Guild Wars 2

I wish i could sell you all my tickets that i never use

Let’s say they become far easier to obtain. What happens? Oh, they become super cheap and far, far more common? Kinda like the core skins you say nobody want to use.

Guess why nobody wants to use the core skins. Hint: b/c they are common. Take the crystalline and sephis axe skins in this game. Few use them, yet they were some of the most sought after in GW1. Why? Because they were rare in that game.

If the numbers in your post mean anything at all to me, it’s that the prices of these weapon skins being sold on the TP are far too low for 90% of them.

They do make a good point about a lot of the skins being “wasted”, though. Or, rather, of questionable development value because so few wind up with them.

Personally, I’d be fine with them becoming a lot more common. I don’t care if it’s exclusive or not, just if it looks good for the character using it.

The Mountain That Rides.4685:

Let’s say they become far easier to obtain. What happens? Oh, they become super cheap and far, far more common? Kinda like the core skins you say nobody want to use.

Guess why nobody wants to use the core skins. Hint: b/c they are common. Take the crystalline and sephis axe skins in this game. Few use them, yet they were some of the most sought after in GW1. Why? Because they were rare in that game.

If the numbers in your post mean anything at all to me, it’s that the prices of these weapon skins being sold on the TP are far too low for 90% of them.

But they are very expensive though. Maybe you just have too much money or time on your hands.

I don’t know most people’s opinion… but at least I only use skins that I like, and I think are coherent with my character. If they are made in the crafting stations, obtained through rng or paid with gems doesn’t matter to me.

As an example, I have a Guardian with a “rough ceramic” theme, who uses some asuran cultural pieces mixed with a few common basic armors and beaded Hylek weapons. I could maybe incorporate some ley-line armor to him, but ley line weapons just wouldnt work, and none of the black lion items would, either. I don’t care how exclusive are the pieces of his equipment. I only care he looks like I want him to.

Rareness is overrated.

I totally agree. I have scraps sitting in my bank since ages ago…

And, well, we shouldn’t forget that black lion skins are unobtainable or far far more expensive after certain amount of time, so they will become rare eventually.

I 100% agree and think it would benefit both the players and Anet

Ardid.7203:

I don’t know most people’s opinion… but at least I only use skins that I like, and I think are coherent with my character. If they are made in the crafting stations, obtained through rng or paid with gems doesn’t matter to me.

As an example, I have a Guardian with a “rough ceramic” theme, who uses some asuran cultural pieces mixed with a few common basic armors and beaded Hylek weapons. I could maybe incorporate some ley-line armor to him, but ley line weapons just wouldnt work, and none of the black lion items would, either. I don’t care how exclusive are the pieces of his equipment. I only care he looks like I want him to.

Rareness is overrated.

agree with this 100%

I couldn’t care less about BL skins unless they fit my characters, and don’t care how rare anything is or isn’t.

I’m sorry but this is balanced and customer controlled already. If the skins didn’t have the value they do, ppl wouldn’t get keys to get them, supply would go down, and prices would go up. I don’t see this changing. I, also, don’t see skins, apart from those that are discontinued right now, averaging 100g. HoT tanked a lot of those items as ppl moved on to spending their gold on Ascended powercreep (ie. 4 stats etc).

*Scribe/GHs has also sucked tons of gold out along with farm nerfs and players moving from farms to do new things.

It isn’t the rarity that makes BL skins attractive. They’re just far more artistic than anything in core. But they are far too difficult to get. After 11 months I finally accumulated enough scraps for one measly ticket. That’s enough to get a weapon from one weaponset in BL – all the other weaponsets in there require two tickets, and there’s so many fantastic designs in there! It’s frustrating that it’s so hard to get them, even if you had the RL money to throw at it.

I agree totally, but really I find it unfortunate that Arenanet made 476 skins where most are just going away due to how difficult they are to get with current methods. So much time put in to a huge array of cosmetics that really is just getting wasted. If you value the game you have built from the ground up then you should always tweak to adapt old content otherwise it dies off; severing or simply burying this is often times quite a brutal and fail option for any developer, considering this content is quality and would return popular if it were put into reach of players.

