Make travel free/cheaper
They probably did this to prevent people from charging exorbitant amounts for items on the trading post.
I’m not sure it’s working. I barely spend in-game money and have 14 G, but there are items on there selling for 80+G.
All the zones are instanced so the reason they charge to use teleporters is most likely to discourage frivolous use and make the game run smoother for everyone. Most of the instances for which you would like to use a teleporter for are for convenience and the cost can easily be offset by selling things intelligently on Trading Post.
Well you can always go to the mists if you want to go to Lion’s Arch quickly…
This is also how you can save money if you need to get from like bottom left of world to top right, do a free warp to Lion’s Arch first.
The travel costs are one of the most efficient money sinks in the game. Removing or lowering them would increase inflation, which would defeat the purpose of saving money on travel.
Current travel costs are around 4s for going from one corner of the world to the other. That amount is easily gained back by doing a single event (up to 2s) and killing a few mobs (~40c per drop). That’s hardly expensive.
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The travel costs are one of the most efficient money sinks in the game. Removing or lowering them would increase inflation, which would defeat the purpose of saving money on travel.
Current travel costs are around 4s for going from one corner of the world to the other. That amount is easily gained back by doing a single event (up to 2s) and killing a few mobs (~40c per drop). That’s hardly expensive."
What it really does is just park everyone in orr and make them rarely if ever leave.
It is also a poor inflation reduction tool considering the people REALLY causing inflation A) Do not move much (13+ hour a day people who farm) or Telehack (botters who farm).
All it does it hinder the player base from easily meeting up and doing dungeons and the such – which is not much more then a drastic annoyance.
I don’t think Travel should be Cheeper or Free. I find that paying for use of the Way points causes me to plan out my actions more carefully and weigh up cost vs. time or be choosy about which WP I use. I find this is mostly a good thing, Plus the points made by others here about Economy and minimising server-strain are Valid.
What I think might be a beneficial change however would be to allow a once per ‘X’ minutes free Use of your NEAREST way point. This could help with the cost of dieing (repair costs are enough as it is) as well as getting out of being ‘stuck’ (unable to move out of the environment). Might not be feasible, But I think it’s a more fare system then just saying it should all be free.
What it really does is just park everyone in orr and make them rarely if ever leave.
It is also a poor inflation reduction tool considering the people REALLY causing inflation A) Do not move much (13+ hour a day people who farm) or
Telehack (botters who farm).
All it does it hinder the player base from easily meeting up and doing dungeons and the such – which is not much more then a drastic annoyance.
People park in Orr because it’s currently the best farming spot, not because travel is expensive. Even if travel was free, there’d be little incentive to be elsewhere.
The effectiveness of this game’s gold sinks can be seen in that there has been remarkably little inflation since launch, with the notable exception of legendary precursors. Anet has clearly done something right here.
As for it preventing people from meeting up, this is fiction. It takes maybe 5 minutes to offset the cost of the most expensive waypoint fee you could possibly incur. If you can’t be bothered to pay that, then you couldn’t be bothered to meet at all.
The reasoning behind people complaining about the waypoint costs is the same as people that want monsters to drop more gold or better loot: you want to be richer, without realizing that if everybody gets more money then prices will simply go up by that much and you’ll be no better off.
Doesn’t really cost that much at all. I frequently use the waypoints just cause I can’t be arsed to walk back.
“The effectiveness of this game’s gold sinks can be seen in that there has been remarkably little inflation since launch, with the notable exception of legendary precursors. Anet has clearly done something right here.
As for it preventing people from meeting up, this is fiction. It takes maybe 5 minutes to offset the cost of the most expensive waypoint fee you could possibly incur. If you can’t be bothered to pay that, then you couldn’t be bothered to meet at all.
The reasoning behind people complaining about the waypoint costs is the same as people that want monsters to drop more gold or better loot: you want to be richer, without realizing that if everybody gets more money then prices will simply go up by that much and you’ll be no better off."
