with gaming in general. Bioware has done the okie doke on people with ME3 but they sold record amounts of the game anyway. Diablo 3 is going to have a real money AH and yet people are slobbering in anticipation for it. Anet is seeing all of the hype over this game and I am sure they will capitalize on it somehow. Do you really think they care for their customers more than they do the almighty dollar?!
I predict a cash shop (more than fluff items eventually) in GW2 just like all of the current free to play titles because it makes them money...why would they not do it? I would imagine they have a fortune tied up in this game and they have to get their money back somehow...
Well NCSoft/Arenanet are not (yet ?) at the same level of greed where EA and Activision are right now.
Let's hope that doesn't change.
As I said...why would they not want to make the most money that they can? I am sure the same "sheep" that are said to be in other MMO's will be in GW2 as well.
basically you are saying that because McDonalds sells popcorn chicken nuggets, Taco Bell will too... come on. Anet is NOT Blizzard or Bioware. If you knew what Anet as a company has done and stood for up until now you would get it. If you can't be bothered to find out then don't play or wait and see. The company's that are miliing the system have milked the system for a long time.
I stated this before, sorry to repeat myself. But I'm 100% convinced of this, and how marketing works.
- Nothing is free
- Cheap pays twice
In my opinion GW2 will be short on content. Way more than people think. Two weeks after release their will be expansions as a heavy cost for players to purchase.....This mmo will cost you as much anyway....Some would say that GW1 waited a year for it's first expansion, BUT this is not GW1.
ANet was much smaller then. They had no idea how much of a success their game would be, and expansions were after-thoughts. Now ANet will do the smarter marketing trick of making expansions at the same time as the original......This is why the game is taking so long....Their making everything at once.
GW2 may be good. Once you purchase the game and all it's expansions you will have it forever. BUT don't think you are getting away cheap !!!!!!!
- Sub style
- F2P style
- B2P style
It's all the same............. Don't bother sayingDANet will never pull this
Clearly you A. have no previous experience with Anet, B. are angry that your favorite game is about to get owned, C. are a Troll, D. All of the above. I'm going with D
Well, first off I would not call myself a troll because I plan on playing GW2. The game sounds great, and I'm sure it will be a good quality mmo.
As far as experience with Anet, that has nothing to do with it. If you read the original post It states that what Anet did in the past has nothing to do with what they will do now. Expansions were an after-thought for GW1 they were unsure what they were getting into. Now they are established, now they know what they are doing more so after the success of their first game. Now is when they will do more marketing and be a little wiser.
Its not really a bad thing that expansions will be flowing like hot cakes, after all they need to make a profit, right ?
Their making them all at once....Thats why they are taking so long.
Man your more than oblivious but oh well, nothing else needs to be said.
I might get banned for this. - Rizel Star.
I'm not afraid to tell trolls what they [need] to hear, even if that means for me to have an forced absence afterwards.
P2P LOGIC = If it's P2P it means longevity, overall better game, and THE BEST SUPPORT EVER!!!!!(Which has been rinsed and repeated about a thousand times)
Common Sense Logic = P2P logic is no better than F2P Logic.
See you again in 4 months posting the same unsupported nonsense. Can we get this topic locked, please?
Normally i hate bans, deleted posts, why not people let people discuss there ideas. But this guys is an ob troll who litterally has posted this same thread ... i 2nd it.
LOet people bicker as much as they want, but the op isn't even doing that just hit posting.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
i dont know, perhaps the op has his point ... but regardless, im going to pay if im having fun... still cheaper to pay for boxes and enjoy playing than hmm, i dont know, going out to eat often or go bar to get insanely drunk
I honestly don't care, I'm going to be buying Guild Wars 2 regardless of the situation. However, if Arena net some how manages to release a mission pack every month, or week. I'll be buying them.
I'm guessing they'll release mission packs, or something along those lines that give players a few extra quests and maybe one new area to explore or something. I'd pay $10-$20 for that alone. Bring it on, Anet. Take my money.
I stated this before, sorry to repeat myself. But I'm 100% convinced of this, and how marketing works.
- Nothing is free
- Cheap pays twice
In my opinion GW2 will be short on content. Way more than people think. Two weeks after release their will be expansions as a heavy cost for players to purchase.....This mmo will cost you as much anyway....Some would say that GW1 waited a year for it's first expansion, BUT this is not GW1.
ANet was much smaller then. They had no idea how much of a success their game would be, and expansions were after-thoughts. Now ANet will do the smarter marketing trick of making expansions at the same time as the original......This is why the game is taking so long....Their making everything at once.
