The Divine Aura.

When I first wanted Divine Aura this was my thought process:

Divine Aura = Glowy hands for every single emote I do omg cool!

Then after a while my thought process changed:

Divine Aura = Glowy hands for every single emote I do...? So every time I want to take a normal maybe posing screen shot I'll have the aura and though it looks cool on some it looks kinna bleh on others...

At first I thought it was pretty awesome, but now..eh I don't know. You don't really have the option of NOT having the aura do you? I could be wrong, but I don't see anything about it so it might get annoying after a while o.o

I like the CE dances (Factions CE > Nightfall CE >>).

On the argument about Collector's vs. Limited, I think they are kinna the similar if not the same. Special, Collector, Limited, they're all just words that basically say the same thing: "This product is different than the standard, it will not be produced as much as the standard, and it will cost a whole lot more than the standard." In GW's case, there are separate distinct products for Special and Collector's. It might have brought confusion, but it could be gathered that any special emote would be used in the Collector's only since it's like that for all of the campaigns thus far.

Take Final Fantasy Advent Children and Final Fantasy 12 ;; And any other games that had special promos (FF just came into my mind first ^^; ..wait a new Limited Collector's edition for FFAC coming out this month for the American and Europe release? o___O And not for $300 like Japan's first one?? *must..preorder...*). They each had Collector's edition and they were limited. And as noted in my little thought bubble they cost a whole lot more >_> And usually preordered.

It's just the word they used, they both generally mean the same thing in the marketing business. It's just what's inside the named package that'll differ.

BTW, using the "out of print book" wasn't a great example. You can still get Prophecies. Now if you said an out of print special hard cover version of the book, it would relate more to the topic, but it still wouldn't be mass published again. There's a reason why they only make a certain number of the stuff. It would have been more expensive to get the special paper and the special ink and whatever stuff they used to bind the cover and all that jazz. Same thing goes with the CE stuff. They can't make as many packages of the CE version with all of the extras as they can with just a normal game package with just special quips or extras coded into it.

And now it's 4:21 in the morning and I can't remember what else I was going to say >_o in the end, this is really just a little dispute over how the thing was named and the person's unfortunate mistake of not either a) reading the box or b) doing some research before purchase.

This pretty much summed up my acquaintence's opinion. You dont even know it's there until you do an emote, and even then it doesn't speak much unlike the minipets and CE dances from the Factions and Nightfall CEs.

Exactly. Similar, but not the same. Collector's means a limited amount available, generally with some number on it to reflect the total made and which number that one is. Limited means a limited run of the item, but without specifying an amount, so as a previous poster noted Anet would be well within its rights to make more if it wants.

If they truly mean the same (and I've already shown how they don't in a previous post as well as above), then where is my certificate of authenticity (or other document showing number xx out of xx)? Where are the words Limited Edition? Answer - they aren't the same. Gaile did say that they had a limited run (to answer the previous poster), but a limited run only means they made them for so long then stopped. It does not make then limited editions. They can very easily make more of them, and do so without cheapening those already bought, since again there is no "number xx out of xx" or certificate of authenticity or other similar document. And when you think about it, it wouldnt cheapen them anyway since the CE bonus is not to par with the Factions or Nightfall CEs, and there are way more of them in existence, because more were made. So by the standards of those crying that it would cheapen the ones they have, those two will have already been cheapened considerably. Sure the fan base is larger, but that has no bearing on the collectibility of an item.

Actually it's a great example. You're compaing an out of print book to an out of print game. Yes, you can still get Prophecies. The Prophecies CE is much, much harder to find (lately impossible unless you want to take a chance on eBay and we all know some people lie on there). And I was able to still get the book. However, the fact that I now own such book does not devalue the copies other people already owned. Nor would the case be with the Prophecies CE.

Except they don't have to do that. They could, as has been mentioned, offer up the DA for sale in the store (which they presently say they won't do). Most people want the CE for the DA, not for the rest of the stuff. So they wouldnt need to make packages with the artbook, the teamspeak, the soundtrack, etc. Although they could bundle the soundtrack with a DirectSong key to get it from there. What they COULD do is offer, via the online store, an upgrade key to the CE that only includes the DA (and possibly the DirectSong soundtrack) for, say, $10-20. Those who want the DA would then have it, the CE remains out of print, and those who bought the DA in this way would not have the artbook, teamspeak, and other physical goodies (except possibly the soundtrack) that those who own the physical CE do. Then, at least in terms of the game, the two match and the CE isn't cheapened due to more being made. Sure more people would have the DA...but again, it's just something that shows when you do an emote not a minipet or a special dance (which you can leave running as long as you like).

