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Things that make me sad about the new Expansion announcement


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I had conflicting feelings in the last few days, for as much as I’m happy there would be a new expansion, there is one big problem hanging over it.This will be for sure a paid expansion, probably will cost up to 30-60 dollars, depending on the content they put in, expect no sales for months or even a year, and you can see the problem with everyone outside of the USA/EU will face…

In Brazil a dollar is 5 reais (1:5) that means that this game (and the gems for that matter) is 5x more expensive, I’ll not pay 150 reais minimum for this expansion I’m sorry and the reason is not that I don’t have the money, but this is too over budget for a simple 3-4 maps+ spec+mount expansion.

(And if you understand economy, you know that a 1:5 conversion don’t mean I have 5x more money or something, that’s not how it works)

The fact that anet/NCsoft obliviously don’t care for regional pricing is very puzzling to me, every new MMO do it, if not by themselves they use steam that make it for them for “free”.

In Brazil there is a third party partner but since it is still showing vanilla promo on their site, and selling HoT, I can say they don’t care and NCsoft don’t as well because they don’t keep an eye on these things.

Every competitor do regional pricing (even the money hungry activision\blizzard), please take this new rebirth moment you are having and look on this too. Ate least think of doing more text translations. I doubt that the south American population on this game is so low that is not worth it, and considering that every place I go I come across a fellow Brazilian and that I call friends to this game that are instantly tuned off by the “dollar only international credit card paying method”, I can say that they are there.

Show that you care for people outside of the USA and EU too anet/NCsoft please, don’t just say “sorry” and leave us in the dust.

(For reference, the new doom game is 60 dollars, but in Brazil it is 200 reais (on steam), not 300 as it would be).

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i know all this, but that’s not my point. i even said in my post that having the money was not the problem to me...

i buy gems converting gold, but i also wanted to do it with money in a fair rate. i have the money to buy the expansion, but is worth the money after conversion... no!

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@wrathmagik.3518 said:You can earn gems through the game by playing and converting gold to gems. You have plenty of time to save up for the expansion.

You can't buy expansions with gems.

@Karkara.9067 said:The fact that anet/NCsoft obliviously don’t care for regional pricing is very puzzling to me, every new MMO do it, if not by themselves they use steam that make it for them for “free”.

What is to stop someone from using VPN to get the better deal?

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It's not puzzling at all. Anet is a company that works in American dollars so it makes sense they use American dollars when it's suits them to do so. Even if did the extra work and they sold there services to you in whatever regional currency was relevant to you ... the price would likely be fixed to the original cost of that service in American dollars PLUS the cost of delivering that service to you IN THAT REGION. That would not only include conversion fees to American dollars (which you already pay), but whatever other fees, including the administration costs of the individual regions handling.

Basically, you might not see it ... but you're getting as good a deal as you're going to get. Asking Anet to do more for you isn't going to save your money. That conversion isn't going to go away because you don't think it's fair to you.

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you can link it to the credcard origin, or bank origin, like steam does, or billing address, the money have a trail, so unless you are using a fraudulent method to buy, you can trace the origin.

steam does this for almost every game, as does EPIC, as does GoG, the methods are there, its not like its new technology.

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@Obtena.7952 said:It's not puzzling at all. Anet is a company that works in American dollars so it makes sense they use American dollars when it's suits them to do so. Even if they sold there services to you in whatever regional currency was relevant to you ... the price would likely be fixed to the original cost of American dollars PLUS the cost of delivering that service to you IN THAT REGION. That would not only include conversion fees to American dollars (which you already pay), but whatever other fees, including the administration costs of the individual regions handling.

yes, it suits then to a point, considering they must have an expressive non-USA playerbase.the consept of regional pricing is not selling the game at the same price but in another corrency, but selling the game at a price that is equivalent to the price it is in the USA. so the game will cost less in a direct conversion, but considering the country buying power, it will be the same (fair) to them.

refer to the exemple i gave, DOOM eternal is 60 USD, but in Brazil it is sold in steam for 200BZR (40 USD), and not 300 BZR (that would be 60 USD).

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@Karkara.9067 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:It's not puzzling at all. Anet is a company that works in American dollars so it makes sense they use American dollars when it's suits them to do so. Even if they sold there services to you in whatever regional currency was relevant to you ... the price would likely be fixed to the original cost of American dollars PLUS the cost of delivering that service to you IN THAT REGION. That would not only include conversion fees to American dollars (which you already pay), but whatever other fees, including the administration costs of the individual regions handling.

yes, it suits then to a point, considering they must have an expressive non-USA playerbase.the consept of regional pricing is not selling the game at the same price but in another corrency, but selling the game at a price that is equivalent to the price it is in the USA. so the game will cost less in a direct conversion, but considering the country buying power, it will be the same (fair) to them.