GW2 may be good. Once you purchase the game and all it's expansions you will have it forever. BUT don't think you are getting away cheap !!!!!!!
- Sub style
- F2P style
- B2P style
It's all the same............. Don't bother sayingDANet will never pull this
Seems to me that OP never played Guild Wars...otherwise he wouldn't said what he said...
ANet do put out contents and there are still things to do in the game after all these years.
People are so brain washed by "subscription based" games and can't see anything beyond that.
Yes, you paid $15 every month but what do you get? Free expansions? I think not...
If you ever played Guild Wars 1 then you would know that they put out good stuff. Even though there are flaws in Guild Wars 1 but that's why Guild Wars 2 are coming out.
I really feel that OP's assumption is somewhat correct. Look at the current trend with gaming in general. Bioware has done the okie doke on people with ME3 but they sold record amounts of the game anyway. Diablo 3 is going to have a real money AH and yet people are slobbering in anticipation for it. Anet is seeing all of the hype over this game and I am sure they will capitalize on it somehow. Do you really think they care for their customers more than they do the almighty dollar?!
I predict a cash shop (more than fluff items eventually) in GW2 just like all of the current free to play titles because it makes them money...why would they not do it? I would imagine they have a fortune tied up in this game and they have to get their money back somehow...
Well NCSoft/Arenanet are not (yet ?) at the same level of greed where EA and Activision are right now.
Let's hope that doesn't change.
As I said...why would they not want to make the most money that they can? I am sure the same "sheep" that are said to be in other MMO's will be in GW2 as well.
basically you are saying that because McDonalds sells popcorn chicken nuggets, Taco Bell will too... come on. Anet is NOT Blizzard or Bioware. If you knew what Anet as a company has done and stood for up until now you would get it. If you can't be bothered to find out then don't play or wait and see. The company's that are miliing the system have milked the system for a long time.
Exactly what I was thinking, so many players are stuck into this mold, they feel every MMO must have the same content or it will bust.
GW2 had done a great job of breaking that mold, and they have the talent to pull it off, I cant wait to see the attitudes change once GW2 has shown the masses that we dont all have to play WoW clones.
I stated this before, sorry to repeat myself. But I'm 100% convinced of this, and how marketing works.
- Nothing is free
- Cheap pays twice
In my opinion GW2 will be short on content. Way more than people think. Two weeks after release their will be expansions as a heavy cost for players to purchase.....This mmo will cost you as much anyway....Some would say that GW1 waited a year for it's first expansion, BUT this is not GW1.
ANet was much smaller then. They had no idea how much of a success their game would be, and expansions were after-thoughts. Now ANet will do the smarter marketing trick of making expansions at the same time as the original......This is why the game is taking so long....Their making everything at once.
GW2 may be good. Once you purchase the game and all it's expansions you will have it forever. BUT don't think you are getting away cheap !!!!!!!
- Sub style
- F2P style
- B2P style
It's all the same............. Don't bother sayingDANet will never pull this
Arenanet is taking a long time with this game because they are using alot of original ideas and had to rebuild their engine, which they designed by the way, from the ground up for this game. Ontop of that they are STILL releasing content on GW1 the game is over 7 year old, and they continue to do new and original in-game events ontop of that even with this massive project they have started.
So here is my opinion on your opinion:
If people are seriously willing to complain about supporting a game without being FORCED to pay a subscription fee then you are stingy as ****...seriously you said it yourself "this game is taking a long time to be made" but you aren't willing to spend 5 bucks every once in a while on the content they are working hard to produce....no love for you if you feel that way.
I stated this before, sorry to repeat myself. But I'm 100% convinced of this, and how marketing works.
- Nothing is free
- Cheap pays twice
In my opinion GW2 will be short on content. Way more than people think. Two weeks after release their will be expansions as a heavy cost for players to purchase.....This mmo will cost you as much anyway....Some would say that GW1 waited a year for it's first expansion, BUT this is not GW1.
ANet was much smaller then. They had no idea how much of a success their game would be, and expansions were after-thoughts. Now ANet will do the smarter marketing trick of making expansions at the same time as the original......This is why the game is taking so long....Their making everything at once.
GW2 may be good. Once you purchase the game and all it's expansions you will have it forever. BUT don't think you are getting away cheap !!!!!!!
- Sub style - F2P style - B2P style It's all the same.............
So the more expensive a game is the more content it have?
