Skill Unlocks in the Guild Wars Store!

I asked this same thing awhile back and got no answers. From a PVP-only stand point why didnt all the skills from come with the game? Why didnt Factions already have the Prophs skills on it for PVP only? I still equate this to being a deck of cards and ordering the 4 aces later....

I want to see GW store stops at campaigns,slots and packs.

I dont want to see A-net charge for something other than those, change EULA for the new charges and get PRs make new justificative speech about it.

Can you explain to me why my dear? The world changes, software changes, Guild Wars changes.

Well Aces are part of the deck.....You need the aces.

Paying for unlocks is completely OPTIONAL.

let me repeat.

Paying for unlocks is completely OPTIONAL.

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UAS was in the preview. Because it was a preview.

UAS wasnt in the Factions or Nighfall pvp previews because...........

Dun dun dun

We have had the game and have had a chance to hoard up on Balthazar points for unlocking.

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Why would factions have prophecies skills? Thats kinda.....dumb?

That defeats the purpose of having standalone games if you only need 1 game.

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Izzy said it before, they dont want people burning through the content.

an instant UAX for a BRAND NEW GAME would be bad.

This is a UAS for the older game. I can imagine that when chapter 4 comes out, they will offer UAS for Factions.

well at least people who buy these packs will have something to spend their EVIL, ILL GOTTEN faction on

This is once again one of those unfair advantages given to people with more money. Whilst it is not as unfair as the extra char slots it is still unfair because you have to work your ass to get all skills unlocked and here you can just buy that.

One thing i still find strange: how can they ask for 40$ to unlock some skills in a game? thats jsut stupid. id understand it if it where something like 10$ or maybe 20$ but never 40$!!! Thats like buying a new copy of the game...

I'm GUESSING Factions players will eventually get availability for this. In this case im guessing its by no means to make it an easy way to unlock all skills, its for those who just want the skills not the campaign, considering PVP changes are usually universal through all campaigns.

First of all for you idiots saying this makes the game take no skill: THE BUILDS DONT SUDDENLY BECOME MORE EFFECTIVE LIKE THIS. YOU STILL NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WORKS.

Its not like any nub can go buy GW:P and but skill unlocks andbe godly in PVP. It has no benefit whatsoever for PVE'ers.

Stop whining.

I really don't think it matters. My perception of Guild Wars PVP is pretty much seperated into the people who use cookie cutters and might have great rank and a ton of skills unlocked, but they really are truely clueless outside that. Then there are the skilled people who take a hard path unless they are "discovered" or "cheat" by using cookie cutter builds just so they can get _something_ to keep up. And so now we have a bunch of R9 newbies running loose while lower than rank 3s looking to play the game correctly are stuck LFG. I just remember those days as just believing Guild Wars being really unfair.

So in other words, just because you have the skills, that doesn't mean you have the "skills." I'm sure we're all guilty of playing one build, getting 1K faction and spending it on a skill or item we've never used. Just because something is unlocked doesn't mean in any way that the person is any better. That's like paying money to go to heaven... I'm atheist though, not that it really matters...

If you're willing to spend REAL money on something in a game, I guess you must really want it. Dang.

Seriously though, I like the feeling of unlocking stuff by playing. Like an console game, ja? Having to have worked for it is satisfying. To each his own.

Do you not understand the concept of "PvP players want competition, not unlocks"? I don't play the game because I enjoy unlocking skills/items/runes. I enjoy playing it for the sake of playing it. There is NO content burn in PvP. UAX for a BRAND NEW PvP GAME would be good.

This thread is getting worn out. This not about Unlocks making things better for everyone in the enviornment. This is about ANET selling the game in the Online store. If they wanted to make everything better for PVP players. Why not just do a way with Unlocking all together and unlock the skills on every account? Because this is about making money. And you sit back and say "okay okay we are okay with this." Someone in the company is thinking of another way to generate revenue from the Online store. Its there right to do so. Im sure if I was in charge of "Sales" there, I would be thinking of what we can do next. The only way to stop this current sale of Unlocking Skills is for all the "Old Guard" to boycott the purchasing of Nightfall and I just dont see this happening. What I d would ask of ANET reps where does the line get drawn? I dont think we would get an answer....

I completely agree with manaleak34

After reading the entire thread. I think the complants boil down to only a few things.

