Curse

DevilStick · Apr 25, 2006, 07:57 PM // 19:57

I have multiple accounts. More than two.

I think the opportunity to buy character slots is great, but rather than merge accounts, I'd rather be able to transfer some of my characters (the main ones) to one uber account and leave my other account(s) alone.

I mean, I don't want to merge two CE accounts, or accounts with preorder items. Hrm.

But, overall, I'd rather have the option than not have it. I'm not looking the gift horse in the mouth.

strcpy · Apr 25, 2006, 08:26 PM // 20:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lugosi

Another thing that I wonder about is this:
Pretty much any time when somebody brings up something like "this or that should be possible" (see account-merging) a lot of people on the forums jump in and explain in long, long posts why the asked for feature is not possible or too difficult or just bring up a lot of reasons that speak against it.

I'm assuming that was directed at me (long post about why it may not be possible). If not, then forget what I'm writing.

If you read what I say, I have said in there many many times I don't know - it may be easy. My response was to people who think it is easy. Easy has been beat to death pretty much, but there are many possible reasons why it could be hard.

Now, I say "In my experience" because I do actually have experience with large projects with DB back ends. I *do* have experience doing this sort of thing (if you want to see some of my public stuff google "Brian Luethke"). It may be easy, from time to time a request that we want to do actually is. But 99/100 times it's not as easy as the armchair programmers think (they are usually college students or hobbiest, the college students will eventually learn better). If you really want to know my reasoning behind that I can write it out, I can tell you what has happened with my projects everytime something similar has been done.

Nor does "hard" have much to do if they will do it. It may be ten times harder than what I imagine but they have been working it and will roll it out tomorrow. They only things I am saying is a) it could be easy or hard, in my experience hard and b) it has little to do with if it will be done.

As for the rest of my post, the "easy" crowd are talking how easy the interface is to do and requirements for security. I tend to agree that's not the hard part and *should* be fairly easy (though some decisions, such as how to merge Xunlai Storage will tick off some group no matter what). But that is typically true, the backend stuff and testing tends to be where the cost and difficulty on this type of change is at. The hard, expensive stuff is the stuff they are overlooking or do not know anything about. How hard/costly it is has to include *all* of it. I was trying to convey that.

Lugosi · Apr 26, 2006, 12:03 AM // 00:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by strcpy

I'm assuming that was directed at me (long post about why it may not be possible). If not, then forget what I'm writing.

It wasn't directed at anyone specific, just a general observation.

nyxnemesis · Apr 26, 2006, 09:01 PM // 21:01

I apologize if I'm repeating something that someone already said, but I didn't get to read all 24 pages of the post.

I'm thrilled we're getting the opportunity to buy more slots, but I am one of those people who had bought 2 more accounts. Total, my husband and I have 3. My issue has nothing to do with fame or faction points, but money. It's true that buying 4 slots is the same amount as what I paid for one of my account. However, the people that buy 4 extra slots don't have to buy extra copies of the new expansions when they come out--which is supposed to be twice a year! I just paid $150 for 3 Factions accounts to merge onto our old accounts. Divide that up and you can see that with new expansions twice a year, I'll be paying about $25 bucks a month on Guild Wars. That's more expensive the WoW, I think (not that I play WoW).

I know, you guys are all going to say that I don't have to buy them, and yes that's true. But I want the most from my gaming experience too. And we've spent a lot of time on the characters in our accounts. I don't want to delete them and start over. So, unlike those who buy slots and only have to buy one copy of a game, Anet will get my $150 every six months. As someone stated earlier, it's sort of punishing those of us who didn't complain about the amount of character slots and just sucked it up and bought more accounts.

Perhaps if we'd had ANY idea that new slots would have been an option, I wouldn't have wasted my money, but now it's too late. I can only pray they'll figure out a way to merge accounts. I don't care about losing stuff--I'll transfer between the accounts beforehand like I've been doing. I don't want to lose the hundreds of hours I've spent on my characters though and paying $150 every six months is too rich for our blood. I hope Anet comes up with a good solution.