WRONG......not wouldnt be but we cant do it now

you left off the small but important detail that they also said

*AT THIS TIME*
*WE ARE LOOKING FOR WAYS TO DO IT*
*WE KNOW IT IS A POPULAR REQUEST*

there is a huge difference between

*we cant do it period*

and

*we cant do it now but we are working on it*

@nbajammer:

great responses ^^ I'm still iffy about the whole book example. No, getting a new copy of the book would wouldn't cheapen the actual title, but it doesn't cheapen the hard to find first version special hard back cover, in fact it would just make it all the more rare.

On your last point about having DA being available to purchase, I'm also not that much for it. I think that was the last point I was going to bring about but like i said it was around 4:30 in the morning >_>;

Although it WOULD be cool, having the aura available for easy purchase to the public belittles the whole Collector's thing. Even though you're not getting the CE itself and you're just getting an emote, you're taking away the only symbol CE owners have of showing they do own the CE edition.

If the aura could be bought, instead of the answers of "I have the CE Edition" when asked, people will say "You can buy it."

Of course not everyone can purchase it online due to parents or just general inability to transfer payments online, but it will make the DA less "special" and unique. If CE owners saw this happening, especially those who just wanted the emote, they'll be like "So I spent this much cash when I could have waited and just bought the damn thing for cheap?" This would be more relevant to those who actually spent more than the original retail price of the CE edition.

So yes, you are cheapening the CE edition. No, you're not cheapening Prophecies, just the CE edition. People sometimes buy the edition just for the emote (*coughcough*I did*coughcough* but i still like the extras *<3 map*) and it sorta gives them low keyed boasting rights. It's something they exclusively have. The mini pet won't say much since you can buy it. And you can't really show anyone in game that they have the map or the books or whatever.

If they let Divine Aura be buyable, then the dances will have to be added and any other future "special" emotes that come with future campaigns.

That's just my take on it. They would probably rake in more business, but then something is just lost.

the book example is very poor.

you get a book to read the content of that book not to wave it around saying *look at what i have*.

since you are after the content it does not matter unless you a collector if you have the limited first run or the 16th reprinting as you read the words.

the CE emote was specifically put in to give the player something to show off.

if it was suddenly all over the place that would vanish.

Yes, that is correct. Thank you for the correct quoting, there.

We do not call them Limited Editions, but we generally do not do republish Collector Editions. I hasten to add the one exception, which was when there was an error in print counts and we did a second run of the Factions CE for the US. (There already were sufficient quantities in other regions.) But that ran was made only to bring the numbers up to what they should have been in the first place, not to add more, and it did require folks to wait more than a month to obtain their CE.

As to the online store: I do not believe we will ever sell the Divine Aura, the Backup Dancer System or the Signature Dances separately, and at this time, I do not believe we would offer access keys for CE versions of our games. I'm sorry for the disappointment this causes; I truly do understand.

Except they've already done that by the larger production of the Factions and Nightfall CEs, therefore those two (by what you said above) are irrelevant. Plus, they also did it with the GOTY edition. They did release the GOTY as a seperate game release (Proph + the Coke items). Then they added the upgrade option to upgrade via the in-game store. That didn't cheapen the GOTY edition any, in fact many were happy to pay 5 bucks to upgrade to the GOTY edition. Same thing would hold true for the CE. If we retroactively look back on it with the current userbase, and let's also assume they either sold the DA in the store or an upgrade option (either works), the situation changes considerably.

(Note: These numbers are off the wall for illustration purposes only and not representative of actual copies sold)

Let's say that they produced 10,000 copies of the CE during its run, and they sold all of them. Let's also presume the userbase was 500,000.

Now let's up the userbase to 3 million. They add the DA or the upgrade option to the store, and set its price tag at $20 (I doubt itd be lower as that was the cost differential between the standard edition and the CE). With the expanded userbase, those who buy it would expand the "CE" (in quotes because of the DA-only group) base, as the userbase grows. Let's use an initial purchase base of 20,000 for the DA-only group.

At the same time, they produce 50,000 copies of the Factions CE and 75,000 of the Nightfall CE. The latter two are already cheapened by the fact that more copies are available. At the same time, the userbase continues to grow. Given all this, if I diagrammed this correctly, it would look something like this:

Proph CE ------------------------------>30,000 (CE + DA), and growing
Factions CE ---------------------------> 50,000
Nightfall CE ----------------------------> 75,000

One can reasonable assume at some point they would examine the Factions and NF CEs at a later date, but even the combined CE + DA does not cheapen the Proph CE, because its still below the level of the Factions and NF CEs. And this is bearing in mind that the DA group doesnt have the physical goodies of the Proph CE. So one could think of that 20,000 as 10,000 actuals, if you wanted.


The same reason given by people like myself who bought a 2nd account because they couldn't buy extra slots from the get go. How many who did so would have, if they had known they would eventually be able to buy extra slots? So then, does buying the extra slots cheapen the extra copies we paid for? I think it does, and to me that's far worse than worrying about the DA.

