The Update Trend?

Is it just me, or has Guild Wars acquired the following trend in all of it's major updates?

1. Major Content Update Announced
2. Hype and Buzz about particular features
3. Developers continue to comment on and elaborate on the details of this update
4. The update finally comes.
5. Everyone is already aware of most of it, except for a few new things added to the cash shop.
6. No warning or even the slightest information was given about the new cash shop content by the developers.

Why do they do this? Is it Anet's decision or NCSoft's decision to leave people in the dark about cash shop updates? Is this a plot to gain profits by "shocking" people into buying the cool new shiny things?

Because most folks appreciate little surprises.

Suprises are nice, yes...

But the only suprises we are being given involve microtransactions. Everything else is given months of information and hype.

I guess they don't want any new shop additions to be chewed up and spit out by a horde of jaded and fashionably cynical fanboys months in advance. They probably get a lot more impulse buyers at or soon after the launch if the community hasn't already been thoroughly soured to the idea.

Boohoo, I paid for this game over 5 years go and have clocked an average of 3 hours per day, and now they expect me to pay for updates? Outrageous!

No one is asking you to pay for updates... they're doing what they've always done, offering a mostly cosmetic/convenience "perk" through microtransactions... just like the makeover credits, the costumes, etc.

Here's the thing though: Anet isn't actually hyping much of anything. It's the players who are doing this.

- Players identify major concerns and whine about them over and over, like 7 heroes and death of pugs.
- Developers let players know they're working on those issues.
- Players bombard their talk page with questions around those known issues.
- Devs selectively respond to the player interest. They're mostly talking to identified issues, and not to new additions that players have no clue about nor have expressed a clear interest in.

If Anet wants to "hype" something, they aren't going to be using wiki talk as their tool. They're going to release viral campaigns or skill previews. They're going to set up articles and interviews as they did on release of this patch, where they covered everything including the microtransaction Mercenaries at length. Not to mention stuff on guildwars.com which *always* includes the microtransactions. The amount of Anet-initiated "hype" just isn't that large of late. It's mostly players here at Guru going on and on and on about certain issues that "hypes" those issues, which is just a small slice of whatever Anet is working on.

You don't have to pay for updates, lol. If you mean costumes, they're costumes... COSTUMES. I haven't even bought a single one. If you're also referring to the "new" Merc Hero, this is total rubbish. You do not need the Merc Hero. You can do just fine with regular heroes. The Merc hero is basically a hero that looks like you. End of story.

I for one did not know about the heroes being alphabetized in the party search screen.

Spot the sarcasm in zeeZ' post. I dare you!

ArenaNet has always been "up front" about the fact that they need to have a revenue stream attached to any major update. They are a business. Any project of significance has to be funded somehow. Or do you think they just sit around, and dream up ways to spend their money without getting anything in return? If so, think again.

I would advise you to *always* assume that there will be something for sale in anything they do beyond bug fixes and an occasional skill update.

<3

There may be some truth behind what you're saying OP but in the end does it matter? Knowing what's in an update beforehand doesn't actually change what you get in the end. If ANet gets more impulse buys this way, bully for them.

Unfortunately, the whole 'mercenary' feature is nothing short of a money grap, in exchange for PvE powercreep (you can practically create your own build without restrictions ... standard heroes are limited, for instance you can have only 3 Warrior heroes). That's basically like selling Ursan for 40$.

Creating your own build without restrictions is like using a build where you're limited to 5 skills none of which you get to choose? Righto.

Oh wow, enlighten me why are they called 'mercenary heroes' and not 'heroic henchmen' then.

because mercenary means you have to pay for them, ie microtransaction

In that case I give Anet benefit of the doubt for not writing a 'clear enough' dev update blog on guildwars.com site.

So that people don't feel "cheated" out of "promised" content by them releasing it as cash-shop only. By hyping the free content, everyone gets exactly what they promised, and the cash-shop stuff is a nice little extra for people who have the money and want to spend it on such things.

I'd agree with the sentiment if the price was appropriate. Given how high the price is for individual mercenary, it seems Anet has settled for mediocrity when it comes to what they offer in cash shop (bugged halloween costumes, unimaginative male wedding costumes).

When you set the price that high and offer a service of questionable use/quality, it is kind of obvious that you forward your offering only to the least critical and demanding segment of your customers, who happen to have an online wallet.

Compared to the cost of individual campaigns during their release, prices in cash shop are simply outrageous for the little functionality they add.

Methinks that if they announced it before hand all the "its totally not worth it" discussions that would happen in between the announcement and the release would dissuade a lot of people from buying it.

So it is with EVERY add on released these days. At least Anet has the excuse that they are hosting and providing content updates free of charge, in contrast to other companies who do neither and have as bad or worse priced offerings.