Guild Wars 2

Do you only get one pick for the $10 price, or do you get one for each character? If it’s just one, it’s a massive rip-off!

You get one, and no it is not a rip-off.

That for $10 u get 1 soulbound pick is a rip-off

Then don’t buy it? By doing so, you won’t have to make silly complaint threads.

edit – I LOVE my pick.

Indeed, love mine aswell, even bought two and that was before I know about the awesome effects ^^

no one is telling you to pay money for it.. buy the gems with gold.. if not, its a luxury item so not like you have to have one… and i love mine as well lol

Players don’t seem to think it’s a rip off. Gems increased in price more in a short period from that pick than from any other time in the game since release that I can recall.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Then don’t buy it? By doing so, you won’t have to make silly complaint threads.

edit – I LOVE my pick.

It’s not a complaint thread. It’s a question thread.

Behave.

Minion of Vey.4398:

Players don’t seem to think it’s a rip off. Gems increased in price more in a short period from that pick than from any other time in the game since release that I can recall.

In other words, it’s unbalancing the market. Got it.

McBob.5071:

It’s not a complaint thread. It’s a question thread.

Behave.

Ending it with calling it a “massive rip-off” would actually make it at least borderline complain thread ^^

McBob.5071:

In other words, it’s unbalancing the market. Got it.

Unbalancing?
Not really no. It just makes people more interested in actually paying for gems, which is a good thing for everyone.

It’s just an aesthetic thing. Don’t like it, don’t buy it. Simple.

Personally, I bought it because I’m obsessed with fire. Burn baby, burn!

lordkrall.7241:

McBob.5071:

In other words, it’s unbalancing the market. Got it.

Unbalancing?
Not really no. It just makes people more interested in actually paying for gems, which is a good thing for everyone.

Considering the point of the cash shop is to provide in-game items that people are willing to spend real money on, thus providing a revenue stream for the company running the game, I’d say that it’s a smashing success.

Saying that unbalances the market is like saying the popularity of the Big Mac ruined the fast food industry.

Man, I would’ve paid twice as much for mine. The cosmetics are great!

Gems are cheap (even more so before the recent increase). It’s hard to really declare an item that’s designed for visuals to be a rip-off, since that is always opinionated.

We all know the raw cost/ore node itself is not great value considering how many picks you’d have to go through to break even, but that’s really not what this item is about.

Really, it all comes down to a question: Do you like the visuals and convenience? If yes, then it doesn’t hurt!

Bought three of them. The other two just in case a new class/race gets added in the next few years or just got tired of current class.

McBob.5071:

Minion of Vey.4398:

Players don’t seem to think it’s a rip off. Gems increased in price more in a short period from that pick than from any other time in the game since release that I can recall.

In other words, it’s unbalancing the market. Got it.

If it’s unbalancing the market, it must be desirable and worth getting to a lot of players, something good enough to unbalance gem prices over. Which is in contradiction to the OP, calling them a rip off, i.e “not desirable or worth getting”

tolunart.2095:

lordkrall.7241:

McBob.5071:

In other words, it’s unbalancing the market. Got it.

Unbalancing?
Not really no. It just makes people more interested in actually paying for gems, which is a good thing for everyone.

Considering the point of the cash shop is to provide in-game items that people are willing to spend real money on, thus providing a revenue stream for the company running the game, I’d say that it’s a smashing success.

Saying that unbalances the market is like saying the popularity of the Big Mac ruined the fast food industry.

Actually, the Big Mac DID ruin the fast food industry. Before McDonalds, fast food chains offered quality food for reasonable prices, but the Big Mac was a load of completely garbage, for a slightly lower price, which drove all the good, quality fast food chains out of business, putting many people out of work.

So if you’re going to use that analogy, then yes, they are extremely harmful for the in-game economy. They are Video Game Junk Food; and the popularity among less prudent gamers is making the gold other players work hard to earn worth less. I don’t care if its good for the company; making more money isn’t the only thing a gaming company should be interested in. It should be more interested in the interests of its gamers to keep from losing users from the platform they’re abusing to make quick, sleazy profits. If they keep abusing it like that, before long, it won’t be there for them to abuse anymore. They are showing a distinct lack of appreciation for longevity of their “cash cow”.

lordkrall.7241:

McBob.5071:

It’s not a complaint thread. It’s a question thread.

Behave.

Ending it with calling it a “massive rip-off” would actually make it at least borderline complain thread ^^

No, it would make it an opinion in a question thread. You’re trying awfully hard to try to make this thread into something it isn’t? Do I whiff a troll?

Just checked some pictures (can’t check vids, at work)
It seems that it creates some kind of lava/molten animation + effect that is quite visible every time you use it. Is this true?

Firegoth.6427:

Just checked some pictures (can’t check vids, at work)
It seems that it creates some kind of lava/molten animation + effect that is quite visible every time you use it. Is this true?

Yes, it has an animation effect when used.

Astraea.6075:

Firegoth.6427:

Just checked some pictures (can’t check vids, at work)
It seems that it creates some kind of lava/molten animation + effect that is quite visible every time you use it. Is this true?

Yes, it has an animation effect when used.

Yeah I saw the vid when I got back home. Pretty neat so I got it with gold.
Hurt a bit but I made the gold back quickly enough.

Gotta say that I love it for the animation alone, I wonder what they’ll come up with for sickle and axe.