The Mountain That Rides.4685:

Let’s say they become far easier to obtain. What happens? Oh, they become super cheap and far, far more common? Kinda like the core skins you say nobody want to use.

Guess why nobody wants to use the core skins. Hint: b/c they are common. Take the crystalline and sephis axe skins in this game. Few use them, yet they were some of the most sought after in GW1. Why? Because they were rare in that game.

Not really true. Most of the prettiest designed skins with the clearest level of detail work put into them are not easy to obtain. That’s intentional. Rarity is only part of it. Just compare some of the rarer skins with others and notice how the most eye-catching, fancy ones sell for more, even when the rarity is the same.

There’s no reason the pendulum needs to swing completely in the other direction. Making BL skins mildly more accessible/appealing to more players isn’t a slippery slope. That’s what economists are for.

After 5 years, they should be made available to buy for something like 200 to 400 gems each directly from the wardrobe based on their demand. The cheapest would be the ones less people bought, the most expensive would be the ones more people bought.

You just click the icon in the wardrobe, pay the gem price, get the skin. Ding.

Why 5 years? So people get to enjoy exclusivity for that time. 5 years is more than enough to show off a pretty skin. After that, it’s time to switch to the next model if you want to show off something, let the rest of the kids enjoy them too without having to grind keys or spend fortunes in freaking RNG key or depend on people selling them in the trading post.

ok, i will agree with you that anet releases too many weapon skins and the market is saturated, because i actually do own about 50% of all black lion skins back when iw ent out of my way to collect ALL of them. i think anet would make more money only releasing partial sets of weapons.

for example the glittering weapon set is nice for magic weapons but the hammer and swords look pathetic, nobody wants those, why not only make the magic set?

i should point out however that ur math is way off, u can get 2 weapon tickets per black lion key AND there is a roughly 1 in 50 chance of instantly getting a full claim ticket so u need to re adjust ur math, also if a single black lion skin was 30 to 50$ each you could just spend half that on gems, convert the gems into gold and then use the gold to buy the skin

MithranArkanere.8957:

After 5 years, they should be made available to buy for something like 200 to 400 gems each directly from the wardrobe based on their demand. The cheapest would be the ones less people bought, the most expensive would be the ones more people bought.

You just click the icon in the wardrobe, pay the gem price, get the skin. Ding.

Why 5 years? So people get to enjoy exclusivity for that time. 5 years is more than enough to show off a pretty skin. After that, it’s time to switch to the next model if you want to show off something, let the rest of the kids enjoy them too without having to grind keys or spend fortunes in freaking RNG key or depend on people selling them in the trading post.

exclusiveness and rareness should last FOREVER, re releasing old items is the main reason this game has not had good player retention, its impossible for me to be motivated when all i have acheived is now on sale again for some new player

Duke Nukem.6783:

MithranArkanere.8957:

After 5 years, they should be made available to buy for something like 200 to 400 gems each directly from the wardrobe based on their demand. The cheapest would be the ones less people bought, the most expensive would be the ones more people bought.

You just click the icon in the wardrobe, pay the gem price, get the skin. Ding.

Why 5 years? So people get to enjoy exclusivity for that time. 5 years is more than enough to show off a pretty skin. After that, it’s time to switch to the next model if you want to show off something, let the rest of the kids enjoy them too without having to grind keys or spend fortunes in freaking RNG key or depend on people selling them in the trading post.

exclusiveness and rareness should last FOREVER, re releasing old items is the main reason this game has not had good player retention, its impossible for me to be motivated when all i have acheived is now on sale again for some new player

You have the glory of being there first.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Duke Nukem.6783:

MithranArkanere.8957:

After 5 years, they should be made available to buy for something like 200 to 400 gems each directly from the wardrobe based on their demand. The cheapest would be the ones less people bought, the most expensive would be the ones more people bought.

You just click the icon in the wardrobe, pay the gem price, get the skin. Ding.

