Guild Wars 2

HI all, i just wondering with the Anniversary sale going on. I wonder if im the only one that thinks “gems” are pretty expensive.

right now i see the “unlimited farming tools” and they go for 1000 gems, to get all 3 Unlimited farming tools you would end up putting 3k gems for those items.

Then come the skins and other stuff. I understand that the game needs to get their funding form somewhere. and it’s a “free to play game” instead of the p2p during gw1. But still i think you “invest” a lot of money then monthly subscription with an open item mall.

I will wait and see what more “sale” or discount there will be on the gemstore. As of now it’s to pricey for me.

Anyone agree with me ? i would like to know your opinion on the gems prices . and if Anet should “change” abit

I dont mind items like unlimited farming tools being expensive, but the inflation has made the gemstore prices kittened.

It takes ages for a casual player to get 800 gems together nowadays. And the only rewarding gameplay is joining a zerg and spamming 1.

BLC skins being locked behind a 100g/RNG door. It’s hard to get even one skin.

You can argue that it’s just cosmetics, but aren’t cosmetics the end game of GW2?

Not saying we should be able to get everything, but by playing about 2-3 hours a day u can barely accomplish anything unless u only do the zerg and spam 1 which I would hardly call gameplay..

I think the fact that they are that expensive means they’ll never be pay to win. They’re a convenience item for people who want to support the game. They’re not supposed to be “worth it”.

Anymore, yes gems are expensive. Not even eight months ago you could get 100 gems for about four or five gold. Now you need 12 gold (approaching 13) for 100 gems. I remember thinking I’d actually earn some of the armor sets a few months back when 64 gold could earn me 800 gems… by the time I had 64 gold it only netted closer to 700 gems. So… sadly I’ve shelled out enough money to buy them instead because I want to save the gold I earn as a casual player to slowly buy mats for ascended back pieces. Luckily I haven’t spent more on the game in two years than a sub would have cost me, but I’ve heard of others who have.

Well, not really sadly- I edit- since it has been about the same (a little less) than a sub and I’m fine paying sub fees for games I enjoy. The F2P model downside is it is really easy to spend more than a 15$ sub if you aren’t careful.

I think individually since the account wide tools update, they’d cost you 1300-1500 gems a pop. So three for 3000 is a pretty good deal.

ETA: I’m wrong. I think they used to cost 800 gems before the account wide update. Since then 1000 gems or so.

Not so much a super awesome deal as much as it is a bundle pack?

Websites telling me they’re individual. So, it’s basically a second (third? fourth?) chance to get these tools again.

I think if you want to buy gems with gold the best option is to plan ahead: buy them when there isn’t a sale on, when nothing new has been released for a little while (or when the new things have been fairly unexciting like the consumables booster) because then the price drops a bit. Then save them until there is something you want.

what it boils down to, is that too much content is introduced into the gem store, rather than through gold.

gem to gold ratio is essentially always about how valuable in game gold is as compared to gems.
which comes down to what you can buy with it. For many players what you can buy with gold isnt as valuable by far as what you can buy with gems. Things wont change until what you can buy with gold is more valuable.

Vayne.8563:

I think the fact that they are that expensive means they’ll never be pay to win. They’re a convenience item for people who want to support the game. They’re not supposed to be “worth it”.

yes but only when you look at this

characterslots 800gems (the normal price)
bag slot 400 gems
bank tab 600 gems

this things alone are way to expensive for an normal/new player when wanna buy it for gold so gw2 is not far from PAYtoWIN anymore

its 3 bagslots 200g – seriously?
only 2 banktabs 200g – rly?
characterslot 130g

no – new player can not pay this and they dont even would have all bags or bankslots with this

so yes – gw2 is PAYtoWIN allraedy

So what do you win if you have all possible bank/bag slots opened?

What do you win if you have 64 characters?

There is nothing to win, it is all about convenience. (And in the case of more characters fun.)

If you have 64 characters, you probably need all the bank/bag slots you can get though….

I kinda wish they had like a bundle of 2.5k Gems for Three tools of a specific set. 3k Each.. Mehhhhh.

I fully agree, actually ever since the shop opened and I looked at the gem prizes my thoughts were ‘rediculous’ prices for a “make once → reproduce endlessly”-item. And as a result I have not spend 1$ on gems (seeing I bought an artbook, and all 3 books, I already paid 2x the game’s price, so ‘sofar’ I think I supported Anet enough); I did exchange some gold for gems and bought some bank slots… which with all these ‘one time items’ and ‘stacks upon stacks of high level crafting materials’ are pretty much a need to stay sane..

It’s also not ‘just’ how high prices are, but next to that the relative pricing. aka. 2 bag slots on one character = one character slot (which nets you 4 bag slots for a mule). That ratio is so skewed in places that it’s off putting to take part in it, and seeing money talks, I refuse to spend my money there…

end statement, I am glad you brought this up, seeing silently not spending your money actually conveys very little, this at least gave me the opportunity to (again, as I think I done it before) express exactly why I refuse to spend any money there…

Thank you all for responding to my topic,

I do understand why Anet would want to make money of the gemstore that way they can keep up their salaries and “content” out. But yea i think they are “forcing players” or manipulating in away to buy gems anways.

