I think we've all seen a lot of angry reactions now, so I guess I'll share my thoughts on the HoT, the prepurchase offerings and a bit on the reactions too.
Let me start by saying that if you're a completely new player without access to the base game, you should probably get it now. And I mean DO EEET NAO. Many of us paid more for the base game at launch and got many times our money's worth, you're getting an even better deal, with both the base game and HoT for less and on top of that some preorder bonuses that we probably don't care about. You do get access to the game right away, so check out the first post in the thread if you're interested in joining us on our adventures.
If you're someone who already has access to the base game?
Don't. Prepurchasing is spending on something you won't be able to use for quite some time (we don't even know the release date!) that you don't know all that well.
So why would anyone prepurchase? Let's look at the bonuses. You get access to all BWE (Beta Weekend Events) for HoT, as well as a title nobody will really use or care about. So really if you care more about playing in the beta events that won't progress your real account then go for it, I suppose.
As for the expansion itself, is $50 justified? Maybe.
Anyone who's played a few MMOs would know that many expansions are priced fairly similarly. Whether it be WoW, FFXIV, or even the old LotRO expansions, they're all within a similar price range.
But does that mean it is worth the asking price? Hard to say. Right now, VERY LITTLE is actually known about HoT's PvE content, and this is what worries me a bit. We've seen a small part of one map shown many times, at conventions, in livestreams and in earlier closed betas events, but in other stuff not focused on content (such as livestreams talking about an elite specialization and its new skills), we've seen areas that happen to be quite far away in the from that particular map but well within the Maguuma region. We don't quite know how many maps OR how content-dense these maps are, as many of these maps are supposed to feature multiple biomes that are vastly different, like the undergrowth level of a map may be teeming with Modrem and other hostile lifeforms, while the canopy level of the same map may be a bit less creature-infested but more focused on the story and rebuilding of the Pact while Wyverns constantly terrorize the skies. One particular piece of misinformation I've heard thrown around a lot is that there will only be 1 or 3 maps, and people really seem really convinced that these are the confirmed numbers when in reality we've heard nothing about actual numbers. Perhaps this is why some believe the content to be worth about $20 instead?
Now one thing we do know is Arenanet did state that they wanted to make HoT more content-dense and feature heavy rather than have as many maps as say the base game had at launch. And this is why we're getting these huge vertical maps with stuff happening on every level, as well as these Outposts that have their own event metas that may feature a large variety of events that align with the agendas of residents of the Outpost. Also each map will feature it's own mapwide mechanic, like in Verdant Brink the map has a day-night cycle that dictates what sort of events happen and enemy activity. During the day an Outpost may be trying to set up defenses, gather resources, and developing to stages where certain events start to occur, Activities (a new minigame type content that's generally repeatable and may come with some sort of scoreboard) unlock in the area, and more rewards become available, while in the night they have to stay in and fend off enemies or risk losing the Outpost.
Now, with masteries being the new endgame horizontal progression system, a lot of content will NOT be available to players until they have certain masteries unlocked. It makes the maps more metroidvania-esque and everyone's initial play experience different. Maybe you went for gliding masteries first, allowing you to do certain types of content, and maybe someone else has mushrooms maxed out and can experience a different set of content first. Maybe some content requires multiple masteries fully maxed out AND skillful use of all of them in combination to even access? Some of it could be so hidden or tough that it takes a while before anyone ever gets to experience it. And all of these do not require more maps, but instead encourages revisting maps to try to find all the spots that you couldn't access before.
The short of it is that we really do not know much about the amount of PvE content there will be unless they start showing us more of it, but given that the majority of the content is PvE (PvP and WvW content has been detailed and will be accessible even if you do not have HoT access). Content is going to be denser so maps may be smaller than base game maps, with multiple new systems and new content types to change up the experience, and there will be a lot more voice acting, even in general open world content (where there was none before).
Now let's talk about the reactions.
The overwhelming majority of the rage stems from the fact that new players who prepurchase get the game for free.
"I paid $40-60, why are they getting it free? Give me something to compensate!"
I hate to use the word after how it's been thrown around and often at us gamers unfairly, but this does seem a tad entitled, no? Let's be honest, most of us got much more than our $60 in the base game and all the updates and content patches leading up to HoT, so why do you need compensation? You got to play the game this whole time, and some other MMOs even charge you for your time (and design systems to waste your time so you sub longer AND play more). In fact, we got so much value out of the initial purchases that some people are now comparing the HoT purchase to that. This wouldn't even have been a thing if they weren't being nice and letting new players in for free. Nobody wants to pay $90 to play a new game, and even WoW does reduce its base game to entice new players.. except it costs $20 for that and you'll still need to purchase the expansion and an active subscription of $15/mo to play after the first month.
