Guild Wars 2

EDIT -

Hey if you only read this first part and about to say I am wrong or something. Please read carefully and better yet. Read my replies to what others may have said, that you might be about to say. Thank you for your time.

Enjoy the read.
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Ok could be a glitch. Hope it is.

So, do you only get 1 Birthday/Anniversary Back Pack skin per account or per character that turns 4 years old? I logged onto 3 of my characters that turned 4 and only one got the back pack box. The first one I logged onto. Now thinking I would get one per char. I just grabbed a random skin, thinking I was going to get all 5 anyway. Seems wrong and the skin I picked was not my favorite. I just picked it cause it was a norn char and a norn pack.

Now it’s nothing new for a rather lack luster birthday with GW2. Don’t get me wrong. I love GW2 but it feels like they don’t care about the number of characters you play, but still give you the same thing for each character anyway.

14 Mini Queen’s
14 Experience Scrolls to lv 20, 5 to lv 30 and during the next year at least 8 to lv 40.
34 Birthday Boosters.
8 Celebration dyes and this year around 8 more birthday dyes.
Birthday Gun for each character (well that was kinda fun but old really fast)

Why haven’t I tossed this stuff. Well I am a pack rat. Still, look at all this junk. Yes, JUNK! As it is of no use to me. I can’t sell any of it. I can’t give any of it away. It is of no real use to me.

I would assume that most players who have been around for 4 years (most not all) are not looking for anything to help them lv up. Thanks to several events and other methods. Getting lv books is not that hard. Heck, when Rev came out. I had more then enough books to lv 80 with out using a lv 30 scroll. Not to mention that lv 80 scroll I got and use on a character I don’t even play that much.

I can forgive the game feeling like it sides more with the PVP/WVW players. I can forgive the outfit line that really ticks me off cause there are cool piece to the look I want. I just don’t want the entire outfit. I don’t want to be a carbon copy of everyone else. But I can forgive that. I really can’t forgive the year after year of loveless birthday gifts.

Especially when I lived through GW1 and the gifts were random mini’s you could sell or trade. At least come up with some kind of trade in with the mystic toilet or something. Let me trade in all those Queens for something. Let me trade in all those scrolls for something. Let me GET SOMETHING for being with GW2 for 4 YEARS.

Again, still love the game. Just things like this make me feel the love a lot less.

Also, if the OUTFITS were ARMOR. I would spend a lot more money on this game. Just saying ANET. A LOT MORE MONEY!

You can peruse the existing threads on this issue.

The packpack is the reward for the Achievement (4 years or more in-game), and not part of the Birthday Gift(s); thus, is for the account, and only rewarded once.

Well some players wanted birthday gifts tied to the account and they got them.

What would you suggest as a suitable gift?

You seem to be thinking of it more as a reward. Remember, there’s a difference between a reward and a gift. A reward implies you did something to earn it, a gift doesn’t. Think of your own birthday or X’mas gifts… yes, some are lucky enough to have parents/relatives who are rich/generous enough to give truly life-changing gifts (e.g. a car, a laptop, paying off your college loan, etc) but most of us get less significant gifts (e.g. toys, games, socks). In RL, no one is obligated to give you an expensive, life-changing gift; so if you have that mentality, you won’t be disappointed in RL or in-game.

In a way, Anet has given us a very expensive gift, the dye pack; but it’s inconsequential from a gameplay perspective. And I think it is a good move on their part not to give us veterans a gameplay advantage via birthday rewards, as it is unfair to new players as there is no way for them to earn that advantage other than waiting 4 years (by which time we would have been given even more advantages).

BTW, if you picked a backpack that you don’t like without realizing it’s an account-wide thing, you can always submit a ticket to Customer Support… they’re pretty good with things like that.

I think the OP is missing the Jubilee dye pack — learning from the 3rd year, I didn’t invest as much gold in dyes this year and I’ve already avoided 200-300g to unlock some new colors for me. The level up scrolls and T2F are just bonuses.

And I can’t fault ANet allowing us a choice of just one backpack skin — the alternative would have been to giving us a skin and not letting us choose.

tl;dr I think 3rd and 4th year presents have been great. Sure, I’d like to have more, but don’t we always?

Hopefully year 5 will give another choice.

If not..well what can I say. I feel sorry for Support who prob got inundated for the sake of actually communicating how this works in the game/patch notes.

The only criticism I might have is with the backpacks not being clear that you will get only 1. But I’m sure Anet is getting lots of communication about that.

Djinn.9245:

The only criticism I might have is with the backpacks not being clear that you will get only 1. But I’m sure Anet is getting lots of communication about that.

Yeah I have to agree, in the excitement of the birthday gifts, I didn’t notice that the back pack was an achievement, and would have probably chose my pack differently. I think the mail carrier would have been best on it’s own. Like the finisher last year.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

You can peruse the existing threads on this issue.

The packpack is the reward for the Achievement (4 years or more in-game), and not part of the Birthday Gift(s); thus, is for the account, and only rewarded once.

Wrong. It was specifically titled a 4th Birthday gift.

Daddicus.6128:

Wrong. It was specifically titled a 4th Birthday gift.

You got the birthday gift (which contains the dye pack, 40 level scroll, 5 teleport to friend, birthday card, and boosters) at the same time you got the Anniversary Backpack and Mail Carrier Pack. They were delivered as two separate items; the birthday gift is for your character turning 4, and the Anniversary Backpack and Mail Carrier Pack (and Stalwart title) was for the Birthday – Year 4 achievement for your account.

A backpack skin and a dye pack per character, as well as a booster. Hmm. As I recall, I got mini-pets in GW. While there were some good ones, RNG does not like me, so I got an awful lot of the same ones. While I appreciate the OP’s issue, the present itself is fine.

Perhaps some of the complaints could have been averted with a warning, “ONE choice per account, NOT per character.” Then, of course, we would have seen complaints about the warning. <shrugs>

I like the free dyes.

I would hope that the best thing to have received for playing GW2 for 4 years would be 4 years of playing GW2. If the game itself is not reason enough to play it then no in game rewards will compensate you for your time.

As for this little nugget: “the game feeling like it sides more with the PVP/WVW players.” YOu have to be kidding. The vast majority of all development resources are devoted to PVE. If your idea of Anet siding with PvP/WvW over PVE is that only 95%, rather than 100% of all resources are dedicated to PVE you might want to reconsider.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

You can peruse the existing threads on this issue.

The packpack is the reward for the Achievement (4 years or more in-game), and not part of the Birthday Gift(s); thus, is for the account, and only rewarded once.

Thank you! Yes I looked up an image as I opened it to fast to remember if it said Birthday or Anniversary (hence why I say Birthday/Anniversary). I looked up Birthday for threads and did not see any as well. So that’s why I created this one. Still valid rant on the Birthday Aspect.

onevstheworld.2419:

What would you suggest as a suitable gift?

(cut is short to save on post size)

Ok as for your comment. I have made suggestions before on what would be suitable or good. No I do not think of this in anyway as a reward and yes as a gift. Though if everyone gave you socks and no pants or shirts. Then you be taping a lot of socks to your body.

Ok these are not like gifts you get in real life. This is a sign of Arena’s appreciation for players sticking around for so long. Now broken down each year. There is nothing wrong with each gift given. If you only get 1. If like the backpacks this was a per account to celebrate your accounts birthday. Then ya, they are worth getting. Instead they are per birth of each character you make. Thus a char you make 3 years into your account will not get 4th B-day gift like the rest of your your 4 year olds.

Now again, I feel these gifts are lack luster given the way they are. Getting 18 Queen Jennah seems like fish to the face. Gee thanks but I already have this and can’t use another. Can I sell it… no. Ok can I trade it in with these other mini’s… no. So what do I do with it. Throw it away or let it sit in my bank. Wow… thanks.

The same thing goes for the many birthday boosters and experiance scrolls I have. Almost every characture I have is lv 80 except for like 3 that are over 40.

The Birthday Gun was a novel idea. It is ok, though I don’t have any of them. It is something I used maybe 3 times then tossed to save space. Never to be recreated.

