Guild Wars 2

I believe that yous hould greatly reduce the cost of travelling using waypoints, specially since we dont have mounts or any kind of cheap way to move fast over large places. It is also ridiculous that when you die being in a PvE map you not only have to pay for repairs of your armor but also pay for the waypoint revival.
Its just a bit too unfair, specially for LV 80s travelling even between short distances can cost 1.5 silvers, its ridiculous.
This costs wouldnt be a an issue if getting money in the game was easier, or if monsters would drop bigger ammounts of money, or if events gave better rewards, or chests in dungeons would drop better items. But since getting money is literally a big pain in the behind, having to pay at least 1.5 silver for the shortest waypoint travel is ridiculous. Sometimes you have to pay around 3.5 silver or even 4 silver if you are going far away.

I think the current fees are fine. Once you get some cash you don’t even think twice about the travel fees.

yah once you get some cash, but many out there dont have cash and live with 50 silver. When u only have 50 silver and you struggle to get more money, cos you are not a hardocre gamer but more of a casual gamer, paying 3 silver for 1 travel is ridiculous

I usually get a few silver just fine selling junk I get off mobs

ezhcim.3075:

I believe that yous hould greatly reduce the cost of travelling using waypoints, specially since we dont have mounts or any kind of cheap way to move fast over large places. It is also ridiculous that when you die being in a PvE map you not only have to pay for repairs of your armor but also pay for the waypoint revival.
Its just a bit too unfair, specially for LV 80s travelling even between short distances can cost 1.5 silvers, its ridiculous.
This costs wouldnt be a an issue if getting money in the game was easier, or if monsters would drop bigger ammounts of money, or if events gave better rewards, or chests in dungeons would drop better items. But since getting money is literally a big pain in the behind, having to pay at least 1.5 silver for the shortest waypoint travel is ridiculous. Sometimes you have to pay around 3.5 silver or even 4 silver if you are going far away.

I too feel like the waypoint fees are excessive. I have made a lot of gold in GW2 but it was difficult. No matter how much I have I always think about the cost. It cost me almost 5 silver to get from one side of the world to the next. Sometimes I don’t want to do events I just want to farm trash mobs for loot but I can’t. It is scripted in the game to start dropping less loot if you are killing the same mob. Most of the mobs in Orr are the same type of mob so it is difficult to farm there. Also events give just under 2 silver and when I port across the map to get to an event before it ends I make hardly any money because it cost me everything I just earned to teleport there.

If you would stop teleporting and look at how much more money you save you would understand that the cost is high. The opinion on this matter is split, I however think that a lot of people just don’t realize how much they are spending on this.

Bourdain.1624:

…Also events give just under 2 silver and when I port across the map to get to an event before it ends I make hardly any money because it cost me everything I just earned to teleport there.

This is exactly why the travel costs need to drop. As it is currently, when I hear an event has started, I check the map and the cost to get there. Most of the time I just have to pass on the event because the cost isn’t worth it. Maybe this problem gets better at 80. But at 57 I’m barely above the poverty line because I have to save for upcoming expenses.

Pricey travel limits gameplay. Wonder who thought it was a good idea to design the game in such a way that the best option is NOT to play it all.

Yah i think a good compromise would be to make travels among waypoint of the same map cost free, while making travel among waypoint across maps cost money, but not as much as they cost now. If not i thinkt hey should give mounts, or some speed boosts, or even place mroe asura gates around the world so we dont go poor travelling from one corner of the map to the other

Sore,y if this has been asked before, but what exactly are the reasons that the waypoints cost anything in the first place? What is ArenaNet trying to accomplish by having this in the game?

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

Sore,y if this has been asked before, but what exactly are the reasons that the waypoints cost anything in the first place? What is ArenaNet trying to accomplish by having this in the game?

Moneysink – the less money you have, the more tempting it is to buy gems with real money and convert to gold.

At least, this is what most free-to-play (barring initial costs) games work with, using microtransactions. I suppose we should be thankful it hasn’t gotten to the point where real money is the only way to play.

Ahhh, that would make sense. It also makes sense why people have been suggesting a “transit pass” idea. Hmmm.

If it is in fact a way to keep us all broke and tempted, then I’m not sure ANet will reduce the cost of in-map waypoint to free.

