Purchase More Character Slots!

The model I'd like ANet to pursue is this:

$29.99 for each new chapter

AND

$9.99 for each new character slot you want

AND

ALL character slots you've bought have access to all the content you've bought. No merging BS or any other marketing lingo.

Let me buy the parts of the game I want and play through it with as many or few characters as I choose.

EDIT: AND

Storage is proportional to slots owned.

Decouple slots from content and you end 99.99% of the whining and arguing about this issue. Viva la Capitalism!

Lol so at least some of us have an out now, yay!!
I'm glad to Loviatar already here jumping in, the guy who said it wouldn't happen and none of our complaints matter. Suck it up buddy

Mind you of course it's not a complete win, 'money' won.
There's no justification now $ for storage - unlinked/linked wouldn't matter.
Instead of doing something for the fans they finally saw the money signs.

But thank friggin goodness they don't have us juggling two accounts anymore!

For those with a strange sense of humor, it is funny when you think on it now though. Let's look at full cost for an 'ideal' GW setup
chp1 $50
chp2 $50
linking, lose 2 slots = 6 (maintain content rather than separate content)
pve character class choices 8, one slot pvp 9
toss in $20 (pve only), $30 (pve + 1 pvp), or $40 (nice round 10 slots!)

music is also extra (why isn't this in a collectors edition) both chapters.
you're still sans glowing hands, headphones, artwork, buy the CEs.
every 6mo they're going to offer up another chapter, another CE, more music

And this is less then a traditional MMORPG how exactly?
Would be nice if the CE at least had the music...

But all in all they gave in. I guess it wasn't such an unbalancing game issue after all as suggested, and we could pay an extra $20 to get 8x100%, $30 for 9x100%...
Of course at/after 10 that model wears a little thin too... of course those wanting those playing both sexes might argue 16 or 17x100% might be good...

No content isn't slots. But if you can't play new characters through the new content or experience it the way you want, I'd argue that isn't true access to the full content either.

ANet through their own math suggested the slotxcontent=value as it was.

I always get a chuckle when people say it doesn't hinge on your experience, particularly a game.
Well to get me to buy, sure it does Their marketing may not care of course.
But hey it's still a forum for those of us fans who play and keep paying to get their word out.

I'm somewhat ambivalent about this. One one hand, I'm more of a PvPer so I don't really care about extra slots, though I do play PvE and I can certainly understand the frustration a lot of players had with the limited access to character slots.

On the other hand, 10$ US is really starting to look like a monthly fee. It's not too bad because an extra character slot doesn't necessarly give you a big advantage over other players, but I sincerely hope upgrades like bigger storage or more bags for a fee will never come to be. Guild Wars is supposed to be a fair game, based on skill. It would be sad to see it go down the drain as it sold things that really gave an advantage.

I really hope the next chapters will offer more character slots, or that the price will be decreased accordingly.

And I think 10$ US is a bit too much. I would worry all that much about 10 $ CAN. :/ Honestly I think 5$ US would have been a perfect price. You have to remember with all of your math of 4 x 10 = 40 that most of the money you paid went into the content the first game offered, not the character slots.

So I'm not totally alarmed yet, nor am I throwing a party and sacrificing virgins to the gaming gods, but I hope things don't turn out to be the worst case scenario that someone else mentionned, in which all those things they sold would be pretty much equal to a monthly fee.

Yes finally! i love you ANet. now we just need something that improves storage (hint hint ANet )

ty god anet, it angers me when i have to re-roll.

you guys think this will help the market prices?

let to say my point alittle better here.

Buying EXTRA = Good. Buying to KEEP UP = Bad.

They wanna offer me char slots for 10 a pop...I love it..w/e. No problems.

Its when they start (dont know if they will) tacking on extra costs for things just to keep up is when it'll get rediculous.

When they get to the point where Updates Cost it'll get too much for me, and you KNOW its going there...The point where..."New Area? Give us a NEW 10 dollars", "Fix some skills? Fix our money supply with 5 dollars...", etc. The point where the game turns out to where there are only 2 updates a year - included of ocurse in the chapters they'll be pumping out.


