Why do so many people farm gold?

[Jaunty.6018]

> @"Shostie.6435" said:

> > @"Malediktus.9250" said:

> > Yes, farming gold in this game is slave labor and a waste of time.

> > Never visited istan meta again after finishing the achievements because it is so boring

>

> It's not slave labor. Slaves don't have a choice. Players do. Farming Istan isn't even difficult labor. It's just boring.

 

It's called a figure of speech.

 

 

[Jaunty.6018]

> @"Malediktus.9250" said:

> > @"Shostie.6435" said:

> > > @"Malediktus.9250" said:

> > > Yes, farming gold in this game is slave labor and a waste of time.

> > > Never visited istan meta again after finishing the achievements because it is so boring

> >

> > It's not slave labor. Slaves don't have a choice. Players do. Farming Istan isn't even difficult labor. It's just boring.

> >

>

> Choice is always an illusion. There is no scientific proof of free will or any idea how it even might work with the known laws of physics.

>

 

There's also no scientific proof of the opposite. But that's for another thread.

[Jaunty.6018]

> @"Loosmaster.8263" said:

> > @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > > @"Lambent.6375" said:

> > > Some of us want to earn our gold from playing the game.

> > >

> > > If we just bought everything, that wouldn't leave us with much to do. (Speaking of open world pve players)

> >

> > I guess that points out a pretty big flaw in Guild Wars 2 then, eh? The fact that you can buy so much of the cool stuff with real money. I personally wish the cash shop wasn't there at all, but since it IS there, it's always an option--and often the more logical one.

>

> What is in the cash shop that is a " must have" to play this game? It's their source of income and it's all mostly cosmetic with the exception of the upgrades which is also not a requirement to have.

 

Legendary weapons are a goal for most players, so I would consider that a "must have". And since the endgame is Fashion Wars for a ton of people, the cash shop has the shiniest cosmetic items in the game. Why farm a dungeon all day and night for some lame ass armor when I can just buy a skin from the cash shop that's 10x cooler looking?

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > @"Loosmaster.8263" said:

> > > @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > > > @"Lambent.6375" said:

> > > > Some of us want to earn our gold from playing the game.

> > > >

> > > > If we just bought everything, that wouldn't leave us with much to do. (Speaking of open world pve players)

> > >

> > > I guess that points out a pretty big flaw in Guild Wars 2 then, eh? The fact that you can buy so much of the cool stuff with real money. I personally wish the cash shop wasn't there at all, but since it IS there, it's always an option--and often the more logical one.

> >

> > What is in the cash shop that is a " must have" to play this game? It's their source of income and it's all mostly cosmetic with the exception of the upgrades which is also not a requirement to have.

>

> Legendary weapons are a goal for most players, so I would consider that a "must have". And since the endgame is Fashion Wars for a ton of people, the cash shop has the shiniest cosmetic items in the game. Why farm a dungeon all day and night for some lame kitten armor when I can just buy a skin from the cash shop that's 10x cooler looking?

 

What in this game are you prevented from doing by not having a legendary weapon?

 

Fashion is totally subjective as what is appealing to one person can be appalling to another. That’s assuming someone even cares about their look in the first place. Not everyone needs to have the latest and greatest only to toss it aside for the next big thing like Apple brand fanatics.

[Loosmaster.8263]

> @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > @"Loosmaster.8263" said:

> > > @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > > > @"Lambent.6375" said:

> > > > Some of us want to earn our gold from playing the game.

> > > >

> > > > If we just bought everything, that wouldn't leave us with much to do. (Speaking of open world pve players)

> > >

> > > I guess that points out a pretty big flaw in Guild Wars 2 then, eh? The fact that you can buy so much of the cool stuff with real money. I personally wish the cash shop wasn't there at all, but since it IS there, it's always an option--and often the more logical one.

> >

> > What is in the cash shop that is a " must have" to play this game? It's their source of income and it's all mostly cosmetic with the exception of the upgrades which is also not a requirement to have.

>

> Legendary weapons are a goal for most players, so I would consider that a "must have". And since the endgame is Fashion Wars for a ton of people, the cash shop has the shiniest cosmetic items in the game. Why farm a dungeon all day and night for some lame kitten armor when I can just buy a skin from the cash shop that's 10x cooler looking?

