Guild Wars 2

What we need is seperate currencies for each of the temples aswell, I mean come on.. lets face it, we don’t have enough currencies to keep track of!

Going to bump the thread to spread reason and truth

I’m not one to seek out a direct answer, but I really would like to know the thought process behind all these new currencies and the apparent abandonment of the ingenious Karma currency where you literally acquire it by playing however you want.

Add that to the abandonment of Badges of Honor, Dungeon Tokens, Crafting (jeweler is pointless atm) and the enormous gating of laurels…for the first time, I’m worried about the future of the game.

EDIT: And now it’s been moved to suggestions; where threads go to die.

They need to move all currencies to an account pool, like gems and laurels. Karma needs to be moved to the account pool. All other currencies need to be moved there and OUT of the bank/bag storage. How many spaces does it take to just get one set of armor? Too many.

I agree with the well thought out post from the OP.

Pooling the currencies would be nice.

But ending the time gating that these additional currencies have would be better.

The best option would be to have all statistical gear available from any currency. Save aesthetics and convenience items for exclusve currencies.

Maybe they could add an NPC in the bank that exchanges currencies.

+1 from me too.

This is getting ridiculous, especially the guild-only ascend items… people who have a small (or don’t have one) guild are kittened.

USE THAT KITTEN KARMA for god’s sake.

I agree wholeheartedly. As it is, I have a small amount of each currency, and it’s just taking up space. Thank you for explaining the problem so clearly, I really hope ArenaNet will take notice.
Also, Kaotiktheory’s suggestion about converting currencies isn’t a bad one. I’d gladly trade in the badges of honor I got for exploring the WvWvW areas for laurels, dungeon tokens or karm.

+1, we don’t need more currencies

I disagree with OP. There is nothing wrong with the amount of currencies in this game except for the amount of space it takes up in your bank/inventory. I have a whole bank tab dedicated to tokens.
These tokens are here so you can get your rewards for participating in each of the aspects of the game. Each dungeon needs their own tokens rather than one identical token or there won’t be a point to running anything other than CoF p1 (cause thats obviously the easiest&quickest dungeon path in the game). We have so many tokens because each dungeon/part of the game has its own currency.
Unless you want this game to become a huge grind-fest-and to spend hours in dungeons not getting the gear you want-you will want to keep this token system.
Each aspect of this game has its own currency and those are used for you to purchase your rewards so you are not at the whim of a RNG. (Fractal rings used to be on a RNG system and looked at how much rage that generated).
It is important to keep the different tokens because this makes people explore each part of the game that Anet has crafted for us.
The 100000 token system should and most definitely will remain in the game, but we could use a Token/Currency collectible bank tab (even though I would not use it; i like it in my current showcase-waste-of-a-bank-tab tab) to help store our overwhelmingly space-consuming tokens.

So you want them to add new items that can be purchased we pre-farmed currency … so basically you want anything new to be immediately purchasable by longer term players and newer players just have to suck it up and wait?
Is it annoying having new currencies? sure but its better that everyone starts fresh ith new items then having some people fully tricked out with the new stuff 5 seconds after its released because they already had a shedload of whatever currency stocked up.

Alarox.4590:

If people want more progression then horizontal is enough. Things like Legendary weapons and unique skin exotics are exactly what this game needs. Instead of Ascended gear, why not completely new and unique skins? Why not add unique skins to crafting that require quests or currencies to get the recipes for? Why not add unique skins as rewards for badges of honor? Why not add cool new items like the unbreakable choir bell? These kinds of things people love to work for, especially when they can earn them by doing more of what they enjoy doing.

I agree. The lack of unique weapon and armor skins bothers me. I didn’t need ascended gear, but I wouldn’t mind working towards unique skins and items (fun items like the bell, too). Something where you actual see your progression on the char instead of just having ascended jewlery and only a stat increase, nothing really visual. I don’t care if fractals have nice rewards, thats fine, but then add new rewards to dungeon vendors, wvsw, crafting recipes, too. Give us some choices ^^

I don’t have any issue with the currencies that we currently have. However I would advise Anet to refrain from adding more and instead expand and utilize what they have created.

