Guild Wars 2

Hi,

as someone who has played every day since the beginning of December, the one thing that has irritated me a great deal is the lack of Keys for the chests. I now have over 70 BL chests, and I’m lucky if I get 1 key drop in a 2 week period.

When I first started, I could get 1-2 keys a week, now the rate of key drops is so low, I’m wondering what the point is?

In the first 20 mins of playing today, I got another 2 chests, so quite annoyed.

Yeah key drops used to be much more common. I wonder if they are trying to urge people to buy them in the gem shop with such a low drop rate.

didn’t you hear how much money valve makes off people buying keys for TF2 crates? gotta have em in our game too!

Not sure why you want to open BL chests, it’s a huge waste and most of the stuff that comes out there is not worth it.

That being said, why would they want to increase the drop rate of keys? The key is a shop item, and they have every right to withhold the supply for that.

Just cause you get 50 chests doesn’t mean you have to open all of them. Just look at the supply on the outpost – people dump that like crazy

If you really want some keys, roll a new character and work on map completion as you level it. Between personal story and zone completion, you’ll get about 10.

ElenaDragon.8401:

I wonder if they are trying to urge people to buy them in the gem shop with such a low drop rate.

They are. Whether it’s a good or a bad thing is for you to decide. Personally, I don’t even care about the things so it doesn’t bother me either way. But yes, box to key ratio exists so you feel urged to buy keys from the gem store. Personally, I think this whole “gamble for random items inside this box” is by far one of the worst trends in MMOs these days, but hey, people dish out cash for it so can’t really blame em I guess…

You can farm it if you really want to, I think it’s a complete waste of time and energy for the chests’ content does not worth it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKf2AGldSns

I have never ever gotten a key as a drop. Started with the 3 day headstart. The only keys I have gotten/used where from map completion in the starter zones.

There’s nothing in a Black Lion Chest you need. It’s all pretty much junk.
Myself, I have 290 BLCs in storage.
Ignore them. They’re just a callous way of separating you from your money.

You’ve been getting up to a key every 2 weeks from drops? Do you realize how unusual that is? I’ve gotten maybe 2 keys total and I think that’s a lot more representative. Pretty much you either have to buy them or get them thru personal story. It’s possible to make a character and run thru the human, commoner story line to get the first key. Takes about half an hour to 45 minutes tho, so may not be cost effective.

I get enough BL salvage kits from dailies so it’s alright :P I’ve found 2 keys since launch and 2 from storylines. Those chests are kitten Though I’m glad there’s nothing too good in them, or people would be raging about PAY 2 WIN!!?!

raptor.1064:

didn’t you hear how much money valve makes off people buying keys for TF2 crates? gotta have em in our game too!

This.

Also, how the kitten do you get one key every 2 weeks OP? I’ve had ONE drop since launch. The rest were from personal story(farming it). These key drops are rarer than pre’s imo.

somsom.5201:

These key drops are rarer than pre’s imo.

Yeah, in your opinion. The game disagrees.

Yea during beta is was looting much faster.

I suspect that it was only a marketing move….

I’ve had about 10-12 keys altogether since starting the game in December. Sometimes a key will open a chest and there will be another key inside. I opened 4 chest in a row one time a long while back, but it’s never happened since.

You’re probably right and the stuff inside them is junk, but I suppose it’s the idea of not knowing that kills me

I used to get some keys from the storyline, but not since January. Now, if I’m lucky enough to get a key it’s during regular fighting.

There is a 20-30-min ish run where you can get a key. Create a human warrior of the commoner storyline, and run the personal story till level 10. If you let the NPCs do all the work, you’ll get it done fairly easily.

I’ve done this a few times when I was bored. :p

*Edit: I remember in the betas that keys dropped from chests as well. One time I was able to open 5 chests with only one starter key, because I got new keys in the chest. Hasnt happened for a long time though.

The amount of chests that drop is ridiculous. I have almost 400 chests (probably have looted more, but they get tossed pretty often). I’ve maybe had 4 keys drop since launch. If you are going to make something rare, maybe the chests should be rarer too. I know they want us to buy keys, but the chests are delete from inventory unworthy atm since they only sell on TP for 3c and theres thousands on there.

Maybe they should add black lion keys to daily achievement item pool. Like the rare chance at other shop items. Because most of my alts are done with the personal story that give keys and I have no interest in “farming” them from personal story either. So it would be something to consider.

