Guild Wars 2

VincentDW.9376:

At its most basic, I think what happened here was a result of mismatched expectations. When ArenaNet used the word “chance” in its advertisements, it was using it in the most literal sense – the possibility that something might occur with unspecified probability. When many players read the advertisements, they interpreted “chance” to mean something more akin to “reasonable chance” in the traditional gambling sense, wherein the expected value of participating in a contest is not grossly disproportionate to the cost to enter. I don’t think people felt entitled to winning, but they did feel entitled to what they thought was reasonable chance at winning. This is the same sort of entitlement that people feel when they walk into a casino, and it does not inherently prevent them from walking out happy, even if they ended up losing.

What does interfere with their enjoyment is if they come to find out that the expected value of their contest entry was a great deal lower than they thought it was after they already paid to enter. Some might argue that they should not have read “reasonable chance” into “chance” in the first place, but this sort of interpretation of linguistic ambiguity (when perfect mathematical clarity is not available) is something we all do every day, and is in fact unavoidable. If we say that making any kind of assumption beyond the most literal definitions of words is unjustified and a symptom of entitlement, then we’re saying it would have been perfectly fine for ArenaNet to use the word “chance” to mean “there’s a chance our programmers implemented code to allow you to get a reward, and a chance that they did not.” I doubt many people think that usage of the word would be justified, yet that is where relying solely on literal definitions gets us.

Ultimately, my point is this: if you describe an opportunity in a way that is prone to misinterpretation, you should expect people to get upset when their reasonable interpretation of the opportunity is later proven to be wrong.

Chance is chance, be it a 1% or a 75% chance. It still is chance. Some people will find 1% odds reasonable other won’t think its reasonable unless its 75% odds in their favor.

If you are trying to say that Anet should post the odds, then yeah I can agree with you there. Though I can tell you right now that as soon as they say 1% odds there will be threads flaming Anet anyway, so don’t really see why would they = /

when brawling with either costume you go constantly in and out of brawl “mode” it means u cant stack points and it very annoying.

i think its the “1” skill key that turn it on and off but its in an irregular pattern. its quite an annoying butt both me and my friend are experiencing it

Senoph I just cannot help but wonder if you would be making this principled stand if you had received the skin you wanted. Part of me just cannot help, based on the original post, the answer is no. Your dissatisfaction is not that you played the RNG game, your dissatisfaction is believing you did not get the value you wanted (hence your claim you got nothing). You did get something, many things, just not the things you wanted. And you opted to play even though you state you do not play for RNG.

Look I dumped all the gold I had into keys (30 to be exact). I did not plan on it but I saw a guildie hit a skin on the first chest he opened and thought well I’ll give it a shot. Well I got plenty but no skins, I openned 60 chests and had 9 silver left. Was I disappointed sure (it reminded me why I do not gamble when I go to Vegas). However I knew it was only a chance to hit.

And in the face of not knowing what Anet meant precisely by chance I did not presume “reasonable chance” as another poster notes. Indeed in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity you err on the side of caution and do not presume to know what they meant.

I do not disagree that Anet could have provided other avenues than the BLC content. But that is the route they took and when people played it makes it hard to be sympathetic to a principled based appeal. You played you lost others won. If you really objected to the way this content was provided why did you opt play? Again I just can’t help but think this would not be an issue for you had you gotten the “value” you felt you deserved.

Alur.7510:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5IZvb7ONlo

And this is how everyone feels, check the Dontain video (he’s a GW2 uploader content)

subbed ~ I like that guys attitude and he is also 100% correct

1. Will you or will you not be buying black lion trading company or random number generation materials again?

- Yes!

2. Did you buy them in the past?

- Yep.

3. If you would not buy trading post material/gamble, would you support direct to buy weapon skins and what general price do you find acceptable from a business standpoint both as a customer and realizing that they must make money as a business?

- Sure would buy weapon skins too, why not? I’d say $30 maximum. Other people would probably find that outrageous though, so better stick to $20.

4. Do you believe that future events will also be handled with random number generation to make profit based on limited time item acquisition?

