Guild Wars 2

GOSU.9574:

Wow this thread has exploded….

I have to agree there should have been lower tier options for buying gems.

25
50
100
200
400

This would not confuse new players, if it does they are well under the age to be playing any MMO.

Really, if you want to simplify it I’d be happy with
10
100
400
800
2000

Would cover most scenarios of needing to purchase gems and having to buy multiple 10 or 100 wouldn’t be a huge deal to me. Would be extremely easy to add to the new interface while appeasing experienced players.

Aveinda.9260:

I want to be able to spend as many gems (or gold) as i like. Why should you force me to purchase an ‘amount’??? If have 750 gems, I want to buy 750 gems worth of gold! if I had 120 worth of gems, and I wanted to spend them all on gold, why couldn’t I? Today I had 650 gems, and wanted 50 gems to get an outfit. I couldn’t get the 50 gems with my gold, so I go without. This is not fair for either party (gem buyers AND gem sellers). Do not punish us because you have no faith in new players intelligence. It is unfair and rude.

I decided to give this a go with my remaining gems, and converted them to gold. I had approx 418 gems, after having purchased gems for consumables and devil horns. I had considered adding more for the outfits (before I knew of this change, and I maintain my stance of boycotting the gemstore until this is addressed), but wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend the gold on them.

After hearing about this change, I decided to get rid of my gems. The increments I can sell them in, however leave me with a permanent remainder, which is frustrating.

New players won’t have the gold to be able to use the exchange, at least until after their first month in the game, as 81 gold takes quite some time to get to. Even if one is relying on farming, trains, and world bosses – all of which a new player would probably fail to understand, especially if they struggle to understand a simple input system.

Now, they’re excluded from participation entirely, and forced to buy gems with cash if they want anything. INTERESTING. Particularly if said new player just wants to obtain 25 gems for a boost or something.

I’m a bit confused about the options for the gem>gold exchange, as the amounts of 1698, 680, 340, 69, 8 don’t seem to match up well with what is typically left remaining. If I wanted an armor set for 900, I would have to buy/exchange 1200 gems. I would then have 300 gems left over. So, being less than the preset 340 gem exchange, I’d have to opt for several transactions for lesser amounts. 4 * 69 = 276. This leaves 24 gems remaining, resulting in 3 more transactions to bring my balance to zero. This is one of the few scenarios that works at clearing the remainder, but requires seven transactions to get there. I think Anet had this in mind, although they failed to take into account the fact that many had random amounts for their gem balance, and because they didn’t tell us of the change, we’re stuck with them.

If I buy anything that leaves me with a balance ending in 5, it gets messy. i.e., 400 gems, use 200 on a head piece, and 125 on a black lion key, I’ll have 75 gems left over, with the only option being buy something else or exchange 69 gems and be left forever with a remainder of 7.

I’m currently stuck with 1 gem, which I will never be able to get rid of. If you have a balance that is less than 8 gems, you’re pretty much SOL unless you buy more. Even then, you might be able to reduce it by buying something ending in 5, but then – again – you’re stuck with gems remaining.

Fits the change perfectly

Gaile Gray.6029:

I’m not here to apologize. I’m here to communicate and right now, the communication is coming in without a whole lot of substance. Over to you for suggestions and constructive input!

I appreciate the will to communicate in a thread full of outcries, but don’t you think there is a huge reason for it? It’s not only a simple design-misstep like creating a overpowered profession. This is a design-decision which interferes with the payment-system. It’s a misstep which costs a lot of earned trust of the community.

There are a lot of things that make no sense here (new players won’t get 80g easily to purchase the first gem-step… it takes months) and a lot of things that just look purely like a cash-grab (400gems is the lowest transfer rate and a costume costs 700gems…)

I honestly lost a lot of trust in Anet this time, I just asked myself “what were they thinking… in the first place??”. You can’t just try anything with us, do you find that fair to the userbase?

I wonder why you need a lot of constructive posts, shouldn’t it be the job of the developer to create a system that is in Anets AND the players best interests? Shouldn’t it be easy enough to recognize that this change is not a good one? O_o

Why is Arena Net wasting time changing features that are not broken?