I’m not going to do the math, but keys are 125 gems (I think), which is either a little over $1.50 or 2.5g at current rates. I opened about 20 chests the other day and mostly what I ended up with were a lot of mystery tonics and boosters, which to me isn’t worth either of those values.

I’m an altoholic so I end up with a lot of keys via personal story, but I’ve had maybe 3 actually drop since I started playing in September. I was kind of hoping for the tiger backpack or the hair contract, now I just have an alt full of account bound junk I won’t ever use.

Astral Projections.7320:

You’ve been getting up to a key every 2 weeks from drops? Do you realize how unusual that is? I’ve gotten maybe 2 keys total and I think that’s a lot more representative. Pretty much you either have to buy them or get them thru personal story. It’s possible to make a character and run thru the human, commoner story line to get the first key. Takes about half an hour to 45 minutes tho, so may not be cost effective.

It doesn’t have to be human/commoner. Any race/class/personal story selection gives a key as reward for level 10 story completion. Human warrior commoner seems to be what most people think is the fastest run, though.

The old key spawn rates worked better, because it gave players a frequent taste of what’s inside and gave them the opportunity to look at the buffs as something worth using, rather than something you stick in the bank “in case you need them some day”.

Not only are they rarer drops/rewards, but they seem to drop from unlocked chests a lot less frequently as well.

The “Big Fish” who will spend $100+ dollars on keys seem to be the only thing they care about. Bragging rights for “how much money some of our players have paid in one month” seems to be a bigger priority than generating more steady revenue through smaller purchases by a greater number of people.

The gem store is a pretty sad story in potential revenue lost pretty much across the board. I fully expected the store to be packed with cosmetic skins and items by now, with at least a half dozen new skins added monthly. Even MMOs with much smaller ongoing budgets and skeleton staffing have managed to devote the required asset development time needed to fuel very steady income via cosmetics.

I really don’t get it. Seems like fleecing those with poor impulse control and deep pockets seems to be the driving force here, rather than offering items that will entice large swaths of the player base to make small purchases on a routine basis.

Disappointing.

raptor.1064:

didn’t you hear how much money valve makes off people buying keys for TF2 crates? gotta have em in our game too!

But the stuff in a TF2 crate is worth buying a key for

TigerDragon.4037:

It doesn’t have to be human/commoner. Any race/class/personal story selection gives a key as reward for level 10 story completion. Human warrior commoner seems to be what most people think is the fastest run, though.

As someone who’s done every personal story arc for every race to level 10 I can say with certainty that human commoner is the fastest/easiest. Warrior is debatable though. I personally thought ranger w/shortbow was much more effective.

Fiontar.4695:

The gem store is a pretty sad story in potential revenue lost pretty much across the board. I fully expected the store to be packed with cosmetic skins and items by now, with at least a half dozen new skins added monthly. Even MMOs with much smaller ongoing budgets and skeleton staffing have managed to devote the required asset development time needed to fuel very steady income via cosmetics.

Well, at least I can say there’s been nothing tempting in the gem store other than account upgrades. I admit, I did expect Tera level of pumping out fabulous cosmetic items though. Even the 3 combat armor skins they have are disappointing compared to some of the ones available in GW1.

Mungrul.9358:

There’s nothing in a Black Lion Chest you need. It’s all pretty much junk.
Myself, I have 290 BLCs in storage.
Ignore them. They’re just a callous way of separating you from your money.

Sort of agree, but I did get my permanent bank contract from them when the free keys were more common. That alone made it worth opening, but the key was free.
I suspect there is a permanent trader in them somewhere too.

Blude.6812:

Sort of agree, but I did get my permanent bank contract from them when the free keys were more common. That alone made it worth opening, but the key was free.
I suspect there is a permanent trader in them somewhere too.

no way, that’s pretty cool. I didn’t even know they had permanent bank contracts in the game, I had to go look that up on the wiki. I never bought a key with gems, I just stack my unopened BL chests in my bank. Not sure why I do that, maybe just in case BL keys are easier to come by one day.

I have never found a key from a normal drop, only from either b/l chests once opened or from character story line. Considering I currently have 1 full stack of 250 chests in the vault and have played a total of 1,483 hours across all characters I end up finding a bl chest every 5.9 hours of gameplay. current cost for 1 key at the trading post is 125 gems or at the current conversion rate 3 gold per key or .70 cents of real life coin.

