Guild Wars 2

Anet has been using the cash shop to sell items that could and should be used to get people actually playing the game. This game desperately needs content and stuff for the players to work towards and I am not too happy that they have been using the cash shop to sell content that should be obtained by the player’s actions in the game. All the fun and silly toys in the cash shop are fine, the boosts are fine, the town clothes are fine as well. But please, leave armor and weapons to be something that people actually deserve to have. It seems like each event brings in new stuff that we can’t even get without paying for it.

I like what they are doing with the Tequatl stuff and I would like to see all these events do something similar. Please, armor and weapons are content that should be part of the actual game and not the cash shop.

How about more dungeons that reward us new sets…

Probably HALF of the Armor I saw people wearing towards the end of Gw1’s life, was MicroTransaction armor only…. not one single new set beyond the expansions themselves. And that’s probably how it will keep working here… no new Armor Sets at all. Maybe a couple of weird festival pieces like that clockwork shoulder thing I still haven’t seen anyone wearing yet…

..the dragon helm and shatter wings I actually wear sometimes…

But yeah…. don’t be surprised if there’s not one single new set of Dungeon or WvW earned Armor/style. …atleast not for a long time. Get a second job :p …b/c there’s no point in putting 20+ hours into “working” in this game for a $7 dollar suit you could earn pushing shopping carts for 1 hour

It is ok to have both in my opinion, but we need some new ones in the open world to get. Making armor is expensive resource wise though and that is why we don’t see enough variety.

When the new offerings in the cash shop were all town clothes: “We want armor! Put sets of armor in the cash shop!”

So they put suits of armor in the cash shop. And people complain.

It’s not called cash shop it’s the gem store. There is so much gold floating around right now there is no excuse not to change gold into gems and get the skins like everyone else.

Serraphin Storm.2369:

It’s not called cash shop it’s the gem store. There is so much gold floating around right now there is no excuse not to change gold into gems and get the skins like everyone else.

This thought process is why people have left for the long term. Farming gold to get the content they are putting out isn’t fun and there are plenty more MMO’s that I could go to with more content. I happen to like this game for what it is and I want to see it progress as a game, I don’t want to see it turn into Guild Wars 1.

But yeah…. don’t be surprised if there’s not one single new set of Dungeon or WvW earned Armor/style. …atleast not for a long time. Get a second job :p …b/c there’s no point in putting 20+ hours into “working” in this game for a $7 dollar suit you could earn pushing shopping carts for 1 hour

Not sure if you were serious when you wrote this but if you just told me that I should have to work harder irl to get cash shop items in a video game then you are beyond help. Not everyone feels like their irl money is worth armor in a game. I purchased this game for 60 dollars and so did millions of people, that is alot of money that they could have spent making new content for this game with a cash shop on the side. I’m not pretending to know how much it costs to make armor, but I really doubt that with all the mediocre events they have been putting out (some have been good) they couldn’t have put worthwhile content like dungeons in the game instead.

It’s a cash shop Serraphin, gems are merely what the proxy currency is called. The Gold to Gems is simply a way to get players to fund the Gems to Gold side of the exchange and not the primary means to get gems to spend in the store.

Yes, you can turn gold into gems, but at an extremely unfavorable rate, thus leaving a lot of people doing the alternative; paying with cash. Cash. Cash shop. Cash pays their bills and that’s a primary focus for them.

Goose.9317:

Serraphin Storm.2369:

It’s not called cash shop it’s the gem store. There is so much gold floating around right now there is no excuse not to change gold into gems and get the skins like everyone else.

This thought process is why people have left for the long term. Farming gold to get the content they are putting out isn’t fun and there are plenty more MMO’s that I could go to with more content. I happen to like this game for what it is and I want to see it progress as a game, I don’t want to see it turn into Guild Wars 1.

But yeah…. don’t be surprised if there’s not one single new set of Dungeon or WvW earned Armor/style. …atleast not for a long time. Get a second job :p …b/c there’s no point in putting 20+ hours into “working” in this game for a $7 dollar suit you could earn pushing shopping carts for 1 hour

Not sure if you were serious when you wrote this but if you just told me that I should have to work harder irl to get cash shop items in a video game then you are beyond help. Not everyone feels like their irl money is worth armor in a game. I purchased this game for 60 dollars and so did millions of people, that is alot of money that they could have spent making new content for this game with a cash shop on the side. I’m not pretending to know how much it costs to make armor, but I really doubt that with all the mediocre events they have been putting out (some have been good) they couldn’t have put worthwhile content like dungeons in the game instead.

