Boycott the Storage Update!

3 Words can explain the reasons for charging "Changing Economic Conditions"; The gaming industry is not immune. We the consumer will let ANET know if the pricing is right or wrong, and that won't be known until the update is released.
As for the auction house, if ANET envisioned GW as a PvP hybrid with people transitioning from PvE, there would have been no need for it. The game evolved differently from ANET's original plan and thus the problems started.

You make it sound so inconsequential. Given the massive amount of skills and items, the large amount the lead to more situational builds, the smaller amount that leader to less situational builds, skill changes, all adding up to no direction as "what to unlock first", getting everything "as you go" is *far* more easier said than done. PvP should never require "leveling up".

Knowing what to unlock first equals knowing what build is good.
Which means if the player does not know what skills are good enough to unlock, that the same player should be unable to select these skills even if they are all unlocked already.

Like I said, free UAX would be pretty close to being core - but, still just close.

The only thing that interests me at the moment is the 1 time only promo pane? i really wish we know what the promotion was i hate not knowing...

Exactly right: zero direction, which will likely lead to numerous subpar build possibilities, which may lead to a frustrated player at later learning what he had done wrong and annoyed at be required to run with a limited builds in order to get better builds. Then there's the unpredictability of skill changes which may or may not directly limit what used to be a broad build. Blaggidy blah, list goes on.

There is 0 for ANet to not make universal UAX core besides money, that's the worst part. There is horrible substance in requiring players to go through so much to be viable, especially when not given a single lick of where to go first. RPGPvP is just not good, I can't stand it in WoW, I can barely tolerate it in WAR, and I was hoping to entirely avoid it in GW.

You dont get it,the topic is more about the way they keep charging for stuff that probably should have been in the game for start.
I mean currently it looks like we are gonna have to pay for updates in GW2.

That's like saying that your car should have a bigger trunk just because other cars have it or because after you bought the car you found the trunk too small.
It already was like that when you bought it, no one sold you something without a part it should have.

The game is build to be 'pay once'. So they had to save resources anywhere they could.

There only thing the game 'should' really have had from the start, are those that are described in advertisements, boxes, the official site, etc...
There's nothing saying 'a big storage to put stuff in'.

Does anyone here actually live in the real world? As the quote here just about sums it up.

This game has been in existence for 4 years. Yes 4 years - or 48 months or 1461 days. We only had to buy the games and voila, we could play as much as we want. So AreaNet gave us OPTIONAL extras which were OUTSIDE of the main games. Character slots, BMP, Skill Packs, GOTY and now Storage.

You didn't have to buy them since they did not affect how you played the game. It made it easier yes, if you did indeed purchase any of these. But in essence, not required. And yet this thread is up in arms about having to PAY for something that they have decided to code and deliver for us. Didn't have to but they have. And we still don't know what we are getting 100% either.

How many example's of applications (be it games or consumer driven) actually are gotten right first time. Anything built and coded from scratch will always have bugs that require updates.

Whenever a whole raft of new features are released, it is part of a major update (Ver 2 from 1 for example). Generally you would be expected to pay an amount of money for this work. Generally but of course, there are exceptions to this rule.

However, based upon the times we are living in and also the fact that the product that is Guild Wars has more than likely exceeded ArenaNet's idea of it's shelf life (as well as sheer size), they have had to change how the GW business model works. Only slightly, but still enough for people to enjoy playing the game WITHOUT having the need to buy something from "the shop" so that they don't lose out on that gaming experience. As I have said in each of my posts here, yes I do think $10 is a little too much but thats the nature of a NEW release. Recoup the revenue and, in time, lower the price (possibly). That remains to be seen too.

So until we get this update and see truely what we actually get, this thread has become pointless drivel.

Its 50usd if you buy everything that we already know we have to paid for in this update. That equal the price of a full game. And its 200-250 my currency. its no way near cheap okay. Now i just want to know if the equipment packs are free or comes from doing quests, or you get 5 slots bag for free and pay for the other sizes.

"What we're seeing in Guild Wars is when we release new content for the game, people who have stopped playing the game come back. We get this huge wave of people coming back into the game. And so, each one of these releases is very profitable for us. The game has done very well and so I think the business model has proven itself in terms of its success." circa Jul 30, 2007, Gamespot UK interview.

And sorry to say this, but this update will not bring back old players, last time when I told my good friends about new expansion they were very excited, this time is: WHAT DID YOU SAY? 10USD? THAT'S JUST STUPID.

You are just speculating unless you can see the future.

