An arising problem with "buying" Living world situation

[Iageri.8179]

Note: I do own all living world, this is me voicing concerns. Sorry for inconveniences. 

I'm seeing a lot of newer players flocking to the forums and reddit asking why they need to pay a separate 50$ extra to buy the Living world on top of the 50$ they spent on the "collection" that states "Get everything you need to experience Tyria, a vast LIVING WORLD" which is like buying the ultimate edition, but you got scammed out of the side goodies that come with it because no one told you how things work.

 

the collection description? I'm not going to lie, yes it delivers what Arenanet promises within the package, but out of context people think they're getting.  Well, "Everything". Which may or may not in some people's thinking process... INCLUDE The living world chapters. Only to be disappointed. 

 

I am worried, the steam release will struggle if people can't get the entire story.  I can see the "Story is inconsistent unless you buy it" "Arenanet is money grabby with their cash shop for story" reviews right now, because as someone who when I first played jumped from fighting Zhaitan to immediately going after Mordromoth in 2017. I was lost.

 

From a marketing standpoint a more expensive package is more appealing than multiple separate payments people need to make and, MAKE IT MORE CLEAR THAT WHAT YOU ARE BUYING INCLUDES THE LIVING WORLD!!! 

 

Thank you.  I love this game, I love A-net and I want to trust you guys got some kind of plan to help these new players. you even got A/B testing going on in preparation for it. I just want to voice my concerns so that this game does great.

TLDR: Worried that the separate price for Living world from a marketing perspective would hurt the steam release; thinking bundling the living world in with a collection would be more appealing to the consumer. Really wants the game in general to do well. I ❤️ gw2. 

[kharmin.7683]

This has been requested in many previous threads which can easily be found by using the forums search feature.  That Anet hasn't addressed it seems to indicate that they don't perceive this to be detrimental to their bottom line.

[Wintermute.5408]

They should start rolling old seasons into the core/respective expansion. Let's take an arbitrary number, and say that last 2 seasons +whatever is ongoing should be on sale. Make S2 and S3 free.

[SinisterSlay.6973]

Season 2 needs to be part of the free package. Otherwise most people miss it entirely and end up doing HoT first, mildly confused, then go back and do S2 when they have enough gold. And then get bored because a lot of S2 is boring compared to modern content.

[ugrakarma.9416]

Sooner or later they will review their bussness model because living worlds+xpacs is becoming huge content. I guess the remake of LS1 is something in that direction to give consistency and continuity.

Edited April 6, 2022 by ugrakarma.9416

[Mungrul.9358]

When I came back to play again, I ended up paying for the living world episodes I hadn't been around to "collect", but it was very confusing.

But having paid for it, I wouldn't complain if ANet gave it to new Collection buyers for no added cost.

 

I think there's a storm brewing for a lot of the monetisation decisions in GW2 when it hits Steam, and the more they can do to lessen that impact, the better.

[SinisterSlay.6973]

8 minutes ago, Mungrul.9358 said:

When I came back to play again, I ended up paying for the living world episodes I hadn't been around to "collect", but it was very confusing.

But having paid for it, I wouldn't complain if ANet gave it to new Collection buyers for no added cost.

 

I think there's a storm brewing for a lot of the monetisation decisions in GW2 when it hits Steam, and the more they can do to lessen that impact, the better.

The black Lion chests is not going to go over well. They can expect loot box review bombs from that alone.

[Mungrul.9358]

7 minutes ago, SinisterSlay.6973 said:

The black Lion chests is not going to go over well. They can expect loot box review bombs from that alone.

Yeah, and I think once people cotton on to build/gear templates, that'll also be a MASSIVE source of pain for ANet.

 

For a game that positively encourages making lots of alts, they sure have made a lot of boneheaded decisions that actively act against this principle (Jade Bots being the most recent anti-alt decision).

 

Specifically in response to your point about BLCs, I've made a suggestion before that they need to make the more rare items from BLCs available for direct purchase from the Gem Store, like the Permanent Bank Access Express, and I say this as someone who has willingly plonked down the cash to convert gems to gold in order to buy one.

Edited April 6, 2022 by Mungrul.9358
Expanding...

[Khisanth.2948]

11 minutes ago, Mungrul.9358 said:

For a game that positively encourages making lots of alts, they sure have made a lot of boneheaded decisions that actively act against this principle (Jade Bots being the most recent anti-alt decision).

As with everything else they are consistently inconsistent about that.

[Cuks.8241]

I think it already is an issue, Steam or no Steam.

I was at that point but much earlier in game's lifetime (started with Pof). And I dont care about story at all. I just recently, after 5 years completed all the story chapters and only because of The Return achievs even though I bought LS2 and LS3 much before when they were discounted at some point.

And I still didnt like the scheme, felt really annoyed that I have to spend additional cash to get all the content. It was not about the money. It just felt like a sneaky, hidden scheme to get more money out of me. Didnt help LS3 maps were the best source of ascended trinkets.

Now there are 4 LS a new player needs to buy. And some very active maps, important mounts in there.

[SexyMofo.8923]

I’m glad they made the game this way.  It’s an awesome move.