- Sure do, it’s how F2P MMO’s work. I’ve been a part of them for a while. Seems like a lot of people here are new to the system.

5. If you believe that the future events will be handled in the same manner, does this realization negatively effect your trust of Arena Net in regard to handling micro transactions for permanent content?

- kitten off it doesn’t, what an overreaction you bunch of whiny kids. Anet is a company that needs to make a profit somehow. Everyone here just wants free kitten.

6. Did you obtain a skin or whatever it is you were looking to get from the black lion trading chests? From the Mad King Chests?

- Yeah, after spending $50 I got one item from a BLC. Some shoulderpads worth around a gold. Looking forward to the rest of the event, because newsflash, the BLC content is such a small part of it. So many people are being so narrow-minded and greedy about this event.

1. No
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Yes
6. No

ive been wondering if someone can take legal actions against Anet, if you se the patch notes it was never stated as a RARE chance, in fact il look for it.

Black Lion Chest Changes
Halloween items have been added to Black Lion Chests for a limited time only!
There is now a chance to get new Halloween-themed weapon skins by opening Black Lion Chests. All weapon skins are tradable.
Chain Sword Skin
Ghastly Grinning Shield Skin
Greatsaw Greatsword Skin
Grinning Gourd Rifle Skin
Scythe Staff Skin
Severed Dagger Skin
There is now a chance to get new Halloween-themed shoulder armor skins by opening Black Lion Chests. All shoulder armor skins are tradable.
Deathly Shoulderpads Skin
Deathly Avian Shoulderpads Skin
Deathly Bull Shoulderpads Skin
All Black Lion Chests have a chance to give these items, but only until the end of the Halloween events.
Get Black Lion Keys from the Consumable section of the Gem Store to open your Black Lion Chests.

“Halloween items have been added to Black Lion Chests for a limited time only!
There is now a chance to get new Halloween-themed weapon skins by opening Black”

Then we are talking about semantics, some might think buying 6 keys will yield 6 random skins, rare chance was never stated, so, some might say this can be a really well done scam.

just saying.

I have decided to add a seventh question:

7. Have you bought any of the direct purchase, set priced halloween items. If so, will you be buying more?

side note, these are awesome and I highly recommend at least the Mad King outfit, regardless of your stance on the other items. I might be partial though because I wanted to select Mad King as my deity when I made a human.. hah. side note over sorry

1. Will you or will you not be buying black lion trading company or random number generation materials again?

No.

2. Did you buy them in the past?

Yes

3. If you would not buy trading post material/gamble, would you support direct to buy weapon skins and what general price do you find acceptable from a business standpoint both as a customer and realizing that they must make money as a business?
Yes I would buy them directly for a $5.00 for a cool skin. $10 for something spectacular, but i would want to see a demo first so that i know if its worth it.

4. Do you believe that future events will also be handled with random number generation to make profit based on limited time item acquisition?

Yes, but i have hope, and i think Anet will sell direct if they want my monies.

5. If you believe that the future events will be handled in the same manner, does this realization negatively effect your trust of Arena Net in regard to handling micro transactions for permanent content?

Yes & No.. Trust has been broken, but “once bitten twice shy” also means that Im still willing to give them another chance, so I will keep playing until my heart gets broken one more time. Then I will know for sure if Anet is ready to play ball or get kicked from the team.

6. Did you obtain a skin or whatever it is you were looking to get from the black lion trading chests? From the Mad King Chests?

No.

1. Will you or will you not be buying black lion trading company or random number generation materials again?
No.

2. Did you buy them in the past?
No.

3. If you would not buy trading post material/gamble, would you support direct to buy weapon skins and what general price do you find acceptable from a business standpoint both as a customer and realizing that they must make money as a business?
If you mean buying the skins with gems, I would consider it. Not right now because I’m broke, but later on I probably would. Not to any real extreme, but if there’s, say, a single armor piece that just looks awesome, I’d probably buy it.

4. Do you believe that future events will also be handled with random number generation to make profit based on limited time item acquisition?
Probably, I don’t see why not. The items that you can get are trade-able, so I really don’t see why people are complaining. If there’s one you want, just buy it from the Trading Post. It might be expensive, but it’s cosmetic. People keep complaining about a lack of end-game content, but the second they’re expected to work toward something, they flip out.