The dyes are cool if you actually need a dye they offer. There were some dye packs that were not included. Though out of all the dye packs I got. I only needed 2 dyes they offered. The rest by my 3rd year I had gotten cause I did not know they were coming or waiting for some special event that would give me the dye.

Again if this was a one per account thing. Then no big. Thanks for the gift. Since it is there way of celebrating each charactures birth. Then it’s now a “Ya thanks. Into the trash it goes.” I don’t toss them cause I am a pack rat. In hopes that they listen to me an the others like me and offer a way to trade them in. They do let you toss mini’s in the Toilet. They at one time had a way to exchange unwanted boosters for other items. Something can be done or they can offer something that might be more useful. I don’t know. That’s why I post these rants about disappointing things. In hopes it causes change.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

And I can’t fault ANet allowing us a choice of just one backpack skin — the alternative would have been to giving us a skin and not letting us choose.

tl;dr I think 3rd and 4th year presents have been great. Sure, I’d like to have more, but don’t we always?

I am not asking for more. I am just asking for more diversity when it comes to players with multiple characters. I would dare say that well over 70% of the players I know or run into on a daily basis. Have more then 5 characters. A good chunk have 10. For a player with a couple characters. These are great gifts. For players with more, this becomes trash.

In GW1 this was never the issue as each character got a random mini that was trade-able just in case you got 2. It felt like more love was given for that 1 simple gift then from these gifts that give you multiple items.

Ashen.2907:

I like the free dyes.

Hmm yes the best thing about playing a game for 4 years is the game. Never said I did not enjoy the game. I love GW. I love it so much I got the collectors edition before even playing a beta, I believed in it that much. I LOVE THIS GAME. I am not crying them saying “YOU OWE ME”. I am saying that 4 years and pretty much every gift is unusable to me. Unlike GW1. I used about 10% of the Birthday gifts I got. Can’t use the rest.

Free dye or not. If I have no use for them or can even give them to people I like (same for all the other stuff). Then ya, its rather just a pile of junk. Sure I will probably end up using all the dyes to get random dyes I will never use. I don’t plan on collecting every dye color.

As for the PVE/PVP thing. Won’t go into it. Maybe I will express my feelings in another post.

IN THE END – (if anyone read this far)

A gift is a wonderful thing to get. Though the same thing over and over can be just slap in the face feeling of unappreciative. Remember there roots would have been nicer. Yes they seem to be getting better little by little. It still seem like to little of an effort.

I love this game and do not play it to get a gift, but cause its fun. If I did not enjoy it. I would have not play it. Even if I stake month long brakes cause I get bored and need change. I always come back for new content.

Is there things I dislike about the game. Ya, never been a game out there that does not have something someone won’t like. That’s why I express my feelings on those things in a place I hope to raise awareness to who ever will read it.

tron.1438:

Ok could be a glitch. Hope it is.

So, do you only get 1 Birthday/Anniversary Back Pack skin per account or per character that turns 4 years old? I logged onto 3 of my characters that turned 4 and only one got the back pack box. The first one I logged onto. Now thinking I would get one per char. I just grabbed a random skin, thinking I was going to get all 5 anyway. Seems wrong and the skin I picked was not my favorite. I just picked it cause it was a norn char and a norn pack.

Now it’s nothing new for a rather lack luster birthday with GW2. Don’t get me wrong. I love GW2 but it feels like they don’t care about the number of characters you play, but still give you the same thing for each character anyway.

14 Mini Queen’s
14 Experience Scrolls to lv 20, 5 to lv 30 and during the next year at least 8 to lv 40.
34 Birthday Boosters.
8 Celebration dyes and this year around 8 more birthday dyes.
Birthday Gun for each character (well that was kinda fun but old really fast)

Why haven’t I tossed this stuff. Well I am a pack rat. Still, look at all this junk. Yes, JUNK! As it is of no use to me. I can’t sell any of it. I can’t give any of it away. It is of no real use to me.

I would assume that most players who have been around for 4 years (most not all) are not looking for anything to help them lv up. Thanks to several events and other methods. Getting lv books is not that hard. Heck, when Rev came out. I had more then enough books to lv 80 with out using a lv 30 scroll. Not to mention that lv 80 scroll I got and use on a character I don’t even play that much.

I can forgive the game feeling like it sides more with the PVP/WVW players. I can forgive the outfit line that really ticks me off cause there are cool piece to the look I want. I just don’t want the entire outfit. I don’t want to be a carbon copy of everyone else. But I can forgive that. I really can’t forgive the year after year of loveless birthday gifts.

Especially when I lived through GW1 and the gifts were random mini’s you could sell or trade. At least come up with some kind of trade in with the mystic toilet or something. Let me trade in all those Queens for something. Let me trade in all those scrolls for something. Let me GET SOMETHING for being with GW2 for 4 YEARS.

Again, still love the game. Just things like this make me feel the love a lot less.

Also, if the OUTFITS were ARMOR. I would spend a lot more money on this game. Just saying ANET. A LOT MORE MONEY!

How does this game side more with PvP/WvW players?

That community PvP wise has been asking for buffs for a long time to alot of skills that need fixed and cry for build diversity with in each class.

Heck Anet i know it goes both ways but shout ele in PvP is dead because many people believe eles were healing to much in raids.

Also if you truly believe they care about WvW a ton then it wouldnt have died. Im in Crystal Desert and we are now a 4 server team group and we still cant cap out a map. Where as right before HOT we could cap out EB with just CD players on reset night.

The rest of your post i can agree with but saying PvP and WvW get more attention then PvE is like saying pouring salt and lemon juice in your eye helps cure cancer.

So what you’re saying is a white mini on a bunch of Guild Wars 1 characters, because that’s what you got most often, is somehow better than we’re getting here?

Okay. I think a single white mini per character is much worse than we get here. Sure you could get a green or a gold mini, but what are the odds.

Someone could theoretically have started Guild Wars 1 two years after it launched and they’d be two years behind on birthday presents where the mini they get, if it was white, would have been worth next to nothing. And I’m sure those people complained.

At the end there were probably more people like that, than people that have every dye.

Birthday boosters, a 24 hour buff is actually pretty nice. Teleports to a friend? I use them all the time. A nice back piece once per account, pick the best you want, so everyone doesn’t have the same thing, nothing wrong with it.

And the dyes, which for most people would be worth more than the white mini they were most likely to get in Guild Wars 1.

I’m sorry but this is definitely a case of rose colored glasses. I one year in Guild Wars 1, I opened presents on 12 characters and got 11 whites and a purple. I promise you I wasn’t thrilled with what I’d gotten.

I’ll go on record to say the dyes are probably as good or better, and everything else is gravy.

I think the 4th Birthday and Anniversary Gifts were very nice. They added all the dyes that were left out of the 3rd Birthday Gift, we got a Mail Carrier and a Backpack, Birthday Boosters are always helpful, Teleport to a Friend is useful (unless you have no friends, of course); the Scroll – meh – not so much.

I can’t tell you how many Necrid Horsemen and those two-headed lion things I got in GW1 for birthdays.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I think the 4th Birthday and Anniversary Gifts were very nice. They added all the dyes that were left out of the 3rd Birthday Gift, we got a Mail Carrier and a Backpack, Birthday Boosters are always helpful, Teleport to a Friend is useful (unless you have no friends, of course); the Scroll – meh – not so much.

I can’t tell you how many Necrid Horsemen and those two-headed lion things I got in GW1 for birthdays.

Scroll is useful for keyfarming if you like that sort of thing.

I suppose. Seems a bit of overkill to use a L40 Scroll on a key farmer. /shrug

I think the gifts are fine, even though it’s unlikely I’ll ever use the level-up scrolls (doubt I’ll start keyfarming anytime soon :P). I also have the problem of not wanting to use the dyes in case I ever want a specific one, but I ended up using my first 4th year dye box anyway because I found a nice Mad King dye. I already expected skins to be account-wide unlocks though as they require some more work to add. It’s understandable they don’t want to put too much resources on the birthdays. They are just small gifts to say thanks after all. It would be cool to get some gems for the 5th birthday hint hint.. as that takes quite some dedication to stick with a game that long :P

Oh forgot to mention… I STILL have 2 seperate lvl 20 exp scroll stacks that don’t stack together… I’m not sure how to fix that :/

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I suppose. Seems a bit of overkill to use a L40 Scroll on a key farmer. /shrug

You use that scroll when you want to do a Super Key Farm and farm both the level 10 and level 30 keys at the same time. It’s twice the keys for twice the disappointment profit!

