Skill Unlocks in the Guild Wars Store!

Hold on a second. I'm confused here. Some people are saying what the above quote says, you can buy the skills from a campaign you don't own and be able to use them. If thats true, then thats great and I take back anything negative I've said before. I mean then I can just buy the 2 nightfall characters for $20 instead of shelling out the full $40 or $50 for nightfall since I have little to no interest in the PvE side of the game.

However, I think the above is a misunderstanding. Instead I think you must first purchase the campaign, which comes with NOTHING unlocked. From there, you can either unlock it by faction or pve OR pay for ANet to unlock it for you. So basically you'll be paying $40 to first buy the game, and then another $40 if you CHOOSE (its optional) to come fully unlocked, which is quite different the the above paragraph's understanding.

Correct me if I'm wrong. If the first paragraph is right then thats great but I think the second paragraph is what it actually is.

I don't care about UAS being in the store. In fact, I think more choices is better.

However, the one thing that puts me off about this is back when UAS was a check box during preview events, if I recall correctly, it was made out to be pretty clearly, and very strongly, that we'd NEVER see UAS again.

2 chapter previews later, and we never saw UAS. Which, well, wasn't nearly as bad as having to play PvE over just a weekend each month to grab your skills just to be able to PvP, or use very crappy premade templates, due to the implementation of the faction unlock system.

But, having been around for the UAS/UAX threads that always turned into disasters and flamewars, eventually becoming a forbidden topic on many forums, I can't help but think back to the absolutely adamant sentiment expressed that we'd never see it.

And if it's going to be that way, it'd be my strong preference that we bring back UAS for preview events. For those unfamiliar with how it worked, on the PvP character creation screen, you had a check box that said, "Unlock all skills for [date] BWE" or something to that effect.
After checking it, all skills became usable as long as you had that check box ticked, but they were NOT permanent unlocks. Without the check box, you lost access to all the skills you didn't have actually unlocked.
The first 2 and a half days, in my experience, people devote almost their entire time to playing what they're good at to farm faction so that they can afford to unlock the skills, runes, and weapon mods to [get a more whole sense of] the new professions. The end result is that testing of the new professions' skills is far more limited than it should otherwise be.
Though, it could just be that testing the skills is only a secondary effect of the preview, and it's more of a teaser.

Even so, if the stiff refusal for UAS is gone, I don't see how it'd be much of a problem on any level, since the system has been available before the release of Guild Wars.


Back on topic, I'd like to reiterate that the actual sale of the skills is a positive, in my opinion, and I say kudos if they manage to sell it to anyone.

*Edit: Wording change. I definitely didn't mean competitive, which is obtainable by simply farming 10k balth's before the event, and playing a few hours to finish wrapping up the rune and weapon mod unlocks. What I'd meant to convey was really getting a feeling for what the new professions are about, how they play, and what they do, which takes a more complete sampling of the skills than you can get without some heavy faction farming. I personally unlocked slightly over half the skills, and had the entire third day to play around with, but I also had a lot more time to play over the weekend, and a lot of experience faction farming. Well, that, and the medallions really helped.

its clear the unlocks that cost money dont make u abetter player, so the other thing that remains is choice: you NOW have the choice whether to unlock with money or not, one less reson to complain about (oh, i wish i could buy them, oh i wish i could unlock them in pve, oh i wish i could do both, oh, i wish i u couldnt do both) see what i mean, just do what suits you best, again, theres one less barrier

This is an incredibly stupid idea.

1. It makes players like myself who spent 200 hours unlocking stuff they will never use feel stupid. Did I enjoy playing that time I spent? Yes, but part of the enjoyment was working towards a difficult goal that can now be bought for 40 bucks. Players like this are your core anet, and your pissing them off. Unless nightfall is really amazing, there will never be another generation of players who play guild wars for 1000 hours.

2. It sucks more people out of the already empty proficies PvE system. Have you seen how hard it is to even form a complete group in some missions? Now people don't even need to get skill caps.

