Guild Wars 2

Why doesn’t Guild Wars 2 have a barber shop? Instead it cost 250 gems to simply change your hair style. In every other big MMO you can change hair style freely at a very low cost, while in this game it either cost you so much gold every time you change your hair or you have to pay like $3

And how many of those “every other big MMO” does not require a subscription to play?

Make sure to make the character the “right” way from the start if it is such big of an issue to pay a rather small amount of gems to change it later.

They need to get money from somewhere. And I for one prefer if it is for things like these instead of from selling game-effecting stuff.

250 gems is still a lot of RL money just to swap out a few polygons. Luckily, I had enough in-game gold to convert to gems in order to swap back the stiff, broken hairstyle I had previously picked for my main back to a regular default one which actually animates when I move her around rather than piercing her repeatedly through her spine.

It wouldn’t be so bad if those paywall-locked hairstyles were actually physics-enabled like the default hairs are.

lordkrall.7241:

And how many of those “every other big MMO” does not require a subscription to play?

Make sure to make the character the “right” way from the start if it is such big of an issue to pay a rather small amount of gems to change it later.

They need to get money from somewhere. And I for one prefer if it is for things like these instead of from selling game-effecting stuff.

The Secret World, IIRC. Also, Age of Conan – AoC’s hair stuff isn’t even in the game store, it’s bought off street vendors. IIRC, it was something like 15 or so silver to change the hair (which is absolutely nothing in terms of game currency, and doesn’t matter if you pay a sub or play for free).

Most people in this game are swimming in gold and gems are not a issue. If you are new to the game, then earning gold is only hard until you reach lvl 80, after that you can earn the gold you need in just a few days, so i don’t really see a problem.

As for a barbershop, i would not mind having it as a feature were you can also precheck before deciding if you want to get a new look. As it is now i have to have one on my bank and then pick it up with the character i want to check and if i want to check many at the times it is a bit time wasting . This way they will probably sell more changes then they are now.

I think we need a casino in LA. Were you can play roulette/poker vs other players.
It’s more fun to make money like that instead of putting fortunes in the mistical toilet in the hope that you loot a precursor wich isn’t always the case.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Permanent_Hair_Stylist_Contract

Taku.6352:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Permanent_Hair_Stylist_Contract

A snip at a mere 2,411g! Perfect for the 1%ers with all that gold lying around I’m sure.

Because the company needs to make money? How is this even a question?

uknortherner.2670:

Taku.6352:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Permanent_Hair_Stylist_Contract

A snip at a mere 2,411g! Perfect for the 1%ers with all that gold lying around I’m sure.

/entitlement turned on

Yeah! Why the kitten is Twilight so kitten expensive! ANET GIVE ME MY SWORD ALREADY!?!?!?! I DEMAND IT FOR FREE!

/entitlement turned off

It’s the greatest hustle ever. Players have long considered cosmetics to be optional fluff, so Anet made cosmetics the endgame and charges premium prices for ’em.

Luckily, 250 gems is only a couple days’ worth of farming. A week at the most.

Abbehemoth.2471:

Because the company needs to make money? How is this even a question?

uknortherner.2670:

Taku.6352:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Permanent_Hair_Stylist_Contract

A snip at a mere 2,411g! Perfect for the 1%ers with all that gold lying around I’m sure.

/entitlement turned on

Yeah! Why the kitten is Twilight so kitten expensive! ANET GIVE ME MY SWORD ALREADY!?!?!?! I DEMAND IT FOR FREE!

/entitlement turned off

Grow up.

You get a chance of a hairstyle kit through black lion chests as well, which you can get for free by doing certain personal story steps, or a chance of a key via map completion.

I suspect we will never have a barber shop, unless we find 4 good male singers that will sing barbershop quartet style songs with Guild Wars Lyrics.

Then, and only then, may we find the addition of a barbershop.

according to some people, ANET do not need to make money to run the server because they are free of charged, subsidized by the government of america.

Hoaxintelligence.4628:

I think we need a casino in LA. Were you can play roulette/poker vs other players.
It’s more fun to make money like that instead of putting fortunes in the mistical toilet in the hope that you loot a precursor wich isn’t always the case.

We allready have one, it’s called mystic forge.

I like how FFXIV implemented the barbershop. You take a few quests and bam, permanent hair dresser at your beck and call for only 2k gil (pretty cheap considering how much gil you earn.)

CodeHavoc.7926:

I like how FFXIV implemented the barbershop. You take a few quests and bam, permanent hair dresser at your beck and call for only 2k gil (pretty cheap considering how much gil you earn.)

But you would also need to technically pay real money for it, due to the game requiring a subscription.