The price of the game is not primarily determined by where it's sold. It's determined primarily by covering the costs that goes into making it and delivering to you as a service as well as the margins desired. I see no reason for a global service provider to consider the financial situations of various regions to provide you a service so you feel it's fair. That doesn't make sense ... and not just in this industry ... in all industries.

refer to the exemple i gave, DOOM eternal is 60 USD, but in Brazil it is sold in steam for 200BZR (40 USD), and not 300 BZR (that would be 60 USD).

and? That example is irrelevant here. Anet doesn't make DOOM eternal. However that's offered has nothing to do with GW2 and Anet. Don't assume that Anet offering you regional pricing is going to be a better deal for you than you would get otherwise. That's a pretty bad assumption to make. If regional pricing causes a company to do something exceptional and it cost more, you can bet that is passed onto the people in the individual regions.

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that's a naive way of thinking it.

as the difference between dollar and the native currency increases, most people will most likely pirate a game than paying a unrealistic price on it, if a company sell for less, in a country that would not buy the game anyway because is too expensive, it will win more money than what it would before. The balance is positive in the end, and that’s what make it worth it.In essence you gain a costumer that would never buy your game in the first place (and if this was a SP game this would be pirated, because people would want to play it anyway)

the example is to show a company that uses regional pricing, for your understanding. but i can give a MMO that use-it too like ESO if needed.

(you can do the research about it if you never heard about it, but every major company do it one way or another.)

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@Karkara.9067 said:that's a naive way of thinking it.

No it is not. it's the REALISTIC way of thinking of it. It will be funny to see someone try to 'pirate' a service-based offering like GW2 ... do not assume regional pricing will make the game relatively cheaper in your region than the base cost in the USA.

I'm not debating other companies do what you are asking. That's not relevant here. If you don't think currency rates are going to impact your regional pricing of a service ... then it is not I that is naive.

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@Obtena.7952 said:

@Karkara.9067 said:that's a naive way of thinking it.

No it is not. it's the REALISTIC way of thinking of it. It will be funny to see someone try to 'pirate' a service like GW2 ... do not assume regional pricing will make the game cheaper than the base cost in the USA.

People pirate MMO's all the time, i'll not show you here, because of terms of service, but believe me, they do!

I think we are in a loop here, so i'll not argue anymore. But i do recommend you to look this further, A lot of companies do this, and i understand why living in America you may not realize this, because it doesn't affect you, but almost every single big company does this, regardless if it is online or not. this is not new, and believe you me, if big triple A companies, and even some indies are doing it, its because it's worth it, they don’t make decisions that lose then money.

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@Karkara.9067 said:

@Karkara.9067 said:that's a naive way of thinking it.

No it is not. it's the REALISTIC way of thinking of it. It will be funny to see someone try to 'pirate' a service like GW2 ... do not assume regional pricing will make the game cheaper than the base cost in the USA.

People pirate MMO's all the time,

Then you can play that pirated version of GW2 and save your money ... what's the problem?

because it's worth it

OK ... so you're assuming it's worth it for Anet to give you a deal on GW2? How so? Do you think their business model depends on expansion sales or gem store sales? Does the amount you would spend in the gem store after the expansion is released offset Anet's lost revenue to offer you a deal in your regional currency on the expansion, IF that was even something that would happen? I'm going to bet NO.

So you see, you can appeal to how 'great' this would be for Anet all you like ... but if you understand the business model this game is built around, it's not worth it for them to do this. You think you know better what decisions Anet should be making to not lose money? You are somehow MORE qualified than Anet to make these decisions, simply based on what you see happening in Steam? I'm doubtful.

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@Karkara.9067 said:that's a naive way of thinking it.

as the difference between dollar and the native currency increases, most people will most likely pirate a game than paying a unrealistic price on it, if a company sell for less, in a country that would not buy the game anyway because is too expensive, it will win more money than what it would before. The balance is positive in the end, and that’s what make it worth it.In essence you gain a costumer that would never buy your game in the first place (and if this was a SP game this would be pirated, because people would want to play it anyway)

the example is to show a company that uses regional pricing, for your understanding. but i can give a MMO that use-it too like ESO if needed.

