Guild Wars Store Ideas-Your opinions - What should and should not be done?

Tough luck. I wasn't playing GW when Prophecies came out so I never had the opportunity to buy the CE. Big deal. That's the appeal of CE's--you get a version of the game that not everybody has. If they were going to sell an unlimited amount of CE keys, then they wouldn't have called it a CE.

There is a limited number.

That's not a good argument. If many people wanted to buy greens in the game, does that mean Anet should do it and make a profit off it? Of course not.

But again, it's a collector's edition. That means there should be a limited number of collector keys. As I said in my post, a compromise would be to sell a CE key at FULL price--that'll limit it to those folks who really, really must have the CE items and are basically willing to pay for another copy of the game to get them.

No, a CE is supposed to be a limited-availability version of a game. That's why it shouldn't be made available to everyone.

Note that I don't own the CE of either game. I'm not arguing against this because I have a CE and would be pissed if they made it available to everyone, but because CE's are supposed to be limited.

I have a quick comment on the storage issue. Isn't buying a new character slot exactly the same as buying more storage. To be honest I have 2 accounts that's 12 slots (6 on each account). I have one of each character and all the rest of the slots are pvp characters that I use for STORAGE! I plan on buying another slot too so I can have at least 2 storage characters on each account. Do I have an advantage? I guess I do. Is that "buying" storage you bet! So why not just sell the storage. Character slots = storage. I don't see why everyone is arguing over the storage thing. Heck with my 2 accounts I get 2 storage vaults too. Why does this seem fair and buying storage seems unfair?

Because it gives them an advantage, there should be no advantages in guildwars as it is a "balanced" game( Don't take this literally, as I know some points in the game, ie: alliance battles, others get advantages).

Some 'kids' get the game as presents, and the matter isn't usually not enough cash, it's the fact Plaync doesn't accept paypal, it disables alot of people from paying using a trusty billing system, as most people don't like putting billing info online, and paypal is by far the safest online money income/outcome utility.

But really, I bought the collectors edition for the physical aspects(mousemat, cloth ritualist picture ect).. not just the fancy as/rt dance. Maybe some people would, but why would you pay 10$ for a special dance? I'm not saying it's bad, but you'd have to be pretty 'wanting' it to buy them for 10$.

Also I totally disagree with providing a Kuunavang on that CE code. Kuunavang was provided as a comiserations gift as Anet under-predicted the ammount of CE's needed to meet demand.

Ashleigh

That's exactly what I was thinking.

On the other topics, people buying gold for real cash isn't all that much different than someone farming all day to get gold - the main difference is that the person buying the gold with cash worked an actual job for it (or their parents did).

The problem I see, though, is that the number of people who can farm all day long really isn't enough to disrupt the economy (bot farmers aside obviously). A lot of people play GW because it *can* be played casually. I'm a fairly "casual" player and I'm sitting on 114k of hard earned gold (at least, until my monk hits endgame and gets 15k ).

The number of people who buy in cash? My god. It could be endless. It would a) completely wack out the economy, and b) cheapen the really cool stuff for those who worked for it. If I saw every tom dick and harry running around in 15k and they can't even figure out how to tank properly, I'm going to feel pretty crappy that I don't have any 15k yet and I've been playing for 6 months. The point of the neat stuff really is bragging rights - to say "I worked my butt off." It's like getting a blue ribbon or a gold medal - would it mean anything if everyone could come in and buy one themselves? No. And buying gold just leads to that same feeling.

Alternately, though, I also have a day job and bills - the least of my worries is how l33t I look on a video game, and I might worry a bit about anyone who doesn't think the same.

Like I mentioned in the other thread, the whole purpose of an online store is to generate revenue. If ANET only sells items that have almost zero customer demand (cups, mouse pads, T-shirts, etc...) then they will make almost no money, and the whole online store excercise becomes pointless from a business perspective. For ANET to survive long term, they must meet customer demands or go out of business.

Which would you choose?

