Guild Wars 2

Since launch day, aside from the Fractal weapons, what weapon skins have been introduced that HAVEN’T been locked to RNG boxes or gem store purchases?

The game is almost a year old and we still have the same basic weapon skins from level 1-80, the same dungeon skins we’ve had since the launch of the game, and the same crafted / cultural weapons.

Am I the only one that sees a problem with these great new weapon skins being locked to RNG boxes and not being readily available as new weapons to the game? Something to WORK towards?

I didn’t get a Fused weapon, I didn’t get a Karka weapon, I did get a Jade weapon – my point is not stemming from lack of or jealousy of people that have these weapons. It’s just something I noticed as becoming a recurring thing and figured I’d make a post about it.

Does Anet have plans to actually put new weapon skins in the game that aren’t:
A) locked to time restricted events
B) locked to RNG boxes or gem store purchases
C) redeemed through account-bound, untradable tickets

If so, I’d love to know.

I mean hell, do what you did in GW1 – lock certain items to certain bosses. Make new bosses that drop weapons that pertain to the profession of that boss. Swords / shields dropping from a warrior Son of Svanir Champion or something of the like.

Is it really such a bad thing to have awesome weapon skins available all year round, to people who can work towards them in game, and not lock them to RNG boxes?

And if you don’t think this is a problem I’d love to know why you think that way.

Edit: I’ll give props to being able to farm Super Weapons, but aside from those, I apply my previous statements / questions.

Edit: Mentioned guild weapons & Fractal weapons a few posts later. These slipped my mind when i was writing the original post.

Im just hoping the new armor sets coming out wont be locked behind rng boxes. I have no problem with the stuff being for sale in the shop, as long as it is a direct purchase.

Mkalafut.1273:

And if you don’t think this is a problem I’d love to know why you think that way.

ncsoft don’t think this is a problem. they are happily farming RNG boxes from chronic RNG boxes gamblers. the season is still ripe for harvesting!

While I agree that more weapon skins would be nice, you did forget the skins from the Super Adventure Box.

Guild mission weapons and SAB weapons weren’t tied to RNG, and we had a short bow, a quiver, a mace and a shield as well.

I’m not saying things are ideal, but let’s tell the whole story.

However, like the OP I think there’s way too much RNG.

Wtb Fused Axe.
The thing that drives me crazy most is that there is no possibility to gain those skins now. Not that i didn’t try getting one while the event was active but 500g didn’t seem enough.

I agree with much, perhaps even most, of what the OP has to say, but I do wonder why the account bound ticket aspect is an issue if the OP, as he says, is interested in, “something to WORK towards.” The ticket system fits that desire.

Are you really looking for the opportunity , “to work towards,” a cool new weapon skin that you want, or are you looking for a new means of income in game via selling low drop rate desirable weapon skins (as was popular in GW1) ?

SAB, Wintersday, Guild skins, and Braham/Rox weapons all can be obtained through non-RNG methods.

I wouldn’t take GW1 as the perfect example though. Weapons for looks was a luxury most couldn’t afford. BDS and frog staff with decent stats were almost impossible to get. On the other hand, green items lost almost all their value after a few weeks. Furthermore, temp festive items were the most valuable cosmetics in the game.

That said, I really hope A.net can find a solution to this issue. It’s not a real problem to me but more like a serious thorn in the side. I can ignore it for a while, but not everyone can and no one can ignore it indefinitely.

The boxed weapons will become a bigger issue with every content release. The current implementation with dragon boxes vs elite dragon boxes is a step in the right direction, but not nearly there.

marnick.4305:

I wouldn’t take GW1 as the perfect example though. Weapons for looks was a luxury most couldn’t afford. BDS and frog staff with decent stats were almost impossible to get. On the other hand, green items lost almost all their value after a few weeks. Furthermore, temp festive items were the most valuable cosmetics in the game.

That said, I really hope A.net can find a solution to this issue. It’s not a real problem to me but more like a serious thorn in the side. I can ignore it for a while, but not everyone can and no one can ignore it indefinitely.

It’s true. For me, GW 1 had gotten to the point where almost no drop matter but a lockpick, a black dye and a white dye. Nothing else ever did anything for me. Oh yeah the odd ecto and obby shard, which were tied to specific areas.

Astraea.6075:

While I agree that more weapon skins would be nice, you did forget the skins from the Super Adventure Box.

Thanks for the reply. I probably edited it in as you were reading the original post.

Mkalafut.1273:

Edit: I’ll give props to being able to farm Super Weapons, but aside from those, I apply my previous statements / questions.

Ursan.7846:

SAB, Wintersday, Guild skins, and Braham/Rox weapons all can be obtained through non-RNG methods.

This post mentioned SAB and gem store skins. I am talking about the lack of general, readily available, farmable, skins in the game. We have the same 2 skins for each weapon / armor type from level 1 – 80.

Minus the addition of guild weapons (and SAB skins) there has not been any sort of addition to the weapon (or weapon skin) pool that is readily available or farmable besides the ones I mentioned. Guild weapons, fractal weapons, being the exception.

If i remember correctly, there are some skins in the vendor where you use BoH in wvw.

Ashen.2907:

I agree with much, perhaps even most, of what the OP has to say, but I do wonder why the account bound ticket aspect is an issue if the OP, as he says, is interested in, “something to WORK towards.” The ticket system fits that desire.

Are you really looking for the opportunity , “to work towards,” a cool new weapon skin that you want, or are you looking for a new means of income in game via selling low drop rate desirable weapon skins (as was popular in GW1) ?

Not at all. Glad you brought that up. That’s not even something I thought about. Now that you mention it, I’m glad they’re account bound. Only exception to this I can see is a guildy of mine bought 1000 RNG boxes this event to test out the chances (from the TP – no the gem store) and got 3 weapon skins. He used 1 for his Bow then the other two he would have loved to give to guildies who wanted them rather then using them for weapons for alts.

I have 4g on my account, I had a precursor that I got from the mystic toilet and I gave it to a guildy of mine who’s been with me for years who actually planned on making that legendary (the axe). I am not interested in playing this game to monetize on it, I just want to have fun.

Mkalafut.1273:

This post mentioned SAB and gem store skins. I am talking about the lack of general, readily available, farmable, skins in the game. We have the same 2 skins for each weapon / armor type from level 1 – 80.

Minus the addition of guild weapons (and SAB skins) there has not been any sort of addition to the weapon (or weapon skin) pool that is readily available or farmable besides the ones I mentioned. Guild weapons, fractal weapons, being the exception.

How do you define “readily available and farmable?”