Ok so I am getting a lot of no one wants to read and assume I am just hating or something.

I said the gifts are great IF…. IF… they were 1 per account instead of 1 per character.

Vayne.8563:

So what you’re saying is a white mini on a bunch of Guild Wars 1 characters, because that’s what you got most often, is somehow better than we’re getting here?

Okay. I think a single white mini per character is much worse than we get here. Sure you could get a green or a gold mini, but what are the odds.

Someone could theoretically have started Guild Wars 1 two years after it launched and they’d be two years behind on birthday presents where the mini they get, if it was white, would have been worth next to nothing. And I’m sure those people complained.

At the end there were probably more people like that, than people that have every dye.

Birthday boosters, a 24 hour buff is actually pretty nice. Teleports to a friend? I use them all the time. A nice back piece once per account, pick the best you want, so everyone doesn’t have the same thing, nothing wrong with it.

And the dyes, which for most people would be worth more than the white mini they were most likely to get in Guild Wars 1.

I’m sorry but this is definitely a case of rose colored glasses. I one year in Guild Wars 1, I opened presents on 12 characters and got 11 whites and a purple. I promise you I wasn’t thrilled with what I’d gotten.

I’ll go on record to say the dyes are probably as good or better, and everything else is gravy.

So 11 whites and 1 purple that you can TRADE/SELL/or GIVE AWAY is worse then 14 of the exact same mini that you can do nothing with, 14 experience scrolls you can do nothing with, 36 Birthday boosters that have no to little use to me. At most I will probable use 2-4 of those Boosters. (by the way I have other boosters just like them given out from events)

So ya. If I am going to be given the same thing over and over. I would like to be able to use then throw it in the trash. That’s kinda rude to have someone give you something and you just toss it in the trash. How would you like it if you gave something to you a person you appreciate and they just tossed in the trash right there in front of ya saying, “No thank. Can’t use it.”

Yes, I liked the Queen mini. Even use her on one of my char. Would be great if I use all them. Yes I used a couple of the lv 20 scrolls from year 1. Year 4, everyone is pretty much past lv 40. Ya, B-Day boosts were nice year 1 and 2 for said charactures getting up in lvs but year 3 and 4 don’t really need them any more. Birthday guns were cute and fun but tossed them all after the first day and never used them again. Don’t have a use for them. Though it was a cool gift.

The DYE packs that I am getting a lot of anger on. 4 years with the game. I have 17 charactures. Now I would have used all these dye packs and begged for more IF the game was the same back in year 1 or even 2. Though they changed the way dyes work. I use to have to get the same dye for each of my chars most of the time. Which was a pain. Now that they all share dyes colors. I only need 1. Year 3, ya I used a couple of the dye I really liked. I don’t need every dye or already got the dye I needed. When new dyes came out. I almost never needed any of the colors and only got them for sale later.

Now with all these account bound dyes. What do I do with them? Open them and get random dyes I will never use just to fill a checklist? They are a great gift, just to much of the same thing I don’t need.

Year 4, birthday cards. I am using everyone of them. Great gift. Bag of shards was cool at the time cause I they had use then as well. Teleport to a Friend, well I can see how others may need that. I think I have only used 1. Every time I wanted to run a map with a friend. I just grab the way point nearest to them. Seems to work for me.

If I could I would GIVE this all away to people who need them. I hate wasting cool items. They are all great but I can’t use them.

AGAIN!!! For all those that may have missed it. They are all great gifts but I can’t use them.

That is the issue here. NOT that they are bad or anything like that. I have so much of them that are of no use to me. So ya, 11 white mini’s and 1 purple mini that I can trade/sell/or give away is a better gift then all this stuff I have to throw away or let sit in my bank.

Oh and for your info Vayne.8563. I started GW1 about a year and half after the game came out. Ya, I got mostly whites. Ya, they were not as expensive as the newer whites but I still traded them for things I could use. Materials, a little gold, or some inscriptions I did not have.

Final words: I am not asking or demanding in anyway for grandiose gifts or more stuff. I am not asking for less stuff. I am asking to be able use the stuff I get in some way. Even if it is simply to give it away to a friend or some cool person I partied with. Heck I would have been happy for a bag of rare mats. They are a great gifts, but so much of it I have no use for. That is all I am saying.

That’s the thing, tron. Most of us want the gifts per character. Because we want the multiple free dyes. Because most of us don’t have all of the rarer dyes yet.

The problem is, they put your solution in, there will be someone else coming on to say they don’t like it and they’d rather something else.

I hope next year the gifts are more to your liking

tron.1438:

Ok so I am getting a lot of no one wants to read and assume I am just hating or something.

I said the gifts are great IF…. IF… they were 1 per account instead of 1 per character.

Vayne.8563:

So what you’re saying is a white mini on a bunch of Guild Wars 1 characters, because that’s what you got most often, is somehow better than we’re getting here?

Okay. I think a single white mini per character is much worse than we get here. Sure you could get a green or a gold mini, but what are the odds.

Someone could theoretically have started Guild Wars 1 two years after it launched and they’d be two years behind on birthday presents where the mini they get, if it was white, would have been worth next to nothing. And I’m sure those people complained.

At the end there were probably more people like that, than people that have every dye.

Birthday boosters, a 24 hour buff is actually pretty nice. Teleports to a friend? I use them all the time. A nice back piece once per account, pick the best you want, so everyone doesn’t have the same thing, nothing wrong with it.

And the dyes, which for most people would be worth more than the white mini they were most likely to get in Guild Wars 1.

I’m sorry but this is definitely a case of rose colored glasses. I one year in Guild Wars 1, I opened presents on 12 characters and got 11 whites and a purple. I promise you I wasn’t thrilled with what I’d gotten.

I’ll go on record to say the dyes are probably as good or better, and everything else is gravy.

So 11 whites and 1 purple that you can TRADE/SELL/or GIVE AWAY is worse then 14 of the exact same mini that you can do nothing with, 14 experience scrolls you can do nothing with, 36 Birthday boosters that have no to little use to me. At most I will probable use 2-4 of those Boosters. (by the way I have other boosters just like them given out from events)

So ya. If I am going to be given the same thing over and over. I would like to be able to use then throw it in the trash. That’s kinda rude to have someone give you something and you just toss it in the trash. How would you like it if you gave something to you a person you appreciate and they just tossed in the trash right there in front of ya saying, “No thank. Can’t use it.”

Yes, I liked the Queen mini. Even use her on one of my char. Would be great if I use all them. Yes I used a couple of the lv 20 scrolls from year 1. Year 4, everyone is pretty much past lv 40. Ya, B-Day boosts were nice year 1 and 2 for said charactures getting up in lvs but year 3 and 4 don’t really need them any more. Birthday guns were cute and fun but tossed them all after the first day and never used them again. Don’t have a use for them. Though it was a cool gift.

The DYE packs that I am getting a lot of anger on. 4 years with the game. I have 17 charactures. Now I would have used all these dye packs and begged for more IF the game was the same back in year 1 or even 2. Though they changed the way dyes work. I use to have to get the same dye for each of my chars most of the time. Which was a pain. Now that they all share dyes colors. I only need 1. Year 3, ya I used a couple of the dye I really liked. I don’t need every dye or already got the dye I needed. When new dyes came out. I almost never needed any of the colors and only got them for sale later.

Now with all these account bound dyes. What do I do with them? Open them and get random dyes I will never use just to fill a checklist? They are a great gift, just to much of the same thing I don’t need.

