Guild Wars 2

Today 2 GS sold at 350g

350g O.o

I have to ask to my phater 3000 euro for it? Plz we need a second way to make it.

An idea: Finish all istance and u can chose 1 precursor for character. So it ll be skill based and no gpòd buyer based.

lackofcheese.5617:

As I said on the previous page, there is an upper limit on the price. The price of a precursor won’t exceed ~500x the price of the materials needed for a single exotic (although, that is of course a high estimate).

Maybe, but I don’t have much confidence in that estimation. It only works if enough people are actually playing the mystic forge and thus creating the supply. The regular players probably don’t want to take that chance since it could still take all their money with nothing to show for it. Besides I doubt anyone would try doing this in attempts to make a profit since it’s so unpredictable, so they’ll only try to make it for themselves and the TP will remain empty. That means the supply would always be too low which means the sellers can make the prices go up much higher than they’re actually worth.

lackofcheese.5617:

First of all, there doesn’t seem to be a serious problem with inflation in this game. Note that one or two items increasing in price does not constitute inflation, in the usual economic sense of the word – that would only apply only if it applied to most of everything in the game.

You’re right, I’m not that worried about the economy in general. It’s just the precursor prices that have me worried and I think it’s justified. Even Linsey stated that they were getting a bit worried about the prices and that’s all I needed to hear really. At least I know they won’t let this thing get out of hand beacuse I very much believe it will.

lackofcheese.5617:

Also, on what grounds is a rise in precursor prices “not good for the game”? I don’t really see an inherent problem. If anything, they were too cheap before, and now they’re much more reasonably priced. In fact, some of the less wanted precursors can be had at bargain basement prices, like Venom at 17g.

It’s not good for the game if it means that anyone who doesn’t exploit or super farm just to keep up with the prices, becomes completely blocked from ever getting a precursor. Right now, it’s either get it super fast before the prices go up again or just give up on it altogether.

And I really don’t see how a 17g Venom is helping anyone. No one wants it, too bad. Lucky for those that actually do, they get a great deal.

lackofcheese.5617:

Not everyone wants stability. I, for one, think lack of stability is a lot more fun. Besides, I don’t think you’d be complaining if the price was going down, would you? If so, then stability isn’t really what you want anyway.

I wouldn’t be complaining because it wouldn’t be creating any real problems other than some people’s fears that too many “entitled peasants” will have the gall to wield a legendary. I say I want stability because the instability caused by the RNG is what’s causing these problems and it’s only moving in one direction. If it was unstable in the sense that the price is constanly going up and down then yea, I’d be having fun with that too. But there’s nothing fun about an instability that’s only increasing the prices.

lackofcheese.5617:

I think finding out the odds would be a good idea; we don’t necessarily need the devs to tell us those odds either.

If we get tens of thousands of trials done across hundreds of players and share the information, we could easily get the statistics we need. Also, working together to get that information would be a lot more fun than just being told the numbers, I think.

The only problem with this is if a undocumented change is made, and we start getting conflicted results.

I don’t really think we’ll even get the numbers from a developer though. These types of things tend to be kept secret, and left for the community to find out.

Malediktus.9250:

Some precursor traders in this thread. Sad.

We will never know, but ultra rare highly demand stuff in the TP is a nightmare – you can dominate it pretty easy…

Minutes ago Dawn was in TP for 350 – now it is gone, but guess what – immediately someone lists it for 360.
Yesterday there were 2 Bifrosts and yet there are 7.
Doesn’t that – especially Dawn – say everything about who is overall in charge of the legends in TP?

For future reference, you don’t have to state that this is only your opinion and “doesn’t mean I’m right”. It’s the internet. We know it’s your opinion.

I don’t think the average player should have a legendary weapon within 2 months of a game launch. I don’t really care much either way, but forums overrun with angries who want the final reward in a game within 8 weeks are just being unreasonable.

Also, lol @ people who get mad that things cost money on the auction house. It’s supply and demand. If someone wants to pay 200g for a precursor and you dont have 200g, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. Do you drive by the ferrari dealership and get angry at the guy driving away with a new car?

Time spent complaining could be time spent walking in a park, reading a good book, or donating to your favorite charity. I’m here to say folks – it gets better.

Celestea.4105:

lackofcheese.5617:

I think finding out the odds would be a good idea; we don’t necessarily need the devs to tell us those odds either.

If we get tens of thousands of trials done across hundreds of players and share the information, we could easily get the statistics we need. Also, working together to get that information would be a lot more fun than just being told the numbers, I think.

