GW:Beyond, more options to send Anet money

Hello Liveteam,

Through this suggestion i am hoping to inspire you guys to come up with more options to buy stuff from the IGS that 'works' with the release of new content. The reason for this is that i currently have all but one costume pack, and only so much time to wear a costume... Still i would love to support GW1 content releases and keep them free of charge by buying related 'flavour' items other than costumes.


To give some sort of head start, for example:
- Weapon pack;
Would consist of 10 green themed weapons customized to the character, these could well be the same greens as those added as drops, the drops can be traded the bought ones can't. But they might also be designed to be different then the drops, @ddition: or even an old weapon pack, for the WoC content the 'afflicted weapon set' would have been nice to sell in the IGS, given they are customized when received so they can't be traded ingame. A suggestion in the thread was to hand them out without mods, and thus not readily usable for heroes (like greens)


- Un-dedicatable/tradable Miniature;
Although i am somewhat against buying 1/5th a point of the HOM, adding a themed miniature to the store wouldn't be such a big deal (to me atleast), it's only 1/5th a point and there have been other promotional mini's in the past that people had to buy something for to get it. Ofcourse only one miniature per account @ddition for the WoC content a mini Afflicted would have been nice, a suggestion was to make them undedicatable.


- A nontradable everlasting Tonic;
Everlasting tonics do not count for any title and making them customized means nobody can trade them. It could make a great item to sell along with the GW:B content, for the WoC an Afflicted Tonic would make sense.

!! The above 3 items would make a 'pack' that i would probably buy for the average IGS item prices. !!


- LVL20 Beyond-Character slot;
* This idea was debunked as it gave to big an advantage over non buyers..



- Possible other ingame items without a real benefit? (which is hard since most items do offer a benefit :P ) @dd found one in the form of a tonic, added above


- @dd Some people mentioned plushies to be sold in the IGS, i doubt people would want to buy an Afflicted Plushy, but Yakkington would mostlikely be a great hit...


- It may also be interesting to contact the GW2 shop developers and have a look through the outcome of the online survey. It may well be interesting to offer a themed T-shirt or Posters. And it may sound weird, but i would even be interested in buying an empty GuildWars:Beyond 'box' to add to my bookshelve. And quite possibly a GuildWars Container box, which is big enough to hold all the other game boxes.


This way people that want to, can buy GuildWars:Beyond related items other then costumes ... Interested to find out what other GW players think of this, and if they have any other ideas ?!

Id only change three things, mini does not have to count for HoM, Gold upgradable weapon skins not set mod green items, and lvl 20 character slot is kinda pointless, you would be creating a completely different class of pve characters that... doesn't need to obtain skills, level, or do attribute quests, or any content at all, but to have all that you would already have had to done all these things to on the profession you want already... why would people buy this if you have to do all those things that the product provides to use the product... This would only serve a purpose to those who seek to farm the crap out of beyond content... which would increase supply of rewards to the point where it drops the value of those rewards until there is no reward incentive to do the content.. .and will make the product obsolete.

Edit: and instead of a empty box... fill it with collectors edition like content... Artwork... Lore book... maybe a cd-key for a new dance, sheem ,ect ect

Problem is two of those three are most likely considered "gameplay advantages" (weapons and lvl 20 characters) which would go against the philosophy of Anet.

The miniature may also count, given how miniatures get dedicated in the HoM for GW2 credit. One more miniature to buy means one less miniature that you need to obtain in the game. It could end up giving you even more points too if the mini was gold or green.

I like how ArenaNet has always stood for NOT selling anything more than cosmetic items in their cash shop. Having a level 20 character purchased with money is WAY more than a cosmetic purchase. If you like these kinds of advantages sold in your game you should try LOTRO. Heck, they sell incremental stat packs. You can buy your advantage in that game!
It is also the one thing about that game that I would change.

/notsigned for reasons already stated.

GW has always been "cosmetic items only" in the store. These suggestions would give advantages to people who pay, over those who don't.

Only thing in this thread I would be interested in getting

So, i wont go into the whole discussion on why i think these rewards are hardly game rewards ... but what i don't get is why people focus on possible examples and not the actual point I want to stress, i bought several costumes to a point where i'm not sure i want more, but i would be interested in buying something different ... are you ?

How in the hell can someone suggest that they release more content at a price?

If I wanted to pay to play, I would play WoW.

The OP suggests that which I would assume most people would find outrageous.