What I want to see being sold online:
-regular and CE-keys: These have real world demand. They cost ANET nothing to generate, yet many like myself are willing to shell out $70+ per key. Mouse pads, T-shirt, and cups won't command these kinds of selling prices, but game keys (especially CE keys) will sell like you wouldn't believe. This also solves the normal problems associated with shipping, inventory management, etc...

-cosmetic changes: anything alters the character's appearance physically. This gives zero PvP/PvE edge, so why not take generate income from customer cosmetic preferences? Cosmetics is a booming real world industry, and ANET can make their own market with GW-cosmetics.

-name changes, physical model changes, hair/eye color changes, etc... : If it can be automated and generate significant income, ANET will write customized coding to do this. See cosmetic changes above.

-emote enhancements: people will pay real world money for this. They cannot be earned in game as of the present patch. Emote enhancements provide no PVP edge. Therefore, no game play imbalance would occur if such an enhancement were buyable online. The "people feeling left out" (or jealousy) factor mentioned above can easily save and buy these eye-candy enhancements later, but it won't make them better arena combatants.

What shouldn't be sold
-gold: this should rightfully be earned. People shouldn't be able to buy their way through the game, whether by running, Droks armor at L1, etc...

-armors: like other game items, these should be earned, not purchased outright. Otherwise, you will see L1 pre-searing characters with maxed out armors and weapons

-dyes, mods, weapons, ecto's, etc... anything tradable. Selling such items would definitely disrupt the established game economy and undermine those who have invested real time into acquiring their in-game items.


In Short, ANET can sell whatever they want, but if we willfully tell them not to sell what customers want, then we'd be guilty of giving them self-serving advice at the cost of their business.

Boy am I pissed, I typed this all up and then hit submit and it said invalid thread specified, and now I had to type it all again

Anyways

I read all the posts in the "what would you like to see in the guild wars store" thread and I saw concern about being nickel-and-dimed to death to get new features we want (features = more storage, hairdresser, auction house)from the Guild Wars Store. Here are some thoughts I had on the issue:

Would I buy a feature in the Guild Wars Store if it meant I wouldn't have to wait for a new chapter to be released to get it? Yes, because I would pay to get something without having to wait. I would be paying a premium to get it early, because I would be paying extra for something that ends up being free if I had waited for the new chapter containing that feature to arrive. That would be my choice to pay extra to get it faster, so that's fine with me.

Would I buy a feature in the Guild Wars Store as an alternative to buying a new chapter that has that feature, either because I could not afford the whole new chapter or because I was not interested in anything else introduced with that chapter? Yes, because then I am saving money by purchasing that feature but not having to buy a whole chapter. For example, if I only have prophecies but I want the material storage that comes with factions and do not like factions, would it be nice to have the option of adding material storage to my prophecies account for $10 instead? Yes, that way I wouldn't feel like I had to spend money on stuff I don't want, and only pay for stuff I did want. I do have prophecies and factions, so that's not an issue to me, but I forsee this issue arising at some point with a new chapter.

Would I buy a feature in the Guild Wars Store if they said it would never be available as content in a new chapter, whereby purchasing it from the Guild Wars Store would be the only way to ever obtain it? Maybe, but either way I would feel like it was extortion. If I feel like a business is extorting me, I might purchase something I want very badly, but it would be very unlikely that I would feel like giving them money on other occasions, no matter what the reason.

Additional Sidenote: Selling in-game items in the store
In the other thread, I saw a lot of people angry at the idea of selling in-game items (mini-pets, town clothes, hats, etc) in the Guild Wars Store. Customizing the items you purchase so that they can only be used on your account seemed like the solution, since it would prevent damage to the economy, but people were still angry; they did not want to feel left out if they did not have the cash to purchase an "extra". I say people are already left out, with no remedy, for most of these items, like coke items, pre-order items, special event items, and collector's edition items. Not all of these items are available to everyone due to region (coke items) time (pre-order and special event items) or available copies and production problems (collector's edition items) so you really can't get them all. Do you live in America? No coke items for you, unless you buy the game on e-bay. Were you not able to use your preorder during the 24 hour headstart that was Tengu day? No Tengu Mask for you. Did your retailer screw up your collector's edition preorder and reserve you a standard edition instead, or did you take the standard edition instead of going without the new guild wars for 2-3 weeks? No kunavang mini-pet or backup dancers for you. Even if you did manage to get all these things, you would have had to purchase the game three times and have never missed the last day of any special event. It seems more fair to let people choose to pay extra to obtain special items for their collection if they so choose, and if the rest of us get lucky by getting a certain game edition or never missing the last day of any event, good for us, the stuff is free that way.

