BunjiKugashira.9754

So far I've bought more than 800 gems at once with cash a few times.

I've still voted no, because if ANet goes down the F2P route any further I won't purchase gems ever again. The current system feels fair. You know that $10€ are 800 gems and you know that $10€ are still 800 gems if you buy in bulk. If ANet offered a discount (for example $20€ for 2000 gems) I would feel ripped off. Are $10€ now 800 gems or are they 1000 gems? Which one is their real value and which one is just marketing shenanigans? I would definitely stop buying the 800 gems package, but I'm not all that sure I would buy a higher priced one instead. I generally don't buy into things if I feel cheated.

Short answer: Yes.

If you buy gems ingame 100% of that money goes to ANet. If you buy gems at a 3rd party retailer, part of that money goes to the retailer. 800 gems are $10€ on the gemstore. ANet sells gemcards to retailers for less than that. If the retailer sells the card for $10€, the difference is his profit.

On the other hand having the gemcards in a store is a kind of advertising. Just like boxed copies. It makes the game visible to people who might never have heard of it or makes people buy gems when they just so happen to be at the store buying something else and see the gemcards. Also it makes buying gems possible for minors who might not have the means to buy gems online.

> @"keenedge.9675" said:

> Maybe the point is that some text could have been inserted into the body of the message to clarify the reason for the message.

>

> **shrugs, maybe next time** :p

I think if they had thought about editing the text, they would've thought about disabling the message in the first place.

Still, editing the default message to include the purchased item and its price could help (both can be filled in automatically by the system). I remember getting a similar message a few times in the past, so it's not the first time ANet forgot to disable it.

Regarding the second question:

The mystic forge takes your ascended armor, consumes it together with the other materials and gives you a new one. You will also loose any runes and infusions that may still be in the armor.

This new armor is not the pvp armor and thus can not be used to craft the legendary armor.

> @Veprovina.4876 said:

> > @"Strider Pj.2193" said:

> > > @Daddicus.6128 said:

> > > It takes about 25 minutes to wind down after achieving 195. But, you'll get booted at 15 minutes, if you are AFK.

> > >

> > > Whatever you do, don't implement a macro or other program/device to move you. You likely will get caught and banned for it.

> > >

> > > Personally, I think they should let you keep earning your pips after you log out or change characters. The way it is now, I have to sit around for significant time to get all the points. So, my inactivity costs my team a slot on that map for a half hour. I don't much care for WvW, so it doesn't bother me. But, it should bother those who actually like WvW.

> >

> > Auto running into a wall with your heal skill on auto cast does it.

>

> Yeah, but your game and your computer have to be running that time, and there's afk players using a slot in the map.

> If anet ever adresses WvW at all (they're not particularly interested in anything except fractals or raids it seems), pips and rewards should be looked at at some point, i mean, i don't mind the grind that much, but i have to spend close to half an hour for the participation to go down after i'm done playing essentially... So far, that isn't interrupting my normal routine, but i can see it being annoying for people.

>

> Maybe let us get all the rewards instantly when we leave map, then make participation impossible for the exact amount of wind down time left, like if you had T6 participation, you leave to LA and get all the pips, chests, reward tracks (QoL window details your earnings), then you get a participation cooldown of 25 minutes or however long it would have taken you to afk a map. That way, you can't just barge right in and earn participation again, exploiting the system, and the maps are free for players who are actually helping. After 25 minutes, you can enter WvW again.

>

> Something like that.

I think the best solution would be to make participation only degrade while logged in and in WvW. That way you can safely leave WvW whenever you like and when you re-enter you don't have to gather participation from 0 again, but start at full participation or whatever participation level you were at when logging out. Also I can't imagine that this is too difficult to program.

> @Battledoll.1803 said:

>

> > Since you can't see the problem: There are actually 2 major problems.

> > 1. The RNG box being in the gemstore ANet is basically telling you to gamble on them with real money. Sure, the gem conversion exists, but even those gems have a real money value and have been paid for by someone. Also exchanging gold is counter-intuitive. Most people will buy their gems with cash.

> > 2. There is no way to avoid the RNG. If you want the skin, you are forced to gamble for it.

