Guild Wars 2

Serv.6073:

idk…..boosters&trading gems for gold,you do the rest

1xkarma booster is 75 gems=50% more karma for 1 hour. (Karma has been heavily nerfed. Doesn’t affect consumables.)

75 gems currently will cost a player 6.46gold So lets say 6.5gold for a booster that doesn’t affect consumables and only gives a benefit for one hour where most events now only give 200ish karma regardless of area level of foe type.

This also applies to anyone who wants to gather all mats needed for crafting and want to use a magic find booster. If they don’t want to use a booster to find materials, they will find that a craft like weaponsmithing will cost approx 5.4 gold just to go from 125-150 crafting level…all up if they wanna buy mats for crafting, weaponsmithing will all up cost them about 80ish gold.

I agree with you purely in economic theory. The trading post has no degrade to it for items under rare level. The logicasl thing would be any item under rare level that after 7 days doesn’t sell automatically decreases in price by 3%. This continues to drop by 0.5% daily until removed or sold.

a-net does occasionally assist by making events that give high yield top end drop materials. (Such as queens jubilee where destroyer cores etc plummeted in value.) They then nerf champion drops and rare rewards on world events, which in turns raises the value of rare items again. The situation isn’t helped when trading post items that sell for gems only always remain static. The same above mentioned karma booster would have cost 2g 200 days ago, now it costs 6.5g..yet nerfing to drops and diminishing returns in area’s, nerfing champs and slowing down spawn events has only pushed values up, which is in their interest..but to longer term players it creates a dislike for them to want to buy items now, or master crafts, take precursors to legendary level etc..because in the end it just costs too much for what another person has stated above..that all this investment is not needed when rares/exotics can easily be used in all PvE area’s without much harm.

On a more serious note: Who really uses their boosters?
I still have lots of them clogging up my bank, and only ever use the crafting boosters (and that rarely) when leveling up, because crafting gives you bank access…

I wish we’d gotten that mad king chest recipee for the mystic forge back…I don’t know what to do with those XP-boosters.

Frotee.2634:

On a more serious note: Who really uses their boosters?
I still have lots of them clogging up my bank, and only ever use the crafting boosters (and that rarely) when leveling up, because crafting gives you bank access…

I wish we’d gotten that mad king chest recipee for the mystic forge back…I don’t know what to do with those XP-boosters.

I’m like that also..I think I’ve used 1 booster since launch. I have the whole “should save it for a special occasion since I’m not getting anymore” mentality…only to get more of them from one chest or another.

The most hilarious thing I found in the gane are revive orbs. You’re like ‘Wat?! Revive anytime?! So OP!’ then you find out it leaves you with 1 HP.

Also: What exactly does the OP wish to compete in? The truely competitive content (sPvP) does not require any sort of financial investment at all…
WvW perhaps, but I hear you can have a lot of fun there without any ascended equipment, too. PvE? You can beat all content I can currently think of in greens, might just take you a little longer.
Being the prettiest? Well, we might have an issue here. But as ‘prettiest’ is still in the eye of the beholder (meaning the most expensive gear may not be what you consider the most pretty), it’s mostly a non-issue, too.

Frotee.2634:

On a more serious note: Who really uses their boosters?
I still have lots of them clogging up my bank, and only ever use the crafting boosters (and that rarely) when leveling up, because crafting gives you bank access…

I wish we’d gotten that mad king chest recipee for the mystic forge back…I don’t know what to do with those XP-boosters.

I used to hoard them for a special occasion until I had no more space then I thought- why?
I keep getting more.
Now all my characters have a special bag for boosters, bank/merch access, repair canisters and the like- I use them like anything and I just keep getting more.

Sorry OP, can’t take you seriously.

I think the only current problem is the costumes in wvw.

Giving players a 1200 range run every 3 second(executioners axe/outfit)

Bloody prince staff giving stealth to classes that don’t have it by any other means. Letting them “jump” someone.

