Obsidian.1328

Why?

Okay. I wanted to only pay $15 because essential content (some may argue Warclaws are simply a nicety, but reality would suggest otherwise) for WvW was locked behind a 2nd expansion...which is why I said expansions shouldn't include features that do things like retroactively gate base-game content (which is what WvW is), and not...you know...just any features like you conveniently simplified. I purchased HoT because I was still somewhat interested in the PvE aspect of the game at the time. So if one has to wonder that, that is the wonderful answer. Not sure why you mentioned this part, it's perfectly normal for someone to purchase one expansion and not another.

But I'm not trying to participate in any of the new content, WvW has been almost completely unchanged since about a year after it started. There's basically very little development time and money going into it. It doesn't make sense that I should pay another $30 for a basic game mode that has been unchanged for a decade. If this was just about wanting to play the new expansions, then of course I should pay for that. But that's not what I'm talking about. Like I said, I already shelled out >$100 for GW2, and that's without PoF or EoD. It's quite silly to say that I should just have to pay again for content that is part of the core game. At least is was for 5 long years, until they made the WvW mounts locked to PoF.

Then you're either more talented or patient or both than I am.

Yeup. Trying to always stay in that tiny radius while roaming across the entire map is quite the WvW mini-game let me tell you. Have you ever tried that on a constant basis? It sucks man.

That's the whole problem, they shouldn't be. Expansions are supposed to be additional content, not additional features. The base game is supposed to include everything you need to play the base features of said game, and not require an additional purchase. WvW is a base feature of the game. Mounts are vital to that game mode, you'll constantly be left behind and vulnerable without them. By locking them inside the PoF expansion, they are essentially saying I can't play WvW anymore without me paying another $30 on top of the $100 I've already spent on the game. What the actual eff. No one should have to all of a sudden shell out more cash for a game mode that they've already paid for and spent 5 years playing anyway. And all ANet really needs to do is to make the Warclaw unlockable without PoF. But they won't do that because they don't want to miss out on the 1% of new players who go into WvW...despite it royally screwing over older players who've already forked over $60+ dollars. I mean, how cheap can you get?

I meant full access to the base game. Right now I don't have that for one simple reason: WvW mounts The whole reasons I stopped playing GW2 was because they introduced mounts into WvW that you can only get via PoF. WvW was really 95% of my play time in GW2, and not having a mount there simply didn't work. That was like 5 years ago. I guess I assumed they would have 'fixed' it by now because it doesn't make sense that you have to buy the 2nd expansion (or any expansion) to play a PvP mode. It's counter to their promised game model that ANet went to great lengths to promote back in 2012. So that's really why I wrote this post, I wanted to get back in WvW. And after 5 long years thought that either a) maybe they finally let you get the Warclaw without owning PoF (like it should have been from the beginning), or b) maybe they finally lowered the price of PoF and I could just bite the bullet on it. Both of those seem like perfectly reasonable expectations. But no, Warclaws are still locked to PoF, and that expansion is still full price after 5 effing years. Do you understand my frustration now?

Thanks for that link btw, this first part is what I'm looking for: Full, unrestricted access to all content, free to play after one-time purchases of both Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire. Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire (expansion), unrestricted access to core game and Path of Fire content, free to play after one-time purchase, or Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns (expansion), unrestricted access to core game and Heart of Thorns content, free to play after one-time purchase. Guild Wars 2 (original), unrestricted access to core game, but no Heart of Thorns or Path of Fire features, free to play after purchase, no longer available for purchase from ArenaNet. Free Account, restricted access to core game, no expansion features, unlimited time, totally free. Trial Account, obsolete (no longer available), limited time access with restrictions similar to free accounts. Okay, so me not owning the second expansion (2nd, mind you!) means I don't actually have the full game anymore? How is that possible? How can they downgrade a $60 game to a restriction-heavy tutorial? Why is the 2nd expansion to a game considered to be the 'full' game? That makes no sense at all. Expansions are never anything but bonus content added to the base game, they have it backwards for christs sake. So they completely reverted the base game to some weird kind of, like you aptly said, 'trial' scenario with tons of restrictions...for what reason? Why did they trash the core game like that? So I basically paid the standard premium $60 price for a triple-A game...that is no longer a triple-A game. But rather a super neato tutorial with little access to most things considered a normal part of the game. Holy crap, what a effing crok.

