Guild Wars 2

Do you think its time the drop rates on the black lion keys was actually increased so they drop. Lets face it who buys them when they don’t give that much out.
I can understand anet wanting to get cash for these keys but I personally am very disappointed that the adventure of gw1 chest hunting was taken away in gw2.

I have over 100 chests and there is no way I will buy a key for these as they are to expensive for what you get out of them ,and it is sad that you get a woohoo a wooden chest drop in wvw and you get a pathetic useless blc that you know you won’t open ever.

Please devs increase they drop rates on the keys, even if its matched to the chest drop rates that way we can open them.

cheers Phabby

ANET sell a hell of a lot of Black Lion Keys via the gem store so why would they increase the drop rate? I admit its a little strange having the chests drop as much as they do but they never will increase drop rates.

If you want to farm the keys that is possible. Just check for a video guide on youtube and you can get one key in about 35-40mins.

I wish I could sell the keys on the TP. I have no interest in the fused skins, and the only other thing I would want are fine transmutation stones or guild influence items, and I’m as likely to get a moa tonic as those.

If the price of keys was dropped to about 50 gems each, and more useful items dropped from them. Anet would sell many more keys.

When I get a pile of chests I list them for sale on the TP. By the time I get another pile of chests, the first pile has sold out. Either a lot more people buy keys than you think, or a handful of speculators are trying to corner the market and so far have only managed to stockpile about 10 million locked chests.

I’ve gotten 2 keys from dailies lately. Since the latest patch. Not sure if coincidence, but I recall talking about it in a thread a while back suggesting for keys to show up in other areas aside from rare drops or low level story quests (aka dailies). That said I rarely get any BLTC stuff with my dailies. :/ So no idea if this existed beforehand or not.

Honestly though I feel if they up the benefits to opening a chest the keys would be forced to be rarer again or the price in gems (for the keys) to go up. Right now they are still pretty meh. But I don’t hear of many people opening chests with hard earned money/gold very often unless they really want an RNG skin. Which is not exactly fun.

The chests are so dang common though I just junk them after I get around a hundred or so or whenever I need bank/inventory space. There is definitely no scarcity to those things.

I do not see any point of paying for keys either, might be different if they were 50 gems. Most of the time the items you receive are no where worth the cost. I have over 350 chests and climbing. It would be a great idea to increase the drop rate of keys, if for no other reason, to try and entice people into buying them, but the price is still way too high.

The Black Lion Keys are there to earn additional revenue for Anet, which pays for additional content…they put unique skins in them for a reason you know…you may not get BLK’s but you are getting a lot of additional content every month, just think of it that way…

If you really, really want free keys have a spare character slot and keep creating/deleting a character…do personal story upto level 10, you get a free BLK every time…doen’t take long at all…

You get free BLK’s at 10, 30-31 & 50 of your personal story btw…

Stop posting on this…they drop fine now. I’ve gotten one every three days now. Finish areas, key. Do story to a certain level (used to be 10 only, now…I’ve gotten 3 in under lvl 50 on the story).

Had 29 chests…down to 15 or so in a couple of months without buying keys.

Why should I have to roll a new toon and do story modes to get a key that should be a dropped item. if the chest drop from all mobs then so should the keys at the same rate .

I wvw alot, so I shouldn’t have to go creating toons just to get a key to open a chest that I get as a drop in wvw .That is in its own right is a stupid set up for any game.

The dropping the keys to a more affordable price dosn’t sit well either, why should you have to pay for something to use on something you get as a drop?

They’re never going to make keys drop as often as chests because then no one would ever buy keys, and the point of the chests is to make money via key sales. Honestly they’d be more likely to remove the chests all together and just sell the items in the store (which would be a better idea IMO).

Believe it or not some people do spend a lot of money buying keys. Either because they want stuff in the chests and think it’s worth the money or because they buy gems regularly as some kind of DIY subscription and then need something to do with them.

I think they’re a waste of money personally so I never buy them. I use a key if I happen to get one but it doesn’t bother me that the drop rate is so low because the few decent items in the chests are so rare they may as well not be in there.

phabby.8945:

Why should I have to roll a new toon and do story modes to get a key that should be a dropped item. if the chest drop from all mobs then so should the keys at the same rate .

I wvw alot, so I shouldn’t have to go creating toons just to get a key to open a chest that I get as a drop in wvw .That is in its own right is a stupid set up for any game.

The dropping the keys to a more affordable price dosn’t sit well either, why should you have to pay for something to use on something you get as a drop?

But you haven’t said WHY they key should be a dropped item. I don’t think it should be.