Year 4, birthday cards. I am using everyone of them. Great gift. Bag of shards was cool at the time cause I they had use then as well. Teleport to a Friend, well I can see how others may need that. I think I have only used 1. Every time I wanted to run a map with a friend. I just grab the way point nearest to them. Seems to work for me.

If I could I would GIVE this all away to people who need them. I hate wasting cool items. They are all great but I can’t use them.

AGAIN!!! For all those that may have missed it. They are all great gifts but I can’t use them.

That is the issue here. NOT that they are bad or anything like that. I have so much of them that are of no use to me. So ya, 11 white mini’s and 1 purple mini that I can trade/sell/or give away is a better gift then all this stuff I have to throw away or let sit in my bank.

Oh and for your info Vayne.8563. I started GW1 about a year and half after the game came out. Ya, I got mostly whites. Ya, they were not as expensive as the newer whites but I still traded them for things I could use. Materials, a little gold, or some inscriptions I did not have.

Final words: I am not asking or demanding in anyway for grandiose gifts or more stuff. I am not asking for less stuff. I am asking to be able use the stuff I get in some way. Even if it is simply to give it away to a friend or some cool person I partied with. Heck I would have been happy for a bag of rare mats. They are a great gifts, but so much of it I have no use for. That is all I am saying.

Except that one mini was only the first year birthday gift, three years ago. Don’t you think using it as an example when we’ve had 3 years where that didn’t happen is a bit disingenuous. Obviously Anet has moved away from that one mini thing, and that was simply what they did the first year and it didn’t work.

Why is it being brought up now to prove some kind of point?

the dyes are still a waste for all of us who have every dye. even if we held off buying new dyes, if you have more then a few characters, then they become obsolete anyways. with a good majority of people having more then 5-10 toons, they have to know that this would cause issues again. They need to make these useable by allowing them to select future dyes, and still keep them account bound.

tron.1438:

Another Birthday BUST?

tron.1438:

Final words: I am not asking or demanding in anyway for grandiose gifts or more stuff. I am not asking for less stuff. I am asking to be able use the stuff I get in some way. Even if it is simply to give it away to a friend or some cool person I partied with. Heck I would have been happy for a bag of rare mats. They are a great gifts, but so much of it I have no use for. That is all I am saying.

Your title says the gifts are a bust, all of them.

That’s a lot different from saying you think they are “great gifts” that you wish would appeal to more players such as yourself, that have different interests.

I get that you meant to be starting a discussion about how different stuff would be better, you didn’t mean to ask for more (or even less) stuff. Unfortunately, your rhetoric suggests that you think ANet is completely out of touch with players and that the gifts are worthless.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

tron.1438:

Another Birthday BUST?

tron.1438:

Final words: I am not asking or demanding in anyway for grandiose gifts or more stuff. I am not asking for less stuff. I am asking to be able use the stuff I get in some way. Even if it is simply to give it away to a friend or some cool person I partied with. Heck I would have been happy for a bag of rare mats. They are a great gifts, but so much of it I have no use for. That is all I am saying.

Your title says the gifts are a bust, all of them.

That’s a lot different from saying you think they are “great gifts” that you wish would appeal to more players such as yourself, that have different interests.

I get that you meant to be starting a discussion about how different stuff would be better, you didn’t mean to ask for more (or even less) stuff. Unfortunately, your rhetoric suggests that you think ANet is completely out of touch with players and that the gifts are worthless.

Actually, there is a question mark at the end of the title. Meaning I am questioning if this is another bust of a birthday for me and anyone else. So I don’t say it’s a bust in title.

Now, even if if I was to say in the title that they were in deed busts. Does not mean that I few them as bad gifts for anyone else. Merely that they are bad, or rather useless gifts to me. I mean look at what I am saying. If at least 75% of all the gifts you got for the last 4 years were things you could do nothing more then throw away. No pleasure from using them or even looking at them. No joy in giving them away. No chance of exchanging or even giving them back gift giver with a sincere thank you for the attempt. You would say that they were kinda a bust.

I am allergic to fish, does not mean I think giving someone smoked salmon is a bad gift. I think it’s a great gift. Just not a great gift for me. So if you give everyone including me a gift of fish and my only option is to eat it throw it away. Well guess I am wasting food. Same principle here. Though true, using a dye won’t kill me. What will I get from it. Nothing I will ever use.

It seems a lot of people are missing the point. If I am given something to show appreciation for my time and it is something I can enjoy in anyway. It would be the same as getting a gift of nothing. I love this game. I think the gifts are great gifts, just not for me. My post just goes into detail about why I am unhappy. So that hopefully those that feel the same join in for our voice to be heard.

Like I said. I am not wanting more. Just something I could use. Even if it’s a fat sack of mats.

Vayne.8563:

This reply goes to you to.

Ya, they only did 1 mini in the 4 years. The mini they gave in GW2 is not related to the Mini example from GW1. The gifts in there entirety is the comparisin. The fact that in GW1 I never had an issue with a gift cause no matter what I got. I got use out of it. Even if all I got was a big fast pile of white minis and they were all the same one. I would have been able to use them. I gave mini’s to friends, to guild members and even as prizes just for finding me in town. I had a TON of duplicate mini’s. I got them in trade a lot. Still, never upset with any of them or getting them as the gifts. Cause no matter what. There was always a way to use them instead of throwing them away.

In GW2 I can’t even give any of this stuff away to anyone who might have use for it. Sure there are plenty of players who would have loved one of my many lv 20 scrolls year 1 and 2. This has nothing to do with mini’s specifically. Just that there is I can do with all this stuff they are giving me. Do you want one of my celebration dyes? Oh wait, I can’t give it to you. Sorry!

See!

I really hope everyone reading this further looks down here. If you don’t agree with me. That is cool. That means you enjoyed your gifts. I have not. I am not hating on Arena. I am not demanding anything. I am simply pointing out that I (and I am sure many others) are not happy with them for the reasons I listed. Maybe they will see this and change for year 5. Maybe they will come up with a system to exchange unwanted gifts or account bound rewards for something else. Maybe they will just read this and laugh. I don’t know.

So everyone enjoy your gifts if you can. I do think they have some great stuff in them, but just nothing I can use.

Not sure why this is even thread-worthy. We don’t need to know you didn’t like the gifts you got. I’m sure Anet hoped they included enough gifts with varied use to appeal in SOME way to everyone. That’s the best they could have done.

I don’t think that everything included in the Anniversary gifts is intended to be useful or desirable to every player. I think that multiple different items are included so that as many players as possible can, hopefully, find something of interest to them.

The reality is that I did prefer the GW1 approach until dyes were added to the GW2 anniversary gifts last year. Even so the GW1 gifts were never of any use to me. Just nice tokens of appreciation from the developer.

If you really wanted to discuss birthday presents, your title would have been something close to “Discussion: account or character bound presents” or something similar. The word “bust” suggests an opinion has already been formed and that the poster is looking only for supporting opinions.

All you really need to do is say you don’t like the gifts, that they don’t feel rewarding — to you. There’s an interesting discussion to be had from discussing why they might not feel worthwhile to everyone.

Unfortunately, as you can see, that’s nothing close to the discussion that the original post catalyzed.

I personally am really happy with how they are doing presents in GW2 compared to GW1. In GW1 every year you had to ask the question: Will I strike it rich and be able to afford any item I want or will I get the equivalent of dog kitten given to me this year. I still remember the first year of presents in GW1. My monk opened some useless mini that I don’t even remember and than 2 weeks later my necro got a mini Ruric which I sold for 100k and finished my FoW armor with. So incredibly dumb those presents.

tron.1438:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

tron.1438:

Another Birthday BUST?

tron.1438:

Final words: I am not asking or demanding in anyway for grandiose gifts or more stuff. I am not asking for less stuff. I am asking to be able use the stuff I get in some way. Even if it is simply to give it away to a friend or some cool person I partied with. Heck I would have been happy for a bag of rare mats. They are a great gifts, but so much of it I have no use for. That is all I am saying.

Your title says the gifts are a bust, all of them.

That’s a lot different from saying you think they are “great gifts” that you wish would appeal to more players such as yourself, that have different interests.

