Paid more for gems than a sub fee this year?

Paid more for gems than a sub fee this year?

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Posted by: Furesy.6935

Furesy.6935

I haven’t spend anything apart from the initial purchase. And I won’t either. I’m not entirely thrilled for the direction the game is going. I like GW2, for the most part. But there’s certain stuff I really don’t like. It’s a good game, but inferior to GW1 in my opinion. The things I loved about that game, which made me purchase this game, are actually not here.

Then again, I probably wouldn’t have purchased anything from the gem store with real life currency anyway xD do really like we have the option to use gold for it.

I’m still really glad I used all my gold in first few weeks to purchase gems when 1 gold still got you like 300 gems lol =D

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Posted by: Lynne.8416

Lynne.8416

Have you paid more for gems than a sub fee in the past year?

I’m going to say no. I did purchase gems at launch for character slots and bank tabs. The only other thing I remember buying from the gem store since then was the quaggan back pack.

I just wouldn’t play a game that charged a sub fee.
I would much rather CHOOSE to purchase gems for items that I want when I want, as opposed to paying $15-20 a month just to be able to play the game.

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Posted by: Devata.6589

Devata.6589

Really? Because as I recall an expansion was never OFF the table. The entire article that spawned this discussion was Colin (?) claiming that if they felt they could deliver an expansions’ worth of content via the Living Story that it made sense for them to do it that way.

At least that was how I interpreted it, and ya know what… I agree with that. If they want to (and can) deliver that much content for free (hoping that it will entice gem store sales), I’m sure as hell not going to stop them.

Yes and No. The following is what happened. Many people did expect an expansion somewhere a year or a little more after release. One of the reasons for that is that Anet was known as a B2P company so then you need regular expansions. When you have a expansion after a year that also means you are working on that even before the release of the game.

Then about 5 months ago it became known that ArenaNet was not working on an expansion.

In a later interview when ask about this they came with the LS story. The following thread went about that:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-unlikely-to-get-expansions-Interview/first
And then yes he says it’s on the table but he also says “So right now we’re not really looking at expansions as an option”.

In the interview he also says “"If we do this right, we will probably never do an expansion and everything will be going into this Living World strategy.".

I think it’s fair to assume the goal is to “do it right” and with that yes a Expansion was really of the table.. The part of it not being of the table is then more that it would still be an option if they would not do it right. So as a back-up. But as real future plan it was for sure of the table.

(Also see the question of the interviewer:‘But what about making money? Guild Wars 1 survived on paid expansions, editions, add-ons, whatever you want to call them’ so I am not so special in assuming that was also the plan for GW2. It’s a name ArenaNet build on with GW1 and by changing money for GW2 they in a way showed they would continue that way. In stead they basically asked money for a F2P game.)

Paid more for gems than a sub fee this year?

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Posted by: Devata.6589

Devata.6589

P1/2

At the same time there are also many more people that seem to think the same way.

Walking away would also mean walking away from the invested time so far and walking away from an amazing guild. So I prefer to bring this problem to the attention. We did have some suggest with bringing the temporary content stuff to there attention it seems looking at the last few patches. and ‘we’ also got the expansion back on the table where it first was off the table. So I will give this a try. I came to GW2 hoping to play it for years, I don’t like MMO hopping. This is the second MMORPG in my life I really invested time in so I won’t walk away that easily.

Besides maybe some gem-buyers also hate the negative side-effects bud did not see them as related. If I was to convince only one of them that would be a win I think.

What exactly is it about gem-buying that you are against?

  • Do you not like Living World?
    I can understand this, as I’m not a huge fan of it myself.
  • Do you not like RNG Gimmicks like skin tokens hiding inside Black Lion Chests?
    I can understand this, I hate Black Lion Chests and have only ever bought keys for them once. When I realised what a complete waste of money they are I never purchased them again.
  • Do you not like people converting gems to gold?
    This is where the majority of my money goes, because I don’t have time to waste farming resources in PvE when I spend so much time in WvW.

snap~

To answer you last comment first. I do blame them first. But the only way to get them to ‘design it different’ is by getting the people like you to at least understand my viewpoint.

I will explain your question the best I can so I hope you will take your time to read and to try to understand it but it will be a long read. You asked for it

Let me start with saying.. It’s not the gem-store I have a problem with. It’s the cash-shop focus to generate income. In this case in stead of an expansion focus to generate income. Or even more precise, the effects that focus has on the game-world.

To start with your examples and a short explanation.

  • Do you not like Living World?
    No I don’t like the way it is and do I blame the gem-store focus for a big part for that.
  • Do you not like RNG Gimmicks like skin tokens hiding inside Black Lion Chests?
    It’s not the RNG box itself as I won’t buy it anyway it’s more the fact that it is in there.. This will come more clear later I hope.
  • Do you not like people converting gems to gold?
    I also have no problem with that.

What I have a problem with is the side effects of that focus. Taking your own examples. For example the gem to gold.