Ceridwen.6703:

lordkrall.7241:

And how many of those “every other big MMO” does not require a subscription to play?

Make sure to make the character the “right” way from the start if it is such big of an issue to pay a rather small amount of gems to change it later.

They need to get money from somewhere. And I for one prefer if it is for things like these instead of from selling game-effecting stuff.

The Secret World, IIRC. Also, Age of Conan – AoC’s hair stuff isn’t even in the game store, it’s bought off street vendors. IIRC, it was something like 15 or so silver to change the hair (which is absolutely nothing in terms of game currency, and doesn’t matter if you pay a sub or play for free).

Sad to burst your bubble, but TSW and Age of Conan are no where near “big” MMOs. If at all they have become niche. Also both of those MMOs started with sub fees and have a way different subscription model now that they have gone f2p compared to GW2.

Also TSW has a membership option which enables delux content (not sure about AoC, to lazy to check). So no, the game is in essence NOT free.

uknortherner.2670:

250 gems is still a lot of RL money just to swap out a few polygons. Luckily, I had enough in-game gold to convert to gems in order to swap back the stiff, broken hairstyle I had previously picked for my main back to a regular default one which actually animates when I move her around rather than piercing her repeatedly through her spine.

It wouldn’t be so bad if those paywall-locked hairstyles were actually physics-enabled like the default hairs are.

At 250 gems you are looking at 3.13- EURO per redo of your hairstyle. That’s 4 times per month compared to the usual 13-15,- EURO sub fees of other games. Even converted to gold you are looking at no more than 60 gold or so. Can easily be farmed in 3-4 hours.

Imo there are more pressing things that need attention. If you want to play dress-up every 2 days, then pay up.

lordkrall.7241:

And how many of those “every other big MMO” does not require a subscription to play?

Wow. Have you played ANY MMORPG other than GW2? Because if you did, you would know that next to no MMORPG is pay to play right now. Other than WoW and Final Fantasy XIV, everything is choosing other models… Which makes your assumption that mediocrity is excused by a lack of a subscription extremelly flawed, to say the least.

Test.8734:

lordkrall.7241:

And how many of those “every other big MMO” does not require a subscription to play?

Wow. Have you played ANY MMORPG other than GW2? Because if you did, you would know that next to no MMORPG is pay to play right now. Other than WoW and Final Fantasy XIV, everything is choosing other models… Which makes your assumption that mediocrity is excused by a lack of a subscription extremelly flawed, to say the least.

No reason to be this hostile. Almost every single significant now f2p MMO on the market started as p2p. Let’s run down the list just to name a few (note only MMOs that started as p2p since the actual list of f2p is way longer):

- SW:TOR
- ESO
- Wildstar
- LOTRO
- DC Universe
- TSW

Now if you actually compared most of those games business models to GW2s I highly doubt anyone in their right mind should complain.

OP, the fact that you can convert golds to gems to buy those already shows that it IS an in-game feature, though not directly.

How did you miss this?

hairstyles/total makeovers are what I spent most of my golds-to-gems on. And I never paid real money for them. 250gems aren’t that hard to find atm, really.

And if Anet is to normalize hairstyle for gold only, they will have to make the price even higher than what it is now (70g to 80g currently, I think) in order to accommodate inflation.

Plus, comparing GW2 to other games doesn’t make sense. The economics is different, the business model is different.

@ Oxidia

Putting swords in a toilet is not as excited as playing with other people in a casino.

Cyninja.2954:

Ceridwen.6703:

lordkrall.7241:

And how many of those “every other big MMO” does not require a subscription to play?

Make sure to make the character the “right” way from the start if it is such big of an issue to pay a rather small amount of gems to change it later.

They need to get money from somewhere. And I for one prefer if it is for things like these instead of from selling game-effecting stuff.

The Secret World, IIRC. Also, Age of Conan – AoC’s hair stuff isn’t even in the game store, it’s bought off street vendors. IIRC, it was something like 15 or so silver to change the hair (which is absolutely nothing in terms of game currency, and doesn’t matter if you pay a sub or play for free).

Sad to burst your bubble, but TSW and Age of Conan are no where near “big” MMOs. If at all they have become niche. Also both of those MMOs started with sub fees and have a way different subscription model now that they have gone f2p compared to GW2.

Also TSW has a membership option which enables delux content (not sure about AoC, to lazy to check). So no, the game is in essence NOT free.

Heehee, you’re not sad at all! And I don’t have a bubble! How very dare you. :P

And yes, you’re right, they’re not technically big any more, but that’s effectively splitting pun-intended hairs.

