Why would anyone pre order this game? The only thing you get from doing so is 1 day head start. There is no release date other than "sometime in 2012"
While true, with a pre purchase you have to pay full price and you may have a bigger issue getting a refund if you wanted. At least you can participate in the beta events.
I'm sure Anet loves the ones that do, but to me thats financial irresponsibility at its worst.
If someone said this to me for Diablo3, then I would agree. It boils down to trust, and I trust Arenanet more than I trust Blizzard. Also, I have followed GW1 and GW2 for many years. I have been a fan for so many years, and been dying to get my grubby paws on this game so long that every bit of information that I find I enjoy watching or reading. With sooo much time is spent reading about ArenaNet and seeing how they have operated in the past up until now, I trust them when they say things. If I pre-ordered or pre-purchased Diablo3 it would be based on nothing... and therefore I would be blindly doing it. Your comment would be justified for me in this case. Though when it comes to Arenanet, I feel I "know" them quite well, and so far they have not let me down.
What do you have to lose by waiting at least until after the weekend betas are done? I let you know what you have to gain: you are able to access more information and you put pressure on Arenanet to work harder and NCSoft to not use too much of their influence fee-wise.
Edit:
Heck even the headstart is rather worthless, since we all know by now that it is easy time-wise to get competitive gear and that there is no insane gear-mill like in normal MMORPGs.
Why would anyone pre order this game? The only thing you get from doing so is 1 day head start. There is no release date other than "sometime in 2012"
While true, with a pre purchase you have to pay full price and you may have a bigger issue getting a refund if you wanted. At least you can participate in the beta events.
I'm sure Anet loves the ones that do, but to me thats financial irresponsibility at its worst.
Because, they are emotional and want to feel the excitement they will have from knowing that they have prepurchased. They want to live in their own little bubble of happiness and they are prepared to pay the price for it. They don't care about what kind of signals they are sending to the company and MMORPG companies in general: they just want instant gratification for their emotional needs.
So you are an emotionless robot who feels nothing?
I pre-purchased, not due to emotion, but rather due to the fact that I know I would purchase and play regardless of reviews (I typically don't read reviews unless I am on the fence). Since I had decided I would play, I might as well get a little something extra with my purchase, beta weekend access and a 3 day head start.
Am I instantly gratified by my purchase? No, since I don't have instant access to the game I am purchasing.
Your air of superiority within your post does seem to suggest a certain amount of insecurity, with your apparent attack on those who decided to pre-purchase, though.
Why would anyone pre order this game? The only thing you get from doing so is 1 day head start. There is no release date other than "sometime in 2012"
While true, with a pre purchase you have to pay full price and you may have a bigger issue getting a refund if you wanted. At least you can participate in the beta events.
I'm sure Anet loves the ones that do, but to me thats financial irresponsibility at its worst.
Because, they are emotional and want to feel the excitement they will have from knowing that they have prepurchased. They want to live in their own little bubble of happiness and they are prepared to pay the price for it. They don't care about what kind of signals they are sending to the company and MMORPG companies in general: they just want instant gratification for their emotional needs.
So you are an emotionless robot who feels nothing?
I pre-purchased, not due to emotion, but rather due to the fact that I know I would purchase and play regardless of reviews (I typically don't read reviews unless I am on the fence). Since I had decided I would play, I might as well get a little something extra with my purchase, beta weekend access and a 3 day head start.
Am I instantly gratified by my purchase? No, since I don't have instant access to the game I am purchasing.
Your air of superiority within your post does seem to suggest a certain amount of insecurity, with your apparent attack on those who decided to pre-purchase, though.
So again: why not wait with the prepurchase until at least the weekend betas are over? By waiting, you put pressure on Arenanet and specially NCSoft to not do shady things and maybe even change some of the things which are already seen as questionable by a significant amount of people.
Your 3 days head start means nothing since it is no huge gear grind. Same goes with beta weekend. Why would any of those mean anything to you? Or maybe, just maybe, you are unable to wait until the game is actually released and you want it NOW, but you can't get it now, so you want it as fast as possible instead, i.e. instant gratification.
Why would anyone pre order this game? The only thing you get from doing so is 1 day head start. There is no release date other than "sometime in 2012"
While true, with a pre purchase you have to pay full price and you may have a bigger issue getting a refund if you wanted. At least you can participate in the beta events.
I'm sure Anet loves the ones that do, but to me thats financial irresponsibility at its worst.
It is 3 days if you pre purchase it, and acess to the beta.
Pre orders are easier to cancel and you can do that as well, or you can just wait.
If you are unsure you should wait until the game is out, it is always the wise option and those 3 days will pass fast anyways.
Pre purchasing is the alternative for people who checked up the game and can't wait for it, if you can wait just relax. You also get a piece of jewelry but I have a feeling it is no big thing either.
I have bought it myself, but I am a huge GW1 and frankly feels that even if it sucks (which I doubt) I kinda owns ANET to buy it, I played so many years for a really small investment.
Why would anyone pre order this game? The only thing you get from doing so is 1 day head start. There is no release date other than "sometime in 2012"
While true, with a pre purchase you have to pay full price and you may have a bigger issue getting a refund if you wanted. At least you can participate in the beta events.
I'm sure Anet loves the ones that do, but to me thats financial irresponsibility at its worst.
