Better balance between gem content and in-game content

[Deihnyx.6318]

> @"mauried.5608" said:

> [...]

> Seems to be to many ppl who just want gold for doing nothing.

>

 

I'm listening to both sides of the debate, but you clearly miss the point if you think that this thread is about people wanting gold for doing nothing.

 

-----------------

 

To me, there is simply no prestige when literally everything can be obtained with the same currency, be it gold or gems. It means that people (like me) who can afford it will get it instantly, and people will have time will grind the same 2-3 meta maps to maximize their gold and get it eventually, rinse and repeat.

 

I keep pushing the "prestige" aspect, because they give long term goals, things that no matter how rich you are, you can't get immediately. Things such as legendary gen 2, where you absolutely need some account bound items to craft, or the 3 legendary backpacks, or mawdrey even, or the legendary armors.

This type of content has been lacking, terribly lacking recently. The last one I can think of is the legendary accessory.

 

Again I will stress out that this isn't about contesting the fact that the gemstore exist for a reason. Only that a few "legendary mounts" or even "mawdrey like" collections wouldn't hurt their sales that much, would certainly calm down these people who were so salty about all the mount skins being exclusively gemstore items, and generally keep the players who aren't hardcore farmers in game longer.

[Deihnyx.6318]

> @"mauried.5608" said:

> This entire thread basically boils down to this .

> I want something thats only available in the gem store, but I dont want to buy gems to get it , and I dont want to convert gold into gems to get it.

> Answer thats easy , DONT get it.

> Theres nothing in the gem store thats needed to play the game.

>

 

You didn't even read the initial post.

[Wanze.8410]

> @"GreyWolf.8670" said:

> > @"Wanze.8410" said:

> > > @"Shaaba.5672" said:

> > > > @"Wanze.8410" said:

> > > > basically any content gives you some kind of gold reward or materials/items you can sell for gold, which can be used to exchange into gems and gemstore items

> > >

> > > You're not wrong, it's just really unsatisfying and boring.

> >

> > if you find all game content boring, you shouldnt be playing this game in the first place

>

> Wit the pitiful amount of gold this game gives you for playing it's ridiculous to recommend using that to exchange for gems. The game needs more included rewards. It's not a freeminum game.

 

OP asked for introducing gem store items as in game rewards as incentive to buy more gem store rewards with real cash and for that purpose, the gold/gem exchange is sufficient.

[Nuka Cola.8520]

There needs to be dungeons where you get the items. If they take some gem store items and put em behind incredibly brain melting chore-like achievements (like most skins in this game), its no better than just buying them on the gem store. I want to earn stuff from PLAYING challenging co-op based content. Is this too much to ask for? Why is everything behind the gem store or atrocious achievements? I want to grind dungeons, not an achievement list that makes you do random chores across the game.

[Zaklex.6308]

> @"Deihnyx.6318" said:

> > @"Swagger.1459" said:

> > > @"Deihnyx.6318" said:

> > > Hello,

> > >

> > > Now before anyone says anything about it, I can be considered a "whale" as I usually get most items available on the gemstore and spent -way too much- on keys. I perfectly understand and agree that a game like that has to be financed, and I've helped my fair share.

> > > However there is an argument that keeps coming up for many people who may not have the funds for it. The balance between gemstore content and in game content as updates roll out is getting a bit unhealthy.

> > >

> > > For example, last week was introduced a new garden activity in your home instance. There are 3 nodes available, although you can only buy 2 (for now). I'm assuming that like so many other things the third node will be available to buy at some point.

> > > Why not instead making that third node a collection reward to retrieve in game?

> > >

> > > Same with the mounts. Yes premiums mounts are expensive and should stay premium, but how about giving out a few adoptions licenses as rewards for something in game related? Like a collection of some sort?

> > >

> > > Why don't you bring more incentives to play your game and have a taste of what gem content feels like?

> > > Giving 400 Gems as reward for reaching an AP milestone was one of these nice incentives, but it really needs to be extended now.

> >

> > Players can play the game and earn gold to exchange for gems. That means players can buy everything off the gem store for $0 just by participating. We don’t need more incentives than that.

>

> Yes you can gold farm just like you can credit card farm. It's not the point the point I'm trying to make though.

