Guild Wars 2

The new wardrobe transmutation costs disadvantage new and leveling players.

With the exchange rate for old Transmutation Stones to new Transmutation Charges being 3:1, and each transmute costing 1 Charge, players who are not level 80 are now paying 3 times as much to transmute their gear.

This is especially disadvantageous since leveling is when you are most likely to want frequent transmutes, since you’re constantly swapping out old gear for new.

The change is great for vets and people not leveling alts; now your stack of 200 Transmutation Charges are still good for something after level 79!

But I’m kind of bummed about the change, since my highest-level toon is 32 at this moment. The old system accounted for this with cheaper transmutes for leveling players. Why did this go away? Your new players would appreciate some love too, Arenanet!

But it will be easier to get transmute charges, at least as long as you’re willing to do some sPvP as the new reward tracks will give out four per track and you can repeat them as much as you want.

And if they’re willing to give them out so much there, perhaps we’ll see them as rewards more often in other game modes too.

And we still don’t know if completing a zone after the patch gives one charge or three.

I guess it depends on how much the charges will be tomorrow. The same as crystals, the same as stone, or in between.

Additionally, it’d be interesting to know what the target demo for the increased income is. If they have a lot of data suggesting we were all using our old stones willy nilly every 10 levels and keeping our alts in the same ‘look’ from 1-80 virtually for free (with as many stones as they give away for map completions) and the intent was to milk that, well, then there you go.

Guess we’ll know tomorrow. Not sure what I’ll do with my alts if it’s cost prohibitive. I may just play my 4 80s. I could probably finish my 55-ish Warrior and Mesmer with only 2 sets of 3 each. It would be daunting to do a character from level one, and I really wanted to try the Necro and Engineer.

It takes a month to level your character. You get new outfits all the time. Most people spend 90% of their time on max level characters, eventually.

Unless you’re a mad altoholic (in which case you’ll just have to deal with it), it’s not going to affect most people for more than a short time.

Good point, Notebene. We don’t know how much the Charges will cost in the Gem Store; maybe they will be cheaper than Transmute Crystals (though I’d like to know right now if I should stock up on Stones before the patch). And as Dragon Whimsey points out, Charges may be more abundant as rewards than Stones are now… though tomorrow’s conversion still reduces my current stock by two-thirds, which is a lot.

It’s not a big deal so long as the 3 Stones > 1 Charge will sustain throughout the game’s longevity. I figure people will map complete and earn themselves charges, without dealing with the awful Gold > Gem ratio or real money.

Edit – re-read op.

What they should do is charge level 1-79 players 1 charge for every 3 pieces of gear that has their skin changed. I don’t know if they overlooked this, didn’t tell us in full how this will work or tried to pull a swift one over us (which I doubt) but all in all this would be the fair thing to do.

mmm I like to keep my alts looking nice leveling up and as such I have no backlog of stones since I use them as fast as I get them.
5 sub 80’s.- 5 /80’s
I might just have to keep them in subpar gear till 80 because I am not running around in a mishmash of armour that is for sure

Hopefully there will be ways to gain Transm. Charges while leveling (preferably besides Map Completion.)

. . . Then it will be absolutely fine with me. Especially since they’re adding so many amazing stuff in this pack.

Phadde.7362:

Hopefully there will be ways to gain Transm. Charges while leveling (preferably besides Map Completion.)

. . . Then it will be absolutely fine with me. Especially since they’re adding so many amazing stuff in this pack.

spvp tracks give charges.

I really don´t see a big issue here. You outlevel your equipment that fast that any kind of resources is wasted on it. I guess most people even just equip what they can grab and move on to next level.

Algreg.3629:

I really don´t see a big issue here. You outlevel your equipment that fast that any kind of resources is wasted on it. I guess most people even just equip what they can grab and move on to next level.

