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[UPDATED] Guild Wars 2 is Coming to Steam - [Merged]


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The Steam announcement on this forum includes this: "However, please note that you cannot convert an existing Guild Wars 2 account to a Steam account or convert a Steam account to a non-Steam account."

Since there is currently no way to transfer gem store skins (or anything else unlocked in the wardrobe) between accounts and they didn't mention adding one I think it's safe to assume that won't be an option either. Everything we've heard about GW2 being sold through Steam sounds like the decision is aimed entirely at attracting new players who for whatever reason won't play games that aren't on Steam, not allowing existing players to use it.

Of course it's possible something will charge in future after the delay to the Steam release, but until Anet say so I think we should assume there's been no changes and it won't be possible to use an existing account on Steam.

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@jhern.6097 said:when gw2 is finally released on steam will i be able to use my current account or will i have to create a new one? would i be able to transfer gem store skins over?no any transfer. Only for new account. So no any changes for us. This is ok.Personal I don't use steam at all, don't understand why people think that it have value.

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@lare.5129 said:

@jhern.6097 said:when gw2 is finally released on steam will i be able to use my current account or will i have to create a new one? would i be able to transfer gem store skins over?no any transfer. Only for new account. So no any changes for us. This is ok.Personal I don't use steam at all, don't understand why people think that it have value.

Steam gives access to thousands of games, often at massively cheap prices when sales come around and are extremely important for indie game companies who often rely on it due to the playerbase which runs into many millions of players across the World. The sheer volume and variety of games gives players access to so many games they would have normally not discovered.

It also gives other benefits like group chats, overlays, reviews, achievements, an easy to manage games library and other community tools for gaming groups which are often superior to what some games can offer, plus it often gets early access to games

People like to keep their libraries together and Steam allows for that given the vast majority of PC games are there

Steam isn't essential, but the benefits are extensive and it's ease of use, unrivalled community size and deep discounts is why somewhere around 20% of global PC sales go through it and why games publishers love it (unless they own their own - often inferior - in house platform)

But, to answer the OP, no you cannot use your existing account

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I'm worried, since the servers seems to be constantly attacked (DDoS) ,at least this is my explanation because I have never seem such a lag/freezebefore, so it's seems to be something from 'now'.

How they want to promote the game while serversseems to be so crappy and with no mitigation against ddos?

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Well you got me all excited! I came on here and saw that GW2 is coming to steam and I was thinking AWESOME! all my games are on steam and I can remove this 3rd party added game to steam and install the real one and log into my account.... Then I saw "by the way you can't log into your existing account (that you spent thousands of hours on)" Well I was going to come back to the game and get into Cantha but because I can't even use all my hard worked stuff for it and got played like this I'm just not coming back at all sorry. Deal breaker on that one... besides the games old any ways or you wouldn't be moving to steam.... to many new mmo's coming out this next year.

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@"Zelek.7249" said:Well you got me all excited! I came on here and saw that GW2 is coming to steam and I was thinking AWESOME! all my games are on steam and I can remove this 3rd party added game to steam and install the real one and log into my account.... Then I saw "by the way you can't log into your existing account (that you spent thousands of hours on)" Well I was going to come back to the game and get into Cantha but because I can't even use all my hard worked stuff for it and got played like this I'm just not coming back at all sorry. Deal breaker on that one... besides the games old any ways or you wouldn't be moving to steam.... to many new mmo's coming out this next year.

"many new mmos this year" where? i can think of 1 or 2...new world (OWPVP, so thats gonna be a hard sale). and star citizen (lol).besides that, steam would save you from ONE push of a button every login.a good steam launch will most definately help the game. and they are taking it seriously, by acknowledging the problems connected to it.

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  • 1 month later...

*Please note that existing Guild Wars 2 player accounts cannot be accessed via Steam

This actually is both a big problem and a non-issue for me. I already use Steam to launch Guild Wars 2 and I can try out Steam's Proton implementation from time to time (which does not work well with GW2 as of now). However, I would've happily spent my Steam Wallet on GW2 and I definitely would've loved to craft badges and earn Achievements - if they are to be available in the future. It's a let down, for sure, but I know the problems when migrating to a publishing platform, so I understand.

Still, I would've loved this and I sure hope this is re-considered in the future if/when the circumstances allows.

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lol...what's the point of going to Steam if only new players can use it; it's a 10+ year old game. You aren't going to get that many new players.

BTW: ESO had no trouble at all migrating existing accounts to Steam, maybe ask to see their notes. ;)

((Then you can share them with EVE, BDO, and FF14.))

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  • 2 weeks later...