I wonder if there is another way to approach this situation that would allow ANet to make money, but also not keep players broke.

that could be possible if they implemented housing (well not for gems of course, but for ingame gold like the commander book) or other exclusive status symbols.

While I have no real trouble with the waypoint fees, I believe they should not merely scale according to level, but also be bound to some extent to the area in which you are traveling – If I go back to the low-level zones at lvl 80, It becomes quite tedious to re-earn the money I spend using waypoints…

I’m astonished people are even finding this to be a problem. Without trying to sound braggadocious I have 40 gold and I’m sure I’ve spent more on travel then ALL of you. I prefer instant teleportation that costs a few silver then 5 minute mounts rides. You even get a free town portal whenever you want to use it, no cooldown(heart of the mists portal). I don’t know, maybe I’m not getting it, but what more do you want?

I have 42g, I still don’t want to pay 4s for a long travel. Map Quick Travel shouldn’t have a cost anyway. First and only game I’ve seen with this.

Vanguard has a so called riftway system with costs depending on the location level. costs are quite moderate though, afaik. And there are alternatives like ships and mounts for traveling.
And players had some port abilities and movement speedup spells/songs.

I make 2 silver in like 5 mob kills or an event(and then some), I think it’s reasonable to cost that much.

What I think theys hould do is scale down the costs for lower areas. I do NOT want to pay 1.5 silver to travel in a 1-15 zone.

ezhcim.3075:

yah once you get some cash, but many out there dont have cash and live with 50 silver. When u only have 50 silver and you struggle to get more money, cos you are not a hardocre gamer but more of a casual gamer, paying 3 silver for 1 travel is ridiculous

thats the point.
u go buy gold fomr the gem store.
if anything, things will get more expensive in the future, not less.

Calsie.2501:

Maybe this problem gets better at 80.

Actually it gets worse… WP costs scale UP as you level… so if you’re level 80 running around in a level 1-15 zone to get World Completion, those WPs that would cost a newbie under 10c to hop between cost you 2+s… and since the coin looted off mobs and rewarded by events is still set at level 1-15 rewards and NOT level 80, between that and expensive repair bills you’ll use WPs even LESS as you approach 80 unless you’re hunting in a 70-80 zone.

One thing they could do is remove the cost scaling based on level and give WPs fixed cost based on zone that scales by distance from your current location instead.

Gold sinks are present in all MMORPGs, even ones with monthly fees. They have to be. Whenever a corpse is looted or a reward is received, money is generated out of this air. That money has to get dumped back into the game (not other players) somehow or the market would become overly flush with money and nothing would hold any value. Fixed price vendor items (like salvage kits & training manuals) would be trivial to purchase. And the P2P market would be ridiculous (ie – black dye for 200g instead of 4g).

That being said…Waypoint fees are too pricey. Without mounts (which I do not want) travel is relegated to walking or waypointing. And in a game where playing together for DEs (the primary quest-type of the game), getting to those DEs shouldn’t be so expensive.

Seras.5702:

Gold sinks are present in all MMORPGs, even ones with monthly fees. They have to be. Whenever a corpse is looted or a reward is received, money is generated out of this air. That money has to get dumped back into the game (not other players) somehow or the market would become overly flush with money and nothing would hold any value. Fixed price vendor items (like salvage kits & training manuals) would be trivial to purchase. And the P2P market would be ridiculous (ie – black dye for 200g instead of 4g).

That being said…Waypoint fees are too pricey. Without mounts (which I do not want) travel is relegated to walking or waypointing. And in a game where playing together for DEs (the primary quest-type of the game), getting to those DEs shouldn’t be so expensive.

Guildwars 1 Waypoints didn’t have fees. Somehow that economy worked fine.

Trust me, there are ways to make an economy work without freaking waypoint costs.

I think that money sinks are required in the game any way because it was designed as such from the ground. Waypoint costs are an acceptable taxing for people. The main problem with this is when a lvl80 plays on low level areas, because money income is at least halved. This often leads to money loss rather than gain, which no one actually likes.
I’d like to suggest two modifications to waypoint cost calculations:

• When traveling, the target area’s level should be factored into waypoint fee bonuses. For example if the target area’s maximum level is 40, then the lvl80 character’s extra fee could be around 2/3rd the price, and to a level 20 area, it could be 1/3rd the price.
• High-distance travel fees should also be changed, because no one likes watching loading screens while traveling from Rata Sum, to Lion’s Arch, to Black Citadel so that they can then waypoint to the Brand cheaper. Waypoint fees should be calculated by taking the cheapest fee from either the character’s current location or the closest city’s center point. Cities in this calculation should include all starter cities, Lion’s Arch and Fort Trinity.