I’d argue that with current exchange rates, the Wintersday/Rox/Braham weapon skins cost about 25G (800Gems). Does that not fall under the category of readily available and farmable? Or are you categorizing them solely on their existence in the Gem Shop? I just assumed this was mainly a complaint against RNG boxes, which I can certainly support.

marnick.4305:

I wouldn’t take GW1 as the perfect example though. Weapons for looks was a luxury most couldn’t afford. BDS and frog staff with decent stats were almost impossible to get. On the other hand, green items lost almost all their value after a few weeks. Furthermore, temp festive items were the most valuable cosmetics in the game.

That said, I really hope A.net can find a solution to this issue. It’s not a real problem to me but more like a serious thorn in the side. I can ignore it for a while, but not everyone can and no one can ignore it indefinitely.

The boxed weapons will become a bigger issue with every content release. The current implementation with dragon boxes vs elite dragon boxes is a step in the right direction, but not nearly there.

I agree. Don’t get me wrong it’s a step in the right direction, but just look at all the time and work that goes into making these weapons. Jade weapons? Freaking awesome. Fused weapons? EASILY the coolest skins in-game IMO.

No one will ever get them again. All that work and time wasted on a one time event where the weapons were locked to RNG cash shop only boxes. That is a problem. Those weapons could have been introduced as a token reward for the dungeon which could have been made into a full fledged dungeon.

Ursan.7846:

Mkalafut.1273:

This post mentioned SAB and gem store skins. I am talking about the lack of general, readily available, farmable, skins in the game. We have the same 2 skins for each weapon / armor type from level 1 – 80.

Minus the addition of guild weapons (and SAB skins) there has not been any sort of addition to the weapon (or weapon skin) pool that is readily available or farmable besides the ones I mentioned. Guild weapons, fractal weapons, being the exception.

How do you define “readily available and farmable?”

I’d argue that with current exchange rates, the Wintersday/Rox/Braham weapon skins cost about 25G (800Gems). Does that not fall under the category of readily available and farmable? Or are you categorizing them solely on their existence in the Gem Shop?

I am more speaking of weapon or armor skins that are in the game sold from vendors (dungeon, gold, karma, doesn’t matter). Skins that drop from mobs. Skins that are awesome, but also available in the game by means of normal play.

Assume that this trend continues and all future weapon skins ever introduced in the game this point forward were only one-time use weapon skins for 800 gems a piece, or these awesome new weapons were only available from RNG boxes. Would that be ok with you? That’s what I’m trying to say.

Mkalafut.1273:

Ashen.2907:

I agree with much, perhaps even most, of what the OP has to say, but I do wonder why the account bound ticket aspect is an issue if the OP, as he says, is interested in, “something to WORK towards.” The ticket system fits that desire.

Are you really looking for the opportunity , “to work towards,” a cool new weapon skin that you want, or are you looking for a new means of income in game via selling low drop rate desirable weapon skins (as was popular in GW1) ?

Not at all. Glad you brought that up. That’s not even something I thought about. Now that you mention it, I’m glad they’re account bound. Only exception to this I can see is a guildy of mine bought 1000 RNG boxes this event to test out the chances (from the TP – no the gem store) and got 3 weapon skins. He used 1 for his Bow then the other two he would have loved to give to guildies who wanted them rather then using them for weapons for alts.

I have 4g on my account, I had a precursor that I got from the mystic toilet and I gave it to a guildy of mine who’s been with me for years who actually planned on making that legendary (the axe). I am not interested in playing this game to monetize on it, I just want to have fun.

To clarify,

I do not think there is anything wrong with the idea of players being able to trade their rare weapon skin drops to other players. I very much prefer the GW1 approach where the more desirable weapon skins could be traded (or gifted for that matter) to other players.

I tend to enjoy having sufficient in game funds to be able to buy anything I like (or perhaps more importantly anything my wife likes) and wouldn’t hold it against another player who got the drop for asking me if I wanted to buy it.

I dislike the fact that so much in GW2 cannot be traded. I would love to be able to give my various transformation potions to friends/guildies/family members that enjoy that sort of thing. I would love to be able to give my crafting buff potions to friends that actually enjoy crafting.

And so on.

I believe that adding weapon skin drops to the game, not as bound ticket purchases, would be a good thing. Tying them to events, or bosses, creature types, or something to get people out into the open world working on finding that new cool skin, for their own use, to trade, or as a gift would add to the things to do in game.

All of that said, I do think that there are a decent number of dropped weapon skins in game considering how long the game has been around. I hope that more will be added just as was done with GW1.

I originally started this thread about weapon skin scarcity, but dare we even talk about the state of loot? The thread is about serious problems, not necessarily just weapon diversity.

Do you guys think it’s right to run Arah (any explorable path) and not get a single rare item the entire run? It’s not ok to run “end game dungeons” and get nothing but blues (worth up to 80c each) for every single mob / chest drop.

I’d love to see what other people outside of my guild think about these issues.

We can complain about it all day long but as long as people happily buy those boxes, nothing will change.

Ashen.2907:

Mkalafut.1273:

Ashen.2907:

I agree with much, perhaps even most, of what the OP has to say, but I do wonder why the account bound ticket aspect is an issue if the OP, as he says, is interested in, “something to WORK towards.” The ticket system fits that desire.

Are you really looking for the opportunity , “to work towards,” a cool new weapon skin that you want, or are you looking for a new means of income in game via selling low drop rate desirable weapon skins (as was popular in GW1) ?

Not at all. Glad you brought that up. That’s not even something I thought about. Now that you mention it, I’m glad they’re account bound. Only exception to this I can see is a guildy of mine bought 1000 RNG boxes this event to test out the chances (from the TP – no the gem store) and got 3 weapon skins. He used 1 for his Bow then the other two he would have loved to give to guildies who wanted them rather then using them for weapons for alts.

I have 4g on my account, I had a precursor that I got from the mystic toilet and I gave it to a guildy of mine who’s been with me for years who actually planned on making that legendary (the axe). I am not interested in playing this game to monetize on it, I just want to have fun.

To clarify,

I do not think there is anything wrong with the idea of players being able to trade their rare weapon skin drops to other players. I very much prefer the GW1 approach where the more desirable weapon skins could be traded (or gifted for that matter) to other players.

I tend to enjoy having sufficient in game funds to be able to buy anything I like (or perhaps more importantly anything my wife likes) and wouldn’t hold it against another player who got the drop for asking me if I wanted to buy it.

I dislike the fact that so much in GW2 cannot be traded. I would love to be able to give my various transformation potions to friends/guildies/family members that enjoy that sort of thing. I would love to be able to give my crafting buff potions to friends that actually enjoy crafting.

And so on.

I believe that adding weapon skin drops to the game, not as bound ticket purchases, would be a good thing. Tying them to events, or bosses, creature types, or something to get people out into the open world working on finding that new cool skin, for their own use, to trade, or as a gift would add to the things to do in game.

