[Suggestion] Shared gathering tool slots

[YtseJam.9784]

Hi, we have unbreakable tools, we have shared inventory slots. When we do multi-toon farm, Flax in VB for example, most of us put a tool in a shared slot, then switch through all the toons in our accounts, equip the tool, farm, unequip, switch to next. Can we have some kind of account wide tool shared slot to equip them there and quit having to switch them over and over? It's annoying when you are in combat and just have to sit there waiting for your toon to get out of combat and remove the tool and put it in the shared inventory slot... etc... btw whose idea was it to not be able to unequip your gathering tools while in combat? It's not like you use them in battle... :P

[Hashberry.4510]

Its so when your friendly fellow node farmer drops their aggro on you they get to mount up and carelessly skip to the next node =) .

[sevenDEADLY.5281]

This is purposely done this way. If it was how you suggested, arenanet would only sell 1 set of unbreakable tools to an account, where as now, some people will actually buy multiple sets for multiple characters. I'm not saying its right, but there is absolutely no incentive for arenanet to do what you are asking.

[Solvar.7953]

The incentive is that they could charge for those slots. I suspect a large number of players (myself included) only own 1 set, have no plans to buy another, but would pay money for shared slots.

 

[Zahld.4956]

> @"sevenDEADLY.5281" said:

> This is purposely done this way. If it was how you suggested, arenanet would only sell 1 set of unbreakable tools to an account, where as now, some people will actually buy multiple sets for multiple characters. I'm not saying its right, but there is absolutely no incentive for arenanet to do what you are asking.

 

Same can be said for (shared) inventory slots.

 

Second set for second pack of skins and tool mods. Etc.

[Super Hayes.6890]

While I want this it would reduce unbreakable gathering tool sales in the gem store. I really would enjoy having it though.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

They would still make sales on multiple sets because of skins and glyphs on them. Approaching these sales as if "people are buying a set for each character" is short-sighted, because that is limited to the characters. No. Just like outfits, armor, and mounts, people buy them for their effects.

[Ampa.2749]

I'm not a serious farmer, but I do gather as I go. I have a bunch of shared inventory slots, and three of them are set aside for my unbreakable tools. I have 10 characters.

Originally, I did just as OP described. I carefully placed my unbreakable tools back into their shared slots after use. Until I didn't. Some of my characters forget to put their toys away after using them. Then I have to try to find them. Relog over and over trying to find the missing tools. So I got frustrated with myself and started buying new unbreakable tools so more characters could have their own. My Bad!

I don't buy unbreakable tools for the visual effect. I buy them so I can stop churning the breakable ones. And more than that is the glyph of Industry. I can gather and mount before the nearby mob puts me into combat.

[keenedge.9675]

> @"Super Hayes.6890" said:

> While I want this it would reduce unbreakable gathering tool sales in the gem store. I really would enjoy having it though.

 

I have 20+ toon slots and would never buy another set of unbreakable tools UNLESS there'a valuable glyph involved.

But I would pay a premium for 3 special farming tool shared slots.

 

Maybe they could make it that you must own 10+ shared slots to make the elite purchase.

[sevenDEADLY.5281]

> @"keenedge.9675" said:

> Maybe they could make it that you must own 10+ shared slots to make the elite purchase.

 

That starts to fall into a strange category of forcing other purchases in order to purchase something that should just be purchasable from the onset. Imagine having to purchase 10 bag slots just to be able to purchase 1 bank tab or something along those lines.

 

[Zoltar MacRoth.7146]

> @"YtseJam.9784" said:

> Hi, we have unbreakable tools, we have shared inventory slots. When we do multi-toon farm, Flax in VB for example, most of us put a tool in a shared slot, then switch through all the toons in our accounts, equip the tool, farm, unequip, switch to next. Can we have some kind of account wide tool shared slot to equip them there and quit having to switch them over and over? It's annoying when you are in combat and just have to sit there waiting for your toon to get out of combat and remove the tool and put it in the shared inventory slot... etc... btw whose idea was it to not be able to unequip your gathering tools while in combat? It's not like you use them in battle... :P

 

I have no comment on the first part, but I just want to concur with you on the last: we should be able to change harvesting tools in combat. We can't use them for combat, as you point out. If we choose to continue harvesting while being attacked, that's on us. Don't be a nanny state, anet.