This is a case where i actually HOPE i'm wrong... (and I do mean in the future, I dont see it turning into this before chap3ish)

lol good point, $10 mule is the new storage out possibly
omg I hope not lol

All I have to say is 'Thank you Anet!' I'm gonna buy me 2 more char slots for sure!

yeah I wish they could have announced it earlier though, my monk might still be ticking but their Factions PvP and finally FPE weekend had me lower the boom on the poor guy :b

guess he'll be Cantha born provided they didn't really hose up skill acquisition through quests and I do Prophecies... again... wonder if I can use new faces both continents? guess I'll know in a week!

still this was the announcement I was waiting for as even 1 slot adds mucho breathing room

I like it .... a lot.

NOT a complaint but thinks about this. Person bought second copy of Prophesies for more slots and has ordered second copy of Factions.

Total 6 slots for $100 (U.S.)

With this new goodie .... 6 slots for $60

Oh well ..... I still like it

I'll end up buying 2-3 over time to get me to 1 for each class + a pvp slot.. (yes I do want to try pvp currently only pve).

Okay, after reading just about the entire thread, here's my take on some things that have been said.

I really like Lyra's idea of the whole thing, and great analogy on how it works. 4 slots on one game overlaps the 4 slots on the other, total = 4 slots. But wait - there's more! Join the games and we'll let you get in 2 more people for free! A-Net isn't nerfing anything. In fact, it's mostly a sense of entitlement that makes people want 8 slots. A-Net does not owe you anything!!! You do not have a right to make people let you play by your rules on their games! If you think there should be such a right, see about an amendment to the constitution.

For those who think there should be a limit to how many slots you can buy, there is. It's called common sense. If you have 8 professions, want one PvP slot, and maybe a mule or two, that's all you can buy because of the common sense you possess. (If you possess any. If not, you can buy as many as your budget will allow.)

/slots emote? Yeah, people want a /moo or /cow emote too. Doesn't mean it's anywhere near practical to add it to the game. It's just silliness.

Storage. I'll admit I would like to see more storage. The last bag on all 4 of my characters has at least some stuff that members of my guild want me to store for them. However, I believe that there have been hints on a "guild storages" where everyone in the guild can access it. That should lighten the load for a lot of people.

Complaints about server crashes. I have never played World of Warcraft, and only played the demo of Everquest II, but from what i hear they have much more frequent server bugs. The only reason A-Net's crashes stand out so badly is because there are so few. From what I have read, A-Net has gone to extensive trouble to keep their servers running without fail 24/7. That's one tough job to do! Every plan has at least one flaw, and if something can go wrong, it will. Well, it did. The servers had a crash, and A-Net fixed it as fast as they could. Everything was back up in a couple hours. They even went to the trouble of telling you when they were taking the servers down on the most recent time.

Once again, A-Net does not owe anyone anything. If they wanted, they could shut down their servers, fire their employees, and just be done with everything. Then what? You'll have to go find a MMO with *gasp* a subscription fee. A-Net has done you a favor, and people respond with criticism. Step back, and take a look at the picture on a higher resolution setting. Most of all, be happy, and enjoy the game.

Back to the original topic...

Thanks for the extra slots A-Net. $10 is fine by me!

Oh, I also don't believe A-Net will start charging real life money for stuff like changing appearances, game items, and faster server access. For the former two, that's what gold and platinum is for. If you want to spend real money on in-game stuff, try e-Bay, or that other site for trading MMO stuff for cash and vice-versa that I can't remember the name of. The latter would just scare gamers away. A-Net doesn't want to scare people away from their game.

Well this will be awesome I can finally have all the professions and more on one account.

You can believe all you want that Anet may not charge for ingame stuff in the future but other ORPG's are already starting to do that and there is nothing to say that Anet won't follow suit. If anything they have even more of a reason to as they don't charge a monthy fee.

Anet could have started out guildwars with the same type of slot structure that most other ORPG's are doing (ie 8ish) but they chose to limit people instead. They could have allowed a merged account to have access to all slots on both accounts as you're already losing access to a full seperate storage by merging but again they chose to limit people to only half of the slots if you merge. You do however get access to both sets of content on one account with merger of course.

For the poster above who is going to dump 40 bucks or so on 4 slots, just buy a bargin bin version of GW for 30 bucks and save yourself 10 bucks AND get another full storage.

First, your talking about a post that got deleted, not mine. Second, that would NOT allow all those slots on one account! That is the main reason that they did this. To increase what you can have on 1 account. If you want, go buy another copy of factions to have your other storage, but I dont mind this cause I only want ONE account.

