Guild Wars 2

I’ll agree i am new to gw2. I just started this game a week ago but I am not new to these types of games. I have played many mmo’s with Subs, and with “purchaseable” items, both with in game value, or purely cosmetic.

I have no problem supporting a game i like, HOWEVER….

When i looked into gw2’s store i was surprised. I saw so much that i would actually spend money on. But then i learned how it worked.

I learned that cosmetic changes were gated by xmog stones. I learned that its really difficult to wear cosmetic gear at lower levels.. Something i payed $$$ for is only usable in certain situations, gated by OTHER items that i have to have in order to use them more than once.

I’m no coding expert, but realistcally it can’t be that hard to create a “costume slot” of some sort, or a more permanent way to apply cosmetic gear at any level, across characters. Most other games offer this, why not gw2?

I feel simply because of this, i don’t want to drop any $$$ now. If they actually made it more accessible and useable, i could see myself spending… a good sum of money.

Anyone else’s thoughts? I know there’s a new expansion but i doubt they will have fixed that problem by then.

You simply don’t understand the system.

Only bank slots, and potentially some inventory slots may be worth buying. If you want Transmutation Stones, just 100% explore some areas to get them.

I’m no coding expert, but realistcally it can’t be that hard to create a “costume slot” of some sort, or a more permanent way to apply cosmetic gear at any level, across characters. Most other games offer this, why not gw2?

Guild Wars 2 does offer this, it’s called “outfits”

I will explain it for you, cosmetic changes can be done in two different ways:

1. Using skins
2. Using outfits

Skins: Skins are simliar to ’’colors’’. If you want to color a wall, you need a brush. That brush is represented by transmutation charges. You can get these charges through exploration, dailies and events. In general, they are easy to get and you won’t find a huge issue collecting them. When you have a transmutation charge and a skin, there is nothing preventing you from using it on stuff that you already own. Unless, you are using a weapon skin on an armor, then you are a bit… clueless. Also, skins can only be used on armor with the same weight. Many of them at least. Example: heavy armor skin = used on heavy armor. The system is there to make people with different armor-types look different.

Outfits: These work in the exact same way as other MMORPGs. You buy an outfit and you use it whenever you want.

Conclusion: Outfits are cosmetics that you use to wear on your armor while skins are used to change the look of your armor keeping the stats.

jokke.6239:

I’m no coding expert, but realistcally it can’t be that hard to create a “costume slot” of some sort, or a more permanent way to apply cosmetic gear at any level, across characters. Most other games offer this, why not gw2?

Guild Wars 2 does offer this, it’s called “outfits”

I may have been misinformed, can you explain those to me? Everything i have tried reading or answers i have received in game has told me otherwise. I’d love to hear that i am wrong, believe me. thanks for any info you might have!

nGumball.1283:

You simply don’t understand the system.

Nice blanket statement. care to explain?

Milennin.4825:

Only bank slots, and potentially some inventory slots may be worth buying. If you want Transmutation Stones, just 100% explore some areas to get them.

This still doesn’t solve the problem that, I, am able to purchase cosmetic skins useable at any level. If i want to use it while leveling, i will either
1) have to waste enormous amounts of time collecting xmog charges
2) Wait till i’m 80(which means the value of the merchandise is diminished)
3)Pay for more gems to buy xmog stones(not sure if this is an option, but i don’t doubt it would be)

nGumball.1283:

I will explain it for you, cosmetic changes can be done in two different ways:

1. Using skins
2. Using outfits

Skins: Skins are simliar to ’’colors’’. If you want to color a wall, you need a brush. That brush is represented by transmutation charges. You can get these charges through exploration, dailies and events. In general, they are easy to get and you won’t find a huge issue collecting them. When you have a transmutation charge and a skin, there is nothing preventing you from using it on stuff that you already own. Unless, you are using a weapon skin on an armor, then you are a bit… clueless. Also, skins can only be used on armor with the same weight. Many of them at least. Example: heavy armor skin = used on heavy armor. The system is there to make people with different armor-types look different.

Outfits: These work in the exact same way as other MMORPGs. You buy an outfit and you use it whenever you want.

Conclusion: Outfits are cosmetics that you use to wear on your armor while skins are used to change the look of your armor keeping the stats.

This is good info, thanks. So outfits, don’t offer stats at all? I am looking for stuff i can wear while leveling, so if it forces me to be naked or statless, i don’t think that will work for me. Maybe i understood that wrong? Not sure.

edgarallanpwn.8739:

nGumball.1283:

I will explain it for you, cosmetic changes can be done in two different ways:

1. Using skins
2. Using outfits

Skins: Skins are simliar to ’’colors’’. If you want to color a wall, you need a brush. That brush is represented by transmutation charges. You can get these charges through exploration, dailies and events. In general, they are easy to get and you won’t find a huge issue collecting them. When you have a transmutation charge and a skin, there is nothing preventing you from using it on stuff that you already own. Unless, you are using a weapon skin on an armor, then you are a bit… clueless. Also, skins can only be used on armor with the same weight. Many of them at least. Example: heavy armor skin = used on heavy armor. The system is there to make people with different armor-types look different.

Outfits: These work in the exact same way as other MMORPGs. You buy an outfit and you use it whenever you want.

Conclusion: Outfits are cosmetics that you use to wear on your armor while skins are used to change the look of your armor keeping the stats.

This is good info, thanks. So outfits, don’t offer stats at all? I am looking for stuff i can wear while leveling, so if it forces me to be naked or statless, i don’t think that will work for me. Maybe i understood that wrong? Not sure.

Outfits aren’t used as armor, they just give you a new appearence. You wear them on your gear. So you will still have your normal gear’s stats but a new look.

Skins work the same way. You will change the look of your armor however the stats will be the same.

