Supporting the game by making purchases in the gem store should be somewhat of an easy decision for people who enjoy the game and see potential in its future development. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve spent more money in the gem store than I would have paid if the game was subscription based. However, it has left me with a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth, and given the feelings I gather from some of the posts here, I am not alone.
I’m not even talking about the fact that some of the items are, in my humble opinion, priced in such a way to almost warrant ridicule. I don’t mind spending money on things that have a sense of value or could provide me with some fun, and we are certainly free to ignore items that we see as meaningless. Granted, we can each have our opinions about it, but this post will with a few exceptions steer clear of simply addressing the price points.
Why? Mainly because only lowering the prices would not come close to fixing the cumbersome and restrictive feel of how many of the purchased items work. Let’s take the Aetherblade medium armor set I purchased. One pays $10 for this item, which seems to be the price point for new armor sets. It’s also roughly 1/5th of the entire game’s cost. You then get to use this skin once on one character. Additionally, if you ever decide that it’s time for a change of stats while keeping this look, you have little choice but to purchase a set of transmutation crystals. Essentially, as you progress through the game and if you decide to change up your play style, the initial investment in the skin is not enough.
I’d actually like to purchase more armor sets (I have several different ones), but the above restriction and the sheer lack of options in the store holds me back. The gem store doesn’t have a very friendly layout for listing a lot of items either. Huge icons piled together in a long list. Not much in the way of mixing and matching, and excepting a lot of “quirky” items, the choices in general don’t seem to reflect one year into a store that’s supposed to keep people interested and supportive by offering cosmetic upgrades.
From my perspective as a player, who goes into this with the intent of enjoying the game, it just seems like a very bizarre way to squeeze a little extra profit out of things. Rather than me really enjoying that awesome new set, I instead feel mixed about the purchase. Why doesn’t it get added to a collection I can access any time? Everything from how the armor is initially applied to how it is managed afterwards is lackluster, largely because it’s not designed to work optimally for the player. I like collections. I like collecting things. I like the feeling of purpose, progress and ownership that comes with it. A missed opportunity.
Even something like having two slots for each armor part would be easier than it is now. One has the stats item and one is for the skin to be used. You could have made the game entirely without stats on armor this way; one is the item responsible for your visual appearance, the other is a simple token with your stats. No silly mish-mashing items together using clicks and drags and dancing around the room while singing an incantation.
The current system is also not very future-proof. What if another medium armor set comes out that tickles my fancy? Am I to replace my current one? If I don’t want to do that, my choice is what? Obtaining another set of the same stat armor and putting it on that so I can switch back and forth? That’s far from ideal if someone is in full ascended gear. At what point have we paid enough money for a skin to simply be available to us?
And so far this is just about armor skins! I’ll stop here, but the whole experience of the gem store from purchase to application to enjoyment could be magnitudes better.
To me it doesn’t feel like it’s for the player. It could.