Anet is now focusing on making money from the gem-store and that focus means they will try to make people like you buy gems to do that. It’s those thinks I do not like. In this case what they do is, they make sure the game is very gold-driven. Gold is very important in this game. Farming for gold is better then everything else you can do to get what you need.

I prefer a game where when I need an item I can go and get in a reasonable way. But because Anet tries to convince you to convert gems to gold they need to make sure gold is very important. Farming is in some cases no option at all but buying it with gold is almost always the option. In that way they make converting gems to gold more interesting.

So this is one example of a side effect of that focus and I do not dislike the fact that people convert gems to gold I dislike what Anet does to convince people to do that. It changes the ingame mechanics in (imo) a bad way. If they would focus on expansions in stead of the gem-store for income they would not have to try to get you to buy gems they would try to convince you to buy the expansion.

The question “how do we get him to buy gems” changes to “how do we get him to buy the expansion”. And for the gold-driven part that means there is not a good reason to make the game so gold-driven. Let them farm there goods, play there game and so get there things they want. For me it’s more fun to play the game so farming what I need in stead of having to do a lot of thinks with the pure goal of getting gold so I can then buy what I wanted or needed.

Same thing you get with the RNG boxes. They have those in there because they want you to buy gems and if you can buy a skin for 50 gems then you pay 50 gems and have the skin. Now if they hide them in RNG boxes of 1 gem a box you need to buy a 500 boxes in the hope to get the skin you want. (I know the prices are much higher. But I work with prices I think are more appropriate)
So the gem-store focus (them using the cash-shop as main source for income) is the reason for the RNG boxes being there.
>

(edited by Devata.6589)

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Posted by: Devata.6589

Devata.6589

P2/2

The living story and especially the temporary nature that it has (or had?) is also related to that same questions, how do we get people to buy gems. Every 2 weeks a new ‘story’ means you have every two weeks a good excuse to put new items in the gem-store and the temporary nature also means you have an excuse to take them out again. And why taking them out again. Thats a marketing trick. Create a sense of urgency and you sell more.. they get you to buy more gems. Meanwhile it helps people to log in what helps to see the new items, then they try to convince you to buy.
I would have more fun if I could do thinks on my own pase and if there is really something I need / want work towards it. That would make it more fun but it does not fit there cash-shop focus if they would do that.

We can go on with the new hair-styles. I think this game would be better if there was a barber in the world and there you could cut your hair for 15 silver. It would be fun, it would be more immersive it would fit in the world. Once in a while some extra hair as an option would be nice and don’t get me wrong I am willing to pay for that.. with an expansion (just like with all the examples I talk about. I don’t expect Anet to make a game for free). But what do we get.. special hair that you can buy with gems. Changing your hair every two weeks is not really an option like this is it? But it is in there because Anet needs to make money, they do that using the gem-store and so need you to buy gems. If they would put it in the open world it might make the game better and more fun but you would not be buying gems. And once again the focus on the gem-store / convincing you to buy gems, was (imo) negative for the game.

I loved to go out and find mini’s in other games. Meet NPC’s all over the world that sell them. Do quest and get them, do dungeons to get them, even farm a few mobs 10000 times to get that very rare one and so on. But that would not make you buy gems so here most mini’s are in the gem-store and then (because of RNG) many end up in the TP what is no problem for them as it increases the value for gold (what makes gem 2 gold better.. the gold driven part). So the fun in collecting mini’s is gone. I don’t think it’s fun collecting mini’s in GW2 because of this. And I am talking about the act of collecting in this case. There are some really nice mini’s in the game. So once again an example how something that can be fun is destroyed because of a focus on the gem-store.

There are more examples but I think this part should be clear by now.

It’s the negative effects on the world of the focus on the gem-store (meaning they need to convince you to buy gems) that I don’t like.

You yourself say.. yeah I also don’t like the RNG boxes and the Living world, but maybe you should see that they have that the way they have it because in that way they get people like you to buy gems. Thats the main reason. If they would change that because of to many complains you can be sure they will come with other tactics with similar negative side-effects because as long as they focus on the cash-shop for income they need to get you to buy gems. “How do we get people to buy gems”.

If you want to really do something about those bad thinks you need to understand where they are coming from and then you might understand that buying gems is only gonna make that worse or at least is not helping to fix it.

For the record. I do not blame everything I do not like on this focus (I know some people might try to trow away this long post with a one line comment saying that). I would have preferred a real open world in stead of instanced maps, I would have preferred traditional quest next to what we have now and there are other thinks that I think could be better and I do not see as related to the gem-store focus. But yes I do see a lot of ‘in my eyes negative’ things indeed related to that gem-store focus.

I am also willing to pay for all this stuff. I know Anet has as goal making money and I am not somebody that is against that. However I am willing to pay for that with an expansion so we do not need to have all those negative effects we have now.

(edited by Devata.6589)

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Posted by: Devata.6589

Devata.6589

At the same time there are also many more people that seem to think the same way.