As mentioned the difference is: you use skins to change the look of a specific armor while you use outfits by wearing them on whatever armor you like. Outfits work the same way as in traditional MMOs.

edgarallanpwn.8739:

nGumball.1283:

I will explain it for you, cosmetic changes can be done in two different ways:

1. Using skins
2. Using outfits

Skins: Skins are simliar to ’’colors’’. If you want to color a wall, you need a brush. That brush is represented by transmutation charges. You can get these charges through exploration, dailies and events. In general, they are easy to get and you won’t find a huge issue collecting them. When you have a transmutation charge and a skin, there is nothing preventing you from using it on stuff that you already own. Unless, you are using a weapon skin on an armor, then you are a bit… clueless. Also, skins can only be used on armor with the same weight. Many of them at least. Example: heavy armor skin = used on heavy armor. The system is there to make people with different armor-types look different.

Outfits: These work in the exact same way as other MMORPGs. You buy an outfit and you use it whenever you want.

Conclusion: Outfits are cosmetics that you use to wear on your armor while skins are used to change the look of your armor keeping the stats.

This is good info, thanks. So outfits, don’t offer stats at all? I am looking for stuff i can wear while leveling, so if it forces me to be naked or statless, i don’t think that will work for me. Maybe i understood that wrong? Not sure.

Outfits work like outfits/costumes you could buy in the cash shop in most other MMO’s. If you wear them to go into their own special slot (outfit slot) and it replaces the look of your armor, but you will still be wearing your armor stats (you can see it in the equipment tab). You can freely swap armor, the outfit is not tied to any armor. When you take for example the chest piece of your armor off, you will still see your character wearing the outfit chest piece.

Skins are placed on the equipment itself, replacing the old skin of the armor piece. When you take the chest piece (for example) off, you will end up without shirt/in a bra.

It’s pretty simple, you buy whatever outfit you like, and you go to the outfit tab to equip it. I doesn’t have any stats, and doesn’t replace armor. It just visually overwrites your current armor.

Outfits only replace the visual of your armor. You still have to equip armor to get the stats for combat (it is “hidden” while under the effect of an outfit).

Unfortunately, there are very few outfits and they are not customizable.

Basically, save your transmutation charges for level 80, because using them on sub 80 characters is a waste.

Upside, it only takes a week or so to hit 80 if you focus on leveling.

Outfits are perfect for leveling. You have an “outfits” tab in your hero panel. There you can see all the outfits available in game, and if you have purchased one you can “tick mark” it to apply it. There you have it. You’re now wearing an outfit, but underneath you still have your armor stats. I find it terrific for new characters where I’m changing armor every 10 levels or so. It is one of the things I really like about outfits, which otherwise kind of irk me because you can’t mix and match like armor. But yes, for armor skins, you must you transmutation stones, whether you purchased the armor skins in the gem store or not.

Outfits have their own special slot, and their own special tab in your wardrobe. When you equip an outfit, it takes over the whole appearance of your gear. You won’t be able to see any of your armour pieces, but they will still be there applying their stats. The outfit is purely cosmetic. The benefit of outfits is that you can equip them forever without using transmutation charges. The downside is that they offer much fewer options in terms of customizing your look. For these reasons, a lot of people use them while levelling, since you replace your armour quite often.

Skins are applied directly to your armour. Using a transmutation charge, you can change what each piece of your armour looks like. The piece of armour will stay looking like that until you change it again… but if you get a new piece of armour, that piece will have its own appearance unless you change it. Since you can mix and match whatever armour skins you like, for each piece of armour (in that weight class – light, medium, or heavy), you can make a unique look for yourself if you want to.

Armour is the actual objects you put in your slots. These are what give you your stats and protection.

Melanie.1240:

edgarallanpwn.8739:

nGumball.1283:

I will explain it for you, cosmetic changes can be done in two different ways:

1. Using skins
2. Using outfits

Skins: Skins are simliar to ’’colors’’. If you want to color a wall, you need a brush. That brush is represented by transmutation charges. You can get these charges through exploration, dailies and events. In general, they are easy to get and you won’t find a huge issue collecting them. When you have a transmutation charge and a skin, there is nothing preventing you from using it on stuff that you already own. Unless, you are using a weapon skin on an armor, then you are a bit… clueless. Also, skins can only be used on armor with the same weight. Many of them at least. Example: heavy armor skin = used on heavy armor. The system is there to make people with different armor-types look different.

Outfits: These work in the exact same way as other MMORPGs. You buy an outfit and you use it whenever you want.

Conclusion: Outfits are cosmetics that you use to wear on your armor while skins are used to change the look of your armor keeping the stats.

This is good info, thanks. So outfits, don’t offer stats at all? I am looking for stuff i can wear while leveling, so if it forces me to be naked or statless, i don’t think that will work for me. Maybe i understood that wrong? Not sure.

Outfits work like outfits/costumes you could buy in the cash shop in most other MMO’s. If you wear them to go into their own special slot (outfit slot) and it replaces the look of your armor, but you will still be wearing your armor stats (you can see it in the equipment tab). You can freely swap armor, the outfit is not tied to any armor. When you take for example the chest piece of your armor off, you will still see your character wearing the outfit chest piece.

Skins are placed on the equipment itself, replacing the old skin of the armor piece. When you take the chest piece (for example) off, you will end up without shirt/in a bra.

I think i understand, skins are the ones designated for like specific light/medium/heavy armors.

from what you have told me here, it sounds like outfits are like 1size fits all ONE piece “outfits”.

It sounds like with skins, you could mix and match them to create wacky stuff since it is tied to “per piece, per armor type”. Is this about right? thanks!

mtpelion.4562:

Outfits only replace the visual of your armor. You still have to equip armor to get the stats for combat (it is “hidden” while under the effect of an outfit).

Unfortunately, there are very few outfits and they are not customizable.