Some people care how their characters look even if the are still leveling.
I realize some people couldn’t care less but I do- I could never play that way.
I haven’t since I got my first character to 80

This is my newest character- she is lvl 12, now this is nothing extravagant but you get the idea.
if you have several characters under 80- it adds up I assure you

Algreg.3629:

I really don´t see a big issue here. You outlevel your equipment that fast that any kind of resources is wasted on it. I guess most people even just equip what they can grab and move on to next level.

No, I care a lot about the way my characters look when they level. I’ll just play with level 30 stats at level 60, I guess. Gonna make leveling really unappealing, just as the fact that I won’t have access to important traits before level 60 …

Nage.1520:

Unless you’re a mad altoholic (in which case you’ll just have to deal with it), it’s not going to affect most people for more than a short time.

Shouldn’t arena.net be more friendly to altholics, considering them buying character slots is probably a big source of their income revenue?

Morrigan.2809:

Algreg.3629:

I really don´t see a big issue here. You outlevel your equipment that fast that any kind of resources is wasted on it. I guess most people even just equip what they can grab and move on to next level.

Some people care how their characters look even if the are still leveling.
I realize some people couldn’t care less but I do- I could never play that way.
I haven’t since I got my first character to 80

This is my newest character- she is lvl 12, now this is nothing extravagant but you get the idea.
if you have several characters under 80- it adds up I assure you

well, if you value the looks of your characters below 80 like someone with his max level characters, I don´t see why he should pay more than you. You are purchasing exactly the same service, why should you get a discount for it?

And it does not matter at all if you play only one character or 200, it does not change the time played on every level individually one bit.

This was the huge turn-off for me, and why I quit playing entirely, save for some PvP. I wanted to look good while leveling, but it wouldn’t let me. They had advertised the game much earlier showing a system like DCUO’s, but with the interface of the PvP. I about squealed when I saw it. When I actually got it, however, I was less that happy with it, and simply moved on afterward.

Shallow? Yes, but I have a very certain look in my mind for my characters. If I can’t get it from this game, I will move on. There are plenty of games that allow me to change my look for free. LOTRO has it, DCUO has it, why the hell can’t any of the newer games have this amazing feature that allows you to customize your character?

RyuKaiser.7302:

There are plenty of games that allow me to change my look for free. LOTRO has it, DCUO has it, why the hell can’t any of the newer games have this amazing feature that allows you to customize your character?

WoW has it, too.

NCSoft has certain ideas on how to best make money off the shop, but I really don’t think they’re especially good. They love their RNG, which is bound to make players unhappy, and they love offering limited-use items (two weeks pass to go somewhere, one week bank access, one time hair customization, 5 transmutation charges). All of this makes you feel like you’re borrowing something. But when I spend money, I want to feel like I’m buying something. The “borrowing” feeling is exactly what I don’t like about mmo’s with a sub fee, but I’m starting to think that I’d prefer to pay a monthly fee for GW2 if, in exchange, I could OWN everything else in GW2 “for real”. Unlimited hair customization. Unlimited mobile bank access. Unlimited transmutation charges. Unlimited access to new areas.

Yeah, I’m actually positive I’d enjoy that more.

I’d also pay a lot more to own these things than I ever would to “borrow” them. I will never pay for a hair customization kit if I want to just change the look of my character’s hair. I want to change my character’s hair often, and if I can’t do that, I feel disinclined to change it at all. I’d pay 2k gems for an unlimited hair changer, but 0 for one-time-changers.

Awbee.8405:

RyuKaiser.7302:

There are plenty of games that allow me to change my look for free. LOTRO has it, DCUO has it, why the hell can’t any of the newer games have this amazing feature that allows you to customize your character?

WoW has it, too.

