Used 50 keys got all garbage. Now one of your 3 slots is always taken up by crap on rolls

[YoukiNeko.6047]

Keys are relatively cheap to buy with gold and there were some ways to farm them with personal story completion, so this might be one of the reason for the bad drop rates.

 

I'll buy some keys from time to time but mostly during a sale and I'll open chests only if there are some interesting 'Uncommon' drops. 'Rare' and 'If it drop you might get hit by a gold brick' drops are not really worth aiming for.

[Albadaran.1283]

It's gambling, so be prepared to lose. The only thing I object about this system is, that there are things you can't get in another way. There should Always be an alternative way (e.g. buying in the gem store) to get gambling chest items.

[PopeUrban.2578]

I applaud your decision to refuse to continue to buy lottery tickets that don't actually pay you in anything you own. If more people stopped doing it, maybe they'd review this exploitative monetization model and move a step further toward ethical business practices that guarantee value for money spent rather than hiding the overblown cost of rewards behind low single key costs. Those new third slot items exist only to further push people that would not otherwise gamble by attaching a "limited time only" element to the rewards while simultaneously making it more expensive to get anything that isn't an overpriced "collection" mini

 

I reccommend using only the rare dropped key or weekly farmed keys to open these boxes rather than spending further money on a company heckbent on making the majority of its most compelling rewards contingent on someone paying more than the list price for the game.

[Sol VIII.6812]

Maybe instead of ticket scraps specific for the weapon skin tickets there should be tickets that can be exchanged for specific items of the current rotation, like that extremely cute jackal backpack on which I used 50 keys (paid with gold) and still haven't got. I would trade 5 weapon tickets for it.

[YoukiNeko.6047]

If Anet replace gold to gem with something like WoW token, then maybe they will earn enough to remove the boxes.

[Zeno Iagara.8540]

The last chest I opened contained - 1 junk item worth 2g - merchant express worth 35 gems and a BL ticket scrap worth nothing without another 9.

125 gems costs around 26g, with 2 gold for the junk and 7 gold for the merchant express (junk as merchants are everywhere) they don't even come close to being beneficial to the player.

 

The description for the BL chests is odd as it states that you can win 3-4 items from the list, when one of those is predetermined the chance of actually winning something useful is even worse.

[Dreamy Lu.3865]

Don't forget that to find an item "good" or "not-good" depends a lot on own personal needs. Example: Revival Orb are "junk" to me, simply because I have so many that one more is - to my own eyes - a lost chance for something else I really need. On the other hand, I am so happy to get mystic forge stones, because I never have enough of them (I use them to craft mystic salvage kits).

 

I have stopped buying keys a while ago. Reason: During a very a long time, I did invest in keys to hunt for black lion tickets. I wanted to work out the collection of the Timekeeper Weapons via BL claim tickets. It was the most stupid idea ever... On one day, as I was at 14 of 16 weapons obtained, the timekeeper weapons became historical! It was no more possible to get them via BL claim tickets... Try to imagine my mood on the day I heard about... That's when I stopped. Since then, I have never re-invested in keys ever (lesson learnt).

 

Nowadays, I open a chest only if I get a key as drop, what happens once in a while at world completion (this is a side activity that I keep always ongoing with whatever of my toons). That's all.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

> @YoukiNeko.6047 said:

> If Anet replace gold to gem with something like WoW token, then maybe they will earn enough to remove the boxes.

 

Gold-to-gems doesn't decrease gems sold, as every gem bought with gold has first been bought with cash.

Remember to always look at the *entire* exchange - gold-to-gems wouldn't exist without gems-to-gold.

[Kalendraf.9521]

> @Drew.1865 said:

> I have only opened 2 and got scraps both times in the last two years or so lol. Wish the scraps weren’t soulbound.

 

Black Lion Claim Ticket Scraps are Account Bound, not soulbound.

