Guild Wars 2

Note: I mean outside of actually buying the game (duh), have you paid for anything in game with real money?

I’m just curious how many people have (and haven’t) paid for various things concerning their characters.

I, for one, am almost totally new and have bought nothing, and I plan on forcing myself to avoid the temptation of buying something for irl money. There’s nothing wrong with it, but I’ve spent far too much $$$ on another game and I don’t want to take myself down that road again, because, at least for me, once I start I can’t seem to stop. :P

Yea, I used to spend gems on a regular basis for things like armor skins, permanent gathering tools, etc. I’ve played since beta, so I don’t know how much I’ve spent total, but it probably averages to about $10-20 a month up until the last month or two when I stopped.

I haven’t bought anything in a while largely because it doesn’t seem like there has been much engaging content added.

I.e. I only invest in the game when I feel like the game is investing in me too.

I started out the same way, but it took so long for me to buy my first extra character slot with gold→gem conversion. I was chipping at the daunting 800 gem cost, a few silver at a time. By the time I bought the first one for gems, I’d gotten impatient and flat out bought another. :P

Rauderi.8706:

I started out the same way, but it took so long for me to buy my first extra character slot with gold->gem conversion. I was chipping at the daunting 800 gem cost, a few silver at a time. By the time I bought the first one for gems, I’d gotten impatient and flat out bought another. :P

O.o
Like I said already (I think), I’m a total noob… So… I wasn’t aware you could convert gold to gems? huge revelation
How is this done? (Sorry)

ofLegends.9853:

O.o
Like I said already (I think), I’m a total noob… So… I wasn’t aware you could convert gold to gems? huge revelation
How is this done? (Sorry)

Open the Black Lion Trading post (press the O key on your keyboard) and one of the tabs on the left of the interface will be the gem conversion tab.

you go to the black lion market and just click on the currency exchange. You can exchange in-game money for gems or gems for in-game money. But as Rauderi pointed out, it is a long process…

i was very lucky and started off the game from my very first day with several hundred gold (THANKS BLACK LION CHESTS) so i spent a full year getting any gemstore item at my whim at no cost to me. afte that cash cow finally ran out i did end up buying gems to get some watchwork pics once i realized they were better than the last versions of the gathering pics. other than that no i havnt bought anything with irl money other than tools but i do plan to in the future

I think I bought gems at some point… yeah, I got some aviator glasses a long time ago. Alright purchase, too, since it seems they are no longer available, and they’ll look hella good on my engineer once I get him a ballin rifle.

However, now I have a strict no-gems policy. I refuse to support this awful business model in which it is advantageous to the developers to not let the players have too much money. Now, obviously I don’t mean you can’t get money or nice things just by playing the game. I’m just saying that the ability to convert between gems and gold means that it is in ArenaNet’s interest to keep gold gain low and the conversion rate high so people are more likely to buy gems with $$. It’s not a good thing when the supplier’s interests conflict with the consumers’.

Again, to be clear, I’m not claiming that ArenaNet is definitely manipulating loot tables and gold sources to encourage gem purchases, or that they don’t have complete freedom to do so. I’m just saying that it is in their interest, and they have the means to do it with ease, and if they are doing it, it really blows.

I didn’t buy gems or anything with real money for almost a year after launch. Now, I spend maybe $10 a month on gems, in case something shiny comes out in the gem store.

Andred.1087:

I think I bought gems at some point… yeah, I got some aviator glasses a long time ago. Alright purchase, too, since it seems they are no longer available, and they’ll look hella good on my engineer once I get him a ballin rifle.

However, now I have a strict no-gems policy. I refuse to support this awful business model in which it is advantageous to the developers to not let the players have too much money. Now, obviously I don’t mean you can’t get money or nice things just by playing the game. I’m just saying that the ability to convert between gems and gold means that it is in ArenaNet’s interest to keep gold gain low and the conversion rate high so people are more likely to buy gems with $$. It’s not a good thing when the supplier’s interests conflict with the consumers’.

Again, to be clear, I’m not claiming that ArenaNet is definitely manipulating loot tables and gold sources to encourage gem purchases, or that they don’t have complete freedom to do so. I’m just saying that it is in their interest and they have the means to do it with ease.

It’s a good point.
Right now, I’m perfectly happy with this game. But of course, you’re always happy with the game when you’re new. I was even happier when I first started WoW, and I realize now that if I could never have spent more than I had to, I wouldn’t have. I feel the same as you: they have a bad model. I wish I could take it back, but it’s too late.