NCSoft has certain ideas on how to best make money off the shop, but I really don’t think they’re especially good. They love their RNG, which is bound to make players unhappy, and they love offering limited-use items (two weeks pass to go somewhere, one week bank access, one time hair customization, 5 transmutation charges). All of this makes you feel like you’re borrowing something. But when I spend money, I want to feel like I’m buying something. The “borrowing” feeling is exactly what I don’t like about mmo’s with a sub fee, but I’m starting to think that I’d prefer to pay a monthly fee for GW2 if, in exchange, I could OWN everything else in GW2 “for real”. Unlimited hair customization. Unlimited mobile bank access. Unlimited transmutation charges. Unlimited access to new areas.

Yeah, I’m actually positive I’d enjoy that more.

as far as I know, almost all MMORPG don´t let you own anything via their GTC, everything is usually defined as a service.

Algreg.3629:

Morrigan.2809:

Algreg.3629:

I really don´t see a big issue here. You outlevel your equipment that fast that any kind of resources is wasted on it. I guess most people even just equip what they can grab and move on to next level.

Some people care how their characters look even if the are still leveling.
I realize some people couldn’t care less but I do- I could never play that way.
I haven’t since I got my first character to 80

This is my newest character- she is lvl 12, now this is nothing extravagant but you get the idea.
if you have several characters under 80- it adds up I assure you

well, if you value the looks of your characters below 80 like someone with his max level characters, I don´t see why he should pay more than you. You are purchasing exactly the same service, why should you get a discount for it?

And it does not matter at all if you play only one character or 200, it does not change the time played on every level individually one bit.

I am not saying he should pay more at all- I am just saying that it will now be more expensive for me to play this way.

I don’t want a discount.

I am saying that for people who care how their low level characters look- it will be really expensive- not everyone will keep it up.

I will probably only replace my set once or twice on the way to 80- will make leveling harder but meh

Edit: keep in mind that stones cost more than crystals.
So to keep an under 80 geared is indeed more expensive- so I will pay more not less

I really want characters that are level 79 and under to cost karma to transmute and remove the T-crystal.

Ok, I have played since the 3-day headstart but anyway I have always used transmugation stones on all my 8 chars while leveling them to level 80.
Even though I have used around 30 stones per character while leveling them I still have over 180 stones left. (I have never bought a Transmugation stone)

I guess it depends on how you play the game too but if you don’t explore the maps but instead you just powerlevel in dungeons or champ farming or whatever… I dunno, imo you have to work a little to deserve some flavor ^^

Oh I remeber I didn’t bother to use Transmugation stones until much later … since I didn’t know how easy it was to get Transmugation stones.

aren´t charges dropping from various rewards like stones used to? And anyway, playing many alts, don´t you have an abundance of those just from map completions right now?

Algreg.3629:

aren´t charges dropping from various rewards like stones used to? And anyway, playing many alts, don´t you have an abundance of those just from map completions right now?

You get and will get transmugation from map compleations yes… I think you can get them from daily (Not sure). Some personal quests grants you these too.
You can buy gems for gold and I think you can get charges from BLT Chests too.

PvP will start to reward these too now.

Awbee.8405:

…All of this makes you feel like you’re borrowing something. But when I spend money, I want to feel like I’m buying something. The “borrowing” feeling is exactly what I don’t like about mmo’s with a sub fee, but I’m starting to think that I’d prefer to pay a monthly fee for GW2 if, in exchange, I could OWN everything else in GW2 “for real”….

^ So very much this. Many FTP games, GW2 included, implement their RMT store in a way that gives the player a constant sense of low-level anxiety; of impermanence. LoTRO is another example of this – fortunately, I’m a lifetime subscriber, so I don’t get the worst of it (that was the best $200 I ever spent). But if I weren’t lifetime I’d feel constantly nickle-and-dimed over store purchases that have limited use. The upshot for me, both in LotRO and GW2, is that I minimize my use of the RMT store. I’m hyper-vigilant over what I buy and am very tight with the purse strings.

For comparison, check out Champions Online. I loved the RMT store there! It was a delight to use and buying something was like getting a new toy. Whereas dealing with GW2’s store is like having to pay taxes.

