Guild Wars 2

Haven’t seen a subject on this? I’m sure I’ve seen dozen of subjects about this when the skin was released.

I did try searching for ‘Privateer Weapon Skins’ maybe the search function on the forum is just poo.

Yeah, this was a pretty big discussion topic a while back. I had to go bad a few pages to find the old post.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Untradable-weapon-skins

If you want to skip most of the QQ’ing and ranting, then here is the Dev’s quotes from the page.

(For a quick summary: TL;DR= This isn’t an attempt to jack up sales. It’s a exclusive set that will never see an increase in ticket price. Not all future sets will be account-bound either so we don’t have to worry about the tradeable ones being a distant memory.)

SarahWitter.2317:

Reading this thread, we understand your questions and want to share a little information: This set is designed to be a special, exclusive set and therefore it’s a little different than most. There are a couple of other interesting factors that you’ll want to know: The set is available for one ticket. It will remain priced at one ticket into the future, so someone who wants it now doesn’t need to be concerned about it becoming unavailable or about it rising in price in the future. Other sets currently available are not account bound, such as the Cavalier Weapon Set which was recently released at a price of 1 Black Lion Claim Ticket and remains at that price now. In addition, we do intend to continue to offer tradeable sets in the future. If you’d like a preview of the new set, go to your bank wardrobe and filter for “Privateer.” We hope this answers your questions, and thanks for sharing your thoughts.

-Sarah

And the second one:

SarahWitter.2317:

I’d like to reply to those who are saying that making this set account-bound is “a money grab.” Please keep in mind that we make the same amount of revenue for each BLC weapon skin that enters the game through MTX regardless of whether or not that weapon skin is later resold on the trading post.

The currency exchange is a player driven market and as the gem-to-gold exchange rate has increased, the trading post value of BLC weapon skins hasn’t kept pace. That leads to the common complaint that it feels bad to buy Black Lion chests for gems, because it seems as if they’re full of things that you could have bought more cheaply by converting your gems to gold instead. It’s not our goal to make you feel like a chump for buying chests. After all, by buying chests, you’re supporting the creation of the content that everyone plays. So it’s nice for there to be account-bound things in the chests in addition to the other tradeable items. With a lot of the chest contents, it’s not possible for them to be account-bound, because for a lot of things you’d be screwed if you got dupes and couldn’t off-load them to friends or onto the Trading Post. By putting the skins on the Black Lion Weapon Specialists we support those who have stored tickets and still have a combination of account-bound and non-account-bound items in the chest, as we did before today’s release.

This set of purely cosmetic skins still can ultimately be acquired either by purchasing them or by earning gold in the game and trading it for gems. If you like getting skins from the chests that can’t be obtained more cheaply through the trading post, use your claim tickets on these weapons. Or if you prefer tradeable skins, use your claim tickets for the other weapon sets, or acquire those weapon sets by trading for them with other players who bought them with claim tickets.

We on the dev team want to thank you again for taking the time to share your views with us.

I think everyone complained, explained their complaints as clearly as they could, were told that actually no, we do like this system, we just don’t realise that we like it and gave up on the conversation.

I think all we can hope for at this point is that Anet are monitoring how many people get them, will realise it’s very low compared to other sets and will fix them. But I have no idea how likely that is.

So basically they added that skin collection as “BLC-drop” to make the RNG game more “worthwhile”.
As long as it doesn’t decrease tradeable BLT skin collections, it’s fine…
Time will tell.

The Privateer weapon skins will always be 1 ticket, unlike tradable ones. For this reason, I might actually be able to complete that particular collection.

penelopehannibal.8947:

The Privateer weapon skins will always be 1 ticket, unlike tradable ones. For this reason, I might actually be able to complete that particular collection.

I haven’t even managed to average 1 full ticket per year thanks to RNG, so…. yeah. One ticket forever means absolutely nothing to me.

DragonflyDusk.6582:

penelopehannibal.8947:

The Privateer weapon skins will always be 1 ticket, unlike tradable ones. For this reason, I might actually be able to complete that particular collection.

