Guild Wars 2

I bought $200 worth of gems this month. I support this game like crazy.

Today I see there’s an option to buy 8000 gems for $100. It’s about time you (ANET) give a price break to those that support this game on my level.

I want a price break if I’m buying $100 worth of your store currency at a time. You should be giving out 20-25% bonus gems for these large orders.

So uh … are you referring to ANet or yourself? The new option just makes it more convenient for people who wants to buy in larger amounts in one go instead of having to poke through the interface several times.

Giving a discount for the larger purchase would be the greedier path. The entire purpose of that would be to entice people into buying more than they normally would simply because it’s a better deal.

Gem price scaling would be a can of worms ANet should avoid. This kind of thing exists in the real world and only serves to hose those with less cash to play with. It may make fair business sense, but it smacks those with less ability to buy gems by, inversely, giving them a worse exchange rate. It’s not equitable across the board for all players, and as such, shouldn’t happen.

There are no discounts. 80 gems = $1 US, 1200 gems = $15, 2000 gems = $25, 8000 gems = $100.

Sorry, no bulk pricing for gems.

Most games i’ve played that have this type of exchange have bulk pricing. I guess i can see both sides of it, but it does motivate players to spend more to earn more. It’s pretty much a proven thing given the popularity of places like costco. I’d tend to agree being one of those players that tosses some of my disposable income at the game, but i can live without it.

800 for $10 = 0% bonus
1600 for $20 = 5% bonus
2800 for $35 = 10% bonus
4000 for $50 = 15% bonus
8000 for $100 = 20% bonus

This is common place in online games with purchased in game currency.

Anet should be giving something back (extra) to those that support the game on a higher level. With the higher option, we are doing nothing but saving Anet the transaction fees of multiple lower denomination purchases.

Crying about hosing players that can’t (or won’t) pay for the large purchase is baloney. What difference does it make to you, if player xxxxxx has an extra set of bunny ears or a few more character slots?

…..that’s right. None.

a big reason they give price breaks is because it costs money to receive money. often around $0.3+2%. So if you send them $10, they only get $9.5. If you send them $100, they only get $97.7. More gives them higher percent of the amount, so they encourage more by offering discounts. It also doubles as encouraging more spending, so it’s win/win

Firebaall.5127:

With the higher option, we are doing nothing but saving Anet the transaction fees of multiple lower denomination purchases.

Using Paypal fees as guidance, you would be saving Anet about $3 over the $100. If that’s your justification you’d be entitled to a 3% gem bonus.

Firebaall.5127:

800 for $10 = 0% bonus
1600 for $20 = 5% bonus
2800 for $35 = 10% bonus
4000 for $50 = 15% bonus
8000 for $100 = 20% bonus

This is common place in online games with purchased in game currency.

Anet should be giving something back (extra) to those that support the game on a higher level. With the higher option, we are doing nothing but saving Anet the transaction fees of multiple lower denomination purchases.

Crying about hosing players that can’t (or won’t) pay for the large purchase is baloney. What difference does it make to you, if player xxxxxx has an extra set of bunny ears or a few more character slots?

…..that’s right. None.

Not really. Aion also has 0 discounts for higher purchases, also an NCsoft game.

I don’t think that any currently running NCSOFT games have a discount on their proxy currency. City of Heroes did but that’s gone.

In a game where you can convert gems to gold, bulk discounts would be unfair. It’s great that we can purchase gold legitimately, but I don’t think gold should be cheaper for folks willing to spend $100 instead of $10. The only other game I know that allows you to purchase in game gold is D3, and they don’t have a proxy currency.

To be fair, you’d have to let it go the other way and give folks buying gems in bulk with gold a discount also. I think that would really mess up the conversion rate calculations.

Firebaall.5127:

800 for $10 = 0% bonus
1600 for $20 = 5% bonus
2800 for $35 = 10% bonus
4000 for $50 = 15% bonus
8000 for $100 = 20% bonus

This is common place in online games with purchased in game currency.

Anet should be giving something back (extra) to those that support the game on a higher level. With the higher option, we are doing nothing but saving Anet the transaction fees of multiple lower denomination purchases.

Crying about hosing players that can’t (or won’t) pay for the large purchase is baloney. What difference does it make to you, if player xxxxxx has an extra set of bunny ears or a few more character slots?