1. Soon they are gonna be selling FoW armor in the store!!

Graile has already said that PVE items will NOT be available in the online store. Also heres the thing, when you make a PvP charcter you automaticly get Max armor and weapons! So theres really no point! The only thing you would be buying would be a more 'better-looking' armor. And seriously I don't think many hard-core PvPers care too much about cosmetic apperances.

FOW Armor is never NESSASARY. You can play the game just fine without it. But playing without good skills can be quite a problem.

2. I've worked hard for these skills! Now any old somebody can buy them!

Please, you haven't "worked' you've played a VIDEO GAME. Your acting like it's some sort of job to unlock skills. It's not, your supposed to be having fun.

3. This is gonna unbalance things!!!

Funny thing is, plenty of people currently have UAX, but there has never been any unbalance due to people having more skills than another. Once again just because you have the tools, it doesn't mean you can play the game right. I mean do you honestly believe that a Guild of people that have paid for all their skills are gonna jump in and take over PVP?

4. It's way too expensive!!!

A person on current US MINIMUM wage($5.15/hour) can make enough to pay for it in about 8 hours. Also for $40 you get 450 skills.

Thats about 9 cents per skill.

Also remeber people that this is not manditory, so if you don't feel like buying it. Then don't, no one is gonna force you.

I really cant see y ppl are geting upset and saying this spoiles the game i mean if u think it is so much hard work geting your skills maybe u should just stop playing this is a game not a job you should enjoy it and so what if other ppl get it easy should only make it more intresting for u to go up against a more chalanging opponent and in the long run make u a better player

one thing some ppl need to remember its a game ppl a game !!!!!!!
and also a fair price if u ask me, id rather they made some money on the side like this than introduce monthly fees

thank u and good night (sorry about bad spelling and gramma its late lol)
xxx

Good job Anet!(Fearing to repeat all those messages above...)
I find this a great idea to make some money and improve the game, get more cash and help out some lazy players or persons who do not want to unlock this monstruous amount of skills by the "hard way" like *JR -* said. Well, I hope that leads to more improvements, a better gameplay and maybe *Off-topic* a little boost in a class i won't name.

As always, Go ANet! Go ANet-way! Go for mostly unbuggy patches and almost instantaneous corrections! Go for dial-up support!!!(I think i drunk too much coconut juice...)

~Maedhros

Also no1 is forcing you to spend your dam money so just sort your selfs out if u dont want it dont buy it so what if they want to make a little extra money will only benefit us in the long run
thank you for your time xxx

Just wanna make a quick thanks for all my supporters.

Also, funny thing. I have heard only ONE PERSON said that they would/have buy the skills.

Honestly I think we're not seeing a certain group's viewpoint here and trying to decide whats best for other people.

Also I did a quick search On Ebay and the adverage price of a GW's account which may or may not be UAX costs about $129.

So not only are you saving money, your not breaking the EULA, and you won't get scammed.

I agree, close this thread. I've had enough of this. I just want to play the stupid game.

UAX for PVP would be uneven for PVE characters who have to buy skills and capture new elites when the game is brand new just to compete with a PVP-only char's bigger cache of skills (which is the only advantage of making a PvP only character).

Get it?

The PvP char and the PvE char should be equal in competition. Even though they arent, I hope Anet continues striving to even it out.

So they're doing it for the new players? Uhuh, I'm sure new players are scrabbling at the gates to pay 80 bucks per chapter to get into PvPing.

No, I'm really pretty sure that most new players will be rather miffed to learn they need to shell out another $40 to be able to play competitively. From day one, this game, by it's very design, has suffered from a serious flaw when it comes to serving PvP-only enthousiast. Why not fix this flaw by reinventing the game? They still haven't fixed it, don't let this development fool you. We're still playing the same flawed game, except we can now throw money at the problem and pretend it doesn't exist.

it is not a flaw as it has been stated in interviews that this is not and never was planned or intended as a game for the *pvp only enthusiast*

they wont reinvent a game that is doing fine the way it is.

look for a PVE lean in future chapters as there seem to be more of them than Anet expected and you can bet they will go for the bigger player base of casual PVE/PVE/pvp than hardcore pvp

Heh I'd quit playing if the game took a turn for PvP only.....

