Illconceived Was Na.9781
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Posts posted by Illconceived Was Na.9781
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> https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/get-gem-cards-at-20-off-during-the-best-buy-gaming-weekend/
> ##### Gem Cards at 20% Off During the Best Buy Gaming Weekend
> Are you eyeing a holiday gift for your favorite squadmate? Is your heart set on an especially fluffy springer? Maybe it’s just time for a total makeover. Stock your wallet with gems at a discount and make your dreams come true!
>
> Guild Wars 2 Gem Cards are on sale during the Best Buy Gaming Weekend. From store opening at 10:00 a.m. on November 19 until closing time on November 21, visit your local Best Buy store location or BestBuy.com to receive 20% off when you purchase a $25 Gem Card.
>
> To add the gems to your in-game wallet, scratch to reveal the code on the back of the card and visit the Guild Wars 2 Gem Store in the game. Select “Redeem Code” and enter your code in the field.
>
> Mark your calendars and prepare to save!
> ##### For Your Safety
> Over the past weekend, several areas in the United States announced enhanced restrictions on public gatherings to help slow the spread of coronavirus. The 20% discount will apply to $25 Gem Cards purchased online through BestBuy.com during the Best Buy Gaming Weekend, and you may have your Gem Cards shipped to you. Best Buy also offers no contact curbside pickup at physical locations. Please stay safe!
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Poster's Edit: *Best Buy* has stores in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
However, according to posters below, this deal might not be available outside the US.
I also do not know if it's easy for players in other regions to purchase the Gem Cards online or not.
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Guardian has some great builds that are meta for Fractals.
Banner Warrior is also a good choice, although for Tier 2 and above, you'd need ascended.
[Discretize](https://discretize.eu/) is the best place to start looking at Fractal Builds. [MetaBattle](https://metabattle.com/) is preferred by some (more builds, including some that are less effort to play)
* DT [Firebrand](https://discretize.eu/builds/guardian/firebrand)
* DT [berserker](https://discretize.eu/builds/warrior/berserker)
A buddy of mine has an ["easy rotation" Rev build](http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PmgAwylxQHMPyh1RNMO6hRSfMCKgJ7le7H-zRIYR0wXGtlAVUA2ONU4MC-e) for raids that will also work for Fractals. (It might need some adjustments from the last bit of skill changes.)
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tl;dr the data published in the Original Post does not (by itself) support the hypothesis that participation is declining. The number of participants in "this month's" content is always less, for predictable reasons.
The ideal comparison is to use "snapshots" for participation after 2 months. Since we don't have that, the next best is comparing relative participation and that shows a different picture: relative participation is similar.
(My personal belief is that the OP is likely correct that participation is dropping for metas. But I don't think we players have access to any data that can demonstrate that. Instead, I think the most effective way to convey "meta fatigue" is to post our opinion, rather than trying to teach ANet what their numbers mean.)
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##### In More Detail
>! The original data doesn't show that the participation numbers increase as time goes by. The numbers for the most recent content will always be less than for last year's content, even if the game's population has dropped. The current episode only has the early adopter participation; the oldest episodes have all the new, returning, and "didn't feel like it" participants.
>!
>! A true apples:apples comparison requires taking a snapshot of completion rates at various times, which GW2 Efficiency doesn't report on the main site. It's probably okay to compare 4-year old achievements with 3-year old ones; as time goes by, the cumulative differences will diminish. But it's definitely not reliable to compare 3-month old achievements with 6-month old ones.
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##### Proxies for Comparison
>! One proxy I've used in the past is to compare relative completion rates. How many started versus how many finished? Using the OP's numbers, those ratios look like this:
>! * Bound by Blood 0.82
>! * Whisper in the Dark 0.91
>! * Shadow in the Ice 0.79
>! * Steel and Fire 0.95
>! * No Quarter 0.75
>! * Jormag Rising 0.82
>!
>! Notice that *Jormag Rising* is the same as *Bound by Blood*, and *No Quarter* is close with *Whisper in the Dark*. These rates go up and down, partly because not everyone enjoys each episode as much as the next, partly because Real Life™ affects us different in each month, and, as some noted above, the ability to gain other rewards is sometimes gated by story completion, and sometimes not.