Additional Sidenote: Paying in the Guild Wars Store
Not everyone has a credit card, and if they do, they might not feel comfortable shopping online with it. Please accept PayPal and other similar online payment methods that are trustworthy and widely accepted. Even better, offer Guild Wars Store Cash cards in retail stores, for example someone could pick up a $5, $10, $20, or $50 card and enter the code on it at the Guild Wars Store to add that amount to their Guild Wars Store credit. Then they can feel safe shopping online, or be able to pay without a credit card, or be able to get Guild Wars stuff as a gift from friends and loved ones. I know if I could get my friend a $20 card he could use it to buy a couple character slots and he would want to play more often, and he would enjoy the gift. The easier it is for people to shop in the Guild Wars Store, the more likely they will be to purchase things from it.

I don't think you understand what I am saying when I say buy collectors edition. When I say buy collectors edition, I mean literally buy it with the box and everything (and then we would pay for the shipping of course). When I say $5 to $10 more I mean this

Normal edition is $50
Collectors edition is $70
The addition to get collectors after you already bought the normal would be at least $5 to $10 more than collectors itself, in the long run, to discourage people to pay for it after it already came out.

So, if you bought normal, that is $50, plus the addition of collectors, which would be $20 plus AT LEAST $5 to $10 extra for buying collectors edtion after it is already made (unless you buy it from the store within a week or two after it comes out, then there won't be the extra fee just because its like buying it directly form the store). Then, after that, you have to pay shipping for the non-in-game stuff (the box and all the extras in it).

Accually make the extra "late" fee $10 to $20 more. That way it is like paying $80 to $90 for a collectors if you buy it late, thus it still gets a few more people to do it, without making it no longer "rare", since the high extra price would make some people not want it.

And about the kunavang, that is by far the coolest minipet around. The other ones can't even compare to its coolness (I dunno, maybe its just the fact that its part of the collectors edition that makes me like it ). I would really like to at least have the chance to have a minipet as cool as kunavange, but there is no way, at least without getting the collectors edtion, which I already explained above. I was suggesting the ability to get kunavang, but only be able to buy it if they decide that they won't sell the collectors edtion.

BTW, I don't really see why people are saying that the ghost dancers and collectors editon things similar shouldn't be bought in the store or something, because I see them pretty often. I don't see how they are "rare", because they seem pretty comon to me... that would mean that a lot of people have collectors edtion, so why not let more have it, since there seems to be so many that have it anyway.... It just doesn't seem "rare" to me, at least in-game (in the real life stores is a different story)....

At this point I would like them just to get it up and working so I can buy slots for this weekend.

Directsong Paks should make themselves RIGHT at home in the Guild Wars store, or at LEAST easy-to-follow links in the store to the right places on the Directsong.com website. More people should be made aware of the awesome song paks that are available.

Guild Wars is such a balanced game, that even if ANet sold gold, it would still be balanced.

you can always farm for money, and it's actually very easy. Getting the cash for a set of the FoW armor (which I don't think looks good, personally) wouldn't take you but a few days of effort. Why shouldn't ANet be the one to offer to spare you the time spent grinding for it?

the only way to get rid of "illegal" gold farming is to make it legal. Think back to the days of prohibition. The SECOND that it was legal to sell alcohol, every mafia disintegrated, or moved on to different areas of crime.

I want a devourer plushie!

...

...

...What?

But imagine the money Anet will be making by selling rare items through this store. Players who shy away from ebay because they don't know how/don't trust will definitely be attracted to buying their uber gear without having to spend time farming. It would also put an end to botting as ppl don't have to buy gold anymore. I do however think that this approach is short term as ppl tend to get bored of items that are easily obtainable.