Wth? Why did they restrict everything so much in the base game? You can't even call it a base game anymore. So in 2013 they basically made a fully complete triple-A game, 5 times the size of any expansion, priced $60 at release, that is now essentially a tutorial. Okay then.

Last movie was also $10, but whatever. And I didn't even know I had that inventory booster. But it's not like it does much for me, last I remember my inventory was pretty empty. Is that supposed to make up for it?

Not owning in the legal sense bud, just the generic sense. Didn't think that had to be said really. What do you mean by 'trial' core game btw? Anyone can just play the base game with nothing else. It's many times bigger than any of the expansions, and has almost all of the things needed for pvp access. How is it a trial?

What does length of play time have to do with anything? That has nothing to do with the cost of the games. You buy a game or an expansion, it's yours for eternity. How much a player prefers to play doesn't have any bearing on the cost of any future expansions. I don't know what you mean by this. As for your last line...nice. And no. Does, say, buying two apples a month apart feel like a legit comparison to you? How 'bout this one then: You buy the first two Matrix movies for $10 each when then came out on DVD. And when the last one comes out you see they offer all three for $20 total, and you can not buy only the last one for any cheaper amount. That makes zero sense. They are forcing you to pay $40 for something that anyone else, who didn't buy the first two, can get for $20. GW2 is not that old of a game. It's not like the first couple of iterations have depreciated so much that they are worth zero now. It's still a popular, vibrant, triple-A game right? A more reasonable and practical approach would have been to, say, put the base game at a $10-20 value, HoT at $5, and PoF at $15(why it's still at $30 five years later is incredibly pricey). New expansions like EoD stay at the $30 mark. Then let any players who bought and own everything else get a discount on the current expansion: EoD $20-ish. New players still have to fork over at least some money for the first games, while old players get a small reward for their loyalty over the years. Win-win. That's actually how most every other game does their pricing. It's a graduated system based on both how long it's been since the initial release , plus a discount for either buying everything in a bundle (which GW2 does) and/or offering an additional discount to loyal customers. But the way it works now it's like you're a sucker for having bought the game on release.

I guess I've never owned a game where the older content reverts to being free. I suppose I could just wait until the next expansion, but would that mean I would have to buy said expansion? In other words, are the older expansions only free if you buy the newest one? For instance, say I only owned the base game. Would I have to buy PoF to play HoT, even though HoT is free? The base game is free, but the first expansion isn't free...unless you buy the 2nd expansion. It's confusing as all hell. Why not just include HoT as part of the free content, without linking it to PoF? I think they simply need to reword the way they present the selling. Instead of grouping HoT and PoF together for $30 (which implies they are $15 each), separate HoT from PoF, and instead group it with the base game. Unless, unlike the base game, HoT is not free unless you pay for the next expansion? Or is ANet doing that because they don't want HoT to be playable unless you pay for at least one expansion. If that's the case, then waiting for the next expansion to come out, where hopefully PoF would also revert to free, is the best way to do that. It's quite a bizarre set-up they have with these things. All that being said, it's still more than a little shady that it basically penalizes you for being an original player of the game. At the very least, they should offer those who paid for the now-free content ($100 value) a discount on upcoming expansions. It's a slap in the face to those who funded the game and allowed ANet the possibility to even have expansions. It's way lopsided to favor new players, it should be the other way around.

I thought both were $15 dollars now, that's what is implied when 2 games are $30 total. I mean it's been 5 years for PoT and longer for HoT. Didn't realize $30 is the current asking price for one expansion, that's a lot for a game this old.

Didn't know HoT is free now, it's been a really long time. When did that happen? Seems really odd that I paid for the base game and 1st expansion, which are both free now. Logically my money paid for each of those. But if I was someone else starting just now, I could play both of those for free. In other words, did my money pay for others to play those games for free? Because if it did that wasn't said upfront. Or if it went to help pay for future expansions, I still have to pay full price for those. Why do new players not have to pay for the game old players had to? That's not right, I would have been better off waiting 5 years to play for free rather than spending the $110 I did...that's expensive for any game. Why didn't they give players who paid for the base game and/or expansion a nice discount on further expansions? Talk about being used, sheesh.