5. If you believe that the future events will be handled in the same manner, does this realization negatively effect your trust of Arena Net in regard to handling micro transactions for permanent content?
Not in the slightest. People forget that companies that make video games are BUSINESSES (organizations that run on profit through a product of some sort). For any other game of this caliber, you’d be paying a monthly fee. In GW2, anything purchasable through the cash shop is either cosmetic or has very little impact on gameplay. Not only that, you can buy gems with gold. I have no idea where the whining is coming from.
On the other hand, a static price for gems would probably work a bit better than the current system, since gem prices are currently through the roof. But it’s far from a big complaint of mine.

6. Did you obtain a skin or whatever it is you were looking to get from the black lion trading chests? From the Mad King Chests?
Yep! Well, sort of. I had two keys I had saved up, which didn’t yield anything super amazing. My wife used the one key she had to find a set of the Light armor shoulders. She didn’t think they fit the personality of her only Light armor toon, so she gave them to me to put on my Necro.

Talk about leading questions. eyeroll

1. I will buy them again.

2. Yes.

3. N/A, since I would buy the keys.

4. Yes

5. No

6. No rare skins, but I was happy with the tonics, boosts, etc. I was also happy using these in the mystic forge, where I mostly received crafting materials.

You know, reading a few of these posts something occurred to me that another mmo did concerning what I call chance boxes. I’d consider that next time Anet puts these up that the BLCs or MKCs type of boxes that along with the other items it gives out they also give out a token each time they are opened (or some high % chance like 25-50%) that if you get an accumulated amount can be turned in to get the said item of your choice. They could also make it where these same tokens can be saved and used for other holiday/future event rewards.

I guess this would kill off the rarity of the said items but it’s a solution.

Denial Of Service.5732:

ive been wondering if someone can take legal actions against Anet, if you se the patch notes it was never stated as a RARE chance, in fact il look for it.

Black Lion Chest Changes
Halloween items have been added to Black Lion Chests for a limited time only!
There is now a chance to get new Halloween-themed weapon skins by opening Black Lion Chests. All weapon skins are tradable.
Chain Sword Skin
Ghastly Grinning Shield Skin
Greatsaw Greatsword Skin
Grinning Gourd Rifle Skin
Scythe Staff Skin
Severed Dagger Skin
There is now a chance to get new Halloween-themed shoulder armor skins by opening Black Lion Chests. All shoulder armor skins are tradable.
Deathly Shoulderpads Skin
Deathly Avian Shoulderpads Skin
Deathly Bull Shoulderpads Skin
All Black Lion Chests have a chance to give these items, but only until the end of the Halloween events.
Get Black Lion Keys from the Consumable section of the Gem Store to open your Black Lion Chests.

“Halloween items have been added to Black Lion Chests for a limited time only!
There is now a chance to get new Halloween-themed weapon skins by opening Black”

Then we are talking about semantics, some might think buying 6 keys will yield 6 random skins, rare chance was never stated, so, some might say this can be a really well done scam.

just saying.

I must have retyped this response a dozen times. But why can’t “chance” mean “rare chance” again? “Chance” can imply anything between .01-99.9%. They never said “rare chance”, but they never said “good chance” either.

Sahfur.5612:

I have decided to add a seventh question:

7. Have you bought any of the direct purchase, set priced Halloween items? If so, will you be buying more?
I have not, though again, if I had money right now to throw at GW2 I would more than happily get the Mad King outfit, and a set of bunny ears. xP I think they’re awesome, and if it weren’t for me being broke, I’d snag them in a heartbeat. Great designs.

Denial Of Service.5732:

ive been wondering if someone can take legal actions against Anet

You could try, but I can guarantee 100% that you’d be wasting your time and money.

“Golf clap” to the folks that thing anyone with the skins done something to earn them. I would gladly get 4 people and clear a hardcore dungeon to get these skins than waste my time buying keys for overpriced sums of money and then not even getting jack from the chests.