Now if in all the chests I have opened thanks to 9 characters and their stories I had found something that was useful or that enhanced my gameplay permanently then perhaps the cost would be worth it. However the items in the chest consist mainly of consumeables that last for one hour and are gone. I cannot justify spending money or grinding gold to convert to gems to buy keys with that sort of return for my investment.

Face it, Black Lion chests are nothing more than junk bonds and with almost 3 million of them on the AH most people think the same way. It is not even worth the trouble to place them on the AH.

I would rather have them taken out of the loot tables and done away with completely. Those 250 chests I have currently in the vault represent 250 chances of actually getting something worthwhile from that mob I just killed.

Drops that can only be purchase at the Gem Store is done to introduce and entice purchases with Gems, some hopefully bought with cash since other than the game purchase, Gem purchase with cash is the only source of money to keep the game going. I don’t begrudge ANet for that.

I’ve may have only gotten 3 or 4 keys in the last couple of months, only through area completion chests. However I did find several more in BL chests when I opened them.

The game is free to play. ANet has to make money to run the servers and fund the expansion of content somehow. Buying keys is one of those ways. Given that the chests have nothing really important in them I don’t have a problem with this.

I just throw the chests away when I get them.

As a side note: I am not the type of person to buy costumes, but Anet needs to let those that do wear the costumes in combat. Right now the costumes are pretty useless. Stop shooting yourself in the foot Anet.

Outfit/appearance management inspired from LoTRO would do very well in this game.

I’m a fan of showing off my lootz but I prefer to AFK in my hobo-set, plus it would put a nice touch on any PvP – gear illusions lol.

thisolderhead.5127:

Outfit/appearance management inspired from LoTRO would do very well in this game.

I’m a fan of showing off my lootz but I prefer to AFK in my hobo-set, plus it would put a nice touch on any PvP – gear illusions lol.

I completely agree that the Lotro system of separating appearance from stats is awesome. However, that would do away with the need for transmutation stones, which gets ANET extra money from the gem shop.

I remember that during level 1-10 on pre-release I got two keys as drops. Never again hahaha, but I’m fine with the system.

They would more than make up for any loss of transmutation stones with outfits sold. If they actually had outfits to sell.

ElenaDragon.8401:

thisolderhead.5127:

Outfit/appearance management inspired from LoTRO would do very well in this game.

I’m a fan of showing off my lootz but I prefer to AFK in my hobo-set, plus it would put a nice touch on any PvP – gear illusions lol.

I completely agree that the Lotro system of separating appearance from stats is awesome. However, that would do away with the need for transmutation stones, which gets ANET extra money from the gem shop.

I got about seven keys by doing story missions and exploring with different alts. One key from that main story with my ranger, one with my guardian etc… It adds up fast.
Didn’t get any fancy fancy charr och quagan backpack though (Not like I expected it either, really…)

Took advice of some posters and sold all the chests I was carrying. Within 6 hours I had accumulated another four, lol.

I haven’t gotten one in over three months and i play everyone day…

Im surprised you cant buy keys with laurels, they seems like the perfect solution.

Well I got about 1700h clocked, I am an active pve player with legendary but never saw a key dropping. Only got them from map completions and personal story so far.

I’ve gotten 3 keys from drops since launch. Not much in the chests worth my time…unless you like to gamble. One girl in my guild got the endless makeover kit and sold it for 200 gold.

I’ve opened a whole lot of chests and, for the most part, never got anything all that spectacular.

It’s not like you need anything from the chests to play the game, so let Anet sell the keys. It’s not affecting my game at all.

I have almost 300 Black Lion Chests, I have had less than 5 keys drop for me since the 3 day head start.

It´s a total, complete, utter, über RNG thing, that simple guys.

I found about 4 keys since beta. Last one was just the other day and I had a wierd run of 4 more keys in the chests itself.
Aaand .. got utter crap.
A 50 influence Potion, 3 Armor boosters, lots of mystery tonics. Only half usable drop was a Bank Access.

I played since Headstart/Release and found a total of 5 keys from mob drops. 5th one being this week. TF2 had a better chance at giving you something cool + it was always tradable, but in this game the chance at anything worthwhile is too low to bother. They’d need to flood them with town clothes, hats and weapon skins.