 

You're talking about cosmetics and that's all the Gem store is. Nothing is required!!!

 

Edit: Legendary Weapons/Armour is a goal, not a must have. There no different from Ascended stat wise other than the functionality of swapping. Ascended can be changed in the MF. We're still talking only cosmetics...

[Diak Atoli.2085]

> @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > @"Loosmaster.8263" said:

> > > @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > > > @"Lambent.6375" said:

> > > > Some of us want to earn our gold from playing the game.

> > > >

> > > > If we just bought everything, that wouldn't leave us with much to do. (Speaking of open world pve players)

> > >

> > > I guess that points out a pretty big flaw in Guild Wars 2 then, eh? The fact that you can buy so much of the cool stuff with real money. I personally wish the cash shop wasn't there at all, but since it IS there, it's always an option--and often the more logical one.

> >

> > What is in the cash shop that is a " must have" to play this game? It's their source of income and it's all mostly cosmetic with the exception of the upgrades which is also not a requirement to have.

>

> Legendary weapons are a goal for most players, so I would consider that a "must have". And since the endgame is Fashion Wars for a ton of people, the cash shop has the shiniest cosmetic items in the game. Why farm a dungeon all day and night for some lame kitten armor when I can just buy a skin from the cash shop that's 10x cooler looking?

 

This is a subjective opinion, though. What you consider to be nicer looking, others may not. Just as you may consider Legendary gear to be a must have, others may not.

 

As a side note, you can not straight out but Gen 2 weapons or legendary armor/trinkets.

[Haishao.6851]

The whole point of games is to waste time so it doesn't really matter how people chose to waste it.

 

[Jaunty.6018]

> @"Haishao.6851" said:

> The whole point of games is to waste time so it doesn't really matter how people chose to waste it.

 

Why on Earth would you play a game just to waste time? Time is precious. I play games because I _enjoy_ them.

 

[kharmin.7683]

> @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > @"Haishao.6851" said:

> > The whole point of games is to waste time so it doesn't really matter how people chose to waste it.

>

> Why on Earth would you play a game just to waste time? Time is precious. I play games because I _enjoy_ them.

>

 

I think s/he means that playing a game, even for enjoyment, isn't necessarily productive and thus wasteful.

 

/me shrugs

[Jaunty.6018]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > > @"Haishao.6851" said:

> > > The whole point of games is to waste time so it doesn't really matter how people chose to waste it.

> >

> > Why on Earth would you play a game just to waste time? Time is precious. I play games because I _enjoy_ them.

> >

>

> I think s/he means that playing a game, even for enjoyment, isn't necessarily productive and thus wasteful.

>

> /me shrugs

 

"The whole point of games is to waste time" sounds like a pretty solid statement. If it was meant to mean something else, they should have written it differently.

 

Also, why are you speaking for this person?

[SevR.6429]

> @"Jaunty.6018" said:

>Considering you can spend $20 on various sites and get 2,000 gems,

 

If it's not bought from/genuine Arena Net, it's a Card scam that reaches back to the 90's. I didn't think people fell for it anymore.

 

[Haishao.6851]

> @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > @"Haishao.6851" said:

> > The whole point of games is to waste time so it doesn't really matter how people chose to waste it.

>

> Why on Earth would you play a game just to waste time? Time is precious. I play games because I _enjoy_ them.

>

 

Games are something you do when you got nothing better to do. It's to waste time.

 

[Buran.3796]

> @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> I ran Istan for about 3 hours and got no more than 30 gold.

 

Very inefficient. I double that amount in the same time just farming iron, platinum and logs, with 0 need of extra players. But only the Saturdays because lately I'm becoming lazy and having a life.

[Diak Atoli.2085]

> @"Buran.3796" said:

> > @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > I ran Istan for about 3 hours and got no more than 30 gold.

>

> Very inefficient. I double that amount in the same time just farming iron, platinum and logs, with 0 need of extra players. But only the Saturdays because lately I'm becoming lazy and having a life.

 

Nothing to be ashamed of, my fellow. A life is a good thing to have, or so I'm told. ;)

[Sapphire Artemis.3062]

 

> If you're in NA and don't have $20 to spend but you have have time to gold farm all day, I think your priorities are a little messed up. But I ain't judgin'.