Getting back on-topic to the Wardrobe and xmute costs: It’s a weird dissonance between two contradictory systems. The Wardrobe is about versatility, ease, and self-expression. But it’s gated by the grumpy little taxman of the RMT store that restricts, complicates, and enforces tedious micromanagement.

Maybe I’ll feel differently once I’ve stocked up on xmute charges, but right now, I don’t see myself making enough in-game to able to use the wardrobe as freely as I’d like. Should I really have to pay cash if I want to change hats every day?

It also stings that none of the other MMOs with cosmetic gear systems charge you real money per-use.

Transmutation Changes

Double-click Transmutation Crystals to convert them directly into Transmutation Charges.
Double-click Transmutation Stones to convert them into Transmutation Charges at a 3-to-1 ratio.

Did this and nothing happened – lost the crystals and stones – or I have no idea where they ended up. I just have the 5 transmutation Charges given out from the Gem Store.

Any advice please?

Denis Strasse.3462:

Transmutation Changes

Double-click Transmutation Crystals to convert them directly into Transmutation Charges.
Double-click Transmutation Stones to convert them into Transmutation Charges at a 3-to-1 ratio.

Did this and nothing happened – lost the crystals and stones – or I have no idea where they ended up. I just have the 5 transmutation Charges given out from the Gem Store.

Any advice please?

It’s a currency now. Just mouse over your gold in your inventory window and you’ll see it listed.

Ah thank you – how do you access though?

Algreg.3629:

as far as I know, almost all MMORPG don´t let you own anything via their GTC, everything is usually defined as a service.

That’s not Awbee’s point. He’s not contrasting virtual services with real world ownership, he’s distinguishing two different types of virtual services and how players relate to them.

Algreg.3629:

well, if you value the looks of your characters below 80 like someone with his max level characters, I don´t see why he should pay more than you. You are purchasing exactly the same service, why should you get a discount for it?

Again, we’re talking about something slightly different than what you say here. The end-game player and the leveling player are not quite purchasing the exact same service. The leveling player has to pay xmute charges more often to achieve the same results as someone at level 80 (that is, a consistent, satisfying character look).

Hence my initial wording in the OP: The new wardrobe transmute costs disadvantage new and leveling players.

The old system of stones and crystals accounted for this. Why would they stop that? As Awbee pointed out earlier, incentivizing alt leveling is good for Arenanet.

I will agree. I have eight 80s and one 30 at the moment, and can’t really consider using charges for the 30 when he’s going to need to change gear every 5-10 levels anyways. They should remove the transmute costs entirely for characters under 80.

Agree on all points here. Anet has made it so transmutation is worthless for <80 characters. There really should be some kind of discount or reduction of transmutation for pre-80s. It’s not really fair at all when you consider a pre-80 is changing gear every 5-10 levels when a lvl 80 never has to, yet the costs of charges are the same.

umbrablackfell.7849:

Agree on all points here. Anet has made it so transmutation is worthless for <80 characters. There really should be some kind of discount or reduction of transmutation for pre-80s. It’s not really fair at all when you consider a pre-80 is changing gear every 5-10 levels when a lvl 80 never has to, yet the costs of charges are the same.

Tbh guys I found when levelling my alts that upgrading gear every 15 levels from lvl 20 onwards was optimal. But still, this does not change the fact that transmuting is now more expensive for lower 80’s.

I’m sorry but…Who cares?

Leveling from 1 to 80 is so incredibly fast in this game. The only reason it wasn’t previously a complete waste to transmute items bellow level 80 was because the item you used for it (the 1-79 stones) were also completely and utterly worthless. And even then it was a waste of time.

Leave it as is.

Hey there, since we are getting a lot of feedback on this topic right now, we are collecting it all in dedicated threads. You are very welcome to repost your questions comments and concerns here “https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Game-Updates-Wardrobe-Transmutation-Outfits”