Anet isn’t about to make the normal picks completely useless buy making it account bound. People have been complaining about them being soulbound since day one, and don’t seem to want to think about the overall circumstances. Picks are gold sinks, just like WP’s. Yeah if they were account bound they would have made a killing, but it would’ve screwed up the gem/gold transfers even worse for people who went that way. I for one don’t have a single regret getting one, but I only play two characters. People who have all classes at 80 I can see why it wouldn’t be worth it.

It is a convenience and vanity item. Vanity for the animation and convenience as you don’t need to remember buying picks. From the Gold to Gem ratio, you would need to mine a ton of ore to make it profitable, but that was never the intention. I completely agree with Woljnir that it is to uphold the Gold Sink aspect of the picks.
At first I also thought it was overpriced, as I am an altoholic. But after I understood what was the thought process, I bought two for my major alts. From a money making perspective it would have made more sense to price them much lower, as they would have sold many, many more. But as already mentioned, this would have had devastating effects on the market.
Also, the Gem/Gold exchange ratios are player regulated. And the large shifts lately just prove that this market is not yet in balance. It will be in balance once it makes sense to buy Gems to convert to Gold. As of now, few people do that. The Gold to Gem ratio is also still very low, which can be seen in many players changing Gold to Gems but not Gems to Gold, thus making the prices rise. Once sensible exchange ratios have been reached, they will balance into a fluctuating equilibrium as all currencies. Don’t worry, John Smith got our backs ^_~

It is a rip-off if you are converting gems to gold, like most things now. It is for the $$ to gems people, as usual.

I’m surprised at the number of people defending this.

In most other respectable, even F2P MMO’s (Star Trek Online, City of Heroes, Neverwinter, even Guild Wars 1), purchasing an outfit or item unlocks it across all characters on your account, forever.

Guild Wars 2 sits with the less respectable MMO’s like Allods Online (Infamous for it’s pay to win components and pay-per-death model), by selling you a one time, soulbound item

The worst thing about the pick is that it’s a convenience item capitalising on a very clunky, inefficient game mechanic, when ideally Anet should be revamping the harvesting tool system so that it isn’t inconvenient by design.

It’s a fact that when you use a high level tool on a low level ore, you’re wasting money. The only solution if you care about being efficient while world-roaming is to bank or carry a variety of different-level tools around, which absorbs inventory or bank space. A better solution would be one tier of each tool that consumes more uses the higher-ranking node you use it on. E.g. a mythril node could consume 5 uses of the pick, copper could consume 1 use. That way you always have the ‘right’ tool equipped, and you can just choose to spend more on tools that have more uses available, like the old GW1 style salvage kits.

When this inconvenient-by-design mechanic is fixed, then we can start talking about cosmetic tools with sparkly effects. Until then, this kind of gem store item just seems like paying to fix a game design mistake.

dagrdagaz.4913:

That for $10 u get 1 soulbound pick is a rip-off

Try WOW and pay 15$/month for nothing)

JubeiTM.5763:

dagrdagaz.4913:

That for $10 u get 1 soulbound pick is a rip-off

Try WOW and pay 15$/month for nothing)

touché

JubeiTM.5763:

dagrdagaz.4913:

That for $10 u get 1 soulbound pick is a rip-off

Try WOW and pay 15$/month for nothing)

You better be trolling.

I bought four of the things and I smile every time one of my characters pulls it out.

Ryuujin.8236:

I’m surprised at the number of people defending this.

In most other respectable, even F2P MMO’s (Star Trek Online, City of Heroes, Neverwinter, even Guild Wars 1), purchasing an outfit or item unlocks it across all characters on your account, forever.

Guild Wars 2 sits with the less respectable MMO’s like Allods Online (Infamous for it’s pay to win components and pay-per-death model), by selling you a one time, soulbound item

Us who defend it understand it. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything from the shop. People don’t seem to understand the idea of convenience item. One that you pay something extra for that makes the game more convenient. Lazy people like myself saw “infinite pick” and had to have it. When I see something on the shop that I think is kitten, I tell myself “not interested” and move on. I don’t come on here all kitten because I’m too mad that I want it but don’t want to have to pay for it.

Honestly, who doesn’t see the problem with an account bound, infinite pick? People complain already this game is too easy.

Faowri.4159:

The worst thing about the pick is that it’s a convenience item capitalising on a very clunky, inefficient game mechanic, when ideally Anet should be revamping the harvesting tool system so that it isn’t inconvenient by design.

It’s a fact that when you use a high level tool on a low level ore, you’re wasting money. The only solution if you care about being efficient while world-roaming is to bank or carry a variety of different-level tools around, which absorbs inventory or bank space. A better solution would be one tier of each tool that consumes more uses the higher-ranking node you use it on. E.g. a mythril node could consume 5 uses of the pick, copper could consume 1 use. That way you always have the ‘right’ tool equipped, and you can just choose to spend more on tools that have more uses available, like the old GW1 style salvage kits.

When this inconvenient-by-design mechanic is fixed, then we can start talking about cosmetic tools with sparkly effects. Until then, this kind of gem store item just seems like paying to fix a game design mistake.

I said in my first post that picks are gold sinks. That’s why they’re a pain in the kitten. I used to carry several types of axes etc while out in the field, but now I’m just too darn lazy. I eat the potential losses and just use my mithrils. I figure one CoF or dungeon the next day will make up for it xD.