What you didn't know about ArenaNet

I found this article on gamespot... It sounds to insane to be true. I sure hope it's not but this guy claims to be an ex worker at ArenaNet.
Why would anyone write this if it werent true? I just hope it's some troll: http://arenanet.50megs.com/


Whoever it is, it sounds almost like the person just tries to "bash" GW rather than come up with facts. I don't know. It would be great if gailie could dismiss this with 100% gaurentee.



EDIT:

This is where I found the link. On Gamespots PC forum. A poster with 1 one post named "anetstaff1" posted the original link: http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums...ic_id=24439490


Im just posting this to bring it to you guys attention. Even if this is true, then I don't think ex ArenaNet people are allowed to say stuff like this about the game?

Don't believe everything you read.

What he says seems understandable and true, odd enough.. Hmm.. odd..

I hope it's not true, that would be pathetic. And the max level 20 is really sad too.. it's way to easy to get to level 20.

I think anet has more respect for its players to do such a thing, we'll see I guess..

oh noes!!111!!1 gaile is teh meanest!1! fear an3t propaganda!

That was a funny read.

Interesting find. Very negative thinking in my opinion though. Of course everyone ahs to open there eyes and realize that this is a possibility, but ive been with GW before it came out and i do not think the ANet to be as this man says. Hell all we know he might just have a personal grudge or something along those lines...

Sure it is possible, but what is the probability. If they did add monthly fees, over half the people would leave.


Also, it is on a FREE web server (50megs.com).

The guy has no understanding of why there is a lvl 20 cap that is quickly reached. In a nut shells it's due to the % of the map that can be dedicated to high level content, which therefore has replay value. Anyways, I'm not willing to listen to his other comments based on this first biased paragragh with he thinks "obviously" shows the level cap as inferior.

Funny how he says they are masters of propaganda, and yet this sounds exactly like propaganda itself

I call BS on it. ANET has made an awesome game, and I (coming from a mmorpg background) am not all too dissappointed with the pve or pvp aspect.

Sure they don't have a supported roleplay server like WoW does, but being free, they offer quite a bit. If they do start a monthly charge, many will quit, and I don't believe anet will make a bad move like that.

That sounds like a disgruntled person (former employee?). News Flash: Marketing deptartments' jobs are about twisting the truth to get people to buy their products. duh.

It would be nuts for guildwars to charge a monthly fee. The game content is not enough to warrant it. think about it. If you charge a monthly fee, don't you want to have a lot more things to do (so they continue to pay the fee). That's part of the appeal of WoW and why people are paying to play. There is just so much to do.

My take on its is.....

Some guys stupid attempt to make Anet look bad after he recieved a Preman-ban.

Pretty sad if you believe this crap.

/eyeroll

It's not true. They won't introduce a monthly fee.

I sure hope so mate


Also... It's not really possible for them to do this even if they wanted to right? Yeah they have rights in their ToA, but they can't physicaly introduce a monthly fee after saying it would be free... not even if it was an expansion only, right?

this guy is hopefully just a sad wow fan.

Oh no! Mean mister businessman is trying to make money by selling something! And shame on them for creating something that's not your run-of the-mill fantasy-type game!

It's sour-grapes, from where I'm sitting. I've read over and over that A-net has stated that they have no intention of ever instituting a monthly fee, opting to garner earnings from releases of subsequent chapters instead. After these repeated statements by A-Net, how long do you think it would take them to lose 80 - 90% of their current customer base?

Yes, I'm sure anonymous weblogger is the epitomy of credibility.

There were some people not happy with some things during testing. The game didn't please hardcore MMORPGers. This guy is upset that Anet went a different direction. Some people were and there was much drama about this type of thing.

It is hard to be unethical and trick people when the FAQ is completely honest about these things and preview events were forthcoming about the type of play that was to be expected. If a hardcore MMORPGer took a small bit of time they would realize that it wasn't their game.

His evidence for Anet considering pay-to-play system is a poll that says 90% of the community would leave if that happens. Brilliant. If A-net begins charging fees, you'll have another company coming along to fill this niche who will have learned from Arenanet's mistakes.

The whole affair here is kind of sad. It is like complaining about the beatles being too pop...

thanks. i needed a good laugh

one of gailes minions!!!!!!!! kill him!!!!!!!!!!

It's one of those "OMG Gaile Grey is teh devil!" Alpha tester whackjobs. They post here every so often and make similar claims as that article.

Plus most of his ranting about the level 20 cap borders on nonsensical.

Take it with a Grain of Salt.

That article didn't tell me ANYTHING.

All it listed was "The Business Strategy of ArenaNet", and in terms of business strategizing, I am quite well aware of what Anet had done and why they done it.

People got to make money to eat you know.

Anet said "We won't force you to buy new chapters" (something like that), but they also clearly said "We will make something that people would want to buy". Which is basically "force" in its beautified. These are all just business strategy used in modern day sales.

