Six character slots confirmed

sorry to quote such a long post, but my sentiments exactly.

Someone doesn't get the point.........

Laserlight is spot on. ng ng ng ng ng ng
Looks like you've spent countless hours. probably more than 1000. I'd say you got your moneys worth. You can stop complaining now.

Why not delete one of your PvE chars? Especially since you have UAS? I did, I deleted my Mesmer after I beat and unlocked all skills with her. I was sad at the time, but I'm not devistated for it?

Anet is doing what it has to do. If they give you 4 new slots now, when Chapter 3 comes out, people will whine for 4 more. Thats up to 12 for 10 professions.

No, apparently you don't get the point. We only want 1 slot per primary, not 4 with each new chapter.

Wouldn't you rather of kept that Mesmer? That is the point. End of story.

Okay. For those who don't get it.

Asking for four now, 'just to fix the problem', will set a precedent. That precedent is four slots per chapter. Now, whether you want one slot for each profession, one slot for each profession plus one or two PvP, one slot for each permutation or enough slots to be a one-man 10-Guild, 100-member-per-Guild Alliance is beside the point. Give people four slots now, and the precedent will be set. Once set, and broken, this sort of thing has the potential to seriously hurt Anet.

People buying slots would shatter beyond repair what was intended to be a bit of ecomonic balance in the game. Ever play Diablo? Gold, in Diablo, is for buying potions and scrolls. Stones of Jordan, which are proportionately much more expensive than Globs of Ectoplasm, are the standard currency. So-and-so's offer is worth 5 Stones of Jordan, and therefore such-and-such's offer must also be worth five Stones of Jordan A rough rate of exchange between Stones and Ectos would be...about ten Ecto a Stone, I think.

Now. Who here wants to pay fifty Ectos for what many these days consider basic equipment?

Yes, collector's gear is an option, and thank God armor is independant of the player ecomony (unlike Diablo), so one can at least be at basic efficiency without having to hoard ludicrous amounts of wealth (which, by the way, takes a long time and thus destroys one of Anet's primary selling points for the game - that being NO NECESSARY GRINDING).

Well, except for weapon upgrades, of course. Personally, I don't want to be handing out 200k for a basic upgrade just because the uber l33tz0rz players can.I like being able to construct a weapon to my exact specifications as opposed to just grabbing whatever green is available for cheap since it maximizes my combat effectiveness, but if things get any more out of control than they already are, this will become impossible without hundreds of hours of grinding.

Economic arguments aside...I posed this question before, other people posed this question before, often repeatedly, and it was never answered. So, once again...:

Why Are Character Slots The Only Criteria By Which This Game Is Judged Worth Playing (!?!?!?!?!?!?!)

As has been stated before, this is equivalent to saying 'give me two hundred hours of playtime for fifty dollars and I want no part of it at all/whatsoever/period. But give me an extra hundred hours of essentially the same gameplay and I'm a loyal customer for life.'

W34R !s teH L0g!c???

'Not selling what I want to buy' isn't an answer either. Obviously they are selling what you want to buy or you wouldn't be saying four slots now would make a Factions purchase. What you are stating is that you want ArenaNet to sell slots, not content, since Factions is a truckload of content that you, pretty obviously, have no interest in whatsoever. And if you only care about characters and not content...why the hell are you playing this game again?

As for people who say the contented gamers are just blinded by Lucif-erm, Anet's marketing stratagies...maybe we are, maybe we aren't. Does it matter? Whatever this Oblivion thing that everyone keeps refering to is, it's not Guild Wars. I like Guild Wars. Unlike what appears to be the vast majority of forum posters here, I do not wish to stop playing Guild Wars. It has nothing to do with Anet's marketing; I made the decision to purchase Factions long before slots became such a hot-button issue. If deceitful marketing is showing me glimpses of the whole new world waiting for me, and the many new ways to beat other peoples' faces in, well then, know what I say?

Happy to be deceived, Anet!

6 slots, 8 slots, I'm not really all that worried, though of course, I would hardly mind more. But this quote I'm not sure I understand.
Whether you spend $50 for 4 slots connected to your main account, or $50 for 4 slots not connected to your main account with its multi-character storage to boot, does it really matter in that respect? The people that buy the accounts to have a large amount of mules to store items on aren't limited in any way by the current system.
Edit: Typo.
What I mean to say is, I'm not sure how this demonized market horder is at all penalized by the current system. AFAIK, they could easily just use 2 computers, or 1 with an edited client, add their second account to their guild, trade the items and a little money over, unlock the storage, and start storing using PvP characters, couldn't they? ...