(you can do the research about it if you never heard about it, but every major company do it one way or another.)

Each company is different, but perhaps anet keeps the pricing where it is because so few have bought it? At the same time, im pretty sure they keep the price = to 60 USD everywhere in the world do they not?

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@Obtena.7952 said:

Then you can play that pirated version of GW2 and save your money ... what's the problem?

sigh... i'll not pirate the game!

@Dante.1763 said

Each company is different, but perhaps anet keeps the pricing where it is because so few have bought it? At the same time, im pretty sure they keep the price = to 60 USD everywhere in the world do they not?

i think europe have different pricing than the 1 dollar=1 euro thing (if not here is another place where they should apply this).

you may have a point in saying this, but at the same time, this may be the reason there are less people outside from NA. i don’t know anet metrics on this, so i cant only judge based on my experience here. but i do believe there is an expressive SA player base in this game.

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@Karkara.9067 said:

Then you can play that pirated version of GW2 and save your money ... what's the problem?

sigh... i'll not pirate the game!

I'm not suggesting you pirate the game. You're using piracy as a justification to get a better deal in regional currency ... I'm simply letting you know if you want that better deal, you can play the pirated version. Anet competing with piracy in your region by lowering their cost to you in that region is an absurd proposition. Here is why

It's not possible for Anet to complete with pirates because Anet has to consider the cost of developing the game in their business model and pricing. Pirates don't. Seems to me there are canyon-sized cracks in your logical approach as well as your basic knowledge of how economics and service industries work ... and YOU are going to tell us what decisions Anet should be making to not lose money? Gotcha!

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@Hannelore.8153 said:While I can sympathise with your concern its not going to happen because then people would try to cheat the system and get friends to use currency from other countries to buy the game for cheaper, that's why its a fixed price point in every country.

Thank you,yes, but they could use codes that can only be activated in the region that is bought , like steam does, where if you buy a game from Brazil you can’t activate it in the US, counter measures to this kind of thing exists.

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@Obtena.7952 said:

I'm not suggesting you pirate the game. You're using piracy as a justification to get a better deal in regional currency ... I'm simply letting you know if you want that better deal, you can play the pirated version. Anet competing with piracy in your region by lowering their cost to you in that region is an absurd proposition. Here is why

It's not possible for Anet to complete with pirates because Anet has to consider the cost of developing the game in their business model and pricing. Pirates don't. Seems to me there are canyon-sized cracks in your logical approach as well as your basic knowledge of how economics and service industries work ... and YOU are going to tell us what decisions Anet should be making to not lose money? Gotcha!

Ok friend. I'm just giving then my opinion, and my experience, the decision is up to anet/NCsoft, they may choose to ignore it, or not. But now at least they know someone else think this is a problem, and that there may be a solution.

You may think regional pricing is impossible or is not viable, but this discussion is old, today companies adopted it already, and that’s because it is worthy for them, if it worthy for Anet/NCsoft that’s for their financial department, i just gave my opinion on it.

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@Karkara.9067 said:

I'm not suggesting you pirate the game. You're using piracy as a justification to get a better deal in regional currency ... I'm simply letting you know if you want that better deal, you can play the pirated version. Anet competing with piracy in your region by lowering their cost to you in that region is an absurd proposition. Here is why

It's not possible for Anet to complete with pirates because Anet has to consider the cost of developing the game in their business model and pricing. Pirates don't. Seems to me there are canyon-sized cracks in your logical approach as well as your basic knowledge of how economics and service industries work ... and YOU are going to tell us what decisions Anet should be making to not lose money? Gotcha!

Ok friend. I'm just giving then my opinion, and my experience, the decision is up to anet/NCsoft, they may choose to ignore it, or not. But now at least they know someone else think this is a problem, and that there may be a solution.

Their business model determines what and how customers get charged. That boat has sailed ... like a decade ago. It's not a problem just because you dislike it. In fact, what you have done here is propose a problem to the solution you want. The fact is that the 'solution' already exists: we know expansions go on sale

You may think regional pricing is impossible or is not viable ...

.. and I don't think that. I just understand that regional pricing is not necessarily going to lead you to get a 'regionally fair' price for GW2 expansion because of 'knowledge'. Somehow you have convinced yourself of it because of what other people do. Not everyone is following a single business model and it's not sensible to think that Anet will change theirs because you think the pricing is unfair to you because of where you live and the currency you use.

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@Obtena.7952 said:

Then you can play that pirated version of GW2 and save your money ... what's the problem?

sigh... i'll not pirate the game!

