Guild Wars 2

I am sure that this has been suggested before, but I just wanted to toss it out there.

We get a Chest of Black Lion Goods as one of the login rewards. Some of these are useful (e.g. Black Lion Salvage Kit); some of them decidedly less so (Instant Repair Canister comes to mind) and see little (if any) use and just stack up space in the inventory/bank.

Why not let players exchange unused/unwanted BL goods for ones that they want from the drop table? The rate does not need to be 1:1 and it would give players a use for items that are just filling-up inventory space.

Alternatively, why not change the way BLG chests work, giving tokens that could be exchanged for items from the drop table instead? I am sure that this idea has been floated as well, but I see no reason not to propose it again.

Frankly, either option is better than the current system that relies exclusively on logging in and being subjected to RNG. The only reason that I can think of for not implementing such a system (other than the time needed to update the game) is that it could cut into profits from gems. That assumes, however, that a sufficient amount of gem sales go toward items on the BLG chest drop table (I sincerely doubt that people are spending substantial amounts on ~80% of those items).

the log in bl chest isnt the same as the one that can be found from drops and opened up with keys.

It was supposed to be a rng with those items from the loot table.

The Black lion sends you a free pack once per month and you come to them and tell them “NO! this is bad, i dont need it, take this back and gimme something better!”
..yea its weird isnt it?

And even if we get such a thing, we SHOULD also get the same exchange thing with the regular blchests no?

I dont need another mini caithe and exp boosters, let me exchange 10 of them for permanent merchant summoner, and let me exchange 20 boosters for a permanent hair style changer!

Maybe you don’t get to choose because they are stil selling these items and if you could get exactly what you wanted each time for free it would cut into their profits too much.

They’re giving us free stuff from the site that was supposed to be what supported them with microtransactions instead of expansions. It didn’t work but they still aren’t going to want to cut into their profits more than their current setup.

@Vukorep:

1) I never asserted that the CoBLG was the same as the dropped BLC.

2) According to the official wiki, CoBLG may contain: Mystic Forge Stone, BLC Key, Transmutation Charge, Box o’ Fun, Merchant Express, Bank Access Express, BL Salvage Kit, TP Express, Instant Repair Canister, and Revive Orb. Obviously this is not the same loot table as the one for the BLCs that drop.

3) My assertion was simply that it might be convenient for players to be able to exchange items or use a token system to trade items they do not want/need for ones that they do. I also suggested not even using a 1:1 exchange ratio. You seem to think that this suggestion is merely looking a gift horse in the mouth, but it is nothing of the sort. I appreciate the concept of login rewards; I am just suggesting a way of ensuring that they remain rewarding.

3) Why would we need something similar for dropped BLCs? For that matter, why would my argument require it? There are plenty of extant threads complaining about the drop rates from dropped BLCs; this is not intended to be one of them.

@Just a flesh wound

1) Choosing outright is different from the exchange system that I suggested. That said, and as I mentioned in the original post, I cannot fathom how this would possibly cut into gem store profits in a substantial way. Now, if we had details on how much real money was spent on gem store purchases that go toward the items on the drop table we could better kitten that line of argument. As it stands, though, we do not have such information through which to sift.

2) Has Arena Net ever said that they intended to remain self-sufficient on a primarily micro-transaction model? I have never seen that claim made by any of the developers, but if that is the case I would appreciate knowing it.

Now, taking both of these replies into consideration, let us consider one variant of the model I have suggested. In this account, let us say that you can exchange five (5) of the items dropped from the CoBLG for any one (1) item of your choosing. Or, alternatively, devise a scaling system based on gem prices. For example, one BL salvage kit is worth 300 gems; one Merchant Express a mere 35; use a 10:1 rate if you so desire.

Either way, this would mean that you could not even complete the exchange with drops from one rotation of login rewards which would reduce the rate of exchanges and would help to maintain the stability of gem store sales (again, assuming that players are spending a substantial amount on these items). Furthermore, it would continue to give players incentive to login, as it would allow them to build up credit for an item of their choosing at a more or less stable exchange rate.

Worst case scenario: players exchange for up to two high end items per month (e.g. BL salvage kit) costing roughly $7.50 (USD) per player that might have been spent otherwise, and even this number is speculative. While those numbers could of course add up, this also assumes that the company is not recouping its expenses via other micro-transactions and that the players who are exchanging items will not then go on to use actual money to purchase other items instead.

The main point to make in response, though: this was all just a suggestion and was in no way intended as a serious complaint against Arena Net. I can understand how it could be construed as such, but my assumption was that the purpose of the system was to reward things like player loyalty and I was just recommending a possible way of improving it.

Wouldn’t it be easier just to swap out the one item which is currently valueless to 99.9% of players? Repairs are free and repair vendors are easily found in all maps that reward persistence.

The other items have value or potential value. Having a mix enhances the sense of reward when you do get something ‘good’ — people tend to undervalue tokens with singular rewards.

• Mystic Forge Stone — 30-40s, when combined with 3 exotics
• Black Lion Chest Key — some love ’em, some hate ’em
• Transmutation Charge — PvErs and WvWers seem to often want more.
• Box o’ Fun — needed for Quip & Moot
• Merchant Express — too valuable to use
• Bank Access Express — too valuable to use
• Black Lion Salvage Kit — can never have too many IMO
• Trading Post Express — I’ve never found a use, but I find many who never have enough
• Instant Repair Canister — it’s hard to imagine people being sad if these were removed
• Revive Orb — very narrow utility, notably learning to duo or solo fractals

tl;dr just removing the repair kit would improve the value of the reward.

I like this idea.

In my case they wouldn’t lose any money by allowing us to swap the items because I’ve never even considered buying any of the things you can get as login rewards. If I don’t have them I don’t miss them, but I’d still much rather have the ones I do use occasionally than the ones that just fill up inventory spaces because I’m not so short on space that I can be bothered deleting them.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Wouldn’t it be easier just to swap out the one item which is currently valueless to 99.9% of players? Repairs are free and repair vendors are easily found in all maps that reward persistence.

That’s assuming all 99.9% of players feel the same way you do about which items are useful. Which I can guarantee isn’t the case, if only because you’ll never get 99% of people on this forum to agree on anything and we’re a tiny minority of the total players.

When I was reading this the first thing I thought of was the Black Lion Trader Express. That’s the one I use least. Repair Canisters certainly aren’t as useful as they used to be when repairs cost money, but I still use them occasionally if I can’t or don’t want to stop what I’m doing to repair my armour.

Whereas I can’t remember the last time I used one of the Trader express items because I rarely buy anything from the Mystic Forge and when I do it’s almost certainly not something I need right away. The nearest I come to that is when I’m buying crafting materials to make something with, which means I’m in a city and the few seconds it takes to get to the TP gives time for the order to be filled.