If Anet is having short term financial problems then this is the way to go but if Anet is looking long term (ppl continue to buy chapters, farm, blah blah blah) then "In-game items=HUGE no no"

I really think an Upgrading option to Ce should be available for those that didnt have a chance of getting CE

How about side contents?
Those not enough to get into a standalone product but still worthy to some players, such as a SEPARATE CONTINENT of GAME ARENAS.
I'd like to pay some to play the dragon or snowball arenas again whenever. Maybe instead of regional servers, keep only the international for the game arenas, or just separate language districts but still plays together.

Maybe also give non-maximizable titles (goes on and on, so doesn't affect the kind of big deal title) for wins in each arena.

DirectSong should definitely goes into the store, too.

i think its funny how this is one of the first things you see in this thread

and then every other five posts you are doing the thing it says not to. are you special? sry but i just dont get it. theres another thread we just went through this on. plz tell me if im wrong or missing something.

Collectors Edition is meant to be manufactured in a small % of the total product, and when you buy anything as a Collectors edition you pay for the future value as a collectible. If the CE later on is rerelesed the value of the original CE goes down, while it is supposed to go up as a collectible.
If A-Net makes the CE or the separet contence avalible in the game store they are telling ppl who bought the Original CE to go F_ _ K them selfs.
CE is meant to be hard to get a hold of, other vise its just another game box. I say if you don't have it, start looking for it, some collector might sell it to you for a profit.

Perhaps they could sell CE upgrade keys in limited amounts?

That would be (to use a GW favorit) a scam.
Limeted to how many? you? or anyone that wants one? CE is allready limeted, thats the point with CE edition.

GW CE-editions are not true collectible items, since using the packaged CE-keys render them useless and non-transferrable to other "collectors." The term "Collectors Edition" is just a marketting label... It could have easily been called "Enhanced Edition" or anything else to boost sales.

Re-releasing a CE-edition would not be unprecedented... ANET had to manufacture a second run of Factions-CE due to gross underestimation of initial demand and pre-orders.

All I want is a choice to purchase Prophesies-CE, which is a chance I never got. I know that getting the whole box probably isn't likely, which is why I would settle for a CE-key at $70 full retail price. I plan on paying the exact same amount that the initial package was offered at. Therefore, how are those who actually purchased Prophesies-CE being "cheated?"

ANET is sitting on an untapped gold mine -- if they want the large cash infusion, all they have to do is sell what customers like myself want. We are willing to pay for the product at $70+ per key, and some of us want multiple units. Good luck getting this out of T-shirts, mouse pads, tooth paste, etc...

I say guild wars cashes in on what ebay has been doing already and sell.....

RANK! Thats right, pay like a certain amount of money for each rank point, making the amount dependent on the amount of fame needed to reach that rank. Since rank practically does not affect gameplay in any way, other than discrimination while setting up teams, guild wars can take this opportunity to sell rank!

As an estimate to prices, it only has to look to current bids on ebay for already ranked accounts.

The "this is not a discussion thread" instruction from Inde was posted in the "What would you like to see in the Ingame Store?" thread. So basically they want the 'what would you like to see in the store' thread to only be about what people would like to see in the store, and to make a separate discussion (this thread) about why we think certain store practices (selling gold, items, whatever) would be a good or bad idea. That way the store merchandise suggestions are in one thread, and the store practice/policy suggestions are in another.

As promised, here are my thoughts on the other issues...

After-the-fact Merging of Accounts and Appearance Changes - Good idea.

This is definitely a "I made the wrong choice" option, and I actually don't see a problem if a player has a hard time living with their bad choice, charging them for the convenience (and peace of mind) of correcting it. It definitely impacts how that player plays the game (and increases their satisfaction), but doesn't really impact any other players.

Customizable Log-In Screens and Capes - Good idea.

Again, being able to upload images that, for the most part, only you and your guildmates will see on a regular basis would seem to be a perfectly fine option for those that are willing to pay extra to make them happen.

at the store u should be able to buy proph and/or factions

customizable log in screens and capes is impressive, add it =P

**Add sales of fame and/or rank!

I wouldn't be able to afford paying for extra skins and novelty items such as those, but I do respect the reason why "better off" people should be able to do this. They work harder, earn better money than us, and if they want to blow their money on some crap item that looks cool, let them. It will make them more enemies than friends.

