Veteran players given limited benefits?

The Following is a lot of reading on an issue that can be important to many, please read patiently and give your support if you're in agreement.

I've been a player to GW for 17 months now, meaning I've been playing since release here in Canada. However, this is the first time I've actually felt unsettled and compelled enough to take action on something I find a bit unjust.

For some time now myself and some friends have kept an eye over the different editions of GW and one thing hasn't added up to us. We took a look at Game Of The Year Edition which, for the same price as the original GW boxset, offers unlimited claimable items. For those of you unaware of the Game Of The Year Edition and what it offers you can get an idea by visiting:

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Guild_W...e_Year_Edition

Now, I understand some players might be saying to themselves "Who cares about a couple items I could easily find a replacement to" and in a way they're right, its not a big issue in the end but the concept of it is a bit of a bother to myself and my friends.

The Fact that newer players have editions that give them benefits that we not only DON'T have but at this rate never WILL have unless we decide to purchase a whole new edition of Guild Wars is a unfair way to treat the veteran players. I find it unpleasant to have to buy a whole new version of Guild Wars then Factions as well or have it merged into my current account going through Anet.

Granted we were given presents for when one of our characters turned 1 year old, but not everyone in the game is able or enjoys keeping a single characters for more than a year. This is a limiting award which to me was a dissapointment which support this issue.

Recently I contacted ANet asking why veteran players aren't given some sort of similar rewards, I quickly received a response informing me to post the issue on a Guild Wars website forum on their site. So here I am uncovering the issue to all players reading this. Weather you're not as prosperous as others in the game to buy items like this, or would enjoy it in pve or just as a fashionable item.

So I propose Anet take into consideration giving all veteran players a similar reward to right this wrong. Also, instead of granting the rewards on a character age basis, I propose they do it on an account age basis.

I would appreciate if any people supporting my ideas and cause state so, that way ANets devs who scout forums for new ideas can read this and understand how many players would like to see it done. I also welcome feedback on the idea.

I would also appreciate if maybe this idea could be stickied as a type of petition and/or redirected to a more appropriate forum.

Without new players joining, Anet cant make any money.

Without money, the servers will close.

Let the new players get cool stuff that gives them ZERO advantage.

Well the GOTY edition wasn't to reward new players, it was to celebrate GW winning the 2005 game of the year award.

Maybe there should be some sort of reward system in GW. City of Heroes and City of Villains will soon be introducing their veteran rewards program. For having an account active for 15 months you can get wings that flap and everything which is cool as you can actually fly there too (you also get other stuff every 3 months prior to and after that). I'm not real sure what sort of rewards GW could offer though.

Still no reason to give new players any more shit than what we got.

And Anet doesn't lose anything for giving veteran players the same stuff.

No profit loss?

Super super!

I know what you're saying about the GOTY edition celebrating that point, why not celebrate that with the players who actually helped the game in its success?

I totally agree with the Reward system though, its an aspect a lot of games have and I dont see it being too much to ask

lyra got it in one...new players>>>>veterans, if you have been playing for 17 months Anet knows they "have" you..they need stuff to excite new players to join so they can make more money.

Maybe we should think of a series of rewards and we get a new set every four months (applies retoractively of course). But we need some ideas for these rewards.

Maybe special armor or weapon skins. Like a vial that you could apply to existing equipment (similar to dye) and it would keep the stats but get a special veteran skin.

Veteran players do receive mini-pets at the 1 year mark. New players eventually become seasoned veterans and also earn the same stuff.

Sounds fair to me...

Understood from a marketing perspective, but they havent HAD me for 17 months, I've just had my account for 17 months. I've lost all interest in GW multiple times and switched over to other games, the reason I switch over to the other games again is because I'm given 1 monthfree or tons of vet rewards. As far as GW goes I come back because my guild needs me for gvg or I feel like talking to them once in a while (excuse the "me me me" examples.) So considering Anet has reserved the right to start charging monthly fees when they want roughly 6 months ago... I dont see any real persuasion to stay if and when they do.

well see that's the thing, veteran's arent the only ones who have made the game a success, the fact that a constant flow of new players is also what made this game so popular. Veterans are good, but without fresh blood, such veterans are not really useful.

The difference with having a veteran system in CoV and CoH is that you still have to pay for those, the idea in that is player retention, and frankly, you will want to keep paying customers and to do that you need to keep them happy.

Unfortunately, if they add in a veteran system here, it will purely be out of goodwill, nothing more.

Please read

GW isnt worth paying a monthly subscription thats for sure.

I can see where you are coming from but it will never happen. Money is the name of the game and vetran players only light up the dollar signs in Anets eyes when a new exspansion is due.

Meh.

So the new GOTY and the original game are the same price. What advantage do you have over the new player? A year of enjoying the game.

I think the that the mini-pet is enough. True, it's character based, not account based, but this means that you can get multiple presents per account. And many of the pets can be sold for good money, which you can put toward whatever you desire. What's not to like?

Another advantage veteran players have over new players? A whole bevy of unlocked skills, to start enjoying with your new heroes.

Some advice: You'll be happier if you concentrate on enjoying what you have, rather than imagining new injustices that need to be righted.

i have been playing the game 4 17 months i only got 1 mini pet if i kept the same chars 4 more then a year i would get bored with the game i play every day it would b really boring if i had all lvl 20 chars what am i 2 do sit around grotto all day??????

I couldnt agree and understand more, trust me. Guild Wars still offered minipets as previously mentioned, that was good will, as useless as they are they were still good will. So ok, lets look at it this way.

Attract new players with added features.....that works

Ignore older players and expect them to stick around when all the benefits are given to the newbies? We're paying customers too we'll be there for every expansion.

Why should non-subscription accounts be entitled to anything beyond the original advertised and packaged items? Not debating your proposal... just trying to follow your line of thinking...

What kind of reward system you got in mind then?

You'll need to elaborate a bit more so I can elaborate sorry, I'm having trouble understanding that.

The best, most simple and fair system I can think of is a mixture of what GOTY offers and what I've seen offered by SOE's Everquest 2.

A veteran reward system that offers different rewards after an account reaches a certain age. So for exmaple a player could type /claim and be given a selection of items he's been rewarded depending on his account's age. So, let's say for example, every 3 months of account age gets you a new item/weapon to select from for either each class or just generalized.

It could inspire more design your own weapon contests and also help keep players interrested in the game between expansions.

Nope, Paid customers, not paying.

Actually I was thinking about this thread more and more, and this particular idea is actually pretty sound. If Anet could find a way to incorporate player retention, then they could surely buy us over with each new chapter that comes out, and then they could focus alot more on getting newer players to join in the fun. I think that GW is going to hit it's peak sometime in the future, so its going to be something to consider.

I'm simply asking why one-time buyers of a given software title should be given additional items after the purchase is completed. After the point-of-sale, the transaction between buyer and seller is done. I'm trying to figure out why ANET needs to reward long time players if those players are not financing ANET any further.

If those long-time players are buying GW-expansions, then they are supporting GW and getting the new content they paid for. But why simply reward long-time users? To demonstrate good will?