Oblivion is a real RPG.

Sorry, I had a whole 1000 word post or so, but again guru got jacked and my post vanished into the ether. Allow me to boil it down.

Laserlight, your argument a few posts up is completely ridiculous.

Yes, I am sure at least half the people complaining about the number of slots are planning on spending a few hundred dollars to hoard as much worthless garbage as they possibly can, in the hopes of crashing the oh-so-delicate GW economy.

It's so simple. The number of slots should equal the number of primary professions. IMO, there should also be 1 slot for PVP only, but hey, I'm a greedy SOB, that's why I want to pay more of my really real money for a virtual experience.

Crying doomsday at the mere mention of purchasable slots in a wall of text just makes me laugh. I mean, really, were you serious when you wrote that? Were you sober at the time?

Here's a liferaft for your doomsday scenario - no account can ever have more slots than there are primary professions (+1 PvP slot, I am a greedy little money spender aren't I?)

No, it is not beside the point, and again you are getting ludicrous in your statements. "If" they give 2 more slots and then post a statement that everyone will be able to have 1 slot per primary class from then on, that would be the end of it - for most anyway. Of course that would mean they would have to give all future stand alones 8 slots instead of 4 to start with since they will have 6 core classes + 2 new ones, but that is still fair enough to me.

Comparing GW to Diablo ... that is an insult to GW and it's creators to say the least. They would never allow such a thing to happen, besides the fact that nobody in their right mind, no matter how much gold they have hoarded, would pay 200k for anything - specially since it isn't needed - the game is based on skill/s, in game skills, and the skill of the player using them.

We love GW, which is why we want a couple more slots so we can play it more from a different perspective. 2 slots might be enough, I won't have to delete any chars to make the 2 new ones. I am going to buy Factions, and any other chapters they put out for that matter. We are just sharing our opinions on why there should be a few more slots. Your arguments against just invite flaming and you are trying to make this more of an issue than it is.

Or not? Just because I've played GW since late beta/release means that I'm not permitted to express my opinion on this latest announcement? Because I've "got my moneys worth?" Please. Take your trolling somewhere else if you were even remotely serious with that.

I have actually, twice (a warrior and a ranger). I now have an max ele, a new max ranger, a max monk and a PvP slot. I'm getting a little tired of deleting, to be honest. Still, I don't really see what that has to do with the topic at hand though.

I doubt that. What would be the point of having more character slots than there are classes? The problem is that the original GW only came with 4 slots - so this slot problem has been an issue since the original release. If GW came with 6 slots and factions came with 2, I can assure you that I wouldn't be saying anything at all right now.

But like I've already explained 10 times now, I've been placed in a lose lose situation because of this upcoming limitation to existing accounts, and you'll have to forgive me when I say that I'm not entirely happy about it.

LaserLight, your last few posts are a huge pile of misinformation, hyperbole and logical fallacies, and you're avoiding every sensible thing said so far (by people like FrogDevourer) that goes against your position. Your points have all been addressed before you posted them. I'll humor you though and pick the trainwreck apart for a bit.

Having less slots results in more grinding, actually. Suppose I delete a level 20, fully skilled character to be able to create a different primary today. Then suppose that a few months from now I want to play the primary I just deleted again? I'll be looking at many many hours to get it back up to where it was when I deleted it. I've in fact done that a few times already, and I'm not going to put up with it anymore. Also, as has been pointed out several times now, hoarders can already buy more accounts just for muling purposes anyway. They don't care about having their slots on a single account. Gimping "players" to ineffectually deter "hoarders" doesn't fly.

You'll never get an answer to that question because it presupposes a falsehood. Character slots aren't the only criterium by which the game is judged worthy of playing. Someone deciding one aspect of the game isn't what he wants doesn't imply that that's the only aspect he cares about. You're apparently unable to make logic jumps like most of us can.

Character slots aren't equivalent to play time. They add more options. Surely that's obvious?

My exact thought after reading your post, except I'd write it as: "Where is the logic?" because I feel that resorting to ridiculousness doesn't serve my position.

Content without options doesn't attract me. And please don't presume to have any clue as to other people's interests. It's painfully obvious that you don't.

Pfff,

some people seem to have never heard of green weapons which are pretty damn easy to find. Or the ability to trade 1 green for another...

