Guild Wars 2

Is it apparent to anyone else how much a a blatant attempt at draining the wealth from the economy these Halloween exotics are? Over-all, I am really excited about the event but, how can you justify using a component like 100x Crystal Lodestones currently selling for 1g 35s each? Basically, you are saying to the community. "Hey we have something new for the rich players who got lucky acquiring and selling ‘of rage’ pre-reqs and something no one else will be able to afford or get (especially during this short-time event). I say this because I am certain Arenanet didn’t increase the drop rate for these crystals during this event.

Like I said, I like the thought and creativity that was put into the event but, I have a suggestion for the developers, something that might sound a little novel; make the event items obtainable by anyone who puts in effort and time playing through the this short-term for fun event. REWARD US FOR STICKING AROUND AND PLAYING THIS GAME and stop releasing cash cows into the economy that no one beside the GW2 1% can afford. I understand that you are trying to wrangle back control of your runaway economy but, for god’s sake, there are other ways to accomplish this without a gold to exclusive item trade-off. If you are uncertain how you can accomplish this, I would be more than happy to lend you my time, free of charge to consult with you on this issue…. on second thought, scratch that, that will be 100x Crystal Lodestones please.

Post Script: Just for the record, if I had 100 Lodestones, I would sell them. With 136 gold, I would just barely be able to buy one of each of the event skins.

Post Post Script: Once again, I really love the event, I just thought that we would be rewarded a little bit more for taking part in it. It is tough enough already to eek out an existence, afford certain items, etc. I just think that events like these shouldn’t take the players time and resources for granted. That is all.

agreed. for average players like myself who may already struggle to buy the best gear, this event is fun, but not really something i can afford to take home “souvenirs” from. everyone should have an opportunity to get holiday-themed items, but I think asking people to pour gold into it is really catering to people who, as op said, struck it rich off the tp, or who have the means to buy gems to convert. really not wanting to sound bitter here, but I wish there was something that could be done to make this event more accessible for the rest of us.

mrmrr.2403:

agreed. for average players like myself who may already struggle to buy the best gear, this event is fun, but not really something i can afford to take home “souvenirs” from. everyone should have an opportunity to get holiday-themed items, but I think asking people to pour gold into it is really catering to people who, as op said, struck it rich off the tp, or who have the means to buy gems to convert. really not wanting to sound bitter here, but I wish there was something that could be done to make this event more accessible for the rest of us.

Well let’s just wait and see what pops up in Act II

Unless they all of a sudden add different ways to get those Halloween items (which I realllly hope they do), waiting for Act 2 isn’t going to help. If they add even more high end things, its just going to make things worse. From what I’ve seen of the event (haven’t got a chance to play yet) it sounds fun, but all the items they are releasing are only for the top ~10% that already have the wealth (somehow), where as the rest of us scrap by (kinda like real life?).

One solution would be having some kind of Halloween token, like a dungeon token that you could use to purchase permanent event items with. This would make them exclusive but accessible to those who actually participated. But, I suppose we will have to see what the rest of the ACTS bring.. I am just trying to log in, have fun, and not worry about it.

I totally agree with OP. By throwing 100 lodestone for event item is like isolating the new players from getting one.

Tip: Then don’t.

It’s only act 1. Be a little patient.

The GW philosophy has always been to give players what they need easily, but make the cosmetics more difficult. This is no exception.

If you just want a bit of seasonal flavor, that’s what the temporary weapons are for.

What you’re forgetting is that the rich 1% own most the gold with the cost of gems going up from at the start of the event they are getting even richer . If your luck they will post all the skin they got for the low cost of 250 gold still cheaper the dusk so its a steal !

Aren’t they all just cosmetic items?

Why is this such a huge deal to you?

Shooopa.5632:

Aren’t they all just cosmetic items?

Why is this such a huge deal to you?

Well, it isn’t a huge deal when it comes down to say, stats or what have you. The big deal is that they are cosmetic items that only a very few people can get with gold. It doesn’t matter how much you play or participate. What I am saying is that there needs to be some kick back, cosmetic or otherwise for participating. Why make really cool stuff that only a handful of people can obtain with gold only? Cosmetic or not, it just doesn’t make sense in terms of such a short seasonal event. Like I said, it is a tactic, and I understand the reasoning. It is like the Mystic Forge Conduit, in that, although it is an artifact that was obtained by those that could get one (myself included), its main utility was to effect the game economy and drain the lower tier resources and money from players. I salute elegant solutions, but in the case of the Halloween items, they didn’t even try to cater to anyone without copious amounts of gold. It is obvious, and well, fair enough but, it still doesn’t mean that we can all be in agreement that this tactic was a savory one.

Firstly for doing part 1 of the story (collecting all the story parts after doing the scavenger hunt) you get a “book” that goes on your back, kinda like a back pack.

Second the devil horns are free.

