Why Is There no Free Trial?

[Sunseeker]

Not having a free trial is pretty common in most major games these days. I agree it would be nice for say oh, a 7-day trial, but really it's just not going to happen.

[draykorinee]

I'm sure we will see one soon. if your not sure whether to buy it yet, don't. unlike some mmos being a few months off the pace won't hamper you.
I wouldn't rush in to buying this game, try and see if a friend has it first.

[Mosotti]

A game with no free trial at start is a "potentially bad game". That means the developers think that by having a trial they would scare off a big chunk of those actually trying it. It's really a lack of confidence in the product and a strategy to get as much money as possible even at the customer's dissatisfaction expense. It actually tells us "we, the developers, think that we are making more money without a trial."

Even the very successful games with no trial are in the same category. They thought that by having a trial they would hurt the profits. Which is probably true for most of the games... hence the habit.

[Masterypvp]

Trolololololo

Mod Edit: Infracted

[Deleted]

A game with no free trial at start is a "potentially bad game". That means the developers think that by having a trial they would scare off a big chunk of those actually trying it. It's really a lack of confidence in the product and a strategy to get as much money as possible even at the customer's dissatisfaction expense. It actually tells us "we, the developers, think that we are making more money without a trial."

Even the very successful games with no trial are in the same category. They thought that by having a trial they would hurt the profits. Which is probably true for most of the games... hence the habit.

No, in the case of a game that runs on servers at high, not having a trial is because they don't want the actual people who payed to have problems because of an influx of people testing the game.

Oh, if GW2 will never have a trial, then I will think something is wrong. but if they don't have trials now, I can understand them. Same for any game actually running online.

As for offline games, I'm kind of conflicted about this.

In general, I expect all games to have demo/trials the most 1 year after they were launched in worst case. If they do not, what you say I kind of partially agree then.

[Glytch]

relevance:
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/demo-daze

[Fencers]

relevance:
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/demo-daze

Good video.

That show is usually awful so color me impressed.

[Pickynerd]

I want to try the game out but I don't want to spend $40-60 on something just to find out that I don't like it.

I haven't heard much about the game or many people talking about it but I'd still like to try it out. A Free Trial is a great marketing strategy that draws people in, so I'm wondering why they simply just don't include one?

Because the game is 90% bugs, after free trial you wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

[Vryyce]

Free trials mean even more gold farming spam. Just say no to free trials!

[Glytch]

Good video.

That show is usually awful so color me impressed.

*blank stare*

wut?

[Valeron]

Yeah I like most of the extra credit shows, not sure why fencers doesn't like them.

[Glytch]

Yeah I like most of the extra credit shows, not sure why fencers doesn't like them.

im unsure i can take her seriously for now on

[Deleted]

relevance:
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/demo-daze

I disagree. Mostly, without demos I would not have bought many games I own now. I'm sure there are more people who are with me here. Funny enough, because this is one of the few of these shows I don't agree with, usually they make good shows I agree with fully, but with this one I don't.

Free trials mean even more gold farming spam. Just say no to free trials!

Not if there's restrictions.

[Fencers]

*blank stare*

wut?

A lot of them were written from a biased POV &/or were largely console gaming specific. The other thing is the show caters to a lot of popular "gamer" opinion and views much of the industry's product in a $/entertain context. All of which is the opposite of good.

I don't have much respect for the average [read:majority] audience of video gaming or writing POVs happy to promote many of those vulgar tastes/beliefs.

[Karizee]

6 am PST on a Sunday morning and 40% of US servers are FULL (as in no accounts can be created on that server) while the rest are High.

Why would they offer free trials? They even went so far as to halt sales a few weeks after launch as they care more about their current customers than garnering more sales. They are growing the game right.

You can wait if you like, but you'll be waiting a long time and in the meantime you are missing out.

[Pickynerd]

Don't for get that bots take space too, and there are a fuck load of bots, I'd say 5 to 1 on my server.

[Sygil]

I have yet to recall a console game that has had free trials over the years since the original NES days. Same goes for MMOs with free trials within the first 2 months.

I still have plenty of my PS1 and PS2 demo discs lying around. It's just the "Next Gen" consoles that stopped handing out demos, although I'm sure you can download them off xbox live etc.

[Lugor]

Free trials mean even more gold farming spam. Just say no to free trials!

It really depends on how you set up the free trial. Disabling /map would help cut down the gold spammers, but hurt the newbies in asking questions. I think you would have to bite the bullet and disable it, along with mail for any free trial. More than any MMO, the gold spammers cut into Anet's bottom line with the real money/gem exchange.

Right now, the spam is coming from hacked accounts and ones created with stolen credit cards. A free trial without certain restrictions would make their jobs much easier.

[Lane]

Mostly, without demos I would not have bought many games I own now. I'm sure there are more people who are with me here.

This. I refused to buy GW2 without playing it first. I've tried MMOs before where I ended up hating the combat so much I never made it out of the starting zone and watching videos is not sufficient to give me a feel for a game. Fortunately, a friend of mine bought it and myself, my boyfriend, and another friend were able to play it. It ultimately resulted in 3 sales from people who had no intention of buying without trying.

Free trials mean even more gold farming spam. Just say no to free trials!

People are too used to companies offering trials on live servers. All they'd really need to do is set up a separate trial server and limit it to just a starting zone. Anyone who purchases can transfer to a live server later.

[MrSerious]

I haven't heard much about the game or many people talking about it

really? I would perhaps trying using the internet to find out more. MMO champion has the most negative threads about the game, maybe try reddit, gw2guru, or the official GW2 forums to find more information (and posts of people enjoying the game)