Guild Wars 2

Hi! I wanted to get a general thought process from the forum goers here about farming in the game. Is it good, bad? Are you against farming, or are you ok with how it is now? If you’re up to sharing your thoughts go right ahead, and don’t be shy about suggestions or elaborations below.

Just to be clear: This survey is about farming for ITEMS, CURRENCY, SKINS, etc. Things that are either optional or semi-optional, that aren’t required to progress in the game’s story/levels/ranks.

Here’s the survey!

Survey will stop collecting answers on May 31st, 2015 @ 12:00 PM (Time Zone: GMT-0500 (Central Standard Time)).

What are your thoughts on farming for those who don’t want to take the survey? Does it affect the game/economy/playerbase in a good or bad way? Do you think ArenaNet should take action against farming or let it be? Discuss!

Thanks to BrooksP for the suggestion on clarifying what the survey is about!
Thanks to IndigoSundown for the correction on question 7!
Thanks to DeWolfe for the correction on the thread’s direction!

Farming in the same way grinding is a very vague and subjective term. For better results a clearer example of farming would be best.

BrooksP.4318:

Farming in the same way grinding is a very vague and subjective term. For better results a clearer example of farming would be best.

That’s the thing, though. The two terms (at least when defined by most websites) are very closely related, so it’s difficult. I’ll do my best to simplify it in the OP.

Two things:

1. I checked the check boxes and typed in the typing boxes. When I finished I clicked the Next button at the bottom. I got the same 7 questions, with * by them. What I would have expected from seeing “Next” was a second page. For a 1 page survey, I’d expect a “Submit” button. Also, I am unsure whether I did something wrong, and if so, what — or whether my responses saved.
2. In question 7, you’re asking for what amounts to an analytical position on farming (is it good or bad for the economy). Indifferent as the neutral choice is inappropriate, as it is used to denote how one feels. A better choice might have been, "It affects the economy both positively and negatively.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Two things:

1. I checked the check boxes and typed in the typing boxes. When I finished I clicked the Next button at the bottom. I got the same 7 questions, with * by them. What I would have expected from seeing “Next” was a second page. For a 1 page survey, I’d expect a “Submit” button. Also, I am unsure whether I did something wrong, and if so, what — or whether my responses saved.
2. In question 7, you’re asking for what amounts to an analytical position on farming (is it good or bad for the economy). Indifferent as the neutral choice is inappropriate, as it is used to denote how one feels. A better choice might have been, "It affects the economy both positively and negatively.

Noted, I’ll see what I can do to fix the issue and change the answers. Thanks!

EDIT: The first thing you mentioned was most likely a bug on your part. I went through and checked, there’s only two pages on the survey: the initial questions and end page with the image.

Yeah same thing happened to me as it did IndigoSundown
Got through the first 7 questions and hit next then the same 7 questions popped back up. Does that mean that was it and was submitted? or something bugged?

I just started crafting ascended armor, send me your Silk Scraps and Vials of Powerful Blood, because this is going to kill me.

Jwake.7013:

Yeah same thing happened to me as it did IndigoSundown
Got through the first 7 questions and hit next then the same 7 questions popped back up. Does that mean that was it and was submitted? or something bugged?

That’s weird…I’ll double-check.

EDIT: The answers ARE being submitted, but for some reason the second page isn’t showing up for some when they click Next. Trying to figure out what’s going on.

GW1 was my first MMO. We could farm for stuff there because we knew who dropped what. Here in GW2, there aren’t specific monsters that drop specific skins, so we really can’t farm for an item. It seems Anet would like everyone to farm for gold and buy what they want from the TP. Part of the problem with that is when we get the gold to buy what we wanted to farm for in the first place, there’s not the level of satisfaction that would have come from getting that item from a kill.

Let me make a comparison- You enter a competition and pay an entry fee. Every other competition you’ve participated in also had an entry fee, and in those competitions the top 3 finishers won gold, silver, and bronze medals. After a long day of hard competition, you come out on top of everyone else and look forward to the competition organizer hanging that gold medal around your neck. However, when the time comes and you’re standing on the podium, the event organizer approaches you and hands you a portion of your entry fee back and smiles big as he says, “Congratulations! Here’s a few bucks to go out and buy yourself something nice to commemorate your victory!” You worked hard to earn a gold medal, as that’s what you expected. Whatever you purchase, it will not have the same impact that the gold medal would have had.

That’s what “farming” in GW2 is to me.