The only problem with this is if a undocumented change is made, and we start getting conflicted results.

That’s not so much a problem if the data are stored carefully and dated. In fact, it might even help to discover undocumented changes, so I see that as more of a plus.

One idea would be to write an open-source database and web app with the aim of collating data on drop rates in the Mystic Forge. I wouldn’t mind participating in a project like that.

I think you mean Dusk, not Dawn.

In any case, what exactly does that say? If you have a Dusk and you notice that people are willing to buy it 350, clearly you’re going to put it up for a higher price. If I had a Dusk and wanted to sell it, I’d have tried 370 or more.

On the other hand, if you think that someone bought it for 350 and is now trying to resell it for 360, that’s laughable. They would be taking a loss doing that.

I completely agree with the exploit issue of your post.

For me, its not a case of tp prices, or the fact the precursor is RNG, its that the precusor was RNG for most people, while some were getting a far better chance at the precursor, through exploiting, then saving them up in their bank before reporting it.

I can live with the RNG element, it irks that, because of exploitation, the rng was not equal for everyone. If it had been an even playing field for everyone, we’d be seeing less complaints in these forums about it.

Also, the exploiters, knowingly storing up the precursors through exploitation have not been dealt with in the same way as the karma weapon exploiters in the games beginning. This is sending out the wrong message IMO.

Yeah you are right is is Dusk – my game-client is not english.

In any case, what exactly does that say?
I’m just thinking… I mean it was bought and listed within minutes… But I wont say more, because it is just guessing in the wild. And as OP said anetz is already watching.

Malediktus.9250:

Some precursor traders in this thread. Sad.

I am one of those people that is trying to make precursors so you can have one. I just want to sell it at a profit, I don’t even need a 100% profit on my investment. Maybe 20-25% when all the risk, taxes and fees are accounted for. I am actually on your side, I think they are far far to rare.

I have thrown about 1200 exotics into the forge to make precursors as an investment. I have had about two precursors come out and sold them both for far under their value apparently. I got them early on and “thought” the odds were far better than they actually are. I am now debating whether this is a wise investment. Because to get a return I really need to be charging even more than what the TP is selling them for now.

The issue is: the pool of players with that much gold is so small that we could be over-supplied for the actual market that actually exists for them. Demand doesn’t dictate profit potential. If I can’t make a precursor for less than 200g I am not selling it for less than 250g. If there is not enough players with 250g that want it for that price then there is not enough Demand that can afford it to justify me making it.

I think most of the people spouting bs in here are some of those responsible for the hoarding of the precursors but w/e im not asking for a complete nerf i understand the fact this should be a rare item yes np but explain to me one thing right, how is it then if i put in 1400 rares into the forg(which i have) and some random guy puts 4 in and gets his but i dont thats fair? How is that based on hard work? Answears on a post card plz

I don’t think Anet is really concerned if people are making a profit. That doesn’t really matter imo, as long as other people’s success doesn’t block the progress towards legendaries for others.

As long as they make sure that precursors remain accessible (even if costly) to the rest of the population than I am a happy camper.

btw Vesuvias you made 2 precursors from a minimum of 1200 gold invested? I hope you mean rares or your more full of it then anyone else iv seen post here today

Xeres.6874:

Oh and I forgot something…

Clovers…

for the RNG haters, clovers have RNG on em too, I’ve thrown in three sets of the 10 recipes to be rewarded with 37 vicious fangs, 25 orichalcum, and 10 clovers.

I think a big problem people have attempting a precurser is that its either you get one, or you get 1/4 of the mats back. Unlike your situation where each attempt you got something that was needed (both the vicious fangs and orichalcum can go toward carfting the legendary). Also please note you got what you needed 1/3 of the time, like all references to Mystic Clovers says you will (on average). Unlike a precurser we have no idea what the true chance is…cept its stupid low.

My 2c.

No, it’s obvious enough that he/she did, in fact, use exotics. I don’t see much reason to disbelieve him/her, either.

Paris.6782:

btw Vesuvias you made 2 precursors from a minimum of 1200 gold invested? I hope you mean rares or your more full of it then anyone else iv seen post here today

Exotics. I bought them with buy orders for around 50s a piece so my investment is ~2g per combine. ~150 combines = 300g per precursor. Its more complicated than this because sometimes I recombine the result and sometimes I sell it depending on what it is but I take all that into account when I calculate profitability. Overall I probably lost money on the investment but to be truthful I didn’t lose 600g, and I was really hunting what that magic % drop rate number was so I could properly price things right without losing money. So for me it was money well invested I thought. Knowledge is critical when playing the TP, knowledge no one else has is golden.