I also agree with alot of people when it comes to the subject of changing skins in game, it's not something we should pay for.
If anet were to add new exlusive character skins then I could see a reason to buying.

Maybe they should allow all people the option to change their character skins in game, and make new skins for characters buyable.
Which of course exludes new chapters, meaning new skins for new chapters

Because like many, I do feel that in Guild Wars we are very limited to the amount of skins we can chose from and it does feel hard to look original, which in my eyes ruins part of the pve experience.


If anything give us more skins to chose from in character creation screen, and merge the selection of skins from each chapter toghter. Alot of us liked the tryia skins more then the canatha ones, and disliked the fact of being so restricted to only being able to choose from set canatha skins for faction Campaigns.

One idea that my roommate and I thought would be neat is mini-content packs. There is a thread on these boards calling for the opening up of the Catacombs to post searing Ascalon. So if they had some small parts of content (map/zones) they might release it as in store buyables (fairly cheap cost hopefully but to implement non-needed content you have to offset cost), it wouldn’t really be something to add to the story line and almost defiantly not elite zones (since this would make people feel like they have to buy it) but just some random areas that people may be fond of (Catacombs!).

Also maybe buyable dances, that any class of character can do (possibly - The Timewarp, Macarena which would be fun to see large groups of people dancing), payment would hopefully offset the cost of making these and implementing them.

Just adding to the pre-existing discussion…

Buyable (with real world currency) gold, items, etc. - No, simply play the game. If you want only pvp there is faction that you can redeem to unlock stuff. If people don’t want to work/play for their stuff there are different games that cater to exactly what you may need/want.

Buyable add-ons, skins, hair, etc. - Not needed, as much as I love customizing my characters to be different than others that is not the point of this game, I play The Sims for that. I do think it would be nice to see maybe a couple new hair/face skins per continent with each expansion but I’m not expecting that, and it should never be pay.

CE’s - are already fine the way they are (limited run in stores), it was probably meant to be a quick profit boost to offset the cost of servers with the mad rush of people playing the new game/expansion at release. It wasn’t made to be fair, the Divine Aura and/or the backup dancers really aren’t useful and catch a lot of flack (example “omg you moron you paid $70+ for that”). In the end they are a novelty and don’t bring a whole lot of fun unless your game time is spent sitting in town emoting/dancing. I hope that Anet does not bend to this request because I really think that the constant whining it would generate from the original CE owners would detract from the game. Those that want to support GW just buy new character slots.

Also last check I did on Amazon.com through the Marketplace (vendors who sell through Amazon’s interface) had New copies of GW Prophesies Collectors Edition listed aprox. $170 U.S. so if you really really want it there is a way. Amazon’s Marketplace does offer some protection against false listings of merchandise, so if it says new and its not (i.e. the key has already been used) you may be able to get your money back, last I knew Ebay left it up to you to protect yourself from scams, be wary of buying online or buying “used” online games/accounts.

There are 2 ways to get unlocks, skillfully play PvE to either unlock skills as you go, or get to a point where u can purchase all skills.

Or skillfully play PvP to gain Balth points for the unlocks.


So i dont think people are being foreced to play PvE for their unlocks, and my arguements against UAS options are,

Alot of people who put time and effort into UAS will be upset
Balth points will be useless
Wheres the challenge, you should play with what you have until you achieve more unlock.


Personally I'm very pleased with the shop as it is. I dont think we should have to pay for things like Auction Houses etc, and as I said in the other tread (which seems exactly the same as this) as long as it maintains equiality in the game all suggestions are cool.

I especially like the idea of purchasing plushies, I doubt I personally would, but atleast its a good idea.

Gold cape trim $10 xD

tbh i dont see the shop going further than char slots until after nightfall, and then i think ittl be down to char customisation and additional music packs.

