Guild Wars 2

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Because without RNG, rewards would all become common as dirt. No prestige. No desire to have. So once you take away the desire to have the reward, you take away the desire to do the content that gives the reward.

Along with the desire to log in, the desire to buy things from the gem shop, and the desire to provide Anet employees with a paycheck. Then Anet loses the desire to keep the servers running.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

How about just having these sort of rewards earn-able with in-game accomplishments, rather than locking everything behind RNG?

It’s so tiresome to have these items with an insanely low drop rate. Who enjoys that? And on top of that, the game is currently already lacking in rewards and good loot as it is.

GW1 veterans will recall this as the mini polarbear syndrome. It’s a dreadful course for the designers to follow.

Because without RNG, rewards would all become common as dirt. No prestige. No desire to have. So once you take away the desire to have the reward, you take away the desire to do the content that gives the reward.

I beg to differ, I still do dungeon runs for the armor and weapons, and I have most sets already. People will play the content if it’s fun. and the whole gauntlet I thoroughly enjoy

You guys realize market manipulation or this monopoly wouldn’t be as bad if there was a open trading. The problem with the trade post being the only means of trading is those who are rich can literally just control the flow of the high valued items. I know this because I’ve have done it in games where this was the case.

tolunart.2095:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Because without RNG, rewards would all become common as dirt. No prestige. No desire to have. So once you take away the desire to have the reward, you take away the desire to do the content that gives the reward.

Along with the desire to log in, the desire to buy things from the gem shop, and the desire to provide Anet employees with a paycheck. Then Anet loses the desire to keep the servers running.

Is there anything that actually supports that theory? I’m not arguing that there aren’t a lot of people who chase after rewards simply because they’re rare, but are there any examples of MMOs with fixed loot rewards that have failed (and had the failure blamed on the lack of RNG)?

Is RNG loot in an MMO something necessary to maintain player interest, or is it like the Holy Trinity where developers (and many players) assume it’s the only viable model because no other mainstream developer has ever tried something else?

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Because without RNG, rewards would all become common as dirt. No prestige. No desire to have. So once you take away the desire to have the reward, you take away the desire to do the content that gives the reward.

Why do you assume that the prestige must be attached to the item/reward? Can’t the prestige come from doing the event in and of itself?

Just look at Super Adventure Box. There’s always threads asking for it to come back. The skins and rewards aren’t difficult to get and many loved it. Tribulation mode didn’t offer any reward you couldn’t get from normal mode, and again many loved just doing Tribulation mode for the prestige.

Tamasan.6457:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Because without RNG, rewards would all become common as dirt. No prestige. No desire to have. So once you take away the desire to have the reward, you take away the desire to do the content that gives the reward.

Why do you assume that the prestige must be attached to the item/reward? Can’t the prestige come from doing the event in and of itself?

Just look at Super Adventure Box. There’s always threads asking for it to come back. The skins and rewards aren’t difficult to get and many loved it. Tribulation mode didn’t offer any reward you couldn’t get from normal mode, and again many loved just doing Tribulation mode for the prestige.

Realize that SAB is “rare”. It’s not permanent content. It’s something that comes along once in a while, and people love doing it while it’s here. Should SAB be here permanently, I guarantee you people will get tired of it, same as with anything else. It’ll be just another piece of content.

As for the other responses. MMOs always have to have a carrot, or people will not want to play. Carrots can be anything. Rare items, epic quests, hard mode gameplay, etc. Doing an epic quest just for the fun of it is a legitimate statement. There are those who play just for fun. But a larger percentage of the population wants rewards. If a majority of the population got their rewards, there won’t be a need to do it again. At the same time, the reward in question won’t mean as much, as more people get them. Just like a rare weapon. When Infinite Light came out, players who had it were godly. People flocked to see who spend all that money on a non-Legendary weapon. Now, as more people get it, it’s “ho-hum, nice sword”. It lost it’s appeal, because it became more common to see. Then people who have it, stopped showing it off.

@Tamasan: Actually, Trib Mode did offer green/yellow versions of the SAB skins, indicating that you completed Trib Mode for the various worlds.

There are players (like me) who get cosmetic rewards purely for the aesthetic pleasure of seeing them on my characters. We don’t care how much they cost. We don’t care how common they are, and we don’t care how many other players are using them. As an example, I’m working towards CoF armor for my Charr Warrior. I’m fully aware that it’s an exceedingly common look on heavy armor wearers, but it still looks much more attractive to me than any of the other dungeon armors. Likewise, my Guardian is wielding the Krytan Mace skin, despite having access to many more expensive/exclusive skins, simply because I like the design and simplicity of it.

