How Many of you will be picking up the expansion.

What exactly will we be paying for? Another half-arsed 'story' ending and more items to grind for?

They've critical hit me in the wallet for the expansion - /me takes $50 damage

I will be buying the expansions, I have yet to grind and I find that skill acquisition has been a breeze (i have all but 2/3 of the elites for my monk/me, and I will be getting the elites from areas I never visited - e.g. no grind, just new exploration)

The thing I like is that while I plan on buying the expansions, it isn't necesary. It will be my choice. Personally I want to see what the next big step or story is going to be.

I've spent my money.. almost $100 with the different pre-orders and the CE. The first expansion/"chapter" isn't due out until Q1/2006. If it costs another $40 or $50 then all is well.. By then I expect that even with the extra I've spent compared to someone that bought the basic game and no pre-orders, I'll probably be somwhere at about $.03/hr by the time I spend another penny on GW. At the moment I'd say I'm at about $.30/hr as it is in less than a month.. (gotta love being on break after college..)

ANd between now and the next chapter, how many updates like this upcoming 2 area one will we be seeing for absolutely nothing? I don't know, but I wouldn't be surpirsed if it all totalled up to what normally equates to a typical expansion in other games. Not bad for nothing.

This game is one hell of a value compared to any of the other multiplayer games online. In the others given 9 months between the release and the planned 1st expansion, were I playing a game that only requires $10/month (I don't know all the prices since I refuse to pay to play a game I already paid for) I'd have spent $50 for the game and after the 30 free access would have spent another 80 just to play, before I spent another $30 on an expansion plus a continuing $10/month..

Even if they came out with a new chapter every 6 months like clockwork, it would be cheaper than those other games.

On a side note, if expansions cost $50 and come out every what? six months give or take, that is basically $8.33 a month, just paid in a chunk. That's on par with the lower-end priced per month games that I know of. From what I hear Lineage 2 is cost per month and free expansions, tho thats just what somebody told me.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see how often the expansions actually come out and how big they are compared to other game's expansions.

Areanet says you won't need expansions to compete in PvP
- not further play PvE

Future expansions
http://www.guildwars.com/faq/default.html#release


Lineage 2 expansion is not free, Chaotic Chronicles is 20.00


many MMOs charge 12.00 per month

In response to the original question: I will not be picking up the expansion at release. At the very least i will wait to hear reports of any massive changes to gameplay, but unless a.net addresses the various issues discussed in numerous threads on this forum and others I'll just be giving it a pass completely.

Laz

50 bucks no. 20 or 30 bucks, depending on amount of content, yes.

However, I can understand why PvP players probably won't, since it's not supposed to make any difference in PvP if you have the expansion(s) or not.
And because of the need to keep PvP "balanced", they won't increase levelcap etc, meaning you'll stay level 20 forever and fight level 20-30 monsters forever, which WILL turn off a lot of the PvE players.
Not necessarily myself, I'm having a great time, but I can see how this can become an issue.

Also, they need to get the expansion out pretty soon, preferably before Xmas. I can't see myself playing Guild Wars for 6 months, and once I stop I'm not sure I'd come back.

Some things I would like to see in the expansion is an actual expansion of the gameplay. FAR BETTER ways to pick up groups to do missions with (perhaps a window that shows which people are looking for groups, who they already have in them, what level etc, and what they are looking for?) rather than having it spammed in the chat window over and over again.
Same for sales, right now towns are just SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM. And nobody ever reads it.
You can see one guy shouting that he needs a monk in his group, and the next line is a monk shouting that they are looking for a group. And they'll repeat this 20 times, one after the other...

Perhaps if no increase in the levelcap, we'll get an increase of skills? From 8 to 10 or so? This isn't necessarily i nthe expansion, since it needs to stay balanced, but I do wish I could bring more skills. I feel way too specialised for certain things, rather than being able to tackle multiple scenarios.

Just tools to make our lives easier

Also, in the end, roleplayers like to gain XP. This has been a staple of RP'ing ever since its inception. Taking it away is going to annoy a lot of people..

Creston

I cant say till i know whats in it

If the game remains in its current state then, no, I don't think I will buy any expansions. My experience with just this chapter has been arduous enough that the prospects of going through it all again with the next one fill me with nothing but apathy rather than enthusiasm.

It's been a month and perhaps it's familiarity breeding contempt but I really am starting to question exactly what it was I saw in this game in the first place. There are significant, structural problems with the way things work and they are apparently met with dismissal or disregard. And, no, I'm not just talking about the interminable "PvP=grind" but the things like an economy spiraling out of control and the awfully repetative, uninspired, and overly long mission design. PvE that relies on tricks and traps like Spectral Agony and cranking up monster levels to provide a challenge rather than presenting intelligent and inventive tactical situations to press my abilities. The tons and tons of useless junk cluttering up my inventory because I don't have hours a day to stand around town trading even if I didn't have the money to buy anything I needed anyway. The game feels sloppy and rushed to make release and it's become increasingly clear that I'm not one of the people it's been geared towards.

