Guild Wars 2

Seriously…take out collection rewards. Over the past few days, I earned and spent 30 gold on godskull weapons for the collection. Why throw me a bag with 3 obsidian shards, a 30 silver rare, and couple of achievement points? Talk about making a player feel stupid for spending gold. Are the developers really that greedy to think that’s supposed to be a reward? No wonder I log in less and less.

Um, not sure what you’re complaining about. The Collection tabs show you exactly what you get for completing each collection. If you did it for the sole purpose of making back money, then you made the wrong choices. Anet has nothing to do with “making you feel stupid”.

I knew fully well what the reward would be. I’m providing the suggestion to remove them or increase them since, at least for me, it was like saying, “Good dog…let me throw you a rotten bone”. I would have been more content just finishing the collection. I didn’t need a reminder that I just contributed to a huge gold sink.

Anet wont remove content because you dont like it, suck it up and just dont do these things if you dont want to.

If they raise the reward, the price of those stuffs will be several hundred times more expensive. Please understand supply and demand.

If you can mouse over the reward and know what you were going to get ahead of time, then don’t do it for the reward if it’s not good enough.

I can see complaining if the reward was hidden but, you knew ahead of time what you were going to get!

Some advice for players completing this in the future: I spent next to nothing on this achievement… farmed the grawl in frostgorge every time jormag was coming up (you get at least 10-15 minutes of wait time from the last world boss to jormag pre events). I’m a bit obsessive about time though, and don’t like to be idle in game.

They’re just rare weapons so I found the reward adequate. The real problem with collection achievements is that everyone rushes to finish them. If you don’t rush, you don’t spend nearly as much on them.

I love the escalation. XD “I don’t think this particular collection is worth is but I did it anyways” = “ANET THINKS I’M AN IDIOT!”

I’m just left wondering how so many of those weapons are available yet, in 3 map completions along with hundreds of hours doing other stuff, I have obtained THREE large skulls as drops.

You… you’re aware they drop from specific enemies, right?

And you can buy them from the TP.

OP, if you had wanted to farm these skulls instead of buying them….

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Large_Skull
Contained in:
Grawl Loot Box
Heavy Bag of Trinkets
Large Bag of Trinkets
Medium Bag of Trinkets
Sack of Trinkets

Don’t like the collection rewards? Don’t collect.

Compulsively obsessed about collecting skins? It’s just an extra benny to reward you for collecting certain sets of skins.

Compulsively obsessed about achievement points but hate collecting skins? My condolences.

actually, i’m all for someone feeling stupid for doing something stupid. Its how you learn.

I miss the old days of Commander lemming…and jumping off the side of a cliff, surviving with your trait, and watching as everyone else dies….good times…gooood tiiiiimes….

You saw what the reward was. Clearly, the reward wasn’t what you wanted. Yet, you still spent that much gold on the achievement. Why?

And as others have pointed out, you can farm those skulls (pretty quickly, too), make the darksteel, and then craft all the weapons yourself. That’s what I did for that achievement.

I really don’t see this thread fostering constructive discussion at all.

Collections are a great idea implemented in a very bad way.. They are the LEAST rewarding thing in the game bar none and some cost 500+ gold for essentially nothing in return.

It’s like if they added new legendaries and forgot to add new models for them so you’d grind 2k gold and gain nothing.

Simplest answer is often the best answer. Collections were made for collectors, not for people to buy crap off the marketplace. If you buy stuff off the marketplace to fill in a collection, particularly for the rewards offered, then you really can’t blame anyone else for making you feel any particular emotion.

The rewards are listed. The prices appear before you buy. You made a conscious decision not only to go for something not worth it, but then to come here and complain about it.

I’m farming the mats for god skull weapons and almost have enough for the entire collection, which I’ll craft myself. Even that’s not necessarily a straight forward decision because I could sell the mats and make profit from it, instead of filling in the collection.

Of course, I’m a collector so the actual act of getting that stuff is fun for me. If you don’t like jumping puzzles, don’t do jumping puzzles. If you don’t like collections, don’t do them.

