Core game and new player issues

[Altosk.8492]

Is there a reason why you aren't able to upgrade just the core account and remove the free to play restrictions? According to GW2 Account Types, there are 3 account types available but anet only offers the expansions as a means for new players to upgrade their accounts. As a veteran player I'm there with probably everyone else and saying that any new players should buy the expansion because they're worth it but for new players who just want the core game without the restrictions the f2p version has, there are literally no options available. Anet offers no core game upgrade and their listed retailers don't even supply them anymore. Not only that but core game features that we all began with like character bag slots, extra character slots, guild bank access, map chat, pvp chat, a decent portion of the trading post and even login rewards which was introduced before HoT are currently being locked behind either of the expansions. I'm gad this game has a f2p version that allows new players to try it out but anet absolutely needs to supply a way to upgrade just the core accounts. I just had a couple friends try the game and quit because they weren't interested in either of the expansions as of right now but felt that the f2p version was to restrictive with no option to unlock the core features. For real, you guys should try playing this game with only 3 bag slot..

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

There are a few copies of Core GW2 available, here and there.
Still, for the low price of $30, one can acquire the expansion of choice, AND the core game. One never need set foot in the expansion, and still get the core game for less than it was initially offered.

Or...wait for one of the sales that might happen, later on.

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

It's right in the gem store.

[Ceridwen.6703]

@"Ayumi Spender.1082" said:It's right in the gem store.

Can Free Players use that? I've tried to find out with a quick search, but the search failed me on the specifics. It seems silly if they couldn't use it, but we should clarify all the same. :)

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

@Ceridwen.6703 said:

@"Ayumi Spender.1082" said:

It's right in the gem store.

Can Free Players use that? I've tried to find out with a quick search, but the search failed me on the specifics. It seems silly if they couldn't use it, but we should clarify all the same. :)

Went and check and...

Hey um... Arenanet?This is on my new/old account that I used to use when I was a free account and wanted to try classes that I didn't have room to try anymore (because I used up all the free space and didn't want to delete the characters I've made to try them out) and um... why can I only get the expansion and not the digital upgrade?

What if that account was held by a player that didn't see a need for HoT as they didn't find anything interesting in it (at the moment), or the mounts isn't a big seller for them (At the moment) and would probably get those expansion down the road, but just wanted to not be a free account no more?

Why only after I have HoT (I've seen it in the gem store before PoF) or any expansion I would assume? I would assume most would not want/touch/buy the digital upgrade after getting the expansion(s)...

This seems... really super weird to me.

[Gendo.4615]

there is a humble bundle available now with the core game

https://www.humblebundle.com/yogscast-jingle-jam-2017

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Digital Deluxe upgrades for Core, HoT or PoF (there are 3 distinct editions) only upgrade a Standard paid account to a Deluxe paid account. They can not be used to turn a Play4Free account into a paid account.

[MarshallLaw.9260]

Just to clarify a few points mentioned above.The core game became free to play with a few restrictions from August 2015. Accounts purchased prior to this were regular core game accounts. Because all the core content became free to play anyway, buying it became pointless.

Purchasing either of the 2 expansions will remove restrictions (like the 3 bag slots) for any account. At present, it is possible to get Heart of Thorns for $13 and Path of Fire for $24 (total $37) which is by the way cheaper than the original core game cost and less than the price of Heart of Thorns at launch.This means that by paying $13 you can get the same account as people had at launch of core andHOT content.Think of it as paying for dinner and getting a rather large, free desert; nobody is forcing you to play the HOT content, you just get it unlocked.

If the point of your post is that this is too much to pay if you aren't interested in HOT - I would have to disagree.

The digital deluxe upgrade is unfortunately only available to upgrade a purchased account.

Edit: just noticed that the digital deluxe is 2k gems which is about 25 USD (perhaps?)- that's more than the HOT or POF expansion.

[Danikat.8537]

I agree with everyone else - why not just buy an expansion? It's the same price as the core game was (cheaper than it was at launch) so you're not losing anything by getting that and it means if you ever do want the expansion it's there waiting for you, instead of having to pay out again to get it.

If I was going to upgrade my free account (or get a 3rd account), or if a friend had tried the free version and asked me what to buy I'd absolutely recommend getting one of the expansions rather than trying to find just the core game for sale somewhere.

(Oh and as other people have said the Digital Deluxe upgrade does not turn a free account into a paid account, all it does is add the extras that came with the deluxe version over the normal one - the rytlock mini, mistfire wolf, guild influence, banker golem and maybe some other stuff.)

[Urud.4925]

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:At present, it is possible to get Heart of Thorns for $13 and Path of Fire for $24 (total $37)

Let's remain on the legal/official site: the price is 30€ (not sure how many $). You can find a key for less ofc, but not everyone can/wants to buy from untrusted sources.