"We got all these content for free, why can't they give us HoT free too?" being the extreme yet is surprisingly common to hear. "Maybe it's worth it if you play other MMOs, but is it GW2-worth it? The base game had X maps, Y dungeons, Z story missions and living world added 3 maps, A, B and C and then and and and. Is it going to be 3000 hours worth of content?"
Yeah that's an unhealthy comparison, just because you got to enjoy X hours out of the base game doesn't mean you need the same out of the expansion, if anything they've been working on all these systems to improve your base game experience with it too, even if some of these features aren't exclusive to HoT.
"Not even a character slot, not worth it."
Because judging the entire purchase on one expectation that wasn't even promised or hinted at is great. Would they have been satisfied if it had cost $60 and included a "free character slot"? Just because they added a new profession doesn't mean they have to include a new slot, heck even the base game only gave us 5 slots for 8 professions, and there are 5 races each with multiple branching storylines! Surely the base game should have included at least 30 slots or be a complete ripoff. The reality is that a large portion (not quite a majority but still a rather sizable part at least) of the playerbase don't even 'main' on more than 1 or 2 characters, and have unused character slot or simply mule characters that they never touch. I think that almost everyone would have wanted a free character slot, but I don't think it is something that is really something you should expect of it.
Now on the other side of it, there have been people who say things like "Think about all the nice things we got from the game and Anet, this is the least we can do"
To which I say, I appreciate it, but I do not subscribe to that train of thought. I think the expansion should merit the price, and if I really want to support them for everything they've done the Gemstore is a great avenue for it, especially seeing that there's no subscription fee or heavy timegating like some other MMOs. Let's not be fanboys and support good products, not brands.
Before the prepurchase was announced, I also got to speak to many other players, whether in-game or on forums of some sort, and what I got out of it in general is that they do expect a similar pricing, and everyone wants a new character slot, but not many do expect it, some have already made the purchase of a new slot or the gem equivalent in preparation of the Revenant. The fact that so many reactions have come out and are in stark contradiction to them leads me to personally believe that many of these are in fact not active players of the game, some of them may have bought it at launch and dropped it promptly, there was a huge phase where the majority of the vocal MMO community called GW2 "dead" and all flocked to ESO and Wild Star, and look at how those are performing :v There are also many who haven't been into MMOs and probably got into GW2 from $10 sales, and to them $50 definitely seems like quite a bit, I wouldn't blame them, but I imagine at least some of them will warm up to the idea and pick up the expansion down the line, probably during a sale. It's probably worth noting that the people whining the hardest are the people who DO want to prepurchase it now and probably will anyway possibly for beta access, and are trying to get something more out of it. And then there's the people who kick up a fuss for the sake of doing so.
So what do I think of the $50 price and what do I want from them? Like many others I did expect it to drop at this price point, however I am not currently preordering it as I'd like a little more details on the PvE end (hopefully without spoiling anything). Show us more stuff from other maps! At least it'll put those "only 1 map in the xpac" false rumors to rest for good. I am excited for the expansion and the many features that will come with or along just prior to it, but nothing like the kinda of HYPEEEEEE you may have seen when HoT was first announced. I guess I'm not that excitable a person afterall.
I do not expect a character slot addition to the standard purchase, and in fact have made preparations to acquire extra slots like many others. While I'd really enjoy a free character slot, I'd really love to see them stand their ground and not give in to demands as it'll set a precedent for these entitled vocals to start thinking they can make demands and expect them fulfilled (and flood reddit with their shit). I will probably pick it up eventually but in what form I do not know.
I do hope HoT is good, from what I've played of the small beta I've already seen stuff that has been visually quite delightfully surprising, and although I never had the time to play through the events and unlock Activities or Masteries, I really hope they deliver on what they set out to do, and really this is what everyone should be wanting, instead of some discount or an additional character slot.
EDIT: Apparently there was
a thread asking about everyone's expectations of the price for the expansion. Surprisingly almost everyone expected the price and some even expected it to be more. Few added that they expected a character slot to go along with it, and some even explained that they were mad because new players get the core game. Guess it really is like
Topic: Guild Wars 2 (Read 5164 times)