What's kept me going, beyond my sense of duty and obligation to this site and the fine people that have helped to make it what it is, has been the promise of being able to customize and experiment along with everyone else as the strategy and meta-game advanced but it just hasn't crystalized and, if anything, things have regressed. I'm not sure when it hit me, perhaps it was on my third or forth infusion run. Or one of the many times waiting in the lobby as people had some variant on this conversation: "Okay, I really like to play Warrior." "Do you have a Superior Absorbtion, because I do." "No, I don't. But I do have Superior Death, I'll make a Necro but I don't really have the skills for it." "Well, I've got the skills for a Necro build, why don't you play the ele then?" Or when the only reason I'd log in would be to check on something before I made an update or a post around here. Or perhaps it was last night when I finally found a group to play some Tombs with and we spent several hours not playing Tombs but hunting down elite skills and running people to outposts so that we could put a build together. Whatever it was, I wasn't having fun. I wasn't even preparing to have fun, I was just going through the motions. But I've come to realize that I can't stand the game and if I was asked to purchase it again today, I wouldn't. And this is from someone who's well connected and has numerous resources at their command to make the experience easier and better. I can only shudder to think what that person who just walked into the store, saw the box on the shelf, and decided to give the game a try is going through.

Or course, that's the beauty of a game with no monthly fee. Now that I've paid for it, I can pick it up or put it down whenever I want. I can still play whenever I want, whenever I can forget my ever-increasing disillusionment. Although, of course, if I ever stop I'll be even further behind in capturing skills and unlocking content than I am now. Perhaps things will improve, perhaps not, I really can't be bothered to care at this point. I've bought the game and I've got my access key so I can play whenever I want and we've been assured that expansions are going to be optional so while I might set the game aside for now I can always come back to it later on. I'm really not sure that's going to be the case and that being without expansions is going t hamstring me and prevent me from getting the most out of the game the same way not having three hours to track down a boss with a skill has kept me from playing with some groups already. But more and more I look upon my purchase of the game as a mistake and one I compound daily so I'm not very likely to make it again.

Not only that, but more profitable, too. What can you lose in the Tombs? The time to crawl back to the hall? What can you lose in GvG? Ladder position.

But what can you gain in GvG? Uh, well, ladder position on a ladder a lot of people playing don't know or care about. And, apparently, a chance to play against the developers at next year's E3. That's about it. What can you gain in Tombs? Fame points which can earn you skill points and bragging rights. Rare drops which you can use or perhaps unlock with. Sigils which you can sell for money to buy runes and weapons. And free advertising thanks to your name being broadcast around the whole game whenever you win.

Tombs is where it's at right now. The ladder is inconsequential and will be for a long time to come. There's no incentive to play and people are still too busy collecting what they need to put together things to take it all seriously. When, that is, they can find a game. Which, of course, is a problem because the Tombs while a lot of fun and probably my favorite place to play is horribly distorting to strategy and the overall development of the game. The goal is not to get to the hall but to hold it which means that people are coming up with better and better defensive schemes where it's nearly impossible for them to lose once they have that dias. And the various imbalances in the game such as the lack of effective enchantment removal and things like Life Bond damage triggering Healing Seed really start to tell. Winning in the Tombs requires the skills of being able to survive the climb there, unseat the team holding the hall by finding a way around whatever they're using that's broken, and then the endurance to last there as long as you can stand. An interesting challenge, to be sure, but not exactly the sort of strategic combat on a level playing field I've been looking for.

Yeah, I'll be picking up expansions, maybe not as soon as they're released, but I will. It's all a matter of opinion. (so pretty pretty please stop with the grind and no grind, this sucks and that doesn't threads, or at least post it all in one massive thread that I can avoid :P. I think there has been more threads on that 'subject', than anything else.)

I will be getting any and all expansions the moment they hit the shelves...maybe even reserve my copy...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they support this game directly from retail sales. I read somewhere that they keep a large portion of their earnings in the bank, and use collected interest to pay the fundamental upkeep costs for maintaining the game. Expansions, or "chapters" are to help pay for the development costs for expanding the game, while also adding to the "nest egg."

I've had a very good experience with GW, and plugged in 100+ hours into my main character. I've finished all the story content in the game, and I'm now exploring areas I haven't, and PvPing in the arenas/HoH.

I've only had a few bad experiences, but I just shrugged them off, adjusted, and moved on. I've experienced much harsher conditions in other games, and GW doesn't compare to those experiences.

I've felt like I got my money's worth, so I will pick up the next expansion when it comes out in 2006. For a game that doesn't have a monthly fee, it gets quite a bit of support and free updates, some which are a bit bigger (new areas, music, art, etc).

