Daddicus.6128

> @Svarty.8019 said:

> > @ekarat.1085 said:

> > I wanted to start a thread about the economy and dropping prices.

> >

> > What do you think is going on?

>

> As everybody and his dog seem to have already stated, the answer to this question is always Supply and Demand.

>

> When there is more supply than demand, prices drop.

>

> Now might be a good time to buy cheap things.

Exactly correct. But, there's more detail. The prices are obviously set by supply and demand mechanics. That will never change. BUT, the equations for supply and the equations for demand DO change. Most are unpredictable streaks The math on this is very old: it's impossible to consistently correctly time any market in the short-term. (Although, the definition of "short term" is different in artificial economies.)

The few things that ARE predictable are things like rule changes, additions to the economy (such as new nodes in PoF affecting the supply curve or desires for more cash coming up on Halloween for the demand curve).

What I don't understand is why people like the OP complain about it. The only alternative is price-fixing or rationing, and that means everything useful eventually becomes unattainable.

1. Fix the map/minimap. If there are 7 levels in a zone, then there should be 7 levels on the map. There also needs to be much better up/down markers. To a blue/yellow colorblind person, blue and that light green look almost identical, and zooming in takes away so much map that it's not worth doing.

2. Renown hearts should not require completely re-doing them just to use the merchant. Let them hold onto a percentage of done-ness for a few days. Maybe they lose 20% completion each day or something like that.

3. Talk to us more. Here. On your own forums, where you're supposed to communicate.

Patience. They're WAY behind, apparently due to a much larger number of purchases of PoF than expected. I got a reply after 15 days, but then another one a day later. So, I think they're catching up.

Go back into the ticket and ping it again, so they know it's still active.

Yes, they will refund my son-in-law's purchase. But, only within 30 days. So, I'm going to get Ultimate after all!

Prices always go down before and during events. Both PoF and Halloween are affecting things currently. So, in addition to the normal changes due to new offerings, people want money to spend on goodies. The way they get it is selling stuff, which drives down prices.

They finally replied. They apologized for the long delay.

They concur with the above posts: no, can't upgrade it. So, I asked if it can be returned for a refund. I'll keep you posted.

> @onevstheworld.2419 said:

> I don't think you should buy the copper/silver feds for cost saving reasons... e.g. you need 3+mil uses to make the copper-fed cost neutral: only the top 15 salvagers on GW2 efficiency have more than 3mil salvages.

>

> Think of it as a time saving measure. Or, now that salvage-all is a thing, an arthritis-saving measure.

You made the same mistake I did, in the other direction. It's 35,000 (not 350 like I said nor 3 million like you said). And, I'm well over 100,000 salvages, so it would be paid for (if I had bought it earlier).

> @Glacial.9516 said:

> > @Daddicus.6128 said:

> > I agree, but there is another cost: the gem value. While they can be purchased for real money, they also can be bought with in-game gold. Gems are (very roughly) 180g each for the salvagers. So, it takes about **350 salvages to pay for the copper-fed**. It takes a lot longer for the silver-fed, because the savings are almost nil.

> Just a (not so) minor correction here. Copper fed saves 0.52 **copper** per salvage. This means that 350 salvages will be a gain of 182 copper (not gold), and would take 10000x that to reach 182 gold.

You're right, but it's only 100x (36,000 salvages times 52c = 180g).

I am unable to play PoF due to the support center having not replied to my support request (which I submitted 12 days ago). Not a peep; they haven't even replied to say "we'll get to it in X days/weeks".

> @Ojimaru.8970 said:

> I would just like to add some context to the many comments about "efficiency" of these salvage kits.

>

> Using the breakdown on [Guild Wars 2 Wiki](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Salvage_kit), both the **Basic Salvage Kits** and **Copper-fed Salvage-o-Matic** have the same probability of obtaining rare materials and upgrades. When comparing the cost-per-salvage, these kits cost **3.52 copper** and **3 copper**, respectively, per salvage. The maximum number of uses per **Basic Salvage Kit** is 25, while the latter is infinite. Considering the amount of salvageable loot that drops, whether in HoT meta events or simply wandering around the Crystal Desert, having a Copper-fed not only saves you lots of inventory slots, but also time needed to find an NPC Merchant to stock up on Salvage Kits. Lastly, consider that the Copper-fed can be stored in a Shared Inventory Slot, which further conveniences you when you play multiple characters.

