Gemstore slowly becoming whale friendly

[inubasiri.8745]

> @"Azure The Heartless.3261" said:

> I'm trying to understand why people willing to pay what I deem an exorbitant amount of money for convenience in a game where I can get the same benefits by just investing time negatively impacts me.

>

> As long as black lion keys are findable in the world and purchasable with gems, I also have no issue with Hydra skin/Account bound skin tactics.

 

Because the financial dept. at Anet would like to see more such items introduced, and eventually you might find something money + time gated that you desire outside of just BLC. And I don't mind if I don't get one specific skin, but it's imo a bad trend. If it stops at chests, well then I'm glad. But if it doesn't, it'll be a problem.

[inubasiri.8745]

> @"vesica tempestas.1563" said:

>

> I think the simple answer to why people buy things for real money is that it gives them pleasure, the same pleasure we get from drinking a nice bottle of wine or going to see a film etc.

 

I do agree. But I'm not arguing against that, I'm arguing against Anet going from the current model towards something more sinister and loot boxey.

[Shirlias.8104]

> @jheryn.8390 said:

> > @Shirlias.8104 said:

> > I disagree, though i approve the first part

> >

> > > I've been noticing that lately the gemstore has been adding / changing items so it makes people buy more gems. Let me include a few examples:

> > > - Black Lion Chests: Now contain account bound cosmetic items, forcing you to roll chests and buy more keys if you want them, with no guarantee you'll get them.

> >

> > That's the point.

> >

> > Balthazar Pajamas, Hydra staff, Glider skin, Minis, etc... are:

> > * Totally RNG ( only a issue cause it's related to the point 2. If point 2 would not exist there won't be any problem )

> > * Account bound ( the real issue. A player can't get what he wants unless he go through chests and hope for RNG.

> >

> > This is Bad.

> >

> > But, about stuff like Hydra staff and similar you are totally right.

> > You still can play the game, but is missing a different way to obtain these specific items, which is totally bad.

> >

>

> I see nothing wrong with this. Not only does this practice increase revenue for the company, it makes sure that people that fork out $$$ have the possibility to get something exclusive that does not = play to win. They are just skins after all.

>

> Black Lion Chests and the RNG are made the way they are very purposefully. They generate revenue for the company without flooding the market with items that can seriously alter the game.

>

> Unlike a slot machine, you get a reward with each "pull of the lever." It isn't gambling, because you get something with each key. You may not like what you get, but we all know the contents of the chests and the possibility/probability of getting any particular item. You know beforehand which items are account bound and which are not.

>

> If you are buying keys EXPECTING to get something rare/super rare, then you are fooling yourself. I've spent a LOT of money on these chests and I enjoy playing with them. I never expect to get something rare because I just set myself up for disappointment. You cannot blame the chests or Anet when you don't get what you want. You know what is in there and the possibility of getting them.

>

> As far as the rest of the BL items the OP mentioned, none are necessary to playing the game or completing anything they represent. Therefore, the price that Anet puts on them is arbitrary and completely up to them. They aren't overpriced, they are exactly the price that Anet wants to sell them for.

>

> tl/dr: There is nothing wrong with the RNG of BL Chests. There is nothing wrong with BL Chest contents. There is nothing wrong with any prices of BL items.

>

 

You missed the point though it seems you actually did read my post.

 

You can't give some items a price cause you don't know how many keys you will need.

And also since once you get them they can't be traded there can't be a market for em at all.

 

The absence of a secondary way to pursue your goal is Bad for the game.

 

And before some white knight appears, a Little recap.

 

1. You are not forced to buy blc.

2. You are required to buy blc in order to get some items.

3. You are required not to know the real price of the item you are looking for, if you decide **to try** to get that one.

4. There are no other ways to get what you want. You won't know how much you are going to pay, nor if you will ever get it. You are required to Gamble if you want specifc items.

 

Imagine if you'll have to Gamble to get your supreme runes of holding instead buy em from tp from other players.

 

That is what we are currently discussing.

[Omar Aschi Popp.7496]

Also what the fuck is a whale in gw2?