I get that you meant to be starting a discussion about how different stuff would be better, you didn’t mean to ask for more (or even less) stuff. Unfortunately, your rhetoric suggests that you think ANet is completely out of touch with players and that the gifts are worthless.

Actually, there is a question mark at the end of the title. Meaning I am questioning if this is another bust of a birthday for me and anyone else. So I don’t say it’s a bust in title.

Now, even if if I was to say in the title that they were in deed busts. Does not mean that I few them as bad gifts for anyone else. Merely that they are bad, or rather useless gifts to me. I mean look at what I am saying. If at least 75% of all the gifts you got for the last 4 years were things you could do nothing more then throw away. No pleasure from using them or even looking at them. No joy in giving them away. No chance of exchanging or even giving them back gift giver with a sincere thank you for the attempt. You would say that they were kinda a bust.

I am allergic to fish, does not mean I think giving someone smoked salmon is a bad gift. I think it’s a great gift. Just not a great gift for me. So if you give everyone including me a gift of fish and my only option is to eat it throw it away. Well guess I am wasting food. Same principle here. Though true, using a dye won’t kill me. What will I get from it. Nothing I will ever use.

It seems a lot of people are missing the point. If I am given something to show appreciation for my time and it is something I can enjoy in anyway. It would be the same as getting a gift of nothing. I love this game. I think the gifts are great gifts, just not for me. My post just goes into detail about why I am unhappy. So that hopefully those that feel the same join in for our voice to be heard.

Like I said. I am not wanting more. Just something I could use. Even if it’s a fat sack of mats.

Vayne.8563:

This reply goes to you to.

Ya, they only did 1 mini in the 4 years. The mini they gave in GW2 is not related to the Mini example from GW1. The gifts in there entirety is the comparisin. The fact that in GW1 I never had an issue with a gift cause no matter what I got. I got use out of it. Even if all I got was a big fast pile of white minis and they were all the same one. I would have been able to use them. I gave mini’s to friends, to guild members and even as prizes just for finding me in town. I had a TON of duplicate mini’s. I got them in trade a lot. Still, never upset with any of them or getting them as the gifts. Cause no matter what. There was always a way to use them instead of throwing them away.

In GW2 I can’t even give any of this stuff away to anyone who might have use for it. Sure there are plenty of players who would have loved one of my many lv 20 scrolls year 1 and 2. This has nothing to do with mini’s specifically. Just that there is I can do with all this stuff they are giving me. Do you want one of my celebration dyes? Oh wait, I can’t give it to you. Sorry!

See!

---

I really hope everyone reading this further looks down here. If you don’t agree with me. That is cool. That means you enjoyed your gifts. I have not. I am not hating on Arena. I am not demanding anything. I am simply pointing out that I (and I am sure many others) are not happy with them for the reasons I listed. Maybe they will see this and change for year 5. Maybe they will come up with a system to exchange unwanted gifts or account bound rewards for something else. Maybe they will just read this and laugh. I don’t know.

So everyone enjoy your gifts if you can. I do think they have some great stuff in them, but just nothing I can use.

I don’t know. I remember people in Guild Wars 1 complaining about their birthday gifts. The complains were I’ve opened five gifts and gotten five whites, but they were still complaints and people weren’t happy with that.

There were people who weren’t into minis at all and didn’t care about them as well and to those people Guild Wars 1 birthday gifts were at best ho-hum. The amount you could sell them for, more of the time, was neglible to people that had been playing for years.

The Guild Wars 2 birthday gift gives you a suit. More than one thing. A title, if you like that sort of thing. A booster if you like that sort of thing (I personally like birthday boosters), an item like a mini, or a birthday blaster, or a dye pack. In the last instance your choice of one of three back pieces, to unlock in your wardrobe that can be used on multiple characters.

Let’s face it, the Guild Wars 2 gift, like it or not, is not only more versatile than the Guild Wars 1 gift, but doesn’t see many complaints (after the first year when I got 20 Queen Jennahs anyway).

Vayne.8563:

Just for you!

Ok this will be my last post to this. Just for you cause you keep bringing up the same thing and I feel your not getting what I am saying or maybe even reading it properly.

Ok I have 12 girl on GW1. They are all kinda spaced out on years so not all get the same gifts when there bday comes around. I open them and get… ewww white. Lots of whites. OMG! I so unlucky to get all white. They all duplicates to. How unlucky is that (this did happen to me often to). So what can I do with them. Hmmm, oh ya. I can sell them. May be cheap but they sell. Or better yet, I can trade them. I tend to do well that way. I get minis or mats I can always use or trade for something else. Hmm, well there are a couple that don’t seem to be selling. Shame! What can I do with them. Oh I know, lets play a game of hide and seek in town and give them away to who ever finds me. That’s always fun. Sweet, I was able to use, sell or gave them away to someone that wanted them. Thanks for the B-Day gift. Was not perfect but it was useful and nothing went to waste. I sure enjoyed them.

GW2 – I have 3 girls for each race (each armor class) and one guy character. Plus 2 extra for no reason at all. About half are at or reaching 4 years but just the other day 3 of them got 1-3year gifts. Especially my Revs who got year 1.

Anet – Here you go! Happy Birthday.
Me – Sweet Thanks! Lets open some gifts. Hmmm ummm Anet buddy you know I got the Mini Queen right.
Anet – Oh! Ya, so.
Me – Been 4 years even if this girl is 1 year. Oh well, guess cant be helped. Can I trade her in now?
Anet – Whaaat! Don’t you like her?
Me – Well ya, but I have 16 of her in my bank now. Can I trade them in?
Anet – Naw! She is cute. Enjoy!
Me – Ok, well what else we got. What are these?
Anet – Slips of paper that say you can advance to lv 20, 30 or 40. Enjoy!
Me – Oh that’s cool and all but it’s been 4 years. I have so many of them already and well. You see my girls. All but 4 of them are lv 80 and the others are over 40. Can I trade them in?
Anet – Whaaa… but those are free lvs. You never know when you might need to lv up a new char.
Me – Ok sure but at this point when will I ever make 30 new characters? Can I give them to some new players. Kinda as welcome to GW2 thing. Have 20-40 lvs on me.
Anet – Dude, stop trying to ruin the game for others. Remember how much fun it is to play the game.
Me – Sigh Fine, ok! What else! Birthday Boosters? Just like these Celebration Boosters. Just like the 38 and 40 other boosters I already have and…. no, not going to say it. Just like those slips of paper. Maybe in the far distant future something I need karma for will come out.
Anet – That’s the spirit. Enjoy!
Me – Ok what is next. Dyes, well alright. Hmm maybe. Well there are 3 dyes I definitely want from these Celebration Dye packs and 4 from the Jubilee dye packs, but…
Anet – Oh what now? Don’t you like dyes?
Me – Oh well I got a couple I could use, but the rest are not my style and don’t need. Sooo can I…
Anet – NO! No trading them in. Just… just pick out random dyes. Complete the collection.
Me – But I won’t ever use those colors. EVER! I mean some are rather gross. Come on, let me give them to some other players. Maybe some that really don’t have extra chars or have to wait 2 more years for a great dye. Please!
Anet – Oh come… hey look at your other gift. We got you a gun that shoots cake. HA! This gun is no lie, its all cake. Ha… get it. Now that’s real fun right.
Me – Sigh Ok ok! Let’s see this gun. pew pew Hmmm, well that’s not bad. But, it takes up a space and I really don’t have a use for it. Though, thanks Anet. It’s not a bad gift.
Anet – You got that right. Here are some tokens to jump to your friends. Those are useful right?
Me – Well ya, kinda but it does not cost much to party up and join them were ever they are. I really don’t have a use for them. The 90 in my bank are kinda gathering dust. Can I give them to my guild mates or some random pla….
Anet – Why do you want to give away my gifts to you? Don’t you appreciate my appreciation of you?
Me – Oh no I do. In fact I see the effort and think they are great idea’s. Though, did you think about players like me that have a lot of characters and are accumulating all this stuff over 4 years? 7 or 8 on some chars that were made later in my game life. I mean it’s not that I don’t appreciate what your doing. Getting these gifts 2, maybe 3 times would be really cool and have had good use. 16+ gifts of non-tradeable account or soul bound items. Well, I just don’t get the point.
Anet – But we are trying to make you happy. What, do you want more? Rarer stuff or to sell all this and make money? I just… I just don’t want to flood the market or make it to easy or… or…. sniff
Me – Whoa! I am happy. I love your game so much. I love how you work hard to try and make us happy. Even if it is nearly impossible to make everyone happy. I don’t want more stuff or bigger rarer stuff. Do you remember how much fun I had in GW1 with the gifts?
Anet – Ya, but you gave so many of them away. I thought you hated them.
Me – No! Sure, I may not have gotten the cool greens or golds. But opening those gifts and not knowing what I was getting was fun. Then taking my extras and trading them to others who did not get what I got or even better. Giving some away to players who were just starting out. You gave me a chance to have so much fun back then. You let me share and laugh and just enjoy every moment.
Anet – And your not now?
Me – Well I do enjoy the game, but as far as the birthday gifts. It’s not about what I get. Just want to be able to have fun with it. Even if that fun comes from giving them away.

