Guild Wars 2

Now, of course, whether you’re dead (defeated) or alive, waypoints cost money to teleport to and/or revive there. But here’s the thing. The fee is so small as to really just be a small annoyance for anyone, even starting players. And, of course, the fee is meant to be that small. But it just kind of brings up the question of why. Why does ANet have it there in the first place if it’s really not supposed to be a huge penalty at all?

If I had to guess, it may just be there to stop players from teleporting to every single place all the time. To get them to actually, you know, walk around and, in doing so, perhaps get them to participate in an event in the process.

Asura tax to keep the maintenance cost low of course.

Should Waypoints really have a fee?

yes. cause one of the last remaining gold sinks in game

Zaron.1987:

Should Waypoints really have a fee?

yes. cause one of the last remaining gold sinks in game

No it isn’t. It’s not one of the last remaining gold sinks in the game.

The waypoint fee is hardly a gold sink. For a veteran player like me the +/- 3 silver per teleport that I have to pay is absolutely nothing, I don’t even notice it.

Not to mention that I can easily circumvent the teleport fee by simply using WvW or HoTM for my crafting and banking needs, which is what I do 99% of the time when I need to craft or bank something.

On the other hand the teleport fee is quite a big annoyance for new players. I remember when I just started playing GW2 that I was constantly running out of money because of the teleport fee. It’s highly unfriendly to new players.

I’d say get rid of the teleport fee.

Firstly even though the fee is very small it’s enough to encourage at least some players to not use waypoints unless they need to. Which means they’re running to their location instead, which increases the number of people out and about in maps and the probability that those players will encounter events and other things they might have missed the first time.

But when players do choose to use waypoints the fee acts as a gold sink, just like the fee on the TP. It’s effective because each individual payment is low enough that players are willing to pay it, but across all the waypoint uses every day I bet it drains a lot of gold from the economy, which helps to balance out the gold constantly entering the economy from enemies killed, events completed etc.

Should Waypoints really have a fee? → YES.

I say no because it is an annoyance for newer players with low cash and like me who sometimes only has an hour to play, running around will consume that whole hour. Having more players in the world doesn’t make a difference if their only motive for their play time is going from point A to point B. Movement speed in GW2 isn’t very fast neither. I have the money where it isn’t a bigger deal now but for newer players it is annoyance.

Jtoon.6907:

I say no because it is an annoyance for newer players with low cash and like me who sometimes only has an hour to play, running around will consume that whole hour. Having more players in the world doesn’t make a difference if their only motive for their play time is going from point A to point B. Movement speed in GW2 isn’t very fast neither. I have the money where it isn’t a bigger deal now but for newer players it is annoyance.

i have the answer to all problems

MOUNTS

( sarcasm alert!)

I’d say there shouldn’t be a fee.
It accomplishes nothing positive as far as I can see, the effect on the economy has to be negligible.
But then it’s such a small amount I can’t be bothered about it much anymore.

Etienne.3049:

I’d say there shouldn’t be a fee.
It accomplishes nothing positive as far as I can see, the effect on the economy has to be negligible.
But then it’s such a small amount I can’t be bothered about it much anymore.

no its not negligible cause everyone use it very often.
one port 3s —> 100.000 players almost a sink of 3000 gold for ONE port. and now look on an normal play time and player mass

its all but not negligible.

on the one hand it doesnt hurt the single player much and on the other hand its good for economy

Everyone who is moaning about WP cost keep saying that it isn’t much to them.

If it’s not much to you, why are you moaning?

For lower level players the WP cost is reduced.

If you are using W3 or HoTM to get around the WP fee, then the WP fee isn’t negligible to you.

Argue your own case not other peoples.

Zaron.1987:

Should Waypoints really have a fee?
yes. cause one of the last remaining gold sinks in game

Um, the 15% TP fee is the most significant gold sink in just about any MMO. Waypoint costs are likely dwarfed by that.

Waypoints probably still have a fee for two reasons:

• Minor penalty for dying, in addition to having to run back.
• To ‘gate’ new players from teleporting everywhere instead of running, which would mean missing a lot of what GW2 offers.
• To discourage veterans from waypointing for everything.

