Mount Skins - Choice versus Random slap in the face.

[Abakk.9176]

A few moments ago i decided to spend some money on a mount skin and i quickly found out you have to drop cash in a slotmachine and hope to get something decent.

 

I wasn't too thrilled about that idea but decided to go on with it anyway. I mean, how bad can it be right?

The cringe was real when the fugly pink bunny skin hit me right between the eyes. I may have even lost conciousness there for a sec... :astonished:

My own stupid fault for only looking and thinking about Raptors of course. :)

 

So, i learned my lesson and suffice it to say that was the first and last mount skin i ever bought from the store. I would have bought a few nice skins over time but not now, not like this.

 

Maybe i missed a better way to get a nice (choiced) mount skin for my Raptor... if so i'd really like to know and apologise for misunderstanding. I missed a few months so i guess its possible.

 

If not...good luck with the Ugly Bunny ~~gambling system~~ Russian Roulette.

[costepj.5120]

There have been various offers in the store. Bundles of skins (one per mount) for Halloween and Wintersday, premium skins (one per mount) and the RNG mount adoption you refer to. The one good aspect of the RNG is that once you receive a skin, you can't get a duplicate. Also, all the skins offered have additional dye channels compared with the default mounts, so the Pink bit of your bunny skin shouldn't be an issue. I spend most of my time on a Springer, so that would be the one I'd like to add.

[Abakk.9176]

> @"costepj.5120" said:

> There have been various offers in the store. Bundles of skins (one per mount) for Halloween and Wintersday, premium skins (one per mount) and the RNG mount adoption you refer to. The one good aspect of the RNG is that once you receive a skin, you can't get a duplicate. Also, all the skins offered have additional dye channels compared with the default mounts, so the Pink bit of your bunny skin shouldn't be an issue. I spend most of my time on a Springer, so that would be the one I'd like to add.

 

Thank you for shedding some light in my darkness :)

 

Im relieved to hear about the dye channels and will get to experimenting asap.

 

I do wish there was some choice possible thought... if at least the mount type.

 

EDIT:

 

Just dyed my Bunny ... much relief.

 

Still sad for no Raptor choice though :(

[Danikat.8537]

If you only want skins for specific mounts you're better off buying individual skins, although those are much more expensive and only available for a limited time.

 

The best deal is probably the bundles - you get 1 skin for each mount and you know exactly what you're going to get and on top of that they're priced about mid-range between the RNG ones and the unique ones. The downside is so far the only bundles have been holiday themed novelty skins - a Halloween one with glowing skeletons painted on them (you can dye it but can't quite hide it) and Wintersday ones with scarves and hats and gloves.

[Turin.6921]

Never buy these licenses with real money...Only in-game gold when you have it. Not worth it otherwise i think. And wait for a bundle that you like. The single skins are extravagant and impressive but not enough to excuse their price for me. At least not yet.

[ProverbsofHell.2307]

In my opinion the problem with these boxes are the lazy skins. I was quite lucky and got many unique skins early. Now my tickets are loaded with about five skimmer recolours still to be gotten. I already have the Dajkah one and the bubbles one. I'd like a flame raptor, but there's too many recolours in the way. If every skin was unique, then there would be no issue.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Turin.6921" said:

> Never buy these licenses with real money...Only in-game gold when you have it. Not worth it otherwise i think. And wait for a bundle that you like. The single skins are extravagant and impressive but not enough to excuse their price for me. At least not yet.

 

That's pretty much my plan at the moment.

 

I'm doing the collection for The Lover because it didn't exist when I made my Dreamer, then I'm going to go on and finish the legendary to sell. If they release a mount skin bundle I like before then (or individual skins I like enough to spend 2,000 gems on them, but that's unlikely) I'll buy that with real money. If not I'll buy random ones with gold. IMO it shouldn't be hard - all I want is skins without holiday themed novelty items on them - I'd be very happy with a bundle of the plainer skins from the RNG boxes. But at this point I'm starting to think it will never happen.