In a lot of games, you have to buy character classes, or races or content in the cash shop. Or you can buy traits and skill points and stuff like that. Here, we have a pretty large game with a lot of content, that doesn’t charge a monthly fee. They’re not putting p2w stuff in the shop, but they do have to make money to make more content.

Saying something should be just a drop is all very nice and easy, when you’re not looking at a company’s balance sheet. Stuff like black lion keys and cosmetic skins are fair game for the cash shop.

The only thing I dislike is them putting new skins in the chests for RNG.

Vayne.8563:

phabby.8945:

Why should I have to roll a new toon and do story modes to get a key that should be a dropped item. if the chest drop from all mobs then so should the keys at the same rate .

I wvw alot, so I shouldn’t have to go creating toons just to get a key to open a chest that I get as a drop in wvw .That is in its own right is a stupid set up for any game.

The dropping the keys to a more affordable price dosn’t sit well either, why should you have to pay for something to use on something you get as a drop?

But you haven’t said WHY they key should be a dropped item. I don’t think it should be.

In a lot of games, you have to buy character classes, or races or content in the cash shop. Or you can buy traits and skill points and stuff like that. Here, we have a pretty large game with a lot of content, that doesn’t charge a monthly fee. They’re not putting p2w stuff in the shop, but they do have to make money to make more content.

Saying something should be just a drop is all very nice and easy, when you’re not looking at a company’s balance sheet. Stuff like black lion keys and cosmetic skins are fair game for the cash shop.

The only thing I dislike is them putting new skins in the chests for RNG.

The keys are a dropped item.. I’ve gotten several by doing pve around the world (not map compleet, but regular mob-drop).. But I agree with you on the skins.. It’s not fair that they’ve put them in the chests.. I’ve heard people open over 500 chests without getting any ticket to skins.. Bad way to do things on, but as long as there are people using monney and gold to buy keys, Anet get what they’re after..

back in october i think they had a sale on these think it went something like 10 keys for 900 gems or something. that just a guess

Be thankful keys drop at all. There’s no reason they should other than to get hooked on chests like a drug I suppose.

TF2 needs keys to open crates, but the keys never ever drop. If they dropped at a rate around once a year I’d be sooo happy. It’s not even like the stuff inside the crates isn’t important. Hats are crucial to gameplay there.

I’ve been playing solid since launch, all professions lvl 80 and then some, done all content…I’ve maybe seen 1 key drop outside of a quest reward. It’s pretty ridiculous IMO, this should be increased definitely.

I’ve bought maybe 5-15 keys in my past but I won’t anymore. The risk VS the money you put in just isn’t worth it. I’ve been farming keys with new toons as of late and have still gotten squat. I’m fine with the crappy drop rate of chests, that’s the point, but the influx of keys should be increased.

Doujou.6951:

I’ve been playing solid since launch, all professions lvl 80 and then some, done all content…I’ve maybe seen 1 key drop outside of a quest reward. It’s pretty ridiculous IMO, this should be increased definitely.

I’ve bought maybe 5-15 keys in my past but I won’t anymore. The risk VS the money you put in just isn’t worth it. I’ve been farming keys with new toons as of late and have still gotten squat. I’m fine with the crappy drop rate of chests, that’s the point, but the influx of keys should be increased.

Again, why should they be increased?

Vayne.8563:

Again, why should they be increased?

Because the cheapkittens don’t like to buy them. There is no other reason.

Because when the most effective way to obtain something in the game is to chain-create and delete a new toon over and over, there is an issue. Not sure why they made them “drop” anyway…and I use that term extremely loosely.

I’m not cheap, I’ve bought keys in the past. But if they are going to be something that can only be bought…make it worth my money I work for. If you’re not (which is right now) make the keys a little more abundant…not a lot…but a little.

Doujou.6951:

I’m not cheap, I’ve bought keys in the past. But if they are going to be something that can only be bought…make it worth my money I work for. If you’re not (which is right now) make the keys a little more abundant…not a lot…but a little.

Logically, if there’s nothing worth getting out of the chest, the keys don’t need to drop. The only reason the keys would need to drop is if the stuff in the chest was must have.

Obviously some people are buying keys, which is probably why they don’t drop more often. Keys help fund the game, which is good for everyone.

Edit: Though I still think RNG skins should NOT be included in BL Chests.

The keys are like scratchoff lottery tickets. Most of the time, you get nothing. Sometimes you get your money back, and it encourages you to keep trying. Once in a great while you hit something worthwhile.

Overall, it’s a fool’s game to begin playing in the first place.