…..that’s right. None.

I was a little surprised Anet didn’t do this was well when I first purchased some gems and honestly one of the main reasons I don’t buy more gems then I do right now.

We should all resolve to buy the $10 option (multiple times), to arrive at the amount you intended to purchase.

At worst, your CC bill will look a bit messy. At best, maybe the transaction fees will get Anet to reconsider the fact that when we buy larger amounts, they make more money. At very best, they might understand that it’s a good thing to offer bonus gems for high paying orders.

More Profit, More Gems…..happy customers, happy Anet.

Firebaall.5127:

We should all resolve to buy the $10 option (multiple times), to arrive at the amount you intended to purchase.

At worst, your CC bill will look a bit messy. At best, maybe the transaction fees will get Anet to reconsider the fact that when we buy larger amounts, they make more money. At very best, they might understand that it’s a good thing to offer bonus gems for high paying orders.

More Profit, More Gems…..happy customers, happy Anet.

Except for the people who buy gems with gold, who would never see these discounts, not to mention the impact on the economy for those who get extra gems and transfer to gold. Someone like me who spends large amounts on gems could easily bank off gems>gold and buy just about everything in game. And those who are unable to make these larger purchases would never see this benefit and be at a great disadvantage. That doesn’t seem fair to anyone. I don’t want an advantage over those who can only afford $10, and I don’t want an advantage over people who use their time to buy gems with gold. Despite the large amounts I spend, I’m not for this.

And you really aren’t saving/making them more money. https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees

Firebaall.5127:

We should all resolve to buy the $10 option (multiple times), to arrive at the amount you intended to purchase.

Worst boycott ever.

Firebaall.5127:

800 for $10 = 0% bonus
1600 for $20 = 5% bonus
2800 for $35 = 10% bonus
4000 for $50 = 15% bonus
8000 for $100 = 20% bonus

This is common place in online games with purchased in game currency.

Anet should be giving something back (extra) to those that support the game on a higher level. With the higher option, we are doing nothing but saving Anet the transaction fees of multiple lower denomination purchases.

Crying about hosing players that can’t (or won’t) pay for the large purchase is baloney. What difference does it make to you, if player xxxxxx has an extra set of bunny ears or a few more character slots?

…..that’s right. None.

The issue with this is that you would then be able to convert it to gold and receive 20% more gold.

I’m certain the Gem/Gold conversion rate is where it is for a reason.

If there was no possibility of buying Gold, I’d agree with this wholeheartedly.

The point is to try NOT breaking the economy. (Assuming it is still in decent condition.)

Firebaall.5127:

We should all resolve to buy the $10 option (multiple times), to arrive at the amount you intended to purchase.

At worst, your CC bill will look a bit messy. At best, maybe the transaction fees will get Anet to reconsider the fact that when we buy larger amounts, they make more money. At very best, they might understand that it’s a good thing to offer bonus gems for high paying orders.

More Profit, More Gems…..happy customers, happy Anet.

ArenaNet/NCSoft may very well have a deal with the credit card companies to not have per-transaction fees and just pay an overall 2.5% or whatever.

Even if they had per-transaction fees, I’d imagine NCSoft/ArenaNet accountants would just be sitting around laughing about how much real cash they made off of fake currency.

I doubt “losing” an extra $1 here and there (on money they didn’t have to begin with) will make them lose any sleep at night.

Keep in mind, once they’ve “developed” the artwork and such for Gem Store purchases, it’s all pure profit.

We could debate about how much it actually costs to develop the Gem Store items, but I’d assume they pull in far more than they paid the artists and developers to implement said items.

Geotherma.2395:

Except for the people who buy gems with gold, who would never see these discounts, not to mention the impact on the economy for those who get extra gems and transfer to gold. Someone like me who spends large amounts on gems could easily bank off gems>gold and buy just about everything in game. And those who are unable to make these larger purchases would never see this benefit and be at a great disadvantage. That doesn’t seem fair to anyone. I don’t want an advantage over those who can only afford $10, and I don’t want an advantage over people who use their time to buy gems with gold. Despite the large amounts I spend, I’m not for this.

And you really aren’t saving/making them more money. https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees

Merchant credit card accounts get charged per transaction, and a percentage. I don’t pay via Paypal.

