Curse

Sir_Ace_Manslayer · Aug 30, 2007, 04:31 AM // 04:31

Hi, I think they should use pre searing as a way to get more people to join the guild wars world:

The Idea: Allow people to download GW off of the main site as it is now
let them create an account with only 2 character slots and let them play in pre and only pre until they buy the full game (buying full game adds 2 extra character slots so you get a total of 4 jus like when you buy the game)

Why: it would jus give people more chance to try out guild wars for themself to see if they like it and it would give players who never thought about playing guildwars a chance to play a little and then eventualy buy it. in pre searing u get the basics of the whole game.. a selected skills assortment, a green(charr bags, and i think charr salvage kits) and you cant do all that much there anyway sept lvl your char and talk to your buddies.

Effects: if Pre searing would be made a free area it wouldnt effect much it couldnt ruin the economy or anything cuz they couldnt get to the main game unless they actuly bought it.

Restrictions : No titles, you can earn them jus not wear them (that means no LDoA for the newbys/freebys

)
They would have to play in free servers not to bother players that bought the game. Free Pre searing would include REDUCED drops for dyes and greens to prevent bots and market shifts

Comments ? Questions ? all comments welcome ( bad and good )

~Ace

Edit #1: listend to tenshi -> no free server to pay server travel
->Earn titles jus not ear them
-> Reduced dye drops and green drops for free servers to preserve economy

tenshi_strife · Aug 30, 2007, 05:13 AM // 05:13

/signed, at first i was skeptical of some problems but you got rid of those, no titles = no free legendary defender of ascalons, and only allowed in free severs = no spam, and if it is set like adventure quests servers that only a certain num of players can join at a time on free accounts, then it would not bog anets servers down.

but i do want to add this, you should have it to where you can EARN titles you just cant WEAR them till you buy the game, and if you by the game you just add it to your free account like you would adding an expansion and you get to keep your titles and such,

though i would have to say idk how much i want players to be able to go to the free servers if they have the real game and idk if i want any gold leaving the free servers cause free accounts = MAJOR BOT BAIT but if it doesnt leave the free servers then there is no reason for bots to get the free accounts therefor making it more available to real players and does not crash the market for us paying customers.

with those included then i would gladly /sign this

Lady Lozza · Aug 30, 2007, 05:24 AM // 05:24

It's an interesting idea.
Beats those "trial keys" which tbh don't really give you enough time to get a feel for the game. Pre-searing is "safe" as well as endearing and maybe we'd get some more players into the game who feel an "attachment" to Ascalon as it used to be. For me pre-searing was the strongest start to any of the games, and a very good places to "pull players in" for lack of a better term.

Jaythen Tyradel · Aug 30, 2007, 12:33 PM // 12:33

I really do not like the idea. I do like the premise behind it to get more players to try out GW, but with gold sellers and gold farmers, they would eat this up as a free way to get into the game.
I know you are thinking this won't hurt the game however, but to prevent gold farmers and sellers from trying to capitalize on this, the "free" accounts would need to be restricted by:

1. Can not trade to other players until they upgrade to a full account. To prevent one character being a "holder" (aka player with a full account) while the rest go out and farm dyes/charr bags/gold and return to the "holder" which in turn will move on to post to store/sell items.

2. Can only party with other players that have a free account. This way they do not pair up..go outside and drop all items for the other to pick up, hence avoiding the trade screen.

But main reason to say no...gold selling sites spamming their sites in trade chat in pre. They have a free account and could potentially could keep creating more for free..if they get their account banned, create another one.
Then there is the obvious "trollers" who will join just to harass players and say whatever they want and that GW sucks blah blah blah. They wont feel threatened by a banning since it was a free account.

So overall..
/not signed

thezed · Aug 30, 2007, 12:39 PM // 12:39

Im going to refrain from signing or not signing this one.

My only problem with the idea is that I am 100% sure it would never happen. Even if you managed to close all the gold farmers, spam, and scammer problems there is still the issue that GW2 will be out in a few years and ANet will want to advertise that product, not continue to give free access to GW1

Maybe a good suggestion for GW2 though.

Aug 30, 2007, 12:41 PM // 12:41

stipid idea! Players don't want presearing to be a free trial!

Aggravaar · Aug 30, 2007, 03:58 PM // 15:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaythen Tyradel

But main reason to say no...gold selling sites spamming their sites in trade chat in pre. They have a free account and could potentially could keep creating more for free..if they get their account banned, create another one.
Then there is the obvious "trollers" who will join just to harass players and say whatever they want and that GW sucks blah blah blah. They wont feel threatened by a banning since it was a free account.

That's a curse of every free trial/free MMOs and little can be done about it. Most people ignore such individuals but I see how it can be a problem. Maybe making freebie-only districts would be a good move.

I generally like the idea but one thing bothers me: don't you think that pre-searing alone wouldn't be enough to make someone like GW? It's very, very different from the “proper” GW and a player who just downloads it without trying to find out how GW really plays (before buying GW I had a fair idea of how it works, what the gameplay is like etc) might get the wrong picture (very little interesting stuff in pre, especially when compared to a full prophecies+factions+nfall+GW:EN combo).