Funny, Daggerfall is the largest RPG game ever made and yet were it the same cost as any game when it released. Dragon age 2 on the other hand have very little content and still cost as a full price game.
Runes of magic have more content than AoC even if it is F2P, and GW is huge and B2P.
Yeah, GW2s expansions will be release more often than most games ', probably every 9 month or so but not as often as you seems to think, it just ain't possible to make an expansion that fast.
I played GW for many years and it is by far the game that gave me most for the cost.
That does not mean that gw2 wont suck, it might but it still have a lot more content than most releasing MMOs.
Check the number of zones and zone size with Rift, AoC, WAR and other rather newly released P2P games (I am not sure about TOR though, TOR might be larger), GW2 is a lot larger than most P2P games at release.
It will still cost you money to play it because almost all players will want the expansions but nowhere near the price of most new P2P games.
I stated this before, sorry to repeat myself. But I'm 100% convinced of this, and how marketing works.
- Nothing is free
- Cheap pays twice
In my opinion GW2 will be short on content. Way more than people think. Two weeks after release their will be expansions as a heavy cost for players to purchase.....This mmo will cost you as much anyway....Some would say that GW1 waited a year for it's first expansion, BUT this is not GW1.
ANet was much smaller then. They had no idea how much of a success their game would be, and expansions were after-thoughts. Now ANet will do the smarter marketing trick of making expansions at the same time as the original......This is why the game is taking so long....Their making everything at once.
GW2 may be good. Once you purchase the game and all it's expansions you will have it forever. BUT don't think you are getting away cheap !!!!!!!
- Sub style
- F2P style
- B2P style
It's all the same............. Don't bother sayingDANet will never pull this
Yea.. So Im falling into the OP Trolls trap and didnt bother reading all other posts that will be bashing him, so therefore I appoligize ahead of time if this has already been said, but just look at Guild Wars 1. Yes this has 100x more funding put into it prior to launch , but they proved with GW 1 that a Buy 2 Play over a F2P/P2P works and works well. Everything in the cash shop will be vanity (extra char slots but already assume they will give 5~ or so as is, and of course release expansions but not instead of major content patches..
I stated this before, sorry to repeat myself. But I'm 100% convinced of this, and how marketing works.
- Nothing is free
- Cheap pays twice
In my opinion GW2 will be short on content. Way more than people think. Two weeks after release their will be expansions as a heavy cost for players to purchase.....This mmo will cost you as much anyway....Some would say that GW1 waited a year for it's first expansion, BUT this is not GW1.
ANet was much smaller then. They had no idea how much of a success their game would be, and expansions were after-thoughts. Now ANet will do the smarter marketing trick of making expansions at the same time as the original......This is why the game is taking so long....Their making everything at once.
GW2 may be good. Once you purchase the game and all it's expansions you will have it forever. BUT don't think you are getting away cheap !!!!!!!
- Sub style
- F2P style
- B2P style
It's all the same............. Don't bother sayingDANet will never pull this
I stated this before, sorry to repeat myself. But I'm 100% convinced of this, and how marketing works.
- Nothing is free
- Cheap pays twice
In my opinion GW2 will be short on content. Way more than people think. Two weeks after release their will be expansions as a heavy cost for players to purchase.....This mmo will cost you as much anyway....Some would say that GW1 waited a year for it's first expansion, BUT this is not GW1.
ANet was much smaller then. They had no idea how much of a success their game would be, and expansions were after-thoughts. Now ANet will do the smarter marketing trick of making expansions at the same time as the original......This is why the game is taking so long....Their making everything at once.
GW2 may be good. Once you purchase the game and all it's expansions you will have it forever. BUT don't think you are getting away cheap !!!!!!!
- Sub style - F2P style - B2P style It's all the same.............
So the more expensive a game is the more content it have?
Funny, Daggerfall is the largest RPG game ever made and yet were it the same cost as any game when it released. Dragon age 2 on the other hand have very little content and still cost as a full price game.
Runes of magic have more content than AoC even if it is F2P, and GW is huge and B2P.
Yeah, GW2s expansions will be release more often than most games ', probably every 9 month or so but not as often as you seems to think, it just ain't possible to make an expansion that fast.
I played GW for many years and it is by far the game that gave me most for the cost.
That does not mean that gw2 wont suck, it might but it still have a lot more content than most releasing MMOs.
Check the number of zones and zone size with Rift, AoC, WAR and other rather newly released P2P games (I am not sure about TOR though, TOR might be larger), GW2 is a lot larger than most P2P games at release.
