Originally Posted by jackie

Lol at the price tag. Quite steep from such a small content pack, but a true HC fan does not care!

Originally Posted by Abnaxus

I'm happy that A.net slapped the face of all the idiot elitists who thought they finally had something "unique" "elite" and BS like that.
I think that the their arrogant attitude against the community convinced A.net to make the BMP available to everyone (along with the opportunity to raise extra bucks with no cost ^^)


But I won't buy this BMP stuff from A.net/NC.


I always disagreed and fiercely criticized the marketing approach they followed for the BMP.
It was not a promotion, it was pure money grabbing.

The skill pack is a promotion: they clearly state the cost of each pack, and they offer a 50% discount for a limited time (now extended).
Buy now -> save 50%, after that, you can buy whenever you want, but pay for the full price.
Clear and correct.

They should have been clear and correct towards their customers also with the BMP.
They should have said:
"BMP is a product that costs 10$, for a limited period if you buy some stuff online you will have this 10$ product for free, after that you will pay for the full price".

The way they handled disappointed both sides, some customers bought some slots they didn't need, or gave up the box because of A.net/NC advertising.


I'm fed up with this, A.net makes very good games but their marketing is an epic failure, and marketing is one of the most fundamental things to consider in a company, because it deals with the commercial relationship between the supplier and the buyer.
There is real money involved in this, and real money issues deserve competent and professional people.


In another thread I said that I would like GW2 to be pay-to play, because with the current system once we've given our money to A.net/NC we lose any economical power against them as customers.
In a pay-to-play game, we could stop the subscription, they would have an economical loss, and they should be urged to decide how to handle this money loss.


Now, after having bought from A.net/NC 2 accounts fully expanded and spent some other 70€ in slots and skill packs, the BMP is my only possibility to punish them economically for their horrible marketing.
So, Dear A.net/NC, you won't have my bucks this time. Learn for the future.



On a final note, BMP at 9,99$ for what?
2-3 hours in solo missions, and some clean weapons good for heroes?
I have mules full of gold and green weapons that I only seldom use, my heroes are fully equipped and in case I need something I come to this forum and grab the best items for 2-3k, why should I hand A.net/NC further real money for such useless things?


I know how to make a better use of this 9,99$ x 2.
I will support the organization I already support, that takes care of sick people around the world, it's a small contribution but for some people who have real problems is alot more than we can imagine.

Originally Posted by pamelf

Wow, last time that I take advantage of a "promotion" from Anet. I'm not sorry I got the BMP, but I think it's very poor form misleading people in this way when they thought they were supporting Anet by taking advantage of it during the promotion period. I wouldn't have minded running the promotion again, but simply offering it for sale, imho is just really poor form and a kick in the face to everyone who DID support them.

Originally Posted by jezz

how is having BMP make you an Elitist?
i have it and i dont feel in anyway elite...they are just different weapon skins..big deal
the missions and cinemas are enjoyable, weapons are bonus! that doesnt make anyone better/elite at the game.

Originally Posted by cgruber

Can't make anyone happy. Give the people that had got the BMP an extra char slot and call it done.

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

This is not a friendly petition. Denigrating a company for a marketing promotion, accusing them of failing to live up to their principles, and presenting a grasp for freebies in the guise of a "friendly petition" is nonsense. Pretending there are no option for purchase is disingenuous and untruthful.

We are not a charity. On a dollar-per-dollar basis, we give more to our players than any other company I can think of. But asking us to spend months in production on a project like the BMP and then give it away as some kind of good will gesture is unrealistic. Your picking selective anecdotes to back up a "the sky is falling" scenario, as if to imply--even state--that we must start giving handouts to retain a diminished community is morally and philosophically wrong. (It is also factually wrong, for the community is not diminished at all, as game concurrency proves.)

You state ArenaNet is adored by gamers, and suggest that this is because we offer fee-free gaming. You're right, that is a major factor. But we won't be able to offer fee-free gaming, or any sort of gaming at all, if we don't continue to sell games. We intend to sustain our games by doing what we can to encourage people to purchase our products, just as any other company does, from General Motors to Betty Crocker to Geico. Promotions, like the BMP promotion, are part of the effort to sell games. And "sell" here--while it has four letters--is not a nasty word!

