QoL - Weekly BL key

[Pomdepin.7068]

Hi,

 

I’d like to suggest the possibility to buy a black lion key only once a week for tomes of knowledge.

 

1 key = 10 tomes

 

Please so that we won’t have to repeat the same story every week just for a key. Many people have no use for ToK and keyfarm characters are just boosted to speed run the 1st story chapter. This is just boring, so please consider having that function.

[Blocki.4931]

That would kind of flood the market. The amount of people who key farm is low, if they just had to go to a vendor once a week way more people would do it and that could change the market.

[Pomdepin.7068]

They could adjust the ToK supply to regulate this. I know many who do key farms. Changing the market could also be something good I believe.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

Considering that the keys are a gemstore item and that they were undoubtedly put in the Personal Story to introduce the gemstore to new players, farming for Keys was unlikely something that ANet thought people would do. They nerfed it from unlimited to once a week to keep the farming down. I doubt they’ll either allow a boost to the numbers of free keys you can get or make it easier.

[Danikat.8537]

Don't forget there are 15 different level 10 stories (3 per race) so if you're bored with it you could try doing different ones.

 

When I'm making a character who is literally just a key runner I often click Create > Skip to end and just play whatever I'm given. Or I might tweak their appearance slightly first. I find it more interesting because not only do I get more stories but it gets me playing race/profession combinations I might not normally consider and appearance options I usually ignore, which can lead to experimenting with more skins and dyes than I normally use too. (Yes I take the time to dress up my key runners, I choose and dye mounts too.)

 

Yes I'm aware that one specific combination can be completed more quickly (human commoner warrior if I remember correctly) but in my experience the difference is minimal and if you're getting to the point where you're so sick of doing it that you'd rather not do a key run at all spending a few minutes more and getting some more variety is probably better.

 

Or if you have time you could take it further - stop thinking of them as a key runner and just make a temporary character you'd like to play (who will, at some point get to level 10 and do at least the first step of the personal story). Focus on trying weapons and, as much as you can at low levels, skills you don't normally use. If you have spare transmutation charges try creating a character with a totally different appearance/theme to your normal ones. Take the time to play through a level 1-15 map you haven't done in a while. You've got a week to get the key, it doesn't have to be done ASAP after reset.

 

(Or, for something totally different, 1 key costs 125 gems, which at the moment is just over 35g. So you could check out some gold farming options to see if you can buy a key in a similar amount of time to running the story. If you don't object to buying keys of course.)

[Feanor.2358]

> @"Pomdepin.7068" said:

> They could adjust the ToK supply to regulate this. I know many who do key farms. Changing the market could also be something good I believe.

 

You realize ANet wants to sell these keys, right? How would increasing their supply be something good for them?

[Griever.8150]

> @"Blocki.4931" said:

> That would kind of flood the market. The amount of people who key farm is low, if they just had to go to a vendor once a week way more people would do it and that could change the market.

 

Make it 50 or even 100 tomes then. Having a way to dump them would be really nice.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

> @"Griever.8150" said:

> > @"Blocki.4931" said:

> > That would kind of flood the market. The amount of people who key farm is low, if they just had to go to a vendor once a week way more people would do it and that could change the market.

>

> Make it 50 or even 100 tomes then. Having a way to dump them would be really nice.

 

Story rewards are not meant to be farmed. Some farm them anyway. ANet clearly finds that acceptable *at the limited rate of 1/week*. **This doesn't meant the lvl 10 story reward is meant as some kind of weekly login reward!** It's still a reward for playing the story!

 

The problem with too many tomes should be solved using the system that already exist - Spirit Shards. A Spirit Shard sink that isn't tedious/convoluted will take care of excess Tomes.

[MarshallLaw.9260]

> @"Pomdepin.7068" said:

> Hi,

>

> I’d like to suggest the possibility to buy a black lion key only once a week for tomes of knowledge.

>

> 1 key = 10 tomes

>

> Please so that we won’t have to repeat the same story every week just for a key. Many people have no use for ToK and keyfarm characters are just boosted to speed run the 1st story chapter. This is just boring, so please consider having that function.