It will still cost you money to play it because almost all players will want the expansions but nowhere near the price of most new P2P games.
Loke666 and your calm responses +1
Lock plx as OP got shunned on the first 5 threads, the rest is spiralling nonsense..
All hail the Barn Owl! oh.. and the RED SQUIRREL!!!
So because he casts a few doubts about the financial model the fanbois are up in arms, well, there are a few questions about GW2's financial model that could do with a little 'illumination' B2P after all, buys you the game and you can play from then on, for as long as you like.. or can you?
we know there will be a cash shop/microtransactions in GW2,
but what in game items will they sell, and for how much, what else will end up in that cash shop, area packs/expansions/adventure packs perhaps.
GW1 was run mostly from the players own computers, the only hubs were social ones, which, required a lot less resources to maintain than a regular MMO would, no persistent world for instance, let alone one with 'dynamic' content and W v W v W combat. So, how much will Arenanet/NCSoft be relying on the cash shop to fund the game, because i and no doubt others who understand the resources necessary to support a fully fledged MMO, just in terms of day to day running costs, would believe for a moment that such things can be done by just a 'box price' after all they are a business, not a government subsidised charity.
This is almost as bad as that Diablo III one (which should probably be on the D3 forums).
Anyway, this is all biased speculation and hyperbole. Unless the OP has a crystal ball that can see into the future (of course he doesn't), and unless he's a renowned market analyst like Pachter (of course he isn't), the only place he's going to be getting this ripe information from is his arse. And it is ripe.
There's really no need to continue threads like these.
---
I mean, you can if you want, by all means.
But sometimes we just have to police ourselves and step off, ignoring the bait.
So because he casts a few doubts about the financial model the fanbois are up in arms, well, there are a few questions about GW2's financial model that could do with a little 'illumination' B2P after all, buys you the game and you can play from then on, for as long as you like.. or can you?
we know there will be a cash shop/microtransactions in GW2,
but what in game items will they sell, and for how much, what else will end up in that cash shop, area packs/expansions/adventure packs perhaps.
GW1 was run mostly from the players own computers, the only hubs were social ones, which, required a lot less resources to maintain than a regular MMO would, no persistent world for instance, let alone one with 'dynamic' content and W v W v W combat. So, how much will Arenanet/NCSoft be relying on the cash shop to fund the game, because i and no doubt others who understand the resources necessary to support a fully fledged MMO, just in terms of day to day running costs, would believe for a moment that such things can be done by just a 'box price' after all they are a business, not a government subsidised charity.
PC Games: "How do you plan to do this? Building such a complex world which is shared by all players without having monthly fees?"
Strain:(laughing) "A very good question! Interestingly many people believe that the completely instantiated world was the reason for Guild Wars 1 to not need monthly fees. This is completely wrong! The existence or lack of a persistent world is totally unrelated to the running expenses which are needed to maintain an online roleplaying game."
The truth is that sub fees are a holdover from days when bandwidth was very expensive. If you look at NCSoft's quarterly reports, you'd see that the residual income from GW1, the 2-3 million dollars per quarter that it's still earning is enough to pay for the bandwidth and server rent for all 5 of their games combined (Aion, Lineage 1&2, GW1, CoH). It comes out to less than $1 per player per month, easily. You can look at it like if the GW2 box is $60 instead of $50 means they're throwing in 10 months of what it costs them for you to play.
All other things being equal, a B2P game sells more copies than a P2P game because it's cheaper and there are people who object to subscriptions. A larger playerbase not only more box sales, it also means more people available to buy cash shop items and expansions. Those people are also more likely to be retained because they don't have a financial incentive to stop playing the game as well as it being much easier to pick it back up at any time.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it."-Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
The OP hints at something that is actually valid (you have to cut through several weeds to find it). The fear is that without a sub, ArenaNet will have to give gamers a boatload of opportunities to spend money. He's suggesting that in order to do this, they must leave out a significant amount of content at launch in order to monetize on it through quick and small expansion packs.
While I don't share the OP's fear, it is valid. Since the B2P business model is so rarely used, it's natural for gamers to be skeptical.
I stated this before, sorry to repeat myself. But I'm 100% convinced of this, and how marketing works.
- Nothing is free
- Cheap pays twice
In my opinion GW2 will be short on content. Way more than people think. Two weeks after release their will be expansions as a heavy cost for players to purchase.....This mmo will cost you as much anyway....Some would say that GW1 waited a year for it's first expansion, BUT this is not GW1.
