Guild Wars 2

I bought a couple bank expansions in the first two weeks of release using gems I got from trading in gold I earned in-game. I’ve been waiting to finish off my bank expansions for weeks and I’ve been keeping an eye on the exchange rate.

It just keeps going up and up. I figured for halloween and lost shores they would be inflated because of the desire for the one-time purchases involved with the holidays, but they just keep going up, and at an alarming rate. Last week on my server (FA) it was 91s for 100gems, the highest I’d ever seen (it was during Lost Shores so I thought it made sense).

Now the exchange is 1g31s/100gems. This is crazy. I’m trying to rationalize how the black friday promotion could be responsible but it makes no sense. Why would things costing LESS gems cause a player-induced demand for MORE gems?

I was under the impression that the exchange rate was controlled by player demand for gold/gems at any given time, but I’m starting to wonder now if it’s A-net controlled. I understand that as the game grows older, inflation will drive gold prices up, but I didn’t think the market would mimic this type of behavior.

Should I just suck it up and convert any gem-only purchasable items now before it’s 20g/100gems? Or shoulkittenep doing what I’m doing and wait for a better week? Are the exchange rates different on other servers? (I assumed the BLTC was across all NA servers)

Transistor.8746:

Now the exchange is 1g31s/100gems. This is crazy. I’m trying to rationalize how the black friday promotion could be responsible but it makes no sense. Why would things costing LESS gems cause a player-induced demand for MORE gems?

Two possible reasons I present to you.

ArenaNet is out to get you and wants all your money spent on Gems. Yes, even that $500 you taped to the bottom of your sock drawer. They know about it and are artificially driving up the price so you spend real money instead of gold.

Or

Everyone’s buying Gems for Gold because they refuse to spend real money on it, but they still want the goodies out of the Gem Shop. So they need Gems, and buy it with Gold . . . driving the price up for now.

The idea is for you to spend real currency.

Going up during the black friday event because people actually want to stock up on gem-shop items while they are cheap. Therefore players would be converting gold to gems – further driving up the ratio.

I would expect it to drop back down to pre-lost shores prices in the next week…That is unless they announce something else.

If players buy more gems with gold the price goes up, if players sell gems for gold, the price goes down. So yes, it is controlled by the players, but players simply don’t sell their gems since it’s not worth it.

If you want gems you should by them for real money since it’s the only income GW2 generates for Arena Net.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Transistor.8746:

Now the exchange is 1g31s/100gems. This is crazy. I’m trying to rationalize how the black friday promotion could be responsible but it makes no sense. Why would things costing LESS gems cause a player-induced demand for MORE gems?

Two possible reasons I present to you.

ArenaNet is out to get you and wants all your money spent on Gems. Yes, even that $500 you taped to the bottom of your sock drawer. They know about it and are artificially driving up the price so you spend real money instead of gold.

Or

Everyone’s buying Gems for Gold because they refuse to spend real money on it, but they still want the goodies out of the Gem Shop. So they need Gems, and buy it with Gold . . . driving the price up for now.

Both good points.

nachtnebel.9168:

If you want gems you should by them for real money since it’s the only income GW2 generates for Arena Net.

I find more satisfaction in upgrading my characters/bank/bag spaces by earning them in game. I would pay for costumes/mini pets if I wanted them and I will definitely get expansions, but I would prefer not to spend money on things that I am used to be able to earn using in-game currency in other MMOs.

Truthfully, I think a large reason is a lot of people have stopped playing right now. Me, personally, am waiting until later tomorrow to decide if I am done totally. But, I would have bought gems this weekend if I had been playing. So, this is a big indication to me that a lot of people have stopped playing right now. This has nothing to do with what people in game are buying with Gold, it matters that people are actually buying those gems with real money in the first place to trade for that gold. Those prices will only soar higher as more people stop buying gems.

@ nacho, that doesn’t make sense, if people stop buying gems, the price would go down because the demand would be less.

Kromsin.6359:

The idea is for you to spend real currency.

I’d posit, alternatively, the idea is for you to want to spend real currency. It’s a whole lot easier to get something from someone who wants to give it to you. And they have to get an income somewhere, so make it an attractive prospect.

. . . then again, you can always do the math yourself. The Gem Exchange rate for Gold is high now, so you are paying more gold for 100 Gems. After it goes down, you pay less gold for that same amount, and even if it doesn’t go as far there’s always waiting until it goes down a little more.