SWTOR's Steam launch was pretty good. The game peaked as high as 30,000 players. It has obviously gone down since then, but it was a great sight to see. Normies will criticize old games despite everything, and I'm sure GW2 would get its fair share of backlash even if the game didn't run like garbage.

And the fact that existing players won't be able to migrate is incredibly moronic. SWTOR and TERA did it without breaking a sweat.

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@Maulclaw.4365 said:

And the fact that existing players won't be able to migrate is incredibly moronic. SWTOR and TERA did it without breaking a sweat.

Not being well-versed in game development, I personally would not be so quick to judge.

I don't know how long you've been playing SWTOR, but the way that game and GW2 handle accounts has been radically different over the years. An enormous proportion of upgrades/features/conveniences are account-wide in GW2 by default, whereas it took a decade for SWTOR to start letting some simple things get shared on a legacy-wide basis. Yes, certain buffs were already legacy-wide, but they were far more limited in scope than what we've long enjoyed in GW2.

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IMO existing players should be given the ability to play through Steam. Playtime, active player counts, and spending go a long way towards getting exposure through the Steam store with how the algorithms work. But it's understandable if that's not worth Steam taking a 20-30% cut from existing players. I don't think anyone should get heated about not being able to transfer their accounts to Steam.

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  • 2 weeks later...

@illutian.7630 said:BTW: ESO had no trouble at all migrating existing accounts to Steam, maybe ask to see their notes. ;)

It's primarily an issue of how monetization works for games that are on Steam. Specifically, any purchases (games, expansions, or microtransactions) made through games provided by Steam have I believe around a 30% cut that goes to Valve. It's not that they CAN'T migrate accounts, it's that they don't want to because that means veteran accounts for which Anet normally gets 100% of purchase proceeds from now make only 70% of what they used to. Once players are in-game, what client they use doesn't really matter on the user side as everyone occupies the same space and has access to the same features. Getting the game on Steam is purely to give the game exposure so that people who hadn't given the game a shot are getting advertised to on a platform that allows them to immediately download it if interested. Anet is likely willing to take a lesser cut on those new players if they assume that the number of players they get through Steam that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise is greater than the potential losses in projected profit they would have made from new players who would have been willing to go through the old client but now will go through Steam instead; I doubt they're willing to gamble their existing customer base though.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, ANET, you got me excited for about 15 seconds. Why the HELL can´t we use our existing accounts on Steam?It´s not like anyone will buy a second account just to play on Steam or anything.I play this game since launch and I spent money like maybe one or two times. Now, if I could use Steam wallet, that´s another ballgame.By not letting us migrate to Steam, you guys are passing on a hell of an oportunity to increase revenue.To make everyone excited about Steam, only to step on the breaks like this is just mean.I hope you reconsider, honestly.

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Ok, ANET, you got me excited for about 15 seconds. Why the HELL can´t we use our existing accounts on Steam?It´s not like anyone will buy a second account just to play on Steam or anything.I play this game since launch and I spent money maybe one or two times. Now, if I could use Steam wallet, that´s another ballgame.By not letting us migrate to Steam, you guys are passing on a hell of an oportunity to increase revenue.To make everyone excited about Steam, only to step on the breaks like this is just mean.I hope you reconsider, honestly.

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@Sandokhan.4913 said:Ok, ANET, you got me excited for about 15 seconds. Why the HELL can´t we use our existing accounts on Steam?

Steam takes a 30% cut. Why exactly would Arenanet be willing to forfeit that revenue on existing accounts?

It makes sense for new accounts which were created via the Steam popularity or potential increase of the player base since those are players who otherwise would maybe not have made accounts or tried/played this game. What exactly does Steam do for existing accounts though? Are you intending to spend more money on the game once it is ported to Steam? Are you willing to spend more per gem to make up for the loss in revenue? Do you think this holds true for a majority of the existing player base?

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I think there some way to move existing account on Steam. For example it can be coast 100 euro.But now let think how mane people interested that feature ? 5? 10 people?Also some ppl will feel bad, that they need pay for that, no matter have they go on Steam on not. So not any point to make that feature for small count and get negative hype from same 50 people.

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@lare.5129 said:I think there some way to move existing account on Steam. For example it can be coast 100 euro.

This is not about a one time fee. It likely has also absolutely no bearing on technical difficulties.

Steam takes a huge cut from all revenue generated through it and similar to Apple has restrictions in place that accounts created or run through them are allowed to generate revenue in a way to circumvent their cut. If we assume even only 30% of the existing player base would add their current GW2 account to Steam the loss in 30% revenue is in the millions.

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