[inubasiri.8745]

> @"Omar Aschi Popp.7496" said:

> Also what the kitten is a whale in gw2?

 

Someone rolling chests all the time and buying waypoints for each char maybe. I'm not saying there are all out whales spending $100k but the model shouldn't promote that either (or any other 'high' value). For example with RNG account bound items in BLC, if there's more of them eventually (used to be 1 when it launched I think, now it's two).

[jheryn.8390]

> You missed the point though it seems you actually did read my post.

>

> You can't give some items a price cause you don't know how many keys you will need.

> And also since once you get them they can't be traded there can't be a market for em at all.

>

> The absence of a secondary way to pursue your goal is Bad for the game.

>

> And before some white knight appears, a Little recap.

>

> 1. You are not forced to buy blc.

> 2. You are required to buy blc in order to get some items.

> 3. You are required not to know the real price of the item you are looking for, if you decide **to try** to get that one.

> 4. There are no other ways to get what you want. You won't know how much you are going to pay, nor if you will ever get it. You are required to Gamble if you want specifc items.

>

> Imagine if you'll have to Gamble to get your supreme runes of holding instead buy em from tp from other players.

>

> That is what we are currently discussing.

 

I understand your point, I just don't agree with it. And of course I read your post. Even though I don't agree with some of what you said, it was still a good post.

 

No you cannot give some items a price but my response is "So?" Giving anything a price is subjective. Setting a price on anything you can sell from a BL Chest is up to the seller. I have sold BL skins for considerably less than others were listing them as just to see 1. how fast it sells and 2. How willing people might compete against me. Again, it is subjective. My very first key on my 2nd account I got an Iron Node. So should I have sold it for nothing because I got it from a key I got from my personal story?

 

For things you cannot sell, why do you need a price? You know when you are buying keys or opening BL Chests that there are account bound items. If you don't want those items or don't like them, then don't open a chest. Wait until more appealing items circulate for whatever you want to do with them. Even then, you are not guarantied to get those things.

 

If those things in the BL Chests are your goal, then I would suggest that you farm LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of gold. Or be willing to take out a RL loan to get what you want. Even then you are not guarantied to get that item.

 

RNG is a part of GW2 life. We all know that, but many people can't seem to accept that. With BL chests having exclusive and account bound items it is just the way it is. No use stressing over it or bemoaning their existence.

 

tl/dr: I did read your entire post. It was worth reading. I just don't agree with your position. BL Chest have exclusive content which is fine. No need to assess value to those items.

[Weindrasi.3805]

It's just as I'd expect it to be, honestly. The devs make money off the gem store, rather than off monthly subscriptions. Personally, I loved the waypoint unlock. I've been here since launch and have map completion on 12+ characters. By this point, doing it is a massive bore. Between waypoint unlocks (and Hero Point unlocks via WvW) I can get a ton of it done conveniently for the rest of my alts.

[inubasiri.8745]

> @Weindrasi.3805 said:

> It's just as I'd expect it to be, honestly. The devs make money off the gem store, rather than off monthly subscriptions. Personally, I loved the waypoint unlock. I've been here since launch and have map completion on 12+ characters. By this point, doing it is a massive bore. Between waypoint unlocks (and Hero Point unlocks via WvW) I can get a ton of it done conveniently for the rest of my alts.

 

Again, I am not arguing against devs making money off the gemstore. I am arguing against them moving towards loot boxes as seen with dubious producers.

[Hyper Cutter.9376]

> @inubasiri.8745 said:

> Well even if he's serious I doubt he knows Anet's economy either. Unless Mo told him. I just can't with integrity intact promote a game that scams people with overpriced items with cheaper alternatives ingame. GW2 is NOT like that. But I can't just look at gemstore items that kinda are like that and ignore them.

It's not a "scam", they're aimed at people who have lots of in-game gold or real money and would rather spend it to instantly level their character or unlock all the waypoints than do those things normally (possibly because they did it on a previous character and want to bring a new one up to speed quickly, or something like that).

 

Which is silly, since neither of those things is difficult, but it's their choice so whatever.