Costumes shouldn’t be useable in wvw especially if they’re going to be broken and work like this. You can use said items and attack your target, once you attack you’re instantly reverted to your normal gear and skills and can now attack with no downtime from costume to armor. Broken is broken but the devs who play in wvw need my thing extra to help them try to win the leagues. Since they obviously unknowingly nerf/buff for no reason other than “kitten , this mis be op if perple say so so let not test dis and a c fur ourself,end kitten ”

Treborlavok.3504:

I think the only current problem is the costumes in wvw.

Giving players a 1200 range run every 3 second(executioners axe/outfit)

Bloody prince staff giving stealth to classes that don’t have it by any other means. Letting them “jump” someone.

Costumes shouldn’t be useable in wvw especially if they’re going to be broken and work like this. You can use said items and attack your target, once you attack you’re instantly reverted to your normal gear and skills and can now attack with no downtime from costume to armor. Broken is broken but the devs who play in wvw need my thing extra to help them try to win the leagues. Since they obviously unknowingly nerf/buff for no reason other than "kitten , this mis be op if perple say so so let not test dis and a c fur ourself,end kitten "

I strongly agree with this. I hope its just an oversight, because if someone can jump into costume to use mobility skills that are not available to his class without gem store purchase then ill quote one of Tyria’s highly regarded individuals: “this won’t end well.”

kRiza krimos.1637:

Treborlavok.3504:

I think the only current problem is the costumes in wvw.

Giving players a 1200 range run every 3 second(executioners axe/outfit)

Bloody prince staff giving stealth to classes that don’t have it by any other means. Letting them “jump” someone.

Costumes shouldn’t be useable in wvw especially if they’re going to be broken and work like this. You can use said items and attack your target, once you attack you’re instantly reverted to your normal gear and skills and can now attack with no downtime from costume to armor. Broken is broken but the devs who play in wvw need my thing extra to help them try to win the leagues. Since they obviously unknowingly nerf/buff for no reason other than "kitten , this mis be op if perple say so so let not test dis and a c fur ourself,end kitten "

I strongly agree with this. I hope its just an oversight, because if someone can jump into costume to use mobility skills that are not available to his class without gem store purchase then ill quote one of Tyria’s highly regarded individuals: “this won’t end well.”

Yep, but it’s been like that since they dropped the costumes… I can’t believe it’s gone under the radar this long… Something’s up, some where**shifty eyes**

There is nothing in the shop that can give you any real advantage over non-cash players. Boosters? Can be gotten from clearing maps in the game. Armor skins? Don’t give an advantage, they are just a nicety. The everlasting tools? Again, a nicety. They are the same grade as ori tools, you just don’t have to keep purchasing new ones.

Buying gems to convert to gold? I suppose…but that’s probably the least cost effective methods of obtaining gold if that’s what you’re after…

Conversely, if you play a lot, you can exchange gold for gems and purchase those things too. I’ve purchases some bank tabs and character slots that way because it wasn’t in my budget to spend the cash to do it.

Let’s explain this a different way.

Instead of looking at stats or cosmetics or anything like that individually. let’s say that the end game is being “happy”.

Happy that your character is complete, you have all the items you want, you are comfortable in your spec and gear and have no problems fighting mobs or wvw or whatever it is you like to do.

This of course, is subjective, and varies drastically from person to person. One person my be happy wearing the bare bones crafted oranges, another may enjoy the starter gear their character was born in, another person might not be happy until they are decked out in the shiniest of rare and elusive shinies.

The point being, is that in every case, a paying player can achieve said ‘happiness’ faster than a non-paying player.

Whether it being buying transmutation stones to complete their look, or buying mats to build their uber sword or just having a nice nest egg, unless your account is exceptionally lucky or you’re some kind of economics god at tp flipping, throwing money at the problem is always faster.

Achieving happiness is always faster for the paid player.

I’ve tried making money normally, I’ve tried hunting out specific items, I’ve tried grinding mats… this kitten is impossible. The worst part being is that in the current state of the game, I don’t want to give ANet money and support them saying “I like what you’ve done with the game, I’m enjoying myself.” because this grind for happiness is impossible, and it’s getting harder every patch. I don’t mind supporting the game when in my perspective, they do well, but I can’t in any good conscience tell anyone that gw2 is currently valuing a player’s time or money.