I liked how the gem store worked, seeing the chart of increasing and decreasing demand. As for gem purchasing, why remove the option to select the amount you want? It is essentially removing convenience in favour of “streamlining”, industry standard term for pointlessly dumbing down.

I think when you launch the game you should have a screen that says: Are you a confused person? Because this is what we are getting at right? New players are kinda “slow to understand” (must be all that kittenty music they listen to) and since they cannot understand a simply conversion mechanic, you are trying to make money on their back.

In that case I suggest that upon installation the games promps you to an IQ test, after which players would be assigned to a specific TP interface and also have access to a different leveling system. For example those with an IQ under 90 would only have a huge BUY button that takes all the space of the interface and would unlock dodging only at level 30.

dallywolf.1906:

GOSU.9574:

Wow this thread has exploded….

I have to agree there should have been lower tier options for buying gems.

25
50
100
200
400

This would not confuse new players, if it does they are well under the age to be playing any MMO.

Really, if you want to simplify it I’d be happy with
10
100
400
800
2000

Would cover most scenarios of needing to purchase gems and having to buy multiple 10 or 100 wouldn’t be a huge deal to me. Would be extremely easy to add to the new interface while appeasing experienced players.

How about they make the gems exactly like most other in game items? Sell them for the price we want and either buy outright, or request to buy them at a certain price? This way nobody has to learn a different buying/selling system, and EVERYONE can understand it. Nobody will have to guess the hidden reasoning for the fall and rise of gem prices. It will be the same as everything else.

Sometimes, we just want to buy 5 gems with gold. We should be able to do that.

Of course, they would always be purchased for cash as well…

ProtoGunner.4953:

It’s the Microsoft tactic, XBOX Live used to have MS Points similar to the Gems to buy their online stuff. They replaced it after a long time due to complaints and money making.

Fact was: if you bought something for 2000 MS Points you could only buy 2400, so you had 400 left. The idea behind this was that the customer spent the rest for something that wasn’t on their shopping list ‘be cause it’s not that much and I could spend it on something else’.

It’s sad that Anet (or NCSoft?) runs business in this manner. It really saddens me the way this company goes. No content, more and more money making without any substantial content. It’s worse than the worst EA, Ubisoft or Activision business models. They should be ashamed!

Oh, and btw: They said in the patch notes to ‘make it easier to understand’. What a lie! There is nothing more I hate than lies and to think the customer is dumb enough to not find out.

I don’t know how many of you missed this reply in the sea of replies…. but this post is 100% spot on accurate, at least in my opinion.

It is a blatant cash grab move by Anet, and I am very pleased to see the almost unanimous negative feedback all of you have reported on this matter.

Arenanet, we did not ask for this change. You made this change to squeeze more money out of us, and believe I have the vast majority on my side when I say that this is petty.

It is bad enough that 90% of the “content” you deliver to us are gem store items, but putting a stranglehold on the way we convert our cash to gems is unacceptable.

The only thing separating Guild Wars 2 from the rest of the “cash shop mmos” is the gold to gem conversion. Ruin this feature, and you will be just another “cash shop mmo.”

I’m probably going to get infracted again like i normaly do but i’m going to address Gaile Gray, with all due respect.. i get you are a messenger, but the anet dev team is not listening to anyone anymore. perhaps thats our fault yeah, but at the same time. time and time again, they have disappointed the player base with updates. i’ve seen every single one since the start of the game, each one progressively got worse and worse until now we are finally lashing out in unison. Look, it’s time the dev team stopped and looked at eachother for a moment to ask. “What happened to our original idea for guild wars 2?” the game was originaly supposed to be amazing, one of the best MMO’s out there. but guess what? the game turned slowly and started to lose players. i’ve spent over $500 on gems and 8700 hours ingame. seeing the game slowly decline in it’s value. when is this going to stop? when you have no players left? or no

These attempts to increase your revenues from the game are soo irritating……..first you (Anet) ended the key runs in the previous update……..and now this…….and all in the name of “simplifying”

Ankushp.7245:

These attempts to increase your revenues from the game are soo irritating……..first you (Anet) ended the key runs in the previous update……..and now this…….and all in the name of “simplifying”

Yes how dare a company (whose first and foremost purpose is to make money) dare try to make money?