[Master Ketsu.4569]

These sort of things don't "make" people buy more gems. They simply take advantage of people with high wealth and low self control. I for one am perfectly content with my games being funded by people who can't say no to gambling and/or pointlessly instant gratification. The result is a better game for everyone else.

 

The only time "Whales" are a problem is when a whale-item becomes pay2win. Like if Anet started adding gemstore exclusive account-bound nourishments that were better than all the others and provided distinct advantages in WvW. **THEN** we would have a problem, because at that point Whales basically become Dev-sanctioned cheaters. But GW2 gem store isn't anywhere near that kind of nonsense and as long as Anet promises to keep things that way we are gold.

 

 

 

 

[Vayne.8563]

See, the thing to me is that home instance nodes were always meant to be hard to get items to begin with. Stuff for the high rollers to buy. It's not a problem because everything from those nodes you can easily get in the open world. Waypoint unlock packs were meant for people who HATE going through the open world. It's not worth it with mounts. The OP sites this as a problem. The point is, if it was worth it, people would call the game pay to win.

 

That's always been the problem. Anything that you remotely have to get from the gem store is something that people will call pay to win. Most of the stuff in the gem store isn't worth it, unless you have extra money.

 

But remember, a percentage of the playerbase has a ton of gold. So if you're one of those people, who can instantly turn gold to gems, you can buy everything anyway. To me, the cash shop was meant to be about people paying cash for stuff to support the game, which I do, because I know games need the support.

 

This is a non-argument.

 

The only thing I agree with is the RNG skins in BLC chests. That annoys me some.

[dusanyu.4057]

My thought in the Gem store is i tend to forget it is there until something cool comes out (like the exosuit that came out a couple months ago) than i am splerging a little with paypal to get it. As far as RNG skins i have the Elemental sword, Jackal pup pack, and hydra staff i got from lucky rolls of keys from map completion. they sit in my inventory waiting for me to roll something that uses a staff :P

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

But, so far, ArenaNet has addressed the account-bound items in Black Lion Chests with the Black Lion Exclusives Chests which are available on the Trading Post. No reason to believe they won't be offering them again, with the items that have been found in the more recent Black Lion Chest offerings.

 

One can't say is worried about one practice (offering high-cost/low-value items) continuing, and ignore the possibility of a different practice (offering another way to acquire account-bound items with BL Exclusives Chests) continuing.

[Kalocin.5982]

> @Makai.3429 said:

> > @Swagger.1459 said:

> > > @inubasiri.8745 said:

> > > I've been noticing that lately the gemstore has been adding / changing items so it makes people buy more gems. Let me include a few examples:

> > > - Black Lion Chests: Now contain account bound cosmetic items, forcing you to roll chests and buy more keys if you want them, with no guarantee you'll get them.

> > > - Black Lion Chests again: Home instance nodes that are ridiculously expensive (especially compared to the rest of the same rarity tier). The cost has been artificially affected by deliberately removing the nodes out of BLCs about a year ago. E.g. the 6k gold (and unavailable) Iron Ore node.

> > > One-time use single character boosts:

> > > - Core Tyria Waypoint bundle: for the 2000 gems, it's ridiculously overpriced. I mean with or without mounts, getting waypoints is quick and is not worth it unless you're a Saudi prince, I guess.

> > > - Level 80 boost: again for 2000 gems, it's overpriced compared to the effect received. In time, everyone's drowning in experience scrolls and exotic equipment worth at most 10g and a few waypoints, just aren't worth it. It feels like it's a borderline scam aimed at artificially setting the price high to woo new players into thinking that the lv 80 boost in the "buy expansion" part of the gemstore is worth more than it actually is.

> > >

> > > My point is that no matter how much I love GW2 / Anet and want to support them, going closer to Activision / EA tier microtransactions are eventually going to disgust me and I feel like I have to express this while it's still fairly 'innocent'.

> >

> > Want nice things from Anet?

> >

> > If your answer is yes, then Anet needs to make money to create all those nice things...

> >

> > This game has $0 in monthly fees, so stop portraying this company as money hungry. It’s insulting to imply that. Also, this world doesn’t revolve around free... There are 400 employees at this company that need to be fed so they can maintain this game. Besides, everything on the gemstore is optional...

