Guild Wars 2

I rly need some extra bankslots and i decided to look how much it would cost me. I was pretty shocked when i saw the price has gone up to 21g for 1 slot. They’re are 7 slots so thats like 140g. Rly Anet? This is way to much. Im happy to pay like 50g in total but this is just to much.

Prices going up wont make me buy gems with real money cause im principally against it. I think it’s week and ruines the game. Keep the gemprices the same so you ppl dont lose money but lower the insane gold needed to get 100 gems.

I think that the expected course is that people would buy extras, like bank slots, with real money. The price, in that respect, hasn’t changed.

However, ANet was nice enough to provide a method where people who don’t want to spend real money can but gems with gold.

I am curious, why are you principally against buying gems with real money? We’re you a Wow subscriber? If so, how is this different?

ArenaNet does not control Gold to Gem prices players do.

no i hated WoW for the monthly fee. ’ma buy and play guy. I get annoyed by all the extra costs

anzenketh.3759:

ArenaNet does not control Gold to Gem prices players do.

And you believe this why?

anzenketh.3759:

ArenaNet does not control Gold to Gem prices players do.

This. ArenaNet can’t lower gold→gem prices since the price is based on how many people buy gems with gold. The fewer gems to buy, the higher the price. That’s the way markets work — low supply + high demand = higher prices, high supply + low demand = lower prices.

Pedra.4381:

anzenketh.3759:

ArenaNet does not control Gold to Gem prices players do.

And you believe this why?

why would you believe otherwise?

My input on this thread:

" I grow tired of the foolish foolery of the foolish fools of this foolish country."

Vol.5241:

Pedra.4381:

anzenketh.3759:

ArenaNet does not control Gold to Gem prices players do.

And you believe this why?

why would you believe otherwise?

Because a truly player driven economy would be counterproductive to the company’s monetary goals. And the economy guy gets paid way too much to let anything in this arena be out of his control.

Why do you believe it is?

I believe the price is largely controlled by players.

Can Arenanet affect gemprices indirectly? Of course – by reducing the gem price cost of items, reduce gem price in real $, increase gold rates in game, e.t.c.

If you think there is anything ‘pure’ in economics you are mistaken.

Pedra.4381:

Why do you believe it is?

Because the trends seen in the gold/gem prices appear to reflect what you’d expect. It seems like a lot of effort for arenanet to delibratly mimic predictable trends to get money out of us; when they could let nature takes its course and get exactly the same results

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck – it’s probably not a chicken in disguise.

Pedra.4381:

Because a truly player driven economy would be counterproductive to the company’s monetary goals. And the economy guy gets paid way too much to let anything in this arena be out of his control.

Why do you believe it is?

From this thread, and the numerous other ones like it… I’d actually argue that some players are generally counterproductive to a player driven economy.

Pedra.4381:

anzenketh.3759:

ArenaNet does not control Gold to Gem prices players do.

And you believe this why?

Because that point has been beaten to death already, numerous times.

The exchange rate surged because players rushed to convert gold to gems for the sickle and the kitten. Large influx of gold in and gems out means the exchange price surges.

In a way ArenaNet does affect the exchange rate but by only putting items in the gem shop players are willing to get but are too cheap to buy the gems with $.

Behellagh.1468:

In a way ArenaNet does affect the exchange rate but by only putting items in the gem shop players are willing to get but are too cheap to buy the gems with $.

It’s an interesting strategy – As long as players buy gems with gold, then it becomes ever more enticing for players to buy gold using gems – so in essence anet still gets the money either way, just who foots the bill differs

Ryuujin.8236:

Behellagh.1468:

In a way ArenaNet does affect the exchange rate but by only putting items in the gem shop players are willing to get but are too cheap to buy the gems with $.

It’s an interesting strategy – As long as players buy gems with gold, then it becomes ever more enticing for players to buy gold using gems – so in essence anet still gets the money either way, just who foots the bill differs

Exactly. Which then acts as a counting force to bring the exchange rate down. Go to GW2Spidy and look at the gem rates chart for the last month and see how some of the surges are eased off over time until then next big thing comes to the gem shop.