 

(Yes I know gold bought gems still generates money for Anet because someone had to buy the gems first. I'm not opposed to get them getting money, I'm opposed to spending my money on random items.)

[Turin.6921]

I was hoping for a lunar new year bundle. I thought that would be nice enough to be appropriate in general and not only for the festivals like the rest of the bundles. Alas no lunar bundle though.

[Plautze.6290]

I totally understand your feelings, OP. Bought myself that adoption license some time ago, thinking:

 

"That cute Twilight Prin... uhm... I mean Twin Sands Jackal skin would be paramount... a nice Raptor skin would also be nice... or the floppy-eared Springer skin, just not that Jackalope-esque thing... I would even be happy with a Skimmer skin."

 

Feeds the RNG slot machine of doom and gets...

 

... a friggin' griffon skin!!!

 

I don't even have that unlocked! How difficult can it be to lock the skins for the mounts you did not unlock yet, ANet??? Know that greek myth Tantalus dude, always having things he desires dangle in front of him but never actually reaching them?! Call me Tantalus!

 

P.S.: The dumb never learn... bought myself another license recently... got the Jackalope :s

 

Apart from my horrible luck, I strongly embrace the thought of supporting ANet with a small monthly fee to slowly get my desired skins.

Knowing my rotten luck, I'm pretty sure to get Twin Sands at very last... just 28 months until we know!

[Abakk.9176]

> @"Turin.6921" said:

> Never buy these licenses with real money...Only in-game gold when you have it. Not worth it otherwise i think. And wait for a bundle that you like. The single skins are extravagant and impressive but not enough to excuse their price for me. At least not yet.

 

I don't mind buying some gems every now and then. I don't have to pay a subscription so it's reasonable and even logical to sell mount skins imo. I just don't get the RNG logic here. I'm also no genius on the gold making side (standard stuff aside).

 

I'd imagine they can sell more when there is free choice of everything instead of randomly making armor/mount/glider skins available... but appearantly not.

 

I assume they know what they are doing so i'll wait and see what comes down the pipeline.

 

> @"Plautze.6290" said:

> P.S.: The dumb never learn... bought myself another license recently... got the Jackalope :s

 

Haha, sorry to hear that. I tried again just now and got a lavalamp jackall ... and now im out of gems. So even though i didn't get what i wanted, at least Anet got my cash so i get that warm feeling of having 'shared' some of my good life.

 

.... yes, i know... :anguished:

[Turin.6921]

> @"Abakk.9176" said:

> > @"Turin.6921" said:

> > Never buy these licenses with real money...Only in-game gold when you have it. Not worth it otherwise i think. And wait for a bundle that you like. The single skins are extravagant and impressive but not enough to excuse their price for me. At least not yet.

>

> I don't mind buying some gems every now and then. I don't have to pay a subscription so it's reasonable and even logical to sell mount skins imo. I just don't get the RNG logic here. I'm also no genius on the gold making side (standard stuff aside).

>

> I'd imagine they can sell more when there is free choice of everything instead of randomly making armor/mount/glider skins available... but appearantly not.

>

> I assume they know what they are doing so i'll wait and see what comes down the pipeline.

>

>

 

Its actually very simple. It is easy to buy 400 gems with in-game gold. So most items priced like that were not bought with real money. So they added the RNG part to elevate that and have direct purchases either in bundles or at a higher price per skin to incentivise buying them with real money.

[Abakk.9176]

> @"Turin.6921" said:

> > @"Abakk.9176" said:

> > > @"Turin.6921" said:

> > > Never buy these licenses with real money...Only in-game gold when you have it. Not worth it otherwise i think. And wait for a bundle that you like. The single skins are extravagant and impressive but not enough to excuse their price for me. At least not yet.