Sinbold.8723:

GW1 was my first MMO. We could farm for stuff there because we knew who dropped what. Here in GW2, there aren’t specific monsters that drop specific skins, so we really can’t farm for an item. It seems Anet would like everyone to farm for gold and buy what they want from the TP. Part of the problem with that is when we get the gold to buy what we wanted to farm for in the first place, there’s not the level of satisfaction that would have come from getting that item from a kill.

Let me make a comparison- You enter a competition and pay an entry fee. Every other competition you’ve participated in also had an entry fee, and in those competitions the top 3 finishers won gold, silver, and bronze medals. After a long day of hard competition, you come out on top of everyone else and look forward to the competition organizer hanging that gold medal around your neck. However, when the time comes and you’re standing on the podium, the event organizer approaches you and hands you a portion of your entry fee back and smiles big as he says, “Congratulations! Here’s a few bucks to go out and buy yourself something nice to commemorate your victory!” You worked hard to earn a gold medal, as that’s what you expected. Whatever you purchase, it will not have the same impact that the gold medal would have had.

That’s what “farming” in GW2 is to me.

I apologize if this isn’t what you were saying, but what I took away from that is farming in Guild Wars 2 is equatable to getting back half of what you put into the farm. Is this right?

lol, no. Perhaps I was too wordy. You worked for a gold medal, got cash instead, and were told to go buy yourself a medal. The medal would have been something you earned, like getting a drop you were farming for.

Sinbold.8723:

GW1 was my first MMO. We could farm for stuff there because we knew who dropped what. Here in GW2, there aren’t specific monsters that drop specific skins, so we really can’t farm for an item. It seems Anet would like everyone to farm for gold and buy what they want from the TP. Part of the problem with that is when we get the gold to buy what we wanted to farm for in the first place, there’s not the level of satisfaction that would have come from getting that item from a kill.

Let me make a comparison- You enter a competition and pay an entry fee. Every other competition you’ve participated in also had an entry fee, and in those competitions the top 3 finishers won gold, silver, and bronze medals. After a long day of hard competition, you come out on top of everyone else and look forward to the competition organizer hanging that gold medal around your neck. However, when the time comes and you’re standing on the podium, the event organizer approaches you and hands you a portion of your entry fee back and smiles big as he says, “Congratulations! Here’s a few bucks to go out and buy yourself something nice to commemorate your victory!” You worked hard to earn a gold medal, as that’s what you expected. Whatever you purchase, it will not have the same impact that the gold medal would have had.

That’s what “farming” in GW2 is to me.

Outside of the Unique weapons (and just plain unique weapons like the Icy Dragon Sword…) you never knew what weapon skin you would specifically get from enemies. You could only tell what you were going to get from the area, which is almost exactly how they do in GW2 (regional skins being the obvious thing to point to). Similarly, there are plenty of unique drops that happen from specific events (such as the All Seeing and Sam accessories), so even for non-skin things you can just farm them should you so desire. The only thing they do that GW1 doesn’t is that they prevent you from doing many of the events more than once a day, or prevent farming on them. This leads to just farming up gold and buying the item due to a desire to finish the content in a reasonable time frame.

Similarly, your comparison is pretty silly. You pay an entry fee, and then get handed back a small portion of it? So you end up with less money than if you hadn’t farmed in the first place? Really? I understand where you’re trying to go with it, but that’s just pretty pitiful. Replace the “small portion” with “a giant sack of gold” and it works out, but only partially. In the case of GW2, a better analogy would be this:

You go to a kiddy theme park with a small area for the adults to gamble. You get all hyped up for the awesome prizes from gambling, as they’re all super rare and super awesome. However, your roll comes up with the predictable “You get nothing!” consolation prize, and you aren’t allowed to try again until the next day. Afterwards you go sit down on the merry-go-round, and fall asleep while game throws money at you while blaring sirens and shooting off fireworks. Afterwards you can attempt this trend for weeks, eventually just buying the item in the first place through the massive quantities of gold that the game just hands to you. The thrill for actually winning the lottery long sense gone, and the reward being turned into merely something ala an arcade prize.

That is how this game goes. You can very reasonably do content that lets you get stuffs that are neat/rare, and you can easily tell what exactly you’re looking at within reasonable parameters. The problem that this game has is that it out and out doesn’t let you do much of it multiples of times in a single day, and it has pathetically easy content that gives an extreme overabundance of gold guaranteed, in comparison to just doing the event and getting money only if you get the super rare drop. The stuff with the event is, likewise, generally too easy (thus the comparison to just rolling some dice), but that’s a separate problem.