The only thing that would make me NOT buy the expansion, is if it's the full price of a game ($50). Usually, expansions for games are in the 20-40 range.

considering that they have said it will be equal to the size and content of the full original game instead of the standard much smaller *EXPANSION*they said each new *CHAPTER* would be priced accordingly

edit
from GW FAQ

note comparison to games not expansions for the chapters

Guild Wars will be priced at a comparable cost to other first-tier PC games. The subsequent chapters of Guild Wars will also be comparably priced in relation to other games.

I will buy the expansion as soon as it hits the shelves.

I really have only one concern and I'll admit, it's probaly just me.

Many of the later quests seem extremely hard. Meaning you must run through them a few times, with a few deaths in order to complete them. Coming from a pen and paper background it just kills me that dying, rezzing, taking a few more down, and continuing is a viable tactic.

But I do love their story content, so yup...it will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.

People always find things to whine about. They'll whine about the game and continue to play it. Heck, this post is a whine. I'm whining about whining. I'm sure someone will find an excuse to whine about my post. Now I'm whining about someone whining about my post.

I will very likely be getting the expansion. I think this game is one-of-a-kind, and since I'm a casual gamer, I don't want to spend a year to be competitive like in most MMOs. Missions can be frustrating, but I find them much much less frustrating then farming, crafting, and queueing for bosses.

Wow Rex your so cheerful about things

Yes I'll be buy the expansion, hell I plan on buying 2, 1 for both accounts I know own

To clarify --

If my friend X picks up this coming expansion, they are going to want to explore it and reap the rewards of it.

Therefore, if I do not pick up this expansion, my chances of playing the game with X diminish.

So the matter for me is not whether or not I can continue playing what I have, but how long it will be until all my friends (who do pick up the expansions) will choose to remain in the one I can play.

This is, in my opinion, the SoE tactic of 'Let their friends pressure them into buying, we don't have to be the bad guy'.

While I detested the SoE 'buy it or you don't get this functionality' method, it was, I think, more honest than saying 'Oh you don't have to buy expansions' knowing full well that the nature of gaming expansions insures every player who plays with friends will have to face either soloing or purchase.

Meh.

Right on the money, Rex. Those are my exact sentiments at the moment and very sad at that. I hope those people that has the same resources as you can help give more ideas and suggestions as to how to fix the problems that we are facing right now because I hate for Arena.net to lose me as a customer. We already have guild members stop playing and went back to WoW, because they can't stand the grind for PvP in this game at the moment. How IRONIC!

My question pertaining to all this is:

How many of you have seen a press release, whether online, or offline, from Arena Net about the expansion? I have looked everywhere I can think of offhand, and all this seems to be speculation. They say on their official gw site it will come out in the early fall or late summer, so....wtf?

there has been no official announcement

only reports from E3

http://www.gwonline.net/page.php?p=142
http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cf...00,49697 2953
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05...subj=612581 8

In the game's current form I don't intend on getting an expansion pack, mainly due to the grind issue. I get a sad feeling plenty of others aren't either, when the game first came out my guild was pretty active flying through the missions, and now one by one dropped like flies, dying from boredom unlocking skills. The last mile to gvg is a mile too long.

I'll be picking it up. There's really no grind but I've played MMO's like EQ, FFXI, SWG, some AO..those are grind. I'd be level 20 by now on those but.. I'd have nothing to show for it. I'm really enjoying the RPG aspect as well as the PvP, which in most games has been PvP = high levels ganking low levels. The first time through can take a little bit, but once you know how the missions work, and learn to skip quests the don't give skills, you can fly alts to 20 in no-time. As far as RPG's go I enjoy this more than the others just for the fact this game takes half a brain to do well. It's not just buff up, click attack and spam your highest level skills rinse repeat. Around every turn you can get wiped out if you don't think about the best plan of attack. I understand why alot don't see it as this, but this game has REAL depth to it. I'm loving ANet's responsiveness to the player base as well, I've never seen any game listen to it's players this much and it's only been a month in. For their obvious care and hard work, I'm glad to hand over another 50 bucks every 6-9 months if they can keep it up.

I just hope they plan to release "chapters" of missions between these expansions. Some of us are storyline freaks and feel the need to be involved in the game's overall plot.

I'll buy the expansion, because I knew exactly what I wanted from this game when I got it, and it delivered.

What I wanted:
1. A game where it's relatively easy to keep up in levels (because once school took over my time, I got left in the dust in WoW). It only took me about 2 weeks to hit lvl 20 and I'm making dandy progress right now.

2. A PvP experience that is easy to jump into even when your PvE character is low-level, and based on organized combat rather than dodging raids/ganking and running all over hell and back to counter-gank/counter-raid.

3. A game where it's easy and relatively inexpensive to look really, really sexy. (And with my full suit of 1.5k Necrotic armor, I believe I've done just that.)

Really, I'm their ideal customer...I get hooked easily and I buy the most minor of upgrades without reservation or hesitation. Must have been all those years playing fighting games...

I will buy the chapters. I want to show my support to ArenaNet and future games that uses this business model.