Guild Wars 2

Colbear.6425:

Do you think it’s unfair that casual players can’t afford the same things that hardcore players can?

When it has no effect on whether or not the casual player can play on even playing ground as the hardcore player, then no, it’s not unfair.

When it comes to the idea that there’s supposed to be no grinding in GW2 it is meant only when referring to gameplay (meaning anything that affects how a player will perform in PvE or PvP), not to “shiny things”.

There will always be “grind” in this game, but it won’t be something that anyone “has to do”. If you want a bell, trade all those ugly clothes in and get the consumable ones, buy a ton of consumable bells off the TP now, spend the cash in order to get the unbreakable one.

Just because you didn’t have the foresight to have extra cash on hand in order to buy a limited time item you wanted isn’t anyone’s fault but yours. And this item will still be on the TP after Wintersday, it’s just that you may not value it enough to pay what it’s worth (evident with someone already mentioning that a specific legendary gift would cost over 50g and therefore they wouldn’t want that utilized as an option to craft the bell).

Guardian Of Tyria.6397:

Colbear.6425:

Do you think it’s unfair that casual players can’t afford the same things that hardcore players can?

When it has no effect on whether or not the casual player can play on even playing ground as the hardcore player, then no, it’s not unfair.

When it comes to the idea that there’s supposed to be no grinding in GW2 it is meant only when referring to gameplay (meaning anything that affects how a player will perform in PvE or PvP), not to “shiny things”.

There will always be “grind” in this game, but it won’t be something that anyone “has to do”. If you want a bell, trade all those ugly clothes in and get the consumable ones, buy a ton of consumable bells off the TP now, spend the cash in order to get the unbreakable one.

Just because you didn’t have the foresight to have extra cash on hand in order to buy a limited time item you wanted isn’t anyone’s fault but yours. And this item will still be on the TP after Wintersday, it’s just that you may not value it enough to pay what it’s worth (evident with someone already mentioning that a specific legendary gift would cost over 50g and therefore they wouldn’t want that utilized as an option to craft the bell).

On the TP after Wintersday…….for 100g+. I’d rather invest that money into commander if I bothered farming for months on end to get it.

If this game is getting to the point where I have to farm for a month straight for a novelty item, maybe I’ll just quit, because this certainly is not turning out to be the game it was depicted to be. It’s turning into a game controlled by wallet warriors, where if you don’t throw money at the game and have more then 100g, you’re poor and you might as well quit, because you’ll never be able to get anything unique.

I don’t even care if it’s rare or unique. I just think everyone should be able to play these instruments that clearly took a non-trivial amount of development effort without having to worry about running out.

Let the bell stay rare and offer a cheap banjo or whatever that absolutely everyone can get. Just give us the same functionality.

It’s a bit curious why they let you forge the Endless Toymaker’s Tonic (which has a lower drop rate from the boxes) but not the Unbreakable Choir Bell.

Urthona.3198:

Colbear.6425:

Do you think it’s unfair that casual players can’t afford the same things that hardcore players can?

I do when it is a whole different aspect of gameplay. I am not bothered that casual players can’t get Sunrise. I would be bothered if they couldn’t get greatswords at all.

This is a mini-game that a large portion of the population does not have access to. Ascended gear, even legendaries, with all their flaws, don’t bother me all that much, because they at least can be earned by pretty much anyone and are at least marginally dependent on actually playing the game rather than RNG or market manipulation. And there are non-legendary weapons and non-ascended gear. But this…this is not a good sign for where the game is headed

I don’t think it’s fair to say an unbreakable bell is an “entirely different” aspect of gameplay compared to a 30-80c consumable bell that you can either buy from the TP or get in sets of 3 on a fairly regular basis from the gifts or by trading ugly wool for it.

Certainly, if the consumable bells ever become incredibly rare, that’d be a problem, but that’s too far into the future to be assuming — by then, it’s quite possible more instruments will have been added.