So you think the cash shop should only have “silly” stuff in it that few people would actually want to get?

Do you realize that the cash shop is their only income for the game currently, not counting the few boxes they will still sell?

Do you realize the 60$ you paid for the box was already spent when the game was released? Or did you think the developers worked for free for 5+ years to create the game?

The cash shop still doesn’t “sell power”. The fact that it does sell convenience items and fancy cosmetic pieces is the right way to go. If it doesn’t offer anything worth getting, the game is going to die. I hope you do realize at least that much.

I agree that the hate for the gem store is misplaced, they are not selling power and have some neat convenience in there. Prices are a bit on the high side but it works.

HOWEVER, and I think that is the point, their ratio of “new things for sale” and “new things to earn in-game” has been way off for the first year. There has yet to be a set of armor thats available through playing. The majority of new weapons were gem shop (BL chest or equivalent) as well. generally, throughout the last year the gameplay-availablenon-weapon skins were one-off items like a ton of backpacks and a helm, gloves and maybe one or two more. I am glad that the last two patches were positive in this regard with new skins in champ chests and new skins for ascended items. Still waiting on a new set of armor though.

The “endgame” is getting new skins, so they need to keep putting out new skins that are granted through gameplay or people leave because farming gold for the gem exchange is less fun then farming for an item. Nevermind that its the same thing in the end, the perception matters. And if the player perception is that they play several days to exchange the fruit of their effort for 800 gems that they could have gotten for an hour of RL work, they tend to lose interest.

Mastruq.2463:

I agree that the hate for the gem store is misplaced, they are not selling power and have some neat convenience in there. Prices are a bit on the high side but it works.

HOWEVER, and I think that is the point, their ratio of “new things for sale” and “new things to earn in-game” has been way off for the first year. There has yet to be a set of armor thats available through playing. The majority of new weapons were gem shop (BL chest or equivalent) as well. generally, throughout the last year the gameplay-availablenon-weapon skins were one-off items like a ton of backpacks and a helm, gloves and maybe one or two more. I am glad that the last two patches were positive in this regard with new skins in champ chests and new skins for ascended items. Still waiting on a new set of armor though.

The “endgame” is getting new skins, so they need to keep putting out new skins that are granted through gameplay or people leave because farming gold for the gem exchange is less fun then farming for an item. Nevermind that its the same thing in the end, the perception matters. And if the player perception is that they play several days to exchange the fruit of their effort for 800 gems that they could have gotten for an hour of RL work, they tend to lose interest.

Very much this.

Gem Store armor and weapons are fine in and of itself, as long as they’re still providing new non-Gem Store stuff as well. There has to be a balance between the two, they can’t make all the new stuff Gem Store only.

I’d actually say weapons have been fairly decent in this regard, lately. We’ve gotten Zenith weapons, Dragon’s Jade weapons (considering those non-Gem Store since you could get them somewhat reliably via in-game Coffers), Aetherized / Sclerite weapons to a limited extent, Champion weapons, Ascended weapons, Sovereign skins, and Super / Tribulation skins.

Armor, though…. not so much. There hasn’t been a single non-Gem Shop full armor set added to the game since launch. We’ve gotten a few gloves and helmets and quite a few shoulders, which is something, but not really enough. Granted, there hasn’t really been that many Gem Store armor sets either (at least not if you go by armor class, there’s been 2 sets per class in that case not counting the ones that were in there at launch) but there still needs to be a little more balance on the armor front. Especially since the Aetherblade armor would be perfect as an in-game drop from Aetherblades themselves.

Please keep it in the gem store. Being able to buy it for gold, which I earn through a variety of activities, is so much better than grinding the same dungeon 20+ times for an armor set.

In the last 6 months I have bough two things from gem store. One armor skin set and a quiver skin. I’m not interested in cute town clothes, rng boxes or buffs.

I’m quite sure that they want some money from people like me too. More armor and weapon skins please!

Serraphin Storm.2369:

It’s not called cash shop it’s the gem store. There is so much gold floating around right now there is no excuse not to change gold into gems and get the skins like everyone else.

Lemme repeat it again b/c you skimmed over it the first time:

Get a second job instead …b/c there’s no point in putting 20+ hours into “working” in this game for a $7 dollar suit you could earn from pushing shopping carts for 1 hour

In other words: The Gem convert Price can only ever go in one direction most of the time. It can never, and will never, experience a long period of devaluation ever again.