Basically, save your transmutation charges for level 80, because using them on sub 80 characters is a waste.

Upside, it only takes a week or so to hit 80 if you focus on leveling.

Yeah I am going to go through the storylines for Norn and Humans full and explore a bit first, then i think i will speedlevel a thief, so i wanted something to stick around.

Last question, how much of these are account bound? Are outfits and skins account bound?

Olvendred.3027:

Outfits have their own special slot, and their own special tab in your wardrobe. When you equip an outfit, it takes over the whole appearance of your gear. You won’t be able to see any of your armour pieces, but they will still be there applying their stats. The outfit is purely cosmetic. The benefit of outfits is that you can equip them forever without using transmutation charges. The downside is that they offer much fewer options in terms of customizing your look. For these reasons, a lot of people use them while levelling, since you replace your armour quite often.

Skins are applied directly to your armour. Using a transmutation charge, you can change what each piece of your armour looks like. The piece of armour will stay looking like that until you change it again… but if you get a new piece of armour, that piece will have its own appearance unless you change it. Since you can mix and match whatever armour skins you like, for each piece of armour (in that weight class – light, medium, or heavy), you can make a unique look for yourself if you want to.

Armour is the actual objects you put in your slots. These are what give you your stats and protection.

This answered my mix and match question. thanks a lot!

Every starting area rewards a transmutation charge for map completion. Divinity’s Reach, Hoelbrak, Black Citadel, Rata Sum, The Grove, and Lion’s Arch reward this 100%. Other maps give you a transmutation charge or black lion chest key upon completion. So these things aren’t locked entirely behind the gem store, you just have to spend a little bit of time if you want them for free. I know people who create a character, complete those maps, then delete it for free charges.

At least they allow us to convert gold to gems, so you can pick thing up that way as well.

While I do agree that gem store items should be free to transmute like Hall of Monument items.

You can actually get transmutation stones Transmutation Charge easily by just doing map completion. It is a guaranteed reward from completing all of the cities and a likely reward (I would say 70-80% chance from other areas). In addition to that as a veteran player I would not recommend that you transmute anything until you reach level 80. Unless you plan on staying sub 80 for quite a while. You just level up too fast. 80 is not that far away. Cosmetics is part of the endgame in Guild Wars 2.

There are also a costume slot for costumes. However they can not be mixed and matched like the armor is. If you want something different during leveling look at the costumes. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Costume

It is much better now then it used to be. It used to be that if you ever mistakenly salvaged/destroyed the armor or wanted it on a different character you would have to rebuy it. Transmutation Stones the item similar to transmutation charges were also much harder to get previously.

Yes, armor is individual pieces – chest, boot, helm – and outfits are one piece. Think of it as wearing a dress that goes over the armor you are wearing. The armor is still there, but hidden beneath the dress.

You can pick and choose which armor pieces you use.

Armor can also be dyed to change appearance.

And like you said, not much point in spending transmutation charges prior to getting to level 80 and having some gear that you’ll use for a while. Otherwise, it gets swapped out too often for better stuff you find along the way.

PVP is what earns you trans charges the fastest from my experience.
Maybe it ain’t actually faster than map exploring, idk. Maybe it’s just that time flyes by when you’re having fun in pvp, compared to boring repetitive map exploration.

I don’t think it’s worth using a transmuation charge over a low level gear that you will replace in a few hours.

So basically I just use transmutation charge for lvl80 gear.

jokke.6239:

PVP is what earns you trans charges the fastest from my experience.
Maybe it ain’t actually faster than map exploring, idk. Maybe it’s just that time flyes by when you’re having fun in pvp, compared to boring repetitive map exploration.

I hate PVP with a passion, so I have to rely on map exploration. If I do PVP, I do bad enough that people can yell at me if they want to. I usually end up on the losing side in sPVP regardless of my skill. (Can’t even solo Sentries in WvW, and I don’t even know what Ruins in WvW look like.)

Getting transmutation charges is actually super easy, to be honest (sitting on 56 as we speak), and once you hit 80 (really does not take long) you will find you only stick to one or two sets of armour that you can transmute as you like. Costumes (items that go over the entire armour set regardless of armour class) are a good alternative to armour cosmetics if you really want to look pretty while leveling, but I’d recommend waiting until you’re 80 and have all your gearing up out of the way before you worry about cosmetics.

DeanBB.4268:

Yes, armor is individual pieces – chest, boot, helm – and outfits are one piece. Think of it as wearing a dress that goes over the armor you are wearing. The armor is still there, but hidden beneath the dress.

You can pick and choose which armor pieces you use.

Armor can also be dyed to change appearance.

And like you said, not much point in spending transmutation charges prior to getting to level 80 and having some gear that you’ll use for a while. Otherwise, it gets swapped out too often for better stuff you find along the way.

Well i actually liked the “assassin” outfit i saw in the store, with the katana weapon. Thought it was a nice theme. I know that someone also changed the color of her outfit to red too i think. Are outfits colorable too?

Are they account bound though? I like the leveling experience a bit here, and am leveling multiple characters(although i do have a main that’s leveling somewhat fast), so if i can wear my assassin outfit on all my characters as I am leveling, i would definitely buy it

Outfits have 4 dye channels and once you buy one it’s unlocked for your account forever. Free to apply and change whenever. They’re great for leveling.

My personal favorites are the chef’s outfit on sylvari and the pirate outfit.

khani.4786:

Outfits have 4 dye channels and once you buy one it’s unlocked for your account forever. Free to apply and change whenever. They’re great for leveling.

My personal favorites are the chef’s outfit on sylvari and the pirate outfit.

that’s cool! What do you mean buy them? I have earned a bunch of dyes from black lion boxes and ones guildmembers gave me. Do i need to buy outfit dyes from the gem store? from an in game store?