The consumable bells are all but useless, to play a typical 3 minute song you have to use up (at least) 3 of them.

I agree that it’s strange we can craft the tonic and not the bell now that I think about it.

If each bell is one minute, than a stack of bells is four hours. At a high of 80c per bell, that’s 2 gold for more than 4 hours of playtime.

Exactly how long are people expecting to play the bells?

The main reason they don’t give everyone a bell are TROLLS, i’ve seen trolls at lion’s arch just autospamming 8 on the highest octave destroying everyones eardrums and bulling people actually playing music, and i didn’t saw this just 1 time but 2, happend to me 1 time and i felt pretty bad of course you can report but…..there are always trolls out there…..pretty sad.

Colbear.6425:

If each bell is one minute, than a stack of bells is four hours. At a high of 80c per bell, that’s 2 gold for more than 4 hours of playtime.

Exactly how long are people expecting to play the bells?

Thats also having to click a new bell every 60 seconds, pretty much ruins whatever you’re playing. Figuring out complex songs can take quite some time, to the point where buying consumable bells becomes nothing but a waste of money.

You’re always going to have trolls. Most of them are too lazy to do anything complicated though, so a crafting recipe isn’t going to fuel them.

The permanent bell needs to be reactivated every 60 seconds too, I heard. So literally the only difference in it is that you have a stack of bells that never depletes.

I’m surprised so many feel disappointed by the trivial challenges of obtaining these items. It costs roughly a gold to buy 250~ bags, and that can be earned fairly quickly at level 80. A day or two of trying could result in a very nice surprise after a while. If not, then just keep trying while you can.

I just hope ANet never adopts an alternative 1-click success play-style. There are other games available for those that would prefer that…

Disappointed by the trivial challenge?

No. Disappointed that all it takes is gold and a random roll. I’d prefer if it was tied somehow to the Bell Choir mini-game, too.

Barfoi.9537:

I’m surprised so many feel disappointed by the trivial challenges of obtaining these items. It costs roughly a gold to buy 250~ bags, and that can be earned fairly quickly at level 80. A day or two of trying could result in a very nice surprise after a while. If not, then just keep trying while you can.

I just hope ANet never adopts an alternative 1-click success play-style. There are other games available for those that would prefer that…

Trivial challenge, lol. Since when is buy gifts from TP > spam 1 button a challenge?
I’m annoyed by the triviality, there’s nothing challenging about it.

Maybe the challenge is avoiding carpal tunnel?

Either buy the bell outright, buy the gifts, farm for either of those options, or accept that you won’t get it. Any of those paths pose their own trivial challenge, but that’s the basis of any game. Fortunately, you’re not forced down any certain path — they all involve “wasting” time — so go ahead and “pick your poison”.

I’d prefer if it was tied somehow to the Bell Choir mini-game

If it were a reward for a perfect-score, then that would’ve been great for some. If it weren’t account-bound, however, then it’d still be available on the TP (same as now). If it were account-bound, then people would complain about not being able to sell it.

Since when is buy gifts from TP > spam 1 button a challenge?

Hey, it’s pretty challenging opening thousands of bags! ;P It’s almost as challenging as being able to get 50+ character-levels from crafting, and acquiring a full set of exotic gear (armor, weapons, jewelry, etc)… all from the Trading Post. This game is a trivial challenge in itself, and since that’s the case, you should be annoyed by the game in its entirety.

Barfoi.9537:

Either buy the bell outright, buy the gifts, farm for either of those options, or accept that you won’t get it. Any of those paths pose their own trivial challenge, but that’s the basis of any game. Fortunately, you’re not forced down any certain path — they all involve “wasting” time — so go ahead and “pick your poison”.

I’d prefer if it was tied somehow to the Bell Choir mini-game

If it were a reward for a perfect-score, then that would’ve been great for some. If it weren’t account-bound, however, then it’d still be available on the TP (same as now). If it were account-bound, then people would complain about not being able to sell it.

