Guild Wars 2

I just logged out for the evening, but before I did, I noticed something peculiar. Can someone explain to me, how in this “free market”, both Gems and Gold are spiking at the same time?

I think I must of slept through that process explanation during economics class.

People are exchanging Gold for Gems to buy expansion slots. And then there’s people like me who are exchanging Gems for Gold to take advantage of the high rates. But the spike are more towards the Gold > Gem.

You must still be asleep to have formulated that premise. How is gold spiking? The fact that the current relation is more gold <=> fewer gems means that gems are spiking, and gems alone. Gold is being devalued in relation.

/fail

Maybe that’s what he means but just misunderstood the premise itself. I think as lots of people have said there is a virtually unlimited amount of gems and gold in the system such that it’s not a matter of more gold vs more gems, but rather the rate at which people exchange gold → gems and vice versa. For example, given a day with 0 gold<→gem transaction, simply increasing the amount of gold in the system (e.g. farming) will not affect the price of gold<→gem. But with the sale, the amount of people exchanging gold→gem increases the price of gems.

Pedra.4381:

I just logged out for the evening, but before I did, I noticed something peculiar. Can someone explain to me, how in this “free market”, both Gems and Gold are spiking at the same time?

I think I must of slept through that process explanation during economics class.

The Gold-to-Gems graphic and the Gems-to-Gold graphic have inversed axes.

In the first graph, the item that you BUY is on the Y-axe.

In the second graph, the item that you SELL is on the Y-axe.

It’s misleading, yes.

I don’t know if there is some sort of marketing theory to defend this. Maybe some marketeer thought that more people would convert when the graphics go up and decided to mislead us by changing the axes.

But maybe it’s just a coincidence that the UI is so misleading.

Its probably easier to understand that when the sale was announced gems and gold both spiked in rapid succession.

Its also easier to understand if you recognize that on the graph a “gem spike” is an upward slope, and a “gold spike” is a downward slope. If you see a very sharp ^ shape – gems spiked first (the rise “/”) and then gold spiked (the fall “\”).

People who wanted gems and had coin converted en mass – spiking the gems. That spike suddenly made it the best time ever to cash out gem for gold if you’d been holding them for that purpose (or bought some with dollars) and they promply drove the price back down. Not as far though (people willing to pay cash or waiting to cash out were far fewer than the people chasing the sale).

John Smith.4610:

It’s probably just a misreading of the UI.

As both you and others have said, I think ya’ll are correct. Thanks.

Leablo.2651:

You must still be asleep to have formulated that premise. How is gold spiking? The fact that the current relation is more gold <=> fewer gems means that gems are spiking, and gems alone. Gold is being devalued in relation.

/fail

John Smith.4610:

So the sale has created two distinct increases in demand, for both gems and gold.

Well, Leablo, it seems you are perhaps the “fail”. Did you even look or where you just “on the bandwagon”?

John Smith.4610:

It’s probably just a misreading of the UI. With the sale on bank and bag slots, the demand for gems increased dramatically. Inside the currency exchange as players receive gems for their gold, the gems become more scarce and the exchange rate is adjust to reflect the different level of scarcity. This in turn creates a better rate for Gems -> Gold in which the players will receive more gold for their gems. This generates additional demand for Gold. So the sale has created two distinct increases in demand, for both gems and gold.

Hey John, I had a question.

I know you’ve previously said that gems are “limited.” But are they literally limited? Like, hypothetically, they can be bought out with gold and no one can buy anymore?

Or are you just saying this to explain the algorithm where Gold → Gems increase the ratio and Gems → Gems decrease the ratio?

Because I can believe it when the ratios change based on the amount of transactions, but aren’t literally “limited.” Or is really limited, and only replenished through cash → gem transactions?

If you understand what I’m saying. Thanks!

Just food for thought, the curve could go up exponentially at one point – so while the supply (or amount) of gems for trade is finite it could be not practical to reach that point because the last gems would turn out to be too expensive for anyone to afford.

If that makes sense.

Rouven.7409:

Just food for thought, the curve could go up exponentially at one point – so while the supply (or amount) of gems for trade is finite it could be not practical to reach that point because the last gems would turn out to be too expensive for anyone to afford.

If that makes sense.

Oh no, it makes perfect sense and I agree with you. But I just was using that hypothetical situation I suppose to clarify my question.