Most of the dyes are cheap you can just buy from the trading post. There are also some more expensive dyes, usually those are from gem store, but can also be bought from TP.

edgarallanpwn.8739:

khani.4786:

Outfits have 4 dye channels and once you buy one it’s unlocked for your account forever. Free to apply and change whenever. They’re great for leveling.

My personal favorites are the chef’s outfit on sylvari and the pirate outfit.

that’s cool! What do you mean buy them? I have earned a bunch of dyes from black lion boxes and ones guildmembers gave me. Do i need to buy outfit dyes from the gem store? from an in game store?

The outfits are purchased via gems, but as stated, once you buy an outfit, the outfit is unlocked for your account for good.

Dyes work on both armour and outfits, and are also account-wide

edgarallanpwn.8739:

khani.4786:

Outfits have 4 dye channels and once you buy one it’s unlocked for your account forever. Free to apply and change whenever. They’re great for leveling.

My personal favorites are the chef’s outfit on sylvari and the pirate outfit.

that’s cool! What do you mean buy them? I have earned a bunch of dyes from black lion boxes and ones guildmembers gave me. Do i need to buy outfit dyes from the gem store? from an in game store?

Outfits are bought in the game store. See the following link for your options:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Outfit

Do be aware unlike armor you can not mix and match. It is that look or nothing. Great for leveling or while saving up for your preferred armor. But you may not want that look forever.

Also be aware some of those may not be available at the moment the witches outfit for example. It may re-appear around Halloween however.

edgarallanpwn.8739:

khani.4786:

Outfits have 4 dye channels and once you buy one it’s unlocked for your account forever. Free to apply and change whenever. They’re great for leveling.

My personal favorites are the chef’s outfit on sylvari and the pirate outfit.

that’s cool! What do you mean buy them? I have earned a bunch of dyes from black lion boxes and ones guildmembers gave me. Do i need to buy outfit dyes from the gem store? from an in game store?

Yes, most outfits are gem store items. Some like the Hex outfit we could buy with candy corn cobs during Halloween. But it’s a one time purchase and I think it’s quite worth the cost to get at least one. I don’t know of any others that were not gem store besides the Hex outfit.

As others have said you can convert in-game gold to gems so you don’t have to use real-world money. I’m at work so I can’t see how much it would cost in gold to buy an outfit. The second tab you see when you press “O” is where you convert gems to gold and gold to gems. There is some tiny text near the bottom for “custom” exchange where you can get the exact amount of gems you want rather than their one size fits all exchange that you first see.

Every 28 days of logins you are guaranteed 3 transmutation charges and a chance for one 4 time in that 28 day cycle with the Chest of Black Lion Goods. Otherwise as others pointed out about getting them on map completion, and they are one of the cheapest items at the Gem Shop with 5 for 150 gems; 10 for 270 gems; 25 for 600 gems.

Outfits have the advantage of changing between them for no transmutation charge cost and without affecting the current skin on your armor. Their disadvantage is the complete lack of mixing and matching that many players with an eye toward fashion do with armor skins. Also unlike armor, you can only hide the helm so if you hate the shoulders, you are out of luck.

Another way you can think of the difference between outfits and skins is outfits is like wearing a costume over your clothes while skins permanently changes the appearance of the armor until you use another transmutation charge.

While the game has lots of “free” armor skins (I’m including dungeon and temple skins here), the full armor sets at the Gem Shop do come with a built in transmutation charge for the first application for each armor piece (helm, coat, pant, glove, boot, shoulder) and it’s then stored into your wardrobe so you can then apply them anytime on any character for transmutation charges. There are a few individual armor skins they too come with a built in charge for the first time you apply them. Do note that some Gem Shop skins are for particular armor weights and that transmutation charges will NOT let you apply the skin of armor from one weight onto another of a different weight. So no applying the skin from a light helm onto a medium or heavy helm.

khani.4786:

edgarallanpwn.8739:

khani.4786:

Outfits have 4 dye channels and once you buy one it’s unlocked for your account forever. Free to apply and change whenever. They’re great for leveling.

My personal favorites are the chef’s outfit on sylvari and the pirate outfit.

that’s cool! What do you mean buy them? I have earned a bunch of dyes from black lion boxes and ones guildmembers gave me. Do i need to buy outfit dyes from the gem store? from an in game store?

Yes, most outfits are gem store items. Some like the Hex outfit we could buy with candy corn cobs during Halloween. But it’s a one time purchase and I think it’s quite worth the cost to get at least one. I don’t know of any others that were not gem store besides the Hex outfit.

As others have said you can convert in-game gold to gems so you don’t have to use real-world money. I’m at work so I can’t see how much it would cost in gold to buy an outfit. The second tab you see when you press “O” is where you convert gems to gold and gold to gems. There is some tiny text near the bottom for “custom” exchange where you can get the exact amount of gems you want rather than their one size fits all exchange that you first see.

The outfits seem like 10$(which is the same for LoL skins, so I am ok with that) so I am definitely going to get one

I did see a dreamthistle greatsword skin on the AH though.. it was 1kg, and by gem prices thats 140$ O.o.

I mean i’m all for supporting the game but holy geez. Idk about that one.

edgarallanpwn.8739:

khani.4786:

edgarallanpwn.8739:

khani.4786:

Outfits have 4 dye channels and once you buy one it’s unlocked for your account forever. Free to apply and change whenever. They’re great for leveling.

My personal favorites are the chef’s outfit on sylvari and the pirate outfit.

that’s cool! What do you mean buy them? I have earned a bunch of dyes from black lion boxes and ones guildmembers gave me. Do i need to buy outfit dyes from the gem store? from an in game store?

Yes, most outfits are gem store items. Some like the Hex outfit we could buy with candy corn cobs during Halloween. But it’s a one time purchase and I think it’s quite worth the cost to get at least one. I don’t know of any others that were not gem store besides the Hex outfit.