SweDreams.6984:

Anet, please understand something here and now.

Your players enjoy control. Just as any human being, we enjoy having control of our currency, making our own decisions on what content we would like to enjoy, and most of all, wish to feel empowered when we log into the game. This new system fails to satisfy any of those desires.

Shoe horning us into buying a set amount of gems, when once before we were given the tools to make decisions for ourselves on how many gems we would like to purchase and when we should purchase them is an insult to your player base. Worst of all, it comes across as INCREDIBLY greedy. When your gem store items range from 300-1000 gems in price, HOW does it appear to be a good idea to force us into buying specific quantities of gems?

I vehemently defend this game, and have supported most changes implemented into the game. From the changes in the leveling system, to the shifts of the wardrobe and even the Megaserver, I’ve continuously cautioned my friends to curb their doom saying and negativity, to first allow the changes to be implemented and try to evaluate them objectively. Each time, I’ve generally found that the changes were not detrimental and could even help improve the quality of the game. This is not to say that every choice you’ve made thus far was perfect. (I still feel Mega Servers could have been handled differently with similar outcomes accomplished.) On the whole however, I felt the the positive impacts on the gaming experience far outweighed any negative quibbles I had. I accepted that of course every change is going to incur some sort of unavoidable drawback, but each time a change has been implemented, I’ve seen the merits of such a change.

HOWEVER, now I fail to see any sort of positive impact this change relays to the players. You are taking away control from your players. Under the old system, you gave us the tools to make competent decisions about our in-game currency and real world currency. In short, the previous system treated us as intelligent human beings that did not require a guardian to make all of our decisions for us.

Understand that your player base will not respond well to being forced into decisions about their currency. Understand that you are harming your reputation with those who still defend and support your game/company. Understand that I have some serious concerns, which appear to be shared if any of the replies in this thread are any indication, about your attitudes towards your player base.

I ask you treat your player base with respect. I ask you treat us as competent human beings able to make choices for ourselves and to foster this understanding with tools that allow us the information to decide for ourselves what we wish to do within the confines of your game as you once have.

I do not often post in the forums but I could not keep to silence with my faith in this company so utterly shaken now. Please, take these words to heart.

Exactly this. Gaile, print this off, and get whoever is far enough up the management chain to matter to read it and actually understand it.

Why do we grab the torches and pitchforks? Because we do not feel like we’re being treated with respect.

ANet, this move is fishy. The old system allowed you to acquire exactly the number of gems you needed. The new system leads people to convert more coin then they have/need or buy more than they have or need. I support the gem store and it makes great business sense, but this is a bad move. If you want to leave this interface because someone really thought it would be easier than roll it back until you can release a version that includes both the old style and the new one. Please address this. If someone wants to convert gold to 3 gems or 104 gems they should be able to do so. Thanks for your time.

lordkrall.7241:

Ankushp.7245:

These attempts to increase your revenues from the game are soo irritating……..first you (Anet) ended the key runs in the previous update……..and now this…….and all in the name of “simplifying”

Yes how dare a company (whose first and foremost purpose is to make money) dare try to make money?

Do you have anything constructive to add on this? Or are you just attacking other forum members? I’ve not seen you say anything positive about the system, but you’re just blindly defending the company’s right to make terrible decisions based on the lie that it is for “new players”. As much as I object to their “improvement”, I am disgusted by the lies. This is NOT to benefit new players “confusion”.

Do you like the new system? If so, why?

Yes, they need to make money, but why are they doing so by taking away functionality that we had and making it seem very shady by requiring a minimum purchase that is either too much or two little than most items in the store.

And they should be at work by now…..last post from Gaile was on page 7 as far as I could find. When is someone going to come back and “talk” to us?

khani.4786:

Do you like the new system? If so, why?

As I have stated multiple times in this very thread (funny how people always seems to refer to my posts but they quite often don’t actually read them) I do not like the change in it current version.

