Australian/Europe Currency Payment Lockdown. (You Pay More) Guild Wars Official Store

The following thread is to inform people before they attempt to connect their Guild Wars Account to a Play NC account.

Issue: PlayNC accounts Created with the location “Australia” will be billed in GBP. GBP costs Australian’s more than USD

Question: Why am I billed in GBP After linking my account to the official store?

Reason: On creating a PlayNC account your Payment Currency is locked to the location that you select while creating your account. The 3 currency’s are USD GBP ERU. AS of this time Australia’s are listed under the GBP Payment. This means your PlayNC account is going to cost you more if you want to buy anything from the official store.

What can I do to fix this?

As of this time it is impossible to….

Unlink your Guild wars Account From your PlayNC account
Delete your PlayNC Account
Delete your Guildwars Account
Change Your PlayNC Payment currency from one to the other.

So what can I do if want to Pay in USD?

Absolutely nothing! You hear that sound, it’s the sound of NCsoft Banking on fact that you will now stick to the GBP and pay one AUD to every 2.5 GBP.

Cant I just Change my PlayNC location After i create the account?
Nope NCSoft though of that as well. Your currency is locked.

What can I really do?

Short answer: Grab a Preview event Key and Create and Buy a New Guild wars Account.
or Buy Nightfall and create a separate account with it.

Long answer: You’re going to end up buying a new account and paying for the chapters again. Lose your characters and all there progressing. Other words you’re as good as boned. And that extra 20% mark-up *Aprox over USD is going to cost you in the long run. Dont really want to do that? Well thats the whole idea of how this lockdown works.

What can other people to protect themselves?

While making your PlayNC account select “other” or “America” for location to get billed in USD.

What Arena.Net can do:
This has been another NC Soft Blunder Brought to you by the Letters
M – O – N – E - Y

That's a darn shame. NC Soft, a supposedly worldwide company can't do more than 3 different currencies.

Who the hell is running that company anyway?

warban.

Awesome dude awesome!

Sadly it's too later for me, I created an account, and I'm not willing to give in and have my characters go to the mists!

But if you prevent just one person from falling prey to this trap, you've made a difference.

Here's the link where Gaile admits that AUS will be linked to GB:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...0&postcount=82

I wanted to mention something about that in the thread, but I didn't have it as defined as warban.





>.> And I didn't wanna seem like I was Anet bashing/hating!

Yet another reason to never use the online store, and another in the long line of dissapointing moves made by Arenanet to Australians. But remember guys, they do care about us!

Should i start a thread on how Anet hates Singaporean Players and how there isnt SGD in the store selection?

/rage quits

No but you should comment on if Singaporiean will be offered cross promotion special event like the Mini-pet pc game mag event.

I'm unaware if you guys get that mag there. But you shouldn't miss out.

As for the SGD to Pounds comment.
Anet has already said they won't implement different currencies at this point in space time!
But incase that was a rage post and you failed to read the OP section, it costs Australian players more to pay in Pounds then in US$. That why we should all select 'other' as region.
To save having to py the extra cost for a 'online idea' that is cheaper if we pay in US$

Too late for me, I didn't know that I could choose other and pay in US$.
This is pissing me off now, it should be based on which server you choose to play on.

I'm curious why it should cost more? ( aka I'm dumb, I don't get it ) ( exchange rates? or is the GBP price just higher than USD @ store )

It is the exchange rate, and the fact that GBP are stronger that makes it cost more. When the prices were originally set they were probably pretty even, but because they are fixed prices they do not adjust along with exchange rates.

Currently, 10.00 United States Dollars = 13.3018 Australia Dollars
and 5.99 United Kingdom Pounds = 15.1566 Australia Dollars.

And every time the Australian dollar weakens, that gap widens.

Glad I dont have this problem, just buy from the shop

GBP has a higher exchange to USD. Currently, vs the aussie dollar, GBP is around 2.5GBP. Which means a purchase of $10GBP in the online store is $25au. Compared to the US dollar, which is around 1.3us. Which means a purchace of $10us in the online store using American region is $13au. So, by defaulting Australians to GBP, it's costing them nearly twice as much.

Firstly: There is a difference between being able to choice between one of the 3 cheaper exchange rates (USD) and asking for a local exchange price.

Being locked down into GBP With no external Options Over what Currency you select for a VIRTUAL PRODUCT is down right extortion of your Game account.

Secondly: This has very little to do with A.Net. Its a system that NCSoft Europe has (by the look of things) used for a long time. The Major concern here is that Once you lock down your account to a playNC account thats it. NCSoft EU gets to bill you and you dont get a choice.

So in conclusion:
1. Buying Guildwars in australia Is limited to only to EB games only.
2. Guildwars Official store will bill you a massive overhead IN GBP because your from australia.
3. You can't Buy in USD Even though Its a "VIRTUAL PRODUCT"

Even if I could choose US currency I wouldn''t buy any chapters from the in-game shop. I like to have a hard copy of all my games.
I was planning on getting some additional character slots though, but now that I'm fully informed, NCSoft can shove em wherever is most uncomfortable.

In the UK we've got used to being ripped off over GDP/US$ prices as normally companies just charge us the same in GBP as the US$ price - at least Anet are a bit closer and we're only 73p overcharged ($10 = £5.26).

Apparently (and I can't confirm this myself) NZ is linked to Europe and pays in Euros