RoseofGilead.8907:

And as others have pointed out, you can farm those skulls (pretty quickly, too), make the darksteel, and then craft all the weapons yourself. That’s what I did for that achievement.

Although one could argue in this case that it’s simply more valuable to sell the materials you farm rather than completing the collection.

The problem I have with the grawl collection specifically is that it doesn’t offer a reward that is comparable to similar collections.

For instance, if you look at the hylek, ogre, and krait weapon achievements, they all require you to collect a similar set of things (weapon skins and one special loot item for the unlock). However, each of these collections offer you a unique reward in the way of a special consumable recipe that you can’t acquire via any other method. As such, the point of completing these collections is to specifically get those recipes.

In comparison, the grawl collection provides you with no unique reward, and the things it does provide you with are easily acquirable through other in game methods.

If you look at something like the trash collector achievement, the main value it has is a special title. It doesn’t provide you with any meaningful loot for the time you spend tracking down the junk items, but you would generally do it to earn the title.

If the grawl achievement had a similar unique reward, like a title, special weapon skin, or some sort of crafting recipe, it would make it more worthwhile.

So while I don’t agree with the OP’s sentiment that collections are stupid, I would argue that certain rewards for some of the collections are not appropriate for what they require.

Granted, one could say that the real value in a collection is having all the skins and whatnot unlocked, which is true. But most people will only ever use a fraction of those skins in the first place, if at all, since they don’t find them valuable in the first place. The collections are a way to bring added value to the items featured in a collection, so the reward should be something with a unique or significant worth to it.

hylek, ogre, and krait rewards are crap, yes they are unique, but that doesn’t make them better. I would rather take the grawl rewards every time.
Also even just doing fractals and randomly getting the Grawl fractal gives you a lot of those just as a bonus. So avoiding any places where Grawl appear is also a conscious choice.

Shiyo.3578:

Collections are a great idea implemented in a very bad way.. They are the LEAST rewarding thing in the game bar none and some cost 500+ gold for essentially nothing in return.

It’s like if they added new legendaries and forgot to add new models for them so you’d grind 2k gold and gain nothing.

I find some of the collections pretty cool. The spoons, for one. I completed Exotic Hunter because I really wanted the Karmic Converter. I like the idea for the carapace and luminescent armor collections (though personally I dislike most pieces so I probably wont finish that one. I am working on the Ambrite weapons.. 13/16 finished, spent nothing more than a few ori and ancient wood here and there, getting loads of karma and pretty good loot… and it rewards your choice of an ascended armor piece. I hope we see more collections in the future that implement collecting via account bound items, rather than paying some lucky person on the TP.

Yup the majority of the collection are well done, with a good reward. Only some specific collection have stupid reward compare to the work needed.

MegumiAzusa.2918:

hylek, ogre, and krait rewards are crap, yes they are unique, but that doesn’t make them better. I would rather take the grawl rewards every time..

Even though you may not find the consumable recipes to be useful, completing the collections is still the only way to get those. Thus, they have something unique associated with them that gives the collection its ultimate purpose.

It’s a similar case with titles. They don’t functionally do anything useful in game, and most people will barely look at them, let alone remember them. But there’s only specific ways to get those titles in game, which makes the things you have to do to get the title have some sort of novel value to it.

I’ve just always found it odd that the hylek, krait, and ogre collections give you something unique, whereas the grawl one, which is essentially identical, doesn’t give you anything remotely interesting. Even the bandit weapon achievement, which has no unique rewards, gives you way better rewards than the grawl achievement does, and the weapons are generally much cheaper to purchase off the trading post.

Though I don’t see them altering the grawl achievement at this point, particularly since a ton of people will have already finished it. But for future collections, I hope to see them give more unique rewards, if not rewards that are of appropriate value for what the collection is composed of.

LOL, he’s complaining about 30 gold. Spend 2 casual playing sessions running dungeons and you got your gold back.