Why 5 years? So people get to enjoy exclusivity for that time. 5 years is more than enough to show off a pretty skin. After that, it’s time to switch to the next model if you want to show off something, let the rest of the kids enjoy them too without having to grind keys or spend fortunes in freaking RNG key or depend on people selling them in the trading post.

exclusiveness and rareness should last FOREVER, re releasing old items is the main reason this game has not had good player retention, its impossible for me to be motivated when all i have acheived is now on sale again for some new player

You have the glory of being there first.

not enough, you will just have to content yourself with never having certain items, thats how an mmo is supposed to be.

Duke Nukem.6783:

not enough, you will just have to content yourself with never having certain items, thats how an mmo is supposed to be.

Honest question here, but says who?

And don’t forget we’re talking about weapon skins gained from Black Lion Ticket Scraps. They’re not rewards earned in game, unless you’ve been farming keys. Anyone willing to throw enough (tons of) money at keys can eventually get one when the sets come out. They’re not exclusive to skill or grinding.

You probably have pokemon syndrome. Ask yourself do you even want that pokemon. Or you just felt empty unless you catch them all.

Palador.2170:

Duke Nukem.6783:

not enough, you will just have to content yourself with never having certain items, thats how an mmo is supposed to be.

Honest question here, but says who?

And don’t forget we’re talking about weapon skins gained from Black Lion Ticket Scraps. They’re not rewards earned in game, unless you’ve been farming keys. Anyone willing to throw enough (tons of) money at keys can eventually get one when the sets come out. They’re not exclusive to skill or grinding.

any1 can get it if you throw money at it…..thats kinda the point, i did throw money at it and you didnt, so i deserve to always have it and the BEST thing about having it is knowing that others do not, anet has probably realized this by now as we are not seeing old sets re released so often anymore

Duke Nukem.6783:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Duke Nukem.6783:

MithranArkanere.8957:

After 5 years, they should be made available to buy for something like 200 to 400 gems each directly from the wardrobe based on their demand. The cheapest would be the ones less people bought, the most expensive would be the ones more people bought.

You just click the icon in the wardrobe, pay the gem price, get the skin. Ding.

Why 5 years? So people get to enjoy exclusivity for that time. 5 years is more than enough to show off a pretty skin. After that, it’s time to switch to the next model if you want to show off something, let the rest of the kids enjoy them too without having to grind keys or spend fortunes in freaking RNG key or depend on people selling them in the trading post.

exclusiveness and rareness should last FOREVER, re releasing old items is the main reason this game has not had good player retention, its impossible for me to be motivated when all i have acheived is now on sale again for some new player

You have the glory of being there first.

not enough, you will just have to content yourself with never having certain items, thats how an mmo is supposed to be.

The biggest irony is how you desire to stand out… yet you borrow a nomiker from a computer game character instead of inventing your own. Time to kick kitten and chew gum?

Duke Nukem.6783:

Palador.2170:

Duke Nukem.6783:

not enough, you will just have to content yourself with never having certain items, thats how an mmo is supposed to be.

Honest question here, but says who?

And don’t forget we’re talking about weapon skins gained from Black Lion Ticket Scraps. They’re not rewards earned in game, unless you’ve been farming keys. Anyone willing to throw enough (tons of) money at keys can eventually get one when the sets come out. They’re not exclusive to skill or grinding.

any1 can get it if you throw money at it…..thats kinda the point, i did throw money at it and you didnt, so i deserve to always have it and the BEST thing about having it is knowing that others do not, anet has probably realized this by now as we are not seeing old sets re released so often anymore

And some people got it because luck handed them what they needed to get it. They got it for free, while you paid for it. Doesn’t that bother you, if that’s how you view this stuff?

Duke Nukem.6783:

exclusiveness and rareness should last FOREVER, re releasing old items is the main reason this game has not had good player retention, its impossible for me to be motivated when all i have acheived is now on sale again for some new player

People who get pleasure out of other people not having things they already have are the worst sort of people.