From what Linsey has said the chance also depends on the level of the exotic in question, so you should make sure you take that into account in your considerations. You might find that more testing is needed ^_~

I disagree i dont think things such as precursors nor legendarys themselves should be anything other the BOP, i know the monetary loss ppl would accumulate would be huge but ya know what? who cares. Most of the precursors on ah atm were created through shady uses of game mechanics

I would really like to see those weapons as a result of a legendary journay through Tyria and execpt the precursor – I think – it already is very well done concept. On the journey you have to collect the stuff that you cannot buy and also some of the materials (like already very well described on the first page of this topic). At the end you buy the rest and so the gold you spend will be spread all of ther world, because everyone find some piece of these materials you need and they have a relative high quantity. So it is not concentred on one item and that is always good in a market driven economy. Also in addition you have to sink 100 gold for icy runestones – I think this is a lot, but you know it is always 100 gold and you also know in the end it is to keep the economy healthy and you know anetz receive it – not someone looking for other ways to create gold after the days of botting.

Pretty sad that the other 18k readers do not post what they think – it is always the same folks…

edit: last post for me on this topic – eating up to much time – however please give it a thought and stick a little more to your paradigm and make it achievable for everyone with the same or at least comparable amount of work and time. thanks.

if i ever do decide to get a legendary, I’ll be a bit glad the weapon I want is the weapon no one wants (pistol aka flowergun). alot of the other stuff look really cool (except the bows, I feel sorry for them as well) so the price isn’t as outrageous as dusk.

cubed.2853:

Yeah you are right is is Dusk – my game-client is not english.

In any case, what exactly does that say?
I’m just thinking… I mean it was bought and listed within minutes… But I wont say more, because it is just guessing in the wild. And as OP said anetz is already watching.

I guess you’re suggesting it was the same seller for both Dusks. That’s a possibility, but it’s still more likely to have been a different seller.

Also, I don’t get what your point was about Bifrosts. I have to assume you’re talking about the staff precursor, “The Legend”. There’s 6 of them on the TP, but what are you trying to suggest this is evidence of?

Thanks for the info Linsey.

I don’t know what these people are talking about, making you buy gold/gems? Seriously? If that’s is the only option you see then you really should stop playing this game, I don’t see how you kids expect everything to be handed to you.

Does anyone else come from my point of view? You know, the MMO’s where ranking certain crafting skills takes months, to even a year?

Thankfully, GW2 makes everything simple and compact, and lets you have the fun all the time, even farming for this kitten Karma with my guildies is fun. Thanks Linsey! :]

with more information and guides on how to get legendaries, more people will feel it will be “easier” to get (with help of, say, the karma farming guide in orr), which will drive up the prices. When people start losing interest in them (after, say a number of people have gotten them, where they aren’t “that special” anymore), then we can probably see their prices dropping back.

One issue is that ArenaNet can’t tell if any given person was doing it knowingly or not; in the case of the 21 karma weapons it was completely obvious, but I don’t think this exploit would have been anywhere near as clear-cut, especially with RNG being involved. Some of them may have just noticed that it was profitable and kept doing it; after all, not every way of making profit is necessarily an exploit.

So, while it would be nice if ArenaNet could undo the effects of that exploit, simply banning anyone who put lots of Godskulls through the Mystic Forge wouldn’t really have been an option.

I really wish there was a block/ignore option because it gets tiring reading all these nonsensical straw man “why do you want a precursor handed to you” (when no one has said that ever) posts cluttering up the thread uselessly.

Problem is not the price it the method how you get it,
it can cost 500-1000 from a vendor would be lot better than this lotto system at least you not feeding the super rich exploiters more free gold…

@ChairGraveyard, there is an ignore button. Click on the person’s name it it shows up.

@Celeastea, woot, thanks!

/me proceeds to ignore everyone posting ridiculously nonsensical straw-man dependant “entitlement” and “people want precursors for no effort” posts.

Edit: Doesn’t seem to be working, I still see the posts of people I’ve put on ignore.

I agree they should be rare and very hard to get and not everyone should be running around with it etc, but RNG like this should not be involved.
0.1% with rares and 1% with exotics (that’s what people say at least) is just too low and frsutrating. I quit Aion ONLY because of RNG. I can’t stand it.