For future reference OP, if you want to feel smart what you have to do is keep an eye out for new collections that come along and figure out what people are going to need for those collections. For instance had you paid attention at the time grawl weapon collector came out you could have seen that there would have been a sudden spike in demand for large skulls. Then you either buy them off the TP or look up how they drop on the wiki and farm grawl for them. You get to feel smart for making money, compulsive collectors get a temporary sense of relief on completion until the next set of cravings kick in and we are all happy.

There is plenty of opportunity for happiness in these things you just have to take the tiniest amount of responsibility for your own.

A wise man’s Mamma once said “Stupid is as stupid does.”
I forget his name but for some reason I think he was a Sylvari.

Lol… so you knew what the reward was, and still spent way more on it than it was worth? And you’re blaming Anet for making you feel stupid? Do continue.

What Andred said . . . sadly.

eithinan.9841:

LOL, he’s complaining about 30 gold. Spend 2 casual playing sessions running dungeons and you got your gold back.

Could quite easily get 30g back in a single day.
AC 1-3 = 4.5g
CoF 1-2 = 2.5g (I think)
TA – 3g (?)
CM 1-3 = 4g

etc…

I’m more shocked that he feels cheated because he knew what his reward was but instead decided to carry on with the collection and then complain about it. Seems… odd.

gumoor.5674:

I would have been more content just finishing the collection. I didn’t need a reminder that I just contributed to a huge gold sink.

You finished the collection regardless? Be content with that? You knew what you were going to get from the moment you started contributing that huge gold sink. I think you’re doing a fine job of making yourself look stupid without ANet’s help.

gumoor.5674:

I didn’t need a reminder that I just contributed to a huge gold sink.

A gold sink removes gold from the economy. Buying things from other players just moves gold around, leaving it in the economy, so it is not a gold sink. You can rest easy now, knowing that buying grawl weapons did not contribute to a gold sink of any sort, much less a huge one.

I think when Anet released the collection achievements, didn’t they SPECIFICALLY state that it’s not intended for players to grind? That it was simply there for the chance that you do collect all of something. Which is why the rewards for collecting everything usually isn’t that impressive.

Yes, a business make a player feel stupid is bad. So what a player make themselves look stupid instead.

Still gonna blame the game developer? Seriously?

It’s been mentioned several times already, there is nothing forcing you to complete a collection, and it’s there for those people who enjoy that type of thing. The rewards are minimal, but it gives a little something extra to work on as you play the game.

so, you are saying you are engaging in actions fully understanding their consequences, you consider this behaviour a stupid act and blame Anet???

DakotaCoty.5721:

eithinan.9841:

LOL, he’s complaining about 30 gold. Spend 2 casual playing sessions running dungeons and you got your gold back.

Could quite easily get 30g back in a single day.
AC 1-3 = 4.5g
CoF 1-2 = 2.5g (I think)
TA – 3g (?)
CM 1-3 = 4g

etc…

I’m more shocked that he feels cheated because he knew what his reward was but instead decided to carry on with the collection and then complain about it. Seems… odd.

Yeah, that too. I figured 3 paths/day was casual based on my playing. I could grind out a bunch of dungeons but only do a couple paths a week in order to do other things.

The collection tabs are for people that like collecting items, not for people looking to make a profit.

The collecting activity is the reward.

gumoor.5674:

Seriously…take out collection rewards. Over the past few days, I earned and spent 30 gold on godskull weapons for the collection. Why throw me a bag with 3 obsidian shards, a 30 silver rare, and couple of achievement points? Talk about making a player feel stupid for spending gold. Are the developers really that greedy to think that’s supposed to be a reward? No wonder I log in less and less.

So you spent 30g on 20 skins, 3 AP, 3 obsidian shards, and a rare.

Thats not bad at all.

Some of the collection rewards are worthwhile, and others I didn’t find worthy of my time. The bandit collection actually is worthwhile IMO. You get a 20 slot bag, 1g, 500 luck, MF booster, some bags, and a rare+ piece of gear. Which is actually pretty cool.

My jaw dropped when I saw how many replies this post got. Most of them are pretty useless, which caters with an obsession toward wondering what type of person is so compelled to reply to every post like mine with the stock “your choice!” material.

