Guild Wars 2

I know this has probably been mentioned before, but please ensure the loot table includes a significantly higher drop rate for Rare & Exotic gear. Essentially, people expect Story Mode bosses & chests to yield more Rare items, with Explorable Mode dropping more Exotics. One of the major deterrents of players running anything outside of Fractals of the Mists, is the absence of fair & appropriate gear for the dungeons encountered; especially in Explorable Mode.

This is also the reason a decreasingly amount of players participate in Dragon, Temple, & other “Big Chest” Events. Some of us—like me, love GW2’s lore & will simply complete everything possible just to unfold the story, & the satisfaction of completing challenges. However for most players, lore & challenge are not worth enough to devote their time to the wonderful work Anet’s done with GW2. They need more “tangible” rewards. Moreover as prices continue to rise in the Trading Post, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for honest players to afford key items—not just gear, but also crafting materials. Add this with the stagnantly low Gem to Gold ratio at the Item Mall, & we’ve all got a exponentially growing problem that will only worsen. Significantly boosting the drop rate of Rare & Exotic items would help greatly in balancing the game’s economy.

I understand Anet’s trying to fight TPRMTs (Third Party Real Money Traders), but the efforts put forth so far are largely ineffective against them; hurting us players more than anyone TPRMT company. The only true way to fend off TPRMTs is a combination of 2 factors:
1 – Banning all suspected TPRMT accounts, &…
2 – Capping all prices of items sold on the Trading Posts according to rarity. For example, Junk = N/A, Basic = 20 Silver, Fine = 50 Silver, Masterwork = 1 Gold, Rare = 5 Gold, Exotic = 20 Gold, Ascended = N/A ( 500 Gold if any Bind on Use are released in the future), & Legendary = 1000 Gold.

The application of these 2 measures would eradicate most of the TPRMTs. Not only will TPRMTs have to waste more resources on creating new accounts, but along with capping prices on the Trading Post, this strategy creates an environment where TPRMTs are coerced to spend increasingly more to earn less until—at least in the case of GW2, the game becomes a negative income stream; driving them away. Remember, the TPRMT business is a multimillion US dollar industry. Arguably it’s because of the TPRMTs that Free To Pay & Item Mall MMOs ever came into existence. Micro-transactions in MMOs are King nowadays all thanks to TPRMTs.

The tactics most MMO companies use to combat the TPRMT problem do very little—if anything to impede their profits, & they know it. Capping the prices alone won’t work because TPRMTs will just increase their number of accounts beyond the MMO’s staff ability to keep up. TPRMT companies will always have more inexpensive employees than any single MMO. Banning TPRMT accounts alone will only encourage them to increase prices of items they sale on the Trading Post, which in turn, drives all prices up. Anyone who’s played any other MMOs affected by TPRMTs that used banning & lowering drop rates, would verify that using this tactic only raises prices for honest players.

Wow…it seems I went off into 2 issues, yet they’re completely inseparable. If Anet follows this advice, then TPRMTs won’t have to be a “necessary evil”. GW2 would be much more fun, appealing, & fair, without Anet seeming to renege on its anti-grinding stance to gaming any further.

Thank you for your time & Take Care.