>

>

>

 

Some people *don't* have either 20$ *or* time to farm gold all day, and that isn't exclusive to NA. So some people farm for the hour or so they can, and just let it build up. It takes a *long* time, but is still productive. Case in point: me. I farmed *EVERY* wood log, ore chunk, leather section, and fine mat by hand for my Astralaria, only going at it 2-3 hours a day because I had a job, school, and Bill's to pay. It took me TWO YEARS. But, now I have my Shiny.

 

If you're wondering how I kept from getting bored? Simple. I changed my methods. Saturdays were Silverwastes day, while Tuesdays and Thursdays were dedicated to Unbound Magic farming once s3e1 hit.

[reaVer.4056]

> @"Bloodstealer.5978" said:

> > @"reaVer.4056" said:

> > > @"Mea.5491" said:

> > > > I ran Istan for about 3 hours and got no more than 30 gold.

> > >

> > > You're doing something wrong. When I farm I only do a Pala - Akili - GH rotation once. The whole thing takes about 1 hour (waiting for Pala time included). I usually get around 20 Gold out of it (slightly depends on RNG) and I don't even open unid gear (I heard people who do get more Gold but I'm lazy to boost my MF). If I repeat my lazy rotation 3 times (3 hours total), I get around 60 Gold. The good thing is that I get an hour of downtime after GH because Pala starts every 2 hours so I can log off to work (I work at home).

> >

> > Keep in mind that MF is a big factor in the amount of gold you can acquire from farming. There's going to be significant difference in a 300MF player and a 100MF player running the same events.

> >

> > As for paying real life money for gold... I'm not paying ArenaNet a dime for reasons I cannot name because it would be a code of conduct violation, with the expect consequence that follows from that. Even if we were to ignore that, I would still not buy any gems since I've already paid for his game. I should not have to pay an additional fee to get access to the full game.

> >

>

> What additional money are you having to pay for access to the full game.. you have access to the full game when you bought it and the expacs.. the only thing you might have to stump up for aside from that is LS chapters if you didn't log in, in the appropriate timeframe when the chapter(s) went live.

> Stuff from the gem store is nothing to do with access to game content. Nothing in the gemstore disadvantages you if you don't choose to buy it and absolutely does not block progress or gate you from content you have already paid for.

 

I don't see your point. I said I won't pay money to get access to all the content and you subsequently say that I shouldn't have to pay money to get all the content granted I paid in time (which is a ridiculous notion in itself).

[Rayti.6531]

I can't recall the last time I actively grinded for anything in the traditional sense of the term but still own multiple legendaries and other "collectibles" that can be acquired ingame.

 

I've never spent a cent on gem->gold exchange and never will. If I spend money on the game, it is for a direct gem purchases for getting convenience items, bag/bank/char slots and/or mount skins from the gemstore. I mostly do that to support the further development of the game.

 

As someone who fled from traditional MMOs where you actually have to grind, I cannot do the same content on repeat (e.g. SW runs, Istan runs and the like) without feeling my brain cells dying at an alarming rate with each "round", so I mostly get my gold by doing whatever I feel like doing. Exceptions are when I get very close to finishing my next legendary - then I might get into "farm mode" (3 Istan events at max in a row).

 

Most of my gold comes from other activities than farming: playing WvW, doing Fractals with friends, helping random people with HPs here and there, doing (meta and boss) events I come across, crafting/trading etc.

 

As to the question why people do that: I play GW2 for the sake of playing the game - so anything that takes away from the playtime seems counter intuitive to me. Setting myself certain goals in the game and (slowly) working towards them is a huge part of the game to me. Paying real money for achieving those goals would take away any sense of accomplishment gained by achieving said goals. At least that's how I feel about it.

[Gehenna.3625]

> @"Diak Atoli.2085" said:

> > @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > > @"Diak Atoli.2085" said:

> > > You mean you spend money on something you can easily get for free? Weird. :o On a more serious note, most people likely have more important or valuable things to spend real money on.

> >

> > How is farming 40-60 hours easier than working enough to afford $20? And what could be more valuable than time?

>

> First off, you mistakenly equate 40 - 60 hours worth of farming gold to the equivalent of buying $20 worth of gems and exchanging that for gold.