I agree about the bandit collection. And, that one you can’t just buy on the TP.

I also appreciate the argument that the grawl reward is simply not high enough when compared to krait, hylek, and ogre.

As for those grinding the mats…I’m not convinced. I’m not unlucky. I would say it’s average. In two years, I’ve had some very cool drops such as an ascended staff with the stats I wanted. So, why only three large skulls in all of this time? Oh wait…I’m not killing enough grawl? Lol…it’s kinda’ hard to play every aspect of the game like I do and not kill your fair share of grawls. Ok, I don’t play the grawl fractal. So, are you saying that the vast majority of large skulls drop there? I’m just saying that if it takes three large skulls to craft one, and I’ve only obtained enough for one in two years…then either something is broken or the TP is flooded with duped god skull weapons, or the TP cost of both skulls and weapons should be much higher. Any other possibilities…constructive ones?

gumoor.5674:

My jaw dropped when I saw how many replies this post got. Most of them are pretty useless, which caters with an obsession toward wondering what type of person is so compelled to reply to every post like mine with the stock “your choice!” material.

I agree about the bandit collection. And, that one you can’t just buy on the TP.

I also appreciate the argument that the grawl reward is simply not high enough when compared to krait, hylek, and ogre.

As for those grinding the mats…I’m not convinced. I’m not unlucky. I would say it’s average. In two years, I’ve had some very cool drops such as an ascended staff with the stats I wanted. So, why only three large skulls in all of this time? Oh wait…I’m not killing enough grawl? Lol…it’s kinda’ hard to play every aspect of the game like I do and not kill your fair share of grawls. Ok, I don’t play the grawl fractal. So, are you saying that the vast majority of large skulls drop there? I’m just saying that if it takes three large skulls to craft one, and I’ve only obtained enough for one in two years…then either something is broken or the TP is flooded with duped god skull weapons, or the TP cost of both skulls and weapons should be much higher. Any other possibilities…constructive ones?

…Don’t do it?

I’m trying to understand why “Collect for collecting’s sake”, with Anet giving you a little congratulatory reward satchel of things for doing so is hard to grasp, or not the right angle to view these collection side-tasks.

Not everything is a carrot.

gumoor.5674:

My jaw dropped when I saw how many replies this post got. Most of them are pretty useless, which caters with an obsession toward wondering what type of person is so compelled to reply to every post like mine with the stock “your choice!” material.

I agree about the bandit collection. And, that one you can’t just buy on the TP.

I also appreciate the argument that the grawl reward is simply not high enough when compared to krait, hylek, and ogre.

As for those grinding the mats…I’m not convinced. I’m not unlucky. I would say it’s average. In two years, I’ve had some very cool drops such as an ascended staff with the stats I wanted. So, why only three large skulls in all of this time? Oh wait…I’m not killing enough grawl? Lol…it’s kinda’ hard to play every aspect of the game like I do and not kill your fair share of grawls. Ok, I don’t play the grawl fractal. So, are you saying that the vast majority of large skulls drop there? I’m just saying that if it takes three large skulls to craft one, and I’ve only obtained enough for one in two years…then either something is broken or the TP is flooded with duped god skull weapons, or the TP cost of both skulls and weapons should be much higher. Any other possibilities…constructive ones?

Actually you can buy all the bandit weapons off the TP.

As for large skull drops, they are not as rare as you make them out to be. The grawl in frostgorge drop them fairly regularly. I’ve dropped and sold more than enough to make the all the weapons, but never bothered to.

gumoor.5674:

Oh wait…I’m not killing enough grawl! Lol…it’s kinda’ hard to play every aspect of the game like I do and not kill your fair share of grawls. Ok, I don’t play the grawl fractal. So, are you saying that the vast majority of large skulls drop there? I’m just saying that if it takes three large skulls to craft one, and I’ve only obtained enough for one in two years…then either something is broken or the TP is flooded with duped god skull weapons, or the TP cost of both skulls and weapons should be much higher. Any other possibilities…constructive ones?