>

> 1. That's the whole point of a business, to maximize profit. No problem for me. I encourage people to spend cash on Anet when you can so the game development can continue. For those who can't afford, earn in-game gold and convert to gem; it is a slower process but you will get there eventually.

> 2. Yes, that's the design. Since they guarantee no duplicate, you will also get your favorite skin eventually. Again, to maximize profit.

>

> Of course, every business who want to max their profit risk pissing off customer. They have their right to do that, I have my right not to buy that. For me (and me alone), I don't have a problem, don't convince me otherwise.

> @Battledoll.1803 said:

>

> > Since you can't see the problem: There are actually 2 major problems.

> > 1. The RNG box being in the gemstore ANet is basically telling you to gamble on them with real money. Sure, the gem conversion exists, but even those gems have a real money value and have been paid for by someone. Also exchanging gold is counter-intuitive. Most people will buy their gems with cash.

> > 2. There is no way to avoid the RNG. If you want the skin, you are forced to gamble for it.

>

> 1. That's the whole point of a business, to maximize profit. No problem for me. I encourage people to spend cash on Anet when you can so the game development can continue. For those who can't afford, earn in-game gold and convert to gem; it is a slower process but you will get there eventually.

> 2. Yes, that's the design. Since they guarantee no duplicate, you will also get your favorite skin eventually. Again, to maximize profit.

>

> Of course, every business who want to max their profit risk pissing off customer. They have their right to do that, I have my right not to buy that. For me (and me alone), I don't have a problem, don't convince me otherwise.

Ah, the "ANet is a business" argument... I don't know if it's an American thing that every business must be maxing their profits, but there are actually companies that are content with paying their employees and making their customers happy. Success and revenue comes as a byproduct of happy customers.

It may not be a problem for you, but you should at least be able to see why it is a problem for other players. Only because a problem does not affect you does not mean it isn't there. And frankly, if this problem doesn't affect you it either means you're not interested in specific skins or you have enough resources so the price doesn't matter. It will become a problem for you if ANet continues pissing of customers and the game becomes empty, except if you don't care about the game. RNG boxes are a system that generates short term revenue at a long term cost. Mobile games can afford this because their player base is ever changing, but MMOs, especially 5 year old ones, can't afford to loose long term customers.

> @Battledoll.1803 said:

> I don't see any problem with skin RNG box being sold. This is a business and people at Anet need to make their living. You can acquire them by exchanging in-game gold to gem, just by playing the game. Compared to other MMORPG, where there is no way to change in-game currency to store currency, GW2 is already extremely graceful.

Anet, as any other good game developer, could very much make a living by selling items directly at a fair and affordable price. The RNG boxes are just extorting some extra money at the cost of consumer satisfaction.

While you can aquire gems by exchanging gold for them, this is only possible if someone else sold their gems for gold. Every gem in the game has been paid for and gems from the exchange have even been taxed, so ANet earns even more for them. Other games just don't sell their ingame currency for real money because hyperinflation made their ingame currency worthless in the first place.

Since you can't see the problem: There are actually 2 major problems.

1. The RNG box being in the gemstore ANet is basically telling you to gamble on them with real money. Sure, the gem conversion exists, but even those gems have a real money value and have been paid for by someone. Also exchanging gold is counter-intuitive. Most people will buy their gems with cash.

2. There is no way to avoid the RNG. If you want the skin, you are forced to gamble for it.

Before you start with BLCs, yes they've always partially fulfilled the first problem and yes since 2017 (the elemental sword) they also fulfill the second problem. In their current state they deserve the same amount of protest as mount tickets. But the degrading of BLCs was a gradual process and the elemental sword wasn't as highly anticipated as mount skins, so the protests weren't as focused and didn't get any momentum.

And no, not being able to unlock duplicates is not their saving grace. The chance for a specific skin will not go over 50% until the very last ticket. Subconsciously your brain tells you, that you already used x tickets so the desired skin has to come soon. This is sunk-cost-fallacy and is specifically designed to make you spend even more. This is not ANet being generous, it's the exact opposite. If duplicates were possible we would possibly be able to sell duplicates on the TP. This would remove the RNG factor for those who don't like RNG and would reduce the amount of RNG boxes sold.