[crepuscular.9047]

1 sentence, easy to say, difficult to implement

[tatte.5389]

> @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> 1 sentence, easy to say, difficult to implement

 

Shared slots, sure. But the issue could be solved with minimal effort by letting us get as many copies of the tools as we want.

 

I just wish they'd clearly state that you'll only receive a single copy of the tool, having to Google to figure it out wasn't the nicest experience, and the revelation instantly devalued the whole concept for me. I'll likely still go for particularly nice ones, but the bar is definitely much, much higher - with zero chance I'll get anything just for the (at the moment minimal) convenience.

[Cristalyan.5728]

> @"YtseJam.9784" said:

> Hi, we have unbreakable tools, we have shared inventory slots. When we do multi-toon farm, Flax in VB for example, most of us put a tool in a shared slot, then switch through all the toons in our accounts, equip the tool, farm, unequip, switch to next. Can we have some kind of account wide tool shared slot to equip them there and quit having to switch them over and over? It's annoying when you are in combat and just have to sit there waiting for your toon to get out of combat and remove the tool and put it in the shared inventory slot... etc... btw whose idea was it to not be able to unequip your gathering tools while in combat? It's not like you use them in battle... :P

 

HM! The same result can be achieved by making the permanent tools _soul-bond_. Then you should buy other sets in order to multi farm. This is somehow more logical than buying shared slots. And I think easier to implement. You gain speed in this way - no need to unequip the tools.

 

Be careful what you want!

[tatte.5389]

> @"Cristalyan.5728" said:

> HM! The same result can be achieved by making the permanent tools _soul-bond_. Then you should buy other sets in order to multi farm. This is somehow more logical than buying shared slots. And I think easier to implement. You gain speed in this way - no need to unequip the tools.

>

> Be careful what you want!

 

And while we're going down this rabbit hole, we probably shouldn't be able to harvest during combat anyway. Makes sense you should defend yourself instead of recklessly digging up potatoes amidst hostiles (or if that's too pampering, go instantly down if hit while harvesting). :D

[Linken.6345]

> @"tatte.5389" said:

> > @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > 1 sentence, easy to say, difficult to implement

>

> Shared slots, sure. But the issue could be solved with minimal effort by letting us get as many copies of the tools as we want.

>

> I just wish they'd clearly state that you'll only receive a single copy of the tool, having to Google to figure it out wasn't the nicest experience, and the revelation instantly devalued the whole concept for me. I'll likely still go for particularly nice ones, but the bar is definitely much, much higher - with zero chance I'll get anything just for the (at the moment minimal) convenience.

 

Before they were soul bound to the first character you equiped them on, the community complained and you can now only by account bound ones ( and trade in your old soul bound ones for account bound at black lion trader in lions arch)

 

> @"Cristalyan.5728" said:

> > @"YtseJam.9784" said:

> > Hi, we have unbreakable tools, we have shared inventory slots. When we do multi-toon farm, Flax in VB for example, most of us put a tool in a shared slot, then switch through all the toons in our accounts, equip the tool, farm, unequip, switch to next. Can we have some kind of account wide tool shared slot to equip them there and quit having to switch them over and over? It's annoying when you are in combat and just have to sit there waiting for your toon to get out of combat and remove the tool and put it in the shared inventory slot... etc... btw whose idea was it to not be able to unequip your gathering tools while in combat? It's not like you use them in battle... :P

>

> HM! The same result can be achieved by making the permanent tools _soul-bond_. Then you should buy other sets in order to multi farm. This is somehow more logical than buying shared slots. And I think easier to implement. You gain speed in this way - no need to unequip the tools.

>

> Be careful what you want!

 

And as I said before this is what they were at the start, do we really want to go 1 step back just becouse we cant be arsed to have the 3 unlimited tools in 3 shared inventory slots and copper tools on all our characters.