If you think I’m wrong, well…. go grind candy corn for 4 years and get back to me on that?

stale.9785:

Since the total amount of cash in-game is continually going up (gems to gold)

Gems to Gold doesn’t create more Gold, the Gold that is bought is not created from thin Air, its actually the Gold that people pay when they exchange Gold to Gems.

New Gold is only created from Champion Bags, Dungeon Rewards, Event Reward and stuff you sell to NPCs, and the very low money that mobs drop sometimes.

Am I the only one who have tons of boosters unused in bank?

Afya.5842:

Am I the only one who have tons of boosters unused in bank?

No. I have a whole row in my bank for all of the boosters I collect.

bravoart.5308:

I’ve tried making money normally, I’ve tried hunting out specific items, I’ve tried grinding mats… this kitten is impossible.

If you think I’m wrong, well…. go grind candy corn for 4 years and get back to me on that?

Grinding mats (t6 mats/lodestones) is practically impossible. Your time is better served running dungeons for the gold to buy them.

I do have to say, ever since they made it so you are guaranteed gold after a dungeon run, plus whatever valuables you may pick up, there really is no excuse for not being able to make money. If you really really really want something that costs a lot of gold, you can work toward getting it. It becomes a bit of a farm/grind, but it isn’t impossible. Not by a long shot.

Who the heck would want to farm candy corns by the way? There are tons on the TP!

Actually I started collecting some mats for legendary yesterday. Realized I can get >1g in a few minutes if I sell those. It will become one of my option from SE or COF.

Afya.5842:

Am I the only one who have tons of boosters unused in bank?

Nope .. i also mainly used the crafting boosters, and even forgot to take them often

Afya.5842:

Actually I started collecting some mats for legendary yesterday. Realized I can get >1g in a few minutes if I sell those. It will become one of my option from SE or COF.

Pssst .. don’t tell them all .. the more that do that, the lower the prices

Serv.6073:

How are non gem buyers supposed to compete with players who buy gems? I feel gw2 is becoming another mmo where you have to pay with real life money to be the best or grind until you are dead.

What are you competing at? A fashion contest?

runeblade.7514:

Ascended weapons.

To get your weaponcrafting skill to level 400, you have to spend 30g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_fast.html

After that, to get to 450, you have to spend an extra 40g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_450.html

To get that last 50 levels, you have to spend 140g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_400.html

Real life money can be converted to gems. Gems can be converted to gold. Gold can be converted to Ascended weapons. Ascended weapons is the advantage over poor players.

Guild Wars 2 is definitely not pay2win.

The point, it’s strong with this one. I hadn’t even considered the ascended weapons, which are a huge advantage in small scale battles. The disparity will only grow with ascended armour.

I don’t get it. I have 2 of my characters that wear full ascended jewelry and back pieces. Complete exotic armor with my runes of choice, and 2 exotic weapons with my sigils I wanted. I acquired all of this without a single copper. They are my alts though, I spent a good bit of gold on my main, but It was certainly not necessary.

I think I bought $20 worth of gems about a year ago, other than that, nothing. I have ascended weapons, a legendary, hundreds of gold etc.

Draknar.5748:

Grinding mats (t6 mats/lodestones) is practically impossible. Your time is better served running dungeons for the gold to buy them.

I do have to say, ever since they made it so you are guaranteed gold after a dungeon run, plus whatever valuables you may pick up, there really is no excuse for not being able to make money. If you really really really want something that costs a lot of gold, you can work toward getting it. It becomes a bit of a farm/grind, but it isn’t impossible. Not by a long shot.

Who the heck would want to farm candy corns by the way? There are tons on the TP!

And you get that magical money from…?

Look, it might be great for you to go spam dungeons and all, but No one wants to do anything in this game. friends quit, guild is dead, joined a mega guild, it feels pretty dead, only option is to pug and that usually ends up taking 5x as long to get the same rewards. Isn’t the gold drop only once per day per dungeon? You can’t catch up to the player-greed fueled tp flip inflation at that pace. Plus, I never get any nice drops from dungeons, nor in general, nor ever… so yeah… I’ll just go grind all day, get my one yellow a month and I’ll certainly catch up!… Really?