So there are two free permanent things you don’t have to pay money for and you get for participating in the event.

there will likely be another item (like the backpack book) that you get for completing part 2 of the story.. and yet another similar item you get for completing part 3. Part 4 being the big finale there will again likely be yet another item we get for keeps, though not sure if it’ll be “bigger” or small too.

but… people complaining you get “nothing for participating” in the free parts of events are liars.. or are greedy and just want /more/

I really liked the holiday events in Runes of Magic, a F2P MMORPG. While, they did have their own cash shop ridiculousness at least the holiday events were rewarding to new, experienced and casual players alike.

For example for Christmas, everyday you could 4 presents from under the tree and they would give random event items, usually consumable type boosts/potions/etc.

They had quests that could be done by anyone in a relatively reasonable amount of time with a reasonable amount of skill and craftables that didn’t require you to collect 600+ event items to craft something or claim a reward.

And that was a F2P game with a cash shop designed to drain your wallet!

I gotta say for GW2, this is kind of disappointing.

This Halloween event could be extremely rewarding for even a player starting the game today.

Collect the event items around the zones (particularly if your human) but collect the trick bags/items from the, the candy corn etc.

These items will be usable long after this event ends. If you have 2k candy corn at the end of the event, then think about how much you could sell it for at the Wintersday Festival if someone wants to craft something particularly creepy!!!

By getting what you can, and giving it some time, you can make a killing on the TP. This could even out the playing field for poor players who spend some extra time this week, while still providing something to achieve for the players with extra cash to spend later!

The book backpack is totally kitten) im gonna forget abt those stuff and just buy the skins i want on tp, much cheaper imo

NeedsFoodBadly.2671:

For example for Christmas, everyday you could 4 presents from under the tree and they would give random event items, usually consumable type boosts/potions/etc.

They had quests that could be done by anyone in a relatively reasonable amount of time with a reasonable amount of skill

err isn’t that basically what the “trick or treat” bags do? And you get way more than 4 of them each day in gw2 just by killing normal mobs in your regular every day questing.. andthey contain “consumables (boosts/potion/food)” that give you boost xp or boost stats for a set period of time.

Also, so far we’ve gotten devil horns (for no effort) and the book/backpack (which doesn’t take very long to get at all).

so sounds like gw2 is doing even more than that other game you mentioned.. ya?

This is the only complaint thread on this forum that actually seems valid to me.

Halloween related crafts should be attainable through Halloween related items and events so people that attend the event are able to get it rather than just the people who grinded for ages before the event began or have lots of excess gold lying around.

But it’s early days yet, perhaps we’ll see more options for getting special loot towards the end of the event.

There’s a simple reason they did this; to get you to buy gems. It’s as easy as that.

Well lol, there is a world crysis, a lot of people is without a work (not even able to pay an internet subscription). Every big company is scared to fail, you know.
So, a cash flow is needed. It just happened

You guys could just wait for the next 3 acts and see what the quest rewards are. These technically are exactly what you are asking for, free skins for people participating.

Who cares about the skins in the BLC, there will be more with every holiday practically, and you don’t want to oversaturate a game with event items like this. No one is entitled to them, and if you don’t want to try and gamble to get them, then don’t.

The main difference between festival and other items is the period of time.

You can do legendaries over very long periods of time.
If you can’t afford to do it now you can do it later, and gather stuff over time.

But with events, item drops are limited to a small window of time. You can’t do them ‘over time’. You can do them only during the event, unless you save tons of gold to buy the stuff the next Halloween. But that’ll take an entire year to happen. And a lot of things might happen during a year:

• The whole Internet going down, massive fire and all servers lost, a meteor wiping out humanity, aliens, you dying on a car accident or getting cancer, your computer being ruined and not having cash for a new one, <insert random catastrophe here>…

And even though this can happen anytime, we must remember the ‘police retirement day’ Murphy’s’ Law: The chances of something bad happening within a period of time increase exponentially towards the end of that period.

While I agree with you for the most part, you do realize that these high end weapons can be crafted at anytime, even after the event right? The only restriction you have is the actual event items that you require for the recipe. Use the week to farm up the rare mats you need, ie skulls, teeth, and whatever else there are. Then get the other mats over time when the event is over.

Yes it is entirely possible to craft them after the halloween (the time frame you want them is in the halloween, but whatever), except they require lodestones. Lodestones that any person will most likely dedicate towards his legendary instead of his festive weapon skin. I don’t understand why they made the halloween skins use materials that are already in high demand for legendary weapons…

In my opinion they should have used a stack of 250 butter or something instead of 100 lodestones. :P

How is in-game currency being drained from the economy? One player is selling and another is buying. Isn’t that just moving the currency around?

Basically yes. it is just shuffling gold from one hand to another. The average player doesnt have the funds to buy the halloween items currently on the BL market due to how inflated the prices are (low drop rates is mostly to blame), myself included. Between the high market prices and the low drop randomness of the lion chests I’ve become completely disenchanted with Arenanets market philosophy.

Thunderhead.5736:

Yes it is entirely possible to craft them after the halloween (the time frame you want them is in the halloween, but whatever), except they require lodestones. Lodestones that any person will most likely dedicate towards his legendary instead of his festive weapon skin. I don’t understand why they made the halloween skins use materials that are already in high demand for legendary weapons…

That’s the choice you make. I would expect that every variant of lodestone e has some high-level use, so any way you look at it, there’s going to be some level of “sacrifice” to be made.