… unless you’re talking about flipping/farming gold. And I shouldn’t even have to explain why that won’t work if everyone starts doing it.

Ursan.7846:

Please keep it in the gem store. Being able to buy it for gold, which I earn through a variety of activities, is so much better than grinding the same dungeon 20+ times for an armor set.

This is why they put armor and skins in the shop ^^ this guy right here. Not saying its bad it is just another demographic.

There are people that actually hate PvE and will not do it if they don’t have to. If a new dungeon came out with that had new armor skins. You would see a thread “Anet why didnt you put it in the Gem Store like the other armors? Why am I forced to PvE”

ilr.9675:

Lemme repeat it again b/c you skimmed over it the first time:

Get a second job instead …b/c there’s no point in putting 20+ hours into “working” in this game for a $7 dollar suit you could earn from pushing shopping carts for 1 hour

In other words: The Gem convert Price can only ever go in one direction most of the time. It can never, and will never, experience a long period of devaluation ever again.

Either that… or you’re talking about flipping/farming gold. And I shouldn’t even have to explain why that won’t work if everyone starts doing it.

And it should be like that. Purchasing gems with in-game gold should take a lot longer time than earning real money to spend.

The difference being that many people actually enjoy playing the game and earning the gold, while they have little motivation to push around shopping carts for a few hours, even if the extrinsic rewards are greater.

Now a long period of devaluation is impossible. Gems are still underpriced, IMO, but the prices should slowly reach equilibrium while fluctuating around it.

oZii.2864:

Ursan.7846:

Please keep it in the gem store. Being able to buy it for gold, which I earn through a variety of activities, is so much better than grinding the same dungeon 20+ times for an armor set.

This is why they put armor and skins in the shop ^^ this guy right here. Not saying its bad it is just another demographic.

There are people that actually hate PvE and will not do it if they don’t have to. If a new dungeon came out with that had new armor skins. You would see a thread “Anet why didnt you put it in the Gem Store like the other armors? Why am I forced to PvE”

“Why am I forced to play this video game I bought?”

That is a really bad argument.

Goose.9317:

“Why am I forced to play this video game I bought?”

That is a really bad argument.

I enjoy everything in this game except dungeons. If they came out with an armor set which I want for its visuals, but had to grind out the same dungeon 20 times to get it, I end up a lot less happy than if I could simply purchase it with gold/gems.

This isn’t an argument, armor being in the gem store makes me objectively happier compared to the alternative of grinding specific content to get it.

Gold gives you options. Why are you opposed to players being given more options?

Who said it has to be dungeon based? All I said is that I want new stuff to come out that isn’t on the cash shop. I don’t want to be forced to farm endlessly for the gem conversion and I don’t want to shell out any more money on this game than my initial investment and some random stuff on the cash shop, and I shouldn’t be forced to.

The point is, if the game becomes a giant interactive cash shop, I don’t see the point in playing anymore. Many people clearly share the same feelings as me because tons of people quit the game after the first 5 months because there was nothing to look forward too and after playing for a year, I see why, I have been optimistic that Arenanet will change everything for the better but I have yet to see cool and permanent content.

I love the idea of the living story but they do so much work for nothing when it isn’t there for the long haul. I thought fractals were a step in the right direction, but seeing as they clearly aren’t doing anything with the new tier besides trinkets and amulets (which only help you do more fractals) then why would I keep playing?

There are other games I can go to if I want to actually play the game and not a cash shop. I think it is such a shame that a game so beautiful looking and so fresh with ideas turned into this.

I spend my real money in the gem store to get pretty things I like, in exchange for happily playing a game with no monthly fee. I think that is how it was supposed to work?

diamondgirl.6315:

I spend my real money in the gem store to get pretty things I like, in exchange for happily playing a game with no monthly fee. I think that is how it was supposed to work?

Not quite, the new content shouldn’t be locked away only to those who can afford it. Even if I can afford it, and I’m not saying I can’t, I don’t want to spend more money on something I already spent money on. I realize that Arenanet needs to make money, and there are plenty of ways to do that without selling what people really care about for irl money or a ridiculous amount of gold grind.

So the problem you have isn’t the fact that items are in the gem store, but they’re hard to get then?

Because what you describe (not wanting to farm “endlessly” for rewards) can easily be applied to many things in-game and isn’t restricted to the cash shop itself.

EDIT: Which is a perfectly legit complaint, but the title’s a bit misleading.