20% more gold is no more game breaking that buying gold in the first place. You’ve not calculated the actual money to gems conversion. You could buy 10s of thousands of dollars in real world money and still be insignificant, in terms of economy breaking. No one would even notice you. If by some obscene amount you spent, they did notice your effect on the economy………20% more wouldn’t matter. Ridiculous point, and you highly exaggerate by saying “great disadvantage”.

As for the “unfair to those that can’t afford it” argument. Get a job or look for some supplementary income. If you have time to play a game, and worry about those that can afford to buy more in game currency. You have time to get some other income happening.

Leablo.2651:

Firebaall.5127:

We should all resolve to buy the $10 option (multiple times), to arrive at the amount you intended to purchase.

Worst boycott ever.

Stop selling me stuff sir. Or else I shall buy some more.

Firebaall.5127:

Geotherma.2395:

Except for the people who buy gems with gold, who would never see these discounts, not to mention the impact on the economy for those who get extra gems and transfer to gold. Someone like me who spends large amounts on gems could easily bank off gems>gold and buy just about everything in game. And those who are unable to make these larger purchases would never see this benefit and be at a great disadvantage. That doesn’t seem fair to anyone. I don’t want an advantage over those who can only afford $10, and I don’t want an advantage over people who use their time to buy gems with gold. Despite the large amounts I spend, I’m not for this.

And you really aren’t saving/making them more money. https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees

Merchant credit card accounts get charged per transaction, and a percentage. I don’t pay via Paypal.

20% more gold is no more game breaking that buying gold in the first place. You’ve not calculated the actual money to gems conversion. You could buy 10s of thousands of dollars in real world money and still be insignificant, in terms of economy breaking. No one would even notice you. If by some obscene amount you spent, they did notice your effect on the economy………20% more wouldn’t matter. Ridiculous point, and you highly exaggerate by saying “greatly”.

As for the “unfair to those that can’t afford it” argument. Get a job or look for some supplementary income. If you have time to play a game, and worry about those that can afford to buy more in game currency. You have time to get some other income happening.

Leablo.2651:

Firebaall.5127:

We should all resolve to buy the $10 option (multiple times), to arrive at the amount you intended to purchase.

Worst boycott ever.

Stop selling me stuff sir. Or else I shall buy some more.

Not all merchant credit cards charge per transaction, most of them charge a monthly fee. Companies like American Express charge a great deal more percentage wise than others, but they still follow the same lines. Per transaction fees are for small companies, or single types of transactions for someone like an avid amazon user etc.

And the conversion isn’t the problem, it is that people who buy gems with gold are disadvantaged, this kind of model would probably lose a ton of customers who earn their gems via time/gold spent.

Your final point isn’t fair to address the playerbase like that. Most places are in a depression economic wise, or in countrys where something like 10$ for a non essential product would be insane. You seem like you are talking down to those people who are less fortunate, much like the entire idea stated does. I’ve spent over 2,000 USD on the game in 3 months, but even I do not ever want to have an advantage over people who play and grind or farm or w.e for gems to buy those luxury items they want. I have a ton of gem items, none of which give me unfair advantage other than maybe some speed in certain areas like xp boosts etc. But i don’t look down on others who cant afford to buy those items, I have been on both ends of that spectrum and know exactly where they are coming from. It seems some people in this thread clearly don’t.

Geotherma.2395:

Not all merchant credit cards charge per transaction, most of them charge a monthly fee. Companies like American Express charge a great deal more percentage wise than others, but they still follow the same lines. Per transaction fees are for small companies, or single types of transactions for someone like an avid amazon user etc.

And the conversion isn’t the problem, it is that people who buy gems with gold are disadvantaged, this kind of model would probably lose a ton of customers who earn their gems via time/gold spent.

Your final point isn’t fair to address the playerbase like that. Most places are in a depression economic wise, or in countrys where something like 10$ for a non essential product would be insane. You seem like you are talking down to those people who are less fortunate, much like the entire idea stated does. I’ve spent over 2,000 USD on the game in 3 months, but even I do not ever want to have an advantage over people who play and grind or farm or w.e for gems to buy those luxury items they want. I have a ton of gem items, none of which give me unfair advantage other than maybe some speed in certain areas like xp boosts etc. But i don’t look down on others who cant afford to buy those items, I have been on both ends of that spectrum and know exactly where they are coming from. It seems some people in this thread clearly don’t.

