So I've been looking forward to playing Guild Wars 2 for a long time. I've been MMO hopping for years trying to look for that one game that can keep me coming back for more. This game truly looked like it could do that for me. However I recently found out that even if I buy the retail copy of the game, I'm still forced to download the 25gig off the internet. This I cannot do because of our bandwidth limit. We have 4 people using the internet in my house and have a relatively low cap for the amount we use up (Canadian here, shitty overpriced internet ftw) so I'm basically screwed. I won't be able to play the game because even though the retail copy comes with a disc, I still need to get the game off the internet, it makes no sense and for this one reason alone I will not be partaking a game I've looked forward too for quite a while.

Is there ANYTHING I can do at all? I could deal with the patching, but them not putting the game on the disc for people like me is kind of unfair, not everyone in the world has unlimited internet and can waste 25gigs for a video game.

/End Rant.

I am so sorry. There is literally no help I can provide, but MAN does that suck something fierce.

If you can somehow pause and resume the download, you could pull a "let's drive around for a day and find open wifi connections." Not ideal, but tell me that wouldn't make for one hell of a story.

@Ezakael: Switch to one of the no-name ISPs.

I was once a slave to Robellus (Rogers/Bell) as well, but no more! Distributel gives me 18 mb/s speed and unlimited bandwidth for $44/month.

http://www.distributel.ca/en/category.aspx?pc=internet

When I was with Rogers, I would buy a bunch of games every year during the Steam sale, and then download them one by one each month (because downloading 2-3 games would eat up an entire month's bandwidth).

So what the fuck is on the disc?

Are you sure you cant install from the disk? I got the retail copy early this morning and it went through an installation, including asking for the second desk, then asked for a ~2gb update.

@hangedtoaster: I live in Ontario currently. I'm originally from Nova Scotia though.

@konig_kei: @Pazy: They have confirmed via twitter that the discs contain the Client to install it from the internet but not the actual game files themselves. Here's a link https://twitter.com/guildwars2/status/189861955224338432

@Ezakael said:

@konig_kei: @Pazy: They have confirmed via twitter that the discs contain the Client to install it from the internet but not the actual game files themselves. Here's a link https://twitter.com/guildwars2/status/189861955224338432

What's the point on having discs then?

Do you have a friend in the area that you could borrow their internet to download the game files? You could download the game files (mainly the Gw2.dat file) to an external hard drive at their house, then copy the files to your computer's internal hard drive.

here is what you do if you can. take your laptop go to a hot spot or somewhere with internet with no cap and download it there. granted its gonna take some time but its a way to go. unless you got someone you know that does not have a limit.

also dont know where you get the 25gigs from (not saying your wrong but) i only had to dl around 15gb

get someone to DL the client and give it to you on a usb drive.

@hangedtoaster said:

@Ezakael: Cool! I 'm in Alberta never made it out that far east. But yeah what's even the point of even having the disc? What's even on it? That client can't be the only thing on the disc, it just doesn't make any sense

Some people just really like owning the box for games like these, I guess thats why they are offering a retail release, sucks though for people in the same boat as OP

Just download it and pay for the extra they charge you. I have Shaw internet with a 400 gig cap for the month and if I go over that limit, they said they would just nump me up to the next tier, which is 500 gigs for another 10 bucks. Who are you with and what's your limit? That's crazy that you can't download 25 gigs.

From what I've heard, the disc includes the majority of what you'll need, excluding a significantly smaller content patch. I don't know how big it is or if it's a feasible download with your bandwidth issues, though.

@zyn said:

@Ezakael said:

@konig_kei: @Pazy: They have confirmed via twitter that the discs contain the Client to install it from the internet but not the actual game files themselves. Here's a link https://twitter.com/guildwars2/status/189861955224338432

What's the point on having discs then?

Do you have a friend in the area that you could borrow their internet to download the game files? You could download the game files (mainly the Gw2.dat file) to an external hard drive at their house, then copy the files to your computer's internal hard drive.

Well I installed from my disks. Perhaps they are magic disks but they contain the installer but also also at least 6gb of data on Disk 2 (the one in my drive). It installed and then wanting about a 2gb download whereas the download version was closer to 15gb+.

