The issue with rising Gem prices
Players who spend gold instead of real money for gems are responsible for the rising rate. You spend gold for gems instead of real money. If you want to blame someone for your inconvenience, look in the mirror.
free gems with some achievement chests, plenty of nice non-gemstore skins… what exactly is your need here?
I get it, you don’t have the money to buy those items, be it with gold or dollars, but you still want them. Wanting them doesn’t mean you should get them. I’m not saying you’re entitled, but I am saying you absolutely sound that way. There are nice shiny things that are out of your reach because you don’t have the time and money to get them. It should be that way. At least in this game the things that are outside of your reach don’t limit your chances of success, unlike in real life.
Sadly, nothing is free.
You must pay with money or time. If you don’t have neither… well, you’re in a complicated situation.
Cringe-worthy commentary aside, the rise of gem prices comes from general gold inflation.
Accepting certain things as fact:
Farmers farm, generating gold out of nothing.
The gold sinks in the game aren’t sufficient to remove money and items from inventory.
People with sufficient gold buy gems to get premium in-game content for free.
Gem prices rise as a result.
The only way gem costs go down is if other players invest in the gem supply AND exchange them for gold. Gold is relatively easy to earn, so unless someone gets impatient AND finds value in the gold offering from the gem market, a person with gems isn’t likely to invest that way.
Many alts; handle it!
“I’m finding companies should sell access to forums,
it seems many like them better than the games they comment on.” -Horrorscope.7632
“I’m finding companies should sell access to forums,
it seems many like them better than the games they comment on.” -Horrorscope.7632
I was considering transferring my gold to gems for a gemstore purchase today, but when I saw the exchange rate—over 10g for 100 gems—I realized it has gotten to the point that I will never be able to afford the gemstore.
I’m not wealthy—not in real life, and not in the game. I am not comfortable throwing my paycheck into a game to get game-items, when I need things like food, clothing, and the ability to pay my college tuition.
In the game, my goal is to have fun and relax. I don’t want to spend hours grinding to get gold for the gemstore. I don’t want to play the trading post. I want to enjoy myself. Yet, it seems that enjoying myself comes at a cost—all those neat-looking shiny items will be unobtainable for me. And I find that unfair.
I’m not asking for a legendary. I’m just asking that some nice things stay within my reach. Like making a gemstore purchase from time to time. I am not sure how, or if, arenanet will work to do something about this—but I think I’m not the only one who feels this way.
problem is, at the end of the day, things cost money. There is no way around it. You will have to pay some how, some way, no matter what. Now if you can come up with a better monetization system, that gives similar profits, but gives you more value, go for it, but you cant expect people to work for free, or less than their work is worth. They have to buy stuff too you know
I have a limited amount of time to play, and before I got tired of some of ANets development choices, had a few dollars to occasionally throw at them for in-game gold, so I’m happy that the exchange rate keeps giving more gold for cash.
Having said that, I do think it’s funny that this model means that the people who consume the service most have the least incentive to pay. If you look at it purely as “hours of service provided” by ArenaNet, the hardcore farmer who gets so much gold she’s never tempted to buy gold with gems pays nothing in spite of being in game forty or more hours a week, while the casual player who plays an hour or two on weekends has much more incentive to plunk down real cash to shortcut toward in-game rewards.
Everything in the gem store is a want, not a need. You don’t need any of it to play the game, so remember that as you think about the ability or inability to purchase stuff. I have an extra 9k coming my way that I’ll have to burn through, but because of how Gaile and her team treated me none is going towards this game, otherwise I’d drop a bunch to get some gems back in the system.
My suggestion would be to try crafting some higher grade items and selling or putting them in the mystic toilet. Granted it’s borked, you may get lucky and get back an exotic or precursor that you can sell. Also faster dungeon paths can net you an easy gold, just do a few of those now and then as well and eventually you’ll have some gold you can turn into gems. The ratio will never be in your favor as it was in the old days, and they’re loving it.
“We just don’t want players to grind in Guild Wars 2.” -Colin Johanson
Don’t support the Gem Shop, it’s that easy.
Don’t support the Gem Shop, it’s that easy.
Having said that, I do think it’s funny that this model means that the people who consume the service most have the least incentive to pay. If you look at it purely as “hours of service provided” by ArenaNet, the hardcore farmer who gets so much gold she’s never tempted to buy gold with gems pays nothing in spite of being in game forty or more hours a week, while the casual player who plays an hour or two on weekends has much more incentive to plunk down real cash to shortcut toward in-game rewards.