Because, they are emotional and want to feel the excitement they will have from knowing that they have prepurchased. They want to live in their own little bubble of happiness and they are prepared to pay the price for it. They don't care about what kind of signals they are sending to the company and MMORPG companies in general: they just want instant gratification for their emotional needs.
So you are an emotionless robot who feels nothing?
I pre-purchased, not due to emotion, but rather due to the fact that I know I would purchase and play regardless of reviews (I typically don't read reviews unless I am on the fence). Since I had decided I would play, I might as well get a little something extra with my purchase, beta weekend access and a 3 day head start.
Am I instantly gratified by my purchase? No, since I don't have instant access to the game I am purchasing.
Your air of superiority within your post does seem to suggest a certain amount of insecurity, with your apparent attack on those who decided to pre-purchase, though.
So again: why not wait with the prepurchase until at least the weekend betas are over? By waiting, you put pressure on Arenanet and specially NCSoft to not do shady things and maybe even change some of the things which are already seen as questionable by a significant amount of people.
Your 3 days head start means nothing since it is no huge gear grind. Same goes with beta weekend. Why would any of those mean anything to you? Or maybe, just maybe, you are unable to wait until the game is actually released and you want it NOW, but you can't get it now, so you want it as fast as possible instead, i.e. instant gratification.
First, I'll answer why Beta and the Headstart mean something. During the beta weekends, I will be able to play AND provide feedback on both good and bad parts about the game. The more feedback that they receive, the more they can see what works and what doesn't, and they can make adjustments based upon feedback received. I have beta tested many games over the past decade, so it's something I enjoy.
The headstart is a little meaningful for a selfish reason. Basically, to allow myself to get out of the starter areas before they become really crowded. I can be a few levels ahead of the rest of the crowd to allow myself some breathing room when playing. Gear and levels are mostly meaningless within GW2, and I am not such a competitive player where I would even care about having a "3 day advantage" (especially since it doesn't exist). However, not being stuck in an overpopulated zone is a small benefit to getting in there a little bit ahead of the crowd.
Finally, you keep harping on about "putting presst on ANet and NCSoft". To what end? Does ANet have a history of shady business practices? NCSoft has made some questionable decisions in the past, but they also leave ANet alone for the most part. Past can be a reference for the future at times, and there is NOTHING in ANet's past to make me question their integrity. I also refuse to punish one development studio, because of the shady dealings of another. I didn't pre-order SWTOR because of the decreased level of quality in Bioware games, and their DLC fiasco. I didn't pre-order TSW because of Funcom's track record. However, those examples don't discount ANets history of quality.
I would happily wait until release if I had any question about the game that made me think I wouldn't purchase. However, that's not the case. I will happily wait to get my beta access codes for beta weekends, and will wait happily for the release. In the meantime, I have other games to occupy my time.
It provides another option for those who don't want to pre-purchase but may want an advantage in reserving a name they would like to use before others on day 1 take it up
Why would anyone pre order this game? The only thing you get from doing so is 1 day head start. There is no release date other than "sometime in 2012"
While true, with a pre purchase you have to pay full price and you may have a bigger issue getting a refund if you wanted. At least you can participate in the beta events.
I'm sure Anet loves the ones that do, but to me thats financial irresponsibility at its worst.
If someone said this to me for Diablo3, then I would agree. It boils down to trust, and I trust Arenanet more than I trust Blizzard. Also, I have followed GW1 and GW2 for many years. I have been a fan for so many years, and been dying to get my grubby paws on this game so long that every bit of information that I find I enjoy watching or reading. With sooo much time is spent reading about ArenaNet and seeing how they have operated in the past up until now, I trust them when they say things. If I pre-ordered or pre-purchased Diablo3 it would be based on nothing... and therefore I would be blindly doing it. Your comment would be justified for me in this case. Though when it comes to Arenanet, I feel I "know" them quite well, and so far they have not let me down.
What do you have to lose by waiting at least until after the weekend betas are done? I let you know what you have to gain: you are able to access more information and you put pressure on Arenanet to work harder and NCSoft to not use too much of their influence fee-wise.
Edit:
Heck even the headstart is rather worthless, since we all know by now that it is easy time-wise to get competitive gear and that there is no insane gear-mill like in normal MMORPGs.
Well, I really don't know how to "make" you understand, maybe the same way as I cannot convey my feelings over to you. I love this game, and I trust Anet. In my country all the CE's were sold out in the first few days, so I guess that was a minor point that meant I wanted to make sure I didn't miss one. Though even if that was not the case, I would still pre-purchase. I am impatient, so bite me. Maybe you can try convince me golf is a brilliant game... I think it sucks.
Why would anyone pre order this game? The only thing you get from doing so is 1 day head start. There is no release date other than "sometime in 2012"
While true, with a pre purchase you have to pay full price and you may have a bigger issue getting a refund if you wanted. At least you can participate in the beta events.
I'm sure Anet loves the ones that do, but to me thats financial irresponsibility at its worst.
Because, they are emotional and want to feel the excitement they will have from knowing that they have prepurchased. They want to live in their own little bubble of happiness and they are prepared to pay the price for it. They don't care about what kind of signals they are sending to the company and MMORPG companies in general: they just want instant gratification for their emotional needs.
So you are an emotionless robot who feels nothing?
I pre-purchased, not due to emotion, but rather due to the fact that I know I would purchase and play regardless of reviews (I typically don't read reviews unless I am on the fence). Since I had decided I would play, I might as well get a little something extra with my purchase, beta weekend access and a 3 day head start.