@Pazy said:

@zyn said:

@Ezakael said:

@konig_kei: @Pazy: They have confirmed via twitter that the discs contain the Client to install it from the internet but not the actual game files themselves. Here's a link https://twitter.com/guildwars2/status/189861955224338432

What's the point on having discs then?

Do you have a friend in the area that you could borrow their internet to download the game files? You could download the game files (mainly the Gw2.dat file) to an external hard drive at their house, then copy the files to your computer's internal hard drive.

Well I installed from my disks. Perhaps they are magic disks but they contain the installer but also also at least 6gb of data on Disk 2 (the one in my drive). It installed and then wanting about a 2gb download whereas the download version was closer to 15gb+.

Ah, so the disc(s) DO have some game data on them.

Maybe the download version not only downloads the game client but also all the extra data (like environments, cities, etc.); as if you're using the "-image" command line (if you're familiar with this command for Guild Wars 1).

There's no way the retail copy requires a 25 gig download. My GW2 folder is only 14~ gigs and I've been playing the game fine.

Yeah, it shouldn't be a 25GB download, my GW2 folder is 14,5GB

@Lukeweizer said:

Just download it and pay for the extra they charge you. I have Shaw internet with a 400 gig cap for the month and if I go over that limit, they said they would just nump me up to the next tier, which is 500 gigs for another 10 bucks. Who are you with and what's your limit? That's crazy that you can't download 25 gigs.

Rogers used to have a 60 GB bandwidth limit for $50/month when I was with them last year. Losing half of your bandwidth to a game isn't fun, especially if other people use the internet too. I was going over just about every month.

@zyn said:

@Pazy said:

@zyn said:

@Ezakael said:

@konig_kei: @Pazy: They have confirmed via twitter that the discs contain the Client to install it from the internet but not the actual game files themselves. Here's a link https://twitter.com/guildwars2/status/189861955224338432

What's the point on having discs then?

Do you have a friend in the area that you could borrow their internet to download the game files? You could download the game files (mainly the Gw2.dat file) to an external hard drive at their house, then copy the files to your computer's internal hard drive.

Well I installed from my disks. Perhaps they are magic disks but they contain the installer but also also at least 6gb of data on Disk 2 (the one in my drive). It installed and then wanting about a 2gb download whereas the download version was closer to 15gb+.

Ah, so the disc(s) DO have some game data on them.

Maybe the download version not only downloads the game client but also all the extra data (like environments, cities, etc.); as if you're using the "-image" command line (if you're familiar with this command for Guild Wars 1).

I would assume its something simpler. Im guessing its a 15gb game so you can download 15gb or you can install from two 6gb disk (12gb total) and then download the last 3gb (updates since retail pressing). The link you provided to twitter isnt all that conclusive since it just says "it has the client" which is a really vauge phrase.

If your worried you cant download 15gb then get the disks, it will knock it down to 2/3gb by giving you the rest on a DVD like every other MMO.

Holy shit man. I live in China, and even I can download the game! And internet in China is awful!

My GW2 is only 14.3GB. I will say that Arena.Net is real good about patching their games quickly and always kept Guild Wars playable. So I trust that Guild Wars 2 will remain operational most of the time. Even so, Guild Wars 2 is a dramatic improvement to the genre.

@Pazy said:

@zyn said:

@Pazy said:

@zyn said:

@Ezakael said:

@konig_kei: @Pazy: They have confirmed via twitter that the discs contain the Client to install it from the internet but not the actual game files themselves. Here's a link https://twitter.com/guildwars2/status/189861955224338432

What's the point on having discs then?

Do you have a friend in the area that you could borrow their internet to download the game files? You could download the game files (mainly the Gw2.dat file) to an external hard drive at their house, then copy the files to your computer's internal hard drive.

Well I installed from my disks. Perhaps they are magic disks but they contain the installer but also also at least 6gb of data on Disk 2 (the one in my drive). It installed and then wanting about a 2gb download whereas the download version was closer to 15gb+.

Ah, so the disc(s) DO have some game data on them.

Maybe the download version not only downloads the game client but also all the extra data (like environments, cities, etc.); as if you're using the "-image" command line (if you're familiar with this command for Guild Wars 1).

I would assume its something simpler. Im guessing its a 15gb game so you can download 15gb or you can install from two 6gb disk (12gb total) and then download the last 3gb (updates since retail pressing). The link you provided to twitter isnt all that conclusive since it just says "it has the client" which is a really vauge phrase.