Ursan.7846:

So the problem you have isn’t the fact that items are in the gem store, but they’re hard to get then?

Because what you describe (not wanting to farm “endlessly” for rewards) can easily be applied to many things in-game and isn’t restricted to the cash shop itself.

EDIT: Which is a perfectly legit complaint, but the title’s a bit misleading.

No, the fact that the content is in the cash shop is a problem. The fact that they are in there means that the only way to get them is to farm gold endlessly for gems or to pay real money. Neither of those things reward any sort of skill or talent or are fun.

Farming isn’t content, yet its the only way to get the stuff that could be nice endgame content. I don’t care if it costed less gems to get them, I don’t care if it costed me 5 cents to get. I don’t want to buy armor, I want something to earn.

After rereading my last post, I can definitely see the confusion.

Goose.9317:

Ursan.7846:

So the problem you have isn’t the fact that items are in the gem store, but they’re hard to get then?

Because what you describe (not wanting to farm “endlessly” for rewards) can easily be applied to many things in-game and isn’t restricted to the cash shop itself.

EDIT: Which is a perfectly legit complaint, but the title’s a bit misleading.

No, the fact that the content is in the cash shop is a problem. The fact that they are in there means that the only way to get them is to farm gold endlessly for gems or to pay real money. Neither of those things reward any sort of skill or talent or are fun.

Farming isn’t content, yet its the only way to get the stuff that could be nice endgame content. I don’t care if it costed less gems to get them, I don’t care if it costed me 5 cents to get. I don’t want to buy armor, I want something to earn.

After rereading my last post, I can definitely see the confusion.

So it would be better if they took away the gold and gem purchase for the “end” game content, and make it a badge content where you endless farm badges, which is totally not a form of currency at all right?

You do realise that there are different departments in Anet and the people creating end game content and the people greating gem store items are probably 2 seperate groups of people right? You do realise by now, that the 60 bux you, me, and everyone else spent on the game doesn’t buy you anything new aside from what the devs already made at launch, and that the having things people actually want to spend cash on is how the game survives right? because you can’t pay people with demands. Don’t like how the game is being updated? don’t buy any gems… oh wait.

Maybe designing half decent armor sets is hard, or they’re strapped for modelers (or whatever) that they need to sell their junk in the cash shop to make anything nearing an ROI?

Don’t be surprised if ascended and legendary armor look like trash/reuse old skins.

Goose.9317:

I realize that Arenanet needs to make money, and there are plenty of ways to do that without selling what people really care about for irl money or a ridiculous amount of gold grind.

Plenty of ways? Like what?

Subscription fee?

If you have other great ideas, I’m sure ANet would be thrilled to hear them.

Sorry Goose, but your posts are starting to sound more and more like “I want everything in the game but don’t want to pay anything to play it.” That’s not how MMOs work, so get over it and spend some $$$ if you like the game and would want to play new content in the future, too.

ilr.9675:

Probably HALF of the Armor I saw people wearing towards the end of Gw1’s life, was MicroTransaction armor only…. not one single new set beyond the expansions themselves. And that’s probably how it will keep working here… no new Armor Sets at all. Maybe a couple of weird festival pieces like that clockwork shoulder thing I still haven’t seen anyone wearing yet…

..the dragon helm and shatter wings I actually wear sometimes…

But yeah…. don’t be surprised if there’s not one single new set of Dungeon or WvW earned Armor/style. …atleast not for a long time. Get a second job :p …b/c there’s no point in putting 20+ hours into “working” in this game for a $7 dollar suit you could earn pushing shopping carts for 1 hour

1/ if you need a second job for a 7 dollar microtransaction, you need a primary job first and foremost.

2/ it worked in GW1. If the weapons are PVE and the armor gemstore, that’d actually push a.net to create compelling armor sets, because apparently that’s quite difficult.

Over react much op?

There are 3 armor skins in the gem store, one for each armor type. All of which are remakes of old GW1 skins. They are skins, not armor sets, they have no stats and cannot be used without attaching to an armor piece.

Basically this is a thread about someone complaining they dont want to spend time playing to earn them, but that they really want them.

They are not expensive, either in RW cash or in game gold>gem conversion. If the op thinks they are expensive, he clearly hasnt played GW2 long enough to realise that gold is currently adundant. Stop complaining and go earn them, or fork up the RW cash for them.

Lexandro.1456:

Over react much op?