> >

> > I don't mind buying some gems every now and then. I don't have to pay a subscription so it's reasonable and even logical to sell mount skins imo. I just don't get the RNG logic here. I'm also no genius on the gold making side (standard stuff aside).

> >

> > I'd imagine they can sell more when there is free choice of everything instead of randomly making armor/mount/glider skins available... but appearantly not.

> >

> > I assume they know what they are doing so i'll wait and see what comes down the pipeline.

> >

> >

>

> Its actually very simple. It is easy to buy 400 gems with in-game gold. So most items priced like that were not bought with real money. So they added the RNG part to elevate that and have direct purchases either in bundles or at a higher price per skin to incentivise buying them with real money.

 

Okay i see.

 

But im not going to spend gold on it either because of the RNG nonsense. And spending a thousand or more on some bundle (probably with its own RNG) isn't going to happen either so im probably stuck with the default raptor and two expensive 'duds'.

 

The bunny at least dyes well enough but the jackall is poop imo.

[AliamRationem.5172]

> @"Abakk.9176" said:

> A few moments ago i decided to spend some money on a mount skin and i quickly found out you have to drop cash in a slotmachine and hope to get something decent.

>

> I wasn't too thrilled about that idea but decided to go on with it anyway. I mean, how bad can it be right?

> The cringe was real when the fugly pink bunny skin hit me right between the eyes. I may have even lost conciousness there for a sec... :astonished:

> My own stupid fault for only looking and thinking about Raptors of course. :)

>

> So, i learned my lesson and suffice it to say that was the first and last mount skin i ever bought from the store. I would have bought a few nice skins over time but not now, not like this.

>

> Maybe i missed a better way to get a nice (choiced) mount skin for my Raptor... if so i'd really like to know and apologise for misunderstanding. I missed a few months so i guess its possible.

>

> If not...good luck with the Ugly Bunny ~~gambling system~~ Russian Roulette.

 

Hey, you're welcome to feel how you're going to feel about it. In my opinion, the RNG is a reasonable tradeoff for the low cost of these skins for anyone who isn't gambling on a chance at a specific skin or two. In that case, it's a bad deal because you could very easily spend more than the 2,000 gems they charge for the more exotic skins before getting the one you want. Just know what you're getting yourself into and you shouldn't be disappointed.

[Grim West.3194]

Not a fan of the mount skins. Too expensive, slot machines, etc. And with dye the base mounts look pretty cool imo.

 

Spent a lot of money on GW2 over the years but I just can't see myself forking up for mount skins. Pointless waste of cash.

[Abakk.9176]

> @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> > @"Abakk.9176" said:

> > A few moments ago i decided to spend some money on a mount skin and i quickly found out you have to drop cash in a slotmachine and hope to get something decent.

> >

> > I wasn't too thrilled about that idea but decided to go on with it anyway. I mean, how bad can it be right?

> > The cringe was real when the fugly pink bunny skin hit me right between the eyes. I may have even lost conciousness there for a sec... :astonished:

> > My own stupid fault for only looking and thinking about Raptors of course. :)

> >

> > So, i learned my lesson and suffice it to say that was the first and last mount skin i ever bought from the store. I would have bought a few nice skins over time but not now, not like this.

> >

> > Maybe i missed a better way to get a nice (choiced) mount skin for my Raptor... if so i'd really like to know and apologise for misunderstanding. I missed a few months so i guess its possible.

> >

> > If not...good luck with the Ugly Bunny ~~gambling system~~ Russian Roulette.

>

> Hey, you're welcome to feel how you're going to feel about it. In my opinion, the RNG is a reasonable tradeoff for the low cost of these skins for anyone who isn't gambling on a chance at a specific skin or two. In that case, it's a bad deal because you could very easily spend more than the 2,000 gems they charge for the more exotic skins before getting the one you want. Just know what you're getting yourself into and you shouldn't be disappointed.

 

There's nothing 'low cost' about a random system like this. It's cleverly designed to suck you for as much cash as possible if your mind is weak and your wallet loose.