Since when is buy gifts from TP > spam 1 button a challenge?

Hey, it’s pretty challenging opening thousands of bags! ;P It’s almost as challenging as being able to get 50+ character-levels from crafting, and acquiring a full set of exotic gear (armor, weapons, jewelry, etc)… all from the Trading Post. This game is a trivial challenge in itself, and since that’s the case, you should be annoyed by the game in its entirety.

I am, and while I don’t know about 50+ levels from crafting, I don’t see anything wrong with crafting being used to help level (avoid grinding), and having easy access to “high end” gear. What I do see something wrong with is that the solution to everything seems to be RNG. Want a legendary? RNG. Want a bell/one of the mini’s for the quaggan/a quaggan? RNG. Want an endless tonic? RNG. Need a ring from the Fractals daily chest to keep going? RNG. Nothing wrong with it in moderation, but I don’t consider that moderation when half the game is RNG.

Likewise, I don’t see anything wrong with RNG. Well, most of the time at least. ;P I’m not sure how some of the mechanics of the game can be redone to avoid it, but even if it’s reasonably possible, ANet still has to consider appeasing the majority of the player-base. What if for example, the majority prefers that element within their gaming-experience?

If there are 500k players enjoying the content right now, and a dozen complaining about the bell, what do you think they’ll do?

Barfoi.9537:

Likewise, I don’t see anything wrong with RNG. Well, most of the time at least. ;P I’m not sure how some of the mechanics of the game can be redone to avoid it, but even if it’s reasonably possible, ANet still has to consider appeasing the majority of the player-base. What if for example, the majority prefers that element within their gaming-experience?

If there are 500k players enjoying the content right now, and a dozen complaining about the bell, what do you think they’ll do?

The only people who “support” RNG are the ones who control 99% of the wealth.

#occupywallstreet, #Wearethe1%
Remind you of anything?

I support it, and currently have less than 3 silver. ;P RNG benefits those willing to gamble, and I enjoy taking those risks. Those that prefer not to chance the risks, however, can just as easily buy items outright— it works for both sides, in my opinion.

With risk-taking, I’ve acquired and spent hundreds of gold thus-far, and so far have my bell and endless from the bags for this event. I’ll keep pouring gold into them, though, since my wife is still lacking the endless (but she got the bell).

I have fun doing it. It’s only gold, after all.

“The 1%”, just in a different respect.

I won’t lie, GW1 had RNG too, the Z Chest was completely RNG, and I spent at least 1200 keys on that thing, and quite a bit of money. However, the big difference between that and this is even the “crap” from the chest could be used for titles (sweet tooth and drunk, don’t think party animal dropped from that), golds could be used for the wisdom title, tomes were always in demand or could just be used up for skills you might need in the future, etc etc, don’t feel like listing all the stuff that thing dropped. Point is, even if you got “crap” from a gamble in GW1 it didn’t feel like it was a complete and total waste, while here on the other hand, it feels exactly like a complete and total waste.

@Toast

I’m pretty sick of your whining. If you spent your time opening chests or grinding gold, or grinding JP/choir bell, or what have you, you’d HAVE YOUR BELL BY NOW. In fact, you’d have many extras and then be “that 1%” you hate so much. I think that you just aren’t playing (or working for that matter), so instead you spend your time whining on forums all day long that you can’t get this one NOVELTY item.

FYI, I am the epitome of casual player. I started Wintersday event with < 2 gold on hand. I found out about this awesome bell, did some research, started gambling on the boxes, as well as farming for more. Is RNG bad or good? So maybe it sucks for the most part, but I don’t care. It is how anet decided to do this, and ultimately, this is the easiest method to make a fair way to get this item.