[MarshallLaw.9260]

@Urud.4925 said:

@"MarshallLaw.9260" said:At present, it is possible to get Heart of Thorns for $13 and Path of Fire for $24 (total $37)

Let's remain on the legal/official site: the price is 30€ (not sure how many $). You can find a key for less ofc, but not everyone can/wants to buy from untrusted sources.

There is nothing illegal about CDkeys - it's a fairly reputable site, I've never heard of issues there. Others can obviously read reviews for themselves. I agree it's not the "official" GW2 site but it is 100% a viable option.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

@Urud.4925 said:

@"MarshallLaw.9260" said:At present, it is possible to get Heart of Thorns for $13 and Path of Fire for $24 (total $37)

Let's remain on the legal/official site: the price is 30€ (not sure how many $). You can find a key for less ofc, but not everyone can/wants to buy from untrusted sources.

Walmart has Heart of Thorns for $8.60, an Authorized Retailer. DLGamer sells HoT for $18.00, Path of Fire for $26.00, again an Authorized Retailer.Amazon even has a Core Heroic Edition available.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/retailers/#UnitedStates-physical

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

@Altosk.8492 said:For real, you guys should try playing this game with only 3 bag slot..

Did it. Had a blast. Upgraded to HoT when there was no more free story to play. Didn't notice for weeks that there were now extra bag slots.

[Vayne.8563]

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:

@Urud.4925 said:

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:At present, it is possible to get Heart of Thorns for $13 and Path of Fire for $24 (total $37)

Let's remain on the legal/official site: the price is 30€ (not sure how many $). You can find a key for less ofc, but not everyone can/wants to buy from untrusted sources.

There is nothing illegal about CDkeys - it's a fairly reputable site, I've never heard of issues there. Others can obviously read reviews for themselves. I agree it's not the "official" GW2 site but it is 100% a viable option.

It's not illegal as in against the law. However, CDkeys doesn't buy keys from Anet they resell keys bought by other players. And as far as that goes, that's fine, except that it's technically against the TOS, or so I believe. But even if it's not, at least some of those keys are purchased by gold sellers using stolen cards. Those keys end up as charge backs. Even if they replace the key, the damage is already done.

Once you get a bad key that way, your account gets closed, permanently and that is the proverbial that. There's a list of authorized resellers for a reason and not using them comes with a risk.

[Altosk.8492]

@"Ayumi Spender.1082" said:It's right in the gem store.

This isn't available for new accounts. Also new accounts can only transfers gems>gold and aren't allows to do gold>gem.

@"Gendo.4615" said:there is a humble bundle available now with the core game

https://www.humblebundle.com/yogscast-jingle-jam-2017

This is a rip off for anyone who just wanted GW2. That's 35$ for the heroic edition and a 25% discount voucher for PoF.

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:Just to clarify a few points mentioned above.The core game became free to play with a few restrictions from August 2015. Accounts purchased prior to this were regular core game accounts. Because all the core content became free to play anyway, buying it became pointless.

Purchasing either of the 2 expansions will remove restrictions (like the 3 bag slots) for any account. At present, it is possible to get Heart of Thorns for $13 and Path of Fire for $24 (total $37) which is by the way cheaper than the original core game cost and less than the price of Heart of Thorns at launch.This means that by paying $13 you can get the same account as people had at launch of core andHOT content.Think of it as paying for dinner and getting a rather large, free desert; nobody is forcing you to play the HOT content, you just get it unlocked.

If the point of your post is that this is too much to pay if you aren't interested in HOT - I would have to disagree.

The digital deluxe upgrade is unfortunately only available to upgrade a purchased account.

Edit: just noticed that the digital deluxe is 2k gems which is about 25 USD (perhaps?)- that's more than the HOT or POF expansion.

There should be a 10-15$ option to remove the f2p restrictions. Money isn't the issue here but the fact that they are forced into purchasing the expansions to get key core game features like unrestricted trading post, map/pvp chat, guild bank access, forum access and login rewards. I'm there with everyone else and told them to just grab PoF for the mounts alone but they had no interest in them because central tyria had waypoints. For us yeah, it's cheap as hell compared to what it once was but for new players this option should absolutely be available regardless of what you get with HoT/PoF.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

@Urud.4925 said:

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:At present, it is possible to get Heart of Thorns for $13 and Path of Fire for $24 (total $37)

Let's remain on the legal/official site: the price is 30€ (not sure how many $). You can find a key for less ofc, but not everyone can/wants to buy from untrusted sources.

Walmart has Heart of Thorns for $8.60, an Authorized Retailer. DLGamer sells HoT for $18.00, Path of Fire for $26.00, again an Authorized Retailer.Amazon even has a Core Heroic Edition available.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/retailers/#UnitedStates-physical

This is actually a physical copy being sold by VIPOUTLET through walmart so it's kinda questionable. Despite who ever sells sales of the game it doesn't take away from the fact that Anet themselves should have the option to buy a digital key for the base game for new players to lift the restrictions.

