Poll: Guild Wars 2 Pricing

[Fishyash]

I decided to have a look at how much Guild Wars 2 was going to cost before I decide to preorder it. I was actually rather suprised to see it at £49.99. I reflected on how Star Wars: The Old Republic also had a similar pricing for a standard Digital pre-order, with a pre-order fee to boot.

I've been wondering, do you think MMOs should be an exception in regards to AAA PC game pricing? Personally, I have no problem with this, assuming there is a way to try the game for free before purchasing it. It's a pretty hefty purchase (for a PC title, where few AAA games go past £35) but if it is an enjoyable game there is a lot of game time available.

Also, do you consider subscription costs when considering to purchase an MMO. For example: SWTOR on release costed £45.99, with a subscription of around £19 for 60 days. Personally, I didn't want to purchase SWTOR because of this, while I am more willing to spend around £50 on GW2.

So escapist, how are you with the pricing of these MMOs? Do you think the lasting power of these games is worth the price? Are you willing to spend what you would on the latest AAA console title for a PC MMO?

EDIT: I am going to edit the poll a little bit to seem a bit more relevant to the OP to avoid any accidental answers.

 

[Erana]

Depends on if there's a presence of "freemium" and/or a monthly fee.
The enormous pricing is just too much for what I'd pay, (I always wait for price drops) but if it doesn't have a subscription plan, or the amount of content for a non paying player (post purchase) is respectable, I'd be alright with an initial purchase.

If it is a subscription-based game, it better come with a good chunk of game time in that purchase.
Part of the matter depends on the game itself; if the developer has to charge that much to help heal the hurt involved in expensive development costs or face threats of being shut down, then I can accept that if there's good faith with the userbase.

 

[DazZ.]

Whilst I'll most certainly be getting this, I don't think it'll be a preorder any more.

Last time I paid full price for a game was Starcraft II and that was only because it doesn't seem to ever be going down in price, and that was £30.

I've been spoilt by PC games prices, I feel anything over £20 is expensive.

 

[Scarim Coral]

While I think the price is a tad steep (especially since Diablo 3 is about £35 at the moment) but seeing how Guild Wars 2 is still free to play, I think the price is justify.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Considering that all you have to pay is the initial cost of the game and nothing more, for how much content there is to be had, it's well worth the money.

 

[wintercoat]

Depends on if there's a presence of "freemium" and/or a monthly fee.
The enormous pricing is just too much for what I'd pay, (I always wait for price drops) but if it doesn't have a subscription plan, or the amount of content for a non paying player (post purchase) is respectable, I'd be alright with an initial purchase.

If it is a subscription-based game, it better come with a good chunk of game time in that purchase.
Part of the matter depends on the game itself; if the developer has to charge that much to help heal the hurt involved in expensive development costs or face threats of being shut down, then I can accept that if there's good faith with the userbase.

TOR comes with a month I believe.

GW2 does microtransactions in an interesting way. The in-game currency(gold) can be exchanged for the store currency(gems) and vice versa, and both are tradable between players. No word as far as I've seen on what the exchange rate will be, or the price of store items. Article about GW2 currency on Rock, Paper, Shotgun. [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/21/in-for-a-penny-guild-wars-2-microtransactions-detailed/]

I would love to see the price of GW2 go down a bit, as it's a game model I can get behind but feel the $50 price tag is a bit too much.

TOR follows the same pricing as other big name subscription-based MMOs. $50 entrance fee with one free month, and each additional month is $15, with a small price drop when buying long-term plans.

 

[Fishyash]

Also I've been thinking, I wonder how long it will take for the price to go down on Guild wars 2. SWTR hasn't been out for long but it's already dropped down to like £25. Maybe GW2 will do something similar? £50 is VERY steep, I can't imagine it being this much for long.

Whilst I'll most certainly be getting this, I don't think it'll be a preorder any more.

Last time I paid full price for a game was Starcraft II and that was only because it doesn't seem to ever be going down in price, and that was £30.

I've been spoilt by PC games prices, I feel anything over £20 is expensive.

This is basically my sentiment.

I was VERY shocked at the sight of it. The most expensive PC game I bought was Skyrim for £35.