I opened about 6000 before getting a bell. And another 7000 for a second bell to sell for profit. And then I opened about 20,000 for no bell. Which is fine. I’m not complaining. Buying boxes may be skillless, but that doesn’t concern me. You forget that Wintersday as a holiday event was designed to be less stressful, and you can see this reflected in the (lack of) difficulty in the jumping, the title, the choir bell game, the fact that you have 2 weeks to run the dungeon if you missed the 5 days.

I am pleased that they have made this Wintersday event and how they made it is just fine. It doesn’t need to be perfect, nor does it have to conform to YOUR wishes as if your opinion is so ultimately better than anyone else’s. If you don’t agree with something, don’t play it. Don’t play this game if you are so vehemently against it. Please do us the favor and leave if you hate anet so much.

…and In before you tell me don’t read your post if I don’t like what I read.

If I bother you so much, don’t read what I post. Problem?

This isn’t about just the bell, it’s about the fact that this game is turning into RNG Wars 2. I bought this game with the impression it would be fun, not a mindless grind. I’m losing faith in that as the days go by, maybe like CoD people will end up on the previous one after they realize the newest one isn’t worth the time. At that point maybe stuff will start getting adjusted.

Have you tried doing things that aren’t grinds? Like using temporary bells, making 2 out of 5 pretty cool minis, or trying out a new seasonal weapon skin that’s currently selling for less than 10s?

At least with the gifts, it’s not an entire loss if you’re mainly interested in the tonic or bell. You can stockpile snowflakes, recipes, and skins, and also reuse any “ugly” items for more gifts.

Toast, I think you confuse “RNG” with “endless grind”.

There is nothing to say against using a random number generator in principle. It is used in every battle while applying damage, in the loot tables of the monsters and even while you craft (dishing out extra xp now and then). The problem is not using a RNG but how you use it.

I share part of your gripe. In case of the unbreakable bell it doesn’t concern me because I could not care less to get it. But the same mistake they do there they do with the legendary precursors, too. And the mistake is to have one event (forging in the Mystic Forge) which gives you one very low chance to get the desired result. Instead they should introduce a special “currency” for the unbreakable bell (or legendary precursor) which you can get still randomly from the event (aka forging) but with a higher chance. That way you have at least the feeling of progress and the distribution of randomness is a bit more fair.

An example:

Say the chance of getting a unbreakable bell is 1 in 100,000. Instead of getting a unbreakable bell roughly every 100,000 times (I know, you can get it in the first attempt, and you can not get it even after 1,000,000 times) you should have a 10% chance to get a mini-bell every time you forge. You can then exchange 10,000 mini-bells for 1 unbreakable bell at a vendor. The result is the same (roughly 1 in 100,000 gets you a unbreakable bell), but you have a feel of progress, if you have say 2,000 mini-bells, compared to the long, long stretch of unsatisfying failures you experience in the current system. It could be even more interesting if you can trade the mini-bells, but how that effects the economy I am not sure and I would prefer my proposed system even it the mini-bells (or precursor tokens) are not tradeable.

An additional advantage is that you can get a better impression how dismally low your chances to get an unbreakable bell (or legendary precursor) really are. When you don’t get one of 10,000 mini-bells (or precursor tokens) after say 1,000 attempts you can take that as a message not to bother with it…

From my experience with Silkroad Online, which was essentially an endless grind, this game is starting to feel like that too. As more content is added, more RNG is added, and it begins to feel like you’re just doing the same things over and over, hence, grinding.
For those that have never played the previously mentioned game, and don’t, it really is awful, it pretty much worked like this: The experience rate was awful, something close to maybe .05% per mob, and got worse if you were focusing on getting skill points, new caps were added almost religiously, I think the game is currently sitting on 110 or 120 cap, with content planned for up to 140 currently, but could go even higher. If by some miracle you managed to reach that absurd point, the gear grind began, having to essentially do the same thing you were doing to level for a tiny hope of a good item and to make money for things to make that item better. Obviously this game isn’t that bad, and hopefully never will be, but with the bad rates on the RNG, I almost feel like I’m playing Silkroad again sometimes.