>

> Doing the full Istan meta farm, and one SW RIBA rotation for maximum MF, reasonably nets a _farmer_ an average of 20g - 25g an hour. 40 to 60 hours worth of effort equals 800g - 1,000g (40 hours) or 1,200g - 1,500g (60 hours). $20 = 1,600 gems. Current BLTC exchange is 1,600 gems** = 350g. To purchase an equivalent amount of gold, you would have to spend **$50 - $90** on gems.

>

> Secondly, most employees can not work additional hours without supervisor approval. Most supervisors will not give approval unless absolutely required. I, personally, have only been allowed to work 10 hours of overtime over the past 3 years.

>

> As for the second part of your response, I offer events such as family birthdays, vacations, going out with friends, concerts, etc. Those are much more valuable to spend money on, especially when one considers **I can make gold for free by having fun.**

 

You do need to make the right comparison for the topic. We are talking about 2000 gem cards that you can buy online for around 20 bucks. That will buy you just over 400 gold in game. If you're a farmer and you can make 20g per hour, that's great, but that's still 20 hours to make 400 gold and the OP clearly is not a farmer. A lot of people are not in fact and don't have the max MF bonuses etc. So the fact that it's possible, doesn't make it the mainstream experience. Also, not many people have the stomach to farm that much. So much repetition gets boring really fast. It does for me.

 

So do not use that as the average experience is what I'm saying.

 

Now the other mistake you clearly make is that you do not see time as a resource. But it is. It's a limited resource and things like birthdays and family events cost time as well. I cannot farm when I'm doing real life stuff. So when you have a job, family etc. you will not want to spend 20 hours farming for that 400 gold if you can buy it off with money which takes you 1-2 hours to make in our economy.

 

It really is about balancing time and money the best way for yourself. Even if I have 20+ hours a week to game (which I personally do), that also doesn't mean I want to spend it on repetitive farming. Why not? Cause I do not enjoy it. So buying some gold to jump start my account after a couple of years absence made perfect sense to me. Also I don't need thousands of gold because I am happy to just spend my time getting ascended gear which is part gathering and part buying. I only need to make 10 gold on a day to break even on that. So luckily I do not require that much gold.

 

It's all about choices but when you have decent job, which I know not everybody has, then 20 bucks here and there are a small thing compared to the hours of farming people propose. It's good that the game doesn't just cater to one group.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @"reaVer.4056" said:

> > @"Bloodstealer.5978" said:

> > > @"reaVer.4056" said:

> > > > @"Mea.5491" said:

> > > > > I ran Istan for about 3 hours and got no more than 30 gold.

> > > >

> > > > You're doing something wrong. When I farm I only do a Pala - Akili - GH rotation once. The whole thing takes about 1 hour (waiting for Pala time included). I usually get around 20 Gold out of it (slightly depends on RNG) and I don't even open unid gear (I heard people who do get more Gold but I'm lazy to boost my MF). If I repeat my lazy rotation 3 times (3 hours total), I get around 60 Gold. The good thing is that I get an hour of downtime after GH because Pala starts every 2 hours so I can log off to work (I work at home).

> > >

> > > Keep in mind that MF is a big factor in the amount of gold you can acquire from farming. There's going to be significant difference in a 300MF player and a 100MF player running the same events.

> > >

> > > As for paying real life money for gold... I'm not paying ArenaNet a dime for reasons I cannot name because it would be a code of conduct violation, with the expect consequence that follows from that. Even if we were to ignore that, I would still not buy any gems since I've already paid for his game. I should not have to pay an additional fee to get access to the full game.

> > >

> >

> > What additional money are you having to pay for access to the full game.. you have access to the full game when you bought it and the expacs.. the only thing you might have to stump up for aside from that is LS chapters if you didn't log in, in the appropriate timeframe when the chapter(s) went live.

> > Stuff from the gem store is nothing to do with access to game content. Nothing in the gemstore disadvantages you if you don't choose to buy it and absolutely does not block progress or gate you from content you have already paid for.

>

> I don't see your point. I said I won't pay money to get access to all the content and you subsequently say that I shouldn't have to pay money to get all the content granted I paid in time (which is a ridiculous notion in itself).