IF they would make an bundel of say 2000 or 2.5k gems for all three gathering tools then maybe i would buy them.

Last week i gotten 2 chracters slots for 800 gems now it;s on sale for 400 ish.

it pains me because with 1600 gems i could get a new copy of Gw2 and store stuff there. Of-course there are some downside on that method. BUt this is just to point out how ridiculous some pricing are. My personal opinion is that cash-shop items should in no way cost more then a game. unless you get Something worth wile or “content”

I hope that Anet take notice of this (how little the chances are) since i know large gaming company dont really care what players feel about pricing ~.

Please lower the price a bit to be more adorable. or adjust it a bit.

P.S the new weapons skin on the gem store, i like the katana skin but for 800 gems it’s a bit to much for a skin that doesnt have any effects to it. think about it would it not be cooler with flames or glow? or both? Endless possibility with that weapon. for now i feel that skin should be 300-450 gem not 600

Romek.4201:

Vayne.8563:

I think the fact that they are that expensive means they’ll never be pay to win. They’re a convenience item for people who want to support the game. They’re not supposed to be “worth it”.

yes but only when you look at this

characterslots 800gems (the normal price)
bag slot 400 gems
bank tab 600 gems

this things alone are way to expensive for an normal/new player when wanna buy it for gold so gw2 is not far from PAYtoWIN anymore

its 3 bagslots 200g – seriously?
only 2 banktabs 200g – rly?
characterslot 130g

no – new player can not pay this and they dont even would have all bags or bankslots with this

so yes – gw2 is PAYtoWIN allraedy

When I first played this game, I practically didn’t pay a dime until I maxed out my first character. I don’t think it’s more of a Pay to Win but rather Pay for Convenience as it should.

Anyways, I do agree that there are some gem items that are more expensive than others like the unlimited harvest tools. Either way, all the more reason why I just save up my gems because I still haven’t seen anything on the store that tickles my fancy since the Kasmeer staff skin and the mini Scruffy.

It wasn’t until the Queen’s Jubilee a year ago before I broke 100g, that’s after 9 months of playing. Since then I’ve realized all the activities that can earn me gold yet not force me into the “usual” suggestions of speedruns, farming and mindless gathering on Orr.

The Gold for Gems was never a prominently advertised feature of this game. It’s not on the box or website blurb about the game. The fact that some feel that the game should be totally free, even though the cash shop has always been a prominent feature. The Gold for Gems is there to fund the Gems for Gold aspect of the cash shop, not replace 100% of all gem purchases with gold. Fake gold doesn’t pay the bills.

In fact, the only reason I see for a Gold => Gem mechanic is to act as a gold sink to people who have the time available to farm. Also it removes gold permanently from the game, which act as a controlling factor to the economy.

Well it removes a bit and sequesters the rest for Gem for Gold buyers.

Gem prices seem mostly fine to me. (Sometimes I wonder why an outfit is priced nearly as much as an armor set or a mini that can’t swim is 500 gems instead of 400.)

Of course, it would be nice if they offered discounts for buying in bulk. However, either they are making good money with the current system or their monetization experts aren’t open to new ideas.

The thing that makes the biggest impact is when people don’t spend cash to buy gems and don’t buy some gem-only products. As long as people, such as myself, are willing to pay 1,000 gems for the convenience of an infinite-use tool, they will offer them at that price.

Before you go and spend 3000 gems, note that the 3 harvesting tools they added are just for plants (all of them). I hope to see the rest coming too.

The regular prices for all Gem Store items are decent as they are. If you want to save money, it’s always good to have some self control, and wait for sales. Things like Character Slots, or BL Keys always goes on sale. As for skins, I’m sure they’ll go on sale at some point in the future. By then, they’ll be considered “classics”. But the reason why they would be on sale is because there would be better skins released.

And by the way, it takes me about a minute to get 4,000 Gems. If I can do it that quickly, so can new or Casual players.

NatsuyakiRingo.3452:

Last week i gotten 2 chracters slots for 800 gems now it;s on sale for 400 ish.

So, you’ve learned a lesson: only buy things that are on sale. Unless you must have it now, but then you really should really want it, no matter the price.

NatsuyakiRingo.3452:

P.S the new weapons skin on the gem store, i like the katana skin but for 800 gems it’s a bit to much for a skin that doesnt have any effects to it. think about it would it not be cooler with flames or glow? or both? Endless possibility with that weapon. for now i feel that skin should be 300-450 gem not 600

No, it’d be horrible if it had flames or some glowing effect and I most certainly wouldn’t have gotten it then…. And for me, that price is decent, because I think that skin looks awesome.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

The regular prices for all Gem Store items are decent as they are. If you want to save money, it’s always good to have some self control, and wait for sales. Things like Character Slots, or BL Keys always goes on sale. As for skins, I’m sure they’ll go on sale at some point in the future. By then, they’ll be considered “classics”. But the reason why they would be on sale is because there would be better skins released.