I haven’t even managed to average 1 full ticket per year thanks to RNG, so…. yeah. One ticket forever means absolutely nothing to me.

This, I don’t want to waste my time within the game farming keys. I’ve played that content maybe 10 times already. There really needs to be better ways of obtaining them.

Tringsh.2380:

DragonflyDusk.6582:

penelopehannibal.8947:

The Privateer weapon skins will always be 1 ticket, unlike tradable ones. For this reason, I might actually be able to complete that particular collection.

I haven’t even managed to average 1 full ticket per year thanks to RNG, so…. yeah. One ticket forever means absolutely nothing to me.

This, I don’t want to waste my time within the game farming keys. I’ve played that content maybe 10 times already. There really needs to be better ways of obtaining them.

Personally I just buy gems to get the keys, but each to their own I suppose.

As I wrote in the other threads, I see nothing wrong with ANet wanting to mix up the options for the BL chests, BL weapon skins. I don’t see anything wrong with them deciding that, out of over two dozen skins, one of them could be account bound.

My concern is:

• They didn’t blog about the idea first, telling us the thinking leading up to the decision (even if we couldn’t influence the outcome).
• They chose to implement it in a way that was most likely to ruffle everyone’s feathers.
• As Trahearne used to say, “this won’t end well.”

Among the options, they could have done this: have a skin drop directly and then give us the choice:

• Keep the skin.
• Trade it back to Evon’s minions, for a BL ticket.

The outcome would have been identical: no new tradeable skin, but with a sense that we, as players, were given something special and it would be our choice (not ANet’s) to collect or invest.

penelopehannibal.8947:

Tringsh.2380:

DragonflyDusk.6582:

penelopehannibal.8947:

The Privateer weapon skins will always be 1 ticket, unlike tradable ones. For this reason, I might actually be able to complete that particular collection.

I haven’t even managed to average 1 full ticket per year thanks to RNG, so…. yeah. One ticket forever means absolutely nothing to me.

This, I don’t want to waste my time within the game farming keys. I’ve played that content maybe 10 times already. There really needs to be better ways of obtaining them.

Personally I just buy gems to get the keys, but each to their own I suppose.

Well, I’m not buying keys when I clearly don’t get scraps out of it. My RNG is so bad that while people are drowning in avian minis I can’t even land one poor raven or owl. I could totally start a repair canister/merchant express/tome of knowledge store… If I could sell them.

And for the topic at hand, as I’ve said before, I don’t trust that this was ever intended to be a one-time instance, but rather testing the waters.

DragonflyDusk.6582:

Well, I’m not buying keys when I clearly don’t get scraps out of it. My RNG is so bad that while people are drowning in avian minis I can’t even land one poor raven or owl. I could totally start a repair canister/merchant express/tome of knowledge store… If I could sell them.

And for the topic at hand, as I’ve said before, I don’t trust that this was ever intended to be a one-time instance, but rather testing the waters.

Everyone’s RNG is the same, not sure why you think yours is different to anyone else’s. It wouldn’t be random if it was selectively bad for some players than for others.

As for the one-time instance – I doubt it will either. But I’m not saying if it’s not that it’s a bad thing. I think though, if Account-Bound skins were a thing when the BL tickets first started, there wouldn’t be such an uproar about it.

penelopehannibal.8947:

Tringsh.2380:

DragonflyDusk.6582:

penelopehannibal.8947:

The Privateer weapon skins will always be 1 ticket, unlike tradable ones. For this reason, I might actually be able to complete that particular collection.

I haven’t even managed to average 1 full ticket per year thanks to RNG, so…. yeah. One ticket forever means absolutely nothing to me.

This, I don’t want to waste my time within the game farming keys. I’ve played that content maybe 10 times already. There really needs to be better ways of obtaining them.

Personally I just buy gems to get the keys, but each to their own I suppose.

30 bl chests needed to pull 10 scraps
480 chests needed for set of 16 skins
Wow, that’s going to be expensive, more than 40,000 gems!

Belexes.4923:

penelopehannibal.8947:

Tringsh.2380:

DragonflyDusk.6582:

penelopehannibal.8947:

The Privateer weapon skins will always be 1 ticket, unlike tradable ones. For this reason, I might actually be able to complete that particular collection.