It barely went up from yesterday like 40s per 100… whats with all the kittening? That’s hardly through the roof. 10g per 100 is through the roof

There was mention of new items including the sickle a few weeks ago. I made sure to slowly convert my gold to 800 gems right away because I knew a spike would occur as soon as the item would be introduced. This only affects those who aren’t paying attention and wait until it’s too late to convert gold to gems.

To the people who have no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to Gem Store prices. Gem prices are completely controlled by player interaction through buying and selling.

In the beginning there was a stock amount of Gems put on the market by Anet, setting the base. With time, players have either caused this amount to go up or down based on the people who were buying Gems with their money, then selling them and the people who were simply buying Gems with gold.

When more players are buying Gems with gold and there aren’t enough people to keep the supply 100% there; then yes, prices are going to go up. If people are not buying Gems (Such as in times where Gems are not really needed // no new/cool gem store items // most players have their bank slots // bag slots) then prices will go down.

A developer stated this in similar words a long while ago. If you want to call out a developer and call them wrong. Be my guest, you are the idiot who wants to do so. I am not going to stop you from being wrong.

-

Now one could argue that Anet controls the gem prices through proxy, by introducing new items. This runs up prices as people are buying the gems with gold to get these new items. Then people get sick of wasting their in game money, as prices are too high to buy them with gold, so instead they buy them with real money.

A suspicious part of me wonders if the key and pet sale over the weekend was meant to flush out any surplus gems so when the sickle and kitten went on sale the inevitable surge in the exchange price would drive even more players to the cash option.

Nah! They wouldn’t have the foresite to do that, right? :p

Baseleader.4128:

I rly need some extra bankslots and i decided to look how much it would cost me. I was pretty shocked when i saw the price has gone up to 21g for 1 slot.

They still cost the same ammount of USD to me. And Im pretty sure Anet/NC$oft want to make money from them. Otherwise you would start with a huge bank and wouldnt have to buy them.

There are other games where you pay a fixed ammount of gold for the bank slots. All you have to do is pay a monthly fee to play them.

anzenketh.3759:

ArenaNet does not control Gold to Gem prices players do.

I would like to believe that.

Every time a new “desirable” item is released to the gemstore, gem prices rise simply due to overall demand. Even when there isn’t anything too special, I’m pretty sure that the ratio between people who buy gems with money vs. gold is tiny. Therefore, basic things like bank slots, char slots, bag slots, etc. will always be in demand and likely purchased without spending real money. Serious drops in gem prices will rarely ever occur in my opinion. I’m no economist, so what I said could be dribble-drabble but it makes sense to me…

Space should never have cost gems. It completely screws new players.

Avatara.1042:

Space should never have cost gems. It completely screws new players.

new players dont need space. and, if they need, they can buy.

New players need to get bigger bags. They don’t need more bag slots.

kokocabana.8153:

New players need to get bigger bags. They don’t need more bag slots.

Packrats like me need both. (Not complaining though. I’ve bought all of my gems with cash, so it was all the same to me. I just don’t have the time to farm in games anymore these days.)

I’ve done the same with my bank tabs.

But in any case the gem <→ gold market is not an entirely free one – when you sell gems you sell at a predetermined price based on the volume of the market – you can’t go lower to sell your gems quicker, nor go higher to force people to give you more gold for your money.

If the gem <→ gold market was completely player controlled we would see true buy and sell orders and an inventory of gems.

Baseleader.4128:

no i hated WoW for the monthly fee. ’ma buy and play guy. I get annoyed by all the extra costs

can i ask who should pay for the server, the maintaines and such on the game if none payed a monthly fee or bought stuff with real money in the gem store?

This is why I put all my money into gems months ago, let’s me buy up stuff pretty easily.

Ryuujin.8236:

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck – it’s probably not a chicken in disguise.

Either way, someone is always going to cry fowl play though.

Behellagh.1468:

The exchange rate surged because players rushed to convert gold to gems for the sickle and the kitten. Large influx of gold in and gems out means the exchange price surges.

In a way ArenaNet does affect the exchange rate but by only putting items in the gem shop players are willing to get but are too cheap to buy the gems with $.

I was so upset Tuesday when I realized I forgot to buy my gems with gold on Monday

It does go up and down, try right before they release new stuff (usually a Tuesday, so try Monday).

