Living World Season 2 and 3 need to be baseline for Steam release.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

They certainly need to make the expansions and LW seasons visible on the store page from the get go.

[battledrone.8315]

@aaron.7850 said:Hard to believe some people defend this.

If the game wasn't story driven there would be no problem, but again, as I said... you are buying a movie and then you are told the middle act is sold separately.

the people who like story proly wont stick around after zhaitan, and than they dont have to pay anythingthe ending of core is still abysmal

[maddoctor.2738]

I wonder how much money Anet makes from living world sales, compared to how much money they were making from Heart of Thorns before they bundled it with Path of Fire. They were willing to take a such a huge hit, same quarter HoT became free with PoF, their revenue tanked to its lowest ever level, but still refuse to do something about the living world episodes. It's just weird.

[kratan.4619]

No, steam users do not need any special treatment to get them to stay, they either will as is or they won't.

[kharmin.7683]

@kratan.4619 said:No, steam users do not need any special treatment to get them to stay, they either will as is or they won't.

If anything along this vein, current players ought to be given more incentives to stay than new ones. /shrug

[Emberheart.8426]

Perhaps they should make LW2 free, but solely because it has only story and no maps. It's simply pretty bad value compared to the rest of the seasons. That would also help transition into HoT.

The rest should remain as they are. Anet simply need to list them in Steam as DLC, and everyone will understand that the 2 expansions are not all the content. Nobody will feel misled or anything.

[Super Hayes.6890]

The current pricing is extremely cheap compared to what long time players have paid. A new player today can pay current prices and get the entire game with living world far cheaper than I did. This is a be careful what you wish for scenario. If you convince Anet to bundle this stuff my bet is that the price will end up higher than it is now seperate. IT IS CURRENTLY DIRT CHEAP FOLKS!!! Don't break something that is in a great place. Marketing is the only topic here that seems debatable but even there y'all have extremely limited info to make arguments out of.

[Ayrilana.1396]

@aaron.7850 said:

Please add Season 2 and 3 before the Steam release. Players will obviously want to buy the expansion, but most of them will not realize that they will be buying a movie with the middle act cut off.

No. It would be like buying only a few books of the Harry Potter series and then wanting the rest for free because you’re missing the rest of the story.

[Lyndina.7984]

i can already see the type of review on steam. Story is a convulated mess without the LW Stories. You go from vanilla-hot- and now you have an guild with people like braham or Kasmeer, which you never met in the story so far (because they showed up in season 1...which isnt even avaiable to buy). Who are those people? Well..okay...dont know why mordemoth is there and what happened in between...played through hot...into pof..okay...why am i suddenly huntin Balthasar? "

[Random Wax Orc.7695]

From a marketing standpoint, and to encourage new players, Anet should include the living world episodes, available as bundled DLC, when buying the game. Otherwise players will be disappointed when the find out they didn't buy the whole game. Listing all the LW episodes as DLC has the additional advantage of making the amount of GW2 content look more impressive in the Steam store.

I have all the episodes so it doesn't affect me directly, BUT it would make it easier to get friends interested enough to try the game.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

And if these 'new players' purchase said bundle, and then find out they could have acquired the content at no cost by earning it in-game?
Lamentations, yet again, just from mostly 'new players', rather than from 'vets' on their behalf.

[Goettel.4389]

A full deal would be in order but if they need Steam to find GW2 I'm not too bothered

[Random Wax Orc.7695]

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:And if these 'new players' purchase said bundle, and then find out they could have acquired the content at no cost by earning it in-game?

Lamentations, yet again, just from mostly 'new players', rather than from 'vets' on their behalf.

"earning it in-game" meaning buying gems with gold to purchase something in the gemstore? Seems a bit of a stretch to call that earning. Players routinely buy boosts for games so they don't have to grind right out of the gate. Is it possible for the description of the bundle to mention that the content could also be indirectly and inconveniently bought using in-game currency?

[Obtena.7952]

@Random Wax Orc.7695 said:

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:And if these 'new players' purchase said bundle, and then find out they could have acquired the content at no cost by earning it in-game?

Lamentations, yet again, just from mostly 'new players', rather than from 'vets' on their behalf.

"earning it in-game" meaning buying gems with gold to purchase something in the gemstore? Seems a bit of a stretch to call that earning.

What else would you call it? It's not a stretch at all ... that's exactly what you would call it. You don't earn the gold playing the game?

I wouldn't get hung up on semantics here to disagree with a very reasonable point being made here.

[Vancho.8750]

They should just add several packs for content purchase like the rest of the games with DLC on Steam.

[kharmin.7683]

@Random Wax Orc.7695 said:Is it possible for the description of the bundle to mention that the content could also be indirectly and inconveniently bought using in-game currency?That's a matter of perspective. I find purchasing the content in game with in game currency to be quite convenient. Also, how is it indirect?