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Awesome. I'm sharing that with my guildies. Well done.
That's really sweet.
(and now she has ~~a~~ two dad jokes to go with her cake ;) — one above & one below)
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@"Sorem.9157"
my recommendation for events like this:
park a character in the safe spot, outside the dungeon entrance
and, any time you have a free five minutes, jump on that toon and see if the event is up
You can also check LFG (if you're NA, on some weekends, there's a "cleansing of Orr" guild-sponsored event you can join; times vary). 30-90 minutes after reset is often promising.
But me? I just pop up "every so often" and eventually, the event is up or the pre-event is running.
I find it less stressful to be patient rather than be stuck waiting (whether for a clock time or the map to get it together).
****
If you're really ambitious, you can look at the wiki for all the relevant pre-events and organize the map to start progressing them. There are always people who want temple events and, for a variety of reasons, few will ever initiate them. However, that's a lot of work. It can be fun, on its own; it's just not everyone's cup of tea.
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tl;dr According to the architects of the game's economy : "mystic coins are doing their job" — John Smith
(paraphrase) **high values of m-coins are beneficial to the game's economy and hoarding is fine, as long as there's plenty of supply on the TP**
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The quote linked in an [earlier post](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1369693/#Comment_1369693) is *four years* old, and is from Chris Cleary
> https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Mystic-Coins-again/page/2#post6157178
>
> Most of this price increase revolves around players that are pushing the value up due to the players willingness to pay more. If players are willing to pay more for an item, it’s going to keep increasing until eventually it hits a ceiling for the commodity. We’ve seen the same thing occur with numerous commodities over time.
>
> Right now there is a consistent supply of mystic coins entering the game (way more than are being consumed) and churning through the trading post at a very slow rate. Most of the coins on the market are ones that have been flipped.
>
> In retrospect, this is actually causing the daily login reward to be worth significantly more to players who wish to convert mystic coins to gold.
PS Cleary, Smith, & O'Brien would expect that "ceiling" to increase as any game ages, because veterans simply can't help end up with increasing wealth (even those who spend all their coin end up with more "stuff" and become willing to spend more for "aspirational" goals). It's not anything surprising, as it happens with all commodities.
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*Nine months later*, [Mike O'Brien said](
)> Mystic coins are a currency that all players get in small quantities and then can sell to wealthy players who want to use them to craft aspirational or luxury items. Seen in that light it’s not inherently bad for them to be expensive, nor is it unnatural for them to increase in price as wealthy players continue to accumulate more wealth. We can measure their success more in terms of their use: are they actively traded between players and actively used? And the answer to those is a resounding yes.
And John Smith said (**emphasis** added)
> **Mystic coins are doing their job.**
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Is there "plenty of supply" on the TP? Here's the data:
* May 2016 (time of the 1st quote): 26k
* Feb 2017 (time of 2nd quote): 17k
* October 2020 (right before a major perturbation): 36k
Peaks & Valleys:
* Since those dates, the lowest supply was ~10k, which didn't last long.
* Typical low points are around 15-18k, which were also uncommon and brief
* Since those dates, the highest supply (day) was ~58k
* High points >50k are common
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Here's what ANet has said about Mystic Coins:
[in February 2017, Mike O'Brien wrote](
)> A note about mystic coin prices. We’re continuing to monitor them but aren’t taking any action at this time. I know the question of the moment is: why increase supply of leather but not of mystic coins? Mystic coins are a currency that all players get in small quantities and then can sell to wealthy players who want to use them to craft aspirational or luxury items. Seen in that light it’s not inherently bad for them to be expensive, nor is it unnatural for them to increase in price as wealthy players continue to accumulate more wealth. We can measure their success more in terms of their use: are they actively traded between players and actively used? And the answer to those is a resounding yes. John will fill in some details. Mystic coins are doing their job. Having said all that, there are arguments on both sides, and I don’t mean to imply that there aren’t, but there isn’t a compelling case at this time that would make us go in and change the supply or sinks.
