Guild Wars 2

This was a good game now its just a grind. Cash really should be irrelevant at some point.

But then you wouldn’t buy anything from the gem store!

We should really go back to a barter economy. 2 sacks of grain or 3 pigs for a bank slot expansion!

Im not sure whether you are suggesting that in game gold should hold no value at some point the character’s lifespan, and thus no longer be worth grinding… or whether RL cash should have a peak point where making any more gemstore purchases with it would give no reward.

I wasn’t talking about the gem store. I was meant to talk about the overpriced items on the tp and their overpriced components, and overpriced transmuting mats in mystic forge.

I meant to talk about how a fellow with my record in the game has so little spending power because everything has been jacked up irrationally.

Have you ever thought that perhaps you are in the bottom % of the bell curve and things are so expensive for you because, well, you don’t want or know how to make gold?

Besides, this is why they hired an economist – to take a look at the current state of the economy. If inflation goes too high, they can easily add in more gold sinks in the game, such as more armor/weapon pieces akin to cultrual sets.

Your notion of overpriced is completely subjective. The worth of an item is whatever price you actually pay and not the price you want to pay. Something truly overpriced should deter you from even buying the item and farming it yourself. The price you decide to pay is essentially the value of time you save from not having to farm it. Prices are based on players’ supply of an item and demand of it. Buyers want low price and sellers want high. You both get win/win from a compromise. If a price goes too high then players will stop buying at market price and place lower buy orders until sellers compromise.

What are you doing that requires you to farm gold to get gems for everything? I’ve never used the gem store except to get a friend to transfer.

It is exactly the fact that the currency never becomes worthless, that makes this game’s economy one of the best out there.

Wetpaw.3487:

With all the different currency and the rewards that go w/GW2, gold itself should be far more easy to attain. I find It very annoying to always have gold ingame on the mind.
The grind in this game for anything gold related is beginning to be game breaking for myself and really not worth my time. Yes I could do cof speed runs, or run around farming nodes, playing the market, but those are not activities I find I want to waste my time doing in a activity that is suppose to be FUN.

This when X player comes in and says “well you don’t NEED to get those items that cost a ton of gold to craft or buy.” That’s when I say, well what the hell is their to do in this game otherwise for end game? FOTM28-48 run hundreds of times, run around in zergs in WvW on the same maps for no rewards for half a year, been there done that. If I wanted to have money on my mind more often I would quit my RL job.

B2P model has very clearly defined itself when it comes to GW2, not sure if I would go for that again, much rather have a sub then EVERYTHING ingame revolve around gemstore.

So what’s the alternative? Log-in and be awarded a full zerker gear and a legendary of your choice, then quit?

Is it subjective? Take a look at the component cost. Calculate how much time you think it will take for all those.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mystic_Forge/Other_Items

The mystic forge transmuting costs just for dust?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mystic_Forge

The alternative is to lower the costs because if I am logging in to do my six world events a day, and a couple of dungeons, and daily it just becomes repetitive focusing on loot so much to get a better looking item and a gold balance of zero.

kokocabana.8153:

We should really go back to a barter economy. 2 sacks of grain or 3 pigs for a bank slot expansion!

WTT ectos or zkeys for unded pig mini

GW1 economy and cash shop are the best in all MMOs because it wasn’t created to mimic the real world one. GW2’s is a fail because of that.

Lambros Augustus.6594:

I wasn’t talking about the gem store. I was meant to talk about the overpriced items on the tp and their overpriced components, and overpriced transmuting mats in mystic forge.

I meant to talk about how a fellow with my record in the game has so little spending power because everything has been jacked up irrationally.

What exactly is your record? Are we supposed to be impressed or something?

It seems that you’re in favor of you having money, but not of others to be able to. Obviously the prices aren’t irrational, because they’re selling. If they weren’t selling they wouldn’t be so high.

Irrational would be selling something for an insignificant amount when it is able to sell for significantly more, just because someone who can’t afford it wants it.

Those items are expensive because they are meant to be expensive. If you think those are expensive, try getting a legendary.

Once you get your set of exotic armor and weapons, what else do you need? Everything past that is want, and many would put the exotics on the want list as well. So if it’s want vs. need, what you want is always expensive, in life or in game.