The RNG skins are the REASON why they’re selling keys in the first place. Take them away and it would be like removing every prize above $50 from the scratchoff tickets, what’s the point to buying them if you can’t ever win something worth looking for?

The 25th of august I got 2 keys dropped, somewhat later that week another one, haven’t seen a other one(as drop)

But you can always Do the BL-key farm

tolunart.2095:

Vayne.8563:

Again, why should they be increased?

Because the cheapkittens don’t like to buy them. There is no other reason.

No, Anet is cheap for not giving players a better deal for their money.

Most of what’s in these is temporary junk. What is good in chests drop too rarely and are only purchasable through the chests.

I suggest that Anet adds items already available in other way, to the chests.
*chance of any item from the gem store dropping in the chests.
*Rare chance Meta event skins could also be dropped from the chests.
*Ascended rings could also have a rare chance of dropping

tolunart.2095:

The keys are like scratchoff lottery tickets. Most of the time, you get nothing. Sometimes you get your money back, and it encourages you to keep trying. Once in a great while you hit something worthwhile.

Overall, it’s a fool’s game to begin playing in the first place.

The RNG skins are the REASON why they’re selling keys in the first place. Take them away and it would be like removing every prize above $50 from the scratchoff tickets, what’s the point to buying them if you can’t ever win something worth looking for?

Anet never advertised BLC as a lottery.

Onshidesigns.1069:

tolunart.2095:

The keys are like scratchoff lottery tickets. Most of the time, you get nothing. Sometimes you get your money back, and it encourages you to keep trying. Once in a great while you hit something worthwhile.

Overall, it’s a fool’s game to begin playing in the first place.

The RNG skins are the REASON why they’re selling keys in the first place. Take them away and it would be like removing every prize above $50 from the scratchoff tickets, what’s the point to buying them if you can’t ever win something worth looking for?

Anet never advertised BLC as a lottery.

agreed

Personally for the amount of chests that drop I think the price
in gems per key is far too over priced for the % of good items in the chests.

Now we can always “farm” keys by the level 10 quest method which as was said above roughly takes about 30-40 mins depending on your knowledge/skill in doing so.

I think that farming these keys should be a game implemented thing that is done by some other method than the lvl 10 quest but at a rate which is similar. That being 1 every 30-40 mins. I would suggest some type of a mini possible single player random dungeon or instance similar to fractals that always gives a key at the end. Possibly it could also have chances at some of the other rarer items out there instead of a key.

I think something like this would be a great/fun addition to the game while also giving players who do not spend real life cash on gems a fair chance at getting keys for a fair amount of play time. Lets be honest here 1 key for 30 mins play time would not break the game especially since chests drop so often (I farm keys now and then and still have a full stack of 250 and a smaller stack right now).

We must remember that not everyone can spend real life cash on gems and because of the price of the gems per key and the current rate of conversion from in game gold to gems it really is not worth converting cash for gems to buy them considering the % of the useful items you get from the chests.

Some might say oh but many many many people will farm this dungeon/whatever thing and the game will get flooded with keys and thus people will not buy them from the gemstore. Well as I said people are farming keys right now from the lvl 10 quest and this does not seem to be the case.

Also just imagine how many unlocked chests there are in the game right now. I would say the game is flooded so much with these chests right now that yes for some while people will run this type of thing for keys. However repetition of anything no matter how rewarding soon gets boring for most so most will ease back out of doing it after they see that the 30-40 mins it takes for just 1 key. When you can have hundreds in the bank for a not so great chance at a good item from the chest people will stop doing them and also imagine how many more chests you can get while just doing the thing to get the key lol.

You could say the prices of the chests will skyrocket on the TP. Yes I should imagine they might do for a short while until that current over supply of them is finally wiped out. Then things would stabalise as I would imagine we might actually have the problem of not enough chests and too many keys lol. Perhaps then Anet could also sell the chests in the gemstore to help balance things out again?

That curent over-supply of chests in the game would only be bought buy people who:

A – Currently drop their chest drops and have none or
B – Those that are out of them as they usually buy keys from the store and open them all.

I say this because most of us who don’t buy keys (and yes even those of us that currently farm keys) can and usually do still have a ton in the bank.

In the case of (A) these people will probably be the ones who would run such a dungeon/whatever the most for some time as they are not used to opening chests and knowing the typical things you get from them.

In the case of B these people will either not buy them based on how many they have already opened and knowing the typical items you get in them. Or these people will continue to buy the keys and farm this because what they do get in the chests are useful to them. Well I would say these people would deserve that right after all the amount they have spent on gems already for keys.