The idea behind the change is great, but they should have either had lower increments or allowed custom values.

What makes me sad/angry/frustrated is that their change worked. The UI looks good, so I buy that change being a move towards simplification, but the specific increments are a blatant way to force people to spend more gold on gems than they normally would. The more people who buy gems with gold means more favorable rates for the people who buy gems to sell for gold, giving them more incentive to buy gems. It’s market manipulation, even if it is still nominally being driven by the players themselves. That spike is glaringly obvious and insulting.

lordkrall.7241:

Ankushp.7245:

These attempts to increase your revenues from the game are soo irritating……..first you (Anet) ended the key runs in the previous update……..and now this…….and all in the name of “simplifying”

Yes how dare a company (whose first and foremost purpose is to make money) dare try to make money?

I personally don’t have a problem with them making money and in fact, I’ve been chucking wads of cash at the gem store specifically for this.

But as the saying goes, “You can shoot two birds from the sky, but don’t call it rain.”

I don’t like the change at all, but I am much more offended by them trying to pass it off as a usability improvement.

My input is not unique as much has already been covered, but I want to ensure my voice is heard as well.

I do not like this change for much the same reasons as mentioned above (and I’ll save you my personal ranting on that part). If I want to buy 1 or 2 black lion keys, I don’t want to have to buy 400 gems to do it. I don’t want to have to buy 1200 gems to get a gathering tool and then have 200 left over. If I want to buy something worth 30 gems, I want to be able to simply buy 30 gems.

The layout, I like. It is easier to quickly buy what you want if you want one of those pre-set amounts. Simply add an “Other Amount” option that lets me fill in exactly how many gems I want and then let it calculate the costs and give me a “buy now” button or something like that.

Take the queue from the trading post portion of the tool. If I want to buy iron, I fill in a number of how much iron I want to buy and that is the end of it. Why can’t my gems be the same way?

Look like an underhanded rat-fink marketing move to me.

Smells like one too.

I’m guessing this is what comes from having a “monetization lead” from scummy Nexon on your team. /slowclap Crystin Cox

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

I don’t like the change at all, but I am much more offended by them trying to pass it off as a usability improvement.

But it IS a usability improvement. Sure it needs some polishing and more options but claiming that it does not make it easier to use would be rather silly.

On a very basic level, the format is good. The options are not.

If it was a move to combat the steady rise in gem prices, then it should have been harder to buy them, but easy to sell them. Especially since the Buy Gold section looks ripe for rounding error and cheating people out of silver they should be getting for odd values in gems.

If they want to have pre-defined rates, it should be more akin to

Buy Gold section
Shows what each rate of gems is worth, specifically. Denominations to avoid offset numbers, like having only 30 gems left. People will ditch leftover gems for gold, helping to maintain the value of gems.
Example:
[Sell 800 gems] = 75g 6s
[Sell 100 gems] = 9g kitten
[Sell 10 gems] = kitten 50c
[Sell 1 gem] = 4s 55c
[Custom Offer] = Trade Value

Buy Gems section
[Buy 800 gems] = 98g 28s
[Buy 400 gems] = 49g 14s
[Buy 200 gems] = 24g 57s
[Buy 100 gems] = 12g 28s 50c

While I personally liked the ability to buy gems in small packages (as I did when I first started out, trying to earn extra character slots that way), I can see the value in having a gate point on buying gems with gold. I don’t particularly like it, but I can consider compromises, like a minimum gem order of 200 or 100.

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Okay, 25 pages later, I think everybody has stated their opinion (pretty much in unison for the first time in GW2 history) so let’s move on to suggestions…

Summary

1. Replace fixed amounts with fields that you enter the amount of gold/gems you desire to buy
   Original suggestion by playerbase since release
2. Keep fixed amounts, but add custom amounts field at the bottom
   Best of both worlds. We have enough room in the UI; if necessary, we could get rid of the 2000 gem exchange. (Nobody needs the ability to exchange 400 gold to gems with a single click.)
3. A sliding scale
   A sliding scale was just implemented to make the TP “easier to use”, why would the gold-gem exchange be treated differently?
4. Roll back
   The old interface sucked, but it had functionality that the community is not happy to give up.