So I don't understand the doomsday statings of 50 slot accounts... who would care what they did... it isn't different from 50 slots on different accounts for the farmers who want to ruin your beloved economy... although I'm sure if that would ever happen we might see some more of those specialized traders like rare upgrades trader. Green traders, etc.

Although even if it would happen that farmers dominated the game, in pve it really doesn't matter that much if you get only an upgrade of 10% or an upgrade of 15% or one of 20% because you have the greens to help you cope, you have the ability to unlock upgrades for your pvp chars, and to be honest pve can be finished without specialized or upgraded equipment... So really in pve you don't have to have everything now... you can make do with the items you find. Fissure isn't really something that you need... its all nice and dandy but on the needability factor it ranks low.

All I want is the ability to play the game with all primaries, maybe 1 pvp slot and maybe for in hte future 1 more so i can always experience the fun of the new presear areas in the future chapters. Playing as a warrior in cantha might be different from playing a warrior in presear. But this would be low on my needability list. I will never buy 2 copies of it since it would offer me more characters that I would ever plan to use, nor does it offer enough pve content in comparison to a real mmorpg to be worth this monthly fee alike scheme like wow or lineage or... heck I would even dare to compare it with the fun nwn, oblivion, gothic 3 and point out that even these games can be played and enjoyed online or extended for free by using online options either mods, online play or other options.

The only reason why ANET got away with the lack of characterslots previously and why a lot of people kept playing GW for x hours is because of lack of any real contenders in the 'cheap' RPG part. But with oblivion, gothic and nwn all coming up in the near couple months this advantage and competetive edge will not contineue. Which will make them lose customers. It might not be 50% as some people stated, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were 20 - 30% although I'm pulling those numbers out of my ass. It is all about balancing pros to cons to see if your content with what was offered.

It isn't the only critiera.

1 million people bought the game and it is quite obvious from the number of players you see in game today that around 800 thousand of them already judged the game not worth playing. People are looking to Factions to fix a range of serious problems with the game. Insufficent character slots is just one obvious and (since the re-working of the login screens) easily fixed problem.

The character slot announcement is the first indication that Factions won't be fixing those problems and will ultimately be as dissapointing as the first chapter.

Mmm, logical fallacies in the form of straw man, circular reasoning, and ... whatever making totally irrelevant or misleading comments is o_O.

Edit: At this point, I suggest ignoring posts that continue in that vein. Some of them get to the point of being downright insulting, by insinuating people feel a certain way when they've been expressing something distinctly different.
It's obvious that it's not going to get anywhere =\
*cough* LaserLight*cough*

/agree Gli

Thom you're just another troll who happens to be a frustrated MBA I imagine.
Where you try to come up with some theories (and all they are) you blow it by not understanding Gli's simple message, as many of you do.

And we don't really care the reasons behind it in the end.
That model doesn't work for us. We'd even pay more.

But we won't enjoy that model AT ALL, enough to really wring the fun out of it, of how we want to play it. Doesn't matter to us that a whole bunch of you are happy as pigs in ANet you-know-what. It doesn't work for many of us. So we're whiners, silly, retarded, lame, stupid, etc etc. Lol ok.

We have a different point of view and the model FOR THIS GAME doesn't work FOR OUR CONTINUED ENJOYMENT. So we've failed to penetrate your thick heads, you'll have to be content that we retain ours LMAO.

here's the thing. it's understandable (natural) to think the players should get 1 slot per primary. But, when we first bought and played the game, we already knew (some ppl say they didnt know) that we were going to be 2 slots short anyways of getting that request from the start. But we still forged on.

It is not easy for Anet to just give us anything we ask for, it would be too easy to think that way, or all other gaming industry in the past/present would have done it to fully satisfy all the gamers. As much as everyone would like that, everyone has to make compromises. They are an industry, They have worked it out themselves, If some feel it's fully at their advantage, why shouldnt it be, it's their game. (At least they allow for feedback and work on those feedback, they could just totaly ignore us, but they dont)

If the situation was ever totally uncalled for or clearly unfair to the masses, I too, would be huffing and puffing in the forums. But their current criterias for the game are still better than others out in the market.

it's a game and it's a business.

/IMO.

That still leaves two classes we are unable to play without deleting current characters - if we want to play cross games. So, "boo".
Not a rant though, I'm happy with two, but still think we should have one slot per primary character class and they should all be able to move about as we want to play. Why? Cause that's why I bought the game.

