Q:
(edited by sonicwhip.9052)
How does currency exchange work?
I’m interested too!
I’m interested too!
would be nice to get a quick official response lol.
I don’t think you will get a response. The system is designed as a black box, from what I gather. Stuff goes in, stuff goes out, but what happens inside is kept a secret.
I would hope that all the gems are generated by players buying them from ANet. Why? Because then all future expansions could be sold for gems, without any loss to ANet. You might buy your stuff for gold made by playing, but, all the gems you buy for gold, have been paid for by someone else in real cash. If true, this would be a fantastic system, making the playfield more equal, rich people spending real money so that poor people can play. But I believe this was asked many times now, and the threads are always ignored. It’s a black box. ANet probably puts in some free gems into it, generating them out of the air, because.. the black box is too big to fail! The business must go on, even if no one is buying gems. Go inflation.
Its pretty obvious that its not this way. Why? A few weeks ago you could get with a few silver as many gems as now with a few gold.
That means gold is worth less (not worthless) than a few weeks ago. Obviously due people playing, bots botting (sadly, but you got to take this into account aswell) and a general increase of the amount of gold ingame. However, if the amount of gems was limited, that would mean gems would get worth more the less there are available, in other words, if you wanted to trade gems in gold, you’d get more gold than a few weeks ago.
Gems are an unlimited resource, they have to be – how would you react if you want to buy Gems worth 50 USD to buy something from the store or exchange for gold and you’d get told “sorry, sold out”? Wouldnt be that smart for a company :P
I think it’s MOSTLY based on supply and demand, but there’s absolutely no reason for them to black-box it except to have the ability make “adjustments” to it when they deem necessary.
Obviously, the gold cost to buy gems is going to go up. There are two separate systems: gold and real money. In both systems, there is inflation. However, gold inflates far more quickly than real money.
There are gold sinks, but overall, more gold is coming into the world than is leaving. This is necessary- otherwise people would never be able to accumulate more gold as time goes by. What little gold there was in the game would gravitate towards those who are best at making it, leaving everyone else with almost nothing, and eventually, quitting the game.
GW2 seems to have more effective gold sinks than most other games, but it still has inflation, and compared to the real world, the inflation is much higher. People in the game expect to have more gold than the day before pretty much every day, and most do. In the real world, do you have more money every day than you did before, or do you spend most of your paycheck, only saving a little of it? Most people have very little savings in the real world, and their overall net worth either stays much the same from day to day or grows VERY slowly. For most people, the same thing in the game would be unacceptable. They want to see an overall increase in the total amount of money they have on a daily basis, and generally, they do.
well tbh I see no reason why Anet shouldn’t tell us the answer to this, it seems like a pretty minor thing.
I don’t think you will get a response. The system is designed as a black box, from what I gather. Stuff goes in, stuff goes out, but what happens inside is kept a secret.
I would hope that all the gems are generated by players buying them from ANet. Why? Because then all future expansions could be sold for gems, without any loss to ANet. You might buy your stuff for gold made by playing, but, all the gems you buy for gold, have been paid for by someone else in real cash. If true, this would be a fantastic system, making the playfield more equal, rich people spending real money so that poor people can play. But I believe this was asked many times now, and the threads are always ignored. It’s a black box. ANet probably puts in some free gems into it, generating them out of the air, because.. the black box is too big to fail! The business must go on, even if no one is buying gems. Go inflation.
I am also hoping that 100% of gems originate from someone buying it with real money because it would be awesome to know that you are actually supporting anet by spending gold instead of real money.
Here’s the post where John Smith confirmed that the gem exchange operates using a supply of gems and gold. This means that other than the initial seeding amount and paid tournament winnings, all gems in the exchange come from players and must have initially been purchased with real money.
From https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/Who-sets-Gem-prices/page/7#post705345
There seems to be some confusion:
The currency exchange has a supply of Gems and Gold.If players are converting Gold to Gems, then the Amount of Gold player will receive for their gems goes up.
If players are converting Gems to Gold, then the amount of Gems players receive for Gold goes up.The exchange rate changes based on the scarcity of each supply. You cannot inflate it, it’s an exchange rate. As players purchase in one direction, it entices purchases in the other direction.
@ Cruzyo: While inflation may account for some of the increase in gold → gem prices, the recent additions to the gem store are likely to have had a larger influence. After all, people converting gold → gems are (usually) wanting to spend those gems in the gem store. If there is increased demand for gems, then that will help push the rate up, inflation by itself won’t do anything if no one wants gems in the first place.