And the other issue

1. Bring back the exchange rate history (maybe add a button that opens a pop-up) so players don’t have to go to outside sources to find the information.

Honestly, if “ease of use” for new players was really what they were concerned about, the slider would be the best option. Not only that, but it adds a measure of convenience for the existing player base, removing the guesswork of the input system in which we (without confusion, I might add) had to enter varying amounts to determine how much gold was needed for our desired amount of gems. (That is, if you weren’t inclined to bust out a calculator.)

I still favor a 2-way input system, wherein we can enter the gem amount, i.e., 368, and get exactly the price for the exchange in gold.

The only reason they wouldn’t do something like this is a.) they already went ahead with the dev time for the current poorly thought out change, and don’t want to reinvest, or b.) the whole purpose of this was to force players into restrictive buying options, and ease of use, convenience/quality of life is meaningless in this regard.

lordkrall.7241:

Ankushp.7245:

These attempts to increase your revenues from the game are soo irritating……..first you (Anet) ended the key runs in the previous update……..and now this…….and all in the name of “simplifying”

Yes how dare a company (whose first and foremost purpose is to make money) dare try to make money?

You fail to understand 1 simple thing…. The people who are complaining were spending money, therefore the company WAS making money.

So players are so stupid they can’t enter numbers into boxes? Because that’s all it took to figure out gold to gems conversion.

So what about the TP? Perhaps items should only be bought and sold in four fixed, pre-determined increments because otherwise it’d be too hard for new players to figure out, right?

We need two game versions:

1. GW2: Guild Wars 2. Same game, rolled back a year.
2. GW2DE: Guild Wars 2 Dumb Edition, from past 6 months onwards.

I would like to decline GW2DE.
Can you rollback to GW2 (only with content) please?

lordkrall.7241:

Ankushp.7245:

These attempts to increase your revenues from the game are soo irritating……..first you (Anet) ended the key runs in the previous update……..and now this…….and all in the name of “simplifying”

Yes how dare a company (whose first and foremost purpose is to make money) dare try to make money?

I’m with you with the love for Anet and “our” game. Do you really think this was a good move for their business? Just look at all the rage, not only here but in countless other fan-forums too. They won’t make money that way, they will lose customers.

“When is someone going to come back and ‘talk’ to us?” Not ’till they get a whip and a chair. Sheesh…

Looking at the bright side 26 pages in less than 24 hours is a personal best for us. And for once, everybody is saying the same thing. Myself included. Again, Anet please allow for an Advanced page button that has the old UI on it.

Fair warning: I’m not above saying “Please” again.

Doll Mistress.9267:

You fail to understand 1 simple thing…. The people who are complaining were spending money, therefore the company WAS making money.

Oh? I keep seeing people in this thread that have claimed multiple times that they would never spend any money on the game outside of the original purchase. The thing is that those people that mainly spent actual money on gems are not really that effected by this change.

“Figured maybe I’m missing something in the new UI. Anyone know how I can get less than 400 gems from the gold→gems exchange? I just wanna get 200 so I can get the devil horns. :P”

Exactly my want as well, how to get less gems?

lordkrall.7241:

Ankushp.7245:

These attempts to increase your revenues from the game are soo irritating……..first you (Anet) ended the key runs in the previous update……..and now this…….and all in the name of “simplifying”

Yes how dare a company (whose first and foremost purpose is to make money) dare try to make money?

Most are happy to pay money to an entertainment company in exchange for quality content.

The problem is, in this game, the recent content “additions” (which were more like subtractions with the NPE) this year have left much to be desired. Whether content comes in an expansion or killer LS content, people (myself included) are more likely to shell out $ if we feel that the company is delivering a good product. Where I think the rage comes is that the product has gotten a bit stale, the updates have not met expectations of many customers and then you throw on top of it the psychological manipulation garbage of the new exchange to try to milk money out of people without delivering anything.

tl;dr – get back to basics. deliver quality content = happy customers = paying customers. Leave the psychological manipulation garbage out of it.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

I’m with you with the love for Anet and “our” game. Do you really think this was a good move for their business? Just look at all the rage, not only here but in countless other fan-forums too. They won’t make money that way, they will lose customers.

