Guild Wars 2

I have tried to search some articles about it, but all I’ve come to was this one article from a game reviewer which was probably biased..

So, how does being able to use real money to purchase in-game features affect the game? Can one player just use 20 USD to get the same result as one who plays for weeks? The one thing I like about Guild Wars 2 the most is the fact that it doesn’t have monthly fee, but being able to buy stuff with real money is pretty much as awful in my opinion..

Hope I get some answer(s)..

Yes and no. Gems can be purchased with in-game money or with real money. So, yes, there is some of that.

However, the things you can buy with gems aren’t really of the game-breaker variety. You can buy extra pack slots, bank slots, etc. But, you can’t buy the bags, packs, and boxes to put into those extra pack slots.

In theory, you could buy gems and then trade them for money. In round numbers, you could buy a gold coin for $2. Is it worth it? I don’t think so. But, you CAN do it.

Looked at from another angle, this is not that different from Guild Wars. You could buy Xunlai slots, extra characters, costumes, etc. The only real difference when looked at from 30,000 feet is that you can buy gold.

One last way to look at it: Take that $2 that you spend to buy 1 gold coin. If you earn $10 per hour after taxes, it took you 12 minutes to earn that gold coin. Could you earn a gold in 12 minutes in-game? I think not, but you can earn quite a bit in 12 minutes. If you earn more or less, the time goes down or up, but you get the idea.

I think it gives people more options, but not any game-breaking advantage. For example, I play with 2 of my kids. For Christmas, they might receive those gem credit cards they’re selling now (a real-life credit card that uses gems instead of dollars — you spend it in the game). My way of buying them an extra character slot or bank slot or whatever they want. I think it enriches the game, in fact.

(Now if we could just get rid of the bikini-mail ….)

Spending 20$ would allow the player to buy an extra bag slot and some character slots right at the start
And he could buy boosters to shorten leveling times and get more karma and such
But you cant spend money to get an edge over other players in terms of gear and stats

Pillow.9473:

But you cant spend money to get an edge over other players in terms of gear and stats

Sure you can… you buy gems with daddy’s creditcard, you sell them for gold, you buy an entire set of exotic armor, top-notch upgrades for all of them that cost more than 1g each, 3 exotic weapons with top-notch upgrades AND expensive jewelry with the best upgrades. All the stuff that other players have to work hard for to buy you can buy with $$$.

Tallis.5607:

Pillow.9473:

But you cant spend money to get an edge over other players in terms of gear and stats

Sure you can… you buy gems with daddy’s creditcard, you sell them for gold, you buy an entire set of exotic armor, top-notch upgrades for all of them that cost more than 1g each, 3 exotic weapons with top-notch upgrades AND expensive jewelry with the best upgrades. All the stuff that other players have to work hard for to buy you can buy with $$$.

I don’t see how this is an issue, since you can also buy this with in game gold aquired through game play. I do not understand why people look at time devoted to playing the game, as if it were a job." so and so had to work hard for x hours for something someone else just bought with cash." Time devoted to playing the game is time devoted to having fun, in my humble opinion.

The way I see it is, someone uses real world cash as a shortcut, to start off with a load of gold, they basically deprive themselves of playing the game.

For me… Not having gold for every little thing I want, means i need to prioritize, and immerses me in the game. It gives my decisions more meaning.

Not BUYING gold, for me also means that I do not trivialize content. If it is possible to just BUY the best statted armor for Gold, and IF this armor makes encounters trivial, that would be hard with armor that can only be acquired by in game means you might have a point.

This is all subject to debate.

But even then, as I see it… all that person managed to do was to take an encounter that might have been exciting and thrilling because of the risk involved, and taken the reward of such an encounter which because of the risk would, for me , have a greater appreciation for the reward…. and made it less exciting, less thrilling, more boring, more routine, and the rewards, less appreciated.

So someone can buy gold for cash… and trivialize content…. all they have done is waste the money to buy the game, and waste the money to buy the gems… simply because it made a more fun game, less exciting… again, in my humble opinion.

Tallis.5607:

Pillow.9473:

But you cant spend money to get an edge over other players in terms of gear and stats

Sure you can… you buy gems with daddy’s creditcard, you sell them for gold, you buy an entire set of exotic armor, top-notch upgrades for all of them that cost more than 1g each, 3 exotic weapons with top-notch upgrades AND expensive jewelry with the best upgrades. All the stuff that other players have to work hard for to buy you can buy with $$$.

Strictly speaking, this is true. However, getting full BiS in GW2 is significantly easier than in any other MMO I’ve ever played (save GW1), so while it may be a “real” issue, it’s also a very low-impact one.