 

It's just too bad i wasted 800 gems and got nothing i wanted or asked for.

 

It's fine mind you.. they can run their business as they please of course. But i gambled 10 euro and i lost because i didn't get what i wanted. And Anet lost because im not spending more than these 800 gems on mount skins, while i'm pretty sure i would have spent a lot more, over time, if i had an overview of mountskins of which i can choose and buy.

 

I guess im not a gambling man :)

 

 

[sorudo.9054]

the thing is, for the 2K gems you pay just for one skin could've given you 5 good skins.

so while you might get 5 skins you never wanted, you have a bigger chance to get about 3/5 skins you wanted after all.

[Leo G.4501]

> @"Abakk.9176" said:

> > @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> > > @"Abakk.9176" said:

> > > A few moments ago i decided to spend some money on a mount skin and i quickly found out you have to drop cash in a slotmachine and hope to get something decent.

> > >

> > > I wasn't too thrilled about that idea but decided to go on with it anyway. I mean, how bad can it be right?

> > > The cringe was real when the fugly pink bunny skin hit me right between the eyes. I may have even lost conciousness there for a sec... :astonished:

> > > My own stupid fault for only looking and thinking about Raptors of course. :)

> > >

> > > So, i learned my lesson and suffice it to say that was the first and last mount skin i ever bought from the store. I would have bought a few nice skins over time but not now, not like this.

> > >

> > > Maybe i missed a better way to get a nice (choiced) mount skin for my Raptor... if so i'd really like to know and apologise for misunderstanding. I missed a few months so i guess its possible.

> > >

> > > If not...good luck with the Ugly Bunny ~~gambling system~~ Russian Roulette.

> >

> > Hey, you're welcome to feel how you're going to feel about it. In my opinion, the RNG is a reasonable tradeoff for the low cost of these skins for anyone who isn't gambling on a chance at a specific skin or two. In that case, it's a bad deal because you could very easily spend more than the 2,000 gems they charge for the more exotic skins before getting the one you want. Just know what you're getting yourself into and you shouldn't be disappointed.

>

> There's nothing 'low cost' about a random system like this. It's cleverly designed to suck you for as much cash as possible if your mind is weak and your wallet loose.

>

> It's just too bad i wasted 800 gems and got nothing i wanted or asked for.

>

> It's fine mind you.. they can run their business as they please of course. But i gambled 10 euro and i lost because i didn't get what i wanted. And Anet lost because im not spending more than these 800 gems on mount skins, while i'm pretty sure i would have spent a lot more, over time, if i had an overview of mountskins of which i can choose and buy.

>

> I guess im not a gambling man :)

>

>

 

It is low price if you're not aiming for a specific skin, but rather just skins different from default.

 

I even went in trying for the jackalope and didn't get it until the 12th try, but it's not like I "wasted" money for that 1 skin, I got 11 other skins that I can choose from for my various characters, a few of which are rather extravagant.

[Turin.6921]

> @"Abakk.9176" said:

> > @"Turin.6921" said:

> > > @"Abakk.9176" said:

> > > > @"Turin.6921" said:

> > > > Never buy these licenses with real money...Only in-game gold when you have it. Not worth it otherwise i think. And wait for a bundle that you like. The single skins are extravagant and impressive but not enough to excuse their price for me. At least not yet.

> > >

> > > I don't mind buying some gems every now and then. I don't have to pay a subscription so it's reasonable and even logical to sell mount skins imo. I just don't get the RNG logic here. I'm also no genius on the gold making side (standard stuff aside).

> > >

> > > I'd imagine they can sell more when there is free choice of everything instead of randomly making armor/mount/glider skins available... but appearantly not.

> > >

> > > I assume they know what they are doing so i'll wait and see what comes down the pipeline.

