Guild Wars 2

Topic: The issues raised by the high number of currency systems already in circulation.

Over the short course of Guild War 2’s lifecycle, we have seen a stunning amount of content delivered to the community on an equally amazing steady rate. packaged with a few of these content updates new currency systems have been added to the game. At this point in time I believe that the game is currently undergoing a crisis of currency.

Without question I am sure the dev’s are aware of the issue at hand and while I am not proposing that any suggestions I have will solve the issue, what I do wish to do is open the problem for discussion.

For clarities sake I will list all known currency systems at this time:

1. Gold: Used as the primary currency system to purchase almost all goods, freely traded between players and can be exchanged for Gems.

2. Gems: Real world cash, principally responsible for the purchase of aesthetic goods, can be exchanged for gold.

3. Karma: A soul bound currency type obtained from story missions, events, dungeons as well as from daily/monthly. Karma can be used to purchase almost all goods, from food to armor. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

4. Laurels: An account bound currency obtained from completing daily/monthly. Used at the Laurel vender for a variety of goods. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

5. Skill Points: A soul bound currency obtained by leveling a character up. Used at the Mystic Forge to purchase specialized goods. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

6. Fractal Relic: An account bound currency obtained from completing the Fractal of the Mists dungeon. Used to purchase a variety of high level items from BUY-4373. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

7. Pristine Fractal Relic: An account bound currency obtained from completing an even numbered fractal of the mists dungeon. Used to purchase Ascended Rings from BUY-4373. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

8. Ascalonian Tear: An account bound currency obtained from completing the dungeon Ascalonian Catacombs in Explorable mode. Used to purchase goods from a dungeon merchant. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

9. Seal of Beetletun: An account bound currency obtained from completing the dungeon Caudecus’s Manor in Explorable mode. Used to purchase goods from a dungeon merchant. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

10. Deadly Bloom: An account bound currency obtained from completing the dungeon Twilight Arbor in Explorable mode. Used to purchase goods from a dungeon merchant. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

11. Manifesto of the Moletarite: An account bound currency obtained from completing the dungeon Sorrows Embrace in Explorable mode. Used to purchase goods from a dungeon merchant. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

12. Flame Legion Charr Carving: An account bound currency obtained from completing the dungeon Citadel of Flame in Explorable mode. Used to purchase goods from a dungeon merchant. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

13. Symbol of Koda: An account bound currency obtained from completing the dungeon Honor of the Waves in Explorable mode. Used to purchase goods from a dungeon merchant. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

14. Knowledge Crystal: An account bound currency obtained from completing the dungeon Crucible of Eternity in Explorable mode. Used to purchase goods from a dungeon merchant. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

15. Shard of Zhaitan: An account bound currency obtained from completing the dungeon Arah in Explorable mode. Used to purchase goods from a dungeon merchant. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

16. Badges of Honor: An account bound currency obtained from defeating players in WvW. Used to purchase goods and siege guides from venders in WvW. Cannot be exchanged or traded.

The number of currencies players must balance has caused some issues.

Storage
The first is simply storage. Gold, Gems, Karma, Laurels, and skill points all have the designated places and are built to scale with upwards to the excess of millions(karma points). However, all other currencies are bound to the 250 per slot limit. For players who are running dungeons this currency tends to build up very quickly.
The issue is quickly resolved with expanding storage, however even by doing so the currency is not presented in a easy to count format that the five above all benefit from.

Worth
The worth of dungeon tokens is relative to each player. Whether they are intent on collecting an armor set or obtaining a new weapon.

This viewed worth of the token will drop as soon as the player has achieved their goal. Since players can collect tokens in a “uneven” amount based on number dropped from bosses as well upon successful completion they often have more than they will need to purchase their particular item. This small excess of tokens are often held in their inventory, simply taking up space.

Karma suffers from a reversal of the issue plaguing dungeon tokens, with many players having hundreds of thousands of karma points banked on their characters. Nothing besides specific karma armor sets have a high enough cost to offset the need for the accumulated bulk, leading to karma having almost no value.

Pristine Fractal Relics are the sole currency that only has a singular use, obtaining ascended rings. With the introduction of Laurels, as well as the random chance that players will receive one at higher levels inside the Fractal Dungeon it quickly becomes obsolete.

This trend of adding additional currencies is not only destroying older ones, but indicates that the Guild Wars development team has no qualms with adding additional currency systems to the sixteen already presented.

However, adding a new currency system is not necessarily negative. Here are some of the reasons why the development team has done so.

1. By creating a unique currency system the dev team can drive the player base towards a particular activity. For instance, since the addition of the laurel system I have been more active in order to collect the currency. At the moment Laurels are a gateway to higher tier ascended items.

2. By locking items behind a gateway of a currency system, it encourages players to experience the content in order to achieve a particular item. This generates a perceived community value of certain items. For example: The Great sword of the Dragons Deep indicates that the particular player is skilled enough to venture into Arah several times.

Suggestions on what to do.

The One Currency System
This suggestion has already been discussed at length on the forum’s, but does need to be accounted for. While this would allow for a more streamlined economy, it would be unfeasible from a implementation perspective. What would that singular currency be? Would there be an exchange rate? How much gold is Shard of Zhaitan worth? Who would be responsible for this exchange rate? There are simply too many systems that would be destroyed using this suggestion.

All for the free trade of all currency types
This would allow players to offload unnecessary or excess tokens in exchange for a item of greater value. However, this would take away the perceived community value of certain items.

Implementing an Exchange Rate
By allowing players could exchange one dungeon token for another at an NPC vender players would be able to rid themselves of unnecessary goods in favor for another. However, players would quickly find the simplest dungeon to do and use that currency to exchange for what they want. This would cause the abandonment of certain difficult dungeons and the loss of the perceived community value. In addition there would have to be some kind of exchange rate between tokens. Would a Eye of Zhaitan be worth the same as a Flame Legion Charr Carving?

There is a variety of ways to overcome this particular design puzzle, and hopefully with this thread we can discuss the best way to go about it.

Thank you,

Keys

For the love of god just give us 1-2 currencies. Also allow karma to be account bound so people actually have an incentive to play an alt.