[Random Wax Orc.7695]

@kharmin.7683 said:

@Random Wax Orc.7695 said:Is it possible for the description of the bundle to mention that the content could also be indirectly and inconveniently bought using in-game currency?That's a matter of perspective. I find purchasing the content in game with in game currency to be quite convenient. Also, how is it indirect?

That was a rhetorical question, because obviously a bundle can include such information in its description. Hence, the claims offering a Living Story Bundle to new players is unfair or disappointing to new players are all illogical claims. How can anyone have an issue with providing potential new players with more options and more information? Everything else is just opinion.

As for opinion, I keep hearing conversations in starter maps about getting mounts, and living story content (beetle/skyscale). New players are almost always disappointed to hear they have to grind for gold to buy something in the gemstore, that they didn't know they would need a few minutes before. That I would find inconvenient, and I suspect they do too. Again, another opinion, the gemstore is not in-game even if the gold you used to buy gems was earned in-game. If buying from the gemstore could be considered earning in-game, then pay-to-win would not be a thing. Yet, that is irrelevant, just an opinion. The real point is the first paragraph.

[Bristingr.5034]

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@aaron.7850 said:

@kharmin.7683 said:Or, perhaps, new players can purchase LW2/3 with gems once they get to that point in the story.

New players wont have enough gold to cover all that by that time.

Luckily they can purchase gems with money. Many games have DLCs that are not included in the expansions. Some of them, such as ESO, offer subscriptions for access to this content but Anet has not indicated any intention to go that direction.

LS Episodes are EXPENSIVE compared to everything else this game offers.

[kharmin.7683]

@Bristingr.5034 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@aaron.7850 said:

@"kharmin.7683" said:Or, perhaps, new players can purchase LW2/3 with gems once they get to that point in the story.

New players wont have enough gold to cover all that by that time.

Luckily they can purchase gems with money. Many games have DLCs that are not included in the expansions. Some of them, such as ESO, offer subscriptions for access to this content but Anet has not indicated any intention to go that direction.

LS Episodes are EXPENSIVE compared to everything else this game offers.

Yeah, because paying for something costs more than "free".

[MokahTGS.7850]

I don't mind that the LW Season are extra costs...what I mind are the price points. Currently seasons 2, 3, and 4 will cost you 3200 gems which is roughly $40 US. IMO, that is too much for the content you get. The content to cost ratio is something ANet has always been on the high side of. Paying the cost of a full expansion for content that is marginal at best, seems like a waste of money.

What they really need to do is have either gem buying options (most likely) or LW Seasons for sale as DLC (less likely) on the Steam page. I'm still super salty that I can't link my current account to a Steam one.

[Ayrilana.1396]

@Bristingr.5034 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@aaron.7850 said:

@kharmin.7683 said:Or, perhaps, new players can purchase LW2/3 with gems once they get to that point in the story.

New players wont have enough gold to cover all that by that time.

Luckily they can purchase gems with money. Many games have DLCs that are not included in the expansions. Some of them, such as ESO, offer subscriptions for access to this content but Anet has not indicated any intention to go that direction.

LS Episodes are EXPENSIVE compared to everything else this game offers.

Not really. I’d take a look at the gem store before making that claim.

LS2 Season: 1,280 gemsLS3 Season: 960 gemsLS4 Season: 960 gems

That’s a rate of 160 gems per episode which translates to slightly over 63G per episode.

[kharmin.7683]

@MokahTGS.7850 said:I don't mind that the LW Season are extra costs...what I mind are the price points. Currently seasons 2, 3, and 4 will cost you 3200 gems which is roughly $40 US. IMO, that is too much for the content you get. The content to cost ratio is something ANet has always been on the high side of. Paying the cost of a full expansion for content that is marginal at best, seems like a waste of money.

They don't all need to be purchased at once.

[Ayrilana.1396]

@MokahTGS.7850 said:I don't mind that the LW Season are extra costs...what I mind are the price points. Currently seasons 2, 3, and 4 will cost you 3200 gems which is roughly $40 US. IMO, that is too much for the content you get.

More content than both HoT and PoF put together and that’s more or less what players paid for each expansion individually when they launched.

[Random Wax Orc.7695]

I don't think the price tag of the living story is the big issue. Potential buyers of GW2 need to be either clearly informed that some game content (living story) is not included at time of purchase OR they need to have the option to buy that content at time of purchase. People buying a game on Steam just to find out they have to buy more inside the game to get all the content is likely to hurt GW2's reputation.

[Jilora.9524]

I mean on sale all 3 are about 2000 gems or $25 which is cheap compares to say starting eso today and buying all the dl content. Then those who say story will be confusing. They are going to get an 80 boost I bet like all new accounts. Now sure if someone goes 1-80 legit does all the story they might even get enough gold to convert to start buying the episodes. Now I bet alot just pop that 80 boost. Then if they look for any guide it will tell the do pof to start mounts and hot to start those masterys so they will be jumping around in story anyway.They could just have base game w exp $30 and all LS unlocked at $50 just so anet gets $20 for ls and doesn't risk them buying episodes over time with gold to gems.