Guild Wars 2

I cant believe the furor that some folks have worked themselves into over a few skins being rare (like this is a bad thing?). I can tolerate the incessant prattling and whining about nothing of particular import that’s standard fare with MMORPGs but the one thing that seems to be grating against my nerves is the insistence for so many players to attempt and personify this system as being “p2w”.

I will pose my rebuttal in the most succinct way I can think to do so:

How is a weapon skin going to help you win the game?

Seeing as the end game goal of this game is nothing but cosmetics… Technically they do win the game. Sorta.

SausageStorm.4293:

Seeing as the end game goal of this game is nothing but cosmetics… Technically they do win the game. Sorta.

Aesthetics are purely subjective though. I find the Halloween skins entirely bland and underwhelming.

This game is entirely based on skins, and the best way to acquire these super-rare end game shiny skins is :

- to BUY golds.
- to BUY keys
- to gamble in the toilet of the mystic forge
- to gamble with pure RNG chests and real $$$$
- to BUY them at the trading post
- to be insanely lucky

Or yeah .. you can grind like a maniac.

Pay to get a legendary (the ultimate goal of this game)? yeah it’s kinda pay to win.

You are assuming that P2W is “getting better stats” but GW2 isn’t about stats, it is a game about looks. the best looking items you get by paying for, so in GW2 the endgame goal is indeed P2W.

Or if you are someone who likes to play the economy in MMOs, then GW2 is certainly P2W in terms of the economy. You can buy enough gold to manipulate the market any way you please.

So yes you are correct GW2 isn’t P2W with stats, but the game doesn’t care about stats to begin with, it is just P2W in every aspect that matters in the game.

Shredicus.8706:

Aesthetics are purely subjective though. I find the Halloween skins entirely bland and underwhelming.

+1

Yes, they’re so subjective, that for example the only medium armor I found remotely interesting for my “assassin” is this:

http://i.minus.com/ibbh9NurOoivQO.jpg

Hughs.6549:

This game is entirely based on skins,

Aehm… no? The skins do not influence the game in some or other way. Not at all.

He meant texture are what you play for, so get the top one = win

I guess the OP is angry because the common P2W would be get exotic weapons/armors just with real cash

Lucas Ashrock.8675:

He meant texture are what you play for, so get the top one = win

It’s possible that textures are what HE is playing for, but it is for sure not true for me (and probably the majority of the players). The game by itself do not have ranking based on skins or prices for getting them. So it’s free personal choice to hunt for them.

I could as well set my target to get 1000000000 gems and declare this as winning of GW2. Then GW2 would be P2W to. But it would be not the inherit property of the game, it would be my free personal choice to play it this way. It would be silly to complain about how bad the game is only because of that.

Lucas Ashrock.8675:

I guess the OP is angry because the common P2W would be get exotic weapons/armors just with real cash

You are right, he is. But I am on contrary happy about it. Some rich guys sponsor the game so I can play it for free without being handicapped. What could be better?

What’s a game based almost entirely for skins.

It’s called Granado Espada. Look it up. Sure there are other aspects to it, but mainly it’s for the armor and weapon looks.

Skins don’t help you do events faster, they don’t help you do dungeons faster, they don’t help you win WvW.

They’re not pay to win any more than you can “win” WoW by buying a celestial horse or a moonkin hatchling.

@Hughs “Pay to get a legendary (the ultimate goal of this game)? yeah it’s kinda pay to win.”

How exactly are you going to buy all the karma, the dungeon gift, the mystic forge RNG and the world completion in the gem store?

@Shredicus.8706:

How do you win any MMO?

Who was the winner of WoW?

As always, it’s galling to see how many people take on the “I’ve got mine, **** everyone else” attitude.

Pretty sure that “winning” in this game is done on WvW and in sPvP not on PVE

I hereby solemnly vow, that, shalt the Black Lion Chest Spirits be willing, so I win the almighty anything – I shalt parade Lion’s Arch from sun-up til sun-under, proclaiming myself the win. I shalt do so with chat bubbles on for myself to see and not to be unseen. High and yonder from the rooftops and the hidden caves.