Loviatar · Apr 26, 2006, 10:12 PM // 22:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by nyxnemesis

I just paid $150 for 3 Factions accounts to merge onto our old accounts. Divide that up and you can see that with new expansions twice a year, I'll be paying about $25 bucks a month on Guild Wars. That's more expensive the WoW, I think (not that I play WoW).

.

WOW accounts are 15 EACH so to be fair you have to compare 3 WOW accounts at 45 dollars a month

3 GW 2x per year= 300

3 WOW = about 585 per year

fenwal · Apr 26, 2006, 11:50 PM // 23:50

Mostly, I view the ability to add new character slots as a Very Good Thing.
New characters will share the account storage, will benefit from items
unlocked by other characters on the account, etc. New characters
will be added as needed/desired, without the larger up-front cost of
an additional account.

But this seems unfair, at some level, to those who bought a second GW
account, to get the extra character slots that are (currently) necessary
to have a character for each of the 6 (pre-Factions) primary professions.

I've contacted the GW support team on 2 previous occasions about
the inability to merge accounts. Previous replies in this thread pretty
well reflect my thoughts on that. But maybe we can help them by defining
what we mean by "merge accounts," or at least reaching consensus.

I'm not totally sure what it means to me, but can start with the following:

- the resulting number of character slots would be the sum of the
number of slots on the accounts being merged
- all existing characters are moved to the merged account, along
with all their possessions/money/faction/etc (they of course would
consume character slots mentioned above)
- merged account-level storage (number of items) would likely *not* be
a summation, but an optional increment would be nice
- if a skill/mod/etc is unlocked on one account, it would be unlocked
on the merged account
- license key information: I'm not sure; maybe an inclusive OR
of the abilities of the merged accounts?
- the end result is one account; the others are forfeited

The GW Support team say they monitor these forums. To be fair,
they should resolve the merge issue at the same time they release
the abiliity to have additional character slots. My opinion, of course.

nyxnemesis · Apr 27, 2006, 04:48 PM // 16:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loviatar

WOW accounts are 15 EACH so to be fair you have to compare 3 WOW accounts at 45 dollars a month

3 GW 2x per year= 300

3 WOW = about 585 per year

Yes, that's true. BUT, there is no need to buy three WoW accounts, because you can create an unlimited amount of characters from what I've been told. That would make your math sort of a moot point and actually confirms my point. I'm spending more on GW than I would be on WoW. That sort of sucks, because what attracted me to Guild Wars was the lack of monthly fees. It seemed less greedy on the part of Anet and made me feel like they cared about their customers more. Now I'm just not sure.

Loviatar · Apr 27, 2006, 07:05 PM // 19:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by nyxnemesis

Yes, that's true. BUT, there is no need to buy three WoW accounts, because you can create an unlimited amount of characters from what I've been told. That would make your math sort of a moot point and actually confirms my point. I'm spending more on GW than I would be on WoW.

what i want to know is why 3 accounts to begin with.

if you want all characters 2 accounts will provide that

if you have collected enough stuff that you need 3 accounts why not clear out some of the junk.

if you are having 3 family members all playing together my math is good for the simple reason WOW wont let you play more than 1 character at a time even with a hundred characters in your stable in which case 3 WOW accounts needed to play together.

if using some for storage there is no need for future upgrade chapters on them.

ok so far

nyxnemesis · Apr 28, 2006, 12:51 PM // 12:51

My husband and I both play. I guess you're right about that. Didn't think about both of us playing at once.

We each wanted the chance to play all the different types of characters. So, there's the reason for two accounts, but we definitely don't need the third anymore if we can buy slots. I should clarify that I don't want to play WoW, tried it once and hated the controls--I guess my point is that we'd love to merge one of those accounts, so we don't have to keep paying for that third game every time. There are 3 level 20's on that account that have finished the game, and a level 15, so I just hate to see all that time wasted. So, I guess we'll just keep paying and sucking it up. I guess I was just mad at first because it seemed a little unfair. I just hope they can figure out a way to merge them before the next expansion

Coolniceronguy · May 02, 2006, 11:34 PM // 23:34

In my opinion, the ability to play a character of each of the primary professions should have happened from the start. My gaming time would not have been less, but my freedom to explore all of my character options would be more enjoyable.

