Steam accounts are totally barred from linking Guild Wars 1 accounts and completing Hall of Monuments achievements

[Cronos.6532]

From the Steam FAQ:

Quote

Can I link my Guild Wars 1 account to my Guild Wars 2 Steam account?

No, Guild Wars 1 accounts cannot be linked to a Guild Wars 2 account that was created via Steam. If your Guild Wars 2 account was created via Steam, you will not have the option to link a Guild Wars 1 account within the Account Management page of your ArenaNet account.

This means that if you create your Guild Wars 2 account via Steam, you get the obvious benefits of Steam, but you will permanently miss out on:

• 550 achievement points
• 22 armor skins
• 16 weapon skins
• 11 achievements (all achievements in the Hall of Monuments category are impossible to progress)
• 11 titles
• At least 4 miniatures (see below)
• 4 ranger pets
  • The black moa's Dazing Screech deals 20% more damage than the pink moa's Dazing Screech and deals 50% more defiance bar damage.
• an extrinsic reason to ever play Gw1

Bonus

Additionally, Steam accounts might be totally prevented from getting the Mini Mystical Dragon, which requires you to add some form of 2FA to your account.

Not really a big deal, as freebie minis aren't prestigious, but it does add one more thing to the very small list of totally unobtainable wardrobe unlocks for these accounts. This could be a minor disappointment for new players on Steam that turn into collectors, only to find out that they can't collect this item, like the Celebration Hat. In theory, elitist squads could even filter out Steam users by asking them to show their mini, but that probably won't happen.

Solution

Let Steam users link Gw1 accounts. But don't stop there: make all accounts equal. Let existing users link Steam accounts too!

Associated Reddit thread

Edited August 17, 2022 by Cronos.6532

[Mike.7983]

Missed opportunity to link, at the same time any die hard gw1 player would have already transitioned to gw 2 long before steam release.  This will be mainly new players who have never played either game.

[Izzy.2951]

Old Gw2 accounts should not be able to link to Steam, because Steam will get 20-30% of the earnings for purchasing expansions etc. So that will mean a huge drop in earnings for Arenanet and less developers for the game, something that dont benefit us as players.

If you are gonna pay lets say 30 euros for an expansion, you better pay them directly to Arenanet than paying it through another platform so Steam gets 20-30% of those 30 euros. 

PD: And i hope that gems are only obtainable from anet web or ingame store, so that steam dont get a cut of that money.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Izzy.2951

[Linken.6345]

7 minutes ago, Cronos.6532 said:

From the Steam FAQ:

This means that if you create your Guild Wars 2 account via Steam, you get the obvious benefits of Steam, but you will permanently miss out on:

• 550 achievement points
• 22 armor skins
• 16 weapon skins
• 11 achievements (all achievements in the Hall of Monuments category are impossible to progress)
• 11 titles
• At least 4 miniatures (see below)
• 4 ranger pets
  • The black moa's Dazing Screech deals 20% more damage than the pink moa's Dazing Screech and deals 50% more defiance bar damage.
• an extrinsic reason to ever play Gw1

Bonus

Additionally, Steam accounts might be totally prevented from getting the Mini Mystical Dragon, which requires you to add some form of 2FA to your account.

Not really a big deal, as freebie minis aren't prestigious, but it does add one more thing to the very small list of totally unobtainable wardrobe unlocks for these accounts. This could be a minor disappointment for new players on Steam that turn into collectors, only to find out that they can't collect this item, like the Celebration Hat. In theory, elitist squads could even filter out Steam users by asking them to show their mini, but that probably won't happen.

Solution

Let Steam users link Gw1 accounts. But don't stop there: make all accounts equal. Let existing users link Steam accounts too!

Are you sure you cant just buy gw1 on anet store and link it to steam gw2?

Can undestand that steam have a hard time to link 2 steam games together for some reason unbeknows to us.

[Darkobra.6439]

1 minute ago, Mike.7983 said:

Missed opportunity to link, at the same time any die hard gw1 player would have already transitioned to gw 2 long before steam release.  This will be mainly new players who have never played either game.

Thing is, I notice they have GW1 on Steam now too. Like, the complete collection. It's possible a handful of the new players might want to go back and see the original, learn about the Hall of Monuments and want to try to fill theirs out.

I don't know WHY the accounts can't link if both games are sold on the same store. 

[Mike.7983]

Since steam takes roughly 30% of costs, will gem prices increase 30% for steam users as well?

[Izzy.2951]

2 minutes ago, Mike.7983 said:

Since steam takes roughly 30% of costs, will gem prices increase 30% for steam users as well?

I havent seen yet that you can purchase gems through steam, just Expansions and living world seasons. And nope, gems prices are not going up.