Not really, if you look at the example above. The Proph CE would still stand out from the other 2 considerably. And the fact that you cant show anything but the DA in-game shows how trivial a lot of people are with regards to the Proph CE. Plus, you're assuming that everyone who bought a Factions or NF CE sells their minis (I did not, nor will I). However, the special dances cant be bought, so you still have something to show for the CEs (if that changes later, so be it but for right now they cant be). As I said earlier, people are throwing a fuss over an emote as if it was something special unlike a minipet or a special dance. There is a difference.

As well they should, for some people like myself prefer to have it all. Those are the biggest fans, and the biggest supporters, of the game franchise.

And I respect your take on it. This is mine. They have everything to gain and nothing to lose. As for the players, not as much is being lost as people think. One cannot believe that the user base would not expand past Prophecies. And those new players are going to want it too, so it's not just those who "missed out" on getting it when they could that are going to want it. And if people who want it keep requesting it...well we talked about that earlier .

Your example is what's very poor here. You're talking about something to be had to show off, I'm talking about the availability. Two entirely different things.

Everything I had seen, Gaile, said otherwise (unless I missed something somewhere in a chat), but nonetheless thanks for the clarification on that.

This makes a lot more sense, and clarifies the confusion (the first sentence where people aren't seeing Limited Edition). Many people can easily take it to mean that more could come later, and while I suppose they could knowing you generally don't calls it like it is.

Then I'd love to be amongst the first to suggest such an option. While I understand this to not mean it will happen, I hope that the suggestion will at least be considered.

I believe the idea here is that Anet wants the Divine Aura to be special, and the way you do that is to keep it limited. As for how much it's worth, that's a personal decision. You either think it's cool enough to blow some $$$ on it, or you don't.

This item has been pretty long in demand. When I first thought about trying to get a Proph CE (about 5 months ago) it was already going for about $130 on ebay. It's now going for between $250 and $350. My point being that ANet has been well aware that they could make a lot of money off of this for some time now, so waiting for them to offer it in another form is probably wishful thnking.

If you are looking for one, I have a couple suggestions:
* If you have access to lots of stores that sell computer games, try to look for them in discount bins or on the shelves. They are still being found in stores, believe it or not.

* Set up a search on ebay so you'll get an email every day showing you the new auctions available. I used the search phrase guild wars collector's. You get the Factions and NF stuff too, but it's not a lot of links to look through. I was seeing about 2 or so offered every week. DO NOT BUY UNSEALED BOXES. Or if it's unsealed request a picture of the key code showing that it has not been revealed yet. (Key code is on the back of the CD insert with that silver stuff over it you rub off with a coin.) If the account has already been activated you will have no way to prove it's yours and you will lose the account if the original owner contacts ANet. And transfer of account rights is against the EULA, so you will get zero sympathy from ANet. However, as with any auction, you have a chance of finding an auction that gets missed by people willing to pay more than you and getting it for less than my next suggestion:

* I bought both of mine from Amazon.com's Marketplace. (Yes, I know, I plan to create a character called More Money Than Sense soon. ) If there's a problem with the product you will have some recourse at resolution with Amazon.com. Also you can easily use a CC w/o having to worry about Paypal. Also, Amazon has a great gift cert. program with their no fee credit card if you've got it (which is how I paid for mine). Finally, you know exactly how much you are paying for and don't have to wait for an auction to end. I once bid $350 on an ebay auction (because my wife dared me to lol) and actually lost (thank goodnesss!) Went to Amazon and got one for $295 right after that. Just bought my second one for $250 last week.

Someone might mention a previous thread where people (including myself) were trying to order a CE from an online store with a sub $100 price. I think they still list it, but in truth, it is out of stock and they are in the process of "trying to get more stock from the manufacturer." Yeah. Good luck on that one guys.

I'm sure there are other ways, but those 3 seem the most certain. Not cheap though.

Good luck to those who want it, I know I'm happy having it on both my accounts. But at the end of the day, this isn't really significantly different than the rarity of certain mini-pets or the rarest skinned weapons. There are only so many available, and it's the combination of how cool they look AND the quantity that makes them so sought after. Most people understand that the mini-pets and weapons aren't going to be allowed to flood the market, I don't see why they think the DA should be any different.

Well you're a bit late for that; people have been suggesting it since around the ingame stores inception

Not to mention Gaile usually gets asked for it at least once nearly every chat

Then I'll just jump on the bandwagon we need all we can, right?

nbajammer, if your estimate/guess of how many copies of the CE editions are, lets say, in relation to each other right (as in the numbers increase with each campaign due to increase of population) then I can sorta see some agreement. Of course, when GW first came out they wouldn't expect the numbers they have now right off the bat and the same as the second and third. You can't always expect the numbers to automatically increase.