I think the change itself is rather good, but they need to fix the amounts and potentially also add the ability to add custom numbers. But the thinking behind the change as such is good in my eyes.

The thing about this situation is that it will rage like mad for a couple of days and then it will blow over, just like all the other times.

I really see no reason why Anet would give dumbs up on that change-release. It only hurts the game.

lordkrall.7241:

As I have stated multiple times in this very thread (funny how people always seems to refer to my posts but they quite often don’t actually read them) I do not like the change in it current version.

The idea behind the change is great, but they should have either had lower increments or allowed custom values.

Pretty much this. I’m not much of a gem speculator, so I don’t need the value graph, but it’s downright insulting that the minimum buy is 400 gems, and the minimum sale is dependent on the gem market value.

lordkrall.7241:

Doll Mistress.9267:

You fail to understand 1 simple thing…. The people who are complaining were spending money, therefore the company WAS making money.

Oh? I keep seeing people in this thread that have claimed multiple times that they would never spend any money on the game outside of the original purchase. The thing is that those people that mainly spent actual money on gems are not really that effected by this change.

Funny I am effected and I spend more money on gems than I would paying for a sub. Removing the conversion history and not allowing me to only convert the exact amount I want seems awfully fishy.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Gaile Gray.6029:

I’m not here to apologize. I’m here to communicate and right now, the communication is coming in without a whole lot of substance. Over to you for suggestions and constructive input!

I wonder why you need a lot of constructive posts, shouldn’t it be the job of the developer to create a system that is in Anets AND the players best interests? Shouldn’t it be easy enough to recognize that this change is not a good one? O_o

Maybe Anet is just confused.

lordkrall.7241:

…The thing is that those people that mainly spent actual money on gems are not really that effected by this change.

Apparently you’ve not read the posts where MANY, including myself, who BUY Gems have stated that we exchange gold for gems, and it’s usually only in smaller increments. So yes, this DOES affect US.

lordkrall.7241:

The thing about this situation is that it will rage like mad for a couple of days and then it will blow over, just like all the other times.

It probably will, but the damage is already done and people will quote this change everytime something else like this happens, like people still mention the “promise” of a scavenger hunt for precursors. It’s food for the flamers and haters, and they like the taste.

At those saying something in the like of:

I used to spend X amound on gems but now [negative].

Be aware that you where supporting this sort of things by spending money on gems. It’s what keps there cash-shop focus alive. Maybe not enough and that might be while they then get force to become more aggressive and intrusive but you supported this.

I am very willing to support this game and because of that I made sure to have never spend a single dime on gems. I am very willing to spend money on expansions and if they would have released expansions on a yearly base (as what I expected with a B2P model and what I would have liked) I would likely even have both a more expensive CE if available.

You want to support a good game by buying a good game. You support a cash-shop focus and everything that comes with it by buying cash-shop junk.

lordkrall.7241:

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

I don’t like the change at all, but I am much more offended by them trying to pass it off as a usability improvement.

But it IS a usability improvement. Sure it needs some polishing and more options but claiming that it does not make it easier to use would be rather silly.

I personally have used the gold-gem exchange option for the following use cases:

• Being left with an uneven amount of dollar-bought gems, topping it up with in-game gold to whatever amount I needed to buy the next item. Example: I had 372 gems left, and bought 28 with in-game gold.

Please explain how buying 28 gems with in-game gold is easier now.

• Being in need of a quick in-game gold infusion, I converted leftover gems back to gold. Converting 180 gems back now takes 6 separate transactions (10 + 10 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 gold).

Please explain how this is easier now.

I get that something is easier now – converting large amounts of n-game gold to cash. Or converting large amounts of gems back, because it doesn’t HAVE to be exactly 180, because you just have enough currency to round up. The majority of players is not sitting on those large amounts of currency though. Especially not new players. So… yeah.

lordkrall.7241:

Ankushp.7245:

These attempts to increase your revenues from the game are soo irritating……..first you (Anet) ended the key runs in the previous update……..and now this…….and all in the name of “simplifying”

Yes how dare a company (whose first and foremost purpose is to make money) dare try to make money?