Now the question I have not seen: Does this mean, we can purchase two copies of Factions and link them to one account for an additional four slots giving us a total of 8 (4+2+2) slots (like we should have from most point of views)?

some have asked about that. 2 factions on 1 gw. I dont think it's possible. If that were ever to happen, they would just implement the purchase 1 slot per $ amount, it would be alot simpler to do that.

Suggestion:

It seems like a lot of players wouldnt mind the purchase 1 slot per $ amount, and I never read anywhere, where Anet totally rejected the idea of that.(unless Ive missed it) Why not start a "Petition for Purchasing per slot" or something to that effect, no harm in that. I think it relates to the idea of those P2P games where they sell those monthly cards, where they generate some profit. It would be somewhat similar, players can purchase packaged deals on slot cards, that contain 2 or 4 slots per card, at lower price for 2 and higher price for 4. (but again, that might need a revamped system or servers for Anet to hold. /meh)
etc....just an idea.

added: I guess this would be too complicated, as it would eliminate the need for them to provide us w/ # of slots in each chapter and it would only leave the content and since it's made into a "standalone", this concept wouldnt work for it...

/laff.

/agree Lasher Dragon
Yeah believe it or not get ready for a lot of that from Laser and others if you have the stomach for it here

/agree Tekish, very similiar situation, I'm 10 away from UAS, almost 1k hours logged. And no I dont begrudge ANet a thing regarding GW, yes lord knows I got my moneys worth, even buying a second copy @full price for my wife that languished a bit. BUT even there I hit the character slot wall on my account and won't keep on the chapter treadmill continually short as it's now obviously ANets model to do so.

FrogDevourer you may be right on some people will still buy but this sat out here a long time, and a lot of us posted to try to get ahead of this problem (and go figure, were inundated with 'dude my marketing mojo tells me this, and well since I have enough to play how I like you simply must be nuts' type of posts). Like Gli I have no desire for juggling multiple accounts, put way too much time into this one, and won't be forced into decisions I dont want to be about my characters due to IMO a very bad model choice.

I'm not rage-quitting at all, I've just been very disappointed up to this point with the lack of information, and finally their decision. There's no question I got my $ worth in GW:P. But there's also no path left for me to continue to enjoy it - I'm to the point in GW:P with no room and have been for quite awhile. I didn't even know there'd be a possibility we'd be so hampered until CGW and since then that's been the biggest deal for many.

I'm not going to get into the particulars, it's very similiar to everyone else up against the wall, and wished for a reasonable resolution rather than this. I would have much rather sunk into the expansion particulars - I did for quite awhile. Then as this dragged it was pretty clear why it was dragging... I really stopped caring as much - to the point now hey, it's 20+hr/wk back.

I'm sure I'll get a few 'hey don't let the door hit-cha on the way out' from the peanut gallery. Hey have your fun. UAS has a hit, this will too - about 50% don't like it. Maybe that's not direct dollars but that's surely a questionable move then, no? Even if a lot of people here can't get it.

So not rage-quiting, asking infinite number of slots, asking 4 slots every expansion, even necessarily asking to get the same # of linked slots those that aren't linking get! Just a way to play with our guild, our family, our friends, and PvP the way we want, without now having to juggle 2 accounts per person through all the chapters/goofiness that'd bring. You need more money because its costing you such $ issues as many of these MBA wannabees suggest? Let us add on a little then. Won't let us? Won't work.

I don't have the time to unlock another whole account line, and quite frankly even if I could I don't think it'd be that fun. Nor worth x2 all costs for me and upgrading my wife's account through it too. You making guilds bigger?

Just seems there wasn't a lot of thought put into it while a lot of us posted trying to help things go in the right direction. To whine? No! Oddly enough to try and make a change so we can continue to enjoy the game we've come to really enjoy in GW:P. It didn't work. C 'est la vie. In the end its just another game, I played MMORPGs and CRPGs before it - I just hadn't planned to leave it so soon. In the end, No Big Deal.

I've played games since Pong. I've played worse, I've played better . I'll go look for something better again. For you MBA wannabees there's also something called competition. There are products out there now and coming down the pipe that don't share this model. Or will be copying it and might well do it better. A lot of companies learned from EQ/Verant and forcing a 'vision' down peoples throats. Or a model. Go figure.

I'm sure the expansion will do fine regardless, and you'll probably get as many or more new people in the door as go out it. Maybe they want a UAS GW:P...

