Guild Wars 2

First of all, I’m not sure if this is the right forum for this, but since it involves gems and the gem store, here we go!

I think, that allowing players to convert gold to gems (and gems to gold) is not working as it should. While it is good in theory, allowing players to get gemstore items using in-game gold, in the long run it creates lots of problems. Mainly because the main ways to get LOADS of gold is either to get a lucky drop – precursor or to “play” the TP. This means that lucky or tp players will never have to spend a $ on the gem store, while even hardcore players (that aren’t lucky enough) struggle.

At release there was a way to get gems doing other activities, mainly getting them by winning in the daily PVP tournaments, which was an excellent way for PVPers to earn some gems, although of course the competition in PVP is far higher than farming some gold in PVE. That option was emoved for whatever reason and then gold reward was added to PVP. I know you can get gems with gold, but I don’t think they are the same at all, in order to earn gems in PVP you had to win in a small tournament, 3 games in a row, that meant those PVP gems were a reward for a tough encounter.

Then, another option to get gems was added, from Achievement rewards which was another very good change. More so because Achievement rewards cannot be farmed, they are not repeatable, once you get the gems, you cannot get the gems again. Now, I think, they need to add more gem rewards in the game.

I believe that making gems obtainable in a way that does NOT depend on gold but instead on different other activities, activities that ideally are NOT easily farmable / repeatable nor depend heavily on RNG, are a key in making gems (and the gemstore by extension) far better.

More and better automated PVP tournaments can give out gems, doing Achievements like Dungeon Master (repeat all dungeon paths in the game) is a challenging (and rewarding for the game itself) way to reward players gems in PVE and I’m sure if we all get down to it, we can think lots of more ways (that are NOT easily exploitable/repeatable/RNG-based) to add gems to the game.

But remember ANet wants players to spend real money on gems. They can’t give too many of them away without cutting into their sales.

Behellagh.1468:

But remember ANet wants players to spend real money on gems. They can’t give too many of them away without cutting into their sales.

Making gems available only by doing in-game activities and without any gem-gold conversion would mean Anet had more income than they have now. Also, gem income would be better managed (and tweaked on the fly) by Anet instead of the mess it is now, because of the varied ways of earning gold.

Sadly they can’t change the system now (obviously) but they can make some tweaks here and there so earning gems in-game is not something for the TP players only (and the lucky ones)

maddoctor.2738:

Behellagh.1468:

But remember ANet wants players to spend real money on gems. They can’t give too many of them away without cutting into their sales.

Making gems available only by doing in-game activities and without any gem-gold conversion would mean Anet had more income than they have now. Also, gem income would be better managed (and tweaked on the fly) by Anet instead of the mess it is now, because of the varied ways of earning gold.

Sadly they can’t change the system now (obviously) but they can make some tweaks here and there so earning gems in-game is not something for the TP players only (and the lucky ones)

How would giving away gems in game based on activities be “better” for ANet’s income stream?

You are also ignoring that in game gem “creation” is a mostly closed system. The # of gems created in the game is static not counting how many are generated through achievement point rewards.

edit: in game and created. mistype

eithinan.9841:

You are also ignoring that gem “creation” is a mostly closed system. The # of gems in the game is static not counting how many are generated through achievement point rewards.

Thats not true. Gems bought with money are created upon purchase.

Wanze.8410:

eithinan.9841:

You are also ignoring that gem “creation” is a mostly closed system. The # of gems in the game is static not counting how many are generated through achievement point rewards.

Thats not true. Gems bought with money are created upon purchase.

That IS the definition of a static amount. If you pay $10, you get the same amount now as you did 1 year ago, and you’ll get the same amount a year from now. On the other hand, the number of gems you get for 100g is different from what it was a year ago, and it’ll be different from what it is now in a year.

Behellagh.1468:

maddoctor.2738:

Behellagh.1468:

But remember ANet wants players to spend real money on gems. They can’t give too many of them away without cutting into their sales.

Making gems available only by doing in-game activities and without any gem-gold conversion would mean Anet had more income than they have now. Also, gem income would be better managed (and tweaked on the fly) by Anet instead of the mess it is now, because of the varied ways of earning gold.

Sadly they can’t change the system now (obviously) but they can make some tweaks here and there so earning gems in-game is not something for the TP players only (and the lucky ones)

How would giving away gems in game based on activities be “better” for ANet’s income stream?

i didnt get what he was saying at first either.

I think hes saying people will buy more gems if you couldnt use gold to get them.

However i think he is
A underestimating the amount of money they get from gems>gold
B not realizing that without the gold>gems conversion, a lot of things in the shop would be considered f2p level gem shop.

In an “ideal” world without any gem→gold or gold→gem exchange Anet could set the gem income to a pace they want and keep it balanced. Unlike what we have now that is a total mess (because gold income is also a mess) and difficulty and length of activities play little to absolutely no role to the amount of gold you get, which is of course one of the main problems with rewards in Guild Wars 2.

Unlike that, putting gem rewards in other activities would allow Anet to better balance them, and give a proper incentive for players to do more complex activities by making gems one more reward currency.

In the end, that would also lead to players treating the Gem Store better.

A underestimating the amount of money they get from gems>gold

Although I don’t doubt many people are converting gems to gold, I don’t think it’s as high, otherwise gem price wouldn’t climb up so rapidly. From what I understand, the more gems people buy with gold, the higher the price goes, and the more gems people sell for gold, the lower the price goes. I’m not 100% sure about this, but I think that’s how it works.

Right now Gem price is completely volatile because it also depends on gold, which flactuates A LOT. All I’m saying is that Gem prices shouldn’t depend only on something that changes so rapidly like gold, but instead depend on other non-exploitable activities, as rewards.

not realizing that without the gold>gems conversion, a lot of things in the shop would be considered f2p level gem shop.

On the contrary, the gold needed to buy gems is always increasing, thus making it harder and harder for newer or returning players, to access the gem market. By adding the gems to activities and reward for doing content everyone would have a much broader access to the gem shop.

Then, by making those gems as rewards for EXCEPTIONAL content only, like the 3 win in a row in PVP tournament GEM reward, you limit the amount of farming/grinding that can affect gem prices.

There are quite a few people who will never buy gems because they find “Gem Stores” evil, by integrading the gem store to the reward system in an indirect way this can be solved to a degree.

Obviously they can’t change the system now, people have already invested in gems, waiting for them to be profitable to sell, and who wants to fight those guys. But there can be some changes to the system that make gems depend on player actions instead of luck and farm.

Be careful though. If the rewards for Tournaments are TOO enticing, you’ll start seeing people trying to game the system. (Stuff like “Red resigns”, for example.)

maddoctor.2738:

~~~ snip ~~~

You know how to fix all your problems with this system? Buy Gems with your creditcard. Buy a lot. Then you’ll see the system is working as intended.