Guild Wars 2's Long-Awaited Build Templates Aren't Proving Popular With Players
Nearly from the day it launched, Guild Wars 2 players (including myself) were clamoring for build templates to be added to the game. Two days ago -- and over seven years after the game's launch -- they were finally added to the game, and players aren't happy with them. Because of course.
The primary issue is with the monetization of the new feature. Each character gets three trait builds and two equipment builds for free, with additional templates costing 300 (for traits) or 500 (for equipment) Gems each, with the new unlocks being character-bound. 800 Gems cost $10, so to add three more slots to a single character would cost $30, and that would still leave room for for another 500-Gem equipment build. (There's currently a max of six of each kind of template per character, though dataminer that_shaman has uncovered code to indicate that the limit could be bumped up to 10.)
Adding to the frustration is that a third-party tool, called ArcDPS, offered free build templates until this week. The creator of ArcDPS had an agreement with ArenaNet that allowed them to continue working on the feature until it was officially added to the game. Players who used that tool now have to use ArenaNet's version, which is more expensive overall and, in some players' minds, less useful.
The largest portion of ire can, naturally, be found on Reddit, with plenty of memes, as well as posts titled "I've never been as upset at ANet as I am now thanks to Templates" and "I think I'd rather quit than play with templates," and at least one player's attempt at proper feedback.
ArenaNet hasn't said anything official in response to players' concerns, and maybe this is one of those kinds of things that will blow over without any real impact on the game or its community. Or maybe, after waiting so long for this feature, its less-than-perfect implementation will be the last-straw for long-time players -- the kinds who have many characters and many potential builds for those characters and who don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars to get them into the game.
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Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.
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Try and bleed game players dry
Of all the games I thought Guidwars had it right buy to play forever or until they can no longer maintain it. which is fine if it last a few years.
Now the devs job is to MILK THE COWS!
STOP! get over it and make another game for our sake and yours GAME DEVS.
GAME DEVS get back to making complete games!! and just letting us pay for them! finished!! THEN, maybe, you! as a GAME DEV! can move on towards the next game instead of trying to create other transitions to bleed us dry.