Cheers
CKaz

No, but I can imagine a scenario where I have to make a choice in a videogame between have the option for 6 more powerful characters vs 8 less powerful characters. But maybe I'm crazy.

not more powerfull, just a bit more flexible. 25 skills per character. And for me it doesn't warrant the extra cost. Especially since we will pay as well for some redundant content which for new buyers is included in the stand alone package.

Deep breaths, everyone. I know everyone here genuinely cares about the issue, or else we wouldn't argue so passionately.

OK, is the argument about cost or not?

Some are arguing they would pay more for more slots. I don't buy into the theory that such a thing would destroy GW. BUT, there must be some rational explanation for why Anet is not giving 4 slots for combining Factions. At the very least, I tend to believe the idea that by including 4 slots now would make it very hard for Anet not to include 4 slots in future expansions.

The fact is, the longer the game is out, the more slots we will get. We may never have enough slots to play every primary, but as the expansions speed up (2 a year!), I see this as less and less a issue.

If each expansion includes two new classes (I'm not sure that's a trend that can continue indefinately), eventually there's bound to be a class that you won't want to play.

But such arguments do little to help the here and now.

Some people want to play (and keep) one character of each profession. That is a desire I can understand. They also want these characters all to have the same abilities (ie, linked accounts). I can understand this as well.

But, for whatever reason, Anet isn't going to let you do that.

So then the question becomes, are you willing to spend $50 for a couple of new chracters AND new content for your old characters?

It's really simple, either it's worth it to you or not. I'm not trying to insult people who say it's not worth it, that's their choice, and not my business.

BUT, I have to say: Don't say you'd spend $100 for 4 more slots, but won't spend $50 for 2 more slots. That just doesn't make sense.

Just say, in your opinion, $50 is too much for a 2 slot expansion.

/Keeping it real

The part that I don't get is this; call me for missing a point or something:

Factions is a standalone game. This to me means it's got totally new content that should be played with the character classes through and through. Meaning, like GW, I played through 4 times now with the slots I have available. Each time it was enjoyable (more so with some characters). The same should be able to be done with Factions... but with two slots, I can only do that twice. I find it odd to cut short the playability of the game for the players.

Note: I find PvP boring so I don't even do that, but it seems cut even shorter for those that PvP and PvE.

As for the reasons of hording and account sharing; nothing Anet does will ever really stop that. People will buy extra "mule" keys and mule the junk over - people will share accounts (though that would drive me nuts as there just isn't enough room for me now). It would, to me, make more since to just allow more slots to allow more game play.

Two is good, for about two weeks then I'll be done and wanting more.

Um, you have 4 old character that can travel to Cantha and enjoy the new content.

And, yes, I realize you won't be able to bring them to the "training" part, and the low level content will probably be boring for 20th lev chars, but there IS new content for your 20th level characters.

And if you get bored with them, you can always delete them and make new ones. (I know, shocking concept to some).

and let's try not to "dump" on the content and make it an added reason why ppl are not going to buy factions. (it's a full game content, we havent tried it yet)

Slots: its these darn Slots.....

LOL. I for one am happy to see 2 slots instead of just one. Most complainers would complain anyway about everything. I probably would complain if I dont see a katana that can be purchased or obtained in Factions. LOL.

Anyway, I got one account and i sure as hell am linking it. Wishing ANET would make a shop to err... fix character appearances. I kinda like to see my female necro with differing hair styles every month or so. LOL

what do you mean (collectors edition), does the factions collectors get another slot? or is that the old collectors?

RUMOR

thanks for that, hope its true though

You said it: "boring with them" - that's what I mean. Yea I can take my 4 level 20's with full sets of 15k (each) to the new areas and maybe find a new weapon to use. So really, I'll be playing the same character through the new high level stuff. As I said, that will be fun for a short time.
Point is gaining new stuff (from low level onward is part of the fun). I'm not one to jump or get run from place to place to grab Droks for example. I enjoy growing the character as I go. With Factions I will be able to do this twice, and that's it. This means I will never really be able to play with or have reason to use almost all the Factions content (armor and weapons). And while that is true now with GW, it is more so painful with Factions? Why?
Simple, currently there is 1/3 of the classes I can not play so there is 1/3 of the armor/gear/quests I can not do unless I delete someone (not going to do that, I like my characters). Add more content and that 1/3 grows. So I am purchasing content and not able to play it. All this due to lack of character slots.
I've never been able to play a Necro or Monk and adding two slots means I still can't, unless I don't want to play one of the new ones.

However, I find it genious (though I don't quite understand it from a relations point) that Anet is able to hang a carrot in front of us so well.