I've thought about it more and read some more, good points are being brought up. The choice of buying or not buying is your own and really affects no one else either way you go. I personally won't because I like to unlock and just feel its a waste of my money :S But then I have 60k in storage (not to mention nearly 2000 hours into the game) that I can always go unlock the skill I need.

I mean if I'm pve'ing I'd prefer it if they guys in my party actually had the skills that make the mission go smoother. Instead of "what do you have?" and getting the "not much" reply. Also if more people have more skills it might lead to other builds than whats become standard in pvp. Haven't we played some of these builds to death by now?

But they did reinvent it. They completely overturned the 'play to unlock your skills' premise.

If everything is so fine and dandy, why would they be selling unlock packs?

If everything is so fine and dandy, why would there be the issue you yourself posted about in this very thread. The issue of there being thousands of skills by chapter x, and players just getting into the game not being able to play competitively because they're all locked?

If everything is so fine and dandy, why would they have to renege on their earlier statements about never offering UAS?

If everything is so fine and dandy, why would anyone at all see the need to completely disregard the earlier game design that had us unlocking by playing, by throwing money at it instead?

If everything is so fine and dandy, why have there been many thousands of posts all over every fan-forum for the last year and a half, challenging the state of the game ever since the UAS button was removed, culminating in this discussion we're having now?

Get a clue. Everything's not fine and dandy.

Well I'm pretty much done with this thread, but I'm still not certain about one part. I must've totally missed the sentences/posts that clarified it, though I've seen many people ask it and not get clear answers.

The question is:
If you buy the skill unlock pack, does it mean you can use the prophecies skills without buying prophecies, or do you still have to buy prophecies in order to use the skills that you unlocked?

It doesn't affect me personally, but if asked the question I'd like to be able to answer it. sry for missing the answer to this.

Really, i can't see the problem with this. IF you come along and buy all these skills, yes, you will be able to run any build. HOWEVER - does it really take long to set up a build? You dont take hundreds of skills into a battle with you - you only take 8. I reckon that a pvp/pve player could get 7 skills + and elite in under an hour, while a pvp only player could get them in under 1.5 hours. Does this really give you an edge? Spending alot of money just to save yourself a couple of hours of playing? It doesent give anyone an edge, they dont get some super powerful skill that only they can get, its basically just a way of saving time.

Also - dont complain about the price being too high, if it was any lower people would complain about it being too low and easy to buy. The price needs to be high, otherwise i could just buy all the skills without hurting my pocket. As it is, if i dont want to spend that extra time unlocking the skills I need, i can buy them but it still costs enough to discourage some people from buying it unless they really want to. Keep in mind they they have still worked for the money to buy the upgrade. I repeat It DOES NOT give them an advantage

Finally, ANET IS A BUSINESS
THEY NEED MONEY
I wish people would stop saying that A-Net does not care about its players, and that all they care about is money. Regardless of how much they care about their players, they still need money. Without this money, there is no guild wars.

It is a requirement for some guilds, to be uax. And honestly, that is a good thing, before people complain about that. It showed, time, dedication, and the know how needed to unlock all of those skills, especially when you had used faction to do it. It was a status. It was like, "yay, i'm finally uax" and was kinda of fun looking through all the tabs at "unlocked, unlocked, unlocked" And I KNEW I worked hard in doing that. I do not care if this is a game, or not. Doing something to that point of completion is work. Even in games you have to work to get what you want, people.




Just pisses me off, about a week after I hit both uax and an emotable rank, they do this silly weekend and offer uas/uax for money.

i wouldn't have such a problem with this except that that means since buying uas is optional, it will be expected from most pugs and guilds for the future to have uas, even more than it is now. people that want to be competitive and have a chance in the high end pvping will be paying 100+ dollars alone for the skills.

what i expect to come from later installments is to pick and choose skills and bundle as u wish and buy them that way. a "the more u buy, the more u save approach", to persuade players to buy more skills at once.

and i actually don't know if u can use all prophecie's skills if u only have factions, that's a very good question, anyone have an answer?

No problem, you may not have missed it so much as I did not make that answer clear. At this time, you must own Prophecies to purchase the PvP Unlock Pack (or PUP ). We're listening to players and their wishes and requests, and we may offer the PUP to non-Prophecies players in the future. It's important to remember that the PUPs will always be for the previous version(s) of the game, and never for the most recent.