TSW is buy-to-play, same as GW2. Cash shop items are discounted for members of varying tiers, they get bonus points per month. etc., and a few cosmetic items a free player doesn’t have access to, but none of it is required to play the game at all, and it’s certainly got nothing to do with the hairs available in the barber shop (which is what this thread’s about).

AoC Unchained is the Free-to-Play with subscription model which, in all honesty, is madness to play without. Hair styles, however, remain cheap and easily accessible to all with in-game money, irrespective of being a member or not.

Ceridwen.6703:

Cyninja.2954:

Ceridwen.6703:

lordkrall.7241:

And how many of those “every other big MMO” does not require a subscription to play?

Make sure to make the character the “right” way from the start if it is such big of an issue to pay a rather small amount of gems to change it later.

They need to get money from somewhere. And I for one prefer if it is for things like these instead of from selling game-effecting stuff.

The Secret World, IIRC. Also, Age of Conan – AoC’s hair stuff isn’t even in the game store, it’s bought off street vendors. IIRC, it was something like 15 or so silver to change the hair (which is absolutely nothing in terms of game currency, and doesn’t matter if you pay a sub or play for free).

Sad to burst your bubble, but TSW and Age of Conan are no where near “big” MMOs. If at all they have become niche. Also both of those MMOs started with sub fees and have a way different subscription model now that they have gone f2p compared to GW2.

Also TSW has a membership option which enables delux content (not sure about AoC, to lazy to check). So no, the game is in essence NOT free.

Heehee, you’re not sad at all! And I don’t have a bubble! How very dare you. :P

And yes, you’re right, they’re not technically big any more, but that’s effectively splitting pun-intended hairs.

TSW is buy-to-play, same as GW2. Cash shop items are discounted for members of varying tiers, they get bonus points per month. etc., and a few cosmetic items a free player doesn’t have access to, but none of it is required to play the game at all, and it’s certainly got nothing to do with the hairs available in the barber shop (which is what this thread’s about).

AoC Unchained is the Free-to-Play with subscription model which, in all honesty, is madness to play without. Hair styles, however, remain cheap and easily accessible to all with in-game money, irrespective of being a member or not.

I bought TSW a few weeks ago and tbh, it is far form a b2p model. More like bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb2p model (buy again and again and again and again and again to play). You only get access to the first 4 issues of the games. Plus you need real money to get the new issues. Can’t buy them with in-game currency like gw2 that has gold-to-gem conversion.

TSW’s barbar shop also includes makeup and facial things like that (beards, etc). It doesn’t cost too much. I think if this were put into LA or something, it would likely cost about 50g or something (close to what the gold → gem cost would be). Kind of pointless to add since it’s in the gem store already.

What WOULD be nice tho, is something to purchase in the gem store once, as an account unlock, that would allow you to select hair-kit exclusive styles upon character creation, instead of buying a new kit for each alt. You would still have to purchase a new kit if you wanted to change your style down the road.

At the least, they should let us preview the new character customization options. Currently, there’s no option.

nexxe.7081:

At the least, they should let us preview the new character customization options. Currently, there’s no option.

This would be cool and easy to implement. You could go to a make over shop or something like that. And there would be a npc there that would talk to you have give you a prompt to pull up the preview window of all the current face/hair/body styles. I agree it is annoying that you have to purchase a total make over kit or hair style kit to even bring this preview window up and decide if you like the new style or not.

What I would settle for, is a hairstyle wardrobe.

So, you pay to unlock them, but once you have, it is free to change them.

It’s pretty irritating to pay for a new hairstyle and then realise you can’t even revert back to your old one without paying again.

At the very least, we should be able to have a couple of currently available ones; rather than just one.

IRL, you can put your hair up, or down, for free, after all.

lordkrall.7241:

And how many of those “every other big MMO” does not require a subscription to play?

Make sure to make the character the “right” way from the start if it is such big of an issue to pay a rather small amount of gems to change it later.

They need to get money from somewhere. And I for one prefer if it is for things like these instead of from selling game-effecting stuff.

By that logic, they should charge for dying armor too. People should get their colors the “right” way from the start. All dye previews should be disabled, and the only way to see them is to purchase them first.

The point is, where does it stop? Why does it stop at character customization? Why not restrict people to one armor set, and then charge gems for each new armor piece they acquire? Want to equip it? Too bad, now get charged 100 gems to do it. Why stop there though? They could charge for swapping out sigils and runes, or new utility skills.

