In game store now available... Name change, Makeover kit, Storage Pane

Name change cost makes sense to me actually.

Storage cost makes some sense too, but the price should probably be lowered. Why? You get more for your money if you buy a char slot. Sure this is a bit more convienient, but isnt that making money off lazy people? Like gold sellers?

Makeovers, I really don't think they should cost at all. They actually would make an excellent ingame gold sink. It's kind of a deep feature that should have been in the game years ago. I really like the pay once idea though.

Hm maybe ive missed the line "u have to buy those things" in the update notes

Considering all the awful clipping issues, especially with long hair, we should at least be given a free makeover credit for each character.

I'm really glad they finally got the hair stylist working, but I don't care for cross-campaign swapping. I have a feeling we'll be seeing some really awful combinations in the near future.

Just to add fuel to this discussion: Anet has sold 1 million copies in the past 14 months. So assuming they only get $15 per copy they've still made 15 million dollars in a little over a year. So are they really that strapped for cash that they need microtransactions at this point?

lol winterclaw,

without the ability to sell PvP unlock, skill and item packs in gw2 i suppose they want to pre-learn their customers to the micro-transaction tradition so that when they go full blown no one will notice :P~

The makeover one is reasonable, but the name change price is a little ridiculous imo...

Interesting...

I can't believe ppl are whining about $2 per makeover. You could earn that much in the real world in the time it takes to compose one whiny guru post...

Hey they've always been comparing GW to Magic the Gathering have you checked out how much you'll spend if you get into that game? lol New sets of cards everytime you turn around and of course you have to buy and buy and buy those computer generated foil packs to finally get the ONE card you wanted. lol Of course though there will be fools who will part with their money for things that should be free an included in some new chapter with a hellofalot more content than this silly update. And just look at the time it's going to take a CASUAL player to get that damn Backpack 20 slot lol about a YEAR hahaha just enough time before GW2 comes out eh? And that's just ONE character poor casual people who have 10 characters will take 10 years to get one for each lol.

30k - extreme makeover
10k - makeover

imo

More the fact I have to spend $10 just to get 1 credit, but that's a personal poke.

Thanks for the makeover kits Anet! <3

Ohhh my!!

How many characters did I delete and re-make because of their Look, Gender and Name!

It's nice they've added this but I'm sad it wasn't sooner *looks at my ele and ranger grave yard*

LMAO I thought if you bought the service pack it would at least be unlimited credits! Seriously, whats the point...

Guess they really need the money in this tumbling economy!

The thing a lot of you are missing is that up until this point, it was impossible for them to do this.

They had to pull a lot of people from the GW2 team and temporarily expand the live team a hell of a lot to get this done. That cost them money and time. Thus, we pay real money for this feature that we've been requesting for a -very- long time, and indeed, offering money for.

The reason that this could be done is because they could afford to spend the money and development hours to upgrade the GW servers and game engine because of the income these changes would bring.

The reason the name change is so expensive, is to stop scammers constantly changing their names so as to escape any bad reputation they may have. I believe this was listed as a reason against the name change feature about a year and a half ago.

These changes to the game cost development time, employee hours and server maintenance time. It's not just a simple matter of designing an interface and whacking in some NPCs, the very server code and character database has to change. That's not a small task.

We've asked for it for a long time, and when we finally get it, what do we say? It's not good enough! We demand it for free! The argument for in-game money is stupid. In-game money doesn't make anet anything, you can't pay programmers in plat. It wasn't possible with the engine as it stood. Anet could have said "screw it, it'll cost too much to do, let them go without." Instead, they put time, effort and money into doing this for us, and even then the whiners come out of the woodwork and complain.

I guess it's true, game development is a business of damned if you do, damned if you don't, and 90% of the people on fansites are ungrateful idiots.

I JUST HAD AN EXTREME MAKEOVA!!

Whilst I appreciated the effort it took to change the database and game code etc (I'm currently having to make a change of a similar scale at work which involves major changes to the database, and business logic), I think the main issue here is the price is far to high. Fair enough those 6 million sales does not equal 6 million players but still, even with the most reserved estimates it's still a lot of money if even 1% of the players use this. Hopefully the prices will come down at some point in the future once they have covered the initial cost.

All this being said, I did buy one makeover purely because I had been asking for it for so long. I won't be purchasing any more though unless the price is dropped drastically.

I'm going to hazard a guess that the main reason it's set at the price point it is (and the reason the basic makeovers are sold in packs of 5) is that covering the transaction fees for cheaper credit card transactions would get quite expensive.

Maybe if they implemented a system like the Microsoft Points for the Xbox Live Marketplace that wouldn't be so much of a problem.

One interesting(to me) consequence to this update is it allows sharing user-created character mods from TexMod now. Some character models include the face on armor textures, but with this update, you may change your character to the same as the creator of an armor mod, provided specific details are listed.

Release the clones.

It costs less to change your gamertag on xbox live, 15 bucks is a bit over the top, imo.
The regular makeover packs are reasonable at 2 bucks a character. Extreme makeover price should be less since it is only adding a gender change, and it's only for 1 character.

That's a good point. I could see a point system working quite well if they continue in this direction for GW2.