 

All we then have to do is dubble click the unlimited tools when login in and dubble click the copper tools when login out. ( 6 dubble clicks total to share across all our toons)

[Tekoneiric.6817]

What I would rather see is unbreakable tools become ascended crafting items and the tool skins and glyphs could be sold separately on the gem store. They'd still make their money from gem store sells and we'd all get to craft our own tools. I'd also like to see them do away with ruined items from wrong tools on nodes and instead made the tool level do with how many uses you get out of them. They could change the gathering tools to have a rarity usage. Based of the list below they could sell the first three from vendors while the rest of them would require crafting to acquire them. Of course they'd be account bound.

 

Basic / 25 uses on all nodes

Fine / 50 uses on all nodes

Master / 100 uses on all nodes

Rare / 150 uses on all nodes

Exotic / 250 uses on all nodes

Ascended / Unbreakable on all nodes

[kratan.4619]

The amount of refunds that would be screamed for would probably negate any chance of this happening. I have 9 sets of infinite gathering tools and would be pissed if I did not get a refund on the extra sets if they did this.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

> @"Zoltar MacRoth.7146" said:

> I have no comment on the first part, but I just want to concur with you on the last: we should be able to change harvesting tools in combat. We can't use them for combat, as you point out. If we choose to continue harvesting while being attacked, that's on us. Don't be a nanny state, anet.

 

This isn't because of some balance reason, but because of technical reasons. The tools are in some underlying way connected to weapons, and allowing switching in combat risks strange interactions with weapon skills, sigils and weapons swapping.

[crepuscular.9047]

> @"tatte.5389" said:

> > @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > 1 sentence, easy to say, difficult to implement

>

> Shared slots, sure. But the issue could be solved with minimal effort by letting us get as many copies of the tools as we want.

>

> I just wish they'd clearly state that you'll only receive a single copy of the tool, having to Google to figure it out wasn't the nicest experience, and the revelation instantly devalued the whole concept for me. I'll likely still go for particularly nice ones, but the bar is definitely much, much higher - with zero chance I'll get anything just for the (at the moment minimal) convenience.

 

well then, that would just bankrupt Anet

 

Guild Wars 2 exists to make money for Anet and NCSoft, not a social service

 

what the OP is asking for is totally different from shared inventory slot, this can achieve by introducing a new table in the database and using a joint statement; from database point of view these are separate and linked toon_id -> bag_id -> item_id

 

what he's asking for is a shared equipment slot on toons rather than bag, this means modifying the structure that makes up the core data of toons

 

even if it rated as medium difficulty, i still will be uncomfortable knowing that a modification that touches the core data my toon, it would be extremely risky change

 

if and when it goes wrong, in the worst case scenario, your toons will become unusable, and a massive rollback of data will be required, which i believe it had never happened in the history of GW2, having to bring the entire game offline and rollback progress

[tatte.5389]

> @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > @"tatte.5389" said:

> > > @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > > 1 sentence, easy to say, difficult to implement

> >

> > Shared slots, sure. But the issue could be solved with minimal effort by letting us get as many copies of the tools as we want.

> >

> > I just wish they'd clearly state that you'll only receive a single copy of the tool, having to Google to figure it out wasn't the nicest experience, and the revelation instantly devalued the whole concept for me. I'll likely still go for particularly nice ones, but the bar is definitely much, much higher - with zero chance I'll get anything just for the (at the moment minimal) convenience.

>

> well then, that would just bankrupt Anet

>

> Guild Wars 2 exists to make money for Anet and NCSoft, not a social service

>

> what the OP is asking for is totally different from shared inventory slot, this can achieve by introducing a new table in the database and using a joint statement; from database point of view these are separate and linked toon_id -> bag_id -> item_id

>

> what he's asking for is a shared equipment slot on toons rather than bag, this means modifying the structure that makes up the core data of toons

>

> even if it rated as medium difficulty, i still will be uncomfortable knowing that a modification that touches the core data my toon, it would be extremely risky change

>

> if and when it goes wrong, in the worst case scenario, your toons will become unusable, and a massive rollback of data will be required, which i believe it had never happened in the history of GW2, having to bring the entire game offline and rollback progress

 

Did you read anything I wrote after you misunderstood the first three words? Because I agreed with you, and the rest should allow you to deduce that if it wasn't immediately apparent to you. I'd understand your confusion if I didn't go on suggesting a solution that unlike OPs idea, would still allow Anet keep selling tools since character specific tool slots would stay intact.

