Guild Wars 2

I have only opened nearly a dozen Black Lion Chests and never got a wow treasure. I really would like to get a one of the BLTC weapon claim tickets but only got 1 scrap in all the chests so far. So I am guessing the scraps might cost me $50? $60? $70 dollars?

Is it my bad luck or are the keys really a good thing to buy?

In my experience of opening way too many BL chests, you are WAY better to just buy gems, convert to gold and buy the skin you want off the TP. This is assuming you aren’t farming keys, but spending real life money on gems to buy keys. It’s especially a good idea to buy the skins off the TP as soon as they’re released, as that’s when they’ll be cheapest.

Yeah, I like them. I’ll buy some keys when my chest collection gets big enough and use most of the stuff that drops.

recently started 2 new characters, and you get a few keys during personal story quests.
other than that, they are extremely rare drops/rewards…too rare for the usually junky loot you get (3 ticket scraps out of 10 keys used from the PS rewards…and a bunch of portable TP and merchants).

if they dropped at a higher rate in-game, or guaranteed at least something of value (gold-wise) i would like them. i realize anet needs to make money, but as it is, the loot isn’t enticing enough for me to buy keys w/ gems….nor is the drop rate in-game enough for me to actually “like” the key/chest rng thing.

NO! It’s infuriating that They expect me to pay to rng to possible get a piece of a ticket (10x) to get a single skin – when they’re on sale. Kitten that! Its cheaper to sell gems for gold & buy the skin off the TP. If a BL Chest guaranteed a BLTScrap, maybe….

I don’t mind RNG chests when keys are supplied by drops & zone completion.

I mind RNG chests in a cash shop. It’s a devious scheme that is reason enough to avoid NCSoft forever more, yet I’m still getting sucked into Wildstar sigh, the MMO crave.

Today I do.
I opened 15 chests – got 2 tickets and 3 scraps (which went nicely with the 7 scraps I had in the bank)
This being said, I normally am not that lucky, so grain of salt.

I do not mean to be rude to ANet, but while I understand the purpose of this system, people with low resources won’t buy in to the BL key system. I myself have supported the game buying other things OTHER than the keys. This system benefits players who can spend a lot (which is fine!) or have the patience to farm the keys through storyline.

I have only two scraps since they were implemented (however, I have never bought any keys.) Have had my share of keys from normal (non-farming) storylines and lucky dailies/map completions, but never get the scraps (much less a ticket.) The wiki says that they are a “common drop from Black Lion chests” but such information is utterly misleading, and downright false.

So yes, the one thing I would recommend is buying he skins outright from the TP, at a realistic price you can pay (not necessarily the price it’s currently being sold.)

I LIKE the keys when I get them for free-but buying them for a chance at no practically good reward is a no-no. Rather buy an upgrade, or weapon or armor skin instead, which is guaranteed, and what you are seeing is mostly what you are getting. Can’t see that hundreds of players are buying tons of keys with real money, though only ANet knows.

(Though many people are gamblers in real-life, and others spend tons of money on lottery tickets too-their right-so perhaps I am in the minority.)

Star Ace.5207:

I do not mean to be rude to ANet, but while I understand the purpose of this system, people with low resources won’t buy in to the BL key system. I myself have supported the game buying other things OTHER than the keys. This system benefits players who can spend a lot (which is fine!) or have the patience to farm the keys through storyline.

I believe it’s NCSoft with their corporate hands around ANets throat that force such RNG in the gem store.

No. I never gamble, and I only ever buy things from the gemstore that give me a guaranteed item that I want. (Which is why I’ve only bought account expanders, some weapon/armor skins, and Transmutation Crystals.)

But that said, I understand there are people who DO like gambling. And it’s a very lucrative income source for ANet. So, if that’s what you like to do with your money, go for it. Just be aware that it’s a very unpredictable way to get what you want, and be prepared for disappointment.

I hate gambling.
I still do it from time to time but I hate it.

Star Ace.5207:

I do not mean to be rude to ANet, but while I understand the purpose of this system, people with low resources won’t buy in to the BL key system. I myself have supported the game buying other things OTHER than the keys. This system benefits players who can spend a lot (which is fine!) or have the patience to farm the keys through storyline.

I have only two scraps since they were implemented (however, I have never bought any keys.) Have had my share of keys from normal (non-farming) storylines and lucky dailies/map completions, but never get the scraps (much less a ticket.) The wiki says that they are a “common drop from Black Lion chests” but such information is utterly misleading, and downright false.

So yes, the one thing I would recommend is buying he skins outright from the TP, at a realistic price you can pay (not necessarily the price it’s currently being sold.)