ANET had better be careful here. What they do with WoC could directly impact their sales and success of GW2. If they fail to roll out a fine assortment of content with GW's last gasp, they will be setting a precedent for what GW2 may offer.

I will not purchase GW2 if WoC continues so nefariously introducing lame content that revolves around giving them more money.

6 years and they only introduce 2 new modules and an expansion. They expend more effort in introducing NCSoft in-game store content.

Arghore....it is people like you that proliferate these software companies into binding people into feeling obligated to send them $10 at a time for shit that should be free. Especially for long time players that own all 4 episodes. If people weren't so damn stupid to give them $10 for extra storage, then they would likely give it for free because they know that people that play regularly, people that bought all their releases, WILL NEED MORE SPACE!

I know they need to pay the bills.....but do that by relying on the vast expanse of nerds that enjoy mini-pets and costumes. You know, goofs that enjoy standing in town feelings supreme because they spent money to look like a clown with a miniature dragon pacing all about their feet.

To summarize:

I will not play GW2 if WoC doesn't impress. After years of silence concerning new content, they roll out lame offers (FOR CASH) for people that to stand in town with fancy costumes on.

People want NEW weapons, armor and other applicable items to enhance their gaming experience. We don't want stupid ass Canthan costumes that do nothing but make you look like an ass that blows money on pixelated grandeur.

I'm playing Diablo 3 when it hits. I can already tell GW2 won't interest me. NCSoft can kiss my ass with their legacy of disappointing and frivolous offers.

Well in contrast to ruksak's rather negative post, I for one have no problem forking out extra cash to ANet. Its not because I feel obligated to, I want to keep supporting them because I think they are making a good quality game.

I will admit that the past couple of years, things have been rather lacking as far as updates go and when that happened I started playing other games, but I understood that since they aren't charging a monthly fee that things won't be as speedy as other games. I always came back and checked to see if anything new was out or on the way.

I for one appreciate all the hard work that ANet does and am looking forward to GW2.

As for the OP, the only thing that interests me are weapons and armor. I would like to see some completely different weapons and armor come out and not just reskinned and rearranged stuff.

/notsigned unto infinity. GW1 is one of the few modern games left that doesn't completely extort its player base. You may as well suggest Anet should be bought out by EA Games.

I stopped supporting the IGS two or three accounts ago when linking them really gave no benefit. Everything in the store I can get in little playtime, more than three of any hero didn't seem to help on one account so I don't see how it could on any other. I don't want in game benefit via real money.

/notsigned

/not signed.

I think the OP needs to take a hard look at the game and open his eyes. Enough said.

In response to the cosmetic only argument, there are already weapons to be bought in the shop:

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Game_of_the_Year_Upgrade

Considering how easy it is to acquire a max weapon in this game, therefore making it very hard to have a 'gameplay advantage', people might as well drop that argument where the weapons are concerned.

I would be okay with guildwars if they said we are now going to charge $20 each year to keep the server up. As long as that price is low and its only once a year. It should help the company a lot more than just costume packs. The reason why i would pay this is because i love guildwars and i would love to keep playing it.

When i read most of the responses i hardly get the idea that anyone actually read and understood what i meant? Especially some comments on 'we don't want to pay for content' or game advantages. So to quote the OP:

Aka, i wouldn't mind paying for something so the rest of the world doesn't have to.

Now obviously my $10,- isn't going to pay for a 5 person life team working 40h+ a week to make new FREE content for a 6y/o game, so if there be more people buying things (and thus CHOOSE TO PAY) we can expect more content to come in the future. I like this kind of Micro Transactions, because it gives those that want to the option to buy stuff to support the game as it is, with out getting a benefit others can't enjoy aswell.


@Ruksak, since you raged the most and seemed to have understood the least. By no means am i asking to buy more content, i love the business model Anet uses and i think it is about the only fair business model there is; aka. you buy the product and you can use it forever there after. But by no means is Anet obligated to make MORE content for free, content takes time and people to make (and thus money), but loo and behold, they DO make this content free, if you don't want to pay, you don't have to! Which i personally find great, it means that those people without cash to spend on subscriptions or on these content packs, can just play it, if they bought the game in the past !!

But here it comes, I do see that this content can only be made if somehow they also earn some of the spend money back (that money they spend on the lifeteam to make the content), and for this they introduced the fully optional non beneficial costumes, meaning those 'nerds' you mention actually pay for you to be able to play this content for free, and 'this nerd' would like some other options besides costumes. Options that are like costumes because they give no real benefit over people that do not want to pay or don't have the money to pay for it.