Your idea doesn’t sound bad, but I do agree, something like that would need to be account bound, or it could quite likely sink the economy into a really bad position.

Toast.6459:

TRON.1085:

Toast.6459:

TRON.1085:

Toast.6459:

TRON.1085:

To change this after all this time now will just anger all the players that have spent a ton gold to get one. They already made that mistake with the mini pets, giving everyone enough cogs to make a third mini pet after some had already bought them all after being told specifically by Anet dev’s we would only get 2 in game with materials. Thats not user error or jumping the gun that is Anet’s fault.

Very bad idea.

So because of those very few (and it is a minuscule number), the rest of us should get shafted? A vanity item is slowly being turned into an item more exclusive then a legendary.

How are you getting shafted? Like you said it’s just a vanity / novelty item. You don’t need it to play the game. If you want one cough up the gold/gems or quit crying you don’t have one, simple.

Lol, I’m explaining why a mechanic needs work/adjusting, if you can even consider RNG a mechanic, and I’m crying. Sounds to me like you’re just being obstinate for the heck of it.

Farming for legendaries already didn’t make sense, as theres very little thats legendary about doing the same things over and over for months on end. Now we have to farm for novelty items too, where is the logic there?

Your missing the point, your crying over what you call a vanity item, something you don’t need, yet you cry about how you HAVE TO FARM for it….

You have no logic to your argument or anything to base it from.

These are the facts. Not everyone is going to get an unbreakable bell, not everyone even cares or wants one, you dont need to do anything, you choose to do something.

If you want it then gamble your money away on gems for gold and RNG away, or gems to gold and just buy it right out off the trading outpost, or play the game, spend nothing and hope to get it for free from a gift.

So your still crying even though all the options are available to you without having to pay any real life money and even an option to get it without anything to do with RNG.

But your still crying over it….like I said before you know how to get it, go do it or don’t THATS YOUR CHOICE if you want it or if you don’t AND ITS YOUR CHOICE, how you get it and what method you choose since they have given you many options.

There is no "I need to " " I have to" “I have no choice”

Stop crying about a bell….or go get yourself one….seriously.

Also there is a quaggan piano that does the same as the bell in a location in the game world.

Take your rage somewhere else please. You’re clearly missing my point, and I’ve no time to waste on you if all you can say is “stop crying”.

I think he’s actually making some very valid points and is not just saying “stop crying”. I read so many posts on this forum about it turning into a grinding fest and ANet not living up to their manifesto… because they are – nothing you actually need to play this game or need to give yourself a advantage game-mechanic wise is obtained by grinding…

The bell is fun, I’d love to have it… I realise it’s RNG and I grinded and bought my share of presents (~ 9000) without much luck sofar… I wouldn’t be able to play music if my life depended on it… and I hereby officially promise not to play it in public should I get it next few days…

but the way it works is fine.. and as a sidenote – Tron is not missing your point, you just don’t wanna hear any arguments against your idea…

Toast.6459:

…Your idea doesn’t sound bad, but I do agree, something like that would need to be account bound, or it could quite likely sink the economy into a really bad position.

and making it account-bound will sink the economy (for this item non account based item) just as bad

@Thorgal

If your argument has “stop crying” anywhere in it, yes, I’m going to ignore it. If you can’t make your point in a civilized manner, why should I bother reading it.

Rarity enforced by scarcity. Its kind of a basic axiom around which the concept of “rare item” revolves.

It doesn’t matter how its acquired. People with legendaries could have farmed, got lucky, or a combination of both, but the point is that the system specifically designs these (completely cosmetic) uber-rares to be challenging to acquire, but unneccessary to actually complete content.

It’s the same deal with dyes, or heck, anything difficult to acquire in the game

This includes the unbreakable bell.

Yes. It plays music. No. it’s not a “New gameplay feature” The world already contains two organs you can visit any time you like and play, for as long as you like, for free. As an added bonus you can actually use these organs to acquire chests with loot in them.