Something I think is not right.
Many players, I believe 90% has changed gold>gem.
And many players who buy gem with real cash spends the gem straight in the gem store.
But not many players (none I know) buy gem>gold

This leads to the gem price only increases, but rarely decrease. (look at the whole picture of course)

Baseleader.4128:

no i hated WoW for the monthly fee. ’ma buy and play guy. I get annoyed by all the extra costs

You should realize that this “buy and play” concept can not work for a game that is going under continuous development. People don’t work for free. The fact they give you an alternative to real world currency/do not sell pay2win features gives you no grounds to complain about ingame currency transactions to gems.

Here are 3 cases for you, based on the what we have in gw2:
- The service you want to buy with gems are affordable/convenient enough for you to use in game currency to buy the item; great go for it.
- The service you want to buy with gems are gems are not worth the transaction your would have for to pay for with in game currency, but you are willing to pay for it with cash; great, you think it’s worth the money to spend on for a service of convenience, and the developers get paid (indirectly).
- The service you want is worth neither of the above, but neither does it stop you from progressing through the game; that’s fine, you apparently did not fall in the target market for that particular service. It is up to those that on sales to evaluate whether they need to adjust costs to get the largest benefit (usually comprised of customer satisfaction/income).

OMG the price crap again, does no one think outside the box?

the problem is simply that the game has to much good sink, you have to pay for pretty much everything.
need to travel, pay to travel.
killed ones, pay for armor repair.
reached a certain level, pay for a book.
and i can go on and on but the point is, the price this high because ppl overprice items, they overprice items so they can buy gems and have some left to pay the stupid travel cost.

this is why i think GW1 is superior, you never pay to travel, you can get as high as you want and not worry about paying for your power and dying just means you get a bit weaker in the instance you’re in.
i was ones the kind of person that complained it’s so difficult to get gold in GW but it’s getting better and better and you know why, because it doesn’t plague me constantly about paying up for everything i do.

GW1 gives ppl a chance to learn about handling gold, in GW2 it’s a hassle to get gold at all resulting in this ridicules situation.
pour ppl never get gems in time for anything unless they pay real money and the richies make it only worse.

I actually think the opposite. Gem price are through the roof because there are no money sink.

You need people to buy gem and trade for gold to make the price lower. I’m not sure there are many people doing that. Beside legendary and tier 3, I don’t see many people trading gem for gold.

Other games I played using similar system as GW2 have much more gold sink. So more people are trading in their gem/diamond/ruby/pearl/oriharukon(whatever currency) for gold.

Aurelian Omenkind.2470:

anzenketh.3759:

ArenaNet does not control Gold to Gem prices players do.

This. ArenaNet can’t lower gold->gem prices since the price is based on how many people buy gems with gold. The fewer gems to buy, the higher the price. That’s the way markets work — low supply + high demand = higher prices, high supply + low demand = lower prices.

Psssst supply is infinite.

Supply is infinite. When players convert gold to gem, rate goes up. When players convert gems->gold, rate goes down. Right now, players are buying gems with gold to get new gem store items. At the same time, players that buy gems with real money are also using it to buy gem store items and don’t have a need to convert their gems to gold. With more gems being bought with gold than gems being converted to gold, the rate will go up. After a few weeks with no new items, the exchange rate will go down a bit as the rate of players doing gold→gems slows down and there are more players doing gems→gold.

They may not start out buying gold with gems but say you buy a 2000 gem card at say Target, apply it to your account, buy that limited time pet or sickle and then they decide to take the left over gems and convert those into gold.

kokocabana.8153:

Supply is infinite. When players convert gold to gem, rate goes up. When players convert gems->gold, rate goes down.

That only properly applies if we replace conversion with an actual player-player EXCHANGE. Then supply and demand applies and not whatever math anet has put in to ensure gems will drift ever upwards.

^People getting more money with little to spend it on besides legendaries + uber exotic weps and new popular gem store items are what cause gem prices to go up. Anet’s math isn’t some wicked concoction that makes gems go up indefinitely. While it’s not supply and demand, they make it mimic supply and demand by having the price increase/decrease as players convert.