If your worried you cant download 15gb then get the disks, it will knock it down to 2/3gb by giving you the rest on a DVD like every other MMO.

If someone could confirm this come release I would be very thankful. I really don't want to miss out on Guild Wars 2 so if what you say is true I would be able to play.

@Ezakael said:

@Pazy said:

@zyn said:

@Pazy said:

@zyn said:

@Ezakael said:

@konig_kei: @Pazy: They have confirmed via twitter that the discs contain the Client to install it from the internet but not the actual game files themselves. Here's a link https://twitter.com/guildwars2/status/189861955224338432

What's the point on having discs then?

Do you have a friend in the area that you could borrow their internet to download the game files? You could download the game files (mainly the Gw2.dat file) to an external hard drive at their house, then copy the files to your computer's internal hard drive.

Well I installed from my disks. Perhaps they are magic disks but they contain the installer but also also at least 6gb of data on Disk 2 (the one in my drive). It installed and then wanting about a 2gb download whereas the download version was closer to 15gb+.

Ah, so the disc(s) DO have some game data on them.

Maybe the download version not only downloads the game client but also all the extra data (like environments, cities, etc.); as if you're using the "-image" command line (if you're familiar with this command for Guild Wars 1).

I would assume its something simpler. Im guessing its a 15gb game so you can download 15gb or you can install from two 6gb disk (12gb total) and then download the last 3gb (updates since retail pressing). The link you provided to twitter isnt all that conclusive since it just says "it has the client" which is a really vauge phrase.

If your worried you cant download 15gb then get the disks, it will knock it down to 2/3gb by giving you the rest on a DVD like every other MMO.

If someone could confirm this come release I would be very thankful. I really don't want to miss out on Guild Wars 2 so if what you say is true I would be able to play.

Well I have a release copy, GAME just shipped mine early.

@Pazy: So I'm assuming what you said before is how it works then?

I live in Canada , 500GB Limit, 100 down, 10 up, costs me 10$ if i go over 500 which bumps me up to 750gb.

@Ezakael said:

@Pazy: So I'm assuming what you said before is how it works then?

Its how it worked for me. Like any game I put in the disk, ran the set up, waited for the install, changed to disk 2 and continued to install. Then I ran the installed client which asked for a modest 2gb (ish) update and now Ive been playing all day without any more downloads.

@Pazy said:

@Ezakael said:

@Pazy: So I'm assuming what you said before is how it works then?

Its how it worked for me. Like any game I put in the disk, ran the set up, waited for the install, changed to disk 2 and continued to install. Then I ran the installed client which asked for a modest 2gb (ish) update and now Ive been playing all day without any more downloads.

Okay thanks a lot for the help. I should be able to get the game (When I get more money, I already spent it on other games). Hopefully I'll see some of you guys in game.

@Beaudacious said:

I live in Canada , 500GB Limit, 100 down, 10 up, costs me 10$ if i go over 500 which bumps me up to 750gb.

That's west coast. East coast has to deal with Rogers/Bell. Like I said though @Ezakael , consider Distributel for unlimited bandwidth. I've been with them for a year and have had no problems.

@UssjTrunks said:

@Beaudacious said:

I live in Canada , 500GB Limit, 100 down, 10 up, costs me 10$ if i go over 500 which bumps me up to 750gb.

That's west coast. East coast has to deal with Rogers/Bell. Like I said though @Ezakael , consider Distributel for unlimited bandwidth. I've been with them for a year and have had no problems.

Or TekSavvy if they provide in the area, fairly competitive pricing with Distributel. I know the woes you have though, OP, currently on an 80GB cap and because of cable/bundle reasons for needs of other members of the household, I'm stuck with Cogeco paying $40 too much for an 80GB cap.

@UssjTrunks: @Winsord: I've heard of TekSavvy before and will also look into Distributel as well. Unfortunately I will have to wait until I move out to consider being with one of them as my parents refuse to switch for some reason (I am old enough to move out, but finding a job has not been an easy task so far).

Have a buddy with unlimted access download it, and use an external harddrive to copy and transport the client. Or just resume your download next month.

And I've only got 19 GBs worth of client, and that's with English and German VOs and texts.