Bonus weapons

Ok, so you all know about the bonus weapons that usually come with prerelease versions of games (such as the Hourglass Staff). Is it possible that they could become available to buy seperately in the ingame store, much like the bonus weapons from the Game of the Year were?

I personally would be willing to pay, say, $5 for each of the sets of bonus weapons (aka the 2 from factions would be a 5k bonus pack, the 2 from nightfall would be a 5k bonus pack, etc).

Because they are not tradable ingame, I would think that this could be a good source of revenue that is completely optional (like the BMP), and that would give people the opportunity to get these items that they missed the chance to get before. Right now, if people want, say, the EotN weapons, the only way to get them is by buying a pre-release version of the game on Ebay, which is against the ToS (right?).

I understand the need to make them exclusive for a while for the ones that were quick enough to get their orders in, but its been a long time and I think the "special exclusiveness" they implied isn't really that glamerous anymore.

As Mith said:
"I missed the Prophecies and Factions ones because I didn't had Internet connection until just before Factions release. Hey, If I knew about GW in 2005, I would have been playing since then. And everyone missed most of Prophecies ones, because each region had a different one. I would definitely pay for one or two packs to get them all. People should not be 'punished' when it's not their fault, and it's not like they would be for free."

And in the unforgettable words of Jack:
"I would also buy bonus weapons when offered. Pls. put them up for sale. Hey It's not everyday that people beg to give you money"

What do the rest of you think about this?


Disclaimer:
I already brought this question up on Regina's talkpage on the official wiki, but since she doesn't seem to be reading it anymore, I thought I'd bring it up here. Also, I searched the forums, and I didn't see any other threads on this topic. That being said, I am including some of the responses from other users on that page in here, so sorry for the plagiarism.

To each his own. I do LOL, however, at people that are willing to spend real dollars on something as trivial as what you are writing about.

I'd love to be able to get the lycanthrope and wizrd's cap mask from the Halloweens I missed, but I wouldn't want to pay real cash for them. But that's just me.

i'd rather spend the money on DLC. If you want the BMP stuff, buy the BMP.

While i agree that i truly want those exclusive weapons, i highly doubt Anet would consider it. If something was made to be exclusive, then it should remain exclusive; otherwise, it loses its 'exclusiveness'.

I agree in that i would LOVE to have a Glacial Blade on my Jora and Warrior. It might, <stressing the might> be a good idea for Anet to implement your suggestion following the first release of GW2.

/signed for my love of Glacial Blades

jazilla: I have the BMP. The BMP is also still available for sale in the in-game store, while the prerelease bonus weapons aren't.

TheodenKing: If you don't want to buy them, then nothing will make you buy them.

As for the issue of it taking place of DLC, the whole point of this is that the weapons are already made and ingame already. It would be ZERO extra effort to offer these for sale. And I know a lot of other people would like this option. We all know that they need all the resources and money they can get for GW2, and this is a free and easy way to get money without any effort from people who are willing to pay.

The hats are a different issue because they are already established as status symbols for people who participated in different events. While it is true that the prerelease weapons were only available for limited time, like the hats, almost none of them still retain any "prestige" value. Also, most of them have pretty mediocre stats (the one with the most useful stats that I can think of right now is the Hourglass Staff), and are either just for fun or for people who have a special interest in the skins or something.

Basically, it would not harm anyone who does not want to buy them, but it would be a way for Anet to make money for GW2 without any extra effort, so they can focus on, say, more free ingame content (like WiK).

I just don't see the downside.

Wouldn't buy though, but overall the bonus weapons are kinda lame, as in, they are rather overpowered like Hourglass staff is, but exclusive to some, yet unlimited to them as well. So some people just type in bonus to get good hero gear, and others actually spend time figuring out where to get a specific staff of +15 energy.. like Staff of the Forgotten which I got after playing through Nightfall. And yea, Hourglass is basically just as good as campaign end Staves.. Mega lame. The bonus weapons could just be a common bonus since it's been a while anyway.

good points, but i would like to hear from someone who already has these weapons. For example, would someone who already has these weapons care if the general GW public had the option of buying them, knowing it would ruin any exclusiveness that these weapons still had. Simply put, i need to hear both sides of the story; not just from the people (including myself) that do not have them.

I have the pre-nightfall, 5 year edition and million upgrade edition ones, and I would not care if anyone else had them.

On top of that, some where available only in certain regions, so most people never had the chance to get them at all.

All should be available to all. Even the ones give with limited offers, just paying an extra price for being late or outside the area where the offer is given.

i too would throw money for new shiney bits
signed

If they made the items available by micro-transaction then the items wouldn't be exclusive anymore, now would they.
The soul reason why the only reason they are/were available with pre-release orders and/or game of the year editions is because ANET used it as a way to reward players who got the game first. If you pre-ordered factions, nightfall and eotn then that means you were a very dedicated player, thus they rewarded you. As for the items for the prophecies, the different conditions (pre-order, game of the year, region, etc.) were to reward players who met those requirements.

The items have no tactical advantage at all, meaning there is no reason to end their "exclusiveness".

I really never cared for exclusivity, and wouldn't care if they made another GoTY-esq pack that included the pre-order items from all GW games.

It was never mentioned that pre-release packs were meant to be "exclusive". As a matter of fact, weapons in these packs do not carry any "exclusivity" at all, and never did.

Getting a free pack you'd otherwise had to pay money for is enough of a bonus for a pre-release, so /signed.

The bonus weapons can be reskinned (Via Tolkano using Zaishen coins) allowing access to PvP exclusive skins in PvE... they still have some prestige left in them. (Unless Anet fixed that 'feature').

Edit:

By the pre-release packs, do you refer to the pre-order bonus weapons?

If so... http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Preorder they certainly do use the word exclusive a bit to describe the bonus weapons... just like they did on the back of the pre-order boxes...

You should check out the bargain bins/aisle at Target/Walmart, I picked up 4 of the EoTN pre release bonus packs for 1$ each at Target about a year after EoTN was released.

I don't see any harm in this and if people actually are stupid enough to buy it, that's just another 5$ that can be spent on useful updates.