[AgentMoore.9453]

2 hours ago, Darkobra.6439 said:

It's possible a handful of the new players might want to go back and see the original, learn about the Hall of Monuments and want to try to fill theirs out.

This is exactly how people learn about GW1 these days, and it was true for me as well. I got in on GW2 early, liked it, then saw there were achievements for going back and playing the first game (which I did). Not only is this some nice extra money for ArenaNet, but the game actually turned out to be quite entertaining and holds over a decade after its initial release.

If people buying GW2 through Steam won't be able to do this, I can absolutely see someone buying the game (maybe even the complete package) and then feeling burned that they can't benefit from linking, as it's something they probably won't realize until they're already invested and playing. This kind of information feels too important to be tucked into an FAQ on the ArenaNet website; this should be in bold on the Steam store page.

Huge thanks to the OP for this thread; I wasn't aware of this limitation for the Steam release and will be telling the people I know who have been considering a second (or first) account there.

[Cronos.6532]

3 hours ago, Izzy.2951 said:

So that will mean a huge drop in earnings for Arenanet

It's smaller than you think!

3 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

Are you sure you cant just buy gw1 on anet store and link it to steam gw2?

Can undestand that steam have a hard time to link 2 steam games together for some reason unbeknows to us.

Yes; they explicitly say it's not implemented / disabled. More ArenaNet's end than a Steam limitation.

[Astralporing.1957]

3 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

Are you sure you cant just buy gw1 on anet store and link it to steam gw2?

Can undestand that steam have a hard time to link 2 steam games together for some reason unbeknows to us.

No, you can't. Unfortunately, linking is done through "unifying" the Anet login account for both games. Currently, your originally separate GW1 login just gets replaced with gw2 one. And that brings us to the core of the issue - steam gw1 uses the original GW1 login system, but steam gw2 uses your steam identity for login. Both systems are not compatible.

In order for the system to work, they would probably have to redo the steam gw1 to utilize steam login for game identification (and thus link games this way), but that might have unfortunate consequences on some of the current owners of that version of GW1 game.

[The Greyhawk.9107]

51 minutes ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

No, you can't. Unfortunately, linking is done through "unifying" the Anet login account for both games. Currently, your originally separate GW1 login just gets replaced with gw2 one. And that brings us to the core of the issue - steam gw1 uses the original GW1 login system, but steam gw2 uses your steam identity for login. Both systems are not compatible.

In order for the system to work, they would probably have to redo the steam gw1 to utilize steam login for game identification (and thus link games this way), but that might have unfortunate consequences on some of the current owners of that version of GW1 game.

The typical foresight of AreneNet.

[Hanakocz.5697]

GW1 would really benefit from update to the login technology. Currently it can't remember your password at all, unless you put it as plaintext into launch parameters, which is severe security issue (if someone gets access to your computer) endangering your whole GW1&GW2 account. Other options are to have easy to remember and type in each time password, which is also security issue as such password might be easily guessable. And copying the password each time means you have it stored somewhere, that also isn't ideal.

 

GW2 has this solved by storing encrypted data (probably login token and not the password directly). GW1 getting upgrade to this technology would have great benefits in this regard, giving bigger security to the account (and many people do have both games on same account) and making logging into GW1 way easier. 

 

On top of this, then it should be easy to add "login with steam account" to GW1 as well, when it would then use your steam account credentials. This obviously wouldn't allow linking already existing accounts (as that would mean linking gw2 accounts as well), but would be better than the current system.

 

The security of your account depends on the weakest part of it, and currently GW1 is the potential weak spot and should be resolved.

[Ashen.2907]

Did you really try to support your position by stating that elitists could use the lack of a minipet to exclude players from content? No offence but if that sort of thing is necessary to make your point then your point just doesnt hold water.

[Cronos.6532]

4 hours ago, Ashen.2907 said:

Did you really try to support your position by stating that elitists could use the lack of a minipet to exclude players from content? No offence but if that sort of thing is necessary to make your point then your point just doesnt hold water.

No, it's just supplemental, really. 

The poll results are interesting, but I guess those that aren't in favour of both would simply rather dev time be spent on something that benefits more players? Both of these are almost exclusively beneficial. 

[Ashen.2907]

1 minute ago, Cronos.6532 said:

Both of these are almost exclusively beneficial. 

I suppose that would depend on how ANet's revenue sharing deal with Steam works. I would hate to think that, if I linked my GW2 account with my Steam account, my money spent on GW2 would be shared with Steam.

[DaFishBob.6518]

I would vote in this but I'm really undecided on the first question. If me being able to link my current GW2 account to Steam required that Steam get a cut of ALL account purchases instead of just Steam purchases, I wouldn't want that kind of factor to drive some prices up to maintain previously achieved profit margins.

 

The second question is an absolute yes though. I'm tempted to review bomb the purchasable GW2 collections on Steam in order to warn players that they won't be able to complete certain content if they make their main account on Steam which I envision is not a good look at all for the game even if it's not the game that's the problem.

