Jump to content
  • Sign Up

How would you even explain the LW monetisation scheme to new player without instantly scaring them away?


Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Dean Calaway.9718 said:

And the point being... THEY WERE A FREE UNLOCK even without pay/playing Path of Fire, so any claim "they were paid in currency" is false. Any account, even a free one, would have unlocked these for free as long they log in on the original release or in the return event just before End of Dragons.

Someone can give you a car for free, but what's the use if you don't have the driver's license to drive it?

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 1
  • Confused 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Cuks.8241 said:

So how much time does it cost now? I'm sure all players would like to spend some time (literary a few secs to login) instead of gems.

This spending time statement is just silly. For me it was completely free.

Agreed.

If we're really going down this philosophical route that it "cost you time" to unlock them I'd argue that it was still free for me because I only logged in to unlock the LW episodes on days when I was planning to log in and play anyway, so I 'spent' no more time than I would have if the episodes had not been released.

(I suppose you could argue that as a result of having more to do I spent more time playing the game than I would have if there were no new releases, but since spending time playing it is the point of a game that would be especially silly to present as a cost. It's like saying the gym 'cost me' the calories I burned off excercising.)

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see much wrong with paid content (and that's what it is), but it's still hilarious when someone tries to claim "x has price [measured in time]" because logging into the game for a second was required. In reality lw episodes were free in some short time windows and that's all it is. Does it mean they need to be free indefinitely? No. Does it mean it was never ever free? No.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Baraxan.1508 said:

The living World stuff is the only thing I don't have. How many Central Tyria Mastery points are locked up in those?

you need 49 points to complete the 3 Central Tyrian mastery tracks, there are 83 available mastery points; only 16 are tied to LWS2.

there are more mastery points for Fractals than Lliving World.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

GW2 isn't a particular expensive game for what it is BUT I still think LWS2 should be bundled into HoT for free (ie no extra price above buying HoT). It's very jarring for a new player to play through core, then LWS1 (great that you can now), buy the HoT expansion somewhere along the way because they like the game, then run into this wall of not being able to get to HoT without either skipping the story which leads directly into HoT or buying something else (LWS2) that they didn't realise they were going to need to buy.

Not sure what you do with LWS3 and LWS4 after that. Ideally they would be bundled into expansions too but, because HoT and PoF are already bundled together and pretty cheap, this might be too much revenue loss for Anet. But at least by the time a player hits LWS3 (assuming they are going through it in order) they have already done HoT (which I think is great) and are hopefully really enjoying the game and don't mind buying LW seasons.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Wolfofdivinity.6251 said:

I'm so happy player housing is happening just as I knew they would. There's nothing fun or unique about any of this....it's gonna be great! Enjoy the very same instance thousands of others will have!!! 

Umm, wrong thread maybe? There's multiple threads about player housing you could add your comments to.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Wolfofdivinity.6251 said:

I'm so happy player housing is happening just as I knew they would. There's nothing fun or unique about any of this....it's gonna be great! Enjoy the very same instance thousands of others will have!!! 

1) what does this have anything to do with LW monetization? 2) How exactly do you know the details of homesteads before they've even been announced?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Mistwraithe.3106 said:

GW2 isn't a particular expensive game for what it is BUT I still think LWS2 should be bundled into HoT for free (ie no extra price above buying HoT). It's very jarring for a new player to play through core, then LWS1 (great that you can now), buy the HoT expansion somewhere along the way because they like the game, then run into this wall of not being able to get to HoT without either skipping the story which leads directly into HoT or buying something else (LWS2) that they didn't realise they were going to need to buy.

Not sure what you do with LWS3 and LWS4 after that. Ideally they would be bundled into expansions too but, because HoT and PoF are already bundled together and pretty cheap, this might be too much revenue loss for Anet. But at least by the time a player hits LWS3 (assuming they are going through it in order) they have already done HoT (which I think is great) and are hopefully really enjoying the game and don't mind buying LW seasons.

I would bundle things differently.

Core + LWS2: proper cliffhanger to incentivize players to buy HoT/PoF.

HoT + LWS3, PoF + LWS4: both LWs are just the natural second halves of each expac.

IBS + Janthir Wilds: It seems that JW will feature some of the missed potential from the cut short IBS. Also both are in that kind of "middle ground" dev quality where they've managed to invest *some* resources/ideas but aren't out of the woods yet.

EoD + SotO: low-effort copy-pasted bait trash. 🙂

Edited by Batalix.2873
  • Confused 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Mistwraithe.3106 said:

GW2 isn't a particular expensive game for what it is BUT I still think LWS2 should be bundled into HoT for free (ie no extra price above buying HoT). It's very jarring for a new player to play through core, then LWS1 (great that you can now), buy the HoT expansion somewhere along the way because they like the game, then run into this wall of not being able to get to HoT without either skipping the story which leads directly into HoT or buying something else (LWS2) that they didn't realise they were going to need to buy.

Not sure what you do with LWS3 and LWS4 after that. Ideally they would be bundled into expansions too but, because HoT and PoF are already bundled together and pretty cheap, this might be too much revenue loss for Anet. But at least by the time a player hits LWS3 (assuming they are going through it in order) they have already done HoT (which I think is great) and are hopefully really enjoying the game and don't mind buying LW seasons.

It's not possible to purchase just Heart of Thorns; it's always bundled with Path of Fire. 

And, there's already a bundle that includes all Living World Seasons - Elder Dragon Saga Complete.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, in the past I'd said, free LS episodes were an incentive to stay connected to the game after you bought an x-pac. If you're late for the party, you had to pay to catch up. 

However, with SotO shifting things to "pay for everything or bust", those times are gone and it seems pretty much in line to pay for LS episodes. It's just like pretty every other game now.

  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did not read all replies so someone maybe said it already....

Why to make a problem where there is not one? You can buy it with in game golds!
Either they can farm golds before buying LW, with WV they will have more than enough because LW is pretty cheap. Or you  can just give them your golds, it is simple and nothing scary.

Hell, I wish all games were like this with their "DLCs".

  • Like 2
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It depends on how you look at it.

Yes... those LW are thing you purchase; But from my understanding you buy those with gems. Gems are a currency you can also obtain by playing the game normally: Gold to Gems. (others have also said this)

So you dont really need to spend real money; ofcourse, you could if you want to unlock them fast. 

There is a reason each LW-chapter is a purchase; their mini expansion with their own maps, rewards, etc. Like someone said a DLC, but not merely a single skin. Its full fledged addon's wich provides a decent amount of entertainment/value for their price... wich again; you can obtain by playing the game?

These LW's came after the release of main expansions; NOT PART OF the purchased main expansions and should be treated as paid addons.

If it was purchase with Real money only; then i would agree with you i guess. 

 

Edited by Noidea Incognito.9607
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, eXistence.3876 said:

God it's funny what GW2 gets slammed for. I swear these people are payed to write in the forums. All games have a form of DLC. Just play core game until on sale...easy and no reason to write a post about ..

I feel that it's more of the entitlement mentality.  People want everything for free.

  • Like 3
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...