People are still pissed because they didnt fix the problem they just shifted it to another box to make it seem like its still not as much of a gamble.

Either let us buy it or have them as rewards from a boss ect.

Vkandis.7695:

If you really objected to the way this content was provided why did you opt play? Again I just can’t help but think this would not be an issue for you had you gotten the “value” you felt you deserved.

This is like saying, “I can’t help but to think that maybe you getting mauled by velociraptors has made you ask that Jurassic Park should have better animal security.”

Sure, that’s true. But the second part, about if I had just “got mine,” I wouldn’t be saying anything? Absolutely not. In cases like this, I am a firm believer in advocating a position from which you have nothing to gain, and in this case, I really don’t want anything “of value” right this second. I’m not looking to be pacified. I’m attempting to translate frustrations others have had and offer ideas on how to avoid situations like these in the future, while maintaining some form of profitability. I say as much in my posts.

“What we need to understand as a gaming community is that those who have complaint are not always entitled, spoiled, or otherwise greedy themselves, either. These are people who made an assumption, and who were clearly wrong about that assumption. Many of them, like myself, have said that there is a problem with the way that the entire BLC matter was structured, but that we believe the correct action to take is to ask that ArenaNet take a closer look at the strategy that they have employed. "

“To say that I am disappointed would be to put it mildly, both in myself for blindly leaping from the diving board, and in ArenaNet for filling the pool with a foot of water and ten feet of clear glass shards.”

" This is an assumption on my part, but it is based off of the fact that they do have employees that analyze this information, and which will be reviewing it long after this holiday event has ended. This is the sort of feedback that will go into future planning, possibly for years to come."

This is a discussion of players closing their ears and opening their mouths, and why that isn’t productive. When you say, “I can’t help but to think—” and then proceed to dismiss the entirety of the argument based on your imagined scenario, you’ve effectively done exactly that. I think you should take a closer look at what I’ve posted, and then a closer look at your own response. Do not be mistaken, either; I’m not looking for sympathy from you, or anyone else. I’m looking for a more reasonable way to discuss these matters in the future, and better behavior from ArenaNet.

1. Will you or will you not be buying black lion trading company or random number generation materials again?

No

2. Did you buy them in the past?

Yes

3. If you would not buy trading post material/gamble, would you support direct to buy weapon skins and what general price do you find acceptable from a business standpoint both as a customer and realizing that they must make money as a business?

Yes, ~500 Gems

4. Do you believe that future events will also be handled with random number generation to make profit based on limited time item acquisition?

Yes

5. If you believe that the future events will be handled in the same manner, does this realization negatively effect your trust of Arena Net in regard to handling micro transactions for permanent content?

Yes

6. Did you obtain a skin or whatever it is you were looking to get from the black lion trading chests? From the Mad King Chests?

No and no

7. Have you bought any of the direct purchase, set priced halloween items. If so, will you be buying more?

No and no

XiaMae.9874:

Denial Of Service.5732:

ive been wondering if someone can take legal actions against Anet, if you se the patch notes it was never stated as a RARE chance, in fact il look for it.

Black Lion Chest Changes
Halloween items have been added to Black Lion Chests for a limited time only!
There is now a chance to get new Halloween-themed weapon skins by opening Black Lion Chests. All weapon skins are tradable.
Chain Sword Skin
Ghastly Grinning Shield Skin
Greatsaw Greatsword Skin
Grinning Gourd Rifle Skin
Scythe Staff Skin
Severed Dagger Skin
There is now a chance to get new Halloween-themed shoulder armor skins by opening Black Lion Chests. All shoulder armor skins are tradable.
Deathly Shoulderpads Skin
Deathly Avian Shoulderpads Skin
Deathly Bull Shoulderpads Skin
All Black Lion Chests have a chance to give these items, but only until the end of the Halloween events.
Get Black Lion Keys from the Consumable section of the Gem Store to open your Black Lion Chests.

“Halloween items have been added to Black Lion Chests for a limited time only!
There is now a chance to get new Halloween-themed weapon skins by opening Black”

Then we are talking about semantics, some might think buying 6 keys will yield 6 random skins, rare chance was never stated, so, some might say this can be a really well done scam.

just saying.

