New Collections System
I searched for threads talking about the new collections system and didn’t seem to find any, so I will start this one. Overall my impressions of the system are positive. It rewards players who do a small scavenger hunt, do a lot of crafting, dungeons, etc. It also encourages people to go out into the world and explore things they might have never done before. There is one of these collection tracks in particular though that I feel is very unbalanced, and disappointing.
For General Reference:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Treasure_Hunter
Perception of Purpose:
It is my perception that the purpose of this achievement is to get players to experience new content by sending them on a scavenger hunt around the world. There are aspects that require getting skill points, jumping puzzles, world merchants, mini-dungeons, world bosses, meta events, fractals, and even a dungeon.
My Initial Response:
Awesome! I get to go on a scavenger hunt. I went out and found a few of the items. I was very excited to have something to do, especially since it gave me a little treasure chest in my home instance. This excitement was short lived however when I got to the list of items that require items gained from world bosses.
These items are not just rare, they are extremely rare. Examples:
- Pendant of Arah
On of the other members of my guild farms Arah, multiple paths a day, every day. He even practices doing the dungeon with a 2 person group because he finds that fun. It is overly conservative and safe to say that he has completed Arah Explorable at least 400 times. I’m sure the number is higher, but that’s a big enough number to make my point. He has never once received this item from the final chest
If that number is not enough proof in itself the rarity of this drop (and therefor the futility of trying) the current price on the market is 1850 gold. That is more expensive than any Precursor weapon, and we all know how rare and wonderful those are.
The Result:
This item is no longer something I could realistically get by actually doing the events, even in a year. I have been playing since beta and have only seen one of these world boss items (and it wasn’t even the correct rarity version for the achievement).
The motivation and excitement I had turned into disappointment. This has now become an achievement for the rich, not the player. While most of these items are obtainable through buying them, there are 3 items in particular that break the cost. The math:
Pendant of Arah – 1850g
Ulgoth’s Tail – 23g
Symbol of the Inquest – 6g
Sam – 225g
All Seeing – 75g
Eternal Ice – 3g
Breath of Kralkatorrik – 15g
Rhendak’s Signet – 79g
Commissar’s Manifesto – 203g
- Prices rounded down to the nearest gold. Taken from the wiki “Trading Post” description unit, recorded on 29 September, 11:35PM/EST
Total: 2,479g
Suggestion:
Idea 1: Make it into Basic Collection
Part 1: Similar to how the “Dungeoneer” Achievement works. You complete this Rare Collection by doing several basic collections. Have the basic one include all the “Collection items”, “Crafting”, “From Vendors” and even some of the “World Boss Chests”. All the items under 25g is fine. Because their prices are low, it seems like I could possibly get them as a drop by doing the events if do the events.
I understand that this is a “Rare” collection currently for a reason. It gives players who have the gold, something to spend it on. Make the reward for the Basic Collection be the home instance treasure chest and a new item which is a collection item for the Rare Treasure Hunter collection which includes the higher end world boss items.
Idea 2: Make the items you get from the charging the runes, and finding the map pieces do something else. Give average players a reason to play this content.
Reasons why I make these suggestions:
I will be the first to admit, a lot of this is wanting a little treasure chest in my home instance. Who doesn’t?
I also say this because I really enjoyed the idea of collecting map pieces (only found 2 so far), following the map and finding treasure. I liked going out to the different skill points with a rune to charge. I like going down into mini dungeons (I had never been to “Don’t Touch the Shinny” before). I really like scavenger hunts like that. I got the Mad King book in the first Halloween events, I am almost done getting the Mawdrey back piece (Tons of fun finding that stuff from around the world).
You guys at Anet work hard to make this content… but right now I have no reason as an average player to experience finding the rest of my map, getting the last rune of scavenging charged, and going to find all the vendors. Only the super rich who can afford to spend over 2,000 gold on 3 items for an achievement have a reason to play this content.