Ok then. Thanks for directly replying, Gaile. I was hopin ya would That's about all I need to know then. I had first assumed that's how it worked but then I started to see people refer to this new feature while talking about past requests of PvP only version of the game, so I wasn't sure.

Wow...thats a bit overpriced. I had assumed that it was a PvP only version of GW. But 80 dollars...?

If I make a suggestion, offer a "deal" for UAS+Chapter for $50ish or so. $10 dollars for UAS if you buy the chapter at the same time. $80 is really steep for people wanting to start a couple of chapters down the road.

Rofl. As if anyone who's worth his salt in PvP isn't fully unlocked... or at least unlocked the skills that matter.

The whole idea looks pretty lame to me. Er, scratch that, looks *EXTREMELY* lame to me. It takes 1 plat to buy any skill you want. It takes 10-15 minutes to get 1k faction to unlock it. It takes 30 minutes at most to cap any elite, with a few exceptions. (FoC, SoD, RC, Eprod, a couple others in ring of fire)

More importantly, it's a part of the game. You're supposed to play in order to get your skills, not swipe your credit card for them. What's next anet? Selling an option to make a lvl 20 RP character? Perhaps with whole map explored? Oh and might as well break out that christmas special - selling KoaBD title? Or rank, perhaps? Hey, why not just buy a silver cape for your guild for $299.99?

Not to mention that I've been faction-capped for about 3 months now. If anet lets people buy skills for real money, why not at least let us trade in balth faction for in-game gold?

In summary, huge thumbs-down to anet. The store should be for items not available through gameplay. Like, extra char slots or extra storage.

EDIT: The prospect of anet selling rank reminded me of ebay. Yes, I agree that ebaying is cheating, but is creating competition for ebay really the way to deal with it? (especially when ebay is cheaper)

This have nothing at all to do with the game.
It all comes down to NC-Soft taking a economic nosedive with some of the games under there umbrella, now they are trying to save what they can by selling everything possible, expect more and more in game items in the store untill Nightfall goes live.

Scenario: chapter 4 is released. New PvP player wants to start playing asap.

What's the options?

• Buy all former chapters + buy all UAS packs + unlock runes/weapon upgrades
• Buy all former chapters and spend a few 1,000 hours unlocking every chapter 1-3 skill + unlock runes/weapon upgrades

I'm not sure if fivefold balth faction wouldn't also have solved unlock issues?
For now and future chapters?
Why "pay more" as only solution?

Since I not going to go read the past 23 pages of pvpers trying to justify this VERY bad idea. Gil pretty much said what I wanted to. Anet listens to those who moan and whine the loudest and longest IE pvpers. This is just YET more proof that pvp and pvpers RUIN games.

I'm wondering whats next UAX for PVE ? Lvl 20 RP characters with all missions done and 100% explored maps ?

So what are you going to do about all those people who are UAXed already? If the PvP and PvE chars should be equal, why isn't there the option to take 4 weapon+item combos or multiple armor sets so they can be swapped? Why do you think that skills should be earned. This is a game. I want to play, not work.

Just like you will NEVER offer UAS, right? What's being done to alleviate the concerns of the PvP crowd? Balthazar's Faction has proven to be entirely to slow for the casual PvPer.

Honestly I don’t see anything wrong with it, and it is exactly what people have been asking for. Anyone who has read a UAX/UAS thread knows this then with the opening of the online store and Anet asking what would people like to see in that store not to mention it being constantly spammed during Gaile’s chats. People act like they have been blind sided that they skill packs are being offered the same way character slots are offered. It’s not that they are being offered it that makes people mad it’s that you have to spend money when you expect it get for free. There’s two ways you are going to get a UAS and both are the same you are going to have to work for it, one is playing the game the other is that 8+ hour job.

You wouldn’t even see the doom and gloom if they put the UAS back in for free, you would be seeing “I Love U Anet” thread. The online store offers new avenues to both sides the company and gamers a game needs to expand to become better. And it all comes down to you, it’s either some things you are willing to buy or it’s not. What if they offered a limited edition GW game box, 100 bucks that included a UAX code for pvp again you would see no doom and gloom.

Even they sell mugs on the online store you will still see a 50 page doom and gloom about it.

