Guild Wars 2

I hear this theory tossed around. “Anet wants to items rare and expensive so players will buy gems for gold.”

This is looking at purely from a buyer’s perspective. Whenever a buyer buys anything off the TP, he’s purchasing it off the hands of another player in-game. That wealth isn’t being sunk (most of it, anyways,) it’s just being transferred to another player. And yes, these players who actually want to sell these mats instead of consuming for other purposes do exist, as evident by the sheer fact that you have these materials for sale.

So from these player’s perspective, higher prices on the TP means more gold. Therefore, I doubt that Anet nerfing loot rates really have a significant impact on the Gem/Gold exchange as a whole. What really impacts the Gem/Gold exchange, IMO, are the true gold faucets/sinks, i.e. CoF 1 (And I even doubt its impact on the overall economy, infamous as it is, but that is a different discussion.)

I think more people buy gems with gold than vice versa, therefor the conversion rate is mostly decided by people who buy gem stuff with gold instead of money.

From my own perspective, I don’t want to convert gems to gold because it personally feels like cheating, although I don’t have a problem with others doing so. At the very least I want to earn my legendary by playing the game itself.

The conversion is mostly decided by interesting stuff in the gem store, while interesting stuff on the TP just entices more farming.

I’d rather take the viewpoint that Arenanet wants gold acquisition methods to be so rare and prohibitive that people are encouraged to buy and sell gems.

I don’t see the point. Let’s say I would spend $20 and convert all of it into gold. That would be what, a measly 37 gold? What is that, 10 charged lodestones?

I only hope they find a better way of balancing, I don’t want to feel like I’m wasting my time unless I’m standing at the perfect farm-spot. That’s all I’m gonna say at the moment.

Vol.5241:

I’d rather take the viewpoint that Arenanet wants gold acquisition methods to be so rare and prohibitive that people are encouraged to buy and sell gems.

You can, but you have to ask why they have a process in which the completion of it discourages the process it self. Buying Gems and selling it to gold decreases the Gem → Gold ratio, which discourages buying Gems to sell for gold.

The whole point of the exchange is the ability to adapt to the relative wealth of the population. If there truly was a significant pressure to buy Gems → gold, you’d see that in the exchange. You don’t though.

http://www.gw2spidy.com/gem

Whenever you see a decrease it’s always due to an spike beforehand for sales. The recent skelk nerf did absolutely nothing to the exchange. Again, if there was a significant pressure to buy Gem → gold, you’ll see this ratio decrease. But you don’t see it, which means that increasing prices through the TP doesn’t have a significant impact on gem sales

So I simply find it hard to believe there’s any correlation (or causation) between gem purchases and farming nerfs.

The reaction will not be short-term. It’s long-term. Of course you aren’t going to see immediate changes after each nerf – people have accumulated wealth ever since they farmed each spot. As soon as that wealth runs out for whatever reason, people will be encouraged to buy gems.

For example, say I have every component available for a legendary except for 250 ectos and 250 dust. I’m discouraged to complete my legendary because it’s so expensive.

Then, somehow the dust price has dropped 80% so that I can afford to buy that stack! But I still don’t have enough money to buy that ecto stack – but i’m ever so close.

If farming were available, I’d probably just keep farming and buy my ectos slowly.

But because gold acquisition is now incredibly difficult, I may have to resort to buying gems since it’s instant.

And I can get my legendary in an instant.

Vol.5241:

The reaction will not be short-term. It’s long-term. Of course you aren’t going to see immediate changes after each nerf – people have accumulated wealth ever since they farmed each spot. As soon as that wealth runs out for whatever reason, people will be encouraged to buy gems.

For example, say I have every component available for a legendary except for 250 ectos and 250 dust. I’m discouraged to complete my legendary because it’s so expensive.

Then, somehow the dust price has dropped 80% so that I can afford to buy that stack! But I still don’t have enough money to buy that ecto stack – but i’m ever so close.

If farming were available, I’d probably just keep farming and buy my ectos slowly.

But because gold acquisition is now incredibly difficult, I may have to resort to buying gems since it’s instant.

And I can get my legendary in an instant.

Again, you’re looking at it from a buyer’s perspective. Those ectos and dust aren’t appearing out of thin air, you’re simply distributing them to other players (sans the tax.) These other players now have more money, which they can potentially convert into Gems, which is a potential profit loss from Anet.

Which is why I say that overall, the impact on the Gem exchange is minimal at best.

Vol.5241:

The reaction will not be short-term. It’s long-term. Of course you aren’t going to see immediate changes after each nerf – people have accumulated wealth ever since they farmed each spot. As soon as that wealth runs out for whatever reason, people will be encouraged to buy gems.

For example, say I have every component available for a legendary except for 250 ectos and 250 dust. I’m discouraged to complete my legendary because it’s so expensive.

Then, somehow the dust price has dropped 80% so that I can afford to buy that stack! But I still don’t have enough money to buy that ecto stack – but i’m ever so close.

If farming were available, I’d probably just keep farming and buy my ectos slowly.

But because gold acquisition is now incredibly difficult, I may have to resort to buying gems since it’s instant.

And I can get my legendary in an instant.

This is a misconception of the game economy.

Someone still had to farm those items. They are not supplied by some mysterious hand at such a price, you are acquiring them from players.

Expensive items don’t “destroy” the gold you spend purchasing them – it only appears so because from a buyer’s perspective, it does. The seller acquires the sum of gold (minus the tax), meaning that someone else gained cash.

This gem<>gold system was designed to equilibrate to what people think fair value is for any given time period. It has much less to do with gold supply / t6 material supply than people think.

Ursan.7846:

I hear this theory tossed around. “Anet wants to items rare and expensive so players will buy gems for gold.”

This is looking at purely from a buyer’s perspective.

Oh please, you’re giving this argument far, far too much credence. That statement is looking at the gem exchange purely from a kitten perspective.

A.Net wants items to be rare because if they weren’t rare, you wouldn’t want them. They want them to be expensive because that means they are desirable. This is done so that the game has a reward structure.

This theory is little more than a passive-aggressive temper tantrum, demonizing mommy A.Net for not providing instant gratification.

There is no underlying model. They haven’t thought this through. They’re just herping and kitten all over the place. Treat it accordingly.

Vol.5241:

I’d rather take the viewpoint that Arenanet wants gold acquisition methods to be so rare and prohibitive that people are encouraged to buy and sell gems.

And yet all gem to gold transactions are counter-balanced by identical gold to gem transactions. Someone farmed the gold. It’s an exchange, not a creation of gold. If farming is prohibitive, buying gems at the current rates would be prohibitive too. Please explain your chain of logic.

My logic is that a whole lot of gold sinks try to make gold relatively stable in value, to make sure that people who buy gold with gems don’t feel screwed over 2 weeks later when they tripled in price. A relatively stable exchange rate is definitively in A.net’s favour. In the last month, the gem price hasn’t risen at all.