Would you support ArenaNet if they implemented an optional subscription?

[Chadramar.8156]

Absolutely not. In fact, it would make me quit immediately without looking back. This game was not designed for it, it is sold on the basis of not having one and that is why a lot of people picked it up.

In order to make it a subscription even remotely acceptable, most or even all of the gem store would have to be removed and its content moved to be acquirable in-game (1). And I don't mean "acquirable" as in "ultra-rare random drops that TP flippers utterly scalp you for" but as, for example, guaranteed rewards for an event chain, boss kill, story chapter, or as part of a mastery-unlock like the Itzel and Nuhoch vendors in HoT (which is the closest thing GW2 has to WoW's faction-reputation grind I guess, behind which both gear and mounts/pets were gated away).

You absolutely cannot have a game steeped in both microtransaction and a subscription. (Well, you can, but I'd consider it a prime example of an industry increasingly motivated not by quality and customer satisfaction but by heavy-handed greed to pay the CEO and stockholders. Which is why I'm drifting more and more towards indie or at least smaller publisher games.) For one, there are so many QoL things that a microtransaction game, can to a degree, charge money for but a subscription game cannot. What's the point in paying that regular fee if you still have to pay for everything else as well? And if a subscription is "optional" (2), how do you compensate the people who pay it without making the benefits so big that you're essentially creating a caste system in your game? I had a very brief look at The Old Republic's model after it went F2P, and couldn't imagine anyone putting up with it.

(1) The only acceptable exceptions would be admin stuff like name changes or server transfers, IMO.

(2) For what it's worth, I pretty much agree with Jim Sterling's stance that "optional" is not really a thing most of the time because companies will design their games around trying to make you pay.

[Jahroots.6791]

I'd pay up to $120 for a yearly sub that includes all of the optional convenience and vanity items that are incredibly rare and overpriced on the TP. I'd like a permanent TP, Banker, Merchant and Makeover kit with limited Transmutation charges.

[Zaron.1987]

@Jahroots.6791 said:I'd pay up to $120 for a yearly sub that includes all of the optional convenience and vanity items that are incredibly rare and overpriced on the TP. I'd like a permanent TP, Banker, Merchant and Makeover kit with limited Transmutation charges.

So you would only subscribe if you would get the shinies for much much lower price than they are now?

So i can also say i want 1 legy for free every 10 bucks monthly fee?

[Charrbeque.8729]

@Zaron.1987 said:

@Jahroots.6791 said:I'd pay up to $120 for a yearly sub that includes all of the optional convenience and vanity items that are incredibly rare and overpriced on the TP. I'd like a permanent TP, Banker, Merchant and Makeover kit with limited Transmutation charges.

So you would only subscribe if you would get the shinies for much much lower price than they are now?

So i can also say i want 1 legy for free every 10 bucks monthly fee?

Some MMO's do offer exclusive rewards for staying subscribed to the game for a total of so many days (veteran rewards).

And it's a fair point. I'm completely against this game going subscription only, but the only way ArenaNet could retain at least some players would be to offer exclusive rewards for subscribers only.

[Pink Porcupine.5461]

I don't see the need to fix what is not broken. Gems offer more flexibility than a subscription and Anet isn't reluctant in adding things that are valuable to the experience, such as shared slots.

[Zaron.1987]

@Charrbeque.8729 said:

@Zaron.1987 said:

@Jahroots.6791 said:I'd pay up to $120 for a yearly sub that includes all of the optional convenience and vanity items that are incredibly rare and overpriced on the TP. I'd like a permanent TP, Banker, Merchant and Makeover kit with limited Transmutation charges.

So you would only subscribe if you would get the shinies for much much lower price than they are now?

So i can also say i want 1 legy for free every 10 bucks monthly fee?

Some MMO's do offer exclusive rewards for staying subscribed to the game for a total of so many days (veteran rewards).

And it's a fair point. I'm completely against this game going subscription only, but the only way ArenaNet could retain at least some players would be to offer exclusive rewards for subscribers only.

And that we don't have exclusive rewards for subscribers is the thing which was promised when we start playing gw2 and was the reason why many of us start playing gw2