Am I instantly gratified by my purchase? No, since I don't have instant access to the game I am purchasing.
Your air of superiority within your post does seem to suggest a certain amount of insecurity, with your apparent attack on those who decided to pre-purchase, though.
So again: why not wait with the prepurchase until at least the weekend betas are over? By waiting, you put pressure on Arenanet and specially NCSoft to not do shady things and maybe even change some of the things which are already seen as questionable by a significant amount of people.
Your 3 days head start means nothing since it is no huge gear grind. Same goes with beta weekend. Why would any of those mean anything to you? Or maybe, just maybe, you are unable to wait until the game is actually released and you want it NOW, but you can't get it now, so you want it as fast as possible instead, i.e. instant gratification.
First, I'll answer why Beta and the Headstart mean something. During the beta weekends, I will be able to play AND provide feedback on both good and bad parts about the game. The more feedback that they receive, the more they can see what works and what doesn't, and they can make adjustments based upon feedback received. I have beta tested many games over the past decade, so it's something I enjoy.
The headstart is a little meaningful for a selfish reason. Basically, to allow myself to get out of the starter areas before they become really crowded. I can be a few levels ahead of the rest of the crowd to allow myself some breathing room when playing. Gear and levels are mostly meaningless within GW2, and I am not such a competitive player where I would even care about having a "3 day advantage" (especially since it doesn't exist). However, not being stuck in an overpopulated zone is a small benefit to getting in there a little bit ahead of the crowd.
Finally, you keep harping on about "putting presst on ANet and NCSoft". To what end? Does ANet have a history of shady business practices? NCSoft has made some questionable decisions in the past, but they also leave ANet alone for the most part. Past can be a reference for the future at times, and there is NOTHING in ANet's past to make me question their integrity. I also refuse to punish one development studio, because of the shady dealings of another. I didn't pre-order SWTOR because of the decreased level of quality in Bioware games, and their DLC fiasco. I didn't pre-order TSW because of Funcom's track record. However, those examples don't discount ANets history of quality.
I would happily wait until release if I had any question about the game that made me think I wouldn't purchase. However, that's not the case. I will happily wait to get my beta access codes for beta weekends, and will wait happily for the release. In the meantime, I have other games to occupy my time.
Arenanet should have estimations of how many people they are looking for in their beta tests and if they notice they have too few: they'll just automatically increase it by sending out extra mails. However, if you are super-beta-tester that can absolutely not be replaced, then, yes, you have a valid reason. I will though point out that most people are not such superb testers and would not be able to use that reason.
As for the headstart: if this was WoW clone, I would understand you, you really don't want the KS-festivals that being stuck with the masses lead to; however, this is GW2, they have a scaling-system and a "autopartying that isn't really partying, but makes you happy to see other people nearby", it is built for massive amounts of people playing without hurting each other. In my opinion, you are indeed missing a major point about GW2 by avoiding the masses. Overpopulated is only "overpopulated" if it leads to perfomance issues, but without those perfomance issues, it shouldn't lead to any gameplay issues, in fact it should enhance the gameplay experience.
I suppose, that you are so used to "pre-ordering", that you really don't see how "not pre-ordering" has always been the neutral standpoint, while "pre-ordering" has been seen as a way to simply give the company a better picture of how many will be buying the game. You are not punishing Arenanet by waiting: if they don't try anything shady, you will still buy the game and the situation is the same as if you had prepurchased, but if you don't prepurchase they'll have to think of why you didn't prepurchase and they are more inclined to do more positive changes and less inclined to do negative ones.
If you want Arenanet to make the game as good as possible, both for their own sake and the sake of the game, you wait patiently and you don't prepurchase. The only people who really benefit from prepurchases are the money-monkeys whose job it is to squeeze out as much money as possible from their costumers. Rest assured that in a such big company as Arenanet, the developers aren't the ones doing the marketing strategy and NCSoft is keeping an eye on the revenue.
Finally about "Past can be a reference for the future at times, and there is NOTHING in ANet's past to make me question their integrity.": Did you forget about how someone in their department thought it was a brillant idea to implement a form of megaphones to be sold in their item mall, an idea which was later revoked which lead to those megaphones to be removed? Arenanet has done many things right and are delivering an AAA experience that is significantely different from the norm, but do not think that everyone in their company will always just think of the best for their costumer. It isn't that simple.
It provides another option for those who don't want to pre-purchase but may want an advantage in reserving a name they would like to use before others on day 1 take it up
It provides another option for those who don't want to pre-purchase but may want an advantage in reserving a name they would like to use before others on day 1 take it up
That is a good reason. Thank you.
Actually I realise I have no proof for my next comment, but I highly doubt most people who pre-order or pre-purchase would put that down as their reason. Anyhow, even if you are a week after launch date your gw1 character is already booked. So it would be a few non gw1 people that would want to book. Though I still say that is not the overriding reason why people have purchased/ordered already.
Why would anyone pre order this game? The only thing you get from doing so is 1 day head start. There is no release date other than "sometime in 2012"
While true, with a pre purchase you have to pay full price and you may have a bigger issue getting a refund if you wanted. At least you can participate in the beta events.
I'm sure Anet loves the ones that do, but to me thats financial irresponsibility at its worst.