All of that said, I do think that there are a decent number of dropped weapon skins in game considering how long the game has been around. I hope that more will be added just as was done with GW1.

Agreed. I said what I said in the quote you posted because that was in regards to tickets. If tickets exist, it should be from just events like what’s happening now. But the thread is more about the big picture. General lack of overall weapons / skins of weapons.

Having rare weapons from specific bosses (refer to what I said about profession bosses dropping weapons related to their profession) similar to GW1, from vendors, etc. is definitely needed. It was fun being able to farm UW for a chance at seeing a Soul Reaper – fun running Fissure of Woe for a chance to get an Obsidian Edge. RARE weapons that required WORK to obtain – not money bags.

A problem is that NCSoft doesn’t care about anything except their Korean customers (who make up something like 60%+ of the games players). Korean players reportedly love buying RNG boxes – and considering our gem money is going to fund expansions for games like Aion and Lineage (arguably the worst RNG / grindy MMOs currently still active), it’s obvious what the priorities are.

kokiman.2364:

We can complain about it all day long but as long as people happily buy those boxes, nothing will change.

North America and European customers make up a combined total of only 13% of the GW2 playerbase. 64% of the players are Korean. This is factual information published by NCSoft. The numbers speak for themselves.

Even if every single person in the US and Europe suddenly NEVER bought another RNG box (and forsaken any chance at ever acquiring anything that only drops from them (kitten ed if they do, kitten ed if they don’t) ) we would still not even make a slight impact whatsoever.

For some reason the Korean playerbase loves RNG boxes and in-game gambling (look at Maplestory, Lineage, or Aion, or any Korean MMO) and that’s what will keep it in GW2.

Next time you look at a GW2 update, take a look at how much content is being added relative to what is being added into the gem store. You’ll be shocked at how much more focus there is on the gem store and RNG chance boxes rather than actual solid, lasting content that will keep players from day 1 interested in playing.

Mkalafut.1273:

Agreed. I said what I said in the quote you posted because that was in regards to tickets. If tickets exist, it should be from just events like what’s happening now. But the thread is more about the big picture. General lack of overall weapons / skins of weapons.

Having rare weapons from specific bosses (refer to what I said about profession bosses dropping weapons related to their profession) similar to GW1, from vendors, etc. is definitely needed. It was fun being able to farm UW for a chance at seeing a Soul Reaper – fun running Fissure of Woe for a chance to get an Obsidian Edge. RARE weapons that required WORK to obtain – not money bags.

A problem is that NCSoft doesn’t care about anything except their Korean customers (who make up something like 60%+ of the games players). Korean players reportedly love buying RNG boxes – and considering our gem money is going to fund expansions for games like Aion and Lineage (arguably the worst RNG / grindy MMOs currently still active), it’s obvious what the priorities are.

Keep in mind that with an official real money to in game currency conversion system anything farmable will be available to moneybags as well as to those who work for it. I guess that isnt such a bad thing. The guy who only has a couple of hours a week to play can buy his Golden Phoenix Blade (please add this) from you with Gold gotten through the gem store (I am sure that we both know that plenty of people got their rare skins in GW1 through illicitly purchased platinum).

In fact that is why I have hope for rare, farmable, weapon (or even armor) skin additions. Your rare drop of the newest shiney is an incentive for someone else to buy gems to trade for gold. I think that there are plenty of people willing to spend money on the game to get what they want who just are not that into gambling for it. I think that there is room for both RNG boxes and farmable skins.

Ashen.2907:

Mkalafut.1273:

Agreed. I said what I said in the quote you posted because that was in regards to tickets. If tickets exist, it should be from just events like what’s happening now. But the thread is more about the big picture. General lack of overall weapons / skins of weapons.

Having rare weapons from specific bosses (refer to what I said about profession bosses dropping weapons related to their profession) similar to GW1, from vendors, etc. is definitely needed. It was fun being able to farm UW for a chance at seeing a Soul Reaper – fun running Fissure of Woe for a chance to get an Obsidian Edge. RARE weapons that required WORK to obtain – not money bags.

A problem is that NCSoft doesn’t care about anything except their Korean customers (who make up something like 60%+ of the games players). Korean players reportedly love buying RNG boxes – and considering our gem money is going to fund expansions for games like Aion and Lineage (arguably the worst RNG / grindy MMOs currently still active), it’s obvious what the priorities are.

Keep in mind that with an official real money to in game currency conversion system anything farmable will be available to moneybags as well as to those who work for it. I guess that isnt such a bad thing. The guy who only has a couple of hours a week to play can buy his Golden Phoenix Blade (please add this) from you with Gold gotten through the gem store (I am sure that we both know that plenty of people got their rare skins in GW1 through illicitly purchased platinum).

In fact that is why I have hope for rare, farmable, weapon (or even armor) skin additions. Your rare drop of the newest shiney is an incentive for someone else to buy gems to trade for gold. I think that there are plenty of people willing to spend money on the game to get what they want who just are not that into gambling for it. I think that there is room for both RNG boxes and farmable skins.

You bring up good points, but once again, if this trend continues, how would you feel if the only way to obtain any new weapon or armor skin was RNG boxes and weapon tickets from said boxes? Even gem purchases, which don’t even support GW2 but instead support Aion and Lineage, should not be the only way to acquire new weapon skins.

It’s been almost a year and the only significant permanent weapon additions were guild weapons (shiny, silver weapons without a guild logo) and Fractal weapons available to like Fractal 30+ as rare drops. Aside from those two, there are no permanent weapon skin avenues that have been added since launch almost a year ago.

Mkalafut.1273:

North America and European customers make up a combined total of only 13% of the GW2 playerbase. 64% of the players are Korean. This is factual information published by NCSoft. The numbers speak for themselves.

Do you have a link for those figures?
Please note, I’m not saying you’re lying; I’d like to see the document those figures were published in.

Mkalafut.1273:

Ashen.2907:

Mkalafut.1273:

Agreed. I said what I said in the quote you posted because that was in regards to tickets. If tickets exist, it should be from just events like what’s happening now. But the thread is more about the big picture. General lack of overall weapons / skins of weapons.

Having rare weapons from specific bosses (refer to what I said about profession bosses dropping weapons related to their profession) similar to GW1, from vendors, etc. is definitely needed. It was fun being able to farm UW for a chance at seeing a Soul Reaper – fun running Fissure of Woe for a chance to get an Obsidian Edge. RARE weapons that required WORK to obtain – not money bags.