What I hear more often than not during these events is “THERE’S A SPECIAL THING I CAN ONLY GET FOR A LIMITED TIME AND I MIGHT NOT GET IT!” with the very occasional “That thing we actually played was kinda cool”

Look at it this way. You know what it takes to acquire a legendary. You know that you don’t NEED it for anything. People seem quite happy with either doing what it takes to acquire one, or just opting out of the system if the requirements don’t include something they want to/are able to do.

HOLIDAY items on the other hand… wow. Explain to me the difference. Explain to me why it is simply UNACCEPTABLE to some of you that you may have to put effort toward acquiring the gold to buy one of these off of the TP, or may find yourselves using ugly clothing for the only really worthwhile use it has: Gambling on presents.

I mean what’s the difference? I wanted the bell. I cashed in for 250 small presents at a time until I got it. This took me about 2400 small presents plus various other presents from doing other wintersday stuff. When I had extra money I bought small presents because they were cheap and I wanted the bell.

I was also fully prepared to not get it. Had wintersday come and gone and I had no bell, I wasn’t prepared to pay through the nose on the Tp for it. I would have simply not acquired it. The hunt for the bell gave me something specific to do for wintersday in addition to my other activites/normal play. I thought it was fun. Even my girlfriend got in the act, asking if she could run the mouse to open some stacks of presents because she was “feeling lucky”

What is it that makes you people take such an innocuous, fun little thing like a novelty item and turn it in to a reason to scream bloody murder, slander the development team, and start setting up camps of “THOSE EVIL 1%ers”

At what point did playing video games stop being fun for you, and more importantly, why did you keep playing them afterward?

PopeUrban.2578:

… I mean what’s the difference? I wanted the bell. I cashed in for 250 small presents at a time until I got it. This took me about 2400 small presents plus various other presents from doing other wintersday stuff. When I had extra money I bought small presents because they were cheap and I wanted the bell.
…

you do realise I hate you now instead of ANet for only needing to click through ~2400 presents right?

Thorgal.1287:

PopeUrban.2578:

… I mean what’s the difference? I wanted the bell. I cashed in for 250 small presents at a time until I got it. This took me about 2400 small presents plus various other presents from doing other wintersday stuff. When I had extra money I bought small presents because they were cheap and I wanted the bell.
…

you do realise I hate you now instead of ANet for only needing to click through ~2400 presents right?

I’ll admit to letting out a minor “F yeah” when it dropped. I honestly only half expected to get it and had a snowflake racket contingency plan all cooked up in my head.

- Tells me my point is stupid when he got a bell in less than a quarter of what seems to be the average amount. Ever heard the saying “Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes”? Try it sometime.
- Where am I screaming bloody murder, slandering the development team, and yelling at people? In case you didn’t read my post entirely, which wouldn’t surprise me in the least, I complimented the addition of the bell, just not the method of obtaining it.
- This game stopped being fun for me when everything “unique” became based on RNG.
Quoting from my earlier post:
“What I do see something wrong with is that the solution to everything seems to be RNG. Want a legendary? RNG. Want a bell/one of the mini’s for the quaggan/a quaggan? RNG. Want an endless tonic? RNG. Need a ring from the Fractals daily chest to keep going? RNG.”

PopeUrban.2578:

Thorgal.1287:

PopeUrban.2578:

… I mean what’s the difference? I wanted the bell. I cashed in for 250 small presents at a time until I got it. This took me about 2400 small presents plus various other presents from doing other wintersday stuff. When I had extra money I bought small presents because they were cheap and I wanted the bell.
…

you do realise I hate you now instead of ANet for only needing to click through ~2400 presents right?

I’ll admit to letting out a minor “F yeah” when it dropped. I honestly only half expected to get it and had a snowflake racket contingency plan all cooked up in my head.