Seeing these are questions which seem to come from my inability to explain it, i'll try and shed some more light on it.

I thought it might be nice if i could make a new Canthan character to do the WoC content, but, i would have to do all the Canthan content just to get this character upto the desired point, and i already did this content on other characters. Thus i thought, what if there was a character slot that would let me start a new character at lvl20, given i already have a lvl20 character of the profession (thus i already played this profession to lvl20 and gathered skills etc), and given i already played the content that opens up the Beyond content (aka. played through prophecies or factions (or nightfall which might come some day in the future)). That would warrent that i have no real advantage over others, other then the choice to run a different profession for the Beyond content, in an expansion i already played and a profession i already leveled. It would be a sort of Clone/Replace character...


The other thing you brought up took a bit more time to sink in, and i now see a flaw with this idea, people could indeed keep making lvl20 characters to keep playing the beyond content; now people can already do this, given they have more characters available for the beyond content, but these took actual time/work to get to this level/point in the game. Thus people could be buying a benefit far to great over those that don't buy it, i do not want this asmuch as other people in this thread (even if they make it seem like i do :P ) ... The only way to combat this would be to let the character SLOT only receive the rewards for the beyond content once... but that would still mean they would buy one extra set of beyond rewards ...

SO humbugs, you are right, smart idea at first but the outcome is not so good as i thought it be ...

I think I understood you well enough. You want there to be even more options available to players only if they are willing to be nickle and dimed.

I'll put it like this.....if Anet released another fine chapter of the GW saga, I would be more than willing to head over to my local Best Buy and hand them $50 for it.

When I see players seemingly begging to be nickle and dimed over options and upgrades, I feel very disappointed. When I bought Prophecies in 2005, I do not remember reading anything on the box stipulating that upgrades will be made available only for a nominal fee. Storage upgrades have always pissed me off as there simply isn't enough room for a regular player to manage his inventory. I remember when the storage was one pane, kudos to Anet for expanding that, but I feel they should have given more space to long term players.

If Anet provided individuals with an option to pay a small annual fee to participate in online play, given they have provided tangible and substantial new content, I would find this option far more appealing than the idea of being nickle and dimed.

I'm talkin new weapons, armor....maybe a few new dungeons here and there. Yes, I would pay an annual fee for that.

I do apologize if you thought I was directing my anger at you, Arghore. I didn't mean it that way. I was hoping WoC would dump a great deal of content into our laps to keep us intrested. This may still happen, but I was a little dissappointed by the first gasp of WoC.

No worries, i wasn't under that impression, i do like that you took the time to reformulate what it is that you dislike so much, it puts the post more into perspective ... You don't like to be nickle and dimed while i like that idea, given there is something that i'dd like (like the Post Collectors Idea i just put up) ... i am mainly doubting to get the costumes (again) and wish there was something else to choose from, hence the suggestion...


About WoC, i only did the clearing so far (not entirely done) after which i intend to tackle the other missions. I do think you should somewhat put the content into perspective by: realising it is actually free, it is made by a small team, and that there is still 2 more parts to come. Sofar i like it though, the whole new PuG incentive makes me quite happy to log back in and play a few evenings

Im actually with Aghore on that I like the things you get in the igs so far, and I think it is cool that they are not "have to buy" items. You can play happily through everything without really missing anything, without having to pay extra.

I understand Ruksak wants more, bigger content, like new campaigns, but I think we all know why we havn't gotten any of the like since eotn (gw2) and everyone I talked with so far is a little disapointed with the woc quests so far, but at least I try to be optimistic for the upcoming parts of it being a little better. They were not that terribad imo, but not great either.

Although I think I can see the point Aghore comes with... and that flavour items thats purely cosmetic besides costumes would be kinda nice... Im just not sure about it.
And weather added or not I wouldn't buy weapons I think... a mini... maybe... but I dunno.

What I do love in this suggestion is not the ingame stuff though... the idea of t-shirts and posters... and a box, not an empty one though, but a box with a few different things in, a little bit of art and lore or something... would love that

A plush Yakkington big enough to use as a pillow? Oh yes, you will have my credit card details...

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Guild wars is a great game but no game is worth paying money over time in order to play. If anet did this, they would certainly lose my business when GW2 comes around, and I am extremely excited for GW2.