As others have said you can convert in-game gold to gems so you don’t have to use real-world money. I’m at work so I can’t see how much it would cost in gold to buy an outfit. The second tab you see when you press “O” is where you convert gems to gold and gold to gems. There is some tiny text near the bottom for “custom” exchange where you can get the exact amount of gems you want rather than their one size fits all exchange that you first see.

The outfits seem like 10$(which is the same for LoL skins, so I am ok with that) so I am definitely going to get one

I did see a dreamthistle greatsword skin on the AH though.. it was 1kg, and by gem prices thats 140$ O.o.

I mean i’m all for supporting the game but holy geez. Idk about that one.

Some skins are from older content, or take a large number of black lion tickets, which means their prices are higher. Every game has their rare/limited edition items which are expensive on the gold market.

It’s a wise idea to not compare the gold price of something to the potential gem price (converting gems to gold is a very bad way to get money unless you have a very high credit card limit)

rapthorne.7345:

edgarallanpwn.8739:

khani.4786:

edgarallanpwn.8739:

khani.4786:

Outfits have 4 dye channels and once you buy one it’s unlocked for your account forever. Free to apply and change whenever. They’re great for leveling.

My personal favorites are the chef’s outfit on sylvari and the pirate outfit.

that’s cool! What do you mean buy them? I have earned a bunch of dyes from black lion boxes and ones guildmembers gave me. Do i need to buy outfit dyes from the gem store? from an in game store?

Yes, most outfits are gem store items. Some like the Hex outfit we could buy with candy corn cobs during Halloween. But it’s a one time purchase and I think it’s quite worth the cost to get at least one. I don’t know of any others that were not gem store besides the Hex outfit.

As others have said you can convert in-game gold to gems so you don’t have to use real-world money. I’m at work so I can’t see how much it would cost in gold to buy an outfit. The second tab you see when you press “O” is where you convert gems to gold and gold to gems. There is some tiny text near the bottom for “custom” exchange where you can get the exact amount of gems you want rather than their one size fits all exchange that you first see.

The outfits seem like 10$(which is the same for LoL skins, so I am ok with that) so I am definitely going to get one

I did see a dreamthistle greatsword skin on the AH though.. it was 1kg, and by gem prices thats 140$ O.o.

I mean i’m all for supporting the game but holy geez. Idk about that one.

Some skins are from older content, or take a large number of black lion tickets, which means their prices are higher. Every game has their rare/limited edition items which are expensive on the gold market.

It’s a wise idea to not compare the gold price of something to the potential gem price (converting gems to gold is a very bad way to get money unless you have a very high credit card limit)

I mean like…that skin is pretty BAMF. Not gunna lai. Is there a better way to pay for gold in a way that won’t jeopardize my account, or credit card? I only looked at it that was as it was an in game system that was legitimate.

If there’s a better way, maybe i’ll be for it, maybe i will just have to farm and hope it stays there?

edgarallanpwn.8739:

I did see a dreamthistle greatsword skin on the AH though.. it was 1kg, and by gem prices thats 140$ O.o.

That’s because the dreamthistle weapon set is one of the absolute best looking in the game, and looks great on sylvari. I’m just happy I got my GS for 100g when it was first released during LS Season 1. It’s hands down one of my favorites. All of the dreamthistle weapons look great though.

edgarallanpwn.8739:

rapthorne.7345:

edgarallanpwn.8739:

khani.4786:

edgarallanpwn.8739:

khani.4786:

Outfits have 4 dye channels and once you buy one it’s unlocked for your account forever. Free to apply and change whenever. They’re great for leveling.

My personal favorites are the chef’s outfit on sylvari and the pirate outfit.

that’s cool! What do you mean buy them? I have earned a bunch of dyes from black lion boxes and ones guildmembers gave me. Do i need to buy outfit dyes from the gem store? from an in game store?

Yes, most outfits are gem store items. Some like the Hex outfit we could buy with candy corn cobs during Halloween. But it’s a one time purchase and I think it’s quite worth the cost to get at least one. I don’t know of any others that were not gem store besides the Hex outfit.

As others have said you can convert in-game gold to gems so you don’t have to use real-world money. I’m at work so I can’t see how much it would cost in gold to buy an outfit. The second tab you see when you press “O” is where you convert gems to gold and gold to gems. There is some tiny text near the bottom for “custom” exchange where you can get the exact amount of gems you want rather than their one size fits all exchange that you first see.

The outfits seem like 10$(which is the same for LoL skins, so I am ok with that) so I am definitely going to get one

I did see a dreamthistle greatsword skin on the AH though.. it was 1kg, and by gem prices thats 140$ O.o.

I mean i’m all for supporting the game but holy geez. Idk about that one.

Some skins are from older content, or take a large number of black lion tickets, which means their prices are higher. Every game has their rare/limited edition items which are expensive on the gold market.

It’s a wise idea to not compare the gold price of something to the potential gem price (converting gems to gold is a very bad way to get money unless you have a very high credit card limit)

I mean like…that skin is pretty BAMF. Not gunna lai. Is there a better way to pay for gold in a way that won’t jeopardize my account, or credit card? I only looked at it that was as it was an in game system that was legitimate.

If there’s a better way, maybe i’ll be for it, maybe i will just have to farm and hope it stays there?

There’s no way outside gem conversion to buy gold with real money without exposing you to potential credit and identity fraud, as well as a game account ban (ie, third party gold sellers). Farming gold doesn’t take too much effort once you hit 80, there’s many methods.

Like I said, don’t worry about the cosmetic side of things until you’re 80 and geared up, otherwise you’ll be wasting a whole lot of resources on things you’ll just replace pretty quickly

I find the GW2 gem store to be extremely fair in comparison to other in-game shops.

