Guild Wars 2

I’ve been thinking about buying some things from the Gem Store, but am confused about how they work.

Specifically, I’m thinking about buying some different outfits for my characters, but I’m not sure how that’ll work.

First of all, does purchasing the outfits merely unlock the skins, and then still require transmutation charges to change into them?

Second, what happens when I craft/find/buy different gear? Can I continue using the “gem” skin, or do I need another transmutation charge to change the new gear into the previously purchased gem skin?

Third, can transmutation charges still be found in the game world? Or are they by purchase-only from the gem store now?

Thanks in advance!

The gem store has account-wide unlockable “outfits”, which are non-customizable armor permutations(free, after purchase), and account-wide armor skins, which when purchased, delivers the armor skins via mail so they may be applied once for free. Any further changes regarding a piece of equipment, will cost you transmutation charges. Skins purchased are applied to your account as unlocks but they must be opened from the bundled pack received by mail. Armor and weapons you receive along your travels normally have skins that will be unique to them. Once acquired, it will permanently unlock its skin for your account. Note: some weapons and armors share skins.

Outfits are free to wear at any time, once you’ve bought one for the account. Armor skin sets unlock the pieces in your wardrobe and give you one free application of the skins; any subsequent use of those skins will take a transmutation charge per skin,

RoseofGilead.8907:

Outfits are free to wear at any time, once you’ve bought one for the account.

Forgot, to mention that. Edited it into the first post just now.

Urggghh! The forum can be irritating at times when it eats your posts.

You can learn more about earning Transmutation Charges in-game, as well as learning about Outfits, Skins, Tonics, Town Clothes, Gear, etc. by accessing the Wiki (link above) or the Knowledge Base (Support link above/below).

Good luck.

Outfits require no transmutation. They’re one non customizable piece that goes over your armor. No changing just the head piece etc. It’s account wide in your outfit tab in the hero menu.

Armor skins require a transmutation after the first time you use it and it’s piece by piece so you can mix and match different armor skins. You can also dye armor skins. You access this in the wardrobe tab in the hero menu. Also account wide unlock.

You can dye Outfits. There are fewer dye channels over-all, but you can certainly dye the Outfits.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

You can dye Outfits. There are fewer dye channels over-all, but you can certainly dye the Outfits.

Thanks. Didn’t realize that. Edited mine. I don’t use them so I went by what I heard.

Summarizing above in bullets:

• Outfits: buy once, unlock forever; no transmute costs.
• Armor: unlock each piece and get one free transmute (as an item); further transmutes cost one charge per piece.
• Tonics: single-use and everlasting varieties exist, including some that look like town clothes. Some allow combat, some allow costume brawling, and some neither. Some are account-bound on first use or acquisition. Some allow jumping/dodging; some not.

Elias.3204:

Third, can transmutation charges still be found in the game world? Or are they by purchase-only from the gem store now?

They can be obrained in game.
1. You get 1 charge for completing town map (eg. Lion`s Arch, Divinity`s Reach etc)
2. You can get 1 charge for completing any other map (it`s either BLC key or charge)
3. You get 3 charges at some point from daily login chest.
4. You can convert gold to gems and buy them (atm. ~~20-25g for 5 of them).

Creating character and completing town map gets you 1 charge in about 15min, then you can delete this character and repeat process.

You can get quite a few transmutation charges for free. I estimate I’ve gotten just over 100 since the game came out and I’ve never bought any. The most reliable way to get them now is from the daily login rewards, but the quickest (if you have a character slot free) is to make a new character and explore the 5 cities – each one gets you a charge.

Whether it’s enough for you depends on how often you want to change your armor skins. It’s worth bearing in mind that you level quite quickly in this game so you’re unlikely to be wearing your low level armor for long. If you’re concerned about wasting transmutation charges it would be better to wait until level 80.