Curse

SAQ · May 12, 2006, 02:09 AM // 02:09

Anet does not force you to buy expansions, the services for ALL your GW chapters are still free!

Other MMORPG or similar online games requires you to PAY MONTHLY in order to keep playing within the game.

GW you have a choice, but other monthly fee games you don't.

If you want to talk about "but I have to get the chapters to be competitive" that's your choice, you are not forced to get the chapters, and that's your reason.

WoW is coming out with an expansion too.. and they still pay the monthly fee.

Lexar · May 12, 2006, 02:21 AM // 02:21

I am actually more positive about the expansions on the longer run as the ones on the short run, if anything the engine will be more familiar with them and the teams will be more used to the work. And customers won't have silly ideas like expecting 4 member slots per chapter you buy. Obviously the model is that you have 2 for every chapter you own and 2 extra for the first one you buy. But because with factions the only comparison we had was prophecies so a lot of people just didn't understand. So a lot of these little misunderstandings about GW will go away in time too.

Ruby Lightheart · May 12, 2006, 02:23 AM // 02:23

If they released 2 chapters a year at $50 each..thats $100 a year. So lets look at the average Pay-to-Play vs No Monthy Fee breakdown

Average cost for pay to play games per month is $12.50.
Pay-to-Play games put out buyable expansions on average 1-2 times a year at a cost of 19.99-39.99 thus making the average price 29.99

GW would cost approximately $100 a year for standard addition

The average Pay-to-Play bill, including ONE expansion would be $179.99 per year for standard.

Most expansions get aproximately 9-16 months of development. I got this info by googling some game development info.

I based my average pricing and expansion releases by using as a baseline the costs for Pay-to-Play games- WoW, EQ, EQ2, Final Fantasy IX, City of Heros, and EVE Online.

Shut Your Mouth · May 12, 2006, 02:42 AM // 02:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by UndeadRoadkill

What I blame Anet for is not letting us know how the finished product would be, and instead saying something that could even be taken as a reassurance, while offering gifts that you don't get if you actually do 'wait and see how it is.'

Hmmm I do remember a Preview event and a pre-order play time.. after both of those previews of the finished product I would think you would have a good idea of what you were getting. If you did'nt like it then you may have went for option B and that is cancel your pre-order.

On another note...

I for one pre ordered Factions CE and still got shafted with no delivery due to NCsoft's Scam of gee we did'nt make enough. So I had to buy the standard edition to play factions and wait until July 1st for my copy of the CE to arrive.
Talk about a scam. So I just cancelled my order for the CE and will NEVER Pre order anything form NCsoft again.

Yet I enjoy a few things that they have done with Factions. Not sure about having my(purchased) game experience limited(*Elite Missions) by which alliance I join.
*Elite being a term very loosley used by ANET

I will probably buy further chapters of GW until I see a serious drop in quality. I leave it to ANET to fix the exploits and imbalances currently in Factions. Yet at this moment they have tunnel Vision on E3 and nothing will change untill they stop drooling over all new suckers to preorder from them. As it was in the Prophecies campaign they were working on Exploits and Imbalances right up to the release of Factions. Hopefully they'll fix the problems in Factions the same way. Doubt it judging by the responses weve received from Gaile on a few Very pressing issues.

crimsonfilms · May 12, 2006, 03:24 AM // 03:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuskenraid

Hmm.... so let's do the math here. For the people who claim that you still have to pay a monthly fee, most MMO's charge at least $12 a month to play. Over 6 months that $72. Over a year that's $144. You only paid $49 once for GWP. That's almost $100 in savings for a years worth of paying. And, each chapter is it's own game, not just a lousy add-on. So over 2 years with 2 campaigns now, you are saving over $200 dollars in monthly fees. A-net rocks and so does their business model.

As far as the staggered development goes, the teams are not 75%, 50%.... whatever. They have said repeatedly in interviews that they have completely separate teams working full time on each campaign. Sounds good to me.

But WoW's PvE content is FAR bigger than both GW combined.

felinette · May 12, 2006, 03:31 AM // 03:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macktar Wang

I think my preordering days are done with this series. Since I'm not into the PvP thing, I'll have to see what the masses say about the next chapters before I fork out for them.

Ditto.

generik · May 12, 2006, 03:49 AM // 03:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by crimsonfilms

But WoW's PvE content is FAR bigger than both GW combined.

And you can have unlimited character slots!

UndeadRoadkill · May 12, 2006, 04:47 AM // 04:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shut Your Mouth

Hmmm I do remember a Preview event and a pre-order play time.. after both of those previews of the finished product I would think you would have a good idea of what you were getting. If you did'nt like it then you may have went for option B and that is cancel your pre-order.

No, it was a beta event. What's more, elite missions and alliance-formation weren't included, so that wasn't even fully clear to us in the beta.

Mandy Memory · May 12, 2006, 05:12 AM // 05:12

They have all been in development 12 months. They have a number of teams and an overall team. Each game has a 10-11 month build time and 1-2 months extencive testing before they are released.

Hockster · May 12, 2006, 05:32 AM // 05:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by generik

6 months.. 12 months.. so?

Other games on the shelves going for $50 (or $49.99, whatever floats your boat) are in development for an average of two to three years. 12 months for a game is still very short!

The hard part, the engine itself, is already done. New development is only needed for maps, missions, quests, and anything else totally unigue for the new release. Prophecies was in Alpha for over a year. Factions was alpha tested for over 6 months. Testing has already started for chapter three.

Insurgent · May 12, 2006, 05:42 AM // 05:42

I loved factions, and personally dont play GW because it "doesnt have monthly fees" i play it because it rocks as a game.
I cant wait for a new chapter, bring them on, i will happily pay 100 dollars( new zealand) every six months, i spend more in a single night out drinking.