Just a warning to any aspiring players:

[Maverick]

This game is EXCESSIVELY DLC heavy, and those DLC's come with hefty costs. You CANNOT do endgame activities through the free part of the game, and as someone who stuck with guild wars for quite a while, I gave up on trying to keep up with their constant DLC schedules and asking prices.

If you're a WoW player, this is probably an upgrade for you, but for anyone else who is looking for a FREE experience to dive into, this will sorely disappoint you.

Years of maltreatment of the game's players has resulted in a "Company does, Customers Endure" mindset where aspects of the game are stripped down more and more while being layered in within multiple DLC's.

Want to ride a mount? That takes getting a DLC. But if you want use the glider, that's going to be another separate DLC. And that glider only works in specific areas.

One "idea" per DLC and those "ideas" are used as alternatives for doors for about an hour and then you're right back into the grind.

The issue is that they do what Bungie does with Destiny 2: They have been known to alter DLC's for the worse after the fact, so unless something MAGIC happened over there at their headquarters, just expect a very weak free to play experience and a disappointing paid player experience.

[Tiberius]

Thanks. now you can also go to any game forum that has dlc/xpac to complain abt the same thing

[Shrek 2 On DVD]

?

The dlc's are free to anyone that signs in when the patch drops. DLC pathes are active for 2 weeks. Everyone has to pay for expansions, anything that comes after the expansion is free if you've logged in during the 2 week grace period. You don't even have to load into a character.

Gliding is part of Heart of Thorns.
Mounts are part of Path of Fire.
End of Dragons has a jade bot a boat and fishing.

Living world maps show up with a 2 week grace period. it's all free until then.

**after that then it's like 200 gems per episode, you don't even have to buy them. They have a bit of story and some weapon skins and such.

[Chickenooble]

To clarify --

1) The free-to-play game includes access to 31 maps, two character slots, limited bag space, and some chat and travel restrictions.
2) End-game on the free-to-play account includes Fractals of the Mists -- a dungeon system with 21 different mini dungeons, 100 levels of difficulty, and 4 tiers of challenge. This is one of the most profitable ways to play at end-game and can help you earn BIS/Ascended gear.
3) You have access to all the crafting in the game (minus recipes found in expansion maps)
4) You can compete in SPvP using Core Professions. Core professions (those without the expansion elite specs) are still viable. I play on a Core Thief.
5) You can play World vs World and be just as good as the next guy.

Now, for monetization --
1) There is no subscription fee.
2) You can buy PoF (and get HoT for free), or EoD, or all Three. The three-pack is $50 -- the cost of a AAA game. Purchasing ANY expansion will unlock all the free-to-play restrictions on your account.
3) There's no subscription fee.
4) There is a cash shop. It sells convenience and cosmetic items. You can not buy power in the cash shop.
5) The Living World Episodes (the DLC they refer to) comes out every 2-3 months. Almost every episode comes with new achievements, armor and weapon collections, maps, story missions, and more. You get the episode for free if you log in during the release window. If you miss the release window you can buy the episode for 200 Gems. That's $2.50. I saw a bundle for Seasons 2-5 listed on Steam earlier but I can't find it anymore.
6) You can convert in-game gold that you earn from playing into Gems. Currently you can buy an episode for 60 Gold in-game (takes about 3-4 hours to farm.)
7) There is no subscription fee.

[Doragor]

"Free to play*"
Gotta love that sweet marketing term

[Karnage]

Let's actually think about this. OP is complaining about expansions in a game that has been around for 10 years. The base game is completely free to pay, there's no subscription fee, and all MTX can be optionally purchased using in-game currency.

Now here's the silly part... All expansions together are only 50 dollars for around 10 years worth of content. 50 dollars over 10 years is the equivalent of paying around 4 CENTS per month for 10 years. This game was released in a time when 15 dollar per month subscriptions were normal for MMOs. And there's still plenty of MMOs on the market that require you to pay 10-15 dollars per month to play. A good number of them also have paid expansions on top of required subscriptions.

As for the living world? All episodes are completely free to claim forever when they are first introduced into the game for a limited time. If you miss out in claiming an episode, they always become free again for a limited time throughout the years. Now if you buy all of those seasons outright without claiming any episodes for free, you're basically only doubling the price you paid for all of the expansions. Or in other words, the equivalent of paying around a dollar per month for 10 years. And remember, this is all optional.

