Why optional Character Slots are bad for Guild Wars

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=16259

So, we get to buy character slots. Most of you consider this a good thing. I consider it a sign of the end:
I instantly lose faith in a company that lies to my face. When they try to put a positive spin on it? I tend to blow my stack.

Frankly, I don’t care that the majority of players want to buy character slots. The majority of players had their parents pay for this game. I bought this game and continued to play it for two chief reason:

1. I enjoyed it. It was fun, but reason #2 casts a cloud on my ability to even look at the load screen now.

2. They weren’t going to try putting another hand in my pocket. Like many players who have sought out Guild Wars, I have a few horror stories about Pay to Play and pay to update games. From Sony charging me for a month of matrix online when I activated EQ2 to Knight online crashing and failing to work after a month of play…unless I bought an update.

I pay cash. I pay cash for games and Anet, NCSoft, Sony, Atari, Square can all kiss my grits if they want to get my credit card # again. Been there, done that; I don’t want you jerks tacking on the expanded whatnot without my consent or a host of other content that this action by Anet opens up.

So I want one of two things from someone at Anet. I want them to admit that they lied to the community that bought their game a year ago with an apology for trying to squeeze their oily hands around my credit card. Or I want this ---- stopped, and I want it stopped right now. Since the later isn’t going to happen, and the former never has, I don’t expect either. But 1 would be nice.

Character slot is not content.

Wah wah wah rant rant rant I have no positive things to say cause you ranting won't do anything A.net has done to us. We have no power, but as a consumer, with this post I doubt there would be a dramatic decrease into buying Chapter 3. It's your money, don't buy it.

Buying character slots is NOT CONTENT due to your buying it seperatly, not a addon towards Chapter 3 price tag. Simply a extention of the game than ITSELF than being into the content.

A.net told us AHEAD of time that we would be able to buy character slots, not it would be in the CONTENT.

They are a business. They need to make money. Their goals and philosphies change. Character slots take time on their end and they take up server space.

I don't understand your problem.

And yes character slots are not content!

I'm sorry Minus Sign, but I'm gonna have to agree with Aejorii. I do not believe that purchasing additional slots adds more content. You simple have another character to play with. You can choose to buy the slots. If you don't want to, then you don't have to.

OMG,
So who lied about what?
There is no fee, you buy the extra slot if you want to you MUST do nothing.
The extra slot comes out in the summer 2006 and the summer ends at 22 september.
You pay nothing for updates and patches.

But I do not get it, what do you want them to stop with??
stopping the free patches and updates?

Yeah, character slots are optional. You can buy them or you don't have to.

you payed cash for a game that also costs its developing company in more cash as long as you continue to play it

this is not a "hidden fee" because it's a completely optional upgrade that isn't at all required to play, but benefits those who decide they want it and those who provide it

you paid for your four character slots, so choosing not to purchase any more shouldn't affect you in any way. it was only made an option for those that strongly desired and asked for it and are willing to pay for it

typically, the ones complaining are the kids that went to mommy and daddy for the money to buy Guild Wars, but even they aren't so stupid as to complain about things like this - congratulations!

i'm sure you're proud of your catching ANET in a lie as you think you did and feel an obligation to speak out on the principle of the matter, but you're wrong. good day sir!

Sometimes it's best to vote with your feet (or in this case, your wallet) - don't like it, don't buy it. Or get the heck away.

But I echo Aejorii's sentiments. Since when were character slots content? I see them as features.

Absolutely agree. Additional character slots are a convenience, and one that I personally won't be taking advantage of.

Especially with the likely addition of 2 extra character slots with Nightfall, I find it hard to believe that a person would actually USE all 8 character slots, other than for (1) mule storage or (2) posterity's sake (getting a BDay present?). I have a feeling you might be able to find a PvE character or two that you could part with, and still have plenty of storage space to keep your other PvE characters active.

Again, I don't see how wanting an extra convenience is being lied to...

were you aware even marginally that for a long time the ability (OPTIONAL) to buy additional slots was all over every forum and they finally agreed to make OPTIONAL (DID I SAY OPTIONAL?) slots available.

since these optional slots have no effect on gameplay and you dont have to have them where is the lie?

you owe Anet an apology for that false accusation

So, you think that buyable character slots will lead to anet having mandatory updates that you need to pay for?

Slippery slope fallacy.

/Agree with all the above posters.
ANET needs to make money somehow, and this is something the players asked for that they're providing.
I am so sick of people complaining about every little things ANET does.
THEY ARE NOT THE BAD GUYS.
And trying to invalidate others' arguments by alluding to them as being kids that have their parents buy the game/extra slots was a nice touch.



(Sorry about the rant)

What I do want to know is, will they require me to buy online with a creditcard, or will they be available in shops in the form of those little plastic watchamacallit cards that NCsoft already uses to add credit to some of their other games? I'd vastly prefer to buy them physically because I want to buy some as birthday gifts, and emailing a key just doesn't feel the same as handing someone a tight little physical package.

I'm sure they will offer both, now the playncsoft may get the number earlier than the stores, but thats all.

Holy melodrama. I haven't seen anyone quite so full of themselves (and wrong) as the OP in a long, long time.