I haven’t even managed to average 1 full ticket per year thanks to RNG, so…. yeah. One ticket forever means absolutely nothing to me.

This, I don’t want to waste my time within the game farming keys. I’ve played that content maybe 10 times already. There really needs to be better ways of obtaining them.

Personally I just buy gems to get the keys, but each to their own I suppose.

30 bl chests needed to pull 10 scraps
480 chests needed for set of 16 skins
Wow, that’s going to be expensive!

What’s that $525 usd? in or around there for 1 set?

Hexinx.1872:

Belexes.4923:

penelopehannibal.8947:

Tringsh.2380:

DragonflyDusk.6582:

penelopehannibal.8947:

The Privateer weapon skins will always be 1 ticket, unlike tradable ones. For this reason, I might actually be able to complete that particular collection.

I haven’t even managed to average 1 full ticket per year thanks to RNG, so…. yeah. One ticket forever means absolutely nothing to me.

This, I don’t want to waste my time within the game farming keys. I’ve played that content maybe 10 times already. There really needs to be better ways of obtaining them.

Personally I just buy gems to get the keys, but each to their own I suppose.

30 bl chests needed to pull 10 scraps
480 chests needed for set of 16 skins
Wow, that’s going to be expensive!

What’s that $525 usd? in or around there for 1 set?

Yup.

Yes but you are overlooking full ticket drops. Yes they are like 1 in 50 chests but that drops the overall average per ticket down to around 1 in 20. So that drops it down to 320 chests per set or around $336. Of course there are periodic sales on keys, 20% off that would lower the monetary price even further.

Behellagh.1468:

Yes but you are overlooking full ticket drops. Yes they are like 1 in 50 chests but that drops the overall average per ticket down to around 1 in 20. So that drops it down to 320 chests per set or around $336. Of course there are periodic sales on keys, 20% off that would lower the monetary price even further.

Still more costly than any other gemstore set except for those that weren’t available for tickets in a really long time.

Behellagh.1468:

Yes but you are overlooking full ticket drops. Yes they are like 1 in 50 chests but that drops the overall average per ticket down to around 1 in 20. So that drops it down to 320 chests per set or around $336. Of course there are periodic sales on keys, 20% off that would lower the monetary price even further.

That one in 50 drops is across the full player base though. For an individual player it might be one in 100 drops. Or one in 200 drops if RNG is against him. Calculating your projected cost based on a lucky RNG drop is unwise. Sure, you can calculate it for the player base as a whole but it’s best to leave it such drops out when doing calculations for yourself.

Chad.6104:

That one in 50 drops is across the full player base though. For an individual player it might be one in 100 drops. Or one in 200 drops if RNG is against him.

Completely wrong. If the chance is 1:50 for a drop, it does not matter how many players try to get that drop at the same time. The chance will ALWAYS be 1:50, regardless if 1 player, 100 players or 10000 players open boxes, because drops scale proportional with the number of participating players. While one player opens 1 box, 100 players open 100 boxes and 10000 players open 10000 boxes. The number of drops will statistically be 0,02, 2 and 200 respectively, which translates directly back to the initial 1:50 chance.

Furthermore, that it may be 1 in 100 drops or 1 in 200 drops depending on luck is natural, just as it may be 1 in 1. That is the nature of a “chance”.

penelopehannibal.8947:

DragonflyDusk.6582:

Well, I’m not buying keys when I clearly don’t get scraps out of it. My RNG is so bad that while people are drowning in avian minis I can’t even land one poor raven or owl. I could totally start a repair canister/merchant express/tome of knowledge store… If I could sell them.

And for the topic at hand, as I’ve said before, I don’t trust that this was ever intended to be a one-time instance, but rather testing the waters.

Everyone’s RNG is the same, not sure why you think yours is different to anyone else’s. It wouldn’t be random if it was selectively bad for some players than for others.

As for the one-time instance – I doubt it will either. But I’m not saying if it’s not that it’s a bad thing. I think though, if Account-Bound skins were a thing when the BL tickets first started, there wouldn’t be such an uproar about it.