> It's basically the same debate between legendary gen 1 and 2.1 (not the later legendaries gen 2). Some are about farming, some are about the "journey". And right now, we're tending towards a situation where everything is about farming once again.

 

You DO NOT need to farm for gold, you can just play the game normally and make gold that way...there's absolutely no need to farm anything to make gold so this is really pointless.

[AliamRationem.5172]

> @"Zaklex.6308" said:

> > @"Deihnyx.6318" said:

> > > @"Swagger.1459" said:

> > > > @"Deihnyx.6318" said:

> > > > Hello,

> > > >

> > > > Now before anyone says anything about it, I can be considered a "whale" as I usually get most items available on the gemstore and spent -way too much- on keys. I perfectly understand and agree that a game like that has to be financed, and I've helped my fair share.

> > > > However there is an argument that keeps coming up for many people who may not have the funds for it. The balance between gemstore content and in game content as updates roll out is getting a bit unhealthy.

> > > >

> > > > For example, last week was introduced a new garden activity in your home instance. There are 3 nodes available, although you can only buy 2 (for now). I'm assuming that like so many other things the third node will be available to buy at some point.

> > > > Why not instead making that third node a collection reward to retrieve in game?

> > > >

> > > > Same with the mounts. Yes premiums mounts are expensive and should stay premium, but how about giving out a few adoptions licenses as rewards for something in game related? Like a collection of some sort?

> > > >

> > > > Why don't you bring more incentives to play your game and have a taste of what gem content feels like?

> > > > Giving 400 Gems as reward for reaching an AP milestone was one of these nice incentives, but it really needs to be extended now.

> > >

> > > Players can play the game and earn gold to exchange for gems. That means players can buy everything off the gem store for $0 just by participating. We don’t need more incentives than that.

> >

> > Yes you can gold farm just like you can credit card farm. It's not the point the point I'm trying to make though.

> > It's basically the same debate between legendary gen 1 and 2.1 (not the later legendaries gen 2). Some are about farming, some are about the "journey". And right now, we're tending towards a situation where everything is about farming once again.

>

> You DO NOT need to farm for gold, you can just play the game normally and make gold that way...there's absolutely no need to farm anything to make gold so this is really pointless.

 

Wow. Did you even read what you responded to? The point is not the time, the gold, or the money. We are perfectly willing to spend gold and cash to get the items we want. However, we want more items that we can acquire by playing the game - not just by farming gold and converting to gems, but via collections and such. It's about the journey. It provides a reason to play the game. Not everyone is concerned about how long it will take or how much effort. We just want things to do. When you condense it down to "everything can be earned via gold farming", that doesn't hold our attention the way it clearly does yours. In that scenario, the cash I spend every month disappears because I don't log in to play for lack of anything stimulating to do. Telling me (or the OP) to go farm gold or just deal is completely missing the point.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Hmm. So, if ArenaNet gives a list of disparate things to do in game, that would garner one enough Gold to exchange for 800 Gems, but instead gave a Gem Store item worth 800 Gems, that would be fun? And, without the list of things to do, and acquiring the Gold instead of the Gems, it's not fun, it's a grind? Hmm. I can't say I really see the difference.

[AliamRationem.5172]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> Hmm. So, if ArenaNet gives a list of disparate things to do in game, that would garner one enough Gold to exchange for 800 Gems, but instead gave a Gem Store item worth 800 Gems, that would be fun? And, without the list of things to do, and acquiring the Gold instead of the Gems, it's not fun, it's a grind? Hmm. I can't say I really see the difference.

 

Do you see a difference between buying a legendary and crafting one? Is it only the reward and how much it costs that matters? Maybe they should have skipped the griffon quest, too. Just drop 250g and you got yourself a griffon! Do you really see no difference between farming for gold and doing things like a collection?

[Shirlias.8104]

> @"mauried.5608" said:

> This entire thread basically boils down to this .

> I want something thats only available in the gem store, but I dont want to buy gems to get it , and I dont want to convert gold into gems to get it.

> Answer thats easy , DONT get it.

> Theres nothing in the gem store thats needed to play the game.

>

 

> @"Deihnyx.6318" said:

> > @"mauried.5608" said:

> > This entire thread basically boils down to this .

> > I want something thats only available in the gem store, but I dont want to buy gems to get it , and I dont want to convert gold into gems to get it.