A problem is that NCSoft doesn’t care about anything except their Korean customers (who make up something like 60%+ of the games players). Korean players reportedly love buying RNG boxes – and considering our gem money is going to fund expansions for games like Aion and Lineage (arguably the worst RNG / grindy MMOs currently still active), it’s obvious what the priorities are.

Keep in mind that with an official real money to in game currency conversion system anything farmable will be available to moneybags as well as to those who work for it. I guess that isnt such a bad thing. The guy who only has a couple of hours a week to play can buy his Golden Phoenix Blade (please add this) from you with Gold gotten through the gem store (I am sure that we both know that plenty of people got their rare skins in GW1 through illicitly purchased platinum).

In fact that is why I have hope for rare, farmable, weapon (or even armor) skin additions. Your rare drop of the newest shiney is an incentive for someone else to buy gems to trade for gold. I think that there are plenty of people willing to spend money on the game to get what they want who just are not that into gambling for it. I think that there is room for both RNG boxes and farmable skins.

You bring up good points, but once again, if this trend continues, how would you feel if the only way to obtain any new weapon or armor skin was RNG boxes and weapon tickets from said boxes?

I think most people who think about these things have already come to terms with the some of ANet’s more… annoying practices.

Mungrul.9358:

Mkalafut.1273:

North America and European customers make up a combined total of only 13% of the GW2 playerbase. 64% of the players are Korean. This is factual information published by NCSoft. The numbers speak for themselves.

Do you have a link for those figures?
Please note, I’m not saying you’re lying; I’d like to see the document those figures were published in.

Let me find them again. Will edit soon.

Edit:
http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/13/4325904/guild-wars-2-expansion-pack-is-being-prepared-says-ncsoft

In the sources, you can pick and choose which aspect to view if you so choose. But the link alone is enough information should you not want to view the PDFs in the source link.

UnrepentantProcrastinator.7420:

Mkalafut.1273:

Ashen.2907:

Mkalafut.1273:

Agreed. I said what I said in the quote you posted because that was in regards to tickets. If tickets exist, it should be from just events like what’s happening now. But the thread is more about the big picture. General lack of overall weapons / skins of weapons.

Having rare weapons from specific bosses (refer to what I said about profession bosses dropping weapons related to their profession) similar to GW1, from vendors, etc. is definitely needed. It was fun being able to farm UW for a chance at seeing a Soul Reaper – fun running Fissure of Woe for a chance to get an Obsidian Edge. RARE weapons that required WORK to obtain – not money bags.

A problem is that NCSoft doesn’t care about anything except their Korean customers (who make up something like 60%+ of the games players). Korean players reportedly love buying RNG boxes – and considering our gem money is going to fund expansions for games like Aion and Lineage (arguably the worst RNG / grindy MMOs currently still active), it’s obvious what the priorities are.

Keep in mind that with an official real money to in game currency conversion system anything farmable will be available to moneybags as well as to those who work for it. I guess that isnt such a bad thing. The guy who only has a couple of hours a week to play can buy his Golden Phoenix Blade (please add this) from you with Gold gotten through the gem store (I am sure that we both know that plenty of people got their rare skins in GW1 through illicitly purchased platinum).

In fact that is why I have hope for rare, farmable, weapon (or even armor) skin additions. Your rare drop of the newest shiney is an incentive for someone else to buy gems to trade for gold. I think that there are plenty of people willing to spend money on the game to get what they want who just are not that into gambling for it. I think that there is room for both RNG boxes and farmable skins.

You bring up good points, but once again, if this trend continues, how would you feel if the only way to obtain any new weapon or armor skin was RNG boxes and weapon tickets from said boxes?

I think most people who think about these things have already come to terms with the some of ANet’s more… annoying practices.

It shouldn’t be anybody coming to terms and accepting this BS. Thus why I made this thread. It’s a problem that needs to be talked about and needs to be made aware to the Devs that people are hating what this game is turning into in its first year.

actually if they didn’t go ahead and say that the weapon skins are one time event only, it could be in the cards that they might eventually make a reappearance. In some games I’ve played, people who buy them off the event get the “luxury”/privilege of having the skins before everyone else, but they are made available to everyone down the road. Of course, it could be 6 months or even a year later, but the idea is that content made is not subsequently discarded but added into the game for the general population eventually.

Could be a solution.

Lightning.8397:

actually if they didn’t go ahead and say that the weapon skins are one time event only, it could be in the cards that they might eventually make a reappearance. In some games I’ve played, people who buy them off the event get the “luxury”/privilege of having the skins before everyone else, but they are made available to everyone down the road. Of course, it could be 6 months or even a year later, but the idea is that content made is not subsequently discarded but added into the game for the general population eventually.

Could be a solution.

Guild Wars 1 did SORT of the same thing but that was like 7 years later once the game was making way for GW2. These are problems that need to be fixed soon, not years from now.

Mkalafut.1273:

It shouldn’t be anybody coming to terms and accepting this BS. Thus why I made this thread. It’s a problem that needs to be talked about and needs to be made aware to the Devs that people are hating what this game is turning into in its first year.

I think people will sooner leave the game than ANet be convinced that their practices are alienating large portions of their player base. The fact that it’s a F2P video game means will more likely walk away feeling dejected than care enough to incite change.

Mkalafut.1273:

You bring up good points, but once again, if this trend continues, how would you feel if the only way to obtain any new weapon or armor skin was RNG boxes and weapon tickets from said boxes? Even gem purchases, which don’t even support GW2 but instead support Aion and Lineage, should not be the only way to acquire new weapon skins.

It’s been almost a year and the only significant permanent weapon additions were guild weapons (shiny, silver weapons without a guild logo) and Fractal weapons available to like Fractal 30+ as rare drops. Aside from those two, there are no permanent weapon skin avenues that have been added since launch almost a year ago.

Well, no I don’t think I would be completely happy with RNG/Ticket only weapon skin additions. As I said, I prefer to be able to trade gear and I do like the option to get that exciting drop off of a mob.

That said, I really do not think that what we have seen so far is sufficient to call a trend (yet). Thinking purely in terms of what was available in GW1 ten months after launch compared to what we have here at the same point, I think that we have some breathing room.

I completely support your decision to start this conversation as it is better to be early than late in something like this. Letting ANet know how some of us feel on the subject, early enough to address our concern(s) before they have alter our perception of the game in a negative way is a good thing.

UnrepentantProcrastinator.7420:

Mkalafut.1273:

It shouldn’t be anybody coming to terms and accepting this BS. Thus why I made this thread. It’s a problem that needs to be talked about and needs to be made aware to the Devs that people are hating what this game is turning into in its first year.

I think people will sooner leave the game than ANet be convinced that their practices are alienating large portions of their player base. The fact that it’s a F2P video game means will more likely walk away feeling dejected than care enough to incite change.

