GW2 on steam, What’s the benefit?

Probably stupid question, but what’s good about being in steam? What’s the benefit for the game and gamers??

Advertisement and usually a large initial spike of new players

Huge spike of players that will try the free version

More exposure for the game.

It remains the same game for existing players but there'll be an influx of new players.

A temporary rise in the count of f2p players is all I can see.I doubt many of them will stay though.

For some reason, a lot of steam users only play games on steam and sort of exist in their bubble. I don't know why, but often when an existing game is released on steam it gets a surge of new players, whether temporary or not it is exposure.

exposure as well as a surge of players. lots of people find it unconvenient to get out of steam so for them it'll be more confortable.

Maybe they'll even fix some of the bugs in Central Tyria. :p

I asked about this in the official topic, because I was surprised to see so many people angry that they couldn't use their existing account on Steam. I very rarely use Steam, only if it's the only way to run a game and then I literally open Steam, open the game and then close down Steam, so my understanding was that there's absolutely no benefit for existing players, it would just make the process of logging into the game slightly longer.

But apparently Steam tacks on a bunch of social features and novelties, like your Steam friends list is imported into the game and it will display achievements you've earned on Steam itself, as well as something to do with trading cards which I still don't quite understand. The most important thing though seems to be that it adds additional payment options which aren't currently offered by Anet and which can be cheaper and/or easier to use for players outside of the officially supported regions (North America and Europe).

Having access to the steam wallet is the main feature I would love. When you play games on steam many award trading cards you can then sell on the marketplace to fund your wallet (which you can spend on any games/microtranscations within steam!), skins from games like cs:go and such can also be sold for this purpose. That means that when you play other games you're earning money you can then spend in GW2 (if you choose to) which would be awesome! Might seem like not a lot, but many people have earned 100's of $ this way for their wallet (not so much just from cards, but the combo of cards and marketable cosmetics). Steam has more payment methods, and ease of access for regional pricing/payment options that a fair amount of individuals would benefit from (and be able to finally purchase expansions and such without going through hell).

@Hoover.6394 said:Probably stupid question, but what’s good about being in steam? What’s the benefit for the game and gamers??

An influx of new players who spend money on gems = more income for Anet and more content for the players.

Hopefully for non Americans cheaper GEMs prices.

Localised currency prices would be great if they are reasonable and possible. This would eliminate the worry of fluctuating foreign exchange rates on real purchase prices. Although a while before on steam, I remember some games that were priced at like 50 USD would cost around 100 AUD, despite foreign exchange rates suggesting the actual converted price should be much cheaper. So the localised prices should be made reasonable and realistic if it is done.

A boat load of fresh blood, thats the best in my opinion. More player = more money for anet = more investement for gw2. Its a win win for everybody!

A spike in new players is the biggest benefit. However, unless they've revamped the early game since I last actively played, a year and a half to two years ago, I don't know how many will stay. I kind of feel the core maps and game were one of the main aspects that kept some new players from playing.

This game is not the friendliest for new players, especially on competitive modes.Maybe if ANet adds awesome rewards for Personal Story and a PvE version of WvW where new players under 200 rank learn the ropes against NPC's before engaging in normal WvW mode...

For us? Nothing.For anet? More money.

good thing imo; i luckily was able to google, when i planned to try out my first MMO, and finally decided for gw2 back then. but i also first searched steam store since i before only played games on steam the last 5 years nearly?

a larger playerbase is surely what the game wants, what any MMO can wish for acutally. Anet will need stronger servers tho ^^"

maybe it revives the game new and makes some more streamers test Gw2 as well.

@RedBaron.6058 said:This game is not the friendliest for new players, especially on competitive modes.Maybe if ANet adds awesome rewards for Personal Story and a PvE version of WvW where new players under 200 rank learn the ropes against NPC's before engaging in normal WvW mode...i mean obviously, because those are lategame content simply.