14 DAY TRIAL // Guild Wars 2 is an unusual MMO in many ways and it seems that the development team working on it wants to make sure that gamers understand that this approach extends to the issue of microtransactions that involve real money and potential competitive advantages.
Speaking on the official website of the game Mike O’Brien, who is the executive producer on Guild Wars 2, stated, “You get a complete and playable game no matter what, but we think we can provide additional content and services that you’d be happy to pay for. And when you pay for them, you help fund our support of Guild Wars 2 in a way that benefits all players of the game.”
He added, “Here’s our philosophy on microtransactions: We think players should have the opportunity to spend money on items that provide visual distinction and offer more ways to express themselves. They should also be able to spend money on account services and on time-saving convenience items.”
The developer assured gamers that the ArenaNet team strongly believes that those gamers who pay real world money for convenience items should not have an unfair advantage over those who only buy the game and that all players who get Guild Wars 2 should be able to enjoy it without being required to pay more money.
Guild Wars 2 will have three separate currencies: gems, gold and karma.
Gold will be the same as in any other MMO, earned and spent in the MMO, gems can be acquired via microtransactions while karma can be obtained by playing the game and can be then redeemed for a number of special rewards.
Only gems and gold can be exchanged for one another and there’s no limit on how much in-game currency gamers can obtain using real-world money.
Guild Wars 2 will be launched during 2012 and a beta stage is planned to iron out any pre-launch issues.