And that’s the end of the story. I hope you understand. I am not going on about getting rare things or making money. It’s about having fun with what I get. They want us to have fun and enjoy the game as well as our gifts. I am just not enjoying them cause I have no use for them.

It was the truth what I said happened 2 days ago. I had a 1 year, 2 year and 3 year B-day girl (and two 4 year girls). After opening each gift all I did was stick them in the bank to gather dust cause I am hoarder (remember Gwen’s torn cape from GW1). If all I got was a couple presents per year for my account then ya. It would not be so bad. Though every present after that is just a toss in my face of more useless junk I can’t enjoy in anyway. I am not a karma grinder or dye collector. I am don’t need to get a dye just cause it’s the most expensive dye on the market. I would say that may just be me, but there are lots of players that feel similar about this.

Now that I have looked at the Year 4 dye list. I am happy to say I am going to use 6 of the dye packs I get for all the bloodstone dyes. Cause I like them all and can use them. Taimi dyes are in both dye packs just to put that out there. After that every Jub dye pack will sit in my bank and never get used. With the Karma coupons. I will say year 4 is slightly better then 1-3. Not much though since I am getting so much more useless stuff.

Do you understand what I am saying? If not then I don’t know how to say it any better.

tron.1438:

I can forgive the game feeling like it sides more with the PVP/WVW players.

You know nothing Jon Snow, because it sure as winter is coming, doesn’t.

Vayne.8563:

I don’t know. I remember people in Guild Wars 1 complaining about their birthday gifts. The complains were I’ve opened five gifts and gotten five whites, but they were still complaints and people weren’t happy with that.

Thats just players in general doesn’t really mean that it was bad – it was a freebie afterall. Players will ALWAYS dine and whine when they aren’t spoonfed the most valuable items – prior to precursor crafting remember the numerous daily cry threads on obtaining pres, or the whine threads on rarity of loot dropped, even now there are threads here and there on item x being to hard to obtain.

Vayne.8563:

Let’s face it, the Guild Wars 2 gift, like it or not, is not only more versatile than the Guild Wars 1 gift, but doesn’t see many complaints (after the first year when I got 20 Queen Jennahs anyway).

Have to strongly disagree with this gw1 bday presents even if you didnt get the one you wanted could be sold for some gold and then you could later trade for the one you wanted. You also got multiple chances are each of your characters bdays came.

Gw2 presents are acct bound thus completely worthless. You don’t see complaints because they are completely and utterly forgettable. Stopped opening them to avoid getting swarmed with the obnoxious exp scrolls ( geee thanks for increasing the level so that they no longer stack) when there is no intent to ever create a new character – even if there was a chance that I would create a new char can just use the hundreds of tomes gained throughout the year to 1-80 instantly, Teleport to a friend – worthless chucked, dyes – thats a good way to kitten people off – release them in a gambling manner and then just give the playerbase free pick on character bdays, booster is meh at best. Theres no variety in what can be obtained between characters – what one gets every other will get upon hitting that mark.

tron.1438:

Vayne.8563:

Just for you!

Ok this will be my last post to this. Just for you cause you keep bringing up the same thing and I feel your not getting what I am saying or maybe even reading it properly.

Ok I have 12 girl on GW1. They are all kinda spaced out on years so not all get the same gifts when there bday comes around. I open them and get… ewww white. Lots of whites. OMG! I so unlucky to get all white. They all duplicates to. How unlucky is that (this did happen to me often to). So what can I do with them. Hmmm, oh ya. I can sell them. May be cheap but they sell. Or better yet, I can trade them. I tend to do well that way. I get minis or mats I can always use or trade for something else. Hmm, well there are a couple that don’t seem to be selling. Shame! What can I do with them. Oh I know, lets play a game of hide and seek in town and give them away to who ever finds me. That’s always fun. Sweet, I was able to use, sell or gave them away to someone that wanted them. Thanks for the B-Day gift. Was not perfect but it was useful and nothing went to waste. I sure enjoyed them.

GW2 – I have 3 girls for each race (each armor class) and one guy character. Plus 2 extra for no reason at all. About half are at or reaching 4 years but just the other day 3 of them got 1-3year gifts. Especially my Revs who got year 1.

Anet – Here you go! Happy Birthday.
Me – Sweet Thanks! Lets open some gifts. Hmmm ummm Anet buddy you know I got the Mini Queen right.
Anet – Oh! Ya, so.
Me – Been 4 years even if this girl is 1 year. Oh well, guess cant be helped. Can I trade her in now?
Anet – Whaaat! Don’t you like her?
Me – Well ya, but I have 16 of her in my bank now. Can I trade them in?
Anet – Naw! She is cute. Enjoy!
Me – Ok, well what else we got. What are these?
Anet – Slips of paper that say you can advance to lv 20, 30 or 40. Enjoy!
Me – Oh that’s cool and all but it’s been 4 years. I have so many of them already and well. You see my girls. All but 4 of them are lv 80 and the others are over 40. Can I trade them in?
Anet – Whaaa… but those are free lvs. You never know when you might need to lv up a new char.
Me – Ok sure but at this point when will I ever make 30 new characters? Can I give them to some new players. Kinda as welcome to GW2 thing. Have 20-40 lvs on me.
Anet – Dude, stop trying to ruin the game for others. Remember how much fun it is to play the game.
Me – Sigh Fine, ok! What else! Birthday Boosters? Just like these Celebration Boosters. Just like the 38 and 40 other boosters I already have and…. no, not going to say it. Just like those slips of paper. Maybe in the far distant future something I need karma for will come out.
Anet – That’s the spirit. Enjoy!
Me – Ok what is next. Dyes, well alright. Hmm maybe. Well there are 3 dyes I definitely want from these Celebration Dye packs and 4 from the Jubilee dye packs, but…
Anet – Oh what now? Don’t you like dyes?
Me – Oh well I got a couple I could use, but the rest are not my style and don’t need. Sooo can I…
Anet – NO! No trading them in. Just… just pick out random dyes. Complete the collection.
Me – But I won’t ever use those colors. EVER! I mean some are rather gross. Come on, let me give them to some other players. Maybe some that really don’t have extra chars or have to wait 2 more years for a great dye. Please!
Anet – Oh come… hey look at your other gift. We got you a gun that shoots cake. HA! This gun is no lie, its all cake. Ha… get it. Now that’s real fun right.
Me – Sigh Ok ok! Let’s see this gun. pew pew Hmmm, well that’s not bad. But, it takes up a space and I really don’t have a use for it. Though, thanks Anet. It’s not a bad gift.
Anet – You got that right. Here are some tokens to jump to your friends. Those are useful right?
Me – Well ya, kinda but it does not cost much to party up and join them were ever they are. I really don’t have a use for them. The 90 in my bank are kinda gathering dust. Can I give them to my guild mates or some random pla….
Anet – Why do you want to give away my gifts to you? Don’t you appreciate my appreciation of you?
Me – Oh no I do. In fact I see the effort and think they are great idea’s. Though, did you think about players like me that have a lot of characters and are accumulating all this stuff over 4 years? 7 or 8 on some chars that were made later in my game life. I mean it’s not that I don’t appreciate what your doing. Getting these gifts 2, maybe 3 times would be really cool and have had good use. 16+ gifts of non-tradeable account or soul bound items. Well, I just don’t get the point.
Anet – But we are trying to make you happy. What, do you want more? Rarer stuff or to sell all this and make money? I just… I just don’t want to flood the market or make it to easy or… or…. sniff
Me – Whoa! I am happy. I love your game so much. I love how you work hard to try and make us happy. Even if it is nearly impossible to make everyone happy. I don’t want more stuff or bigger rarer stuff. Do you remember how much fun I had in GW1 with the gifts?
Anet – Ya, but you gave so many of them away. I thought you hated them.
Me – No! Sure, I may not have gotten the cool greens or golds. But opening those gifts and not knowing what I was getting was fun. Then taking my extras and trading them to others who did not get what I got or even better. Giving some away to players who were just starting out. You gave me a chance to have so much fun back then. You let me share and laugh and just enjoy every moment.
Anet – And your not now?
Me – Well I do enjoy the game, but as far as the birthday gifts. It’s not about what I get. Just want to be able to have fun with it. Even if that fun comes from giving them away.

