Guild Wars 2

I would like to say this…

If players can afford to buy black Lion chest keys, we do not need crafting materials, dyes, minis, finishers, ore nodes, probably a couple more things but I’ll get back to you.

We can buy crafting mats on the bltc or get them in game.

We can buy the ore nodes off of the gem store when released or bltc.

We can buy the dye packs off the gem store when released or off the bltc.

We can buy minis off the gem store when released or bltc.

We can buy finishers off of the gem store when released or the bltc.

You are putting redundant items in those chests that can be obtained if desired by other means, and it seems disingenuous to put them in there with such high drop rates as well. I understand the concept of random, but I do not understand the concept of unnecessary. If you look at my account I do purchase gems frequently to support the game, but I do not support the way these chests were designed at all. Please change them to offer a better selection of items and by removing certain things asap.

Thank you

Edit- please follow the link and see what I’m talking about if you are not aware of what I’m talking about…

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Black_Lion_Chest

Edit 2- I don’t mind tossing hundreds of dollars to your company and to obtain certain items, but I would (and I’m sure others would too) prefer to not spend those hundreds of dollars to contribute to the market flood even more with crafting mats, dyes, minis, finishers… that go for a few silvers…

Crafting mats. More gold to me
Ore/wood nodes. WAY more gold to me (and so rare a drop that it’s hardly worth complaining about)
Dye packs. Glad to get them. A free chance for an expensive dye to recoup costs.
Minis. Usually sell for a gold or two. I don’t mind getting a gold or two.
Finishers. Isn’t their only source now black lion chest? Remove them and no cheap finishers in the trading post. You’ll need to buy gems.

All the things you don’t like put gold in my pocket, and I do like that. You didn’t give an alternative to these items to make me agree that they should be removed.

Gold is not what most players seek from these chests, we can exchange gems for that at a far far better rate of return.

I could run around any high level zone for 30 minutes and get 10x the value of crafting mats.

There are other means to obtain these unnecessary items when they are released on the gem store for direct purchase.

Anything I desire to get later on I can just purchase it off the bltc.

The items I mentioned are unnessary bloat and fluff to these chests, there is no real argument here about that. I’m fine with the concept of rng, but I’m not fine with redundant.

Swagger.1459:

<snip>

I can’t agree with this more. Black Lion Keys have been the one thing on the gem store that, more than anything else, I refuse to buy. The one time I made the foolish decision to buy a stack of keys I got a bunch of useless boosters, an overwhelming number of repair cans, and nothing of notable value. I would have been far better off had I simply exchanged the gems for gold.

Ok. You’ve said what you’d like removed. And you’ve said put in a better selection.

But what? You should give examples otherwise I’m fine with a chance for a rare dye, a node worth 2-3 hundred gold or a mini pet.

Llethander.3972:

Swagger.1459:

<snip>

I can’t agree with this more. Black Lion Keys have been the one thing on the gem store that, more than anything else, I refuse to buy. The one time I made the foolish decision to buy a stack of keys I got a bunch of useless boosters, an overwhelming number of repair cans, and nothing of notable value. I would have been far better off had I simply exchanged the gems for gold.

Yup, these chest items really need to be redone.

Chad.6104:

Ok. You’ve said what you’d like removed. And you’ve said put in a better selection.

But what? You should give examples otherwise I’m fine with a chance for a rare dye, a node worth 2-3 hundred gold or a mini pet.

Sure, we can discuss that.

Ascended mats would be better than those other mats.

Chance at a random bltc weapon skin.

Chance at game currency like laurels.

Chance at a “gift of” something

…

I didn’t put a lot of thought into it, but we could all take an hour and design better chest offerings right?

Swagger.1459:

Chad.6104:

Ok. You’ve said what you’d like removed. And you’ve said put in a better selection.

But what? You should give examples otherwise I’m fine with a chance for a rare dye, a node worth 2-3 hundred gold or a mini pet.

Sure, we can discuss that.

Ascended mats would be better than those other mats.

Chance at a random bltc weapon skin.

Chance at game currency like laurels.

Chance at a “gift of” something

…

I didn’t put a lot of thought into it, but we could all take an hour and design better chest offerings right?

Probably. And probably that’s what you could have done first rather than just a thread saying take out this, this and this and put better stuff in. But not saying what the better stuff is to you. The devs don’t know what you consider better stuff until you tell them as it varies from person to person. The Devs could consider better stuff as adding another booster or getting 2 repair cylinders instead of one.

And ascended mats? If you mean something like more bloodstone dust, no thanks. I’ll take the crafting bags before that.

(And they do have a chance for a black lion weapon skin already. It’s a full ticket as a rare drop).