It’s already happening. People are not satisfied with 3 hours of new content per month with no significant permanent additions. This is not a “GW2 is dying” thread, because I still play every day and my guild is still very active, but people ARE leaving.

This post is not even scratching the surface as to all the reasons why people are leaving, but this is just a huge problem that guildies and I were talking about tonight so I figured I’d see what forum-goers thought.

Hopefully we’ll see some Dev replies in here with some insights into the future as plans to remedy some of these problems, but who knows.

Ashen.2907:

Mkalafut.1273:

You bring up good points, but once again, if this trend continues, how would you feel if the only way to obtain any new weapon or armor skin was RNG boxes and weapon tickets from said boxes? Even gem purchases, which don’t even support GW2 but instead support Aion and Lineage, should not be the only way to acquire new weapon skins.

It’s been almost a year and the only significant permanent weapon additions were guild weapons (shiny, silver weapons without a guild logo) and Fractal weapons available to like Fractal 30+ as rare drops. Aside from those two, there are no permanent weapon skin avenues that have been added since launch almost a year ago.

Well, no I don’t think I would be completely happy with RNG/Ticket only weapon skin additions. As I said, I prefer to be able to trade gear and I do like the option to get that exciting drop off of a mob.

That said, I really do not think that what we have seen so far is sufficient to call a trend (yet). Thinking purely in terms of what was available in GW1 ten months after launch compared to what we have here at the same point, I think that we have some breathing room.

I completely support your decision to start this conversation as it is better to be early than late in something like this. Letting ANet know how some of us feel on the subject, early enough to address our concern(s) before they have alter our perception of the game in a negative way is a good thing.

Thanks, I’m glad to see more support in this. The reason I call it a trend is because we started seeing it every living story update – minor additions that keep players busy for a few hours before the next mini content patch, but tons of gem store additions and themed weapons that are locked to RNG boxes.

Fused Weapons in Flame and Frost, Sclerite Weapons in Secret of Southsun, and Jade Weapons now. All locked to RNG boxes. Granted, they are taking steps in the right direction with the RNG boxes (making farmable for ones who don’t want to buy but also keeping the paid ones in the gem store is WAY better than locking them to gem store only) – but that’s still making part of the problem only slightly better.

With the past 3 months (including this current month) being any indication of things to come, we will see another random addition to the living story that adds more weapon skins themed to whatever that event is.

Mkalafut.1273:

Since launch day, aside from the Fractal weapons, what weapon skins have been introduced that HAVEN’T been locked to RNG boxes or gem store purchases?

.

technically fractal weapons are locked into a rng box (or chest)

Mkalafut.1273:

North America and European customers make up a combined total of only 13% of the GW2 playerbase. 64% of the players are Korean. This is factual information published by NCSoft. The numbers speak for themselves.

This statement is flat out wrong. I took a look at the source you listed later:
http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/13/4325904/guild-wars-2-expansion-pack-is-being-prepared-says-ncsoft

And if you pay just a little bit of attention while reading, you’ll understand that those 13% and 64% are precentages of NCSoft sales. Not GW2 sales and not GW2 playerbase…

Mkalafut.1273:

Ashen.2907:

Mkalafut.1273:

You bring up good points, but once again, if this trend continues, how would you feel if the only way to obtain any new weapon or armor skin was RNG boxes and weapon tickets from said boxes? Even gem purchases, which don’t even support GW2 but instead support Aion and Lineage, should not be the only way to acquire new weapon skins.

It’s been almost a year and the only significant permanent weapon additions were guild weapons (shiny, silver weapons without a guild logo) and Fractal weapons available to like Fractal 30+ as rare drops. Aside from those two, there are no permanent weapon skin avenues that have been added since launch almost a year ago.

Well, no I don’t think I would be completely happy with RNG/Ticket only weapon skin additions. As I said, I prefer to be able to trade gear and I do like the option to get that exciting drop off of a mob.

That said, I really do not think that what we have seen so far is sufficient to call a trend (yet). Thinking purely in terms of what was available in GW1 ten months after launch compared to what we have here at the same point, I think that we have some breathing room.

I completely support your decision to start this conversation as it is better to be early than late in something like this. Letting ANet know how some of us feel on the subject, early enough to address our concern(s) before they have alter our perception of the game in a negative way is a good thing.

Thanks, I’m glad to see more support in this. The reason I call it a trend is because we started seeing it every living story update – minor additions that keep players busy for a few hours before the next mini content patch, but tons of gem store additions and themed weapons that are locked to RNG boxes.

Fused Weapons in Flame and Frost, Sclerite Weapons in Secret of Southsun, and Jade Weapons now. All locked to RNG boxes. Granted, they are taking steps in the right direction with the RNG boxes (making farmable for ones who don’t want to buy but also keeping the paid ones in the gem store is WAY better than locking them to gem store only) – but that’s still making part of the problem only slightly better.

With the past 3 months (including this current month) being any indication of things to come, we will see another random addition to the living story that adds more weapon skins themed to whatever that event is.

Oh, that ! I don’t expect event themed gambleboxes to go away. I do expect that to be an ongoing trend for the life of the game.

What I don’t think qualifies as a trend, yet, is not getting much in the way of skins added as mob drops.

My hope is for those to be in addition to the gambleboxes (which are pretty much a fact of life in the current age of MMO monetization IMO).

I’d be rather ok with the current ticket system.

IF, the tickets were tradable. The fact they aren’t is stupid and in my opinion only diminishes the number of sales they get.

Nemui.6753:

Mkalafut.1273:

North America and European customers make up a combined total of only 13% of the GW2 playerbase. 64% of the players are Korean. This is factual information published by NCSoft. The numbers speak for themselves.

This statement is flat out wrong. I took a look at the source you listed later:
http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/13/4325904/guild-wars-2-expansion-pack-is-being-prepared-says-ncsoft

And if you pay just a little bit of attention while reading, you’ll understand that those 13% and 64% are precentages of NCSoft sales. Not GW2 sales and not GW2 playerbase…

You’re right. So if GW2 accounted for 21% of the total sales of NCSoft then those numbers are probably skewed. All the numbers are in the PDFs. Feel free to browse. They’re in the sources page.

The bottom line is that Korean grind MMOs and RNG fest MMOs that they enjoy there is what is making NCSoft money. 64% of all sales coming from Korea is no small number, and obviously they’re going to do what they can to capitalize on that. That is why gem store revenue is being used towards expansions for Lineage (buy to win grindfest) and Aion (refer to previous parenthetical block).