3. It sucks PVP players out of Profices PVE. It was easier to unlock alot of skills by playing though PVE Proficies than PVP, plus the players actually learn how to use the skills rather than in Factions where they are thrust upon you. (Why do you think there are so many shitty assassians and rits)

It doesn't cost you anything to have players NOT play does it. The skill buying just shows you don't really care about the people who play your games anyway. A quick 40 bucks or 10 bucks. Once again insted of giving players what they want you give them what they don't.

I've already ordered nightfall, but unless it is truly an incredable game, it will be my last Guild Wars.

Anyone can buy the skills. It takes a skilled person to use the skills correctly.

Well, there ya go! Much more clear than how I tried to say it!

Just cancelled my Nightfall pre-order.
Whats next weapons and armour for sale?

[QUOTE]complete bandini as you will never see one of these skill buyers using a single bought skill in your precious PVE


and how many threads have we had about people spoiling missions because they were pvp people only there to cap a skill and then left the party short?

remember the threads saying how much better it would be without the group you want in?

Gaile, two questions:

1- If I only have Factions, can I still buy this pack?
2- This packs unlock the skills 100%? or you have to buy the pack then unlock the skills.


Thanks

If you have a part time job or something, ie at £4 a hour, and all the skills cost £25 (i think anyway) means you only have to work for 5.25 hours to earn the money to get all the skills, now, theres 450 skills, and some of them are elite. I'm not doing the majority of the math but i believe those 5 hours of work will be less time spent in RA or anywhere else to get and unlock all of those 450 skills.
Sure, you may want to earn your skills but i think if you want to get in there without having to spend hours and hours to unlocking them you shouldn't have to.

Now then, wheres our UAR

QFT. This is a line that just shouldn't be crossed. I fear the slipperly slope.

And the way skill trainers work, this most certainly DOES affect PVE! Imagine two people who buy Prophecies and want to play MM's. One buys the necro unlocks and the other doesn't. One gets all the good skills right away, the other doesn't get Blood of the Master until Kryta and Animate Fiends until the desert. Do you think one person might have bought themselves just a little bit of an edge for ten bucks?

SIMPLE ANSWER

1 YES

2 THIS IS A TURNKEY READY TO PLAY PACKAGE

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY THE GAME FOR THAT CHAPTER
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO UNLOCK A SINGLE SKILL YOU PAID FOR.

THIS IS TO AVOID HAVING TO PAY FOR A CHAPTER AND TO AVOID THE TIME SPENT UNLOCKING THE SKILLS

I am very dissapointed that arena net did something as greed driven as this.


I have spent 11 months in this game unlocking the most I could for my account through pve. I was prepping pve born, pvp chacters. I ended up going uax 11 months into the game and with only 135k faction spent before capped. That is a lot of work. That means that I unlocked the majority of runes, skills and upgrades through pve.


I think skills, (note that they're called skills), should be unlocked through either pve or through pvp faction. I think its utter bullshit that you can plop down a credit card and wahlaa, pvp ready account. Is this just some sort of attempt to undercut the ebay market? Who cares about the people who buy into guild wars in chapter 5 and 6 needing to buy skills, you think they really will even want to buy back 4 chapters and try to get into groups within ghost town outposts and mission areas.. Will GW even still be around then? Why cant those people work through the chapters, just like we have.

Will this affect capping groups?

What is this gaile said about this here being what people have been asking for? I thought people had been asking for reconnects, and improved storage, auction house. Where are those, or shall I say, how much EXTRA are those.

Better yet, gaile, how many skills have you capped on your level 7 ranger. I bet you know exactly how this feels right!

And.. Stockholm: I do not blame you. I'm not even bothering until after reading what is said on the forums about it anyhow, but yah.. I fear that is next. Weapons pack skins, fow armor.. any new storage, etc. It will be all pay for. Wait and see. What is even funnier is they will turn around and say; "But you asked for it!!"

Ty, but I would like to know Gaile's confirmation.

considering they said it would NOT be available in PVE i dont see the problem .

they simply do not have those bought skills available at the skill trainer for the PVE character to run up and grab.

Firstly, I think most people will accept that the complexities of PvE, such as they are, don't really exist till post-ascention. A perceived edge pre-desert is so minute to be nonexistant - you're not gaining an edge against anything but the missions, which aren't an obstacle in any cirumstance and in a way that does not block other players.