 

Key farm was never the intended gameplay TBH. There was a point when leveling was a little harder but there were no weekly limits to key acquisition so many players spent hours just farming keys. This was changed to increase the sales of BLC keys but not eliminated as genuine new characters would be affected. As mentioned, the reward is designed to introduce new players to BLC and entice them to purchase more keys from Gem store since the abundance of BLC greatly exceeds the number of keys that drop from loot, map completes.

10 TOK is arguably too cheap - I have about 500 left(many players have far more than this), I use some most weeks for key farm but if 10ToK = 1 key then I'm pretty much covered for the year AND can still complete key farm.

 

In short - it's really not in the devs interest to increase the availability of BLC Keys. The fact that the starter(lvl10) story is boring to re-run every week, well that's because it wasn't intended to be farmed.

[Game of Bones.8975]

As much as I want more Keys as drops and to be purchased with in-game money, I don't see this happening any time soon.

 

I know prices fluctuate, but isn't there a site that shows relative value between trade-able/sale-able items. This way a person could see whether 1 BLC Key is worth 5, 10, 15, or more Tomes.

[kharmin.7683]

Yeah, no. Please spend some money to buy keys to keep the company in business. ;)

[Tasida.4085]

Any chance anyone remembers the Charr key farm choice (tired of human). I've been wracking my brain and tearing up wiki to remember. Many thanks in advance. I usually buy keys in large bulk when they go on sale but the farm is a nice little extra.

[Palador.2170]

> @"Tasida.4085" said:

> Any chance anyone remembers the Charr key farm choice (tired of human). I've been wracking my brain and tearing up wiki to remember. Many thanks in advance. I usually buy keys in large bulk when they go on sale but the farm is a nice little extra.

 

I don't recall there ever being a preferred charr story for key runs, just ones for human and sylvari. From what I recall, all of the charr ones take about the same amount of running around. Not that it matters as much these days, if you have mounts. Do all three, it'll keep you from getting tired of them as fast.

[Tasida.4085]

> @"Palador.2170" said:

> > @"Tasida.4085" said:

> > Any chance anyone remembers the Charr key farm choice (tired of human). I've been wracking my brain and tearing up wiki to remember. Many thanks in advance. I usually buy keys in large bulk when they go on sale but the farm is a nice little extra.

>

> I don't recall there ever being a preferred charr story for key runs, just ones for human and sylvari. From what I recall, all of the charr ones take about the same amount of running around. Not that it matters as much these days, if you have mounts. Do all three, it'll keep you from getting tired of them as fast.

 

Many thanks, I could've sworn there was a certain key farm (choice) for every race.

[SlippyCheeze.5483]

> @"Tasida.4085" said:

> > @"Palador.2170" said:

> > > @"Tasida.4085" said:

> > > Any chance anyone remembers the Charr key farm choice (tired of human). I've been wracking my brain and tearing up wiki to remember. Many thanks in advance. I usually buy keys in large bulk when they go on sale but the farm is a nice little extra.

> >

> > I don't recall there ever being a preferred charr story for key runs, just ones for human and sylvari. From what I recall, all of the charr ones take about the same amount of running around. Not that it matters as much these days, if you have mounts. Do all three, it'll keep you from getting tired of them as fast.

>

> Many thanks, I could've sworn there was a certain key farm (choice) for every race.

 

Welp, this is your chance to update the BLK wiki page with the recommended story choice for every race. It talks about the farming options, but not the fast path, I think?

[Ayrilana.1396]

I wonder if human commoner is still the fastest as we now have mounts.

[Malafaia.8903]

Anything that can help me with the spare tomes...

[Kiza.5630]

Or put one as possible pick into the 28th login reward chest.

 

I don't think there should be a "farm" for keys in the game. (Yes, I do the occasional weekly key) Not every item needs one. Also, you get tons of tomes playing WvW.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> I wonder if human commoner is still the fastest as we now have mounts.

 

Yes, because Waypoints are faster still and after reaching the home instance, there's only two times that you need to leave DR and you already have the nearest WP unlocked for both. The non-human stories generally have you moving around the relevant starter zones, while the other human stories involve at least one other travel time IIRC. Mind you, mounts definitely reduce the benefit of doing human commoner.