Hey, if it helps?? lol

So which skin do I buy to win the game? Do the credits roll after I equip it?

I cannot fathom the ludicrous responses that this thead is getting from people saying that charging for skins makes this game P2W. This is the exact opposite of P2W by definition.

If they can’t charge players money for statistical gain, that leaves cosmetics. That is what the cash shop SHOULD be for. Would you rather they put a system in place that gives everyone access to skins, yet you need to pay cash to get good stats? That’s what players in cash shop MMOs have been battling since the cash shop came to be.

If charging for skins is wrong, than what the heck should they be charging players for? I’d love to hear your ideas, because I can’t think of any reason to spend money at a cash shop besides cool cosmetic items or statistically advantageous items.

Awesome.6120:

So which skin do I buy to win the game? Do the credits roll after I equip it?

Let me see you use that crafty retort when instead of “Pay2Win” we say “Pay2GetBetterStuff”?

Xriah.5743:

If they can’t charge players money for statistical gain, that leaves cosmetics. That is what the cash shop SHOULD be for.

See, thing is….there is no statistical gain. You can’t “play” for statistical gain. Cosmetics are all there is. So you can either take the hard working approach and slowly grind your way to things, or you can take the rich kitten approach, throw money at it, and then act as if you’re somehow “better” and your opinion more “valid” just because you happened to have money to burn.

“Let me see you use that crafty retort when instead of “Pay2Win” we say “Pay2GetBetterStuff”?”

Better stuff is still a matter of opinion. I got full Exotic armour from karma, and a set of exotic pistols that cost me 3 in game gold…. didnt cost me penny, and I am happy with my “Better Stuff”

Kathmandu.2417

The game by itself do not have ranking based on skins or prices for getting them. So it’s free personal choice to hunt for them.

If you don’t hunt for skins, then tell me what to do in pve ?

- Explore ? hohoho
- Jumping puzzles all day ? hohoho
- Grind dungeons for …. ?
- Farm golds for …. ?
- Play the trading post for …. ?
- Get tons of karma for … ?
- Chain AOE train on events for … ?

Yeah, the answers are : skins (Don’t say “fun”, fun is subjective it can’t be the "official goal in this game because each one of us have fun in a different way)

It doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun without them, but obviously cosmetics are the official main goal in gw2, saying they’re optional is quite a joke.

Kana.6793 : The ONLY difficulty in getting a legendary weapon is to get precursors from the RNG toilet of the mystic forge. Precursors can be bought, indirectly with real money.

Radene.3194:

Awesome.6120:

So which skin do I buy to win the game? Do the credits roll after I equip it?

Let me see you use that crafty retort when instead of “Pay2Win” we say “Pay2GetBetterStuff”?

Which skin is “better stuff?”

Radene.3194:

you can take the rich kitten approach, throw money at it, and then act as if you’re somehow “better” and your opinion more “valid” just because you happened to have money to burn.

But they are not somehow “better” and do not have any advantages ingame compared to you and me. So it’s everything else but pay-to-win.

No one says that skins give an advantage on others, but they’re the official main goal in gw2, like it or not : )

I must have missed the part in the manifesto where they said the only point of playing the game was pretty princess dress-up time.

Exactly, Hughs, people are still too deep entrenched in the WoW type of thinking where the NUMBERS were everything.

Also, I just realized how patronizing that sounds.

Well, tough.

Hughs.6549:

No one says that skins give an advantage on others, but they’re the official main goal in gw2, like it or not : )

No they aren’t…..

That’s all dependant on how you play. I focus on sPVP, and WVW. My goal isn’t skins but winning…..

Considering there will be new content for years to come and whatnot, how do you know that the skins will be the only carrot on a stick you need? For alot of people, they want titles, map completion and obtaining legendaries (which tbh are more than a skin as they come with slightly higher stats), completing crafting and learning all the lore.

There are many goals for different people. Skins are the only ones.

Awesome.6120:

I must have missed the part in the manifesto where they said the only point of playing the game was pretty princess dress-up time.