Ashen.2907:

Mkalafut.1273:

Ashen.2907:

Mkalafut.1273:

You bring up good points, but once again, if this trend continues, how would you feel if the only way to obtain any new weapon or armor skin was RNG boxes and weapon tickets from said boxes? Even gem purchases, which don’t even support GW2 but instead support Aion and Lineage, should not be the only way to acquire new weapon skins.

It’s been almost a year and the only significant permanent weapon additions were guild weapons (shiny, silver weapons without a guild logo) and Fractal weapons available to like Fractal 30+ as rare drops. Aside from those two, there are no permanent weapon skin avenues that have been added since launch almost a year ago.

Well, no I don’t think I would be completely happy with RNG/Ticket only weapon skin additions. As I said, I prefer to be able to trade gear and I do like the option to get that exciting drop off of a mob.

That said, I really do not think that what we have seen so far is sufficient to call a trend (yet). Thinking purely in terms of what was available in GW1 ten months after launch compared to what we have here at the same point, I think that we have some breathing room.

I completely support your decision to start this conversation as it is better to be early than late in something like this. Letting ANet know how some of us feel on the subject, early enough to address our concern(s) before they have alter our perception of the game in a negative way is a good thing.

Thanks, I’m glad to see more support in this. The reason I call it a trend is because we started seeing it every living story update – minor additions that keep players busy for a few hours before the next mini content patch, but tons of gem store additions and themed weapons that are locked to RNG boxes.

Fused Weapons in Flame and Frost, Sclerite Weapons in Secret of Southsun, and Jade Weapons now. All locked to RNG boxes. Granted, they are taking steps in the right direction with the RNG boxes (making farmable for ones who don’t want to buy but also keeping the paid ones in the gem store is WAY better than locking them to gem store only) – but that’s still making part of the problem only slightly better.

With the past 3 months (including this current month) being any indication of things to come, we will see another random addition to the living story that adds more weapon skins themed to whatever that event is.

Oh, that ! I don’t expect event themed gambleboxes to go away. I do expect that to be an ongoing trend for the life of the game.

What I don’t think qualifies as a trend, yet, is not getting much in the way of skins added as mob drops.

My hope is for those to be in addition to the gambleboxes (which are pretty much a fact of life in the current age of MMO monetization IMO).

But if all the desirable skins are going to be added to the RNG boxes every month, what skins would be available to the general game? Why put them in if they can just make money off of them with RNG boxes in the next month?

Mkalafut.1273:

But if all the desirable skins are going to be added to the RNG boxes every month, what skins would be available to the general game? Why put them in if they can just make money off of them with RNG boxes in the next month?

Product diversification can often, usually if handled properly, increase one’s customer base. Different skins, atainable in different ways, increases the pool of players willing to spend money on the game. Just as there are players who would never spend $10 on a digital weapon skin but who would spend $1 ten times for a chance to win that skin, there are those who will never gamble for a digital weapon skin.

The goal is to get money from both groups. Providing each with a means of spending money, within their financial comfort zone, is good business if handled well.

Also keep in mind that, in most FtP games (and GW2 is essentially FtP going on a year after buying the box), a significant portion of the financial model is dependent on players logging in and being exposed to various temptations to spend money in the cash shop. Adding something to be farmed, a form of grind really, in game fits that aspect of the financial model quite well.

We don’t know that all of the desirable skins are going to be added to the RNG boxes every month. We do know that they have been so far.

Ashen.2907:

Mkalafut.1273:

But if all the desirable skins are going to be added to the RNG boxes every month, what skins would be available to the general game? Why put them in if they can just make money off of them with RNG boxes in the next month?

Product diversification can often, usually if handled properly, increase one’s customer base. Different skins, atainable in different ways, increases the pool of players willing to spend money on the game. Just as there are players who would never spend $10 on a digital weapon skin but who would spend $1 ten times for a chance to win that skin, there are those who will never gamble for a digital weapon skin.

The goal is to get money from both groups. Providing each with a means of spending money, within their financial comfort zone, is good business if handled well.

Also keep in mind that, in most FtP games (and GW2 is essentially FtP going on a year after buying the box), a significant portion of the financial model is dependent on players logging in and being exposed to various temptations to spend money in the cash shop. Adding something to be farmed, a form of grind really, in game fits that aspect of the financial model quite well.

We don’t know that all of the desirable skins are going to be added to the RNG boxes every month. We do know that they have been so far.

Right. Which is why I called it a trend. I have no doubt that sooner or later we’ll see additional weapon and armor sets in game as general acquisition items that become part of the game’s regular loot rotation or something.

But in general, things are looking grim on that front until those updates do happen. It doesn’t help that we get almost 0 communication with ArenaNet on what they are planning or have in store – which certainly doesn’t help. Because right now people aren’t spending within their comfort zone, they’re being pressured into spending more (because they likely won’t get what they want within their comfort zone) and that’s the wrong way to do it.

As far as we know, with no indication or word from the devs, if we didn’t know any better some may assume that every month there’d be another update with another set of awesome weapons locked to chance boxes.

If you were a player who started around Flame and Frost and saw every set of cool weapons pass you by in RNG tickets, and then the next two months saw the same thing, would you be very optimistic for a change to take place without any word from the devs?

To go off topic a sec, I fully support a cash shop. I’d love to support Anet any way I can and buy things from the shop to support their development, but to LOCK items to that avenue of acquisition and force people to do it is not the right way to earn money.

I’d gladly support them if it felt optional like it did in GW1. (inb4 "everything in the gem store is optional) – it feels like if you want anything out of an event or any NEW item or new content, you gotta get it from the gem store.

Mkalafut.1273:

Right. Which is why I called it a trend. I have no doubt that sooner or later we’ll see additional weapon and armor sets in game as general acquisition items that become part of the game’s regular loot rotation or something.

But in general, things are looking grim on that front until those updates do happen. It doesn’t help that we get almost 0 communication with ArenaNet on what they are planning or have in store – which certainly doesn’t help. Because right now people aren’t spending within their comfort zone, they’re being pressured into spending more (because they likely won’t get what they want within their comfort zone) and that’s the wrong way to do it.

As far as we know, with no indication or word from the devs, if we didn’t know any better some may assume that every month there’d be another update with another set of awesome weapons locked to chance boxes.

If you were a player who started around Flame and Frost and saw every set of cool weapons pass you by in RNG tickets, and then the next two months saw the same thing, would you be very optimistic for a change to take place without any word from the devs?

To go off topic a sec, I fully support a cash shop. I’d love to support Anet any way I can and buy things from the shop to support their development, but to LOCK items to that avenue of acquisition and force people to do it is not the right way to earn money.

I’d gladly support them if it felt optional like it did in GW1. (inb4 "everything in the gem store is optional) – it feels like if you want anything out of an event or any NEW item or new content, you gotta get it from the gem store.

