Why do we buy mount skins? What is the meaning of gw2?

[spectrito.8513]

Most of people dont play gw2 for fun, people play for skins and rewards.

Want a proof ?

Revert Istan nerfs

[Derdzvero.7051]

To be honest I'm not sure they want to sell skins at all - I have gems and want 2, but they aren't for sale currently. ;) Guess what will happen with gems until Anet decides to offer those and if I'd be buying gems next time ;)

[Fallesafe.5932]

> @"The Ace.9105" said:

> Why do we buy mount skins?

 

The same reason you've been running the same fractals every week for five straight years, and re-skinning your 5 year old ascended armor and weapons for just as long. The game is stagnant. And the sunk-cost fallacy is real.

 

 

[IndigoSundown.5419]

How could a developer design an analytic for "fun?" MMO's use rewards to extend the life of content, Using metrics to see if a reward is compelling enough that people will do what's needed to get it makes sense. Looking for meaning or purpose in a video game is a waste of time. If the content engages you, or the rewards do, then play. If not, then don't.

[DearlyMe.5320]

Because I like them and I'm not trying to be a showboat about the fact I have them? Fun is subjective. If I'm going to take the time to load up the game, I'm in it for more than just my dailies. If I buy a skin, the novelty doesn't wear off. I was very ecstatic to see someone made an avatar of one of my top favorite mount skins. I still get excited when I'm using the character who has it and it's night-time.

[Taygus.4571]

I really don't care what other skins other people have.

 

Occasionally I notice and comment at their good dye combinations. But if others have the same mount skin as me.. That's fine. Everyone seems to have the shimmerwing skin...doesn't stop me loving my own shimmerwing.

And sometimes I literally fly around taking in the scenery, not going anywhere. That's fun. I don't always have a goal.

 

I don't really understand only having fun with an item if it's rare. I don't care if its rare. I don't look at someone and think "wow they have that 10000 gold item or ledgie" Because what other people have doesn't affect my enjoyment.

[Adry.7512]

You do realize that nobody plays endgame for an armor that looks bad right? At the end of the day, it’s cosmetics. Meaning, yes it’s all about the skins. Anet offers two ways to get skins. Obviously the best looking stuff are in game, but there is a lazy way to get cool skins too, and that’s through the gem store. The end game is any game is to look cool. Being good at the game shouldn’t be determined by how cool you look, it should be based on individual skill, which Anet has not paid enough attention to, as demonstrated by every aspect of the game being determined by group content, which is a failure on their part and maybe one day their downfall. But as for end game being partly based on looks.....that’s every game.

[zealex.9410]

I would relate the video and the wall of text you provided more with the content structure of gw2 rather than the mount. Sure alot of ppl log in do dailies, log out but this doesnt really matter when it comes to your character's looks.

 

Id be interested in seeing this talk evolve and discuss the content in game, fractals, raids, dungeons, world bosses, metas.

[joneirikb.7506]

> @"zealex.9410" said:

> I would relate the video and the wall of text you provided more with the content structure of gw2 rather than the mount. Sure alot of ppl log in do dailies, log out but this doesnt really matter when it comes to your character's looks.

>

> Id be interested in seeing this talk evolve and discuss the content in game, fractals, raids, dungeons, world bosses, metas.

 

Yes, it would be much more interesting to angle this toward other aspects of that video, than just the "mount skins" aspect. Personally much more interested in the aspect where people end up logging in for their daily routine of easy rewards, and logging off again. Where you're creating a daily dish-list of things you "have to do/get done", and then just log off because you don't get more easy rewards.

 

Because that was the point where I decided that this just isn't fun any-longer, if I don't enjoy the minute to minute gameplay, and have fun with what I'm doing, I'd be better of doing something I enjoy, play a game I find fun. Finally gotten better at taking breaks from the game myself, but I still see so many players still just going in for their "daily job", and feeling that if they stop they'll have wasted all that time and investment put into the game/characters.