And you are blatantly nitpicking to ignore my point. I get garbage consistently from Black Lion Chests, and Arenanet has just done something that makes a former workaround for this impossible.

“Everyone’s RNG is the same” doesn’t change the fact that some of us consistently lose the gamble. That is the nature of RNG, and why it irritates some of us.

Shikigami.4013:

Chad.6104:

That one in 50 drops is across the full player base though. For an individual player it might be one in 100 drops. Or one in 200 drops if RNG is against him.

Completely wrong. If the chance is 1:50 for a drop, it does not matter how many players try to get that drop at the same time. The chance will ALWAYS be 1:50, regardless if 1 player, 100 players or 10000 players open boxes, because drops scale proportional with the number of participating players. While one player opens 1 box, 100 players open 100 boxes and 10000 players open 10000 boxes. The number of drops will statistically be 0,02, 2 and 200 respectively, which translates directly back to the initial 1:50 chance.

Furthermore, that it may be 1 in 100 drops or 1 in 200 drops depending on luck is natural, just as it may be 1 in 1. That is the nature of a “chance”.

Sorry. I said that clumsily. I didn’t mean that the 1 in X changes for the individual. I meant that across all players the chance may be in in 50 but for the individual opening chests, he might not get a full ticket until he opens 100 chests. I was pointing out that doing math to determine projected costs for an individual and basing your costs on a lucky chance is a bad idea.

Yes, binomial distribution can mean you have, out of 50 at 2%, a 36.4% chance of getting none. But it also means you have a 26.4% of getting more than 1.

Astralporing.1957:

Behellagh.1468:

Yes but you are overlooking full ticket drops. Yes they are like 1 in 50 chests but that drops the overall average per ticket down to around 1 in 20. So that drops it down to 320 chests per set or around $336. Of course there are periodic sales on keys, 20% off that would lower the monetary price even further.

Still more costly than any other gemstore set except for those that weren’t available for tickets in a really long time.

How pray tell is it the most expensive set if it’s only one ticket each? That’s the cheapest they can be.

Behellagh.1468:

Astralporing.1957:

Behellagh.1468:

Yes but you are overlooking full ticket drops. Yes they are like 1 in 50 chests but that drops the overall average per ticket down to around 1 in 20. So that drops it down to 320 chests per set or around $336. Of course there are periodic sales on keys, 20% off that would lower the monetary price even further.

Still more costly than any other gemstore set except for those that weren’t available for tickets in a really long time.

How pray tell is it the most expensive set if it’s only one ticket each? That’s the cheapest they can be.

I think the point is that pretty much the only reliable way to get it in less than years given the in-game key drop rate and the RNG of getting tickets even if keys are farmed is to pay cash for gems. So since you can’t buy it on the TP for gold, your wallet will hurt more.

Behellagh.1468:

Astralporing.1957:

Behellagh.1468:

Yes but you are overlooking full ticket drops. Yes they are like 1 in 50 chests but that drops the overall average per ticket down to around 1 in 20. So that drops it down to 320 chests per set or around $336. Of course there are periodic sales on keys, 20% off that would lower the monetary price even further.

Still more costly than any other gemstore set except for those that weren’t available for tickets in a really long time.

How pray tell is it the most expensive set if it’s only one ticket each? That’s the cheapest they can be.

That’s because exchanging gold to gems, buying keys, opening boxes, hoping for the ticket scraps/full tickets to drop, buying a skin has always been the least cost-effective way to obtaining those skins. With the added danger that RNG could be against you this time.

The same is true about the gemstore pack dyes when their set is on sale, btw.

The same is when you buy them for real cash, btw. Instead of using gems to buy what you want from gemstore, it has always been more cost-effective to exchange gems for gold and buy said thing directly from TP.

SarahWitter.2317:

This set is designed to be a special, exclusive set and therefore it’s a little different than most.
-Sarah

Lmao, what is so special about the set exactly?