Since you seem to assume they are so starved for money, “they need to get money from somewhere”, this should be reasonable right? It’s people like you who blindly accept everything they do, which makes the RMT model so insidious at times.

uknortherner.2670:

Taku.6352:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Permanent_Hair_Stylist_Contract

A snip at a mere 2,411g! Perfect for the 1%ers with all that gold lying around I’m sure.

I know, lol!

Over £200 for a few hairstyles.

That’s over a year and a half of WoW subs and that is assuming you don’t spend any more real life money, on anything else, in that timeframe.

Which most people, who would spend that on hairstyles, undoubtedly would do…

I’m not cheap – I think anything up to about £240 a year (on average), for a decent game, would be fair.

But, when you have a single item at virtually that price, it’s just too much.

IEatCabbage.1907:

Why doesn’t Guild Wars 2 have a barber shop? Instead it cost 250 gems to simply change your hair style.

/thread gj

Hoaxintelligence.4628:

I think we need a casino in LA. Were you can play roulette/poker vs other players.
It’s more fun to make money like that instead of putting fortunes in the mistical toilet in the hope that you loot a precursor wich isn’t always the case.

I don’t think you understand how a casino works …

I miss the costume creator from City of Heroes…

Change your character how you want pretty much whenever you want. And all for the same ingame currency you used for most other things.

How about a virtual barbershop (*hint search for and listen to the ‘virtual barbership’ videos found online with a pair of headphones)?

Or how about a hair growing or shrinking slider bar that makes hairstyles change according to how long the hair is?

i agree it should be something that u can make in game whit gold 250 gems for that is to much

Pockets.3201:

I miss the costume creator from City of Heroes…

Change your character how you want pretty much whenever you want. And all for the same ingame currency you used for most other things.

I would probably be pretty annoyed(at the very least) if a game I was paying a subscription for asked me to pay for stuff like this too …

I think a barber shop is a good idea too.

Yeah, most people think its a great idea when stuff that costs money becomes nearly free.

Unless you’re the people selling that stuff.

Tigaseye.2047:

uknortherner.2670:

Taku.6352:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Permanent_Hair_Stylist_Contract

A snip at a mere 2,411g! Perfect for the 1%ers with all that gold lying around I’m sure.

I know, lol!

Over £200 for a few hairstyles.

That’s over a year and a half of WoW subs and that is assuming you don’t spend any more real life money, on anything else, in that timeframe.

Which most people, who would spend that on hairstyles, undoubtedly would do…

I’m not cheap – I think anything up to about £240 a year (on average), for a decent game, would be fair.

But, when you have a single item at virtually that price, it’s just too much.

It’s not just “a few hairstyles”, it’s more of a QoL thing and it qualifies perfectly as a long-term goal similar to legendaries. It’s also worth every single copper.

Get 5000 achievement points and you can change your character’s appearance for free. Every single 5000 achievement points you not only get a free makeover kit, but you also get 400 gems.

As for the rest of it, either pay gold or pay cash, because it’s unlikely we’ll get a way to freely change our hairstyle.

Every MMORPG that gives you free hairstyle/colour changes has some other scam going on to make up for it. Whether it’s an explicit monthly subscription fee, a pay wall on some other type of content, or grindier gameplay, the difference is made up somewhere, I guarantee it.

Hair style kits are some of the cheapest cosmetic items you can get. I think they are a very reasonable price, especially considering you can trade gold for gems to supplement your real-world cash in any proportion you feel is reasonable. I don’t want to sound like some “white knight,” but please keep in mind that just because this game isn’t subscription-based, it doesn’t mean you should expect to get anything you want, when you want it, by just owning the game. You think WoW and FFXIV can charge $15/month and give you X amount of features, meanwhile you buy GW2 on sale for $10 once and you want the same amount of value? At least GW2 is letting you choose what you want to purchase, without forcing you to subscribe. Where is the choice in a monthly subscription? Go ahead, “choose” to cancel your sub, see what it gets you.

Fyrebrand.4859:

Every MMORPG that gives you free hairstyle/colour changes has some other scam going on to make up for it. Whether it’s an explicit monthly subscription fee, a pay wall on some other type of content, or grindier gameplay, the difference is made up somewhere, I guarantee it.

I was wondering about the same thing. What are the other things those other games are selling and how are they priced?

Hair style kits are some of the cheapest cosmetic items you can get. I think they are a very reasonable price, especially considering you can trade gold for gems to supplement your real-world cash in any proportion you feel is reasonable.