Solution: Give us 8 slots max. No matter how many expansions or add ons come out; 8 max.

No, really. I've never complained about anything before. I'm not that kind of person.

I'll let you in on a little secret: blanket statements like that make you look less smart than I assume you're aiming for. You might want to avoid that.

I'm happy with a 2 slot increase - since like many players I will be keeping one slot for PvP it amounts to a 66% increase in my number of PvE slots.

Granted, I'd be thrilled if instead of a PvP slot I had a little "Play PvP" button, and it had a list of my saved templates as well as the standard ones. I could use the PvP slot for PvE then, or live with one fewer slot, but the idea of using a potential PvE slot is irritating. Since the storage of PvP toons is essentially no info (I mean, you don't need to worry about quest logs, experience (really, why bother), map areas exposed, what towns you have access to, unlocks for skills for the toon (it's just your PvP unlocks) and so on I don't see why a move to a little menu of saved types isn't doable.

But for those viewing it as a 50% increase, if you have a PvP slot it's a 66% increase - we get to go from having 3 PvE toons to 5, which will be more than enough for me I suspect. Best of all, if they continue offering 2 slots per expansion we'll easily get a nice number of slots to work with - I won't have time to bring 12 toons through an expansion anyway, so it'll be pointless. 3 was easy. 5 will be about right I suspect. You're more hardcore? Well, in a few expansions you could conceivably have a whole pile of PvE toons. While I'd like to have one of each priamary (for the skills gained while playing them and the experience of going through the game with them - thank goodness for my second account) I can't see actually doing so forever - I mean, 8 primaries is quite a few, moving up to 10 primaries would be absurd to try to advance them all through every chapter. No, this is actually much better than I expected, and probably suits a majority of the audience pretty well. Sure, I have 6 PvE toons right now, but I don't really need 10 (5 per account) with only 8 primaries :P

Not actually... an account can have an infinite # of slots and will still only let one person log in at a time. I really can't find a good reason why they don't price discriminate and allow demanding customers the ability to just buy more slots. If they're worried about a storage advantage, then put a cap on an account that only allows it to have 3 additionally purchases slots. This will give 2 more to offset the origional 4 of 6, and will provide the ability to BUY a slot for pvp.

Let's get a few things straight.

Is more storage room equal to insanely rich farmers? A black or ecto is roughly worth 5k. A single storage slot can be used to stack 250 items. That's 1250 platinum per storage slot, 25 millions in your Xunlai stash alone, and almost 2 billions on a mule account. If you want to hold cash, you don't need more slots (100k per slots is ridiculous for a millionaire), you want more accounts. Even Chinese farmers wouldn't use multiple accounts if they were not mandatory to bypass anti-bot engines. Even worse, let's assume I'm a stupid farmer, and that I've hoarded entire inventories of non stackable items without selling them. I'll just buy a brand new account and create 4 mules on them. If farming and piling up items is my hobby, slots really are not a big problem. No, rich players don't need more slots to hold their wealth.

If ANet gives 4 slots for GW:F, will it be a tacit law for future chapters? In brief, who said character slots should be linked with chapters? ANet has said multiple times that only new content will have to be paid. New features have always been advertised as free (new NPCs, new UI...). The number of slots is a feature and it doesn't have to be intricately linked to the business model. On the contrary, to have a clear and healthy marketting policy (no hidden costs, yadda, yadda), slots should be dealt with separately. And if slots have to be sold for economic reasons (don't forget that a lot of GW copies are used by bot users and Chinese farmers), then what is the point of hiding this fact behind ridiculous marketting mathematics (6 = more fun than 4+4)?

Just let us merge clean accounts with our main accounts. Farmers and hardcore players will still buy the same amount of copies, and it might give veterans an incentive to buy more stuff from ANet instead of ebay. Players should be encouraged to buy GW:F to access its content (new skills, new professions, new quests...), and the problem of character slots should be decorrelated. You can use X slots where X is linked with the number of profession you can play, not the number of chapters you've bought.

What should be the slot limit? How many slots should we have (either with future chapters, account merging, or buyable slots)? The concensus is one for each PvE primary plus one PvP. My own request would be 6 normal slots plus a few 'trial slots'.

These trial slots would be usable either as PvP slots with a tiny amount of storage, or as special PvE characters you can reroll like PvP ones. The PvE trial characters would have access to all the stuff and places you've unlocked in PvE, but they would be drastically limited: minimal storage, and unable to gain XP or loot. They would be great to have the same options as in PvP, and the drastic limitation would shut down the most vehement arguments against them.