Saying that we already have a recipe: ‘a huge sum of gold’ …is just stupid.
Because atm nearly everything required for the legendary weapon can be BOUGHT. Some rich kids dont deserve it are already walking around with it probably.
The only things you need to farm by yourself is karma, badges and tokens…and tbh if you play enough you can have all that in about 10-14 days. Rest is just gold.
There should be a recipe for the precursor that requires karma, dungeon tokens, gold, ectos, badges—whatever.

Guy in my guild got Dusk after ~15 tries with level 80 rare greatswords. While the other guy spends 200g on the forge, gets nothing, realises it’s not worth buying it from the TP anymore so he keeps gambling, loses more – quits. I’ve played a lot of rng games and this is how it goes. Legendaries should not be easy to get and not many people should have it, but still RNG is bad.

Not all legendary precursors are 300+ gold. You do not HAVE to play RNG mystic forge games to get your precursor.

Your options:
1. Farm and save up the gold to buy one off the TP at market value.
2. Buy gems, convert to gold, buy precursor off the TP at market value.
3. Play the mystic forge gambling game.
4. Stop crying about the most expensive (and popular) legendary precursors and adjust your goals to one that is more affordable (axe/mace/horn/focus/underwater legendaries etc.) Obviously not everyone in the game should be running around with a Twilight or Bifrost. The prices for the less desirable legendary precursors are totally reasonable so stop complaining about the single most expensive item on the trading post. There will always be a single most expensive item, probably because lots of people want it and crying for the price to be lower so you can have it easier is not the proper path to take.

Why are people suggesting that legendary weapons shouldn’t be atainable by a large percentage of the playerbase? Is it because of how weapons of the same name are treated in a game like WoW? EQ Soulfire is a better analogy to GW2 legendaries in my opinion: fully obtainable by anyone who wants to put in the substainal effort required.

Consider these facts:
1) We have an badge on our charater select screen for getting a legendary.
2) We have an achievement for obtaining several (4?) legendary weapons.
3) Each 100% world complete charater gets 2 gifts of exploration.

With that alone I think ArenaNet wants most people to obtain at least 1 legendary if they are comitted to playing the game. It’s not entitlement, you have to work very hard (and hopefully have fun during the pursuit) to obtain one.

As was already pointed out, you gamble as a part of your mystic clovers in the aquisition of a legendary and there really is no “fun” argument for the need of a RNG precursor. I would like the see it made into a fixed recipe so you can obtain it at a known cost, similar to the gifts of Mastery and Fortune.

Finally, as was pointed out, each legendary is generic in its formula with only slightly different Gifts of <Legendary> so ANet has an opportunity to make the precursors known but unique in aquisition so the journey to each legendary you get is more memorable.

I don’t necessarily think that a fixed recipe is the only solution but i definitely don’t feel like things are ok right now.

First of all, you say that the other components aren’t difficult to get and that everyone would be walking around with a legendary within 6 months. That’s a pretty relative view in my opinion. There’s a lot of casuals out there who aren’t playing nearly as much or at least aren’t playing the farming game so their progress is much much slower. Hell I have almost 400 hours logged in but I have almost nothing to show for it, just because I’m not really actively farming and suck at TP. Most people simply won’t bother. GW1 had FOW armor. It didn’t involve crazy RNG but the amount of farming involved still made sure that not everyone had one (and I’m pretty sure it still took less effort than making a legendary).

To me legendaries should be the pinnacle of PvE achievements and for the most part they are except for the precursors which have now effectively become economy based PvP and only the top ranked 0.1% get the medal. If you HAVE to limit the amount of people from obtaining a legendary this is in my opinion the absolute worst way. A person who’s clicking around on the TP will get a legendary but I can’t because I play the game at my own pace?

A set recipe would be a pretty straightforward solution. but there could be other options. Possibly increasing the RNG drop rate could possibly make the Mystic forge play more viable encouraging people to try it and increasing the TP supply in the process. Another helpful thing would be a cap in how many tries you do on the Mystic forge before you get the precursor guaranteed. It could work as a safety net so no one gets too unlucky (that’s what I feel most people are afraid of when it come to RNG, that they’ll fall far below average in the statistic.

Final thought: It’s perfectly ok for those richer than me to get things faster than I do (I don’t even care about those that exploited) But I definitely don’t think it’s ok that their success should force my progression to slow down or even go backwards.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/117j15/130_exotic_greatswords_wasnt_enough/

Whelp, guess i will just stop wasting my time working on a legendary

if there is a set recipe, that means everyone will eventually be able to get it so long as they invest the time in to it.