>

> Similarly, the **Master Salvage Kits**, **Mystic Salvage Kits**, and **Silver-fed Salvage-o-Matic** share the same salvage rates, while costing **61.44 copper,** **10.5 copper**, and **60 copper**, respectively, per salvage (assuming the Mystic Forge Stones needed to make the Mystic Salvage Kits have no gold value). While the Mystic has 250 uses per inventory slot, compared to the infinite of the Silver-fed, one has to also consider that "normal practice" is to use these kits to salvage only rare- and exotic-quality items. This means that even when shared among multiple characters, the Mystic Salvage Kits can last for considerable amounts of play time.

I agree, but there is another cost: the gem value. While they can be purchased for real money, they also can be bought with in-game gold. Gems are (very roughly) 180g each for the salvagers. So, it takes about 350 salvages to pay for the copper-fed. It takes a lot longer for the silver-fed, because the savings are almost nil.

One other thing: stones aren't free, either. I used to use mystic salvage kits all the time, until I ran out of stones. At 45 gems each, times 3 for each kit, that's about 2-3 silver for each salvage. So, the price is closer.

> @PopeUrban.2578 said:

> > @Daddicus.6128 said:

> > > @PopeUrban.2578 said:

> > > > @Daddicus.6128 said:

> > > > I agree, but there are many different kinds of break bars. Perhaps as they're considering this excellent idea, they could have different colored break bars for the various types.

> > >

> > > Since when are there different kinds of breakbars?

> > >

> > > The only two states a breakbar is in are "vulnerable" (blue bar) "Invulnerable" (metal covered) and "Stunned" (Brown, refilling bar)

> > >

> > > The only difference is the amount of HP (BP?) the bar has, but all breakbars work in an identical fashion. Break it with CC abilities while it is blue to stun the target.

> > >

> > > Is there some other kind of breakbar I'm not aware of?

> > No, they don't all work alike.

> > * There are invulnerability bars, where as long as it is blue, you can't damage the creature.

> > * Others are crowd-control (CC) only. Damage gets through, but you can't use some forms of CC until the bar is broken.

> > * There are bars that regenerate and those that don't.

> > * Many CC effects work on some creatures' bars, but not on other creatures'.

> > * Some cannot be broken by a single character of certain classes, while others can. The bars on different creatures have wildly different "hit points". The most obvious ones are world bosses, but there are even some veterans in HoT whose bars reduce very differently from other veterans' bars.

> >

>

> These are literally all the same mechanic. Use crowd control on the blue bar to break it. What you're saying is "we should have different health bars because some monsters have damage immunities, different HP, or regenerating health" which is silly. They all do the same thing, and are interacted with in exactly the same way. "Hit the break bar to stun creature"

>

> Certain foes have different interactions with them, such as invuln, or charging up an instakill attack, or flying away to burn foes on the ground, but they are all the same exact mechanic. Hard CC does instant damage to the bar, soft CC does a DoT to the bar in stead of its normal effect (and is displayed in grey) Your misunderstanding of how break bars works leads you to believe the second example is functionally different despite the fact that it is not. Soft CC works the same for all break bars. If an enemy has a break bar, it is immune to the normal effects of soft CC (and those conditions will apply with a grey icon) but those effects acts as a DoT on the breakbar if it is in its blue vulnerable state and if applicable will apply damage during the stunned state.

>

> There are no break bars where certain types of CC will and will not damage the bar unless the creature is specifically listed as immune to that specific effect. That is a simple text-based property that doesn't warrant new bar displays any more than "Immune to burning" should change the color of a foe's HP bar.

You are wrong, but I don't feel like arguing about it.

There is no excuse for a support team to not respond every day to every ticket. Not necessarily with a solution, but at least to let the customer know that they've seen it and where it is in the priority queue. I've been waiting 12 days so I can give them some more money, but they haven't even acknowledged that they got the ticket (other than the automated response).

Support teams need to be faster. If they can't, then they should temporarily transfer developers to the support team. (Which kills two birds with one stone, solving the problem and making development aware that the problems exist, so they're more careful in the future.)

ANet, you're responding on Reddit; why aren't you responding to your primary customers directly? Or, at least here on your own forums? C'mon guys, this is inexcusable.

> @ProverbsofHell.2307 said:

> The Salvage-O-Matics are not worth buying. For the Silver-Fed, you would need to salvage 600k+ items for finally earn back your initial gold investment. And the Copper-Fed is far worse, and you would need to salvage millions of items to earn back the investment. Of course, it's a different story if you're paying with cash, or have high amounts of gold, and simply feel the convenience of never having to buy the kits again is worth the cost.

>

> But more to the point of what you're saying, from what I've seen, the Silver-Fed has change in price over time anyway.

I really like them, but they were only valuable (to me) once we got shared inventory slots. Now I don't need piles of salvage kits on every character.