They would be perfect to try out a new build with different equipment, a skillbar based on skills you have unlocked on different PvE/PvP characters. In short, it would provide an ability to experiment with a very different playstyles (trapping, minions, nuking...) without being forced to grind for each lvl, each skill, and each equipment piece.

I'll say it again, veterans have more money than they can spend (barring frivolous ascetic items), a lot stuff unlocked. Grinding for points, or farming for their 'slot machine addiction' does not require more character slots. If someone wants more slots, it's for flexiblity and diversity. The only thing that could make their GW experience more thrilling would be more options and more diversity.

Will the problem disappear with future expansions (when we have 8/10 slots)?Yes and no. Long-standing players will certainly find a few professions they don't want to play and the problem will be less annoying for them. However new players who buy only the latest chapter will be stuck with 4 slots and 10+ different professions. Instead of experimenting and choosing their favourite playstyle, they'll rush to the most popular.

Would I still complain about something else if I were given more slots? Of course. As mentioned before, I'm able to unlock everything I need, and I can buy the fully ascended character slots I need from used accounts (I know, it's baaad). I'm not whining because I want to obtain something, or even to argue with those who don't want to understand my motivations. That would be selfish, stupid and pointless. As per usual, I know ANet is browsing these forums and listening to sensible arguments. I'm trying to provide relevant feedback for a richer gaming environment. You can LOLz if you're happy with only 1 PvE character, but it is not exactly constructive. If 2 slots is enough for you, there is no need to argue on a topic you don't understand. Post your opinion, and move on to the next thread.

While I previously stated that I'm happy with 6 slots (again, currently we have access to 2/3 of primary professions - with a linked Factions account, we get 3/4, which I think some individuals who claim the addition of 2 slots is somehow taking away from what they already have, need to understand is a gain, not a loss), I can perfectly understand that others might disagree and want 8. They might even have some valid points - this is about opinion, not "right" and "wrong".

The reality is, ANet is giving us 6 character slots with a linked account. What I have trouble understanding is the response. "D'oh, I wanted 8. But, oh well, I really like this game so I'll just suck it up and keep playing," is rational enough. "I'm very disappointed that I'm not getting 8 slots, so I'm going to take my business elsewhere," is equally rational, I think admirable, and undoubtedly a factor that ANet considered when it was making its decision. "ANet is kicking sand in your eyes and fooling all you sheep! Your corporate overlord is shackling you and forcing you into playing within unfair limitations!" Now, wait a minute. Rhetoric like "deception", "crippling old accounts", "shackles" and "force" are a teensy bit extreme to be applying to this debate and not reflective of what is actually going on here.

I'm going to use as an example a real-life situation that happened to me when I was (*groan*) working for McDonald's in my high school days. As you know from going into any McDonald's "restaurant", the menu is displayed in full view above the front counter for everyone to see what that store offers for sale to its customers. One day, a woman came in and ordered her meal, but she wanted onion rings instead of fries - something we didn't sell. I informed her that I couldn't give her onion rings, but if she went to the A&W across the street, she could get some there. Her response was that she was willing to pay extra to get onion rings here. That's all well and good, but it simply wasn't on the menu - and therefore, wasn't going to happen. In this instance, I don't think I was "shackling" or "forcing" the customer by any means. Nor is ANet doing the same to its customers: it clearly states what's on the menu, and if the customer doesn't like what they see, there's another business across the street. That's the reality of the market.

I do hope you people remember that, unless they have changed their minds on the
*all characters accessing chapters past Prophecies campaign MUST have accended*
thing they were harping on about,
THERE IS NO POINT IN LINKING ACCOUNTS IF YOU DONT HAVE AcCENDED CHARATERS.
*ahem*...*cough*

so..if, like me and admitidly, a handfull of others who already have no Chap1 accendants, you have no accendeds, theres no point in linking chapters one and two

so, realy, offering to link accounts is mute. unless you have 100% accended characters, how are you going to travel between cantha and tyria?
the 100% fun equation is flawwed.

add to that the fact that there is ether the requirement of taking EACH of your chapter2 char to chap one and getting THEM accended...
*re press release ect in saying that ALL characters that wish to travel to FUTURE chaper expantions MUST have bee thru the accention process*

or something similar to accention in the Cantha regeion that your Chap2 players must acomplish....

linking only makes sence for whammo Wa/Mo players...and folks with large e-gold wallets or huge guilds to help them

(yes, i realise they they said you would be able to travel backwards from cnatha via the sea port, and from tyria via LA area port, but they also said that ONLY accended characters would be able to travel FROM the chap1 are to the Chap2 parts.)
[as to extra character slots...well, loosing 2 to gain 6 multi-chapter would be a little dissapointing, when faced with the alternative of simply questing to gain access to the prophecies areas from one account, since you are installing Chap2 on a Chap1 machine, it should KNOW you have access to said content....
however, if they chose to alow access to chap2 via linked accounts and removeing the need for those accounts to be accended, i would link in a heartbeat.]