I don’t know if the current fees do a good job of any of the above. I do know I would use them much more often if they were free, even though I can afford bypassing them.

People have suggested an alternative: make it free to teleport into any city, since that already can be done for free (not counting suffering additional loading screens). Go to the mists (wvw, pvp lobby, or eotm) → use the asura gate to get to LA → use the hub gate to get to any other city. This, too, probably won’t happen, for the same reasons.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Zaron.1987:

Should Waypoints really have a fee?
yes. cause one of the last remaining gold sinks in game

Um, the 15% TP fee is the most significant gold sink in just about any MMO. Waypoint costs are likely dwarfed by that.

Waypoints probably still have a fee for two reasons:

• Minor penalty for dying, in addition to having to run back.
• To ‘gate’ new players from teleporting everywhere instead of running, which would mean missing a lot of what GW2 offers.
• To discourage veterans from waypointing for everything.

I don’t know if the current fees do a good job of any of the above. I do know I would use them much more often if they were free, even though I can afford bypassing them.

People have suggested an alternative: make it free to teleport into any city, since that already can be done for free (not counting suffering additional loading screens). Go to the mists (wvw, pvp lobby, or eotm) -> use the asura gate to get to LA -> use the hub gate to get to any other city. This, too, probably won’t happen, for the same reasons.

Um just read!

ONE (!) of the last remaining gold sinks in game . since anet make repair for free. also very kitten action. from anet….

not THE one!

Simple solution for new players, or those hurting on waypoint fees – do a little harvesting between ports. I think many would be surprised how easily this subsides, if not entire covers, waypoint expenses (in addition to tool costs).

LucosTheDutch.4819:

Zaron.1987:

Should Waypoints really have a fee?

yes. cause one of the last remaining gold sinks in game

No it isn’t. It’s not one of the last remaining gold sinks in the game.

The waypoint fee is hardly a gold sink. For a veteran player like me the +/- 3 silver per teleport that I have to pay is absolutely nothing, I don’t even notice it.

Not to mention that I can easily circumvent the teleport fee by simply using WvW or HoTM for my crafting and banking needs, which is what I do 99% of the time when I need to craft or bank something.

On the other hand the teleport fee is quite a big annoyance for new players. I remember when I just started playing GW2 that I was constantly running out of money because of the teleport fee. It’s highly unfriendly to new players.

I’d say get rid of the teleport fee.

Add up your WP costs over the period of a day, week, and month of normal playing.

Mourningcry.9428:

Simple solution for new players, or those hurting on waypoint fees – do a little harvesting between ports. I think many would be surprised how easily this subsides, if not entire covers, waypoint expenses (in addition to tool costs).

Exactly .. harvesting the next node often gives you 3-7 silver worth on mats and so
the WP costs are not really an issue as they were in the beginning were those mats
were only worth some copper.

if i recall right, are not the fee pretty low for low levels, like just a few copper, the same you get for sell a drop from one enemy?

Zaron.1987:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Zaron.1987:

Should Waypoints really have a fee?
yes. cause one of the last remaining gold sinks in game

Um, the 15% TP fee is the most significant gold sink in just about any MMO. Waypoint costs are likely dwarfed by that.

Waypoints probably still have a fee for two reasons:

• Minor penalty for dying, in addition to having to run back.
• To ‘gate’ new players from teleporting everywhere instead of running, which would mean missing a lot of what GW2 offers.
• To discourage veterans from waypointing for everything.

I don’t know if the current fees do a good job of any of the above. I do know I would use them much more often if they were free, even though I can afford bypassing them.

People have suggested an alternative: make it free to teleport into any city, since that already can be done for free (not counting suffering additional loading screens). Go to the mists (wvw, pvp lobby, or eotm) -> use the asura gate to get to LA -> use the hub gate to get to any other city. This, too, probably won’t happen, for the same reasons.

Um just read!

ONE (!) of the last remaining gold sinks in game . since anet make repair for free. also very kitten action. from anet….

not THE one!