 

But alright, let's play. Table for toons has something like toon_id -> pick_id. Let's go the usual spaghetti route, not change the way characters' tools are referenced, and still make OPs suggestion happen. If we assume they're using the same bag system for both shared and character inventory slots, they can expand on that by adding a new locked slot and occupy it with a three slot bag. Yay, there's our space!

 

Now to the part your example left out: the third table between your item_id and the actual reference item. Since we have unique items that carry their properties with them, it's already there, and existing shared slots demonstrate that items can exist there without being linked to a character, so we don't need to do anything about the tools themselves? Funky!

 

Last piece of the puzzle is linking the two. Start with rolling phantom tools into the legacy tool slots of every character, hide the old slots from GUI, and invalidate tools from getting equipped there. From here on out all we need to do is change the properties of those static phantom tools. Write a teeny-weeny script that checks the newly created three-slot-tool-bag for tools (plenty of things already check player's inventory for specific items, so nothing new here either), and changes the phantom tools' properties appropriately. Done?

 

So we didn't change the structure of a single table. There's a little initial strain for the servers, but aren't we already used to some lag? At worst you make players unable to harvest, but even if the spaghetti comes out overcooked, rolling these changes back wouldn't touch players' progress elsewhere in the game. All the old data remains where it is, in the shape it already is (aside from the tools, but many existing options to deal with those). Fun!

 

Again, this is not what I want nor what I suggested. I just didn't like your negligence, attitude, and lack of imagination.

[Kas.3509]

If it was available it would need to cost enough to make up for not selling you unbreakable tool for every character you own, so yeah... Considering that you could use it on unbound magic etc. gathering tools sets which were 2700 gems, please calculate the price. It would need to be on average worth it only if you have more than 4-5 characters, so it doesn't make buying gathering tools obsolete and doesnt make having different gathering tools a worse value, so cost would be probably around 5x2700 gems = 13,500 gems.

Almost no one would buy it at this price.

[TheGrimm.5624]

......or increase the number of shared slots we can buy. Double the current count and people would buy them.

[Zoltar MacRoth.7146]

> @"Tanner Blackfeather.6509" said:

> > @"Zoltar MacRoth.7146" said:

> > I have no comment on the first part, but I just want to concur with you on the last: we should be able to change harvesting tools in combat. We can't use them for combat, as you point out. If we choose to continue harvesting while being attacked, that's on us. Don't be a nanny state, anet.

>

> This isn't because of some balance reason, but because of technical reasons. The tools are in some underlying way connected to weapons, and allowing switching in combat risks strange interactions with weapon skills, sigils and weapons swapping.

 

That sounds plausible. Still, I wish that at the very least if my harvest tool runs out when I'm harvesting out of combat, and I have the same tool in inventory, it would at least equip it for me automatically. That would be a nice feature.

[Solvar.7953]

The shared tools has to cost the amount as it would cost to buy unbreakable tools for every character is a incorrect argument.

Unfortunately, I don't know if it is possible to get the data, but I suspect the majority of players have bought unbreakable tools for only 1 of their characters, and move them around through the shared slots, and never have plans to buy unbreakable tools for all their characters.

The real calculation is number of players that would buy shared slots times cost being greater than number of players buying tools for each of their characters

I have no idea what that number is. If only 1% of players buy a set of tools @ 2700 gems for 10 characters (270 gem value), but 10% would buy a set of shared tool slots, those shared tool slots would need to be 2700 gems. But if 25% would buy shared tool slots, then cost would be 1080 gems.

It gets complicated because lower the cost, more likely people are to buy it. Also, the more characters a player has, the less likely they would be to buy tool slots for all of them.