Which still accentuates the point that the paying player gets things faster by ignoring all these time sinks whether designed or incidental.

stale.9785:

runeblade.7514:

Ascended weapons.

To get your weaponcrafting skill to level 400, you have to spend 30g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_fast.html

After that, to get to 450, you have to spend an extra 40g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_450.html

To get that last 50 levels, you have to spend 140g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_400.html

Real life money can be converted to gems. Gems can be converted to gold. Gold can be converted to Ascended weapons. Ascended weapons is the advantage over poor players.

Guild Wars 2 is definitely not pay2win.

The point, it’s strong with this one. I hadn’t even considered the ascended weapons, which are a huge advantage in small scale battles. The disparity will only grow with ascended armour.

Every person that posts this “expensive crafting” note always glosses over the point that you can get ascended weapon chest from Fractals level 26+. At the higher levels they drop pretty frequently compared to other things. Fractals aren’t hard. By the time you get to level 10 where the agony kicks in, you “SHOULD” already know the mechanics of every fractal (unless you were powerleveled through which I notice a lot of people are). All the ascended trinkets with agony resistance I’ve gotten are through the course of doing said fractals. You earn them along the way.

Regardless, yes crafting from level 400 to 500 is expensive. Are you surprised? At launch, we had people at level 400 crafting on the first day. Crafting was a lolfest that honestly was a waste of time as all other ways to get exotics were vastly cheaper and quicker.

This thread can be boiled down to one sentence: “I researched the wiki and realized I couldn’t achieve the most rare gear in a day’s worth of work which makes me bitter and I want to complain about it.”

Honestly, I’m not rich. My highest crafting level is Weaponsmith 460 (working on it). I make about 6ish gold every evening after work and gym. I immediately spend it all at TP for recipe materials that are used int eh building of whatever I’m working toward at the moment. My nightly schedule is this: a daily fractal run at 30+, 2 paths AC, 2-3 paths CoE, 1 path CoF, 1 path HoW, cycle through maybe 4-5 world bosses, mine for materials, craft a bit, run around leveling an alt. All dungeons I do with pugs, some efficient, some not. All of this is done in maybe 3 or more hours. In one night, my inventory repeatedly fills with blues, greens, at least 5-10 yellows, and some exotics.

I don’t want things handed to me or I’ll have nothing to work toward (since there is no other content in the game really other than grinding for cosmetics). Maybe look at your own game play style and figure out what you’re doing that makes you not able to gain money.

Serv.6073:

idk…..boosters&trading gems for gold,you do the rest

you start a topic and you “don’t know” why it’s an issue. your not speaking from experience of having trouble as you “don’t know” you state what could be an issue to get a rage topic started but you have no research to back up your claim. play the game mate, i got to 80, got kitten/exotics/legendary without spending a penny of real cash in the store on gems , just running game content. and selling junk.

idk…..boosters&trading gems for gold,you do the rest

don’t start arguments just for arguments sake, you wasting web space, that could be used to talk about an expansion with a healed orr and dragons

stale.9785:

runeblade.7514:

Ascended weapons.

To get your weaponcrafting skill to level 400, you have to spend 30g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_fast.html

After that, to get to 450, you have to spend an extra 40g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_450.html

To get that last 50 levels, you have to spend 140g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_400.html

Real life money can be converted to gems. Gems can be converted to gold. Gold can be converted to Ascended weapons. Ascended weapons is the advantage over poor players.

Guild Wars 2 is definitely not pay2win.

The point, it’s strong with this one. I hadn’t even considered the ascended weapons, which are a huge advantage in small scale battles. The disparity will only grow with ascended armour.

I’m a little confused by that. Clicking his link and looking at the numbers, it looks like you only have to spend that gold if you’re buying all the materials. Which since it’s a guide on how to level it fast, makes sense. Buying them is faster than gathering I’m sure.

While ascended crafting is certainly expensive, it’s not exactly an enormous boost over the poor masses in exotics.