I believe that this system would keep the money sink where characters gain high amounts of money while decreasing people wanting to go through a bunch of loading screens or just simply run through areas only to save some money from waypointing costs.

Mega Tip #32: Instead of salvaging everything, sometimes it is better to sell things. This will help pay the bills.

I would like to see waypoint travel stop scaling with player level. Scaling with Distance and the level of the Area is fine, but why is it costing more to travel in a 1-15 area at level 80 then at level 1?

Additionaly, I think either all towns, or at least Lions Arch should have a single Free Waypoint, meaning you can teleport there for free from anywhere. Why? Because people are already doing it via the Mists but with an extra loading screen or two. Why not cut down the loading time for players, and the strain on the servers caused by it, and just let us teleport directly there for free?

Add up the lifetime cost of how much u spend on waypoints, your jaw would drop.

They are very overpriced, and just like the OP said, if u die u automatically have to pay up to rez AND for repairs.

If you continue to be stubborn and not add mounts so we can maybe travel logically the LEAST you can do is drop off those costs.

it only costs the value of one item that you sell at the market to use a waypoint. it’s not a big deal. Anyways, you should be selling all your useless heavy armor and all the weapons you don’t need (since it’s easy to get wood and ore) and only be salvaging medium and light stuff for the leather and cloth. that should give you ample amounts of money.

IceBlink.4317:

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

Sore,y if this has been asked before, but what exactly are the reasons that the waypoints cost anything in the first place? What is ArenaNet trying to accomplish by having this in the game?

Moneysink – the less money you have, the more tempting it is to buy gems with real money and convert to gold.

At least, this is what most free-to-play (barring initial costs) games work with, using microtransactions. I suppose we should be thankful it hasn’t gotten to the point where real money is the only way to play.

Well this would be effective if Gems were actually worth SOMETHIGN, nowadays Gems are pretty much worth less, if you want to buy the Tier 3 cultural armor by buying gems and trading to gold you need more than 300 dollars worth of Gems, thats ridiculous

having to pay at least 1.5 silver for the shortest waypoint travel is ridiculous.

You mention that the second time, but how about you just don’t? Just walk? Given that it isn’t because of dying of course, but even then, personally, I didn’t make the experience to die that often in general PvE.
The fees, particularly for small distances, are not only meant as a gold sink but also to deter you from always porting around tiny distances, which it accomplishes in my opinion quite effectively. Generally I think the fees are acceptable.

i vote leaving the fees as they are but give players mounts as well. both have benefits and drawbacks. Which is how its supposed to be.

I agree that waypoint costs are a cause for hesitation for many people, myself included. However, there are activities to be done that can offset the costs.

That said, how about giving a couple of classes a summon spell? Allow them to summon a specific party member to their location. This allows a group to quickly relocate a wayward member to the action. If you’re not in a group, use the waypoints.

“The fees, particularly for small distances, are not only meant as a gold sink but also to deter you from always porting around tiny distances, which it accomplishes in my opinion quite effectively. Generally I think the fees are acceptable.”

The fees are there to annoy and cuckhold. Going to daily jump puzzles is either expensive or annoying (you still usually mine and kill your way there so drops aren’t very adversly affected)

It also prevents you from as easily playing with your friends. There are not many dungeosn not adjacent to a main town, or easy enough to get to, so the fee means those that know the trick go “H->Mists->LA->Gates->City->Outside->Dungeon” for free while it drains those that do not. That said, this is again an annoyance.

Waypoint fees are not a good gold sink as 60% of the player base avoids it and lives with the annoyance and the other % doesn’t know how to and walks everywhere. Annoying your clientelle like this =/= good.

“That said, how about giving a couple of classes a summon spell? Allow them to summon a specific party member to their location. This allows a group to quickly relocate a wayward member to the action. If you’re not in a group, use the waypoints.”

Because every walock summon @#%^ from WoW will tell you that was a GREAT addition.