If Anet's job is to beautify the neutral truth, then this is just to dirtify the neutral truth. The neutral truth is, "Gaming Industry is a Job".

This article have made little or no impact, I just want to play the game. As long as I am happy, they get my dollars.

EDIT: Btw, ALL the Asian country got P2P. (Taiwan just got their No Monthly Version 3/14/06, about a month after initial release. I guess P2P wasn't so hot.)

I think the main point missed in that "link" is that the GW EULA does not bind you into slapping a credit card # on your account. So, would it really be a smart move for Anet to impose a fee? Nobody is forced to pay that fee. And they want profit. The logical and less conspiracy-ridden reasoning leads into that the free play is what draws most players to play, and if they were to reneg on that, then their sales would take a hit.

I wouldn't mind a monthly fee at all. It would kick a lot of trash in the game to the curbside.

1) The "level 20" issue is retarded in that it's still even being addressed. If it were really -that- big of an issue, Anet would've just raised cap to 60 and adjusted the xp to balance that out.

Big fuggin' woop.

It's simply a balancing issues.

Skills are set to X difficulty, that difficulty is set to ranks, ranks require this many points, and you get this many points in Y levels.

It works.

In any case, every level treadmill is "meaningless."

2) " ArenaNet introduced instant level 20 characters only after most preorders were placed last year."

Don't see what the big deal is.

3) ArenaNet silenced players in private Alpha testing who protested the change.

Don't see what the big deal is either. Companies don't like people openly discussing changes made in alphas and betas for certain reasons--like people are stupid and say things like HOMG THIS GAME SUCKS even though the game's still in alpha or beta.

When I beta'd DDO, there was the same issue.

Damn, did that game suck.

4) The Competitive Online Role-Playing Game (CRPG) that isn’t a MMORPG, or is it?

It's a CRPG. He cites advertisements as some kind of argument.

“Online roleplaying with no monthly fees. <-- Amazing. Somehow, this means Anet is saying Guild Wars is a MMO.

“The revolution is coming.” <-- This, too, somehow implies MMO. As opposed to say, maybe, online games don't need online fees anymore. We're showing you how it's done.

5) The (player vs environment) PvE content in Guild Wars was really developed as an adventure game with tacked on (Role Playing Game) RPG elements.

I didn't think this was a mystery. Anyone familiar with writing probably realize how awful the PvE content is from a literary standpoint.

It's crap.

And it's no mystery it's crap.

But I still enjoyed it.

6) ArenaNet’s End User License Agreement (EULA) gives them the freedom to implement a monthly fee for their product if the ever desire to in the future.

No idea. Never actually read the EULA. And the critic doesn't bother citing the specific passage.

His whole argument seems based more on imagination than anything else though.

--

In whole?

Load o' crap.

- EDIT -

Asians pay-to-play?

Is it true that they have monthly fees for guild wars in asia?

I thought that was just a myth?

I cant see it :\ cant anyone post waht it said?

It is true.

Korea, Japan, Taiwan are all P2P initially. Only Taiwan that I am aware of that they just released the "no monthly fee version". I am unaware if Korea is going to change or not (can't read korean), while Japan don't seem to be having it (I am not completely fluent in Japanese).

I am under the impression that NCsoft wanted the P2P for Asia, as they allow Anet to test whatever they want in the west, while they wish to stay safe in Asia first. OR, this is a well planned out strategy, if one side of business plan would fail, the other side will still be making money; this way, you can simply test which plan is better, and make a more effective change for the weaker one.

So.. Korea and Japan P2P for the same game that Americans, Europeans, and (now) Taiwainese play for free?

hmm...I didn't know Asia was Pay to play!

That is right, except they didn't need to pay $50 for their game. Taiwan still can do P2P if they want, it is up to the customer.

Well, stating the Koreans "pay to play" isn't quite accurate. Technically, since you paid 50 bucks for GW, you're paying to play as well.

Koreans are big on Internet Cafes with gamers playing online games (Lineage, GW, etc). Internet Cafes are everywhere. The Cafes buy the games, then charge customers hourly rates to play.

The only part I am not quite sure about is how they handle the gamer accounts for GW. We buy a license key and assign it to a email address, I'm not sure if it's any different in Korea, but the players themselves play in the cafes which I believe handles the licensing. The accounts probably all belong to the cafes, the customers simply pay their hourly fees to the cafe and use the existing accounts on the PCs. I'm probably wrong, but it's probably something close.

While I don't know the specifics, I do know that it's different there, but follows a different cash flow model than a typical MMORPG monthly subscription fee.

Shrug.

OMG mates.

Thats so unfair. Why should the korean mates pay when we shouldnt? thats not fair at all.

Im not korean, but that's simply not fair. just because you live in another country I don't think you should get gimped or cheated like this.


I hope this "pay style" won't reach europe.