Anet realized this problem at some point during LS1! At the time they changed the blc weapon system, so you can get all of them for tickets they had a great basic idea:
New blc set → buy weapon cheap for 1 ticket. With the next new set → raise price a little bit. They wanted to do this up to a point where you can get old skins with grind (5 tickets/skin), but that there is no good way for TP barons to buy old skins cheaply in masses.
Most important part, the main idea from anet was to remove the sets at some point and reintroduce them later again for cheap (1 ticket). That way everyone wants blc tickets, trader can flip and trade, the skins are available for every long time customer again and again.

Sadly it seems that at some point during the last year some economic/marketing person seemed to have thought that new sets every two weeks (instead of a rotation and sometimes a new set) would be better.
That different approach is the reason why now the whole blc set is a pure fail now. The extreme old Skins get more and more expensive. Noone wants the new sets (be real, doeas anyone know which set was introduced last without looking it up? Or which the current set is?). If you look it up most of the blc sets released during the last year are still at the same TP price (no market fluctuation at all). So currently the people just use tickets on any skin to sell it or they are hoarding tickets for the case if anet might release a set with weapons they want.
Ther is currently just no reasonable system/idea behindert the blc weapon skins! An other example, why did anet add aehterized aweapons as fractal loot, why not fused)? Or why didn’t they just rerelease atherzied for 2 weeks again? Why have been Chaos eaepons back again and zodiac not? … It’s just no reasonable concept!

Duke Nukem.6783:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Duke Nukem.6783:

MithranArkanere.8957:

After 5 years, they should be made available to buy for something like 200 to 400 gems each directly from the wardrobe based on their demand. The cheapest would be the ones less people bought, the most expensive would be the ones more people bought.

You just click the icon in the wardrobe, pay the gem price, get the skin. Ding.

Why 5 years? So people get to enjoy exclusivity for that time. 5 years is more than enough to show off a pretty skin. After that, it’s time to switch to the next model if you want to show off something, let the rest of the kids enjoy them too without having to grind keys or spend fortunes in freaking RNG key or depend on people selling them in the trading post.

exclusiveness and rareness should last FOREVER, re releasing old items is the main reason this game has not had good player retention, its impossible for me to be motivated when all i have acheived is now on sale again for some new player

You have the glory of being there first.

not enough, you will just have to content yourself with never having certain items, thats how an mmo is supposed to be.

If the item was gated by skill then I’d say yes that’s how mmos work. But even for those there are ways of making them more available. But skins that have a duration? That’s a terrible idea and in no way “how an mmo is supposed to be”.

Exclusiveness and rareness can last forever, if the method of acquisition is always the same.

Duke Nukem.6783:

any1 can get it if you throw money at it…..thats kinda the point, i did throw money at it and you didnt, so i deserve to always have it and the BEST thing about having it is knowing that others do not, anet has probably realized this by now as we are not seeing old sets re released so often anymore

You know that some of the old black lion weapon sets have disappeared from the TP so it’s really impossible to get them anymore. No matter how much money you throw you will never get them. And others, due to being non-available anymore, have heavily inflated prices.

The Fused set was never re-released to my knowledge.

Lite Ning Strike.5203:

Palador.2170:

They do make a good point about a lot of the skins being “wasted”, though. Or, rather, of questionable development value because so few wind up with them.

Personally, I’d be fine with them becoming a lot more common. I don’t care if it’s exclusive or not, just if it looks good for the character using it.

I agree with you, exclusive isn’t why I chose a skin or weapon it’s how it looks. I like the little animations from some but not all. It is a personal choice thing, not everyone has to be the “only” special snowflake with that weapon/skin…lol

Rarity is overrated, imo. I want everyone to be able to look cool for a reasonable cost. It bums me out a little that there’s people who’ve been playing for years and can’t afford much beyond the basic skins that were available at launch.

I suppose it’s good for business, but we’ve got a ton of low-quality skins that nobody wants, and a bunch of amazing stuff that most can’t afford. The middle ground between ’em is just far too limited.

Akkeros.1675:

I wish i could sell you all my tickets that i never use

You can. Ask the OP how they want to spend them and have them send partial payment up front. Spend the tickets. Send the items. Have the OP send the rest. (Or you can also post on the TP at a fixed time for an agreed upon amount — more secure, although 15% of the value is lost to Evon Gnashblade’s coffers.)