Great. Sounds perfectly reasonable.

I am afraid that if the requirements aren’t too difficult, lots of players will be running around with a legendary in 3-6 months.

And I see no problem with this. If they put in the effort to grind out all the rubbish they need (aside from the precursor), they’ve done enough to merit the item. As it stands, they could waste all the time it takes to go through all the bollocks needed to get one and run clear into that brick-wall at the end, at which point, they’ve really got nothing for their effort. And if as many people as you believe are willing to go through that much effort , but the precursors are severely limited to prevent the bulk of them from reaching their ultimate goal, the game is encouraging people to waste their time.

You want to keep them rare to ensure not everyone can get them? Make them pure RNG. Otherwise, **** rarity, and let anyone who puts in the requisite time and effort towards one get it.

Oh, and whatever other changes get made, make the precursors account-bound. People shouldn’t be making progress more easily standing in one spot in Lion’s Arch than they do actively playing the bulk of the game.

Dusk at 400g atm…. Arena needs to stop it fast.

LOL at Dusk being 400g now. That’s what happens when you allow cheaters (Godskull weapons exploiters) to get away with thousands of ill-gotten gold and dozens of precursors without having anything done to them.

I guess the only people that should ever have a chance at getting a precursor should be cheaters.

This is a game, not real life. Who cares if everyone has a Legendary as long as they put the time and effort into it? RNG is one of my most hated things in any video game, especially MMOs, and that is probably because of having to put up with it since EQ1. I want to see actual progress towards a goal and not feel like I’m throwing money away into the Mystic Forge just to get nothing in return. I guess it’s time to just start saving gold to buy one of the ridiculously priced ones on the TP.

Alpha Testers
The first person to technically(bugged temple) craft a legendary was an alpha tester. They were ahead of everyone else in regards to how to get the pre-cursor as everything besides the acquisition of it was changed.

If you’re referring to Xalkyriez on Henge of Denravi who made The Bifrost, then that’s absolutely false. He specifically told me he bought it on the trading post for 25g very early on.

Put a reasonable cap on pre-cursors
This is a very difficult suggestion to implement, as I personally don’t think anyone should tell someone what their item is worth.

What it would do is let people know the items’ value and give them an idea of how much they have to work to purchase it. As it is now dusk is around 300g, I can’t see many trying to buy it if it continues going up.

It would most likely just lead to people ignoring the trading post and spamming map chat which could lead to scamming and various other issues. I don’t really think this is a good idea, but it’s an idea.

tl;dr People are mad and want pre-cursors. Give them numbers,or cap Pre-cursor price.

No. Price Ceilings are always a bad idea. If you added that you would see NO precursors on the market because the sellers would all move to black markets in order to sell them for the proper equilibrium price. Those sold below equilibrium price on the trading post would be bought up quickly and used or resold on the black market. This would all but guarantee that only elites would get the precursors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_ceiling

or gem buyer on the shop.

Yeah if you have a couple of thousands dollars to blow on a virtual item.

My guess as to the potential solution would be one of the following:

Dumping random items into the forge also has a chance of giving you a precursor component material.

Salvaging precursors gives you materials that can be recombined into other precursors.

I think it’s a fine system honestly. Someone mentioned the slot-machine analogy earlier, and that is pretty much exactly how it is. However; if you don’t like gambling, you don’t have to plug items in the mystic forge. There is always the option to buy it (as everyone has been saying).

So you can either gamble for it, or buy it. You have two entirely different options that lead to the same result. If you find these two options are too unreasonable or unacceptable, then maybe a legendary weapon is not as high on your priority list than it should be.

As far as the people who exploited, I feel the same way as everyone else. Go all IRS on them, old school gangster….. or whatever kids these days call it.

I think it’s a fine system honestly. Someone mentioned the slot-machine analogy earlier, and that is pretty much exactly how it is. However; if you don’t like gambling, you don’t have to plug items in the mystic forge. There is always the option to buy it (as everyone has been saying).

But it’s not a slot machine. In a slot machine you have a chance at getting lesser prizes every now and then to nudge you forwards and remind you that the bigger prizes are always just around the corner. In this system it’s all or nothing. Either you hit the jackpot or you lose everything. There’s no carrot every now and then to keep you coming back.

Again with the constant idiotic straw man argument of “you shouldn’t be given the precursor for free” when literally no one has ever said that even one time.