Some charge per transaction plus a percent, some don’t. Whatever the model they get charged for my purchases isn’t really the issue here.

You can’t tout “fairness” to players where any game gold can be bought. Fairness doesn’t even play into the picture. It’s about motivating game supporters with a reward for purchasing larger amounts of store currency.

My point about spending the money is perfectly proper. If you’re so hard up that $10 is make or break, you need to make a reassessment of time spent playing games to the degree that you are grinding for luxury in game items. Depressed economy or otherwise. It’s not a situation of looking down on anyone. That’s just a fact.

I think you’re trying to climb on a high horse, just to cover up your lack of substance in your argument.

I think you’re confusing GW2’s model with a free to play model. As long as there are desirable items in the gem store, I’m sure ANet is bringing in enough without having to offer discounts. I don’t remember anything in GW1 getting discounted.

Would it be fair if the folks purchasing gems with gold got a discount that the folks using cash didn’t? I could make an argument that pulling more gold out of the economy might be better for the game than rewarding the high cash spenders.

Firebaall.5127:

Geotherma.2395:

Not all merchant credit cards charge per transaction, most of them charge a monthly fee. Companies like American Express charge a great deal more percentage wise than others, but they still follow the same lines. Per transaction fees are for small companies, or single types of transactions for someone like an avid amazon user etc.

And the conversion isn’t the problem, it is that people who buy gems with gold are disadvantaged, this kind of model would probably lose a ton of customers who earn their gems via time/gold spent.

Your final point isn’t fair to address the playerbase like that. Most places are in a depression economic wise, or in countrys where something like 10$ for a non essential product would be insane. You seem like you are talking down to those people who are less fortunate, much like the entire idea stated does. I’ve spent over 2,000 USD on the game in 3 months, but even I do not ever want to have an advantage over people who play and grind or farm or w.e for gems to buy those luxury items they want. I have a ton of gem items, none of which give me unfair advantage other than maybe some speed in certain areas like xp boosts etc. But i don’t look down on others who cant afford to buy those items, I have been on both ends of that spectrum and know exactly where they are coming from. It seems some people in this thread clearly don’t.

Some charge per transaction plus a percent, some don’t. Whatever the model they get charged for my purchases isn’t really the issue here.

You can’t tout “fairness” to players where any game gold can be bought. Fairness doesn’t even play into the picture. It’s about motivating game supporters with a reward for purchasing larger amounts of store currency.

My point about spending the money is perfectly proper. If you’re so hard up that $10 is make or break, you need to make a reassessment of time spent playing games to the degree that you are grinding for luxury in game items. Depressed economy or otherwise. It’s not a situation of looking down on anyone. That’s just a fact.

I think you’re trying to climb on a high horse, just to cover up your lack of substance in your argument.

I don’t believe I’m on some high horse, I just see the game economy and world economy differently than you. I also care about the people who do not have as much and want a fair deal. Their time is their currency, and that should be respected just as much as cash thats changed to currency in game. Discounts would cause a market problem, especially at higher tiers where you might even be able to convert back and forth for infinite profit. You are asking for discounts on gems so that you can support the company more, but do you really truly have any idea all that is entailed in that word “discount”? And how much that “discount” actually costs? Much like buying a new customer, your in game discounts are a big deal when it comes to real cash value. Discounts for digital items that are bought with digital currency is a different story. But you are essentially making gems worth less, and gold worth even less. But I’m not much for arguing such a silly point, the end result is entirely dependent on the company. And since I’ve already discussed this with NCsoft, don’t hold your breath for discounts.

Leablo.2651:

Firebaall.5127:

We should all resolve to buy the $10 option (multiple times), to arrive at the amount you intended to purchase.

Worst boycott ever.

“Hah! This’ll teach you Anet scum! Take this money! And take some more money! Oop what’s this behind your ear? More money! Muahaha, you’re feeling the burn now aren’t you? No it’s too late to repent, just sit there and take it like a man!”

Jabberwock.9014:

Leablo.2651:

Firebaall.5127:

We should all resolve to buy the $10 option (multiple times), to arrive at the amount you intended to purchase.