> >

> > You obviously have zero understanding how businesses work.

>

> Huh. Guild Wars 1 didn't have to rely on whales, and its expansion and extra campaigns were loaded with content (as was the style with games until garbage DLC and Munchausen dev teams took over); and it was also free to play.

 

One thing to be aware of was GW1 wasn't an MMO and reused a tooon of assets between campaigns so it was a lot cheaper and easier to make them.

 

Also about the business idea:

In general you want people to impulse buy things, there needs to be some inherent value associated to the cost. If you're getting people to sit there and think on whether they should buy it due to the price, then you're doing it wrong. The problem with Black Lion Chests is they're actually more of a rip off than most mobile game gacha/card boxes/rolls because the inherent value is already lower. In something like Puzzles and Dragons, you'll probably get something within 10 rolls (probability can suck of course), BLC you're looking over 50 before you start seeing anything worthwhile really. At that point you're not even catering to whales, it's just borderline scamming your playerbase or having them pay for overpriced keys.

 

Regarding 2k packages? No I'm okay. I can buy anything in the gemstore, I have no problem but limited offerings have me usually not doing it (once again, reducing impulsive behaviours). What is 2k gems? Well unless you're getting the gem cards you're likely going between the 1600+800 gems or 2800 gems. That's $30-35 to unlock waypoints or level a character where it's pretty easy to do it in game. See before I can't buy what I want, now I refuse to because I'm offended your asking an expansion's cost for something not intrinsically valuable. At least with BLCs you can argue for the fun of gambling, this stuff is literally insulting me.

 

For people saying it's mostly service-type monetization, well alright, but then lets look at the new mount package. Once again we're looking at higher costs, no options below it.

 

Finally, a lot of goodwill goes a long way with playerbases and it's one of the reason why CD Projekt Red gets tons of sales. You want your customers to feel happy over their product, and like any business: You want your customers happy.

[shippage.1983]

Not really, these things are just to get jumpstarted in the game, they aren't an advantage. At this point you can easily speed through on mounts now, and new players getting into the game can get caught up to speed a lot quicker.

[Swagger.1459]

> @inubasiri.8745 said:

> I've been noticing that lately the gemstore has been adding / changing items so it makes people buy more gems. Let me include a few examples:

> - Black Lion Chests: Now contain account bound cosmetic items, forcing you to roll chests and buy more keys if you want them, with no guarantee you'll get them.

> - Black Lion Chests again: Home instance nodes that are ridiculously expensive (especially compared to the rest of the same rarity tier). The cost has been artificially affected by deliberately removing the nodes out of BLCs about a year ago. E.g. the 6k gold (and unavailable) Iron Ore node.

> One-time use single character boosts:

> - Core Tyria Waypoint bundle: for the 2000 gems, it's ridiculously overpriced. I mean with or without mounts, getting waypoints is quick and is not worth it unless you're a Saudi prince, I guess.

> - Level 80 boost: again for 2000 gems, it's overpriced compared to the effect received. In time, everyone's drowning in experience scrolls and exotic equipment worth at most 10g and a few waypoints, just aren't worth it. It feels like it's a borderline scam aimed at artificially setting the price high to woo new players into thinking that the lv 80 boost in the "buy expansion" part of the gemstore is worth more than it actually is.

>

> My point is that no matter how much I love GW2 / Anet and want to support them, going closer to Activision / EA tier microtransactions are eventually going to disgust me and I feel like I have to express this while it's still fairly 'innocent'.

 

To address some of your statements and list of complaints...

 

1. I take issue with the way you are framing things. Anet doesn't "make people buy more gems". Anet doesn't "force you to roll chests". Everything on the gemstore is OPTIONAL. Spending money on then gemstore is OPTIONAL. Logging into this game is OPTIONAL. Period.

 

2. ..."ridiculously expensive", "ridiculously overpriced", "not worth it", "it's overpriced", "just aren't worth it", "borderline scam"... there were also a few comments to add, but they disappeared... That's all your opinion, so don't go acting like anet is some shady game company because of it. You pay nothing, per month, to play this game as much as you want. You are not forced into buying anything off the gemstore. You can get even get everything for FREE off the gemstore by exchanging gold to gems, yet you implied the devs are some "borderline scam" artists...