I think the prices on these may drop or get offered at some special bundle deal price thing in a couple of months after the initial uptake dies off, so i'll be holding out til then. All of the offered services are great though IMO - if the money Anet makes is being used to fund additional content then I'm all for it - none of these additional options will negatively affect anyone who decides they don't want to pay any money above the cost of the game.

This to me is why the GW business model is the best of any MMO - those who want to be able to use the additional services (or just support the game development) can, while the casual player benefits in his experience due to additional support for the game.

Of course this is all assuming the profits are being put back into GW. With GW2 in development, i suppose it is safe to assume that this is funding both projects in some way.

I'm glad they didn't hype the stylist, or I'd be mad. When I thought they were only going to do this with storage, I was annoyed but generally meh. But if this is their new business model... well, if I wanted to play Perfect World, I would. But I don't - I want to play Guild Wars. So I don't support this new system in any way, shape, or form.

It's not a matter of me not caring about ANet or the maintenance of the game. I have bought and probably will buy again a character slot. Why? Because I can justify it. I can't justify either of these new things. Let's take a look:
With a new slot, I can get a new character (maybe try a different profession), with the chance to replay all the campaigns +EotN again, from the very beginning, leveling and molding my character... without deleting any of the characters I've worked so hard on. All this for $10? Sounds like a deal to me.
With a new storage pane... I can store what? 20 more items? Why would I do that when I could buy a character slot for a mule who, with full bags/equipment packs, could carry 65 items? I'm not so lazy as to not be able to switch characters.
With a makeover... I can morph 5 of my characters into completely different women (or change 1 into a completely different person, were I so inclined). Whoop-de-do. I only want to fix my eles' hair and maybe change one of their faces (but I could live without that). So I'm paying $10 to be able to use ONE of FOUR aspects of the makeover on TWO characters? If you were to chunk it out, it's $2 a character or $0.50 per change (hair color, skin tone, hairstyle, face)... so I'd be paying 10x what it's worth to me. I'll pass, thanks.

Let's put it this way: I'm feeling about ANet right now what many of us Star Wars fans feel about George Lucas. We respect him for creating the series we love, but we hate him for running it down the toilet. And that's about where I am here.

What I fail to understand is why people WOULDN'T want free stuff. People come in here and call us whiners, moaners, crybabies, etc... but why? If by "whining" about it we can get ANet to make it free, where's the harm done? Don't say they don't listen - if there's one good thing this storage/stylist fiasco has done, it's that it's proven ANet does have ears, does hear our pleas, does actually give a damn. Well, mostly. But anyway, if we tell them how we feel about it, maybe they'll change it. So what are you so afraid of? Are you worried ANet's going to revoke these new privileges? Not bloody likely. If they did that, you can bet the playerbase is going to revolt, and some people will likely throw a temper tantrum and quit. It may not affect ANet directly (because unlike with a P2P, ANet's better off if you buy everything, then quit... they get cash, without the extra person using the servers), but it'd be bad publicity... and when (if) GW2 finally comes out, there'll be backlash. Or are you just afraid that we'll get what we want, and it'll be free... but you've already paid for it? Are you afraid of feeling stupid? It just boggles my mind that people are unhappy with us for trying to get this free for ALL the players - it's not like we're just asking for us.

Anyhow, I was totally ready to drop tons of plat on makeovers... but I'm not wasting $10 on that. Not when, for the same amount, I could get:
Lunch at a fast food place (maybe lunch for 2 people if we didn't eat a lot)
An interesting book
A birthday present for my friend
New earrings
A week's bus fare
A second account (Proph only)... okay admittedly this is more like $10.50
etc.

So yeah. I'll pay for new content, or for the ability to replay all the games from scratch without deleting anyone. But I WILL NOT PAY for 1-time cosmetic changes or overpriced laziness-enablers.

The people defending the costs have a really bad sense of business and probably allow themselves to be ripped off alot when it comes to money.


You can buy one of the low-budget games on ps3/xbox for $5-10, and many of them are great. The Orange Box is on sale for this weekend at $10, which is an absolute steal. Sure these things arn't GW related, but were talkin real money here....not virtual gold.

I think plenty of people here understand that Anet is trying to make some cash (they still need to make money for themselves) but I don't think Anet fully understands what you can buy with $10 when it comes to both gaming and non-gaming related things. I can only imagine super hardcore players buying this stuff. These costs are just unrealistic. They could've made much more profit if they played their cards right.

Anet really is behind on the times...

i bet with all the money they are making there will be some uber cinematics in GW2 -- those things are not cheap ya know...

1) I have never been ripped off by paying no fees to play Guild Wars. The millions of people playing WoW must have a worse business sense then?

2) Actually, just about every other free to play MMO already has a cash shop for optional purchases. I have always supported this model being made available for GW, snd now we have it.

I will be buying one makeover pack and customising my Elly and Monk because I want to. I have played GW for free for 3+ years, and now make one $9.99 purchase, I hardly consider that to be being ripped off.