Worst boycott ever.

“Hah! This’ll teach you Hyundai scum! Take this money! And take some more money! Oop what’s this behind your ear? More money! Muahaha, you’re feeling the burn now aren’t you? No it’s too late to repent, just sit there and take it like a man!”

The exact words I say to my car every 2 months.

Geotherma.2395:

I don’t believe I’m on some high horse, I just see the game economy and world economy differently than you. I also care about the people who do not have as much and want a fair deal. Their time is their currency, and that should be respected just as much as cash thats changed to currency in game. Discounts would cause a market problem, especially at higher tiers where you might even be able to convert back and forth for infinite profit. You are asking for discounts on gems so that you can support the company more, but do you really truly have any idea all that is entailed in that word “discount”? And how much that “discount” actually costs? Much like buying a new customer, your in game discounts are a big deal when it comes to real cash value. Discounts for digital items that are bought with digital currency is a different story. But you are essentially making gems worth less, and gold worth even less. But I’m not much for arguing such a silly point, the end result is entirely dependent on the company. And since I’ve already discussed this with NCsoft, don’t hold your breath for discounts.

You may not believe it, but it sure sounds like you are trying to be on a high horse.

You claim that you care about the players that don’t have the money to spend on gems, and that a bonus would be unfair. That you don’t want to have some advantage. Ok…lets look at that objectively. With real hard data, and without the feelings about the “poor” players that can’t buy gems with real money.

At the current prices, to buy gems with in game currency, spending 1 gold you would get 32 gems. If I bought 32 gems with real money, and converted it to in game gold, I would get 70 silver. That’s an advantage of 30% to the player that can’t spend real money. This is an artificial rate that Anet has put into the gem buying process so it is virtually impossible to make a profit changing gems to gold and vise versa.

This causes an advantage to the player by 30%, when he buys gems with in game gold. I think the market can well absorb a player getting a 20% bonus for buying a $100.00 pack of gems just fine (assuming the devious cash buyer plans to use all his gems for pure gold conversion and ignoring all the non game breaking bunny ears).

I’d like to point out your stance is also hypocritical at best. You claim you don’t want an advantage over those that can’t buy gems with real money. Yet, you claim to have bought $2000.00 worth in the past few months. Sounds like you have a significant advantage, bonus gems or not. I would like to see the player in game that can earn that with his “time currency” in the same period.

Pandemoniac.4739:

Would it be fair if the folks purchasing gems with gold got a discount that the folks using cash didn’t? I could make an argument that pulling more gold out of the economy might be better for the game than rewarding the high cash spenders.

As stated above. They do. It’s 30%.

Indeed. I was surprised not to see a discount on higher purchases. It’s just such a standard thing in RL. Buying gems with cash is already putting players that can afford to do so at an advantage financially. I takes me about an hour to earn 100g in real world currency, i for sure could not make that playing for about an hour. If you were a person that couldn’t afford gems with cash, you’re already at a disadvantage. If it was that important to a person that could only spend 20 on gems, they could wait and save up to buy the higher bulk rate. People do that all the time in RL since it just makes sense.

Firebaall.5127:

Geotherma.2395:

You may not believe it, but it sure sounds like you are trying to be on a high horse.

You claim that you care about the players that don’t have the money to spend on gems, and that a bonus would be unfair. That you don’t want to have some advantage. Ok…lets look at that objectively. With real hard data, and without the feelings about the “poor” players that can’t buy gems with real money.

At the current prices, to buy gems with in game currency, spending 1 gold you would get 32 gems. If I bought 32 gems with real money, and converted it to in game gold, I would get 70 silver. That’s an advantage of 30% to the player that can’t spend real money. This is an artificial rate that Anet has put into the gem buying process so it is virtually impossible to make a profit changing gems to gold and vise versa.

This causes an advantage to the player by 30%, when he buys gems with in game gold. I think the market can well absorb a player getting a 20% bonus for buying a $100.00 pack of gems just fine (assuming the devious cash buyer plans to use all his gems for pure gold conversion and ignoring all the non game breaking bunny ears).

I’d like to point out your stance is also hypocritical at best. You claim you don’t want an advantage over those that can’t buy gems with real money. Yet, you claim to have bought $2000.00 worth in the past few months. Sounds like you have a significant advantage, bonus gems or not. I would like to see the player in game that can earn that with his “time currency” in the same period.

