Guild Wars 2

Hello,
I have been playing GW2 since release & have bough quite a lot of key during this time.

With the recent change of the BL key, I have now no more reason to buy the key Chest.

I think the picture of my inventory will be pretty clear on why.

I own permanent bank access, TP & vendor, which means than the temporary vendors are useless to me.

Before the change, I could get booster which are quite nice in some instance; recolt buff, battle(for raid, MCM) or XP (thanks during the HoT release), you get the points.

Now I don’t get any booster, only the useless one time access, which means I won’t buy the keys anymore as I will really have only just useless piece most of time.

papry.8096:

Hello,
I have been playing GW2 since release & have bough quite a lot of key during this time.

With the recent change of the BL key, I have now no more reason to buy the key Chest.

I think the picture of my inventory will be pretty clear on why.

I own permanent bank access, TP & vendor, which means than the temporary vendors are useless to me.

Before the change, I could get booster which are quite nice in some instance; recolt buff, battle(for raid, MCM) or XP (thanks during the HoT release), you get the points.

Now I don’t get any booster, only the useless one time access, which means I won’t buy the keys anymore as I will really have only just useless piece most of time.

The gems you were spending on keys you now can spend on boosters. Problem solved.

~EW

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

The gems you were spending on keys you now can spend on boosters. Problem solved.

~EW

But I like to gamble, meh!!!

You only get two choices of booster in BL… They could have, at least, added the Combat boost.. My poor char will miss the speed booster in WvW etc…

papry.8096:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

The gems you were spending on keys you now can spend on boosters. Problem solved.

~EW

But I like to gamble, meh!!!

There are many, many better gambles in the game than BL chests. (Some that are worse, too.) BL chests deliver junk and that’s all they have ever done — they have never had more than a tiny chance of delivering anything game changing to the player, although obviously the BL tickets are worth 50-100 g (depending on how you spend them).

I’ve always argued that one person’s “junk” is another person’s useful utility item.

Usually those who keep using “junk” when referring to the common drops from BL Chests either didn’t understand the “gem store sampler” concept behind chests from their introduction before BL tickets/scraps or expect every chest to include some highly valuable item they could sell, which if true that item would no longer be highly valuable.

Behellagh.1468:

I’ve always argued that one person’s “junk” is another person’s useful utility item.

Usually those who keep using “junk” when referring to the common drops from BL Chests either didn’t understand the “gem store sampler” concept behind chests from their introduction before BL tickets/scraps or expect every chest to include some highly valuable item they could sell, which if true that item would no longer be highly valuable.

Or, option 3: we understand what a skinner-box is, and equate getting what we see as “junk” as equivocally the same as getting no grain pellets when we pigeons peck the buttons.

Getting something still feels better than getting nothing… but that feeling is the only value to “junk,” and is why this black lion skinner box is a bit more sophisticated for our pecking pigeon selves.

~EW

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Behellagh.1468:

I’ve always argued that one person’s “junk” is another person’s useful utility item.

Usually those who keep using “junk” when referring to the common drops from BL Chests either didn’t understand the “gem store sampler” concept behind chests from their introduction before BL tickets/scraps or expect every chest to include some highly valuable item they could sell, which if true that item would no longer be highly valuable.

Or, option 3: we understand what a skinner-box is, and equate getting what we see as “junk” as equivocally the same as getting no grain pellets when we pigeons peck the buttons.

Getting something still feels better than getting nothing… but that feeling is the only value to “junk,” and is why this black lion skinner box is a bit more sophisticated for our pecking pigeon selves.

~EW

Familiar with the Skinner box (rats, not pigeons) which was an experiment set to show the value of positive reinforcement. I’m also familiar with the colloquial usage found online to describe addictive behaviour.

What you’re missing is that a great many people, myself included, found value in getting the boosters. Not enough value, perhaps, to outright buy them with gems, but certainly enough to mitigate any disappointment from not getting a BL ticket scrap or dye.

I’m fairly sure that the boosters, if you check their value against gems on the TP, hover around 1-4G a piece. (Not in game atm) Removing that option and replacing that chance with a “festive” bag that has a value of 3-4 silver, is an insult.

I find myself siding with the OP. No more key purchases here, until they un-nerf the rewards.

stale.9785:

I find myself siding with the OP. No more key purchases here, until they un-nerf the rewards.