Most of my PC games are impulse purchases of indie/old games. I like how many good quality games there are out there for such a low price.

I would love to see the price of GW2 go down a bit, as it's a game model I can get behind but feel the $50 price tag is a bit too much.

To pre-order the standard digital edition of Guild Wars 2 it's £50. I checked if I could order a physical copy from Amazon to see if it was cheaper, but to my suprise I could only see the Amazon USA site, where the cost for pre-ordering guild wars 2 there is $60. RRP for a AAA console game.

 

[Weaver]

I thought GW2 had no monthly fees? I don't mind paying full price for it if that's the case.

On the flipside, I feel when a game DOES have monthly fees they should be doing their damnedest to just give the client away for free.

 

[Fishyash]

Differemce is STWOR NEEDS more people paying subs, it cost too much to make, whereas guild wars is much more modest and as the prequel showed can survive off of the release and expansion model.

It won't drop in price till after the first expansion (no word on that so far)

Hmm, interesting and very good point. That brings up another question, considering Guild Wars 1 had an interesting take on the release/expansion model.

Guild wars had three seperate campaigns, and one expansion. This involved a non-linear character development as which campaign you started on didn't really matter, as they all had their own story arc and were basically seperate adventures. Eye of the north is (probably, I haven't actually played it) an exception I think.

Will Guild Wars 2 use it in the same way is guild wars 1? Or do you think they will handle it like WoW, where they add new content by expanding the level cap? Or maybe Guild Wars 2 will have enough content to not warrant expansions, and that may explain the price.

Guild Wars 2 seems to be a bit more ambitious than its predecessor. Unless there is a link somewhere stating otherwise, I am a little bit skeptical on the expansion. I would assume if there were plans for one the game would have been priced lower from the start.

 

[Yuno Gasai]

I have absolutely no problem with the price of GW2. If anything, I see it as a worthwhile investment.

What I loved about the original Guild Wars was that it was an MMO I could pick up and put down as I pleased. I didn't have to worry about subscription fees or microtransactions to improve my gameplay, I could just dive straight in there and potter about doing whatever caught my fancy.

I think that 'approachability' (so to speak) is what encourages so many people to continue playing, even to this day. Although the game is a good few years old now, I still see the main cities populated by players. Not as populated as they used to be, but there are still a lot of people available to do stuff with.

 

[Therumancer]

I have absolutely no problem with the price of GW2. If anything, I see it as a worthwhile investment.

What I loved about the original Guild Wars was that it was an MMO I could pick up and put down as I pleased. I didn't have to worry about subscription fees or microtransactions to improve my gameplay, I could just dive straight in there and potter about doing whatever caught my fancy.

I think that 'approachability' (so to speak) is what encourages so many people to continue playing, even to this day. Although the game is a good few years old now, I still see the main cities populated by players. Not as populated as they used to be, but there are still a lot of people available to do stuff with.

Well, Guild Wars 2 is going for a microtransaction system even if they haven't nailed down the details yet, or so they say, since part of the point of microtransactions is to lure in the customer and then hit them with the prices (which is why with so many FTP games you can't see the store and the cost of virtual currency before actually trying the game).

http://www.arena.net/blog/mike-obrien-on-microtransactions-in-guild-wars-2

There are also articles talking about how they plan to make their system work similar to the PLEX from EVE Online, and similar things.

From where I'm sitting, rather than being like the original Guild Wars, it seems like GW2 is ultimatly going to turn into the equivilent of any other "Freemium" game but with a $50 initial buy in price as opposed to a free download. Something that shouldn't be shocking if you look at the increasing quality of other Freemium games like say "Allods" or whatever that are arguably competitive with other MMOS from the year they were released.

My advice is not to immediatly panic and boycott the game, but to be cautious in approaching this one. Wait a few months, wait until you see how the microtransactions wind up working, and also look out for a quick price drop in the base software... which might not happen, but I suspect it will.

Basically from what I've seen this is NOT going to be another "pay one fee, for unlimited play on an MMO" deal which excuses it's limitations, the idea is very much to support it with microtransactions like everyone else is, it's just being kept close to the dev's chest as far as the specifics go.

Do a search for "Guild Wars 2 microtransactions" and you'll find a number of articles on it aside from the one I linked.