You get 4-6 slots depending on if you have a combined account or not. And for most people, this is probably sufficient (I know it's good enough for me). What, are they supposed offer unlimitted account space to all paying customers? If not unlimitted, it would at least help if you had made some kind of argument as to why the current amount is not enough, or arguments as to why a certain amount of slots is more "proper" or "fair".

The only reason this even happened is because many people, who wanted to have even more account space, requested the ability to buy more. Many people already buy second (or even third) copies of the game(s) to get more slots. This is not adding on content that should be free but is being charged for. This is not somehow backdooring your wallet. It's giving some people what they want. The amount of slots they offer, by default, is sufficient for many people (if not most people). It's simply an "option" for those who want even more.

The OP has totally over-reacted on this issue.

@ OP
Since when is Anet FORCING you to buy more character slots? I dont see the gun held to your head?

The manner in which you presented your aruments seem like pure rage...most likely due to some incident you had in game. Now step back and think from an objective standpoint...

So Anet doesnt charge a monthly play cost. Theire revenue has come purely from profits from sales of their game copies. These kind of profits greatly diminish with time meaning less profit. Now look at the flip-side; As an online game they have to have many employees working constantly to keep the game running, streamlined, updated and adding contect to keep the game interesting for GW players. And in order to maintain employees, in order to maintain on online game, what do we need? Money! Without people paying for new content, expansions, etc, then they in turn could not pay their employees for much longer. In turn, say bye bye to Guild Wars.

So tell me, would you rather have Anet catter to your preference and not release OPTIONAL new content meaning GW would not last long, OR can you simply choose NOT to purchase new content yourself and let others choose as they wish, meaning Anet can continue maintaining the wonderful GW world?

In truth i dont defend Anet EVER, concerning their free updates (which doesnt take long to get over), but you my friend are a troll. I greatly suggest a mod closes this thread quickly since the OP's views are simply flamebait.

enjoy

Thank you Tear, Jetdoc, for proving my point.

Hidden Fee bacause it was not there a year ago at time of purchase. Its a fee, and an add on. And obviously a very poewrful add-on for those who choose to use it. In PvE, it allows flexibility between characters; if you can play any proffesion at will, there is no longer a need to reroll, no more need to run the leveling tread mill to get the next FoTM build straight to your farm. Just run the desired toon there and boom; start killing.

Those players that do NOT buy it are suddenly at a disadvantage to those who do. "Sry; I didn't buy the extra character slots so I don't have the Ranger your team needs for the Deep."

Says team: "Lawlz; noob, shove off!" and kick.

But aside from that, what is the ONE thing that every long standing GW player complains about...

horde to your hearts content, rare items abound in this game. But theres no longer the deep seated need to beat your head on a wall when you go out of town deciding between selling some of your items on the cheap or hold out and spend a few more hours trying to sell them in LA.

Storage is king in Guild Wars, as any long standing player knows. he with the most bags keeps his gold.

Which leads us back to the core argument of most of the posters here:
All these extra abilities stacked onto a players account and we're only a few posts into the discussion....Sounds like your account has a whole boatload of access than mine doesn't and you haven't bought another game to get it. Sounds like your account has a clear advantage over mine; no skill on your part, just part with 10 bucks. Sounds like Character slots increase content.

And it still sounds like GW just became Pay to Upgrade...

EDIT: Anet is not losing money on this game. They've sold over 2 million copies in little more than a year and they're burping out expansions every 6 months from their business model. If you want more content and the ability to remain competitive, you buy the game and expand your existing account. We're not talking about Glowing hands or extra songs here from a third party vendor here; we're talking about content that will rapidly enhance a players overall ability to PvE.

Rest assured that I have no intention of flaming anyone for their views, for or against the inpending "update". But, in this case, I am guilty of seeking the discord of the masses. i know I'm in the minority; i don't care. I will be heard on this issue, and if a mod deems to lock this thread, it will only serve to proove that GWGuru is not the player=opinion friendly environment that all who dwell in it laud it as. Its another SoE site that shuts down anyone who disagrees with the GMs.

Thats the game I paid for, so, yes. I'd rather not see content added if I have to pay for it. If I have to pay for it, it should be with the expansion/standalone games. otherwise, whats the difference between GW and the games I left it for? "Optional" content has a nasty habit of making UBER characters.

New slots are needed, for instance, you want to try a new profession, but you don't want to delete an exsisting character, $10 measly dollars and your good to go. If you are happy with what you got, cool don't buy them.

Yes, buying extra character slots in PvE will the advantages of flexibility and storage. However, these advantages don't really affect the core gameplay that much.

Yes, extra char slots will be more flexible. But if the deep group needs an extra ranger which I don't have, I'll just join another deep group. If there isn't another deep group, then the game is dead and not worth playing.

Yes, extra storage can potentially mean more cash. But what will you spend it on? Even if you're in poverty, there are collector and green items which still give good stats. Cash is mainly used for looks. If you NEED gold to be competative, then anet would fix it like what they did with the old rockmolder and HoD sword. If they don't fix it, then you're free to say that anet has officially become and evil corporation and I would join you in saying that.