Guild Wars 2

There are other threads about the frustrations (or otherwise) of the chest/coffer/crate mechanic for weapon skins and other items, please let’s not turn this into another one.

Do you buy seasonal containers from the Gem Store? If you don’t, would you buy items like weapon skins directly? Or do you rely exclusively on farming world drops?

There is some debate to be had about which approach would give NCSoft the better return. While I acknowledge that this thread is hardly likely to be statistically significant, it might give the in-house economist a nudge to look into it.

I do not buy RNG containers from the gem store, though I would gladly pay for weapon skins, etc.

binidj.5734:

I do not buy RNG containers from the gem store, though I would gladly pay for weapon skins, etc.

Seconded.
But everyone keeps buying the kitten things, so Anet will never change it. Wintersday is the only time they allowed us to buy directly, and those skins pretty much sucked.

I won’t buy a chance for an item in a video game. I might buy an item directly from the gem store if it is something I really like.

i bought 25 containers from the gem store but with converted gold. i did this because i was lucky in the past. and i got lucky again.

got one ticket, two minis i think around 300 taffies and loads of food (which is not that bad)

i would rather buy a weapon claim ticket for 800 gems even if it have to pay with real money.

(yet i am in a position where i can spent real cash wwhere others might find that stupid.)

i am fully aware that it is a virtual item with no real value. yet it is very simple for me:

i pay for entertainment. i will enjoy my weapon quite some time. going to the movies costs me a lot more for three hours and well … those have the chance to be disapointing too.

yet its not okay if yomebody gets screwed over so badly that he ends up with litterally nothing. by now at least we all know its a gambling game.

btw.: got two minis from the regular coffers as well.

I would have paid 1000 gems for a fused staff. RNG in Dragon Bash has been kind, since the coffers are Tradable and drop pretty often, making it more accessible than molten facility(I loved the dungeon, but wasnt going to farm it)

By offering weapon skins up front they’d lose cash from the pack who wants to be a special snowflake, but in return they’d have quite afew people who resent the approach of randomly generated coffers.

I bought 5 chests, immediatly wished I hadn’t but hey, never again.

I haven’t bought any of the random boxes with gems (and back in Halloween I only used keys that i got from drops). As for buying something directly, most likely not, at least not with real money. I’d rather convert gold to gems to get something from the store, unless I think something is really cool and don’t have time that event to get enough gold.

Edit: To be fair, I did spend $10 to get the witch outfit back in Halloween because I didn’t want to spend my last X gold.

As a small, but I think relevant aside, how much are you willing to pay for a skin? If they had both skins and boxes in the shop with the skins x100 the price of the boxes, which would you go for? This is a good source of money for them, and I’m pretty sure by putting them in the store they are either going to lose money or people will complain that the skins cost too much and they are selling out.

I buy a lot of stuff through the gem store. I have no problem doing so as it supports ANet in making more things I enjoy.

THAT being said …

If I’m going to spend real money, I expect there to be a little give and take. The Dragon Bash weapons are the first RNG weapons I’m actually motivated for and love, so of course I bought crates. I managed to get one weapon ticket, thankfully, but one ticket out of 25 rich coffers is a ridiculously low return.

I’ve opened probably 1500+ regular dragon coffers in search of a second weapon ticket and got nothing but lots of candy and fireworks and six mini risen knights to show for my trouble. At this point, I’ve largely given up getting a second ticket, and resorted to just selling my coffers to raise the cash I need for my legendary. Seriously, when someone else can open up 20 regular coffers and get a ticket versus another person who opens 1500-2000+ coffers and gets nothing, the RNG is seriously seriously skewed.

If I’m going to support you, ANet, I’d like some love back too? I had no problems purchasing the limited Braham and Rox weapon skins through the gem store, and I’d be happy to lay out more gems for the jade weapons if that were an option.

I’ve bought gems a few times, early on to get bank space / bags slots & later after a break of a couple months to gear a new character.

I’ve also bought cosmetic items, pirate outfit, boxing gloves & different glasses.

I too would happily contribute for content. However, I wont gamble.

I bought maybe twenty keys at halloween and got nothing worthwhile, just some shoulder skins that were pretty meh.

I went until Southsun before buying more RNG boxes and decided I would keep buying until I got 1 ticket. I bought in packs of $35 and bought the 10 crates at a time. I had to buy the $35 worth of gems 4 times for I believe 90+ crates before I finally got 1 ticket. Only other items worth anything at all were the 2 mini farens I got for 4g each.

That’s a disgustingly poor return for $140 spent in my opinion. I now won’t touch RNG boxes at all and I would encourage others to stay away from them as well.

I’ve made other purchases with money in the gem store for 3 additional character slots, bank storage increase, Primeval armour set, Mad King’s costume, Unlimited mining Pick, a couple boosts.

I didn’t buy the most recent Braham and Rox skins because I have no characters that use those items. Sell some axe/sword/greatsword/staff/dagger/pistol skins and I’ll be all over it though.

I’ve bought gems for bank space, character slots, unlimited tools and some revive orbs.

If Anet/NCSoft added new armor skins (not Town clothes) or weapon skins, I would buy some of them. I have never bought or will buy a chest for a chance to get a skin.