Pandemoniac.4739:

Would it be fair if the folks purchasing gems with gold got a discount that the folks using cash didn’t? I could make an argument that pulling more gold out of the economy might be better for the game than rewarding the high cash spenders.

As stated above. They do. It’s 30%.

But nothing you can buy on the gem store provides an advantage over players. Only the direct exchange from gems-gold. And the gems you buy have no real world value, but do affect the economy in some way. I don’t claim to be good at economics, but I’m sure someone who is much better with statistics and econ could find where this idea would hurt the game. Discounting the gems in my opinion just sounds like it would change the value of gold and the value of gems, and there is a clear set of variables keeping the exchange at a decent rate. Some people keep referring to companies in real life giving discounts but you can’t compare the two. The similarities between the game and real world would be GW2 giving discounts on the game itself, a product. Whereas discounting currency in the game is much different in that aspects. You are also forgetting that items go on sale all the time in GW2. I could easily argue that if you do spend all those gems and only spend on those items during discounted periods you are achieving the same thing with your gems, but not affection the gem>gold exchange. If you continually bought items on discount and added those savings, you would easily see where a person with plenty of gems could be getting discounts. Which in all fairness is still sort of an advantage over gold>gems players, but they too receive the discount. So instead of discounts for the gems themselves, we are getting discounts on the items we purchase and not changing the power of the gem.

As for the money I spent, all my items are convenience, I rarely ever use the exchange to make gold as I can make gold easily. When I do i is solely for the purpose of buying influence which is a quick way to watch your gold disappear :P Overall i think because there IS a gem exchange, discounting anything but the items themselves will just lead to separating those who cannot buy gems with cash from those who can. If you are getting a $ discount AND a discount on items, you are definitely at an unfair advantage to those who buy with gold. you just made their gold worth less because you made the gems cheaper than the exchange rate, and then a discount on the items themselves further decreasing their gold value. Hence why the exchange rate and its variables are there in the first place. Again, I’m not an economist, maybe they could analyze this better than me and have a more precise answer.

I’m sure it would affect the price, but it might actually help the exchange rate in the favor of players. Meaning more people willing to spend more on the exchange of gems to gold. You may have a point, but i’m really finding it hard to see it hurting less fortunate players.

Geotherma.2395:

But nothing you can buy on the gem store provides an advantage over players. Only the direct exchange from gems-gold. And the gems you buy have no real world value, but do affect the economy in some way. I don’t claim to be good at economics, but I’m sure someone who is much better with statistics and econ could find where this idea would hurt the game. Discounting the gems in my opinion just sounds like it would change the value of gold and the value of gems, and there is a clear set of variables keeping the exchange at a decent rate. Some people keep referring to companies in real life giving discounts but you can’t compare the two. The similarities between the game and real world would be GW2 giving discounts on the game itself, a product. Whereas discounting currency in the game is much different in that aspects. You are also forgetting that items go on sale all the time in GW2. I could easily argue that if you do spend all those gems and only spend on those items during discounted periods you are achieving the same thing with your gems, but not affection the gem>gold exchange. If you continually bought items on discount and added those savings, you would easily see where a person with plenty of gems could be getting discounts. Which in all fairness is still sort of an advantage over gold>gems players, but they too receive the discount. So instead of discounts for the gems themselves, we are getting discounts on the items we purchase and not changing the power of the gem.

I’m not sure why you quote my response, since you seem to ignore the content and go off in a meandering reply.

Lets try this again, with hard facts to address your comments. You say that nothing purchased from the the gem store gives you an advantage over other player, save a gem to gold conversion.

Wrong. As stated above, and a fact that you ignore is that the cash gem to gold exchange rate over the in game gold for gem exchange rate. It currently favours the player buying with in game gold by 30%. It’s an artificial mechanism to prevent real time exchanging of gold-gem-gold for profit.

Furthermore, there currently is a situation where gold to gem prices continue to fall. It costs more in game gold to buy gems. This is caused by too many players buying gems with in game currency. The way this changes, is if players start buying more gems with real money. The way this happens, is there is an incentive to buy gems with real money. Currently the only incentive is the continuing depreciated buying power of gold.

A bonus gem for large purchases would be another.