 

3. The "whales" and "prince" comments... There are also adults, with money, who prefer to pay to save time... so those comments are insulting to some. You play your way... Go ahead and run around zones for a few hours to unlock wp because you feel the gemstore unlock is "ridiculously overpriced". That's your prerogative... Meanwhile, I bought 1 pack so I could spend MY time doing something else... Did my purchase negatively impact you in any way? No, it didn't... In fact, my 2,000 gem purchase went fund the game I enjoy playing... the same game that requires money to develop for YOU too.

 

4. You have problems with (optional to buy) rng chests? Then come up with some ideas and alternatives, no need to attack the dev team that proves 24/7 access to a game with $0 monthly fee, that also happens to offer a FREE path to every item on their gemstore.

 

5. You take issue with (optional to buy) convenience items? Then come up with some ideas and alternatives, no need to attack the dev team that proves 24/7 access to a game with $0 monthly fee, that also happens to offer a FREE path to every item on their gemstore.

 

[Drew.1865]

The 20+ transmutation charges I’ve gotten free from doing wvw disagree with you OP and make me think Anet is pretty generous. This game is a business for Anet to make profit. I don’t like gambling so I don’t gamble.

[joshc.3129]

Off subject. I don't know who was the first to start calling people who don't have a problem buying in game items via real world money "whales" but can we not start using it so it doesn't stay around. Please? It sounds like something a 13 year old would be screaming at the top of his lungs into his headset when he sees a player with something fancy.

[inubasiri.8745]

> @"Hyper Cutter.9376" said:

> > @inubasiri.8745 said:

> > Well even if he's serious I doubt he knows Anet's economy either. Unless Mo told him. I just can't with integrity intact promote a game that scams people with overpriced items with cheaper alternatives ingame. GW2 is NOT like that. But I can't just look at gemstore items that kinda are like that and ignore them.

> It's not a "scam", they're aimed at people who have lots of in-game gold or real money and would rather spend it to instantly level their character or unlock all the waypoints than do those things normally (possibly because they did it on a previous character and want to bring a new one up to speed quickly, or something like that).

>

> Which is silly, since neither of those things is difficult, but it's their choice so whatever.

 

Well yes, but that's why I'm calling it "becoming whale friendly". If you target something outright at people with excess (real - ingame is fine) money, it is inherently promoting this behavior. "Scam" is the one part comparing what you pay to what you get, where what you get is much less than what you pay. I understand the time and starting condition, but it in time turns out to be scam-ish, even if it looks like a good deal at the start.

[inubasiri.8745]

> @"Master Ketsu.4569" said:

> These sort of things don't "make" people buy more gems. They simply take advantage of people with high wealth and low self control. I for one am perfectly content with my games being funded by people who can't say no to gambling and/or pointlessly instant gratification. The result is a better game for everyone else.

>

> The only time "Whales" are a problem is when a whale-item becomes pay2win. Like if Anet started adding gemstore exclusive account-bound nourishments that were better than all the others and provided distinct advantages in WvW. **THEN** we would have a problem, because at that point Whales basically become Dev-sanctioned cheaters. But GW2 gem store isn't anywhere near that kind of nonsense and as long as Anet promises to keep things that way we are gold.

>

Exactly, but I see any deviation towards this as precursor to the pay 2 win model. That's why I criticize it. To show that I'm not okay with the deviation, that can act as precursor to p2w. As much as I trust Anet not to go that way, it wouldn't be the 1st time they'd not been 100% honest to their philosophy.

[inubasiri.8745]

> @Vayne.8563 said:

> See, the thing to me is that home instance nodes were always meant to be hard to get items to begin with. Stuff for the high rollers to buy. It's not a problem because everything from those nodes you can easily get in the open world. Waypoint unlock packs were meant for people who HATE going through the open world. It's not worth it with mounts. The OP sites this as a problem. The point is, if it was worth it, people would call the game pay to win.