[Edelweiss.4261]

> Everytime someone has something cool you are like "wow, let me buy that too" and then everyone has it and it's not that cool anymore

I take issue with this comment. If somebody else has food, does your food suddenly become worthless? No. That's silly. If I have something, somebody else gaining it does nothing to me. I don't understand this mindset and, frankly, I would never want to. If Anet suddenly decided to give every player a copy of every skin I have, I'd be delighted because that sounds like an awesome amount of free stuff for other people.

 

On to the actual question. I buy mount skins because they allow me to express myself and my characters in new and interesting ways. I look forward to more interesting skins to come.

[zealex.9410]

> @"joneirikb.7506" said:

> > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > I would relate the video and the wall of text you provided more with the content structure of gw2 rather than the mount. Sure alot of ppl log in do dailies, log out but this doesnt really matter when it comes to your character's looks.

> >

> > Id be interested in seeing this talk evolve and discuss the content in game, fractals, raids, dungeons, world bosses, metas.

>

> Yes, it would be much more interesting to angle this toward other aspects of that video, than just the "mount skins" aspect. Personally much more interested in the aspect where people end up logging in for their daily routine of easy rewards, and logging off again. Where you're creating a daily dish-list of things you "have to do/get done", and then just log off because you don't get more easy rewards.

>

> Because that was the point where I decided that this just isn't fun any-longer, if I don't enjoy the minute to minute gameplay, and have fun with what I'm doing, I'd be better of doing something I enjoy, play a game I find fun. Finally gotten better at taking breaks from the game myself, but I still see so many players still just going in for their "daily job", and feeling that if they stop they'll have wasted all that time and investment put into the game/characters.

 

Dailies make the game feel like a job honestly, i much more prefered the aproach dungeons had in vanilla gw2 and in gw1 over what fractals have ended up being.

[zealex.9410]

> @"Edelweiss.4261" said:

> If Anet suddenly decided to give every player a copy of every skin I have, I'd be delighted because that sounds like an awesome amount of free stuff for other people.

 

Id be terrified because that would simply remove alot of the value each thing had as well as the longevity of the gamd for the ppl that recieve them, getting stuff for free in the longrun is bad for the game.

[joneirikb.7506]

> @"zealex.9410" said:

> > @"joneirikb.7506" said:

> > > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > > I would relate the video and the wall of text you provided more with the content structure of gw2 rather than the mount. Sure alot of ppl log in do dailies, log out but this doesnt really matter when it comes to your character's looks.

> > >

> > > Id be interested in seeing this talk evolve and discuss the content in game, fractals, raids, dungeons, world bosses, metas.

> >

> > Yes, it would be much more interesting to angle this toward other aspects of that video, than just the "mount skins" aspect. Personally much more interested in the aspect where people end up logging in for their daily routine of easy rewards, and logging off again. Where you're creating a daily dish-list of things you "have to do/get done", and then just log off because you don't get more easy rewards.

> >

> > Because that was the point where I decided that this just isn't fun any-longer, if I don't enjoy the minute to minute gameplay, and have fun with what I'm doing, I'd be better of doing something I enjoy, play a game I find fun. Finally gotten better at taking breaks from the game myself, but I still see so many players still just going in for their "daily job", and feeling that if they stop they'll have wasted all that time and investment put into the game/characters.

>

> Dailies make the game feel like a job honestly, i much more prefered the aproach dungeons had in vanilla gw2 and in gw1 over what fractals have ended up being.

 

I still wish they scrapped the daily system and kept the monthly system instead, it allowed you to pace out your play time, and do things you enjoyed while still rewarding you for playing X amount. While far from perfect, it actually encouraged you to go out and do things you found fun, because you could do it more when it fitted yourself, and wasn't important enough to become a "duty".

 

Game is slowly angling toward designing player behavior, "rewards is more important than fun".

[Ben K.6238]

> @"Edelweiss.4261" said:

> I take issue with this comment. If somebody else has food, does your food suddenly become worthless? No. That's silly. If I have something, somebody else gaining it does nothing to me. I don't understand this mindset and, frankly, I would never want to. If Anet suddenly decided to give every player a copy of every skin I have, I'd be delighted because that sounds like an awesome amount of free stuff for other people.