Will the offering of to buy Nightfall from the online store also be doom and gloom thing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murchad Just like you will NEVER offer UAS, right? What's being done to alleviate the concerns of the PvP crowd? Balthazar's Faction has proven to be entirely to slow for the casual PvPer.

the casual pvp person has no need to unlock like a maniac

if you cant show me where i can buy UAS/FACTIONS i guess it isnt UAS yet is it?

maybe 1/2 UAS but that sure isnt the whole cake.

AND FOR THE PEOPLE YELLING UAX PLEASE SHOW ME THE RUNE/ITEM/WEAPON SECTION OR SHUT UP

Thats my take on it aswell. Their results are a sea of red and profits are looking like being 74% down on last year. Time to squeeze everything they can from all their franchises, especially with the auto-assault farce.

edit to add: Whatever their reasons for adding this option I think its an ok idea. For people new to the game it means they can at least be competitive in PvP with one or two characters straight away if they want to.

I will pass along the comments. It gets really confusing with "this game at this price, that game at that other price" and I think we want to keep the store fairly streamlined and simple, particuarly since we're dealing with a global player base and it's always good to keep things intuitive and basic so that language matters and payment protocols are clear. However, I'll share thought of price models from the players, to be sure.There is no obligation to purchase the PUPs! You can buy, you can unlock as you desire. So "pay more" is not the only solution, by far! Sorry, but I've read that just once too many times, and I'm tapped out. I hereby challenge you to find any time that I have said "Never" to the option of UAS. I'm sure I've said not likely, or perhaps, even, that I did not foresee it coming, but have I ever said "We will never offer UAS?" You're attributing that to me--to ArenaNet as a whole--and I really need to challenge you. If you decline to accept the request to back your words with proof, well, we all know what the means. Thank you, yes, provably, it is!

player base = dying = need income

chapter 1 = lots of money = no change to skills

pvp killing pve = player base = factions= bad sales= anets needs income

anet = store= skills to buy for pvp!!!! = income!!!!




no income = no game =no pvp


Time to pay the piper

PVP skill unlocking keeps getting easier and easier. All of the elites you have captured with any of your characters are available for your pvp characters (profession permitting) but I have to recapture each one on a new character of that primary or secondary profession.
Things are easier for people who spend more money. Spend money and you dont have to play... Well I like playing, I will unlock them the old fashioned way. And that is fine with me.
You dont need all the skills to pvp, you only need 8. So I unlock the ones I want. (by farming balthazar faction with a different profession if I have to.) Then I rinse and repeat.

I think it is fine that pvp skills are available in the store. I wont buy them. But some people might. I think it is kind of like buying gold, but that is a fine line. I dont want to step on anyone's toes or anything. It is a bit like an fps. You start with a pistol... you play till you get a shot gun...then play some more for a grenade...etc. If you want to pay a bit extra to get all the guns/weapons, I think that is ok. But I use my pve characters to pvp, so remember I wont have as many skills unlocked as many of you do, so please be gentle, I dont have grenades or rocket launchers. But I have this mighty fine plasma rifle, and a light saber.

I don't agree with some of the pve'ers that think that pvp ruins the game. I am nearly completely a pve'er. I only ab or gvg or ha when my guild has someone not show up. But I think that we can coexist without being mean, or detrimental toward eachother. PVP can be fun. It just isnt my thing, and I can see why they want to have all skills available for their pvp characters. More options means more flexibility. I understand. I really do. I am just saying that I dont have that option with my pve characters, Ihave to spend 1k per skill. And not just once. Like for my warrior necro, I had most necro skills unlocked. I created a new necro/rit for factions and had to start unlocking all over again. Soon those skills were 1k per as well. So I dont have all my skills unlocked on any of my characters. But I will still try to be as competitive in pvp as I can be. (when my guild needs me)...

That is all for me on this one,
Fricket, signing off.

Anyway, I really think it's ridiculous that some of you always escalate this into a PVE vs PVE battle, going as far as flaming each other because of your preference and playstyle. It's just damn silly to have biases against each other like that.

i love it...now all the noobs that are willing to pay will have all the damn skillz, less waiting for PUGs that never have the skillz, more opportunity for new players to get into pvp, AND best of all who doesnt want to pay or cant afford it DONT HAVE TO!

gratz anet for pleasing all sides and makin' sure everyone gets equal opportunity to own