I guess, in the sense that.. If you have 100 things and you take 5 of them away you can say that the last 95 remain.

I don’t really see this being an issue one way or another at this point and considering how the game throws money at you from many sources(except events -_-).

The only people who should have a problem with this are those who are too cheap to pay and too lazy to walk.

Never notice it anymore anyways..i can do one dungeon run and have all the gold i need for WPing all day long!!

Absolutely yes.

-Gold sink. Yeah, ok, it’s not as large as a gold sink as the TP, but it acts as one nonetheless. I think the map is structured in a clever way- you can avoid the WP fees for all of the core low-level areas, but lucrative high level areas cost a reasonable few silver.
It keeps botters in-line who have a bot set up to waypoint and mine/gather the most expensive nodes only.

-Lore wise. I’ve so far only read Ghosts of Ascalon, but the book made it sound quite advanced in using portals. They’d have to recalibrate both the entrance and exit portal if you wanted to travel from one place to another. It required a small krewe of asura, and of course they’d need to be paid for the important job they’re doing. I know portals and waypoints look different, but a bookah like me would assume they work in a similar fashion.

-A small incentive to walk place-to-place. If everything was free, I wouldn’t bother running to that task a stone’s throw away because I can just waypoint there for nothing.

-This could work both for and against the argument, but dead people also have to pay money to waypoint and “respawn”. It could promote not dying, or promote teamwork so that people would try to support and resurrect each other. Then again- what’s to say the money-aspect is what prevents people waypoint when they’re dead at Tequatl for example? (Personally I just think people are too lazy to walk 30 seconds from the WP, rather than being afraid of spending 1-2s).

-Allowing free waypointing directly undermines the Airship Passes, Royal Pass or Home Access Portal Stone (or whatever they’re all called). These items are sold on the gemstore and are bought by people who want free convenience of a merchant, bank, trade-post and what-not. People would be pretty miffed if they bought these and then they became worthless because the convenience is applied to everybody everywhere.

Atmos.8105:

Everyone who is moaning about WP cost keep saying that it isn’t much to them.

If it’s not much to you, why are you moaning?

For lower level players the WP cost is reduced.

If you are using W3 or HoTM to get around the WP fee, then the WP fee isn’t negligible to you.

Argue your own case not other peoples.

I don’t use HoTM or WvW to get around the waypoint fee, but for convenience. I can hop in and out of HoTM/WvW for banking or crafting and still be exactly where I was in PvE, which in incredibly convenient, especially when you’re doing map completion. Not having to pay the waypoint fee is just a very minor bonus.

Everyone except Asura should have to pay

I easily pay 30 silver a day on WPs.
I don’t sell stuff on the TP each day, though – so yeah it’s a gold sink and that was why the costs were increased not that long ago – a year?

Zaron.1987:

Etienne.3049:

I’d say there shouldn’t be a fee.
It accomplishes nothing positive as far as I can see, the effect on the economy has to be negligible.
But then it’s such a small amount I can’t be bothered about it much anymore.

no its not negligible cause everyone use it very often.
one port 3s —> 100.000 players almost a sink of 3000 gold for ONE port. and now look on an normal play time and player mass

its all but not negligible.

on the one hand it doesnt hurt the single player much and on the other hand its good for economy

3 silver I think would be slightly over the average price of one teleport (from Lion’s Arch you can reach the vast majority of the world under 3s and I’d think a good part of teleports is within a map) but even a 3s gold sink is only 20s worth of goods sold on the trade post, while that’s slightly better than I initially though it was as a gold sink, it’s by no means a big one.

And taking arbitrary numbers of players and calculating an absolute amount of gold that would hypothetically be removed by this number of players taking a certain action seems rather useless to me, for one it seems to be completely unimportant how much gold is removed in total but only how much is removed per gold created.

Just give us mounts and get rid of the WPs,

LucosTheDutch.4819:

The waypoint fee is hardly a gold sink. For a veteran player like me the +/- 3 silver per teleport that I have to pay is absolutely nothing, I don’t even notice it.