You are slightly wrong on every point here. Look at vanilla beans, mystic coins, and black pepper for inflation – vanilla beans have reached over 2 silver now, when they were 50 copper three weeks ago. Mystic coins were 1 silver until recently, now 4. Gem prices are soaring. Etc, etc, etc. The rest of the items are mostly useless.
It isn’t fiction – a dungeon run takes 30 minutes, meeting up takes 5 minutes, going back to where you’re going takes 5-10 minutes. We now have 33 to 50% of one of the easier dungeons being eaten up by walking – so unless you do a full clear you are not meeting up. What about friends who need help with a heart or want to team up? Same ration, so you say no.
Also, we don’t want to be richer – we want to stop being annoyed. There’s enough anti inflation with TP costs, repair costs and the general lack of gold that drops. The fact the ANTI UNFUN section of the game is designed to try and annoy us into not using it is why we are getting annoyed.
I lost 5 silver a port, I lose 15-20 silver on the trade post. The difference is the trade I use when I want to sell, where as I port when I want to have fun. Charging me for taking the boredom out of fun isn’t a good idea.
It ultimately boils down to this: you might not like travel costs, but they are not expensive at all and they’re really good for the economy as a whole. Eat your vegetables, kids.
Do people even read the whole “They aren’t affecting the economy at all – farmers and bots don’t use it and it aggravates your median player” part of the argument?
Do people even read the whole “They aren’t affecting the economy at all – farmers and bots don’t use it and it aggravates your median player” part of the argument?
Just barely, because it hardly makes sense. Gold sinks are effective only when there are more than one. The BLTC sales tax, the Mystic Forge, Legendary Weapons, repair costs, waypoint fares… those are all gold sinks, and note that even if you avoid one or most of those, you will end up paying for another. You can’t just remove one of the most prevalent of those and expect the economy to stay the same.
“Just barely, because it hardly makes sense. Gold sinks are effective only when there are more than one. The BLTC sales tax, the Mystic Forge, Legendary Weapons, repair costs, waypoint fares… those are all gold sinks, and note that even if you avoid one or most of those, you will end up paying for another. You can’t just remove one of the most prevalent of those and expect the economy to stay the same.”
So to you, this gold sync is effective since the people that screw up the economy (the hardcore farmers and bots) avoid it like the plague? This is the part I don’t get from people. The people that should be affected by this (hardcore farmers) aren’t since they avoid it, the bots don’t since they hack, and casuals generally turn into inactive farmers/LA roleplayers due to this.
My proof? Most 0-15 areas have a population, a pulse. Same with cursed shore. Everything else is vacant. Why would I want to pay 5 silver to go to the harathi hinterlands for when I can stay here and farm? Gold sync ineffective, game less fun. This is where it needs to be thought, and getting rid of it would be a great way to do that.
The debate for it quite honestly baffling. “It works at taking money out because no one ever uses it, or at best rarely ever use it! Totally as intended!!!”
Those gates cost a lot of maintain. You think the Asuras can grow magic on trees?
And, if you think a few silver is a lot when you’re level80, you’re doing something wrong…
At level80, you should be dealing with gear and items that are worth several pieces of gold, so 2 to 5 silver is chump change.
These sort of rigorous money sinks also keep the economy healthy, I do not ever want to see them reduced.
My proof? Most 0-15 areas have a population, a pulse. Same with cursed shore. Everything else is vacant. Why would I want to pay 5 silver to go to the harathi hinterlands for when I can stay here and farm? Gold sync ineffective, game less fun. This is where it needs to be thought, and getting rid of it would be a great way to do that.
That’s not proof, that’s an anecdote.
All games form hubs where people hang out, because players find certain places more convenient then others.
Players don’t like to spread out evenly like farm-crops. We’re an egregious species, and will always form social hubs in-games.
That does not mean they’re not contributing to the money sinks or aren’t exploring certain areas. You can’t prove they aren’t, you can only prove some people gather in certain spots regularly.
I’m currently exploring the harathi highlands and I always see a few other people running around (and not just bots, because I group up and chat with them).
Lv80s: Guard, Thief, Necro. Renewed my Altaholic’s card on the HoT Hype-Train. Choo choo~
(edited by DreamOfACure.4382)