(( ignores Toast for a bit ))

Ah well.. I spend enough on gems > gold > TP gifts for now… if I’ll get it before the end of the event it will be from a random gift I guess… (if I can resist that long that is..)

yes… the game is incredible fun halloween was awesome – wintersday is even better on some parts… thanx ANet! looking forward to whatever you have planned for us next month

Toast.6459:

- Tells me my point is stupid when he got a bell in less than a quarter of what seems to be the average amount. Ever heard the saying “Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes”? Try it sometime.
- Where am I screaming bloody murder, slandering the development team, and yelling at people? In case you didn’t read my post entirely, which wouldn’t surprise me in the least, I complimented the addition of the bell, just not the method of obtaining it.
- This game stopped being fun for me when everything “unique” became based on RNG.
Quoting from my earlier post:
“What I do see something wrong with is that the solution to everything seems to be RNG. Want a legendary? RNG. Want a bell/one of the mini’s for the quaggan/a quaggan? RNG. Want an endless tonic? RNG. Need a ring from the Fractals daily chest to keep going? RNG.”

First, at what point did I specifically call out you, or direct anything at you. This is a discussion with multiple participants at this point. I remarked on reactionary sensationalism surrounding holiday items. For the record your original post was quite reasonable. The quoted post is not.

I don’t think your opinion is “stupid” I just happen to disagree with it. For the record I blew around 70 gold in gems in my hunt for karka minis, got nothing useful, and was fine with it. I knew the risk, I took a chance, i missed out, and there is still plenty of neat stuff in the game. I’ve walked in the same shoes as everyone else playing this game. Did I literally get “lucky” on such things for the first time? Yes. Am I assuming it’ll happen again soon? Probably not.

Do I have fun blowing my hard earned gold on stupid random chances? Yeah, I do. It gives me an incentive to go acquire more gold. I blow my time killing mobs for random loot drops. That’s also fun. In short, I understand and accept the risk that I’m taking before I take it, and that prevents me from being sore about it if it doesn’t work out. I’ve played games I felt were, for my personal tastes, too grindy or not rewarding enough on the RNG/loot scale. I’m personally okay with the ingame obtainable festival items thusfar.

You are neither explicitly wrong or stupid, and I never stated either.

You’re taking things a little personal here for no good reason, and I apologize if I gave the impression I was belittling or insulting you in any way.

Edit: In retrospect I may have used this specific thread as an outlet to comment about an overarcing forum trend, which may have caused this impression. Sorry about that.

Well, he seems to be the forum punching bag as far as the topic of the Unbreakable Choir Bell is concerned so it is a bit natural that he would be defensive.

Someone mentioned in another thread that they would refuse to return to the forums and the only reason they posted is because ArenaNet refused to listen to their suggestion via a ticket and directed them to the forum. Apparently their hatred of the forums came from constantly having personal attacks and flame bait directed at them after a dev told them to post their suggestion on the forums.

Unfortunate. Discussions should be promoted and not discouraged.

@Pope, In that case, no hard feelings. I apologize if I came across as insulting to you as well.

@Lace, While I do hate to admit it, yeah, punching bag sounds about right at this point. Can’t really grasp why this thread is generating so much hate, but it definitely is.

I took a gamble and bought 450 presents inc the 150 i had.
596 mouse clicks later i got the unbreakable bell.

Now i’m not to sure to sell it now,or wait untill the event is over as it might go higher in price.
I would have kept it,but i’m skint and need to cash to armour up my chars.

XxTAFxX.6741:

I took a gamble and bought 450 presents inc the 150 i had.
596 mouse clicks later i got the unbreakable bell.