[During the same AMA, John Smith added](
)> Looking at total sources and sinks of mystic coins, we've reached a stable state with sources being about 10% above sinks. Trading post prices also have reached an equilibrium even in the face of multiple manipulation attempts. Still, we're going to keep an eye on them to make sure the pattern remains stable in the long run.
And he repeated that:
> ...the input into the economy and the output from the economy are sitting at a +10% state.
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Some benchmarks on Mystic Coins, from November of each year listed below:
>! * 2012 — 0.03g
>! * 2013 — 0.02g
>! * 2014 — 0.01g
>! * 2015 — 0.11g
>! * 2016 — 0.80g, a few months before the AMA linked above
>! * 2017 — 0.85g
>! * 2018 — 1.20g
>! * 2019 — 1.30g
>! * 2020 — 1.80g
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Instead of *asking* for help, what I do is to announce that I'm starting an event, and what it's for. I set a time and most reminders in `/map`, as well as starting a squad in `/LFG`. This has worked for any of the small events that I (or at least my character) couldn't solo, as well as bigger events.
I find that I get a lot of first-timers, who didn't realize that they, too, had a reason to participate in the event. And I get veterans, who like that they can finish off what they are doing first, without rushing to an event that they have done already. The vast majority of time, more than enough people joined to make it work.
Another tip is to make the first announcement while people are on the map already for some other event or meta. Most people will leave at the end of that task, which is fine: we don't need "most;" only enough.
In short, try to make it easy for people to notice & join.
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> @"Firebeard.1746" said:
> What exactly gives 30-50 g/h and how?
*General Open World Benchmarks*
tl;dr
* Non-festival earnings are *currently* 20-25g for most people (who effectively process everything earned, except spirit shards)
* Mileage varies with the markets and new maps
* Festival earnings can be greater. (the owner of the site usually includes that information during the festival; iirc, for this past halloween, it was 30g/hour)
I'm not aware of any open world content that has reliably yielded >= 40g/hour in years. Then again, I'm not an avid farmer, so I might have missed something.
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> even with the cut this means that gems are worth less than gold.
Yes, that's how the math works.
There's no point in having two currencies if the exchange is always 1:1; one of the currencies will always trade for fewer units of the other.
> ~~gold~~ sapphire gems can only be bought with money and have a low gemstore price, the exchange is still the same.
> ~~silver~~ ruby gems can be bought with gold but you need to pay a higher price in the gemstore, with this real paying customers
(I changed the names so avoid confusing "gold gems" with "gold coin".)
Having two, non-tradeable currencies undermines the entire purpose of having an exchange: so that the value of gems is tied to the economy, thus removing the most powerful incentive for people to consider RMT.
As the supply of gold in the game goes up, people are willing to sell more of it to buy gems, which allows those "real paying customers" a chance to get more in-game gold. The market is much more efficient at finding the happy medium of supply and demand than ANet ever would be able to do, micromanaging two types of gems.
> the exchange is just a service they gave so it's not a must.
on the contrary, it was designed as part of the game's economic machinery; it's fundamental, not an extra
****
Regardless, the point I was making was that it's possible that ANet already does what you first requested above,
i.e. charges higher fees to people trading gold to gems already, compared to those exchanging gems for gold. We will never know, because there's no way to independently determine the fees in each direction, only the cumulative amount.
As noted above, if the fees are the same in both directions, they would run from 15% (same as for the TP generally) up to 18.5% (and ANet's never explained why it's been a variable rate).
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> [From the wiki](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cosmetic_aura)
> Cosmetic auras generally fall into three categories: auras, hue filters, and skin textures. The latter two do not stack with themselves when affecting the same thing, while auras do, and the three groups tend to stack with each other freely.
Rephrased
* Auras: stack
* Hues: do not stack (generally, which ever is applied last dominates)
* Skin textures: do not stack (last applied)
* Auras, Hues, & Textures are applied independently (i.e. they stack)
Unfortunately the article does not identify into which of the three categories each aura falls.