> > Answer thats easy , DONT get it.

> > Theres nothing in the gem store thats needed to play the game.

> >

>

> You didn't even read the initial post.

 

He did, but I guess we both could have a point.

 

Talking about gardening, it could definitely be considered game content even though it's not content because it's something meant to farm which is not necessarily related to fun ( a new event is content, a new zone is content, new LS episode is content, a new frafctal is content ).

 

However, mount skins are definitely not content because they won't affect your way of playing unless you suffer from OCD or something similar.

 

That said, I wouldn't mind to have some extra items locked behind some achievements, farming or time gated events... but I wouldn't consider them "extra content" given the game.

 

Shortly, given LS4 episode 2, i would enjoy

 

* The new part of the story.

* The new map exploration.

* The new events.

* The new JP ( if there's one ).

 

but features like

 

* 1 Mount licence skin per account avaible for 5k new map currency

* Armor skin unlocked after you complete the whole LS4 ep 2 achievements

* 1 more garden plot deed after hitting "gold" in a griffon race

 

are definitely not extra content.

 

Given a bored player which enjoys all game modes ( PvE, WvW, SPvP ) and now stopped to play the game because no more content, do you think he will come back for some new skins locked behind a moderate farm of the old content, if the reason he stopped to play was boredom?

He definitely won't, because of no new content.

 

 

[Henry.5713]

The level of "epicness" of these in-game journeys is a matter of opinion, to be quite frank. I prefered it the way everything worked back when I could just play whichever content I enjoyed most, usually group content like dungeons, without having to leave them behind to go hunt down silly achievements and collections which quite often feel like nothing more than busywork. There are some exceptions but those are rather rare. Everything else comes down to watching a guide so you do not have to spend even more time on something you do not particularly enjoy.

Don't get me wrong, I usually can't be arsed to even bother with collections myself but most players seem to like them. Meaning collections obviously have their place in this game and should probably be used for a few special mount skins at least. People like their mounts and people like their immersion. Probably why having to trade gold to gems is a big problem to many.

 

ArenaNet could and probably should go the route of the old legendaries. Make them avaible through different means as a compromise to please everyone such as collections, achievements and possiblity as drops or in exchange for any given in-game currency.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

> @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > Hmm. So, if ArenaNet gives a list of disparate things to do in game, that would garner one enough Gold to exchange for 800 Gems, but instead gave a Gem Store item worth 800 Gems, that would be fun? And, without the list of things to do, and acquiring the Gold instead of the Gems, it's not fun, it's a grind? Hmm. I can't say I really see the difference.

>

> Do you see a difference between buying a legendary and crafting one? Is it only the reward and how much it costs that matters? Maybe they should have skipped the griffon quest, too. Just drop 250g and you got yourself a griffon! Do you really see no difference between farming for gold and doing things like a collection?

 

I'm not sure where the cost of a Legendary comes in. Given a list of things to do - get Gem Store reward. Do the same things _without_ the list, get Gold and exchange for Gems to acquire the same (or a different) Gem Store reward. The only difference is the list, i.e. being told what to do. /shrug

[Odinens.5920]

I witnessed this same thing happen in SWTOR years ago, which is just one of the reasons I quit that game. It got to the point where almost all the updates in that game were store related. It's a little disheartening.

[Ardenwolfe.8590]

Excellent idea. Yes, more rewards based on gameplay and less on gem store.

[AliamRationem.5172]

> @"Henry.5713" said:

> The level of "epicness" of these in-game journeys is a matter of opinion, to be quite frank. I prefered it the way everything worked back when I could just play whichever content I enjoyed most, usually group content like dungeons, without having to leave them behind to go hunt down silly achievements and collections which quite often feel like nothing more than busywork. There are some exceptions but those are rather rare. Everything else comes down to watching a guide so you do not have to spend even more time on something you do not particularly enjoy.

> Don't get me wrong, I usually can't be kitten to even bother with collections myself but most players seem to like them. Meaning collections obviously have their place in this game and should probably be used for a few special mount skins at least. People like their mounts and people like their immersion. Probably why having to trade gold to gems is a big problem to many.

>

> ArenaNet could and probably should go the route of the old legendaries. Make them avaible through different means as a compromise to please everyone such as collections, achievements and possiblity as drops or in exchange for any given in-game currency.