 

Maybe re-read what you actually wrote in the first place.....namely the part that says "Even if we ignore all that, I would still not buy any gems since I've already paid for this game. I should not have to pay an additional fee to get access to the full game".....

 

After purchasing the game and expacs you don't have to pay another dime for access to the full content.. nothing, nada, nowt.

Gem store purchases are a choice that is nether forced on you or a requirement to access game content.

Therefore your point is pretty much moot.

[serialkicker.5274]

Not sure why you play an mmo game at all, OP. One of the biggest part of any mmo is to progress your character, be it in story, equipment, achievements, fashion etc... And not over night of course. To progress, you usually have to do content you have already done, multiple times. Unless you really expect new story, skins, achievements every day for years?

[Tatwi.3562]

I was thinking about this the other day. Even if you had a min wage job here (Ont Canada), it would take you just over 10 times the amount of hours to farm gold as it would to just buy the gems with real money. Time is the ultimate currency of existence, so it is kinda nice that the gem store exists to allow us to save some of it!

By all means, play the content you enjoy, but if you're doing it JUST for the gold to convert to gems, your time is much better spent working to buy the gems with real money. That frees you up to do 10 times more stuff you enjoy!

[Diak Atoli.2085]

> @"Gehenna.3625" said:

> > @"Diak Atoli.2085" said:

> > > @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > > > @"Diak Atoli.2085" said:

> > > > You mean you spend money on something you can easily get for free? Weird. :o On a more serious note, most people likely have more important or valuable things to spend real money on.

> > >

> > > How is farming 40-60 hours easier than working enough to afford $20? And what could be more valuable than time?

> >

> > First off, you mistakenly equate 40 - 60 hours worth of farming gold to the equivalent of buying $20 worth of gems and exchanging that for gold.

> >

> > Doing the full Istan meta farm, and one SW RIBA rotation for maximum MF, reasonably nets a _farmer_ an average of 20g - 25g an hour. 40 to 60 hours worth of effort equals 800g - 1,000g (40 hours) or 1,200g - 1,500g (60 hours). $20 = 1,600 gems. Current BLTC exchange is 1,600 gems** = 350g. To purchase an equivalent amount of gold, you would have to spend **$50 - $90** on gems.

> >

> > Secondly, most employees can not work additional hours without supervisor approval. Most supervisors will not give approval unless absolutely required. I, personally, have only been allowed to work 10 hours of overtime over the past 3 years.

> >

> > As for the second part of your response, I offer events such as family birthdays, vacations, going out with friends, concerts, etc. Those are much more valuable to spend money on, especially when one considers **I can make gold for free by having fun.**

>

> You do need to make the right comparison for the topic. We are talking about 2000 gem cards that you can buy online for around 20 bucks. That will buy you just over 400 gold in game. If you're a farmer and you can make 20g per hour, that's great, but that's still 20 hours to make 400 gold and the OP clearly is not a farmer. A lot of people are not in fact and don't have the max MF bonuses etc. So the fact that it's possible, doesn't make it the mainstream experience. Also, not many people have the stomach to farm that much. So much repetition gets boring really fast. It does for me.

>

> So do not use that as the average experience is what I'm saying.

>

> Now the other mistake you clearly make is that you do not see time as a resource. But it is. It's a limited resource and things like birthdays and family events cost time as well. I cannot farm when I'm doing real life stuff. So when you have a job, family etc. you will not want to spend 20 hours farming for that 400 gold if you can buy it off with money which takes you 1-2 hours to make in our economy.

>

> It really is about balancing time and money the best way for yourself. Even if I have 20+ hours a week to game (which I personally do), that also doesn't mean I want to spend it on repetitive farming. Why not? Cause I do not enjoy it. So buying some gold to jump start my account after a couple of years absence made perfect sense to me. Also I don't need thousands of gold because I am happy to just spend my time getting ascended gear which is part gathering and part buying. I only need to make 10 gold on a day to break even on that. So luckily I do not require that much gold.

>

> It's all about choices but when you have decent job, which I know not everybody has, then 20 bucks here and there are a small thing compared to the hours of farming people propose. It's good that the game doesn't just cater to one group.