Punctuation fixed for you. The truth is until I tried my hand at farming grawl solely for the skulls I had gotten maybe 3-5 since release. when I went to the different farming locations I easily finished the collection. It took a couple days. The difference in skulls you get between farming grawl and killing the ones you randomly come across is very large.

gumoor.5674:

My jaw dropped when I saw how many replies this post got. Most of them are pretty useless, which caters with an obsession toward wondering what type of person is so compelled to reply to every post like mine with the stock “your choice!” material.

I agree about the bandit collection. And, that one you can’t just buy on the TP.

I also appreciate the argument that the grawl reward is simply not high enough when compared to krait, hylek, and ogre.

As for those grinding the mats…I’m not convinced. I’m not unlucky. I would say it’s average. In two years, I’ve had some very cool drops such as an ascended staff with the stats I wanted. So, why only three large skulls in all of this time? Oh wait…I’m not killing enough grawl? Lol…it’s kinda’ hard to play every aspect of the game like I do and not kill your fair share of grawls. Ok, I don’t play the grawl fractal. So, are you saying that the vast majority of large skulls drop there? I’m just saying that if it takes three large skulls to craft one, and I’ve only obtained enough for one in two years…then either something is broken or the TP is flooded with duped god skull weapons, or the TP cost of both skulls and weapons should be much higher. Any other possibilities…constructive ones?

Over time, I’ve collected hundreds of skulls. Your problem is similar to killing tons of Skritt, and hoping for Karka Shells to drop. I think you’re just not playing the game right to maximize your material output. Once you learn how to play certain areas, you might have more luck getting the mats you need.

I think the collections are really just meant to be a bit of fun. As in, it might actually be fun to go off in search of your last couple of items to complete a collection. It’s a game. Fun. Y’know. That thing you play games for. Fun.

Thanks. Maybe that’s the source of frustration…feeling forced to go the TP….just to do a collection…just to find something unrewarding to do during the “lull and hype” that happens between xpacs in every game. If I go after Gaze, I’ll try to remember that.

Isn’t it entirely possible there is a valid reason you FEEL stupid?

(I"m in no way implying the OP IS stupid, just that the act of spending gold to obtain this collection might not be the brightest move they ever made).

Blaming Anet for that feeling might fall into that category as well…..

Brother Grimm.5176:

Isn’t it entirely possible there is a valid reason you FEEL stupid?

(I"m in no way implying the OP IS stupid, just that the act of spending gold to obtain this collection might not be the brightest move they ever made).

Blaming Anet for that feeling might fall into that category as well…..

Friend, I clarified the problem with assistance from others throughout this thread. Did you actually read and sort through the replies?

gumoor.5674:

Brother Grimm.5176:

Isn’t it entirely possible there is a valid reason you FEEL stupid?

(I"m in no way implying the OP IS stupid, just that the act of spending gold to obtain this collection might not be the brightest move they ever made).

Blaming Anet for that feeling might fall into that category as well…..

Friend, I clarified the problem with assistance from others throughout this thread. Did you actually read and sort through the replies?

That’s another thing I dont get. If your opinion has changed or been refined in some way, you should take it upon yourself as the OP to note that in your original post.

You can’t blame someone for not sifting through responses to your thread on the off chance that you’ve changed your mind/clarified it.

When I saw the title, I expected someone who had just made it through the NPE for the first time… oh well.

I like the collections being this way myself, the reward is kinda meh (unique skins would have been an epic way to reward it imo, but was probably too much work) but its a huge step forward compared to the past.

DakotaCoty.5721:

eithinan.9841:

LOL, he’s complaining about 30 gold. Spend 2 casual playing sessions running dungeons and you got your gold back.

Could quite easily get 30g back in a single day.
AC 1-3 = 4.5g
CoF 1-2 = 2.5g (I think)
TA – 3g (?)
CM 1-3 = 4g

etc…

I’m more shocked that he feels cheated because he knew what his reward was but instead decided to carry on with the collection and then complain about it. Seems… odd.

How long would you say it would take to do all those paths? 2 or 3 hours should be enough to farm the large skulls depending on the number of people around.