First of all, armor skins. You claim that you have to pay for using the skin you bought. This is false statement because the first time you can use it for free because you get the skin physicaly into your inventory. If you want to use it more than once – use charges. Imagine when you would need to buy it again if you wanted to use the skin on another armor.

Now about the charges. They’re extremely easy to get but because you’re new to the game you don’t know every way to get shinies without swinging your credic card yet. Don’t worry, you’ll get it as I did it. I remember the time when having 100g was impossible for me and now I have 17 character slots, all bought with gold to gem conversion.

You say you want to use cosmetics for leveling. This is why they created outfits and I admit they are very good solution for leveling characters.

I hope you will be patient and give yourself some time to learn the game and ways to earn both gold and cosmetics you want.

P.S. All I said above is of course a matter of perspective. That’s my opinion and you don’t need to agree with me.

segman.3560:

I find the GW2 gem store to be extremely fair in comparison to other in-game shops.

First of all, armor skins. You claim that you have to pay for using the skin you bought. This is false statement because the first time you can use it for free because you get the skin physicaly into your inventory. If you want to use it more than once – use charges. Imagine when you would need to buy it again if you wanted to use the skin on another armor.

Now about the charges. They’re extremely easy to get but because you’re new to the game you don’t know every way to get shinies without swinging your credic card yet. Don’t worry, you’ll get it as I did it. I remember the time when having 100g was impossible for me and now I have 17 character slots, all bought with gold to gem conversion.

You say you want to use cosmetics for leveling. This is why they created outfits and I admit they are very good solution for leveling characters.

I hope you will be patient and give yourself some time to learn the game and ways to earn both gold and cosmetics you want.

P.S. All I said above is of course a matter of perspective. That’s my opinion and you don’t need to agree with me.

I am a little bit more informed about this now however for some people its still easier to swing a credit card than spend the time farming. For a lot of people, or those who spend money on stuff like this, its a time vs money formula where i have to decide if i want to spend the time farming the gold to buy said item, or if it would be more worthwile to just pay for it straight up.

This was why WoW introduced buying lvl 90’s in WoD, because for a lot of people they hated the leveling grind.

I mean I am sure i can go farm gold, to buy the stuff i want when I am 80, but how long will it take me? Will i enjoy the grind? If not, or it takes to long, it may be more efficient for me to just drop $ on what i want, and enjoy the other parts of the game etc.

Any insight on to gold accumulation in the game once you hit fresh 80?

Draknar.5748:

edgarallanpwn.8739:

I did see a dreamthistle greatsword skin on the AH though.. it was 1kg, and by gem prices thats 140$ O.o.

That’s because the dreamthistle weapon set is one of the absolute best looking in the game, and looks great on sylvari. I’m just happy I got my GS for 100g when it was first released during LS Season 1. It’s hands down one of my favorites. All of the dreamthistle weapons look great though.

Yeah they did. I was looking for skins for my “endgame goals” to earn and that’s one of them. Looks like its going to be a journey lol. But it’s one of those thing’s i think might be worth if once i get there.

Also i am hearing of “season items”. are these items for events? or just available once a year etc?

Why outfits don’t come in “pieces” like armor baffles me from a consumer standpoint.

Gem Shop armors and weapons should be free to transmute as many times as you want after purchasing. I understand them wanting to make more money, but I would be more apt to buy more gem shop skins if they were a one time purchase as opposed to one time purchase + trans stones.

Iason Evan.3806:

Why outfits don’t come in “pieces” like armor baffles me from a consumer standpoint.

Gem Shop armors and weapons should be free to transmute as many times as you want after purchasing. I understand them wanting to make more money, but I would be more apt to buy more gem shop skins if they were a one time purchase as opposed to one time purchase + trans stones.

I think this was more at what i was trying to get at originally, but i mean there’s not a whole lot i can do about it

edgarallanpwn.8739:

segman.3560:

I find the GW2 gem store to be extremely fair in comparison to other in-game shops.

First of all, armor skins. You claim that you have to pay for using the skin you bought. This is false statement because the first time you can use it for free because you get the skin physicaly into your inventory. If you want to use it more than once – use charges. Imagine when you would need to buy it again if you wanted to use the skin on another armor.

Now about the charges. They’re extremely easy to get but because you’re new to the game you don’t know every way to get shinies without swinging your credic card yet. Don’t worry, you’ll get it as I did it. I remember the time when having 100g was impossible for me and now I have 17 character slots, all bought with gold to gem conversion.

You say you want to use cosmetics for leveling. This is why they created outfits and I admit they are very good solution for leveling characters.

I hope you will be patient and give yourself some time to learn the game and ways to earn both gold and cosmetics you want.

P.S. All I said above is of course a matter of perspective. That’s my opinion and you don’t need to agree with me.

I am a little bit more informed about this now however for some people its still easier to swing a credit card than spend the time farming. For a lot of people, or those who spend money on stuff like this, its a time vs money formula where i have to decide if i want to spend the time farming the gold to buy said item, or if it would be more worthwile to just pay for it straight up.

This was why WoW introduced buying lvl 90’s in WoD, because for a lot of people they hated the leveling grind.

I mean I am sure i can go farm gold, to buy the stuff i want when I am 80, but how long will it take me? Will i enjoy the grind? If not, or it takes to long, it may be more efficient for me to just drop $ on what i want, and enjoy the other parts of the game etc.

Any insight on to gold accumulation in the game once you hit fresh 80?

Draknar.5748:

edgarallanpwn.8739:

I did see a dreamthistle greatsword skin on the AH though.. it was 1kg, and by gem prices thats 140$ O.o.

That’s because the dreamthistle weapon set is one of the absolute best looking in the game, and looks great on sylvari. I’m just happy I got my GS for 100g when it was first released during LS Season 1. It’s hands down one of my favorites. All of the dreamthistle weapons look great though.