You could, of course, write stuff like “you have only experienced a small portion of the game, the full retail version has missions, heroes, hundreds of skills, dinosaurs, laser swords etc” but your typical player might not want to pay any attention to it or think that it's exaggerated. I don't think he would be interested enough to at least try and find out what happens later.

Trail versions have the advantage – they show you the splendour of the full product and, once you've played through those 10 hours of free trial, you'll be more motivated to do some research on the game and become interested in purchasing the real thing. You don't get to see everything, but other players might show fun stuff to you: heroes, weapons, armours, skills etc. Pre alone won't have such a powerful effect.

So:

/notsigneg

for the pre that we know.

Your idea is well thought through, Ace, ignore that vergilius guy.

EternalTempest · Aug 30, 2007, 05:20 PM // 17:20

/signed

Allow 3 slots, 1 for each campaign.

That way you can experience, pre-searing tryia, Monstary in Factions, or Istani for Elona. Block ability to go to the "main area". Still keep it separate from the live servers, unless you buy the game them switch them in to the game.

Once they complete all the quests / etc, then put a 24 hour timer before locking that character.

Onarik Amrak · Aug 30, 2007, 06:35 PM // 18:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vergilius

stipid idea! Players don't want presearing to be a free trial!

Thank you for speaking on behalf of everyone. gj

My Sweet Revenga · Aug 30, 2007, 07:02 PM // 19:02

presearing is pretty boring. If I played just presear during a trial, I probably wouldn't buy the game. The real game doesn't start until post sear...

MithranArkanere · Aug 31, 2007, 02:24 AM // 02:24

As long as you block all trade from them and limit the trial for one month or so..

Chronos the Defiler · Aug 31, 2007, 02:55 AM // 02:55

Pre-Searing has nothing to offer...no missions, non-max content, nothing to follow and nothing to work towards. Hardly ideal for a trial or demo.

Yawgmoth · Aug 31, 2007, 03:10 AM // 03:10

Could be a nice idea if added some limitations, like separate districts for them so they can't enter the regular ones but

But is it really needed? Aren't those 10hour free keys enough to introduce new players to the game and this would be better? I don't know that and a research should be done to say that for sure.

Maybe it's a good idea but it doesn't give a good glimpse of the real game, those players wouldn't be able to see how big the world is or experience gameplay in larger parties than 2.

There are pros and cons, more promotion and more fresh blood is always good, but is it the right way to do it?

darkknightkain · Aug 31, 2007, 07:20 AM // 07:20

/notsigned

This got to be the biggest misleading way to introduce GW to anyone.

silvershock · Aug 31, 2007, 07:56 AM // 07:56

/signed. I'm quite suprised Anet hasn't hired you yet:P

Targren · Aug 31, 2007, 11:39 AM // 11:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chronos the Defiler

Pre-Searing has nothing to offer...no missions, non-max content, nothing to follow and nothing to work towards. Hardly ideal for a trial or demo.

Wait, what? Not having max-content and an endgame is not ideal for a demo?

Sir_Ace_Manslayer · Aug 31, 2007, 05:34 PM // 17:34

ight i jus got done reading most comments and alot of the stuff u guys said i would need to do i already posted that go up and reread ALL of the content befor posting , alot of the posts looks like they read the title and that was it?

gameshoes3003 · Aug 31, 2007, 09:56 PM // 21:56

As much as I like the concept, Pre-Searing has nothing to offer as a demo.
The Factions/Nightfall pre-islands do, but still, as stated before somewhere in this thread, a 14 day FULL GAME trial does offer more and actually lets the trial player experiment with all parts of the game so the person can make a definite decision.

Darkhell153 · Aug 31, 2007, 10:27 PM // 22:27

/not signed this is a good start but there are many better ways to introduce the more active parts of the game to the world. If you made it a one month trial which included things like
1. Ability to access up to pikken square in tyria
2. Ability to access up to Sunspear Hq (or whatever) in Nightfall
3. Ability to access up to ran misa gardens in Factions
4. Ability to access random arenas
Everything else must be off limits, that includes trade, Guilds, kurzick/luxon choice, the more illustrious aspects of pvp, and of course the rest of the game and any item worth more then 450 gold (I'd also recommend putting a cap on their money bags and storage until they buy the actual game, something like 5platinum cap, 24 storage slots, no material storage)

Recommended Time limit for this is 10-17 days (it's a lot more limited then the regular free trial but it opens up much much more of the game then this current suggestion.)

Fitz Rinley · Sep 01, 2007, 12:57 AM // 00:57

I understand the issue of the gold farming. I would recommend that the purchases be made quartermasters instead of merchants. Everything based upon tokens in the Free Pre-Server. And should a person transfer to a purchased license, then the charcter gets some bonus items, max Pre-Armor, and loses all items they have accumulated. All items which they find they can trash, but never trade.

There should be a large glowing Wisdom Stone right outside the Pre-Searing gate in the field that explains why the trade system is different, and what to expect when they upgrade (loss of items, replacement with bonus items and Krytan Pre-armor, keeping their level, keeping their name).

This could potentially add to the player base in preparation for GW 2.