I must have retyped this response a dozen times. But why can’t “chance” mean “rare chance” again? “Chance” can imply anything between .01-99.9%. They never said “rare chance”, but they never said “good chance” either.

Better “chances” equals happier people. Now that people have seen just what kind of “chance” they have at holiday goodies there is a “good chance” many of them don’t become repeat customers. And in a game that relies on microtransactions to support itself, is this a “chance” A-Net is willing to take? I suppose we shall see with Christmas right around the corner. But if you were to ask me I’d say there is a “good chance” plenty of folks have learned a valuable lesson about taking “chances” in GW2. And I think there is an equal “chance” that it eventually begins to effect future content if “chances” remain the same.

1. Will you or will you not be buying black lion trading company or random number generation materials again?

No

2. Did you buy them in the past?

Yes

3. If you would not buy trading post material/gamble, would you support direct to buy weapon skins and what general price do you find acceptable from a business standpoint both as a customer and realizing that they must make money as a business?

Yes

4. Do you believe that future events will also be handled with random number generation to make profit based on limited time item acquisition?

Yes

5. If you believe that the future events will be handled in the same manner, does this realization negatively effect your trust of Arena Net in regard to handling micro transactions for permanent content?

No

6. Did you obtain a skin or whatever it is you were looking to get from the black lion trading chests? From the Mad King Chests?

I did get a skin, no the one I wanted. No skins from the Mad King Chest.

7. Have you bought any of the direct purchase, set priced halloween items. If so, will you be buying more?

Yes

Denial Of Service.5732:

ive been wondering if someone can take legal actions against Anet

You could not unless they specifically stated the odds and then you proved they were in fact much lower, or if they just flat out said, “Buy keys, get these!”, which, while rhyming, they did not. There wasn’t a legal misrepresentation on their part.

1. Will you or will you not be buying black lion trading company or random number generation materials again?

No way.

2. Did you buy them in the past?

Never

3. If you would not buy trading post material/gamble, would you support direct to buy weapon skins and what general price do you find acceptable from a business standpoint both as a customer and realizing that they must make money as a business?

No, I know I am uncommon but I’d never pay real money for "*skins"*

4. Do you believe that future events will also be handled with random number generation to make profit based on limited time item acquisition?

If its profitable then I’d say yes. (I don’t suspect that it will be)

5. If you believe that the future events will be handled in the same manner, does this realization negatively effect your trust of Arena Net in regard to handling micro transactions for permanent content?

No, They lost my trust long before this. I refuse to spend cash in the cash shop. Most of the cash shop items are junk anyway. Perhaps I would have paid for a permanent golem banker. I might have also paid for a nice set of exotics if the price was decent enough to set off the Karma grind. However as a philosophy, I don’t believe in paying for in game items. especially when the game is lackluster.

1 No
2 No
3 No
4 No
5 No
6 No
7 No

1. No
2. No.
I just use the free ones dropped/given. Maybe if they were like 25 gem each but even then I’d gold => gem for that.
3. Yes.
I have yet to spend another dollar, yet I can see myself giving into the temptation if a truly awesome skin appealed to me and it was affordable. Even then, I would probably do my best to mostly gold => gem for it. I see myself spending at most $20 USD for something amazing. Just make it account bound.
4. Yes.
Before this event, BLC just didn’t make people want to buy keys. Anything from BLC that is a limited skin should be tradeable even if there is a way to instant buy.
5. No.
I just feel Anet is missing out on profits, ironically, with the current set up. Hopefully this thread and others like it will show this. Maybe Anet wants to be more lenient but NCSoft needs “data and proof”.
6. N/A.
I didn’t use any keys this event. I did make 2 MKC and got Halloween mats, which was expected and more of a bonus.
7. No.
If only I had more real money to throw around or the gold =>gem ratio was a tad lower.

Tommo.1294:

“Golf clap” to the folks that thing anyone with the skins done something to earn them. I would gladly get 4 people and clear a hardcore dungeon to get these skins than waste my time buying keys for overpriced sums of money and then not even getting jack from the chests.