As these things are what we've been begging for for a very long time, and Anet has actually listened to us to provide them I feel no anger at the costs involved. I do feel some things are a little exploitative, i.e. the cost of a such a small storage pane, and the fact that a makeover is bought but only gives you 5 points! Still, I'm not about to complain about it, because at the end of the day it's still a relatively small amount of money, and this is not something I HAVE to buy to make my game experience any better.

Purchasing these things is a choice. It is purely asthetic. Everything they are selling can be achieved in other methods throughout the game, whether that be re-rolling a character, or creating a new one as a mule. It is personal choice whetther you want to take advantage of the simplicity that Anet are affording us. The day they sell extra armour is the day we can get up in arms about the abuse of the online store, until then Anet have stuck to their business model, and actually LISTENED to the players.

I for one thank them. (but would thank them more if as an Australian I didn't have to pay in British Pounds).

I really dont see why people are complaining because of the fee to get these features.

1- You played Guild Wars from 1day to 4 years without these features so you can live without them.
2- Guild wars doesn't have monthly fee they need some way to make money.
3 - Its $10.00 - $15.00 it's not even that much.
4 - ITS OPTIONAL so why complain they're not forcing you to buy it.

As for me ill buy it when i need them .

The community is a lot larger then GWG. A lot of people are going to be buying the features, so it doesn't matter how much people whine here...

Therein lies the problem. It will only get worse from here because a lot of people will buy with the excuse that they don't have to pay fees, so they have no problem buying this. Man Anet suckered us all. Congrats.

6 million copies sold, if half of that only buys 1 xunlai pane that 3 mill x 10 USD =30 million USD ....

overpriced or no?

no comment!

You can be the best player in the world without any of those things. All you need to compete is the campaingns. Or one campaign and the skill unlocks.

These options via transactions are just that...options. Nobody is forcing you to spend your hard earned money to play Guild Wars.

Are these options expensive? Maybe, for those interested making cosmetic to multiple characters and accounts.

I've spent about $100 total for all three campaigns and the Eye of the North expansion, plus I've bought 2 characters slots. That was quite long time ago and I'd do it again because it's the best value you can buy for 4 years of an MMO.

I can't imagine myself paying $15 a month for 4 years. That's $720 dollars for all you mathematically-challenged.

So I'd have no problems $9.99 an extra slot or makeover package, because in the long run Guild Wars is the best deal for your money.

This is silly. I was excited about this update (especially the Nicholas the Traveler stuff). I was excited about the makeover/ gender change too until I saw the prices. As for me, I'm fine with paying for these things. But it's ridiculous to have to pay $10 for 5 characters to change hair style/face/hair color but then have to pay the same price for the same thing but a gender change (which is really what I want anyway). Also, $15 for a name change? Crazy. Add this to the makeover person and make it a one-time fee for permanent access to these features. I'd gladly support that.

not bothering with any of em, made my characters the right way the first time ;-). although i might be willing to pay for a chance to get survivor title on my 3 1/2 year old war =D.

10p? Gold sink?? More like 100k imo.. who the hell changes their characters all the time...
$2.50 wouldve been better, but meh.. Wouldve loved to change my warriors appearance (hot tyrian face with some nice canthan hair ) but dunno now

I don't think you can make a char with a Tyrian face and a Canthan hairstyle or can you? I've recently started trolling gw again so enlighten me.

The costs of these microtransactions seem RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOed up to me. What does a prophecies key cost nowadays? WTFLOL if the name change has a higher price...

The makeovers allow you to mix and match features from the 3 campaigns.

The prices aren't bad, really, when you compare them to other games. $15 for a name change is a bit much when you look at WoW's $10 name changes. $10 for an Extreme Makeover (everything but name) beats WoW's $15 character recustomizations (though those *do* include a name change). It's sad that we don't have a Stylist that takes in-game currency for minor makeovers (everything but name and gender) like WoW's Barbers, but $10 for 5 makeover tokens isn't so bad. (I'd say give us a Stylist that takes gold as well - but limit it to hair color & style, face and skin color (no gender, height, or name) of the campaign the character is from, unlike the paid makeovers)

[QUOTE=ogre_jd;4621942]It's sad that we don't have a Stylist that takes in-game currency for minor makeovers (everything but name and gender) like WoW's Barbers, but $10 for 5 makeover tokens isn't so bad.[QUOTE]
I dunno, I find it is when one token costs half again as much as a bus ride that actually ACCOMPLISHES something important (aka getting me home from school/to piano lesson) irl; I find it is when the required minimum purchase costs more than I paid for the entirety of Jade Empire (5 bucks plus shipping off Amazon last fall); I find it is when two purchases cost the same as over 140 minutes for my TracFone (usually enough to last me several months).

Please, please, let us have a one-time price, o ANet people if you are reading (which I doubt given all the complaining that's been done) - I'd buy this in a moment if I'd get permanent access; I wouldn't even mind paying ingame cash every single time if I could just pay once irl.

I was replying to someone who said "Everything they are selling can be achieved in other methods throughout the game, whether that be re-rolling a character, or creating a new one as a mule. ".

So are you saying that in character creation you can mix and match features from the 3 campaigns? I could check but I don't wanna download a sh i t load of updates.

In-game currency for all changes except name and gender sounds like a good idea to me.