>

> On to the actual question. I buy mount skins because they allow me to express myself and my characters in new and interesting ways. I look forward to more interesting skins to come.

 

The kind of people worried about how many others might share the same mount skin are mainly buying it as a vanity item, which is probably the wrong reason to buy it. They would be better off going for something that's actually exclusive - e.g. in-game rewards that take a huge amount of grind to get, beyond what the vast majority of others would put in; or cash purchases that are so exorbitantly expensive that most other players simply can't afford them (which don't exist in GW2 but do in some other online RPGs).

 

Mount skins, even the 2000 gem ones, aren't priced at a point to cater to exclusivity, so they probably offer the best value to players who buy them for much the same reasons you do.

[Chichimec.9364]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> I acquire skins because _I_ am the person that looks most often at my character/mounts. I acquire them because it pleases _me_. I don't really care if others have, or do not have, certain skins.

 

This. Most times I don't pay any attention to what skins other players are using. And I don't recall ever noticing another player stopping to stare at me in awe because of a skin I'm wearing. I earn or buy skins - for mounts, armor, weapons, gliders - because I like them, not because other people might think they are cool. As for what GW2 means - for me it means relaxing fun. Playing dress up with my alts is part of that fun. I like to build their appearance around a theme, using skins for all their gear and their mounts, as well as enhncing that theme with dyes and titles. I do it because I enjoy doing it, not to impress and awe others. Nor do I play the game for "exclusive", "elite" rewards. I play the parts of the game I enjoy and don't bother with the parts I don't. Heck, I create a key farmer every week and I still enjoy running them around the low level maps in core Tyria. The reward for that? For me, it's not the BLC Key, it's the hours I spend happily roaming around.

 

 

[AliamRationem.5172]

I can only speak for myself, but I put money into GW2 as long as I am invested in playing the game. I don't have to do it, but I like to support games that I put a lot of time into and I enjoy the cool stuff I get in exchange. Of course, that all goes out the window if I'm not actively playing the game.

 

So, how do you keep a player like me? It's pretty simple. Release more content and support your game. I enjoyed the warclaw release for WvW, but when was the last time a game changer happened in that game mode? PvP? How long do you really expect me to keep playing 5v5 capture points and nothing else? No expansion on the horizon? These are the kinds of decisions that result in my current behavior: Not playing GW2 and therefore not paying for items in the cash shop because I'm spending my time elsewhere.

[Vancho.8750]

The OP is missing the point about WoW and GW 2. In WoW you pay a sub and the box so people expect that all the content they receive is paid for, but they have in game purchase since Activision Blizzard wants all the money even though they have been already been paid 10 times over for their work, not only do they increase the sub and box price but they add crap like the mounts for money and WoW is not that good anymore they are sitting on old laurels and putting out crap. In guild wars 2 even though the mount skins don't feel that OK, they drew the line in POF what is for gems and what is gained in game , if you notice that they have been selling expansions boxes for half price at a loss regularly so they have people in for the real money maker the gem store. It would be nice if they have some mount skins from legendary like the gliders, but that's on them. So on hand we have GW 2 that is kept going by gem store and on the other hand we have warcraft that has sub, box and market place which one of the two seems fair.

[Dawdler.8521]

> @"borgs.6103" said:

> It's the skritt within us taking over. You have to resist it.

*(shrieks)* **Heretic!**

 

Anyway, yes there is a *massive* difference in arguments here because it's WoW vs GW2. WoW is a sub game and they are using the ingame store to leverage locking people into subbing for 6 months by offering mount rebates.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"joneirikb.7506" said:

> > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > I would relate the video and the wall of text you provided more with the content structure of gw2 rather than the mount. Sure alot of ppl log in do dailies, log out but this doesnt really matter when it comes to your character's looks.

> >

> > Id be interested in seeing this talk evolve and discuss the content in game, fractals, raids, dungeons, world bosses, metas.