The issue with relying solely on the karma system is that it didn’t actually promote diversity in what you did to obtain it. In theory people would do what they simply enjoyed to gain karma and then spend it. In practice however, people all gravitated to the same method because it was the most efficient. As a result there was no diversity, and those who chose to play outside of the fold were punished.

The implementation of laurels gives incentive to participate in the dailies which in turn allow Anet to influence play-style diversity better. Guild merits gives more purpose to participating with your guild.

+1 to this.
Stop adding new currencies plz!

I already hate all these currencies and the way Anet forces PvE players into playing the game how THEY want.
Obviously having Ascended gear is not manditory to play but let’s be honest: Everybody wants them. Just because Anet improves their dailies does not justify adding some huge reward like Laurels to force you to complete them.

I am also extremely confused why Anet STRICTLY (and by strictly I mean the threat of banning misbehaving but yet paying costumers) segregates all currencies.

1. Why I am forced to gather massive amounts of Karma although I have absolutely NO use of it, puzzles me.

2. Why I need to gather 5-6 currencies even though I played massive amounts to have a lot of one also puzzles me.

3. ?

4. Don’t profit.

DIVA

Perhaps the problems here are the dailies. They are not thematic in any way. Although they promised to let you play in your own style and choose how to complete your daily, they actually do the complete opposite. They are sales executive’s addition to the game, not a fantasy designer’s addition to a game.

Catisa.6507:

Is it annoying having new currencies? sure but its better that everyone starts fresh ith new items then having some people fully tricked out with the new stuff 5 seconds after its released because they already had a shedload of whatever currency stocked up.

Its also a matter of rewarding/punishing those that did that content, if someone spent time grinding up hundreds of laurels beyond what they needed to purchase the initial items and then they never add new stuff to spend those laurels on, what was the point in obtaining them beyond the initial few items?

Personally I do find it slightly annoying having more and more new currencies, but not because there just new currencies but because of the system used in general, tokens taking up inventory rather than being part of a currency count like gold, karma, gems etc gets annoying with limited inventory space. Then theres no constant drain for most them meaning that once you have the few items you want that currency then becomes somewhat defunct (but does not necessarily stop coming in), there needs to be things that people can and want to buy repeatedly with them or some form of exchange between em to keep them “alive”

Found this article by accident. Funny enough it seems to echo the concern of this thread.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2013/03/12/has-guild-wars-2-become-too-complicated/

This was clipped from page 2 on the Forbes article:

So…do you think GW2 has become too complicated? – Carol Pinchefsky, Forbes Contributor

Answer: Isaiah Cartwright

It’s a debate we have here all the time, especially when it come to the number of currencies that are around. It really comes down to when you want to reward someone for doing a specific type of gameplay. Because we’ve been adding a lot of reward systems, we’ve seen an increase in the number of currencies out there.
But we’re getting toward the tail end of the number of systems we feel that we can put in the game. We’ll be really working on improving the current systems we have and making them more robust.
I want us to slow down on the number of systems that we’re adding and polish up and clean up the ones that we have added so they’re easier to understand, with better UI for them, those types of things, that’ll be some of the stuff that we’re focused on in the future. One of the major goals of GW was to allow anyone to jump in and play. We have a team dedicated to making sure that it’s easy, and we’re going to continue to improve that process as much as we can.
One of the things we might do is not unlock the ability to get to some of these currencies until you get later on in the game. That way, they’re not overwhelming in the beginning.

On page 1 the lead designer talks of guild missions – it’s a good read and ties in nicely with this thread. The article was posted yesterday, March 12.
Edit: cuz I’m an idiot and wasn’t paying attention to what I wrote was on page 1

Pendragon.8735:

When they announced karma as the game was being developed, it sounded like an amazing step forward. Truly next gen MMO thinking.

Whatever you do in the world, whatever quest, you get this currency called karma and it piles up as you play. Use it now for something at level, or save it down the road for a rainy day. But no matter which direction I went, or what quest types I picked, I would get this same currency that at the end, had the same value as what someone else got by doing something totally different than me, that they liked instead.

Now its practically worthless.

When the game launched think of all the ways you could get Best in Slot gear, playing the way you chose.

- Via Drops
- Via Crafting (now ruined thanks to Ascended)
- Via Dungeon Tokens
- Via Trade Post
- Via WvW Badges
- Via Karma Vendors (that could not be bought with real money via gems)

Play the way you want! And still gear up!