MrWubzy.3587:

Do you have solutions for fixing it

OP, you are obviously slanted in your point of view from the start. By even sugesting there needs to be “solutions” and “fixing” you are deeming it broken. So how about this, you play the game as you want and we’ll play the game as we want. That’s what need’s “fixing” around here.

The only thing I really farm is Black Lion Keys. I do it because I enjoy it and it gives me a nice income. I don’t think BLK farmers are really hurting the game since all they really do is bring down skin prices for those that want to buy them.

DeWolfe.2174:

MrWubzy.3587:

Do you have solutions for fixing it

OP, you are obviously slanted in your point of view from the start. By even sugesting there needs to be “solutions” and “fixing” you are deeming it broken. So how about this, you play the game as you want and we’ll play the game as we want. That’s what need’s “fixing” around here.

Did you not read the entirety of my post? This is pure discussion and opinion sharing on farming in the game. I only ask the above quote for those who wish to share that part of their thoughts. Please do not attack me as you have, I have in no way deemed it broken.

Thank you for the correction, regardless. I will edit the OP accordingly.

It’s hard for me to answer the survey, because I don’t farm, but I do farm incidentally. I do most of my farming while doing other stuff that’s more important than the farming, so I’m not sure how to answer the question.

I’m running through a zone and I notice trees which might give me a foxfire cluster. If I’m not too rushed, I chop them down. I’m not out there TO get foxfire clusters, but I wouldn’t turn away from one if it were handed to me.

The only time I’ll farm is if the guild has some event that is like a farm, like a chest run in SW. Not even sure that’s farming, in the traditional sense.

Vayne.8563:

It’s hard for me to answer the survey, because I don’t farm, but I do farm incidentally. I do most of my farming while doing other stuff that’s more important than the farming, so I’m not sure how to answer the question.

I’m running through a zone and I notice trees which might give me a foxfire cluster. If I’m not too rushed, I chop them down. I’m not out there TO get foxfire clusters, but I wouldn’t turn away from one if it were handed to me.

The only time I’ll farm is if the guild has some event that is like a farm, like a chest run in SW. Not even sure that’s farming, in the traditional sense.

You can consider anything you do repeatedly for desired items farming if you wish. Honestly the term is far too broad and vague and has no concrete definition.

I see you’re pretty much where I am on the farming spectrum, as I do the same things. One of the reasons why I allowed such elaborations in the survey’s text boxes was because of answers that would be given by you and I. It’s not the best way of collecting responses, but it’s certainly working well enough (I hope).

Farming and farmers are vastly underrated. The general consesus is to get gold and by what you want, instead of farming for it. However, the more people just buy it, the more the demand increases and supply decreases, thus making them more expensive. Look at T6 mats. They are highly desired, but people complain about the high prices and attribute it to inflation. When the reality is that less and less people are farming for those mats, which leads to a lower supply.

Farmers are good for the economy, and the game in general. They keep supply up, prices down, and act as part of the gold sink process. If they sell on the TP, then they pay their part of the fee and the buyer pays the other part.

However due to RNG it is a tedious process to many, although some rather enjoy it. But farming is actively discouraged on the forums. So players seeking mats are told to buy it rather then try to farm it, which leads to more and more complaints about high prices for items.

So yes farmers are good. We love farmers. Let them farm and keep prices down so those who don’t want to can just but it. Everyone wins.

I think farming is actually a very good thing and should be encouraged by Anet. It does not harm the game in any way and it allows people like myself to get materials without spending any of my gold (I have a serious gold hoarding problem that I can’t seem to get out of). I farm champs, dungeons, vinewrath, chest farm, cursed shore and other places too because sometimes it is the only thing for me to do and it is better than just standing in LA not knowing what to do, plus you get rewards for your time. While I understand why people are against some farms (frostgorge coil failfarm mainly), the ones that are not exploits should be left alone and people should be left to do what they want in game.

I’ve said this before, but I think farmers get a bad rap because of a small, vocal segment of their population that attacks people for “ruining their farms”. I don’t believe most farmers do this. In fact, I have people in my guild who farm and they’re quite nice and helpful and friendly. I can’t imagine them attacking people in map chat who do an event out of order or who somehow screw up something.

I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum. I’ve had arguments in map chats when I’ve unwittingly done something that’s annoyed a farmer and I’ve benefited from lower prices on some things because people were farming them, particularly because I don’t enjoy farming myself.