Even then, the gold-buying player still has to level up the crafting themselves (which involves a fair bit of time and learning, even with a guide,) accumulate 20 skill points for the Augur’s Stone (if they don’t have the SP already,) fight bosses for Dragonite Ore, do puzzles/dungeons for Empyreal Fragments, and fight champions for Bloodstone Dust. Oh, and then acquire enough karma/laurels/fractal relics to buy the necessary Obsidian Shards. That’s why it requires so many account bound components, acquired from different areas of play, to require some gameplay investment.

I wouldn’t say buying gold doesn’t give them a leg up on others, especially in terms of how quickly they can acquire things, but, well, duh, no one would buy gold otherwise if they could earn it without any time investment. With ascended gear, even with an unlimited amount of gold, a person has to put in a substantial amount of time and effort, all for a minor advantage. Not exactly the breeze we expect from the phrase “pay to win.”

bravoart.5308:

And you get that magical money from…?

Look, it might be great for you to go spam dungeons and all, but No one wants to do anything in this game. friends quit, guild is dead, joined a mega guild, it feels pretty dead, only option is to pug and that usually ends up taking 5x as long to get the same rewards. Isn’t the gold drop only once per day per dungeon? You can’t catch up to the player-greed fueled tp flip inflation at that pace. Plus, I never get any nice drops from dungeons, nor in general, nor ever… so yeah… I’ll just go grind all day, get my one yellow a month and I’ll certainly catch up!… Really?

Which still accentuates the point that the paying player gets things faster by ignoring all these time sinks whether designed or incidental.

Dungeon gold is per path per day. So think of how many dungeon paths there are and multiply that by at least 1g and that’s what you could make each day minimum, not including drops you might get.

I’m not crazy, I know no one will run every dungeon path every day, that would be insane. But I can tell you that plenty of people run AC (all 3 paths) and CoF (p1 and p2) pretty regularly, as well as HoTW and TA. Heck just the AC and CoF paths will net you 5g+/day and they can be completed very quickly.

I disagree with your comment about no one wanting to do anything in this game. I’ve yet to have trouble finding a group to run any of the paths I just mentioned. I hit up gw2lfg or the LFG tool or my guild and I’m in within minutes. Even PUGs these days are expert at running these paths because they are so common. I finish faster with PUGs sometimes than with my guild team. Run world bosses, Orr temples, literally anything will net you something of value. It sounds like you just do nothing and complain you aren’t making money, or you tried to play the TP and failed at it. If you honestly cared enough about getting whatever it is you want (I can only assume precursor), then you would run dungeons regularly to get it. If you want it, but don’t want it that badly, then who cares?

As a WvW player only, im so poor i cant even level from 400 to 500.

Aeolus.3615:

As a WvW player only, im so poor i cant even level from 400 to 500.

How did you get to 400 then?

McFly.2134:

Aeolus.3615:

As a WvW player only, im so poor i cant even level from 400 to 500.

How did you get to 400 then?

Well it took me one year to reach 400….being saving a few coppers and materials from start, so i decided that was time to lvl one of the craftmanship jobs.

Aeolus.3615:

McFly.2134:

Aeolus.3615:

As a WvW player only, im so poor i cant even level from 400 to 500.

How did you get to 400 then?

Well it took me one year to reach 400….being saving a few coppers from start.

This what I referred to. 1 year spent collecting materials to get 400 craft. To speed this up boosters would be good. Magic find/craft booster sell for 6.5g each for 1 hours use. As a WvW player where ascended/legendary items will give a statistical advantage, anyone with access to real world money funds can buy their way to higher end gear, whereas people without slowly fall behind…which is what the creator of this thread is saying..the poor can’t compete in the long run.

I love how people say “you don’t need the shiny’s” that is true you don’t need shiny’s in the game. Shoot having full exotics is completely and perfectly acceptable in fact. Bottom line thought is the simple fact that people are going to want to strive to be better and better.

The game really does lack viable way’s to make income. There are only 4 way’s I can think of to make money.

Buy Gem’s
Farm Dungeon’s
Farm T6 Nodes (Wood and ore)
Play the Trading Post

Buying Gem’s is really really easy to do takes no and is the most affective way to make money in the game.