I put the mounts on Ctrl + 1 to Ctrl + 5. Ctrl + F to call the default mount.

No. I only block people in very rare cases because I highly value communication and the possibility thereof. So if I block someone that is equivalent to me never wanting to meet, let alone play with this person ever again, to "delete" them from my game, to make the megaserver always appoint that person and me to different IPs, etc.

- For Groups: The person shouldn't be able to join a group if one person has them on their block list. Also you shouldn't be able to join groups that contain people on your block list. This is important for consistency and saves you the hassle of leaving the group immediately after joining.

- For Squads: The person shouldn't be able to join a squad if the squad leader has them on their block list. When switching commanders everyone on the new commander's blocklist should be kicked (again for consistency).

> @"Shiyo.3578" said:

> Why do people forget black lion chests have been in the game since..probably beta? Release at the least.

>

Because BLCs used to be ok. People used to be able to purchase everything on the TP without rolling the dice even once. Until 2017, more specific the Elemental Sword skin, it was possible to just ignore BLCs. The Elemental Sword did cause some player complaints, but most people who weren't interested in the sword probably never realized that gambling was the only way to get it.

Now, I don't want any harm to come to ANet's business, but if they don't provide alternatives to their recent gambling bullshit, I hope they get forced by law to change it.

Sadly I was never chosen for one of the closed betas (even though I applied for every single one), so I didn't get to see any of this. The open beta was already pretty much what the game was at launch.

I think PvP has 3 problems at the moment.

1. Visibility. As you said, the small PvP icon is easy to miss and you can spend days and weeks without even realizing that the game mode exists. What got me into PvP in GW1 was the Kurzick vs Luxon conflict. In PvE you could clearly see the borders and gaining faction points actually got you something useful. Or does anyone remember the hall of heroes? Every time a group captured it, a game-wide message was sent.

2. Diversity. Currently there's only hold the point style maps or stronghold. PvP quickly feels repetitive.

3. (Percieved) Toxicity. I guess many players simply don't try PvP because they're afraid of making mistakes / being shouted at. It doesn't matter what PvP is really like. As long as it has the image of being beginner-unfriendly you won't see many new players.

Triple Trouble. In my opinion the best event yet.

Patches without downtime. Let's take a moment to appreciate that we don't have to take a day off every week.

Wintersday. Since you mentioned Halloween, I thought I'd mention the other big festival.

When you click the link for buying HoT you will get to a page where you can either buy HoT by itself, or buy the Standard Collection, which includes both HoT and PoF ($49,99). The $50 extra version is the PoF Ultimate Collection. It includes 4000 gems (about $50) and everything the Deluxe Collection has, which would cost $25 extra by itself. [This](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2:_Path_of_Fire "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2:_Path_of_Fire") page shows the differences between the versions.

Each expansion includes a [Level-80_Boost](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Level-80_Boost "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Level-80_Boost"). So for the Standard Collection that makes 2 boosters.

There is a waypoint unlock in the gemstore. It's pretty expensive and once you have PoF's mounts unlocking waypoints is so easy, the unlock item just isn't worth the gems.

If you log into the game when a living season episode is released, you will get it for free. Everyone else can buy the episodes later for gems. When buying HoT you can add season 2 right before paying for $16. You get a page where you can add all kinds of things to your purchase and LS2 is one of them. LS3 can only be purchased ingame with gems. LS1 can not be repeated and LS4 is yet to be released.

> @"Kong.3280" said:

> > @"starlinvf.1358" said:

> > Actually..... is it possible to make extra copies of the Gen 2.5 Legendaries?

>

> No the only legendaries you can acquire more than 1 of are the first gen, as all others are collection based, and there's no way to redo the collections.

Gen 2 precursors can only be acquired from the collections, but gen 2.5 pres are crafted. The recipe for [save_the_Queen](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Save_the_Queen "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Save the Queen") doesn't use anything you can't farm an endless supply of. I haven't build 2 "The Shining Blade", but I'm pretty sure it is possible.