Because, they are emotional and want to feel the excitement they will have from knowing that they have prepurchased. They want to live in their own little bubble of happiness and they are prepared to pay the price for it. They don't care about what kind of signals they are sending to the company and MMORPG companies in general: they just want instant gratification for their emotional needs.
So you are an emotionless robot who feels nothing?
I pre-purchased, not due to emotion, but rather due to the fact that I know I would purchase and play regardless of reviews (I typically don't read reviews unless I am on the fence). Since I had decided I would play, I might as well get a little something extra with my purchase, beta weekend access and a 3 day head start.
Am I instantly gratified by my purchase? No, since I don't have instant access to the game I am purchasing.
Your air of superiority within your post does seem to suggest a certain amount of insecurity, with your apparent attack on those who decided to pre-purchase, though.
So again: why not wait with the prepurchase until at least the weekend betas are over? By waiting, you put pressure on Arenanet and specially NCSoft to not do shady things and maybe even change some of the things which are already seen as questionable by a significant amount of people.
Your 3 days head start means nothing since it is no huge gear grind. Same goes with beta weekend. Why would any of those mean anything to you? Or maybe, just maybe, you are unable to wait until the game is actually released and you want it NOW, but you can't get it now, so you want it as fast as possible instead, i.e. instant gratification.
First, I'll answer why Beta and the Headstart mean something. During the beta weekends, I will be able to play AND provide feedback on both good and bad parts about the game. The more feedback that they receive, the more they can see what works and what doesn't, and they can make adjustments based upon feedback received. I have beta tested many games over the past decade, so it's something I enjoy.
The headstart is a little meaningful for a selfish reason. Basically, to allow myself to get out of the starter areas before they become really crowded. I can be a few levels ahead of the rest of the crowd to allow myself some breathing room when playing. Gear and levels are mostly meaningless within GW2, and I am not such a competitive player where I would even care about having a "3 day advantage" (especially since it doesn't exist). However, not being stuck in an overpopulated zone is a small benefit to getting in there a little bit ahead of the crowd.
Finally, you keep harping on about "putting presst on ANet and NCSoft". To what end? Does ANet have a history of shady business practices? NCSoft has made some questionable decisions in the past, but they also leave ANet alone for the most part. Past can be a reference for the future at times, and there is NOTHING in ANet's past to make me question their integrity. I also refuse to punish one development studio, because of the shady dealings of another. I didn't pre-order SWTOR because of the decreased level of quality in Bioware games, and their DLC fiasco. I didn't pre-order TSW because of Funcom's track record. However, those examples don't discount ANets history of quality.
I would happily wait until release if I had any question about the game that made me think I wouldn't purchase. However, that's not the case. I will happily wait to get my beta access codes for beta weekends, and will wait happily for the release. In the meantime, I have other games to occupy my time.
Arenanet should have estimations of how many people they are looking for in their beta tests and if they notice they have too few: they'll just automatically increase it by sending out extra mails. However, if you are super-beta-tester that can absolutely not be replaced, then, yes, you have a valid reason. I will though point out that most people are not such superb testers and would not be able to use that reason.
As for the headstart: if this was WoW clone, I would understand you, you really don't want the KS-festivals that being stuck with the masses lead to; however, this is GW2, they have a scaling-system and a "autopartying that isn't really partying, but makes you happy to see other people nearby", it is built for massive amounts of people playing without hurting each other. In my opinion, you are indeed missing a major point about GW2 by avoiding the masses. Overpopulated is only "overpopulated" if it leads to perfomance issues, but without those perfomance issues, it shouldn't lead to any gameplay issues, in fact it should enhance the gameplay experience.
I suppose, that you are so used to "pre-ordering", that you really don't see how "not pre-ordering" has always been the neutral standpoint, while "pre-ordering" has been seen as a way to simply give the company a better picture of how many will be buying the game. You are not punishing Arenanet by waiting: if they don't try anything shady, you will still buy the game and the situation is the same as if you had prepurchased, but if you don't prepurchase they'll have to think of why you didn't prepurchase and they are more inclined to do more positive changes and less inclined to do negative ones.
If you want Arenanet to make the game as good as possible, both for their own sake and the sake of the game, you wait patiently and you don't prepurchase. The only people who really benefit from prepurchases are the money-monkeys whose job it is to squeeze out as much money as possible from their costumers. Rest assured that in a such big company as Arenanet, the developers aren't the ones doing the marketing strategy and NCSoft is keeping an eye on the revenue.
Finally about "Past can be a reference for the future at times, and there is NOTHING in ANet's past to make me question their integrity.": Did you forget about how someone in their department thought it was a brillant idea to implement a form of megaphones to be sold in their item mall, an idea which was later revoked which lead to those megaphones to be removed? Arenanet has done many things right and are delivering an AAA experience that is significantely different from the norm, but do not think that everyone in their company will always just think of the best for their costumer. It isn't that simple.
I actually didn't know about the megaphone thing, yeah that's pretty funny, but at the same time it's not exactly a game breaking element now is it?
Additionally, I am not "used to pre-ordering" as I have pre-ordered very few games, ever. I pre-ordered Skyrim via Steam for the ability to download before launch, and because I knew it would be an awesome game (over 200 hours in Skyrim is enough for the price of purchase for me), and that's the last game I have pre-ordered in about 2 years, with the exception of GW2. You're making awfully ignorant assumptions.