If I enjoyed farming I could get stuff a lot faster in game, but I don’t, so I just play a lot and get what I want when I can finally afford it….or sometimes not, because there are things I’ll never be able to afford.

I agree with “Sinbold”. GW1 had a much better farming concept. In GW1 you did specific challanges where you knew what the reward could be. Doing that challange successfully multiple times would get you the item you always wanted. This felt super rewarding. GW2 feels more like you do all these challanges and you get rewarded with little pieces of nothing. When you have enough,, you go to the shop and you buy the item you want. This feels sad,, because if you can just buy your item in a shop,, it just feels they are copy pasting the item to your inventory. Your items/rewards are not special. Your item won’t represent as a reward for doing a certain challange,, it’s just something you bought in a shop. Like a salvage kit.

Lots of good thoughts on the subject, thank you guys for sharing! I’ll try to reply as best I can.

@pdavis: I agree that farmers are underrated in not just GW2 but any online game with an active economy. The RNG is a pain to deal with (especially when DR kicks in) and it discourages active farming for long periods of time, which draw people to the TP (which is what ArenaNet wants, I think). They’re a critical component to driving the markets of any item along with TP flippers and general customers, and should be given the correct tools and nudges to do so.

@suffish: I agree that it does not hurt the game in any way when people farm. I also agree that non-exploitative farms should be left alone.

@Vayne: The bad rap is becoming increasingly apparent with the rise of the Maize Balm threads cropping up, and it’s easy to see why when you hear of the hate spewed in both directions. I can attest to what you said about most farmers (in fact this pertains to most players I’ve met) about how they’re usually nice and cooperative, too, which makes those threads a bit hard to believe without proper evidence.

Also on your point enjoying farming, I’m the same way. There are times when I farm if I’m in the mood, and I usually just accrue items and gold as I play and spend it on whatever looks nice.

@CoRtex: I never got into farming in GW1 when I was playing (I only own Factions) so I can’t really relate, but I have a general idea from both your and Sinbold’s posts.

suffish.4150:

I think farming is actually a very good thing and should be encouraged by Anet. It does not harm the game in any way and it allows people like myself to get materials without spending any of my gold (I have a serious gold hoarding problem that I can’t seem to get out of). I farm champs, dungeons, vinewrath, chest farm, cursed shore and other places too because sometimes it is the only thing for me to do and it is better than just standing in LA not knowing what to do, plus you get rewards for your time. While I understand why people are against some farms (frostgorge coil failfarm mainly), the ones that are not exploits should be left alone and people should be left to do what they want in game.

There are a lot of different types of farming. There are a lot of players who think like “I will farm the gold to get what I want”, so they go to the most profitable (in terms of gold intake) activities and farm there all day.

That’s a bad thing and Anet shouldn’t encourage it at all. All it does is create inflation and increase the prices for everyone else. “Hey why farm Powerful Blood, farm gold to buy it!”, then Supply gets lower and lower, so naturally prices go higher. In the end, the non-farmers are being punished for not farming.

There is a problem (a serious one) when players prefer to farm gold to buy items, rather than farming for the items themselves, because the game itself doesn’t allow farming for what you want directly on most cases.

Once their new event system launches (with HoT?) that rewards players specific materials, based on the zone, for every event completed, then I’d say farming would be a very very good thing. As it is now? I’d say excessive farming does more harm than good to the game.

maddoctor.2738:

suffish.4150:

I think farming is actually a very good thing and should be encouraged by Anet. It does not harm the game in any way and it allows people like myself to get materials without spending any of my gold (I have a serious gold hoarding problem that I can’t seem to get out of). I farm champs, dungeons, vinewrath, chest farm, cursed shore and other places too because sometimes it is the only thing for me to do and it is better than just standing in LA not knowing what to do, plus you get rewards for your time. While I understand why people are against some farms (frostgorge coil failfarm mainly), the ones that are not exploits should be left alone and people should be left to do what they want in game.

There are a lot of different types of farming. There are a lot of players who think like “I will farm the gold to get what I want”, so they go to the most profitable (in terms of gold intake) activities and farm there all day.

That’s a bad thing and Anet shouldn’t encourage it at all. All it does is create inflation and increase the prices for everyone else. “Hey why farm Powerful Blood, farm gold to buy it!”, then Supply gets lower and lower, so naturally prices go higher. In the end, the non-farmers are being punished for not farming.