Yeah they did. I was looking for skins for my “endgame goals” to earn and that’s one of them. Looks like its going to be a journey lol. But it’s one of those thing’s i think might be worth if once i get there.

Also i am hearing of “season items”. are these items for events? or just available once a year etc?

If you are experienced in the game and know how to farm effeciently while putting time into it, aka. hard-farming. You can get up to 50 gold daily. When I personally wanted to buy a sword skin that costed ~500 gold, I kinda farmed everyday. 4-5 hours everyday and I got approx 30 gold.

That means you can get 1k gold in 20 days but that needs some dedication and time. Nothing compared to farming in other games though. When I played WoW, years ago, I was young and I had enough time to put into the game. Sometimes, I farmed hours and hours everyday for weeks to get a single high-end gear set.

I knew it.
I always knew it.
I always said it.
Gw2 is p2w.

Actually buying 750g is a bit under $100 USD (8,000 gems) at the moment. Outrageous true but it’s a item that is currently no longer available for 5 BL Tickets. At the time would require on average 100-125 BLTC keys that would cost 8,400-10,500 gems and that didn’t (still doesn’t) guarantee that you will get 5 BL Tickets after opening all those chests.

BLTC are for suckers unless you want a bank tab of Gem Shop boosters and miscellaneous items. Getting tickets or enough ticket scraps is like finding a two gun arm Samus Amiibo. It’s a happy surprise which you could turn into money or hold onto it yourself.

rapthorne.7345:

Getting transmutation charges is actually super easy, to be honest (sitting on 56 as we speak), and once you hit 80 (really does not take long) you will find you only stick to one or two sets of armour that you can transmute as you like. Costumes (items that go over the entire armour set regardless of armour class) are a good alternative to armour cosmetics if you really want to look pretty while leveling, but I’d recommend waiting until you’re 80 and have all your gearing up out of the way before you worry about cosmetics.

Got around 140 sitting around. I think I bought a 25 bundle at one point. The rest were from map completion and … stuff(none from PvP). The login rewards also includes 3 on the 26th day.

nGumball.1283:

edgarallanpwn.8739:

segman.3560:

I find the GW2 gem store to be extremely fair in comparison to other in-game shops.

First of all, armor skins. You claim that you have to pay for using the skin you bought. This is false statement because the first time you can use it for free because you get the skin physicaly into your inventory. If you want to use it more than once – use charges. Imagine when you would need to buy it again if you wanted to use the skin on another armor.

Now about the charges. They’re extremely easy to get but because you’re new to the game you don’t know every way to get shinies without swinging your credic card yet. Don’t worry, you’ll get it as I did it. I remember the time when having 100g was impossible for me and now I have 17 character slots, all bought with gold to gem conversion.

You say you want to use cosmetics for leveling. This is why they created outfits and I admit they are very good solution for leveling characters.

I hope you will be patient and give yourself some time to learn the game and ways to earn both gold and cosmetics you want.

P.S. All I said above is of course a matter of perspective. That’s my opinion and you don’t need to agree with me.

I am a little bit more informed about this now however for some people its still easier to swing a credit card than spend the time farming. For a lot of people, or those who spend money on stuff like this, its a time vs money formula where i have to decide if i want to spend the time farming the gold to buy said item, or if it would be more worthwile to just pay for it straight up.

This was why WoW introduced buying lvl 90’s in WoD, because for a lot of people they hated the leveling grind.

I mean I am sure i can go farm gold, to buy the stuff i want when I am 80, but how long will it take me? Will i enjoy the grind? If not, or it takes to long, it may be more efficient for me to just drop $ on what i want, and enjoy the other parts of the game etc.

Any insight on to gold accumulation in the game once you hit fresh 80?

Draknar.5748:

edgarallanpwn.8739:

I did see a dreamthistle greatsword skin on the AH though.. it was 1kg, and by gem prices thats 140$ O.o.

That’s because the dreamthistle weapon set is one of the absolute best looking in the game, and looks great on sylvari. I’m just happy I got my GS for 100g when it was first released during LS Season 1. It’s hands down one of my favorites. All of the dreamthistle weapons look great though.

Yeah they did. I was looking for skins for my “endgame goals” to earn and that’s one of them. Looks like its going to be a journey lol. But it’s one of those thing’s i think might be worth if once i get there.

Also i am hearing of “season items”. are these items for events? or just available once a year etc?

If you are experienced in the game and know how to farm effeciently while putting time into it, aka. hard-farming. You can get up to 50 gold daily. When I personally wanted to buy a sword skin that costed ~500 gold, I kinda farmed everyday. 4-5 hours everyday and I got approx 30 gold.

That means you can get 1k gold in 20 days but that needs some dedication and time. Nothing compared to farming in other games though. When I played WoW, years ago, I was young and I had enough time to put into the game. Sometimes, I farmed hours and hours everyday for weeks to get a single high-end gear set.

Yeah i mean i COULD put that time in, but if i were to assign it a value.. lets say my hourly wage which is around 25$ an hour, that means at my wage its only 6 hours of work. So a days pay. The amount of time i would have to spend farming by your calculation would be….80hrs of farming at 4hrs per day, which at my current wage would be $2000. So if i were to spend that time i wasted farming, i netted myself a loss of $1860.

NOW if i actually enjoy the grind, then thats separate altogether, but if it turns out i dont like the grind, it would be worth my money to spend it on gem exchange, sadly.

I feel as if i might just moonlight(since we are allowed) or pickup a couple small jobs to pay for stuff if i really wanted it.

While i have time to play this maybe 1-2hrs a day, i don’t think i have THAT much time unfortunately, as you said. As you get older, other things take more precedence

As much as i would love to get that skin, however that doesn’t mean that paying for it is a “wise purchase” either.