People are still pissed because they didnt fix the problem they just shifted it to another box to make it seem like its still not as much of a gamble.

Either let us buy it or have them as rewards from a boss ect.

Uhm, you can buy it. Have you done any research at all?

http://www.gw2spidy.com/search/skin

Another thought in regards to Denial of Service’s legal action post:

If you’re even thinking about doing a chargeback on your credit card or some kitten, here’s something to consider: the terms of service you agreed to when you created your account state that ArenaNet can, at their sole discretion, terminate your account at any time for any reason.

Now what exactly do you think is going to happen to your Guild Wars 2 account when you run crying to your credit card company and have them forcibly take back the money you paid ArenaNet?

NeoSaigon.4926:

I’m cheap, so will only use them for Orichalcum, Onom berries, and ancient logs =/

It will take a LONG time lol.

I dunno about Omnoms and Ancient Logs but Black Lion tools actually don’t work on Orichalcum nodes. I learned this the other day and was pretty shocked. I’m guessing that they don’t work for Omnoms or Ancient Logs either.

7. Have you bought any of the direct purchase, set priced halloween items. If so, will you be buying more?

I did by the mini pets but costumes are not my thing so I will not be buying those. If there were skins etc I would likely purchase them if I liked them.

Couldn’t edit previous to include it.

They really should be stating the odds of winning the lottery. That is what this is, people paying real money to win a lottery. I did not buy any keys, but definitely did not get the impression they would make this so rare.

I remember playing guild wars 1 a long time ago and they had free gifts dropping from the sky. It was free 2 play then also.

The whole argument of “oh it is just a skin it does not effect gameplay and therefore does not matter blah blah blah”…can it really be applied to GW2? Was the whole idea of the “endgame” not for cosmetics, because last I checked GW2 was about skins in the end. So it seemeth more like that argument cannot apply to a game that hath its goal base as skins ultimately.

With that saith however, I do feel like the way Anet implemented the skins (at least for the various kinds of “chest-opening”-wise) could hath been done in a better fasion. Now I know not how it was in GW1 (it is to my limited knowledge a lot of earning instead of buying), but doth it not seem like we should be earning these skins instead? Be this not a limited holiday event? So why not make use of the event to earn skins instead of just buying them?

Now I am aware that we are “earning” them in a way currently, we buy gems and earn gold and other items, and then we…well frankly just gamble for the skins. Should there not be achievments and events and other things for this holiday that would earn us these skins? Would that not be a more productive and fullfilling way of going about it? To me, I am just sitting around LA sometimes wondering why I cannot be doing something to earn some holiday skins. And of course, we hath the system now that we be using.

On the topic of what they could hath done with chests, since the rate for them be so low, at the least I think that Anet could hath made a much large amount of Halloween items/skins and made them more common in addition to the already in place skins.

Finally, there very well could be skins or other items coming in other acts for completing the events such as the event building up in the center of LA, in fact there likely will be some holiday item for…beating(?) the Mad King. But still, these are just my thoughts on this whole thing going on.

Please share your thoughts on this.

There isn’t a chance that I will purchase more keys. People may jump to defend or call me an idiot. When they stated in their emails they made it seem like there would be a reasonable chance at the item. If they had intended the skins to be rare then state it up front. I like to know my odds up front and this confirmed it. Since they won’t state the odds then I know it’s simply a cash grab for the most and lucky for the few. It’s a great model for gambling sites but it’s a horrible model for an MMO as when people get a bad taste in their mouth (from RNG) they are less likely to support the company.

I find the idea of posting the odds problematic. If they said it was 1/10, people would buy 10 keys and be upset when they still don’t win. It’s like flipping a coin; 50% chance of getting heads or tails, but it’s still possible to get one or the other twice in a row.

Strange, I like that the BLCs only had a 1% chance of giving the skins. I like that they are trade-able, so anyone who wants one can buy it (instead of keys). I’m extremely impressed that ArenaNet added the Mad King Chests to try to let people know they care.