Secondly, how is that 'edge', any different from the vast majority of PvE characters belonging to people that have played through the game once before?

Don't try to speak for the entire demographic. I've spent well over a thousand hours gaining xp and gettings skills on my mesmer, and I don't agree with you.

And since it hasn't been said in awhile :

People asked for this, Anet didn't add it purely because they thought it would be a profit engine.

possibly this thread will help a bit

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10037365

You don't seem to understand the gripe, here. It's $40 ON TOP of buying the chapter. It isn't an ability to buy a PvP version of the game since they won't offer it until several months after the release of the game. If I could just spend $10 to access and UAX a single new class, I'd be happier than a pig in slop. I really don't see how spending $90 in order to play older classes is going to appeal to a casual PvPer who just picks up Nightfall or Factions, though.

The problem, as I see it, is that the two different facets of this game appeal to completely different gamers. I can't speak on what appeals to a PvE player because I'm not one. PvP appeals more to the FPS and RTS crowds. These players typically don't like spending extra money in order to play a game they've already payed for. They don't like unlocking, they just want to get on with competing. We aren't the PvPers from other ORPGs that typically like to get the best gear and gank noobs. We're the guys who like to duke it out in the trenches in order to complete the objective. Personally, I could spend 6-8 hours in a row playing a game where there's no reward other than winning. This is the kind of gameplay that was supposed to lure in the FPS and RTS crowds. Unlocking ruins that. Skills are the tools we use to fight. However, they are also supposed to be a reward. There's a huge part of me that rebels against that idea.

I'm pretty much done buying new chapters of Guild Wars. That's not a threat or some cry for attention. This is a fact. I'm done with unlocking, I refuse to do it anymore. I'll sit back and play what I've got until the metagame becomes so unbalanced against the older chapters that I'm unable to play any of the builds required (which will probably only take a few months after Nightfall is released). I am part of the crowd that Anet was trying to court during beta. I am different from most of you because I don't enjoy PvE. I hope I was able to shed some light on why people like myself complain about Guild Wars. It's a great game, really, but it could be so much better. Unlocks are a barrier, not a reward for PvP players. We shouldn't have to pay more money than PvEers to play the part of the game that recieves significantly less attention from the development crew.

So there are now 2 levels of unlocking?

Unlocked by playing and available at every skill trainer for every character.

Unlocked by paying and only available for newly made PvP characters.

How do we tell the difference? A dollar sign in the interface?

I still dont know if a person that only have Factions can buy this pack.

RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO you, Arena-net


This is RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing bullshit

good cabinet maker only makes good cabinet. usually the hammer parts or the tools that he need, he can buy in home depot, be provided by someone or make them by himself.

I don't know about others, but when I choose to pvp, I use 8 skills, one of which is elite.

That means, if I have none of those skills, I need to buy them with either faction or cash in PvE part. Elite must be captured.

After having 1 character that has completed PvE part, it will take me maximum of 2 hours to unlock ANY build I'd want to play on a any pvp character.

Why does then unlocking everything make a balancing issue? If you're really strictly pvp only player, then you should have more faction than you can spend anyway, and unlocking 8 skills for any build you choose should take two hours tops as well.

So really, I simply don't see correlation between anyone getting the advantage, except that some people considered having UAS already something of a bragging right, where in reality, it was just a convenience, since you didn't need to spend minimal ammount of time doing pve to unlock the one you needed right now.

And it does make things much easier for newcomers interested only in pvp, especially if they only buy Factions.

You know, not to be backseat modding here, but I really think we need to go ahead and lock this thread up because I feel a huge Guild War coming upon us in this thread.

Meaning One Side V. Other Side.

My example was of two brand new Guild Wars players, for whom the early missions may present a greater challenge while they are still learning. And whether the game is easy or not (and bad pugs can make it harder than it ought to be), the difference between horrors and fiends is HUGE, and ought not to be purchasable.

It is the difference between earning an advantage ingame and handing Anet an extra ten bucks. A very important distinction in my book.

Of course if Loviatar is right, and these PVP unlocks act somehow different from normal PVP unlocks and don't affect skill trainers, then the point is moot.