I think the main problem I WILL have is when i want to explore (or meet up with people) in a lvl 1-15 zone i haven’t been in.

Suddenly waypoints will cost loads compared what I’m earning there (which is nothing in comparison).

I have yet to find a problem with waypoint costs as long as I remain in the level zones that I’m expected to be in though.

i see the reason behind fees, but when traveling fees are bigger than the money you earn from a successful DE (whereas on lower levels a DE more than pays for the traveling fees), then something is wrong.

GADefence.5634:

“The fees, particularly for small distances, are not only meant as a gold sink but also to deter you from always porting around tiny distances, which it accomplishes in my opinion quite effectively. Generally I think the fees are acceptable.”

The fees are there to annoy and cuckhold. Going to daily jump puzzles is either expensive or annoying (you still usually mine and kill your way there so drops aren’t very adversly affected)

It also prevents you from as easily playing with your friends. There are not many dungeosn not adjacent to a main town, or easy enough to get to, so the fee means those that know the trick go “H->Mists->LA->Gates->City->Outside->Dungeon” for free while it drains those that do not. That said, this is again an annoyance.

Waypoint fees are not a good gold sink as 60% of the player base avoids it and lives with the annoyance and the other % doesn’t know how to and walks everywhere. Annoying your clientelle like this =/= good.

“That said, how about giving a couple of classes a summon spell? Allow them to summon a specific party member to their location. This allows a group to quickly relocate a wayward member to the action. If you’re not in a group, use the waypoints.”

*bold*Because every walock summon @#%^ from WoW will tell you that was a GREAT addition.bold

Yes, the classes with the ability will asked often for this service. This opens up a chance at making a bit of copper on the side. I never saw a problem with it in WoW.

Thinking more about it I was channeling EverQuest with Wizard Spires and Druid Rings but making it a port to player function. shrug

Anyway, maybe instead offer a cash shop item that allows for free waypoints for a set period of time? Call it a Waypoint Pass and have it cost x amount of Gems and allow the character to teleport for free for x amount of time. Maybe offer it in different time periods? 24 hours, 3 days, week, month? Each costing more?

edit Spelling.

Pluckerpluck.8692:

I have yet to find a problem with waypoint costs as long as I remain in the level zones that I’m expected to be in though.

Unfortunately, the game wasn’t designed with that in mind. We are expected to use the whole map as our endgame.

theerrantventure.9185:

Anyway, maybe instead offer a cash shop item that allows for free waypoints for a set period of time? Call it a Waypoint Pass and have it cost x amount of Gems and allow the character to teleport for free for x amount of time. Maybe offer it in different time periods? 24 hours, 3 days, week, month? Each costing more?

I really really dislike being nickle and dimed so I’d probably go for the monthly option.

Kind of like a subscription fee …

“Yes, the classes with the ability will asked often for this service. This opens up a chance at making a bit of copper on the side. I never saw a problem with it in WoW.”

K, I have a solution then.

Make weapons break, only warrior can repair it.
Make death give you bruises, only guardians can mend them.
Take out waypoints, only eles can teleport.
Only necros can ressurect.
Only engineers can refine materials.
Only rangers can extract loot from corpses (that giant skull has to be skinned somehow!)

I am drastically opposed to any form of “class X does service Y”.

totally completely agree

i wish this was something that got a fix , in GW 1 we didnt even have to pay tot ravle and the economy wasnt trash

I agree that the waypoint prices seem to be a little extreme at times. I’m thinking that the price of the waypoints shouldn’t be based on your level but the distance that you have to travel. I also believe that the waypoint closest to your story should be free seeing as the story makes you travel all over the world and has you constantly returning to your main city.

yah prices are crazy i go poor just travelling to dungeons to play with my guildies

I think the 15% trading fee on the TP is enough of a gold sink. Especially considering how it’s cheaper to buy stuff there than waste time/money gathering items.

I feel like the WPs discourage moving around while sidekicking and world exploration are there to encourage it (along with DR)

While I also weigh the benefits of traveling via waypoint versus the current contents of my wallet, I think that if you must have a cost associated with this service, then at least do not increase it any more than the level it is at right now. However, this is not the point I wanted to make. I actually wanted to make a suggestion regarding waypoint costs in cities, so instead of making a new thread, I’ll post in this one.