Farming Dungeon’s is affective to a certain extent most the dungeon payouts where haphazardly or lazily done take your pick thought. This method is extremely time consuming as fast dungeons take 15-30mins to run

farming T6 nodes can make you some money but is also extremely time consuming and can be unreliable due to price fluctuations.

Playing the auction house can make you a fair deal of money but can also be a gamble and is extremely hard to do.

I agree the game is starting to become more of Gemstore War’s then it is Guildwars

Aeolus.3615:

As a WvW player only, im so poor i cant even level from 400 to 500.

Wait….What? I spend at minimum 50% of my time in WvW, and 100% on many weeks. I tend to do so in around 4 hour sessions. I always make at least 1 gold, generally around 2g 50s, and often more. What are you doing that your spending all of your money on?

angelpaladin.7921:

There are only 4 way’s I can think of to make money.

Also world boss farming/ champ train farming (preferably Frostgorge) seem to bring in reasonable income plus chances at decent drops with good MF. Got 3 exotics from an hour of champ farming the other day. Nothing spectacular I think they all sold for around 3g/ea, but still that’s another 9g I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Draknar.5748:

Also world boss farming/ champ train farming (preferably Frostgorge) seem to bring in reasonable income plus chances at decent drops with good MF. Got 3 exotics from an hour of champ farming the other day. Nothing spectacular I think they all sold for around 3g/ea, but still that’s another 9g I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

This is exactly part of the problem though.

You look at 3 exotics in a day and go: “Oh, nothing spectacular, 9g.” while some of us get 3 exotics over the course of 3 months.

kittening RNG making a bad aspect of the game even worse.

coglin.1867:

Aeolus.3615:

As a WvW player only, im so poor i cant even level from 400 to 500.

Wait….What? I spend at minimum 50% of my time in WvW, and 100% on many weeks. I tend to do so in around 4 hour sessions. I always make at least 1 gold, generally around 2g 50s, and often more. What are you doing that your spending all of your money on?

Buy siege, upgrade stuff, repair from kitten trying to figh unbalanced builds and bad situations, nourishments sometimes can get expensive, all money i do i spend it on WvW.

Actually im trying to save money and collect materials, waiting for mat price to drop, after that will be the same story for armorsmith.

stale.9785:

runeblade.7514:

Ascended weapons.

To get your weaponcrafting skill to level 400, you have to spend 30g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_fast.html

After that, to get to 450, you have to spend an extra 40g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_450.html

To get that last 50 levels, you have to spend 140g.

http://www.gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_400.html

Real life money can be converted to gems. Gems can be converted to gold. Gold can be converted to Ascended weapons. Ascended weapons is the advantage over poor players.

Guild Wars 2 is definitely not pay2win.

The point, it’s strong with this one. I hadn’t even considered the ascended weapons, which are a huge advantage in small scale battles. The disparity will only grow with ascended armour.

That only looks at the cost and not the returns, it only considers doing it in the dumbest way rather than the smart way, can guarantee I did not come out of it 210g poorer since I made a profit by only crafting things in the 400-500 range that return a profit.

Note: The difference between exotic and ascended is 5% plus an infusion slot. Maybe someone thinks that 5% is a huge advantage, but I don’t.
You only need ascended stuff if:
A) You run high lvl fractals and need more AR.
B) You find the skins absolutely beautiful (I’m here)
C) You like to put the blame on the equipment when someone kills you in WvW.

Aeolus.3615:

coglin.1867:

Aeolus.3615:

As a WvW player only, im so poor i cant even level from 400 to 500.

Wait….What? I spend at minimum 50% of my time in WvW, and 100% on many weeks. I tend to do so in around 4 hour sessions. I always make at least 1 gold, generally around 2g 50s, and often more. What are you doing that your spending all of your money on?

Buy siege, upgrade stuff, repair from kitten trying to figh unbalanced builds and bad situations, nourishments sometimes can get expensive, all money i do i spend it on WvW.

Actually im trying to save money and collect materials, waiting for mat price to drop, after that will be the same story for armorsmith.

I still don’t get it. The amounts I listed were after expenses, upgrades, repairs, and siege. You must be doing something wrong bud.