 

It actually is the right comparison. The unofficial official exchange rate is $10 = 800 gems, ingame as well as on sites like Amazon.com from the official NcSoft vendor. I also was not framing it as the average player's experience. I referenced how much a _farmer_, a player who enjoys the effort required to maximize profits, could make within a time frame given by the OP. My apologizes for not specifying what I meant by _farmer._ As far as Magic Find goes, I referenced SW, which gives players a +200% boost, though I admit I was unconsciously counting other MF boosters as well; such as both item boosters, celebration boosters, and food.

 

You are correct, time is a resource. I see it as a resource. However, I also see that I am already using that resource to play the game how I find it to be enjoyable, which also earns me rewards (Among them liquid gold). Therefore, I, personally, am earning gold for free.

 

This debate ultimately comes down to personal circumstances and preferences. For me, I routinely buy gems to spend on gem shop items, because I like supporting the game, but never to trade in for gold. It is simply not worth it, when I have better IRL purchases I can make, and I have multiple ways to enjoy the game while earning gold.

 

Your opinion may vary.

 

[Gehenna.3625]

> @"Diak Atoli.2085" said:

> > @"Gehenna.3625" said:

> > > @"Diak Atoli.2085" said:

> > > > @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > > > > @"Diak Atoli.2085" said:

> > > > > You mean you spend money on something you can easily get for free? Weird. :o On a more serious note, most people likely have more important or valuable things to spend real money on.

> > > >

> > > > How is farming 40-60 hours easier than working enough to afford $20? And what could be more valuable than time?

> > >

> > > First off, you mistakenly equate 40 - 60 hours worth of farming gold to the equivalent of buying $20 worth of gems and exchanging that for gold.

> > >

> > > Doing the full Istan meta farm, and one SW RIBA rotation for maximum MF, reasonably nets a _farmer_ an average of 20g - 25g an hour. 40 to 60 hours worth of effort equals 800g - 1,000g (40 hours) or 1,200g - 1,500g (60 hours). $20 = 1,600 gems. Current BLTC exchange is 1,600 gems** = 350g. To purchase an equivalent amount of gold, you would have to spend **$50 - $90** on gems.

> > >

> > > Secondly, most employees can not work additional hours without supervisor approval. Most supervisors will not give approval unless absolutely required. I, personally, have only been allowed to work 10 hours of overtime over the past 3 years.

> > >

> > > As for the second part of your response, I offer events such as family birthdays, vacations, going out with friends, concerts, etc. Those are much more valuable to spend money on, especially when one considers **I can make gold for free by having fun.**

> >

> > You do need to make the right comparison for the topic. We are talking about 2000 gem cards that you can buy online for around 20 bucks. That will buy you just over 400 gold in game. If you're a farmer and you can make 20g per hour, that's great, but that's still 20 hours to make 400 gold and the OP clearly is not a farmer. A lot of people are not in fact and don't have the max MF bonuses etc. So the fact that it's possible, doesn't make it the mainstream experience. Also, not many people have the stomach to farm that much. So much repetition gets boring really fast. It does for me.

> >

> > So do not use that as the average experience is what I'm saying.

> >

> > Now the other mistake you clearly make is that you do not see time as a resource. But it is. It's a limited resource and things like birthdays and family events cost time as well. I cannot farm when I'm doing real life stuff. So when you have a job, family etc. you will not want to spend 20 hours farming for that 400 gold if you can buy it off with money which takes you 1-2 hours to make in our economy.

> >

> > It really is about balancing time and money the best way for yourself. Even if I have 20+ hours a week to game (which I personally do), that also doesn't mean I want to spend it on repetitive farming. Why not? Cause I do not enjoy it. So buying some gold to jump start my account after a couple of years absence made perfect sense to me. Also I don't need thousands of gold because I am happy to just spend my time getting ascended gear which is part gathering and part buying. I only need to make 10 gold on a day to break even on that. So luckily I do not require that much gold.

> >

> > It's all about choices but when you have decent job, which I know not everybody has, then 20 bucks here and there are a small thing compared to the hours of farming people propose. It's good that the game doesn't just cater to one group.