Paying 1g50s for 100 Gems, you’re paying 4g50s for a 300 Gem item when it’s on sale from 600.

Paying 1g for 100 Gems later, you’ll be paying 6g for that same item later, but you don’t need to get that 6g all at once. There’s no need for you to get it urgently together.

Transistor.8746:

@ nacho, that doesn’t make sense, if people stop buying gems, the price would go down because the demand would be less.

From what I recall being told, the Gems purchased for Gold are the same pool as the Gems sold for Gold. If less people buy actual Gems and sell them for Gold, then there is less supply to meet the demand . . . and price goes up.

Transistor.8746:

@ nacho, that doesn’t make sense, if people stop buying gems, the price would go down because the demand would be less.

I think nacho means if people stop buying gems with real money, the gem price in gold will go up because there are fewer gems available for purchase with gold.

A simple answer as to why the Gold/Gem exchange rate is at where it is now, is because buying gold from RMT is still about 1/3 the price of buying gold via gems.

Therefore, it is still much cheaper to purchase gold via rmt to convert to gems. Infact, if you do the math you can probably get the same amount of gems at half price for purchasing it through RMT gold.

For anyone actually actually interested in purchasing gems, their best deal would be to purchase gold through RMT and then use the gold to buy gems in game.
For those willing to purchase gold, again, their best deal would be to purchase through RMT.

Therefore in this situation no one is buying gems with real money to sell for gold. The only gold/Gem transactions occurring are gold purchases of gems, thus driving the price up.

Reikou.7068:

A simple answer as to why the Gold/Gem exchange rate is at where it is now, is because buying gold from RMT is still about 1/3 the price of buying gold via gems.

Therefore, it is still much cheaper to purchase gold via rmt to convert to gems. Infact, if you do the math you can probably get the same amount of gems at half price for purchasing it through RMT gold.

Please tell me this is not a recommended course of action? Please?

The price of gems is going to keep going up because there’s pretty much no major gold sink. Repair costs are covered by selling one green or two blues, waypoints are about the most expensive thing but if you play smart and use wvw to move back to LA you only end up paying for one direction of travel. There’s a lot of gold in the economy and it’s only going to increase.

A higher gem price also has the (un)intended benefit of allowing late joiners to reach gold levels established players were able to at real world expense. Frankly, them having more money can only affect me positively as they are more willing to pay higher prices for the goods I put on the market. Eventually their gold they buy becomes mine through shrewd market use.

I know its making me sad as well OP try being on my server Jade Quarry because right now the gold to gem ratio is like almost 1g 50s for 100 gems so last night i sucked it up and bought me a 6th char slot for 10g 25 silver took me forever to save up that much gold. I cant afford to spend real money on gems at the moment because money is tight for me. =/

Fobik- Gold and Gem exchange rate is across all servers. Same as the Trading post stuff. =)

I suspect the demand for gem to gold transactions is tanking due to the flap over this latest patch.

I’m hoping the reddit Q&A session fixes this.

hehe i did not know that but still it took me like a few weeks to amass that much gold. I just hope the prices go down soon.

Your all being duped by the currency exchange in the first place, its fake.

I mean, what exactly dictates the rise and fall of the currency in this game?

I sincerely doubt Anet set a finite gem amount, and are using that to calculate value.

I have seen some very questionable increases that instead of spiking, just seemed to “appear” one day and stay at that rate.

Its a fake tool, designed with the appearance of a “market”, nothing more.

There’s simply not much worth buying off the store.

Boosters? Dont make me laugh.
Black lion keys? Just to open chests that have boosters? I guess thats why the chests are a big whopping 5copper, we really put a lot of value on them now dont we?

Really the only thing I see of value is bank space, and since thats global to the account, its more of a 1 and done type deal for Anet, and was, and quite frankly still is, easy enough to get trading gold for gems.

But that doesn;t make Anet any more money now does it?

Truth is Anet put too much value on things players feel are necessary like bank space, and didn’t flesh out their market with enough fluff to get most of us to spend our cash on.

So expect to see the rate keep increasing, for really no valid reason, for those of us who still play, so that if we want those comforts, we will be handing over our charge cards, and not our gold.

I’m a consumer, and before I start handing over my well earned cash, I have to see value in it, and since I cant see any value out there, I haven’t given Anet one cent above what I paid for the game.