[MarshallLaw.9260]

@Vayne.8563 said:

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:

@Urud.4925 said:

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:At present, it is possible to get Heart of Thorns for $13 and Path of Fire for $24 (total $37)

Let's remain on the legal/official site: the price is 30€ (not sure how many $). You can find a key for less ofc, but not everyone can/wants to buy from untrusted sources.

There is nothing illegal about CDkeys - it's a fairly reputable site, I've never heard of issues there. Others can obviously read reviews for themselves. I agree it's not the "official" GW2 site but it is 100% a viable option.

It's not illegal as in against the law. However, CDkeys doesn't buy keys from Anet they resell keys bought by other players. And as far as that goes, that's fine, except that it's technically against the TOS, or so I believe. But even if it's not, at least some of those keys are purchased by gold sellers using stolen cards. Those keys end up as charge backs. Even if they replace the key, the damage is already done.

Once you get a bad key that way, your account gets closed, permanently and that is the proverbial that. There's a list of authorized resellers for a reason and not using them comes with a risk.

Fair enough, this is certainly a good point to take into consideration.Circling back to the topic on thread - approved retailers seem to be able to match this low price.

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

Walmart has Heart of Thorns for $8.60, an Authorized Retailer. DLGamer sells HoT for $18.00, Path of Fire for $26.00, again an Authorized Retailer.Amazon even has a Core Heroic Edition available.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/retailers/#UnitedStates-physical

[MarshallLaw.9260]

@Altosk.8492 said:

There should be a 10-15$ option to remove the f2p restrictions.

-Buying HOT removes restrictions.-HOT is under $15

Nobody forces you to touch HOT content just because it is unlocked.

[Laila Lightness.8742]

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:

@Altosk.8492 said:

There should be a 10-15$ option to remove the f2p restrictions.

-Buying HOT removes restrictions.-HOT is under $15

Nobody forces you to touch HOT content just because it is unlocked.

Read this is about those who dont want mastery pop ups and expansion content just pure core game content only

[Altosk.8492]

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:

@Altosk.8492 said:

There should be a 10-15$ option to remove the f2p restrictions.

-Buying HOT removes restrictions.-HOT is under $15

Nobody forces you to touch HOT content just because it is unlocked.

It's not under 15$ and the only places that are possibly selling that low are only because of the holiday.Edit: removed the link because it wouldn't link anets store page

[Vayne.8563]

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:

@Altosk.8492 said:

There should be a 10-15$ option to remove the f2p restrictions.

-Buying HOT removes restrictions.-HOT is under $15

Nobody forces you to touch HOT content just because it is unlocked.

And if you join a guild, even without hot content, you can access guild buffs, which isn't touching hot content at all but still getting benefits from owning HoT.

[Altosk.8492]

@Vayne.8563 said:

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:

@Altosk.8492 said:

There should be a 10-15$ option to remove the f2p restrictions.

-Buying HOT removes restrictions.-HOT is under $15

Nobody forces you to touch HOT content just because it is unlocked.

And if you join a guild, even without hot content, you can access guild buffs, which isn't touching hot content at all but still getting benefits from owning HoT.

woosh~ this is about new or existing players who want a fully unlocked core account without having to buy either of the expansions. Not about what perks you can get by being pushed into purchasing the xpacks.

[costepj.5120]

@Altosk.8492 said:

woosh~ this is about new or existing players who want a fully unlocked core account without having to buy either of the expansions. Not about what perks you can get by being pushed into purchasing the xpacks.

So what you are asking is why Anet doesn't have an option that provides less content for the same price? I guess because they didn't think anyone would buy it.

[MarshallLaw.9260]

@Altosk.8492 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@MarshallLaw.9260 said:

@Altosk.8492 said:

There should be a 10-15$ option to remove the f2p restrictions.

-Buying HOT removes restrictions.-HOT is under $15

Nobody forces you to touch HOT content just because it is unlocked.

And if you join a guild, even without hot content, you can access guild buffs, which isn't touching hot content at all but still getting benefits from owning HoT.

woosh~ this is about new or existing players who want a fully unlocked core account without having to buy either of the expansions. Not about what perks you can get by being pushed into purchasing the xpacks.

If cost is not an issue, and avoiding HOT/POF content is not difficult, what exactly is wrong with just purchasing 1 expansion pack?

edit:@Laila Lightness.8742

Mastery pop-up can be closed and wont come up again unless you come into contact with things requiring mastery e.g. some FotM. Ex-pack content is on specific non-central Tyria maps; to avoid it, just don't go there.

[Mister Asdasd.6194]

Are people complaining about getting the game half the price it used to be while also getting an expansion pack with it? WHAAAAT?

[DeanBB.4268]

I've bought multiple GW2's (boxed, core) off Amazon for cheap. The last two I bought, I first received apparently used copies as no CD keys were included for what were supposed to be new copies. I just returned them and ordered another pair, which were fine. They are as little as $10 now.