*ponders* I suppose if they made more Prophecies CE edition to be around the same as the one of the other two but still priced it higher (but not as much as the black market prices xD) it would sort of solve a few things. But I don't know because of what Gaile said.

*throws up hands* Agh, I think this is just a big deal over nothing, really. I'm just generally opposed of the special emotes to be made easily public. I'll approve of increasing the CE edition itself and still be limited because I think Divine Aura should always be connected to the CE edition, not just some sort of stand alone addition that someone could just buy. Therefore I would not approve of DA being available for online purchase from the store EVEN if it was limited and was a first come first serve deal.

If you want to; I just don't see why people support these hopeless causes when Gaile herself even came in and said it's not going to happen.

That's the idea I was getting at, Laenavesse. The other option would be to have the DA in all of the CEs. After all, subsequent CEs (Factions and Nightfall) added things to it that weren't there before. It could be made into a CE feature (just like the artbook and soundtrack) thats in every CE, but only the CE.

That would also work for me. But that doesnt mean the store option shouldnt be considered, even if it isn't the first choice. Personally, I'd rather they up the amount of the CEs instead. That would make more sense both for the purpose and for the revenue. But I think it's being made into a big deal on both sides of the issue that is, as you said - nothing, really.

But that's not what she said...this is what she said:

She said she doesn't believe they ever will. She did not say it will not happen. Things have changed before and they might again. But no cause is hopeless. Maybe it isn't likely (or maybe it is, depending on the cause), but it's never hopeless when enough people keep asking for it. That's why I said this in my reply to Gaile:

That's saying I acknowledge that it might not happen, but hope that it gets considered. So even I am not saying that it will, either. And it's nice to know that Gaile understands (and some other people too), because I know not everyone does.

Ok... so we won't ever have a chance to get CE anymore. What about this GAILE. When will ya'll ever let us MERGE two accounts!!!! Geez, I bought a regular GW 4 months after GW came out. I ran out of room for characters, so I bought another GW(along with hundreds of other people), which happened to be a CE(it was the only GW they had left till they reordered more regular GW). I got REAL lucky on that. Well, like 2 months later, I found out that one would be able to purchase more slots! Here's my problem. Mind you, this was right when I would be able to purchase more slots.

My regular GW: 4 lvl 20 characters. Max armors, elite skills, my time spent on the characters, THE WORKS pretty much.
My 2nd GW (CE edition): a lvl 4 character in Pre-searing.

So from then on, all my future money went into purchasing more slots and campaigns on my Primary account, leaving my CE edition dead pretty much. The more time that passes, the more my Primary account becomes too precious to just stop cold turkey and work on my CE. So PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ find a way and let us MERGE accounts! I don't mind deleting the low level character I have on my CE edition, so long as I can merge it with my Primary account!

P.S. BTW, for those of you who will say it's my fault anyways, look at it this way. A-net makes a game with 6 professions. They only give you 4 slots... Ooook. Who didn't think about implementing slot purchase, or better yet, have the amount of slots available for the amount of professions available BEFORE the game came out. This isn't WoW, where I'm gonna spend a long time leveling up a character to some retarded high level. The cap is lvl 20, so, you know what im getting at.

Try contacting support. If you are willing to delete all characters on one account (or lose everything on it), I believe they can merge them. And it sounds like you would be able to do that. Good luck.

NO

they are unable to merge accounts once created period.

under some circumstances they will permalock an account and issue a new key which can be merged with an already existing account.

i have not heard of them doing it under the described conditions but sending in a support ticket asking for help could not hurt.

no guarantee but you could at least see what they say

Here you go
http://cgi.ebay.com/Guild-Wars-Proph...QQcmdZViewItem

That sounds familiar. Perhaps I am misremembering. Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up by mistake.

I tried asking for a merge/removal of a campaign of prophecies in case i ever got the CE edition. If it worked, I was going to give my Game of the Year version to my friend who wanted to try and play Guild Wars and she wouldn't have to dig into her already low funds to try and buy it.

No go though =\ they were polite about it though

(Divine Aura should still stay with CE only :O)

I would love for prophesies to have a second CE release run, I had trouble even finding copies of the normal game here in Adelaide, Australia.

I understand that people are proud of the CE and rightly so it shows that they have been supporters of the game from day one, but please understand that for some the CE was never an option – no copies stocked here.

Self advertising warning
********************************************
As some people know “The Dolls to the Walls” have been dancing in pre-searing AM dist1 almost from day 1 and having D A on all our Dolls accounts would look fantastic
*********************************************

Please A-Net don’t say no outright even a small reprint to get the numbers = to the other CE would help

Thanks