This all seems like some strange joke about misunderstandings…

SHM.7628:

1. Will you or will you not be buying black lion trading company or random number generation materials again?

No way.

2. Did you buy them in the past?

Never

3. If you would not buy trading post material/gamble, would you support direct to buy weapon skins and what general price do you find acceptable from a business standpoint both as a customer and realizing that they must make money as a business?

No, I know I am uncommon but I’d never pay real money for "*skins"*

4. Do you believe that future events will also be handled with random number generation to make profit based on limited time item acquisition?

If its profitable then I’d say yes. (I don’t suspect that it will be)

5. If you believe that the future events will be handled in the same manner, does this realization negatively effect your trust of Arena Net in regard to handling micro transactions for permanent content?

No, They lost my trust long before this. I refuse to spend cash in the cash shop. Most of the cash shop items are junk anyway. Perhaps I would have paid for a permanent golem banker. I might have also paid for a nice set of exotics if the price was decent enough to set off the Karma grind. However as a philosophy, I don’t believe in paying for in game items. especially when the game is lackluster.

Lackluster.

Why are you playing?

1. Will you or will you not be buying black lion trading company or random number generation materials again?

No.

2. Did you buy them in the past?

Yes.

3. If you would not buy trading post material/gamble, would you support direct to buy weapon skins and what general price do you find acceptable from a business standpoint both as a customer and realizing that they must make money as a business?

Yes. I would buy them if they were priced between $1-10 for an armor set, $1-5 for a weapon. I’d prefer they be given via quests, but I’d still likely make purchases if they were appropriately priced.

4. Do you believe that future events will also be handled with random number generation to make profit based on limited time item acquisition?

Yes.

5. If you believe that the future events will be handled in the same manner, does this realization negatively effect your trust of Arena Net in regard to handling micro transactions for permanent content?

Yes, quite a bit.

6. Did you obtain a skin or whatever it is you were looking to get from the black lion trading chests? From the Mad King Chests?

No, I got nothing of interest to me from either. Next time I’ll be saving my dollars and gold and buy the items via the TP if future events follow this business model.

7. Have you bought any of the direct purchase, set priced halloween items. If so, will you be buying more?

Yes, I purchased the Mad King costume, the Witch costume, and the hood town clothing. I will likely buy items from direct purchases in future events; I will however be less inclined to spend money in the gem store because of the bad taste this halloween event has left in my mouth.

For exorbitant amounts of money, sure you can be fleeced from some lucky guy in the TP. I’m feeling the halloween glee….

XiaMae.9874:

I find the idea of posting the odds problematic. If they said it was 1/10, people would buy 10 keys and be upset when they still don’t win. It’s like flipping a coin; 50% chance of getting heads or tails, but it’s still possible to get one or the other twice in a row.

People are going to complain either way but I think it would deter some people.

So the only way to get these is either buy the keys or buy them on the trade post?

kylemesa.7604:

Strange, I like that the BLCs only had a 1% chance of giving the skins. I like that they are trade-able, so anyone who wants one can buy it (instead of keys). I’m extremely impressed that ArenaNet added the Mad King Chests to try to let people know they care.

This all seems like some strange joke about misunderstandings…

Kyle,
The mad king chests was a chance to restore faith. But with the .01% drop rate… at the end of the day, people dropped money, expecting something, and got nothing even with the second chance. If its a failure of the consumer; anet will pay for it. If its a failure of anet, anet will still pay for it. If it is in fact the consumers fault; as a lot of people seem to point at… then its still an anet failure for not correctly advertising or informing the consumer. I for one, had I known about the drop rate, would have still bought gems. But I would have bought one of the costumes or traded for gold to grab a skin. Since I am not accustomed to this type of cash store, the way the event worded the merchandise, I assumed you would have a good chance to get one of 6 items with a few keys. I never imagined what they meant was… you have a SLIM chance to get ANYTHING at all. If that had even occurred to me I would not have done it. I don’t consider myself a foolish consumer. You may disagree, but again, at the end of the day, faith in Anet has gone down/vanished tremendously with hundreds if not thousands of paying customers. And you cannot argue that point.