Serv.6073:

idk…..boosters&trading gems for gold,you do the rest

What booster are you talking about cause I got bunch on them taking up space in my bank and no I did not bough any of them.

@OP:

It all depends on your definition of “compete”….

If you are speaking of the things you are able to do, and do well, then no, I must disagree with you. You can be “competitive” with karma armor, drops, and crafting (which can be done WITHOUT buying gems.)

What you can’t do is run top-end fractals, and have the latest, greatest gear for your character.

What this means in practice is that you truly don’t have to spend a single dollar in the gem shop in order to do pretty much anything in the game. Literally everything in the game RIGHT NOW is do-able in Exotics or even Rares. Until they come out with something that actually requires ascended gear, it’s just not necessary.

If you want that extra 5-7% damage or if you want to be able to stand around in LA and play “look at me” then you’ll have to shell out some dough. Whether that be by in-game grinding until you wear out your keyboard, or by dropping a c-note in the gem shop is up to you.

I never bought gems. I rarely PvE: I have a legendary and 700g+ in cash and items.
It’s not hard to make money in this game.

You don’t even need money in this game to “compete”.
You can get through this game without ever even hitting 10g.
You can get all of your equipment by running dungeons, doing world bosses, ect.

I would like less gem store focus in the way of armor and weapons but that’s just me.

You guys hear that? It’s the sound of a troll laughing at having succeeded at suckering people to reply to him.

coglin.1867:

Aeolus.3615:

coglin.1867:

Aeolus.3615:

As a WvW player only, im so poor i cant even level from 400 to 500.

Wait….What? I spend at minimum 50% of my time in WvW, and 100% on many weeks. I tend to do so in around 4 hour sessions. I always make at least 1 gold, generally around 2g 50s, and often more. What are you doing that your spending all of your money on?

Buy siege, upgrade stuff, repair from kitten trying to figh unbalanced builds and bad situations, nourishments sometimes can get expensive, all money i do i spend it on WvW.

Actually im trying to save money and collect materials, waiting for mat price to drop, after that will be the same story for armorsmith.

I still don’t get it. The amounts I listed were after expenses, upgrades, repairs, and siege. You must be doing something wrong bud.

From what I can see from your sig, you’re on Jade Quarry and from his post history, he’s on NSP.
Outlook not so good on his server?
Seems like a server population/morale issue (=> lack of loot).

@OP. This game does not require any real world money. Gems that are converted to gold can increase the pace by which people buy items, but everything can be obtained by farming as well.

Serv.6073:

How are non gem buyers supposed to compete with players who buy gems? I feel gw2 is becoming another mmo where you have to pay with real life money to be the best or grind until you are dead.

your argument is invalid.

all grind is optional in guild wars 2.

Yes, gems to gold increase the pace at which a person reaches a competitive level, if we’re arguing that the meager increase in ascended is game-breaking, however they in no way impede anyone from obtaining the same stats without spending money. That is the bottom line, here. It’s not pay to win. There is no advantage you can’t get from playing the game.

All gold does is hasten a person’s journey. It doesn’t mean you can’t get to the same destination by other means.

If people who can’t get gems were being excluded, there’d be a tier of weapon/armor that would be only purchasable by gems bought with real money. That is the only way your argument would be valid. Why is that so hard to understand?

Serv.6073:

How are non gem buyers supposed to compete with players who buy gems? I feel gw2 is becoming another mmo where you have to pay with real life money to be the best or grind until you are dead.

Compete in what?

Be the best in what?

There is no “winners” in MMOs. There is no “winning”, to begin with. If anything, it’s a problem inside your head.

Gabby.3205:

Note: The difference between exotic and ascended is 5% plus an infusion slot. Maybe someone thinks that 5% is a huge advantage, but I don’t.
You only need ascended stuff if:
A) You run high lvl fractals and need more AR.
B) You find the skins absolutely beautiful (I’m here)
C) You like to put the blame on the equipment when someone kills you in WvW.

5% stat wise, you need to factor in the weapon base damage though which is used as the basis of damage….makes that 5% increase in stats far more than 5% damage output