Finally, there's no point in arguing with you, because you refuse to acknowledge that anyone pre-purchasing is doing so because of their faith in the developer. My reasons aren't "uncontrolled emotion" or "used to pre-ordering" or whatever nonsensical assumption you can make about people you've never met. Rather, my reason is that I have seen more than enough to understand that I will get enough enjoyment out of the game to purchase, so I chose to purchase.
Why would anyone pre order this game? The only thing you get from doing so is 1 day head start. There is no release date other than "sometime in 2012" While true, with a pre purchase you have to pay full price and you may have a bigger issue getting a refund if you wanted. At least you can participate in the beta events. I'm sure Anet loves the ones that do, but to me thats financial irresponsibility at its worst.
Because, they are emotional and want to feel the excitement they will have from knowing that they have prepurchased. They want to live in their own little bubble of happiness and they are prepared to pay the price for it. They don't care about what kind of signals they are sending to the company and MMORPG companies in general: they just want instant gratification for their emotional needs.
So you are an emotionless robot who feels nothing?
I pre-purchased, not due to emotion, but rather due to the fact that I know I would purchase and play regardless of reviews (I typically don't read reviews unless I am on the fence). Since I had decided I would play, I might as well get a little something extra with my purchase, beta weekend access and a 3 day head start.
Am I instantly gratified by my purchase? No, since I don't have instant access to the game I am purchasing.
Your air of superiority within your post does seem to suggest a certain amount of insecurity, with your apparent attack on those who decided to pre-purchase, though.
So again: why not wait with the prepurchase until at least the weekend betas are over? By waiting, you put pressure on Arenanet and specially NCSoft to not do shady things and maybe even change some of the things which are already seen as questionable by a significant amount of people.
Your 3 days head start means nothing since it is no huge gear grind. Same goes with beta weekend. Why would any of those mean anything to you? Or maybe, just maybe, you are unable to wait until the game is actually released and you want it NOW, but you can't get it now, so you want it as fast as possible instead, i.e. instant gratification.
First, I'll answer why Beta and the Headstart mean something. During the beta weekends, I will be able to play AND provide feedback on both good and bad parts about the game. The more feedback that they receive, the more they can see what works and what doesn't, and they can make adjustments based upon feedback received. I have beta tested many games over the past decade, so it's something I enjoy.
The headstart is a little meaningful for a selfish reason. Basically, to allow myself to get out of the starter areas before they become really crowded. I can be a few levels ahead of the rest of the crowd to allow myself some breathing room when playing. Gear and levels are mostly meaningless within GW2, and I am not such a competitive player where I would even care about having a "3 day advantage" (especially since it doesn't exist). However, not being stuck in an overpopulated zone is a small benefit to getting in there a little bit ahead of the crowd.
Finally, you keep harping on about "putting presst on ANet and NCSoft". To what end? Does ANet have a history of shady business practices? NCSoft has made some questionable decisions in the past, but they also leave ANet alone for the most part. Past can be a reference for the future at times, and there is NOTHING in ANet's past to make me question their integrity. I also refuse to punish one development studio, because of the shady dealings of another. I didn't pre-order SWTOR because of the decreased level of quality in Bioware games, and their DLC fiasco. I didn't pre-order TSW because of Funcom's track record. However, those examples don't discount ANets history of quality.
I would happily wait until release if I had any question about the game that made me think I wouldn't purchase. However, that's not the case. I will happily wait to get my beta access codes for beta weekends, and will wait happily for the release. In the meantime, I have other games to occupy my time.
Arenanet should have estimations of how many people they are looking for in their beta tests and if they notice they have too few: they'll just automatically increase it by sending out extra mails. However, if you are super-beta-tester that can absolutely not be replaced, then, yes, you have a valid reason. I will though point out that most people are not such superb testers and would not be able to use that reason.
As for the headstart: if this was WoW clone, I would understand you, you really don't want the KS-festivals that being stuck with the masses lead to; however, this is GW2, they have a scaling-system and a "autopartying that isn't really partying, but makes you happy to see other people nearby", it is built for massive amounts of people playing without hurting each other. In my opinion, you are indeed missing a major point about GW2 by avoiding the masses. Overpopulated is only "overpopulated" if it leads to perfomance issues, but without those perfomance issues, it shouldn't lead to any gameplay issues, in fact it should enhance the gameplay experience.
I suppose, that you are so used to "pre-ordering", that you really don't see how "not pre-ordering" has always been the neutral standpoint, while "pre-ordering" has been seen as a way to simply give the company a better picture of how many will be buying the game. You are not punishing Arenanet by waiting: if they don't try anything shady, you will still buy the game and the situation is the same as if you had prepurchased, but if you don't prepurchase they'll have to think of why you didn't prepurchase and they are more inclined to do more positive changes and less inclined to do negative ones.
If you want Arenanet to make the game as good as possible, both for their own sake and the sake of the game, you wait patiently and you don't prepurchase. The only people who really benefit from prepurchases are the money-monkeys whose job it is to squeeze out as much money as possible from their costumers. Rest assured that in a such big company as Arenanet, the developers aren't the ones doing the marketing strategy and NCSoft is keeping an eye on the revenue.
Finally about "Past can be a reference for the future at times, and there is NOTHING in ANet's past to make me question their integrity.": Did you forget about how someone in their department thought it was a brillant idea to implement a form of megaphones to be sold in their item mall, an idea which was later revoked which lead to those megaphones to be removed? Arenanet has done many things right and are delivering an AAA experience that is significantely different from the norm, but do not think that everyone in their company will always just think of the best for their costumer. It isn't that simple.