 

Right. I don't think anyone is asking for the world here. Just to shift the balance a little bit in favor of more rewards we can work toward that aren't just another ascended class weapon or an armor skin set and aren't just purchased via gems.

 

[AliamRationem.5172]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> > > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> > > Hmm. So, if ArenaNet gives a list of disparate things to do in game, that would garner one enough Gold to exchange for 800 Gems, but instead gave a Gem Store item worth 800 Gems, that would be fun? And, without the list of things to do, and acquiring the Gold instead of the Gems, it's not fun, it's a grind? Hmm. I can't say I really see the difference.

> >

> > Do you see a difference between buying a legendary and crafting one? Is it only the reward and how much it costs that matters? Maybe they should have skipped the griffon quest, too. Just drop 250g and you got yourself a griffon! Do you really see no difference between farming for gold and doing things like a collection?

>

> I'm not sure where the cost of a Legendary comes in. Given a list of things to do - get Gem Store reward. Do the same things _without_ the list, get Gold and exchange for Gems to acquire the same (or a different) Gem Store reward. The only difference is the list, i.e. being told what to do. /shrug

 

Right. That's what we call "structure", and it's something players from other MMOs are used to and find conspicuously missing in GW2. Of course, some of that is by design (e.g. no gear treadmill), but it does lend a rather aimless feel to the game in the opinion of myself and many others. There's a bit of space between "just farm gold" and "everything is earned by playing." I think all that anyone is asking for in this thread is to just throw us a few more things we can earn by playing the game as opposed to just farming gold to buy gems.

[Einlanzer.1627]

Yeah. They go overboard pushing the gem store relative to what's offered in-game. The ham-fisted balance of treatment and absurdly poor cadence of balance iteration just makes it worse.

 

Even though it's business management 101, they don't seem to be aware that players clue into that kind of behavior and stop spending or quit playing.

[Zedek.8932]

Excelsior.

 

I think it's very, very hard to find the balance in this.

One of the posts went in the right direction in my opinion by saying you either do epic fights or farm longer.

 

For me, that is 100% solo and won't change that, locking nice things behind group content would probably the reason to put this game below my "care" treshold, thus I'd quit. If you put it behind a super boring grind wall, I'd also quit.

 

Giving out nice stuff for dungeons, raids and whatnot is very good and healthy and also a good carrot-on-a-stick, something that seem to be lacking for many, but for solo-ists it's basically a reason to go Appwiz.cpl, Guild Wars 2 and Enter. (I know, it's an MMO and all about multiplayer, but then, I lost my faith in the average gamer 3 years ago)

 

In FF14, when I had to do the most boring outright braindead things (Zodiarc) I might also just stop playing. It was like doing 3 boring tasks in 5 boring categories to finish 1 book, out of 9. To get a book, you gotta farm. The result? A mere stat increase.. Ugh...

 

I bought some stuff from the trading post because I do not want to play Farmville. A goal to work towards, fine. But nothing that requires me to a certain playstile. I am here to fight and to kill, not to gather and craft (Deja vu!).

 

Maybe getting the desired item in a form of basic version for the guys with lower patience on grinding and those who want to be eternally trapped, they can get better stats on their items, basically like the mentioned Zodiarc weapons in FF14, but with the fine balance of "Hey, that item's enough to have fun with" and "Man, I'd like to max it out". Hence why I am super fine with my Hunter; the Predator is something I really don't need or want.

[kharmin.7683]

> @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> > @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > I have a finite amount of time that I can dedicate to playing GW2 and would really prefer to obtain items in-game rather than spend my online time simply farming. YMMV

>

> Why play at all then?

> I mean if that's your excuse, why even bother?

> I mean if you don't play the game, but just buy everything, what's the point?

 

Sorry, I think that you mis-understood me. My point was that I'd rather NOT spend time farming in the game. Instead, I'd rather be playing the game and doing things in the game which would grant those in-game rewards as opposed to obtaining them from the gem store after countless hours spent farming for gold.

 

 

[ReaverKane.7598]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> > > @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > > I have a finite amount of time that I can dedicate to playing GW2 and would really prefer to obtain items in-game rather than spend my online time simply farming. YMMV

> >

> > Why play at all then?

> > I mean if that's your excuse, why even bother?