I think the store should be limited to soundtrack upgrades, character slots, and new chapter purchases. Anything that appears in-game (gold, new skins, storage, character appearance changes) should be included in the updates, or available with new chapters, like the material storage upgrade. By selling in-game items or upgrades, they'll simply be lowering the status value of the items. And if they ever sell gold in game, it'll be the last time I log on. If you want gold, earn it.

Not "In" the store but a title for thos who bought from the store.

I forgot to add my agreement on the music addons in the store!

I don't think the ingame store will carry plushies but there's always the plaync store, I'd whip out my credit card for a charr plushie!

Also paypal will probably never be used. A paypal business account (i.e. get payment for your product/service) cost a certain amount per month, then a per transaction fee (for large volumes of payments this adds quickly). Not sure but I’m guessing other services that big companies use are probably more cost effective and obviously have to be safe otherwise they wouldn’t have any business.

Source? I don't belive that.
I'm an exclusive PvE player and I know plenty of other people in the same case.

Things wanted for store {ballancing issues resolved etc):

1. buyable Characters with diffrent professions.
2. Skill pins and other collectables.
3. side content.
4. emote packs.
5 Extra customisation packs.
6. Current character modification (phisical only, no name change)

Id like to buy a chinese farming bot please!!! FTW

I'd like to buy Trial codes (cheap, please) so that I can introduce friends to the game.

For instance, I have a bunch of friends who bought Prophecies and quit before a lot of the good changes went in. I bet they'd love the Alliance Battles and PvP-like missions of Factions, but I wouldn't ask them to spend $50 to try it.

Okay, my thoughts on the store:

Good idea, especially since there are no monthly fees to pay, this is a good way for Anet to make a little extra, as long as there is the occasional advertised sale;-).

Suggestions for items to be sold:

Exclusive content, such as a small add-on with a couple of towns/missions.

Character slots (already avail)

Some fan items (hats, t-shirts, etc)

Items you could get in collector editions

Skins (maybe)

Minipets

Dyes (unique)

Various versions (Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall, etc.)

(all purchased items should be available to provide some type of customization to players characters/accounts/themselves- it should be the change overall gameplay)

Some suggestions on what not to have available for purchase:

Gold (agree with others it just legitimizes the bots)

Weapons, Armour, Offhands, Etc.

All in all, I like the store and look forward to more items being added to it. As an aside suggestion for the store, I wish we could sell GW gold for RW money! That way, I could make GW my full-time job! LOL.

I second this. I totally would purchase more items like:

• pins,
• shirts
• Emote packs, and in specifically being able to buy some of the collector's edition emotes that we missed out on. I just wish I could upgrade my factions, and profs accounts to get some of these emotes without buying another game.
• Masks for events that have past such as the famous pumpkin head (although this could be arguably a rite to passage...).

As it stands right now, I'm totally unimpressed with any of the in store items like skills for sale, or character slots. I have enough of this stuff across two accounts after being on for over a year, that I don't have to worry about it. However, I can see how newer players would benefit from buying the skills (to catch up). So please don't flame me, because I'm not saying it's a bad idea -- just that it's not peaking my curiosity.

I don't see too much in the GW store right now for people that have been playing for over a year religiously. We want to spend money too, and in a lot of cases we already have spent money over and above our normal purchase of the game (on Ebay for pins, shirts, etc). If Anet really wants to generate money they would include us in their target market for the online store.

I agree that they should eventually add merchandise like skill pins, t-shirts, hats, etc...
I got a t-shirt when I bought Factions and the Nightfall CE is coming with skill pins.

I think they should NOT add the emotes from the CE's. The CE's being available in limited quantities for a limited time is what makes them special, making them available for everyone would defeat the very purpose of their existence. If Anet intended for everyone to be able to get the special emotes; they would keep the CE's in production as long as the standard editions rather then making them limited release. Also, it makes no sense to sell special holiday event gear as that would also defeat their specialness.

*On another note; I think it would be nice if they put out some prepaid cards for the ingame store for those without credit cards. They would be like the prepaid time cards for pay for play games that local retailers carry.

You know what I'd like to see? I'd like to see buyable skins for Guild Wars. Does it affect gameplay? No. It just makes your screen look more customized. Makes it more personal.