Before Guild Wars 2 Releases on Steam.... Hear me out.

[SirPuddlesworth.6783]

Please make season 2 free.

Think about this for a little while, Season 1 is core now, it's free, that's great!

Silverwastes (The lead up to Heart of Thorns) is a free to access area for anyone who has an account.

Lets think about this from a new player perspective.

They download GW2 on Steam, they grind to level 80, bam! Great! What's next? Finish the core story? Great, done. They've now got this kind of limbo state where they're between the base game and the first expansion and they don't really know what to do. 

In order to even get up to speed with the story leading up the HoT they have to pay gems with money, or grind an insane amount of gold for a new player to grind to get enough gems and buy the season, that's before they even think about getting the expansion. I could imagine this could be a huge TURN OFF. 

The team should at the very LEAST make season 2 free, this could in-fact improve expansion sales beyond what they are already, by giving the new player a taste of what the expansion could be they're left on the very edge. The cliffhanger of season 2 was pretty decent, it leaves you wanting to dive in and catch you know who with that egg.

Listen, there's a hundred other changes they should make before releasing it on steam, as well as the obvious "Let us continue with our existing accounts" and such. 

I personally think that there's never been a more disappointing approach to that side of things. Knowing that I won't even play the Steam release because of that problem. However I'm putting that aside to think of the new player experience.

In an ideal world Anet would also give a fresh coat of paint on the tech behind the core Tyria story as the mechanics are blegh. I couldn't go back and re-do the story after seeing Anet flex their technical prowess in their most recent expansion.

They've raised the bar, so we should do.

 

Always strive for more.

[kharmin.7683]

No.

 

[Lucy.3728]

When I returned to GW 2 after a pause of 7 years, I was in this situation that I got thrown into HoT without season 2 and kitten I knew who these ppl were, why they knew me and why I should care about them. I disliked the entire HoT story, esp. the npcs around me that wouldn't stop talking and babbling.

It was a pain in the kitten to play through.

I finished the last HoT mission after I played through PoF and part of ice brood saga (that was given away when I came back). And to top it all off: since I didn't like to play it but wanted to finish it, I asked friends for help. I died quite early in that arena fight and was teleported away and stuck in a cage I couldn't get out of.

I had to watch, from far far away, how the rest played my last mission without that I could participate. What a laugh.

 

A season to introduce and connect would have helped to actually have fun. And not let me idle the almost entire end battle would have helped too.

[TexZero.7910]

Not quite what they should do.

 

They should bundle every LW with the purchase of the expansions though.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

So, double the price of expansions, then? 

[Khisanth.2948]

What they need to do is a "Re-return to..." for the steam launch 🙂

"Join now and get these free stuff for a limited time" is a proven strategy ...

[Xelqypla.6817]

New players start the game regardless of what's going on.

 

"Before they launch on Steam", all they need to do is find a better way of directing newbies through the content. They don't need to give everything away for free just because someone thinks it's fun.

[AgentMoore.9453]

Making S2 free isn't a dire 'o lawd we need this' proposition, but I wouldn't be opposed; this idea also got a fair amount of traction over on the GW2 subreddit. The game would be fine if S2 remained pay-for content, but it also wouldn't suffer if it wasn't.

S1 and S2 were the foundations for everything that came after ArenaNet decided to venture into expansions, and most of S2 is just running around the core game. If new players had access to that and the core game as their starter pack, I feel like that'd be a sensible springboard from which to entice them into expansions and beyond, especially given how long it's been since those seasons were first made available. ArenaNet has expressed a long-term intent to keep releasing content and they have already put another living world season and expansion on that list, so they won't be running out of stuff to monetize anytime soon.

As content ages out, they seem keen to discount or otherwise roll it into other purchases to make the game more attractive to prospective new users which, if you consider how much stuff is actually available to purchase, makes sense as the years go by. If this were to happen with living story seasons as well, I would not be surprised. The way of sales is that nearly everything eventually ends up in the clearance bin after its time has passed. For that reason alone, I have no issue with discounting or consolidating old content into the purchase of other things, especially when that content mostly occurs in areas that come with the base game.

[DeanBB.4268]

Is it Wednesday already? Isn't this posted anew every Wednesday, rather than adding to the previous Wednesday's post? Wait, it's only Sunday? Something's broken!

I could see Anet making S1 and S2 free, so new F2P players could play everything up to the first expansion. Leave them with that cliffhanger so they buy.