Chad.6104:

Swagger.1459:

Chad.6104:

Ok. You’ve said what you’d like removed. And you’ve said put in a better selection.

But what? You should give examples otherwise I’m fine with a chance for a rare dye, a node worth 2-3 hundred gold or a mini pet.

Sure, we can discuss that.

Ascended mats would be better than those other mats.

Chance at a random bltc weapon skin.

Chance at game currency like laurels.

Chance at a “gift of” something

…

I didn’t put a lot of thought into it, but we could all take an hour and design better chest offerings right?

Probably. And probably that’s what you could have done first rather than just a thread saying take out this, this and this and put better stuff in. But not saying what the better stuff is to you. The devs don’t know what you consider better stuff until you tell them as it varies from person to person. The Devs could consider better stuff as adding another booster or getting 2 repair cylinders instead of one.

And ascended mats? If you mean something like more bloodstone dust, no thanks. I’ll take the crafting bags before that.

(And they do have a chance for a black lion weapon skin already. It’s a full ticket as a rare drop).

I had a bigger point to make about chests, so I really wasn’t interested in coming up with what to put in instead. Thanks.

There is more than just bloodstone dust…

And so, they can’t put a chance at a random skin in there for fun or to make the chest more attractive to buy keys for?

Black Lion Chests are a lottery; they aren’t meant to offer ‘good value’ — they have a bunch of consolation prizes and some “big winners”. People should only purchase them if they really, really like the thrill of anticipating what might drop; they have no other purpose.

Thus, the chests are already sufficiently attractive to the target market. The vast majority of players shouldn’t (in my estimation) ever spend gems on keys.

You may have missed the appeal (for some) of getting a higher-priced item for a lower cost. Sure, you can buy some items in the Gem Store for 500, 800, 1000 Gems, but you can also have the chance at obtaining them for a mere 100 to 125 Gems. Not to mention the rare items at a much lower cost (if fortunate) than sold on the TP.

Thus, not redundant to all.

Plus there are a lot of ways to get the keys without buying them.
Besides they are called “Black Lion Chests” so naturally they give items related to the gem store.

Can’t there be other stuff in there? There is an entire game filled with stuff as ideas to throw inside. A Bladed coat, chance at a prized runes or sigil, a few top quality foods or utility consumables, crystalline ore… whatever ya know, I’m just throwing things out at random… I could easily make a list of items that players are more likely to use than just toss back on the market to flood it even more. This current fluff stuff is already obtainable through the gemstone or tp if desired, there is no need to have players wasting money unnecessarily. And whatever is not currently there can be obtained when the gem store offers them again.

Again, the basic premise is that if someone wants some of those items they can just buy them off the gem store currently, wait for them to cycle back around or buy them on the TP. If my desire to buy these chests were instant repair canisters or crafting materials or mail carrier or plushy backpacks or minis or whatever… then I’d buy those directly at lesser cost comparatively…

If they improve chest offering to have more sought after items type items, sales would boost in keys naturally. Currently, though, these boxes have a negative reputation for not being worth their weight and wealth in keys at all so there is little argument there. These chests need a revamp period, and there is nothing wrong with this request that would ultimately give these chests a better reputation and increase key sales because of having an improved selection of items inside.

Swagger.1459:

If they improve chest offering to have more sought after items type items, sales would boost in keys naturally.

This implies that sales are bad. Evidence (in the form of the prices for low-demand items that drop from the chests) suggest that keys remain popular.

Swagger.1459:

Currently, though, these boxes have a negative reputation for not being worth their weight and wealth in keys at all so there is little argument there. These chests need a revamp period, and there is nothing wrong with this request that would ultimately give these chests a better reputation and increase key sales because of having an improved selection of items inside.

They are designed to not be worth their weight. They are lotto tickets, not “bundles of cool stuff”. They are meant to be mostly consolation prizes with a tiny chance of high-value items.

And again, that seems sufficient: key sales are (apparently) quite health.

Full disclaimer: I never buy keys; they aren’t worth it to me. My argument is that this particular offering is successfully working as intended. People want to see something else offered on the TP (and that might be a good idea, too), but that isn’t what BL keys/chests are intended to be.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Swagger.1459:

If they improve chest offering to have more sought after items type items, sales would boost in keys naturally.

This implies that sales are bad. Evidence (in the form of the prices for low-demand items that drop from the chests) suggest that keys remain popular.

Swagger.1459:

Currently, though, these boxes have a negative reputation for not being worth their weight and wealth in keys at all so there is little argument there. These chests need a revamp period, and there is nothing wrong with this request that would ultimately give these chests a better reputation and increase key sales because of having an improved selection of items inside.