I LIKE the keys when I get them for free-but buying them for a chance at no practically good reward is a no-no. Rather buy an upgrade, or weapon or armor skin instead, which is guaranteed, and what you are seeing is mostly what you are getting. Can’t see that hundreds of players are buying tons of keys with real money, though only ANet knows.

(Though many people are gamblers in real-life, and others spend tons of money on lottery tickets too-their right-so perhaps I am in the minority.)

I only use the keys I have gotten in drops/storylines and won’t buy them because so far in all the chests I have opened I have not seen anything in the good to outstanding range out of them. As for scraps those have been few to almost none for me so I guess it is the usual bad RNG karma.

I have over 250 chests and I am not sure why I keep the ones I have gotten since they are nearly worthless on the TP – that pretty much says it all. I guess I am hoping they will revamp the whole chest system somehow and figure a regular way of getting keys through achievements or additional quests etc. to balance the chest/key ratio other than just buying keys. I know I would participate and I think a lot of folk would think about participating just to get the keys. Especially if you combined periodic limited time quest(s)/event(s) with the chance to get enough keys to open your accumulated chests and a chance at a precursor, higher level mats, ascended stuff or even a legendary.

I bought my last Black Lion Chest Keys two sales ago, when they were 25 for 1600 gems. I did get 1 ticket, which was nice for a skin, but also got 3 scraps and a bunch of other items I’ll never use.

I used to buy Keys every month, about $50 worth. But, not much after the new scrap mess. To have to get 10 scraps to make one ticket is like getting garbage as I’m not going to spend 4,800 gems, on a sale, or more just trying to get 10 scraps for a ticket to exchange for a 20-30 gold skin. It just stinks of wanting too much $ from my pocket for little reward.

I agree it’s best to just convert gems to gold and buy off the TP. It’s way cheaper if the items are on the TP.

Personally, I don’t get gems anymore due to not having items I want in the chests. I would spend again for certain new emotes or other things…but the ridiculous skins and boosts they put up don’t do squat to excite me enough to spend 1 cent.

I used to have to buy Chests from the TP to have enough to open with all the keys I used to buy each month. Now I have a stack of 250 Unopened (locked)Chests and another 150+, all from drops. Sad, eh? I suppose Anet isn’t creative enough to make me spend my money….or read what everyone wants…even though it’s posted all over the forums. cough Emotes cough

lol. At the beginning of this game, I was more than happy to spend hundreds of dollars on armor/weapon skins and costumes to wear, but once they implemented the RNG boxes, I haven’t given them a penny. Now I realized that the skins they put in the gemstore are way overpriced, and now they’ll never get any money from me.

If having a chance of receiving an item is so uncertain and subject of contraversy then why does anet not tag each chest or rng item with a chance of receiving a certain item(s)? E.g. this chest has a 1 in 10 chance of having item X (scrap, ticket etc). That way, players know what they might get and the chances of getting it when buying said item. Seems reasonable right? Clears up questions and mysteries when buying such things. Scratcher card games do this. Just a suggestion.

Zahld, I would expect the same. But, we can’t even get an answer on the Mystic Toilet’s RNG, let alone the Black Lion Chests RNG.

Hopefully in due time when things are ready for changes, the forums will be cleared of these reoccuring posts of like topics.

Zahld.4956:

If having a chance of receiving an item is so uncertain and subject of contraversy then why does anet not tag each chest or rng item with a chance of receiving a certain item(s)? E.g. this chest has a 1 in 10 chance of having item X (scrap, ticket etc). That way, players know what they might get and the chances of getting it when buying said item. Seems reasonable right? Clears up questions and mysteries when buying such things. Scratcher card games do this. Just a suggestion.

From a business standpoint, think about what they’re doing.

If I was part of Anet, I would tell them to make the chances of receiving good items from Black Lion Chests extremely low to encourage the playerbase to buy more of the chests. I wouldn’t give out the exact chances of receiving said items from the chests, because people would take one look at the numbers and go, “Nope, never buying those. The chances are too low”.

No, I’m not using real cash on RNG especially when they don’t even tell you what the chances are and even with gold to gems I’m sure as hell not paying that much for something I’ll likely get trash out of.
I only use the keys from map completion, dailys and PS. I got got a couple of transmution crystals which is about the only thing of real value to me I have ever gotten out of one. Some repair canisters that can be handy and save you a few silver but I would never buy. A whole bunch of boosters and merchant expresses that I barely use and would also never buy and 2 ticket scrap which will only be useful if I ever get 10 of them (unlikely).

Gamification in video games is always bad, especially in online ones.

Personally? I wish they dropped more often. I do buy them from time to time – usually in large sets, then go to town on the stack of BL chests our guild has. I’ve gotten rare minis, dyes, and scraps galore, so I don’t mind too much. I figure, if someone doesn’t like it, they won’t buy it. Nobody’s holding a shotgun to their head and forcing them to buy, and it isn’t like anything in the chests are a game changer.