There is a problem (a serious one) when players prefer to farm gold to buy items, rather than farming for the items themselves, because the game itself doesn’t allow farming for what you want directly on most cases.

Once their new event system launches (with HoT?) that rewards players specific materials, based on the zone, for every event completed, then I’d say farming would be a very very good thing. As it is now? I’d say excessive farming does more harm than good to the game.

I agree that farming for gold shouldn’t be the optimal choice. Farming for both currency and items to sell should both be equally lucrative, as well as any other farming methods for certain items. However I disagree that farming is harming the game in any way, as I think it drives the economy with the supply it needs (in most cases) to keep it healthy and useful.

EDIT: To clarify my last sentence, I was referring to the farming of items, not gold directly. The farming of gold is something entirely different, and I’m still forming an opinion on that.

Celtic Lady.3729:

The only thing I really farm is Black Lion Keys. I do it because I enjoy it and it gives me a nice income. I don’t think BLK farmers are really hurting the game since all they really do is bring down skin prices for those that want to buy them.

BLK farmers, you are the real MVPs.

MrWubzy.3587:

@pdavis: I agree that farmers are underrated in not just GW2 but any online game with an active economy. The RNG is a pain to deal with (especially when DR kicks in) and it discourages active farming for long periods of time, which draw people to the TP (which is what ArenaNet wants, I think). They’re a critical component to driving the markets of any item along with TP flippers and general customers, and should be given the correct tools and nudges to do so.

About DR. There is too little known about the specifics of DR to know if anyone hits it or not. According to John Smith, any player actually hitting DR (when in comes to drops) is very rare and doesn’t happen very often. (DR from farming events and event rewards is different). DR was implemented to stop bots, not to discourage farmers.
A dedicated farmer will still have some variation in the mobs they kill, the paths they take, and how long they farm. A bot will generally only kill the exact same mobs in a very specific path, and for longer periods of time.
Plus the weapon rotations, dodges, etc.

People like to use DR as an excuse to discourage farmers, but even dedicated farmers will rarely, if ever hit DR.

pdavis.8031:

MrWubzy.3587:

@pdavis: I agree that farmers are underrated in not just GW2 but any online game with an active economy. The RNG is a pain to deal with (especially when DR kicks in) and it discourages active farming for long periods of time, which draw people to the TP (which is what ArenaNet wants, I think). They’re a critical component to driving the markets of any item along with TP flippers and general customers, and should be given the correct tools and nudges to do so.

About DR. There is too little known about the specifics of DR to know if anyone hits it or not. According to John Smith, any player actually hitting DR (when in comes to drops) is very rare and doesn’t happen very often. (DR from farming events and event rewards is different). DR was implemented to stop bots, not to discourage farmers.
A dedicated farmer will still have some variation in the mobs they kill, the paths they take, and how long they farm. A bot will generally only kill the exact same mobs in a very specific path, and for longer periods of time.
Plus the weapon rotations, dodges, etc.

People like to use DR as an excuse to discourage farmers, but even dedicated farmers will rarely, if ever hit DR.

Ah, I see, thank you for the clarification. I certainly makes more sense now than it did before. I retract my statement of…

…which draw people to the TP (which is what ArenaNet wants, I think)

Kinda hard since we all will see farming and grinding differently

Grinding to me is doing something over and over for something you want like grinding for t6 mats to craft a legendary

Farming is doing something over and over just to get something of value to sell or a large amount of small priced items to sell at bulk

Valky.2574:

Kinda hard since we all will see farming and grinding differently

Grinding to me is doing something over and over for something you want like grinding for t6 mats to craft a legendary

Farming is doing something over and over just to get something of value to sell or a large amount of small priced items to sell at bulk

Good point, which is why I had to clarify my meaning of farming in the OP. I really do wish we could all come to an agreement on the word’s meaning but the truth is that they’re both blurred together.

Is it repetitive?

Can be done with one hand, while watching some series or movie?

A bot could do it faster and better than you?

Anyone with a functional healthy brain would find it boring as hell?

Are you getting way more wealth on average than anyone not doing it?

If the answer to all 5 is yes, congratulations, you are farming.

Sinbold.8723:

GW1 was my first MMO. We could farm for stuff there because we knew who dropped what. Here in GW2, there aren’t specific monsters that drop specific skins, so we really can’t farm for an item.

Patently false , but you complainers aren’t persistent enough. Here’s a collection from the current most popular source; note the favored subset.