And I must have missed the part where they said things have to be “unique” and “special”.

tkalamba.2541:

I focus on sPVP, and WVW. My goal isn’t skins but winning…..

Winning….what, exactly?

Something that will reset to square one the moment you walk out of it?

I’m sorry, but for me to see something as a “victory” that I have “won”, it needs to be a bit more permanent than that.

I must have missed the people saying that the weapon skins were pay to win. One person said that the mad king’s costume was basically a pay to win for the costume brawl. Which after seeing some people dominating costume brawls using them, I totally agree with. That is pay to win.

Hughs.6549:

The ONLY difficulty in getting a legendary weapon is to get precursors from the RNG toilet of the mystic forge. Precursors can be bought, indirectly with real money.

Whether or not it’s difficult is irrelevant in a discussion about pay to win. You can’t buy karma, you can’t buy map completion, you can’t buy dungeon tokens. You cannot complete a legendary without playing the game. Assuming for a minute that something that gives you no performance advantage can be called pay to win – if it was pay to win you would need nothing but a credit card to complete the legendary.

Radene.3194:

tkalamba.2541:

I focus on sPVP, and WVW. My goal isn’t skins but winning…..

Winning….what, exactly?

Something that will reset to square one the moment you walk out of it?

I’m sorry, but for me to see something as a “victory” that I have “won”, it needs to be a bit more permanent than that.

You mean you just can’t have fun?

What’s permanent in a virtual world? You aren’t going to get a trophy shipped to you or your name engraved in stone. Why put so much emphasis on “permanent” in a video game when nothing is permanent. You think you’d gain any notoriety? Not likely. There are people who are competitive because its fun. I don’t do it for any reward, I do it because competition is enjoyable. That is my goal and the goal of many others.

WvW currently does have server rankings, sure they aren’t visible in game but they’re there. Spvp is still being fleshed out and will have leaderboards and the like. If you really want permanent in a videogame, thats the closest you’ll ever get.

This game isn’t P2W at all, it’s P2GetStuffFasterBecauseICan’tBeArsedToGrindTheStuffIWant.

Seriously, has the game been out two months yet? Right about 2 months? And the whining about not having full exotics and legendaries without hitting the gem store. IMO, it should take longer to get all that stuff.

Throwing cash at the gem store is all about convenience, not necessity. It’s an option, end of story.

Zonzai.2341:

I must have missed the people saying that the weapon skins were pay to win. One person said that the mad king’s costume was basically a pay to win for the costume brawl. Which after seeing some people dominating costume brawls using them, I totally agree with. That is pay to win.

The raptor tonic is just as powerful and can be recieved at random.

Complaining about getting better skins through paying is just plain stupid.

Do the guys who spend hell lots of money to buy fancy weapons ruin your gameplay? Uh? No? So what are you complaining about?

Stupid quote buttons vanishing.

Radene, there is statistical gain. I’m still working on getting full exotic gear. It’s a bit slow considering I’m not really a stock market guy so I’m earning them through in game gold. I also didn’t take the rich approach. I haven’t bought any cosmetics, and I’m not going to because they aren’t needed to enjoy the game to it’s fullest. If I want to wear something awesome looking and cosmetic, I can go buy a cosplay outfit.

Cosmetics are not the official main goal. There’s WvW, PvP, dungeons, Keg Brawl (a guilty pleasure of mine), leveling alts, playing with friends on events, hanging around, exploring, or heck…doing whatever the frig I want without feeling chained to a gear grind.

What are you going to do once you have the shiniest outfits in all the land? Parade around yelling to everyone that you have the shiniest outfits in all the land? Who cares? Cosmetics are nice, but basing your whole enjoyment of a game around something like appearance is just a waste of time.

Radene.3194:

tkalamba.2541:

I focus on sPVP, and WVW. My goal isn’t skins but winning…..

Winning….what, exactly?

Something that will reset to square one the moment you walk out of it?

I’m sorry, but for me to see something as a “victory” that I have “won”, it needs to be a bit more permanent than that.

I honestly feel sorry for you if this is the way you treat games.

Do not make a thread on this forum with the express purpose of complaining about people who are complaining. Thank you.