Now i’m not to sure to sell it now,or wait untill the event is over as it might go higher in price.
I would have kept it,but i’m skint and need to cash to armour up my chars.

oh my god… … I think I’m at around 10500 presents now and no unbreakable yet I shouldnt… I wont try anymore… but I will.. probably.. please Grenth let it be 5th of januari soon…

The Bell Choir minigame is a lovely addition to the game, so I purchased the Unbreakable Bell from the Trading Post just yesterday. I love it but I don’t believe it necessarily deserves the extraordinary hype, frustration, and tears it has been receiving from players since Wintersday started. For one thing, you cannot play two notes at the same time (unlike in the minigame), and for another thing, while the item itself is permanent, there is only a 1-minute duration in which you can play, after which you have to again double-click the bell to use it. I think that, at least if you are serious about trying to play tunes with it, those features can be something of a drawback.

I guess what I am trying to say is “Don’t stress out if you aren’t able to obtain the bell by the end of Wintersday.” While it is definitely a joy to tinker around with every once in a while, it isn’t worth tearing your hair out or obsessing over. If you don’t foresee yourself amassing enough gold to buy the bell any time soon, my advice would be to simply purchase 1 or 2 stacks of 250 normal bells; those would serve you just as well as the Unbreakable Bell and are a far cheaper alternative.

The bells also have that 1 second delay between pressing the button and hearing the noise, which makes it really hard to improvise anything

I have my own opinions on this matter of grind and RNG, and they are generally in direct contrast to yours, Toast. That’s really all I need to say about that, I’m not here to really go into any back and forth about the state of the game.

I’m here to help on this particular issue.

You can buy-order a bell for 11c on the TP right now.
A stack of 250 would thus cost 27.5 silver.
For 1.1g, you could have a thousand bells.
For 2.2g, you could have two thousand.
For about 10g, you could have nine thousand bells.

(You’ll have to pardon a bit of faulty extrapolation, 9000 buy orders would undoubtedly raise the price.)

The argument about this bell in terms of players wanting to use it has always mystified me. How many times are you going to use the bell? If the answer is “over 9000”, I would respectfully suggest you pursue a different game, possibly Guitar Hero.

I still have a stack of Omnomberry Bars that I bought last month as a stack of 250, that I use regularly.
My stack of 250 Skale Venom still has a bunch left, despite using it regularly.

It seems difficult enough to deplete a stack of 250 of a consumable even with regular use. Understandably, each food item is 0.5h of a buff, meaning it represents a minimum of 125 hours of game time. It’s possible the rate of the bell use would be quicker. But by how much? Is playing the bell all you would do?

I really think the Unbreakable bell situation has been blown out of proportion by many. It is a prestige item, and by extension, I agree that it should be egregiously expensive. Having it is like having a title, having a nice gold star next to your name, having a smiley sticker on your kindergarten essay.

There is no rationale for trying to argue practical use for it. In terms of practical use, a stack of 250 bells is probably more than enough for the entire playing career of most accounts. In this case, I believe this game to have balanced this issue perfectly.

Wants to use the bell → Consumable bell. Very cheap. Can buy ~1000 with a gold.
Wants something to show off → Unbreakable Bell. Very expensive, no practical efficiency versus. using consumable bell.

This is, and forever will be, how I want these things to be balanced.

Thorgal.1287:

oh my god… … I think I’m at around 10500 presents now and no unbreakable yet I shouldnt… I wont try anymore… but I will.. probably.. please Grenth let it be 5th of januari soon…

What size presents are you opening? I’ve gotten them fairly quickly with giant/medium, but I’ve now gone through many thousands of another size with no success. I keep thinking… “what if they screwed-up the drop-rate from this one!”. Paranoia aside, however, there’s no reason to stop trying — it’d feel like a waste otherwise!

Now i just need to see if i can bind my midi controller (Axiom64) to GW2… then i can play my bell with fully weighted keys…

Pretty much given up on this now, don’t really care any more. Did play with the organ a little bit, might have to see if I can figure out some stuff on there. Thanks whoever posted about it (too lazy to find out), never knew that was even in the game.

Presents decided to troll me tonight, random stack of mediums off the TP > exotic “drop” > toymaker’s tonic. /facedesk
Oh well, I’ll just hold onto that until the price goes up once the event ends.