Do you mean until they add boosters back in? Because much as I like boosters, the current rewards are much more valuable to me, despite the multiple layers of RNG.

stale.9785:

Familiar with the Skinner box (rats, not pigeons)

Doh! I wonder where rats turned into pigeons in my brain… hmm…

edit: found it… pigeons also get used in operant chambers. So, it’s rats OR pigeons. Thank you wikipedia!

stale.9785:

What you’re missing is that a great many people, myself included, found value in getting the boosters. Not enough value, perhaps, to outright buy them with gems, but certainly enough to mitigate any disappointment from not getting a BL ticket scrap or dye.

I think I did cover it when I said, “getting something feels better than getting nothing.” At this point we’d just be arguing our personal views of what is nothing.

~EW

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

stale.9785:

Familiar with the Skinner box (rats, not pigeons)

Doh! I wonder where rats turned into pigeons in my brain… hmm…

edit: found it… pigeons also get used in operant chambers. So, it’s rats OR pigeons. Thank you wikipedia!

~EW

You might be thinking of a similar experiment with rats where they were hooked up to electrical stimulation and pressed the button to exclusion of all else, including food.

Thankfully, Black Lion boxes will never ever be rewarding enough for that. :P

papry.8096:

Hello,

Before the change, I could get booster which are quite nice in some instance; recolt buff, battle(for raid, MCM) or XP (thanks during the HoT release), you get the points.

Note: boosters do not work in raids.

Only the single use bank expresses are useless with the perma bank. The single use merchant/TPs are still good if you want to provide that for other people.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

stale.9785:

I find myself siding with the OP. No more key purchases here, until they un-nerf the rewards.

Do you mean until they add boosters back in? Because much as I like boosters, the current rewards are much more valuable to me, despite the multiple layers of RNG.

They removed one possible reward slot. We went from three random rewards to two, plus a seasonal reward. They also removed quite a few possible drops.

In effect, our chance of getting anything at all has been reduced by a third, and the possible rewards have been greatly reduced.

By any possible way of looking at this, it’s a nerf.

The first slot was NEVER a random reward but a random booster.

Behellagh.1468:

The first slot was NEVER a random reward but a random booster.

Actually, that’s not completely true. The greatest results I ever got out of a single BLC was 1 ticket and 2 scraps, and that was less than a year ago.

If the bank errored in my favor, please disreggard this post.

~EW

The first slot was always suppose to be a booster in the previous iteration, which I thought has been that way for well over a year. Before that I believe it was a mystery tonic (beast) or maybe the time before that.

But they’ve tried to change up the standard drops from the chests several times in the past so it’s quite possible I’m not remembering the time when that happened or it was a very rare occurrence.

Nice set of items :p you’re still missing 2 of them though! (fractal relinquary and lion’s arch portal)

But yeah, I totally understand because I have the same issue, way too many garbage items to get from BL keys that I have absolutely no need for, at least the boosters had some kind of need, but like, the bank access serves absolutely NO purpose if you have the permanent one.
Anet could do something like convertir 500 bank access into one permanent or something, so at least it could be sold… Same issue with merchant traders and pretty much any item like that, there’s no sink for them if you got the permanent versions.

Here’s an idea: change the first slot in BL chests from a seasonal bag to a booster. Everyone wins.

I’d have to say that the seasonal item is a kick in the teeth if all it is for the Halloween Event is a ToT bag.

Deihnyx.6318:

But yeah, I totally understand because I have the same issue, way too many garbage items to get from BL keys that I have absolutely no need for, at least the boosters had some kind of need, but like, the bank access serves absolutely NO purpose if you have the permanent one.

Ditto. I have the perma options already so the temp ones just clutter up my space ’cuz I always hold out hope that somewhere down the line ANet will come up with some use for them other than their main purpose (as they eventually did with Luck essences).

Since some people like boosters (I’m ambivalent as some come in handy, but not often) and some don’t, I think adding them back in with the Bank Access, Revive Orbs, and other similar whatsits slot would be a good idea. Not sure why they removed them entirely. Baby+bathwater options nearly always disappoint some segment of the population.

Deihnyx.6318:

Anet could do something like convertir 500 bank access into one permanent or something, so at least it could be sold… Same issue with merchant traders and pretty much any item like that, there’s no sink for them if you got the permanent versions.

I’d go in the direction of merging 25 Bank Access Expresses (for example) into a Black Lion Key. At the very least, they’d be potentially able to redeem their perceived worthlessness. I figure, if I want to save it and use it, I will. If I don’t, there should be some vector available for it to be potentially useful in some other way.

I’m one of those that absolutely abhors dead end items that have no value to a given player. Everything should have either a sale value or some use as a material component used to create something else that would be tradable or reusable in some other fashion. I see no reason why Revive Orbs and their ilk couldn’t be vendored for, say, 25s or something like that even if they’re account bound, if the owner has no interest or use for them.