Astralporing.1957:

Behellagh.1468:

Astralporing.1957:

Behellagh.1468:

Yes but you are overlooking full ticket drops. Yes they are like 1 in 50 chests but that drops the overall average per ticket down to around 1 in 20. So that drops it down to 320 chests per set or around $336. Of course there are periodic sales on keys, 20% off that would lower the monetary price even further.

Still more costly than any other gemstore set except for those that weren’t available for tickets in a really long time.

How pray tell is it the most expensive set if it’s only one ticket each? That’s the cheapest they can be.

That’s because exchanging gold to gems, buying keys, opening boxes, hoping for the ticket scraps/full tickets to drop, buying a skin has always been the least cost-effective way to obtaining those skins. With the added danger that RNG could be against you this time.

The same is true about the gemstore pack dyes when their set is on sale, btw.

The same is when you buy them for real cash, btw. Instead of using gems to buy what you want from gemstore, it has always been more cost-effective to exchange gems for gold and buy said thing directly from TP.

Well that’s always been true, converting gold to gems to keys is the more expensive way to get BL Tickets. But those skins on the TP don’t spontaneously generate, someone is opening chests with keys and with the demise of the key farm, well down to once a week per account, the majority of which were bought with gems that were in turn bought with cash. Because in the end gems are the only thing ANet is selling for cash.

So any skin you got for less than what $21 of gems converted to gold turned out to be on the TP, was posted there likely at a loss in terms of gold. So while you may have gotten it off the TP cheaper than doing the whole song and dance buying gems to keys and opening chests, someone did exactly that and paid that price.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Mentor.4130:

I spent money mostly for armor skins, gliders. Never bought keys.

Indeed, If I spend money, I want the product I’m paying for, not a small change to get that product.

It’s called the Gemstore, not the Gemcasino.

Exactly!

You said it perfectly!

Love your terms too! <3

We’ve obviously established that if Anet kept the gambling system, they could at the very least make the skins tradeable.

The best option of course would be to get rid of the silly cruel “Gemcasino” entirely and have the skins be bought with in-game gold instead.

Orrrrrr another option (though less preferable depending on how hard it is, because I want to make sure that everyone who wants it can be able to get it), could also make it be obtainable by completing a task in the achievement panel.

But if Anet so badly wants us to buy gems, then I would very much rather buy the skins directly with gems! Forget the keys. Forget the tickets. Forget the slot machine. I want to know that I am 100% positively receiving the exact thing I want when I spend my valuable money that should not be taken for granted.

Purchasing with false hope strings the customers (the few who choose to play the game) along for an unfair ride.

There are a couple of weapons already in the legit “Gem Store” . . . like Lord Faren’s Rapier skin and the Elegant Fan Focus skin . . . so why not have the Privateer weapon set directly for sale too in the store like the other two? I think the audience will be a lot larger and happier, plus the attitude approach to the situation will be a much purer path.

Reveal the Light in you. I know it is there deep within.

Amethyst Lure.5624:

I’m happy to support games I like (even though I’ve not played too much for a bit now, but maybe the account still shows purchases?) and I really don’t mind it for a game such as this which is based on it and still delivers fair content – most of the time.

However, I will never pay money for something that is a gamble. I do not gamble for goods – perhaps i would have a different outlook if I did not have bills and other things to spend my money on, and I don’t want to fall into the trap of paying to overcome RNG. I hope this sheds some light on why I won’t personally get these skins, unless I can manage to find enough keys through playing the game. To reiterate, not because i don’t want to support A-net. I just don’t support gambling DLC/digital goods.

I suppose that falls beyond the scope of this particular discussion slightly, as it affects all key purchases. But it’s especially annoying to see when real money gambling is made the forefront way to achieve something.

I feel the same way about gambling. Even if I was rich and could afford to risk & waste it in hopes of winning, I still wouldn’t support it because it is just wrong and sad. I see it all the time around me in Vegas . . . I truly earnestly wish casinos, gambling, rng, all of it just simply didn’t exist. I know right? Wishful thinking :/ Ah well, what can I do.

CMM.6712:

Zenith.7301:

If I spend real world money, I WANT GUARANTEED RESULTS. Period. I don’t want to gamble with my games to acquire skins.

A million times this.