Well if someone is actually changing their character’s hairstyle all the time then it would make more sent to buy the bundle of 5 and that comes out to $2.50. I can’t really say whether that is cheap or not but a can of soda is around a similar price

I don’t want to sound like some “white knight,” but please keep in mind that just because this game isn’t subscription-based, it doesn’t mean you should expect to get anything you want, when you want it, by just owning the game. You think WoW and FFXIV can charge $15/month and give you X amount of features, meanwhile you buy GW2 on sale for $10 once and you want the same amount of value? At least GW2 is letting you choose what you want to purchase, without forcing you to subscribe. Where is the choice in a monthly subscription? Go ahead, “choose” to cancel your sub, see what it gets you.

WoW has something like the gem store too … $60 for a lv90 character for example. $15 for what looks like the equivalent of a Total Makeover Kit($4.38 / $3.50 in GW2). WoW also seems to have some expensive hats.

FFXIV also has a similar thing.

Leaa.2943:

Most people in this game are swimming in gold and gems are not a issue. If you are new to the game, then earning gold is only hard until you reach lvl 80, after that you can earn the gold you need in just a few days, so i don’t really see a problem.

As for a barbershop, i would not mind having it as a feature were you can also precheck before deciding if you want to get a new look. As it is now i have to have one on my bank and then pick it up with the character i want to check and if i want to check many at the times it is a bit time wasting . This way they will probably sell more changes then they are now.

Some of us have jobs and don’t play 40 hours a week.

@ Kishant

I visited the casino once each month with friends for the last 9 years so I know very well how a casino works and tbh the mistical toilet is just not my kind of gamble. Putting swords in the toilet is like all or nothing. I just like to go less “yolo”.

I wouldn’t mind having every cosmetic for free.
I mean, why charge for Cosmetic gear? Other games gives you cosmetics for free just look at Sleeping Dogs.

I want all dyes and new dyes for free!
I mean just look at other games like Art Accademy!

I want all toys for free!
I mean just look at Guitar hero games!

Why must everything cost money!? I mean atm alot of dyes and cosmetics are allready free, why not give us everything for free?
…..

To be Honest. This is how Anet makes money on us and I am one of those who gladly pay money for cosmetic stuff and some convenience stuff. At the moment I can’t complain about anything (except Living story) that is in store that should have been free instead. Maby GW2 doesn’t do as that other game and maby they sell this in a much easier and/or cheaper way than GW2 but this is GW2 and this is how it works here. Now I don’t mind people having opinion and they are free to exress them but, if Anet where to make a barber shop I would want a refund on all my Hairstyling kits I have used almost everytime a new haircut or colour has been added to the game. And what about these players who bought Infinite Hair styling kits for alot of gold, should they just live with it?

As long as they don’t add new and “needed” content in to the store I am fine with it, having the Living Story in the store is a step alittle too close though, but I am not gonna derail this thread.

My thought on it, is that they should introduce the Barber Shop, but still charge gems for the service. Just less than the cost of the kits.

Actually, instead of a Barber Shop, make it a spa that offers the facial changes too. If it were a little cheaper, I think more people would pay to use it. Also, having be an in-game location would serve to expand the community in a positive way and also cater to role players.

Edit: OK, this profanity filter really needs to be looked into. There’s no reason I couldn’t say “a bit…cheaper” just because certain letters line up. -_-

videoboy.4162:

My thought on it, is that they should introduce the Barber Shop, but still charge gems for the service. Just less than the cost of the kits.

Actually, instead of a Barber Shop, make it a spa that offers the facial changes too. If it were a little cheaper, I think more people would pay to use it. Also, having be an in-game location would serve to expand the community in a positive way and also cater to role players.

Edit: OK, this profanity filter really needs to be looked into. There’s no reason I couldn’t say “a kitteneaper” just because certain letters line up. -_-

Is it a problem now? Is there not enough players buying Total Makeover kits as it is now? I agree that more would probably buy if they where cheaper but would that make for a better income? And if they locked it to a specific lacation in the game, would that also bring a better sale on character costumization part?

Sure it would be a nice place for roleplayers, butt hey they can add a spa without any specific mechanic locked in to it…

Now about your complaint about profanity filter, yes it is good that it is this way since alot does try to get around it by having spaces or different spelling of the words. It is not that hard for you to press “Edit” and change it so it works and I notice that you did it perfectly fine.

It’s fine, 250 gems isn’t really all too much to get in game or even to buy. The only greedy thing is the exclusive hairstyles only available via hair style kit. Just add those to the character creation already!

ProtoGunner.4953:

It’s fine, 250 gems isn’t really all too much to get in game or even to buy. The only greedy thing is the exclusive hairstyles only available via hair style kit. Just add those to the character creation already!

Which would mean that new people and new chars would get the exclusive hairstyles and faces for free but veterans with old chars would have to pay. If you don’t think that would cause massive whining in the forums then you don’t know the forums.