And that’s the end of the story. I hope you understand. I am not going on about getting rare things or making money. It’s about having fun with what I get. They want us to have fun and enjoy the game as well as our gifts. I am just not enjoying them cause I have no use for them.

It was the truth what I said happened 2 days ago. I had a 1 year, 2 year and 3 year B-day girl (and two 4 year girls). After opening each gift all I did was stick them in the bank to gather dust cause I am hoarder (remember Gwen’s torn cape from GW1). If all I got was a couple presents per year for my account then ya. It would not be so bad. Though every present after that is just a toss in my face of more useless junk I can’t enjoy in anyway. I am not a karma grinder or dye collector. I am don’t need to get a dye just cause it’s the most expensive dye on the market. I would say that may just be me, but there are lots of players that feel similar about this.

Now that I have looked at the Year 4 dye list. I am happy to say I am going to use 6 of the dye packs I get for all the bloodstone dyes. Cause I like them all and can use them. Taimi dyes are in both dye packs just to put that out there. After that every Jub dye pack will sit in my bank and never get used. With the Karma coupons. I will say year 4 is slightly better then 1-3. Not much though since I am getting so much more useless stuff.

Do you understand what I am saying? If not then I don’t know how to say it any better.

Could we make Revs last August? Has it really been a year already? How time flies!

Sorry you can’t enjoy the Gifts; better luck next time.

tron.1438:

Vayne.8563:

Just for you!

Ok this will be my last post to this. Just for you cause you keep bringing up the same thing and I feel your not getting what I am saying or maybe even reading it properly.

Ok I have 12 girl on GW1. They are all kinda spaced out on years so not all get the same gifts when there bday comes around. I open them and get… ewww white. Lots of whites. OMG! I so unlucky to get all white. They all duplicates to. How unlucky is that (this did happen to me often to). So what can I do with them. Hmmm, oh ya. I can sell them. May be cheap but they sell. Or better yet, I can trade them. I tend to do well that way. I get minis or mats I can always use or trade for something else. Hmm, well there are a couple that don’t seem to be selling. Shame! What can I do with them. Oh I know, lets play a game of hide and seek in town and give them away to who ever finds me. That’s always fun. Sweet, I was able to use, sell or gave them away to someone that wanted them. Thanks for the B-Day gift. Was not perfect but it was useful and nothing went to waste. I sure enjoyed them.

GW2 – I have 3 girls for each race (each armor class) and one guy character. Plus 2 extra for no reason at all. About half are at or reaching 4 years but just the other day 3 of them got 1-3year gifts. Especially my Revs who got year 1.

Anet – Here you go! Happy Birthday.
Me – Sweet Thanks! Lets open some gifts. Hmmm ummm Anet buddy you know I got the Mini Queen right.
Anet – Oh! Ya, so.
Me – Been 4 years even if this girl is 1 year. Oh well, guess cant be helped. Can I trade her in now?
Anet – Whaaat! Don’t you like her?
Me – Well ya, but I have 16 of her in my bank now. Can I trade them in?
Anet – Naw! She is cute. Enjoy!
Me – Ok, well what else we got. What are these?
Anet – Slips of paper that say you can advance to lv 20, 30 or 40. Enjoy!
Me – Oh that’s cool and all but it’s been 4 years. I have so many of them already and well. You see my girls. All but 4 of them are lv 80 and the others are over 40. Can I trade them in?
Anet – Whaaa… but those are free lvs. You never know when you might need to lv up a new char.
Me – Ok sure but at this point when will I ever make 30 new characters? Can I give them to some new players. Kinda as welcome to GW2 thing. Have 20-40 lvs on me.
Anet – Dude, stop trying to ruin the game for others. Remember how much fun it is to play the game.
Me – Sigh Fine, ok! What else! Birthday Boosters? Just like these Celebration Boosters. Just like the 38 and 40 other boosters I already have and…. no, not going to say it. Just like those slips of paper. Maybe in the far distant future something I need karma for will come out.
Anet – That’s the spirit. Enjoy!
Me – Ok what is next. Dyes, well alright. Hmm maybe. Well there are 3 dyes I definitely want from these Celebration Dye packs and 4 from the Jubilee dye packs, but…
Anet – Oh what now? Don’t you like dyes?
Me – Oh well I got a couple I could use, but the rest are not my style and don’t need. Sooo can I…
Anet – NO! No trading them in. Just… just pick out random dyes. Complete the collection.
Me – But I won’t ever use those colors. EVER! I mean some are rather gross. Come on, let me give them to some other players. Maybe some that really don’t have extra chars or have to wait 2 more years for a great dye. Please!
Anet – Oh come… hey look at your other gift. We got you a gun that shoots cake. HA! This gun is no lie, its all cake. Ha… get it. Now that’s real fun right.
Me – Sigh Ok ok! Let’s see this gun. pew pew Hmmm, well that’s not bad. But, it takes up a space and I really don’t have a use for it. Though, thanks Anet. It’s not a bad gift.
Anet – You got that right. Here are some tokens to jump to your friends. Those are useful right?
Me – Well ya, kinda but it does not cost much to party up and join them were ever they are. I really don’t have a use for them. The 90 in my bank are kinda gathering dust. Can I give them to my guild mates or some random pla….
Anet – Why do you want to give away my gifts to you? Don’t you appreciate my appreciation of you?
Me – Oh no I do. In fact I see the effort and think they are great idea’s. Though, did you think about players like me that have a lot of characters and are accumulating all this stuff over 4 years? 7 or 8 on some chars that were made later in my game life. I mean it’s not that I don’t appreciate what your doing. Getting these gifts 2, maybe 3 times would be really cool and have had good use. 16+ gifts of non-tradeable account or soul bound items. Well, I just don’t get the point.
Anet – But we are trying to make you happy. What, do you want more? Rarer stuff or to sell all this and make money? I just… I just don’t want to flood the market or make it to easy or… or…. sniff
Me – Whoa! I am happy. I love your game so much. I love how you work hard to try and make us happy. Even if it is nearly impossible to make everyone happy. I don’t want more stuff or bigger rarer stuff. Do you remember how much fun I had in GW1 with the gifts?
Anet – Ya, but you gave so many of them away. I thought you hated them.
Me – No! Sure, I may not have gotten the cool greens or golds. But opening those gifts and not knowing what I was getting was fun. Then taking my extras and trading them to others who did not get what I got or even better. Giving some away to players who were just starting out. You gave me a chance to have so much fun back then. You let me share and laugh and just enjoy every moment.
Anet – And your not now?
Me – Well I do enjoy the game, but as far as the birthday gifts. It’s not about what I get. Just want to be able to have fun with it. Even if that fun comes from giving them away.