Now consider that the game allows you to convert in-game currency into premium shop currency and vice versa. What this means is that you can actually use in-game currency to reduce the price you pay for living world content. And if you're really dedicated, you can buy episodes or entire seasons using only in-game currency. I'm not saying it will take a reasonable amount of time to do, but it's still possible. And that's assuming your guild mates or random veterans out in the world won't be willing to pitch in some in-game currency to help you purchases these things. The GW2 community is extremely helpful, so that's far more likely to happen than you think. The fact that any of this is even possible is pretty dang cool, and you can't deny that.

Seriously, OP?

[SeaDog]

So don't play it. Go somewhere else and quit filling up these forums with your "public service" nonsense. You do not have to buy a single expansion to enjoy hundreds of hours of open world on this game. If, when you have leveled one or several toons to 80 and played lots of the core content, you decide you like it and want to keep playing then buy the expansions.

[Astrocopernicus]

Just some quick info here, since much of the context is left out from those who have forgotten the new player experience...

First off, it's going to be hard to make 60 gold in 3 to 4 hours as a new player, even with all the expansions. Secondly, there are multiple episodes in each living story. It cost me over 100 dollars to get everything unlocked plus all three expansions.

The good news is no subscription. The bad news is, you will be spending real money to get inventory space and many other QOL features you cannot get in game. (but you don't have to of course. You can make alts simply for inventory.)

Also, it will take hundreds of gold to convert to a small amount of gems. You will need lots of gold to craft, and will make little of it back leveling up a crafting profession.


It's still a great free to play offer. The core world is HUGE, and quite fun. You could easily play for free for months leveling alts and playing in the 80 zones open to you.

The main issue was before, ANET did not give proper information regarding the extra costs. They are updating this for tomorrow's release and new players will get all the info.

It's a very good game, and I recommend it. But there is a lot of context and information you can't get inside the game. Be prepared to spend a lot of time figuring things out on the internet; this part can be frustrating since much info is sparse or outdated.

[SeaDog]

"Want to ride a mount? That takes getting a DLC. But if you want use the glider, that's going to be another separate DLC. And that glider only works in specific areas."

The Core game (F2P has complete access) was what the game looked like at launch. There were no mounts (or gliders) at launch and Core Tyria was designed to be done completely on foot. Having a mount speeds it up but doing Tyria on foot is the way it was meant to be played and worth doing on at least one character.

Gliders are usable everywhere except: Most Jumping Puzzles (these are designed to be run on foot) and most Story Content (again, these are designed this way) in all areas of GW2 including the expansions.

Mounts were introduced in Path of Fire and those maps ..... wait for it ..... are optimized for mount use and, yes, mounts may be required for some of it. Obtaining mounts in the expansions are a big and fun part of the storyline in those expansions.

So, yes, each additional expansion added new content and mechanics to the game. And, yes, they are well worth buying after you play the base game and decide if you want to keep playing.

Again, so tired of these "public service announcements". Go play WoW or something and quit trolling these forums with your nonsense.

[Sychon]

A last-ditch effort to deter as many potential players as you can, I guess...
You and your sorry ilk should rest your fingers and get ready to review bomb the game when it drops. Good luck, you'll need it.

[tonypa]

Originally posted by Scrompfy:

I gave up on trying to keep up with their constant DLC schedules and asking prices.

The game has released 3 expansions over 10 years or about 1 DLC per 3 years. That is far from "constant DLC schedules". You can always play it for free without paying anything, but you obviously will not get access to the content that is part of the expansions (really, what else would you expect).

Are the expansions worth the price, it depends. If you play the game every day for 10 years, you most likely find expansions really great. If you jump in once a week for couple hours, you will never even finish the free content so I would not bother paying for it.

[soh]

You get a ♥♥♥♥ load with the free version, and if you intend to continue playing you only need to spend $50 for all 3 expansions. If you compare this to any other MMORPG it's practically free. Look at ESO it will cost a freaking arm and leg to buy all expansions and DLC's.

Also if you are talking about backpack upgrades etc thats for convenience and regardless of what mmo you play it's gonna be costly. But for actual content gw2 is cheap.

[Arki83]

So your complaint is that a 10 year old game has added content over its existence? Next time try not to be so lazy when trying to make a game look bad.

[Arca]

this guy never played any paradox games

[Woe, Totsugeki]

my guy is really comparing how Arenanet handle their expansions and seasonal content, to how bungie does it with destiny 2.... based on that, this post is out of touch lmfao

[Deadlynk]

Originally posted by Sychon:

A last-ditch effort to deter as many potential players as you can, I guess...
You and your sorry ilk should rest your fingers and get ready to review bomb the game when it drops. Good luck, you'll need it.

The amount of clowning on these forums is so great I honestly can't decide if these people are fanboys of some other mmorpg or literally paid shills