I don't care how long it takes to make up the money. But, that's partly because I bought them both on sale (which makes the time scales come down quite a bit). The convenience of having just two slots to handle 90% of my salvaging is more than worth it to me.

When I first read the title of this thread, my response was "Huh?" But, after reading some of the ideas, it seems like a good idea.

I think this is what they tried to do with adventures in HoT, but they made them too arcade-like for some folks. I like the idea of fishing (or hunting, and several others above). But, would we have to have "moots" at which we can regale others with our fish-tales? :)

> @PopeUrban.2578 said:

> > @Daddicus.6128 said:

> > I agree, but there are many different kinds of break bars. Perhaps as they're considering this excellent idea, they could have different colored break bars for the various types.

>

> Since when are there different kinds of breakbars?

>

> The only two states a breakbar is in are "vulnerable" (blue bar) "Invulnerable" (metal covered) and "Stunned" (Brown, refilling bar)

>

> The only difference is the amount of HP (BP?) the bar has, but all breakbars work in an identical fashion. Break it with CC abilities while it is blue to stun the target.

>

> Is there some other kind of breakbar I'm not aware of?

No, they don't all work alike.

* There are invulnerability bars, where as long as it is blue, you can't damage the creature.

* Others are crowd-control (CC) only. Damage gets through, but you can't use some forms of CC until the bar is broken.

* There are bars that regenerate and those that don't.

* Many CC effects work on some creatures' bars, but not on other creatures'.

* Some cannot be broken by a single character of certain classes, while others can. The bars on different creatures have wildly different "hit points". The most obvious ones are world bosses, but there are even some veterans in HoT whose bars reduce very differently from other veterans' bars.

> @mtpelion.4562 said:

> 1. The TP did not always have the restriction, and these items are relics from that ancient time of wild west offers. ArenaNet didn't purge them (or at least not all of them). My guess is that issuing that many cancellations all at once would have been... problematic.

> 2. The API was off for a few days for bug resolution, which is why there is a gap. The huge decline in value for many items is due to the fact that the PoF content dumps out vast quantities of those items.

> 3. If I list my item for sale for 1c less than you did, my item sells first. If I list my items for sale at the same price as you, your item has to sell before my item does. Thus, I can take a 1c hit on the price to jump the line.

>

The sentence in #3 "If I list my items for sale at the same price as you, your item has to sell before my item does." isn't true. It SHOULD be true that the first listed should be listed first, but I've proven it's not. I have reported it several times.

I agree, but there are many different kinds of break bars. Perhaps as they're considering this excellent idea, they could have different colored break bars for the various types.

Well, it's been two weeks, but no response yet. I sent an email, but they sent an auto-reply saying to open a ticket.

Is there any way to get them to actually reply?

OK, thanks.

I opened a ticket on this. However, they haven't responded. Is 5 days a long time for support these days? (with PoF?)

> @"Game of Bones.8975" said:

> AND the 32-slot bags are soul-bound! Definitely not worth that price.

> It's much cheaper to unlock another bag expansion slots (if you have one) and add a 20-slot bag rather than go through the trouble of changing a 20-slot bag to a 32-slot bag for a +12-slot increase.

That would be TWO 20-slot bags. (The 28 and 32 only require one of the next lower tier bag. But, the 24s require two 20s.)

You "beat the game"?

I don't think that's possible, and previous posters more-or-less confirm that. What you've done is complete a storyline. That's only a small portion of the game.

I'll use martial arts as an illustration. A "black belt" is thought by outsiders to mean you've reached the top. But, in reality, a black belt merely means you've learned how to learn and study the martial art(s) you are proficient in. It's a test of basic qualifications, not (usually) a status symbol.

Completing the story is likewise. See the posts above for details, but all it really means is that you've crossed the first hurdle in "beating the game". The game is MUCH deeper than just the storyline.

I'm glad to hear the soulbound thing is a bug, not a choice. Thanks!

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > The most egregious one, though, is the equipment box. The three boxes that "replaced" the equipment box (in the recipe list) are eligible, but the original one isn't. Why?

> I'm not sure what you mean by this.

>

There are three "pact equipment box" items available. All three (which do the same thing as a regular equipment box, as far as I can tell) have an upgrade path. But, the original, armorsmith-created "equipment box" doesn't have an upgrade path.

I don't think the cost is out of line at all. Crafting a 20-slot bag vs. an 18-slot bag cost 4g+ per extra slot. At that rate, a 24-slot bag "should" cost 16g+ more. But, the curve rose exponentially, so I was expecting closer to 5-10 gold for just the first slot.

The actual price is a little higher than that, but not a whole lot so.

What I don't like is that you can't upgrade but a fraction of your current bags.