ANet was much smaller then. They had no idea how much of a success their game would be, and expansions were after-thoughts. Now ANet will do the smarter marketing trick of making expansions at the same time as the original......This is why the game is taking so long....Their making everything at once.
GW2 may be good. Once you purchase the game and all it's expansions you will have it forever. BUT don't think you are getting away cheap !!!!!!!
- Sub style
- F2P style
- B2P style
It's all the same............. Don't bother sayingDANet will never pull this
2 things:
Please go back to that nice warm spot under your bridge. And....please learn the difference between their, they're, and there!
You want me to pay to play a game I already paid for???
Comments
basically you are saying that because McDonalds sells popcorn chicken nuggets, Taco Bell will too... come on. Anet is NOT Blizzard or Bioware. If you knew what Anet as a company has done and stood for up until now you would get it. If you can't be bothered to find out then don't play or wait and see. The company's that are miliing the system have milked the system for a long time.
Man your more than oblivious but oh well, nothing else needs to be said.
I might get banned for this. - Rizel Star.
I'm not afraid to tell trolls what they [need] to hear, even if that means for me to have an forced absence afterwards.
P2P LOGIC = If it's P2P it means longevity, overall better game, and THE BEST SUPPORT EVER!!!!!(Which has been rinsed and repeated about a thousand times)
Common Sense Logic = P2P logic is no better than F2P Logic.
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/332815/page/1
See you again in 4 months posting the same unsupported nonsense. Can we get this topic locked, please?
Normally i hate bans, deleted posts, why not people let people discuss there ideas. But this guys is an ob troll who litterally has posted this same thread ... i 2nd it.
LOet people bicker as much as they want, but the op isn't even doing that just hit posting.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
i dont know, perhaps the op has his point ... but regardless, im going to pay if im having fun... still cheaper to pay for boxes and enjoy playing than hmm, i dont know, going out to eat often or go bar to get insanely drunk
I honestly don't care, I'm going to be buying Guild Wars 2 regardless of the situation. However, if Arena net some how manages to release a mission pack every month, or week. I'll be buying them.
I'm guessing they'll release mission packs, or something along those lines that give players a few extra quests and maybe one new area to explore or something. I'd pay $10-$20 for that alone. Bring it on, Anet. Take my money.
just 1 word>>>"trash"!
Seems to me that OP never played Guild Wars...otherwise he wouldn't said what he said...
ANet do put out contents and there are still things to do in the game after all these years.
People are so brain washed by "subscription based" games and can't see anything beyond that.
Yes, you paid $15 every month but what do you get? Free expansions? I think not...
If you ever played Guild Wars 1 then you would know that they put out good stuff. Even though there are flaws in Guild Wars 1 but that's why Guild Wars 2 are coming out.
Exactly what I was thinking, so many players are stuck into this mold, they feel every MMO must have the same content or it will bust.
GW2 had done a great job of breaking that mold, and they have the talent to pull it off, I cant wait to see the attitudes change once GW2 has shown the masses that we dont all have to play WoW clones.
Arenanet is taking a long time with this game because they are using alot of original ideas and had to rebuild their engine, which they designed by the way, from the ground up for this game. Ontop of that they are STILL releasing content on GW1 the game is over 7 year old, and they continue to do new and original in-game events ontop of that even with this massive project they have started.
So here is my opinion on your opinion:
If people are seriously willing to complain about supporting a game without being FORCED to pay a subscription fee then you are stingy as ****...seriously you said it yourself "this game is taking a long time to be made" but you aren't willing to spend 5 bucks every once in a while on the content they are working hard to produce....no love for you if you feel that way.
So the more expensive a game is the more content it have?
Funny, Daggerfall is the largest RPG game ever made and yet were it the same cost as any game when it released. Dragon age 2 on the other hand have very little content and still cost as a full price game.
Runes of magic have more content than AoC even if it is F2P, and GW is huge and B2P.
Yeah, GW2s expansions will be release more often than most games ', probably every 9 month or so but not as often as you seems to think, it just ain't possible to make an expansion that fast.
I played GW for many years and it is by far the game that gave me most for the cost.
That does not mean that gw2 wont suck, it might but it still have a lot more content than most releasing MMOs.
Check the number of zones and zone size with Rift, AoC, WAR and other rather newly released P2P games (I am not sure about TOR though, TOR might be larger), GW2 is a lot larger than most P2P games at release.
It will still cost you money to play it because almost all players will want the expansions but nowhere near the price of most new P2P games.