Why would Anet try to make it more equal among all? how many more players would they be able to get down in asia if they allowed it to be free?

and what are they going to do about singapore, china and thailand? It's simply... wow.
I thought I knew everything about the game but of course it makes sense. I always wondered why there were not so many koreans playing GW compared to lineage and wow. I would be very sad if it was my country that had to pay while others could stay free.

so Gaily Grey is white mantle?


i hope not
i cant afford paying a upkeep fee on the
game every year

But GW ain't a MMORPG... Right mate?


I mean... do they also pay 2 play starcraft and diablo?

That's not the case about the Pc Cafes, because most cafes don't buy 50 versions of a game, but will buy a few copies and simply install the game on all the PCs.

I've never considered Guild Wars a mmorpg because it isn't. It's a fun game and I enjoy playing it but I don't put it in the same category as FFXI, EQII, etc..

And every EULA, or TOS pretty much gives the company that made the game ultimate power. Hell, if Anet wanted too they could ban every player forever I mean we agree to their terms and agree to any changes made to those terms, but no company would do that because it would result in the death of their game and a loss of money.

Everything about Guild Wars in that article is pretty much true, it's really not an rpg, and it's PvE is quite shallow. But it's still fun to play, which is why I do play. Not because I like what category it's in.

Hell if you actually do that math, 2 accounts and 2 version of factions (what you would need to play all character classes) actually costs more than most P2P games. I mean FFXI is 12.95 a month I can play ever job and at this point I've actually spent 13 bucks less on it than I have on Guild Wars, in the same amount of time.

Straight from the jack-ass' mouth:

"Guild Wars doesn’t have a monthly fee, and likely never will, but the fact that the game’s EULA allows ArenaNet to legally charge this fee peeks at ArenaNet’s true intentions."

So which is it? Likely will or won't? He's confused or just making ish up.. i think the latter.


"Why would they include such a clause in the EULA if they already promised Guild Wars would always be free to play? Perhaps this could allow them to maximize profits by charging a fee with a future expansion if the game became very popular?"

This is not a secret. Anet has always stated that future chapters (expansions) would be the driving source of income for keeping the game free.


Anet broke the mold of what is expected from a usual MMORPG and the usual fees that accompany the status quo... this guy is trying his hardest to read between the lines with no other intention but to stir up some sort of conspiracy theory. It's rather pathetic. Heck, NWN was free to play and is as traditional of a RPG as you can get.. dice rolling the whole nine ala D&D style. No monthly fees is probably GW's biggest selling point but this guy does not address at all why Anet would commit suicide by changing that.

All marketing involves pitches, slogans, call to actions.. etc..it's called selling. Mentos is not really "the freshmaker" despite the advertisements. This guy seems more annoyed that it isn't a typical MMORPG despite being advertised as one.

They do that already.

Every company I've known that has an online game revises its EULA/TOS. And if you don't agree to the new terms then you can't play. Blizzard revised its TOS not too long ago for WoW, and if you didn't agree then it kicked you back to the login screen.

Which means that if you don't agree then your account is temporarily suspended or BANNED until you do agree.

HOWEVER, if enough "customers" create enough noise about issues with the EULA/TOS then it will change to favor the customers' best interest.

But it is over time that you actually save money

I have been playing this since its release, and WoW, for about the same amount of time. I guarantee WoW put a much bigger dent in my income than GW

Which do I enjoy more? Well, they each have their pluses, and this isnt the thread to discuss it in. I will only say that I don't think I was wise to spend so much cash ona game (WoW's montly fees)

The premise of the whole thing appears to be based around:

a) the PvE content was tacked on to capture the MMORPG market. If you've played Guild Wars PvE, you know this already.

b) Arenanet's advertising was misleading. While perhaps questionable ethically, if you think this is anything abnormal you need to go to your local video game store and read the text on the back of the boxes.

c) They might charge a monthly fee later. Well, sure. They also might just shut down the servers later, too. Does anybody really think it's going to be the first immortal game ever? It's going to end eventually, one way or another. I'm not exactly going to cry about it. It's a game. When it's done, you remember the fun you had and move on to a new one.

Quite the funny article. Other than this guy sounding a lot like a disgruntled MMORPGer, he seems to have little grasp of marketing. Trying to appeal to a broader audience? Advertising their product as a great new thing? God forbid ArenaNet actually tried to make some kind of profit.

Gaile doesnt care about the gw community.... hehehehe

Thats why she puts up with the massive mobs in LA int asking her billions of questions.

Come on d00d....

GG with your SLANDEROUS LIES

Oh yeah mate, do you remember not long ago about that homosexual scandal?

A lesbian guild recruiter was banned because her guild was open to all kinds of sexuality. It created a hugh fuss and there was allot of talk in the ToA if it was reasonable to ban players based on sexual preference when for example it was okay to make christian or muslim guild or guilds for certain nationalities only.
I think it ended with that Blizzard officialy apologised.

Could be wrong though