>

> That's always been the problem. Anything that you remotely have to get from the gem store is something that people will call pay to win. Most of the stuff in the gem store isn't worth it, unless you have extra money.

>

> But remember, a percentage of the playerbase has a ton of gold. So if you're one of those people, who can instantly turn gold to gems, you can buy everything anyway. To me, the cash shop was meant to be about people paying cash for stuff to support the game, which I do, because I know games need the support.

>

> This is a non-argument.

>

> The only thing I agree with is the RNG skins in BLC chests. That annoys me some.

 

I'd just like to point out with the nodes that there's "hard to get" and there's "unavailable until Anet decides to put them back in".

[Vyrulisse.1246]

I dunno. There's never really been anything I felt like I absolutely needed to succeed in this game in the gem store. Infact I think it's done right save for my opinions on pricing. It's nice for quality of life but the game is very generous with such things without ever having to touch the gem store.

[inubasiri.8745]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> But, so far, ArenaNet has addressed the account-bound items in Black Lion Chests with the Black Lion Exclusives Chests which are available on the Trading Post. No reason to believe they won't be offering them again, with the items that have been found in the more recent Black Lion Chest offerings.

>

> One can't say is worried about one practice (offering high-cost/low-value items) continuing, and ignore the possibility of a different practice (offering another way to acquire account-bound items with BL Exclusives Chests) continuing.

 

Yeah and continuing that would be great. Still it essentially means that a "not so rare" BLC item is worth 700g or 2800 gems (the cost of the chest on TP if I remember correctly).

[inubasiri.8745]

> @Swagger.1459 said:

> > @inubasiri.8745 said:

> > I've been noticing that lately the gemstore has been adding / changing items so it makes people buy more gems. Let me include a few examples:

> > - Black Lion Chests: Now contain account bound cosmetic items, forcing you to roll chests and buy more keys if you want them, with no guarantee you'll get them.

> > - Black Lion Chests again: Home instance nodes that are ridiculously expensive (especially compared to the rest of the same rarity tier). The cost has been artificially affected by deliberately removing the nodes out of BLCs about a year ago. E.g. the 6k gold (and unavailable) Iron Ore node.

> > One-time use single character boosts:

> > - Core Tyria Waypoint bundle: for the 2000 gems, it's ridiculously overpriced. I mean with or without mounts, getting waypoints is quick and is not worth it unless you're a Saudi prince, I guess.

> > - Level 80 boost: again for 2000 gems, it's overpriced compared to the effect received. In time, everyone's drowning in experience scrolls and exotic equipment worth at most 10g and a few waypoints, just aren't worth it. It feels like it's a borderline scam aimed at artificially setting the price high to woo new players into thinking that the lv 80 boost in the "buy expansion" part of the gemstore is worth more than it actually is.

> >

> > My point is that no matter how much I love GW2 / Anet and want to support them, going closer to Activision / EA tier microtransactions are eventually going to disgust me and I feel like I have to express this while it's still fairly 'innocent'.

>

> To address some of your statements and list of complaints...

>

> 1. I take issue with the way you are framing things. Anet doesn't "make people buy more gems". Anet doesn't "force you to roll chests". Everything on the gemstore is OPTIONAL. Spending money on then gemstore is OPTIONAL. Logging into this game is OPTIONAL. Period.

>

Well the gemstore is an integral part of the game and the items in it. They showcase their product for the sole purpose of selling them. It includes the feeling of being compelled to get them, for whatever reason. In other words, if you've logged into the game for 5 years, chances are that you're going to log in tomorrow as well. Optional is in this case just sophism.

 

> 2. ..."ridiculously expensive", "ridiculously overpriced", "not worth it", "it's overpriced", "just aren't worth it", "borderline scam"... there were also a few comments to add, but they disappeared... That's all your opinion, so don't go acting like anet is some shady game company because of it. You pay nothing, per month, to play this game as much as you want. You are not forced into buying anything off the gemstore. You can get even get everything for FREE off the gemstore by exchanging gold to gems, yet you implied the devs are some "borderline scam" artists...