ANET, I hope you are reading this. Listen to your community, please. <3

SarahWitter.2317:

This set is designed to be a special, exclusive set.

-Sarah

Hi Sarah, I am quoting you because I presume you are an Anet worker, yes? You have a special red fancy box around your name.

I don’t know how much the company looks at forums, or if they even read thoroughly every single post. So I’d like to draw your attention to the few I wrote (above this post) where I quoted (& continued in depth my feelings) merely only a few of the thousands who agree with me. Some say it concisely, some more lengthy like I – all pretty much a broken record summary, our voices drying out & running out of ways to persuade and open your eyes. There were many other good ones I could have linked, but I can’t browse online & write all day. But anyway, please. Gambling is wrong and should be banned. It does not matter what you call it or how you try to justify it and make it sound “okay.” Don’t go there . . . well you already have, but you can still reverse it. Nothing is set in stone. We all know there is nothing lore related to the set and that we are being tested to see if we give into the leprechaun fools bait the company wants to see if they can get away with and continue. Nothing good comes out of it. There is no pro – only cons. Be Love. Be Gracious. Be Generous. Be Abundant. Be Good. Be Understanding. Be Divine.

“Every moment is another chance to turn it all around.”
~ Vanilla Sky <3

This thread again? This discussion has long since played out. Please don’t necro six month old threads.

Ossyrana.1637:

CMM.6712:

Zenith.7301:

If I spend real world money, I WANT GUARANTEED RESULTS. Period. I don’t want to gamble with my games to acquire skins.

A million times this.

ANET, I hope you are reading this. Listen to your community, please. <3

I do not like gamble boxes in games either, but ANet, and other companies in the industry as well, ARE listening to their communities. People buy the keys. A lot of keys. Saying that we, as a community, do not want to gamble while the community spends money to gamble, is essentially a waste. If we want it to change we need to say it in a language that is indisputable…dollars.

Ashen.2907:

Ossyrana.1637:

CMM.6712:

Zenith.7301:

If I spend real world money, I WANT GUARANTEED RESULTS. Period. I don’t want to gamble with my games to acquire skins.

A million times this.

ANET, I hope you are reading this. Listen to your community, please. <3

I do not like gamble boxes in games either, but ANet, and other companies in the industry as well, ARE listening to their communities. People buy the keys. A lot of keys. Saying that we, as a community, do not want to gamble while the community spends money to gamble, is essentially a waste. If we want it to change we need to say it in a language that is indisputable…dollars.

I understand what you mean . . . I know I can’t stop those who choose to try and prove me wrong (unintentionally of course). But Anet can’t just ignore the obvious voices who have spoken on these threads . . . I mean, I can see yes they are ignoring us and only paying attention to the portion of the community that spends . . . I just wish they’d take us into account. I feel like it is not just one community . . . even Guild Wars 2 has “cliques.”

drunkenpilot.9837:

This thread again? This discussion has long since played out.

Sorry luv, but these kind of crucial problems are threads that cannot be given up on & need to be stretched & persistently continued until it is put to an end. Gambling must fade to nothingness for the best. Plus a lot of people and I are very artistic & want to design our characters with these skins and cannot because of the unloving system. We cannot quit our pursuit when our desired result is non-negotiable. We have to conceive, believe, & assume that our dear controllers of Tyria can be good, loving, & honorable. You don’t have to read overrides if they bother you, but please let us keep trying if no one else will. People can change. Much Love <3

Ashen.2907:

Ossyrana.1637:

CMM.6712:

Zenith.7301:

If I spend real world money, I WANT GUARANTEED RESULTS. Period. I don’t want to gamble with my games to acquire skins.

A million times this.

ANET, I hope you are reading this. Listen to your community, please. <3

I do not like gamble boxes in games either, but ANet, and other companies in the industry as well, ARE listening to their communities. People buy the keys. A lot of keys. Saying that we, as a community, do not want to gamble while the community spends money to gamble, is essentially a waste. If we want it to change we need to say it in a language that is indisputable…dollars.

They aren’t listening to their community. They just count on the fact that a large enough part of that community is dumb enough to fall for that trap.