I could understand your argument if the grind was indeed connected to the power level of your gear. However we’re talking about cosmetics. So it is only your choice to aim for cosmetics. Whether it comes from achievements or cash shop it’ll always be some kind of grind.

Now you have a choice:
more time grind – less or no cash spend for a skin
less or no grind – more cash spend for a skin

Looks fair to me. It is only up to you if you go for cosmetics and how are you going to pay for them – with your time/gold or with your cash. You don’t need those skins, you want them. When I want something, I go to work, I get paid and I buy what I want.

op.. there are two sorts of “skins”

-Skins: Basically overwrite the appearance of your currently equipped weapon\armor.
Lets say you got some shoulders that look stupid (to you) you can go to the wardrobe,
select a new skin for them from the skins you unlocked and are in the same weight
class and overwrite their apperance. Thats a 1 time thing and will remain on the
equipment forever BUT only on the transmuted piece. If you equip a different set of
shoulders the new shoulders got the skin they came with so people usually tend to
use skins on end game armors…or got enough charges\money to change the
skins of their armor all the way through leveling. Any skin you buy\unlock is yours
and will stay in the wardrobe and will be available for your entire account whenever
you want and have the charges to use them.

-Costumes: A thing i personally detest extremely…but i gonna try to give ya an
un-biased description. Costumes basically overwrite your entire armor apperance,
ignore the weight class of your armor and are completely static. No matter how much
you change your armor.. the costume remains like it is. You can hide certain pieces
at some costumes..like helmet and shoulders and gloves but you cannot in any way
“replace” the costume parts with other parts. Whats in the costume is what you get
nothing more or less. Also costumes only got 4 colour channels..so you cannot
dye…lets say the pants gold and blue and the top green and silver and the gloves
purple and red or whatever. 4 channels for the entire fit…and no way to change that.
Cause costumes are like mentioned “static” to your armor they are a cheap
option for leveling to have a somewhat nice look but if you dont like…lets say the
helmet of the outfit then you wont be able to replace it with another one…just hide it.
Outfits are basically “take it like it is or gtfo” and this personally really makes me hate
em cause they do remove the personal touch that skins allow you to add to your
apperance and turn you into a maybe slightly different coloured clone of the
other guy who bought the same outfit. Outfits dont hide backpieces though…so
thats something i suppose?

segman.3560:

I could understand your argument if the grind was indeed connected to the power level of your gear. However we’re talking about cosmetics. So it is only your choice to aim for cosmetics. Whether it comes from achievements or cash shop it’ll always be some kind of grind.

Now you have a choice:
more time grind – less or no cash spend for a skin
less or no grind – more cash spend for a skin

Looks fair to me. It is only up to you if you go for cosmetics and how are you going to pay for them – with your time/gold or with your cash. You don’t need those skins, you want them. When I want something, I go to work, I get paid and I buy what I want.

The argument is that if i pay 140$ for something, i want to use it when i want, not gated by xmog stones. It doesn’t matter that you can earn them, or buy more of them, if i drop real $ into the skin, i don’t want to have to earn something else to effectively use it more than once. I want to use it, how i want, when i want, NSA.

Unfortunately there are strings, whether people are ok with those or not is an irrelevant point

And you can use this skin first time without any charges. If you want to use it more than once – this is when you can use those charges which is much better option than buying new skin again only, isn’kitten

edgarallanpwn.8739:

segman.3560:

I could understand your argument if the grind was indeed connected to the power level of your gear. However we’re talking about cosmetics. So it is only your choice to aim for cosmetics. Whether it comes from achievements or cash shop it’ll always be some kind of grind.

Now you have a choice:
more time grind – less or no cash spend for a skin
less or no grind – more cash spend for a skin

Looks fair to me. It is only up to you if you go for cosmetics and how are you going to pay for them – with your time/gold or with your cash. You don’t need those skins, you want them. When I want something, I go to work, I get paid and I buy what I want.

The argument is that if i pay 140$ for something, i want to use it when i want, not gated by xmog stones. It doesn’t matter that you can earn them, or buy more of them, if i drop real $ into the skin, i don’t want to have to earn something else to effectively use it more than once. I want to use it, how i want, when i want, NSA.

Unfortunately there are strings, whether people are ok with those or not is an irrelevant point

You don’t need Transmutation Charges for Outfits.

Tao.5096:

I knew it.
I always knew it.
I always said it.
Gw2 is p2w.

What’s the context here? Are you one of those people that honestly believes getting a cosmetic item is “winning”? I could never get one of you guys to answer the question, “win what?” GW2? Like that dreamthistle skin somehow lets you complete FoTM50 or dominate everyone in PvP?

I’ll save time by telling you there is no good answer to what it is they are paying to win without sounding ridiculous.

edgarallanpwn.8739:

segman.3560:

I could understand your argument if the grind was indeed connected to the power level of your gear. However we’re talking about cosmetics. So it is only your choice to aim for cosmetics. Whether it comes from achievements or cash shop it’ll always be some kind of grind.

Now you have a choice:
more time grind – less or no cash spend for a skin
less or no grind – more cash spend for a skin

Looks fair to me. It is only up to you if you go for cosmetics and how are you going to pay for them – with your time/gold or with your cash. You don’t need those skins, you want them. When I want something, I go to work, I get paid and I buy what I want.

The argument is that if i pay 140$ for something, i want to use it when i want, not gated by xmog stones. It doesn’t matter that you can earn them, or buy more of them, if i drop real $ into the skin, i don’t want to have to earn something else to effectively use it more than once. I want to use it, how i want, when i want, NSA.

Unfortunately there are strings, whether people are ok with those or not is an irrelevant point

Well sorry but that’s not how this game works, outside of outfits. That being said, transmutation charges are easy to earn for free.