On the other hand, Steam players are used to the concept of DLCs, so just clearly describing what all the products are and including some bundles on the Steam store page would work just fine, too.

And go back and redo the core game? Before Steam? When are they hoping to release it?

[TexZero.7910]

9 hours ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

So, double the price of expansions, then? 

Not where i was going with that. Sure they could go that route, but they should just make it complementary with purchase for the two prior expansions.

[DebraKadabra.5278]

11 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

No.

 

I'll second that no.

[Teratus.2859]

I don't think they should make LWS2 free..

I do however think they should bundle it into the standard HoT expansion on a discount. (which I think they might do these days)

While making it a free addition if you buy either the Deluxe or Ultimate editions of the expansion.

The same goes for LWS3 and Path of Fire as well.

 

Reason for this is simple, these specific living world seasons are significantly important for these expansions, you could even argue that they are part of those expansions.. direct prologues to them due to how closely tied into the story of their respective expansions they are.

End of Dragons is the only expansion that doesn't directly set itself up so hard with living world and it's "prologue" moment if anything is actually in the expansion itself which is a first for Gw2.

 

Anet also needs to do a better job of advertising the importance of these living world seasons to their respective expansions when people are actually buying the expansions.

I wish I could trust that most people will go into such a purchase knowing that they need those seasons to know what's going on but a lot of people these days really don't pay attention to the fine print and often miss that kind of information.

This is no doubt an even more common occurrence in games that tend to attract a very large and casual audience of players.. which definitely applies to Guild Wars 2.

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Teratus.2859

[Linken.6345]

52 minutes ago, TexZero.7910 said:

Not where i was going with that. Sure they could go that route, but they should just make it complementary with purchase for the two prior expansions.

So you should have said give them away for free then?

[Dante.1508]

I personally think Steam release will be pitiful unless they let existing accounts use it as well.. No chance i'd make a steam GW2 account and go through all that 9 years grind again to play on steam..

I feel it will be dead on steam after 3 months, sadly.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Dante.1508

[Linken.6345]

42 minutes ago, Dante.1508 said:

I personally think Steam release will be pitiful unless they let existing accounts use it as well.. No chance i'd make a steam GW2 account and go through all that 9 years grind again to play on steam..

I feel it will be dead on steam after 3 months, sadly.

It is not for you it is for new players.

And pretty sure it will use the same servers so if only 100 players play it on steam it dont matter they will still be on full maps with everyone else.

[TexZero.7910]

3 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

So you should have said give them away for free then?

No as they would be incorporated into the expansions which last i checked are not free.

I know that's a hard distinction to make, but i was pretty clear about requiring the purchase of the expansions. That doesn't make them "free".

[Linken.6345]

21 minutes ago, TexZero.7910 said:

No as they would be incorporated into the expansions which last i checked are not free.

I know that's a hard distinction to make, but i was pretty clear about requiring the purchase of the expansions. That doesn't make them "free".

Yes without additional cost.

How much do heart of thorns cost now and you want to incorporate season 2 and season 3 in that?

Yes your asking for things for free but locked behind an expansion purchase it still make it free since its added ontop of what you already get now at no additional cost.

Edit

When you buy a car you get the car not a car + trailer+ boat + jetski.

If you got a car + trailer + boat + jetski for the price of said car then yes everthing added with a + is free of charge.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Linken.6345

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

If Heart of Thorns is free with Path of Fire, adding a couple of Living World Seasons at no additional cost would be making them free.  That's not a 'hard distinction' to make. 

[Healix.5819]

They'll probably never bundle it because it would be better to repeat the replay after Steam to keep them active for longer. They could alternatively just tie it to the login rewards, which would potentially keep people logging in daily for years.

[Elricht Kaltwind.8796]

On 5/8/2022 at 5:30 AM, SirPuddlesworth.6783 said:

They download GW2 on Steam, they grind to level 80, bam! Great! What's next? Finish the core story? Great, done. They've now got this kind of limbo state where they're between the base game and the first expansion and they don't really know what to do. 

Probably buy season 2, the same way everyone else does at that point. Why does this change just because they're on Steam?

[kharmin.7683]

On 5/8/2022 at 5:30 AM, SirPuddlesworth.6783 said:

They download GW2 on Steam, they grind to level 80, bam! Great! What's next? Finish the core story? Great, done. They've now got this kind of limbo state where they're between the base game and the first expansion and they don't really know what to do. 