I actually didn't know about the megaphone thing, yeah that's pretty funny, but at the same time it's not exactly a game breaking element now is it?
Additionally, I am not "used to pre-ordering" as I have pre-ordered very few games, ever. I pre-ordered Skyrim via Steam for the ability to download before launch, and because I knew it would be an awesome game (over 200 hours in Skyrim is enough for the price of purchase for me), and that's the last game I have pre-ordered in about 2 years, with the exception of GW2. You're making awfully ignorant assumptions.
Finally, there's no point in arguing with you, because you refuse to acknowledge that anyone pre-purchasing is doing so because of their faith in the developer. My reasons aren't "uncontrolled emotion" or "used to pre-ordering" or whatever nonsensical assumption you can make about people you've never met. Rather, my reason is that I have seen more than enough to understand that I will get enough enjoyment out of the game to purchase, so I chose to purchase.
They published enough info to show the game is very awesome. GW1 was an excellent experience, headstart(3), beta access. All i can ask for.
Other games do not give half the info before release...
And this game has no sub... Doesnt matter if i buy it next year or right now for them. I bought disgusting games before and wasted my money a lot (ff14, swtor). This looks like a real deal, now i can play gw2 forever..
To op: Please pass on this one . This game is sure not for you.
I actually didn't know about the megaphone thing, yeah that's pretty funny, but at the same time it's not exactly a game breaking element now is it?
Additionally, I am not "used to pre-ordering" as I have pre-ordered very few games, ever. I pre-ordered Skyrim via Steam for the ability to download before launch, and because I knew it would be an awesome game (over 200 hours in Skyrim is enough for the price of purchase for me), and that's the last game I have pre-ordered in about 2 years, with the exception of GW2. You're making awfully ignorant assumptions.
Finally, there's no point in arguing with you, because you refuse to acknowledge that anyone pre-purchasing is doing so because of their faith in the developer. My reasons aren't "uncontrolled emotion" or "used to pre-ordering" or whatever nonsensical assumption you can make about people you've never met. Rather, my reason is that I have seen more than enough to understand that I will get enough enjoyment out of the game to purchase, so I chose to purchase.
It doesn't have to be gamebreaking in order to have potentially horrible conquences.
I don't question the choice to purchase, I question the time when that purchase is done. There are significant market-changing advantages to be gained if costumers refused to prepurchase. Pre-order is far more acceptable since you can always cancel that (as far as I know?).
Comments
What do you have to lose by waiting at least until after the weekend betas are done? I let you know what you have to gain: you are able to access more information and you put pressure on Arenanet to work harder and NCSoft to not use too much of their influence fee-wise.
Edit:
Heck even the headstart is rather worthless, since we all know by now that it is easy time-wise to get competitive gear and that there is no insane gear-mill like in normal MMORPGs.
So you are an emotionless robot who feels nothing?
I pre-purchased, not due to emotion, but rather due to the fact that I know I would purchase and play regardless of reviews (I typically don't read reviews unless I am on the fence). Since I had decided I would play, I might as well get a little something extra with my purchase, beta weekend access and a 3 day head start.
Am I instantly gratified by my purchase? No, since I don't have instant access to the game I am purchasing.
Your air of superiority within your post does seem to suggest a certain amount of insecurity, with your apparent attack on those who decided to pre-purchase, though.
So again: why not wait with the prepurchase until at least the weekend betas are over? By waiting, you put pressure on Arenanet and specially NCSoft to not do shady things and maybe even change some of the things which are already seen as questionable by a significant amount of people.
Your 3 days head start means nothing since it is no huge gear grind. Same goes with beta weekend. Why would any of those mean anything to you? Or maybe, just maybe, you are unable to wait until the game is actually released and you want it NOW, but you can't get it now, so you want it as fast as possible instead, i.e. instant gratification.
It is 3 days if you pre purchase it, and acess to the beta.
Pre orders are easier to cancel and you can do that as well, or you can just wait.
If you are unsure you should wait until the game is out, it is always the wise option and those 3 days will pass fast anyways.
Pre purchasing is the alternative for people who checked up the game and can't wait for it, if you can wait just relax. You also get a piece of jewelry but I have a feeling it is no big thing either.
I have bought it myself, but I am a huge GW1 and frankly feels that even if it sucks (which I doubt) I kinda owns ANET to buy it, I played so many years for a really small investment.
People pre-order because they just have to be first or they will just die!!!!
I think that the game will probably cheaper when it comes out. So if you prepurchase it now you will probably pay more.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
First, I'll answer why Beta and the Headstart mean something. During the beta weekends, I will be able to play AND provide feedback on both good and bad parts about the game. The more feedback that they receive, the more they can see what works and what doesn't, and they can make adjustments based upon feedback received. I have beta tested many games over the past decade, so it's something I enjoy.
The headstart is a little meaningful for a selfish reason. Basically, to allow myself to get out of the starter areas before they become really crowded. I can be a few levels ahead of the rest of the crowd to allow myself some breathing room when playing. Gear and levels are mostly meaningless within GW2, and I am not such a competitive player where I would even care about having a "3 day advantage" (especially since it doesn't exist). However, not being stuck in an overpopulated zone is a small benefit to getting in there a little bit ahead of the crowd.