The job of a company which makes video games is FIRST AND FOREMOST to craft enjoyable quality gaming experiences. For this they earn money.

This kittening bizarre notion that the goal of every company is simply to make the most money possible (through the least effort possible and to the detriment of customers) is frankly disgusting and people like you need to stop using using it to defend bad business practices.

This change is horrible for us who liked to exchange gems for gold as well. That might be part of the price spike, normally I would have bought gems for cash to exchange by now to take advantage of the spike, but with the odd gem numbers and the lack of a graph to see the exchange rate trend, I am steering clear.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Hey there,

Here are a few tidbits from the team:

• A lot of newer players had trouble with the interface. That doesn’t apply to you, you’re veterans who have been around the conversion block a time or two. But newer players will benefit from the updated system.
• The goal was to make the Gem Store more like other shopping experiences, and if you think about it, there is more of that feel to it now.
• You may be surprised to know this (I know I was) but very few people bought gems at smaller denominations than the first one offered in the new system. That’s not to say they never did, nor that there wouldn’t be the desire to do so. But overall, the current options were selected based on player purchases in the past.
• The team is going to listen to your feedback and, if and when it’s practical and desirable, they can look towards adjusting the new system to better meet your needs.

So please keep your thoughts coming on the new system. Feel free to make suggestions but please, keeping them constructive would be very much appreciated.

Not for nothing, Gaile, but that’s the same 4 point song we’ve seen in so many threads. This is how it’s beginning to sound:

1.) Won’t someone think of the new players? Those poor drooling ijuts, we have to help them!
2.) We did it for you! Simplicity brings peace to the soul.
3.) Everyone but you LOVES this idea. We have data to prove it.
4.) We’re listening.

1.) New players didn’t have gold to buy gems. If selling gems to buy gold was a problem, you would not have changed the entire system to cut off a revenue stream because of morons spending gem cards accidentally.

2.) You did not do it for us. You did it deliberately to force users to have an odd number of gems to promote gem purchases via cash cards. We’re not idiots, here. I mean, except for the new players, obviously. They, apparently cannot be trusted to breathe on their own, the poor dears.

3.) Hundreds of replies prove your point to be completely and utterly and irredeemably incorrect. Obviously a ton of people bought tiny amounts of 1 or 2 gems at a time. Not 400.

4.) They are listening? Like they listened to the Traits thread? If so, this topic is dead in the water.

Gaile, you have an enormous amount of cred with the community. You do a hard and thankless job, and I do not envy it. But when you come out and say things like that, things which are demonstrably untrue, it makes it hard to believe that there are any advocates for the players. I realize your hands are tied, and that even if you disagree with the corporate line, you have to repeat it…but the message has lost its luster.

Much like the game, I must say.

I have not used the new system for gem conversion, but I had used the other system several times to supplement my cash purchase. In the case of the old system my conclusion is that it was the lag between pressing the exchange button and the confirmation of transaction. So possibly instead of looking at the server issue that may be there they reworked the UI.

I find it eerily ironic, that just yesterday, I lauded the game for having one of the best premium shops I’ve seen in a long, long time… Bought 35 euros worth of gems, got me 2 tools and an outfit, then used some of my gold to get the last 150 gems I needed for a new hair style

This change really saddens me. I dont mind buying gems in packs, but as a lot of people stated before, make the packs more flexible!

lordkrall.7241:

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

I’m with you with the love for Anet and “our” game. Do you really think this was a good move for their business? Just look at all the rage, not only here but in countless other fan-forums too. They won’t make money that way, they will lose customers.

I think the change itself is rather good, but they need to fix the amounts and potentially also add the ability to add custom numbers. But the thinking behind the change as such is good in my eyes.

The thing about this situation is that it will rage like mad for a couple of days and then it will blow over, just like all the other times.

No it will not blow over but that seems to be the same way as Anet thinks about it.

Megaservers did not blow over. People still dislike it just as much but they have said everything there was to say about it on the forums so it’s not active on the forums anymore. That does not mean it has blown away.