That’s why I’m not allowing myself to buy gems here. Looking ahead, I don’t know how I will feel about this game a year or two down the road, and I don’t want to wish once again that I hadn’t spent so much. Of course it’s pretty awesome right now, I bought the game once and now play for free!

None so far. Not because I don’t think the game is worth it (I do), but because being in Venezuela means I’m severely limited to how much I can legally spend online ($300 a year tops, non accumulative, renewed every january).

I have bough quite a few things in the gem store, though, but all from gold to gem. I’m not planning on getting a legendary in the future, and taking my time with crafting and stuff, so basically don’t have a need for that much gold, usually when I get to 100g or so I conver about half of it to gems so I have some saved for a rainy day. I’ve spent them in things like extra char and bank slots (when they’ve been on sale), the primeval armor set (which is currently shared between my guardian and warrior) and some other things.

That’s very smart of you. I think I will do that also.

Mainly I buy gems to get minis, which are very definitely for me, not my characters. (My main is a bit of a Mary-Sue but this is one place we’re very different, she doesn’t approve at all of me spending ‘her’ gold on minis.)

Other than that I have bought a few things, infinite gathering tools, panda hat, an extra character slot, an extra bank tab, I bought the pirate costume too buy then got a refund after the wardrobe update made town outfits not worth having….I feel like there must be more things I’ve bought, but I think that’s it.

Personally I don’t worry about how I imagine I might feel about future updates and whether it will be something I’ll want to support. I just look at it as a straight transaction. I just think about whether that item is worth that amount of money to me.

Welcome! I’m fairly new myself, and I also am trying not to buy things through the gem store. I focus more on gameplay, so the cosmetic items don’t really interest me. I did pay $50 to Path of Exile but haven’t spent the game currency yet; I figured that since it was free-to-play while the designers are avoiding “pay-to-win,” it was good karma to show my appreciation for the game by giving them some money.

So far, the only thing I’ve needed was more storage space; I did the “personal guild bank” option to get a bit more space, but I’m still pretty full up. Leveling Cooking tends to fill up inventory quickly.

I think that I will eventually spend some money to get a couple more character slots (I have 1 main, 1 alt, and 1 crafter alt right now), which I feel are fair and reasonable microtransactions, and probably more bank space for them. It does feel a bit crunched to not have any personal bank space per character, but I get where they’re coming from.

But otherwise, I want to measure how playable a game like this is without spending any money. So, fistbump

i never bought gems with real money and i never will. i played a korean grind game for more than 5 years and after that i swore myself to pay again for a game with a itemshop.
i did a servertrans here cost me 2800 gem (at the time 150 gold) and bought a few skins for 800 gems (at the time around 50 gold). with the increasing exchange i just have to grind more the money to buy stuff.
greetz exp

Spend some cash each year in my birthday to get some skins but otherwise my gold income is enough to cover gems when I want to convert

I’ve spent $40 on gems. Wanted to try out one of the skins – WAS going to buy a character slot before remembering the trait bullkitten, and instead spent that money on instruments.

Why can’t I dedicate the time I spend learning how to play the harp and flute in GW2 to actually playing and practicing the baritone horn I have gathering dust in a corner in my room IRL is beyond me. The harp and flute can’t even hit the half-step accidentals

I have spent …too much. yes bank slots, yes bag slots… but ..also vanity skins.

It has become so hard to farm gold to convert to gems, I was spending cash,. but as someone above me said… the content being added by the game seems to be Gem store content. As such…I am gonna Button up my purse til I see them add actual content to the game that I enjoy.

Not just any content. Other games do it regularly. Gw2 adds armor and weapon skins regularly….

to the gem store. Not what I had in mind.

yes i have a LOT , wont happen again till i see some improvement , if not nothing more to say or spend on this game , i find it sad its a gem shop a store with a mediocre game attached sighs

if i wanted a store there’s one there * points at the window * this is an MMO not a store sighs

No I haven’t. Everything is from Gold converted to Gems.

But my reasons have to do with protesting NCSOFT for killing City of Heroes. They were getting annually over $100 a year from me which they decided to forgo. Now they will only get a bare minimum. Yes this is unfair to all the people at ArenaNet but it’s an option they allowed and it’s a minimum amount of money to NCSOFT. Wildstar isn’t going to get any of it.

Fortunately I can keep my desires in check, buy a few gems everyday (gem cost averaging), wait for sales and be selective.

Behellagh.1468:

No I haven’t. Everything is from Gold converted to Gems.