A trend is an expectation of the continuation of the same occurrences.

I do think that there is a trend, as I said in the previous post, regarding event gambleboxes.

I do not think that a scarcity of mob drop skin additions qualifies as a trend because there have not been sufficient occurrences to measure. “Nothing,” is not a trend. Now, if we see a mob drop skin added once every couple of years (which would disappoint me greatly) over a period of several occurrences we could measure it as a trend (a bad one IMO). Essentially, in this specific regard, we are at that point where there are just not enough points on the line graph to call anything a trend or pattern IMO.

Ashen.2907:

Mkalafut.1273:

Right. Which is why I called it a trend. I have no doubt that sooner or later we’ll see additional weapon and armor sets in game as general acquisition items that become part of the game’s regular loot rotation or something.

But in general, things are looking grim on that front until those updates do happen. It doesn’t help that we get almost 0 communication with ArenaNet on what they are planning or have in store – which certainly doesn’t help. Because right now people aren’t spending within their comfort zone, they’re being pressured into spending more (because they likely won’t get what they want within their comfort zone) and that’s the wrong way to do it.

As far as we know, with no indication or word from the devs, if we didn’t know any better some may assume that every month there’d be another update with another set of awesome weapons locked to chance boxes.

If you were a player who started around Flame and Frost and saw every set of cool weapons pass you by in RNG tickets, and then the next two months saw the same thing, would you be very optimistic for a change to take place without any word from the devs?

To go off topic a sec, I fully support a cash shop. I’d love to support Anet any way I can and buy things from the shop to support their development, but to LOCK items to that avenue of acquisition and force people to do it is not the right way to earn money.

I’d gladly support them if it felt optional like it did in GW1. (inb4 "everything in the gem store is optional) – it feels like if you want anything out of an event or any NEW item or new content, you gotta get it from the gem store.

A trend is an expectation of the continuation of the same occurrences.

I do think that there is a trend, as I said in the previous post, regarding event gambleboxes.

I do not think that a scarcity of mob drop skin additions qualifies as a trend because there have not been sufficient occurrences to measure. “Nothing,” is not a trend. Now, if we see a mob drop skin added once every couple of years (which would disappoint me greatly) over a period of several occurrences we could measure it as a trend (a bad one IMO). Essentially, in this specific regard, we are at that point where there are just not enough points on the line graph to call anything a trend or pattern IMO.

The trend I was speaking of is the amount of skins added to the game via “gambleboxes” relative to the addition of skins added without them per month. How about that? Better? Also I consider adding nothing per month is a trend of adding absolutely nothing per month. (I feel the need to post an edit here: nothing describes the amount of weapon skins added as discussed in previous posts. I obviously am aware SOME THINGS are being added in some way to the game every month)

Also if you’re concerned with plots on a line graph to be the determining factor in what defines a trend, let me go ahead and post several dots across the “items added” axis while the “time” axis increases on our imaginary line graph.. We now have a nice little line graph showing the trend of nothing being added to the game in the last 3 months (skin-wise) aside from RNG box loot.

Another edit, because 2 weren’t enough, I’m not here to nit pick line graphs with you. I’m here to point out how we have amazing weapon skins in game, and arguably the coolest weapon sets (not dungeon related) are the Fused and Jade set of weapons. They are locked to RNG boxes. Read the OP. This is not a thread about line graphs or what you may or may not consider a trend. This is about problems in the game.

Let’s not derail the thread too much. How do you feel about all future weapon skins hypothetically being locked to RNG boxes and released every month relative to having them available as drops or rewards? How do you feel about making 30s total from doing Arah and having a slightly less than 0% chance of acquiring even one rare drop out of the dungeon? How do those aspects of the game make you feel?

Mkalafut.1273:

In the sources, you can pick and choose which aspect to view if you so choose. But the link alone is enough information should you not want to view the PDFs in the source link.

Cheers. Still having problems with the wordings in those articles, and the charts in the PDF are as clear as mud.
Do they mean 64% of sales were Asian since release or just that last quarter? The latter seems more likely.

Mungrul.9358:

Mkalafut.1273:

In the sources, you can pick and choose which aspect to view if you so choose. But the link alone is enough information should you not want to view the PDFs in the source link.

Cheers. Still having problems with the wordings in those articles, and the charts in the PDF are as clear as mud.
Do they mean 64% of sales were Asian since release or just that last quarter? The latter seems more likely.

Glad you took the time to check the facts I posted and sorry about the quality of the PDFs, I’m not the one who makes them obviously and I’m sure that people who NEED to know what they explain know how to read them – and I am not one of those people.

Yeah the latter is correct. Just Q1 2013 is what is recorded. I’m not someone overly savvy with earnings reports or anything but from what I gather, 64% of the total earnings (GW2 being 21%) of Q1 2013 were thanks to Korea, while the United States and other markets saw declining sales.

Heading to bed. I look forward to more discussion tomorrow, please keep it on track! =)

Mkalafut.1273:

The trend I was speaking of is the amount of skins added to the game via “gambleboxes”

And I had already acknowledged and agreed with you on this. You hit upon it again so I did as well.

Mkalafut.1273:

relative to the addition of skins added without them per month. How about that? Better? Also I consider adding nothing per month is a trend of adding absolutely nothing per month. (I feel the need to post an edit here: nothing describes the amount of weapon skins added as discussed in previous posts. I obviously am aware SOME THINGS are being added in some way to the game every month)

I suppose that if you are entitled to your opinion as regards to what qualifies as a trend. I am afraid that I disagree that a lack of Godzilla attacks on NYC for every month since its founding qualifies as a trend of 0 Godzilla attacks per month.

Mkalafut.1273:

Another edit, because 2 weren’t enough, I’m not here to nit pick line graphs with you. I’m here to point out how we have amazing weapon skins in game, and arguably the coolest weapon sets (not dungeon related) are the Fused and Jade set of weapons. They are locked to RNG boxes. Read the OP. This is not a thread about line graphs or what you may or may not consider a trend. This is about problems in the game.

For whakittens worth I really disliked the Fused weapon skins to the point that I never pursued them. I am honestly unsure of their method of acquisition. My only issue with the Jade weapons skins, which I think are amazing, is the inability to trade them (or the token). The token drops from mobs in normal game play, with a drop rate low enough (at least from my personal experience where I didnt get a token until I had opened more than 2600 coffers and guild mates/friends reported similarly poor results) for any given weapon to be fairly rare. That drop rate, in terms of time requirement to get the desired item, was no worse than trying to farm a Q9 Silverwing Recurve or something of the sort in GW1. Perhaps even better.

Every farm is about RNG, whether boxes are involved or not.