Somebody opened 500 and posted the results https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/50-Black-Lyon-Keys/

Think of them like scratch and win tickets, you know the odds aren’t in your favour but if you get a few might be lucky and end up ahead. If you don’t like scratchies, you probably won’t like keys.

I keep the ones that drop for free.

If was allowed to say it in one word, that would be NO.

Well, duh. No gun is needed. People will do it on their own compulsion. This formula they’ve established is enough on it’s own.

Tashiro Kurosawa.7481:

Personally? I wish they dropped more often. I do buy them from time to time – usually in large sets, then go to town on the stack of BL chests our guild has. I’ve gotten rare minis, dyes, and scraps galore, so I don’t mind too much. I figure, if someone doesn’t like it, they won’t buy it. Nobody’s holding a shotgun to their head and forcing them to buy, and it isn’t like anything in the chests are a game changer.

Zeivu.3615:

Gamification in video games is always bad, especially in online ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ICbcBcXVC0

Sooooooooooo, this means that the makers of this game are enablers to RNG addiction, lining their pockets while we really are getting little or nothing at all?

More or less, yes. That is what is going on here. It’s nothing new and GW2 isn’t the first to do this.

Im Mudbone.1437:

Zeivu.3615:

Gamification in video games is always bad, especially in online ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ICbcBcXVC0

Sooooooooooo, this means that the makers of this game are enablers to RNG addiction, lining their pockets while we really are getting little or nothing at all?

i like the black lion keys if i got them from personal story level 10 reward, extremely rare drop from playing, etc.

i do not like the black lion keys if i have to buy them from the gem store.

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so, i never bought any black lion keys from the gem store.
all the black lion keys i used are from non gem store sources.

i think i have around 5 ticket scraps, not enough for a full ticket yet.

may consider doing black lion key farms on new disposable character when i have truly nothing to do or no other games to play.

but that is not quite possible since there is always some thing to do in guild wars 2, or many other games to play.

No.

It screams F2P Cash Shop. This is supposed to be a “AAA” MMO. RNG Gambling in the Gem Store is not what a AAA MMO does. It is what cheap F2P MMOs do. Which is exactly what GW2 is becoming.

No I don’t
I buy other things- just yesterday I bought a broom, because why not?

I will never buy stuff that gives me a "chance "instead of what I want.
I did get a ticket form a personal story chest once- but I am not fooled :P

much better to buy the weapons for the price they are on the TP, that way you know what you are getting

That’s why they keep most of the choice loot (such as skins and tickets) found in them to be soul-bound and exclusive these days. It doesn’t give users that choice.

Morrigan.2809:

No I don’t
I buy other things- just yesterday I bought a broom, because why not?

I will never buy stuff that gives me a "chance "instead of what I want.
I did get a ticket form a personal story chest once- but I am not fooled :P

much better to buy the weapons for the price they are on the TP, that way you know what you are getting

I hate them.
I really want a skin that is no longer for sale on the TP. I refuse to gamble possibly hundreds of dollars on that particular skin.

I once asked if maybe Anet needed a gambling license or something (because this is real money we’re talking about) but I don’t think I ever got an official answer, pointing to concrete laws or regulations.

Eyelusion.8205:

Zahld, I would expect the same. But, we can’t even get an answer on the Mystic Toilet’s RNG, let alone the Black Lion Chests RNG.

This way they can change the chance between the scenes whenever they please. It leaves them with more control.

Zanshin.5379:

I once asked if maybe Anet needed a gambling license or something (because this is real money we’re talking about) but I don’t think I ever got an official answer, pointing to concrete laws or regulations.

I think they get around it because it always gives you something and one of those things is always a booster.

Black Lion Chests have some of the best loot in the game, but they are notoriously stingy. You will almost always get crap and feel cheated. ANet really needs to increase the amount of drops per chest and add some more mid-range drops to the chests so that there is a decent chance of getting something worth the price tag.

I regret every gem I ever wasted on keys, and probably never will bother with them again.

I don’t like throwing money into fire. Good thing the keys still drop during PS, I got my Tormented GS thanks to those.

The black lion chests system should be been burned down when lion’s arch got destroyed. I hate the kitten things.

I have kinda mixed feelings about them.
I kinda like the surprise element in not knowing what I am going to get, but I don’t like that it is for most part all junk with a very very very rare chance of something good.

I have no idea how many chests I’ve opened, I have bought keys, but it is not something I do often. Mostly when I wanted to buy something else and had leftover gems.

I have had a lucky streak once with them chests, where I got a full ticket and did manage to collect enough scraps for another ticket, and I got both full makeover and a couple of hair kits. But that I account to some sudden extreme luck, because it never happened before and have not happened since.