Gold sinks aren’t necessarily supposed to be noticeable. It’s to ArenaNet’s credit that they can implement a gold sink that doesn’t inconvenience people or make them feel like they are fighting against the game just to earn a decent amount of gold.

LucosTheDutch.4819:

Not to mention that I can easily circumvent the teleport fee by simply using WvW or HoTM for my crafting and banking needs, which is what I do 99% of the time when I need to craft or bank something.

The fact that you’re changing your behaviour to circumvent the waypoint fee means that it is noticeable. And I do the same thing, if I want to get to Lion’s Arch, or sometimes even Divinity’s Reach. Rather than teleport directly to the exact spot I want to go, I’ll go to WvW or HotM, and take the portal to LA. And then once I’m in LA, teleport again to the specific part of LA I want to be in. Or take another portal to DR. So instead of spending a tiny amount of silver, I’ve instead used up a tiny amount of my time. Which is another form of “sink” in MMOs.

It’s not a big deal each time it happens. It’s entirely my choice whether I want to wait for a few extra teleports and loading screens, or simply eat the cost in silver. I don’t “feel” the effects of it too harshly at any point — but smart “gold sinks” or “time sinks” aren’t about hammering individual players — it’s about having subtle effects on the overall economy, over the entire population of players.

LucosTheDutch.4819:

I remember when I just started playing GW2 that I was constantly running out of money because of the teleport fee. It’s highly unfriendly to new players.

I remember that as well, back at launch. But things are different now. The game gives you more useful hand-outs than it used to — at level ups, from personal story steps, or from achievements. PvP reward tracks exist now. Log-in rewards, laurels, etc., exist now. Equipment repair is free. Earning traits went through a real miserable patch for a while, but is now back to being free.

Aside from teleports and salvage kits, what do new players even need gold for? This isn’t WoW, where you have to buy all your spells and save up 40g for a mount.

Fyrebrand.4859:

Earning traits went through a real miserable patch for a while, but is now back to being free.

It wasn’t free before the patch – it cost somewhat around 5 gold? to get all traits. After April ‘14 they were free in theory. I leveled 5 characters after April and bought 2 traits in total. But don’t remind me of that game phase.

Alga.6498:

Just give us mounts and get rid of the WPs,

Dont forget you need to stable your mount when you log out 20s an hour then the feed to keep it alive 1 gold a day. ( paid retroactivly if you come back after a long break ofcourse)

No, or at least an option to buy a gem store (or craft) permanent free waypoint tickets. The problem with waypoints having a fee is it deletes that money. All that trash you vendored, all that money that dropped from mobs gets eaten up by waypoints so it’s best to use them sparingly when you know you’ll have a net gain in silver instead of losing it.

Linken.6345:

Alga.6498:

Just give us mounts and get rid of the WPs,

Dont forget you need to stable your mount when you log out 20s an hour then the feed to keep it alive 1 gold a day. ( paid retroactivly if you come back after a long break ofcourse)

No, like eating it’s assumed the character does those mundane things anyway so all that mundane stuff would be assumed but not part of the actual gameplay itself.

LucosTheDutch.4819:

On the other hand the teleport fee is quite a big annoyance for new players. I remember when I just started playing GW2 that I was constantly running out of money because of the teleport fee. It’s highly unfriendly to new players.

At low level, waypoints are a few copper. The only way you can run out of money when you’re first starting out because of the waypoint fee is if you’re gratuitously waypointing back and forth for no reason, or if you’re dying to every other mob you fight.

Anyhow, there’s a simple way to avoid the fee – don’t use waypoints and run from one place to the other. “But that’ll take forever!” Then use the waypoint and don’t complain about paying for the convenience of not having to spend all that time running. Technically, any long-distance teleport is a gold source, not a sink. Instead of keeping you busy doing something where you’re not making any gold (running), the teleport allows you to instantly get back to playing the game and making gold by killing stuff and collecting loot. Anet was willing to put this gold source into the game, because they felt it was better than the alternative (downtime due to running).

If you want to play a RPG with maximum convenience and an absolute minimum of hassle and cost, then you should be playing this game:
http://progressquest.com/

The skinflint in me says “No.”
The economist in me says “Yes.”