And if you are UAS and want to set up a pve character for fun... what's better than buying all of the skills you need right after you sear?

Separate accounts don't do that.

From the chat the extra buyable slots will be linked to your current account. Meaning that characters created can access Prophecies & Factions assuming you have a copy and both if you merged into one. And they will be able to have access to Chapter 3.

Well, okay, so A-Net might start charging you to keep up in the game, but think about some of the things they've already done. The reason they don't charge a monthly fee is to get people to join their game. If they charge real money to get less lag or something, they've become no better than other MMOs, and then it's back to a battle of whether people like WoW or GW better. I seriously doubt it. A-Net is stepping out in the crowd and doing something different than other MMOs. Forget trends, they're going to be what they are just because that's what they are. I salute them for that.

About your last comment, there's also a convenience factor to buying new slots vs. buying a new account. Ever tried trading stuff from one account to another with only one computer? Heh, takes either a lot of work or a really trusted friend whom you know won't scam 100 plat and 50 ectos off of you.

EDIT: /agree with what soul torn just said.

Neatto I like.I wonder what the price is in $Cdn maybe 10.99 and does that include tax and how do we purchase these slots?

There is a difference between those examples and buying slots for GW. The examples in other games are "needed" by players to remain competitive. Extra character slots in GW are a convenience, nothing more. Similarly, the person who is gonna buy 4 slots is probably because it is convenient to have them all on the same account, sharing the same storage and not having the hassle of transferring between accounts. To the argument above stating $x for item a, $x for whatever else, those costs are one offs, no comparison to monthly fees. Even so, I doubt there will be any purchaseable items in GW, at least in the near future anyway.

we're still going to get our 2 extra character slots from factions with the game purchase though rite???

true.

this way i could have some extra space without firing up the other pc and doing a trade that way.

convenience

It is a very simple thing to install 2 clients from 2 different cd's into 2 different directories and run them at the same time. Make swapping pretty easy. Much easier of course if you actually own 2 computers.

Soul Torn, Yeah i was not talking to you. If you want to link your accounts and buy slots more power to you. If you didn't, well, same thing, more power to you

I saw that I missed a post by Ensign with a reasonable explination of why Anet may have given only 4 slots. Not sure I totally agree with it as I know way too many people in the game who want a slot for every single primary and are not sharing their accounts across family members, but it IS a good, logical reason/guess as to why Anet did it.

Don't worry, these extra slots are an extra thing that comes out in the summer. You'll still get your 2 bonus slots.

Yes we are.

To all the people that are saying this may lead to a slippery slope where Anet charges for content like skill balances, new areas, or other fundamental content, did none of you actually read the threads in the Factions forum where there was a huge argument about 2 extra slots not being enough? Did you not notice where people, myself included, were practically foaming at the mouth begging Anet to introduce purchasable extra slots exactly like they're doing now?

You want to be all doom and gloom and try to paint Anet as the bad guy? Fine. But your argument holds no water because it was the surge in GW community asking to purchase more character slots that's to blame. Not some diabolical plan by Anet to make you eventually pay $2 for a horse.

Hm, I'm actually not going to buy any accounts, and this quote by my guild mate will help explain why:

I personally agree with this, but since ANet decided to allow slot purchasing, I will go along with it.

Feel free to disagree, I have nothing against you, this is just the view that I like.

2 different CDs doesn't make a difference, it's still the same client. There was a thread not too long ago on either Guru or GW Online (call me a heretic if you want, I'm in both forums but only really post in this one) about running 2 copies of guild wars at the same time. Yes, you copied the install of the client into 2 separate directories. Then you renamed a few files, opened some of them with a hex editor, and pretty much began to smash your End-User Licence Agreement to a million pieces. You had to have a fairly good knowledge of what you were doing, and how not to ruin your computer to get it to work. Besides that, if A-Net caught you chopping their client, you'd probably go from 2 accounts to 0.

heehee, do they make you do that in WoW or something?

One more storage row per added character slot would be in line with current storage capacity. I would be fine with that. Currently we have four rows of five and four character slots. So six characters should have six rows of five.

~Edit - Purchase one slot and receive five more boxes in storage with it.


Don't give them any ideas.

Ya I know you werent Imaginos but it looked like it to others

BTW yes I can run two clients, yes I know how to, yes I can afford multiple copies of GW, I can even afford multiple computers if I want.