I'm not suggesting you pirate the game. You're using piracy as a justification to get a better deal in regional currency ... I'm simply letting you know if you want that better deal, you can play the pirated version. Anet competing with piracy in your region by lowering their cost to you in that region is an absurd proposition. Here is why

It's not possible for Anet to complete with pirates because Anet has to consider the cost of developing the game in their business model and pricing. Pirates don't. Seems to me there are canyon-sized cracks in your logical approach as well as your basic knowledge of how economics and service industries work ... and YOU are going to tell us what decisions Anet should be making to not lose money? Gotcha!Not sure why you are even having that argument, you cant pirate GW2 expansions unless you literally hack Anet servers to enable it on your account.

I honestly dont even understand what OP is talking about. Why would the game be "5x more expensive"? That's not how currency conversion works. If the expansion cost $40... it's gonna cost around 200 reais + if there is any local taxes added. Because that's $40. The simplest way is obviously to check what PoF cost today and slap another $10 on it because that's most likely what a new expansion will cost unless Anet do something really, really fancy.

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@Dawdler.8521 said:

Then you can play that pirated version of GW2 and save your money ... what's the problem?

sigh... i'll not pirate the game!

I'm not suggesting you pirate the game. You're using piracy as a justification to get a better deal in regional currency ... I'm simply letting you know if you want that better deal, you can play the pirated version. Anet competing with piracy in your region by lowering their cost to you in that region is an absurd proposition. Here is why

It's not possible for Anet to complete with pirates because Anet has to consider the cost of developing the game in their business model and pricing. Pirates don't. Seems to me there are canyon-sized cracks in your logical approach as well as your basic knowledge of how economics and service industries work ... and YOU are going to tell us what decisions Anet should be making to not lose money? Gotcha!Not sure why you are even having that argument, you cant pirate GW2 expansions unless you literally hack Anet servers to enable it on your account.

I honestly dont even understand what OP is talking about. Why would the game be "5x more expensive"? That's not how currency conversion works. If the expansion cost $40... it's gonna cost around 200 reais + if there is any local taxes added. Because that's $40. The simplest way is obviously to check what PoF cost today and slap another $10 on it because that's most likely what a new expansion will cost unless Anet do something really, really fancy.

It doesnt always work out that way though. For example there was a shirt i wanted in the US for a band, cost 30$+10$ for shipping for the size i wanted but it was out of stock, looked at EU, same shirt, size. 50$ +10$ shipping. I know they have a tax, but ive never seen it -that- high for a shirt.

Ive seen video games and even video game consoles cost more in other countries than they do in the US, do taxes have alot to do with it? yes. they do, but instead of marking it up to make up for the taxes they mark it up even further than needed. Brazil has been a pretty bad offender due to the taxes they have/had.

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@Karkara.9067 said:

@Hannelore.8153 said:While I can sympathise with your concern its not going to happen because then people would try to cheat the system and get friends to use currency from other countries to buy the game for cheaper, that's why its a fixed price point in every country.

Thank you,yes, but they could use codes that can only be activated in the region that is bought , like steam does, where if you buy a game from Brazil you can’t activate it in the US, counter measures to this kind of thing exists.That would mean if you ever moved into another country, your game would stop working and you'd need to buy another (and start over). And forget about choosing between EU and NA zones on your own as well, most likely. That's... not an ideal solution, to put it very mildly.

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@"Dawdler.8521" said:

I honestly dont even understand what OP is talking about. Why would the game be "5x more expensive"? That's not how currency conversion works. If the expansion cost $40... it's gonna cost around 200 reais + if there is any local taxes added. Because that's $40. The simplest way is obviously to check what PoF cost today and slap another $10 on it because that's most likely what a new expansion will cost unless Anet do something really, really fancy.

No friend, in a direct conversion, yes, 40USD= 200 BZR, but, that doesn’t mean that considering inflation, buying power and other economic aspects of a country, that 200 BZR is equivalent to 40 USD, that’s simplifying. As it is right now i do pay that "200 reais" on a 40 USD game + bank conversion fees, but that does not mean 200 reais is worth it (if you take in to account the average wage of Brazil).

I think is harder for people not used to convert and calculate currency value Vs relative worth of a product all the time, but if you live abroad (in a”3 world country” or devalued currency to dollar country) you’ll get it.

But imagine if the expansion is 40 USD, but in the region you live you have to pay 60 (considering that all the other economic variables are the same) that’s the level of disparity we are talking here.

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