Mkalafut.1273:

Let’s not derail the thread too much. How do you feel about all future weapon skins hypothetically being locked to RNG boxes and released every month relative to having them available as drops or rewards? How do you feel about making 30s total from doing Arah and having a slightly less than 0% chance of acquiring even one rare drop out of the dungeon? How do those aspects of the game make you feel?

I’ve never made that little from a dungeon, but it would annoy me if I had. It does annoy me than close to 100% of all loot is salvage or merch trash. To date I have not gotten a single usable drop for my level 80 character with the exception of my Jade Dagger.

I dont know about the Fused weapons, but as mentioned above the Jade weapons essentially are drops. Having the mob drop a box which might have the item inside is not functionally (other than pressing a mouse button to open the boxes) different than having the rare item lying on the ground, actually rare items show up on the ground as boxes as is.

Essentially it is all an RNG based on an assigned chance to get the item. A 50% box drop rate combined with a 1% chance of the box having the item is functionally no different than having a .5% direct drop rate for the item (note that these numbers are completely fabricated for the purpose of demonstration).

Again, my concern, in this particular situation, is not being able to trade the item. Otherwise there is no functional difference between having a half percent chance to get a cool dagger and having a half percent chance to get a token that can be used to get that dagger from a vendor. In both cases the reaction is, “nice drop.”

Ashen.2907:

Mkalafut.1273:

relative to the addition of skins added without them per month. How about that? Better? Also I consider adding nothing per month is a trend of adding absolutely nothing per month. (I feel the need to post an edit here: nothing describes the amount of weapon skins added as discussed in previous posts. I obviously am aware SOME THINGS are being added in some way to the game every month)

I suppose that if you are entitled to your opinion as regards to what qualifies as a trend. I am afraid that I disagree that a lack of Godzilla attacks on NYC for every month since its founding qualifies as a trend of 0 Godzilla attacks per month.

Mkalafut.1273:

Another edit, because 2 weren’t enough, I’m not here to nit pick line graphs with you. I’m here to point out how we have amazing weapon skins in game, and arguably the coolest weapon sets (not dungeon related) are the Fused and Jade set of weapons. They are locked to RNG boxes. Read the OP. This is not a thread about line graphs or what you may or may not consider a trend. This is about problems in the game.

For whakittens worth I really disliked the Fused weapon skins to the point that I never pursued them. I am honestly unsure of their method of acquisition. My only issue with the Jade weapons skins, which I think are amazing, is the inability to trade them (or the token). The token drops from mobs in normal game play, with a drop rate low enough (at least from my personal experience where I didnt get a token until I had opened more than 2600 coffers and guild mates/friends reported similarly poor results) for any given weapon to be fairly rare. That drop rate, in terms of time requirement to get the desired item, was no worse than trying to farm a Q9 Silverwing Recurve or something of the sort in GW1. Perhaps even better.

Every farm is about RNG, whether boxes are involved or not.

Mkalafut.1273:

Let’s not derail the thread too much… -snip for lenght requirement- …How do those aspects of the game make you feel?

I’ve never made that little from a dungeon, but it would annoy me if I had. It does annoy me than close to 100% of all loot is salvage or merch trash. To date I have not gotten a single usable drop for my level 80 character with the exception of my Jade Dagger.

I dont know about the Fused weapons, but as mentioned above the Jade weapons essentially are drops. Having the mob drop a box which might have the item inside is not functionally (other than pressing a mouse button to open the boxes) different than having the rare item lying on the ground, actually rare items show up on the ground as boxes as is.

Essentially it is all an RNG based on an assigned chance to get the item. A 50% box drop rate combined with a 1% chance of the box having the item is functionally no different than having a .5% direct drop rate for the item (note that these numbers are completely fabricated for the purpose of demonstration).

Again, my concern, in this particular situation, is not being able to trade the item. Otherwise there is no functional difference between having a half percent chance to get a cool dagger and having a half percent chance to get a token that can be used to get that dagger from a vendor. In both cases the reaction is, “nice drop.”

0 Godzilla attacks is still … no I’m kidding, I’m past that lol

Fused weapons were earned by getting lucky with Black Lion Chests. They didn’t drop from mobs and had no alternate method of acquisition other than being extremely lucky with BLC. They had a far less drop % than the jade weapons considering the free coffers (and by free I mean not gem-locked) allow for them to drop as well as the rich ones.

At least in Gw1 most sought after items had general areas they could drop. Want a Dawn? Get lucky on any mob in any zone or any dungeon or event chest. Want a Hunter? Same thing. Want a Dhuum’s Soul Reaper? Farm Underworld. Want a Bone Dragon Staff? Run some Shards of Orr. There were reliable places to spend your time. Yes luck was involved but at least there was a pattern.

I’d rather not have to sit and look at the gallery of new weapons every month and have the first thought in my head be “How much money will I need to spend to have a chance at these?” or “I wonder how many people will actually get one of these”. Not because of skill or time involved, but because of luck. That’s wrong. It should not be that way.

And yes, regarding dungeon loot. I run daily dungeons with my guild. The last few days has been a ton of Arah runs. The most I’ve gotten out of like 300+ tokens worth in the last week of Arah runs was a single Putrid Essence. And we all know how worthless those are.

(had to cut that into 2 posts so here’s the rest)

Leaving Arah with under 50s of total acquired loot after selling all drops and before repairs (and obviously including the end reward) is a huge slap across the face. There is no sense to the loot at all – not even in regards to just weapon or armor skins but with loot in general.

Level 80 explorable dungeons should give more than just a ton of level 75+ blues. I know Anet said they’re working on this, but they seem to be working on a lot of things that have no estimated implementation timeline.

You do have a good point with the functionality of the coffers being hardly different from actual loot, but considering this is the first time non-gem specific RNG boxes have been added in this manner, we’ll need to wait and see if they even return next event.

I’m hoping that if the RNG boxes must stay, we at least get the farmable, sellable ones that aren’t related to gem sales. But yeah the loot situation is just all around grim. Like you, I salvage just about everything I get. Have for months. It’s not that hard of a choice though. I don’t even look at stats anymore.

Blue? Salvage. Green? Merch. Rare? Salvage for ecto / rune. I never sit there and go “Oh cool a rare! Better see if the stats are any good!” It’s bad. No need to check. I can definitely see how that would annoy you because it definitely annoys me too.

That coupled with the fact that dungeon rewards have almost 0 thought put into it. Take AC for example. Token rewards for level 35 gear require you to run AC Exp enough times to out-level the gear assuming you aren’t farming tokens on an 80 for alt gear. Not to mention they buffed the dungeons because it was too easy for level 80 players, but now the level appropriate players can’t run their level appropriate explorables because they’re too hard.

There are just so many aspects of this game that are such a complete mess right now.