> > I mean if you don't play the game, but just buy everything, what's the point?

>

> Sorry, I think that you mis-understood me. My point was that I'd rather NOT spend time farming in the game. Instead, I'd rather be playing the game and doing things in the game which would grant those in-game rewards as opposed to obtaining them from the gem store after countless hours spent farming for gold.

>

>

 

Ah!

Then i agree with you! It's kind of off-putting to have every item that could be used as a cool incentive to play hog-tied to the gemstore.

That also results in the problem with not having meta-events. Because those are the best "gold farms", old content loses it's replayability if it isn't a gold farm, which leads to players hoping from the newest and more exploitable farm to the next, instead of actually playing the game, because the best stuff is always gated behind a gold paywall.

 

I mean in recent memory the best item reward in the game was the Bloodstone Visage. It was a cool item that was obtained solely by playing through content. It took a while, but it was fun and rewarding. As far as in-game rewards it was by far one of the best things Arena Net did in the last 5 years, if not the best. Too bad they followed it up with nothing, really.

 

[ThomasC.1056]

I'm a bit worried about this too.

 

When I see all the new mounts which require some design, and animation, and sometimes sounds made, I understand that a part of the _limited and precious_ dev time is dedicated to these.

Now, I understand money is necessary and that the gem store is a way to cash some dollars. Yet... cash some dollars for what ? Usually, the answer is : cash some dollars to create the content, which implies : cash some dollars to make _limited and precious_ dev time happen.

 

I have now clue what part of dev time is dedicated to the gem store items vs. in-game content in all its implications (skills revamp and balance, map creation, coding, episodes creation etc etc etc), but there's one thing I'm sure : if the whole point of releasing gem store items is cash dollars to create more gem store items to release, then there's no more game.

 

So, maybe it's just an illusion because it's easier to release things in the gem store, so it happens more frequently, but I must confess it overall worries me.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

ANet's list of discontinued projects has become very long over the years. So many wonderful ideas have been thrown into the trash-bin for no rational reason.

 

_Long before we had these stuipd collections, to keep the crowd busy, there was a skin locked behind a simple task. Deep in the Lamprey Grottoes in Iron Marches is charr named Riff Sootclaw, member of the soot warband. He has serious problems getting his tank to start. A huge group of players never heared of him and/or ignored him on their first and only visit of the cave - for map completion. The curious adventurer however was given a chance to repair the malfunctioning tank. It was a basic oldschool try&error text-decision-branch to get it done. In order to prevent memorizing a combination the answers were always mixed in order. Those who were willing to get through the process, made the tank runing again. In return, Riff invited you into his warband and granted you the Iron's Tailpipe Bandana. Still one of the most epic nomad/desert/outlaw helmet-skins. And there is no way to purchase this skin._

 

I always do this quest with newbies I meet, most of them are really excited and promise me to take a more detailed look on their environment in the future. Ofcourse they do not :). Quests like this taught me to check every location and every npc's dialogue, to make sure I do not miss something cool. However there has never been another quest like that in the game. Instead we received collections and highly complex gear-manufacturing like mawdrey. Both are nice and interesting in their own way. I understand why ANet rather makes another 50 collections than one single-task quest that leads to a skin. Efficiency. With every update we make one step back from unique game-design and go one step further towards genre-stereotypes. I started this game years ago, because it was different from the others with unique concepts and a lot attention to detail. We slowly change from a shiny star on the night-sky, to a corn of sand on the beach. One day they may even discontinue JPs, in terms of effciency ...

 

Anyway. Although I am not a huge fan of collections. I agree with OP. It would be really nice to have some skins/items accessible with something else but via gemstore.

[IndigoSundown.5419]

> @"HnRkLnXqZ.1870" said:

> snip

> Quests like this taught me to check every location and every npc's dialogue, to make sure I do not miss something cool. However there has never been another quest like that in the game. Instead we received collections and highly complex gear-manufacturing like mawdrey. Both are nice and interesting in their own way. I understand why ANet rather makes another 50 collections than one single-task quest that leads to a skin. Efficiency. With every update we make one step back from unique game-design and go one step further towards genre-stereotypes. I started this game years ago, because it was different from the others with unique concepts and a lot attention to detail. We slowly change from a shiny star on the night-sky, to a corn of sand on the beach. One day they may even discontinue JPs, in terms of efficiency ...