In order to even get up to speed with the story leading up the HoT they have to pay gems with money, or grind an insane amount of gold for a new player to grind to get enough gems and buy the season, that's before they even think about getting the expansion. I could imagine this could be a huge TURN OFF. 

 

If they have been grinding to level 80 (and finished the core story!) as you suggest, then converting gold to 200 gems is not an insane amount of gold.  Additionally, buying 400 gems with cash for LS content is far less than a player would have spent for the time they've been grinding to level 80 had they been paying a subscription fee.

Stop asking for everything to be free.

[Arewn.2368]

The payment model for the seasons has always been wierd. 

It's free if you login while it's current. But then if you're new and trying to get into the game you get hit by a pay wall. Not only having to buy the game and it's expansions, but also having to buy seasons that no one else had to pay for when they first came out.

Like.. what? Just why.

Season 2 should be free. 

Season 3 should come with HoT 

Season 4 should come with PoF

 

You're just making it harder for people to get into the game. They're already paying for the expansions. And the game has the gem store as it's primary revenue stream.

 

People in this thread sitting here acting like these things weren't free to begin with lol if anything it  backwards, you should have to buy the seasons when they come out, and anet should be making them free as they age.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Arewn.2368

[Lion.6590]

I have been trying to get some friends into the game lately but sincerely, the living seasons are a big issue whenever they ask about the game story. Also, as a Brazilian I can definitely tell you that games like FFXIV are less expansive to get in compared to GW2, for example, if it is your first time playing FFXIV all you need to do is buy the base game and the latest expansion and you are good to go for 45 days without the need to worry about the subscription. We also have adjusted subscription fee here, GW2 does sell the expansions at a reasonable price here, but when it comes to the LS and buying gems there is no way around it and we are stuck with paying more than any subscription based games.

Trading gems to gold is a option, but let me remind your that with the steam release the influx of players buying gems with gold will certainly inflate the gems price and I doubt it will be a reasonable way for new players buy the episodes they need.

In my point of view those issues will make a lot of players drop the game with the steam release. So I agree that LS2 should be free, it is a very old core content and it doesn't brings much content compared to the following LS, I also think Anet needs to come up with a better way for new players to access the others LS.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

40 minutes ago, Arewn.2368 said:

The payment model for the seasons has always been wierd. 

It's free if you login while it's current. But then if you're new and trying to get into the game you get hit by a pay wall. Not only having to buy the game and it's expansions, but also having to buy seasons that no one else had to pay for when they first came out.

Like.. what? Just why.

Season 2 should be free. 

Season 3 should come with HoT 

Season 4 should come with PoF

 

You're just making it harder for people to get into the game. They're already paying for the expansions. And the game has the gem store as it's primary revenue stream.

 

People in this thread sitting here acting like these things weren't free to begin with lol if anything it  backwards, you should have to buy the seasons when they come out, and anet should be making them free as they age.

I don't know why people say give Season Two with Heart of Thorns, like one could somehow just purchase Heart of Thorns.  Or just purchase Path of Fire without getting Heart of Thorns.  Heart of Thorns is already free with Path of Fire.  If one is going to make that suggestion, just say Seasons Two and Three with Path of Fire. 

It's not a lot of money for an Episode:  just $2.50.  There is absolutely nothing, nor any reason, a player would need to purchase all Episodes at once.  Maybe suggest half with Gold-to-Gems and half with cash. 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

32 minutes ago, JasonLucas.4981 said:

I have been trying to get some friends into the game lately but sincerely, the living seasons are a big issue whenever they ask about the game story. Also, as a Brazilian I can definitely tell you that games like FFXIV are less expansive to get in compared to GW2, for example, if it is your first time playing FFXIV all you need to do is buy the base game and the latest expansion and you are good to go for 45 days without the need to worry about the subscription. We also have adjusted subscription fee here, GW2 does sell the expansions at a reasonable price here, but when it comes to the LS and buying gems there is no way around it and we are stuck with paying more than any subscription based games.

Trading gems to gold is a option, but let me remind your that with the steam release the influx of players buying gems with gold will certainly inflate the gems price and I doubt it will be a reasonable way for new players buy the episodes they need.

In my point of view those issues will make a lot of players drop the game with the steam release. So I agree that LS2 should be free, it is a very old core content and it doesn't brings much content compared to the following LS, I also think Anet needs to come up with a better way for new players to access the others LS.

So, no one will be exchanging Gems for Gold with said inflation giving such a good exchange?  Doubtful.