Can we put these nonsense straw man arguments to rest already, it’s getting really ridiculous to have every thread plastered with idiotic “only I should get access to the end game content” and “you shouldn’t be given a precursor for nothing” posts.

Xeres.6874:

for the RNG haters, clovers have RNG on em too, I’ve thrown in three sets of the 10 recipes to be rewarded with 37 vicious fangs, 25 orichalcum, and 10 clovers.

Use the 1x recipe if you want to play it safe. You’re almost guaranteed to get 77 clovers within 250 +/- 40 attempts.

There has never been a game where the exploiters in the very beginning don’t prosper. Look at D3, the 0 day exploiters like Kripp had everything and held monopoly.

I think its just one of those things that you hope they close the loopholes and learn to live with your new economy masters. Does this make the Chinese gold farmers on our side?

Archer, if I recall correctly FoW armor did indeed involve RNG on Ectos and Obby shards. Before the implementations end chest in FoW and UW, people would just spend countless times farming those mats, I believe the chances of those to drop were .04% or 4% not sure which.

After a while, everyone had FoW armor with chaos gloves as a perma sin. Now how is that not stale looking at basically an exact copy of yourself? Then the meta shift went towards having a BDS and other weapons like Obby blade and Crystalline Swords to distinguish yourself, which the RNG was ridiculously low.

However, these weapons had no impact on the effectiveness of your character. These are just prestige skins that shows that you have dedicated more time and tenacity that exceed others to achieve it. That is how these legendary should be, they are just a flashy skin that does the exact same damage as exotics, they have no impact on a character’s effectiveness what so ever except that you can show it off to other people. But if everyone has one, doesn’t that diminishes a legendary’s value and allure? Its scarcity that makes items have value, the reason the price of the precursor is so much is because everyone wants one.

That is what you call demand. Demand is good and necessary to instigate a healthy economy. That being said, here is what where Anet drop the ball on two accounts that has created uneven skew demand in the current game:

First offence, is allowing Legendary weapons to even exist in Alpha and Closed Beta. This creates an information advantage to all the testers. I don’t see why they couldn’t simply tested Legendary weapons in-house among the development team.

Second offence, is “Karma Gate”, I applaud Anet for banning the exploiters, however, they reinstated those accounts on a good faith system. I am fine with letting those exploiters back into the game, but everything they own should have been wiped clean. Instead, we have individuals who exploit the system that “could”
drastically affect the market by instating a cartel like monopoly. (DeBeers anyone?)

We really wish the someone would address these two issue I mentioned, as the community deserves some explanation.

I think the main problem currently is the lack of gold available to players. I can think of 2 ways to mitigate some of the issues.

1) Lower the scaling on repair and way point cost. I understand there needs to be a way to take out the gold in the game, but the cost of these are so ridiculous as you hit higher levels it shackles many to even be able to accumulate wealth. By lowering the cost, it would even encourage players to spread more evenly on all maps, rather than event campers at Orr. One can only do Orr certain amount of times before puking.

2) Higher chance at rares or even exotics after hard events or dungeons. Temples, Dragon events, ect. This could address the issues of precursor as well, by having a higher chance to get them as drops from accomplishing an epic task. Basically more difficult the event the higher chance at exotics. This could potentially killed ecto price though but I think people are more happy with this arrangement.

Just my two cent.

@Strill, yep exactly. It functions like a slot machine that only has two reward states: nothing or jackpot.

If real slot machines functioned that way, no one would ever play them, and it’s equally ridiculous for the Mystic Forge to work that way given that it’s the only method of getting a precursor.

Easily the worst, laziest design I’ve ever seen for something of this sort.

Currently you can gamble hundreds of rares at a reasonable cost and get minor rewards – exotics. Or bigger rewards – named exotics. Or the jackpot.

Wahaha.7938:

Currently you can gamble hundreds of rares at a reasonable cost and get minor rewards – exotics. Or bigger rewards – named exotics. Or the jackpot.

Except every exotic save precursors is lumped into the “jackpot” chance of success, which is so absurdly low that it’s not even in the same realm as a slot machine’s lower tier rewards. If the non-named and lower value exotics had higher chances of success, it would indeed function similarly to a slot machine. But that’s not how it works at all, so it doesn’t. At all.

You’re only able to get a precursor if you’re a Godskull exploit cheater that made dozens for 60s each (and was given an implicit free pass to cheat all they want by ArenaNet’s complete lack of any action against them).

Personally if I’d known that the end game for GW2 was to be gated off from everyone but cheaters I probably would not have bought the game.