 

ANet decided to make an MMO. The roots of MMO's are in "kill things and take their stuff." The average MMO fan plays the game a lot (sometimes, really a lot). S/he expects game longevity to come in the form of some hard-to-get or at least long-time-to-get reward. The basic form this takes is the periodic insertion of gear with better stats, which allow the player to maintain a status quo with the difficulty presented by new mobs (or by each other).

 

This extends playable content long past the point where it would otherwise be boring. Why has ANet moved the game closer to other MMO's? Because the player-base, or at least highly significant numbers of the vocal player-base insisted. What ANet failed to realize initially is that the average MMO fan's fun is "getting pixelated stuff" via play, not just playing. Repeating content just "because it's fun" is a non-starter for such fans.

 

ANet tried to use skins as those rewards. However, they also use skins as a revenue source. They asked too much of skins, at least with the amount of skins they're able to churn out while also producing new content every 2-3 months.

 

I happen to believe that ANet would be happy to put more rewards in the game instead of the store. However, they need revenue to keep the company going. They can't at this late date change over to a sub game. Nor can they sell power in the store. What other options exist for a revenue stream?

 

It doesn't help that when ANet does add skins/rewards to the game, people either don't like them, or race to get them ASAP (i.e., efficiently), then say, "What's next? I'm bored!?" If ANet extends the time needed to get those rewards so getting them lasts the efficient players until the next reward is available (i.e., 2-3 months) then the players cry, "Grind!" and kitten and moan about that. Frankly, I don't see this situation changing, at least dramatically.

[STIHL.2489]

> @"Deihnyx.6318" said:

> Hello,

>

> Now before anyone says anything about it, I can be considered a "whale" as I usually get most items available on the gemstore and spent -way too much- on keys. I perfectly understand and agree that a game like that has to be financed, and I've helped my fair share.

> However there is an argument that keeps coming up for many people who may not have the funds for it. The balance between gemstore content and in game content as updates roll out is getting a bit unhealthy.

>

> For example, last week was introduced a new garden activity in your home instance. There are 3 nodes available, although you can only buy 2 (for now). I'm assuming that like so many other things the third node will be available to buy at some point.

> Why not instead making that third node a collection reward to retrieve in game?

>

> Same with the mounts. Yes premiums mounts are expensive and should stay premium, but how about giving out a few adoptions licenses as rewards for something in game related? Like a collection of some sort?

>

> Why don't you bring more incentives to play your game and have a taste of what gem content feels like?

> Giving 400 Gems as reward for reaching an AP milestone was one of these nice incentives, but it really needs to be extended now.

 

This is not a bad idea, but, any collection or in-game new mount skin would be locked behind new content, IE: Would come out at a much later date, so, even if this was in the works, we would not see it until that content was released, often the mount skin would be a sale point of that content.

 

For me, I would have liked to have seen updrafts and glider skins hidden in PoF, to link the two expansions, and give players something to grind after that was a "gem store" like item.

 

There are a lot of things Anet could do, but any idea would be something put out in the new content releases. In that venture, what we have now, is what we have.

[Obtena.7952]

> @"Deihnyx.6318" said:

> > @"mauried.5608" said:

> > [...]

> > Seems to be to many ppl who just want gold for doing nothing.

> >

>

> I'm listening to both sides of the debate, but you clearly miss the point if you think that this thread is about people wanting gold for doing nothing.

>

> -----------------

>

> To me, there is simply no prestige when literally everything can be obtained with the same currency, be it gold or gems. It means that people (like me) who can afford it will get it instantly, and people will have time will grind the same 2-3 meta maps to maximize their gold and get it eventually, rinse and repeat.

>

> I keep pushing the "prestige" aspect, because they give long term goals, things that no matter how rich you are, you can't get immediately. Things such as legendary gen 2, where you absolutely need some account bound items to craft, or the 3 legendary backpacks, or mawdrey even, or the legendary armors.

> This type of content has been lacking, terribly lacking recently. The last one I can think of is the legendary accessory.

>

> Again I will stress out that this isn't about contesting the fact that the gemstore exist for a reason. Only that a few "legendary mounts" or even "mawdrey like" collections wouldn't hurt their sales that much, would certainly calm down these people who were so salty about all the mount skins being exclusively gemstore items, and generally keep the players who aren't hardcore farmers in game longer.