Other P2P games I have played/play (PS2, Warhammer, APB), I always was handing them over my charge card, because there was value in what I bought, and it was also at a price that made sense to me. Ironically none of those games had anything I “needed”, the games were fun enough, and the stuff they were selling hit my value spot, and the next thing I knew I had blown 50 bucks on useless, yet fun stuff.

Wonder why with 4 lvl 80’s I have in this game, I haven’t found anything here to make me buy it?

I am so glad i got my 1400 gems at 68s → 100 gems a month ago.

Now its 69gems : 1g.

The demand for gems has quadrupled in the last month alone:

http://www.guildwarstrade.com/gems

It can be attributed to the game’s success and soaring popularity.

Or it can be attributed to people that feel the latest patch is a departure from the game we were told we would be buying before launch, and are therefore refusing to play or play until we are given clear, factual answers as to the direction the game is headed in.

You can use gold to buy gems that others have bought with real money, and have elected to sell to you.

Guess I’m in the minority here. As a casual player with a family and full-time job, I’m rather pleased with where the exchange rate is now. I vaguely remember 1 month after release 100gems = 30ish silver. No way in hell would I pay cash for that kind of return. With the current exchange rate I’m more than happy to buy gems for cash and exchange to gold. 800 gems will get me nearly 10 gold, which is how much I make in an entire week, since my playtime is limited. Last night I picked up Magmaton on the TP for about 5g, finally have a nice skin for my Guardian hammer. Thank you gem to gold exchange rate!

And before people jump all over me, remember its people like me who infuse gems into the market, thus driving down the gold price for gems ;p

Amonde Daneren.2380:

Or it can be attributed to people that feel the latest patch is a departure from the game we were told we would be buying before launch, and are therefore refusing to play or play until we are given clear, factual answers as to the direction the game is headed in.

Please don’t get my thread locked. All I’m asking is if there’s potential that this is A-net controlled and whether I should convert now before it gets worse, or hold out and hope it gets better.

Being a player that got gems from real money I find the current gem→gold conversion laughable. Last time i looked for 1000 gems i could get about 10g. That doesnt sound like a good deal to me. The only way to get gems in the pool to be sold for gold as far as I know is by actual transactions. I hope at a certain point htis price gets more fair. I don’t have a lot of time to spend grinding gold and the time that I do have i would like to spend on actual fun in this game.

FYI, Trading Post is world wide across all server. No need to say "My server (FA) …. "

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Reikou.7068:

A simple answer as to why the Gold/Gem exchange rate is at where it is now, is because buying gold from RMT is still about 1/3 the price of buying gold via gems.

Therefore, it is still much cheaper to purchase gold via rmt to convert to gems. Infact, if you do the math you can probably get the same amount of gems at half price for purchasing it through RMT gold.

Please tell me this is not a recommended course of action? Please?

Whether this is a “recommended course of action” or not is irrelevant to the fact that this IS occurring.

I think the rising gold:gem ratio is natural. Inflation is a very powerful force, and the supply of gems was significantly artificially inflated during the first few weeks when the Trading Post was down. It’ll eventually stabilize, or it’ll continue to rise, at which point we’ll see more sinks.

Gold to gems is not intended to be a stable transaction. Real money to gems is supposed to be stable.

I’m surprised how much confusion this seems to cause. In the beginning Anet set a price for gems from gold.

Player buys gems with gold = price goes up.
Player sells gems for gold = price goes down.

It’s a very simple system. When the game launched everyone was broke in game so no one was buying gems. Many people wanted in game money so they bought and sold gems. That kept the price down.

Now lots of people have in game money and less use for it but they are wanting gem store stuff (events helped). People spent in game money on gems because they have no real life money to spare or just didn’t want to. Price went up.

People still have lots of in game money and still don’t want to spend real life money (or just don’t have any to spare). Price keeps going up.

It’s the simplest system imaginable. There isn’t some ‘supply’ of gems out there. That’s just a useful way to think about it for some situations. It’s the same system Anet used for material vendors in GW1 without the possibility of being temporarily “sold out”.

Edit: I have no proof but I would bet you a million gems that when a player buys gems with real money and spends the gems on BLT stuff it has absolutely zero effect on the gold/gems ratio.

Something else interesting.

I put in 1g to see how many gems I can get and it comes back with 71gems.

If I then put 71gems to trade for gold, it says I will get 70s99c.

Is there an exchange fee? This makes no sense.

Every time I see a thread like this I am reminded of how worth it it was to grind out 3 character slots and 3 bank spaces in the first couple weeks after release.