[Randulf.7614]

> @PopeUrban.2578 said:

> I applaud your decision to refuse to continue to buy lottery tickets that don't actually pay you in anything you own. If more people stopped doing it, maybe they'd review this exploitative monetization model and move a step further toward ethical business practices that guarantee value for money spent rather than hiding the overblown cost of rewards behind low single key costs. Those new third slot items exist only to further push people that would not otherwise gamble by attaching a "limited time only" element to the rewards while simultaneously making it more expensive to get anything that isn't an overpriced "collection" mini

>

> I reccommend using only the rare dropped key or weekly farmed keys to open these boxes rather than spending further money on a company heckbent on making the majority of its most compelling rewards contingent on someone paying more than the list price for the game.

 

This entirely. Never buy keys - it just encourages the practice. I see these same complaints across so many MMO's and always from those who get shafted after buying a job lot of keys. If players never bought a single key, then they would have no incentive to have loot boxes or loot boxes stacked entirely against the player. The only saving grace GW2 has over some MMO's is that it only locks cosmetics and convenience bits behind the lootboxes.

[Ayakaru.6583]

I loved it during Balthazar's loot fest. every chest had a massive volume of crafting materials and season 3 currencies.

 

I still farm weekly free key, at least that much is worth it.

But i do believe bought keys should be different from the free keys in terms of value.

[Ben K.6238]

Black Lion keys are almost the dud reward from map completion.

 

Nearly all of my keys come from story chapters or map completion, or occasionally a free key on the gem store. I do not ever pay for them, and every time I use one that's dropped for me, it reminds me of why not. I have very rarely found useful items in those chests - over 90% of them contain nothing of value.

 

When even the free keys leave you feeling ripped off, why would you ever pay for them?

[Shirlias.8104]

> @YoukiNeko.6047 said:

> If Anet replace gold to gem with something like WoW token, then maybe they will earn enough to remove the boxes.

 

> @Kalendraf.9521 said:

> > @Drew.1865 said:

> > I have only opened 2 and got scraps both times in the last two years or so lol. Wish the scraps weren’t soulbound.

>

> Black Lion Claim Ticket Scraps are Account Bound, not soulbound.

 

His wish has become real.

[Lpfan.3578]

RNG is RNG, gambling is gambling... Black lion chests have always been a gamble, anyone who spends money/gold on chests needs to realize and accept this. You aren't likely to get great things without opening a lot of chests, unless you are lucky. Do not gamble if you aren't willing to lose.

[PopeUrban.2578]

> @"Tanner Blackfeather.6509" said:

> > @YoukiNeko.6047 said:

> > If Anet replace gold to gem with something like WoW token, then maybe they will earn enough to remove the boxes.

>

> Gold-to-gems doesn't decrease gems sold, as every gem bought with gold has first been bought with cash.

> Remember to always look at the *entire* exchange - gold-to-gems wouldn't exist without gems-to-gold.

 

To be fair this is only MOSTLY true. Arenanet does dole out small amounts of free gems in the form of achievement rewards. A _very_ small portion of gems that enter that economy are actually generated by playing the game.

[Halbarz.3854]

Buy gems get gold by on the TP the skin you want :smiley: that's how I do it xD

[rwolf.9571]

At least with the raptors in the previous BLC, they are worth at least a gold.

I have never once bought a BLC. Always have gotten them from key farming or map completion. In a sense, I never feel robbed by going that route, and been lucky to get exclusive skins every other set of skins within a dozen or so chests.

[Shirlias.8104]

I would like to buy all your black lion boosters... but i can't :disappointed:

[Einlanzer.1627]

> @KTap.4381 said:

> Like some other very high risk-reward things in game, it is easy to find yourself on the losing side of BLC's.

>

> I'm on the fence with this one. Would I like better overall drops from chests (specifically BLC only skins)? Sure. I also prefer less people to have what I have so I like the super rarity of some items I might get.

>

> Obviously not everyone would be happy with BLC's no matter how good or bad the drops were. They're also not going to remove the 'guaranteed' item, so I'll just say I'm ok with how the chests are now, but I wouldn't complain if some numbers were adjusted in our favor.