Allowing account sharing opens up a big can of worms that should better be left closed.

What happens if the so called pro...

- plunders the account?

- uses a bot and gets the account banned?

- sells your irreplaceable [Polla](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Polla "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Polla")?

I'm sure the support team would have a lot of unwanted extra work to do.

Besides, you can buy most stuff (even raids) with gold, which can be bought with gems / cash.

> @"otto.5684" said:

> I never managed to understand the “meta” obsession in GW2. Especially considering the content is relatively easy and the difference between meta and none meta builds if trivial at best, if you know what you are doing. I played another MMO, and the idea of not being allowed for not playing a meta class is almost none exisistent.

>

> Though I primarily blame Anet for this. I do not know of any other game that allows players to measure other players dps output in PvE. Ironically the majority of performance measures in PvP are not available... Anet supports elitest manitality in PvE, where it makes no sense, yet trys to avoid even basic performance measures in sPvP.

I wouldn't call a dps difference of more than 100% of the weaker build's dps "trivial". When running dungeons the top dps usually differs from the bottom dps by more than factor 10! Seeing that I usually assume the top dps player runs something very close to a meta build while the bottom dps player runs... well... something. Not that it matters in dungeons, carrying the bottom dps player is faster than searching for someone else.

When I switched my ele gear from celestial to full berserker my dps increased by 50%. Using a more damage focused rotation was a 100% dps increase and switching traits, runes and sigils got me another 50%. That's 4.5 times my old dps. These numbers are only approximates, but if the real dps increase is anywhere close, then by changing my build I now do as much damage as a complete 5 man group of me would have done with my old build.

Other MMOs have the same (albeit easier to understand) meta. For example a tank has to have at least x toughness to run a specific dungeon. The game probably has 1 class that is the designated tank class. If you build that class for damage and neglect your toughness you won't get a group. Stacking physical damage on a mage class won't get you very far either. The only difference is that other MMOs make it very obvious what stats are best for your class while GW2 leaves this decision mostly to the player.

MM is no longer viable. With the powercreep of 2 expansions minions just melt like butter. You can neither achieve any reasonable minion uptime, not outtank your opponents long enough for any minions to matter.

I don't think ANet will make MM viable again. They don't like AI-controlled builds.

It's a bit annoying, but if this is what keeps the TP from crashing and your items from disappearing into a void, then so be it. The TP is a very fragile construct and I'm glad it's working as stable as it does currently.

I don't think I've done too many mistakes with my first character, but there are certainly some important things I did right.

First of all, don't try to chase a single goal. I found that exploration makes less fun if you think of it as a checklist. I still enjoy running around and doing random stuff, but I loathe map completion. The most important thing you can do as a beginner is to try out EVERYTHING. When I started GW2 you had to unlock weapon skills by gathering exp with them. It's kinda sad that this system was replaced, but I still recommend trying out every weapon and every skill your class has to offer. Also Tyria has many hidden mini dungeons, jumping puzzles or just interesting places. It's important to keep your eyes open and if something looks interesting don't hesitate to check it out.

Usually the game becomes stale around lvl 60. The novelty of doing hearts and events fades off but you're not yet ready for endgame stuff like fractals or the expansion areas. Leveling cook or jeweler to 400 gives around 7 levels each for cheap and can help to shorten this last gap. Once you're lvl 80 the game turns into fashion wars. Searching for new skins and getting rare dies can take up a lot of time.

Some tips:

It's usually best to salvage anything you don't need for materials. The cheapest salvage kit does the job just right. For rare (yellow) items you can use a better salvage kit. For rare (yellow) and especially exotic (orange) items you should check the price on the TP first. Most of the time I just salvage rares and sell exos, except if the exo is cheap and I don't have the skin yet. You can deposit your crafting materials by clicking the gear in your inventory and choosing deposit materials. They end up in your bank's material storage.

Always carry a set of spare gathering tools. If you don't have infinite tools it can be quite frustrating to run out of them while gathering.

Most players in the game are veteran players who have long forgotten what it was like to learn the game. If you do dungeons or other party based content it's better to remind them that there are beginners in the game who don't know everything yet.