Platinum.8520:

The Mountain That Rides.4685:

Let’s say they become far easier to obtain. What happens? Oh, they become super cheap and far, far more common? Kinda like the core skins you say nobody want to use.

Guess why nobody wants to use the core skins. Hint: b/c they are common. Take the crystalline and sephis axe skins in this game. Few use them, yet they were some of the most sought after in GW1. Why? Because they were rare in that game.

If the numbers in your post mean anything at all to me, it’s that the prices of these weapon skins being sold on the TP are far too low for 90% of them.

But they are very expensive though. Maybe you just have too much money or time on your hands.

Of 27 sets, only five have an average TP price (per weapon) of more than 200g. On a per weapon basis, that seems inexpensive to me — it’s only expensive if you’re trying to collect them all or want some of the now-retired skins.

Duke Nukem.6783:

exclusiveness and rareness should last FOREVER, re releasing old items is the main reason this game has not had good player retention, its impossible for me to be motivated when all i have acheived is now on sale again for some new player

Really?

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Platinum.8520:

The Mountain That Rides.4685:

Let’s say they become far easier to obtain. What happens? Oh, they become super cheap and far, far more common? Kinda like the core skins you say nobody want to use.

Guess why nobody wants to use the core skins. Hint: b/c they are common. Take the crystalline and sephis axe skins in this game. Few use them, yet they were some of the most sought after in GW1. Why? Because they were rare in that game.

If the numbers in your post mean anything at all to me, it’s that the prices of these weapon skins being sold on the TP are far too low for 90% of them.

But they are very expensive though. Maybe you just have too much money or time on your hands.

Of 27 sets, only five have an average TP price (per weapon) of more than 200g. On a per weapon basis, that seems inexpensive to me — it’s only expensive if you’re trying to collect them all or want some of the now-retired skins.

200g is quite a bit considering that is one weapon, and buying a few more can equal a precursor price. Why does buying more equal being a collector? I have many toons who would look great from buying a few considering they use more than ONE weapon. Instead of spending gold on skins I’d rather make ascended weapons, but doesn’t that reiterate the whole subject of discussion here? There is no incentive to get the skins in general because of the time or money gate behind them, and lets be honest here—very few people will try to collect all 476 skins. Wanting to buy more than one doesn’t make you a collector. How long does it take to make 200g? You can really say it is easy, but in a game that has slow content patches it is easy to see no one really wants to farm for hours to get ONE skin. Sure some people have a lot of money and having wealth makes it easier to invest and gain more wealth, but most don’t.

You need to think objectively here and realize that these are not special skins that require huge quests to gain, or large quantities of crafting materials. They are quite frankly exclusive and with a certain amount of money(in game or real life currency) can be acquired instantly. An item of that “rarity” isn’t rare at all. I do not think exclusivity is very player friendly when it comes to black lion skins. Sure precursors are rare and can be bought instantly, but you have a means to acquire them through mystic forge, monster drops, or even achievement crafting.

Quite honestly I think it is selfish to say people are entitled to the limited skins they have gotten. What about new players? Oh sorry you can’t get fused skins unless you fork over 1000g. No one thinks these skins should be free, but the intention of them was really a money generator for Arenanet, but it has become over-saturated with the vast number of skins. How could anyone be opposed to making them more easily obtainable? Do you as a player not feel shorthanded in content? Forced to farm gold to get one measly skin? Look to the future on this— at the rate it is going there will be hundreds more. I don’t think flipping the trading post and farming for all eternity was the intention of the developers. I believe this practice really pulls away from the game and really has made a bad image for them.

Duke Nukem.6783:

[…]
exclusiveness and rareness should last FOREVER, re releasing old items is the main reason this game has not had good player retention, its impossible for me to be motivated when all i have acheived is now on sale again for some new player

NO.

The ‘last iPhone’ is never the last iPhone.

Most home appliances were exclusive to the rich until they became available for all. TVs, computers, washing machines… first exclusive to rich, then available to all to some degree.

Hell, even luxury items like clothes and sports car can be also bought on the cheap over time.