I'd like to get plushies of all the miniatures.

it really is a shame they don't release more bonus pack type material on the store. it doesn't offer an advantage and paying for it is exactly the same as buying an expansion/standalone game etc. on a smaller scale. it seems they use these cookie cutter releases like WiK and WoC(while still cool that they release stuff) just is kinda the same ole same ole. At least the BMP had some flair for storytelling. If they really wanted to bridge the 250 year time frame between GW1 and GW2 they would let us play as characters 150 years forward and have it tell a story. I would pay for that.

Content beats out costumes in my book any day. What do I know though? I bought the BMP when it was limited release and the costumes just aren't my cup of tea. I think I am not the demographic they are going for. I have always been into earning my gear rather than paying for it. It feels more substantial to me.

I honestly can't gain an understanding as to why they abandoned any endeavor to create new chapters for GW1 while GW2 is in such a long long development phase?

The game format is still viable and comparable to any game on the market now. Seems like they cut themselves out of an awful lot of profit by dropping it after EotN.

@ruksak-I will not purchase GW2 if WoC continues so nefariously introducing lame content that revolves around giving them more money.

How in the hell is ANet doing this? Costumes? Costumes give no advantage if that's what you're talking about. Players buy what is appealing to them, while ANet tries to find ways that do this. You're raging on about how costumes and "lame content" ( Shame on you if you don't like it) are giving ANet money. For God sake, you sound like you're raging about ANet actually trying to make money. With the things they've done for us such as making GW Free 2 Play and giving us all this content for free, I believe you owe them some damn respect. If you don't like it, get out, and go play WoW. Enjoy D3...

You accuse me of "rage" and set forth upon an angst ridden rant chocked full 'o' rage. Smooth....

Firstly...."Making GW free". I wouldn't have purchased the game if it wasn't free (to play online) to begin with.

Second.....Costumes. If you and others wish to play dress-up dolls, Toys 'R' Us has a sale on Barbie dolls this week, I suggest you take full advantage of this sale and fill your dolly dress up needs via this sale.

My only desire would be new playable content. Not the regurgitated WoC shit I had barfed upon my keyboard most recently. I mean a store release of a new chapter.

I'm not angry at Anet for not having sought to develop salable content. Disappointed, not angry. I have $$$money$$$ but they won't be getting it. Because they have nothing for sale that interests me.

Relating back to the OP, i agree with what Arghore's initial intent was; a different variety of 'flavour' items outside of costumes. The same concept, just something that wasn't a costume.

There are a few simple ways to make other items to be simply flashy.

For example, they COULD have cheap minipets. They would have to be designed so that
A) They can not be dedicated to the hall of monuments
B) They can not be traded to other players

This way, it's purely for your enjoyment. You can't sell it to other players for big money, and you can't get the additional benefits of paying for your Hall of Monuments. No in-game advantage, just 'flashy' items. Literally, the only 'advantage' buying a minipet from the store provides is the one extra ally that affects Leadership when you use chants/shouts... which you can get with any other miniature, summon, asura summon skill, pet, or NPC.

The same concept could essentially be applied to weapons and such, however I personally do not think weapons should be sold. Ofcourse we all know skin plays no role in how good a weapon is, and thus provides no additional benefit. I'm just personally cheap and would not want to purchase said weapons, but it is an alternative. The weapons could of course:

A) Not be dedicated to the Hall of Monuments
B) Not be traded to other players
C) Be Inscribable and come with no mods

What makes C) something I think important is that, unlike the GotY, these couldn't be recreated infinitly for your heros. You'd still have to work just as hard to mod your weapons as everyone else, you just get one additional flashy skin. GotY is technically worse for this because 20% enchanting, +Energy, etc. weapons can just be created on the fly.


If you look at costumes, this is essentially what they are:

A) Non-tradeable
B) Infinitly Creatable
C) Provide No Additional Advantage
D) Appearence-Changing
E) Can not be added to HoM
F) Unnecessary to play the game

So really, anything that follows this rough model is fine. Weapons can follow this model. Minipets can follow this model. More costumes can follow this model. Tonics can follow this model. These are pretty much the items I can see being unnecessary but still being worth the (appropriate) money for.

Now, in relations to new content. Of course everyone would buy new content. That makes sense.