If the chests actually gave a really strong chance at something good, I’d care a lot more on how few I’ve got, around a half doz. And however well they sell at the store, it would be substantially higher I’m sure. Now for me to buy a key with USD, it would have to be some pretty epic loot. Sword of a Infinite Truths +1 or something like that.

Keys drop randomly at a very low chance from mobs, they are also granted from your level 10(?) personal story. Aside from that you can get a stack pretty cheap off gem store. They have added a lot of things to make them better and I think this will only improve. I’ve had some good luck with chests, and I’ve seen 2 keys drop randomly in 2 months-which I don’t think is too bad. The problem is people already level alts to get more and I think making them easier to get makes the good rewards worth less. They do after all need to make money, which I think is why they sell well on trading post. This month they are having sales on various items all month long and maybe keys will pop up. I’ve opened well over a hundred chests and never been disappointed. Here’s just my last 35 key purchase which I made over 50g off of. Which from what I can tell is far more than what I could have made directly transferring. Granted this is luck, but I got quite a good deal of rewards.

Mungrul.9358:

There’s nothing in a Black Lion Chest you need. It’s all pretty much junk.
Myself, I have 290 BLCs in storage.
Ignore them. They’re just a callous way of separating you from your money.

I don’t know…repair canisters and revive orbs can be pretty kitten useful. So are the fine transmutation stones.

And there’s a reason why chests are nearly worthless.

I actually got a key without noticing where it came from, got another key from the chest I opened. Can’t really say you’re losing out on much by not opening them.

I had my first key drop (in over 1500 hours of gameplay) while farming lodes tonight, and I’ve been playing since headstart. Coincidentally, I had started collecting my 2nd stack of chests in storage earlier that day. Far more chests drop than keys, at my rate it’s about 250:1 ratio.

I’ll only use these chests when my alt’s need them while levelling up, but based on my own results so far I’d put the BL keys at the same rarity drop-wise as a precursor.

This is a long article on what’s in a BL chest. It hasn’t been updated to include the backpacks, but otherwise it’s accurate. It basically says it’s not worth it to buy a BL key because there’s so much junk in the chests, now.

http://www.manylaughs.com/2013/01/24/guild-wars-2-is-it-worth-it-to-buy-a-black-lion-key-updated/

So don’t worry about the keys, not until Anet revamps the chests.

So I know I’m in the minority, but for the first two months of the game I had more keys than chests. I got a few from map completion and a few from my PS and a couple as drops. And I would get another key from a chest about 80% of the time. Eventually the chests started catching up, but it took a while!

Now I have about 45 unopened chests, but I play everyday. I haven’t gotten lucky with a perma item from a chest but it’s always nice to get influence and dyes and the such. Just today I got a key from Claw Island and opened 5 chests with it.

Geotherma.2395:

Aside from that you can get a stack pretty cheap off gem store.

Cheap? Really?

1 Key = 125 Gems = $1.5625 = (as of 3pm) 2g 63s 80c

5 Keys = 450 Gems (90 Gems each) = $1.1225 = 1g 89s 94c

I have yet to find anything in the 10 or so chests I’ve opened with free keys from drops to be worth anywhere near that IMO.

Keiran.1896:

Yea during beta is was looting much faster.

I suspect that it was only a marketing move….

A lot of things seemed accelerated during Beta, and probably in the intent of . . . testing it?

Behellagh.1468:

Geotherma.2395:

Aside from that you can get a stack pretty cheap off gem store.

Cheap? Really?

1 Key = 125 Gems = $1.5625 = (as of 3pm) 2g 63s 80c

5 Keys = 450 Gems (90 Gems each) = $1.1225 = 1g 89s 94c

I have yet to find anything in the 10 or so chests I’ve opened with free keys from drops to be worth anywhere near that IMO.

They are “cheap” to me, its relative of course.. I’ve had good luck, in the end its RNG. I spent around $350 this month on the game so far, this includes like the very last week of last month too. I don’t buy gems with gold, only cash to gems. Money isn’t a problem for me but is for some, I can understand that. But overall from my drops and the mini sets, I’m happy with my purchases. I also have a larger average than most, I’ve opened 70 this month alone (2 days) , I’d venture to say I’ve probably opened well over 300 at least in 3 months. Happy with results.