They are designed to not be worth their weight. They are lotto tickets, not “bundles of cool stuff”. They are meant to be mostly consolation prizes with a tiny chance of high-value items.

And again, that seems sufficient: key sales are (apparently) quite health.

---

Full disclaimer: I never buy keys; they aren’t worth it to me. My argument is that this particular offering is successfully working as intended. People want to see something else offered on the TP (and that might be a good idea, too), but that isn’t what BL keys/chests are intended to be.

I made no such implication about good or bad sales… I merely stated that sales would increase…

If “they are not designed to be worth their weight” then that’s my fundamental issue and that’s why I brought up this topic.

You don’t buy keys because you don’t find them worth it, yet you are rallying for them to stay the same… And if they made them worth it like I’m suggesting, you (and others) would buy them, thus boosting sales and generating more revenue… And I’m sure many players feel the same that’s why I mentioned the current reputation of the chests in their current form…

Sure, working as intended, I’m suggesting to change that design intent so they can boost sales and players are much happier with what they get from rng inside…

And as a consumer, you should want to have a better value for your dollar and every other players dollars as well…

Edit- additionally, if this were my company and my primary source of income was through a gem store, I would make it a point to always leave a good feeling on the player for their purchases.

Swagger.1459:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Swagger.1459:

If they improve chest offering to have more sought after items type items, sales would boost in keys naturally.

This implies that sales are bad. Evidence (in the form of the prices for low-demand items that drop from the chests) suggest that keys remain popular.

Swagger.1459:

Currently, though, these boxes have a negative reputation for not being worth their weight and wealth in keys at all so there is little argument there. These chests need a revamp period, and there is nothing wrong with this request that would ultimately give these chests a better reputation and increase key sales because of having an improved selection of items inside.

They are designed to not be worth their weight. They are lotto tickets, not “bundles of cool stuff”. They are meant to be mostly consolation prizes with a tiny chance of high-value items.

And again, that seems sufficient: key sales are (apparently) quite health.

---

Full disclaimer: I never buy keys; they aren’t worth it to me. My argument is that this particular offering is successfully working as intended. People want to see something else offered on the TP (and that might be a good idea, too), but that isn’t what BL keys/chests are intended to be.

I made no such implication about good or bad sales… I merely stated that sales would increase…

If “they are not designed to be worth their weight” then that’s my fundamental issue and that’s why I brought up this topic.

You don’t buy keys because you don’t find them worth it, yet you are rallying for them to stay the same… And if they made them worth it like I’m suggesting, you (and others) would buy them, thus boosting sales and generating more revenue… And I’m sure many players feel the same that’s why I mentioned the current reputation of the chests in their current form…

Sure, working as intended, I’m suggesting to change that design intent so they can boost sales and players are much happier with what they get from rng inside…

And as a consumer, you should want to have a better value for your dollar and every other players dollars as well…

Edit- additionally, if this were my company and my primary source of income was through a gem store, I would make it a point to always leave a good feeling on the player for their purchases.

As a consumer, I don’t care if some items in the gem shop aren’t interesting to me. What matters is that they are already worthwhile to others. I don’t buy stuff at Safeway unless it’s on sale and I also think that Safeway’s prices are, in general, ‘fair’; I don’t see this situation any differently.

I do wish they would make it more obvious that these are designed as a lotto. I agree that customers should feel good about their purchases and I think that means that too many people are thinking of the keys as some sort of investment tool or gem-to-gold value item. People should realize before purchasing them that there’s only a tiny chance of high value items (although, since no other lottery advertises that fact either, I’m not sure how they would manage it).

Keep in mind that the gem store’s number one requirement is that it have no meaningful impact on the game, including the game’s economy. I don’t see how ANet can offer more value in BL chests without compromising that principle.

tl;dr the chests are designed not to be worth their weight because (a) that’s how all lotteries work and (b) to have it any other way would compromise a key element of how the gem store is set up.

Swagger.1459:

I would like to say this…
We can buy crafting mats on the bltc or get them in game.

We can buy the ore nodes off of the gem store when released or bltc.

We can buy the dye packs off the gem store when released or off the bltc.

We can buy minis off the gem store when released or bltc.

We can buy finishers off of the gem store when released or the bltc.

You get a bunch of these items only because they’re in BL chests. The finishers aren’t offered for gems anymore, the nodes have neven been offered for gems, some of the dyes aren’t obtainable throughout the year from the gemshop, same for minis.

If it’s only BL tickets you want, why don’t you buy the skins off the TP?

ETA: Arguing that items shouldn’t be given out because you can buy them from other players who got them from the same source you want it removed from doesn’t make any sense.