Yea.. So Im falling into the OP Trolls trap and didnt bother reading all other posts that will be bashing him, so therefore I appoligize ahead of time if this has already been said, but just look at Guild Wars 1. Yes this has 100x more funding put into it prior to launch , but they proved with GW 1 that a Buy 2 Play over a F2P/P2P works and works well. Everything in the cash shop will be vanity (extra char slots but already assume they will give 5~ or so as is, and of course release expansions but not instead of major content patches..
Time will tell.
Excellent catch.
+1 to this. Please lock this.
This is a very silly thread. im amazed its got +7 pages
Ooops. Now i have contributed to it:P
i won't doubt that this kid works for Blizzard!
OP -10+
+1 more
whilst whether a post is flamebait is debatable this is clearly spam which I always thought was against the sites TOS? Lock please.
Loke666 and your calm responses +1
Lock plx as OP got shunned on the first 5 threads, the rest is spiralling nonsense..
All hail the Barn Owl! oh.. and the RED SQUIRREL!!!
So because he casts a few doubts about the financial model the fanbois are up in arms, well, there are a few questions about GW2's financial model that could do with a little 'illumination' B2P after all, buys you the game and you can play from then on, for as long as you like.. or can you?
we know there will be a cash shop/microtransactions in GW2,
but what in game items will they sell, and for how much, what else will end up in that cash shop, area packs/expansions/adventure packs perhaps.
GW1 was run mostly from the players own computers, the only hubs were social ones, which, required a lot less resources to maintain than a regular MMO would, no persistent world for instance, let alone one with 'dynamic' content and W v W v W combat. So, how much will Arenanet/NCSoft be relying on the cash shop to fund the game, because i and no doubt others who understand the resources necessary to support a fully fledged MMO, just in terms of day to day running costs, would believe for a moment that such things can be done by just a 'box price' after all they are a business, not a government subsidised charity.
Troll threads are popular these days.
This is almost as bad as that Diablo III one (which should probably be on the D3 forums).
Anyway, this is all biased speculation and hyperbole. Unless the OP has a crystal ball that can see into the future (of course he doesn't), and unless he's a renowned market analyst like Pachter (of course he isn't), the only place he's going to be getting this ripe information from is his arse. And it is ripe.
There's really no need to continue threads like these.
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I mean, you can if you want, by all means.
But sometimes we just have to police ourselves and step off, ignoring the bait.
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@Phry
Trolololo, eh?
SPECIOUS CLAIMS ARE NOW VALID FORMS OF DOUBT, NEWS AT ELEVEN!
This is exactly why I'm calling troll, here.
They're just pulling your leg.
Seriously, all of the trololololo.
PC Games: "How do you plan to do this? Building such a complex world which is shared by all players without having monthly fees?"
Strain: (laughing) "A very good question! Interestingly many people believe that the completely instantiated world was the reason for Guild Wars 1 to not need monthly fees. This is completely wrong! The existence or lack of a persistent world is totally unrelated to the running expenses which are needed to maintain an online roleplaying game."
The truth is that sub fees are a holdover from days when bandwidth was very expensive. If you look at NCSoft's quarterly reports, you'd see that the residual income from GW1, the 2-3 million dollars per quarter that it's still earning is enough to pay for the bandwidth and server rent for all 5 of their games combined (Aion, Lineage 1&2, GW1, CoH). It comes out to less than $1 per player per month, easily. You can look at it like if the GW2 box is $60 instead of $50 means they're throwing in 10 months of what it costs them for you to play.
All other things being equal, a B2P game sells more copies than a P2P game because it's cheaper and there are people who object to subscriptions. A larger playerbase not only more box sales, it also means more people available to buy cash shop items and expansions. Those people are also more likely to be retained because they don't have a financial incentive to stop playing the game as well as it being much easier to pick it back up at any time.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." -Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
The OP hints at something that is actually valid (you have to cut through several weeds to find it). The fear is that without a sub, ArenaNet will have to give gamers a boatload of opportunities to spend money. He's suggesting that in order to do this, they must leave out a significant amount of content at launch in order to monetize on it through quick and small expansion packs.
While I don't share the OP's fear, it is valid. Since the B2P business model is so rarely used, it's natural for gamers to be skeptical.
they will get a decent amount from the cashshop with superficial items like armor dye, wedding dress etc
and then they will probably release a exp pack every 6 months like Guildwars 1?
2 things:
Please go back to that nice warm spot under your bridge. And....please learn the difference between their, they're, and there!
You want me to pay to play a game I already paid for???
Be afraid.....The dragons are HERE!