There were many options to make the qualifying purchase. Some did not choose to make a purchase; that's perfectly ok. But this is a "I want to have my cake and eat it too" situation. For what this says is, "I don't support you, but I demand you support me in two ways: With normal game support through free servers, website content, contests, community relations, support and more, plus I want whatever else you do as a freebie, too." Marketing and sales are the lifeblood of our continued health. They pay for our ability to continue to support Guild Wars as well as to develop future products. Don't for a minute suggest there is something wrong in our presenting such a promotion. Don't for a minute suggest that someone's failure to acquire the pack is in some way our shortcoming, or a failure of our company to uphold some sort of heart-set company mission statement.

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

All of the ideas in the petition do involve giving away the product, and each subverts the very promotional intention of BMP's creation. In some form or another, they suggest that we expend months of development time and offer it, free, without using it for the desired and reasonable intention: To encourage purchase of items in our in-game store. (By way of information, for instance, magazines so not pay us to offer a key; we pay them to print the keys.)

The suggestions of others are equally of little value or off the purpose because, well, let's think: We have a group of experienced and trained sales and marketing professionals looking at this matter, members of a multi-billion-dollar corporation. Like game design suggestions, pretty much any option that someone external can think of is likely to have been proposed, explored, and either accepted and implemented, rejected, or found to be non-implementable at this time.

PayPal? It takes a long while to set up for commercial entities, particularly those that are global, and there are issues beyond the set-up itself that prevent us from offering this obvious and sensible and highly-desirable option in the here and now. I've been promoting this idea for more than two years, and I'll continue to do so in the future. It is a great idea whose time, unfortunately, is not here.

Someone has too many purchases on his credit card through our store? Easy -- contact Support and they will make it happen. That is NOT a problem.

Checks? The cost of processing checks is very high, particularly with the the high rate of bad checks that are written these days. We can hold checks until they clear, but that's very hands-on, and requires even more labour. Let's look: For a product that someone suggested we sell at $10, we hire in people to:
* open envelopes
* read order forms
* record purchases on detailed databases
* assure purchases are credited to the proper account
* physically deposit checks
* process the keys onto the individual player accounts
* remove the keys from the accounts of those who used stolen checks, or whose checks bounce
* provide support for those who didn't give us their accurate account information or have other fulfillment issues
* and more.
Believe it or not, this would likely cost us more than $10, which gets back to the whole "giving it away" idea.

Retail? At what cost? The stores would want a large percentage of the sales price, and the costs of goods are high, and are paid by the manufacturer/publisher. Packaging, key cards, CDs, signage, posters for the store, online and print ads to support the sales (retailers expect that), and more are part of those costs. So again, for what cost? If you put too high a price on the product, players complain it's not worth the cost. Too low, and... here it comes... we're giving it away because our costs exceed the income.

Gift with purchase? We did that--that is what the promotion is all about. But the promotion is not to point people to the gear store; the promotion is to encouarge people to use the in-game store. If Burger King is offering a new chicken sandwich and offers a "with purchase" promotion for the new meal, don't diss them if they don't give you the free fries with your Whopper. happy

Game card through retailers? Not something we are able to do yet, but believe me I suggested it years ago, too, and as it turns out, NCsoft said they have some ideas on the subject. We'll see about this one; it would be great for the future but just isn't do-able now. Keep in mind, though, that again, any retailers offering the cards for sale will probably keep half of the purchase price, which definitely eats into the profits, when we're assuming the cost of the production, promotion, etc.

In the end, the BMP is a modest "thank you" to those who used our in-game store to make their purchase. Its purpose is twofold: To encourage use of the in-game store, and to express appreciation to those who do. It is a win/win for customer and company. For those who did not choose to participate, or felt that they would rather have a box, or did not have a means to purchase, those decisions or those issues do not refute the overall value of the promotion, or the reasoning behind our offering it.