>

> It actually is the right comparison. The unofficial official exchange rate is $10 = 800 gems, ingame as well as on sites like Amazon.com from the official NcSoft vendor. I also was not framing it as the average player's experience. I referenced how much a _farmer_, a player who enjoys the effort required to maximize profits, could make within a time frame given by the OP. My apologizes for not specifying what I meant by _farmer._ As far as Magic Find goes, I referenced SW, which gives players a +200% boost, though I admit I was unconsciously counting other MF boosters as well; such as both item boosters, celebration boosters, and food.

>

> You are correct, time is a resource. I see it as a resource. However, I also see that I am already using that resource to play the game how I find it to be enjoyable, which also earns me rewards (Among them liquid gold). Therefore, I, personally, am earning gold for free.

>

> This debate ultimately comes down to personal circumstances and preferences. For me, I routinely buy gems to spend on gem shop items, because I like supporting the game, but never to trade in for gold. It is simply not worth it, when I have better IRL purchases I can make, and I have multiple ways to enjoy the game while earning gold.

>

> Your opinion may vary.

>

 

I agree that it's personal choice, but since this thread was made by a person who uses the 2000 gem cards, that's the comparison that's relevant for this thread.

 

You've made your choices and decisions and that's cool. To me time is precious though and there are times that time is worth more than money. I don't think that I would regularly buy gold via gems as the OP did, though I also do not begrudge him his decisions, but I did buy gold because I haven't played this game much over the years and I wanted to catch up a bit, particularly by getting some crafting professions maxed which I've done now. So for me I'm good. For the rest I spend gems mostly on useful stuff like bank space, unbreakable gathering tools and shared inventory slots etc. Those things really improve the QoL for me in game. I never did gather much until I got the unbreakable tools for example.

 

But I do understand your point more clearly and I thank you for specifying it a bit more. I didn't quite understand where you were coming from but now I do :)

 

[Ferus.3165]

> @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> I ran Istan for about 3 hours and got no more than 30 gold. I'm aware some people can make more, but it's still not much. Considering you can spend $20 on various sites and get 2,000 gems, which equate to around 600 gold, I see gold farming in this game as nothing more than pointless slave labor. Even if you have a low wage job why not just work 2-3 extra hours and get a gem card?

>

> At the rate I've experienced, it would take you _60 hours of farming_ to get 600 gold. 60 in-game hours vs. 2-3 hours of real work (or less if you're fortunate). It makes no sense. It's not as if gold farming is _super fun_ or anything. Hell, you can't even watch Netflix while you do it because the gameplay is too intense.

 

the game lacks content and most people playing these farms are like mindless drones, they repeat the same boring "press 1" content over and over and over again. other people watch television the whole day and here the people waste the day with doing the metas all day for weeks and even months...

But it is not just that, fractals are also like that for many people. Just take a look at the fractal god title xD, you literally could have made a bachelors degree in the time it took you to get that title. A title you get for doing the same basic pve content again and again and again.

[Diak Atoli.2085]

> @"Gehenna.3625" said:

> > @"Diak Atoli.2085" said:

> > > @"Gehenna.3625" said:

> > > > @"Diak Atoli.2085" said:

> > > > > @"Jaunty.6018" said:

> > > > > > @"Diak Atoli.2085" said:

> > > > > > You mean you spend money on something you can easily get for free? Weird. :o On a more serious note, most people likely have more important or valuable things to spend real money on.

> > > > >

> > > > > How is farming 40-60 hours easier than working enough to afford $20? And what could be more valuable than time?

> > > >

> > > > First off, you mistakenly equate 40 - 60 hours worth of farming gold to the equivalent of buying $20 worth of gems and exchanging that for gold.

> > > >

> > > > Doing the full Istan meta farm, and one SW RIBA rotation for maximum MF, reasonably nets a _farmer_ an average of 20g - 25g an hour. 40 to 60 hours worth of effort equals 800g - 1,000g (40 hours) or 1,200g - 1,500g (60 hours). $20 = 1,600 gems. Current BLTC exchange is 1,600 gems** = 350g. To purchase an equivalent amount of gold, you would have to spend **$50 - $90** on gems.

> > > >

> > > > Secondly, most employees can not work additional hours without supervisor approval. Most supervisors will not give approval unless absolutely required. I, personally, have only been allowed to work 10 hours of overtime over the past 3 years.

