Guild Wars 2

It seems that every time I return to the game , gem store prices increased dramatically. I generally play over the holiday breaks and ( I might not be exactly correct here) but the gold to gem conversion rate has gone from about 5 gold to 9 gold. I’ve kept assuming that it will eventually stabilize that this doesn’t seem to be the case. Does Arena Net have any plans to change this? Or am I destined to be poor every time I return to the game as I do not enjoy spending hours in a farm loop.

Anet won’t change it. The formula on the exchange rates rely on player actions. The more players demand Gems for Gold, the higher the exchange rates get.

Basically, if you don’t have time to play, you’ll be left behind in any game. Besides, the Gem Exchange is there as a convenience for players who don’t want to spend real money on virtual transactions. If the rates aren’t favorable to you, you can always just buy Gems directly with your creditcard or PayPal account. Real money to Gem rates are always the same.

While Anet could change the formula at any time, I seriously doubt they would change it unless they felt it was severely hurting their ability to monetize. As it is this inflation probably helps them. The current 7.78g cost of 100 gems is about the highest it’s been, and as a result if anything it gives people more reason to spend cash instead of converting gold, and more reason to consider buying gold direct with gems as well. If anything this stands to make them even more money in aggregate, so unless they start losing a tangible number of players as a result, I wouldn’t expect it to change any time soon.

Actually it peaked at 9.75g per 100 for a short time when a patch went live on the 3rd. Forgot what the gem store carrot was that day but interest was short lived. Probably all the Mr Sparkles fans cashing in their 4000 gems drove the rate back down.

The particular carrot on that day was the Bank/Bag slots being on sale.

I hadn’t considered the possibility of the Mr Sparkles offer being a possible cause for the gem price fall, actually, but that makes sense. I’m still waiting for the conversion rate to climb again.

The gem price for real currency has been stable since launch.

Boom.1765:

Or am I destined to be poor every time I return to the game as I do not enjoy spending hours in a farm loop.

If you don’t convert gold to gems, you won’t be poor. Nothing in the gemstore is anything people need to play. If your THAT casual a player, you should be in that group of people that don’t even care about what’s in the gemstore.

Further to Wanze’s statement, gems are pegged to $ and as such, they are not more or less valuable. What is less valuable now is gold.

Wanze.8410:

The gem price for real currency has been stable since launch.

This… it didn’t just shoot up from 50s to 9g in one day… it took a year of it slowly progressing up that high with not seeing a spike of larger than a gold or 2… over the course of a year where they just hand out gold by the bag full now to everyone it just makes it appear less stable to the untrained eye.

actually it was from 20s to 9g….

are you real casual player? like 2 hours in week/month? so you don’t need anything from gemstore.

the problem is simple, the difference between gold→gem and gem→gold is to big, if they close that gap only then we can talk about a stable exchange.
if it costs 7 gold for 100 gems then it should cost 100 gems for 7 gold, it currently isn’t so.

sorudo.9054:

the problem is simple, the difference between gold->gem and gem->gold is to big, if they close that gap only then we can talk about a stable exchange.
if it costs 7 gold for 100 gems then it should cost 100 gems for 7 gold, it currently isn’t so.

If they were to do such a thing the exchange would become ripe with speculators and prospectors. Every patch would be accompanied by much more dramatic fluctuations than we have now.

sorudo.9054:

the problem is simple, the difference between gold->gem and gem->gold is to big, if they close that gap only then we can talk about a stable exchange.
if it costs 7 gold for 100 gems then it should cost 100 gems for 7 gold, it currently isn’t so.

There is a reason why it is set up the way it is, that is not going to change.

It’s called a double gold sink, they get 15% and each end of the exchange. It also keeps people from trying to arbitrage the gem exchange.

Essence Snow.3194:

sorudo.9054:

the problem is simple, the difference between gold->gem and gem->gold is to big, if they close that gap only then we can talk about a stable exchange.
if it costs 7 gold for 100 gems then it should cost 100 gems for 7 gold, it currently isn’t so.

If they were to do such a thing the exchange would become ripe with speculators and prospectors. Every patch would be accompanied by much more dramatic fluctuations than we have now.

if i see 100 gems is 7 gold then i expect to get that, if i don’t get 7 gold but just 5 gold i will simply never every use that system because it’s done wrong.

That’s the right attitude because frankly, Anet doesn’t want your gold, they want your money. If the system is done ‘wrong’ for people that want to use gold, I hope it stays that way. I would rather not pay a monthly subscription fee just because people want cheap stuff off the gemstore. I don’t feel like subsidizing players’ sense of entitlement.

Obtena.7952:

That’s the right attitude because frankly, Anet doesn’t want your gold, they want your money. If the system is done ‘wrong’ for people that want to use gold, I hope it stays that way. I would rather not pay a monthly subscription fee just because people want cheap stuff off the gemstore. I don’t feel like subsidizing players’ sense of entitlement.

uhmm, i buy gems with real money because i don’t have the time to play every day and don’t see zerging and farming as a play style, i just expect the gold from it that i should get rather then a lower amount.

Sorry man, you’re at the mercy of people buying gems with and for gold on that one. Furthermore, once you buy the gems, Anet probably really doesn’t care if you spend them or trade them for gold.

The gem store is pretty much made for casual players, so this is actually good for the majority.