Finally, you keep harping on about "putting presst on ANet and NCSoft". To what end? Does ANet have a history of shady business practices? NCSoft has made some questionable decisions in the past, but they also leave ANet alone for the most part. Past can be a reference for the future at times, and there is NOTHING in ANet's past to make me question their integrity. I also refuse to punish one development studio, because of the shady dealings of another. I didn't pre-order SWTOR because of the decreased level of quality in Bioware games, and their DLC fiasco. I didn't pre-order TSW because of Funcom's track record. However, those examples don't discount ANets history of quality.
I would happily wait until release if I had any question about the game that made me think I wouldn't purchase. However, that's not the case. I will happily wait to get my beta access codes for beta weekends, and will wait happily for the release. In the meantime, I have other games to occupy my time.
It provides another option for those who don't want to pre-purchase but may want an advantage in reserving a name they would like to use before others on day 1 take it up
Arenanet should have estimations of how many people they are looking for in their beta tests and if they notice they have too few: they'll just automatically increase it by sending out extra mails. However, if you are super-beta-tester that can absolutely not be replaced, then, yes, you have a valid reason. I will though point out that most people are not such superb testers and would not be able to use that reason.
As for the headstart: if this was WoW clone, I would understand you, you really don't want the KS-festivals that being stuck with the masses lead to; however, this is GW2, they have a scaling-system and a "autopartying that isn't really partying, but makes you happy to see other people nearby", it is built for massive amounts of people playing without hurting each other. In my opinion, you are indeed missing a major point about GW2 by avoiding the masses. Overpopulated is only "overpopulated" if it leads to perfomance issues, but without those perfomance issues, it shouldn't lead to any gameplay issues, in fact it should enhance the gameplay experience.
I suppose, that you are so used to "pre-ordering", that you really don't see how "not pre-ordering" has always been the neutral standpoint, while "pre-ordering" has been seen as a way to simply give the company a better picture of how many will be buying the game. You are not punishing Arenanet by waiting: if they don't try anything shady, you will still buy the game and the situation is the same as if you had prepurchased, but if you don't prepurchase they'll have to think of why you didn't prepurchase and they are more inclined to do more positive changes and less inclined to do negative ones.
If you want Arenanet to make the game as good as possible, both for their own sake and the sake of the game, you wait patiently and you don't prepurchase. The only people who really benefit from prepurchases are the money-monkeys whose job it is to squeeze out as much money as possible from their costumers. Rest assured that in a such big company as Arenanet, the developers aren't the ones doing the marketing strategy and NCSoft is keeping an eye on the revenue.
Finally about "Past can be a reference for the future at times, and there is NOTHING in ANet's past to make me question their integrity.": Did you forget about how someone in their department thought it was a brillant idea to implement a form of megaphones to be sold in their item mall, an idea which was later revoked which lead to those megaphones to be removed? Arenanet has done many things right and are delivering an AAA experience that is significantely different from the norm, but do not think that everyone in their company will always just think of the best for their costumer. It isn't that simple.
That is a good reason. Thank you.
That is a good reason. Thank you.
Actually I realise I have no proof for my next comment, but I highly doubt most people who pre-order or pre-purchase would put that down as their reason. Anyhow, even if you are a week after launch date your gw1 character is already booked. So it would be a few non gw1 people that would want to book. Though I still say that is not the overriding reason why people have purchased/ordered already.I actually didn't know about the megaphone thing, yeah that's pretty funny, but at the same time it's not exactly a game breaking element now is it?
Additionally, I am not "used to pre-ordering" as I have pre-ordered very few games, ever. I pre-ordered Skyrim via Steam for the ability to download before launch, and because I knew it would be an awesome game (over 200 hours in Skyrim is enough for the price of purchase for me), and that's the last game I have pre-ordered in about 2 years, with the exception of GW2. You're making awfully ignorant assumptions.
Finally, there's no point in arguing with you, because you refuse to acknowledge that anyone pre-purchasing is doing so because of their faith in the developer. My reasons aren't "uncontrolled emotion" or "used to pre-ordering" or whatever nonsensical assumption you can make about people you've never met. Rather, my reason is that I have seen more than enough to understand that I will get enough enjoyment out of the game to purchase, so I chose to purchase.
Because, they are emotional and want to feel the excitement they will have from knowing that they have prepurchased. They want to live in their own little bubble of happiness and they are prepared to pay the price for it. They don't care about what kind of signals they are sending to the company and MMORPG companies in general: they just want instant gratification for their emotional needs.
So you are an emotionless robot who feels nothing?
I pre-purchased, not due to emotion, but rather due to the fact that I know I would purchase and play regardless of reviews (I typically don't read reviews unless I am on the fence). Since I had decided I would play, I might as well get a little something extra with my purchase, beta weekend access and a 3 day head start.
Am I instantly gratified by my purchase? No, since I don't have instant access to the game I am purchasing.
Your air of superiority within your post does seem to suggest a certain amount of insecurity, with your apparent attack on those who decided to pre-purchase, though.
So again: why not wait with the prepurchase until at least the weekend betas are over? By waiting, you put pressure on Arenanet and specially NCSoft to not do shady things and maybe even change some of the things which are already seen as questionable by a significant amount of people.