 

What makes you think these items are offered for prestige? How does that make sense in a game where the goal is to offer people as much content in a gemstore that people would want to buy? If it was based on prestige, there would be a limited number and they would be expensive.

[Deihnyx.6318]

> @"ThomasC.1056" said:

> I'm a bit worried about this too.

>

> When I see all the new mounts which require some design, and animation, and sometimes sounds made, I understand that a part of the _limited and precious_ dev time is dedicated to these.

> Now, I understand money is necessary and that the gem store is a way to cash some dollars. Yet... cash some dollars for what ? Usually, the answer is : cash some dollars to create the content, which implies : cash some dollars to make _limited and precious_ dev time happen.

>

> I have now clue what part of dev time is dedicated to the gem store items vs. in-game content in all its implications (skills revamp and balance, map creation, coding, episodes creation etc etc etc), but there's one thing I'm sure : if the whole point of releasing gem store items is cash dollars to create more gem store items to release, then there's no more game.

>

> So, maybe it's just an illusion because it's easier to release things in the gem store, so it happens more frequently, but I must confess it overall worries me.

 

You managed to express my feeling a billion times better than I did when I created that post, thank you!

Maybe indeed it's just an illusion, but yeah, I do have that feeling that sometimes money is made just so that they can make other stuff to sell.

I didn't have this feeling when HoT came out and I bought everything single glider in the game as a result (I lied, I'm missing one...).

For PoF I'm buying the mounts... but even though I was defending the mount adoptions licenses, I can't help but feel that people have a point when they ask for in game "mounts" content. Maybe that's what the gryphon was here for. But *to me* it doesn't have the same fulfilling experience as when I got Ad Infinitum, the Ascension and Warbringer. These required some good dedication, whereas the gryphon just asked for a few hours and... gold.

 

Make an armored version of each mount, as legendary mount or something. One tied to pvp, one tied to wvw, one tied to fractals, one for ls4 and the last one I dunno, find something :p anything else than just "gold sink" (even though a gift of fortune will always be gold sink, but that's fine, we need that too).

 

> @"Obtena.7952" said:

> > @"Deihnyx.6318" said:

> > > @"mauried.5608" said:

> > > [...]

> > > Seems to be to many ppl who just want gold for doing nothing.

> > >

> >

> > I'm listening to both sides of the debate, but you clearly miss the point if you think that this thread is about people wanting gold for doing nothing.

> >

> > -----------------

> >

> > To me, there is simply no prestige when literally everything can be obtained with the same currency, be it gold or gems. It means that people (like me) who can afford it will get it instantly, and people will have time will grind the same 2-3 meta maps to maximize their gold and get it eventually, rinse and repeat.

> >

> > I keep pushing the "prestige" aspect, because they give long term goals, things that no matter how rich you are, you can't get immediately. Things such as legendary gen 2, where you absolutely need some account bound items to craft, or the 3 legendary backpacks, or mawdrey even, or the legendary armors.

> > This type of content has been lacking, terribly lacking recently. The last one I can think of is the legendary accessory.

> >

> > Again I will stress out that this isn't about contesting the fact that the gemstore exist for a reason. Only that a few "legendary mounts" or even "mawdrey like" collections wouldn't hurt their sales that much, would certainly calm down these people who were so salty about all the mount skins being exclusively gemstore items, and generally keep the players who aren't hardcore farmers in game longer.

>

> What makes you think these items are offered for prestige? How does that make sense in a game where the goal is to offer people as much content in a gemstore that people would want to buy? If it was based on prestige, there would be a limited number and they would be expensive.

 

Gemstores items aren't based on prestige, but that's the thing. Prestige skins have been missing in this game recently.

Right now, the only recent prestige skins you'll find are in raids w5. The new legendaries are gold sinks that can be crafted within minutes after release, so they're basically like gen 1 legendaries. Every single "shiny" thing (again beside raids) is now gold sink and nothing else, and that is an issue imho.

Maybe prestige isn't the right word then, I'm thinking of these skins set that are account bound and can be retrieved through various activity, like the dungeon sets, fractal weapon sets, etc. Theses have been kind of missing in PoF compared to HoT for example.