But my group is the minority, I believe. For most players, the perception their character gives to others is an important consideration. They want their characters to look good, but it’s an equal (or even secondary) factor that their gear also indicates their skill/wealth to others. If an armor or weapon looks good, but everybody else has one, then this item is no longer as appealing as it would otherwise. Or sometimes, these players dress their characters up in gear that they personally don’t like that much, but it serves as an indication to others that their character has “made it”. (Just like how in GW1, you saw soooo many players running around in Obsidian Armor + Chaos Gloves. It was essentially a sign saying “Look at how rich I am!”) To these players, prestige is the important consideration, not personal satisfaction.

ANet has to balance the needs of these two groups when making their decisions. The end result is both sides are usually mildly dissatisfied. :P It’s just something you’ll have to live with, because the alternative is having one or the other group leave altogether, and that’s an outcome ANet desperately wants to avoid at all costs.

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

Guild wars 1, was a wonderful world. While there are glimpses of it in Guild Wars 2, sadly they are far and few between. Greed is the underlying factor, it motivates every step in the game, it drives every story, and infests every journey. It is to weep.. Too bad the BLTC made it through the LA attack. I wouldn’t have missed it at all.

Hmm, is it worth noting the insane prices some items had in GW1 with a self-policed economy for the most part rather than an auction house? Where 100 Platinum (maximum cash you could hold on hand) was not enough to buy, you needed that plus Ectos/Armbraces? Most of these being undedicated minis such as the Polar Bear, for instance. I think Wintergreen weapons were on that list too.

None of this insane pricing by the players is a new thing in the slightest. Something is rare, it is insanely expensive.

At least it’s not like a Black Lotus where there is only real cash at four figures. To start.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

You just lost thousands of Gold because your speculations were wrong.

Given u like to post in the blt threads so much I assume you also have read the threads that point out there’s not a real risk involved to make gold from TP Flipping.

Sure you can speculate and try and win big but there’s always the safe bet. TP Flipping is not the daring ‘make or break’ you’d like to make people think you undertake.

FearedbytheGods.8617:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

You just lost thousands of Gold because your speculations were wrong.

Given u like to post in the blt threads so much I assume you also have read the threads that point out there’s not a real risk involved to make gold from TP Flipping.

Sure you can speculate and try and win big but there’s always the safe bet. TP Flipping is not the daring ‘make or break’ you’d like to make people think you undertake.

It seems you’re the one not understanding. Flipping is small-time crap, like stealing purses or from cars. Anyone can do it. Speculation on the market is not small-time crap. It’s equivalent to breaking into banks in broad daylight and getting away with the entirely of the bank vaults.

Sykper.6583:

John Smith.4610:

Astralporing.1957:

Well, he doesn’t play the game, so he doesn’t see what is obvious to many.

My three level 80’s and Tequatl Greatsword disagree with your statement.

All my rage. My jealous, jealous rage.

Tequatl will continue to support me with his Runes for whatever reason.

At least you get runes, I get blue and green items lol

FearedbytheGods.8617:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

You just lost thousands of Gold because your speculations were wrong.

Given u like to post in the blt threads so much I assume you also have read the threads that point out there’s not a real risk involved to make gold from TP Flipping.

Sure you can speculate and try and win big but there’s always the safe bet. TP Flipping is not the daring ‘make or break’ you’d like to make people think you undertake.

You must be new to the trading forums. If you frequent by our neck of the woods, you’ll have seen that I’ve lost a LOT of money from the TP. A couple of months ago, I think I was down to 150 Gold in my bank.

Aidan Savage.2078:

It seems you’re the one not understanding.

No you are? -.-

Did you even read his post.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

I think I was down to 150 Gold in my bank.

FYI 150g is a lot to many players in GW2.

Further more gold in bank wouldn’t include your other investments either and how much they add up to. I’m sure your finances are just fine.

So they increased the drop rate in ninja, or the TP manipulators ran out of gold?
150g seems a fair price for a Luxury item, even if it’s just the opportunity to make it, not yet the item itself.

Who has intel about the average welth of Players? I think it’s around 50-100g, depending on server.

RoyalPredator.9163:

So they increased the drop rate in ninja, or the TP manipulators ran out of gold?
150g seems a fair price for a Luxury item, even if it’s just the opportunity to make it, not yet the item itself.

Who has intel about the average welth of Players? I think it’s around 50-100g, depending on server.

We don’t have any such data. The only one time we got anything that might tell us how big the wealth gap is was about income during the previous queen’s pavillon LS. At the time when deadeye farmers gained hundreds of gold, apparently the median income (for active players only) was 2g. In 2 weeks.
Somehow i don’t think the situation looks any better now.