Now I am not overly happy with those black lion chests as they are now… the chances for something good are just way too low in comparison to what it cost or what effort goes into getting even 1 key. Sooo imo if keys were more accessable through normal play, maybe it could drop from some highend chests? That or the chances for all round more desireable items what we currently get should be higher.

I don’t like them, but I’m not actively opposed to them. I don’t mind them existing.

Given all I really want from BLCs are the Weapon Tickets however, I do feel the scrap drop rate is a little on the mean side.

I love the keys. Wish i had more. Always happy to see one dropping.

I hate the chests. Wish i had not have 250. Always sad to delete them by the dozens because there is no way in hell that i will ever open that much.

Never bought keys, never will. On the rare occasions I think about it I quickly run a character to level 10, get a free key and remind myself that the junk that comes from the chest is not worth buying.

As other people have already said if you want a specific item you’re better off buying it directly from the Trading Post.

Black Lion Chests/Keys are designed to appeal to people who like gambling. As other people have said it’s like scratch cards. They know the chance of getting anything good is tiny, they mainly buy them for the fun of it and consider anything they do get a bonus. Apparently it’s very successful, I’ve heard they’re the most profitable item in the gem store.

Zanshin.5379:

I once asked if maybe Anet needed a gambling license or something (because this is real money we’re talking about) but I don’t think I ever got an official answer, pointing to concrete laws or regulations.

I don’t have sources to hand but the way I’ve heard it is they don’t need one because of two important differences between Black Lion Chests and real-life gambling:

1) Gems are not a real currency. It’s stated in the EULA that they have zero real world value and cannot be re-sold, exchanged, refunded etc. etc. for real world money. Therefore you’re not gambling with real money, you’re giving away money to Anet and then gambling with a virtual currency for virtual items in a virtual world. (Technically you’re also not winning anything because the EULA also states that all in-game items remain Anets intellectual property.)

2) Unlike scratch cards, lotteries etc. you are guaranteed a prize, from a known list of possible prizes. You don’t know which one you’ll get or what the odds are but it’s enough. Which puts Black Lion Chests into the same category as those fairground games where you pay, hook a rubber duck with a magnet or whatever and turn it over to find out what your prize is.

You might not get what you want, and what you win might not even be worth the amount you paid but you get something for your money so it’s not gambling, doesn’t need a licence (at least in the UK or US, I can’t guarantee it’s the same world-wide) and under 18’s can participate.

I don’t know why they didn’t use the same chest system as eye of the north, it was a massive gold sink from buying the lock picks, and in higher areas you could get some decent stuff, if anet truly wanted to remove gold from the game, this would have been a good way to start.

Nope.
I satisfy my crave for RNG by buying a 5 euro scratch and win ticket once every two weeks.
The RNG in this game is SOOO bad that if you actually buy the stuff because you actually want something you’ll have to spend quite a bit (at least in my case). With the RL tickets you don’t actually expect to win anything.

I’ve never bought keys, and I won’t either unless something drastic is done with the drop rates of items inside. As it is, most of the crap inside isn’t worth the cost of the key.

All of my opened boxes have been with keys that’ve dropped for me or via the PS. Actually, I just got 1 the other night and don’t know if I should use it now or wait till after 4/15.

RNG boxes aren’t necessarily a bad thing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIlrJLIyiWk) if done well and not abused (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBIX_A1l1bM). I think ANet could probably refine their model a bit, it’s not bad but it’s not good either (especially since it’s not core to the game).

Got a few keys during the Personal Story quests for my alts, the chests contained mostly junk but there were a few low-value but neat items (Tiger Charr backpack, Makeover kits and Transmutation crystals). Afterward I bought a set of ten keys afterward and didn’t get anything even remotely worthwhile out of the chests. Not worth the cost, imo. Who is buying these things? The chances of getting good loot are low they might as well have keys drop as often as the chests do.

If the chests had a guaranteed ticket scrap, I’m sure they’d get a lot more sales on keys. But this silliness of 1 booster, 1 tonic, 1 wtf just doesn’t do anything for me.

Something like 11-(?[1,100]) would give a rare chance at a full ticket but give plenty of progress toward getting enough scraps to buy skins off the BL vendors.

Usually I tend to avoid actually buying them.
My gems go to outfits, minis, and dyes.
There are the few occasions I’ll have extra gems laying around and I’ll need to use game gold converted to round them out.
That’s when I buy keys.

If I get on one a drop, I’ll use it happily.
If I want to try and farm them that’s what alts are for.

The value for them personally is rather low. I’ve received one too many makeover kits for my tastes and I can’t even sell them! I don’t want to throw them away either because it would be a waste.