People still dislike it that SAB has still not come back. But agains, they have said on the forums what they had to say about it so the raging threads on the forums are gone.. Again that does not mean it did blow over.

Same for all the other similar things. They all did not blow over people simply said what they had to say about it. The game did get worse because of it and likely people did leave (usually not for 1 change but a combination of changes) or gave up hope.

lordkrall.7241:

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

I’m with you with the love for Anet and “our” game. Do you really think this was a good move for their business? Just look at all the rage, not only here but in countless other fan-forums too. They won’t make money that way, they will lose customers.

I think the change itself is rather good, but they need to fix the amounts and potentially also add the ability to add custom numbers. But the thinking behind the change as such is good in my eyes.

The thing about this situation is that it will rage like mad for a couple of days and then it will blow over, just like all the other times.

Your shilling is noted.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

lordkrall.7241:

The thing about this situation is that it will rage like mad for a couple of days and then it will blow over, just like all the other times.

It probably will, but the damage is already done and people will quote this change everytime something else like this happens, like people still mention the “promise” of a scavenger hunt for precursors. It’s food for the flamers and haters, and they like the taste.

You almost act as if those ‘haters’ are then unfairly would mention these things? Maybe they are not hating but just critically about this and pointing to these this is giving examples as proof of there points. That means the more things they have to point to the worse Anet is doing, not the worse those ‘haters’ are doing.

lordkrall.7241:

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

I don’t like the change at all, but I am much more offended by them trying to pass it off as a usability improvement.

But it IS a usability improvement. Sure it needs some polishing and more options but claiming that it does not make it easier to use would be rather silly.

It doesnt.
I didn’t found the other one confusing, and from this thread many others had no issues with it either.

Either way, the lack of foresight from arenanet is astounding. Put something into production, sit back and let us rage and feedback on it. THEN claim “Wow, so you want XYZ? Nice feedback! Thanks”. No, thats just a “duh” moment. Anyone with a braincell has more foresight than this.

Yes, we want to be able to simply type in an amount. Is someone in this thread or from arenanet going to claim that this hasn’t been thought of?

Gaile Gray.6029:

Ok, guys. Some of you are unhappy about this change, I can see that. BUT… quite honestly, most of you are sort of (I hate to use the word) ranting (sorry!) instead of offering suggestions.

I assure you, the team leader told me not 15 minutes ago, they will listen to suggestions.

• Does that mean you get everything you want? Probably not.
• Does that mean you should suggest something? Yes, of course! Because they’re expecting player input.

So you want lower increments? Think it through and present a suggestion! You want XYZ in the interface? Post that idea. You would rather see something else? Post what you think about that other thing. Please don’t get into the whole “I’m going to kick the devs and their little dogs, too” because it’s not doing you or us any good at all.

I’m not here to apologize. I’m here to communicate and right now, the communication is coming in without a whole lot of substance. Over to you for suggestions and constructive input!

This game is like a half finished gemstone quality diamond. It just needs that extra bit to really make it shine.

But instead of cutting it to shape, you are grinding it down to use it in industrial grade applications.

And when many people try to convince you to stop grinding, you set the grinder in higher gear.

Good luck getting the powder back into the gem it once was.

And as suggestion: the company could start getting back the integrity it had during GW1. Integrity can`t be bought back, remember that.

lordkrall.7241:

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

I’m with you with the love for Anet and “our” game. Do you really think this was a good move for their business? Just look at all the rage, not only here but in countless other fan-forums too. They won’t make money that way, they will lose customers.

I think the change itself is rather good, but they need to fix the amounts and potentially also add the ability to add custom numbers. But the thinking behind the change as such is good in my eyes.

The thing about this situation is that it will rage like mad for a couple of days and then it will blow over, just like all the other times.

Pretty much. We rage, we whine. Things blow over. Calm down. We grow tired of trying to make voices heard. Arenanet pats eachother on the back for a job well done, bonuses ensue most likely. They get to sit in front of cameras and talk on the phone to gaming site reviewers and say “yes, we’ve added XYZ to the game to improve the experience”. When in reality…we have raged.