I bought Guild Wars 2 at release and played it for about a year and a half. I really enjoyed it, but at the same time, there were a bunch of other MMOs coming out and like many MMO players do, I decided to take a break from GW2 and go try out one of the other games. I could always come back to GW2 thanks to it's Buy2Play model which didn't involve any monthly subscription fee.
A year later, about 5 months ago, ArenaNet announced their first ever expansion for Guild Wars 2, Heart of Thorns. I watched the video from one of the big gaming expos and I got excited for the game again. So I reinstalled GW2 and hopped back on.
One of the things I had missed in the year break I had taken was the second season of Living World. Basically, Living World is the developers' way to continue the in-game story onwards after the initial release of the game. They release a new chapter every month or two.
The main story of Guild Wars 2 was the same story every character plays through from level 1 to max level. Season 1 of Living World came after and were short-timed events in-game where people could log-in, go to specific places of the world, and participate with huge numbers of other players in events in those areas. They usually gave about 3 weeks to a month for players to complete the content and then it would disappear forever.
For Season 2 of Living World, ArenaNet decided to do things slightly differently. Instead of the events taking place in the actual world, each chapter of the Living World would be in an instance of certain areas, with players locating specific areas and entering into the instance, much like how a character would enter a dungeon.
In the past, they gave players about a month between chapters to complete the content and then it was gone forever. With Season 2, because the content was locked inside instances, it never had to disappear. It is always available at certain areas of the world. That is a great thing. A fantastic thing. I know it isn't easy for new players to come into the game and not be able to experience any of Season 1 because of it's design.
So the new story chapters are always available, that's great. But for some reason, ArenaNet decided to put a deadline on acquiring each chapter. If players didn't log into the game in the given month that the particular chapter of story released, they would not unlock that chapter, and would instead have to pay a Cash Shop currency price to unlock it. This is where I feel they made a bad move.
If players aren't online during those months, they are punished by not being given the same content the players that were online got for free. They are forced to spend actual money to buy Gems in order to purchase each chapter. I think it comes out to a little more than $20 for all eight chapters of Season 2 Living World.
What this idea doesn't take into consideration are... well a bunch of things. 1) What about new players that have never played the game before? Should they be punished and forced to, on top of buying the game for $40, spend another $20 to unlock more story content? 2) Players that took a break from the game. This is a common thing for MMO players to do. It's easy to spend hours each day grinding in an MMO only to get burnt out and need to go play something else.
Why should players be punished at all? Or is this just a plan by ArenaNet to make money on a game that has no monthly subscription fee?
Either way, I had 200 gems sitting in the bank after I had bought a Gem card from GameStop and I decided to purchase the first chapter of Living World Season Two: Gates of Maguuma. I couldn't buy much else on the cash shop with the gems, so why not? 200 gems is roughly $2.50.
I wasn't sure going into it how long the content would last. There was no indicator, nothing saying "Estimated Completion Time: 3 hours". For all I know, it could last the length of regular main story chapters, no more than 10-15 minutes. I wish there was some indicator in-game, because I think it'd help sell the product better if the consumer knew they would get at least 2 hours worth of content out of it.
I enjoyed playing through the story. It was definitely more difficult than the main story. By the time I got done with it, I was very surprised how long it had lasted me. About two hours of content. On top of that, once I had completed the story chapter, I had unlocked Achievements I could earn by replaying certain parts of the story and doing special things, like never get hit my certain attacks from enemies. The initial story and then putting in the work to get each of the achievements, in entirety, it all took me about three and a half hours.
I feel it was worth the cost of 200 gems for what I got out of it. I couldn't go back and replay Living World Season 1, so certain characters in Season 2 I had forgotten about, but I still connected the story together and understood most of it.
I'd definitely recommend people purchase the Living World Season 2 chapters, it's a good purchase.
I just don't like how ArenaNet decided to provide the content. No, I am fine with buying it. I just don't like being put in a position where I have to log-in when they tell me to, I have to jump through their hoops, or I am punished. I don't think the players of any MMO should be punished for not being online at certain times.
When Season 3 of Living World releases, I hope ArenaNet adjusts the delivery again. Perhaps just release the entire season from the get-go as a purchasable product to all players. Don't give it out for free to only the people logging in at that moment. Like I said above, the value is there, I just didn't like the delivery. Couple the entire season with a few digital cosmetic goodies, package it for $20 and I'll bite.
I think it'd be a smart approach. I don't have to pay a monthly fee to play Guild Wars 2. In any subscription-based game, I'd have paid $15 every month for nothing special. Let me spend $20 every year for a great collection of story missions. ArenaNet just needs to be straight with the players and provide a product and ask for money. None of these silly requirements or hoops to jump through.
I really look forward to Heart of Thorns and what it will add to the game. Of course, that's another article.
Thanks for reading!
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