Pre-Order + Early Access = 0% New Slots Until Release

I don't think that many of the people that frequent this particular part of the forums realize that Factions announcements have been made/posted in the new Game and Dev Tracker forum - http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/f...play.php?f=226

Guild Wars Guru recently introduced it, and I think everyone should check it out as they have done a good job so far in posting announcements there.

Because it seems to be overlooked due to the minimal posts (it's new), I thought i'd mention to the people interested in Factions (people viewing the Factions forum) that Alex and Gaile have announced that there will be no new slots with the Early Access event (the 24 hours extra that people who pre-ordered the game get before everyone else gets access). That means if you intended to create a new character in Canhta and start from the beginning, but already have 4 slots full, you must wait until release. You are able to take your existing characters over or delete a character to empty a slot.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s....php?t=3005405
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s....php?t=3003552

Good point, CyberNigma!

I'm not sure why they are doing this, it would seem relatively easy to lock the new slots if the user did not enter the retail key on time. As for any items "locked down", well, that would just be more incentive to buy the full Chapter, no?

But, I think most people would have used the 24 hour early access to try and get new higher level items before anyone else by using existing Characters anyway.

Yeah, I think you've got a good point. It wasn't my original intention, but it appears it will be now (seeing as how I have 4 full slots). :-)

Why dont more people have pvp slots?

It would appear the retail key you get in your Factions Box (or download) is the one that will give you the extra slots, not the pre-order key. This makes me wonder, if you get your retail box one day early and apply the retail key, do you still have to wait for the next day? Or is it going to be certain everyone will get their retail box on release day?

Because there are 6 primary classes and if you give up one slot for PvP that means you can only play 3 primary classes for the PvE. Yes yes, PvE sucks, it's a PvP game oh no it isn't, PvE rules <insert generic PvPvPvE argument here>

@Xenrath :: dont change it into a pvp // pve arguement
everyone knows that u CAN unlock all ur skills on just 3 chars

6 professions 3 chars with 2 professions each
that leaves 1 slot for rolling and re-rolling various pvp characters.

Yes some people dont like pvp thus have 4 pve chars instead. no big deal, just take a pve char over to cantha and knock off some missions, or go farm for some items, go use your numerous ammount of skill points, spend your gold..

the pre-order box never promised 2 char slots, only teh retail version.
since they are 2 diff cd keys they activate at 2 seperate times.

some ppl (back over at gwonline) mentioned it was bad marketting. yet i fail to see how it was any clearer. My pre-order box clearly says FULL GAME NOT INCLUDED, to me teh full game has my extra char slots, so i'll just wait and farm on my pve chars outside sheitung haarbor

Yeah this isn't pve vs pvp, though I'm not sure that's what he meant.

I think you're incorrect here. Point two:

It mentions that you get 'access to Guid Wars Factions' (the game), not 'access to Cantha' within Guild Wars/Factions. In otherwords, it sounds like you get access to the game 24 hours prior to release date. By stating FULL GAME NOT INCLUDED let's everyone know that they shouldn't expect anything after the pre-release access is over.

The thing that sucks is that i thought the pre order was gona give the extra slot for the Factions preview event ; so i deleted my pvp 2weeks before presale came out hoping to get the extra slot ;then faction Faq come out and says u get extra slots with retail box not preorder ; I had to self invite for pve faction event . Atlease i hope i can bring my lvl 20s to factions 24 hrs before for farming new items

It makes perfect sense folks. What if someone does the 24 hour early from the preorder but not Factions... what happens to the extra slots then? It makes much more sense to save the two slots for the full game, not the early entry because let's face it... someone could have spent no more than the $5.00 many places required for the preorder but never commit to Factions. Before I drift too much further into incoherence I'll stop... but that's it in a nutshell.

Oh, and the full game key doesn't give you access to the 24 hour early start because, simply enough, the game hasn't been released yet.

A few days later she already said that the Pre-Order key would not add slots.

Nobody likes posting in that section

Gaile's sentence on "access to Cantha" makes me believe that we won't be able to create ritualists and assassins before the key in the box is entered. What makes me wonder, though, is what would happen if a character from Prophecies was taken into Cantha and left there until the early access event ended (user does not enter retail Factions key) - wouldn't that character be stuck?

Simple. The slots/characters become locked until you do buy them, much like those of us with temp accounts or those people with one of their slots used for a preview character that is currently locked. The question still exists, though concerning A/Rt. Someone can spend .99 (since some stores sell the pre-order box for 99 cents) just to be able to create an A or Rt PvE character without buying the game. Infact, who wouldn't want access to an A/Rt for your Prophecies campaign for 99 cents lol. I think I wouldn't, but committment varies by person. I've already committed to the pre-order and the full game.

I was thinking this would be the case. Thanks for clarifying that as someone I know was getting her retail box shipped on the 26th and wasn't sure if she could enter the key early or not. That does make sense, though, so no complaints there. It keeps retail store employees from opening boxes before everyone else :-)

Think of it this way...if the preorder gave you extra slots, I would grab 10 of them...

or if they dont stack, I would just not buy factions and get extra slots for free.

So yes, you will have to wait til release if your slots are full (no big deal) but it closes off all the possibility of exploiting the system.

