Suggestion to Supplement Anet Funds

Lets face it this one time fee thing is a great idea but over the long run it becomes problematic for the developers because this one time fee has to keep everything running. Severs have to be maintained, website updates, not to mention the fact that the employees actually have to be paid. I know the collectors edition is a big thing but its still kind of a one time thing that you buy and just play. Anet needs some way of having a bit of steady income to supplement there finances in between release. This 6month release thing to me does seem a bit rushed. I still believe that the original prophecies is much better the factions not due to the lack of idea but the rush to get the game developed. Anyways I'm going to post up and idea that I was thinking about and see how people react. Please feel free to post any ideas you can think of or build upon others.

Might seem a bit childish but I always thought that figurines would be a good idea to add to guild wars. Now I don't mean heres the 9.99 1 warrior action figure with removable swords and shield. I was thinking about high detailed resin figures that are well painted and are in a locked pose. Also there should be different types of heads for each body so that you can choice what face and hair looks like in the game itself. The stand that the figure comes in should also have the profession etched in (a nice small plaque would be really cool) and the option of having the name of your character etched in also. Would'nt it be really eye catching to see your elementalist floating ontop of a circle of fire about to summon a meteor shower (maybe even with a little glyph on top) or even a warrior in full platemail (i still like my 15k platemail) charging into battle with a steram of red stance emblems flowing behind him/her. Now obviously these would not come cheap maybe like 50-70 dollars but I'm sure that there are a good amount of people out there young and old who would be willing to buy a figurine or two of their favorite characters if the poses are tastefully done.

Now the process of actually ordering the figures becomes a bit troublesome. Obviously something has to be specially made if you want the head and hair to be customized. One idea is to sell the bodies with a default head/hair in the stores and have a card which allows you to order a personailzed head/hair that can be swapped with the main body (whether the price of the optinal part should be part of the purcharse or a seperate fee I'll let Anet decide). The main problem with this is that I can't really figure out a way to get ride of that unsightly seam line at the neck where the head detaches. Maybe if they make it so that its covered by something else like armor or maybe an aura but seems like a problem either way. Another possibility is to just make the entire set an option on the guild wars web site. Then you can just order it online and have the customized on the website. Pick different hairs, heads, maybe weapons and offhand, and different armor with its corresponding poses (Be awkward to see a water costume in a ring of fire, although the concept of different costumes might be pushing it). Then it will be made and shipped to your house. This would probably look the most professionally done but then there is the problem of advertisment and that it would turn off some people who want it right there and then. If Anet does implment this itll probably be a combination of the two of default one in the store and cutomizebale ones online for a slightly higher price. Just one more side note, I'm not too sure how popular this is but if you buy the higher price figures then you should get the option of getting one mini pet that is just like the figure you created. This would not be sellable in the game and customized only for your account. So maybe instead of making it an item just making it a command that your character can turn on or off like
/insert character name minipet on/off. All characters would have access to this and they would just choise the minipet using different names. Id like a mini me running around the battle field cheering me on = )

Oh and I would like to start of poll of whehter or not people would be interested in the figures and how much would they pay. Unfortunaltly I have no idea how to do that so if anyone is willing to do so on my behalf I would be very grateful. Just make a link to this post or even cut and paste it so that the people voting have a reference.

Anyway thats my idea and once again feel free to build on it or post your own. And Anet I hope your looking at this thread of what your gamers are willing to pay for. Doesn't really unbalance the game and you guys have a way to make some extra funds so the games wont need to be rushed. Either way keep up the good work!!!

toy development takes substantial investment. I myself am making a set of GW figurines (My smite crawler is 02% complete x.x). Scuplting, making a master mold and casting test copies is a big cost before you even begin to produce anything.

If i even get to the stage of production and sold the figurines of my current design, it would be about $20 for a small 1 1/2" inch figurine, requiring maybe 20 just to even out my cost of design/production.

A more expensive, albeit higher end possibility would be to use a rapid prototyper since we already have 3d models of characters/npcs.

Lets not forget that GW isnt exactly a "top" brand, and figures may not sell very well.