I'm not mad yet, but if this leads up to what im thinking it will (pve unlocks or items) I will quit.

Alright, as I said...many pages earlier, I collected many opinions from the general public. (since people claim that forums aren't an accurate representation...)

All of these are unique people and are from Kaieng Center:



I'll be in Heroes' Ascent gathering information when the event startes. I'll be Syria Blackblood: Wave if you see me.

I like it, allready purchased this full unlock pack. I am happy to pay a little money for this. if i couldnt afford it , i wouldnt buy it. Beats monthly fees all to heck

You bought it? and all skills come unlocked or you must unlock them with Faction Rewards?

Ty :_)

i think ALL PvP characters should start with every skill unlocked except for elites, which should be earnt through PvE or PvP faction

and me? ill never buy it, i usually unlock skills as i go, and form some sort of build around every new skill i buy, then i get experience with that skill, then buy another, and move on to that skill, and etc, so when i do eventually have UAS, i should have experience with most skills, but with buying them, you have absolutely no experience to any of the skills, and it costs you an extra 40$!

bunch of whining spoiled kids...

OMG they totally HOSED the GAME, o-wait, this is for PvP only, who cares, does not
matter at all, j/k, and I am all for anything that helps get rid of the Ebay help.

THIS IS SO STUPID!!!! Being able to purchase skill unlocks in pvp is basically the equivalent of people purchasing platinum on e-bay for pve. If I remember correctly, that is against the rules. So what is the difference? A-net does not want anyone else making money off selling in game stuff because it is against the rules, but it is ok if they do it? It's just not right!!

Same thing I said about 12 pages back.

Anet has started up a bad trend that's only gonna get worse over time without strong guidance.

IF they must sell things, sell things AWAY from the game. Soundtracks, tee shirts...something.

But if I see PvE things there, then its time to move on. Because its not about the game anymore. I'd rather pay a monthly fee.

No it isn't. Its not "against the rules" for Anet to do anything. if they want to seel platnium in their store they will. The only difference is, being able to purchase UAX affects no one but the purchaser.

Frankly, I'de rather keep my $40 than wasting it. More thsn half of the skills for each class I will never seriously use.

WDH??? all these NOOBS who can't unlock skills themselves are now able to spoil the game by buying their succes... ive unlocked EVERYTHING, i worked for it, its a status, now this status is for sale >.> i feel like i'm playing a CHEAP free crappy MMO for players that want to be good, but can't reach anything themselves.. GUILD WARS.. It was so nice.. WHY SPOIL THE ENTIRE PVP SYSTEM?? grr this is WRONG >.>

When will people understand its not giving anyone an unfair advantage and stop comparing it to buying things in PvE. Its basicly a catch up tool for people who want to play PvP and bought factions like 1 month ago or something. I wish people would stop with all this bitching.

No A-net are never gonna sell PvE content.

No A-net are never gonna sell title's. so all you elitist rank RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOs, calm down! (we all know you IWAY'd it anyway)

Its a completely OPTIONAL extra so new players can play with the veterans quicker. So what, you 'grinded' for months to get UAS. Thats the whole point of this, people who enjoy unlocking skills still can, people who dont have the OPTION to buy them. Hey, if its such a grind, then why arnt you all jumping for joy?

Can I have your stuff? [/WoWJoke]

This doesn't change the fact that your avatar is 16 stacks of Ectos...

I'll leave the game when they start to sell PvE stuffs.. if it comes this far it will start to become a chaos ingame, you can't see who's experienced and who just bought his FoW set.

and you havent thought this out at all or you would see that Anet had to do this

BY CHAPTER 5........

just the core classes will have gotten 1050 skills

450 with chapter 1 (75x6)
600 with the additional 4 chapters (25x6 each chapter)

these do not count the 2 new classes in each of the new chapters that have them.

if a person came in at chapter 5 and was serious about PVP he/she would have to buy back chapters and spend a very long time doing nothing but unlocking instead of doing what he/she got the game for to begin with.

people are bitching about how long it takes to unlock only 1 chapter so how do you expect someone new to unlock 5 just to play?