@Unspecified.

We have no proof, zero, zilch, none, on how transactions work, and Anet is not obligated to tell us, nor are they obligated to tell us the truth even if they did say something.

On top of that reading your last bit of the message, if im reading it correctly, your stating that if someone buys 800 gems, and then spends 800 gems, it pretty much evens out and doesn’t impact the overall price.

So the only reason why the price would change is if people were buying gems, and then not spending them?

For example, stock prices rise and fall based on the demand of said stock. The basis of the demand is based on a finite amount of that stock.

This system Anet has is based partially off that, but with a monkeywrench or 2 thrown into the mix to complicate it even worse. There is simply no such thing as demand in this system because gem amounts are infinite.

Its a one sided system in effect, designed purely to benefit Anet, not the consumer. If enough people decide they want to buy gems because Anet put some silly skin in some silly chest they created, it devalues the currency.

It would of been a much better system had Anet made currency static, just like it is for buying gems with RL cash, its what 10.00 for 800 gems, it does not change, it does not fluctuate, its static. If Cash for gems was run like Gold for gems was, it would end up completely devalue gems, you would see something more like 2400 gems for 10 bucks, but that doesn’t do Anet any good.

Whats Anet gonna do when they have devalued their ingame currency via inflation?

Honestly, when it comes to the value of something, right or wrong, I will always defer to the gold sellers, since they are the ones that truly know how to profit.

Anet has their money currently valued at what approx 800 gems would net ya 8 gold? So what something like $1.25=1 gold?

Gold farmers have the market valued at what 5 bucks per 10 gold? So what $.50 for one gold?

This is why as a company, if your going to sell your ingame currency yourself, it makes far better sense to set your prices as static, and handle inflation ingame, not out of game like they are doing, because with their current system, They are drying up their customer base faster then they can put crap into the system, and that may well indeed work for a small segment of the playerbase who will spend all their gold or all their cash on stupid little trinkets and skins, they will end up pushing regular people who make up the majority of the customers who are just trying to get leveled and geared farther away.

Once the price point hits a certain level, my guess is somewhere like 15 gold for 10 bucks, which is where its rapidly heading, Anet will see a sudden rush to buy gems and convert them to gold, which will in the short term net them some cash, but the impending inflation this will cause will be something they simply wont be able to handle, and in the end will crash the economy of the game, piss everyone off, and we will all be off chasing the next new game.

The only way a system like Anet has in place would be to offer every item ingame on their Market, and that way the are the sole controllers of the economy.

Why the resistance to buying gems? Throw them $5 or $10 a month its not like we havent paid other games $15 per month. Truth I havent thrown them any money but really whats the difference between a wow sub and buying a few gems a month to make life easier?

Slither Shade.4782:

Why the resistance to buying gems? Throw them $5 or $10 a month its not like we havent paid other games $15 per month. Truth I havent thrown them any money but really whats the difference between a wow sub and buying a few gems a month to make life easier?

There’s no resistance to buying gems, its purely a matter of value, for most of us, including you it seems, there is not enough VALUE in giving these guys any of our money.

And the recent trends and changes are not helping Anets situation at all.

And im the type of guy who when playing F2P model games, its not uncommon for me to spend $40.00+ a month supporting that game. If they offer something I want, and the price for what I want is reasonable, then I am all over it, and dont think twice before charging my account.

Its all about bang for the buck, and right now Anet isn’t giving me any, and they can go bankrupt for all I care, I still wont give them any money unless I see VALUE in doing so.

When I have started playing this game it seemed very strange to me there’s so little nice stuff in Anet’s Cash Shop. I was like “wth?! do they want people to spend their money or not, because there’s almost nothing worth buying there, no skins, no customization features”. Then I thought maybe the cause is game’s fairly new and they are working hard on new things. But it seems this is not the case. They just have no idea what to sell there.

Honestly, MMO’s should never be built on the F2P platform.

There always too much “stuff” ingame, and adding anything in the game, whether or not you could get it by farming or not will immediately be met by people screaming they made the game “pay to win”.

Seriously, I would be just fine with them putting say exotic gear in the cash shop, but again, right now their value model is way way off.

I mean in essence, its already there. If I wanted to fork over what 50 bucks to Anet, I could deck a toon out completely with exotics by buying gems converting em to gold and buying off the market.

If it gets down around oh 30 bucks a toon, I will be all over this, and I would actually then buy more character slots.