RR, no, thats my friends saying, irl, lol, i always let them know whats happening in GW, cos i am the biggest addict among them, cos i want to play with them, but this time, nope, not gonna happen.

logically speaking, take you for instant, if you have stop playing, you would come back just to buy the storage tabs? when all this while you have not farm a single item to fill one single space in a bag? You seriously think, just because now you can add 4 more tabs to one single account, that players who have no interest in the game anymore will come back, just because now you can carry more stuffs in the storage? they will not.

Even for existing players who still say, doing the raptor farm. how many raptor are there for you to kill in one run that you need extra storage for? unless the raptors population is increased do we need extra storage in the character, otherwise this storage is moot. They could have use this time to make more "Mission Packs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6..." for USD10 I'd buy it, and give storage tabs for free if with the purchase of these mission packs. Like I say, Marketing screw up. not only will old players not come back, some existing players will simply see theres no need for this extra storage if its not free.

This reminds me of all the people that boycotted the Bonus Mission Pack promotion because to them it was just some kind of dirty trick to make "extra money." Remember that after they actually saw the content (shiny new e-peen weapons), some of these very same people accused Anet of tricking them into their own boycotting (for no apparent reason), then whined endlessly for the opportunity to pay "extra money" towards what would have cost nothing had they initially considered that maybe Anet just wanted to do something nice for them. Point here is to take a deep breath, and make sure you're not just setting yourself up to get burned by the way you choose to see things.


Make no mistake: whether Anet cares about the fans or not doesn't change the fact that they still need to make money and will act accordingly. If you're someone who thinks that's too greedy, fine. But while we're at it, let's also drop the notion that if Anet can give us something then somehow we're automatically entitled to it.


Personally I think $10 is a little high, so I'll keep my wallet shut and move on with my life. Why scream for a boycott and drag other people down with me if I miss out?

By "deserving", I was talking about bringing near-monthly updates for the last 48 months, having weekendly events, holiday events, yearly masks, bug patches, a few major updates (I got the BMP free with my EotN), a CR/M that's quite "involved" (actively or not) in the community. Of course you'll probably think that they also brought grinding, lowered the requirement for player skill, some bad ping spikes, letting down the PvP community, etc. and it's perfectly your right. As was said many times, each of us will have to make a decision on this offer (once we know all the details, that may or may not be changing when Anet reads this thread...) but I don't think it's going to be via threads like these (similarly to what happened for the BMP, which we don't know whether it sold well or not).

But on the topic of f2p, GW1 is still f2p, with additional products you can buy.

"Shouldn't be sold" according to you. You have a purist viewpoint, the viewpoint of someone who plays "seriously" games, possibly spending a lot of time on them (and playing a lot of them I guess). This is clearly not what most GW1 players are expecting, since they don't take games as seriously as you do (which IMHO is a good thing, since it's about fun, although player skill being low is not).

I may purchase and I also know that I won't be exploited (unless this "one-time offer" is indeed very bad). I know I haven't been exploited when I bought EotN in the online store and got the BMP.

Well this is your problem, you see a trend that I (and I bet many others) don't see. As I said, the next Anet product they sell may or may not convince me of that, but at this point, I've got little doubt that there's a trend showing that Anet is trying to change its business model.

Fair enough, but I think you should put a little bit of "pragmatic sugar" in your tea (I put a little bit of "principle sugar" in mine by agreeing that Anet mismanagement of some design aspects led to a significant part of the problem of low player skill). I think Anet has taken too much flak from attacks on principles, while trying to keep their business on track and their GW2 project a reality. You may not like how the game is now, but just think for one minute that they may give you in GW2 a part of the fun you had with GW1 when you liked it. We can always try to infer probabilities of this being true by using bits and pieces of data mapped to some statistical model, but I'd rather give them my trust at this point.

Since the "French article episode", you've been overreacting a lot. The april update also brings the menagerie and daily quests, enough for most player to come and take a taste. Except if you're into PvP only.

The exact same thing happened to me today...
I was at the bar with my usual friends taking a coffee and they began talking about "the great update in WOW with dual spec and stuff", they have all moved over to WOW except me.
Then they asked me "what about GW's 4th birthday?", since I am the most informed about GW among them... from time to time I get them to come back for a week and we play like in the old times, before they return to World of Grindcraft.

I told them of Zaishen Menagerie, Hall of Monuments, Zaishen Missions, and only as last the storage stuff.
They laughed at me when I told "a new tab is 10$". They didn't believe me. (Ok, I play pranks on them from time to time, so they are cautious).
I just told them to check GW Official Site, when they were going home.