> > > >

> > > > As for the second part of your response, I offer events such as family birthdays, vacations, going out with friends, concerts, etc. Those are much more valuable to spend money on, especially when one considers **I can make gold for free by having fun.**

> > >

> > > You do need to make the right comparison for the topic. We are talking about 2000 gem cards that you can buy online for around 20 bucks. That will buy you just over 400 gold in game. If you're a farmer and you can make 20g per hour, that's great, but that's still 20 hours to make 400 gold and the OP clearly is not a farmer. A lot of people are not in fact and don't have the max MF bonuses etc. So the fact that it's possible, doesn't make it the mainstream experience. Also, not many people have the stomach to farm that much. So much repetition gets boring really fast. It does for me.

> > >

> > > So do not use that as the average experience is what I'm saying.

> > >

> > > Now the other mistake you clearly make is that you do not see time as a resource. But it is. It's a limited resource and things like birthdays and family events cost time as well. I cannot farm when I'm doing real life stuff. So when you have a job, family etc. you will not want to spend 20 hours farming for that 400 gold if you can buy it off with money which takes you 1-2 hours to make in our economy.

> > >

> > > It really is about balancing time and money the best way for yourself. Even if I have 20+ hours a week to game (which I personally do), that also doesn't mean I want to spend it on repetitive farming. Why not? Cause I do not enjoy it. So buying some gold to jump start my account after a couple of years absence made perfect sense to me. Also I don't need thousands of gold because I am happy to just spend my time getting ascended gear which is part gathering and part buying. I only need to make 10 gold on a day to break even on that. So luckily I do not require that much gold.

> > >

> > > It's all about choices but when you have decent job, which I know not everybody has, then 20 bucks here and there are a small thing compared to the hours of farming people propose. It's good that the game doesn't just cater to one group.

> >

> > It actually is the right comparison. The unofficial official exchange rate is $10 = 800 gems, ingame as well as on sites like Amazon.com from the official NcSoft vendor. I also was not framing it as the average player's experience. I referenced how much a _farmer_, a player who enjoys the effort required to maximize profits, could make within a time frame given by the OP. My apologizes for not specifying what I meant by _farmer._ As far as Magic Find goes, I referenced SW, which gives players a +200% boost, though I admit I was unconsciously counting other MF boosters as well; such as both item boosters, celebration boosters, and food.

> >

> > You are correct, time is a resource. I see it as a resource. However, I also see that I am already using that resource to play the game how I find it to be enjoyable, which also earns me rewards (Among them liquid gold). Therefore, I, personally, am earning gold for free.

> >

> > This debate ultimately comes down to personal circumstances and preferences. For me, I routinely buy gems to spend on gem shop items, because I like supporting the game, but never to trade in for gold. It is simply not worth it, when I have better IRL purchases I can make, and I have multiple ways to enjoy the game while earning gold.

> >

> > Your opinion may vary.

> >

>

> I agree that it's personal choice, but since this thread was made by a person who uses the 2000 gem cards, that's the comparison that's relevant for this thread.

>

> You've made your choices and decisions and that's cool. To me time is precious though and there are times that time is worth more than money. I don't think that I would regularly buy gold via gems as the OP did, though I also do not begrudge him his decisions, but I did buy gold because I haven't played this game much over the years and I wanted to catch up a bit, particularly by getting some crafting professions maxed which I've done now. So for me I'm good. For the rest I spend gems mostly on useful stuff like bank space, unbreakable gathering tools and shared inventory slots etc. Those things really improve the QoL for me in game. I never did gather much until I got the unbreakable tools for example.

>

> But I do understand your point more clearly and I thank you for specifying it a bit more. I didn't quite understand where you were coming from but now I do :)

>

 

The OP also says he averaged 10g/hour and equates 2000 gems to 600g, when the average player may/does not. The average player may also not have secure or reliable access to those kinds of gem cards, while they do have such access to the BLTC and the $10 = 800 gems rate.

 

Still, to be thorough, I'll use the $20 = 2,000 gems rate.

 

On the BLTC Exchange, 2,000 gems = ~440g. At our earlier farming rates we had 800g - 1,600g, from a 40 - 60 hour range as given by the OP. Assuming we're buying $20 gem cards, we would still have to spend **$40 - $80**, though we would have received 80g - 160g extra.