Now you may say I just contradicted myself by saying both “you get junk from the chests typically” and “some people may continue to run this because they can get useful items for themselves”. In my experiance it goes both ways, honestly it does. It all depends on the player, how they play the game and what they find useful from the chests. For example some people find repair canisters, revive orbs, guild point items useful where some others wont. Also don’t forget about that magical word called "luck’ or “RNG”. Even if a good majority of the items in these chests are “useful” to some, the Luck/RNG of getting them can not be so great some times. Add to that it takes 30-40 mins yeah I say a lot of people may get bored of running such a thing.

Either way I think a situation like this might be fun/helpful for all concerned while also giving us something else fun and possibly rewarding to do in game when bored or just not knowing what to do (which is what I expect people who currently farm keys do) .

I would like to see keys drop more often than they currently do. On par with an exotic drop would not offend me perhaps only obtainable in open world type content to reduce the insane farmers from running dungeons night and day for them.

I have not had one drop in a really long time outside of map completion and I am not really bothered by this except I get the chests so often they annoy me taking up space in my inventory until I have a stack worthwhile listing on the TP.

If the chests were in fact much more rare as a drop and had a chance to drop some very good items like a precursor, or “unique” item that you could have pride in getting I might spend the gems on the keys.

I have had hundreds of chests drop since launch and there is no way I would ever buy keys for all of them at that rate and price.

Am I cheap?

Perhaps, but I also don’t have any use for the tonics or most of the boosters either. There are some items I can use but if I need them badly enough I can get them, like the karma boosters I require now and then using gems anyway and no gambling.

The recently added skins are a step in the right direction in appealing to my taste but the variety and unique quality of them is already dropping as I have seen plenty of people flashing their wares already.

Much like the legendary weapons flying around. They are no long very rare or unique. I think it is more trendy to not have lipstick shaped great sword, or a bow that shoots unicorns, or to plop spots and rainbows, but that is just me.

The legendary weapons are just not my taste though. Unique skins might be, if they were rare enough, unique enough, and enough variety that my character would be distinguishable from others rather than just like the rest of the server.

I am people not sheeple. ; b

Basically they are not worth the current gem price you have to pay, for a reward chance of what 1-1000000 for something of value.
If they wanted the sales then don’t have the chests drop, sell them opened in the shop and increase the value of the items for your said cash.

If they have the system in place for the chests as a rare drop , then the only thing that opens them should have the same drop rate, they have enough other stuff within the gem shop that ppl buy, to me it is not only a bad business model but a rip off to any consumer that buys these keys , as you are not ever going to get your moneys worth out of the chests.

Over 300 chests and no key drops, no way am I going to buy keys.

Chests are mainly full of rubbish anyway.

The problem with adding actual weapons to the chests, as someone has suggested, or the chance for a precusor, is that people will see Guild Wars 2 as p2w which is even a worse look than just putting skins.

No, gear should never be found in the Black Lion Trader, only skins.

There’s a drop rate on keys? I’ve heard rumours, but 390 hours /age here across all characters and I’ve still never seen one drop.

Not that I care – I’ve gotten a bunch from daily completion and personal story completion, and never gotten anything out of a chest except garbage that wastes my bank space because I’m too much of a packrat to ever throw anything away.

It absolutely boggles my mind that anyone would even consider spending real money on keys.

I’ve had three drop, and two come from Daily Rewards.

I would like the drop rate increased, but I’d really like the price dropped to about 2/3 of what it is now. As it is, I simply don’t feel like going to town on Keys for what’s in the chests. Well. . . maybe for Karma Boosters, but that’s because I like making nearly a 90% return on Lost Orrian Jewelry Boxes!

The tonics I don’t care about, most of the boosters I don’t use, and the other items I find less useful. Trader Express? Not interested. Portable Merchant? Only maybe found use for one while in Fractals even numbered levels and only when I didn’t clean out my bag beforehand. Bank Vault access? Marginally more useful. All three of these can come from Daily Rewards bonus by the way.

The chests don’t have much worthwhile for me to blow Gems on them. And . . . to be honest I don’t want them to have “Truly Awesome” boosts/assistance in there. I’d like them to have skins in there, sure, at a decent rate. Say, transmutation objects for random pieces of armor or weapons, palette swaps of weapons (since we can’t dye them) . . . you know, stupid cosmetic things. TOWN CLOTHING. I would definitely buy Keys if I could get Town Clothing at a decent drop rate.

I have so many of these chests in my bank I just started destroying them when I get them now.