Some ppl tried that with the preview event invites (both PvP event and PvE event). They found out after the event was over they couldn't use the slots anymore. It also applied to any characters they created in Factions, as they too were locked after the event ended.

I have 3 empty slots on that account that it says I can't create anything with (locked) and one character that it says I can't log in with (locked). So, by the same mechanism just buying the pre-order box wouldn't work.

Also, the slots definitely don't stack, as some people would probably buy more than one retail box to stack them otherwise..

not a big deal to me. I plan to use that 1-day head start to take my Warrior into Cantha and get new armor and skills. I can wait for a day to start a new assassin or ritualist.

I dont mind. I will probably enjoy using that time to get a head start on my previous characters in Cantha- I am planning to get one of my PvE characters from Tyria through Cantha before I start a PvE assasin. There will be an overload of the new professions anyway and it will be harder to get a team. Nothing beats a good ol' monk

Heh. This is why I keep my disposable PvP slot around. I can use it until I get the full version to make a new char. I also use it sometimes if I wanna help out a guildie who just made a new presear char. I just create a temp presear char and help em pwn through presear a lil faster.

Don't PvE characters generally have a small advantage over PvP characters?

Hmm... That sucks. Luckily, I got fed-up with making my 5th (maybe 6th) PvE character (only 3 of which have made it through the game) for skill unlocks. For now, 2 PvP slots are useful.

Any advantage a PvE character has is balanced by the sheer flexibility of a PvP char. If I want to try out a new PvP build, I just pick the closest template, then unlock any skills I need.

If I wanted to make a PvE character to do the same... well, it would take more than one night!

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/factionspreorder2.jpg

understandably its not that clear, but if u look at teh yellow stripe across the top of the box it clearly reads

PRE-ORDER ONLY * FULL VERSION OF GAME NOT INCLUDED * PRE-ORDER ONLY

This is why I am thankful I had forward thinking and had one pvp slot open at all times.

EDIT: Forgive me, didn't think that position through well enough I've realized.

However, it's pretty clear that the official Factions cdkey will grant you the extra slots. Making the head start key add them too just adds a lot of complications and I can understand why they went the easier path since it isn't critical. I've understood from the beginning that you wouldn't get the slots until you got the actual game, but maybe it just wasn't worded too well or something.

This is also the first "expansion campaign"/whatever you want to call it, so I'm cutting them some slack there, too. :P

even with 1 pvp slot im only gonna test out teh monestary this weekend then delete it and have it back to a pvp char, gonna wait for both slots and build up an assasin and rit at teh same rate.


@sunai :: i hope that ur beaing sarcastic?

Yeah, also so that people understand what the thread is about (people that don't have the kit and may not know what is going on), here's the back of the kit to accompany the front of the kit, which includes the pre-order contents.



Hope that helps..

Just click on it to zoom in. The contents (in case you weren't able to get the kit and were wondering what you missed) are listed in the blue box. I wouldn't worry too much. Aside from the pre-order items and 24 hour head start, it's nothing to lose sleep over. Even those are dependent upon the person playing as to whether they are valuable or not (collector's equivalents probably).

lol, I was looking for a particular post that I saw while posting my message and couldn't find it. I'm guessing it was yours before you edited :-)

Yeah, I've already commited to Factions, myself. I took longer than my guildies to buy the pre-order kit because I had no intention of getting it unless I really committed to getting the release. I finally did, though. I do have no empty slots and was looking forward to starting my new character (I'm fond of the Assassin) and doing much of the initial pre-searing (monastary) area before the crowds hit (finishing the game with my new character from level 1 to 20 before moving my prophecies characters over, or at least getting her to the crossover point). It kinda sucks, but I'll deal with it. I think most of my guild is just going to make the first 24 hours a farm fest with our various farming builds instead.

This alone isn't that big of a deal, but as I posted earlier, some people are looking at it as a whole lot of 'little things' that keep building up which make the newer 'little things' more irritating than they are. The devil is always in the details. I really like this game and want it to continue (with lots of players), but I'm worried that the little things are going to pile up and drive more people off. WoW and the other MMO's were never an issue with me. It's not 'this or WoW or some other subscribing MMO'; it's this or no MMO (at least until the other companies release their no-subscription games).

As far as the slots, I think they have one reason but are giving us another one. That's kind of irritating. If it's to avoid confusion, they would prevent anyone from creating a character that could possibly be locked after the event is over (not just slots), because anyone with an extra slot can create an Assassin or Ritualist and not activate the retail key later on (not buy it or postpone buying it), in which case you have the exact same situation of 'confusion'. It's one thing to say 'we arent going to dedicate space on the servers for 2 temporary slots' and it's another to say that they are doing it for our benefit (which is what I get from their announcement - to avoid confusion by us).

So, as long as I continue to want to play this game I plan on harping on them about things that should've been fixed a long time ago (or what some of us believe are to be bad choices in the present). Without people enjoying the game enough to complain, we'd be stuck with only one character slot instead of two. I don't like farming too much, but I'm left with little choice if I want to enjoy a benefit of the pre-order kit/promotion (I like my characters too much to delete them, but want to experience factions from level 1/monastary). About 90% of my friends list (full list) doesn't log on anymore. I'd like to keep the rest from doing the same so that I can enjoy the game with them.