Exclusivity can only be over time, and most people should agree with that, except people with the sickening personality of Martin Shkreli. Remember that Wu-Tang clan CD he now uses as a coaster. That’s absolute exclusivity in a nutshell for you.

NO.

When it’s something you simply buy, not something you earn like a reward achievement, exclusivity can only be over time. After enough time, that exclusivity has to decrease or drop altogether.

The only exclusivity that can be absolute is rewards from gameplay like Liadri’s mini, Golden fractal relics or exclusive Raid rewards.

Duke Nukem.6783:

for example the glittering weapon set is nice for magic weapons but the hammer and swords look pathetic, nobody wants those, why not only make the magic set?

Because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What looks nice to you may not look nice to others. I for one, happen to like the Glittering Sword.

Gendou.9620:

Does anyone see the problem here?

There is no problem because the target audience of black lion tickets are compulsive gamblers, the ones that bring the most income to company. It’s well known that in free-to-play games there’s huge portion of playerbase that never spends any real money on items, so games have to be designed to compensate for that.

Zenith.6403:

Gendou.9620:

Does anyone see the problem here?

There is no problem because the target audience of black lion tickets are compulsive gamblers, the ones that bring the most income to company. It’s well known that in free-to-play games there’s huge portion of playerbase that never spends any real money on items, so games have to be designed to compensate for that.

Unfortunately this is not a free-to-play game (free accounts have limitations). Free-to-play MMOs where players are involved in the economy have no entry fee, this game does. Free to play but not free to dip into the economy. That would be a problem then. Myself and many others spent at least 120$ on this game on both initial releases, some lucky to get it for less. Players who spend money on a game become consumers, and that creates a whole ballpark for standards that should be set. Arenanet has constantly stated they are for the player and their experience, and if they wish to honor that they should realize taking advantage of gambling addictions is going to plunder their player base into a toxic and ghostly community— and by the way a huge portion of the player base does spend money on this game(buying a $60 expansion does constitute)—that is why they release gem store items so often, and more importantly many people spend hundreds of hours of time spent in a game they paid for and are dripped rewards. In fact, if you wanted to spend $20 per month on gems you at most would get two measly items. No other pay per month MMO, which is less per month, has such a vast amount of gated rewards for time spent.

Also does anyone else feel like this is somewhat similar to the way amiibos for nintendo were released? I sense a strong and greedy similarity…

Hello, If I could add something to the debate, even if its maybe raising this post from the dead (Im about to create char necromancer so a bit of roleplay is needed), it is that I have to agree with the creator of this post at the very base of this problem. I am having guildwars2 for 3 years now I think (not much relevant but so you know I have spent some time trying to get some of the skins), but the point is that I would really like to get the plasma/laser claymore and the shield because I simply like the way they look like. So the story is as much as I want to get them I have only 11 ticket scraps which is not even far from the dream. But hey, I want my character to look cool so Im gonna open my wallet and buy it. Oh wait… Im spending my few bucks on the game even though I study and people say I could spare it for something better. I wouldnt really care If I to buy it for 20 or 40$ since I it is not the struggle, but those are the skins I really want. (Dont get this wrong, Im not trying to cry or begg it out of anybody). But problem lies in how could I buy these? Im not farming Black lion keys and I dont like gambling in pc games, If I want a skin I just spare some coin and buy it instead of trying my luck in random case/treasure opening. So, I have to say it is very discouraging for me to buy these skins, since I would have to buy a lot of treasures with no guarantee of getting these skins, or look for some crazy bundels with a 1 ticket, where I would just trash the rest. Yeah, It makes me want to just stop playing and after I grind my legendary and meanwhile I want to simply progress with other characters picking up new gear but I cant. I have stack of 4 Map explorations in my bank, that means 4 characters that I want some skins on, and for you it is a good opportunity to make $$$Cashout$$$ out of me, I want to give you my money, but Im not going to just throw it up in random gambling I dont Approve. Sorry to tell you, but you are loosing a customer here And to the problem of the prize drop. Im sure you can make those skins account bound on aquire which they already are, you deny profit from third party trying to sell them for real money or gold. From the point I see it, I have a lot of rng scraps to find, and you have a lot of opportunities to make money that you are about to miss, since as this thread shows, I am far from being the only customer you could make money out of. Anyway sorry for my english since I am not a native speaker and basicaly a loOOoong whine post from a customer who beggs you to take his money and has a strong opinion on how bad is your marketing when he has no idea what is he actualy talking about. (When I narrow it down a bit, while trying to still stay on the topic.)