>

> Yes, it would be much more interesting to angle this toward other aspects of that video, than just the "mount skins" aspect. Personally much more interested in the aspect where people end up logging in for their daily routine of easy rewards, and logging off again. Where you're creating a daily dish-list of things you "have to do/get done", and then just log off because you don't get more easy rewards.

>

> Because that was the point where I decided that this just isn't fun any-longer, if I don't enjoy the minute to minute gameplay, and have fun with what I'm doing, I'd be better of doing something I enjoy, play a game I find fun. Finally gotten better at taking breaks from the game myself, but I still see so many players still just going in for their "daily job", and feeling that if they stop they'll have wasted all that time and investment put into the game/characters.

 

I think there's also a danger in assuming that people who just log in, do a couple of things and then log out again don't want to do anything else in the game. My time on the computer so far has consisted of: logging into Elder Scrolls Online, collecting the daily reward and crafting materials which are mailed to me, putting some stuff in my guild store and logging off again. Logging into my second GW2 account, collecting the daily reward and logging out again, logging into my main GW2 account, collecting the daily reward, farming my home instance and guild hall and then logging out.

 

That's normally the first things I do when I have time to 'play' (note the inverted commas) and it's not uncommon for it to be the only things I get done that day, but it's not because I don't want to do anything else, it's because I don't have time for anything else (I'm already holding up us doing the weekly food shop to write this post, having made a show of closing down GW2 so I can say I have just 1 thing left to do) and if I have to choose between doing 1/2 a story mission or gathering materials from my home instance I'll pick the one which actually lets me finish something and which resets daily. I may not be using those materials today, but it's good to know they'll be there when I have time to play more. Hopefully that will be later today, but it might not be until tomorrow. (Especially for Elder Scrolls Online since currently GW2 takes priority because of the festival.)

 

However it's also important to consider that when I do have more time I don't then spend it doing daily achievements. I might choose to do some of them, but I'm not going to fill my time with them just because they're there. I've picked out a few quick things which give rewards I want to do each day, and then any extra time goes on actually enjoying the game.

 

This is why I said you need to look at more than one metric when assessing players activity, and you also need to try and consider factors you can't measure - for example I think it's safe to assume a lot of people who only log in during the evening and at weekends would actually prefer to be playing their MMO of choice during the week as well, but they can't because they have to be in work.

 

It's a really difficult thing to measure, but it can be done. And game developers have one important advantage over my experience with studying animal behaviour because they can ask players why they do what they do and what they find fun. Although that has a whole load of complications of it's own because people may not actually know, even if they think they do. Look at people who rush through getting the rewards they want as fast as possible, then complain they have nothing left to do. They thought getting those rewards ASAP would make the game more fun for them, but it almost did the opposite because now they've lost part of their motivation for playing.

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

there is regardless how you all FEEL about mount skins, that still needs to be addressed: in game reward of skins for mounts and gliders.

 

TRUE, gw2 has only a bow payment and then no additional fees in a monthly manner, however that does not excuse the game to lack BASIC rewards in thing more then weapons and armor. all kinds of cosmetics ARE en essential part of the GW2 experience. some might even argue due to the "even more casual then BFA" attitude anet tries to implement, its the ONLY worthwhile part, while game modes and content portions get abandoned or mishandled until they linger as empty shells (pvp and WVW anyone?)

GW2 needs reward like gliders, finishers, mini pets and mount skins as rewards for doing something in the game. AND NO farming hours upon hours on gold just to convert them into gems is NOT that.

And i am not asking for the current extreme looking mounts now to be ingame rewards.