Why didn’t they stick with this? They traded in this awesome system that did everything they initially claimed as their philosophy, for a grindy, and in many parts ‘not fun’ treadmill, that makes you jump through hoops and frequently do things you don’t prefer in the game, just to progress along with everyone else.

Even if they did feel it necessary for a new tier of gear, there was no reason it could not have followed the same currencies, just taking many more of those currencies to set up the proper timetable they wanted. And still allowed the player to play the game the way they liked and not fall behind or miss out, for not liking this or that specific game mode.

This, this, a thousand times this! The many currencies are a problem. They don’t free me to play the way I’d like, instead making me feel that I NEED to do something in order to get a specific currency. Before Laurels I often skipped the daily, now I feel like I’m losing something if I don’t complete those silly little tasks everyday. They aren’t difficult, no, but they do require my time and time is the currency that is in the very shortest supply.

The guild commendations — I don’t want my members to play guild missions because they NEED commendations. I want them to play because joining in with a guild event is fun! There is no way I can hit everyone’s schedule with one event, but everyone NEEDS commendations so I’m into organizing 3 or 4 guild bounties a week. It’s difficult, and not needed. Turn the commendations and laurels to karma and let the rares+silver+shot at a precursor be the reward for guild missions.

I agree with the OP. It would be best if they would either make all ascended equipment available at each merchant (laurel, fractal, guild, etc.) if they want to keep a multiple-token system, or make one ascended item merchant that takes one type of token, and let us earn that token from all the different types of gameplay (giving us the opportunity to trade in our old tokens, which would become obsolete after a period of time)

Infernia.9847:

Found this article by accident. Funny enough it seems to echo the concern of this thread.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2013/03/12/has-guild-wars-2-become-too-complicated/

So…do you think GW2 has become too complicated? – Carol Pinchefsky, Forbes Contributor

And, oh my Lord, Izzy says that time-gating content and rewards is good and working as intended. What the heck…

Are the needs of the players and the needs of the developers that far out of synch? If so it’s going to be a huge hole for A-Net to dig out of.

One of the tenets of the game was supposed to be: Play the Game the Way You Want

Then they added fractal-specific gear, which would have been just FINE had they not then made that gear a better (and not just alternately useful) tier with better stats.

This breaks the tenet. MMORPG players ALWAYS will want the best gear, and will alter their playstyles to get it. No longer can you play the game how you want, because if you do – you will be relegated to second-hand citizenry. Laurels were a capitulation to try to restore the tenet. Unfortunately, the proper solution was to not introduce a new (better) tier of gear in the first place.

Somewhere, I had read that exotics would be equal to legendaries in statistics, but would be better skins. Adding fractal specific gear with those equivalent stats, but changing the add-on to work with the new mechanics would have meant that I could continue playing and never get into fractal gear – and never worry about it.

However, to stay competitive (keep in mind the simplistic view of better gear = better player is just wrong) in WvWvW – I would now be competing with players who could outgear me because they chose to play the new dungeon types [that I personally don’t enjoy].

If they truly believe in the original tenet – there would be only one currency – GOLD. And if I wanted dungeon skins, I’d have to either play the dungeons and find it at random there, or collect enough gold from someone else who played in the dungeons. And if I wanted super-duper fractal (T7) gear, I’d have to be willing to part with 50g a piece to buy it from the people who run fractals. Dailies would reward me with gold – everything would be balanced for time played/rewards – the economy would all equal out and so on and so on.

But it looks like that tenet is only given lip service for some reason, and that’s what’s caused this mess.

Personally I think that their should only be 3 currencies in this game, Gold, Gems, & Karma. This would give people the freedom they really enjoy.

The problem ANET has is that they are trying to cater to the minority of the players out there that (A) have no life/job and play all day (2) People that spend no dollars[$$$] because they can game all day (3) Are some of the rudest people alive
Also ANET is worried that these hardcore players will already have thousands of badges of honor,karma, tokens, relics, & etc and that if ANET doesn’t create a new currency the hardcore players are going to be decked way before everybody else because they have excess currencies.