And as any game goes older the amount of extra gold for the wealthy increases (unless some seriously powerful gold sink exist) . As there’s more gold, those players are willing to convert more into gems. And of course as the gem gem shop with nice new things, people will want gems more throughout all virtual income levels. So inflation, and mostly introducing stronger player demand for gems is in why gems are going up. Anet just makes sure their math has gems increase with this demand they’re creating.

^ ya I basically see very little things that people would want to trade gem to gold with.

Anet probably want the gem price to be sky high. So less people will be able to trade gold for gem and have to use real money instead. I mean every mmorpg is trying to cash in somehow. And GW2 is trying to cashin someway since they don’t have a monthly sub.

I’m of those who thinks Gem price in po is getting too high too quick.

Especially as I try to mix sPvP with PvE. I’m now 35 in sPvP but you have no way to earn money in sPvP, to the opposite of McM.
Had I spent all that time in PvE I would have had more gp and would be more confortable to buy gems.
At a time there were the possibility to win gems in tournament, but this was not worth the time spent.
As it is now I have greatly reduced my sPvP timing (to the daily task, ie 3 games daily) to play more in pve and earn gold.

I have the feeling that if I stop the game only one week (hence for a longer period), the gem price will climb so much that it will not be worth playing again.

Imarion

Imarion.1650:

I’m of those who thinks Gem price in po is getting too high too quick.

Especially as I try to mix sPvP with PvE. I’m now 35 in sPvP but you have no way to earn money in sPvP, to the opposite of McM.
Had I spent all that time in PvE I would have had more gp and would be more confortable to buy gems.
At a time there were the possibility to win gems in tournament, but this was not worth the time spent.
As it is now I have greatly reduced my sPvP timing (to the daily task, ie 3 games daily) to play more in pve and earn gold.

I have the feeling that if I stop the game only one week (hence for a longer period), the gem price will climb so much that it will not be worth playing again.

Imarion

That’s only true if you’re one of those people who thinks free content is really free. Buy a gemcard. They’re not expensive and there’s nothing morally wrong with doing so for gem stuff. Personally I don’t convert gems to gold either.

Nope.
Gems are still too cheap.
I was very disappointed when I came back after 6 months to learn the ones I was sitting on had only doubled in value.

This is coming from someone who never buys Microtransactions by the way…
People who work a nine to five and then use their cash to get some GW2 gold, are at a much bigger time disadvantage to the supply-killing Flipping Crowd who sits there for 8 boring hours playing their sad little mini-game (instead of actually acquiring new resources that would help the economy remain fluid and the world actually feel alive again with real people doing real in-game events).

Let’s do some simple maths.
I played a little bit more than 1000 pvp games. That is around 10.000 minutes or 166 hours.
Had I spent all this time in Pve, I would have been a bit richer and it would be much more comfortable to buy gems even at current price.

Let’s consider 1 gold piece every 2 hours, I would have got 88po more.
At current price it is about 2640 gems more. And we should consider price of gems 2-3 months ago as I would be able to afford them at the time.

So what happens ? I’m driven away from PvP, just playing to get the daily (that’s 3 games, well actually 2 games and a half) and the rest is spent in PvE to earn gold to be able to buy gems.

Imarion

Avatara.1042:

Space should never have cost gems. It completely screws new players.

the space available from the beginning is beyond acceptable for new players. larger bags are very easy to obtain, and considering the stuff you get as a new player, the single bank slot is more than adequate for the wealth and needs of a new player.

Hell, I think I had 3 80s before I bought a new bank slot….and that’s only because I started spending more time leveling cooking to level toons, and that space certainly helps.

I skipped all the qq and mimimi …my solution:
Make a guild, buy influence something around 4g should be enough, wait 3 days and be happy with 50 slots.
Still not souldbound items there but I dont care, soulbound items have enough space in regualr bank.

If I need more space I make another guild.

anzenketh.3759:

ArenaNet does not control Gold to Gem prices players do.

But anet can introduce some new koooooooool skins in the gems store, or do more rng box drops like fused claim ticket.

As someone who buys gems with cash, gems → gold is still NOT high enough for me. I’m waiting for it to hit about 5g for 100 gems before I start converting gems to gold.

I am waiting for the exchange to be 10g per 100 gems before buying a gem card. Keep on rising.