Past living story episodes [suggestion]

[Zahld.4956]

Make past (prior to last) living story season episodes free (unlocked) with latest expansion purchase or to owners of it.

[starhunter.6015]

@Zahld.4956 said:Make past (prior to last) living story season episodes free (unlocked) with latest expansion purchase or to owners of it.

But they are already free if you just log in during the time they are live.

[Zahld.4956]

This is for new players who don't have older episodes.

[Randulf.7614]

@Zahld.4956 said:This is for new players who don't have older episodes.

How do they make money in them though if they give away for free for regular players and then again later for new players?

I’m all for a better strategy, but I’m not sure basically giving them away to all (which is what this leads to), is a good business decision

[Zahld.4956]

@Randulf.7614 said:

@Zahld.4956 said:This is for new players who don't have older episodes.

How do they make money in them though if they give away for free for regular players and then again later for new players?

I’m all for a better strategy, but I’m not sure basically giving them away to all (which is what this leads to), is a good business decision

This is a system on all missed episodes that can be encumbering to new players.

The new strategy would only encumber them with the most recent episodes where anet could make money.Old episodes have came at the cost of old retail packages that have served their uses. People and anet have gotten their use out of them. Why hinder new players with this encumbering.

[Randulf.7614]

@Zahld.4956 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:

@Zahld.4956 said:This is for new players who don't have older episodes.

How do they make money in them though if they give away for free for regular players and then again later for new players?

I’m all for a better strategy, but I’m not sure basically giving them away to all (which is what this leads to), is a good business decision

This is a system on all missed episodes that can be encumbering to new players.

The new strategy would only encumber them with the most recent episodes where anet could make money.Old episodes have came at the cost of old retail packages that have served their uses. People and anet have gotten their use out of them. Why hinder new players with this encumbering.

Ok, but again how do they replace those funds they’d no longer get? New episodes alone are already free because they reward loyalty and regular logins.

I get that it’s a problem for new players, but your idea doesn’t address a potentially large drop in income that would result

[kharmin.7683]

Farm gold. Convert to gems. LS chapters are inexpensive.

[Zahld.4956]

5 seasons worth of episodes. That's a lot of grinding.Grind wars it is.

[Zahld.4956]

And continuing. When season 10 comes, new players will never catch up or pay a ransom otherwise.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

@Zahld.4956 said:5 seasons worth of episodes. That's a lot of grinding.Grind wars it is.

Three Seasons. Can't buy Season 1, and Season 5 is yet to be released.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

Personally, I've been thinking that seasons older than "last season" should be free or bundled with expac purchase, specifically to reduce the threshold for new players.

[anninke.7469]

What about giving them all for free (to those who own the relevant expansions)? Or for just a symbolic price, like 1 - 5 gems each, just to get players to visit the gem store. It might raise the population in LW maps and that would be a good thing, right?

[maddoctor.2738]

@Randulf.7614 said:Ok, but again how do they replace those funds they’d no longer get?

I'm very positive the funds they'll be missing from the episodes going free will be a drop in the ocean compared to the funds they are gonna miss by making Heart of Thorns free with the purchase of Path of Fire. Also, you are assuming new/returning players actually buy the episodes, but they don't. When they reach the point that progress is blocked by gem purchase, they skip it. Either because they have to grind, or because since they are new-ish players that already invested in buying the expansion they aren't convinced to spend even more money on the game. Path of Fire has higher completion rates than the last 3 episodes of Season 3, this shows clearly that Episodes aren't as popular as Expansions and players buy expansions and skip Episodes completely.