Guild Wars 2

First, I need 17 bottles of Elonian Wine (~4.5 gold), 20 crystals (12 skill points), 50 Mystic Coins (currently ~ 6.5 gold on TP), and a copy of the food. That just gets me the recipe after 12 skill points and 11 gold are burned up.

Then, I need 10 of the food to use the recipe each time I make a feast with the recipe (usually worth 50s on TP).

And if I wanted to sell these feasts to others to turn a profit, I can’t, because for some unknown reason people keep the sell price of the feasts on the TP almost perfectly in line with the cost of 10 of the food anyways (even though it feeds whoever clicks on it for 5 minutes, not just 10 people).

Finally, other than something like Magic Find, everyone optimizes something different (power, condition damage, healing power, etc.) so it’s not often that 10 people want the same buff unless there are 40+ players around.

So, what’s the point in the high cost, low yield, highly situational feast recipe? Why is the cost such an intended barrier? Why does it only remain for FIVE minutes when guild-spawned buff banners last 30 minutes and cost far less in time/effort? Isn’t it time for ANet to revisit this aspect of crafting so it’s useful?

it doesn’t cost that much. as you say it only costs 10 of the food in question to feed a potential unlimited amount of players. witch does become beneficial for the entire group as a whole. but this isn’t anythig for the “average” gamer. this content is for guild leaders/officers. and people that lead zergs in wvw. and that’s why the initial cost is so high. yes, the initial cost is absurdly high if you only plan on using it once or maybe a few times more. but if you plan on using it 5+ times per night or even more at the weekend then the initial cost really is nothing. sure you might argue that most people bring their own food, and while this is partly true. there is also alot of people who is the very casual. not bringing any food, not bringing the best wvw gear/trait setup. so the zerg as a whole is buffed from this food and it’s a really cheap investment. (you don’t necessarily have to buy the highes tier of food). most food goes for under 1s and it’s pretty nice food.

the reason why you cant trade it is because it would bring down and probably remove the initial cost, because we all know and love the way people craft and sell for “profit”

If you play for 3 hours, that’s 6 30-minute buffs at about 40-50 silver per feast. Nobody makes 3 gold in 3 hours playing WvWvW. You’d be far better off spending that money on siege or keep upgrades in terms of utility. WvWvW is the only place you’re going to find more than 10 people standing around and paying attention to things like the fact that you placed a feast during the 5 minute window it’s available on the ground.

The only people spending any time or effort on giving their zergs feasts are those able/willing to kitten away their money.

Fikfain.5849:

If you play for 3 hours, that’s 6 30-minute buffs at about 40-50 silver per feast. Nobody makes 3 gold in 3 hours playing WvWvW. You’d be far better off spending that money on siege or keep upgrades in terms of utility. WvWvW is the only place you’re going to find more than 10 people standing around and paying attention to things like the fact that you placed a feast during the 5 minute window it’s available on the ground.

The only people spending any time or effort on giving their zergs feasts are those able/willing to kitten away their money.

i think you miss a very vital point i gave. “you don’t necessarily have to buy the highest tier of food. most food goes for under 1s and it’s pretty nice food.”. <10s for your entire guild is a pretty nice deal. and it doesn’t have to be up all the time. just before these vital keep/tower sieges.

sure it might have a very minor effect. but how would you like to have it?

It might be spendy, but it definitely has a use: specifically in WvW. If you know a huge zerg impact is coming, gather your zerg, drop feast(condi duration -40% or whatever), and then fight. You’d be surprised what kind of impact it can have.

The only problem I have with the feasts lies with the Mystic Forge recipe thing. Namely the insane cost to make the initial recipe. I really don’t like the idea of needing to spend that much just for the opportunity to make a feast. Especially considering how many different food types there are and that you need to drop that money for every one you want to possibly make. Its just such a crazy high “entrance barrier” to even having the ability to make one. And aside from the cost, its just cryptic.

The actual functionality of the feasts I actually really like. It provides a unique functionality, letting you distribute buffs to other players (which otherwise would have to be mailed individually) and even do so for a period of time after you’ve left.

At least its not armor boxes, which are totally awful. “Pay extreme amounts of gold so you can craft something that serves no purpose individual pieces wouldn’t beyond a saving a few extra clicks”.

They become effective after an average of 4.917 people use it. (less than a max party size, presuming everyone in your party contributes 2 of their half hour buffs)
Hint 1: Buff doesn’t last half hour like normal food buffs.
Hint 2: You can reacquire the feast to extend the time limit.
Hint 3: It is advantageous to not have to open an item menu to re-click on a food buff.

I have already used 3 stacks of them for WvW on the Yaks Bend server. I have 3 more stacks on my main of many varieties.

~Who

Feasts are nice for WvW, but sadly there isn’t anything comparable for smaller sizes (pre-dungeon runs for example). I was hoping that feasts would provide a buff for that, but at the cost to create the recipe alone, it’s not worth it for doing dungeons.

As the OP pointed out, most people buff for different things, but if the cost were in line with say 5 different food types, it would be worth laying (most players don’t use buffs even when reminded to do so ahead of time, but will use a feast).

Maybe going forward, Anet could add a “mini-feast” idea in the game. Much cheaper cost (for both the recipe and the crafting of it), but in return it would only have 5-10 uses before it would vanish.