(also keep in mind that these are fan-identified labels; they might be consistent with ANet's ideas & implementation *and* things might still be more complicated)
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Fortunately, the wiki notes of the items that grant auras usually describe the effect with those terms.
##### Celestial
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Celestial_Infusion_(Blue)
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Celestial_Infusion_(Red)
> * The celestial effect only covers the character skin (not armor or weapons).
> * On asura, human and norn the celestial effect does not affect the hair texture. However on sylvari and charr it also covers up the hair texture.
> * Contrary to the name, [the red version] has a purple hue.
Can follow the link to see a gallery of some combinations.
##### Phosphor
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phospholuminescent_Infusion
> * Phospholuminescent Infusion affects the skin and hair. It will override any Polyluminescent Undulating Refractor/Polyluminescent Undulating Infusion or Hylek Potion's effect on skin and hair, but not their effect on armor and eyes.
Can follow the link to see a gallery of some combinations.
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tl;dr
* some rules of thumb below about what effects stack
* Recommendation: search the internet for something like `gw2 Phospholuminescent celestial infusions` and then filter to images or video; people post these things all the time on Reddit etc
* "We kinda need a infusion preview dont we" — @"aspirine.6852"
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Perhaps this
~~nojamtoday.com/upload/guild_wars_2_content_and_feature_update_chart_36.png~~
Found one that is less old
https://i.imgur.com/s71sJc3.png
The most recent update (above) is from [u/Listhenbird](https://old.reddit.com/user/Lishtenbird), who hasn't been posting much about GW2 since.
([Original post is on reddit](https://redd.it/cx0fa2), if you want to look, but no pointers to something from 2020. There is a link to poster's website, which also has nothing more recent.)
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> @"sorudo.9054" said:
> IMO actual paying customers should get more for little, gold exchange should always be higher in price.
> you spend money, you get actual gems worth the money, you spend gold, you better farm for it.
tl;dr this might already be the case; there's no way for us to know
Currently, the way the exchange works is that if you convert 1000 Gems to Gold, and convert that gold back instantly to gems, you'll end up with 670-725 gems. Gnashblade takes his cut here, as well as in the TP.
There's no way to measure what the fees are, because the game (and the API) only tell us the net amounts, not the gross. So it's entirely possible that the fees are less for converting gems→gold, and worse for converting gold→gems; we just won't ever know. And ANet has never been willing to discuss it.
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Some trivia:
* At the game's launch, the fees for the exchange were identical to the TP's: 37.75% gold→gems→gold and vice-versa, which is equivalent to 15% in both directions.
* This changed in 2015, and the rate became variable. I've measured it to be as high as 18.3% implied, and as low as 14.9% (mostly higher than 15%).
* I had a brief exchange with ANet's former economist, John Smith. He was *surprised* that it was no longer an implied 15%. Although he said he would get back to me, he left the company not long after.
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The drop rate for BL keys from map completion is estimated to be between 25% and 33%. With those odds, the chances of the OP getting 0 keys from 10 maps are respectively [5.6%](https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=25%25+chance+of+success%2C+10+trials%2C+less+than+1+successes) to [1.8%](https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=33%25+chance+of+success%2C+10+trials%2C+less+than+1+successes).
In other words, bad luck.
If you take into account the 11th map noted by the OP (1 key in 11), then the odds change to between1.9% & 7.8%, also "bad" but not surprising.
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Keep in mind that *someone* is going to have bad luck and someone is going to have extraordinarily worse luck. And sometimes, that someone is you (or me).
Also remember that *time* has nothing to do with this. It's all about how many times you roll the dice, not about how long you've been rolling. If you complete 20 maps in 5 weeks or 20 maps in 20 weeks, the odds are the same.
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> I did 10 maps the other week and had 5 keys.
Using the same 25-33% chances, the odds of getting 5+ keys are 7.8%-20.6%. That's good luck, but not unusually good luck.
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> @"difens.1326" said:
> Some of Central Tyria masteries certainly seem very attractive
> Are they worth investing in?