>

I've presented a single example for the scam complaint and that was the lv80 booster that is objectively not worth 2000 gems. And it's a scam for me only if it's used to promote the expac's value, not if it's because they added it to the gemstore reluctantly and set an arbitrary "test out" value. Besides your "free" is not free if you use your time to get the resources to exchange for the gems.

 

> 3. The "whales" and "prince" comments... There are also adults, with money, who prefer to pay to save time... so those comments are insulting to some. You play your way... Go ahead and run around zones for a few hours to unlock wp because you feel the gemstore unlock is "ridiculously overpriced". That's your prerogative... Meanwhile, I bought 1 pack so I could spend MY time doing something else... Did my purchase negatively impact you in any way? No, it didn't... In fact, my 2,000 gem purchase went fund the game I enjoy playing... the same game that requires money to develop for YOU too.

>

Yes I acknowledge that. I am one of those people. (These people are called dolphins if I remember correctly.) I don't mind if some people use it as a shortcut to save time. I mind, however, if a new player, not yet aware of the gem price buys one of these things, because they believe they will be getting the gem price's value. Or if a player is compelled to roll repeatedly for a BLC item with no alternative as per on item release.

 

> 4. You have problems with (optional to buy) rng chests? Then come up with some ideas and alternatives, no need to attack the dev team that proves 24/7 access to a game with $0 monthly fee, that also happens to offer a FREE path to every item on their gemstore.

>

I'm not attacking the devs. That's a strawman fallacy. I'm criticizing the potential course these changes are setting us on. Again, it's not free if you spend your time to get it, but yeah it is free real money-wise. As for ideas and alternatives, keep the chests as they are now, but put in seasonal-relevant items, that are tradeable, add more home instance nodes, include the most expensive ones, heck add some home instance / guild hall gizmos, add a black lion cat, whatever. The mini/wardrobe unlocks are great, keep those, even if they're account bound, since their effects differ from account to account. Keep the super rare contracts or add HoT cultural merchant contracts (Exalted / Itzel / Nuhoch...) or PoF bounty givers or something.

 

> 5. You take issue with (optional to buy) convenience items? Then come up with some ideas and alternatives, no need to attack the dev team that proves 24/7 access to a game with $0 monthly fee, that also happens to offer a FREE path to every item on their gemstore.

>

I think 4 = 5 here

 

 

[usnedward.9023]

Some GOOD MMO's I have played:

 

WoW - 15 per month - no extras + pay for expansion every year and also has a store to buy stuffs + free only to level 20

SWTOR - 15 per month pay to play scheme - no extras + pay for expansions when they come out and also has store for stuffs + benefits you can only get with subscription

Rift - 15 per month pay to play scheme - no extras + pay for expansions when they come out and also has store for stuffs + benefits you can only get with subscription

 

Guild Wars 2 - Core is F2P to 80. Don't have to buy a thing. No disadvantages to core area that veterans such as I went through when we started. Jump right into PvP. NO MONTHLY FEE. 30 bux for expansion unless you want the goodies. Find a key or farm a key and can get almost anything RNG including items that are 1000's of gold. I have a nice Ghastly shield from FREE key! Currently 1780 G! Account bound yes but cost me nothing plus a glider plus some exp dyes and so on. I have gotten more with free keys than buying :P

 

Guild Wars 2 - 30 Bux for expansion unless you want goodies. 5 years old in August and only 2 xpacs. FREE living story seasons plus OTHER free content. With the exception of core game/xpac sales the Gem store is how they generate cash. You can walk away and come back days, weeks or months later and catch up fast. Instant 80 with xpac purchases gets you into the xpac fast if you are a beginner.

 

I can map the entire game in less than a month and that as a "conservative" player!

 

ALL OF THIS and you want more free? It's a crap shoot. RNGesus. Want want want. 5 years and probably 1000 total keys farmed, found and some bought on the rare sales and I yet to have a contract of any sort. I rolled the dice....snake eyes!

 

The forums are filling up with those who are lazy because GW2 IS a lazy man's game. I do not mean to disrespect to ANET as that is not the intent but to point out the game is easy to pick up, easy to farm, easy to level and so on and everyone posts they want more.