Walking away would also mean walking away from the invested time so far and walking away from an amazing guild. So I prefer to bring this problem to the attention.

And Arena.net doesn’t think it’s a problem. They don’t agree with you. It will not change. Period.

So now what? No matter how long you scream at that wall, it’s not going to move.

Walk away.

I am not somebody to just walk away.

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Posted by: Elthurien.8356

Elthurien.8356

TLTQ:STUFF

To be honest, I completely agree with what you are saying. However, I don’t think they are going to change their direction. This game would be the best game ever made if drop rates were increased to reduce time to farm/craft/gear up. I wouldn’t worry too much though, the way the game is headed at the moment, will mean I spend nothing. I only support what I like, and I don’t like the direction now.

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Posted by: chemiclord.3978

chemiclord.3978

I am not somebody to just walk away.

Well then… I hope you enjoy your endless frustration and anger. Because the gem store is not going anywhere, nor are the business practices to encourage people to buy from it. It’s here for good, and will continue to be here until the game’s servers shut down. So go ahead and keep screaming at the sun for rising.

Personally, if I was so angry at something, I wouldn’t have anything to do with it… but I guess that’s just me.

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Posted by: Devata.6589

Devata.6589

I am not somebody to just walk away.

Well then… I hope you enjoy your endless frustration and anger. Because the gem store is not going anywhere, nor are the business practices to encourage people to buy from it. It’s here for good, and will continue to be here until the game’s servers shut down. So go ahead and keep screaming at the sun for rising.

Personally, if I was so angry at something, I wouldn’t have anything to do with it… but I guess that’s just me.

(I don’t ask for the gem-store to go)

It’s more then just screaming and ‘we’ did have some succes with other topics so we will see here.

I prefer to change what is wrong, not walk away from it.

Besides walking away also means walking away from the invested time and walking away from the guild and there is nothing wrong with the guild.

(edited by Devata.6589)

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Posted by: chemiclord.3978

chemiclord.3978

The only way you “change what is wrong” is when the other side actually thinks there is anything “wrong” to begin with.

When the other side does not think there is a problem, they are (not surprisingly) going to ignore your solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

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Posted by: Devata.6589

Devata.6589

The only way you “change what is wrong” is when the other side actually thinks there is anything “wrong” to begin with.

When the other side does not think there is a problem, they are (not surprisingly) going to ignore your solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

That it doesn’t exist in there eyes does not mean it does not exist in reality. So I need to make sure they see it and thats what I am trying to do.

(edited by Devata.6589)

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Posted by: Pirlipat.2479

Pirlipat.2479

There is a lot of preaching going on in this thread.^^ Did I pay a years sub worth? No, but I spent some money here and there, when I liked the item. And I don’t regret it a bit.

Honestly, I’m not happy with everything in this game, but overall I enjoy it alot, otherwise I wouldn’t play it anymore. I don’t “invest” in my characters.

On the other hand everyone telling us that spending gems on the shop is supporting the “wrong” way: how do I know that “your” perfect way is the way I would like? When I read the forum I get the impression that many people want things that would make me stop playing.

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Posted by: Devata.6589

Devata.6589

There is a lot of preaching going on in this thread.^^ Did I pay a years sub worth? No, but I spent some money here and there, when I liked the item. And I don’t regret it a bit.

Honestly, I’m not happy with everything in this game, but overall I enjoy it alot, otherwise I wouldn’t play it anymore. I don’t “invest” in my characters.

On the other hand everyone telling us that spending gems on the shop is supporting the “wrong” way: how do I know that “your” perfect way is the way I would like? When I read the forum I get the impression that many people want things that would make me stop playing.

Maybe it’s not the wrong way for you. Maybe you dislike the idea of an ingame barber and a place where you can also farm for materials you want / need in stead of just doing a lot of things to get gold to get your items. Mayve you like the temporary nature of the LS.

Thats why I explain what I see as ‘wrong’ and it’s on you to decide if it’s really wrong for you as well. But many people do indeed see such things as wrong but don’t see the link with the gem-store focus. For them I tell them how I see it.

(edited by Devata.6589)

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Posted by: MrRuin.9740

MrRuin.9740

Nope. I have spent $0.00 since the initial purchase.
I realize they use the cashshop as an income source and I also believe they do it alot better than most other MMO’s, offering only luxury and convenience items – so I don’t not use it out of some malice for the cashshop or anything.
There’s just been no reason for me to spend money. Anything I’ve wanted out of the cashshop I used gold-to-gems to buy.

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Posted by: revodeel.2651

revodeel.2651

I started playing at the end of January and have maybe spent $30 (give or take) on gems. That was before I realized I could trade gold for gems (/facepalm) and also before I figured out how to accumulate gold.

Do not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.

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Posted by: Svetli.4276

Svetli.4276

did not pay 1 $ for gems
i play the game get gold and buy gems

“What you wish for may not be what she wishes for.” – Skull Knight