“I meant to talk about how a fellow with my record in the game has so little spending power because everything has been jacked up irrationally.”
I doubt that “your record” is so astonishing that you get a free pass on what you want. Everyone thinks that they are above average. ^^ You want money, you need to grind for it like everyone else.

Astral Projections.7320:

Once you get your set of exotic armor and weapons, what else do you need? Everything past that is want, and many would put the exotics on the want list as well. So if it’s want vs. need, what you want is always expensive, in life or in game.

“I meant to talk about how a fellow with my record in the game has so little spending power because everything has been jacked up irrationally.”
I doubt that “your record” is so astonishing that you get a free pass on what you want. Everyone thinks that they are above average. ^^ You want money, you need to grind for it like everyone else.

What I “want” is to be able to look at myself or others, and admire their fashion sense, or the achievements that went into their visual appearance, not the size of their wallet, nor the amount of free time they have available to grind CoF P1.

Quick Mouse.7635:

Those items are expensive because they are meant to be expensive. If you think those are expensive, try getting a legendary.

You sir are HILARIOUS. Clearly you have just made OP’s point for him. So by GRINDING in excess, you are awarded a “legendary” item. One in which it took NO talent or skill to acquire…just hours and hours and hours of GRINDING.

My record is plays alot. I don’t care.

Lets examine that sentence which is exactly what I am complaining about.

“It seems that you’re in favor of you having money, but not of others to be able to.”

It is a game. I should be able to get more cool things for less, especially when I have been around a while. I am not even going to argue that with anyone. Ever.

I have a very healthy skeptical outlook on most of these items selling and I am just mainly griping about the cost of the components and the thought put into their quantities. And what skill points grow on trees. Three skill points for dust transmuting at 4.5g for tier 6.

There should be a separate achievement stat just for skill points acquired not just how many I have on me. I am complaining because I want to feel important, I want to have gold and skill points reflecting my importance, not just my achievement score. Lower prices or dish out more gold. I want to feel important in-game.

Obviously I am not even going to bother with a legendary till rng blesses me with all its might. And then we can distill that in another thread, with the paper cuts from my axe on shades from Grenth.

If you truly ‘played a lot’ you would ‘have a lot’. Gold is not difficult to earn in this game.

There should be a separate achievement stat just for skill points acquired not just how many I have on me.

There is. Its called ‘Skillful’. It requires you to have obtained (not spent) 1000 skillpoints over your account lifetime.

Catisa.6507:

If you truly ‘played a lot’ you would ‘have a lot’. Gold is not difficult to earn in this game.

There should be a separate achievement stat just for skill points acquired not just how many I have on me.

There is. Its called ‘Skillful’. It requires you to have obtained (not spent) 1000 skillpoints over your account lifetime.

I will give you that; it isn’t hard to get. It’s the fact that it’s tedious and time consuming.

The thing is the Guild Wars games, both one and two, are explicitly made for grinding for vanity items. Gear, just regular old not special looking gear, is fairly easy to get. The game was specifically designed that if you want nice looking items, you have to grind for them. That’s why they are so expensive to craft. Now it could be argued that the requirements are set too high. I know that I have had to lower my expectations and change my wants because I was unwilling to do the necessary grinding. But as quoted here from https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/is-it-fun-colin-johanson-on-how-arenanet-measures-success/

“The rarest items have unique looks to help your character feel that sense of accomplishment, but it’s not required to play the game.”

They expected the items with unique looks to be rare and if something is rare, it is both expensive and not held by the average person.

The best point has been made already. These items are not in the hands of better players, but rather in the hands of players who simply log more hours grinding or bought gems and used the currency exchange.

The best gear should be rewarded to players. Reward the skill, not the time. However, often this means chance drops which brings me to the next point.

Rewarding the lucky. RNG is the absolute worst. Just look at Aion. That game was a RNG nightmare. It also had the worst grind I have ever experienced. That was mainly because drop rates were horrid. Rewarding the lucky is worse than rewarding those with more free time to play. Especially since the “lucky” tend to also be those who ‘no live’ the game. After all, you roll that percentile dice enough times and your are bound to roll a 100 sooner or later.