Sergeant Major Obvious.9524:

Hello, If I could add something to the debate, even if its maybe raising this post from the dead (Im about to create char necromancer so a bit of roleplay is needed), it is that I have to agree with the creator of this post at the very base of this problem.

I am having guildwars2 for 3 years now I think (not much relevant but so you know I have spent some time trying to get some of the skins), but the point is that I would really like to get the plasma/laser claymore and the shield because I simply like the way they look like.

So the story is as much as I want to get them I have only 11 ticket scraps which is not even far from the dream. But hey, I want my character to look cool so Im gonna open my wallet and buy it. Oh wait… Im spending my few bucks on the game even though I study and people say I could spare it for something better. I wouldnt really care If I to buy it for 20 or 40$ since I it is not the struggle, but those are the skins I really want. (Dont get this wrong, Im not trying to cry or begg it out of anybody). But problem lies in how could I buy these? Im not farming Black lion keys and I dont like gambling in pc games, If I want a skin I just spare some coin and buy it instead of trying my luck in random case/treasure opening. So, I have to say it is very discouraging for me to buy these skins, since I would have to buy a lot of treasures with no guarantee of getting these skins, or look for some crazy bundels with a 1 ticket, where I would just trash the rest.

Yeah, It makes me want to just stop playing and after I grind my legendary and meanwhile I want to simply progress with other characters picking up new gear but I cant. I have stack of 4 Map explorations in my bank, that means 4 characters that I want some skins on, and for you it is a good opportunity to make $$$Cashout$$$ out of me, I want to give you my money, but Im not going to just throw it up in random gambling I dont Approve. Sorry to tell you, but you are loosing a customer here

And to the problem of the prize drop. Im sure you can make those skins account bound on aquire which they already are, you deny profit from third party trying to sell them for real money or gold. From the point I see it, I have a lot of rng scraps to find, and you have a lot of opportunities to make money that you are about to miss, since as this thread shows, I am far from being the only customer you could make money out of.

Anyway sorry for my english since I am not a native speaker and basicaly a loOOoong whine post from a customer who beggs you to take his money and has a strong opinion on how bad is your marketing when he has no idea what is he actualy talking about. (When I narrow it down a bit, while trying to still stay on the topic.)

Paragraphs are your friend. It’s hard to read your post as a wall of text.

So out of this I got that you want to buy the plasma greatsword skin and the plasma shield skin instead of using black lion tickets?

Did you try the trading post?

https://www.gw2tp.com/item/77414-plasma-greatsword-skin about 100 gold
https://www.gw2tp.com/item/77405-plasma-shield-skin About 100 gold.

Akkeros.1675:

I wish i could sell you all my tickets that i never use

You can choose whatever skins you want when exchanging the tickets and send it to me, i will accept it with heavy heart, knees weak and moms spagetti. You’re wellcome.

The Black Lion weapons are strictly NOT like the common exotics we get (who else has sold 5000 Stardust bows by now?) because their art design is much more detailed and intricate. Even if plasma weapons cost 1 gold people would still use them to fit their character, as well as fused weapons and whatever other Black Lion skin you can think of. People gotta stop using the exclusivity argument to them, because what makes them uncommon is precisely how hard it is to get them without spending what would get you a nice glider/gems/ascended/legendary grade stuff. The Black Lion skins are a total waste of developer effort and it should actually be offensive to the art team that they are spending so much time on what Anet apparently considers to be filler. We already have enough rare skins (e.g Aetherized weapons) without having to throw 90% of them into a literal trashcan of unnattractiveness (is this even a word?).

But you’re missing the point OP. They are suppose to be so awesome looking that people will spend real money to buy gems to spend them on keys to get one. It’s a “reward” for supporting ANet.

