The only thing that seems logical, to me, to justify the fact that there has not been a single new armor skin released for players to acquire since the game was released (other than the Karka Shoulders and Flame & Frost Gloves that are identical for all armor weight classes), is that they must be working on a ‘DLC-like’ package of armor skins made available through the Gem Store around the 1-Year Anniversary of GW2.
I expect it to be similar to how the Digital Deluxe Edition is available in the Gem Store already; you can buy the pack and it will be like a permanent upgrade to your account. Perhaps purchasers will be mailed an account bound device that summons a merchant upon activation with the collection of skins available for taking that is similar to the Hall of Monuments Stone and merchant available there where you can select the soulbound skins to apply to your armor an unlimited number of times. This release could also be seen as a form of mini content expansion to appease those that expected a full expansion after one year.
The First Anniversary Armor Pack #1
Pack Includes 5 Sets (6-pieces each) of New Armor For Each Gender And Weight Type
5 Sets, 6 pieces each
Male/Female Styles
Light/Medium/Heavy Styles
Makes for 180 individual new armor items for incorporation into existing armor outfits.
Cost: 8,000 gems
That is the only justification for starving the playerbase of new armor aesthetics for a whole year that I can see as being logical from a business standpoint. I’m not saying I agree with that strategy, just that it is the only way I can make sense of their lack of introducing any new armor content since the game was released.
However, for many it will simply be too little, too late. I would also expect huge outrage on the forums at the cost for the armor pack. Though, even at a cost of 8,000 gems (acquirable through both gold and real money), that would only be about 266 gems per piece, for a total of 30 armor pieces. People are dropping 200+ gems per piece on Towns Clothes. I could see all the Towns Clothes releases as being a trial run for gauging the price for the armor pack were it broken down per piece. So don’t be surprised if it is 10,000 gems for one armor pack, being 333 gems per piece.
Though, 5 sets make 30 individual pieces, each piece with gender variations actually makes 60, then across three armor weights would mean a total of 180 potential new looks to add to armor outfits. 8-10k gems doesn’t sound quite as bad, as it would only be 44 gems each at 8k, 55 gems each at 10k for having those 180 new armor items. Though, understandably, not everyone would be buying the armor pack for all of the armors included; perhaps they only really like 2 of the armors in the pack, or just a few pieces of the 5 sets for a mix n’ match style. And that is if they only release one armor pack, let alone Armor Pack’s #2 and #3 at the same time…which I would see as unlikely as it could be counterproductive to maximizing sales, though releasing 2 or 3 packs at the same time would cause people to burn through their gold converting to gems and force them to have to buy gems with real money to acquire the packs or be forced to wait weeks or months until they get enough gold again to get another pack.
Gem Prices
8000 = 100.00 USD
A hundred bucks does sound like way too much initially, but when you consider 180 skin variations it actually works out to about 0.55 cents for each armor variation. And since I’m sure many of us have several characters of different genders and armor weight types, it would seem much more likely that most of those 180 armor items will be used and 55 cents each would not sound too unreasonable to most, especially when you can use gold to pay for some/all of those 8k gems. Don’t get me wrong, I’d probably not cough up 8k gems, personally, but 4-5k for a pack I’d consider.
Oh well. I have a lot of thoughts on this subject, and the lack of aesthetic armor choices being released is the primary subject for which my continuing patronage of GW2 is pivotal.
I’m not saying that this is what will happen and to expect it, just that this wouldn’t surprise me and would actually make sense, to me, for their lack of armor releases to date.