And that’s the end of the story. I hope you understand. I am not going on about getting rare things or making money. It’s about having fun with what I get. They want us to have fun and enjoy the game as well as our gifts. I am just not enjoying them cause I have no use for them.

It was the truth what I said happened 2 days ago. I had a 1 year, 2 year and 3 year B-day girl (and two 4 year girls). After opening each gift all I did was stick them in the bank to gather dust cause I am hoarder (remember Gwen’s torn cape from GW1). If all I got was a couple presents per year for my account then ya. It would not be so bad. Though every present after that is just a toss in my face of more useless junk I can’t enjoy in anyway. I am not a karma grinder or dye collector. I am don’t need to get a dye just cause it’s the most expensive dye on the market. I would say that may just be me, but there are lots of players that feel similar about this.

Now that I have looked at the Year 4 dye list. I am happy to say I am going to use 6 of the dye packs I get for all the bloodstone dyes. Cause I like them all and can use them. Taimi dyes are in both dye packs just to put that out there. After that every Jub dye pack will sit in my bank and never get used. With the Karma coupons. I will say year 4 is slightly better then 1-3. Not much though since I am getting so much more useless stuff.

Do you understand what I am saying? If not then I don’t know how to say it any better.

Selling 12 whites at this point in my Guild Wars 1 career means less than nothing. And because Guild Wars 1 doesn’t even have a trading post, I’ve have to waste my time standing in Kamadan to sell my 12 whites. And then I’d always wonder if I got good coin, which doesn’t matter.

Because the hundreds and hundreds of platinum I’d have had in Guild Wars 1 by my fourth birthday would mean 12 whites were absolutely 100% meaningless to me. I’d be as happy selling an unidentified rare. It’s fine for you to be happy with scraps. but that’s what 12 white minis would have been to me by my fourth birthday…scraps. And I have more characters than you do. Wasn’t exciting, I didn’t care.

Here, if I didn’t go out and buy every single dye the moment it came out,. I got something cool that was worth more than all mini’s put together. Everyone got a backskin they could use for the 4th birthday even if they had to pick one. Everyone gets a 24 hour buff, which you may not care about, but it’s more useful than 12 white minis to me anyway, particularly if I get one for each character.

Matter of perspective, but I stopped caring about Guild Wars 1 birthday presents until they introduced tonics and then I quickly got tired of the tonics, when I got Koss and Goren and that sort of thing.

Now had I gotten a mad king tonic, Id’ have been happy, or a one of the really cool tonics.

I know some people don’t mind RNG but there’s enough complaint about RNG in this game.

For my birthday presents this year, I’m going to get a boatload of dyes I didn’t have for free, a free backpiece, and a title and a boost.

I’m not sure how 1 white mini per character can equal that.

Ugh, there’s no backpack skin for alts?! And here I just picked the one I was going to use first, convinced I’d get the others soon enough when the alts aged up a bit. I’d have picked another had I known. Meh.

It’s unfortunate that the birthday gifts are a bust to some but to those who don’t have every dye and who don’t turn up their nose at a booster or a teleport, these gifts are better than Guild Wars 1 gifts. The Guild Wars 1 gifts were exciting to get and open because you might hit the jackpot but in all the years I played and with 2 accounts and about 40 birthday presents a year, I never hit the jackpot. Usually it was a white mini. Sometimes one of the others, but it never was a green. Get the present, open, /sigh. Another turtle with a cannon on its back or that two headed mini. Stick in bank, because no one else wanted them either and I wasn’t about to stand for hours in Spamadon spamming WTS in chat for something worth a few plat.

The conversation in guild chat last night was someone getting their first 4th year present and excitedly discussing what dye they could get and how to tell which packs have which dye. As for me, Like many others I didn’t buy all the dyes beforehand, so my 7 presents this year got me dyes that would have cost over a 1000 gold to buy. That kicks my yearly multiple, identical, white minis that might sell for a few plat in the teeth.

As for the other things in the present, maybe they are valuable to someone and maybe not. They can’t all be useful to all people so it’s going to be hit or miss. People making a Legendary probably wanted the karma. The teleport to a friend is useful if you are jumping to someone to part of the world that char has never been to, like a new expansion map. I used a fair number of them when the expansion came out to join up with a friend off on a far away map that that char hadn’t gotten to. It’s not so useful now but I’m expecting to use it again with the next expansion. The boosters are obviously something that won’t appeal to all, but are of value for those it does.

Some people will be the unfortunate outliers who can’t use or don’t want any of these items but for the majority of players these presents are far better than another identical white mini to stick in your bank to collect dust or sell after tedious time spent spamming WTS in map chat.

cafard.8953:

Ugh, there’s no backpack skin for alts?! And here I just picked the one I was going to use first, convinced I’d get the others soon enough when the alts aged up a bit. I’d have picked another had I known. Meh.

Contact customer service, they’ll probably switch it out for you.

Vayne.8563:

cafard.8953:

Ugh, there’s no backpack skin for alts?! And here I just picked the one I was going to use first, convinced I’d get the others soon enough when the alts aged up a bit. I’d have picked another had I known. Meh.

Contact customer service, they’ll probably switch it out for you.

Will give it a go, luckily I haven’t applied the skin anywhere. Cheers.

I can’t remember, for sure, but didn’t the minis from GW1 not have the ability to stack, as well? Making them worth even less…

Maybe I’m just too old. /shrug

I have read the entire thread OP and one thing I agree with is that your title really does infer that the gift was a bust along with ever gift before it. Question mark or not.

There is no possible way in creation that ANet could provide a birthday gift that would please everyone. It will never happen.

I understand that you wish the gift would be better for your personal use and that is fine. What I think you may not understand is that the gift is perfect for some and crap for others.

Bottom line, be happy that you get anything at all. That old saying about “Looking a gift horse in the mouth” really applies.

cafard.8953:

Vayne.8563:

cafard.8953:

Ugh, there’s no backpack skin for alts?! And here I just picked the one I was going to use first, convinced I’d get the others soon enough when the alts aged up a bit. I’d have picked another had I known. Meh.

Contact customer service, they’ll probably switch it out for you.

Will give it a go, luckily I haven’t applied the skin anywhere. Cheers.

I’m interested in hearing how this goes for you. AFAIK, Anet can’t delete skins from the wardrobe. That’s why we all got to keep the Flamekissed set after they changed it and refunded our gems. Are they allowing people to keep their first backpack choice and select a second?

rhapsody.3615:

cafard.8953:

Vayne.8563:

cafard.8953:

Ugh, there’s no backpack skin for alts?! And here I just picked the one I was going to use first, convinced I’d get the others soon enough when the alts aged up a bit. I’d have picked another had I known. Meh.

Contact customer service, they’ll probably switch it out for you.

Will give it a go, luckily I haven’t applied the skin anywhere. Cheers.

I’m interested in hearing how this goes for you. AFAIK, Anet can’t delete skins from the wardrobe. That’s why we all got to keep the Flamekissed set after they changed it and refunded our gems. Are they allowing people to keep their first backpack choice and select a second?

It seems they are, indeed. If any of the posts from other players are any indication.

Good luck.

rhapsody.3615:

cafard.8953:

Vayne.8563:

cafard.8953:

Ugh, there’s no backpack skin for alts?! And here I just picked the one I was going to use first, convinced I’d get the others soon enough when the alts aged up a bit. I’d have picked another had I known. Meh.

Contact customer service, they’ll probably switch it out for you.

Will give it a go, luckily I haven’t applied the skin anywhere. Cheers.

I’m interested in hearing how this goes for you. AFAIK, Anet can’t delete skins from the wardrobe. That’s why we all got to keep the Flamekissed set after they changed it and refunded our gems. Are they allowing people to keep their first backpack choice and select a second?

Well, it just got processed. My request didn’t go anywhere sadly, as indeed they can’t re-lock skins from wardrobe, so no swapping possible. And with it being a free gift and my own fault for not paying attention, it’d be cheeky to ask for an additional unlock.

I’ll make do with the butterfly flower and forget the cool Norn mountain survival kit. I guess we’ll get another pick next year.