Problem is there use to be a 2nd major source of keys, key farming now nerfed to once a week. These “free” keys undoubtedly led to many of the skins that were sold on the TP but now that source is all but gone, the more popular BL skins are becoming extinct.

Then there’s the issue with the exchange, it’s been “smarter” for a long time now to convert gems to gold and buy the skin you want off the TP rather than facing RNG bought keys, at the previous drop rate for tickets and scraps.

That’s why I think we’re seeing this “new” BL chest. Ticket scraps look to be dropping even more frequent than before, so a better chance that 25 keys yield at least 10 scraps. Combine that with the chance of getting skins directly from the rare and super rare BL sets, there is also a chance to get a random BL skin (doesn’t include the most recent) unlocked from the Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock Ticket.

That’s my two copper.

Gravedigger activated

I totally agree with this!

MithranArkanere.8957:

After 5 years, they should be made available to buy for something like 200 to 400 gems each directly from the wardrobe based on their demand. The cheapest would be the ones less people bought, the most expensive would be the ones more people bought.

You just click the icon in the wardrobe, pay the gem price, get the skin. Ding.

Why 5 years? So people get to enjoy exclusivity for that time. 5 years is more than enough to show off a pretty skin. After that, it’s time to switch to the next model if you want to show off something, let the rest of the kids enjoy them too without having to grind keys or spend fortunes in freaking RNG key or depend on people selling them in the trading post.

Do not want

I wish Anet could find some middle ground.

Ardid.7203:

I don’t know most people’s opinion… but at least I only use skins that I like, and I think are coherent with my character. If they are made in the crafting stations, obtained through rng or paid with gems doesn’t matter to me.

As an example, I have a Guardian with a “rough ceramic” theme, who uses some asuran cultural pieces mixed with a few common basic armors and beaded Hylek weapons. I could maybe incorporate some ley-line armor to him, but ley line weapons just wouldnt work, and none of the black lion items would, either. I don’t care how exclusive are the pieces of his equipment. I only care he looks like I want him to.

Rareness is overrated.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. I don’t use things just because they are rare or hard to get because frankly, most of the rare hard to get things either don’t fit themes I want for my characters or are downright stupid/ugly.

This is all really a matter of personal preference but anyone who equips an item because of rarity is ‘doing it wrong’ in a manner of speaking … I mean, how can any one claim to care about how a skin looks and use it if they are purchasing and using it because of rarity? I think the complaint here in the thread is more about collecting than using skins.

Slowpokeking.8720:

I wish Anet could find some middle ground.

They have and we’re in it; we just don’t realize it because each of us wants what we want and can’t see why it might be good for the game that some stuff is really hard-to-acquire and that some stuff is easily acquired.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Slowpokeking.8720:

I wish Anet could find some middle ground.

They have and we’re in it; we just don’t realize it because each of us wants what we want and can’t see why it might be good for the game that some stuff is really hard-to-acquire and that some stuff is easily acquired.

No, the price for those skins are still sky high.

There are a lot of neat weapons but at this point, with there being so many sets, I feel like the design effort is wasted more than anything. There’s tons of armor diversity people literally beg Anet for (coatless chest pieces that end at the waist, pants without buttcapes, etc) but they still stick to only making weapons because it’s easier. But effort spent on 1 armor set unique from the previous kinds instead of 4-5 new weapon sets a month would be more entertaining. People with Legendary weapons have even less use for BL weapons since not using something you sunk all that effort into wouldn’t be very exciting. Armor would be more useful. As a Thief (with Legendary weapons) I don’t really have many weapons usable by my profession to begin with anyways so most of the time when I get a ticket I just buy something to sell later.

The issue is really for a game that eschews a subscription or optional VIP plan choosing instead a cash shop, needs to keep the cash shop fresh with a stream of new items. Of course this means as time passes the number of items that got introduced becomes huge.

In the end, it doesn’t matter that old ones are forgotten as long as the new items keep the cash flowing into the store. Old ones can be pulled and brought back for a limited time and “seems” new, especially for those players that haven’t been here since the beginning.