Well, for most the choice is obvious. Hell, the legendary weapon even has an icon in the character select screen to be filled, always nudging you towards it. In comparison, after halloween, those weapon skins will become more obscure.

You can craft the perm skins when ever you want. Get the halloween related components that you need NOW, and work towards the lodestones or what ever else your are crying about later, and do the combine for the perm skin later. There is no 1% issue here just more crying about not getting everything in the game handed to players instantly for no work what so ever…

Ailsan.6327:

How is in-game currency being drained from the economy? One player is selling and another is buying. Isn’t that just moving the currency around?

Tax.

I have to say, RIFT’s holiday events were done the right way. Lots of little trinkets and cosmetics purchasable for special event currency, as well as some rare drops that one could get lucky and loot, or purchase for tons of platinum on the auction house. I wish ArenaNet would have a look at how Trion handles their holiday events.

The ONLY things I’ve seen that are horribly overpriced so far that are actually worth anything are the precursor legendary weapons. Everything else is just fluff and vanity items or are usually found in a decent amount of time.

I found enough rare large skulls to make a Godskull Kriss only a day or two after my smithing got high enough to let me make it. That may have been a fluke, but boy that was sure some convenient timing.

If you’re really so obsessed with having weapon and armor skins then you probably already have bought gems and traded them for in-game currency.

I agree with you.. Even though we can get the legendary weapons later on it’s just weird that we have to wait until after the event to actually be able to obtain it ‘cause Lodestones are impossible for me to obtain cause of my level and yet you get to have this awesome staff for 3 or 4 hours which it’s just saddening and makes you want the perm staff even more which again is impossible for me to get at my level…

Edit: sorry for typos English is not my native language

Julie.6803:

I agree with you.. Even though we can get the legendary weapons later on it’s just weird that we have to wait until after the event to actually be able to obtain it ‘cause Lodestones are impossible for me to obtain cause of my level and yet you get to have this awesome staff for 3 or 4 hours which it’s just saddening and makes you want the perm staff even more which again is impossible for me to get at my level…

Edit: sorry for typos English is not my native language

I want the staff on my necromancer as well, but it doesn’t seem worth the investment.

Some people have decided that they are not going to try to obtain a legendary due to the high grindiness of it. Its more in most peoples grasp to spend 150-300g on mats to make an almost legendary very rare Halloween weapon. 100 lodestones is more easily obtained than a million karma….just sayin.

Promega.7628:

You can craft the perm skins when ever you want. Get the halloween related components that you need NOW, and work towards the lodestones or what ever else your are crying about later, and do the combine for the perm skin later. There is no 1% issue here just more crying about not getting everything in the game handed to players instantly for no work what so ever…

Well that’s awesome. I can’t wait to enjoy my Halloween staff, this Christmas.

There’s nothing that suggests you can’t craft these after Halloween is past. Even if you lack the stuff now, but really, REALLY want permanent versions of these … uh, save up?

@Zorik Hence why I am not even going to pay attention to the event.. its very disappointing that a staff not even that great is such a grind for an Halloween event.. Let’s hope the remaining acts will be better..

Rainshine.5493:

There’s nothing that suggests you can’t craft these after Halloween is past. Even if you lack the stuff now, but really, REALLY want permanent versions of these … uh, save up?

But it’s not even worth saving up for a Legendary Weapon with stats like that..

Guild Wars 2, otherwise known as Trading Post: The Game. Or, Economic Management: The Game. Gameplay, skins and other items exist only to motivate the financial model.

Yep, I agree the crafted Halloween requirements are ridiculous. They cost more and are not even as nice as other unique exotic skins.

It’s cool though, I’m sure the Godskull cheaters will have all the Halloween skins they want, and making those cheaters happy is obviously a #1 priority.

Are these added now, or should we wait for a patch?

<3 I knew you wouldn’t let us down
+1

But is there any way you can be a little more specific on what the Mad King Chest drops vs. the Epic mad King Chest?

awesome! thanks for the update.

Let the uber players have the uber skins. How awesome would that skin be if everyone had it? Or if it was available on the cash shop? It would be cool for a day or two, then become “just another skin everyone has”.

I’ve been a level 80 since a week or so after launch and I still haven’t even come close to getting a legendary. When I see them, I admire them. Maybe one day I’ll work towards getting one. That’ll give me a goal for a few days or weeks.

6 months from now, the people that did the work and run around with sick Halloween skins will be proud that they have them. You’re right, it’s the GW2 1%, good for them. If everyone had the best stuff, the best stuff would just seem like junk.

The best / coolest looking items in the game shouldn’t have a 50% drop rate. No matter how much I wish I could have them. It really is for the 1%, that’s OK. That adds prestige to the items.

Modus Pwnens.1932:

Are these added now, or should we wait for a patch?

They said they will let us know when it’ll be effective. So we should be waiting for a small patch Im assuming.

I was thinking the same thing as Arthur (can’t quote directly) –
9 normal mad vs 1 epic mad

ponders

This is genius. Hopefully now everyone will shut up.