And by the way, it takes me about a minute to get 4,000 Gems. If I can do it that quickly, so can new or Casual players.

Not sure if serious or bluff.

Reading this thread brings home just how personal the concept of value is.

I bought a salvage-o-matic. It turned out that switching it between characters via the bank was more trouble than buying salvage kits, so 4 of my 5 characters now buy salvage kits. Some people would buy 5x salvage-o-matic, which is 42.50 in the UK. That’s roughly the cost of The Witcher 3, or whatever takes your fancy. I think I’d rather get Wasteland 2, personally…

The banker golem is 500 gems for 2 weeks, roughly the entire monthly subscription for World of Warcraft or Eve Online. Does it work for all characters, or would I need five banker contracts? Twenty quid a year for instant bank access on all characters, that I might pay.

OTOH I was all over the katana. It looks great, I use it on the two characters it suits, it cost six quid and it makes me happy.

Morte.5916:

Reading this thread brings home just how personal the concept of value is.

I bought a salvage-o-matic. It turned out that switching it between characters via the bank was more trouble than buying salvage kits, so 4 of my 5 characters now buy salvage kits. Some people would buy 5x salvage-o-matic, which is 42.50 in the UK. That’s roughly the cost of The Witcher 3, or whatever takes your fancy. I think I’d rather get Wasteland 2, personally…

The banker golem is 500 gems for 2 weeks, roughly the entire monthly subscription for World of Warcraft or Eve Online. Does it work for all characters, or would I need five banker contracts? Twenty quid a year for instant bank access on all characters, that I might pay.

OTOH I was all over the katana. It looks great, I use it on the two characters it suits, it cost six quid and it makes me happy.

The thing is… you don’t have to…
you don’t want to buy “Copper-Fed Salvage-o-Matic”? GW2 says: no problemo but you just have to buy salvage kits every 15 – 25 salvage.

you don’t want to buy “Banker golem”? GW2 says: no problemo but you have to teleport to the nearest bank (or just like me to LA) and teleport back to where you were and it cost max 10 silver (which you basicly get when you do 2 events).

Personally I think the gemstore price is fine, if you don’t like then don’t spend… it WILL not make your game any less GW2:ish… you can still get legendary without spending a dime… you can still get full ascended armor + ascended trinket without again spending a dime (actually you can’t even get ascended without some game playtime since some actually needs to be crafted not just buy from TP)… You want to do decent in WvW/sPvP/PvE? Suure! it takes like a week of running all 3 paths of CoF to get zerker set, it also takes like a week of running all 3 paths of AC to get soldiers set…

If you think about it… there is really no much merit in anykind of form to buy gemstone store items… except of course for cool skin… but think of the “Copper-Fed Salvage-o-Matic” it costs 3 copper each time you use it and it is exactly the same as “Basic Salvage Kit”… now lets compare the 2…

“Basic Salvage Kit” costs 88 copper which makes it 3.52 copper per use, which makes “Copper-Fed Salvage-o-Matic” 0,52 copper cheaper per use… At the current rate Gem→Gold (gw2spidy) 100 gems costs 16g 25s 96c and “Copper-Fed Salvage-o-Matic” costs 800 gem so…

16g 25s 96c x 8 = 130g 7s 68c

now lets see how many salvage uses you need to make it back and make it “worthwhile” in term of golds…

130g 7s 68c = 1300768c
1300768c x 0.52c = 676400 times…

Yea… it isnt worth it, don’t buy it >.> (I personally own it just because I’m lazy ass!)…

You probably get my point by now… if not then well it’s hopeless for you please continue your debate without me… GW2 is already pay-once-play-forever and it is not pay2win… So I think asking everything to be cheap and affordable won’t make any senses… personally first 1 year playing this I’ve never spent a dime neither have converted gold to gem (I was poor D=) and never felt like I really need to… I did dungeon like anyone in the game and I did WvW like anyone else…

they should create some new ingame items , like new legendaries , it would be good for every1… ,
-price of gem will start lowerizing bcz lots of players will start selling gems for gold to be able to buy new legendaries ,
-other players who buys gems with gold will be happy couse of it ,
-and gw2 company will make higher profit and income than it is curently ,
-and players who wants other legendaries than barbie fairy tailes designed legendaries will be also happy, if we asume new ones will not be all pink with rainbows and ponies … which doesnt suits to 50% of profesions and rases …

i mean why would players who already payed lots of money for gems would continue with buying gems ,when those kind of players probably already have all the legendaries that they wanted to have , u need to give to those guys a new challenge so they continue to spend money …