But my reasons have to do with protesting NCSOFT for killing City of Heroes. They were getting annually over $100 a year from me which they decided to forgo. Now they will only get a bare minimum. Yes this is unfair to all the people at ArenaNet but it’s an option they allowed and it’s a minimum amount of money to NCSOFT. Wildstar isn’t going to get any of it.

Fortunately I can keep my desires in check, buy a few gems everyday (gem cost averaging), wait for sales and be selective.

I Miss City of Heroes/Villains as well. I am Looking at the Binders from Brady that came when I giot their Guide… for the occasional Updates …CoV..masterminds…

Such potential wasted. City of Heroes even in Free 2 play Mode, was better than gw2.

I like and have bought most of the stuff on the gem store, but hate the bl chests/dye kits/random mini kits as i detest gambling.

Yes I did, I bought gems multiple times.
However after the recent changes and communication patterns from Anet, I’m really considering not to do so any more – so to say, vote with my money.

No I have not bought any gems with real money. Why? Because I think it’s a rip-off.

In Guild Wars 1 I bought every expansion, because they were all worth it. Each expansion had at least half a year’s content of story quests, normal quests, exploration etc. Then, you still had variable PvP modes, Hard Mode for PvE, the Underworld, Urgoz’, countless cosmetics available through playing the game.

In Guild Wars 2, zero expansions, in 2 years time nearly no good content (living story is garbage imo) AND nearly everything that has been released was locked behind a paywall. I would have bought expansions like GW1 if there had been any, but that isn’t the case, instead we are supposed to pay for armour skins AND (even worse) gamble for weapon skins.

Will I buy anything yet? Not if it stays like it is. If they bring a GOOD expansion, sure.

I never spent any real money and I never will. I want that what I have in game actually match my in game effort, rather than being one of those credit card legendary users.

i am buying gem cards every month for 25 euro a month which is even more than sub fee but i might stop paying anet because of no expansion and i hate when even there is no state of the game announcement here. i also buy stuff sometimes not monthly for my second mmo which is swtor, but in swtor we already know expansion with housing is coming, the future is clear unlike gw2. we have minimum info on LS2 .they say its gonna be better ad more permanent but its all hype to me we should wait and see and that is what i hate. just to see what is gonna happen in future and no state of the game that tells you these are the features will come in the future like swtor did.

I have spent some money on gems, but it is only a drop compared to what I would have paid if there was a subscription. I have two accounts and my daughter has two.

Never have, never will. It’s a game and like every game I play, I like to work for the things I want and besides, I don’t see the game worthy of spending money on.

I hate how the game has become.

i don’t agree with everything arena net does
i’m not a gw1 vet and i bought the deluxe edition/early start of this game
i’m a casual player but one who spends a lot of time on their main and i have had no trouble pursuing game items i’ve wanted, i’ve spent no real world money since launch, only time.. although i haven’t experienced anything in game that personally speaks to me as ‘phenomenal and i would recommend this game to others,’ tyria itself has potential and is interesting enough that i’m willing to send some paypal cash this month and hope season 2 turns out ok, brings in a healthy player base and keeps them this time

Absolutely. Every time I hit 80 I reward that character with a little something or somethings. I don’t go overboard but just few things. I don’t give them anything while they’re levelling so they have to put up with karma gear or drops from 1 – 79.

Yep, when there’s something I want on the gemstore. It’s much cheaper than my WoW subscription was. I’ve also used gold-to-gems.

In all honesty I’ve blown a few grand on gems since the 3day head start and release… That being said there have been a few time where I honestly raged hard over the difference of what I thought I was buying and what I actually got, some to the point where I wanted a refund (which you cannot get without closing your account).

I have never bought gems with gold (except for a few times where I accidentally traded gems for gold and then traded the gold back for gems, taking a pretty steep loss.); Mainly because I believe in supporting the development of products that I like. (In full disclosure, I am also a software developer.)

My wife and I play together, we played before we even started dating over 8 years ago. When we where both away for University, we would have “dates” where we would run missions together, farm Underworld, or just play through the storyline.

We have been huge supporters of the Guild Wars franchise since the first beta weekend for Guild Wars (Prophecies, but at the time its was just Guild Wars) . Kitten, we even played Aion for a few weeks too when they had the wings emote promotion.

While I love playing Guild Wars 2 there are many things that make me sad at times, such as bugs going unresolved for months at a time, removal of useful features or lines of play (e.g. Life steal vs Invulnerable enemies), and an overall loss of customization compared to the original Guild Wars series.

I’m sorry to derail the thread a bit, I just thought I should get that off my chest.