Here’s the post where John Smith confirmed that the gem exchange operates using a supply of gems and gold. This means that other than the initial seeding amount and paid tournament winnings, all gems in the exchange come from players and must have initially been purchased with real money.
From https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/Who-sets-Gem-prices/page/7#post705345
There seems to be some confusion:
The currency exchange has a supply of Gems and Gold.If players are converting Gold to Gems, then the Amount of Gold player will receive for their gems goes up.
If players are converting Gems to Gold, then the amount of Gems players receive for Gold goes up.The exchange rate changes based on the scarcity of each supply. You cannot inflate it, it’s an exchange rate. As players purchase in one direction, it entices purchases in the other direction.
@ Cruzyo: While inflation may account for some of the increase in gold -> gem prices, the recent additions to the gem store are likely to have had a larger influence. After all, people converting gold -> gems are (usually) wanting to spend those gems in the gem store. If there is increased demand for gems, then that will help push the rate up, inflation by itself won’t do anything if no one wants gems in the first place.
that quote still does not precisely give an answer on what percentage of gems bought with gold come out of thin air from Anet and what percentage actually comes from a player who paid real money for it.
Here’s the post where John Smith confirmed that the gem exchange operates using a supply of gems and gold. This means that other than the initial seeding amount and paid tournament winnings, all gems in the exchange come from players and must have initially been purchased with real money.
From https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/Who-sets-Gem-prices/page/7#post705345
There seems to be some confusion:
The currency exchange has a supply of Gems and Gold.If players are converting Gold to Gems, then the Amount of Gold player will receive for their gems goes up.
If players are converting Gems to Gold, then the amount of Gems players receive for Gold goes up.The exchange rate changes based on the scarcity of each supply. You cannot inflate it, it’s an exchange rate. As players purchase in one direction, it entices purchases in the other direction.
@ Cruzyo: While inflation may account for some of the increase in gold -> gem prices, the recent additions to the gem store are likely to have had a larger influence. After all, people converting gold -> gems are (usually) wanting to spend those gems in the gem store. If there is increased demand for gems, then that will help push the rate up, inflation by itself won’t do anything if no one wants gems in the first place.
that quote still does not precisely give an answer on what percentage of gems bought with gold come out of thin air from Anet and what percentage actually comes from a player who paid real money for it.
The statement leads someone to believe Anet is not pumping gems themselves into the market. Whether that is true or not is speculative.
[SU]
Here’s the post where John Smith confirmed that the gem exchange operates using a supply of gems and gold. This means that other than the initial seeding amount and paid tournament winnings, all gems in the exchange come from players and must have initially been purchased with real money.
From https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/Who-sets-Gem-prices/page/7#post705345
There seems to be some confusion:
The currency exchange has a supply of Gems and Gold.If players are converting Gold to Gems, then the Amount of Gold player will receive for their gems goes up.
If players are converting Gems to Gold, then the amount of Gems players receive for Gold goes up.The exchange rate changes based on the scarcity of each supply. You cannot inflate it, it’s an exchange rate. As players purchase in one direction, it entices purchases in the other direction.
@ Cruzyo: While inflation may account for some of the increase in gold -> gem prices, the recent additions to the gem store are likely to have had a larger influence. After all, people converting gold -> gems are (usually) wanting to spend those gems in the gem store. If there is increased demand for gems, then that will help push the rate up, inflation by itself won’t do anything if no one wants gems in the first place.
that quote still does not precisely give an answer on what percentage of gems bought with gold come out of thin air from Anet and what percentage actually comes from a player who paid real money for it.
can you give a good reason for areanet to pump gems in? because if they do, that keeps the gold→ price DOWN, which dis-incetivises people buying gems(both to use and to convert to gold)
Gems are virtual, therefore unlimited in quantity. What he means is the supply of the Gems PURCHASED (either by real money, or in game coin). It’s really simple if you stop and think. The more players purchasing Gems with in game coin, the lower the ratio you gets. At the same time, the ratio increases for players buying in game coin with Gems.
It’s like playing a game of tug-o-war. Right now, the Gem holders are winning, as their Gems become more valuable. However, none of this is static, so at some point, players will stop converting in game coin to Gems, and the balance will shift.
Reminder – this game isn’t that old. Keep an eye on how things fluctuate after GW2 is a year old. You’ll see how major events impact the exchange. Then, if you’re smart enough, you’ll know how to profit off of it.
In GW2, Trading Post plays you!
It would be nice though to get a response from the in game economist John Smith or if he could just post a sticky explaining how much if any gems bought with gold come out of thin air or came from another player who spent real money for them.