My suggestion is to have all discovered waypoints in a city cost the same amount to travel to when coming from outside the city. In other words, let’s say I’m somewhere out in Ascalon and I want to teleport to a waypoint in the Black Citadel. If it costs me 1 silver to go to the closest waypoint in the Citadel, then it should be a flat 1 silver across the board for any waypoint in the Citadel. My reasoning is simple, I’ve found that whenever I travel to a city using the waypoint system, I will almost always choose the cheapest waypoint available to me, because I know that once I’m inside the city, travel to any waypoint is free. I suppose the “cost” of using a free waypoint is sitting through a loading screen, which isn’t the worst thing in the world, but I find it lessens the fun I’m having which ultimately detracts from the game. It’s a small change but, I think if implemented, it would be appreciated.

I would be OK with adding in mounts so we could better travel without the need for pricey WP’s. I also would like to see a taxi system included as a much cheaper way to travel ala wow bird routs. I’m probably the only gamer out there that still actually LIKES the bird rout system /shrugs. I know many don’t like to sit on a taxi for a long period of time. I myself actually kind of like sitting back and seeing the sights from up on my taxi thingy but to each his own. But this would provide an alternative at least if you don’t want to pony up the cash to insta travel.

It is fine.

1 silver is enough to discourage waypoint jumping.

5 silver is enough to encourage player to stay in the zone for quite a while.

I have to disagree with everyone saying… “once you have money, you won’t care” – it isn’t the point- it is still another money sink and it discourages exploration. I don’t feel you should have to pay 1-2silver to go 200 yards because you are lvl 80.

It should either be priced by level of the zone or overall distance. But Zone is more appropriate. Otherwise you have to hop an asura gate to a local city and then port from there to avoid spending 2-3+ gold a week just moving around.

I am sure people will say… but I make 1-2 gold an hour farminggggg….. So it is ok to spend 2 hours a week just on teleporting costs?? All that gold could be going back into the community with trade broker purchases, alt toon equipping, crafting…etc etc

If you want to run and help some lowbie friends level low level zones should all be cheap travel (someone else mentioned this) If you want to farm Orr for 1+ gold an hour- paying 5 silver to get there is no big deal.

totally agree with u dude

Another point that is "diiferent in GW2 is that not EVERYTHING scales……… as in a lvl 75 blue whatever is worth the same crummy 68 copper at the vendor as a lvl 35 one… and the 75 greens are a whole silver and change… if our INCOME scaled..(other than having an opportunity to AoE spam Orr events to fill bigger bags with same junk items) then I would say “OK…5 silver to travel is whatevr… I got a green worth 7 silver before.. or 2 blues worth 3 silver each at the vendor….” And the 15% tax/fee on the trade broker makes that a money sink for anything but rare or better drops…

So either make high level items vendor for more… or scale transportation costs by area/level

I would even be ok with reduced travel cost from an “actual” way point- as in you walk to a waypoint and stand in it for cheap travel- and “travel anywhere” from the map costs more

The rates seem fine at low levels, but in the middle range they certainly make me think three times before porting anywhere.

I can actually understand the design to have some cost, otherwise you’d risk having 500 people porting around from event to event – making people at least evaluate and make decisions is a good thing in my view. And I don’t see it as a disincentive to explore – it just means you have to plan your exploration with some care unless you can buy your way through any problem.

But I do agree the prices probably need tweaking, particularly for levels 20-79 where income is still pretty low but WP costs are high. In other MMOs you could typically utilize the auction house structure to generate significant revenue to overcome basic travel related gold sinks, but at least so far that doesn’t appear to be the case in GW2.

I haven’t had any trouble with waypoint fees, but I am not very high level yet. However, I do use them all the time and teleport half-way across the world. You are complaining about the work to make 6 silver? I think perhaps you need new strategies for collecting money. If you just dig up a few resource points or, when farming, sell off the crafting items on the black lion market, you’ll make 6 silver back before you know it— even in the lowest level zones.

The best and easiest fix for this is to make zones determine price rather than your level. At level 80 in high level zones it is super easy to make up the amount it costs to use waypoints because you get more money from things and still make more money than you use per waypoint. But in the lower level zones as a level 80, you almost always lose money when using waypoints because the junk loot price doesn’t scale with level so you need to get way more of it to make up the cost of using the waypoint.