Actually it’s a pretty elegant situation. The hardcore farmers are not going to pay real money unless you make them, I suspect most are disable, unemployed, or in school so they have more free time than money to spend in the first place. So if you make it too hard to get things through farming they will move on to a game that’s more to their liking.
The activity that they provide fuels the economy, giving the TP the crafting mats and rare gear that more casual players will buy rather than farm themselves. So both sides are necessary to keeping the game going, Anet gives up a little cash in order to create an environment where casuals can get what they want quickly, and farmers can get what they want cheaply.
Actually it’s a pretty elegant situation. The hardcore farmers are not going to pay real money unless you make them, I suspect most are disable, unemployed, or in school so they have more free time than money to spend in the first place. So if you make it too hard to get things through farming they will move on to a game that’s more to their liking.
Oh, I totally get it.
It’s just interesting that it’s one of the few businesses with “the more you consume, the less you have to pay” model.
yea its totally the fault of ppl who refuse to pay for gems , u sould be able to drop 20 dollars on the gem store once a year or so its not that big a deal
Actually it’s a pretty elegant situation. The hardcore farmers are not going to pay real money unless you make them, I suspect most are disable, unemployed, or in school so they have more free time than money to spend in the first place. So if you make it too hard to get things through farming they will move on to a game that’s more to their liking.
Oh, I totally get it.
It’s just interesting that it’s one of the few businesses with “the more you consume, the less you have to pay” model.
Do you mean this game, specifically, or the F2P genre? Because there are tons of games out there you can play as much as you want without paying a cent.
I used to call up local computers that hosted BBS’s years ago and chat and play games for free, before the internet became popular, and if I look around long enough I’m sure I can find a box of floppy disks with some shareware games on it.
This isn’t really anything new. The quality varies, but generally speaking a small percentage of users paying for games will cover the costs, anything above that is profit.
Gems cost more gold not because gold is worth less, but because players keep buying gems with gold.
We are heroes. This is what we do!
RIP City of Heroes
RIP City of Heroes
Actually it’s a pretty elegant situation. The hardcore farmers are not going to pay real money unless you make them, I suspect most are disable, unemployed, or in school so they have more free time than money to spend in the first place. So if you make it too hard to get things through farming they will move on to a game that’s more to their liking.
Oh, I totally get it.
It’s just interesting that it’s one of the few businesses with “the more you consume, the less you have to pay” model.
actually ill put it like this, when you dont pay to play, you are working for other players. You spend your time doing the things they dont want to do. Basically you can be a wageslave. The problem i think is, once you buy gold, there isnt that much content of interest to aim for. They kind of are in a catch 22, because whatever is that endgame mode that people actually want to play, should probably give whatever they decide their top rewards are (special cosmetics) but if you give that away through play, then gold is less valuable.
So you end up with a system where you can spend gold to get things of value in game, and minimal reason to play the game, unless you arent buying gold.51
What if you play the game because, you know, you like playing it? Because you have fun or something, not because you get phat lootz or whatever.
What if you play the game because, you know, you like playing it? Because you have fun or something, not because you get phat lootz or whatever.
then you would neither buy nor sell gold, because you have no interest in phat lootz or whatever.
the reply was in the context of motivations for buying and selling gold, and how it seems a bit odd. If you dont care about loot, you dont need gold, and you dont need gems so you wouldnt really enter into the equation.
The only way gem costs go down is if other players invest in the gem supply AND exchange them for gold.
The problem is also that there is a stigma associated with people who buy gems with real money. So those people are discouraged by the community to buy gems with their real money which brings up the exchange rate even more.
The strange thing is that the community then complains when the exchange rate gets too high when they themselves are partly to be blamed.
The system is designed so that you can afford gems if:
- You have more dollars than time and buy directly.
- You have more time than cash and can earn coin in-game to pay for gems.
As long as the first group is large, it will take increasing amounts of gold to buy gems. At some point, the number will get high enough that more people will be motivated to buy gems with their PayPal/Credit Card and put pressure in the other direction.
A high gold:gem ratio thus benefits new players and anyone who wants to spend money to save time in the game. It also makes it harder for gold sellers to stay competitive, which benefits everyone.
It only is a problem for people like the OP who neither have time nor money to invest.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
I still feel it is slightly a bit low. Currently 10USD buys 800 gems which is converted to about 63 gold. IMO a good balance would be at that 75 gold mark at current market gold prices for items. 75g will get you a piece of ascended armor or weapon or enough to get one of the more common black lion weapon skins and match well with the current prices for other gem store items that could be bought with those 800 gems.
[ICoa] Blackgate