After reading the posts I did not buy any keys. But I did buy a Witches outfit and was very pleased.

I agree the drop rate is too low. For those who compare it to the lottery or Vegas, it isn’t the same. Even in Vegas you get I think 80-90% back, higher if you play poker or count cards in blackjack. With lottery the odds are really low but if you win you win really big.It would be like buying a key and getting a 1 million Gold reward.

agreed. and atleast they can warn us it will be so costly….

SDChargers

your right that what i think i hate gambling but would still of get some keys knowing it was a 1% drop just saying chance was a big mistake for anet shame to i want to see this game thrive

Better “chances” equals happier people. Now that people have seen just what kind of “chance” they have at holiday goodies there is a “good chance” many of them don’t become repeat customers. And in a game that relies on microtransactions to support itself, is this a “chance” A-Net is willing to take? I suppose we shall see with Christmas right around the corner. But if you were to ask me I’d say there is a “good chance” plenty of folks have learned a valuable lesson about taking “chances” in GW2. And I think there is an equal “chance” that it eventually begins to effect future content if “chances” remain the same.

This I can agree with (minus the condescending tone, but nothing is perfect) If you feel that playing lottery is not for you then don’t. Don’t open your wallet again on Wintersday. The best way to tell any business that you don’t like something is not buying their product.

I would only add is that don’t feel disappointed if nothing changes. Don’t start more threads on Wintersday saying that Anet is “doomed” because they don’t do what you think they should do (not you specifically @Kyle, I mean in general).

The BLTC chest is not the only revenue source. When that “change apperance kit” hits the market you can bet they will sell like hotcakes and so on.

I think, even if every opened Black Lion Chest would provide a Halloween themed skin, people would still complain, because even after opening 40 chests there would be a 6.33% risk of not having the skin they really wanted ((14/15)^40). Instead, they would be sitting with 40 different skins with no real value that everyone would be using.

A random reward from doing something in the game would also make people complain. Remember how easy it was getting the Polar Bear mini?

NinjaKnight.1340:

After reading the posts I did not buy any keys. But I did buy a Witches outfit and was very pleased.

I agree the drop rate is too low. For those who compare it to the lottery or Vegas, it isn’t the same. Even in Vegas you get I think 80-90% back, higher if you play poker or count cards in blackjack. With lottery the odds are really low but if you win you win really big.It would be like buying a key and getting a 1 million Gold reward.

We need to distinguish between drop rate and jackpot rate. The drop rate was 100% in the sense that for every single key purchased, a prize was won. If you are referring about the drop rate of skins, that would be the jackpot. Jackpots are very rare in any type of gambling.

I have played MMOs since EQ1, but this is my first experience with boxes you buy for holidays, so yes, it is possible to be unaware how they work. Other games’ (that I played) holiday boxes were provided free, and had a frequent rate of stuff the community considered neat/desirable. As for waiting and seeing what others ran across… well, that means SOMEONE has to be the test subject, doesn’t it?

I generally do not buy keys, and opted not to for the holiday, and after the experiences of others, I will not in the future, and I have already alerted my guild not to bother. I don’t consider the way the chests were handled a good move, business wise, given how many people have been taught not to bother buying keys. I suspect the model has now been skewed towards direct-purchase items only; whether this is good or bad depends on your point of view, but it was almost certainly not intended.

My advice: just don’t use their store ever again.

Play their game, pay them zilch.

It’s what they deserve if they want to treat the community bad give 95% of new items to economy exploiters instead.

1. No, never again.

2. No.

3. Yes, I would definitely buy weapon and armour skins on BLTP for around the 300-500 gem mark.

4. I sincerely hope not. A repeat of this fiasco would make me think twice about continuing to play this title.

5. See 4.

6. No, from either the BLTP chests, nor the mad king chests

7. No, the inability to use the items with my combat outfit put me off, otherwise I would likely bought the witch set for the broom.

The whole reason I was excited for the Halloween event were the skins. And then I got screwed out of them.

I’m just going to stick with skins from the gem store from now on, no more ‘chance’ items for me.