Hell, while your at it, sell me insta 80 tokens too for the same price I will eat em up.

Um your tirade kinda lost me, are you talking about the programmers, or players when you say work?

If its programmers, then its not my job to inherently support them. They make a product, they put it on the market, and if it suits me I buy it, if it don’t, then I don’t buy it.

Thousands of companies go belly up because they bring a product to market, and for whatever reason the market is against that product. Welcome to the free market comrade!!

That would be like blaming me for GM layoffs because I chose to buy a better product then the one they offered.

If your talking players, then first, time to realize its only a game, and if your “working” at a game, then I might suggest you find a better hobby.

Or hell, maybe you believe that Anet actually hires people to farm pixelated gems from a fictional mine off in Tron land?

The thing is, it doesn’t make any sense right now. Unless people are hoarding up for wintersday event. Right now it just keeps on climbing up and up. =/

Ever since the Halloween update, they seem to be carefully managing what they do with the gem shop to keep the exchange rate high and not give it chance to drop back down.

They extended the added drops for the Black Lion chest until the last event started (while removing the ability to forge Mad King chests) and right now the Consortium chests are still up a week after the event has finished (again they removed ways to get the items, this time by stopping them from dropping).

It’s pretty obvious that it’s a calculated move to make gold to gem ratios as unfeasible as they possibly can be in order to drive up the sale of gems.

Gwartham Haldane.8459:

Um your tirade kinda lost me, are you talking about the programmers, or players when you say work?

If its programmers, then its not my job to inherently support them. They make a product, they put it on the market, and if it suits me I buy it, if it don’t, then I don’t buy it.

Thousands of companies go belly up because they bring a product to market, and for whatever reason the market is against that product. Welcome to the free market comrade!!

That would be like blaming me for GM layoffs because I chose to buy a better product then the one they offered.

If your talking players, then first, time to realize its only a game, and if your “working” at a game, then I might suggest you find a better hobby.

Or hell, maybe you believe that Anet actually hires people to farm pixelated gems from a fictional mine off in Tron land?

Or maybe, just maybe, I think that -gasp- real people spend real money on gems? And that believing that 3h of game time is more effort than 1h of working is ridiculous? And that if gem prices in gold make smb “sad” that smb should go get a job and buy gems with real money so s/he can be happy again?

why does it cost so much gold to buy gems? why are the prices of gems still going up?

because there are way more people buying gems with gold, than people buying gold with gems.

the core of the problem is not enough people are exchanging gems into gold. anet doesn’t have a stock of gems, they can’t run out of it. it’s the rates of the exchange between gold and gems that dictates the exchange ratio.

and why aren’t people exchanging gems into gold?

1. as people get geared up, they have less and less need for gold. therefore people are more willing to spend their gold for gems instead of real money.

2. the exchange rate for real money into gems into gold is over double the rate from directly buying from gold farmers. so if someone does need gold, it doesn’t make sense to buy from anet when there is a cheaper option.

Assuming the gem market isn’t being manipulated by Anet (the exact conversion is hidden from us so it’s entirely possible), higher cost of gems could just as easily be caused by fewer people paying RL funds for them. There was a portion of the players who used to buy gems monthly as a way to show support for the game. Many of those type of players are no longer in support of the game because of the direction the newest patch took it in.

>ArenaNet makes a game and puts some things that should be included in the game into the cash shop
>Say that you can exchange gold for gems
>Works well at first
>Rapid inflation making your gold worthless
>You are forced to buy gems with real money
>Profit

By doing it this way, ArenaNet avoided a mob of players calling the game pay 2 win since you had to option of buying gems with gold. Now, because of inflation, the average player can’t really purchase enough gems to do anything with.

ZombiesTT.3619:

>ArenaNet makes a game and puts some things that should be included in the game into the cash shop
>Say that you can exchange gold for gems
>Works well at first
>Rapid inflation making your gold worthless
>You are forced to buy gems with real money
>Profit

By doing it this way, ArenaNet avoided a mob of players calling the game pay 2 win since you had to option of buying gems with gold. Now, because of inflation, the average player can’t really purchase enough gems to do anything with.

Thing is, I expect that price to eventually take a downturn, again. Also:

Technically you can say any of it could be put into the game. They put things in the shop which were nice but not necessary to the game. Skins, boosters, dyes, minipets . . . all of this is nonessential, just nice to have. (Especially Karma and Magic Find boosters.)