For mounts it can be that the species altering and 4 color slot mounts are the high prize tp mounts, less extreme 3 dye channel mounts are licence tp but basic 2 dye channel, only minimal changes mount skins can be rewards for easy raid bosses, fractals, a drop chance in specific meta event chains and other similar content. ( it doesnt have to be raids, stop getting upset about me mentioning it)

The game needs more then achievments collections and " oh i got a exotic lvl 78 drop i can sell for 70 silver" rewards. EVEN GW1 had GREEN rarity weapons, unique skins with a at the time unique stats like https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Murakai%27s_Reaver or https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Victo%27s_Blade. things you can only get doing ONE specific thing in the game.

like there is this legendary mob, not a bounty or event, just a mob legendary that spawns far away from WPs and has a irregular spawn time, and people have to do this mob, perhaps a spotted raptor ( to get said spotted raptor skin) that has the chance to drop the skin, which SHOULD be account bound upon receiving it. Do that with other items in various and similar straight forward ways. not only will it please those who are against pure tp mount skins on principle, but it would also add content that goes outside of the usual formular current new maps have, it would require team work, and MAYBE some understand above hitting skill 1 and occasional dodging.

 

[Luthan.5236]

Well ... isn't it an extremely successful business model? I mean aren't games like LoL also basically focusing on selling cosmetic stuff (skins) - without stuff that gives you better gameplay performance/stats. That way players that fear "pay to win" won't get scared away and can still play the game. Even getting some nice skins for free here in GW2 just by playing ... just not every possible skin. (Which probably isn't possible unless you played constantly from day 1 + using real money + having luck.)

 

There are tons of players that seem to like to buy all the new skins even if they get simlar at some point and/or look ugly. Personally I don't like most of the stuff that is sold. Other than using real money for buying the game/expansions and diamonds for bank slot stuff I keep my gold as gold (not converting to diamonds) and not using diamonds for skins.

 

So many stuff in the game to achieve without using diamonds. (And new players or returning players that haven't played constantly since release have tons of work already doing stuff there ... while caring about skins much lager.) Okay to have skins ... as long as people buy them (which a lot of people other than me do). I don't care. I wouldn't even use most of that stuff. Helmets in generally are set invisible for me - besides for the heavy classes. (Norn guardian it looks nice. But I want to see the faces for medium or light armor classes, not some walking cloth store.)

[Omernon.9762]

Problem with current WoW is that you have two business models. One is subscription based gameplay and the other one is in-game mount store (also Tokens and Pets), which shouldn’t be even a thing in a game that forces you to pay every month in order to play it. You would expect that if you pay monthly, you will be able to get everything the game has to offer simply by working towards it in-game. This is however not the case since Blizzard merged with Activision and short term gains become more important than long term ones, because every quarter they need to show investors how their game is doing. Charts will always show financial spikes if you release new store mount before handing financial report to investors. You can lose half of playerbase in the process, but the net income will still be positive, when compared to previous months.

 

Guild Wars is (largely) free to play with an option to buy expansions. This also means that in order to sustain themselves, ANet needs to release some portion of content locked behind paywall. The good thing is that you can access these items simply by buying gems (that someone has bought before) with in-game currency. This also means that you pay exactly for what you expect to get in return, while WoW’s model is about paying in advance and hoping that they won’t mess up the game for you, which for the most of its lifetime wasn’t an issue.

 

This is why GW2 business model doesn’t look like a scam, compared to BFA’s multilayered fees.

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

That worries me that if I only pop in to do my dailies for an hour or two, I am not 'officially' having fun. I enjoy the dailies. They are kind of an excuse to keep showing up when I am too busy with other things to putter around in-game. I am a little OCD about missing my dailies, which makes my evenings unproductive for all other purposes. Right now I have a pair of new kittens (not filltered, actual kitties) and am trying to learn D&D 5e after not playing since the 80's, planning a trip to two conventions in two weeks, and yet, here I am, every blasted night, making sure to at least get my dailies and key-farming in. The last thing I want right now is for the game to decide I am not having enough fun, and throw some other must-do content at me. :dizzy:

[Dunkerzor.9452]

The answer you're looking for is that GW2 has become a place to sell art assets with the skin of the video game. Mounts are one of the more enjoyable parts since they actually have a decent learning curve.

[Zuldari.3940]

The point is you cant base how you create something based on a analytical number, people arent just numbers they are individuals with differing emotions and ideas. So yeah if all you care about is a number then you are going to lose the perspective of creation for enjoyment. Which is what a game is about, fun, if you do it right the numbers will come, and stay.

 

Fashion wars should be a side part of a game, not the main course.