Absolutely, especially Autolooting
> (like autoloot, speed up crafting or better revival).
If you only focus on one, *Autolooting* is the biggest game changer. I wish I had started with that.
> Seems like a lot of xp to get (over 24 milion,
Yes, technically it's a lot of XP. However, there are plenty of guides available for how to make it pass more quickly. In brief: using boosters, getting XP-consumables from dailies (where possible) or certain activities that help (Silverwastes farming, for example)
> if I don't do fractal ones).
If you don't do fractals at all, you can skip earning XP for those masteries entirely.
However:
* Fractals have some of easy *mastery points*; I'd recommend getting those, because it helps unlocking the masteries you do want.
* Fractals generate a lot of XP, so they happen to be an excellent option for earning Central Tyria masteries.
If you decide to spend some time in Fractals, lots of people are willing to help. (Recommendation: create another post just to ask for aid getting started in Fractals and specify if you are NA or EU.)
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European Parliament commissioned an internal report regarding lootboxes and the impact on consumers.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2020/652727/IPOL_STU(2020)652727_EN.pdf
The closing paragraph:
> These measures are in many ways comparable to the existing practices tackling loot boxes that were identified in this study. Should these existing practices (which are mostly voluntary) be found insufficient to protect players from potentially harmful effects of loot boxes, they could be regulated at EU level in a similar manner.
For government reports, that's an incredibly weak recommendation and suggests that the EU isn't in any rush to tackle lootboxes.
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For those who don't want to read the 40+ page report: yes, they cover all the things we have seen discussed in these threads: what constitutes gambling, definition of "loot box", distinctions between cosmetic & gameplay-affecting rewards, whether the source matters (in-game reward, in-game currency, real money, combination), can the items be sold or traded, and so on.
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Regardless of what ANet is doing, regardless of anyone's personal opinion about the definition of "loot box" and what might or might not be appropriate for games (or people of various ages), the world's governments are largely indifferent.
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> there are several countries in Europe, that rule against illegal gambling in computer games.
Currently, there are two in Europe.
> https://screenrant.com/lootbox-gambling-microtransactions-illegal-japan-china-belgium-netherlands/
* Netherlands, since 2018 (what's new this week: the result of an enforcement action — a judge ruled that EA violated the rules, and set the amount of the fine; it's not a new law)
* Belgium, since 2019 (result: ANet doesn't allow BL keys to be sold for gems, in any form; applies to Belgian IP addresses, so can be circumvented with 3rd party banking + VPN)
The article also mentions two other countries with loot box regulations:
* Japan, since 2012 (no apparent impact on GW2)
* China, since 2016 (the GW2 available in China is very different from ours and cannot be reasonably considered precedent)
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Other countries (limited list).
* The UK government is actively researching current practices and player reactions, but has yet to offer any formal rules. The House of Commons has merely decided that it is within their remit to decide. (The consensus among political reporters: the UK will, eventually, propose regulation. With Brexit, this will have limited international impact.)
* The US Federal government is not actively pursuing any regulation. One US senator proposed something in May 2019, and the bill never made it out of committee. A few states have had individual politicians raise the issue, again without any formal result.
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If it's still a problem, there's one more thing I would try:
Remove the six armor pieces, and then put them back. Double check that there are no dyes applied still. If they are, repeat the color-removal process one more time. And again, remove the armor, and replace it.
If you've gone through all of the above without any changes, then you are "blessed" with a weird bug I've only read about once or twice. For that, you need to contact Support and let them know what you are seeing. One of their tech gurus will have to assist.
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I recommend creating the ticket, with the problem outlined as simply as possible: you are seeing one dye applied to all armor pieces, and you can't remove it. Submit, get the ticket number. And then update it, either via email or on the website. Add at least three screenshots: wardrobe panel, dye panel, and wardrobe panel again with a different skin chosen.
Also include all the troubleshooting steps you have taken: repair, dye removal, etc.
And if you can, let us know how it turns out.
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Two possibilities:
* You've dyed your armor and the same color scheme is applying to each armor you equip.