My answer? Screw them. They don’t contribute to keep ANETs staff on to create more content so why should the game be about them? They can sit there and twittle their thumbs while the rest of the content comes out slowly. Majority of the players want as few of currencies as possible so they’re not gated into content that they hate……like f-ing jumping puzzles.

There’s my two copper.

Actually, I’ve always figured this current currency issue is something far less sinister.
Namely, that ANet is the North American arm of a South Korean MMO company
(NCSoft). Now, considering this, is it at all impossible that:

1.) ANet would like to stick to The Manifesto As Stated.
2.) However, they’re eating pressure from NCS to Sell, Sell, Sell.
3.) To keep the brass off of their back, and at least try to keep things “Fun First,”
they’re bloody well forced to capitulate on certain things. Consider it a picking
one’s time to battle situation.

Now with that said, I personally would hope that NCSoft would grant ANet a bit more
leeway, considering that the original GW2 Manifesto is an extremely interesting way
to run an MMO, and might just get/keep more players. After all, many people -myself
included- bought the game, and continue to play, because we found it to be a breath
of fresh air, in a market that is saturated unto death with games that seek to become the “Next WoW.”

With that said, I’m also against other currency formats. If nothing else, would it be terribly hard to implement a currency-swap option for the more troublesome formats?
Hell, it doesn’t even need to be an exact swap: one could probably work it with a -for example- “X” percent turnover rate. This way, if a player is absolutely against a certain
currency type, they can at least convert the mainstay of it into something that they will use. Also, with a “tax” of sorts, it shouldn’t break the overall game economy.

rootnode.9546:

But the game is not about grinding….
I remember a famous quote by General Ackbar.

Our shields can’t handle firepower of that magnitude?

Nittles.1582:

rootnode.9546:

But the game is not about grinding….
I remember a famous quote by General Ackbar.

Our shields can’t handle firepower of that magnitude?

It’s a TRAP!

Advent.6193:

Nittles.1582:

rootnode.9546:

But the game is not about grinding….
I remember a famous quote by General Ackbar.

Our shields can’t handle firepower of that magnitude?

It’s a TRAP!

Pretty sure Chewie said that.

1. Most currency should be account bound. Its our time, we earned it, let us spend it.
2. STOP adding currencies, everything should be accomplish-able from WvWvW or PVE alone.

The only soulbound currency i can think of is karma, IIRC the rest are accountbound… or am I missing something?

OP hit the nail on the head. They need to stop adding new currenciest.

Too much “carrot on a stick” and not enough real content

fullpint.8390:

One of the tenets of the game was supposed to be: Play the Game the Way You Want

Never believe marketing slogans. The game has never been that way, ever.

signed 15 charrrrr

On top of the variety of these new currencies it’s also the lack of things to do with them once you’ve earned what you wanted. I have a surplus of dungeon tokens and fractal relics – there are no bank slots for them and no other use for them once you’ve bought what you wanted.
The easiest solution is to stop running that particular thing but what if that’s the only real fun you have in the game? I think they need to add more rewards we can spend these things on.

Vorch.2985:

When the game launched, there were 5 major currencies:

• Gold
• Gems
• Karma
• Dungeon Tokens
• Badges of Honor

As of now, the amount of currencies has nearly doubled with the addition of:

• Laurels
• Commendations
• Fractal Relics
• Pristine Fractal Relics

I did not include Influence and Merits in this because those are earned on a per guild rather than per person basis. I also did not include sPvP currencies.

At launch, players could effectively earn the majority of the currencies with a playstyle that included 1 or 2 of the major game systems (open world PvE, WvW, Dungeons).

The consequence of all these currencies is that they all now have exclusive rewards.

• I can not earn ascended amulets or other laurel vendor gear with by playing though dungeons, WvW, or fractals. I must do dailies to gain awards that are exclusive to dailies; therefore, I must add dailies to my playstyle.

• I can not earn ascended earrings(accessories) by doing WvW, fractals, dungeons, or PvE. I now must add Guild Missions to my playstyle OR sacrifice a month worth of dailies + monthly + 50ecto to afford one earring.

• I can not earn ascended rings by playing dungeons, WvW, or open world PvE. I must either add fractals and dailies to my playstyle .

• I can not earn ascended back pieces by playing dungeons, WvW, Guild Missions, Dailies, or open world PvE. I must add fractals to my playstyle.

