Guild Wars 2

Do you think that after nearly 2 years that it is time to change the Black Lion Keys to a vender item say for 1g each?

Most ppl that I know have at least a stack of chests and refuse to pay the ridicules price for the keys on the gem store, especially given the RNG or what ever its called.

Might be a nice bday present to give a stack of keys to everyone if we cannot get a more reasonable pricing system for the keys

cheers

Since BLTC Chest Keys are easily obtained at no cost, I doubt they will change the price. They do, however, have sales periodically on them.

Do key runs if you don’t want to pay for keys
CASE CLOSED

Leo.2641:

Do key runs if you don’t want to pay for keys
CASE CLOSED

That’s just bad game design, if players are resorted to doing key runs.

So no, it shouldn’t be “case closed”. No game development ever should be. It should always be improving the design of the game, to make it more enjoyable.

Key runs were never intended as a means to acquire keys, and it should never be encouraged to do so.

Why hang onto chest if you have no intention of buying keys?

Considering the Devs have expressly said they have no problem with players using key runs to obtain keys, I’m confused about where they have stated it was not intended. Do you have a link?

I find key runs very enjoyable. I’m not sure why you think something I find enjoyable should be ‘discouraged’.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Considering the Devs have expressly said they have no problem with players using key runs to obtain keys, I’m confused about where they have stated it was not intended. Do you have a link?

I find key runs very enjoyable. I’m not sure why you think something I find enjoyable should be ‘discouraged’.

While I don’t find them intensely enjoyable, I do find the activity breaks up game play into another option of something to do. More options = less repetition = less boredom = more play.

Key run is fun if you try to break your record to be under 16 mins.

When BLTC only contained random Gem Store stuff they dropped faster and you had a fair chance of getting a key from a chest. Since they added the skee-ball tickets for skins and the occasional really rare item like the contracts, free keys have become scarce and now the BLTC is just like every grab bag in every MMO out there, a means to make a token amount of money off of a lot of people who are playing for a chance of something good from a pile of meh.

Keys will never be a gold only item simply because I expect that they are a significant percentage of overall gem store purchases in terms of total gems spent. Just as ticket skins will never be part of the store as a direct purchase of gems.

Isn’t it rediculously expensive to buy black lion key. So it is probably more like 10 gold each instead of 1 gold…

it is a good idea though for gold sink. I think GW2 need more kind of gold sink other than TP tax.

Uh… have you ever traded gold for gems? On a good day, I can get 80 gems for 10 gold. A single key costs 125 gems. So, no — 1 gold per key is nowhere near reasonable.

However, I do see the wisdom in lowering the price of keys on the gem store somewhat. Farming the personal story is by far the most efficient way to get a key. Trading gold for gems, to get keys, is completely out of the question. I seriously doubt anyone is buying keys from the gem store, unless they really have no free time at all and more money than they know what to do with.

ArenaNet could stand to make a bit more money, if they alter the prices of keys to stay competitive with key farming. However, the scary thing is that this might come with side effects: lowering drop rates from chests, altering the mechanics of farming to make it slower or unprofitable, or creating separate tiers of keys that separate personal story from gem store iterations. They could also offer weapon tickets for sale on the gem store without the RNG — though this would undoubtedly be a step toward phasing out chests/keys completely.

They should give you black lion chest keys through PvP, maybe than PvP will have a chance to become esports.

Again, gem store prices are set based on cash value of gems, not gold value. So right now it’s $1.05, $1.13 or $1.57 depending on quantity when they aren’t on sale. This is in line with other grab bag items at other MMOs.

Now occasionally they are on sale or they are bundled in with some other items at a great price. Normally it’s 20% off but last March the 5 packs were 35% off for a day and recently the Rescue Kit included 15 for 1000 gems which is also like 20% off the per price of the 25 pack.

The trick is to buy then and HOLD them until they juice the chests. Sadly I can’t let them sit there unused that long.

Otherwise you farm them at 2 to 3 an hour, not fun in my books but that’s me or pay a lot in gold to convert to gems. Remember, gold converted gems doesn’t pay the devs and the current high price simply makes it more attractive to buy gems with cash for gem store items. But never expect to make out selling either the ticket skins or the contract. It would be better off for you in the long run to either keep the gold or convert cash bought gems into gold and buying those items that way.

Black Lion keys are probably funding the whole game. For every ten people who aren’t spend money on them, another is buying them by the boatload. If it’s funding the game, I say keep it as it is. As much as I’m against it.

if anything, they should make the chest drop way more rare or give the chest a merchant value…