The problem with games trying to simulate real world economy is that it fails to have the rules and regulations that exist in the real world. The real world has a plethora of checks and balances that prevent exploitation. In this case, the term refers to companies exploiting the customers.

Wants are more expensive than needs? Umm actually that is not true… The largest bills I pay each month are needs. My rent, electricity, gas (home), groceries and child care are the most expensive things I have to pay for each month. The only ‘want’ (which can be debated as a need as well) that rivals these needs is my car.

As for wants being more expensive…

The biggest need is a place to live. My rent is 1150 a month. A nice sport boat would be something I don’t need. It would be a “want”. I can get one for 20K. If I save for 5 years (a typical length for a finance term), I would only need to save $333.34 a month. I can get it right away if I’m willing to actually finance and pay interest. I’d still be looking at less than 500 a month. That is less than half the price per month than something I need. Then after the 5 years, I can probably use it for another 10 years on top of that. So if I finance right away and get a poor interest rate so I pay 500 a month for 5 years. I will actually pay 30k for it. But if I have the boat for a total of 15 years, that is 2k per year or just 166.67 per month that it works out to. That is less than my electricity and natural gas bills combined.

Then there is paying more for look. Again, this also does not reflect real world at all. I’ve seen people compare a Ferrari to a Corvette as an example for this. The problem is that you can buy a Ferrari body kit for a Corvette for a fraction of the cost to actually buying a Ferrari. This is because you pay for a multitude of things…

1. Brand Name.
2. Engineering.
3. Rarity.

The first is pretty self explanatory. Quite often you can buy the exact same item for less if it’s not being sold by a popular brand name company. The second comes down to the cost to make and the ‘substance’ that it has. Not all cars are made the same and often the exotics are made with more precision than most. There are many cases where some are made by hand rather than mass produced on an assembly line. It costs more to make it as a result. Also, unless you want to pay for a Corvette that actually cost the same as a Ferrari, the Ferrari will have more horses under the hood. Finally there is rarity where these companies will often make a limited number of these vehicles. They sell much fewer at a much higher price to make the same as most other companies make by selling a bunch at a much lower cost.

As for look? Nope. I can buy a Ferrari body kit for a Corvette and basically have a vehicle that is a near perfect replica on the outside for a fraction of what an actual Ferrari costs.

The biggest problem with in game economies is that they are run by greed and allowed to be. Players want the money and they want it fast. Combine that with rarity and people will charge as much as they can get away with. They are not looking to get rich by selling a lot for little but rather they want to get rich for selling that one or two items for a lot.

Yet can you blame them? After all, if someone is willing to pay….

The biggest problem is that it only takes a minority few no lifers or people willing to throw real cash at the game to make it near impossible for the majority rest to obtain these through normal use of the game. Without getting extremely lucky that is.

Deamhan.9538:

The best point has been made already. These items are not in the hands of better players, but rather in the hands of players who simply log more hours grinding or bought gems and used the currency exchange.

So what system or metric do you suggest to measure who the skillful/better players are?

Catisa.6507:

Deamhan.9538:

The best point has been made already. These items are not in the hands of better players, but rather in the hands of players who simply log more hours grinding or bought gems and used the currency exchange.

So what system or metric do you suggest to measure who the skillful/better players are?

There are already some systems in place. Karma. To unlock the person as a karma vender, you must first complete the task. Not that these tasks are all that difficult, but the items these venders sell are not all that great anyway.

The main quest line is another where it presents you with a choice. Not that these are all that great either. Blues mostly.

Dungeons where each boss has a chest. Although the final boss should always give you an item that your class can use that has a minimum value based on the difficulty of the dungeon for the first time you run through it. Maybe the first two or three but no more than that. If you can beat something three times, you are no longer really challenging yourself anymore on it.

Games will often reward pvp tournament winners. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place sort of thing.

And the thing is that they already stated this to a certain degree. Look at what they did for mob loot. I start killing a mob and someone else comes by and helps finish it off. Who get’s the loot? In some games, the person who had the killing blow got it. In others, it was who got the first hit. In GW2, everyone gets it and in such a way that I can’ t click faster and get it all before the other person. They don’t see what i get and I don’t see what they get.