 

The problem with the BLC has always been that the risk to reward ratio is poorer than it needs to be. They have never been tuned well. Basically everyone needs to stop buying them until they retune to them to something a bit more favorable.

[jheryn.8390]

> @PopeUrban.2578 said:A _very_ small portion of gems that enter that economy are actually generated by playing the game.

 

Source?

 

> @PopeUrban.2578 said:

> If more people stopped doing it, maybe they'd review this exploitative monetization model and move a step further toward ethical business practices that guarantee value for money spent rather than hiding the overblown cost of rewards behind low single key costs.

 

How is it exploitative? No a single person on this planet is forcing you to purchase these keys.

How is it unethical? It's public information concerning chest contents. It's public knowledge about the slim chances of getting anything rare. It's public knowledge that you are probably not going to get anything rare. All items in the chests are known for what they do and what they don't. The value of the chests are exactly what you get when you buy keys in whatever fashion you obtain them. Anet sets the value of the chest. It is in no way their, mine, or anyone else's blame if a person buys those keys and opens chests. When a person buys keys, they have already determined that the value of buying them is worth it. Period.

 

Saying Anet is conducting unethical business practices as it pertains to BL chest is like accusing a casino of having unethical "business practices that guarantee value for money spent rather than hiding the overblown cost of rewards behind" pulling a lever. It's ridiculous. The big difference is that most of the time with a slot machine, you get nothing. With BL Chest you always get something.

 

There is absolutely nothing unethical here. Again, no one, absolutely no one, is forcing anyone to buy keys.

[PopeUrban.2578]

The difference is that in a casino they don't use currency obfuscation and clever language in advertising to obscure the fact that you are gambling. They actually call it gambling and go out of their way to market it as such, in real dollars, with legally mandated real value reward payouts.

 

In the case of loot boxes for pretty much every video game, you are recieving nothing of value. You are gambling actual money with a 0% chance of winning anything. The EULA for virtually every game is very clear about this. You do not own your account, and you do not own the digital items it contains. You are paying for a license to use them that can be revoked at will by the owner. It is this specific language that is used in legal defense of this practice, specifically to avoid being legally defined as gambling and subject to the same legal oversight. That it can't be gambling if the user isn't actually receiving anything of value. It is this lack of oversight that allows complete obfuscation of actual odds of winning, and allows advertising things like the "new contents of the black lion chest" without ever once stating what the actual odds of winning are, or what the cash value of those items (which is zero dollars) actually is.

 

So yes. yes it is an unethical business practice. It intentionally obfuscates not only the amount of money users spend to gamble, but intentionally benefits from an industry wide trend to avoid being subject to the same legal oversight as other forms of gambling while advertising to a demographic that mixes both adults and minors.

 

No one is FORCING anyone to buy alcohol either, but it'd be a stretch to say putting it next to the light saber toys in your local wal-mart with the same fun packaging would be an ethical business practice.

[kharmin.7683]

> @PopeUrban.2578 said:

> No one is FORCING anyone to buy alcohol either, but it'd be a stretch to say putting it next to the light saber toys in your local wal-mart with the same fun packaging would be an ethical business practice.

 

Whoa! Beer and light sabers? That would totally rock!

[STIHL.2489]

Never Bet what you can't afford to lose.

 

Never liked BL chests to be honest, RNG games like that have never been my flavor. However, I hope you two at least had fun opening the chests.

[Ashen.2907]

> @jheryn.8390 said:

> > @PopeUrban.2578 said:A _very_ small portion of gems that enter that economy are actually generated by playing the game.

>

> Source?

>

Look at the achievement tab of your hero panel.

 

 

[jheryn.8390]

> @Ashen.2907 said:

> > @jheryn.8390 said:

> > > @PopeUrban.2578 said:A _very_ small portion of gems that enter that economy are actually generated by playing the game.

> >

> > Source?

> >

> Look at the achievement tab of your hero panel.

>

>

 

Honestly, I was also including the number of gems purchased by using gold to convert to gems. That is also gems through game play as it is not using real world money to buy them.