My definition of a thief: An individual who takes action, or possesses the expectation, to gain a great deal with little output of time and effort.

1 character slot = $10 US dollars.

Question: How much expenditure of time/resources/effort does it take to provide a player with an extra character slot?

I think I know the answer to this question, and I believe you do too.

Just my opinion.

duverga · May 02, 2006, 11:52 PM // 23:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coolniceronguy

Question: How much expenditure of time/resources/effort does it take to provide a player with an extra character slot?

The ability to provide that extra character slot depends on the existance of the platform (game) that supports it. So I'd say that they've put in a major expenditure of time/resources/effort and their attempt to get a little return on that investment doesn't warrant you calling them a thief. Even by your definition. (Which is closer to con artist than thief btw, thieves take things.)

Coolniceronguy · May 02, 2006, 11:58 PM // 23:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by duverga

The ability to provide that extra character slot depends on the existance of the platform (game) that supports it. So I'd say that they've put in a major expenditure of time/resources/effort and their attempt to get a little return on that investment doesn't warrant you calling them a thief. Even by your definition. (Which is closer to con artist than thief btw, thieves take things.)

I have already paid for the right to play that existing platform.

Sunai · May 03, 2006, 12:58 AM // 00:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coolniceronguy

My definition of a thief: An individual who takes action, or possesses the expectation, to gain a great deal with little output of time and effort.

Real definition of a thief: a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it.

A person who gains a great deal with little time and effort is merely successful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coolniceronguy

1 character slot = $10 US dollars.

Question: How much expenditure of time/resources/effort does it take to provide a player with an extra character slot?

I think I know the answer to this question, and I believe you do too.

Just my opinion.

Oh, I do. The answer is that nobody here has a clue.

This is just a rephrasing of the, "How hard could it be?" question, which is complete ignorance. There's more to it than finding some integer variable for the number of character slots available and changing it.

Additionally, "Offering more character slots is effortless." is not an opinion, but an assertion.

temp · May 09, 2006, 09:11 AM // 09:11

2 slots for me

Character from every class

hope this starts soon want to start my mesmer and assassin =]

only £12 =]

Misa · May 09, 2006, 09:24 AM // 09:24

I am buying atleast 2 more slots =)

Buoyancy · May 09, 2006, 02:09 PM // 14:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by strcpy

Now, I say "In my experience" because I do actually have experience with large projects with DB back ends.

Then you will also know that Anet is incredibly incompetent if they can't trivially change the number of characters associated with a given account.

GranDeWun · May 09, 2006, 04:15 PM // 16:15

Keep in mind that merging accounts not only involves the game IT infrastructure, but also other systems like accounting, etc. Plus, the issue of whether it is exploitable would need to be explored. It happens in other games, so it is likely possible, but might not be trivial.

kaya · May 09, 2006, 06:19 PM // 18:19

Seems to me that there are plenty of people here with 2+ accounts, and if i was a gamblin' man (which i'm not), i'd be willing to bet that a-net provides a way to please those of us that want to merge accounts. Its not like they havn't ever given their gamers what they want in the past. There really isnt anybody apposed to this. It'll come in due time. A-net has always been good about things like this.

Markaedw · May 09, 2006, 08:52 PM // 20:52

Adding single slots also opens up a new marketing tool:

$10 for the client-no character slots
$10 per character slot

JaktUp · May 11, 2006, 05:32 PM // 17:32

I'll throw in my useless 2 cents, but in the event Anet is reading...

I'm thrilled with the soon to be realized additional character slots and will buy many. However, I too have several accounts that have characters that I've spent considerable amounts of time on and would greatly appreciate being able to merge them to one account. I'd even be more than willing to purchase additional slots to accommodate the merging and forgo the other account being accessible separately.

In the end, Anet will have $150 (3 accounts) + $50 (for Factions) + $60 (for 3 characters from other accounts and then 3 more slots I would buy)
=$260

I know the retailers get their cut, but the character slots would be purchased directly through Anet and would be all theirs to keep

For me, it is not the cost but rather the time invested into these characters that is of concern.

I'm done now, I'll post again in another 6 months