> > >

> > >

> >

> > Its actually very simple. It is easy to buy 400 gems with in-game gold. So most items priced like that were not bought with real money. So they added the RNG part to elevate that and have direct purchases either in bundles or at a higher price per skin to incentivise buying them with real money.

>

> Okay i see.

>

> But im not going to spend gold on it either because of the RNG nonsense. And spending a thousand or more on some bundle (probably with its own RNG) isn't going to happen either so im probably stuck with the default raptor and two expensive 'duds'.

>

> The bunny at least dyes well enough but the jackall is poop imo.

 

Bundles are not bad. They have no RNG and you get 4-5 skins for like 400 each. So these are actually good.

[Abakk.9176]

> @"Turin.6921" said:

> > @"Abakk.9176" said:

> > > @"Turin.6921" said:

> > > > @"Abakk.9176" said:

> > > > > @"Turin.6921" said:

> > > > > Never buy these licenses with real money...Only in-game gold when you have it. Not worth it otherwise i think. And wait for a bundle that you like. The single skins are extravagant and impressive but not enough to excuse their price for me. At least not yet.

> > > >

> > > > I don't mind buying some gems every now and then. I don't have to pay a subscription so it's reasonable and even logical to sell mount skins imo. I just don't get the RNG logic here. I'm also no genius on the gold making side (standard stuff aside).

> > > >

> > > > I'd imagine they can sell more when there is free choice of everything instead of randomly making armor/mount/glider skins available... but appearantly not.

> > > >

> > > > I assume they know what they are doing so i'll wait and see what comes down the pipeline.

> > > >

> > > >

> > >

> > > Its actually very simple. It is easy to buy 400 gems with in-game gold. So most items priced like that were not bought with real money. So they added the RNG part to elevate that and have direct purchases either in bundles or at a higher price per skin to incentivise buying them with real money.

> >

> > Okay i see.

> >

> > But im not going to spend gold on it either because of the RNG nonsense. And spending a thousand or more on some bundle (probably with its own RNG) isn't going to happen either so im probably stuck with the default raptor and two expensive 'duds'.

> >

> > The bunny at least dyes well enough but the jackall is poop imo.

>

> Bundles are not bad. They have no RNG and you get 4-5 skins for like 400 each. So these are actually good.

 

So 4-5 skins for 400 each = 1600-2000 gems. But i don't want 4-5 skins... i want to just choose 1 and pay 400 gems for it.

 

But of course they are afraid you will walk away with just 1 skin that you are satisfied with and never buy another. Perhaps they don't feel confident enough in their own work to imagine i might come back for more skins if they gave me free range like in a real store.

 

Like i said, it's all fine to me but from where im standing it just seems like they might sell more if people could actually pick and choose.

After a third and partially successful atempt, ive now spent 1200G to get at least 1 generic raptor skin that i've decided to be content with and i'll never buy another again... at least not while this 'blind date' system is in place.

 

Imagine entering a clothing store for a new pair of pants and the only way to buy any clothes is if you pay an amount of money up front for which you'll get a bag with 4-5 pieces of random clothing in your size that you may or may not like/need.

For 4-5 times the price of one pair of pants you may end up with 4 pairs of socks. It's just plain weird imo. :)

[Manasa Devi.7958]

> @"sorudo.9054" said:

> the thing is, for the 2K gems you pay just for one skin could've given you 5 good skins.

> so while you might get 5 skins you never wanted, you have a bigger chance to get about 3/5 skins you wanted after all.

 

This chance at skins you want depends on the player. It's 1 in 15 for me, which are terrible odds.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Abakk.9176" said:

> Imagine entering a clothing store for a new pair of pants and the only way to buy any clothes is if you pay an amount of money up front for which you'll get a bag with 4-5 pieces of random clothing in your size that you may or may not like/need.