The word “fairness”, is one you like to use when describing the potential of giving cash buyers a bonus. Aside from the 30% DISADVANTAGE cash buyers have vs the current gold to gem buyers face, consider the following: If the exchange system suddenly influxes with a mass amount of players exchanging real money for gems, the in game gold would change. It would change in favour of these “poor” “time currency” players.

It would increase the amount of gems they get for their gold to gem conversions. Funny how the worst possible “destruction of the game economy” would make non cash players’ time more valuable.

In carrying on, addressing your statements. Your second idea of only making purchases of gem store items that are on sale is moot. It’s not practical on any meaningful level to try and achieve the smallest amount of parity between a bonus gem program, and waiting to be thrown a bone in the form of a random item on sale. I can’t believe you’re actually serious about this example.

Geotherma.2395:

As for the money I spent, all my items are convenience, I rarely ever use the exchange to make gold as I can make gold easily. When I do i is solely for the purpose of buying influence which is a quick way to watch your gold disappear :P Overall i think because there IS a gem exchange, discounting anything but the items themselves will just lead to separating those who cannot buy gems with cash from those who can. If you are getting a $ discount AND a discount on items, you are definitely at an unfair advantage to those who buy with gold. you just made their gold worth less because you made the gems cheaper than the exchange rate, and then a discount on the items themselves further decreasing their gold value. Hence why the exchange rate and its variables are there in the first place. Again, I’m not an economist, maybe they could analyze this better than me and have a more precise answer.

Guess what? Most players that buy gems don’t do it to convert to gold. They buy non-advantage vanity items. Why? Because gold IS easy to make. That’s why the exchange rate is so terrible. Ding Ding Ding.

Go read my response to your first portion of comment. You’ll discover the answer to what’s remaining of your comments.

I convert over my excess gems to gold after i buy the items i want from the gem shop. I’m not sure about “most people”. But the exchange has been somewhat stable, which might indicate there are more people than one might assume converting to gold.

I look at it this way. In-game wealth generation hasn’t really changed all that much since the game started. Sure as players developed speed runs and learned to predict when big payout DEs happen. This has “optimized” it somewhat but for the most part it’s relatively unchanged. Note the TP with all it’s money making strategies doesn’t actually create new wealth, it simply shifts it between players and at a loss to boot. I’m talking actual wealth creation, coin and items being added to the game world without any consumption of in game materials.

On the other had Gold->Gem prices has increased 10×. So it’s the player in the game who is at a disadvantage since the cash for Gem price has remained consistent the entire time. So a Gem bonus for buying in bulk exaggerates the disadvantage of the player using gold for gems even more and not as Firebaall suggests, the player buying Gems for cash.

That’s a load.

You need to do some research. You have no idea what you’re talking about.

Really? What points and why?

Do you dispute that Gold->Gem prices haven’t gone up ten times since the start of the game?

Or do you thing that gold per hr injected into the game has gone up more than 10x?

Or that cash for gems hasn’t remained at 80 Gems per $1 US?

Sorry players who are converting gold to gems need to play more to earn the amount of gold required to convert into the same amount of gems as they did 8 months ago. Since free time isn’t infinite they are at an increasing disadvantage if they want to buy items from the gem shop than someone who can afford to pay for gems in actual real money. So if they are already at a disadvantage with a flat cash to gem rate, one that grants bonuses for larger cash transactions will put then at an even greater disadvantage.

So, where’s the fault in my argument Firebaall?

Behellagh.1468:

So if they are already at a disadvantage with a flat cash to gem rate, one that grants bonuses for larger cash transactions will put then at an even greater disadvantage.

So, where’s the fault in my argument Firebaall?

I won’t speak for firebaall. But, it seems to me if you give players wiling to put more gems back into the exchange a bulk rate reduction, it would favor players paying for gems with gold. I’d think a discounted rate would accomplish that somewhat, at least to the advantage of people buying gems with gold. If i understand how the exchange works anyway.

Yes it’s beneficial since the rate drops slightly but Firebaall’s argument that the difference in the exchange rate benefits those converting to gold to gems so those buying gems with cash need a bonus to benefit equally.

My point is those buying with cash are already benefiting more and more since the gems they bought represents an every increasing amount of time in-game to earn gold to achieve the same number of gems.