Your 3 days head start means nothing since it is no huge gear grind. Same goes with beta weekend. Why would any of those mean anything to you? Or maybe, just maybe, you are unable to wait until the game is actually released and you want it NOW, but you can't get it now, so you want it as fast as possible instead, i.e. instant gratification.
First, I'll answer why Beta and the Headstart mean something. During the beta weekends, I will be able to play AND provide feedback on both good and bad parts about the game. The more feedback that they receive, the more they can see what works and what doesn't, and they can make adjustments based upon feedback received. I have beta tested many games over the past decade, so it's something I enjoy.
The headstart is a little meaningful for a selfish reason. Basically, to allow myself to get out of the starter areas before they become really crowded. I can be a few levels ahead of the rest of the crowd to allow myself some breathing room when playing. Gear and levels are mostly meaningless within GW2, and I am not such a competitive player where I would even care about having a "3 day advantage" (especially since it doesn't exist). However, not being stuck in an overpopulated zone is a small benefit to getting in there a little bit ahead of the crowd.
Finally, you keep harping on about "putting presst on ANet and NCSoft". To what end? Does ANet have a history of shady business practices? NCSoft has made some questionable decisions in the past, but they also leave ANet alone for the most part. Past can be a reference for the future at times, and there is NOTHING in ANet's past to make me question their integrity. I also refuse to punish one development studio, because of the shady dealings of another. I didn't pre-order SWTOR because of the decreased level of quality in Bioware games, and their DLC fiasco. I didn't pre-order TSW because of Funcom's track record. However, those examples don't discount ANets history of quality.
I would happily wait until release if I had any question about the game that made me think I wouldn't purchase. However, that's not the case. I will happily wait to get my beta access codes for beta weekends, and will wait happily for the release. In the meantime, I have other games to occupy my time.
Arenanet should have estimations of how many people they are looking for in their beta tests and if they notice they have too few: they'll just automatically increase it by sending out extra mails. However, if you are super-beta-tester that can absolutely not be replaced, then, yes, you have a valid reason. I will though point out that most people are not such superb testers and would not be able to use that reason.
As for the headstart: if this was WoW clone, I would understand you, you really don't want the KS-festivals that being stuck with the masses lead to; however, this is GW2, they have a scaling-system and a "autopartying that isn't really partying, but makes you happy to see other people nearby", it is built for massive amounts of people playing without hurting each other. In my opinion, you are indeed missing a major point about GW2 by avoiding the masses. Overpopulated is only "overpopulated" if it leads to perfomance issues, but without those perfomance issues, it shouldn't lead to any gameplay issues, in fact it should enhance the gameplay experience.
I suppose, that you are so used to "pre-ordering", that you really don't see how "not pre-ordering" has always been the neutral standpoint, while "pre-ordering" has been seen as a way to simply give the company a better picture of how many will be buying the game. You are not punishing Arenanet by waiting: if they don't try anything shady, you will still buy the game and the situation is the same as if you had prepurchased, but if you don't prepurchase they'll have to think of why you didn't prepurchase and they are more inclined to do more positive changes and less inclined to do negative ones.
If you want Arenanet to make the game as good as possible, both for their own sake and the sake of the game, you wait patiently and you don't prepurchase. The only people who really benefit from prepurchases are the money-monkeys whose job it is to squeeze out as much money as possible from their costumers. Rest assured that in a such big company as Arenanet, the developers aren't the ones doing the marketing strategy and NCSoft is keeping an eye on the revenue.
Finally about "Past can be a reference for the future at times, and there is NOTHING in ANet's past to make me question their integrity.": Did you forget about how someone in their department thought it was a brillant idea to implement a form of megaphones to be sold in their item mall, an idea which was later revoked which lead to those megaphones to be removed? Arenanet has done many things right and are delivering an AAA experience that is significantely different from the norm, but do not think that everyone in their company will always just think of the best for their costumer. It isn't that simple.
I actually didn't know about the megaphone thing, yeah that's pretty funny, but at the same time it's not exactly a game breaking element now is it?
Additionally, I am not "used to pre-ordering" as I have pre-ordered very few games, ever. I pre-ordered Skyrim via Steam for the ability to download before launch, and because I knew it would be an awesome game (over 200 hours in Skyrim is enough for the price of purchase for me), and that's the last game I have pre-ordered in about 2 years, with the exception of GW2. You're making awfully ignorant assumptions.
Finally, there's no point in arguing with you, because you refuse to acknowledge that anyone pre-purchasing is doing so because of their faith in the developer. My reasons aren't "uncontrolled emotion" or "used to pre-ordering" or whatever nonsensical assumption you can make about people you've never met. Rather, my reason is that I have seen more than enough to understand that I will get enough enjoyment out of the game to purchase, so I chose to purchase.
+1They published enough info to show the game is very awesome. GW1 was an excellent experience, headstart(3), beta access. All i can ask for.
Other games do not give half the info before release...
And this game has no sub... Doesnt matter if i buy it next year or right now for them. I bought disgusting games before and wasted my money a lot (ff14, swtor). This looks like a real deal, now i can play gw2 forever..
To op: Please pass on this one
. This game is sure not for you.
It doesn't have to be gamebreaking in order to have potentially horrible conquences.
I don't question the choice to purchase, I question the time when that purchase is done. There are significant market-changing advantages to be gained if costumers refused to prepurchase. Pre-order is far more acceptable since you can always cancel that (as far as I know?).