* You have some corrupted files that are causing graphical glitches; this is one of the symptoms (there will be others, maybe).
This is how the armor looks out of the box: copper and charcoal tones, no "browns" as in your image.
>! 
****
First thing you should do is the `repair` as described above by @"Inculpatus cedo.9234". That will identify any corrupted files and replace them with good ones. (Takes anywhere from a few minutes to 30-40, depending on your internet and hard drive speeds.)
If that doesn't help, then open up the dye panel on the same character. Choose the "eraser" icon (for remove) and apply it to every dye channel. That *should* restore the defaults.
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> @"Strider Pj.2193" said:
> I think he was referring to the Tarkutun guy for Ecto Gambling.
Ah. Thanks for the clarification.
The same statistics applies: everyone has good streaks and bad streaks. Unless OP is keeping track of all their data, one bad run with only 30 attempts isn't indicative of a change of the rate.
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As @"Strider Pj.2193" points out, OP is asking about [Ecto Gambling](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ecto_gambling) (which could be one of three types: Tark, Cards, or the ectoplasmic stones). (I saw "salvaging" in another reply and went off in the wrong direction.) Accordingly I've hidden my previous text (about ecto salvaging) and labeled it as an example of how to look RNG, when we have access to large samples of data.
>! ##### Salvaging Example
>! 30 salvages are not anywhere near enough to answer that question. Literally every day, someone salvaging 3 dozen times will have equally bad luck... and someone will get far better than average, too.
>!
>! Random rolls *always* result in streaks of both good and bad luck. As humans, we tend to pay more attention to the unlucky streaks, ignore "average" results (well, that's just what we expected), and discount lucky bursts ("eh, that makes up for the bad luck I had last week").
>!
>! If you start seeing 52 ecto from 100 rares, or 738e from 1000 salvages, then it might be time to worry.
>!
>! ****
>! PS there are dozens if not 100s of people out there who are industrially salvaging rares, 100s per day, for some. If the ecto drop rate is nerfed, they will notice, since it effects their bottom line. There's no need for the typical player to presume a lower rate, just because they get unlucky.
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> Can anyone suggest any other uses so I don't feel like I'm wasting 4 infinite gathering tools?
I never found a satisfying option, especially after ANet allowed us to reskin the tools. I resigned myself to spares that gather dust.
I do like the suggestions from @"HnRkLnXqZ.1870" in general, just not for me personally. I like the efficient amortization they include; they lack the sort of simplicity & utility I look for.
****
Here are the two scenarios I ended up with in the end.
**Original (cheaper):**
At any given moment, I have one "primary" open-world toon, and one "festival" character. The first is the first to run the new stories and explore, or help others. The other is the one I park in the farming areas of the new festival and/or in whatever zone has a meta I'm repeating.
**Fancy (expensive):**
I splurged on an infinite bank access, which goes into the first shared inventory slot; a set of "spare" tools fits into the first three bank slots. (One extra double-click to swap tools, compared to the "cheap" option.)
So yes, this is kind of a "cut off one's nose to spite the face" option: to avoid "wasting" 2400-3000 gems worth of tools (~900-1100 gold these days, less when I bought) by spending 2500 gold (closer to 4000 gold today).
However, the permanent bank access has been one of the top three (convenience) game changers since launch, up there with Wardrobe, "true" autolooting, and the shared inventory slots. It's a lot easier to avoid running out of inventory space, and it's much less trouble to regear. I also always have the right food(s) for the encounter, regardless of which character I've brought, which is exceptionally useful for group content.
I crafted a legendary to afford the cost; worth every copper. (Your mileage will vary, of course.)
Gem Cards at 20% Off During the Best Buy Gaming Weekend (NA) - [Merged]
in Guild Wars 2 Discussion
Posted
> @"Mungo Zen.9364" said:
> Is this US only?
> @"nottsgman.8206" said:
> that's great, but best buy in Canada hasn't sold them in YEARS, so I'm guessing this is a US only thing
It looks as if it might be US only. However, y'all now have as much information as I: that's the entire text from the official GW2 website. It makes no mention of where it's available.