However, by the time GW:Beyond is completed {this means WiK, HotN, WoC, whatever they do in Elona, and ALL the other little things related to it such as the secret new Halloween/Mad King content} you've practically gotten a free campaign. All you're missing really is a new continent, however because of the concept of Guild Wars: Beyond it makes perfect sense to have these events occuring in places we've already been too.
You are still getting:
New weapons {Oppressors, Imperial, technical Purity but we won't count those, and whatever they do with Nightfall assuming they do another weapon set}
New Missions (Now, when I say missions I do mean the primary quests. If you look at WiK, each one of those quests was essentially a mission. They were mission length, mission quality, and more mission storied than your usual quest. The same applies to HotN on a much lesser scale, and we can't say anything for WoC yet because it is only 1/3 released. Now, I havent finished WoC:P1 yet, but after the cleansing quests I do believe there are more mission-style quests? I could be mistaken though)
New secondary quests (things like bounties, these cleansing quests for WoC in both HM and NM)
New characters (Salma [im not actually sure if she is new or not...], the new Ministers of Purity/Initiates/Imperial Guard, Miku, etc.)
New items (WiK came in the ways of Miniatures, Green weapons {blahblah i know they're weapons}, War Supplies, Royal Gifts and everything new inside of those. Give WoC a chance to introduce these items as well)
New Hero[es] (We got Keiran. I don't know if WoC is to have more heroes, but its not impossible unless ANet has stated otherwise)
New Storylines (pretty self explainatory, however this takes a considerable amount of time to create, process, and perfect)
New Enemies (whats a game without new enemies? They're more challanging than your standard guild wars foes, many in WiK had new skins, WoC has the potential for making more foes with new skins once the afflicted are done with)

For the price of what ever you pay your internet service provider, because Arenanet is providing this for free. They should be able to provide a few unnecessary, unadvantageous items for purchase to those who are willing to pay while they are providing as much free content that they are.

TL;DR: /Signed with what the OP was trying to state in the first few lines.

Edit: ruksak, Costumes are usually cheaper when you buy the full set than barbie dolls would be when you consider taxes, gas, and the barbies themselves

lol...So glad to see someone with a sense of humor. Of course I'm not really attempting to be mean, just goofin around with y'all. Whatever peels your banana....

as I collect plushies...ANY plush gw related mini type would be in my cart quicker than I can type in my cc number!!
/signed for this!!!

....
/not signed for the OP...sorry

This whole thread makes me sad

I like the costumes ....the idea of having something fun for RP ...since some people really do enjoy that aspect is cool by me

and I take offense to the Barbie comment... *hrmph* :P

I think patience is to be had....if people can still wait for Duke Nukem..you can wait on GW 2

Yes, WoC thus far has been somewhat disappointing...but c'est la vie.

You've got to be kidding me. Did god send you from heaven just to prove my point? This has got to be one of the top ten most hilarious coincidences of my lifetime. Take me now Satan....I am ready to die.

/notfreakinsigned

Got to agree with ruksak here.

Weird, because if i read between the lines i think ruksak agrees with me to some extend he just realy doesn't like microtransactions (aka being nickle and dimed), but he would mostlikely pay for things given they are worth buying to him ...

@cosyfiep, nowhere did I say the items had to be solely ingame items, mainly that they would have to be related to the content being released (but even there i wouldn't considder myself a hardliner). So, if you were to suggest that Anet should release a plushy then that would be fine with me added them to the OP

@MalibuBarbie, don't be sad nowhere did i say costumes have to go away, the costumes are fine the way they are, but i already have multiple costumes, and no real need for more of them. Hence i was looking for more options to buy in the IGS related to GW:B content released; f/e a undedicatable mini Afflicted Ritualist, and say the Afflicted weapon set (the old set) customized and either upgradable or not. It would be items that give no benefit but are content theme related; so 'just' another option to send anet money next to the costumes, as a 'reward' for the free content; stimulating them to make more


I added some of the idea's in the OP ...

*Seeing various people had valuable opinions about this idea i would like to invite you to read over this idea: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/p...t10487262.html and give your opinions

I'm fine with the ideas you've expressed but mostly impartial to the whole matter. I was just interjecting what I would think to be obvious...that is myself and many others (most of whom have long since moved on entirely) have money we would have been spending over the last three years, handing it over to Anet, if they had salable content available in stores.

It seems curious that they didn't divide their forces or accrue additional help to both develop GW's successor (GW2) as well as release a few new expansions/chapters to the existing game.