As for important websites:

- [Official Wiki](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page") can be accessed from within the game by typing /wiki (searchtopic).

- [Dulfy](http://dulfy.net/category/gw2/ "dulfy.net/category/gw2/") is probably the first site with quality guides once new content is released. There are tons of guides for achievements, guild missions and stuff.

- [gw2crafts](http://gw2crafts.net/ "gw2crafts.net/") for cheap leveling of crafting professions.

- [gw2efficiency](https://gw2efficiency.com/ "https://gw2efficiency.com/") for all kinds of things. You won't find a better tool for account management. It also has a dungeon tracker, crafting calculator and a world boss timer.

In PvE Ice bow and Fgs are still used to fill gaps in ele rotations, but they're no longer a primary damage source. The other conjures are still as relevant as ever (not relevant at all).

> @Harper.4173 said:

> > @Djinn.9245 said:

> > > @Harper.4173 said:

> > > Of course they backtracked and decided that in the future they won't do this again - the backlash was massive.

> >

> > Except the message never actually says this.

>

> "but I want to confirm to you that our next planned mount skin releases will focus on individual sales like the Reforged Warhound and bundles like the Spooky Mounts Pack. "

> That's pretty much what it says.

The "next planned mount skin releases" could literally refer to the next 2 skins to be released. If ANet releases 1 individual skin and 1 bundle, this sentence is fulfilled and ANet can go back to publishing RNG boxes. ANet never admitted that RNG boxes were a bad idea or that RNG boxes are inherently bad. And reading M.O.'s statement : "Individual sale is a mechanic that works with a few, flashy skins." I wonder what skins ANet plans on adding to outshine the starbound or fiery griffon in flashyness. It's either going to draw a whole bunch of Skritt every time you mount or it's a blatant PR lie. Since obviously those skins were not flashy enough for individual sale.

The new Lions Arch bothered me for quite a while and it took some time before I realized why.

1. Too many open spaces. For a big city LA is lacking the feeling of being crowded.

2. Missing market. There are some NPC merchants, but they're sparse and few. The center of LA should have a shopping mall where stalls are right next to each other, merchants shouting out to potential customers creating a noisy mix.

3. Not enough action at the harbor. For a city that is known for its huge harbor I would like some boats or even a big ship actually move in and out of the harbor and workers bustling around with boxes and cargo.

4. Having some shiny white districts is ok, but any city of this size has some place where the less fortunate live. A slum area built of LS1 wreckage and populated by beggars should be somewhere.

Someone mentioned the place feeling like the parking lot of some water themepark and I can only agree. The place even has it's own tour guide!

Lions Arch used to be a part of Kryta. After it sunk the Krytan crown chose to abandon the city. Pirates and exiles gathered and it became a hive of criminal activity. Only when the city gained power and wealth under Captain Marriner, the Krytan crown regained interest and decided to "rightfully claim what is theirs". A 3-sided war between Kryta, LA and Zhaitan's army broke out and ultimately ended with LA's independence and a peace treaty between LA and Kryta. For more information read "Guild Wars: Sea of Sorrows".

Since then the orders have cooperated closely with LA. As a multi-racial organisation it's easier to operate in a city/state that tolerates all your races, which made LA rise even more in power and relevance. And yes, the Captain's Council (which Kiel is a member of) holds the same authority as the Krytan crown, the Arcane Council, the Pale Tree or any other government.

% modifiers in GW2 are all multiplicative. This means:

- Having 5 +10% dmg buffs -> 1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1 = 1.61 resulting in a 61% dmg buff

- Having 5 -10% dmg reductions -> 0.9 * 0.9 * 0.9 * 0.9 * 0.9 = 0.59 resulting in a 41% dmg reduction

Using your example of Protection, RotGD and VH you get 0.67 * 0.5 * 0.8 = 0.27 which is a 73% dmg reduction. You cannot reach 100% dmg reduction.

As far as I know there is no difference between an -% Incoming Condi/Damage and a Condi/Damage -% Reduction. It's just different wording for the same thing. For conditions the game only differs between damage and duration.