So, as of right now, I must do the following to gear 1 character:

• Guild Missions
• Fractals
• Dailies/Monthlies
• Dungeons/Crafting for exotic armor

God help you if you prefer playing WvW…
Oh, and by the way, I have 8 characters…

---

I humbly submit that you do not add any more currencies. You are not extending the goal post anymore; you are adding multiple goal posts in every kitten direction. As soon as I run one way, there’s a goal post in a COMPLETELY different direction. I consider myself “hardcore”, but this is getting extremely tiring.

To be clear, I am NOT saying that you should not add more content.

What I’d like is for rewards for new content to be tied to existing currencies.

I suggest that you:

Add all ascended gear types to

• Guild Merits
• Dungeons (i.e. require 3-4 gifts to make an accessory)
• WvW
• Fractals (edit)
• Karma (edit)
• CRAFTING

And for the sake of Lyssa, use NEW SKINS AS INCENTIVES INSTEAD OF STATISTICAL INCREASES. I can tell you right now those using medium armor classes really could use some options.

Skins and titles are what kept people playing in GW1; new long term goal posts every month are what’s driving wedges in the game now.

Not even +1 but +1000!

Me: Laurels and guild commendations? You’ll find little of both here.
Anet: No man, Asuran or Charr, no creature threatens Anet!
Me: You bring the currencies of many kinds to my gaming experience. You insult my patience. You threaten my integrity! Oh, I’ve chosen my words carefully, Anet. Perhaps you should have done the same!
Anet: This is blasphemy! This is madness!
Me: Madness…?
[shouting]
Me: This is WvWvW!

There should also be a way to convert all currencies into each other. Currently there are ways but they are obfuscated to a large degree.

Ascended should be attainable through crafting, which is gold. Second, every currency should be easily convertable into a reasonable amount of gold.

Work more with gold. It’s the overarching currency. Make stuff cost gold primarily, and alternative currencies to a lesser degree.

I agree wholeheartedly. +10000000 to this post

+1

This whole gated content BS has caused no less than 10 of my friends to leave the game for games that honestly DO let you play how you want, where you want, and still get BiS gear.

Runiir.6425:

+1

This whole gated content BS has caused no less than 10 of my friends to leave the game for games that honestly DO let you play how you want, where you want, and still get BiS gear.

I’d much rather play a calender gated content where I need to play 30 minutes a day, than a gear gated game where I can get BiS in 5 months if and only if I play 5 hours a day. I don’t see how that’s better than the current laurel system.

Guess what, I only have 30 minutes a day. The current calender gating is brilliant. I can’t keep up in a game like WoW, Aion, Rift, Tera … basically any other MMO. I am pretty sure the majority is in my shoes.

Vorch.2985:

Well, I guess I’m not the only one -_-

I love the game and I love all the options.

It’s just that all the options are becoming much less optional.

I followed this game before launch and one of the things that attracted me to it at the time was the fact that you could actually play it solo if you wished. As well as the no grind, but unfortunately that’s not actually true or at least not anymore.

I like the game, been playing it about 47 days now, already have 3x 80’s and working on my 4th, so you can see I do like it (didn’t play from start as decided to wait untilthey sorted early issues out).

I think part of the problem is that they see more currencies as more content, but in fact it’s more limiting content which effects the game play so that you have more limited choices than actually opening up the choices. They seem to be making the same mistakes as WoW, WoW became easier and more crap with ever expansion, I just hope they don’t do the same thing here.

I don’t think the answer is allowing all currencies to be converted into each other at all. I think the answer is to give the same rewards for each of the currencies.

We should be able to craft ascended (with crazy high loot of course)
We should be able to get unique titles, skins and minis for each of the currencies as extremely high rewards, not crazy good armour.

It is so easy to create a new titles as well and there are so few of them currently! Skins are pretty easy to create as well, much easier than some massive event. Skins and titles need to be the new incentive.

ObsidianSaint.1079:

It is so easy to create a new titles as well and there are so few of them currently! Skins are pretty easy to create as well, much easier than some massive event. Skins and titles need to be the new incentive.