BUT, I like having one storage box (wish it were bigger tho) I like having one screen with all my characters on it, I like being able to switch items SO easily (put in box, take out of box) and I REALLY like having one logon lol. I have too many passwords and files and numbers too remember already.
When I want to play I want to click on the shortcut, type in my pass, and play. Thats it, nothing more. No hexediting, no sucking up my memory, no dealing with 2 accounts.

Point is, its much more convienent to just buy 2-3 more slots for the characters I want to play and merge my accounts. It also equals out for cost as is shown earlier in this thread.

I will shutup now since Im sure there was 5 more posts since I started typing this

I'm not going to report you or anything, as if I could, but did you find a way to run 2 clients without messing with the source code?

I have to agree, it's very convenient to have only one screen, and one logon. Only thing I'd change about it is being able to switch characters without logging off. I hate remembering passwords too, I finally just bought a fingerprint reader made by Microsoft. It doesnt do MMOs, but I don't have to remember any other passwords. Nice little thingy for only $20.

Edit: I should probably stop drifting so far off-topic. Maybe I'll go do some homework or something. Maybe....

[QUOTE][QUOTE=Xaniera] Besides that, if A-Net caught you chopping their client, you'd probably go from 2 accounts to 0.
QUOTE]

i have official word months ago from a PM.

he checked and the response was as follows.

Anet does not approve of it nor does Anet disapprove of it.

Hmm. I thought I had read something in the EULA, but maybe not. It's quite extensive, and written in a lot of legalese. I don't speak legalese very well.

Edit: Fixed a typo that caused quote thing to mess up.

Well if they do this, i beg for a merge account features. With these slots being added, having 2 accounts is pointless.

Sorry if this has been said previously...

No matter what is said for or against additional character slot sales, one fact remains: It takes real money to maintain GW's hardware and storage requirements. Adding additional character slots will increase the disk consumtion and backup requirements on ANET's side. This is something that GW's current infrastructure may not handle very well long term without additional funding. By allowing GW players to purchase character storage accounts, ANET offsets the additional costs incurred by such a character slot upgrade.

Many of us ask for free lunches -- sorry, the modern business world isn't always so forgiving. Given GW's no-subscription model, ANET will eventually start losing money maintaining GW unless alternative forms of real-world income are found (such as expansion sales, character slot sales, etc...)

Boy did this thread balloon...

But back on topic. More character slots? Woohoo!!!!! Party time! And people said whining loudly wouldn't get us anywhere. I don't particularly want to spend $11 per slot - but I don't particularly want to spend anything ever. But I will. Definately.

One thing I noticed in this thread was that some people seemed to think that just because ANet is offering the purchase of something we asked for they'll see fit to charge for other crap in order to make a quick buck off all us pidgeons. I dunno, but that just doesn't seem likely to me.

Oh, and C&C 3 was announced today! Woohoo!!!!! again! That's two dreams come true in a single day! It's positively orgasmic.

It's very easy to run 2 clients at the same time without breaking the EULA at all.

Think about one more thing, everyone... the Uber-EBay-farmers that will now buy a dozen extra slots to store their wares.

Until they get caught and have their account, slots and all, deleted.

Ooh, the pain.

I'm glad to see this happen i was a pro supporter of extra slots and i will be buying 3-4 extra slots as soon as pos.And at $5.99*4=£23.96 i think is a sweet deal as i was going to buy 2 copies instead.

Really merging 2 accounts and losing 2 slots straight away didnt bother me as i was going to do both new characters and as i have 3 lvl 20 chars and a pvp slot , 2 slots for the new classes suited me,but to get a chance to develop all classes and a possible mule(if storage increases mule scrapped) that im willing to pay.

As always people will have there moans,it wouldnt be the same without them infact 9/10 times pushes you to want it more.As people have been saying for a long time give me a slot that i can use in my current game and ill buy it they have gave us this. Gratz to them if there making a bit of cash on selling you extra slots IF you want them fine its not excactly alot of cash.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT : If this is your main game you have put alot of time into and your offered a chance to take a different class as you have ran out of slots chances are you'll pay £5.99 for the chance to mess with it,if its not your main game chances are youll be lucky to play or devolop enough to want to spend anything on it, 6 slots is more than enough for you.

/signed *Thanks