[Ashen.2907]

4 minutes ago, DaFishBob.6518 said:

The second question is an absolute yes though. I'm tempted to review bomb the purchasable GW2 collections on Steam in order to warn players that they won't be able to complete certain content if they make their main account on Steam which I envision is not a good look at all for the game even if it's not the game that's the problem.

Which content will Steam players not be able to complete?

[DaFishBob.6518]

2 minutes ago, Ashen.2907 said:

Which content will Steam players not be able to complete?

Hall of monuments achievements, that's a part of the game regardless of how small or trivial it might be. It affects the contents of the Hall of monuments in this game and also how some NPCs respond to you. That's content that can't be completed if you make your Steam account your main. Unless a person wants to purchase the game using Steam funds they gained from items sold on the Steam marketplace, there's no reason to buy the Steam version so naturally the collections on Steam will not be recommended.

[Cronos.6532]

3 hours ago, Ashen.2907 said:

I suppose that would depend on how ANet's revenue sharing deal with Steam works. I would hate to think that, if I linked my GW2 account with my Steam account, my money spent on GW2 would be shared with Steam.

It's not really a big deal; it's the fate of most games, and likely well worth the benefits. Though it is a calculated risk. Risky enough that their current decision may actually be wrong.

Having a greater revenue share will not actually allow ArenaNet to accomplish that much. It will not make the game better. Employees will not be paid better. Much of it will go towards the company's capital and higher-ups. Some of it will go to future projects. A very small amount of what the game earns is reinvested into the game. They would not hire any more developers than usual. We don't get more content in years that Gw2 is doing better. Gw2 is at a local pak in revenue right now, anyway.

[Ashen.2907]

1 hour ago, DaFishBob.6518 said:

Hall of monuments achievements, that's a part of the game regardless of how small or trivial it might be. It affects the contents of the Hall of monuments in this game and also how some NPCs respond to you. That's content that can't be completed if you make your Steam account your main. Unless a person wants to purchase the game using Steam funds they gained from items sold on the Steam marketplace, there's no reason to buy the Steam version so naturally the collections on Steam will not be recommended.

So, you mean to "review bomb" a game for not including something that it doesnt claim to include?

[Cronos.6532]

3 minutes ago, Ashen.2907 said:

So, you mean to "review bomb" a game for not including something that it doesnt claim to include?

More that it doesn't directly claim to not include; the limitations and differences between editions should be explicitly mentioned up-front. Where they're too obscure and confusing for new players, the limitation should be removed.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Cronos.6532

[Ashen.2907]

14 minutes ago, Cronos.6532 said:

More that it doesn't directly claim to not include; the limitations and differences between editions should be explicitly mentioned up-front. Where they're too obscure and confusing for new players, the limitation should be removed.

Honest question, if the information is not available...how do we know?

 

And there is a difference between posting some helpful clarifications and a stated intention to review bomb a product.

I am honestly sitting here at my desk trying to come up with a list of products I own that listed all of the things that they DON'T include (none of which they claimed to include). The sticker on my Toyota certainly did not explicitly state that it did not come with a free dinner at my local Steakhouse.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Ashen.2907

[Cronos.6532]

3 hours ago, Ashen.2907 said:

Honest question, if the information is not available...how do we know?

That's exactly the problem. We know this is a restriction of Steam accounts, but the restriction—a somewhat critical one for some players—is hidden away in FAQ so as to not turn away prospective players. Either way, increased communication would still leave players upset. Easier to fix the root of the problem.

[DaFishBob.6518]

3 hours ago, Ashen.2907 said:

Honest question, if the information is not available...how do we know?

 

And there is a difference between posting some helpful clarifications and a stated intention to review bomb a product.

I am honestly sitting here at my desk trying to come up with a list of products I own that listed all of the things that they DON'T include (none of which they claimed to include). The sticker on my Toyota certainly did not explicitly state that it did not come with a free dinner at my local Steakhouse.

Are you getting caught up over me saying "review bomb"? It's an exaggeration to express how important I feel it is that I act. We do know that this limitation will exist upon launch, the information is available, but as of this moment it's harder to find than learning that players need to buy living world episodes separately in order to experience the entire story and I hope you know how incensed that has made people over the years.

[Linken.6345]

56 minutes ago, DaFishBob.6518 said:

Snip

learning that players need to buy living world episodes separately in order to experience the entire story and I hope you know how incensed that has made people over the years.

You do know that is changed for steam players and will be for none steam players in the future right?

 

We’ve heard your feedback that Living World unlocks should be better communicated to prospective players, so we’ll also be creating a Complete Collection bundle that includes Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire, Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons, and Living World Seasons 2 through 5 (Living World Season 1 is free for everyone).