{and, to the 'pay $$$ for 1 character slot' we have said that for all the time the game has been running....so thats probably mute too...*they would have done it by now....maybe more if we didnt go and buy more copies to get storeage chas ect...maybe we did it to ourselves, by showing them we will by extras...*sigh*}
*discalemr, personal oppinion*

The problem is much more complex than that. You don't want to play through each chapter with each and every character, you want to save old characters you like and explore new options with new characters. So you *will* use all your slots even if you don't play each combination through each chapter. And you'll be stuck with one PvP slot, and even more rerolls because you'll have 10+ professions to choose from and not just 6. In short, linking the problem of character slots and playstyle diversity with chapters is missing an important point.

The problem is not the two additional slots for GW:F, it's the static 4 slots of the first chapter you buy . Few slots force you into repetitive PvE playstyle if you want to keep a precious character you have played for hundreds of hours. It's also the continual rerolls each time you change your PvP role.

No i wasnt aiming to be smart. Smart has a lot of meanings. I was simply trying to say that complainers complain about a lot of things because the solutions the GW people found simply did not suit these people.

I wholely understand the marketing idea behind it all. God knows EVERY single online game out there is paid for every month. People like them seem to think everyone has the same kind of cash they god.

I for one do not. I like the solution as it bridges a lot of issues. Solves many of them really. Why did they give 2 slots instead of 4 for it? The answers the GW people gave was logical and livable.

Duh! If we keep getting 4 character slots all the time... what happens when they put out chapter 3 or even chapter 4?

Honestly, I am happy with the solution and complaining about it and saying you gonna go and jump ship leaves me with the same feeling when people just leave the party cuz he got -15dp.

I am playing Guild Wars because it is interesting to see a game that doesn't really make a character FARM endlessly to attain godhood. IN GW THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GODHOOD.

So there. Complainers keep complaining because they feel like they did not get what they wanted. Big deal. Life is full of enough disappointments and problems and other sucky things as it is.

Aghhh, that's actually WORSE! If each new expansion has new Professions, you'd constantly be deleting old characters to try out new profs!

I'd much rather get 2 slots and expansion then have a cap of 8!

Wait, no that's not true. A person buying a future chapter will only have access to the Core classes, plus any released with that Chapter.

People who only buy Chapter 3 are not going to have access to Cantha or the Assassin or Ritualist. (if I'm wrong about this, then Anet needs to reconsider their business model, 'cause people won't spend $100 for 2 chapters when they could get the same content in just one!)

There's another (unpopular) way to look at this. Just like Guild Wars forces you to make choices in what skills you take, Runes you equip, etc., they also force you to choose what Character you will play. There could actually be a design behind the "insanity" of limiting slots: Some classes (ie, "support" classes) will be rare in PvE. Not everyone has a Necromancer, for example. I chose to make a Me/E knowing that it was a much less popular choice in PvE, because I wanted too. I also have a W/Mo, so I understand the draw to "popular" classes. But I really had to make a hard choice for my next permanent character: Ranger or Necromancer primary (I had played and deleted both earlier). In the end, I ended up just using the slot for a Mule, and concentrated on playing my other characters (and a little PvP, too, with my empty slot!)

Now, if there were more slots, I would have a bunch of characters I probably wouldn't use. Anet "forced" me to play characters I really enjoy playing, and I deleted all the rest.

Now, if you enjoy playing all classes equally, well, then I can sympathize. But maybe, just maybe, you're in the minority.

I'm not really sure how that is relevent. You simply didn't have onion rings. Asking McDonald's for Onion Rings would be like asking to play an Elven Bard in Guild Wars. Can't be done.

actually. when linked all new profession(core+faction) characs made can either start (be born) in Tyria or Cantha presear. The thing you are mentioning is only for existing characters in ch.1, which means linking will give you full access to ch.2 stuff, whichever way you look at it.