They are testing the market with the GW pins, but square pins are generally cheap to make (Although i find the official GW pins to be UGLY).

As for selling in game stuff like that, i dont think i would buy those. A new character slot is worth an investment, but not hair/etc. That should be bought with in game money.

Someone brought up an idea of having collectors activation cards to become more worthwhile to collect. Figurines, erm... hmm. I dunno. There arent really many characters I would want to see figurined. It's just that there are a large base of adults who play this game, you'd have to be a hardcore fan to consider buying them.

Customized figurines sounds expensive.

I dunno...

I think the idea of collectors cards or even the pins would be a better way to earn revenue than figurines, considering initial cost and potential market.

I think that Anet's economic plan is to earn revenue from the sale of future chapters, and therefore their expenses are calculated on that basis (not to say that added sources of income is a bad idea). Anet's main concern at this point is generate enough interest so that people will buy these future chapters. A daring plan, but a benefit to us gamers if they manage to do it.

Charr Plushies.

Do it.

I am not sure why you believe that Guild Wars is not profitable and that Anet cannot support it's servers and development teams. Care for any reasoning asside from speculations from a vary vague explanation? Their business model was their decision, and I am quite certain there are many people working for a multi-million dollar business that handle cash inflow.

However, I take the sign that certain individuals are willing to support Anet through increased profits that Anet need's to give back more towards game content as either people are unsatisfied with the GW series or that they feel that the developing team is being held back from improving the game based on funds.

how about card sets with certain skill stacking onto the character directly not on armor or weapons or items but the character as a whole.

the set would allow the user to add say two or three stacking skills to the character. And the cards would be setup to work with only that profession. So you would buy a set for a warrior with stacking skills covered for the warrior class (or spread skills over a few different deck version). if you want a set for the ranger then buy a new deck(s) for those skills.

the extra skills would be with the character for as long as it remains active. If a character is deleted the skills are lost and can not be reactivated. If you want to change the added skill(s) your only choice must either be change professions (which would make the added skill useless since the attrib would be gone anyhow) or wait a period of time say 6 months to a year to be allow to change up. Did I forget to mention once the cards were use to stack the skills they become useless/dead.

two type of keys would be made One to register the deck to the account and the key is tied directly to the skill being stacked.

this could be a way to generate extra funds for support.

What do you think? Good Idea???

/signed

I know how AN can supplement their funds. Fix all the crap wrong with ch 2, so that people want to/will, buy chapter 3. Thats all the supplemental you need =D

This man has attained salvation!! Hallelujah!

charr plushies, guild wars action figures, guild wars TCGs... i want it all. more guild wars merchandise is never a bad thing in my opinion... however i don't think they'll be able to make money for it. the skill pins were really just an advertising gimmick, so that people will sign up for their contest and then ebay the pins for 50$. guild wars simply isn't mainstream enough for that kind of thing yet.

Sell, items in game that are not game effective. Beef up the Aura's on collectors editions to include whole body. Add beefed up auras for new classes. Sell the current hands auras and bac-ground dancers for real money ($10 per character code.) Make mini-pets non-transferable and sell for real money ($10 ea.). Make specialty skins for weapons, armor, off-hands, underwear, armor (maybe some suits for dancing). Make additional dances for ball-room style, the Charleston, a syncked line dance, and sell ($10 ea.) Make them $5 each and you will sell even more of them. Make a program for fans to be involved in skin making for weapons, armor, off-hands, and Guild Hall Items to customize Guild Hall. Then allow game use once registered at $5 each. (By making the program a minimal amount of covering can be ensured.)

Fitz Rinley

Hell, all Anet would have to do, is charge a couple bucks to create you own weapon skin, with it's own mods.

They'd make HUNDREDS!

ESP If they had like, a $20 charge, but a guild could make a special Guild weapon style.

Doing so may even lessen their dependency on content developers, by enlisting the aid of the community. Content developers could then focus more on GW design of playable areas, arenas, and story line, while fans supplemented with (cheap labor cost) provided additional skins.

Fitz