I'll try to drag them to GW again though... We shouldn't let the discussion and the troubling about overpriced stuff to obfuscate the awesomeness of the whole update.

Are you a clone of mine?
Do we share the same friends?


One of the best parts of this thread.

From the OP:
I'm no master in economics, but I'd say gaining income from "some" people finding $10 reasonable isn't better than getting income from MANY people finding, say, $2,- reasonable per pane. I think if each pane costs $2 max. they would get MORE income.

Also: €8,99 is no way equal to $9,99. That's a huge ripoff. EU is being screwed over with that rate. I can buy an entire chapter from the retail store for €10,-, so I'll be one of the many peole NOT buying extra slots, and sticking to my GWx2 second account mules. That's the only issue I have though. Really lookng forward to the rest of the update. Thanks Anet.

If everybody used your logic, then yes Riverside should close up.

Except storage and UAX aren't vanity reasons. They are gameplay reasons.

Seems to be working fine to me...just look at the sales numbers.

I agree. The product does not meet the desired criteria.

You say I see a trend that you and others don't see, then you say you have little doubt that theres a trend showing Anet trying to change its business model? That is exactly what I have been trying to say. Changing their business model is the slippery slope. If they are trying to change their business model it means they will be trying to do more microtransactions to sell in game stuff in the future. It is already clear they are actively designing things to be sold via microtransaction...why wouldn't it continue if people are willing to pay for it?

I wouldn't, and you should know why by now. Hell, you pointed out some of them yourself in your post.

Some examples:

Near monthly updates (that often inbalanced the game, broke PvP, or didn't solve any of the real problems).

A CR/M (that was almost never involved in the PvP community, replaced by another CR/M that was almost never involved, replaced by another CR/M that is almost never involved).

Grind and lower player skill both increased significantly (despite what the box of the game says).

Selling of game advantages through real money (despite previous reports that this would never happen).

A complete and total letdown of portions of the community (through all of the above).

I'm glad everybody is happy Anet is giving them some candy, but please explain to me and others like me how and why I should put my trust in Anet?

- You don't have to be master in economics just to have pair of eyes to look around. First companies charge overprice, because certain people want to be the first ones to get their hands on new stuff. Then the price will gradually drop to more reasonable levels, when hype is wearing off. Second batch of money comes from these bargain hunters. Same thing is happening here: $10 is about max I think anyone would pay for a single tab of storage. It can only come down.

There is one big difference between "F2P" and P2P.
P2P MMOs get nice big updates every month,which add stuff equal to how much 12 GW updates add.
And the new content isnt a reskin or something the fans made.

Come on DreamWind, you should have spotted this: I just miswrote "I've got little doubt that there isn't a trend".

Which highlights how subjective this is. The only objective aspect will happen following April 28th, when players buy or don't buy it, and Anet manages to earn money on this.

We certainly won't. Given how long (and talkative/argumentative) you've been here, there's no point. You may want to quit altogether the game (and the board?), for your sake and ours. Unless you've got a hidden hope somewhere inside yourself.

(are you really "happy" for "everybody" then mock us by quoting this as a "candy"?)

To me, the biggest difference is how much money I pay. Or inversely how much I'll feel obliged to play each month based on what I pay. It's not because an MMO offers ten thousand quests in a realm the size of a big capital city that it's going to entail me to pay each month for only doing a tiny bit of all that. Not even for the "level of polish", I've got enough feeling of immersion from GW1.

Oh my bad...well in that case I'm a bit stunned you don't see the trend. You acknowledge they are changing their model...how can you not see the trend?

I'm simply asking questions. It isn't my fault if people aren't answering them or are ignoring them altogether.

The way I see it and to solve a lot of points in this thread.
They should drop the price to the cost of a Char Slot
Everyone I think would be happy with this price and Anet "may" even get more people buying the tabs
at this cost rather than $10 so it's a win win.
We get the extra storage we have been asking for all these years an Anet gets more tabs sold if it's at the
same cost as a char slot.
Either way if they keep it at whatever cost it is there IF YOU WANT IT it's not being forced on us
Unless this Free tab promotion thing is you have to say purchase 2 tabs to get the free one
then we are being forced at that point in a way.

It still works out for me to pay
9.99 GBP = 20.5111 AUD plus fees I have to pay this as it won't let me pay in usa. thats $20 O.o
9.99 USD = 13.8663 AUD plus fees
A extra char slot right now is 5.99 GBP = 12.2868 AUD
Thank you for the storage but no thanks I'll get slots if i need more storage.