Of course, there’s also the Tournament Tickets in there, but that’s a PvP thing and I have zero experience with it. I’ll mention it and move on, someone else can pick that up.

So, what you’re looking at is not being “forced” to buy Gems for real money just to play the game. It’s not even a case of “buying Gems and then shop items makes the case significantly easier” (I have a couple of those games on my tablet).

The only arguable thing purchasable with Gems which could be considered important are Bank/Bag/Character slots. Bag slots would let you carry more stuff, Bank slots let you hoard more stuff (like those Cooking intermediate items) and character slots let you have more characters. None of this translates directly into an advantage . . . I’m sure I could, given enough rum and paper, come up with a way to figure out how to use the extra 30 slots of Bank space for an advantage, but that’ll use drunken logic rather than good logic.

When Anet has complete control over the supply and demand then there will never be an accurate pricing structure based on a player made economy.

The gem transfer rate is directly controlled by Anet as they have an avid interest in making money from this set up.

I have never played an MMO where the drop rate keeps changing as much as I have seen in this game.

From what I understand, when ANet first opened the exchange, it had a certaim amount of gold and a certain amount of gems. As people buy gems with gold, more gold is in the exchange but less gems. The amount of gold vs gems drives the price, so as more people buy gems with gold, the price goes up since the exchange has more gold and fewer gems. Now if people buy gold with gems then the price will go down because of more gems and less gold in the exchange.

The method broadly described by ANet suggested the exchange started with a fixed number of gems, and unless ANet add more gems to the exchange, or people exchange gems for gold then the price will keep going up. Eventually the price may get to a point where people will use real cash to buy gems then exchange for gold, giving those illegal sellers a run for their money, and drive the price back down a little.

Already, the exchange rate means its cheaper to use masters salvage kits than to make mystic forge salvage kits

ZombiesTT.3619:

>ArenaNet makes a game and puts some things that should be included in the game into the cash shop
>Say that you can exchange gold for gems
>Works well at first
>Rapid inflation making your gold worthless
>You are forced to buy gems with real money
>Profit

By doing it this way, ArenaNet avoided a mob of players calling the game pay 2 win since you had to option of buying gems with gold. Now, because of inflation, the average player can’t really purchase enough gems to do anything with.

And what item in the cash shop makes the game “pay 2 win”? How many gems do you need to be able to “do anything”? And what exactly might that “anything” be?

This is pretty simple. Quite some people have gems and want to sell them for gold. Since the rate is on the rise, people hold on to their gems as long as possible to get maximum gold profit. This reduces supply which in turn drives the exchange even higher. Fairly simple economics.

So what is happening is the following: gems in the exchange market are rather low but the savings in gems are very very high. A bit like the RL gold market. There’s plenty of gold for virtually everything anyone would like to do with it, the only reason it’s high is because gold is sitting in dark dungeons waiting to be sold for even higher prices. One day the rise of gems is going to stop, people will cash in and gems drop tremendously. For RL gold the same will happen eventually, just like the house market “always rises” which is exactly what sparked the current crisis.

Basically you have 3 choices:
- buy now at high gold prices
- wait until the eventual crash comes. This can take months though, don’t hold your breath
- buy gems for cash

Economics 101.

The exchange rate is going to stay high, and I’d be surprised if it doesn’t get higher.

The first is players desire for the stuff. If I look at 100 gems worth of real money, how much in game stuff do I want from that? The 30 silver that I’d have gotten two months ago? No way. Absolutely no way in hell I’d spend that much money for 30 silver pieces. It’s debatable whether or not I’d consider spending that much money for 1 gold, even.

The account stuff is probably worth getting—it’s akin to permanently opening up the rest of the game without having to pay subscription costs to get it. Buying gems to get this, however, doesn’t add any to the gem/gold trade, with the exception of any left overs.

The rest of the stuff….yeah. Boosters aren’t even close to worth money, though they might be if buying a pack of them gave you a pile that was actually economical.

Nothing in chests is worth money, in my opinion. Miniatures and the like…..erm, ok. If you want to spend your money just to kick in for your game, great. If you want them, great. But for most, this stuff just isn’t worth it.

What this essentially means is that if I buy gems to get gold, I expect to get GOLD for them, not silver, and that means the price needs to stay up. If I buy gems to get stuff, it’d better be good stuff, and outside of the bank/character/inventory slots, I have a hard time justifying it.