There are 3 armor skins in the gem store, one for each armor type. All of which are remakes of old GW1 skins. They are skins, not armor sets, they have no stats and cannot be used without attaching to an armor piece.
.

Have you looked at the store recently? There are at least three different armor sets for each armor type. The original three, aetherblade armor, and three unique sets.

I’m not sure what adding a sub fee would do, though. Subscription-based games create a situation where that encourages grinding and farming – it’s in the company’s best interests to keep you subbed as long as possible, so doing anything in the game takes as much time as they can get away with. So instead of the choice between farming X gold or paying $10 for an armor skin, you get to collect 100 raid tokens to get the suit of armor because that is the only way to get it. So you get to run the same handful of dungeons 100 times.

In fact, people forget the whole reason why Anet has introduced farmer and grinder friendly content is because a large chunk of their player base has already been trained to do this – why pay $10 for the armor when you can spend the next week running CoFp1 instead?

I’d just like to point out that they just released Ascended weapons, which gives something that’s no only better (i.e. not just a skin) but also has a new, unique skin. And there’s multiple skins for each item type, and you get them by doing a ton of varying content. …that makes it seem to me like it’s not that you think the balance of play-to-get vs pay-to-get is off, but rather that you want something that’s pay-to-get but don’t want to pay for it. (please forgive me if I’m wrong.) But if that’s the case, I’d simply like to comment that the only way they make money is if they put stuff in the cash shop that people actually want.

Goose.9317:

This thought process is why people have left for the long term. Farming gold to get the content they are putting out isn’t fun and there are plenty more MMO’s that I could go to with more content. I happen to like this game for what it is and I want to see it progress as a game, I don’t want to see it turn into Guild Wars 1.

excuse me but GW1 store items are much MUCH better in value then GW2 stuff, even a costume is worth it’s money so much more in GW1 then the junk they sell in GW2.

RLHawk.3290:

I’d just like to point out that they just released Ascended weapons, which gives something that’s no only better (i.e. not just a skin) but also has a new, unique skin. And there’s multiple skins for each item type, and you get them by doing a ton of varying content. …that makes it seem to me like it’s not that you think the balance of play-to-get vs pay-to-get is off, but rather that you want something that’s pay-to-get but don’t want to pay for it. (please forgive me if I’m wrong.) But if that’s the case, I’d simply like to comment that the only way they make money is if they put stuff in the cash shop that people actually want.

You misunderstand me, I want things in the cash shop to be a part of the real game. I could grind gold like crazy for gem conversion and I can buy them with money. I just feel that a game with such little endgame content, shouldn’t be putting things as integral as armor in the cash shop. That should be part of the actual game. Even if its just through doing achievements for the Living Story, the game needs content and Arenanet is fine with creating a false sense of content with these living story updates. The game stagnated after you got tired of doing fractals for something so trivial as trinkets, which only help in wpvp anyways because there is no pve content that requires it.

If the game had tons of content and they added a skin in the cash shop, I would not mind in the slightest. So long as there is something to do. The problem is, they are putting things in the cash shop that other MMO’s (not allowed to name names…) actually give to players in the form of new and fun content.

The point of an MMO is that it is never supposed to stagnate, it is supposed to keep the players engrossed, but how can I stay engrossed if the game loses its value at endgame?

But it violates the first rule of a cash shop, not to have it Pay to Win. Cash shop items should never provide someone a permanent advantage over anything normally acquirable in the game. Minor short term buffs are simply a matter of convenience but higher end armor and weapons, oh no no no.

Behellagh.1468:

But it violates the first rule of a cash shop, not to have it Pay to Win. Cash shop items should never provide someone a permanent advantage over anything normally acquirable in the game. Minor short term buffs are simply a matter of convenience but higher end armor and weapons, oh no no no.

They’re just skins. And you can buy them with in game cash if you’re poor. What’s the problem?

marnick.4305:

Behellagh.1468:

But it violates the first rule of a cash shop, not to have it Pay to Win. Cash shop items should never provide someone a permanent advantage over anything normally acquirable in the game. Minor short term buffs are simply a matter of convenience but higher end armor and weapons, oh no no no.

They’re just skins. And you can buy them with in game cash if you’re poor. What’s the problem?

Goose wants armor and weapons that aren’t just skins in the store, if I read his OP correctly.

No, he wants all the skins to be obtainable through gameplay (which they are, thanks to the gold->gems conversion).

Basically, it’s just a case of VP envy.

Practically he would like the cash shop only to have items he doesn’t want.