> For 4-5 times the price of one pair of pants you may end up with 4 pairs of socks. It's just plain weird imo. :)

 

And yet it does happen, and people do buy it. Lots of stores will sell 'grab bags' which are random packs of their merchandise. Sometimes they'll guarantee you something from each category (like 1 t-shirt, 1 accessory, 1 cosmetic item etc.) but you don't know exactly what. And just like RNG boxes in games the majority will be stuff you don't want or can't use, but the appeal comes from the chance to get something really good cheaper than usual, or to get one of those 'didn't know you wanted it until you had it' items.

 

I can't remember the name but there's a skater clothing brand that uses this model combined with limited-time offers - they operate mainly out of pop-up shops which will sell 1 or 2 items for a very short time. They don't announce what they're selling in advance, only that something will be available and people will queue up to buy it. And just like with skins in video games a major part of the appeal for their customers is the exclusivity. They don't worry too much about what exactly they get, the point is to have something from that brand that people who don't engage in the absurd sales tactics cannot have.

 

Of course it only works because you don't have to rely on that system to get clothes. If you really need trousers you can just go and buy some, from another store. But the same is true with mount skins. No one needs any of the gem store skins - the base raptor available for free in the game has exactly the same functionality. The skins are luxuries, and some people will engage in the silly 'game' of trying to get the one they want. Others will simply resign themselves to spending far more than they would if they were available directly. And those who don't like it have to wait for a pack of skins.

[Leo G.4501]

> @"Abakk.9176" said:

> After a third and partially successful atempt, ive now spent 1200G to get at least 1 generic raptor skin that i've decided to be content with and i'll never buy another again... at least not while this 'blind date' system is in place.

 

But you didn't spend 1200 gold for 1 generic raptor, you got several other skin options opened to you as well, none of which are copies of one another.

 

> @"Abakk.9176" said:

> Imagine entering a clothing store for a new pair of pants and the only way to buy any clothes is if you pay an amount of money up front for which you'll get a bag with 4-5 pieces of random clothing in your size that you may or may not like/need.

> For 4-5 times the price of one pair of pants you may end up with 4 pairs of socks. It's just plain weird imo. :)

 

Clothes are not digital games. There are many other arbitrary considerations regarding clothes that are completely superfluous but we accept them, like how certain brands can cost 2-10x more than other brands, that customizing clothes for size, design or color can cost 100s of times more money or outright not available in certain sizes/colors or that getting said specific clothes can require days or weeks or that you can spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on clothes that can easily be ruined in an instant, flushing all that money in the toilet. Are we going to complain about these particular annoyances or can we just accept that, if you look at clothes and fashion, they have their pros and cons that you can choose to accept or just avoid?

 

[sorudo.9054]

> @"Manasa Devi.7958" said:

> > @"sorudo.9054" said:

> > the thing is, for the 2K gems you pay just for one skin could've given you 5 good skins.

> > so while you might get 5 skins you never wanted, you have a bigger chance to get about 3/5 skins you wanted after all.

>

> This chance at skins you want depends on the player. It's 1 in 15 for me, which are terrible odds.

 

which is something personal, i for one like the choices we got for 400 each. (although the skimmer needs some better choice, they are barely any different from the basic one and bought the 1600 gem version because of that)

[Kalibri.5861]

> @"Leo G.4501" said:

> > @"Abakk.9176" said:

> > After a third and partially successful atempt, ive now spent 1200G to get at least 1 generic raptor skin that i've decided to be content with and i'll never buy another again... at least not while this 'blind date' system is in place.

>

> But you didn't spend 1200 gold for 1 generic raptor, you got several other skin options opened to you as well, none of which are copies of one another.

 

Minor necropost, sorry, but this argument makes me mad. When will people who suggest this comprehend that buying something that you don't want does not constitute an 'option'? If you have paid money for a thing that has zero value to you and which you will not use, then you have thrown that money in the trash. You're not getting anything good or useful. It's not an option. You've wasted time and effort and money, and that is why people hate this system.

 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I really like the system; it's only 100 Gold for a Mountfit. :)