Not exactly. Many bargain priced items have already been accounted for in the Gross Sales. The bargain prices are merely retail outlets and/or NCsoft trying to get rid of old inventory. Thus, there isn't any NEW money from bargain priced sales it's just opening up new inventory slots for NEW products later on.

they added this update way to late in the game..im not going to buy it..the only reason i am still posting on these forums was to see if they would add anything worthwhile in this update..i guess my hopes where to high...see you all in D3/gw2.

what a croc! they make a empty promise for months on end and they try to get extra greedy over it. gw will lose gamers if this garbage continues and thats a fact. i have talk to many people in game about it, and they agree!!

why dont they just come out with a new expansion before gw2 it would only make sense.

Yeah, digital media rarely seems to get discounted over time (even if it should.) For example the PlayNC store is charging alot more for GW campaigns than any retail outlet.

Meh. I won't buy it anyways. Even though I collect weapons I still have plenty of space in my storage.

People are bad readers. All they did was give us a preview. It's not the whole update. For example, the preview says nothing about the HoM update which they already said was going to be part of this content update. So don't judge the update till it's out and we actually know what's all in there.

---------

On another note, I really don't understand why people get so upset about being charged for an option like this. People are totally overreacting. Besides, we are getting equipment packs for weapons and armour storage as it is and we're getting that for free and how many of the complainers here actually mention that?

The difference in price between Europe and the US is always a thing but don't forget that sales tax in Europe is about double that of the US. That alone makes a big difference.

So let's rename the thread to: Please all overreact to Anet not being a charity!!

That seems more appropriate at the moment.

/not signed

You know what, your first post is highly highly biased, just look at the points you have for pros and cons, just look at them. I can't help to think you are just a troll here to cause some trouble.

Why boycott it? Just don't buy it if you can't afford it... geez. The company needs to make money in someway... do you expect them to pull GW2 out of their butts? Plus, you get a free tab which is more than generous enough.

this is a great game with no monthly fee, we alrdy got a storage upgrade a while back too. If they wanna charge for extra storage i understand why.

I have read through your responses and I have yet to read anything which convinces me that storage is for gameplay reasons. You already have enough storage to meet the needs of any gameplay type.
Maybe if you convince me that I NEED 100's of items and they ALL directly affect the gameplay then I will think otherwise.

Does anyone even remember we used to have only one pane?

They never charged fo adding extra storage before so why start charging now?

I don't need it and won't be buying it.

Oh god yes...

you just reminded me why I'm buying all four and getting the freebie

We also only had 1 campaign, no minipets etc.

Were a lot less items back then.

They already have the resources for the existing ones paid.
Now if more is to be added, they'll have to buy more.
All we got for free is all they can give for free. We got 3 more panels because that's all what was paid with the Campaign sales.

Can someone find and quote that founder guy that said something like "All updates and upgrade to game features are free for all". I think he meant to buy content, not features and upgrades...

Anet sucks, this is just a scam to gather money from a feature that doesn't cost them more than the salary of the involved developers. I can bet the total disk space needed for each of our characters is less than 50 kilobytes (and that's being wasteful). The total for our Xunlai storage (again wasteful) could be around 5 kilobytes. Each account uses less than 1 megabyte. Why do they need $10 to allocate something between 5 and 50 more kilobytes per account?

Can someone donate a few 1.5TB hard drives so Anet can expand their DB storage? LOL

I'd like to hear what the CR has to say about that quote? They have no word?

They have accepted that storage was a problem from day 1, we will now have a way to reduce the problem (really this sounds like a partial solution) but this partial solution will cost you more money.

...

When the time comes, I'm pretty sure I'll log in to claim that "1 free storage tab" then I'll fill it in a couple hours and log out again waiting for some other interesting update to check out.

I guess they still want people to continue buying storage mules or full "storage campaigns".

I still think a "Rune of superior holding" would have solved more problems than this +1 equipment tab per character thing.

If it was 4 tabs for $10 I'd pay it. $10 for 20 slots though hahahahah fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. And Anet has been fooling us for years now with false promises and weasling charges for this and that. They have ruined the game with their open shop come buy the skills you want features or buy extra this or buy extra that. They are no better than a WOW or EQ or the rest. Putting carrots in front of us for $10 a pop.

Mmm... carrots.

Oh yeah! I just "inherited" an account, Prophecies only. I'd forgotten how nice it was to have a full compliment of storage tabs! (We all have all campaigns and EotN, main accts) By the same token, with only one campaign, you odn't have near so much "stuff".

We won't be buying more panes. If there's new equipment bags or a new complimentary pane, cool. Otherwise, we're good to go.