I was tempted to post this in the general discussion or Halloween event for the higher traffic, and I hope it will not be ignored by anet or other players here.
Below are some simple instructions to take my money in a far more efficient manner for future events or just in general.
First let me sum up the things I have purchased to date:
3 additional character slots (I don’t even have time to play them all, but I knew I wanted one for each profession (I bought these in GW1 as well): 2400 gems
Additional Bank storage: 600 gems
Primeval armour skin: 500 gems
Crafting booster pack: 150 gems
Black Lion Chest keys: 450 gems
These were all purchased with real money and none of it was converted from in game gold as I only have about 15g to my name.
Planned future purchases:
Either the Witch or Mad king costume (yet to decide and only because the skills they offer for costume brawl). 700 gems
Krytan and Profane armour sets if they look good on my alts when they reach 80 and I can put them on some exotic gear. 500-1000 gems
Recommendations for future offerings at the gem store:
Offer more cool armour/outfit skins that can be used in combat similar to your chest RNG chance.
Offer some cool weapon skins that can be used in combat similar to your halloween chest RNG chance.
Offer the permanent banker/TP access that can be used anywhere similar to your chest RNG chance.
Complete aesthetic remakes for my characters (completely back to the character creation screen other than same race and storyline decisions locked in still) I understand this one might be in the works already.
A really cool emote pack that will display huge cool emotes like a dragon swooping down or something neat like that. Make it so either they can’t be spammed or people can filter out seeing these things if they are to obnoxious in towns or large gatherings.
A permanent movement speed increase in town that is not consumable and can just be toggled.
Anything that can avoid huge grind for me and not give me a gameplay advantage, just time savings.
What I will not buy from the gem store:
Almost any consumable. The crafting one was a pretty decent time saver for the level increases so that was a bit of an exception. I like to have something tangible at the end of the day.
Any more keys for RNG chance of getting something. I consider my luck as poor and I was not disappointed with the 5 keys I purchased and the 3 I had laying around which I used during this event.
RNG chances for minipets. There are probably a few minipets I would spend money on, but random packs don’t tempt me. I pretty much never use the minis from my hom rewards so this isn’t a big draw for me anyways.
RNG chances at dyes. Once again with my perceived poor luck I won’t take the chances on dye. Separate them and offer each for a fair price and I would consider it.
Of all my purchases the only one I am unhappy with is my most recent purchase of keys which I gambled on and lost. Either your keys cost way too much or the rewards that I want are too poor a drop rate or I just shouldn’t gamble. I’m not angry and it hasn’t soured me from the gem shop completely, but I will never purchase anything relying on RNG again.
You now have some insight into what makes this gamer open his wallet and what makes me annoyed when it comes to your RNG offerings. I do not represent all gamers and my spending habits may not be the same as others, but if anyone else has suggestions on what they did/would/wouldn’t buy then please post that as well.