Thats what it should of been to begin with. Down the currencies, up with challenging content that rewards properly. It should be do cof(just an example) once a day, if you can and maybe you’ll see the skin you want. Not repeat path 1-3 every day twice a day for tokens. Too much grind not enough fun time.

Vorch.2985:

When the game launched, there were 5 major currencies:

• Gold
• Gems
• Karma
• Dungeon Tokens
• Badges of Honor

As of now, the amount of currencies has nearly doubled with the addition of:

• Laurels
• Commendations
• Fractal Relics
• Pristine Fractal Relics

I did not include Influence and Merits in this because those are earned on a per guild rather than per person basis. I also did not include sPvP currencies.

At launch, players could effectively earn the majority of the currencies with a playstyle that included 1 or 2 of the major game systems (open world PvE, WvW, Dungeons).

The consequence of all these currencies is that they all now have exclusive rewards.

• I can not earn ascended amulets or other laurel vendor gear with by playing though dungeons, WvW, or fractals. I must do dailies to gain awards that are exclusive to dailies; therefore, I must add dailies to my playstyle.

• I can not earn ascended earrings(accessories) by doing WvW, fractals, dungeons, or PvE. I now must add Guild Missions to my playstyle OR sacrifice a month worth of dailies + monthly + 50ecto to afford one earring.

• I can not earn ascended rings by playing dungeons, WvW, or open world PvE. I must either add fractals and dailies to my playstyle .

• I can not earn ascended back pieces by playing dungeons, WvW, Guild Missions, Dailies, or open world PvE. I must add fractals to my playstyle.

So, as of right now, I must do the following to gear 1 character:

• Guild Missions
• Fractals
• Dailies/Monthlies
• Dungeons/Crafting for exotic armor

God help you if you prefer playing WvW…
Oh, and by the way, I have 8 characters…

---

I humbly submit that you do not add any more currencies. You are not extending the goal post anymore; you are adding multiple goal posts in every kitten direction. As soon as I run one way, there’s a goal post in a COMPLETELY different direction. I consider myself “hardcore”, but this is getting extremely tiring.

To be clear, I am NOT saying that you should not add more content.

What I’d like is for rewards for new content to be tied to existing currencies.

I suggest that you:

Add all ascended gear types to

• Guild Merits
• Dungeons (i.e. require 3-4 gifts to make an accessory)
• WvW
• Fractals (edit)
• Karma (edit)
• CRAFTING

And for the sake of Lyssa, use NEW SKINS AS INCENTIVES INSTEAD OF STATISTICAL INCREASES. I can tell you right now those using medium armor classes really could use some options.

Skins and titles are what kept people playing in GW1; new long term goal posts every month are what’s driving wedges in the game now.

+1 Totally agree

We should be obtaining “Stat Gear” to play the game, not playing the game to obtain “Stat Gear”, that’s absolutely the same wrong direction that long dead MMO’s chose to take.

Skill and content based, not item and level based is the way to go. What about the promise to keep the game focused on people succeeding by playing the game the way they want to play it?

All gear should be craftable or purchasable, gear is not the reward (or it shouldn’t be) the content is the reward (or should be).

Skins and titles should be the goalposts, it’s about character development, not gear grinding.

Skins & Titles +1

Imagine if they added rare skins as drops from world event bosses (not dragons) more like Taidha Covington event chain.
Tough boss, decent length for the event chain, rare drop of specific boss themed weapon/armor.
Anet had to notice the interest in the Final Rest staff. Imagine the interest in themed rare drops.

Everything should be available with Gold or the currencies should be able to convert into each other like it was in GW1

I would like to convert karma jugs into laurels if I wish. I don’t need the stuff from karma vendors any more, and I don’t have a strong desire to create a legendary. What I’m missing is ascended items and I have a stack of unused karma jugs clogging up my bank. And that’s before I even get to the piles of unused dungeon tokens…

I couldn’t have said it better myself. I was going to post myself on this, but the OP did a great job.

Simplify currencies. Stop stat increases and add more skins instead.

It’s what the people want, A-net.

This thread, right here, has it right.

I personally like to play on under-equipped/weak characters, as it adds more tension to the game.

There should be a way to convert 1 type of tokens to another.

Dungeon token to another dungeon token at 3:1 rate.

Laurel for guild commendation (and vice versa) at 2:1 rate.